PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TO REFER ISRAELI EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS TO ICC

Ramallah, 1 Muharram 1437/14 October 2015 (MINA) – PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat said on Tuesday that the Palestinian leadership will refer the Israeli extrajudicial killings of Palestinians to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

During a press conference in Ramallah, Erekat said after a noticeable increase in Israeli extrajudicial killing of Palestinians, and unless the Palestinian leadership refers this issue to the ICC, there will be more “collective executions” of Palestinians by the Israeli security forces.

Erekat asked the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, to visit to the occupied Palestinian Territories and start an immediate investigation into “field executions” carried out by Israeli security forces and Jewish settlers, Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) quoting the Palestinian News Agency WAFA reported.

“The Israeli trend of dealing with Palestinians is field executions, then unjust trials that are interpreted in one sentence: good work! Whoever kills a Palestinian in cold blood then it is a good work,” Erekat said.

Erekat recalled the deadly arson attack on the Dawabsheh family home in the Nablus village of Duma on July 31, as well as the arson murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khader, age 17, who was brutally murdered by Jewish fanatics in a Jerusalem forest in July 2014.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 30 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli army and security forces between the period from October 1 – 13.

The West Bank and Jerusalem have been witnessing growing tension due to the Israeli government’s increasing support for Israeli settlers’ provocative encroachment of al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, Islam’s third holiest site.

Israel’s attempts to change the status quo and impose a temporal division on the site between Muslims and Jews sparked Palestinians’ fear and anger.

The situation has also been significantly deteriorating since the deadly arson attack on the Dawabsheh’s family home on July 31, which was carried out by Jewish settlers. Since Reham Dawabsheh died of critical wounds sustained in the arson attack on September 6, a total of 29 Palestinians died in September and October of 2015. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)