Illegal Israeli actions in OPT – Letter from Palestine

Identical letters dated 28 August 2006 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

  It is my regret to inform you that nearly two months have passed and the Israeli military aggression against the civilian Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, especially in the Gaza Strip, has not ceased. On the contrary, Israeli occupying forces continue to kill, injure, destroy and commit other violations of international law, including international humanitarian law, against the civilian population under its brutal occupation. Over the past two months, more than 200 Palestinians, including over 45 children, have been killed, thousands have been injured, and thousands have been forced to leave their homes due to repeated ground incursions and intensive shelling by the Israeli occupying forces.

  Moreover, according to the latest situation report from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) dated 24 August 2006, approximately 120 Palestinian structures, including houses, workshops and greenhouses, have been destroyed and another 160 damaged by military actions by the Israeli occupying forces. The humanitarian aid that has reached the Gaza Strip has been very limited owing to the complete closure of the Karni crossing point. This has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis that has been unfolding in the Gaza Strip, increasing the suffering and hardship endured by the Gaza population. The World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has warned that the Gaza economy is reaching rock bottom and that industries that were once the backbone of Gaza’s economy and food system, such as the agriculture and fishing industries, are suffocated by the current situation and risk losing all viability.

  Today, the Israeli occupying forces continued their aggression against the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. In the West Bank town of Ramallah, Israeli occupying forces kidnapped another member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Mr. Mahmoud Mosleh. President Mahmoud Abbas released a statement declaring that the abduction was a flagrant violation of international legitimacy and a violation of the agreements signed between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. We continue to call on the international community to exert all efforts to compel the occupying Power to immediately and unconditionally release all democratically elected Palestinian officials.

  Also today, Israeli occupying forces fired a missile from an Israeli warplane, killing four Palestinian security personnel in the Al-Shajiyeh neighbourhood of Gaza City. oh Moreover, a 15-year-old child died after an explosive left by the Israeli occupying forces detonated near him in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. His brother, 13 years old, was also seriously injured in the same incident.

  The present letter is in follow-up to our previous 262 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 21 August 2006 (A/ES-10/355-S/2006/669), constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. Moreover, we reiterate that 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.

  In follow-up to the above-mentioned letters, it is my profound regret that since our last letter to you at least 17 more Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces, raising the total number of martyrs killed since September 2000 to 4,188. (The names of the martyrs that have been identified are listed in the annex to the present letter.)

  I should 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) Riyad Mansour

Ambassador

Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations

    Annex to the identical letters dated 28 August 2006 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 * (Monday, 21 August, through Monday, 28 August 2006)

    Monday, 21 August 2006

Saleem Deiriyeh

    Tuesday, 22 August 2006

1.  Saleh Abdel Ghafour 

2.   Abdel Khaleq Sa’eed Al-Farra

3.  Bassam Youssef Shurab 

    Thursday, 24 August 2006

Youssef Abu Daqah

    Saturday, 26 August 2006

Montasser Suleiman Al-Akkah (15 years old)

   Sunday, 27 August 2006

1.   Fat’hi Abu Ali Gombiz

2.  Sameh Abu Amr

3.   Waleed Al-Harazeen

4.  Tareq Hilles

    Monday, 28 August 2006

1.  Salamah Thabet Abu Odwan 

2.   Mahmoud Hamdi

3.  Mohammed Mostafa Hassanain

4.   Khaled Kamal Al-Eljah

5.  Mohammed Sadeq Hilles 

6.   Mohammed Za’anin (15 years old)

7.   Wasim Nasim Al-Masri (18 years old)

*   The total number of Palestinian martyrs killed by the Israeli occupying forces since 28 September 2000 is 4,188.  

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