German Doctor Killed in Israeli Tank Attack Palestinians Shot in Army Custody
Israeli helicopters and tanks attacked Palestinian houses and offices last night in the West Bank towns of Beit Jala, Tulkarm, Jericho, Nablus, Salfit, and Hebron. Several Palestinian civilians were injured in the bombardments, and at least one man was killed by shrapnel, a German resident of Beit Jala. Earlier in the day, Israeli soldiers killed eight Palestinians during protests marking the 12th anniversary of the Palestinian declaration of independence, bringing the total number of Palestinian dead to 216.
Harry Fischer, a 68-year-old doctor, had lived in Beit Jala for 15 years with his Palestinian wife. As Israeli helicopter missiles and tank shells rained down on Beit Jala last night, ambulances were prevented from reaching the wounded. Those that attempted to enter the town were fired upon. Seeing this situation, Dr. Fischer left his house on foot in an effort to help a wounded victim despite the heavy bombardment. Relatives say that he had almost reached the wounded person when a tank shell exploded nearby, severing the doctor's leg and arm and showering him with lethal shrapnel. Dr. Fischer was wounded at 8 P.M., but the Israeli bombardment prevented anyone from reaching him until midnight. Despite calls placed by the German ambassador to the Israeli Prime Minister's office, even ambulances were not permitted to reach Dr. Fischer. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.
In another disturbing event, four Palestinian workers were arrested and then shot by the Israeli army. Hussein Mustafa, Yusef Ghenaimb, Khaled Ghenaimb, and Bassem Al-Hour were arrested in Sourif village near Hebron. The arresting soldiers then began shooting at them while they waited in the army vehicle. Two of the men were seriously injured; one was shot in the chest and the other in the mouth.
The UPMRC is extremely disturbed by yesterday’s events and by the loss of life and injuries sustained by residents of the West Bank and Gaza. We are particularly concerned with the incident in Sourif in which four unarmed men were shot after being arrested by the army. We urgently appeal to the international community to insist that Palestinians receive international protection from the Israeli attacks on unarmed civilians.
Eight Palestinians and a German Doctor Killed: Al-Haq Condemns the On-going Shelling of Palestinian Cities by the Israeli Occupying Forces
Last night, November 15, 2000, Israeli helicopter gunships and tanks continued their bombardment of Palestinian towns and cities. The shelling lasted for over six consecutive hours injuring 7 people. Among those killed yesterday was Hari Fischer Spond, age 55, a German citizen who was married to a Palestinian woman and resided in Beit Jala. Hari was killed by an indiscriminately fired Israeli missile as he attempted to treat other injured Palestinian civilians. The shelling also damaged several houses and electrical generators and the Chile Girls’ School and the Mar Nicholas Church were both damaged. Other areas of the West Bank including Hebron, Tulkarem and Salfit were also hit by missiles causeing extensive damage.
Al-Haq deplores the brutality of the Israeli Occupation Forces and their bombardment of Palestinian civilian areas. Al-Haq reiterates its call for the international community to take the necessary measures to provide international protection for the Palestinians living under Israeli Occupation.
Israeli Military Violence Escalates
Last night, Israeli forces intensified their attacks on Palestinian cities. In the Bethlehem area, Israeli helicopters opened fire with rockets and heavy machine guns on Beit Jala and Aida refugee camp killing 55- year-old Dr, Harry Fischer, a German national living in Beit Jala and injuring 7 others.
Dr. Fischer was killed while attending to civilians who had been injured in the attack because Israeli forces had denied entry to ambulances racing to the scene. According to the Israeli authorities, the ambulances were detained because they were being used by Palestinians to transport weapons into the area. Eyewitnesses told LAW that this is not true and that the Israeli forces have used this excuse in the past. The Israeli daily, ‘Yeduot Ahranot’, reported that Prime Minister Ehud Barak directly ordered this attack.
In Hebron, Israeli forces using anti-tank rockets and machine guns fired on the Fatah office setting it on fire. Seventeen Palestinians were injured; one, Mohammad Al Bayed was hit with a live bullet in the stomach.
