Illegal Israeli actions in OPT – Letter from Palestine

Identical letters dated 7 March 2002 from the Permanent Observer of

Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

and the President of the Security Council

The number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupying forces since the beginning of its bloody military campaign launched against the Palestinian people on 28 September 2000 has now surpassed 1,000 victims. These martyrs include Palestinian children, women and men. This tragic figure, however, does not include many other Palestinians who have died as a result of the practices and measures of the Israeli occupation, including those who have died at checkpoints after being prevented from reaching hospitals, those who have died from medical traumas experienced following raids and bombardments or those who have died because of lack of access to appropriate medical care and services due to the siege imposed on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

This 17-month-old Israeli military campaign, which has involved some of the most vicious war crimes and State terrorism, has also encompassed the wide destruction of property, both public and private, the destruction of roads and vital infrastructure, the destruction of agricultural fields, the destruction of the Palestinian economy as a whole and the destruction of facilities belonging to the Palestinian Authority. The devastation wrought by the Israeli occupying forces, in addition to the imposition of the constant military siege on Palestinian refugee camps, villages, towns and cities, has caused the complete socio-economic suffocation of the Palestinian people.

Today, 15 more Palestinians were killed by the Israeli occupying forces’ excessive and indiscriminate use of force. Using tanks, helicopter gunships, warplanes and naval gunboats, the occupying forces continued to bombard Palestinian targets throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory in complete defiance of international pleas for Israel, the occupying Power, to cease its military assaults against the Palestinian people.

  Dozens of Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles entered the Palestinian city of Tulkarem and the nearby Nour al-Shams and Tulkarem refugee camps, occupying positions there and taking over the roads. In addition to the ground raids carried out by Israeli forces into the refugee camps, helicopter gunships launched missile strikes, killing and wounding several Palestinian civilians and destroying property in the already impoverished camps. Moreover, in the raid on the Tulkarem camp, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a United Nations paramedic when they fired on his ambulance, and wounded four other ambulance workers in another shooting. During that same raid, the occupying forces also seized a school belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Also today, Israeli occupying forces attacked various Palestinian security installations, including in Bethlehem, Al-Khalil and Halhoul, damaging buildings and causing numerous injuries. Further, Israeli forces continued to target the police compound in Gaza City, as well as a police roadblock, striking with warplanes and from naval gunboats, causing yet more death and destruction and wounding several Palestinian police officers. In addition to the facilities struck, a building belonging to the Palestine Red Crescent Society and a United Nations school sustained damage in the attacks.

The escalation of attacks by the Israeli occupying forces comes in direct fulfilment of the absolutely mad policy of Mr. Sharon and his Government aimed at “battering” the Palestinians and using force “without let-up” to push the Palestinian people and leadership into submission. In this regard, for the second time yesterday, Israeli occupying forces targeted the official headquarters of President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah while he was meeting with European Union Special Envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos, practically endangering both of their lives as well as those of many others in the compound at the time.

It is to be recalled at this serious juncture that the Security Council has repeatedly failed to undertake any concrete measures to address the deterioration of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since its adoption of resolution 1322 (2000) on 7 October 2000 nearly a year and a half ago. This failure to take action has occurred in spite of repeated attempts by the majority of the members of the Security Council and of the United Nations as a whole, who could correctly argue that this tragic and continuous deterioration could have been stopped with the proper action by the Council. We once again call upon the Security Council to urgently take the necessary measures to bring an end to the deterioration and reverse the current tragic situation. In this regard, we must note with appreciation the statements and efforts of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

