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Activity of Israeli Organizations with Advisor Status to the United Nations, Against Israeli PolicyMay 2015

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 11

Introduction 16

General Background on the United Nations 18

A. General Structure 18

B. United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) 19

C. Treaty-based Bodies 19

D. Activity of Israeli Organizations Working with United Nations

“Human Rights Bodies” 22

E. List of Organizations that Hold ECOSOC Advisory Status: 24

Adalah’s Activity in the United Nations against Israel and the Israel Defense Forces 28

A. About the Organization: 28

B. Actions toward Delegitimizing Israel by Adalah Working

with the Human Rights Council and its Charter-Based Bodies: 30

1. Adalah Activity Working Directly with the

United Nations Human Rights Council 30

2. Involvement of Adalah and Israeli Organizations in Encouraging

and Calling for a United Nations Human Rights Council

Commission of Inquiry regarding Operation Protective Edge 30

3. Adalah Activity Regarding the Mavi Marmara Flotilla Working

with the Commission of Inquiry Established by the United

Nations Human Rights Council 32

4. Adalah Activity Regarding Operation Cast Lead and the

Goldstone Commission, Established by the‘United Nations

Human Rights Council to Investigate the Operation 33

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5. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations’ Special

Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting Human

Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the

Occupied Territories 38

6. Adalah’s Activity Working with the Report of the Special

Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions 38

7. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations Special

Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the

Palestinian Territories Occupied by Israel in 1967 39


Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief 39

C. Actions Delegitimizing Israel Done by Adalah Working with

Treaty-Based Bodies in the Field of Human Rights 40

1. Adalah Activity Working with the United Nations

Human Rights Council 40

2. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations Committee

on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 41

3. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations’ Committee

against Torture Accusing Israel of Abusing Palestinians 42


on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 48

5. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations Forum

on Minority Issues 49

6. Adalah’s Activity Working with the The United Nations

Convention on the Rights of the Child 50


Rapporteur on Minority Issues 50

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on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 50


on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People 51


on Non-Governmental Organizations 52

11. Adalah Participation in Durban II, the 2009 United Nations

World Conference Against Racism 52

Activity of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD) 53

A. About the Organization 53

B. Activity of the Organization Working with United Nations

BodiesthathaveAccepteditsQualificationasanAdvisor 54

1. Accusations against the State of Israel before the United

Nations’ Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 54

2. Complaints Filed by ICAHD to the United Nations Human

Rights Council Regarding Israel’s Policies in East Jerusalem 56

3. Report on the Subject of Uprooting the Bedouin Settlement 58

4. Participation in the United Nations Meeting in Support

of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process on the subject of the

role of Europe in advancing Palestinian statehood 59

Activity by Ittijah Working with United Nations Bodies 60

A. About the Organization 60

B. Organization’s Activity Working with United Nations Bodies 60

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Contribution of Radical Left-Wing Organizations toward the Efforts to Establish a Palestinian State and Delegitimize Israel in the United Nations 63

A. Introduction 63

B. ESCWA (Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia) 64

1. ESCWA Report from May 2011 64

2. Report Conclusions 67

3. Main Arguments Against Israel as Presented in the Report 67

4. Israeli Sources of Information upon which the Report Relies 70

5. Report’sInfluenceonUnitedNationsGeneralAssemblyDebates 72

6. Summary 73

Appendices 74

Appendix A – Comparison Between Adalah Recommendations and

United Nations Conclusions 74

1. Adalah Activity Working with the United Nations’ Committee

against Torture 74

2. Adalah Activity Working with the United Nations Human

Rights Council Related to Cancelling the Jewish Character of

the State of Israel and Exercising the Right of Return 90

3. Adalah Activity Working with the United Nations Committee

on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 106

4. Adalah Activity Working with the United Nations’ Committee

on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 113

5. Adalah Activity Working with the United Nations Human

Rights Council 119

Appendix B – Summary of the United against Torture Coalition’s

Report from September 2008 122

Appendix C – Summary of the United against Torture Coalition’s

Report from April 2009 126

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Appendix D – Summary of the Main Points of the Report on the

Situation of ‘The Occupied Palestinian Territories’ 127

Appendix E – Main Points of the ‘Nowhere Left to Go’ Report 129

Appendix F – Summary of the ‘No Home, No Homeland’ Report 131

Sources 136

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This study is based on free and available information, current through January 2015.

Research has been thoroughly done, but even so, there maybe one or more relevant

publications, which exists, thathave not surfaced during the research. In any use of this

study, that fact must be taken into account.

Ifitisknownthatotherinformationexists–whichcontradictsfindingsgatheredinthis

study and which has a higher level of reliability – we ask that we be updated, so we will

beabletocorrectthisandreportthefindingsaccurately.

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Mr. President, Council members,

In the name of Adalah – the Legal Center for Arab Minority Right in Israel

We strongly condemn Israel’s unlawful targeting of civilians, civilian objects,

and civilian property. These acts constitute grave violations of international

humanitarian law and international criminal law and may amount to war crimes

and crimes against humanity… the entire Palestinian population in Gaza is being

subjected to collective punishment…. We call on the United Nations Human

Rights Council to… Condemn the deliberate, systematic and widespread targeting

of Palestinian civilians and civilian objects in Gaza… Demand that Israel lift

its blockade on Gaza… Establish an independent, international commission of

inquiry… This commission should set forth specific facts and circumstances of such violations and concrete recommendations with a view of holding individuals

responsible for those violations accountable.

Excerpt from a letter sent by Israeli and Palestinian organizations, headed by Adalah, to the United Nations Human Rights Council, during Operation Protective Edge, July 22, 2014

In the search for justice, we turn to the international community. The United

Nations institutions would do well to investigate and decide regarding Israel’s

criminal policies in East Jerusalem. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court downplays

the importance of the Palestinians’ human rights.

Itay Epshtain, Co-Director of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, November 23, 2011

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Executive Summary

Fifteen Israeli organizations have been granted advisor status to the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) over the past few years. They were also granted the right to appear as advisors for the United Nations institutions, which deals with human rights. This status is considered particularly prestigious for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and provides them with influence over formulating United Nations’ positions and over the resolutions adopted within its institutions.

It has been found that three of these organizations (two of them Arab-Israeli organizations) take advantage of their status and the sympathetic ear they enjoy at the United

Nations, in order to work against the policies of the State of Israel and against the

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

The organizations Adalah, Ittijah and the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions use their access to United Nations bodies, in order to accuse Israel and the IDF of committing

war crimes, violating international law related to warfare and human rights, torturing

Palestinians and more. Many of them even use these frameworks to call for the boycott

of the State of Israel, in cooperation with Palestinian organizations.

Within Israel, the positions of these organizations are considered to be extreme and outside the legitimate range of Israeli discourse. Despite that, and perhaps even because of that, these organizations work to promote international pressure on Israel, and take advantage of the organization’s status as a “UN advisor” as a tool through which their agendas are transformed into legitimate positions, as seen in various reports published by United Nations bodies from time to time.

During Operation Protective Edge, Israeli organizations, among them Adalah, as mentioned above, an organization with advisor status to the United Nations, approached the United Nations in order to promote an Investigative Commission against the IDF and against Israel, with regard to claims of violations of international law.1 This activity in the United Nations, which has created international pressure and de-legitimization of Israel in the world, is not unique to those Israeli anti-Israeli organizations.

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The Israeli organizations that hold advisor status and appear in this report do not satisfy themselves merely with this anti-Zionist activity, but, as the report will show, have been working for years in the halls of the United Nations against Israeli policies and towards creating de-legitimization against the state of Israel in the international community.

These organizations have succeeded in attaining significant and substantial influence

over the decision making process in the United Nations’ human rights bodies with

regard to Israel, and thus create de-legitimization of the State of Israel, constricting her steps in the international community, and call for the international community to impose limits on the IDF’s and security forces’ freedom of activity.

As will be shown in this study, there are many instances where various United Nations

bodies and committees, mainly those dealing in the field of human rights, have

adopted the recommendations of these organizations against Israel, almost in their entirety.

Among the many actions these organizations have executed in the United Nations institutions, the following cases stand out:

• The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the top United Nations entity of those dealing with human rights, established a panel of inquiry into the facts related to the Mavi Marmara flotilla and the blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip. Adalah provided information to the panel, following which the UNHRC determined that the blockade on Gaza was not legal, that the IDF’s actions to stop the flotilla were manifestly illegal, and that there exist clear testimonies to Israel’s crimes in contravention of the 4th Geneva Convention.

• During Operation Cast Lead (December 2008), Adalah and Palestinian organizations approached the United Nations, with the demand that Israel be forced to suspend the fighting, while accusing Israel of war crimes. With the establishment of the Goldstone Commission by the United Nations Human Rights Council, Adalah provided information to the commission and even sent a representative to testify in front of the commission. Following the publication of the Goldstone Report (which caused severe damage to Israel’s image), Adalah suggested to the United Nations to form a council of experts that would oversee the implementation of the report’s conclusions by Israel. The expert’s council was founded, and Adalah provided information that

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was included in its conclusions, in which it claimed that investigations in Israel were done unfairly and were lacking in transparency, and that high-ranking officials in the IDF were not investigated regarding their part in the operation.

• Adalah presented reports (in 2009 and in 2010) to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), dealing with the violation of the Arab minority’s civil and political rights by the state of Israel. In July 2010, the CCPR published its conclusions regarding Israel, while including in those conclusions many claims that were presented by Adalah. Based on the information from Adalah, the CCPR determined in its conclusions that the State of Israel must amend its Basic Laws, which include the definition of a ‘Jewish State’. In addition, the CCPR in its recommendations called for the annulment of the ‘Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law’, the consequences of its supposed cancelling would be the recognition of the Palestinian ‘right of return’ into the area of the state of Israel.

• Adalah is a member of a coalition of organizations called United against Terror (UAT) and most of the member organizations are Palestinian. Representatives of the coalition, including an attorney who is a member of Adalah, appeared (in May 2009) before the United Nations’ Convention Against Torture (CAT) one day before the representatives of the State of Israel appeared before the Convention. In their testimony, they claim that Israel commits relentless torture and abuse of Palestinians, beginning in 2001, and that Israelis from all ranks and branches are complicit in this war crime: The IDF, the Israeli Security Agency, the Police, the Judiciary and other governmental branches. The organizations further claimed that the use by Israeli authorities of torture and abuse of Palestinians is systematic and widespread. Based on their testimony and the reports they submitted to the Convention, the CAT adopted a large part of their claims and in their recommendations even called for Israel to enact legislative changes related to Israel’s freedom of activity in security matters.

• Adalah formulated articles related to the cultural rights and narratives of minorities, for recommendation to the “Forum on Minority Issues”. This is so they will be adopted by the UNHCR and will become a source of interpretation of international justice. This action is in essence indirect influence on international norms, the end result of which may result in harming the State of Israel’s social and diplomatic freedom of activity.

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• Adalah and Palestinian organizations managed (during the years 2005–2007) a campaign in the United Nations against granting advisor status in the ECOSOC to the Jewish National Fund (the JNF – an American organization which is a branch of the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael (KKL), the Israeli Jewish National Fund, and is its main source of donations). The organizations claimed that Israel discriminates against the Arab minority on the issue of land appropriations, while using the Jewish Agency, the World Zionist Organization and the KKL. Due to the campaign, the JNF’s candidacy for being granted advisor status was rejected.

• It should be noted that Adalah is significantly funded by the New Israel Fund and the European Union. During the years 2005–2012, the New Israel Fund donated approximately $2,140,000 to Adalah.

• The Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD) filed (on October 31, 2011) three complaints against Israel to the United Nations, and requested that a panel of inquiry be opened regarding war crimes that Israel is committing – according to them – in East Jerusalem.

• An additional channel of causing damage to Israel is the Arab countries’ and the Palestinians’ use of the information spread by radical left-wing Israeli organizations, in order to attack Israel in the international arena. It was found that Arab states and the Palestinians are basing their claims against Israel on information which originates from Israeli organizations, and therefore their claims are granted legitimacy and an objective image, even becoming recommendations of central bodies in the United Nations dealing with human rights. In this way, these organizations contribute to the de-legitimization campaign against the state of Israel which is currently being waged in the halls of the United Nations and the international community.

A comparison of the data which Adalah presented to the United Nations bodies to the conclusions reached by those same bodies with regard to Israel is presented – as in the original – in Appendix A.

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Activity of Israeli Organizations with Advisor Status to the United Nations Against Israeli Policy

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Introduction

In recent decades, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has taken up a large part of the State of Israel’s daily agenda, and its influence can be recognized on Israel’s status in the world and its image as an advanced, enlightened state.

Legitimate and varied political positions are expressed throughout Israeli discourse and are given their fair share of attention among elected officials as well as within the traditional and non-traditional press. Processes and agreements signed throughout the years with the Palestinians, with the goal of bringing an end to the conflict, caused an uproar in internal Israeli discourse, and more than once have caused political upheaval.

However, over the years, when it became clear that the efforts to solve the conflict were not bearing fruit, organizations with a clear political agenda yet with an electoral minority allowed themselves to approach international elements with the purpose of pressuring

Israel. In their opinion, this pressure will lead to concessions on Israel’s part in favor of the Palestinians. Chief Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court Dorit Beinisch harshly criticized

Adalah, since it included in an appeal a veiled threat against the court – if the course

doesn’t accept the organization’s claims, then the organization will turn to a ‘universal

authority’ which will interfere in Israel’s military matters.2

“In this context it should be noted, that for reasons of its own, the appellant found

it appropriate to bring along with its arguments also an expansive reference

to the principle of universal jurisdiction. This principal has no relevance to

the procedures taking place before this court, as well as any relevance to the

procedure taking place before us, and arguments of this type, based on their

formulation bear the character of a veiled “threat” against the respondents and

even against the court, and it would be better had the appellant not chosen to

bring this argument before us.”

(Quote by Chief Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court, Dorit Beinisch, in the verdict of Adalah v. IDF and the Government of Israel 70/2923)

“What is hiding behind the learned and well-referenced legal cover, and the

question is, is not its true purpose the de-legitimization of the state of Israel,

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with a “threat” which my colleague also referred to by applying “universal

jurisdiction”.

(Quote by Israeli Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein in the verdict of Adalah v. IDF and the Government of Israel 70/2923)

Since Operation Cast Lead (January 2009) and the publication of the report by the Goldstone Commissionthat followed (September 2009), international pressure against Israel has

been increasing, including imposing sanctions on Israel in various forms and negating its basic legitimacy to defend its citizens using military action.

This study is intended to examine the actions of Israeli organizations in various United

Nations forums against the policies of the state of Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces.

The first part of this study focuses on a group of organizations which hold the status of “Advisor to the United Nations”, and which provide the United Nations with information as part of their routine operations, especially working with the bodies who deal with issues related to human rights.

This document does not describe all of the activity these organizations have carried out over the years, working with the United Nations institutions and with other international elements such as the European Union.

In the second part of the study, we will show how information from Israeli organizations, which don’t necessarily hold advisor status, serves the Arab countries and the Palestinians in de-legitimizing the State of Israel. In addition, this information is used to attack Israel within the United Nations institutions, with regard to the struggle on recognition of a Palestinian state.

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General Background on the United Nations

A. General Structure

The United Nations is an international umbrella organization that brings together the diplomatic activity of its member nations in order to create cooperation in matters of international law, international security, the global economy and human rights.

The United Nations was founded by virtue of the “Charter of the United Nations” in 1945, and is based on agreements between all member nations of the organization. As of 2013, there are 193 member countries, among them Israel. The organization has five United Nations Organs that make up the United Nations (there is a sixth Organ – the Trusteeship Council – but since 1986 it has not been operational), and they are as follows3:

1. The Security Council – The body entrusted with global peace and security.4

2. The General Assembly – The body entrusted with the policy of the United Nations in the field of activity of the United Nations institutions, excluding matters of peace and security, which are the responsibility of the Security Council. The General Assembly accepts resolutions which are not binding, rather are recommendations for the member states.5

3. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) – Assists the General Assembly in promoting international cooperation and development in matters of economy and society. The council has 54 member states, chosen by the General Assembly for a three-year term.6

4. The Secretariat – The administrative body entrusted with coordination and execution of all the activities of the various organizations and committees of the United Nations. At the head of the Secretariat stands the General Secretary.

5. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague – The United Nations’ main legal institution. Among its roles are reaching verdicts in dispute between countries with their acceptance, and providing opinions on legal matters directed towards the court by the various organs of the United Nations.

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B. United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC)

In addition to the Organs which were founded by virtue of the Charter of the United Nations (Charter-Based Bodies), the Human Rights Council (HRC)was upgraded from the status of a subcommittee of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to the status of an organ that is subordinate to the General Assembly.

This study will focus on the actions of Israeli organizations working with the Human

Rights Council and its various bodies.

The Human Rights Council was founded by the General Assembly in 2006, and replaced the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which acted until 2006 as a subcommittee, as mentioned above.

The council has 47 seats divided according to global regions and in direct ratio to the population size.7 The Council is manned by representatives of the United Nations member states who are chosen for a term of three years. The Council’s mandate is as follows: Prevent racial abuse and discrimination, protect minorities, prevent violence against

the helpless and expose cases where such actions are involved.

