Israel, the West Bank and Gaza

Travel Warning
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs

Israel, the West Bank and Gaza

March 19, 2012

The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of traveling to Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, and about threats to themselves and to U.S. interests in those locations. The Department of State urges U.S. citizens to remain mindful of security factors when planning travel to Israel and the West Bank and to avoid all travel to the Gaza Strip. This replaces the Travel Warning issued June 22, 2011, to update information on the general security environment.

The Gaza Strip and Southern Israel

The Department of State strongly urges U.S. citizens to avoid all travel to the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization. American citizens in Gaza are advised to depart immediately. The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt allows for some passenger travel, though coordination with local authorities -- which could take days or weeks to process -- is reportedly required. Travelers who enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing from Egypt must also exit through the Rafah crossing. The Israeli authorities do not permit such travelers to exit through the Erez crossing into Israel except in situations of extreme humanitarian need. Travelers entering the Gaza Strip may not be able to depart at a time of their choosing. Delays of days or weeks are common. U.S. citizens should be aware that as a consequence of a longstanding prohibition on travel by U.S. citizen employees of the U.S. Government into the Gaza Strip, the ability of consular staff to offer timely assistance to U.S. citizens there is extremely limited, including the provision of routine consular services.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strictly controls the crossing points between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The security environment within Gaza, including its border with Egypt and its seacoast, is dangerous and volatile. U.S. citizens are advised against traveling to Gaza by any means, including via sea. Previous attempts to enter Gaza by sea have been stopped by Israeli naval vessels and resulted in the injury, death, arrest, and deportation of U.S. citizens. U.S. citizens participating in any effort to reach Gaza by sea should understand that they may face arrest, prosecution, deportation and the confiscation of their personal items by the Government of Israel. The Government of Israel has announced its intention to seek ten-year travel bans to Israel for anyone participating in an attempt to enter Gaza by sea. On May 31, 2010, nine people were killed, including one U.S. citizen, in such an attempt. The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem are not able to provide consular assistance in Gaza or on the high seas or coastal waters.

Small clashes continue to occur along the boundary of the Gaza Strip. Rockets and mortars are still fired into Israel from Gaza, and Israel continues to conduct military operations inside Gaza, including airstrikes. Israel has also declared an exclusion zone inside Gaza along its boundary with Israel and has taken lethal measures against individuals who enter it.

In the past, some rockets have traveled more than 40 km (24 miles) from Gaza and landed as far north as Yavne and Gadera and as far east as Beersheva. As a result of possible military operations by the Government of Israel in Gaza and the ever-present risk of rocket and mortar attacks into Israel from Gaza, U.S. government personnel travelling in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip boundary, to include the city of Sderot, must make prior notification to the Embassy's Regional Security Office. U.S. citizens in the area should be aware of the risks and should take note of announcements by the Government of Israel's office of Homefront Command.

Israeli authorities have also maintained a heightened state of alert along Israel's border with Egypt since an August 18, 2011, terrorist attack that killed eight and injured nearly 40 along Route 12 north of Eilat. As a result of the heightened threat in the area, U.S. government personnel must notify the Regional Security Office if they plan to travel south of Be'er Sheva.

The West Bank

The Department of State urges U.S. citizens to exercise caution when traveling to the West Bank. Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces are now deployed in all major cities and other limited areas within the West Bank. As a result, violence in recent years has decreased markedly throughout the West Bank. Nonetheless, demonstrations and violent incidents can occur without warning. Vehicles have also been the target of rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire on West Bank roads. The IDF continues to carry out security operations in the West Bank. Israeli security operations, including incursions in Palestinian population centers, can occur at any time and lead to disturbances and violence. U.S. citizens can be caught in the middle of potentially dangerous situations. Some U.S. citizens involved in demonstrations in the West Bank have sustained serious injuries in confrontations with Israeli security forces. The Department of State recommends that U.S. citizens, for their own safety, avoid demonstrations.

During periods of unrest, the Israeli Government sometimes closes off access to the West Bank and those areas may be placed under curfew. All persons in areas under curfew should remain indoors to avoid risking arrest or injury. U.S. citizens have been killed, seriously injured, or detained and deported as a result of encounters with Israeli operations in the West Bank. Travel restrictions may be imposed by the Government of Israel with little or no warning. Strict measures have frequently been imposed following terrorist actions, and the movement of Palestinian-Americans, both those with and without residency status in the West Bank or Gaza, has been severely impeded. Security conditions in the West Bank can hinder the ability of consular staff to offer timely assistance to U.S. citizens.