In Salfit near Nablus, Israeli helicopters fired a number of anti-tank missiles at residential areas. The home of Rizwq Ishtieh, 36, was hit, causing the roof over the children’s bedroom to collapse. His children were in another room at the time. Ishtieh’s leg was severed in the attack.
In Toulkarem, Israeli forces fired 5 anti-tank missiles at the Fatah office and the Khadouri Technical College causing considerable damage to both buildings and cutting the electricity to some Toulkarem neighborhoods.
In Gaza, Jihad Abu Shheima, 13, died from head injuries sustained earlier in the day near the Atufah checkpoint.
In a press conference held in Gaza yesterday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, stated that UN statistics on children indicated that only 1% of Palestinian children participated in clashes with the Israeli forces. She further added that the Israeli claim that Palestinian parents encourage their children to participate in clashes, is “disgustingly rejected” and that she personally could see the mothers’ anguish that their children had been killed.
In light of the above attacks, and the escalation of violence by the Israeli forces, LAW calls for the immediate implementation of all UN resolutions concerning the conflict, and for international protection for the Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
Report of Settlers' Attacks on Palestinians during the al-Aqsa Uprising
Report V November 13 - November 15, 2000
Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been steadily increasing in the past few weeks. These settlers have generally acted with impunity, as the Israeli military and court system historically have been reluctant to arrest, try, and punish settlers for violence they commit against Palestinian civilians. As a result, settlers are virtually free to carry out intimidation, assaults against people and property, and even murder against the Palestinian population.
The AIC has been monitoring settler violence, and now introduces a regular updated report.
On November 13:
Hafeeza Zaben (aged 75) from the village of Boreen was injured in her head by a group of settlers from Yitzhar settlement. The settlers attacked her and other farmers with stones and sticks while they were working in their fields near the settlement. She was taken to Rafidya hospital. According to medical sources her head bone was broken in two places, and her case is serious. Three more women were injured at the same time, including Fatima Zaben (aged 70) who was also taken to hospital with back injuries. Imad Zaben who was present during the incident said: "We knew that there may be problems, but we were encouraged to go to the field because the Israeli Army in DCO told the Palestinian side that the farmers may gather their olives in this area and there will be no problems. So we were surprised when the soldiers not only came and did nothing to stop the settlers but in fact helped them by forcing us to leave our fields ".
In the evening settlers from Halameesh settlement north of Ramallah opened fire on a Palestinian bus driving on the main road on it's way to the village of Dair Abu-Mesha'l. Several bullets entered the bus but no one was injured.
Three Palestinian journalists were injured by stones and glass after settlers attacked their car on the za'tera junction while they were returning home after a days' work in Jerusalem. The injured journalists are Naser Ishteyya- an Associated Press reporter, Abed- Raheem Goseeni - a Reuters reporter and journalist Sameer Bazbaz. All three were taken to Rafidya Hospital in Nablus.
Parts of the Stones Factories in Mesiha village were destroyed by settlers from Qana settlement. These factories have not been functioning since the beginning of the current events because they are located in a closed area according to Army orders.
On November 14:
Settlers, escorted by several army jeeps, attacked the village of Kharis near the Ariel settlement. They threw stones on the eastern houses and when the villagers called them to leave, they responded by opening fire on the village. The settlers later moved on to attack and terrorize the adjacent village of Dir Astia.
Settlers have descended from the Giv'at Harsina area of Qiryat-Arba four times during the night between November 14 and 15 and attacked the property of Abdul Jawad Jabbar, an elderly man, destroying thousands of Shekels' worth of irrigation pipes, and terrorizing at the same time families living in the area.
Mustafa E'layyan (aged 50) from Askar (Nablus) was killed when a stone was thrown at him by settlers while he was returning home in his car. Four of his sons were injured.
More olive trees have been uprooted in Kofur Kallel (Nablus) by settlers from the settlement of Brakha.
On November 15:
At 3AM Settlers threw a Molotov cocktail at Daoud 'Alayyan's house in Beit Safafa (Jerusalem area). The bottle entered a room in house, causing a fire and destroying furniture. This is not the first time that the house has been under settler attacks; last week three settlers stopped their car outside the house and threw two Molotov cocktails at it.
About one hundred olive trees were uprooted in the village of Dair Netham (Ramallah area) by settlers from Halameesh settlement.
