Introduction:

Since the 1990s, the international community’s view regarding conflicts developed in terms of encompassing broader aspects, and its perspective was no longer confined to threats against a state and its sovereignty. This included observing the ramifications of conflicts on individuals and their welfare, especially among the less fortunate segments of society. Accordingly, the term “Human Security” came to replace the previously used term “Security”. That term (i.e., Human Security) was first mentioned in a 1994 report issued by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Its introduction helped create a new perspective towards militarization and armed conflicts, thus expanding the traditional view of security to include individual security in addition to state security.

Until now, there is no consensus regarding a particular definition of “Human Security”. Nevertheless, this term involves two main aspects, namely: freedom from fear and freedom from want. Due to important changes in the international arena, United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 was issued in the year 2000. This resolution examines the multiplier effect of conflicts on women in four main aspects: protection, prevention, participation, and accountability. However, this resolution – which was followed by a number of similar subsequent resolutions which promote the implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda – did not explicitly refer to the Occupation as a threat to human security, especially with regard to women. Rather, it sufficed by mentioning the “state of conflict”, which is legally different from the case of military occupation. Moreover, it was noticed that UNSCR 1325 and its subsequent resolutions mainly focused on sexual crimes.

The “Women, Peace and Security” agenda is considered a broad field. It includes the concept of “Human Security”, as referred to in the 1994 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report, and later developed to include conflict and post-conflict situations. Seeing that Palestinian women have been suffering from occupation and its association violence since the establishment of Israel on Palestinian soil in 1948, substantial efforts were exerted to promote the Women, Peace and Security agenda and implement the related international resolutions in the Palestinian homeland. However, this requires a clear definition of “Security” and its determinants, components, and measurability.

This study aims to reach a definition of “Human Security” and specify its components and framework in order to highlight the violations of the Israeli occupation under that definition. In particular, we try to assess the effects of the Israeli occupation on the security of Palestinian women in Occupied Jerusalem. This study is based on the premise that the Occupation is the main cause of human insecurity in Palestine, especially vis-à-vis Palestinian women in Occupied Jerusalem.

Based on the aforementioned aspects, the study (through three research sections) will attempt to answer the following question: What is the effect of the Israeli military occupation of Jerusalem on the human security of Palestinians, especially women? The first section studies the concept of Human Security and its components. The second section highlights the human rights violations perpetrated by the Israeli occupation in Jerusalem in light of the human security concept. As for the third section, it examines the impact of the Israeli occupation and its practices on Palestinian women, with special emphasis on the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

The term “Human Security” emerged in the early 1990s as a result of several humanitarian crises and conflicts in the aftermath of the Cold War. Since that time, human security came to be considered an approach that can be widely implemented. As previously noted, the term “Human Security” was first mentioned by a UNDP report in 1994, whereby it includes the following aspects: economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security, and political security, respectively.

Unfortunately, the international community did not until this moment specify a single consensual definition of the term “Human Security”. However, everyone acknowledges its connection to human rights and the attainment of development. Therefore, conflicts, armed conflicts, and Occupation threaten human security as they directly jeopardize human rights and prevent individual and community development.

First Section: Concept of Human Security and its Connection to Military Occupation:

This section reviews the concept of Human Security, especially in light of military occupation. It also examines the components of human security as set forth in the UNDP report of 1994, in order to create a reference point to assess the fragility of human security in Occupied Jerusalem and its connection to ongoing human rights abuses. This will be analyzed in light of the Women, Peace and Security agenda and the relevant United Nations resolutions.

This section aims to answer the following sub-questions:

1. What is the definition of human security?
2. What are the components of human security?
3. How does the Occupation threaten human security?
4. What is the relationship between human security and the human rights system?

Definition of Human Security:

The term “Human Security” in its modern sense shifted the focus from states to individuals. Hence, the need for intervention and protection was no longer confined to military threats but also encompassed the individual realm, protection of basic human rights, and the achievement of welfare. It is also worth noting that human security does not mean the absence of threats but protection from different threats.

Thus, the most accurate definition of “Human Security” is “freedom from fear and freedom from want”, whereas freedom from fear is based on the traditional meaning of security related to protecting individuals from the use of force or violence or threats to one’s life. The latter acts require serious procedures to hold the perpetrators of international crimes accountable before the International Criminal Court (ICC). This is also in line with UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, which calls for upholding accountability mechanisms and ending the impunity of those who commit crimes against humanity. On the other hand, freedom from want is more broadly related to human security; it considers security threats as a threat to people’s welfare.

Therefore, the concept of Human Security poses several questions beyond individuals’ protection from existential threats by finding ways to enhance safety in their daily lives, at home, and in the street and community. However, this should be done without losing sight of the linkage between violence, lack of security, and human rights violations.

The Human Security approach is considered an integrated one and the international community deals with it in a coherent manner without fragmenting the needs of individuals. They [i.e., the international community] also do not deal with Human Security in a hierarchical manner but focus on the basic rights and freedoms. Therefore, United Nations plans and developmental goals have embedded human security principles in order to reach a “world free of poverty, hunger, disease and want, free of fear and violence, with equitable and universal access to quality education, health care and social protection, where human habitats are safe, resilient and sustainable”.

Components of Human Security:

Human Security is about meeting basic human needs in the environmental, health, food, community, and political spheres, while focusing not only on conflict situations but also on issues of fair trade, access to health care, patent rights, access to education, and basic freedoms.

Recently, the international community became more open to the concept of Human Security and their relevant vision is entrenched through seven dimensions mentioned by the UNDP report of 1994. The said report indicated that the main categories of Human Security are as follows: economic; food; health; environmental; personal; community; and political security, thus expanding the notion of security and going beyond the traditional view of security (the traditional view focused on protecting the land from external aggression and protecting national foreign policy interests).

Due to this approach, the goal shifted from state security to individual security, thus enhancing the linkage between security and sustainable development. The “Human Security” term was thus expanded to include security from perennial threats - such as hunger, disease, and oppression - and protection from the sudden and harmful disruption of daily life patterns.

The concept of Human Security promotes the protection of all human beings in ways that enhance human freedoms and human realization. Therefore, the framework of human security includes several aspects, such as food, environment, housing, and human rights.

Human Security in light of the Occupation:

“The gross violations of human rights and the wide-scale displacement of civilian populations constitute a direct threat to human security.”

Military occupation involves multiple forms of human insecurity, whereas this form of occupation is characterized by violence and lack of security from one side and underdevelopment and poverty from another. In this regard, Arab Human Development Report 2009 indicates that military occupation threatens human security on three levels: institutionally, structurally, and materially/physically, as follows:

• On the institutional level, the Occupation violates international law, as it uses force for purposes other than self-defense, imposes its own laws on the occupied region, and practices its governmental authority to serve the occupier’s interests.
• On the structural level, the Occupation redistributes wealth and power under different terms which widen the social and economic gap between occupied civilians, thus creating internal divisions and a state of fragmentation.
• On the physical/material level, military occupation is imposed on civilians with the power of arms and violence, leading to victims, violent resistance, and substantial human losses. Moreover, military occupation restricts basic freedoms, economic activity, and people’s livelihoods.

Therefore, military occupation contravenes basic human rights, systematically leads to human insecurity, disrupts human development, and substantially undermines people’s lives and freedoms. This negatively affects people’s income, employment, nutrition, health, education, and environment, leading to a lack of human security and affecting its various components.

