Letter dated 2 February 1988 from the Permanent Representative of
Jordan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General
At a time when the international community, both inside and outside the framework of the United Nations, is preoccupied by the deteriorating situation in the Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem, when the Security Council has once again called upon Israel, the occupying Power, to comply immediately and rigorously with the Geneva Convention relative to the, Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949,1/ and to desist forthwith from the pursuit of those of its policies and practices which constitute a violation of the provisions of that Convention, and when the Council reaffirms the urgent need for the achievement of a just, durable and peaceful solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, I am sending you the most recent information – relating to the period from 1 December 1987 to 31 December 1987 – which clearly demonstrates; that the Israeli occupation authorities remain determined to carry out their plans for the expansion of Israeli settlement, the confiscation of land and the perpetration of acts of aggression against Arab citizens and their property in the occupied Arab territories, in violation of the principles of international law relating to military occupation and, in particular, the Hague Convention of 19072/ and the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.1/
In emphasizing to You, and through you to the international community, the danger which the continuation of such a policy represents for international peace and security and for peace efforts and prospects in the region, I should be grateful if you would have this letter and its annex circulated as an official document of the General Assembly, under the agenda item entitled "Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories", and of the Security Council.
ANNEX
Monthly report on Israeli settlement operations and acts of
aggression against Arab citizens and their property during
the month of December 1987
During the month of December 1987, the occupied Arab territories were the scene of the largest and broadest popular uprising of the year. Since the first week of December 1987, Arab citizens have been conducting continuous demonstrations, strikes and acts of protest in response to the Israeli practices and acts of aggression against them. Every day one or more individuals are martyred, the authorities detain dozens, indeed hundreds, of Arab youths and children, tighten their "iron grip" and impose further restrictions and various collective punishments. These practices are causing the anger of Arab citizens to increase yet further, the streets of the cities and camps are crowded with protest demonstrations, and more people are being killed and wounded.
During the month in question, the Israeli occupation authorities detained some 4,900 members of the population of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Hundreds of them appeared before military courts, where they were accused of committing "security violations". Many of them were the victims of show trials at which they were sentenced to de facto imprisonment and exorbitant fines.
Perhaps the most abhorrent action of the Israeli occupation authorities during the recent disturbances has been the stress which they have laid on orders to Israeli soldiers to open fire on Arab citizens. This lethal policy on the part of the Israeli authorities has caused the death of 52 male and female citizens and the wounding of some 628 others.
Meanwhile, the occupation authorities' determination to suppress the Arab uprising against the Israeli occupation has not prevented them from persisting in their daily pattern of aggression against Arab territory and the Arab population. The authorities have issued orders for the confiscation of thousands of dunums of Arab land and have continued their desperate attempts to increase Jewish settlement in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and to draw up plans to attract and encourage Jews, particularly new immigrants, to take up residence in those settlements which have already been established in the occupied West Bank.
As regards attacks on the liberties and human rights of the Arab population, the Israeli authorities have continued to pursue their inhuman policy and to impose harsh individual and collective punishments. These include the sentencing of 157 citizens from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip who have appeared before the military courts. The sentences range from life imprisonment and imprisonment for a number of months to the imposition of heavy fines. The occupation authorities have placed nine Arab citizens under administrative detention for a period of six months, placed six citizens under house arrest, ordered the deportation of two citizens, destroyed 18 Arab houses, imposed a curfew in a number of cities and camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and ordered the closure of all Arab schools, eight intermediate colleges and institutes and three universities.
Details of the acts of aggression carried out during the month in question are as follows:
I. CONFISCATION OF LAND
During the month of December 1987, the Israeli occupation authorities confiscated more than 2,020 dunums of land in the occupied West Bank.
The confiscation’s occurred in the following areas:
1. On 6 December 1987, residents of the Ginat Shomron settlement, located South of the village of Kafr Laqif, took over 20 dunums of land belonging to citizen Salih Mahmud Hassan. Israeli bulldozers leveled the plot, after its owners had been removed by force, in preparation for the construction of a Jewish synagogue.