Jerusalem

The Department of State urges U.S. citizens to remain vigilant while traveling throughout Jerusalem, including in commercial and downtown areas of West Jerusalem. Spontaneous or planned protests within the Old City are possible, especially after Friday prayers. Some of these protests have led to violent clashes. Travelers should exercise caution at religious sites on holy days, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Isolated street protests and demonstrations can also occur in areas of East Jerusalem, including around Salah Ed-Din Street, Damascus Gate, Silwan, and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. U.S. Government employees are prohibited from entering the Old City on Fridays during the month of Ramadan due to overall congestion and security-related access restrictions. U.S. citizen employees of the U.S. Embassy and Consulate General and their families are prohibited from using public transportation networks, including buses and light rail services, and their associated terminals.

Travel Restrictions for U.S. Government Personnel

Personal travel in the West Bank for U.S. government personnel and their families is allowed in the areas described below. They may travel to Bethlehem from 6:00 a.m. to 11 p.m.; to Jericho; and transit through the West Bank using only Routes 1 and 90 to reach the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge or the Dead Sea coast near Ein Gedi and Masada. They may also travel north on Route 90 from the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge to the Sea of Galilee during daylight hours. Personal travel is also permitted to Qumran off Route 90 by the Dead Sea and all areas south of Highway 1 and east of route 90 in the Dead Sea area.

U.S. Government personnel and family members are permitted both official and personal travel on Route 443 between Modi'in and Jerusalem. All other personal travel in the West Bank, unless specifically authorized for mission-approved purposes, is prohibited.

General Safety and Security

Israeli authorities remain concerned about the continuing threat of terrorist attacks. U.S. citizens are cautioned that a greater danger may exist around restaurants, businesses, and other places associated with U.S. interests and/or located near U.S. official buildings, such as the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem. U.S. citizens are also urged to exercise a high degree of caution and to use common sense when patronizing restaurants, nightclubs, cafes, malls, places of worship, and theaters, especially during peak hours. Large crowds and public gatherings have been targeted by terrorists in the past and should be avoided to the extent practicable. U.S. Government personnel have been directed to avoid protests and demonstrations and urged to maintain a high level of vigilance and situational awareness at all times. U.S. citizens should take into consideration that public buses and their respective terminals are off-limits to U.S. Government personnel.

Since December 2009, two U.S. citizens have been murdered in separate incidents while walking in the woods in the Beit Shemesh area near Jerusalem. Israeli authorities characterized the murders as terrorist attacks.

A bomb blast near the Central Bus Terminal in Jerusalem on March 23, 2011, injured several U.S. citizens.

There are live land mines in many areas of the Golan Heights, so visitors should walk only on established roads or trails. Near the northern border of Israel, rocket attacks from Lebanese territory can and have occurred without warning.

A terrorist attack on two commercial buses and two private vehicles on Route 12 north of Eilat killed eight and injured nearly 40 on August 18, 2011.

Entry/Exit Difficulties

U.S. citizens planning to travel to Israel or the West Bank should read carefully the detailed information concerning entry and exit difficulties in the Country Specific Information sheet. U.S. citizens in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip are strongly encouraged to enroll with the Consular Sections of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv or the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem through the State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). Occasional warden messages issued by the Embassy and the Consulate General are e-mailed to registered U.S. citizens and are posted on State Department websites to highlight time-sensitive security concerns.

Security-related delays are not unusual for travelers carrying audio-visual or data storage/processing equipment, and some have had their laptop computers and other electronic equipment confiscated at Ben Gurion Airport. While most items are returned prior to the traveler's departure, some equipment has been retained by the authorities for lengthy periods and has reportedly been damaged, destroyed, lost or never returned. U.S. citizens who have had personal property damaged due to security procedures at Ben Gurion may contact the Commissioner for Public Complaints at the airport for redress by fax to 972-3-9752387. In such circumstances, travelers should have no expectation of privacy for any data stored on such devices.

The Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy should be contacted for information and assistance in the following areas: Israel, the Golan Heights, and ports of entry at Ben Gurion Airport, Haifa Port, the northern (Jordan River) and southern (Arava) border crossings connecting Israel and Jordan, and the border crossings between Israel and Egypt. The Consular Section of the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem should be contacted for information and assistance in the following areas: Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Allenby Bridge crossing connecting the West Bank and Jordan.

The Consulate General in Jerusalem may be contacted at (972) (2) 630-4000 and the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv at (972) (3) 519-7575 Monday through Friday during business hours. After hours for emergencies between 4:30 p.m. 8:00 a.m. local time Monday through Friday and on weekends, the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem may be contacted at (972) (2) 622-7250, and the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv at (972) (3) 519-7551.

Current information on travel and security in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip may be obtained from the Department of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 within the United States and Canada, or, from overseas, 1-202-501-4444. For additional and more in-depth information about specific aspects of travel to these areas, U.S. citizens should consult: the Country Specific Information for Israel, the West Bank and Gaza; and the Worldwide Caution. These along with other Travel Warnings, Travel Alerts and Country Specific Information are available on the Department's Internet website. Up-to-date information on security conditions can also be accessed at http://usembassy-israel.org.il or http://jerusalem.usconsulate.gov. Follow us on Twitter and the Bureau of Consular Affairs page on facebook as well. You can also download our free Smart Traveler iPhone App to have travel information at your fingertips.

Op-Ed: MUST READ: Israeli Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria

Op-Ed: MUST READ: Israeli Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria

Published: Sunday, March 18, 2012 9:37 AM

Part I: Yesha is ours. Important summary of facts and law in support of Israel's lawful exercise of sovereignty over East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

