General Facts

FACT: Israel is illegally Occupying Palestine
Under UN Resolution 242, Israel is required by international law to withdraw from all the territories occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem. The UN General Assembly has repeatedly condemned Israel's occupation of the territories as illegal (see UN Resolutions 338, 1397 and 1402 among others). Israel's continued occupation of Palestine, sanctioned and maintained by the US, is one of the most serious obstructions to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

FACT: Israel systematically violates the Human Rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories
Each day, Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip violate articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention on Human Rights, an agreement that governs wartime rules of engagement and to which Israel is a signatory. Palestinian homes and agricultural fields are routinely demolished to make way for illegal Israeli settlements. Israeli soldiers regularly arrest and detain, often for years, Palestinians without due process. According to Amnesty International, members of the Israeli security forces regularly use torture and prolonged isolation detention against Palestinians.

FACT: The Israeli "Defense" Forces routinely kill children and innocent civilians
According to B'Tselem, the Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, the number of Palestinians killed from 9/29/2000 to 2/29/2008 was 4,559. Of this total, 884 were minors. In comparison, just over 700 Israelis were killed by Palestinians during this period. There were also hundreds of extra-judicial assassinations of Palestinians during this period, a war crime according to the Hague Convention of 1907.

FACT: Israel is an Apartheid State
Israel has developed an elaborate system of racial discrimination, embedded in its legal system, exceeding the Apartheid policies that were present in South Africa in the past. These laws include the Law of Entry, the Law of Return, the Citizenship Law, the Military Service Law, the Law of Acquisition of Absentee Property, the Law for Acquisition of Land, laws regarding the freedom of movement, laws regarding judicial process and a host of legally sanctioned, discriminatory rabbinical rulings.

FACT: Palestinians suffer a severe water shortage due to the Occupation
The Israeli government pursues a grossly discriminatory water policy. Since 1967, the Israeli government has been stealing up to 80% of the groundwater from the "Mountain Reservoir", a group of groundwater acquifers located underneath the mountains of the Occupied West Bank of Palestine, including Occupied Jerusalem. The Palestinians are allowed no control of these extensive water resources and in fact have fallen victim to intentional Israeli contamination of their water sources.

FACT: Over 1,000 Israelis have refused military service due to the Occupation "We will no longer fight beyond the Green Line for the purpose of occupying, deporting, destroying, blockading, killing, starving and humiliating an entire people," declares a petition signed by the reservists.


DID YOU KNOW...
Did you know since the creation of the United Nations in 1945, no country has violated as many UN Security Council Resolutions as the state of Israel. In spite of this fact, Israel, a country slightly smaller than the state of New Jersey, receives nearly 1/3 of the entire annual US Foreign Aid budget?

Did you know Israel has a nuclear arsenal and is refuses to allow international inspection of their facility and has refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty?

Did you know Countless Israelis have been arrested for spying on the United States even though they claim to be an ally? Spies have been caught at the highest levels of the US government.

Did you know The US believes Israel was aware of the 9/11 attack before it happened and did not warn it's ally?

Did you know that anyone of Jewish faith can move to Israel, but Palestinians born there and with home and land there are not allowed to return?

Did you now that cars owned by Palestinians are color coded to distinguish Jews from non-Jews?

Did you know Palestinians are not allowed to move from one city to another without first getting a 'visa' from Israel?

Did you know that Israel allots 85% of the water resources for Jews and the remaining 15% is divided among all Palestinians in the territories? For example in Hebron, 85% of the water is given to about 400 Jewish settlers, while 15% must be divided among Hebron's 120,000 Palestinians?

Did you know that Israel routinely confiscates Palestinian bank accounts, businesses and land and refuses to pay compensation to those who suffer confiscation?

Did you know that Israel stands in defiance of over 80 United Nations Security Council Resolutions?

Did you know that it was not until 1988 that Israelis were barred from running 'Jews Only' job ads?

Did you know that former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was held responsible for the massacre of more than 2750 Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila? The UN qualified the massacre by Sharon as GENOCIDE.

Did you know that Israel's settlement-building on Palestinian land increased considerably since the signing of the Oslo agreement?

Did you know that Palestinian refugees make up the largest portion of the refugee population in the world?

Did you know that between 1967 and early 2002 Israel expropriated some 79% of the West Bank and Gaza Strip? Estimated figures published by Amnesty International in 1999 show the following:

Year Land Confiscated in the West Bank