Israeli civilians victims of attacks by armed Palestinian groups © Médecins du Monde Juillet 2003 ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS VICTIMS OF AN ENDLESS CONFLICT Press Conference July, 21, 2003 There are no right or wrong victims… 1 Israeli civilians victims of attacks by armed Palestinian groups © Médecins du Monde Juillet 2003 ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS VICTIMS OF AN ENDLESS CONFLICT Two-part survey : First Part Second Part "Operation "Protection Wall" "Israeli civilians victims of Nabulus" attacks by armed Palestinian groups" Médecins du Monde – FIDH joint Médecins du Monde survey mission survey mission West Bank – May 2002 Jerusalem – August 2002 Published: July 2002 Published: July 2003 Report available from Médecins du Report available from Monde Médecins du Monde www.medecinsdumonde.org www.medecinsdumonde.org Report hereunder Médecins du Monde, 62 rue Marcadet 75018 – Paris Tel. (33-1) 44 92 15 15 F. (33 1) 44 92 99 99 www.medecinsdumonde.org 2 Israeli civilians victims of attacks by armed Palestinian groups © Médecins du Monde Juillet 2003 Israeli civilians victims of attacks by armed Palestinian groups "Life will never be the way we once imagined it could be. I would like to thank you because this is the first time anyone has come to us to try to evaluate the consequences of the attacks". Ana, victim of an attack in a bus, in Afula, April 6, 1994 Directeur de la publication : Dr. Claude Moncorgé Coordination du Rapport : Médecins du Monde, 62 rue Marcadet 75018 Paris www.medecinsdumonde.org 3 Israeli civilians victims of attacks by armed Palestinian groups © Médecins du Monde Juillet 2003 Overview "There are no right or wrong victims". from a certain number of Territories and These words were first spoken in 1979, during the transferred some responsibilities to the Palestinian founding mission of Médecins du Monde, in favour Authority. Three zones were defined. of the Vietnamese Boat People in the China Sea. In Zone A, containing 98% of the Palestinian They have now become a part of our population of the West Bank, internal affairs and organisation's identity. domestic security were under Palestinian control, only external security remained under Israeli Since that first mission, the history of Médecins du responsibility. In Zone B, domestic and external Monde has been marked by the concern to security were both under Israeli control. Zone C provide medical care for civilians and to bear was completely under Israeli control. witness to the traumatic experiences of civilian populations caught up in countless conflicts; from The failure of the Camp David and Taba the early 1980s, in El Salvador, Afghanistan, Iraqi negotiations and the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Kurdistan, the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda, Intifada in September 2000 led to an escalation of Croatian, Serbian and Moslem Bosnian violence that has persisted to this day. communities in Yugoslavia, the Albanian majority then the Serbian and Gipsy minorities in Kosovo, Since 2002 and, in particular, since "operation today in Chechnya, and the list goes on. defensive shield", the Israeli army has made a large number of incursions into the different zones in There are no right or wrong victims. These words the West Bank and in the Gaza strip, and also apply to the civilian populations in the Israeli- reoccupied certain locations. Today, these zones Palestinian conflict. are no longer a reality, for the Israeli army has reoccupied zone A from which it had previously withdrawn its forces. Military operations now take Recent historical background place in all 3 zones. According to a statement by the Israeli Prime Minister "Oslo has been buried". In the wake of the 1967 "Six Day War" involving several neighbouring Arab states and Israel, Israel took control of different territories. Civilians are the main victims These were the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which were part of Jordan, the Gaza strip which As a humanitarian medical organisation, for many was under Egyptian administration, and the Golan years now Médecins du Monde has been Heights, belonging to Syria. developing medical programmes for the benefit of The UN Security Council resolution 242 the Palestinian population. demanded, on the one hand, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Occupied territories, and, Alongside its programmes, Médecins du on the other hand, the right of all the nations MondeDwishes to denounce, in the context of this present in the region to live in peace with safe, conflict, the violence perpetrated against the recognised borders. civilian populations by the forces present. However, East Jerusalem was officially annexed by The civilians on both sides have paid heavily for the Israel and, over the years, many Israeli settlements escalation in violence, in Israel as in the Occupied were set up in the Occupied territories. territories. The UN Security Council demanded in vain that Israel renounce the building of these "settlement A first document was produced a year ago, based colonies" in the Occupied territories1. on field surveillance work. This report described, assessed and qualified, with respect to International After the Oslo agreements were signed in 1993 by Humanitarian Law, the actions of the Israeli army the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and against the Palestinian civilian population, within the Israeli government, the Israeli army withdrew the framework of the "Defensive shield" operation in the town of Nablus2. 