4 aug 2005
Deena Torkey, 21
Hazar Torkey 23
Four killed, 15 injured in Shfa-Amr
Eden Natan-Zada, settler terrorist and killer
- Nader Hayek, 55
Michael Bahhouth, 56
12 apr 2012, 16:27 , Respect -
Maria 6 aug 2005
Israeli report: Soldiers killed fighter south of the Gaza Strip
In a conflicting report, the Israeli Ynet News reported that three Palestinians were killed on Thursday at night while attempting to place a bomb along the settlement security fence.
The deaths were not confirmed by any source on the Palestinian side.
Israeli commander believes another Shfa-Amr massacre is possible
12 apr 2012, 16:27 , Respect -
Maria 7 aug 2005
Muhammad Hamdan 'Abd al-Qader Keshtah 23
Palestinian killed in Rafah
resident of Rafah, killed in Rafah. Did not participate in hostilities when killed. Killed on his way to go shopping, two days before his wedding.
12 apr 2012, 16:27 , Respect -
Maria 9 aug 2005
Tammer Ass'ad Khader Zandik 15
Youth killed near Tulkarem
Israeli forces fired bursts of machine gun rounds during the operation which resulted in the death of 15 year-old Tamer Asad
Tulkarem citizens attend funeral of Tamer Zandik
(Tamer Asad Khader Jaber Zandik) (Tammer Ass'ad Khader Zandik) 12 apr 2012, 16:27 , Respect -
Maria 17 aug 2005
Bassam Mousa Tawafsha,25
Usama Mousa Tawafsha, 28
12 apr 2012, 16:27 , Respect -
Maria 17 aug 2005
Khalil Walwil, 40
Muhammad Hasan Mausour, 53
Three dead, two injured after attack by Israeli Settler
Four Palestinians Killed by Israeli Settler in the West Bank
Al-Haq emphatically condemns yesterdays killing of four Palestinian civilians by an Israeli settler in the Shilo settlement, located between Ramallah and Nablus in the occupied West Bank. These killings are a brutal manifestation of the sustained and increasing violence inflicted upon Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), whose aggressive actions, and indeed very presence in the OPT including East Jerusalem, are violations of international law.
After finishing their days work at around 16:45 on 17 August 2005, four Palestinian workers in a small aluminium workshop in the Shilo settlement got into a car that would drop them in the nearby Palestinian village of Turmusayya, from where they would make their way home. The car stopped at the gate of the settlement, about 70 metres from the workshop, and the driver went into the guard post to recover the identity cards of his passengers, held at the post while the Palestinians were at work.
The driver, although known to them, was not their regular driver, nor was it usual that the driver collect the identity cards; the security guard at the settlement entrance would normally bring them to the car. When the driver, Asher Weissgan, from the neighbouring settlement of Shavot Rahel, emerged from the guard post he was armed with the security guards gun and opened fire on the car and its passengers, instantly killing brothers Bassam Mousa Tawafsha, 25, and Usama Mousa Tawafsha, 28, both of whom were from Sinjel, near Ramallah.
Mausour,family
Muhammad Hasan Mausour, 53, from Kufr Qalil, near Nablus, was critically wounded and later died from his injuries. The fourth passenger, Rawhi Muhammad Kassab, 44, was unhurt. Kassab exited the vehicle and began to chase Weissgan who was running towards the workshop, weapon in hand. Weissgan again shot at Kassab when the latter called upon him to stop, forcing Kassab to escape in fear for his life.
Weissgan then continued to the aluminium workshop where he shot and killed a fifth Palestinian worker, Khalil Walwil, 40, from Qalqiliya. He then ran back to the entrance of the settlement where he jumped into a waiting settler security jeep before it drove away. The circumstances strongly suggest that the attack was planned in advance and can accurately be described as premeditated murder.
The overt endorsement of the illegal settlement enterprise by the Israeli authorities, most recently in Prime Minister Ariel Sharons statement, made on the same day as the killings, that, [s]ettlement is a serious programme that will continue and develop, and the systematic Israeli failure to investigate and punish illegal actions carried out by settlers against Palestinians, have paved the way for such killings.
Incidents of violence by settlers against Palestinians are rarely investigated and the perpetrators seldom held to account by the Israeli authorities, creating an atmosphere of impunity in which excessive (and in this case lethal) violence is an increasingly common practice.
Under Article 49(6 ) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, an Occupying Power is forbidden from transferring its civilian population into the territory it occupies. Further, under Article 43 of the Hague Regulations, regarded as customary under international law, an Occupying Power is responsible for the safety of the occupied population. Not only is the existence of Israeli settlements in the OPT illegal under international humanitarian law, but Israels failure to protect Palestinians against the grave consequences of its own illegal action places it in further breach thereof.
Further, Articles 6 and 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights respectively protect the rights to life and security of person. Under international human rights law, Israel, as a result of its effective jurisdiction over the OPT, must act to prevent violations of these provisions, provide an effective remedy if violations occur, and enforce remedies when granted.
