Israeli practices – SpCttee periodic report

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE ISRAELI

PRACTICES AFFECTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE PALESTINIAN

PEOPLE AND OTHER ARABS OF THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Note by the Secretary-General

The Secretary-General has the honour to transmit to the members of the General Assembly the attached periodic report covering the period from 1 January to 31 March 1995, which was submitted to him, in accordance with paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 of Assembly resolution 49/36 A of 9 December 1994, by the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.

________________________

* A/50/50/Rev.1.

CONTENTS

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

23 May 1995

Sir,

The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories has the honour to transmit to you herewith, in accordance with paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 of General Assembly resolution 49/36 A of 9 December 1994, a periodic report updating information contained in the periodic report, which it adopted and presented to you on 24 March 1995 (A/50/170).  The present periodic report has been prepared in order to bring to your attention, and to the attention of the General Assembly, updated information on the human rights situation in the occupied territories.

The present periodic report covers the period from 1 January to 31 March 1995.  It is based on written information gathered from various sources among which the Special Committee has selected relevant excerpts and summaries, which are reflected in the report.

Accept, Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

(Signed)  Herman Leonard de SILVA         

Chairman of the Special Committee to

Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting

the Human Rights of the Palestinian

People and Other Arabs of the

Occupied Territories

His Excellency Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Secretary-General of the United Nations

New York

I.  INTRODUCTION

1. In its resolution 49/36 A of 9 December 1994, the General Assembly:

"5. Requests the Special Committee, pending complete termination of the Israeli occupation, to continue to investigate Israeli policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, to consult, as appropriate, with the International Committee of the Red Cross according to its regulations in order to ensure that the welfare and human rights of the peoples of the occupied territories are safeguarded and to report to the Secretary-General as soon as possible and whenever the need arises thereafter;

"6. Also requests the Special Committee to submit regularly to the Secretary-General periodic reports on the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territory;

"7. Further requests the Special Committee to continue to investigate the treatment of prisoners in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967".

2. The Special Committee continued its work under the rules of procedure contained in its first report to the Secretary-General and held the second of its series of meetings from 12 to 23 May 1995 at Geneva, Cairo, Amman and Damascus.  Mr. Herman Leonard de Silva (Sri Lanka), continued to be Chairman. The meetings were also attended by Mr. Ibra Deguène Ka (Senegal) and Dato' Abdul Majid Mohamed (Malaysia).

3. Section II of the present report describes the situation in the Arab territories occupied by Israel as it affects the human rights of the civilian population.  The information contained in the report reflects written information received by the Special Committee during the period from 1 January to 31 March 1995.  The Special Committee has followed the situation in the occupied territories on a day-to-day basis through reports appearing in the Israeli press and in the Arab-language newspapers published in the occupied territories.  It has also examined a number of communications and reports from Governments, organizations and individuals pertaining to the period covered by the report.

4. The geographical names and the terminology employed in the present report reflect the usage in the original sources and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Special Committee or the Secretariat of the United Nations.

II.  INFORMATION RECEIVED BY THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE

A.  General situation

1.  General developments and policy statements

5. On 1 January 1995, Maj.-Gen. Amnon Shahak replaced Lt.-Gen. Ehud Barak as the twenty-fifth Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Shahak would be promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general.  (Jerusalem Post, 1 January 1995)

6. On 2 January 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin announced that the whole Cabinet would henceforth review any new plans for settlement expansion. Mr. Rabin also stated that from then on new construction work or land expropriation in the West Bank would have to be approved by the whole Cabinet, after discussion in the Exceptions Committee, which approves construction regarding settlements.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 3 January 1995)

7. On 3 January 1995, it was reported that both Israel and the Palestinian Authority had presented to each other at a meeting of the Higher Liaison Committee at Cairo a long list of violations of the Oslo and Cairo Agreements. According to the Palestinians, major violations had occurred in the following fields:

(a)  Postponed implementation of the Interim Agreements, including postponed elections and redeployment of IDF troops away from Arab population centres in preparation for elections, and delay in the transfer of power from the Civil Administration to the Palestinian Authority, except for five areas of early empowerment;

(b) Continued settlement activities, especially around Jerusalem, and continued expropriation of Palestinian-owned lands in the West Bank;

(c) Failure to release additional Palestinian prisoners and refusal to negotiate their release.  Failure to comply with a pledge immediately to release 5,000 prisoners after the signing of the Cairo Agreement;

(d) Alternation of tight and loose closure of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; and restrictions imposed on the movement of Palestinians within the West Bank as well as between the autonomous areas and the West Bank, including the establishment of 13 new roadblocks around Jericho;

(e) The arrest of Palestinians from the autonomous areas.

The Palestinian Authority's Minister for Local Government and delegate to the Higher Liaison Committee, Mr. Saeb Erekat, stated that the list was not exhaustive.  The Israeli list of violations concerned mainly the Palestinian Authority's failure to enforce law and order and deal with "terrorist" activities.  (Ha'aretz, 2 and 3 January 1995)

8. On 3 January 1995, Health Minister Ephraim Sneh revealed that special units were charged with locating and eliminating terrorist cells before they set out on missions against Israelis.  (Jerusalem Post, 4 January 1995)

9. On 3 January 1995, the Itim press agency reported that some 20 Hamas activists had been arrested during the continuing IDF crackdown.  (Jerusalem Post, 4 January 1995)

10. On 4 January 1995, it was reported that lack of cooperation, mutual suspicion and fear of daily skirmishes had characterized relations between the IDF and the border police and the Palestinian Police in the Gaza Strip almost since the arrival of Palestinian policemen there.  Dozens of incidents were reported to have included physical violence and verbal abuse and even the use of weapons.  Security sources estimated that tension between the Palestinian Police and the IDF was  bound to increase as a result of the incident that took place  on  2  January in which three Palestinian policemen were killed.  (Ha'aretz, 4 January 1995)

11. On 6 January 1995, Maj.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz stated that there had been a pattern of shooting from the autonomous area into areas within the Green Line in recent weeks.  Mofaz indicated that "terrorist" cells had arrived at a distance  of  500-600  metres  away  from  the fence marking the Green Line and fired at IDF soldiers positioned on the Line.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 6 January 1995)

12. On 8 January 1995, it was reported that security sources had indicated that they believed that four "terrorist" cells were operating in the West Bank, the most dangerous of which were believed to be operating in Hebron and Kalkiliya. (Ha'aretz, 8 January 1995)

13. On 9 January 1995, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at a meeting at Erez that Israel would inform the Palestinian Authority of every case of land confiscation for the construction of bypass roads in the West Bank.  (Ha'aretz, 10 January 1995)

14. On 9 January 1995, it was reported that according to a public opinion poll carried out at the end of December by the Nablus-based Palestinian Research Centre, 21 per cent of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were in favour of a complete halt of peace talks with Israel.  Thirty-one per cent endorsed a suspension of the talks until Israel complied with the Oslo Agreement.  Only 39 per cent of those interviewed stated that the Palestinian leadership should pursue negotiations with Israel under the present conditions. (Ha'aretz, 9 January 1995)

15. On 9 and 10 January 1995, it was reported that Israel had agreed to recognize the passport to be issued by the Palestinian Authority.  In addition, Israel indicated that men aged over 50 and women over 30 years of age as well as children below 10 years of age from the Gaza Strip would be allowed to move freely from Gaza to Jericho and from there to the rest of the West Bank (the so-called safe passage area) without entry permits to Israel.  Fifteen members of the Palestinian Authority, eminent guests and United Nations employees would also be allowed to use the passage (see "Imposition of curfews, sealing off or closing of areas", 22 January 1995).  (Ha'aretz, 9 and 10 January 1995)

16. On 9 January 1995, a report prepared by the Israeli Peace Now movement revealed that plans to expand West Bank settlements were presented to the Israeli Civil Administration after the signing of the Declaration of Principles on 13 September 1993.  Peace Now activist Tzali Reshef indicated that the goal of the construction appeared to be the creation of a Jewish demographic bloc (surrounding East Jerusalem) from the Kasem intersection near Bethlehem to the Givat Ze'ev settlement, near Ramallah.  (The Jerusalem Times, 13 January 1995)

17. On 10 January 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin reiterated the Government of Israel's commitment to a united Jerusalem that is the eternal capital of the State of Israel.  Later on Mr. Rabin stated that the commitment referred to Jerusalem within its present borders and not necessarily to a "Greater Jerusalem" that includes nearby settlements.  Meanwhile, Housing Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer revealed that 30,000 housing units were scheduled to be built in eastern and western parts of Jerusalem over the next five or six years. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 11 January 1995)

18. On 10 January 1995, the PLO representative to the United Nations transmitted an official letter to the Secretary-General asking the Security Council to urgently deal with the question of illegal settlements and take measures to curb the current threat to the peace process.  The Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Mr. Gad Yaacobi, stated at a meeting with some members of the Security Council on 11 January that Israel had unequivocally pledged not to establish new settlements.  Mr. Yaacobi indicated that the construction in question had been carried out on private land with private money.  (Ha'aretz, 12 January 1995)

19. On 10 January 1995, police sources indicated that five Palestinians who were suspected of operating a virtual police force in East Jerusalem had been detained since 8 January by the Jerusalem police.  (Jerusalem Post, 11 January 1995)

20. On 10 January 1995, it was reported that PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat had accused IDF officers who opposed the peace process of trying to sabotage peace. In a long interview with the London-based newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat published on 9 January, Mr. Arafat indicated that the officers were placing obstacles in the path of IDF redeployment, which was delaying the elections for a self-governing council as well as the transfer of power to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.  Mr. Arafat also accused the OC Intelligence of contributing in person to what the latter had earlier described as the "Lebanonization" of the Gaza Strip and the development of a civil war there. (Ha'aretz, 10 January 1995)

21.  On 10 January 1995, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres stated that paving roads leading to settlements was just a means to facilitate Israeli redeployment in the West Bank.  According to the Palestinian National Authority Planning Minister Nabil Shaath, this meant that Israel had reserved the right to confiscate more Palestinian land.  Shaath added that such statements encouraged more settlement building and expansion.  (The Jerusalem Times, 13 January 1995)

22. On 11 January 1995, it was reported that, according to Population Registry Office figures, 2,407,000 Palestinians currently resided in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, of whom 932,516 lived in Gaza and 1,475,000 in the West Bank. (Ha'aretz, 11 January 1995)

23. On 12 January 1995, Attorney-General Michael Ben Yair indicated that the Government's supervision of General Security Service (GSS) investigations was extremely tight.  In addition, he noted that both the Knesset and the state comptroller now supervised the GSS.  The use of "moderate physical pressure" permitted under the Landau guidelines certainly did not constitute torture, Ben Yair stressed – not even the special procedures that had been approved for a three-month period to combat Hamas terrorism.  He noted that, in addition, the  investigation  of  complaints  against the GSS had been transferred to the Justice Ministry in 1993, thereby enabling a fairer hearing of complaints.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 13 January 1995)

24. On 12 January 1995, during a meeting with Mr. Yasser Arafat, the Israeli Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Shimon Peres, is reported to have reaffirmed that Israel did not intend to build new settlements.  Nevertheless, Mr. Peres considered the expansion of existing settlements normal.  (Al-Tali'ah, 12 January 1995)

25. On 12 and 13 January 1995, for the second consecutive week, continued protests were reported to be taking place throughout the West Bank as the IDF and Jewish settlers staked claims on land and initiated construction of more housing units and new roads.  As clashes between Palestinian protesters and settlers were reported in many towns, talk of a renewed intifadah appeared to be spreading around the Palestinian community.  The Palestinian Land and Water Establishment for Studies and Legal Services organized a sit-in in Deir Istiyeh, near Nablus, at an Israeli checkpoint that had been installed to prevent Palestinian farmers from entering their land, while bulldozers from the Yakir settlement started levelling the land.  (The Jerusalem Times, 13 January 1995)

26. On 14 January 1995, Hamas called for an escalation in attacks and sabotage against Jewish settlements in order to force the settlers out of the territories.  Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader, stated that the organization had put together a "confrontational plan" to force the settlers out.  The plan included armed methods, acts of sabotage such as the destruction of water pipes, slashing of electric fences around settlements and the setting up of concrete barriers on roads.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 15 January 1995)

27. On 14 January 1995, hundreds of persons took part in a parade and rally in Nazareth to protest against the settlement of collaborators and their families in Israeli towns and villages.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 15 January 1995)

28. On 15 January 1995, it was reported that the police would have a much greater responsibility in investigating complaints against settlers in Judea and Samaria.  Under the new guidelines regarding the police, the army and the GSS, the preliminary investigation of disturbances caused by settlers would be conducted, whenever possible, by the police, who had greater experience in the gathering of evidence.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 15 January 1995)

29. On 15 January 1995, Brig.-Gen. Oren Shahor was appointed as the new Coordinator of government activities in  the  territories.  Shahor, formerly the Chief, Intelligence Corps  Office,  replaced  Maj.-Gen. Danny Rothschild. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 16 January 1995)

30. On 15 January 1995, IDF troops in the Gaza Strip handed over control of the Erez and Nahal checkpoints to the border police.  (Ha'aretz, 15 January 1995)

31.  On 15 January 1995, several Palestinian institutions declared 17 January the national day of struggle against the building of settlements.  The campaign was led by the newly established Committee for the Defence of the Land, a Palestinian anti-settlement group that was set up at a conference in Jericho a week earlier.  (The Jerusalem Times, 20 January 1995)

32. On 16 January 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told a meeting of the Labour faction of the Knesset that land in the territories was being expropriated only for security needs and not for residential construction. Mr. Rabin stated that the Government had abided by its 1992 decision not to permit any building in the territories other than construction needed to accommodate the settlements' natural growth and construction in "preferred areas".  These included greater Jerusalem, including Maaleh Adumim and Efrat, and some of the Jordan  Valley settlements.  The latter comprised the land needed to build four bypass roads, two bypassing Ramallah, one bypassing Tulkarm and one Hebron.  (Ha'aretz, 17 January 1995, Jerusalem Post, 17 and 18 January 1995)

33. On 17 January 1995, it was reported that Police Minister Moshe Shahal had informed the Knesset Interior Committee that the Israeli police had recently prevented several attempts by the Palestinian Authority to carry out diplomatic activities in Jerusalem.  (Jerusalem Post, 17 January 1995)

34. On 17 January 1995, it was reported that, according to official Interior Ministry figures, Jerusalem Arabs requested and received Israeli citizenship in unprecedented numbers in 1994.  A Ministry official indicated that 1,075 citizenship requests had been accepted as compared with 612 in 1993.  The official also stated that, including all family members who received citizenship,  some 3,000 Jerusalem Arabs had become Israeli citizens in 1994. (Jerusalem Post, 17 January 1995)

35. On 19 January 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres assured the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Yasser Arafat, that the Israeli Government's commitment to a freeze concerning settlements was genuine.  Mr. Rabin did not differentiate between settlements in the Jerusalem area and others, and indicated that land was being confiscated  only  for  four  bypass  roads  designed  to  prevent friction and facilitate the redeployment of Israeli troops.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 20 January 1995)

36. On 19 January 1995, the Committee for the Defence of the Land called on Palestinian farmers to start planting trees in their fields threatened with confiscation.  Clashes occurred in Kafr El Labd and El Sakaka when Jewish settlers and IDF soldiers tried to uproot newly planted trees.  The Palestinian Land and Water Establishment also urged all Palestinians to participate  in  a  day  of planting trees on 21 January 1995.  (Al-Tali'ah, 19 January 1995; The Jerusalem Times, 20 January 1995)

37. On 22 January 1995, the Cabinet established a ministerial committee headed by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to monitor settlement expansion.  The Cabinet stated that the committee's mandate would not be based only on the freeze of government-financed construction instituted in November 1992, but also on a decision dated 24 January 1993 aimed at boosting settlement expansion in the Jerusalem area.  (Jerusalem Post, 23 January 1995)

38. On 23 January 1995, the special ministerial committee on the GSS extended for three months the special authorization to use force and other unspecified techniques in the investigation of suspects believed to possess information crucial to preventing attacks.  The authorization reportedly gave GSS interrogators latitude beyond the use of "moderate physical pressure" permitted by the Landau Commission report.  (Jerusalem Post, 24 January 1995)

39. On 23 and 24 January 1995, the GSS and the IDF arrested some 100 Islamic activists in Hebron, Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus and in nearby villages as part of a crack-down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists following a suicide attack in Beit Lid on 22 January.  The IDF is reported to have carried out searches in mosques, to have combed villages and raided targets concerning the supporters of Islamic groups in the West Bank.  OC Central Command ordered the closure of two branches of the Association of Religious Scholars of Palestine in the West Bank. (Ha'aretz, 25 January 1995)

40. On 24 January 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin announced that a special committee would be set up to study ways of implementing a full separation between Israel and the Palestinians.  Mr. Rabin stated that the committee would explore various means, including the construction of a security fence near the Green Line.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 25 January 1995)

41. On 25 January 1995, it was reported that three Hamas cells from east Jerusalem involved mostly in stone-throwing and graffiti-writing had been uncovered by the police.  Nine members of the cells were remanded by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on 24 January.  Police indicated that more arrests  were  expected in connection with the discovery of the three cells.  (Jerusalem Post, 25 January 1995)

42. On 25 January 1995, it was reported that new detention facilities would be set up over the next two weeks for residents of the territories found in Israel without valid permits.  (Ha'aretz, 25 January 1995)

43. On 27 January 1995, it was reported that according to a public opinion poll of 787 Palestinians in the territories, the majority of Palestinians (53 per cent) wanted to see more military action by Palestinians against Israel. Thirty-two per cent opposed violence while 13 per cent had no opinion on the matter.  In the poll, which was conducted  by the Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion on 24 January, 57 per cent of those questioned stated that they supported the suicide bomb attack in Beit Lid on 22 January.  Only 32 per cent were against the attack.  Eleven per cent had no opinion while 62 per cent stated that the closure of the territories would increase the number of attacks in Israel.  Eighteen per cent thought that the closure would decrease the number of attacks.  Twenty per cent believed that the closure would have no bearing on the number of attacks.  Sixty per cent of the persons questioned indicated that attacks in Israel would strengthen Palestinian opposition groups.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 27 January 1995)

44. On 28 January 1995, the Committee for the Defence of the Land for the northern area organized the planting of 400 trees in the village of Kor, in the  Tulkarm district, where the IDF had uprooted 1,600 trees a week earlier. (Al-Tali'ah, 2 February 1995)

45. On 29 January 1995, the Government announced that the lifting of the closure of Gaza and the continuation of the peace process would depend on the Palestinian Authority's actions to ensure Israel's security.  The Government also decided to work on the separation of Israel from the territories and authorized the import of 6,000 new foreign labourers.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 30 January 1995)

46. On 29 January 1995, discussion began at the Police Ministry on the sealing of the borders with Judea and Samaria, the West Bank.  The separation plan was to centre around placing at least 2,000 policemen on patrol and checkpoint duties along the Green Line.  The plan would emphasize manpower and state-of-the-art border patrol technology, and not physical barriers such as fences. Police Minister Moshe Shahal also revealed that he had given permission  for  dogs  to  be  used  by police patrols along the Green Line.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 30 January 1995)

47. On 2 February 1995, Yusef Kabah, the Mayor of the Kadumim settlement, stated that the Israeli army had given permission for settlers to replace army patrols on two roads outside Nablus leading to the settlement.  A spokesman for the Israeli army limited his comments to saying that the Israeli army was employing various methods in order to protect the Jewish citizens from "terrorists".  (The Jerusalem Times, 3 February 1995)

48. On 3 February 1995, it was reported that the PLO had issued a renewed call to the Security Council, urging its members to take the necessary steps forthwith in order to put an end to all settlement activities being carried out by Israel, the occupying force, in the occupied territories, including Jerusalem.  (Ha'aretz, 3 February 1995)

49. On 3 and 7 February 1995, it was reported that the IDF and the security forces were continuing to arrest Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists, thus bringing the number of activists who were rounded up since the Beit Lid suicide attack to 250.  Security sources stated that arrests, especially those of activists in the West Bank, were likely to continue.  IDF patrols and operations carried out by the Duvdevan undercover unit in the West Bank were also intensified.  (Ha'aretz, 3 and 7 February 1995)

50. On 4 February 1995, a senior Israeli official stated in a briefing for diplomatic correspondents that Attorney-General Michael Ben Yair had given his approval for the extension of administrative detention for Palestinians from six months to a year.  (Jerusalem Post, 5 February 1995)

51.  On 7 February 1995, 35 Palestinians allegedly affiliated with Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, were apprehended by the Israeli army in Hebron and Jenin.  Israeli soldiers also raided the University of Hebron and arrested 17 students associated with Hamas.  Twenty additional students were arrested in Jenin.  (The Jerusalem Times, 10 February 1995)

52. On 10 February 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin reportedly told Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Viktor Posovliock, while he was on a visit to Israel, that he estimated that only 30 per cent of Israelis were now in favour of the peace process.  Mr. Rabin stated that the diminishing support for  the  peace process was due to a rise in the number of "terrorist" acts.  (Ha'aretz, 13 February 1995)

53. On 12 February 1995, Ha'aretz published the results of a new public opinion poll carried out by the Nablus-based Palestinian Research Centre between 2 and 4 February among 1,089 residents of the territories over 18 years of age. Listed below are its principal findings:

(a) Forty-six per cent of Palestinians were in favour of continued violent attacks against Israeli targets.  One third are against such attacks. Eighty-one per cent believed negotiations with Israel should be interrupted if the expansion of settlements continues.  Sixty-four per cent regarded Israel's separation policy as collective punishment;

(b) One of the poll's more preoccupying findings was the sharp increase in unemployment owing to the closure of the territories following the Beit Lid suicide attack on 22 January.  Unemployment in the territories was estimated at 51 per cent (57 per cent in the Gaza Strip and 48 per cent in the West Bank).