During an attack by settlers, Ya'qoub Abed-Allateef Arabasi from the village of Jamma'een (Nablus) was injured in his head when a stone was thrown at him. He was taken to Rafeedya Hospital in Nablus.
Settlers from Shekadeem settlement in the north of the West Bank opened fire on Palestinians from the village of Toura. One villager was injured in his shoulder.
Fawzee Abed-al'Azeez (aged 40) was injured when a stone hit his face and was taken to hospital, after eight settlers attacked him and his wife Muyassar while they were working on their land.
Medical Personnel Denied Access to East Jerusalem Hospitals and West Bank
Mr. Ehud Barak
Prime Minister and Minister of Defence
Ministry of Defense
Hakirya, Tel Aviv
61909
Mr. Shaul Mofaz
Chief of Staff
Israeli Defense Forces
Hakirya, Tel Aviv
61909
Mr. Menechem Finkelstein
Attorney General
Israeli Defense Forces
Hakirya, Tel Aviv
61909
Dear Sirs,
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) has recently received reports from Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHR) and Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) that:
1. Medical personnel of Doctors Without Border (Medecins sans Frontieres) were denied access through Israeli army checkpoints to provide assistance in the West Bank.
2. As of 13 November 2000, the IDF has cancelled entry permits for medical staff of Al Maqassad Hospital and St. John's Eye Hospital in East Jerusalem who are entering from the West Bank - a move that has resulted in a 229 person staff-shortage. Considering this information, PCATI feels it is imperative to note that "weekend work format" is only possible for very limited periods of time - two to three weeks at maximum. If this format is allowed to continue, the damage it will have on the functionary standards of the hospital staff will severely affect their ability to care for patients and could cause irreversible results.
3. Lastly, Arab Palestinian medical workers have reported harassment from settlers while trying to reach hospitals, despite the fact that their vehicles displayed clear Red Cross and Medical Relief signage.
Both Israeli and international law require that all human beings have access to medical care and that medical personnel bearing appropriate identification be entitled to protection under all circumstances, and are not to be hindered. According to the Geneva Conventions: adequate health care must be available to all human beings regardless of distinction and their physical health shall not be endangered by any unjustified act or omission; children shall be provided with the care and aid they require; and hospitals, ambulances and medical personnel are expressly protected.
PCATI feels strongly that the rights of medical personnel and the people whom they seek to assist, should be protected at all times. Having said this, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel:
* Demands that Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontiers) as well as other national and international medical workers be given access to the West Bank for the purpose of providing medical assistance.
* Condemns the cancellation of entry permits of medical personnel from the West Bank to East Jerusalem and demands that the entry permits of medical personnel be reinstated so that hospitals may return to fully-staffed activity.
* Condemns the harassment of medical personnel and demands that the IDF take all measures to protect medical personnel, to ensure their safety and deliverance to health care facilities and to provide them with any assistance they may require as is stated by international law.
Hannah Friedman Executive Director, PCATI
P.O.B 4634 Jerusalem 91046 Tel 972-2-5630073 Fax 972-2- 5665477 e-mail: pcati@netvision.net.il
WATC statement to Ms. Mary Robinson
Dear Mrs. Robinson,
We are very happy that you are among us today and especially that you are safe. We heard about the problem that you recently faced. We come to you with a picture, not that of the killed and the wounded but that of terrified young Palestinian children trying to reach their schools with a tank behind their backs. This has become the kind of our daily lives. Palestinian women suffer enormously because of the Israeli aggressions against us, however their suffering may sometimes be invisible. Here are some ways in which some of our invisible suffering as women occurs :
1) Of those working in the informal sector in Palestine 56-62% are women. Many of those are heads of households. The informal sector has been severely hit during the last forty-five days due to closures, curfews and military action further impoverishing Palestinian women. UNRWA, for example gives small credit to 3000 women who support 24,000 dependents, the repayment rate was 90% before the intifada but has dropped to 70 % recently and is expected to fall to 50%. These are indicators that women are suffering and are unable to generate the income to keep their businesses.
2) In villages, because of the closures, teachers cannot reach their schools. Village girls who have lack on mobility are loosing on their education. Parents have special fears for daughters and thus may restrict their mobility. Closures and the current situation have specific effects on women in particular. The human right to access to education becomes violated.
