Fact Sheets


August 15, 2007
Richard Kuper

These fact sheets draw together recent information on topics of concern. Further information on these topics can be found in other parts of this site, in particular the Understanding the Conflict and the Newssections.

  1. The Arab Citizens of Israel
  2. Palestinian Child Prisoners
  3. Israel and International Law html or PDF version

These factsheets may be reproduced freely as long as their source on this website is acknowledged.

Information produced by other organisations

We will also provide links to summary information produced by other organisations. Here are a few for starters.

B’tselem the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
CAABU The Council for Arab-British Understanding
ISM
(International Solidarity Movement), The Smokescreen of the Gaza Disengagement
Miftah the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
Palestine Monitor, an Information Clearinghouse for PNGO (the Palestinian NGO Network)

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
What are the solutions to the Israeli – Palestinian conflict? informational ‘pro-con’ format website

Details of the materials on each of these sites (early 2007)

B’tselem the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
Administrative punishment
Destruction of property
Detainees and prisoners
East Jerusalem
International Law
Land and water
Residency rights and deportation
Restrictions on movement
Separation Barrier
Settlements and Israeli civilians
Use of force
Violations by Palestinians

CAABU The Council for Arab-British Understanding factsheets

Israeli Elections 2006 30 Mar, 2006
Jericho Prison Background 16 Mar, 2006
Palestinian Legislative Elections 25 Jan, 2006
Peace Proposals 26 Aug, 2005
Disengagement Plan (Summary) 25 Aug, 2005 by Sophie Bradford.
Israeli Arabs 25 Aug, 2005
Useful Resources (factsheet) 25 Aug, 2005
Security Wall 26 Jul, 2005
Ariel Sharon 12 Jun, 2005
CAABU Fact-file on Jerusalem – April 2000
Camp David – The Reality of the Myth 12 Jun, 2005
Palestinian Refugees: Frequently Asked Questions 12 Jun, 2005
Israel’s Policy of Settlement Expansion 25 Sep, 2004 by Gillian Watt.
Palestinian Prisoners 15 Aug, 2004 by Gillian Watt.

Miftah the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
Israeli Settlements (Updated), February 25, 2005
Water Resources in Palestine, February 24, 2005
Operation Defensive Shield – Frequently Asked Questions, March 29, 2004
Palestinian Land Day – Frequently Asked Questions, March 29, 2004
Controversy of US Aid to Israel, March 17, 2004
Water – A Dehydrating Predicament, February 23, 2004
The Separation and Expansion Wall, February 13, 2004
Anti-Apartheid Wall Fact Sheet: Negligence of International Law, December 18, 2003
Checkpoints: Suffocating Palestinian Society, July 31, 2003

Palestine Monitor, an Information Clearinghouse for PNGO (the Palestinian NGO Network)
The Intifada
The Occupation

Torture of Palestinians
Settlements
Poverty and Destruction
Health
Separation Wall
US Aid to Israel
Children
History
Prisoners
Water
Refugees
Apartheid Wall
Weapons of Mass Destruction

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a coalition of groups and organizations – local, state, regional, and national – that have signed on to the Campaign Call to Action, thereby committing to work for its principles and purpose collaboratively and in good faith with other Campaign groups. The Campaign also welcomes individual members.

The Caterpillar Campaign
Join the US Campaign and a coalition of groups around the United States to demand that Caterpillar end its bulldozer sales to Israel. U.S.-made machinery must not be used in the abuse of human rights!

Freezing the Peace Process: Israel’s “Disengagement” from Gaza
Israel’s “disengagement” from Gaza will not end the occupation. It is a prelude to consolidating Apartheid.  Click here for a fact sheet on the implications of Israel’s “disengagement” from Gaza.

