{"id":185626,"date":"2004-10-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T21:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?p=185626"},"modified":"2019-03-11T21:56:26","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T21:56:26","slug":"auto-insert-185626","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-185626\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal Israeli actions in OPT – Letter from Palestine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Identical letters dated 11 October 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

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  Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has ordered the Israeli occupying forces to continue launching intense military attacks in the northern Gaza Strip area, particularly in the Jabaliya refugee camp. This most recent offensive, which the Security Council has failed to bring an end to, in Israel’s ongoing military campaign against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, has resulted in widespread death and destruction in the Jabaliya refugee camp and the surrounding areas in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, the Israeli occupying forces continue to kill and wound civilians and destroy property throughout the West Bank on a nearly daily basis. In this regard, at least 21 more Palestinians, including four children, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory have been killed by the occupying forces since my letter to you dated 7 October 2004 (<\/span>A\/ES-10\/286-S\/2004\/801<\/a>). <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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  In the period since my last letter, the occupying forces have continued to commit extrajudicial killings by launching air missile strikes at Palestinian “militants”. These attacks have resulted in the killing and wounding of several Palestinians. In one such attack on Saturday in Jabaliya, the occupying forces fired missiles near a marketplace, striking the intended “targets” and critically wounding at least four other people. Also on Saturday, Israeli tanks and bulldozers raided a residential area east of Rafah and ordered families to leave their homes, which were marked for demolition by the occupying Power. These unlawful actions were followed on Sunday by more air strikes and attacks against the Palestinian population in the northern Gaza Strip area, in which two more Palestinians were killed and more than 23 others injured by the occupying forces. <\/p><\/div>\n

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  Such cruel disregard for human life has become a hallmark of Israel’s illegal policies and practices against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in particular since the onset of the current Israeli military campaign on 28 September 2000. In the past four years, there have been countless incidents of horrifying violence and brutality by the Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian people, including women and children. In this regard, I must draw your attention to one of the most recent such incidents concerning a 13 year-old Palestinian girl, Iman Samir Al-Hams, who was shot to death by the occupying forces, which riddled her body with 20 bullets, as she walked to school with her friends on 5 October 2004 in the Tel Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah. While mention was made of Iman’s appalling killing in my letter of 7 October 2004, reports about the   Such cruel disregard for human life has become a hallmark of Israel’s illegal policies and practices against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in particular since the onset of the current Israeli military campaign on 28 September 2000. In the past four years, there have been countless incidents of horrifying violence and brutality by the Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian people, including women and children. In this regard, I must draw your attention to one of the most recent such incidents concerning a 13 year-old Palestinian girl, Iman Samir Al-Hams, who was shot to death by the occupying forces, which riddled her body with 20 bullets, as she walked to school with her friends on 5 October 2004 in the Tel Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah. While mention was made of Iman’s appalling killing in my letter of 7 October 2004, reports about the incident have brought to light graphic and shocking details of her murder. According to these reports, Iman was shot from an Israeli observation tower in the area by occupying forces that “suspected” she had explosives in her school bag. After she had been shot and was on the ground, the commander of the occupying unit went up to her and fired another two shots at her from close range. Then, according to the reports, and despite the pleas by other soldiers there to stop the shooting, the commander returned to Iman a third time and emptied his magazine of bullets into her dead body. This is but one of the many tragic accounts of the life of a Palestinian child cut short by the lethal, excessive and indiscriminate use of force by the Israeli occupying forces. There were no explosives in Iman’s bag; she was an innocent girl trying to live a normal life by going to school each day despite the most abhorrent and abnormal circumstances under Israel’s occupation. The perpetrators of this war crime and all other war crimes being committed by the occupying Power against the defenceless Palestinian civilian population must be held accountable. <\/p><\/div>\n

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  This letter is in follow-up to our previous 205 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\/55\/432-S\/2000\/921<\/a>) to 7 October 2004 (A\/ES-10\/286-S\/2004\/801) constitute a basic record of the crimes committed by Israel, the occupying Power, 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. <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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  Accordingly, in follow-up to the above-mentioned letters, it is my regret to inform you that, since my last letter to you, at least 21 more Palestinians, including children, have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces, raising the total number of martyrs killed since September 2000 to 3,386. (The names of the martyrs that have been identified are listed in the annex to the present letter.) <\/p><\/div>\n

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  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. <\/p><\/div>\n

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(Signed<\/i>) Nasser Al-Kidwa<\/strong> <\/p><\/div>\n

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Ambassador <\/p><\/div>\n

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Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations<\/p><\/div>\n

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Annex to the identical letters dated 11 October 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

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Names of martyrs killed by the Israeli occupying forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem <\/strong><\/span>*<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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(Thursday, 7 October 2004, to Monday, 11 October 2004)<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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 <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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    Thursday, 7 October 2004<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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1.   Luay Jamal Hamd (died from wounds sustained on 3 October 2004)<\/p><\/div>\n

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2.  Khaled Abdelaziz Abu To’ema <\/p><\/div>\n

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3.   Hassan Jouma’a Al-Sharatheh (13 years old, died from wounds sustained on 3 October 2004) <\/p><\/div>\n

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   Friday, 8 October 2004 <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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 <\/strong><\/span> <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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1.   Samah Sameeh Nassar (10 years old)<\/p><\/div>\n

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2.   Marzouq Mohammed Marzouq Abu Edwan<\/p><\/div>\n

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3.   Mohammed Nabil Mutawea’ Soboh (17 years old)<\/p><\/div>\n

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4.   Yasser Saleh Al-Khateeb (17 years old)<\/p><\/div>\n

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5.  Salameh Ismail Abu Sela’eh <\/p><\/div>\n

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6.  Saqr Awni Saqr<\/span> <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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7.  Imad Yehya Badr<\/p><\/div>\n

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    Saturday, 9 October 2004<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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 <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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1.   Mohammed Yehya Edwan<\/p><\/div>\n

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2.  Arafat Fuad Nasser<\/p><\/div>\n

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3.  Abdelraouf Hassan Nabhan<\/p><\/div>\n

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4.  Amin Mohammed Salem<\/p><\/div>\n

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5.  Soufyan Moussa Salem<\/p><\/div>\n

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   Sunday, 10 October 2004 <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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 <\/strong><\/span> <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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1.  Maher Mahmoud Zaqout <\/p><\/div>\n

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2.   Raed Mohammed Al-Mabhooh<\/p><\/div>\n

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 <\/span>    Monday, 11 October 2004<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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 <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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1.   Yousef Mamdouh Abu Seif (died from wounds sustained on 10 October 2004)<\/span> <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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2.   Sameh Zamel Al-Waheidy (died from wounds sustained on 10 October 2004)<\/span> <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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3.   Ahmed Zaki Al-Qarhan Hamad (died from wounds sustained on 10 October   2004)<\/p><\/div>\n

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4.   Tamer Mohammed Abu Khamash<\/p><\/div>\n

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*   The total number of Palestinian martyrs killed by the Israeli occupying forces since 28 September 2000 is 3,386. <\/p><\/div>\n

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 —–<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Identical letters dated 11 October 2004 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council         Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has ordered the Israeli occupying forces to continue launching intense military attacks in the northern Gaza Strip area, particularly in […]<\/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":[6156,1829,1873,1741,1749,1917],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-185626","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-extrajudicial-killings","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-palestine-question","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\/185626","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\/185626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=185626"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=185626"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=185626"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=185626"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=185626"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=185626"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=185626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}