<html>
<body>
<font size=3>
<a href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=676&Itemid=1" eudora="autourl">
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=676&Itemid=1<br>
<br>
</a>(Gaza City) PCHR <br>
Friday, 29 September 2006 <br><br>
<br>
"A Special Issue on the 6th Anniversary of the al-Aqsa Intifada
<br><br>
Six Years of Israeli Aggression on the OPT; IOF Commit Unprecedented War
Crimes against Palestinian Civilians and Property <br><br>
This report coincides with the 6th anniversary of the eruption of the
al-Aqsa Intifada, which broke out following the former Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to al-Aqsa Mosque (the Holy
Sanctuary) in occupied Jerusalem. Over the last 6 years, Israeli
Occupation Forces (IOF) have perpetrated grave breaches of international
law, including war crimes, against Palestinian civilians, in a manner
unprecedented since 1967. The 6th year of the Intifada witnessed an
increasing escalation in Israeli war crimes as the international
community remained silent and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth
Geneva Convention of 1949 failed to meet their obligations to ensure
respect for the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)
and provide protection for Palestinian civilians. The international
silence has served to encourage the Israeli government and its occupation
forces to perpetrate more war crimes with impunity against Palestinian
civilians. Over the last 12 months, IOF have stepped up illegal
operations in the OPT, especially in the Gaza Strip. The number of
Palestinian civilians killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip in the second half
of the year reminds of the numbers of civilians killed by IOF in the West
Bank during the Operation Defensive Shield in spring 2002. <br><br>
In the 6th year of the Intifada, 504 Palestinians, including 398
civilians (79%) have killed by IOF. The number of civilian victims
includes 93 children (23%) and 14 women (3.5%). According to PCHR's
documentation, 138 Palestinians have been extra-judicially executed by
IOF (34.5% of the total number of civilian victims). This number includes
90 targeted persons and 48 civilian bystanders, including 23 children.
<br><br>
By the end of the 6th year of the al-Aqsa Intifada, 3859 Palestinians,
including 3069 civilians (79.5%), have been killed. According to PCHR's
documentation, 585 Palestinians have been extra-judicially executed by
IOF (19% of the total number of civilian victims). This number includes
376 targeted persons and 209 civilian bystanders, including 71 children.
<br><br>
Contrary to claims by IOF that they withdrew from the Gaza Strip in
September 2005, which PCHR viewed as a form of redeployment, IOF waged an
open war on the Gaza Strip after Palestinian resistance activists had
killed two IOF soldiers and captured a third on 25 June 2006. This wide
scale military campaign named “Operation Summer Rains” is still ongoing.
Since the beginning of this campaign, 237 Palestinian, including 147
civilians, have been killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip. The number of
civilian victims includes 53 children and 13 women. In addition, 821
Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 220 children and 35 women, have
been wounded. <br><br>
According to PCHR’s documentation, IOF have fired at least 260
air-to-surface missiles and hundreds of artillery shells at targets,
mostly civilian ones, in the Gaza Strip. Buildings of the Palestinian
Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of
National economy, the office of the Palestinian Prime Minister and a
number of educational institutions have been destroyed. The electricity
generation plant, providing 45% of the electricity of the Gaza Strip, was
destroyed, and electricity networks and transmitters have been repeatedly
attacked. Six bridges linking Gaza City with the central Gaza Strip and a
number of roads have been destroyed. IOF have also destroyed hundreds of
donums[1] of agricultural land and dozens of houses have been
destroyed. The Palestinian governmental compound in Nablus has been
destroyed. Many families in the Gaza Strip have been forced to leave
their houses. IOF warplanes have destroyed 44 houses belonging to
activists of Palestinian factions. <br><br>
In the 6th year of the Intifada, IOF continued to shell Palestinian
residential areas. Complete families were killed or wounded by the
IOF shelling. For instance, on 9 June 2006, IOF killed ‘Alai Ghalia, his
wife and 5 of the their children. On 12 July 2006, IOF killed Nabeel Abu
Silmiya, his wife and 7 of their children. IOF have employed warplanes to
extra-judicially executed Palestinian in densely populated areas,
rendering casualties among Palestinian civilians, especially children.
