Yesh Din
| File:Yd--logo-en.jpg | |
| Founded | 2005[1] |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit NGO |
| Focus | "the extent of Israel's implementation of its duty to protect the Palestinian civilians under its armed forces' occupation"[1] |
| Location | |
|
Area served
|
West Bank[1] |
| Method | reporting human rights abuses, legal actions, direct advocacy with the authorities and working with the media to encourage debate[1] |
| Mission | "work to uphold the rule of law in the occupied territories and monitor the Israeli law enforcement system in those territories"[1] |
| Website | www.yesh-din.org |
Yesh Din (Hebrew: יש דין) is an Israeli human rights group providing legal assistance to citizens of the Palestinian territories. Its name comes from a Hebrew phrase meaning "there is law". The group has been active since March 2005.
Public Council
Yesh Din's activities are overseen by its Public Council. Members include prominent former Israeli government officials and retired high-ranking generals of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF):[2]
- Shulamit Aloni - d. 24 Jan 2014 - former Israeli minister of education and culture, minister of communications, minister of science and arts
- Shlomo Lahat, General (Ret.) - former mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa
- Michael Ben Yair - lawyer, former attorney general of the State of Israel.
- Shlomo Gazit, General (Ret.) - former head of Military Intelligence
- Paul Kedar, Colonel (Ret.) - former Israeli consul in New York; head of Ministry of Defense delegation to Europe; IDF attaché to Turkey. Member of Beyt Hatfusot founders; director of Shlomi's Community Center.
Activities
Yesh Din monitors the IDF investigations into troops' and Israeli settlers suspected crimes against Palestinians.[3]
Following the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, the group denounced the distribution of booklets which according to the group "bordered on incitement to racism", encouraging Israeli soldiers to fight an enemy described as "murderers" and advising them to "show no mercy". The distribution of the booklets caused IDF to reprimand one of its officers, describing the case as an "isolated incident".[4]
On January 30, 2009, the Associated Press reported that Yesh Din planned to use a classified Israeli government database to prove that many West Bank Israeli settlements were built on land privately owned by Palestinian citizens without compensation.[5]
In 2014 Yesh Din published data of its investigation of over 1,000 files of the Judea and Samaria Area Police indicating that between 2005-14 only 7.4% had led to indictments of Israeli citizens suspected of attacking Palestinian persons or their property.[6] The vast majority of files had been closed as the police either failed to locate the offender or collect sufficient evidence for prosecution. Yesh Shin found a similar degree of negligence and lack of professionalsim by the District Police in its 2006 report.[7]
Funding
Yesh Din describes itself as being funded by "private individuals, from Israel and around the world" and institutional donors in the international donor community.[8] It regards itself as an independent, non-partisan organization and to maintain its independence it does not accept direct or indirect donations from Israeli or Palestinian government bodies.[1] In 2011 Yesh Din received a total of just over NIS 4.2 million from the following foreign institutional donors; Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations - IFA (Germany), Norwegian Refugee Council, European Commission, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Ireland), Oxfam Novib, Open Society Institute, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (United Kingdom), CAFOD and The Moriah Fund.[9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Yesh Din main website (English)
- Backyard Proceedings. Comprehensive Yesh Din report published January 8, 2008.
