Dubai: Saleh Amarin, 15, Lubna Hanash, 21, Mustafa Tamimi, 28, and Mo’ayad Ghazawneh, 35, were among the scores of young Palestinians killed in the past few years as a result of Israel’s “reckless use of force” in the West Bank, a report by Amnesty International said.
They were killed either for throwing stones or for just for passing by at the wrong time. Some of those killed were shot by live ammunition, and some were killed by tear gas canisters or after inhaling tear gas, the report that was published on Thursday said.
“Israeli forces have displayed a callous disregard for human life by killing dozens of Palestinian civilians, including children, in the occupied West Bank over the past three years with near total impunity,” a press statement by the human rights watchdog said.
Titled Trigger-happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank, the report has documented the killings of 22 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank in 2013, and said at least 14 of them were in the context of protests.
Most were young adults under the age of 25. At least four were children.
According to UN figures, more West Bank Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in 2013 than the total number killed in 2011 and 2012 combined. Forty-five were killed in the past three years. The killing came as a result of Israel’s using “unnecessary, arbitrary and brutal force” against the Palestinians since January 2011.
In all the cases examined by Amnesty international, the Palestinians killed “didn’t appear to be posing a direct and immediate threat to life. In some, there is evidence that they were victims of wilful killings”, which “would amount to war crimes”.
“The report presents a body of evidence that shows a harrowing pattern of unlawful killings and unwarranted injuries of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces in the West Bank,” Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International, was quoted as saying.
“The frequency and persistence of arbitrary and abusive force against peaceful protesters in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers and police officers — and the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators — suggests that it is carried out as a matter of policy.”
Speaking to Gulf News from London, Saleh Hijazi, a researcher in the North Africa and Middle East section at Amnesty international, said the report offers a new element. “While there was no military conflict on the ground in the West Bank in the past three years, there was an increase in the number of the Palestinians killed as a result of Israel’s excessive use of violence.”
The human rights organisation contacted Israeli authorities twice; mid last year and earlier this year. However, no response was received, Hijazi added.
“Our mission is to keep track of (human rights violations), write and publish reports,” he added, as well as continue to put pressure on the Israeli government to adhere to international conventions.
“The role of human rights organisations is to document violations and act on the basis of calling to account.”
He added that Palestinian civilians living in the West Bank should be protected just the same as anyone else under international law.
Israeli soldiers and security officers continue shooting civilian Palestinians because “they feel they can get away with it and they are not accountable for their actions.”
Hijazi praised the role of both Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups in the West Bank and Israel, especially the Israeli group B’Tselem, for their “great work and daily coverage to events”.
If it was not for these group’s efforts, “Amnesty international couldn’t produce such a work,” he added. It was B’Tselem that followed up with Israeli authorities to investigate several Palestinian deaths.
In some cases, they pressure the courts to reopen investigations on killings. However, Amnesty International said that Israeli authorities have not revealed the results of many of the killings.
“The current Israeli system has proved woefully inadequate. It is neither independent nor impartial and completely lacks transparency. The authorities must conduct prompt, thorough and independent investigations into all suspected instances of arbitrary and abusive use of force, especially when resulting in loss of life or serious injury,” Luther said.
