A doctor checks vital signs of haneen Tafish by light of his mobile phone in Al Shifa hospital, Gaza City, November 15, 2012. Haneen Tafish eventually died from her injuries. (Photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Amnesty International is calling for the  prompt deployment of international monitors and an arms embargo on both Israel and armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas de facto administration in Gaza, to offer more civilian protections immediately and monitor and document violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

Since the assassination by Israel of Hamas leader Ahmad al-Ja’abari on November 14 in Gaza City, there has been an escalation of violence between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in Gaza that has left scores dead and injured.  The conflict shows no signs of abating and looks to be repeating the same mistakes made during operation ‘Cast Lead’ four years ago.

Every precaution must be taken to decrease harm to civilians

Israeli civilians in southern city of Kiryat Malachi in Israel take cover during a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip November 15, 2012. (Photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

Just in the first six days of conflict, dozens of civilians have been killed and hundreds injured in Gaza.  Three civilians have been killed and scores injured in southern Israel.  With the situation escalating, civilians continue to be under threat on both sides.

Every precaution must be taken immediately to protect civilians. Both sides, Israel and the armed Palestinian groups, appear to be violating international humanitarian law and appear to be taking no measure to change their tactics.

Both sides, Israel and the armed Palestinian groups, appear to be violating international humanitarian law with no signs of changing military tactics

The United Nations, human rights organizations on the ground and Amnesty International have information pointing  to violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by both Israel and armed Palestinian groups in Gaza. And both sides continue to justify their military tactics although endangering civilians.

Israeli military forces have fired artillery into densely populated residential areas, attacked government and media buildings, and bombed the family homes of members of Palestinian armed groups, killing and wounding Palestinian civilians. Israel says they are not targeting the civilians, but ‘terrorists’.

Armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas, have fired thousands of indiscriminate rockets into Israel towards population centers damaging property, but also causing serious injury to civilians and even death. Hamas officials say Israeli forces kill their civilians so they are just doing the same and they’re fighting for their freedom.

But, violations by one side do NOT justify violations by the other side and no matter how ‘righteous’ or legitimate reasons are believed to be, parties must still adhere to the simple rules of distinguishing between combatant and non-combatant and avoiding civilian harm as much as possible.

All sides must stop carrying out indiscriminate attacks, or attacks in densely-populated residential areas that will inevitably harm civilians.

Accountability

When the dust has settled and a truce established, there must be accountability for the suspected violations of international humanitarian and human rights law that have taken place and mechanisms – such as independent monitors – need to be put in place now to prepare for that day.

Until all sides step back

Until all sides take appropriate measures to decrease harm to civilians – international monitors with the ability to investigate human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law need to be on the ground as soon as possible to carry out independent, impartial assessments of violations by both sides, to both prevent violations from occurring and to aid in the search for justice and accountability later.

And pending an international embargo, all states – including the United States – must immediately suspend transfers of weapons, munitions and related equipment to Israel and armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas. [Read background in the AI report, ‘Fuelling Conflict: Foreign Arms Supplies to Israel/Gaza’ published February 2009 following operation ‘Cast Lead’.]

The lessons from operation ‘Cast Lead’ have not been learnt. The victims of that violence, both Israelis and Palestinians, are still waiting for justice, and now their nightmare has returned.

Keep up with the latest on our concerns, follow @IOTPA, @SunjeevBery, @AmnestyUSAMENA or @Amnesty on Twitter.

Adnan, who was arrested at his home in the occupied West Bank in the middle of the night, had been sustaining a 66 day hunger strike in protest of his treatment by the Israel Security Agency (ISA) and his detention without charge or trial.

Onlookers breathed a collective sigh of relief when Adnan’s lawyer reached an agreement with Israeli authorities on February 21st, prompting the dying man to halt his strike. The state has reportedly agreed not to extend Khader Adnan’s four-month “administrative detention” unless “significant” new evidence emerges, and has said that it will count the days he served in detention before the order was issued on January 10.

He is now due to be released on April 17. However, this is insufficient as Israeli authorities have provided no justification for continuing to hold Adnan.  Instead they need to release him now.

For many, Khader Adnan’s case is emblematic of the systemic violation of Palestinian prisoners’ right to a fair trial, and the Israeli authorities’ compromise has been hailed as testament to the power of peaceful protest. However, the end of Adnan’s suffering is not yet within reach: he remains under constant armed guard and he is still shackled to his hospital bed, despite commitments by the Israeli Prison Service to remove the shackles. He has embarked on a complex recovery process and, as noted by doctors from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, his life remains in danger.

