- 5 jan 2010
Jihad 'Abd a-Rahim Ahmad a-Sameiri 22
Fighter Killed, Four Wounded, In An Israeli Airstrike Targeting Khan Younis
The fighters are members of the Salah Ed Deen Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees.
The slain fighter and the four wounded were moved to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
The Brigades vowed retaliation, and said that it cannot stand idle while Israel is ongoing with its violations against the Palestinian people.
The fighter was identified as Jihad Al Sameery, 22.
Abu Mojahid, spokesperson of the Salah Ed Deen Brigades, said that the Israeli invasions, assassinations and attacks prove that “the Zionist enemy is seeking escalation”.
Abu Mojahid called on the fighters to retaliate and remain ready to defend the people and to counter the Israeli aggression.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57546
6 jan 2010
Mahmoud Ahmad Difallah 'Abd al-Ghafur 21
injured on 05.01.2010 in al-Qarara, Rafah district, by a missile, and died on 06.01.2010 28 apr 2012, 22:42 , Respect -
Maria 7 jan 2010
Osama Omar 23
Palestinian resistance activist died of wounds he had sustained on the preceding day, when IOF attacked a number of resistance activists
28 apr 2012, 22:43 , Respect -
Maria 8 jan 2010
Uday Muhammad Sabah abu-Hish, 15
of Rafah, Gaza, killed during an IDF airstrike on a supply tunnel near the Gaza Strip-Egyptian border.
3 Palestinian civilians, including one child, were killed
Israeli Army carries out series Of Airstrikes In Gaza
The Israeli Air Force bombarded, on Friday at dawn, resistance strongholds in a number of areas across the besieged and impoverished Gaza Strip; damage was reported, no injuries.
The first air strike targeted resistance fighters in Al Zeitoun neighborhood, in Gaza City.
The army also bombarded two locations in Al Qarara area, near Khan Younis in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. One of the missiles hit an area close to a local school causing excessive damage.
Furthermore, the Israeli air force targeted resistance strongholds in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, and in Al Nusseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza.
The air force also fired at least one missile at Al Jaradat area, between Rafah and Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. At least one missile was fired at an area close to the border line in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
The army also carried four air strikes targeting an area in central Gaza.
On Thursday evening, the Israeli army carried a limited invasion into Al Shuhada Graveyard area, east of Jabalia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Several military vehicles, tanks and bulldozers invaded the area while the army opened fire at local homes.
The invasion was carried out hours after the army attempted to assassinate fighters of the Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, in Jabalia.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57566
'Udai Muhammad Sabah Abu hesh 28 apr 2012, 22:43 , Respect -
Maria 8 jan 2010
Mubarak Abu Shallouf
Nasser Jum'aa 'Eid a-Tarabeen 21
Mubarak Ruba'a Rabi' Abu Shaluf 27
Palestinian Killed, Six Wounded In An Israeli Air Strike In Gaza
Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported on Friday at dawn that one Palestinian was killed and six were wounded in an Israeli air strike targeting the “Tunnels Area” in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
Search still ongoing for residents believed to be buried under the rubble.
The shelling took place after a series of air strikes targeting several areas in the Gaza Strip. Israel says its shelling came in retaliation to homemade shells fired into adjacent Israeli areas.
The slain resident was identified as Mubarak Abu Shallouf, from Rafah. Six other residents were wounded and moved to local hospitals.
The Israeli army carried a series of attacks targeting the central, northern and southern parts of Strip.
Dr. Moawiya Hassanen of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that medics and rescue teams are still trying to locate the residents who were in a tunnel when the army targeted it.
The Qatar-based Al Jazeera reported that the army carried a number of air strikes targeted Rafah, Khan Younis, and the southern part of the Gaza Strip. The army also bombarded an empty home in Sheikh Ejleen area, west of Gaza city.
An Israeli army spokesperson reported that the army bombarded a building used for manufacturing homemade shells, and three areas used for firing homemade shells.
On Thursday evening, Israeli soldiers fired a number of shells at resistance fighters in Gaza city.
Palestinian fighters fired a number of shells and mortars into adjacent Israeli areas.