Israels current withdrawal from the Gaza Strip has, in recent months, provided the backdrop to a notable increase in settler violence towards Palestinians. Al-Haq fears that this disturbing trend will only increase further as settlers, prompted by the prior inaction of the Israeli authorities in holding them to account for recent attacks, strike out with greater determination at the Palestinian population of the OPT.
Israels continued pursuit of its illegal settlement policy in the West Bank, and the increasing assault by settlers on Palestinian civilians and villages in their vicinity, is impossible to reconcile with Palestinians enjoyment of the rights and protections guaranteed by international law.
Al-Haq therefore calls upon the Israeli government to: Bring those responsible for the killing of the four Palestinians before the full process of the law. Rigorously investigate all instances of settler violence committed against Palestinians and their property, providing effective remedy, including access to justice and reparation such as restitution, guarantee of non-repetition and compensation. Take the necessary judicial and other appropriate measures to protect Palestinians from setter violence.
In addition, the international community must also take steps to protect the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people by exercising sustained diplomatic pressure on the Israeli government to: Freeze all settlement activities and dismantle all established settlements throughout the OPT, including East Jerusalem. Rigorously investigate incidents of settler violence against Palestinians and bring the perpetrators to justice and provide effective remedy to the Palestinian victims.
http://fwd4.me/10DG
Settler shooting shatters community
The place where the Tawafsha brothers died after a day's work at the Shilo Jewish settlement bears witness to the settlers' futile efforts to save their lives.
Used medical equipment lies on the ground amid still-sticky bloodstains near the settlement gate - sterile gloves, scalpels and needles.
There is also the affecting sight of what they were carrying when they lost their lives, a half-smoked pack of cigarettes, a shopping bag of Arabic bread.
Bassam and Usama Tawafsha were shot in cold blood by a Jewish settler whom they had known for many years, even shared food with. He was giving them a lift home, as he did every day.
Two other Palestinians died during Asher Weisgan's shooting spree in the settlement's industrial zone, and another was wounded, before settlement security guards overpowered him.
Blown away
Usama's wife Aisha
Mark, a security officer who prefers not to give his surname, prevents our entry into the settlement, saying they are on full alert in case Palestinians take revenge for the killings.
"I hope that the people around us realise that this is the act of a madman, that it does not reflect Shilo or Shuvat Rachel" (where Asher Weisgan lived), Mark says.
"All of our people are incredibly shocked - blown away - by what happened yesterday... These were guys who I knew, who I liked. I considered them my friends."
He adds that Shilo's residents were surprised by Weisgan's transformation into a killer - he was a "liberal" settler who did not "harbour any hatred" for Arabs.
"I think his mind just snapped, because of the history of violence in the area and because of what they presently call the disengagement," Mark says, referring to Israel's unilateral pull-out from Gaza and four West Bank settlements.
It's unusual to find concord between Jewish settlers living on occupied Palestinian land and Palestinians who live nearby - but in the village of Sanjal where the brothers lived a similar picture of Asher Weisgan emerges.
Revenge
The vine-covered veranda of the Tawafsha family home is packed with female relatives, the men milling around in the street or sitting in reception rooms.
The men's mother begs for the return of their bodies, which have not yet been released by the Israeli authorities.
Usama's wife Aisha, her shocked children huddled around her, calls down revenge on Israel, the settlers and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"When one of them kills us they say he is crazy, but if an Arab did that to a settler the whole world is up in arms saying he's a terrorist," Aisha says through her weeping.
"They worked with him (Weisgan) for eight years," she continues.
"They used to say how decent he was, how they used to eat together, how he used to ask them for our food to take to his wife," she says.
"Asher? He was very respectable," says neighbour Ataf Radi, one of a handful of Palestinians who worked at Shilo, but who luckily had not been at work the previous day.
"Our relationship with him was far better than you could imagine. No one could have expected this."
Among the other mourners on the steep hillside of Sanjal, from where the neat red roofs and elaborate synagogue of Shilo are clearly visible, there is equanimity about the threat they might face from militant settlers in the area.
"It could happen anytime," says Ziyad Sabri.
"Sometimes they come in the night and attack our homes. You are ready for them, you are not armed like them, but you always have a rock or a stick handy."
No remorse
So what was behind Asher Weisgan's actions? [1]
Why did he calmly get out of his car, apparently take a security guard's gun, open fire on his passengers, who considered him a friend, before heading back to the factory and gun down another Arab colleague?
Speaking to reporters at his court hearing the day after the killings, he said he wanted to stop the pullout from Gaza, which was in full swing as he spoke.
"I am not sorry for what I have done... and I hope someone murders Sharon as well," he said.
The Shilo/Shuvat Rachel enclave is isolated in the middle of a sea of Palestinian population and, though the settlers deny it, it is an obvious candidate for future evacuation.
His actions have been condemned unconditionally by settler spokesmen - as well as by the Palestinian and Israeli leaderships, who had also condemned the actions of another Israeli settler, Eden Nathan Zaada, who murdered four Israeli Arabs on a Galilee bus less than two weeks earlier.
So far these are two isolated incidents - albeit the worst violence so far associated with the evacuation of Gaza, in which the struggle between Jews and Jews has been conducted without violence on both sides.
