Israel is a multiparty parliamentary democracy, with a population of approximately 7.2 million. "Basic laws" enumerate fundamental rights. The 120-member, unicameral Knesset has the power to dissolve the government and mandate elections. After free and fair elections in March 2006, Prime Minister Olmert presented his government to the Knesset. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces. (An annex to this report covers human rights in the occupied territories, including the treatment of security detainees from the occupied territories. This report deals only with human rights in Israel.)

The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. There were several high profile cases involving corruption or sexual misconduct by political leaders. Institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against Israeli Arabs, non-Orthodox Jews, and other religious groups continued. Women suffered societal discrimination and domestic violence. The government maintained unequal educational systems for Arab and Jewish students. Trafficking in and abuse of women and foreign workers remained a problem, as did societal discrimination against persons with disabilities.

Palestinian rocket and terrorist attacks killed and injured Israeli civilians.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1: Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

1. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
   
   The government or its agents did not commit politically motivated killings.
   
   On October 22, a Palestinian prisoner, Mohammed al-Askar, was killed during a riot at the Ketziot prison in southern Israel. Prisoners alleged that security forces misused crowd-dispersal weapons, including rubber bullets and bean bag projectiles. An internal Israel Prison Service (IPS) investigation was ongoing at year's end.
   
   A border policeman was charged in the January 2006 killing of Nadim Milham, an Israeli Arab, but the trial had not begun by year's end. The policeman, searching for weapons in Milham's home, allegedly beat and shot him from behind when he attempted to escape, according to the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel (Mossawa).
   
   The trial of two border policemen on manslaughter charges for the killing of Palestinian laborer Iyad Abu Aya during an October 2006 raid near Tel Aviv was ongoing at year’s end. The manslaughter trial of a police officer charged with killing Israeli Arab Mahmoud Ghanim in July 2006 had not commenced.
   
   In January 2006 the attorney general ordered a review of the Police Investigation Department (PID) decision to end investigation of the October 2000 police killings of 13 protesters. By year's end the results were not released.
   
   As of December 11, Palestinian terrorists had killed five and wounded 64 civilians in Israel. On January 29, the terrorist organization known as Palestinian Islamic Jihad carried out a suicide bomb attack in a bakery in Eilat, killing civilians Emi Haim Elmaliah, Michael Ben Sa'adon, and Israel Zamalloa.
   
   Palestinian terrorists routinely fired rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The government estimated that 970 Qassam rockets and 1,200 mortars were fired during the year. The government reported that two civilians were killed as a result of the rocket attacks.
   
   In July 2006 Hizballah terrorists killed three and abducted two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers during a cross-border raid from Southern Lebanon, resulting in a widened conflict that lasted until August 2006. During the fighting, according to government figures, Hizballah fired 3,970 rockets at Israeli population centers, killing 43 civilians; 117 Israeli soldiers were killed in the conflict.


2. Disappearance
   
   There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances during the year.


3. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
   Treatment or Punishment
   
   The law prohibits such practices. During the year NGOs filed numerous complaints alleging that security forces tortured and abused Palestinians from the occupied territories. (See annex.)
   
   On March 6, the NGO B'Tselem alleged widespread police and Border Police mistreatment of Palestinians working illegally in Israel and East Jerusalem. The report included testimony from 27 individuals who claimed severe abuse, including broken bones or internal bleeding.
   
   In a report released December 10, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) cited Knesset Center for Research and Information data showing that the PID investigated only 35 percent of the 4,900 complaints it received against police officers during 2005 and 2006. According to ACRI's data, 57 percent of uninvestigated complaints were closed for "lack of public interest." During a December 18 Knesset hearing, PID commander Herzl Shviro pointed out that police investigated 1,700 of the complaints and that of those 8.5 percent resulted in criminal indictments. He acknowledged also that PID investigations were routinely hampered by police tampering and a "code of silence" among officers.
   
   The NGO Hotline for Migrant Workers reported a decrease from 2006 in the number of complaints it received regarding violence by the immigration police. During the year Hotline filed one complaint regarding police violence.
   
   In October 2006 three border police officers--Eliran Levy, Moshe Yekutiel, and Almit Asarsa--were indicted on charges of aggravated assault for abusing Abd Tareq Ahrub, a West Bank resident caught in Jerusalem without a permit. The three allegedly beat the Palestinian before making him kiss the police insignia on their uniforms. The case was ongoing at year's end.
   
   On October 11, the Supreme Court began considering the State's appeal of an earlier district court decision not to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the state by Lebanese citizen Mustafa Dirani, who charged that Israeli security forces tortured and raped him during interrogations between 1994 and 2004. The case was ongoing at year's end.
   
   Prison and Detention Center Conditions
   
   The law provides detainees the right to conditions that do not harm their health or dignity. Conditions in IPS facilities for common criminals and security prisoners generally met international standards. (Conditions in four facilities for detainees are covered in the annex). The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had access to IPS and IDF facilities. Overcrowding remained a significant problem. Regulations require at least 48 square feet of living space per person, but the Prisons Authority reported on October 16 that the average space per prisoner was 31 square feet. In a March report the Israel Bar Association (IBA) noted that despite regulations specifying a limit of four prisoners per cell, some contained up to 10 prisoners. On February 18, the High Court ruled that authorities were obligated to provide a bed for every inmate and, according to ACRI, as of August, all prisoners in IPS facilities had a bed.
   
   Israeli citizen prisoners 17 years and younger were separated from adult prisoners.
   
   The ICRC regularly monitored IPS facilities as well as interrogation facilities and the two IDF Provisional Detention Centers.
   
   In January 2006 the Supreme Court ruled facility "1391"--allegedly an IDF detention facility reserved for high value detainees--was legal but asked the government to restrict its use. In August 2006 the government informed the court that it was holding two Hizballah detainees, captured during the summer conflict, in the facility. Details of the court's ruling remain classified.
   
   The IBA and public defenders were permitted to inspect IPS facilities.


4. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention
   
   The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these prohibitions for citizens. Arab Israelis are subject to the same laws as all citizens. Noncitizens of Palestinian origin detained on security grounds fell under military jurisdiction even if detained in Israel. (See annex.) Non-Israeli residents of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights were subject to the same laws as Israeli citizens.
   
   In October the Public Defender's Office (PDO) criticized the police for refusing suspects' requests to speak with a lawyer during the initial three-hour pre-arrest period of interrogation and for use of coercive interrogation methods, resulting in faulty or illegal confessions.
   
   Role of the Police and Security Apparatus
   
   The Israeli Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet), under the authority of the prime minister, combats terrorism and espionage in Israel and the occupied territories. (See annex.) The National Police, including the Border Police and the Immigration Police, are under the authority of the Ministry of Internal Security. Police corruption generally was not a problem.
   
   The PID, within the Ministry of Justice, reviews complaints against police officers and may impose disciplinary measures or recommend indictments. Human rights groups alleged that the PID lacked independence and failed adequately to investigate complaints filed against police officers by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. (See section 1.c.) In November 2006 in response to a State Comptroller report, the PID announced a six-year plan to cede control over police investigations to a new civilian body. According to ACRI, tenders for the initial six civilian investigator positions were published in November.
   
   The police utilized training programs in coordination with academic institutions and human rights NGOs to promote human rights awareness and cultural sensitivity. In July the National Police began mandatory Arabic language and culture classes for all new cadets.
   
   Arrest and Detention
   
   The law provides that an arrested person is considered innocent until proven guilty, has the right to habeas corpus, to remain silent, to be represented by an attorney, to contact family members, and to a fair trial. The government may withhold evidence from defense lawyers on security grounds; however, the evidence must be made available to the court. A bail system exists, and decisions denying bail can be appealed. As a general practice, according to B'Tselem, non-Israelis of Palestinian origin detained for security violations were not granted bail. An individual suspected of a criminal offense may be held without charge for 24 hours before being brought before a judge. Suspects in nonsecurity cases were apprehended openly with warrants based on sufficient evidence and issued by an authorized official. Detainees in such cases generally were informed promptly of the charges against them.
   
   Under a "temporary law" that went into effect in June 2006 and has twice been renewed, individuals suspected of a security offense may be held for 96 hours before being brought before a judge. The law also allows the courts to authorize holding a detainee for up to 20 days without an indictment and to bar detainees from consulting a lawyer for up to 50 days. Decisions in this regard may be further extended and made without the detainee being present and, in some cases, without being informed of the hearing.
   
   The 1979 Emergency Powers Law allows the Defense Ministry administratively to detain persons without charge for up to six months, renewable indefinitely, subject to district court review. Such detainees, the majority of whom were Palestinians, were permitted legal representation. The court may rely on classified information and evidence denied to detainees and their lawyers. Detainees can appeal their cases through the Supreme Court. Human rights groups alleged administrative security detention orders were used even when the accused posed no clear danger. As of December 31, according to B'Tselem, there were 842 administrative detainees in IPS detention centers, while the IDF held nine as of November 26.
   
   The 2002 Illegal Combatant Law allows the IDF to detain civilians suspected of "taking part in hostile activity against Israel" or who "belong to a force engaged in hostile activity against the State of Israel," but who do not qualify as prisoners of war. Such persons have the right to see an attorney within seven days, must be brought before a judge within 14 days, and may be held indefinitely subject to twice yearly district court reviews.
   
   The law provides that foreign nationals suspected of immigration violations be afforded a hearing within four days of detention. They have the right to, but no guarantee of, legal representation. According to the NGO Hotline for Migrant Workers, appropriate interpreters were not always present at the hearings, despite a written commitment in 2002 by the government to the Supreme Court to provide translators. At the beginning of 2006 the Ministry of Justice contracted a private translation company for hearings conducted by the review tribunal, and the situation improved, although the services were not always sufficient. In some cases a fellow detainee served as the translator.
   
