On Saturday, 2 Palestinians, including a child, were killed in armed
clashes in Jaba’ village and Qalandya refugee camp near Ramallah.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately
14:00 on Saturday, 2 August 2008, a number of Palestinian police
officers, wearing civilian clothes, moved into Jaba’ village, south
of Ramallah, which is part of Area “C” according to Oslo Accords and
thus under Israeli security control, to confiscate gambling machines
from a store in the village. The armed group, which owns the store,
refused to hand the gambling machines to the police. In the
meantime, another armed group came from the nearby Qalandya refugee
camp and exchanged fire with the first group. At approximately
16:00, the police and the second armed group left the village.
Later, a number of gunmen attacked Qalandya refugee camp, and armed
clashes erupted between them and the second armed group that had
entered Jaba’ village earlier. As a result, 2 Palestinians,
including a child, were killed:
1.
Ghassam Mohammed Bisharat, 14, hit by several
gunshots to the head and the chest; and
2.
Mustafa ‘Abdullah Bisharat, 24, hit by
several gunshots to the head and the chest.
Additionally, 5 Palestinians were wounded. Brigadier ‘Adnan al-Dumairi,
Spokesman of the Palestinian police in the West Bank, stated to PCHR
that “a police force entered Jaba’ village to confiscate machines a
few hours before the eruption of clashes.” “Two hours after the
police force had finished its mission, we received information that
a number of casualties were admitted into hospitals in Ramallah, so
we went for investigation, but we were not able to conclude the
investigation as the wounded were in a serious condition,” Brigadier
al-Dumairi added. He further stated that “results of the
investigation will be declared once the investigation is
concluded.”
PCHR is gravely concerned for the increasing number of casualties
resulting from the misuse of weapons, which is part of the state of
security chaos and assaults on the rule of law prevailing in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory. PCHR calls upon the Palestinian
National Authority, represented by the Attorney General, to
investigate this latest crime and bring the perpetrators to justice.
