The Israeli Occupation Forces willfully kill 4 Palestinian civilians: Eyewitnesses tell the story of the Israeli killing of innocent Palestinian civilians
With reference to our news update issued earlier today about the killing of Palestinian civilians by Israeli soldiers at the junction of the Jewish settlement, Moraj, located near northern Rafah in the Gaza Strip, our field workers have provided us with the following information. This information is based on the testimony of eye-witnesses and our field workers’ own observation.
Today, 22/11/2000, between 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. (8:00 and 8:30 GMT), two civilian Palestinian cars, a black Hyundai and a white Mercedes were travelling along a street close to Moraj Jewish settlement. Two Palestinians, Jamal Abd Arraziq and Awny Dhhair were inside the Hyundai car, while three others, Khaleel Mhawish Ashair, Nail Salim Allidawy, and the driver Nahidh Fujo, were inside the Mercedes car. The Hyundai car was travelling infront of the Mercedes car. When the two cars approached the junction of Moraj, an Israeli tank, which was standing about 50 meters in front of them, opened fire on them. The two cars turned to the left in an attempt to escape the shelling, but they collided. Meanwhile another Israeli tank closed the road from behind the two cars and several Israeli military jeeps moved towards the two cars. The soldiers in the jeeps came out, and one of them approached the Hyundai and opened fire directly on Jamal Abd Arraziq and Awny Dhhair from a distance of no more than one meter. Eye witnesses, who saw the inside of the Hyundai car, reported seeing dispersed flesh and teeth remnants inside the car, and our field workers, who saw the two dead bodies, reported that the two bodies, especially Jamal’s, were mutilated to the extent that it was very difficult to identify them. As soon as the shooting started, the driver of the Mercedes car stopped the car and ran away, but the soldiers chased him and he was arrested.
Correction: The fourth Palestinian killed in this incident was Samy Nasir Abu Laban, 30 years old from Gaza city, not Ashair who was mentioned as one of the dead in our earlier news update.
URGENT NEED for UN Protection Forces to STOP the MASSIVE
Assault on
PALESTINIAN RIGHTS in the Occupied Territories
Quantification of Losses and Clarification of Protection Mandate
1. QUANTIFCATION of Palestinian Losses
In the face of ongoing aggression by the Israeli military and settlers against the Palestinian people, lobbying efforts continue for the deployment of an international protection force in the occupied West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip under the auspices of the United Nations despite Israeli opposition. Urgent action is required by the United Nations in order to stop the massive Israeli assault on the basic rights of the Palestinian people since the beginning of the uprising (Al-Aqsa Intifada) in late September.
"If we thought that instead of 200 Palestinian fatalities, 2,000 dead would put an end to the fighting at a stroke," stated Israeli Prime Ehud Barak on Israel Radio, "we would use much more force." (Quoted by AP, 16-11-00)
In eight weeks, 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupying forces (including 14 Palestinians inside Israel) and nearly 10,000 have been injured by live ammunition (19%), plastic and rubber bullets (41%), gas (31%). Of those killed, 86 are children (18 years and under). Sixty-six of the children were killed by live ammunition, approximately a third of whom were shot in the head. During the first week of the uprising some 2,860 Palestinians were injured and 69 killed. Since that time, around 25 Palestinians have been killed and some 1,000 injured each week by Israeli occupying forces.
To date the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupying forces is 4 times greater than during the first two months of the intifada that began in December 1987, and equal to the total number of Palestinians killed between December 1987 and June 1988. While the Israeli military continues to claim that its soldiers only fire when their lives are in danger, investigations by several international human rights organizations have concluded, based on the number and type of injuries and fatal wounds, that Israeli soldiers are firing at Palestinian demonstrators with intent to injure and kill. This conclusion is further supported by the fact that Israeli occupying forces are outfitted with sophisticated protection gear, including flak jackets that can stop an M-16 and an AK-47 bullet at any range and armored jeeps, while most Palestinian demonstrators are unarmed.
