Press Release

December 31, 2000
Press Release Index

Al-Haq is Extremely Concerned by the Renewed Israeli Policy of Assassinating Well Known Political Leaders:

Dr. Thabet Ahmed Thabet, Secretary General of Fatah in the Tulkarm District, is summarily executed by Israeli Special Forces.
Today, December 31, 2000 at 9:15 am, Dr. Thabet Ahmed Thabet, age 48, from Ramin in the Tulkarm District was killed as he left his home.  Dr. Thabet, a father of three, was leaving for work when soldiers parked in a Jeep near his home opened fire on his car.  He was struck in the back by four or five 300 mm bullets.  He died in the hospital not long after the shooting.  The killing of Dr. Thabet occurred less than three hours after an attack on a settler vehicle near Ramallah left two settlers dead and four injured.    

An Israeli military spokesman stated that the “IDF” took responsibility for the killing. He said that Israeli soldiers were responding to shooting in the area and Dr. Thabet was an unfortunate casualty of these clashes.  Contrary to the Israeli military’s claims, in affidavits collected by al-Haq from witnesses and neighbors there is no record of shooting in the area.  Prior to this incident there had not been any demonstrations or clashes in the neighborhood of Dr. Thabet’s home.  Witnesses claim that Dr. Thabet was specifically targeted. 

Dr. Thabet Ahmed Thabet was a well-respected member of the Tulkarm community and a local Fatah activist.  He worked as a dentist in Tulkarm and was the General Director of the local Ministry of Health.  He had found himself in conflict with the occupation authorities in the past because of his political activism.  He was first arrested in 1975 due to his connection with Fatah and was placed in Prison for three years.  During the intifada he spent two years in administrative detention from 1988 to 1990, and he was again arrested and interrogated on several other occasions.

Dr. Thabet was the head of Fatah in the Tulkarm district and a member of Fatah’s central committee for the West Bank.  He is the Eighth Palestinian to be executed by the Israeli Military Authorities and the first political leader to be targeted.  In all previous cases of assassination documented by al-Haq, since the 28th of September 2000, the Israeli government has claimed that all targeted individuals were involved in planning or carrying out armed attacks on Israeli targets.  Many Palestinian civilians and innocent bystanders have been killed during these assassinations, as Israeli used excessive force including car bombs, missiles fired from helicopters, tanks and other heavy weaponry.  Dr. Thabet is the highest-ranking Palestinian to be killed during the current conflict. 

Al-Haq calls upon the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions to condemn the actions of the Israeli military authorities and request that he demand an end to Israel’s policy of assassination.  The UN Commission on Human Rights issued resolution E/CN 4/S-5/1 on 19 October 2000 calling for the establishment of a commission of inquiry into the uprising in the Occupied Territories, and requested that several fact finding mission to the region be scheduled. Pursuant to this treaty, which called upon the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions to visit Israel and the Occupied Territories, Al-Haq also requests that, the Special Rapporteur carry out an immediate mission to the occupied Palestinian territories and report on his findings.

The Israeli press speaks openly of a high level decision, which is being implemented, to assassinate individuals that the Israeli authorities view as a “danger”. This decision is being implemented daily using Israel’s overwhelmingly superior firepower with devastating results to innocent bystanders. Local populations have been terrified. Al-Haq views with concern this latest development in the Palestinian Occupied Territories.  Israeli Forces are acting in complete disregard of international humanitarian law and international human rights principles.  Keeping this in mind, al-Haq renews its call upon the International Community to Provide a protection force for the Palestinian people.  Such a force is needed immediately and until the end of the occupation. 

Willful killing constitutes a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention as defined in Article 147.  Article 146 imposes an obligation on the States Parties to the Convention, especially those who have incorporated it into their domestic legislation, to investigate and prosecute in their domestic courts those who order or commit grave breaches of the convention.  Al-Haq calls upon the international community to investigate and prosecute those responsible for this and other grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention.  In light of the continuous violations of the Convention and the deterioration of the human rights situation in the Occupied Territories, al-Haq calls upon the International Community to fulfill their legal obligations under Article 1 of the Convention “to respect and ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances” and to pressure the Israeli government to abide by its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention. 
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