The said report mentions the compound impacts of military occupation on human security, as follows:

1. Threats to life, especially by murder/assassinations (extrajudicial killings) and the targeting of civilians.
2. Threats to liberty, such as restricting people’s freedom of movement and freedom of opinion and expression.
3. Threats to economic conditions and livelihoods: Military occupation impedes the management of economic affairs and leads to economic destabilization.
4. Threats to people’s access to food, health and education: In light of violence and the displacement of persons due to Occupation, people’s opportunities to obtain sufficient food, appropriate health care, and adequate housing inevitably crumble.
5. Threats to the environment.

The aforementioned report also states that the progress in sustainable development is slower in fragile and conflict-ridden countries, especially those suffering from occupation; where violence is rampant and a distrust is seen between different individuals and institutions. The report proposes an approach that focuses on attaining human security, prevents the exacerbation of crises, and identifies the causes of emerging crises. Therefore, achieving human security in such circumstances is only possible by tackling the main causes and seeking to end the Occupation.

Relationship of Human Security with the Human Rights System:

Human Security emerged as a concept that was greatly affected by and related to conflict. This concept was introduced to urge states and policy makers to focus on vital issues and provide the maximum level of protection to civilians. It is also worth noting that protection is not limited to protecting human lives and providing the minimum level of services.

The relationship of human security with the human rights system stems from international humanitarian law. This is because human security necessitates protection, which is strongly rooted in the human rights system (which highlights “the responsibility of protection in times of armed conflict”). The subject of protection was strongly emphasized in international humanitarian law, especially the Geneva Conventions, which underscores the need to protect people from potential violence. Therefore, when civilians are subjected to harm or injury, the international community is obligated to assist them because the protection of civilians in times of conflict is among the main issues of human security.

The concept of Human Security is also related to post-conflict peacebuilding, which promotes and strengthens respect and adherence to international humanitarian law and International Criminal Court (ICC), along with exerting efforts to protect civilians in conflict situations and holding perpetrators of war crimes accountable and ending their impunity.

Moreover, the concept of Human Security is similar to human rights principles, especially the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The logic of human security is also based on supporting development; and it includes economic security, political security, and the right of human beings to have an adequate standard of living.

Therefore, human security cannot be isolated from the discourse of the human rights system in times of peace and times of conflict. However, human security is characterized by being more implementable and practicable. It also leads to more effectiveness and justice because it is not only concerned with protecting and preserving people’s rights, but also on developing these rights.

The notion of Human Security also takes the issue of social exclusion into consideration, and it highlights the impact of social inequality on development. Therefore, it addresses the exclusion of minorities and the multiplier effects on marginalized groups (including their deprivation of accessing basic public services). Hence, human security calls for providing services to meet the needs of these groups, while taking their different circumstances into consideration. This comes as part of a holistic development vision to reach the most marginalized communities and enhance welfare and social harmony, while aiming to make significant achievements in different countries.

These aspects led to a shift in global attention. Hence, the United Nations Security Council adopted a number of resolutions that cover broader aspects of protecting the rights of marginalized groups in conflict situations, such as countering the deliberate use of rape as a war strategy and considering sexual violence a war crime.

Second Section: Human Rights Violations in Occupied Jerusalem and their Ramifications on Human Security:

The conclusions of the first section indicate the presence of a direct correlation between human security and the human rights condition. For example, an improvement in the human rights condition will lead to a better human security status. On the other hand, a rise in human rights violations will show a declining human security status. And in the case of grave human rights violations, the lack of human security (i.e., “human insecurity”) is likely to be seen.

This section underlines the main human rights violations committed against Palestinians in East Jerusalem in light of the Human Security concept. In this context, we will assess the impact of these violations on human security and its components. This is done while taking gender aspects into consideration, such as examining the effects of these violations on Palestinian women in East Jerusalem.

We will therefore highlight five major violations of the rights of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, namely: the closure of cultural institutions and preventing cultural activities; extrajudicial killings; house demolitions; restricting economic rights; and attacking civilians in public spaces.

According to international law, East Jerusalem is under military occupation. Despite the United Nations Security Council’s call for Israeli troops to withdraw from East Jerusalem (as set forth in UNSCR 242), Israel illegally annexed it and imposed its laws on this occupied territory. The Israeli occupation treats the indigenous Palestinian population of Jerusalem as “permanent residents”, while considering Israeli settlers “full citizens”. Israel also enforces Judaization policies on Jerusalem, in violation of basic human rights, such as:

1. Closure of cultural institutions and prevention of cultural activities:

   The Occupation’s actions against East Jerusalem’s cultural sector strengthened Israeli control over the city and promoted the “Rabbinical Jewish” character versus the Palestinian indigenous one. This includes the forced closure of official Palestinian institutions and placing huge obstacles before cultural institutions and civil society organizations.

   Cultural organizations in occupied Jerusalem are forced to abide by administrative orders issued by the Israeli Ministry of Interior and senior Police officers. It is also worth noting that cultural institutions are considered a “security file” according to Israeli occupation authorities and not service entities, hence they are constantly subjected to Police censorship and monitoring.

   Numerous administrative orders prohibit Jerusalemite Palestinians from holding different activities, such as competitions, workshops, and other events. Statistical data shows that, as of 2019, a total of 120 cultural institutions were closed down in East Jerusalem. There are also different types of closure, such as completely closing down an organization by revoking its license; closure of an organization for a certain period of time under an administrative order; or the suspension of a certain cultural activity and prosecuting those who organized it.

   The suspension of cultural activities is accompanied by different forms of violence perpetrated against event attendees and organizers. Moreover, Occupation forces often destroy the properties of cultural venues and attack the audience in such activities.

   These actions violate the right to participate in cultural life, as well as other related rights, such as the freedom of expression. Such practices also weaken community security, which is one of the components of human security, thus undermining the safety of the occupied population. These policies also affect personal security, whereas they consider people’s expression of their culture a “legal violation”. Furthermore, numerous assaults are committed against the participants and attendees of cultural events, thus violating their freedoms.

   This systematic policy aims to minimize Palestinian presence in Jerusalem and obstructs women’s inclusion and participation in the activities of civil society organizations (CSOs), thereby reducing women’s involvement. In the absence of clear protection mechanisms, some women are forced to refrain from participating in community activities – or are reluctant to engage in civil society institutions – out of fear of being attacked by Israeli Police.

   Several reports have documented that the organizers of cultural activities are many times physically assaulted, detained for several hours, and even threatened with revoking their temporary residency.

   Israel’s actions against cultural organizations – which constitute a flagrant violation of cultural rights – greatly weakened these organizations, thus affecting the Jerusalemite community’s participation in cultural life. This led to poor cultural knowledge among Palestinian residents, thus decreasing their national, political, and societal awareness. Unfortunately, the problem of cultural organizations in Jerusalem is rarely mentioned due to considering cultural rights as “complementary rights” and not as a requirement for confronting the violation of the right to housing and decent living, which are the main problems suffered by the Jerusalemite Palestinian community.

