Illegal Israeli actions in the OPT – Letter from Palestine

Identical letters dated 17 October 2002 from the Permanent Observer

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

and the President of the Security Council

  Israel, the occupying Power, continues to use excessive and indiscriminate force, using all means of heavy weaponry in its lethal arsenal, against the Palestinian people, killing more and more innocent and defenceless civilians, including children, with each passing day. As the Israeli occupying forces continue to carry out this current 25-month old bloody military campaign throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem, the war crimes, State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed by the occupying Power against the Palestinian people also continue to mount.

  Today, in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupying forces attacked a residential area in the Rafah refugee camp, firing five tank shells that hit a school of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and a number of houses. This attack by the occupying forces killed at least 8 people, including 2 women and a young girl and boy, and wounded at least 37 other people, several of them critically.

  The Israeli occupying forces also killed another Palestinian youth yesterday, 16 October, in the city of Tulkarem. The boy was killed by shots fired from a tank positioned in an eastern neighbourhood of the city. Clearly, the continuing military reoccupation of Palestinian population centres, with the constant presence of Israeli occupying forces and their weaponry in the midst of Palestinian neighbourhoods, represents an ongoing and very serious threat to the safety and well-being, and indeed survival, of Palestinian civilians in these areas.

  The international community must act urgently to uphold international law in the face of such continuing serious violations and grave breaches of international law by Israel, the occupying Power. The above-mentioned killing of Palestinian civilians today by the occupying forces in Gaza is yet another tragic example of the brutality and oppression that the Palestinian people under occupation face daily as Israel continues to flout international law, international humanitarian law and United Nations Security Council resolutions. In this regard, we urge the Security Council to take immediate action to bring an end to the war crimes, State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed by the occupying Power and particularly to provide the needed protection to the Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem.

  In follow-up to my previous 142 letters to you regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem, dated from 29 September 2000 to 14 October 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/2000/1206, 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-10/111-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/2002/186, A/ES-10/150-S/2002/214, A/ES-10/151-S/2002/223, A/ES-10/152-S/2002/232, A/ES-10/154-S/2002/242, A/ES-10/155-S/2002/248, A/ES-10/156-S/2002/245, A/ES-10/157-S/2002/253, A/ES-10/158-S/2002/258, A/ES-10/159-S/2002/281, A/ES-10/160-S/2002/307, A/ES-10/161-S/2002/319, A/ES-10/162-S/2002/330, A/ES-10/163-S/2002/340, A/ES-10/164-S/2002/353, A/ES-10/165-S/2002/361, A/ES-10/166-S/2002/370, A/ES-10/167-S/2002/433, A/ES-10/168-S/2002/474, A/ES-10/169-S/2002/495, A/ES-10/173-S/2002/536, A/ES-10/174-S/2002/555, A/ES-10/175-S/2002/610, A/ES-10/176-S/2002/617, A/ES-10/177-S/2002/641, A/ES-10/178-S/2002/650, A/ES-10/179-S/2002/654, A/ES-10/180-S/2002/686, A/ES-10/181-S/2002/697, A/ES-10/182-S/2002/699, A/ES-10/183-S/2002/717, A/ES-10/184-S/2002/738, A/ES-10/185-S/2002/827, A/ES-10/190-S/2002/891, A/ES-10/192-S/2002/976, A/ES-10/193-S/2002/983, A/ES-10/194-S/2002/1052, A/ES-10/195-S/2002/1066, A/ES-10/196-S/2002/1083, A/ES-10/197-S/2002/1094, A/ES-10/198-S/2002/1104, A/ES-10/199-S/2002/1114 and A/ES-10/200-S/2002/1144), it is my regret to inform you that, since my last letter to you, at least 9 Palestinians, including children, have been killed by Israeli occupying forces, raising the total number of Palestinian martyrs killed since 28 September 2000 to 1,886. (The names of the martyrs that have been identified thus far are contained in the annex to the present letter.)

  I would be grateful if you would arrange to have the present letter and its annex distributed as an official 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 17 October 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*
(Wednesday, 16 October, and Thursday, 17 October 2002)

    Wednesday, 16 October 2002

  Mahmoud Sabri Khalil Tamooni (18 years old)

    Thursday, 17 October 2002

1.  Ahmed Salam Asfour

2.   Shama’a Abu Shimaleh (7 years old)

3.   Mohammed Samil Abu Hilal (12 years old)

4.  Fatma Ahmed Abu Jazar 

5.   Samira Mohammed Abu Jazar

6.   Sa’eed Abdel’atti Obeid

7.  Ayman Al-Ghool

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 *   The total number of Palestinian martyrs killed by Israeli occupying forces since 28 September is 1,886.

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