The Palestinian people have also suffered enormous material damage after more than two months of shelling and heavy machine gunfire on residential and commercial areas. This includes attacks using American-made munitions and military hardware. In the past two months, the US granted Israel an additional several million dollars of financial aid, some of which will surely go towards the purchase of an additional 100 armored jeeps and 1,300 advanced flak jackets earmarked for purchase by the Israeli military in the last week. Meanwhile US arms manufacturers continue to supply Israel with the same weapons systems used against Palestinian civilians, including a recent sale of Appache attack helicopters built by McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems, and a new $200 million contract between Lockheed Martin and the Israeli company Raphael for a new anti-tank missile, first tested in live action on Palestinian residential areas in Beit Jala.
Since the beginning of the uprising more than 400 Palestinian homes (excluding the recent attack on Gaza on 20-11-00) have been damaged by Israeli shelling, heavy machinegun fire, and helicopter launched missiles. Damage includes the complete destruction of homes, shattering of glass in windows and doors as well as solar heating systems, structural damage to roofs and exterior/interior walls, puncturing of water tanks, and damage to movable property inside homes. Based on the average number of persons per housing unit in the Palestinian territories, the damage to private property affects some 3,000 persons.
Public property, including PA administrative and police offices, radio stations/towers, schools and hospitals have also been targeted by the Israeli military. According to the PA Ministry of Education, Palestinian schools have suffered more than $400,000 damage in the last eight weeks. Forty-one schools, providing education for some 20,000 students, have been closed or unable to operate because of Israeli military order, siege, curfews or because they are located in areas unsafe for children and staff. Some $10 million in damage has been done to the Palestinian industrial infrastructure. Approximately 14 mosques have been damaged by Israeli attacks since the end of September. Significant damage has also been done by the Israeli military and settlers to the Palestinian agricultural sector. The PA Ministry of Agriculture estimates that more than 25,000 olive and fruit trees have been destroyed and 2,400 dunums of land bulldozed.
Based on the average daily loss of $8.5 million (UNSCO) during the first three weeks of the uprising the total loss, excluding loss of life and damage to physical assets, during the past two months has reached some half a billion US dollars. The inclusion of damage to movable and immovable property, as well as lost income from damage to Palestinian transport vehicles at Israeli military checkpoints and the destruction of agricultural crops, would raise this figure significantly. These figures are sure to rise with the decision this week by the Israeli cabinet to impose an economic siege on the PA. It is impossible to put a value on the non-material losses sustained by Palestinians since the beginning of the uprising.
2. CLARIFICATION of the MANDATE for UN Protection Forces
The absence of a rights-based approach towards a political settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Israeli non-compliance with all UN resolutions pertaining to the conflict (especially UNGA 181, 194 and UNSC 242) and international humanitarian, human rights, and refugee law has lead to the current uprising in the occupied Palestinian territories and inside Israel. The mandate of a UN protection force must therefore clearly relate to these underlying problems and concomitant solutions: Israeli withdrawal from all of the West Bank, including eastern Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, realization of the right of the Palestinian people to self- determination, and implementation of the right of return for Palestinian refugees and displaced persons.
Critical concerns regarding the mandate of a potential UN protection force have been raised in the context of statements made the United States and the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Both have stated that an international protection force cannot be deployed in the occupied territories without the consent of the government of Israel. This view requires immediate clarification in light of the international framework outlined above and the consistent and repeated demand by the United Nations (Security Council, General Assembly, Commission on Human Rights, Economic and Social Council, a.o.) for Israel to withdraw from the territories occupied in 1967.
According to international humanitarian law, a military occupier can never attain de jure sovereignty over occupied territory. Consequently, the de jure sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories which vested in the Palestinian people with the 1919 League of Nations Covenant - which is the fundamental legal basis of the Palestinian people's collectively-held right of self- determination in those areas - can never be overridden by the lesser order of military control exercised by Israel. Israeli consent for the deployment of UN forces in the occupied Palestinian territories incorrectly implies recognition of the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation as well as the American position that the territories are disputed rather than occupied. Regardless of the issue of Israeli consent, UN forces can be deployed under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, a measure previously recommended by the UN Commission on Human Rights.