On Thursday morning, Israeli soldiers carried a limited ground offensive in an area east of Jabalia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Furthermore, the army dropped leaflets demanding the residents not to aid the resistance. The leaflets included phoned numbers and emails for the residents to discretely contact the army to provide them with information on the movement of the resistance fighters.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57569 28 apr 2012, 22:43 , Respect -
Maria 10 jan 2010
Huzaifah Muhammad Subhi al-Hams 18
Hassan Ibrahim 'Abd a-Rahim al-Qatrawi 21
'Awad Muhammad 'Awad Abu Nseir 26
Two Palestinians Killed As Army Bombards Gaza
Palestinian medical sources reported on Sunday that two Palestinians were killed after the Israeli army bombarded an area in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli tanks, stationed close to northwestern area of the Gaza Strip opened fire at the two residents and fired rounds of live ammunition into the area.
The two were near the evacuated former settlement of Doughit.
Palestinian medics were not able to retrieve the bodies of the two residents due to continued Israeli fire, while local sources reported that the two are day laborers.
Last week, the Israeli army killed three workers while trying to collect scrap metal near the northern borders of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army claimed that the shells targeted fighters trying to fire homemade shells into adjacent Israeli areas.
Meanwhile, an Israeli military spokesperson claimed that the army had nothing with the shelling.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57591 28 apr 2012, 22:43 , Respect -
Maria 11 Jan 2010
Thaer Nabil Khader
An Israeli aircraft fired a missile at 3 Palestinian resistance activists in Wadi al-Salqa village in the central Gaza Strip, killing them
28 apr 2012, 22:43 , Respect -
Maria 11 jan 2010
Nablus executions: Shoot first, ask questions later
Anan Subih’s children in their damaged home
The brutal killing of three Palestinian men by Israeli military forces in Nablus last week on 26 December 2009 sparked grief and outrage across Palestine and brought the northern West Bank city to a standstill as thousands mourned the lethal attack. However, their voices are drowned out yet again by a well-played hand of Israel’s propaganda machine and repeated by the mainstream media.
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of Israel’s winter invasion of Gaza, a force of several hundred Israeli soldiers entered Nablus and invaded the homes of Ghassan Abu Sharkh, Raed Sarakji and Anan Subih where they were executed in cold blood in front of family members. A statement by the Israeli military alleged that an operation was carried out to arrest the men suspected of involvement in the killing of an Israeli settler, Meir Avshalom Hai, two days earlier.
The portraits of the targeted men — armed perpetrators of another injustice — painted by the military’s statements have exploded throughout Israel’s media and beyond, subsequently footnoted by Israeli police’s forensic results, reporting a match between a rifle seized in the invasions and the weapon used to kill Hai, a rabbi and resident of the Shave Shomron settlement.
This postmortem revelation, which has not been verified by independent sources, raises alarming questions of Israel’s “shoot first, ask questions later” policy. It also echoes the disparities between the statements of the Israeli military, repeated by the Israeli and international media, and the testimony of the victims’ family members, which were collected by a handful of local media agencies and human rights organizations.
Ghassan Abu Sharkh’s wife, shot in the foot.
Ghassan Abu Sharkh’s brother Diyaa Abu Sharkh said Israeli military forces stormed their home in Nablus’ Old City at 12am. Sharkh’s wife and four children were forced outside and the entire family was handcuffed, whereupon Sharkh’s eldest son was kicked and beaten by soldiers with the butts of their guns. As Sharkh descended, unarmed, from the stairs inside in hopes of surrendering, soldiers immediately opened fire on him, riddling his body with bullet holes. Outside, Israeli soldiers continued to brutally beat Sharkh’s son while their counterparts prevented Red Crescent ambulances from entering the area.
According to Tahani Jaara, the wife of Raed Sarakji, the Israeli military then forced their way in to their home in the Old City at 2:30am, where Sarakji was shot in the head immediately. The force of the close-range fire was so great that it caused his head to split in two. As his pregnant wife ran forward to catch his falling body she was shot in the foot. Only at this point did soldiers confirm the identity of the man just executed, ordering his wife to hand over both their IDs and mobile phones. Soldiers opened fire once again on his now lifeless body, then ordered his wife to summon their children to behold the grisly remains.