2. Extrajudicial Killings:

   On the 16th of June 2021, PhD student Mai Afaneh was killed in cold blood by Israeli occupation soldiers in the district of Jerusalem. The soldiers shot at her while she was in her car and prevented any ambulances from reaching her. They also kept her corpse and prevented her family from bidding her farewell and burying her decently. Israeli news agencies claimed that Mai tried to run over the soldiers. However, Mai’s case is not an exception, and she is only one of more than 2,000 Palestinians who were unjustly killed since 2015.

   Extrajudicial killings deprive Palestinians of their basic right to a fair trial. This is committed through a systematic policy adopted by Israeli forces since the beginning of the Occupation. Extrajudicial killings are also considered a compounded crime because they breach several international violations. This is because international law strongly supports the right to a fair and public trial by an independent and impartial court. The said acts also contravene the “presumption of innocence” (“innocent until proven guilty”) principle. It is also worth noting that, in some cases, extrajudicial killings are considered a war crime.

   In most cases, Israeli authorities claim that these killings are “acts of self-defense”. However, the facts regarding the majority of these incidents clearly show that these acts are arbitrary and unjustified extrajudicial killings. The said circumstances include the following:

   1. Absence of an imminent danger: In most cases, the victims do not pose any threat or danger to soldiers’ lives. For example, there are many cases of shooting at wounded persons or those who flee, as well as shooting at unarmed protesters. Reported cases also showed the extrajudicial murder of women and minors, although these groups are usually harmless and physically incapable of launching effective attacks on well-trained soldiers. Therefore, it is impossible that they would pose an “imminent danger” on the gunmen.

   2. A clear disregard for the principle of neutrality and proportionality: This is a major principle of international humanitarian law. The principle of proportionality seeks to limit the harm caused by military operations by requiring that the means and methods of warfare would not be disproportionate in relation to the desired military advantage. Therefore, this principle should be applied in cases where an Occupation soldier can greatly hamper the movement of the suspect by shooting at the lower parts of his/her body instead of shooting at the upper parts (leading to murder). Documented cases also showed that, in many cases, Israeli soldiers shoot to kill instead of neutralizing the suspects.

   3. [Israeli] Politicians who urge civilians to carry weapons and openly call for executions: For example, Jerusalem District Police Commander Moshe Edri was quoted as saying: “Anyone who stabs Jews or hurts innocent people is due to be killed.” Moreover, Interior Security Minister Gilad Arden declared that “every terrorist should know that s/he will not survive the attack s/he is about to commit.”

   4. Use of Excessive Force by Israeli Soldiers: The use of excessive force has been perpetually practiced since the inception of the Israeli occupation, and it is clearly seen in cases of extrajudicial killings.

      The policy of extrajudicial killings pursued by Occupation authorities constantly threatens the lives of Palestinians and their personal and community security. This led to a state of fear, anxiety, and panic and it violates a number of basic human rights. Such policies enhance societal restrictions imposed on women under the pretext of “protection”. Therefore, the different human rights violations perpetrated by Israeli authorities curtail Palestinian presence in public spaces and restrict their free and safe movement between cities. The effects of these crimes are especially harmful to Palestinian women, who are constantly subjected to significant threats and dangers.

3. Restriction of Economic Rights:

   Since the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 and imposition of Israeli law therein, Israeli authorities have constantly exploited the law to limit the different aspects of Palestine life. This was done to undermine the livelihoods of the indigenous population and push them to leave their city under a “silent transfer” policy.

   Israel’s restriction of Palestinian economic rights is a vivid example of exploiting the Israeli law to Judaize the city and expand their control over it.

   The imposition of complicated Israeli laws on occupied East Jerusalem greatly puzzles local merchants and entrepreneurs. The Occupation also imposes exorbitant taxes and fees on East Jerusalem’s commercial enterprises and does not provide them with governmental support. Moreover, it is difficult for these businesses to receive tax reductions because most Palestinian merchants are ignorant of Israeli laws imposed by the occupier.

   In 2021, a quarter of the shops of Jerusalem’s Old City were closed down and had to discontinue their operations. On the other hand, Jerusalem is increasingly witnessing many small enterprises run by women. In this sector, women offer their distinctive handicrafts for sale and positively affect the society. In fact, women seem to be the most motivated to produce, hence they play a leading role in small-sized enterprises in occupied Jerusalem. Due to the restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation on various business sectors, Jerusalemite women resort to bazaars organized by civil society organizations to present their diverse products. But even the bazaars are sometimes attacked and closed down, similar to what happens in cultural activities. This includes assaults on bazaar participants and organizers, as well as attacking and terrorizing the visitors.

   The economic environment in Jerusalem is in a terrible condition full of challenges. Therefore, small enterprises there need support and empowerment programs. However, empowerment programs are also subjected to limitations, similar to those suffered by cultural organizations. This is because the empowerment of small enterprises is considered a “security file” by the Occupation and not a vital right and service. Hence, empowerment programs require the approval and oversight of Israeli Police.

   These policies, along with excessive tax penalties imposed on Palestinian enterprises, are considered impediments of economic security in occupied Jerusalem. This reduces the opportunity to develop start-up companies and leads to the closure of current businesses. These restrictions prompt young potential entrepreneurs to think about alternative ways to find a livelihood under occupation.

4. House Demolitions:

   House demolitions are among the most obvious forms of forced displacement perpetrated by Occupation authorities. In several cases, these acts also constitute a war crime and a crime against humanity. Israeli occupation authorities use the pretext of “building without a permit” to destroy residential facilities, along with placing heavy restrictions in the procedures for obtaining building permits. During the first quarter of 2021, Palestinian families in Jerusalem witnessed a 40% increase in house demolitions compared to previous years. Also, the Occupation’s executive branch has the power to issue demolition orders which are often non-appealable; meaning that the Israeli judiciary has no authority to review them. These illicit acts are usually based on the “Kaminitz Law”, which grants broad powers to the executive branch regarding demolitions and the imposition of exorbitant taxes on house-related “violations”, thus undermining the power of judicial authorities. The said law also prevents courts from freezing demolition orders, hence the Planning and Building Department can freely issue an administrative order to demolish a building – along with imposing a fine of hundreds of thousands of Shekels - without court permission. The Israeli government boasts that, through this law, they were able to cut down 80 percent of the construction in “unregulated” Arab towns.

   This policy threatens to make many Palestinian families homeless overnight and imposes harsh and unbearable circumstances. The said practice breaches the right to adequate housing and contravenes the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the forcible transfer of protected civilians.

   This also threatens and undermines the personal security of individuals. Women are particularly vulnerable in such cases, as they are forced to adapt to a new situation and assume their previous responsibilities with must less means.

   The said policy also affects the roles of women due to moving to a new area and suffering from different circumstances after their house gets demolished. This transforms the lives of Jerusalemite Palestinian women from stability to displacement. It also affects their ability to access sufficient resources and restore their sense of belonging in light of constant fear and anxiety. It also destabilizes the economic situation and affects the family structure due to the loss of livelihoods, properties, and belongings as well as the loss of privacy.

   International law links the right to adequate housing with human security since the latter is a major component of the right to an adequate standard of living. Therefore, the “indivisible” approach applies to basic human rights, such as the right to food, water, health, work, property, well-being, safe housing, and protection from inhuman or degrading treatment. The definition of the “Right to Adequate Housing” shows that this term is more than providing a roof for a person to live under, but it also includes a person’s right to live a safe and honourable life in an adequate housing away from threats. Therefore, the international community considers forced displacement a gross violation of international law. This act [i.e., forced displacement] can even constitute a war crime or a crime against humanity in some cases.

