Israeli practices – SpCttee annual report

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE ISRAELI

PRACTICES AFFECTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE POPULATION

OF THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Note by the Secretary-General

The Secretary-General has the honor to transmit to the members of the General Assembly the attached report, which was submitted to him, in accordance with paragraph 12 of Assembly resolution 37/88 C of 10 December 1982, by the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories.

CONTENTS

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

19 August 1983

Sir,

The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories has the honor to transmit to you herewith its fifteenth report, prepared in accordance with General Assembly resolutions concerning the Special Committee and in particular, resolution 2443 (XXIII) of 19 December 1968, by which the Special Committee was established, and resolution 37/88 C of 10 December 1982, the latest resolution by which the General Assembly renewed its mandate.

This report covers the period from 27 August 1982, the date of the adoption of the preceding report, to 19 August 1983.  The report is based on information received by the Special Committee through oral testimony of persons having first-hand experience of the situation in the occupied territories, the monitoring of statements by members of the Government of Israel reflecting the policy of that Government in the occupied territories and reports of measures taken to implement that policy. The Special Committee also received information from organizations on various aspects of the situation in the occupied territories.

The Government of Israel has not changed its position with regard to the Special Committee in spite of the efforts made in that direction. On the other hand, the Special Committee benefited from the co-operation of the Governments of Egypt, Jordan and the Syrian Arab Republic in the carrying out of its mandate.

The report reflects developments in the occupied territories as they affect the human rights of the civilian population. As may be seen from the information reflected in the report, the policy of annexation and settlement continues to be implemented. The number of settlements has continued to increase, land is taken over under a variety of pretexts; and the number of Israeli settlers continues to increase. Parallel to this the day-to-day life of the civilian is rendered more and more difficult through a variety of measures affecting virtually all aspects of life such as liberty, freedom of movement, freedom of expression and academic freedom. Special mention must be made of the increase in the activities of Israeli settlers with regard to the civilian population. The Special Committee is deeply concerned by the impunity with which these settlers conduct themselves which, if allowed to continue, will increase and may constitute a major cause of further bloodshed.

The Special Committee is also deeply concerned by the treatment to which the civilian population of the Golan Heights is subjected, in particular in regard to the efforts made by the Israeli occupation authorities purporting to annex the Syrian Golan Heights. Likewise the Special Committee considers it a matter of major concern that the Palestinians who have been stranded on Egyptian soil in the town of Rafah continue to be denied their right to be repatriated in their homeland.

Perhaps the most illustrative aspect of the situation of the civilians in the occupied territories may be found in the information reflecting the treatment of civilians under detention, which is reflected in chapter IV D of the report.

The Special Committee considers that the situation in the occupied territories continues to deteriorate; the human rights of the civilian population are ignored or sacrificed to the implementation of the policy of annexation and settlement. The concern of the Special Committee is further accentuated by the absence of meaningful action by the international community aimed at ameliorating the situation of the civilian population. The Special Committee reiterates the hope that the international community will exercise its utmost efforts to bring an end to so much human suffering.

Please accept, Sir, on behalf of my colleagues and on my-own behalf, the assurances of our highest consideration.

(Signed)  I. B. FONSEKA

Chairman of the Special Committee

to Investigate Israeli Practices

Affecting the Human Rights of the

population of the Occupied Territories

His Excellency

Mr. Javier Pérez de Cuéllar

Secretary-General of the United Nations

New York, N.Y. 10017

I.  INTRODUCTION

1. The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the occupied Territories was established by the General Assembly in resolution 2443 (XXIII) of 19 December 1968. By that resolution, the Assembly decided to establish the Special Committee, composed of three Member States; requested the President of the Assembly to appoint the members of the Special Committee; requested the Government of Israel to receive the Special Committee, to co-operate with it and to facilitate its work; requested the Special Committee to report to the Secretary-General as soon as possible and whenever the need arose thereafter; and requested the Secretary-General to provide the Special Committee with all the necessary facilities for the performance of its task.

2. The following Member States were appointed on 12 September 1969 to serve on the Special Committee: Somalia, Sri Lanka and Yugoslavia.  The Government of Sri Lanka appointed Mr. H. S. Amerasinghe, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, as its representative on the Special Committee. The Government of Yugoslavia appointed Mr. Borut Bohte, Professor of the Faculty of Law of Ljubljana University and Member of the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia, as its representative on the Special Committee. The Government of Somalia appointed Mr. A. A. Farah, and subsequently Mr. H. Nur-Elmi, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, as its representative on the Special Committee. On 26 April 1974, the President of the General Assembly, at its twenty-eighth session, informed the Secretary-General that Somalia had decided to withdraw from the Special Committee and that, in conformity with paragraph 2 of the General Assembly resolution 2443 (XXIII), he had appointed Senegal a member of the Special Committee. On 30 April 1974, the Permanent Representative of Senegal to the United Nations informed the Secretary-General that his Government had appointed Mr. Keba Mbaye, Chief Justice of Senegal (Premier Président de la Cour suprême du Sénégal), as its representative on the Special Committee. On 21 September 1976, the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations informed the Secretary-General that Mr. H. S. Amerasinghe had resigned from the Special Committee upon his election as President of the General Assembly at its thirty-first session. On 18 February 1977, the Government of Sri Lanka informed the Secretary-General that Mr. V. L. B. Mendis, Sri Lanka High Commissioner to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, would serve on the Special Committee at the meetings at Geneva from 22 February to 1 March 1977.

3. On 26 April 1977, the Government of Sri Lanka informed the Secretary-General that it had appointed Mr. I. B. Fonseka, Deputy Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, as its representative on the special Committee. On 8 July 1977, the Government of Senegal informed the Special Committee that Mr. Keba Mbaye had resigned from the Special Committee and nominated in his stead Mr. Ousmane Goundiam, Procureur général près la Cour suprême, as its representative on the Special Committee.  On 20 July 1978, the Government of Sri Lanka informed the Secretary-General that it had appointed Mr. B. J. Fernando, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, as its representative on the Special Committee. By a note verbale dated 11 September 1979, the Government of Sri Lanka designated Mr. D. R. Perera to attend the meetings of the Special Committee from 10 to 21 September 1979.

4. By a note verbale dated 23 April 1980, the Government of Sri Lanka designated Mr. Nadarajah Balasubramaniam, Ambassador and Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, to represent Sri Lanka at the meetings of the Special Committee from 19 to 30 May 1980.  Mr. Balasubramaniam was named representative of Sri Lanka on the Special Committee by a note verbale dated 14 July 1980.  At the meetings held from 21 to 25 July 1980, Sri Lanka was represented by Mr. K. K. Breckenridge, who had been designated by a note verbale dated 18 July 1980.

5. By a letter dated 16 January 1981, the Government of Yugoslavia notified the Secretariat that it had designated Mr. Becir Meholjic, Chairman of the City Commission for Foreign Affairs in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), as representative of Yugoslavia on the Special Committee.  By a note verbale dated 10 April 1981, the Government of Sri Lanka notified the Secretary-General that it had designated Mr. I. B. Fonseka, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, to represent Sri Lanka on the Special Committee at its meetings from 21 April to 1 May 1981. By a note verbale dated 12 June 1981, the Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka notified the Secretary-General of the nomination of Mr. Fonseka as Sri Lanka representative on the Special Committee. By a note verbale dated 31 August 1981, the Government of Senegal notified the Secretariat that it had designated Mr. Alioune Sene, Ambassador of Senegal in Bern and Permanent Representative of Senegal to the United Nations Office at Geneva, as representative of Senegal on the Special Committee.

6. Since October 1970, the special Committee has submitted 14 reports. 1/  These reports were discussed in the Special Political Committee, which then reported to the General Assembly. 2/  On the recommendation of the Special Political Committee, the Assembly adopted resolutions 2727 (XXV) of 15 December 1970, 2851 (XXVI) of 20 December 1971, 3005 (XXVII) of 15 December 1972, 3092 A and B (XXVIII) of 7 December 1973, 3240 A to C (XXIX) of 29 November 1974, 3525 A to D (XXX) of 15 December 1975, 31/106 A to D of 16 December 1976, 32/91 A to C of 13 December 1977, 33/113 A to C of 18 December 1978, 34/90 A to C of 12 December 1979, 35/122 A to F of 11 December 1980, 36/147 A to G of 16 December 1981 and 37/88 A to G of 10 December 1982.

7. The present report has been prepared in accordance with General Assembly resolutions 2443 (XXIII), 2546 (XXIV), 2727 (XXV), 2851 (XXVI), 3005 (XXVII), 3092 B (XXVIII), 3240 A and C (XXIX), 3525 A and C (XXX),

31/106 C and D, 32/91 B and C, 33/113 C, 34/90 A to C, 35/122 C, 36/147 C and 37/88 C.

II.  ORGANIZATION OF WORK

8. The Special Committee continued its work under the rules of procedure contained in its first report to the Secretary-General. 3/  Mr. I. B. Fonseka (Sri Lanka) continued to act as Chairman.

9. The Special Committee held three series of meetings: its first series of meetings took place from 13 to 15 December 1982 at New York. At those meetings the Committee reviewed its mandate consequent upon the adoption

by the General Assembly of resolution 37/88 C.  It reconfirmed its decision to continue its system of monitoring information on the occupied territories.  The Committee decided, with reference to paragraph 13 of resolution 37/88 C, to continue to pay special attention to information on treatment of civilians in detention.  At these meetings the Special Committee examined information on the situation in the occupied territories for the period commencing with the date of the adoption of its report to the General Assembly (A/37/485) on 27 August 1982.  The Special Committee decided upon the organization of its work for the year.

10. On 17 February 1983, the Special Committee addressed letters to the Permanent Representatives of Jordan and of the Syrian Arab Republic which read as follows:

11. Similar letters were addressed on the same day to the Palestine Liberation Organization and to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

12. By letter dated 24 February 1983, the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations Office at Geneva informed the Chairman of the Special Committee that his letter of 17 February 1983 had been forwarded to the competent Jordanian authorities, "with the request to supply all necessary information in order to assist in the execution of the mandate".

13. On 15 April 1983, the Chairman of the Special Committee addressed the following letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations:

14. On 20 April 1983, the Under-Secretary-General for Political and General Assembly Affairs addressed a letter to the Chairman of the Special Committee, which reads as follows:

15. The Special Committee held a series of meetings at Geneva, Amman, Damascus and Rafah from 30 May to 11 June 1983. At those meetings the Special Committee examined information on developments occurring in the occupied territories between November 1982 and April 1983.  It had before it a number of communications addressed to it by Governments, organizations and individuals in connection with its mandate. The Special Committee examined several letters addressed to it by the Permanent Observer of the Palestine Liberation organization (PLO) at Geneva. In addition, the Special Committee took note of a number of letters addressed to the Secretary-General by the Permanent Representatives of Israel, Jordan and the Syrian Arab Republic on matters related to its report. The Special Committee heard testimony of persons living in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, in regard to the situation in those territories.

16. In Damascus the Special Committee conducted consultations with His Excellency Mr. H. Kelani on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic in regard to the situation of the occupied Syrian territory.

17. The Permanent Representative of Egypt transmitted the request of his Government to the Special Committee to visit the Arab Republic of Egypt, in the course of the mission that it was undertaking at that time, to investigate Israeli practices regarding Palestinian refugees in Egypt.  The Special Committee accordingly visited Rafah, Egypt, on 10 June 1983 to undertake hearings to investigate the practices referred to by the Government of Egypt.

18. The Special Committee convened again from 8 August to 19 August 1983.  In the course of its meetings it examined communications addressed to the Special Committee or referred to it concerning the situation in the occupied territories, including petitions addressed to the Secretary-General and to the Committee by civilians in the occupied territories concerning their plight resulting from certain measures taken by the occupation authorities. The Committee considered information on the occupied territories from May to July 1983 and records of testimony heard in the course of its previous series of meetings.  The Committee considered and adopted a draft report reflecting the situation of human rights in the occupied territories during the period since the date of the adoption of its last report on 19 August 1983 contained in the present document.

III.  MANDATE

19. The General Assembly, in its resolution 2443 (XXIII) entitled "Respect for and implementation of human rights in occupied territories", decided to establish a Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the occupied Territories, composed of three Member States.

20. The mandate of the Special Committee, as set out in the above resolution, was "to investigate Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the population of the occupied territories".

21. In interpreting its mandate, the Special Committee determined that:

(a) The territories to be considered as occupied territories referred to the areas under Israeli occupation, namely, the Golan Heights, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula.  Following the implementation of the Egyptian-Israeli Agreement on Disengagement of Forces of 18 January 1974 and the Agreement on Disengagement between Israeli and Syrian Forces of 31 May 1974, the demarcation of the areas under occupation was altered as indicated in the maps attached to those agreements. The areas of Egyptian territory under Israeli military occupation were further modified in accordance with the Treaty of Peace between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel which was signed on 26 March 1979 and which came into force on 25 April 1979.  On 25 April 1982, the Egyptian territory remaining under Israeli military occupation was restituted to the Government of Egypt in accordance with the provisions of the aforementioned agreement. Thus, for the purposes of the present report, the territories to be considered as occupied territories are those remaining under Israeli occupation, namely, the Golan Heights, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and the Gaza Strip;

(b) The persons covered by resolution 2443 (XXIII) and therefore the subject of the investigation of the Special Committee were the civilian population residing in the areas occupied as a result of the hostilities of June 1967 and those persons normally resident in the areas that were under occupation but who had left those areas because of the hostilities.  However, the Committee noted that resolution 2443 (XXIII) referred to the "population" without any qualification as to any segment of the inhabitants of the occupied territories;

(c) The "human rights" of the population of the occupied territories consisted of two elements, namely, those rights which the Security Council referred to as "essential and inalienable human rights" in its resolution 237 (1967) of 14 June 1967 and, secondly, those rights which found their basis in the protection afforded by international law in particular circumstances such as military occupation and, in the case of prisoners of war, capture. In accordance with General Assembly resolution 3005 (XXVII), the Special Committee was also required to investigate allegations concerning the exploitation and the looting of the resources of the occupied territories; the pillaging of the archaeological and cultural heritage of the occupied territories; and interference in the freedom of worship in the Holy Places of the occupied territories;

(d) The "policies" and "practices" affecting human rights that came within the scope of investigation by the Special Committee referred, in the case of "policies", to any course of action consciously adopted and pursued by the Government of Israel as part of its declared or undeclared intent) while "practices" referred to those actions which, irrespective of whether or not they were in implementation of a policy, reflected a pattern of behavior on the part of the Israeli authorities towards the Arab population in the occupied areas.

22. Since its inception the Special Committee has relied on the following international instruments in interpreting and carrying out its mandate:

(a) The Charter of the United Nations;

(b) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

(c) The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949; 4/

(d) The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, of 12 August 1949; 5/

(e) The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, of 14 May 1954; 6/

(f) The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land; 7/

(g) The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 8/

23. The Special Committee has also relied on those resolutions relevant to the situation of civilians in the occupied territories adopted by United Nations organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and the Commission on Human Rights, as well as the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization.

IV.  INFORMATION AND EVIDENCE BEFORE THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE

24. In the course of carrying out its mandate, the Special Committee has taken note of information reaching it through a variety of sources, such as individuals, organizations and Governments. At its meetings, the Committee had before it several communications addressed to it, directly or referred to it by the Secretary-General, from sources inside the occupied territories, as well as from several parts of the world. Where necessary, the Committee has followed up information contained in these communications.

25. The Special Committee has taken particular care to rely on information that has not been contradicted by the Government of Israel or that is commonly considered as reliable by that Government.

26. The Special Committee has relied on the following sources:

(a) The testimony of persons with first-hand knowledge of the situation of the population in the occupied territories;

(b) Reports in the Israeli press of pronouncements by responsible persons in the Government of Israel;

(c) Reports appearing in other news media, including the Arab language press published in the occupied territories in Israel and the international press;

(d) Reports submitted to it by Governments, non-governmental bodies and individuals on the situation in the occupied territories.

27. The Special Committee undertook a series of hearings at Geneva, Amman, Damascus and Rafah during its meetings from 30 May to 11 June 1983.  At these hearings, the Committee heard the testimony of persons themselves living in the occupied territories having a first-hand knowledge of the human rights situation existing in those territories. The large majority of these persons were heard in closed meetings; others testified in public meeting. These testimonies are contained in documents A/AC.145/RT.361, 361/Add.1, 362, 363, 363/Add.1, 364, 367, 368, 368/Add.1, 369 and 370. The following paragraphs reflect the information received by the Special Committee. They are subdivided by subject matter as follows:

A.  Information on the policy followed by the Government of Israel in the

occupied territories

28. According to documents submitted to the Central Command military court by a defense lawyer at the trial of a major and six soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces who were accused of assaulting and maltreating Arab students in Hebron, in March 1982 (see also under "Judicial Remedies"), Chief of Staff, General Rafael Eitan, recommended that the Israeli Defense Forces, the general Security Service and the Co-ordinator of Activities in the Administered Territories demand "punishment by expulsion" to curb the widespread unrest, at that period, in the West Bank.  Other instructions issued by General Eitan, in a memorandum published in April 1982, included harassing suspected inciters and stone-throwers with repeated and arbitrary arrests, punishing parents and using collective punishments such as-curfews and economic sanctions against troublesome villages.  General Eitan reportedly suggested that a "detention/exile camp" be built, "even if it does not have the conditions of a normal prison", where detainees were to be kept until their investigation. (A camp for teenage detainees had since been built at Fara'a, near Nablus.)  General Eitan's memorandum contained, inter alia, the following recommendations: "to arrest sparingly according to the number of places available in the prisons". "Inciters are to be dealt with forcefully and detained at every opportunity." "One must construct a camp urgently and use the legal facilities permitting detention for questioning (without trial) for the period stipulated … [18 days] … release for a day or two and then renewed arrest (harassment)". "The residents of the Jewish settlements have to carry arms and open fire when they are attacked.  This should be made clear and publicized among the Arab residents."  General Eitan was subsequently reported as stating that his directives were "in keeping with the law", and that none of the measures he had recommended were illegal. General Eitan, who later gave evidence before the military court, acknowledged having issued the instructions and, referring to his instruction to punish parents for their children's acts, confirmed that such an instruction was useful – "it works well with Arabs", General Eitan said. (Jerusalem Post, 20, 21 January – Ha'aretz, 20, 26 January, 10 February 1983)

29. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Yitzhak Shamir, declared, at a Knesset debate on the situation in the administered territories, that Israel "did not conquer the territories from their legal owners, but liberated them from countries that conquered them in 1948.  We have not 'annexed' them, and we shall not 'annex' them. They are part of Eretz Yisrael, and what is part of your country you do not annex". (Jerusalem Post, 3 March 1983)

30. It was reported that a "more varied" punitive policy towards Arab rioters in the West Bank was being implemented, under the guidance of the Defense Minister, Mr. Moshe Arens. Under the new policy both rioters and their families and environment are affected by penalties. Thus, military courts have started imposing particularly heavy fines on youths convicted of stone throwing. In the case of a township where youths had rioted and adults did nothing to stop them, penalties included a temporary ban on the renewal of driving and vehicles, licenses. Other penalties that had hitherto been rarely imposed would henceforth be resorted to more often: such as restrictions on transit of goods and people through the Jordan bridges and the imposition of long curfews. It was, nevertheless, reported that the new policy did not include such penalties as harassment, mass arrests or mass trials. According to another report, the security forces were considering adopting a policy that would regard stone-throwing as equal to the use of fire-arms. The penalties imposed on stone-throwers would thus include the sealing of their homes. (Ma'ariv, 7 March; Ha'aretz, 8 March 1983)

31. The Chief of Staff, General Moshe Levi, has recently ordered changing or canceling some of the instructions issued by his predecessor, General Rafael Eitan, regarding the treatment of Arabs in the West Bank. The order was given after the Judge Advocate-General, Dov Shefi, had issued a long legal opinion (at the request of Mr. Amnon Rubinstein, a member of the Knesset) according to which General Eitan's instructions "did not stand the test of legality"; that they could be misinterpreted and could therefore lead to illegal acts. Shefi recommended that some of the instructions should be amended. General Levi accepted the recommendation and instructed the Judge Advocate-General to "amend the instructions which had to be amended". Asked about the amended instruction, the spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces refused to answer and said that the amendments and the instructions were an "internal affair of the army". (Ha'aretz, 13 May 1983)

32. The Israeli Television reported that the Chief of Staff, General Moshe Levi, and the Central Region Commander, Aluf Uri Orr, have advised that the Government set guidelines which will enable the security forces to deport perpetrators of disturbances in the West Bank and Gaza.  The two generals reportedly also recommended, in a report to the Defense Minister, Mr. Moshe Arens, that those not deported should be given deterrent sentences, since military court fines are paid by PLO. Another suggestion was that police strength in the territories be increased, and that all Border Police stationed at the country's ports be transferred there.  But it was later reported that the Ministry of Defense denied that any report recommending the introduction of stringent action into the West Bank had been submitted to the Minister for Defense or to the Chief of Staff.  Senior military sources reportedly denied that they were "backtracking" from their position because of the unfavorable publicity generated by the report.  "No new guidelines have been set, and no policy recommendations have been issued", the sources said. (Jerusalem Post, 19 and 20 May; Ha'aretz, 19 May 1983)

33. The Attorney-General, Mr. Yitzhak Zamir, reportedly issued new directives concerning the practice of administrative detention in Israel.  According to these directives, administrative detention, which was described as an "extreme preventive measure", should only be used when real danger to the State existed. Under the new directives the Minister for Defense is empowered to place a suspect under administrative detention for a period of six months, but his order must be approved by a district court judge, who is empowered to cancel or shorten the period of detention.  The six-month period is renewable, and the extension must also be approved by a judge. In his directives the Attorney-General noted that Israeli law did not apply in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where local military governors have the power to detain under the terms of the Geneva Convention, but he recommended that his directives should be observed there also. (Jerusalem Post, 22 December 1982)

34. A special team has recently been set up in the Central Region Command of the Israeli Defense Forces in order to examine the Forces reactions and modes of action in view of the recent wave of disorder in the West Bank.  The team has been set up at the request of the Minister for Defense, who asked military officials to submit to him conclusions and recommendations regarding the means the Israeli Defense Forces should take in order to bring an end to the recurrent disturbances in the West Bank. In a related development it was reported that the Central Region Commander, Aluf Uri Orr, had rejected a request by representatives of the West Bank settlements to expel youths caught after stone-throwing. Aluf Orr told the settlers that the Israeli Defense Forces would continue to-act according to the law "with all its constraints and restrictions", and that there would therefore be no expulsion of youths nor administrative detentions. (Ha'aretz, 18 March 1983)

35. Israeli military authorities issued a new military order allowing Israeli-appointed municipal committees to continue to run West Bank municipalities indefinitely. Military order No. 1049 was issued by the military commander of the central region, Aluf Uri Orr, five days before the first anniversary of the sacking of the El Bireh municipality. The new order, in effect, cancels section 8 of the Jordanian municipal law, which stipulates that new elections must be held within one year from the date of dissolving a municipal council. (Al Fajr, 25 March 1983)

36. The Ha'aretz military correspondent reported an increase in the number of terrorist acts and disturbances in the West Bank in the period from April 1982 to March 1983. The increase in the number of terrorist acts during that period was 69 per cent, compared with the previous year, and that of disturbances, 79 per cent. (Ha'aretz, 17 May 1983)

37. Senior security officials directly involved in the administration of the West Bank recommended to the Minister for Defense, Mr. Moshe Arens, to reunite the civil administration and the military government in the region, owing to the failure of the separation of the two authorities "to come up to the expectations" of those who promoted it. According to this report, the separation between the civil administration and the military government has, contrary to all expectations, further complicated the already complex relations between local Arabs and the Israeli representatives.  In the past, Arab public figures knew that there was one address for their claims, whereas at present they are running between two addresses and this fact is prejudicial to the administration of the region, both from the security and the civilian viewpoints.  It is therefore suggested to go back to the situation which existed two years ago, when the commander of the region was in charge of both security and civilian matters, but was subordinated, with regard to both spheres, to the regional commander of the Israeli Defense Forces and to the Co-ordinator of Activities in the territories. (Ma'ariv, 24 May)

38. A ministerial committee headed by the Minister for Defense, Mr. Moshe Arens, has begun to re-evaluate law enforcement in the territories, following the revelations of the report drafted by deputy Attorney-General Yehudit Karp on incidents involving Jewish settlers in the West Bank.  A statement issued after the meeting said the committee will discuss "law enforcement regarding all residents of Judea and Samaria". Such a step has long been urged by officials in the Justice Ministry and the police, who have said that the legal status of the territories has "handcuffed" law-enforcement agencies that operate inside the State of Israel. Some officials of the Ministry of Justice believe that Israel can-impose its own criminal law in the territories without annexing them. It was reported that the participants in the meeting – the Minister for Defense, Mr. Arens, Minister for the Interior, Mr. Burg, the Minister for Justice, Mr. Nissim, the Attorney-General, Mr. Yitzhak Zamir, the Chief of Staff, General Levy, and the Police Inspector-General, Ivtzan, stressed the urgent need to increase considerably the staff and the budget for carrying out investigations against settlers suspected of committing criminal offences against local Arabs. The participants also emphasized the need to tighten the co-operation between the Israeli Defense Forces, the police and the General Security Service, the bodies responsible for carrying out investigations in the territories. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 17 June)

39. The Minister for Defense, Mr. Moshe Arens, said in an interview to the Los Angeles Times, published on 24 July, that "Israeli sovereignty will eventually be applied in Judea and Samaria and it will then be necessary to allow the residents of the areas to become Israeli citizens".  (Yediot Aharonot, 25 July)

40. The Chief of Staff, General Moshe Levy, reportedly rejected suggestions that settlers in the West Bank be disarmed or that regulations governing when they may use their weapons be changed. The settlers need the weapons for their personal protection and "a decision not to give them arms would be an extreme one", he said, adding nevertheless that people who abuse the situation by opening fire illegally should be punished. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 28 July)

B.  Information on the situation in the occupied territories

41. The information under this heading has been further subdivided as follows:

1.  Information on treatment of civilians in general

42. In the wake of the massacre of Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, in Beirut, wide-scale protest demonstrations and strikes were reported from West Bank and Gaza Strip towns and refugee camps as well as from East Jerusalem. A three-day mourning period was generally observed from 20 to 22 September 1982. Scores of youths were detained for interrogation. Many stone-throwing incidents were reported and on several occasions soldiers fired shots into the air to disperse demonstrators. A 34-year old man was reportedly wounded in the legs in Nablus. Curfews were imposed in the old city area of Nablus and in the refugee camps of Balata, Askar Qalangiya and Jalazun. (Ha'aretz, 21, 22, 23 and 28 September 1982; Jerusalem Post, 21 and 22 September 1982; Al Fajr, 24 September 1982)

43. The Israeli authorities allowed residents of the Balata refugee camp to leave for Amman after a ban that lasted nearly one month. (Al Fajr, 15 October 1982)

44. A "preventive curfew" was imposed on 4 December on the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, to ward off any possibility of rioting on the fortieth day after the killing of a local youth by an Israeli settler. (Ha'aretz, 7 December 1982)

45. The Israeli army imposed a curfew on the village of Azzawiya while an armed unit destroyed the house of Othman Hamdan and closed the house of his brother Omar Hamdan. The two brothers were arrested and accused of PLO affiliation. (Al Fajr, 10 December 1982)

46. The Israeli military authorities reportedly carried out a massive campaign of arrests in various areas of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  According to the report, hundreds of West Bank residents received notices ordering them to go to the military headquarters in their cities, from where they were taken, the next day, to the Fara'a prison compound near Jenin.  Arrests were reported in Bethlehem, Beit Sahur, Beit Jala, Dheisheh, Khader, Arqoub, Hebron, Nablus, Tulkarm, Jalazun and Khan-Yunis.  The people from Jalazun refugee camp were reportedly taken to the Ramallah prison compound.  The detainees reportedly included labour union activists, journalists, writers and poets.  (Al Fajr, 7 January 1983)

47. The Israeli military authorities, on 20 December 1982, lifted the town-arrest orders which had been imposed on three Palestinian figures in August 1980 restricting them to their home town of El Bireh.  The three are Ibrahim Tawil, the elected mayor of El Bireh; Samiha Khalil, head of the Family Rehabilitation Society, and Bashir Barghouti, Chief Editor of the newspaper A-Talia.  (Al Fajr, 24 December 1982)

48. It was reported from Hebron that the military authorities had imposed a fourth consecutive six-month administrative town-arrest order on trade unionist Mahmoud Ziyadal. (Al Fajr, 7 January 1983)

49. A town-arrest order against Mr. Ibrahim Dakkak of East Jerusalem, who is Chairman of the West Bank Engineers Association, was renewed on 1 January 1983 for six additional months, for the third consecutive time. The order overlaps another order, issued in August 1980, indefinitely prohibiting him from travelling in the West Bank. A second town-arrest order was issued against Abed Abu-Diab, a consultant for the Jerusalem District Electricity Company. Abu-Diab, a resident of East Jerusalem, has been under restriction for one year. (Jerusalem Post, 7 January, Ha'aretz, 9 January 1983)

50. Arab workers from the Gaza Strip who have been living in two labour camps near the communal settlements of Mishmeret and Herut, north of Tel Aviv, were reportedly expected to be evicted by border police. Controversy over the labour camps arose over a week ago, when the Ministry of Agriculture informed the two "moshavim" (communal settlements) that if they did not stop the improper use of State land by letting "foreigners" sleep there, the Ministry could confiscate the land they cultivated and cut off their irrigation centre.  A spokesman for the Moshavim movement, to which the two settlements belong, compared the labour camps to Soweto the black workers' ghetto outside Johannesburg – and said his movement would not allow its members to set up such camps for Arab workers.  It was reported that thousands of agricultural workers from Gaza were living in the Sharon area, north of Tel Aviv, under leaky roofs and with minimal sanitary conditions. Local farmers rejected the suggestion that the workers travel to Gaza every night, claiming that the round trip took five hours every day and that many workers would stop coming to work in such conditions. (Jerusalem Post, 19 December 1982)

51. The travel ban imposed in October 1982 on the residents of Balata and Askar refugee camps, near Nablus, and the neighbouring areas was lifted. (Al Fajr, 14 January 1983)

52. The Military Department of the Interior in the Gaza Strip issued orders to clubs and societies in the area banning meetings, groups, parties or exhibitions without prior permission. The orders also apply to annual general meetings.

