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Yesterday afternoon a car bomb exploded in downtown Tulkarm killing Fawwaz Bashir
Badran. Badran (27) was a shop owner in Tulkarm and a father of three. He had never
previously had any problems with either the police or Israeli military, and was not a known
political activist. While the Israeli military has denied knowledge of the bombing, the Israeli
media says that Israeli sources have stated that Badran was killed because he was allegedly
involved in the planning of attacks upon Israel that were carried out by the Is-a-din-el-Kassam
Brigades of Hamas.
At around 2:10 pm Friday July 13, 2001 in downtown Tulkarm a car bomb exploded, instantly
killing Fawwaz Badran. Badran was the owner of a store located next to where the bomb
exploded. The car that exploded was a white Mitsubishi with Palestinian license plates.
However, after the explosion Palestinian police officials found that the license plates on the car
were fakes, and that the car was not registered with the PNA. Contrary to some claims, the
car was not Badrans, as he does not have a drivers license. At the time of the killing two
Israeli military helicopters were circling the city.
Israeli sources have claimed that Badran was involved in planning two bombings in Netanya,
and that he was a contact between Iz-a-din-el-Kassam and Hamas leaders in Damascus.
However, no evidence has been given to back up these claims. This case differs from many of
the cases of assassination investigated by al-Haq in that no information has been received that
indicates that Badran was an important Palestinian activist. He was not known to be associated
with the military wing of Hamas. While Hamas placed an obituary for him in the paper today,
no posters announcing his death have yet been put out by Hamas and no formal statement was
released, as is usual procedure following the death of a member of Is-a-din-el-Kassam.
Israels policy of assassinating Palestinian activists has been well documented. Contrary to all
of the evidence and to past statements, in recent weeks some Israeli officials and Israeli media
reports have officially denied that there is a policy of assassination, but have admitted that the
military is carrying out proactive operations in which Palestinian targets are liquidated.
These actions are equivalent to a policy of assassination. The use of euphemisms by Israeli
spin-doctors in an attempt to deny or cover up Israels illegal actions does not change the reality
of the assassination policy. On several recent occasions Israels cabinet has also reaffirmed this
policy by approving the use of all means necessary to combat terrorism and by giving the
military the green light to act preemptively against anyone suspected of being involved in
planning or carrying out terrorist attacks. Most recently, on July 3rd, the Israeli kitchen
cabinet decided to expand the list of Palestinian activists who could be assassinated from only
ticking bombs to include any known terrorist.
The United Nations and the International Community have both repeatedly condemned Israels
use of assassination, saying that it violates international law and that it threatens to undermine
peace efforts. To these reasons for condemnation must be added the fact that these executions
are being carried out without the accused being afforded the right to defend him/herself against
the charges made against them. This is especially dangerous given the number of times over the
last months that Israeli forces have admitted to having made mistakes that left Palestinians
dead. On May 14th five Palestinian policemen in Betunia near Ramallah were killed by
mistake due to a case of mistaken identity. On June 9th three Palestinian women were killed
by mistake in Gaza when their home was accidentally shelled, and on July 2nd a Palestinian
taxi driver was mistakenly killed while attempting to deliver vegetables to a passenger who
had forgotten them in his car.
Assassinations such as the one carried out yesterday qualify as willful killings, which Article 147
of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibits. Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention qualifies willful killing as a grave breach of the convention, which are equivalent to
war crimes and must be prosecuted by States Parties to the convention. In this light the
international community must take action to stop Israeli aggression against unarmed Palestinian
civilians and must pressure the Israeli government to end its policy of assassination.
Al-Haq therefore reiterates its calls for:
1. Dr. Asma Jahangir Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to visit the Occupied Palestinian Territories
to fully investigate all cases of assassination that have occurred since the outbreak of the
Intifada and to report on his findings to the relevant international bodies.
2. States Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to act immediately under their
obligations as outlined in Articles 1, 146, and 147 of the convention to provide the
Palestinian people with protection from grave breaches of their rights, which qualify as
war crimes, and must demand an end to abuses committed by Israeli forces.
3. The United Nations to send a human rights monitoring force to the Occupied
Territories to document all violations social, economic, cultural, civil and political that
result from the continued Israeli occupation.
4. The United Nations to fully implement all resolutions related to the Occupied
Territories passed during the last two meetings of the Human Rights Commission, and
press the Security Council to take action to end Israels systematic violation of
international humanitarian law. |