B'Tselem

B'Tselem

Founded	1989
Type	Non-profit NGO
Focus	"acts primarily to change Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories and ensure that its government, which rules the Occupied Territories, protects the human rights of residents there and complies with its obligations under international law."[1]
Location	Jerusalem, Israel[1]
Area served	Palestinian territories[1]
Key people	Hagai El-Ad
Employees	38[2]
Mission	"to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel."[1]
Website	www.btselem.org

B'Tselem (Hebrew: בצלם‎‎, IPA: [beˈtselem], "in the image of [God]") is an independent non-profit organization whose stated goals are to document human rights violations in the occupied territories, combat denial and help to create a human rights culture in Israel.^[1] Its executive director is Hagai El-Ad.^[2] B'Tselem also maintains a presence in Washington, D.C., known as B'Tselem USA.

Overview

B'Tselem was founded in 1989, during the First Intifada, by Israeli academics and members of civil rights organizations.^[3] B'Tselem's funding comes from private individuals (both Israeli and foreign), governments,^[4] and European and North American foundations focusing on human rights.^[1]

B'Tselem has published over a hundred reports on various issues such as torture, fatal shootings by security forces, restrictions on movement, expropriation of land and discrimination in planning and building in East Jerusalem, administrative detention, house demolitions, violence by Israeli settlers and Palestinians, and Israeli operations in the occupied territories.

In December 1989, B'Tselem shared the Carter-Menil Human Rights Prize with the Palestinian group, Al-Haq.^[5][6] B'Tselem has been harshly criticized by Israeli nationalists. In 2011, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman charged the group with abetting terrorism and weakening Israel's defense forces.^[7]

History

B'Tselem was founded on February 3, 1989. The name comes from Genesis 1:27, which states that all mankind was created "b'tselem elohim" (in the image of God), which the organization says is in line with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights that all humans are equal in dignity and so deserve the same fundamental rights.^[8]

Key founders were Daphna Golan-Agnon (academic and founding director of feminist peace group Bat Shalom), David Zucker (Knesset member for the Ratz party, one of the founders of the Peace Now movement), Haim Oron (Knesset member for the Mapam party, one of the founders of the Peace Now movement), Zehava Gal-On (Ratz party activist and future Knesset member for the Meretz party formed through the merger of Ratz and Mapam), Avigdor Feldman (civil liberties lawyer), and Edy Kaufman, a civil liberties activist). The Washington Post describes the line between human rights groups and political parties in Israel as "very blurry", noting that Gal-on has served as director, by turns, of both the Socialist Meretz Party and of B'Tselem.^[9]

Main activities

Activity in the Knesset

B'Tselem regularly provides Knesset members with information on alleged human rights violations in the West Bank, and alleged injustices caused by Israeli authorities. Several Knesset members, from various factions, assist B'Tselem in placing human rights matters on the public agenda and in safeguarding human rights.

Public action

B'Tselem has hundreds of supporters and volunteers who work to improve the human rights situation in the West Bank. These activities include, in part, setting up information stands, distributing printed material, addressing problems and requests to decision-makers, and participating in protests in the West Bank.

Reports

B'Tselem publishes reports on various issues such as fatal shootings by security forces, restrictions on movement, expropriation of land and discrimination in planning and building in East Jerusalem, administrative detention, house demolitions, and violence by Israeli settlers. Over one hundred reports have been published so far. The organization serves as a source of information for journalists, researchers and the diplomatic community at the national and international level. B'Tselem's activities receive extensive media coverage.

B'Tselem also campaigns against the death penalty and the human rights record of the Palestinian Authority. On February 17, 2005, the organization called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to commute the sentences of Palestinians condemned to death and abolish the death penalty. Abbas had shortly before ratified the death sentences of a number of Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel or of other criminal charges.