5. Attacking Civilians in Public Spaces:

   Israeli occupation authorities intentionally restrict the Palestinian right to access or be present in public places. This is done by attacking civilians in public spaces, conducting arbitrary arrests, and issuing orders to ban persons from approaching their city. The policy of attacking civilians runs contrary to international humanitarian law, as Article (27) of the Fourth Geneva Convention requires Occupation authorities to protect civilians and guarantee their basic rights. It also stipulates that “protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honour, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs.” This Convention also states that individuals must be protected from any attack. Furthermore, the Occupation violates the Palestinian right of peaceful assembly, which was protected by Article (21) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

   The said policies directly affect Palestinian women, who are forced to stay in private spaces and are permanently threatened in the public sphere, including threats to their community security and personal security.

Occupied Jerusalem – Fares Rajabi and his brothers had nothing much to offer their only sister on her wedding day, but to hold her hand while they carefully walked her to her groom, through the rubble of their demolished home. On May 10, Israel’s Jerusalem municipality bulldozers tore their family home to the ground, turning it to dust.

Nonetheless, Faris could not hide his joy for his sister, who would be moving to her new husband’s home, now her only shelter, after their family’s house was reduced to rubble and debris.

The bride, decked out in white, came out of their demolished home in Ein Al Loza, Silwan, surrounded by her extended family who insisted on being present, not only to share in her happy day but also to thwart Israel’s attempts at ruining her wedding. Earlier, an army patrol car raided the area, almost wrecking the entire day.

Residents of Silwan say they were deeply moved by scenes of Fares’s sister as she walked with her brothers among the ruins of her family home. The people of her town gathered around in solidarity with the family and to share in their bittersweet day.

Fares’s was just one Rajabi family targeted by Israeli occupation authorities who lived in the same apartment building. In all, 40 people called this building home, which Israeli authorities demolished under the pretext of lacking a building permit.

Fares, 34, was livid. “[Israeli] municipality teams did not even allow us to take out belongings out,” he said. “This building was established in 2000 and is comprised of three floors and five apartments. Apparently, it was not enough for Israeli authorities that we have paid a total of approximately ILS300,000 in municipal violations in addition to lawyer and engineer fees.”

The Rajabis were not the only Jerusalemite family forced to hold their daughter’s wedding under extraordinary circumstances, due to Israeli measures that violate Jerusalemites’ right to housing and freedom of movement more often than not.

In November of last year, Jerusalem Governor, Adnan Gheith was prevented from attending his only daughter Muna’s wedding, after the Israeli military order barring him entry into the West Bank was renewed.

Since 2018, Israeli authorities have persecuted Ghaith, slapping him with one military order after another, subjecting him to numerous procedures ranging from being barred entry into the West Bank, to prohibiting him from communicating with various leaders and personalities and putting him under house arrest in Silwan. This is over and above the dozens of arrests and summons for questioning he has endured over the years. These measures have had a profound effect on his family, which was forced to celebrate their daughter’s wedding without him. His only possible role was to walk her to the door of her Jerusalem home, where she was joined by her groom, who whisked her off to Ramallah, where the wedding party was being held.

At the time, the Ghaith family tried to wait until their father’s house arrest was over on November 21. They had already postponed Muna’s wedding more than once, once waiting for Adnan to be released from detention and then again because of his house arrest. Then days before the last house arrest order was due to end, occupation authorities renewed it. By then, it was too late to change the wedding date again and Muna was married without her father, on a day every father and family wait for.

Still, Adnan would not be completely deterred from participating in Muna’s wedding. On the day, when he walked her to her groom’s car, his entire family and residents from Silwan, gathered around, throwing an impromptu celebration at the entrance to their home, in the midst of Adnan’s tears as he bid his daughter farewell.

As for the Rajabi house, it is one among thousands targeted by Israeli municipal authorities in Jerusalem. Since the start of this year, the municipality has demolished scores of homes in several areas of the city, particularly Silwan, where also over 6,870 other administrative and judicial demolition orders have been distributed.

“At the end of the day, we do not want this occupation to look more pleasant and more beautiful. We want to end this occupation, have our own state and independence, and naturally build our society like any other people in the world. For me, the critical point is to end the occupation, not make it more convenient. And so, I do not need support in terms of making the situation of women human rights defenders better. Perhaps I want to stop being a human rights defender.“ (S. F. Addameer)

The human rights violations caused by the Israeli occupation do not affect one or two aspects of Palestinians' lives but rather every aspect of their lives, causing them severe suffering and obstacles during their day-to-day life. While this violence is targeted against the entirety of the Palestinian people, including women, children and the elderly, it has a disproportionate impact on women due to reinforcement of patriarchy, traditional gender roles and stereotypes, as well as the reproduction of the cycle of violence by the stronger social group against the weaker social group, and signifying diminishing acceptance and tolerance to diversity and difference.

Despite the multitude of instruments and mechanisms to protect from violence in times of armed conflict including the framework of international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law in addition to the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda; women in Palestine are subjected to several human rights violations caused by the Israeli occupation making it nearly impossible for them to freely enjoy their rights.

Between a patriarchal society and a colonial occupation, women's rights defenders face many restrictions and violations of their rights. The Israeli authorities sharply increased their measures to silence the active voices and the civil society organizations around all of historical Palestine. The ongoing injustice that Palestinians have been living under for more than 70 years takes limitless forms, in this article, the researcher will focus on the attacks by the Israeli authorities on women's rights defenders with a gender lens in reference to the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325.

Women rights are human rights, this phrase was first used in the 1980s and early 1990s. Stating that women rights are a part and parcel of human rights. In the past century the movement of protecting and recognizing women rights has indeed increased. During this movement, the WPS agenda was formally initiated by the UNSCR 1325 in 2000 that was the first landmark resolution on WPS that addresses the impact of war on women and the importance of women’s full and equal participation in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction. The resolution also calls for special measures to protect women and girls from conflict-related sexual violence and outlines gender-related responsibilities of the United Nations in different political and programmatic areas .

The UNSCR1325 has four pillars :-

1. Participation: Calls for increased participation of women at all levels of decision-making, including in national, regional, and international institutions; in mechanisms for the prevention, management and resolution of conflict; in peace negotiations; in peace operations, as soldiers, police, and civilians; and as Special Representatives of the U.N. Secretary-General.

2. Protection: Calls specifically for the protection of women and girls from sexual and gender-based violence, including in emergency and humanitarian situations, such as in refugee camps.

3. Prevention: Calls for improving intervention strategies in the prevention of violence against women, including by prosecuting those responsible for violations of international law; strengthening women’s rights under national law; and supporting local women’s peace initiatives and conflict resolution processes.

4. Relief and recovery: Calls for advancement of relief and recovery measures to address international crises through a gendered lens, including by respecting the civilian and humanitarian nature of refugee camps, and considering the needs of women and girls in the design of refugee camps and settlements.

On the 19th of October 2021, Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz designated six leading Palestinian human rights and civil society groups as "terrorist organizations" under Israel's domestic Counter-Terrorism (Anti-Terror) Law (2016). The six groups are: Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P), the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), and the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees (UPWC). The Israeli military commander also outlawed all six groups under the 1945 Emergency (Defense) Regulations, declaring them "unlawful associations" . These baseless designations aim to delegitimize and discredit the work of these groups, placing the organizations, their staff, and their supporters in danger of criminal charges.

