10 June
2003(A/ES-10/227-S/2002/xxx)
Letter sent by Dr. Nasser Al-Kidwa, Ambassador and Permanent Observer of Palestine to
the U.N., to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the President of the
Security Council, and the President of the General Assembly: (Rantisi Attack)
Â
          Â
In less than a week’s time since the convening of the
Summit at Aqaba, Jordan, concerning implementation of the Quartet’s road
map, the Israeli occupying forces have committed two more extrajudicial
executions. While efforts are
being exerted to bring a halt to the cycle of violence and the grave deterioration of the situation on the ground in
the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Israel, the occupying Power, has chosen
instead to continue committing war crimes, State terrorism and systematic
human rights violations against the Palestinian people. The ongoing military assaults, the
extensive destruction and home demolitions as well as the assassination
attempts being carried out by the Israeli occupying forces are seriously
undermining the current peace initiative and the efforts of the Palestinian
Authority to uphold its obligations as defined by the road map. In fact, since my last letter to you,
the Israeli occupying forces have killed at least 41 Palestinians, 15 of them
killed in just the past 6 days since the Summit.
Â
          Â
Just today, the Israeli occupying forces attempted to kill one of the
political leaders of the Palestinian group Hamas,
Dr. Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi, in a helicopter gunship missile attack in
Gaza City. In
that attack, two Israeli helicopter gunships fired
missiles targeting a jeep in which Dr. Rantisi was
traveling. The gunships fired a total of seven missiles in the attack,
which killed two people, a bodyguard of Dr. Rantisi
and a woman who was walking nearby, and wounded at least 25 others, including
Dr. Rantisi and his teenage son. Israeli officials have acknowledged
that Dr. Rantisi was indeed the target of this
attack, making it the second extrajudicial killing operation carried out by
the Israeli occupying forces in less than a week. This was preceded by the extrajudicial
killings of two Palestinian men, Adel Mohammed Hadaiydeh and Hani Ahmed Kharyoush, in Tulkarem on
5 June 2003, the very next day after the
Summit.
Â
          Â
At the same time, on 5 June, the Palestinian people somberly marked the
36th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip in June of 1967. For 36 years the Palestinian people
have been living under this brutal and bloody military occupation of their
land, suffering innumerable hardships and violations of their human rights at
the hands of the occupying Power.Â
Throughout these nearly four decades, Israel, the occupying Power, has
committed countless violations of international humanitarian law, including
the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in
Time of War, inflicting mounting losses upon the Palestinian people, inter
alia, killing and wounding them, imprisoning,
detaining and torturing them, confiscating and colonizing their land,
destroying their homes and properties, exploiting their natural resources,
devastating their livelihoods and subjecting them to constant restrictions on
their movement and harassment and humiliation.
Â
Over the years, any and all efforts to address the
situation and bring an end to the Israeli occupation have been undermined by
Israel’s intransigence and relentless pursuit of illegal
policies and practices against the Palestinian people. Israeli actions during the past week
since the Summit at Aqaba have been no
exception. Indeed, in the days
leading up to the Summit and thereafter, Israeli occupying forces continued
to kill, abduct and detain Palestinians and to destroy properties and demolish
homes. Moreover, the illegal Israeli settlers in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, have continued to harass the Palestinian people,
commit acts of violence against them and steal Palestinian land. In fact, while the Israeli occupying
forces began dismantling some of the “unauthorized settlement outposts” this
week, as called for by the road map, Israeli settlers began rebuilding an
outpost that had been dismantled and settler leaders declared their intentions
to “do everything we can to torpedo, obstruct and to prolong” this
process.
Â
The international community must condemn and reject
any such Israeli actions aimed at undermining or sabotaging the peace
process. Israel, the occupying
Power, must adhere to international law, including international humanitarian
law, and must take serious measures to implement the relevant provisions of
the road map towards creating a qualitative change in the situation on the
ground and the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory and promoting an environment conducive to the success of
the current peace initiative.
Â
This letter is in follow-up to our previous 165
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 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 16 May
2003
(A/ES-10/226-S/2003/548), 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.
Â
Accordingly, in follow-up to the above-mentioned
letters, it is my deep regret to inform you that, since my last letter, at
least 41 Palestinians, including children, have been killed by the Israeli
occupying forces, raising the total number of martyrs to 2,440
Palestinians. (The names of the
martyrs that have been identified thus far are contained in the annex to the
present letter.)
Â
Â
Â
Â
Names of
martyrs killed by Israeli occupying forces
in the
Occupied
Palestinian
Territory,
including Jerusalem*
(Saturday, 17 May through Tuesday, 10 June 2003)
Â
Saturday, 17 May
2003
Â
- Khaled Ibrahim Suleiman Alzaq
- Taher Mahmoud Abdo
Â
Sunday, 18 May
2003
Â
- Ali Mohammed Abu Namoos (18 years old)
- Khaled Ziad Nasr (13 years
old)
- Mustafa Said Nizal
Â
Wednesday, 21 May
2003
Â
- Ramez Ayed Khalil Arar (17 years old)
- Rasmiya Hamadallah Arar (38 year old
mother of 8 children)
Â
Saturday, 24 May
2003
Â
- Ghasan Mohammed Abu Sharkh
- Hamdi Attiyeh Abu Khooseh
Â
Monday, 26 May
2003
Â
- Rafik Joma’an Al-Bansh
- Tamer Nizar Fathi Arar (11 years old)
Â
Tuesday, 27 May
2003
Â
- Mohammed Nasim Amin Awad (16 years old)
- Kamal Amjad Nawahdeh (14 years
old)
Â
Wednesday, 28 May
2003
Â
- Mohammed Shaher Kayed Tameezi
- Mohammed Fathi Hassan Ziad
Â
Thursday, 29 May
2003
Â
- Mohammed Jihad
Al-Qudrah
- Saned Mohammed Fahmawi (18 years old)
- Mohammed Abed Bu Sibitan (16 years old)
Â
Friday, 30 May
2003
Â
- Ahmed Khaled Jad Al-Haq
Saturday, 31 May
2003
Â
- Sami Adel Abu Ali (died
from wounds sustained on 25 May)
- Mohammed Abdelkarim Hamamreh
- Hisham Ibrahim Tafesh (17 years old)
(died from wounds sustained on 29 May)
Â
Monday, 2 June
2003
Â
- Mahmoud Ahmed Abu Omreh
Â
Tuesday, 3 June
2003
Â
- Amir Khalil Abdellatif (17 years
old) (died from wounds sustained on 22 May)
- Salem Suleiman Abdelmasdr (died from wounds sustained on 6
April)
- Nasser Abdelqader Bakr
Â
Thursday, 5 June
2003
Â
- Ibrahim Abdelfatah Abu Wahid (15 years old)
- Adel Mohammed Hadaiydeh
- Hani Ahmed Kharyoush
- Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Haniyeh
Â
Saturday, 7 June
2003
Â
- Ala’a Abdelmuneim Al-Fakhouri
- Waleed Hijazi Abeedo
Â
Tuesday, 10 June
2003
Â
- Imad Rasheed Al-Sheikh
Ibrahim
- Mohammed Muin Al-Askafi
- Tarik Adel Al-Masri
- Khadra Yussef Abu Hamada
- Mustafa Abdelrihim Saleh
- Jasser Jabr Hassanein
- Hamouda Faraj Abed Rabbo
- Mohammed Fayez Ahmed
Abed Rabbo
- Mariam Rajab Ibrahim Abed Rabbo (6 years
old)
Â
Â
Â
* The total number of
Palestinian martyrs killed by Israeli occupying forces since 28 September
2000 =
2440
Â
Â