Investigations Conducted by PCHR Indicate that IOF Willfully Killed 2 Palestinian Civilians at Military Checkpoints in Nablus
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5836.shtmlIsraeli Occupation Forces (IOF) positioned at military checkpoints in Nablus killed two Palestinian civilians in less than 24 hours in two separate crimes. These latest crimes prove IOF's disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians. PCHR condemns these crimes and asserts that the failure of the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949 to hold Israel accountable for crimes committed against Palestinian civilians serves to encourage IOF to commit more of such crimes.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 15:20 on Sunday, 8 October 2006, a number of Palestinian civilians were getting out of a car in al-Sateh area, nearly one kilometer away from Til village, southwest of Nablus. IOF soldiers in a military jeep, positioned on the bypass road located to the south of Nablus, opened fire at the car. As a result, Amjad Mohammed Mustafa al-Teerawi, 23, from Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, was killed by a live bullet to the head; and Ahmed Hazzaa' Ramadan, 21, from Til village, was wounded by a live bullet to the shoulder.
Less than 24 hours later, IOF soldiers positioned at Hawara checkpoint, south of Nablus, committed a similar crime, when they shot dead a Palestinian civilian while attempting to cross the checkpoint. IOF claimed that the soldiers foiled an attempt by a young Palestinian man to stab an IOF solider.
In his testimony to PCHR, Hani Nayef Rawajba, 32, an eyewitness, from Roujib village east of Nablus, stated:
"At approximately 14:30 on Monday, 9 October 2006, I was in a debate with the officer of Hawara checkpoint as an IOF soldier took and held my identity card. While we were in the debate, I saw an IOF soldiers searching a Palestinian taxi. There was a box containing toy pistols in the taxi. One of the IOF soldiers, who were searching the taxi, called the officer to see the box. Soon, I saw a 20-year-old Palestinian, wearing a red shirt and black trousers walking towards the taxi that was being searched. He was only 10 meters away from the taxi. The soldier who was searching the taxi fired a live bullet at the young man. The young man kneeled and I did not know whether he was wounded. Without asking the soldier about what happened, the officer joined the soldier in firing at the young man. They shot him dead with 3 live bullets. IOF soldiers prevented Palestinian civilians from offering him any help. Soon, an ambulance of Palestine Red Crescent Society arrived at the area. The driver was in the ambulance alone, I and other civilians attempted to help him to carry the young man's body into the ambulance, but IOF soldiers prevented of us and two of them put him on a stretcher. The driver then pushed the stretcher into the ambulance. I asked the driver about the victim's identity, and he told me that his name is Mohammed Waleed Mustafa Sa'ada, from Til village near Nablus."
PCHR strongly condemns these latest crimes, and:
1. Asserts that the policy of killing practiced by IOF against Palestinian civilians serves to increase tension in the area and threatens the lives of civilians.
2. Expresses utmost concerns for the safety of Palestinian civilians in light of the escalation in the use of force by IOF against them.
3. Calls upon the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to immediately and effectively intervene to provide protection for Palestinian civilians.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is an independent legal body based in Gaza City dedicated to protecting human rights, promoting the rule of law and upholding democratic principles in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It holds Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations and is an affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists, the Federation Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH), and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network. PCHR is a recipient of the 1996 French Republic Award for Human Rights.
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http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/10/02/huwarra-01-10/Huwarra checkpoint, just South of Nablus, is notorious for its volatile atmosphere and violent soldiers. Today was an example in point. Hundreds of women and men were forced into a large holding pen, with small children being crushed against the turnstiles separating the soldiers from the Palestinians waiting in line. Young and old suffered from the heat, perspiring and holding onto one another as not to faint or fall. Young infants and fragile groceries were carried on shoulders and heads so as to escape injury as the soldiers shouted and waved their weapons in the faces of people at the back of the line to make them step forward.
Ramadan is an exertion in itself, yet one which the pious believe that Allah will repay in plenty in the afterlife. What should be a humbling and beautiful display of piety and steadfastness is transformed and sullied by aggressive soldiers intent on, in the words of one commander, “torturing the people as much as possible until they break the fast.” To this soldier’s contentment and flying in the face of the spirit of this the ‘prohibitive month,’ Palestinians waiting in line were reduced to elbowing their way forward in line and arguing heatedly about who was to go first.
At one point, a well-known journalist, Jafar, from the nearby village of Salim, approached one of the higher-ranking soldiers in order to inquire whether he could take pictures of the chaos unfurling in front of him. Yet before he even had time to open his mouth, the soldier punched him in the face and beat his chest with his rifle. As the journalist backed away, the soldier followed and continued kicking his shins and thighs with his heavy boots. Bleeding from his mouth and limping badly due to pain in his right leg, the journalist demanded to file a report on the incident while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
The attack was witnessed by a human rights worker and reported to a senior officer who arrived at the scene shortly afterwards. After threatening to arrest the journalist, the officer finally ceded to his demands and documented all injuries incurred, promising to let the journalist know what consequences this completely unprovoked attack would have for the soldier in question.
Just as the line of people started moving more smoothly through the checkpoint, four young men requested that human rights workers go with them through the olive groves around Huwarra checkpoint. They wanted to make sure that three of their friends, who had been intercepted by Israeli military while trying to make their way home around the checkpoint, and thus avoid the several hours long wait, were not being beaten or otherwise maltreated. While walking across a field between Rujeeb and Awarta, two soldiers spotted the group and ordered them to approach. They were extremely aggressive, pushing two Palestinians and holding their guns to the head of one of the men. While assaulting the men physically in front of the human rights observers, the soldiers cursed at the Palestinians, and repeatedly addressed them as “dog.” The group was taken to Awarta checkpoint, where three others were already being made to wait since two hours back.
After half an hour there were in total 10 Palestinian men and 3 international human rights observers detained at Awarta checkpoint. At four o’clock they were told that they would not be allowed to leave until nine o’clock in the evening as “punishment for breaking the law.” When human rights workers inquired as to what punishment the law proscribed for the offense, the soldier responded, “I have the gun, I make the law, and I say they have to be punished for 5 hours.” When asked exactly what law the group was breaching, the soldiers answered that there was a law stipulating that everyone must go through the checkpoint. Upon being asked what they would do if they had to wait six to ten hours every day after having been at university just to go home and eat with their families, they offered nonsensical answers such as that they think that the young men should pass through the checkpoint only in the morning or bring food with them and break the fast on their own in Nablus.
At one point, a plainclothes settler from Britain approached the people being detained pretending to be a police officer and then a soldier, threatening them with arrest. The soldiers gave the settler a welcoming hug and then stood chatting, smoking and snacking on pomegranate seed right in front of the fasting Palestinians without any regard to their feelings. The settler stood menacingly over the seated detainees and joined the soldier in his questioning and taunting. In effect, the settler was allowed to ‘play soldier,’ with the lives of the Palestinians in detention.
After an hour, the group was allowed to return to Huwarra where their IDs were given back to them and they were allowed to go home. Before leaving, one of the men, a university student from Beita, told the human rights workers that their presence had prevented “physical punishment today” but emphasized that this is a daily occurrence and that he will continue to walk around the checkpoint. “Why not take the chance? I have to wait at the checkpoint anyway so I might as well wait outside in the fresh air,” he said and winked.
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