Israel continues its aggressive and illegal treatment of human rights defenders due to their coverage of Israeli violations towards Palestinians and continued presence in peaceful demonstrations. Women human rights defenders have been frequently targeted and have suffered gravely from such disproportionate attacks . Women activists and journalists have been subjected to night raids, arrests and punitive measures under the pretext of “incitement” . Since May 2021, there was a fundamental engagement of young Palestinian women leaders from Jerusalem specially in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan describing their reality and providing their views, the role of young women leaders in defending the rights of Jerusalemites in general was remarkable and challenging to the stereotypes. However, the attacks by the Israeli forces against these women was more than brutal. Muna Al-Kurd 23-years-old an activist and journalist from Sheik jarrah was subjected to several physical and psychological harassments from the Israeli forces and settlers, in addition to arresting her in June 2021 for questioning regarding her activism. The arrest of Muna Al-Kurd came hours after the arrest of Givara Budeiri a journalist for Al-Jazeera news network who was reporting on a sitting protest in Sheikh Jarrah. Givara was assaulted by the Israeli forces and her equipment was destroyed as well. She was released after several hours from custody . Nufuz Hammad a 15-year-old girl from Sheikh Jarrah was arrested in December 2021, in addition to her arresting; her family is one of the six families who are facing forced displacement from their home in Shaikh Jarrah.

Under the International Declaration of Human Rights Defenders, the work of defenders must be protected alongside their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Israel aims to create an environment through its systematic policies and illegal treatment to the human rights defenders where they can’t practice their work freely and where they are in danger of criminal charges and several restrictions.

In reality, Israel illegally takes measures to prohibit Palestinians from advocating for their rights or making any expression of a political nature. These measures are in violation of international human rights law and principles relating to freedom of expression and association, and the entitlements of human right defenders to carry out their work .

One of the many measures taken by the Israeli authorities to silence the women human rights defenders is the Israel’s military order 101 of 1967 that prohibits various demonstrations, protests, and gatherings which are offensive to Israel’s political interests. The order justifies targeting human rights defenders to prevent them from peaceful political expression. Palestinian women defenders, journalists, and media students are being exposed to various forms of violations by Israeli occupation forces, through harassment, physical abuse, censorship, equipment confiscation, interrogation, restriction of movement, detention, arrest, and protection of settler violence, all effectively restricting the ability of defenders to continue their work promoting the rights of Palestinians .

In general, human rights defenders in Palestine face many restrictions and many systematic measures from the Israeli authorities to restrict their work, their right to reach information and practice their job freely, while human rights defenders fights for the rights of people, they themselves face many human rights violations from the Israeli authorities. One of the most common measures taken by the Israeli authorities against human rights defenders is to restrict their work by arresting them. Several women rights defenders have been arrested and many are still arrested.

According to research prepared by Addammer; there are 33 female prisoners in Hasharon and Damon prisons. Both of these prisons are located outside the 1967 occupied territory, in direct contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that “an Occupying Power must detain residents of occupied territory in prisons inside the occupied territory”. Female detainees are immediately subjected to various kinds of abuse, and even torture, by the occupation authorities, including dawn arrests, constant transfers between detention centers – and, once in prison, long-term separation from their children . the majority of Palestinian women prisoners are subjected to some form of psychological torture and ill-treatment throughout the process of their arrest and detention, including various forms of sexual violence that occur such as beating, insults, threats, body searches, and sexual harassment. Upon arrest, women detainees are not informed where they are being taken and are rarely explained their rights during interrogation. These techniques of torture and ill-treatment are used not only as means to intimidate Palestinian women detainees but also as tools to humiliate Palestinian women and coerce them into giving confessions .

Ms. Shatha Odeh a 60- year- old nurse and the Director of the Palestinian NGO Health Work Committees was arrested in July 2021 with no arrest warrant and without informing her of the reasons for her arrest. Since her arrest, Ms. Odeh has suffered several violations of her right to liberty and of her right to a fair trial, in breach of articles 9 and 14 respectively of the ICCPR. Her detention has been reviewed and extended by a tribunal composed of three military judges, despite her status as a civilian. Ms Odeh’s right to health has also been violated. She suffers from a number of chronic conditions requiring her to take specific medications regularly. The Israeli Prison Service has repeatedly neglected her medical needs; until 15 July, it denied Ms. Odeh access to one of her essential medications. As her arbitrary detention continues, her health keeps deteriorating . Moreover, the prominent human-rights activist and president of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (one of the six designated civil society organizations) Khitam Saafin, 58- years- old was arrested in November 2020 and placed under administrative detention, without charge or trial for nearly 15 months until the military prosecutor submitted a list of charges against her on 8 June 2021 and sentenced her for a 16 months’ imprisonment and a fine of 1500 ILS .

According to a special study prepared by MIFTAH on “Palestinian Women: The Disproportionate Impact of the Israeli Occupation”, 33 percent of the interviewed women refugees had been directly exposed to physical assault by Israeli Occupation Forces. As many as 21 percent had been beaten or tear gased at Israeli checkpoints while they were pregnant, and 4 percent reported that they aborted or gave birth at Israeli checkpoints. Moreover, 24 percent were forced to live in shelters or with extended family and 37 percent had been exposed to detention or interrogation. The physical violence women experience while living in the refugee camps is alarming and the number of psychological violence is even higher. Moreover, 72 percent of Palestinian women feel panicked when they hear the sounds of Israeli bullets, war jets, bombs or Palestinian ambulances, and 88 percent confirm that they feel terrified when Occupation Forces storm the camp. These women live in a mentally stressed environment where it is hard to feel safe because they have experienced or know that physical violence is a part of their everyday life. As they describe their experience a “triangle of oppression “due to a combination of violence committed by the Israeli occupation and their daily life and traditional attitudes towards women from a suppressive and patriarchal environment.

In conclusion, according to UNSCR 1325, the party states should protect women from all forms of violence and calls for improving intervention strategies in the prevention of violence against women, including by prosecuting those responsible for violations of international law under Article 11 that calls the responsibility of all states to put an end to impunity and to prosecute those responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes including those relating to sexual and other violence against women and girls. Article 10 of the resolution calls all parties to armed conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence. The violations of women rights defenders by the Israeli occupation authorities are with no doubt a gender-based violence that is directed against women because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately.

The application of the WPS agenda in its current status is not serving the protection that is required for Palestinian women and women rights defenders. Even though UNSCR 1325 is created and centered towards the protection of women in times of conflict but from my point of view it’s not serving its purpose fully. The women in Palestine are still facing many obstacles and restrictions during their daily life and are subjected to all forms of violence either in the Israeli prisons, checkpoints, freedoms and their basic human rights. Article nine that calls upon all parties to armed conflict to respect fully international law applicable to the rights and protection of women and girls. It is crystal clear that the Israeli occupation have no respect to the international law and to the Conventions and resolutions related to the protection of human rights, therefore it’s time to stop calling for respect and start calling for an end to the impunity and accountability. The status and the protection of Palestinian women is decreasing day after day, and it strongly requires a move to action from all parties committed to UNSCR 1325 and the international community.