2. On 7 December 1987, the Israeli authorities announced the confiscation of an undetermined area of land in the village of Bayt Immar (Hebron district). The land, which is also known by the names Wadi al-Ammasin and Wadi al-Battikh, lies between the two settlements of Efrat and Migdal. The confiscated land is expected to be absorbed into the two Israeli settlements.
3. On 17 December 1987, the Israeli authorities confiscated about 2,000 dunums of land belonging to the village of Qusin, west of the city of Nablus.
4. On 28 December 1987, the Israeli authorities confiscated thousands of dunums belonging to a number of Arab citizens in areas called Al-Zaqur, Al-Ghazalat, Abu Salman, Abu Qarin, Kafr Barra, Zahr Abu Umran, Khallat al-Ghaydh, Khallat al-Kabrah, Kafr Qasim, Al-Marjah, Khallat al-Masayah and Al-Marj. This confiscated land lies in the Qalqilyah and Tulkarm districts.
II. SETTLEMENT
The Israeli occupation authorities continue to carry out their plans to increase Jewish settlement in the occupied territories and to expand existing settlements with increasing numbers of Jewish settlers. Reports from the occupied territories indicate that the Israeli authorities are making intensive efforts, within the framework of a new plan designed to increase the number of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, to raise their number to the equivalent of 40 per cent of the total Arab population. This was revealed by one of the Israeli Prime Minister's advisers on 3 December 1987 and was confirmed by the Chairman of the World Zionist Organization's Settlement Department, when he told a press conference on 5 December 1987 at the settlement of Eilon Moreh, near Nablus, that "Israel's objective in the West Bank [was] to raise the proportion of Jews to 40-60 per cent of the total population of the occupied West Bank by the end of the present century". During the same press conference, the Chairman of the Settlement Department added that preparations were currently under way in Israel for the settlement of a further million and a half Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank during the next 12 months and that plans and projects were ready to be implemented for the establishment of new settlements in the Hebron and Nablus districts, in the villages and near to the other Arab cities in the occupied West Bank.
With regard to settlers in the occupied West Bank, Israeli press sources in the occupied territories quoted Haim Ahron, Head of the Jewish Agency's immigration Section, as saying, during his attendance of the ceremony opening the Center for Absorption of New Immigrants at the Ariel settlement, near Nablus, that about 20 per cent of the settlers in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip were new immigrants and that 12,000 Jews out of a total of 70,000 who had migrated to Israel during the past five years had chosen to take up residence beyond the so-called "Green Line". More than half the Jewish immigrants coming from the United States of America were being absorbed into settlements in the occupied West Bank. Ahron also stated that some 80 per cent of the population of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip were religious and orthodox Jews. The Center for Absorption of New Immigrants which was recently opened at the Ariel settlement is the first absorption center to be established beyond the "Green Line".
The fanatical rightist Israeli deputy Dov Shilansky, Chairman of the Israeli Knesset's Interior Committee, called for an increase in the pace of settlement in the occupied West Bank. A statement of his published on 24 December 1987 included a remark to the effect that "the solution to the current situation in the region lies in the affirmation and strengthening of Jewish settlement activities". He was joined in the call for increased settlement by other deputies who said that an increase in the number of male and female Jewish settlers in the occupied territories constituted the best solution to the problem of "terrorism" there.
Also on the subject of increased settlement, Matityahu Drobles, Chairman of the Jewish Agency's Settlement Department, announced that his Department had drawn up a new settlement plan covering the period up to the year 2000. Drobles presented his plan, which he entitled "Climb the mountain and open up the desert", to the International Zionist Conference which was held during December in Jerusalem. The plan provides for the establishment of dozens of new Jewish settlements on the mountain ranges in various parts of the occupied West Bank.
Other settlement news includes the reports by Israeli newspapers of the completion of approval procedures and preparations for construction of the first stage of the new Avni Hefitz settlement in Tulkarm district. The Israeli newspaper Davar reported that preparatory work had been practically completed for the construction of 78 residential units in the settlement, to be built on a "do-it-yourself" basis. The settlers are to build their own homes, and plans are then to be drawn up for the establishment of infrastructure, the installation of water and drainage systems and the building of roads. The Jerusalem newspaper Al-Sha’b printed a report on 31 December 1987 to the effect that the settlement was to be divided into four areas, three of which would be designated for residential purposes and in which some 2,000 residential units would be built, with the fourth area being designated for the construction of industrial facilities. A road would be built beyond the city of Tulkarm to link the main road to the settlement.
