CRSV: Palestine under Occupation

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Occupation

On November 2, 1917, Britain’s erstwhile foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, wrote a letter to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a figurehead in the British Jewish community. The 67-word-long letter from the British government demonstrated its commitment to the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” and to ensure the “achievement of this object.” This came to be called the Balfour Declaration. This declaration was issued without consulting, asking, or even informing the indigenous Palestinians.

A British Mandate was created after this. In 1922, the League of Nations approved the mandate. With this, the British were deputed to control the area. From that point on, the British enabled and facilitated a mass Jewish immigration. At this point in time, Palestine was home to Palestinian Arabs who had spent over 2,000 years in the region. There were also Jewish refugees in the region, since about the 1200s. When the mandate was underway, several thousands of Jewish people migrated from Europe to Palestine, in search for their permanent home. This movement was largely driven by a Zionist Organization that interpreted Palestine as an ancient Jewish homeland, and strived to bring all Jews into the region, to create a single physical nations. With this, tensions between Palestinian Arabs and Jews began to rise, over the same piece of land.

Tensions between the Arabs and Jews continued to escalate, manifesting in the Arab Revolt (1936 to 1939). In April 1936, the then-newly created Arab National Committee, called on Palestinians to launch a strike, refuse to pay taxes, and to boycott Jewish products to resist Britain’s colonialism and the rising volume of Jewish immigrants. The strike lasted six months, and was met by brutal repression from the British, manifesting in the form of mass arrests and punitive home demolitions – both of which continue to date. In 1937, the second phase of their resistance began, this time, helmed by the Palestinian Peasant Resistance movement against British colonialism. This ended in 1939. By this time, Britain had built its troops in Palestine and bombed villages by air, imposed curfews, demolished homes, detained people, and subject people to summary killings. The British also worked with the Jewish community and created armed groups called the Special Night Squads, which were intended to function as counterinsurgency forces.

Meanwhile, during World War II, the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party and Fascist rule and the Holocaust made life in Europe dangerous for Jews. More and more Jews began to leave Europe to Palestine, to establish their nation. In 1945, US President Truman asked the British Prime Minister to allow around 100,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors into Palestine. However, this request was made without consulting, informing, or even acknowledging the rights of indigenous Palestinian Arabs over their territory. Consequently, the Arabs, who desired an independent Arab state, were against this immigration.

In 1947, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 181, which proposed to terminate the Palestinian mandate, and called for the division of the land into two independent states – one Jewish, one Arab, while retaining Jerusalem as an international city. This proposal intended to offer the Jews 56% of the land, although they only constituted 1/3rd of the total population at the time. The Jews accepted this proposal. The Palestinian Arabs rejected it because they considered the partition a route for the Jews to push them out of their land. However, it is important to note that the United Nations did not create the state of Israel. As Decolonizing Palestine explains, “Israel was established not through the UN, but through warfare and the creation of facts on the ground. Facts it created through the destruction and ethnic cleansing of hundreds of Palestinian villages and communities.”

The day the mandate ended, May 14, 1948, the land was declared as the State of Israel, by David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization. With this, Palestine ceased to exist as a state. The next day, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Transjordan invaded Palestine to acquire the land. This led to 700,000 Palestinian Arabs being driven out of their homes, several swathes of their villages and urban areas being destroyed, and the revocation of their right to return. This was called the Nakba, or catastrophe in Arabic.

In 1949, Israel agreed to armistices with the Arab Armies. With the other states entering the territory, the West Bank came under Jordan’s control and the Gaza Strip under Egypt’s control, leaving the Palestinian Arabs with no land of their own.

The Israelis and Palestinians look at the incidents differently. To the Palestinians, their expulsion from their own lands was part of a systematic ethnic cleansing campaign as part of realizing a fully Jewish state. To the Israelis, the Palestinians were not expelled, but rather fled the lands after receiving orders from their leaders and other Arab states. They blame the Arab leaders for rejecting the partition proposal made by the UN. In 1959, the Fatah was founded as a political movement, called the Palestine National Liberation Movement.

In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), was established by Yasser Arafat and won the support of most Arab League governments, also gaining a seat in the Arab League. In 1965, Fatah became a political party.

In 1967, the Six-Day War took place, where Israel gained military control over the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, as well as East Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights. Over 38 years since then, Israel built 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, and controlled the territory.

