The substance of UN Security Council resolution 2803, which endorses the ‘peace plan’ accompanying the often-violated ceasefire in Gaza, appears concerningly disconnected from securing fundamental human rights for Palestinians and ultimately achieving sustainable peace.
Upholding international law and its inextricable link to applying accountability measures
Last week, LPHR’s director spoke on a panel event with the UK Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer MP, Melanie Ward MP, Abtisam Mohamed MP, Yachad and Young Labour.
The event in parliament was organised by Labour Friends for Palestine and the Middle East, and was entitled: ‘Pathways out of the crisis in Palestine’. The audience were predominantly Young Labour members.
Tareq Shrourou spoke immediately after Minister Hamish Falconer MP. A transcript of Tareq’s short speech is immediately below: [Read more…]
International law must be immediately upheld as man-made famine is imminent in Gaza
In an extremely alarming UN-backed report published a couple of weeks ago, experts warned that famine is immediately imminent for 300,000 Palestinians residents in northern Gaza; that half the population of Gaza (1.1.million people) is facing famine between mid-March and mid-July; and that there is a marked increase in acute malnutrition among children (as well as pregnant and breast-feeding women) posing grave risks to their health and mortality. [Read more…]
Accountability and policy implications of landmark legal opinion finding that the prolonged closure of Gaza amounts to the crime against humanity of persecution
[The following analysis is part of our statement accompanying the publication of a landmark independent legal opinion by eminent experts – commissioned by LPHR – on whether the prolonged closure of Gaza, including its intensification since 7 October 2023, constitutes the crime against humanity of persecution]
Accountability and policy implications: action is imperative and a clear warning for the future
For accountability decision-makers: LPHR considers that the legal opinion and its addendum necessarily compels the prompt investigation and effective prosecution of individuals responsible for the closure of Gaza, including its intensification since 7 October 2023, on the basis that it plainly constitutes the crime against humanity of persecution.
LPHR specifically notes the relevance of the legal opinion’s findings with ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan KC’s key policy to prioritise ensuring accountability for crimes against or affecting children. Approximately half of Gaza’s population of over two million are children. LPHR does not expect ICC Prosecutor Khan to arbitrarily exclude Palestinian children from his signature prosecutorial policy.
LPHR also emphasises that although the legal opinion specifically focuses on whether the closure of Gaza constitutes the crime against humanity of persecution, this does not preclude other possible – and co-existing – legal characterisations. The addendum to the legal opinion clarifies:
“Our focus on the crime against humanity of persecution should not be interpreted as implying any view regarding the (un)availability of other legal characterisations (for example, of genocide). We have not analysed those questions and therefore take no position on them.”
It is relevant here to note that the crime of persecution is very gravely recognised as a precursor to the potential or actual commission of the crime of genocide. For example, the International Court of Justice, in its January 2020 order of provisional measures against Myanmar in a Genocide Convention case, cites the linkage made by the relevant UN Fact-Finding Mission [emphasis added]:
“The Fact-Finding Mission concluded that “on reasonable grounds… the factors allowing the inference of genocidal intent [were] present”… the Court further notes that the Fact-Finding Mission, in its 2018 detailed findings, also asserted, based on its overall assessment of the situation in Myanmar since 2011, and particularly in Rakhine State, that the extreme levels of violence perpetrated against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017 resulted from the “systemic oppression and persecution of the Rohingya”.” [paragraph 55]
Inextricably-linked serious international crimes prior to and since 7 October 2023, should not, and cannot, be divorced from each other by ICC Prosecutor Khan, when undertaking his responsibility of delivering legal accountability. As recognised by then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a landmark UN report, published in 2014, on preventing atrocity crimes [emphasis added]:
“Atrocity crimes take place on a large scale, and are not spontaneous or isolated events; they are processes, with histories, precursors and triggering factors which, combined, enable their commission.”
LPHR strongly encourages the ICC Prosecutor to fulfil his exceptionally significant duty to investigate and prosecute all present and past serious international crimes in Israel/Palestine, with a necessary leap-forward in prioritisation and pace by his Office, and without fear or favour.
For policy decision-makers: The grave findings of the independent experts legal opinion and addendum provide added legal clarity to bolster the “demand” within UN Security Council resolution 2720 (22 December 2023) that the parties “allow, facilitate and enable the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip.”
The legal opinion further provides an implicit clear warning that the future of Gaza must not amount to an effective return to the status quo of indefinitely prolonged closure that existed pre-7 October 2023. The crime of persecution against the Palestinian population of Gaza must end: its devastating effects are profoundly beyond measure, and acutely appal the conscience of humanity.