Secondly, and related to the status of the occupied territories, is the intervention mandate of any UN protection force. The mandate must clearly reflect and allow for what the United Nations has already recognized as the legitimacy of struggle against occupation, foreign domination, and colonialism. The source of the current unrest in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, is not the Palestinian street. The source of the problem has always been, and continues to be the illegal Israeli occupation.
Finally, a UN protection force must have a mandate to move throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, investigate and publicly disseminate violations of Palestinian rights, and have the authorization, backed up by appropriate resources, to intervene to protect the Palestinian people under occupation, especially vulnerable groups such as children, refugees, the Palestinian community in occupied Jerusalem, and Palestinians living in remote rural areas facing ongoing attacks by the Israeli military and settlers.
"Impartiality for UN operations must [...] mean adherence to the principles of the [UN] Charter: where one party to a peace agreement clearly and incontrovertibly is violating its terms, continued equal treatment of all parties by the UN can in the best case result in ineffectiveness and in the worst may amount to complicity with evil. No failure did more to damage the standing and credibility of the United Nations peacekeeping in the 1990s than its reluctance to distinguish victim from aggressor." (Report of the Panel on the UN Peace Operations)
LETTERS and FAXES directed to Secretary General Kofi Annan REQUESTING CLARIFICATION Of the United Nations position towards the occupied territories should be directed to:
Kofi Annan Secretary General c/o Office of the Spokesman United Nations S-378 New York, NY 10017 tel. 212-963-7162 fax. 212-963-7055
Sources: Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, PA Ministries of Agriculture and Education, Defense for Children International- Palestine, Palestine Red Crescent Society, The Independent, Ha'aretz, Yediot Aharanot
Update from Beit Sahour
Dear Friends,
Contrary to what you have been hearing on the news, the "Israeli" occupation government is NOT allowing medical personnel to access their places of work or to tend to people who have been wounded.
As recently as this morning, when the "Israeli" army shelled two civilian cars in Gaza, killing 4 people and wounding 8, ambulances were prohibited from reaching the site. In another instance today, a man was shot and injured in the village of Hussan, near Bethlehem. Villagers contacted us at the clinic here in Beit Sahour asking us to send an ambulance. As we do not have one, we called the emergency station in Bethlehem. They responded by informing us that their ambulances are not allowed to enter Hussan.
Also this morning, our outreach team was sent back again by "Israeli" soldiers who were stopping every Palestinian car and shooting its four wheels. This has been the soldiers' "fun" for the last week. Our Pediatric Cardiologist, Dr. Mahmoud Nashashibi, has been prevented each week from coming to our Center in Beit Sahour from Jerusalem. Each week there are up to 20 mothers who have brought their infants for an echocardiography examination. We have had to send them home because Dr. Nashashibi is unable to come. The Caritas Baby Hospital in Bethlehem, which relies on our Center to perform this procedure for their pediatric patients, has nowhere else to turn. The same thing goes for our neurologist, our diabetes specialist, and our dermatologist who come from Jerusalem.
Also today, in Hebron, Israeli bulldozers destroyed the old Palestinian market (for "security reasons," they say). The people of the old city of Hebron, almost 40,000, have been under constant curfew for the past 40 days. Thirty-four schools have been closed and more than 13,000 children are confined to their homes, in addition to 460 teachers. Four schools have been turned into military compounds.
In addition, hundreds of trees have been uprooted in Gaza, in Beit Sahour, and in almost every village in the north. The olive harvest, one of the main means of livelihood for many Palestinian farmers, has been destroyed as the farmers are prohibited from collecting the olives from their trees.
All this and much more has happened only one day after the "Israeli" occupation forces bombarded Gaza for over three hours with tank shells, gunfire, and helicopter missiles, causing much damage and many injuries, especially and mostly among the civilian population.
