(GushShalomPress) "killed while trying to flee"

[Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)]

GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - http://www.gush-shalom.org/

Press release - Aug. 3, 2002

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
"KILLED WHILE TRYING TO FLEE"
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

The following letter was sent by us right now to Ha'aretz 

Dear editor

In an internet update of Haaretz English of today is written: 

"Another Palestinian, a wanted Hamas militant, was killed in the village of
Salem, east of Nablus, while trying to flee IDF troops." 

It appears in the Amos Harel article*. 
We would like to draw your attention to the version of Al-Haq. 

"At approximately 2:00 am on August 2nd Israeli soldiers shot and killed
Amjad Abdel Hadi Jebour in front of his family after detaining him in the
village of Salem, which is located east of Nablus."

The old and respectable Palestinian Human Rights organization Al-Haq sent out the 
following press release:

For Immediate Release
Al-Haq Statement
Sender: owner-alhaq at kiwi.shabaka.net

For Immediate Release
Al-Haq Press Release # 133


3 August 2002


   Al-Haq Condemns the Execution by Israeli Soldiers of Amjad Jebour

At approximately 2:00 am on August 2nd Israeli soldiers shot and killed
Amjad Abdel Hadi Jebour in front of his family after detaining him in the
village of Salem, which is located east of Nablus.  Amjad was 31 years old,
married and the father of five children.  Al-Haq’s fieldworker in Nablus
gathered the following information from witnesses to the killing.

According to Al-Haq’s information, Israeli forces entered into the village
of Salem during the early morning hours of August 2nd with the aim of
arresting Palestinians Israel accuses of being involved in “militant
activities”.  Around 2:00 am soldiers knocked on the door of Mohammad , a
neighbor of Amjad Jebour.  When Mohammad answered his door he found his
house surrounded by Israeli soldiers.  He was called out of the house,
physically searched, and then questioned by an Israeli officer.  The officer
told Mohammad that his name was Captain Guy, that he was an officer with Shabak,
the Israeli security services, who had previously been responsible for the area
around Salem, and that he was returning to once again take control of the area. 
He then asked Mohammad questions about the people who live in the area around
his home.  When Mohammad mentioned Amjad Jebour’s name, Captain Guy 
commented
that this was the first night in a year that Amjad had been in his home.  He
then forced Mohammad to come with him to Amjad’s home.

When they arrived at Amjad’s home, Mohammad reported that soldiers were
already surrounding the home.  Mohammad was made to knock on Amjad’s door to
tell him to come outside to the soldiers.  Amjad came into the doorway of his
house at which point a bright light was shone upon him and he was forced to take
off his clothes to prove that he was not carrying a weapon or explosives.  After
this examination was finished he was allowed to put his clothes back on and was
ordered to reenter the house to gather his ID card. When he returned outside
with his ID he was ordered to also retrieve his mobile phone and wallet.  He
called inside to his wife for these items, and she brought them to him.  After
he had turned over his wallet, ID and phone to the soldiers both Mohammad and
Amjad’s wife reported that Amjad’s hands were bound behind his back and he was
then brought to stand next to an army jeep located approximately ten meters from
the home.  The military spotlight and streetlights in the area made it possible
to see clearly what happened next.

According to Mohammad, a soldier standing approximately four meters to the
left of Amjad fired a single shot into Amjad’s neck as he stood next to the
jeep.  After the shot was fired several of the soldiers began to shout at each
other in Hebrew.  Mohammad, who speaks Hebrew, reported that one of the soldiers
yelled, “I told you to injure him, not to kill him.”  After Amjad was shot, he
took several steps and then collapsed, after which several soldiers dragged his
body approximately 30 meters down the road.  The soldiers stayed around Amjad’s
body for another 15 minutes until it was confirmed that he was dead.  They then
left the village.  Mohammad’s testimony regarding the killing of Amjad Jebour
was corroborated by Antar Hamdan, Amjad’s next door neighbor, who watched the
killing from the window of his home.

Yesterday’s killing of Amjad Jebour qualifies as an extra judicial
execution, and thereby as a willful killing, which is a grave breach of the
Fourth Geneva Convention and a war crime.  Any killing of a civilian that is
intentional or is not justified by military necessity qualifies both as a grave
breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention under Article 147 and as a war crime.

The definition of the term “willful” found in the official Commentary to
article 85 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions states that,
“the accused must have acted consciously and with intent, i.e., with his
mind on the act and its consequences and willing them…”  The International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia examined the issue of willful
killing in depth in the Celebici Case.    The court held that willful
killing is equivalent to murder.  However, there is a distinction between a
“willful killing” and any other killing, which is found in the intent or mens
rea of the person or persons who carried out the killing.   The judges in the
Celebici case ruled that for a killing to be deemed “willful” intent to kill
must be proven.  The court went on to rule that intent is present where there is
demonstrated an intention on the part of the accused to kill, or inflict serious
injury in reckless disregard of human life.   A death that can be deemed the
accidental consequence of another action cannot be deemed “willful”.

In the Celebici Case the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia also found that, “the offence of willfully causing great
suffering or serious injury to body or health constitutes an act or omission
that is intentional, being an act which, judged objectively, is deliberate and
not accidental, which causes serious mental or physical suffering or injury.”  
Willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health is also a
Grave Breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention under Article 147 and qualifies as
a war crime.

The statements made by Israeli soldiers and heard by the witnesses
interviewed by Al-Haq indicate that the decision to shoot Amjad was
premeditated.  According to these statements there was intent to at least
injure Amjad.  The soldier who shot Amjad and those responsible for ordering
Amjad shot clearly violated the prohibitions against willfully causing great
suffering or serious injury to body or health. In shooting Amjad the soldiers
also showed a reckless disregard for his safety and, according to witnesses, had
a stated intent to cause him grave injury.  Because Amjad died as a result of
the wounds willfully inflicted upon him, the shooting therefore also meets the
threshold needed to qualify this case as a willful killing as defined in the
Celebici Case.  As such Israel must take action to hold those responsible for
this crime accountable. If Israel fails to act, the international community
should intervene to hold Israel accountable for its continued violations of
Palestinians’ human rights.

In this light Al-Haq calls for the following.

1.	Israel must investigate yesterday’s attack in Salem and must take action upon
any findings of the said investigation to hold those responsible for violating
international law accountable. 2.	Dr. Asma Jahangir Special Rapporteur of the
Commission on Human Rights on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
should visit the Occupied Palestinian Territories to fully investigate all cases
of assassination that have occurred since the outbreak of the Intifada and to
report on his findings to the relevant international bodies. 3.	States Parties
to the Fourth Geneva Convention must act immediately under their obligations as
outlined in Articles 1, 146, and 147 of the convention to provide the
Palestinian people with protection from continued Israeli grave breaches of the
Convention. 4.	The United Nations must fully implement all resolutions related
to the Occupied Territories passed during meetings of the Human Rights
Commission during the last two years, and should press the Security Council to
authorize action to end Israel’s systematic violation of international
humanitarian law. 5.	The international community must send a clear signal to
Israel that its continued use of military force against a civilian population
will not be accepted, and that the continued use of such force would lead States
Parties to take action in an attempt to bring Israel into compliance with
international law.

* For the full text of the Amos Harel article:
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=193670&contrassID=1&
subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0