Press Releases

BADIL Resource Center
3 April 2003
For Immediate Release

On 31 March 2003 the US State Department released its 2002 annual report regarding the status of internationally recognized human rights in countries that receive foreign assistance from the United States and in all other foreign countries that are members of the United Nations. The 2002 report includes no significant improvements concerning reporting on the basic human rights of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons.

Among the many universally recognized human rights that are directly applicable to all refugees and internally displaced persons (e.g., right to life, protection from torture and ill-treatment, the right to freedom of movement, etc.), are the right to return and the right to restitution of housing and property. Theses rights are affirmed, among others, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant Against all Forms of Racial Discrimination.

• For a brief overview of relevant provisions concerning return and restitution see BADIL’s 2002 Letter to the US State Department, Press Release E/01/02, http://www.badil.org/Press/2002/press218-02_lttr.htm.
• For an overview on refugees and human rights see, Fact Sheet No. 20, Human Rights and Refugees, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, http://193.194.138.190/html/menu6/2/fs20.htm
• Also see, UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights Resolutions: 2002/30 (15 August 2002), “The right to return of refugees and internally displaced persons”; and, 2002/7 (14 August 2002), “Housing and property restitution in the context of refugees and other displaced persons.” See Annex to this press release, http://www.badil.org/Press/2003/press291-03annex.htm

While the US State Department annual report draws attention to the fact that during 2002 the Israeli government “did little to reduce institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against the country’s Arab citizens,” it fails to mention that most of the same institutions and laws which discriminate against Palestinians inside Israel, including internally displaced Palestinians, also discriminate against Palestinian refugees and IDPs. These institutions and laws have effectively denationalized Palestinian refugees, dispossessed refugees and IDPs of their homes and lands, and denied them their basic human rights to return and repossess their properties.

The report fails to mention the existence of Palestinian refugees themselves, other than a passing reference to the fact that the issue of refugees was set aside for final status negotiations between the PLO and Israel. The report does draw attention to internally displaced Palestinians inside Israel, but only in relation to IDPs from two villages (Iqrit and Bir’im) who comprise a minority of the total IDP population. In short, both the rights and rights-holders are absent. Those who drafted the report at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv and at the State Department in Washington could have at least included Palestinian refugees under Section 1 of the report, which covers “respect for the integrity of person, including freedom from disappearance.”

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are prepared in compliance with US law (Foreign Assistance Act and Trade Act) by the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor based on information gathered from government officials, victims of human rights abuses, academic studies, and reports released by the press, international organizations and NGOs. Wherever it is demonstrated that a state receiving US foreign aid is responsible for a “consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights,” the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 requires that all military and economic aid be immediately and automatically terminated.

BADIL reiterates:

- Israel’s mass denationalization of Palestinian refugees, and dispossession of Palestinian refugees and IDPs satisfies all three required elements of the automatic foreign aid termination provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act;

- All US foreign aid to Israel – including both military and economic aid – must therefore be terminated immediately.

BADIL calls for lobby support:
Please contact the following officials below to:

• Inquire why Palestinian refugees and internally displaced Palestinians are not included in the 2002 US State Department Country Report on Israel
• Emphasize that all refugees and IDPs have the basic human right to return and repossess their homes and properties. Refer to BADIL’s 2001 Letter to the State Department (See above) for a brief overview of relevant provisions in international human rights law
• Remind US officials of their obligations under the US Foreign Assistance Act and Trade Act  to terminate foreign aid wherever it is demonstrated that a state receiving US foreign aid (in this case Israel) is responsible for a “consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights”
• Request the US State Department to remedy the glaring underreporting on the human rights of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced in the 2003 annual report.

Contact Addresses:

Mr. Lorne W. Craner
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor,
U.S. Department of State, Washington D.C.:
Tel: 001-202-647-2126
Fax: 001-202-647-5283
To send an online message to the State Department see,
http://contact-us.state.gov/ask_form_cat/ask_form_foreign.html

Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer
U.S. Embassy to Israel:
Tel: 00972-3-519-7575
Fax: 00972-3-517-3227
To contact the US Embassy by email: [email protected]

To read the 2002 State Department Country Report on Israel see, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18278.htm

For more information on activities related to Israel boycott campaigns see,
www.bigcampaign.org
www.boycottisraeligoods.org
www.sustaincampaign.org