NGOs: human rights help save human lives
Separate statements from B’Tselem and Adalah and a joint one posted by Yesh Din.
An Israeli soldier shoots and kills a Palestinian holding a knife after he stabbed another Israeli soldier, seen kneeling, during clashes in Hebron, West Bank, on October 16, 2015. The Palestinian man, wearing a yellow “press” vest and a T-shirt identifying him as journalist, stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier before being shot dead by troops, the latest in a month-long spate of attacks. Photo by Nasser Shiyoukhi / AP
Attacks on Israeli civilians by Palestinians
B’Tselem statement
October 13, 2015
Over the years, mainly during the second intifada, Palestinian organizations killed hundreds of Israeli civilians and wounded thousands in attacks that deliberately targeted civilians in Israel and in the occupied territories. B’Tselem strongly objects to attempts to justify these attacks through distorted interpretations of international law. Civilians must be shielded from all hostilities. Attacks against civilians undermine every moral, legal and human standard. The intentional targeting of civilians, under any circumstances whatsoever, is defined as a war crime.
In view of mounting violence, B’Tselem expresses its deep shock at the contempt for human life and strongly condemns it; while individuals are responsible for their own actions, the government bears responsibility for the reality of the Occupation.
The Occupation is now in its 49th year. Recent weeks have seen dozens of horrific attacks on Israelis by Palestinians. Israeli government officials have been calling explicitly to “shoot to kill”; hundreds of Palestinians have been injured and several killed in demonstrations. B’Tselem reiterates its condemnation of attacks against civilians. The government sees the current violence as an eruption of hatred that occurred in a vacuum, while rejecting any responsibility of its own for the situation. Yet recent events cannot be viewed in isolation from the ongoing oppression of 4 million people.
Posted by Yesh Din
October 14, 2015
Since the beginning of the current wave of violence, there has been a worrying trend to use firearms to kill Palestinians who have attacked Israelis or are suspected of such attacks. Several incidents have been documented and reported, raising concern that the chosen response to such persons is the harshest possible, with lethal or – at the very least – unnecessary consequences. In instances when Jews have been suspected of attacks, none of the suspects has been shot.
Politicians and senior police officers have not only failed to act to calm the public climate of incitement, but on the contrary have openly called for the extrajudicial killing of suspects. They have also urged civilians to carry weapons. For example, Jerusalem District Police Commander Moshe Edri was quoted as saying: “Anyone who stabs Jews or hurts innocent people is due to be killed.” Interior Security Minister Gilad Arden declared that “every terrorist should know that he will not survive the attack he is about to commit.” MK Yair Lapid stated that “you have to shoot to kill anyone who pulls out a knife or screwdriver.” Much of the media joined in and encouraged a similar approach. The bodies responsible for supervising police operations – the State Attorney’s Office and the Department for the Investigation of Police – remained silent in the face of these comments.
No-one disputes the serious nature of the events of recent days, nor the need to protect the public against stabbing and other attacks. However, it seems that too often, instead of acting in a manner consistent with the nature of each incident, police officers and soldiers are quick to shoot to kill. The political and public support for such actions endorses the killing Palestinians in the Territories and in Israel.
Rather than imposing collective punishment on Palestinians in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli government should act to end the reality of ongoing and daily oppression faced by some four million people who live without hope of any change in the situation, without any horizon for the end of occupation, and without prospects for a life of liberty and dignity.
The statement is signed by the following organizations:
Screen capture from the video documenting the shooting of Asraa Zidan Taupiq Abed, a woman from Nazareth said by her family to be suffering from mental problems, who was shot and injured in the Afula central bus station.
Adalah demands investigation into Israeli shooting of Palestinians
Statement by Adalah, posted by MEMO
October 16, 2015
Adalah – The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel sent an urgent letter yesterday to the Israeli Attorney General demanding an immediate investigation into police officers who killed and injured Palestinians in violation of their rules of engagement.
The letter was sent in the wake of a series of incidents during which police officers were filmed opening fire on Palestinians, pursuing “shoot-to-kill” policies or actions violating the rules of engagement.
The letter send by Adalah Attorney Muna Haddad cited three cases in which the police unjustifiably shot at Palestinians in violation of the rules of engagement: “On 4 October 2015, 19-year-old Fadi Alloun, suspected of stabbing an individual, was shot dead by police in Jerusalem. From the video, it appears that Mr Alloun posed no life-threatening danger to bystanders or to the police when he was fatally shot.”