In occupied Jerusalem, and in connection with the plan to settle Jews in the historic city, 22 Jewish families have moved into the Aqabat al-Khalidiyah quarter in the old City of Jerusalem. There are also 500 religious Jews in occupied Jerusalem's religious schools.
In the occupied Gaza strip, Israeli army forces have established a military observation post comprising a number of Israeli army tents to the east of the village of Bayt Lahia. Arab citizens residing in the Gaza Strip expect the post to be converted into a new military settlement since the Israeli authorities announced their intention to establish such a settlement some time ago.
III. ACTS OF AGGRESSION AGAINST ARAB LAND, ARAB CITIZENS AND THEIR PROPERTY
The Israeli occupation authorities carried out a number of acts of aggression during the month of December 1987. In doing so, they acted alternately with Jewish settlers and with other Jewish extremists and racists.
Details of acts of aggression which resulted in damage to the person, property or land of Arab citizens are as follows:
(a) Aggression against Arab land
1. On 1 December 1987, "unidentified persons" uprooted olive-trees on a four-dunum plot of land belonging to the Arabs of Al-Rashaydah (Bethlehem district).
2. On 2 December 1987, a large force comprising members of the army, the Frontier Guard and the Israeli police uprooted some 400 olive-trees and 200 young vines planted on land in the village of Husan (Bethlehem), known as Mawqil al-Battat. The operation was carried out by bulldozers, which also uprooted metal corner-posts and barbed wire surrounding the approximately 30-dunum plot of land.
3. On 2 December 1987, "unidentified persons" uprooted 50 olive-trees on land in the Bethlehem district. The Israeli authorities had been trying to take over this land for some time and had already uprooted 200 olive-trees in September.
4. On 3 December 1987, a large number of settlers, protected by Frontier Guard forces, uprooted 300 olive-seedlings on land belonging to the village of Husan (Bethlehem district). This was the second time in a week, as settlers had uprooted 800 olive-seedlings on land belonging to the same village only the week before. Israeli bulldozers began to level the land which had been planted with olive-seedlings, in preparation for the construction of a settlement on that site.
5. On 9 December 1987, "unidentified persons" cut down 17 olive-trees in the village of Till (Nablus).
6. On 11 December 1987, "unidentified persons" tore up 50 young olive-trees in the village of Azzun.
7. On 12 December 1987, "unidentified persons" tore up and destroyed nylon bags for agricultural use on a plot of land covering more than 10 dunums in Qalqilyah. The damage was estimated at more than 3,000 Jordanian dinars (JD).
8. On 16 December 1987, "unidentified persons" destroyed 14 plastic greenhouses in the village of Dayr al-Ghusun. Cases of destruction of plastic greenhouses have recently been on the increase.
9. On 21 December 1987, settlers in the Amos settlement, near tile village of Kisan (Bethlehem), used vehicles to haul earth away from land belonging to the village to their settlement.
10. On 21 December 1987, "unidentified persons" cut down 11 over 30-year-old olive-trees belonging to the village of Azzun, in an area situated near the settlement of Ma’aleh Shomron. This represents the fifth time that fruit-bearing olive-trees have been cut down in this area.
(b) Aggression against citizens and their property
1. On 1 December 1987, an Arab citizen was taken to hospital in Tel Aviv after a number of Israelis attacked and beat him up at the central bus station.
2. On 1 December 1987, soldiers of the Israeli army in Rafah attacked an Arab student while they were dispersing demonstrations. He received critical head injuries and was taken to hospital.
3. On 1 December 1987, two Israeli soldiers raided the campus of the Islamic University at Gaza after entering the Palestine Religious Institute (Al-Azhar), located to the west of the University. They fired bullets into the air inside the University precinct.
4. On 2 December 1987, customs officers and a force from the Israeli army raided a shop selling flour and fodder in the village of Bani Suhaylah. They confiscated ledgers and papers belonging to the shop.
5. On 2 December 1987, agents of the Customs Department raided driving schools in the Gaza Strip and seized vehicle licenses and keys. They ejected students from the schools' vehicles and closed all the schools on the grounds that their owners had not paid taxes.