The escalation is obvious. It seems the "Israeli" government has realized that the Palestinian people are determined to win their freedom and independence. What they haven't yet realized, however, is that their increasing aggression and terrorism will not crush this determination.
Dr. Majed Nassar
Union of Health Work Committees
Palestine
Four Palestinian Civilians Killed by Israeli Occupying Forces, Extra-Judicial Killings Continue in Gaza Strip
Today, November 22, 2000 at 8:30am, four Palestinian civilians were killed in cold blood and one was injured when Israeli tanks opened fire on two Palestinian civilian cars near the Israeli military checkpoint by Moraj settlement west of Rafah. According to testimonies gathered by the al-Mezan Center in Gaza, the two cars were traveling along the road near the Moraj Settlement when a tank located approximately 50 meters in front of them at the Moraj junction opened fire. The front car was hit and both occupants, ‘Awni Isma'el Dhier (37) and Jamal Abdil Raziq (29), were injured. Several Israeli military jeeps quickly surrounded the car.
Israeli soldiers exited from the jeeps, approached ‘Awni and Jamal’s car, and shot both men repeatedly from a distance of no more than one meter.
In the same incident, another Palestinian civilian car driving behind ‘Awani and Jamal’s car was hit by direct fire from the tank. Sami Nasir Abu Laban (30) and Na’el Salim al-Liddawi (29) were killed and Nahid Fojo, the driver, was injured. Nahid tried to escape from his car and was arrested by the Israeli soldiers.
Al- Haq expresses concern over the well being of Nahid Fojo, who is presently being detained by the Israeli Occupying Forces.
Reports indicated that the Palestinians in both cars were unarmed and that the occupants of the second car were driving from Rafah to the University in Khan Younis.
The Israeli Forces later confirmed that this was a pre-planned operation intended to assassinate Jamal Abdil Raziq. In a previous incident on November 9, 2000, Hussein Bayyat was assassinated after an Israeli Helicopter gunship launched a missile at his car in the West Bank town of Beit Sahour killing him instantly.
Al-Haq views with concern this latest development in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and reiterates that willful killing constitutes a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention as defined in Article 147. Article 146 imposes an obligation on the States Parties to the Convention, especially those who have incorporated it into their domestic legislation, to investigate and prosecute in their domestic courts those who order or commit grave breaches of the convention.
In light of the continuous violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the deterioration of the human rights situation in the Occupied Territories Al-Haq calls upon the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to fulfill their legal obligations by calling upon the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1 of the Convention “to respect and ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances” and to pressure the Israeli government to abide by its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Conventions.
It is al-Haq’s view that the Government of Israel continues to conduct itself in a manner totally in disregard of international humanitarian law and international human rights principles.
Al- Haq urges the international community to support the deployment of an international protection force by the United Nations to ensure the safety and security of Palestinian civilians
ISRAELI ATTACK ON CIVILIAN CARS KILLS 4 PALESTINIANS
Today, 22 November 2000, the Israeli security forces killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. At 10:30 a.m. Israeli soldiers stationed at the entrance of the Morag settlement attacked two civilian cars driving from Rafah to Khan Younis on Salah-a-Din Road.
The attack was carried out with tank-mounted machine guns firing 500 mm bullets. According to information collected by LAW, Israeli soldiers opened fire at the first car and killed the driver who was later identified as Jamal Abed Al Razeq (30), a well-known Fatah member. Three other Palestinians driving in the second car were also killed, namely Awni Ismail (37), Sami Abu Laban (35) and Nael Alidawi (25), all from Rafah. The driver of the second car, Nahed Fojo, was injured during the attack and is currently held in detention.
In Khan Yunis, 16-year-old Ibrahim Hussein Al Mukannan died from injuries sustained two days ago near Tufah checkpoint. Hussein had been hit by live ammunition in the head.
