- The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) publishes
annual reports on "The State of Human Rights in Israel and the Occupied
Territories." This article reviews its December 2008 one as human
rights activists commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10.
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- ACRI is Israel's leading human and civil rights organization
and the only one addressing all liberty and rights issues. It was founded
in 1972, is independent and nonpartisan, believes human and civil rights
are universal, and leads the struggle for these issues in Israel and Occupied
Palestine (OPT) through litigation, legal advocacy, education, and public
outreach.
-
- Ten years ago on UDHR's 50th anniversary, ACRI assessed
the status of human rights in Israel and discovered some troubling phenomena
and trends:
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- -- inequality,
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- -- social gaps,
- -- human rights violations in the OPT,
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- -- eroding social rights,
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- -- increasing privatization of social services, and more.
-
- Even so, ACRI noted that "The State of Israel has
impressive achievements in the field of human rights." A decade later,
ACRI concludes that troubling 1997 trends are now worse. Human rights
aren't in a constitution. Israel has none. Only some are in the Basic
Laws, and those apply only for Jews. Israeli Arab citizens have no rights
whatever.
-
- "The State of Israel has increasingly shirked its
responsibility to ensure its citizens the most fundamental rights:"
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- -- to health,
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- -- education,
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- -- housing, and
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- -- to live in dignity.
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- Quite the opposite:
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- -- inequality is growing,
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- -- socioeconomic gaps are widening,
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- -- free expression and privacy are threatened,
-
- -- racist trends are more common,
-
- -- so are ones that limit basic freedoms and endanger
human and civil rights; legislation for them has been tabled in the Knesset,
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- -- judicial equity is eroding,
-
- -- so is democracy,
-
- -- civil society organizations and activists are threatened,
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- -- institutionalized discrimination exists,
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- -- Arab Israelis are disadvantaged, persecuted, endangered,
and live under third-world conditions, especially in "unrecognized
villages" in the Negev and Galilee;
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- -- the gap between Arabs and Jews has widened, and
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- -- all of the above is in Israel.
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- In Occupied Palestine, conditions are far worse and oppressive.
"For forty-one years, Israel has denied fundamental rights to four
million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza," effectively controlling
their lives, and repressively denying them their rights under military
occupation:
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- -- to life,
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- -- liberty,
-
- -- personal security,
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- -- free movement and expression,
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- -- to earn a living,
- -- to health,
- -- education,
- -- to basic dignity, and much more.
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- ACRI compiled its data from numerous and varied sources:
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- -- non-governmental organizations,
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- -- newspapers,
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- -- Knesset deliberations and documents, and
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- -- Israeli published material and court proceedings.
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- Its report covers equality, civil, and social rights.
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- The Right to Equality
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- Sixty years after the UDHR and establishment of the State
of Israel, these rights have no "constitutional anchoring."
No institutions are empowered to apply them, and Arab Israelis and Palestinians
are fundamentally denied them in all respects.
-
- In addition, Israeli laws and policies reflect institutionalized
discrimination favoring Jews alone - no others, including Christians.
Those most aggrieved are the Palestinians in the OPT. For Jews, however,
laws have been passed to guarantee equality even though they're loosely
enforced and are seriously eroding:
-
- -- the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (1988) prohibits
employment discrimination (in theory) with regard to nationality, country
of origin, age, gender, family status, sexual orientation, faith, opinion,
and party affiliation;
-
- -- the Equal Rights for People with Disabilities Law
(1998) affirms their right to be integrated into society, to equality
of employment, and to accessibility; in practice, it's loosely enforced
and doesn't work;
-
- -- the Prohibition of Discrimination in Products, Services
and Entry into Places of Entertainment and Public Places Law (2000) prevents
discrimination by private individuals; again, enforcement is lax;
-
- -- various amendments to the State Service Law assures
fair representation of women, the disabled, Arab citizens, and Ethiopian
immigrants in public bodies; they don't work; and
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- -- many judicial rulings on equality and against discrimination;
they, too, end up nonstarters.
- Inequality and discrimination persist because they're
hard to prove and Israeli society never internalized these values in practice.
It shows in the Israel Democracy Institute's 2008 Democracy Index in
which 83% agreed that "every person should have the same rights,"
but only 56% want full equality for all citizens, including Arabs and
women.
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- The Status of Women
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- In Israel's labor market, women are judged inferior to
men. They earn the lowest wages, are promoted least, very few are managers,
and most "work in a rather narrow band of 'women's professions' "
reflecting these conditions. Many have part-time jobs, and female unemployment
is higher than for men.
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- They're also sexually harassed and burdened (according
to men) by getting pregnant, becoming mothers, and being viewed mainly
as homemakers. Women are poorly represented in the Israeli Knesset and
in academia at about 10% less than in EU countries. In contrast, they
represent 51% of the judiciary, their same proportion as in the population.
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- Jewish and Muslim religious laws also disfavor women
with respect to marriage and divorce, the distribution of assets when
it happens, child custody and maintenance. Too little attention is also
afforded sexually assaulted, battered women, and those victimized by trafficking.
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- Mizrahim (Jews of Middle Eastern and North African Origin)
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- Socioeconomic gaps (based on education, income, professions
and job status) between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi European Jews have widened,
even though no institutionalized discrimination exists between them.
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- Arab Israeli Citizens
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- Though legally entitled to full equality, they're effectively
victimized by institutional discrimination "deriving from the concept
of the State and its actual policies:"
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- -- Judaizing the Negev and Galilee, for example;
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- -- legislation favoring Jews over Arabs, such as the
right to citizenship;
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- -- anachronistic institutions since the founding of the
State that strictly serve Jewish majority interests in all respects;
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- -- laws, court rulings, government policies, and official
documents discriminate against Arab citizens.
