14 October 2015 – Israel’s Killing of Palestinian Civilians, including Children

Excellency,

Since our last letter to you, on 12 October 2015, the Palestinian civilian population, including women and children, have continued to be killed, injured and terrorized as a result of Israel’s latest rampage of aggression throughout the Occupied State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem.   As we continue to write these letters, we must emphasize that the purpose of writing them is not only to place on record the long list of crimes committed by the occupying Power against a defenseless and occupied civilian population but aimed at mobilizing the international community, in particular the Security Council, to immediately act to halt all of the occupying Power’s violations of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law.

Further, as more and more Palestinian civilians, especially young children, are being killed and severely injured by live ammunition, we continue to call on the international community to provide the Palestinian people with international protection.  It is without a doubt, that each day that passes the situation is worsening and if the occupying Power continues to pursue its acts of aggression, collective punishment and State terrorism against an occupied people that has already suffered so much over the past five decades of Israeli occupation, the situation will hit a breaking point that may become impossible to stabilize.

The following are some of the many crimes that continue to be perpetrated by the Israeli occupying forces and terrorist settlers against the Palestinian people. This includes the latest Palestinian casualties caused by the violence and terror of the occupying Power against our defenseless civilians:

On 13 October 2015:

  • According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, as of 13 October 2015, thirty Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces since the beginning of this month, and over 1,400 Palestinians were injured by live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets used by the Israeli occupying forces across the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Moreover, at least 33 journalists have been injured since the beginning of October 2015, 15 of them were injured with live and rubber coated bullets.
  • Alaa Abu Jamal (age 33) was shot in East Jerusalem by Israeli occupying forces and was seized afterwards by Israeli occupying forces.
  • The occupying Power took a decision to seal off Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and to erect additional checkpoints clearly constituting a form of collective punishment in violation of the occupying Power’s obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention. In a statement, Human Rights Watch stated that: “Locking down East Jerusalem neighborhoods will infringe upon the freedom of movement of all Palestinian residents rather than being a narrowly tailored response to a specific concern. The checkpoints are a recipe for harassment and abuse.” Frightfully, it was also decided that the occupying Power would make obtaining permits for personal fire arms even easier for Israeli individuals.
  • Mutaz Ibrahim Zawahreh (age 27), from the Dheisheh refugee camp, was shot and killed by the occupying forces with a live bullet in the chest during a military raid in Bethlehem.
  • According to the Red Crescent, over 400 Palestinians were injured during raids by the occupying forces on 13 October in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, at least 31 of whom were shot with live ammunition.
  • Terrorist settlers attacked olive farmers near Turmus’ayya and Tal villages, south and west of Nablus, and stoned Palestinian cars on the Ramallah-Nablus Road as well as near the town of Yatta in Al-Khalil.
  • Several farmers, including Mohammad Ishtayeh, Ahmad Hindi, Meqdad Zeidan and Karim Ramadan, were detained and attacked by the terrorist settlers, under the watch and protection of Israeli occupying forces.

On 14 October 2015

  • A total of 36 Palestinians were detained overnight and on Wednesday and 4 others were summoned by Israeli forces throughout the West Bank.
  • A 13-year-old Palestinian boy was shot in the eye and seriously injured with a rubber-coated steel bullet in Surif town, northeast of Al-Khalil.
  • Israeli settlers set fire to large swaths of Palestinian-owned agricultural land near the village of Burin, south of Nablus in the West Bank.
  • Bare’ Ismael Shalash (age 17) was shot and injured in Beit Awwa, west of Al-Khalil.
  • Palestinian detainee Fadi Al-Darbi (age 30), who had suffered a stroke while in Israeli captivity in prison, died in an Israeli hospital.
  • Basel Sidr (age 20) was shot with more than 10 bullets and left to bleed on the ground until he died at the Damascus Gate in Occupied East Jerusalem.

As the violations against Palestinian children continue to multiply, we continue to insist again that the Israeli Government, the Israeli occupying forces and Israeli settler militias belong on the list of grave violators of child rights in the context of the Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, and we will not relent in calling for such listing in the face of ongoing violations and crimes against our innocent and defenseless children.

It is without a doubt that the above-mentioned violations are in grave breach of international humanitarian law, as well as international criminal law as articulated in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. For these war crimes, we will continue to seek accountability and justice through all legal and peaceful means.  At the same time, we call again on the international community, particularly the Security Council, to act now to protect the Palestinian people and diffuse this dangerous situation, which clearly constitutes a threat to international peace and security.

