Human Rights

Saying he is “deeply disturbed” by recent Israeli military attacks which have left at least a dozen Palestinian civilians dead, the senior United Nations Middle East envoy today called for action to protect innocents on both sides of the conflict.

Voicing concern over Israel’s recent military attacks which have killed a number of Palestinian civilians, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged the country to abide by its obligations under international law.

The Israeli High Court of Justice issued a ruling allowing the forcible transfer of two Palestinians from their home town of Nablus to the Gaza Strip. Amnesty International said: ‘The unlawful forcible transfer of protected persons constitutes a war crime under both the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court’.

At around ten o’clock this morning, two Israeli military vehicles carrying about twelve soldiers arrived at the main gate of Birzeit University. They stayed for about twenty minutes, during which time the soldiers prevented students, faculty, and staff from entering or leaving the campus.

This afternoon, five Palestinians, including two children, were killed in another extra-judicial execution. In addition six other bystanders were wounded, of which two are in critical condition.