25 jan 2020
Palestinian human rights activist accused the Israeli occupation of executing three Palestinian children east of the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday evening, in cold blood, calling it a war crime, Alray reported.
The head of the International Commission for the Support of the Rights of the Palestinian People “Hashd”, Salah Abdel-Ati, said that Israeli soldiers deployed along the security fence east of the Gaza Strip committed a war crime against the three Palestinian children, and continue to hold their bodies, under the pretext the youths were trying to infiltrate the border.
Abdel-Ati said that Israeli soldiers surrounded the area as soon as they observed three children close to the border fence, and despite the fact that the children complied with the soldiers’ orders, they were all shot dead.
He considered the execution of three children in their teens, to be clear evidence of Israel’s disregard for the provisions of international humanitarian law, in particular the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention which affirms the Rule 14.
Proportionality in Attack: “Launching an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited.”
Abdel-Ati said that the reaction, or lack thereof, of the international community and its institutions to this crime, will give the Israeli occupation a green light to continue to commit more crimes.
He called on the international community and its institutions to exert political, diplomatic and legal pressure on Israel to stop targeting Palestinian civilians, especially children.
He called on the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, to work hard to provide protection to the Palestinians in the occupied territories, stressing the necessity of exposing Israeli crimes, and holding the Israeli occupation accountable.
The head of the International Commission for the Support of the Rights of the Palestinian People “Hashd”, Salah Abdel-Ati, said that Israeli soldiers deployed along the security fence east of the Gaza Strip committed a war crime against the three Palestinian children, and continue to hold their bodies, under the pretext the youths were trying to infiltrate the border.
Abdel-Ati said that Israeli soldiers surrounded the area as soon as they observed three children close to the border fence, and despite the fact that the children complied with the soldiers’ orders, they were all shot dead.
He considered the execution of three children in their teens, to be clear evidence of Israel’s disregard for the provisions of international humanitarian law, in particular the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention which affirms the Rule 14.
Proportionality in Attack: “Launching an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited.”
Abdel-Ati said that the reaction, or lack thereof, of the international community and its institutions to this crime, will give the Israeli occupation a green light to continue to commit more crimes.
He called on the international community and its institutions to exert political, diplomatic and legal pressure on Israel to stop targeting Palestinian civilians, especially children.
He called on the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, to work hard to provide protection to the Palestinians in the occupied territories, stressing the necessity of exposing Israeli crimes, and holding the Israeli occupation accountable.
22 jan 2020
Mohammad Hani Abu Mandeel, 18
Salem Zuweid an-Na’ami, 18
Mahmoud Khaled Sa’id, 18
Israeli soldiers killed, on Tuesday evening, three young Palestinian men near the perimeter fence, in central Gaza, after the army alleged they breached the fence and hurled grenades.
The army claimed that the three managed to breach the fence and advanced approximately 400 meters, before they hurled a grenade, or an explosive, at a military post.
According to the army, the soldiers fired many live rounds, and shells, at the three Palestinians, leading to their death.
Palestinians in Gaza said the soldiers executed the three Palestinians, and were not in any danger, especially since they ordered them to remove their clothes before killing them, the Maan News Agency has reported.
The three slain Palestinians have been identified as Mohammad Hani Abu Mandeel, 18, Salem Zuweid an-Na’ami, 18, and Mahmoud Khaled Sa’id, 18.
The three were from al-Maghazi Central Gaza.
The corpses of the three Palestinians remain held by the army.
Salem Zuweid an-Na’ami, 18
Mahmoud Khaled Sa’id, 18
Israeli soldiers killed, on Tuesday evening, three young Palestinian men near the perimeter fence, in central Gaza, after the army alleged they breached the fence and hurled grenades.
The army claimed that the three managed to breach the fence and advanced approximately 400 meters, before they hurled a grenade, or an explosive, at a military post.
According to the army, the soldiers fired many live rounds, and shells, at the three Palestinians, leading to their death.
Palestinians in Gaza said the soldiers executed the three Palestinians, and were not in any danger, especially since they ordered them to remove their clothes before killing them, the Maan News Agency has reported.