However, despite the anger and the disillusionment caused by the economic and political plight of the territories, 55 per cent of those interviewed still believed that the peace process, which began with the signing of the Oslo Agreement, would ultimately lead to the establishment of a Palestinian State in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  Yet only 16 per cent thought that Israel's separation plan should be interpreted as the beginning of its consent for the creation of a Palestinian State in the territories.  Forty-nine per cent support the Fatah movement, 14 per cent support the Hamas movement and 3 per cent the Islamic Jihad.  (Ha'aretz, 12 February 1995)

54. On 13 February 1995, it was reported that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had stated that no headway could be made in the peace process without the question of "terrorism" being resolved first.  (Ha'aretz, 13 February 1995)

55. On 14 and 15 February 1995, the IDF tightened security in the Jerusalem area, the West Bank and along the Green Line in order to head off possible "terrorist" attacks on the first anniversary of the massacre of the Cave of the Patriarchs.  (Ha'aretz, 14 and 15 February 1995)

56. On 14 and 15 February 1995, it was reported that 50 Hamas activists had been arrested during the previous days, thus bringing the number of activists arrested since the Tel Aviv bus bombing attack to some 1,300.  Some of the activists had reportedly been placed under administrative detention while others were still under interrogation.  (Ha'aretz, 14 and 15 February 1995)

57.  On 16 February 1995, the Israeli authorities agreed to allow 5,000 workers from the West Bank to enter Israel starting on 19 February 1995.  The workers were to be at least 30 years old and to have clean records with the Israeli security services.  (The Jerusalem Times, 17 February 1995)

58. On 17 February 1995, the GSS reportedly prepared a document about the activities of Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem.  The report listed 13 Palestinian institutions deemed to have an authoritative or official character and which ought to be closed down.  These included the Orient House, the Islamic Waqf, the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction, and the Al-Quds University.  (The Jerusalem Times, 17 February 1995)

59. On 19 February 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin reportedly told the Cabinet that Israel was well on its way to liberating itself from its dependency on Palestinian labour.  Mr. Rabin stated that there were already 59,000 foreign workers in the country and that another 11,000 would arrive within the next few weeks.  Meanwhile, Minister of the Economy and Planning Shimon Shetreet announced that Israel would transfer NIS 35 million to the Palestinian Authority in order to alleviate the problem of Palestinian unemployment.  (Jerusalem Post, 20 February 1995)

60. On 23 February 1995, some States members of the United Nations Security Council held unofficial consultations regarding the request by a number of Arab countries to convene an official meeting of the Council to discuss settlement activities in the territories.  The Arab countries had reportedly agreed to back the PLO, which had been trying over the previous weeks to garner support for a debate on the settlements.  (Ha'aretz, 24 February 1995)

61. On 24 February 1995, it was reported that 2,400 Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists had been arrested since the Tel Aviv bus bombing attack.  (Ha'aretz, 24 February 1995)

62. On 25 February 1995, Saeb Erekat, the Minister for Local Government of the Palestinian Authority, warned that the autonomy accord could disintegrate unless progress was made towards extending self-rule to the whole of the West Bank. (Jerusalem Post, 26 February 1995)

63. On 28 February 1995, it was reported that the IDF and the Palestinian police had uncovered a tunnel in the Rafia area leading from the autonomous area into Israel.  It was also reported that the GSS had recently uncovered a Hamas cell suspected of planting explosive devices in the Hebron and Beersheva areas. The cell reportedly  included five members from the West Bank as well as a  number  of  collaborators.  Ten activists linked to the cell were arrested.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 28 February 1995)

64.  On 1 March 1995, OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Ilan Biran issued an order banning "inciteful activity and hostile propaganda" in Judea and Samaria, following recent violent demonstrations there.  According to the order, any meeting, procession or protest would require a permit, which would be approved according to undisclosed criteria regarding the purpose, venue, time of the event and the number of participants.  (Jerusalem Post, 2 March 1995)

65. On 3 March 1995, it was reported that during the previous three months there had been an increase in the number of disturbances in the West Bank and in the number of indictments filed with military courts.  According to military reports, most of those arrested were aged between 17 and 25.  A rise had also been registered in the number of Palestinians adhering to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements.  The reports indicated that there had also been a significant increase in the number of "terrorist" activities carried out from within the autonomous area of Gaza, which included in particular detonations of  explosive  charges  and  shooting at IDF troops and settlers.  (Ha'aretz, 3 March 1995)

66. On 5 March 1995, the IDF unsealed 12 houses in the Nablus area as a gesture of goodwill for the Id al-Fitr holiday.  The houses, which were sealed in the 1970s, belonged to residents convicted of security-related offences.  Eight of the houses were located in Nablus, while four were located in the nearby Kafr Sarra refugee camp.  In addition, the IDF reopened eight alleys it had sealed in the Nablus kasbah, which were frequently used by Palestinians to throw stones at and attack soldiers.  The IDF also opened 20 roads that had been closed for up to seven years.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 6 March 1995)

67. On 7 March 1995, a conference on the return to the territories of Palestinians displaced by the Six-Day War was convened at Amman.  The conference, which was attended by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt, aimed to discuss several problems such as the determination of the actual number of displaced persons, the criteria to be used to establish their number and which body would determine the official numbers.  Israeli and Arab delegates reportedly began talks on the scope of the question.  Arab officials placed the number of Palestinians and their descendants made homeless by the 1967 war at 800,000 to 1 million, whereas Israeli officials placed the number at 200,000.  A joint communiqué released at the end of the talks indicated that a permanent committee composed of two panels would be established.  One panel, which would consist of chief Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath and the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Israel and Jordan, would meet every two or three months.  The other panel would be composed of experts and would convene every three weeks.  The communiqué also reaffirmed the ministerial committee's commitment to the speedy solution of the question of displaced Palestinians, to enhance the peace process.  Foreign Minister Shimon Peres ruled out, however, the possibility of Palestinians beginning to return to their homes now, indicating that every concession had to be studied carefully in order to ensure there was no precedent.  (Jerusalem Post, 6 and 8 March 1995; Ha'aretz, 7 and 8 March 1995)

68. On 9 March 1995, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat agreed to complete negotiations on the granting of more powers to the Authority by the end of June.  They also agreed to implement immediately several confidence-building measures, including the opening of safe passage routes between Gaza and Jericho, the resumption of the meeting of the committee on the release of prisoners, expediting passage through checkpoints and an increase from 18,000 to 21,000 or 22,000 of the number of Palestinian workers in Israel.  A Foreign Ministry official stated that the implementation of early empowerment envisaged for the economic sphere would be clearly linked to very specific actions that the Palestinian Authority would undertake against acts of "terrorism".  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 10 March 1995)

69.  On 10 March 1995, it was reported that the Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres had denied allegations that 1,200 housing units were to be built for settlers in the Ramallah area.  During the PLO-Israeli meeting at the Erez checkpoint, Peres stated that the Government of Israel had no policy towards settlement in the West Bank.  The Foreign Minister added that no additional land would be confiscated for the building of settlements and that no government money would be budgeted for new Israeli housing units in the West Bank. (The Jerusalem Times, 10 March 1995)

70. On 12 and 16 March 1995, it was reported that a poll conducted by the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme among 387 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip showed that 83 per cent of the respondents felt safer under the autonomy than they did under the Israeli occupation, while 15 per cent stated the opposite. The poll also found that 76 per cent believed that the refugee problem  should be solved by allowing refugees to return to the territories.  (Ha'aretz, 12 March 1995; Jerusalem Post, 16 March 1995)

71. On 13 March 1995, it was reported that army sources had stated that there had been a significant increase in the number of bombs planted near and on roads frequently used by IDF and Palestinian Police patrols.  One Southern Command source indicated that that type of "terrorism" was similar to the "terrorist" acts soldiers faced in southern Lebanon in the mid-1980s and was identical to the mode of operation employed by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon today. (Jerusalem Post, 13 March 1995)

72. On 13 March 1995, Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Amnon Shahak told settlers in the Neve Dekalim settlement that it was currently easier for hostile elements to organize attacks against Israelis than in the past.  The settlers claimed that their security was deteriorating partly because the Palestinian  Authority  was not doing enough to enforce the Cairo Agreement.  (Jerusalem Post, 14 March 1995)

73. On 16 March 1995, Palestinian and Israeli negotiators announced that the Palestinian Self-Rule Council would have legislative powers and that its members would be chosen in regional elections likely to be held by September.  No  agreement  was  reached,  however,  on  the  number  of Council members.  (Jerusalem Post, 17 March 1995)

74. On 22 March 1995, it was reported that according to a senior Palestinian police source, there were tons of TNT and other explosives in the southern Gaza Strip, smuggled there from Egypt and Israel.  The source claimed that "terrorists" had also supplied themselves from the ample number of unexploded shells and mines that were still strewn about the region.  In a related development, a senior Israeli intelligence officer warned of a "Lebanonization" of the Gaza Strip by armed militia made up mainly of armed Hamas  and  Islamic  Jihad  activists.   The  officer  also stated that, in his estimate, support for the Hamas movement in the West Bank had recently increased from 15 per  cent  to  40  per  cent.  (Ha'aretz,  Jerusalem Post, 22 March 1995)

75. On 23 March 1995, the Nablus-based Centre for Palestinian Research and Studies published the results of a public opinion poll conducted from 15 to 18 March among 1,296 Palestinians.  Its findings showed that 67 per cent of the persons interviewed supported continuing negotiations with Israel. Fifty-two per cent rejected Israel's Jenin-first idea, that would give the Palestinians administrative control of the city without IDF redeployment, while 32.4 per cent supported it.  The poll showed that increasing support for the political process did not coincide with any feeling of greater economic well-being.  According to the poll, 53 per cent of those interviewed felt that their economic situation had deteriorated despite the fact that unemployment had decreased from around 50 per cent to 38 per cent.  Residents of Hebron were the most dissatisfied economically, with 66 per cent stating that their economic situation had worsened.  Hebron also showed the highest level of support for the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements than any other area (21 per cent).  Asking for the second consecutive month about support for armed attacks against Israeli targets, the poll showed that 33 per cent of the persons interviewed supported attacks, 46 per cent opposed them and 21 per cent had no opinion.  (Jerusalem Post, 24 March 1995)

76. On 24 March 1995, it was reported that Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Amnon Shahak had notified Police Minister Moshe Shahal that the IDF's largest recruit training camp, Training Camp 4, would be moved to within the Green Line.  (Ha'aretz, 24 March 1995)

77. On 25 March 1995, a new Islamic fundamentalist group, the Islamic Front for the Salvation of Palestine, published its first leaflet in Gaza in which it threatened every Jew in the land of Palestine.  (Jerusalem Post, 26 March 1995)

78.  On 27 March 1995, Israeli observation posts were installed on the rooftops of several houses in Hebron while troops combed the area.  Raids were carried out in several houses and checkpoints were set up on roads leading to Hebron and the surrounding villages.  (The Jerusalem Times, 31 March 1995)

2.  Incidents resulting from the occupation

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

AT Al-Tali'ah

H Ha'aretz

JP Jerusalem Post

JT The Jerusalem Times

(a) List of Palestinians killed by troops or Israeli civilians

(b) List of other Palestinians killed as a result of the occupation

c)  Other incidents

80. On 1 January 1995, the IDF reported that gunmen had opened fire at an Israeli patrol near Beit Hanoun.  Soldiers returned fire but the gunmen managed to escape.  Two gunmen fired shots at an Israeli tractor driver near the Ganei Tal settlement in Gush Katif.  The IDF reported that Palestinian police stopped an Israeli foot patrol near the Morag junction and pointed their weapons at the soldiers.  (Jerusalem Post, 2 January 1995)

81. On 2 January 1995, the body of an Arab woman bearing multiple stab wounds was found near the Anata settlement east of Jerusalem (see list).  Soldiers shot and killed an armed Hamas activist in the Beit Awa village near Hebron (see list) after they were fired at.  Another activist was wounded, while a third managed to escape.  Three Palestinian policemen were shot dead by IDF soldiers patrolling near Beit Hanoun (see list).  According to the Voice of Israel, a fourth policeman was seriously wounded and later died in hospital.  Tension in the area of the incident was reported to be high and IDF armoured personnel carriers arrived on the scene.  According to an IDF investigation of the incident, the Palestinian policemen shot first and refused to lay down their weapons.  The Palestinian Authority, however, denied that the three policemen had fired first.  Two Hamas activists who were about to carry out a terrorist attack were shot dead by an IDF patrol (see list).  A third "terrorist" managed to escape.  A Palestinian was killed by a masked assailant in Ramallah (see list).  An Israeli was attacked and beaten by Arab youths as he was passing through the Balata refugee camp in Nablus.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 3, 4 and 5 January 1995)

82. On 3 January 1995, thousands of mourners participated in the funerals of the policemen who were killed on 2 January.  Among the participants were representatives of all major political factions.  Supporters of Izz al-din al-Qassam, the armed wing of Hamas, swore to avenge the killing while PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat shouted above the cries of the grieving crowd:

"You are the martyrs of Palestine and of Jerusalem.  You were killed defending Palestinian lands.  We congratulate you on your Jihad and your struggle.  We can never be defeated.  Our weapon, which is faith, is stronger."  (Jerusalem Post, 4 January 1995)

83. On 4 January 1995, undercover soldiers carrying out an operation in the Beit Likya village in the Ramallah area shot dead four Palestinians after shots were fired at them from a parked car (see list).  One soldier was slightly wounded in the leg.  A man wearing the camouflage uniform of the Palestinian security police fired at the IDF post at the Erez checkpoint.  Soldiers returned fire, slightly to moderately wounding the man in the leg and the neck.  Soldiers at another checkpoint located south of the  Erez checkpoint saw two uniformed men running from the location where the shots were fired.  Soldiers opened fire but the men managed to escape by car in the direction of Gaza.  Palestinian sources indicated that two passers-by were wounded in the shooting.  Shots were fired at a bus passing the Morag settlement; one passenger fainted but no injuries were reported.  A youth was arrested in Hebron after trying to stab a soldier near Beit Romano.  Palestinian sources reported that two Palestinians were wounded by rubber bullets fired by the IDF in a number of stone-throwing incidents in Ramallah.  Incidents also took place in Nablus.  Three Palestinians are reported to have been wounded in Hebron.  Shots were fired at a bus carrying 15 women from the Morag settlement.  No injuries were reported.  Palestinian sources reported further  that  a Palestinian from Hebron was moderately wounded in the shoulder by shots fired by a settler, apparently during a stone-throwing incident.  (Ha'aretz, 5, 8 January 1995; Jerusalem Post, 5 January 1995)

84. On 5 January 1995, it was reported that the security forces had arrested 12 Hamas activists in the Tulkarm and Ramallah areas.  Shots were fired at vehicles on their way to the Netzarim settlement.  No injuries were reported.  A leaflet signed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in which it claimed responsibility for the attack was found nearby.  A general strike was observed in Ramallah following the shooting of four PFLP activists by undercover soldiers in Beit Likya on 4 January.  (Ha'aretz, 5, 8 January 1995; Jerusalem Post, 5, 6 January 1995)

85. On 6 January 1995, terrorists opened fire from a passing car at an Israeli car driving near the Halamish junction, a few kilometres north of Beit El, killing an Israeli woman and wounding another passenger in the arm.  Israel Radio reported that the PFLP had claimed responsibility for the attack.  It was further reported that residents of the Kadin settlement near Jenin claimed three Palestinians broke into their settlement and tried to set a jeep on fire in the settlement's industrial area.  An Israeli was slightly wounded by stones thrown at his vehicle in Bethlehem.  An Israeli woman was wounded by stones thrown at her vehicle near the El Jib village south of Jerusalem.  A Border Policeman was slightly wounded by stones thrown at him near the Cave of the Patriarchs. Palestinian sources reported that two Palestinians were slightly wounded by rubber bullets in Nablus.  Additional three Palestinians were injured in Ramallah, also by rubber bullets.  Several shots were fired at an IDF patrol on the Israeli-Egyptian border; no harm or injuries were reported.  Shots were fired at an IDF post in Gush Katif; no harm or injuries were reported.  Settlers reported that shots were fired at an army post in Khan Younis.  Four incendiary bottles were thrown at a bus carrying settlers near Gan Or, in Gush Katif; no harm or injuries were reported.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 8 January 1995)

86. On 8 January 1995, IDF soldiers fired shots into Gaza near the Erez checkpoint when they saw suspicious figures in an orchard; no injuries were reported.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 9 January 1995)

87. On 9 January 1995, a carriage loaded with explosive charges exploded in the centre of Gaza as two Israeli buses were passing by Kfar Darom; no harm or injuries were reported.  Several stone-throwing incidents occurred in Hebron where two Palestinians were wounded by rubber bullets.  Other incidents were reported to have  taken  place  in  the  Jenin area, in Ramallah and on roads located in the vicinity  of settlements.   No injuries were reported.  (Ha'aretz, 10 January 1995)

88. On 10 January 1995, assailants shot and killed a captain in the Palestinian security forces (see list).  The identity of the assailants was not known.  Six gun-wielding Palestinian undercover policemen wearing civilian clothes forced a bus full of schoolchildren from the Gaza settlement of Netzarim to stop at the Netzarim junction and then spat at the bus and cursed the driver. The IDF detected two explosive charges in Rafia.  They were deactivated  by  a  police  explosives  expert.   (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 11 January 1995)

89. On 11 January 1995, two soldiers were slightly wounded in Gush Katif by explosives triggered off as they walked to their guard post near the Kissufim junction.  A Palestinian exceeding the speed limit was wounded by IDF fire in the Hebron area after ignoring an order to stop.  A fake bomb was found on an overpass  at  the French Hill intersection.  (Ha'aretz,  Jerusalem Post, 12 January 1995)

90.  On 11 January 1995,  according to the Israeli television, the IDF attacked over 200 Palestinian demonstrators in the village of Kufr Dik near Tulkarm.  The demonstrators were protesting against the expansion of construction at the Jewish settlement of Alei Zahav.  A journalist of the Associated Press was slightly injured in the head and two Palestinian residents were reportedly also injured during the incident.  (The Jerusalem Times, 13 January 1995)

