Despite the promise to ‘end all Israeli army operations against Palestinians, anywhere’ by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, eight Palestinians have been killed and many more injured by Israeli armed forces’ gunfire since the so-called ‘Sharm El-Sheikh Ceasefire’ was agreed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on 8 February. All attacks took place on Palestinian territory and were carried out by Israeli occupying forces. At least two killings took place during a premeditated and carefully planned army operation. Two of the other fatalities were children. Meanwhile, Palestinian militants have attempted a few attacks on Israelis but failed to cause any casualties. Aside from this, Palestinian security forces have worked hard to prevent Palestinian militants from responding to Israeli attacks. This has resulted in the death of one Palestinian security officer and several sackings of officials held responsible for failing to prevent armed Palestinian responses to Israeli breaches of the ceasefire agreement. The result is a marked asymmetry between an Israeli failure to honour the ceasefire due to Israeli belligerence with impunity and an earnest Palestinian attempt and success in honouring its side of the deal. If this asymmetry is not remedied immediately, Israel must be held responsible by the international community for unprovoked, systematic and large-scale aggression, i.e. for attempting to start a new war.
On 10 February, Israeli troops positioned at a checkpoint set up at the Uyoun Al Haramiya junction on the Ramallah-Nablus road opened fire towards a civilian vehicle, killing the driver. The army claimed that the driver had not stopped at the checkpoint. It also claimed that it later found out that the vehicle had been reported stolen in Jerusalem.
On the same day, a 20-year-old man was fatally shot while walking near his home in Rafah. Israeli forces had opened fire at the civilian from the nearby Bene Atzmon settlement. They later claimed that the man had been about to ‘infiltrate’ the settlement.
On 14 February the Israeli soldiers shot and killed 15-year-old Sabri Fayez Ar Rujoub for allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier in the old city of Hebron with a sharp instrument. Palestinian eyewitnesses, however, said the child had not attempted to attack any of the soldiers. He was shot once in the leg and then several times as he lay wounded on the ground, according to the witnesses.
Israeli military ‘border guards’ near the segregation wall in the town of Beituniya outside Ramallah, i.e. deep inside Palestinian territory, opened fire with live ammunition towards a number of children allegedly throwing stones at their van, killing one child and injuring another, on 15 February. The child killed was 15-year-old Ala’ Hani Dar Khalil.
On the same day, the Israeli army raided the village of Kafr Qalil near Nablus, imposed a curfew, and surrounded a house. An armed confrontation took place between the Israeli army and the two armed Palestinian individuals inside, Issam Hamzeh and Mahyoub Mir’eb Al Qannah, during which the Israeli soldiers killed the Palestinians. The soldiers also opened fire at an ambulance attempting to transport the killed individuals and forced other ambulances to leave the area.
On 20 February Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians in the area of Rafah. The victims were ‘suspected of attempting to smuggle weapons from Egypt’, according to Israel Radio. One of the victims, 29-year-old Hamid Abbas, was shot in the head and back, according to medics at Gaza’s Rafah hospital. An Israeli military source said troops had opened fire on a group of suspected Palestinians in a closed military zone on the Rafah border.
Another Palestinian was shot by Israelis in Khan Younis on the same day, according to Al Jazeera. A 16-year-old was shot in the back in Khan Younis by occupation troops ‘protecting’ nearby Israeli settlements but his condition was not thought to be serious, Palestinian medical sources reported.
In one of many efforts to adhere to agreements and crack down on militancy, Palestinian Authority security forces began to uncover and close tunnels between southern Gaza and Egypt, which have been used in the past to smuggle firearms into Gaza. A Palestinian police officer died when one of these tunnels collapsed on 20 February, burying him and three others. The other officers escaped with injuries. On 10 February Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas fired three senior Palestinian security commanders and several other officers for failing to prevent Palestinian resistance groups from firing homemade shells at Israeli settlements in Gaza in response to the first two killings of Palestinians since the ceasefire. The dismissed commanders included southern Gaza’s Security Commander Omar Ashour, the West Bank and Gaza Public Security Chief Razeq Al-Majavdah and National Police Chief Saeb al-Ajez. Officials said these were punitive measures against officers who did not carry out their duties and responsibilities. Israel has failed dismally to reciprocate these moves.
Ten Palestinians were wounded on 21 February in clashes with Israeli soldiers during a demonstration against the illegal Israeli separation wall east of Modi’in. Several hundreds of Palestinian, Israeli and foreign protesters demonstrated in the Palestinian village of Bil'in against the construction of the wall in the area. The soldiers used tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets against the demonstrators.
There were many other violent provocations and attacks on Palestinians which did not involve gunfire, but might have ended with lethal results. For example, on 15 February at a demonstration including international peace activists, which took place in Hebron in protest against construction of a settler and military road, confrontations took place between the Israeli army and civilians, during which a number of civilians and international peace activists were injured as Israeli troops beat them with rifle butts. Parts of Hebron's old city including a Muslim cemetery have been confiscated and will be demolished to enable the construction of the road. On 19 February, Israeli troops positioned at a checkpoint set up south of Jericho arrested Bahjat Mohammed Habaybeh and took him to the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim after severely beating him. The Israeli army notified Habaybeh’s family to pay a fine of NIS 1,000 (US$250) in exchange for his release. On the same day groups of extremist Jewish settlers from the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba and the illegal settlement outposts in the old city of Hebron held rallies during which they threw stones at civilians and civilian property, injuring eight Palestinian civilians. The settlers also prevented a number of civilians from accessing their homes.
Common decency, fairness, and international law demand a swift end to the violence against Palestinians by the state of Israel and its illegally stationed settlers on illegally confiscated Palestinian territory and punishment for all those who have broken the ceasefire. Whereas there may have been an element of provocation in a few of the incidents, none of these required or justified the use of lethal force in the Israeli response. Thus, aside from unprovoked Israeli attacks, there were disproportionate responses. Moreover, since the ‘ceasefire’ came into effect the Israeli government has approved the construction of a new illegal settlement and an extended trajectory of the illegal annexation wall into Palestinian territory. These are also violations of the ‘Middle East Road Map to Peace’, and they amount to further acts of aggression by the state of Israel.
