Despite Gaza ceasefire, ‘we haven’t seen the worst’: B’Tselem chief

Washington, DC – Yuli Novak, the enforcement manager of the Israeli quality rights radical B’Tselem, has a informing for politicians successful the United States and crossed the world: The concern successful Israel-Palestine is “disastrous”.

Despite the US-brokered ceasefire that scaled backmost the Israeli attacks successful Gaza, Novak told Al Jazeera this week that the conditions are much unsafe than ever.

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“Our informing is that we haven’t seen the worst,” she said, stressing that Israel indispensable beryllium held accountable for its abuses successful Gaza.

Over the past 2 years, galore quality rights groups person released reports accusing Israel of carrying retired a genocide successful Gaza — a run to destruct the Palestinian people.

United Nations investigators, for instance, determined that Israel’s actions successful the territory matched the explanation of genocide nether planetary law.

But B’Tselem provided different furniture of investigation with its landmark report, called Our Genocide, successful July.

It dissected the decades-long past of Israeli policies that laid the groundwork for the carnage successful Gaza, including the apartheid system, demographic engineering, the systemic dehumanisation of Palestinians, and a civilization of impunity for abuses.

Those conditions, Novak said, person been further entrenched since the warfare began.

“As agelong arsenic these things are inactive successful place, we are precise acrophobic that the unit that we’ve seen is not over,” she said.

B’Tselem enforcement manager Yuli Novak and tract probe manager Kareem Jubran talk to Al Jazeera successful Washington, DC, connected November 20 [Ali Harb/Al Jazeera]

Killings continue

Since the ceasefire started, Israel has killed astatine slightest 360 Palestinians successful Gaza, including 32 successful a question of aerial strikes crossed the territory earlier this week.

The Israeli authorities has besides continued to enforce restrictions connected humanitarian assistance to the enclave, including connected temporary shelters needed to regenerate tents for tens of thousands of Palestinians who faced flooding earlier this month.

Israel’s warfare connected Gaza has killed much than 69,000 Palestinians and turned astir of Gaza into rubble.

In the occupied West Bank, conditions person been worsening, with intensifying colony enlargement and deadly Israeli subject raids.

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch released a study documenting that Israeli forces forcibly displaced 32,000 Palestinians from their homes successful Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams.

Israeli settlers person besides accrued their attacks, regularly descending connected Palestinian villages to torch homes and vehicles and astatine times kill civilians — often with the extortion of the Israeli military.

Novak stressed that settler attacks are a signifier of Israeli authorities violence.

“They are Israeli civilians surviving successful the West Bank being equipped by the state. Sometimes, galore of them deterioration [army] uniforms. Sometimes these are soldiers connected reserve work that are connected a break,” she said.

Some Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, person condemned settler violence, but Novak dismissed the determination arsenic a ploy to blasted Israel’s policies connected a “small radical of brainsick settlers”.

Novak besides highlighted that astir of the sidesplitting and demolition successful the West Bank is carried retired by authoritative Israeli forces, not settlers. “So this is different limb of the unit that Israel inflicts connected Palestinians,” she said.

Meeting US lawmakers

Novak and her B’Tselem workfellow Kareem Jubran person been successful Washington, DC, this week, wherever they met with US lawmakers, including Democratic Senators Peter Welch, Jeff Merkley and Chris Van Hollen, arsenic good arsenic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.

Novak said the radical wants to accent the request for accountability for the genocide successful Gaza.

“We are talking astir a governing system, the Israeli system, that conducted genocide for 2 years — warfare crimes connected a regular ground — and got distant with it with nary accountability,” she said.

“The existent concern is astir apt the astir unsafe that we’ve ever been successful due to the fact that not lone this unit and this criminality took place, it was besides normalised, and successful immoderate moment, it tin commencement again, spell backmost to the aforesaid scale.”

US President Donald Trump has falsely claimed that determination is bid successful the Middle East for the archetypal clip successful 3,000 years due to the fact that of the truce helium helped broker successful Gaza.

And earlier this week, the United Nations Security Council passed a solution backing the US president’s 20-point plan for Gaza, which calls for an extremity to the fighting, gradual Israeli withdrawal and the deployment of an planetary unit to the territory.

The program would besides spot Hamas disarm and Gaza’s governance handed implicit to an planetary commission, dubbed “the Board of Peace”.

It has nary accountability oregon compensation mechanics for the horrors that Israel unleashed connected Gaza for 2 years.

Novak said Trump’s program is disconnected from the world connected the ground.

“It conscionable allows everybody to determination on, alternatively of dealing with the concern and demanding Israel not lone to beryllium held accountable but besides halt this benignant of systematic oppression implicit the Palestinians,” she said.

Trump’s plan

Since the Security Council embraced the ceasefire deal, Israel has faced little planetary pressure. Even the propulsion for measures similar suspending the state from the Eurovision singing contest and European shot person mislaid momentum.

On Monday, Germany announced it was lifting restrictions connected weapons exports to Israel, citing the truce.

“That is astir apt what scares america the astir due to the fact that we spot regression here,” Novak said.

Jubran, B’Tselem’s tract probe director, besides stressed the request for accountability, saying that the erstwhile rounds of wars connected Gaza from 2006 onwards enabled the genocide.

“That’s what allowed the genocide strategy to beryllium much brazen successful bid to bash its transgression against the Palestinians successful Gaza,” helium told Al Jazeera.

Despite the deficiency of governmental oregon ineligible accountability, Novak hailed the increasing planetary nationalist consciousness of Israel’s atrocities, which she said politicians are choosing to ignore.

“If determination is thing that gives america anticipation successful this really, truly unspeakable moment, it is the information that galore radical astir the satellite are capable to spot done the Israeli propaganda and conscionable to marque consciousness of what their eyes saw, and immoderate of the voices of the victims were capable to travel retired from Gaza and from the West Bank,” she said.

“So radical bash understand. We are successful the infinitesimal wherever radical request to request their leaders and politicians to clasp Israel accountable.”