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- In November 2000 at the beginning of the Second Intifada,
the Or Commission was established to investigate Israeli security force
killings of Arab Israelis and Palestinians. In September 2003, it published
its findings and concluded that:
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- "The State was not doing enough and was not making
a sufficient effort to provide equality to Arab citizens and to remove
the phenomena of discrimination and deprivation....It must be a fundamental
aim of the State's actions to achieve true equality for its Arab citizens....To
this end, the State must promote, develop, and introduce plans to close
the gaps, putting emphasis on the budgetary areas, in all aspects of education,
housing, industrial development, employment, and services. Special attention
should be paid to the living conditions and plight of the Arab Bedouin."
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- Five years later, "nothing has been done to improve
the status (and welfare)" of Israel's Arab population. For example:
-
- -- discriminatory legislation continues, including bills
and laws that delegitimize Arab Israelis, deny them equal rights, and
treat them as enemies;
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- -- the Citizenship and Entry into Law denies Palestinian
citizenship to spouses of Israeli citizens, their right to reside in
Israel, permission to stay in the country, and those already there must
leave; in July 2008, the law was extended for another year;
-
- -- in June 2008, a Basic Law amendment now denies candidacy
for the Knesset to anyone who visited a "hostile" country (meaning
Occupied Palestine) without a permit; though worded in "neutral"
language, it's directly solely at Arab legislative members to reduce their
already limited numbers;
-
- -- Israel continues to institutionalize discrimination
through increasing numbers of new laws;
-
- -- they affect land distribution and planning egregiously;
since the founding of the State, the Arab population has grown sevenfold,
yet Israel expropriated half of formerly Arab-owned lands and hasn't
established a single new Arab town; in contrast, 600 new Jewish ones have
been built; Israeli Arabs comprise 20% of the population, yet live on
and have jurisdiction over only 2.5% of the land; also, Arab citizens
can't acquire or lease land in over 80% of State territory;
- -- Bedouin Arabs are severely discriminated against in
so-called "unrecognized villages," mainly in the Galilee and
Negev desert; in 1965, Israel delegitimized their villages, zoned them
to benefit Jews and expel Arabs, forbade unlicensed construction, banned
it on agricultural land, and stipulated where Jews and Arabs could live;
the law made Bedouins internal refugees and trespassers on their own
land; they still are as ethnic cleansing continues;
-
- -- so-called mixed towns are where 90,000 Arab citizens
live in separate neighborhoods from Jews; differences between them are
pronounced; Arab ones suffer from neglect, are in disrepair, lack public
services, and are deprived of or are severely lacking in essential ones
like education, health care and housing; others as well like public transport,
proper roads, banks, post office branches, local government offices, community
or commercial centers, help for the elderly, indigent or unemployed, garbage
collection, lighting, and more.
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- Persons with Disabilities
-
- Discrimination exists despite the 1998 Equal Rights for
People with Disabilities Law applying to all kinds of disabilities - physical,
sensory, cognitive, mental, and psychological as well as to temporary
or permanent ones. Human dignity is the law's core principle - not just
against discrimination but for equality in employment, accessibility to
transport services, and for all public services and places to be accessible
to the disabled.
-
- Nonetheless, the proportion of employed disabled people
is extremely low. In addition, their economic situation is the worst
of all western countries and deteriorating. It's especially true for the
least educated.
- Disabled children face systemic obstacles to being integrated
into the general education system. Inadequate budgeting is provided for
them.
-
- More than half the population needing mental health care,
and over two-thirds who are minors, don't get it. The situation shows
that laws alone aren't enough since in practice they're not applied or
enforced.
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- Immigrants from the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) - Former Soviet Republics
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- Many, even professionals, have fewer opportunities, get
lower wages, and have inferior status. As they fully integrate over time,
they're gradually less exploited, and those best educated get professional
opportunities with chances for better ones. Still, employers generally
prefer native Israelis and discriminate against immigrants. Their representation
in public service institutions (aside from medical) is substantially lower
than their proportion in the population.
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- Ethiopian Immigrants
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- Over 20 years since their mass immigration, they've never
fully integrated and face considerable discrimination. According to the
Israeli Association for Ethiopian Jews, factors impeding them include:
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- -- their family framework disintegration;
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- -- their unfamiliarity with formal western society structures
and a lack of cultural sensitivity toward them;
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- -- their being forced to live in disadvantaged neighborhoods
and be socially isolated;
- -- the grudging acceptance of these out-of-the-mainstream
Jews by some; many others who question their Jewishness and show overt
racism; and
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- -- too little effort by the government on their behalf
in spite of "no lack of good intentions."
-
- As a result, they're disadvantaged by less education.
Most are forced into lower paying jobs. Around 72% of Ethiopian children
grow up in families living below the poverty line, and over 70% (in their
early development years) grow up in caravan parks, absorption centers,
and poor neighborhoods. It shows in high school graduation rates at about
39% compared to 63.8 % for the Jewish population as a whole. Also in higher
family violence rates, more youth crime, and a greater use of alcohol
and drugs. In May 2008 (covering the January - October 2007 period), The
State Comptroller's Report showed that Ethiopian immigrant needs aren't
properly understood and "not enough has been done" to bridge
the cultural gap and help them acclimate to Israeli society.
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- Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgenders
-
- Compared to most countries, Israel is relatively progressive
on this issue. Since the 1988 ban on homosexuality ended, major achievements
have been made in respecting the rights of these individuals, both legally
and in daily life. Since the 2005 Supreme Court decision on letting a
lesbian adopt the biological children of her partner, legal developments
have advanced the parenthood rights of same-sex couples. The Court's position
is that sexual preference and parenthood are matters of culture and personal
choice, not something for the law to decide.