The international community must ensure that international protection is provided to the Palestinian people in order to spare them of more loss and suffering.  As we have stated in the past, the Palestinian people cannot remain the exception to the responsibility to protect civilians from atrocities and flagrant breaches of the law for they are not just statistics but human beings whose lives are being constantly shattered by a brutal occupier that proves over and over again its total disregard for the lives and rights of the Palestinian people and total contempt for international law.  The time is now for the international community to finally bring an end to Israel’s impunity and to justly resolve this conflict and bring overdue justice to the Palestinian people.

This letter is in follow-up to our 558 previous letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine.  These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 12 October 2015 (A/ES-/10/xxx- S/2015/xxx) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000.  For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of the present letter distributed as a document of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour

Ambassador, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations

FACT SHEET: THE STATE OF PALESTINE’S WOMEN UNDER OCCUPATION

FACT SHEET: THE STATE OF PALESTINE’S WOMEN UNDER OCCUPATION

“Restrictions on movement and access, increased settlement expansion and settler violence, demolitions of Palestinian infrastructure and displacement, the fragmentation of the territory and the closure of the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly the Gaza Strip, continue to have a negative gender differentiated impact on the lives of Palestinian women and their families.” [Read more…]

12 October 2015 – Israeli Crimes and Violations

Excellency,

Since our last letter to you, on 9 October 2015, I regret to inform you that the situation in the Occupied State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem, continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate as a result of Israel’s crimes and violations against the Palestinian people held hostage to its occupation.  This situation warrants immediate attention by the international community, in particular the Security Council, to act to halt all violations of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, committed by the occupying Power against the Palestinian people, as well as to provide the Palestinian people with international protection before the situation spirals further out of control.  Each day that passes, more innocent lives are lost as is any hope to reach a peaceful two-State solution in the future.

The following are just some tragic examples of the latest Palestinian casualties and human rights violations caused by the brutal raids and attacks of the occupying forces and their terrorist settlersover the past three days. The list also includes some additional violations by the Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian population under its occupation: [Read more…]

9 October 2015 – Israel’s Intensification of its Onslaught against the Palestinian People

Excellency,

The situation in Occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem, continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate due to the escalation of Israel’s latest campaign of military aggression against the Palestinian people.  In recent days, the occupying Power has intensified its onslaught against the Palestinian civilian Palestinian, including in occupied Gaza Strip, in grave breach of international law, including international humanitarian law and the relevant provisions on the protection of civilians in armed conflict and in grave breach of the prohibition of collective punishment against the civilian population under occupation.

Casualties and injuries among the Palestinian civilian population, including women and children, are tragically mounting. Today, seven more Palestinians were killed at the hands of the occupying forces.  Six of those killed were from the occupied Gaza Strip, where more than 1.8 million Palestinians continue to live under an illegal and immoral Israeli blockade.  In Gaza, Israeli occupying forces fired at peaceful demonstrators in an area east of Al-Shujaiyeh neighborhood, killing Ahmed Al-Hirbawi, Shadi Dawla, Ziyad Nabeel Sharaf and Abed al-Wahidi, all aged 20, while Mohammad Al-Raqeb, age 15, was killed after being shot by occupying forces near Khan Younis. Another Palestinian youth, Adnan Abu Alayyan, age 19, was also killed east of Khan Yunis. More than 150 Palestinian civilians, among them many children, were injured as a result of the excessive and disproportionate force by the occupying Power. [Read more…]

7 October 2015 – Israeli Escalation of Aggression and Violations against the Palestinian People

Excellency,

Although I have just submitted a letter to Your Excellency only two days ago, the intensifying aggression by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people in the Occupied State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem, compels me to submit a follow-up letter today.  The Palestinian leadership appeals to the international community, particularly the Security Council, to act immediately to halt all Israeli violations of international law, including humanitarian law and human rights law, against the unprotected, defenseless Palestinian civilian population.  Below is a summary of those violations from just the past 24 hours.

The Palestine Red Crescent is reporting that more than 130 Palestinians, including children, have been injured by Israeli occupying forces, at least 50 injured by live ammunition, bringing the total number of Palestinians injured to 630 since Saturday, 3 October 2015, as the occupying forces continue their raids of Palestinian areas and attacks on civilians.  A large number of the injured are in critical condition, many who are undergoing lifesaving operations, including at least two Palestinians who were shot in the head with rubber bullets.  Since Friday, 2 October 2015, Israeli occupying forces have also carried out 27 attacks on Red Crescent emergency relief teams, leaving 17 staff members injured and 10 ambulances damaged.

