Mideast situation/Attacks – Letter from Israel

Letter dated 26 July 2002 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I am writing to draw your attention to the latest incidents in the ongoing campaign of Palestinian terrorism directed against the citizens of Israel.

Yesterday morning, at approximately 4 a.m. (local time), Elimelech Shapira, a rabbi and father of eight children, was driving near the community of Alei Zahav when Palestinian terrorists, who had been lying in ambush, opened fired on his vehicle with Kalashnikov rifles. Shapira was critically wounded and later died of his injuries; his companion who was riding in the passenger seat was injured and evacuated to a nearby hospital. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the terrorist wing of Chairman Arafat’s Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack.

This afternoon, four Israelis, including a child, were killed in two shooting attacks south of Hebron. According to reports, the gunmen opened fire at an Israeli vehicle as it approached the Zif Junction. Three Israelis were killed and another passenger was injured. The gunmen then continued on their way until they reached the community of Carmel where they fired on another vehicle, killing one and wounding two others. Three of those killed this afternoon were from the same family. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for this attack as well.

Palestinian terrorists have also increased their rocket attacks on Israeli communities. Late Wednesday night, two Kassam rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at two different Israeli positions. One child was treated for shock and a building was damaged. The following day another Kassam rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip at a town in the western Negev. No injuries were reported but some damage was caused.

Israel holds the Palestinian Authority and its Chairman responsible for these latest attacks. Such attacks are only possible through the financial and logistical support that the Palestinian leadership has supplied to terrorist groups and are the product of years of incitement to violence and terrorism in the official media, the demonization of Jews and Israelis in the Palestinian educational system, and the glorification of suicide bombers that pervades Palestinian society.

Yesterday’s attack confirms the continuing need for Israeli defensive measures in the face of unrelenting threats of Palestinian terrorism. So long as the Palestinian Authority refuses to fulfil its responsibility to fight terrorism, in accordance with its signed obligations and the resolutions of the Security Council, Israel will have to take the necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of its citizens. Israel calls upon the Palestinian Authority to take the steps necessary to bring about a cessation of all acts of terrorism and the resumption of a political process.

I submit this letter in follow-up to numerous letters detailing the campaign of Palestinian terrorism that began in September 2000.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of this letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 166, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Aaron Jacob

Ambassador

Chargé d’affaires a.i.