The Council’s legal status is seen as based on the Charter of the United Nations, though not explicitly. There are subsidiary bodies called the Special Procedures Division (SPD) which are appointed by the Council to examine events in a certain country or on a certain topic. Those who head the divisions are known as Special Rapporteur on the issue for which they were appointed. As of 2013, there are 30 commissions of inquiry dealing with various issues and 8 commissions of inquiry dealing with specific countries, the number of committees will change from time to time and they all report to the Council regarding their findings and recommendations.

C. Treaty-based Bodies

In addition to the Council’s bodies, there are committees which were formed by virtue of international treaties signed between countries in the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations. The role of these committees is to prevent abuses of human rights and to set international standards between the United Nations member countries and treaty signatories. It should be clarified, that despite the fact that countries who aren’t signatories

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to the treaty are not obligated to act accordingly, the reports published by the committees who act by virtue of these treaties have notable influence on the policy of the General Assembly and on the nations of the world.

Representatives from the member states are elected to the treaty-based bodies, and from the moment of their election are not subject to the policies of the countries from which they are sent. These committees report directly to the General Secretary of the General Assembly, and the Commission is the body which coordinates their professional activity and assists them.

Today there exist ten Committees founded by virtue of a treaty and are given the mandate to deal with human rights, as listed below:

1. The Human Rights Committee – CCPR

2. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights –CESCR

3. The Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination – CERD

4. The Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women – CEDAW

5. The Committee against Torture – CAT

6. The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture – SPT

7. The Committee on the Rights of the Child – CRC

8. The Committee on Migrant Workers – CMW

9. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – CRPD

10. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances – CED

11. Of all the treaties listed above, Israel is a signatory to all,8 aside from the last one relating to “enforced disappearances” (but hasn’t ratified them all). These committees function independently and produce reports on the field they are entrusted with, reporting directly to the General Secretary of the United Nations. In addition, they cooperate with the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, but are not subordinate to it, rather they are subordinate to the mandate given to them.

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Images from the Commissioner’s website:

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

The body charged with the professional and technical support in the field of human rights for the Human Rights Council, the commissions of inquiry, the treaty-based committees and the other United Nations bodies who deal with human rights, even in other organs. The Commissioner is organically subordinate to the United Nations Secretariat. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was founded in 1996 and employs approximately 1,000 people. The Human Rights Council Secretariat is located in the OHCHR’s offices.

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D. Activity of Israeli Organizations Working with United Nations “Human Rights Bodies”

In order to be an organization which officially advises United Nations “Human Rights Bodies”, including the Council, Special Rapporteurs, the Committees and the like, these bodies determined that organizations with advisor status will have to meet the conditions which the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) demands from advisory bodies who work in cooperation with its bodies. These bodies, as will be described in detail below, will have the same status also in relation to an advisory organization to the bodies who deal with human rights.9

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations for the United Nations and for its member states. Resolutions are not binding, but are passed along as recommendations to the United Nations General Assembly. The Council’s strength is in establishing institutions and bodies which will deal with economic, social, human rights, health issues and more. These institutions and bodies promote the treatment of problems in these fields, and enable solutions or concessions.

In order to execute its activities, ECOSOC is assisted by non-governmental organizations from around the world. ECOSOC chooses organizations which according to its perspective will advance activities in the spirit of the Council and appoints these organizations as advisors. This appointment is done according to Article 71 of Chapter 10 of the Charter of the United Nations, which provides organizations the ability to advise and influence

the United Nations’ work in an official, organized method. An advisory organization can hold the position of general advisor, special advisor or as a Roster.

Organizations with the status of general and special advisor are required to present a report of their activities to the United Nations once every four years. The report includes:

• Details of their contribution to implementing the United Nations’ goals.

• The organization’s participation in United Nations meetings.

• Their cooperation with United Nations bodies.

• Details of the organization’s initiatives that support implementing the United Nations’ Millennium development goals, which comprise the United Nations’ general development and peace agenda.

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Appointment as an advisor is both sought after and prestigious, as it is a form of United

Nations seal of approval of the advisory organization’s importance and seriousness.

These organizations take part in the United Nations’ activities and influence the

formulation of its policy on various issues.

As of December 2011, the United Nations has 3,536 organizations which hold this status.10 Fifteen Israeli non-governmental organizations hold the status of a United Nations advisory organization, several of them are organizations with a distinct political agenda, especially on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. As will be explained below, despite the fact that they are few in number and are merely a few of the thousands of organizations around the world, these

Israeli organizations succeed in influencing various United Nations bodies’ attitude

toward Israel, and the legitimacy of Israel’s actions in their eyes.

It should be noted that United Nations advisory organizations that deal with Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict often rely on reports from ‘on the ground’ from Israeli non-governmental organizations, even though they don’t hold advisory status. Examples of such organizations are B’tselem, Hamoked: The Center for the Defense of the Individual,

Yesh Din - Volunteers for Human Rights, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-

IL), and Peace Now. The second part of this study will focus on those organizations. It is important to note, that Israeli organizations have been officially granted advisory status after working with the United Nations, similarly to the organizations mentioned above.

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E. List of Organizations that Hold ECOSOC Advisory Status:11

Organization NameYear of

Certification and Status

WIZO – An international Zionist organization of women volunteering to improve society in Israel

Special 1959

The World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) Roster 1972International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (IAJLI) Special 1995Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) Special 1998Ittijah – Union of Arab Community-Based Associations Special 2004Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel Special 2005Yad Sarah Special 2005The Israeli Women’s Network Special 2006Shatil – Advice and Support Services to Organizations to Promote Social Change (A Division of the New Israel Fund)

Special 2007

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) Special 2010Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) in Memory of the Late Dr. Ami Cohen Special 2011Living Bread International Church Special 2013NGO Monitor- Making NGOs Accountable Special 2013Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality (NCF) Special 2013Beit Issie Shapiro Special 2012

Asmentionedabove,organizationswithadvisorystatusaregrantedtherighttoofficially

work with the Human Rights Council and with other treaty-based organizations dealing

with human rights (it is important to note that there is no exclusivity for organizations

with advisory status with regard to the possibility to report to United Nations bodies,

but they are granted special privileges). From the list above, we can see that three of

the 15 organizations with ECOSOC special advisory status take advantage of the status granted them by the United Nations to act against the policies of Israel and the IDF in the international arena and to de-legitimize Israel for its activities, as will be detailed below.

The information presented focuses solely on the activity of these organizations working with United Nations bodies and does not refer at all to additional activity done with foreign states and foreign entities, such as the European Union, the US government and Palestinian organizations.

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In addition, the information includes the organization’s activities solely from the day they were given advisory status to ECOSOC, whereas information regarding similar activity, in the period prior, was deliberately left out.

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Chart of the United Nations’ Organizational Structure

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Map of U

N Bodies A

ppearing in this Study

United Nations Special

Rapporteur on Freedom of

Religion or Belief

UN

General

Assembly

UN

Secretary G

eneral Office

'Hum

an Rights Council'

Office of the H

igh Com

missioner for

Hum

an Rights (O

HCH

R)

Special Procedures and the H

uman Rights

Council (SPD)

UN

ConferencesU

N Conferences

Durban II

Charter-Based Bodies

Comm

ittee Against Torture (CAT)

Comm

ittee on the Elimination

of Discrim

ination against W

omen (CED

AW)

Comm

ittee on the Rights of the Child – CRC

Comm

ittee on Economic,

Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)

Comm

ittee on the Elim

ination of Racial Discrim

ination (CERD)

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

(CCPR)

Treaty-Based Bodies

1.The low chart points to transfer of reports betw

een the various bodies and not to organizational subordination (Detail in the study itself).

2.Icons represent the organization’s involvement in the event detailed in the study below

.3.Israel signed the treaties, but has not ratified them

all.4.Professional office established by the U

nited Nations Secretariat, w

hich supports all the bodies and their activity, and employs approxim

ately 1,000 employees, from

1997.

The Role of Europe in Advancing Palestinian

Statehood

Special Comm

ittee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting Hum

an Rights of the Palestinian People and O

ther Arabs of the O

ccupied Territories

Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Hum

an Rights in the Palestinian Territories O

ccupied by Israel in 1967

United Nations Fact Finding

Mission on the Gaza Conflict of

2008-2009

Panel of Inquiry on the 31 May

2010 Flotilla Incident

Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Sum

mary or

Arbitrary Executions

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Adalah’s Activity in the United Nations against Israel and the Israel Defense Forces

A. About the Organization:

Adalah is a human rights organization founded in 1996 by Arab-Israeli attorneys (RA 580312247). The organization deals with the rights of the Israeli-Arab minority and wages legal battles on a wide range of issues relating to the good of the Israeli-Arab community in Israel, to the good of elements suspected of involvement in terrorism12 and for the good of Palestinians in the ‘territories’.

The organization has succeeded in creating many legal precedents in the Israeli Supreme Court and vigorously works with international elements such as the United Nations and the European Union, in the attempt to involve them in events in Israel.

Adalah has enjoyed continuous financial support from the New Israel Fund since 1997. In addition, it is defined by the Fund as one of its flagship organizations and as a part of the ‘Fund’s family’.13 Most of the Arab graduates of the New Israel Fund’s Herman Schwartz Israel Human Rights Law Fellowship intern at Adalah as attorneys, and even stay to work there for a number of years. Founding the organization and its activities have been defined by Herman Schwartz, founder of the New Israel Fund’s Herman Schwartz Israel Human Rights Law Fellowship as one of the program’s three most remarkable achievements.14

In December 2011, the organization’s founder and CEO, Attorney Hassan Jabareen, won the Herman Schwartz Award for Law and Social Justice, given by the New Israel Fund. Jabareen won the Award for his work and his “Many achievements in promoting human rights and social justice in Israel.”15

The organization was granted special advisor status to ECOSOC in 2005, and since then has been working with similar status with the United Nations’ human rights bodies.

The organization received in 2012 approximately 1.95 million ILS from foreign governmental entities, and in 2008–2012 was awarded grants totaling approximately 1.6 million ILS from the New Israel Fund.16

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B. Actions toward De-legitimizing Israel by Adalah Working with the Human Rights Council and its Charter-Based Bodies:

1. Adalah Activity Working Directly with the United Nations Human Rights Council

In February 2008, Adalah and several Israeli and Palestinian organizations17presented a position paper to the Human Rights Council containing within it an analysis of the verdict where the Israeli Supreme Court rejected its appeal against cutting the supply of fuel to Gaza.18

2. Involvement of Adalah and Israeli Organizations in Encouraging and Calling for a United Nations Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry regarding Operation Protective Edge

Fourteen Israeli organizations presented a declaration to the United Nations Human Rights Council on July 22, 2014, relating to severe human rights violations and suspicions of war crimes that were committed during Operation Protective Edge. The organizations noted that according to data belonging to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza, approximately 75% of those killed in Israeli attacks were civilians, including women and children, and that 100,000 citizens were forced to leave their houses following the Israeli attack. It was further noted in the letter that Israel destroyed by bombardment 472 buildings and additional civilian targets such as hospitals, schools, mosques and medical teams. The deadliest attack against civilians was committed in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood on July 20, 2014, where more than 60 Palestinians were killed, among them 17 children and 14 women.

The organizations fiercely condemned the incessant Israeli attacks against civilians and civilian institutions. In the organizations’ statement to the UN Human Rights Council it as written that “These acts constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law and international criminal law and may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity…”

In the conclusion of their petition, the organizations, which called themselves “Palestinian Human Rights and Civil Society Organizations in Israel,” called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to form an independent, international commission of inquiry with

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the mandate to identify and investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed within the context of Operation Protective Edge. The commission, the statement read, should set forth specific facts and circumstances of such violations and concrete recommendations with a view of holding accountable individuals responsible for those violations. In addition, they demanded that the implementation of the recommendations of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict of 2008–2009 be followed up and monitored.

Organizations that signed the statement:

Adalah –The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel;Mossawa Center –The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel; Mada al-Carmel –Arab Center for Applied Social Research; Al Tufula Center; The Association for the Defence for the Right of the Internally Displaced in Israel; The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages in the Negev (Naqab); The Galilee Society –The Arab National Society for Health Research & Services; Baladna –Association for Arab Youth; I’lam Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel; Hamleh: The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media; Aswat – Palestinian Gay Women; Women Against Violence; The Arab Association for Human Rights and Kayan Feminist Organization

On January 31, 2015, Adalah presented a report on its own behalf to the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza Conflict. In the report, Adalah stated that the Israeli investigation of the events of Operation Protective Edge does not comply with international standards in this field, mainly an independent, transparent and effective investigation without bias. In addition, the report said that the Israeli legislation does not refer to the commission of war crimes, and the Israeli penal code does not include criminal responsibility on political and military leadership for actions where there is a severe violation of human rights and international humanitarian law.

It was further written in the report that the IDF’s Military Advocate General method of managing investigations leads to a neutralization of the criminal investigation and will not produce trial or punishment for war crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza. In the report’s findings, it states that the Israeli failure to objectively investigate war crimes is a familiar Israeli pattern and that these things were written earlier, for instance in the Goldstone Report which inquired into the events of Operation Cast Lead in 2009. In addition, the report accuses IDF soldiers of committing war crimes during Operation Protective Edge.19

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3. Adalah Activity Regarding the Mavi Marmara Flotilla Working with the Commission of Inquiry Established by the United Nations Human Rights Council

In May 2010, six vessels attempted to break the naval blockade which Israel imposed on the Gaza Strip (the Gaza Freedom Flotilla). The most notable of these ships was the Turkish Mavi Marmara. During the takeover of the Marmara, IDF soldiers were savagely attacked by a part of the ship’s passengers. The event escalated to the point that ten IDF soldiers were injured, two of them seriously, nine terrorists were killed and ten more were injured.

The United Nations Human Rights Council formed a commission of inquiry to examine the facts about the Flotilla.

In September 2010, the commission published a report,20 which partially relies on the information it received from Adalah

The Commission’s Main Conclusions, Based on Information from Adalah.21

• At the time of the Flotilla, Gaza was in a state of a humanitarian crisis, and the blockade was illegal.

• Following the previous conclusion, the IDF’s steps to stop the Flotilla were manifestly illegal.

• There are clear testimonies of Israeli crimes which are in contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which mentions:

1. The right to freedom and personal security, and freedom from arbitrary arrest or imprisonment.

2. The right of detainees to receive humane treatment corresponding to human dignity.

• Israel must return property unlawfully taken and confiscated by Israeli authorities during the takeover of the Flotilla.

In this context, it should be noted that during the events of the Flotilla and at the height of the military operation, Adalah, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-IL) and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) jointly filed an exceptional appeal of habeas corpus to the Israeli Supreme Court, with the demand for information regarding the condition of the Flotilla’s passengers.

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Representatives of these organizations even met with dozens of passengers who were detained at the Ela Detainment Center in Beer Sheva, and took their testimony. Adalah represented several people who participated in the Flotilla and were arrested on board the Marmara: Mohamed Zidan – the head of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee of Israel, Raed Salah – the head of the Islamic Movement’s northern branch, Hamad Abu Daa’bas – the head of the movement’s southern branch, and Mrs. Lubna Masarwa – a member of the Free Gaza Movement.

Adalah provided legal counsel to a large number of passengers on the Flotilla, and represented MK Hanin Zoabi in her appeal, filed in the Israeli Supreme Court, against the Knesset’s decision to revoke her parliamentary rights due to her participation in the Flotilla.22

4. Adalah Activity Regarding Operation Cast Lead and the Goldstone Commission, Established by theUnited Nations Human Rights Council to Investigate the Operation

On December 27, 2008, the IDF began a widespread operation to eradicate terrorism in the Gaza Strip – Operation Cast Lead – following a long period of repeated and incessant attacks by terror organizations from the Gaza Strip on the citizens of the State of Israel.

During the operation, the IDF hit hundreds of terrorists and destroyed many buildings that were used by terror organizations. In addition, civilians as well as civilian buildings were hit, due to the terrorist embedding themselves within the civilian populace.

Throughout the operation and following it, for many months, radical left-wing

organizations spoke out against the IDF’s actions and accused the soldiers and their

commanders of committing war crimes among the Palestinian population.

Adalah presented the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur material describing its legal activity. One of the Special Rapporteurs who received material from Adalah was Professor Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Human Rights who would then present in March of 2009 a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is subordinate to the General Assembly.

During the operation (on January 12, 2009), the United Nations Human Rights Council decided to establish a commission of inquiry to examine the events, headed by Judge

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Richard Goldstone. The State of Israel refused to cooperate with the commission, with the argument that it was not needed and would not bring the truth to light. This commission

quickly became a central tool for bashing the State of Israel and the Israeli Defense

Forces and caused severe international damage, so much so that Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu defined it as one of the top three threats facing the State of

Israel.23 Several Israeli radical left-wing organizations appeared before the commission and provided it with material, which eventually served as a central source for the commissions conclusions against Israel. Adalah is one of those organizations.

Adalah’s Contribution to the Writing of the Goldstone Report:

Adalah appears in Appendix 3 to the report, as one of the organizations which answered the commission’s call and provided it with material and information.24 In addition, its name appears in Appendix 1 to the report, which lists the names of the organizations and the people who met with the commission for the purpose of providing information.25 In May 2009, Attorney Fatma Alajou from Adalah testified before the commission, and in June 2009, Adalah presented a report to the commission including findings related to the IDF’s actions.26

In the body of the report, Adalah is mentioned many times as a reference to claims and findings made by the commission. Among others, the following references can be found:

• Material and documents the organization sent to the commission: Footnote 547 (page 233).