   According to the NGO Hotline, persons held in immigration detention rarely were released pending judicial determination of their status. Moreover, if the detainee's country of origin had no diplomatic or consular representation, they could remain in detention for months. During the year Hotline reported that the number of detainees who were awaiting their status determination increased, and that at year's end more than 1,000 detainees were waiting for determination of their asylum claims, 78 of them children.


5. Denial of Fair Public Trial
   
   The law provides for an independent judiciary, and the government respected this provision in practice. The judiciary has ruled against the executive, including in security cases.
   
   The Judicial Branch comprises magistrate courts, six district courts, and the Supreme Court or High Court of Justice. Magistrate courts adjudicate misdemeanors and lesser civil disputes; district courts adjudicate felonies and serious civil cases. There are also military, religious, labor relations, and administrative courts, with the High Court of Justice as the ultimate judicial authority. The High Court of Justice is a court of first instance for claims against the government. Its members also sit as the Supreme Court, adjudicating appeals of lower court rulings. Religious courts have jurisdiction over matters of personal status for their adherents.
   
   Trial Procedures
   
   The law provides for the right to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The country's criminal justice system is adversarial, and professional judges decide all cases.
   
   Trials are public except when the court determines that a closed trial is required to protect state security, foreign relations, a party's or witness's right to privacy, or a sexual offense victim. Security or military trials are open to independent observers at the discretion of the court but not to the general public. Under a law that went into effect January 1, all indigent defendants facing imprisonment receive mandatory representation. According to the government, counsel represented all defendants in district and Supreme Court trials and in approximately 75 percent of cases in the magistrate courts.
   
   Defendants have the right to question witnesses against them, to present witnesses on their behalf, to access evidence (except when the court determines defense access to witnesses or evidence would compromise state security), and to appeal.
   
   Military courts provide a number, but not all, of the procedural rights granted in civil criminal courts, and the evidentiary rules are the same as those in criminal cases. The 1970 evidentiary rules governing trials under military law of Palestinians and others applicable in the occupied territories are the same as evidentiary rules in criminal cases. Convictions may not be based solely on confessions; however, B'Tselem, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), and other NGOs alleged that in practice security prisoners have been sentenced on the basis of coerced confessions, coerced testimony of others, or both. Counsel may assist the accused in such trials, and a judge may assign counsel to defendants. Indigent detainees do not automatically receive free legal counsel for military trials, although they do in civilian criminal trials where conviction would lead to imprisonment. The defendant and the public receive the charges in Hebrew, and the court can order an Arabic translation. Interpreters and translators were not always available. Defendants can appeal through the Military High Court and petition the High Court of Justice. Military courts treat minors age 16 and 17 as adults.
   
   In a report on military court procedures released in December, the NGO Yesh Din criticized the military judicial system for failing to meet minimum standards of due process because of de facto restrictions on public presence in military courts, unpublished verdicts, no explicit right to a presumption of innocence, indictments provided to defendants and attorneys only after they have been filed in court, restrictions on the right to be tried without undue delay, and limitations on the ability of attorneys to provide clients with effective counsel.
   
   There are also custodial courts and four deportation courts to address the removal of illegal immigrants.
   
   Political Prisoners and Detainees
   
   There were no reports of Israeli citizen political prisoners or detainees. (See annex regarding the occupied territories.)
   
   Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies
   
   An independent and impartial judiciary adjudicates lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, human rights violations. Administrative remedies exist, and court orders are enforced.


6. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence
   
   The law provides for protection of privacy of the individual and the home. In criminal cases the law permits wiretapping under court order; in security cases, the defense ministry must issue the order. Under emergency regulations authorities may open and destroy mail based on security considerations.
   
   Separate religious court systems adjudicate personal status, such as marriage and divorce, for the Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Druze communities. Jews can marry only in Orthodox Jewish services. Civil marriages, marriages of non-Orthodox Jews, or marriage to someone from another faith must take place abroad in order to be recognized. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, more than 32,000 citizens married outside the country between 2000 and 2004; in almost half both husband and wife were Jews. In 1995 the government asked foreign consular officials to stop performing marriages, and in 2005 the High Court instructed the government to define its position on marriages performed by officials of foreign embassies. On September 2, the government announced that it would allow consular marriages as long as both parties are classified as having no religion or belonging to a religious community not recognized by the state. In November 2006 the High Court issued a ruling requiring the government to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in foreign jurisdictions.
   
   The authority to grant status (citizenship and residency) to a non-Israeli spouse, including Palestinian and other non-Jewish foreign spouses, resides with the Minister of the Interior. In January the Knesset extended a temporary 2003 law that prohibits citizens' Palestinian spouses from the occupied territories from residing in the country. Palestinian male spouses age 35 and older and female spouses age 25 and older may apply for temporary visit permits. The Mossawa Center, citing Ministry of Interior statistics, claimed that the law affected "at least 21,298 families," including couples with long-standing marriages whose requests for residence permits were pending. Civil rights groups criticized the denial of citizenship and residency status to spouses of Israeli Arabs, who constitute the majority of Israelis who marry residents of the occupied territories. The March 21 Knesset action also expanded the law to bar family reunification in cases where one spouse is a citizen of Iran, Iraq, Syria or Lebanon.

Section 2: Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

1. Freedom of Speech and Press
   
   The law provides for freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally respected these rights in practice. The law prohibits hate speech and incitement to violence, and the 1948 Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance prohibits expressing support for illegal or terrorist organizations.
   
   Israel has 12 daily newspapers, 90 weekly newspapers, more than 250 periodicals, and a number of Internet news sites. All newspapers were privately owned and managed. Journalism laws dating from the British mandate period require that the Ministry of Interior license newspapers and allow the minister, under certain conditions, to close a newspaper. The Ministry of Interior has no authority over the military censor. In 2004 the High Court heard a petition filed by ACRI challenging the ordinance, which was withdrawn after the Ministry of Interior pledged to prepare legislation effectively canceling the ordinance. At year's end legislation had not been enacted.
   
   The state-owned Israel Broadcast Authority controls the Hebrew-language Israel Television and an Arabic-language channel, as well as Kol Israel (Voice of Israel) radio, which airs news and other programming in Hebrew, Arabic, and many other languages. Both Israel Television and Israel Radio are major sources of news and information. The Second Television and Radio Authority, a public body, supervises the two privately owned commercial television channels and 14 privately owned radio stations.
   
   A cable company, HOT, and one satellite television company carried international networks and programs produced for domestic audiences. In July HOT dropped the Christian network Daystar TV from its subscriber package citing "editorial and content considerations" following complaints about proselytizing. A government committee met in August but failed to reach a decision. A petition by Daystar TV to the Supreme Court was pending at year's end.
   
   The law authorizes the government to censor material regarded as sensitive reported from Israel or occupied territories. Under an agreement between the government and media representatives, all media organizations must submit to military censors materials that deal with specific military issues as well as strategic infrastructure issues such as oil and water supplies. The censor's decisions may be appealed to the High Court, and media cannot be closed by the military censor for censorship violations. The censor cannot appeal a court judgment. Foreign journalists must submit sensitive articles and photographs to the military censor but in practice rarely complied.
   
   On April 18, a Special Committee of the Israeli Press Council released a report on journalistic ethics and conduct during the July-August 2006 conflict in Lebanon. The committee determined that accusations that the media had endangered lives, for example by revealing the locations of Katyusha rocket strikes in northern Israel, were false. The committee found that the military censor approved all such media reports and recommended that the media during wartime reassure the public that it obtained the military censor's approval. The committee also recommended that military officers not leak classified information.
   
   All journalists operating in Israel must be accredited by the Government Press Office (GPO). In September 2006 ACRI appealed to the Supreme Court on behalf of a journalist residing in the Golan Heights who alleged that he had been denied a GPO card since 2003 based on political considerations. The State Attorney's Office announced in July that it would not object to granting him a press card for a trial period. At year's end the GPO had not acted, and the appeal before the Supreme Court was still pending.
   
   News printed or broadcast abroad may be reported without censorship. There were no reports that the government fined newspapers for violating censorship regulations.
   
   Internet Freedom
   
   There were no restrictions on Internet access or reports of the government monitoring e-mail or chat rooms. On December 5, survey results published in Globes newspaper indicated Israelis averaged 37.4 hours per month using the Internet. Approximately four million persons had Internet access.
   
   Academic Freedom and Cultural Events
   
   Israeli universities are required to justify to the IDF acceptance of Palestinian students from the occupied territories. According to IDF criteria, only students pursuing graduate-level degrees related to "regional cooperation" and "developing coexistence and peace" are permitted to attend Israeli universities. In November the High Court, citing concern about interference with academic institutions' discretion, gave the state four months to submit revised criteria. (See also annex.)


2. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
   
   Freedom of Assembly
   
   The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the government generally respected this right in practice. In April 2006 the Ministry of Internal Security released a study criticizing the police for lacking a clear, explicit policy on appropriate use of force to disperse riots and demonstrations.
   
   On August 2, the PID announced that because the claimants refused to cooperate it had decided not to investigate allegations that police officers had used excessive force against a demonstration in the Bedouin community of al-Mashash in November 2005 that protested demolition orders for illegally constructed buildings. According to the Israeli NGO Adalah, 12 protesters, including a pregnant woman, were injured.
   
   Freedom of Association
   
   The law provides for the right of association, and the government generally respected this right in practice.
   