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- The Occupied Territories: Violation of the Right to Equality
of Palestinian Residents
-
- Two people live in the West Bank. One is occupied, the
other free. Each is subject to a separate legal system and infrastructure.
Jews are treated preferentially on occupied land and are separated from
the Palestinian population in isolated cantons. They're under an illegal,
repressive military occupation, have no rights, and live in fear.
-
- If Jews commit a crime, they're fully protected under
Israeli law and are entitled to a civil trial. Palestinians have no rights
and face harsh military justice in military courts. Israelis have special
roads, protections, privileges and advantages. Palestinians face gross
discrimination in every facet of their lives with no legal protections
under Israeli law. This is a "blatant violation of the principle
of equality, and is in many ways reminiscent of the Apartheid regime in
South Africa." In many respects, it's far worse. It also violates
the spirit and letter of international law that defines Palestinians as
a protected civilian population in an occupied territory.
-
- In its 36 year history, ACRI has promoted equality in
numerous ways and has impressive achievements for its efforts - for Palestinians,
women, Arab Israelis, same-sex couples, and various initiatives for the
disadvantaged. Nonetheless, it works against long odds. Its progress is
painfully slow, and it's never enough.
-
- The Right to Life and Personal Security
-
- The UDHR's Article 3 states that "Everyone has the
right to life, liberty and security of person." For its Arab citizens
and Palestinians, Israel defiles it.
-
- The Killing of Arab Citizens by Security Forces
-
- After the Second Intifada's late September 2000 onset,
Israeli security forces killed 13 Arabs in October - 12 Israeli citizens
and one Palestinian. Despite the Or Commission's harsh criticism, no
one was held to account and all files were eventually closed. This and
similar incidents deepen the hostility between Jews and Arabs. Jewish
lives have worth. Arab ones don't, and rarely are charges brought when
they're taken.
-
- The Occupied Territories: Violation of the Right to Life
and Personal Security
-
- Israeli incursions into the Territories are routine,
frequent, hostile and destructive. Many Palestinian lives are lost. Many
others are wounded, and the entire population suffers under a brutal
occupation showing neither respect or mercy for the people it controls.
From January through October 2008 alone, B'Tselem and the UN Office for
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported 430 West Bank and
Gaza deaths, over 1150 wounded, and extensive property damage and destruction
- all of it, of course, in violation of international law.
-
- In June 2008, a bill cleared its first Knesset hurdle
that aims to prevent Palestinians from claiming compensation for damage
to their person or property when caused by Israeli security forces. Settler
violence and harassment also goes unaddressed even after the Israeli
High Court of Justice ruled (in June 2006) that the IDF must safeguard
the security and property of Palestinian farmers. They don't. Violence,
destruction, and land takeovers continue, and in the past year have increased
dramatically. In addition, most incidents aren't investigated. Those that
are rarely yield indictments, and Palestinians remain vulnerable and are
on their own to fend for themselves. ACRI and other human rights organizations
have undertaken numerous initiatives on their behalf. It's no simple task
when Israeli justice is stacked against them.
-
- The Prohibition of Torture
-
- UDHR's Article 5 states that "No one shall be subjected
to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
Yet Israel inflicts it extensively against Palestinian Arabs as official
policy.
-
- The Occupied Territories: Abuse of Prisoners and Violation
of the Prohibition on Torture
-
- International law is clear and unequivocal on prisoner
abuse, torture, and cruel and degrading treatment. It's strictly prohibited
at all times, in all places, under all conditions, for any reasons with
no allowed exceptions. Israel defiles the law and routinely engages in
these practices. Using the defense of a "ticking bomb" as justification
is unacceptable and illegal.
-
- Secret Evidence - Its Increased and Problematic Use
-
- As in American courts against so-called "terrorist"
defendants, Israel treats secret or classified evidence (unavailable to
the defense) as factual. Courts in both countries go along while paying
lip service in expressing cautiousness to the practice and to the right
of due process.
-
- More troublesome in Israel is the increased "anchoring
in legislation" of the right to hold court sessions in the presence
of one side only and use secret evidence (as in America) at such times
with defense counsel having no ability to refute it.
-
- Legislation Harming the Right to Liberty and Due Process
-
- In recent years, new Israeli laws permit suspending an
individual's personal liberty for "preventive" purposes without
a criminal proceeding. The Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law (2002)
was amended in August 2008 to allow indefinite administrative detentions
if secret evidence shows a "reasonable basis to assume" a person
took part in a hostile act against Israel "directly or indirectly"
or belongs to a "militia" engaging in such activity.
-
- Legal counsel may be denied for up to 21 days, and "insubmissible"
evidence or hearsay is allowed. Israel's Supreme Court affirmed the law
but not for Israeli citizens or residents, only "outside elements"
meaning Palestinians.
-
- The 2006 Criminal Procedures Law (for Detainees Suspected
of Security Offenses) denies these individuals minimal protections. It
lets authorities delay judicial hearings for up to 96 hours; in certain
circumstances to hold them longer "in the absence of the suspect;"
extend detention periods without counsel; and thus let interrogators engage
in unlawful practices, including abuse and torture. In March 2008, ACRI
and other human rights organizations petitioned Israel's High Court to
rule against the law. No decision so far has been rendered.
-
- Incarceration Conditions of Prisoners and Detainees
-
- Israel's Office of Public Defender and the Israeli Bar
Association reveal disturbing violations of fundamental prisoner rights,
including excessive force and brutal conduct of guards - against Jews.
-
- Common prisoner complaints included violence, threats,
humiliating and contemptuous guard behavior, invasive and degrading searches,
disproportionate discipline, illegal restraints, and minors weren't exempted.