Wallace Edward Brand, JD

► More from this writer

At least three nation-states, the UK, the US and Canada allow evidence of legislative purpose to be admitted to show the meaning of a statute that is ambiguous.
What follows is a necessary minimum of that evidence to show the purpose of the Balfour Declaration that was adopted by the WWI Allies at San Remo that established the International Law provided by that Agreement and the British Mandate for Palestine.
It is widely accepted, but not correct, that the West Bank belongs to the local Arabs in Palestine who in 1964, at the suggestion of the Soviet dezinformatsia, decided to call themselves "Palestinians.” [1]
These "invented people" [2] also pretend they had long had a passion for self government. [3] The full extent of Israel’s claim of sovereignty has not recently been stated. At most, it is said by the Israeli government that no one has sovereignty over the West Bank, but that Israel has the better claim. [4]
A better view is that the Jews obtained a beneficial interest in sovereignty over all of Palestine in the 1922 enactment of the British Mandate for Palestine, that entrusted exclusive political or national rights in Palestine to Britain in trust for the benefit of the Jews that later matured into a legal interest on the abandonment of the trusteeship by Britain and the attainment of the Jews of a majority population.
The trusts or guardianships were to be called "mandates”.
It was in 1919 that Jan Smuts submitted a memorandum to the League, which later became Article 22. The Council of Ten drafted for the League of Nations as Part I of the Treaty of Versailles [5], an Article 22 providing for trusts and guardianships for the areas in The Middle East and North Africa captured by the WWI Allies from the Ottoman Empire. This concept was later applied to other areas. Article 22's first two paragraphs provided a reasonably clear showing that a mandate was based on the longstanding British legal concepts of trusts and guardianships.
In 1917, in advance of the end of WWI, the British had drafted and published a policy for the disposition of the captured Ottoman lands in Palestine. [6] Britain and France were at that time following the “secret’ Sykes-Picot Agreement in their disposition of Ottoman Lands. But in recognition of the historic association of the Jews with Palestine, the Balfour Declaration, a British Policy approved it its Cabinet, provided for exclusive political or national rights in Palestine to be granted to the Jews.
The 1920 agreement of the WWI Allies at San Remo, on the terms of the Mandate turned what had been only a British Policy approved by the Cabinet, into International Law. Under Article 22 of the League of Nations Covenant, the rights were to be provided in trust, [7].
We know this because the Balfour policy had been attacked as antidemocratic, as giving sovereignty to the Jewish people who constituted only 60,000 of the total population of 600,000 in Palestine as of 1917.
In Jerusalem, the Jews had had a plurality of the population since 1845 and a majority since 1863, but in all of Palestine, in 1917 they constituted only 10% of the population. Even US President Woodrow Wilson was advancing that argument that award of sovereignty to a minority population was inconsistent with his 14 points that provided, among other things, for majority control.
To counter this argument, which they conceded was a good one, Arnold Toynbee and James Namier in the British Foreign Office, in a memorandum of September 19, 1917 [8] said the problem of control by a minority was "imaginary" because they predicted that the grant would be placed in trust and would not vest sovereignty in the Jews until the Jews fit to govern it on modern European state.
In my view these included attainment of a majority population, defined boundaries, unified control over all within the boundaries, etc.. Providing a National Home for Jews in Palestine with the British running the government until the Jews could attain a majority status based on favored immigration from the Jews in the Diaspora would be a temporary measure and not antidemocratic. [9]
The statement of the purpose of the British Mandate for Palestine in its Preamble and Article 2 is entirely consistent with this view although not express. [10]
What was the National Home, a reconstituted state? No, it was a place for the Jewish people to feel at home while the immigration was going on that would ultimately give the Jews a majority of the population and a reconstituted state. So that the staff of the British Mandatory Power, will know how to do that: Article 4 provides for the Zionist Organization to advise the mandate government staff. Part of Article 6 requires the staff of the Mandatory Power for The Administration of Palestine, to facilitate immigration of Jews. The Mandate does NOT provide that immigration of any other peoples is to be facilitated. (emphasis added) Article 5 provides that none of the land is to be ceded to a foreign power.
Who were the beneficiaries of the trust? Only the Jews, both those already in Palestine and many more scattered worldwide in the Diaspora since the time of the Roman Empire conquest of Palestine.
Howard Grief, who has provided the seminal work on the legal foundations of Israel under International Law, says one can conclude this because they are the only people mentioned to be dealt with specially. [11]The non-Jews are referred to only to ensure their civil and religious rights are to be protected.