Furthermore, IOF have adopted a new policy since 23 July 2006, under
which they warn Palestinian civilians that their houses would be
attacked, a very short period that does not exceed an hour prior to the
actual attack. IOF often claim that weapons are stored in these houses or
that tunnels are dug under them to smuggle weapons. <br><br>
In the West Bank, IOF continued to construct the annexation wall inside
the West Bank territory, in violation of international law and
humanitarian law, and the advisory opinion issued by the International
Court of Justice in Hague, which considered the construction of the wall
illegal and called for its dismantlement. <br><br>
In an attempt to undermine the results of the Palestinian elections,
which were held on 25 January 2006, IOF waged an arrest campaign against
members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) representing the
Change and Reform Bloc affiliated to Hamas and cabinet ministers. IOF
arrested 31 PLC members, including the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and the
Secretary. The PLC Deputy Speaker was released later. In addition, IOF
arrested 8 ministers, including the Deputy Prime Minister. Three
ministers, including the Deputy Prime Minister, were released later,
while the others have been kept in custody. <br><br>
On 14 March 2006, IOF completed initiated a large-scale military
operation that imed to apprehend Ahmad Sa’adat, the Secretary-General of
the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the elected
member of the PLC, a number of PFLP activists charged with assassinating
Rehavam Ze’vi (Israeli ex-Minister of Tourism), and Major General Fuad
al-Shobaki, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council who is charged
with smuggling the Karen A arms shipment. This operation was initiated 15
minutes after the sudden withdrawal of American and British monitors
charged with guarding Sa;adat, in accordance with an agreement, drafted
mainly by the United States. Israeli, American, and British officials
attempted to deny any prior coordination between them. However, the
Israeli Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz, said in statements to Haaretz
newspaper after the operation that Israel knew before hand about the time
of the monitors’ withdrawal from Jericho prison. Further, he stated that
the army had been preparing for over a week to storm the prison and
kidnap the prisoners. PCHR had previously stressed that no party, whether
the IOF, Palestinian National Authority, or international community, has
the right to formulate an agreement that violates International
Humanitarian Law. This position was stated in reference to the agreement
regarding Sa’adat’s detention in Jericho prison (refer to the PCHR’s
press release dated 4 June 2002). Thus, PCHR raises question over the
international community’s role in enforcing past and future agreements to
which Israel is a party. <br><br>
Israeli military actions have violated the political, civil, economic,
social and cultural rights of Palestinian civilians. <br><br>
<br><br>
The six years of the al-Aqsa Intifada have been characterized by the
following Israeli military attacks: <br><br>
· Prolonged Incursions and redeployment
into Palestinian Authority controlled areas. <br><br>
· Massive killings and destruction of
houses and civilian property. <br><br>
· Extra-judicial executions against
Palestinian activists and political leaders, the most significant of
which targeted Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and leader of Hamas, and
his successor, Dr. ‘Abdul ‘Aziz al-Rantissi. <br><br>
· Destruction of the Palestinian economy
and the structure of the Palestinian Authority through the destruction of
civil and security facilities. <br><br>
· Using Palestinian civilians as
human shields during military operations in the OPT. <br><br>
· Closing Rafah International Crossing
Point and other border crossings of the Gaza Strip. <br><br>
· Chasing fishermen and depriving them of
their sources of income. <br><br>
· Storming Jericho Prison and arresting
senior political leaders. <br><br>
· Humiliation of Palestinian at military
checkpoints. <br><br>
· Deportation of a number of Palestinian
activists. <br><br>
· Continued construction of the annexation
wall inside the West Bank territory, in a challenge for the advisory
opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which considered
the construction of the wall illegal. <br><br>
· Wilful killing of Palestinian civilians.
<br><br>
· Indiscriminate shelling of Palestinian
civilian residential areas using various forms of weaponry, including
warplanes, tanks and machine guns. <br><br>
· Collective punishment of Palestinian
civilians, denying them their basic human rights, including the rights of
health, education, freedom of movement and work, through imposing a
tightened siege on the OPT. <br><br>
· Transformation of Qalandya checkpoint
into an international border crossing between the West Bank and Israel.
<br><br>
· Arbitrary arrests and placing
Palestinians in administrative detention. <br><br>
· Closure of a number of charitable
societies in the West Bank. <br><br>
· Systematic attacks by Israeli settlers
against Palestinian civilians. <br><br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
</html>