• Commission’s correspondence with the organization: Footnote 789 (page 312), footnote 792 (page 312).

• Referral to the organization’s reports: Footnote 1061 (page 369).

• Referral to position papers produced by the organization: Footnote 894 (page 333).

• Referral to petitions and letters by the organization: Footnote 546 (page 233), footnote 788 (page 312), footnote 791 (page 312), footnote 1136 (page 383).

• Referral to the organization’s newsletter: Footnote 781 (page 310).

• Referral to the organization’s press releases: Footnote 790 (page 312).

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• Referral to the organization’s news updates: Footnote 1068 (page 370), footnote 1090 (page 373).

• Referral to the organization’s appeals to the Israeli Supreme Court: Footnote 537 (page 230), footnote 830 (page 319), footnote 778 (page 310).

• Central Quotes from the Goldstone Report

• The organization undermines the legitimacy of the actions of the Israeli government: ”The legality of several of the means imposed by the government of Israel (reducing the supply of electricity and fuel) was the subject of an appeal filed to the Israeli Supreme Court” (Footnote 491, page 58).

• The organization accuses the state of Israel and the IDF of humiliating and inhumane treatment: “On January 28th, seven Israeli human rights organizations appealed… regarding the ‘horrendous conditions under which Palestinians who were detained during the fighting in Gaza were held’ and the humiliating and inhumane treatment they suffered…” (Paragraph 9011, page 332).

• The organization is one of the partners of a letter accusing the IDF of war crimes that was sent to the Israeli Attorney General. Regarding this, it was written in the report: “The organizations sent an additional letter, but this time the Attorney General did not respond”. Among other things, the letter read: “The country’s armed forces are suspected of involvement in severe violations of international law (which lead to suspicion of responsibility for committing war crimes)” (Footnote 6311, page 383).

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Adalah’s Actions Following the Publication of the Goldstone Report

On September 15, 2009, the Goldstone Report was published, and one month later, (on October 16), the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the report’s conclusions. In publishing the council’s decision, among other things, a statement made by Fatma Alajou

from Adalah before the commission was presented:

“Based on their long experience before the Israeli legal and judicial system,

they could state that the Israeli legal and judicial system had consistently failed.

During and after Cast Lead, human rights non-governmental organizations had

demanded the opening of criminal investigations into suspicions of war crimes

committed by the Israeli Army. The victims of Cast Lead in Gaza and Israel

had the right to justice. The Council had to act to put an end to the culture of

impunity.”27

In Attorney Fatma Aljou’s statement before the United Nations Human Rights Council, she called on the Council to fully adopt the conclusions of the Goldstone Report and the recommendations which appeared within.28

Following this, Adalah continued in its efforts to act against the IDF and the policies of the State of Israel. Thus, in January 2010, in continuation of their demand to implement the recommendations of the Goldstone Report, the organization prepared a position paper

claiming that the manner in which the IDF manages investigations does not comply

with international standards.29

One of the recommendations made by Adalah in this position paper, was to form an

independent group of experts which would supervise and report on the implementation

of the recommendations of the Goldstone Report regarding independent investigation of Operation Cast Lead.

In June 2010, the United Nations formed an independent group of experts whose role was to evaluate the implementation of the recommendations of the Goldstone Report by Israel. The experts were to examine the implementation in several aspects such as: conducting internal studies while examining the lack of objectivity of the Military Advocate General and the small number of investigations opened against high-ranking IDF officers. Adalah is the organization that provided information for the United Nations’ group

of experts.

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In addition, Adalah received assistance from a group called The Open Society Institute Justice Initiative,30 which in August 2010, prepared a memo for the group of independent experts on behalf of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The memo analyzes the IDF’s investigations following Operation Cast Lead, and provides a survey comparing the legal standards (for investigation and prosecution in cases of alleged violations of the Laws of War) in Israel compared to those practiced in the USA, Canada, Britain and Australia.

It should be noted that the international organization Human Rights Watch published a report in April 201031that claims that Israel’s investigations regarding severe violations of the Laws of War carried out by its forces during Operation Cast Lead are sorely lacking in reliability and are not thorough enough. It was also written in the report that Hamas did not hold any reliable investigations at all. Human Rights Watch said that there is a need to hold independent investigations both in Israel and in the Gaza Strip in order to force the violators to be held accountable and to compensate the casualties. The report relied on, among others, information provided by Adalah.

In September 2010, an independent group of experts on behalf of the United Nations Human Rights Council published a report on the aforementioned subject.32

Main Conclusions of the United Nations’ Independent Group of Experts, relying on

information provided by Adalah33

• The group of experts expressed concern regarding the Military Advocate General’s dual role, which is a severe conflict of interest. On the one hand, the MAG’s role was to provide legal consultation to the IDF related to planning and executing Operation Cast Lead, and on the other hand, was responsible for handling all claims dealing with improper behavior by soldiers during the operation.

• Despite the Goldstone Report raising allegations against high-ranking commanders, who were complicit in violations of International Humanitarian Law, there is no indication that Israel investigated the actions of the officials who planned and commanded Operation Cast Lead. Aside from this, the group of experts mentions that the military legal system cannot be the right mechanism for an investigation of this type, and this due to an inherent conflict of interest.

Later, (in March 2011), Adalah, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-IL) and the Public

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Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) gave a verbal statement before the United Nations Human Rights Council. In the statement, they expressed concern regarding the lack of independent internal investigations of the events of Operation Cast Lead.34

5. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations’ Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories

In July 2005,35 November 2006,36 and July 200737, Hassan Jabareen, the CEO of Adalah, gave testimony before a United Nations Special Committee, which was examining Israel’s actions “Affecting Human Rights of the Palestinian People”. In his testimony, Jabareen analyzed the significant developments in the Israeli Supreme Court and in the field of Knesset legislation, and presented select legal cases handled by Adalah, which deal which issues such as: canceling ‘Jerusalem Resident’ rights for Palestinians, and forbidding family reunions of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.38 His appearance before the Special Committee

was funded by the United Nations.

Following this, in June 2008, Adalah Attorney Fatma Alajou also testified before the Special Committee, which had convened in Amman. Alajou focused in her testimony on the legal analysis of verdicts the Israeli Supreme Court gave in the period that had passed, which referred to Gaza’s status. The United Nations supported Alajou’s participation in the

Special Committee’s discussions.39

6. Adalah’s Activity Working with the Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions

In March 2006, Prof. Alston provided a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, in which he expressed concern regarding the failure of the Israeli Police’s Internal Investigations Department to create indictments against those responsible for the Arab civilian deaths in the events of October 2000.

In an additional report presented by Prof. Alston to the United Nations Human Rights Council in May 2008, he criticized the Attorney General’s decisions regarding the handling of the cases of the ‘Events of October 2000’. The Rapporteur determined that the Attorney General’s decision to not prosecute any of the police officers involved in the killing “is

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not compatible with international standards”. Adalah provided the Special Rapporteur with information on the events of October 2000, which assisted him in composing his report.40

7. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied by Israel in 1967

During the months of February and March 2005, Adalah passed along information about the Israeli Supreme Court deliberations regarding the rights of Palestinians in the ‘Palestinian territories’41 to Prof. John Dugard, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied by Israel in 1967. Two attorneys from Adalah met with Prof. Dugard, as preparation for a report he presented at the 16th meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council, held in Geneva. During this meeting, Adalah passed two interventions that deal with the rights of Israeli Arabs and the Palestinians.42

In testimony provided in February 2005, before the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on the subject of house demolitions, Dugard mentioned Adalah as the source

of information for his claims. In addition, in a report presented to the United Nations in August 2005, Dugard harshly criticized the ‘Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law’ and its effects discriminating against Palestinian women.43

In 2006, Adalah presented four further interventions at the 26th meeting of the Human

Rights Council, one of them in cooperation with Habitat International Coalition,44 and one in cooperation with the Palestinian organization Al-Haq.45

8. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief

On January 23, 2008, Asma Jahangir, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief46 visited Adalah’s offices. Arab religious leaders and Adalah activists presented her with the main issues bothering the Arab Israeli religious communities – both Muslim and Christian.

The CEO of Adalah, Attorney Hassan Jabareen, claimed that Israel is aware of the threat

to its Jewish character due to the presence of the local Arab religious communities.

He presented appeals which Adalah filed to the Israeli Supreme Court, including demands

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to reopen the large mosque in Beer Sheva for prayers, and declaring Arab religious sites as holy sites according to law, as today only Jewish religious sites are classified as such, and as such enjoy protection and funding from the state.47

C. Actions De-legitimizing Israel Done by Adalah Working with Treaty-Based Bodies in the Field of Human Rights

1. Adalah Activity Working with the United Nations Human Rights Council

In August 200948 and in June 2010,49 Adalah presented reports to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR).50 The reports dealt with the violation of the civil and political rights of the Arab minority by the State of Israel, as well as the subject of torture and abuse of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria. An attorney on behalf of Adalah participated in the Council’s discussions held in Geneva in July 2010.51

In July 2010, the United Nations Human Rights Council published its conclusions regarding Israel.52The Council included in its conclusions many claims which were raised by Adalah.

Main Conclusions of the United Nations ‘Human Rights Council’ Based on Information provided by Adalah:

The State of Israel needs to amend its Basic Laws, so they include the principal of non-discrimination, as opposed to the situation today, where there are laws which include the

expression ‘Jewish state’ and thus create discrimination against the Arab minority.53

The Council calls to annul the ‘Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law’. According to the Council, the law significantly narrows the possibility of family reunions when one part of the family are Israeli citizens and another part are residents of the “West Bank”, East Jerusalem or the Gaza Strip. In effect, the law discriminates against the Arab population in Israel.54

The Council expressed concern regarding the lack of independence of the oversight mechanisms with regard to complaints about torture or excessive use of force. Although Arab citizens have filed many complaints against the police, only several cases ended with a criminal investigation and trial. The Council notes that the Israeli Police’s Internal Investigations Department is not independent, and that the state must ensure that all

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complaints are investigated by an independent authority.55

The Council raises claims against Israel with regard to its treatment of the Bedouin populace in the unrecognized villages in the Negev, as this populace has no access to health and educational institutions, water and electricity. In addition, the Council is worried about the claims heard of forced evacuations of Bedouin populaces by using the ‘Public Land (Eviction of Squatters) Law’ and a lack of consideration of the Bedouin’s traditional needs in the framework of the government’s Negev policy planning.56

The Council notes Israel’s efforts to ease the Arab minority’s access to public services, but expresses concern due to the limited use of the Arabic language by government authorities: key cases in the Israeli Supreme Court are not translated into Arabic, names of places on road signs are translated into Arabic according to the Hebrew name and not the historic Arab name, and some road signs don’t include translation into Arabic. The Council further claims, that due to the prohibition on traveling to enemy countries, which include most Arab countries, there is no possibility of creating a cultural connection with other Arab communities.57

In August 2011, Adalah presented a tracking report to the Council examining the implementation of the Council’s conclusions in Israel.58

2. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

In 2010, a working group of 14 Israeli-Arab organizations,59 headed by Adalah, presented a document60 summarizing their impressions of the status of “Palestinian women” in Israel, namely, women with Israeli citizenship in the Arab sector. The document was presented to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).61

On February 4, 2011, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) presented a report summarizing its conclusions regarding the discrimination against women in Israel.62

The Committee adopted in its conclusions many claims that were raised in the

document presented to it by the working group headed by Adalah. The Committee’s

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conclusions include:

• Calling on Israel to re-evaluate its policies on the issue of prohibiting ‘family reunions’ in Israeli territory, a prohibition established in the ‘Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (2003)’. This, because it harms the family lives of Arab residents of Israel and Palestinian residents of Judea and Samaria.

• Israel must avoid demolishing illegal Arab houses, as this leads to damaging the development and advancement of Palestinian women.63

• Israel must set goals and a timetable for the acceleration of the representation of Arab women in the state’s elected and appointed bodies.

Five years earlier, in 2005, Adalah participated in a working group dealing with ‘the status of Palestinian women with Israeli Citizenship’, and acted in the framework of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The work group presented in January 2005 an alternative report to the United Nations Committee’s task force, and in May 2005 presented another report, written in response to a list of subjects and questions related to the implementation of the CEDAW convention by Israel.

In July 2005, in its 33rd meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the Committee held a review dealing with the State of Israel. A delegation representing the work group, which included Attorney Abir Bachar, participated in the Committee’s meeting. The Committee published its final conclusions, emphasizing within 14 areas related to violations of the rights of Palestinian and Arab women by Israel. Several of the issues were: participation in public life, family reunions, education, health and the status of Bedouin women with Israeli citizenship.64

3. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations’ Committee against Torture Accusing Israel of Abusing Palestinians

Adalah is a member of the United Against Torture (UAT) coalition, which is made up of 14 Palestinian and Israeli organizations, among them Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-IL) and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI).65

The organization members of this coalition presented two joint reports to the United Nations

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Committee Against Torture (CAT)66 in September 200867 and April 200968, and participated in the Committee’s discussions held in April 2009 in Geneva that dealt with Israel.

It should be noted that on May 5–6, 2009, representatives of the State of Israel appeared

before the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT), which convened in order to examine the level of Israel’s obedience to the ‘Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’ (CAT). Israel’s prior appearance before the Committee was in 2001.

One day before the appearance of the representatives from the State of Israel before

the Committee, on May 4, 2009, representatives of the United against Torture (UAT)

coalition appeared before the Committee in order to provide a verbal report on the

actions of the State of Israel and the IDF. The organizations Adalah, Al-Haq, Defence for Children International –Palestine Section(DCI–PS), Physicians for Human Rights–Israel (PHR–IL) and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) reported to the Committee on The tortures, abuses and other violations of the Convention that Israel

practices in a systematic and institutionalized manner, particularly those which were done

during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. The organizations based their claims on three reports69 and on claims (spread out over 154 pages) that were presented to the Committee by organizations who are members or partners of the UAT coalition.

The organizations’ representatives emphasized five points before the Committee.70

• Torture and abuse of Palestinians by Israel has continued since the Committee examined the situation in Israel the last time, meaning in 2001.

• There aretestimonies of actions, oversights and complicity in crimes by Israelis of all ranks and branches, including: the IDF, the Israeli Security Agency, the Police, the Judiciary and other governmental branches.

• The use by the authorities of torture and abuse of Palestinians is widespread and systematic.

• Israel does not want to or cannot fulfill its commitments as a signatory state to the convention.

• Until Israel stands up to the culture of immunity from prosecution and punishment that characterizes it, there is no chance for the situation to improve. The Committee will find that even in another four years – the

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next time it is scheduled to convene and examine the situation in Israel – it will publish conclusions and recommendations that are similar to the ones published today.

• Adalah itself contributed a study that was presented in writing and verbally before the United Nations Committee against Torture.71 The ten issues the study deals with were expressed in the Committee’s final conclusions, which were published in May 2009. In its conclusions, the Committee referred to the claims regarding torture of Palestinians, and cruelty towards them on Israel’s part. In addition, the Committee called for an independent investigation of Operation Cast Lead.72

The report composed by the coalition in September 200873 reviews Israel’s widespread and systematic – according to them – use of torture and abuse, while committing mass arrests, investigations and military tribunal mandated arrests in the “Occupied Palestinian Territories”. In addition, the report analyzes Israel’s violations of the Convention74 according to the order of the Convention’s articles.

Main Subjects in the Report:75

• Administrative arrests of Palestinians.

• Defense from punishment based on the principle of “orders from on high”. The report’s authors note this defense cannot exist when dealing with a manifestly illegal order, but considering the culture of freedom from punishment which exists in the military and the security services, it is doubtful if orders can be classified as being “manifestly illegal”.

• Use of isolation as a detainment method and prevention of immediate access to a lawyer, significantly increase the chances of torture and abuse during the arrest.

• A lack of legal means whose goal is to regulate the actions of Israel’s security agencies. In the Israeli Security Agency Law, according to the report’s authors, are three flaws:

1. According to law, there is no prohibition on ISA investigators to use torture or abuse in cases where there is no inclusion of the Charter within local Israeli law.

2. The ISA handles all of the complaints against it of torture or abuse.

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3. There exists an article in the law providing protection to ISA investigators, in case they are charged with torture or abuse under certain circumstances.

• Extending the validity of a law excusing the ISA and police from recording investigations. In 2008 the validity of this law was extended by four years. This law excuses the ISA and the police from recording (both audio and video) investigations of those suspected of security offenses. This extension created, in essence, conditions which can facilitate the commitment of torture or abuse during investigations.

• Lack of efficient means, which are required in order to assure prosecution of those responsible for torture and abuse. Although hundreds of complaints related to torture or abuse and have been filed with the Internal Investigations Department in the Justice Ministry, not one criminal investigation was opened. Furthermore, there is no transparency on the issue.

• The coalition is concerned over the option reserved for the security forces to prohibit detainees from access to a lawyer for 90 days and preventing family visits for 60 days.

• Extracting forced confessions from Palestinian detainees in Hebrew, and using those confessions as central pieces of evidence in trials against them in military tribunals.

