More
than 2,300 Palestinians killed and more than 17,000 injured, according
to annual report by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs
When
your land has been occupied by a foreign army as long as your children
have been alive, and this occupying army regularly brutalises and
humiliates the friends and relatives of these children, stopping kids
from confronting the invaders is naturally going to be very difficult.
Convincing the Israeli adults in control of this weaponry in civilian
areas that they should not be using it to kill children who are merely
stone throwers
should not be difficult. The statistics sadly tell a different story,
of a deep-rooted Israeli contempt for the lives of Palestinian children
that should inspire Western outrage. Photo by Musa Al-Shaer.
When Israelis are killed and injured by a Palestinian attack, the TV news
networks are quick to cut to “breaking news” reports. Harrowing footage
from the scene and interviews with outraged Israeli government
officials are swiftly broadcast, and harsh statements are quickly issued
by government and UNofficials to appear in tomorrow’s front page newspaper stories.
Meanwhile, the steady killing of Palestinian civilians, many of them children, by the Israeli occupation army goes largely
unnoticed and unreported.
By
consistently emphasizing the suffering of Israelis, and downplaying or
ignoring the killings of Palestinians, the media convey a false
impression that
Palestinian “attacks” are the principal feature of the conflict.
Statistics
unambiguously clarify that this impression is the exact opposite of the
reality on the ground. A total of 1,926 Palestinians have been killed
from 29 September 2000 up to 8 December 2002, and more than 21,000
injured. 669 of these killings occurred since Israel’s total
reoccupation of the West Bank began last March, according to the
Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
EI looked at the one-month period from 31 October to 2 December 2002 in detail.
According
to our research, forty-three Palestinian civilians were killed during
this period and dozens wounded or permanently maimed.
Fifteen
of those killed and several dozen of those injured were children. A
summary of the circumstances of the killing and injury of this group
appears below.
Details and circumstances of Palestinian children killed by Israeli occupation forces, 31 October to 2 December 2002
December 2:
Jenin:
Mutaz Odeh, 18, died
of a gunshot wound to the heart when Israeli occupation forces opened
fire on a group of civilians who were stoning Israeli tanks and armored
vehicles. 21 others injured, two seriously. (PCHR,LAW)
November 30:
Gaza
City: Hatem al-Ajla, 16, shot dead by Israeli occupation forces, with
gunshot wounds to the back, according to hospital sources. (AFP)
November 28:
Hebron:
Abbas al-Atrash, 3, was in his house, when he was killed by bullets
fired by Israeli occupation forces. Doctors said that he was hit by a
bullet in the abdomen as he stood at the window. The occupation army
claimed the toddler was killed by shrapnel from an explosive device
thrown at its forces. No occupation forces were injured by the alleged
bomb. (Agencies)
November 25:
Nablus:
Jihad Al-Faqih, 8, was shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces
with a bullet to the heart. The killing occurred as many Palestinians
decided to ignore the permanent curfew imposed on the city and go to
school or work. Some unarmed Palestinians confronted the occupation
forces who were in tanks and armored vehicles, and some people stoned
them. The occupation forces opened fire on the civilians, killing Jihad,
who was not among the stone throwers. 13 others were injured by the
soldiers, including 7 other children and two women. (LAW, Agencies)
November 22:
Jenin:
Muhammad Bilalweh, 12, was shot dead by Israeli occupation forces with a
bullet to the left eye. The occupation forces opened fire on a group of
children who began stoning them after an Israeli armored bulldozer had
demolished a building that was home to six families. Earlier the army
had entered the camp in force, firing indiscriminately. Three other
children suffered serious injuries from gunshots and shrapnel. (LAW, Agencies)
November 19:
Tulkarm:
Ehab Alam al-Zalqa, 16, was shot and killed by a member of an Israeli
death squad disguised as a Palestinian. The killing occurred when the
death squad, who had been spotted by civilians, was
stoned. After killing Alam, the death squad caught and executed on the
spot the person they were hunting after confirming his identity. Two
other civilians were killed by the death squad, and ten others,
including five children injured. (PCHR,LAW)
November 20:
Tulkarm:
Amr al-Qudsi, 14, was shot dead by an Israeli soldier with a gunshot to
the back. Following an earlier incident, in which an Israeli death
squad killed four people in the town, a group of children gathered and
stoned an Israeli jeep. The jeep stopped, a soldier got out, took aim at
Amr, and killed him. (LAW, Agencies)
November 16:
Jenin
Refugee Camp: Ibrahim al-Sadi, 17, was shot and killed
by Israeli occupation forces. Israel surrounded a number of houses in
the center of the refugee camp, including the house of Sheikh Bassam
Ragheb al-Sa’di, wanted by Israel for alleged activities in Islamic
Jihad. Israeli soldiers noticed al-Sadi’s son Ibrahim, 17, passing near a
house with a gun in his hands. Immediately, they fired at him without
warning. He was killed by a live bullet in the chest. According to
eyewitnesses, the son passed by the area accidentally and he did not
fire at the Israeli soldiers, rather he was trying to get away from
them. Ibrahim’s brother, Abdulkarim, had been killed by Israeli
occupation forces on September 5. (PCHR)
November 15:
Nablus:
Imran al-Shila, 15, was killed by a bullet to the chest by Israeli
occupation forces who opened fire on a group of children who threw
stones at them in the Old City. (LAW)
November 14:
Nablus:
Jalal Awijan, 17, was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest, when
Israeli occupation forces in tanks and armored vehicles opened fire on a
group of school children. (LAW)
November 13:
Rafah,
Gaza: Hamed Asad Hassan al-Masri, 2, was killed by a live bullet to the
chest. That evening, Israeli occupation forces began shelling Block J
in Rafah refugee camp, forcing the little boy’s family to flee their
home.
As they left the house, Hamed was hit by a bullet fired by the
occupation firces. His mother, Asmaa, 31, was critically injured by live
ammunition and shrapnel to the abdomen, pelvis and limbs. (PCHR)
November 11:
Rafah,
Gaza: Nafez Mishal, 2, was shot by Israeli occupation forces who opened
fire on civilian homes in the Tel al Sultan neighborhood of the refugee
camp. He died two hours later of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Nafez
had been sitting on his father’s lap playing with a balloon, when the
balloon escaped. The toddler got up to run after it and was then cut
down by a volley of bullets from an occupation army watch tower. The
occupation army claimed it was “returning fire,” although all witnesses
said that the soldiers had, as they often do, opened fire
without provocation. Two other children, aged 9 and 14 were injured in
the same incident (The Independent, PCHR)
November 11:
Rafah,
Gaza: Muhammad Rifat Abu al-Naja, 9, died of wounds he sustained the
previous month. Abu al-Naja was seriously wounded when Israeli forces at
the Egyptian border, south of Rafah, shelled Palestinian houses in
Block O in Rafah refugee camp on 17 October 2002. Six Palestinian
civilians, including 3 children and 2 women, were killed in that
incident, and more than 40 others, including Abu al-Naja, were wounded. (PCHR)
November 5:
Rafah,
Gaza: Adham Ibrahim Hamdan,
16, shot by live bullets in the head and Eyad Nafez Abu Taha, 17, shot
by a live bullet in the head. The two boys were killed by Israeli
occupation forces who had invaded Block L of Rafah refugee camp,
demolished three houses, and fired indiscriminately at civilians. 12
Palestinian civilians, including 4 children under the age of 18, were
wounded. (PCHR)
Sources:
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights — Gaza (PCHR)
LAW — The
Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the Environment
Wire services: Agence France Presse, |
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