Soldiers also commit violence and use excessive force as do police. In addition, they engage in arbitrary house searches at all hours of the day and night, house seizures, harassment, and random detentions and humiliating searches and treatment overall. These actions violate international and Israeli administrative and constitutional law. They persist nonetheless. More on this below.
B'Tselem-ACRI's study reviewed major events since the 1994 Tomb of the Patriarchs massacre:
-- after it happened in 1994, the main City Center a-Shuhada Street was closed to Palestinian vehicles from Gross Square to the Beit Hadassah settlement; Palestinian shops were forbidden to open;
-- after the 1997 Hebron Protocol, a-Shuhada Street reopened to Palestinian vehicles but shops remain closed;
-- in 1998, a-Shuhada Street again was closed to Palestinian vehicles;
-- after September, 2000, a continuous three month curfew was imposed on Palestinian residents; a-Shuhada Street was closed and roads to settlement points were as well to Palestinian vehicles;
-- in 2001, a-Shuhada Street was again closed to Palestinian pedestrians with rare exceptions; other Old City areas were also closed to Palestinian movement; settlers destroyed an improvised market, and the army prohibited it from reopening; over 100 a-Shuhada Street shops closed; nine Israeli families squatted in the closed wholesale market with no IDF effort to remove them;
-- in 2002, under Operation Defensive Shield and Operation Determined Path, a near-continuous 240 day curfew was imposed and other City Center areas were closed to Palestinian vehicles and pedestrian traffic; checkpoints and physical obstructions were established to harass and prevent free movement;
-- in 2003, Shalala compound shop operating prohibitions were cancelled except for ones near the Beit Hadassah settlement;
-- in 2004, part of a-Sahla Street was reopened to Palestinian pedestrians;
-- in 2006, nine squatter Israeli families left the closed wholesale market; a few months later they returned; no IDF attempt was made to remove them; and
-- in 2007, the western section on the Shalala H-2 compound was opened to Palestinian vehicles.
These harsh measures took their toll on residents with unemployment and poverty rising sharply. In 2002, the International Committee of the Red Cross reacted with a food distribution program for 2000 households that increased to 2500 families in 2004. In 2005, the Palestinian National Economic Ministry reported average Palestinian household monthly income in H-2 at only $150.
The figure is likely lower today, but in Gaza under siege, it's much lower. Unemployment is around 80%, World Bank data show 80% of Gazan households live on less than $75 a month, it's far too little to survive, and prior to the present crisis, 85% of the Territory's population relied mainly on humanitarian aid to survive. It may be everyone now with fuel and electricity cut, strict border closures enforced, conditions becoming desperate, Israel relenting for a day, and the International Red Cross warning of a crisis threatening 1.5 million people.
Refraining from Protecting Palestinians and their Property from Violent Settlers
Since the first settlements were established in Hebron's City Center, Palestinians have been victimized by countless violent acts that range from vandalism to killings. Police and the army afford no protection and instead are part of the scheme to make residents' life so intolerable they'll voluntarily leave the area. Many have and others follow.
I am a 72 year old, retired, progressive small businessman concerned about all the major national and world issues, committed to speak out and write about them.
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