it receives from Palestinians abroad as well as to introduce the question of
Palestine from a human rights and international law perspective. In 2018, the
ICHR was elected as the chair of the Arab Network for National Human Rights
Institutions (ANNHRI). Succeeding Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights,
the ICHR chairmanship will start at the next meeting of the ANNHRI member
institutions in October 2019. Emphasising legal and human rights components
of the question of Palestine, the ICHR also carried out several activities on the
Arab level and at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
2018 witnessed serious human rights violations committed by Israel. It can
be argued that, with the support and encouragement of the USA, the Israeli
occupying authorities are moving to a new stage of annexation and control
over the West Bank, including Jerusalem. In this context, the USA relocated its
embassy to Jerusalem in blatant violation of international law and consensus
of the entire world. International law has failed to take any meaningful steps to
hold Israeli leaders accountable for their ongoing crimes. Marking the highest
death toll since the 2014 Israeli war on Gaza, a large number of Palestinians
have been killed. The majority of these were shot in the context of the Great
Return March demonstrations on the Gaza border.
Internally, 2018 saw a number of significant developments, particularly
Palestine’s accession to other international conventions. Most notably, the
State of Palestine acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death
penalty; Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women; and Optional Protocol to the Convention on
Persons with Disabilities.
On the other hand, laws by decrees continued to be promulgated without a
clear vision or specific and consistent procedures, which should have ensured
greater participation by affected groups and civil society organisations. A total
of 41 laws by decrees were passed. Having faced considerable opposition
in 2017, several laws by decrees were reversed, mainly the Law by Decree
on Cybercrime and Law by Decree on the High Criminal Court. Substantial
amendments were introduced to these legislative acts. In 2018, despite the
fact that Gaza courts continued to render death sentences, no death penalties
were executed in the Gaza Strip.
Some patterns of violations have been chronic enough to be characterised as
systematic. This is particularly the case of political detention and restriction of
the right to freedom of expression. Due to the lack of resolve to hold general
elections, political participation has also been effectively limited. In addition to
governor-ordered detentions (in the West Bank), civilians are put on trial before
military courts (in the Gaza Strip). Certificates of good conduct and security
Executive Summary 2018
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