Mideast situation/Attacks – Letter from Israel

Letter dated 18 March 2002 from the Permanent Representative of Israel

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I wish to draw your attention to the latest incidents in the ongoing campaign of Palestinian terrorism directed against the citizens of the State of Israel.

Yesterday afternoon, at approximately 12.30 p.m. (local time), a Palestinian terrorist opened fire indiscriminately on a street corner in the Israeli city of Kfar Saba at an hour when the area was filled with pedestrians. Noa Auerbach, age 18, was on a break from Tel Aviv high school and was passing time with friends when the terrorist shot and killed her at close range. Sixteen other civilians were wounded as the terrorist continued his rampage before being stopped by Israeli police. The Al Aksa Brigades, the terrorist wing of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Two hours later, a suicide bomber approached a public bus as it stopped at a traffic light in the northern Jerusalem neighbourhood of French Hill and detonated powerful explosive charges strapped to his body. More than 24 people, most of them passengers aboard the bus, were injured in the attack. Yesterday’s bombing comes barely two weeks after a Palestinian bomber killed 10 people in Jerusalem’s Beit Yisrael neighbourhood — 6 of them children ranging in age from several months to 15 years — and a week after 11 people were killed by a suicide bomber at Jerusalem’s Moment Café. The Islamic Jihad terror organization later claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to news agencies in Beirut.

These attacks are merely the latest incidents in a Palestinian campaign of terrorism that has raged for 18 months and has been detailed in my letters dated 11 March 2002 (A/56/867-S/2002/257), 8 March 2002 (A/56/864-S/2002/252), 5 March 2002 (A/56/857-S/2002/233), 4 March 2002 (A/56/854-S/2002/222), 27 February 2002 (A/56/843-S/2002/208), 20 February 2002 (A/56/828-S/2002/185), 19 February 2002 (A/56/824-S/2002/174), 11 February 2002 (A/56/819-S/2002/164), 8 February 2002 (A/56/814-S/2002/155), 28 January 2002 (A/56/798-S/2002/126), 22 January 2002 (A/56/788-S/2002/104), 18 January 2002 (A/56/781-S/2002/86), 16 January 2002 (A/56/774-S/2002/73), 11 January 2002 (A/56/771-S/2002/47), 4 January 2002 (A/56/766-S/2002/25), 13 December 2001 (A/56/706-S/2001/1198), dated 4 December 2001 (A/56/678-S/2001/1150), 30 November 2001 (A/56/670-S/2001/1141), 28 November 2001 (A/56/668-S/2001/1133), 27 November 2001 (A/56/663-S/2001/1121), 12 November 2001 (A/56/617-S/2001/1071), 5 November 2001 (A/56/604-S/2001/1048), 24 October 2001 (A/54/406-S/2001/1011), 19 October 2001 (A/56/492-S/2001/990), 17 October 2001 (A/56/483-S/2001/975), 8 October 2001 (A/56/450-S/2001/948), 5 October 2001 (A/56/444-S/2001/943), 3 October 2001 (A/56/438-S/2001/938), 24 September 2001 (A/56/406-S/2001/907), 20 September 2001 (A/56/386-S/2001/892), 17 September 2001 (A/56/367-S/2001/875), 7 September 2001 (A/56/346-S/2001/858), 4 September 2001 (A/56/331-S/2001/840), 30 August 2001 (A/56/325-S/2001/834), 27 August 2001 (A/56/324-S/2001/825), 13 August 2001 (A/56/294-S/2001/787), 9 August 2001 (A/56/272-S/2001/768), 27 July 2001 (A/56/225-S/2001/743), 26 July 2001 (A/56/223-S/2001/737), 17 July 2001 (A/56/201-S/2001/706), 13 July 2001 (A/56/184-S/2001/696), 3 July 2001 (A/56/138-S/2001/662), 21 June 2001 (A/56/119-S/2001/619), 19 June 2001 (A/56/98-S/2001/611), 18 June 2001 (A/56/97-S/2001/604), 13 June 2001 (A/56/92-S/2001/585), 11 June 2001 (A/56/91-S/2001/580), 4 June 2001 (A/56/85-S/2001/555), 30 May 2001 (A/56/81-S/2001/540), 25 May 2001 (A/56/80-S/2001/524), 18 May 2001 (A/56/78-S/2001/506), 11 May 2001 (A/56/72-S/2001/473), 9 May 2001 (A/56/69-S/2001/459), 1 May 2001 (A/55/924-S/2001/435), 23 April 2001 (A/55/910-S/2001/396), 16 April 2001 (A/55/901-S/2001/364), 28 March 2001 (A/55/863-S/2001/291), 27 March 2001 (A/55/860-S/2001/280), 26 March 2001 (A/55/858-S/2001/278), 19 March 2001 (A/55/842-S/2001/244), 5 March 2001 (A/55/821-S/2001/193), 2 March 2001 (A/55/819-S/2001/187), 14 February 2001 (A/55/787-S/2001/137), 13 February 2001 (A/55/781-S/2001/132), 2 February 2001 (A/55/762-S/2001/103), 25 January 2001 (A/55/748-S/2001/81), 23 January 2001 (A/55/742-S/2001/71), 28 December 2000 (A/55/719-S/2000/1252), 22 November 2000 (A/55/641-S/2000/1114), 20 November 2000 (A/55/634-S/2000/1108) and 2 November 2000 (A/55/540-S/2000/1065).

Israel holds the Palestinian Authority and its Chairman, Yasser Arafat, directly responsible for these latest attacks. For weeks now, forces under the authority of Chairman Arafat have been the leading perpetrators of attacks that have deliberately targeted Israeli civilians, including women and children. Even as both parties engage in talks aimed at achieving a ceasefire, the policies of the Palestinian leadership seem to suggest that it desires quite the opposite — a continuation, and even an escalation, of acts of terror against Israel. Just this week, Jibril Rajoub, a senior Palestinian Authority security official, was quoted in the newspaper Al-Ayyam as saying that the Al Aksa Brigades are the “noblest phenomenon” in the history of Chairman Arafat’s Fatah movement and declared that “ the Authority will not act against the Al Aksa Brigades”. In addition to the attack described above, the Al Aksa Brigades have been responsible for almost all of the major recent terrorist attacks and for the deaths of scores of Israelis.

Although it faces an unrelenting campaign of violence against its citizens, Israel remains committed to proceeding towards the implementation of the Mitchell Report and the Tenet work plan as called for in Security Council resolution 1397 (2002) and to achieving a peaceful settlement of the conflict in our region. But by definition, such a settlement cannot be achieved while violence rages, and while attacks on Israeli civilians are considered legitimate and are encouraged by the Palestinian leadership. Resolving the conflict through negotiations necessitates the genuine renunciation of violence and terrorism, in accordance with signed agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinians, and a renewed commitment to fostering a spirit of peace between our two peoples.

To facilitate such an end, Israel calls on the international community, in the context of its international campaign against terror, to reiterate its complete rejection of all attacks on civilians and to affirm that such tactics can never be justified, regardless of cause or grievance. Moreover, our success in defeating Palestinian terrorism requires that we speak in clear language in affirming that no political gains will ever accrue to those who deliberately target civilians.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of this letter circulated as a document of the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 166, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Yehuda Lancry
Permanent Representative