   On March 13, the press reported that Israel Security Agency (ISA) Director Yuval Diskin warned the prime minister about a "strategic danger to the existence of the state," on the basis of four documents published by prominent Israeli Arab organizations calling for enhanced civil rights for the Arab citizens of Israel and rejecting Israel's definition as a Jewish state. In a letter to the editor, the Prime Minister's Office asserted that the ISA would "thwart the activity of any group or individual seeking to harm the Jewish and democratic character of the State of Israel, even if such activity is sanctioned by law." The ISA argued that it was obligated to disrupt "subversive" activity, "even if conducted through democratic means." On May 20, the attorney general refused a request to open an investigation into the ISA's activities in the Israeli Arab community, saying the ISA's position was lawful and had been coordinated with him.


3. Freedom of Religion
   
   The law provides for freedom of worship, and the government generally respected this right in practice.
   
   The Basic Law and Declaration of Independence recognize the country as a "Jewish and democratic state." The government recognized only Orthodox Jewish religious authorities in personal and some civil status matters concerning Jews. The government implements policies including marriage, divorce, education, burial, and observance of the Sabbath based on Orthodox Jewish interpretation of religious law, and allocations of state resources favor Orthodox Jewish institutions. According to government figures, during the year the budget for religious services and religious institutions for the Jewish population was approximately $400 million (1.6 billion NIS). Religious minorities, which comprised approximately 20 percent of the population, received about $20.5 million (82 million NIS), or just over 5 percent of total funding.
   
   The law confers recognition on some religious communities, granting them authority over their members in personal status matters. Recognized communities are: Eastern Orthodox, Latin (Roman Catholic), Gregorian-Armenian, Armenian-Catholic, Syrian (Catholic), Chaldean (Uniate), Greek Catholic Melkite, Maronite, Syrian Orthodox, and Orthodox Jewish (both Ashkenazic and Sephardic rites), Druze, the Evangelical Episcopal Church, and the Baha'i. The status of several Christian denominations is defined by arrangements with government agencies. Legislation enacted in 1961 afforded Muslim courts exclusive jurisdiction in matters of personal status concerning Muslims, although the state regulates judicial appointments to these courts. Secular courts have primacy over questions of inheritance, but parties, by mutual agreement, may bring cases to religious courts. Muslims also can bring alimony and property division matters associated with divorce to civil courts.
   
   Several religious communities were not recognized, including Protestant groups. Unrecognized communities generally practiced their religion freely and maintained communal institutions but were ineligible to receive government funding for religious services.
   
   Under the Law of Return, the government grants citizenship and residence rights to Jewish immigrants and their immediate family members. In 2005 the High Court ruled that the government must recognize non-Orthodox conversions of legal residents that were formalized abroad by acknowledged Jewish authorities, even if not Orthodox. In 2004 the High Court held that non-Jews who immigrate to the country and convert according to Orthodox requirements can become citizens, but conversion officials charged that the Ministry of Interior as not complying. The government does not recognize non-Orthodox conversions in the country for purposes of immigration. The Israel Religious Action Center challenged this practice, and in November 2006 the Supreme Court held its first hearing.
   
   Many Jewish citizens objected to exclusive Orthodox control over aspects of their personal lives. Approximately 300,000 citizens who immigrated either as Jews or as family members of Jews are not considered Jewish by the Orthodox Rabbinate. They cannot be married, divorced, or buried in Jewish cemeteries within the country. A 1996 law requiring the government to establish civil cemeteries has not been implemented adequately.
   
   The Protection of Holy Sites Law covers all religious sites, but the government issued implementing regulations only for Jewish sites. In 2004 the NGO Adalah petitioned the Supreme Court to compel the government to protect Muslim sites. In response to a court order, in January 2006 the government appointed an inter-ministerial committee to examine the administrative and budgetary management of holy sites. On August 20, the Supreme Court ordered the government to explain its failure to protect Islamic holy sites and provide funds for their maintenance. The government's response was pending at year's end.
   
   Some missionaries were allowed to proselytize. Offering material inducements for conversion, as well as converting persons under 18 years of age, remained illegal unless one parent was of the religion to which the minor wished to convert. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints refrained from proselytizing under an agreement with the government.
   
   A Holy Synod in Istanbul deposed the Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem, Irineos I, in May 2005. Irineos I claimed that the proceedings were illegal and that the Government of Israel did not recognize his successor, Theophilus. In November 2005 Theophilus appealed to the Israeli High Court, and at the same time a ministerial committee was established. On December 16, the Israeli cabinet approved Archbishop Theophilos III as Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem.
   
   Societal Abuses and Discrimination
   
   There were reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice.
   
   On January 29, police arrested six juveniles from the town of Bat Yam and charged them with spray painting approximately 20 swastikas on the Ark, Torah scroll, and walls of the Great Synagogue in the city of Petah Tikva in May 2006 as well as other acts of anti-Semitic vandalism. According to press reports, the youths-–new, non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union--admitted to belonging to a satanic cult. Dozens of incidents of neo-Nazi vandalism--including offensive and threatening graffiti--were reported throughout the country.
   
   On May 14, police arrested Julian Soufir after he admitted killing Taysir Karaki, an Arab taxi driver from East Jerusalem, because "I wanted to kill an Arab."
   
   On September 17, Rivka Zagaron, a 75-year-old Holocaust survivor, was assaulted in Haifa by two young men shouting "Heil Hitler." After she escaped, the two youths reportedly also assaulted a nearby cleaning employee.
   
   On September 22, during the Jewish Holy Day of Yom Kippur when driving is prohibited, a 20-year-old Israeli Arab man, Ashad Shibli, ran over a nine-year-old girl while she was riding her bicycle in the northern town of Kfar Tavor. Witnesses said he tried to run over two other residents earlier the same day. On October 12, authorities indicted Shibli for manslaughter. The trial was ongoing at year's end.
   
   In December the government concluded its criminal investigation into a 2006 article in the Hassidic World magazine describing Muslims and Christians in insulting terms. The Prosecutor's Office had not filed charges at year's end.
   
   In June 2006 approximately 100 ultra-Orthodox Jews assaulted approximately 50 Christian tourists in a Jerusalem neighborhood, injuring three of them. Police arrested two attackers, and in October 2006 the case was being prepared for indictment. No prosecution had begun by year's end.
   
   The national public bus service operated sex-segregated transportation for ultra-Orthodox Jews. Ultra-Orthodox passengers also tried to impose sex-segregation on some mixed buses. According to press reports, in October a group of five ultra-Orthodox men attacked a woman and a male soldier for sitting together on a mixed bus traveling to the town of Beit Shemesh. In November 2006 a group of ultra-Orthodox men reportedly attacked and beat a woman for refusing to move to the rear of a Jerusalem bus that was not officially sex-segregated. None of the attackers was arrested; however, at year's end the case was under investigation. A petition on the legality of sex-segregated buses was pending at year's end.
   
   During the year ultra-Orthodox Jews threw rocks at motorists to protest their driving on the Sabbath, and soccer fans from certain teams chanted "death to Arabs" and anti-Muslim slogans during games between Israeli Jewish and Arab teams.
   
   For a more detailed discussion, see the 2007 International Religious Freedom Report.


4. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
   Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
   
   The law provides for these rights, and the government generally respected them in practice for citizens. (See annex for restrictions on movement in the occupied territories.)
   
   Citizens generally were free to travel abroad and to emigrate, provided they had no outstanding military obligations and no administrative restrictions. The government may bar citizens from leaving the country based on security considerations. Citizens, including dual nationals, must enter and leave the country using their Israeli passports only. In addition no citizen is permitted to travel to states officially at war with the country without government permission, including Knesset members who have been barred by the Knesset from such visits without permission from the interior minister.
   
   Mordechai Vanunu, released in 2004 after serving 18 years in prison for treason and espionage for providing information about an alleged Israeli nuclear weapons program to a foreign newspaper, continued to be subjected to detailed restrictions on speech and movement. On July 2, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court sentenced Vanunu to six months' imprisonment for violating the terms of his parole by having contact with foreign nationals without permission and attempting to visit the West Bank.
   
   During the year there were numerous reports of foreign nationals, including American citizens, of Arab descent subjected to harsh and degrading treatment at border crossings. Diplomatic missions regularly protested such treatment regarding their nationals. In January the government published new guidelines for foreign nationals seeking to visit or reside in the West Bank, although problems at Ben Gurion International Airport and other border crossings persisted throughout the year.
   
   Israeli Arabs required a special permit to enter area A (the area, according to the Interim Agreement, in which the Palestinian Authority (PA) exercises security responsibility). However, they could travel abroad using their Israeli passports without restriction. Israeli Arabs regularly complained of discrimination and degrading treatment by airport security officials. On September 18, the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, which represents Israeli Arab interests, launched a boycott against the national airline, El Al, protesting discriminatory treatment at airports. On May 31, ACRI petitioned the High Court, demanding that the Israel Airports Authority, Shin Bet, and the Ministry of Transportation no longer use Arab ethnicity as a sufficient reason for conducting intensive security checks at Israeli airports. The case was pending at year's end.
   
   The law prohibits forced exile of citizens, and the government generally respected this prohibition in practice.
   
   Protection of Refugees
   
   UNHCR registered 5,505 cases of new arrivals during the year, of whom 32 percent were Eritrean citizens and 30 percent were Sudanese citizens, and estimated that at least 90 percent of all new arrivals transited Egypt en route to Israel. UNHCR estimated that at year's end there were approximately 7,000 asylum seekers in Israel.
   
   Israel is party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol. The government complied with its obligation regarding refoulement not to return persons to a country where they have a well founded fear of persecution. The government also did not return those denied refugee status to their home countries against their will. Israel does not have legislation implementing the 1951 refugee treaty and 1967 protocol, but it has signed and ratified both agreements and since 2001 has applied both agreements procedurally.
   
