Illegal Israeli actions in OPT – Letter from Palestine

 Identical letters dated 29 December 2004 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

As 2004 comes to a close, the situation on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, continues to be critical as the Palestinian people continue to suffer loss and hardship as a result of the illegal policies and practices of Israel, the occupying Power. During the past year, the Israeli occupying forces inflicted nearly 1,000 more deaths and thousands more injuries on the Palestinian civilian population and caused massive destruction of homes, properties, land and infrastructure throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in and around the refugee camps of the Gaza Strip. The occupying Power continued to commit serious violations and grave breaches of international law, including war crimes and State terrorism, against the civilian population under its occupation, causing widespread devastation and suffering and deepening the humanitarian crisis.

 Even as the Palestinian people mourned the loss of their leader, President Yasser Arafat, who died on 11 November 2004 after four decades of valiantly leading his people in their just struggle to achieve their inalienable right to self-determination, Israel, the occupying Power, continued to wage its military campaign against them. During this period, as reflected in the annexed list of martyrs, the occupying Power inflicted almost daily casualties on the Palestinian civilian population, killing and injuring children, women and men. In one day alone, on 17 December 2004, an Israeli raid on the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza left 12 Palestinians dead and injured more than 40 others. Dozens of homes were also bulldozed during the assault, rendering hundreds more people homeless, and extensive damage was caused to electricity lines and roads in the camp. In total, since our last letter, at least 113 Palestinians, including 15 children, have been killed as a result of the ongoing violence and attacks, including extrajudicial executions, perpetrated by the Israeli occupying forces.

At the same time, the occupying Power has continued to impose measures of collective punishment on the Palestinian people, including ongoing restrictions on freedom of movement through the imposition of closures and curfews and by means of the hundreds of checkpoints and roadblocks it continues to operate, as well as by its continuing unlawful construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, the gravest such measure in this regard. In addition, Israel continues to pursue its illegal settlement campaign, building and expanding settlements and expanding its network of bypass roads for the sole use of the illegal Israeli settlers. These illegal measures have perpetuated the isolation and suffocation of the Palestinian population in several Bantustans and continue to cripple the Palestinian economy, preventing its recovery and rehabilitation, and have seriously hampered the election process. In this regard, despite the assurances given by the occupying Power that it would not hinder the election process, it continues to impose restrictions on movement, preventing candidates from campaigning and creating obstacles for the registration process for the presidential elections. Moreover, there have been several instances of candidates being harassed, humiliated and even beaten by the occupying forces. Needless to say, the occupying forces have not withdrawn from the Palestinian population centres, a necessary step for the conduct of smooth, free and fair elections.

The international community, in accordance with the rules and principles of international law, including international humanitarian law, has clear responsibilities in terms of ensuring the proper conduct of the occupying Power, including compliance with its legal obligations and commitments, and we continue to express our strongest hopes that the necessary measures will be taken in this regard.

The present letter is in follow-up to our previous 209 letters to you regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, since 28 September 2000. These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 25 October 2004 (A/ES-10/290-S/2004/856) constitute a basic record of the crimes committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, State terrorism and systematic human rights violations committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

Accordingly, in follow-up to the above-mentioned letters, it is my profound regret to inform you that, since my last letter to you, at least 113 more Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces, raising the total number of martyrs killed since September 2000 to 3,552. (The names of the martyrs that have been identified are listed in the annex to the present letter.)

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 ) Nasser Al-Kidwa

Ambassador

Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations

Annex to the identical letters dated 29 December 2004 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 the Israeli occupying forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem * (Tuesday, 26 October 2004 to Monday, 27 December 2004)

    Tuesday, 26 October 2004

 1.   Mahmoud Asaad Almana’ami

 2.   Abdelaziz Mohammed Maamar

 3.   Salman Youssef Suleiman Al-Safadi (18 years old)

    Wednesday, 27 October 2004

    Issam Ghazi Hassan Taima

    Thursday, 28 October 2004

 1.   Ranya Ayad Arram (8 years old)

 2.   Mohammed Fadil Abu Etta (17 years old)

 3.   Ibrahim Mohammed Issa Al-Fayed

    Saturday, 30 October 2004

    Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim Kamil (14 years old)

