Illegal Israeli actions in the OPT – Letter from Palestine

 Identical letters dated 27 September 2004 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

  In flagrant and grave breach of international law, Israel, the occupying Power, continues to commit war crimes and acts of State terrorism throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory as well as in the region. On Sunday, 26 September 2004, yet another extrajudicial killing was carried out by Israel against a Palestinian man, this time in the territory of a sovereign State, when a car bomb was detonated in the Syrian capital of Damascus, killing Mr. Izzedine Al-Sheikh Khalil, a leader of Hamas, and wounding at least three other people. This act cannot but be deemed a blatant act of State terrorism. While there has been no formal admission of responsibility by Israel for the bombing, the Israeli media and spokesmen have made it very clear that this is a fact, with some actually boasting about Israeli involvement in the attack.

  This latest criminal act follows recent, repeated declarations made by Israeli officials, including the Prime Minister himself, of their intention to continue targeting Palestinian leaders. Indeed, the occupying Power has not ceased to carry out extrajudicial killings and military raids and attacks against the Palestinian civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. Yesterday’s car bombing in Damascus was preceded by the extrajudicial killing of Mr. Khaled Abu Selmiyeh, whose car was hit by helicopter missile fire as he drove on a busy street in Gaza City last week. In addition to killing Mr. Selmiyeh, the attack wounded at least six other Palestinian civilians, two of them critically. Regrettably, this killing is only one of the many committed by the occupying Power against the Palestinian people since my last letter to you (A/ES-10/281-S/2004/729), as reflected in the annexed list of martyrs. Among the many other civilians killed by the Israeli occupying forces during this period was a 19-year-old Palestinian girl, Ibreezah Al-Minyawi, who was shot in the chest as she stood on the roof of her home in the city of Nablus, which has been subjected to constant raids and continues to be under siege, as well as a 60-year-old man, Ali Abu Al-Nimer, killed two days ago in Khan Yunis by helicopter missile fire.

  At the same time, the occupying Power continues to systematically violate all other human rights of the Palestinian people, including by means of collective punishment. In this regard, Israel continues to impose closure and the severest restrictions on the movement of persons and goods, including humanitarian, throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which continues to gravely impact the already dire humanitarian situation. Moreover, the occupying Power continues its barbaric practice of demolishing Palestinian homes, terrorizing the civilian population, leaving hundreds upon hundreds of families homeless and treading a path of destruction wreaked by its tanks and bulldozers. Just two days ago, on Saturday, 25 September 2004, the Israeli occupying forces raided the refugee camp of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, and, using bulldozers, destroyed at least 35 Palestinian homes in the area. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, another 60 Palestinian families, numbering approximately 230 people, have now been made homeless. It is imperative to recall that such extensive and wanton destruction of property constitutes, as a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, a war crime.

  Such flagrant violations of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law, by Israel, the occupying Power, must be firmly condemned by the international community. The impunity with which Israel has been allowed to carry out its illegal policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, has undoubtedly emboldened it to carry out attacks, such as that carried yesterday in Damascus, that inflame tensions and threaten to further destabilize the situation in the region. We urge the international community to unambiguously call for a cessation of Israel’s practice of extrajudicial killing as well as a cessation of all of its other violations of international law. It is high time for serious measures to be undertaken to compel Israel to halt its military campaign against the Palestinian people and to scrupulously abide by international law, including in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention, which is applicable to all of the territory occupied by Israel since 1967, including East Jerusalem.

  The present letter is in follow-up to our previous 200 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 14 September 2004 (A/ES-10/281-S/2004/729), constitute a basic record of the crimes committed by the Israeli occupying forces 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 deepest regret to inform you that, since my last letter to you, at least 29 more Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces, raising the total number of martyrs killed since September 2000 to 3,258 Palestinians. (The names of the martyrs that have been identified are contained 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 27 September 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, 14 September 2004, to Monday, 27 September 2004)

    Tuesday, 14 September 2004

1.   Maram Mufeed Abdel Aziz Al-Nahleh (11 years old)

2.  Abdel Helim Mohammed Said Salem

3.   Mulhem Afif Ibrahim Abu Jamileh

4.  Nader Ibrahim Rida Al-Aswad

5.   Mohammed Ribhi Said Mareai

6.  Hani Ahmed Fathi Al-Aqad

7.  Fawaz Fakhry Fawaz Zakarneh

8.   Fady Fakhry Fawaz Zakarneh

9.  Maaz Mohammed Fayez Qateet

10.   Ibrahim Atta Abdel Rehim Mahmoud Abu Salheh

11.   Fawaz Sasi Mohammed Hassan Al-Bulbul

    Friday, 17 September 2004

  Ibreezah Durgham Zeeb Al-Minyawi

    Sunday, 19 September 2004

1.   Rami Abdelkarim Abu Lihyeh

2.   Khaled Mohammed Abdelhalim Abu Selmiyeh

    Monday, 20 September 2004

1.   Salem Abdelqader Abu Shabab

2.  Rabah Darwish Zaqoot 

 3.  Nabil Ibrahim Al-Saidi

    Wednesday, 22 September 2004

  Osama Salah Abedrabbo Al-Araj

     Thursday, 23 September 2004

  Fallah Hassan Naeim Musharqeh (died from wounds sustained on 14 September 2004) 

    Friday, 24 September 2004

  Hossam Fathi Abu Al-Najja (died from wounds sustained on 21 September 2004)

    Saturday, 25 September 2004

  Ali Abdallah Abu Al-Nimer

     Sunday, 26 September 2004

  Jihad Nimer Mustafa Abu Hassan

     Monday, 27 September 2004

1.   Said Mohamed Al-Madhoon

2.  Mohamed Tawfiq Abu Askar 

3.   Hasan Mohammed Zaher

4.  Sayel Mustafa Jibareh 

5.   Ahmed Al-Tayrawi

6.  Ammar Daasaan

7.   Ali Al-Shaaer

*   The total number of Palestinian martyrs killed by Israeli occupying forces since 28 September 2000 is 3,258.

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