   The government does not have its own status determination system and relies on UNHCR, which referred eligible refugee applicants to an advisory committee the National Status Granting Body (NSGB), and the Ministry of the Interior rendered final adjudications based on NSGB recommendations. The Tel Aviv University Refugee Rights Clinic charged that the NSGB's procedures were not transparent.
   
   Refugees recommended by UNHCR and recognized by Israel received temporary residency, including social rights. Persons granted refugee status received six month visas that can be extended until final status is determined. Refugees' status is revisited every few years. No legal option exists to naturalize in Israel.
   
   Those denied asylum and unwilling to leave remain in immigration detention indefinitely. NGOs filed several court challenges, and the government responded with alternative solutions, placing many newly arrived illegal migrants in hotels, kibbutzim, and other employment situations. For asylum seekers from states at war with Israel, such as Sudan, the government attempted to find a third country to accept them.
   
   The total number of Sudanese migrants in Israel was estimated at nearly 3,000, compared with approximately 200 in 2006. According to the Refugee Rights Clinic, this influx resulted in many asylum seekers waiting in detention for long periods. The Refugee Rights Clinic claimed the government's policy regarding Sudanese violates the non-discrimination clause of the 1951 Refugee Convention and unilaterally derogates from the refugee definition. In December the government granted temporary refugee status to 500 Sudanese.
   
   After UNHCR provided an opinion that Eritreans should not be returned to their country, some Eritrean migrants in Israel were released into alternative detention.
   
   On August 19, Egypt accepted 48 Africans deported by Israel. Five human rights organizations argued to the High Court that such deportations violated the principle of nonrefoulement. On September 24, the High Court of Justice ordered the government to introduce procedures for screening asylum seekers at the border prior to any deportation. The government stated in August that it also would deport all asylum seekers who illegally enter Israel via Egypt, but at year's end these deportations were on hold.
   
   Palestinians were registered by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Section 3: Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government

The law provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.

Elections and Political Participation

Israel is a parliamentary democracy with an active multiparty system. Relatively small parties, including those primarily supported by Israeli Arabs, regularly win Knesset seats. The Basic Law requires that a party obtain 2 percent of the vote to win Knesset seats. In March 2006 the Kadima Party won a plurality of Knesset seats, and Kadima leader Ehud Olmert formed a coalition government in which he became prime minister.

The Basic Law prohibits the candidacy of any party or individual that denies either the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people or the democratic character of the state, or that incites racism. Otherwise, political parties operated without restriction or outside interference.

At year's end the 120-member Knesset had 17 female members, including its speaker. The Knesset included 10 Arabs and two Druze. The 29-member cabinet included two women, one Druze, and one Israeli Arab Muslim. Five members of the 14-member High Court, including its president, were women. An Arab Christian is on the High Court, but no Muslim or Druze citizens have served.

Government Corruption and Transparency

The law penalizes official corruption, and the government generally sought to implement these laws. Investigations of numerous allegations of misconduct by senior political figures and in government ministries occurred during the year. The national police, the state comptroller, the attorney general, and the finance ministry accountant-general officially were responsible for combating official corruption. Senior officials were subject to comprehensive financial disclosure laws.

On October 16, prosecutors issued an indictment against former Finance Minister Avraham Hirchson, who had resigned on July 1 on charges of fraud, money laundering, and breach of trust.

During the year the state comptroller and attorney general investigated Prime Minister Olmert for alleged irregularities in political appointments and bank and real estate actions in previous years. At least three investigations were ongoing at year's end.

Criminal investigations or trials of other officials, including Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman, Member of Knesset (MK) Tzachi Hanegbi, MK and later minister Ruhama Avraham, MK Azmi Bishara, and at least thirteen senior police and State Attorney's Office officials continued with no results at year's end.

In 2005 Omri Sharon was convicted of various charges relating to illegal fundraising related to the 1999 Likud party primary campaign of his father, Ariel Sharon. He was sentenced to a nine-month jail term and an additional nine-month suspended sentence as well as a $75,000 (NIS 300,000) fine. Sharon appealed the sentence, and in June the Tel Aviv District Court reduced it to seven months in prison and a nine-month suspended term. At year's end Sharon remained free pending a new appeal to the Supreme Court.

On March 25, citing lack of evidence, police closed a 2006 investigation into allegations that opposition leader Benyamin Netanyahu had used government funds to finance personal polls.

The law affords the public access to government information. According to ACRI the government does not effectively implement its Freedom of Information Law. Many government bodies did not disclose their internal regulations as required, and others failed to publish annual reports. On April 18, the High Court started deliberations on a 2005 ACRI petition demanding that the IDF and Ministry of Defense make their unclassified archives available to an Israeli journalist for research purposes. At year's end the case was ongoing.

On December 5, in response to a petition filed by five human rights NGOs, the Jerusalem Administrative Court ruled that the interior ministry had violated the law by withholding from the public its regulations concerning the Population Registry, which governs determinations regarding citizenship, residency, and entitlements to basic rights and freedoms for various sectors of Israeli society. The court ordered the ministry to publish its regulations on the ministry's Web site within 30 days.

Section 4: Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights

Numerous domestic and international human rights groups operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were cooperative to varying degrees, and NGOs routinely were invited to participate in Knesset hearings on proposed legislation. A Foreign Ministry liaison unit maintained relations with international and domestic NGOs. The government responded publicly to criticisms that it believed to be unfounded.

Under the 1980 Law of Associations governing nonprofit organizations, NGOs must register and pay annual fees.

Some registered NGOs were eligible to receive state funding. Mossawa alleged discrimination, noting that Israeli-Arab NGOs received only approximately 1 percent of the nearly $625 million (NIS 2.5 billion) spent annually by various government ministries on NGOs. Following a joint investigation by the finance and justice ministries, the Accountant General's Office stated that Mossawa's claims were unsupported. The accountant general pointed out, however, that while the funding criteria for NGOs applied equally to all applicants, certain government funds were earmarked for use only by NGOs that promote "traditional and religious Jewish activities."

During the year the interior ministry, operating under a 2002 order, barred entry to all foreign nationals affiliated with certain Palestinian human rights NGOs and solidarity organizations. (See annex regarding NGOs in the occupied territories.)

Section 5: Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons

The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender, marital status, political beliefs, or age.

Women

The Equality of Women Law provides equal rights for women and protection from violence, harassment, exploitation, and trafficking; however, domestic violence against women was a problem. During the year the government received 11,240 spousal abuse complaints filed by women, with 414 convictions.

Rape is illegal, and the Penal Law doubles the penalty if the perpetrator assaults or rapes a relative (his spouse, including the person publicly known as his spouse, a minor or person under care, for whom the offender is responsible). NGOs considered the incidence of rape a concern. The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel reported that "the existing laws set a valid basis for severe punishment in cases of rape and other forms of sexual assault," but that there is a tendency to sentence defendants to minimum terms of imprisonment. The government reported 971 files opened for rape, with 323 prosecutions and 253 cases pending during the year.

Various groups protested the return to government of Haim Ramon, who in May became vice prime minister. Ramon was convicted on January 31 of an indecent act for forcibly kissing a female soldier who worked in the Prime Minister's Tel Aviv office. He was sentenced to 120 hours of community service and ordered to pay $3,750 (NIS 15,000) as compensation.

On June 29, President Moshe Katsav resigned as Israel's eighth president after negotiating a plea bargain that resulted in his conviction on charges of indecent acts under duress, sexual harassment, and harassment of a witness. Under the plea bargain, the government dropped two rape charges, gave Katsav a suspended prison sentence, and ordered him to pay damages to two of his victims. Various media reports claimed there were as many as 10 victims. The felony to which Katsav pled guilty carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. Women's rights activists and government transparency NGOs protested the plea bargain.

On March 18, police discovered near the village of Kfar-Qasem the body of a Palestinian woman who had had a baby with a married man. The police suspected the crime was perpetrated to uphold the "family honor." The case was under investigation at year's end. In January the Haifa Magistrate's Court sentenced a man to four years for stabbing his daughter in May 2006 in an "honor crime."

The magazine Jerusalem Report claimed that rates of spousal abuse among Ethiopian immigrants were "extremely" high, and stated that five of sixteen Israeli women killed by partners in 2006 had been Ethiopian immigrants. The Social Affairs Ministry provided battered women shelter and operated a hot line. The police operated a call center to inform victims about their cases and employed a database to link sex crime cases in investigations. A wide variety of women's organizations provided counseling, crisis intervention, legal assistance, and shelters for abused women.

Prostitution is not illegal and was widespread, but not highly visible. The law prohibits operation of brothels and organized sex enterprises, but brothels existed in several major cities.

The Prevention of Stalking Law and the Prevention of Family Violence Law require that suspected victims be informed of their right to assistance. The government reportedly opened 167 sexual harassment cases, with 29 cases forwarded for prosecution.

The law provides for class action suits and requires equal pay for equal work; however, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor (MITL) reported a woman's average salary in 2005 to be 58 percent lower than the average salary of their male counterpart. The report also found that 3.2 percent of salaried women held management positions compared with 5.7 percent of men, with the gap in high technology industries even larger. On June 1, the Jerusalem Post reported that National Employment Service statistics showed 18 percent of employment-age Israeli Arab women participate in the work force, compared to 60 percent of Israeli Arab men.

Religious courts restricted the rights of Jewish and Muslim women. Jewish women are not allowed to initiate divorce proceedings without their husbands' consent. Consequently, thousands of so-called agunot--"chained women"--may not remarry or have legitimate children because their husbands disappeared or refused to grant divorces. Rabbinical tribunals may sanction a husband who refuses divorce but may not grant a divorce without his consent. Women do not have redress to civil courts; only religious courts can rule on personal status issues.