The three slain Palestinians have been identified as Mohammad Hani Abu Mandeel, 18, Salem Zuweid an-Na’ami, 18, and Mahmoud Khaled Sa’id, 18.
The three were from al-Maghazi Central Gaza.
The corpses of the three Palestinians remain held by the army.
20 dec 2019
Israeli policies have transformed human bodies into bargaining chips, and mourning into a political act that is easily criminalised
My uncle recently passed, and after his wife and children washed his body, gave him a final embrace, and put him in his final resting spot, they shared their grief with friends, family and acquaintances.
Only then were they able to begin mourning his loss. This sacred process of mourning allows communities and loved ones to begin moving forward - to move on, and to provide a final act of giving to the deceased. Only then can they begin accepting condolences.
At the funeral, I watched the pale, grieving faces and thought: “At least he died of natural causes. At least we got to bury him and shower him with love.”
Cemeteries of numbers
I say that with the recognition that most Palestinian families know of one martyr within their extended circles. Worse off are the families of Palestinian martyrs whose bodies are still being held by Israel.
Since 1967, hundreds of Palestinian bodies have been held by Israel: some in freezers, and others believed to be in the notorious “cemeteries of numbers”. Families of the martyrs have been trying to bring them back home.
Yet, the first demand of Palestinians is not for Israel to return our bodies; it is to stop killing us in the first place. Stop taking land, displacing families, incarcerating entire generations, and enabling a foreign population to take over what little remains of Palestinian cities, only to punish anyone who says “enough”.
Loss, in the frame of the Palestinian struggle, is a relentless reality in the Palestinian experience. It comes mired in political realities and psychosocial dominance. Loss becomes a fight against a powerful regime for the simple act of burial - to give prayers for peace and mercy over a body that was once so full of life, only to return to the phantoms they leave in the home - and that is no simple task.
During a news conference in 2016, one mother spoke to me, uttering in laboured breath: “Please write something. We want to bury our children. We want to bury our children.”
I listened to her pleas, and thought about how many families must endure loss first in the fact that their loved one is killed by Israel; then, in recognising the reality that there will not likely be any accountability; then, in the misconstrued reports and representations by mainstream media; and finally, in having to negotiate with the power that killed their loved one over the release of the corpse.
Glorifying martyrdom
Although martyrdom is often singularly showcased as part of the Palestinian experience, it is an intricate and important narrative of most nations trying to glorify the death of their people in the name of ideology. Even Israel participates in martyrdom glorification, but more often that is coated in the prevalent jingoism and the remembrance of its soldiers.
Our martyrs are valuable to us not just because of the struggle they represent, but also because they are people we have played with, fought, loved or disliked. Palestinian martyrdom takes on another dimension through how it is illustrated in the media, hindering our ability to bring a shred of dignity to those killed and those trying to move forward.
Not only are Palestinians denied the ability to die in peace; they are also stripped of the right to acknowledge that their death was caused by an unremitting occupying power.
When Palestinians are killed by Israeli forces, they are referred to in the passive form. The Palestinian “dies” rather than being “killed”. The Palestinian rarely has a name to showcase the travesty of this loss of life to the power of an army and a regime that is violently forcing itself into the Palestinian space.
This helps Israel not only to systemically colonise, displace, and mass incarcerate Palestinians with impunity, but also to colonise the space between Palestinians themselves. Even in mourning, there looms a scent of oppression and degradation.
Israeli forces even sometimes raid funeral processions of martyrs. By doing so, Israel transforms human bodies into bargaining chips and mourning into a political act that is easily criminalised.
Collective punishment
It is no wonder that in 2018, the Knesset passed a law that judicially affirmed Israel’s ability to withhold Palestinian bodies until preconditions are accepted for funeral arrangements.
Bodies are kept from bereaved families and utilised for political gain by various parties, despite this being a violation of international humanitarian law. It is a testament to Israel’s effort to control Palestinian bodies and further objectify them, in line with Israel’s common practice of collective punishment.
