Monday, December 26, 2011

Rights group calls for stop of Israeli shooting of activists

RAMALLAH, December 25, 2011 (WAFA) – The Palestinian rights group, Stop the Wall, has sent an urgent complaint to UN Special Rapporteurs and diplomatic missions urging them to investigate Israeli targeted shooting of activists, according to a press release issued Sunday.

The complaint came following the shooting of a 20-year-old protester in the village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, exactly two weeks after the killing of Mustafa Tamimi in the same village when hit directly in the face by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli soldiers.

It quoted eyewitnesses from the village as saying that they noticed two soldiers advancing alone towards the protesting crowd, one staying behind the other, and when they were between 10 to 15 meters from the protesters the soldier in the back took out a pistol, aimed it at the 20-year-old youth and shot him in the leg.

“Stop the Wall denounces this shooting as a further grave breach of international law and Palestinian human rights,” said the complaint.

It said the Israeli army actions “are premeditated and targeted. They are by no means aimed at crowd control but at targeting the most active human rights defenders and depriving individuals and entire communities from their fundamental civil and human rights, including their right to life.”

It said “Israel should be held accountable for its crimes and that the international community in 2012 takes effective steps to stop Israeli violations of Palestinian national, human and civil rights. Silence is complicity.”
Palestine News & Info Agency - WAFA

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