In a press conference, held in Gaza on 13 February 2001, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Terry Larsen urged the international community to seriously consider providing international protection for the Palestinian people. Mr. Larsen described the situation as very urgent as never before. He said: “The Palestinian people need international protection today. It was one of several issues discussed in the UN Security Council in addition to other important issues related to the economic situation”.
Mr. Larsen added: “The living conditions for the Palestinians are very difficult. A reduction in violence is only possible through the lifting off all restrictions imposed, by Israel, on the Palestinian Territories. The Palestinian economy has suffered great losses”. He affirmed: “According to data collected by different United Nations agencies estimate about 50% of the Palestinians live below poverty line. The World Bank estimated that at least 32% of the Palestinians live under poverty line and that this ratio had increased to 50% since the beginning of the current crisis”. Mr. Larsen affirmed that over 250000 Palestinians are unemployed.
The Special Representative noted the Israeli-imposed closures are futile and jeopardize Israel’s security. He affirmed the Palestinian Authority faces a severe financial crisis because Israel currently withholds millions of dollars in tax levies it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. He called upon the international community to put financial aid to the PA on top of its agenda. Mr. Larsen warned regional tension would intensify should the present conditions persist leading to more losses.
The Palestinian Council for Justice and Peace reiterates its calls to the international community to expedite international protection for the Palestinian people who face a campaign of genocide by the longest belligerent occupation ever known. Israeli occupation forces intensify its grip and siege over Palestinian cities, towns and villages by the day. Israeli Special Forces units assassinate Palestinians in their homes or cars in front of their children. The Israeli army is using its mighty arsenal including helicopter gun-ships, tanks and naval vessels to bombard Palestinian residential neighborhoods killing unarmed Palestinian civilians. Israeli military used internationally prohibited nerve gas against civilians in Gaza. Dozens of victims lay in Gaza hospitals as a result of the brutal attack.
We call upon the international community, especially, the States Party to the 1949 4th Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians at Time of War to: - Honor its commitments and responsibilities provided for in the Convention towards the Palestinian people; - Intervene immediately to expedite international protection for Palestinian civilians under the 33 year-old Israeli occupation; - Ensure Israel’s respect of relevant resolutions of international legitimacy.
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Dr. El-Sarraj:
“The Israeli military trapped the Palestinians.”
“The Israeli military establishment brought Sharon to power.”
“The Intifada started peacefully and spontaneously; but Israel’s
excessive use of force pushed Palestinians towards using arms.”
“Settlements are friction points, symbols of occupation and
humiliation.”
On 12 February 2001, a team from the Gaza Community Mental Health
Programme met the UN Human Rights Inquiry Commission to the Occupied
Palestinian Territories. The team consisted of Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj
(Director-General), Ms. Rawya Hamam (Community Mental Health
Specialist), Mr. Rafik Musalam (Legal Advisor), and Mr. Husam
El-Nounou (Public Relations Coordinator).
Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj gave a detailed explanation of the psychological
effects of Israeli violence on the Palestinian people. He stated that
exposure to traumas such as bombardment, loss of property, loss of
family members and friends, and\or injury has caused many
psychological and behavioral disorders to all sectors of society, but
especially to children. Dr. El-Sarraj indicated that Israel has
frightened civilians with unprecedented long hours of shelling unlike
anything it has done in years. He also explained that the Intifada is
part of the circle of violence in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He
said that the conflict started because Jews, who were victims of
persecution, were now victimizing others as they expressed their
identification with their own aggressors.
Dr. El-Sarraj said that the cause for the eruption of the Intifada is
the wish for the Israeli right and military establishment to put an
end to the option of peace. He asked, “why did Sharon visit Al-Aqsa
for the first time in his life? Why was the extraordinary harsh
response to demonstrations in the days that followed the visit?” He
also pointed that the Intifada was a civilian uprising in the first
two weeks. However, Israel’s excessive use of force and the large
number of dead and wounded people had its desired reaction; that the
Palestinian would resort to arms. Dr. El-Sarraj also pointed to the
unprecedented level of anger and frustration prevalent among
Palestinians, which pushes the people towards more radical options.
On the other hand, the use of arms by Palestinians has intensified the
fear in Israel and radicalized the public mood. The goal was achieved;
Israel elected Sharon; and the peace process was paralyzed.
Dr. El-Sarraj indicated that the root of the conflict is the Israeli
occupation and settlements on Palestinian land. These settlements,
which are illegal according to international law, are a message of
humiliation to Palestinians, and a reflection of classical Zionist
ideology that is based on occupying Palestinian land by force and
uprooting its inhabitants. These Settlements are points of friction
and will continue to hinder any initiative to peace or living in peace
with the Palestinian people.
In reply to Israeli claims that Palestinians are pushing their
children to death, Dr. El-Sarraj said that such a claim is unfounded
and inhuman. It is based on the assumption that Palestinians are a
people not equal to others. This claim also degrades basic human
emotions of the Palestinian people. Instead of making this claim,
Israelis should ask themselves as to why Israeli soldiers are shooting
children in the first place and why they killed 13 peaceful Arab
Israeli citizens who were demonstrating in Israel itself. He pointed
that the occupation policies are a result of prevailing feelings of
racism. To them, everything is fair game, including killing children,
uprooting trees, and demolishing homes as long as they do not belong
to Israelis.
Ms. Rawya Hamam stated that in light of her work with children a large
percentage of them are suffering from a number of psychiatric
disorders. They include loss of concentration, isolation, poor school
performance, bedwetting, behavioral problems, and others. These
problems are caused by direct or indirect exposure to violence, being
around other victims of violence, or hearing about or watching
violence on radio or TV. She also indicated that GCMHP research shows
that 55% of children watched their fathers being beaten by Israeli
soldiers in the first Intifada. This shattered the image of the father
as a symbol of protection and power; thus leading to different mental
health problems among children.
