Gaza - something doesn't add up

The BBC amongst others is very keen to tell us that: 'Construction materials are banned from entering Gaza by Israel, which says they could be used for military purposes by Hamas.' as they tell us how much concrete is being carried in the 'aid convoys'.

That's odd as Ma'an News 'the main source of independent news from Palestine' reported on 18 May the following:

'Gaza's first Olympic-standard swimming pool was inaugurated at the As-Sadaka club during a ceremony on Tuesday held by the Islamic Society.

Gaza government ministers, members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, leaders of Islamic and national governing bodies, as well as club members and athletes were among those at the opening ceremony, where Secretary-General of the Islamic Society Nasim Yaseen thanked the donors who helped realize the project.'

How much concrete was required to build this Olympic size pool? If building materials are indeed banned how did the building materials get to Gaza? Of course the truth is somewhat at variance with Hamas claims. Israel does let building materials into Gaza indeed in one week in May I read that Israel 'allowed 6 trucks loaded with 250 tons of cement, one truck loaded with 5 tons of iron and 15 trucks loaded with gravels to enter Gaza for building projects operated and executed by UNRWA.' And that's the point Israel allows building materials into Gaza so long as they know the materials are not to be used to build reinforced bunkers from which Hamas activists will be able to continue to fire rockets at Israeli schools and hospitals. One figure that staggered me was that

'Since the ceasefire, well over a million tons of humanitarian supplies entered Gaza from Israel - That's almost a ton of aid for every man woman and child in Gaza.'

The BBC and other media claim that Israel has sealed Gaza off from the outside world. This is a map of Gaza form the BBC website...
Note that both Gaza and Israel are clearly marked. What is not marked is the other country that borders Gaza to its South-West, Egypt. Egypt has a 11km border with Gaza through which as much aid or even trade could pass as Egypt wants. The BBC often claim that Israel 'controls' the crossings into Gaza. If Egypt wanted t open its border to Gaza it could do so but it does nopt want to. The Egyptians know what sort of government is in power in Gaza and what they want to achieve. Hamas and its colleagues in the Muslim Brotherhood want to see the destruction of Israel but their view of Egypt's future is not one that the Egyptian government approve of.

For an interesting view of the history of Gaza can I recommend Wikipedia's entry. There you will discover the truth behind claims of prior Palestinian statehood, Egypt's treatment of Gaza and how Gaza's protests against occupation are only ever aimed at Israel not Egypt. However it is this extract that aught my eye:

'The Palestinian Authority rule of the Gaza Strip and West Bank under the leadership of Arafat suffered from serious mismanagement and corruption scandals. For example, exorbitant bribes were demanded for allowing goods to pass in and out of the Gaza Strip, while heads of the Preventive Security Service apparatus profited from their involvement in the gravel import and cement and construction industries, such as the Great Arab Company for Investment and Development, the al-Motawaset Company, and the al-Sheik Zayid construction project.'

Can you spot the BBC's deliberate misdirection?

The BBC report that:

'Pro-Palestinian activists have driven more than 130 donated vehicles into the Gaza Strip in an overland aid convoy aimed at breaking the Israeli blockade.'

The headline for the article is 'Aid convoy reaches Gaza without George Galloway'Those evil Israelis blockading Gaza and stopping brave George Galloway from completing his journey...

However the BBC report continues:

'The convoy set off from London last month, driving across Europe before finally entering Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt.'

Hold on it entered Gaza via Egypt. If Egypt has a land border with Gaza then the Israeli blockade could be ended in minutes by Egypt... unless the Egyptians are also blockading Gaza.

And what's this?

'Egypt banned him (George Galloway) from the trip due to previous clashes with security forces.'

Egypt have a border with Gaza and it was Egypt that banned George Galloway; what is going on?

Let's read on:

'The Islamist group is subject to tough economic and diplomatic sanctions by neighbouring Egypt and Israel, as well as some Western allies.'

So why is Egypt blockading Gaza? Are they anti-Muslim or do they know something that the BBC don't want to tell us?

'Israel eased its blockade of Gaza after an outcry over its raid on a Turkish flotilla in May that left nine activists dead.'

'Activists'? The ones with weapons who attacked Israeli soldiers and left port declaring their disinterest between reaching Gaza or martyrdom? The ones who sang songs glorying in the deaths of Jews?

'But it (Israel) still controls imports, maintains a complete air and naval blockade, severely restricts the movement of Palestinians, and bans almost all exports from Gaza.'