In follow-up to our previous 104 letters to you regarding this escalating crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem, dated from 29 September 2000 to 6 March 2002 (A/55/432-S/2000/921; A/55/437-S/2000/930; A/55/450-S/2000/957; A/55/466-S/2000/971; A/55/474-S/2000/984; A/55/490-S/2000/993; A/ES-10/39-S/2000/1015; A/ES-10/40-S/2000/1025; A/ES-10/42-S/2000/1068; A/ES-10/43-S/2000/1078; A/ES-10/44-S/2000/1093; A/ES-10/45-S/2000/1104; A/ES-10/46-S/2000/1107; A/ES-10/47-S/2000/1116; A/ES-10/48-S/2000/1129; A/ES-10/49-S/2000/1154; A/ES-10/50-S/2000/1173; A/ES-10/51-S/2000/1185; A/ES-10/52-S/2000/1215; A/ES-10/53-S/2000/1247; A/ES-10/54-S/2001/7; A/ES-10/55-S/2001/33; A/ES/10/56-S/2001/50, A/ES-10/57-S/2001/101; A/ES-10/58-S/2001/131 A/ES-10/59-S/2001/156;  A/ES-10/60-S/2001/175; A/ES-10/61-S/2001/189; A/ES-10/64-S/2001/209;  A/ES-10/65-S/2001/226; A/ES-10/66-S/2001/239; A/ES-10/67-S/2001/255; A/ES-10/68-S/2001/284; A/ES-10/69-S/2001/295; A/ES-10/70-S/2001/304; A/ES-10/71-S/2001/314; A/ES-10/72-S/2001/332; A/ES-10/75-S/2001/352; A/ES-10/76-S/2001/372; A/ES-10/79-S/2001/418; A/ES-10/80-S/2001/432; A/ES-10/81-S/2001/447; A/ES-10/82-S/2001/463; A/ES-10/83-S/2001/471; A/ES-10/84-S/2001/479; A/ES-10/85-S/2001/486; A/ES-10/86-S/2001/496; A/ES-10/87-S/2001/504; A/ES-10/88-S/2001/508; A/ES-10/89-S/2001/544; A/ES-10/90-S/2001/586; A/ES-10/91-S/2001/605; A/ES-10/92-S/2001/629; A/ES-10/93-S/2001/657; A/ES-10/94-S/2001/669; A/ES-10/95-S/2001/686; A/ES-10/96-S/2001/697; A/ES-10/97-S/2001/708; A/ES-10/98-S/2001/717; A/ES-10/99-S/2001/742; A/ES-10/100-S/2001/754; A/ES-10/101-S/2001/783; A/ES-10/102-S/2001/785; A/ES-10/103-S/2001/798; A/ES-10/104-S/2001/812; A/ES-10/105-S/2001/814; A/ES-10/107-S/2001/821; A/ES-10/108-S/2001/826; A/ES-10/110-S/2001/855; A/ES-10/111-S/2001/880; A/ES-10/112-S/2001/918; A/ES-10/114-S/2001/928; A/ES-10/115-S/2001/932; A/ES-10/116-S/2001/941; A/ES-10/117-S/2001/971; A/ES-10/118-S/2001/989; A/ES-10/119-S/2001/991; A/ES-10/121-S/2001/1007; A/ES-10/122-S/2001/1024; A/ES-10/123-S/2001/1036; A/ES-10/124-S/2001/1084; A/ES-10/125-S/2001/1092; A/ES-10/126-S/2001/1118; A/ES-10/128-S/2001/1149; A/ES-10/129-S/2001/1166; A/ES-10/133-S/2001/1239, A/ES-10/134-S/2001/1261, A/ES-10/136-S/2002/18, A/ES-10/137-S/2002/39, A/ES-10/138-S/2002/48, A/ES-10/139-S/2002/58, A/ES-10/140-S/2002/89, A/ES-10/141-S/2002/95, A/ES-10/142-S/2002/102, A/ES-10/143-S/2002/121, A/ES-10/144-S/2002/142, A/ES-10/145-S/2002/146, A/ES-10/146-S/2002/165; A/ES-10/147-S/2002/175; A/ES-10/148-S/2002/182, A/ES-10/149-S/2002/190, A/ES-10/150-S/2002/214 A/ES-10/151-S/2002/223; A/ES-10/152-S/2002/232 and A/ES-10/154-S/2002/242), it is my regret to inform you that a total of 15 Palestinians were killed today by the Israeli occupying forces. (The names of the martyrs are contained in the annex to the present letter.) Their deaths sadly raise the number of Palestinians killed since 28 September 2000 to 1,013 martyrs.

I would be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of the present letter and its annex distributed as a document of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Dr. Nasser Al-Kidwa
Ambassador
Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations

Annex to the identical letters dated 7 March 2002 from the Permanent Observer

of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

and the President of the Security Council

Names of martyrs killed by Israeli occupying forces in the

Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem ^a
( Thursday, 7 March 2002)

1.   Tareq Abu Jamoos

2.  Saqr Maher Aleil

3.   Hosni Nayef Al-Dahman

4.  Ismail Al-Bardeeni

5.   Sa’id Ali Ibrahim Sobeh (15 years old)

6.  Akram Mohammed Ghanayem 

7.   Samir Ghanem

8.  Shadi Tawfik Abbas

9.   Yussef Mohammed Shahadeh (18 years old)

10.  Mohammed Saleh Yassin 

11.   Mohammed Ali Al-Sous

12.  Muhanad Mahmoud Abu Hilal

13.  Mohammed Tayseer Al-Aneeny

14.  Kamal Salem

15.   Ibrahim Mohammed Assad

________________

^aThe total number of Palestinian martyrs killed by Israeli occupying forces since 28 September 2000 is 1,013.