In 2016, B'Tselem announced that it was cutting ties with the IDF over the alleged whitewashing of complaints raised by the NGO.^[10]

Environment

• 2009 Foul Play. Neglect of Wastewater Treatment in the West Bank found that waste water from two million people in the West Bank and Jerusalem area was being allowed to drain untreated into the Jordan Valley. Whilst emphasising the illegality of the settlements the report calls for improvements in their sewage treatment. It points out that this illegality makes cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian authorities impossible.^[11]

Gaza

• 2005 - One Big Prison. Freedom of Movement to and from the Gaza Strip on the Eve of the Disengagement Plan investigates the four and a half year old policy of restricting freedom and movement to and from the Gaza Strip. It points out that Israel has the right to defend its civilians and that attacks on Israeli civilians were defined under international law as "war crimes".
• 2006 - Act of Vengeance. Israel's Bombing of the Gaza Power Plant and its Effects reported on the June 28, 2006 Israeli missile attack which destroyed the Gaza Strip's only electricity power plant. It recognises that the high level decision to launch the attack was linked to the capture of Corporal Gilad Shalit but concludes that the attack, as an act of collective punishment, was a war crime.
• 2009 - Guidelines for Israel's Investigation into Operation Cast Lead 27 December 2008 - 18 January 2009 raised questions about soldiers and commanders breaching international humanitarian law; not only through the action of individual soldiers but primarily those of policy makers. It list questions that need to be answered as:

Were civilian objects the target of attacks?

Did the military respect the principle of proportionality?

Did the military use prohibited weapons including white-phosphorus shells and indiscriminate weapons?

Did soldiers shoot civilians who were not endangering their lives?

Did Israeli soldiers use civilians as human shields?

Were ambulances and medical teams attacked while performing their duties?

Was there unjustified delay in evacuation and treatment of wounded persons?^[12]

• B'Tselem gives updates on statistics on Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and violations of international law committed there.^[13]

House Demolition

• 2002 - Policy of Destruction. House Demolitions and Destruction of Agricultural Land in the Gaza strip reports on the demolishing of hundreds of houses and thousands of acres of agricultural land in the Gaza strip on the grounds of "pressing military necessity." It concludes that the policy violates international humanitarian law conventions to which Israel is a signatory and calls for compensation for "every Palestinian who suffered as a consequence of Israel's policy of destruction."^[14]
• 2004 - Through No Fault of Their Own. Punitive House Demolitions during the al-Aqsa Intifada concluded that the Israeli policy of punitive house demolition was illegal and ineffective. The report cites Supreme Court Judges Heshin and Shimon Agranat, as well as the UN Human Rights Committee, to make its case. It demands "that the government of Israel immediately cease the policy of punitive house demolitions, and that it compensate Palestinians whose homes have been demolished as a result of this policy."^[15]

