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Press Release
PCHR Delegation Meets with the UN Human Rights Inquiry Commission
Ref: 4/2001
Date: February 12, 2001
This morning, a PCHR delegation met with the UN Human Rights Inquiry Commission that is investigating Israeli human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The delegation, which consisted of Raji Sourani, Iyad Alami and Hamdi Shaqqura, provided the Commission with comprehensive and detailed documentation of Israeli human rights violations during the past four months. The delegation also addressed the causes of the current outbreak of clashes between Palestinian civilians and the Israeli occupation forces, which have come to be known as “Al-Aqsa Intifada.” PCHR’s delegation maintained that the violence was the result of decades of Israeli repression of the Palestinian people.
PCHR’s delegation asserted that the extent of Israeli violations against Palestinian civilians has not been seen since 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israeli human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian territories have included:
1) Shelling Palestinian civilians and cities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with combat helicopters, gunboats and tanks.
2) Willful and extra-judicial killing of Palestinian civilians resulting in the death of more than 332 Palestinians over the past four months, including 106 children under 18, as well as the wounding of thousands of Palestinian civilians with live ammunition and rubber-coated metal bullets.
3) The declared policy of the Israeli government to assassinate a number of Palestinian civilians.
4) Imposing a total siege on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and an internal siege on Palestinian cities, isolating them from one another.
5) Large-scale leveling of Palestinian agricultural land and demolition of houses and civilian facilities.
PCHR’s delegation provided the Commission with detailed files and documents on these violations that provide evidence of the use of excessive force in cases where no threats were posed to the lives of Israeli occupation soldiers. Some of these documents are also related to the shelling by combat helicopters, gunboats and tanks of Palestinian residential neighborhoods and civilian facilities. In addition, PCHR’s delegation also provided the mission with comprehensive documents on leveling of Palestinian agricultural land and demolition of houses and civilian facilities.
Yesterday, PCHR issued a press release in which it welcomed the arrival of the UN human right inquiry mission, asserting its willingness to provide the mission with all possible assistance and documents that will facilitate its work.
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