Gaza is enduring a slow death because of the punitive measures against the entire strip. A man in Rafah once told me: “We are being prepped to be sent to burial.”
But Gaza and the withholding of bodies are not the exception. From the increased surveillance of Palestinians through CCTV cameras stationed across towns and cities, to checkpoints, to incessant home demolitions, Israel is also socially engineering our emotions.
We cannot mourn, move or breathe without considering what Israel’s powerful army may do to us. Israel’s army is among the top 20 most powerful in the world, with a defence budget exceeding $19bn.
The fact that Israel maintains its right to withhold Palestinian bodies “regardless of their political affiliations” shows that the efforts behind this are not simply tied to Israel’s constant explanations of “security” and “defence”.
This is a statement that Israel is in control of not only the land, but the people - and that includes denying the right to mourn those taken from us.
Mariam Barghouti
Hailing from Ramallah, Mariam Barghouti is a Palestinian writer and commentator. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Al-Jazeera English, Huffington Post, Middle East Monitor, Mondoweiss, International Business Times and more.
My uncle recently passed, and after his wife and children washed his body, gave him a final embrace, and put him in his final resting spot, they shared their grief with friends, family and acquaintances.
Only then were they able to begin mourning his loss. This sacred process of mourning allows communities and loved ones to begin moving forward - to move on, and to provide a final act of giving to the deceased. Only then can they begin accepting condolences.
At the funeral, I watched the pale, grieving faces and thought: “At least he died of natural causes. At least we got to bury him and shower him with love.”
Cemeteries of numbers
I say that with the recognition that most Palestinian families know of one martyr within their extended circles. Worse off are the families of Palestinian martyrs whose bodies are still being held by Israel.
Since 1967, hundreds of Palestinian bodies have been held by Israel: some in freezers, and others believed to be in the notorious “cemeteries of numbers”. Families of the martyrs have been trying to bring them back home.
Yet, the first demand of Palestinians is not for Israel to return our bodies; it is to stop killing us in the first place. Stop taking land, displacing families, incarcerating entire generations, and enabling a foreign population to take over what little remains of Palestinian cities, only to punish anyone who says “enough”.
Loss, in the frame of the Palestinian struggle, is a relentless reality in the Palestinian experience. It comes mired in political realities and psychosocial dominance. Loss becomes a fight against a powerful regime for the simple act of burial - to give prayers for peace and mercy over a body that was once so full of life, only to return to the phantoms they leave in the home - and that is no simple task.
During a news conference in 2016, one mother spoke to me, uttering in laboured breath: “Please write something. We want to bury our children. We want to bury our children.”
I listened to her pleas, and thought about how many families must endure loss first in the fact that their loved one is killed by Israel; then, in recognising the reality that there will not likely be any accountability; then, in the misconstrued reports and representations by mainstream media; and finally, in having to negotiate with the power that killed their loved one over the release of the corpse.
Glorifying martyrdom
Although martyrdom is often singularly showcased as part of the Palestinian experience, it is an intricate and important narrative of most nations trying to glorify the death of their people in the name of ideology. Even Israel participates in martyrdom glorification, but more often that is coated in the prevalent jingoism and the remembrance of its soldiers.
Our martyrs are valuable to us not just because of the struggle they represent, but also because they are people we have played with, fought, loved or disliked. Palestinian martyrdom takes on another dimension through how it is illustrated in the media, hindering our ability to bring a shred of dignity to those killed and those trying to move forward.
Not only are Palestinians denied the ability to die in peace; they are also stripped of the right to acknowledge that their death was caused by an unremitting occupying power.
When Palestinians are killed by Israeli forces, they are referred to in the passive form. The Palestinian “dies” rather than being “killed”. The Palestinian rarely has a name to showcase the travesty of this loss of life to the power of an army and a regime that is violently forcing itself into the Palestinian space.
This helps Israel not only to systemically colonise, displace, and mass incarcerate Palestinians with impunity, but also to colonise the space between Palestinians themselves. Even in mourning, there looms a scent of oppression and degradation.
