Human rights situation in the OPT – CHR – Letter from Palestine

QUESTION OF THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE

OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES, INCLUDING PALESTINE

Letter dated 11 March 1998 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the

United Nations Office at Geneva addressed to the High Commissioner for Human Rights

1. The Israeli military occupation authorities committed yesterday a new massacre against the Palestinian people near the city of Hebron killing three Palestinians and wounding nine others, some of them in serious danger.

2. This new crime came in the context of the persisting Israeli occupation authorities' policy, known to you and to the Commission on Human Rights: A policy based on killing, torturing and detaining Palestinians, in addition to imposing collective punishments on this people, thus seriously endangering their lives.

3. By committing this new crime, the Israeli occupation authorities are affirming once again the continuation of committing grave violations of human rights against the Palestinian people, including the right to life, as defined and confirmed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and as defined and confirmed by the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949.

4. On the other hand, this new crime affirms what has been stated in the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and other Arabs of the occupied territories, issued in documents Nos. A/52/131 dated 2 May 1997, A/52/131/Add.1 dated 25 July 1997, and A/52/131/Add.2 dated 14 October 1997, as well as in the report of the Special Rapporteur Mr. Hannu Halinen (E/CN.4/1998/17).

5. I would be grateful to you if you could have this memorandum distributed as an official document to the members of the upcoming fifty-fourth session of the Commission on Human Rights under item 4 of its agenda.

(Signed):     Nabil RAMLAWI

Ambassador

Permanent Observer of Palestine

to the United Nations Office in Geneva

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