Because Article 22 of the League Covenant defined the relationship of Britain and the Jews as trustee and guardian with Jews in effect being beneficiaries and ward the Mandate essentially provided for a Jewish National Home that would be supervised by the British until its ward was capable of exercising sovereignty, including helping it attain a majority of population it needed to do that. It was charged with facilitating such immigration.
All this purpose was not expressed very clearly in the Mandate, likely to avoid stirring up the Arabs in time of war that might bleed off troops to maintain stability in Palestine. But the Arabs did understand that this was the case.
After the war, the Arabs were told by Winston Churchill that the request for self government by the inhabitants of Palestine would be denied until such time as the Jews had attained a majority of the population. They made that understanding clear in their arguments against Partition in the UNSCOP hearings in 1947. [12]
The Arabs argued in 1947 "It was clear from the beginning that if Palestine were to be turned into a Jewish national home, this would involve the indefinite denial of self-government until such time as the Jews were strong enough to take over the government; that pending such time, Palestine would have to be subjected to a foreign administration [of England] which had no basis in the consent of the population and of which the policy would be determined, not by consideration of the welfare of the population, but by the desire to assist in the settlement of an alien group; and that to make such a settlement possible the country would have to be cut off from the surrounding Arab lands by artificial frontiers, would be given a separate system of law, administration, finance, tariffs, and education and would thus inevitably lose some if not all of the Arab character."
But that is what the grantors had in mind and the Arabs knew it when they argued against Partition in 1947. [13] They had learned after WWI from Winston Churchill this was their intention.
"As the first Arab delegation to England stated in the course of its correspondence with Mr. Churchill, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, 'we are to understand ...that self-government will be granted as soon as the Jewish people in Palestine are sufficiently able through numbers and powers to benefit to the full by it, and not before.' "[14]
Prior to the publishing of the British Mandate the French attached a "proce’s verbal" in French shown only in the French Version. [15] This was their agreement only on their stated understanding that the Mandate would not eliminate any existing rights of the non-Jews in Palestine. The League had no objection to the process verbal.
The Mandate expressly preserved existing civil and religious rights of the non-Jews. It could not preserve their political rights because they had never had any. The preservation of their civil rights only protected their individual political rights, ie. their electoral rights. It did not protect their collective political rights or national rights, the right of sovereignty and political self-determination.
The Arabs in Palestine had always been ruled from afar. So the Mandate carried out the “process verbal”
Why, in 1917, did Britain establish a policy that gave a preference to the Jews? There were several reasons.
1. Britain's Prime Minister at the time of the Balfour Declaration was David Lloyd-George. Later, in 1923, he was the author of an article "The Jews and Palestine" [16] In it he revealed his view that the Arabs under Ottoman Rule had turned Palestine, the Biblical land of milk and honey into a malarial wasteland. He believed it could be remedied under a reconstituted Jewish State.
2. There was considerable sympathy among many Christian Evangelicals in England who thought the Jews should be restored to Palestine to flee from the pogroms of Russia and Poland. This sympathy did not extend to receiving them in England. British workmen had complained that Jews were flooding in to England and taking their jobs and working for less. This led to the Aliens Act of 1909 restricting Jewish immigration into England.
But the British recognized that the oppression of the Jews in Russia and Poland was very bad and they needed some place to go. [17]
3. Chaim Weismann, an ardent Zionist and also a good chemist, had helped Britain in the war by developing an inexpensive method of manufacturing acetone used in cordite for munitions and had given it to the British. It was a great help to the British war effort. [18]
4. And England, according to Winston Churchill, also desired to win over the Jews in Russia, many of them in the Bolshevik government, so that they might influence the new Marxist government to remain in battle with the Germans and Ottomans in WWI on the side of the Allies. He thought that the Balfour Declaration could sway them in British favor. [19]
There came a time after WWII that the British decided their effort to be trustee was simply costing it too much. They tried to obtain some funding from the United States, but the United States declined to do so. Britain finally decided to abandon its trusteeship and guardianship in 1948.
On the abandonment of its trusteeship by Britain in 1948, political rights that were the "trust res" (the thing put in trust) devolved to the Jews as beneficiaries or wards of the trust and vested in them the political rights permitting them to exercise sovereignty. These rights had survived the demise of the League of Nations by virtue of Article 80 of the UN Charter. [20] It should be expressly noted that the Jews did not receive these rights from the Partition Resolution.