• Operating a secret detainment facility (Camp 1391) whose location is unknown, the Red Cross has no access to it, and some claim that extreme investigation practices are used there.

• Arrest of minors: the definition of a ‘minor’ in Israel includes any person under the age of 18, whereas by military warrant, in the Palestinian territories, a ‘minor’ is defined as someone who has yet to reach the age of 16.

• Admissibility of confessions obtained unlawfully.

• A follow-up report published by the coalition in April 200976 contains few additions, and updates of articles from the report that was published by the coalition in September 2008.

The coalition published an additional report in April 2009, which focused on Israel’s actions during Operation Cast Lead.77 This report included, among the rest,78 a call by the coalition

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to the Committee to urge Israel to hold an independent investigation, in order to ensure an immediate, independent and full examination of the issue of the harm to Palestinian civilians during the operation.

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) held its 42nd convention in Geneva, from April 27th to May 15th, 2009. The convention dealt with torture occurring in Chad, Chile, Honduras, New Zealand, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Israel.79

As mentioned above, representatives from the coalition’s organizations appeared

before the Committee one day before the State of Israel’s representatives appeared,

thus preparing the ground for the claims against the representatives from the State

of Israel.

At the end of the convention, the Committee published its findings, which refer – among others to Israel. Examining the Committee’s conclusions shows that many of the

accusations against Israel originate in the coalition’s reports adopted by the Committee.

The Committee’s Main Conclusions and Recommendations against Israel Based on the

Coalition’s Reports:80

Not Accepting Responsibility

• The Committee is concerned over the fact that ISA investigators who exert physical pressure in the case of a ‘ticking bomb’ will not bear criminal responsibility, due to their using the claim of “the defense of necessity”. (In accordance with Article 2, which was brought in the list of Israel’s prohibited actions, above).81

• The Committee is concerned over the fact that not one of the over 600 complaints of abuse at the hands of ISA investigators, which were presented to the ombudsman during the years 2001–2008, lead to the opening of a single criminal investigation. (In accordance with Article 6, which was brought forth in the list of Israel’s prohibited actions, above).

• The Committee recommends that the state ensure that the claims of torture and abuse be investigated immediately and efficiently, and that the perpetrators be prosecuted. In accordance with Article 4, which was brought forth in the list of Israel’s prohibited actions, above).

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Protection from Torture and Abuse:

• The committee calls on Israel to examine the legislation and policies practiced in Israel, in order to ensure that all channels, without exception, will be brought before a judge without delay and will immediately receive access to a lawyer. (In accordance with Articles 3 and 7, which were brought forth in the list of Israel’s prohibited actions, above).

• The committee recommends that the state grant priority to expanding the demand for video documentation of interrogations of detainees who are suspected of security offences, as a further precaution for preventing torture and abuse. (In accordance with Article 5, which was brought forth in the list of Israel’s prohibited actions, above).

• The state should forbid via legislation the use of any confession of a detainee as evidence in a trial if it was proven that it was attained through torture. (In accordance with Articles 8 and 11, which were brought forth in the list of Israel’s prohibited actions, above).

Administrative Detainment and Solitary Confinement:

• The state should amend existing legislation, in order to ensure that solitary confinement will remain an extraordinary measure, implemented solely for limited periods. (In accordance with Articles 1 and 3, which were brought forth in the list of Israel’s prohibited actions, above).

• Secret Prison – ‘Camp 1931’:

• The state should ensure that in the future, no one will be detained in any secret detainment facility under its control, since the existence of such a facility is in itself a violation of the Convention. (In accordance with Article 9, which was brought forth in the list of Israel’s prohibited actions, above).

Arrest of Minors:

• Military Warrant 231, which applies to detained minors residents of the West Bank, must be amended to ensure that the definition of a minor will be any person who has yet to reach 18 years of age, according to international standards. (In accordance with Article 10, which was brought forth in the list of Israel’s prohibited actions, above).

• The Committee expresses deep concern over reports according to which

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Palestinian minors are arrested and interrogated without the presence of a lawyer or family, and according to claims they are subject to actions which comprise a violation of the Convention. All this in order to achieve confessions.

• The state must ensure that minor detainees receive basic defenses from the moment of their detainment.

The Israeli Military’s Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip:

• The state must hold an independent investigation in order to ensure an immediate, independent and full examination regarding the responsibility of the state and other authorities with all that concerns harm to civilians. In addition, Israel must promise to publish the results. (In accordance with one of the conclusions from the coalition’s 2009 report, above).

As can be seen, the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) adopted the

claims made by the coalition, which includes Adalah, nearly without change. This is a

central example of an Israeli organization partnering with Palestinian organizations,

taking advantage of its position as an advisor to the United Nations, and working to

de-legitimize Israel on behalf of the United Nations.

4. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations’ Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Adalah presented two reports to the United Nations’ Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR),82 tracking the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The first report was presented in October 2010,83 and the following year, in October 2011, an updated report was presented.84

Adalah’s reports dealt with the rights of Arabs in Israel from several aspects: systematic discrimination by using military or national service as a discrimination mechanism; passing of laws which discriminate against the Arab minority such as the ‘Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law’, which forbids Palestinian ‘family reunions’ in Israeli territory; violation of labor rights; gaps in the education system between Jewish and Arab populations; demolition and evacuation of unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev; status of Bedouin women in the Negev; inequality in the JNF’s activity; the discrimination against the status of holy sites

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that are not Jewish; the limited use of Arabic by governmental authorities; cultural rights; and more.

Adalah Attorney Sausan Zahar participated in a preliminary meeting to the convention of the CESCR which was held in Geneva in November 2010. Zahar briefed a team of United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the right to suitable housing and the right to education.85

The convention of the United Nations’ Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural

Rights (CESCR) was held in December 2010 and dealt with the countries Cameroon,

Estonia, Germany, Turkmenistan and Israel. Approximately half of the 39 issues raised

by the Committee regarding Israel referred to the rights of Arab Israeli citizens and

were based in large part on the Adalah report from the same year.

In December 2011 the Committee published its conclusions and recommendations.86The

large majority of conclusions dealt with the status of Israeli Arabs and the Palestinians

in the “Occupied Palestinian Territories”. A part of them were formulated by the

Committee following the reports from Adalah.

5. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues

In mid-December 2008, a founding convention was held in Geneva for a new United Nations forum: the Forum on Minority Issues. Approximately 100 representatives from around the world participated in the convention. Attorney Sausan Zahar from Adalah was chosen by the United Nations to participate in the convention on behalf of its organizations as an expert in the field. Adalah played an active role in formulating the recommendations, and presented notes and criticism for the draft being discussed at the convention. Following the notes87

raised by Adalah, four new articles were added to the list of recommendations, as well

as amendments and significant additions to strengthen 14 articles in the document,

which included a total of 63 articles. The recommendations which the forum finally

formulated reflected nearly all of the notes and referrals by Adalah.

Gay McDougall, an independent expert on minority problems on behalf of the United Nations, presented88 in March 2009 to the United Nations Human Rights Council a series of recommendations related to minorities and the right to education, based on the Forum for Minority Affairs document.

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Thus, in effect, Adalah’s agenda is inserted into the United Nations Human Rights Council in an attempt to fix its positions in interpretations of international law, so that eventually, these positions may also decisively influence the actions of the State of Israel and the IDF.

6. Adalah’s Activity Working with the The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

In February 2007, the organization presented six position papers to the Chairman of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on issues affecting the lives of Arab Israeli children in the State of Israel. In addition to this, the organization briefed several United Nations elements, who work with United Nations Special Rapporteurs (“on minority rights, the right to suitable housing and on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories”), regarding legal development which recently occurred. The Special Rapporteurs used this information and frequently quoted from it in reports they presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council.89

7. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues

In December 2007, Adalah CEO Hassan Jabareen participated as an expert advisor in a meeting held in Geneva with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues. In the meeting a wide range of issues relating to the Palestinians was discussed, including: the citizenship problem of Palestinian refugees in Israel and in the ‘Palestinian Authority’ territories and negating the Palestinians’ freedom of movement. Participation in the

meeting was funded by the United Nations.90

8. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

In December 200591 and February 2007,92 Adalah presented a report to this Committee, for the preparation for its discussions regarding racial discrimination in the country (the Committee prepares a list of issues which it will discuss and questions it will direct to the state of Israel).

In March 2007, following a discussion by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial

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Discrimination (CERD) on the issue of Israel’s compliance with the CERD Convention, 17 recommendations regarding treating the discrimination against Arab Israelis were determined, as well as six recommendations for treating the Palestinian issue. In a summarizing document published93 by the Committee, it called on Israel to annul the

Citizenship Law, tear down the Security Fence, force the JNF and the World Zionist

Organization to operate with equality toward the Arab minority and recognize the

unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev.

Thus the Committee adopted many issues that were raised by Adalah in the reports it presented to the Committee.

9. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People

Another instance, in which Adalah worked to accuse Israel of torturing Palestinians, occurred in the beginning of 2011.

At that time, the document was also presented to the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights before its convening on March 15, 2011, in Brussels.

The document includes updated statistical data, and a description of the detainment conditions under which Palestinian terrorists are held in Israel. In addition, it reviews six verdicts of the Israeli Supreme Court, describes new stringent procedures in the Penal Code that apply to “security suspects” and presents a series of bills called the “Shalit laws”.

The document included, among other things, the following accusations against Israel:

• The Israeli Security Agency (ISA) conducts torture and acts with cruelty and degrading and inhumane treatment towards Palestinian security detainees.94

• Israeli Supreme Court verdicts “Comprise a further deterioration in the protection of the rights of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.”

On June 26, 2011, which was declared the International Day in Support of the Victims of Torture, those same organizations published a position paper calling on Israel to stop using solitary confinement as an internment method. The document was broadly disseminated and was also sent to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and the ‘High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (HCHR).95

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10. Adalah’s Activity Working with the United Nations Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations

On May 18, 2007, the United NationsCommittee on Non-Governmental Organizations denied the Jewish National Fund (the JNF – an American organization which is a branch of the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael (KKL), the Israeli Jewish National Fund, and is its main source of donations) from receiving status as an ECOSOC advisory organization. This was preceded by a widespread campaign run by the organizations Adalah, Badil and the

Habitat International Coalition Housing and Land Rights Network against granting

this certification to the JNF.

The organizations mentioned above claimed that Israel discriminates against the Arab minority on the issue of land appropriations, while using the Jewish Agency, the World Zionist Organization and the KKL. The organizations noted that the JNF controls 13% of Israel’s land and appropriates the land exclusively to the Jewish populace.

The JNF argued before the Committee that it is independent and is involved in development projects related to water and environment in the Mediterranean. At the same time, a representative from Adalah on the Committee and the Palestinian observer at the United Nations expressed concern regarding the connection between the JNF and the KKL, as it develops lands and works in settlements located in the occupied Palestinian territories.96

11. Adalah Participation in Durban II, the 2009 United Nations World Conference Against Racism

Fuad Sultani, a member of the Adalah board of directors, participated (with the United Nations’s support) as an observer in the “Durban II” conference which the United Nations held in Geneva, in April 2009. Adalah and the Palestinian organizations Badil and Al-Haq wrote to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing their disappointment and concern regarding the Conference’s disregard for victims of severe racial discrimination, with their intent being mainly Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.97

In this context, it is worth noting that the first and second Durban Conferences were the breeding ground out of which grew the comparison of Israel to an apartheid state (much like South Africa until 1990). It was in the frameworks of these conferences that the boycotts against the State of Israel and against Israeli companies were formulated.

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Activity of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD)

A. About the Organization

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (hereinafter: ICAHD)98 is a body promoting direct, non-violent action against the demolition of Palestinian houses.99 The Committee is made up of activists, who according to them have gathered firsthand knowledge of the “brutality of the occupation”, and also work against the expansion of settlements, expropriation of land, the closure and separation policy, uprooting of olive trees and more. 100

The Committee calls to boycott Israel, avoid investments in Israel and to activate

sanctions (BDS) on Israel, and supports these until the occupation ends.101 Thus, for example, the organization approached Finland and Norway with the call to boycott Israel.102

The Committee’s activities focus on resistance and protest in the “occupied territories”, efforts to portray the “reality of the occupation” to Israeli society, and recruiting the international community to act for peace and justice.103

In effect, this organization is active on several issues.104 Activity against demolition of Palestinian houses; assisting Palestinians with legal counsel; filing complaints to the police and dealing with Israeli authorities; rebuilding; dissemination of information on the “occupation policy” to diplomats, the public and the media; tours of the “occupied territories”; relations with other entities and participating in international conventions, where it distributes the organization’s reports.105

Furthermore, the Committee tries to pass on to the Israeli public the message that “Righteous Justice” is possible. This message is passed along via information conferences throughout the country and in cooperation with other Israeli radical left-wing organizations.106

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The organization, in contravention of Israeli law, does not practice transparency as required from a registered organization, and the sizeof its donations are unavailable, nor are any other financial reports available. However, as detailed in the organization’s website, it receives contributions from the following bodies: the European Union, Spain, Trócaire, UNDP, NDC and others. 107

That being said, its main work, as the Committee claims, is political and not

humanitarian.108

Heading the organization are the organization’s founder, Dr. Jeff Halper (a professor of Anthropology), one of the organization’s founders and its manager.109

The organization received special ECOSOC advisory status in 2010 and its details can be found in the United Nations organization database.110

B. Activity of the Organization Working with United Nations Bodies that have Accepted its Qualification as an Advisor

1. Accusations against the State of Israel before the United Nations’ Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) held its 47th meeting from November 14 – December 2, 2011. 111

Prior to the Committee’s convention in November 2011, ICAHD composed112 a special report113 on the status of the “occupied Palestinian territories”, including many accusations

against the State of Israel’s policies in East Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, while determining that many of Israel’s actions are illegal under international law.

The report, composed especially so as to present the information to the United Nations Committee’s convention, is a processing of two other reports the organization prepared:

• No Home, No Homeland: A New Normative Framework for Examining the Practice of Administrative Home Demolitions in East Jerusalem114 – published in September 2011.

• Nowhere Left to Go: Arab al-Jahalin Ethnic Displacement115 – published in November 2011.

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(Detail of the reports’ main points in Appendices E and F.)

Upon the conclusion of the 47thUnited Nations CESCR convention, CESCR published its recommendations regarding Israel.116

From the Committee’s conclusions, it is clear to see that the Committee chose to adopt

many central claims against Israeli’s policies from what ICAHD presented before it, in the report it presented to the Committee and the two additional reports it published.

The Committee’s Conclusions Regarding Israel’s Policies Originating in the ICAHD

Reports:

• Israel must cease revoking the residency authorizations of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem, and avoid withholding their right to social security, including access to social services.117 (Presented in the special report on the “Status of the occupied Palestinian territories”, page 6)

• The Committee calls on Israel to immediately cease demolishing Palestinian houses.118 (Presented in the special report on the “Status of the occupied Palestinian territories”, page 61)

• Israel must coordinate with the Palestinian population plans for establishing military bases near the local population.119 (Presented in the special report on the “Status of the occupied Palestinian territories”, page 31)

• The Committee recommends that the state of Israel examine and make changes in the housing policies and in the issuance of building permits in East Jerusalem, in order to allow legal building in East Jerusalem. In addition, the Committee recommends that Israel avoid demolishing houses and forced evictions.120 (Presented in the special report on the “Status of the occupied Palestinian territories”, pages 21–31)

• The Committee expresses concern over the Palestinians’ lack of access to clean water and sanitation in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria (including the Jordan Valley), beginning from 1967. The Committee demands from the State of Israel to allow the entrance of equipment to restore the Palestinian infrastructure in these areas.121 (Presented in the special report on the “Status of the occupied Palestinian territories”, page 9)

• Israel must ensure that before evicting Palestinian residents from their homes in Area C, it will examine alternative options, will consult with the

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victims, and will properly compensate those harmed by the eviction.122 (Presented in the ICAHD website as an example of their effect on the Committee’s conclusions.123)

• The Committee accuses the IDF and the settlers of damaging water wells, water tanks deployed on rooftops and other water infrastructure, which serve the Palestinians beginning from 1967.124 (Presented in the ICAHD website as an example of their effect on the Committee’s conclusions.125)

• The Committee is concerned over the regulation plan of the Bedouin villages in the Negev, which was accepted based on the recommendations of the Goldberg Commission, and recommends that the implementation of the plan not lead to forced evacuation of Bedouins, and occur only with their consent, while providing appropriate compensation (In accordance with the United Nations’ decisions in ‘The Human Right to Adequate Housing’ from 1997).126 (Presented in the “Nowhere to Go” report, page 4)

• The Committee recommends that Israel formally recognize unrecognized Bedouin villages, cease the demolition of houses in these villages and strive to implement the right to adequate housing.127 (Presented in the “Nowhere to Go” report, pages 6–7, as well as being presented in the special report on the “Status of the occupied Palestinian territories”, page 41)

• The Committee fears that transferring the Bedouin to new villages will harm their cultural rights and their connection with the tradition of their ancestors, therefore it calls on Israel to respect their right to maintain their tradition and culture and live on their ancestors’ lands.128 (Presented in the “Nowhere to Go” report, pages 2, 4)

2. Complaints Filed by ICAHD to the United Nations Human Rights Council Regarding Israel’s Policies in East Jerusalem

On October 31, 2011, ICAHD presented three complaints against the State of Israel to the United Nations Special Rapporteurs, with the demand to investigate Israel’s policies in East Jerusalem.129

The complaints were filed with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing and the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967.

