Recommended Reports

R1. B’TSELEM, BLACK FLAG: THE LEGAL AND MORAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE POLICY OF ATTACKING RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN THE GAZA STRIP, SUMMER 2014, JERUSALEM, JANUARY 2015

This 49-page report investigates Israel’s implementation of its so-called open-strike policy of targeting Gaza homes during Operation Protective Edge. It analyzes the legality of these strikes and presents testimonies and data regarding 70 incidents in which at least three persons were killed inside their homes. B’Tselem estimates that over 70% of those killed in its sample did not take part in hostilities. The report along with individual testimonials is available at www.btselem.org.

R2. PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ISRAEL (PHR-IL), GAZA 2014: FINDINGS OF AN INDEPENDENT MEDICAL FACT-FINDING MISSION, TEL AVIV, 20 JANUARY 2015

In cooperation with Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, PHR-IL established an independent fact-finding mission that made three visits to Gaza between 19 August and 12 November, in the aftermath of Operation Protective Edge. After interviewing medical professionals, aid workers, witnesses, victims of attacks, and officials from both the Palestinian Authority health and justice ministries, the mission concluded in its 237-page report that Israel had carried out indiscriminate attacks, “double-tap” strikes, strikes on residential buildings and medical facilities, and hampered emergency medical evacuations. The report is available at www.phr.org.il.

R3. NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD (NLG), PRISONERS OF INJUSTICE: REPORT OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD DELEGATION TO PALESTINE, NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 2014

This 34-page report, released in November, recounts the experiences and findings of the May 2014 NLG International Committee delegation to the West Bank. It outlines the political nature of Palestinian prisoners’ confinement, the framework of military orders and courts that sentence Palestinian prisoners, ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian youth in Israeli military detention, and the targeting of Palestinian human rights activists. The report can be found at www.nlginternational.org.

R4. BADIL, CORPORATE COMPLICITY IN VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW IN PALESTINE, BETHLEHEM, DECEMBER 2014

This 39-page report by BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights highlights the role of international corporations in Israel’s “colonial enterprise and oppression of Palestinians.” It outlines the legal framework of the issue and examines the complicity of corporations in rights violations, using the Dutch-Israeli company Kardan Yazamut as a case study. The report is available at www.badil.org.

R5. THE ASSOCIATION FOR CIVIL RIGHTS IN ISRAEL (ACRI), SITUATION REPORT: THE STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN ISRAEL AND THE OPT 2014, TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 2014

In its annual human rights report, ACRI outlines human rights abuses in Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, and East Jerusalem, with a special focus on abuses during Operation Protective Edge. It is 95 pages in length and covers administrative detention, home demolitions in the Negev, Palestinian youth incarceration, and the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel. It is available at www.acri.org.il.

R6. UN EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION (UNESCO), RAPID ASSESSMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN GAZA: DATA ANALYSIS REPORT, RAMALLAH, JANUARY 2015

This 50-page report assesses the material and human damage done to Gaza’s 26 higher education institutions during Operation Protective Edge. UNESCO concludes that some of these were deliberately and directly targeted by Israeli strikes, with student deaths constituting more than a quarter of total civilian deaths, and the estimated cost of repairs reaching $16 million. The report is available online at unispal.un.org.

R7. PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ISRAEL (PHR-IL), DIVIDE AND CONQUER: INEQUALITY IN HEALTH, TEL AVIV, JANUARY 2015

This report examines the gaps between health indicators and social determinants of health in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, analyzing Israel’s control mechanisms—freedom of movement limitations, oversight of the Palestinian Authority’s budget, control of work permits, and so on. In its 47-page report, PHR-IL argues that Israel must assume full responsibility for the health of Palestinians, providing them with health services equal to those provided to Jewish Israelis. The report is available at www.phr.org.il.

R8. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, “NOTHING IS IMMUNE”: ISRAEL’S DESTRUCTION OF LANDMARK BUILDINGS IN GAZA, LONDON, 9 DECEMBER 2014

Amnesty International investigates Israeli attacks on four multistory landmark buildings in Gaza during the last four days of Operation Protective Edge. Although no one was killed in these attacks, the 30-page report argues that the attacks are evidence of deliberate targeting of civilian buildings and were not justified by military necessity. The report can be found online at www.amnesty.org.

R9. SHIBLEY TELHAMI, AMERICAN PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ISRAELI PALESTINIAN CONFLICT, WASHINGTON, 5 DECEMBER 2014

Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, surveyed 1,008 American adults on their attitudes toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role of the United States in the negotiation process. His 21-page analysis of U.S. foreign policy issues and their importance to different segments of the population leads Telhami to conclude that the gap between Republicans and Democrats on the conflict is widening, largely due to changing opinions among Democrats. The survey and analysis are available online at www.brookings.edu.