| NEW YORK - October 24 - As Israel's attack on Palestinian-controlled areas enters its second week, MADRE, an international women's human rights organization, appeals to the United Nations for international protection for Palestinian civilians. As outlined below, Palestinian families are facing an aggravated military assault by Israeli troops. At least 50 people, many of them civilians, have been killed in the past week. Hundreds have been wounded.
In the Deheishe Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, MADRE's sister organization, the Ibdaa Cultural Center, is facing severe crisis. Deheisheh is surrounded by Israeli tanks and sharp shooters. Nearly 20 people from the surrounding community have been killed - many of them in their homes or while trying to procure food. Ibdaa is situated at the edge of the camp, close to where Israeli troops have taken up positions. The Center has been evacuated for fear that children might be killed or injured by Israeli shelling or gunfire.
As a non-governmental organization with consultative status on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, MADRE is submitting the following appeal to the United Nations Security Council and to the Office of United Nations High Commisioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson. The appeal is part of a coordinated international effort calling for deployment of an international observer force to the region. This force should be charged with offering protection to Palestinian civilians under occupation and monitoring and reporting on Israeli and Palestinian compliance with human rights and international humanitarian law standards.
Palestine in Crisis: A MADRE Call for International Protection
CIVILIANS UNDER SIEGE
Between October 18-24, Israeli forces killed at least 50 Palestinians and injured more than 200 (Palestinian Red Crescent Society) in a bid to reoccupy major Palestinian cities in the West Bank. Israel claims to be "hunting down" Palestinain militants suspected of involvement in the October X assassination of Israeli Cabinet Minister Rehavam Zeevi. But Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations describe an assault against civilians in residential areas that is excessive and indiscriminate. People have been killed in their homes and while walking down the street, children have been killed in their classrooms, patients have been killed in hospitals. Al Haq reports that in many of these incidents there was no shooting from the Palestinian side prior to Israeli soldiers opening fire. There are hospital reports of injuries from internationally outlawed "exploding" bullets designed to maximize injury, as well as missiles and shelling from tanks and US-made Apache attack helicopters and F-16 fighter jets.
The Bethlehem area has been hardest hit. Israeli tanks have indiscriminately shelled the city, killing and injuring civilians and badly damaging homes, schools, hospitals, churches and mosques. On October 21, during Sunday mass, Israeli soldiers fired machine guns at the Church of Nativity. And on October 23, Israeli forces attacked Bethlehem University. Palestinian homes have been broken into and ransacked by soldiers, who have commandeered rooftops for use as shooting posts. Anyone walking outside risks being shot by Israeli snipers. Families have been locked into one room for days by soldiers. No food is coming into Bethlehem. Water and electricity supplies are sporadic. There is no way in or out of the city or any of the surrounding villages, which are all ringed by Israeli tanks.
SEEKING REFUGE FROM REFUGEE CAMPS
Aida and Al-Azza refugee camps in Bethlehem have been reoccupied by Israeli soldiers, who have opened fire inside the densely populated camps, killing four people, including a mother of eight. Several houses have been destroyed by shelling, as have most of the camp's water tanks, leaving residents without water for more than seven days. In the hours before Israeli soldiers entered the camps, many families fled to the relative safety of Deheisheh refugee camp, which is the only place in the area that soldiers have not yet entered. Deheisheh is home to MADRE's sister organization, the IBDAA Cultural Center, which has been evacuated for fear of children coming under attack by Israeli forces.
Deheisheh is now surrounded by Israeli tanks. Residents have piled sand bags at the camp's perimeters to try to protect themselves from shelling. Parents are moving their children to the ground floor of buildings, seeking some shelter from Israeli shelling. Neighbors are taking in one another's children as parents try desperately to ensure the survival of at least some of their children by spacing them across several houses. Many residents of Deheisheh fear the worst, recalling the 1982 massacre of more than 1,800 Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, committed during the command of Israel's current Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon.
