In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land
08:00, 07 November until 08:00, 08 November 2024
[Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group]
Gaza Strip
Attacks: There are no safe places for the militarily-dominated population in Gaza, who find themselves subjected to airstrikes and other missile attacks on buildings, homes and many essentialfacilities, as well as constant gunfire and invasions by Israeli forces. The Israeli Navy continues to fire missiles, targeting facilities and buildings along the entire Gaza shoreline.
Victims: 39 more people have been killed within the past 48 hours, bringing the total number killed in Gaza since 7 October to at least 43,508. Another 123 have been wounded, bringing that total to 102,684. The daily average number of men, women and children killed in Gaza is at least 109 and, that of those injured, is now more than 258.
Why more than 500 scholars think
Israel should be unseated from the UN
Joint letter argues the UN General Assembly should suspend Israel as it did apartheid South Africa in 1974
Middle East Eye
By Sondos Asem | 8 November 2024
https://www.middleeasteye.net/
More than 500 scholars and practitioners of international law, international relations, conflict studies, politics and genocide studies have called on the UN General Assembly and its member states to unseat Israel from the assembly.
The UN General Assembly suspended apartheid South Africa in 1974 until its transition to democracy. The scholars argue there is a stronger case for suspending Israel, given its persistent disregard for international law over more than seven decades, including violations of the UN Charter, Security Council resolutions, and orders by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
In a joint letter shared with Middle East Eye, the signatories listed a wide range of acts committed by the state of Israel since its establishment in 1948 that have been in defiance of international law. The letter said that Israel has “shown contempt” for resolutions by the General Assembly throughout its history. These include Israel’s violation of Resolution 194 (III) (1948), enshrining the Palestinian right of return, and Resolution 181 (II) (1947), enshrining Palestinian state sovereignty. The two resolutions were viewed as conditions of Israel’s admission to the UN, under Resolution 273 (III) (1949).
Additionally, Israel has consistently breached legally binding UN Security Council resolutions, including resolutions related to Gaza since 7 October 2023. This adds to the list of Security Council resolutions violated by Israel for decades, mainly concerned with its unlawful occupation of Palestinian territories.
Such defiance of Security Council resolutions amounts to a clear violation of Article 25 of the UN Charter, which warrants expulsion from the UN, the scholars said.
Under Article 6 of the UN Charter, the General Assembly has the authority to expel a UN member state upon a recommendation from the Security Council, if the state has “persistently violated” the principles enshrined in the charter.
The scholars added that Israel has also disregarded authoritative legal opinions by the ICJ, beginning with an advisory opinion in 2004 calling on Israel to respect the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, and another in July 2024 confirming the illegality of its occupation and annexation of Palestinian lands.
“The legal case for suspending Israel from the General Assembly is even stronger than it was for South Africa,” said Maryam Jamshidi, a Colorado university law professor who is one of the signatories to the letter. “Israel has not only violated the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people for decades, including through committing the crime of apartheid, the International Court of Justice has also made clear that the General Assembly and its Member States must address those violations,” she told Middle East Eye.
In addition to breaching international legal obligations, Israel is also accused of violating the protections enshrined for UN bodies and peacekeepers. This includes banning the UN’s relief organisation for Palestinians (Unrwa) and killing members of its staff in Gaza; attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon; declaring the UN Secretary General persona non grata, and barring UN special rapporteurs from entering occupied Palestine since 2008.
International legal system at stake
Israel is facing charges before the ICJ of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention, in a case brought by South Africa in December in connection with Israel’s ongoing onslaught on Gaza. The application alleged that Israel has committed acts intended to destroy Palestinians, who are defined as a national, racial and ethnic group, in whole or in part. It also alleged that Israel has failed to prevent or punish such acts.
The acts include killings; causing serious bodily and mental harm; mass expulsion and displacement; and deprivation of access to adequate food, water, shelter, clothes, hygiene, and medical assistance.
On 26 January, the ICJ said that it was plausible that Israel had breached the Genocide Convention. As an emergency measure, it ordered Israel to ensure its army refrained from genocidal acts against Palestinians. But the onslaught continued unabated, with over 43,000 Palestinians killed over the past year, around 70 percent of them women and children. Following requests by South Africa, the court subsequently issued legally binding interim orders on 28 March and 24 May that called on Israel to halt its assault on Rafah in southern Gaza and ensure the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
In its May order, the ICJ court also directed Israel to ensure that UN investigators could enter Gaza to investigate allegations of genocide. But Israel has defied the court’s orders. The ICJ reported, as part of its decisions in March and May, that the situation in Gaza had deteriorated and that Israel had failed to abide by its order in January.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has also sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in the current conflict. But the case remains outstanding and the arrest warrants have yet to be issued, more than five months after the prosecutor’s application. Israel has challenged the legality of the arrest warrant request, saying it should investigate itself for the alleged crimes.