-
- As bad is the deplorable conditions in many Israeli prisons:
-
- -- extreme overcrowding;
-
- -- poor hygienic and sanitary conditions;
-
- -- inadequate ventilation;
-
- -- suffocating heat;
-
- -- no separation between toilets and showers; and
- -- a shortage of basic equipment such as heaters, clothing
and blankets.
-
- The Occupied Territories: Violation of the Right to Due
Process
-
- Israeli and OPT laws permit arrest by administrative
order (based on secret or classified evidence) for up to six months, but
this may be repeatedly renewed and made indefinite - with no judicial
review or due process in court. This practice is routinely and extensively
used for Palestinians, but rarely against Jews. It's highly problematic,
morally and legally, but Israel's High Court allows it. It's often used
when inadequate evidence exists, so administrative detention becomes punishment
without trial, and detainees have no legal redress.
-
- The Military Court System
-
- For four decades, Israel's legal system has been dual
and discriminatory. Israelis must be brought before a judge within 24
hours and be tried in a civil court. Palestinians can be detained for
eight days, only then be brought before a judge, and then tried by military
court under much harsher rules:
-
- -- defense counsels are severely constrained and limited
in representing their clients effectively; their visitations are restricted
to impede preparing a proper defense; they receive investigative material
only after indictment, written in Hebrew, not Arabic; they're denied anything
considered secret and classified;
-
- -- proceedings are entirely in Hebrew with inadequate
translation;
-
- -- public scrutiny of court proceedings is greatly restricted
and verdicts aren't published for examination, review or proper appeal;
-
- -- legal proceedings are long and drawn out;
-
- -- evidentiary hearings rarely happen;
-
- -- the best to hope for is a plea bargain;
-
- -- the notion of innocent until proved guilty is lacking;
and
-
- -- minors are treated no differently than adults and
tried in regular military courts under the same harsh rules.
-
- Conditions of Incarceration
-
- In a word, they're disgraceful, inhumane, and much worse
than for Jews:
-
- -- severe overcrowding;
-
- -- access to toilets is denied;
-
- -- cells have no ventilation;
-
- -- summer heat is suffocating;
-
- -- winter cold is oppressive;
-
- -- meals and drinking water are inadequate;
-
- -- medical care is lacking;
-
- -- meetings with counsel are too few and under unreasonable
conditions; and
-
- -- prisoners are routinely abused and tortured.
-
- The Right to Privacy
-
- Israel's Basic Law states that "all persons have
the right to privacy and to intimacy, (and that) there shall be no violation
of the confidentiality of the spoken utterances, writings or records
of a person." Other Israeli laws allow exceptions, and new technologies
make it easy to compromise computerized data banks, spy, and otherwise
invade a person's privacy legally or illegally.
-
- In June 2008, the Communication Data Law (called the
"Big Brother Law) took effect. It gives police and investigative
authorities unrestricted access to cell phone company and internet provider
records on anyone for any reason. ACRI petitioned for restricting this
law, and it's currently pending before the High Court.
-
- In October 2008, another dangerous bill passed its "first
reading" in the Knesset - to establish a "biometric data bank"
to include fingerprints and facial features of Israeli citizens and residents.
If such information gets in the wrong hands, or if authorities use it
improperly, damage caused may be irreversible.
-
- Other concerns are raised over a proposed "National
Medical Record" database with such information on all Israelis. If
established, it will be another invasion of privacy and may cause considerable
harm in the wrong hands.
-
- Employee and job seeker privacy is routinely compromised.
Examples include:
-
- -- demanding they sign a sweeping waiver of medical privilege
if employed;
-
- -- waive their right to examine test results of placement
agencies;
-
- -- be subjected to eavesdropping on phone calls and e-mails;
-
- -- compulsory polygraph tests of employees and job seekers
even though their results are wholly invalid;
-
- -- work place surveillance cameras; and
-
- -- existing laws provide little chance to contest any
of the above.
-
- Free Movement
-
- Israeli Jews can move freely throughout the country and
on special OPT roads. Israeli Arabs are greatly restricted, and so are
Palestinians in the Territories.
-
- The Occupied Territories: Violation of Freedom of Movement
-
- Palestinians are greatly impeded in their own country
on their own land, and "in their own homes" in spite of being
"protected persons" under international law for whom the occupying
power must safeguard their rights. In fact, they're routinely and willfully
denied as follows:
-
- -- by physical obstacles: checkpoints, blockades (concrete
blocks, trenches, fences, earth mounds), and the Separation Wall; Palestinians
are enclosed in segregated cantons; separated from their land and isolated
from other communities;
-
- -- movement is severely restricted; special roads are
for Jews only; they're forbidden from entering settlements, their surrounding
land, or closed military zones; most may not leave the OPT or travel abroad
even to study and for Gazans to get critically needed medical care;
-
- - Israel's High Court condones discrimination in violation
of international law;
-
- -- in the so-called "seam zone" between the
Green Line and Separation Wall, a "permits regime" exists that
makes some Palestinians illegal residents in their own homes; they need
an army permit to be there and to work their own land; when granted they're
for short periods and must continually be renewed;
-
- -- Israeli Jews in settlements are unrestricted and can
do as they please, including abuse Palestinians;
-
- -- Palestinians have no possibility of a normal life;
according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA), Palestinians are trapped under an "entrenched multi-layered
system of obstacles and restrictions (that has transformed) the West Bank
and Jerusalem towards a more permanent fragmentation;" and
-
- -- in spite of "disengaging" from Gaza in summer
2005, Israel maintains full control of the Territory's land, air space
and coastal waters, and continues it under siege following 22 days of
war; border crossings are sealed; virtually nothing gets in or out except
for wholly inadequate occasional relief; and Palestinians have been grievously
harmed as a result.