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The complaints are based on a report filed by the organization, titled “No Home, No Homeland: A New Normative Framework for Examining the Practice of Administrative Home Demolitions in East Jerusalem”.130 The report was written by Attorney Emily Schaeffer, edited by and with the legal counsel of Attorney Michael Sfard (Summary of the report is presented in Appendix G).

The report analyzes Israel’s policies and its actions in East Jerusalem, according to International Human Rights Law and Humanitarian Law.

The report states that Israel commits severe violations of international law in East

Jerusalem, revokes the rights of Palestinians to adequate housing, development and self-definition, and violates the prohibition on making a person devoid of citizenship and residency.

The report further claims that demolishing Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem is in

most cases a war crime in the field of property destruction. In demolishing the houses, limiting the possibilities of building legally and revoking the permanent resident status of Palestinians Israel is in effect generating a process of forced immigration on an ethnic

basis, thus violating international law, and may even be committing war crimes. The report adds and determines that there is evidence that the totality of Israel’s actions and policies implemented with regard to the Palestinians in East Jerusalem are intended to maintain the demographic status in the city of a Jewish majority, and that this motive is forbidden and unacceptable.

According to the organization, its contacting the United Nations was an innovation, as this is the first time an Israeli organization contacted the United Nations and requested

that an investigation be opened regarding Israel’s policies in East Jerusalem.

Linda Ramsden, the organization’s director in the UK, and Itay Epshtain, co-director of the organization, met in Geneva in mid-November 2011 along with the team members of the Special Rapporteurs to discuss the complaints filed by the organization.

In a statement published by the organization, co-director Itay Epshtain emphasized that:

“In the search for justice, we turn to the international community. The United

Nations institutions would do well to investigate and decide regarding Israel’s

criminal policies in East Jerusalem. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court

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downplays the importance of the Palestinians’ human rights, especially with

this being said with regard to the right to safe and adequate housing, the right to

development and national self-definition”.

In response to the complaints filed by the organization, The Special Rapporteur on

Adequate Housing will respond positively to any complaint filed and will come in

January 2012 for a visit to East Jerusalem. Following the visit it will publish the findings

of its investigation.

3. Report on the Subject of Uprooting the Bedouin Settlement

In November 2011 ICAHD published a report titled ‘Nowhere Left to Go: Arab al-Jahalin Ethnic Displacement’.131

In the report the organization claimed that the Bedouins who live in East Jerusalem

are faced with “forced ethnic displacement” by the Israeli authorities. According to

the report’s authors, the reason for transferring Bedouin settlements is the desire to

expand settlements located in this region, such as the city of Ma’ale Adumim. This

expansion, in their view, will harm the Bedouins’ lifestyle, as well as the developmental

possibilities of a Palestinian state in the future.132

The report claims that Israel expropriated the region where the Bedouin al-Jahalin

tribe was settled after 1967, and limited the tribe’s settlement to the area east of

Jerusalem.133

The report accuses the Israeli authorities of advancing a plan to expel the Khan al-

Ahmar community from their lands, due to the planned expansion of Ma’ale Adumim,

despite the community being there for dozens of years and the community’s population

of over 3,000. According to the report’s authors, the community is going to fall victim

to ethnic displacement.

The report accuses Israel of adopting policies that harm the basic right to adequate

housing, and violating its commitments to the International Covenant on Economic,

Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

The organization’s director, Itay Epshtain, and the organization’s UK Branch director, Linda Ramsden, met in mid-November 2011 with the representatives of the United Nations’ Special

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Rapporteurs in Geneva and gave them the report. Their goal was to raise the issue of

displacing Bedouins from their land and the urgent need to deal with this matter.

In response to the report, Prof. Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur on The Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967 said:

“The pressure applied by the Israeli authorities and the settlers to expel the

Bedouin-Palestinian communities from Area C is unfortunate, illegal and must

be stopped. Transferring the Bedouin-Palestinians without their agreement is

forceful transfer of people protected by international law. The planned transfer

of the Bedouin community raises questions regarding human rights law,

especially with regard to forced evacuation or displacement”.134

4. Participation in the United Nations Meeting in Support of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process on the subject of the role of Europe in advancing Palestinian statehood

On June 28–29, 2011, a United Nations convention was held in Brussels,135 which dealt with Europe’s role in advancing the founding of a Palestinian state and advancing the peace process in the Middle East. The organization’s director, Itay Epshtain, participated in the convention on behalf of the organization, alongside Palestinian representatives, representatives from many countries and representatives of various United Nations bodies, such as UNESCO, UNRWA and UNRIC. Among the speakers at the convention were Avraham Burg, former Speaker of the Knesset, who at the time of the convention served as the co-director of the New Israel Fund’s international council, and Prof. Neve Gordon from Ben-Gurion University’s Department of Politics and Government.136

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Activity by Ittijah Working with United Nations Bodies

A. About the Organization

Ittijah –Union of Arab Community-Based Associations (RA 580286037) was founded in 1997 in Haifa. Ittijah describes itself as “the network for Palestinian non-governmental organizations in Israel. Ittijah strives to strengthen and empower the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel by promoting the development of Palestinian civil society and advocating for political, economic and social change. Its mission is to coordinate the activities and strategies of member organizations while fostering the development of members’ institutional and organizational capabilities.”137

Ittijah’s member organizations include Arab-Israeli organizations, such as: Adalah, the Galilee Society, Mada al-Carmel, The I’lam Center, Al-Ahali, and Al-Anwar.

The organization was certified as an ECOSOC special advisor in 2004.138

The organization, much like ICAHD, does not uphold Israeli law and does not practice transparency, as required from a registered organization. None of the organization’s financial reports can be found.

The organization’s director, Ameer Makhoul, is an Israeli-Arab resident of Haifa. Makhoul was arrested on May 6, 2010, and was sentenced in January 2011 to nine years in prison, after confessing to have had “contact with a foreign agent, conspiracy to assist the enemy in

time of war, espionage and aggravated espionage, for the Hezbollah organization.”139

B. Organization’s Activity Working with United Nations Bodies

In April 2009, “Durban II”, the Durban Review Conference, was held in Geneva, Switzerland. Ittijah’s representatives participated in this conference.

The conference was organized by the United Nations as a continuation to the World

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Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related

Intolerance, which took place in Durban, South Africa, in 2011 (known as the “Durban Conference”).140 Many countries and non-governmental organizations participated in the second Durban Conference, and during the Conference, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then President of Iran, gave an outrageous speech against Israel, which cause a protest walkout of 24 representatives of Western countries.141

The Conference’s purpose was to examine the implementation of the resolutions of the first Durban Conference, and to act as catalyst for the realization of the promises of the previous conference.142 The decision to convene the Conference was accepted in the United Nations General Assembly in December 2006.143

The “Second Durban Conference” was boycotted by ten Western countries, including: the United States, Canada, Germany and Israel. Following Israel’s decision not to participate in the Conference, Ittijah called to boycott Israel and published an opinion which stated that:

“Boycott Israel, to impose sanctions and to label it as a colonial racist state

under the Motto: Zionism is Racism – Israel is an Apartheid State, the same motto

used during the world conference against Racism, 2001”144

Ameer Makhoul, Director of Ittijah, in one of the Conference’s panels said the following:

“The participation in this Conference should be an international commitment

binding all governments… All perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against

humanity should be brought to justice. Foreign occupation was condemned, in

Iraq and the Golan. All racist practices against people and individuals in the

name of counter-terrorism were condemned.”145

On October 16, 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council published a resolution regarding adopting the Goldstone Report,146 and called to implement its conclusions.147 The resolution includes the summary of a debate held at the United Nations Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem.

In the discussion, speaking on behalf of several Arab non-governmental organizations, including Ittijah, was Naji Haraj. He claimed that the crimes Israel committed, and the human rights violations, are clear facts written in the Goldstone Report and the international community is charged with the responsibility to punish Israel for its actions:

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“This Special Session, and the others that had been held on the situation in the

Occupied Palestinian Territories, had not come out of thin air. They had come

out of the continued Israeli violations against the Palestinian people. It was not

necessary to enumerate the crimes. They were well-known, and well-documented

in the report of the Fact-Finding Mission. The question was, when would the

international community address those crimes? There would always be those who

felt it needed more time. There were terrible double standards being applied here,

which undermined international standards and human rights law. The Council

should address a clear message to those who continued to commit violations

of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and other occupied

territories: it was time to end impunity and to give reign to the administration of

justice.”

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Contribution of Radical Left-Wing Organizations toward the Efforts to Establish a Palestinian State and Delegitimize Israel in the United Nations

A. Introduction

Until now, this study has dealt with the actions of Israeli organizations which hold status as advisory organizations to the United Nations and their workings with the United Nations. In order to complete the picture, we will describe below the effect other Israeli radical

left-wing organizations have on what happens in United Nations institutions.

As was mentioned at the beginning of this study, United Nations bodies formulate their opinions about Israel also basedon information, which comes from non-governmental organizations that don’t hold ECOSOC advisor status. Many United Nations reports, which deal with Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based their determinations on data that is passed along to them from Israeli field organizations or from information that these organizations regularly publish.

We are short of space in which to cover all the widespread activity by these organizations in the international scene, therefore we chose to focus on one single report, which was

presented to the United Nations General Assembly prior to its debate in September

2011, regarding the Palestinian request for recognition of their state.

We chose this report, since it symbolizes, perhaps more than anything, the campaign

being waged in the past two decades in Israel and in the international arena,

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surrounding the founding of a Palestinian state, a campaign which has led to Israel in recent years being a country that is more and more isolated and criticized.

B. ESCWA (Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia)

As was presented above, working under the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) are, among others, five regional commissions. The regional commission responsible for the Middle East is the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (hereinafter ESCWA).148

ESCWA was founded in 1973, with the background of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the great tension in those days between Israel and the Arab nations. The Commission’s purpose was to promote social and economic development among the region’s nations, or more specifically, among the nations of the Arab world.

The nations that are members of ESCWA are: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Sudan, Yemen and ‘Palestine’.149

ESCWA published an annual report summarizing its activity and its plans for the future. The report deals with all of ESCWA’s fields of occupation, among them the Palestinian issue. ESCWA reports deal with the interests of the Arab member states, and therefore naturally,

they present a clear pro-Palestinian position.

The reports published by ESCWA are based on a wide range of sources: newspaper clippings, studies done by international human rights organizations, international organizations working in the Palestinian arena, reports by representatives and other organizations subordinate to the United Nations, academic articles and more.

1. ESCWA Report from May 2011

In order to reach significant achievements at the United Nations, such as international

condemnation and imposing of sanctions, the support of influential United Nations bodies must be won, such as the General Assembly or the Security Council.

One of the ways to receive recognition by the General Assembly of any particular agenda is to embed the agenda in one of the smaller, secondary United Nations bodies, and thus

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turn the agenda into ‘objective’ information, which is reported to the General Assembly via that same secondary United Nations body. In the next step, the General Assembly adopts the report by its own secondary body, either by certifying it itself or by reaching decisions that derive from it in the General Assembly.

The 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly was opened at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on September 13, 2011.150 One of the main issues on the Assembly’s agenda was a debate on the Palestinian request for recognition of a Palestinian state and the public debate between Israel and ‘Palestine’ on this issue.

Prior to the Assembly, an ESCWA report was published in May 2011.151The report was prepared as a platform for the debate in the General Assembly that would deal with the Palestinian issue and as material that would guide the economic committee held within the framework of the General Assembly.

The report, titled Economic and Social Repercussions of the Israeli Occupation on

the Living Conditions of the Palestinian People in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,

Including Jerusalem, and of the Arab Population in the Occupied Syrian Golan,152, is based on information from various information sources, including Israeli radical left-wing

organizations.

This report is a part of the trend of inserting severe accusations against Israel into the General Assembly deliberations.

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At the annual General Assembly there are also “emergency meetings” on urgent matters or on matters where a solution hasn’t been found for a long time. In recent years there have also been “emergency meetings” on the Palestinian issue.153

To our understanding, the report was written as a part of a trend by interested parties – such as the ESCWA member states – to embed their general anti-Israeli agenda, and the pro-Palestinian agenda in particular, in the United Nations General Assembly resolutions. As a reminder, ‘Palestine’ itself serves as an ESCWA member state,154 so the report can be seen as a part of the Palestinians’ efforts at receiving recognition of their state during the 66th General Assembly.

As will be presented below, this anti-Israeli activity is partially based on information

which originates from Israeli radical left-wing organizations.

2. Report Conclusions155

• Israel continues to violate international law by killing and wounding Palestinian civilians, detaining thousands of civilians and children, continuing building of the settlements and the Security Fence, and the continued blockade of Gaza.

• The ‘Israel occupation’ and continued expansion of the settlements worsened the Palestinian population’s economic and social distress in 2010.

• There continue to be problems of access to clean water, high levels of unemployment and poverty, alongside signs of deteriorating health and settler violence against Palestinians.

• Import of essential products for the restoration of the Gaza Strip and movement of people into the Strip are still under severe restriction.

3. Main Arguments Against Israel as Presented in the Report

• The report claims that the Palestinian economic-social distress is directly derived from the continuation of the Israeli ‘occupation’.156

• The report claims that the ‘occupation’ includes forbidden actions by the IDF against the Palestinian population, including: arbitrary arrests, use

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of excessive and disproportionate force, destruction of property, imposing limits on movement, limits on building permits, a policy of containment and expansion of the settlements.157

• The report presents cases which lead to the conclusion that the IDF allegedly harmed young people and even used Palestinian children as human shields.158

• The report claims that throughout the years, Israeli security forces arrested hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, included among them thousands of women and children.159

• As of 2010, according to the report, 6,000 Palestinian detainees are being held in Israeli prisons, of them 213 are children and 210 detainees jailed without trial.160

• The report leads to the conclusion that during 2010, hundreds of complaints of abuse and torture of Palestinian detainees were filed. According to the report, the relevant judicial authority in the state of Israel failed to convict anyone in any of the cases.161

• Claims regarding amount of casualties: In the period between February 1, 2010 and March 29, 2011, 98 Palestinians were killed and 1,871 others injured from fire by the security forces and fire from settlers. In contrast, during the same period, 5 Israelis were killed and 82 others were injured. Most of the deaths were caused by aerial attacks on Gaza and fire on suspects near the restricted area adjacent to the fence separating between Israel and the Gaza Strip.162

• According to the report, in 2010 at least 431 structures were demolished in East Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, including 147 residential structures. Due to the demolitions 594 people were forced to leave their places of residence.163

• The report presents a rise in the number of Palestinian houses demolished in East Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, hand in hand with the reduction in the number of building permits granted to the Palestinians. According to the report, these actions exacerbate the housing problem.164

• The report refers to the problem of restoring the destruction in Gaza, which are a result of the continued blockade Israel enforces on the entry of merchandise into the Gaza Strip.165

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• According to the report, the many limitations imposed on the Gaza Strip persist, among them limitations on movement, importing building materials and export oversight.166

• According to the report, more than 500,000 settlers live on Palestinian lands in approximately 144 settlements. The report presents demographic data originally from B’tselem, which point to an increase of 68% in the Jewish population in Judea and Samaria from 1997 to 2010. In addition, the report accuses Israel of protecting approximately 100 settlements founded illegally in Judea and Samaria, even according to the Israeli government, and in contravention of international law.167

• The report raises allegations, which originated in a document by Peace Now,168 stating that building in the settlements continued also in the months of what was defined as a building “freeze” in the settlements.169 These claims were first raised in a report regarding the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories, which was presented to the United Nations General Assembly in January 2011.170

• The report claims that in 2010 the number of violent acts by settlers against Palestinians doubled in comparison to 2009. In addition, the report accuses the settlers of murdering a Palestinian child, taking over Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem, damaging 4,000 olive trees and the arson of 3,000 dunams (approximately 740 acres) of Palestinian-owned agricultural land.171

• The report claims that in 2010, settlers burned a church in East Jerusalem and three mosques throughout Judea and Samaria, defacing six other mosques.172

• The report claims that continuing to build the Security Fence, while separating Palestinians from their lands, creates severe economic-social harm to the Palestinian population.173

• The report states that the restrictions on movement imposed by Israel on the Palestinian population are in contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), with regard to the protection of civilians during wartime. Furthermore, Israel is accused of collective punishment, that the blockade of Gaza severely harms the locals. Aside from this, Israel is also accused of limiting territory for agriculture and limiting fishing zones, in contravention of Article 57 of the United Nations Convention on the

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Law of the Sea.174

• The report claims that Israeli policy in its entirety damages the natural resources the Palestinians are entitled to, including water, land and energy.175

• The report claims that severe damage was caused to the health services available to the Palestinians in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. In addition, Palestinian education services are poor due to the blockade on Gaza and the roadblocks in Judea and Samaria, which expose the students to violence from the settlers and various traumas.176

4. Israeli Sources of Information upon which the Report Relies

The report is based on various sources of information: Israeli organizations, various United Nations bodies, international bodies and Palestinian organizations and institutes.

The report itself has 49 footnotes, which contain detailed references to sources of

information. Six of the references (12.2%) are direct references to information that

originates from Israeli radical left-wing organizations.

