[Peace] Fwd: Killing the Future: Children in the Line of Fire

[manni at snafu.de]

Forwarded Message:
> To: portside at yahoogroups.com
> From: "portsidemod" <portsidemod at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Killing the Future: Children in the Line of Fire
> Date: Wed, 02 Oct 2002 19:27:32 -0000
> -----
> Killing the Future: Children in the Line of Fire
> 
> AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
> 
> Amnesty International On-line. 
> http://www.amnesty.org
> 
> 30/09/2002
> 
> More than 250 Palestinian and 72 Israeli children have
> been killed in Israel and the Occupied Territories in
> the past 23 months. When the UN Committee on the Rights
> of the Child meets to consider Israel's periodic report
> on Wednesday October 2, Amnesty International calls for
> a new mindset among Israelis and Palestinians to
> prevent the killing of more children. Killing the
> Future: Children in the Line of Fire, a new report
> issued today by Amnesty International details the way
> in which Palestinian and Israeli children have been
> targeted in an unprecedented manner since the beginning
> of the current intifada.
> 
> "Children are increasingly bearing the brunt of this
> conflict. Both the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and
> Palestinian armed groups show an utter disregard for
> the lives of children and other civilians, Amnesty
> International said today.
> 
> "Respect for human life must be restored. Only a new
> mindset among Israelis and Palestinians can prevent the
> killing of more children."
> 
> The impunity enjoyed by members of the IDF and of
> Palestinian groups responsible for killing children has
> no doubt helped create a situation where the right to
> life of children and civilians on the other side has
> little or no value.
> 
> "Enough of unacceptable reasons and excuses. Both the
> Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority must
> act swiftly and firmly to investigate the killing of
> each and every child and ensure that all those
> responsible for such crimes are brought to justice,"
> the organization stated.
> 
> The international community should heed the call by
> Amnesty International and scores of other NGOs for
> international monitors to be sent to the region. The
> Israeli government should stop refusing the presence of
> international monitors. Amnesty International believes
> that had observers been present in the region since
> October 2000, their presence may have saved the lives
> of Israeli and Palestinian children as well as other
> civilians.
> 
> Killings of Palestinian children
> 
> The majority of Palestinian children have been killed
> in the Occupied Territories when members of the IDF
> responded to demonstrations and stone throwing
> incidents with unlawful and excessive use of lethal
> force. Eighty Palestinian children were killed by the
> IDF in the first three months of the intifada alone.
> 
> Sami Fathi Abu Jazzar died on the eve of his 12th
> birthday after being shot in the head by a live bullet
> fired by Israeli soldiers into a crowd of mostly
> primary school children. The shooting took place in the
> aftermath of a stone throwing demonstration. Six other
> children were injured by live fire in the same
> incident. Amnesty International delegates were present
> in the crowd at the time and concluded that the lives
> of the soldiers were not in danger.
> 
> In the past year Palestinian children have been killed
> when the IDF randomly opened fire, shelled or bombarded
> residential neighbourhoods at times when there was no
> exchange of fire and in circumstances in which the
> lives of the IDF soldiers were not at risk. Others were
> killed during Israeli state assassinations, when the
> IDF destroyed Palestinian houses without warning, and
> by flechette shells and booby traps used by the IDF in
> densely populated areas.
> 
> The large numbers of children killed and injured and
> the circumstances in which they were killed indicates
> that little or no care was taken by the IDF to avoid
> causing harm to children.
> 
> Dina Matar, two-months-old and Ayman Matar, 18-months-
> old, were among nine children killed on 22 July 2002
> when the IDF dropped a one ton bomb from an F-16
> fighter jet on a densely populated area of Gaza city.
> The bomb killed 17 people. The aim of the attack was to
> assassinate a leading Hamas activist, who was among
> those killed. The following day Israel's Prime
> Minister, Ariel Sharon called the attack "one of the
> most successful operations".
> 
> A number of Palestinian children have also died after
> being held up at IDF checkpoints, and delayed or even
> prevented from passing through to reach hospital. At
> least three children have been killed by Israeli
> settlers. In most cases the IDF does not intervene to
> protect Palestinians from Israeli settlers, who
> literally get away with murder.
> 
> Killings of Israeli children
> 
> Israeli children have been killed by armed Palestinian
> groups both in the Occupied Territories and inside
> Israel. The first Israeli child killed in this intifada
> was killed in January 2001 near Ramallah, in the
> Occupied Territories. About 70 percent of the victims
> were killed by Palestinian suicide bombings and others
> were killed in shootings and other bomb attacks on cars
> or public buses.
> 
> In the last 18 months there has been a marked increase
> in attacks on Israeli civilians and an increasingly
> high number of victims have been children. In the first
> seven months of 2002 alone, 36 Israeli children were
> killed by Palestinian armed groups, 19 in Israel and 17
> in the Occupied Territories.
> 
> On 1 June 2001 a suicide bomber blew himself up among a
> group of young people waiting to enter the
> "Dolphinarium" night club. Twelve of the 21 people who
> were killed were aged under 18. Among the victims were
> 14-year-old Maria Tagilchev, outside whose school a car
> bomb had exploded two days earlier and 15-year-old
> Yevgenia Keren Dorfman, who sustained serious brain
> damage and died 18 days later.
> 
> The 'Izz al-Din al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of
> the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, claimed
> responsibility for the bombing and pledged to carry out
> further attacks.
> 
> Twelve people were killed and more than 50 were injured
> by a suicide bomber on the 2 March 2002. The bomb was
> detonated next to a group of women waiting with their
> children, for their husbands to leave the nearby
> synagogue. Those killed included two sisters Shiraz
> Nehmad aged 6 and her two-year-old sister Liran, their
> four cousins LIdor and Oriah Ilan aged 12 years and 18
> months and Shaul and Avraham Eliahu Nehmad aged 15 and
> 17.
> 
> The full text of the report is available at:
> http://www.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/mde020052002
> 
> Public Document
> **************************************** For more
> information please call Amnesty International's press
> office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 Amnesty
> International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web:
> http://www.amnesty.org
> 
> For latest human rights news view
> http://news.amnesty.org
> 
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> 
> 
> 
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