1)   Killing of Palestinians Became a Routine

The second year of the Uprising was characterized by the high number of Palestinian and Israeli fatalities.  This increased number of victims came as a result of the escalating circle of killing and violence between the two parties.

Following is a table that shows a comparison of Palestinian fatalities between the first and second year of the Uprising:

(figures are correct until 25.9.2002)

* The PHRMG keeps a daily record of all fatalities. To look at detailed lists of Palestinians who were killed during the Uprising, visit our Web site at: www.phrmg.org  

The Israeli Occupation Forces continued to target Palestinian resistance men, old people, women and children. Hundreds of Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers by direct gunfire in circumstances where there was no real danger to the soldiers. The Israeli military machine of tanks, heavy machine-guns and even war planes, continued to bombard Palestinian civilian residential areas, killing dozens of innocent civilians. Dozens of Palestinians, especially elderly ill people, passed away because of the Israeli military checkpoints scattered all over the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In spite of criticism from many humanitarian and legal organizations against the killing of civilian Palestinians, the Israeli government paid no attention and resumed its aggressive policy.

Since the early days of the Uprising the Israeli Occupation Forces have committed, and is still committing, serious violations against civilians in the Occupied Territories. This represents a clear breach to the basic right for every person to live safely.

The Israeli Army has used all kinds of weapons and ammunition against Palestinian civilians that are normally used by armed forces in battlefields, such as bombardment by military helicopters, American made Apache and Copra F-16 warplanes, tanks and heavy machine-guns. This resulted in the loss of hundreds of Palestinian lives and massive destruction of property. There are numerous examples on this, such as the results from the actions of the Israeli Army in Jenin Refugee Camp and the Old City of Nablus, Rafah, Gaza, Tulkarem and Hebron, as we shall see later.

1/1: Massacres, Not Just One Massacre 

If we follow the tragedies that the Palestinians faced in the second year of the Uprising, and the considerable degree of suppression used by the Israeli Army to terminate the Palestinian resistance, we realize that a series of massacres have been carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces in the Occupied Territories.

Following is a table that shows the massacres (group killings) that occurred during the second year of the Uprising:

(Data correct until 28/9/2002)

1/2: Human Tragedies in Jenin Camp and the Old City of Nablus

A- Jenin Refugee Camp

The Palestinian refugees in Jenin Camp didn’t know that more killing and suffering was waiting for them, especially after they were forced to leave their homes inside the Green Line (inside Israel) in 1948, and many of them were deported yet again in June 1967. On April 3^rd 2002, after the Israeli Army started what they called the “Defensive Shield” military operation, the Israeli aggression against Jenin Camp reached its highest after the Israeli government sent its tanks, soldier carriers, heavy artillery and helicopter fighters to shell the camp.

The civilian homes, which the inhabitants believed would be safe, were the targets of the Israeli bombardment. The Israeli Army intended to terminate all forms of resistance inside the camp, and so dozens of houses were razed off, and dozens others where partially destroyed. On 10^th April 2002 the news agencies mentioned that Israeli F-16 fighters (American-made) were used in the battle in Jenin Camp. The Palestinian armed resistance men showed extreme courage in defending their camp, while the Israeli bulldozers destroyed the homes whose inhabitants tramped about in fear and despair. On 9^th April 2002 the Palestinian fighters in the camp killed 13 Israeli reserve soldiers in a trap inside the camp, after that the Israeli campaign on the camp became very vigorous.

In a report published by the Israeli Army in Ha’aretz newspaper on 20/4/2002, it was mentioned that the Israeli military helicopters fired 300 missiles at Jenin camp during the fighting there. On 19/4/2002, the military correspondent of Yediot Aharonot newspaper, Ofer Shelah, interviewed one of the reserve soldiers who fought in Jenin camp, who said they received orders to open fire at every window and surround every house in the camp. The soldier added, “We were ordered to crush them (the Palestinians) and shoot at every thing that moves in the camp.” The soldier ended his statement by saying, “It is true that we faced brutal resistance, but on the other hand, we annihilated a whole town.”

As for the number of Palestinian fatalities who were killed in Jenin Camp, it is obvious they were not 500, as one of the PA officials announced, and there were not “around forty” as Benyamin Ben Eliazer, the Israeli Defense Minister announced. According to a report issued by UNRWA, they said the number of Palestinian victims was 52 martyrs, and this is the number of victims that the inhabitants of the camp could identify and bury later. There were another 50 people who were considered lost or missing, as mentioned by Abdel-Razek Abu-el-Haija, member of the Public Committee in the camp on 26/4/2002.

As for the destruction that occurred in the camp, the Israeli bulldozers completely destroyed 150 housing units, and partially destroyed another 80 units. Moreover, the Israeli forces have burnt another 60 units that remained unsuitable for human habitation. Bombardment by the Israeli helicopters and heavy machine-guns has left 600 housing units partially damaged, while 1300 Palestinian families were left homeless.