Half an hour later, Israeli soldiers entered Nablus’ Ras al-Ain neighborhood. Quickly occupying several homes surrounding the house of Anan Subih, soldiers began firing anti-tank missiles at the upper levels of the building, blowing a giant cavity between the third and fourth stories. Farid Subih, brother of Anan, reported that soldiers entered the house on foot, firing live ammunition and destroying property as they forced family members out in to the street. Subih was found hiding in the rubble created by rocket blasts, where he was immediately executed.
A spokesman for the Israeli army claimed that after the men “refused to leave their houses and surrender, we entered. They continued hiding and endangering our soldiers, which made the shooting imperative.” How these three men sleeping at home with their families endangered an overwhelming armed military force is unclear. As is the justification for brutally excessive force employed lethally against the targeted men and wantonly upon their family members, including children.
The Israeli military’s trigger-happy strategies for the “liquidation” of those deemed a security risk have resulted in the tragic loss of hundreds of civilian lives in so-called “targeted killing” operations, as a result of both mistaken identity and the excessive use of force employed, such as the launching of missiles from aircrafts, tanks or missile launchers at densely populated areas. Although this did not occur during the 26 December Nablus incursion, it is particularly disturbing that the Israeli military issued a post-execution clarification of at least one of the slain men’s identities.
Israel’s long history of such extrajudicial killing operations carried out in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) reached its height during and after the second Palestinian intifada. Israel’s assassination policy resulted in the deaths of 754 persons from December 2000 to June 2008 in 348 operations. As reported by the Palestine Centre for Human Rights in July 2008, 521 of those killed were targeted and 233 were bystanders.
Categorical execution without trial constitutes state terrorism, whatever statements military spokespeople may peddle regarding Israel’s exhaustive quest for “security” and the means necessary to enforce it. Whether or not Israeli intelligence’s suspicions of Sarakji, Sharkh and Subih were well-founded, the cold-blooded execution of these and hundreds of other victims are a grave departure from a human’s right to due process. Israel’s tired accusations of terrorism against those it kills are rarely supported by evidence, and only a handful of cases of those killed on these grounds have ever been investigated; fewer still have been accountable for their actions.
There are still plenty of questions left unanswered and will likely remain that way forever. Two groups of two factions, at entirely opposite ends of the political spectrum, claimed responsibility for the attack on the settler: the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade associated with the Fatah party and the fundamentalist Islamic Jihad.
Of the three men, Sarakji, released from a seven-year prison term last January, was the only one officially wanted by Israel for suspected involvement in the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade. In contrast, according to his brother, Subih had surrendered his arms and received a full governmental pardon some years ago, while Sharkh’s wife states her husband’s only link to armed struggle was through his brother, who was assassinated by Israeli forces in 2004.
Israel’s attempt to depict their actions as the standard routine of criminal inquiry is clearly a farce. However admissible the findings of the victim’s armed involvement may be in a court of law, it amounts to little when those accused have already been tried and found guilty by the barrel of a gun. Whether these men were guilty or innocent — they were executed without trial in cold blood. They leave behind traumatized children, grieving families and thousands of ex-prisoners and fellow citizens wondering who will be next.
All images by Bridget Chappell.
Bridget Chappell is an Australian activist and writer who has been working with the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine since August 2009. She is based in Nablus.
Related Links
- http://electronicintifada.net/content/nablus-executions-shoot-first-ask-questions-later/8619
http://fwd4.me/0icw and http://fwd4.me/0id4
28 apr 2012, 22:43 , Respect -
Maria 11 jan 2010
Israeli Army Assassinates Three Fighters in Gaza
The Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, reported on Sunday evening that the Israeli army assassinated three of its fighters in the central Gaza Strip.
The three were killed by a missile fired by the Israeli Air Force at them in Dir Al Balah in central Gaza.
The brigades stated that the three and other fighters were about to fire homemade shells into adjacent Israeli areas.
They were identified as Awad Naseer, 29, from Dir Al Balah, Hasan Al Qatrawi, 22, from Al Boreij refugee camp, and Hatheefa Al Hmass, from Al Nusseirat refugee camp. Their bodies were moved to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza.
The Israeli army stated that the army targeted Awad Abu Naseer, one of the leaders of the Al Quds Brigades.
