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Security Forces, Not Civilians: 

Comments on Kofi Annan’s Statement Regarding the Attack in Hebron

Ref.,: 128/2002

Date: 17 November, 2002

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights condemns in the strongest terms all killings of civilians as a grave violation of the fundamental right to life. 

PCHR expresses its concerns regarding the inaccurate representation by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in a statement issued on Friday of the killing of 12 Israelis in Hebron.  Annan wrongly categorized those killed in the attack, for which Islamic Jihad has reportedly claimed responsibility, as “civilians”.  According to media reports, including those by Israeli media, 4 of those killed were Israeli soldiers, 5 members of the Israeli Border Police, 3 from the Emergency Response Squad of the Kiryat Arba Jewish settlement near Hebron; all of them were on duty in Hebron.  According to a report on the website of Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth on 17 November, the three Palestinian gunmen did not shoot at Jewish worshippers who passed along the same road after finishing prayers in the Ibrahimi Mosque, “Tomb of the Patriarchs”.  Rather the gunmen reportedly opened fire at the Israeli security forces who had provided protection to the settlers during their journey from the “Tomb of the Patriarchs” back to the Kiryat Arba settlement.

The Israeli military has maintained an illegal belligerent military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem since 1967.  Hebron remains, like all other areas of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, a Palestinian city under Israeli military occupation.  The Jewish settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are a grave breach of international humanitarian law, a war crime. 

Members of the Israeli military, border police and settlement security units in Hebron are acting to maintain this illegal military operation.  Under international law, these Israeli soldiers, border policemen and settlement security officers on active military duty cannot be classified as civilians. 

PCHR is concerned that any analysis of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories must be founded on accurate understanding of all relevant facts including the nature of each persons role in the situation.   PCHR hopes that the Secretary General will re-clarify his position based on the facts of this incident.  PCHR hopes that the Secretary General will in future ensure that he is in possession of all the relevant facts before he makes a statement on events occurring in this region.