CASE EXAMPLES: Violation of prohibition on Collective Punishments
The Israeli soldiers did not let us pass, and told us that it was prohibited for us to cross and that we had to go back. We left there and went to the northern checkpoint between Zawiyeh and Mashah, and realised that it was absolutely impossible to cross. The road had a number of piles of dirt on the Badi side, even before reaching the Israeli army checkpoint, and it was impossible to get to the checkpoint. We returned home in the car. He seemed to be losing consciousness, and his face began to swell. After we took him out of the car and to his house, we called Dr. 'Abd A-rahim Rabi, of Zawiyeh, to check him. When he arrived, he had nothing to do but pronounce his death."
I went back home and saw that my wife was in worse pain. I called the hotline of the Red Crescent in Nablus and pressured them to come and treat my wife. They told me that they could not travel along the dirt road because of the situation in the area, and that soldiers at the entrance to Beit Furiq and Beit Dajan did not allow Red Crescent ambulances to enter.
Four Case Examples of Deaths from closures during the Intifada:
Ala Hamdan 'Abd al-'Aziz Ahmed, 10 years old. Died 14 October 2000
There are three access routes from the town of el Sawyieh, in the Nablus district, to Nablus. Two of those access routes were closed off by Israeli forces from 6 October 2000, with checkpoints installed at Zatara and Huwara. On 12 October 2000, the third access route was closed off with a checkpoint installed at Yitma; so the whole town of el Sawyieh was placed under siege by the Israeli forces. The Israeli forces were preventing and prohibiting all movement by residents between el Sawyieh and other cities and towns. The only villages still accessible from el Sawyieh were Qabalan and Yitma itself.
However, once the access road between Yitma and Nablus was closed, no routes were open between el Sawyieh and Nablus. Ala Hamdan lived in the village of el Sawyieh. She had had health problems from birth: in particular with difficulties with obstruction of her colon and duodenum. She had had three operations at Hadassah Hospital, in Jerusalem. She had also had to have her left foot amputated, apparently in connection with complications arising from her stomach problems.
On 13 October 2000, Ala Hamdan began to experience severe stomach pains. At about 9 p.m. that night the pains worsened considerably, so the family decided to seek immediate medical attention for her at the Rafidiyeh hospital in Nablus, which was the closest hospital to el Sawyieh.
At first, her father, Hamdan Ahmed, tried to call a taxi because he did not have a car of his own but no driver was prepared to take them because of their fear of the Israeli soldiers and settlers at the blockades/closure points. Her father sought help from a neighbour, attorney Jamal Yusuf Khader, who owns a car and together they tried to break through the siege to get Ala to a hospital in Nablus. Ordinarily the journey from el Sawyieh to the hospital in Nablus would take only about 25 minutes. Mr. Ahmed's evidence continues as follows:
"After leaving our home just after about 9 p.m., we drove to the main road (the Ramallah-Nablus Road) where we were stopped by an Israeli military vehicle. One of the soldiers asked us where we were going. I told them that my child needed hospital treatment. The soldier told us to go back to our house because it was forbidden to travel at all on the roads. I tried to convince him to let us through, but without success. The soldier saw the sick child in the car, and it was obvious that Ala was in great pain. However, we were still forced to return home.
Ala's situation had deteriorated significantly by this stage, and she was vomiting. I was very unhappy at seeing my daughter suffering, so upon our return I called for medical assistance, dialling the emergency number 101, and spoke to the Israeli Magen David Adom ambulance service. However, they said that they could not help and that I had to find a Palestinian ambulance, because of the closures. I tried to contact a Palestinian ambulance/emergency service, but was unable to get hold of one.
As the ambulances were unable to get through to my daughter, I decided to try to break through the siege again in my neighbour's car. When we left the house the Israeli army vehicle had gone.
However, on the way to the hospital, near Yitma, we were stopped by several Israeli army vehicles and there was a large crowd of Israeli settlers of the Rahel settlement. I told the Israeli soldiers and the settlers who stopped us, that my daughter was sick and needed to be hospitalised so we needed access to the hospital in Nablus.
They saw how sick the child was, and that she was in pain. However, they showed no concern as to my daughter's welfare and did not allow us through. The soldiers told me that it was forbidden to enter Nablus or to travel at all. At that stage, as there was no open access route to the hospital in Nablus, I felt that I had no choice but to return home again and to call for a doctor from the nearby village of Qabalan. His name was Dr. Riad al Hilo.
He arrived at 10 p.m. at the house and after assessing Ala Hamdan's condition, confirmed that she needed immediate hospitalisation, for he could not provide her with the medical assistance she needed." In his report dated 14 October 2000, Dr. al Hilo confirms that he checked Ala Hamdan's condition on 13 October 2000, and stated she was suffering from a lung infection and severe stomach pains. Ala's father had also explained to the doctor that her stools had not been normal for a number of days.
