2008 deadliest year for Palestinians since 1948

Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

Date: 26 / 04 / 2009 Time: 10:11
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies –

2008 was the deadliest year for Palestinians since the violent creation of Israel in 1948, the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported (PCHR) on Saturday.

More than 1,000 were killed last year, including 820 killed by Israeli forces in Gaza and 40 in the west Bank. Another 143 Palestinians were killed in inter-Palestinian violence.

Presenting PCHR’s annual report to media in Gaza, the center’s director, director Raji Sourani, said, "2008 was the worst year and the deadliest for the Palestinians ... since 1948," according to AFP.

According to PCHR 1,417 Palestinians, including 926 civilians, were killed in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza in December and January.

Palestinians remember 1948 as the year of The Nakba (The Catastophe), marking the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of people and the massacre of many others from the historic land of Palestine.

PCHR: 2008 the bloodiest year since 1948?

Sunday April 26, 2009 01:01 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMc News

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) bases in Gaza, issued a report on Saturday revealing that the year 2008 is the bloodiest year for the Palestinians since the Nakba of 1948. It included violations and attacks inflicted during internal clashes, and during Israeli offensives against the Palestinians.

PCHR director, Dr. Raji Sourani, stated that the Palestinian government in Ramallah, and the government in Gaza, carried out sharp violation that harmed the people and violated rights instead of serving them.

Dr. Sourani added that the Palestinian factions are obliged to find a solution to end internal divisions before they cause a new catastrophe or a Nakba due to the ongoing violations, chaos and insecurity.

The PCHR said that the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli forces and the settlers in 2008 is 868, 820 (94.5%) of them were killed in the Gaza Strip, and 48 (5.5%) were killed in the West Bank.

The Center added that 414 of the slain Palestinian (47.6%) were civilians, and were killed in situations that did not pose any threat to the lives of Israeli troops.

Dr. Sourani further said that in 2008, Israeli soldiers kidnapped during repeated invasions 2433 Palestinians in the West Bank and 68 in the Gaza Strip. More than 9000 Palestinians are currently imprisoned by Israel.

Israeli Soldiers and settlers carried repeated attacks against Palestinian lands and homes in the West Bank, while the army also expropriated more Palestinian lands for settlement construction and expansion and for the construction of the Annexation Wall.

The PCHR reported that in 2008, Israeli soldiers destroyed 216 homes in the Palestinian territories, including 107 in the West Bank and 109 in the Gaza Strip.

Referring to internal Palestinian violations and unrest, the PCHR stated that 143 Palestinians, including 25 children and 13 women, were killed by Palestinian gunmen, and 411 Palestinians were injured. Two more residents were killed in cases of weapons misuse.

26 Palestinians, including two children, were killed and 170, including 20 children and seven women, were injured by members of the Palestinian security forces in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The PCHR stated that excessive use of force by the security forces was the biggest violation to human rights last years.

Most of the violations took place during political arrested carried out by the security forces in the Gaza and the West Bank. (Hamas controlled security forces operate in Gaza, and Fateh controlled security forces operate in the West Bank).

The PCHR stated that it is unfortunate that there was no fair and nonbiased investigation into cases of excessive use of force that led to the death and injury of a large number of Palestinians.

Political arrests continued in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank which also led to increasing the gap between Fateh and Hamas.

The year 2008 also witnessed violations against the freedom of speech and freedom of expression, as both governments in Gaza and the West Bank arrested and attacked dozes of reporters, and violated their rights.

The security forces also broke into media facilities, shut several facilities down, and barred the distribution of certain newspapers.

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