In 1987, the First Intifada took place, starting out with protests, boycotts, and bouts of violence. Shortly after this, the Hamas a militant group and a faction of the Muslim Brotherhood, was founded, and advocated armed resistance. To date, Hamas is considered a terrorist group by the US and EU. Hamas is committed to embarking on an armed struggle to overthrow Israeli occupation, and does not recognize Israel’s claims to statehood like the PLO does. However, it accepts the borders that were set by the 1967 war. Hamas is also backed by Iran and Syria, and is close to the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In 1993, the Oslo Accord was signed as a peace agreement, where Palestinians were given border control over civilian agencies and Israeli troops were ordered to withdraw. The Oslo Accords sought to achieve a two-state solution, with the intention that Palestine would come into existence as a state by 1998. However, this remained true only on paper. On ground, conditions worsened for the Palestinians, as they did not get their independent territory, and Israel did not withdraw its troops – instead, it continued to occupy and settle across the West Bank and Gaza.

By around 1995, Israel had already obtained over 41,000 acres of land in the West Bank. By 1998, they had destroyed nearly 700 Palestinian homes. Israel had gained full control over all borders and revenue and taxation for the region. Seeing that the Oslo Accords were not being observed as promised, the Palestinians considered the negotiations a failure. Seeing Israel’s role in suppressing their rights, resentment grew in Palestine. As a result, relations broke down between both sides.

In 2000, the Second Intifada began. The Hamas played a major role in spearheading the resistance on the Palestinian side. Five years later, the Second Intifada ended. Israel withdrew 9,000 settlers and military forces from the Gaza strip, and relinquished control over the area while still maintaining control over the area’s borders. The following year, in 2006, Hamas won the election and came to power in Gaza. This entrenched Hamas as one of the two major political parties in Palestine. Following this win, no elections were held in Gaza, and Hamas remains the governing body.

In 2007, Israel set in place a land, air, and sea blockade that operates to date. This blockade is enforced by barriers with the police stationed in large numbers, and serves to restrict what can go in and out of Gaza. When Hamas took over, Israel and Hamas began to launch rockets at each other.

To Israel, the blockade is a form of protection against Hamas’ attacks, and is a means to control its borders. To Palestine, the blockade causes major harm to their lives and livelihoods. As a result of the physical blockade, people cannot leave and enter Gaza freely. Its economy is suffering with the blockade, as its population struggles under food shortages and limited supply of medicine and healthcare, and clean drinking water.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas cut through the blockade and attacked Israeli civilians during a music festival. Israel retaliated with violence that has continued unabated, since, targeting civilians – especially children and babies, religious establishments, and hospitals.

Prevalence of Sexual Violence

Throughout the occupation, sexual and gender-based violence have been used against Palestinian women and men by the IDF. Checkpoints are high-friction points between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians, where gender plays a major role (Kotef & Amir, 2007). Palestinian women have routinely faced sexual harassment at these checkpoints (Hammami, 2019), including such things as forced undressing (Kubovich, 2018). Israeli security forces have also been known to use sexual violence against Palestinian women during house raids (Stein, 1996), and when women visit their relatives in Israeli prisons or attend court hearings for their relatives (Al Issa & Beck, 2020).

Women are also subject to sexual violence during interrogations, including threats of rape and unwanted touch (Khalil, 2013; Rosenfeld, 2018; Breiner, 2022). In several of these instances, both Israeli men and women have been perpetrators (Breiner & Berger, 2018). There have also been instances of transactional sex, where women have been allowed to move past checkpoints or visit relatives in prison without obstruction in exchange for sex (B’Tselem, 2003). Palestinian men have also been subject to sexual assault (DCI, 2013; Hass, 2010; Weishut, 2015). In several instances, cases went unreported for a variety of reasons: the lack of accessible ways to report cases, fear of reprisals (Al Issa & Beck, 2020), and stigma. Further, conflict-related sexual violence has also been used to target men and boys. At least 100 Palestinian men were detained by Israeli forces, and stripped to their underwear, left blindfolded, and made to kneel on a street in Northern Gaza (Al Jazeera, 2023).

Basis of the use of Sexual Violence

Sexual violence and harassment has been used by the Israeli security forces as a means of intimidation, to target Palestinian men and women as part of its settler colonialism (Ghanayem, 2019). It has also been used as a mechanism of torture, particularly in interrogation settings (Khader, 2017). Sexual violence and harassment has been used as a means of coercion, as part of transactional sex, by exploiting women in vulnerable positions. Overall, sexual violence and harassment have been used to humiliate and shame those targeted, including men and boys who were forcibly stripped.

