A Bloody day in the occupied Palestinian territories: 8 Palestinian civilians are killed and hundreds are wounded by the Israeli occupation forces
Today, the Israeli occupation escalated their aggressive actions against Palestinian demonstrators who demonstrated in protest to the crimes and killings perpetrated by these forces in the occupied Palestinian territories. In contrast with the claims of the Israeli political circles and mass media, the last 48 hours witnessed additional reinforcement of the Israeli occupation troops, and establishment of new military sites and expansion of existing ones. It is worth mentioning that these military sites are in direct friction with over-populated Palestinian areas, which increases tension in these areas and constitutes a major factor of the continuity of clashes between Palestinian civilians and the Israeli occupation forces.
This afternoon, the Israeli occupation forces fired at a peaceful demonstration which was organized in Nablus in protest to the aggressive actions by the Israeli occupation forces and Jewish settlers, who fired at some Palestinians yesterday and killed Zahi Fathi El-A'arda, 34 years old, by a bullet in the abdomen. In the clashes of this afternoon in Nablus, 4 Palestinian civilians were killed and 55 were wounded, 8 of whom are in a very critical condition, including the child Sae'd Tambour, 15 years old, who was wounded by a bullet in the head, and medical sources stated that he is clinically dead. The four martyrs of Nablus are: 1. A'dnan Khairi A'ziz Asa'd, 21 years old, wounded by a Dum-Dum bullet in the head; 2. Eissa Abdullah Shteiwi, 32 years old, wounded by a medium bullet in the heart; 3. Feras Khalil Mustafa Zeid, 26 years old, wounded by a medium bullet in the chest; and 4. Amjad Ahmed Abu Eissa, 32 years old, wounded by a bullet in the chest.
This afternoon too, in the town of Salfit the Israeli occupation forces fired at Palestinian demonstrators and killed the child Alla' Bassam Abdullah Bani Nemreh, 15 years old, by a bullet in the head. In Ramallah and Al-Bireh, the Israeli occupation forces shot dead Thae'r Ali Daud Moa'lla, 20 years old, from the refugee camp of Al-Ama'ri, by a bullet in the head, and wounded dozens of civilians with live ammunition and rubber-coated metal bullets. In Qalqilya, the Israeli occupation forces shot at Palestinian demonstrators and killed the child Samer Talal Al-Oweisi, 16 years old, by a bullet in the chest, and wounded dozens. In Tulkarm, the child Mohammed A'adel Ibrahim Abu Tahoun, 16 years old, was killed by two bullets in the neck and the chest fired by the Israeli occupation forces. This evening, the Israeli combat helicopters shelled some houses and an electricity generator in Beit Sahour. As a result, electricity was cut off in some quarters of the city. No casualties have been reported so far. In the town of Rafah, clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and the Israeli occupation forces are still continuous.
PCHR's field officer in Rafah has just reported that the Israeli occupation forces unleashed two shells at houses in the area adjacent to the borders with Egypt. It is worth mentioning that these houses were evacuated of their residents due to frequent aggressive actions by the Israeli occupation forces. During the past three weeks, this area was shelled by the Israeli occupation forces several times, the last of them was last night when these forces unleashed 6 shells. The Israeli occupation forces have used live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets, tear gas and even shells indiscriminately against Palestinian civilians in Rafah. PCHR's field officer in the town reported that 15 Palestinian civilians were wounded by live ammunition shot by the Israeli occupation forces, including the child Ibrahim Zannoun, 13 years old, who was wounded in the foot, and Nazek Mohammed Qeshta, 32 years old, who was wounded by splinters of a shell in the eye and hand.
In Khan Yunis, clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and the Israeli occupation forces near an Israeli military outpost to the west of the refugee camp of Khan Yunis are still continuous. PCHR's field officer in the area reported that more than 135 Palestinians, mostly children, were wounded by rubber-coated metal bullets, and 5 people were wounded by live ammunition as a result of indiscriminate shooting by the Israeli occupation forces. The PCHR's field officer added that the journalist Abdel Rahman Al-Khatib, a photographer of Al-Ayyam local daily newspaper, was wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet in the face.
