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| PCHR Palestinian Centre for Human Rights PRESS RELEASE |
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Ref: 189/2004
Date: 27 December 2004
Time: 11:30 GMT
One Palestinian Extra-Judicially Killed by Israeli Occupation Forces
On Monday morning, 27 December 2004, an undercover unit of Israeli occupation forces (IOF), whose members disguise as Palestinian civilians, extra-judicially killed a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of Fatah movement, in Nablus. IOF claimed that “during military operations in Balata refugee camp, a wanted gunman attempted to run down a number of Israeli soldiers, so they fired at the tires of his car and ordered him to stop, and when he attempted again to run down the soldiers, they shot him dead.” Preliminary investigations conducted by PCHR refute this claim.
According to preliminary investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 11:00 on Monday, 27 December 2004, an undercover unit of IOF moved into Nablus using a civilian car, a white Ford 412, that had a Palestinian registration plate. When the car arrived at Balata crossroads, 4 members of the undercover unit got out of it and opened fire at a Palestinian civilian jeep, a blue Mitsubishi. Soon after, 9 Israeli military jeeps arrived at the area and moved the targeted jeeps out of the city. An ambulance of Palestine Red Crescent Society arrived at the area and evacuated the body of a Palestinian to Rafidya Hospital in Nablus, where the victim was identified as Wa’el Mohammed Riahi, 35, an activist of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of Fatah movement.
PCHR strongly condemns this latest attack, which was the third of its kind in four days. This attack and other 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 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. PCHR calls upon the international community to end its silence and 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.
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Public Document
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