References

For the Background of the Occupation

1. www.decolonizepalestine.com

2. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/14/israeli-home-demolitions-a-war-on-nerves-for-palestinians

3. https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-strikes-hamas-and-hezbollah-sites-hunts-intruders-in-the-south-f8f40203

4. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/08/israel-gaza-hamas-attack-netanyahu-warns-of-long-and-difficult-war?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1

5. https://www.vox.com/2023/10/7/23907296/israel-war-hamas-attack-rocket-strike-response-2023

6. https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/barrage-of-rockets-fired-at-israel-from-gaza-strip-d5b2f05f?mod=article_inline

7. https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/after-attack-israel-wrestles-with-question-how-could-this-happen-aa6d539a?mod=article_inline

8. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-20415675

9. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/5/2/hamas-accepts-palestinian-state-with-1967-borders

10. https://www.rs21.org.uk/2014/09/12/the-birth-of-palestinian-resistance-and-the-1936-uprising/

11. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/10/19/erasing-palestine-2

For the Sexual Violence under Occupation

1. Al Issa, Ferdoos Abed-Rabo, and Beck, Elizabeth. 2020. “Sexual Violence as a War Weapon in Conflict Zones: Palestinian Women’s Experience Visiting Loved Ones in Prisons and Jails.” Affi lia 36 (2): 167–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109920978618

2. Al Jazeera (2023). "Palestinians detained by Israel in Gaza blindfolded, stripped to underwear." https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/8/video-photos-appear-to-show-detainees-stripped-to-underwear-in-gaza

3. Breiner, Josh. 2022. “Shin Bet Offi cer Suspected of Ordering Search of Palestinian Woman’s Private Parts Gets Promoted.” Haaretz, 28 September. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-09-28/tyarticle/.premium/shin-bet-offi cer-suspected-of-ordering-search-of-palestinians-private-parts-getspromoted/00000183-838e-d6b4-ab9f-ebbef3c30000.

4. Breiner, Josh, and Yotam, Berger. 2018. “Shin Bet Offi cers Suspected of Ordering Unwarranted Search of Palestinian Woman’s Private Parts.” Haaretz, 2 November. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2018-11-02/ty-article/.premium/shin-bet-suspected-of-ordering-needless-search-of-palestinianwomans-private-parts/0000017f-db40-d3a5-af7f-fbeee9030000

5. B’Tselem. 2003. “Zeita: Border Police Offi cers Sexually Harass and Abuse Farmers, Summer 2003.” B’Tselem. 2 August. https://www.btselem.org/testimonies/20030802_sexual_harassment_in_zeita_witness_samar_abu_hamda

6. DCI. 2013. “DCI Urges Israel to Investigate Abuse of Two Palestinian Boys.” Defence for Children Palestine, 27 February. https://www.dci-palestine.org/dci_urges_israel_to_investigate_abuse_of_two_palestinian_boys.

7. Ghanayem, Eman. 2019. “Colonial Loops of Displacement in the United States and Israel: Th e Case of Rasmea Odeh.” Women’s Studies Quarterly 47 (3/4): 71–91.

8. Hass, Amira. 2010. “Military Police Investigates a Sexual Abuse Complaint of a Young Palestinian Boy.” Haaretz, 6 October. https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/1.1206282.

9. Hammami, R. 2019. “Destabilizing Mastery and the Machine: Palestinian Agency and Gendered Embodiment at Israeli Military Checkpoints.” Current Anthropology 60 (S19), S87–S97.

10. Khader, Nehad. 2017. “Rasmea Odeh: Th e Case of an Indomitable Woman.” Journal of Palestine Studies 46 (4): 62–74.

11. Khalil, Naela. 2013. “Documenting the Plight of Palestinian Female Prisoners.” Al-Monitor, 19 March. https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2013/03/palestinian-female-prisoners.html.

12. Kotef, Hagar, and Amir Merav. 2007. “(En)Gendering Checkpoints: Checkpoint Watch and the Repercussions of Intervention.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 32 (4): 973–996.

13. Kubovich, Yaniv. 2018. “Israeli Soldiers Accused of Sexually Harassing Palestinian Women at Checkpoint.” Haaretz, 21 September. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israeli-soldiers-accusedof-sexually-harassing-palestinian-women-1.6493094.

14. Luvitch, Vered. 2004. “I Was Put on a Bench, and Th en the Soldier Raped Me.” Ynet, 27 January. [In Hebrew] https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-2865449,00.html.

15. Stein, Y. (1996). Sexual Harassment in the Name of the Law: Violence and Humiliation during Raids in Palestinian Houses in Hebron. B’Tselem.

16. Weishut, J. N. Daniel. 2015. “Sexual Torture of Palestinian Men by Israeli Authorities.” Reproductive Health Matters 23 (46): 71–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhm.2015.11.019.