The Israeli army claims that Abu Naseer is responsible for a number of attacks against the Israeli forces along the border line in Gaza. He survived several previous assassinations.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57598 28 apr 2012, 22:43 , Respect -
Maria 11 jan 2010
Hasan Al Qatrawi, 22
Awad Naseer, 29
Hatheefa Al Hmass
28 apr 2012, 22:43 , Respect -
Maria 19/20 jan 2010
- http://www.search.ask.com/web?psv=&apn_dbr=ff_32.0.3.5379&apn_dtid=^OSJ000^YY^NL&itbv=12.18.0.81&p2=^BEA^OSJ000^YY^NL&apn_ptnrs=BEA&o=APN11464&gct=kwd&pf=V7&tpid=ORJ-ST-SPE&trgb=FF&pt=tb&apn_uid=2552C9EB-B14F-418D-89A9-48B1BBBAD760&doi=2014-10-17&tpr=10&q=Israel+assassinates+Hamas+commander+in+Dubai&page=1&ots=1415412434784
Israel 'assassinates' Hamas commander in Dubai
(5:52) Britain expels Israeli diplomat in passport row
Hamas has threatened vengeance after it accused Israel of assassinating a leading member of its military wing in Dubai.
Raising the prospect of renewed Palestinian-Israeli violence, the Islamist movement promised to retaliate for the alleged killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
Described as one of the founders of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, Mr Mabhouh was found dead in his Dubai hotel room on January 20.
Although a Palestinian news agency reported that the militant had died of cancer, security officials in the Emirate were quoted as saying that his body showed signs of a violent death.
In line with official policy, there was no response from Israel or its overseas intelligence agency Mossad, which has carried out a number of overseas assassinations in the past.
Police in Dubai said that they have identified several "European passport holders" as suspects - travel to Dubai is prohibited for Israeli passport holders - and that preliminary investigations indicated he was murdered by "a professional criminal gang".
Mabhouh is certainly the type of militant that Israel would have had in its sights.
According to Hamas, he was behind the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers in 1989 and is said to have played a leading role in bypassing an Israeli military blockade to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip, which has been under Hamas control since 2007.
Mabhouh had been in Dubai for three days. Although he slept with a chair under the handle of his door, his assassins managed to break in.
His brother Fayeq said: "The first results of a joint investigation by Hamas and the Emirates show he was killed by an electrical appliance that was held to his head.
"He was then strangled with pieces of cloth."
Hamas said it delayed announcing Mabhouh's death while it tried to catch his assassins and waited for forensic evidence.
Mabhouh had been living in Syria, where the Hamas political leadership is based, since 1989.
As several thousand mourners gathered at his funeral in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk on the edge of Damascus on Friday, Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, promised revenge.
"I say to you Zionists: Do not rejoice," he said. "You killed him but his sons will fight you. God already took our leaders and loved ones, but resistance goes on. Palestine is a blessed land. It will not remain patient."
Last March, Sulim Yamadayev, a former Chechen rebel, was shot dead in a Dubai underground parking lot.
http://fwd4.me/0urQ
Dubai Might Issue Arrest Warrant Against Netanyahu
- http://www.search.ask.com/web?tpid=ORJ-ST-SPE&pf=V7&o=APN11464&p2=^BEA^OSJ000^YY^NL&gct=&itbv=12.18.0.81&apn_uid=2552C9EB-B14F-418D-89A9-48B1BBBAD760&apn_ptnrs=BEA&apn_dtid=^OSJ000^YY^NL&apn_dbr=ff_32.0.3.5379&doi=2014-10-17&trgb=FF&psv=&pt=tb&q=Dubai+Might+Issue+Arrest+Warrant+Against+Netanyahu
18 febr 2010
Al-Qassam Vows Retaliation For The Assassination Of al-Madbouh
Abu Obaida, spokesperson of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, vowed retaliation for the assassination of Mahmoud al-Madbouh, who was killed in Dubai, and said that the response will be “as big as the crime carried out against al-Madbouh.”
He added that al-Qassam will not reveal when and where the response will take place, and that Israel must pay for its actions.