-
- The Right to Political Asylum
-
- Israel fails to meet its obligations under the 1951 International
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees to which it's a signatory.
It has no clear policy or procedures with regard to refugees or asylum
seekers. As a result, Israel's rate of recognizing refugees is among the
lowest in the West even though
- the country depends on Jewish immigrants to grow its
population and make up for growing numbers who leave.
-
- Refugees and asylum seekers let in are poorly treated
as a way to deter others from coming. They're ignored, neglected, isolated,
and given temporary and inadequate arrangements. Measures include "senseless
incarceration" and other harshness.
-
- According to a State Comptroller May 2008 report, Israeli
policies violate the rights of refugees to work and receive health and
welfare benefits. Also in May, a government-sponsored Prevention of Infiltration
Law passed its first Knesset reading. It proposes that anyone entering
Israel without permission faces up to five years imprisonment and for
some countries like Sudan seven years. It treats these people as "security
threats" unless they're Jews, of course.
-
- They're continually sought, may immigrate freely under
the Law of Return, and are automatically granted citizenship. Non-Jews
aren't wanted or tolerated in violation of international law requiring
that asylum seekers be treated humanely. Israel defiles the law and pays
it no heed.
-
- The Right to Family Life
-
- On all matters regarding personal status, religious law
prevails in Israel unlike in the West where church and state are separate
and distinct, and secular law prevails.
-
- Not in Israel where there's no civil marriage or divorce.
Only Orthodox courts and rabbis have jurisdiction in violation of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This constitutes an unjustifiable
infringement of free religious expression, conscience, the right to family
life, and equal rights.
-
- Israel does recognize civil marriages certified abroad,
and as a result, couples who can afford it and so wish leave the country
to marry. Many less able simply live together as common-law couples to
avoid needing a rabbi's permission to marry and having to follow Jewish
law to do it.
-
- Israeli Citizens Married to Foreigners
-
- The Interior Ministry has a "deliberate policy of
preventing non- Jews from becoming naturalized citizens, even when this
severely harms couples and families." Those wishing to realize their
right to family life must go through long years of bureaucratic arbitrariness,
including delays, restrictions, demands, appeals, and more that often
are more trouble than they're worth - this from a "civilized"
state that practices institutionalized incivility.
-
- Israeli Citizens with Palestinian Partners or Partners
from Muslim
- Countries
-
- This presents a near-impossible situation for Israeli
Arabs who are prevented from living with Palestinian spouses inside Israel.
And for the past six years, Palestinian spouses of Jewish citizens haven't
had their in-country status legalized.
-
- The policy comes from the Interior Ministry, other government
decisions, and since 2003 is anchored in the Citizenship Law that mainly
harms Israeli Arabs. The law is severely punitive. It's currently temporary
and illegal because it denies Israeli citizens the right to family life
and equality. In May 2008, Justice Minister Daniel Friedman tabled an
amendment to the Basic Law to deny judicial review of laws pertaining
to entry, residency and citizenship. If enacted, it will make the Citizenship
Law permanent.
-
- Migrant Workers
-
- Israel disdains "all human and natural aspects"
of its migrant workers to prevent their "taking root" in the
country. They want them temporarily, only to work, and when no longer
needed to leave. The State also prohibits migrant worker entry with their
"first- order" family members - parents, children and spouses.
If two members of the same family are discovered, automatic visa revocation
and expulsion follows.
-
- The Occupied Territories: Violation of the Right to Family
Life
-
- Movement restrictions place inordinate impediments to
a normal family life. For example, Palestinian women who wish to go from
Gaza to the West Bank to marry must deposit a large (often unaffordable)
sum of money and promise to return to Gaza after the ceremony. Further,
Gaza residents in the West Bank must carry a "Permit for Judea and
Samaria," and to get one, must request it from the army, meet stringent
criteria, and if granted, it's only valid for three months.
-
- These and other impediments make family life onerous
or impossible for families with some members in Gaza and others in the
West Bank, and with Gaza under siege, Israel now prevents any movement
between the Territories with very few exceptions. Separated families thus
have one choice. To live together, they must move to Gaza and renounce
any hope of returning to the West Bank - again in gross violation of international
law.
-
- In addition, for the past seven years, Israel has prevented
OPT residents from legalizing their spouses and children's status in
the Territories unless they already live there. In other words, Palestinians
with foreign citizenships are denied. Since the early 2000s, Israel froze
all applications. Palestinians with expired visas won't get them renewed.
They have no legal status, will be deported, and not allowed to return.
-
- Freedom of Expression
-
- From its founding, Israel recognized free expression
as a basic right, but, in fact, it's seriously restricted and threatened.
Moreover, in the past year, Israeli Arabs have seen their rights impeded
with regard to political actions and protest.
-
- Israel's General Security Service (GSS) calls its Arab
citizens existential dangers to the State, and believes it must "thwart
the subversive activities of those who would undermine the character of
the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic country, even if their
activities are carried out using tools provided by democracy." As
a result, and with support from the Attorney General, GSS has been interrogating
journalists, human rights and political activists, and others whose public
actions are deemed unacceptable.
-
- It's even worse for Israeli Arabs. They're terrorized
and threatened with having criminal charges brought against them unless
they cease their objectionable free expression rights. The Jewish- owned
commercial media greatly restrict them, and in the past two years even
Internet communication is endangered.
-
- In March 2008, a Knesset committee considered a bill
requiring Internet site operators to be held responsible for Internet
surfer responses (the so-called "Talkback Law). The bill was frozen
in July after the Israeli Internet Association proposed a self- regulatory
compromise that also impedes free expression.