Human Rights

• 2000 - Illusions of Restraint. Human Rights Violations During the Events in the Occupied Territories 29 September - 2 December 2000. During the period investigated B'Tselem found that Israeli security forces had killed 204 Palestinian civilians as well as 24 members of the Palestinian security forces, with approximately 10,000 wounded. Thirteen Israeli civilians and eleven members of the Israeli security forces had been killed by Palestinian civilians and five security personnel killed by their Palestinian counterparts. Whilst also drawing attention to Human Rights violations by the Palestinian Authority the reports main concern is the use of excessive force by Israeli forces in dispersing demonstrations by unarmed Palestinians, in particular the use of live ammunition. It called for an international commission of inquiry.^[16]
• 2001 - Civilians Under Siege. Restrictions of Freedom of Movement as Collective Punishment found that the Israeli security establishment was using Collective Punishment as "a deterrent" to discourage Palestinian attacks and that this was immoral, a gross violation of international law and a "slippery slope" that could lead to "the kinds of punishment that most people would find detestable." It noted that Hebron had been under intermittent curfew for three months.^[17]
• 2001 - No Way Out. Medical Implications of Israel's Siege Policy concluded that Israel's policy of restricting Palestinian freedom of movement in the West Bank amounted to collective punishment. It notes that the International Committee of the Red Cross had reached the same conclusion (February 2001).^[18]
• 2003 - Behind the Barrier. Human Rights Violations as a result of Israel's Separation Barrier found that the proposed route of the barrier "gravely violates human rights without any security justification whatsoever." It commented that Israel appeared to be creating facts on the ground that would affect any future arrangements and was in breach of the Haig Convention which prohibits expropriation of land in occupied territory.^[19]
• 2006 - Barred from Contact. Violation of the Right to Visit Palestinians Held in Israeli Prisons reported that tens of thousands of Palestinians were unable to visit relatives imprisoned in Israel, or only able to visit once or twice a year. It notes that the transfer of prisoners from occupied territory is prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention which also requires that, following the September 2005 withdrawal, prisoners who are residents of the Gaza Strip should be handed over to the Palestinian Authority.^[20]
• 2006 - Perpetual Limbo. Israel's Freeze on Unification of Palestinian Families in the Occupied Territories states that the processing of all requests for family unification in the Occupied Territories had been frozen since September 2000 and that as of October 2005 there were 72,000 of these requests pending. It concluded that this policy severely violates Israel's obligations under international law and was intended to change the demographic composition of occupied territory. It notes that this policy is forbidden, illegal and "constitutes racial discrimination."^[21]
• 2009 - Without Trial. Administrative Detention of Palestinians by Israel and the Internment of Unlawful Combatants Law claims that Israel holds hundreds of Palestinians in prolonged detention on undisclosed suspicions, without giving them the opportunity to defend themselves and without indicating when they will be released.^[22]
• 2010 - Caution: Children Ahead. The Illegal Behaviour of the Police toward Minors in Silwan Suspected of Stone Throwing called on the Israeli police to end the practice of arresting minors at night, the use of violence during these arrests and ensure that minors are only interrogated in the presence of their parents. It notes that Israeli settlements built in East Jerusalem constitute a violation of international law.^[23]

Israeli army

• 2002 - Wounded in the Field. Impeding Medical Treatment and Firing at Ambulances by IDF Soldiers in the Occupied Territories states that attacks on medical personnel and the refusal to allow medical treatment of sick and wounded had reached "an almost unprecedented level." It quotes Palestinian Red Crescent figures that, since 2000, three PRC medical personnel had been killed by IDF gunfire, 134 wounded and 174 ambulances had been damaged.^[24]
• 2005 - Take No Prisoners. The Fatal Shooting of Palestinians by Israeli Security Forces during 'Arrest Operations' found that the IDF were carrying out an average of five arrest operations a day and that since the beginning of 2004 eighty-nine Palestinians had been killed in these operations; at least forty-three of those killed were unarmed and at least seventeen were not wanted or suspected of committing an offence.^[25]
• 2010 - Void of Responsibility. Israel Military Policy Not to investigate Killings of Palestinians by Soldiers reports that "a soldier who kills a Palestinian not taking part in hostilities is almost never brought to action for his act."^[26]

Jerusalem

• 1997 - The Quiet Deportation - Revocation of residency of East Jerusalem Palestinians. "For some eighteen months, a quiet deportation of East Jerusalem Palestinians has been taking place. Using laws, regulations, court judgements, and administrative tactics, Israeli authorities are expelling thousands of persons from the city." The report found that this was a continuation of a policy begun in 1967 to create a Jewish majority in East Jerusalem.^[27]
• 2003 - Nu'man, East Jerusalem. Life under the Threat of Expulsion concluded that residents' basic human rights were being severely infringed and that villagers' freedom of movement had been significantly impaired for a decade. "The policy's goal is to maintain the 'demographic balance' in Jerusalem, meaning that the percentage of Palestinians in the city must not be allowed to exceed a certain ceiling - formerly set at twenty-five percent and now thirty percent."^[28]