6. On 3 December 1987, a citizen was wounded at Jenin after being fired on by Israeli policemen who claimed that he had refused to obey their orders.
7. On 3 December 1987, Israeli troops forcibly entered the campus of Bethlehem University and carried out an extensive search operation. The Israeli forces claim that they found Palestinian pamphlets, books and flags and forbidden posters in a small room during the raid.
8. On 5 December 1987, men from the Taxation Department, accompanied by the Frontier Guard, raided the "Al-Karawan" restaurant in Bethlehem and confiscated its contents. The Taxation Department had imposed taxes amounting to JD 24,000 on the restaurant one month previously, and the raid was ordered on the grounds that the time-limit for payment of the taxes had expired.
9. On 5 December 1987, three youths in the Balata refugee camp were injured by soldiers of the Israeli Frontier Guard when they opened fire on the pretext of dispersing a demonstration in the camp.
10. On 6 December 1987, settlers belonging to the extremist Kach movement attacked the houses and vehicles of citizens, smashed window-panes and slashed the tires of citizens' cars in Halhul (Hebron).
11. On 7 December 1987, an Arab youth was wounded in the back by an Israeli army bullet when he was fired upon while driving his car along the main road in Al-Zahiriyah. It was alleged that he had been speeding.
12. On 7 December 1987, "unidentified persons" smashed the windscreens of four private vehicles belonging to Arab citizens during the night. The vehicles were parked on Khallat al-Ruhban Street, Nablus.
13. On 9 December 1§87, customs duty agents in Qalqilyah raided commercial stores and imposed exorbitant fines on most merchants.
14. On 10 December i987, "unidentified persons" attacked the farm of a citizen in the village of Kafr Qaddum and stole 19 goats. They were reported to have parked their vehicles one kilometer away from the village and to have taken the goats to that spot.
15. On 10 December 1987, taxation and customs officers, accompanied by Israeli forces, raided a number of gold shops in the city of Jerkin. The taxation officers confiscated large quantities of gold, as well as records and delivery ledgers belonging to the shops.
16. On 11 December 1987, investigators from the Israeli intelligence agency Shin Beth severely tortured an Arab youth from the city of Rafah in order to force him to confess to crimes which he had not committed.
17. On 11 December 1987, "unidentified persons" attempted to burn down St. Paul's Church in Al-Asbat Street, near Al-Anbiya Street, in the old City of Jerusalem and set fire to its north-west door.
18. On 11 December 1987, the Israeli authorities cut off the electricity supply to the city of Gaza shortly before the time of the Friday prayer. The power cut lasted approximately two hours and was intended to prevent preachers in the mosques from making reference, over the loudspeakers, to the recent bloody events in the Strip.
19. On 14 December 1987, the Israeli authorities blocked distribution of the newspaper Al-Sha’b in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for a period of 12 days, on the grounds that the newspaper had published articles and pictures which had not been submitted for censorship. This was the second time in a month that an order preventing distribution of the newspaper had been issued.
20. On 17 December 1987, a number of Jewish settlers carried out ark act of provocation against Arab citizens in the city of Rafah (Gaza Strip). They drove their vehicles into the Tall al-Sultan quarter, with weapons in their hands, and drove their cars through with a view to demonstrating and emphasizing their presence in Arab quarters.
21. On 17 December 1987, a settler opened fire from a sub-machine-gun directly at Arab citizens demonstrating in the Gaza Strip.
22. On 18 December 1987, an elderly citizen died in Jerusalem after the Friday prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as a result of asphyxiation by tear-gas fumes. The gas had been fired by members of the Israeli army at worshippers who had demonstrated, after performing the Friday prayer, in protest against Israeli policy in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
23. On 19 December 1987, occupation soldiers raided the Old City of Nablus. They fired bullets at demonstrators, and chased many of them into the markets of the old City. A youth was beaten with rifle-butts and truncheons and taken to hospital.
24. An Arab youth from the village of Al-Zahiriyah, situated to the South of the city of Hebron, was wounded when troops of the Israeli army opened fire on him.