Israel’s extremist settlers and religious zealots also continue their reign of terror on the Palestinian civilian population with complete impunity.  Since our last letter, extremist settlers injured at least two Palestinians, including Osama Abu Qubita, age 10, whose home they attacked in the south of Al-Khalil.  Osama had to be transferred to a hospital for treatment as a result of an injury to his head.  Also, today, a Palestinian girl, Shurouq Dwayyat, age 18, was seriously injured when she was shot by an Israeli settler in the Old City of Jerusalem.  Extremist settlers also intercepted the convoy of the Prime Minister of the State of Palestine, Dr. Rami Hamdallah, and shouted racist slogans while calling for the death of Palestinians. [Read more…]

9 June 2015 – Letter on the 48th Year of the Israeli Military Occupation

Excellency,

On 5 June, the Palestinian people somberly marked the 48th year of the Israeli military occupation.  As this belligerent foreign occupation of our land and subjugation of our people inconceivably approaches a half-century of duration, we call on the international community to affirm the illegality of the Israeli occupation, a cruel and devastating occupation that has gravely violated every provision of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention), the body of international humanitarian law governing situations of foreign occupation.  That law stipulates that occupation is a temporary situation, not an indefinite situation imposed to facilitate the occupying Power’s unlawful oppression and forced displacement of the occupied civilian population and the colonization and de facto annexation of the occupied land. [Read more…]

30 October 2014 – Closure of Al-Haram Al-Sharif and Killings in East Jerusalem

Excellency,

The Security Council emergency session that was convened yesterday to address the crisis in Occupied East Jerusalem underscored the unanimous international concerns and condemnations regarding the provocations and incitement by Israel, the occupying Power, and its extremist settlers at holy sites in the City, as well as the illegality of Israeli settlement activities and all other measures aimed at altering the demography, character and status of the City.

All were in agreement about the gravity and the many dangers of the continuation of this illegal situation. And, all were in agreement about the urgent need to immediately diffuse tensions and to avert any further aggravation of religious sensitivities by ensuring respect for Holy Sites, with particular focus on Al-Haram Al-Sharif, home to Al-Aqsa Mosque, which continues to be targeted by Israeli provocation and incitement, and the need to uphold the historic status quo in this regard. [Read more…]

23 June 2013 – Letter from H.E. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine to H.E. Secretary-General of the United Nations on Israeli violations in the OPT

Excellency, 

 

I write concerning the large-scale offensive assault launched by Israel, the occupying Power, against Palestinian civilians across the occupied West Bank. Since three settlers, illegally transferred by the occupying Power to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, went missing on 13 June 2014, the occupying Power has taken the Palestinian population hostage. For over a week now, Israeli occupation forces have waged an unrelenting and wide-scale campaign against Palestinian cities, villages, and refugee camps, subjecting the civilian population to a litany of abuses and punitive measures, including a ban on travel for Palestinians residing in Hebron, the largest Palestinian Governorate, home to approximately 800,000 residents.    [Read more…]

19 December 2013 – Killings in the West Bank

Excellency,

I regret to inform you of the continuing turmoil and deterioration of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, due to the illegal, provocative policies that continue to be pursued by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people. Despite the fact that peace talks are underway, Israel continues to carry out grave violations of international law, ranging from the killing and injury of Palestinian civilians, military raids and mass arrests as well as continuation of its massive colonial settlement campaign throughout the Occupied State of Palestine.  These actions represent a dangerous escalation that threatens to further destabilize the already-fragile situation and to thwart the current negotiations and serious international efforts being exerted to advance the achievement of a just, comprehensive and lasting peace. [Read more…]

1 November 2013 – Israeli Settlement Provocations

Excellency,

Just three months ago, the international community was filled with high hopes that the renewal of negotiations, after a prolonged and deleterious impasse, would bring about a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in accordance with the longstanding terms of reference of the two-State solution based on the pre-1967 borders within the agreed negotiating period of six to nine months.  It is regretful that throughout this duration of the past three months of the negotiations, these hopes have been constantly and seriously eroded by the illegal actions committed by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, the territory constituting the State of Palestine. [Read more…]