Ola Salem is the second recipient of the women, peace and security scholarship in memory of Zaida Catalلn from the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA ) of Sweden

Throughout the years, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has spilled over onto many different stages – movie award ceremonies, the theater, musicians’ lyrics, photography exhibitions and so on... Major newspapers have apparently only now realized that this political conflict is being reflected in sports as well, and of course, they are up in arms about it. Dubai is now taking the brunt of hostility and criticism for its decision to bar entry to an Israeli tennis player, Shahar Peer, who formerly served in the Israeli army. She was travelling to compete in the Barclays Dubai Championships next week.

The tournament’s organizers explained that their decision was based on security concerns, saying that Peer's presence would antagonize local tennis fans who had only a few weeks ago watched horrific events unfold during Israel’s 22-day assault on Gaza which left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead. The organizers said that they simply could not guarantee Peer’s safety on the tennis court. Ironically, the Israel Football Association took a similar decision during its military offensive in Gaza when it barred any football matches from being held in Palestinian communities inside Israel, citing concerns for the ‘safety’ of its Israeli players. While Dubai’s decision is officially based on security concerns, many agree that it is also influenced by politics, an indirect condemnation of Israel for its indiscriminate killing in Gaza.

Despite the circumstances, newspapers, tennis players, and organizers expressed outrage at Dubai’s decision. The Wall Street Journal, one of the sponsors of the event, immediately withdrew its funding when it heard about Peer’s visa rejection. The Tennis Channel protested the decision by announcing its refusal to televise the event as previously planned. A U.S. tour company, IsramWorld, also canceled its tours to Dubai because of the visa incident, calling Dubai’s decision “an odious act of political bigotry.” In addition, famous tennis players such as Amelie Mauresmo, Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams criticized the decision, saying it was “not acceptable”, and that “sports should be above politics”. As Ken Solomon, the chairman and chief executive of the Tennis Channel, said, “Sports are about merit, absent of background, class, race, creed, color or religion. They are simply about talent… If Israel were barring a citizen of an Arab nation, we would have made the same decision.”

These are all noble sentiments indeed, but do they actually work both ways? Do they apply to Palestinian athletes as well as Israeli ones? Anybody who has taken even the briefest of looks at the state of sports in Palestine will answer with a quick and decisive ‘No’. Instead, what we have here is just another example of double standards – one standard for Israelis, but another standard completely for Palestinians. Did any of these newspapers, athletes, and sport channel executives say anything when Israel bombed the headquarters of the Palestinian Football Association, built partially with funds from the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA)? The facility, which housed the men and women’s football teams, now lies in ruins. What about when Israeli air strikes destroyed sports clubs and youth organization headquarters? What about when three top Palestinian football players in the prime of their careers were killed in their homes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead?

If you cast your memory a bit further back to 2004, you might remember when Israel prevented the Palestinian football team from playing on an international level during the World Cup qualifiers. Israel banned several key members of the team from leaving the Gaza Strip for what would have been the second leg of a match against Chinese Taipei, after Palestine won the first leg by eight goals to none. Palestine lost the second match, but more significantly, they lost their chance as World Cup contenders. In 2007, Gazan residents of the Palestinian team once again were refused exit visas to travel to Singapore for a match which Singapore then won by default. That same year, the Palestinian Gaza under-19 team was banned from playing in Britain when the British consulate in Jerusalem refused to grant them visas because of a risk that they would not return home to Gaza. Governments and consulates reserved and used their right to refuse entry and exit to those aspiring young athletes, but no major news channel or organization said a word about it.

When the Palestinian sports foundation, Atlas Sport, published a report in October 2008 detailing the Israeli targeting of Palestinian athletes and their affiliates, the report was largely ignored. It listed the 375 Palestinian sportsmen killed and the 2000 injured at the hands of Israeli forces since late 2000, as well as the dozens of sports facilities and club buildings which had been destroyed for various reasons in both the West Bank and Gaza, preventing Palestinian youth from engaging in high-level competitions or even local club sports.

The fact is that any Palestinian athlete from the West Bank or Gaza faces many physical and mental barriers when it comes to exit and entry visas, training facilities, morale, and funding. Funding, when it does come, is intermittent, and many athletes and coaches often volunteer their own money for the training they so desperately need. The fact is that in the outside world, sports may be purely about talent, separate of nationality, race, or religion. But in Israel, your talent will always be given secondary importance compared to your background. If you were the most talented athlete in the world, but you happened to be from Gaza, you could kiss goodbye to any opportunity of competing internationally on a level playing field. There will never be a level playing field for Palestinians until they can travel to competitions freely, without the risk of returning to a bombed training facility.

There is no limit to the extent of double standards. Israel can ban anybody it wants from entering Israel for no reason at all, including high-ranking UN officials, but will complain and cry ‘racism’ and ‘anti-Semitism’ when their own citizens are faced with a similar situation. Believing that sports are above politics is an admirable thought, if only it were true.

I’m going to risk a limb here and dip my toe into the extremely controversial Israeli ‘loyalty’ debate. This debate heated up when Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman made it one of the major themes for which his party, Israel Beytenu, is campaigning. Translated as ‘Israel Our Homeland’, the party was originally formed by Lieberman as a platform for Russian immigrants. It takes a strong stance against peace negotiations, considers the ‘land for peace’ concept to be immoral and wrong, and aims to reduce the number of Palestinians living in Israel by as many as possible. As part of his Israeli election campaigning, Lieberman is calling for a loyalty test, or pledge of allegiance, for all Israeli citizens, including the Palestinians. You may ask yourself, so what’s the big deal? Don’t most countries require pledges of allegiance? Of course, most countries didn’t begin and maintain an illegal occupation, didn’t create millions of refugees, and don’t treat a large number of their citizens as second class. Lieberman and his supporters argue that they are not asking Palestinian-Israelis to renounce their identity. Instead, they are asking that they recognize and pledge loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state. If they wish to live here as citizens with full rights and benefits, they must contribute to Israel’s success.

Of course, your average Palestinian-Israeli, after laughing at the part about full rights and benefits, will argue that to pledge allegiance to the Jewishness of Israel does indeed sacrifice one’s own identity as a Palestinian Muslim or Christian. And look at the term ‘Israeli Arab’, which is widely used in Israeli discourse to refer to Palestinians living in Israel. This term in itself reveals a great deal about the Israeli psyche; for if you were to replace it with the phrase Palestinian-Israeli, you would shock many Israelis, even secular, left-wing ones. Israelis, whether they know it or not, are conditioned to think of the Palestinians amongst them (20 percent of the population) as a people who happen to live on the Israeli side of the border and who are tolerated so long as they submit themselves to the Zionist ideal. Calling them Arabs also strips them of their Palestinian identity, lumping them in with the general Arab population. They are never considered to be what they are – the indigenous population.

Back in December 2006, Palestinian-Israeli leaders published a report called "The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel", which outlined strategies to be implemented by The National Committee of the Local Arab Authorities in Israel. Why did they feel the need to publish this report? Because,

“Since the Al-Nakba of 1948 (the Palestinian catastrophe), we have been suffering from extreme structural discrimination policies, national oppression, military rule that lasted till 1966, land confiscation policies, unequal budget and resources allocations, rights discrimination, and threats of transfer. The State has also abused and killed its own Arab citizens, as in the Kufr Qassem massacre, on Land Day in 1976 and Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000.”