Abu Obaida further stated that the Brigades will act and “has the capacity to harm Israel and its security.”
He also warned Israel of “repeating its aggression on Gaza,” and that Israel failed in uprooting the resistance and will fail again.
Meanwhile, Khalid Mashaal, head of the Political Bureau of Hamas in Syria, said that the assassination of al-Madbouh pushed Hamas to capture more Israeli soldiers.
Mashal also called on Dubai to conduct further measures to ensure the apprehension of the assassins, and added that Israel is behind the assassination and should be held accountable for violating the sovereignty of Arab countries.
He further stated that the apprehension of the killers is not only a Hamas interest, but in the interest of Dubai.
The Hamas leader demanded the European countries punish Israeli leaders as Israeli Mossad agents used fake European passports.
He stated that the time is now for action, not for vows of retaliation, and called on the al-Qassam Brigades to act and avenge the murder of al-Madbouh.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57989
24 febr 2010
Mahmoud al-Madbouh
Iran And The Arab Gulf Blame Israel For The Assassination of al-Madbouh
The Iranian government issued a statement officially accusing Israel of assassinating senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Madbouh in Dubai, and said that this assassination is an act of terror.
The official Iranian statement comes coherent with statements made by countries in the Gulf, the Police in Dubai and the Hamas movement, directly accused the Israeli Intelligence Agency, the Mossad, for the assassination.
Spokesperson of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Ramin Mehmanparast, told the Iranian Press TV, that the assassination of al-Madbouh is an act of terror carried out by Israel.
He added that the very existence of Israel is based on terrorism.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) secretary-general, Abdul-Rahim al-Attiya, called on the European Union to cooperate with the investigation carried out by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in order to bring the assassins to justice, so that the repetition of similar attacks could be prevented.
Israeli TV, Channel 10, reported that the authorities in Syria apprehended one of the associates of al-Madbouh on suspicions of involvement in the assassination.
The suspect was identified by Mohammad Nasser; he was reportedly arrested along with other Hamas men reportedly involved in the assassination.
Nasser, according to the report, had detailed information on the whereabouts of al-Madbouh. He and al-Madbouh are believed to have taken part in the abduction and the killing of two Israelis in the late 1980s.
On Tuesday, the UAE said that it identified four more persons, holders of European passports, suspected of involvement in the assassination of al-Madbouh last month.
Two of the suspects are British and two others are Irish. With the new arrests, the number arrested British passport holders arrives to eight in addition to five Irish passport holders.
Israel said that six of the British suspects used identities of British citizens living in Israel who claimed that their identities were stolen.
Dubai Police released the names and pictures of 11 persons who used forged foreign passports to enter the country. The passports are British, French, Irish and German.
Foreign Ministers of the European Union protested against the use of forged EU passports to assassinate Al Madbouh, but did not blame Israel for the operation.
Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said that Arab countries always blame Israel for anything that happens in the Middle East, and added that there are many conflicts in the region that could have led to the assassination.
http://www.imemc.org/article/58041
Dubai Police: “We Have Evidence That Incriminates The Mossad”
28 apr 2012, 22:43 , Respect -
Maria 3 febr 2010
Dujana Abdul Rahman
Israel Bombards Seven Areas In Gaza, Carries Limited Invasion
The Israeli Air Force bombarded, on Wednesday at dawn, seven areas in the Gaza Strip killing one resident, and wounding two others. The army also carried out a limited invasion into northern Gaza. The attacks targeted border areas, and the Gaza International Airport.
Palestinian medical sources at the Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, reported that three residents were located under the rubble of a siege-busting tunnel in al-Jaradat area, east of Rafah.
An Israeli army spokesperson said that the attacks targeted two tunnels, and added that the shelling comes in retaliation to Palestinian homemade shells fired into adjacent Israeli areas.
Furthermore, the army also bombarded the Gaza International Airport, in Rafah.
The airport was shut down since the beginning of the al-Aqsa Intifada in late September 2000.
It was repeatedly attacked and bombarded by the Israeli army, while army bulldozers also bulldozed its runways and demolished several buildings.
Furthermore, a number of Israeli military vehicles carried out a limited invasion into the former Dougit settlement, in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
The army also fired shells into different directions causing damage to a number of buildings.