How can Israel control imports into Gaza when Egypt has a land border with Gaza? How can Israel ban almost all exports from Gaza when Gaza has a land border with Egypt?


The BBC proud to stand with Hamas and against the truth.

Israel always and only to blame

Recently the BBC posted this report on their website, here's the whole report:

'The Gaza Strip will not be "a liveable place" by 2020 unless action is taken to improve basic services in the territory, according to a UN report.

Basic infrastructure "is struggling to keep pace with a growing population", the UN Country Team (UNCT) in the occupied Palestinian territory said.

It estimates Gaza's population will rise from 1.6m to 2.1m by 2020.

Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza after the Islamist movement Hamas seized power in the coastal territory in 2007.

Israel says the restrictions, which are policed with Egyptian co-operation, are necessary to prevent weapons reaching Hamas. Palestinians and human rights group denounce them as "collective punishment".

The UN report, "Gaza in 2020: A liveable place?", estimates the territory will need double the number of schools and 800 more hospital beds by 2020, and says it is already suffering from a housing shortage.

The report also says the coastal aquifer, the territory's only natural source of fresh water, may become unusable by 2016.

UN officials point to the difficulty of improving the situation given "the closure of the Gaza Strip, violent conflict, and the pressing need for Palestinian reconciliation".

"An urban area cannot survive without being connected," said Maxwell Gaylard, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator.

Gaza has no air or sea ports, and the economy is heavily dependent on outside funding and smuggling through tunnels under the Egyptian border.

Even though Gaza has experienced some economic growth in recent years, the report says it "does not seem to be sustainable" and finds that Gazans are worse off now than in the 1990s.

Unemployment was at 29% in 2011 and has risen since then, particularly affecting women and young people.

Traffic through the cross-border tunnels was hit in recent weeks by violence between Egyptian security forces and militants in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, which borders Israel and Gaza.'

It was these two lines that particularly caught my eye:

'Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza after the Islamist movement Hamas seized power in the coastal territory in 2007.

Israel says the restrictions, which are policed with Egyptian co-operation, are necessary to prevent weapons reaching Hamas. Palestinians and human rights group denounce them as "collective punishment".'

The first line was interesting as it did at least acknowledge that Hamas seized power in Gaza and that they are Islamists, albeit the word terrorists was not used. The second line was also interesting as it did acknowledge something that the BBC rarely acknowledge, that Egypt cooperates with the blockade of Gaza.

Something made me check with News Sniffer as to how the article changed over time. Here's some of the changes, I think that they are interesting.
The very first version of the BBC report included this line:

'Hamas leaders in Gaza had hoped that the administration of the new Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, a fellow Islamist, would ease the blockade but so far there has not been any sign that Egypt will open its border.'

That soon disappeared, I wonder why? Maybe it doesn't fit the BBC narrative to call Egypt's new Muslim Brotherhood President, Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist. Linking the Muslim Brotherhood with Hamas is also tricky for the BBC, so maybe best to just drop this line...

Now this is interesting, that second line above started like this:

'Israel says the blockade, policed with Egyptian co-operation, is necessary to prevent weapons reaching Hamas. '

Reporting Israel's line without any countering 'facts', that will never do. So the BBC version changed to:

'Israel says the blockade, which is policed with Egyptian co-operation and has never been fully lifted, is necessary to prevent weapons reaching Hamas.'

And then to:

'Israel says the restrictions, which are policed with Egyptian co-operation, are necessary to prevent weapons reaching Hamas. Palestinians and human rights group denounce them as "collective punishment".'

The BBC try not to let people know that Gaza has a border with Egypt and therefore that Egypt is blockading Gaza just as much as Israel. Remember this post? After all how would that aid their narrative of a big bad Israel and poor defenceless Palestinians? How would it fit in with the BBC's support for blockade breaking organisations if people knew that Egypt was also blockading Gaza? People might start to wonder why only the blockade busters and other supporters of the Palestinians only protest about Israel's blockade of Gaza and not the Egyptian's.

Isn't Google good!

I have had a significant increase in traffic to my site over the past few days and on investigation it seems that the increase was due to one of the maps contained in this article from July last year. That article was about the BBC deliberately misleading people as to the countries that border Gaza. Here's what I wrote then:

'In the BBC article headlined 'Israel forces 'kill two militants in central Gaza'', the BBC include this map

This map makes it seem as though Israel is both enormous and surrounds Gaza thus explaining how Israel has been able to blockade it for some years now. There is of course a problem with this - Israel does not surround Gaza. The country that borders Gaza to the South East is Egypt not Israel, that is where the Rafah Crossing is...

