----- Original Message ----- From: solidarity_palestine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, January 01, 2001 8:18 PM Subject: [solidarity_palestine] LAW Society assassinations report. From: "Lawsociety" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Israeli army continues violations in the Palestinian Territories Fatah leader killed in West Bank 1 January 2001 Forty-nine-year-old Thabet Thabet, Secretary General of Tulkarem's Fatah branch was killed in the West Bank city yesterday morning. Palestinian eyewitnesses reported that at 9:30 am, an Israeli military unit hiding in a truck opened fire at Thabet as he reversed his car, shooting him at least six times. He died in Tulkarem hospital at 10:30 am. Eyewitnesses also reported that a nearby Israeli-registered car sped off after the attack and a military helicopter was hovering overhead. According to LAW's documentation, Thabet is the eighth Palestinian victim of targeted assassination. The others were Hussein Abyat (37), Jamal Abdul Razik (30), Ibraheem Bani Auda (34), Anwar Hamran (28), Yusif Sawi (28), Abas Awiwi (26 ) and Hani Abu Bukra (32). According to some commentators, these killings may well amount to extra judicial executions, which is strictly prohibited under international law. Further, some commentators have argued that the onus is on the Israeli authorities to apprehend those they deem a risk to their security, and not to resort to a policy that has as its rationale, intentional physical elimination. At 5:00 am yesterday an Israeli military unit opened fire at a group of Palestinian workers after the latter protested being searched in a humiliating way. The injured were: Sa'id Al Harazin, 23, shot in the left knee, Mohammad Nasir, 23, shot in the left knee, Yasir Al Rantisi, 21, shot in the stomach, Salman Al Aruki, 37, shot in the head. Ambulance driver Ibraheem Shabat, 32, was also injured while trying to rescue the wounded. He was shot in the left leg. Karar Shihada, 20, was shot in the head when a group of Israeli soldiers opened fire at Palestinian civilians east of Al Braij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Rafah also in the Gaza Strip, was bombed twice yesterday; first when Israeli forces fired five artillery shells that hit barricades, causing no damage or injury, then when they shelled Al Salam residential area and wounded four Palestinians. LAW reiterates its call in the strongest terms to the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to act on their article 1 and inter-state obligation and enforce the provisions of the convention. LAW notes the current negotiations, and urges states not to pressure the PLO into accepting an agreement that may hamper the realization of the rights of the Palestinian people as prescribed in public international law. Any agreement must safeguard existing rights. LAW calls on Israel to implement forthwith U.N. resolution 242, 338 and 194.