25. On 19 December 1987, some 15 members of the fanatical racist Jewish movement Kach invaded the site of the Ibrahimi Shrine in Hebron. They brought with them copies of the Torah and a prayer-platform and performed prayers there.
26. On 20 December 1987, the "green patrols" of the Nature Preservation Authority rounded up 305 goats belonging to an Arab citizen from Al-Jahalin residing in the Al-Ayzariyah area, alleging that the goats had entered and were grazing in a closed military zone. The goats were released after their owner had been fined JD 1400. Four of the goats were lost as a result of this act of aggression.
27. On 21 December 1987, a female citizen in the village of Al-Isawiyah was injured in the stomach when a tear-gas canister fell on her house. Her kidney had to be removed in a surgical operation.
28. Clashes occurred between occupation authorities and citizens con 21 December 1987, with the result that 22 people were injured by Israeli army bullets.
29. On 22 December 1987, the Israeli authorities banned the newspaper Al-Quds in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for a period of 30 days.
30. On 22 December 1987, Israeli police forces closed the main entrance to the Dheisheh camp by building a wall of reinforced concrete. The area of the camp was also declared to be a closed military zone.
31. On 23 December 1987, Israeli soldiers in Bethlehem confiscated, many copies of the newspaper Al-Fajr from vendors and tore them up.
32. Israeli television reported on 23 December 1987 that a group belonging to the Faithful of the Temple Mount, including Gershon Solomon and a large number of other members, entered the Haram al-Sharif, according to a statement by the Israeli police. The police said that they did this in order to commemorate the "Testament of the Maccabeans", who liberated the Temple Mount, and in order to show pride and strength in the face of the Arab demonstrations in Jerusalem and the other parts of the West Bank.
33. On 23 December 1987, the newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth reported that a number of employers in Beersheba and the Negev had in the past few days dismissed Arab workers from the Gaza Strip. It also reported that a number of Jewish apartment owners in Beersheba had refused to rent apartments to Arab students.
34. On 23 December 1987, Israeli army forces used a helicopter to disperse demonstrators. The helicopter dropped tear-gas canisters on places where citizens were gathered, particularly on the Palestinian refugee camps. The canisters fell inside houses, causing those inside the houses to suffer from attacks of choking.
IV. ISRAELI PRACTICES AND VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES
The overall uprising which occurred this month in the cities and camps of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip provides convincing evidence of the extent to which the Israeli authorities scorn the rights of Arab citizens in the occupied territories.
The occupied Arab territories this month saw vehement popular anger flare against numerous Israeli practices and violations. The uprising included most of the cities, villages and camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This led the Palestinians in the territories occupied in 1948 to demonstrate and to conduct general strikes in solidarity with those of their relatives in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip who were suffering ill-treatment and violations of their rights to live on their own land. The uprising also spread to the area of Galilee and the Golan.
The total number of people killed as a result of these clashes was 52, with 628 injured and 4,900 detained. Eight hundred and one elementary, intermediate and secondary schools were closed, as well as eight colleges and institutes and three universities in various parts of the occupied Arab territories and the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli authorities also proceeded to impose a curfew in the cities and camps of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and tried to fragment the popular uprising by the use of force.
The disturbances in the occupied west Bank
The overall popular uprising in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip has continued since 8 December 1987, as a result of repeated acts of aggression by the Israeli army, Jewish settlers, police forces and the Frontier Guard against unarmed citizens. These have caused the popular uprising to continue in all parts of the occupied West Bank and have increased the anger and wrath of the population against the occupation authorities. The anger of the Arab population has been expressed in the form of strikes, the suspension of school activities and the continuation of demonstrations in the cities, villages and camps. The Israeli occupation authorities have admitted deploying very large forces to counter this uprising, to disperse the demonstrations and to attack citizens with their most recently developed weapons.
The newspapers have quoted Israeli army sources as saying that the army forces currently deployed in the occupied West Bank are double the number stationed there in normal circumstances.
In the Gaza strip, their presence has increased to three times the army force normally stationed there. The number of Israeli soldiers in the Strip at present is estimated at twice the number of soldiers who were there during the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967.
