HROs to Israeli Navy: Stop harassing, shooting, and detaining Gaza Strip fishermen
An Israeli naval ship sprays a Palestinian fishing boat with a water cannon (by: David Schermerohorn)
Israeli Navy shoots at fishing boats, forces fishermen to strip and swim to military ships
The Israeli navy frequently shoots live fire at fishing boats in the permitted fishing area (three nautical miles) on the shores of Gaza and forces fishermen to strip naked at gunpoint, jump into the sea, and swim to the navy ships. The soldiers then restrain the fishermen’s hands and feet, blindfold them, and detain them for hours. The fishermen are brought to interrogation rooms and coercive measures are used to try to get them to give information and collaborate with the General Security Service (GSS or Shabak). Eventually, the fishermen are released but their boats, fishing equipment, or even their catch of the day is confiscated, leaving them without a secure source of livelihood.
Adalah, Al-Mezan document 31 fishermen harassed in 14 incidents from 2010-2012
Adalah highlighted these abuses in a comprehensive letter to the Chief Military Advocate General (MAG) Brigadier General Danny Efroni on 31 July 2012. Adalah Attorney Fatmeh El-Ajou sent the letter on behalf of the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, and in the name of Adalah. The letter documents the harassment and arrest of 31 fishermen in 14 different incidents between January 2010 and May 2012.
Abuse of fishermen widespread since Israeli "disengagement"
The letter presented cases that indicate a pattern and together with the hundreds of other cases have also been documented by other human rights organizations, also show a widespread and systematic policy against the fishermen. The Israeli navy has been implementing this policy in the Gaza Strip since the “disengagement” of 2005, increased its use since the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006, and continues to utilize it today. The Israeli army captures Palestinian fishermen in order to gather intelligence information, especially on Hamas, and to recruit them as collaborators with the Shabak and Israeli intelligence forces. The fishermen are questioned on a myriad of topics including Hamas’ positions in Gaza, the situation of the ports, their living conditions, and their neighbors.
Procedures violate international law, constitute cruel and degrading treatment
Adalah stressed in the letter that the arbitrary arrests and threats, the degradation of the fishermen, and the brutal and humiliating treatment they are subject to amount to torture or at the very least cruel and degrading treatment, which is strictly forbidden by Israeli and international law. Attorney El-Ajou added that the arrests and abuse constitute a serious violation of the fishermen’s right to dignity and bodily integrity. This treatment violates Israel’s obligations under international law, which forbids the occupying power from infringing on civilians’ right to work with dignity. Rather, the occupier has a responsibility to protect the economic rights of the occupied people that the conflict may infringe upon.
The human rights organizations demanded in the letter that the navy issue orders to immediately cease firing on Palestinian fishing boats and fishermen, allow fishermen to carry out their work peacefully, and end arbitrary arrests to recruit fishermen as informants. The human rights organizations also demanded that all 14 incidents detailed in the letter be thoroughly investigated.
Mahmoud Moustafa Murad: Injured by navy, denied emergency medical treatment, interrogated
One of the cases detailed in the letter concerned the fisherman Mr. Mahmoud Moustafa Murad, who was wounded and arrested, despite his medical condition. His treatment by the Israeli navy is similar to the treatment which other fishermen are also subjected to:
At dawn on 18 December 2011, Mahmoud Moustafa Murad left along with his cousin Hassan Ali Murad to go fishing. At around 9 am their boat was stopped by an Israeli boat and two military warships. The soldiers on the ships ordered them via loudspeaker to remove their clothing and jump into the sea. Hassan Murad jumped, while Mahmoud Murad explained that he had high blood pressure and kidney conditions, and could not jump into the sea, but the soldiers fired their guns and repeated their orders.
Mahmoud removed his clothing and showed the soldiers evidence of dialysis, and waved medical documents proving his condition. His attempts were met with continued gunfire, and he was hit with a rubber bullet in his right knee. Mahmoud fell to the deck of the boat in pain, and the soldiers stormed his boat to arrest him and take him to their ship. After arriving at the Israeli port, a doctor ordered that he be transferred to an Israeli hospital immediately, but the soldiers had left him in screaming pain for seven hours.
At the hospital, Mahmoud met a man who identified himself as a Shabak officer. This man told Mahmoud that everything was known about him, and that he would soon inform him of the reasons for his arrest. Medical tests showed that Mahmoud’s injury required emergency surgery, but soldiers refused to allow Mahmoud to speak to his family in Gaza, so he declined to undergo the operation.
After two days in the hospital, Mahmoud was forced to sign a document in Hebrew without knowing its contents, and then he was transferred by ambulance to Erez checkpoint. There, soldiers informed him that he was released and left him at the checkpoint without response to his requests that he be transferred to a Palestinian hospital via ambulance.
For more information, see a recent press release by Al Mezan (28.8.2012), documenting an attack on a fisherman and his son:
http://www.mezan.org/en/details.php?id=14907&ddname=fisherman&id2=9&id_dept=9&p=center