(Al Fajr, 14 January 1983)

53. The Israeli military government ordered the Khan Yunis municipal council not to issue building licenses to more than 100 families who live in the refugee camps of the Gaza Strip, in the Hai al-Amal (government) residential project. These families in the camps had their houses demolished by the authorities and later were offered pieces of land in the residential project. (Al Fajr, 24 December 1982)

54. Israeli forces entered the Dheisheh refugee camp and reportedly forced about 200 persons to stand on a mountain close to the camp.  During this time the soldiers reportedly insulted the residents and arrested many of them. Women from the camp held a sit-in strike in front of the local mosque protesting the curfew which was imposed on the camp and the detention of their children.  A curfew was also imposed on the Balata refugee camp near Nablus. (Al Fajr, 7 January 1983)

55. Twenty-four Palestinian workers from Gaza was arrested in Nazareth for sleeping in the town without permits, in infringement of Israeli military regulations that forbid West Bank and Gaza Strip residents from sleeping overnight in pre-1967 Israel.  Policy took the workers back to Gaza where they will face trial.  (Jerusalem Post, 23 January; Al Fajr, 28 January 1983).

56. A decision was reportedly taken to set up in the West Bank a body similar to the "Green-Patrol" in Israel, in order to solve the problem of co-ordinating the supervision of illegal construction by Arabs on State land or in areas designed for Jewish settlement. The civil administration's staff officer in charge of natural reserves will reportedly co-ordinate the supervision activities, as well as reporting and dealing with those undertaking illegal construction activities. This decision does not affect the supervisors acting on behalf of the Jewish councils in the West Bank, who are expected to continue acting independently. (Ha'aretz, 27 January 1983)

57. The Israeli authorities confiscated herds of sheep in several .closed. area.in the West Bank.  Fines for recovery of the flocks are levied at JD 3-5 (app. $10 to $17) per head. (Al Fajr, 11 February 1983)

58. According to Histadrut (the Israeli Confederation of Trade Unions) officials, thousands of Arab construction workers are living in "inhuman" conditions in Eilat. At one building site visited by the Histadrut officials, "there were 300 workers eating in a building designed for 60".  Apart from two sites, all the places visited were "beneath criticism", and safety conditions were described as bad.  (Jerusalem Post, 28 February 1983)

59. The Israeli authorities imposed an administrative town-arrest order on the dentist, Azmi Shuaibi, member of the El Bireh municipal council, for a period of six months. (Al Fajr, 21 January 1983)

60. The military authorities in Tulkarm summoned Sheikh Nassouh Abbas Barham Al-Ramieh, former religious teacher in Tulkarm secondary school, who was forced to retire, and informed him of the renewal of his town arrest for a further six months. (Al Fajr, 21 January 1983)

61. The military governor of the Tulkarm area extended the restriction order imposed on the mayor of Qalqilya. Under the order issued, Amin El-Nasser is prohibited from leaving his town for a further six-month period. The restriction order was explained by security reasons. (Ha'aretz, 27 January 1983)

62. The Israeli authorities have given permission for the heads of the Beitunia, Silwad and Bir Zeit municipalities to travel to Amman. They have been forbidden to leave the West Bank for the past year. Permission has also been given to a number of Silwad residents to obtain permits to leave the West Bank. (Al Fajr, 28 January 1983)

63. A six-months restriction order was issued against Mr. Sami Saidi, a lecturer in the A-Najah University in Nablus. Under the order, which was explained by security reasons, Mr. Saidi is prohibited from leaving Nablus and has to report daily to the police.  (Ha'aretz, 30 January 1983)

64. The Israeli authorities have renewed the town-arrest order on Hassan Barghouti, former secretary of the Union of Restaurant and Hotel Workers, for the seventh consecutive time.  He also has to report daily to the El Bireh police station.  The order is renewed for six months. (Al Fajr, 4 February 1983)

65. Security forces imposed a curfew in the old market (casbah) in Nablus for several hours yesterday to enable the restoration of gates torn down during a demonstration in.the town a few days earlier.  The gates were built to prevent gangs of youths from darting out of the warren-like alleys of the casbah to stone the Israeli Defence Forces patrols.  (Jerusalem Post, 25 January 1983)

66. Representatives of national institutions in the Hebron district reportedly held a meeting in Hebron on 22 March to discuss the emergency situation facing villages and schools following increased reports of food shortages in Halhul and Dhahiriya which have been under curfew for over 15 days. The refugee camps of Deheysheh and Jalazun also remained under curfew, following the wave of unrest during the visit of former United States President, Mr. Jimmy Carter, to the area.  Three universities and 13 schools in the West Bank remained closed for an indefinite time. Some 200 Israeli soldiers reportedly erected a camp and a mobile headquarters in the yard of the Halhul secondary school. Israeli troops reportedly encircled the camps of Deheysheh and Jalazun.  It was later reported that the two-week curfew imposed on Halhul and Dhahiriya was lifted, but that the curfew imposed on Qabatiya, in the Jenin district, following the shooting of a 14-year old boy by a member of the .village league", continued for the fourth consecutive day.  According to one report, the curfew imposed on the Jalazun refugee camp since 30 March resembled a siege, residents were forbidden to go out or even to open windows for fresh air.  Those found outside their homes were fined up to 80,000 Israel shekels. The report alleges that a number of recent deaths in Jalazun have been confirmed, and mentions in particular Jamal Ahmad Sa'ud who was allegedly caught outside, detained for hours and beaten.  His spine was allegedly broken and he died.  According to the report, his family was not allowed to hold the required religious rites for the deceased. (Al Fajr, 25 March, 1 April 1983)

67. The High Court of Justice ruled that the military government may levy value added tax on residents of the administered territories. The Court said that there was no absolute prohibition on the imposition of new taxes in a conquered territory, and that this could be done if economics and security called for it and if the money levied was used solely for the welfare of the residents of the conquered territory.  The appellants, a number of West Bank and Gaza inhabitants, had argued that the imposition in 1976 of a value added tax in the territories was illegal, under the provisions of the Hague and the Geneva Conventions. The State Attorney's office, presenting the military government's case, had argued that the value added tax was imposed in the territories in 1976 at the same time as in Israel proper to avoid harm to the economic relations between Israel and the territories. It was later reported that the Union of Chambers of Commerce of the West Bank, at a meeting in Nablus, decided to defy the High Court's decision and to prepare a document stating their opposition to the tax. (Jerusalem Post, 11, 27 April)

68. The travel restrictions that had been imposed on the residents of Ya'abad during the month of March were lifted on 9 April and local residents may travel to Jordan. (Al Fajr, 15 April)

69. The civil administration, on 26 April, barred the deposed mayor of El Bireh, Ibrahim Tawil, from travelling to Jordan. An administration spokesman said it was for security reasons. (Jerusalem Post, 27 April)

70. The measures taken to isolate the town of Yatta, in the Hebron area, were lifted on 20 April, after 18 days.  On 2 April the following village was placed under curfew and entry and exit were forbidden, following cases of alleged poisoning in the local girls' school. The curfew lasted 10 days but entry and exit remained forbidden for a further eight days. (Al Fajr, 22 April)

71. Five youths from Dhahiriya who were found guilty of throwing stones at the car in which an Israeli woman, Esther Ohana, was travelling in February, causing her death, were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 11 to 13 years.  The military court in Ramallah ruled that the offence was a serious one and called stones "as dangerous as bullets". The security forces had earlier sealed the five youths' homes in Dhahiriya. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 11 May 1983)

72. Abd El-Aziz Shahin, known as Abu-Ali, who had served a 15-year prison term for security offences, has recently been ordered to move from his home town, Rafah, to a remote area near the Egyptian border. Shahin had earlier been restricted to his town for several months following his release from jail.  Under the order which was issued by the military governor of the Rafah area, Mr. Shahin was prohibited from leaving his home in the remote area of Dhahaniya from 5 pm to 8 am.  He is banned from meeting with people, including his wife and children, unless authorized by the military commander, and is also banned from "passing information".  Military sources acknowledged the fact that Shahin was deported for three months and said that the measure was taken for security reasons. (Ha'aretz, 16 May 1983)

73. Under a new order signed by the Central Region Commander, Aluf Uri Orr, local tribunals in the West Bank will no longer have any jurisdiction over land matters.  Under this new order a committee – comprising one Arab magistrate and two representatives of the military government, dealing, respectively, with property tax and with lands – is to be set up and to have the exclusive power to consider any matter regarding land for which a registration application has been submitted.  The local tribunals "shall not consider any objection to registration applications, nor shall they consider any other matter regarding any land for which a registration application has been submitted.  Local tribunals shall not be competent to issue any interim injunctions or any other orders and decisions regarding such lands". (Ha'aretz, 28 July)

74. A number of persons appearing before the Special Committee described conditions of life in the occupied territories. Dr. Walid Mustapha presented the Special Committee with a written account of the frequency and duration of curfews applied in the occupied territories during the period 1 June 1982 to 1 June 1983 (A/AC.145/RT.363/Add.l). According to Dr. Mustapha's statement, 82 curfew orders were issued, applying mainly to areas of large urban agglomerations including Palestinian refugee camps.  Curfews lasted several days and, in some cases, several weeks. Dr. Mustapha's statement, which was corroborated by several persons who still live in the occupied territories, affirms that civilians are subjected to harsh treatment during the curfews.  Several instances were reported of troops harassing the population.  The following is stated by Dr. Mustapha as an illustration of the behaviour of Israeli soldiers during the curfew:

75. Several witnesses, including academics teaching at higher institutions, confirmed that Palestinians are systematically subjected to humiliating treatment by Israeli troops.  No aspect of daily life was free from constant interference and harassment by military authorities. It was stated, however, that these indignities only contributed to strengthen the determination of the civilian population to resist the occupation.

76. Another witness from a village in the Hebron area described the measure of reprisals to which he and his family had been subjected after refusing to influence persons living in his village in favour of the "village leagues", established by the military authorities as part of its policy of substituting Municipal Councils elected by popular vote.  The Municipal Councils of Nablus, Jenin, Ramallah and Hebron had already been removed and replaced by nominees of the military government.

77. Among cases drawn to the attention of the Special Committee is that of Mr. Bassam Shaka'a who complained to the Special Committee that a military detachment assigned purportedly to protect him from further attempts on his life (the perpetrators not yet having been found, of the assassination attempt in 1980 that resulted in the loss of Mr. Shaka'a's legs) was in fact severely curtailing his freedom of movement and harassing him and members of his family as well as friends and associates in his daily life.  Mr. Shaka'a expressed serious fears of further physical danger at the hands of these soldiers.

78. On 15 May 1983, Mr. Bassam Shaka'a transmitted a statement to the Special Committee through his lawyer, Mrs. Felicia Langer, in which he expressed fear of further violence against him.  In particular, Mr. Shaka'a complained that the military detachment which was assigned to protect him constituted, in fact, a threat to his safety and an unbearable interference in his private life and that of his family and friends (A/AC.145/R.257).

79. The civil administration prevented two West Bank and three Israeli journalists from visiting the deposed mayor of Nablus, Mr. Bassam Shaka'a.  A border police patrol, which has been permanently stationed outside Mr. Shaka'a's home since he lost his legs in a bomb attack two years ago, and which has been accompanying him wherever he went and preventing him from leaving Nablus, allegedly for his protection, kept the reporters waiting for half an hour and then informed them that the military government would not allow them to see the mayor.  Sources in the civil administration said this was "for reasons of security".  Military sources were reported as saying privately that Mr. Shaka'a was suspected of being behind the unrest in the town and that it was for that reason that his contacts with former associates and journalists were being kept to a minimum.  Mr. Shaka'a told a journalist that for the past three months the military patrol had not allowed him to leave his home and that, in effect, he was under a house arrest without an official order. It was also reported that Mr. Shaka'a's daughter had been prevented from travelling to the United States of America to complete her studies unless she signed an undertaking not to have contacts with the PLO.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 8 October; Al Fajr, 15 October 1982)

80. A senior military source confirmed that the 24-hour border police guard imposed on the deposed Mayor of Nablus, Bassam Shaka'a, since he lost his legs in a bomb attack in June 1980, has recently been withdrawn.  The deposed mayor had complained that the border police guard was, in effect, designed to prevent him from leaving Nablus and to intimidate people who came to see him.  The military source said that the guards had been posted to protect Shaka'a's life, and since his life was no longer in danger the guard was no longer necessary.  (Jerusalem Post, 4 March, Ha'aretz, 7 March 1983)

81. The Special Committee was seized with a report prepared by the Ministry for Occupied Territories Affairs of the Government of Jordan dated 12 April 1983, covering the period February 1982 to February 1983 and containing information on principal Israeli practices in the occupied territories affecting the civilian population.  The report gives data on general conditions prevailing in the occupied territories as well as information on expropriations and settlements in the occupied territories.

(a) Recent events in Hebron

82. The Mayor of Hebron, Mustafa Natshe, has complained to the Minister for Defence, Mr. Moshe Arens, that a barbed wire fence put up by the army has split the town in two.  The fence was erected after a home-made grenade was thrown towards Beit Romano, in the Jewish quarter of the town.  No one was injured by the grenade, but the army erected the fence, closing off the bus station. Eight of the leaders of the renewed Jewish settlement in Hebron have been striking inside the local military government compound to demand Natshe's dismissal. They hold him responsible for the "anti-Jewish violence" in the town. The Minister for Defence, Mr. Arens, who later visited Hebron, was reported as telling the strikers that their action was "ridiculous". (Jerusalem Post, 23 and 24 June, Ha'aretz, 23 June)

83. A bus owned by an Arab company was reportedly set on fire on the night of 29 June in the village of Al Arub, near Hebron, several hours after an Egged bus carrying Jewish settlers was stoned on the main road nearby.  Two Israeli women were slightly injured.  Jewish settlers later reportedly claimed responsibility for the arson in retribution for the earlier stoning.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 1 July 1983)

84. Late on the night of 30 June, unknown persons uprooted three electricity pylons belonging to the Hebron municipality.  A report on Israel radio later said that settlers from Kiryat-Arba had claimed responsibility.  On 1 July a home-made grenade was thrown at a military vehicle in the centre of Hebron. No one was injured. The army closed off the area by sealing streets with barbed wire, and detained a number of suspects.  The Mayor of Hebron, Mustafa Natshe, published notices in the East Jerusalem press on 2 July alleging that settlers were trying to pressure him to cancel a petition to the High Court of Justice in which he had won an interim injunction. Mr. Natshe is challenging the jurisdiction of Kiryat-Arba over areas he maintains are and always have been within Hebron's jurisdiction.  It was further reported that the Kiryat-Arba leaders who met to discuss the security situation decided to inform the Prime Minister and the Minister for Defence that they held Mr. Natshe responsible for the atmosphere "which creates terror in the town". (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, Yediot Aharonot, 3 July 1983)

85. Late on the night of 2 July an Arab-owned bus parked in the centre of Hebron was destroyed by fire. The arson occurred soon after attacks on Israeli vehicles.  Kiryat-Arba settlers were the first sources for the Israel radio report on the incident, they stressed the proximity of the attack on the Israeli vehicle and the burning of the bus.  It was also reported that leaders of Kiryat-Arba had said on 3 July that some 60 electric pylons set up by the Hebron municipality near the Jewish settlement were illegal, and that all the settlement's complaints to the military government on this score have been to no avail.  In another development it was reported that, following a grenade attack on a military vehicle on 1 July, the army had imposed a "closure. on a section of the main street in Hebron, forcing dozens of shops in the area to be closed.  On 7 July it was reported that the "closure" was lifted.  (Jerusalem Post, 4 and 7 July, Ha'aretz, 4 and 6 July 1983)

86. A 19-year-old student of the "Shavey-Hevron" yeshiva, Aharon Gross, located in the Romano house in the centre of Hebron, was stabbed to death on 7 July by a group of three or four Arabs, while waiting opposite the Hebron market for a vehicle from Kiryat-Arba. The town was immediately placed under curfew and local sources reported that soldiers fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd that gathered.  Reinforcements were moved into the city to help in the search for the attackers and ensure calm. They were apparently taken by surprise when Jews vented their rage on stores and vehicles in the area of the attack.  Dozens of stores were set on fire by angry settlers.  Later that day a spokesman for the Israeli Defence Forces announced that the Central Region Commander, Aluf Uri Or, dismissed from their posts the appointed Mayor of Hebron, Mustafa Abdel Nabi Natshe and the town's municipal council. The Israeli Defence Forces spokesman's announcement said that Mr. Natshe and his councillors "abetted the violence by their words and actions".  It noted that they had also boycotted the civil administration. The mayor and the councillors were also accused of "illegalities and irregularities" in the administration of the town. Before the announcement of his dismissal as Mayor, Mr. Natshe had condemned the attack on the yeshiva student.  "Such acts create disturbances and instability.  Violence does not serve the inhabitants but rather makes life tenser", he said.  Rabbi Moshe Levinger, the founder of Kiryat-Arba, and other local settlers had been holding a sit-in strike opposite the Hebron military government compound, insisting on the removal of Mr. Natshe whom they accuse of being a PLO agent and responsible for the violence.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 8 July 1983)

87. On 10 July it was reported that tension continued to run high in Hebron and that the town remained under curfew.  Investigators were reportedly trying to establish why soldiers and police on duty had not been able to prevent widespread retaliatory arson by Jewish settlers following the murder of the yeshiva student, Aharon Gross.  Ninety per cent of the market stalls and several stores were reportedly destroyed in that operation.  A meeting of settlement leaders in the Gush Etzion area, held on 8 July, decided to emphasize that the settlers see the army as solely responsible for their safety in the territories. At the same time, the settlers were reportedly demanding that the Government bypass an injunction issued by the High Court of Justice at the request of the Hebron municipality barring further demolition of old buildings in the old Jewish quarter and that it expand the Jewish presence there. The head of the "Judea and Samaria" civil administration, Mr. Shelomo Ilya, announced on 8 July that he had appointed an Israeli official, Shemesh Zamir, to run Hebron until a new council from among the local population could be appointed. (Similar appointed councils were reportedly being considered to replace the Israeli officers and officials at present running Nablus, Ramallah and El Bireh, where elected Arab mayors were dismissed last year.)  Mr. Ilya said that Mr. Natshe and his councillors "contributed to the atmosphere of tension, hostility and encouragement of extreme elements" by their actions.  These included "a demonstrative boycott of the civil administration … a boycott of the Jewish community in Hebron" and refusing to supply it with services, the publication of posters which incited against the Israeli Defence Forces and Israel, and the illegal introduction of "enemy funds" (finance from the joint Jordanian-PLO committee in Amman) in the area. In the Hebrew version of "background material" supplied to journalists at Mr. Ilya's press conference, Mr. Natshe is also accused of "petitioning the High Court of Justice and accusing the civil administration of abetting the illegal demolition and construction of buildings by the settlers in the heart of the Hebron market …".  This section referring to the petition to the High Court was omitted from an English translation circulated to foreign journalists.  The Minister for Defence, Mr. Moshe Arens, reportedly declared on 9 July that he was in favour of Jewish settlement inside Hebron – in the Hadassa and Romano houses and around them.  "I am in favour of the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Jewish quarter and its resettlement by Jews", he said.  He also emphasized that he would never allow civilians – be they Jews or Arabs – to take the law into their own hands.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 10 July 1983)

88. The curfew imposed on Hebron on 7 July was lifted for four hours on 10 July to allow the Arab residents to stock up with food and other supplies.  The deposed mayor, Mustafa Natshe, has reportedly been consulting Israeli lawyers to decide whether he could challenge his dismissal in the High Court of Justice.  It was further reported that several ministers had, at the weekly cabinet session, called for faster development of the old Jewish quarter in Hebron. The Minister for Housing and Deputy Premier, Mr. David Levy, later told Israel Radio that plans in his ministry envisaged two stages of development for the Jewish quarter – a first stage to be implemented shortly to enable a few dozen families to be installed, and a second stage to allow 500 families to settle in the Jewish quarter in the next three years. These plans reportedly still await top-level Government approval and the allocation of the necessary large budgets.  The Minister for Defence, Mr. Moshe Arens, reportedly stated that no change of security policy was required in "Judea and Samaria".  The army and the general security service were quite capable of coping with the situation on the basis of existing guidelines.  Mr. Arens added that there could be no question of agreeing to any settler demands to form their own self-defence units. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 11 July 1983)

89. The curfew in Hebron was reportedly lifted for 12 hours on 11 July.  The same day, an incident was reported in the patriarchs' Cave when Jewish worshippers asked a large group of Muslim worshippers, who arrived in the shrine earlier than usual because of the Id el-Fitr holiday, to leave the place. The Muslims protested and started shouting anti-Jewish slogans; but they stopped their protest when some of the weapon-bearing Jews cocked their rifles.  Police sources reported that no suspects had so far been arrested in connection with the arson in the Hebron market, but that complaints had been filed against three Kiryat-Arba residents who had hindered soldiers from performing their duties. The investigation into that matter was reportedly still under way. It was also reported that the civil administration would consider indemnifying Hebron residents whose stalls were destroyed or damaged.  (Ha'aretz, Yediot Aharonot, 12 July 1983)

90. The curfew in Hebron was lifted on 12 July, but remained in force in several areas close to the site of the murder of the yeshiva student, Aharon Gross.  The investigation of the murder reportedly continued and many suspects had already been questioned.  (Ha'aretz, 13 July 1983)

91. Replying in the Knesset to seven motions for the agenda on Aharon Gross' murder, the Minister for Defence, Mr. Moshe Arens, said he did not accept the view that Jews should not settle in areas heavily populated by Arabs .because that makes the Arabs angry.. The murder of Aharon Gross in the Hebron market will not stop the Government from restoring the Jewish quarter of Hebron, Mr. Arens said.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 14 July 1983)

92. The army closed the entrances to the Kalandiya refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, in a bid to halt stone-throwing by local youths. The roads and alleys leading into the camp were sealed off with bricks, concrete and barbed wire fences.  The camps of Deheisheh and Al Arub have also been sealed off, and military sources reported a sharp decrease in stone-throwing from these places.  (Jerusalem Post, 6 July 1983)

93. It was reported on 20 July that the areas of the market and the bus terminal in Hebron were still under curfew following the murder of Aharon Gross 12 days earlier.  Sources in the civil administration reportedly revealed the existence of plans to transfer the bus terminal elsewhere in the town and turn the old terminal area over to Jewish settlers, on the grounds that it had been owned by Jews until the riots of 1929.  In another development it was reported that five members of the Bir Zeit Solidarity Committee and the Peace Now movement were holding a protest vigil in Hebron to press for an end to Jewish settlement in the town.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 20 July)

94. It was reported on 22 July that the security forces and the Judea District Police were holding three suspects, two Hebron residents and one from Beit Jala, in connection with the murder of Aharon Gross.  Senior Defence Ministry sources reportedly said that the area of the Hebron bus terminal would remain a closed military area and that soldiers would be stationed there to prevent friction between settlers and Arab residents.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 22 July)

95. Thousands of Peace Now movement supporters demonstrated on Saturday, 23 July, in central Hebron to protest against the rebuilding of the Jewish quarter in the town.  Earlier, the West Bank military government refused to allow the demonstration in central Hebron.  The army then ordered the town closed off to all non-residents.  The decision was later reversed after continued negotiations with Peace Now and after the movement announced that it would go ahead with the demonstration even without an agreement.  (Jerusalem Post, 24 July)

96. The Hebron municipal bus company and the Muslim Endowment Administration (the "Waqf"), on whose land the Hebron bus terminal is located, have petitioned the High Court of Justice against the Minister for Defence, the head of the civil administration in "Judea and Samaria" and the Commander of the Israeli Defence Forces in the region.  The petitioners are asking the High Court to issue an order nisi which would instruct the respondents to show cause why they would not allow a return to normal activity at the bus terminal and why they should not refrain from handing the area over to Jewish settlers.  The petitioners are also asking for an interim injunction which would bar the demolition of the bus terminal pending a decision of the High Court. The bus terminal director, Faid ed-Qawasmeh (brother of the deported mayor of the town) told an Israeli journalist that the Hebron district commander had proposed an alternative site for the bus terminal, near the Patriarch's Cave, but that this area was not suitable for a bus terminal.  He also argued that, contrary to allegations by settlers, only part of the area belonged to Jews. (Yediot Aharonot, 25 July, Ha'aretz, 26 July)

97. It was reported on 26 July that the unit of the Israeli Defence Forces, which was present in the area of the Hebron wholesale market on the night of the arson (following the murder of Aharon Gross), had managed to arrest only five out of 250 settlers who participated in the act. It emerged from an inquiry that the arson was not a spontaneous act but had been planned in advance by the settlers, who arrived in the area equipped with kerosene canisters. The five settlers who were detained had been standing by the edge of the group of arsonists who had offered resistance to the 30 to 40 soldiers.  Those detained were taken to the police station where they were questioned and later released.  Criminal files were opened against them. (Yediot Aharonot, 26 July)

98. Three Arabs were killed and 33 were wounded at midday on 26 July when masked terrorists attacked Hebron's Islamic University with automatic rifles and a grenade. The three dead men have been identified as Sa'ad ad-Din Hassan Sabri, a teacher from Qalqilya who was taking a refresher course at the university; Jamal As'ad Nasser Nazal, a student from Qalqilya; and Samih Fadhi Amur from Yabad, near Jenin. One woman student was reportedly seriously injured and was transferred to the Hadassa hospital in Jerusalem.  Many of the injured were wounded by glass or richochets, others suffered fractures and bruises when they jumped out of windows in the university building in the panic that ensued.  The entire city and its surrounding areas were placed under curfew following the attack, and paratroopers and Border Police reinforcements were rushed in.  According to local and military sources, parents and relatives of wounded students who rushed to the Hebron hospital had to be dispersed with tear gas after they stoned soldiers stationed there. The deposed Mayor of Hebron, Mustafa Natshe, visited the injured, but was ordered to leave by a civil administration official. The Prime Minister, Mr. Menachem Begin, condemned the "loathsome crime" and ordered the security forces to make every endeavour to find the perpetrators and bring them to trial.  The President of the State, Mr. Chaim Herzog, said that "the killing of pupils at the Islamic University was no less murderous than the killing of yeshiva student Aharon Gross.  In both incidents, innocent blood was shed unpardonably …"  Rabbi Meir Kahane's "Kach. movement issued a statement denying any connection with the slaying in the college, but added:  "We shall not condemn Jews who consider themselves obliged to take independent action because of the Government's failure to act … The Government must remove the Arabs from the country…"  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 27 July)

99. The curfew imposed in Hebron immediately after the attack was lifted the next day for several hours to allow residents to buy food and other necessities. A special investigating team was appointed by the police to take charge of the search for the gunmen.  Another team was set up by the General Security Services to investigate the attack. Liaison officers from both teams would reportedly co-ordinate the work. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 28 July)

100. The curfew in Hebron was reimposed just 45 minutes after it was lifted (on 28 July) when residents stoned security forces and began to prepare for a demonstration.  It was reported that many of the 33 persons wounded in the attack had been released from the hospital.  (Jerusalem Post, 29 July)

101. Following the murder at the Hebron Islamic University a wave of unrest, protest and incidents was reported from many areas throughout the West Bank and from East Jerusalem (see also paras. 102-117 below).  A general strike called in the West Bank on 27 July reportedly failed to materialize, except for Nablus and East Jerusalem, where shopowners stayed home.  Jerusalem municipal and police officials reportedly made no effort to force shopowners to open their stores.  According to another report, the strike was full also in Qalqilya, and the "national institutions" in the West Bank called for the continuation of the strike.  On 29 July it was reported that strikes and protests continued both on the West Bank and in Israel. A total strike was reported from East Jerusalem, but its end was declared in a leaflet distributed in the town. No demonstrations were reported from East Jerusalem. A partial strike was reported from Qalqilya. The Bir Zeit University announced that the graduation ceremony for 200 graduates scheduled for 29 July had been cancelled in protest against the murder.  On 31 July it was reported that one Israeli was injured and several Arab youths were arrested when the Israeli Defence Forces briefly lifted curfews in Qalqilya, Nablus and Tulkarm.  With the reimposition of the curfew a tense quiet reportedly returned to the areas. A Friday prayer service at Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem drew several thousands worshippers.  Clerics on the Temple Mount calmed the crowd, and a heavy police presence with border policemen and uniformed officers equipped with tear gas masks and batons also contributed to prevent an outburst.  (Jerusalem Post, 28,29 and 31 July, Ha'aretz, 28 July)