So why have the BBC omitted the word Egypt from that first map? If the BBC come back and say it was an unfortunate accident due to the scale of the map I will not believe them...'

Coincidentally I raised the same issue just over a week ago. There seems to be a pattern emerging.  In fact on perusing my blog I also found this article from June 2010 that included a different but similarly misleading map, here's the relevant extract:

'The BBC and other media claim that Israel has sealed Gaza off from the outside world. This is a map of Gaza from the BBC website...
Note that both Gaza and Israel are clearly marked. What is not marked is the other country that borders Gaza to its South-West, Egypt. Egypt has a 11km border with Gaza through which as much aid or even trade could pass as Egypt wants. The BBC often claim that Israel 'controls' the crossings into Gaza. If Egypt wanted t open its border to Gaza it could do so but it does not want to. The Egyptians know what sort of government is in power in Gaza and what they want to achieve. Hamas and its colleagues in the Muslim Brotherhood want to see the destruction of Israel but their view of Egypt's future is not one that the Egyptian government approve of.'

The BBC's anti-Israel stance is well documented on this blog and others. Their refusal to release the Balen Report and their spending of, so far, around £300,000 on legal argument to keep it secret hardly inspires confidence in their lack of bias. So I hope that people looking for a map of Gaza also found some interesting information re the BBC, Israel and Gaza.

Feedback to the Today programme and a complaint

Further to my earlier post about the BBC's non-correction of misleading information on the Today programme I gave emailed feedback to the Today programme and also made a formal complaint to the BBC.

Here is the email that I sent the Today programme:

'Yesterday the BBC Radio 4 Today programme broadcast an interview with  Dr Aryeh Kontorovich who lives in Beersheva in southern Israel and Dr Mona El-Farra, vice president of the Red Crescent in Gaza. This morning's news summary at 07:30 included very little about the situation other than that has now been  a ceasefire which has resulted in Israel stopping attacking Gaza and that 200 rockets had been fired from Gaza at Israel since Friday. This is deliberately misleading as it makes it seem as though the rockets only started on Friday and are as a result of retaliations after Israel's attack of Friday on Gaza terrorists (or in BBC language - 'militants'). This is not a minor matter as it neatly turns the blame for starting this latest violence onto Israel, when the blame should be laid squarely on the terrorist groups operating within Gaza who have been firing potentially lethal rockets at Israeli civilians for many months.

It is not as though this information is hard to come by. The BBC could subscribe to the Twitter feed from QassamCount for updates every time a rocket is fired at Israel. The BBC could look at the feed from Challah Huakbar or even just 'Challah's Gaza Rocket Counter' on the same site. For even more detailed information the BBC could even look at this list - http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Hamas+war+against+Israel/Palestinian_ceasefire_violations_since_end_Operation_Cast_Lead.htm - of 'Palestinian ceasefire violations since the end of Operation Cast Lead'.

The real figures and facts are easily obtainable so why do the BBC allow interviewees such as Mona El-Farra to state that there have been no rocket attacks from Gaza.
"let me tell you that for the last four months there were no rockets against Israel and Palestinians respected the cease-fire."

Where was the correction from John Humphrys at the time or subsequently?'

I have also complained via the new BBC complaints website:

'Your Complaint
Type of complaint: Radio
Choose station: Radio 4
Programme title: Today
Featured in the programme: No
Transmission date: 12/03/2012
Broadcast type: Recorded/On demand
How long in to the show: 07:23
Complaint category: Factual error or inaccuracy
Contacted us before: No
Complaint title: Allowing deliberately misleading claims to be made
Complaint description:
Yesterday the BBC Radio 4 Today programme broadcast an interview with Mona El-Farra, vice president of the Red Crescent in Gaza. During this interview, Mona El-Farra was allowed to state that there have been no rocket attacks from Gaza prior to Friday's attack on Gaza by Israel: "let me tell you that for the last four months there were no rockets against Israel and Palestinians respected the cease-fire." This is factually untrue, so where was the correction from John Humphrys at the time or subsequently?' This morning's news summary at 07:30 stated that that 200 rockets had been fired from Gaza at Israel since Friday. This is also deliberately misleading as it makes it seem as though the rockets only started on Friday and are as a result of retaliations after Israel's attack of Friday on terrorists in Gaza. This misdirection is important as it neatly turns the blame for starting this latest violence onto Israel, when the blame should be laid squarely on the terrorist groups operating within Gaza who have been firing potentially lethal rockets at Israeli civilians for many months. It is not as though the information is hard to come by. The BBC could subscribe to the Twitter feed from QassamCount for updates every time a rocket is fired at Israel or look at one of the other sites that keeps track of such attacks. Were the Today programme unaware that Mona El-Farra was lying or are they not interested in the truth? At the very least a correction should be broadcast.

