Israel's policy of extra-judicially executing Palestinians allegedly involved in armed resistance against the Israeli occupation of Palestine has been meticulously documented by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. The continuing silence of the international community has actively encouraged Israel to act as though it is above the law and to continue committing gross human rights violations against the Palestinian people, including hundreds of extra-judicial executions. 

In addition to the pressure to collaborate, in recent months cases have been revealed in which the summoning of Gaza patients, ostensibly to receive exit permits or undergo GSS questioning, merely served as bait for the GSS. Upon their arrival at Erez Crossing, these patients were arrested and taken to Israeli detention centers. In other words, by exploiting patients' complete dependence upon Israel for medical treatment, the GSS deceives patients by summoning them for a security questioning. 

A year on from Hamas' seizure of control of the Gaza Strip and the declaration by Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, of a state of emergency throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Al-Haq is publishing this report that documents and analyses acts of detention, torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment against civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since June 2007. 

The barrier compounds the fragmentation of the West Bank by creating non-contiguous enclaves of Palestinian communities and territory, which are isolated from each other and from the remainder of the West Bank. Movement and access for Palestinians is controlled by permits and gates, or channeled through 'Fabric of Life' routes -- secondary roads, tunnels and underpasses created or upgraded by the Israelis to restore transportation contiguity between disconnected Palestinian localities.  

To date, more than 3,000 Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank have pending demolition orders, which can be immediately executed without prior warning. At least ten small communities throughout the West Bank at risk of being almost entirely displaced due to the large number of pending demolitions orders. During the first quarter of 2008, Israeli authorities demolished 124 structures due to a lack of permits. In 2007, 208 Palestinian-owned structures have been demolished under the same circumstances. 

This publication aims to focus attention on the deterioration of access for health patients who need to be referred outside of the Gaza Strip to receive the appropriate medical treatment. The publication contains the description of five stories of people who recently died while waiting for a permit to allow them to have access to a hospital outside of Gaza. These are only five of many more cases of common people that during the last months have had the misfortune of becoming severely ill in the Gaza strip. 

This study sheds light on the suffering of tens of thousands of Palestinians whom, since 1967 to this day, are prevented from returning to their villages in Latroun, while at the same time the ruins of their homes are built upon by an Occupying Power the deep-rooted Palestinian history of the land is concealed by parks for Israelis to enjoy their barbecues, masking the crimes and human rights violations committed. 

Tens of thousands of Palestinian Arab Bedouin, the indigenous inhabitants of the Negev region, live in informal shanty towns, or 'unrecognized villages,' in the south of Israel. Discriminatory land and planning policies have made it virtually impossible for Bedouin to build legally where they live, and also exclude them from the state's development plans for the region. 

The United States Department of State's annual report on human rights practices covers both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and analysis Israel and the Palestinian Authority's adherence to international human rights norms from a U.S. perspective. 

The situation for 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is worse now than it has ever been since the start of the Israeli military occupation in 1967. The current situation in Gaza is man-made, completely avoidable and, with the necessary political will, can also be reversed. Gaza has suffered from a long-term pattern of economic stagnation and plummeting development indicators.  

This field report covers a period of five days: 27 February to 2 March 2008. It aims to disseminate information about the conduct of the IOF [Israeli Occupation Forces] during its military operation "Warm Winter" in the Gaza Strip, in which the IOF committed new crimes, and to report to all local and international parties interested in advocating for respect of human rights and compliance with international law. 

Human Rights Watch's researchers were on the ground in Lebanon throughout the conflict and after, and our findings paint a quite different picture of the IDF's conduct [than its own internal investigations]. Research in more than 40 towns and villages found that the IDF's use of cluster munitions was both indiscriminate and disproportionate, in violation of international humanitarian law, and in some locations possibly a war crime. 

This report consists of three chapters that contain an opinion poll of journalists on the status of press freedom in the Palestinian territories in 2007, a press freedom barometer and reports on the violations of freedom of the press. We tried to adopt more accurate mechanisms for documenting violations and use a clear scientific approach based on clear-cut definitions. We shed light on controversial issues affecting press freedom, which cannot be ignored in a fast-paced world. 

The military justice system in the Occupied Territories tries thousands of Palestinian civilians prosecuted by the Israel Defense Forces every year. The Military Courts, which have existed for four decades, operate virtually under complete darkness. The report provides the Israeli and international public, for the first time in more than 15 years, with information about a system that serves as a cornerstone of Israeli rule in the West Bank. 

During the war between Israel and Hizbullah in the summer of 2006, a total of 1,191 Lebanese civilians were killed and over 4,400 were wounded. On the Israeli side, 44 Israeli civilians were killed and 4,262 were injured. The high number of casualties and injuries raised concerns that both the Israelis and the Lebanese had failed to respect international humanitarian law during the war. A fundamental principle of international humanitarian law is that civilians must be afforded maximum protection. 

Throughout Gaza's history, its powerful clans and families have played a part whose importance has fluctuated with the nature of central authority but never disappeared. As the Palestinian Authority (PA) gradually collapsed under the weight of almost a decade of renewed confrontation with Israel, they, along with political movements and militias, filled the void. Today they are one of the most significant obstacles Hamas faces in trying to consolidate its authority and reinstate stability in the territory it seized control of in June 2007. 

Throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, in the Gaza Strip as well as in the West Bank, Palestinians continuously face hardship in simply going about their lives; they are prevented from doing what makes up the daily fabric of most people's existence. The Palestinian territories face a deep human crisis, where millions of people are denied their human dignity. Not once in a while, but every day. Nothing is predictable for Palestinians. 

Since June 2007, in response to the Hamas take over of the Gaza Strip and the on-going and indiscriminant firing of rockets into Israel, the Government of Israel has increased restrictions on access of goods and people to and from Gaza. These have severe consequences for the day-to-day life of the 1.48 million Gazans. 

Extra-judicial executions, or "targeted killing" (as Israeli politicians like to define the practice), is clear evidence of state terrorism. It is execution without trial. It is a policy of killing outside the boundaries of any legal framework. The practice gained unprecedented momentum during the last Intifada, beginning in 2000 and experienced an ongoing escalation until it peaked in 2007. 

United Nations Special Rapporteur for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Mr. Martin Scheinin's mission report following his July 2007 visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. In the report, the Special Rapporteur finds serious incompatibilities between Israel's counter-terrorism laws and practices and Israel's international human rights obligations.