91. On 12 January 1995, a Palestinian boy was killed (see list) and two Palestinian girls were wounded when an old mine the boy was playing with blew up in Karaka, in the Gaza Strip.  Two settlers from Kiryat Arba were wounded when a "terrorist" stabbed them in a hardware store north of Hebron.  Several suspects were arrested in connection with the attack.  Stone-throwing incidents were reported in the vicinity of the Cave of the Patriarchs, in Hebron as well as in Ramallah.  A Border Policeman was injured in Hebron during one of the incidents. A Border Police undercover unit captured a prominent Fatah activist belonging to a cell operating in the Kalkiliya area.  Palestinian sources reported that the man was involved in the killing of Palestinian  collaborators.  A  bomb exploded near the Netzarim junction as an IDF jeep was driving by; no damage or injuries were reported.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 13 January 1995)

92. On 13 January 1995, army sources reported that three Palestinians and one policeman were injured during rioting in Nablus.  IDF troops are reported to have used tear-gas and live ammunition to disperse the rioters.  (Jerusalem Post, 15 January 1995)

93. On 15 January 1995, an anti-tank rocket without an explosive tip hit a settler's apartment in Hebron; no one was injured and there was only limited material damage.  The IDF imposed a curfew on central Hebron and began searching for the "terrorists" responsible for the attack.  A number of arrests were reported in this connection.  Two armed gunmen fired at a settler's car from Morag near the Morag junction.  The settler managed to escape unharmed.  Two Palestinians were wounded by IDF fire in Ramallah; two Palestinians and a Border Policeman were wounded in the east Hebron area.  An Israeli woman was slightly wounded in eastern Jerusalem by stone-throwing youths.  Two minors were arrested for investigation.  Stones were thrown at an Israeli bus passing near the Dheisheh refugee camp in the Bethlehem area.  The bus driver fired shots in the air.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 16 January 1995)

94. On 16 January 1995, the guard of a yeshiva (Jewish religious school) in Jerusalem shot and killed a Palestinian worker (see list) and slightly wounded another when they drove into the yeshiva parking lot to deliver a load of vegetables for the school's kitchen.  The police dismissed the guard's claims that the Arabs had tried to run him over, giving him no choice but to open fire. In addition, it was reported that some 12 or 13 right-wing activists had been detained and released shortly thereafter when they tried to pray on the Temple Mount.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 17 January 1995)

95. On 17 January 1995, rioting broke out at the Shu'fat refugee camp after the funeral of a camp resident who had been shot dead by an Israeli on 16 January. Border Police fired rubber bullets and tear-gas to disperse the crowd of several hundred persons that had gathered in the centre of the camp.  Six youths are reported to have been arrested by the undercover policemen who were mixing with the crowd.  (Jerusalem Post, 18 January 1995)

96. On 22 January 1995, two Palestinian suicide bombers detonated a bomb at the Beit Lid junction, killing themselves (see list), 19 Israelis, of whom 18 were soldiers, and wounding some 64 other persons.  Witnesses and victims reported seeing body parts and organs tossed into the air.  Many were later seen scattered in adjacent fields.  In a leaflet distributed in Gaza, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad announced that it had carried out the attack to avenge the death of three policemen at the Erez checkpoint on 2 January and the assassination of Jihad activist Hani Abed.  Two additional soldiers died of their wounds a few days later, thus bringing the death toll to 21.  The Jerusalem Times reported on 27 January 1995 that as many as 500 Palestinian activists had been arrested following the incident.  The same source indicated that the Israeli authorities had imposed an indefinite closure of the territories.  (Ha'aretz, 23, 26 and 30 January 1995; Jerusalem Post, 23 and 29 January 1995)

97. On 25 January 1995, an IDF soldier shot dead a Palestinian boy in the Ein el-Ma refugee camp (see list).  Eyewitnesses reported that Palestinian youths shouted slogans at an IDF patrol passing through the camp when one soldier opened fire and hit the boy in the stomach.  The boy was rushed to hospital where doctors determined that he had died.  (Ha'aretz, 26 January 1995)

98. On 27 January 1995, three IDF soldiers were wounded when shots were fired at an army patrol from an ambush near Netzarim, in the Gaza Strip.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 29 January 1995)

99. On 28 January 1995, a Palestinian from Yatta was killed (see list) and another was wounded by a dud that exploded on an IDF firing range.  Several shots were fired at an IDF outpost located between Gush Katif and Khan Younis. Soldiers returned fire; no injuries were reported.  Two Palestinians were injured in a clash with the IDF in Hebron while two other Palestinians were injured in the Ramallah area.  Border Policemen arrested in Hebron two Palestinians in possession of an axe.  In Nablus and Hebron, Palestinian youths threw stones at military vehicles in order to protest the killing of a Palestinian boy on 25 January.  An IDF officer was slightly wounded during one of the incidents.  (Ha'aretz, 29 January 1995)

100. On 1 February 1995, a Border Police undercover unit arrested an arms broker and a Hamas activist who were on their way to conclude an arms deal with Hamas activists on the IDF wanted list.  In Nablus, two Palestinian youths were slightly to moderately wounded by IDF gunfire.  According to the IDF, soldiers fired at stone-throwers, but local residents claimed that three undercover soldiers went to the house of a Hamas activist and shot him and another man who came to his aid.  In Hebron, a Palestinian was slightly wounded when soldiers responded with gunfire to the sound of shots coming from an alley.  An IDF soldier was moderately wounded in the head during a stone- throwing  incident  north of Kfar Darom.  (Jerusalem Post, 2 February 1995; Ha'aretz, 3 February 1995)

101. On 2 February 1995, two explosive charges exploded near the Morag settlement in the Gaza Strip; no injuries were reported.  A third charge was discovered shortly afterwards and safely deactivated by explosives experts.  In the Hebron area, IDF troops arrested a knife-wielding Arab youth wearing an IDF uniform.  The youth was taken away for questioning.  Several stone-throwing incidents occurred in Hebron, Ramallah and Nablus.  Seven Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists were arrested by the Israeli security forces in the Jenin area. In Jenin, dozens of residents staged a protest rally to demand the release of Palestinian detainees who were rounded up during the recent wave of arrests. (Ha'aretz, 3 February 1995)

102. On 5 February 1995, Palestinian sources reported that a Palestinian policeman was injured  by  IDF gunfire near the Rafia Yam settlement, located in  the  south  of  the Gaza Strip.  The IDF spokesman denied that soldiers were involved in the incident.  (Ha'aretz, 6 February 1995)

103. On 6 February 1995, an Israeli security guard was killed and another one was moderately wounded when gunmen at the Nahal Oz junction opened fire at their car as it was escorting a gasoline truck to a Gaza Strip petrol station.  Hamas and the Red Star, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), took responsibility for the attack.  Two Palestinians were wounded in a stone-throwing incident in the Hebron area.  Two other Palestinians were wounded in Nablus.  Other stone-throwing incidents occurred  in  Ramallah,  Nablus  and  Al Bireh.   (Ha'aretz,  Jerusalem Post, 7 February 1995; also referred to in The Jerusalem Times, 10 February 1995)

104. On 7 February 1995, Palestinian sources reported that a Border Policeman had been injured in the head during a stone-throwing incident in Hebron.  Other stone-throwing incidents occurred in Ramallah, where a Palestinian was injured by tear-gas inhalation.  (Ha'aretz, 8 February 1995)

105. On 8 February 1995, soldiers arrested a Palestinian youth after he threw stones at their checkpoint near Kfar Darom.  The arrest provoked a demonstration by Gazans, who were dispersed by soldiers and police.  Palestinian sources reported that two Palestinians had been injured during the clash.  Stone-throwing incidents also occurred in Hebron and Ramallah.  Palestinian sources stated that a Palestinian had been injured by IDF gunfire in Ramallah. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 9 February 1995)

106. On 9 February 1995, a powerful demolition charge exploded near the Netzarim settlement; no injuries were reported.  Another charge was discovered nearby and safely neutralized by explosive experts.  Palestinian sources reported that two Palestinians were slightly injured by IDF gunfire in Hebron.  The same sources also spoke about clashes between IDF troops and Palestinians in Ramallah and in Nablus.  A Palestinian is reported to have been injured by  IDF fire in the vicinity of the Cave of the Patriarchs.  (Ha'aretz, 10 February 1995)

107. On 12 February 1995, two Palestinians were moderately injured by a dud that exploded in an IDF firing range in the Jordan Valley.  The two were transferred to Jihad hospital by helicopter.  Shots were fired at an IDF post in the Gaza Strip; no injuries were reported.  Palestinian sources related that stone-throwing incidents occurred in Hebron, Ramallah and Nablus; no injuries  were reported.  It was reported further that the IDF and the GSS were continuing to arrest Islamic Jihad and Hamas activists in the West Bank.  (Ha'aretz, 13 February 1995)

108. On 13 February 1995, an Israeli taxi driver was stabbed and killed in northern Jerusalem, apparently by two "terrorists" who disguised themselves as Jews.  The driver was found slouched in the driver's seat, with multiple stab wounds in the head and the chest.  Sixteen Arabs were detained immediately after the attack, as police and soldiers, aided by a helicopter and dogs, searched for the "terrorists" who had killed the driver.  Only two remained in custody by the evening and neither was believed to be directly involved.  In Hebron, hundreds of Palestinians burned tyres and threw stones at IDF soldiers, who responded with rubber bullets.  Two Palestinians were injured.  An incendiary bottle was thrown at a military jeep without causing any harm or injury.  Incidents were also reported in Ramallah.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 14 February 1995)

109. On 14 February 1995, on the first anniversary of the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre (according to the Muslim calender), a general strike was observed in Hebron, with increased military presence.  Other strikes and demonstrations were reported in Ramallah and Tulkarm.  A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead (see list) and some four were wounded when IDF soldiers opened fire at stone-throwers in the Fawwar refugee camp.  Palestinian sources also reported stone-throwing incidents on the road leading to the Cave of the Patriarchs, in Ramallah and in Tulkarm.  Palestinian sources indicated that a 20-year-old Palestinian from the Bal'a village had been injured by IDF fire after stones and iron were thrown at soldiers.  A Palestinian youth was slightly injured in the leg by Border Police fire after he threw stones at an Israeli bus passing by the military government's building in Tulkarm.  In the late afternoon, other clashes took place in the Fawwar refugee camp, where two Palestinians were injured.  In addition, it was reported that a demolition charge was activated in Kfar Darom while an IDF patrol was passing by.  Soldiers returned fire; no injuries were reported.  Another powerful explosive charge was discovered in Gush Katif by an IDF patrol and was safely deactivated by a police explosives expert.  (Ha'aretz, 15 and 16 February 1995; Jerusalem Post, 15 February 1995)

110. On 14 February 1995, a Palestinian youth was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Hebron during demonstrations marking the first anniversary of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre (see list).  Three other Palestinians were also wounded during the clashes.  (Al-Tali'ah, 16 February 1995; The Jerusalem Times, 17 February 1995)

111. On 15 February 1995, an unidentified gunman driving a vehicle with Israeli licence plates opened fire at a Palestinian high school near Ramallah.  A 16-year-old student was slightly injured in the leg.  Palestinian sources reported that three residents of the Fawwar refugee camp were injured by IDF gunfire.  Soldiers reportedly opened fire after hundreds of youths rioted and threw bottles and stones at them.  Stone-throwing incidents and the burning of tyres also took place in Hebron, Tulkarm and Ramallah.  In Hebron, an IDF soldier was slightly injured by stones thrown at the military vehicle he was travelling in.  Two Border Policemen were injured in a stone-throwing incident in the vicinity of the Cave of the Patriarchs.  Several shots were fired  at an IDF post in Khan Younis; no injuries were reported.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 16 February 1995)

112. On 16 February 1995, two Border Policemen and five Arab residents of East Jerusalem were slightly wounded during a clash in the Old City.  The incident occurred when Border Police asked an Arab youth to stop for identification.  The youth refused and reportedly attacked one of the policemen but was overpowered by other policemen.  A couple of minutes later, the youth's family arrived on the scene and reportedly attacked the policemen, who responded with rubber bullets.  A number of incidents were reported in the territories:  a clash occurred between an IDF foot patrol and a group of Palestinians who tried to cross into Gush Katif.  One Palestinian was injured in the leg after ignoring an order to stop and stoning the soldiers.  The other Palestinians who were with him were arrested.  In Hebron, a Palestinian was seriously injured when soldiers opened fire after their car was stoned.  An Arab press photographer from East Jerusalem was injured by a stone during the a third consecutive day of riots in the Fawwar refugee camp.  It was also reported that Border Police explosives experts had safely dismantled a Bangalore torpedo, which had been found on the road leading to the military government's building in Hebron.  (Ha'aretz, 17 February 1995)

113. On 17 February 1995, three Palestinians who were driving south of Jenin were injured by IDF fire after ignoring an order to stop.  Two were seriously injured while one was moderately injured.  In Nablus, two Palestinian stone-throwers were injured when Border Police opened fire after three Border Policemen were wounded by  stones.  In Hebron, a Palestinian was slightly to moderately wounded by rubber  bullets fired during riots in the city.  (Ha'aretz, 19 February 1995)

114. On 18 February 1995, gunmen injured a Palestinian collaborator and fatally wounded his brother, also a collaborator, who died soon thereafter of his wounds, as they were driving south of Jenin (see list).  An IDF soldier was slightly to moderately injured by a stone thrown at him in a market-place in the Dahiriyah area.  Two Palestinians were slightly to moderately injured by IDF fire in the same market.  An Israeli citizen was slightly injured by a stone thrown at his car near the Beitar Elit settlement in the Bethlehem area.  An incendiary bottle was thrown at an IDF post in Hebron; no damage or injuries were reported.  Several Palestinians were arrested in connection with the incident.  A Border Policeman was slightly injured by a stone thrown at him in Ramallah.  It was further reported that several Hamas activists were arrested in the Hebron and Ramallah areas.  (Ha'aretz, 19 February 1995)

115. On 19 February 1995, soldiers patrolling the Gaza Strip border fence shot and killed a 19- or 20-year-old Palestinian from Beit Hanoun as he was trying to flee after being caught in Israel (see list).  According to The Jerusalem Times of 17 February 1995, the young man was standing with his friends in a nearby field when an Israeli patrol fired shots without previously issuing a warning. The young man was killed when soldiers opened fire at him as he tried to run away.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 20 February 1995)

116. On 20 February 1995, unidentified gunmen firing from a car shot and wounded a local Hamas leader in Khan Younis.  The gunmen's motives were not known. (Jerusalem Post, 21 February 1995)

117. On 21 February 1995, the security forces, in collaboration with the IDF, arrested Jamil Hamami, one of the most prominent leaders of the Hamas movement in the West Bank.  Hamami was arrested on charges of incitement and involvement with Hamas.  Border Policemen were reportedly attacked by a group of stone-throwing youths near the Jaffa Gate.  One youth was injured when the policemen fired rubber bullets to disperse them.  In a separate incident, an Arab youth tried to stab a Border Policeman in the Old City but was overpowered by several police officers.  In the Ramallah area, a soldier was injured by broken glass when the car he was travelling in was hit by stones.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 22 February 1995)

118. On 22 February 1995, IDF soldiers shot at three Palestinian youths driving in a car after they had ignored an order to stop at a temporary roadblock near Beit Awa, located in the Hebron area.  Two of the passengers were seriously wounded and were transferred to hospital while the third, who was slightly injured, fled from the scene (also see "Other incidents", 26 February 1995). Several stone-throwing incidents took place in Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron and Jenin.  Palestinian sources indicated that two Palestinians had been injured during the incidents.  It was further reported that a Border Policeman was slightly injured in Hebron.  (Ha'aretz, 23 February 1995)

119. On 23 February 1995, two soldiers were slightly wounded by an explosive charge that was detonated when an IDF foot patrol was passing along the route linking Khan Younis to Gush Katif.  Stone-throwing incidents took place in the Ramallah area, in Nablus and Jenin.  A Border Policeman was slightly injured in the face by stones thrown at his vehicle in Jenin.  Palestinian sources indicated that three Palestinians were injured in Ramallah and that two others where injured in Jenin by rubber bullets.  The sources also reported that shots were fired at an IDF patrol moving south of Khan Younis.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 24 February 1995)

120. On 24 February 1995, IDF troops arrested 26 Arabs and 5 Israeli peace activists during clashes in Nablus and Hebron in which 2 Arabs were wounded. Palestinians in Hebron reported that troops prevented the group of about 30 Israeli peace activists from reaching the Tomb of the Patriarchs complex.  The demonstrators carried banners calling for the establishment of a Palestinian State and the evacuation of the Jewish enclaves inside Hebron.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 26 February 1995)

121. On 25 February 1995, hundreds of Arab youths rioted on Sultan Suleiman Street in Jerusalem, after more than 60,000 Muslim worshippers left the Temple Mount following the Lailat al-Kadr prayers marking the end of Ramadan.  The youths threw stones at police and Border Policemen.  Large numbers of police were called to the scene to disperse the rioters.  Five stone-throwing youths were detained for questioning.  Earlier, three fire-bombs were thrown at a Border Police patrol in Ras al-Amud; no damage or injuries were reported. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 26 February 1995)

122. On 26 February 1995, the Jerusalem police arrested two Arabs from East Jerusalem, allegedly for planning to throw incendiary bottles at the Western Wall.  An incendiary bottle was thrown at an Israeli vehicle near the Mavo Beitar settlement, located near Jerusalem.  The bottle exploded, damaging the windshield.  The driver fired in the air.  Six Palestinian stone-throwers were arrested in Nablus.  Four firecrackers were thrown at a group of Palestinian workers from Gaza who were waiting for a ride at the southern exit of Ashdod. One of the firecrackers exploded, causing panic.  The police were called in but no arrests were made.  (Ha'aretz, 27 February 1995)

123. On 26 February 1995, it was reported that the leaders of the Gush Shalom (i.e. "bloc of peace") movement had sent a telegram to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin demanding that an inquiry be made into the circumstances of an incident that occurred on 22 February when undercover soldiers opened fire at a car carrying three Fatah activists near the Dura village.  Gush Shalom claimed that the soldiers had fired with no previous warning, seriously wounding the driver.  They further claimed that a Palestinian who had come out of his house to protest the beating of the two activists who were in the car was shot and wounded.  The two casualties were transferred to hospital while the two passengers were arrested and sent to Hebron Prison.  Their families were  provided  with no  explanation  as  to  the  motive for their arrest.  (Ha'aretz, 26 February 1995)

124. On 27 February 1995, Palestinian sources reported that a two-year-old Palestinian girl was moderately to seriously wounded by a shock-grenade thrown by IDF soldiers in the centre of Hebron.  An additional 14 Palestinians are reported to have been injured during the incident, among them a 16-year-old Palestinian boy who was hit in his left eye by a rubber bullet.  Doctors reportedly feared that he might lose the sight in his eye.  Eyewitnesses were quoted as saying that the incident took place at around 8 p.m., in the centre of Hebron, while a group of children were playing with fireworks, as is the custom in the evening during the month of Ramadan.  An IDF patrol jeep, whose occupants heard the sound of an explosion, hastened to the scene and three soldiers got out of the vehicle.  One soldier threw a riot-grenade to disperse the children, the second fired rubber bullets and the third threw the stun-grenade, which injured the two-year-old girl and her mother, who was holding her in her arms. The IDF spokesman did not issue any statement about the incident.  In a separate incident, an incendiary bottle was thrown at an IDF patrol in Hebron; no harm or injuries were reported.  A Border Policeman was slightly wounded by a stone thrown at him in Ramallah.  Other stone-throwing incidents took place in Hebron, Jenin and in the refugees camps around Hebron; no harm or injuries were reported.  Settlers from Gush Katif reported that shots were fired at an IDF patrol north of Khan Younis.  The incident was not reported by the IDF. (Ha'aretz, 28 February 1995)

125. On 1 March 1995, an Israeli stabbed and seriously wounded a 19-year-old Palestinian youth in Jerusalem's Old City before being apprehended by the police.  An explosive charge was detonated shortly after an IDF patrol had passed it on the Netzarim road.  Several stone-throwing incidents took place in Ramallah, Hebron and the Jenin area.  Palestinian sources reported that two Palestinians were injured in Ramallah by IDF fire while two others were injured by tear-gas inhalation in the Hebron area.  In a separate incident in the Hebron area, the IDF arrested six Palestinians in possession of 10 incendiary bottles, two axes and a plastic revolver.  It was also reported that the security forces were continuing to arrest Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 2 March 1995; Ha'aretz, 3 March 1995)

