May 15th, 2007 by NGO Monitor Staff | Category: B'tselem, Human Rights

Btselem in conjunction with ACRI published a report, ‘Where Silence Reigns: Israel’s Separation Policy and Forced Eviction of Palestinians from the Center of Hebron’ , which claims that Israel ‘oppresses Palestinians living in the city’ while ‘the settlers are able to move around freely’. The report further claims that ‘the separation policy is the main reason for Palestinians leaving Hebron and that the curfew imposed by the IDF is a form of ‘collective punishment’ against the Palestinians.

While the report makes several mentions of Israeli casualties, they are tangential to the accusations that the IDF is “placing curfews…on various pretexts” and fail to criticize the attacks, in addition to ignoring Israel’s right to self-defense. For example, the report states that “a Palestinian sniper …….killed the infant Shalhevet Pass, who lived in …..Hebron. Immediately, the army imposed a curfew on Palestinians …. that lasted three weeks…..nine Israeli security personnel and three members of an emergency alert squad of ….. Kiryat Arba ….. were killed by Palestinian ambush fire…….. Following the incident, Israel imposed a continuous six-month curfew on Palestinians.’

See also: ‘Claims in B’tselem/HaMoked report lack credibility’. NGO Monitor, May 7, 2007