Press Release

  New massacre committed in Jenin by the Israeli occupation forces: Five Palestinian civilians and four Palestinian security men killed by the Israeli occupation forces  

Ref: 193/2000

Date: December 8, 2000 Time: GMT 18:30 Palestine Time 20:30  This afternoon, in a new escalation of the use of lethal force, the Israeli occupation forces shot at a number of Palestinian civilians, killing a boy in Bethlehem with a dumdum bullet in the head.  Another Palestinian boy was also shot dead in Jerusalem by the Israeli occupation forces with a live bullet in the head.  At 15:35 local time, the Israeli occupation forces suddenly shelled a post of the Palestinian National Security Forces, killing four Palestinian security men and a passing Palestinian civilian.  In addition, a number of Palestinian civilians were wounded in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Tulkarm and Gaza.  Yesterday evening, a Palestinian young man was pronounced dead in Amman from a previous wound caused by shrapnel in the head from the Israeli occupation forces on November 20, 2000.  The circumstances of the killing of a Palestinian man from the refugee camp of Al-Shati in the industrial zone of Erez yesterday evening has not yet become clear to PCHR.  While, the Israeli occupation forces have continued to impose a total siege on the occupied Palestinian territories, they have reinforced their presence at the entrances of Jerusalem and its Old City, to prevent the access of Palestinian Muslims to Al-Aqsa Mosque for Friday prayer, in a violation of the right of Palestinians to worship freely.  This has led to tension and clashes, especially in Jerusalem.

 This afternoon, at 15:35 local time, without any clashes being reported in the area, a tank of the Israeli occupation forces fired three artillery shells at a post of the Palestinian National Security Forces in Sabah El-Kheir neighborhood in Jenin.  As a result, four Palestinian security men and a passing Palestinian civilian were killed.  PCHR learned that the bodies of the five martyrs were scattered over the area as a result of being blown apart following a direct hit by artillery shells.  The martyrs are:

