October 1st 2016 marks one year since the start of the 'Al Quds Uprising' that protests Israel’s nearly fifty-year occupation of Palestine and the repressive occupation policies. The Uprising broke out after the Israeli authorities imposed increased, strict separation measures on the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem with the aim of driving Palestinian residents out of the Old City, in order to facilitate the presence of Israeli Jewish settlers. The Uprising has been marked by repeated extra-judicial executions of Palestinians, including minors, incitement to kill 'Arabs', relaxation of firing regulations to allow a 'shoot-to-kill' policy, punitive house demolitions, arbitrary arrests, and the extensive use of administrative detention against civilians, including children. Within this context, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), police and authorities commit grave and systematic violations of the basic rules of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL).

In 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prompted the loosening of policing and open fire regulations regarding stone throwers, which relaxed the standard for live fire from self-defense grounds to the current wider grounds of ‘danger to any lives’.[1] Lowering the bar for acceptable use of live fire in practice encourages the targeting of demonstrators. Further, the IOF has given soldiers and settlers the green light to use live ammunition against Palestinians in a clear incitement to commit violations against civilians. This has been most evident in the repeated extra-judicial executions committed during 2016.

The harrowing firebombing of the Dawabsha family, the expansion of settlements and worsening standards of living, combined with the lack of serious efforts to achieve a resolution of the conflict, has fostered feelings of frustration and anger within the Palestinian community and ignited demonstrations throughout occupied Palestine against the occupation, especially among the younger generations. The IOF and Israeli police force have responded with the use of excessive and deadly force against protesters, using live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets, and tear gas, to kill and injure dozens of Palestinian protesters.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, between 1 October 2015 and 30 September 2016, the number of Palestinians killed reached 248, including 59 children and 16 women, and 18,207 injured, 2,095 of whom were injured from live ammunition. In addition, the Israeli authorities arrested 8,327 Palestinians, including 2,521 children and 187 women, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and other institutions concerned with Palestinian detainees.

Al Mezan stresses that such practices constitute grave and systematic violations of the obligations and rules of IHL and IHRL. Israel’s escalating violations take the form of ongoing closure/blockade of the Gaza Strip, confiscation of land, forcible displacement as well as expulsion of Palestinians from the Old City in Jerusalem, construction of the separation wall, arbitrary arrest and detention, and military prosecution. Such practices and policies exhibit clear intentions by the Israeli government to prolong its occupation of Palestinian and deny Palestinians their right to self-determination.

Al Mezan is extremely concerned by the international community’s disregard for its inherent obligation to bring to an end any serious breaches of international law[2] and to search for persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed, grave breaches, and bring them, regardless of their nationality, to trial, in line with the Fourth Geneva Convention.[3] Al Mezan stresses that the current stance of the international community has inadvertently encouraged Israel to escalate its violations without fear of accountability or prosecution of Israeli perpetrators.

Al Mezan reiterates its call on the international community to fulfill its legal obligations of protecting civilians and empower them to exercise their right to self-determination to put an end to the occupation.

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[1] Prime Minister’s Office – Security Cabinet Statement, 24 Sept. 2015. http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Spokesman/Pages/spokeJerusalem240915.aspx, accessed 10 Oct. 2016

[2] Draft articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, 2001 http://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/commentaries/9_6_2001.pdf, Article 41

[3] Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, Article 146