(b) Incidents of alleged poisoning

102. The first reports of alleged poisoning of schoolgirls appeared in the Israeli press on 28 March, when it was reported that 280 girls from the Jenin district had been hospitalized over the past two days after being poisoned by an unidentified chemical substance.  This followed a similar incident that had taken place at the nearby village of Arrabeh a week earlier, when 66 girls complained of fainting, dizziness, headaches and nausea. It was also reported that one man, a teacher at the school in Arrabeh, and two women soldiers at the Jenin military government headquarters also complained of similar symptoms. All the schools where the alleged poisoning occurred had reportedly been closed until the investigation was completed. The centre of Jenin was placed under curfew to prevent unrest.  According to Israeli military sources, a notice had been found at a school in Meitaloun, a village near Jenin, calling upon the pupils to strike on 30 March (on which Arabs in Israel and in the territories were expected to demonstrate, to mark the "Land Day"), and warning them that if they did not, they would be poisoned as were the pupils at Arrabeh.  Dr. Y. Faver, health officer of the West Bank civil administration, said that the preliminary investigation had ruled out water, food or sewage as possible causes.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 28 March 1983)

103. On 30 March it was reported. that 80 more persons had been hospitalized the previous day in the eastern quarter of Jenin after displaying symptoms similar to those shown by some 400 girls, mainly in the Jenin district.  Similar cases were also reported in Ramallah, Nablus and Tulkarm.  Among those hospitalized there were also two border policemen serving in Jenin.  The eastern quarter of Jenin and the town's centre were placed under curfew.  According to a statement released by the Ministry of Health there was no evidence of deliberate or accidental poisoning.  Officials also dismissed rumours that some kind of nerve gas had been inhaled.  But doctors at the Tulkarm hospital, where 37 girls are being treated, reportedly stated that they suspected that whoever was behind the poisoning intended to cause  sterility among the girls who were the victims of the mysterious illness.  The Director-General of the Ministry of Health suggested that the illness might be some form of mass psychosomatic reaction to a smaller incident.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 30 March 1983)

104. Dr. Hussein Obeid, director of public health services for the West Bank, told the Jerusalem Post (31 March) that the clinical symptoms displayed by the 53 girls from Arrabeh were different and more severe than those reported later by hundreds of other Jenin-area residents.  According to Dr. Obeid the Arrabeh girls were suffering from "something more than a case of mass hysteria".  The symptoms displayed by the 53 girls from Arrabeh were dilated eye pupils that were non-reactive even to strong light, asphyxsia reflected by blueness and coldness of the extremities, impaired vision, chills, nausea, headache and vertigo. Four of the girls were sent to the Tel-Hashomer hospital (in Israel) for further neurological tests. They were suffering, according to Dr. Obeid, from impaired equilibrium and weakness in their lower legs.  (Jerusalem Post, 31 March 1983)

105. On 1 April it was reported that Israeli medical experts had concluded that there was no evidence – on the basis of clinical, laboratory and environmental examinations- to indicate that there was any poisoning of residents in the Jenin district. The Director-General of the Ministry of Health, Professor Baruch Modan, nevertheless announced that he had invited a team of investigators from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, to come to the region to conduct an independent assessment. Mr. Shelomo Ilya, the head of the West Bank civil administration, reportedly suggested that political activists were to a large extent responsible for the mass phenomenon. He said that the army had detained a Jenin activist and Al Fajr journalist, Mr. Kadoura Moussa, after he was found inside the Jenin hospital wearing a white cloak. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 1 April 1983)

106. On 5 March it was reported that 310 girls from Beit Jala, Hebron and Yatta {south of Hebron) had been hospitalized a few days earlier in West Bank hospitals after complaining of symptoms similar to the ones previously displayed by girls in the Jenin area.  Most of the girls stayed in hospital for 24 hours and were then discharged. Some 80 girls reportedly remained in hospital. Reports of dozens of girls being hospitalized for alleged poisoning also arrived from Tu1karm, Anabta and Jenin.  Most of these girls were discharged after several hours. Security sources stated that the entire phenomenon was due to "incitement and pretending".  According to these sources there was evidence that "inciting elements had organized the poisoning in Yatta" and had even prepared in advance many vehicles ready to transfer the affected girls to the Hebron hospital.  A large number of people were detained on suspicion of organizing the alleged poisoning and the transfer to hospital in Yatta.  (Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 5 April 1983)

107. It was reported on 6 April that two separate teams of investigators, one from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, and one from the World Health Organization, were visiting the West Bank, meeting with Palestinian and Israeli health officials and preparing reports on their findings. In a related development, it was reported that Israeli military authorities had ordered the immediate transfer of three alleged poisoning victims hospitalized in Hebron to hospitals within Israel, and that they had also instructed the hospital staff either to transfer 40 of the remaining 76 hospitalized schoolgirls to Israeli hospitals or to discharge them. The Director-General of the Ministry of Health, Professor Modan, stated that a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Dr. Franz Altherr, had determined the incident "a mass phenomenon with no organic basis".  Professor Modan also reiterated that no evidence of poisoning had been found in any tests in Israeli hospitals. Mr. Shelomo Ilya, the head of the West Bank civil administration, reportedly stated that it had become increasingly clear over the past two days that the so-called illness was the work of political agitators "cynically exploiting the fears of local schoolgirls and the international press".  He added that a large number of people were being held as incitors.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 6 April 1983)

108. On 7 April it was reported that out of 120 girls hospitalized in "Samaria" for alleged poisoning only 12 still remained in the Nablus and Jenin hospitals.  The security forces continued to arrest dozens of people suspected of "organizing and inciting" fake poisoning.  It was further reported that, in addition to the inquiry being held by the security agencies, a special investigating team, headed by police officer Yitzhak Ze'evi, was also operating in "Samaria" with a view to "discovering the brains that had planned and staged the affair".  Hundreds of local residents had so far been questioned.  (Ma'ariv, 7 April 1983)

109. The West Bank civil administration reportedly set up emergency teams to deal with any case of suspected poisoning in the region. The teams are made up of a physician, a civil administration official and a representative of the security forces, who, upon receiving a report of suspected poisoning, immediately go out to examine it. The setting up of these teams was reportedly designed to prevent the recurrence of the phenomenon in which "local residents organize a mass festival and create panic" in connection with the case.  It was further reported that schools in the West Bank remained closed following recent events there.  They are to reopen gradually in the course of next week.  (Ha'aretz, 8 April 1983)

110. Several schoolgirls from the villages of Anabta and Yatta reportedly confessed to having pretended to be affected by poisoning. Ten women teachers in these villages were found to have collaborated with their pupils in the alleged poisoning.  They were arrested. Several local physicians reportedly told the civil administration that they had been subject to pressures to keep the girls in hospital and not to discharge them.  However, the Union of Palestinian Doctors in the West Bank published a statement asserting that there were mass poisonings and faulting the Israeli authorities for an unwarranted hasty dismissal of the issue.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 10 April 1983)

111. The civil administration in the West Bank reportedly decided – in co-ordination with the security authorities in the region – not to put on trial girls who pretended to be affected by poisoning, although the girls had signed statements confessing to having done so.  It was decided to take administrative measures against doctors, trade union activists and students who allegedly incited and staged the "poisoning event", and to draw the attention of foreign news media to it.  A list of such persons has reportedly already been drawn up.  The measures taken against them include a ban on visits to Jordan, dismissal from public posts, an obligation to report to the police and house arrest. (Ma'ariv, 15 April)

112. Most West Bank schools reportedly reopened on 19 April after a three-week closure prompted by the poisoning scare in the region.  Schools in the Jenin area, where the panic started, remained closed.  Civil administration officers were reportedly still negotiating with teachers and principals in the area over conditions they were demanding to prevent a recurrence of the episode. (Jerusalem Post, 20 April 1983)

113. An attempt at causing a renewed poisoning panic was reported at a boys' school in the township of Meithalun, near Jenin.  The school headmaster reported that a yellow substance had been found near the school gates and on window-sills.  A security forces team arrived on the scene and took a sample of the substance for analysis.  It turned out to be a harmless disinfectant.  The security forces decided to close the school in order to prevent disturbances. (Ha'aretz, 21 April)

114. The head of medical services in the West Bank, Dr. Hussein Obeid, received a letter from the head of the West Bank civil administration, Mr. Shelomo Ilya, informing him that he (Mr. Ilya) was considering his removal from office because of "inappropriate behaviour". Sources in the civil administration indicated that they were displeased with Dr. Obeid's role during the alleged poisoning episode, particularly an interview he gave to the Jerusalem Post without first clearing it with the civil administration spokesman. (Jerusalem Post, 24 April)

115. According to the final report of Dr. Philip Landrigan and Dr. Bess Miller from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, who were sent to Israel in March to investigate the wave of mysterious "poisonings" in the West Bank, the epidemic had been induced by anxiety and not by any consistent presence of environmental toxins.  Noting that the epidemic may have been triggered initially either by psychological factors or by subtoxic exposure to hydrogen sulphide, the doctors attributed its subsequent spread to "psychogenic factors".  The two doctors also concluded that there was "no evidence of malingering or of deliberate fabrication of symptoms", and said that there was no evidence of "reproductive impairment" in the girls affected.  (Jerusalem Post, 26 April)

116. The civil administration in the West Bank reportedly dismissed the director of public health services in the areas, Dr. Hussein Obeid, apparently for granting an unauthorized interview to the Jerusalem Post on the alleged poisonings in March, in which he stated that the symptoms shown by girls from Arrabeh "certainly point to something more than a case of mass hysteria".  Dr. Obeid had earlier received a warning letter cautioning him that his dismissal was being considered for .inappropriate behaviour".  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 20 May 1983)

117. The Special Committee took note of the report prepared by the Director-General of the World Health Organization dated 11 May 1983 (World Health document A36/34), the conclusions and recommendations of which read as follows:

118. The heads of the six "village leagues" in the West Bank declared the establishment of a Village Leagues' Association, with a view to representing the West Bank Arabs in future autonomy talks with the Israeli authorities.  This move follows a recent meeting between village leagues' chiefs and the Israeli Minister for Defence.  The establishment of the association is said to bestow on the leagues a different legal and public status than the one they had hitherto.  The new association is to be based in Ramallah and is to be headed by Mustafa Dudin from Mount Hebron, with Beshara Kumsiyeh from Bethlehem as his deputy.  Mr. Dudin was subsequently reported to have been elected Chairman; an 18-member council was also elected.  (Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 1 September 1982, Yediot Aharonot, 13 September 1982)

119. A team from the Comptroller's office in the Ministry of Defence was reported to be currently examining the efficacy of the civil administration in the West Bank.  The team had already started taking evidence from military governors and staff officers in the various district commands of the military government.  Most of the governors and officers reportedly expressed the view that the civil administration should be cancelled – at least at the district level – and that the districts should be subordinated to the military government.  But a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence insisted that the examination was a routine matter, carried out within the framework of regular examinations conducted by the Comptroller.  He denied any intention of cancelling the civil administration which, he said, "has proved itself".  (Ha'aretz, 14 and 15 September 1982, Jerusalem Post, 15 September 1982)

120. The acting head of the civil administration in the West Bank, Colonel Yigal Karmon has recently issued new guidelines to district governors in the region, calling for a change of attitude towards the various political groups among the local population.  Regarding the pro-Hashemite leaders, the guidelines said they should be neutralized "as much as possible" and their dependence on the civil administration should be increased.  Referring to the radical mayors representing the rejection front, Colonel Karmon's document called for a continuing struggle against them.  The guidelines further called for a massive support to be given to the group which comprised the various village leagues as well as the "moderate" and appointed mayors. Dealing with the 12,000 local residents working for the Israeli military government – including 400 "senior" and 50 "most senior" officers – the guidelines stated they should be turned into the "civil administration army".  "They should be strengthened for a future political role.  Those among them who undermined the system should be massively removed, whereas a maximum support should be given to positive activists:  Pay raises, increased powers and personal promotion to obtain a political objective and to politically motivate this group.. Security sources later described the guidelines as "mere thoughts, not an operative plan", and said they had no validity whatsoever.  Senior military sources said that if Colonel Karmon had indeed acted without co-ordinating with his superiors, he had clearly overstepped his authority.  (Ha'aretz, 16, 17 November, Jerusalem Post, 17 November)

121. A spokesman for the civil administration in the West Bank announced that clergy serving in the West Bank, whether engaged in purely religious services or other work, would not be required to sign an undertaking committing themselves not to support PLO. This announcement followed earlier reports that the acting head of the civil administration, Colonel Yigal Karmon, was considering extending this requirement – which is made of every non-resident worker in the West Bank – to clergy who were not wholly occupied in religious activities. News of the proposed demand reportedly caused concern among local clergy and drew both local and international pressure, including from inside the Government.  (Ha'aretz, 21,23 November; Jerusalem Post, 19, 21, 29 November)

122. The Minister for Defence, Mr. Ariel Sharon, reportedly approved the appointment of Colonel Shelomo Ilya as head of the civil administration in the West Bank.  Colonel Ilya took up his position on 27 November 1982.  The current acting head of the administration, Colonel Yigal Karmon, who served as deputy and chief adviser to the former civil administrator, Mr. Manahem Milson, would reportedly continue in that position.  (Jerusalem Post, 29 November)

123. The Israeli civil administration has reportedly been pressuring villagers in the Tulkarm area to establish four more village leagues in the Tulkarm-Anabta area.  (Al Fajr, 14 January 1983)

124. The Israeli military authorities arrested a physician from Tulkarm and accused him of "inciting official village heads in the area to withdraw from the Village Leagues".  According to local villagers the Israeli authorities had, over the past few weeks, been pressuring a number of mukhtars and heads of village councils to establish a branch of the "village leagues" .  A few reportedly agreed, but later withdrew, even before the branch was established.  It was also learnt that a number of residents of the West Bank who had made anti-village leagues statements had recently been arrested.  These arrests are reportedly made on the recommendations of leaders of the "village leagues".  In a related development, military government officials were reported as stating that some 200 villages in the area were now members of the "village leagues".  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 2 February 1983; Al Fajr, 4 February 1983)

125. The "village leagues" in the Hebron area reportedly set up a tribal judicial system aimed at replacing the existing traditional one.  The new framework, entitled "the Tribal Judicial Council", consists of 10 tribal judges headed by a tribal judge from the township of Yatta, south of Hebron.  According to the "village leagues", the existing system is "stricken with numerous acts of bribery and deceit".  It was learnt that: the members of the "village league" had, at least in one case, forcibly applied the new system when they obliged, under threats, a family from the village of Idna to accept a judgement handed down by a village league judge.  (Ha'aretz, 3 February 1983)

126. The chairman of the Hebron area "village league", Mr. Muhammed Nasser, was reportedly dismissed by the West Bank civil administrator, Mr. Shelomo Ilya, and replaced by Mr. Jamil Al-Amla.  According to senior sources in the civil administration the dismissal was part of an extensive programme to reorganize all the village leagues, to step up control of their management and use of funds and to curb the extensive presence of weapons, which had led to some violent clashes in the West Bank.  The dismissed village league chairman, who had close ties with the former acting civil administrator, Colonel Yigal Karmon, and with the former Minister for Defence, Mr. Ariel Sharon, held a meeting of his supporters in the offices of the village league in Hebron, where his dismissal was rejected as an "unwarranted interference in an independent organization".  The "village league" building, where the unauthorized meeting was held, was reportedly ordered closed for two weeks and weapons which had been issued to Mr. Nasser and his supporters were seized.  The deposed official who had reportedly intended to petition the High Court of Justice over his dismissal later (following a meeting with a member of the Israeli Knesset known for his close links with Mr. Ariel Sharon) changed his mind, and it was reported that, in return, his pistol would be handed back to him. In a related development it was reported that sources in the civil administration were considering a request to reopen a police investigation into the murder last June of a Beit Kahil villager, Daud Atauwne, during an alleged dispute with Mr. Nasser and his supporters, linked to the victim's refusal to have the village connected to the Israeli electricity grid. Seven other persons were injured in the fight during which weapons issued by the Israeli Defence Forces to the league members for self-defence were used.  (Jerusalem Post, 1, 2, 3, 4 March, Ha'aretz, 1, 2, 4 March 1983)

127. A budget proposal of 100 million Israel shekels was submitted at the end of March 1983 to the civil administration by the West Bank "village leagues".  Seventy per cent of the budget will reportedly finance development activities which the leagues plan to carry out this year, and the rest will cover current activities.  (Ha'aretz, 21 April)

128. Members of the Israeli-appointed village council of Dhahiriya, south of Hebron, presented a memorandum to the Israeli authorities urging the expulsion of refugees from the village.  The village council reportedly accused the refugees, whom they term as "foreigners", of responsibility for a two-month curfew recently imposed on the village.    (Al Fajr, 22 April)

(d) Demolition of houses

129. On 25 October, Israeli bulldozers demolished two houses in Idna, Hebron district, on the grounds that they were unlicensed. The two houses were built a month ago. In another development bulldozers demolished two houses belonging to Jihad Abu Habel and his cousin, who were arrested a month earlier on allegedly political charges. The two houses were located in the refugee camp of Jabaliya, in the Gaza Strip. (Al Fajr, 29 October 1982)

130. Israeli settlers used a tractor to demolish several abandoned buildings adjacent to the "Abraham the Patriarch" synagogue in the old Jewish quarter of Hebron. The action is seen as the first stage of a plan to build 21 apartments in the heart of the Arab city. Mr. Ze'ev Friedman, a "Gush Emunim" leader and inhabitant of Kiryat-Arba, was reported as saying that the settlers' dreams were to link the synagogue compound to the Hadassa house, several hundred metres to the north, with a chain of Jewish buildings. The Mayor of Hebron, Mr. Mustafa Natshe, reportedly said that 12 families in the town intended to petition the High Court of Justice following the demolition of houses the families claim to own. The Mayor said that one family- the Zeituns – had returned from Jordan on Friday and found their house and all its contents a pile of rubble. (Jerusalem Post, 29, 31 October 1982)

131. The Israeli authorities demolished the house of Yusef Mustafa Mansour in Wadi Qana, Deir Istiya, claiming that the house, consisting of four rooms and in which 15 people were living, was built in a military area.  Israeli helicopters flew over the house during the demolition process.  (Al Fajr, 12 November 1982)

132. The Israeli authorities demolished the house of Salem Suleiman Muhammed Kassem Khtaib of Hizma, a village near Jerusalem.  Salem, aged 58, is the head of a family of 10, the eldest child of which is 16 years old.  The house was demolished after a claim that Salem had no building license.  In the village of Mukhmas, Ramallah district, the Israeli authorities demolished a two-storey building owned by a local resident.  No warning was issued before the demolition.  Although the owners had applied for a license they had not received any positive or negative answer for six months. (Al Fajr, 24 November 1982)

133. Three houses near Bethlehem that were allegedly built without license were demolished.  The families said they had no warning of the military authorities' plans to destroy their homes . (Al Fajr, 10 December 1982)

134. The Israeli military authorities demolished two houses in Breij refugee camp in Gaza, after the arrest of two people on charges of "security violations".  The two youths were arrested nearly two months ago.  (Al Fajr, 10 December 1982)

135. Two houses, one in Bethlehem and the other in the Deheysheh refugee camp, were bulldozed on the pretext that they were unlicensed. (Al Fajr, 4 February 1983)

136. The security forces demolished the house of Mr. Ibrahim Fadel Jaber from Hebron, despite an interim injunction issued by the High Court of Justice prohibiting the demolition.  Mr. Ibrahim Jabar had been detained for security offences, but had succeeded in obtaining a High Court injunction. A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said that the house was demolished because it had been unlicensed, and that this had nothing to do with the High Court injunction which, in the meantime, was cancelled. In a related development it was reported that another house in the Hebron area was also demolished on the pretext that it was unlicensed. The house belonged to Mr. Yusri Za'tari, and was located near the El Nakam settlement, in an area known in Arabic as Fahas, which is not within the Hebron municipal boundaries. Mr. Za'tari had a building license which the Hebron municipality had given him four years ago. (Ha'aretz, 4, 7 February 1983)

137. A store was demolished and a newly dug well filled in at Biddu, near Ramallah, on the pretext that they are unlicensed. The owner, Mr. Sabr Mansour said that during the process of the demolition 100 olive trees and grape vines were destroyed. (Al Fajr, 11 February 1983)

138. The security forces reportedly demolished three houses in the Gaza Strip belonging to a terrorist gang that threw a hand-grenade at a bus in Tel Aviv, and a house belonging to a terrorist who threw a grenade at a car in Gaza, wounding a local resident.  It was subsequently reported that the demolitions were protested by UNRWA, since 33 people were made homeless as a result of the destructions.  (Jerusalem Post, 25, 27 February 1983)

139. In Dhahiriya, Israeli military authorities sealed five houses belonging to families whose sons were awaiting trial for stone-throwing. The five families had received an order nisi two days earlier from the Israeli High Court barring demolition of their homes, but the court order did not mention sealing.  The five youths were officially charged with forming a local cell of a Palestinian organization and violating security and public order by stoning a military vehicle, which resulted in the death of a young Israeli woman.  It was later reported that the curfew imposed on Dhahiriya after that incident was lifted on 14 April, 40 days after it had been imposed.  (Al Fajr, 15 and 22 April)

140. On 27 June, at dawn, security forces sealed five residents in the homes of five residents of the village of Arrabeh, in "Samaria", who had confessed to throwing molotov cocktails at buses. It was reported that, unlike similar cases in the past, this time only the rooms of the five cell members were sealed and not the entire houses of their families.  (Yediot Aharonot, 28 June 1983)

141. Israeli soldiers reportedly demolished eight houses in the Shata refugee camp north of Gaza, on 28 June and 4 July. The houses had allegedly been built without proper authorization.  Eight more houses are reportedly under the threat of demolition.  Before each demolition, the Israeli officer in charge of housing in Gaza informed families that they had 24 hours to evacuate their homes.  During the demolition, family heads were held at the military compound for questioning, having been summoned by written order.  (Al Fajr, 8 July 1983)

(e) Measures affecting freedom of expression

142. The Al Fajr Weekly published on 3 and 10 September two lists of books banned by the education officer at the Israeli military government. The first list contains 23 books from the West Bank dealing with political, economic, cultural and literary subjects. The second contains 31 books published in Arabic by Lebanese and Egyptian companies. (Al Fajr, 3 and 9 September 1982)

143. The Israeli authorities closed down the office of the Jerusalem Press Services for six months under the Emergency Regulations of 1945/Article 129/1/B. The authorities told the owners that they could appeal against the decision if they wanted but warned them that any person found inside the office could be put on trial. (Al Fajr, 17 September 1982)

144. A series of measures were reported in October 1982 against journalists of the East Jerusalem Arabic daily Al Fajr, and its English-language weekly edition. On 10 October, the arrest was reported of Mr. Ziad Abu Ziad, the editor of Al Fajr daily. He was at first detained for 96 hours, ostensibly for a procedural traffic offence, and later for 11 days on an alleged security offence – "suspicion of hostile terrorist activity".  But it was reported on 11 October that Mr. Abu-Ziad had been released on bail and that he was to appear before a military court for having driven a car with Israeli licence plates.  A Bethlehem police officer claimed that Mr. Abu-Ziad could have used the car with the Israeli plates to smuggle a car-bomb into Jerusalem.  Being a resident of the West Bank, Mr. Abu-Ziad may only drive a car with plates that signify he lives in the territories. On 12 October, it was reported that Mr. Hanna Seniora, the senior editor of Al Fajr, had been served with military orders banning him from entering the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. The orders were reportedly issued "for security reasons".  The orders were reportedly in effect until 15 February 1983.  On 20 October, it was announced that a Jerusalem Magistrate's Court had, in a closed door session, remanded an Arab journalist from East Jerusalem for 10 days. He was later identified as Mr. Sam'an Khourie, editor of the Al Fajr English-language weekly.  He was reportedly not allowed to meet with his lawyer, Lea Tsemel.  According to one report, Mr. Khourie was arrested on a charge of incitement.  Mr. Khourie's press and translation service in East Jerusalem had earlier been ordered closed for six months, and Khourie, several days before his arrest, petitioned the High Court of Justice to have it reopened.  On 29 October, it was reported that the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court had extended Mr. Khourie's detention by four days, after the Jerusalem District Court, meeting behind closed doors, earlier upheld the Magistrate Court's decision to remand him and to prohibit his lawyer from contacting him.  On 1 November it was reported that the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court again remanded Khourie for a maximum of seven days, to allow police time to have him indicted in a military court.  He was reportedly suspected of possessing two back issues of the magazine Al-Huriya, published in Beirut by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.  The magazine is banned from the territories by military order, but was said to be available in Israel, including the library of the Hebrew University's Truman Institute.  (Jerusalem Post, 10, 11, 12, 20, 27, 29 October, 1 November; Ha'aretz, 10, 11, 12, 20 October, Ma'ariv, 29 October, Al Fajr, 15, 22, 29 October 1982)

145. The East Jerusalem journalist Mr. Sam'an Khoury, who is the editor of the English-language weekly Al Fajr, was sentenced to one year's suspended imprisonment for possessing two copies of a magazine banned in the territories.  Mr. Khoury was released following 17 days of police detention.  The East Jerusalem journalists had been .arrested by the Jerusalem police for interrogation about alleged contacts with persons hostile to the State. Two days later, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, in closed session, ordered him remanded for 10 days and banned the publications of his name and the charges against him.  A week later, the Jerusalem district court rejected his appeal against his detention and said the police needed the three days of detention that were left to complete his interrogation.  Two days later, Mr . Khoury was again remanded for four more days by the Magistrate's Court.  On 31 October, the Magistrate's Court gave police seven days to have Mr. Khoury released or indicted in military court.  On 2 November he was indicted, convicted at the military court in Lod, and released.  (Jerusalem Post, 3 November 1982)

146. The Israeli military authorities delivered a closure order to the Al Fajr office in Bethlehem for a period of three months as from 18 January 1983.  The authorities raided the office and confiscated its contents, including issues of the magazine Al Bayader Al Siasi.  (Al Fajr, 28 January 1983)

147. Mr. Hanna Siniora, editor-in-chief of the East Jerusalem newspaper Al Fajr .was arrested on 30 March by the Jerusalem police, and released the next day on a bail of 5,000 Israel shekels.  According to reports, Mr. Siniora was questioned about his alleged with PLO.  (Jerusalem Post, 31 March, 1 April; Ha'aretz, 1 April 1983)

148. Israeli troops confiscated copies of the East Jerusalem Arabic daily Asha'b, claiming that they were being sent to the West Bank, where the Israeli authorities have forbidden the paper's distribution for the last nine months… (Al Fajr, 1 April 1983)

149. Security forces confiscated quantities of "illegal publications" at a book fair held by students at the El Bireh nurses' training college. The fair and the college were reportedly closed. This followed the arrest, a few days earlier, of an Arab journalist, Mr. Kamal J'beil, who was found to be in possession of "huge quantities" of illicit publications, including PFLP and DFLP (Naif Hawatmeh's organization) publications calling for the destruction of Israel and for mass uprisings by the people in the territories. (Jerusalem Post, 15 April)

150. The Israeli authorities announced the closure of the office of the Asha'b newspaper correspondent in Bethlehem, Abd al-Jawad, for 90 days, after summoning him to the military government headquarters in Bethlehem. The military authorities had two weeks previously raided his office and home and confiscated a number of issues of Asha'b and some local magazines published in Jerusalem. Mr. Jawad is reportedly to be put on trial on a charge of illegally possessing copies of Asha'b.  (Al Fajr, 15 April)

151. A social assistance school in Ramallah was reportedly closed for an unlimited period of time following the holding of a book fair in which publications of PLO and the communist party were displayed.  In the same context, it was reported that the owner of a printing house was fined 25,000 Israel shekels for printing calendars with "inciting photos".  (Ha'aretz, 21 April)

152. A Jerusalem District Representative banned the publication and distribution of a daily newsletter published by the East Jerusalem-based Palestine Press Agency.  The official said that the news service had operated without a licence. This followed a demand that the newsletter be submitted to military censorship, as are the three East Jerusalem Arabic dailies and some weekly magazines from which it draws and translates most of its information.  (Jerusalem Post, 26 April)

