This is the fourth quarterly report for 2005 by Al-Haq's Monitoring and Documentation Unit, covering the period from October to December 2005. This report highlights specific human rights violations and patterns of abuse that came to the attention of the Unit during this time.

First-hand documentation by Al-Haq's Monitoring and Documentation Unit constitutes the backbone of all other projects and activities undertaken by the organisation, and is gathered throughout the West Bank by Al-Haq's fieldworkers, who obtain data and affidavits from victims and eyewitnesses of human rights violations. Al-Haq has no fieldworkers in the Gaza Strip, where it therefore relies on the documentation of Palestinian partner organisations. While the Unit documents only a certain number of human rights violations in a comprehensive manner (killings, house demolitions, curfews, and deportations), other violations are also regularly documented. The information gathered is channelled into Al-Haq's various activities, such as campaigns, advocacy at the local and international levels, press releases, interventions, and legal research reports.

In light of Israel's sustained and illegal occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip – together constituting the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) – since 1967, Al-Haq's monitoring and documentation activities have traditionally been directed towards the violations committed by Israel, the Occupying Power. However, Al-Haq also monitors and documents violations by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

The Human Rights Situation since the Beginning of the Second Intifada

In order to understand the human rights violations which took place in 2005, it is important to put them within the context of the deterioration of the general human rights situation since the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000, and the continuous disregard by Israel for international human rights and humanitarian law in the OPT.

According to Al-Haq's documentation, since the outbreak of the second intifada until the end of December 2005, 1,575 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, 302 of whom were children, and 86 of whom were women and young girls. It is estimated that 250 were killed in targeted assassinations. In most cases, the killings were committed either by Israeli occupying forces or by special undercover units, and occurred in situations in which there were no confrontations. In the case of house demolitions, Al-Haq documented that during the same time period, 438 homes were totally demolished in the West Bank, thereby displacing 3,004 people. Jenin and Hebron witnessed the largest number of houses demolished as a punitive measure. Israel has also carried out a large number of house demolitions on the pretext that they were built without the required license. Since 2004, 313 houses have been demolished for lack of license, of which 151 in East Jerusalem alone.

The second intifada has not only multiplied Israeli violations but also nearly eliminated the already limited authority of the PNA in the OPT. Despite this, the actions and inactions of the PNA must be held to international legal standards, with which they do not always conform. With the gradual re-establishment of the authority of the PNA, the main problem encountered is its inability to uphold law and order.