Jerusalem. April 9, 2002
The honourable President of the International Court of Justice,
The honourable Members of the Court,
The Registrar of the Court of Justice,
In the last ten days the whole world witnessed the state of Israel waging an all-out war against the civilian non-combatant Palestinian population in the West Bank. The Israeli Defence Forces, under orders from Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, General Shaul Mufaz, the Chief of Staff, and Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the Minister of Defence, have committed atrocities in Ramallah, Bethlehem,Nablus, Jenin,Tulkarem,and every ton an refugee camp they entered Under the pretext of "destroying the infra-structure of terrorism" the Israeli army is wreaking untold damage and sowing death in the towns it is re-occupying. The Israeli army has been arbitrarily shelling refugee camps, using helicopters, fighter jets, tanks and heavy artillery causing the death of hundreds. Medical supplies are prevented, hospitals raided, medical crews attacked, fired on or even used as human shields. Forms of collective punishment include starving the population, being shut off in their homes under curfew, destroying water pipes and electricity cables. The water supply to Ramallah has been shut off, endangering the lives of 120,000 Palestinians. Most recently, there are reports that Israeli forces have committed a massacre in Jenin refugee camp. A war crime is being committed in Jenin.
Jenin refugee camp has been pounded for the last four days by tanks, heavy artillery and fighter jets. More than one hundred civilians died. It is reported that hospitals have not received any bodies or injured persons. Corpses are left lying on the ground in the alleyways of Jenin, while the injured are bleeding to death. The refugee camp has run out of all supplies - water, food, and medical supplies.
Stop this massacre. The Palestinians being massacred need your help.
These atrocities constitute a war crime. They are a grave violation of international human rights law and humanitarian law. The state of Israel is throwing international law to the wall and crushing every single item of the Fourth Geneva Convention under its tanks.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, should stand before the international community to answer for the war crimes he has ordered. To this end, we call upon the International Court of Justice to send fothwith a fact-finding mission to the West Bank to document the crimes being committed; to gather evidence; and to hear testimonies and evidence by the Palestinians in the re-occcupied towns. If this is impracticable at the moment due to the war launched by the Israeli army, we call upon the Court to send a fact-finding mission to areas from which the Israeli Defence Forces withdraw.
The international community should live up to its obligations. The inaction of the international organisations towards such blatant crimes is discrediting the force and essence of international law.
Sincerely
Mohammed Barakeh
Member of the Knesset
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