126. On 2 March 1995, a number of incidents were reported in the territories: Palestinian sources indicated that stones were thrown at IDF troops in Hebron. A Border Policeman was slightly wounded during a stone-throwing incident in the vicinity of the Cave of the Patriarchs.  Stones and bottles were thrown at IDF patrols in the Ramallah area.  An incendiary bottle was thrown from the Beit Hanina village at a building in the Neve Yaacov neighbourhood.  The bottle exploded without causing any damage.  Another incendiary bottle was found during searches of the area.  (Ha'aretz, 3 March 1995)

127. On 3 March 1995, an IDF soldier shot and moderately wounded a Palestinian from Jenin at a roadblock located near the Palestinian enclave of Jericho.  The IDF spokesman claimed that the soldier opened fire when the Palestinian tried to seize his weapon.  Stones were thrown at settlers' vehicles in the Ramallah area; no injuries were reported.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 5 March 1995)

128. On 4 March 1995, the IDF spokesman reported that shots had been fired at an army observation post near the Karni passage, located on the demarcation line between the autonomous area and Israel; no injuries or damage were reported. Palestinian sources stated that two Palestinians were injured by IDF fire during stone-throwing incidents in Hebron.  Several incidents occurred in the vicinity of the Cave of the Patriarchs, where a Border Policeman was slightly wounded in the head by a stone.  It was also reported that the security forces had arrested two Hamas activists in Ramallah and five others in Hebron.  (Ha'aretz, 5 March 1995)

129. On 5 March 1995, Palestinian sources reported that four Palestinians had been injured by IDF gunfire in Nablus and Ramallah during clashes with IDF soldiers and settlers.  The IDF spokesman did not confirm the report. Additional incidents took place in the Hebron area.  A Border Policeman was slightly injured in the head by a stone thrown at him in the vicinity of the Cave of the Patriarchs.  (Ha'aretz, 6 March 1995)

130. On 7 March 1995, an Israeli security guard shot and slightly injured in Ashdod a 15-year-old Arab youth from the Awa village, located in the Hebron area.  According to a preliminary police investigation, the guard asked the youth to identify himself.  When the youth reached for his pockets in order to take out an identity card, the guard, who suspected that the youth intended to pull out a weapon, moved his hand in the direction of his pistol.  This scared the youth and he ran away.  The guard then shot and hit him in the leg and buttocks.   The  guard  was  reportedly detained for questioning.  (Ha'aretz, 8 March 1995)

131. On 11 March 1995, two fire-bombs were thrown at an Egged Company bus in the Pisgat Zeev neighbourhood of Jerusalem, setting the vehicle on fire and slightly injuring the driver and a woman passenger.  Police launched searches for the perpetrators.  (Jerusalem Post, 12 March 1995)

132. On 12 March 1995, army engineers and police bomb-disposal experts deactivated seven different roadside bombs in the Gaza Strip.  One device is reported to have contained more than 50 kilograms of explosives.  In Nablus, a Border Policeman was slightly injured in a shooting incident.  Two Palestinians were injured by IDF fire during stone-throwing incidents in Hebron.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 13 March 1995)

133. On 13 March 1995, security forces raided the offices of the Islamic Waqf in Jenin and confiscated different documents, apparently as part of the crack-down on the Hamas movement with which the Waqf was reportedly associated.  (Ha'aretz, 14 March 1995)

134. On 17 March 1995, two Palestinians were slightly injured by riot-grenades during a stone-throwing incident in Hebron.  Other incidents took place in Ramallah and Jenin.  It was also reported that the security forces and the IDF were  continuing  to  crack down on Islamic Jihad and Hamas activists.  (Ha'aretz, 19 March 1995)

135. On 19 March 1995, two Arabs were found dead near Jenin (see list).  Judea and Samaria Police District investigators determined that the deaths were caused by the accidental explosion of a bomb the two were apparently preparing with a view to perpetrating a "terrorist" attack.  During searches of the area, the security forces found several weapons, mortar shells, ammunition, magazines and explosives.  Palestinian Police sources reported that a Palestinian man had been slightly injured by IDF fire and a Palestinian woman beaten during an incident near the Kisufim checkpoint in the Gaza Strip.  The sources indicated that soldiers had provoked Palestinian girls on their way home from school, thus causing an angry crowd to gather.  The soldiers responded by beating a woman and opening fire, injuring a 30-year-old Palestinian man in the leg.  The two casualties were transferred to a hospital in the area.  The IDF reportedly detained for questioning the three soldiers who had been involved in the incident.  Palestinian sources indicated that stone-throwing incidents had taken place in Hebron, Ramallah and Nablus.  The sources claimed that a Palestinian had been injured in Hebron by tear-gas inhalation.  Two soldiers were slightly injured during a stone-throwing incident in the Gaza Strip.  Two additional stone-throwing incidents occurred in the Kfar Darom area.  Palestinian sources stated that shots had been fired at an IDF patrol in the Khan Younis area.  The IDF did not confirm the report.  It was also reported that the security forces were on high alert following warnings of possible suicide attacks.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 20 March 1995)

136. On 19 March 1995, "terrorists" opened fire on a packed Egged company bus at the Zhuhit Junction, near the entrance to Hebron, killing two Israelis and wounding some six others.  A car driven by an Israeli that passed the bus was also hit by bullets but the driver was not injured.  In a statement to the Voice  of  Israel,  the  Hamas  movement said it had carried out the attack.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 20 March 1995)

137. On 20 March 1995, the police foiled a planned terror attack when they seized an explosive-laden truck near Beersheba.  The three occupants of the truck, who were Palestinians from Gaza, reportedly attacked the police when they were stopped for a random check.  One attacker was wounded and caught while  the  two others managed to escape, but were later captured by police.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 21 and 22 March 1995)

138.  On 20 March 1995, two Jewish settlers were killed and five others injured when a bus belonging to the Israeli Egged company was attacked on its way  from Jerusalem to Kiryat Arba.  The Israeli authorities accused Izz al-Din  al-Qassam,  the  military wing of Hamas, of perpetrating the attack.  (Al-Tali'ah, 23 March 1995; The Jerusalem Times, 24 March 1995)

139.  On 21 March 1995, two Israelis were wounded, one seriously and one slightly, by  rocks  thrown at their car on the Trans-Samaria Highway.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 22 March 1995)

140. On 22 March 1995, a Palestinian collaborator was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on the Jenin-Afula road (see list).  The IDF started searches  in  the  area  and  Jenin  was  declared  a  closed military zone.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 23 March 1995; Ha'aretz, 24 March 1995)

141. On 23 March 1995, Palestinian sources reported that stones had been thrown at IDF vehicles in the Jenin area.  Other stone-throwing incidents took place in the Hebron and Ramallah areas; no injuries were reported.  A stone was thrown at an Israeli vehicle in the Gaza strip without causing any injuries.  (Ha'aretz, 24 March 1995)

142. On 25 March 1995, the security forces arrested three Palestinians from Nablus after they had found two explosive charges in their house.  Three Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem were arrested at the southern roadblock of Jericho as they tried to attack a Border Policeman.  (Ha'aretz, 26 March 1995)

143. On 26 March 1995, the IDF captured two out of four Hamas activists who tried to infiltrate from Egypt into the autonomous area of Gaza.  An incendiary bottle was thrown at an IDF patrol in the Hebron area; no harm or injuries were reported.  The security forces arrested in the Tulkarm area two Palestinians  armed  with a rifle and two magazines.  Stones were thrown at IDF vehicles in the Jenin  area  without causing any casualties.  (Ha'aretz, 27 March 1995)

144. On 29 March 1995, a Border Police officer and a policeman were killed and another wounded when a Palestinian driver rammed his truck into their jeep. After ramming the jeep, the Palestinian reportedly jumped out of the truck and pointed a pistol, which later turned out to be a toy pistol, at another jeep in the convoy.  The security forces opened fire and killed the driver (see list). Military sources reportedly described the incident as a terror attack, saying  nothing  indicated  it  was an accident.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 30 March 1995)

145. On 30 March 1995, an incendiary bottle was thrown at Border Police troops in the vicinity of Jenin market; no harm or injuries were reported.  Another incendiary bottle was found during searches of the area.  A Border Policeman was slightly injured in the hand in one of several stone-throwing incidents in Ramallah.  An Israeli woman was slightly injured in a stone-throwing incident in Nablus.  (Ha'aretz, 31 March 1995)

B.  Administration of justice, including the right to a fair trial

1.  Palestinian population

146. On 3 January 1995, the Justice on duty at the High Court of Justice issued an order giving the GSS 10 days to explain why Palestinian prisoners detained in Hebron prison should be kept on a small chair with their hands tied behind their backs and a sack placed over their heads and be deprived of sleep for five consecutive days in a week.  In addition, the Justice issued an interim order barring interrogators from applying such  measures  against  prisoners  pending  a  hearing  of their petition.  (Ha'aretz, 3 and 4 January 1995; Jerusalem Post, 5 January 1995)

147. On 5 January 1995, the Lod Military Court sentenced Iman Abu Khalil, 22, from Beit Hanina, to three consecutive life terms in prison for kidnapping and killing two soldiers.  He was also convicted of belonging to Izz al-Din al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 6 January 1995)

148. On 8 January 1995, the Erez Military Court sentenced a Hamas activist, Marwan Zard, 20, to three life sentences plus 40 years of imprisonment for killing three Palestinians and shooting at military targets.  (Jerusalem Post, 9 January 1995)

149. On 19 January 1995, the High Court of Justice rejected a petition filed by a Palestinian from Batir village, in the Bethlehem area, against the construction of a bypass road through his land.  (Ha'aretz, 20 January 1995)

150. On 20 January 1995, the Israeli military court at the Erez checkpoint decided, for the eleventh time, to postpone the trial of Abdul Aziz Al Rantisi, a Hamas leader and former spokesman of the Marj Al-Zuhur deportees.  The reason given was that witnesses had to come from the West Bank.  Rantisi had been detained for 13 months while awaiting trial.  (The Jerusalem Times, 20 January 1995)

151. On 27 January 1995, it was reported that a district court in Jerusalem had recently sentenced 18-year-old Samaher Nuhaidat to two years in prison for attempting to stab a soldier in 1993.  Nuhaidat was released in the wake of the signature of the Palestinian-Israeli Declaration of Principles in September 1993 and was re-arrested on 18 December 1994.  (The Jerusalem Times, 27 January 1995)

152. On 8 February 1995, the Hebron Military Court convicted two Palestinians from Hebron of murdering an Israeli settler from Kiryat Arba in March 1993.  The Court also sentenced a Hamas activist, Walid Abu Nazer, to life imprisonment for killing a suspected collaborator.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 9 February 1995)

153. On 26 February 1995, Jamil Hamami, a leading Islamic figure in the West Bank, was indicted by the Ramallah Military Court for incitement against the State of Israel.  In a separate development, the trial of Abdul Aziz Al Rantisi was postponed for the fifteenth time, until 3 April 1995.  Rantisi had been in prison for the past 26 months pending trial for being an alleged member  of  Hamas.   According  to Rantisi, he had been kept in isolation since 26 May 1994 and deprived of the right to perform Friday prayers.  (The Jerusalem Times, 1 March 1995)

154. On 13 March 1995, it was reported that two Palestinian prisoners serving life terms who had been released by Israel under the peace accord had been sent back to prison after they had left the Jericho area and were found in another part of the West Bank, in breach of their terms of release.  The IDF indicated that since the signing of the Oslo Agreement, 10 Palestinians had been  sent  back  to jail for failing to comply with their terms of release.  (Ha'aretz, 13 March 1995)

155. On 27 March 1995, the Tel Aviv District Court sentenced a Palestinian from Nablus to three years' imprisonment for having set on fire three vehicles in  Natania,  in  protest against the massacre at the Cave of the Patriarchs. (Ha'aretz, 28 March 1995)

156. On 30 March 1995, the Haifa Appellate Court rejected an appeal filed by a Palestinian journalist who was convicted in September 1994 of publishing articles praising and encouraging the intifadah.  The journalist was given the choice between paying a NIS 15,000 fine and one year's imprisonment, or a two-year suspended sentence over a three-year period.  (Ha'aretz, 31 March 1995)

2.  Israelis

157. On 16 January 1995, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced a settler from Kiryat Arba to 10 months in prison plus one year suspended for making two gun silencers for a rabbi from Kiryat Arba who had been indicated on a number of counts in connection with the alleged formation of a Jewish underground group in the Hebron area.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 17 January 1995)

158. On 18 January 1995, it was reported that a reservist soldier, a member of the Yesh Gvul ("there is a limit") movement, had been sentenced to 28 days of confinement in a cell for his refusal to serve in the territories.  Yesh Gvul spokesman Shlomo Miler indicated that the measure followed a long period during which the military authorities avoided confrontation with soldiers objecting to serve in the territories.  (Ha'aretz, 19 January 1995)

159. On 2 March 1995, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court convicted of incitement three Kiryat Arba residents who had made statements to the media praising Baruch Goldstein immediately after he perpetrated the massacre at the Cave of the Patriarchs.  The three were sentenced to four-month suspended sentences and fined NIS 1,000 each.  (Jerusalem Post, 3 March 1995)

160. On 9 March 1995, the Ashdod Magistrate's Court ordered the release on bail of an Israeli security guard who had shot and slightly wounded an Arab youth on 7 March 1995.  The police attorney indicated that the defendant had claimed during his interrogation that the youth had tried to seize his personal weapon when he asked him to identify himself after he had aroused his suspicion. (Ha'aretz, 10 March 1995)

161. On 21 March 1995, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced the four young men who were involved in the killing of an Arab and the wounding of seven other persons in the butchers' market of the Old City in November 1992.  The youth charged with throwing the grenade was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment.  Two of his accomplices were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment while the youth who was considered to be the leader of the group but who did not participate in the actual throwing of the grenade was sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment. (Ha'aretz, 22 March 1995)

162. On 30 March 1995, 22 Jewish men and women were arrested when they tried to force their way onto the Temple Mount to pray there in violation of police regulations.  It was reported that 13 were released by the evening while the others would be brought for a remand hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 31 March 1995)

C.  Treatment of civilians

1.  General developments

(a) Harassment and physical ill-treatment

163. On 19 January 1995, it was reported that new passage regulations at the Erez checkpoint were causing great anger among Gazans, especially among elderly people who were made to walk along a half-kilometre path, closed off by fences and concrete blocks, to 14 checkpoints where body searches were conducted.  A senior IDF officer stated that the new regulations, which were established one and a half months ago, were aimed at achieving as much separation as possible between Palestinians and soldiers following a bombing attempt at the checkpoint on 4 January.  The officer indicated, however, that soldiers had been instructed to allow elderly and disabled people to drive through.  (Ha'aretz, 19 January 1995)

(b) Collective punishment

(i) Houses or rooms demolished or sealed

164. On 17 January 1995, the IDF evacuated several Palestinian houses in Yatta, near the settlement of Swisa, alleging that they were located in a military zone.  The residents were left with their belongings on the main road.  The IDF later demolished the houses.  The same night, the IDF took similar action with regard to 10 other families in the area.  Thirty additional Palestinian families were threatened with evacuation in the same area.  (Al-Tali'ah, 19 January 1995)

165. On 20 March 1995, OC Hebron Regiment stated that the house from which "terrorists" had fired at an Israeli bus near Hebron on 19 March would be sealed.  (Ha'aretz, 21 March 1995)

166. On 21 March 1995, residents of the Za'eem village east of Jerusalem held a sit-in to protest at the continued Israeli demolition of Palestinian houses. Za'eem was established in 1982 in reaction to a lack of issue of building permits concerning land in neighbouring A-Tur village.  At that time, the Jerusalem municipality turned a blind eye to illegal building in Za'eem. However, since extension of the municipal borders of the adjacent settlement of Maaleh Adumim, demolition orders had been issued for 39 houses in the village. (The Jerusalem Times, 24 March 1995)

167. On 24 March 1995, the security forces sealed the house from which the attack  on  an  Israeli  bus  had  been carried out on 19 March.  (Ha'aretz, 26 March 1995)

(ii)  Imposition of curfews, sealing off or closing of areas

168. On 22 January 1995, the Cabinet decided in an emergency session to prevent the entry of Palestinians into Israel for the next few days.  In addition, it was decided to suspend plans to implement safe passage between Gaza and Jericho for residents of the territories.  The measures followed a suicide-bomb attack earlier in the day.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 23 January 1995)

169. On 2 February 1995, a rally was staged near the Givat Oz roadblock to protest against the closure of the territories.  (Ha'aretz, 3 February 1995)

170. On 2 February 1995, the Government of Israel decided to maintain the closure of the occupied territories.  (Al-Tali'ah, 2 February 1995)

171. On 5 February 1995, the Government decided not to ease substantially the closure of the territories, except in "humanitarian" cases.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 6 February 1995)

172. On 5 February 1995, it was reported that Israel had eased the tight closure of the occupied territories imposed after the Beit Lid bombing.  Teachers, lecturers, doctors and some employees of foreign institutions were given new permits to go to their places of work in East Jerusalem.  (The Jerusalem Times, 10 February 1995)

173. On 8 February 1995, the Civil Administration eased the closure of the territories imposed in the aftermath of the Beit Lid suicide attack on 22 January.  The following categories of persons were allowed into Israel: schoolteachers and lecturers in higher education institutions working in East Jerusalem; physicians working in East Jerusalem; members of divided families (i.e. families in which one of the spouses was an Israeli citizen or a resident of Jerusalem); Palestinians working in foreign consulates and international organizations based in Israel; Palestinian journalists living in the West Bank (permits were issued to 30 journalists; an additional 50 reportedly applied for permits); Palestinians working for religious institutions; married Palestinians aged over 30 employed in the tourism industry; and  Palestinian  merchants  wishing to coordinate with their Israeli counterparts the importation of merchandise  from Israel.  (Ha'aretz, 8 February 1995)

174. On 9 February 1995, European Union leaders urged Israel to lift the closure of the territories after meeting with PLO officials in Jerusalem despite Israeli objections.  (Jerusalem Post, 10 February 1995)

175. On 12 February 1995, the Government decided to maintain the closure of the territories in order to prevent possible "terrorist" attacks meant to coincide with the anniversary of the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre.  Deputy Defence Minister Mordechai Gur reportedly noted that none of the perpetrators of "terrorist" attacks had permits to work in Israel, whereas Agriculture Minister Ya'acov Tsur reportedly stated that whether there was a closure or not was becoming increasingly irrelevant, since Israeli farmers and building contractors were ceasing to rely on Palestinian workers and were starting to rely more on foreign labourers.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 13 February 1995)

176. On 13 February 1995, about 1,000 persons participated in a demonstration in Gaza calling for the lifting of the closure.  The demonstration was organized by trade unions in Gaza and the Organization of Veteran Fatah Fighters.  (Ha'aretz, 14 February 1995)

177. On 14 February 1995, the Israeli authorities declared the areas of Hebron, Halhul and Dahiriya closed military areas for at least 24 hours following demonstrations in Hebron.  (The Jerusalem Times, 17 February 1995)

178. On the evening of 15 February 1995, the IDF declared the entire 20-kilometre area from Halhoul, north of Hebron, to Dahariyah, south of the city, a closed military zone because of the tense security situation expected on the occasion of the Kiryat Arba memorial service for Baruch Goldstein scheduled for the following day.  The Education Minister, Amnon Rubinstein, called  on the IDF to prevent the memorial from taking place, but an IDF source stated that there were no plans to ban the service.  (Jerusalem Post, 16 February 1995)

179. On 17 February 1995, the IDF lifted the closure imposed on the Hebron, Halhoul  and  Dahariyah areas in order to prevent disturbances from erupting on the first  anniversary  of  the  Patriarchs'  Cave  massacre.  (Ha'aretz, 17 February 1995)

180. On the evening of 19 February 1995, a curfew was imposed on Yarkin village, in the Jenin area, following a clash between stone-throwing youths and the security forces who had come to the village to search for a released prisoner suspected of leaving Jericho and staying in the village.  Palestinian sources reported that one Palestinian youth was injured in the shoulder when undercover soldiers opened fire.  (Ha'aretz, 24 February 1995)