The report called for a consensual democracy, a system that embodies the presence of two groups, the Jews and the Palestinians, as opposed to a solely Jewish democracy, an oxymoron in itself. While democracy can be defined as the rule of the majority, it more importantly embodies the principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.

An Israeli Jew might argue that the Israeli government is representative of its Palestinian population, and there are Palestinian Arab parties which currently hold seven of 120 seats in the Israeli Knesset. However, what is not widely known is that it is normal for some of these parties to be banned by the Central Election Committee during an election year, a ban that is usually then overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court after an appeal. Why go through this rigmarole? It gives parties such as Israel Beytenu the chance to make the point that they believe Palestinian Arab parties who, God forbid, criticize Israel’s discriminative policies, should not be allowed to exist in the Knesset.

Israel is not a normal country to be making what appears to be a normal request. Why should Palestinian-Israelis pledge allegiance to a government that regularly discriminates against them, and includes powerful right-wing parties who consider them to be enemies, or even worse, irrelevant for consideration. Worse still, would you pledge allegiance to a government that often refers to your transfer to another land as a matter of fact rather than a matter of choice? What if that government had just completed a ‘defensive’ killing spree on your fellow people blockaded nearby? Does this test include the Palestinian Bedouins who have no rights and have been forced to exist on arid land in the Negev Desert? Adding insult to injury, what if the one asking you - a member of the indigenous population - to prove your loyalty was himself an immigrant? Yes, Lieberman was actually born in Moldova and left there when he was 20 years old.

The fact is that Israel has no right to make such demands until a peaceful resolution is reached between Israelis and Palestinians, and after Palestinian-Israelis have been given the choice (emphasis on the word choice here) to join a Palestinian state or remain where they are. After that, some Palestinian-Israelis might well prefer to remain full citizens of Israel.

Unfortunately, Palestinian-Israelis will have a lot to be concerned about in the future, least of all the possibility of a loyalty test. Lieberman’s party is set to win a large number of Knesset seats, giving it much more influence in the Knesset. It is also liable to be a partner in the governing coalition when it is formed, most likely, by Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud party.

Included in the top 10 reasons to vote for Israel Beytenu are ‘greater efforts to entice Jews from all over the world to come to Israel, promoting the Jewish Identity, and increasing the Jewish presence in the Golan and east Jerusalem…’ While some of Lieberman’s policies may never be enforced, such as his plan to carve out areas inside Israel that are highly populated by Palestinian villages (as though they were cancerous bodies), the fact that his influence is increasing suggests something even more worrying. It suggests that Israeli society is becoming more accepting of his ideas – which are discriminatory, racist and extreme to say the least.

Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist, might be right when he says, “When the intifada of Israel's Arabs breaks out here [Israel] one day, we will know whom to blame - those who criminally incited against them and, no less, those who turned this incitement into something acceptable and legitimate.”

While the cats are away, it is guaranteed that the mice will go out and play. Of course, the analogy here refers to media, short-span attentions, and Israel’s latest occupation-cementing activities. While the world was focusing on Gaza and the devastation taking place there at the hands of a lethal Israeli army, other alarming events were going on largely unnoticed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Israel may not have appreciated its forces being under critical limelight in Gaza, but they were certainly able to take advantage of a distracted media trying to cope with reporting on the rapidly rising death toll there.

In the weeks during and immediately after Operation ‘Cast Lead’, Israeli occupation forces were very busy in the West Bank and east Jerusalem doing what occupation forces apparently do – conducting incursions and raids, arrests, demolitions and land confiscations. In the period just before December 27 and leading up to this week, Israeli forces have killed 10 Palestinians in the West Bank, including children, and arrested at least 214 others (also including children). Moreover, they arrested 584 Palestinians who were working without permits in Israel proper, along with some 16 Israeli employers. Troops also conducted a minimum of 138 incursions into various villages and towns around the West Bank.

Of course, raids and arrests are the norm for Palestinians. What is more disturbing, however, is the amount of land, the thousands of dunums that were expropriated while Palestinians, Arabs and the world were looking towards Gaza. Three thousand dunums of land was confiscated in Yatta, a village south of Hebron, for the purpose of illegal settlement expansion. Another 23 dunums were taken over near Bethlehem, including 13.4 dunums stolen from the nearby villages of Hussan and Nahalin. In Jerusalem, yet another 500 dunums were confiscated in the neighborhood of Abu Dis in east Jerusalem. Bear in mind here that a dunum is 1,000 square meters, which means that well over three million square meters of land was stolen. Obviously, the 78 percent of historical Palestine Israel has now isn’t enough, as they insist on grabbing more land from the remaining 22 percent which was earmarked to be a Palestinian state.

Israeli bulldozers were also busy demolishing homes and issuing orders for more planned demolitions. On January 19, Israeli troops raided the houses of the Abu Duheim family in the Jabal el-Mukabber neighborhood of east Jerusalem, forcing the 18 residents of four apartments out on the street. They then demolished the apartments and closed the remainder of the building using concrete. The four apartments comprised the second and third floors of the four-storey apartment building.

Early on the morning of January 28, troops and bulldozers moved into the Wadi Qaddoum quarter of Silwan, a village overlooked by the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. They demolished the top floor of a three-storey house belonging to Talal al-Shwaiki, claiming that it was built without a valid permit. That same morning, they also entered the Tal al-Foul area of Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem and demolished a residential building belonging to Mohammed Eid al-Jaabari, in which 45 people from five families were living. Once again, the usual excuse that the building was constructed without a permit was given.

On February 1, two more homes owned by a Palestinian family were surrounded and destroyed in the Shufat neighborhood of Jerusalem. The homes were owned by the Ghith family. The Israeli authorities say that the homes were built without the required planning permits. Later that day, the Israeli army bulldozed four dunums of land belonging to the Al-Abbasi family in the Al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan, which led to clashes between Silwan residents and occupation forces.

It is important to note that planning permits for Palestinians are almost impossible to come by. Many a Palestinian has spent thousands of shekels and wasted years waiting for planning permission from the Israelis. Alas, almost all of the time, they receive a resounding “NO”. Palestinian natural growth and expansion is a non-existent concept in Israel.

While this may look like the usual laundry list of illegal occupation-perpetuating activities, it worried Palestinians enough to host a conference earlier this week in east Jerusalem under the title “Aggression on Gaza and the Targeting of Jerusalem”. In addition to the land confiscation and home demolitions, Israel has stepped up its excavations under Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Al-Haram El-Sharif compound, Islam’s third holiest site, as well as excavating on land in the village of Silwan. Leaders of the conference stressed that the dangers surrounding the city were large and looming, and that the timing of the assault on Gaza also gave Israel the chance to further its illegal settlement expansion plans. Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, head of the Supreme Islamic Conference, took the opportunity during the conference to stress that the Israeli excavations under the Al-Haram El-Sharif compound “threaten heritage, history and civilization.” Sheikh Taysir Al Tamimi, Jerusalem’s Muslim chief justice, also said, “The world must take immediate action to save the city and its Islamic and Christian sanctities.”

