Israel's insistence on establishing settlements on Palestinian occupied territory, despite the fact that this violates international law and legitimacy, is a very important issue and a problem everyone should be informed of and try to find a solution to. This is especially true since the problem is escalating - Zionist settlement ideology considers the land as one of the main pillars for its political project. Therefore, Jewish people are brought in from their countries of origin to take the place of Palestinians on Palestinian land, and Israel has made all possible effort to control the land and clear it of its original inhabitants.

The phenomenon of prisoners of war is one of the most significant consequences of conflict between nation states or in countries subject to occupation. There is no doubting the fact that the experiences of these individuals are brutal and constitute severe trauma psychologically, socially or economically. Moreover, their return to normal life following their release from captivity carries with it numerous difficulties arising from the ordeals they have been forced to endure. This includes the prolonged separation from their communities, families and loved ones as well as the torture, oppression, humiliation and deprivation of liberty they have experienced at the hands of their captors.
Like many others which have experienced the ravages of war and have been subject to occupation, Palestinian society has suffered acutely from this phenomenon and expects to continue to suffer from it in the future.

The worsening problem of water in the Middle East is one of the most significant and dangerous struggles currently facing the region today. From issues of continuous deterioration in quality, to those of limited availability and high competition for that available, the situation is critical. All of this and more has made the search for alternative sources of this resource an imperative, and a solution to the problem needs to be speedily implemented before a point of no return is reached.

In the regional struggle for this indispensable resource, the situation in Palestine stands out above all others. Not only are Palestinian water resources continually faced with the danger of severe deterioration, depletion and draught, but additionally, Israel maintains illegal control over its surface drinking water basins and appropriates its subterranean reserves by pumping them into its settlements.

A legal and lethal tool of Israeli repression

A largely neglected instrument of legal Israeli repression used against the Palestinian people is that of administrative detention. Thousands of men as well as women and children are held indefinitely and under horrendous conditions in detention centres dotted across the occupied territories without charge, access to a fair trial or even having been accused of committing a crime. This renders administrative detainees exceptions to the rules that would govern convicts, placing them outside the normal legal system and procedures and beyond the remit of the Red Cross. This not only means that the order cannot be challenged, but it also means that detainees are not provided with adequate living conditions, medical care, food, clothing or access to their families. The immense amount of power wielded by the military commanders able to issue administrative detention orders arbitrarily, means it has become a lethal tool of political retribution against the resistance. Moreover, it is used as a means of subjugating the people as a whole and of damaging the very fabric of Palestinian society. Israel's application of its administrative detention laws clearly contravenes both international and humanitarian law and according to certain interpretations, constitutes a war crime.

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