Your Details
Receive a reply: Yes
Email address: notasheepmaybeagoat@gmail.com
Title: Mr
First name: NotaSheep
Last name: MaybeaGoat
Under 13: No
Location: England
First half of UK Postcode: W1'

I await the BBC's reply/replies...

The BBC apologise!

On 6 July I complained to the BBC about their publishing of two maps that deliberately mislead people about Gaza's borders.

Here's the first map and note the lack of the word Egypt and the way that there is no differentiation between Israel and Egypt in terms of colour as there would be in any normal map (I believe mapmakers usually work to a three colour rule)...

Here is the BBC's latest response, that includes an actual apology:

NewsOnline Complaints to me

Dear Sir,

Sorry not to reply sooner to your complaint.

One of the maps http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14035536 is plain shoddy work, for which we apologise. It should mark Egypt.

On the second map http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14051618 there is no space to mark Egypt. Our standard maps of this kind are made by journalists using a map making programme - size of frame and the options for labelling are limited. While Egypt is not marked, for lack of space, it is in a different colour to Israel, so there is no impression of Israel surrounding Gaza.

Best regards,

Middle East desk
BBC News website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle.shtml

The story is not quite as simple as that, so here's the full chronology:

On 17 August the BBC responded thus:

'NewsOnline Complaints to me
 
Mr Goat,
Thank you for your e-mail and please accept our apologies for the delay in replying. The first map is not intended to be an accurate geographic or political representation but to show the location of Gaza and where this particular incident happened. Had Egypt been involved in any way in this story, the map would have included Egypt.
The same applies to the second map, which illustrates a story about Israel and Lebanon. This map also does not name Saudi Arabia, which is also not mentioned in the report. In a story about England we might show an appropriate map, but it might not be necessary to name Scotland and Wales if they were not relevant to that particular report.
...

Best wishes,

BBC News website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle.shtml '

 

*****************************************************

{Title:} Mr  
{First Name:} NotaSheep  
{Last Name:} MaybeaGoat
{Under 13:} No
{Email:} notasheepmaybeagoat@gmail.com
{Postcode:}
{Location:} England
{Phone:}

{Feedback Type:} I would like to... Make a complaint
{Summary:} Deliberate misdirection of readers of article
{URL:} http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14035536
{Complaint:} On 6 July I complained about the deliberate misdirection of
readers of the above article.
'In the BBC article headlined 'Israel forces 'kill two militants in central
Gaza'', the BBC include a map. This map makes it seem as though Israel is
both enormous and surrounds Gaza thus explaining how Israel has been able to
 blockade it for some years now. There is of course a problem with this:
Israel does not surround Gaza. The country that borders Gaza to the South
East is Egypt not Israel, that is where the Rafah Crossing is... So why have
 the BBC omitted the word Egypt from that first map?'
A day later you published another map in this article -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14051618 - and yet again the map
 missed off any reference to Egypt.
I can see no excuse for this deliberately misleading of the public. I can
also not see why I have yet to receive a response to my original complaint.

{Reply:} Yes

I replied with this:

Thank you for your response but I am sorry I do not, as they say, buy it.

The first map shows the borders of Gaza just to the point where Gaza ends. If the map went any further south then it would have to show the border between Israel and Egypt. Contrary to your claim in your email ' the map would have included Egypt' - the map does include Egypt, it is just that you choose not to denote that country. This is important as the BBC do often seem to try to spread the narrative that Israel controls entry to and exit from Gaza when in fact there is a long land border between Gaza and Egypt, the very border that you chose not to show on that map.

Your comparison with the omission of Saudi Arabia from the second map is a red herring as that country is more than one border away from the scene of the story.

Two maps; both not mentioning Egypt, a country that borders Gaza; not that someone relying on the BBC for their facts would see that.

...

Regards

NotaSheep MaybeaGoat


PS: I am not Mr Goat, I am Mr MaybeaGoat

Over two months after the last reply, three plus months after the original complaint, the BBC have responded seemingly to the original complaint(?), and there's an apology in there:

NewsOnline Complaints to me

Dear Sir,

Sorry not to reply sooner to your complaint.