Settlement expansion, confiscations and demolitions have reached such an alarming pace that when George Mitchell, the newly appointed US envoy to the Middle East, met Palestinian chief negotiator Ahmed Qurei, it was reported that he was actually shocked by Qurei’s expressions of desperation and despair. Qurei briefed Mitchell on Israel’s plan to construct 3,500 housing units and invest hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure to build a new Jewish neighborhood in occupied east Jerusalem, calling it “a way to kill negotiations and a violation of all laws, conventions and principles of international legitimacy”.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter if the world is paying attention or not. Israel will continue to do what it wishes, flying in the face of criticism, conventions, and international law. A distracted media just makes their job a little easier, allowing them to throw around random comments unabashedly, including the latest from Israeli prime ministerial contender and current defense minister Ehud Barak, who suggested that Israel dig a 48 kilometer tunnel for the Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank to achieve the territorial continuity Israel is destroying above ground. To ‘sweeten’ the suggestion, Barak added, "Palestinians would have unlimited access to the tunnel, and would be able to travel it undisturbed.”

A distracted media also makes it easier for Israel to allow the convening of the World Jewish Congress and its 600 delegates in Jerusalem under the slogan, 'We Stand by Israel', while preventing Palestinians from celebrating Jerusalem as the Arab capital of culture this year. There is definitely something wrong when such celebrations have to be organized in secret and at the last minute to prevent Israeli forces from disrupting and cancelling them.

The fact is that there is so much wrong with the way Israel treats the Palestinians that it is overwhelming, and only a fraction of Israel’s transgressions are reported to the world. For Palestinians, comments and statistics that would have shocked them weeks, months, or years ago don’t even make them pause now. Reading the newspaper and watching the news has merely become a game to see how much worse things can get, because every time Palestinians think they have seen the worst, the next day they will be proven wrong again. Israel’s audacity truly knows no bounds.

Back in October, a month that seems oh so long ago, I wrote in an editorial, “If Labor does not lose as much ground as it is projected to [in the upcoming Israeli elections], and if [Foreign Minister Tzipi] Livni… is able to convince the Israeli public to elect her party [Kadima], they might just be able to shift the dynamics enough to give the likes of Shas and UTJ [ultra right-wing parties] less power to demand … concessions from the major parties.” I truly believed back then that Kadima, a centrist party, could swing the elections their way; that Labor (a left of center party) could regain some of its footing; and that the Israeli public could withstand the inclination to lean to the right. Basically, I clung to any possibility that would prevent Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi) and his right-wing Likud party from winning the Israeli elections on February 10. Alas, I'm now sadly amused at how naïve I was.

Of course, this was all before the shaky truce between Israel and Hamas became defunct, and before Israel launched its missiles, phosphorus shells, and God knows what else at Gaza. Palestinian unity talks were still on the table back then too and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was in a more authoritative position than he is today. Leave it to Israel to hugely alter that reality.

As the war on Gaza raged, Israeli military and government spokespeople would rarely bring up the topic of the impending Israeli elections in February. But anybody with a little bit of insight into Israeli politics would have realized that Operation Cast Lead, seen as the brainchild of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, was also conveniently aimed at helping their parties, Kadima and Labor, to win more seats in those upcoming elections. Kadima and Labor, perceived as too weak and too ‘dove-ish’ by the Israeli public, had to show they could be tough on Hamas and the Palestinians. In the words of one Prussian general, Carl von Clausewitz, "War is but a continuation of an election campaign by other means."

When I wrote my first piece on this topic, Kadima and Likud were neck and neck in the polls, though there were hints that Kadima might edge forward. The same polls also showed that Labor was likely to lose seats. It would seem that today, the ‘let’s destroy Hamas and make ourselves look tougher’ plan has backfired. Operation Cast Lead has not instilled the Israeli public with confidence in Kadima or Labor. The most recent survey puts Likud ahead of Kadima by eight seats. Labor, however, has regained some footing, and might not lose the seats it had feared for. Nevertheless, on the prime ministerial front, the survey showed that 29 percent of Israelis still favor Benjamin Netanyahu as their next Prime Minister. Only 16 percent preferred Livni, while a mere nine percent said they would support Barak.

Ironically, the poll also indicated that Netanyahu was also the top choice for the role of Finance Minister. Clearly your average Israeli’s memory does not extend as far back as 1997 and 2000, when Netanyahu and his wife were investigated for corruption on more than one occasion. They were investigated for allegations that they had illegally kept 700 state gifts amassed while he was in office and said to be worth $100,000. Netanyahu was also investigated for misusing state funds after he received more than $100,000 worth of services from a private building contractor who did the work for free in anticipation of political favors (but upon receiving nothing, later tried to bill the state). And of course, there were the accusations that Netanyahu made a deal with right-wing Shas party ministers, asking for their support on a deal in exchange for Netanyahu arranging a plea bargain for their leader, Ariye Deri, who was at the time on trial for corruption.

No… Despite all these allegations of corruption, Netanyahu is likely to become the next Prime Minister of Israel, and Likud is likely to become the largest political party in the Israeli Knesset. To make matters worse, Likud’s primaries, held in early December, catapulted several ultra right-wing hawks into the top 30 places on the party's line up of candidates for the elections. The top five candidates, MK Gideon Sa'ar, MK Gilad Erdan, and former MKs Reuven Rivlin, Moshe Kachlon, and Benny Begin, have won the unequivocal endorsement of infamous Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin. If you don’t understand how worrying that is, consider that Moshe Feiglin’s idea of a utopia would be a 'purely Jewish' state of Israel. Yes, these are the most likely contenders for the role of Palestine’s partners for peace. In short, any future peace talks may be in deep trouble.

And why did the Cast Lead plan backfire? Because Netanyahu and his Likud party were in a win-win situation all along. Netanyahu openly and loudly gave it his full support. If it was a success, Netanyahu could ride on the coattails of its victory. If it failed, he could blame it on Olmert, Barak and Livni - it was their idea after all. Uri Avnery, an Israeli peace activist, recently wrote, “Every war helps the Right. War, by its very nature, arouses in the population the most primitive emotions – hate and fear, fear and hate. These are the emotions on which the Right has been riding for centuries.”

Still, at least if Netanyahu wins, we Palestinians will know who we’re dealing with and what to expect. Netanyahu is about as extremist as they come in Israeli politics, though perhaps not as extremist as the notorious Arab hater Avigdor Lieberman. The wife of assassinated Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin confessed she held Netanyahu responsible for creating the hostile climate that encouraged a right-wing extremist to assassinate her husband. This accusation came after a photograph was taken of Netanyahu leading a mass demonstration in which people carried a coffin adorned with the sign, ‘Yitzhak Rabin – murderer of Zionism’. At least with Netanyahu, he shows his stripes openly. Barak and Livni, on the other hand, talk about peace and war in the same breath. Livni has spoken about the two-state solution with the Palestinians, yet has turned around and discussed with Israeli school students the prospect that Palestinian-Israelis will be expected to move to that future Palestinian state.

All the same, even if we think we understand him, deep down all Palestinians fear Netanyahu’s probable takeover in February. Netanyahu is one of those who believe that God gave Israel the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He constantly talks of Palestinian economic growth rather than the transition to an independent Palestinian state. And I suspect that Barack Obama might find it more difficult to deal with Netanyahu as opposed to Olmert or Livni. There may come a day not long after February 10 when we all realize that Olmert was perhaps the lesser of two evils.