UNITED NATIONS A General Assembly Distr. GENERAL A/49/67 4 February 1994 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH Forty-ninth session REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE ISRAELI PRACTICES AFFECTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE AND OTHER ARABS OF THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES Note by the Secretary-General The Secretary-General has the honour to transmit to the members of the General Assembly the attached periodic report covering the period from 28 August to 30 November 1993, which was submitted to him, in accordance with paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 of Assembly resolution 48/41 A of 10 December 1993, by the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories. 94-06359 (E) 250294 /... A/49/67 English Page 2 CONTENTS Paragraphs LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL .................................................. I. II. INTRODUCTION ......................................... INFORMATION RECEIVED BY THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ........ A. General situation ................................ 1. 2. General developments and policy statements ... Incidents resulting from the occupation ...... (a) List of Palestinians killed by troops or Israeli civilians ....................... List of other Palestinians killed as a result of the occupation ................ Other incidents ......................... 1-7 8 - 326 8 - 143 8 - 73 74 - 143 Page 4 5 6 6 6 15 74 15 (b) 74 75 - 143 22 25 (c) B. Administration of justice, including the right to a fair trial ..................................... 1. 2. Palestinian population ....................... Israelis ..................................... 144 - 170 144 - 162 163 - 170 171 - 258 171 - 220 171 - 173 174 - 195 36 36 38 39 39 39 40 C. Treatment of civilians ........................... 1. General developments ......................... (a) (b) Harassment and physical ill-treatment ... Collective punishment ................... (i) Houses or rooms that were demolished or sealed .......................... Imposition of curfews, sealing off or closing of areas ................ Other forms of collective punishment 174 - 182 40 (ii) 183 - 194 195 196 - 199 41 42 42 (iii) (c) Expulsions ............................. /... A/49/67 English Page 3 CONTENTS (continued) Paragraphs (d) (e) 2. Economic and social situation .......... Other developments ..................... 200 - 219 220 Page 43 46 Measures affecting certain fundamental freedoms .................................... (a) (b) (c) (d) Freedom of movement .................... Freedom of education ................... Freedom of religion .................... Freedom of expression .................. 221 - 229 221 - 226 227 228 229 46 46 47 47 48 3. Information on settlers' activities affecting the civilian population ..................... 230 - 258 259 - 280 259 - 274 275 - 284 285 - 320 48 52 52 54 56 D. Treatment of detainees .......................... 1. 2. Measures concerning the release of detainees Other information concerning detainees ..... E. F. Annexation and settlement ....................... Information concerning the occupied Syrian Arab Golan ........................................... 321 - 326 61 /... A/49/67 English Page 4 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 14 January 1994 Sir, The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories has the honour to transmit to you herewith, in accordance with paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 of General Assembly resolution 48/41 A of 10 December 1993, a periodic report updating information contained in the twenty-fifth report, which it adopted and presented to you on 27 August 1993 (A/48/557). The present periodic report has been prepared in order to bring to your attention, and to the attention of the General Assembly, updated information on the human rights situation in the occupied territories. The present periodic report covers the period from 28 August to 30 November 1993. It is based on written information gathered from various sources among which the Special Committee has selected relevant excerpts and summaries, which are reflected in the report. Accept, Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration. Stanley KALPAGE Chairman of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories His Excellency Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali Secretary-General of the United Nations New York /... A/49/67 English Page 5 I. INTRODUCTION 1. In its resolution 48/41 A of 10 December 1993, the General Assembly: "5. Requests the Special Committee, pending complete termination of the Israeli occupation, to continue to investigate Israeli policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, to consult, as appropriate, with the International Committee of the Red Cross according to its regulations in order to ensure that the welfare and human rights of the peoples of the occupied territories are safeguarded and to report to the Secretary-General as soon as possible and whenever the need arises thereafter; "6. Also requests the Special Committee to submit regularly to the Secretary-General periodic reports on the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territory; "7. Further requests the Special Committee to continue to investigate the treatment of prisoners in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967". 2. The Special Committee continued its work under the rules of procedure contained in its first report to the Secretary-General and held the first of its series of meetings from 12 to 14 January 1994 at Geneva. On 20 September 1993, the President of the General Assembly informed the Secretary-General that Yugoslavia had been replaced by Malaysia, which would be represented on the Special Committee by Dato' Abdul Majid Mohamed, Ambassador of Malaysia to the United States. The first series of meetings was, therefore, attended by Mr. Stanley Kalpagé (Sri Lanka) who continued to act as Chairman, and Mr. Ibrahima Fall, representing Mr. Alioune Sene (Senegal), and Dato' Abdul Majid Mohamed (Malaysia). 3. The Special Committee decided to continue its system of monitoring information on the occupied territories and, in accordance with paragraph 7 of resolution 48/41 A, to pay special attention to information on the treatment of prisoners. The Special Committee examined information appearing in the Israeli press and in the Arab language newspapers published in the occupied territories, on developments that had occurred in the occupied territories between 28 August and 30 November 1993. Other materials related to its mandate were also made available. 4. The Special Committee also decided upon the organization of its work for the year. It agreed to address itself to the Governments of Egypt, Jordan and the Syrian Arab Republic with a view to seeking their cooperation in the implementation of its mandate. The Special Committee also agreed to address itself to the Observer for Palestine and to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Finally, the Special Committee decided that at its next series of meetings it would undertake hearings in the area for the purpose of recording relevant information or evidence. /... A/49/67 English Page 6 5. On 14 January 1994, the Special Committee addressed a letter to the Secretary-General seeking his intervention in an effort to secure the cooperation of the Government of Israel. 6. The Special Committee also examined the present report, which was adopted on 14 January 1994. 