181. On 19 March 1995, a curfew was imposed on Hebron following a "terrorist" attack on an Egged company bus near the city during which two Israeli settlers were killed.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 20 March 1995)

182. On  19  March 1995,  the IDF imposed a curfew on Yatta village in order to be able to conduct a search  campaign.   Four  Palestinians were arrested. (Al-Tali'ah, 23 March 1995)

183. On 20 March 1995, a curfew that had been imposed on Hebron the previous day remained in effect and large numbers of IDF troops were sent to the city.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 21 March 1995; Al-Tali'ah, 23 March 1995; The Jerusalem Times, 24 March 1995)

184. On 22 March 1995, hundreds of farmers and merchants from the Gaza Strip accompanied by a convoy of 20 trucks loaded with agricultural produce came to the last Palestinian checkpoint before the Erez crossing and waved Palestinian flags and signs, calling for the lifting of the economic closure of Gaza.  Some of the truck drivers threw tomatoes and cucumbers on the road near the checkpoint.  (Ha'aretz, 23 March 1995)

185. On 23 March 1995, the curfews imposed on Hebron and Halhoul were partially lifted, but remained in force between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m.  Military sources stated that large numbers of IDF troops were still deployed in Hebron and the surrounding area in order to prevent clashes between settlers and the Palestinian residents of Hebron.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 24 March 1995)

186. On 24 March 1995, the curfew imposed on Hebron was lifted following the presentation of a petition by the city of Hebron to the Israeli High Court of Justice.  (The Jerusalem Times, 24 March 1995)

187. On  28  March  1995, it was reported that the curfew imposed on Hebron and Halhoul on 19 March  was  still in force from 6 p.m. to dawn. (Ha'aretz, 28 March 1995)

188. On 31 March 1995, it was reported that the curfew imposed after two settlers were killed near Hebron on 20 March 1995 remained in force between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m.  (Ha'aretz, 31 March 1995)

(iii)  Other forms of collective punishment

189. No information available.

(c) Expulsions

190. No information available.

(d) Economic and social situation

191. On 1 January 1995, it was reported that Transport Minister Yisrael Kessar had appointed a panel of Israeli shipping and port experts to examine possible cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the construction of  a  port  in Gaza, as stipulated in the Cairo Agreement.  (Jerusalem Post, 1 January 1995)

192. On 5 January 1995, it was reported that Israel had announced that during the multilateral peace talks in 1995 it intended to give precedence to the issue of fund allocation for the Gaza Strip and the implementation of projects there,  with  the  aim  of  making  Palestinians  see  the  fruits of peace.  (Ha'aretz, 5 January 1995)

193. On 9 January 1995, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres stated at a press conference at Erez after a meeting with Mr. Yasser Arafat that Israel had decided to respond affirmatively to the Palestinians' request that the Karni industrial park be handed over to them.  In addition, Mr. Peres indicated that Israel  would  also  help  to  set  up  industrial  parks  in the West Bank.  (Ha'aretz, 10 January 1995)

194. On 9 January 1995, it was reported that the Chambers of Commerce of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority had decided at a meeting in Jordan to set up a joint committee to coordinate trade measures between them.  The Chambers also agreed to take the necessary steps to improve the economic situation in the territories and enhance cooperation between Israel and Jordan.  (Ha'aretz, 9 January 1995)

195. On 15 January 1995, Mr. Raid El Hudri, a Palestinian water resource expert and geologist, told Israeli delegates participating in a conference on water and environmental issues in the Gaza Strip that while Israel's 5 million citizens consumed 2,000 million cubic metres of water a year, the 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza received only 245 cubic metres per year.  Mr. Hudri indicated that Palestinians in the West Bank were allowed to pump only 135 million cubic metres of water out of the annual average of 600 million cubic metres of precipitation that reached the West Bank aquifers. Mr. Hudri also stated that the Gaza Strip suffered from a water shortage of 50 million cubic metres, pointing out that Gaza's water was also consumed by settlers and that water that would otherwise have reached the Strip was pumped from 25 wells drilled along the border.  (Ha'aretz, 16 January 1995)

196. On 18 January 1995, it was reported that a Palestinian official had stated that the Palestinian Authority had received less than one third of the money pledged to it by donor States in 1994, thus making it difficult to proceed with any major infrastructure projects intended to create jobs and improve the quality of life in the territories.  By contrast, the officials indicated that private construction was gaining momentum in Gaza.  (Jerusalem Post, 18 January 1995)

197. On 19 January 1995, it was reported that the Israeli Health Ministry had renewed the permit of the Augusta Victoria Hospital, but only for six months. This was the second time that the Ministry had refused to give the hospital the customary one-year permit.  Six months previously, the Health Ministry had stipulated that the hospital's director, Ibrahim La'da, should carry a Jerusalem identity card and not the West Bank one that he currently held as one of the conditions for renewing the permit.  (Al-Tali'ah, 19 January 1995; The Jerusalem Times, 20 January 1995)

198. On 26 January 1995, it was reported that the IDF had arrested numerous Palestinians holding falsified identity cards.  They were taken to court where they admitted to the charges against them and explained that they had been trying to obtain work.  The Israeli police in the Hasharon area had arrested 140  Palestinian  workers  from  the West Bank and Gaza since 22 January 1995. (The Jerusalem Times, 27 January 1995)

199. On 2 February 1995, it was reported that most of the Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank who used to work in Israel before the closure might not receive their January pay on time or might not even receive it at all because of the closure of the territories.  The problem was reported to be particularly serious because household expenditures were higher during the month of the Ramadan.  (Ha'aretz, 2 February 1995)

200. On 6 February 1995, the Mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, granted NIS 45,000 compensation to three East Jerusalem merchants whose shops were damaged by Kach activists during a demonstration against Arafat's visit to the city last summer. (Ha'aretz, 7 February 1995)

201. On 8 February 1995, Israel assured European Union leaders that it would release Gaza-bound computers, automobiles and hospital equipment that had been shipped from Europe and were being held up at the port of Ashdod, without demanding customs duties.  (Jerusalem Post, 10 February 1995)

202. On 9 February 1995, it was reported that the directors of the Union of Health Care Committees (UHCC) in the Gaza Strip, Dr. Muna el Fara and Dr. Rabah Muhana, had stated that, as doctors, they could see the immediate humiliating effect of every new closure by the sharp decrease in the number of people who could afford to go to a clinic.  The doctors indicated that numerous patients could not meet the travel expenses from Khan Younis to the Shifa hospital in Gaza because of the closure and forced unemployment.  Dr. Muhana revealed that patients preferred to defer or cancel their medical examination, despite the low cost of treatment (NIS 3 in the UHCC clinics).  They warned that in the long run the closure would exacerbate the symptoms of malnutrition, which were already common among the residents of the Strip, and especially among children.  According to Dr. el Fara, 60 per cent of Gazan children suffered from anaemia and approximately 90 per cent suffered from intestinal parasites because of sanitary conditions.  She remarked that in the case of parasites, a treatment had to be administered to the whole family.  However, when a closure was imposed, families could not afford to travel, be examined by a physician or buy medicines.  Because of the closure, many people bought low-quality food such as poultry and meat unfit for human consumption and almost rotten vegetables or tins of vegetables.  This, Dr. Muhana warned, would directly affect the residents' health.  She indicated that high blood pressure and respiratory inflammations, which were caused by mental pressure, were widespread in the Gaza Strip, adding that a further aggravation of such conditions was also to be expected.  (Ha'aretz, 9 February 1995)

203. On 9 February 1995, it was reported that daily losses for the Gaza Strip as a result of the closure amounted to NIS 1 million to 1.5 million, half of which was as the result of the loss of income of Palestinian workers in Israel.  The director of the Investment Department of the Economics Ministry of the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Jamil Harara, stated that the closure was deterring  investors from implementing economic projects in the territories.  (Ha'aretz, 9 February 1995)

204. On 10 February 1995, Israeli newspapers indicated that the Israeli authorities intended to set up special tents in three central prisons in Israel for Palestinians arrested for lack of a work permit.  Each tent would hold 200 prisoners.  (The Jerusalem Times, 10 February 1995)

205. On 12 February 1995, it was reported that the effects of the closure were manifest in three interrelated areas, the Palestinian Authority's budget, financial and economic activities and individual welfare.  The 23,000 Palestinian workers who had permits to work in Israel before the current closure provided the lion's share of the Strip's monthly income (approximately NIS 45,000 a month).  In addition to their forced unemployment and the loss of their February pay, most did not receive their January pay or did not receive it on time.  Under the Cairo Agreement, 75 per cent of the income tax Israel took from the pay of these workers was to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority.  However, when a closure was imposed, both reduced industrial activity inside the territories (for lack of raw materials and export restrictions) and forced unemployment contributed to shrinking the Palestinian Authority's income revenue.  Out of the total workforce of about 130,000 in the Gaza Strip, 40,000 were permanently jobless, while the 23,000 Palestinians who used to work in Israel directly provided for at least 150,000 people.  The sharp decrease in these workers' purchasing power negatively affected other spheres of economic activity in the Strip, such as commerce, and made it harder for workers to pay for education, medical insurance, electricity, water and telephone bills. This, in turn, resulted in the local authorities' increased budget deficit.  In order to buy food, families were obliged to spend the money they had saved for their children's university studies or for the renovation of their homes.  In addition, local markets could not benefit from any surplus of agricultural produce or lower prices that could have alleviated slightly the residents' financial woes since the bulk of the produce was exported to Israel and the West Bank.  The closure also had a negative impact on the sick and on the relatives of patients, who were barred from visiting members of their families in hospitals in the West Bank.  Patients whose cases Israel did not consider "urgent" were forced to defer their operations and medical examinations in hospitals in Israel and East Jerusalem.  Finally, some Palestinians from abroad, mainly from Jordan and the Gulf countries, who came for a visit, were prevented from returning to their jobs or studies.  (Ha'aretz, 12 February 1995)

206. On 12 February 1995, Industry and Trade Minister Micha Harish and the Economics Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Ahmed Qureia, agreed on solutions to make possible the immediate resumption of cement shipments to the Gaza Strip.  The supply of cement was said to be essential since construction was  one  of  the  few  active  industries  in  the  area.  (Jerusalem Post, 13 February 1995)

207. On 12 February 1995, it was reported that, as the closure of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip entered its fourth week, an oil shortage was further compounding the economic problems that had arisen with each new imposition of a closure.  The oil supply to the Gaza Strip had been interrupted following the killing of an Israeli guard escorting a gasoline truck to the Gaza Strip on 6 February.  (Ha'aretz, 12 February 1995)

208. On 16 February 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin stated that 15,000 married Palestinian workers over the age of 30 (10,000 from Gaza and 5,000 from the West Bank) who were employed in the agricultural or construction sectors in Israel would be allowed to cross the Green Line as of the following week. Mr. Rabin revealed that the partial lifting of the nearly four-week closure was a gesture in return for the steps the Palestinian Authority had taken to curb Islamic militancy.  (Jerusalem Post, 17 February 1995; Ha'aretz, 19 February 1995)

209. On 19 February 1995, some 800 Palestinian workers left the Gaza Strip for their work in Israel following the Government's decision gradually to lift the closure of the territories.  The Palestinian Ministry of Labour estimated that at least 20 per cent of Palestinian workers lost their jobs in Israel with the imposition of each new closure because their employers replaced them with Israelis or foreign workers.  (Ha'aretz, 20 February 1995)

210. On 21 February 1995, Health Minister Ephraim Sneh and his Palestinian counterpart, Dr. Ri'ad Za'anun, agreed to set up an Israeli-Palestinian Health Care Centre in the vicinity of the Erez checkpoint.  The project would be financed by Palestinian and Israeli investors, as well as by foreign investors, and would be operated by a joint Israeli-Palestinian staff.  The centre would treat patients from the Gaza Strip and from Arab countries.  The two Ministers also agreed to enable 10 medical teams of the Palestinian Authority  to  follow  specialization courses in Israeli health care centres.  (Ha'aretz, 22 February 1995)

211. On 23 February 1995, 4,550 Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip went to work in Israel, which amounted to almost half of the quota approved by the Cabinet.  However, most of the permits were reported to have already been issued by the Israeli Liaison Committee and transmitted to the Palestinian Authority. Concomitantly, permits were granted to 100 taxi drivers and 150 truck drivers. Some of the taxis were allowed to leave the Strip only at 8 a.m., however, that is, two or three hours after most of the workers had crossed the checkpoints. Some of the taxis were therefore sent back from the checkpoint to the Strip and their passengers were obliged to use the services of Israeli buses, which are more expensive and leave the workers far from their places of work in Israel. (Ha'aretz, 24 February 1995)

212. On 24 February 1995, it was reported that a slight decrease in unemployment was perceivable in the Gaza Strip thanks to public construction projects sponsored by donor countries.  (Ha'aretz, 24 February 1995)

213. On 24 February 1995, the Israeli Minister of the Interior was reported to have instituted new procedures for the residents of East Jerusalem.  Arab residents applying for the renewal of their identity cards would first have to prove that they had paid the arnona, the municipal taxes.  Numerous women holders of Jerusalem identity cards who were married to West Bank residents had  had  their  identity cards withdrawn without being given an explanation. (The Jerusalem Times, 24 February 1995; Al-Tali'ah, 30 February 1995)

214. On 14 March 1995, the spokeswoman of the Ministry of Finance stated that the Ministry had transferred NIS 120 million to the Palestinian Authority since the implementation of the early empowerment agreement concluded in May 1994. (Ha'aretz, 15 March 1995)

215. On 14 March 1995, British Prime Minister John Major pledged to increase his country's aid to the Palestinian Authority by £7 million over the next three years.  Mr. Major also promised to increase technical assistance to the Palestinian Authority in areas such as health, infrastructure and public administration.  (Ha'aretz, 15 March 1995)

216. On 3 March 1995, Palestinian sources in Gaza reported that a number of Gazan detainees held at the Ketziot detention camp had recently tried to smuggle basic commodities such as shaving foam, coffee, cigarettes and sugar to members of their families who came to visit.  The attempt was foiled, however, by prison guards who discovered the plan.  It was reported that the families were usually the ones who used to try in every possible way to smuggle in home-made food for their detained relatives and that, as far as it was known, there had never been a similar attempt since the setting up of the detention camp, not even during previous periods of closure.  This, the sources in Gaza affirmed, pointed to the great economic difficulties that numerous  residents  had  experienced as a result of the closure.  (Ha'aretz, 3 March 1995)

217. On 19 March 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin authorized the issuing of an additional 3,150 work permits for married Palestinian men aged over 30 who had worked in Israel prior to the closure.  It was reported that 1,500 permits would be issued to construction workers, 675 to agricultural workers, 875 to public service or industrial workers and 100 to health service workers.  The spokeswoman for the Coordinator of the Government's activities in the territories stated that, including the cited permits, the number of Palestinian workers in Israel would stand at 24,750 against the 46,000 who used to work in Israel before the imposition of the current closure following the Beit Lid attack.  (Ha'aretz, 20 March 1995)

218. On 23 March 1995, Palestinian farmers from the villages of Seneyra, Al Zawya, Azun, Atma and Beit Amin, in the Nablus area, complained of being hampered when working their fields because of the Oranit barrier erected by the IDF around their land.  After each measure of closure decided by the IDF, the farmers had to apply for a new permit to enter their own land, which could take  up  to  three  weeks, during which time their land remained unattended. (Al-Tali'ah, 23 March 1995)

219. On 24 March 1995, the Agriculture Ministry removed the ban on the entry of Palestinian vehicles, which had been imposed after the discovery on 20 March of an explosive-laden truck from Gaza.  The Minister of Agriculture of the Palestinian Authority stated that daily losses caused by the interrupted export of strawberries from the Gaza Strip stood at $3 million.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 24 March 1995)

220. On 28 March 1995, hundreds of merchants, drivers and farmers from the Gaza Strip staged a demonstration against the continued closure and the long delays at checkpoints on the border with Israel.  It was reported that since the discovery of the explosive-laden truck, security checks had lasted long hours, with many drivers having to turn back to the Strip.  Many merchants indicated that they had had to wait for three or even four days before they were allowed to cross into Israel or that their exit permits had not been renewed.  As a result, large quantities of agricultural produce, especially vegetables and citrus fruits going to Jordanian and European markets, had been spoiled or had had to be returned to markets in Gaza.  The flooding of the markets, in turn, caused prices to drop sharply.  In a related development, owners of 1,000 sewing rooms who worked mainly as contractors with manufacturers in Israel also staged demonstrations to protest against the closure, which prevented them from meeting their suppliers near the Erez industrial zone.  (Ha'aretz, 29 March 1995)

221. On 29 March 1995, it was reported that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) would provide 36,000 needy Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and Jericho with $902,000 worth of food to meet their basic needs for a six-month period.  (Ha'aretz, 29 March 1995)

222. On 31 March 1995, it was reported that Palestinian officials had claimed that the closure had deprived them of more money than the promised $600 million in annual donor contributions.  Mohammed Qudra, the head of the Gaza Chamber  of  Commerce, estimated the loss to be as high as $6 million a day.  (Jerusalem Post, 31 March 1995)

(e) Other developments

223. On 2 January 1995, Maj.-Gen. Meir Dagan told the High Court of Justice that the body of Hassan Abdas, the "terrorist" who was killed during an attack in Jerusalem's Nahalat Shiva pedestrian mall in October, would not be returned to his family until the place of the burial of soldier Ilan Sa'adon, who was killed  by Hamas gunmen on 3 May 1989, was revealed.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 3 January 1995)

2.  Measures affecting certain fundamental freedoms

(a) Freedom of movement

224. On 3 January 1995, Israeli border guards prevented all farmers from the village of El Khader from reaching the land they cultivated around the village. A dispute had opposed Israeli settlers and Arab residents during two weeks over the Jebel Baten al Ma'si.  The settlers withdrew after intervention by the IDF. (Al-Tali'ah, 5 January 1995)

225. On 17 January 1995, it was reported that on 11 January soldiers at the Erez checkpoint had confiscated entry permits to Israel and the West Bank from a Palestinian human rights activist working for the Ramallah-based human rights organization Al-Haq.  Halad Muhamad Safi, 30, from the Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, married and a father of three, reapplied for a new magnetic card on 12 January but his application was rejected.  Mr. Safi, whose work requires frequent travel to the West Bank, appealed to the Liaison Committee of the Palestinian Authority but was told that nothing could be done to reverse the decision.  It was reported that the decisions not to issue magnetic cards were made by the GSS and that applicants were provided with no explanation as to why their requests were rejected.  (Ha'aretz, 17 January 1995)

226. On 31 January 1995, it was reported that Israeli health officials on the Liaison Committee had informed their Palestinian counterparts that only cancer patients could obtain exit permits.  Despite the announcement made on 26 January, the Israeli authorities rejected the applications by seven patients suffering from cancer in an early stage and two cardiac patients to obtain such permits.  The Israeli health official on the Liaison Committee indicated that the cases were not urgent.  On 29 January, Palestinian representatives on the Liaison Committee reapplied for the permits.  This time, the applications by the seven cancer patients were accepted but those made by the two cardiac patients were rejected.  In addition, only three ambulance drivers out of the 15 who work for the Palestinian Health Ministry obtained exit permits for a period of a week or two.  Applications for five other permits were rejected.  No permits were issued to any of the four Palestinian health officials charged with buying medicines and medical equipment in Israel.  (Ha'aretz, 31 January 1995)

227. On 31 January 1995, a one-year-old Palestinian girl had to be taken to the Achilov Hospital for an eye test following an operation.  Her mother's application for an  entry  permit  to  Israel  for herself and her daughter was  rejected.   Another  Palestinian  who  had  an  appointment  in  Asuta for the replacement of batteries for his pacemaker was also denied a permit.  (Ha'aretz, 31 January 1995)

228. On 5 and 6 March 1995, it was reported that 3,000 additional workers over 35 years of age had been allowed to enter Israel.  An additional 500 Palestinians from the West Bank were also issued permits to work in East Jerusalem and 750 students from Gaza were allowed to return to their universities in the West Bank.  (Ha'aretz, 5 March 1995; Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 6 March 1995)