By that time the Jewish population had increased significantly. In 1947 the UN General Assembly had recommended that the Jews give up some of its rights in an attempt to avoid violence that had been threatened by the Arabs if the Jews were to reconstitute their state in Palestine. The Jews agreed to give up some of the land over which they were to have political rights, but the Arabs rejected the recommendation and commenced a war.
It was by the Arabs starting a war that led to a Jewish population majority. Some 600,000 to 700,000 Arabs fled the country before even seeing an Israeli soldier. The wealthy left first, at the first foreshadowing of war. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Mahmoud Abbas wrote this in the official organ of the PLO, “Filanstin”, most of the rest left at the request of the Arab Higher Committee that wanted to get them out of the way of the Arab armies in the surrounding states. [21]
Many left because of a false report that the Irgun had committed a massacre of Arabs at Deir Yassin, that the Haganah, their political enemies did not dispute. A BBC program based on an interview of an Arab radio commentator at the time revealed he had been pushed into designating a hard fought battle as a massacre so as to provide an excuse for the invasion of surrounding armies. [22]
Many Arabs local to Palestine left; some remained.
But those that left could not go back because the Arab Armies did not prevail
In 1948 Israel declared Independence and vindicated its claim by force of arms against the assault of other Arab states surrounding it. It established an orderly unified stable control of its territory except for Judea, Samaria, and East Jerusalem which had been invaded and occupied by the Arab Legion in the East. This British supplied and led organization became the Army of Jordan. [23] In the South, the Egyptian Army was able to maintain its occupation of the Gaza Strip.
In 1920 the Ottoman Empire in Article 95 of the Treaty of Sevres,had ceded its sovereignty in Palestine, which had been undisputed for 400 years, to a Mandatory Power in trust for a National Homeland for the Jews. [24] The Sevres Treaty was never ratified by the Turks who were concerned over Turkey’s boundaries in Europe and in adjacent areas in Asia, not in the Middle East and North. But these issues were finally settled in 1923 in the Treaty of Lausanne that left the agreements in the Middle East unchanged.
The trustee selected by the League of Nations at San Remo was Great Britain; the US had been another possibiility. Sovereignty, i.e. political rights, over the other 99% of the lands captured from the Ottomans in the Middle East was allocated to Arab and Muslim majorities in some 20 areas such as Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq but as in the case of Palestine, in mandates of guardianship as the inhabitants had had no prior experience in self rule.
While it was expected in 1920 that the Jewish Homeland would eventually become a state when immigration gave the Jews a majority of the population, at the time the Jews were incapable of exercising sovereignty although the "Jewish Agency" was exercising administrative authority of wide scope.
End Notes
1. Brand, Soviet Russia, The Creators of the PLO and the Palestinian People, http://www.think-israel.org/brand.russiatheenemy.html
2. Newt Gingrich, Campaign speech, 2012 Republican Primary
3. Brand, Was there a Palestine Arab National Movement at the End of the Ottoman Period? http://www.think-israel.org/brand.palnationalism.html
[4] Danny Ayalon, Israel's current Deputy Foreign Minister, The Truth About the West Bank /News/News.aspx/145836
[5] See the original documents in the Avalon Project at Yale University. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/versailles_menu.asp
[6]The Balfour Declaration Text http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/E210CA73E38D9E1D052565FA00705C61
[7] See the first two paragraphs of Article 22
[8] Mueller, Editor, Churchill as a Peacemaker, Feith, p. 224 n. 36 citing Sir Martin Gilbert, Exile and Return, p. 111-12
[9] Charles Hill, Trial of a Thousand Years, World Order and Islamism
[10] San Remo Convention Text of the Mandate
http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/San_Remo_Convention
[11] Howard Grief, The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel under International Law, p. 36
[12] The Future of Palestine" by Musa Alami with a foreword by Mr. Alami. Hermon Press, Beirut, London (1970)
[13] Id
[14] Id
[15] Salomon Benzsimra, Jewish People’s Rights to the Land of Israel, n. 68 See below
[16] David Lloyd George, The Jews and Palestine, http://einshalom.com/archives/210
[17] Ronald Sanders, The High Walls of Jerusalem, A history of the Balfour Declaration and the Birth of the British Mandate for Palestine. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York (1983) p. 90-94
[18] High Walls at 189
[19] Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill and the Jews,Gilbert reveals the beliefs that moved the British government to issue the Declaration: “The War Cabinet hoped that, inspired by the promise of a national home in Palestine, Russian Jews would encourage Russia—then in the throes of revolution—to stay in the war,. . . http://www.inconvenienthistory.com/archive/2011/volume_3/number_1/churchill_international_jews_and_the_holocaust.php
[20]http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/un/unchart.htm#art80
[21] Abu Mazen Charges that the Arab States Are the Cause of the Palestinian Refugee Problem (Wall Street Journal; June 5, 2003)
[22]http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_independence_war_diryassin.php
[23] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Legion
[24] http://athena.hri.org/docs/sevres/part3.html

