Mideast situation – Letter from Israel

Letter dated 27 February 2002 from the Chargé d’affaires, a.i. of the

Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

  I wish to draw your attention to the latest incidents in the unrelenting campaign of Palestinian terrorism directed against the citizens of Israel.

  Last Friday, 22 February, Valerie Ahmir, age 59, was returning home from work at approximately 4 p.m. (local time) when terrorists in a passing car sprayed his vehicle with gunfire on the Atarot-Givat Ze’ev road north of Jerusalem. Ahmir was killed by a gunshot wound to the head. The Al-Aksa Brigade of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat’s own Fatah faction claimed responsibility for the attack.

  On Monday, 25 February, two Israeli civilians — Avraham Fish, age 65, and Aharon Gorov, age 46 — were shot and killed when terrorists fired on their vehicle as they drove between Nokdim and Tekoa shortly after 4 p.m. (local time). Fish’s daughter, Tamar Lipschitz, age 33, who was in her thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, was shot in the lower abdomen. Lipschitz was evacuated to a hospital in Jerusalem, where she underwent a Caesarean section and gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Chairman Arafat’s Al-Aksa Brigade claimed responsibility for this attack as well.

  Also on Monday, a Palestinian terrorist opened fire on a residential street in the northern Jerusalem neighbourhood of Neveh Ya’acov at approximately 6.30 p.m. (local time), wounding nine people, three of them seriously. Police officer Galit Arviv, age 21, who was critically wounded in the attack, died of her wounds the following morning. The terrorist, who entered Neveh Ya’acov from the neighbouring village of Dihyat el-Barid, was seriously wounded in a shoot-out with police and was finally subdued with the help of local residents. This attack was also the work of the Al-Aksa Brigades.

  This morning, at approximately 6.30 a.m. (local time), a Palestinian terrorist entered the Rejwan coffee factory in Jerusalem and shot one of the owners, Gad Rejwan, age 34, twice in the head at close range. The Palestinian then fled towards Palestinian-controlled territory. Also today, Israeli forces stopped three terrorists who had infiltrated Israeli territory from Egypt. Two Israeli soldiers were wounded in the course of an ensuing gunfight with the terrorists, who were armed with automatic rifles and explosives.

  These attacks come amidst other troubling reports that Al Qaida operatives are seeking to become involved in anti-Israeli terrorism. Last week, Turkish security forces apprehended three individuals linked to Al Qaida who had travelled from Afghanistan, through Iran, to Turkey, and who intended, had they not been arrested, to continue on to Lebanon and into Israel to carry out a terrorist attack in an Israeli city. Other reports have suggested that Al Qaida members are seeking safe harbour in the territories of the Palestinian Authority and in other neighbouring States.

  These are only the latest incidents in a deliberate 17-month campaign of terrorism that has been detailed in letters dated 20 February 2002 (A/56/828-S/2002/185), 19 February 2002 (A/56/824-S/2002/174), 11 February 2002 (A/56/819-S/2002/164), 8 February 2002 (A/56/814-S/2002/155), 28 January 2002 (A/56/798-S/2002/126), 22 January 2002 (A/56/788-S/2002/104), 18 January 2002 (A/56/781-S/2002/86), 16 January 2002 (A/56/774-S/2002/73), 11 January 2002 (A/56/771-S/2002/47), 4 January 2002 (A/56/766-S/2002/25), 13 December 2001 (A/56/706-S/2001/1198), dated 4 December 2001 (A/56/678-S/2001/1150), 30 November 2001 (A/56/670-S/2001/1141), 28 November 2001 (A/56/668-S/2001/1133), 27 November 2001 (A/56/663-S/2001/1121), 12 November 2001 (A/56/617-S/2001/1071), 5 November 2001 (A/56/604-S/2001/1048), 24 October 2001 (A/54/406-S/2001/1011), 19 October 2001 (A/56/492-S/2001/990), 17 October 2001 (A/56/483-S/2001/975), 8 October 2001 (A/56/450-S/2001/948), 5 October 2001 (A/56/444-S/2001/943), 3 October 2001 (A/56/438-S/2001/938), 24 September 2001 (A/56/406-S/2001/907), 20 September 2001 (A/56/386-S/2001/892), 17 September 2001 (A/56/367-S/2001/875), 7 September 2001 (A/56/346-S/2001/858), 4 September 2001 (A/56/331-S/2001/840), 30 August 2001 (A/56/325-S/2001/834), 27 August 2001 (A/56/324-S/2001/825), 13 August 2001 (A/56/294-S/2001/787), 9 August 2001 (A/56/272-S/2001/768), 27 July 2001 (A/56/225-S/2001/743), 26 July 2001 (A/56/223-S/2001/737), 17 July 2001 (A/56/201-S/2001/706), 13 July 2001 (A/56/184-S/2001/696), 3 July 2001 (A/56/138-S/2001/662), 21 June 2001 (A/56/119-S/2001/619), 19 June 2001 (A/56/98-S/2001/611), 18 June 2001 (A/56/97-S/2001/604), 13 June 2001 (A/56/92-S/2001/585), 11 June 2001 (A/56/91-S/2001/580), 4 June 2001 (A/56/85-S/2001/555), 30 May 2001 (A/56/81-S/2001/540), 25 May 2001 (A/56/80-S/2001/524), 18 May 2001 (A/56/78-S/2001/506), 11 May 2001 (A/56/72-S/2001/473), 9 May 2001 (A/56/69-S/2001/459), 1 May 2001 (A/55/924-S/2001/435), 23 April 2001 (A/55/910-S/2001/396), 16 April 2001 (A/55/901-S/2001/364), 28 March 2001 (A/55/863-S/2001/291), 27 March 2001 (A/55/860-S/2001/280), 26 March 2001 (A/55/858-S/2001/278), 19 March 2001 (A/55/842-S/2001/244), 5 March 2001 (A/55/821-S/2001/193), 2 March 2001 (A/55/819-S/2001/187), 14 February 2001 (A/55/787-S/2001/137), 13 February 2001 (A/55/781-S/2001/132), 2 February 2001 (A/55/762-S/2001/103), 25 January 2001 (A/55/748-S/2001/81), 23 January 2001 (A/55/742-S/2001/71), 28 December 2000 (A/55/719-S/2000/1252), 22 November 2000 (A/55/641-S/2000/1114), 20 November 2000 (A/55/634-S/2000/1108) and 2 November 2000 (A/55/540-S/2000/1065).

  The State of Israel holds the Palestinian Authority and its Chairman Yasser Arafat directly responsible for the ongoing campaign of terrorism in the light of the fact, inter alia, that its forces are the ones responsible for carrying out acts of violence against Israeli civilians, including the attacks described above. It is entirely disingenuous for the Palestinian leadership to profess its desire for a negotiated settlement and a future of coexistence while its forces continue to carry out deadly attacks against Israeli civilians and incite hatred among the Palestinian people.

  Israel remains committed to a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians, as with all of its neighbours, on the basis of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973). But such a settlement will remain elusive so long as the Palestinian leadership fails to stop the terror that it itself is perpetrating. Israel calls upon the international community, in the context of its global campaign against terrorism, to reaffirm the absolute unacceptability of any acts of violence against civilians and to compel the Palestinian leadership to abide by its legal obligations to renounce the use of violence and terrorism and to refrain from lending support and assistance to terrorist organizations it is currently harbouring in its territory.

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

(Signed) Aaron Jacob
Chargé d’affaires, a.i.