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1444 people were killed in 2002 due to
the current Intifada . 1025 of these people were Palestinian
and 419 were Israeli. 199 were children (152 Palestinian,
47 Israeli). Most of the Palestinian fatalities occurred in
the Occupied Territories (97%). Israeli fatalities occurred
almost equally inside the Green Line (55%) and the Occupied
Territories (45%).
This is a sharp increase from the
death toll of last year which totaled 657 deaths (470
Palestinian, 187 Israeli). Of these casualties, 119 were
children (83 Palestinian, 36 Israeli).
Thus, the current al-Aqsa Intifada has
claimed 2380 lives since its outbreak on September 29,
2000. (279 Palestinians were killed from the outbreak
through the end of 2000.) 75% of all fatalities have been
Palestinian.
PHRMG regrets the death of each one of
these people, especially the large number of children. It
is with great alarm at the tremendous total of loss of life
that PHRMG calls for immediate action to resolve this
unrelenting crisis. International humanitarian law, such as
the Fourth Geneva Convention, must finally be adhered to in
order to prevent more innocent civilian deaths which have
become so prevalent. The United Nations must demand that
its resolutions be followed. Attacks on civilians from both
Palestinians and Israelis must be unanimously condemned and
stopped. It is the hope of PHRMG that 2003 will witness a
dramatic decrease in the loss of life to both Palestinians
and Israelis.
Other international fatalities at the
hands of the Israeli Army include the killing of Italian
journalist Raffaele Cirielo on March 12, 2002, who was shot
six times by a tank in Ramallah and the killing of German
doctor Harry Fischer in November 2000, by shelling from an
Israeli air force attack on Beit Jala.
Since the beginning of the current
Intifada on September 29, 2002, 1751 Palestinians have been
killed. 314 of these deaths are children. 958 others were
unarmed Palestinians. By all reasonable standards, this is
excessive force by a fully armed military against a civilian
population.
PHRMG
calls on the United States to not obstruct compliance with
the Fourth Geneva Convention that calls for the protection
of citizens in situations like the current
Palestinian-Israeli crisis. Many human rights violations
continue to occur and are endlessly documented in the
Occupied Territories--softening condemnation for the
perpetrator will not protect the innocent nor uphold the
law. |
