Today, Adalah submitted a comprehensive report entitled “The Accused” to the Attorney General of Israel, Menachem Mazuz. The report addresses the shortcomings and failures of the law enforcement authorities - first and foremost the Ministry of Justice’s Police Investigation Unit (“Mahash”) - in investigating the killings of 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel and the injury to of hundreds of others during the October 2000 protest demonstrations. The 133-page report primarily exposes Mahash’s negligent work and its failure to fulfill its duty to investigate the criminal offenses committed by police officers and commanders in October 2000. Read more about Report on failures of October 2000 investigations submitted to Israeli Atty. Gen.
On 6 October 2006, the Israeli Attorney General rejected an appeal filed by Adalah against the decision of the Ministry of Justice’s Police Investigations Unit to close the investigation file against Border Police officers who opened fire on and killed 28-year-old Mr. Moursi Jabali, and shot and injured his companion, Mr. Shihab Jaber. Adalah included in the appeal numerous testimonies from eyewitnesses, who indicated that the Border Police officers began to open fire on the car without issuing any prior warning, either by calling out to the two men, or by firing shots into the air as a sign for the car to stop, as they are obliged to under the internal police guidelines for opening fire. Read more about Police officers who shot Arab motorists not indicted
On 13 September 2006, the Haifa District Court (sitting as a Water Tribunal) rejected an appeal filed by Adalah on behalf of 767 Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel living in unrecognized villages in the Naqab (Negev), demanding access to sources of clean drinking water. Adalah Attorney Marwan Dalal submitted the appeal against prior decisions of the Water Commissioner, who had also denied these requests. Adalah argued in the appeal, filed on 20 April 2005, that Arab Bedouin living in the unrecognized villages in the south possess the basic human right to water and health, which must be granted by the state in order to guarantee the constitutional right to dignity. Read more about Bedouin families denied water rights in unrecognized villages
On 21 and 28 August 2006, Adalah submitted two objections on behalf of 19 Arab farmers from the north of Israel to Local Master Plans G13449 and HBG/1237 to the Haifa and Northern Planning and Building Committees. The plans demarcate an area of land cultivated by Arab farmers in and around the area of Wadi al-Malak to be confiscated, with the stated goal of creating a man-made forest in the area, called the “Kiryat Ata Forest” in the plans. Adalah demanded that the committees conduct a thorough examination of the facts on the ground in the area, and to withdraw the plans. Read more about Objections to plans to confiscate Arab-cultivated land in northern Israel
On 13 August, Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel placed an ad in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz addressed to Israeli Attorney General Meni Mazuz: “We wish to draw your attention to the judgment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which convicted senior commanders and politicians for killing civilians and the destruction of vilalges and houses, among other charges. The Tribunal imposed sentences of between 15 and 45 years’ imprisonment. Read more about Adalah's letter to Israeli Attorney General in Ha'aretz: The International Criminal Tribunal and Civilian Targets
Today, 14 May 2006, a majority of the Supreme Court of Israel, in a split of 6-5 Justices, issued a 263-page decision in which it dismissed a petition filed by Adalah, and six other petitions joined by the Court to the petition, including a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. The petitions demanded the annulment of the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) 2003, which violates the right of Israeli citizens to family unification with their Palestinian spouses from the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs). Read more about 6-5 Majority of Supreme Court Approves Most Racist Law in State of Israel
On 1 February 2006, the Supreme Court of Israel, in a 2 to 1 split decision, accepted a petition submitted by Adalah, ruling illegal the Israeli Knesset’s 2001 vote to strip Member of Knesset Dr. Azmi Bishara of his parliamentary immunity, and dismissed all criminal charges against him. Commenting on the Court’s decision, Adalah’s director Hassan Jabareen stated that, “the Supreme Court’s decision is the culmination of a legal struggle against the authorities’ attempts, mainly by the former Attorney General and the General Security Services, to violate the fundamental right of political representation. This legal triumph, however, is only another step for the Arab minority in its quest to achieve a liberated, dignified and equal existence in the country.” Read more about Supreme Court Dismisses Criminal Charges Against Knesset Member Azmi Bishara
Adalah, Addameer, Alternative Information Center, Al-Haq, Defence for Children International-Palestine Section, Al Mezan Center For Human Rights, Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counselling10 February 2006
Human rights groups based in the occupied Palestinian territories are concerned regarding the intensified Israeli campaign of “targeted assassinations” of Palestinian activists. In an open letter to diplomatic missions they stated that the policy of “targeted assassination” “not only circumvents the fundamental right to due process but also risks the further destabilisation of an already volatile political situation.” With ten Palestinians killed in the last five days the human rights groups call on the international community to demand an end to the illegal Israeli practice and to ensure the respect of international humanitarian law. Read more about Human rights groups condemn "targeted assassinations"
On 17 November 2005, the Attorney General (AG) submitted a motion to the Supreme Court of Israel on behalf of the Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz, and the Chief of the Israeli Army, Dan Halutz, requesting a second hearing before the Supreme Court in the “human shields” case. The AG argued that the Supreme Court’s recent decision created a new legal precedent, which will have a negative and harmful effect on the military’s operations in the 1967 Occupied Palestinian Territories, that it is legally flawed, and that a second hearing before an expanded panel of the Court to re-consider the decision is justified under these circumstances. Read more about Israeli army asks Supreme Court to reconsider ban on human shields
On 14 October 2005, Adalah sent an urgent letter to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, and the Attorney General (AG) demanding the cancellation of a bill which proposes new and harsher criminal procedure laws to be applied to individuals suspected of security offenses based solely on their nationality. The bill, entitled the “Criminal Law Procedures Bill (Powers of Implementation – Special Directives for Investigating Security Violations Perpetrated by Non-Citizens),” was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs on 9 October 2005. Recommended by the General Security Services (GSS), the bill would create a two-track criminal procedure law governing investigation, interrogation and detention – one for Israelis and one for Palestinians. Read more about Israeli cabinet proposes new bill for harsher procedure laws against Palestinians