153. Mr. Hamid Faraj, an editor with the East Jerusalem political weekly, A'Shira'n and a member of the executive committee of the West Bank's Arab Journalists' Association, has been confined to the Deheisheh refugee camp for six months, by order of the Israeli Defence Forces Central Region Commander. Another resident of the camp, Mr. Nasser Athiya, a member of the Hebron University's student council, has been served with a similar administrative order. Both are thought to be responsible for inciting the political unrest and stone-throwing in the camp which adjoins the Jerusalem-Hebron highway. There are reportedly at present over 50 West Bank and Gaza residents against whom restriction orders have been issued. According to security officials, such orders have to be imposed because of legal difficulties to put such people on trial for security offences, "since the nature of the evidence against them cannot meet legal standards", but, on the other hand, it is feared that failure to restrict their activity may be prejudicial to the security. (Jerusalem Post, 14 June, Ha'aretz, 16 June)

154. Mr. Talal Abu-Afifa, night editor of the East Jerusalem Arabic daily, Al Fajr, was remanded in custody for 15 days by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on suspicion of membership in a hostile organization.  (Jerusalem Post, Yediot Aharonot, 30 June 1983)

2.  Information on measures affecting the right to freedom of education

(a) Military Order No. 854

155. The Israeli authorities have demanded that every student in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip who wishes to study in a West Bank university or institution should first obtain permission from the military administration of the locality in which the university or institution is situated. The three universities principally concerned by this move are Bethlehem, A-Najah in Nablus and Bir Zeit, most of whose students are not residents of the West Bank.  This announcement by the Military Government is based on Military Order No. 854, which is being implemented for the first time.  (Ha'aretz, 2 September 1982, Al Fajr, 3 September 1982)

156. The work contracts with 20 teachers employed last year in the Golan have not been renewed:  10 teachers refused to sign their contracts and, regarding the other 10, the Ministry of Education decided to prevent them from teaching, probably because they were among the "leading inciters" in last year's school strikes.  According to the Ministry of Education's instructions, teachers who are not Israeli citizens were required to sign a special work contract. (Ha'aretz, 5 September 1982)

157. The civilian administration has placed new conditions on teachers, local and foreign, applying for work permits in the four universities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  Applicants are now obliged to sign a commitment promising not to get involved in "any activity, nor to offer any assistance to the organization called PLO or any other terrorist organization that is considered to be hostile to the State of Israel, as indicated in the Act for the Prevention of Acts of Belligerence and Enemy Propaganda … such acts being of a direct or indirect nature".  It was reported from the Military Government that the letter of commitment is designed to ensure peace and public order in the universities, and that a similar practice exists in other countries, including Jordan.  But teachers in the four Arab universities refused to sign the letter of commitment.  Following their refusal, dozens of foreign teachers will have to leave the country.  Two have already done so, and many others are expected to leave shortly.  According to a Bir Zeit spokesman, the new regulation affects 61 foreign staff members who are scheduled to work this school year. (Ma'ariv, 6, 12 and 13 September, Al Fajr, 10 September 1982, Jerusalem Post, 7 September 1982)

158. Speaking at a press conference in East Jerusalem, organized by the West Bank Universities, Brother Thomas Scanlan, Vice-Chancellor of the Bethlehem University, told reporters that road-blocks had been set up on 20 September 1982 to turn back any student from Jerusalem or Gaza who had not applied for a permit.  He complained that the Bethlehem University's administration was faced with new rules and conditions almost every day – often transmitted verbally.  At the.same conference, Dr. Leighton Pratt, an Irish national who teaches at Bir Zeit University and who heads an ad hoc committee of foreign passport holders, said there were 108 academics likely to be affected by Military Order No. 854, and that they represented between a quarter and a third of the teaching staff at the three West Bank universities.  The head of the A-Najah University Board of Trustees, Mr. Hikmat al-Masri, told reporters that 11 lecturers at A-Najah had already been expelled from the area and that 28 others were asked by the Israeli authorities to leave upon the expiration of their three-month visitor's permits because of their refusal to sign the document. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, Yediot Aharonot, 22 September 1982, Al Fajr, 24 September 1982)

159. The military authorities ordered five lecturers from the A-Najah University in Nablus to leave the area. The lecturers were Jordanian citizens employed by the University after obtaining permits granted by the civil administration. The lecturers had reportedly refused to sign a document denouncing PLO as a terrorist organization. Among those expelled were Dr. Muhammad Noufal, Dr. Fouad Mustafa Sabri and Dr. Muhammad Hannoun. The President of the University, Dr. Munther Salah, and his deputy, Dr. Abdul Rahman Shahin, were reportedly on a list of lecturers and teachers who will be asked to leave in the future.  It was further reported that Dr. Yousef Abd al-Haq, the Chairman of the Economies Department, Dr. Taysir Kilani, the Chairman of the Education Department, and Dr. Suleiman Samadi, the Chairman of the Engineering Department, as well as 25 other lecturers were threatened with expulsion from the West Bank unless they signed the document. It was later reported that two more A-Najah lecturers were ordered to leave the area, bringing the number of lecturers already expelled to 11.  They were Dr. Hisham Abu-Rmeileh, lecturer of history, and Muhammad Abd al-Hadi Abd Al-Rahman, lecturer in the Geography Department.  (Ha'aretz, 14 September 1982, Al Fajr, 17, 24 September 1982)

160. In the course of October 1982, the expulsion was reported of officials and lecturers with foreign citizenship from the A-Najah University in Nablus for refusal to sign an. undertaking not to support PLO.  On 5 October, the expulsion was announced of the Vice-President of the University, Dr. Abdul Rahman Shaheen. On 10 October, Dr. Mahmud Mustafa, an Arabic language lecturer was reportedly expelled from the West Bank.  On 11 October, it was announced that the recently-appointed head of the civil administration in the West Bank, Colonel Yigal Carmon, had suspended the military government control over local universities by freezing for one year the implementation of Military Order No.854. Moreover, the head of the civil administration also reportedly agreed to change the text of the undertaking which non-resident academic and administrative staff were asked to sign in order to have their work permits extended.  The text of the undertaking now referred only to "direct support", and instead of PLO it referred to a "hostile organization".  It was further announced that the undertaking would henceforth only apply to non-resident academic staff and would not be required of students or administrative staff who lived outside the area.  Another measure decided by the civil administration was the removal of road-blocks that were placed outside the universities to check whether students had signed the undertaking.  Nevertheless, it was reported on 20 October that the foreign lecturers in the A-Najah University refused to sign even the new text of the undertaking and on 22 October the expulsion was reported of the President of the University, Dr. Munzer Salah.  On 26 October, it was reported that two A-Najah lecturers who had Jordanian citizenship, Dr. Zaki Othman, an Arab language professor and Dr. Ali Ziedan, a chemistry professor, were to be deported to Jordan, and that four more lecturers who had United States and Canadian citizenship were told they could no longer enter the University because they had no work permits.  The number of faculty members removed from A-Najah for having refused to sign the oath condemning PLO thus reached 18.  (Jerusalem Post, 5, 11, 13, 21, 22, 26 October; Ha'aretz, 5, 10, 11, 20, 26 October; Al Fajr, 29 October 1982)

161. Over the period covered by the present report, 17 more foreign faculty members at West Bank universities were ordered to leave the country after refusing to sign a pledge not to support PLO.  On 7 November, the expulsion was reported of Mr. Mark Cheverton, a British citizen and biology instructor at Bethlehem University.  He was the first holder of a western passport who was ordered to leave; all the previous lecturers affected by the measure, which was introduced by the West Bank civil administration in August, were holders of Jordanian passports. On 11 November, it was reported that three more lecturers were ordered to leave the area. The three – two Americans and a Jordanian citizen – lectured at the Bir Zeit University, and their expulsion was the first to affect that University, which was reportedly heavily dependent on its foreign teaching faculty. The three lecturers are: Dr. Mohammed Rashid, a lecturer in biochemistry who holds a Jordanian passport; Mr. Harbi Hassan, an instructor in economics, who is an American of Palestinian extraction; and Ms. Firuz Shehadeh, a woman instructor in the English department who is also a Palestinian-American.  On 12 November, it was reported that 13 foreign faculty members at Bir Zeit University – 8 Americans, 3 British, 1 French and 1 Swede – were ordered to leave the country as soon as their visitor's visa expired because they refused to sign a pledge not to support PLO. This brought the number of foreign lecturers at West Bank universities affected by that measure since its introduction in August to 35. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 7, 11 and 12 November  1982 )

162. It was reported on 16 November that two more non-resident lecturers at the Bir Zeit University were forced to leave the country after they refused to sign an undertaking dissociating themselves from PLO as a precondition for getting work permits.  Thirty-one other teachers were reportedly barred from teaching for the same reason. The two expelled lecturers were named as Mr. Mohammed Rashiq, a Palestinian with a Jordanian passport who lectured in chemistry, and Mr. Fairuz Shehadeh – an instructor in the English Department who held United States citizenship. Their expulsion reportedly brought the total of non-resident faculty at the three West Bank universities to be forced to leave the country to 21. A spokesman for Bir Zeit University said that 31 other non-resident faculty had been ordered to cease teaching immediately. It was later reported (on 22 November) that the anti-PLO pledge was being abolished as a result of public pressure both in Israel and abroad, following the expulsion of 21 foreign lecturers and the suspension of work permits of another 31. Under the new policy, which was announced by the Co-ordinator of Activities in the territories, foreign employees would have to confine themselves, during one year, to the job and the place for which their permits were issued. The permits would also include an injunction that the employee abstain from any act detrimental to security and the maintenance of public order, such as anything which could be interpreted as aiding or supporting PLO or any other hostile organization. The infringement of any of the terms of the permit would constitute cause for its revocation. On the same day (22 November) it was announced that the civil administration in the Gaza Strip had informed nine lecturers in the Islamic University in Gaza that they had to leave the region. The nine lecturers were holders of foreign passports and their work permits were about to expire. On 25 November it was reported that the acting head of the civil administration in the West Bank, Colonel Yigal Karmon, had met with the representatives of the three West Bank universities and explained to them the significance of the new requirement.  He reportedly told them that foreign lecturers were no longer requested to undertake to desist from supporting PLO or any other hostile organization, but that the application for a work permit in its new form incorporated certain conditions – in particular that the applicant should not support PLO or any other hostile organization – whose infringement would lead to the revocation of the work permit. On 30 November it was reported that foreign lecturers teaching at the three West Bank universities had voted to reject the proposed compromise. The reason for the rejection was that such a compromise would open the way to further demands from the civil administration, especially the introduction of Military Order No. 854 (whose implementation was suspended for one year) , which would give the authorities extensive control over higher education in the West Bank. (Ha'aretz, 22, 25 and 30 November, Jerusalem Post, 16, 21, 22, 23 and 30 November 1982)

163. The West Bank Council of Higher Education, which consists of representatives of the four institutions of higher education in the West Bank – A-Najah University in Nablus, Bir Zeit University outside Ramallah, the Catholic University in Bethlehem and the Hebron Polytechnic – announced that it rejected the proposed addition to work permit application forms which was offered as a compromise by the civil administration in its demand to have non-resident lecturers sign an anti-PLO declaration. It had been reported earlier that the students at the University in Bethlehem – where there was reportedly a tendency to go along with the civil administration's proposal – had informed the university authorities in writing that they would strike if any lecturer signed the proposed change, thus effectively vetoing any chance of acceptance. Following the rejection, it was reported that 10 foreign lecturers at the University in Bethlehem had been summoned to the local headquarters of the West Bank civil administration and ordered to stop working as soon as their current work permits expired. Five of those affected by the order are Americans, four are Britons and one is Irish. A spokesman for the civil administration, in rejecting a face-saving counter-proposal put forward by the West Bank Council for Higher Education, said that "the lecturers must either sign or face the legal consequences of their decision not to". (Jerusalem Post, 1, 2, 5 December, Ha'aretz, 5 December 1982)

164. It was reported on 18 January 1983 that five foreign lecturers at the Hebron University (formerly known as the Hebron Islamic Institute) had been told by a civil administration official that they were to stop teaching immediately unless they signed a new work permit application which included an anti-PLO declaration.  Three of the lecturers were reportedly of British nationality and two were Jordanians. No classes were held in the University after the Israeli Defence Forces had placed road-blocks around it. On 20 January 1983 it was reported that the Bir Zeit University was also surrounded by road-blocks and that all holders of foreign passports were stopped for questioning. According to a statement released by the University, civil administration officials ordered the foreign teachers not to lecture to their students. It was reported on the same day that no classes were held at the A-Najah University in Nablus after the security forces had placed road-blocks around it, checked students and lecturers and detained a number of them.  This reportedly followed the discovery of banned material in the University. The following week it was reported that the security forces had detained a young physics lecturer at A-Najah University, Sami Kilani, from Nablus.  A spokesman for the university said that the army was still holding nine members of the student council who were detained a fortnight earlier following a pro-Fatah rally at the campus. The spokesman also complained that army road-blocks around the University had effectively prevented faculty and students from attending classes. A civil administration official said that the road-blocks were designed to verify whether foreign teachers held work permits and to check that only registered students entered the campus. On 30 January 1983 it was reported that the road-blocks surrounding A-Najah were removed and that classes were resumed following the release of the nine members of the student council.  On 17 February 1983 it was reported that the civil administration intended to introduce a new formula for the work permit of foreign lecturers. Under this formula the foreign lecturers would be asked to sign that they had "read and understood the contents of the conditions upon which the granting of their work permit depended". (Ha'aretz, 18, 20 January, 17 February, Jerusalem Post, 18, 20, 23, 26 January, Ma'ariv, 30 January 1983)

165. It was reported on 23 May that the civil administration authorized the return to the West Bank of 28 foreign lecturers, most of them holders of a Jordanian passport, on condition that they accept signing a "compromise text" of a commitment not to support PLO.  Most of the lecturers taught at the A-Najah University in Nablus. They were expelled from the region a few months earlier following their refusal to sign a similar commitment.  It was later reported that lecturers who returned to the region refused to sign the ""compromise commitment", arguing that it was not different from the previous text. On 30 May it was reported that six foreign teachers who had returned recently to the A-Najah University, were not teaching as they were boycotted by the students following their signing the commitment.  According to the students, such a signature amounts to a "betrayal of the Palestinian cause".  Following these difficulties, 28 lecturers were reportedly reluctant to return to the region. (Ha'aretz, 23 and 30 May)

166. A number of persons appearing before the Special Committee testified on the application of Military Order No. 854 which seek. to control educational institutions and universities in particular in the occupied territories. Under this order, student. and teachers are required to obtain a permit from the Military authorities which would be granted for a fixed duration.  The Committee was informed that the Military Order, originally promulgated in 1980, had not been applied because of the resistance that it had provoked among the civilian population. The requirement, first announced in September 1982, that teachers sign a formal commitment undertaking not to support PLO was considered to be a measure de facto to apply the Military Order. This commitment, which academic staff were requested to sign, had itself provoked further resistance and led to the expulsion of some 28 lecturers and professors from the universities in the West Bank during the last quarter of 1982.  Because of the controversial nature of the commitment, efforts were undertaken to modify the text in order to make it acceptable; the Special Committee was informed that four versions had been elaborated in succession and copies in Arabic and Hebrew of these versions were handed to the Special Committee by one witness, Dr. Ahmed Karain, in the course of this testimony (A/AC.145/RT.361).  Dr. Karain was himself a teacher at Bir Zeit University, but was expelled on 11 November 1982 when he refused to sign the commitment concerning PLO. The testimony of Dr. Karain was corroborated in its essential aspects by testimony from other persons who were themselves teachers affected by the same commitment.  It was explained to the Special Committee that the demand to sign the commitment was symptomatic of the treatment by the military occupation's authorities of the civilian population and the daily acts of harassment to which the academic community itself was subjected. The four versions of the commitment read as follows:

'The Israeli Defence Forces

The Civil Administration for Judea and Samaria Region

Commitment in order to be granted an employment permit for the academic year 1982/1983

167. Another witness, Dr. Walid Mustapha (A/AC.145/RT.363/Add.1) described to the Special Committee the frequency with which the military authorities resorted to closure of schools; he handed the Committee a written statement giving data on this aspect (see para. 191).

(b) Measures affecting teachers, students and schools

168. Israeli authorities renewed the town arrest imposed on Mr. Nassoh Raaini who teaches Islamic religion in Tulkarm. He has been prevented from leaving his village for the last six months and has to report to the police once a week.  He has been obliged to retire as from 1 September. (Al Fajr, 10 September 1982)

169. The Military Government in the West Bank postponed the opening of the academic year for elementary and secondary schools.  According to one report, the Bethlehem University was now scheduled to open on 21 September 1982, the A-Najah University in Nablus, on 9 October 1982 and Bir Zeit, which is under a closure order until 8 October 1982, reportedly planned to open on 11 October 1982.  According to another report, all schools in the West Bank would open on 3 October 1982. The Israeli liaison office earlier postponed the academic year from 1 to 21 September 1982. No official reason was given for the postponements, but they were believed to be linked with the mounting tension between the authorities and the three local universities, on the one hand, and the political tension over Lebanon, on the other.  (Jerusalem Post, 14 September 1982; Al Fajr, 24 September 1982)

170. Israeli authorities imposed six-month town restriction orders on three students from Hebron:  Khalil el-Sous, head of the student council in the Polytechnic Institute in Hebron, Firas Yaghi and Nasser Atiyeh, both members of the council.  (Al Fajr, 29 October 1982)

171. The Israeli authorities imposed town arrest orders on three students of the student council at the Hebron Polytechnic. They are chairman Khalil Sous, council secretary Ferras Yaghi and Nasser Attiya. (Al Fajr, 12 November 1982)

172. The Israeli military-run education department ordered 11 teachers from the Hebron district into voluntary "retirement".  Similar notices were issued to dozens of government school teachers in the Jenin, Tulkarm and Ramallah areas.  No reason was given for the action. Several of those "retired" in Hebron, as well as in other areas, are members of the general Committee of Government School Teachers in the West Bank, a de facto union of the 7,000 teachers at the former Jordanian-run, and now Israeli military-run, schools.  (Al Fajr, 1 October 1982)

173. The Israeli military authorities in Ramallah summoned Ahmad Jaber, former secretary of the Bethlehem University student council and informed him of a six-month town arrest order against him.  The order started on 8 November.  Mr. Jaber was reportedly restricted to his home village of Turmus-Ayya, 17 kilometres north of Ramallah, and had to check with the Ramallah police once a week.  No reason was given for the order. (Al Fajr, 19 November)

174. The Israeli authorities renewed the town restriction order against Zahira Ahmed Kamal, a woman teacher at the Girls' Teacher Training Centre in Ramallah. This was the sixth time that this order has been renewed. (Al Fajr, 26 November)

175. The Israeli authorities reportedly dismissed a teacher from Nablus, Saladin Ahmed Shtaya – a member of the West Bank Teachers' Committee.  Mr. Ahmed Shtaya taught science in Salem, near Nablus.  He accused the Israeli authorities of "fabricating a security offence" to force his dismissal.  He was the fifteenth member of the Teachers' Committee to be dismissed this year.  (Al Fajr, 19 November)

176. The liaison officer of the civil administration in the West Bank ordered Dr. Adnan Salah, the director of the education department in Hebron, to dismiss Yousef Muhammad Sawalha, a teacher in the Si'ir secondary school.  The order was back-dated to 22 November.  Sawalha was a graduate of the Bir Zeit University.  (Al Fajr, 26 November)

177. The military education authorities in Hebron reinstated the headmistress of the Dura secondary school and the principal of the Ghazi secondary school.  Another teacher from the Burj school in Dura, Adel Ata Abu-Alan, was reportedly dismissed from his post. (Al Fajr, 24 December 1982, 1 January 1983)

178. The security forces took measures against the A-Najah university and the Kadri-Toukan high school – both in Nablus – following student demonstrations in the town marking the anniversary of the establishment of the "Fatah" organization:  road-blocks were placed around the University, several students were detained and members of the student's council were reportedly summoned for questioning in connection with the demonstration and with alleged inflammatory speeches and attempts to incite school students.  The Kadri-Toukan school was closed for one month. Members of the Israel Association for Civil Rights were reportedly prevented from entering the A-Najah campus. According to local sources troops manning the road-blocks barred access to the University from students who were not residents of Nablus, thus implementing Military Order No. 854 which the civil administration had announced it would freeze for one year. (Jerusalem Post, 12, 13 January; Al Fajr, 14 January 1983)

179. The director of education in the Jenin district reportedly informed headmasters and headmistresses that they were not allowed to enter their schools without prior permission from him.  (Al Fajr, 14 January 1983)

180. Maha Naim Awdeh, a resident of Tarqumiya and sports teacher in the Dura girls' secondary school, received an order dismissing her from post as from 30 January 1983.  (Al Fajr, 28 January 1983)

181. Officials in the Education Department in Tulkarm have sent a letter to university teacher, Salim Abed Al-Rahman Zaghel, ordering him to stop teaching in Kafr Jamal secondary school as from 19 January 1983.  No reasons were given.  (Al Fajr, 28 January 1983)

182. Twenty-two Hebron university students, and one other from A-Najah and "five or six" from the Hebron polytechnic, were remanded in custody at Al-Fara'a detention camp, near Jenin, following a court appearance on 30 January 1983.  The students were all arrested after attending a cultural festival at Bethlehem University in January. (Al Fajr, 4 February 1983)

183. The Israeli administrator for educational affairs in the West Bank announced that he had decided to dismiss a teacher, Mr. Mohammad Issa Kurdi as from 14 February 1983. (Al Fajr, 4 February 1983)

184. The West Bank education officer dismissed Firial Rashad Abu Heikal from her post as teacher in the Samu' girls' secondary school as from 1 February 1983. No reason was given. (Al Fajr, 11 February 1983)

185. The military court in Nablus imposed fines of 15.000 Israel shekels on each of the 26 students of the Hebron Islamic College and the polytechnic who had been charged with participating in a pro-Fatah rally at the Bethlehem University.  The students were detained at the Fara'a detention camp for about 30 days before their trial. (Ha'aretz, 18 February 1983)

186. Thirty-nine students of the A-Najah university in Nablus were reportedly arrested while on their way to the village of Khader, near Bethlehem, to carry out voluntary work. According to military sources, the students in question are "professed inciters whose arrest was made on the basis of early information".  All the students were reportedly taken to the Fara'a prison near Nablus.  (Ha'aretz, 24 April)

187. On 12 April the Israeli military liaison officer in charge of education ordered all government schools on the West Bank to prolong the spring vacations until 9 April. The order was issued one day before pupils were due back in class, and local education officials expressed concern at the loss of schools in the scholastic year.  Three schools in the Bethlehem area had been closed since the beginning of March, by military order, following demonstrations that took place there in connection with the visit to the West Bank of the former United States President Mr. Carter.  The delay in the opening of the summer term is believed to be linked with the incidents of the alleged poisoning in the area.  Schools where pupils were affected by alleged poisoning were ordered closed until further notice.  It was later reported that the Hebron Polytechnic, the University and five schools in the area were still closed for the fifth week running.  According to a local education official, the closure affected 1,400 students in the university, 480 at the Polytechnic Institute and 1,000 students at the secondary level.  (Al Fajr, 15 and 22 April)

188. The Military Government closed the A-Najah University for the rest of this academic year, on the decision of the Central Region Commander, Aluf Uri Or, following student demonstrations to mark the first anniversary of the war in Lebanon.  (Jerusalem Post, 5 June)

189. Secondary school students who have recently been arrested on suspicion of rioting and stone-throwing will not be able to take the matriculation examinations. Security officials explained that there was no technical possibility of holding such examinations in detention centres. They further maintained that this was not a new method of punishment, but added that there was no intention of "being lenient with peace breakers". So far, some 20 youths from a refugee camp near Ramallah are the only ones affected by this measure. (Ha'aretz, 20 June)

190. Some 20 secondary students in Gaza are reportedly barred from sitting for their matriculation examinations by administrative order of the military authorities. The military said the students from the refugee camps had been disqualified because they had participated in demonstrations in the course of last year.  (Al Fajr, 8 July 1983)

191. In the course of his testimony on 4 June 1983 (A/AC.145/RT.363), Dr. Walid Mustapha presented a written statement giving information on the frequency of closures of schools and universities during the period 1 June 1982 to 1 June 1983. Dr. Mustapha alleged that the purpose of the frequent resort to this measure by the military authorities was to disrupt education, as were similar measures such as censorship of numerous school textbooks and deprivation of appropriate equipment in schools. Dr. Mustapha cited as an example the order by the West Bank military officer in charge of education to close schools between 30 March and 18 April 1983. Dr. Mustapha gave the following details:

"Details of schools closed by military order

between 1 June 1982 and 1 June 1983

3.  Information on the situation in the Golan Heights

192. Seven Druze residents, five from Majdal Shams and two from Bukata, on the Golan Heights, were arrested.  No details were given as to the grounds for their detention.  According to local pro-Syrian leaders, the sudden arrests were a provocation "against those who oppose the (Israeli) Government policy to extend Israeli law to their villages".  (Jerusalem Post, 12 December, Ha'aretz, 13 December 1982)

193. According to the Interior Ministry's northern representative more than 99 per cent of the Golan Druze population over age 16 have already accepted Israeli identity cards, and the number of those who opted for citizenship has increased recently.  So far, some 200 Druze have become Israeli citizens.  Many are teachers, state employees and workers.  According to unofficial sources, many teachers have now decided to become Israeli citizens since they could not work for the Ministry of Education without doing so.  The clergymen and radical elements have reportedly removed their objection to the identity cards, but they did not approve of the population taking on Israeli citizenship.  (Jerusalem Post, 6 February 1983)

194. Four Druze residents of the Golan Heights were reportedly sentenced by a district court in Nazareth to prison terms ranging from three to eight years for spying for the Syrian Arab Republic. The defendants had allegedly collected information for the Syrian Intelligence on military installations, the Israeli Defence Forces movements in the Golan, and information on Golan Druze who had accepted Israeli identity cards. (Jerusalem Post, 4 March 1983)

195. In the course of its visit to Damascus on 6 and 7 June 1983, the Special Committee received a detailed statement prepared by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic. The report contains detailed information on several aspects of the situation in the Golan Heights in particular as it resulted from the decision taken by the Government of Israel in 1981 purporting to annex the Golan Heights.  Among these measures, the report refers to the imposition of Israeli citizenship on the Syrian civilian population and the pressure applied on them to force them to accept. The economic and agricultural life of the Golan Heights is affected in particular as regards the marketing of agricultural products, grazing and animal husbandry. The report alleges that health care, which is minimal, is made subject to acceptance of Israeli citizenship.  Other measures included those related to education and culture, for example, the introduction of Hebrew as a compulsory language in all schools and the introduction of sectarian subjects in an alleged attempt to create a racial rift between the Druze population and the other Syrian citizens.

196. The report makes reference to other measures designed to bring pressure to force Israeli citizenship upon the population of the Golan Heights. These include detention, entering houses without prior notice, preventing members of families who are dispersed from meeting, preventing public gatherings, etc. The report also gives details of labour conditions, measures affecting trade unionism and treatment of detainees in Israeli prisons.

197. The Special Committee heard the testimony of six persons who lived in the Golan Heights or had recently left, and who informed the Special Committee of their personal experiences. Their testimony dwelt on the measures being applied by the Israeli authorities since the purported annexation aimed at forcing the population of the Golan Heights to accept annexation and in particular Israeli citizenship.  These included the compulsory teaching of Hebrew and studies of Jewish traditions and discouraging the study of Syrian and Islamic culture.  One witness testified regarding the ill-treatment to which he was subjected in the course of his detention from 1970 to 1972 in several prisons in Israel. The testimony of these witnesses corroborated to a large extent the details given in the report received by the Special Committee from the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic.

198. Relevant extracts of this report are reproduced in annex I below.

4.  Situation of Palestinians in Rafah-Sinai (Egypt)

199. In the course of its meetings from 30 May to 10 June 1983, the Special Committee conducted hearings in Amman and Damascus (see sect. II above). On 7 June 1983, the Government of Egypt requested the Special Committee to investigate the situation of some 700 Palestinian families from the Gaza Strip living in the village of Rafah, in Egyptian territory. On 9 June 1983, the Special Committee proceeded to Rafah via Cairo where it conducted a series of hearings of persons who alleged that they were being denied the right to return to their homes in the Gaza Strip, occupied by Israel in 1967. The Special Committee heard six persons whose testimony reflected the overall situation of some 5,500 Palestinians living in "Canada" camp in Rafah, located a few metres away from the international border between Egypt and Israel (A/AC.145/RT.370).  The Special Committee received two written submissions from individuals living in the same quarter giving further information relevant to the allegation (A/AC.145/R.256, R.258).

200. According to the testimony received by the Special Committee, the persons living in "Canada" camp were Palestinian refugees who had fled from their homes in 1948 and who had been living in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. Subsequent to the 1967 hostilities and as a result of certain measures taken by the Israeli military authorities, several hundred families living in these refugee camps were re-located, including the group which was occupying "Canada" camp. According to the information received by the Special Committee, these families had received some compensation for the houses that had been either pulled down or otherwise removed in the refugee camps. Some were offered alternative accommodation at a cost that was approximately equivalent to the compensation they had received. The majority of the witnesses, however, complained that the compensation offered was insufficient to enable them to have accommodation comparable to that which they had given up in Gaza. Some families, it was alleged, had been removed from the refugee camps against their will.

