Report on Extra-Judicial
killings Committed by the Israeli Occupation Forces 29 September,
2003 – 30 April, 2004
Facts:
IOF have committed 177 extra-judicial killings, with an average of
one killing per week.
174 Palestinians have been killed and 787 others have been injured.
135 of the victims have been civilian bystanders 45 of the victims
have been children, including a 2-month old baby.
Introduction
During the current Palestinian Intifada, Israeli occupation forces (IOF)
have adopted a policy of extra-judicial killings against
Palestinians allegedly involved in resistance activities against
Israeli targets. International complicity concerning this issue has
only served to encourage Israeli authorities to escalate their
policy of extra-judicial killings; and in so doing, commit further
grave breaches of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection
of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949 (Fourth Geneva
Convention) against Palestinian civilians.
IOF have carried out assassination attempts against activists of
various Palestinian organizations, whom they accuse of carrying out
or planning attacks against IOF in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory (OPT) and/ or inside Israel. IOF have begun to target the
political leaders of Palestinian organizations. All assassination
attempts against Palestinians have been carried out in a summary
fashion; with neither evidence being offered to link the targeted
individual to attacks committed by Palestinian resistance fighters,
nor efforts made to provide judicial review of the means and methods
employed and the process by which individuals are chosen to be
targeted for assassination.
Since the beginning of the current Intifada, PCHR has made efforts
to accurately document extra-judicial killings committed by IOF in
the OPT, highlight these actions, draw attention to their dangerous
effects and urge the international community to intervene and
pressure IOF to stop such actions. For the purpose of documentation,
PCHR depends on an updated accurate database that details all
assassination attempts carried out by IOF during the current
Intifada.
As part of its activities, PCHR has published a series of reports
that document extra-judicial killings committed by IOF against
Palestinians in the OPT during the al- Aqsa Intifada. This report
provides statistics on the amount and type of Palestinians killed or
wounded, explains the illegality of such attacks, highlights the
Israeli government's adoption of the policy of extra-judicial
killing and details the methods employed by IOF in carrying out
assassination attempts. It is also annexed with a table of
assassination attempts during the period under study.
This report is the seventh in a series of reports published by PCHR
on assassinations committed by IOF between 29 September 2000 and 30
April 2004.1 The period under study witnessed an escalation in the
assassination attempts carried out by IOF in the OPT. During the
period under study, IOF assassinated Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the
founder and spiritual leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
They also later assassinated Dr. 'Abdul 'Aziz al-Rantissi, a senior
leader of the movement. These attacks came after the Israeli
government had declared that it would target political and military
leaders of Hamas and that none of them would be immune. IOF targeted
most leaders of the Hamas in the past year. Most targeted leaders,
including Sheikh Yassin and Dr. al-Rantissi, survived these
attempts, but Isma’il Abu Shanab, a senior leader of the movement,
was killed in one of these attempts on 21 August 2003.
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