Israeli forces even sometimes raid funeral processions of martyrs. By doing so, Israel transforms human bodies into bargaining chips and mourning into a political act that is easily criminalised.
Collective punishment
It is no wonder that in 2018, the Knesset passed a law that judicially affirmed Israel’s ability to withhold Palestinian bodies until preconditions are accepted for funeral arrangements.
Bodies are kept from bereaved families and utilised for political gain by various parties, despite this being a violation of international humanitarian law. It is a testament to Israel’s effort to control Palestinian bodies and further objectify them, in line with Israel’s common practice of collective punishment.
Gaza is enduring a slow death because of the punitive measures against the entire strip. A man in Rafah once told me: “We are being prepped to be sent to burial.”
But Gaza and the withholding of bodies are not the exception. From the increased surveillance of Palestinians through CCTV cameras stationed across towns and cities, to checkpoints, to incessant home demolitions, Israel is also socially engineering our emotions.
We cannot mourn, move or breathe without considering what Israel’s powerful army may do to us. Israel’s army is among the top 20 most powerful in the world, with a defence budget exceeding $19bn.
The fact that Israel maintains its right to withhold Palestinian bodies “regardless of their political affiliations” shows that the efforts behind this are not simply tied to Israel’s constant explanations of “security” and “defence”.
This is a statement that Israel is in control of not only the land, but the people - and that includes denying the right to mourn those taken from us.
Mariam Barghouti
Hailing from Ramallah, Mariam Barghouti is a Palestinian writer and commentator. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Al-Jazeera English, Huffington Post, Middle East Monitor, Mondoweiss, International Business Times and more.
19 dec 2019
Abdullah Ahmad Abu Teir (Abu Nasr ), 18
An Israeli warplane fired, on Tuesday at night, a missile at a Palestinian youth in the southern Gaza Strip, killing him, before the soldiers took his body away.
Armored Israeli military bulldozers advanced towards the perimeter fence, east of Khan Younis, before the soldiers snatched his corpse and took it away.
Media sources in Gaza said the slain young man has been identified as Abdullah Ahmad Abu Teir (Abu Nasr ), 18, from Abasan al-Kabeera, in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
His father called on international human rights groups to intervene and to secure the transfer of his corpse to his family for proper burial.
The Israeli army claimed that it observed an armed Palestinian near the perimeter fence in the southern Gaza Strip, before instructions were given to an Israeli drone to shoot him.
Eyewitnesses reported that Palestinian ambulances tried several times to reach the youth to save him, but Israeli forces opened fire towards them, preventing them from reaching the site.
They added that Israeli soldiers called on Palestinian ambulances via loudspeakers not move forward, and fired light bombs and announced a state of alert in the area, prior to coming forward with several bulldozers.
His family issued a statement mourning his death on its Facebook Page.
It is worth mentioning that Abdullah’s brother, Ahmad, was killed by Israeli army fire in the same area in the year 2012.
An Israeli warplane fired, on Tuesday at night, a missile at a Palestinian youth in the southern Gaza Strip, killing him, before the soldiers took his body away.
Armored Israeli military bulldozers advanced towards the perimeter fence, east of Khan Younis, before the soldiers snatched his corpse and took it away.
Media sources in Gaza said the slain young man has been identified as Abdullah Ahmad Abu Teir (Abu Nasr ), 18, from Abasan al-Kabeera, in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
His father called on international human rights groups to intervene and to secure the transfer of his corpse to his family for proper burial.
The Israeli army claimed that it observed an armed Palestinian near the perimeter fence in the southern Gaza Strip, before instructions were given to an Israeli drone to shoot him.
Eyewitnesses reported that Palestinian ambulances tried several times to reach the youth to save him, but Israeli forces opened fire towards them, preventing them from reaching the site.
They added that Israeli soldiers called on Palestinian ambulances via loudspeakers not move forward, and fired light bombs and announced a state of alert in the area, prior to coming forward with several bulldozers.
His family issued a statement mourning his death on its Facebook Page.
It is worth mentioning that Abdullah’s brother, Ahmad, was killed by Israeli army fire in the same area in the year 2012.
