Illegal Israeli actions in OPT – Letter from Palestine

Identical letters dated 20 November 2000 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, used helicopter gunships and warships to launch massive bombardments of Gaza City and other locations in the Gaza Strip around 6 p.m. local time today, 20 November 2000. Scores of Israeli missiles hit locations of the Palestinian Authority, including a police station and the headquarters of the preventive security. They also hit a building of Fatah, the mainstream political party in Palestine. These raids caused injury to approximately 50 Palestinians, knocked out electricity in parts of Gaza City and caused the vast destruction of property as well as causing serious panic among the whole population there.

Israel declares that these military attacks were in response to the explosion of a roadside bomb, which was detonated near an illegal Israeli settlement in Gaza in the path of a bus, killing two and wounding nine Israeli settlers. The Israeli use of such huge lethal military force was carried out despite the fact that the Palestinian side denied responsibility for the bombing and opened an investigation into the incident despite the continuous loss of Palestinian lives at the hands of Israeli soldiers.

In this regard, and in follow-up to my previous letters, dated from 29 September to 17 November 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921; A/55/437-S/2000/930; A/55/450-S/2000/957; A/55/466-S/2000/971; A/55/474-S/2000/984; A/55/490-S/2000/993; A/ES-10/39-S/2000/1015; A/ES-10/40-S/2000/1025; A/ES-10/41-S/2000/1046; A/ES-10/42-S/2000/1068; A/ES-10/43-S/2000/1078; A/ES-10/44-S/2000/1093; A/ES-10/45-S/2000/1104), since my last letter to you and as of yesterday, 19 November, the Israeli occupying forces have killed 10 more Palestinians, bringing the total number of Palestinian deaths to 215. (The names of the martyrs since my last letter are annexed.)

The Israeli air attacks of today, reminiscent of the air raids on Gaza and Ramallah on 12 October 2000, represent a new and extremely dangerous escalation of the bloody Israeli campaign against the Palestinian people. Since 25 October 2000, Palestine has repeatedly been calling on the Security Council to take action aimed at bringing an end to this Israeli campaign and to provide impartial international protection for the Palestinian civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem. The Council has not acted, however, since the adoption of resolution 1322 (2000) on 7 October 2000.

The Palestinian death toll has been mounting, as have the number of injuries and the amount of destruction throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem. There is now a new Israeli escalation of lethal force, which might drag us all into a very different and more dangerous situation. In this regard, we still hope that the Council will act, and act promptly, in fulfilment of its obligation to maintain international peace and security.

I would be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of the present letter and its annex distributed as a document of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Dr. Nasser Al-Kidwa

Ambassador

Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations

Annex to the identical letters dated 20 November 2000 from the

Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations addressed

to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

Names of the martyrs killed by Israeli security forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,

including Jerusalem (Friday, 17 November to Sunday, 19 November 2000)

Friday, 17 November 2000

1. Khalid Abdullah Salama

2. Haseed Mohammed Haseed Friewan

3. Mahmoud Zeid Samour

4. Mohammed Abdel Jalil Abu Rayan (14 years old)

5. Rami Imad Yassin

6. Hamza Abdel Mo’tee Shkhedem

Saturday, 18 November 2000

1. Baha Al-Deen Abu Saeed

Sunday, 19 November 2000

1. Abdel Rahman Ziad Al-Dahshan (14 years old)

2. Ra’faat Muhib Jouda

3. Nasser Ahmed Al-Najar

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