201. On 25 April 1982, the border separating the occupied Gaza Strip from Egyptian territory was drawn through the village of Rafah, thus leaving the "Canada" camp in Egyptian territory. According to the testimony received by the Special Committee, this separation had drastic effects on the individuals concerned, in that they were separated from their places of work, schools and, in some instances, the rest of their families. The Special Committee was informed by the Egyptian authorities that negotiations with the Israeli authorities aimed at repatriating the inhabitants of the "Canada" camp had thus far been unsuccessful, in spite of the agreement in principle which had been given by the Israeli authorities for repatriation. Thus, as at mid-June 1983, the inhabitants of "Canada" camp were being denied their right to return to their homes in the occupied territory.

202. The following memorandum was submitted to the Special Committee in the course of its visit to Rafah-Sinai on 10 June 1983.

"Memorandum submitted by the residents of the

Canada Camp in Rafah, Sinai

203. Leaders of Jewish settlements in the West Bank have demanded that the Government introduce immediate deportation measures to curb stone-throwing by local Arabs. According to the chairman of the "Council of Jewish Towns and Settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza", such a measure would be effective, would calm the area and was "humanitarian".  Asked whether the proposed sanction should be applied to children – who were the most common stone-throwers – the spokesman answered that "they should go with their families".  Central Region Commander, Aluf Uri Orr, reportedly told the settlers that the Israeli Defence Forces would "take all the measures to enable Israelis to circulate in the West Bank roads without fear", but refused to refer to the proposal to deport stone-throwers. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 5 November 1982)

204. Following a stone-throwing incident on the Jerusalem-Hebron main road, some 30 settlers from Kiryat-Arba went to the house of the mukhtar of the Ein-Arub refugee camp and demanded that the mukhtar trace the youths allegedly responsible for the stone-throwing and give their names to local police.  They also demanded that the mukhtar come to Kiryat-Arba the next day to apologize. The army had to be called in to remove the settlers from the camp. Following this incident senior military sources said that the military governor of Hebron would summon the Kiryat-Arba settlers shortly and "explain to them that the security forces are the only authorized body responsible for ensuring public order and security in the area". (Jerusalem Post, 23 December 1982)

205. Settlers from Gush Etzion reportedly uprooted olive saplings planted by Arab villagers from Hahalin, south of Bethlehem, on a parcel of land which was declared state land six months ago and which is subject of an ownership dispute before the High Court of Justice.  Local police sources, confirming the uprooting, noted that the saplings had been planted despite an interim court order barring anyone from entering or working the dispute area.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 30 December 1982)

206. According to the Peace Now Movement, the Minister for Science and Technology, Mr. Yuval Ne'eman, and his assistant, Knesset member Hanan Porat (both of the Tehiya party which is close to Gush Emunim) were helping to set up "supervisory teams" of Jewish settlers in order to guard state lands.  The Peace Now Movement warned that such teams may be used to deport Arabs who oppose Israeli rule. The Movement also warned that it had learned that the Kiryat-Arba administration intended to "persuade" and "pressurize" shopowners in the old market place of Hebron to leave the area, which was once part of the Jewish quarter of Hebron.  A spokesman for the Science and Development Ministry later denied any involvement by Mr. Ne'eman in setting up the supervision teams in the territories. (Jerusalem Post, 5, 6 January 1983 )

207. The Kiryat-Arba local council uprooted four high-tension pylons belonging to the local Arab municipality, cutting electricity to 25 Arab families living north of the Jewish suburb outside Hebron. According to the Kiryat-Arba council, the land where the pylons had been placed was to be used for the development of the Givat Harsina suburb.  Several days later it was reported that five electric poles put up by the Hebron municipality in the same area were pulled down, for the second time in a week.  The Kiryat-Arba council denied any responsibility for the act.  In a related incident, Hebron resident Zayad al-Ja'abari complained that Kiryat-Arba residents destroyed a house he had just built in an area fenced off and claimed by the Jewish suburb.  According to the Hebron Mayor, Mr. Mustafa Natshe, Mr. Ja'abari had a legal building permit and the disputed area was within the Hebron municipal area.  On 13 January 1983, it was reported that Hebron was declared a "closed military area" in order to prevent Peace Now activists from attempting to help the municipality re-erect and guard four high-tension pylons which Kiryat-Arba settlers had knocked down twice during the previous week.  Military sources reportedly insisted that the Israeli Defence Forces took responsibility for order in the area and would ensure that the law was obeyed by all.  It was further reported that the military commander of the area had told Peace Now representatives that the leaders of the Kiryat-Arba council had not been authorized to act as they had done and the police were investigating possible action against them. (Jerusalem Post, 7, 10, 13 January; Ha'aretz, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13 January 1983)

208. The director of the Dar al-Tafel Kindergarten in Nablus filed a complaint with police alleging that Jewish settlers fired shots from a passing ambulance at the kindergarten and a local bus parked beside it.  No one was hurt but both the building and the bus were reportedly damaged. (Jerusalem Post, 10 January 1983)

209. According to villagers from Samu', south of Hebron, settlers had seized an area of 1,500 dunams and started to prepare the land. The villagers claimed that the land belonged to them and stated that no order was issued declaring that area state land. They lodged a complaint with the civil administration and it was reported that their complaint was under examination. (Ha'aretz, 25 January 1983)

210. Kiryat-Arba settlers reportedly sawed off – for the third time – electric pylons which belong to the Hebron municipality and which provide electricity to several dozen families in the north-eastern area of Hebron.  The Kiryat-Arba council claims that the area belongs to it and it may therefore do what it wants there.  The Hebron municipality acknowledged that the area was not within its municipal boundaries, but said that this did not give the Kiryat-Arba settlers the right to damage municipal property. The army had to intervene in order to prevent scuffles between local Arab residents and Kiryat-Arba settlers.  (Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 3 February 1983)

211. The "Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza", in collaboration with Gush Emunim, have set up a joint "security committee" to "prevent attacks on Jews" – following a series of incidents in the West Bank roads in which one Israeli woman died after being hit by a stone.  Some 70 Kiryat-Arba settlers, led by Rabbi Moshe Levinger, intended to enter the township of Dhahiriya (where the Israeli woman was hit, and which has since been under curfew) and "give lessons" to its residents, as they did in the past in the Al Arub refugee camps.  The Central Region Commander later authorized a group of settlers to enter the town and hold a prayer on the spot where the woman was hit. After the prayer, Rabbi Levinger, using a loud-speaker, warned the residents of Dhahiriya and other Arab towns, that "Jewish blood will not be shed without a revenge".  (Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 16 February 1983)

212. It was subsequently reported that hundreds of Kiryat-Arba settlers and residents of Beit Shean (the home town of the Israeli woman) held a commemoration ceremony for the Israeli victim at the centre of Dhahiriya.  The ceremony was held under the protection of the Israeli Defence Forces and the police.  At the ceremony Rabbi Moshe Levinger demanded that the death penalty be imposed on whoever killed a Jew.  Another Kiryat-Arba leader, lawyer Elyakim Haetzni, said that the reply to attacks on Jews should be more settlement in the West Bank, as was exemplified in the Jewish settlement in the centre of Hebron. (Ha'aretz, 23 February 1983)

213. According to a Hebron resident, Mohammad Nasser Ja'abari, who lives in a house close to Kiryat-Arba, eight persons, allegedly Jewish settlers, fired several shots at his house, his 4-year-old daughter was allegedly slightly hit by shrapnel.  According to local residents, the shooting continued for a long time. Military sources said that the incident did not last long and that those responsible had not been found.  It was also reported that a booby-trapped bomb had exploded outside a mosque in Hebron, slightly wounding two local residents. The Hebron Mayor, Mr. Mustafa Nabi Natshe, declared:  "If they find the people who attacked the mayors three years ago, you will find the people who planted this bomb."  An investigation was reportedly under way, but with no results so far. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 27, 28 February 1983)

214. The period covered by the present report was characterized by numerous clashes in the West Bank involving Israeli settlers and Arab residents. Thus, it was reported on 1 March that two members of the "El-Nakham" settlement (which belongs to Rabbi Kahane's "Kach" movement), near Kiryat-Arba, fired at an Arab vehicle passing near the settlement.  An Arab boy who threw a snow-ball at a car belonging to a Kiryat-Arba settler was captured by the driver and handed over to the Kiryat-Arba security guards. The police later handed the child to his family.  Kiryat-Arba settlers who were passengers of a bus whose windscreen was shattered by a stone near the Dheisheh refugee camp, descended from the bus and started stoning Arab vehicles.  At least five cars were reportedly damaged. (Ha'aretz, 1 March 1983)

215. Settlers from "Carmel", south-east of Hebron, chased and detained two youths from Yatta after the settlers had been forced to stop at a road-block of rocks and burning tyres and then stoned.  In another development it was reported from Nablus by local sources that settlers had entered the El Farouk secondary school and fired shots in the air. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 2 March 1983)

216. The security forces in .Judea. have reportedly uncovered a network of Jewish zealots – most of them from Kiryat-Arba and nearby settlements, whose objective is to attack and harm Arab residents in the Hebron area and to damage their property.  The ultimate goal of the group – whose members were in possession of fire-arms was to press local Arabs to leave their homes and lands. (Ma'ariv, 2 March 1983)

217. Settlers from "Carmel", south-east of Hebron, reportedly entered a boys' school in Yatta, fired into the air and threatened the teachers and students with their weapons after they were stoned as they drove through the village. They detained two boys and handed them over to the police.  In another development it was reported that the Kiryat-Arba settlers blocked with their cars the main road to Jerusalem, at the Deheisheh refugee camp. Several settlers, accompanied by border policemen, reportedly entered the local boys' school and demanded that the principal help them identify the youths who had stoned their car. The principal reportedly refused and was taken to the military government headquarters and questioned for three hours. (Jerusalem Post, 4 March 1983)

218. Five Jewish youths, most of them members of the "Kach" movement and pupils of the yeshiva in Hebron, were arrested by the security forces on suspicion of involvement in two firing incidents in Hebron. In one incident shots were fired at an Arab vehicle near the El Nakam settlement, and in the other incident reported to have taken place a few days earlier, a 4-year-old girl was injured when shots were fired at Arab houses in Hebron. All the suspects reportedly admitted to having participated in the incidents. It was subsequently reported that the Minister for Defence, Mr. Moshe Arens, ordered that the unauthorized El-Nakam settlement, which had been established outside Hebron by the "Kach" movement, should be vacated.  (Ma'ariv, 7 March, Ha'aretz, 8 March, Jerusalem Post, 9 March 1983)

219. Settlers reportedly entered the Qalandiya refugee camp north of Jerusalem and threatened to eject the residents unless stone-throwing attacks on Israeli vehicles stopped. Soldiers and police arrived and ordered the settlers out of the camp, according to Arab sources. (Jerusalem Post, 9 March 1983)

220. At a meeting with Jewish settlers in Hebron and Kiryat-Arba, the Minister for Defence, Mr. Moshe Arens, recalled recent acts of retaliation by Jewish settlers on Arabs in the area and warned the settlers not to take the law into their own hands. He stressed that the response to stone-throwing had to be on two levels: technical and normative.  "The technique we can find and develop, but it has to be in line with the norms we are committed to, otherwise the entire settlement programme will be compromised", he said. (Jerusalem Post, 10 March 1983)

221. The security forces thwarted an attempt by Jewish religious zealots, most of them students at the Kiryat-Arba yeshiva and linked with the "Kach" movement, at seizing and occupying the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Forty-five youths were detained by the police, which reportedly told the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court that it planned to charge the suspects with incitement to rebellion and conspiring to harm a holy site.  Most of the plotters were arrested at the home of Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, former head of the Yamit yeshiva in Sinai, in the Jewish quarter of the Old City. Policy carried out searches in the flat and discovered an Uzzi submachine gun, an M-16 automatic rifle and nine other guns, hundreds of bullets and two gas masks as well as diagrams of the Temple Mount and instructions for rituals at the holy site. Four armed youths were arrested as they were discovered by police attempting to break into an underground passage leading to an area near the Al Aqsa mosque. It was also reported that, following stone-throwing incidents in Jerusalem's Old City, some 40 religious Jews smashed windows in shops in the Moslem quarter and hit people with sticks. (Ma'ariv, 11 March, Jerusalem Post, 13 March 1983)

222. An Arab youth was reportedly slightly injured in the ankle when settlers from Psagot, near El Bireh, whose bus was attacked by stone-throwing youths, descended from the bus, chased the youths and opened fire. The police were reportedly investigating the incident, but did not arrest the settlers.  According to Arab sources, the settlers entered the Al Muhatrabin school in El Bireh, near the scene of the incident. (Ha'aretz, 14 March 1983)

223. A Jerusalem police source confirmed that the husband of an Arab woman from the Old City, who was beaten unconscious a few days earlier, had been harassed a number of times by religious Jews from a neighbouring yeshiva, who demanded that he and his wife leave their home. The 75-year-old woman, Mrs. Fatma Abu Mayaleh, was still in critical condition two days after she was attacked with a heavy blunt instrument. The police have so far arrested no suspects.  In a related incident, the police arrested nine students of the yeshiva following an incident involving tussles with foreign cameramen, a rock fight with local Arab neighbours and a scuffle with a border-police officer. Reports were also received of harassment of local residents by Jewish settlers in Halhul and Ramallah. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 6 April 1983)

224. Almost 100 cars belonging to Arabs who live near Kiryat-Arba had their windscreens smashed with rocks or iron bars, and some had most of their windows smashed. According to a police source, 33 local residents lodged complaints. A special investigation team was set up. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 12 April)

225. Students of the Birkat Avraham Yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem reportedly attacked the house of Issa Abu-Sreineh, located in part of the same building, and forced him to leave his home together with the 15 members of his family. (Al Fajr, 22 April)

226. A "secret Jewish organization", said to be "bent on taking revenge for stone-throwing attacks by Arabs" in the West Bank, is reported to have claimed responsibility for an attempt to set fire to vehicles in Halhul, breaking the windows of 42 cars in Beit Jala, an attack on four Arab vehicles between Hebron and Yatta and the planting of a bomb at the Kazazin Mosque in Hebron on 25 February.  Israel Radio reported that some Jews have been called for questioning. According to one report, the organization, whose members are settlers from Kiryat-Arba and the areas of the Etzion bloc and Mount Hebron, is called the "Fist of Defence".  (Jerusalem Post, 6 May, Yediot Aharonot, 8 May 1983)

227. A 24-year-old resident of East Jerusalem, Mr. Nafez Abu-Maisar, who was beaten and injured in April while rescuing an elderly Arab woman who was being attacked by yeshiva students in Jerusalem's Old City, was attacked again, allegedly by the same students.  He is reported to be in serious condition at Makased Hospital in East Jerusalem. Residents of the Aqabat Alkhaldiya street, where a number of yeshiva colleges are located, reported that they have been harassed by yeshiva students almost nightly. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 9 May 1983)

228. Residents of Hebron complained to the police about vandals who, in the previous 10 days, had damaged vehicles parked outside their homes at night. The police say that the so-called "Fist of Defence" group has claimed responsibility for the damage to some 60 vehicles. This is the third such incident in one month. It was later reported that the "General Security Services" were co-ordinating the inquiry against the underground "Fist of Defence" group, and that the local police were assisting them. It is believed that the group members are reserve officers of the Israeli Defence Forces. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 13 May, Ma'ariv, 15 May 1983)

229. It was reported on 12 May that Deputy Attorney-General Mrs. Yehudit Karp had resigned her position as chairman of a committee of the Ministry of Justice that was investigating anti-Arab vigilantism by Jewish settlers in the West Bank, allegedly because no action had been taken for the past year on recommendations made by her committee. Among the documents reportedly prepared by the committee was a list of incidents for which nobody has been arrested – or charged – involving identified Jewish settlers acting against West Bank Arabs.  According to one report, the committee report roundly condemned vigilantism, intervention by politicians on behalf of arrested suspects, and the dependence of the police on the military government in the territories. Former Jerusalem District Attorney Mr. Michael Kirsh, who was a member of the Karp committee, said on 15 May that two systems of justice existed in the territories, one for Arabs and one for Jews.  Like unidentified senior police officers, he indicated strongly that there were political echelons that encouraged the military in the territories to turn a blind eye to vigilantism. Police officers reportedly conceded that they were "practically incompetent" to act as an investigative force in the territories, because, ultimately, all authority resides with the Israeli Defence Forces. On 16 May, it was reported that four Labour members of the Knesset had approached the Minister for Defence and the Attorney-General on the subject of the Karp committee, asking why the committee's recommendations regarding the legal situation prevailing in the territories had not been carried out. A senior police officer reportedly told Ma'ariv that "the political situation, the unclear future of 'Judea and Samaria', dictate to a large extent the difference in police attitude towards Jews and Arabs in the territories. It is estimated that, with the intensification of settlement, the problems will grow more serious". On 19 May, it was reported that Knesset member Shulamit Aloni's Civil Rights Movement has given the Ministry of Justice a list of 70 instances in which Jewish residents of the West Bank allegedly acted illegally against local Arabs. Forty-eight of the 70 incidents involved settlers, and either the Israeli Defence Forces or Border Police were involved in the others. The list notes at least seven cases of alleged shooting of Arabs by Jewish settlers. All the incidents occurred in 1982-1983. (Jerusalem Post, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19 May; Ha'aretz, 12, 15, 17, 19 May; Ma'ariv, 16 and 20 May 1983)

230. Settlers from Shilo confiscated crops of wheat and lentils belonging to an Arab farmer from the neighbouring village of Turmus Aya. This followed a dispute over the ownership of the piece of land. The Shilo settlers have so far failed to obtain any official document showing that the land is theirs. The farmer lodged a complaint with the Ramallah police. On 31 May, it was reported that settlers from Shilo again prevented farmers from Turmus Aya from harvesting their crops in disputed lands. The civil administration was now reportedly preventing both parties from entering the disputed lands. (Ha'aretz, 24 and 31 May)

231. Jerusalem police questioned eight students from the Birkat Avraham Yeshiva in the Old City about the vandalization of the house of an Arab, Mr. Muhammad Abu Snina, adjoining the yeshiva. They were released after a few hours. The yeshiva students have been charged in the past with harassing neighbours, beating an elderly Arab woman unconscious and contending that the entire property belongs to Jews. (Jerusalem Post, 2 June)

232. A large number of Jewish settlers reportedly raided Arab farmlands adjoining the settlement of Tekoa, near Bethlehem. The settlers, arriving in a convoy of 20 vehicles, uprooted hundreds of trees and caused other material damage. Police arrested several residents of another nearby Jewish settlement, but released them soon after. (Al Fajr, 10 June)

233. On 29 June a delegation of Jewish settlement leaders from the Hebron area met the Minister for Defence, Mr. Moshe Arens, and presented him with a list of demands. These included permitting Jewish settlers in the West Bank to establish a civil guard to serve as a police force, imposing deterrent sentences on stone-throwers, demolishing refugee-camp dwellings adjacent to main roads and building new housing for the affected families away from the camps, loosening the Israeli Defence Forces rules concerning the firing of weapons during riots, permitting Jewish settlers to enter schools when stones are thrown from them onto Passing vehicles, and imposing strict, rather than only partial, curfews.  According to the settlers, Mr. Arens expressed agreement with them in principle but did not endorse any practical steps. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 30 June 1983)

234. The unpublished report of the Karp committee reportedly unveils a large number of serious failures in the co-ordination between the Israeli Defence Forces, the police and the General Security Service in investigating complaints by Arabs against Jews in the West Bank. It emerges from the report that the investigation of Arab complaints was often done in a "negligent and disparaging" manner, and in many cases files were closed before the investigation had been exhausted. Police investigators in the territories did not receive co-operation from the Jewish settlers who were summoned for questioning.  Cases were discovered in which Jews threatened Arabs while urging them to sell lands. In some of the cases, Arabs withdrew their complaints to the police following threats and pressures exerted on them.  The report includes dozens of examples of complaints lodged by Arabs against Jews, which were not given appropriate treatment.  One of the cases is that of the killing of a girl, Maysun Ghanem, from the village of Al Arub. It was suspected that the girl was killed by Jewish settlers who were driving a jeep and who opened fire after their vehicle was stoned by demonstrators.  According to the report, the investigation of this incident went on for too long, and nobody was put on trial.  (Ha'aretz, 30 June 1983)

235. On 26 July, police detained three Kiryat-Arba settlers on suspicion of being responsible for the illegal destruction of part of a house belonging to an Arab resident.  The act took place on the night of 25 July when a tractor belonging to the Kiryat-Arba council started to destroy a house belonging to a member of the Ja'abari family on the grounds that it was built without a permit. The police conducted a "strenuous inquiry" and arrived at the conclusion that the destruction was illegal. It was later reported that one of the three detainees, an employee of the Kiryat-Arba local council, was ordered detained for five days by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, while the other two suspects were released on bail of 150,000 Israel shekels each. The suspects' lawyer, Mr. David Rotem, told the court he had a letter from the Kiryat-Arba local council saying that it had ordered the structure destroyed, since the owner had not heeded council warnings that he did not have a building licence. (Ha'aretz, 27 July, Jerusalem Post, 29 July)

6.  Incidents in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip

236. The following is a selection of reports of incidents recorded by the Special Committee during the period covered by the report. It is not to be considered exhaustive as it is intended to reflect the frequency, location and type of such events. The "remarks" column is meant to assist in giving an indication of the context of such reports.

237. The following abbreviations of the names of newspapers are used in the tables

INCIDENTS

C.  Information on measures of annexation and settlements

238. The Military Government in Nablus expropriated some 5,000 dunams near the villages of Ni'lin, Qibya and Shibtin, in the Ramallah region. The landowners say that the land is privately owned and claim they have the necessary documents to prove their ownership of the land. Military sources say that the land is State land. The landowners intend to take their case to the High Court for an order nisi to halt the confiscation procedure while the claims are reviewed. Settlement Department sources said that the land will be used for a new settlement called "Nili". (Ha'aretz, 29 August 1982; Al Fajr, 3 September 1982)

239. The Ministers for Finance and of Development, Mr. Yoram Aridor and Prof. Yuval Ne'eman, yesterday agreed on means for earmarking 500 million shekels for settlement activities in the West Bank.  (Ha'aretz, 31 August 1982)

240. Preparatory works are under way for a new communal settlement in "Samaria" called Netafim. It is located opposite Beit-Aba, on the "trans-Samaria" road.  Three more settlements are planned in "Samaria":  Elkana C', south-west of Beit-Aba; a large urban settlement west of Yakir and north-west of Emanuel; and Ya'arit, near Sal'it. Four other settlements are at present under construction: Sha'arey-Tikva, near Elkana; Emanuel, Tzavta, above Qalqilya, and Netafim. To these should be added three Nahal outposts on Mount Gerizim, and Hermesh (near Dotan); two other settlements which are under construction, and Irit, near Tubas.  (Ma'ariv, 1 September 1982)

241. The new town of Ma'ale-Adumim is inaugurated east of Jerusalem. In the inauguration ceremony Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Housing and Construction, Mr. David Levy, declared that "Settlement in Eretz Yisrael would stop, the map was 'bubbling' with new construction, and hundreds and thousands housing units were being built in new towns, such as Efrat and Karnei-Shomron, which are to be inaugurated in the near future".  (Jerusalem Post, 2 September 1982)

242. The Government and the World Zionist Organization yesterday decided to establish eight settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  But so far there is money for just three, so approval of five settlements was given "in principle".  The three settlements where actual work is to begin are: Susia, in the southern sector of Mount Hebron;  Kokhva, south of Gush Etzion; and Ginat, north-west of Jenin. A government source said 20 million Israel shekels have been earmarked for each of the three to settle 50 to 60 families in the first stage. The Committee also decided, in principle, to establish Negohot, Adora, Omarim and Yakin in the southern area of Mount Hebron, and a settlement in northern Gaza Strip for former Yamit residents. Three other agricultural settlements – Beit Mirsim, Eshkolot and Yatir C' – also in the southern Mount Hebron area, were not approved yesterday as the Government and the World Zionist Organization have yet to discuss land and water allocations for them. The Minister for Justice, Mr. Moshe Nissim, emphasized that the establishment of the new settlements was conditional on the approval from the State Attorney that they were being built on State land and not on privately-owned land.  Infrastructure works started yesterday for the creation of two settlements, Yoezer and Ofarim, in the Tulkarm area. The decision to establish them was taken two months ago. (Jerusalem Post, 6 September 1982)

243. The Israel water company "Mekorot" is to administer all matters relating to water supplies and water resource in the West Bank, a decision in principle to that effect has been taken in the Ministry of Defence. "Mekorot" has hitherto dealt with water supply and well-sinking only for the Jewish settlements, whereas the water department in the civilian administration was responsible for water supply to Arab localities.  With the transfer of control to "Mekorot", it is now expected that the water department in the civilian administration will be abolished. Senior Israeli water officials described the decision as purely political and as having nothing to do with the level of maintenance of the West Bank water network.

244. An urban centre, similar to the town of Yamit, is to be established in the Netzarim area in the central district of the Gaza Strip, on the proposal of Matityahu Drobles, head of the Zionist Federation's Settlement Department.

(Yediot Aharonot, 13 September 1982)

245. The West Bank Military Government recently published orders declaring some 30,000 dunams in various parts of the area as "State land", thus permitting their allocation for Jewish settlement. According to West Bank sources, an order affecting more than 20,000 dunams on the southern slopes of the Hebron hills was published last week, and it was reported that bulldozers were working on another tract of some 10,000 dunams nears the village of Surif in the Hebron district. The Surif mukhtars, who received the notice declaring their land as "State land", said the land was privately owned and that the owners intended to petition the Military Appeals Board. (Jerusalem Post, 13 September 1982; Al Fajr, 17 September 1982)

246. The civil administration in the Tulkarm area declared some 10,000 dunams of land in the village of Deir-Istiya as "State-land".  The local mukhtar reported that the landowners intended to appeal against this decision. (Ha'aretz, 14 September 1982)

247. According to research conducted by Dr. Miron Benvenisti for the New York City University, Israel may seize some 60 per cent of the West Bank lands. It emerged from an aerial photography map that some 3.2 million dunams out of a total of 5 million dunams of West Bank land was rocky and grazing ground, a considerable part of which had already been declared "State land".  Some 400,000 dunams were "absentee land", mostly concentrated in the Jordan Valley area. Most of the Jordan Valley settlements were located on such land. Finally, some 70,000 dunams were lands bought by private individuals. (Ha'aretz, 14 September 1982)

248. According to Mr. Zee'v Ben Yosef, an aide to Mr. Matityahu Drobles, Chairman of the Zionist Federation's Settlement Department, the pace of settlement on the West Bank during the next three decades would not go beyond an average of one a year. The main thrust in the future, according to the official, will be to populate existing settlements rather than establish new ones. Mr. Ben Yosef added that there were at present 103 settlements in the West Bank, including those under construction, with a population of 25,000. (But according to a spokesman of the other chairman of the Department, Mr. Ra'anan Weitz, there were only 80 settlements in the West Bank with a Jewish population of 8,000.)  On the Golan Heights there were according to the same source, 35 settlements with 10,000 residents, and in the Gaza Strip, a dozen settlements with about 1,000 residents.  According to a plan proposed by Mr. Drobles – but not yet approved by any official body – another 20 to 30 settlements would be built on the West Bank by the year 2010, and there were proposals for doubling the Jewish population of the Golan Heights in the next three years and adding some new settlements in the central Golan. There were also plans to bring the Jewish population of the Gaza Strip up to 10,000. (Ha'aretz, 20 September 1982)

249. The 103rd settlement in the West Bank was reportedly established. It is called Anatot and is located between the villages of Hizma and Anata, on the line between the Neve-Yaacov and French Hill suburbs. Lorries reportedly moved prefabricated houses in the area to prevent Arab farmers from Hizma village from planting their land and from erecting new houses in the area. (Ma'ariv, Ha'aretz, 1 October; Al Fajr, 8 October 1982)

250. Speaking at the ceremony for the laying of the cornerstone of the new settlement of "Eley-Sinai", in the northern sector of the Gaza Strip, Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Michael Dekel, announced that the Government "planned to add 70,000 to 80,000 Jews to populate the Judea and Samaria area, (and that it would) extend (Israeli) sovereignty when it deems it proper to do so".  (Yediot Aharonot, 8 October 1982)

251. Speaking in a visit to settlements in "Samaria", Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Michael Dekel, said he was in favour of including in the State's settlement plans rocky and barren lands which at present belonged to Arabs, as well as lands which it was possible to buy, and not to limit such planning to State lands alone. On the same occasion, the head of the Gush-Etzion council, Mr. Shilo Gal, revealed that a team composed of Gush-Etzion settlers at present carried out "control expeditions aimed at locating illegal Arab construction and Arab farmers' seizure of State lands".  The team was reportedly operating in co-ordination with the civil administration and the Israeli Defence Forces authorities. (Ha'aretz, 13 October 1982)

252. The dedication ceremony was reported of a new religious settlement in "Samaria".  It is called Einav and is located on the Tulkarm-Nablus road, near Anabta. (Jerusalem Post, 13 October 1982)

253. Villagers in Burin, south-west of Nablus, reported that they had been served with notices declaring that 2,800 dunams of cultivated land they claimed was theirs was "State land". The seized land was reportedly designed for the permanent , settlement of Berakha, which was intended to provide housing for the Samaritan community on nearby Mount Gerizim.  One hundred eighty Burin families were reportedly affected by the confiscation. They were asked to report to the office of the Absentee Properties guardian in Nablus to receive compensation for their confiscated land, but they said they would go to the High Court and would not accept any compensation. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 18 October; Al Fajr, 22 October 1982)

254. The Israeli authorities confiscated 500 dunams of land from the area of the Village of Khader near Bethlehem. The confiscated land was reportedly part of the properties of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. (Al Fajr, 22 October 1982)

255. Residents of Kharbata, 14 kilometres north-west of Ramallah, have reportedly received notices that 1,200 dunams adjacent to the village were "State land".  There are several Jewish settlements in the area and the confiscated land would be used for their expansion. Two thirds of the families in the village reportedly have land in the confiscated zone. Owners were told that they had 21 days to appeal against the decision. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 26 October; Al Fajr, 29 October 1982)

256. The Prime Minister, Mr. Menachem Begin, and his deputy and Minister for Housing, Mr. David Levy, announced the implementation of the 1980 decision to rebuild the Jewish quarter in Hebron. A special team has already been formed to implement the decision and work on the project was to begin immediately. In a related development it was later reported that Kiryat-Arba settlers had begun demolishing constructions near the "Abraham the Patriarch" synagogue in the centre of Hebron, with a view to preparing an area for the building of 21 housing units there. The demolition works were later stopped by order of the military commander of the "Judea" region.  Senior Government sources later confirmed that a plan had been approved to build a number of houses in the synagogue site to provide better housing conditions for the families who lived there and in the Hadassa house. But the sources emphasized that there was no intention to create a continuity of Jewish houses between the synagogue site and the Hadassa house, as demanded by Rabbi Levinger. (Yediot Aharonot, 26 October; Ha'aretz, 29 October; Al Fajr, 29 October 1982)

257. The Jewish National Fund recently started to reclaim land for farming between the security fence and the Jordan river. Over 4,000 dunams have already been reclaimed and 5,000 dunams more would be reclaimed before the end of the present fiscal year. (Ha'aretz, 27 October 1982)

258. Speaking at the establishment of the new village of Neve-Tzuf, near Ramallah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Housing, Mr. David Levy, announced that five new permanent settlements in the West Bank would be created shortly. He revealed that 2,000 housing units were at present under construction in the territories, and that there were six towns in various stages of development, in addition to smaller settlements. In a related development, it was reported that the Government was planning to invest some 470 million Israel shekels in the establishment and enlarging of settlements in the West Bank, and that it had requested the Knesset Finance Committee to approve a corresponding increase in the budget for the present fiscal year. The money was, according to one report, designed for the following urban settlements: Kokhav Yair, Na'ala, Yo'ezer and Offarim, as well as for the following rural settlements: Tekoa B', Susia, Antil, Ginat and Kokhba. Thirty million Israel shekels were reportedly designed for the State Land Administration to enable it to set up a land patrol (similar to the "Green Patrol" which operates in Israel proper) to watch over the State lands.  Finally, some of the money was earmarked for the construction of roads in the West Bank. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 4 November 1982)

259. The Jewish National Fund revealed that a 7,000-dunam tract of virgin land on the western slopes of the Jordan river had been cleared for planting so as to provide further arable land for settlements in that region. It was reported that a total of 20,000 dunams was to be turned into cultivable lands for these settlements and others to be established. (Jerusalem Post, 5 November 1982)

260. A team of legal advisers from the land department and the Ministry of Agriculture was reportedly preparing a series of orders to organize the process of distributing Arab land to Israeli construction companies in the West Bank.