The hospital staff, who mocked Adnan only days ago, is now expected to care for him during his recovery process.  Khader Adnan’s wife Randa was allowed to visit her husband in the hospital during his hunger strike. She said, “While I was there, he had chest pains and asked a nurse to call Physicians for Human Rights. The nurse yelled at Khader saying that she does not have time for him and that if he needs medical attention he should break his hunger strike. Another doctor mocked him when he asked for water and said that he should also stop drinking water.”

The Israeli authorities allege that Khader Adnan is associated with Islamic Jihad, and cite concerns of his involvement with the military wing known to carry out attacks against civilians. To Amnesty International’s knowledge, however, Adnan has never been convicted of a violent crime.

Adnan’s detention order was originally slated to expire on May 8th, yet there was little guarantee that he actually would have been released.  Administrative detention orders can be (and often are) renewed indefinitely. In fact, among the 300 plus Palestinians who are currently being held under administrative detention, one man has been detained without charge or trial for more than five years. The Israeli authorities use administrative detention to hold prisoners based on “secret evidence,” which they say cannot be revealed for security reasons. As such, detainees and their lawyers are powerless to contest the unarticulated charges or unseen evidence.

Tell Israel to release Khader Adnan and all other Palestinians held in administrative detention!

There has been a sharp rise in demolitions of Palestinian homes in 2011 © Amnesty International

Amnesty International, one member of a 20 member strong coalition of major international humanitarian and human rights organizations that work in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), issued a joint press release yesterday announcing that there has been a record number of unlawful demolitions by the Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, over the past year, displacing a record number of Palestinian families from their homes and calling on the Middle East Quartet to change their failing approach.

The Middle East Quartet, made up of representatives from the United States, Russia, the United Nations and European Union, is currently meeting in Jerusalem in an attempt to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The coalition believes that startling figures issued this year show a sharp deterioration in the situation on the ground and calls for an immediate and “radical” change in approach by the Quartet. Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director, Oxfam International and coalition partner said:

“The increasing rate of settlement expansion and house demolitions is pushing Palestinians to the brink, destroying their livelihoods and prospects for a just and durable peace. There is a growing disconnect between the Quartet talks and the situation on the ground. The Quartet needs to radically revise its approach and show that it can make a real difference to the lives of Palestinians and Israelis.”

Figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show that since the beginning of 2011 more than 500 Palestinian homes, wells, rainwater harvesting cisterns, and other essential structures have been destroyed in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, displacing more than 1,000 Palestinians – doubling the number of people displaced over the same period in 2010, and the highest figure since at least 2005.  More than half of those displaced have been children.

Children are particularly traumatized by the loss of their home and belongings as well as by the disruption to their lives and trauma to their parents.

Also, the sharp rise in demolitions in 2011 has been accompanied by accelerated expansion of Israeli settlements and an escalation of violence perpetrated by settlers.

Peace Now, an Israeli peace organization, has documented plans for around 4,000 new settler housing units that have been approved in East Jerusalem over the past 12 months – the highest number since at least 2006. Plus, in November, Israel announced plans to speed up construction of 2,000 new units in the West Bank including East Jerusalem.

The latest figures from OCHA show that violent attacks by settlers against Palestinians, including children, have escalated by over 50% in 2011 compared to 2010, and by over 160% compared to 2009. Settlers have also destroyed or damaged nearly 10,000 Palestinian olive and other trees during this year, undermining the livelihoods of hundreds of families.  Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization that works for long-term structural improvement in the human rights situation in the OPT, determined that the perpetrators act with virtual impunity, with over 90% of complaints of settler violence closed by the Israeli police without indictment in 2005-2010.

And up to 2,300 Bedouin living in the Jerusalem periphery could be forcibly and unlawfully relocated if Israeli authorities follow through with their reported plans in 2012, which would destroy their livelihoods and threaten their traditional way of life. Rural communities in the Jordan Valley are also facing the prospect of further demolitions as settlements continue to expand.

This well respected  and credible group of major organizations, which includes Amnesty International, Oxfam and Human Rights Watch among others, is calling for the Quartet to hold all parties to the conflict to their international law obligations. They state that the Quartet must press the Israeli government to immediately reverse its settlement policies and freeze all demolitions that violate international law. (Amnesty International believes settlements must be addressed according to international law.)