-
- A February 2008 Internet censoring law, the first ever,
passed its first reading. It seeks to filter online content on the pretext
of removing harmful juvenile material and do so under government control.
It would create a censorship apparatus under the Communications Ministry,
no different than in a police state, as a first step toward eliminating
any information the State wants to suppress for any reason.
-
- Public demonstration rights are also at risk when authorities
call them illegal, controversial, and unlicensed, including peaceful
protest rallies and vigils. In early 2008, the Knesset Constitution Committee
considered bills to restrict Jerusalem marches and processions that offend
public or religious values or feelings.
-
- The Occupied Territories: Violations of the Right to
Demonstrate
-
- OPT demonstration restrictions are much more stringent
than in Israel, and, when they happen, Israeli security forces treat
participants violently and with intolerance. In the past few years especially,
numerous deaths and injuries have become commonplace. Measures used include
tear gas, crowd dispersal skunk bombs, physical assault, rubber bullets
that can injure and kill, and often live rounds that do it more effectively.
-
- Freedom of Information
-
- In 1998, the Knesset passed the Freedom of Information
Law at the behest of a coalition of associations, including ACRI. The
law insures citizens' rights to get information from authorities on matters
of public and personal interest. Ten years later, enforcement is lax and
State authorities make it hard for anyone to access information as the
law requires.
-
- They delay requests, impose obstacles, and many government
bodies never disclose basic information that should be made available
routinely. A May 2008 State Comptroller Report indicated that half of
the authorities examined denied public scrutiny of their internal procedures.
Most also don't publish effectively on their Internet sites.
-
- The situation is especially bleak in State archives,
most of all for the IDF. Security forces are secretive and restrictive.
Transparency is a non-starter. Archives are abysmal. "The restrictions
on access to materials in the archives lead to a perversion of historical
research, the collective memory, the cultural heritage of the State of
Israel, and hinder the democratic public discourse on security and political
issues."
-
- Freedom of Association
-
- Israel mostly, but not entirely, protects this right:
-
- -- the executive branch may declare a group a prohibited
association or terrorist organization without judicial review;
-
- -- the Registrar of Parties may refuse to register a
party it claims opposes Israel as a Jewish state; ACRI calls this a grave
violation of free association, expression and democracy;
-
- -- each year, non-profit organizations must submit to
the Registrar of Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) in the Justice Ministry
audited financial reports, signed general meeting minutes, details about
principal donors, and more;
-
- -- in June 2007, a Knesset amendment to the Amutot Law
increased the State's supervisory powers over NPOs; they now must report
verbally as well on their activities, organization structure, and officers
in charge;
-
- -- in recent decades, privatization has increased and
labor associations have been harmed, including their right to organize
and strike; from the 1980s to the present, worker organization representation
dropped from 85% to 32% in 2003; as in America, business has the upper
hand in Israel;
-
- -- practicing law in Israel requires membership in the
Israel Bar Association; this requirement doesn't apply for doctors or
accountants;
-
- The Right to a Dignified Existence and Adequate Standard
of Living
-
- Poverty and Social Gaps
-
- For Jews alone, Israel was once one of the most egalitarian
western countries in terms of income distribution. No longer. Today it's
second only to America in inequality. In 2007, household poverty stood
at 20.5% and the incidence for children is 35.9%. Among families with
four or more children, it's 60%.
-
- Social spending is declining as policy focuses increasingly
on economic growth and benefitting business. Essential needs are thus
less addressed for health care, education, housing, pensions, and much
more.
-
- Among the poor are many thousands employed by service
contractors. They're terribly exploited, yet authorities turn a blind
eye. As in America, Israel now blames poor people for their own plight,
and conditions continue to deteriorate.
-
- East Jerusalem: Neglect and Discrimination
-
- As an occupier and according to State and international
law, Israel is obligated to treat the Palestinian population equitably.
Since 1967, however, it's seized Palestinian land, expanded a Jewish
population, and inadequately provided for the Arab minority. As a result,
East Jerusalem residents live in dire straits, and their condition continues
to worsen.
-
- Family poverty is 67% and for children it's 77.2%. Virtually
all needs are inadequately or totally unaddressed in areas such as:
-
- -- poor sanitation facilities;
- -- trash piles in streets;
-
- -- roads in disrepair and so are the few sidewalks;
-
- -- the postal service barely functions;
-
- -- welfare services are in a state of collapse;
-
- -- education and health services are inadequate to deplorable;
-
- -- construction permits are denied;
-
- -- home demolitions are frequent;
-
- -- overcrowding is a major problem;
-
- -- so is a lack of fresh drinking water; over half the
population lacks a regular supply; and
-
- -- the threat of infectious disease contagion is serious;
-
- Life in East Jerusalem is deplorable because of willful
state policy.
-
- Living Conditions in the Unrecognized Bedouin Villages:
60 Years of Disgrace
-
- Many thousands of Bedouin Arabs live in them - in the
Negev and Galiee. For Israel, their settlements are illegal and their
residents nonpersons. Land is seized, homes demolished, construction
denied, and so are basic services like clean drinking water, electricity,
roads, transport, sanitation, education, healthcare, postal and telephone
service, and more. Harassment is severe and living conditions deplorable.
Israel wants their land for Jewish-only development and is driving the
Arabs away.
-
- The Occupied Territories: Violation of the Right to a
Dignified Existence
-
- Gaza under siege is most gravely impacted in terms of
poverty, unemployment, basic services, and even enough food for sustenance.
After the war, the Territory is in a state of collapse and continues
to deteriorate further. The situation is grave and worsening.