An additional two footnotes (4%) refer to data from the World Bank and the United

Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) where their specific information is based on

information from Israeli radical left-wing organizations.

In other words, out of all the sources of information appearing in the footnotes to the report, 16.2% of the sources of information are Israeli radical left-wing organizations,

including Yesh Din, Bimkom, B’tselem, HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the

Individual and Peace Now.

Furthermore, in the body of the report itself more information appears, with the

notation that it originated with B’tselem177 and Peace Now.178

Detail of the Israeli Sources of Information and the Anti-Israeli use the Report Makes

of this Information:

• Yesh Din –Volunteers for Human Rights

1. The report accuses Israel of not filing indictments in 97 investigations of cases of Israelis damaging Palestinian trees, during the years 2005–

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2010.179 The accusation is based (see footnote 32 in the report) on a detailed report published by Yesh Din in October 2010, which deals with police investigations of vandalism of Palestinian trees in Judea and Samaria.180

• B’tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

1. The report accuses Israel of leaving over 20,000 Palestinians homeless since 2004, due to the demolition of Palestinian structures by Israel.181The accusation is based (see footnote 11 in the report) on information from the B’tselem website.182

2. The report accuses Israel of annexing 23,378 dunams (approximately 5,775 acres) of land in East Jerusalem, while making use of house demolitions and revoking residency permits.183 The accusation is based (see footnote 13 in the report) on data correlated by B’tselem on their online website.184

3. The report accuses Israel of revoking “residency permits” from a large number of Arab residents of East Jerusalem.185 The accusation is based (see footnote 16 in the report) on data presented on B’tselem’s website.186

4. The report accuses Israel of not opening one criminal investigation from among 645 complaints that were filed against ISA investigators for – alleged – torture and abuse of Palestinian detainees.187 This accusation is based (see footnote 3 in the report) on a report188 published by UNICEF, titled“Children Affected by Armed Conflict Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. Examining the information in the UNICEF report shows that the source of this accusation is a joint report by B’tselem and HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, which was published in October 2010, titled: “Kept in the Dark – Treatment of Palestinian Detainees in the Petah Tikva Interrogation Facility of the Israel Security Agency”.189

It should be noted, that the information presented by ESCWA and taken from publications by Israeli organizations, is presented inaccurately. In the original report it was written that 645 complaints of abuse and torture were filed during the years 2001–2009, not just in 2010 alone.

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• Peace Now

1. The report suggests that lands and structures belonging to Palestinians are still in danger of being seized for Israeli purposes, such as building the Security Fence or paving roads that serve the residents of the settlements. In addition, the report presents statistical data which emphasizes the discrimination between Palestinians and Jews in Judea and Samaria, with regard to providing building permits and demolition orders. The accusation is based190 (see footnotes 6 and 7 in the report) on information from a World Bank report,191 which was published in 2008, titled“The Economic Effects of Restricted Access to Land in the West Bank (2008)”.

2. The source of the World Bank192is a report by Peace Nowpublished193 in February 2008, under the headline: “Area C: Palestinian Construction and Demolition Stats – February 2008”

3. The report accuses Israel of building in the settlements during months that were designated as a “freeze” in construction in the settlements (November 2009 – September 2010).194

4. The accusation is based (see page 8, Article 23 in the report) on information from a report by Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Human Rights, which was published by the United Nations General Assembly in January 2011.195

5. The specific source for the information Falk provides on this matter are two reports by Peace Now published under the titles:“Eight Months into the Settlement Freeze” (2 August 2010)196 and “In 6 weeks the settlers almost made up for the 10 months Settlement Freeze” (13 November 2010).197

5. Report’s Influence on United Nations General Assembly Debates

During the 66th General Assembly in September 2011, a discussion was held on the Palestinian issue,198 the ESCWA report and the issues raised within. All of these were discussed in the framework of the Economic and Financial Committee.199 Rima Khalaf, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, presented before the Assembly the main points of the report, while the report itself was presented before representatives

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of the member countries at the General Assembly.200

After the presentation, time was given for responses by the countries and for questions on the subject. The speakers, who assumed a very aggressive stance against Israel and condemned Israel in regard to the occupation and status of the Palestinians’ rights, were representatives of the Arab states (including: Syria, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco and Libya). A position defending Israel from the harsh attacks of the report was heard solely from the Israeli representative, Amos Radian.201

In the period of time allotted for raising questions before the Committee, the Palestinian representative (Rabii al Hantouli), within the framework of his response, quoted an OCHA report that determined that the rate of settlement building in the past year had doubled, as well as cases of violence by settlers against Palestinians and Palestinian property.202

6. Summary

In order to advance the recognition of a Palestinian state by US institutions, the Arab countries and Palestinians who are members of ESCWA essentially use information that

originated from Israeli radical left-wing organizations, in order to bash Israel in the international arena, while taking advantage of their electoral power in the United Nations institutions.

The arguments raised against Israel in the framework of the report receive legitimacy,

and perhaps even the image of objectivity, through their foundation on information

published by Israeli organizations. If we assume that the Israeli organizations didn’t desire this, then the damage to the state of Israel has already been done, either willingly or unwillingly.

It is enough to note that the organizations mentioned above go to lengths to submit their reports and express their positions to various international bodies, in order to create external pressure on Israel, out of the desire to advance their political agenda. They do this while receiving funding from foreign nations.

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AppendicesAppendix A – Comparison Between Adalah Recommendations and United Nations Conclusions

In order to emphasize and prove the arguments outlined in the study, several comparisons are provided between the original report by Adalah on the issues discussed in the study, and the conclusions and recommendations formulated by the United Nations bodies which received Adalah’s reports.

In every subject the title of the official document will be presented as it appears in the source, followed by the relevant part of the document. It should be emphasized that in

some of the cases the original documents must be read in order to understand the

connection and the comparison.

1. Adalah Activity Working with the United Nations’ Committee against Torture

The joint report by the United against Terror (UAT) coalition that was presented to the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) in September 2008.203

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Both of the joint reports by the United against Terror (UAT) coalition which were presented to the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) in April 2009.204

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Conclusions of the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) with regard to Israel, which were published at the conclusion of the Committee’s 42nd convention in Geneva in June 2009.205

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Main conclusions of the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT):

1. Not Accepting Responsibility:

a. The Committee is concerned over the fact that ISA investigators who exert physical pressure in the case of a ‘ticking bomb’ will not bear criminal responsibility, due to their using the claim of “the defense of necessity”

Original in the Adalah document from September 2008, Page 17:

Reference in the United Nations Conclusions (Pages 3-4):

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b. The Committee is concerned over the fact that not one of the over 600 complaints of abuse at the hands of ISA investigators, which were presented to the ombudsman during the years 2001–2008, lead to the opening of a single criminal investigation.


Reference in the United Nations Conclusions (Page 6):

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c. The Committee recommends that the state ensure that the claims of torture and abuse be investigated immediately and efficiently, and that the perpetrators be prosecuted.


Reference in the United Nations conclusions (Page 6):

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2. Protection from Torture and Abuse:

a. The committee calls on Israel to examine the legislation and policies practiced in Israel, in order to ensure that all detainees, without exception, will be brought before a judge without delay and will immediately receive access to a lawyer.



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b. The committee recommends that the state grant priority to expanding the demand for video documentation of interrogations of detainees who are suspected of security offences, as a further precaution for preventing torture and abuse.

Original in the Adalah document from September 2008, Pages 20–21:

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c. The state should forbid via legislation the use of any confession of a detainee as evidence in a trial if it was proven that it was attained through torture.


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3. Administrative Detainment and Solitary Confinement:

The state should amend existing legislation, in order to ensure that solitary confinement will remain an extraordinary measure, implemented solely for limited periods.


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4. Secret Prison – ‘Camp 1931’:

The state should ensure that in the future, no one will be detained in any secret detainment facility under its control, since the existence of such a facility is in itself a violation of the Convention.


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Reference in the United Nations Conclusions (Page 7–8):

5. Arrest of Minors:

a. Military Warrant 231 (which applies to detained minors residents of the West Bank) must be amended to ensure that the definition of a minor will be any person who has yet to reach 18 years of age, according to international standards.


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b. The Committee expresses deep concern over reports according to which Palestinian minors are arrested and interrogated without the presence of a lawyer or family, and according to claims they are subject to actions which comprise a violation of the Convention. All this in order to achieve confessions.

c. The state must ensure that minor detainees receive basic defenses from the moment of their detainment.


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2. Adalah Activity Working with the United Nations Human Rights Council Related to Cancelling the Jewish Character of the State of Israel and Exercising the Right of Return

The joint report filed to the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) in August 2009.206

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Adalah report from August 2009.207

The joint report presented to the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) in June 2010.208

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Adalah report from June 2010.209

Conclusions of the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) regarding Israel published in July 2010:

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Main Conclusions of the United Nations Human Rights Council Based on Information provided by Adalah:

1. The state of Israel needs to amend its Basic Laws, so they include the principal of nondiscrimination. This as opposed to the situation today, where there are laws which include the expression ‘Jewish state’ and thus create discrimination against the Arab minority.

Original in the Adalah report from August 2009, Pages 1–2:

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2. The Council calls to annul the ‘Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law’. According to the Council, the law significantly narrows the possibility of family reunions, since it does not allow Israeli citizens to unite with their relatives, residents of the “West Bank”, East Jerusalem or the Gaza Strip. In effect, the law discriminates against the Arab population in Israel.

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Original in the Adalah report from June 2010, Pages 15–16:

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Reference in the United Nations Conclusions (Pages 6–7):

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3. The Council expressed concern regarding the lack of independence of the oversight mechanisms with regards to complaints about torture or excessive use of force. Although Arab citizens have filed many complaints against the police, only several cases ended with a criminal investigation and trial. The Council notes that the Israeli Police’s Internal Investigations Department is not independent, and that the state must ensure that all complaints are investigated by an independent authority.

Original in the Adalah report from August 2009, Page 9:


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4. The Council raises claims against Israel with regards to its treatment of the Bedouin populace in the unrecognized villages in the Negev, as this populace has no access to health and educations institutions, water and electricity. In addition, the Council is worried about the claims heard of forced evacuations of Bedouin populaces by using the ‘Public Land (Eviction of Squatters) Law’ and a lack of consideration of the Bedouin’s traditional needs in the framework of the government’s Negev policy planning.


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Original in the Adalah report from June 2010, Pages 6–7 (below):

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5. The Council notes Israel’s efforts to ease the Arab minority’s access to public services, but expresses concern due to the limited use of the Arabic language by government authorities: key cases in the Israeli Supreme Court are not translated into Arabic, names of places on road signs are translated into Arabic according to the Hebrew name and not the historic Arab name, and some road signs don’t include translation into Arabic. The Council further claims, that due to the prohibition on traveling to enemy countries, which include most Arab countries, there is no possibility of creating a cultural connection with other Arab communities.


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Original in the Adalahreport from June 2010, Pages 4–6:

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3. Adalah Activity Working with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

A working group of 14 Israeli Arab organizations, headed by Adalah, presented in December 2010 a report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), summarizing their impressions of the status of “Palestinian women” in Israel, namely, women with Israeli citizenship in the Arab sector.210

The conclusions of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) with regard to Israel, published in February 2011.211

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Main conclusions of the Committee, based on the report of the working group headed

by Adalah:

1. Calling on Israel to reevaluate its policies on the issue of prohibiting ‘family reunions’ in Israeli territory, a prohibition established in the ‘Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (2003)’. This, because it harms the family lives of Arab residents of Israel and Palestinian residents of Judea and Samaria.

Original in Adalah’s response in the working group report headed by Adalah (Pages 29–32):

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109

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2. Israel must avoid demolishing illegal Arab houses, as this leads to damaging the development and advancement of Palestinian women.

Original in Adalah’s response in the working group report headed by Adalah (Pages 12–13):

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4. Adalah Activity Working with the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Adalah’s report, which was presented to the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in December 2005.212

An additional report by Adalah, presented to the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’ in February 2007.213

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The recommendations of the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, published in March 2007.214

Main Points of Several of the Recommendations:

1. Israel must formally recognize the unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev.

Original in the Adalah report from February 2007, Pages 16–17:

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2. The World Zionist Organization, Jewish Agency and the JNF must be forced to operate with equality.

Original in the Adalah report from February 2007, Pages 2–3:

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3. The principle of equality must be inserted into Israeli law in order to protect its minorities from discrimination.

Original in the Adalah report from December 2005, Pages 1–2:


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5. Adalah Activity Working with the United Nations Human Rights Council

The Adalah report presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in July 2008.215

United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review report published in January 2009.216

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Main United Nations Recommendations based on Adalah’s reports:

1. The ‘Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law’ must not be renewed.

Original in the Adalah report, Page 5:

Reference in the United Nations Conclusions (Pages 25–26):

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2. International recognition of the illegality of the building of the Security Fence and the demand to dismantle it:

Original in the Adalah report, Page 3:


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Appendix B – Summary of the United against Torture Coalition’s Report from September 2008

The issues raised by the report217 as illegal activity by the state of Israel (the emphasized articles below were presented in the United Nations Committee’s conclusions, as was mentioned in the study above):

• Administrative Detainment.

• Imposing a blockade on Gaza which led to a humanitarian crisis.

• Attacks on human rights protectors and their organizations.

• Non-inclusion of the Convent in local Israeli law; the coalition is concerned that the Israeli authorities, including the Israeli Supreme Court, have yet to adopt the principle which states that torture and abuse are strictly forbidden, without exception.

• Defense from punishment based on the principle of “orders from on high”. The report’s authors note this defense cannot exist when dealing with a manifestly illegal order, but considering the culture of freedom from punishment which exists in the military and the security services, it is doubtful if orders can be classified as being “manifestly illegal”.

• Use of isolation as a detainment method and prevention of immediate access to a lawyer, significantly increase the chances of torture and abuse during the arrest.

• A lack of legal means whose goal is to regulate the actions of Israel’s security agencies.

• The Israeli Security Agency Law contains three flaws:

1. According to law, there is no prohibition on ISA investigators to use torture or abuse in cases where there is no inclusion of the Charter within local Israeli law.

2. The ISA handles all of the complaints against it of torture or abuse.

3. There exists an article in the law providing protection to ISA investigators, in case they are charged with torture or abuse under certain circumstances.

• Following the Disengagement Plan and Israel’s lack of control over the

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Gaza Strip, Israel was forced to deal with the Palestinian detainees from Gaza according to Israeli law. Therefore, Israel passed into law a ‘temporary provision’ providing a response to dealing with a detainee suspected of a security offence. This provision included the removal of several essential administrative exceptions which are granted to suspects.

• In 2008a law,excusing the ISA and police from recording with audio and video means investigations of those suspected of security offenses,was extended by four years. This extension created, in essence, conditions which can facilitate the commitment of torture or abuse during investigations.

• The Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law from 2002; the stated purpose of the law is to prevent from detainees to return to the battle field, yet the Coalition is of the opinion that the purpose of the law is to allow Israel to hold suspects as hostages which will in the future serve as bargaining chips in any negotiation.

• Complaints about abuse at roadblocks in the Palestinian territories and which are operated by private security contractors hired by Israel. The legal status of these contractors is unclear and therefore it is more difficult to oversee their actions.

• Lack of efficient means to assure prosecution of those responsible for torture and abuse. Although hundreds of complaints related to torture or abuse and have been filed to the Internal Investigations Department in the Justice Ministry, not one criminal investigation was opened. Furthermore, there is no transparency on the issue.

• Failure to comply with the Convention’s article, which states that there must be trained and qualified elements who will oversee and ensure that the law is upheld – during investigations – with all that regards to the prohibition against torture and abuse.

• The coalition is concerned over the option reserved to the security forces to prohibit detainees from access to a lawyer for 90 days, and preventing family visits for 60 days.

• Extracting forced confessions from Palestinian detainees in Hebrew and using those confessions as central pieces of evidence in trials against them in military tribunals.

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• Operating a secret detainment facility (Camp 1391) whose location is unknown, the Red Cross has no access to it, and some claim that extreme investigation practices are used there.

• Prosecution and arrest of minors: the definition of a ‘minor’ in Israel includes any person under the age of 18, whereas by military warrant, in the Palestinian territories, a ‘minor’ is defined as someone who has yet to reach the age of 16.

• Lack of punishment for the events of October 2000.

• Lack of complete identification of those who conduct investigations, which makes it significantly more difficult for detainees to file complaints, as well as creating a fear among Palestinians of filing complaints using the Israeli authorities’ complaint mechanisms, out of fear of punishment, such as cancellation of work permits.

• Bill that passed its first reading in the Knesset prevents Palestinians from filing damage suits in Israeli courts against the Israeli security services over damages that may have been caused to them. This, in contravention of the convention that determines that victims of torture must be compensated and rehabilitated.

• Admissibility of confessions obtained unlawfully.

• Use of Palestinian civilians as human shields during IDF activities.

• Demolition of houses in the Palestinian territories belonging to family members of terror suspects, as a tool for collective punishment.

• Advancing a policy that discriminates between settlers and Palestinians with regard to building permits in the Palestinian territories.

• Detainment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, which in effect negates from their relatives the right to visit them while they are incarcerated.

• Collective punishment of prisoners from the Gaza Strip following the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit.