7. The geographical names and the terminology employed in the present report reflect the usage in the original sources and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Special Committee or the Secretariat of the United Nations. II. INFORMATION RECEIVED BY THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE A. General situation 1. General developments and policy statements 8. On 31 August 1993, during a meeting of the Knesset Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security, the Deputy Chief of Staff, Amnon Shahak, stated that the Israeli-Palestinian agreement would make it more difficult for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to carry out deterrent operations in the occupied territories. Shahak also raised the problem of coordinating IDF efforts with the work of the Palestinian police force during searches for wanted Palestinians. Shahak added that the present plan of the Israeli army was to maintain its presence in the occupied territories. (Al-Tali'ah, 2 September 1993) 9. On 5 September 1993, Police Minister Moshe Shahal met with the leaders of settlements in the West Bank in order to discuss the creation of civil guard units that would assume police duty in certain parts in the territories. (Jerusalem Post, 6 September 1993) 10. On 6 September 1993, it was reported that the General Security Service (GSS) and IDF forces had recently discovered a gang of Islamic Jihad activists from the Bethlehem and Hebron region. The 18 arrested suspects were accused of committing a series of grenade attacks in the area. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 6 September 1993) 11. On 8 September 1993, security forces captured in the Nuseirat refugee camp a Fatah Hawk gang headed by the Hawk commander for central and southern Gaza. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 9 September 1993) 12. On 11 September 1993, PLO officials indicated that the PLO was inviting its fighters from all over the Arab world to move into the territories as a security force by the end of the year, when the peace accord took effect. They indicated that up to 20,000 members of the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA), which was formed in 1964 as the conventional military arm of the PLO, would maintain law and order in the Gaza Strip and in Jericho when the IDF pulled out. (Jerusalem Post, 12 September 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 7 13. On 13 September 1993, Israel and the PLO signed a declaration of principles and an agreement on mutual recognition at a historic White House ceremony. The mutual recognition had been unanimously approved by the Israeli Cabinet a day earlier. The United States Secretary of State, Mr. Warren Christopher, and the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Andrei Kozyrev, stood as official witnesses while the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Israel, Mr. Shimon Peres, and a senior PLO official, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), signed the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, which was to begin with Gaza and Jericho. They also countersigned the letters of recognition that Messrs. Rabin and Arafat had exchanged a week earlier. (Jerusalem Post, 13 and 14 September 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 16 September 1993) 14. On 13 September 1993, according to a poll conducted by the Centre for Palestine Research and Studies, almost 65 per cent of Palestinians in the territories supported the Israel-PLO agreement. The survey of 1,244 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza was conducted on 10 and 11 September. (Jerusalem Post, 13 September 1993) 15. On 16 September 1993, the Israeli Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ehud Barak, outlined the new tasks of the IDF following the Israeli-PLO Declaration of Principles. Barak stated that, first of all, the army had to take into account the new situation in Jericho and Gaza when considering foreign security issues. The IDF also had to ensure the security of settlements and safety on the main roads by maintaining the necessary forces, a relatively complicated matter. (Al-Tali'ah, 16 September 1993) 16. On 23 September 1993, the Knesset approved the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles and Mutual Recognition by a vote of 61 to 50, with 8 abstentions. (Jerusalem Post, 24 September 1993) 17. On 24 September 1993, it was reported that plans were under way to create an "autonomy police force", which would operate together with the new Palestinian police in the territories. According to Police Ministry sources, some 10,000 persons would be recruited into the unit, and the police would be composed of civil guard volunteers and uniformed police, and would be strengthened by officers taken from the army. They would be responsible for the security of settlement residents. (Jerusalem Post, 24 September 1993) 18. On 26 September 1993, security officials informed the Cabinet that PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization had not perpetrated any attacks against Israelis since the accord was signed at the White House two weeks earlier. The result was a significant decline in disturbances, a high-ranking security official told the Cabinet. (Jerusalem Post, 27 September 1993) 19. On 26 September 1993, in order to avoid charges that Jerusalem sought to maintain economic control of the territories, Prime Minister Rabin reportedly told the weekly Cabinet session that it was the Palestinians, and not Israel, who should initiate calls for joint economic projects during the period of self-rule. (Jerusalem Post, 27 September 1993) 20. On 28 September 1993, it was reported that Palestinian police recruits were on the lookout for attempts by members of Hamas, the Popular Front for the /... A/49/67 English Page 8 Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and other groups opposed to the peace process to infiltrate the planned Palestinian police force in order to obtain weapons. Since applications had begun to be considered on 23 September, Palestinians had been signing up in very large numbers for the police force. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 persons had filled in the forms so far (also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 30 September 1993). All Palestinians between the ages of 18 and 35 were eligible to apply. (Ha'aretz, 24 and 28 September 1993; Jerusalem Post, 28 September 1993) 21. On 28 September 1993, Police Minister Moshe Shahal stated during a meeting with the heads of the settlements in the Jerusalem area that the settlements in the greater Jerusalem area (Maaleh Adumim, Givat Zeev, Betar and Gush Etzion, including Ephrat) would receive police reinforcements. (Jerusalem Post, 29 September 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 30 September 1993) 22. On 30 September 1993, a combined operation by security forces in Kabatiya resulted in the arrest of Ahmed Kmeil, 31, who had been sought for three years as the head of the Black Panthers, one of the largest gangs in the Jenin area. Five other wanted fugitives were also arrested. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 1 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 30 September 1993) 23. On 30 September 1993, according to the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Report, an official of the Israeli Government, who refused to identify himself, stated that the Housing Ministry was studying the possibility of offering compensation to settlers who would be willing to leave their settlements when self-rule entered into force. (Al-Tali'ah, 30 September 1993) 24. On 2 October 1993, IDF soldiers, Border Police and undercover troops attacked the hide-outs of suspected armed Hamas activists in six locations in Gaza. Two gunmen were killed and 16 wanted gunmen and their accomplices were arrested. Large quantities of weapons were also found. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 3 October 1993) 25. On 2 October 1993, PLO offices in the territories completed recruitment for the Palestinian police force, after having been swamped with applications. According to Palestinian sources, some 5,000 applicants from Gaza and 7,000 from the West Bank would be considered. The final decision concerning the choice for hiring would be made in Tunis. (Jerusalem Post, 3 October 1993) 26. On 3 October 1993, it was reported that a week earlier, 44 engineers, 6 lawyers and 6 doctors had left for Egypt to be trained as police officers, prosecutors, forensic specialists and traffic planners. The police force was expected to confront Hamas gunmen who might try to attack Israelis and Palestinians. (Jerusalem Post, 3 and 14 October 1993) 27. On 3 October 1993, it was reported that the Beersheba and Gaza Bar Associations would soon begin holding joint courses for their members. (Jerusalem Post, 4 October 1993) 28. On 4 October 1993, it was reported that 19 members belonging to three different gangs of Izz Al-din al-Qassan, the military wing of Hamas, who were operating in the Jerusalem, Hebron and Bethlehem areas were apprehended by the /... A/49/67 English Page 9 security forces. The gangs were responsible for the murders of IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens, and the killing and wounding of several Palestinians whom they suspected of cooperating with the Israeli authorities. (Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post, 4 October 1993) 29. On 5 October 1993, it was reported that several days earlier one of the most wanted men in Khan Younis, Anouar Kadiah, 26, had written a public protest letter complaining against the way the IDF was carrying out arrests of fugitives. Attached to his letter was a list of 109 wanted fugitives from all organizations in the Gaza Strip. According to Kadiah, the list had been prepared by an IDF intelligence group in the Gaza Strip and had found its way to the cell that he was leading. He did not explain how. The list, dated 24 August, cited 13 names, including his own. According to Kadiah, the people whose names were listed were to be killed during their arrest. In fact, a directive to carry out the "short procedure of arrest" appeared at the end of the list next to the marked names. Human rights activists claimed that, according to this procedure, IDF soldiers were entitled to open fire at masked and armed suspects without going through all the steps of the regular procedure of arrest: issuing a warning, shooting in the air and shooting at the legs. The IDF spokesman denied that soldiers in the territories were instructed to kill fugitives or that they had such a list in their possession. He did not comment on the "short procedure of arrest". (Ha'aretz, 5 October 1993) 30. On 7 October 1993, Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmad Yasin reportedly declared that his movement would pursue its attacks against Israel until the end of the Israeli occupation. Sheikh Yasin added that this policy did not exclude participation in the elections for members of the Autonomy Committee. The Hamas leader had called for the boycott of the elections a month earlier. (Al-Tali'ah, 7 October 1993) 31. On 8 October 1993, it was reported that following a request by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak aimed at encouraging Egyptian tourism in Israel, the Rafah border crossing would begin operating 24 hours a day beginning on 10 October. (Jerusalem Post, 8 October 1993) 32. On 11 October 1993, Joseph Alpher, the Director of the Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies at the University of Tel Aviv, told a colloquium on the Israeli-PLO accord that Israel was obliged to protect Palestinians who helped the authorities from revenge attacks when Palestinian rule came into effect and that Israel would consider holding a number of prisoners in order to guarantee their safety. Some 1,400 such persons and their families live near an IDF camp at Fahme, near Jenin. Others live in Israel or maintain close contacts with the IDF. (Jerusalem Post, 12 October 1993) 33. On 12 October 1993, Police Inspector-General Rafi Peled reported that plans to pull the Israeli police out of Jericho and Palestinian-controlled areas of Gaza had almost been completed. According to Peled, police stations would be moved out of Arab communities, where they were now located, and would be transferred to Jewish communities. He stated that police stations would be set up in large Jewish communities while other measures would be taken in smaller ones. In particular, the present Judea District police headquarters would probably be moved from Bethlehem to Maaleh Adumim while the Shomron District /... A/49/67 English Page 10 headquarters would be transferred from Nablus, possibly in April 1994. In Gaza, new police headquarters would be built either at the Erez checkpoint or at Nahal Oz. (Jerusalem Post, 13 October 1993) 34. On 14 October 1993, it was reported that the Deputy Defence Minister Mordechai Gur had approved the reinforcement of security arrangements for the settlements in Gaza, along the confrontation line, and around Jericho. The improvements included better lighting, security fences, communications equipment and foot patrols. They would cost the army some $4.7 million. (Jerusalem Post, 18 October 1993) 35. On 14 October 1993, it was reported that the Palestinian police force would recruit 7,000 local applicants from among the more than 30,000 who had applied. The police force in the Gaza Strip would be headed by a former officer of the Israeli police, Ibrahim Mouhanna. (Jerusalem Post, 14 October 1993) 36. On 14 October 1993, it was reported that according to figures compiled by the police the number of uprising-related disturbances in Jerusalem had declined dramatically since the signing of the accord with the PLO. The police presence in Jerusalem was also strengthened because of intelligence information indicating that rejectionist Palestinian "terrorist" groups would use violence in order to try to undermine the peace process. (Jerusalem Post, 14 October 1993) 37. On 14 October 1993, Yesrael Midad, the spokesman of the Committee of Israeli Settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, declared that Jewish settlers would begin a full confrontation with Palestinians if Yasser Arafat were to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. (Al-Tali'ah, 14 October 1993) 38. On 17 October 1993, Police Inspector-General Rafi Peled revealed at a press conference that police installations in Arab towns and villages in the territories would be turned over to the new Palestinian police force. He also indicated that the few remaining Palestinian members of the Israel police should join the new Palestinian police force. Hundreds of Palestinian residents of the territories left the police force at the beginning of the uprising in order to protest Israeli rule and under pressure from uprising leaders not to cooperate with the Government. (Jerusalem Post, 18 October 1993) 39. On 19 October 1993, it was reported that Fatah activists in Gaza had condemned the recent spate of killings for which Hamas had taken responsibility. However, a Hamas leader in Jordan stated that the killings would continue. Mohammed Nazzal told the AFP that killing people was an aspect of the uprising. A month earlier, Hamas had announced that it would not attack Palestinians in order to avoid a civil war. (Jerusalem Post, 19 October 1993) 40. On 20 October 1993, it was reported that the IDF would soon begin the construction of a 61-kilometre-long fence around the Gaza Strip, in anticipation of the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Arab-populated areas. The fence would separate the Gaza Strip from Israel and would have six or seven gates. (Ha'aretz, 20 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 21 October 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 11 41. On 21 October 1993, it was reported that the IDF would build a security fence around the Gush Katif settlements. New roads would also be built to link settlements such as Kfar Darom and Betsrim to the Israeli territory. According to the IDF plan, the border crossing in Rafah would remain under Israeli control. Well-informed sources warned that the deployment of the IDF around the settlements would entail the seizure of additional adjacent Arab land. (Al-Tali'ah, 21 October 1993) 42. On 24 October 1993, it was stated in a Fatah memorandum that a secret security apparatus consisting of some 3,000 volunteers would be deployed around Gaza within 48 hours in order to protect the lives and property of Palestinians. The memorandum was issued after the assassination of leading Fatah activist Assad Siftawi. Two other Fatah officials had also been shot dead during the past months. (Jerusalem Post, 24 October 1993) 43. On 25 October 1993, Halil (Husseini Halil) Zeino, 24, an armed member of the Fatah Hawks who had been on the IDF wanted list for three months heard that his name was on a list of seven fugitive gunmen who would be pardoned if they turned themselves in. He thought that the announcement was an Israeli trap until he was actually caught the same day by troops who had stopped his car. He surrendered on the spot. He was disarmed, questioned about his friends and his attitude toward the peace process, and sent home. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 28 October 1993) 44. On 27 October 1993, B'tselem, the Israeli Information Centre on Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, announced its opposition to the granting of amnesty to all prisoners, Palestinian and Israeli, who had been sentenced for homicide. The organization also called upon the Palestinian leaders to stop the torture and killing of Palestinians. (Ha'aretz, 29 October 1993) 45. On 28 October 1993, some 30 young Palestinians who were expected to join the Palestinian police force held a brief march in Jericho to mark the beginning of their activities in the town. More than 2,000 young Palestinians who were recruited into the Palestinian police were to start working the following weekend (on 30 and 31 October), although their recruitment had not been coordinated with Israeli officials. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 29 October 1993) 46. On 28 October 1993, Palestinian leaders from across the political spectrum appealed to the Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem not to vote in the 2 November municipal elections, in protest against Israeli rule in eastern Jerusalem. (Jerusalem Post, 29 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 28 October 1993) 47. On 29 October 1993, the army announced that it had captured 27 Palestinians belonging to the fundamentalist Islamic movement Hamas and to the PLO's PFLP faction in the Gaza Strip. Weapons, documents and money were also found. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 31 October 1993) 48. On 29 October 1993, Israel Television reported that Israel had informed 10 Fatah militants from the Gaza Strip that they had been removed from the army's wanted list. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 31 October 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 12 49. On 31 October 1993, two members of the Fatah Hawks, Samia Buri, 31, from the Shati' refugee camp, and Osama Ahmed, 22, from the Jabalia refugee camp, surrendered at IDF headquarters in Gaza after being assured that they would subsequently be freed. (Jerusalem Post, 1 November 1993) 50. On 1 November 1993, a group of 47 Israeli notables, including three former Members of the Knesset (MKs), called on members of the IDF and police to disobey orders to evacuate settlements, should they be issued. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 1 November 1993) 51. On 1 November 1993, a leaflet was released in eastern Jerusalem, purported to be from Hamas, attacking Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek and threatening violence against Arab residents who voted in the municipal elections on 2 November. More than 90,000 of Jerusalem's nearly 400,000 eligible voters are Arabs, although Arab residents traditionally do not vote in order to protest against Israeli rule of the city. (Jerusalem Post, 2 November 1993) 52. On 3 November 1993, the leader of the Fatah Hawks in the Gaza Strip surrendered to the Civil Administration. Hisham Joudeh, 29, was released immediately after stating that he had not killed anyone. He had been wanted for two years but was on a list of 10 persons distributed by the authorities to whom they had granted amnesty. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 4 November 1993) 53. On 4 November 1993, it was reported that fewer than 8,000 Arab residents had voted in the Jerusalem municipal elections. (Jerusalem Post, 4 November 1993) 54. On 4 November 1993, diplomatic sources in London stated that the BBC would train Palestinian broadcasters and provide material for a Palestinian radio station that the British Government would help to establish in the West Bank. The PLO had already concluded an agreement with the French network France 2 to help develop a Palestinian television station. Agreement on the radio station would be part of a British aid package for the Palestinians. Other elements included the training of a Palestinian security force and of administrative personnel and accountants. (Jerusalem Post, 5 November 1993) 55. On 4 November 1993, a report by the Land and Water Establishment for Studies and Legal Services, which is based in Jerusalem, showed that during the month of October three houses had been demolished, 158 dunums of land fenced off or confiscated and 1,780 trees uprooted, mainly in Jerusalem but also in other parts of the West Bank. (Al-Tali'ah, 4 November 1993) 56. On 5 November 1993, it was reported that the European Union intended to focus its activity in the territories in Gaza first, where it was planning to establish a central Palestinian university for Palestinian students from all over the world. The European Union had reportedly become the largest single financial contributor to the region when it decided to invest the equivalent of $600 million to promote economic development in the territories and thus contribute to the peace process. (Jerusalem Post, 7 November 1993) 57. On 14 November 1993, a gang of five young Fatah members who are believed to be responsible for the Mizrahi killing on 23 October was discovered in the /... A/49/67 English Page 13 El-Bireh area. They told interrogators that they had acted on their own and not on the organization's orders. PLO leader Yasser Arafat condemned the killing. It was the first time that Arafat had condemned a specific attack by Palestinians in Israel or in the territories. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 14 November 1993) 58. On 17 November 1993, Fatah activists distributed leaflets calling for a continuation of the uprising in retaliation for the death of Rawzi Ghazawi, who was killed when soldiers fired at stone-throwers in a school in El-Bireh. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 18 November 1993) 59. On 17 November 1993, it was reported that the GSS had recently arrested a Fatah gang whose three members were responsible for the killing of four Israelis in 1990. (Ha'aretz, 17 November 1993) 60. On 18 November 1993, IDF soldiers and Border Police arrested in the Gaza Strip several Palestinians belonging to the Hamas and Fatah movements. Some of them were armed with pistols, axes and knives. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 19 November 1993) 61. On 21 November 1993, it was reported that Israel was planning to remove the names of 30 members of the Fatah Hawks in Gaza from the list of wanted men as a gesture towards the Palestinians. As a result, the men would be able to obtain new identity papers from the Gaza Civil Administration and would not be required to hand over their weapons. The list was drawn up by security officials together with senior Fatah members in Gaza and was agreed upon at the Cairo talks. (Jerusalem Post, 21 November 1993) 62. On 21 November 1993, eight or nine Fatah Hawk activists in Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah gave themselves up at the local Civil Administration offices. They were promptly released because they were among the 30 Fatah gunmen whose names had been removed from the IDF wanted list. Since the signing of the Israeli-PLO agreement, some 14 fugitives had given themselves up and were subsequently released. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 22 November 1993) 63. On 22 November 1993, it was reported that Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert had created a stir among the city's Palestinian population by calling for the evacuation of the Shu'fat refugee camp. Asked about his plans for the camp in an interview with the eastern Jerusalem-based Al-Quds newspaper, Olmert stated that his primary goal was to evacuate the Shu'fat refugee camp. A spokesman for Olmert indicated that the mayor was misquoted in the English translation of the interview and that what he had said was that he hoped that improvements would be made in Shu'fat. (Jerusalem Post, 22 November 1993) 64. On 23 November 1993, three PLA officers arrived from Egypt to prepare the groundwork for the deployment of the Palestinian police force the following month. They arrived with 22 young men who had graduated from a two-month bodyguard course in Egypt. (Ha'aretz, 23 and 24 November 1993; Jerusalem Post, 24 November 1993) 65. On 24 November 1993, in the first student council elections in the territories since the signing of the Israel-PLO accord, Fatah, which had /... A/49/67 English Page 14 controlled Bir Zeit University for the previous eight years, was ousted by an alliance of radical PLO factions and Hamas. (Jerusalem Post, 25 November 1993; Ha'aretz, 26 November 1993) 66. On 25 November 1993, it was reported that the IDF had prepared a questionnaire to determine the motivation and morale of its soldiers after the signing of the accord with the PLO. The soldiers were asked about the morale of their units, if they thought that open-fire orders should be changed and if their relationship with Palestinian civilians had changed following the accord. The questionnaire also sought the soldiers' opinions on various subjects such as searches for wanted fugitives and the defence of Jewish settlements. (Jerusalem Post, 25 November 1993) 67. On 25 November 1993, it was reported that Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem planned to establish a "Jerusalem National Council" to manage the affairs, including education, development and security, of the city's Palestinian population. The council was to be composed of eight departments, including economy, land, services, finance, defence and public safety. Funding for the Council was to come from foreign aid to be received by the PLO for the development of Palestinian self-government in the territories. (Ha'aretz, 25 November 1993; Jerusalem Post, 26 November 1993) 68. On 25 November 1993, it was reported that Hamas and the PLO had joined forces in the Shu'fat refugee camp in order to attack Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert for calling for the camp's evacuation. However, the mayor's spokesman, Haggai Elias, in the first official response to Olmert's remarks ("My main target is hopefully to get rid of the Shu'fat refugee camp. This is an important question and should be a landmark for my administration."), declined to comment on the Al-Quds interview, which was conducted in English immediately after the local election, stating that the mayor had repeated in the media, including the Arabic-language media, that he wanted to improve conditions in the Shu'fat refugee camp, not evacuate it. (Jerusalem Post, 25 and 26 November 1993) 69. On 25 November 1993, the Palestine Human Rights Information Centre reported that 20 Palestinians had been killed at Israeli checkpoints since January 1993. According to Israeli sources, most of the persons who were killed were shot at when they refused to obey to halt. Khaled Batrawi, from the Al-Haq human rghts organization, commented that soldiers did not issue any warning before opening fire. (Al-Tali'ah, 25 November 1993) 70. On 26 November 1993, it was reported that the Jerusalem police and the security forces had recently arrested the members of two cells operating in the Jerusalem area (Sur Baher and Abu Tor). (Ha'aretz, 26 November 1993) 71. On 29 November 1993, the Jerusalem police spokesman announced the capture of a four-member Hamas cell on 4 November in Jerusalem. The members of the cell confessed to police interrogators that they had intended to kidnap and murder a soldier or a settler. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 29 November 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 15 72. On 29 November 1993, the Fatah Hawks organized an operation in the Gaza Strip after announcing that they would no longer observe a truce with the IDF. (Jerusalem Post, 30 November 1993) 73. On 30 November 1993, the IDF attempted to restore calm to the troubled Gaza Strip by promising Fatah leaders to take a series of confidence-building measures. In a meeting with senior Fatah figures in the Gaza Strip, Officer Commanding Southern Command, Maj.-Gen. Matan Vilna'i, promised to free several dozen Palestinians who had been arrested in recent days, unseal several houses, reduce the number of roadblocks and reduce the number of troops in heavily populated areas. In response, the Fatah leaders reportedly promised to do their best to restore calm. (Jerusalem Post, 1 December 1993) 2. Incidents resulting from the occupation 74. The following abbreviations of the names of newspapers are used in the tables (Al-Fajr is temporarily unavailable): AT H JP (a) Al-Tali'ah Ha'aretz Jerusalem Post List of Palestinians killed by troops or Israeli civilians Place of residence Nuseirat refugee camp (Gaza Strip) Date 31 Aug. 1993 Name and age Azzam Abu Armana, 20 Remarks and source Shot dead by undercover troops. Waved an axe, threatening Palestinian drivers leaving for their jobs in Israel. Together with an accomplice, he approached the soldiers who were in a car brandishing knives in a "life-threatening manner. According to the IDF, the troops had opened fire in accordance with the regulations. Palestinian sources indicated that the two men had tried to escape. (JP, 1 Sept. 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 16 Date 3 or 4 Sept. 1993 Name and age Name not reported Place of residence Khan Younis (Gaza Strip) Remarks and source Shot and killed when he stabbed a soldier near the front gate of a military camp in Khan Younis. (H, JP, 5 Sept. 1993) Reportedly hit in the chest when soldiers fired at stone-throwers from a distance of more than 100 metres from a rooftop post. Investigation under way. (JP, 7 Sept. 1993) Fired at soldiers while attempting to escape arrest in Gaza City. Was a wanted Red Eagles fugitive. (H, JP, 8 Sept. 1993) ) ) ) ) ) Both were shot dead by Border Police when youths opposed to the Israel-PLO peace accord threw stones at the supporters of the agreement and at soldiers in Ramallah. (H, JP, 12 Sept. 1993) Shot dead by a soldier after he had stabbed a bus driver to death near Kfar Silver. Was armed with a knife and grenades. Hamas activist. (H, JP, 13 Sept. 1993) Shot dead after he attacked (by stabbing or shooting) and slightly injured a soldier at an observation post above the building of the Gaza municipality. (H, JP, 15 Sept. 1993) 6 Sept. 1993 Ghazi Khateb, 17 Bureij refugee camp (Gaza Strip) 7 Sept. 1993 Adel (Hamis Halil) Mussa, 24 Gaza City 10 or 11 Sept. 1993 Iyad (Abd el) Basset, 17 Nidal (or Nazal) Ramadan, 17 Bir Nivalla (West Bank) El-Bireh (West Bank) 12 Sept. 1993 Iman Atallah Rimal neighbourhood (Gaza Strip) 14 Sept. 1993 Name not reported Gaza Strip /... A/49/67 English Page 17 Date 14 Sept. 1993 Name and age Name not reported Place of residence West Bank Remarks and source Wanted fugitive. Shot dead when he and an accomplice shot and injured four soldiers at an army roadblock near Hebron. (H, JP, 19 Sept. 1993) Shot dead by troops when he ignored their orders to halt and tried to escape and drive his car through the roadblock. (H, JP, 19 Sept. 1993) Died of wounds sustained in a clash with troops on 10 September. (JP, 20 Sept. 1993) Shot dead by police near Kiryat Malachi in the early morning after he had allegedly tried to run over some officers while trying to drive through a checkpoint. Investigation under way. (H, JP, 23 Sept. 1993; also referred to in AT, 23 Sept. 1993) Died in Shifa hospital after being wounded during a clash with soldiers in the camp. Palestinian sources stated that the clash had occurred when the residents of the camp intervened in order to prevent soldiers from arresting suspected Fatah gunmen. (H, JP, 23 Sept. 1993) 15 Sept. 1993 Name not reported, 18 or 24 Nablus (West Bank) 19 Sept. 1993 Imad Shariff, 16 Locality not reported 22 Sept. 1993 Abd el-Wahab Abu Umar, 22 or 25 Jerareh (Gaza Strip) 22 Sept. 1993 Yusef Fayez Abu Eada (or Ida), 17 or 18 Jabalia refugee camp (Gaza Strip) /... A/49/67 English Page 18 Date 2 Oct. 1993 Name and age Hamed (Salem el-) Karinawi, 24, and Musa Saed, 24 Place of residence Bureij refugee camp (Gaza Strip) Remarks and source Karinawi was apparently the leader of the Izz Al-din al-Qassam group, the military wing of Hamas, in central Gaza. Both men were wanted by the IDF and were killed when soldiers threw a grenade into their bunker. (H, JP, 3 Oct. 1993) Wanted Fatah Hawk activist, was armed with a Kalashnikov. Killed in a clash with an undercover Border Policeman. (H, JP, 6 Oct. 1993; also referred to in AT, 7 Oct. 1993) Member of the Islamic Jihad. Shot and killed near Kibbutz Erez after he threw a grenade at soldiers. Armed with an UZI sub-machine-gun. (H, 6 Oct. 1993; also referred to in AT, 7 Oct. 1993) According to Palestinian