In addition, dozens of Palestinian civilians were hurt due to inhaling tear gas used by the Israeli occupation forces. Today also, the vicinity of the settlement of Kfar Darom near Deir El-Balah, witnessed clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and the Israeli occupation forces, which responded shooting rubber-coated metal bullets. As a result, two Palestinians were wounded. The area of Erez in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces fired at Palestinian demonstrators this afternoon. As a result, Jalal Yssin Hmeida, 16 years old, from Gaza, was wounded by 3 bullets in the chest, shoulder and arm. He was evacuated to Shifa' Hospital in Gaza. PCHR's field officer in the area reported that 4 other Palestinians were wounded by rubber-coated metal bullets.
PCHR is deeply worried about the escalation of excessive use of power by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians, this afternoon in particular. PCHR warns that more killings may be perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians in light of reinforcing the presence of these forces throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, in contrast with the claims of the Israeli mass media that these forces decreased the points of friction.
In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces reinforced their presence in several areas and took some aggressive steps by:
PCHR reiterates its call upon the international community and the High Contracting Parties to Geneva Fourth Convention for immediate intervention to halt the crimes and killings perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces, which have resulted in killing 105 Palestinians, including 27 children under 18, and wounding more than 3,000, one third of whom are children. PCHR believes that providing immediate international protection for Palestinian civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories is the only way to stop the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces, and prevent more deterioration of the situation.
For more information please contact: Palestinian Centre for Human Rights Tel/Fax: 972 7 282 4776/ 282 3725 E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org Web Page: www.pchrgaza.org
Israeli occupation forces continue to use missiles, helicopter gunships, tanks and other heavy weapons against Palestinians and their homes in Nablus, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Beit Sahour, Beit Jala, Rafah and Khan Younis, resulting in 8 deaths and at least 275 injuries. Israeli occupation forces opened fire on Palestinian civilians at Kufar Khalil Junction, near Tulkarem, on the Nablus-Jerusalem road. This resulted in four deaths:
At the same location 35 were injured, some of them severely, including Said Adnan Abdullah Tambour, 15 years, who is clinically dead after he was hit by live ammunition in the head. Israeli snipers shot at Palestinian civilians in Tulkarem and Qalqilya, killing two youths. They were Muhammed Aidel Hassan Abu Tahum, 16 years old from Tulkarem, hit by two bullets in the neck and chest and Samer Tallal Awasi, 16 years old from Qalqilya, hit by live ammunition in the chest. This brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces and settlers since 28 October 2000 to 108.
In Rafah, Israeli occupation forces continued to fire with heavy weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles, into residential areas, injuring 55. In Khan Younis, 135 people were injured after live ammunition and missiles were fired by Israeli occupation forces near El Matehan Junction. Most were injured by live ammunition and shrapnel from the missiles. In Nablus, an Israeli soldier fired on a Palestinian bus passing between Tal Village and Surah Village, injuring the Abu Kaud family. One of the children, Arif, 2 years old, was hit in his left leg. His mother, Ahlam, was hit in her leg and right arm.
Israeli tanks stationed east of Beit Sahour and at the western entrance of Beit Jala, along with two Israeli helicopter gunships, fired upon Palestinian neighborhoods in Beit Jala, Beit Sahour and Za'atera village, causing damage to numerous homes and cars and damaging the main electricity transmitter at Beit Sahour, causing an electricity blackout to the Bethlehem region. At the time of writing, 8.00pm Friday, Israeli artillery continues to fire at residential areas in Rafah, near Salah El Din Gate, and at Beit Sahour, Beit Jala and Nablus.
Israeli forces are also preventing the return of farmers to their homes in Kufar Khalil, Huwara, Beit Dajan and villages in Salfit. LAW reiterates the following:
Yesterday, 19 October 2000, a Special Session of the Commission on Human Rights passed a resolution condemning what it said were "grave and massive violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people by Israel", and decided to establish a "human rights inquiry commission" to gather information with the aim of preventing similar occurrences.
