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Ref: 187/2004

Date: 26 December  2004

Time: 09:30 GMT

IOF Extra-Judicially Kill 3 Palestinians in Tulkarm and Bulldoze a House over a Fourth’s Head in Jenin

On Friday and Saturday, 24 and 25 December 2004, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) extra-judicially killed 3 Palestinians in Tulkarm and a fourth one in Jenin.  The four were members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing Fatah movement.  The policy of extra-judicial killings is officially adopted by the Israeli political and military establishments. IOF have not commented on the first attack, but admitted responsibility for the other. They claimed that an Israeli military unit surrounded a house where a wanted Palestinian was hiding. Israeli troops called on residents of the house to vacate it and they did, but the wanted man stayed inside. They ordered him to surrender, but he refused. So, they fired missiles at the house and then a military bulldozer demolished it.  

According to preliminary investigations conducted by PCHR on the first attack, at approximately 22:30 on Thursday, 23 December 2004, IOF moved into Tulkarm refugee camp into the northern West Bank.  They took position in various areas in the camp, and some troops mounted the roofs of a number of houses.  At approximately 01:30 Friday, 24 December 2004, a number of Palestinian gunmen were sitting near the schools area, and when an Israeli military jeep passed by them, they attempted to escape. They were faced by some Israeli troops near the social forum. The young men moved back.  Immediately, Israeli troops positioned atop of a building opened fire at them from a distance of nearly 200 meters.  Three of the young men were wounded in their legs.  They remained in the place.  Immediately, Israeli troops moved towards them and fired at them from a distance of half a meter.  The three were killed by live bullets in the head, the neck and the chest.  An ambulance of Palestine Red Crescent Society attempted to attend the three bodies, but IOF prevented them for nearly one hour. Then, the ambulance evacuated the bodies to Dr. Thabet Thabet Hospital in Tulkarm. The victims were members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Fatah movement.  They were identified as:

1.         Kamel ‘Abdullah Kamel Sabarini, 18;

2.         Jamal Khaled ‘Adnan ‘Aazem, 18; and

3.         Eyad ‘Azmi Ghannam Kanouh, 18.

According to preliminary investigations conducted by PCHR on the second attack, at approximately 02:00 on Saturday, 25 December 2004, IOF, reinforced by 20 military jeeps, 2 armored personnel carriers and 2 military bulldozers, moved into Jenin. They surrounded a 200-square-meter, 3-storey house owned by Mustafa Suleiman al-‘Arqawi in al-Marah neighborhood in the east of the town.  They called on the 20 residents of the house (3 families) through megaphones to vacate it and held them under the rain.  IOF interrogated the owner whether there was anyone in the house and he denied the presence of anyone there.  IOF fired a number of missiles at the house. A few hours later, the two bulldozers started to demolish the house.  At approximately 08:00, IOF withdrew from the area after they had demolished the house.  Crews of the Palestinian Civil Defense arrived at the area and started to remove the ruins of the house.  At approximately 11:00, they found the body of Tha’er Jamal Mohammed Kamle Hussein, 28, under the ruins.  IOF claimed that the victim was an assistant of the leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin.  The victim’s brother, Ameen, was extra-judicially killed by IOF on 7 November 2004. 

PCHR strongly condemns these latest attacks and remains gravely concerned about such escalation by the Israeli government and its occupation forces. Israeli violations of human rights, including extra-judicial and indiscriminate killings, further indicate Israel’s disregard for international law and humanitarian law, which prohibit such acts that constitute grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), in particular article 147.  PCHR asserts that the policy of extra-judicial killings officially adopted by the Israeli government serves to increase tension in the region and threatens the lives of Palestinian civilians. PCHR reiterates its calls for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations to ensure protection for Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

PCHR is particularly appalled by the timing of these attacks, coming as they do at the very start of the official campaigning for the Palestinian Presidential elections. That Israel has deliberately decided to continue its illegal policy of extra-judicial killings, so close to the elections, contradicts their public statements that they will not stand in the way of free and fair elections. Such attacks only serve to undermine the democratic process in Palestine as they create an environment, under the ongoing and belligerent occupation, which is in no way conducive to the holding of free, fair and open elections.

“END”

Public Document

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PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org