In the West Bank, two Israeli settlers from the Homesh settlement approached the village of Sailat Altaher (Jenin) and started firing at two residents, Raed Qadi (21) and Ma’moun Qatmoush (22). One of the settlers is known as Ya ’coub and is reportedly responsible for security issues at Homesh settlement. Qatmoush was hit in various parts of the body and is said to be in critical condition. After the incident, the Israeli army entered the village and used tear gas and firearms against village residents. As a consequence, five villagers were injured by rubber coated metal bullets or live ammunition, Yousef Mas’ad (27), Amer Ghanem (19), Raed Qadi (21), Majdi Khanfar (20) and Hatem Malloul (40). Ghanem, Qadi and Khanfar were hit in the head.
In Hebron, Israeli soldiers entered the Central Market and started taking apart food stalls. Property was damaged and vegetables and other items were confiscated and loaded on military vehicles. According to media reports, the measures taken were justified with “security concerns.”
Settlements in the Occupied Territories were established in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The presence of settlers, who are a permanent source of violence against the Palestinian civilian population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, is therefore illegal. As occupying power, Israel is under the obligation to protect the Palestinian civilian population against any attacks, including those carried out by Israeli settlers.
LAW is concerned about the lack of protection afforded to Palestinian civilians by the Israeli occupying power. Since the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada a considerable number of settler attacks have been carried against Palestinians, in many cases with the acquiescence and sometimes even support of the Israeli security forces. Settler attacks are also preventing Palestinian farmers from harvesting fruits and vegetables. Moreover, Israeli settlers and soldiers have uprooted olive trees in different areas in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
LAW calls on the Israeli government to dismantle the settlements established in violation of international law in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza, and to implement UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338.
Daily report on settler violence against Palestinians
-In Selit Al-Daher near Jenin four Palestinians were injured, one of them seriously, after a settler from Humash settlement opened fire in the village. Eyewitness Faisal al-Gadi (aged 21) said: "While we were standing in front of a sweet shop belonging to Ma'moon Gatmash, a white Toyota car stopped and a settler named Ya'akov from Halmish , a person we know, left the car with a mini Uzi gun in his hand. The other settler, the driver, waited in the car. Without any introductions the settler Ya'akov started firing on us from a short distance, then returned quickly to the same car and left the site. We should mention that yesterday Ya'akov stopped one villager on the road leading to the village and told him: "Tell the people in the village to prepare themselves for my bullets". The four injured in the event were 'Adlee Ghanem (aged 18), hit in the back, Hatem Husni Malool hit in the feet, Yousof Muhammed Ali (aged 20), hit in the foot, and Ma'moon al-Gatmash (aged 20), who was hit in the head, chest and right leg. They were all taken to hospital and again, Ma'moon's case is serious.
-Settlers in Hebron distributed a statement calling the Army to close the Waqf department down town, and to prevent Arab cars from using the streets in it.
-Settlers uprooted 44 trees in the village of Salem near Nablus and 31 trees in the village of Hares belonging to Rajeh Hendi, Ref'at Shaker and Abed-'Azeez Shareef. The settlers cooperated with the solders in the uprooting. In the village of Toura Al Sharqie additional uprooting of trees by settlers and soldiers occurred, as well bulldozing land.
-Israeli settlers, under the protection of the Israeli military, attacked residents in several villages in the area of Ramallah, resulting in the injury of at least one Palestinian in the village of Nabi Saleh and several in the village of Deir Nitham, where a new settlement is being built.
-Settler attacks on the villages of Bet Ilo, Beit Rima, Deir 'Amar and Deir 'Amar Refugee Camp also resulted in the injury of several Palestinians.
-In the villages of Tqou' and Housan (Bethlehem area) Israeli settler attacks and clashes were reported throughout the day, resulting in the injury of at least 4 Palestinians, including one woman.
-Settler attacks against Palestinian residents in the Qalqilya and Salfit area were reported throughout the day, in addition to bulldozing lands and uprooting trees.