Press Release  Significant escalation of the use of lethal force:

Five Palestinian civilians and a Palestinian security man killed by the Israeli occupation forces;

Israeli occupation forces attack a PCHR field officer   Ref: 202/2000 Date: December 15, 2000 Time: 13:00GMT            15:00 Palestine Time  This afternoon, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire at Palestinian civilians demonstrating at the western entrance of the village of Hares in Salfit governorate.  As a result, Mohammed Farouq Daoud, 20 years old, was killed with a live bullet in the abdomen.  This morning, the Israeli occupation forces shot dead Nour El-Din Mohammed Abu Safi with six bullets in the chest.  The circumstances of the incident are still unclear.  Initial information indicates that this morning, at approximately 8:40 local time, sounds of shooting were heard in the industrial zone in Erez, in the north of the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of the Israeli occupation forces.  Later, the Israeli occupation forces claimed that a Palestinian man attempted to stab an Israeli occupation soldier and that other soldiers shot him dead.  PCHR is still investigating the incident as similar claims by the Israeli occupation forces have recently increased in order to justify the committing of similar killings and crimes against Palestinian civilians.  This happened most recently yesterday with the killing of Hani Hussein Abu Bakra.  In this incident, the Israeli occupation forces claimed that Abu Bakra raised a pistol in the faces of soldiers of these forces (for full details about the extra-judicial killing, see the press release of PCHR on December 14, 2000).  This afternoon, the Israeli occupation forces handed over the body of martyr Abu Safi to the Palestinian liaison forces and the body was then transferred to Shifa’ hospital in Gaza City.  Palestinian medical sources stated that there were indications of blows to the face and a broken jaw in addition to six live bullets in the body of martyr Abu Safi.  This morning, at approximately 1:00 local time, Israeli occupation forces positioned at a military post outside Hamish settlement fired heavy and medium bullets at a roadblock of the Palestinian National Security Forces, at the entrance of the village of Kufor Ein in Ramallah.  As a result, Palestinian National Security Forces member Nehad Hassan Mohammed Hantash, 24 years old, from the village of Baqat El-Hatab in Qalqilya, was killed with three live bullets in the neck and the chest.  Additionally, Palestinian National Security Forces member Khalil Kamal El-Madhoun, 19 years old, from Khan Yunis, was wounded with several bullets in the neck, the chest, the abdomen and the legs.  He was evacuated to the intensive care unit at Ramallah hospital in critical condition.   Last night, at approximately 23:00 local time, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire at three Palestinian civilians near the village of Borin in Nablus, killing Sa’d Ibrahim Taha El-Kharouf, 32 years old, from Nablus.  According to his family, El-Kharouf received a phone call last night, at approximately 23:00 (local time).  The caller was a friend of his from Jerusalem who asked for help as his car had broken down while he was on his way to the village of Borin.  Immediately, El-Kharouf, accompanied by his friend Dr. Khalil Abdullah El-Ardah, went to help his friend, but the two never returned home.  This morning, the Palestinian liaison forces informed the El-Kharouf family that their son was killed and that his body was in Rafidya hospital in Nablus, after the body was handed over by the Israeli occupation forces at approximately 7:00 local time this morning.  According to hospital sources, El-Kharouf was hit by two live bullets in the left thigh.  These bullets caused a cut in an artery and acute bleeding, and he also received a third live bullet in the right hand.  These sources added that he died from acute bleeding.  It appears that the Israeli occupation forces let him bleed to death and did not provide him with first aid treatment.  PCHR learned that the Israeli occupation forces arrested the other two Palestinian civilians.  They are: Majdi Qorash and Dr. Khalil El-Ardah, who are also believed to have been wounded in the incident.      Yesterday evening, Israeli occupation forces positioned in the vicinity of Yitshar in Nablus fired heavy and medium bullets at two Palestinian civilians who were sitting under a parasol on a tract of land owned by one of them, in the village of Tel in Nablus.  The tract of land is 1500 meters away from the military post of the Israeli occupation forces.  The attack resulted in the deaths of the two Palestinian civilians.  They are:                             1)              Abdel-Moein Hassan Ibrahim, 24 years old, from the village of Tel and the owner of the tract of land.  He was hit by five medium bullets in the head and the back; and                             2)              Mohammed Lutfi Qassem Nouri, 22 years old, from the village of Tel, who was hit by several bullets in the head and the chest. The two victims were shot when there were no clashes in the area.  The Israeli occupation forces prevented thousands of Palestinian civilians from praying in Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Holy Sanctuary) in Jerusalem, in a blatant violation of their right to worship freely.  This violation is particularly harsh now in the month of Ramadan as this is the time when hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians visit the city.  This afternoon, clashes broke out in Jerusalem between Palestinian civilians and the Israeli occupation forces.  These forces opened fire, wounding 10 Palestinian civilians with rubber-coated metal bullets.  In Rafah, this afternoon, the Israeli occupation forces attacked a PCHR field officer, Abdel-Halim Abu Samra, while he was photographing near Tal Al-Sultan roadblock, separating the city of Rafah from its Al-Mawasi (agricultural area), under the control of the Israeli occupation forces.  Under the threat of violence, Israeli occupation soldiers damaged his film and ordered him to leave the area.    More Sweeping of Agricultural Land  Yesterday afternoon, the Israeli occupation forces swept more areas of agricultural land in the area of Gizan Al-Najjar in the south of Khan Yunis.  A number of Palestinian farmers said that the Israeli occupation forces, prior to the sweeping, engaged in intensive shooting at Palestinian farmers in order to terrify them and force them to leave their land.  The shooting lasted sporadically for 30 minutes.  Then, a bulldozer of the Israeli occupation forces started to sweep and destroy the following:                             1)              A 20-donum area of agricultural land planted with vegetables owned by Khalil Omar Shaker Al-Najjar.  In addition, an irrigation network was destroyed.                             2)              An 11-donum area of agricultural land planted with vegetables owned by Bohom Mousa Mohammed Qandil. In addition, an irrigation network was destroyed.                             3)              An agricultural pool, a 24-square-meter room and a water pump owned by Ramadan Hafezh Abdel-Karim Al-Najjar.                             4)              An agricultural pool, a 32-square-meter room and a water pump owned by Abdel-Mouti Hafezh Abdel-Karim Al-Najjar.  In Rafah, yesterday morning, the Israeli occupation forces swept a 17-donum area of agricultural land planted with olives in the area of Um Al-Qureis to the east of Morag settlement.  Ali Abed Rabbo Ali Dhuheir owns the swept area of land.   ***  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).   

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