One of the maps http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14035536 is
plain shoddy work, for which we apologise. It should mark Egypt.

On the second map http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14051618
there is no space to mark Egypt. Our standard maps of this kind are made
by journalists using a map making programme - size of frame and the
options for labelling are limited. While Egypt is not marked, for lack
of space, it is in a different colour to Israel, so there is no
impression of Israel surrounding Gaza.

Best regards,

Middle East desk
BBC News website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle.shtml


-----Original Message-----
From: notasheepmaybeagoat@gmail.com
[mailto:notasheepmaybeagoat@gmail.com]
Sent: 17 August 2011 09:59
To: NewsOnline Complaints
Subject: Complaint Reply Required




{Title:} Mr

{First Name:} NotaSheep

{Last Name:} MaybeaGoat

{Under 13:} No

{Email:} notasheepmaybeagoat@gmail.com

{Postcode:}

{Location:} England

{Phone:}


{Feedback Type:} I would like to... Make a complaint

{Summary:} Deliberate misdirection of readers of article

{URL:} http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14035536

{Complaint:} On 6 July I complained about the deliberate misdirection of
readers of the above article.
'In the BBC article headlined 'Israel forces 'kill two militants in
central Gaza'', the BBC include a map. This map makes it seem as though
Israel is both enormous and surrounds Gaza thus explaining how Israel
has been able to  blockade it for some years now. There is of course a
problem with this:
Israel does not surround Gaza. The country that borders Gaza to the
South East is Egypt not Israel, that is where the Rafah Crossing is...
So why have  the BBC omitted the word Egypt from that first map?'

A day later you published another map in this article -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14051618 - and yet again the
map  missed off any reference to Egypt.

I can see no excuse for this deliberately misleading of the public. I
can also not see why I have yet to receive a response to my original
complaint.

{Reply:} Yes


{Previous Contact:} Yes

{Related To Previous Contact:} Yes

{Reason For Return Contact:} noResponse 

So on 17 August the BBC push this line:

'Thank you for your e-mail and please accept our apologies for the delay in replying. The first map is not intended to be an accurate geographic or political representation but to show the location of Gaza and where this particular incident happened. Had Egypt been involved in any way in this story, the map would have included Egypt.'

But in October the BBC admit that:

'One of the maps http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14035536 is
plain shoddy work, for which we apologise. It should mark Egypt.'

The explanation for the state of the second map also differs between the two replies. Why the discrepancies? I will be asking the question...

News about Gaza that you won't hear from the BBC

The BBC's coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian dispute long ago ceased to bear any resemblance to reality. The BBC's coverage is that which one would expect from an organisation that is institutionally anti-Israel. So two pieces of news that an unbiased news reporting organisation would report have not been reported by the BBC.

1. Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told worshippers during a sermon he delivered during Friday prayers at Martyr Abdullah Azzam Mosque in Gaza City on 5 September.
In case you were wondering, Abdullah Azzam was a Palestinian 'scholar, teacher and mentor of Osama bin Laden. Azzam was killed in Pakistan in 1989.

"If only the West Bank had one quarter of what Gaza has of resistance tools, the Israeli entity would end in one day," Zahar declared, reiterating the claim that Hamas had scored a "big victory" in the war.

...

Those who were skeptical as to whether Palestine could be liberated are no longer doubtful after the enemy was hit from the Gaza Strip," Zahar said. "Can you imagine what would happen if the enemy is targeted from the West Bank, which makes up 20% of the size of Palestine?"

Zahar was quoted recently as saying that Hamas's goal now was to "move the Gaza example of resistance" to the West Bank.
The Iranians seem to agree that the time has come to turn the West Bank into a launching pad for attacks on Israel. During the war in the Gaza Strip, a senior Iranian commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohamed Reza Naqdi, announced that Tehran had plans to "arm Palestinians in the West Bank" in order to destroy Israel.

Naqdi boasted that the weapons used by Hamas and other Palestinian groups during the recent war had been manufactured and supplied by Iran.

The threats by Hamas and Iran regarding the West Bank show why it is critically important for Israel (and the Palestinian Authority) to insist on the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip as part of any long-term cease-fire agreement.

Even more significantly, these threats underline the need to keep the West Bank a demilitarized area in any future peace agreement, especially one that would see the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state.

Moreover, these threats support Israel's insistence on maintaining permanent security control over the border with Jordan. Without such a presence, Iranian-made weapons would easily find their way into the West Bank.