A Muslim woman may petition for and receive a divorce through the Shari'a courts without her husband's consent under certain conditions and may, through a marriage contract, provide for other cases where she may obtain a divorce without her husband's consent. A Muslim man may divorce his wife without her consent and without petitioning the court.

According to a July 10 Ha'aretz report, Arab women's complaints of sexual assault were increasing, and the Nazareth-based NGO Women Against Violence said that many of these women cited the Katsav case in their decision to appeal for help.

Children

The law provides for the overall protection of children's rights and welfare, and the government generally was committed to ensuring enforcement of these laws. There were nine emergency shelters for children younger than 14 at risk of abuse and three for girls 13 or older--one each for Arab, Orthodox Jewish, and secular Jewish girls. According to the National Council for the Child, social welfare offices treated a record number of 62,273 children in 2006 considered at risk from physical, sexual, or emotional abuse or neglect.

Education is compulsory through the ninth grade. The government operated separate school systems for Hebrew-speaking children, Arabic-speaking children, and Orthodox Jews.

Ultra-Orthodox political parties continued to oppose government interference in their school system. The only nonpublic schools receiving government funding were ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools.

Israeli-Arab advocacy groups charged that the education of Arab children was inferior to that of Jewish children in the secular system. According to a 2005 study at Hebrew University, three times more money was invested in education of Jewish children as in Arab children. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), 49.4 percent of Arab students passed their matriculation exams in 2006 compared with 64.4 percent for Jewish students. The results of exams released on November 29 showed that while Jewish-Israeli students ranked 11th in the world in literacy, Arab-Israeli students ranked 40th. While 77.2 percent of Jewish children attended preschool during the 2005-06 school year, only 62 percent of Arab children did so, according to CBS figures released in September. In June 2006 the Follow-Up Committee for Arab Education for Toddlers said that there was a shortage of 2,250 preschools in the Arab sector.

In August the National Insurance Institute (NII) found that nearly 36 percent of children lived below the poverty line. In June 2006 researchers at a Hebrew University conference reported that the poverty rate for Israeli-Arab children was 2.5 times higher than for Jewish children, and their infant mortality rate was double that of Jewish infants. Infant mortality among Bedouin Israelis was highest, at 15 percent of all births.

Boys and girls had equal access to medical care.

Trafficking in Persons

Israel is a destination country for trafficking for the purpose of labor and for prostitution. While trafficking for the purpose of prostitution greatly decreased in recent years, trafficking for the purpose of labor remained a serious problem.

According to NGO Hotline for Migrant Workers, victims of labor trafficking varied by sector, with Thai agricultural workers and Philippine domestic servants significant groups. The penal code stipulates that coercion to engage in prostitution is a criminal offense, punishable by between four and 20 years' imprisonment. The women's rights NGO Isha L'Isha reported that even though judges and prosecutors tended to award compensation money to trafficked women, the amounts were low and the traffickers "hindered" payments. Workers' rights NGO Kav LaOved reported that it handled more cases during the year of slavery and forced labor than cases of trafficking for labor purposes.

The law guarantees foreign laborers legal status, decent working conditions, health insurance, and a written employment contract; however, some employers forced individual laborers who entered the country, both legally and illegally, to live under conditions that constituted involuntary servitude. The government reported that through August 30, the Immigration Administration encountered four cases of possible trafficking for the purpose of slavery, three cases of holding persons under conditions of slavery, and two cases of forced labor. Organized crime groups trafficked women for prostitution, primarily from Eastern Europe, luring them with service sector jobs. Some reportedly sold women to brothels. According to the Investigations and Intelligence Division of the Israeli police, only a few dozen foreign women engaged in prostitution entered Israel during the year, compared to 3,000 entering in 2003. Isha L'Isha intervened in 50 cases of Israeli women internally trafficked for prostitution.

In July a national plan to combat trafficking for the purpose of prostitution was approved. In June the Investigations and Intelligence Division of the Israeli Police issued detailed guidelines that clarified areas of responsibility among units.

There were numerous documented cases of foreign laborers living in harsh conditions, subjected to debt bondage, and restricted in their movements. In prior years law enforcement agencies successfully prosecuted employers for labor law violations, including for violations that were tantamount to trafficking, but the sentences applied were insufficient. Labor agencies in particular were not properly penalized because the then-current law did not criminalize trafficking for purposes other than prostitution. An October 2006 amendment criminalized trafficking for slavery, forced labor, prostitution, pornography, sexual abuse, and organ selling, providing maximum sentences of seven to 20 years depending on the offense. In the first eight months of the year, the Immigration Administration reported it investigated seven cases of alleged trafficking or holding persons under conditions of slavery, 41 cases of withholding passports, and 310 cases of deceit and extortion of foreign workers.

On September 9, the government filed its first case of trafficking for organ removal. The defendants, who located their victims through advertisements in Arab-language newspapers, entered into a plea bargain, and one was sentenced to four years and $3,750 (NIS 15,000) compensation, and the other to 20 months.

The government worked with NGOs and with officials in source countries to investigate and extradite individuals on charges of trafficking in persons.

The Ministry of Justice requires that investigations of complaints by foreign workers should be concluded within 45 days. When prosecutors gathered sufficient evidence for indictment, they filed the indictment through an accelerated procedure to ensure that the proceedings would continue even if the foreign worker left the country. According to the government, all investigations into complaints by foreign workers filed to the PID were concluded within 45 days, and most were concluded "far in advance." According to Kav LaOved, however, only one investigation was completed in 45 days.

The government-run shelter with a 50-person capacity for victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation was often completely filled. Isha L'Isha reported that it was very difficult to enter trafficked women into the shelter if they had children, and noted that the Ministry of Health had not yet found a solution for women outside the shelter who had no medical insurance. NGOs claimed additional shelters were needed for trafficking victims.

Persons with Disabilities

The law provides for protection and equality of the rights of persons with disabilities, although societal discrimination persisted in areas such as employment and housing.

The Commission for Equal Rights of People with Disabilities (CERPD) within the Justice Ministry took legal action in the areas of accessibility and employment.

In October the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Employment announced that it reimbursed employers for renovations needed to accommodate disabled employees. On December 3, the CERPD reported that 46 percent of persons with disabilities were employed during 2006--a 6 percent increase from 2002--but their average wage was 34 percent below the national average.

The law requires television stations to include subtitles and sign language and the courts to accommodate testimony from persons with intellectual disabilities or mental illness. Accessibility to public transportation was not mandated by law.

There were no government restrictions on the right of persons with disabilities to vote or participate in civic affairs.

National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Advocacy groups charged government officials with making racist statements. The Chief Rabbi of Safed, Shmuel Eliyahu, a government official, made public appeals for the expulsion of Israeli Arabs from Safed and other Israeli communities. In September 2006 MK Effie Eitam called for removal from the political system of Israeli Arabs, whom he called "traitors in the first degree."

Although Arabic is an official language, the NII requires documents submitted for claim be translated into Hebrew. In November 2006 Adalah argued that the Shari'a courts are also government courts and should have their Arabic rulings accepted by other government organizations.

Approximately 93 percent of land is in the public domain, and of this approximately 12.5 percent is owned by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), whose statutes prohibit sale or lease of land to non-Jews. In 2005 the attorney general ruled the government cannot discriminate against Israeli Arabs in marketing and allocation of lands it manages, including those of the JNF. Petitions against the JNF policy of leasing land only to Jews, as well as draft legislation supporting the policy, were pending at year's end.

Israeli-Arab advocacy organizations have challenged the demolition of illegal buildings in the Arab sector on grounds that the government restricted building permits, limiting Arab natural growth. According to the Arab Center for Alternative Planning, during a five-month period in 2004, the government issued tenders for construction of 1,820 housing units in northern Israel , which has an Arab majority, but only 140 were designated for Arab communities.

The Orr Commission of Inquiry--established in 2000 to investigate the police killing of 12 Arab Israelis and one Palestinian--found in 2001 that "suitable planning should be carried out [in the Arab sector] as soon as possible to prevent illegal construction..." In 2004 the Supreme Court ruled that omitting Arab towns from specific government social and economic plans was discriminatory. At year's end, according to the government, master plans had been completed for 24 of the country's 128 Arab communities; another 89 communities were being planned. New construction is illegal in towns that do not have master plans and in the country's 37 unrecognized Bedouin villages.

On January 9, security forces demolished 21 of the original 50 Bedouin homes in the unrecognized village of Al-Twial, following the prior demolition of 17 homes there. On June 25, security forces demolished between 20 and 25 homes in the unrecognized Bedouin villages of Um Al-Hiran and A-Tir. On August 1, 15 civilians were injured by security forces during a protest against the demolition of two homes in Sera and Nasara, according to press reports. On November 1, security forces demolished approximately 15 Bedouin homes in the unrecognized villages of Wadi Al-Na'am and Assir. According to ACRI, more than 200 buildings were demolished in the unrecognized Bedouin villages during the first 11 months of the year, compared with 96 in 2006 and 15 in 2005.

On June 17, the Supreme Court granted the government another one-year extension to comply with its February 2006 ruling that a 1998 government development policy making certain areas eligible for special funding was discriminatory because it included only four Arab communities.

Arab groups complained that unlike Jewish communities, Arab communities in the north had no bomb shelters or warning sirens to protect them from rocket attacks from Lebanon. In August 2006 the government-supervised Small Business Development Center created a loan program for businesses damaged by the July-August 2006 conflict, but only Jewish businesses were eligible. "Front line" communities were eligible for full compensation for economic losses from armed conflict and all northern communities except four Arab towns along the Lebanese border were so designated. In September 2006 Adalah petitioned the Supreme Court to include these towns, and on January 31, the Ministry of Finance announced that it would include them.