229. On 8 March 1995, it was reported that over the previous month dozens of women born in East Jerusalem or Arab villages in Israel who had been living in the Gaza Strip for many years had come to the Erez checkpoint several times and tried in vain to persuade soldiers and policemen to let them join their families in the Strip.  (Ha'aretz, 8 March 1995)

230. On 9 March 1995, it was reported that the Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank, in collaboration with the Israeli Police and the Israeli Special Service, had launched a large-scale campaign to search for 12,000 Palestinians who had remained in the West Bank after the expiry of their visitor's visa. (Al-Tali'ah, 9 March 1995)

231. On 13 March 1995, it was reported that 800 to 1,000 taxi drivers from the Gaza Strip whose work consisted mainly of transporting Palestinians to Israel, the West Bank and the Allenby Bridge were now barred from doing their job because of the closure.  For security reasons, Palestinian workers were obliged to travel in Israeli buses.  Taxi drivers from the Gaza Strip who wished to renew their entry permits to Israel and the West Bank had to sign a written commitment under which they undertook to ensure that the passengers they carried were in possession of valid work or entry papers.  A breach of the above-mentioned undertaking reportedly entailed the withdrawal of their permit and the paying of a fine.  (Ha'aretz, 13 March 1995)

232. On 14 March 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin authorized the Civil Administration to issue an additional 3,600 entry permits to Israel for Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  (Ha'aretz, 15 March 1995)

233. On 16 March 1995, it was reported that thousands of bus, taxi and lorry drivers had jointly appealed to the Prime Minister, the Civil Administration and the Palestinian Authority, requesting that they be granted entry permits to Israel for the purpose of transporting passengers and export and import of goods.  In Hebron, representatives of 1,500 lorry drivers from the area demonstrated in front of the City Hall for the fourth consecutive day.  The demonstrators demanded that permits to enter Israel be issued to all the lorry and public transport drivers in the Hebron area.  In addition, they demanded that they be allowed to transport goods between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and that they be exempted from paying taxes to the Palestinian Authority as long as the closure was enforced.  Similar claims were made by the more than 300 lorry drivers in Kalkiliya who also staged a number of demonstrations in the town.  (Ha'aretz, 16 March 1995)

234. On 19 March 1995, it was reported that 22 Palestinians in possession of valid permits to work in Israel had complained to the Palestinian Ministry of Labour that the Israeli police had detained them on their way to their workplaces in Israel, confiscated their magnetic cards and work permits and sent them back to the Gaza Strip.  The Minister of Labour of the Palestinian Authority, Sayid Madlal, indicated that the number of workers detained in similar circumstances was higher but that not all had lodged complaints.  It was explained that the Israeli authorities, who had eased restrictions on the closure and allowed some 10,000 workers to work in Israel, had at the same time barred Gazan taxi drivers from transporting Palestinian workers to Israel.  As a result, the workers were forced to use Israeli buses, which dropped them off far away from their places of employment, which they had to reach on foot.  While on their way to work, they sometimes came across policemen who asked them to show their identity papers, including their exit and work permits.  According to the policemen's operating rules, the exit permits allowed Palestinian workers to stay only at their work place.  The workers, therefore, theoretically violated the terms of their permits when they were found several kilometres away from their places of work.  According to the law regarding the implementation of the Gaza and Jericho Agreement, "a police officer is entitled to issue a written order of expulsion against a resident of the areas of Gaza and Jericho who stays in Israel without a permit or in breach of the provisions of his permit". According to Mr. Madlal, in addition to the loss of workdays and the stress suffered by the workers, their personal records were often "updated" immediately after their arrest with an additional remark stating they were "barred" from receiving a magnetic card owing to a violation of the terms of their permit.  In that way, they lost their right to work in Israel and, consequently, their workplace there.  It was reported that it took at least six months to reverse a decision not to issue a magnetic card.  (Ha'aretz, 19 March 1995)

235. On 21 March 1995, the IDF banned the entry of Palestinian vehicles from the Gaza Strip into Israel in response to the truck bomb incident that had occurred the previous day.  (Jerusalem Post, 22 March 1995)

(b) Freedom of education

236. On 10 January 1995, it was reported that over the previous two months, 460 female students out of the 1,300 Gazans who studied in higher education institutions in the West Bank had obtained an entry permit to the West Bank. Following a petition to the High Court of Justice, an additional 269 male students out of the 373 Gazans who study at the Bir Zeit University obtained permits in mid-December.  Eighty Gazans studying at Al-Najah University in Nablus obtained permits on 6 and 7 January.  Some additional 55 students were still waiting for their permits to be issued.  Four hundred and nine Gazans studied at Al-Najah.  Many students who had received permits in January were unable to complete the first semester of their studies.  Permits were issued for  a  period of three months, after which students had to reapply for them. (Ha'aretz, 10 January 1995)

237. On 27 January 1995, IDF soldiers raided before dawn the dormitories of the Abu Dis College of Technology, arresting 21 students suspected of involvement with Islamic "terrorist" groups.  During the raid, many students resisted arrest and tried to flee as soldiers smashed doors and windows while chasing after them.  The IDF indicated that seditious material was found during searches of the rooms.  The Palestinian Authority's Education Ministry issued a statement saying that "this military action was a violation of academic freedom, the peace agreement and the agreement for early empowerment in the West Bank".  (Jerusalem Post, 29 January 1995)

238. On 30 January 1995, the Palestinian Teachers Union issued a statement saying that the educational system had been completely paralysed as a result of the closure of the territories.  Union spokesman Samir Jundi stated that dozens of private schools in Jerusalem, where 25,000 pupils studied, had had to close down because the majority of their teachers lived in the territories and were not allowed into the city.  (Jerusalem Post, 31 January 1995; Ha'aretz, 1 February 1995)

239. On 1 February 1995, dozens of Palestinian teachers who teach in East Jerusalem schools tried to break through the army roadblock at the entrance to the southern Jerusalem neighbourhood of Gilo, in order to protest the continuation of the closure of the territories.  The teachers, coming from the Bethlehem and the Hebron areas, were intercepted by soldiers and pushed back. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 2 February 1995)

(c) Freedom of religion

240. On 2 January 1995, it was reported that a dispute over the renovation of the Salahiye and Omar Al Khatab mosques in the Old City had been resolved for the time being after city inspectors ruled that the work being done was legal. Waqf director Adnan Husseini strongly criticized what he saw as an attempt to halt the work.  (Jerusalem Post, 2 January 1995)

241. On 19 January 1995, the Israeli authorities closed the Rabat Mosque for three months, alleging that inflammatory publications had been found on the premises.  Israeli soldiers also raided and searched the Salah Eddin Mosque in Kabatiya  without  giving  any reason for the search.  (The Jerusalem Times, 27 January 1995)

242. On 3 February 1995, some 60,000 Muslim worshippers from within Israel converged on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan.  The closure kept away an estimated 100,000 additional Palestinians who would have come to the Temple Mount in normal circumstances.  (Jerusalem Post, 5 February 1995)

243. On 12 February 1995, the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced that it had launched a first-of-its-kind campaign to uncover the ruins of the Temple of Solomon, thought to be located under the Al-Aqsa Mosque.  (The Jerusalem Times, 17 February 1995)

244. On 23 February 1995, the IDF and the Civil Administration in the West Bank issued instructions regarding prayer arrangements in the Cave of the Patriarchs during Jewish and Muslim sacred holidays.  Each religion was reportedly given 10 "exclusive days" for prayer a year despite the fact that the number  of  Muslim  holidays was greater than the number of Jewish ones.  (Ha'aretz, 24 February 1995)

245. On 24 February 1995, tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers visited the prayer sites in Hebron and Jerusalem.  More than 160,000 worshippers participated in the Ramadan prayers in Temple Mount mosques despite the closure of the territories.  A 1,700-strong police force was deployed in the Old City and East Jerusalem and roadblocks were set up at the entrance to Jerusalem in order to prevent Palestinians without a permit from entering the city.  Patrols were intensified in East Jerusalem, in Arab villages and in the centre of the city.  Worshippers' belongings were searched at the entrance to the Temple Mount and some, mainly young people, were asked to leave their identity  cards  at the entrance to the complex.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 26 February 1995)

246. On 24 February 1995, according to the Israeli Minister of Police, Palestinian detainees who were under interrogation must first receive the permission of their investigator before they could proceed with prayer rites and the reading of the Koran.  (The Jerusalem Times, 24 February 1995)

247. On 17 March 1995, security officials closed for six months the mosque in Aurora  village,  located  north  of  Ramallah.   (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 23 March 1995)

248. On 21 March 1995, mosques in Shakaba and Kibiye villages were closed for three months.  The decision to close the mosques came after inciteful material was reportedly found inside.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 23 March 1995)

(d) Freedom of expression

249. On 2 January 1995, the Jerusalem police prevented the Land and Water Establishment for Studies and Legal Services from holding a press conference in Jerusalem on settlement expansion.  Jerusalem Police Chief, Commander Aryeh Amit, denied that the police had tried to prevent the conference from taking place. Mr. Amit stated that the police had only wanted to check whether it was legal and that after two hours the roadblocks in front of the hotel where it was to have taken place had been removed and the conference could have gone ahead. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 3 January 1995)

250. On 2 January 1995, Al-Sha'b, the pro-Fatah Jerusalem daily that closed in February 1992 when the PLO cut off its funds, began publishing as a weekly newspaper in the same format as before and with the same editor.  (Jerusalem Post, 3 January 1995)

251. On 5 January 1995, Hassan Barghouti, the director of a Palestinian workers' rights centre, was released after being arrested the day before following accusations by Israeli employers that he was inciting workers.  Mr. Barghouti denied the charges and indicated that his organization had only informed the workers about legal and democratic ways of demanding their rights from Israeli employers.  (Jerusalem Post, 6 January 1995)

252. On 16 January 1995, security forces carried out raids on three Palestinian news agencies in East Jerusalem, Bethlehem and in Nablus, seizing office equipment and numerous papers in what they explained was an attempt to gather  intelligence  information  about  the  civilian  network  of  Hamas.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 17 January 1995)

253. On 30 January 1995, some 30 journalists took to the streets in order to protest the closure of the territories, charging that special exceptions should be made to allow them to do their jobs.  (Jerusalem Post, 31 January 1995)

254. On 28 March 1995, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres reportedly told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee that only Palestinians who recognized the existence of Israel and opposed racism and violence could run in the Palestinian self-rule elections.  Mr. Peres also reiterated Israel's view that Palestinians residing in Jerusalem could vote, but could not run as candidates for the Self-Rule Council.  (Jerusalem Post, 29 March 1995)

               3.  Information on settlers' activities affecting the civilian population

255. On 5 January 1995, it was reported that the few merchants who were allowed into the Hebron vegetable market (the market had been closed since the massacre of 25 February 1994) were subjected to continuous harassment by Jewish settlers who prevented them from receiving their goods and damaged the vegetables. (Al-Tali'ah, 5 January 1995)

256. On 7 January 1995, Kach activists caused disturbances in Hebron, allegedly to protest against a "terrorist" attack on 6 January in which an Israeli woman was killed.  Kach members first fired at Palestinian-owned houses located in the area between Kiryat Arba and the neighbourhood of Givat Harsina in Hebron. Later on, some activists attacked verbally and physically and threatened Palestinian officials passing in front of Beit Hadassah in Hebron.  A brawl broke out subsequently and Border Police had to intervene.  No arrests were made.  Afterwards, some Kach members entered a carpet shop in Hebron, beat up its Arab shopkeeper with chains and sprayed the premises with tear-gas. (Ha'aretz, 8 January 1995)

257. On 9 January 1995, two Palestinians from Hebron arrived at Alia Hospital in Hebron after being beaten by settlers.  Kach activists issued a statement claiming responsibility for the incident.  (Ha'aretz, 10 January 1995; Al-Tali'ah, 12 January 1995)

258. On 12 January 1995, it was reported that OC Central Command Ilan Biran had issued renewed orders forbidding several dozen Kach and other right-wing activists from entering the Hebron area and the Cave of the Patriarchs.  A number of orders forbade the entry of the persons in question in the whole of the West Bank.  The orders are reported to have been issued within the framework of preventive measures taken against activists who used to engage in provocative activities in the West Bank.  (Ha'aretz, 12 January 1995)

259. On 13 January 1995, a Palestinian from Hebron was wounded in the head by an empty bottle thrown at him by settlers.  Palestinian sources in Hebron reported that the bottle was thrown without provocation on the part of the Palestinian. The Itim news agency reported that Kach activists had stated that they had carried out the attack.  (Ha'aretz, 15 January 1995)

260. On 14 January 1995, several dozen settlers from Hebron went on a rampage in the centre of the city, damaging Arab-owned property, apparently in revenge for the stabbing of two Kiryat Arba settlers on 12 January.  Settlers are reported to have thrown stones and empty bottles at Arab-owned shops and to have fired in the air.  A clash broke out between the settlers and Arabs.  IDF soldiers, who arrived on the scene some minutes later, ordered the settlers to return to their homes and forcefully dispersed the Arabs.  Palestinian sources indicated that three Palestinians were slightly wounded by rubber bullets while several others were injured by tear-gas inhalation.  Three Palestinians were  arrested.   No  settlers  are  reported  to have been arrested, however.  (Ha'aretz, 15 January 1995)

261. On 19 January 1995, it was reported that settlers from the Tsfar settlement had renewed their attacks on the family of Al Haj Khalil in Yatta.  Jewish settlers had been harassing the Khalil family for several months with the aim of forcing them to leave their land, which is adjacent to the Tsfar settlement.  In a separate development, Palestinian residents of Hebron drove away settlers from the Hajay settlement who had started work with their bulldozers  on  land  owned  by  the Demeri, Salhab and Abu Esnina families.  (Al-Tali'ah, 19 January 1995)

262. On 21 January 1995, a group of Hebron settlers and former Kach activists engaged in violence in Hebron where they caused significant damage to Arab-owned property, allegedly in protest against the arrest of a former Kach activist who had been detained by the Border Police shortly before trying to break  into  the Cave of the Patriarchs, to which he had been denied access.  (Ha'aretz, 22 January 1995)

263. On 26 January 1995, it was reported that Jewish settlers were increasing their attacks on Palestinian merchants in Hebron's old town, particularly on Saturdays,  with  the  aim  of  imposing  that  day  as  a  weekly  holiday.  (Al-Tali'ah, 26 January 1995)

264. On 28 January 1995, settlers from the Maaleh Amos settlement, located south-east of Bethlehem, shot at a group of Palestinians and Israelis demonstrating in support of the Arab villages of Kissan and Rashaydeh, who claimed that settlers were trying to take control of their land.  The incident occurred when several residents of Kissan set on fire a caravan that had been placed on land they claimed as theirs.  The demonstrators reported that soldiers who arrived on the scene after the outbreak of shooting had declared the area a closed military zone and arrested three Palestinians suspected of burning the caravan.  Two Palestinian photographers were also reported to have been detained for investigation.  An Israeli eyewitness was quoted as saying that soldiers did not enter the settlement, did not gather evidence, did not gather  the  bullet  casings  and  did  not  seize  any weapons.  (Ha'aretz, 29 January 1995)

265. On 1 February 1995, several windshields of cars belonging to Palestinians in Ramallah were smashed by Jewish settlers.  (Al-Tali'ah, 2 February 1995)

266. On 9 February 1995, settlers from the Madjdal Ma'ouz settlement uprooted 120  olive  trees from the neighbouring Arab village of Kissan.  (Al-Tali'ah, 9 February 1995)

267. On 10 February 1995, a Kach activist from Kiryat Arba was arrested in Jerusalem carrying two home-made bombs.  Police stated that he had allegedly planned to use the bombs against Arabs in East Jerusalem.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 12 February 1995)

268. On 11 February 1995, a brawl broke out between Kach activists and Palestinian high school students in Hebron after a number of activists entered the school in order to remove some PLO flags that were flying in the school's compound.  The brawl ended with the activists managing to escape with the flags. (Ha'aretz, 12 February 1995)

269. On 24 February 1995, it was reported that Mr. Dedi Zucker, the Chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, had revealed that 70 Palestinians had been shot dead by settlers in the territories over the previous eight years. Mr. Zucker indicated that in approximately half of the cases the perpetrators were not found, whereas in 20 per cent of the cases the suspects were tried and some were serving their prison sentences.  Mr. Zucker reportedly criticized the IDF and the police for failing to establish clear rules designed to allow the enforcement of law and order on settlers in the territories.  (Ha'aretz, 24 February 1995)

270. On 25 February 1995, several dozens of Israeli and Arab demonstrators held a rally near the Givon Hadassah settlement, south-west of Ramallah, to protest against settlers' attempts to force Sabri Ra'ib and his family to leave their home near the settlement.  Mr. Ra'ib claimed that the settlers had attacked him and his family many times and had thrown objects at their house with  the  purpose  of putting pressure on his family to abandon their home.  (Ha'aretz, 26 February 1995)

271. On 25 February 1995, Palestinian witnesses indicated that scores of settlers had kicked and shoved Arab worshippers and IDF troops next to the Cave of the Patriarchs.  They stated that soldiers standing guard near the Cave did little to stop some 60 settlers from preventing Palestinians from entering the Cave to observe the Lailat al-Kadr prayer.  Several settlers reportedly also tried to disturb Muslims eating a meal breaking their Ramadan fast  at  the site. Three settlers were reportedly arrested for rioting and the Cave was  declared  a  closed military zone.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 26 February 1995)

272. On 26 February 1995, several dozens of settlers went on what they defined as "a commanders' tour" in Jenin, in order to examine how they should deploy in order to seize IDF posts in the city in case the Government decided to evacuate them as part of the next stage of arrangements between Israel and the PLO. (Ha'aretz, 27 February 1995)

273. On 7 March 1995, it was reported that the residents of the Shvut Rachel settlement had recently uprooted several hundred olive saplings planted on disputed land by Palestinians from nearby Turmus Aiya village.  The settlers claimed that they had uprooted the saplings only after their Arab neighbours had uprooted their own fruit tree saplings.  (Ha'aretz, 7 March 1995)

274. On 13 March 1995, settler leaders from Gush Katif told Chief of General Staff Amnon Shahak while he was visiting the Gaza Strip that they had set up three firing positions in the vicinity of settlements as part of an effort to improve security in the area.  The settlers indicated that they constantly manned the positions with arms in order to defend residents against "terrorist" acts.  As one of the persons in charge of coordinating the security operations reportedly put it:  "We watch in the direction of the main road and if there is a suspicious movement of 'terrorists', or an attempt at perpetrating 'terrorist' acts, we shoot."  (Ha'aretz, 14 March 1995)

275. On 16 March 1995, it was reported that at the beginning of the week unidentified persons had pulled out a 200-metre-long fence erected by high school students around their school in Burin village and scribbled graffiti on the walls saying, among other things, "Death to the Arabs".  The villagers blamed  settlers  from the nearby Yitzhar settlement of being behind the act. (Ha'aretz, 16 March 1995)

276. On 17 March 1995, several Kach activists threw a firecracker from a speeding car at a group of children and a local vehicle in Hebron.  A police patrol  arrived  on  the  scene and reportedly started to pursue the vehicle. (Ha'aretz, 19 March 1995)

277. On 19 March 1995, in the aftermath of a "terrorist" attack in the Gaza Strip, dozens of settlers from Kiryat Arba and Hebron tried to stop Palestinian cars from driving through the Zhuhit junction into Hebron.  Palestinian sources indicated that settlers had begun to shoot and throw stones, moderately injuring a 14-year-old Palestinian boy and breaking windows of shops and cars near the junction and in Halhoul.  The sources also claimed that settlers kicked Arabs they encountered and knocked down goods in front of shops.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 20 March 1995)

278. On 20 March 1995, settlers from Hebron broke a number of windows on Palestinian-owned  houses in Hebron and set one vehicle on fire.  (Ha'aretz, 21 March 1995)