The doctor concluded her stomach pains must arise from the obstruction of her colon and duodenum, as it had in the past. He asked Ala's father to take her to hospital immediately because she was in a critical condition. Mr. Ahmed continues in his affidavit: "Immediately after the doctor's visit, I tried again on a number of occasions until the early hours of 14 October 2000 to break through the siege, and explained to the soldiers and settlers near Rahel settlement of the Doctor's advice, but in spite of seeing the child's condition the soldiers and settlers turned us back and told us to return home.
My daughter Ala, spent the whole night and early morning suffering from severe pain." Mr. Ahmed took Ala to Dr. Riad al Hilo's clinic in Qabalan by 8.30 a.m., but he examined her and confirmed that she had died before reaching the clinic at about 8.05 a.m. The doctor confirmed in his written report that because the father could not take the child to hospital, she died at home. He confirmed that the death was caused by her stomach complaints and lung infection. On 15 October 2000, Mr. Hamdan Ahmad went to the Ministry of Health in Nablus and reported what happened, where Dr. Riad el Hilo also filled out a report. The report was sent to the Ministry on 17 October 2000. Mr. Hamdan Ahmad also informed the district authorities.
No action has been taken by the Israeli authorities to investigate this incident or to bring those responsible to account for preventing Ala Hamdan from receiving crucial medical treatment that led to her death. Her death caused her father and her family considerable pain and sorrow.
Na'im Atallah, 27 years old. Died on 16 October 2000
Na'im Atallah, lived in Zawiyeh Village, in the Salfit District. The village was closed off by an Israeli imposed blockade about two to three days after the Intifada began on 29 September 2000. The Israeli forces placed checkpoints at the only two access roads to the village: at the northern entrance linking Zawiyeh to Mashah village, and at the eastern entrance, between the villages of Rafat and Dir Balut.
Mr. Atallah suffered a total kidney failure since February 2000, and required dialysis treatment three times a week, at the main hospital in Nablus. However, from the time that the checkpoints were established he was unable to reach Nablus because he was turned away by Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint each time he tried. He also tried to summon aid from an ambulance from the Red Crescent station in Badi, a nearby village, but the ambulance never succeeded in getting to Zawiyeh because the road leading to the village was blocked by Israeli soldiers who would not allow them access through.
On 16 October 2000, he tried again to gain access to the hospital by going through a checkpoint. He was accompanied by his neighbour, Musbah al-'Afu Musbah, who gave this testimony to B'Tselem on 24 December 2000 :
"We travelled by taxi from our village eastwards toward Rafat to the Israeli checkpoint located before Dir Balut. He was in a very poor condition, and when we arrived at the checkpoint, we got out of the taxi and explained to the Israeli soldiers that we have a very sick man with us who needed dialysis and for nine days had been unable to exit because of the closure and the army checkpoints.
Death of newborn baby on 7 January 2001:
Child of Insaf Sadeq Suliman al-'Abeisi (31), and Mahmud Asad Daud al-Abeisi (39, teacher) Mahmud Asad Daud al-Abeisi and Insaf Sadeq Suliman al-Abeisi, are married, residents of Beit Dajan, Nablus district, and have four children. The eldest is 8 and the youngest is 3. The newborn child who died was a girl. All of their children were born in hospital, in the Obstetrics Department of Rafidiyeh Hospital, in Nablus.
On 7 January 2001, Mahmud Asad Daud al-Abeisi drove his wife, Insaf, who was in her final month of pregnancy, to the Mother and Child Clinic in Nablus. All the tests conducted were normal and showed a healthy fetus. Everything had been fine throughout the pregnancy, and all the test results had been good. In the evening of 7 January 2001, at about 8 pm, Insaf went into labour. At that time, the whole village was apparently preoccupied with the death of Fatma Abu Jish, who died earlier in the day after being shot near the checkpoint. The testimony of the child's father continues, as follows:
"…there was an increased presence of soldiers at the checkpoint at the entrance to the village and at the bypass road leading to Elon Moreh. Because of the situation, my wife tried to wait and suffer the pain, but the pain increased all the time. I went to look for someone to take my wife to the hospital in Nablus. Everyone was afraid because of the army in the area and because it was very dangerous to travel along the dirt roads, since a girl from the village had been killed a few hours earlier.