But veteran Haaretz analyst Zeev Schiff called Weisgan and Zaada examples of the "wild grapes produced by Israel's extreme right" of whom "there are many" living in Israel's West Bank settlements.
Other examples are the killer of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Ygal Amir, and Hebron massacre perpetrator Baruch Goldstein.
Palestinian militant reaction has so far been muted to the latest provocations, but if any other "wild grapes" ripen during the disengagement, their retaliation could indeed bring about the desired disruption of the withdrawals.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4164534.stm
[1] Prosecutors said Weisgan had hoped the attack would stop the pullout by forcing the redeployment of Israeli troops from Gaza to the West Bank to quell unrest.
Four killed in Shilo settler terrorist attack, four injured
Settler terror hits again; three Palestinians killed, four injured
Osama, 31 is the father of six children, the eldest of him is 9 years old and runs aluminum industry and working in this profession for more than 10 years, while his brother Bassam, 25, married and had no children, and joined to work with his brother in the profession.
Mansur left behind a family of nine members who are pro 17 years, and let 15 years, and dialysis for 14 years, and aspirations of 13 years, the gift of 5 years, and Abdullah 10 years, in addition to his mother, who lives with him in the same home.
Asher Weisgan, settler terrorist and killer 12 apr 2012, 16:30 , Respect -
Maria 24 aug 2005
Anas Abu Zreina, 16
Ahmad Othman 16
Five Palestinians killed in Tulkarem raid
Five Palestinians Killed during Predawn Clashes in Tulkarem
Five Palestinians killed in Tulkarem raid
George Rishmawi-IMEMC & Agencies
Five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli army raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarem overnight, one of them was an Islamic Jihad operative and the other four were civilians, Palestinian sources reported.
Israeli sources claimed that undercover Duvdevan unit entered Tulkarem as part of an "arrest operation" targeting Islamic Jihad operatives.
Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades vowed a "painful revenge" for the killing of the five Palestinians.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei condemned the raid, and the assassination, describing it as a “brutal crime"?.
Qurei added that this attacks shows that Israeli is not interested in calm, and called on the international community to act against the Israeli violations.
Also, Qurei slammed the Israeli plans of settlement expansion in the West Bank, especially around Jerusalem, which “will not leave any chances for a viable Palestinian state".
The Israeli intelligence service claims that one of the killed was involved in planning the bombing of the Stage nightclub in Tel Aviv.
The undercover Duvdevan squad is a special unit in the Israeli army for assassination.
According to Israeli sources, the Duvdevan unit entered a cafe where the claimed wanted men were. One of the soldiers fire one shot in the air and called on the wanted men to surrender, which broke a gun battle.
Four were killed at the spot, and the fifth died later of his wounds.
Palestinians identified the killed residents as Adel Abu Khaleel, 26, from the village of Atteel near Tulkarem, member of Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, Majdi Atteyah, 20, member of Al Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fateh, Mahmoud Ismail Hdeib, 18, and Anas Abu Zreinah, 16 years old.
A fifth resident, identified as Ahmad Othman 17, from Tulkarem refugee camp, died of his wounds at an Israeli hospital.
Israel handed over the security control over Tulkarem to the Palestinian Authority together with Jericho in March following the Sharm Al-Sheikh agreement in which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and declared cease-fire and Israel committed to quit five Palestinian cities.
Israel failed to hand over more cities.
This is the first assassination Israeli security forces carries out since the implementation of the disengagement plan started on August 15.
Anas Marouf Assaf abu-Zaina, 16,
Muhammad Tariq Abdul-Latif Othman, 16,
Mahmoud Muhammad Ismael Hudaib, 16,
of Tulkarm refugee camp, killed by undercover IDF gunfire during a targeted assassination.
Anas M'aruf 'Assaf Abu Zeinah
Muhammad Tareq 'Abd a-Latif 'Othman
Israeli army calls for inspection of soldiers “terrorist potential"
12 apr 2012, 16:30 , Respect -
Maria 24 aug 2005
Mohammed Othman Abu Zeina, 17
Mahmoud Ehdieb, 17
Mahmoud Ismail Hdeib, 18
Mahmoud Muhammad Isma'il Hadib 12 apr 2012, 16:30 , Respect -
Maria 24 aug 2005
Majdi Ateyya, 18
Majdi Muhammad 'Abd al-Karim Hussein, 20
Adel Abu Khaleel, 26
'Adel Muhammad Amin Qassem Abu Khalil
12 apr 2012, 16:30 , Respect -
Maria 12 apr 2012, 16:31 , Respect -
Maria 26 aug 2005
PCHR Report; Israeli Army Execute, Raze, Arrest and Destroy
5 Palestinian civilians were extra-judicially killed by army in Tulkarem refugee camp.
12 Palestinian civilians were wounded by army and settlers.
Army conducted 18 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
12 apr 2012, 16:31 , Respect -
Maria 29 aug 2005
Moheeb Abu Al Hoda
Imad Nassouh Abu Al Hoda
Two killed in Nablus blast