Atrocity crimes and two criteria the ICC Prosecutor must fulfil
Yesterday over 100 Palestinians were reportedly killed in Israeli airstrikes against residential buildings in Jabalia refugee camp, amid the prolonged starvation conditions imposed upon Gaza’s civilian population since the Israeli defence minister’s order of total siege on 9 October. [Read more…]
Israeli forces continue to arrest Palestinian children from their homes in the middle of the night, traumatising families
According to data collected by UN OCHA, thousands of Israeli raids on occupied West Bank communities are conducted every year, many of them at night. In some of these raids, heavily armed Israeli forces arrest Palestinian children from their family homes in the middle of the night, often breaking into the family home before taking the terrified child from their bed. Military Court Watch has collected the testimonies of children and their parents, detailing this typically violent and traumatising practice.
In recent testimony collected by Military Court Watch that provides acute insight into this routine practice of Israel’s military occupation, a Palestinian mother describes the terrifying night-time arrest of her 13-year-old son by soldiers who entered her family home at 03:30 on 12 October 2022. She testifies:
“[A]round eight Israeli soldiers entered our home. They had broken open the door downstairs with a sledge hammer before coming up to our apartment… The soldiers went straight to the bedroom of our 13-year-old son…
My son was still in bed and thought he was having a nightmare when he woke and saw soldiers over his head. He later told me a soldier kicked him in the knee while he was still in bed and then grabbed him by his T-shirt and pushed him against the wall. He then passed out.
Meanwhile, when I went back to my bedroom to get properly dressed I was followed by a soldier who did not allow me to leave the bedroom. My other son was being held in the kitchen. About 30 minutes later the soldiers gathered us all in the living room…
One of the soldiers aimed his gun at us and did not allow us to move or speak. I told the soldier that my two-month-old daughter was still in her crib and I pleaded with him to allow me to fetch her but he refused. I was terrified that the soldiers might accidentally harm her as they roamed around our home. All I wanted was to hold her in my arms.
When my other daughter stood up to go and fetch the baby a soldier threw a chair at her and aimed his gun at her head. I thought he was going to shoot her. I was also worried the soldiers might use tear gas inside our house and I was panicking that my infant daughter would suffocate…
Then they took my 13-year-old son outside. I looked out the window to say good bye to him and to tell him to be strong, but a soldier aimed his gun at me and yelled at me to shut the window.
When the soldiers left we all burst into tears, sobbing and crying uncontrollably. We could not sleep… My husband blamed himself for allowing the solders to take our son away… It was a hellish night I will never forget. Our son was released on bail two days later.
Our village is very close to the Green Line and to a cluster of settlements including Maccabim and Modi’in Illit. We are close to a road which the villagers refer to as the “road of death”. It is used by settlers to commute back and forth to Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem and no Palestinian is allowed to go near it.”
Further testimonies collected by Military Court Watch and DCIP, and analysis by Israeli human rights NGOs B’Tselem and HaMoked, strongly indicate that the night-time arrest of children is used arbitrarily, with children often released a short time after their arrest. In addition, the practice contributes to a coercive environment in which Palestinian communities live in fear and uncertainty.
In addition to the calls made by Save the Children and DCIP, LPHR calls for the end of the widespread and systematic practice of arresting children from their homes in the night. For further information, see LPHR’s briefing on Israel’s military detention of Palestinian children living in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Children in Gaza continue to be effectively denied access to critical medical treatment due to Israel’s closure policy
In March, B’Tselem reported that 19-month-old Fatimah al-Masri died from a cardiological condition after repeated applications to the Israeli authorities for permission to exit Gaza for essential medical treatment in a hospital in East Jerusalem were unsuccessful, remaining “under review” for months. [Read more…]
Marked surge in the number of Palestinian children held in solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is defined by the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules) as confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact. The effects of solitary confinement on children can be particularly severe. This blog outlines these damaging effects. It also summarises the applicable international legal framework, including a key reference to the International Criminal Court.
No warrant required to enter Palestinian homes in the West Bank but warrants required to enter settlers’ homes, Israeli High Court confirms
On 1 September 2021, the Israeli High Court of Justice (IHCJ) confirmed that Israeli soldiers can enter and search Palestinian homes in the West Bank without a judicial warrant, whereas warrants are needed to search the homes of Israeli settlers living in the West Bank. The decision followed a petition by Israeli human rights organisations and Palestinian individuals seeking to limit the military’s wide power to enter and search Palestinian homes without a warrant. The decision was reported by Military Court Watch.
Raising arbitrary student detention at the United Nations: Fobzu’s interview with LPHR
In August, our colleagues at the UK charity, Friends of Birzeit University (Fobzu), conducted an in-depth interview with LPHR’s Aleisha Ebrahimi, following the significant decision of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that three female Birzeit University students are being unlawfully arbitrarily detained. The illuminating interview is republished below with Fobzu’s kind permission. [Read more…]