-
- Conditions are also poor in the West Bank but to a lesser
degree than in Gaza. Poverty and unemployment are problematic, and because
of high food prices alone, the World Bank reported that 75% of Palestinians
eat less and buy lower quality food than in the past.
-
- Worker Rights
-
- While Israel's labor laws are progressive, changing conditions
over time empowered employers at the expense of workers. It's led to:
-
- -- increased inequality between categories of employees;
-
- -- the spread of harmful and exploitive employment practices;
-
- -- significant erosion of worker rights; and
-
- -- a greater potential for exploiting unempowered workers
- especially for contractor-controlled service ones who've seen their
rights erode.
-
- Overall, however, employers take advantage because of
minimal government oversight and enforcement. They routinely:
-
- -- violate labor laws;
- -- pay below minimum wage;
- -- delay paying wages;
-
- -- provide no overtime or for Sabbath work as the law
requires;
-
- -- fine employees to reduce pay;
-
- -- dock workers for convalescence, leave, and holidays;
-
- -- deny seniority;
-
- -- fail to inform employees of their rights;
-
- -- fire without severance pay; and more.
-
- Migrant Workers
-
- Overall, Israel treats migrant workers deplorably. In
March 2006, however, the High Court of Justice ruled that arrangements
in agriculture, nursing and industry under which migrant workers are
"bound" to employers violate their basic rights and must be
revoked. Two and a half years later, they still exist because enforcement
is lax or non-existent.
-
- Broker fees are another problem for those who want work
in Israel. Contractors charge exorbitant amounts, regulations are lax,
and in the past two years charges are 10% higher. They force workers to
assume high-interest loans, jeopardize their welfare, and still end up
with low-paying jobs.
-
- The Right to Health
-
- In 1994, Israel enacted a National Health Insurance Law.
It promised health services to Israelis according to principles of justice,
equality, and mutual assistance. Yet things haven't turned out as planned.
Rights have eroded, budgets have been cut, privatization increased, and
successive Israeli governments and the Ministry of Finance have weakened
the law and left low-income Israelis uncovered.
-
- They have only the public health system to rely on, yet
its quality and breath of services have eroded. As in America, Israel
provides dual systems - one for the rich and another for the poor and
most vulnerable.
-
- Shortcomings of the National Health Insurance Law and
the Erosion of the Health Basket
-
- From inception, the law was flawed. It excludes dental,
mental health, and nursing care. In addition, special needs for the elderly,
such as hearing aids, walkers, and more, and also certain health requirements
of women.
-
- Existing services have also eroded by 44% from 1994 to
2007, and the trend continues. Health services need annual updating to
reflect population changes, technology, new drugs, procedures, and more.
In June 2008, a proposed bill to do it at a fixed 2% rate annually passed
its first Knesset reading. It's an important step, but given the government's
resistance, it's doubtful a bill will pass, and if it does, it may be
too weak to matter.
-
- Increase in Private Expenditures on Health Services
-
- As government funding erodes, households have to fund
more of their own burden - for insurance, co-payments, and various services
for those who want them.
-
- In 1994, the government's share of health expenditure
spending was 50%, and households bore 24%. In 2006, government spending
eroded to 38%, and families had to pay 33%. Those with less resources
are most impacted, and according to an Israeli Medical Association April
2008 survey, almost one-third (31%) of Israelis go without at least one
type of service. Deteriorating health has resulted for 37% of the population,
and Arab citizens are harmed the most. In addition, 43% of respondents
overall fear they'll be unable to pay for services they need.
-
- It's likely given that privatization is increasing, so
are costs, and services once provided by the Ministry of Health are now
in private hands. Inequality is growing, and treatment more than ever
depends on affordability.
-
- Israel's Arrangement Law exacerbates things. It lets
the government make far-reaching economic changes without proper legislation
or serious discussion of their implications. Since 1994, this law allowed
over 300 changes to national health insurance, most of which weakened
it for the insured. Currently, a 2009 Arrangements Law is before the Knesset.
It includes a proposal to collect a uniform minimum health tax from all
insured, including housewives. If passed, it'll violate the principles
of universality and equality that underlie the National Health Insurance
law and thus further curtail health services accessibility to all Israelis.
-
- Differences in Health Indices and Discrimination in Access
to Health Services
-
- Accessibility of health services and population health
indices highlight widening inequality and gaps between various groups
and geographic areas within Israel.
-
- It shows up in life expectancy, infant mortality rates,
and morbidity rates for a wide variety of illnesses - by socioeconomic
status, educational level, and national or ethnic origin. Needless to
say, Israeli Arabs and poor Jews are worst off. Also, residents in more
central Israel are better served than those on the periphery.
-
- A Knesset Research and Information Center March 2008
document showed only 9% of hospital beds are in the southern region where
14% of the population lives. Southern and northern areas also rank last
in number of professional physicians. The same is true for special medical
equipment. The situation is serious given that a concentration of vulnerable
people live in these areas, entirely dependent on public health.
-
- Israel's Arab minority is especially harmed. Besides
being disadvantaged in virtually all other ways, they're least able to
access health services, and it shows in their poor state of health relative
to Jews.
-
- The Occupied Territories: Violation of the Right to Health
-
- Overall, it's woefully less accessible than in Israel.
Movement restrictions impede it in the West Bank - from checkpoints,
roadblocks, poor roads, and harassment. Medical equipment and medicines
shortages are also troubling. For example, an August 2008 OCHA report
showed 73 of 416 essential medicines weren't available and stocks of 45
others were running low.
-
- Conditions in Gaza under siege and after war are far
worse and at times critical. Nearly all hospital needs are lacking, so
heath care depends on accessing it elsewhere. Doing it requires a permit.
