[News] October 2000 to Gaza 2018: Israeli snipers continue killing unarmed Palestinian demonstrators

Mon Oct 1 11:13:42 EDT 2018

https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9601

  October 2000 to Gaza 2018: Israeli snipers continue killing unarmed
  Palestinian demonstrators

30/09/2018
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israel blatantly ignoring domestic and international law; Adalah demands 
accountability and prosecution of those responsible for gross violations 
of right to life.

Eighteen years have passed since the October 2000 Israeli police 
killings of 13 unarmed Palestinian protesters 
<https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9258> and – despite solid 
condemnation of this practice on both the national and international 
levels – the Israeli military continues killing unarmed Palestinian 
civilian protesters with snipers and live fire in the Gaza Strip, with 
the approval of Israel’s Supreme Court.

Just this past Friday, Israeli troops killed seven people and wounded 
another 257 in Gaza <http://www.mezan.org/en/post/23230>. 163 of the 
wounded were hit by live ammunition. Among those Israeli troops killed 
with live fire were two boys ages 11 and 14.

*Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel demands 
that Israel immediately halt the shooting of civilian protesters with 
live ammunition.*

In October 2000, Israeli police and special sniper units killed 13 
unarmed Palestinians <https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/8639> (12 
citizens of Israel and one Gaza resident) and wounded hundreds more when 
Palestinian citizens of Israel staged mass demonstrations throughout the 
country to protest Israel's oppressive policies against Palestinians in 
the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) at the beginning of the Second 
Intifada.

18 years later, however, not a single police officer, commander, or 
politician responsible for the October 2000 killings has been held to 
account for their criminal actions. Adalah and the families of the 13 
victims continue to demand that those responsible for the crimes of 
October 2000 be prosecuted.

In the wake of the killings, the official Or Commission of Inquiry 
concluded in 2003 that: /"It should be unequivocally clear that live 
fire, including by snipers, is not a means for the police to disperse 
crowds."/

Eighteen years have passed, and despite the clear recommendations of the 
Or Commission, the Israeli armed forces have not changed their practices 
but continue to use excessive force and fire live ammunition at unarmed 
Palestinians in contradiction of both Israeli and international law, 
this time at protesters in Gaza.

Since the start of the Great Return March protests in Gaza on 30 March 
2018, Israeli troops have killed 151 people – including 30 children, one 
woman, two journalists, three paramedics, and three persons with 
disabilities, according to figures from Al Mezan Center for Human Rights 
<http://www.mezan.org/en/post/23230>. Israeli troops also wounded 10,234 
persons, including 5,814 – among them 939 children and 114 women – with 
live fire.

In April 2018, Adalah and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights petitioned 
the Israeli Supreme Court <https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9488> 
to order the Israeli military to immediately halt its use of snipers and 
other live weapons against unarmed protesters.

The petition emphasized the absolute ban on opening fire on 
demonstrators with live ammunition and noted that the norms applicable 
to confronting civilian demonstrations are based in international law 
governing "law enforcement and order." These same norms have also been 
adopted into Israeli law, including via 2003's Or Commission report.

/"These universal norms apply equally and without discrimination to 
citizens and non-citizens alike, regardless of the content of the 
protest, their slogans, their location, their organizational 
affiliation, and the ethnic and national affiliation of the participants."/

Nevertheless, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected our petition. Adalah 
and Al Mezan responded:

/"…this ruling, which justifies the shooting of protesters, contradicts 
the conclusions and preliminary results of international human rights 
organizations and United Nations bodies documenting and evaluating the 
events in Gaza. The Supreme Court’s ruling gives full legitimacy to the 
illegal actions of the Israeli military, which has led to the killing of 
more than 100 people and the wounding of thousands of protesters, 
including women, children, journalists, and paramedics. Of those killed, 
94 percent were shot by Israeli troops in the upper body." [Casualties 
figures from 25 May 2018] /

Israeli armed forces backed up by the Supreme Court’s ruling, continue 
to target unarmed Palestinian demonstrators with snipers and live 
ammunition today in Gaza just as they killed Palestinian citizens of 
Israel protesting in October 2000.

*Adalah calls on Israel to immediately halt these deadly practices and 
to allow Palestinians to exercise their right to protest and to freedom 
of political expression. **Adalah will continue to defend Palestinians’ 
right to protest, to support the struggle against racism and Occupation, 
and to demand accountability for the victims of these gross human rights 
violations.*

Adalah also urges the international community to take strong measures to 
ensure respect for international law, to provide protection for 
demonstrators and all civilians in Gaza, and to support the work of the 
independent UN Commission of Inquiry into the 2018 Protests in the 
Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). 
<https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIOPT/Pages/OPT.aspx>

The 13 young men shot dead by Israeli police in October 2000 
<https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/8648>: 21-year-old Rami Ghara in 
Jatt; 26-year-old Eyad Lawabny in Nazareth; 23-year-old Mohammed 
Jabareen in Umm al-Fahem; 18-year-old Ahmed Jabareen in Mu’awiya; 
19-year-old Misleh Abu Jarad in Umm al-Fahem; 17-year-old Asel Asleh in 
Arrabe; 18-year-old Ala Nassar in Arrabe; 21-year-old Walid Abu Saleh in 
Sakhnin; 25-year-old Emad Ghanayim in Sakhnin; 19-year-old Mohammad 
Khamayseh in Kufr Kanna; 24-year-old Ramez Bushnaq in Kufr Manda; 
42-year-old Omar Akkawi in Nazareth; and 25-year-old Wissam Yazbak in 
Nazareth.

The High Follow-Up Committee for Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel has 
declared a general strike to be observed tomorrow, 1 October 2018, to 
commemorate the October 2000 killings and to protest both Israel’s 
planned demolition of the Bedouin village of Khan Al Ahmar and the 
recently-approved Jewish Nation-State Law 
<https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9569>.

-- 
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