279. On 20 March 1995, it was reported that the Samaria District Police had opened an investigation into a complaint by a Palestinian physician from the northern West Bank village of Dir Astia who claimed that on 13 March, as he was driving to his clinic in the nearby Bidia village, a firecracker had been thrown at his car from a vehicle carrying Israeli licence plates.  Dr. Mansour indicated that the firecracker had shattered the side windows of his car and hit him in the face, causing burns on the face and serious injury to one of his eyes.  Dr. Mansour was rushed to Beilinson Hospital, where he was hospitalized for six days and was reportedly told by doctors that he might lose sight in the eye that was injured.  According to Dr. Mansour, similar incidents involving the throwing of explosive materials from speeding cars had recently  been  reported  in  the area by numerous Arab drivers.  (Ha'aretz, 20 March 1995)

280. On 20 March 1995, following the attack on the Egged company bus, Israeli settlers launched a series of attacks against Palestinian residents of Hebron during the first days of the curfew first days.  Actions included throwing stones at windows, overturning vegetable carts and vandalizing cars.  A Palestinian youth was shot at and seriously wounded by settlers.  Three other Palestinians, including a child, were reportedly also injured.  (Al-Tali'ah, 23 March 1995; The Jerusalem Times, 24 March 1995)

281. On 23 March 1995, Israeli settlers opened fire at Palestinian ambulances in Hebron with the aim of preventing them from moving about the city.  The settlers also attacked and damaged several cars and houses belonging to Arab residents of the city.  In a separate development, settlers from the Yatsar settlement attacked the Burin secondary school near Nablus, smashing windows and ransacking the buildings.  (Al-Tali'ah, 23 March 1995)

282. On 30 March 1995, a 30-year-old Palestinian woman was slightly to moderately wounded by stones thrown at her by settlers in Hebron.  (Ha'aretz, 31 March 1995)

D.  Treatment of detainees

1.  Measures concerning the release of detainees

283. On 8 January 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin appointed a ministerial committee to discuss the criteria for additional Palestinian prisoner releases. The committee was told that Israel currently detained 5,500 Palestinian prisoners, 2,600 of whom had been jailed after the signing of the Oslo Agreement and among whom fewer than 1,000 were serving charges of murder.  The committee is reported to have decided not to release members of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas who were convicted of offences they had committed after the signing of the Oslo Agreements.  (Ha'aretz, 9 January 1995)

284. On 22 January 1995, Justice Minister David Liba'i set up a committee that would decide which Palestinian prisoners convicted in Israeli courts, whether civilian or military, would be released as part of the peace process.  Although the criteria for release would be decided by the ministerial committee, the committee in question would be able to set conditions for release, which, if violated, would give any magistrate's court the right to order that the prisoner be returned to jail to serve the rest of his sentence.  In addition, the committee would be able to order the released prisoners to stay in the Gaza Strip or Jericho.  Currently, 6,000 security prisoners were reported to be jailed by Israel.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 25 January 1995)

285. On 22 January 1995, it was reported that 10 Palestinian female prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails would be granted amnesty by the President of the State of Israel no later than by the end of the month.  Some of the prisoners were reported to be aged between 14 and 18.  (Ha'aretz, 22 January 1995)

286. On 22 January 1995, the Cabinet decided in an emergency session to delay the release of all Palestinian prisoners for the time being.  The decision followed  a  suicide  bombing  at  the  Beit Lid junction earlier in the day. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 23 January 1995)

287. On 27 January 1995, it was reported that Israel had cancelled a scheduled release of Palestinian prisoners following the suicide bombing at Beit Lid on 22 January 1995.  The Government of Israel also authorized the intelligence service to use harsher measures during the interrogation of Palestinian detainees.  (The Jerusalem Times, 27 January 1995)

288. On 22 March 1995, it was reported that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had decided to postpone without a time-limit the holding of the meetings of the ministerial committee on the release of Palestinian prisoners.  The decision followed the discovery on 20 March in Israel of an explosive-laden truck from Gaza.  (Ha'aretz, 22 March 1995)

2.  Other information concerning detainees

289. On 7 January 1995, a riot erupted in Fara prison where 550 security detainees were being held in one building and in tents.  Guards shot at and moderately wounded two prisoners after a guard was wounded.  A third prisoner was hit with an iron bar by inmates during the clash.  Prisoners also tore down some tents and burned them.  The riot followed demands by prisoners that their detention conditions be improved.  Prisoners asked for better food, better treatment by interrogators and guards, and the right to receive warm clothes from their families.  They threatened that should their demands not be met, they would set their tents on fire.  (Jerusalem Post, 9 January 1995; Ha'aretz, 11 January 1995)

290. On 10 January 1995, Palestinian prisoners detained at Ashkelon prison reported that prisoners had gone on a two-day hunger strike to protest against their conditions of detention.  Prisoners complained of the harsh treatment they were subjected to by the prison authorities.  They complained in particular of being beaten and humiliated by soldiers who escorted them to the Lod and Erez military courts.  (Ha'aretz, 11 January 1995)

291. On 10 January 1995, MK Ran Cohen revealed on Israel Radio that the GSS had interrogated 26,000 people since the publication of the Landau Commission report on GSS investigations in 1987, up to the end of 1994.  (Jerusalem Post, 11 January 1995)

292. On 10 January 1995, Palestinian prisoners in Fara prison ended their hunger strike after an Israeli official from the Central Command promised an improvement in their conditions of detention.  The inmates had been on a hunger strike since 4 January.  According to the Israeli authorities, more than 600 Palestinians from the northern West Bank were detained in Fara.  Most were charged with participating actively in the intifadah.  (The Jerusalem Times, 13 January 1995)

293. On 11 January 1995, it was reported that the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, a public organization with nine branches in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, had claimed that tension had recently been growing rapidly in Israeli prisons where security prisoners were detained.  The organization indicated that this was due to prisoners' dashed hopes of being released promptly.  The organization's director revealed that prisoners' committees were contemplating the possibility of proclaiming a general hunger strike, which would be observed by all Palestinian security prisoners.  According to the latest figures issued by the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, 6,087 Palestinians were incarcerated in 25 detention facilities in Israel and the West Bank, 2,500 of whom  belonged  to Palestinian organizations in favour of the peace process.  (Ha'aretz, 11 January 1995)

294. On 15 January 1995, it was reported that family members of Druze security prisoners from the Golan Heights had appealed to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, asking him to instruct the Prison Authority to annul the punishment inflicted on their detained relatives and to improve their conditions of detention. According to the Nazareth-based Prisoners' Friends Association, the Shata prison authorities had taken punitive measures against security prisoners from the Golan Heights who had gone on a general strike at the beginning of the month to protest against their conditions of detention.  The measures are reported to have included their transfer to the Ashkelon and Nafha prisons.  The prisoners' relatives indicated that the remoteness of the prisons adversely affected both the prisoners and themselves since it made it very difficult for them to visit their relatives who were jailed in the south of Israel.  (Ha'aretz, 15 January 1995)

295. On 16 January 1995, some 300 Palestinians held a protest rally in front of the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza to demand the release of Dr. Abed el Aziz Rantisi, who had been detained since December 1993 on charges of belonging to the Hamas movement and engaging in its activities.  It was reported that Dr. Rantisi's trial, which was held at the Gaza Military Court, was progressing slowly mainly because of the prosecution's failure to bring its witnesses to court.  The prosecution explained that the procedures for bringing witnesses from the autonomous areas to court had not yet been established  by  the  Israeli-Palestinian  Legal  Subcommittee.   (Ha'aretz, 17 January 1995)

296. On 27 January 1995, it was reported that OC IDF in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip had cancelled a rule stipulating that detainees in the territories were entitled to appeal against their detention only after a three-month detention period.  The rule is reported to have been in force for more than two years.  (Ha'aretz, 27 January 1995)

297. On 31 January 1995, it was reported that an IDF officer had been suspended by an investigating committee set up after soldiers had shot indiscriminately during a riot at the maximum security prison in Fara earlier in the month.  The incident occurred when reservists who were guarding Palestinian prisoners jailed for violent crimes confiscated an illegal radio found in one of the tents. (Jerusalem Post, 31 January 1995)

298. On 31 January 1995, it was reported that Imran Mahmoud, 16, from Kalkiliya, died while in detention at the Fara prison.  The Israeli Civil Administration announced that suicide was the cause of death.  Mahmoud's family declared that it was unlikely that their son had taken his own life.  The Israeli human rights organization B'tselem appealed to the authorities not to perform an autopsy on Mahmoud's body without the participation of a Palestinian doctor. (The Jerusalem Times, 3 February 1995)

299. On 2 February 1995, 10 activists arrested during the recent crackdown on Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists were placed under a six-month administrative detention order in the Ketziot detention camp.  (Ha'aretz, 3 February 1995)

300. On 9 February 1995, it was reported that the Hamas spokesman Ibrahim Rusha stated that 4,000 Hamas activists were currently detained in Israeli prisons. In an interview with the Al Hi'at newspaper, published on 8 February, Mr. Rusha revealed that the movement was undergoing a crisis that was mainly due to the large number of arrests of its activists by Israel.  Mr. Rusha pointed out that 1,500 activists had been arrested after the October 1994 Tel Aviv suicide bomb attack, adding that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was trying to  deal the movement a deadly blow in order to secure his political future.  (Ha'aretz, 9 February 1995)

301. On 10 February 1995, according to Hamas spokesman Ibrahim Ghosheh, 4,000 Hamas  activists  were being held in Israeli prisons.  (The Jerusalem Times, 10 February 1995)

302. On 25 February 1995, a member of the Al-Najah University Student Council in Nablus indicated that more than 300 students from Al-Najah continued to be detained in Israeli prisons.  He added that some of them were under interrogation  while  others  had been sentenced to administrative detention. (The Jerusalem Times, 1 March 1995)

303. On 1 March 1995, it was reported that the Prison Service had announced that prisoners of all religions would be eligible for special 96-hour furloughs  for  one major religious holiday of their faith.  (Jerusalem Post, 1 March 1995)

E.  Annexation and settlement

304. On 1 January 1995, construction work resumed at the controversial building site north of Efrat after the residents of neighbouring El Khader decided to abandon their petition before the High Court of Justice.  Dr. Ahmed Tibi, an adviser to PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, indicated the petitioners had decided to give up the case because experience showed that the High Court of Justice did not provide remedy in cases of land expropriation, home demolition and the establishment of settlements.  (Jerusalem Post, 2 January 1995; Ha'aretz, 3 January 1995)

305. On 1 January 1995, villagers from Deir Khadis held a protest rally against the expansion of the Kiryat Sefer and Nili settlements, located west of Ramallah near the Green Line.  Villagers stated that they had been informed by the military authorities that 5,000 dunums of their land would be confiscated for the expansion of the two settlements.  The rally was dispersed on the order of the security forces and no violent clashes were reported.  Villagers from the adjacent village of Beit Likya indicated that much of their land had also been expropriated for the expansion of nearby settlements.  It was reported further that bulldozers had continued land clearing work near the Hussan village for the construction of a road.  Villagers from Al Lavad indicated that the military authorities had decided to confiscate 250 dunums of their land for the expansion of the Avnei Khefetz settlement.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 2 January 1995)

306. On 2 January 1995, Attorney-General Michael Ben-Yair indicated in a 17-page legal opinion presented to the Cabinet that the Government could legally stop construction in Givat Tamar.  Ben-Yair opened his statement by reaffirming that the declaration of the land in question as state property was legal.  El Khader residents had appealed to an appeals committee, he noted, but when the appeals committee upheld the State's decision, the residents declined to appeal to the High Court of Justice.  A 1990 decision to declare additional areas state lands was not appealed either.  The building plan was legal, he stated, even though it was never approved by the Government's Exceptions Committee.  The same was true for the land allocation process.  Ben-Yair indicated that while there were some formal shortcomings, the allocations  were  clearly  made  with  the consent of all relevant parties.  (Ha'aretz, 3 January 1995; Jerusalem Post, 2 and 3 January 1995)

307. On 2 January 1995, the Cabinet voted to suspend the construction in Givat Hatamar but to allow it to begin in Givat Hazayit, which is closer to the centre of Efrat.  The Palestinian Authority and the residents of El Khader are reported to have rejected the compromise solution with the Palestinian Authority Minister for Local Government and officer-in-charge of the El Khader dispute stating that Mr. Rabin could not solve the problem by moving his bulldozers from one side of the mountain to the other.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 3 January 1995)

308. On 2 January 1995, a number of Gazans arrived on tractors at a field belonging to the Morag settlement in Gush Katif and began ploughing the land, which they claimed as their own.  A brawl broke out between Morag residents and some 250 Palestinians who arrived on the scene.  IDF units, Border Policemen and Palestinian policemen arrived and agreed to order the Morag residents to stop working on the land until the matter was investigated by the Israeli-Palestinian Liaison Committee.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 3 January 1995)

309. On 3 January 1995, dozens of Palestinians congregated on land near the Morag settlement in Gush Katif they claimed was theirs.  The IDF quickly removed them from the area.  The joint Palestinian-Israeli Liaison Committee met on the matter in the afternoon and decided to give the Palestinians 24 hours to prove the land was theirs.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 4 January 1995)

310. On 3 January 1995, an interministerial committee set up by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin approved the construction of 268 housing units on Givat Hazayit, the hill adjacent to Efrat.  Construction was scheduled  to  last  18 months. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 4 January 1995)

311. On 3 January 1995, dozens of Palestinians living near the Ariel settlement located south of Nablus staged a demonstration at the site where work was under way to build a safety road and a fence around the settlement.  The protesters indicated that 500 dunums of their land was being confiscated.  The protesters were joined by the PLO Chairman's adviser, Ahmed Tibi, by Faisal Husseini, by Hadash MK Hashem Mahameed and by the Palestinian Authority Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.  The IDF declared the site a closed military zone and ordered the protesters to disperse.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 4 January 1995)

312. On 3 January 1995, hundreds of olive trees and many vineyards belonging to the villages of Husan and El Khader were uprooted by Israeli bulldozers working on the construction of Road No. 60 which is to link the south of the West Bank with the settlement of Gilo near Jerusalem.  (Al-Tali'ah, 5 January 1995)

313. On 4 January 1995, some 100 Palestinians met at Al Bireh's city hall to protest the expropriation of some 5,000 dunums of their land for the construction of the Ramallah bypass road.  The protesters also claimed that building restrictions around the planned 7.5-kilometre-long and 25-metre-wide road would have an effect beyond the stated width of the road.  Palestinians from the nearby villages of Deir Dibwan, Ein Yabrud and Bidin, who complained of  land  confiscation  in  their  own  areas,  also  attended  the meeting.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 5 January 1995)

314. On 4 January 1995, bulldozers began work in Givat Hazayit.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 5 January 1995)

315. On 4 January 1995, the residents of Arab villages around the Oranit settlement, which is located on the Green Line south of Kalkiliya, reported that on 3 January bulldozers had begun land clearing work, apparently for the construction of a security road, on land they claimed belonged to Palestinians. (Ha'aretz, 5 January 1995)

316. On 5 January 1995, some 200 villagers from the Jinia village, north-west of Ramallah, staged a demonstration against the expansion of the Talmon settlement on land they claimed were theirs.  The villagers waved signs protesting  the  expropriations  and  shouted   slogans   against  settlers.  (Ha'aretz, 6 January 1995)

317. On 5 January 1995, the Israeli-Palestinian Liaison Committee stated that work could resume on the arable land near the Morag settlement that Khan Younis residents claimed was theirs.  The decision came after it became clear that the ownership papers presented by the Palestinians were forged.  Farm work planned for the land was delayed for a week, however, at the request of the OC Southern Command in order to allow the tension in the area to subside.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 6 January 1995)

318. On 6 January 1995, it was reported that the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Geographic Centre had compiled data allegedly showing that, through a process of de facto expropriation, some 20,000 dunums of land had been taken by Israel in Judea and Samaria since the signing of the Oslo Agreements.  Khalil Toufakji, a centre researcher, charged that the Civil Administration had changed the zoning of the land to national parks and mining areas to keep it within Israel's control.  A Civil Administration spokeswoman confirmed the figures provided by the centre but strongly denied that re-zoning was aimed at ensuring Israel's control.  (Jerusalem Post, 6 January 1995)

319. On 6 January 1995, it was reported that the Ministry of Housing and Construction intended to begin the construction of 10,000 housing units in East Jerusalem and the nearby settlements.  (Jerusalem Post, 6 January 1995)

320. On 6 January 1995, hundreds of villagers from Al Lavad and neighbouring villagers protested in Dir Aban against the decision that their land would be confiscated for the expansion of the Avnei Khefetz settlement, located in the Tulkarm area.  The villagers planted hundreds of olive saplings on the land designated for confiscation.  The IDF used tear-gas to disperse the crowd and declared the area a closed military zone.  Subsequently, the soldiers and settlers living in the area uprooted the olive saplings.  (Ha'aretz, 8 January 1995)

321. On 6 January 1995, it was reported that the Civil Administration had issued an order forbidding groundwork on some 1,700 dunums of land near the Talmon settlement, in the Ramallah area.  Although the land in question had been declared state land in 1989, residents of Jinia made several appeals against the appropriation, which are still under review.  Their latest appeal was made after Talmon settlers began land clearing work and started cutting trees on the disputed land.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 6 January 1995)

322. On 8 January 1995, the OC IDF in the Gaza Strip, Brig.-Gen. Doron Almog, issued an order forbidding settlers from the Morag settlement to continue building on or tilling disputed arable land in the area.  (Ha'aretz, 9 January 1995)

323. On 7 January 1995, some 100 villagers from Safa, west of Ramallah, staged a demonstration in protest against the confiscation of their land.  (Ha'aretz, 8 January 1995)

324. On 8 January 1995, residents of Palestinian villages located around the Talmon settlement returned to the land belonging to the Jinia village in order to protest against the confiscation of the land to this village for the expansion of Talmon.  (Ha'aretz, 9 January 1995)

325. On 8 January 1995, it was reported that the Palestinian Land and Water Establishment for Studies and Legal Services had claimed that over the previous two weeks alone Israel had confiscated 8,300 dunums of Palestinian-owned land in the West Bank.  (Ha'aretz, 9 January 1995)

326. On 9 January 1995, the security forces prevented the holding of a protest rally near the village of El Khader.  It was further reported that villagers from Yatta, located near the Otniel settlement, blocked bulldozers ploughing up land for the construction of a new security road on land they claimed was theirs.  The Civil Administration intervened and the work was halted.  It was agreed that the Civil Administration would examine the villagers' ownership claims.  (Ha'aretz, 10 January 1995)

327. On 10 January 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin stated that the Government would maintain its plan to build a Jewish neighbourhood in Har Homa, located beyond the Green Line, at the southern municipal borders of Jerusalem. Mr. Rabin indicated that no additional construction in the capital would be feasible without land confiscation.  He added that in the case of Har Homa, where 4,000 housing units were scheduled to be built in the first stage, 70 per cent of the land had been confiscated from Jews and not from Arabs.  The PLO announced that it would suspend the peace talks if the neighbourhood was built.  In addition, Mr. Rabin is reported to have authorized the Mayor of Maaleh Adumim to issue construction permits for 790 housing units at Site 06, south-east of the city.  It was reported that construction would begin within a few days.  (Ha'aretz, 11 January 1995)

328. On 10 January 1995, the Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza started land clearing work and a fencing operation at a site located 400 metres south-west of the Elkana settlement.  The operation followed the Council's decision to launch fencing and land clearing work on state-owned lands that were comprised within the master plans of dozens of settlements.  Dozens of Palestinians (several hundred, according to Ha'aretz) from Zawiza village looked on and a few tried to reach the site, called Givat Hatzofeh, but were stopped by Border Police and the IDF, who used tear-gas to disperse the crowd.  Three Palestinians were arrested.  New olive tree saplings, which had been planted by Palestinians some weeks before, were reported to have been uprooted.  By the time the settlers had completed the work, the Civil Administration issued an order forbidding work to continue.  The Council indicated, however, that it intended to continue to protect settlement land from robbery by Arabs. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 11 January 1995)

