• 60 year old dies at military gate: Denied medical treatment
• Four year old girl, two 16 year olds, a 19 and a 21 year old boy among the Palestinian dead of the last ten days.

UPDATE

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Two die at Balata camp's “death entrance”

On Monday Hussam Sameer Abu Zeitoun 16 years old was shot dead as he hurled stones at Israeli jeeps invading the Balata refugee camp in Nablus.

Hassam was shot in the eye as he threw stones at Israeli army jeeps invading the Balata Refugee camp through the southern entrance. Residents of the camp refer to the entrance as the “death entrance” as ten young Palestinians have been shot and killed there.

55 Palestinians from the Balata camp have been killed since the beginning intifada

On July 17th Yasser Khallil Tantawi 21 years old was executed by Israelis in a similar situation and in precisely the same place. Yasser was also throwing stones at Israeli jeeps when he was shot. Jarer Qanadilo of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society heard the shots and went to help but was prevented from getting close Yasser. The medics spoke with an Israeli commander who assured them they would be allowed to attend to the injured but upon second attempts they were again denied access. Jarer who had been close enough to Yasser to see he was alive then watched as further bullets were fired at his body lying on the ground. He watched this execution take place in front of his very eyes, he said.

Prevention of Medical Treatment

On the evening of Tuesday 20, 60 year old Abed El Latif Emlitat, died in his son's car after waiting an hour and a half to be allowed to pass through a checkpoint to reach a waiting ambulance.

According to Majed Abed El Latif, his father died at a military gate that barricades the entrance to Beit Fourik village. His father had experienced chest pains in the evening and the family was directed by their doctor to take him to hospital in Nablus. Because however the gate to the village is closed every evening at 7pm the family were forced to wait for an hour and a half. The ambulance had come to the gate to collect the elderly man but neither they nor he were allowed to cross.

On Sunday afternoon in Rafah, 19 year old Jamille Ismail al-Faramawi was shot as he tried to reach his home, damaged in previous Israeli raids on the Egyptian border, on the dge of the Rafah refugee camp. Israeli forces shot him in the abdomen as he approached and then continued their firing preventing any attempts to give medical assistance.

The Abu Youssef Najar hospital made every effort to coordinate their assistance with the Israeli authorities at the DCO however their ambulance waited for four hours unable to reach Jamille. The boy was left to bleed to death over 18 hours. His body not retrieved until the early hours of Monday morning. Witnesses confirmed that he was civilian, unarmed and simply trying to reach his house, one of dozens being demolished every day at the border.

Israeli Random shooting kills two Gaza girls

Also on Sunday, four year old Samar Fojo, died in the European Hospital in Khan Younis, after being shot in the head by Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah on the 7th of the month.

Only last week 16-year-old Hanine Awda Abu Simhdana was killed as she walked with her brother to the mosque near to her house.

On both occasions the girls were killed by random firing was from the Philidelphi border area between Gaza and Egypt.

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UPDATE UN General Assembly demands Israel tear down West Bank barrier Wednesday, July 21, 2004

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution yesterday demanding that Israel comply with a World Court decision and tear down the barrier it is building to seal off the West Bank.

The resolution which was passed with 150 in favour, 6 opposed and 10 abstentions mirrors the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and demands that the barrier be dismantled and reparations be paid to Palestinians harmed by its construction. Israel who refused to recognize the July 9 World Court ruling, has also condemned the resolution however if the issue now goes to the Security Council Israel may have to pay more heed to the statutes of international law, as the Security Council theoretically has the power to impose economic sanctions. Despite the UN resolution Israel has vowed not only to press on but to speed up the construction of the 400 mile wall. While Israel claims the construction is intended to place a divide between Israel and the Palestinians it in fact cuts deep into the West Bank seizing vast areas of Palestinian land and annexing illegal settlements into Israel while isolating and dividing several Palestinian communities into ghettos cut off from employment, schools, families and health facilities.

Palestinian and international organizations are calling for the resolution to set the stage for a pressure campaign that could lead to sanctions against Israel if it doesn't comply.

For more information contact: The Palestine Monitor +972 (0)2 298 5372 or +972 (0) 59254218 www.palestinemonitor.org