Illegal Israeli actions in OPT – Letter from Palestine

Identical letters dated 10 June 2003 from the Permanent Observer of

Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

and the President of the Security Council

  In less than a week’s time since the convening of the Summit at Aqaba, Jordan, concerning implementation of the Quartet’s road map, the Israeli occupying forces have committed two more extrajudicial executions. While efforts are being exerted to bring a halt to the cycle of violence and the grave deterioration of the situation on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Israel, the occupying Power, has chosen instead to continue committing war crimes, State terrorism and systematic human rights violations against the Palestinian people. The ongoing military assaults, the extensive destruction and home demolitions as well as the assassination attempts being carried out by the Israeli occupying forces are seriously undermining the current peace initiative and the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to uphold its obligations as defined by the road map. In fact, since my last letter to you, the Israeli occupying forces have killed at least 41 Palestinians, 15 of them killed in just the past six days since the Summit.

  Just today, the Israeli occupying forces attempted to kill one of the political leaders of the Palestinian group Hamas, Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi, in a helicopter gunship missile attack in Gaza City. In that attack, two Israeli helicopter ships fired missiles targeting a jeep in which Dr. Rantisi was travelling. The gunships fired a total of seven missiles in the attack, which killed two people, a bodyguard of Dr. Rantisi and a woman who was walking nearby, and wounded at least 25 others, including Dr. Rantisi and his teenage son. Israeli officials have acknowledged that Dr. Rantisi was indeed the target of this attack, making it the second extrajudicial killing operation carried out by the Israeli occupying forces in less than a week. This was preceded by the extrajudicial killings of two Palestinian men, Adel Mohammed Hadaiydeh and Hani Ahmed Kharyoush, in Tulkarem on 5 June 2003, the very next day after the Summit.

  At the same time, on 5 June, the Palestinian people somberly marked the thirty-sixth anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip in June of 1967. For 36 years the Palestinian people have been living under this brutal and bloody military occupation of their land, suffering innumerable hardships and violations of their human rights at the hands of the occupying Power. Throughout these nearly four decades, Israel, the occupying Power, has committed countless violations of international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, inflicting mounting losses upon the Palestinian people, inter alia, killing and wounding them, imprisoning, detaining and torturing them, confiscating and colonizing their land, destroying their homes and properties, exploiting their natural resources, devastating their livelihoods and subjecting them to constant restrictions on their movement and harassment and humiliation.

  Over the years, any and all efforts to address the situation and bring an end to the Israeli occupation have been undermined by Israel’s intransigence and relentless pursuit of illegal policies and practices against the Palestinian people. Israeli actions during the past week since the Summit at Aqaba have been no exception. Indeed, in the days leading up to the Summit and thereafter, Israeli occupying forces continued to kill, abduct and detain Palestinians and to destroy properties and demolish homes. Moreover, the illegal Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, have continued to harass the Palestinian people, commit acts of violence against them and steal Palestinian land. In fact, while the Israeli occupying forces began dismantling some of the “unauthorized settlement outposts” this week, as called for by the road map, Israeli settlers began rebuilding an outpost that had been dismantled and settler leaders declared their intentions to “do everything we can to torpedo, obstruct and to prolong” this process.

  The international community must condemn and reject any such Israeli actions aimed at undermining or sabotaging the peace process. Israel, the occupying Power, must adhere to international law, including international humanitarian law, and must take serious measures to implement the relevant provisions of the road map towards creating a qualitative change in the situation on the ground and the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and promoting an environment conducive to the success of the current peace initiative.

  This letter is in follow-up to our previous 165 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 16 May 2003 (A/ES-10/226-S/2003/548), constitute a basic record of the crimes committed by the Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian people since September 2000. 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.

  Accordingly, in follow-up to the above-mentioned letters, it is my deep regret to inform you that, since my last letter, at least 41 Palestinians, including children, have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces, raising the total number of martyrs to 2,440 Palestinians. (The names of the martyrs that have been identified thus far are contained in the annex to the present letter.)

  I would be grateful if you would arrange to have 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 ) Nasser Al-Kidwa
Ambassador
Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations

    Annex to the identical letters dated 10 June 2003 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 Israeli occupying forces

in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem*

Saturday, 17 May through Tuesday, 10 June 2003

   Saturday, 17 May 2003

1.  Khaled Ibrahim Suleiman Alzaq

2.  Taher Mahmoud Abdo

   Sunday, 18 May 2003

1.  Ali Mohammed Abu Namoos (18 years old)

2.   Khaled Ziad Nasr (13 years old)

3.  Mustafa Said Nizal

    Wednesday, 21 May 2003

1.   Ramez Ayed Khalil Arar (17 years old)

2.   Rasmiya Hamadallah Arar (38-year-old mother of 8 children)

   Saturday, 24 May 2003

1.  Ghasan Mohammed Abu Sharkh

2.  Hamdi Attiyeh Abu Khooseh

    Monday, 26 May 2003

1.  Rafik Joma’an Al-Bansh

2.  Tamer Nizar Fathi Arar (11 years old)

   Tuesday, 27 May 2003

1.  Mohammed Nasim Amin Awad (16 years old)

2.   Kamal Amjad Nawahdeh (14 years old)

   Wednesday, 28 May 2003

1.  Mohammed Shaher Kayed Tameezi

2.  Mohammed Fathi Hassan Ziad

    Thursday, 29 May 2003

1.  Mohammed Jihad Al-Qudrah 

2.   Saned Mohammed Fahmawi (18 years old)

3.   Mohammed Abed Bu Sibitan (16 years old)

   Friday, 30 May 2003 

1.   Ahmed Khaled Jad Al-Haq

   Saturday, 31 May 2003

1.   Sami Adel Abu Ali (died from wounds sustained on 25 May)

2.   Mohammed Abdelkarim Hamamreh

3.   Hisham Ibrahim Tafesh (17 years old) (died from wounds sustained on 29 May)

    Monday, 2 June 2003

1.  Mahmoud Ahmed Abu Omreh 

    Tuesday, 3 June 2003

1.   Amir Khalil Abdellatif (17 years old) (died from wounds sustained on 22 May)

2.  Salem Suleiman Abdelmasdr (died from wounds sustained on 6 April)

3.  Nasser Abdelqader Bakr

   Thursday, 5 June 2003

1.  Ibrahim Abdelfatah Abu Wahid (15 years old)

2.   Adel Mohammed Hadaiydeh

3.  Hani Ahmed Kharyoush 

4.   Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Haniyeh

   Saturday, 7 June 2003

1.  Ala’a Abdelmuneim Al-Fakhouri

2.  Waleed Hijazi Abeedo 

    Tuesday, 10 June 2003

1.  Imad Rasheed Al-Sheikh Ibrahim

2.  Mohammed Muin Al-Askafi

3.  Tarik Adel Al-Masri 

4.   Khadra Yussef Abu Hamada

5.  Mustafa Abdelrihim Saleh 

6.   Jasser Jabr Hassanein

7.  Hamouda Faraj Abed Rabbo 

8.   Mohammed Fayez Ahmed Abed Rabbo

9.   Mariam Rajab Ibrahim Abed Rabbo (6 years old)

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 *   The total number of Palestinian martyrs killed by Israeli occupying forces since 28 September 2000 is 2,440.

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