What Hamas and Iran are saying is that if and when Israel pulls back to the pre-1967 lines, they, together with other Palestinians, would bring weapons into the West Bank to achieve their goal of eliminating the "Zionist entity."


A leader of Hamas openly calling for the destruction of Israel and setting out how this would be achieved, you can see why the institutionally anti-Israel BBC wouldn't report that.



2. Sheikh Iyad Abu Mujahid Funoun at the Al Huda mosque in Gaza on August 29, 2014 brandishing an AK47

Remind me again why Islam is known as the 'religion of peace'

3. There are many reports that the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, has rejected an Egyptian proposal to resettle Palestinian refugees in a large tract of land in the Sinai Peninsula to be annexed to the Gaza Strip. 

Speaking to a gathering of his Fatah party in Ramallah Sunday, Abbas said that an unnamed senior Egyptian official recently approached him and suggested settling Palestinians in an area 1,600 square kilometers (618 square miles) large adjacent to Gaza, reviving an idea originally proposed by former Israeli national security adviser Giora Eiland.

A possible solution to the overcrowded Gaza strip, an area of land four times the size of Gaza itself. But why should the BBC report such an offer, the refusal of such an offer might lead people to believe that the Palestinians are less interested in peace with Israel than the destruction of the world's only Jewish majority state.

Some news that you won't find on the pro-Palestinian BBC

The UNHRC is biased against Israel and in favour of the Palestinians of that there is no doubt so it was with some shock that I learned that the UNHRC had actually included some criticism of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in their latest report, here's some extracts because the BBC will not report them...

The United Nations Department for Safety and Security reported 65 rockets and 15 mortar shells fired from Gaza towards Israel, with an additional 19 rockets and five mortars landing within Gaza and 20 rockets exploding at the launching site during the reporting period. No injuries were reported. The rockets are indiscriminate and a violation of international law.

 Arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment by the de facto authorities remained issues of concern in Gaza (see paras. 62–66 below). OHCHR received numerous reports of persons being arbitrarily detained for periods of up to a few months by the internal security agency across the Gaza Strip. Many detainees were allegedly subjected to shabeh^[1] and sleep deprivation, with their heads covered with a bag for from a few days up to a few weeks. Detainees were reportedly allowed to remove the bag during prayers but, in most cases, not during interrogations. At meal times, most of the detainees were only allowed to lift the bag above their nose. Several detainees reported exposure to further ill-treatment and, at times, torture, including being hit on the soles of their feet, having their head hit against a wall and being slapped in the face or beaten with sticks, rubber tubes or lashes on other parts of their body.

1.     Concerns remain regarding the arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of detainees in the custody of the PPS and the Palestinian General Intelligence Service (GIS), including detainees linked to political opposition groups. While ill-treatment of detainees in GIS custody is not systematic, OHCHR documented a pattern of ill-treatment against those who do not make confessions. In several cases, detainees have alleged been blindfolded, handcuffed, slapped in the face and kicked in the legs. OHCHR also documented five cases during the reporting period where the authorities allegedly held detainees incommunicado and used sleep deprivation and stress positions. In at least one case, the detainee alleged multiple violations that may have amounted to torture.

2.     OHCHR was only able to interview a small sample of detainees held by PPS in the latter part of the reporting period, but it documented one case in which a detainee alleged that he was held in stress positions, subjected to sleep and sunlight deprivation and held incommunicado for 14 days. Several detainees reported being held incommunicado in the first two weeks of detention when detainees tend to be most vulnerable. As recorded on many previous occasions, both GIS and PPS continued to detain suspects arbitrarily despite orders to release detainees by the courts, thereby undermining the rule of law.[1]

...

 

1. In August 2013, two men were summoned to the internal security agency in northern Gaza and allegedly detained, interrogated and tortured because one of the men was involved in a public disagreement over a political issue. Both were blindfolded after arriving at the agency and accused of inciting people against the de facto authorities. One of the men said he was slapped in the face, kicked and beaten with sticks on his legs and on the soles of his feet. The other was reportedly beaten with sticks and a lash, and made to stand on one leg with arms lifted, while being beaten on the leg he was standing on.

2.     Detainees were held longest at the interrogation centre of the security agency in Gaza City and were allegedly prevented from meeting with their families during the interrogation phase which, in some cases, lasted several months. If at all, detainees were reportedly only able to meet their lawyers after the interrogations were completed and then only in the presence of security agency officials. This was the case of a 27-year-old man who was arrested by the internal security agency in April 2013 for collaborating with Israel. He was subjected to shabeh and sleep deprivation, and was only allowed to see his family after a month of detention, with no access to his lawyer during that period. ^[2]

...