Phillip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Interim Program Director, summed it up best when he said,

“Israel’s escalating violations show the fundamental failure of the Quartet’s approach. It’s time for the Quartet to understand that they cannot contribute to achieving a just and durable solution to the conflict without first ensuring respect for international law.”

What is significant as well, but I’m afraid being over-looked, is that the announcement also came just two days after the well-respected organization, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), submitted a major and precedent-setting report to three of the UN’s Special Rapporteurs claiming that Israel’s actions in East Jerusalem violate international law and may constitute a war crime and asking for an investigation into these practices.

The report, ‘No Home, No Homeland’ documents the slow, but steady displacement of thousands of Palestinians from East Jerusalem since Israel occupied the city following the 1967 war and the intentional implementation of policies to manipulate the demography to gain and maintain a Jewish majority there – “forcing the migration process on the basis of ethnicity – which violates international law, and is possibly a war crime”.

The report states that those who leave the city – for example, to pursue educational or job opportunities or to get married – lose residency rights if they are gone for seven or more years and they cannot return to live. Some 14,000 Palestinians lost their residency between 1967 and 2010, with half of those revocations taking place after 2006.

Those who build houses illegally, live in fear of having their property demolished and also face hefty fines.  Israel demolished more than 2,000 homes in East Jerusalem since 1967.  From 2000 to 2011, 771 homes were pulled down.   A further 1,500 demolition orders are pending execution. The problem is that Israel regularly denies permits to Palestinians to build or renovate there forcing them to build ‘illegally’.

At a press conference Monday, Michael Sfard, Israeli lawyer and legal counsel for the report said,

“We are witnessing a process of ethnic displacement.  Israel is manifestly and seriously violating international law … and the motivation is demographic.  There is a suspicion that a war crime is taking place and that is why an investigation should take place.”

ICAHD submitted complaints to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons), the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, and the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Occupied Palestinian Territories. ICAHD demanded to open an investigation into the legality of Israeli policy in East Jerusalem.

Amnesty International views East Jerusalem as part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel as an occupying power there which is legally obligated to follow the legal framework for an occupying power which includes not changing the topography or demography of the territory occupied unless it is to the benefit of the inhabitants or legitimate security reasons.  Based on this, Amnesty also believes all settlements built in East Jerusalem are not simply ‘Jewish neighborhoods’, but illegal settlements and any resolution on the issue of settlements must be based on international law, not ‘facts on the ground’ that have been created by one party or the other.

Update 11/3: Amnesty International just released a statement, ‘Israel ramps up settlement construction plans after Palestine UNESCO bid’, which criticizes the announcement by Israeli authorities to expand construction building in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem and proposal to cut off  tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.  Philip Luther, Deputy MENA Director at Amnesty said, “These moves are unacceptable and could result in further violations of the rights to adequate housing and livelihoods in Palestinian communities near the settlements. Suspending the transfer of tax revenues will directly affect the Palestinian Authority’s ability to provide essential services throughout the West Bank, as well as salaries and other support provided to people in Gaza.”

The statement also maintains that Amnesty has repeatedly called for an immediate end to the construction and expansion of settlements and related infrastructure in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and that Israel’s settlement policy is inherently discriminatory and perpetuates violations against the Palestinians there.  The statement also says, “When an occupying power has a formal policy of transferring parts of its civilian population onto occupied territory, it amounts to a war crime, and can be taken up for investigation by the International Criminal Court.”

See Amnesty document ‘Israel and the Occupied Territories: The issue of settlements must be addressed according to international law’ for more details.

As news services around the world covering the exchange highlight Gilad Shalit’s ordeal of being held for five years in virtual incommunicado detention and the story of the Palestinian prisoners being released – some having been held for decades – one thing is glaringly obvious – this whole episode highlights the need for the humane treatment of all detainees – whether Palestinian or Israeli.

Amnesty International released a press release this morning that said:

“This deal will bring relief to Gilad Shalit and his family after an ordeal that has lasted more than five years. Many Palestinian families will feel a similar sense of relief today when they are reunited with their relatives, many of whom have spent decades under harsh conditions in Israeli detention,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director.

“However, more needs to be done to protect the rights of thousands of others who remain in detention. The Israeli authorities, the Hamas de facto administration in Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank must seize this opportunity to ensure respect for the rights of all prisoners and detainees in their custody.”

Amnesty is concerned about the violations of prisoner rights in both the case of Gilad Shalit and the Palestinian prisoners as well as problems concerning the swap itself.