Israeli Arabs were underrepresented in universities, professions, and business. In June 2006 a researcher from Haifa University and the NGO Sikkuy reported only 2.8 percent of high technology workers were Arab; 70 percent of Arabs with degrees in high technology failed to find work between 2001 and 2005.

Other well‑educated Israeli Arabs were unable to find jobs commensurate with their qualifications. According to a Civil Service Commission report, in 2004 only three of 809 Finance Ministry employees were Israeli Arabs, while the Foreign Ministry, with 933 employees, employed only seven. Israeli Arabs fared slightly better in the health field and in academia, where university affirmative action and diversity programs opened relatively more doors.

In 2003 the government approved an affirmative action program to promote hiring Israeli Arabs in the civil service, but according to a June 20 press release from Mossawa, only 5.86 percent of the government's employees in 2006 were Arab. In March 2006 the government ordered the Civil Service Commission to allocate 37.5 new positions annually through 2008 to government offices that employ qualified Arabs, Druze, and Circassians.

A 2000 law requires minorities have "appropriate representation" in the civil service and on the boards of government corporations. As of December, Arabs (including Druze and Circassians) filled 51 out of 528 board seats of state-run companies. In April 2006 media reported that approximately 1 percent of employees in state-run companies were Arabs.

The law exempts Israeli Arabs from mandatory military service. Citizens who do not perform military service enjoy less access to social and economic benefits. Israeli Arabs generally were restricted from working in companies with defense contracts or in security-related fields. In June the government started a civilian service program for citizens not drafted for military service, which gives Israeli Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews the opportunity to serve and be eligible for the same benefits accorded military veterans. According to press reports, the National Service Administration registered 289 Israeli-Arab volunteers during the 2006-07 academic year.

The Israeli Druze community comprised approximately 8.3 percent of the population, and the Circassian community numbered some 3,000. Males were subject to the military draft, and the overwhelming majority accepted willingly. Some Bedouin and other Arab citizens not subject to the draft also served voluntarily.

The Bedouin sector of the population was the most disadvantaged. Half of the 160,000 Bedouin lived in seven state-planned or eight recognized communities, which received basic services, and the rest in 37 unrecognized villages, which were not connected to water and electricity and lacked educational, health, and welfare services. In November 2006 Adalah petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn a Water Tribunal decision not to connect unrecognized villages to water; the petition was pending at year's end.

On April 15, the Supreme Court ruled that the Israel Land Administration could no longer use herbicides to destroy Bedouin crops on state lands.

Government planners noted there were insufficient funds to relocate Bedouin living in unrecognized villages to new townships, and the average Bedouin family could not afford to purchase a home there. Clashes between authorities and residents of unrecognized villages continued during the year.

Approximately 20,000 non-Israelis live in the Golan Heights. Syria regards them as its citizens, and they largely have refused Israeli citizenship. Israel accords them permanent resident status; they receive Israeli travel documents and hold identity cards that entitle them to many of the same social benefits as Israeli citizens. However, Druze communities in the Golan Heights received little or no support for municipal services or infrastructure maintenance. (Residents of Palestinian origin of East Jerusalem are covered in the annex.)

The government prohibits Druze Israelis, like all citizens, from visiting Syria; the government allowed noncitizen Druze from the Golan Heights to visit holy sites through the ICRC-managed pilgrimage program.

Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination

Societal violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or against persons with HIV/AIDS existed in isolated cases. The government continued to uphold laws criminalizing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or HIV/AIDS. Gay Pride events, including a large march in Tel Aviv, were held peacefully and without violence or widespread disruption.

Section 6: Worker Rights

1. The Right of Association
   
   Citizens may join and establish labor organizations. Most unions belong to Histadrut (the General Federation of Labor) or to a smaller rival federation, the Histadrut Haovdim Haleumit (National Federation of Labor). Both are independent.
   
   Legal foreign workers and nonresident Palestinians may join Israeli trade unions and organize their own unions in Israel. Benefits and protections in Histadrut work contracts and grievance procedures extend to legal nonresident workers in the organized sector, but they cannot vote in Histadrut elections.
   
   Labor laws apply to noncitizens. Documented foreign workers are entitled to many of the same benefits as citizens, although not national health care. Employers are legally required to provide insurance. Undocumented foreign workers receive no benefits.


2. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
   
   Citizens exercised their legal rights to organize and bargain collectively. The law specifically prohibits anti-union discrimination, and none was reported.
   
   Foreign workers must pay an agency fee, and can pay union dues, entitling them to employment protection and some entitlements won by collective bargaining agreements. Collective bargaining agreements extend to non-union workplaces in the same sector.
   
   Unions have the right to strike, and workers exercised this right. If essential public services are affected by a strike, the government may appeal to labor courts for back-to-work orders during continued negotiations. Worker dismissals and the terms of severance arrangements traditionally have been the central issues of disputes.


3. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
   
   The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but various NGOs consider many workers to be in conditions that are tantamount to involuntary servitude. Civil rights groups have charged that unscrupulous employers exploited adult non-Palestinian foreign workers, both legal and illegal, and held them in conditions that amounted to involuntary servitude. (See section 4.)


4. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment
   
   Laws protect children from exploitation in the workplace and prohibit forced or compulsory labor; the government effectively implemented these laws.
   
   Children at least 15 years old who have completed their education through grade nine may be employed only as apprentices. Those who are 14 may be employed during official school holidays in light work that will not harm their health. Working hours for those between 16 and 18 are restricted.
   
   The government received 90 reports of child labor, mostly in marketing, summer camps, restaurants, and event halls during the year. It reported no complaints of Palestinian child labor.


5. Acceptable Conditions of Work
   
   The minimum wage was approximately 47.5 percent of the average wage, approximately $940 (3,760 NIS) per month for a 40-hour week. The government considered the minimum wage, supplemented by special allowances for citizens, to provide a citizen worker a decent standard of living. Some union officials, NGOs, and social commentators disputed this claim, but Histadrut stated that a noncitizen worker paid the minimum wage, even absent the special allowances for citizens, received a decent standard of living.
   
   The law allows a maximum 43-hour workweek at regular pay.
   
   Employers must obtain a government permit to hire non-Israeli workers who live in occupied territory. Most Palestinians from the occupied territories working legally in the country were employed on a daily basis and, unless employed on shift work, were not authorized to spend the night in the country. According to Histadrut there were very few such regular workers during the year.
   
   Palestinian employees recruited through the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor received their wages and benefits through that ministry, which deducted a union fee and contributions for NII benefits they did not receive, such as unemployment insurance, disability payments, and low-income supplements. Histadrut reported that a legal mechanism was established in 2005 for non-Palestinian migrant workers employed in the construction sector to receive benefits, but in other sectors, such as agriculture and care giving, there was no comparable mechanism. Israeli employers paid Palestinian employees not employed through the ministry directly after deducting the union fee and NII contribution; such workers received the same benefits as workers paid through the ministry.
   
   According to an agreement between the government and the PA, employers paid an "equalization fee" to the Israeli Treasury, in the amount of the difference in cost between employing a Palestinian and an Israeli worker. After deductions, the remainder was transferred to the PA.
   
   A major issue contributing to a number of work stoppages was that many municipalities routinely failed to meet payrolls in recent years. Despite a variety of court orders and government interventions, the problem persisted.
   
   Since 2000 the government's closure policy prevented Palestinians from traveling from the occupied territories to employment in Israel. During periods of non-closure, Palestinians required Israeli permits to enter the country for a single day or for periods of several months. Frequently authorities invalidated existing permits, requiring even long-established travelers to secure new permits; accordingly, statistics on permit issuance did not reflect actual numbers of individuals allowed into the country.
   
   The Labor Inspection Service, along with union representatives, enforced labor, health, and safety standards in the workplace, although resource constraints affected overall enforcement. There were 25 inspectors, assisted by 32 students, to enforce labor laws that affected approximately 2.5 million workers. The government reported that it will add 34 labor inspectors and 69 student assistants. There are also 53 labor inspectors for foreign workers, and 68 work safety inspectors.
   
   Kav LaOved charged that the ministry tolerates the forcing of workers to accept illegally low salaries, citing many complaints from Thai agricultural workers. The report alleged that these workers have to help employers "create fictitious evidence" because of fear of forced deportation and lack of alternative employment, and concluded that "as long as inspectors run inspections without interpreters, and fail to collect evidence from workers, systematic violations of minimum wage will continue."
   
   Except for construction workers, foreign workers could not legally remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardy to continued employment. In response to a 2006 Supreme Court ruling that said the policy of employer-dependent status for foreign workers led to abuse, the government introduced a new mechanism in the nursing and agriculture sectors that allows foreign workers to remove themselves from hazardous work situations without jeopardy to continued employment.
   
   All workers could challenge unsafe work practices through government oversight and legal agencies, but NGOs reported that employees in sectors other than construction were not provided information on how to contact the authorities, and that most agencies lacked interpreters.
   
   The government reported that through August, it opened 1,745 investigation files on employers of foreign workers for violations of labor laws, and issued 1,686 fines. The government said that the MITL does not currently hold data on the number of criminal indictments filed against foreign workers' employers.
   
   Brokers and employers are permitted to collect hiring fees from migrant workers. The government limited such fees to approximately $650 (NIS 2,600) per worker, but NGOs charged that many foreign workers continued to pay up to $10,000 (40,000 NIS). In a significant number of cases according to NGOs, employers dismissed workers shortly after arriving. The MITL reported that through September, it had revoked 50 licenses during the year of agencies licensed to recruit foreign workers.
   
   The MITL office for manpower agency licensing reported that it had only one full-time investigator to handle more than 350 companies. The government hired private law firms to prosecute "thousands of employers for labor law violations" based on investigations and recommendations of the enforcement division of the Unit, and on clear guidelines.
   