 

The lack of effective and transparent investigation into cases of alleged unlawful killing, torture and ill-treatment involving the Palestinian security forces is of serious concern. Of the five investigative committees established in 2012 to look into various allegations, the report of only one committee was published, and it did not provide details of any action taken against perpetrators.^[1] There is also a grave failure to properly investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment. The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) had filed 124 such complaints in respect of the West Bank as of 31 October 2013, but consistently received outright denials from the authorities without initiation of a thorough and effective investigation.

    
                     De facto authorities in Gaza and armed groups 
   According to available information, no measures have been taken by the de facto authorities in Gaza to investigate credible allegations of violations of international humanitarian law by the said authorities or armed groups in Gaza, including the direct targeting of civilians and the indiscriminate firing of rockets towards Israel.^[1]  

3.     Media reports, citing the spokesperson of the Interior Ministry of the de facto authorities, claim that following an investigation of the summary execution of alleged collaborators during the November 2012 escalation of tension,^[2] measures had been taken against four prison officials “who had failed to do their jobs”.^[3] Besides lacking transparency, there is insufficient information to determine if any investigation met international standards. It appears that the armed men directly responsible for the killings continue to enjoy impunity.

4.     In July 2013, at least 10 people were abducted and eight severely beaten by armed masked men in Gaza. The victims reported that the abductors presented themselves as members of Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and accused them of being involved in the Tramadol^[4] trade. Officials of the de facto authorities were allegedly involved in providing the armed men with information about the location of the victims. During their abduction, the men — who were covered with bruises and at least eight of whom had broken legs — were allegedly blindfolded, handcuffed and severely beaten on numerous occasions, including with iron rods, prior to their release. At the time of writing this report, there were no indications  that any investigations into these incidents were being conducted by the de facto authorities in Gaza.

---

                    
Perhaps worst of all are the sections of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly:

In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, OHCHR continued to receive reports that journalists faced arrest and questioning for work deemed to be critical of the authorities. OHCHR documented cases of Palestinians arrested for distributing political leaflets, as reportedly was the case in the incidents at Askar and El Far’a refugee camps. 

1.     While other legitimate charges may have been brought against the suspects in those cases, the fact that the authorities considered the distribution of critical political pamphlets a criminal issue is of concern.

                         De facto authorities in Gaza

2.     The de facto authorities in Gaza continued to restrict the enjoyment of the rights to freedoms of expression and opinion and of peaceful assembly. Members of political parties, journalists, social media activists and academics were arbitrarily detained. They reported being ill-treated and, in some cases, tortured because of opinions expressed through different media platforms, including social media, and their involvement in activities considered to be political and against the de facto authorities or their policies.^[1]

3.     In August 2013, at least 20 Fatah members were arbitrarily detained and many reportedly ill-treated. The Fatah members were alleged to have distributed money to families of Fatah supporters who had been killed and injured during the 2007 intra-Palestinian clashes. Some were detained for weeks without charges and allegedly subjected to sleep deprivation, shabeh, beatings and extensive interrogation. Most stated they were obliged to sign documents stating their commitment to cease engaging in any political or other activities directed against the de facto authorities.[2]

4.     A number of individuals were detained in relation to Tamarod.^[3] In one case, a 40-year-old employee of the Palestinian Authority was detained for approximately 18 hours by the internal security agency in Rafah in September 2013. He was interrogated about his involvement with Tamarod and reportedly subjected to shabeh and other ill-treatment and repeatedly told to confess that he had received documents related to Tamarod. He was released, reportedly after the security agency discovered that its intelligence was wrong. In another case, a Fatah activist was arrested by the security agency on two occasions for his alleged pro-Tamarod campaign on Facebook. He was reportedly tortured during detention, threatened with further detention if he opened a new Facebook account, and forced to sign a paper stating that he would not engage in political activities.^[4]

5.     The de facto authorities also dispersed a number of peaceful demonstrations using excessive or unnecessary force. On 5 May 2013, the police of the de facto authorities forcibly dispersed a peaceful assembly organized by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine protesting against Israel's attacks on Syria. Demonstrators and journalists were beaten with sticks, and some were detained for a few hours. The photography equipment of some journalists was confiscated or damaged.^[5] Shortly after, officials of the de facto authorities issued a statement denouncing the use of force against the journalists and apologizing for the “harsh treatment” they had undergone. However, the authorities maintained that the protest was unlawful, arguing that legal procedures had not been followed.^[6] The spokesperson of the Ministry of the Interior of the de facto authorities requested that a commission of inquiry be established to investigate the incident. Since then, there has been no indication that this commission has been formed.