In resolution E/CN.4/S-5/L.2/Rev.1 on grave and massive violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people by Israel, the Commission strongly condemned the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force in violation of international law by the Israeli occupying power against innocent unarmed Palestinian civilians, causing the deaths of 120 civilians, including many children, in the occupied territories, which constituted a war crime and a crime against humanity; called upon Israel to put an immediate end to any use of force against unarmed civilians; and called upon the international community to take immediate effective measures to secure the cessation of violence by Israel and to put an end to the ongoing violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.
The resolution affirmed that the Israeli occupation in itself constituted a grave violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people; also affirmed that the deliberate and systematic killing of civilians and children by Israel constituted a flagrant and grave violation of the right to life and a crime against humanity; and decided to establish a human rights inquiry commission whose membership should be based on the principles of independence and objectivity, to gather and compile information on the violation of human rights by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories and to provide the Commission with its conclusions and recommendations, with the aim of preventing a repetition of such violations
In addition, the measure requested Commission Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; torture; violence against women; religious intolerance; racial discrimination; and right to housing; its Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; and the Representative of the Secretary-General for internally displaced persons to carry out immediate missions to the occupied Palestinian territories and to report their findings to the Commission at its fifty-seventh session and, on an interim basis, to the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session.
Law welcomes this as the only fair and impartial means to examine into the human rights violations since 28 September 2000. The evidence of reliable and independent international observers has shown that Israel used force illegally and flagrantly violated the rights of Palestinians. Law asks all States to submit to the democratic vote of the Commission, and to facilitate and support the work of the human rights inquiry into recent events. The resolution was adopted by a vote of 19 in favour and 16 opposed, with 17 abstaining.
LAW attended the Special Session along with a number of other local and international human rights organizations. It called for such a commission of inquiry and asked for UN human rights Special Rapporteurs to visit the occupied Palestinian territory to support the work of such a commission.
BALTIMORE (IOCC) - Victims of the crisis that began three weeks ago in the Holy Land will receive emergency assistance through a project announced by International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) today. IOCC will deliver emergency medical supplies, food and other relief aid valued at $20,000 to children and families affected by the turmoil in East Jerusalem, Ramallah, the West Bank and Gaza beginning next week. More than 1,500 people will benefit from the emergency supplies that will be distributed through seven hospitals and community organizations. Over 3,600 people have been injured in the hostilities that began September 28 with casualties mounting each day that the fighting continues. Many of the injuries, according to IOCC Jerusalem Representative Nora Kort, have resulted in head, neck and chest trauma. Tragically, many of the injuries have resulted in permanent disabilities, she reports.
The St. John Ophthalmic Hospital in Jerusalem, which has seen patients seeking treatment for eye injuries, is one of the institutions that will receive assistance from the IOCC project. Mr. Marwan Khader, the Hospital's Administrative Director, described the needs of over 20 young people who have sought treatment-including some who have lost their sight and another patient requiring an eye transplant. "We appeal to the conscience of the world to help us alleviate the suffering of these innocent people," said His Eminence, Metropolitan Philip, Primate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. "It pains me beyond measure to witness the ongoing uncivil war in Palestine and Israel. Please pray for peace in the Middle East," the Metropolitan added.
In addition to those injured, the disturbances have begun to exact an economic toll on the population of the Holy Land, with many Israeli and Palestinian businesses forced to close and tourism, a mainstay of the economy, dramatically curtailed. The fighting has also come during the annual olive harvest that is a central cash crop for many Palestinian towns and villages. Even if efforts to restore the peace are successful, with the violence preventing many Palestinians from harvesting the olive crop, the effects of the skirmishes are sure to be felt for months if not years ahead. To this end, IOCC will also work with partners in the region to provide direct assistance to families and the elderly who have been adversely affected and are in need of assistance. Emergency provision of food, personal care items and medical supplies will be distributed in the West Bank.
