Post by Moses on Apr 1, 2005 23:51:41 GMT -5
Palestinian Women Bear Brunt of Occupation: Amnesty
Islam Online
Friday 01 April 2005
"Amnesty's new report said violence against women and sex crimes have also increased in the Palestinian society in the last four and a half years..."
Cairo - Palestinian women bear the brunt of the Israeli occupation forces' intimidation practices, with some being forced to deliver at Israeli checkpoints after being denied passage to reach hospital, a worldwide human rights watchdog has said.
In a report titled "Conflict, Occupation and Patriarchy: Women Carry the Burden," Amnesty International said Israeli military checkpoints, house demolitions and imprisonment have had a severe impact on Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
"Israel's military machine has chewed up Palestinian women for far too long, while the Palestinians in their turn must now rise to the challenge of properly protecting women's rights", said Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen.
Since the eruption of the Palestinian Intifada four years ago, some 3,200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces, including 600 children and 150 women.
Amnesty's new report said violence against women and sex crimes have also increased in the Palestinian society in the last four and a half years.
"Palestinian women's suffering has been two-fold: they have borne the brunt of conflict and decades of Israeli occupation and in Palestinian society they are also denied full rights and protection," Allen said.
Lost Babies
The 36-page report said scores of Palestinian women have been forced to give birth at Israeli military checkpoints, set up everywhere in the occupied Palestinian lands.
It further added that many of them "have lost their babies because Israeli soldiers denied them passage".
Rula Ashtiya was forced to deliver on a dirt road by the Beir Furik checkpoint after Israeli soldiers refused her passage to Nablus hospital on August 26, 2003.
"I was lying on the ground in the dust and I crawled behind a concrete block by the checkpoint to have some privacy and gave birth there, in the dust, like an animal," she said holding back her tears.
"I held the baby in my arms and she moved a little but after a few minutes she died in my arms."
The Washington Post reported on Monday, November 29, that beatings, shootings, humiliation in front of children and wives and life-threatening delays are but a few examples of the appalling conditions at the sandbagged Israeli checkpoints.
House Demolition
Amnesty's report also lambasted the Israeli demolition of over 4,000 Palestinian homes, leaving tens of thousands of Palestinians, most of them women and children, homeless and destitute.
It also slammed the Israeli destruction of vast areas of Palestinian agricultural land since the breakout of Al-Aqsa Intifada.
In one case last year, two women -one aged 85, the other 65 - had their home in Rafah demolished by an Israeli army bulldozer while they were trapped inside it, said the report.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a total of 1,728 Rafah homes have been demolished by Israel since the start of Al-Aqsa Intifada, leaving 17,400 homeless.
In his annual report on the human right situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, UN special rapporteur John Dugard accused Israel of severe human rights violations against Palestinians, including "wanton" destruction of infrastructure.
"(Israeli) Bulldozers have destroyed homes in a purposeless manner and have savagely dug up roads, including electricity, sewage and water lines," he said.
Big Prison
Amnesty's report came two days after the Israeli rights group B'Tselem and the HadMoked Center for the Defense of the Individuals accused Israel of turning the impoverished Gaza Strip into a big prison.
"It is easier for Palestinians in Israel or the West Bank to visit relatives in prison than visit a relative in Gaza," they said a report published Tuesday, March 29.
It stressed that as a result of Israeli military siege, more than 77% of the Palestinians in the Strip live below the poverty line - almost double the number that existed before the Intifada.
According to 2002 UN statistics, unemployment increased to 50% in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Islam Online
Friday 01 April 2005
"Amnesty's new report said violence against women and sex crimes have also increased in the Palestinian society in the last four and a half years..."
Cairo - Palestinian women bear the brunt of the Israeli occupation forces' intimidation practices, with some being forced to deliver at Israeli checkpoints after being denied passage to reach hospital, a worldwide human rights watchdog has said.
In a report titled "Conflict, Occupation and Patriarchy: Women Carry the Burden," Amnesty International said Israeli military checkpoints, house demolitions and imprisonment have had a severe impact on Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
"Israel's military machine has chewed up Palestinian women for far too long, while the Palestinians in their turn must now rise to the challenge of properly protecting women's rights", said Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen.
Since the eruption of the Palestinian Intifada four years ago, some 3,200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces, including 600 children and 150 women.
Amnesty's new report said violence against women and sex crimes have also increased in the Palestinian society in the last four and a half years.
"Palestinian women's suffering has been two-fold: they have borne the brunt of conflict and decades of Israeli occupation and in Palestinian society they are also denied full rights and protection," Allen said.
Lost Babies
The 36-page report said scores of Palestinian women have been forced to give birth at Israeli military checkpoints, set up everywhere in the occupied Palestinian lands.
It further added that many of them "have lost their babies because Israeli soldiers denied them passage".
Rula Ashtiya was forced to deliver on a dirt road by the Beir Furik checkpoint after Israeli soldiers refused her passage to Nablus hospital on August 26, 2003.
"I was lying on the ground in the dust and I crawled behind a concrete block by the checkpoint to have some privacy and gave birth there, in the dust, like an animal," she said holding back her tears.
"I held the baby in my arms and she moved a little but after a few minutes she died in my arms."
The Washington Post reported on Monday, November 29, that beatings, shootings, humiliation in front of children and wives and life-threatening delays are but a few examples of the appalling conditions at the sandbagged Israeli checkpoints.
House Demolition
Amnesty's report also lambasted the Israeli demolition of over 4,000 Palestinian homes, leaving tens of thousands of Palestinians, most of them women and children, homeless and destitute.
It also slammed the Israeli destruction of vast areas of Palestinian agricultural land since the breakout of Al-Aqsa Intifada.
In one case last year, two women -one aged 85, the other 65 - had their home in Rafah demolished by an Israeli army bulldozer while they were trapped inside it, said the report.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a total of 1,728 Rafah homes have been demolished by Israel since the start of Al-Aqsa Intifada, leaving 17,400 homeless.
In his annual report on the human right situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, UN special rapporteur John Dugard accused Israel of severe human rights violations against Palestinians, including "wanton" destruction of infrastructure.
"(Israeli) Bulldozers have destroyed homes in a purposeless manner and have savagely dug up roads, including electricity, sewage and water lines," he said.
Big Prison
Amnesty's report came two days after the Israeli rights group B'Tselem and the HadMoked Center for the Defense of the Individuals accused Israel of turning the impoverished Gaza Strip into a big prison.
"It is easier for Palestinians in Israel or the West Bank to visit relatives in prison than visit a relative in Gaza," they said a report published Tuesday, March 29.
It stressed that as a result of Israeli military siege, more than 77% of the Palestinians in the Strip live below the poverty line - almost double the number that existed before the Intifada.
According to 2002 UN statistics, unemployment increased to 50% in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.