       1)         Mohanad Mohammed Abu Shadouf, 31 years old, from the village of Borqin, a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces;        2)         Mahmoud Abdullah Yahia, 17 years old, from the village of Kufor Rae’e, a member of the Palestinian National Security Service;        3)         Ziad Mahmoud Soboh, 34 years old, from the village of Kufor Rae’e, a member of the Palestinian National Security Service;        4)         Alla’ Abdelateef Abu Jaber, 17 years old, from the village of Al-Moghayar, a member of the Palestinian National Security Service; and        5)         Mohammed Rateb Taleb, 21 years old, from Sabah El-Kheir neighborhood in Jenin (a civilian).  In Jerusalem, clashes broke out this afternoon between Palestinian civilians and the Israeli occupation forces.  These forces opened fire, killing 16-year-old Amar Samir El-Mashni, from the village of Beit Our in Ramallah, with a live bullet in the head.  In addition, 15 Palestinian civilians were wounded with rubber-coated metal bullets.  This afternoon, clashes broke out at the northern entrance of Bethlehem, near the Tomb of Rachel (the mosque of Bilal Ben Rabah), between Palestinian civilians and the Israeli occupation forces.  These forces opened fire on Palestinian civilians, killing Moutaz Mohammed Foleikh, 16 years old, from the refugee camp of Al-Doheisha, with a dumdum bullet in the head.  In addition, another six Palestinian civilians were wounded, three with live bullets and three with rubber-coated metal bullets.  In the area near Al-Mentar (Karni) Outlet, to the east of Gaza City, this afternoon, clashes broke out between Palestinian civilians and the Israeli occupation forces.  These forces opened fire, wounding four Palestinian civilians with live bullets, three of whom were seriously wounded.  They are:        1)         the child Alla’ Abdel-Razeq El-Shawish, 14 years old, from Al-Shojae’ya neighborhood, wounded with a live bullet in the chest;        2)         Khalil Sami El-Madhoun, 17 years old, from Beit Lahia, wounded with a live bullet in the head; and        3)         Mohammed Bashir El-Madhoun, 19 years old, from Beit Lahia, wounded with a live bullet in the side.  This afternoon, 18 Palestinian civilians were wounded with bullets shot by the Israeli occupation forces during clashes at the northern entrance of Al-Bireh.  Among the wounded was Mohammed Mudtafa El-Nabali, from Bitonia, who was wounded with a live bullet in the chest and evacuated to the intensive care unit in Ramallah hospital.  In Tulkarm, the Israeli occupation forces shot at Palestinian civilians who gathered in the southwestern area of the city.  As a result, six Palestinian civilians were wounded with live bullets.  In Hebron, the Israeli occupation forces shot at Palestinian civilians, wounding four with live ammunition and another five with rubber-coated metal bullets.  PCHR learned that the Israeli occupation forces entered 120 meters inside the area under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and started to shoot at Palestinian civilians.  Among the wounded were:        1)         the child Ahmed Ali El-Qawasmi, 14 years old, wounded with a live bullet in the head; and        2)         Mohannad Yahia El-Harbawi, 19 years old, wounded with two bullets in the pelvis and the right thigh.  Also in Hebron, at about 13:00 local time, Jewish settlers invaded the house of Atta Abdel-Jawad Jaber in which six people live, in the area of Al-Baqa’a, and expelled the family under the threat of weapons.  Then, they brought furniture and closed boxes and raised the Israeli flag on the roof.  This house was demolished twice in the years 1998 and 1999 by the Israeli occupation forces.  Each time the house was rebuilt.  Jewish settlers also beat journalist Nasser Shiokhi, a reporter of Associated Press, and broke his camera while he was trying to cover the occupation of the mentioned house.  They also expelled BBC staff.  This is the second time journalist Shiokhi has been attacked during the past three days.  He was attacked by Israeli occupation troops on December 6, 2000, while he was covering the visit of UN Special Envoy Terje Larsen to the city of Hebron.  This morning, the Israeli occupation forces demolished the fence of Al-Khader secondary school in Bethlehem.  Four schools in the village of Al-Khader, attended by more than 2,500 students, have been closed by the Israeli occupation forces for two months.  In Amman, yesterday evening, Zuhair Mustafa Ali El-Hattab, 17 years old, from Al-Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza City, was pronounced dead from a previous wound with shrapnel from an artillery shell that hit him on November 20, 2000, when the Israeli occupation forces fired bullets and artillery shells on Palestinian civilians near Al-Mentar (Karni) Outlet.  El-Hattab was evacuated to Shifa’ hospital in Gaza City, and then to Jordan, in critical condition.  El-Hattab is the second Palestinian civilian killed during clashes near Al-Mentar (Karni) Outlet on November 20, 2000, after Asa’d Khalil El-Shaghnoubi, 22 years old, from Al-Sabra neighborhood, who died on November 26, 2000, from a wound with a live bullet in the head.  In the meantime, the staff of PCHR has continued to investigate the circumstances of the shooting death of Mohammed Joudeh Ali El-A’asi, 27 years old, from the refugee camp of Al-Shati in Gaza, by the Israeli occupation forces.  Initial information indicates that the incident took place yesterday at 16:20 local time in the industrial zone of Erez, in the north of the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of the Israeli occupation forces.  These forces immediately closed the zone to more than 3,000 Palestinian laborers working there.  The victim had worked in the zone for more than three years.  The Israeli occupation forces still are keeping his body.     Yesterday evening, the Israeli occupation forces fired shells and heavy and medium bullets on houses in the refugee camp of Khan Yunis, causing severe damage to these houses, as windows broke and bullets penetrated walls.  PCHR’s field officer in Khan Yunis reported that the shelling took place from time to time from 20:00 to midnight local time, and was launched from military posts of the Israeli occupation forces at Al-Tuffah roadblock and in the vicinity of Neve Dekalim settlement.  Among the houses that were hit were:        1)         the house of Samir Abdel-Rahman Salameh, a 120-square-meter, two-story house, in which 15 people live;        2)         the house of Jehad Khalil Abu Louz, a 120-square-meter, two-story house, in which 11 people live;        3)         the house of Ramadan Hamed, a 180-square-meter, three-story house, in which 21 people live;        4)         the house of Jalal Khalil Abu Louz, a 120-square-meter, two-story house, in which 11 people live; and        5)         the house and clinic of Dr. Omar Dhiab Gannan, a 120-square-meter, two-story house, in which eight people live.

 In addition, the Israeli occupation forces have continued to reinforce their presence throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, especially at the main roads and the entrances of Palestinian cities.  Above and beyond the total siege imposed on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces have continued to isolate Jerusalem, preventing the access of Palestinian civilians to the holy sites.  Since this morning, the Israeli occupation forces have reinforced their presence at the entrances of Jerusalem to prevent Palestinian civilians from praying at Al-Aqsa Mosque.  Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli occupation forces were heavily present around the Old City and the entrances of Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Holy Sanctuary) to prevent the access of Palestinian Muslims.  This is a blatant violation of the right of Palestinian civilians to worship freely, especially in Ramadan, the time at which hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians usually visit the city.   

 ***   PCHR reiterates its call for the international community to immediately intervene to stop the killings and criminal acts perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians. PCHR calls in particular for:

1. Establishing without delay an independent commission of inquiry, in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 1322 (2000), to carry out a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the abuses and killings perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians.
2. Convening a conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to ensure Israel’s compliance with its obligations under the Convention.
3. Immediately providing international protection for Palestinian civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories in the face of the killings and criminal acts perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces and groups of Jewish settlers who move under the protection of these forces.
4. Use by the EU of effective political and economic measures with reference to Article 2 of the Euro-Israel Association Agreement, which calls for the respect of human rights.
5. Providing humanitarian and medical assistance for the Palestinian people whose living conditions are increasingly deteriorating because of the continued total siege imposed by the Israeli occupation forces on the entire occupied Palestinian territories.
6. Use by the international community and relevant bodies, including ICRC, of necessary measures to ensure the access of medical supplies and equipment and other humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians. The Israeli occupation forces have continued to deny entry of this material through Rafah Border Crossing (into the Gaza Strip).

 “End”