Recommended Reports
النص الكامل: 

R1. DEFENSE FOR CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL-PALESTINE, OPERATION PROTECTIVE EDGE: A WAR WAGED ON GAZA’S CHILDREN, RAMALLAH, 16 APRIL 2015

In this 73-page report, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) documents its investigation into Palestinian child fatalities during Operation Protective Edge (OPE) in summer 2014. DCIP concludes that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted Palestinian children with drone-fired missiles and attacked Gaza schools, amounting to war crimes. DCIP verified the deaths of 547 Palestinian children during OPE, 535 of whom were killed as a direct result of Israeli attacks. The full report is available at www.dci-palestine.org.

 

R2. UN SECY.-GEN. BAN KI-MOON, GAZA FACT-FINDING MISSION: SUMMARY OF REPORT TO THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL, NEW YORK, 27 APRIL 2015

In November 2014, UN Secy.-Gen. Ban Ki-moon established a UN Headquarters Board of Inquiry in order to investigate ten incidents in which death or injuries occurred at, or damage was done to, UN buildings in Gaza and southern Israel during Operation Protective Edge. The board submitted its report in early February 2015. Although the report was not made public, Ban released a summary of it in April, including recommendations for UNRWA operations in Gaza and an overview of the attacks on the agency’s schools and premises. The full summary, including Ban’s letter to Security Council President Dina Kawar, is available at www.securitycouncilreport.org.

 

R3. INTERNATIONAL JEWISH ANTI-ZIONIST NETWORK, THE BUSINESS OF BACKLASH: THE ATTACK ON THE PALESTINIAN MOVEMENT AND OTHER MOVEMENTS FOR JUSTICE, MARCH 2015

This 124-page report exposes the financing behind attacks on Palestine solidarity organizers across the U.S. It summarizes thousands of pages of tax returns, concluding that a small group of individuals—including Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers (American billionaires and major donors to the Republican Party)—are responsible for the vast portion of this funding. The full report is available at www.ijan.org.

 

R4. OCHA, FRAGMENTED LIVES: HUMANITARIAN OVERVIEW 2014, EAST JERUSALEM, MARCH 2015

In its annual overview of violence in the occupied Palestinian territories, OCHA concludes that 2014 was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since 1967, with 2,314 Palestinians killed in 2014 compared to 39 in 2013. Additionally, the 20-page overview documents internally displaced persons, punitive detentions, violence in East Jerusalem, and settler deaths. The report is available at www.ochaopt.org.

 

R5. UNICEF, CHILDREN IN ISRAELI MILITARY DETENTION: OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, JERUSALEM, FEBRUARY 2015

This 16-page bulletin analyzes the treatment of children in Israeli military detention centers from March 2013 to November 2014. Although Israel issued new military orders in 2013 to improve their treatment, UNICEF concludes that ill-treatment of detained Palestinian children continues to be widespread. The investigation team recommends that UNICEF continue engaging with the Israeli government to hold Israeli forces accountable for the treatment of detained Palestinian children. The report and recommendations are accessible at www.unicef.org.

 

R6. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, RIPE FOR ABUSE: PALESTINIAN CHILD LABOR IN ISRAELI AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE WEST BANK, NEW YORK, 13 APRIL 2015

Based on interviews with Palestinian children and adults who work on Israeli settlement farms in the Jordan Valley, this 80-page report investigates the conditions of child labor in West Bank settlement farms. It reveals that Palestinians as young as eleven who work there are exposed to hazardous pesticides and paid low wages as they grow, harvest, and package produce for Israeli export. The full report is available at www.hrw.org.

 

R7. ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES, CHARTING A NEW COURSE: OVERCOMING THE STALEMATE IN GAZA, JERUSALEM, 13 APRIL 2015

In April, the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), which comprises international aid groups that work in the West Bank, Gaza, and/or East Jerusalem, published a 30-page report outlining an achievable action plan to rebuild Gaza. AIDA argues that in order to avoid another conflict in Gaza, donors must prioritize a permanent ceasefire, accountability for all parties, and an end to Israel’s blockade in the territory. Fortysix aid organizations signed on to the report, including Oxfam, Save the Children, and CARE International. The full report is available at www.aidajerusalem.squarespace.com.

