2020 was a difficult year for the Palestinian people as they suffered from the ‘Israeli’ violations of their rights in the occupied West Bank and Al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip. The occupation basically renewed its adherence to its true discriminatory nature that goes against the principles of democracy, which it claims to follow. This was documented by international, Arab and ‘Israeli’ human rights organizations; to the extent that B’Tsleem Organization described the occupation as ‘an apartheid state’.

More than Just Apartheid

The occupation always tries to present itself as a democratic state, and alleges that its violations against the Palestinians are to protect the ‘security of the entity’, which was denied by the Human Rights Watch organization in its most recent report on the events of 2020 for Palestine and the entity.

Human Rights Watch confirmed that the occupation “exceeded the security justifications they often provided” for their discriminatory practices. B’Tsleem Organization agreed and said in its report that the occupation has been using the apartheid regime since its emergence. The occupation has been stealing Palestinian lands, expelling the Palestinians and bringing in ‘Israeli’ settlers to replace them.

The occupation’s practices have gone far beyond the definition of apartheid. It facilitated the immigration of Jews from around the world to Palestine and gave them the nationality in order to change the demography of the region and impose a new reality in which the Palestinians are deprived from all their rights.

Displacement and New Settlements

The ‘Israeli’ Peace Now organization traced the settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and Al-Quds. The construction of more than 12,000 settlement units was approved from the beginning of 2020 until October. This marks the highest rate of settlement expansion since 2012. In addition, the lands of the Palestinians were bulldozed and new roads for the settlements were built.

The Jews’ immigration to the occupied lands of 1948 has increased as more than 700 Palestinians were forced to leave their homes after they had been demolished. Salwan neighborhood in occupied Al-Quds was the most damaged as a result to the demolition operations. Tens of Palestinian compounds in the occupied West Bank are under the threat of evacuation and forced displacement.

Martyrs

Under the pretext of ‘protecting its security’, the occupation has always slaughtered the Palestinians, including the children and the disabled all the same. In 2020, the occupation’s soldiers killed the young man Eyad Al-Hallaq, who is autistic, and the child Ali abu Alia.

The Human Rights Watch cited OCHA stating that the occupation killed 20 Palestinians and injured hundreds others, and that it withholds the dead bodies of 67 Palestinians, who were martyred in 2015, to exercise pressure on Hamas so that the latter would release the captured Israeli soldiers.

Travel-Ban List

The occupation uses a variety of means and methods to harden the situation for the Palestinian people in general and the Gaza Strip in particular. It takes advantage of its control over the crossings and restricts the movement of people and goods. Doing so, it violates the rights of more than 2,000,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been under the ‘Israeli’ siege for 13 years. 

According to the Human Rights Watch organization, the occupation banned the Palestinians from travelling through Beit Hanoun Crossing, which is the Palestinians’ only gateway to the occupied West Bank and the lands of 1948. Only the ill, diplomats and people with permits can cross. Patients are not always allowed to travel for treatment as there are certain measures for their selection, keeping other patients with critical conditions on the waiting list.

As for the goods, Gisha, the Israeli Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, said that the occupation bans a plethora of types under the pretext of ‘security and multiple use of such products’. It reduced the number of truckloads from the Gaza Strip to the occupied West Bank and lands of 1948 to one-fourth their number in 2007, before the siege.

Increase in Arrests

In 2020, the number of arrest campaigns and incursions rose. The occupation arrested children, women and freed prisoners. The Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip documented these campaigns. The number of arrested Palestinians rose to more than 4000 who are from different areas; mainly from Al-Quds, Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah.

Settlers’ Assaults

2020 –the year of ‘the Deal of the Century’ and the ‘annexation plan’ – triggered the appetite of the settlers for committing more assaults against the Palestinians and their properties in the occupied West Bank and Al-Quds under the protection and support of the ‘Israeli’ occupation forces despite the spread of the Coronavirus.

According to the Government Media Office in Gaza, the settlers’ shooting operations against the Palestinians increased. The settlers executed premeditated run-overs, attempted to kidnap children, grabbed the lands of the Palestinians along with the crops, and ruined others (an example is the olive harvest season). They also repeatedly burned the masjids such as Al-Bir wl Ihsan masjid in Al-Bireh in the West Bank.  

Although such violations are condemned internationally, the occupation turns a deaf ear and continues to exercise its Judaizational policies on the Palestinian land in an attempt to terminate the Palestinian cause and end the conflict in what serves its interests.