April 11, 2001

In an Unprecedented Act of Aggression Two Palestinians are Killed and More than Fifty Injured as Israel Escalates Tensions by Entering Palestinian Controlled Areas of Khan Younis to Destroy Palestinian Homes

Two Palestinians were killed and at least fifty more were wounded last night when several Israeli bulldozers accompanied by a number of tanks and an attack helicopter entered into Palestinian controlled “A” areas on the edge of Khan Younis Refugee Camp in Gaza to destroy civilian Palestinian property.  This is the largest incursion by Israeli Occupying Forces into an area under full Palestinian control since the outbreak of the Intifada.  This action is a blatant violation of the peace agreements and the destruction of civilian Palestinian property is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention constituting a war crime.

 According to reports received by al-Haq, the Israeli army entered approximately 200 meters into Khan Younis and used bulldozers to completely demolish at least 28 homes and an olive grove, and caused severe damage to several other homes leaving them uninhabitable.  Hundreds were left homeless by these actions.  Upon entry into the Palestinian controlled areas a gun battle erupted between Palestinian residents of the camp and the Israeli army.  Tank and heavy machine gun fire was directed at the camp, and while there are no reported Israeli casualties, two Palestinians were killed and at least fifty Palestinians have been reported injured, several of them critically.  Those killed were Hani Musa Abu Riziq, age 25, who was killed during shelling, and Lieutenant Ilyas ‘Eid, age 50, who was shot in the head.  Several of those injured were from medical teams and were injured while attempting to aid those wounded in the clashes.   

According to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said that, “what was done last night was a clearly defensive operation.”  He went on to say that the Israeli actions were taken in response to recent mortar attacks upon Israeli settlements in the area and that the Israeli military will take whatever steps necessary to end attacks.  Al-Haq condemns these Israeli actions in the strongest terms.  The buildings that were destroyed were civilian homes.  Some of them have remained vacant for the last several months, as constant Israeli bombardment of the area in which they are located has made it to dangerous to live in the area.  Israeli claims that mortars have been fired from around these homes cannot be used as a justification of the destruction of these homes and the olive grove.  Their destruction only creates a new front line, which will force even more families out of their homes, but will not bring peace and quiet to the area, nor will it end the firing of mortars.  These actions can only be seen as provocative steps that will in all likelihood lead to further conflict, and therefore cannot be construed as defensive.

The destruction of civilian property is clearly prohibited under international law. Article 53 of the Forth Geneva Convention states that, “Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered necessary by military operations.”  Yesterday’s actions cannot be viewed as having been carried out for military necessity, and are therefore illegal.  The willful nature of the Israeli acts, their lack of necessity, and the extent of the damage done qualify these actions as grave breaches of the Forth Geneva Convention under Articles 146 and 147, which constitute war crimes.  According to Article 147 “extensive destruction and appropriation of property” is a grave breach of the convention.  Destruction of property is also prohibited under Article 23 (g) of the Hague Convention of 1907. 

However, the destruction of property should not overshadow the continued Israeli attacks upon the Palestinian people.  In addition to the two Palestinians killed and more than fifty injured last night during the clashes in Khan Younis, one Palestinian was also killed and at least twenty were injured when Israeli forces fired surface-to-surface missiles at two Palestinian police posts in the Gaza Strip yesterday morning.  North of Gaza City in the al-Sudaniya area two missiles struck the Palestinian Marine Police headquarters.  Wae’l Khweiter, 28 years old and a doctor from Gaza was killed in the attack.  A number of others were seriously wounded.  A third missile was fired at the offices of the Palestinian Military Intelligence Services located in the center of Deir El-Balah.  Various reports put the number of injured in this attack between 15 and 20 individuals. 

Finally, on Sunday night Israeli forces occupied two buildings in the neighborhood of Betunia near Ramallah resulting in heavy clashes in the area.  Israeli forces fired tanks and heavy machine guns into the neighborhood through much of the night and well into the next day.  One civilian, Taysir Diab al-Amouri, age 40, was killed after being struck in the head by a bullet fired from a heavy machinegun.

The increasing calls by Israeli politicians for attacks upon Palestinian targets, and the continuous use of disproportionate force by the Israeli military against Palestinians cause al-Haq grave concern, and lead us to once more call upon the international community to send an international protection force to the Occupied Territories.  There is currently a resolution before the UN Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva submitted under Agenda Item 8 that calls for the formation of such a force.  Al-Haq requests international support, specifically European and US, for this resolution.  Over the last weeks several European nations have bravely spoken out against the continued violations of Palestinians’ rights.  Al-Haq now calls upon these nations to take action to protect the Palestinian people against further violations.     

Several weeks ago the United States vetoed a resolution before the United Nations Security Council that also called for the sending of a protection force to the Occupied Territories.  The US claimed that it vetoed the resolution because the resolution was not in the interests of peace and would serve to preempt any future attempts to negotiate a settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.  However, last week a group of 87 US Senators and 209 Members of the House of Representatives signed a letter that was sent to President Bush calling for a reevaluation of the administration’s support for the Palestinian Authority and blaming the Palestinian people for the current conflict.  The content of this letter not only runs contrary to the position towards the current conflict taken by the administration, but also contradict every report released by international fact-finding and investigative missions.  The US now has another chance to support justice in Palestine, which al-Haq urges it to take, by supporting the resolution that is currently before the UN Human Rights Commission.      

If no action is taken by the international community, despite the well-documented grave violations of human rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention occurring in the Occupied Territories, moral and ethical responsibility for continued violations must rest on the shoulders of those who refuse to take action.  Al-Haq now requests that its friends and supporters, and the international public request that their governments support the above mentioned Human Rights Commission resolution. 

In addition to our call for an international protection force al-Haq once again calls upon the international community to:    

1. Ensures that the Israeli authorities abide by provisions of international humanitarian and human rights law.
2. Press for immediate action by the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1 of the Convention “to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances”.
3. Send human rights monitors to the Occupied Territories to document abuses perpetrated by the Israeli Occupying forces.