sources, was fatally shot by mistake, when soldiers fired at a car whose driver refused to obey orders to stop for a security check in Gaza. According to the IDF spokesman, he was shot when he threw stones at the IDF. (H, JP, 17 Oct. 1993) 5 Oct. 1993 Na'il Mohamed Sale Al Rifi, 20 or 22 Gaza City 5 Oct. 1993 Main Mohamed Mustafa al Borei, 20 Gaza Strip 15 or 16 Oct. 1993 Anwar Abu Nasr, 21 or 24 Rafah refugee camp (Gaza Strip) /... A/49/67 English Page 19 Date 20 Oct. 1993 Name and age Marim Relvan Place of residence Khan Younis (Gaza Strip) Remarks and source Fatally injured when she was hit by an army jeep carrying soldiers to quell disturbances in the city's market-place. (JP, 21 Oct. 1993; also referred to in AT, 21 Oct. 1993) Shot dead by his Israeli employee after he had attacked and shot him. (H, JP, 1 Nov. 1993) Shot and killed while fleeing from a roadblock in Kalkiliya. (H, JP, 1 Nov. 1993) Killed in a shoot-out with the army, which was surrounding the house near Hebron in which he had taken refuge. Wanted fugitive, armed with sub-machine-gun and pistol. (H, JP, 9 Nov. 1993) Shot by the army after he had ignored orders to halt while crossing a roadblock on foot at A-Ram, northern Jerusalem. (H, JP, 14 Nov. 1993; also referred to in AT, 18 Nov. 1993) Shot by the army at a checkpoint. (AT, 11 Nov. 1993) Shot dead by an Israeli he had attacked with an axe. (H, JP, 16 Nov. 1993; also referred to in AT, 18 Nov. 1993) 31 Oct. 1993 Tamer Zeyara, 17, or Samir Halil Ziara, 21 Azmi (Abd elMajid) Kdeih, or Kadiah, 20 Salim Mahmoud Atiah, 22 Gaza City 31 Oct. 1993 Huza, east of Khan Younis (Gaza Strip) Beit Awa (West Bank) 8 Nov. 1993 12 or 13 Nov. 1993 Mohammed (Latif) Adnan Saad, 22 Nablus (West Bank) 13 Nov. 1993 Eyad Mahmud Badran, 18 Mohammed (Abdel) Jawi Yakin Burkan, 26 Kablan 15 Nov. 1993 Hebron (West Bank) /... A/49/67 English Page 20 Date 16 Nov. 1993 Name and age Sami (or Shadi) Musalah Mohammed Issa, 18 Place of residence Bureij refugee camp (Gaza Strip) Remarks and source Shot dead by an Israeli civilian after he had stabbed two Israelis near the Erez checkpoint. (H, JP, 17 Nov. 1993; also referred to in AT, 18 Nov. 1993) Shot dead when soldiers fired at stone-throwers at a school in El-Birah. Investigation under way. (H, JP, 17 and 18 Nov. 1993; also referred to in AT, 18 Nov. 1993) Died in hospital of wounds sustained on 15 November 1993 in an IDF shooting or when shots were fired from a passing Israeli vehicle. (H, 21 Nov. 1993) Fatally shot by soldiers after trying to drive into an IDF convoy with a stolen garbage truck. (H, JP, 23 Nov. 1993) Killed when soldiers opened fire after the car in which he was riding had failed to stop at a roadblock in Gaza City. Investigation under way. (H, 24 Nov. 1993; JP, 24 and 25 Nov. 1993; also referred to in AT, 25 Nov. 1993) 16 Nov. 1993 Rami Ezzat Ghazawi, 16 Mazrat el-Nubani (Gaza Strip) 18 Nov. 1993 Hassan as-Sufi, 30 Rafah (Gaza Strip) 22 Nov. 1993 Muamar Kassin, 25, or Muamar Salah al-Mubair, 20 Sajaia (Gaza Strip) 23 Nov. 1993 Mohammed Ahmad (al) Fara, 35 Khan Younis (Gaza Strip) /... A/49/67 English Page 21 Date 24 Nov. 1993 Name and age Imad Akkel, 21 or 24 Place of residence Jabalia refugee camp (West Bank) Remarks and source Head of the Izz Al-din al-Qassam, the Hamas military arm, in Gaza. Shot dead by security forces or undercover troops. Responsible for attacks on both Israelis and Palestinians. (H, JP, 25 and 26 Nov. 1993) Wanted fugitive. Killed when he did not stop at a roadblock (or after a car chase in the camp). (JP, 25 and 26 Nov. 1993) Died in hospital of wounds sustained when soldiers shot at a suspicious car in Gaza City. (H, 26 Nov. 1993; JP, 28 Nov. 1993) Senior Izz Al-din Al-Qassam leader in the West Bank. Shot dead by a special police force after they had chased him from his hide-out in Sur Baher. (H, JP, 28 Nov. 1993) Fatah fugitive who had turned himself in two weeks earlier and was released by the army. Shot by undercover forces in unclear circumstances during a gunfight. Armed. (H, 29 Nov. 1993; JP, 29 and 30 Nov. 1993, 1 Dec. 1993) No information provided. (H, 30 Nov. 1993) Bystander wounded on 26 November 1993. Died in hospital. (JP, 30 Nov. 1993) 24 Nov. 1993 Name not reported, 18 Jabalia refugee camp (West Bank) 25 Nov. 1993 Ahmed Abdallah (Ahmed), 26 Saudi resident 26 or 27 Nov. 1993 Khaled (Mahmoud Mustafa) (Az)-Zayir Hirmallah (West Bank) 28 Nov. 1993 Ahmed Abu (el) Rish Khan Younis (West Bank) 28 Nov. 1993 29 Nov. 1993 Farid Yussuf Ibrahim Matar, 26 Farid Imter, 26 Khan Younis (Gaza Strip) Khan Younis (Gaza Strip) /... A/49/67 English Page 22 Date 30 Nov. 1993 Name and age Name not reported Place of residence Sheikh Radwan (Gaza Strip) Remarks and source Killed when an IDF patrol came under fire and when troops shot back. (JP, 1 Dec. 1993) (b) List of other Palestinians killed as a result of the occupation Place of residence Shabura/Rafah (Gaza Strip) Gaza Strip Date 29 Aug. 1993 2 Sept. 1993 Name and age Name not reported Ramadan Sousi Remarks and source (H, 30 Aug. 1993) Murdered in his bed by two Palestinians who entered Shifa hospital and stabbed him to death. He had been hospitalized after being stabbed earlier in the week. (JP, 5 Sept. 1993) Killed when he deliberately ran his car, which was loaded with cooking-gas canisters and gasoline cans, into a Prison Service bus in Gaza that subsequently caught fire. (H, JP, 13 Sept. 1993) PLO activist. Was killed while running away from soldiers when a grenade he was carrying exploded. (JP, 19 Sept. 1993) Suicide bomber, was wearing a belt packed with explosives. Died when the charge blew up before he was able to enter the Gaza District police station. (H, JP, 15 Sept. 1993) 12 Sept. 1993 Name not reported Gaza Strip 12 Sept. 1993 Name not reported Rafah refugee camp (Gaza Strip) 14 Sept. 1993 Name not reported, 19 Gaza Strip /... A/49/67 English Page 23 Date 15 Sept. 1993 Name and age Haled al-Burnu, 26 Place of residence Rimal ) neighbourhood ) (Gaza Strip) ) ) Gaza City ) ) Gaza City ) Jabalia (Gaza Strip) Remarks and source May have been shot by Hamas activists. (H, 19 and 27 Sept. 1993) Name not reported Name not reported 19 Sept. 1993 Jamal Abu Warda and Jamal Shahda Fatah gunmen claimed responsibility for their execution. (JP, 20 Sept. 1993) Pro-Fatah activist and leading Gaza lawyer. Shot dead by masked gunmen after he had attended a celebration of the Israeli-PLO accord (also referred to in AT, 23 Sept. 1993). His death, which may have been politically motivated, has aroused fears of political assassinations stemming from political rivalry within Fatah. (H, JP, 22 and 23 Sept. 1993) Died when the explosiveladen car he was driving blew up and burned near Gaza City. (H, JP, 27 Sept. 1993) Shot dead by masked men. (JP, 27 Sept. 1993) Suicide bomber, blew up his car next to a bus carrying soldiers. Wanted by the IDF. (H, 5 Oct. 1993; JP, 5, 6 Oct. 1993) 21 Sept. 1993 Mohammed (Ibrahim) Abu Sha'aban, 36 or 37 Rimal neighbourhood (Gaza Strip) 26 Sept. 1993 Ashraf Mahadi, 19 Sheikh Ajlin neighbourhood (Gaza Strip) 26 Sept. 1993 4 Oct. 1993 Mohammed Ibrahim Mored Kamal Bani Odeh or Suleiman Jeidan, 40 Gaza City Tamoun or Kibya (West Bank) /... A/49/67 English Page 24 Date 15 or 16 Oct. 1993 Name and age Ahed Fawzi Kehail, 34 Place of residence Gaza City Remarks and source Shot dead by two masked men in his barber shop. Renowned Fatah supporter. Hamas claimed responsibility for the killing. (H, 17 Oct. 1993; JP, 17 and 18 Oct. 1993; also referred to in AT, 21 Oct. 1993) Dragged from her home by masked men and shot in the head. Hamas claimed responsibility for the killing. (H, 17 Oct. 1993; JP, 17 and 18 Oct. 1993) Body showed signs of torture. Kidnapped several days earlier. Hamas claimed responsibility for the killing. (H, 17 Oct. 1993; JP, 17 and 18 Oct. 1993) Shot and stabbed. (JP, 18 Oct. 1993) 15 or 16 Oct. 1993 Maisoun Alaga, 24, or Mahan Yarnis Khan Younis (Gaza Strip) 15 or 16 Oct. 1993 (Abdel Hamis) Nabil (Ataf) Jouda, 24 Nuseirat refugee camp (Gaza Strip) 15 or 16 Oct. 1993 21 Oct. 1993 Mahmud Lahim Assad Siftawi, 58 Gaza City Leading Fatah activist. Shot dead by two unidentified masked gunmen. (H, JP, 22 Oct. 1993; also referred to in AT, 28 Oct. 1993) Killed by masked men. (H, 24 Oct. 1993) Shot dead. Investigation under way. (H, 24 Oct. 1993) Shot accidentally