Local sources reported that four talks and a military bulldozer advanced 200 meters into the area and leveled some structures.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57852 28 apr 2012, 22:43 , Respect -
Maria 4 febr 2010
Abdul-Rahman Tayyim, 22
Gaza Patient Dies Of Kidney Failure
Palestinian medical sources reported on Thursday that a 22-year-old Palestinian patient from Gaza, who was wounded in an Israeli offensive in 2003, died of health complications and kidney failure.
The patient, Abdul-Rahman Tayyim, 22, was seriously wounded when the Israeli Air Force fired missiles into the Al Nusseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza.
The army fired a missile at a civilian vehicle in the camp; the missile hit the side of the vehicle causing minimum damage but as the residents gathered in the area, the army fired another missile at the vehicle.
Seven Palestinians, including a 12-year-old child, were killed and at least 50 were wounded, including Abdul-Rahman and his brother.
Abdul-Rahman became paralyzed and developed several serious health issues, including a kidney infection.
He became unable to receive the needed medical help due to the ongoing Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57866 28 apr 2012, 22:44 , Respect -
Maria 11 febr 2010
Fares Akram Ahmad Jaber 27Mohammed Saeed Ali Hassouna
Palestinian Killed In An Israeli Airstrike In Gaza
Palestinian medical sources reported on Thursday that a Palestinian resident was killed, while another resident was wounded, after the army bombarded Juhr Al Deek area, east of Gaza city.
Medical sources reported that the body of the slain resident was moved to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city,
He was killed after an Israeli drone fired a missile at an area close to the Karni crossing.
Armed clashed took place in the area and at least one resident was wounded, local sources reported.
Israeli armored military vehicles and tanks were scene advancing into the Juhr Ed Deek area.
A Palestinian fighter was killed earlier on Thursday in what the Al Qassam Brigades of Hamas described as Jihadist mission.
Two sisters, aged 13 and 5, were wounded on Thursday morning when the Israeli army fired shells at Juhr Ed Deek area.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57930 28 apr 2012, 22:44 , Respect -
Maria 13 febr 2010
Ahmad Sayyid Faraj, 41
Palestinian Man Killed By Israeli Fire In Hebron
Palestinian medical sources in Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, reported that a Palestinian man, 41, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers on Friday evening in Bab Al Zawiya area, in the center of the city.
The army claimed that the Ahmad Sayyid Faraj, 41, attempted to stab a soldier, while eyewitnesses confirmed that he was just walking in the street when a soldier opened fire at him.
Palestinian medics rushed to the scene but the army prevented them from providing Faraj with the needed first aid.
The army moved him to Al Dabbouya, which falls under Israeli security control. Faraj died while the army was moving him to an Israeli hospital. His body was then transferred to the Al Ahli Palestinian Hospital in Hebron.
Dozens of residents took off to the street and hurled stones at the soldiers who fired concussion grenades, gas bombs and rubber-coated bullets. Several residents, including a local reporter, were wounded.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57953
2 jan 2010
Army orders 'did not include instructions to kill'
Bethlehem – Ma'an – An army unit that assassinated three Fatah members during a night operation in Nablus was under orders to "carry out a raid and capture the wanted men," the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Saturday.
"The orders did not include instructions to kill any of the three wanted men. The senior officers who spoke with Haaretz stressed that the soldiers were not given any verbal instructions that were different from those in writing," according to the report.
Family members and witnesses told Ma'an that the men,
1- Raed Sarakji, 38,
2- Ghassan Abu Sharkh, 39,
3- Anan Subih, 33,
were extra-judicially assassinated, echoing the results of an investigation conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), which concluded they "were executed in cold blood."
The attack humiliated Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah, particularly security officials who had already detained 150 people the day before on suspicion of involvement in the shooting death of a settler, the incident thought to have sparked the retaliatory raid. "Israel trades in Palestinian life as if it were worthless," said chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat in response to the bloodshed.
Raed Sarkaji's wife, Tahani, 38, on Wednesday took Ma'an's correspondent through her home, recounting the assassination step by step. She pointed out chunks of walls and doors taken out by gunshots and what she suspected was some kind of explosive used to burst through the front gate. Dozens of bullet holes riddled the walls, doors, ceiling, mirrors and windows both inside and outside the bedroom where her husband died.