In their letter, the scholars warned that the gravity of Israel’s breach of international law and its continued impunity constitute a threat to the integrity of the international legal system. This reiterates the opinion of UN experts in October, who expressed their concern about the breakdown of the international multilateral system as a result of the international community’s failure to hold Israel accountable for “genocidal acts, ethnic cleansing and collective punishment”.
“The General Assembly and its Member States can and must take meaningful action on both fronts – the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the integrity of the international legal system – without delay by unseating the Israeli government from the Assembly, in accordance with the Assembly’s authority to approve the credentials of Member State delegations,” the scholars said. In 1974, the decision to suspend the credentials of South Africa was based on its failure to represent the indigenous Black population. According to the letter, the UN South Africa decision was “implicitly grounded in the right of self-determination, which was denied to the country’s Black population by the very nature of apartheid.
“As demonstrated by the ICJ’s July 19, 2024 advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in the OPT (occupied Palestinian territories), the case for unseating Israel’s government for lack of representativeness is just as strong as it was in the case of South Africa, if not stronger,” the scholars said. The ICJ’s July advisory opinion said that the General Assembly and UN member states have a legal obligation to realise the Palestinian right to self-determination. The scholars’ letter argues that this provides a strong foundation from which to unseat Israel – otherwise, they argue, the international legal order would be at stake.
“To permit Israel to continue participating in the General Assembly as it commits grave illegalities that pose a threat to international peace and security in contravention of the premises of the UN Charter aggravates a crisis of legitimacy in the international legal order,” they wrote. “The unseating of the Israeli state, by contrast, signals that the General Assembly, as well as the UN more broadly, remains dedicated to defending and protecting the rights and principles upon which the UN was founded nearly eighty years ago.”
https://www.middleeasteye.net/
Could Israel’s Unrwa ban lead to its suspension from the UN?
Read More: https://www.middleeasteye.net/
West Bank
[Palestinian Monitoring Group]
Israeli Army attack: Jerusalem – 09:00, Israeli Occupation forces stormed the town of al-Ram, opening fire while chasing a motor vehicle.
Israeli Army attack – 1 wounded: Jerusalem – 05:10, Israeli forces, at the Shuafat checkpoint, opened fire on and severely wounded a man: Fawaz al-Julani.
Israeli Army attack – 2 wounded – 1 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 07:00, the Israeli Army stormed the town of Beitunya, seriously wounding two people: Tariq Al-Tari and Hassan Zayed. One other person was taken prisoner.
Israeli settler incursion and attack: Ramallah – 20:40, armed Occupation settlers, firing indiscriminately, invaded the southern outskirts of al-Mazra’a al-Gharbiya and stoned people‘s homes.
Israeli Army attack – home invasions and occupation: Tulkarem – Since 01:50–16:15, Israeli Occupation forces, storming houses in the city as well as the Nur Shams and Tulkarem refugeecamps, destroyed one house in the Tulkarem refugee camp. One person, Elias Muhammad Sarhan, was wounded as Israeli forces continued bulldozing streets and destroying infrastructure.
Israeli Army population–control: Jerusalem – 18:00, Israeli Occupation forces took prisoner a man, Ahmed Othman Sheha, when he reported, as ordered, to Israeli Military Intelligence.
Israeli police and settlers’ mosque violation: Jerusalem – 08:00, Occupation settlers, escorted by Israeli troops and police, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and molested worshippers.
Israeli police church violation: Jerusalem – Israeli Occupation police stormed the French-administered Pater Noster Church in the Mount of Olives, East Jerusalem, upon the arrival of French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
Israeli Army population–control: Ramallah – the Israeli military issued an order, for the twice-daily closure of the northern entrance to Birzeit from 09:00 to 17:00 and 20:00 to 06:00.
Israeli Army population–control: Jenin – 17:55, the Israeli Army took prisoner two people when they reported, as ordered, to Israeli Military Intelligence.
Israeli Army violence and olive harvest sabotage: Nablus – 10:30, Israeli troops assaulted olive harvesters at work near Tal village, beating–up two of them, Mahmoud Musa Hamad and Naim Amer Abu Asida, as well as smashing their olive–harvesting machine.
Israeli Army violence and olive harvest sabotage: Salfit – 08:55, the Israeli military prevented olive harvesters from reaching land trapped behind Israel’s Annexation Wall.
Israeli Army population–control: Hebron – Israeli Occupation forces took prisoner a man, Laith Osama Musa Hamamda, when he reported, as ordered, to Israeli Military Intelligence.
Israeli Army population–control: Hebron – 10:30-22:40, Israeli Occupation forces closed the entrance to Wadi al-Shajna village.
Occupation settler population–control: Ramallah – 13:50–16:00, Israeli settlers prevented people from passing through, at the eastern entrance to al-Mughayir village.
Occupation settler stoning: Ramallah – 20:45, Israelis, from the Shilo Occupation settlement, stoned passing vehicles at the nearby road junction.
