B'Tselem - Main Research Areas

Main Research Areas

B'Tselem investigates in a number of aspects related to the Arab-Israeli conflict. In particular the following:

• The accountability of police and military forces in the territories.
• The use of administrative punishment.
• The continued use of torture during interrogations, particularly by the GSS (General Security Services of Israel).
• The illegal policy of house demolition, as a form of collective punishment, which is often justified for alleged military purposes.
• Inequalities in the planning and building procedures which discriminate against Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs.
• The legal status of residents of East Jerusalem.
• The path and effects of the Israeli West Bank barrier and its legal status.
• Problems related to family unification and child registration.
• Neglect of infrastructure and services.
• Illegal Israeli settlements and the extreme closures placed upon the Palestinian population of Hebron.
• Breaches of international human rights law.
• The water crisis in Palestinian areas.
• Family separation.
• Restrictions on movement, such as checkpoints roads, curfew and the effect these have on the economy and medical treatment.
• Israeli settlement land expropriation, settler violence and attacks on Israeli civilians by Palestinian militants.
• Gaza Strip - The scope of Israeli control, economic and social decline, sonic booms, access restrictions, the firing of Qassam rockets.
• Use of force - beating and abuse, use of firearms and human shields.
• Violations by Palestinians - attacks on civilians, harm to suspected collaborators, death penalty in the Palestinian Authority.
• Rights of workers from the territories.