Several injured in Friday West Bank demonstrations

Palestinian lightly hurt when bit by IDF dog during weekly demonstration in village of Kedum; three people, including Israeli woman, hurt in Nabi Saleh protest.

By Nir Hasson and Gili Cohen Tags: IDFWest BankPalestinians

 

Israeli forces on Friday used a dog against Palestinian protesters in the West Bank village of Kedum. The dog bit the arm of one of the demonstrators for several minutes. Demonstrators said that the dog's military handler was unable to get the dog to release its jaws.

The Palestinian, who was lightly hurt, was detained. The incident occurred shortly after the start of the weekly demonstration in the village when protesters began throwing stones at Israeli forces. The Israeli forces released a dog to disperse a group of demonstrators. The dog jumped on one of them, brought him to the ground, and bit into his arm.

	Dog bites Palestinian demonstrator during protest in Kedum, March 16, 2012.
	Photo by: AFP

According to Jonathan Pollack, an Israeli pro-Palestinian activist, Israeli forces have used dogs in the past, but one has never bit a demonstrator before Friday's incident.

	Israeli forces walk past burning tires in Kedum, March 16, 2012.
	Photo by: AFP

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in response to the incident: "During a violent and illegal disturbance in the village of Kedum, next to the settlement of Kedumim, west of Nablus, around 100 Palestinians gathered, rolled burning tires, and threw stones at security forces, who responded with riot dispersal means. One Palestinian was arrested for physically attacking forces at the location. Another Palestinian who was arrested was bit by a dog belonging to the forces during his arrest. He was treated at the scene by a military doctor and did not require evacuation."

Also on Friday, three demonstrators were hurt in a protest held in Nabi Saleh. One of the wounded was an Israeli woman who suffered a head injury from a rubber bullet. A Palestinian resident of Nabi Saleh was also hurt by a rubber bullet and another Palestinian resident of the village was hurt by a teargas canister.

Rocket attacks from Gaza continue into 3rd night

Rocket attacks from Gaza continue into 3rd night

By JPOST.COM STAFF AND YAAKOV LAPPIN

Last updated: 03/11/2012 23:46

Over 160 rockets and mortar shells fall on Israel in 3 day period; additional rocket slams into residential neighborhood in Beersheba, damaging 15 homes; schools canceled for second day.

By REUTERS

Terrorists in Gaza fired rockets into Israeli territory for the third straight night, while the Iron Dome defense system continued to intercept rockets fired at the South's larger cities.
The latest rocket launches came amid an escalation in violence along the Gaza border that began after the IAF foiled a major terror attack, killing the secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees, Zuhair Qaisi in a bombing on Friday.

At least four rockets were fired towards Ashkelon Sunday evening. The Iron Dome defense battery deployed near the city intercepted one rocket, while the other three landed near the city in open fields. No damages or injuries were caused in the attacks.
Earlier, a rocket fired towards Ofakim - a small city about halfway between Beersheba and the Gaza Strip - also landed in an open area causing no damage or injuries.

 

 

At least five rockets landed in the Eshkol Regional Council, which abuts the Gaza Strip and includes a number of small communities. The rockets landed in open fields. No casualties resulted from those attacks.
The Home Front command along with the heads of a number of local authorities in Israel’s south gave the order on Sunday night to cancel school in all towns and cities located between 7km to 40km from the Gaza Strip for the second day in a row.
The ban applies to the cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheba, Netivot, Sderot, Kiryat Malachi, Gadera, Rahat, Yavneh, Lakiyeh, and the Gan Yavneh Regional Council.

Schools in the western Negev that are closer than 7km to the Gaza Strip will hold class as usual, as they have the necessary reinforcement to protect against the incoming rockets, the Home Front Command said Saturday.
Sapir College in Sderet will stay open for classes on Monday despite the ongoing rocket attacks threatening southern Israel.
A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip hit a school in Beersheba on Sunday, exploding in its courtyard and damaging its outer walls. A second rocket slammed into the middle of a residential neighborhood in the city, damaging 15 homes and causing several residents to suffer shock.

"This is the first strike inside a city since the beginning of the current escalation," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said of the attack.
Magen David Adom paramedics were on the scene, treating Beersheba residents for trauma and shock.
On Sunday, 40 rockets were fired into Israel and 14 were intercepted by the Iron Dome counter rocket defense system. A fourth battery will be deployed in the coming weeks. IDF sources said that around 160 rockets have been fired into Israel since the beginning of the violence on Friday afternoon.
Yaakov Katz, Ben Hartman and Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.

Israeli Air Force: Bombing Gaza or Pinpoint Strikes?

Posted on March 11, 2012

In the past few days the Israeli Air Force has struck in Gaza several times, in a back-and-forth exchange which started this Friday. (Read more.) You’ve probably heard reports about the IAF bombing civilian buildings or killing innocents. On the other hand, other sources claim the strikes targeted terrorists only.

So which is true?

Here’s a fact: The IDF’s civilian-to-terrorist death ratio is the lowest in the world. The former Commander of the British Armed Forces in Afghanistan, Col. Richard Kemp, went on record as saying:

“The UN estimate that there has been an average three-to-one ratio of civilian to combatant deaths in such conflicts worldwide. Three civilians for every combatant killed.

That is the estimated ratio in Afghanistan: three to one. In Iraq, and in Kosovo, it was worse: the ratio is believed to be four-to-one. Anecdotal evidence suggests the ratios were very much higher in Chechnya and Serbia.

In Gaza, it was less than one-to-one.”