IOCC is appealing for donations to provide emergency medical supplies, food and other relief aid. To make a contribution, visit the IOCC website at www.iocc.org or call toll-free (877) 803 4622. Gifts to the "Holy Land Crisis Relief Project" may also be sent to IOCC, P.O. Box 630225, Baltimore, MD 21263-0225.
IOCC, the relief and development organization of Orthodox Christians worldwide, began working in Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1997. In addition to the emergency relief effort, IOCC implements projects in education, computer training, small-enterprise development and the rehabilitation of schools in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Despite difficult working conditions and restricted travel, IOCC staff continue to implement the school rehabilitation and training projects.
IOCC is an implementing partner of Action By Churches Together, an alliance of churches and relief agencies responding to emergencies in more than 50 countries.
Contact:
Mark Hodde
International Orthodox Christian Charities
711 W. 40th Street, Suite 306
Baltimore, Maryland 21211
Tel: (410) 243 9820
Fax: (410) 243 9824
E-mail: publicrelations@iocc.org
GENEVA, 19 October () -- A special session of the Commission on Human Rights condemned this evening by a margin of three roll-call votes what it said were "grave and massive violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people by Israel", and decided to establish a "human rights inquiry commission" to gather information with the aim of preventing similar occurrences.
A resolution to that effect was adopted by a vote of 19 in favour and 16 opposed, with 17 abstaining.
The resolution also requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, to take stock of the situation after what it called "disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force" by Israel in the course of confrontations beginning on 28 September that had led to the deaths of 120 civilians, including children. The High Commissioner, Mary Robinson, was also asked to facilitate the activities of Commission mechanisms in response to the events.
In addition, the resolution requested Commission Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; torture; violence against women; religious intolerance; racial discrimination; the right to housing; the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; and the Representative of the Secretary-General for internally displaced persons to carry out immediate missions to the occupied Palestinian territories and to report their findings to the Commission at its fifty-seventh session and, on an interim basis, to the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights urged all parties to refrain from words or actions that could exacerbate the current dangerous and sensitive situation. She hoped all parties could soon succeed in halting all the violence and would soon resume progress towards achieving lasting peace.
Shambu Ram Simhkada, the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, said that the only way forward was through the process of dialogue and discussion. He believed that in that sense, the session had made a contribution.
A representative of Palestine said passage of the resolution had "saved the reputation of human rights", which had been "repressed, suppressed, trampled upon, even killed, in Palestine".
For Immediate Release
Date: Oct. 20, 2000
Contact: Georgia Wever
Phone: 212.233.7151
FAX: 212.233.7063
STATEMENT ON THE MIDDLE EAST CRISIS
We are pained and outraged at the carnage in the Middle East, which has now claimed over one hundred lives, overwhelmingly Palestinian. While every death must be mourned, there is absolutely no moral equivalence between Israel's use of its heavy weapons and advanced sniper equipment against largely unarmed civilians. No rationalization or media spin can justify this one-sided use of force, unprecedented in the history of the region, to vanquish stone-throwers.
WE DEMAND:
The United States is Israel's one and only patron. There is no way Israel can resist even a minimal exertion of US will. In 1998 Israel received $2.8 billion in economic aid, more than any other country.
The Oslo Peace Accords were signed by Israel and the PLO in September 1993 after being negotiated secretly under Norwegian auspices. The Accords did begin a needed dialogue, but were fatally undermined when the United States assumed control over the negotiations. This contributed to a long term process whereby the US has been drawing responsibility for Middle East issues out of the hands of the UN, the international authority whose Partition Resolution of 1947 had provided for two states to be set up in Palestine. The Oslo Accords postponed into the indefinite future implementation of UN Resolutions 242 and 338. Adopted in 1967 and 1973, these resolutions called unambiguously for Israel's withdrawal from the Palestinian territories it had occupied in 1967. The new Security Council resolution reaffirms these older resolutions as the basis for "a just and lasting solution" of the conflict.