3) There are more than eight thousand wounded because of the recent Israeli aggressions, women are suffering enormously as they see their children and husbands killed and wounded. Because women assume the care-taker role in our society as in many societies, this will lead to a diminished productive, social and political roles and also will lead to psychological and material suffering especially many of the injured will be rendered disabled. a.. Recent UNRWA statistics say that over six hundred Palestinian families are now in need of food. This makes a total of 3,600 individuals. This represents severe hardship especially on women, unable to feed their children.
4) Thousands of Palestinian manual workers in additions to workers in local industries have lost their jobs. Recent UNSCO statistics report persons to have lost their jobs to 125,000 individuals. This does not only render thousands of households without material means for survival, this further strains Palestinian mothers physically and psychologically as they strive to find alternative means to sustain their households.
5) The PCBS statistics shows that 38% of married Palestinian women aged between 15-19 are pregnant at any time. These women are facing severe psychological pressures as they fear that they might go into labor and not be able to receive medical care or reach hospitals.
6) Mothers fear for their kids psychological and physical well-being. In Palestine, the average household has an average of 6.3 kids, 55% of the population in Palestine are below the age 16. This strains women enormously especially that they are the ones who are fully responsible for the domestic roles in households and are the primary individuals who worry about the psychological and physical health of their children. Mothers suffer a high level of psychological distress and fear for their children. Mothers spend their times trying to find their kids or trying to keep them inside the house, they have to address the fears of their children facing inability to focus, anger, fear panics and nightmares. There are numerous examples in the cities of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour and Hebron where families have been locked in their houses trying to protect their children and deal with their fear of their children.
Women also suffer directly as a result of the Israeli harsh aggressions. Here are some cases:
Case (1)
Malake Kafishe was seven months pregnant and happily looking forward to the birth of her second child. Then, last Thursday night, as on so many nights in Hebron's old city lanes - among the fiercest battle grounds in the West Bank - she heard gunfire.
She froze. "There was shooting, and then I heard the helicopter gunships coming in and my heart just stopped." She began to bleed and ran for the stairs, stumbling over the last few rungs and collapsing in a heap on the doorstep.
Her family rang for an ambulance. Because of the shooting and a curfew imposed on 40,000 Palestinians in Hebron's old city, it took an hour to arrive. Two soldiers insisted on examining Ms Kafishe.
There were four more checkpoints before the ambulance arrived at Alia hospital. At each roadblock, soldiers swung open the vehicle doors and peered at the ashen-faced woman inside. By the time she reached the hospital, a journey that normally takes five minutes, one and a half hours had elapsed. The baby was dead.
"The doctor told me 'If you had got here 20 minutes earlier you could have saved the baby'," she says.
Case (2)
On NOVEMBER 3, 2000 Thuraya Allayan, 43, (a LAW field researcher) was injured while monitoring the demonstration after Friday prayers in Ramallah. Thuraya was hit with a rubber-coated metal bullet in her left thigh.
Case (3)
On 4 October 2000, Maha Awad, 36 years old, unemployed and lives with her family in Al Bireh (near Ramallah) in a flat that faces the Jewish settlement of Pasgot. On Wednesday night, 4 October 2000, she was at home with her parents and her brother. She recalls that:
"At about 9 pm, we heard shooting in our neighborhood; it was intensive, random shooting. We did not know what was going on but we were very scared. I closed my room and went to the balcony in order to shut the door. At that moment I was hit in my right eye by a bullet, which entered through the glass door of the balcony. I therefore assumed that I was shot by a weapon with a silencer, as used by Israeli snipers."
Maha was initially taken to Ramallah Hospital and later was transferred to Al Raci Eye Hospital in Al Bireh. She sustained serious injuries: her eye hemorrhaged and glass splinters injured her face. Maha was, however, not the only person of the family to be seriously injured that night. After taking her to hospital, her 54-year-old brother, who was visiting from the United States, went back to their home to get some clothes for Maha. When he went to see the spot where Maha had been shot, he himself was shot in the stomach.