Bureaucratic procedures are mind-numbing, and too few Gazans work through
it. Even the very ill are on their own and unable to be treated.
-
- According to a Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) July
2008 report, 200 patients died while waiting to be treated outside Gaza,
45 of whom were children and 75 women. Conditions have now worsened, but
even earlier PHR warned of a new GSS policy requiring patients to be
interrogated at Erez crossing, asked to provide information or become
collaborators for an exit permit, and be able to leave and receive treatment.
-
- The Right to Housing
-
- Israel has no clear housing policy anchored in law. It's
thus easy for the State to evade its responsibility, more than ever in
recent years. As a result, adequate housing is denied to increasing numbers
in the country, and many have none at all.
-
- Israel encourages private ownership as a solution even
for the poor. It stopped providing grants and significantly lowered mortgage
subsidies. Renting is thus the only option, but given the shortage of
apartments, prices have risen sharply, and those with the fewest resources
can't afford them.
-
- Tenant protection is also lacking, and landlords take
full advantage. Israel is one of the few developed countries in which
the State won't intervene on the terms of rental contracts, rent levels,
or how often and high rents can be raised.
-
- Public housing was once a model for low-income families
and new immigrants. Now it's disappearing. New construction stopped, and
the available number of apartments is at its lowest ever level - about
1600 units for over 50,000 eligible people.
-
- Neighborhoods formerly comprised households from all
or most socioeconomic classes. Now they're just for the rich as entire
areas are being gentrified for profit. Not only won't the State intervene,
it's pushing out residents, separating them them from their communities,
and actively issuing demolition and eviction notices. Homelessness is
thus growing, and those at society's bottom require charity when available
or be left out entirely.
-
- Discrimination against the Arab Minority and Demolition
of Homes
-
- Discrimination against Israeli Arabs is severe and unrelenting.
Town plans for them don't exist nor are their basic housing needs met.
Things are so dire in some areas, like the Negev, that thousands of families
have no homes or fear the ones they have will be demolished. This is policy
by design - to ethnically cleanse the country of its unwanted population.
Israeli Arabs know it and fend for themselves as best they can.
-
- In the Occupied Territories: Violation of the Right to
Housing
-
- Israel controls large parts of the West Bank. In the
so-called Area C, it has authority for planning, and keeps the out-dated
Mandatory regional plan and Jordanian planning laws in place. As a result,
large areas are zoned for agriculture only with little or no construction
permitted. Building requires a permit. According to OCHA data, 94% of
Area C applications between January 2000 and September 2007 were rejected.
-
- Palestinians must build anyway and risk being vulnerable
to demolition. According to Bimkom: Planners for Planning Rights, the
Civil Administration issued such orders for 4820 structures in Area C;
1600 were destroyed; as of May 2008, 3000 others were pending, and when
they come they're swift, unannounced, often at odd hours, and without
notice. Throughout the West Bank, at least 10 small communities are in
jeopardy of near total removal and their people left homeless - on their
own land in their own country with nothing they can access for protection.
-
- A Final Comment
-
- On December 15, Haaretz reported that Israel expelled
Richard Falk, the UN Human Rights Council's (UNHRC) special investigator
on Israeli actions in the OPT. He was detained at Jerusalem's airport
on December 14 and deported back to the US. Foreign Minister (and acting
Prime Minister at the time) Tzipi Livni, said that Falk was "unwelcome
in Israel" and his visit was uncoordinated and unauthorized. Earlier,
he infuriated Israelis when he accurately compared Israeli treatment of
the Palestinians to what Nazis once did to Jews.
-
- UN General Assembly president Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann
also criticized Israel in the past and said Israel made a "dangerous
decision....to rebuff UN mandates and UN-appointed mandate holders."
He explained that Falk's position is to investigate "human rights
violations (affecting) the protected civilian population of Gaza, the
West Bank and East Jerusalem." The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is
especially urgent. Israel suppresses its gravity.
-
- ACRI, however, does not and ended its report with The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in an Appendix. It was adopted
and proclaimed on December 10, 1948 and just recently commemorated its
60th anniversary. Israel, like America, disdains it, and therein lies
the problem.
-
- It ignores what the Preamble states: that "Member
States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United
Nations, the promotion of universal respect and observance of human rights
and fundamental freedoms (and that) a common understanding of these rights
and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of
this pledge."
-
- UDHR laid them all out in its 30 Articles, including:
-
- -- "the right to life, liberty and security of person
(with no distinction of any kind for) race, colour, sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth
or other status."
-
- -- the prohibition of slavery or servitude in all forms;
by implication, employer exploitation;
-
- -- of torture as well as "cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment;"
-
- -- recognizing everyone equally before the law without
discrimination and with equal protection;
-
- -- the right to free movement, privacy, and to leave
any country and return;
-
- -- to seek and enjoy asylum;
-
- -- to own property and not arbitrarily be deprived of
it;
-
- -- to free thought, conscience, religion, opinion and
expression without interference;
-
- -- to peaceful assembly and association;
-
- -- to have genuine elections by universal and equal suffrage;
-
- -- to work, have free choice of employment, protection
against unemployment, equal pay for equal work, and to form and join trade
unions;
-
- -- to a standard of living adequate for health;
-
- -- to education; much more, and for nothing in the Declaration
to let a State, group or person do anything aimed at destroying "the
rights and freedoms set forth herein."
-
- For nearly 61 years and over 41 in the OPT, Israel has
willfully and systematically defiled all of the above, so far with impunity.
When will the world community take notice? When will it enforce this
Declaration for the Palestinian people and Israeli Arabs? When will such
gross injustice end?
-
- Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Center
for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached
at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
-
- Also visit his blog site at sjlendman,blogspot.com
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