NEWS UPDATE
28 October
2007
Adalah –
The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
*
Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement
*
HaMoked: Center for the Defence
of the Individual
*
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel
*
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
*
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel
*
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme
*
B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied
Territories * Al-Haq *
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
Human Rights
Organizations Petition Supreme Court Demanding an Injunction against Israeli
Government to Prevent Disruption to Supply of
Electricity and Fuel to
Gaza
The Government Openly Decides, Apparently for the First Time, to Impose
Collective Punishment on 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip;
Petitioners: The Decision is Illegal and will Damage the Health, Safety and
Welfare of the Population of Gaza
Ten Palestinian
and Israeli human rights organizations, in cooperation with the deputy director
of a water company for towns along the coast of Gaza and a farmer from Beit
Hanoun, petitioned the Supreme Court of Israel on 28 October 2007. The
petitioners demanded the immediate issuance of an injunction against the
Minister of Public Security and the Prime Minister to prevent them from
disrupting the supply of electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip. The petitioners
argued that the government’s recent decision to interrupt electricity and fuel
supplies to the Gaza Strip is illegal, and if implemented, would endanger
innocent civilians. Following the filing of the petition, the Supreme Court
ordered the state to file its response to the petition within five days.
The petitioners
argued that, contrary to the government’s claims that the population of Gaza
will be only slightly harmed, the implementation of this decision could cause
widespread humanitarian damage. It is likely to endanger the functioning of
hospitals and sewage and water services, and will interrupt the operation of
medical equipment as well as vital household electrical equipment such as
refrigerators, including those needed to refrigerate essential medical supplies.
“The damage that will be inflicted by the disrupting of electricity and fuel
supplies cannot be controlled, nor can its consequences. Deliberately
obstructing the civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip is illegal.
International law does not allow “minor” damage: It bans collective punishment
entirely,” argued the petitioners.
The petitioners
emphasized the dependency of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Israel for their
electricity and fuel needs. “The state’s claim that the population of Gaza
should provide electricity for themselves is astonishing. In the decades of
Israel’s direct control of Gaza, it permitted the establishment of an
electricity network with an extremely limited capacity (which can provide Gaza
with just 38% of the electricity that its population needs). After implementing
the ‘disengagement’ from Gaza, Israel bombed the local power plant … this
behavior imposes duties on Israel towards the population of the Gaza Strip in
general, and in the field of electricity supply in particular.”
The human rights
organizations demanded that the Supreme Court issue an immediate injunction to
freeze the aforementioned governmental decision pending an examination of the
petition. A number of media reports indicated Israel’s intention to implement
this decision as early as today.
H.C. 9132,
Jaber al-Basyouni Ahmed v. The Prime Minister (pending)