The Oslo Accords were adopted by negotiating partners severely unequal in power. Washington did nothing to maintain a balance in the negotiations. This was to prove disastrous for peace; the Israeli Right was emboldened to warp the negotiations so that the prospects for a sovereign Palestinian state withered. The final outcome was intact Israeli control over vanquished Palestinians, who were to have limited "self rule" within an area carved by Israeli roads and surrounded by Israeli settlements. The Palestinians were left with no state, no capital in East Jerusalem, no adequate access to water and no right of return for refugees who had been expelled. The frustration, humiliation and anger wrought by unemployment, expulsions, home demolitions and jailings without trial under the occupation finally burst on September 28. On that day, Ariel Sharon, organizer a generation earlier of the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, was allowed by the Barak leadership to venture with over 1,000 armed police onto Haram al Sharif, an Islamic holy place, to emphasize Israel's claimed sovereignty over all Jerusalem. And Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, alone among world leaders, was unable to condemn this action or comprehend the explosion of anger by the Palestinians.
Finding the truth is essential for ending the conflict and bringing peace with justice to the peoples of the region. Accordingly, the emergency summit on October 17 provided for the US to preside over an investigation. However, the US, having demonstrated its bias many times over in the past, is not a fit arbiter in the new situation.
Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism * 11 John Street suite 506 * New York, NY 10038
Washington, DC, October 20 -- The nation's largest Arab-American membership organization, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), today urgently reiterated its call on the international community to act immediately to protect Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. According to western journalists, today Israeli troops and helicopter gunships in several occupied cities opened fire "absolutely without restraint" against Palestinian demonstrators leaving at least 6 dead, including several children. Given recent findings of the UN Security Council and Human Rights Commission and the increasing use of deadly force against Palestinian civilians, the international community must act now to provide protection to this besieged and denfenseless population.
Yesterday, the UN Human Rights Commission voted to condemn Israel for ``widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights'' and set up an international inquiry into Israel's brutal suppression of protests against its 33 year occupation. The Commission strongly condemned ``the indiscriminate use of force in violation of international humanitarian law by the Israeli occupying power'' during its crackdown in the occupied Palestinian territories. Amnesty International has also condemned the "excessive use of lethal force" by Israel and said that "impunity for those who commit human rights violations and the lack of investigations into so many deaths at the hands of the [Israeli] security forces has led to a breakdown in the rule of law." On October 7, the UN Security Council condemned "acts of violence, especially the excessive use of force against Palestinians, resulting in injury and loss of human life" and "called upon Israel, the occupying Power, to abide scrupulously by its legal obligations and its responsibilities under the Fourth Geneva Convention ."
During more than three weeks of intense violence, over one hundred people have been killed, almost all of them unarmed Palestinians. Although Israel has already been using exceptionally extreme measures against Palestinian demonstrators, including indiscriminate gunfire, tanks, rockets, helicopter gunships and the bombing of cities, circumstances strongly suggest that the civilian Palestinian population of the occupied territories are in ever greater danger from attacks by the Israeli military.
ADC President Hala Maksoud said "The international community has now recognized the obvious fact that Israel is killing Palestinian civilians under its occupation in a brutal and unjustifiable manner. The world cannot simply stand by and allow an unarmed and defenseless people to be massacred by one of the world's most powerful armies. The international community, especially our own government, and the United Nations, must act now to protect Palestinians from further attacks by the Israeli army. We have a clear obligation to intervene when a civilian population, including children, living under a recognized military occupation are being gunned down in the streets. Israel must not be allowed to kill a single further Palestinian child, and the Israeli occupation, which is only being maintained by this uncontrolled violence must be swiftly brought to an end."
Washington, DC—Today, Peace Action announced that, working with allied peace and religious groups, it will organize a week of vigils, interfaith services and email campaigns to President Clinton, Prime Minister Barak, and Chairman Arafat, calling for a complete cease-fire in Israel and Palestine, UN mediation, and a cut-off of U.S. arms shipments to Israel and the Arab nations [see attached Call].
