Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territory
Stop Collective Punishment and Unlawful Killings
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) strongly condemns all forms of collective punishment and unlawful killings of civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel. These actions are not just immoral and inhuman but also illegal under international human rights and humanitarian law and cannot be justified under any circumstances.
The EMHRN strongly condemns the killing of 60 Palestinian civilians by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Gaza Strip between 27 February and 5 March 2008. Attacks by the Israeli military, including ground incursions and air strikes, displayed an excessive and often indiscriminate use of force in crowded residential areas. Such measures display a reckless disregard for the lives of the occupied civilian population, and are grossly disproportionate to any military advantage achieved. This escalation of attacks on the Gaza Strip has served to further aggravate the dire situation in there following several months of measures of unlawful collective punishment in the form of Israel cutting the supply of electricity, fuel and humanitarian assistance to the population. That population is now subject to a humanitarian crisis which is unprecedented in the 40 years of Israeli occupation, with poverty and unemployment reaching disastrous levels, and essential health, sanitation and education services deteriorating further.
The EMHRN also strongly condemns the indiscriminate rocket attacks by Palestinian armed groups against civilian areas in Israel, which have killed one person in 2008.
It further strongly condemns the killing of 8 students in an attack on a Jewish religious school in Jerusalem on 6 March 2008.
The EMHRN reaffirms its absolute solidarity with the victims of all such attacks and their families.
The EMHRN calls upon the Quartet to act urgently in order to establish respect for human rights and international law, and the end of the occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, as the cornerstone upon which peace initiatives must be built.
14/03/2008
