Highlights
- Palestinian Airlines (Al-Filastiniya) began its operations on January 10, 1997, with two
flights departing from Port Said Airport in Egypt to Jedda, Saudi Arabia, carrying
Palestinians traveling to Mecca to perform al-umrah or "minor pilgrimage". The
two Fokker-50 aircraft comprising the fleet were received from the Netherlands as part of
its assistance to the Palestinian Authority. The pilots and crews of both planes were all
Palestinians. The airline, however, was not able to begin its operations from Rafah
Airport in Gaza, which is practically ready for use, because of Israeli delays in
concluding an agreement on the airport in accordance with the Interim Agreement on the
West Bank and Gaza Strip of 1995. The chairman of the airline expressed hope that
operations from Gaza could begin in the near future. Once the airport in Rafah is opened,
Palestinian Airlines will schedule flights to and from many cities, beginning with Cairo,
Amman and Larnaca.
- On January 20, 1997, the Israeli government approved the construction of 60 housing
units in a settlement in the Jordan Valley, called "Maaleh Ephraim" as part of
its aggressive illegal settlement campaign. Also, on February 4, 1997, the government
audaciously advertised the sale of 120 units in 30 different settlements throughout the
West Bank. In addition, the Israeli government continued to carry through other illegal
actions such as prohibiting Palestinians in Hebron from renovating their homes and shops
in the old part of the city and abrogating the residence rights of Palestinian
Jerusalemites in an attempt to further change the demographic composition and character of
the city.
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the U.S. Department of State issued
its 1996 Human Rights report. It included a part entitled "The Occupied Territories
Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1996", which was released on January 30,
1997. The report mixes both the Israeli practices in this regard and practices of the
Palestinian Authority and attempts to represent human rights violations as a shared blame
between the two sides. Also, it only approaches the issue on an individual case basis,
ignoring many of the gross, collective human rights violations committed by Israel against
the Palestinian people. This includes, for instance, completely ignoring Israeli
settlement activities and the theft of Palestinian natural resources. Even the closure of
the occupied territories is presented in the report in a way which underestimates its huge
impact as a collective punishment and in a manner that seemingly accepts the Israeli
explanation of this practice.
The fact is that Israel remains the occupying Power and it still
retains overall responsibility of the situation and, clearly, it can virtually affect all
aspects of life for the Palestinian people in this regard. As such, it must be emphasized
that international humanitarian law (Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and the Hague
Convention of 1907 and its Annexed Regulations) is applicable to the occupied territories
and it should be used to evaluate all facets of Israeli practices. Different legal
instruments and practical measures should be used in evaluating the Palestinian
Authority's record on human rights. The report is structurally flawed and has obviously
been influenced heavily by political considerations. It appears to be a political
instrument more than anything else. |