Specific procedures would be followed in order to allocate certain pieces of land to Israeli construction companies in order to build private homes. (Al Fajr, 7 November 1982)

261. Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Michael Dekel, announced that Israel would build or expand 20 settlements in the West Bank during the next 12 months.  He did not say how many of the 20 settlements would be new, but reiterated Israel's goal to populate 160 West Bank settlements with 100,000 Jews within the next five years. Speaking in an interview on Israel Radio, Mr. Dekel said that at present there were about 25,000 Jews in 103 settlements built since 1967. The Ministerial Committee on Settlement (of which Mr. Dekel is a key member), planned to add 57 more settlements with about 60,000 to 80,000 more Jews by 1987, he said.  (Jerusalem Post, 7 November 1982)

262. Details were revealed about a plan, prepared by the Zionist Federation's Settlement Department, to add 10,000 more Jews to existing and new settlements in the Gaza Strip within the next five years. Under that plan eight new settlements, including one town, would be built, and 11 existing settlements would be expanded.  At present there are about 1,000 Jews and 500,000 Arabs in the Gaza Strip.  (Ma'ariv, 8 November 1982)

263. The Settlement Department of the Jewish Agency was reportedly about to submit to the Government a proposal to establish 20 additional settlements in the West Bank within the next two years. Seventeen of these settlements would be located in the mountain area and three in "north-western Samaria". Five of the 20 settlements had reportedly been already approved in the past by the Ministerial Committee on Settlement, whereas the other 15 were still awaiting approval. (Ha'aretz, 22 November)

264. The ceremony for the laying of the corner-stone of "Nofim", the first settlement to be developed entirely by private enterprise, was reported. The site of the new settlement is a few kilometres east of Qalqilya. The settlement was reportedly planned to house some 3,000 families living in villas and cottages valued at $100,000 – 700 of which are to be built within the next two years.  Speaking at the ceremony, the Head of the Shomron settlements council, Mr. Katzover, expressed his satisfaction with the fact that people were coming to live in Samaria "without ideological reasons". (Jerusalem Post, 25, 26 November; Ha'aretz, 26 November )

265. Jewish settlers in the West Bank have set up a joint development company to promote and carry out their plans for massive settlement in the area. The company is jointly owned by "Amana", the Gush-Emunim settlement arm, and the various Jewish local councils recently created in the West Bank. It was further reported that Gush-Emunim was waiting for the Government's final approval for establishing 10 new settlements in the West Bank, seven of which had already been approved in principle by the Ministerial Committee on Settlement. Funds have already been allocated for the building of another 440 housing units in Kdumim, in "Samaria", in addition to the 240 already existing. It was earlier reported that after three days of debates on its settlement plan for the coming year "Amana" decided to adopt a plan providing for the creation of 20 community and rural settlements in the West Bank.  Under that plan, the settlement efforts would be concentrated in the Gaza Strip, southern Mount Hebron area and "northern Samaria" (the Jenin area). (Ma'ariv, 26 November; Ha'aretz, 30 November; Jerusalem Post, 1 December)

266. Speaking before the Knesset Economic Committee, Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Michael Dekel, said that some 25,000 Jews were at present living in the West Bank, and that by the end of 1987 their number was expected to reach 75,000. The Government planned several new settlements along four "strips" of land going from north to south: the western strip would be populated by settlers who would commute to their place of work in Israel. Four new settlements were being planned in the area north of the Jiftlik, on the edge of the Jordan Valley, and a new urban centre was to be established in the Jenin area. Mr. Michael Dekel added that of the 5.5 million dunams of land in the area 1.7 million dunams were State land. More details were revealed in a later report about a Government decision to build 35 new urban settlements in the West Bank, in addition to the ones which had already been built which were planned for a population of 70,000. In addition, settlement officials reportedly estimated that the Jewish population in the West Bank would double and reach nearly 50,000 in the next three months. According to these estimates over 6,000 housing units would be completed during this period.  (Jerusalem Post,  2, 9 December; Ha'aretz, 2, 5, 8 December 1982)

267. It was reported that 1,000 new settlers had moved to live in the Golan Heights over the past year – since the extension of Israeli law to the area – and that efforts were being made to bring to the area 5,000 new settlers every year. Four new settlements were reportedly being planned in the western slopes of the Golan Heights. (Ha'aretz, 14 December 1982)

268. Farmers from the village of Deir Jarar, north of Ramallah, complained that settlers from the nearby settlement of Kokhav-Hashahar had begun cultivating and undertaking earthwork on land they claimed was Arab-owned. Several hundred dunams were reportedly involved. (Jerusalem Post, 15 December 1982)

269. Israeli bulldozers were reportedly bulldozing 200 Illar, north of Tulkarm. The authorities informed the 200 dunams would be confiscated. A new settlement the village had recently been built near the village.  (Al Fajr, 10 December 1982)

270. A house located in the centre of Hebron, belonging to the Dweik family that had been evicted from it following the killing of Jewish settlers near the Hadassa house in Hebron two years ago, was handed over by the army to Kiryat-Arba settlers. Renovation works were reportedly under way in the building.  (Ha'aretz, 19 December 1982)

271. Speaking before an international peace forum held in Tel Aviv on 17 December 1982, the former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Mr. Meron Benvenisti, said that while the yearly budget allocated by the Israeli Government to the 25,000 settlers (who at present live in the territories) was $US 200 million, $US 26 million was allocated to the 700,000 West Bank Palestinian population. added that 95 per cent of the land cases brought by West Bank landowners were rejected by the High Court which, he said, was connected to the Government.  (Al Fajr, 24 December 1982)

272. Mr. Mattityahu Drobles, the head of the World Zionist Organization's Settlement Department, told the Knesset Economic Committee that about 40,000 Jewish settlers (8,000 families) would be added in the next few months to the 30,000 settlers in the West Bank. He added that during the coming months about 7,650 housing units would be completed (in addition to the 5,875 units already existing in the area).  By 1986 the World Zionist Organization and the Government plan to settle 130,000 Jews there, and 30 settlements would be established.  Mr. Drobles told the Committee that in 30 years there would be 1.3 million Jews in the West Bank, and said this plan would mean settling 70 per cent of the land of the West Bank which was not privately owned. In a related development, the Knesset Finance Committee approved the expenditure of 300 million Israel shekels for the building of five new roads in the West Bank. The new settlements concerned by that decision are: Ganim, Yakim, Adura, Sussiya and El-David.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 30 December 1982)

273. The Ministry of Housing and Construction recently began building three new permanent settlements in the West Bank: Sussiya and Yakim, in the southern Hebron hills, and Ganim, east of Jenin. The Ministry of Housing was reportedly building kindergartens, school rooms, offices, clinics and other public buildings at each of the three settlements which, when completed, would house some 400 families. It was also reported that some 180 families began moving into five new building complexes sponsored by the Ministry in five existing West Bank settlements: Karnei Shomron, Neve Tzuf, Beit El, Kedumim and Kfar Adumim.  (Jerusalem Post, 11 January 1983)

274. In Dahiriya, south of Hebron, the civil administration declared 20,000 dunams "State land" and gave the local Arab villagers 21 days to appeal to a Military Advisory Board. No settlements were reportedly planned for the area, but it was part of a land reserve the Government was building up in the vicinity of the pre-Six Day War "Green Line". (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 14 January 1983)

275. The Israeli Defence Forces spokesman announced that seven Nahal settlements (which are part of the 14 settlements that the Minister for Defence, Mr. Sharon, promised would be built in the West Bank this year) were under construction in the West Bank. They are: Tzoria, Gina, Ganim, Omrim, Tzelef, Rogan and Ma'aleh Levana. (Jerusalem Post, 17 January 1983)

276. The Ministerial Committee on Settlement approved the creation of the following two new agricultural settlements in southern Mount Hebron: Beit-Marsim and Eshkolot. (Ha'aretz, 17 January 1983)

277. Israeli military authorities declared 28,000 dunams of land near Askar, in the Nablus area, as State land. (Al Fajr, 21 January 1983)

278. The Ministerial Settlement Committee's sub-committee on follow up, headed by Mr. Yuval Ne'ernan, decided to create five new settlements in the Jordan Valley.  Three of these settlements are to be built this year.  (Ha'aretz, 24 January 1983)

279. According to reports appearing in the Israeli press during the period 27 January to 3 February 1983, the civil administration has already seized, or was about to seize, tens of thousands of dunams in various West Bank regions. The lands seized were partly designed as land-reserve for future settlements, partly for expanding existing ones and partly as natural reserves (which will also be used for settlement in a future stage). Expropriation orders were also issued for lands – mostly cultivated – where new roads are planned to be cut. The reports gave the following details:

(a) 500 dunams were seized and declared state land near the village of Battir, west of Bethlehem;

(b) 4,000 dunams are to be seized from farmers in the villages of Deir Istiya and Zeita, in the Tulkarm area, this land is designed to become a suburb of the new town of Imanu'el;

(c) 3,500 dunams north-east of Hebron, near the village of Si'ir, are to be given to the Har-Hevron regional council;

(d) 2,000 dunams designed for the expansion of Mitzpeh-Yeriho;

(e) 1,600 dunams near the villages of Surif and Kharas, west of Hebron, for the expansion of Mitzpeh-Adulam;

(f) 1,000 dunams near the village of Jaba', north of Hebron, are to be granted under lease to the Har-Hevron regional council;

(g) 1,000 dunams in the Jenin area, designed for the settlement of Sanur B';

(h) 700 dunams are to be granted under lease to the Shomron regional council for the expansion of Karney-Shomron;

(i) 250 dunams south of Hebron, in the Jebel-Sindas area, are to be granted under lease to the Har-Bevron regional council;

(j) 30 dunams designed for the expansion of Givat-Ze'ev, north of Jerusalem.

More lands are to be expropriated by the civil administration for the construction of the following roads;

(k) a 9 kilometre road linking the settlement of Mikhmash, on the "Alon-road", with the Arab village of Mukhmas, and thence to Jerusalem; the road is to pass through cultivated lands belonging to the villages of Deir-Dibwan and Mukhmas;

(1) a road to Jebel Mureir, south of Bethlehem;

(m) 7.5 dunams for a new sector of the road linking north-Jerusalem with Ma'aleh-Adumim.

The civil administration reportedly cancelled the declaration as State land of a 100 dunam tract near the village of Battir, when it was established that the land belonged to a Greek church, and was not State owned. It was subsequently reported that the civil administration declared as State land some 20,000 dunams near the village of Salim, in the Nablus region, and some 4,000 dunams near Deir Diburan, in the Ramallah region. It was further reported that two stretches of land, totalling 170,000 dunams, were seized from residents of Yatta, near Hebron. The larger portion (up to 127,000 dunams) was taken "for military requirements", and the remaining plot was declared "State property". The several hundred owners were ordered to evacuate the area within 21 days. In the same context, it was recalled that a few months ago the Ministerial Committee on Settlement approved a plan, submitted by the Jewish Agency's Settlement Department, to develop Jewish settlement in the southern Mount Hebron area which is almost empty of Jewish settlers. Under the plan at least six new settlements would be built in that areal Yakin, Susiya, Negohot, Atniel, Eshkolot and Adura. (Ha'aretz, 27, 30 January, 3 February; Ma'ariv, 3 February; Al Fajr, 4, 11 February 1983)

280. The Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Michael Dekel, who co-ordinates settlement activities, said that Israel needed two more years of continued settlement construction in the West Bank in order to create conditions that would prevent a return of that territory to Arab rule. Mr. Dekel revealed that 20 to 30 private construction companies were at present participating in building activities in the West Bank, demand for houses was very strong and, if it continued, some 100,000 Israelis would live there by 1985.  (Ha'aretz, 3 March 1983)

281. The Minister for Defence, Mr. Moshe Arens, stated, at a meeting with members of the Council of Jewish Settlements in the Territories, that he favoured expanding Jewish settlements in the areas, but the expansion must be done within the law. He mentioned the disbanding by the Israeli Defence Forces of the "Kach" settlement of El Nakam, near Hebron, and stressed that settlements could only be established with the agreement of the authorities.  Mr. Arens further emphasized that industrial enterprises in Jewish settlements should be staffed only by Jews.  (Jerusalem Post, 8 March 1983)

282. The Government reportedly approved eight new settlements on the crest of the "Samaria hills", including "Shechem Illit" (Upper Nablus), overlooking the Arab city.  At present, the site overlooking Nablus is occupied by a military outpost called "Ma'ahaz Berakha", but the chairman of the Zionist Federation's Settlement Department, Mr. Matityahu Drobles, reportedly proposed the creation there of Upper Nablus which would eventually number 2,000 to 2,500 families.  According to one report, the Government's decision was to convert eight existing Nahal outposts into civilian settlements, and not to create new ones. It was further reported that Gush Emunim's Settlement Department, "Amana", expressed satisfaction at the Government's decision and announced that dozens of settlers' nuclei were ready for settling in these outposts, and that they had been waiting for a Government decision to that effect. In a related development, it was reported that the first 15 families were beginning to move into the new town of Efrat, in the Etzion bloc.  It was later reported that the Peace Now Movement warned the Government against dedicating Upper Nablus as a civilian settlement on Independence Day, saying that if the ceremony were held the Movement would send thousands of its supporters there to protest. (Jerusalem Post, 22 March, 10 April; Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 22 March 1983)

283. According to a 30-year master-plan prepared by the Zionist Federation's Settlement Department, under the guidance of its chairman Mr. Matityahu Drobles, and which is to be presented to the cabinet shortly for approval, 57 new settlements should be established in the West Bank by 1987, bringing the total of settlements in the area to 165. Under this plan, the Jewish population in the West Bank should, within 30 years, reach parity with the projected Arab Population, to stand at 1.3 million.  According to reports, an analysis of rates of construction in the 108 existing settlements in the West Bank indicates that 6,000 housing units are occupied within the near future, and 12,000 are under construction. On this basis it is projected that by 1986 the Jewish population in the area will be over 100,000. Of the 165 settlements envisaged in the "30-year plan", five will be large towns and urban settlements (Kiryat-Arba and Ariel, and three large urban suburbs with population between 10,000 and 30,000 families), 36 smaller urban communities of up to 3,000 families, 65 community settlements of 400 families, and 59 moshavim and kibbutzim. The anticipated rate of construction is 5,000 to 6,000 housing units per year. The plan calls for the construction of an additional 400 kilometres of roads to improve access and thereby encourage private initiative, the development of 400 to 500 dunams of industrial space per year, and the continued acquiring of privately owned Arab and "State lands" by the Government and private investors. Some 20,000 dunams of such "State lands" have been earmarked for afforestation, grazing and tourism facilities. The plan includes a list of priorities which emphasizes rapid development in the "greater Jerusalem" area, a strip along the main north-south highway, the north-western corner of the West Bank, an area lying between Tulkarm and Kedumim, and the southern Hebron hills. To encourage Jewish population to move into the West Bank, the plan calls for severe restrictions on construction in Israel's main urban centres, along the coastal plain. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 10 April 1983)

284. The inauguration ceremony was reported of the new civilian settlement of Bracha – the future "Upper Nablus" – on a hill located 8 kilometres south of Nablus. At the ceremony, Nahal soldiers handed over the settlement to 15 civilian families, while a crowd of some 10,000 members of the Peace Now Movement and sympathizers demonstrated, protesting against the new settlement. Upper Nablus is planned to eventually house 800 families. The first 15 families are Gush-Emunim members. (Jerusalem Post, 19 April 1983)

285. The joint ministerial-Jewish Agency Settlement Committee reportedly approved the establishment of three more settlements in "western Samaria". The three settlements have been temporarily named Oranit, Bruhim and Dir Kala, and are planned to include between 1,000 and 1,500 housing units, depending on the land reserves found in each area. Under a plan submitted to the committee by the Ministry of Housing, a number of highways would be built in the West Bank in order to by-pass large urban Arab areas. The roads are planned to avoid Nablus and the nearby Balata refugee camp, Qalqilya and Kafr Kassim. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 20 April 1983)

286. 10,000 dunams of land near the village of Surif, in the Hebron district, were declared State land. Civil administration officials notified the village council of the decision and gave the landowners 30 days to produce documents and evidence of ownership. (Ha'aretz, 24 April 1983)

287. Residents of Umar, near Gush-Etzion, complained that the civil administration seized about 350 dunams of their land and declared it State property. The land is expected to be transferred to the Gush Emunim settlement of Migdal Oz. According to the villagers, the High Court of Justice has already ruled that the land belongs to the village, and they intend to petition the court against the seizure.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz,  27, 28 April 1983)

288. 2,250 dunams were seized in the Ramallah and Tulkarm areas. According to villagers from Beituniya, near Ramallah, they were notified by representatives of the civil administration of the seizure of some 1,000 dunams on the grounds that the land was State property. The villagers of Jebel el-Ras, near Tulkarm, were notified of a similar decision regarding 1,250 dunams of their lands.  (Ha'aretz, 29 April 1983)

289. Dozens of landowners from the village of Bidya, in "western Samaria", on 1 May prevented heavy mechanical equipment, belonging to the Gad Development and Building Company, from preparing the infrastructure of the Elkana B settlement. The villagers maintained that work on the site was illegal since the land had never been sold. The Nablus District Court, in April, ordered that all work on the site be stopped. But despite the court order work was reportedly continuing. In a clash between the villagers and border police, one Bidya resident, aged 75, was killed, two others were wounded – one of them seriously – and one border policeman was shot in the head and stabbed in the hand. The security forces imposed a 4-hour curfew on the village and arrested eight men and three women on suspicion of rioting. (Ha'aretz, 2, 3 May; Jerusalem Post, Ma'ariv, 3 May 1983)

290. At a discussion held in Yitron, a Mount Hebron settlement, Mr. Matityahu Drobles, head of the Zionist Federation's Settlement Department, proposed the establishment of six settlements south of Hebron and the expansion of four existing settlements. Mr. Drobles revealed that his department intended to establish Susiya and Yakin as part of the six settlements, and proposed to turn the existing Nahal settlements Tene, Otniel Adora and Eshkolot into civilian settlements. In another development, it was reported that 1,600 dunams near the village of Akrabe were seized and declared State land, for the purpose of establishing the settlement of Tel Haim, which has not yet been approved by the Ministerial Settlement Committee. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 9 May 1983)

291. A plan was announced by the Ministry of Housing to create a contiguous Jewish presence in north-east Jerusalem, connecting the French Hill and Neveh Ya'acov suburbs. The new site, named "Pisgat-Tal", is located east of the Jerusalem-Ramallah road on land expropriated in 1980. According to the Ministry of Housing, development of Jewish suburbs around Jerusalem is being given top priority in view of the fact that the Jewish-Arab population balance in Jerusalem and the surrounding villages is now one to one and rapidly shifting in favour of the Arabs. (Jerusalem Post, 11 May 1983)

292. It was reported that out of 38 settlements under construction by private promoters in the West Bank, only 15 have been approved by the Ministerial Committee on Settlements, and only 5 have approval from the Supreme planning Council, authorizing the allocation of land for construction, the form of the settlement and its outline plan. In a related development, it was reported that in various West Bank areas there was at present a large excess of available land over low demand from potential Jewish buyers. Thus, in the area of Surif, in Mount Hebron, 3,000 to 4,000 dunams were for sale, and there were no buyers. Several thousand dunams were also for sale along the "Alon Road", and several hundred dunams in the Latrun area. (Yedioth Aharanoth, 30 May; Ha'aretz, 31 May)

293. According to a report by State Comptroller, Mr. Yitzhak Turik, published in the Hebrew weekly Kotoret Rashit, the Israeli Government has no authority to buy land in the West Bank, but it nevertheless owns 70,000 dunams – 50,000 of which were obtained from local people whose ownership of the land was not registered, and 20,000 from people who had registration documents. According to the same report, the Comptroller strongly attacked so-called "volunteers" who act as a go-between for the Government and Arab landowners. In another report, the same weekly magazine said that the Government was considering banning the sale of unregistered land in the West Bank to Israelis. This follows fears expressed recently that land sold to would-be West Bank settlers might not belong to the companies that are selling it. In the same context, it was reported that the Ministry of Housing and Construction intended to create six new settlements before the end of the year and that it was at present completing the construction of nine towns and 69 settlements in the West Bank. (Ha'aretz, 15 June; Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 16 June)

294. The Israeli military authorities issued an expropriation order for some 5,000 dunams of land in the villages of Kobar and Beitillu, in the Ramallah district. The military authorities claimed the land is "abandoned property".

(Al Fajr, 8 July 1983)

295. Nahal (the pre-military cadet corps) is planning, according to its magazine, to establish nine military settlements in the West Bank within the next few months, three settlements and one outpost are to be established by the end of this month.  They are: Teneh and Atniel, along the Hebron-Beersheba road, Ganim, south-east of Jenin, and Bitronot, south of Mehola in the Jordan Valley. Nahal outposts are to be established later at Ma'aleh Levona, between Nablus and Ramallah, Yitzhar, south of Nablus, Dolev, west of Ramallah, Aspar, north-east of Hebron, and Migdalim, near the "trans-Samaria" road. These sites are currently designed as "outposts", which are not financed by the World Zionist Organization, although they have usually been the nuclei for new civilian settlements. (Jerusalem Post, 20 July).

D.  Information on treatment of detainees

296. The Israeli Cabinet endorsed a plan to build six new prisons each to house 450 Palestinian detainees. (Al Fajr, 10 September 1982)

297. Arab inmates in Ramallah prison declared a hunger-strike to protest the alleged provocations they are subjected to by the guards and the prison administration. The inmates warned the prison director against continued aggressions and provocations that are allegedly perpetrated by Israeli policemen against them. Reports from the jail said inmates beat two guards after they tried to beat political detainees. (Al Fajr, 29 October 1982)

298. Security officials were reportedly considering inducing security prisoners held in Israeli prisons to "emigrate voluntarily" from the country. The measure would affect prisoners who served most of their term and whose offences were "relatively light". They would be immediately released if they undertook to leave Israel for good. The security officials reportedly considered this measure to be a "humane gesture, leaving the prisoner the choice between serving his term to the end and then stay in the country or, voluntarily, to be released and to emigrate".  (Ma'ariv, 10 October 1982)

299. Israeli prison authorities announced they would introduce improvements in the conditions of security prisoners in the Nafha prison and in other prisons in Israel. The security prisoners would receive beds (they have been sleeping so far on the ground) and their food would be equal to that of Israeli inmates, in quantity and quality. They would also be allowed to listen to the radio, read newspapers and hold collective prayers. They would also be allowed to receive visitors, as well as food and clothes from their families. (Ha'aretz, 6 December; Al Fajr, 10 December 1982)

300. Security prisoners in the Hebron jail reportedly went on hunger-strike-to protest against conditions in their prison. They allegedly suffered from cold and did not receive enough food. (Ha'aretz, 26 December 1982)

301. Security prisoners in Jenin have reportedly been on hunger-strike for three days to protest conditions and maltreatment by prison guards. Security prisoners reportedly sleep on mattresses on the floor and not on beds because prison authorities claim that the bed frames could be used as weapons. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 6 January 1983)

302. Israel Radio reported that a new prison for Palestinian prisoners would be opened in the Nablus area in 10 months' time, and would hold 2,700 prisoners. In a related development the new prison director of the Beersheba prison, Mr. Nitzav Albert Hayut, told a press conference that 500 security prisoners would be moved from Beersheba prison to a new maximum security prison near Nablus, which would be equipped with the latest electronic monitors.  (Al Fajr, 7 January; Jerusalem Post, 12 January 1983)

303. Prisoners holding visit and hunger-strikes in jails in the West Bank announced that their strike now included Nablus, Hebron and Jenin prisons. Prisoners were reportedly protesting against "the extremely bad conditions and harsh treatment which detainees and prisoners face".  (Al Fajr, 14 January 1983)

304. It was reported at the end of January 1983 that dozens of security prisoners (at least 76 according to one report) at the Nafha prison in the Negev had begun a partial hunger-strike against poor conditions. The prisoners, who were reportedly refusing all food except bread and water, were complaining over an alleged insufficient number of blankets, insufficient quantity of food, an alleged ban on lawyers' visits and an alleged ban on admitting books and newspapers to the prison. A spokesman for the prison stated that the complaints had been checked and were all found to be groundless. The Prisons Commissioner, Dr. Mordechai Wertheimer, was later (on 31 January 1983) reported as stating that there was no hunger-strike at the Nafha prison. At the same time, it was reported that family members of security prisoners held at Nafha were staging a sit-in opposite the Red Cross offices in East Jerusalem, in protest over the prisoners' detention conditions. On 4 February 1983, it was reported that the Nafha prisoners had ended their 11-day strike after their demands were rejected by the Prisons Commissioner, who had visited the Nafha prison and reportedly told the inmates that he considered their demands unreasonable. (Ha'aretz, 27, 31 January; Jerusalem Post, 28 January, 4 February; Ma'ariv, 28 January, 1, 3 February 1983)

305. Palestinian prisoners in Ramallah jail have complained of ill-treatment.  After meeting some of the prisoners, a lawyer stated that the prisoners did not receive the supplies they asked for, and that they were unable to sing or talk in loud voices for fear of being confined to solitary cells. (Al Fajr, 4 February 1983)

306. Mahmud Muhammad Abu Sharak, aged 23, who was held in the Gaza jail on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organization, was found murdered, apparently because his fellow detainees believed he was co-operating with the authorities.  One detainee has reportedly confessed to the murder. He was transferred to a separate cell. Police were reportedly investigating.  (Jerusalem Post, 6 February 1983)

307. A security prisoner in the Beersheba prison was strangled on 5 May, apparently by two cell-mates who suspected him of collaborating with the authorities. The murder followed a nearly identical incident the day before at Nablus prison. The Beersheba victim was Mohammed Abu Kasim, aged 30, of Gaza, sentenced to 25 years for membership in a hostile organization and terrorist activity. The Nablus victim was Mohammed Darwish Daoud from the village of Beit Duggu, in the Ramallah area.  He was sentenced to 21 months for membership in a hostile organization.

(Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 6 May 1983)

308. Two security prisoners were found dead in their cell in the Gaza jail with a rope coiled around their necks. The other 22 prisoners in the same cell in the Gaza central prison refused to co-operate with police probing the deaths. The spokesman for the Prisons Service said that a committee has been set up to investigate the deaths. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 10 June)

309. The Histadrut daily newspaper, Davar, reported on 4 July that the Israeli Human and Civil Rights League, on 3 July, appealed to Knesset members and to public opinion in Israel and abroad to close down the Far'a detention camp near Nablus.  The League says it has recently received a registered letter from a soldier who served in the camp in which he described conditions and incidents there. The man, whose name and address is known to the League, writes that up to 300 detainees may be held in the camp on days when there are protest activities in the West Bank.

Most detainees are of high school age, most of them are held before trial, others are held for questioning and plain harassment without trial, and the rest have been tried and sentenced to prison terms by a military court. The detainees may receive family visits only after two weeks. The Red Cross representative may visit the detainees only after several weeks of detention. Lawyers are not allowed to visit them at all. The inmates of Far'a are herded together in buildings which served as stables for the horses of the British Army before 1948. When these become too crowded, detainees are housed in tents. They sleep on thin mattresses on the floor. In the tents, detainees are given plastic containers the size of dustbins for their sanitary needs. The Far'a camp is staffed by a regular personnel composed of soldiers and conscripts of the standing army, who are assisted by reservists from the military police and from other units who act as guards and are issued with firearms. The soldiers carry rubber hoses which they use for beating the inmates. The detainees are at their jailers' mercy. The lack of standing and binding rules of procedure creates a situation in which every officer and soldier, jailer, interrogator and guard treats the detainees as he thinks fit. The beating of detainees during and outside interrogations is a rather frequent phenomenon, many detainees have blue marks as a result of beating. The hair of many detainees has been shaved off, both to prevent the spread of lice, which are prevalent in the camp because of the poor health conditions, and as a disciplinary measure. In his letter, the reservist specified several cases of assault on, and ill-treatment of detainees in the camp, most of whom aged 13 to 16, giving dates and names. The League is demanding the appointment of an independent inquiry commission into the situation in the Far'a camp. It is also calling for the immediate closure of the camp, and for those responsible, those who gave the ill-treatment orders and those who carried them out, to be put on trial. On 3 July, Yediot Aharonot published a report by R. Shaked giving a positive account of conditions in the Far'a camp.  According to this report, the attitude towards the detainees is "good and humane", the food is satisfactory, detainees may have a warm shower twice a week and a Red Cross representative visits the camp once a week. According to the camp director, lawyers may visit the detainees, and the installation is under a permanent control by the Israeli Defence Forces authorities. Any complaint by a detainee or a lawyer is immediately examined by the Investigating Military Police or by the Legal Adviser of the Judea and Samaria Region. (Davar, 4 July; Yediot Aharonot, 3 July 1983)

310. Parents of Palestinian prisoners held in Hebron jail protested to ICRC against the Israeli jailers' "inhuman treatment" of prisoners. The parents testified that the health of the Palestinian prisoners has deteriorated, that medical treatment is inadequate, and that food is of poor quantity and quality. In addition, prison authorities have removed all reading and writing materials.  (Al Fajr, 8 July 1983)

311. The Special Committee heard the testimony of four persons who alleged ill-treatment during detention. The persons appearing before the Special Committee had spent extensive periods in various prisons in the Occupied Territories, and in Israel, the Special Committee was able to confirm this element by checking with its news reports and oral evidence. The testimony referred to treatment in a number of prisons and to the conditions of detention of male and female detainees. The testimony covered the period 1972 to 1983  (A/AC.145/RT.362, 363 and Add.1 and A/AC.145/RT.364).

312. Brutal treatment was alleged particularly during interrogations and conditions of severe hardship with regard to every-day conditions in prison. The prison at Ashkelon was described as being the most harsh. Information was given on the treatment of detainees in reprisals against the hunger-strike which took place in the mid-1970s against conditions of detention.

E.   Information on judicial remedies sought by the civilian population

313. An Israeli Jerusalem court heard the appeal of the Namoura family against the confiscation of their land in the Dura area, Hebron district. The court ruled against the confiscation of the land, estimated at 2,800 dunams, after the owners succeeded in proving their legal ownership of the land. (Al Fajr, 10 September 1982)

314. Eight Israeli army officers who served in the West Bank in March and April 1982 were reprimanded for alleged offences against the public. According to a statement made by the spokesman of the Israeli Defence Forces complaints of three reserve officers who served in the West Bank during the,spring disturbances there were followed up and found to be basically accurate. The statement explained that, after receiving six complaints from the officers about irregular behaviour of soldiers towards the local population, investigators heard hundreds of witnesses as well as exhibits which showed that the complaints of the reserve soldiers were "partly justified". Two senior officers in the Hebron district were removed from their positions and charges were brought in the district military court against an officer with the rank of major. Three soldiers with the rank of master-sergeant and four other soldiers were to be tried. According to the statement, the charges against the soldiers included assault under serious circumstances, illegal use of weapons, negligence in the performance of duty, disturbing the discipline and good order of the army and improper behaviour. The statement added that the judge advocate-general further determined that at the end of the trial of the eight officers and soldiers it would be decided whether there was need for further legal steps against additional army personnel. According to a later report, seven military personnel, including a major and three master-sergeants, had been convicted by the Central Area military court of attacking Arab citizens in the West Bank during the spring disturbances. The charge-sheet attributed to the major the offence of assault under serious circumstances. It said that, on 16 March, together with the other three defendants, the major beat 25 students of a Hebron college with clubs, kicked them and punched them. As a result, some of the beaten students had to be given medical treatment. The charge-sheets against the seven were forwarded after members of the Peace Now movement who served as reservists in the West Bank complained to the military police against the practices of the seven. According to one report, a soldier who served in the Hebron district during the spring disturbances and reported to the Peace Now movement about events in that area, was detained for two days and removed from his post. (Ha'aretz, 15, 21 October; Ma'ariv, 17 October; Yediot Aharonot, 22 October; Al Fajr, 22, 29 October 1982)

315. The trial opened before the Central Area military court of the first out of eight military personnel charged with assault under serious circumstances and ill-treatment of Arab inhabitants of the West Bank. In the court, Samal (sergeant) Dan Ben Yair, who served in the Hebron district, was charged with ill-treating 25 Arab prisoners while taking them to prison cells. According to the charge the sergeant hit the prisoners with clubs, damaging their ribs. The defendant denied the charge of using clubs in his beatings but confessed that he hit the prisoners with his fists. The military court adjourned the hearing until next month in order to hear witnesses for the prosecution. (Yediot Aharonot, 25 October; Al Fajr, 29 October 1982)

316. A military court in the central region sentenced an Israeli paratrooper officer to four months' suspended imprisonment after finding him guilty of "causing the death of an Arab demonstrator for Si'ir by negligence", last April. The officer and three men were attacked by stone-throwing youths and when they tried to escape the officer ordered them to stop and then opened fire. The shots were aimed at the legs, but one of the Palestinians was hit and the bullet entered the chest, causing death. The officer had been "negligent and mistaken when he decided to open fire", the court said. The officer was given a suspended sentence because he was defending his men and had an outstanding record, the court ruled. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 7 November 1982; Al Fajr, 12 November 1982)

317. A major of the Israeli Defence Forces, three sergeant-majors and three enlisted men went on trial in a district military court on charges of assaulting residents of the "Judea" district during riots there last spring. The prosecution charged that one of the defendants forced a Palestinian youth in Halhul to get down on his hands and knees and bark like a dog. On another occasion, the soldier ordered a local man to slap another resident's face. Four of the accused were charged with clubbing, kicking and punching a number of students from Hebron's Islamic College after the Arabs were arrested. The students required hospitalization, the prosecution said. The other two defendants punched and kicked five youths, aged 10 to 15, and forced them to lie down in the street on rocks protestors had thrown at soldiers, the prosecutor said. All the defendants pleaded not guilty. The defendants were put on trial following complaints lodged by reserve soldiers, members of the Peace Now movement, who had been eye-witnesses to the cases of ill-treatment. In a related development, it was reported than an Israeli Defence Forces sergeant, who was found guilty of beating teenage prisoners, Was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and six months' suspended term, and was also reduced to the ranks. The accused had been put in charge of guarding students from Hebron's Islamic College who were arrested after disturbances in the town. He was found guilty of punching and assaulting some of them. The judges refused to accept the defence counsel's plea that his client had acted "in the heat of the moment", after the violent demonstrations had caused an atmosphere of tension.  (Yediot Aharonot, 8 November 1982; Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 8 and November 1982).

318. Two Kiryat-Arba municipal leaders were charged in the Jerusalem District Court with wilfully destroying a bomb found in the town's local council building, which may have been linked to the bombs which injured West Bank mayors 2 1/2 years ago. They were also charged with possession of weapons. According to the charge-sheet, Ze'ev Friedman, a Kiryat-Arba local council member, and Shalom Rosenthal, the town's security officer, decided to destroy a bomb, which had been found hidden in a cavity in the local council building's wall and given to them, as they felt that it might have been prepared by Jews and might be connected to the 1980 attacks.  They allegedly decided to destroy it so that it could not serve as evidence. The two had first been arrested and held for 48 hours about a month ago, together with two other Kiryat-Arba residents, Shimon Shalom and Yehuda Ridder. The four were then released on bail of 5000 Israel shekels each and were told not to discuss their interrogation with anyone. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 17 November)

319. The Israeli High Court issued an order nisi against the Israeli military authorities, banning the deportation of Wajeeh Khalef Mohammed Mustafa, aged 56, his wife and his four children. All are from Deir Ballout village. Mr. Mustafa left for Venezuela in 1958 to work, married and had four children. Recently he returned to his village and applied for an identity card but his application was rejected by the authorities. Four months ago he was ordered by the military authorities to leave the country, but he refused. On 1 September, he was arrested and one month later his wife was also detained. He applied to the High Court through lawyer Felicia Langer for an interim injunction preventing his deportation before the final hearing of the case. (Al Fajr, 26 November)

320. Details were revealed about the trial of seven soldiers, a major, four sergeant-majors, a corporal and a private, who were accused of brutally mistreating Arab youths, pupils of the Hebron's Islamic High School, last March. A major in the reserves reportedly told the central district military court that the local Military Governor, Lieutenant-Colonel Shalom Lugassi, had quoted the Minister for Defence, Mr. Ariel Sharon, as saying: "We must go into the school and hit them hard. Otherwise there will be no order". An army driver, who is already serving a six-month prison sentence for his part in the incident, told the court: "We punched (the pupils), slapped them and kicked them. The major stood and watched.  Everyone hit them as hard as he could". Another prosecution witness alleged that the soldiers tied the youths by their wrists to the crossbar of a soccer goal and then kicked them. In a related development, the conclusions were made public of the commission of inquiry that was set up to investigate the events in Hebron in March and April 1982, following complaints from reservists belonging to the Peace Now movement. It emerged from these conclusions that the former commander of the Hebron area, Lieutenant-Colonel Lugassi (who had meanwhile been transferred to another part in the West Bank military command) used to round up Arab youths in areas where disturbances were expected, put them in Arab buses and took them to the Military Government building for detention. In directives he gave to reservists on service in Hebron in April 1982, Lieutenant-Colonel Lugassi reportedly said, "Local Arabs should be treated with severity. If we do not treat them harshly and beat them there will be disturbances of the peace". The military commander of the "Judea and Samaria" region, Colonel Ya'acov Hartavi, told the commission of inquiry that Lugassi's reasoning was justified and that he had acted within the framework of his authority and according to his (Hartavi's) instructions. The judge Advocate-General, Dov Shefi, recommended not to put on trial Lieutenant-Colonel Lugassi, "for the time being", pending the end of the trial of the other seven soldiers accused of mistreating Arab youths in Hebron in April 1982. It was further reported that the Central District Commander, Uri Or, had reduced the punishment of a soldier who had been convicted of beating Arabs. The soldier was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and, by order of the District Commander, his sentence was reduced to three months' imprisonment. (Yediot Aharonot, 8 December; Jerusalem Post, 12 December; Ha'aretz, 14, 15 December 1982)

321. The High Court of Justice ordered the head of the civil administration in the West Bank to explain within 45 days why he should not order the cessation of building operations in the centre of Hebron. Justice Ben-Porat also ordered a temporary halt to the operations, pending the High Court decision. This followed an application by the Hebron municipality, which claimed that unidentified persons were dismantling houses and rebuilding them in the area of the Hebron market. The municipality claimed that it was illegal to carry out building operations in the town without its permission. (Yediot Aharonot, 12 December; Ma'ariv, Jerusalem Post, 13 December 1982)

322. The High Court of Justice issued an interim injunction barring the military commander of the West Bank from undertaking any construction or earthwork on two tracts of disputed land east of Jenin. The injunction was issued at the request of 64 landowners from the villages of Talfit, Raba and Zababida who claimed that local military authorities had only informed them verbally that the land – 200 metres wide and, respectively, 4 and 2.5 kilometres long – which they allegedly owned and farmed for generations, had been seized for unspecified military purposes. The court also ordered the State to show cause why it had seized the land. The court further issued an interim injunction at the request of villagers from Illar in the Tulkarm district. In both cases the petitioners were represented by attorney Felicia Langer. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 19 December 1982)

323. The military advisory committee in Ramallah considered the appeal made by landowners from Kfar Thulth, in the Tulkarm area, against the confiscation of So dunams of. land. The committee issued an order nisi against the Custodian of Absentee Property, under which the landowners would have 45 days to prove that the land is theirs. (Al Fajr, 24 December 1982)

324. The commander of an Israeli Defence Forces patrol, who ordered his men to shoot warning shots against the wall of a girls' school at Halhul, was sentenced by a military court to a three months' suspended jail sentence. The shots resulted in the death of a local youth and the wounding of two others. The incident took place on 29 April 1982. The military judges agreed that the patrol commander had to make decisions in a difficult and dangerous situation, but said that the decision not to open fire near a civilian population was one of the most sacred orders in the Israeli Defence Forces. (Jerusalem Post, 14 and 27 December 1982; Ha'aretz, 14 December 1982)

325. An Israeli Defence Forces major, David Mofaz, who is charged along with six other soldiers with mistreating West Bank residents during last spring's violent disturbances there, told a military court that on several occasions he had received orders to use force against local population. Major Mofaz, a paratroop officer who was deputy commander of the "Judea and Samaria" district, said that he was personally ordered to beat up Arabs by the West Bank Military Commander, Brigadier Moshe Hartabi, but added that he knew that the orders had come from higher up, form the Chief of Staff. Denying the charges against him, Major Mofaz argued in his defence that the policy laid down by his supervisors was to use aggressive and tough measures to restore calm in the area. He alleged – on the basis of hearsay that the Minister for Defence, Mr. Ariel Sharon, had said during a discussion about public order in the territories that the army should "rip the testicles off" Arabs caught in demonstrations. The trial was adjourned until 19 January 1983.

(Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 29 December 1982, 5 January 1983)

326. The High Court of Justice granted 29 residents of the Gaza Strip village of Beit Lahiya an interim injunction barring the Israeli authorities from razing their homes. The petitioners claim that their homes were built with licenses, that they paid taxes on them, and that in most cases they own the land or have lived on it for a sufficient period to claim tenure. The authorities are claiming that the land is State land. (Ha'aretz, 17 January, Ma'ariv, 18 January; Jerusalem Post, 19 January 1983)

327. The Israeli High Court ordered work on an area of 300 dunams near Deir Istiya to stop, after the matter was brought to court by the lawyer representing the landowners and after bulldozers had uprooted 2,200 olive trees and had destroyed walls in the area. (Al Fajr, 4 February 1983)

328. High Court judge Sheloino Livnin issued a temporary injunction against the West Bank civil administration to prevent the demolition of several buildings in Hebron, including a stone-cutting workshop. (Al Fajr, 4 February 1983)

329. The Israeli High Court issued an order nisi against the general commander of the West Bank to halt settlement activities on 120 dunams of land belonging to the village of Bala', in the Tulkarm region. (Al Fajr, 4 February 1983)

330. Lawyer Felicia Langer has appealed to the High Court on behalf of 35 residents of Zababdeh village, near Jenin, for an injunction to prevent the Israeli authorities from confiscating 1,000 dunams of village land. Mrs. Langer has already obtained an order from the same court to stop work on Zababdeh land.  (Al Fajr, 11 February 1983)

331. Four soldiers, including a warrant officer, were convicted by the Central Command Military Court in Jaffa of beating West Bank Arab residents during unrest in the Hebron area last spring. They were sentenced to prison terms of between two and six months. Three other defendants, among them the man who was Deputy Military Governor of Hebron at the time, Major David Mofaz, were acquitted. The three military judges found that certain orders issued by the battalion commander of the area at the time, Colonel Yaacov Hartabi, were "blatantly illegal". He had instructed his troops to shoot indiscriminately at solar heaters, beat detainees and smash their watches. The tough policies instituted by the senior command of the army, including Chief of Staff, General Rafael Eitan, to deal with what the court described as a period of serious unrest, were found legal by the narrow definition of the military code and the standards of public and international law. But the judges expressed reservations about Eitan's recommendation to punish by expulsion" and to punish for offences committed by their children. General Eitan and the Central Region Commander, Aluf Orr, appeared as witnesses during the trial. The court concluded its judgement by stating that "the lives and well-being of Israeli Defence Forces soldiers cannot be treated lightly. The local population must know that they assume risks when they generate tension in the area. One cannot demand that Israeli Defence Forces soldiers behave with kid gloves when they are being stoned". But the court stressed that the response must fit the gravity of the situation the soldiers confront, and "must at all times be within the law". The court noted that those primarily alleged to have been responsible for brutality were border policemen in civilian clothes. The Hebron Military Governor, Lieutenant-Colonel Shalom Lugassi, was said to have been present at the time.  The police appointed a special officer to investigate the accusations against the border policemen at Halhul, but no charges have been brought. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 18 February 1983)

332. The chief Military Prosecutor will not appeal the acquittal of three Israeli soldiers – a major and two sergeants-major – of charges of ill-treatment and beating of Arabs in the Hebron area. Four other soldiers who were charged with similar offences in the same trial were convicted. In the same context, it was reported that the judge Advocate-General has instructed the investigating military police to collect evidence on the conduct of the Hebron area governor, Lieutenant-Colonel Shalom Lugassi, and of the unit commander in the area Colonel Hartavi, and in particular on the instructions and orders given with regard to the attitude towards Arab residents. On the basis of the findings of this inquiry, which may take several weeks, it will be decided whether to take measures against the two officers. (Ma'ariv, 6 March 1983)

333. One of the three supporters of Rabbi Meir Kahane's "Kach" movement being held by police in connection with a shooting incident near Yatta, in the Hebron area, in which a four-year old girl was injured, has reportedly confessed his involvement. The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court has ordered his remand for 15 days. The two other suspects were arrested and remended for a week. All three are united States citizens and inhabitants of the El-Nakam settlement. (Jerusalem Post, 7 March 1983)

334. It was reported on 18 March that the Jerusalem District Attorney's office filed indictments in the Jerusalem district court against 29 Jews allegedly involved in a plot to enter the Temple Mount at night, the previous week. The indictments accused them of conspiring to incite hostility between Moslems and Jews, of conspiring to enter without permission a holy place with the intention of offending Moslem sensitivities, and of conspiring to provoke those in possession of the site. The charges were made under the section of criminal law dealing with acts of rebellion. On 22 March, it was reported that the 29 were placed under house arrest until the end of court proceedings against them. Each suspect had to post a bond of 5,000 Israel shekels.  (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 18, 22 March 1983)

335. An Israeli settler, from Kiryat-Arba, Arye Bar-Yosef, was ordered detained until his trial on the charge of having fired pistol shots in the direction of an Arab home in Hebron and having caused injury to a 5-year old girl. The incident occurred on 26 February. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 22 March 1983)

336. The father of a 13-year old Arab girl from the Ramallah area petitioned the High Court of Justice to cancel a sentence given him because of his daughter's conviction for stone-throwing. The local military court had ordered him to pay a fine of 80,000 Israel shekels or go to prison for three months.  Advocate Jonathan Kuttab, representing the father, said that since there is no way to appeal a decision of the military court in the territories he decided to petition the High Court. It was later reported that the High Court decided to freeze the sentences of fines and suspended imprisonment pending a decision by a bench of three judges, due a fortnight later, whether to issue an order nisi to halt the implementation of the sentences or to accept the Ramallah military court's sentences. (Jerusalem Post, 23 March, Al Fajr, 1 April 1983)

337. The High Court of Justice issued an interim injunction preventing the Military Authorities from expelling a woman – Badria Ali Ahmed – and her four children from Kafr Dik near Tulkarm. The Court also ordered that the children be returned to the school from which they were recently expelled. Judge Moshe Beisky ruled that the interim injunction will remain in force until a decision or an order nisi is given by a bench of three judges. The woman, a native of the West Bank, had left the region in 1962 and went with her husband to Venezuela, where her four children were born. In 1970, she returned with the children and has ever since lived in Kafr Dik. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 1 April 1983)

338. The Jerusalem district court convicted and sentenced Alan Goodman, aged 39, to life imprisonment plus two terms of 20 years in jail on one count of murder and four counts of attempted murder. On 11 April 1982, Goodman, a United States immigrant, opened fire with his M-16 rifle on Jerusalem's Temple mount, killing Moslem Waqf guard Mohammed Yamani. One other man died and 11 were wounded in the rioting which broke out following the shooting. His lawyer announced that she intended to appeal the sentence and the punishment. Goodman's legal fees were paid by Rabbi Meir Kahane's "Kach" movement. (Jerusalem Post, 8 April 1983)

339. The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ruled, on 12 April, that the Israeli Ministry of Defence must pay 2 million Israel shekels compensation to the family of a Palestinian woman, Azizeh Tarhat Issa, aged 45, from Ein Yabrud in the Ramallah district, who was shot dead by an Israeli soldier last year. The Court accepted the family's claim that the soldier, a Bir Zeit guard, shot carelessly and "in extreme recklessness". The family's lawyer, Darwish Nasser, called the decision a precedent and commented that, in the past, Israeli courts had ruled that the West Bank was an occupied territory governed by a military governor and that guarding military camps was part of military duty in a time of war. In such circumstances, the courts ruled, acts such as the present one could not be considered by an Israeli civil court. (Al Fajr, 29 April 1983)

340. The High Court of Justice rejected a petition by the families of five youths, accused of causing the death of an Israeli woman in January, when she was hit by stones thrown by them, asking the Court to order the release of their homes which were sealed by the Israeli Defence Forces following the woman's death. The Court found that the military commander had acted out of "substantive and reasonable considerations" of public safety in sealing the homes. The judges ruled that the decision to seal – and not destroy – the houses could serve as valuable deterrent to further acts of violence. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 20 April 1983)

341. A villager from Lubban esh-Sharqiya, near Nablus, petitioned the High Court of Justice against the military government's decision to seize his land in order to erect a settlement. He obtained an interim injunction banning the Military Governor of the West Bank from carrying out any works on the land. Supreme Court Justice Gabriel Back transferred the petition to a panel of three judges and ordered to summon to the hearing a representative of the Attorney-General.  (Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 24 April 1983)

342. On 5 May, the Nablus District Court issued six temporary injunctions, and on 8 May, 18 additional ones barring the Gal Development and Building Company from preparing the land for the Elkana D settlement, which includes land owned by some 60 villagers in an area of 2,000 dunams. The chief legal officer of the "Judea and Samaria" civil administration, Mr. Pinhas Levy, was reported as saying that the civil administration must honour court orders issued by courts in the West Bank. He said that the civil administration provided police assistance to enforce such orders. On 10 May, it was reported that a police force from the Tulkarm station handed 18 injunctions to the Director of the Gal company. The latter reportedly signed the injunctions and ordered that all work be stopped pending a final court decision on the ownership of the lands. The police intervention in enforcing injunctions issued by a local West Bank court against an Israeli company is regarded by lawyers as a precedent. (Ha'aretz, 5, 6, 9, 10 May, Jerusalem Post, 6, 9 May 1983)

343. The Supreme Court, on 19 May, increased the sentence of a Kiryat-Arba resident who was convicted of firing a pistol at a house in Hebron in February, wounding a 5-year old girl. Arieh Bar-Yosef was sentenced to four months' jail and a fine of 30,000 Israel shekels by the Jerusalem District Court. After hearing an appeal by the State, the Court decided to increase the jail sentence to one year. The prosecutor said that actions such as Bar-Yosef's "play into the hands of Israel's enemies". (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 20 May 1983)

344. The High Court of Justice rejected an application by 12 Druze residents of the Golan Heights who argued that they should be exempted from the obligation of holding Israeli identity cards. They maintained that the Golan Heights law which was adopted by the Knesset in December 1982 did not make the Golan Heights part of the State of Israel. In rejecting their application, the High Court determined that an examination of the Golan Heights law leads to the conclusion that all the legal norms applicable in the State of Israel were extended to the Golan Heights. (Ha'aretz, 23 May)

345. Lawyers in the office of the Chief Army Prosecutor recommended that legal proceedings should be initiated against two senior officers for allegedly ordering and encouraging the beating and harassment of Arabs in Hebron during disturbances there last spring. The two officers are Colonel Ya'acov Hartabi, the former military commander of "Judea and Samaria" and Lieutenant-Colonel Shalom Lugassi, former Judea district commander. These recommendations must be endorsed by the Chief Army Prosecutor, who then must present them to the Judge Advocate-General Dov Shefi. (Jerusalem Post, 10 June)

346. A settler from Hinanit, in the West Bank, is on trial before the Tel Aviv district court, on charges of killing a 13-year old boy who took part in a demonstration in the Nablus area, on 26 October 1982. (Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, 12 June)

347. The Attorney-General, Mr. Yitzhak Zamir, instructed that a policeman, Staff-sergeant Moshe Bitton, be put on trial for using force against an Arab resident of Jenin who was under detention in order to be questioned about his alleged participation in a demonstration and incitement activities.  Mr. Zamir instructed that the investigation file be transferred to the State-Attorney's office in order to prepare a charge-sheet as soon as possible. The Attorney-General stressed that he regarded as very grave every case of using force against a detainee during his questioning, and that he had, accordingly, instructed the State-Attorney to ask the court to impose a heavy penalty on the policeman. (Ha'aretz, 13 June)

348. Fifteen residents of the Deheisheh refugee camp petitioned the High Court of Justice, through Advocate Felicia Langer, to order the military commander of the West Bank to show cause why he should not remove a concrete wall built across the main road leading into the camp. The petition also claimed that prolonged curfews imposed by the army following disturbances and stone-throwing in the camp were an unjustified collective punishment. The petition has not yet been considered by the bench. (Jerusalem Post, 29 June 1983)

349. The West Bank civil administration cancelled a fine of 80,000 Israel shekels a military judge had levied on a Ramallah resident for an offence committed by his daughter, only moments before the High Court of Justice was due to examine the case. Randa Mahmoud Kharusa, aged 13, was given the fine for stone-throwing during a demonstration. Her lawyer, Mr. Jonathan Kuttab, argued that the girl had not been represented in court, nor had the judge appointed an attorney for her or tried and helped her defence in any way. Mr. Kuttab appealed on the father's behalf to the military commander of the area to cancel the fine, but no reply was received. The family then petitioned the High Court, arguing that a criminal sentence could not be imposed on the father who had not been charged or even consulted in any way. Mr. Kuttab later said that the fine was cancelled since the Military Government wanted to avoid discussing the question of punishing parents for their children's deeds. (Ha'aretz, 14 July 1983, Jerusalem Post, 15 July 1983)

350. The High Court of Justice, on 26 July, issued a temporary injunction against the Minister for Defence, the West Bank civil administration and the area military commander, preventing them from demolishing buildings in the Hebron bus terminal area. Supreme Court Judge Moshe Baisky issued the injunctions at the request of the Hebron bus company and the Moslem Waqf which owns the bus station grounds. He deferred judgement on the petitioners' request for a temporary injunction prohibiting the transfer of the station to another party, and for an order nisi instructing the respondents to show cause why they would not permit ordinary use of the station and prevent its transfer to some other party. The questions will be considered by a panel of three judges. (Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz, 27 July)

V.  CONCLUSIONS

351. The present report has been prepared in accordance with the mandate of the Special Committee as renewed by the General Assembly by its resolution 37/88 C of 10 December 1982. As stated in Section II above, the Government of Israel continued to withhold its co-operation from the Special Committee.  section III spells out the mandate of the Special Committee as defined in previous years.  Section IV contains the information and evidence before the Special Committee. The Special Committee, having been precluded from visiting the occupied territories, conducted a series of hearings in Amman and Damascus in June of this year where it could benefit from the evidence of persons from the occupied territories who have first-hand knowledge and experience of the human rights situation in these territories. In addition, the Special Committee visited the town of Rafah in Egypt and conducted hearings in June of this year. The Special Committee followed the situation in the occupied territories on a day-to-day basis through reports appearing in the Israeli press. Several communications and reports from individuals and organizations were addressed to the Special Committee and were examined by the Special Committee in the course of the period covered by the present report. The information obtained from these sources is reflected in Section IV.

