1998, the year of the collective massacres

1998, the year of the collective massacres:

The International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights said in a report that the year 1998 was a bloody year for the Palestinian people. They were exposed to many collective massacres in which a large number of unarmed Palestinian citizens were killed,

–    The massacre of the Tarqumya workers occurred on March 10,1998in which, three workers were killed and nine others were wounded by Israeli soldiers,

–    Five civilians were killed and 400 were shot by the Israeli army on May 14, 1998 during the clashes that followed the Million Man March to commemorate the “Nakba”

–    The months of May and December were the bloodiest months of the year 1998, where 7 martyrs died in each of them.[i]

The Foundation pointed out that the year 1998 witnessed many events of violence and bloody confrontations,

–    Most notably the one that accompanied the assassination and liquidation of four heads of the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas. Mohiuddin Al-Sharif was assassinated on March 29, and the two brothers Adel and Imad Awad Allah were assassinated on the 10^th of September and Zahran Zahran was assassinated on the 29^th of the same month.”

– The confrontations that followed the mass marches in solidarity with prisoners in Israeli jails and the American aggression on Iraq witnessed the highest number of martyrs, during which seven Palestinians were shot dead and a hundred were wounded by Israeli snipers.

–    There was an increase in the number of Palestinian martyrs recorded during the month of December, and most of the injuries were located in the upper parts of their bodies. A number of other citizens were shot with fire bullets that are internationally prohibited,

Because the Israeli authorities had given new orders to its soldiers allowing them to use excessive forces and live ammunitions against protests in Palestinian territories

Israeli authorities also announced the re-formation of the Special Forces also known as “Samson unit”, which brings back to mind the events of the Palestinian Intifada and the groups of death which were responsible for liquidating and killing the activists of the Palestinian resistance at the time; a flagrant violation that threatens the safety and security of Palestinian citizens.

–   There has been a 300% increase in the number of Palestinians killed in 1998 as compared to 1997 as a result of the abuse by settlers and Jewish extremists.

That is considered as a serious indication, that the Israeli authorities do not take necessary measures to curb the abuses of Jewish settlers and extremists. In fact three Palestinians died at the hands of settlers after being shot and stabbed to death.Two other Palestinians died as a result of severe beatings.

–   Three Palestinians died in Israeli jails under different circumstances,

Nidal Abu Srour died of beatings and torture in the Russian Compound prison on 29 December.

Youssef Orai’er died from medical neglect in Ramleh prison’s hospital on June 21.

Ahmed Asfour died in Be’er Al Sabeh prison on 4 October. Another citizen was killed by a land mine explosion from the remnants of the Israeli army.

• Other Palestinian citizens were killed in ways that shows their death came as a result of a conflict with the Israeli occupation forces.

Both Qusay al-Tamimi and Houriya Abu Houshia died because they were late and were not allowed to pass through the checkpoints on their way to get medical treatment,

Salah Abu Hajaj and Leen Yana Abou Aram died as they were run over by a car of settlers.”

The International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights blamed the Israeli authorities for the escalation witnessed in the region during the year 1998 which resulted in the death of dozens of people and the injury of hundreds

International Solidarity also warned of the continuing policy of formation and arming of the so-called settlers militias and the re-activation of the Special Forces.

4-9-1- B’Tselem data

The following data were accurately collected by the crews of “B’Tselem “:

–    The number of deaths in the ongoing period starting with the date of the first intifada December 9, 1987 until August 31, 1998:

• In the Occupied Territories: The number of deaths among Palestinians reached 1439 people, while the number of Israeli deaths was of 158 only.
• In Palestine 1948 (Israel): the number of dead Israelis reached 231, while the number of dead Palestinians reached 55.

–    The number of people killed since the Oslo agreement (September 13,1993 until August 31,1998):

• In the Occupied Territories: The number of Palestinian deaths reached 315, while the number of Israeli deaths reached 68. “[ii]

In addition to this large gap between the number of Israeli victims and Palestinian victims reached in the last decade, another data show of 400 deaths among Israelis and 1,500 deaths among Palestinians.  Data that appeared in B’Tselem report listed below show:

–    Around 480 Palestinians were deported from the area

–    Around 18 thousand Palestinians were arrested and placed under administrative arrest.

• Tens of thousands of them were investigated
• Many were tortured
• A number of houses that were blown up:
• 500 houses were blown up for punishment.
• 80 houses were blown up while Israelis were looking for wanted
• 1800 were blown up under the pretext of not having a construction permit.

4-9-2- Children Victims …

• 277 children died in the last decade
• Most of them were shot dead by the army,
• 23 of them were shot dead by Jewish settlers,
• children among the 23 were slaughtered by Baruch Goldstein.[iii]

According to Helen Antonobiska a member of the Committee on Children’s Rights of the Organization of the Rights of Citizens regarding the 17 other cases: “Ten files were closed due to the lack of suspects, three files ended with light sentences, two files were closed by the acquittal of the accused on technical grounds and one open file disappeared.”[iv]

4-9-3- International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights

The foundation gathered the number of Palestinian casualties as a result of the violence and crimes of the occupation in the following report[v]:

The foundation mentioned:

–    The year 2001 is considered the bloodiest since the beginning of the first Palestinian Intifada in 1987, where about 615 Palestinians were killed at the hands of the occupation forces,

–    The events of this year are characterized by a high proportion of martyrs and injured, as the number of injured reached about thirty thousand, most of the injuries were located in the upper areas of the body, which confirms that the shooter was shooting to kill and not to stop demonstrations.

–    The use of the occupation forces of sophisticated types of weapons such as missiles and planes without any real reason threatening the lives of soldiers or putting them at risk indicates beyond any reasonable doubt the existence of an Israeli decision and the policy of a conspiracy to raise the proportion of deaths and injuries among Palestinian civilians.

–           Israeli soldiers acted with great violence against the demonstrators during the year 2001 without any respect to the sanctity of the blood of children, who accounted for a very high percentage among the martyrs and the wounded. The numbers of martyrs who were under the age of eighteen was223 and accounted for 25% of the total number of martyrs.

[i]. Ibid.

[ii]. Hanegbi report, Maariv Hebrew newspaper 15.09.1998.

[iii]. Ibid.

[iv]. Haaretz Hebrew newspaper7/9/1998.

[v]. Al-Quds newspaper 1/1/2002.