Settlements

• 2001 - Tacit Consent. Israeli Law Enforcement on Settlers in The Occupied Territories found that Palestinians who killed Israelis were punished by the full extent of the law, sometimes with their families also being punished; in contrast violent offences against Palestinians by Israelis were treated with leniency and Israelis who kill Palestinians were not punished or given a light sentence.^[29]
• 2003 - Hebron, Area H-2. Settlements Cause Mass Departure of Palestinians accuses the Israeli army of systematically infringing the human rights of Hebron's Palestinians while ignoring "settlers' almost daily violence against Palestinians and Palestinian property."^[30]
• 2004 - Forbidden Roads. Israel's Discriminatory Road Regime in the West Bank concluded that there was an undeclared policy of preventing or restricting Palestinians using a number of roads in the West Bank. This policy was based entirely on verbal orders given to soldiers in the field. It infringes two fundamental human rights: the right to equality and the right to freedom of movement.^[31]
• 2008 - The Ofra Settlement. An Unauthorized Outpost concluded that Ofra, despite being a recognised settlement, was an unauthorised outpost under the requisite criteria set by Attorney Talia Sasson and adopted by the Israeli government. It found that at least 58 percent of the land on which Ofra was built is registered to Palestinians in the Land Registry.^[32]
• 2008 - Access Denied. Israeli measures to deny Palestinians access to land around settlements recommended that

- The army, police and Civilian Administration should enforce the law on settlers, with respect to un-authorized taking of land and violence against Palestinians.

- Dismantle fences and physical obstructions placed without official approval.

- Protect Palestinians from settler violence.^[33]

Torture

• 1991 - The Interrogation of Palestinians During the Intifada: Ill-Treatment, "Moderate Physical Pressure" or Torture? examines the Israeli secret service's interrogation methods, and speculates on which were described in the guidelines set out in the secret sections of the Landau Commission Report. It quotes IDF statistics that during first three years of the Intifada and average of 25,000 Palestinians had been arrested annually, with 15,000 eventually charged in court. B'Tselem estimates that each year around 8,000 prisoners underwent extended periods of interrogation and 1,600 per year were subjected to some of the forms of moderate physical pressure described in the report.^[34]
• 2000 - Legislation Allowing the Use of Physical Force and Mental Coercion in Interrogations by the General Security Service argues that "any statute that permits the GSS to use physical force, however minimal, even in exceptional cases, is equivalent to sanctioning torture."^[35]
• 2001 - Torture of Palestinian Minors in the Gush Etzion Police Station found "a shocking picture of torture and maltreatment of minors by police interrogators."^[36]
• 2010 - Kept in the Dark. Treatment of Palestinian Detainees in the Petah Tikva Interrogation Facility of the Israel Security Agency was based on testimonies from 121 Palestinians held at the Shin Bet interrogation facility at Petah Tikva during 2009. It concluded:"The detention conditions in the Petah Tikva facility, which have the capacity to break the body and will of detainees, cause severe deprivation of sensory, social, and motor stimuli." It called for "unbiased external inspection" of the facility.^[37]

Video

B'Tselem has expanded its operations in recent years to increasingly include video-based footage.^[38] The expansion of its video project began in August 2007 with the launching of MySpace, Facebook and YouTube sites which are to act as an alternative area for the showcasing of the organisation's films - aimed at expanding the group's presence amongst a younger age category and attracting people to its main website. Other video sharing websites were following.^[39]

B'Tselem USA

B'Tselem also maintains a presence in Washington, D.C., known as B'Tselem USA. B'Tselem USA states that its mission is "to inform the political and public discourse" in the US, ensuring that "human rights are a centerpiece of both the bilateral relationship [between the US and Israel] as well as diplomatic efforts" by the US to work toward peace in the region.^[40] The group's director was Uri Zaki, a former IDF officer and member of the Meretz party in Israel.^[41] In 2013, Zaki, who is tenth on the Meretz party list, left Washington for Israel, where he planned to take an active role in politics.^[42]

Main research areas

B'Tselem investigates in a number of aspects related to the Arab-Israeli conflict. In particular the following:

• Casualty statistics in Gaza during the series of brief wars with Israel.^[43]
• The accountability of police and military forces in the territories.^[44]
• The use of administrative punishment.
• The continued use of torture during interrogations, particularly by the GSS (General Security Services of Israel).
• The illegal policy of house demolition, as a form of collective punishment, which is often justified for alleged military purposes.
• Inequalities in the planning and building procedures which discriminate against Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs.
• The legal status of residents of East Jerusalem.
• The path and effects of the Israeli West Bank barrier and its legal status.
• Problems related to family unification and child registration.
• Neglect of infrastructure and services.
• Illegal Israeli settlements and the extreme closures placed upon the Palestinian population of Hebron.
• Breaches of international human rights law.
• The water crisis in Palestinian areas.
• Family separation.
• Restrictions on movement, such as checkpoints roads, curfew and the effect these have on the economy and medical treatment.
• Israeli settlement land expropriation, settler violence and attacks on Israeli civilians by Palestinian militants.
• Gaza Strip - The scope of Israeli control, economic and social decline, sonic booms, access restrictions, the firing of Qassam rockets.
• Use of force - beating and abuse, use of firearms and human shields.
• Violations by Palestinians - attacks on civilians, harm to suspected collaborators, death penalty in the Palestinian Authority.
• Rights of workers from the territories.

Board members

B'Tselem board members are:^[45]

• Co-chairs:
  • David Kretzmer, Professor of Law, Faculty of Law and School of Public Policy, Hebrew University.
  • Gila Svirsky, Co-founder of Coalition of Women for a Just Peace.
• Neta Amar: Lawyer, Legal Advisor for IHL Project, Diakonia and Staff Attorney for Rabbis for Human Rights.
• Anat Biletzki: Professor of Philosophy, Tel-Aviv University.
• Orna Ben-Naftaly: Head of the Law and Culture Division and the International Law Division, the Law School, the College of Management Academic Studies.
• Menachem Fisch: Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science, Tel-Aviv University and Senior Fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute.
• Tamar Hermann: Dean of Academic Studies, the Open University of Israel, and Senior Research Fellow, the Israel Democracy Institute.
• Amnon Kapeliouk: Journalist, Le Monde diplomatique (Haaretz named Kapeliouk as one of the founders of B'Tselem).^[46]
• Peretz Kidron: Journalist and Translator.
• Menachem Klein: Lecturer in Political Science, Bar Ilan University.
• Victor Lederfarb: Financial Administrator, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
• David Neuhaus: Jesuit Priest, Reverend, Lecturer in Religious Studies at Bethlehem University and Seminary of the Holy Land in Beit Jala.
• Danny Rubinstein: Journalist, Haaretz Newspaper.
• Alla Shainskaya: Senior Staff Scientist, Weizmann Institute of Science.
• Ronny Talmor: Author and editor.
• Oren Yiftachel: professor of political geography and urban planning, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
• Rayef Zreik: Co-founder of Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Tel-Aviv University.

Board members have changed over the past 10 years. Four board members from 1998 remain on the board in 2008.^[47][48]

Staff

The group's executive director is Hagai El-Ad. In 2011 the group staff has 38 employees in a Research Department, a Data Coordination department, a communications department, and an administration department.^[2] Field data research in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for B'Tselem was, until the Second Intifada, performed by Israeli Arabs. Data analysis and dissemination was conducted at the Jerusalem office. Because of restriction on entry to these areas for Israeli citizens, the Israeli Arab field workers were replaced with similarly qualified Palestinian Arabs who transmit research data to the office via fax or phone, sometimes negotiating checkpoints to reach the Jerusalem office for debriefings.^[49]

Attacks on staff

B'Tselem staff members have been both verbally and physically attacked by both Israeli settlers and Israeli military/police, including the assault of two of its fieldworker staff. According to B'Tselem, in one such incident, captured on film on 19 January 2008, a fieldworker was beaten by Israeli soldiers, then arrested for attacking them.^[50] In another, on 20 June 2008, according to the organization, a worker was beaten and had his film confiscated after filming IDF troops ignoring violent crimes by Israeli settlers. Following B’Tselem’s complaint, Israeli military police opened an investigation.^[51] The group also claims to have been the victim of other kinds of harassment, such as the slashing of tires on the organisation's jeep.