THE DENIAL OF URGENT MEDICAL CARE
The Israeli army has refused passage to ambulances, including those carrying critical cases. On October 20, Israeli soldiers shot at a United Nations ambulance, injuring the driver and a doctor. The next day, Bethlehem's main hospital, Husseini Hospital, was shelled, killing a patient and seriously injuring a doctor. On October 24, Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Olivier Rafowicz acknowledged that ambulances were not allowed to enter the beseiged village of Beit Rima to evacuate the wounded, "because the operation was still in progress (Washington Post 10/24). Neither medical workers nor wounded people can reach area hospitals. Instead, the injured are being taken to ill-equipped local clinics. Hospitals have declared a state of emergency, with blood supplies running dangerously low. Israel's attack on medical personnel, treatment centers and the denial of urgent medical care are grave violations of numerous human rights conventions.
A BRIEF PROFILE OF SOME OF THE VICTIMS, OCTOBER 18-23, 2001
· Rania Khroufa, 23 years old, was shot dead inside a store while trying to dodge bullets being fired from a US-made Apache helicopter.
· Aysha Odeh, a mother of eight, was shot inside her home in Aida refugee camp.
· Miriam Subaih, 35 years old, was shot dead while inside her home.
· 10-year-old Riham Nabeel Ward was killed by live ammunition in her classroom. Riham died in her sisters' arms. Five other students and a teacher were also injured when Israeli soldiers opened fire on the Shahidayn Al Ibrahmiyyeh Basic Girls School in Jenin.
· Musa George Abu Eid was shot inside his home in Beit Jala.
· Atef Abayat, Issa Abayat and Jamal Abedallah were assassinated by a car bomb in Beit Sahour.
· 12-year-old Anas Mahir and 14-year-old Bilal Anayat were severely injured while playing outside when Israeli soldiers opened fire on them.
UNITED STATES CULPABILITY
The United States cannot continue to present itself as a "broker for peace" while supplying the weapons that are being used to kill civilians. Since 1949, the US has given Israel $91 billion in aid, making Israel by far the largest recipient of US aid worldwide. The US has vetoed 29 United Nations resolutions condemning Israel for violations of Palestinian human rights and international law. Over the past year, the Bush Administration has maintained the policy of strong support for Israel, increasing military aid, approving the sale of more Apache attack helicopters and vetoing a UN Security Council resolution calling for an unarmed observer force to the region.
The Administration has called on Israel to halt its "incursions" into Palestinian-controlled areas. But the US response to date is hardly sufficient opposition to a campaign that Israeli peace activists describe as "a wanton military attack on Palestinian towns… that endangers the future of both nations and the stability of the region" (joint statement of Israeli peace organizations, 10/22). Today, the US seeks to galvanize world opinion in the fight against "terrorism," a term that describes the use of politically motivated violence against civilians. If integrity is to be ascribed to the US battle against terrorism, then the US must oppose all arbitrary violence against civilians, including the current Israeli assault against Palestinians.
ADDRESSING THE ROOTS OF THE CONFLICT
Israeli Prime Minister Sharon escalated the assault on Palestinians in the wake of the assassination of Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Sharon's outrage would be more understandable if Israel had not assassinated the head of the PFLP six weeks earlier. Indeed, since September 2000, Israel has assassinated 68 Palestinian activists in an openly-declared policy. Clearly, this tactic, whether perpetrated by Israel or Palestinians, must be condemned and opposed as a grave violation of international law and due process. Moreover, Israel's current military campaign preceded the assassination of Mr. Zeevi. It began, in fact, on September 11, when world attention became riveted on the atrocities in New York and Washington. Since then, Israel has interpreted US policy as a green light to escalate its attack on Palestinians.
While Israel has defended its assassination policy in the name of national security, the policy, like all Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights, has failed to bring security to Israeli citizens. Indeed, only by addressing the roots of this conflict, namely, Israel's military occupation and its violation of Palestinians' basic rights, will it be possible to achieve security for all people in the region.
A CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION
Israel's military attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including homes, schools, hospitals and places of worship, as well as the denial of medical care and the arbitrary imposition of curfews and closures, are all violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention. State Parties to the Convention are obligated under Article 1 to take action to enforce the Convention.
We therefore call upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the International Community to urge the United Nations Security Council to assign an international observer force to the region. This force should be mandated to protect the civilian population at large, and particularly, refugees who constitute the most vulnerable sector of Palestinian society. Observers should also monitor and report on Israeli and Palestinian compliance with human rights and international humanitarian law standards.
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