Cementing the Occupation: Israel’s Illegal Wall Puts Palestine Behind Bars
In June 2002 Israel began working on its largest contstruction project to date, the wall. At completion, the wall will be three times as long and twice as high as the Berlin wall, trapping tens of thousands of Palestinians inside what will effectively be an open air prison. In addition to impact that the wall has on the mobility Palestinian population, it also cuts off Palestinian farmers from their agricultural land and water sources, and will have severe consequences for the natural environment. Download “Cementing the Occupation” to learn more about the wall, its status under international law, and US policy.

Time for a Nuclear-Free Middle East
For years Israel has been building an extensive nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, yet it has never been mentioned in semi-annual reports to Congress by intelligence agencies on the acquisition of technology for weapons of mass destruction.

Illegal and Ill-Advised: US Policy Towards Israel
The United States is providing substantial military, economic, and diplomatic support for Israel’s 37-year old illegal military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. When did US support start and why does it continue? What specific forms does it take and what are the prospects for change?

Direct Action: It Gets Your Message Heard
A direct action is a public, non-violent exercise of power to draw attention to injustice. It is an effective way to get your message heard, especially if people have come to accept injustice as routine. Direct action empowers by drawing new people into the movement. This fact sheet gives examples of direct action by activists working to end the illegal Israeli military occupation of Palestine. Their actions target the Israeli government, United States policies that support occupation, and multinational corporations that help sustain occupation.

Occupation Kills in Iraq and in Palestine
A US refuser says: “I saw a soldier broken down inside because he killed a child . . . [There was] the fear of killing innocent people . . . there was the fear of losing my soul in the process of saving my body.” An Israeli refuser says: “Most soldiers don’t understand that you can’t be moral while serving in the occupied territories. There’s no such thing as an ‘enlightened occupation’ . . . Should you bomb their villages and then hand out candy?” —Israeli Defense Force Staff Sergeant [Res.] Shamai Leibowitz  Download this short handout here.

Torture in the “War On Terrorism”
For decades the Israeli Defense Force has employed intimidation tactics on Palestinians that the UN Committee Against Torture has declared illegal under international law. In 2004 the US public was shocked at the discovery of the torture scandal in Abu Ghraib prison at the hands of US soldiers. Research shows that the IDF and US troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo have consistently used torture during the interrogation and detention of prisoners. The Bush administration and the Israeli government have justified uses of torture against prisoners as necessary in the “war on terror.”

The Palestinian Right of Return
The right of return is part of international law, and Palestinians are specifically guaranteed that right by UN Resolutuion 194. It is estimated that there are 5.8 million Palestinian refugees worldwide, and Palestinian refugees are the oldest refugee population to date. However, for more than 50 years Israel has yet to recognize their right to choose to return to their land or be compensated for their losses.

Dual Occupations
Since November 2003 the US has imported into Iraq many of the repressive measures that have failed to bring “security” to Israel and have turned the West Bank and Gaza Strip into a tinderbox. Increasingly, the two occupations are coming to resemble each other, as the occupiers actively collaborate to put down indigenous resistance.

Divestment
“Non violence is a powerful and just weapon,” Rev. Martin Luther King wrote forty years ago in his essay Why We Can’t Wait. “It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding . . . It is a sword that heals.”” Now is the time for us to proclaim that right is on the side of the beleaguered Presbyterian Church and committed activists who have worked to exert international pressure on Israel as occupier. For the sake of the people of Palestine and Israel and a world in which military power does not always trump justice, we must work together to forge the divestment movement into Dr. King’s healing sword.

Ending the Occupation: It’s the Law
International law is the only universally recognized framework that applies to all people everywhere. As an impartial and objective set of standards, international law is capable of resolving disputes without prejudice in favor of one party.

Palestine and the Palestinians
The West Bank and Gaza total only 1,000 sq km (smaller than Delaware) UN Security Council Resolution 242 of 1967 – the legal basis for the Oslo Agreements – calls for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territories based on the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war.


What are the solutions to the Israeli – Palestinian conflict?

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