TWO PALESTINIANS KILLED BY JEWISH SETTLERS IN THE WEST BANK

TENSIONS INCREASE

23 October 1996

Two Palestinians from Sinjel village near Ramallah have been killed in recent violence of the Jewish settlers against Palestinian residents of the West Bank.

On 21 October, Fathi Ali Assahouri, 40 years old, married with five children, was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting. He was traveling near the Ramallah by-pass road, near Ofra settlement, when a settler's car came towards them with their bright lights on. As the car passed, the settlers shot into Mr. Assahouri's car, and killed him instantly with a bullet in the head.

On the morning of 22 October, 19 year old Abdullah Abdel Raouf Abdullah Karakara was shot in the neck and killed, seemingly by area settlers. He and a small group of other youth were throwing stones at an Israeli army military jeep, which came to disperse the small demonstration. Fifteen minutes after the intervention of the Israeli army, Abdullah suddenly was seen to collapse, shot in the neck and killed by live ammunition. An eye-witness later said they had seen a white settler's car in the area.

In further settler-related violence, a group of settlers approximately 16 years old and armed with guns, from the Jewish settlement of Elon Moreh near Nablus, assaulted farmers as they harvested the olive crop, which is now in season. The settlers threw stones, and injured one 65 year old man in the head.

LAWE - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment expresses its condolences to the Assahouri and Karakara families, and views with grave concern the increasing violence by settlers. The Israeli army is responsible for the protection of the local occupied population, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, but has failed both to protect Palestinians from settler-related violence and to bring to justice the settlers responsible for the violence. This hostility further highlights the instability of the situation in the West Bank, and reflects the incompatibility of settlements and a just peace.

LAWE - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organization, dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAWE is also an affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.