"That's blood," she explained, pointing toward the ceiling. "From when they sprayed his corpse with bullets. Our daughter saw that."
Tahani and Raed were asleep when Israeli soldiers burst into the home yelling "get out, get out," she said, insisting that her husband told the soldiers he would leave voluntarily, but that they opened fire anyway. "He fell between my hands bleeding. ... Then soldiers broke the door and got in. He was already dead, but they continued to riddle his body with bullets to make sure he was killed."
Haaretz quoted an Israeli military officer who was also there.
"The wanted man came out of the room and realized that it was the army, and rushed back inside," the officer said. "The force commander called to his soldiers to make sure he did not have a weapon. Several minutes later he came out again, behind his wife. His hands were hidden. The soldiers called out to him repeatedly, in Arabic, to lift his hands, and he did not do so. There was little choice. The threat to the soldiers was just too great," the officer added.
"No matter what they tell you, no matter what, I swear we were sleeping when this happened," Tahani insisted, although the military never actually alleged that her husband resisted arrest, nor that weapons of any kind were found in the house after they killed him. "Do we look like terrorists? This is a family living here, kids living here," she added, surrounded by children and cousins preparing lunch.
"We want peace," Tahani said. "I really don't know how many more times I can say it: we want peace."
Haaretz reported that the army's Duvdevan commando unit received its orders late on Christmas night, several hours before it stormed the northern West Bank city. Conceding that even according to the military two of the men were unarmed and none attempted to flee, the report states, "An evaluation of the testimonies of family members and the IDF officers suggests that this was not an operation to assassinate."
"But it is difficult not to wonder how two unarmed men, nearly 40 years old, sleeping in bed near their children and not behaving as wanted men, were killed without even having attempted to escape," the author notes. "It appears that, like in many other operations of this sort, the reality on the ground, and especially early intelligence on the three suspects [that they were dangerous], predetermined the result of the operation."
In fact, however, similar results of operations of this sort are rare. The Israeli military's version of events, in which all three of the supposed arrest targets were killed "as they refused to surrender," stands in contrast to most outcomes of the army's nightly house raids in the West Bank, which typically end without violence.
Statistically, if Israel's explanation were accurate, the unintentional deaths of three targets in a single night would be an unprecedented coincidence. In the month preceding Saturday's killings, the army invaded Nablus district and detained Palestinians on at least 29 occasions. In none of these operations was a soldier or Palestinian seriously injured, even when the incursion was accompanied by clashes.
On the night of 8 December, for example, Israeli forces detained 10 Palestinians in five Nablus-area locales. No injuries were reported, even though soldiers reported finding guns and ammunition in one of the homes. On 13 December, Israeli forces stormed Nablus and detained an elderly woman from her home, as well as two teenagers allegedly found to be in possession of explosives near a checkpoint. Again, no injuries. Clashes accompanied a raid outside of Nablus on 28 November, when another teenager was arrested, but no one was hurt. This was despite that the army reportedly opened fire during the operation.
Other such incidents included the abductions of three teenage boys at a Nablus checkpoint on 9 December, nine Palestinians from Nablus on 16 December, at least one from a Nablus-area refugee camp on 25 December, and a night raid on a Nablus home on 14 December. None of these resulted in injury, either.
In contrast with each of these incursions in and around Nablus over the past month and hundreds of others elsewhere in the West Bank that ended without incident, early last Saturday, in three separate "arrest raids" in three different neighborhoods, all three of the army's intended targets managed to die.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=251497
Army orders 'did not include instructions to kill'
Bethlehem – Ma'an – An army unit that assassinated three Fatah members during a night operation in Nablus was under orders to "carry out a raid and capture the wanted men," the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Saturday.
"The orders did not include instructions to kill any of the three wanted men. The senior officers who spoke with Haaretz stressed that the soldiers were not given any verbal instructions that were different from those in writing," according to the report.
Family members and witnesses told Ma'an that the men,
1- Raed Sarakji, 38,
2- Ghassan Abu Sharkh, 39,
3- Anan Subih, 33,
were extra-judicially assassinated, echoing the results of an investigation conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), which concluded they "were executed in cold blood."
