Illegal Israeli actions in OPT – Letter from Palestine

Identical letters dated 9 November 2000 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, has committed yet another crime today against the Palestinian people. Israeli occupying forces committed an act of wilful killing when Israeli military helicopter gunships fired missiles at a vehicle in the village of Beit Sahour in the vicinity of the city of Bethlehem. This resulted in the killing of one person and the injury of at least one other person in the vehicle and the killing of two Palestinian women, in their fifties, who were passing near the vehicle.

The occupying Power indicated that this action was planned and that it was directed against members of Fatah, the mainstream political party in Palestine. Today, the Israeli occupying forces also killed another 14-year-old in the Gaza strip.

In follow-up to my previous letters to you, dated 29 September through 6 November 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), I must bring to your attention the fact that, since my last letter to you, Israeli occupying forces have killed 18 more Palestinian civilians, including children, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem. This brings the total number of deaths to 171 Palestinians. (The names of those martyred since my last letter are annexed.) The excessive use of force by Israeli occupying forces, including the use of tanks and other heavy weaponry, has also caused the injury of at least 150 more Palestinians, many of whom are in serious condition.

The international community cannot allow this Israeli campaign of killing and terror against the Palestinian people to continue, and it must insist on the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1322 (2000) of 7 October 2000 and resolution ES-10/7 of 20 October 2000 of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly. Once again, we reiterate our call to the Council for the urgent establishment of a United Nations protection force to be dispatched to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem, for the purpose of providing much needed protection for the Palestinian civilian population.

I would be grateful if you would arrange to distribute the present letter and its annex as a 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 9 November 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

(6 through 8 November 2000)

Monday, 6 November 2000

1. Wajdi Allam Hattab (13 years old)

2. Mohammad Al-Jazar (16 years old)

3. Mohammad Nawaf Al-Ta’ban (14 years old)

Tuesday, 7 November 2000

1. Abdullah Khalid Amarna

2. Ahmad Amin Khofash (7 years old) (died from wounds sustained on 3 November 2000)

3. Said Hamid Abu Khelah

4. Mohammad Abdullah Abdel Razik Diriah (17 years old)

Wednesday, 8 November 2000

1. Fares Faieq Odeh (16 years old)

2. Mohammad Nimr Mahani (died from wounds sustained on 7 November 2000)

3. Ibrahim Al-Qassas (13 years old) (died from wounds sustained on 4 November 2000)

4. Mohammad Mesbah Abu Ghaleb (15 years old)

5. Raed Abdel Megid Dawoud (14 years old)

6. Khalil Abu Se’dah (15 years old)

7. Khalad Fayez Abu Zahreh (17 years old)

Thursday, 9 November 2000

1. Hussein Ebyat

2. Aziza Danun Jubran

3. Rahma Rasheed Shaheen

4. Mohammed Kamel Shurab (14 years old)