Mideast situation – Letter from Israel

Letter dated 28 March 2001 from the Permanent Representative of Israel

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I wish to draw your attention to another act of Palestinian terrorism perpetrated this morning near the Israeli town of Kfar Saba.

Shortly after 7:30 am local time, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive charge near a gasoline station, killing Eliran Rosenberg Zayat, age 15, and Naftali Landskron, age 14. Four others were wounded in the explosion, one of them critically. This attack comes just a day after two separate bombings wounded thirty-five people in Jerusalem, and less than two days after the deliberate murder of a ten-month-old baby in Hebron.

The military wing of Hamas claimed responsibility for the blast and, in a telephone call to Reuters, warned that seven more suicide bombers were ready and prepared to strike.

Today’s bombing is merely the latest in an increasingly frequent series of Palestinian terrorist attacks that have included murders, abductions, mortar fire and suicide bombings. Previous attacks have been detailed in my letters addressed to you dated 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).

It must also be noted that these attacks occurred at a time when Israel is acting to relax restrictions and ease the hardships of the Palestinian civilian population. The Palestinian leadership had taken advantage of this situation, resulting in a dramatic increase in terrorist activities in recent days.

The Government of Israel holds the Palestinian Authority responsible for today’s bombing in light of its release of convicted terrorist prisoners from Palestinian prisons, its persistent refusal to engage in serious security cooperation with Israel, and its failure to act resolutely to combat terrorist elements operating from within the territory under its control. The stance of the Palestinian leadership blatantly contravenes Chairman Arafat’s explicit commitment of 9 September 1993 to renounce the use of violence and to act to control those who perpetrate it.

Israel again calls on Chairman Arafat to abide by his commitments, to take concerted action against terrorist elements, and to work to ensure that such atrocities do not recur in the future. The international community must speak with one voice in clear condemnation of such brutal and loathsome acts.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of this letter circulated as an official document of the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 164, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Yehuda Lancry

Permanent Representative