Today marks the 65th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba: the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in 1948, which left most Palestinians as refugees in and outside of Palestine.
Since Israel occupied the rest of Palestine in 1967, its occupying forces have been violating the rights of the Palestinian civilian population under its control in breach of the rules of international law.
Today presents an opportunity to reiterate the urgent call for ending Israel's occupation through reinstating justice, respecting human rights, and securing democracy for the Palestinian people.
Sixty-five years after the Nakba, Palestinians continue to suffer Israel's pressure to forcibly transfer and displace them.
The alteration in character of Jerusalem, which was illegally annexed by Israel in 1967, and the colonization of the West Bank through mobilizing hundreds of thousands of Israelis to settle Jewish-only colonies in the occupied West Bank still continue.
Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages under the control and complicity of the Israeli occupying forces (IOF) are daily realities for Palestinian civilians.
The Separation Wall, which is built inside the West Bank, continues to consume Palestinian land and prevent Palestinians access to their land and natural resources.
The almost seven-year-old closure of the Gaza Strip, which aims to separate Gaza from the West Bank, continues to inflict collective punishment on its entire population.
The closure regime has inflicted death, poverty, and suffering on the most vulnerable groups in Gaza, especially patients, refugees, fishermen communities, and farmers.
The Nakba anniversary in 2013 also comes as Israel escalates its violations of Palestinian political prisoners, most of whom are imprisoned inside Israel under poor conditions.
Palestinians continue to face torture, ill-treatment and arbitrary detention, which aim at deterring any dissent in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
Since the beginning of 2013, two Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody.
The lives of dozens of other prisoners are at risk as they carry out prolonged hunger-strikes in protest of their arbitrary detention and ill-treatment.
Al Mezan's monitoring of the IOF violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip in the past 12 months indicates that 221 Palestinians were killed by the IOF; including 40 children and 13 women.
At least 1,348 others were injured; including 59 children, 46 farmers, and six fishermen.
The IOF attacked and damaged 2,276 homes; of which 127 were completely destroyed.
At least 1,156 people were displaced as a result, including 589 children.
During the same year, the IOF destroyed 269 public facilities in the Gaza Strip: 108 educational institutions, including schools, universities and kindergartens; 15 health facilities; and 40 mosques.
Another 193 commercial stores, 19 industrial plants, 80 vehicles were also destroyed.
Moreover, an area of 409.
2 dunams of cultivated land and 13 water-wells were destroyed during the same period in the Gaza Strip.
These wide-scale violations of international law passed without justice or recognition.
Yet they could not have gone unpunished as they did without the silence of the international community.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemns Israel's violations of international law.
The serious practices of forcible displacement, colonization, and collective punishment must stop immediately, and the rules of humanitarian law must be observed carefully.
The international community must act to protect the Palestinian civilians under Israel's control and secure accountability for violations of international law.
Al Mezan henceforth calls on the international community to address and stop the violations of human rights and take effective action to ensure the respect and realization of the individual and collective rights of the Palestinian people.
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