“On 9 October 2015, the police shot at 30-year-old Israa Abad at the central bus station in Afula. The video indicates that the police, soldiers and security guards surrounded her upon suspicion that she was carrying a knife and shot at her, causing extensive injuries, as she stood motionless in front of them.”
“On 12 October 2015, the police shot and seriously injured 15-year-old boy in Pisgat Zeev after he attacked two people with a knife. After the shooting, police and medical personnel left him bleeding on the road without providing any medical treatment, while many people stood around and cursed the boy and called on the police to shoot him.”
Haddad also demanded the Attorney General open an investigation into the incidents, arguing that “the video evidence in these cases indicate that the police acted in a manner contrary to the order that fatal fire should be used only ‘as a last resort’, and only in circumstances where there is a sensible relationship between the degree of danger arising from the use of weapons, and the outcome they are trying to prevent.”
She also stressed that opening fire is a violation of the fourth clause of rules of engagement, which stipulates that lethal force will only be used by the police if “there is a real fear of immediate harm to life or physical integrity of a police officer or to others, and there is no other way to prevent the harm.”
Adalah to AG: Closure of East Jerusalem is collective punishment
Collective punishment undermines fundamental rights of residents to human dignity and freedom of movement, and violates international law
On 15 October 2015, Adalah sent an urgent letter to the Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein demanding that he order the authorities to refrain from imposing closures, curfews, security rings or any similar restrictions on the Palestinian Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Adalah’s request followed the political-security Cabinet’s decision, “to authorize the Israeli police to impose closures on points of friction and incitement in Jerusalem based on security considerations.”
Adalah Attorney Mysanna Morany wrote in the letter that such practices are illegal and involve serious violations of residents’ rights: “Closure, curfews, checkpoints or similar restrictions on the Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem constitute collective punishment, which is in clear violation of both Israeli law and international law…Such collective punishment undermines the fundamental rights of residents to human dignity and freedom of movement.” Adalah’s letter stressed that these practices may even endanger residents’ lives, “due to the problems expected in access to essential services such as health and rescue services.”
These steps violate international law, which prohibits collective punishment: “Israel’s unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem to the State of Israel and its application of Israeli law to this area did not change its legal status under international law. East Jerusalem remains occupied Palestinian territory. Therefore, the rules of international humanitarian and human rights law apply to Israel in this area.”
Permitting live fire and snipers against stone-throwers is illegal
Adalah press release
September 20, 2015
On 20 September 2015, Adalah sent another urgent letter to Attorney General Weinstein demanding that he issue clear instructions to the Israeli police and security forces not to use live ammunition or sniper fire against stone-throwers. According to media reports, the government is planning to approve a major change in firing regulations, which would allow officers to use deadly fire to disperse demonstrators or respond to people who threw stones.
Adalah Attorney Mohammed Bassam wrote in the letter that, “Changing the rules of engagement regarding live ammunition to disperse demonstrators will inevitably lead to fatal consequences and is illegal, including under international law. The requested changes in regulations violate constitutional rights, and such dangerous police instructions cannot be changed unless you change the law as well…these changes effectively allow the police and security forces to carry out criminal acts.”
Attorney Bassam wrote in the letter that the new regulations state that the use of live ammunition shall be subject to several conditions, such as the existence of a real and immediate danger to the life of a person; that less lethal means must be used before using live ammunition. “The starting point, as a rule, must be that the use of live ammunition is prohibited, except in extreme and exceptional circumstances that make it necessary to stop criminal acts through such fire in order to prevent real and immediate harm to life, and when there are no other means to prevent the danger.”
Attorney Bassam noted in the letter that the exception to the use of open live fire at demonstrators were explicitly described by the Or Commission, which investigated the October 2000 events that led to the killing of 13 Palestinian protestors in Israel. “The Commission unambiguously clarified that the use of live ammunition cannot serve as a means to disperse demonstrations, and such authority to police officers can lead to unnecessary use of lethal methods. The most specific recommendations the Commission made against officers in the October 2000 events were regarding the use of snipers and rules of engagement, which were done illegally and without the explicit authority. It is not by chance that the Commission recommended the opening of criminal investigations against those involved in the use of these legal methods against demonstrations.”