Amnesty International has long worked for the humane treatment of Gilad Shalit while detained by Palestinian armed groups as well as for the rights of Palestinian prisoners detained by the Israeli authorities. Amnesty has also repeatedly called on both sides not to use prisoners as bargaining chips.

Areas of concern regarding the swap itself include the fact that a good number of the Palestinian prisoners being released are from the West Bank, but are being sent to the Gaza Strip where they will be entirely cut off from their families with no possibility of visits. While under the Oslo Accords and international humanitarian law the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip are recognized as a single territorial unit, Israel maintains a highly restrictive closure regime on the strip that rarely, if ever, allows Palestinians living from Gaza access to the West Bank or vice versa.

Also, 41 prisoners, including one woman, will be exiled abroad. And although it is unclear whether they are being exiled permanently or will be allowed to return to their homes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) at some point in the future – this act contravenes the Geneva Conventions.

The Geneva Conventions prohibit an occupying power from forcibly transferring or deporting people from an occupied territory; in this case, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. In the event that those prisoners being exiled abroad or transferred to Gaza from the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have not given their consent, Israel would be violating its obligations under international humanitarian law.

Both Israel and Hamas have used ‘security’ as an excuse to justify the harsh treatment of prisoners to ‘explain’ their actions, but security can never be used to justify violating an individual’s basic human rights.

Palestine currently has the status of an observer entity at the UN General Assembly, where it is represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).  An application for full membership is currently being considered by the UN Security Council Committee on Admission of New Members.  The UN Committee will issue its analysis of the historic Palestinian bid for statehood around mid-October.

There are differing viewpoints on the statehood bid. Raji Sourani, well respected human rights lawyer, former Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience and founder of the Palestinian Human Rights Center was on Democracy Now recently discussing the Palestinian bid and the issues surrounding it:

Amnesty International does not take a position on the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the question of whether Palestine is a state or what its borders should be, or on the current bid for recognition of Palestinian statehood and UN membership.  As a human rights organization, our concern is that any resolution, initiative or agreement fully respects the human rights of Palestinians and Israelis, including access to justice, truth and reparations.

The bid does, however, raise questions about Amnesty’s work in the region and how or if it will be affected. And whatever the UN decides will have important implications for human rights concerns in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

Amnesty recently issued a Q&A that addresses many of the most pressing and relevant questions.  The Q&A deals with questions like, “Will the bid for recognition of Palestinian statehood affect the legal standards applicable in the OPT, or Israel’s obligations as the occupying power (or have legal implications for the Palestinian Authority)?” and “How would the statehood bid affect efforts to pursue accountability for crimes under international law committed during the 2008-2009 conflict in Gaza and southern Israel, and what is Amnesty International calling for in this regard?”

Check out the Q&A and what you think are the human rights implications to the bid in the comments below.

Amnesty International recently signed on to a joint open letter to members of the MiddleEast Quartet — an important mediating body in the peace process that includes the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia — with almost two dozen other human rights and humanitarian organizations in regards to the Palmer commission’s report on the 2010 flotilla incident and the continued closure of Gaza.

The letter asks the ME Quartet representatives to ensure that the claim in the Palmer Report that the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip is lawful is not misunderstood to mean that the entire closure regime imposed on Gaza is legal.  The letter asks them to also step up efforts to ensure an immediate and unconditional lifting of the closure.

Amnesty International believes the Israeli-imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip is collective punishment and illegal.  Israel, as the occupying power with effective control over Gaza, should

- lift the blockade immediately and open crossing points under its control to:

1. allow fuel, food, and other necessities into Gaza without restrictions and permit the free entry of educational and medical equipment and construction materials necessary for rebuilding and all other materials essential to enabling Gaza’s population to enjoy their human rights
2. allow export of goods from Gaza and the import of raw and other materials necessary for Gaza’s industrial production

- immediately return all arable land inside Gaza currently used as “buffer zone”

- agree on fair fishing zone with Palestinian representatives that is equivalent to the distance Israel enjoys from its coast for its fishing industry

- ensure that Israeli security forces at Gaza’s borders use force only when necessary to counter genuine threats and do not use lethal force except in the circumstances allowed under international law.

For more, watch this AFP interview with Amnesty’s Philip Luther

From the Jerusalem Post to the BBC, headlines scream that Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip is legal.  This is not only completely false, it distracts from the main point of the inquiry which was to determine if excessive use of force was used by Israeli forces during the raid on the flotilla in international waters and how to avoid a similar incident like this from happening again.