352. Section IV is subdivided into five parts. Section IV A sets out information that reflects the policy followed by the Government of Israel in the occupied territories, and includes statements by civil and military authorities responsible for the occupied territories.

353. The general policy of the Government of Israel is reflected in statements such as that made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Shamir, in March this year, according to which the occupied territories are part of "Yeretz Israel" and in that sense their annexation is not necessary since they form part of the Israeli .homeland., he is reported as stating "You do not annex what is already yours".  This is corroborated by another statement reported in the Los Angeles Times of 24 July 1983 by the Minister for Defence, Mr. Arens, to the effect that Israeli sovereignty will eventually be applied in the West Bank. In the view of the Special Committee statements of this kind confirm that the Government of Israel continues to follow a policy aimed at the annexation of these territories in violation of its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention. It may be recalled that under this Convention military occupation is to be considered to be a temporary de facto situation giving no rights whatsoever to the occupying power over the sovereignty of the occupied territory.

354. Section IV A illustrates the policy in the day-to-day treatment of the civilian population. Reference may be made to paragraph 28 above reproducing information contained in documents submitted to the Central Command Military Court by a defence lawyer at the trial of seven military personnel accused of assaulting and maltreating Arab students in Hebron, among the instructions issued by the Commanding Officer referred to in these documents is a reference to a memorandum Published in April 1982 whereby suspected stone-throwers were to be harassed "with repeated and arbitrary arrests, punishing parents and using collective punishment such as curfews and economic sanctions against troublesome villages". The Commanding Officer is reported to have suggested the setting-up of a "detention/exile camp" where detainees could be kept pending their investigation for the stipulated period of 18 days, followed by release for one or two days and then by renewed arrest. The Special Committee notes that in,fact such a camp was eventually set up at Far'a, near Nablus. The Commanding Officer, General Eitan, acknowledged having issued these instructions in evidence before the military court, and, referring to his instruction to punish parents for their children's acts, stated that such an instruction was useful since "it worked well with Arabs".  Similar reports have been noted by the Special Committee, some of which are reflected in Section IV A above. Reference may be made in particular to paragraph 320 giving information on the testimony of soldiers on their treatment of civilians. The Special Committee notes that the successor of General Eitan, General Levi, is reported to have ordered changes in these instructions after the legal opinion given by the Judge Advocate-General, in which the legality of these instructions was put in doubt. In fact, as may be seen by reference to the information reflected in the remainder of Section IV, the treatment of civilians in the occupied territories did not change significantly even after the avowed intention to review these instructions. The Special Committee expresses the hope, however, that the Israeli authorities will ensure that such instructions be repealed and that its conduct of the occupation be brought into line with the obligations of the Government of Israel under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

355. Section IV B contains information on the situation in the occupied territories, and is subdivided into six parts. Subsection IV B 1 contains information on treatment of civilians in general, it attempts to illustrate the reality prevailing in the occupied territories on the basis of the information received by the Special Committee.

356. Several reports concern the imposition of the so-called "civil administration" to which the Special Committee referred in its previous report. The Special Committee noted that, during the period covered by the present report, several statements were made concerning the civil administration. According to these statements, the imposition of this administration had only caused serious problems of maintenance of public order and it would be desirable to restore a military government. By the same token, the imposition of the so-called "village leagues" had caused considerable difficulties in maintaining public order, the dissolution of properly elected municipal councils in the principal towns of the West Bank and their replacement by military governors had further complicated life for the civilian population. The Special Committee noted a distinct tendency in measures taken by the occupation authorities to put pressure on Arab civilians to leave their homes and emigrate – and this parallel to a policy of expulsion on other pretexts.

357. In addition, information is given, for example, on the particular situation of Mr. Bassam Shaka'a, deposed Mayor of Nablus, who addressed himself to the Special Committee on 10 May of this year expressing fear for his safety after a number of developments affecting his family, mainly provoked by the Israeli military detachment assigned to him purportedly to protect him after the attempt on his life in 1980 when he lost both his legs. The Special Committee notes that the perpetrator(s) of this attempt have not yet been apprehended and no indications whatsoever given about the progress of the investigation of the matter, if any.

358. Also included in this subsection is information on the alleged poisoning that first occurred in the occupied territories in the village of Arrabeh in March 1983.  The continuation of the practice of demolishing houses is the subject of several reports reproduced in this subsection, as well as information concerning the denial of the right of freedom of expression in the occupied territories. In the view of the Special Committee this information shows the extent to which measures applied to the civilian population negatively affect virtually every aspect of the life of the individual, for the most part, such measures are manifestly unnecessary for the maintenance of law and order which is the obligation of the occupying authorities under the applicable international law. On the other hand, these acts of harassment provoke further reaction and resistance among the civilian population which in turn give rise to acts of reprisal by the military authorities.

359. Subsection IV B 2 contains information on measures affecting the right to freedom of education. The Special Committee felt that the importance of this information warranted separate treatment in the hope that attention thus focussed on this aspect may lead to a realization of the need for urgent action by the occupying authorities to curtail the cycle of violence that the denial of this right is provoking. This information includes reports of attempts at applying Military Order No. 854 by which professors and students would be required to obtain a permit to teach and attend universities. This Order, promulgated in 1980, has been rejected by the academic community but attempts have been made from time to time by the occupying authorities to impose it. This included the requirement established in late 1982 of non-local academics to sign a commitment concerning allegiance to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Since non-locals included mostly Palestinians bearing foreign passports, it led to the automatic expulsion of some 28 professors and teachers from the universities. Subsequent attempts at reformulating the commitment concerning PLO resulted in four successive versions, none of which proved acceptable to those concerned. The Special Committee notes that some six academics who decided to sign the latest version of this commitment were boycotted by their students and, although authorized to return to the occupied territories, cannot exercise their teaching functions. In the view of the Special Committee the imposition of such commitments is a serious violation of the freedom of education and an unnecessary imposition on the academic community.  The Special Committee hopes that the Israeli authorities will realize the arbitrary nature of this requirement and rescind it in order to permit the return to calm in the academic institutions in the occupied territories.

360. In addition to the attempts at applying Military Order No. 854, the Special Committee notes in subsection IV B 2 several reports of measures taken by the Occupation authorities affecting teachers, students and schools. Schools and universities in the occupied territories have been repeatedly closed by the authorities for a number of reasons but with the common effect of causing serious disruption in the academic life of these institutions. Similarly, the arbitrary transfer or expulsion of teachers and students from schools. One witness appearing before the Special Committee communicated to it statistics, referred to in subsection IV B 2 above, showing the frequency of school and university closures in various parts of the occupied territories from 1 June 1982 and 1 June 1983. Some witnesses stated that 65 per cent of the student population had been interrogated or imprisoned at some time or another, thus creating serious difficulties for them in the pursuit of their studies.

361. Subsection IV B 3 contains information on the situation of the Golan Heights.  In the course of the hearings conducted by the Special Committee in Damascus, information was given on the most recent developments concerning this area. It may be recalled that the Israeli authorities by extending Israeli law to the Golan Heights purported to annex this territory. The Special Committee noted in its last report the hardship and bloodshed to which this measure led and underlined the illegality and invalidity of the action of the Government of Israel under international law. The Special Committee notes that the Government of Israel continues to apply measures denying the civilian population of the Golan Heights their rights. Thus, students from the Golan Heights attending university in Syria are not allowed to return to their home towns and villages and full-scale attempts are being undertaken in the Golan Heights in an effort to "judaize" education and to convince the population to accept Israeli sovereignty. The Special Committee reproduces in annex I below relevant excerpts from a detailed report prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Syrian Arab Republic which, in the view of the Special Committee, constitutes an accurate illustration of the reality persisting in the Golan Heights. The Special Committee reiterates its conviction that the measures being taken by the Israeli authorities in the Golan Heights are illegal. The majority of the Syrian population of the Golan Heights who were expelled after the occupation are still being denied the right to return to their homes and should be given this right in accordance with international law. As is the case in the other occupied territories, the settlements established in the Golan Heights are illegal and in violation of international law.

362. Subsection IV B 4 concerns the situation of Palestinians in Rafah-Sinai, who, upon the delineation of the international boundary between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, found themselves in Egyptian territory and who are claiming the right to return to their homes. The present situation of the inhabitants of "Canada" camp, who number approximately 5,500, is one of extreme hardship, since they have been cut off from their places of work, schools and, in many cases, from their families.  It is the hope of the Special Committee that the Israeli authorities will realize the arbitrary nature of their refusal to accept to repatriate these persons and will co-operate in their repatriation. In this context the Special Committee notes that under the Fourth Geneva Convention the civilian population of the occupied territories cannot be transferred outside the territory.

363. Subsection IV B 5 contains information on activities by Israeli settlers in the occupied territories. The Special Committee has had occasion in previous reports to underline the seriousness of this aspect of the life of the civilian population of the occupied territories and the danger to law and order constituted by the presence of Israeli settlers in the occupied territories, all of whom are armed and subject to no authority other than the central Israeli Government. This has led, in the period covered by this report, to unprecedented violence and acts of aggression by Israeli settlers to the detriment of the civilians in the occupied territories, while the former go unpunished, the latter are the subject of severe measures of reprisal if they attempt to react in any way to the acts perpetrated against them. Illustrative of this problem is the information concerning the so-called Karp report dealing with the acts of violence of Israeli settlers and their impunity.  Mrs. Yehudit Karp, Deputy Attorney-General, resigned from her post as Chairman of a committee of the Ministry of Justice of the Government of Israel established to investigate "anti-Arab vigilantism" by the Jewish settlers in the West Bank. The reason given for her resignation was reported to be the absence of any action on the recommendations made by her committee one year earlier.  Notwithstanding pronouncements made in the press and referred to in this report of changes in policy and law being desirable, the violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers has increased considerably, culminating in the rampage in Hebron in recent weeks resulting in bloodshed and death of several civilians. The Special Committee reiterates its conviction that the Government of Israel remains fully responsible for the acts of its civilians, including Israeli settlers, under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

364. The information received by the Special Committee, as reproduced in subsection IV B 5, reflects a situation characterized by a marked double standard of justice, one aimed at the civilian Arab population characterized by its harshness and arbitrariness, and another aimed at the Israeli settlers characterized by connivance and permissiveness. As reflected in paragraph 229 above, a member of the Karp Committee is reported as having stated on 15 May 1983 that .two systems of justice exist in the territories, one for Arabs and one for Jews..

365. Section IV B 6 gives a selection of reports of incidents recorded by the Special Committee intended to reflect the frequency, location and type of such incidents. Some 140 incidents are reflected in these tables indicating that hardly a day goes by in the occupied territories without some incident involving violence being reported. For the most part the incidents consist of acts against the military presence in the occupied territories as, for example, stone-throwing against military vehicles, patrols, etc. The overall picture created by this list serves to complete that created by the information in the other parts of Section IV B. The Special Committee considers that, as a result of this situation, the life of the civilian population is rendered virtually intolerable.

366. Section IV C gives information on the measures taken during the period covered by the report affecting the property and settlements by the Israeli authorities in the occupied territories. Plans continue to be announced of the establishment of more and more settlements, reports continue to be received of expropriation of property for a variety of reasons. The net result is the continuation of the consolidation of the Israeli presence in the occupied territories to the detriment of the civilian population. Over 150 settlements have so far been established, and over 60 per cent of the land in the West Bank has passed into the hands of the authorities. Official plans envisaging construction of settlements and measures of colonization up to the year 2010 continue to be announced.

367. As repeatedly stated in previous reports, such acts of expropriation, establishment of settlements and transfer of civilians to the occupied territories constitute violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

368. Section IV D contains information on treatment of detainees. In this regard the Special Committee notes the establishment of a camp for the detention of young persons, mostly arrested for stone-throwing. This camp, known as Far'a camp, has been the subject of several reports reflecting the inhuman conditions in which detainees are kept. In addition, in spite of reports of avowed intentions to improve conditions of prisoners, the Special Committee has noted no improvement.  On the contrary, hunger-strikes and other acts of protest have recurred in most prisons and places of detention during the period covered by the present report.  The Special Committee notes that detention conditions have not been improved.

369. Section IV E contains information on judicial remedies sought by the civilian population against measures affecting them. The information received by the Special Committee indicates that such recourse has rarely given any satisfaction to applicants, indeed, other than the granting of temporary injunctions and similar dilatory remedies, recourse to judicial remedies has not provided any firm or long-lasting safeguard of the interests of the civilian population. The judicial authorities appear to be completely subjected to the discretion vested in the military occupation authorities.

370. The overall picture drawn from the information available to the Special Committee reflects the further deterioration in the human rights situation of the civilian population. The treatment of the civilian population continues to get harsher in all respects. In the West Bank, including Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, this period has seen a constant cycle of repressive measures applied to individuals and to collectivities to which organized and unorganized acts of resistance occurred and which in their turn brought about acts of reprisal by the military authorities. These acts varied in nature from day to day harassment of individuals to measures having a long-term purpose of demoralizing the civilian population, such as dismissal of municipal authorities and the measures taken in regard to educational institutions. In certain cases, as in the Golan Heights, outright efforts at annexation are undertaken. In others, as in Rafah-Sinai, civilians are denied the right to return to their homes. On the other hand, settlements continue to be established in the occupied territories parallel to the expropriation of property and the transfer of Israeli civilians to these settlements. While the behaviour of these settlers deteriorates further, acts of repression of the civilian population increase in their harshness. In all, the situation of the civilian population is more intolerable than ever. The Special Committee has noted that this situation has given rise to movements of protest within Israel such as the Peace Now Movement whose activities during the period covered by the report increased notably.

371. The responsibility of the international community is, by the same token, more manifest than ever before and urgent action must be taken to prevent further deterioration and to protect the very basic rights of the innocent civilians in the occupied territories.

372. The Special Committee has had occasion to state in its previous reports that the Fourth Geneva Convention remains the principal international instrument in humanitarian law which applies to the occupied territories. In Section III above the Special Committee gives a list of the international instruments which are applicable to the situation in the occupied territories. The information contained in the report and reflected in Section IV and the conclusions enunciated in the foregoing paragraphs would indicate that the articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention, reproduced in annex II, continue to be contravened.

VI.  ADOPTION OF THE REPORT

373. The present report was approved and signed by the Special Committee on 19 August 1983 in accordance with rule 20 of its rules of procedure.

Notes

1/ Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-fifth Session, agenda item 101, documents A/8089, A/8389 and Corr.1 and 2; A/8389/Add.l and Add.1/Corr.1 and 2; A/8828, A/9148 and Add.1; A/9817; A/10272; A/31/218; A/32/284; A/33/356; A/34/631; A/35/425, A/36/579 and A/37/485.

2/ Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-fifth Session, Annexes, agenda item 101, document A/8237; ibid., Twenty-sixth Session, Annexes, agenda item 40, document A/8630; ibid., Twenty-seventh Session, Annexes, agenda item 42, document A/8950; ibid., Twenty-eighth Session, Annexes, agenda item 45, document A/9374; ibid., Twenty-ninth Session, Annexes, agenda item 40, document A/9872; ibid., Thirtieth Session, Annexes, agenda item 52, document A/10461; ibid., Thirty-first Session, Annexes, agenda item 55, document A/31/399, ibid., Thirty-second Session, Annexes, agenda item 57, document A/32/407, ibid., Thirty-third Session, Annexes, agenda item 55, document A/33/439; ibid., Thirty-fourth Session, Annexes, agenda item 51, document A/34/691 and Add.1; ibid., Thirty-fifth Session, Annexes, agenda item 57, document A/35/674; ibid., Thirty-sixth Session, Annexes, agenda item 64, document A/36/632/Add:1, and ibid., Thirty-seventh Session, Annexes, agenda item 61, document A/37/698.

3/ Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-fifth Session, Annexes, agenda item 101, document A/8089, annex III.

4/ United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75,  No. 973, p. 287.

5/ Ibid., No.972, p. 135.

6/ Ibid., vol. 249,  No. 3511, p. 215.

7/ Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The Hague Conventions and Declarations of 1899 and 1907 (New York, Oxford University Press, 1915).

8/ General Assembly resolution 2200 A (XXI).

ANNEX I

Relevant extracts from report submitted to the Special Committee

by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Syrian Arab Republic

in Damascus on 10 June 1983

"…

I.  Judaization, annexation and erection of settlements

Since 1967, the Israeli occupation authorities have taken measures and made provisions aimed at changing the legal status and altering the geographical features as well as the demographic composition of the territories under its occupation. The following are some examples of these measures and provisions:

1. Destruction and removal of all traces of deserted Arab villages to the extent that it has become impossible, even with the help of a map, to recognize the sites where they once stood.

2. Using stones taken from deserted villages to build settlements for Jewish settlers.

3. Scattering the territory with settlements, their number, either existing or to be erected, will be in excess of 35.

4. Abolishing the Arab names of these sites and giving Hebrew names to the settlements erected in their place. For example, Nakeya Atif and Al Rom settlements were respectively erected on the debris of the villages of Jabata Al Zeir and Ein Hor. Many similar examples can be given in this respect.

5. Undertaking intensive campaigns aimed at concealing all the Arab cultural rights, and all historical evidence of the Arab character of the areal excavation works in the Golan are being carried out in search of presumed Hebrew vestiges and allegations are made that their ancestors had inhabited the area.

6. Levelling of ground, reclamation of land belonging to deserted villages, supplying it with water and converting it into Israeli tourist resorts.

7. Writing the following slogan, everywhere in Golan, in Hebrew and in Arabic:  'Golan is part and parcel of Israel'.

8. Enactment of a decree dated 14 December 1981 extending the Israeli legislation, jurisdiction and administration to occupied Golan.

II.  At the economic and agricultural levels

The Zionist occupation authorities took several arbitrary and inhuman measures affecting economic and living conditions that are aimed at forcing citizens who remained under occupation to flee and leave their land and houses. Among these measures are:

1. Taxes: the occupation authorities levy different types of taxes on Syrian Arab citizens in the occupied Golan Heights:

2. Exploitation of water resources existing around Arab villages

The Israeli occupation authorities exploit and plunder the water resources existing around Arab villages and direct the water to Zionist settlements, thus depriving their legitimate owners of it. Following are some examples of water resources which have been plundered and seized by the occupation authorities:

It is also relevant to mention here that the Israeli occupation authorities prevent Golan inhabitants from digging wells and canals.  The maximum depth for digging has been limited to 75 cm.

3. Land confiscation

In the Golan Heights, the Israeli occupation authorities use untenable security pretexts to confiscate fertile agricultural land, gardens and vineyards from Arab owners, to whom no compensation is made. In the rare event of compensation being made, the amount is meaningless. For example:

4. Marketing of agricultural products

5. Grazing

III.  Problems of healthcare and food supplies

1. Health care in occupied Golan is almost non-existent except maybe in form, since inhabitants of large villages receive the visit of one general practitioner only three times weekly and even so, not for more than four hours each time.

2. Villages under occupation do not have private clinics or health centres.

3. Since the promulgation of the Annexation of the Golan Heights Act, only those who are of Israeli nationality are admitted to hospitals.

4. Shortage of medicines, especially periodic vaccination for children.

5. Non-existence of preventive medicine.

6. Non-existence of ambulances.

7. In the event that a patient is admitted to Safd hospital, he has to pay a fee of 3,500 shekels for one night, excluding the cost of medicines and treatment. Moreover, citizens who are members of Kobat Holym, the Israeli Sickness Fund, benefit from some deductions but this is not the case for Arabs who refuse to be affiliated with this fund.

8. Occupation authorities were reported to supply Arab patients with adulterated medicines and to give them water containing contraceptives.

9. Not taking action against insects and epidemics existing in the occupied territories.

10. Lack of health facilities and shortage of drinking water.

11. Zionist occupation authorities stopped medical and food supplies (and in particular milk for children) from reaching Golan detainees. The authorities have even arrested citizens collecting contributions and have seized food supplies as well as the financial contributions collected.

12. A Syrian convoy, transporting food supplies and medicines for inhabitants of the occupied Golan Heights, who had staged a general strike, was not allowed to enter the territory when it had reached the demarcation point near Majdal Shams.

IV.   At the educational and cultural levels

The Israeli occupation authorities undertook the following measures:

1. Replacing Arab curricula by Israeli ones with the purpose of abolishing Arab literature, history and geography books and severing the ties that exist between Arab students and their culture and history.

2. Since the promulgation of the annexation Act, teaching of the Hebrew language in schools, starting at kindergartens. Proceeding with abolishing altogether the Arab language in schools.

3. Erasing Arab heritage and culture while glorifying Israeli history by falsifying geography and history subjects.

4. Introducing in curricula a new subject called 'Druze heritage' with the purpose of inciting racial discrimination amongst the new generation.  Attempts at convincing students that Druze and Arab nationalism are different, knowing that students, as well as inhabitants, totally reject this and have staged several strikes and filed complaints in this respect.

5. The teaching of scientific subjects, such as mathematics, physics and chemistry is done by unqualified teachers. Moreover, not one school in the Golan Heights' villages has a scientific laboratory and most teachers are Israeli conscripts.

6. Imposing harsh conditions on students leaving schools who wish to enter Israeli universities, the aim being to make workers out of them for the benefit of the Israeli economy.

7. Following the promulgation of the annexation Act, students matriculated at Syrian universities, in total 52, were prevented from returning to their villages. On the other hand, students of the Golan Heights were prevented from entering Syrian universities in Syria.

8. Dismissing more than 40 teachers because of their opposition to annexation (a list of dismissed teachers is enclosed).

9. Prohibiting secondary school students from sitting their exams if they do not take the Israeli identity card first, which Arab students of the Golan Heights refuse to do.

The cultural, scientific and psychological life of Arab youth in occupied Golan has been seriously affected by these measures. Indeed, Arab students cannot pursue their higher education in neighbouring Arab countries in particular in their motherland, Syria, because of their low standard of attainment which does not meet the requirements for higher education in these countries. Furthermore, these students cannot enter Hebrew universities because of the harsh conditions imposed by the occupation authorities and also because they do not master the Hebrew and English languages. This fact has been confirmed by UNESCO reports.

V.  Campaigns of pressure and terror to impose Israeli nationality

Long before the promulgation of the act annexing the Golan Heights, Israel used different kinds of pressure against the Arab citizens of occupied Golan aimed at forcing them to become Israeli nationals and to take the Israeli identity card. These pressures have increased since the promulgation of the annexation Act, and Israel carries out the following means of intimidation:

1. Ordering arbitrarily the administrative detention of citizens.

2. Raiding houses, without giving prior warning, by day as well as by night and spreading fear amongst inhabitants, especially old people, women and children.

3. Cancelling meetings between members of families who were split because of occupation which took place under the supervision of United Nations representatives before the promulgation of the annexation Act.

4. Prohibiting gatherings, weddings and national celebrations as well as religious ceremonies.

5. Travellers are prevented from returning home on alleged security pretexts.

6. National figures who oppose occupation are deported with the purpose of changing the social structure.

7. Undertaking a wide-scale campaign of arrests, which included clergymen notables, teachers, students and workers, aimed at forcing inhabitants to take the Israeli identity card in compliance with the occupation authorities' demand.

8. Firing at demonstrators. A 10-year-old boy, Mohamed Ibn Soleiman Abu Shahin of the village Bok'ata, was killed by the enemy's soldiers who were quelling a demonstration staged by the village inhabitants in 1982.

9. Travelling within the occupied territories is prohibited to inhabitants unless they obtain permission from the Israeli security forces.

10. Carrying out search campaigns to look for imaginary prohibited items.  For instance, knives and precious daggers (part of the popular heritage) are confiscated and those who are caught in possession of a sharp instrument are sentenced to at least six months in prison.

11. Commercial or industrial activities, employment, hiring, admission to hospital, travel and sitting exams as far as students are concerned, all depend on the acceptance of Israeli nationality.

It is worth mentioning that the Israeli Supreme Court had rejected, on 22 May 1983, the complaint filed by Mr. Soleiman King, on behalf of the Golan Heights inhabitants, against compelling Syrian citizens of the occupied Golan Heights to take the Israeli identity card. The Israeli Court confirmed its agreement with the Government's decision to extend the Israeli legislation to the people and territory of occupied Golan. The Court held that the Israeli legislation, which is to be enforced in the Golan Heights as from 1981, does not allow any exceptions. It added that the marginal status of Arab inhabitants does not differ from that of Israelis. The Court also confirmed that it was compulsory for Syrian citizens of the Golan Heights to take the Israeli identity card.

VI.  Labour and trade union liberties

The Israeli occupation authorities carry out the following measures:

1. Oppressing workers of occupied Golan using every possible means and forcing them to take the Israeli identity card by threatening to hold back their pay checks and to deprive them of banking and health care facilities. Use of force and violence against workers, to the point of firing at those among them who rejected the identity cards. They are: Kamel King – Ahmed Kadmany – Hassan Fakhr Eldin – Mohamed Ali Al Bat'hish.

2. Arresting dozens of citizens amongst union leaders and patriots of villages of occupied Golan. These unionists are:

3. Blocking all transactions essential to the workers' daily life, for example relating to marriage, death, birth registration, building, machines and driving licences. In addition, many workers are dismissed from their jobs and citizens of Golan who refuse to take the identity card are fined 15,000 shekels.

4. Withholding payment of salaries to administrative workers, educational staff and garden keepers for a period of four months. This is done in compliance with instructions issued by the local authority's ministry of interior on the pretext that inhabitants did not pay local taxes.

5. Staging a strike in protest against the Israeli authorities' measures in which more than 800 Arab workers of textile factories in Kiryat Shamouna took part.

6. The Israeli labour office advertised that it will provide assistance to those applying for jobs who are holders of the Israeli identity card.

7. The Secretary of Kiryat Shamouna workers' council dismissed 120 workers of Samouhil Beauty company and 40 others working for the textile factory in Ghabour. They were replaced by Israeli workers.

Furthermore, Arab workers do not have any job guarantees under occupation and do not receive any compensation in case of dismissal. They are also prohibited from forming trade unions in order to defend their rights and can affiliate with the Israeli Trade Union, Hathdadrout, only if they are holders of the Israeli identity card.

VII.  Treatment of Arab detainees interned in Israeli prisons and detention camp

It is a well known fact that a great number of Golan inhabitants, have been or are still detained by the Israeli occupation authorities. The Golan Heights' military commander has accused these detainees of security offences though what they did was only to reject Israeli occupation and to reaffirm their link with the destiny of their motherland, Syria. Amongst the methods used by the occupation authorities in treating detainees are:

1. Physical, psychological and emotional torture by means surpassing those used by the Nazis.

2. Confinement of detainees in dark and airless cells.

3. Beating detainees on different parts of their bodies, including genital organs, using sticks and chains causing paralysis in some cases. Others lost their sense of hearing or smell, such is the case of Saleh Madah, Mounir Zaid Abu Saleh, Mohamed Saleh Marei from Majdal Shams and Ezzeldin Al Safady from Mos'ada.

4. Use of hot and cold water as well as electric current for torturing.

5. Setting police dogs at detainees.

6. A detainee is threatened with injury to his honour or with defloration of his sister if he does not confess to crimes of which the Israeli occupation authorities accuse him.

7. Detainees are injected with poisonous substances of which the effects only show some time after their release.

8. Use of disrespectful methods when questioning elderly people, patriarchs and clergymen and confining them in barracks along with prostitutes and drug addicts.

9. Profanation of holy books in the presence of clergymen, putting their turbans under investigators' feet, flinging abuses at them as well as offensive accusations.

Director of the Department of Organisations"

ANNEX II

Articles of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons

in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, referred to in paragraph 372

1. In regard to the annexation of the occupied territory, article 47, which states:

2. In regard to the transfer of Israeli settlers to the occupied territories, article 49.  Article 49 reads as follows:

3. In regard to the behaviour of Israeli settlers in the occupied territories, particularly as regards acts of violence against the person and property of the civilian population, article 29. Article 29 reads as follows:

4. In regard to measures of collective punishment such as arbitrary resort to curfews, demolition of houses and other forms of reprisal, articles 33 and 53, which read as follows:

5. In regard to the treatment of prisoners in detention, articles 64 and 76.  Articles 64 and 76 read as follows:

6. In addition to these articles, the Special Committee draws attention to article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which envisages the enactment of legislation to impose penal sanctions on persons committing grave breaches of the Convention. Acts declared to be grave breaches are defined in article 147.

ANNEX III

MAP SHOWING ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS ESTABLISHED,

PLANNED OR UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN THE

TERRITORIES OCCUPIED IN JUNE 1967