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On September 11, 2001 Israeli military forces surrounded the West Bank Cities of Jenin and
Jericho. Many smaller villages surrounding these cities were also sealed off with no traffic
allowed in or out of them. More than 70 tanks and armored personnel carriers have been
positioned around the perimeter of Jenin making passage into or out of the city impossible.
Over the last several days Israeli tanks have also entered into Jenin, Jericho, Salfit, Ramallah
and Kalkilya, destroying police stations, security outposts, and a number of private residences.
In Jenin the electrical infrastructure was also heavily damaged leaving half of the city without
power, and the cities water supply has been blocked for three days. Eighteen Palestinians were
killed between September 11 and 15, twelve of them during raids into Jenin. One of those
killed was executed last Wednesday at a checkpoint outside of the village of Tamoun near
Jenin. An eyewitness to the killing related the following story to al-Haq.
Everyday at 3:30 AM the eyewitness leaves the village of Toubas to deliver bread to the
neighboring village of Tamoun. The trip usually takes about 45 minutes. Following the
completion of his deliveries in Tamoun the eyewitness received a call from an acquaintance in
the village of al-Faraa asking him to come to the village to deliver more bread. At 4:45 he left
Tamoun for al-Faraa, traveling along the main road between Tamoun and Toubas. Just outside
of Tamoun he came across twenty to twenty-five Israeli soldiers gathered near the road. They
were not located at a regular checkpoint or roadblock, and their presence was unexpected.
They ordered him to stop and get out of his car as they checked his ID card. After several
minutes of waiting another car containing four Palestinian workmen approached the checkpoint
from Tamoun. Its occupants were also required to exit from their car and turn over their ID
cards to the soldiers at the checkpoint. All of the men were then made to sit on the ground and
wait.
Shortly thereafter a jeep from the Palestinian Preventative Security Service approached the
checkpoint from the direction of Toubas. Seeing the workmen and eyewitnesss cars the jeep
began honking its horn to see if there was a problem. The Israeli soldiers responded by shining
a bright spotlight on the jeep and ordering it to stop. Simultaneously, the jeep began to rapidly
turn around and the eyewitness heard the sound of a gun being cocked in the jeep. The Israeli
soldiers also heard the noise and opened fire at the jeep, as fire was also directed at them. At
least one Israeli army helicopter quickly landed on a neighboring hill, and the shooting stopped
as the jeep fled the area.
The Israeli soldiers quickly gathered together and began to search the surrounding area. One of
the soldiers yells that there is a Palestinian lying in the road approximately 10 meters from his
location. (Reports gathered by al-Haq indicate that the individual was Thaer Mahdawi) The
commanding officer ordered the soldier not to approach the man, but to shoot him twice to
ensure that he is dead, and then to approach. The soldier complied with the order, shooting
Mahdawi twice and then kicking his body to ensure that he was dead. After another hour all of
the detained men were released, although the eyewitness was forced to abandon his car.
While there is a possibility that Mahdawi had already been killed when the Israeli soldier shot
him, there is an equal possibility that he was merely injured. The order to shoot Mahdawi and
the shooting itself were both given and carried out with the intent to kill. These actions are
analogous to willful killing as defined under international law. According to Article 147 of the
Fourth Geneva Convention willful killing is a grave breach of the convention. According to
Article 146 of the same convention grave breaches of the convention require that all High
Contracting Parties to the convention take action to search out and bring to justice all persons
or parties responsible for carrying out grave breaches of the convention. All grave breaches of
the Fourth Geneva Convention are considered de facto war crimes, and are listed as such in the
statute of the International Criminal Court. Al-Haq therefore calls upon Israel to fully investigate
this case and any other cases of abuse against Palestinians, and demands that those found to be
responsible for killing Mahdawi be brought to justice. Al-Haq also calls upon the International
Community to provide protection for the Palestinian people living under Israeli occupation and
to take all necessary action to ensure that Israel respects its obligations under international law.
Finally, al-Haq calls upon the Israel military to make public its open fire regulations, and to
ensure that they are both respected and followed.
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