ORDINARY
VIOLENCE
During our stay in Gaza strip, we've met many different delegations, associations
and civile society leaders who briefed us on Israeli practices, common
discriminations, harassment and violations of human rights in
Gaza strip. Here
are some examples we heard.
Besides
their very difficult economic situation imposed by the reduction of the
authorized fishing areas, fishermen
are continually subject to illegal Israeli military harassment.
The
story of Khaled Bakl: "It
was April, at five o'clock in the morning, we were fishing in the authorized
fishing zone. On board with me, there were my 3 children and 4 fishermen.
Many other Palestinian trawlers were fishing around that area. An Israeli
patrol boat came along, asked for my fishing license without any reason.
They asked us to go to the front of our trawler, standing
naked (at 5 A.M.!). After 2 hours they let my children leave the
trawler and go back to the port. Then they asked us to dive into the sea
and swim to their boat. We refused because we can't swim. So the Israeli
patrol boat bumped into our trawler in order to let us fall. Then they asked
us to follow them into an Israeli port and we refused so they frightened
us by shooting. They kept us naked and blindfold
for 4 hours.
Later
on they took us to the Israeli port where they seized the fishes, ripped
our nets and destroyed our motor. They kept us naked untill 10 PM and then
they transferred us into jail where we were imprisonned for 11 days, duration
of the inquiry. We were
accused of fishing in an Israeli area, which is not true. The Israeli League
for Human Rights came and advised us to admit the
fault we didn't commit. In prison, Israeli policemen beat me up 3
times. In the end I admitted that fault I didn't commit and the sentence
was: 1 month in jail and a fine of 150 sheckels (60 sfr). If I
had refused to admit the fault, the sentence would have been: ban on fishing
for 1 year and 6 month emprisonment."
Stories of such fake accusations and
strong humiliations are very frequent
among fishermen. They have the right to call a palestinian lawyer to defend them, but it's expensive and the lawyer has no right to plead in Israeli courts...
Mothers
and Wifes of palestinian prisoners
in Israeli jails are also victims of Israeli authorities and custom officers
at Eretz check-point: long questioning, disrespectful searches, blackmail, threats, and so on...
It was also reported that Israeli sometimes pirate Palestinian TV channel
to broadcast porno movies. ...
Military violence is very strong at check-points and at the borders with
buffer zones: israeli soldiers and sometimes also settlers, shoot very often
without any reason at Palestinians in the streets and at their homes. In
Rafah, near the Egyptian border, Palestinians are not allowed to live above
ground floor, or israelis shoot. In those areas the houses are full of bullet
holes. Children
are the main victims of these shootings: a few hours before our visit to
Rafah, a child had been shot by an israeli soldier while he was playing
in the street.
texts: mirouille - pictures: E.B., N.K., R.B. April 2002