Illegal Israeli actions in OPT – Letter from Palestine

Identical letters dated 9 April 2003 from the Permanent Observer

of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the

Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

  Israel, the occupying Power, continues to commit war crimes, State terrorism and systematic human rights violations against the Palestinian people under its occupation. The victims of these crimes have included Palestinian civilians — children, women and men — throughout all areas of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

  In pursuing this vicious military campaign against the Palestinian civilian population, the Israeli occupying forces continue blatantly and unashamedly to commit extrajudicial executions of Palestinians. Late yesterday, 8 April, the occupying forces fired missiles from an F-16 warplane at a car in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, killing seven Palestinians, including two children, 13-year-old Ahmed Khamees Al-Ashram and 16-year-old Sami Hasan Kasem. Israeli officials have asserted that the missile strike targeted for “liquidation” Mr. Sa’ad Aldin Al-Arabeed, who was killed in the attack. Further compounding the criminality of this attack, the Israeli occupying forces returned minutes later to fire missiles from helicopter gunships at a crowd of hundreds of people, including rescue workers, who had gathered around the area of the carnage. That attack wounded at least 50 Palestinian civilians, including women, children and elderly, many of them seriously.

  Today, the occupying forces continued to launch attacks in the Gaza Strip, particularly in the area of Beit Hanoun. More than a dozen Israeli tanks, armoured carriers and bulldozers raided Beit Hanoun, where the occupying forces killed three Palestinians, including a 16-year-old boy, Ahmed Rashad Abu Qomsan, and wounded at least seven other people. These killings by the Israeli occupying forces have been preceded by the almost daily killing of Palestinian civilians of all ages, as tragically reflected in the annexed list of martyrs.

  In addition to the State terrorism routinely committed by the occupying Power throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Palestinian people continue to be constantly subjected to terrorism committed by the illegal colonial settlers. Today, a bomb exploded in a Palestinian high school in the village of Jaba’a in the vicinity of Jenin in which at least 29 students were wounded, four of them critically. An extremist Israeli group claimed responsibility for that bombing.

  The above-mentioned killings represent only a fragment of the countless violations and grave breaches of international humanitarian law, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, committed by the Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian civilian population. The culture of impunity within which Israel, the occupying Power, pursues its illegal and oppressive policies and practices will only ensure that even more crimes and atrocities are committed against the defenceless Palestinian civilian population and will also continue to undermine any efforts towards peace. In this regard, it is obvious that yesterday’s extrajudicial execution was committed in part to pre-empt any attempt to revive the peace process and particularly to proceed with the Quartet’s road map.

  As the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, continues to decline due to Israel’s relentless pursuit of this brutal and bloody military campaign against the Palestinian people, we reiterate our belief that the Security Council must act to uphold its responsibilities and take urgent measures to address the gravely dangerous situation.

  This letter is in follow-up to our previous 162 letters to you regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, since 28 September 2000. Those letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 4 April 2003 (A/ES-10/223-S/2003/405), 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 regret to inform you that, since our last letter to you, the Israeli occupying forces have killed at least 16 Palestinians, including children, raising the total number of martyrs to 2,306 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 9 April 2003 from the Permanent Observer

Mission of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the

Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

    Names of martyrs killed by the Israeli occupying forces

in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem*

Sunday, 6 April, to Wednesday, 9 April 2003

   Sunday, 6 April 2003

1.  Ala’a Joudi Al-Natsheh

2.  Marwan Abdullah Abu Jiab 

3.   Yussef Riad Abu Nadi (16 years old)

   Monday, 7 April 2003

1.  Badr Abdelraouf Yassin

2.   Tarik Jouma’ Badryeh (17 years old)

   Tuesday, 8 April 2003

1.  Sa’ad Aldin Al-Arabeed

2.  Ashraf Al-Halaby

3.   Amar Nasar

4.  Mohammed Saber Basal 

5.   Mahmoud Samir Farawneh

6.   Ahmed Khamees Al-Ashram (13 years old)

7.  Sami Hasan Kasem (16 years old)

8.   Anas Jihad Al-Kahloot (12 years old) (died from wounds sustained two weeks earlier)

   Wednesday, 9 April 2003

1.  Imad Adnan Al-Hindi 

2.   Ali Hasan Al-Mashrafi

3.   Ahmed Rashad Abu Qomsan (16 years old)

______________

 *   The total number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupying forces since 28 September 2000 is 2,306 martyrs.