Case (4)
On October 1, 2000 Subhia Usam Jawabrah (38) lives in Arroub refugee camp between Bethlehem and Hebron. She is married to a teacher who works at a government school. His salary is barely enough to support his wife and their 7 children. Subhia is 4 months pregnant. About 4 weeks ago, on a Sunday evening, while looking after her children at home, she was shot in her left eye with a rubber coated metal bullet. Subhia told LAW's field-researcher:
"On Sunday 1 October at around 6 pm, I was standing on the roof of my house in Arroub refugee camp. My children were playing. In a distance of about 100 meters there were clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians. We could hear the shooting and watched what was going on. Suddenly, I turned my head round; something had hit my left eye. I was bleeding heavily from my left eye and from my nose and was immediately taken to St. John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem."
Subhia's medical records indicate that the injury sustained is very serious: a black eye, a wound in her upper lid and hemorrhages in the orbit and the conjunctiva, the transparent skin which covers the eye. Subhia has lost clarity of vision in her left eye and it is not yet clear whether she will be able to fully recover. She already has a cataract in her left eye. At the end of the meeting with LAW's field researcher, Subhia said:
"Why do we have to go through all this? Our life in the camp is very hard. It is not the first time we are confronted with tear-gas and shooting by the Israeli army. All my brothers and my husband have spent time in Israeli prisons. Why can't we Palestinians have a normal life in peace like the rest of the world?"
Case (5)
On November 4, 2000 Ghazala Jradat, 14, was critically injured after being shot by Israeli forces in the head with a rubber-coated metal bullet near Beit Hanoun Erez. She was on her way home from school.
Case (6)
On November 4, 2000 Hind Nidal Jamil Abu Qweidar, 23 days old from Hebron, was killed as a result of gas inhalation. Her father was prevented by the Israeli military from taking her to the hospital for medical treatment, with the justification that the area was under Israeli imposed curfew. She died in her home.
Case (7)
On November 9, 2000 Rahmeh Rashid Shaheen, 52 years old from Beit Sahour, was killed as a result of injuries sustained from missile shrapnel.
Case (8)
On November 9, 2000 Azizeh Mahmoud Danoun, 50 years old from Beit Sahour, was killed as a result of injuries sustained from missile shrapnel.
Case (9)
On November 9, 2000 Jameeleh Shu'aybaat, remains in critical condition.
Case (10)
On October 2, 2000 Sarah Abdel-Atheem, 18 months old from Salfeet, was killed as a result of a shot in the head.
Case (11)
Nada Sa’id Srouji was killed on October 23,2000 as she was trying to go through the crossroads in Tulkarem to go to work. She was severely beaten by the soldiers which caused her death.
Case (12)
Shifa’ Al-Hindi from the old town of East Jerusalem was beaten by an Israeli soldiers with the back of his rifle after he asked her to unveil her face and she refused. The soldier pulled the veil off her face which led her to spit in his face, he reacted with beating her on the head with his rifle. She lost sight in both eyes as a result.
* Many of the above-mentioned cases have been compiled from the releases of Ad-Dameer and LAW human rights organizations.
What the Mothers of the Martyrs had to say at the WATC Press Conference held on November 4, 2000
Pain and sorrow were what many people including the reporters felt when they heard the experience of three mothers of martyrs at the press conference that was held by the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee, at Al-Bireh Municipality on the 4th of November, 2000. Mothers were weeping and mourning their children when as they told about the last moments they spent with their children the last time they left home and never came back. Those mothers want the whole world to hear their voice and help in protecting Palestinian children.
“I wish Mohammad had told me that he was going, I would have prevented him. We do not send our children to death”. This is what Mrs. Muna Ibrahim Nabil told the reporters. She is the mother of the martyr Mohammad Nabil who was murdered at the age of 15 years. “I wish he continued with his education; this is our weapon in fighting Israel.” Mrs. Nabil continued with tears in her eyes. She asked about the Palestinian human rights “People all over the world grieve their pets when they die; how dare they say that we push our children into death; we are burning with grief and sorrow for losing him. His father and I wanted to see him grow up. We need our children. I wish I was buried before him.” Then Mrs. Nabil talked about her experience in the first days of the intifada with Mohammad. On Thursday, the first day of the Intifada, Mohammad came back late from school. He did not say where he was. At night I saw him on TV in the clashes. It was a quick shot and when I asked him, he denied. The next day I prevented him from leaving home. I urged him to study. The day after, we worked together in the garden to focus his attention on not participating in the clashes.