Further sources, which remain accurate since 2008, confirm:

From a 1:1 ratio between killed terrorists and civilians in 2003 to a 1:28 ratio in late 2005. Several IAF mishaps in 2006 lowered the ratio to 1:10, but the current ratio is at its lowest ever–more than 1:30.

So for every dead civilian, 30 terrorists are killed. And yet, the sad fact is, Israeli Air Force strikes sometimes result in civilian casualties. This is a result of the human shield tactic, a method adopted by Hamas and other terror organizations in the Gaza Strip. Basically, terrorists hide within houses, schools, mosques and other “harmless” environments, and use them as a cover from which to shoot rockets. (Read more about the terror tactics used in Gaza.)

The IDF tries to minimize civilian casualties anyway. How?

1. “Pinpoint targeting” – A phrase you’ll hear a lot in the Israeli Air Force. It means singling out terrorists and targeting them in a way which won’t endanger bystanders. This can often be hard to do, since terrorists prefer to hide in crowded areas. IAF pilots can even single out one target from an entire residential complex.

Example: The terrorist squad targeted on Friday–the team planning a terror attack from Sinai–was struck while driving a car, and despite being in a thronging neighborhood, only the two terrorists were hit.

The vehicle in which the the PRC terrorist squad was targeted on Friday

2. Aborted strikes - The IAF won’t shoot at any cost. Only when the terrorists are in the act of firing their rockets, and when the chance of harming bystanders is minimal, can an IAF pilot strike. Many times strikes have been aborted at the last minute due to last-minute interference, such as civilians coming too close.

Example: View an IAF strike aborted at the last minute:

3. Advanced technology - The IAF uses advanced technology to upgrade its targeting capabilities and make sure its strikes are as precise as possible. Enormous efforts have gone into making sure the weapons and aircraft will be able to complete the job without harming civilians.

Example: Read more about the F-16I ‘Sufa’ and the Delilah missile, both technologies used in pinpoint strikes. An excerpt to give you a better idea:

Let’s say Delilah is approaching a target and in the last moment the navigator sees… that there are civilians in the target zone. All he needs to do is push a button and Delilah aborts its attack, returns to the air and keeps loitering in the target zone until it receives new instructions.

Bottom line: ‘Pinpoint strikes’ is more than just a phrase. For now, the IDF’s civilian-to-combatant death ratio remains the lowest in the world.

IDF: Increase in Schalit prisoners' terror activity

IDF: Increase in Schalit prisoners' terror activity

By YAAKOV KATZ

03/11/2012 15:31

Top IDF official voices notes dramatic increase in attempts by Palestinian terror groups to smuggle money into West Bank.

By Reuters

The IDF is concerned with the growing involvement of Palestinians released in the Gilad Schalit prisoner exchange in terror activity in the West Bank, a senior IDF officer said Sunday.
The officer said that since the beginning of the year the IDF has noticed a dramatic increase in attempts by Palestinian terror organizations, and particularly Hamas, to smuggle money into the West Bank to finance their activity.

 

 

In January and February there was a dramatic increase at West Bank crossings, particularly at the Allenby Bridge which is between Jordan and Israel, with NIS 2.2 million being confiscated in comparison to just NIS 500,000 confiscated in all of last year.
According to a senior IDF officer, some of the terrorists released under the Schalit deal are trying reestablish terrorist activity in the West Bank and particularly to kidnap IDF soldiers or Israeli citizens.
The source said there was a connection between smuggling money and the release of 55 Palestinian terrorists to the territory under the Schalit deal.
"Establishing new terror infrastructures requires a lot of money," the officer added.
The officer also voiced concern about a drop in arrests made by Palestinian Authority security forces in the last year.
According to the officer, PA security forces arrested 2,200 terror suspects between 2009 and 2010 but in 2011 arrested less than 700. The drop, he said, was the result of the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah even though the PA is not allowing Hamas to insert its own people into the ranks of the security forces.
While there was a drop in the number of arrests, the officer said that Israel was satisfied with the PA's continued operations against known terrorists cells in the West Bank. Just last month the PA foiled a plot by terrorists in Kalkilya to abduct an Israeli civilian.
Meanwhile Sunday, OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi was replaced by outgoing Judea and Samaria Division commander Brig.- Gen. Nitzan Alon.