The International Red Cross Society said the Israeli Army didn’t respond to their demand to remove all bombs and mines that remained in Jenin Camp. The Head of the Red Cross delegation and Chairman of UNRWA asked Israel to help in rescuing the civilians who were caught under the piles of destruction. Peter Hansen, the Head of UNRWA, said the Israeli authorities didn’t allow the International Rescue Teams access to enter the camp and remove mines and bombs that were planted there. A Palestinian boy called Murad Abdel-Hakim al-Ghoul (16) was killed by a bomb that exploded on 17/5/2002, and 14 other Palestinians, most of them children, were wounded in similar explosions.

B- The Old City of Nablus

A visitor to the Old City of Nablus these days will think a fierce war has taken place in this old site. Destruction is seen in every street and corner in the Old City as if it was deserted. Most of the shops and stores were destroyed and/or robbed. Public squares have been turned upside down, and the infra-structure doesn’t exist any more. Even holy places, such as al-Khadra Mosque, have been destroyed. All these actions were carried out by the Israeli Army in April 2002 during which 75 Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded.

The military operations in the Old City of Nablus, and in Balata Refugee Camp were very brutal and painful to the people there. It all started on 3/4/2002 when the Israeli Army began its campaign to terminate the Palestinian Resistance in the West Bank, in an operation called “Defensive Shield.”  Dozens of military tanks and helicopter fighters (American made F-16) bombarded the Old City of Nablus, at the same time they were shelling Jenin Camp. Many Palestinian homes were totally destroyed, especially in al-Yasmina neighborhood in the Old City of Nablus, where the Israeli Occupation Forces called people out of their homes, then bombed the houses and destroyed them completely. Palestinians living in the Old City, and the refugee camps around Nablus (Balata, ‘Askar, and al-Ein) suffered –and still suffer- disastrous conditions as a result of the destruction, siege and curfew imposed on these areas.

The city of Nablus and its surrounding camps have experienced in the second year of the Uprising a series of penetration operations by the Israeli Army, during which the Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinians and destroyed many houses. More over, a firm curfew is imposed for days, sometimes weeks, on the camps and the villages around Nablus.

On 20/2/2002 the Israeli Army killed seven members of the Palestinian National Forces while they were attending a Palestinian checkpoint to the south of the city. An eyewitness, Mahmoud Batta (21), said the Israeli soldiers took a position overlooking the Palestinian checkpoint, and began shooting the Palestinian soldiers one by one in cold blood. On 6/11/2002 the Israeli Army killed three Palestinians from Deir-Istia village, also in cold blood, after they were wounded and captured by the Israeli soldiers. On 7/11/2001, the Head of the Red Cross Society in the Occupied Territories commented on the incident by saying, “It was a brutal act. Such practices should never happen, especially with wounded people, or individuals who need medical care and ambulances.”

1:3 Killing of Palestinian Children

During the second year of the Uprising, the Israeli Army and Jewish settlers killed 160 Palestinian children under the age of 18 –until 25/9/2002. Despite the continuous calls from international and local human rights organizations, the Israeli government continued the systematic killing of Palestinian children. For example, the Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’tselem) on 28/11/2001 has asked the Israeli government to investigate the killing of 147 Palestinian children; 79 in Gaza Strip and 68 in the West Bank. The Israeli center demanded that the Israeli military police open immediate investigation in the circumstances under which the Palestinian children were killed by the Israeli soldiers who violated the orders and regulations of opening fire.

At the time when some TV and satellite stations were celebrating the 12^th anniversary of the signing of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, other TV stations wee busy reporting the killing of five Palestinian children in Khan-Yunis, Gaza Strip, on 22/11/2001. A mine planted by the Israeli Army on a sandy road exploded at the time when those children were coming back from school, killing all five of them. They were:

two brothers; Mohammed and Akram Nai’m and Abdel-Karim al Astal (12 and 6), and two brothers; Anees and Omar Idrees al-Astal (10 and 13) and Mohammed Sultan al-Astal (12).

Eyewitnesses said an Israeli tank penetrated into that area earlier on 22/11/2001, and the Israeli soldiers planted a land mine in that site. Idrees al-Astal, father of the two victims Anees and Omar, said he only could recognize the remaining parts of the two bodies of his children in the hospital. He managed to recognize them by identifying the receipt of school fees they paid that day.

Examples of the Israeli Army killing Palestinian children are numerous. On 18/10/2001, the Palestinian child Riham Nabeel al-Ward (11) was killed by gun-fire from Israeli soldiers while she was walking in her school yard, al-Ibrahimiyeen Girls School in Jenin. After she was shot, Riham died in the hands of her older sister Abeer, in a scene similar to the killing of child Mohammed al-Durra in the beginning of the Uprising on 31/9/2000; the same weapon and the same killers.