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PHRMG Hotline Update # 1/2001
Jerusalem,
21 October 2001
The Palestinian
Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG) published a report on
settler violence in April 2001, which underlined the lack of
response by Israeli law enforcement authorities to incidents of
violence initiated by Israeli civilians against Palestinian lives
and property.
Following this
report, the PHRMG decided to establish a 24-hour Hotline to enable
Palestinians to report cases of settler violence and obtain
assistance in filing criminal complaints. The PHRMG also follows
up on all the cases reported to the Hotline, taking legal action
when necessary. Since July 2001, when it was formally established,
the Hotline has received dozens of calls.
The PHRMG
has now decided to issue weekly briefings on the activities of the
Hotline, detailing the most noteworthy cases reported to the
organization and the action taken so far. Future updates will not
be posted on this mailing list – PLEASE LET US KNOW AT
admin@phrmg.org IF YOU WISH TO RECEIVE
THIS WEEKLY UPDATE. For further information, please contact
Attorney Audrey Bomse, 02-582 3372,
audrey@phrmg.org.
RAMPAGE IN
THE VILLAGE OF BARDALAH
On Friday 28
September 2001 at about 2 am, about 100 Israeli civilians with 2
bulldozers, 3 tractors and several private cars (some of them
presumably from Kibbutz Sde Eliahu) trespassed on to lands
belonging to the village of Bardalah in the Jordan Valley,
destroying everything in sight. One of the villagers immediately
called the Israeli police and was asked for his name, the location
and details of the incident. The police officer advised that he
would send a police car immediately. However, when the police
failed to respond after half an hour, the villager called a second
time. This time, a female police officer took the call and took
down directions to the village. Nevertheless, the police did not
appear on the scene until 11 am that morning, i.e. some 9 hours
after the attack and the first call for assistance. The estimated
value of the property destroyed and damaged in the 2-1/2 hour
rampage is several hundred thousand US dollars.
When the Israeli
police finally arrived on the scene, one of the officers told the
villagers to go to the Palestinian police for compensation, and
not to forget that “you killed a Jewish woman and you have to pay
for that” (the attack seems to have been in retaliation for the
killing four days earlier in the Jordan Valley of a woman from
Kibbutz Sde Eliahu).
The PHRMG
conducted two visits on the site to evaluate the extent of the
damage and interview the villagers. On 3 October 2001, the PHRMG
wrote to Mr. Rafi Yefe, commander of the West Bank Police,
advising him of the incident and requesting an appointment to
accompany the victims of the rampage to the police station to file
a formal complaint. Following a call from Mr. Yefe on 11 October
2001, the same request was then directed to Moshe Ariel, Chief of
Investigations of the West Bank Police. After the police contacted
the PHRMG to advise of their difficulty in processing
correspondence in English, the PHRMG arranged for translation of
the letter in to Hebrew and sent the letter again on 21 October
2001. To date, there has been no response from the police and the
Bardalah victims have been unable to implement their right under
the law to file a criminal complaint, the first step necessary to
bring the criminals to justice.
HARRASSMENT
OF THE MAYOR OF TEQO’A
On 21 July 2001
at about 8 pm, Suleiman Abu Mufreh, Mayor of the village of Teqo’a,
Bethlehem District, went with another man to check one of the
village fields, which was threatened with confiscation. This land
was due to be used for a project funded by Save the Children.
Suddenly, the two men were attacked by many settlers, none of whom
they were able to identify. The settlers opened fire, as did the
Israeli army, which also came upon the scene. The two men ran
back to their village unharmed, abandoning their car at the scene.
The car was
confiscated by the Israeli army, and Abu Mufreh filed a complaint
both with the Palestinian DCO and with the Israeli police. The car
was finally returned at the beginning of October, but it was
damaged.
On 9 October
2001, both Abu Mufreh and the man who accompanied him received
summonses to appear at the Military Court in Beit El on 12
November 2001 at 8:30 am. Ironically, the victims have become the
accused and the two men are being charged with attacking the
Israeli army. The PHRMG arranged for the two men to be represented
by a lawyer from the Society of Saint-Yves.
The
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