Extrajudicial Killings
Introduction
The high Palestinian death toll that characterizes the last several years of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no surprise when considering the permissive open fire regulations adopted by the Israeli army at the beginning of the second intifada. As the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq explains, "the regulations enable firing in situations where there is no clear and present danger to life, or even in situations where there is no life-threatening danger at all" (Al-Haq's Waiting for Justice, 2004).
Opinion and Analysis
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are being killed on a near-daily basis, though their deaths are not represented in the corporate media in proportion to the coverage given to Israeli deaths. EI's opinion and analysis takes a closer look at the double standards to which Palestinian and Israeli violence are held, the policies that dictate Israel's policy of killing, and the lack of accountability that allows the violence to continue.
Diaries
"At 9 pm, undercover Israeli Special Forces walked down the main street of Ramallah. They wore civilian clothes and Palestinian police caps. They carried M-16s as all the police force does. No one looked at them twice. ... They continued walking straight down Rukab Street until they were opposite the famous Rukab ice cream shop where families gather every evening in the summertime. And then they opened fire" (from "Killings in Ramallah by Eliza Ernshire, 4 September 2006). Read the diaries of on-the-ground witnesses and those affected by Israel's policy of violence.
International Law and Advocacy
The right of life held by every human being is expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as other primary human rights instruments. The trigger-happy nature of the Israeli military contradicts international law has been met with protest by concerned UN bodies, human rights organizations, and other legal observers. Palestinian human rights organizations also call for fact-finding missions to hold Israel accountable to international law.
Israeli Legal System
Israeli investigations into Palestinian deaths are only rarely opened, and when they are, it is usually a military body that is responsible for the "investigation" that inevitably fails to find fault in its own conduct. Furthermore, the Israeli legal system permits the routine perpetration of extrajudicial executions, in contravention to international law. Israeli human rights organizations have protested this legal framework that allows for the continued violation of Palestinians' right to life.
Chronology 2006
On 4:40 pm on Friday, 9 June 2006, an Israeli naval boat stationed off the coast of Beit Lahya fired seven successive artillery shells at civilians on the beach in the Waha area, north of Beit Lahya. The shells landed on the beach, which had been crowded with men, women and children at the time. Seven civilians from the same family (father, mother and five children) were killed. In a very bloody year in the occupied Palestinian territories, the Gaza Strip has particularly suffered from indiscriminate Israeli shelling, missile and gun fire.
Chronology 2005
Mid-June of 2006 witnessed an escalation of extrajudicial killings in the West Bank and Gaza. The removal of the illegal Israeli settler population from Gaza during the summer allowed the Israeli military to conduct air strikes on the densely populated Palestinian neighborhoods without much protest from the international community. Earlier in the year, Palestinian factions declared a unilateral cease-fire that was not reciprocated by Israel, resulting in another very deadly year of conflict on the Palestinian side.
Chronology 2004
The Israeli army's open fire regulations enjoyed a rare moment of world attention following the death of 13-year-old Iman al-Hams, who was shot at least 17 times as she walked into a "security area" while walking home from school. Israeli soldiers opened fire at her from a range of 100 meters despite having identified her as a young girl who was not described as a threat. As The Guardian's Chris McGreal reports, the company commander stated in a taped radio conversation, "This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed."
Chronology 2003
Israel's assassination policy continued in 2003, during which 113 Palestinians were killed in such operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq. Israel fired on Palestinian population centers with helicopter gunships, conducted undercover assassination operations, and other illegal measures that would become routine during the next few years of escalated conflict.
Chronology 2002
In July 2002, Hamas leader Saleh Shehadeh was assassinated when a one-ton bomb was dropped on his Gaza house. Killed with Shehadeh were his wife and 14 neighbors, including nine children. The "collateral damage" was predictable given the population density of the Gaza Strip and the magnitude of Israel's bomb. As EI co-founder Laurie King-Irani writes, "Even Israel's bankrollers and diplomatic guardians in Washington, DC had to admit that this act was wrong and "heavy-handed," in the words of President Bush."
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