Statement by Dr. Nasser Al-Kidwa, Ambassador, Permanent
Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, before the United Nations Security
Council, 19 May 2004
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Mr. President,
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Over the past few days and throughout the period since I last addressed
the Security Council on the situation in the
Occupied
Palestinian
Territory, including
East Jerusalem,
Israel, the occupying
Power, has continued with and intensified its barbaric military campaign against
the Palestinian people. Flagrant
violations and grave breaches of international law – war crimes – are
being committed by the occupying Power against the Palestinian civilian
population every single day, including at this very moment. In this regard, I believe it is
necessary to recall before this Council that willful killings, willfully causing
great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and extensive destruction
and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried
out unlawfully and wantonly, are among those acts considered to constitute grave
breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
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  In grave breach of
the Convention, which governs military occupation, and in serious violation of
other relevant provisions of international law,
Israel continues
to use excessive and indiscriminate force against Palestinian civilians, killing
men, women and children, and to wantonly destroy Palestinian homes and
properties in the Occupied
Palestinian
Territory, particularly in the Rafah
area of the Gaza Strip. Left
defenseless and unprotected by the international community, the Palestinian
people continue to suffer the wrath of
Israel’s violent
and lethal occupation policies and practices.
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The slaughter
today of innocent Palestinian children by the Israeli occupying forces in the
Rafah camp is the most recent and most telling illustration of the vicious and
barbaric behavior and actions of this occupying Power. The occupying forces fired at least one
missile and several tank shells at a large crowd of about 3,000 Palestinians
marching from Rafah towards the Tel El-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah in protest
against the invasion and destruction of their neighborhood and the killing of
their families, friends and loved ones.Â
These people were unarmed demonstrators, many of them school
children. Â While the situation on
the ground remains chaotic, as of now it is being reported that at least 10
Palestinian civilians were killed in this assault, most of them children, and
more than 60 civilians were wounded, including women and children, more than 30
of them in critical condition, and that 9 other Palestinians were also killed
today in the area. Â This is
terrorism. This is State
terrorism. These are war
crimes – for which the perpetrators must be held accountable under
international law.
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This – what
you have seen today and in recent days and months: the blood of Palestinian
civilians flowing in the streets, the demolition of their homes, their constant
humiliation, suffering and collective punishment - is exactly what the
Palestinian people have been subjected to under Israel’s nearly 37 years of
belligerent occupation. It has been
a constant barrage of war crimes, State terrorism and systematic human rights
violations for which the international community must hold this occupying Power
responsible. The lawlessness and
impunity of
Israel must be
brought to an end and the Palestinian people must be accorded their rights under
international law, including their right to protection as a civilian population
under occupation.
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Mr. President,
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Since the
start of this month of May, the Israeli occupying forces have killed at least 96
Palestinians, including 28 children.Â
This is the Palestinian death toll in less than 3 weeks time. This has included brothers and sisters,
fathers and sons. Families and
lives are being destroyed by the occupying Power on a wholesale basis as it
continues launching military assaults against the civilian population. The rate of death and destruction is
staggering and continues to rise.Â
Since September 2000 and as of today, more than 3,000 Palestinians,
including women, children, elderly and men, have been killed by the Israeli
occupying forces – to be exact at least 3,023 Palestinians have bee killed.
 Many have been the targets of
extrajudicial killings by the occupying forces, and nearly 600 of the total
number of Palestinians killed have been children. Â In this same time period, more than
40,000 Palestinians have also been wounded by the occupying forces.
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Palestinian
hospitals and emergency rescue personnel, poorly equipped and in desperate need
of supplies, have been unable to keep up with the growing number of
casualties. Morgues have been
unable to keep up with the rising number of dead. Funerals for the martyred have become a
daily occurrence. The bloodshed and
loss caused by the occupying Power has been steep because
Israel has
breached every single one of its obligations under international law as an
occupying Power. It has blatantly
violated all norms and standards of international law, including international
humanitarian law and human rights law, and has completely ignored the pleas of
the international community to cease it violations against the Palestinian
civilian population and to adhere to international law and uphold its
obligations. Why? Because this is
the core of the mentality of this occupier – it is brutal, vicious, and inhumane
in all its actions against the occupied people, seeking to torment them and
impose on them maximum loss, misery and suffering while pursuing its
illegitimate aims of colonizing the land and expanding its boundaries.
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Mr. President,
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In addition
to the human loss and devastation,
Israel continues
to pursue its illegal and inhumane practice of destroying Palestinian homes and
properties, causing widespread destruction and material loss and compounding the
grief, suffering and humanitarian hardships of the Palestinian people. Thousands of homes and thousands of
dunums of Palestinian land have been destroyed by the Israeli occupying forces
throughout the Occupied
Palestinian
Territory since September 2000. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have
been made homeless, the majority of them
Palestine refugees who have been
displaced and dispossessed yet again.
