Palestinians still continue to suffer

Occupied Jerusalem: Despite minor improvements, an Israeli human rights group on Monday reported continued Israeli offenses with Jewish colony construction and the blockade of Gaza.

In its annual report, B'Tselem said most of the improvements in the 16-month period from January 2009 were the result of a period of relative calm in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict rather than any change in Israeli policies.

Positive changes, B'tselem said, included an easing of Israeli-imposed movement restrictions in the West Bank, a freeze on occupied east Jerusalem house demolitions this year and a reduction in administrative detentions — those without charge or trial — as well as in the number of Israeli and Palestinian fatalities.

"Most of the improvements, however, did not result from changes in Israeli policy or legislation, but are the result of the relative calm in the conflict," it said in a statement. "In other areas, the violations continued as in the past," it said.

It highlighted examples including the blockade of the Gaza Strip, which Israel is now facing international pressure to lift or ease, and the impact of colonies in the West Bank on Palestinian lives.

In Gaza, "the almost total prohibition on the import of raw materials and on exports continued to paralyse local industry, and more than 70 per cent of Gazans relied on aid from international organisations to obtain food", B'Tselem said. In the occupied West Bank, B'Tselem said Jewish colonies continue to have "severe repercussions for Palestinians' human rights".

There are some 500,000 Jewish colonists living in the West Bank and occupied east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in a 1967 war. Major powers view the colonies as an obstacle to a peace settlement that would establish a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel on the lands it captured in 1967.