October 26, 2014 - Dr. Ashrawi: “Israel’s actions are nothing short of state-sponsored terrorism”
PLO Executive Committee member, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, stated, “We strongly denounce the deliberate execution of Palestinian-American teenager, Orwa Abd al-Wahhab Hammad (14) who was shot and killed with live ammunition in the Palestinian village of Silwad on October 24.”
“This tragic incident, in addition to the killing of Bahaa Samir Badr (12) on October 16, is part of a flagrant policy of terror and violence targeting Palestinian children. Israel’s actions which are nothing short of state-sponsored terrorism are in direct contravention of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which Israel ratified in 1991.”
“Israel’s use of excessive and indiscriminate violence constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law,” stressed Dr. Ashrawi.
“We call on the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and other members of the international community to take immediate action and adopt the necessary punitive measures required to hold Israel accountable for its use of live ammunition and for the extrajudicial killings of Palestinian civilians, among other violations of international and humanitarian law.”
“Furthermore, we, the Palestine Liberation Organization, request that the United Nations Human Rights Council establishes an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate the circumstances surrounding the unlawful and willful killings of Orwa Abd al-Wahhab Hammad, Bahaa Samir Badr and the other eight Palestinian children who have been killed by Israeli forces with live ammunition in the West Bank since the beginning of 2014.”
In addition, Dr. Ashrawi condemned Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel’s intent to move into the Palestinian town of Silwan in Occupied Jerusalem: “I would like to remind Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel that in accordance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law the ‘deportation or transfer, directly or indirectly, by the occupying power of parts of its own population into the territory it occupies’ is illegal. By willfully defying international law and consensus, Israel is inciting terrorism and confirming that it is more interested in creating a ’Greater Israel’ with Jerusalem as its ‘complete and united capital’ than backing any peace resolution that ends the military occupation of Palestine and calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
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