Violations of International Law & Human Rights
As the occupying power, Israel is bound by the Fourth Geneva Convention, the body of international humanitarian law which protects civilians in times of war and occupation. Israel is also bound by international human Rights law and international criminal law, both of which apply to the occupied territories. Since Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, however, the Israeli state has openly violated and shown its contempt for international humanitarian law. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the occupier from transferring its civilian population to the occupied territory. The construction of Jewish settlements in the OPT represents an open and flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. According to international law, the occupying power must not interfere with the area’s original economic and social structures, organisation, legal system or demography. It must ensure the safety, protection and welfare of the population living under occupation. Israel’s grave violations include targeted assassinations, torture, population transfer and land confiscation.
Since the intifada of 2000 began, Israel’s systematic violations of Palestinian human rights, its modes of repression and it’s regime of violence which targets Palestinian lives has intensified exponentially. Not only is Israel violating Palestinian human rights, but it is now undermining Palestinians’ basic right to life.
In the context of the current uprising against Israel’s colonial occupation, the Israeli state has launched a series of brutal military campaigns against Palestinian civilian areas that have systematically targeted and destroyed civilian infrastructure, public institutions and killed Palestinian civilians numbering in the thousands. In the end of March 2002, Israel launched its so-called “Operation Defensive Shield,” a brutal military operation in which it reinvaded the West Bank, inflicting enormous destruction as well as looting of public and private property, namely Nablus, Ramallah and Jenin towns. The operation also included a crushing military invasion of Jenin refugee camp that targeted the Palestinian resistance: during the invasion the Israeli army systematically destroyed the centre of the camp and committed a massacre inside the refugee camp.