"From Sunday to Sunday, October 22-29, our activists will work with people of goodwill and friends in the faith communities, to make visible the deep desire for a just peace in the Middle East," said Van Gosse, Peace Action's Organizing Director. "Americans have a special responsibility, because we are not neutral parties in this conflict. Israel is one of the largest recipients of U.S. military aid in the world. Israeli troops are using American-made M-16 automatic rifles."
In Seattle, Boston and many cities and towns in-between, Peace Action activists will mobilize. While the Muslim and Arab-American community has been rallying for a peaceful solution over the past weeks in response to the fighting, this is the first nationally-coordinated effort by the U.S. peace movement. "The terrible conflict in Israel and Palestine has been a difficult issue for organizations like ours in the past," noted Gosse. "But our National Board made up of grassroots activists across the country feels strongly that we cannot remain silent. Large numbers of Palestinian civilians, as well as Jewish and Arab Israelis, and soldiers and policemen on both sides, have been killed or injured. Whether it's the Israeli soldiers killed in Ramallah, or the more than twenty Palestinian children killed by Israeli fire, it's wrong, and it's a direct result of U.S. policies of supporting and exporting militarism."
From 1992 to 1999, the U.S. shipped almost $42 billion in arms to the Middle East, including $8.3 billion worth to Egypt, $7.4 billion to Israel, and an astonishing $20.4 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia. "How can we possibly claim to be peace-makers, when we're keeping the whole region armed to the teeth?" asked Gosse.
In New York city, Peace Action has joined with others, including the Quaker UN Representative, the Ribbons Project, and PeaceLinks, to organize daily women's vigils across from the UN in support of peace and reconciliation, starting on the afternoon of October 19. "As the Security Council debates the issue, we want to support Israeli and Palestinian women in the Middle East who are reaching out to each other," said Peace Action UN Representative Shirley Chesney. "We'll be outside the UN at 10 AM on Monday, and every day, until we're back on track to bring a just and dignified peace to the region, and the killing stops."
Peace Action, formerly SANE/Freeze, is the nation's largest peace, disarmament and social justice organization, with 27 state affiliates and 70,000 members. For more information, visit our website at www.peace-action.org.
PNGO Network:
PALESTINIAN NGOs PROTEST VIOLATIONS OF PALESTINIANS' RIGHT TO SECURITY AND INSIST THAT NO LASTING PEACE WILL BE REACHED UNTIL SETTLEMENTS ARE COMPLETELY DISMANTLED
In light of the recent escalation of violence and killing in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and Autonomous Areas (including Jerusalem), the Palestinian Network of Non-Governmental Organizations (PNGO) wishes to express its grave concern and sorrow over recent events which have left the Palestinian population feeling terrorized, helpless and insecure.
Responsibility for these developments lies upon the state of Israel, which has acted in violation of its duty to conform to international standards of conduct in regard to Palestinian civilians. Over the past two weeks, over 90 people have been killed and around 3000 injured, almost all of whom Palestinian and, many, children. The perpetrators of these murderous acts have been mostly Israeli occupation soldiers and armed Israeli civilians.
The fact that Israeli troops have used excessive force in contravention of international law has been recognized and condemned by the international community in UN Security Council Resolution 1322, adopted on 7 October 2000. However, of equal or even greater concern to us is the rise of violence being carried out against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settler civilians in the Occupied Territories?
Israeli civilian violence: Since the night of 7 October 2000, gangs of settlers have been attacking Palestinian towns, villages, automobiles, schools, homes and shops, often under the cover of darkness, throwing rocks, shooting live ammunition and setting firebombs. Particularly disturbing was the case of Isam Hamad Judeh, 36, from the village of Um Safa, who was found dead on 9 October near Pisgot settlement. Evidence suggests that he was tortured to death. Heartbreaking was the case of Sara Abdul Haq, an 18-month old baby girl from Nablus who was shot dead by a settler while sitting on her mother's lap. The perpetrator of this crime was shooting at Palestinian cars passing through Za'atara junction near the settlements of Elon Moreh and Ariel. Other members of the victim's family were also injured in the attack. In almost all cases of settler attacks, Israeli security forces have done little to nothing to protect Palestinian victims. Indeed, in many cases, police and soldiers have sided with rioting settlers, turning their gunfire on unarmed Palestinians trying to defend their homes and property.