   The government reported that it issued 88,500 permits for non-Palestinian foreign workers during the year and that there were approximately 102,000 legal foreign workers and approximately 84,000 illegal foreign workers in Israel.
   
   According to Hotline, the Ministry of Interior announced it had received and reviewed 827 applications for permanent residency status for children of migrant workers, approved approximately 500, and that 322 appeals were filed, of which 120 were approved and 113 denied; the rest remained to be determined.
   
   Workers may contest deportation orders in a special court, but they often lacked fluency in Hebrew, placing them at a considerable disadvantage. Hotline charged that the ombudsman was "gravely" understaffed, lacked interpreters, did not have open hours for accepting complaints, and responded very slowly even to well-documented complaints submitted via NGOs.

THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES (INCLUDING AREAS SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY)

Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, and East Jerusalem during the 1967 War. In 2007 the Palestinian population of Gaza was approximately 1.4 million, of the West Bank 2.3 million, and of East Jerusalem 210,000. Approximately 191,000 Israelis resided in East Jerusalem and 282,000 in the West Bank. During the 1990s, various agreements transferred civil responsibility to the Palestinian Authority (PA) for Gaza and parts of the West Bank. However, after Palestinian extremist groups resumed violence in 2000, Israeli forces resumed control over a number of these areas, citing the PA's failure to abide by its security responsibilities. During the year the terrorist group Hamas seized control of Gaza, factional Palestinian violence surged, and Israeli-imposed internal and external access restrictions increased.

The PA has a democratically elected president and legislative council, which select a prime minister and cabinet. In 2005 Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Mahmud Abbas won 62 percent of the vote in a presidential election regarded as generally free and fair. In January 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections, Hamas won 74 of 132 seats in elections that generally met democratic standards. In February Hamas formed a national unity government (NUG) with the Fatah party, but in June Hamas staged a violent takeover of PA government installations in Gaza and killed hundreds in the Fatah movement and PA security forces. On June 14, President Abbas dissolved the NUG and on June 17, swore in Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and a cabinet of independents. A "State of Emergency" was declared on June 14 and lifted on July 16.

President Abbas and his subordinates control PA security forces in the West Bank. Armed militias and terrorist organizations were still active in some areas. In Gaza, Hamas established its own de facto security forces, which answer to former Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Hanniyeh and which continued to kill, kidnap, and harass PA security forces and Palestinian opponents and shell civilian targets in Israel.

The Israeli government maintained effective control of its security forces. Both Israeli and Palestinian NGOs reported that the Israeli authorities used excessive force, abused civilians and detainees, tortured Palestinian detainees, failed to take proper disciplinary actions, improperly applied security internment procedures, maintained austere and overcrowded detention facilities, imposed severe restrictions on freedom of movement, and limited cooperation with NGOs.

In 2005 the Israeli Supreme Court reaffirmed its 2004 decision that the separation barrier is permissible under both international law and Israeli law; however, the court questioned whether the segment of the barrier at issue in the case (in the West Bank, near Jerusalem) utilized the least intrusive route available, and it asked the government to consider whether there was an alternative route. In a 2004 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice concluded that the barrier was contrary to international law in a number of respects.

Regarding the PA authorities there were reports of torture, arbitrary and prolonged detention, poor prison conditions, insufficient measures to prevent attacks by terrorist groups, corruption and lack of transparency. Domestic abuse of women, societal discrimination against women and persons with disabilities, and child labor remained serious problems.

Palestinian terrorist organizations carried out many attacks on Israelis. Six IDF soldiers and four Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians in the territories. During the year 346 Palestinians were killed by Palestinians and 377 were killed during Israeli military operations in the West Bank and Gaza. Five Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians in terrorist attacks in Israel, three in a suicide bombing in Eilat and two in Sderot by Qassam rockets. No foreigners were killed.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1: Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

1. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
   
   Killings by Palestinian and Israeli security forces and Palestinian terrorist groups remained a serious problem. There was a significant increase in the number of Palestinian deaths resulting from internal violence.
   
   During Hamas' takeover of Gaza in June, armed Palestinian groups engaged in summary executions and torture and put the lives of civilians at risk. In June, 193 Palestinians were killed of which 181 were due to factional violence; 85 percent of Palestinians killed were in Gaza.
   
   The increasing lack of law and order in Gaza eroded public confidence in security forces, and many Palestinians sought protection by turning to individual clans and family groups; consequently, family disputes were increasingly fatal, with 72 deaths between January 2006 and July 2007.
   
   On June 11, Hamas fired mortars and missiles at the Gaza home of Jamal Abu al-Jidyan, a senior al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade member and Fatah Secretary for northern Gaza. When neighbors tried to take Abu al-Jidyan to the hospital, Hamas members captured and killed him.
   
   There were no further developments in the following 2006 killings: Abu Yusif, Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) military leader; Brigadier General Jad al-Tayeh of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service (GI) and his four bodyguards; the children of a senior PA intelligence officer fired upon by unknown assailants; and three children of a senior PA intelligence officer and their driver.
   
   There were no developments in the 2005 cases of: Palestinian gunmen who attacked the Gaza Central Prison and killed three prisoners; the killing of Musa Arafat, former PA Gaza National Security Forces chief; and a Palestinian on trial for killing an Israeli soldier at the Qalandiya checkpoint.
   
   Palestinian terrorist groups killed Israeli civilians in Israel and in the occupied territories by suicide bombs, rockets, and mortars. They frequently fired at Israeli forces from civilian areas, increasing the risk that return fire would harm noncombatants. PA President Abbas made repeated public statements calling for an end to violence against Israel and internal violence between Fatah and Hamas, but these steps did not prevent numerous attacks.
   
   On February 25, a Palestinian stabbed 42-year-old Erez Levanon from Bat Ayin settlement near Hebron. On May 21 and 27, Qassam rockets fired from Gaza killed 32-year-old Shirel Friedman and 36-year-old Oshri Oz.
   
   Ido Zoldan, a leader in the movement to return to the Homesh settlement, evacuated in 2005 by Israeli government orders, was killed by gunmen in the late hours of November 19 as he drove near Karnei Shomron settlement. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility; Israel arrested two Palestinian policemen.
   
   On December 28, Israeli settlers Ahikham Amihai and David Rubin were killed by three Palestinian gunmen while hiking near the Hebron area settlement of Telem. PA security forces arrested Fatah members Ali Abd al-Hamid Dandis and Amar Badr Halim Taha.
   
   According to Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups, during the year 377 Palestinians, compared to 660 in 2006, were killed during Israeli military and police operations. NGO B'Tselem estimated 35 percent were civilians not taking part in the hostilities at the time of their death. According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), IDF operations and clashes with Palestinians resulted in injuries to 583 Palestinians during the year.
   
   In December 2006 the Israeli High Court ruled that targeted killings are not per se illegal, but each case must be meticulously examined through an independent investigation. According to B'Tselem, during the year Israeli forces targeted and killed 18 Palestinians, many affiliated with terrorist organizations.
   
   On May 20, IDF helicopter gunfire in Gaza City killed eight family members of Hamas Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Khalil al-Hayah, who was not present. On July 26, PRC members Omar Arafat Shafik al-Khatib, Khalil Mesbah Hussein al-Daifi, and Fadi Abd al-Qader Salman Abu Mustafa were killed by air strikes on their car. On October 23, air strikes also killed Mubarak al-Hasanat, a PRC military leader.
   
   The IDF conducted numerous incursions into Palestinian areas in response to mortar, rocket, and antitank fire, and fired tank shells, heavy machine-gun rounds, and rockets from aircraft at targets in residential and business neighborhoods where they believed Palestinian gunfire originated. Palestinian gunmen fired on Israeli forces and booby trapped homes and apartment buildings. In response, the IDF raided and often destroyed buildings allegedly harboring militants. These actions often resulted in civilian casualties.
   
   On August 29, an IDF tank killed eight-year-old Mahmoud Mousa Hassan Abu Ghazala, 11-year-old Yahya Ramadan Atiyyah Abu Ghazala, and eight-year-old Sarah Suliman Abdallah Abu Ghazala outside Beit Hanoun. The IDF said surveillance footage indicated that the children had been playing in the vicinity of Qassam rocket launchers.
   
   Israeli security personnel operating checkpoints killed a number of Palestinians. For example, on July 26, Jihad Khalil Hussein al-Shaer was beaten, shot, and killed by IDF soldiers at a temporary checkpoint in Bethlehem. No investigation was announced. The investigation was ongoing in the 2004 case in which IDF soldiers shot and killed 13-year-old Iman al-Hams as she approached an IDF outpost in Gaza carrying a bag of schoolbooks that troops suspected contained explosives. In 2005 the girl's parents filed a lawsuit through the Jerusalem District Court demanding compensation. On November 8, the parents' petition, which had been accepted by the High Court in December 2006, was transferred to the military attorney general.
   
   IDF soldiers fired on trespassers in or near restricted areas. Since September 2000 at least 284 Palestinians have been killed for moving within 460 feet of the Gaza perimeter fence, which Israel declared off limits to Palestinians. Of those killed, 117 were civilians, including 23 children. On June 1, 14-year-old Ahmed Sabri Suliman Ali Abu Zubeida and 13-year-old Zaher Jaber Muhammad al-Majdalawi were killed and 16-year-old Muhammad al-Atawanah was badly wounded on the beach in Gaza 100 yards from the border. According to press reports, IDF troops saw the boys crawling towards the fence, shouted a warning over a loudspeaker, fired warning shots, and then shot live fire. According to B'Tselem, they had been flying a kite.
   
