Tuesday 28 September 2010 marks the tenth anniversary of the second Palestinian Intifada (Al-Aqsa Intifada).
 On this occasion, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights calls on international community to take effective steps to provide protection for Palestinian civilians in oPt, who continue to suffer from the gross violations of international law by Israel.
As the occasion comes amidst the renewal of ‘peace negotiations’ between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Al Mezan calls for ensuring respect for human rights, which is the most important premise of peace and stability in the region.
  The tenth anniversary comes this year amid a context of continued Israeli violations of the international humanitarian law and human rights.
On 27 September 2010, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed three Palestinians; the last victims of IOF escalating attacks on the Gaza Strip.
A week earlier, the IOF killed another three civilians in an attack on their field in Beit Hanoun.
  Despite IOF’s declaration of ‘easing’ the siege it imposes on Gaza, facts on the ground indicate that measures means entrenching the siege regime while attempting to defuse the increasing international criticism.
Tens of thousands of people have been forcibly displaced from their homes due to IOF demolitions during the last aggression on the Gaza Strip 'Operation Cast Lead'.
The IOF has escalated violations of human rights in East Jerusalem; including forced evictions and house demolitions.
The construction of the separation Wall and settlements by the Israel are continued inside the West Bank under silence from the part of the international community.
  These violations continue now as they were since the start of Intifada, which represented an outcry by Palestinians for an end these violations, but also for freedom, dignity.
The Palestinian people has paid a high price in pursuit of its legitimate rights; including high levels of IOF violence, whose conducts indicate that it has detached itself from its obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL).
  The silence of the international community and its abandonment of its legal obligations have only allowed for more violations of international law to occur in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
The confiscation of Palestinian land, destruction of homes, and institution of an apartheid-like segregation regime; manifested in the construction of the Separation Wall and Jewish-only settlements and roads in the West Bank, have turned into official Israeli policy, which has continued despite the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice .
The construction of this Wall represents a serious affront to international law.
And settlement activities are much more ‘an obstacle before peace’; they are direct and grave breaches of international law.
  The construction of the Wall by the State of Israel does not only alter the situation on the ground in the oPt; it also undermines any possibility for establishing a viable Palestinian state.
It has already inflicted serious harm upon Palestinian civilians and their property.
The IOF keeps the majority of Palestinian land in the West Bank under its full control and has already seized more than 165,000 dunams.
(One dunam equals 1,000 square meters.
) The IOF has also fragmented the West Bank into separate cantons that separate towns and villages from their lands.
The Wall causes harm to about 875,000 Palestinians, seizes water sources, and prevents thousands from accessing adequate medical care and education.
  Israel has also stepped up violations of human rights in East Jerusalem; including forced evictions and house demolitions, and use of Palestinian land to build public facilities.
These acts have lead to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians while, at the same time, Jewish families are encouraged to reside in Palestinian houses and Jewish-only settlements.
  In Gaza Strip, the IOF also continues to act in serious violation of international law; including by committing acts that tantamount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
According to Al Mezan documentation, the scale of victimization and material damages has increased during the last nine years due to the IOF’s escalation of human rights violations.
During these years and in the Gaza Strip alone, the IOF has killed 4,661 Palestinians, 1060 of whom were children and 221 women.
The IOF has also destroyed 18,862 Palestinian houses, 5,687 of which were completely destroyed and leveled 13,174 dunams of agricultural land (one dunam equals 1,000 square meters).
The IOF has destroyed 990 public facilities, including schools and places of worship, 2006 commercial facilities, 518 industrial establishments, and 1,221 vehicles.
  The Israeli siege on Gaza prevents tens of thousands of displaced persons, whose homes were destroyed by IOF actions from reconstructing their houses and rebuilding their lives, further exacerbating the suffering of Gaza's population who has witnessed killing and destruction on a wide scale.
  As a result of this siege, the humanitarian and human rights situation continues to deteriorate; sick people have died as a result of their inability to access medical care outside Gaza.
  The living standards have reached an unprecedented low, with approximately 80 percent of Gazans living in poverty.
More than half of those live in extreme poverty that seriously harms their human rights and dignity.
  Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights views the recent Israeli escalation in East Jerusalem with grave concern.
Al Mezan reiterates its strong condemnation of Israel's continuous violations of the basic rights of the Palestinian people; including their right to self-determination and to be free from foreign occupation, their right to return to their homes and freely enter and leave their own country.
  Al Mezan asserts that many of Israel's violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in oPt constitute war crimes and may constitute crimes against humanity, the perpetrators of which must be brought to justice.
  Israel bears a clear obligation to bring these violations to an end, to prosecute its citizens who have perpetrated them and to ensure reparations for their victims.
Al Mezan supports all the efforts aim to ensure accountability for human rights and IHL violations as the only way to ensure justice for the victims of Israeli violations.
  Al Mezan Center for Human Rights emphasizes that ending this decades-long conflict cannot be achieved without founding a peaceful settlement on a strong basis of justice and respect for human rights and international law.
  In light of the above, Al Mezan calls upon the international community to end its policy of sacrificing human rights in the pursuit of a peaceful settlement.
The past decades indicate that this approach is doomed: it ensures neither peace nor respect for human rights and dignity.
Further, Al Mezan calls on the international community to act upon its obligations to ensure that the Palestinian people enjoy their individual and collective rights in accordance with international law.
  Ends