A history of illegal activity: As of last year, Israel was maintaining 158 settlements in the West Bank, at least 16 in East Jerusalem and 19 in Gaza, with a total settler population of approximately 364,000. The impact of settlements has been disastrous for Palestinians, fracturing the territorial integrity of their lands, altering the demographic makeup, exploiting scarce water resources and generally frustrating hopes of establishing a viable Palestinian state. The construction and expansion of Jewish colonies on occupied territory in the West Bank and Gaza strip have been illegal, under international humanitarian law, from their inception. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states unequivocally: "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." Moreover, the international community has repeatedly denounced Israeli settlement policy. Twice in 1979, 1980 and again in 1994 the UN Security Council expressed concern over illegal Israeli construction in the Occupied Territories as an obstacle to peace.
A threat to Palestinian security: Violent attacks by vigilante settlers against Palestinians are not new. But the recent escalation of conflict has also seen a rise in Israeli civilian violence. As a result, the Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip currently finds itself under siege, facing serious violations of their right to security. While Israel has retained all functions of authority over the Palestinian Territories at its own insistence, its continuing violation of its duty to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians under occupation cannot be justified by any plausible reason of military necessity. Both the UN Security Council as well as independent, international observers concur that during the events of these days, Israel has failed to conform to international standards of acceptable conduct. Israel claims that a primary reason for establishing settlements has been to ensure "security" but the exact opposite has been effected. By constructing and populating Jewish colonies with armed, often fanatical residents, and by failing to ensure the security of Palestinian civilians, Israel has nourished a climate ripe for conflict and the perpetration of crimes against Palestinians.
In light of the above, PNGO demand:
That Israel comply with articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention obliging it to ensure the security and protection of the Palestinian civilian population;
That High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions fulfil their OBLIGATION to ensure compliance with the treaty by using all reasonable means to force Israel to guarantee the security of Palestinian civilians;
That in the absence of adequate measures taken by Israel or by High Contracting Parties, the UN Security Council take direct action to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians;
That Israel apprehend and prosecute its civilians who carry out acts of terror and violence against Palestinian civilians. PNGO Network 18 October 2000 Jerusalem, Palestine
Message to Palestine
Dear friends,
In the last 20 days we have been following the news from Palestine with a growing sense of anxiety and dismay. From 1989 we activated together with different communities, NGOs and many communities projects supporting Palestinian Children in their communities, in the hope that your Children may go back to play and we hope that no soldier of an occupying country may make an attempt on their lives.
We have witnessed important changes in these years and we have shared moments of joy in Palestine with the resumption of peaceful life in the families, in the villages, in the communities. After the Oslo agreements we had shared with you the hope that peace could be one with justice and law. But we had already had the possibility of observing and understanding the reasons of a possible rebellion, and then it was clear to us the revolt was on the way even before Sharon’s shameful provocation. What we witnessed was in fact a truce rather than peace, with the suspension of fights together with the slow and hard building up of an autonomous State of Palestine. It was sufficient to look outside the window, to live in a refugee camp or to go just a few yards outside a village or a town to understand that peace was far-away: road blocks and sub-machine-guns and Israeli soldiers’ Jeeps and "by-pass roads" and again and again the provocation of the settlements and the arrogance of the settlers and the humiliating waiting at the check points.
