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Rapporti di Law- The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights

LAW publications and press releases since 1994 are available on our website at http://www.lawsociety.org LAW ñ The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is affiliate to the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), FÈdÈration Internationale des Ligues de Droits de líHomme (FIDH), World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and Member of the Euro- Mediterranean Human Rights Network

LAW Press Release 14 May 2001

Seven Palestinians killed; five in one attack on National Security Force outpost (http://www.lawsociety.org/Press/Preleases/2001/May/May14.html )

 

At 5:45 on Monday afternoon, Israeli soldiers stationed at a checkpoint at Salah Al Deen Street, on the junction between North and South Gaza, opened random fire with automatic weapons on a queue of Palestinian civilian cars, killing two Palestinians. According to LAWís information gathered from Gaza, at the junction were a lorry, a Peugeot pickup truck and a Mercedes service taxi. The driver of the Peugeot threw an unidentified object at the soldiers stationed on the military tower by the junction, to which the soldiers responded with indiscriminate fire, killing the driver of the Peugeot (unidentified at time of this release) and the driver of the service taxi behind him (24-year-old Mohammed Yousef Al Qasab from Khan Younis), whose body was peppered with bullets. At least 6 other Palestinians were injured, including passengers in the service taxi. Al Qasabís body was taken to the nearby Palestinian DCO, while the other body is still being held by the Israeli army. The wounded were taken to Al Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. In the early hours of this morning, Israeli soldiers killed five members of the Palestinian National Security Forces (NSF) in southern Beitunya, near Ramallah. According to LAWís documentation, soldiers stationed on the roof of an under-construction Palestinian building that was occupied forty days ago by the Israeli army, along with soldiers in another Israeli outpost on a hilltop 200 metres from the NSF barrier, opened fire on 6 NSF members guarding the southern entrance to Beitunya, killing five, four of whom had been preparing a meal inside their tin makeshift room. (100 metres from the barrier) at the time of the assault. The five Palestinians killed were: 1. 26-year-old Ahmad Zakut from Al Nsirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip 2. 31-year-old Salah Abu Amra from Rafah in the Gaza Strip 3. 21-year-old Mohammad Dawood from Al Braij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip 4. 22-year-old Ahmad Abu Mustafa from Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip 5. 18-year-old Mohammad Al Khaldi from Al Braij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip An eyewitness who lives nearby told LAW that he saw three of the six policemen dead inside their tin shelter after he heard shooting at 2:00 am. They were covered with the food they had been preparing before they were killed. The body of another policeman was outside the room, a fifth was wounded but still alive and the sixth was unharmed. The eyewitness called an ambulance and collected the weapons of the Palestinian policemen, which he stated were not prepared for shooting. Another NSF officer, quoting the policeman who escaped the Israeli assault, stated that they had been taken by surprise when Israeli soldiers fired at them from the nearby rooftop and hill. He added that the shooting went on for three minutes, and that he had only escaped death because he fell in a trench while trying to save his colleague. Palestinian medical sources at Ramallah hospital stated that the five policemen had been shot several times by M16s in the upper parts of their bodies. In a separate incident, Israeli commandos attacked Shwaika, a Palestinian village in Tulkarem (Area B: Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control) and placed it under curfew. They besieged the police station, confiscated its rifles and then blew away the 120 m¾ police station, causing severe damage to surrounding Palestinian buildings in the process: 1. The house of Abdullah Yusif; a room was completely destroyed, cracks appeared in the other walls and the windows were smashed. 2. The house of Mousa Samara, walls cracked and windows smashed 3. The Abu Salih mosque, windows destroyed 4. Rustum Jaroomís store - windows and doors smashed. Also on Monday morning, Israeli bulldozers and tanks knocked down a cowshed belonging to the faculty of agriculture at Al Najah University in Al Khaduri, west of Tulkarem, in an area under Palestinian control. According to LAW documentation, Israeli forces first attacked the area with heavy shooting from automatic firearms and then sent bulldozers to knock down: 1. A newly-established cow milking equipment and facilities 2. The cowshed and coolers for storing dairy products 3. The laboratories and dairy product packaging facilities In the attack they attackers killed 8 bulls, 3 goats and injured the rest of the cattle. At midnight Israeli gunships and battleships launched an attack on NSF posts in the Gaza Strip. According to information LAW received from Gaza, the attack took place in an area known as Zamu east of Jabalia refugee camp, destroying two armoured vehicles and severely damaging Salama Abu Fraijís 2-storey 220m¾ house, which accommodated 16 people. NSF posts at Al Karara and Khan Younis were also attacked. In the Palestinian village of Bani Suhaila two rockets landed next to two houses belonging to Mohammad and Abed Rabu Al Kara. The first house is 200 m¾, accommodated 17 people and was severely damaged. Amna Al Kara, 47, was wounded in the attack, as were her four children: 1. Raja Al Kara, 13, shrapnel wound in the right hand 2. Safa Al Kara, 19, had a nervous attack 3. Ibrahim Al Kara, 5‡, shrapnel wound in the face and hands 4. Fatima Al Kara, 16, shrapnel wound in the face and legs The other house, lived in by 8 people, was three floors and built on an area of 200 m¾. 30-year-old Tahani Al Kara received facial injuries from the shrapnel and her 22-year-old son Munther was injured by shrapnel in the legs and the face. Three rockets landed on the NSF post in Al Karara, damaging eight houses and wounding two Palestinian policemen: 1. Ziyad Abu Hayi, 26, shrapnel in the forehead and the left arm 2. Ashraf Abu Sultan, 25, shrapnel in the forehead Three other Palestinians - civilians ñ were also injured: 1. Mohammad Al Kudra, received shrapnel wound in the left foot and hand while sitting at home 2. Mahmoud Hijazi, 2‡, shrapnel in the face 3. Hikmat Al Kudra, 35, 5 months pregnant, suffered a nervous breakdown and convulsions. A rocket also landed on an NSF post in Khan Younis destroying an armoured personnel carrier and injuring: 1. 22-year-old Akram Abu Suleiman, shrapnel in the right arm 2. 22-year-old Ismail Khalaf Allah, shrapnel in the right arm An Israeli battleship launched an offensive on a navy post west of Al Nsirat, causing damage to the 200 m¾ building. LAW Society strongly condemns the Israeli shelling of Palestinian civilians and reiterates the following: 1. Israeli forces are committing increased crimes and using the Israeli war arsenal against unarmed Palestinian civilians. 2. They continue to shell Palestinian residential areas. 3. They continue to use collective punishment against Palestinians and deprive them of their basic human rights. 4. Israeli forces use settlements as bases from which to bomb Palestinian areas 5. Israeli settlers, aided by Israeli forces, continue to assault Palestinian civilians 6. The international community, its organisations, and the High Contracting Parties of the 4th Geneva Convention have so far failed to take action to ensure Israelís compliance with the international resolutions and the Convention LAW demands: 1. The Israeli government to immediately stop its crimes and collective punishment against Palestinians. 2. An international investigation committee to be set up, working according to UN Resolution 1322. 3. The Contracting Parties to the 4th Geneva Convention to ensure Israelís compliance with the Convention. 4. Palestinians to be placed under international protection. 5. The international community to put an end to these crimes and the Israeli occupation. 6. The international community to investigate the killing of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers. The investigation shall be in compliance with Article 146 of the 4th Geneva Convention, which stipulates ìThe High Contracting Parties undertake to enact any legislation necessary to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing, or ordering to be committed, any of the grave breaches of the present ConventionÖî 7. The Security Council to set up an international war crime tribunal to bring the Israeli war criminals and those in charge of them to justice.