Occupation settler land-grab: Tubas – 08:30, Occupation settlers seized an area of land in Khallet al-Khadr, North Jordan Valley, and planted it with olive trees.
Occupation settler armed population–control – olive harvest sabotage: Tulkarem – morning, armed Israelis, from the Avnei Hefetz Occupation settlement, accompanied by police dogs, invaded Shufa village land and terrorised olive harvesters, forcing them off it at gunpoint and warning them not to return.
Occupation settler armed population–control: Nablus – 12:00-13:00, an armed guard, from the Yitzhar Israeli Occupation settlement, stopped and searched vehicles travelling on the outskirts of the village of Asira al-Qibliya.
Occupation settler olive harvest plunder: Nablus – 16:00, Israeli settlers invaded al-Sawiya village olive groves and plundered the harvest.
Occupation settler population–control: Salfit – 17:10-22:00, Israeli Occupation settlers closed the eastern entrance to the village of Yasuf and stoned passing vehicles.
Occupation settler olive harvest plunder: Salfit – Israelis, from the Kfar Tapuach Occupation settlement, plundered the Yasuf village olive harvest.
Occupation settler land-grab: Bethlehem – 11:20, Occupation settlers grabbed an area of land in the Jabal Abu Khalil area, opposite the settlement outpost overlooking the village of Halayel al-Loz.
Occupation settler – olive harvest sabotage: Bethlehem – 14:10, Israeli settlers invaded agricultural land in the Ein Fares area, west of Nahalin, and cut off branches from olive and almond trees, as well as damaging grapevines.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Jerusalem – 09:00, Israeli Occupation forces raided the town of Anata and invaded a sports club, taking prisoner one person.
Raids: Jerusalem – 13:05-14:35, Israeli forces raided al-Eizariya and Abu Dis and invaded a wedding party hall.
Raid – 3 taken prisoner: Jerusalem – 18:00, the Israeli Army again raided Anata and took prisoner three more people in the sports club.
Raid: Ramallah – 23:15–05:15, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Budrus.
Raid: Ramallah – 02:35–05:15, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the village of Shuqba.
Raid: Jenin – 07:30, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Bir al-Basha.
Raid: Jenin – 17:55, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of Taybeh.
Raid: Tulkarem – 13:55-16:30, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Quffin.
Raids: Nablus – 15:40–20:10, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Beita as well as the villages of Odala and Tal.
Raid: Nablus – 15:40-18:45, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Einabus.
Raid: Nablus – 17:35-21:35, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the village of Salem.
Raid: Nablus – 18:10, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Iraq Burin.
Raid: Nablus – 19:10–01:45, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of Deir Sharaf.
Raid: Nablus – 20:50-midnight, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Awarta.
Raids – refugee camps: Nablus – 01:15–03:25, the Israeli Army raided the city as well as the Askar, Balata and Ein Beit al-Ma refugee camps.
Raids: Salfit – 08:50–12:50, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Qarawat Bani Hassan and Bidya, as well as the villages of Masha and Sarta.
Raid: Salfit – 16:35, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the town of Kafr al-Dik.
Raid: Salfit – 16:55–22:40, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled Deir Ballut.
Raid: Salfit – 18:00–22:40, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of Rafat.
Raid: Salfit – 18:20-20:50, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Haris.
Raid: Salfit – 18:55-20:50, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Deir Istiya.
Raid – abduction from refugee camp: Bethlehem – dawn, Israeli troops raided the Aida refugee camp, abducting a 15-year-old boy, Muhammad Mutaz Fahmi Dibs, and taking prisoner an adult:Taha Hassan Abd Rabbo Al-Gharouz.
Raid: Bethlehem – 08:05, the Israeli military raided and patrolled al-Khadr.
Raid: Bethlehem – 11:40-12:40, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled Nahalin.
Raid – injury and hospitalisation: Bethlehem – 21:50, Israeli Occupation forces again raided al-Khadr, running a motor vehicle over, and hospitalising, a man: Adi Fathi Shamarkha.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – 13:15, Israeli forces raided al-Dhahiriya, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – stun grenades fired in refugee camp: Hebron – 15:50, the Israeli Army, firing stun grenades, raided the al-Fawar refugee camp.
Raid – home demolition order: Hebron – 16:00–23:45, Israeli troops raided the town of Idhna and delivered an order for the demolition of the home of a man, Muhannad Al Aswad, killed by Israeli forces.
Raid: Hebron – 18:55–23:45, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the town of al-Samou.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Hebron – 20:50-21:55, Israeli soldiers raided the city, taking prisoner two people.
Raid: Hebron – 01:10, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled al-Dhahiriya.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner – assault: Hebron – 01:40, Israeli forces raided Beit Ummar and invaded a café, assaulting customers and taking prisoner one of them.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Hebron – 02:35, the Israeli Army raided the town of Yatta, taking prisoner two people.