Illegal Israeli actions in the OPT – Letter from Palestine

Identical letters dated 28 December 2000 from the Permanent Observer

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

and the President of the Security Council

Today marks three months since the infamous visit by Ariel Sharon to Al-Haram Al-Sharif in Occupied East Jerusalem, the ensuing uprising by the Palestinian people against the Israeli occupation and the onset of the Israeli bloody military campaign against the Palestinian population. During this bloody campaign, the Israeli occupying forces, using live ammunition and heavy weaponry, have inflicted a high number of casualties among the Palestinian people and have caused extreme destruction and suffering. A total of 315 Palestinians have been killed and 10,523 have been wounded and injured. Of the injured, 2,146 have been the result of live ammunition and the rest have been the result of rubber bullets, shrapnel, gas and other reasons. Further, approximately one third of the injured have been 18 years or younger and many of the wounded will suffer lifelong disabilities and handicaps as a result of their serious injuries. I am enclosing the names of the additional 11 martyrs that have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces since my last letter to you on 19 December 2000 (see annex).

During its military campaign, Israel, the occupying Power, has continuously and repeatedly committed, inter alia, the following against Palestinian civilians and other Palestinians:

The wilful killing of Palestinian civilians, using different methods, including by use of sharpshooters when soldiers of the occupying Power were not in any way subject to life-threatening situations. In some cases, the killings took place without any disturbances on the scene. More recently, in its campaign, the occupying forces committed summary executions against identified persons also using various military methods and arms. In what has been tantamount to a pattern of shooting, the soldiers of the occupying Power have also wilfully caused serious injuries to Palestinian civilians, usually to the upper part of the body.

Bombing and shelling of populated Palestinian areas and of buildings belonging to the Palestinian Authority using helicopter gunships, tanks and other heavy weaponry.

Razing agricultural fields and orchards and destroying industrial and economic facilities.

Imposing severe restrictions on the movement of persons and goods with the outside world and within the Occupied Palestinian Territory, sometimes even to the level of restrictions on cities and villages. This has also included in many cases restrictions on the movement of medical personnel in emergency situations and the delivery of necessary supplies.

A vast number of other forms of collective punishment and harassment of Palestinian civilians, such as the imposition of unlawful confinement on the Palestinian inhabitants of Al-Khalil (Hebron).

Many of these actions by the Occupying Power represent grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, and some represent war crimes within the meaning of the Convention. They represent serious violations of other instruments of international law as well as many Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. The actions of the occupying Power have caused grave loss of life, severe destruction of property and have greatly damaged the socio-economic living conditions of the Palestinian people.

I send this letter to you in follow-up of my previous letters on the matter dated from 29 September to 19 December 2000 (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; and A/ES-10/52-S/2000/1215), as the suffering of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation continues to this day and as the need for serious and immediate action by the international community, including the provision of international protection for Palestinian civilians, also continues.

I would be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of this letter and its annex distributed as an official document of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Nasser Al-Kidwa

Ambassador

Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations


Annex to the identical letters dated 28 December 2000 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 security forces in the

Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem

(Tuesday, 19 December, through Wednesday, 27 December 2000)

Wednesday, 20 December

1. Refa’t Faisal Abu Marzouk

2. Hani Alsoufi (11 years old)

3. Suliman Zo’rob

Thursday, 21 December 2000

1. Ahmed Jameel Awad

2. Hani Jouma’a Barhoum (17 years old)

3. Ahed Iyada Mriesh

Friday, 22 December 2000

1. Salamah Ayash Alsouwerky

2. Arafat Mohammed Ali Mas’ad (17 years old)

3. Najeeb Mohammed Kasem Abeedou (17 years old)

Saturday, 23 December 2000

1. Nidal Hassan Abu Own

2. Abdallah Hussein Qanan (from wounds sustained on 14 December 2000)

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2019-03-11T20:44:59-04:00

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