Situation in the OPT/CEIRPP recommendations/ Int’l Mideast Peace Conference on the Middle East (GA/RES/38/58 C) – Letter from CEIRPP Chairman

Letter dated 1 March 1988 from the Chairman of the Committee on the

Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People

addressed to the Secretary-General

In my capacity as Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, I wish to draw once again your most urgent attention to the further aggravation of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and to the intensification of repression by the Israeli armed forces against Palestinian protesters, including the use of live ammunition, rubber bullets, tear gas, a declared policy of severe beatings and even burying persons alive.  The Committee is also seriously concerned at reports of growing attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

The toll of Palestinians known to have been killed by Israeli gunfire or beatings is at least 79 since the beginning of the protests in early December, according to a report issued by Reuters on 29 February 1988.  It is to be noted that at least 29 Palestinians have died since my last letter to you on 10 February (A/43/l32-S/l9490), indicating an extremely serious increase in casualties.

The New York Times also reported on 28 February that at least another 12 deaths have been attributed to the effects of tear gas.  Physicians for Human Rights, a medical group which visited the occupied territories recently, has estimated that injuries run into the thousands, many of them victims of beatings administered randomly by the army with the intent to disable.  The physicians also reported that medical personnel have been refused entry to refugee camps and areas under curfew, and that hospitals have been assaulted, medical personnel beaten, equipment smashed and patients pulled from beds and arrested.

A brief chronology of incidents since my last letter is as follows:

Reuters reported on 12 February that Israeli troops had shot dead two Palestinian youths, aged 12 and 17, and wounded several others in fierce clashes after Friday prayer in the Old City of Nablus in the West Bank.

The New York Times reported on 12 February, that a day earlier Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian youth at the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank.

In a further report on 14 February, The New York Times said that the beating of Palestinians by the Israeli army appeared to have grown more severe, with another two Palestinians having died of beating injuries, bringing the total to four during that week.  A fifth person was reported by The New York Times of 16 February to have died of beating injuries on 14 February.

In another incident described by The New York Times on 14 and 16 February, Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers had severely beaten four young Palestinians in the village of Salim in the West Bank, then had forced them to lie on the ground and had used a bulldozer to bury them.  The four were later rescued by villagers.  A similar incident, in which an 18-year-old Palestinian was buried alive on the beach in Gaza Strip and later rescued by villagers was reported by the Jerusalem Post on 23 February.

According to UPI, on 17 February Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian protester in the village of Shuyukh, near Hebron.  On 21 February, The New York Times reported that two Palestinians, one of them 12 years old, had been shot and killed in Ramallah and Tulkarm refugee camp, respectively. The following day, the same newspaper reported that a Palestinian was shot, probably by a settler, in Deir Ammar refugee camp, near Ramallah, and another in Nablus.

On 23 February, according to UPI, a 13-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by settlers in the village of Baqa Esh-Sharqiyya in the West Bank, and a Palestinian youth was killed by troops in the village of Kafr El-Yamun.

Reuters reported on 24 February that a Palestinian suspected of collaborating with the Israeli occupation authorities had shot dead a 4-year-old boy and wounded 14 Palestinians when villagers attacked his home at Qabatiyah, near Jenin.  The man was subsequently lynched.

On 25 February, Reuters reported the killing of a 14-year-old boy in Nablus and an 18-year-old at Jenin refugee camp.

The next day, according to UPI, three Palestinians were killed by the army, including a 12-year-old boy and a 55-year-old woman, during protest demonstrations at Arrub refugee camp in Tubas, near Nablus, and in Jabaliya refugee camp.  A fourth Palestinian died of suffocation as a result of tear gas in Hebron.

In another day of bloodshed, three Palestinians were reported to have died on 27 February in Halhul after clashes with the army, according to The New York Times of 28 February.

According to The New York Times of 29 February and 1 March 1988, the latest violent incidents reported were an attack by armed settlers on an Arab village during the night of 27 February, during which two more Palestinians were shot to death, and a clash with the army in the village of Buruqin, near Nablus, during which an 18-year-old Palestinian was killed.  Another Palestinian died of bullet wounds sustained in an earlier incident in Jenin.

In view of the gravity of the incidents described above, the Committee wishes to reaffirm once again the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 to the occupied Palestinian territories and to appeal to all concerned to do their utmost to ensure the safety and protection of the Palestinian people under occupation.

Further, the Committee wishes to reiterate its view that, as long as the Palestinian people is prevented from exercising its inalienable rights in accordance with internationally recognized principles and United Nations resolutions, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace will not be achieved in the region. The Committee remains convinced that positive action by the Security Council on its recommendations, and on the International Peace Conference on the Middle East in accordance with General Assembly resolution 38/58 C, would advance prospects for a just and lasting settlement of the Palestine question, and reiterates its appeal for the intensification of efforts by all concerned to promote such a settlement.

I should be grateful if you would have this letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under item 37 of the preliminary list, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Massamba SARRE

Chairman of the Committee on

the Exercise of the Inalienable

Rights of the Palestinian People