 

R8. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS, ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND TENURE: THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, WASHINGTON, APRIL 2015

In its 21-page report, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) investigates the issue of academic freedom at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign (UIUC) in the context of the Steven Salaita case. After being offered a tenured position at UIUC, Palestinian-born academic Steven Salaita received a letter rescinding the offer in August 2014, following his series of tweets criticizing Israel’s assault on Gaza that summer (see Doc. D2 in JPS 174). In its investigation of the university, AAUP concludes that the university’s administration and board of trustees rescinded Salaita’s appointment in violation of the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, creating the opportunity for AAUP to hold a censure vote against the university later this year. The report is available at www.aaup.org.

 

R9. AL-HAQ, ISRAEL’S RETALIATORY SEIZURE OF TAX: A WAR CRIME TO PUNISH PALESTINIAN ICC MEMBERSHIP, RAMALLAH, 1 APRIL 2015

This 80-page report condemns Israel’s seizure of almost $400 million in Palestinian tax revenue between January and March 2015, calling it an unlawful form of collective punishment and a war crime. Israel withheld the revenues in response to Palestine’s accession to the Rome Statute in late December 2014, and the amount withheld made up almost three-quarters of the Palestinian Authority’s budget for that time period. The report compares the most recent freeze to that of December 2012–February 2013 in response to Palestine seeking recognition as a State at the UN, arguing that these acts are a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and prosecutable at the ICC. The report can be found at www.alhaq.org.

 

R10. INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, TRAPPED AND PUNISHED: THE GAZA CIVILIAN POPULATION UNDER OPERATION PROTECTIVE EDGE, PARIS, 27 MARCH 2015

The first international human rights nongovernmental organization granted access to Gaza since the August 2014 cease-fire, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH by its French acronym) concludes in its 76-page report that Israeli attacks against the civilian population in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge amounted to war crimes. Additionally, it determines that indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups may also amount to international crimes. The report compiles accounts of attacks against civilians, deliberate attacks targeting medical services, and refusal of access to humanitarian relief. FIDH submitted its report to the International Criminal Court for the court’s preliminary examination into the situation in Gaza. The report is available at www.fidh.org.

 

R11. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, UNLAWFUL AND DEADLY: ROCKET AND MORTAR ATTACKS BY PALESTINIAN ARMED GROUPS DURING THE 2014 GAZA/ISRAEL CONFLICT, LONDON, 26 MARCH 2015

In this 63-page report, Amnesty International documents Palestinian armed groups’ rocket fire against Israel during Operation Protective Edge (OPE). The report describes the rocket fire as inherently indiscriminate and a war crime. This report comes after two others by the organization that were released in late 2014 and documented Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians during OPE (see JPS 174 and 175). While the latest report acknowledges that civilians were affected on both sides of the conflict, it fails to address Israel’s disproportionate use of force and the consequential damage caused to civilian infrastructure in Gaza, creating unlivable conditions. The report, and all others documenting OPE, is available at www.amnesty.org.

 

R12. BADIL, CLOSING PROTECTION GAPS: A HANDBOOK ON PROTECTION OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEES IN STATES SIGNATORIES TO THE 1951 REFUGEE CONVENTION, BETHLEHEM, FEBRUARY 2015

In February, BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights released a 437-page handbook providing a comprehensive breakdown of international legal protection standards applicable to Palestinian refugees. Building upon its 2005 and 2011 handbooks, BADIL presents information on the protections offered to Palestinian refugees in 30 countries, including an overview of legislation and case law related to Article 1D of the 1951 Refugee Convention, which applies only to persons who receive aid or protection from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and no other UN agency. BADIL presents an alternative approach to Article 1D, which would provide wider protections to all refugees in secondarymovement (i.e., those who leave or are expelled from their asylum countries and seek asylum elsewhere), Palestinian or otherwise. The handbook is available in full at www.badil.org.

 

R13. CORPORATE WATCH, IMPRISONED VOICES: CORPORATE COMPLICITY IN THE ISRAELI PRISON SYSTEM, LONDON, 17 APRIL 2015

In this 46-page report, Corporate Watch, an independent research group focused on the social and environmental impacts of corporations worldwide, compiles interviews conducted in 2013 with 11 recently-released Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank and Gaza. The report provides a detailed analysis of the impacts that companies such as G4S and Hewlett-Packard have on Israel’s detention and security systems and concludes with a summary of all the companies that supply equipment or services involved in the imprisonment of Palestinians. The report is available at www.corporatewatch.org.