<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Israel must grant Gaza justice | Raji Sourani | Comment is free |&nbsp;guardian.co.uk]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p id="stand-first" class="stand-first-alone">Two years on, the victims of Operation Cast Lead are still denied justice in Israel&#8217;s biased judicial system                                          	         <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/sourani-raji"></a></p>
<p class="stand-first-alone"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/sourani-raji"><img class="contributor-pic-small" title="Contributor picture" src="https://i2.wp.com/static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/12/20/1292842922277/raji.jpg" alt="raji" width="60" height="60" /> </a></p>
<div><a class="contributor" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/sourani-raji">Raji Sourani</a><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/"> guardian.co.uk</a>,			 																		 				            Monday 20 December 2010 12.30 GMT</div>
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<li class="history"><a id="history-link-byline" class="rollover history-link" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/20/gaza-justice-israel-courts#history-link-box">Article history</a></li>
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<div><img src="https://i2.wp.com/static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/12/20/1292847660460/Israeli-attack-on-Gaza-De-007.jpg" alt="Israeli attack on Gaza, December 2008" width="460" height="276" /> A Palestinian family flees an Israeli missile strike in Gaza, December 2008.  Photograph: Eyad Baba/APThe reality of life in the <a title="Guardian: Gaza" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gaza">Gaza Strip</a> is hard to convey. Systematic violations of international human rights  law have created abject poverty and reduced approximately 1.7 million  people to &#8220;beneficiaries&#8221; of international aid, forced into dependency  as the result of a human-made, and completely preventable, humanitarian  crisis.</p>
<p>International human rights law and international  humanitarian law offer necessary protections to every individual on the  basis of their shared humanity. However, if they are to have meaning,  these laws must be enforced. This is a core component: in the event of a  violation, accountability and judicial remedy are the essential  consequences.</p>
<p>Customary international law, binding on all  states, recognises that this accountability should take the form of  criminal accountability, through investigations and prosecutions, and  civil accountability, through the payment of compensation.</p>
<p>It is this right to compensation that the <a title="Palestinian Centre for Human Rights website" href="http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/">Palestinian Centre for Human Rights</a> (PCHR) is fighting for today. In the current climate, given the bias  inherent in the Israeli judicial system, compensation is one of the only  hopes for achieving some form of justice. Importantly, this  compensation – although insignificant in comparison to the loss suffered  – is essential for victims as they attempt to rebuild their lives and  their homes.</p>
<p>This right is being comprehensively denied by  the Israeli authorities. Israel imposes a two-year statute of limitation  on the submission of civil complaints. Given the scale of violations  committed in the context of the 2008-2009 offensive (<a title="Guardian: The Israeli attacks on Gaza" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2009/jan/03/israelandthepalestinians">Operation Cast Lead</a>)  on the Gaza Strip alone, this places an often insurmountable burden on  the legal representatives of the victims. Until the second intifada, the  statue of limitations was seven years.</p>
<p>Second, and in a  requirement that places the final nail in the coffin with respect to the  right to a remedy, the court imposes an insurance (or guarantee) fee on  each claimant, before a case can proceed. There is no fixed amount for  this insurance fee, it is set at the discretion of the court. However,  it represents a significant financial hurdle, typically in excess of  10,000 shekels ($2,787), and often much more. In one case brought by  PCHR, the claimants were asked to pay 20,000 shekels for each of the  five deaths reported.</p>
<p>This raises a bizarre but  all-too-real scenario whereby the greater the violation, the greater the  financial hurdle. Palestinian victims are simply unable to raise this  money, and the case is closed firmly in their faces. This insurance fee  is completely discretionary. It is not mandatory. In practice, it is  always applied to Palestinian claimants.</p>
<p>On top of this is  the reality of the closure. PCHR&#8217;s lawyers cannot travel to Israel to  represent our clients, and we are forced to hire lawyers in Israel.  However, these lawyers cannot come to Gaza to meet the clients, and the  clients cannot go to Israel to meet them. In addition, since June 2007,  the Israeli military has refused permission to Palestinians involved in  civil cases to appear in court, despite the issuance of a court order.  This results in the effective dismissal of the cases, and the absolute  denial of justice.</p>
<p>PCHR represents more than 1,000 victims  of Operation Cast Lead. The approximately 500 cases prepared on their  behalf constitute the overwhelming majority of cases prepared following  Operation Cast Lead. These individuals, who have suffered virtually the  entire spectrum of rights violations – from illegal killing and injury,  to the illegal destruction of their homes and workplaces – have the  right to justice. They deserve to be heard by a court.</p>
<p>Since  March 2009, when the last notice to the ministry of defence was  submitted, we have been systematically ignored. Despite repeated  requests, PCHR has only received interlocutory responses – with no  information – with respect to 23 cases.</p>
<p>Today, PCHR and  attorney Michael Sfard are filing a petition before the Israeli high  court of justice, demanding that these victims&#8217; rights to a judicial  remedy be upheld. Our request is simple, that the statute of limitations  be delayed, that the victims of Operation Cast Lead are at least  afforded the opportunity to take their case to court. If the court  rejects this position, it will be closing the door to justice on all the  victims of Operation Cast Lead.</p>
<p>The rule of law is  something we respect and hold dear. But it is self-evident that in order  to be relevant, the law must be enforced. The absence of justice has  resulted in the dire situation we face today, in the systematic  violation of fundamental human rights, and the closure of the Gaza  Strip. Without justice, what is there to prevent what happened in Gaza  from happening again?</p>
<p>Behind the closed doors of the Gaza  Strip, it is our shared humanity that continues to link us to the  outside world. We demand that our human rights be respected and  protected. We demand that the international community stay silent no  longer, that it exerts its influence in the name of fundamental freedoms  and justice.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/20/gaza-justice-israel-courts">mment is free | guardian.co.uk</a>.</p>
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