   On January 19, 10-year-old Abir Aramin died from a wound to the back of the head infliced as she was leaving school during clashes between Israeli Border Police and Palestinians. The Jerusalem District Prosecutor closed the investigation July 31 for lack of evidence. On September 25, the Israeli NGO Yesh Din appealed, alleging that according to 14 witnesses and independent Israeli pathologist Dr. Chen Kugel, she was shot with a rubber-coated bullet while running away. At year's end the Prosecutor's Office had not taken further action.
   
   On February 26, Anan Muhammad Assad al-Tibi was killed by IDF gunfire when he went onto the roof of his house in Nablus during curfew to repair water containers. On September 17, 16-year-old Muhammad Ali Mesbah Jabarin was killed by IDF gunfire while walking in Ramallah during an Israeli operation. No investigations were opened in these cases.
   
   On March 29, the IDF Military Advocate General began an investigation into the February 2006 death of Nafia Abu Musaid, a Palestinian shepherdess in Gaza who was shot and killed by IDF soldiers.
   
   In November 2006 IDF artillery shelled the Gazan town of Beit Hanoun, killing 19 Palestinians and injuring others. Israeli authorities announced an investigation and on October 9, B'Tselem sent a follow-up letter to the Military Prosecutor. At years end no investigation results were released.
   
   There was no further information about the results of an investigation into a 2006 IDF military operation in Nablus where the IDF used an UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)-run girls' school in Balata Camp for three days as an operating base, detention center, and firing position, causing extensive damage to the school. There was also no further information about a 2006 explosion in Gaza that witnesses claimed resulted from Israeli naval artillery fire that killed eight.
   
   There were no developments in investigations of the following 2005 IDF shooting cases: killing an unarmed 13-year-old Palestinian boy in Askar refugee camp; killing a 14-year-old boy at Abu Holi checkpoint in Gaza; killing a 10-year-old Palestinian girl and injuring a second inside their UNRWA school in Rafah; killing three Palestinian teenagers near the border fence separating Gaza from Egypt; killing five unarmed Palestinians in Tulkarm refugee camp; killing Samir Ribhi Da'ari, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem; and killing a 15-year-old boy near the separation barrier.
   
   According to a December study by the Israeli NGO Yesh Din, 1,091 criminal investigations were launched by the Israeli Investigative Military Police between September 2000 and June 2007 into soldiers suspected of killing, injuring, and committing criminal offenses against Palestinian civilians. Of the 239 investigations into the killing and injury of Palestinian civilians, 16 resulted in convictions. According to a June 2005 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, Israeli military investigations were not "impartial, thorough, or timely." HRW charged the IDF had investigated less than 5 percent of civilian deaths between 2000 and 2004.
   
   The IDF stated it conducted 130 investigations, issued 28 indictments, received seven convictions and one acquittal; the remaining 20 court cases were ongoing. The other incidents were still under investigation.
   
   Unlike past years, no Palestinians were killed by Israeli security personnel while protesting construction of the separation barrier.


2. Disappearance
   
   During the year there were several reports of politically motivated kidnappings and disappearances in connection with internal Palestinian conflict. See related information in Section 2.a.
   
   On May 26, in Nablus, Maher Halim Daoud Juri was abducted by Palestinian militants who claimed that he was a collaborator with Israel. On June 16, militants brought him to the main square and shot him in the legs several times before leaving him. Maher Juri was transferred to the hospital, where he was shot and killed by masked men.
   
   On June 7, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade gunmen kidnapped Nablus deputy mayor and Hamas member Mahdi Hanbali and released him after three days. On June 12, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade gunmen kidnapped deputy Minister of Transportation Faidi Shaban from his office in Ramallah. He was released a few hours later. On June 14, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade commander and Preventive Security officer Samih al-Madhun was captured in central Gaza when he tried to shoot his way through a Hamas checkpoint. Madhun was beaten, stabbed, and shot to death by members of the crowd.
   
   On January 1, Peruvian AFP photographer Jaime Razuri was kidnapped by gunmen in Gaza, and on January 23, members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade kidnapped a French vice consul and his two French guards in Nablus. Both were subsequently released.
   
   Neither the authorities under President Abbas nor Hamas prevented or adequately investigated kidnappings of Palestinians or foreign nationals in the West Bank and Gaza.
   
   In June 2006 PRC and Hamas militants tunneled from Gaza to Israel, killed two soldiers and abducted a third, Gilad Shalit. By year's end Shalit had not been released.


3. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
   
   The PA Basic Law prohibits torture or use of force against detainees; however, international human rights groups stated that torture was a significant problem. Torture by PA security forces and the Hamas Executive Force reportedly was widespread and not restricted to security detainees. Documentation of abuses was very limited, due partly to fear of retribution by alleged victims. Palestinian security officers have no formal guidelines regarding interrogations; convictions were based largely on confessions.
   
   After Hamas' takeover of Gaza in June, NGOs and the press reported widespread abuse and torture by the Hamas Executive Force and its military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and by PA security forces in the West Bank. On July 24, Hamas Executive Force members detained Fatah member Muhammad Kamel al-Shekhrit during a demonstration and beat him at the former headquarters of the National Security Forces in Rafah. On August 18, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigade members beat Yasser Ouda Joma Abu Shabab, a police officer from Rafah, and interrogated him about his ties to Fatah. On September 26, PA Military Intelligence detained and beat Hamas member Rasem Khattab Hasan Mustafa in Nablus. On September 28, PA Preventive Security officers beat Fayez al-Tarada during the arrest of his brother, Hamas-supporter Fawwaz Hisham Hussein al-Tarada and during interrogation in Hebron beat Fawwaz with a stick. There were no investigations opened.
   
   Israeli law, as interpreted by a 1999 High Court decision, prohibits torture and several interrogation techniques but allows "moderate physical pressure" against detainees considered to possess information about an imminent terrorist attack. The law also indicates that interrogators who abuse detainees suspected of possessing such information may be immune from prosecution.
   
   Israeli law prohibits forced confessions, but a detainee may not have legal representation until after interrogation, a process that may last weeks. Most convictions were based on confessions made during this period. Detainees sometimes stated in court that their confessions were coerced, but there were no instances in which judges excluded such confessions. In May B'Tselem and HaMoked reported that isolation from the outside world was a common Israel Security Agency (ISA) practice whereby detainees were prevented from meeting with attorneys, ICRC representatives, and their families during the initial period of their interrogation or for its duration. They also reported sleep deprivation, protracted handcuffing, insults and humiliation, threats, and naked body searches.
   
   During the year the Israeli NGO, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), submitted to the attorney general (AG) 65 individual complaints alleging torture and inhuman treatment of Palestinians by Israeli security officials. One alleged that Luwaii Ashqar, who was arrested in 2005, was abused for four days and upon release in May, suffered from partial paralysis of his legs. PCATI filed a complaint to the ISA on behalf of 137 detainees alleging painful handcuffing behind their backs for long periods during interrogation, and on November 21, it filed a complaint on behalf of Imad Khotri alleging he was partially paralyzed in his hands after suffering neurological damage as a result of painful handcuffing during his ISA interrogation at the Kishon Detention Center following his October 17 IDF arrest in Qalqilya. In every case the AG responded that these persons had information deemed vital for state security and no action would be taken against ISA interrogators.
   
   Israeli human rights organizations reported that during the last few years Israeli interrogators used psychological abuse more frequently, including threats of house demolition or of questioning elderly parents, and kept prisoners in harsh conditions, including solitary confinement for long periods. For example, the ISA brought the wife and father of Hebron resident Mahmoud Abd al-Aziz Suweiti to him dressed in detainee clothing and told him they would be interrogated, causing him to attempt suicide. On March 7, the High Court ordered the ISA to inform Suweiti that his wife and father had never been detained, and had been used for interrogation purposes. On October 30, PCATI submitted a letter to the AG citing three cases since March 7 where family members were detained allegedly to put psychological pressure on detainees. In his response, the AG agreed that such actions were not appropriate, and he said that the ISA agreed to refrain from such methods.
   
   On December 16, the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported the results of an internal IDF survey that found approximately one-quarter of all soldiers serving at checkpoints in the West Bank had perpetrated or witnessed abuse of Palestinians. The IDF subsequently announced that it would require additional training for soldiers stationed in the West Bank in an attempt to reduce the frequency of abuse.
   
   In May Israeli NGOs B'Tselem and HaMoked published a report alleging serious abuses of detainees from the occupied territories in Israeli detention facilities. The report stated that from 2001 to 2006, the State Attorney's Office failed to launch criminal investigations into any of over 500 complaints of ill treatment by ISA interrogators. It also found that in two thirds of 73 cases examined, detainees claimed that ISA interrogators used one or more forms of abuse. In December PCATI reported that from January 2005 to July 2007 the Military Prosecutor's Office received 138 complaints of physical abuse against IDF soldiers, filed six indictments, and initiated three disciplinary actions.
   
   According to B'Tselem, on January 10, Israeli officers on a naval ship forced fisherman Amin Saud Mahmoud Hasuna and his brother, Yasser, who were beyond the Israeli prescribed distance from the coast, to undress and swim 100 yards. The naval officers blindfolded the brothers, took them to Ashdod Port for interrogation, and 12 hours later forced them to swim at night back to their boat. Since June 2006 Israel has prevented Gazan fishermen from going beyond 500 yards from shore. According to B'Tselem, on April 13, Israeli Border Police soldiers kicked and punched Jalal al-Batsh near the Tomb of the Patriarchs (al-Haram al-Ibrahimi) in Hebron until he lost consciousness. Al-Batsh was taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital and upon release was charged $250 (1,000 NIS) for bail because IDF soldiers claimed he attacked them.
   
   On January 11, the Hebron police opened an investigation into Jewish Quarter resident Yifat Alkobi's verbal and physical assault on the Abu Aysha family, which was documented on video and broadcast on the media. At year's end there were