In the afternoon he came back feeling very sad about the murder of one of his friends Nizar Eideh. I felt very sad and I told him that there is nothing more painful to a mother than losing her child. When Mohammad saw how Israeli soldiers murdered Mohammad Durra on TV in cold blood, he started screaming and saying that Jerusalem can . He went out to play with his friends in the neighborhood as he said, but he went to the clashes. He was shot in the arm and leg with rubber bullets and he wanted to come back home to tell me what happened, his sleeves and trousers were rolled up because he wanted to show me where the rubber bullets hit him. At that moment two people were shot and fell and he hurried to save them and was shot immediately in the head with a live bullet, which put an end to his life and future. He used to carry his picture and a Peace Now identity card carrying his name, address, and age in case anything happens. Mrs. Nabil finished her speech by telling us that a week before his murder he went to Alaqsa Mosque to pray. He wanted me to go with him but I couldn’t. He insisted on going and asked me for money and he went there alone, spent the whole day, and had lunch. He even visited the Holy Sepulchre Church and bought honey candles with him from there. I received the news of his death from the kids. They did not know I was his mother, I felt in my heart that day that Mohammad was endangered. A kid was asking about the house of Mohammed Nabil, I asked him why is there anything wrong? He answered Mohammed was martyred. I lost my mind, I began screaming and shouting in the streets. It was the most painful experience I’ve ever passed through. Since we came back from Kuwait, Mohammad kept a Palestinian flag that was so precious to him, and I will save it with me always as long as I live.
Alia Hawamdeh, the mother of Majed Hawamdeh who was murdered by the Israeli soldiers in the clashes at the age of 15, then spoke about how her son was murdered. He woke up in the morning, prepared breakfast because I was ill, and asked me to remember this day and the special breakfast. He asked for pocket money to leave but I did not give him. “We do not send our children in the clashes to die, they go as a result of the conditions they face and the injustice they are seeing”. His brother was wounded the day before so he went against my will, visited him at the hospital then went to the clashes to participate with our people and never came back. “Majed died as a hero, for the sake of his homeland and Jerusalem”.
Ra’ed Hammoudeh, a 30 year old Palestinian father, was shot in the head and murdered during this Intifada. His mother, In’am Hammoudeh, talked about him the last day before his death. Ra’ed used to drink coffee every morning at her house even after his marriage. He had two kids: In’am and Hammoudeh. He used to love them dearly. Since the beginning of the Intifada, Raed as all Palestinians participated in the activities announced. That morning he came to my house, drank coffee and gave his brother some money because he worked with him in plumbing and came and asked me to take care of his daughter, he repeated that three times. After that, I watched TV and I had a strange feeling. I took his daughter whom he left at my house, and went to his house to wait for him. One of my brothers called me and told me that Ra’ed is at the hospital because he was shot in the leg. I went there to find that he was shot in the head and he went into comma which lasted four days On the fifth day he died for Al- Aqsa that he never visited as a result of the closure, for Palestine and for all the people.
“It is so hard to me to accept that Ra’ed has died. You see when his father died, Ra’ed was only fifteen. I had to get him out of school so that he helps me earn the living of his nine brothers and sisters. I was so happy when he finally married and had children. I wanted him to give his children the life that he never had, the one with both parents alive. Now his children have to be fatherless again like he was. This is so hard for me to grasp.”
Some children express with their lives and their stones the lack of hope, opportunity and dignity that
has been their fate growing up subject to Israeli confinement, threat and danger. We strongly believe
that each child’s life is unique and precious and are working with all our might to protect our children.
We feel with each mother and father who worry every day if their children will come home from
school or not, with the mother seeking her children in hospitals or even in the line of fire, and with the
father kissing the forehead of a son that will breathe no longer. The Women’s Affairs Technical
Committee believes that it is Israel’s political rejection of a genuine peace based on equality and
justice, as well as the excessive and unrestrained force of Israel and its mighty army, that is killing our
children each day - and may kill our future and the future of the region as well, if international action is
not taken for protection and justice.