    Sunday, 31 October 2004

   Ammar Nassir Ghawadra

    Monday, 1 November 2004

 1.  Mohammed Khalil Al-Kayed

 2.  Bashar Sami Zeyara (12 years old)

    Tuesday, 2 November 2004

 1.   Fady Samer Nour Al-Sarwan

 2.  Jihad Omar Abu Salha

 3.  Majdi Waddah Mohammed Marii

    Wednesday, 3 November 2004

 1.   Fady Kaficha

 2.  Raafat Samir Alhams

    Thursday, 4 November 2004

 1.   Raed Salim Tawfeeq Kourawi

 2.   Jazia Abderrahim Al-Farroukh

 3.   Mohammed Hassan Abdeljawad Abu Hadwan

   Friday, 5 November 2004

 1.  Ahmed Mohammed Alsamiri (8 years old)

 2.   Mohammed Musa’ad Alsamiri (9 years old)

    Saturday, 6 November 2004

 1.   Mohammed Ahmed Shaker Jaidi

 2.   Mohammed Jad Khalil Saadiya

 3.   Ala’a Hisham Samara (14 years old)

 4.  Rami Mohammed Al-Ramlawi

 5.  Ramzi Mohammed Al-Jaabir

 6.  Omar Abdelaziz Nawfal

    Sunday, 7 November 2004

 1.   Amin Fawzi Abdelrahim Hamdan Mansour

 2.   Ahmed Mohammed Fadil Masharqa

 3.  Amin Jamal Abu Al-Kamel

 4.  Fadi Khoudar Ighbariya

 5.   Mohammed Mahmoud Salahedine Fahmi

    Tuesday, 9 November 2004

 1.   Qadry Fayez Abdullah Ashour

 2.  Asaad Fathi Jouda 

 3.  Mohammed Jamil Matar

    Wednesday, 10 November 2004

 1.   Fathi Issa Altal

 2.   Mohammed Abdelrahman Al-Mabhouh

 3.  Jihad Abdelkader Salama

   Thursday, 11 November 2004

 1.   Noureddine Khamis Mourtaja

 2.   Mohammed Ahmed Shaker Al-Kholi

 3.   Bilal Mohammed Abdelkader Dyab

 4.   Mohammed Jamil Amer Abu Marya

    Sunday, 14 November 2004

   Ashraf Majdi Hassan Daher

    Wednesday, 17 November 2004

    Intissar Jabr Ahmed Darwish

    Friday, 19 November 2004

   Jihad Ibrahim Abu Layla

    Saturday, 20 November 2004

 1.   Amer Mohammed Darwish Bannat (15 years old)

 2.   Muntassir Jihad Marwan Hadada (15 years old)

 3.   Mohammed Khalil Ahmed Shahada

    Sunday, 21 November 2004

 1.   Riyad Hassan Abdelfattah Tamous

 2.  Khalil Mohammed Shahada

 3.  Mohammed Ghassan Othman Liftawi

 4.   Sallam Yakoub Issa Abu Hilala

 5.  Nasser Said Bakr Jawabra

    Tuesday, 23 November 2004

    Hassan Abdellah Ramadan

    Wednesday, 24 November 2004

 1.   Moussa Abdelfattah Ghariz

 2.   Mourad Ali Hassan Al-Kawasme

 3.   Omar Hisham Abdelfattah Al-Haymouni

    Sunday, 28 November 2004

    Mamoud Said Kishta (16 years old)

    Monday, 29 November 2004

 1.   Samir Mahmoud Awad Hijazi

 2.   Moataz Abdullah Al-Rakhawi (18 years old)

 3.   Khamis Youssef Al-Ghazali

 4.   Mohammed Khalil Odeh Al-Kharroubi

 5.  Said Mohammed Tah 

    Thursday, 2 December 2004

    Nabil Suleiman Mohammed Beirat

   Friday, 3 December 2004

    Mahmoud Hamdan Abdelrahman Hammad Kamil

    Tuesday, 7 December 2004

 1.  Ismail Ahmed Al-Sawarqa

 2.  Amer Abdellah Salem Islim

 3.  Adham Ahmed Ayesh Hajila

 4.  Moumin Rajab Mohammed Rajab

    Thursday, 9 December 2004

 1.   Karam Hassan Ali Al-shami

 2.   Walid Mosa’ad Al-Tarabeen

 3.   Rashad Ibrahim Atiya Abu-Sanima

 4.  Ayad Suleiman Ghayad

 5.  Abdelatti Salama Abu Sahbain

    Friday, 10 December 2004

 1.   Rana Omar Siyam (7 years old)

 2.  Salah Omar Sheikh Eid

    Saturday, 11 December 2004

    Ramadan Mohammed Harazallah (16 years old)

    Sunday, 12 December 2004

 1.   Almoueid Bihukmallah Khalil El-Agha

 2.  Salam Saber Shalouf

 3.  Ihsan Naim Hassan Al-Safi Shawahna

    Tuesday, 14 December 2004

    Samir Sultan Khafaja

    Wednesday, 15 December 2004

    Mustafa Jahini Al-Sawarqa

    Thursday, 16 December 2004

 1.   Mohammed Khalil Khalil Mekdad Alawaj

 2.  Hassan Musa Al-Bana

 3.  Ashraf Baalousha

 4.  Hassan Mustafa Kabha

    Friday, 17 December 2004

 1.  Mohammed Abu Rafii

 2.  Shadi Hussein Al-Haddad

 3.  Rami Ghazi Abu Saada

 4.  Said Aref Abdellah Abu Alsaid

 5.   Islam Abdelaziz Mohammed Al-Nabris

 6.   Khaled Abderrahman Ibrahim Abu Abida (18 years old)

 7.   Jihad Ramadan Abu Omar (16 years old)

 8.   Izzedine Said Mahmoud Hamdan

 9.   Hamed Issam Hamed Al-Rantisi (18 years old)

 10.   Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Abu Radwan

    Saturday, 18 December 2004

 1.   Ibrahim Abdelhamid Ayesh Al-Fara

 2.  Mohammed Mansour Berigh

    Wednesday, 22 December 2004

 1.   Mohammed Khalil Ashraf Al-Jridli

 2.   Mohammed Khalil Ibrahim Abu Nasser

 3.  Ibrahim Hamdi El-Bayouk

 4.  Salim Mohammed Abdelhady Alssir

    Thursday, 23 December 2004

 1.   Rami Kamel Abu Akr

 2.   Eid Mohammed Alabed Abu Namous

    Friday, 24 December 2004

 1.   Jamal Khaled Azzam (16 years old)

 2.   Kamel Abdullah Kamel Sabarini (18 years old)

 3.   Eyad Azmi Ghannam

    Saturday, 25 December 2004

    Thaer Jamal Mohammed Abu Al-Kamel

    Sunday, 26 December 2004

 1.   Mohammed Abdelsalam Abu Elrous

 2.   Mohammed Hamdane Abu Jabre

 3.   Tassahil Majdi Al-Hassanat (7 years old) (died from wounds sustained on 23 October 2004)

    Monday, 27 December 2004

 1.   Mohammed Marzouk Ahmed Eidwan

 2.   Wael Mohammed Jabril Riyyahi

*   The total number of Palestinian martyrs killed by the Israeli occupying forces since 28 September 2000 is 3,552.

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