The contents of the Palmer Report were made public Thursday by the New York Times.  The report itself, which was completed last February, was being delayed at the UN while Turkey and Israel negotiated over language and played behind-the-scenes politics.

Sadly, the report does not spend a lot of time on the victims or accountability for the wrong-doing, although it states,

“Forensic evidence showing that most of the deceased were shot multiple times, including in the back, or at close range has not been adequately accounted for in the material presented by Israel.”

And critically notes that Israel’s treatment of the passengers, “included physical mistreatment, harassment and intimidation, unjustified confiscation of belongings and the denial of timely consular assistance,” while acknowledging that once the commandos were on board, they faced violent resistance and felt forced to defend themselves.

The report also found the naval blockade of Gaza by Israel legal.

As the occupying power over the Gaza Strip, Israel has the right to determine where and how goods and people should enter the territory it occupies so the maritime blockade as a tactic is legal.  The report did not make a ruling on the entire closure regime or blockade on the Gaza strip.

The Palmer report’s finding that the naval blockade is lawful should NOT be interpreted to mean that the entire closure regime imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip is legal.  An excellent analysis of this can be found on the ‘Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement’ website.

Gisha even goes one step farther to argue that the maritime blockade should actually be found to be illegal.  In a Q&A they put together, they argue that when taken into context with the full blockade on Gaza and Israel’s failure to adhere to international law and legal obligations as an occupying power – then the maritime closure is actually illegal:

“By preventing the passage of civilians and goods of a civilian nature to and from the Gaza Strip, Israel has paralyzed the economy of the area and caused substantial damage to key aspects of civilian life. In so doing, it has violated its obligations under international law, rendering its policy of closure – including the maritime closure – unlawful.”

Amnesty also believes the entire closure regime (blockade) on Gaza is illegal.  It is a form of collective punishment which breaches international law.  Amnesty pointed out in a public statement released Friday, that the best way to avoid similar incidents like this one in the future is for Israel to fully and immediately lift the blockade imposed on Gaza since June 2007, and allow Gazans to rebuild the homes, schools, clinics and infrastructure destroyed by the Israeli military.

Update: Gisha, the Legal Center on Freedom of Movement, a highly respected Israeli organization that concentrates much of its work on the Gaza Strip, just issued a short, concise statement called ‘Myths and Facts on the Palmer Report‘. This document clarifies many of the misconceptions about the Palmer Report created by confusing media reports and misconceptions about the Israeli imposed closure regime on the Gaza Strip.

In addition to the continuing humanitarian concerns, even after Israel’s ‘easing’ of restrictions and the recent ‘opening’ of the Rafah crossing by Egypt, there is the blockade itself.

Even if all the humanitarian needs of the population were relieved, the Israeli-imposed Gaza blockade would still violate the Gazans’ basic human rights.

The blockade does not target specific individuals, but collectively punishes the entire population which contravenes the Fourth Geneva Convention.  It violates the Gazans’ right to health (including access to clean drinking water and sanitation), education, work, an adequate standard of living and freedom of movement.  It violates their basic dignity; their basic human rights.

The blockade is illegal and must end.  Period.  And Israel, as the occupying power (in effective control of area), is responsible for ending it.  Israel is a sophisticated, militarily advanced country that should be able to effectively meet their national security needs without unjustly punishing an entire population.

World leaders have called the blockade “unsustainable” and have urged the immediate, unconditional opening of the crossings.  A report written by the UN Human Rights Council-backed fact finding mission concluded that Israel’s raid on last summer’s flotilla was in violation of international law with investigators concluding that at least six of the killings amounted to extra-judicial executions, and the force used by the commandos was “unnecessary, disproportionate, excessive and inappropriate.”

If international consensus supports the immediate lifting of the blockade; international, independent NGO’s, including Amnesty and the International Committee of the Red Cross, consider the blockade illegal; and the Israeli raid last summer was deemed “illegal, excessive and inappropriate”, why are Ban Ki-Moon and U.S. leaders urging governments to discourage the Gaza-bound flotilla – calling the flotilla “provocative” and the participants dangerous?

Putting the onus of responsibility on the civil society activists is grossly misplaced. Leaders should be addressing calls of restraint from provocative, extreme actions to the party currently violating international law, likely to initiate excessive use of force (based on past actions) and legally bound to comply as a fellow nation-state.  U.S. elected officials should be seeking ways to protect U.S. citizens, not giving a green light to Israel to do what they want because the U.S. appears to have withdrawn its protection.