Incidents which occurred in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the month of December 1987:
Tuesday, 8 December 1987:
Wednesday, 9 December 1987:
Thursday, 10 December 1987:
Friday, 11 December 1987:
Saturday, 12 December 1987:
Sunday, 13 December 1987:
Monday, 14 December 1987
Tuesday, 15 December 1987:
Wednesday, 16 December 1987:
Saturday, 19 December 1987:
Sunday, 20 December 1987:
Details are given below concerning violations by Israel of human rights and the punishments inflicted by the occupation authorities on Arab citizens in the occupied Arab territories during the month of December 1987.
1. Arrests
(a) Collective arrests
During the general uprising that took place in the occupied territories, the Israeli occupation authorities proceeded to arrest Arab citizens in an effort to disperse the demonstrators and impose "security" in the Palestinian towns and camps. It is estimated that 4,900 people were arrested and held in the various Israeli detention centers during the uprising in December in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
For the purpose of these mass arrests, the authorities resorted to the most odious means and methods. We shall merely cite the following incidents as an example:
(b) Penalties imposed on Arab detainees
In December 1987, Israeli military tribunals in the West Bank and the Gaza strip imposed prison sentences or fines on 157 Arab citizens, both men and women. The sentences ranged from one month to life imprisonment. The fines inflicted totaled 65,800 shekels (approximately $US 43,866).
(c) Administrative detention
Nine persons, mostly students, were placed under administrative detention during December. Their names are as follows:
2. Restrictions On freedom of movement
(a) House arrest
The Israeli occupation authorities have placed under house arrest, for a period ranging from three to six months, six Arab citizens in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Their names are:
(b) Curfew
During the same month, the Israeli military authorities imposed a curfew six times in a number of camps, towns and villages of the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They were the following:
3. Expulsions
The Israeli occupation authorities ordered the expulsion of two Arab citizens, namely, Jamal Yusuf al-Hindi, a student at Al-Najah college, and Abdel Fattah Ziyadah, of Gaza.
The Israeli periodical Hadashot of 27 December 1987 stated that, since 1967, some 2,500 Palestinians had been expelled.
4. Demolition of houses
During December, the Israeli occupation authorities ordered the demolition of 18 Arab houses, as a punishment or alleging the lack of a building permit, or other violations.
A list of the names of the Arab citizens whose houses were demolished, and of the places where this took place, is given below.
|
Name |
Place |
||||
|
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. |
Mohammad Adil Hanani Abd Adil Abdallah Shahadah Jamal Fayiz Hussein Kadir Uli al-Akhras Zayed Raja Dib Hamdan Mustafa Hamad Abmad Abderrabim Abu Zanhura Hussayn al-Aqra’ Adnan Muhammad al-Jada' Yusuf Shahwan Abd Yusuf al-Qaram Muhammad Adil al-Hadj Hassan Three houses belonging to Arab citizens Name unknown " Jamal Aid al-Zagharnah Jamil Aid al-Zagharnah Atwah Abu Samhadanah |
Beit Furik " Deir el-Hatab Tammun village Awarta village Bazzariah village " Al-Zuwayda (Gaza) Hablah (Qalqilya) " Bidya village Daud district (Qalqilya) Al-Zhahiriyah (Hebron) " " Rammadin (Hebron) " Shbura region |
|||
5. Arab citizens killed or injured
During December, following the general uprising, which spread to all the towns, villages and camps of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 52 people were killed and about 528 were wounded.
6. Closure of schools and universities
Following the mass uprising, the occupation authorities ordered the closure of all schools – primary, preparatory and secondary – in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They also ordered the closure of Tulkarm College, Al-Azhar Institute, the Modern Society College in Ramallah, Nablus College, the Polytechnic Institute, the College of Science and Technology in Abu Dis, the Pedagogical Institute in Ramallah and the Agricultural Institute in Tulkarm.
Hebron University, the Islamic University and Bir Zeit University were also closed on the orders of the Israeli authorities.
—–
Notes
1/ Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949 (United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 973.
2/ See Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The Hague Conventions and Declarations of 1899 and 1907 (New York, Oxford University Press, 1915).
Document Type: Letter
Document Sources: General Assembly, Security Council
Country: Jordan
Subject: Agenda Item, Human rights and international humanitarian law, Land, Settlements
Publication Date: 03/02/1988