We also witnessed the deny of Palestinian Rights: the right to East Jerusalem, the Refugees’ right to Return, the right to the land and to the borders for a Palestinian State, which also means stopping the settlements and dismantling them by degrees. These are the substantial demands for any future talks and for the building up of peace. The last 20 days of uprising of Palestinians, people, young people and Children against the denial of human rights and of International law, aimed at denouncing the inconclusiveness of a peace process in fact worn-out. The criminal reaction from Israel, that is indiscriminate slaying as the expression of that strength and arrogance which is merely contemptuous of the agreements previously signed. Israel's military forces have been using lethal ammunition since the first day of the conflict, and are targeting civilians', using war instruments including tanks and helicopter gunshots, against unarmed or lightly armed Palestinian civilians.
Clearly, this implies that soldiers have been given "shoot to kill" orders, a contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The danger and the threats posed by the Israeli Army the Jewish settlers whom indiscriminately attaching the center cars while carrying the children prevented the ambulances from carrying out their mission, and we know that in Al Fawwar Refugee Camp, where we are running a project together with the Community of the camp, this caused definitively the death of the young Palestinian, Shadi Elwawi, shot by Israeli Army. We know that the same is happening in all other realities in Palestine.
The rights and needs of Palestinian refugees' rights must be considered no different than any other refugee group under the terms of the 1951 Refugee Convention. As we wrote in a appeal to Mrs. Mary Robinson UN High Commissioner for Human Rights "unlike all other refugee groups in the world today, Palestinians—the world's largest and oldest refugee population--are not accorded legal protection under existing International conventions, nor by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Furthermore, Israel has consistently refused to recognise its obligations under the Geneva Conventions, particularly those clauses that protect civilians under military occupation".
Nobody has the right to ask Palestinian people to stop protesting and to appease their revolt until their rights are denied and their country is occupied. We hope that the International Community may vouch for your rights and your safety and above all find the way to let Israel understand that the rules of internationals law are the same for everybody. Our whole NGO, ARCI at national level, the regional committees, local committees and groups are trying their best, together with other NGO active on Palestine and other democratic groups organising mobilisation in Italy. We have been trying to tell people in our country about all this. Unfortunately, we don’t have any slots on national media broadcasts and we don’t have any power to influence the official press which, with a few exceptions, keeps on looking for an "equidistant" position, as if there was no military occupation at all in the last 30 years. We are anyhow trying to pass on a different kind of information, reminding people about the Palestinian right to East Jerusalem, the Refugees’ Right to Return, the right to the land and to the borders for a Palestinian State, which also means stopping the settlements and dismantling them by degrees.
These are the substantial demands for any future talks and for the building up of peace. Undoubtedly, what we do is surely not much. Our activities are not sufficient in relation to the needs and to the responsibility that everybody feels. Sometimes we really feel powerless. Though, we can’t give up. And we don’t want to. And on these subjects we have proposed motions and made repeated requests of support to our town councils; besides we have organised demonstrations in favour of a stronger role that Italy and Europe may have to support internationals protection for Palestinian people. We have been repeating over and over again these days that we are directly concerned for the situation in Palestine.
The situation is one of greater difficulty and of course we want to offer our solidarity and reassert our commitment and our unreserved support. We want to be near you, so, please let us have news and opinions: do not hesitate to use us through our representative in Palestine, Marco Grazia, or, if needed, directly relating to the Italian offices of ARCI (see headed paper for co-ordinators), so as to let other people know your reasons. Our commitment in Palestine as Italian NGO, and as individuals, and our common action together, in order to affirm the rights of the children in their Community, must be continued strongly than before.
We hope that your Children may go back to play and we hope that no soldier of an occupying country may make an attempt on their lives. In July 1988 we activated a project supporting Palestinian Children and people. With SALAM CHILDREN OF THE OLIVE TREE we had chosen to support you with concrete facts so that Palestinian Children could grow up freely in their country. Even if the ways of intervention have changed in these years, we think that our actions must still have the same purpose: TOGETHER WITH PALESTINIAN CHILDREN, SO THAT THEY MAY GROW UP FREELY IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY.
Renzo Maffei Paola D'Arrigo ARCS desk-officer for Middle East coordinator in Italy of the programme in Al Fawwar R.C.