State of Palestine reiterates its call on Security Council resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict – Letter from Palestine

Identical letters dated 11 November 2015 from the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council

The situation in the Occupied State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem, remains extremely volatile as Israel, the occupying Power, persists with its violations of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, causing the continued deterioration of the situation in all aspects, including the continued suffering of the Palestinian people under its occupation, and further deepening despair and inflaming already heightened tensions.

In word and deed, the occupying Power has rejected de-escalating tensions and has instead continued with its oppressive measures and excessive use of force against the Palestinian civilian population. This is evidenced by the fact that, since the beginning of October, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has documented that Israeli occupying forces have killed 82 Palestinians, among them 18 children and 4 women; 63 were killed in the West Bank and 18 in the Gaza Strip and 1 Palestinian was also killed in Beersheba. Moreover, more than 3,500 Palestinians have been shot and wounded with live and rubber-coated steel bullets and more than 5,000 persons have been treated for excessive tear-gas inhalation, while 278 were injured in other ways, including assaults by the occupying forces and burns from tear-gas canisters.

It is without a doubt that Palestinian youth have borne the brunt of Israel's latest aggression, as they continue to be targeted by the occupying forces and illegal Israeli settlers and, as a result, they continue to suffer casualties at an alarming rate. As the violations against Palestinian children continue to multiply on a daily basis, we continue to insist again that the Government of Israel, Israeli occupying forces and Israeli settler militias belong on the list of grave violators of child rights in the context of the report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, and we will not relent in calling for such listing in the face of ongoing violations and crimes against our innocent and defenceless children.

While it is impossible to record every single crime perpetrated daily by the Israeli occupying forces and terrorist settlers against the Palestinian people, the following is a list of just some of the many Israeli crimes in the recent period.

On 4 November 2015:

• Ibrahim Samir Al-Skafi (age 22) was shot and killed by Israeli occupying forces north of Halhoul, near Al-Khalil

• Israeli occupying forces assaulted a Palestinian (age 77) at an Israeli checkpoint at the entrance of Beit Ummar near Al-Khalil and sprayed pepper spray directly into his face

• Israeli occupying forces physically assaulted Muhammad Badarneh, a Palestinian cameraman and confiscated his filming equipment at an Israeli checkpoint near Al-Jalama, north of Jenin

On 5 November 2015:

• Malik Talal Al-Shareef (age 25) was shot and killed by Israeli occupying forces near the illegal settlement "Gush Etzion", south of Bethlehem

On 6 November 2015:

• Tharwat Al-Sharawi (age 72) was shot and killed by Israeli occupying forces in Halhoul, near Al-Khalil

• Salameh Moussa Abu Jame (age 23) was shot and killed by Israeli occupying forces east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip

On 7 November 2015:

Israeli armed settlers, under the protection of the occupying forces, attacked Palestinian homes with rocks in the Jaber neighbourhood to the east of Al-Khalil, and shouted racist slogans and profanities against the Palestinian residents, while threatening to kill them

On 8 November 2015:

• Sulaiman Shahin (age 22) was shot and killed by Israeli occupying forces at Za'tara checkpoint, south of Nablus

• Hilweh Salim Darwish (age 22), was critically injured after she was shot by Israeli occupying forces near the illegal settlement of "Beitar Ellit", south of Bethlehem

On 9 November 2015:

• Rasha Muhammad Oweisi (age 23) was shot and killed at an Israeli checkpoint south of Qalqiliya.

• An Israeli settler from the illegal "Maale Levona" settlement opened fire at Palestinian farmers harvesting olives near Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya, south of Nablus

• Israeli occupying forces raided Al-Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, the third incursion of its kind in two weeks, and demanded to see the medical records of a Palestinian teenager treated by doctors there

10 November 2015:

• Sadeq Ziad Gharbiyeh (age 16) was shot dead by Israeli occupying forces at an Israeli checkpoint, north-east of Bethlehem

• Muhammad Nimr (age 37) was shot and killed by Israeli occupying forces outside Bab Al-Amud (Damascus Gate) in Jerusalem's Old City. Afterwards, the occupying forces raided Al-Issawiya, and they proceeded to detain Muhammad's father (age 63), together with his two brothers

• Ali Alqam (age 13) was shot and sustained serious injuries and his cousin Mo'awiya Alqam (age 12) was detained near the illegal "Pisgat Zeev" settlement in occupied East Jerusalem

• Israeli occupying forces surrounded two schools for girls in Al-Arrub refugee camp, north of Al-Khalil and fired tear-gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets at schoolchildren

Given the fact that the human rights violations against the Palestinian people by Israel, the occupying Power, continue to multiply, we must repeat our demand to the international community to provide protection for the Palestinian people. International humanitarian law and the commitments undertaken for the protection of civilians in situations of armed conflict, including children and women, must be upheld as a matter of urgency in the State of Palestine, where civilian lives are clearly under constant threat by the occupying Power, which has not only grossly abrogated its obligations but also clearly abdicated them, as tragically confirmed by the crimes listed above.

We must draw attention to Israel's continued pursuit of its illegal settlement campaign throughout the Occupied State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem. In this regard, we condemn the latest announcement by the Government of Israel this past week, regarding the approval of about 2,200 new settlement units in the illegal "Ma'aleh Michmash" settlement, east of Ramallah, and the plan to erect two illegal settlement outposts in the area. We condemn and reject the occupying Power's illegal policies, which attempt to change the facts on the ground and which continue to undermine the possibility of achieving the ever diminishing two-State solution.

Furthermore, we continue to reiterate our condemnation of Israel's illegal practice of arbitrarily detaining Palestinian civilians, without charge, without revelation of evidence against them and without trial. According to the State of Palestine Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs, the occupying Power has issued in the recent period administrative detention orders against nine Palestinian youths. Moreover, it should be noted that since the beginning of October, Israeli occupying forces have arrested more than 1,520 Palestinians; 60 per cent of those arrested have been children. In this regard, we bring to your attention the abusive interrogation of a 13-year-old Palestinian child, Ahmad Manasrah, by Israeli occupying forces, which went viral by social media documenting Israel's brutal treatment and torture of the child.

We call again on the international community, in particular the Security Council, to act immediately to end Israel's impunity and resolve this conflict, which clearly constitutes a threat to international peace and security. The Israeli occupation must end and the Palestinian people must realize justice and their inalienable rights, including to self-determination and freedom. The Council thuscannot continue to be absolved of its responsibilities and must act urgently to avert further destabilization of this situation. Every day in which the international community does not act to confront this crisis is not only another day in which lives are lost but also another day in which hope for a peaceful solution to this conflict continues to fade.

The present letter is in follow-up to our 563 previous letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine. These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-5/2000/921) to 3 November 2015 (A/ES-10/700-5/2015/834), constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators be brought to justice.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of the present letter

distributed as a document of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Riyad Mansour
 Ambassador
Permanent Observer of the
State of Palestine to the United Nations

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