Ms. Hamam said that Israel has violated children’s rights of life and
security by killing Palestinian children and frightening them. Israel
also violated their rights to education by bombarding schools. The
subsequent traumas will have long-term effects on children.
Mr. Rafik Musalam, the GCMHP Legal Advisor, talked about Israel’s
human rights violations of the 4th Geneva Convention which hold Israel
responsible for the safety of civilians at times of war. Contrary to
the Convention, Israel has destroyed property and used force in a
disproportional way to the perceived threat, and without
discriminating between civilian and non-civilian targets. These
violations had severe psychological and economic consequences of the
Palestinian people. Mr. Musalam submitted to the Commission samples of
high caliber bullets used against Palestinians.
Dr. El-Sarraj pointed that the closure and siege of towns, villages,
and camps created a number of social problems in Palestinian families.
Some of these problems are separation due to closures, increase in
domestic violence because of stress and unemployment, and an increase
in women’s problems. He also pointed to the effects of closures on the
professional work of the GCMHP and other Palestinian governmental and
non-governmental institutions.
At the end of the meeting, the GCMHP team submitted to the Commission
documents of Israeli human rights violations in general, and
especially with regard to the psychological and social aspects. These
documents included reports and pictures of cases treated by GCMHP and
reports of other organizations documenting these violations.
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*
*35 year-old Anwar Mar’ee, a member of the Palestinian intelligence
services from Karawat Bani Hasan in Salfeet, died when a mob
attacked
him and stabbed him to death. Mar’ee’s brother, Jalal, 32, stated to
LAW that he was killed at 4am on Friday 16 February 2001, when
a mob
of masked men attacked him with sharp tools at his home near the
main
road between Karawat Bani Hasan and Bedia, Salfeet. Mar’ee, a father
of 2, was a Fatah activist. PNA sources reported that collaborators
working for Israel forces killed Mar’ee.
*29 year-old Isam Al Taweel, a father of 3 from Hebron, was killed on
the same day when he was shot in the chest. According to eyewitness
statements to LAW, Isam was on the way to his home in Al Karantina
opposite the Jewish Avraham Avino enclave in Hebron when he got caught
in Israeli bombing of Al Karantina. He bled for some time before
anyone could reach him. According to LAW’s information, five other
Palestinians were wounded in the attack.
*Shakir Al Manasra, 23, from Bani Na’eem, Hebron, also died on Friday
16 February, when Israeli forces bombed the cow farm where he worked.
Eyewitness Jalal Faraj, 26, told LAW that he and three of his
colleagues were sitting in a room in the farm at 8:30pm when Israeli
forces started bombing. Ahmad Faraj Allah, 33, who was shot in the
stomach during the attack, died on Sunday 18 February. Ahmad had a
brother named Faraj who was killed in the first Intifada, and Ahmad
had married his dead brother’s wife. Also injured in the attack was
Manasra’s brother Yusif Mawas, 30, who was shot in the right shoulder
and left arm.
*With the death of Faraj Allah, the number of victims claimed by the
Israeli bombing of Palestinian residential areas since 6 October 2000
has reached 42 and the number of injured has reached 11,000.
*76 year-old Abdul Rahman Jum’a from Beit Leid in Tulkarem died when
Israeli soldiers delayed the car taking him to hospital for one hour.
Eyewitness Muhanad Jum’a told LAW:
“At 10am on Friday, we took Jum’a in a car to hospital in Tulkarem
after he felt a severe chest pain. When we arrived at the checkpoint
at the entrance of Tulkarem, we told the Israeli soldiers there that
we had with us a very ill man who needed to be hospitalised. They
refused to let us pass, but held us at the checkpoint for an hour.
Finally, when we arrived at the hospital an hour and a half later, the
doctor told us that Jum’a had passed away half an hour ago. The road
to the hospital normally takes half an hour.”
*Mohammad Al Hawamda, 25, from Al Samou’a, Hebron, and Omar Abu
Tarash, 20, from Al Kiya in Bir Al Sabia’a, died when Israeli police
chased Al Hawamda’s car, which hit that of Abu Tarash. Ismail Al
Hawamda, 25, was injured in the incident. Al Hawamda’a was on his way
home after a working day in Bir Al Sabia’a (within the Israeli
borders).
*84 Palestinians were injured when Israeli forces attacked Palestinian
protesters in Hebron, Al Bireh and Deir Nitham and in the bombing of
Al Bireh. 6 of the injured were shot, 33 hit by steel bullets, 14 by
shrapnel and the rest suffered teargas inhalation.
*LAW demands:
1. The Israeli Government to immediately stop the use of excessive and
indiscriminate force and collective punishments against Palestinian
civilians.
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme
GCMHP Team Meets the UN Human Rights Inquiry Commission to
the
Occupied Palestinian Territories
LAW society
Seven Palestinians have died in 48 hours. 84 Palestinians in the
northern districts suffered injuries caused by live ammunition,
shrapnel and teargas inhalation.
2. The establishment of an international investigation
committee based on United Nations Security Council resolutions 1322
of Oct 7, 2000, to investigate the violations of international
humanitarian law committed by the Israeli forces inside the occupied
Palestinian territories.
3. The international community must hold a
conference for the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva
Convention in order to take practical measures to ensure Israel's
adherence to the convention.
4. The international community must
pressurize Israel to immediately put an end to the occupation of the
Palestinian territories and effectively support the implementation of
the Palestinian right to self-determination.