The attack humiliated Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah, particularly security officials who had already detained 150 people the day before on suspicion of involvement in the shooting death of a settler, the incident thought to have sparked the retaliatory raid. "Israel trades in Palestinian life as if it were worthless," said chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat in response to the bloodshed.
Raed Sarkaji's wife, Tahani, 38, on Wednesday took Ma'an's correspondent through her home, recounting the assassination step by step. She pointed out chunks of walls and doors taken out by gunshots and what she suspected was some kind of explosive used to burst through the front gate. Dozens of bullet holes riddled the walls, doors, ceiling, mirrors and windows both inside and outside the bedroom where her husband died.
"That's blood," she explained, pointing toward the ceiling. "From when they sprayed his corpse with bullets. Our daughter saw that."
Tahani and Raed were asleep when Israeli soldiers burst into the home yelling "get out, get out," she said, insisting that her husband told the soldiers he would leave voluntarily, but that they opened fire anyway. "He fell between my hands bleeding. ... Then soldiers broke the door and got in. He was already dead, but they continued to riddle his body with bullets to make sure he was killed."
Haaretz quoted an Israeli military officer who was also there.
"The wanted man came out of the room and realized that it was the army, and rushed back inside," the officer said. "The force commander called to his soldiers to make sure he did not have a weapon. Several minutes later he came out again, behind his wife. His hands were hidden. The soldiers called out to him repeatedly, in Arabic, to lift his hands, and he did not do so. There was little choice. The threat to the soldiers was just too great," the officer added.
"No matter what they tell you, no matter what, I swear we were sleeping when this happened," Tahani insisted, although the military never actually alleged that her husband resisted arrest, nor that weapons of any kind were found in the house after they killed him. "Do we look like terrorists? This is a family living here, kids living here," she added, surrounded by children and cousins preparing lunch.
"We want peace," Tahani said. "I really don't know how many more times I can say it: we want peace."
Haaretz reported that the army's Duvdevan commando unit received its orders late on Christmas night, several hours before it stormed the northern West Bank city. Conceding that even according to the military two of the men were unarmed and none attempted to flee, the report states, "An evaluation of the testimonies of family members and the IDF officers suggests that this was not an operation to assassinate."
"But it is difficult not to wonder how two unarmed men, nearly 40 years old, sleeping in bed near their children and not behaving as wanted men, were killed without even having attempted to escape," the author notes. "It appears that, like in many other operations of this sort, the reality on the ground, and especially early intelligence on the three suspects [that they were dangerous], predetermined the result of the operation."
In fact, however, similar results of operations of this sort are rare. The Israeli military's version of events, in which all three of the supposed arrest targets were killed "as they refused to surrender," stands in contrast to most outcomes of the army's nightly house raids in the West Bank, which typically end without violence.
Statistically, if Israel's explanation were accurate, the unintentional deaths of three targets in a single night would be an unprecedented coincidence. In the month preceding Saturday's killings, the army invaded Nablus district and detained Palestinians on at least 29 occasions. In none of these operations was a soldier or Palestinian seriously injured, even when the incursion was accompanied by clashes.
On the night of 8 December, for example, Israeli forces detained 10 Palestinians in five Nablus-area locales. No injuries were reported, even though soldiers reported finding guns and ammunition in one of the homes. On 13 December, Israeli forces stormed Nablus and detained an elderly woman from her home, as well as two teenagers allegedly found to be in possession of explosives near a checkpoint. Again, no injuries. Clashes accompanied a raid outside of Nablus on 28 November, when another teenager was arrested, but no one was hurt. This was despite that the army reportedly opened fire during the operation.
Other such incidents included the abductions of three teenage boys at a Nablus checkpoint on 9 December, nine Palestinians from Nablus on 16 December, at least one from a Nablus-area refugee camp on 25 December, and a night raid on a Nablus home on 14 December. None of these resulted in injury, either.
In contrast with each of these incursions in and around Nablus over the past month and hundreds of others elsewhere in the West Bank that ended without incident, early last Saturday, in three separate "arrest raids" in three different neighborhoods, all three of the army's intended targets managed to die.
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