• Discrimination between the incarceration conditions of Israeli criminal detainees and those of security detainees.

• Following the Israeli blockade, health services in Gaza are finding it difficult

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to treat all of their patients and are forced to send several of the patients to hospitals in Israel, in the West Bank, in East Jerusalem and in Jordan. Control of the border is maintained by the ISA, which refuses – at times – to transfer patients, due to security fears and thus preventing them from receiving adequate or the appropriate medical treatment. The Coalition defines this in certain cases as abuse, and in serious cases – as torture.

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Appendix C – Summary of the United against Torture Coalition’s Report from April 2009

The issues raised by the report218 as illegal activity by the state of Israel (the emphasized articles below were presented in the United Nations Committee’s conclusions, as was mentioned in the study above):

• Holding detainees from Gaza under cruel, humiliating and inhumane conditions by Israeli soldiers; the Coalition calls on the Committee to define these conditions as torture.

• Use of illegal weapons by Israel, such as: white phosphorous, the use of which violates not only the norms of International Humanitarian Law, but also constitutes a severe violation of the CAT Convention; these weapons causes excessive suffering and severe injuries. The coalition calls on the Committee to define the use of white phosphorous as abuse or torture.

• Israel preventing Palestinians from receiving medical treatment or delaying it.

• The IDF intentionally or rashly harmed a large number of medical personnel, ambulances and hospitals.

• Harming civilians and disproportionate use of force, defined in certain circumstances as abuse or torture.

• Causing negative psychological effects on the residents of the Gaza Strip during the operation.

• Collective punishment of the population of the Gaza Strip.

• The coalition calls on the Committee to urge Israel to hold an independent investigation, in order to ensure an immediate, independent and full examination of the issue of the harm to Palestinian civilians during Operation Cast Lead.

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Appendix D – Summary of the Main Points of the Report on the Situation of ‘The Occupied Palestinian Territories’

Following is a summary of the main points of the report on the Situation of ‘The Occupied Palestinian Territories’,219composed by the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD), and which was presented to the 47th Convention of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR):

• Demand that Israel stand up to its commitment derived from international human rights law, and to allow the Palestinians the existence of the conditions for self-definition and development, while maintaining the order and public life in light of the human rights conventions.

• Review of the story of the village of Iqrit, whose residents were deported from the village in 1948, following which it was destroyed by the IDF and its residents were not granted the possibility to return to their homes. Eventually, the land was illegally purchased by the state of Israel.

• Presenting the situation of the village of Dahmash, located on the seam between Lod and Ramle, and is not granted building permits or master plans for development. Accusing Israel of violating the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

• Accusations related to Israeli policy in East Jerusalem:

1. Israel performs acts of “Judaization” in East Jerusalem, in order to maintain a demographic ratio in favor of the Jews of the city.

2. Israel harms the Palestinians’ freedom of movement.

3. Israel prevents from the Palestinians in East Jerusalem access to basic social services.

4. Over 4,500 resident permits were revoked from Palestinians in 2008. The result of such revocations is the loss of social conditions that they had been eligible to receive from the State of Israel.

5. Israel expropriates Palestinian lands for Jewish settlement, using various illegal pretexts (such as using the Absentees’ Property Law, 5710 – 1950, according to which lands that were abandoned in 1948 have their ownership transferred to the State of Israel).

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6. Israel pushes the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to build illegally, due to the difficulty in obtaining building permits

7. The Municipality of Jerusalem is criminally negligent with regard to the development of infrastructure.

8. There is great bureaucratic difficulty in registering Palestinian ownership of lands and obtaining building permits for Palestinians entails a substantially high financial cost.

• Israel demolishes Palestinian houses:

1. Less than 9% of the eastern part of the city of Jerusalem is allocated to Palestinian building, 35% of the area has been expropriated for the building of settlements.

2. Israel levies heavier fines on the Palestinian population than they do on the Jewish population.

3. Israel violates international humanitarian law.

4. Israel harms the Bedouin populationresiding in the periphery of Jerusalem.

• Accusations regarding illegal actions committed by Israel in Area C throughout Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley:

1. Israel damages Palestinian structures and infrastructure.

2. The route of the Security Fence discriminates against the Palestinians.

3. There is significant damage to Palestinian access to water and agricultural territory.

4. Israel commits ethnic uprooting of Palestinian settlements.

• ICAHD recommendations to the United Nations Committee:

1. Action must be taken to end the Israeli occupation and end the demolition of Palestinian houses and infrastructure.

2. A renewed planning and building process must be created for the Palestinian population.

3. Call on all uprooted Palestinians to return to their homes (“right of return”).

4. Cease the eviction of Palestinian and Bedouin villages in Israel.

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Appendix E – Main Points of the ‘Nowhere Left to Go’ Report

Following is a summary of the report titled: ‘Nowhere Left to Go: Arab al-Jahalin Ethnic Displacement’,220 composed by the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD):

• Israel authorities informed the Bedouins who live in the hills east of Jerusalem that they will be forced to leave the area within the framework of resettlement of the Bedouin communities in Area C (Page 2).

• The reason for the transfer of the Bedouins is the implementation of the E1 plan, under which the city of Ma’ale Adumim will be expanded to create a territorial continuity between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley. This move, together with the building of the Security Fence, will damage the existence of a territorial continuity in a future Palestinian state, as well as its ability to develop. In addition, the semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Bedouin community will be harmed (Page 2).

• The report claims that Israel expropriated the region where the al-Jahalin tribe resides following the Six-Day War and limited the tribe’s settlement to the area east of Jerusalem (Page 3).

• In 1996 1,400 members of the tribe were evicted in order to allow for the expansion of the city of Ma’ale Adumim, and they were resettled in al-Jabal, situated only 300 meters away from the Jerusalem Municipal dump (Page 3).

• A delegation of the Israeli Civil Administration informed the al-Akhmar residents that they would be transferred to the vicinity of the village of al-Jabal, or in other words, the vicinity of the Municipal Dump. The forced eviction was due to occur imminently, and ICAHD calls for international mobilization to prevent such an occurrence, to hold Israeli duty bearers accountable and deter them from committing grave violations of international law (Page 3).

• Accusation that the Khan al-Akhmar community faces threat of imminent eviction, due to the planned expansion of the city of Ma’ale Adumim, despite the fact that the community has resided there for dozens of years and the community’s population of over 3,000. According to the report’s authors, the community will be one of 20 communities in the region that have fallen victim to ethnic displacement (Page 5).

• With its policies, Israel is infringing upon the basic right to adequate housing,

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and is thus violating its signing of and its commitments to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), in which this right is defined (page 6).

• Israel, as a signatory to the Covenant, is required to provide solutions for adequate housing, permanence, availability of services, adequate lifestyle (food, clothing and housing) and cultural adequacy to the Bedouin community (Pages 6–7)

• ICAHD recommendations:

1. Ending Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and the immediate cessation of demolition of Palestinian structures, in accordance with international law.

2. Transfer of the planning and building authority in Judea and Samaria (including Area C) out of Israeli hands and into the hands of the Palestinian Authority.

3. Demand to allow all uprooted Palestinians to return to their homes, as well as providing adequate compensation for damages, including damages to lands and houses.

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Appendix F – Summary of the ‘No Home, No Homeland’ Report

The Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD) published at the end of October 2011 a report titled “No Home, No Homeland: A New Normative Framework for Examining the Practice of Administrative Home Demolitions in East Jerusalem”.221 The report was written by Attorney Emily Schaeffer, edited by and with the legal counsel of Attorney Michael Sfard.

Following, are the main claims that appear in the report:

Administrative Demolition of Houses in East Jerusalem

• Since 1967, Israel demolished approximately 26,000 homes in the Palestinian territories. The demolitions were done in order to achieve the following goals: punishment, evacuation of territory for military activity (mainly in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria), and administrative demolition. Punishment is the cause behind only approximately 10% of the demolitions, and its use was terminated in 2005 and reinstated in 2009. Administrative demolition of houses comprises a share of 25% of the total amount of demolitions done in Area C in Judea and Samaria and in East Jerusalem. Most of the houses that were demolished in East Jerusalem fall under the category of administrative demolition.

• Israel is accused of the illegal occupation of East Jerusalem and of ignoring international law which is meant to apply to the Palestinian residents of the area. In addition, it is accused of preventing alternatives to illegal building.

Ethnic Policies and Urban Planning

Since 1967, there has been a policy in Jerusalem whose objective is to maintain the Jewish majority of the city. Therefore, various actions are carried out to stunt the growth of the Palestinian population of the city, including:

• Imposing limits on planning and building in the Palestinian sector – appropriation of only 13% for building, while using various excuses (infrastructure, roads, and nature reserves).

• Appropriating lower building percentages than those granted to the Jews. What this means is that permits for dense construction are not approved.

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• Many areas do not meet the standards for building in terms of the level of the local infrastructure, since they have been neglected by the authorities (unequal disbursement of the municipal budget’s funds).

• Imposing difficulties on land recording in East Jerusalem; large parts of the area were not recorded before 1967, and with Israel’s entrance the process of land recording was frozen. Over half of the lands in Jerusalem are unrecorded, and in practice, land owners cannot obtain permits for new building on their lands under the existing regulations.

• Imposing difficulties on obtaining building permits; obtaining the permit entails many expenses, which act as a barrier for Palestinians who wish to obtain them (since building projects are carried out by individual people or small groups).

• Since 1967, the population of East Jerusalem has grown fourfold, but the regional outline plan for this area of Jerusalem was not updated.

Revocation of Residency

• In order to receive the status of permanent resident many conditions must be met, which make it difficult for Palestinians who live and work in other places in the world.

• During the years 1967–2008 permanent residency status was revoked from 13,000 Palestinians.

• Palestinians choose to stay in the city because they are afraid of losing their residency status and the rights and benefits which derive from the residency status.

• Limiting the ability of families and spouses from Judea and Samaria to obtain residency permits based on ‘family reunions’.

• The building of the Security Fence, which began in 2002, led over 100,000 Palestinians to emigrate to the Israeli side, in order to not lose their rights and benefits. This led to a population growth as well as a density growth.

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Demolition of Houses and Forced Evacuations

In light of the above, residents who don’t wish to leave choose the path of building illegally.

• Today, there are between 15,000 and 20,000 structures that don’t have permits in the Palestinian sector of East Jerusalem. From the eruption of the Second Intifada and until 2007, ten illegal structures were built for each legal structure built in East Jerusalem.

• Discriminatory enforcement of illegal building: 20% of the illegal building in the city is done by Palestinians, but they suffer from 70% of the houses demolished in Jerusalem. In addition, Jews can obtain building permits with much more ease. It is further argued, that the procedures against Palestinians are expedited and their ability to protect themselves is limited. Besides all of the above, a more severe offense carries with it a more severe fine, and therefore, a disproportionate measure is created in which Palestinians are forced to pay higher sums to the Municipality for illegal building.

• There exists a phenomenon:Palestinians who received demolition warrants are executing the warrant on their own, in order to prevent the psychological damage caused by the uncertain wait for demolition by the authorities.

• Forced evacuations: Over 200 Palestinians were evicted in recent years in order to allow for Jewish building (with the excuse of Jewish ownership before 1948 or some significant importance to the land).

• The restrictions above are a part of a process whose purpose is to maintain the demographic balance in the city. There exists a policy of creating enormous demand for apartments and piling difficulties on legal housing solutions, the direct result of which is an enforced emigration process of Palestinians from the city, titled ‘Ethnic Displacement’ in the report.

International Law

An examination of the situation according to international human rights law (in light of Israel’s control of the territory) and according to humanitarian law (Laws of War), shows that Israel is violating with its policies over 5 duties and prohibitions of international law:

• The right to adequate housing enshrined in several bodies of international human rights law. Specifically, the human right to adequate housing is contained, inter alia, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948

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(Art. 25(1)); the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 (Art. 11); the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 (Art. 17); the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of 1969 (Art. 5(e)(iii)); the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1990 (Arts. 16, 27); and General Comments 4 (1991) and 7 (1997) of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

• Israel, as the occupying power, is obligated to protect the homes of the occupied residents, protected under international humanitarian law, in light of the Hague Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land and the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. The significance of this legal framework, is that Israel is obligated not only toensure that Palestinian East Jerusalemites are guaranteed access to legal,affordable, safe housing, but also to focus on their political, economic and social needs.

• A process of displacement of a particular ethnicity has begun as a result of institutionalized policies designed to alter the ethnic, religious or racial composition of the affected population. This process is done by creating a situation in which leaving is not something that is done willingly, but is based on a lack of an alternative, therefore making it forced and illegal. Israel’s policies in effect create a situation of forced deportation, which can amount to being a war crime.

• In cases in which Palestinians were deported out of the city or refused reentry, Israel has committed the war crime of forced deportation.

• Israel’s policies and practices in East Jerusalem may constitute “inhuman acts” under Article 7(1)(d) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as well as a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid of 1973.

• There is also an infringement of the basic right to nationality, as Palestinians who will leave East Jerusalem are at risk of becoming stateless or “residency-less”. The basic right tonationality is enshrined in international human rights law (including theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Conventionon Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention on the Reductionof Statelessness)

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• Israel does not grant Palestinians permits to return to their homes once they have left the country and managed to obtain other residency or citizenship outside of Israel, a violation which harms those same residents. In addition, Israel prevents members of “indigenous groups” from returning to their homes – preventing the freedom of movement between East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria to other authorities, violates several basic provisions of international humanitarian Law.

Violation of the Right to Development

• Israel is violating international human rights law, as it does not allow for conditions for the realization of the Palestinians’ rights to economic, social, cultural and political development. In addition, Israel is obligated, as the Occupying Power, to fulfill its duty to maintain public order and the development of the city.

Destruction of Property

• Property destruction – absent military justification – is a clear violation of Article 23(g) of the Hague Regulations and Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, among other sources of international humanitarian law. The majority of administrative demolitions conducted by Israel in East Jerusalem are not based on laws that conform with Israel’s duties and rights under international humanitarian law and cannot be considered military necessity, and therefore are illegal. Due to the large scale of the violation, it may well constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law and even a war crime.

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Sources1 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/Public/files/English/International_Advocacy/FINAL_Palestinian_NGO_

Statement_for_UN_HRC_Special_Session_ENGLISH_July_2014.pdf

2 Israeli Supreme Court Verdict Adalah v. IDF and Government of Israel 3292/07, published on 8/12/20113 http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter3.shtml

4 http://www.un.org/en/sc/about/

5 http://www.un.org/en/ga/

6 http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/index.shtml

7 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/HRCIndex.aspx

8 See here the list of treaties the State of Israel is a signatory to: - http://index.justice.gov.il/Units/TergomOmanotBimLeumi/Pages/Odot.aspx

9 http://csonet.org/content/documents/Brochure.pdf Quote: “Even though this body is not subsidiary of ECOSOC, only NGOs in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council can be accredited to participate in the Human Rights Council’s sessions as observers.”

10 http://csonet.org/content/documents/e2013inf6.pdf

11 http://esango.un.org/civilsociety/displayAdvancedSearch.do?ngoFlag=12 http://www.adalah.org/heb/detBill.php, http://www.adalah.org/heb/legaladvocacy.pdf

13 http://www.nif.org.il/index.php?dfn=org_page&id=741&org_id=8&OrgKeyWord=&Activity_Area[]=&

14 Information is based on a telephone interview conducted by Neta Ziv, a graduate of the program, with Schwartz, on 6.11.2008, and which was published in the Journal for Law and Social Change, Volume B – 2009:http://www.law.tau.ac.il/Heb/_Uploads/dbsAttachedFiles/ziv-schwartz-heb.pdf

15 http://www.acri.org.il/he/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/NIFprize2011.pdf

16 http://www.ngo-monitor.org.il/article/_27

17 The organizations who partnered for the purpose of writing the position paper, aside from Adalah, were: Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man, Defence for Children International (DCI), the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. In addition to this, the following organizations supported the positions posited in the position paper: Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-IL), Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Defence for Children International – Palestine Section, Ensan Center for Democracy and Human Rights, Jerusalem Legal Aid Center, Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights – Gaza.

18 http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/ara/feb08/English%20-%20Al-Haq%20-%20Joint.doc

19 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/Adalah-Submission-UN-COI-Gaza-2015.pdf

20 http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/5ba47a5c6cef541b802563e000493b8c/bffafa61f26ca7c0852577a8

21 Committee’s conclusions (articles 260–278): http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/5ba47a5c6cef541b802563e000493b8c/bffafa61f26ca7c0852577a8

22 Adalah’s activity on the issue of the Flotilla (Pages 7, 11, 12, 15): http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/upfiles/ADALAH_ANNUAL_REPORT_2010.pdf

23 See the document of the organizations’ approach to the UN: http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/D5B4483B6D667C018525753D006EE179

24 http://news.walla.co.il/item/1624667

25 Page 451 of the Goldstone Report.26 Page 432 of the Goldstone Report.27 Which can be found at the address: http://adalah.org/features/gaza/Adalah_UN_HRC_Goldstone_

Hebrew%5b1%5d%5b1%5d.pdf

28 Summary of her words before the Council, as published by Adalah (Hebrew), appear in: http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/features/gaza/Adalah_UN_HRC_Goldstone_Hebrew%5b1%5d%5b1%5d.pdf

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29 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/ara/jan10/paper.pdf

30 An institute belonging to George Soros, who is known for his positions against the State of Israel 31 http://www.hrw.org/he/news/2010/04/10-0

The report: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt0410hesumandrecs.pdf http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt0410heweb.pdf

32 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/15session/A.HRC.15.50_AEV.pdf

33 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/15session/A.HRC.15.50_AEV.pdf– Page 22. It should be noted that we do not have in our possession the document Adalah transferred in June 2010 to the independent group of experts on behalf of the United Nations Human Rights Council. However, as was mentioned above, Adalah published a position paper on the subject in January 2010, and distributed it to the relevant United Nations bodies. It can be assumed, that the information that was transferred to the expert group included information that appeared in the position paper published by Adalah.