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During the
past several days, the occupying Power has escalated this unlawful practice in
the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip, including in particular in the Rafah refugee
camp, causing excessive and vast destruction. Using armored bulldozers, tanks and
helicopter gunships, the Israeli occupying forces have raided the area,
terrorizing the civilian population and destroying dozens of homes, even
attacking some of them while the families were still inside. Reports indicated that in just the past
few days more than 100 homes have been completely destroyed by the occupying
forces in Rafah. Some estimates put
the toll of destruction much higher at about 120 homes, and fears continue to
rise that even more will be destroyed as Israeli officials threaten to demolish
hundreds more homes.  As a
result of these most recent assaults, more than 1,100 Palestinians have been
made homeless, and hundreds of other Palestinians have been fleeing the area,
fearing the impending destruction of their homes and properties.Â
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Tragically,
this is not the first time that the Rafah refugee camp and surrounding area have
been besieged and attacked by the Israeli occupying forces. Since September 2000, the Rafah area has
been severely targeted.  As
many of you may recall, just over a year ago, a young American, Rachel Corrie,
was brutally crushed by a huge armored Caterpillar bulldozer while trying to
prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah. Regrettably, those responsible for her
tragic death did not even have to explain, were not held accountable and the
practice of bulldozing the homes of innocent civilians did not cease. Indeed, as
home after home and building after building in Rafah are destroyed by the
Israeli occupying forces, the entire community is being torn apart piece by
piece and being laid to ruin. Since
September 2000, more than 1,300 homes in Rafah alone have been demolished or
severely damaged and made unlivable and more than 12,000 Palestinians have been
made homeless.
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The
humanitarian impact has been overwhelming.Â
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in
the Near East – UNRWA – has been unable to keep pace with
the widespread destruction being caused by the occupying Power within the
refugee camps. It has been
struggling to provide shelter to house all those who have been displaced and is
still trying to repair and rebuild the thousands of refugee homes that have been
damaged or destroyed since the start of this military campaign, while now faced
with even more destruction and displacement. Yet, within its limited resources, UNRWA
continues to provide tents, food and other relief for these devastated refugee
families.
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Mr. President,
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With the ongoing military operation being carried out by the Israeli
occupying forces in the Rafah area and the declarations made by Israeli
officials that hundreds more Palestinian homes there are targeted for
demolition, it is more clear than ever that the aim of these Israeli actions is
the effective leveling of the Rafah camp and areas in the city of Rafah itself
to allow for the enlargement of the so-called security zone by the occupying
Power. Indeed, some of the
statements made by Israeli officials are starkly clear about this very
intention. These ongoing actions
are part and parcel of, and reveal the exact meaning of, Prime Minister Sharon’s
“disengagement plan”. This is, of
course, an attempt to isolate the Gaza Strip from the outside world, ensuring
that it has no border with
Egypt and thus
ensuring the creation of a large prison for the Palestinian civilian population
in Gaza.
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For those who
may be unaware, I wish to impart some basic information about
Gaza.Â
Gaza measures a total of only
360 square kilometers. It is a very
poor and deprived area with no natural resources – not even water – and
constitutes the most densely populated area in the world per square kilometer
with a population of more than 1.3 million people. And, now, more than 10 years after Oslo,
at least 35% of Gaza remains under the full control of Israel for the sheer
enjoyment of 7,000 colonial Israeli settlers illegally transferred there and the
entirety of Gaza remains a killing field for the Israeli occupying forces to
continue their target practice against the other human beings – the Palestinians
- who have the misfortune to be living there.
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Racist
ideologies have always fueled colonialist phenomena and throughout history
colonizers have always committed crimes against the colonized or occupied
people. The occupation of the
Palestinian territory since 1967 is no exception. However, it must be said that the
occupation of Gaza takes this
phenomenon to a different level.Â
The occupation of this poverty-stricken area, the relentless killing of
its civilian inhabitants, the wanton destruction of homes and shelter, and the
constant imposition of suffering on the masses there defy all logic and
reason. These constitute
transgressions of the most fundamental rights and of the dignities of persons
for which the violators must be held accountable and must be punished. The same applies to those who want to
make sure they destroy what is actually left in
Gaza before they presumably leave
it.
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Mr. President,
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As I stated
at the beginning of my intervention, the willful killing and injury of civilians
constitutes a grave breach, a war crime.Â
Without a doubt,
Israel is thus
committing war crimes against the Palestinian people – repeatedly. The demolition of one home constitutes
collective punishment. The
excessive and large-scale demolition of homes and confiscation of property
constitute grave breaches, war crimes.Â
This must all be unequivocally condemned by the international community
and measures should be taken to ensure the cessation of all such breaches. Action should be taken to ensure the
protection and the safety and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population
under Israeli occupation. Action
should be also taken to ensure that due reparations are made to those whose
homes and properties have been destroyed.Â
The international community, including through the Security Council and
the Quartet, must act firmly and collectively to uphold international law and to
counter the precipitous decline of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory, including East Jerusalem, and to prevent the complete extinguishing
of any hope for a resumption of the peace process towards the resolution of this
tragic and unjust conflict.
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