1 st See Security Council resolution number 465 of March 1 , 1 1980. 2 Médecins du Monde – FIDH report on operation "Defensive shield" in Nablus, July 2002 4 Israeli civilians victims of attacks by armed Palestinian groups © Médecins du Monde Juillet 2003 Here we are presenting the second part of the observed that they are still just as keen to meet work conducted by our teams. The purpose is and work together. once more to describe, measure and qualify, again with respect to International Humanitarian Law, In September 2003, Médecins du Monde will be the actions of the armed Palestinian groups aimed involved in the "medical days for peace" organised at the Israeli civilian population, which are a part of by the city of Lille, which is twinned with the the armed conflict between Israelis and towns of Nablus and Safed. Palestinians. In this way, Médecins du Monde initiates medical co-operation and tries to help maintain bridges The role of civil societies between the medical communities of the two sides. Médecins du Monde is convinced that civil societies But we also know that the breaches of the on both sides have a key role to play to escape this fundamental principles of International spiral of terror and commit to a peaceful solution. Humanitarian Law have a radical effect, day after day, on public opinion. These breaches nurture Hundreds of Palestinian intellectuals, well-known hatred and destroy the forces for peace. They personalities and politicians have signed an appeal render vain the efforts to find a political solution for an end to the attacks against civilians. The and therefore durable peace in the region. signatories can see no benefits arising from We therefore feel obliged to describe these violent "military" operations aimed at civilians in Israel, acts, from our work in the field and from "apart from the consecration of hatred between our eyewitness accounts, and to qualify them with people and the Israeli people and the widening of the respect to International Humanitarian Law, gulf between them. They kill the hope of seeing two denounce them, call upon the parties in the conflict peoples living side by side in neighbouring states". to respect the principles of this legislation, and call upon the international communities to do The same peace initiatives exist and are active in everything possible to make sure these principles Israel. They are expressed on a political level by are respected. the Shalom Arshav movement (Peace Now), by the political party Meretz, by the voices of intellectuals This is what we endeavoured to do in the first such as Amos Oz, David Grossman, academics like report presented in July, 2002, jointly with the Ilan Greilsammer or Eli Barnavi, Human Rights FIDH, entitled "Operation "Defensive shield" organisations such as B’Tselem, Physicians For Nablus". Here, we are presenting the second part Human Rights, and religious personalities such as of our work, based on the observations we made Emile Shousani (Nazareth priest) and the religious in 2002. organisation "dove" Netivot Shalom (the Paths of Peace). Médecins du Monde has always endeavoured to strive in this direction : to help to bring the Israeli and Palestinian medical communities closer together. In 1992, we organised a first colloquium in Paris, between Palestinian and Israeli colleagues. At the end of 2000, when the 2nd Intifada was in full force, a second meeting was organised at the organisation's headquarters, to help maintain the dialogue between the two medical communities. Since then, in Israel and in the Palestinian territories, we have continued to keep the dialogue open and encourage co-operation. We have Summary A first report was produced a year ago, jointly with the FIDH, based on the findings of a field investigation. That report described, evaluated and qualified, with respect to International Humanitarian Law, the behaviour of the Israeli army against the Palestinian civilian population, in the framework of operation "Defensive shield" in the town of Nablus in April 2002. 5 Israeli civilians victims of attacks by armed Palestinian groups © Médecins du Monde Juillet 2003 We are presenting here a second investigation by our teams, the aim of which is also to describe, measure and qualify, again with respect to International Humanitarian Law, the acts of the armed Palestinian groups with respect to the Israeli civilian population. Executive Summary of repeated attacks. The attacks against Israeli civilians take place both in Israel and in the Since the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in September Occupied territories.