Press Release

22 September 1998
Press Release Index
AL-HAQ CONDEMNS THE MURDER OF IYAD QARABSAH AND DEMANDS THAT THE PERPATRATORS BE SURRENDERED TO THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL AUTHORITY TO BE TRIED BEFORE PALESTINIAN COURTS.
On Thursday, 17 September 1998, 17 year-old Iyad Rawhi Qarabsah, a Palestinian resident of Bitunya, near Ramallah, died in Ramallah Hospital after suffering serious gun wounds inflicted by Avashalom Ladani, a 35 year-old settler from Dolev settlement near Bitunya.
According to al-Haq's preliminary investigations, two Israeli settlers from Dolev settlement exited a car and opened fire at a group of Palestinian teenagers walking along the roadside, killing Iyad Qarabsah and seriously wounding15 year-old Issa Sulaiman Jabarin.
In a similar, recent attack in Beit Sahour, an Israeli settler from David settlement, near Tqu' village opened fire indiscriminately on Palestinian teenagers near Beit Sahour school, inflicting grievous bodily injury to 16 year-old Muhammad Mousa Ali Thweib.
Al-Haq condemns these attacks and views with grave concern the alarming rise of settler violence against Palestinians. Al-Haq regards the frequent and organized attacks by Israeli settlers on the Palestinian civilians as a serious danger that threatens the security and safety of the Palestinians. Al-Haq demands the following:
  • That the Israeli government takes on its legal responsibility to ensure the protection of Palestinians against all acts or threats of violence by Israeli settlers.
  • That the Israeli government bans the carrying of firearms by settlers.
  • That the Israeli government surrenders all perpetrators of crimes or illegal acts against Palestinians, to be tried before Palestinian courts.
  • That the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention fulfill their commitments by intervening to stop the continuous Israeli violations against Palestinians, specifically those that fall under Article 49 of the Convention.
  • That the United Nations Security Council fulfill its international responsibilities by intervening to stop the continuous attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians, and demands that the Council establishes a special committee to investigate the violations of the Israeli settlers. Based on the result of the investigation, that any individual responsible for violations or excesses, whether relating to this particular event or any other, must be held responsible before the law.

-END-