Funding

B'Tselem describes itself as an independent NGO, "funded by contributions from foundations in Europe and North America... and by private individuals in Israel and abroad", and by the governments of some EU countries and the European Commission.^[52]

According to B'Tselem's 2010 financial report, they received donations from those listed in the table below.^[53] (As required by Israeli law, all donations of 20,000 New Israeli Shekels (NIS) or more must be reported.)

Award Nominations

Together with two other human rights organizations, B'Tselem is a nominee for the 2014 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize selected by a panel of six independent experts chaired by Anne Brasseur, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.^[54]

Criticism

B'Tselem has come under intense fire for what its critics describe as misrepresenting and distorting facts.

Critics of B'tselem have challenged the accuracy of its reports. The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs charged that B'tselem repeatedly classified Arab combatants and terrorists as civilian casualties.^[55][56][57] Caroline B. Glick, deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post and former advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu, pointed to several instances where she alleged B'tselem had misrepresented Palestinian rioters or terrorists as innocent victims, or where she said B'tselem failed to report when an Arab allegedly changed his testimony about an attack by settlers.^[58][59] Glick charged B'tselem and another human rights group are "radical leftist organizations with documented histories of falsifying and distorting data,", and criticized journalists for relying on B'Tselem.^[58]

In 2011, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for a parliamentary investigation of B'Tselem and other human rights organizations. These groups, he said, "are clearly not concerned with human rights. They spread lies, they slander and incite against the state of Israel and against Israeli soldiers... Clearly these organizations are abetting terrorism and their only objective is to undermine Israel," he said in a speech to fellow members of his right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu ("Israel our home") party.^[7]

In each of these cases, B'tselem issued detailed rebuttals, based on its own research, as well as statistics and information from the Israeli army and international organizations.^[60][61][62]

The Israeli NGO Regavim has criticized B'tselem for inaccurate factual statements, for example, B'tselem's assertion that family homes were demolished when the structures in question were illegal agricultural shelters.^[63]

According to the IDF's reply (1992) :

The latest Betzelem Organization Report ... addresses the activities of the (IDF's) special undercover units. Although the Report is voluminous, a large portion of the incidents cited are attributed to vague, anonymous sources - often rumors or stories gleaned from the press.
The Report ignores the prevailing situation in the area, in which armed, hard-core terrorists, who do not adhere to any code of law, have engaged in terror attacks...^[1]

1. ^ IDF Activities Against Armed Terrorists in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza District. Reply to a Report by the Betzelem Organization, May 1992

In response to a speech given by El-Ad to the United Nations Security Council urging the international community to take action against Israeli settlements,^[64] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he will work to ban national service volunteers from working in B'Tselem.^[65]

Uvda Investigation

See Uvda Investigation

In January 2016, Channel 2 (Israel) broadcast footage of Ta'ayush activist Ezra Nawi boasting that he has worked together with B'Tselem activist Nasser Nawaj'ah, posing as a prospective Jewish purchaser of land owned by Palestinians, then provided the Palestinian National Security Forces with the names and telephone numbers of Palestinian land brokers willing to sell land to him. Nawi is both Jewish and Israeli, and the Palestinian legal code regards sale of land to Israelis as a capital offense. Nawi said such people are beaten and executed. In the recording, Nawi says "The Authority catches them and kills them. But before they kill them they beat them up."^[66][67][68]

Representative publications

• The Gaza Strip: One Big Prison (2007)
• Medical Personnel Harmed: The Delay, Abuse and Humiliation of Medical Personnel by Israeli Security Forces (2003)
• Thirsty for a Solution: The Water Shortage in the Occupied Territories and its Solution in the Final Status Agreement (2000)
• Land Grab: Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank (2002)

See also

• Human rights in Israel
• Hamoked
• Alternative information center
• Bustan
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict

References

External links

Media related to B'Tselem at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website