329. On 11 January 1995, IDF troops prevented some 200 residents of Kafr Diek in western Samaria from marching in the direction of the Ale Zahav settlement to protest land clearing work on a 90-dunum plot near the settlement.  When the group reached the location where the soldiers were deployed, they were told that they could go no further.  After most of the demonstrators dispersed, a number of them began throwing stones at the soldiers.  The IDF responded by firing a stun-grenade into the crowd.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 12 January 1995)

330. On 12 January 1995, the Civil Administration announced that it would turn over documents to the police showing that the Binyamin Regional Council had built a 2-kilometre road in Samaria without the necessary permit and despite a Civil Administration order that the work be stopped.  The Council spokeswoman stated that the road, the building of which had been funded by the Council, had been completed by the time the order had been issued.  Furthermore, the spokeswoman stated that since the road was actually the widening of an existing path, under the Turkish law this did not call for any permission from the Civil Administration.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 13 January 1995)

331. On 13 January 1995, according to Israeli sources, the Greater Jerusalem Council would present to the Israeli Ministry of the Interior new plans to make all of greater Jerusalem, including settlements outside the Green Line, into a unified municipal complex.  The new, expanded metropolitan area would be headed by an elected municipal council working with the Mayor of Jerusalem. (The Jerusalem Times, 13 January 1995)

332. On 15 January 1995, the Day of Tree Planting, hundreds of Palestinian villagers from the West Bank set out towards the disputed land around their villages and planted thousands of olive saplings there.  The Day of Tree Planting was observed in El Khader, near Efrat, Al Bireh, near Psagot, in Beit Haggai, south of Hebron, in Iskaka, near Ariel, in Kfar Diek, near Nablus, and in Al Lavad, near Tulkarm.  In Wadi Al Ein, near Al Bireh, soldiers ordered villagers to stop planting and confiscated a number of identity cards.  No other confrontations were reported.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 16 January 1995)

333. On 16 January 1995, some 50 residents of Azon and nearby villages demonstrated near the Oranit settlement, located near the Green Line south of Kalkiliya, to protest against the building of a security road and the setting up of a fence around the settlement on land they claimed was theirs.  Villagers tried to pull out the fence but were prevented from doing so by settlers.  One settler reportedly fired in the air.  IDF soldiers dispersed the  Palestinian  protesters with stun-grenades.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 17 January 1995)

334. On 17 January 1995, thousands of Palestinians participated in demonstrations organized by the Palestinian Anti-Settlement Committee against land confiscation in the West Bank.  Some three thousand people (500 according to Jerusalem Post) marched from Al Bireh towards the nearby Psagot settlement to protest against the confiscation of land for the construction of a bypass road. Soldiers declared the rally illegal and forcefully dispersed the demonstrators soon afterwards by resorting to stun-grenades, beating and pushing. Dr. Azmi Shuaibi, the Palestinian Authority Minister for Youth and Sports, and Dr. Ahmed Tibi, adviser to Yasser Arafat, who also participated in the rally, were briefly detained.  Three youths were arrested (two according to Ha'aretz). A soldier was hit in the head by a stone thrown at him when the army dispersed the crowd.  In Hebron, protesters marched quietly towards Beit Haggai in protest at the building of a road link with Kiryat Arba.  A third demonstration was held at Kafr Diek, west of Ariel.  Both were dispersed without incidents.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 18 January 1995)

335. On 17 January 1995, it was reported that the Ministry of Construction and Housing had drawn up a report on building in the territories according to which NIS 140 million had been allocated in 1994 for construction in the West Bank while NIS 95,000 had been budgeted for 1995.  According to the report, plans for 1995 included investing some NIS 60 million in 3,200 housing units in Maaleh Adumim, Givat Zeev and Beitar, which would increase the Jewish population in the West Bank by 12,000.  An additional NIS million were budgeted for the construction of 50 housing units in the Jordan Valley.  On the whole, 30,000 housing units were scheduled to be built beyond the Green Line.  The Ministry indicated that the construction was carried out within the framework of contracts entered into with buyers under the Likud Government, underlining that no government assistance would be granted to the selling of the 3,000 empty apartments in the territories.  (Ha'aretz, 17 January 1995; Jerusalem Post, 18 January 1995)

336. On 17 January 1995, it was reported that, according to a survey conducted at the initiative of MK Dedi Zucker (Meretz), hundreds of housing units were currently under construction in the majority of the settlements in the territories.  According to the survey, which covered 49 settlements in the West Bank, most construction work was carried out privately with no public funding, although authorization had been received from the local authorities and the government staff officers.  According to the survey, which did not include the Maaleh Adumim, Beitar, Kiryat Arba, the Jordan Valley settlements and those located in northern Samaria, 325 housing units were currently under construction in the West Bank.  MK Zucker underlined that private construction was used as a way of circumventing the Government's 1992 pledge to freeze settlement construction.  (Ha'aretz, 17 January 1995)

337. On 18 January 1995, Maaleh Efraim local council head Haim Aviv stated that 46 new apartments had recently been completed in the settlement.  Meanwhile, the Kedumim local council head, Mr. Yossi Kapah, stated that infrastructure was recently completed for 220 new apartments and that some 180 of them had already been sold.  In addition, Mr. Kapah indicated that the Government's Exceptions Committee had approved the construction of a new neighbourhood with 280 housing units in the settlement, adding that the settlement was trying to raise funds to start land clearing and infrastructure work.  (Ha'aretz, 18 January 1995; Jerusalem Post, 19 January 1995)

338. On 20 January 1995, according to a paper prepared by Palestinian National Authority Minister for Local Government Saeb Erekat, 3,000 acres of Palestinian land had been confiscated by the Israeli authorities between September 1993 and October 1994 (not including land confiscated in East Jerusalem).  The report added that 79 per cent of the land in Jerusalem had practically come under Israeli control.  It also pointed out that 6 per cent of the area of East Jerusalem had recently been confiscated for the construction of new roads, while 40 per cent was classified as "green areas" where building was not allowed. (The Jerusalem Times, 20 January 1995)

339. On 22 January 1995, it was reported that 2,000 housing units were under construction  in  Maaleh  Adumim,  800 of which had already been put on sale. (Ha'aretz, 22 January 1995)

340. On 23 January 1995, the Palestinian Land and Water Research Centre reported that settlers from the Adam settlement had started work on 3,000 dunums of cultivated land belonging to the village of Jaba', in the Ramallah area. (Al-Tali'ah, 26 January 1995)

341. On 25 January 1995, the Ministerial Committee on Settlements established on 22 January approved the construction of 1,080 housing units in Maaleh Adumim in 1995.  However, the Government indicated that instead of selling all the units in 1995, 500 would be sold in 1995 and the rest in 1996.  In addition, the Committee had approved plans for the construction of 900 additional units in Betar and plans to build 800 in Givat Zeev.  The Committee also approved the continued construction of 1,026 units in Betar that began four months ago, 797 units in the early stages of construction in Maaleh Adumim, and the completion of some 340 units in Givat Zeev.  The Committee also approved the government-initiated building of 50 housing units in the Jordan Valley.  Israel Radio indicated that Foreign Minister Shimon Peres had stated that the Committee had also approved the continued building of 7,000 units already in advanced stages of construction.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 26 January 1995)

342. On 27 January 1995, it was reported that bulldozers from the Mate Binyamin regional council had started ground work on a hill near the Kohav Ya'akov settlement, located behind the Kalandia refugee camp.  Work, which appeared to have started 10 days before, was reportedly being carried out within the framework of a campaign the Operations Committee of Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza had decided to launch in secret during a meeting held on 2 January.  The motto of the campaign was reported to be "A people is not to trade its land".  (Ha'aretz, 27 January 1995)

343. On 29 January 1995, the head of the Jordan Valley regional council head stated that the population of settlements in the Jordan Valley had grown by approximately 9 per cent in 1994, and that the region was likely to enjoy a similar growth rate in 1995.  (Jerusalem Post, 30 January 1995)

344. On 1 February 1995, the Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Subcommittee approved the first stage of construction of a new neighbourhood in Har Homa.  According to the plan, 6,500 housing units would be built in the first stage on land stretching on 1,850 dunums (out of a total of 6,000 dunums) between Tsur Bahar and Beit Sahur, located at the southern tip of Jerusalem's municipal borders.  An additional 2,500 housing units were planned for the second stage.  The new neighbourhood was reportedly supposed to close the ring of Jewish neighbourhoods around Jerusalem.  Municipal sources revealed  that  infrastructure work would start in a month's time.  (Ha'aretz, 2 February 1995)

345. On 1 February 1995, the Committee for the Defence of the Land in the West Bank reported new settlement activities in the villages of Turmus Aya, Jeynsafut and Samou'.  More than 1,300 trees were uprooted and large areas were fenced. (Al-Tali'ah, 2 February 1995)

346. On 3 February 1995, it was reported that although Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had warned against the continuation of settlement building, the West Bank had witnessed during the previous week increased confiscation and settlement activity.  This activity included works for two new roads in Nablus to serve the Kadumim and Kfar Etzion settlements; the uprooting by the IDF of 2,000 olive trees on land belonging to the Beit Lid village in the Tulkarm area; the establishment of a new neighbourhood near the Kochav Ya'cov settlement and the confiscation of an unspecified amount of land for "public use" in Al Bireh. (The Jerusalem Times, 3 February 1995)

347. On 8 February 1995, it was reported that some 2,100 housing units were being built at the Shu'fat Ridge, in northern Jerusalem, with several hundred homes  slated for completion in the following two to three months. (Jerusalem Post, 8 February 1995)

348. On 9 February 1995, it was reported that 20 residents of Hebron had received notifications from the Israeli Central District Military Commander prohibiting them from entering their own land.  The measure concerned 750 dunums of land that had been confiscated for the building of a bypass road to serve neighbouring Jewish settlements.  (Al-Tali'ah, 9 February 1995)

349. On 14 February 1995, it was reported that the Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza had recently begun a campaign to sell apartments to Jews abroad so that they could rent them to Israelis who wanted to move into the territories, but could either not afford to buy the apartments or meet their mortgage terms.  Council spokesman Yehiel Leiter refused to reveal where the apartments were located, saying only that they were in areas such as "Greater Jerusalem".  (Jerusalem Post, 14 February 1995)

350. On 16 February 1995, it was reported that the settlement agenda for Jerusalem included the construction of 4,100 housing units to be divided as follows:  Jabat Zaev (800), Bitar (900), Maaleh Adumim (2,000) and Kiryat Sfar (400).  The agenda also provided for the expansion of six settlements by 4,160 dunums of land.  (Al-Tali'ah, 16 February 1995)

351. On 21 February 1995, Israeli bulldozers started to level large areas of cultivated land in Sur Baher, south of Jerusalem.  The work was carried out in preparation for the Eastern Beltway, a new road planned to encircle East Jerusalem.  Local residents stated that the new road would destroy 500 acres of land in Sur Baher and entail the uprooting of a large number of trees. (The Jerusalem Times, 24 February 1995)

352.  On 22 February 1995, Doron Shorer, Director-General of the Transport Ministry, stated that in the coming months, the Ministry would give its final approval for the construction of a controversial highway around East Jerusalem. Mr. Shorer stated that the fact that part of the proposed highway ran through the administered territories was not a factor even taken into consideration in their decision, pointing out that the aim of the project to keep Jerusalem united only gave the Ministry an incentive to move forward with it.  The highway, or Eastern Beltway, was slated to begin in south-east Jerusalem, near Sur Bahir, run north-east past Azzariya and A-Tur, and link up with the Jerusalem-Maaleh Adumim highway.  (Jerusalem Post, 23 February 1995)

353. On 23 February 1995, Palestinian residents of Al Bireh sent a petition to the Israeli Prime Minister, in his capacity as Minister of Defence, asking him to revoke military order T/26/94, which provided for the confiscation of a very large area of Arab land for the building of a new road linking two Jewish settlements.  (Al-Tali'ah, 23 February 1995)

354. On 5 March 1995, the Committee to Protect Palestinian-Owned Lands decided to stage in the near future several days of protest against the expropriation of Palestinian-owned land.  Among other things, the Committee decided to declare a day of solidarity with Masalfit and A-Diek villagers who reportedly feared that their lands would be confiscated for the expansion of nearby settlements.  The Committee also decided to publish a periodical that would include information about friction between Palestinians and settlers in the West Bank.  (Ha'aretz, 7 March 1995)

355. On 10 March 1995, the Israeli authorities are reported to have expelled some 50 Bedouin families and their 3,000 sheep from a piece of land declared a closed military zone.  In separate developments, settlers' activities were reported in different Palestinian villages such as Salfit, where large areas of land were bulldozed, and Saniria, near Kalkiliya, where a plot of land was surrounded by barbed wire.  Fifteen kilometres to the east of Kalkiliya, the Israeli authorities confiscated 100 acres of land from the village of Deir Istiya in order to annex them to the Emmanuel settlement.  (The Jerusalem Times, 10 March 1995)

356. On 16 March 1995, it was reported that Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert had announced that the construction of the controversial Eastern Beltway was likely to be approved soon.  Mr. Olmert stated that the Government would approve the construction of the road since it was believed that it fitted in well with plans for separation between the Israeli and Palestinian populations.  According to Mr. Olmert, the highway would enable thousands of Palestinians who travelled daily through the city centre to bypass the city in order to reach areas located north and south of Jerusalem.  (Jerusalem Post, 16 March 1995)

357. On 16 March 1995, it was reported that tension between Palestinians and settlers had recently been mounting in several localities of the West Bank owing to the uprooting of trees planted by villagers and the continuing fence and road construction work around settlements.  Over the past two weeks, Palestinians in the West Bank had complained of a sharp increase in the number of uprooted saplings and trees, especially olive trees, from land adjacent to settlements. In some cases settlers uprooted trees within the framework of operations to build fences around settlements.  In other cases, settlers or Civil Administration workers uprooted olive saplings that Palestinians had planted on land bordering settlements in order to assert their land ownership claims.  The uprooting of trees was reported on numerous sites during the previous days:

(a) On 14 March 1995, three Palestinians from the Jabal Jalas village, located near the Kiryat Arba settlement, tried to halt bulldozers carrying out reinforcement work around the settlement.  The villagers indicated that one settler had hit a woman with the butt of his pistol, slightly injuring her in the head;

(b) On 14 March 1995, a military tractor uprooted several dozen fruit trees in Dir Astia village in the Nablus area near the road leading to the Yakir settlement;

(c) Several dozen trees were recently uprooted from land confiscated from villages in the vicinity of Ramallah where work had reportedly begun for the construction of a bypass road;

(d) On 14 March 1995, residents of Turmus Aiya village, located near the Shila settlement, lodged a complaint with the police after several dozens of their olive trees had been uprooted;

(e) At the beginning of the week, several dozen trees were uprooted from land belonging to Burin village near Nablus.  The villagers reportedly suspected that settlers from the Bracha settlement were behind the act.

In a related development, Younas Sabich, a researcher at Al-Najah University, published the results of his research, which showed that approximately 5,250 olive trees had been uprooted in the West Bank by Israelis between December 1994 and January 1995.  Mr. Sabich estimated that since the outbreak of the intifadah in December 1987 until December 1994 170,000 Palestinian-owned fruit trees had been uprooted in the West Bank, causing approximately $10 million worth of damage.  (Ha'aretz, 16 March 1995)

358. On 17 March 1995, Khalil Tufakji, the head of the geographic department at the Jerusalem-based Arab Studies Society, reported that numerous Israeli roads bypassing major Palestinian population centres were under construction. Levelling of land was carried out in preparation for a bypass road around Jenin. In this case, 125 acres of agricultural and wooded land belonging to the villagers of Anin would be affected.  A new road was being prepared in the Ramallah area around the Givat Zeev settlement.  The measure threatened hundreds of acres of land belonging to the villages of Jib, Beitunia and Beit Ijza. (The Jerusalem Times, 17 March 1995)

359. On 21 March 1995, it was reported that Deputy Defence Minister Mordechai Gur had announced that Israel would try to keep the Jewish settlement in Hebron intact in any permanent settlement with the Palestinians.  Mr. Gur also stated that settlers' claims that the Government had decided to abandon them were baseless and revealed that earlier in the week the Government had unequivocally decided to invest the greater part of the security budget in settlements in the territories and roads leading to them.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 21 March 1995)

360. On 22 March 1995, the Higher Islamic Council appealed for international help to halt the excavations being carried out along the Temple Mount walls. Mr. Mohammed Nusseibeh, the Council Deputy Chairman, stated at a news conference that the digging in the vicinity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque endangered Muslim property in the area.  Mr. Nusseibeh claimed that a staircase at the Omri School, located outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, had already collapsed as a result of the excavations, adding that the plans to build a northern entrance to the Western Wall tunnel at the Via Dolorosa would importune the residents of the Muslim Quarter.  Antiquities Authorities spokeswoman Efrat Orbach rejected the allegations that the excavations had caused damage to buildings in the area. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 23 March 1995)

361. On 23 March 1995, settlers from the Shakid settlement started work for a new road on cultivated land belonging to the Arab residents of Anin village, in the Jenin district.  Arab land had also been seized in the village of Shu'fat, in the Tulkarm area, for the building of a road.  No prior confiscation order had been issued.  In a separate development, a new Israeli plan concerning the Emmanuel settlement provided for the confiscation of hundreds  of  dunums  of  land  from  the Deir Esteya village.  (Al-Tali'ah, 23 March 1995)

362. On 29 March 1995, the IDF sent notices to Palestinian landowners in the Hebron area to evacuate their land, for reasons of security.  The landowners from the villages of Yatta, Kharm Esfi, Touba, Eigheir, Ubeid and Makura were given 12 hours to leave.  All of the land in question was located near Jewish settlements.  (The Jerusalem Times, 31 March 1995)

363. On 30 March 1995, the security forces prevented villagers from El Khader from going to the Givat Hatamar hill in order to till their lands.  (Ha'aretz, 31 March 1995)

F.  Information concerning the occupied Syrian Arab Golan

364. On 14 February 1995, the 25,000 Druze residents of the Golan Heights staged a general strike to mark the anniversary of the extension of Israeli law to the region.  The strike was fully observed by Druze villages, where shops, schools and local council offices remained closed.  Hundreds of villagers participated in the demonstrations.  Scores of people, some holding Syrian flags and the Syrian national emblem, staged a parade and rally in Buka'ata.  Later on, a similar demonstration was held in Majdal Shams, with protesters chanting anti-Israeli slogans and declaring their loyalty to the Syrian Arab Republic and their brethren there.  At one stage, stones were thrown at security forces in Majdal Shams, but there were no injuries and no arrests were made.  Throughout the morning, a large number of people gathered on the Syrian side of the border, shouted messages across the border and sang Syrian nationalist songs.  However, police blocked off the main square in Majdal Shams and all routes leading to the area near the border known locally as the "Shouting Hill", where residents shout messages to relatives on the Syrian side.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 15 February 1995)

365. On 14 March 1995, the Golan Heights Residents' Committee held an emergency session in Katzrin aimed at coordinating the campaign to keep the region under Israeli rule.  No details about the action campaign were released to the press, although it was clear that it was designed to arrive at public consensus against the withdrawal.  Committee leaders stressed that the development of the region and the enhancing of settlement activities there would continue at full pace. They also noted that in 1995 the Government intended to spend some NIS 100 million on developing and improving roads, tourist sites and infrastructure, which amounted to approximately the same sum that had been allocated the previous year.  In a related development, a press statement issued by the head of the Katzrin local council on 13 March highlighted the recent inauguration of a new $1.5 million factory and a new post office in the settlement.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 15 March 1995)

366. On 19 March 1995, it was reported that the Golan Heights Residents' Committee was planning to launch what organizers described as the most extravagant and biggest information campaign that the country had ever seen. The campaign, scheduled to begin at Easter, would include a mobile exhibition in every major city and town over a period of six months with the aim of bringing the Golan to the general public and especially to persons who had not visited the region recently.  (Jerusalem Post, 19 March 1995)

367. On 26 March 1995, the Golan Heights Residents' Committee launched a nationwide direct mail fund-raising campaign.  Committee spokesman Uri Heitner stated that as part of the campaign leaflets were being distributed by mail to the homes of 150,000 supporters with an appeal for donations.  (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 27 March 1995)

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