TULKAREM, December 1, 2015 (WAFA) – Following the Israeli
army’s killing of a teenage boy, early Tuesday, after an alleged stabbing
attempt to the south of Bethlehem, soldiers shot dead another Palestinian at
Einab Israeli military checkpoint to the east of Tulkarem, under the same
allegations.
WAFA reported on witnesses as saying that a 19-year-old
female identified as Maram Hasoneh was fatally shot in the head with a live
bullet fired by Israeli army after she allegedly attempted to stab an Israeli
soldier at a military checkpoint near the illegal Einav settlement near
Tulkarem.
Israeli forces reportedly prevented the Palestinian Red
Crescent paramedics’ access to the scene of the shooting. They further closed
the checkpoint from both directions, preventing Palestinian locals’ movement.
This came shortly after Israeli forces shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian following an
alleged stabbing attempt at Gush Etzion junction, south of Bethlehem.
The killing of Hasoneh brings the death toll since the
beginning of unrest in early October, 2015, to 108 Palestinians, including 24
children and four women, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The number
of Palestinians injured during the aforementioned period has reached at least 13,500.
On the 25th of November, the Israeli human rights
center, B’Tselem, sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, “demanding a cessation of the use of lethal force against people who
either harmed, tried to harm, or were suspected of trying to harm others, once
they no longer posed any danger. The letter demanded an end to the horrific
string of summary street executions.”
In the letter, B’Tselem Executive Director, Hagai El-Ad,
wrote, “During your term of office, a new pseudo-normative reality has
effectively emerged, in which a “shoot to kill” approach must always be
adopted, no matter the circumstances, even when the suspect no longer poses any
danger whatsoever.”
“The wave of attacks against Israelis is appalling. Security
forces must protect the public. They must use the force necessary under the
circumstances to achieve this goal. However, police officers and soldiers must
not act as judges and executioners. The person who actually pulls the trigger
bears responsibility for his or her actions, but the prevailing “spirit” is
determined by the commander. As prime minister, you bear ultimate
responsibility,” said the letter.
The letter stressed that, [Netanyahu’s] government permits –
and encourages – the transformation of police officers, and even of armed
civilians, into judges and executioners.”
“It is impossible to bring back to life those who have
already been shot and killed, but it is not too late to stop the moral
bankruptcy that is embodied in the current reality.”
“You bear an obligation to clarify immediately that no one
has the authority to carry out an execution, and that the function of the
security forces is to protect the public’s wellbeing – no less, but also no
more – and that police officers are not to be transformed into executioners on
the street,” concluded the letter.
K.F./T.R.
