{"id":181418,"date":"2004-05-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T21:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?p=181418"},"modified":"2019-03-11T21:11:25","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T21:11:25","slug":"auto-insert-181418","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-181418\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal Israeli actions in the OPT &#8211; Letter from Palestine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align:left;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\"><strong>Identical letters dated 18 May 2004 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council <\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Israel, the occupying Power, continues to carry out its vicious and barbaric military campaign against the Palestinian civilian population under its occupation. Grave breaches of international law, war crimes, are being committed by the occupying Power against the Palestinian people, including at this very moment. Since September 2000 and up until today, the occupying Power has killed more than 3,000 Palestinians and caused wanton and widespread destruction throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. <\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;In the early morning hours of today (Palestine time), the Israeli occupying forces launched yet another raid and attack against the Rafah area in the Gaza Strip. Yesterday, hundreds of Israeli troops besieged the neighbourhood of Tel El-Sultan, isolating it prior to the deliberate and massive military assault that carried out today against that neighbourhood using tanks, bulldozers and helicopter gunships. The occupying forces carried out house-to-house raids, terrorizing the civilian population and using excessive and indiscriminate force against them. In one of the attacks carried out, the occupying forces fired missiles at an area next to the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque, killing six Palestinian men who were leaving from morning prayers. Following the missile strike, it was reported that fires broke out at the Mosque, which holds the largest library in Gaza. <\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;In total, at least 18 Palestinians, including children, have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces thus far as a result of the attacks earlier today in Rafah. Those killed include a young sister and brother, Asma&#8217; Mohammed Ali Al-Meghyar, aged 16, and Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Meghyar, aged 14, who were on the roof of their family home hanging laundry, as well as a father and his son, Ismail Ibrahim Al-Balaawi, aged 45, and Ibrahim Ismail Al-Balaawi, aged 18. Dozens of other Palestinian civilians have been wounded and the hospital in the area has been unable to adequately provide emergency care for the number of casualties. It has also been reported that several ambulances attempting to rescue the wounded have come under Israeli sniper fire. In addition, the occupying forces demolished another three homes in Rafah today as hundreds of Palestinian civilians, including women, children and the elderly, continued to flee the area, terrified of further demolitions and attacks as repeatedly threatened by several Israeli officials. <\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;We once again call upon the international community, including the United Nations Security Council, to uphold its obligations and take urgent action to address this escalating crisis. We anticipate that the Council will respond positively to the request made by the Arab Group in this regard. The Palestinian leadership reiterates its plea to the international community to intervene to avert more death, destruction and suffering from being inflicted by Israel, the occupying Power, on the Palestinian people. The international community cannot continue to stand idly by while defenseless women, children and men continue to be killed, wounded and maimed and lives continue to be destroyed as Israel continues its blatant and flagrant violations and grave breaches of international law, including the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. <\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;The present letter is in follow-up to our previous 190 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 (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/unispal.un.org\/pdfs\/5EBF266EF643182B8525696D00477A9D.pdf\" style=\"color:#0000ff;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">A\/55\/432-S\/2000\/921<\/a><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">)<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;to 17 May 2004 (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/unispal.un.org\/pdfs\/310D75E4DA97861E85256E980063C3F2.pdf\" style=\"color:#0000ff;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">A\/ES-10\/267-S\/2004\/394<\/a><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">) constitute a basic record of the crimes committed by the Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of the 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. <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Accordingly, in follow-up to the above-mentioned letters, it is my profound regret to inform you that, since my letter to you of yesterday (A\/ES-10\/267-S\/2004\/394), at least 20 Palestinians, including children, have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces, raising the total number of martyrs killed since September 2000 to 3,004 Palestinians. (The names of the martyrs that have been identified are contained in the annex to the present letter.) <\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;I would be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of this 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. <\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:right;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">(<i>Signed<\/i>) Nasser <strong>Al-Kidwa<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:right;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">Ambassador <\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:right;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:right;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<hr height=\"1px\" \/>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>Annex to the identical letters dated 18 May 2004 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&nbsp;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:left;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\"><strong>Names of martyrs killed by the Israeli occupying forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">*<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>(Tuesday, 18 May 2004) <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Tuesday, 18 May 2004<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ibrahim Mohammed Adallah Darwish<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mohammed Abdelrahman Al-Nawajheh<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">3.&nbsp;&nbsp;Mohammed Khalil Al-Jindi<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Walid Moussa Abu Jazar<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">5.&nbsp;&nbsp;Hani Mohammed Qifeh<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">6.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Tarek Ahmed Sheikh Eid (18 years old)<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">7.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ibrahim Ismail Al-Balaawi (18 years old)<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">8.&nbsp;&nbsp;Ismail Ibrahim Al-Balaawi <\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">9.&nbsp;&nbsp;Mohammed Jasser Al-Shaer<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">10.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ahmed Jasser Al-Shaer (18 years old)<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">11.&nbsp;&nbsp;Ziad Hussein Shyaneh<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">12.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mahmoud Ismail Abu Touq<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">13.&nbsp;&nbsp;Imad Mohammed Al-Meghyar <\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">14.&nbsp;&nbsp;Said Ibrahim Al-Meghyar<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">15.&nbsp;&nbsp;Yussef Zahi Qahoush<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">16.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mohammed Zu&#8217;areb<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">17.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Asma&#8217; Mohammed Ali Al-Meghyar (16 years old)<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">18.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Meghyar (14 years old)<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">19.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Nidal Abdelrahman Okasheh<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">20.&nbsp;&nbsp;Mohammed Ahmed Obeid<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:justify;padding-top:10px;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><img class=\"lazyload\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%2796%27%20height%3D%271%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%2096%201%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%2796%27%20height%3D%271%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/d00cd6b171c2b9e185256e99004e5bad_image0.JPG\" border=\"0\" height=\"1px\" width=\"96px\" \/><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:justify;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The total number of Palestinian martyrs killed by Israeli occupying forces since 28 September 2000 is 3,004. <\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:left;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\"><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:center;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Times New Roman, serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>___________<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;Identical letters dated 18 May 2004 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Israel, the occupying Power, continues to carry out its vicious and barbaric military campaign against the Palestinian civilian population under its occupation. Grave breaches of international <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-181418\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2841,4211],"document-source":[1365,2345,1362],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[6156,1829,2029,2021,2729,1917],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-181418","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-letter","document-category-palestine-letter-situation-in-the-opt-since-29-september-2000","document-source-general-assembly","document-source-general-assembly-10th-emergency-special-session","document-source-security-council","document-subject-agenda-item","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-house-demolitions","document-subject-incursions","document-subject-shelter","document-subject-situation-in-the-opt-including-jerusalem","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/181418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/181418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=181418"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=181418"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=181418"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=181418"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=181418"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=181418"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=181418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}