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1.     Another serious issue of concern was the closure of two media offices. On 25 July 2013, the Prosecutor General of the de facto authorities in Gaza issued an order to temporarily close Ma’an News Agency and Al-Arabiya News Channel, accusing them of distributing false news regarding Hamas and its role in relation to political developments in Egypt. Ma’an News Agency reported that the de facto authorities provided it with a list of preconditions to be met in order to reopen the news agency, which were inconsistent with press freedom. Both offices were reopened in mid-November, without preconditions.

Also there is the matter of the death penalty...

Palestinian Authority

1.     On 4 May 2013, the Permanent Military Court in Jenin sentenced a security officer to death by firing squad for collaborating with Israel. In line with recent practice, the Palestinian President did not ratify this or any other death sentences. Pursuant to the President’s instruction, Palestinian military courts have retried a number of death-row prisoners and sentenced them instead to terms of imprisonment.

                         De facto authorities in Gaza

2.     Since 2008, courts of the de facto authorities in Gaza have issued 60 and upheld eight death sentences previously issued by the courts of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza.^[1] The de facto authorities executed three persons during the reporting period, bringing to a total of 17, the number of executions since its takeover of Gaza.

3.     Palestinian Basic Law rightly restricts the jurisdiction of military courts to “military affairs” (art. 101 (2)). In Gaza, under existing laws,^[2] the de facto authorities can impose the death penalty for a broad range of crimes, and civilians continue to be tried by military courts[3] despite the recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Committee.^[4] On a number of occasions, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged the de facto authorities to halt executions, and raised concerns about the process by which death sentences were imposed in Gaza.^[5] OHCHR consistently documented allegations of denial of the right to receive legal assistance, the use of ill-treatment and torture during interrogations and violations of the right to a fair trial by both civilian and military courts of persons later sentenced to death.

4.     In addition, persons sentenced to death are being denied the right to seek pardon or  commutation of their sentences. None of the 17 executions in Gaza were ratified by the President, as required under Palestinian law. Moreover, trials failed to meet fair trial standards, which is of heightened concern where the death penalty may be applied.^[6]

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Finally how about the rights of women?

 

Violence against women

1.     Women in the Occupied Palestinian Territory face multiple layers of violence and discrimination. The analysis made by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women in 2005 remains valid. She found that the combination of decades of Israeli occupation, the use of force against Palestinians by Israel, the different forms of resistance used by Palestinians against such use of force and the patriarchy prevailing in Palestinian society expose women to a continuum of violence in all spheres of life.^[1] 

2.     Palestinian NGOs report that violence against women continues to be widespread^[2] and so-called “honour killings”^[3] remain of concern. Family honour plays a fundamental role in Palestinian society. Although there are no reliable statistics on “honour killings,”^[4] in 2012,^[5] ICHR documented five such cases across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.^[6] However, there appears to be underreporting of cases; 13 additional cases of murder of women were documented as occurring under “mysterious” circumstances, which indicates that the number of “honour killings” may be higher.^[7]

In 2011, the Palestinian President abolished article 340 of the 1960 Jordanian Penal Code,^[8] which had been in force in the West Bank, and which allowed effective impunity for men who kill or injure their wives or female relatives (maharim) ^[9] whom they consider to be involved in adultery. However, this measure has not been effective as provisions establishing mitigating circumstances remain in force, in particular article 98 of the Penal Code,^[10]  which provides for reduced penalties for a person who commits a crime in a state of great anger resulting from a wrongful and dangerous act on the part of the victim.^[11] An NGO study of cases of “honour killings” between 2005 and 2010 showed that the evocation of such mitigating circumstances had dramatically reduced penalties.^[12] In eight out of 10 cases, the perpetrators were charged with premeditated murder, which carries life imprisonment,^[13] however, in most of the cases, due to a combination of mitigating circumstances and the victim’s family’s decision to “drop” the victim’s personal rights,^[14]

I've checked the BBC news website and there's not a word about this report and I don't expect there ever will be for the BBC are very clear that Israel is to blame for everything that happens to the Palestinians and that the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are lovely peace-loving people who wouldn't hurt a fly.