After pressuring them, they said that they would come to the checkpoint and try to convince the soldiers there to let the ambulance enter the village. They suggested that, if the soldiers did not consent, we would meet at the checkpoint and they would take my wife to the hospital. We agreed that we would be in touch. I took my wife, stopped a taxi, and requested the driver to take us to the checkpoint. My wife began to bleed and the pain was increasing. The residents warned me not to approach the checkpoint because it was dangerous there. They said there was a reinforced complement of soldiers and that the soldiers would shoot anything that moves. When my wife heard that, her emotional state deteriorated: her screams and cries could be heard from far away. I stood firm and got into the taxi despite the warnings. We started to drive and all along the way people warned me to go back because the soldiers were liable to shoot at us. My wife was crying and shouting in pain and from fear that the soldiers would shoot at us.
After we drove about two-thirds of the way to the checkpoint, the ambulance driver called and said that the soldiers at the checkpoint did not let him enter Beit Dajan, and he told me to stay away from the checkpoint. I decided to go back home and look for a midwife or a nurse to care for my wife. All this time, my wife was crying out and the bleeding increased. Around 9.30 pm, we got home. When we arrived, my wife gave birth (a girl) and bled profusely. I saw the newborn was stillborn, and drove immediately (at 10 o'clock) to Beit Furiq to look for a midwife or nurse so that at least my wife could be saved. It was 11 o'clock before I got to Beit Furiq because I drove along dirt roads to bypass the checkpoint. I took a nurse from there, her name is Umm Ramiyeh, and she works in a hospital in Nablus.
We arrived at my house at midnight, and the nurse took care of my wife and the bleeding stopped. My four children saw the birth and the death of the newborn. They were crying all the time because they feared that something bad had happened to their mother. The great amount of bleeding frightened them a lot and they are in great emotional distress now. My wife's physical health is ok now, but she is in terrible condition emotionally. I hope that she quickly gets over what she went through, and that the children will overcome what happened, because they saw something very disturbing and suffered through a very difficult night."
Jamal Ibrahim Iluan, 32 years old, father of four daughters, died 14 November 2000
Jamal Ibrahim Iluan lived in the town of Sinjel, near Ramallah. There had been a number of methods of collective punishment used against the residents of Sinjel. As at 18 November 2000, Ayoub Ahmad Sweid, 45, a merchant from Sinjel, gave evidence that Sinjel was being subjected daily to gas and noise bombs at night in the residential areas, whilst the residents were sleeping. In his affidavit, he continued as follows: "As a result, people get anxious and terrified, especially the children, women and older people. Israeli soldiers have also broken into the village and destroyed cars; such as those of Sa'ed Tawafneh, Muhammad Salhiyeh and Mani Deeb. The six entrances to the village have been blocked since the middle of November 2000.
This has led to a paralysis in daily life, for employees working in institutions as well as in education have been unable to reach work. Furthermore, fuel and food supply lorries have been prevented from entering the village. The nearby settlers from Shilo and Baten have been threatening to cut off our water and electricity supplies; and have been preventing cars, even ambulances, from reaching us. They have also been threatening to burn and throw stones at our cars and to kill local residents. They used to say to us, that as Arabs we had to leave the land. On Friday, 17 November 2000, the Israeli soldiers removed a plaque, which had written on it: 'The settlers are prevented from entering this area as this is Area A'. The plaque was within the village. Before the closure, Israeli settlers had bulldozed and uprooted approximately 100 olive trees, which were being used by Abdil Kareem Ata, Husein el Sahem and Muhammad Kayed.
Furthermore, they had destroyed the village's water pipes; demolished the walls of two houses close to the street (homes of Abu Jrad and Muhammad Kayed, the latter who has been a detainee since 15 November 2000)."
In addition to these forms of collective punishment against the residents of Sinjel, Israeli soldiers had blocked off the six unpaved and main routes from Sinjel to other cities. The villagers were placed under siege. Jamal Ibrahim Illuan suffered from heart disease. He had undergone surgery in Jordan 4 months before his death, in which a battery was placed in his heart. He would go to see doctors in Ramallah regularly for check ups. At 9 a.m. on Tuesday, 14 November 2000, he had an appointment in Ramallah. He took a taxi to see the doctor in Ramallah. The soldiers stationed in Sinjel prevented the taxi from passing. As all other routes were closed off, he returned home. After about half an hour his condition worsened, so a Red Crescent ambulance was called.
An emergency medical technician working for the Red Crescent, Na'eem Masalmeh, lives in Sinjel, and he was asked to take Jamal. The Red Crescent ambulance took Jamal, but once it reached the checkpoint, the Israeli soldiers stopped them and prevented them from crossing it, in spite of the fact that they explained that Jamal needed treatment at the hospital and how serious his condition was. The ambulance driver returned to the village's clinic where they were forced to ask a doctor from the village to examine him. However, the doctor, Dr. Mahdi Rashed, confirms that he was unable to provide any medical treatment because of the shortage of medical supplies, and that the medical supplies Jamal needed were not available at the village clinic. At about 10.30 that morning, Jamal died in the presence of Dr. Mahdi Rashed.