The Obama administration did not just voice disapproval of the flotilla, but made veiled threats against U.S. citizens on the ‘Audacity of Hope’, saying their efforts may be violating U.S. law (see ‘Holder vs. The Humanitarian Project) by supposedly “supporting a terrorist organization“. U.S. congressman have stumbled over themselves putting out public statements demonizing flotilla participants and actually putting the security of a foreign power over American lives.

Amnesty International, the organization, takes no position on the flotilla initiative as a tactic, but as a human rights activist myself, I feel the question begs to be asked:

If governments turn their backs on those who have no voice or power; have had their economy decimated, homes destroyed, and basic human rights violated at every turn, including the ability to escape such harsh conditions, then doesn’t civil society have the right, if not obligation, to intercede?

Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Resistance to Civil Government’ argues that when government produces injustice, even disguising injustice behind laws, then it is the duty of every conscientious citizen to resist, disobey, stop the “machine”.

Slavery was once legal and those participating in the Underground Railroad were breaking the law, but today we celebrate Harriet Tubman.  Only a few decades ago, thousands participated in acts of civil disobedience to challenge legalized segregation and Jim Crow laws in the south.  Those civil rights heroes are now our neighbors and elected officials.  These are not new concepts.  When did they become “irresponsible and provocative”?

An even scarier question?

If governments do nothing or even protect immoral, illegal policies perpetrated on a weak, vulnerable population  and civil society is not allowed to challenge these immoral, illegal policies – even through non-violent direct actions, then … what is there left to do?

Gilad Shalit is an Israeli soldier held by the Hamas in Gaza as a bargaining chip to pressure Israel for the release of some of the thousands of Palestinians detained in Israel. © Private

Corporal Gilad Shalit was only 19 years old when he was captured on June 25th 2006 by armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas’s military wing.

He is 24 years old now.  On June 25th, it will be over five years since Aviva and Noam Shalit, Gilad’s parents, have been able to touch their son or speak to him directly – even by mail.  It has been nearly two years since they’ve even seen him on video or received any other proof of life.

“As the days go by, we begin to despair of the day when we will see our son again. I know neither where he is held nor how he fares … or whether he is even alive.”  (Noam Shalit, Gilad Shalit’s father, addressing the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, July 6, 2009)

Hamas, the de facto administration in the Gaza Strip, are holding him in a secret location and using him as a hostage to use as leverage when negotiating with Israel.  But, Hamas is required under international humanitarian law to ensure that he is

• well treated
• held in humane and dignified living conditions
• and allowed to communicate with his family, including through sending and receiving letters.

Treating Gilad Shalit as a hostage is a flagrant violations of these obligations.

Amnesty has been working on Gilad Shalit’s behalf since 2006, with different sections of Amnesty (AIUSA, AI-UK, AI-Ireland, and AI-Canada to list a few) undertaking different initiatives including the mobilization of individual members through letter-writing as well as higher level, behind-the-scenes Amnesty meetings that aren’t advertised publicly.

On this, the end of the 5th year of Gilad’s captivity, Amnesty International is asking activists around the world to sign our petition to Isma’il Haniyeh, Prime Minister of Hamas, urging him to alleviate the suffering of Gilad Shalit and his family by immediately complying with its obligations under international law.

Gilad Shalit’s family continue to campaign tirelessly for his immediate release or some assurance that he is alive and well.  The Hamas authorities though, say they will not release Gilad Shalit without the release of some of the thousands of Palestinians held in Israel.

Amnesty, in its work on behalf of Gilad as well as Palestinian prisoners, continues to reiterate that neither Gilad - nor the Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel – should be used as pawns or bargaining chips. Each prisoner – Israeli or Palestinian – is an individual with basic human rights.  Any violation of international law by Israel or Hamas does not justify Hamas’s treatment of Gilad Shalit or Israel’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners that violates their rights.

Gilad Shalit deserves to be treated as an individual and given his basic human rights as defined under international law.  To act, select to send a letter/email to Hamas through our online action, sign the petition to Isma’il Haniyeh, and/or write a letter to Gilad Shalit himself. Amnesty will deliver these letters of hope and support next fall when they deliver the petition to Hamas authorities.

You can send your letters to Gilad to:
Rachel Campbell
Peter Benenson House
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 0DW