One Palestinian targeting another

The report then turns to Hamas' violent reprisals against Fatah members, which occurred before, during, and after Operation Cast Lead.

The Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights received 250 complaints from citizens who claimed they were illegally detained by Hamas security forces. One-fifth of them claim to have been tortured while in custody. Human rights organizations say Hamas also killed between 29 and 32 Gaza residents from December 2008 through February 2009, most of whom had been detained at the al-Saraya prison.

(Not all of the victims were Fatah members, though; some were criminals who tried to escape after Israeli jets bombed the prison.)

Victims and their families all report similar stories. Groups of armed, masked men break into their homes, abduct men, and take them to nearby buildings for interrogation and torture. Some are eventually released; others are brutalized and left for dead. One representative story:

... a group of armed, masked men broke into the house of a Fatah supporter in Gaza City, abducted him and took him to a nearby location, where he was tortured and shot in the leg. He was reportedly left unconscious and rescued by neighbors. The ordeal reportedly lasted about one hour. The same individual had previously been arrested by members of the security servers and kept in detention for a month and a half. He was released only after signing a pledge not to participate in Fatah political celebrations or occasions. (p. 377)

One detainee said there was a "clear chain of command" among the security forces, suggesting they were part of formal institutions and not simply vigilante groups. Another said he was accused of "having contacts with the Ramallah government," suggesting his captors were linked to Hamas.

Hamas also used Operation Cast Lead as an excuse to restrict the freedom of movement of Fatah members.

The report deems the arrests, beatings and murders "serious violations" of human rights, and criticizes the Gaza government for not agreeing to prosecute the perpetrators.

The West Bank occupation

On p. 382, the report moves to the West Bank. Goldstone and his team were not allowed to visit the West Bank, so this section is based on interviews conducted in Amman and Geneva; oral and written reports from Palestinian, Israeli and international sources; and publicly-available sources.

The West Bank section is lengthy, so we'll cover part of it in today's installment and part in the next.

It begins by noting "a sharp increase in the use of force" against Palestinians in the West Bank. This began before Operation Cast Lead: A riot started in Hebron on Dec. 4 and would leave 17 people injured by the time it ended four days later. Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinian houses and set fire to vehicles, farms and mosques. Israeli security forces - legally required to maintain order in the West Bank, since they are an occupying power - didn't stop the violence.

After the war started, according to Goldstone, Israeli security forces routinely used excessive force to quell demonstrations in the West Bank. During a Dec. 28 protest in Ni'lin, for example, Israeli soldiers shot three people; one of them, Arafat Khawaja, was shot in the back as he turned to run from the protest.

The excessive force reportedly continued after the war, too: During a March 13 protest against the separation wall, also in Ni'lin, an American citizen was shot in the head with a tear gas canister. The man, Tristan Anderson, remains in critical condition in an Israeli hospital. During another protest, in Bi'lin on April 17, a man was killed - also by a tear gas canister - fired into his chest at short range.

The report also describes violence against detainees arrested at protests. One video of Palestinians being beaten by Israeli soldiers was uploaded to a Web site, filed under "comedy."

Witnesses described the situation in the West Bank as a "free for all," and Goldstone faults a culture of impunity for increasing the level of violence.

In the past, every case in which a Palestinian not participating in hostilities was killed was subject to criminal investigation. This policy changed in 2000. Criminal investigations are now the exception... over 90 percent of investigations into settler violence are closed without an "indictment being filed." (p. 393)

The report makes two separate legal conclusions about the West Bank violence. It concludes that Israel, as an occupying power, has a responsibility (which it didn't fulfill) to protect Palestinians from settler violence; and it concludes that Israel violated the human rights of protesters by clamping down so harshly on their demonstrations.