34 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/upfiles/2011/Adalah_Activities_Jan_to_June_2011.pdf Page 1435 http://www.adalah.org/eng/publications/annualrep2005.pdf Page 38, Article 5 36 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/publications/annualrep2006.pdf Page 37, Article 437 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/eng/aug07/3.php– Testimony of Adalah’s director.38 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intl07/un-Israeli-HR-Practices-07.pdf - Report by the Special

Investigation Committee.39 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/heb/mar09/report_of_activities_2008_hebrew_final.pdf

40 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/heb/mar09/report_of_activities_2008_hebrew_final.pdf

41 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/features/rafah/ABP170205.pdf http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/features/humshields/05_02_humshields_briefing.pdf

42 Both interventions: a. http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intladvocacy/FamUniUNCHR.pdf b. http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intladvocacy/JNFUNCHR.pdf

43 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/publications/annualrep2005.pdf - Page 37, Article 344 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intl06/un-i6-jnf.pdf

45 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intl06/un-i6-compensation.pdf, http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intl06/un-i6-famunif.pdf, http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intl06/un-i6-naqab.pdf

46 The Special Rapporteur’s mandate includes: To examine incidents and governmental actions that are incompatible with the provisions of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief and to recommend remedial measures as appropriate;identify existing and emerging obstacles to the enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion or belief; present recommendations on ways and means to overcome such obstacles. The Special Rapporteur works on behalf of the United Nations Human Rights Council and the United Nations General Assembly.

47 http://www.abrahamfund.org/webfiles/fck/Ogdan%20Final.pdf

48 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/eng/jun10/docs/QUESTIONS_AAP.pdf - The report was presented in cooperation with the organizations: Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-IL). http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/ADALAH_Israel99.doc - Another report presented by the organization.

49 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/ADALAH_AMCHR_PHR_2_Israel99.doc - The report was presented in cooperation with the organizations: Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-IL). http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/eng/jun10/docs/hrc_response.pdf - Another report presented by the organization.

50 The United Nations Human Rights Committee belongs to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), but has a different purpose: the Committee oversees the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. A differentiation should be made between it and the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is directly subordinate to the United Nations General Assembly. View the United Nations’ organizational chart in Appendix D, and see http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet15rev.1en.pdf

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51 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/pressreleases/pr.php?file=28_06_10_2 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/eng/jun10/docs/Guide_AAP.pdf

52 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/hrcs99.htm - In the appropriate column for Israel.53 Original in the Adalah report from August 2009 (Article 1) http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/

ngos/ADALAH_Israel99.doc

54 Original in the Adalah report from August 2009 (Article 9) http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/ADALAH_Israel99.doc Original in the Adalah report from June 2010 (Pages 15-16) http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/jun10/docs/hrc_response.pdf

55 Original in the Adalah report from August 2009 (Article 7) http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/ADALAH_Israel99.doc

56 Original in the Adalah report from August 2009 (Articles 6, 10) http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/ADALAH_Israel99.doc

57 Original in the Adalah report from August 2009 (Article 15) http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/ADALAH_Israel99.doc Additional source in the Adalah report from June 2010 (Pages 4-6) http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/jun10/docs/hrc_response.pdf

58 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngo/Adalah_Israel_HRC99.doc

59 “The Working Group on the Status of Palestinian Women Citizens of Israel”. Other members of the group include: Mossawa Center, Mada al-Carmel –Arab Center for Applied Social Research, Women against Violence, Sidreh, Montada, Kayan Feminist Organization and others.

60 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/ngos/WomenCitizens_of_Israel_for_the_session_Israel_CEDAW48.pdf

61 “The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)”. This Committee is subordinate to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which belongs to the United Nations Secretariat. See http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/ http://www.ohchr.org/EN/AboutUs/Pages/WhoWeAre.aspx

62 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/co/CEDAW-C-ISR-CO-5.pdf

63 It should be noted that the source for this conclusion and the one following it is located in the working group’s document, but was not written by Adalah itself.

64 http://www.adalah.org/eng/publications/annualrep2005.pdf

65 The rest of the coalition’s organizations are: Al-Haq – Law in the Service of Man; Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights; Al-Quds University Human Rights Clinic; An Najah University Centre for Democracy and Human Rights; Defence for Children International – Palestine Section (DCI/PS); Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP); Hurriyat – Centre for Defence of Liberties and Civil Rights; Italian Consortium of Solidarity (ICS); Nadi Al-Asir (Palestinian Prisoners Club); Nafha Society for Defence of Prisoners and Human Rights; Mandela Institute for Human Rights and Political Prisoners; Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Torture (TRC).

66 This Committee is a part of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

67 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UAT_Israel42_1.pdfhttp://www.adalah.org/newsletter/heb/mar09/report_of_activities_2008_hebrew_final.pdf

68 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UAT_Israel42.pdfhttp://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UATSupp_Israel42.pdfhttp://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UATSupp_Israel42_Annex1.pdf

69 http://www.adalah.org/InternationalAdvocacy_full_heb.asp?ID=10&category_id=430

70 http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/apr09/UAT%20Supplementary%20Report%20-%20Response%20to%20List%20of%20Issues.dochttp://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/apr09/UAT%20Supplementary%20Report%20-%20Gaza%20Update.dochttp://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/apr09/UAT%20Supplementary%20Report%20-%20Evidence.dochttp://www.unitedagainsttorture.org/default.asp

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71 http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/heb/apr09/PR%20CAT%20Hebrew.doc

72 According to Adalah’s own words: http://www.adalah.org/InternationalAdvocacy_full_heb.asp?ID=10&category_id=430http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/heb/mar09/report_of_activities_2008_hebrew_final.pdf

73 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/features/gaza/Final%20CAT%20Press%20Release%2020%20May%202009.pdf

74 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UAT_Israel42_1.pdf

75 “Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”. The state of Israel ratified the Convention in 1991.

76 For a full list of the reports articles, see Appendix B. 77 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UAT_Israel42.pdf

78 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UATSupp_Israel42.pdf

79 For a full list of the reports articles, see Appendix C.80 http://www.stoptorture.org.il/files/PCATI_OMCT_Report_HEBREW.pdf

81 http://www.stoptorture.org.il/files/PCATI_OMCT_Report_HEBREW.pdf

82 The comparison between the articles does not appear in the original.83 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – CESCR, which belongs to ECOSOC.84 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/ngos/Adalah_Israel45.doc

85 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/ngos/Adalah_Israel45_2.dochttp://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/upfiles/Adalah›s%20responses%20to%20UN%20CESCR%20List%20of%20Issues%20for%20Israel%2018_10_11%20FINAL.pdf

86 Adalah activity report –http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/upfiles/ADALAH_ANNUAL_REPORT_2010.pdf

87 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/co/E-C-12-ISR-CO-3_en.doc

88 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/minority/docs/statements/experts/Sawsan_Zaher.doc - Recommendations by Adalah that were presented at the Convention by Attorney Sawsan Zaher.

89 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/10session/A.HRC.10.11.Add.1.pdf

90 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/eng/jun08/Adalah_AR_Final_2007%5b1%5d.pdf

91 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/eng/jun08/Adalah_AR_Final_2007%5b1%5d.pdf

92 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intl06/CERD151205.pdfhttp://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/publications/annualrep2005.pdf

93 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intl07/adalah-cerd-feb07.pdf

94 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intl07/cerd-concluding-mar07.pdf

95 This accusation is based, according to the authors of the report, on reports by Adalah and the Public Committee against Torture in Israel: Expose: Treatment of Palestinian detainees during Operation Cast Lead, July 2010; B’tselem and HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, Kept in the Dark – Treatment of Palestinian Detainees in the Petah Tikva Interrogation Facility of the Israel Security Agency, October 2010. B’tselem and HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, Absolute Prohibition: The Torture and Ill-treatment of Palestinian Detainees, May 2007.

96 http://adalah.org/upfiles/Solitary%20confinement%20position%20paper%20Hebrew%20FINAL.pdf

97 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/eng/may07/6.php

98 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/features/reports/Adalah_half_year_report_Jan-June_2009_Hebrew.pdf

99 Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) )580327575 תנועה ישראלית נגד הריסת בתים’ )ע”ר‘

100 http://www.icahd.org/?page_id=68



103 http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/israel_committee_against_house_demolitions_icahd_


140

105 https://www.facebook.com/groups/10506631413/


107 http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/israel_committee_against_house_demolitions_icahd_



110 http://www.icahd.org/?page_id=70 Jeff Halper111 http://esango.un.org/civilsociety/showProfileDetail.do?method=showProfileDetails&tab=1&profileCode

112 http://www.bettercarenetwork.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoid=25579

113 http://www.icahd.org/?p=7584

114 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1AOvsjv8IjdNDc0OWVjY/view

115 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1AOvsjv8IjdMDNkYWU0/view

116 “Nowhere Left to Go: Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin Ethnic Displacement” https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1AOvsjv8IjdMjNlYTk5YjItZGU4Mi00ZmJi/view

117 The Committee’s summarizing document regarding Israel: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G11/477/95/PDF/G1147795.pdf?OpenElement

118 Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Report, Page 4. http://www.icahd.org/?p=7995

119 Ibid, Page 6.120 Ibid.121 http://www.icahd.org/?p=7995


123 Ibid124 http://www.icahd.org/?p=7995


126 http://www.icahd.org/?p=7995


128 Ibid.129 Ibid, Page 7.130 http://www.icahd.org/?p=7967

131 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=49744

132 “Nowhere Left to Go: Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin Ethnic Displacement”133 http://www.icahd.org/?p=7825

134 “Nowhere Left to Go: Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin Ethnic Displacement” Report, Page 2.135 http://www.icahd.org/?p=7978

136 http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/5F7A96F23F81AFBE852578BD004E6D46

137 http://www.un.org/depts/dpa/qpal/docs/2011Brussels/List%20of%20participants%20-%20final%20-%20rev.1.pdf

138 http://www.ittijah.org/?LanguageId=2&System=Item&MenuId=1&PMenuId=1&MenuTemplateId=1&It

139 http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/docs/2004/decision%202004-305.pdf

140 http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4020926,00.htmlhttp://www.haaretz.co.il/news/law/1.1203796

141 The United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, also known as the first ‘Durban Conference’, was held by the United Nations in September 2011.Non-governmental organizations, which were called to serve as observers, took over the daily agenda and led a radical anti-Israeli line. Ittijah played a crucial role in the first Durban Conference. According to the

141

report by the organization NGO Monitor, the following things were written on the Ittijah website: “Ittijah›s international profile was brought under the spotlight at the Durban World Conference against Racism in 2001, where Ittijah gathered, facilitated and directed the vision and position of the Palestinian NGOs inside Israel on racism, particularly Israeli-state racism towards Palestinian citizens, and the apartheid the State practices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.” See: http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/ittijah

142 http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3703806,00.html

143 http://www.un.org/durbanreview2009/

144 http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N06/503/37/PDF/N0650337.pdf?OpenElement

145 http://www.ittijah.org/?intLanguage=2&chrSystem=item&intPMenu=319&intMenu=319&intMenuType%20=2&intCategory=386&intItem=1769&intItemType=2&intItemDisplayType=1

146 http://www.un.org/durbanreview2009/coverage/pdf/24.04.09_meeting_summary_am_en.pdf (Page 5).147 United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, to examine the legality of Operation Cast Lead in

the Gaza Strip, in January 2009. At the head of the Committee stood Judge Richard Goldstone.148 Resolution and quote below were published at: http://reliefweb.int/report/israel/opt-human-rights-council-

endorses-recommendations-report-fact-finding-mission-led

149 http://www.un.org/docs/ecosoc/ecosoc_background.html

150 http://www.escwa.un.org/about/main.asp

151 http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2011/unisinf427.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixty-sixth_session_of_the_United_Nations_General_Assembly

152 http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/328/07/PDF/N1132807.pdf?OpenElement

153 Original name of the report: «Economic and social repercussions of the Israeli occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan».

154 http://www.unaslovenia.org/en/un/assembly2011

155 http://www.escwa.un.org/members/map.asp

156 2011 Annual Report, Page 22.157 2011 Annual Report, Page 2.158 2011 Annual Report, Page 22.159 2011 Annual Report, Page 4.160 2011 Annual Report, Page 5.161 2011 Annual Report, Page 5.162 2011 Annual Report, Page 5.163 2011 Annual Report, Page 4.164 2011 Annual Report, Page 6.165 2011 Annual Report, Page 6–7.166 2011 Annual Report, Page 7.167 2011 Annual Report, Page 7.168 2011 Annual Report, Page 8.169 “Eight Months into the Settlement Freeze” “In 6 weeks the settlers almost made up for the 10 months

Settlement Freeze”.170 2011 Annual Report, Page 8171 http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G11/101/90/PDF/G1110190.pdf?OpenElement Page 8 in the

Report172 2011 Annual Report, Page 8-9.173 2011 Annual Report, Page 9.174 2011 Annual Report, Page 10–11.

142

175 2011 Annual Report, Page 11–13.176 2011 Annual Report, Page 1–15.177 2011 Annual Report, Page 18–20.178 Data table on Page 8 of the report.179 Page 8, Article 23 of the Report.180 Page 10 of the 2011 ESCWA Report.181 http://www.yesh-din.org/userfiles/file/datasheets/YESH%20DIN_Eng.pdf

182 Page 6 of the ESCWA Report, Article 12.183 The report contains general references to theB’tselem website

Data for this example can be seen on this page: http://www.btselem.org/hebrew/statistics

184 Pages6–7 of the ESCWA Report.185 http://www.btselem.org/hebrew/jerusalem/land_expropriation_statisticshttp://www.btselem.org/jerusalem/

land_expropriation_statistics

186 Page 7 of the ESCWA Report.187 http://www.btselem.org/hebrew/jerusalem/revocation_statistics

188 ESCWA Report, Page 5, Paragraph 9.189 http://www.unicef.org/oPt/CAAC_2010_annual_bulletin.pdf - Page 5 in the Report.190 http://www.btselem.org/download/201010_kept_in_the_dark_heb.pdf - See Page 39 of the Report.191 ESCWA Report, Page 6, Paragraph 11.192 http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWESTBANKGAZA/Resources/

EconomicEffectsofRestrictedAccesstoLandintheWestBankOct.20,08.pdf – Page 9, Paragraph 20.193 See Page 8 of the World Bank Report, Paragraph 20, which directs to note 30, where it states that the

source of the information is the report by Peace Now.194 http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=61&fld=495&docid=3159http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp

?num=25611http://80.70.129.201/site/en/peace.asp?pi=61&fld=495&docid=3159&pos=8

195 See ESCWA Report, Page 8, Article 23.196 http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/A72012A31C1116EC8525782C00547DD4 (See Article 14)197 http://www.peacenow.org.il/eng/node/99

198 http://www.peacenow.org.il/eng/content/6-weeks-settlers-almost-made-10-months-settlement-freeze

199 http://social.un.org/index/Home/GASecondCommittee.aspx (Second Paragraph)200 http://www.un.org/en/ga/second/index.shtml

201 http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2011/unisinf427.html

202 GA/EF/3319, under the headline Statements203 GA/EF/3319, under the headline Statements204 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UAT_Israel42_1.pdf

205 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UAT_Israel42.pdfhttp://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UATSupp_Israel42.pdf

206 http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G09/431/65/PDF/G0943165.pdf?OpenElement

207 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/eng/jun10/docs/QUESTIONS_AAP.pdf

208 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/ADALAH_Israel99.doc

209 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/ADALAH_AMCHR_PHR_2_Israel99.doc

210 http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/jun10/docs/hrc_response.pdf

211 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/ngos/WomenCitizens_of_Israel_for_the_session_Isra

212 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/co/CEDAW-C-ISR-CO-5.pdf

213 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intl06/CERD151205.pdf

143

214 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intl07/adalah-cerd-feb07.pdf

215 http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/eng/intl07/cerd-concluding-mar07.pdf

216 http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/jul08/Adalah_Submission_to_UPR_Israel_FINAL_July_2008%5 B1%5D.doc

217 http://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/4534161.68689728.html

218 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UAT_Israel42_1.pdfhttp://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/heb/mar09/report_of_activities_2008_hebrew_final.pdf

219 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UAT_Israel42.pdfhttp://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UATSupp_Israel42.pdfhttp://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/UATSupp_Israel42_Annex1.pdf

220 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1AOvsjv8IjdNDc0OWVjY/view

221 “Nowhere Left to Go: Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin Ethnic Displacement” https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1AOvsjv8IjdMjNlYTk5YjItZGU4Mi00ZmJi/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1AOvsjv8IjdMDNkYWU0/view

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