during inter-factional fighting. (H, JP, 25 Oct. 1993) 22 or 23 Oct. 1993 22 or 23 Oct. 1993 24 Oct. 1993 Salim Salah Jahur Shati' refugee camp (Gaza Strip) Balata refugee camp (West Bank) Rafah refugee camp (Gaza Strip) Masser Ali al-Masri, 17 Mariam Jouda, 23 or 40 /... A/49/67 English Page 25 Date 25 Oct. 1993 29 or 30 Oct. 1993 Name and age Mohammed Salah Ahmed Oudeh Place of residence El Khadri (West Bank) Hableh (West Bank) Remarks and source Shot by masked gunmen. (JP, 26 Oct. 1993) Stabbed and shot dead in Kalkiliya. Land dealer, who sold land for Jewish settlements on behalf of anonymous Arab sellers. (H, JP, 31 Oct. 1993; also referred to in AT, 4 Nov. 1993) Was blown up in a failed car bomb attack. (H, JP, 3 Nov. 1993) Shot dead. 2 Nov. 1993 Name not reported Kibiya (West Bank) Khan Younis (Gaza Strip) Rimal (Gaza Strip) Rafah (Gaza Strip) 19 or 20 Nov. 1993 Rawah al-Kan, 20 Abdallah Halabi, 40 Abin Ahmed Abu Libda Strangled. Shot dead. The three were kidnapped from their homes earlier in the week. (H, JP, 22 Nov. 1993) Killed when the bomb he was planting exploded. (H, JP, 24 Nov. 1993) Shot dead by masked men. (JP, 26 Nov. 1993) 23 Nov. 1993 Abed Shkhada, 26 (or Abd el-Razak Shahade) Hamis Hamas Hanoun, 25 Hebron (West Bank) Jabalia (Gaza Strip) 25 Nov. 1993 (c) Other incidents 75. On 29 August 1993, a man was killed in Rafah (see list). Clashes between soldiers and residents were reported in the territories, especially in the refugee camps of the Gaza Strip (Jabalia, Shati', Rafah and Khan Younis); four residents were injured. In the West Bank, stone-throwing incidents were reported in Jenin and Hebron. (Ha'aretz, 30 August 1993) 76. On 30 August 1993, gunshots were fired and a petrol bomb was thrown at an IDF outpost in the Jabalia refugee camp. No injury or damage was reported. Palestinian sources reported that four residents were slightly injured by IDF fire during disturbances in Khan Younis. (Ha'aretz, 31 August 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 26 77. On 31 August 1993, troops in the Gaza district shot dead an armed and masked Hamas activist (see list). The strike called by factions within and outside the PLO rejecting the PLO's agreement to implement autonomy in Gaza and Jericho first was largely enforced by Hamas throughout the territories, especially in Gaza. (Jerusalem Post, 1 September 1993) 78. On 1 September 1993, the supporters of PLO leader Yasser Arafat held several rallies and meetings in the territories in order to promote the peace accord between Israel and the PLO. In Gaza, some 15 persons were hurt in the first violent reaction to the accord, when Hamas activists threw stones at a rally organized by peace supporters in the Shati' refugee camp. (Jerusalem Post, 2 September 1993) 79. On 2 September 1993, an IDF soldier, Zion Elkobi, was killed and another soldier injured when their vehicle was shot at by gunmen waiting in ambush in a car on the side of the road in the Hebron area, near Dura village. A man was murdered in his bed in Shifa hospital (see list). Palestinian sources reported isolated incidents in the Gaza Strip; two persons were injured in Rafah. (Ha'aretz, 3 September 1993; Jerusalem Post, 3 and 5 September 1993) 80. On 3 and 4 September 1993, troops shot and killed a knife-wielding Palestinian in Khan Younis after he had stabbed a soldier and injured him seriously (see list). Palestinian sources reported that four or five persons were slightly wounded in Beit Lahiya when soldiers clashed with the participants in a march that had been organized by supporters of the Islamic Jihad. The IDF stated that no injuries were reported. Fatah supporters reportedly fired shots at supporters of the Popular Front who were marching in Rafah to protest the proposed agreement, injuring one man. Four petrol bombs were thrown at a house in Abu Tor (East Jerusalem). No injuries were reported. A grenade was thrown in Beit Hadassah, a Jewish neighbourhood in Hebron. The grenade failed to explode and was deactivated by an IDF explosives expert. Several shots were fired at an Israeli police car in Gaza. There, no injuries or damage were reported. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 5 September 1993) 81. On 5 September 1993, Palestinian sources reported several clashes between PLO and Hamas supporters, stating that one person had been injured. Isolated incidents were reported throughout the territories; two residents of the Jabalia refugee camp were wounded during a clash with the army. Two persons were injured in Rafah in similar circumstances. Several cars belonging to settlers were stoned on the main road that runs across the Gaza Strip. (Ha'aretz, 6 September 1993) 82. On 6 September 1993, a stone-thrower was shot by the army in the Bureij refugee camp (see list). Three Israelis were injured when three fire-bombs were thrown at the Mount Zion Hotel in Jerusalem. (Ha'aretz, 8 September 1993; Jerusalem Post, 7 and 8 September 1993) 83. On 7 September 1993, soldiers shot dead a wanted gunman who had fired at soldiers while attempting to escape arrest in Gaza City (see list). His accomplice was wounded and arrested. A resident of the Gaza Strip tried to stab a soldier who was manning a roadblock at the entrance to the Strip. The assailant and a bystander were slightly injured. Several clashes were reported /... A/49/67 English Page 27 between Palestinians and the army in the Gaza Strip (Gaza City, Rafah and the Jabalia and Shati' refugee camps); five residents were injured. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 8 September 1993) 84. On 8 September 1993, clashes with the army were reported in the Shati', Rafah and Jabalia refugee camps. Disturbances were also reported in the West Bank. An IDF soldier was lightly injured by a stone in the Jilazoun refugee camp. (Ha'aretz, 9 September 1993) 85. On 10 and 11 September 1993, Border Police shot dead two Palestinians in Ramallah (see list) when youths opposed to the Israel-PLO accord threw stones at the supporters of the agreement and at soldiers during one of the numerous weekend opposition rallies. According to hospital sources, 20 other persons were wounded by IDF fire. The IDF stated that in addition to shots fired by the Border Police, it was possible that shots had also been fired by Palestinians who oppose the accord. Rallies were also held in Jericho, Beit Sahur, Hebron and Nablus. Five injuries were reported in East Jerusalem and eight in Gaza City. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 12 September 1993) 86. On 12 September 1993, four Israelis and three Arabs were killed in four separate incidents on the eve of the signing of the peace agreement in Washington. Three reservists on patrol, Staff Sgt. Avraham Shabel, 29, Sgt. Waffa Assad, 27, and Sgt. Mawaffak Abu Shab, 28, were killed in an ambush that was set up by Hamas east of Gaza City. Before escaping, the assailants managed to steal the weapons of two of the soldiers. The driver of an Egged company bus, Yehiel Carmi, was stabbed to death by a Hamas activist on the road between Ashdod and Ashkelon after his bus had been hijacked. The hijacker was later shot dead by another soldier (see list). Two soldiers were slightly wounded during the incident. A thwarted car bomb attack on a Prisons Service bus in Gaza resulted in the wounding of two Israelis and the death of the suicide bomber (see list). A PLO activist was killed when running away from soldiers as a grenade he was carrying exploded in the Rafah refugee camp (see list). An Israeli bus driver was slightly wounded when shots were fired at his bus near Halhoul, north of Hebron. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 13 September 1993) 87. On 13 September 1993, it was reported that stones were thrown at Israeli vehicles during several incidents that took place in Gush Etzion. (Jerusalem Post, 14 September 1993) 88. On 14 September 1993, a suicide bomber wearing a belt packed with explosives was killed when the charge blew up before he was able to enter the police station in Gaza district (see list). No other persons were hurt in the incident. A Palestinian who had attacked and slightly wounded a soldier in Gaza was shot dead by another soldier (see list). Armed Hamas activists fired at an army roadblock near Hebron, wounding four soldiers, two of them seriously. One of the gunmen was shot and killed during the ensuing chase (see list) (also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 16 September 1993). The other assailants managed to escape. A soldier was slightly wounded in Ramallah when the guard post he was in was stoned. Settlers' vehicles were stoned throughout the territories. An Israeli youth was slightly wounded in Hebron during clashes between settlers and demonstrating Palestinians. An Israeli car was attacked by Arabs in the /... A/49/67 English Page 28 Bethlehem area. No one was hurt. Palestinian sources reported clashes between Hamas activists and the army in Rafah in which four persons were injured. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 15 and 19 September 1993) 89. On 15 to 18 September 1993 (New Year holidays), a local youth was shot and killed by troops in Nablus when he ignored their orders to halt (see list). Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip reported that three residents had been murdered (see list). A soldier was slightly wounded when his patrol was stoned in Kafr Bido, near Ramallah. A Jewish man was hit in the head with a bottle by an Arab youth in the Old City of Jerusalem. Three petrol bombs were thrown at Israeli military and civilian targets in Hebron, Bir Zeit and the Jenin area. There were no injuries or damage. A hand-grenade was thrown at a patrol in the Dheisheh refugee camp but it did not explode. Between 5,000 and 10,000 persons are thought to have participated in a rally staged in Gaza City by Hamas to denounce PLO leader Yasser Arafat as a traitor. Several other rallies, both for and against the accord, were held in different areas of Gaza City, as well as in Nuseirat, Rafah, Beit Lahiya and Deir el-Balah. In the Hebron area, several clashes were reported between Israelis and Arabs during demonstrations supporting the agreement. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 19 September 1993) 90. On 19 September 1993, a Palestinian youth died of wounds sustained in a clash with troops several days earlier (see list). Fatah gunmen claimed responsibility for the execution of two residents of Gaza (see list). A soldier was knocked down in Jerusalem by a car from the territories in a possible terrorist attack. A car with Israeli licence plates ran through a roadblock near Kafr, in the Tulkarm Jenin area. Soldiers fired at the car as it went through the roadblock, but it did not stop. An Arab resident was slightly injured by IDF shooting at a checkpoint in Katensawah because he had not obeyed orders to halt. In Jerusalem, a bazooka rocket was discovered hidden in a package near the New Gate to the Old City. Two residents of the territories were injured during clashes in the Rafah area while one IDF soldier was slightly injured by a stone. Stone-throwing incidents were reported throughout the territories, especially in the Rafah area, in Gaza City and in Ramallah. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 20 September 1993) 91. On 21 September 1993, masked gunmen ambushed and shot dead a leading lawyer from Gaza (see list). (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 22 September 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 23 September 1993) 92. On 22 September 1993, a Palestinian was shot dead by police near Kiryat Malachi (see list) after he had allegedly tried to run over some officers while trying to escape in a stolen car. Two other persons who were also in the car fled. A Palestinian youth died after being wounded during a clash with soldiers in the Jabalia refugee camp (see list). A home-made bomb was thrown at a military post in Khan Younis. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 23 September 1993) 93. On 23 September 1993, a 13-year-old Arab youth from Yamoun, near Jenin, was slightly wounded by the driver of an Israeli fuel truck who had opened fire when his vehicle was stoned. (Jerusalem Post, 24 September 1993) 94. On 24 and 25 September 1993, (Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement), Yigal Vaknin, 22, was stabbed to death in a citrus grove near the caravan where /... A/49/67 English Page 29 he lived in Moshav Batzra, a few kilometres north of Ra'anana. Police found a typewritten note in Arabic saying that Hamas was responsible for the murder. A soldier was slightly wounded after being hit with a knife by a young woman in El-Bireh. Palestinian sources reported isolated clashes in Gaza City, Jabalia, Shati' and in Khan Younis, where one resident was injured by IDF gunfire. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 26 September 1993) 95. On 26 September 1993, a Palestinian would-be suicide bomber was killed when the explosive-laden car he was driving blew up (see list). A man was shot dead by masked men in the Gaza Strip (see list). (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 27 September 1993) 96. On 27 September 1993, a 17-year-old Israeli, Amitai Kapah, died of injuries sustained in a car accident near the A-Ram junction in Jerusalem. The four passengers in the other car suffered light to moderate injuries. Kapah may have lost control of his car after it was stoned. Isolated clashes were reported between soldiers and residents of the territories, especially in the Rafah and Khan Younis refugee camps, where two residents were injured by IDF gunfire. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 28 September 1993) 97. On 30 September 1993, PLO called a general strike to protest the arrest of a Black Panther commander and five other gunmen on 30 September, stating that the arrest violated the peace accord. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 1 October 1993) 98. On 1 and 2 October 1993, two Hamas gunmen were killed by security forces in Gaza during a large-scale operation intended directly to attack Izz Al-din al-Qassam cells (see list). Five Israelis were injured when a mine exploded near the Ramat Rahel Kibbutz near southern Jerusalem. Police considered the incident a terrorist attack. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 3 October 1993) 99. On 3 October 1993, two Israelis were injured in separate shooting incidents near Gush Etzion. A third shooting incident, which did not result in any injuries, was reported in the Hebron area. An Israeli was slightly injured when his car was stoned in the centre of Hebron. The usual type of incidents were reported in the refugee camps of the Gaza Strip. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 4 October 1993) 100. On 4 October 1993, a suicide bomber blew up his car near a bus carrying soldiers from Jerusalem to Shiloh, wounding some 30 persons (see list). (Ha'aretz, 5 October 1993; Jerusalem Post, 5 and 6 October 1993) 101. On 5 October 1993, a wanted fugitive was killed during a clash with an undercover Border Police unit in Gaza, reportedly as he was surrendering (see list). IDF forces killed an armed Palestinian near the Erez Kibbutz, after he had reportedly thrown a grenade at soldiers (see list). (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 6 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 7 October 1993) 102. On 6, 7 (Simhat Torah), 8 and 9 October 1993, several Palestinians shot and stabbed to death two hikers, Dror Forer and Oren Bakar, in Wadi Kelt, in the Judean desert. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 10 October 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 30 103. On 10 October 1993, an attempt to run over soldiers who were on patrol in the Tulkarm area was reported. (Ha'aretz, 11 October 1993) 104. On 11 October 1993, one Palestinian was wounded while two others fled after a car bearing the blue territories' licence plates ran through an IDF roadblock in Gush Etzion and was fired at by soldiers. (Jerusalem Post, 13 October 1993) 105. On 12 October 1993, an Arab stabbed an Israeli outside a factory near the Erez checkpoint. The assailant managed to escape. Palestinian sources reported clashes in Rafah, Jabalia and Shati'. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 13 October 1993) 106. On 13 October 1993, two supporters of Hamas were reportedly injured by gas inhalation when soldiers dispersed demonstrations against the peace agreement in front of the Nablus Military Court. A Border Policeman was slightly injured when his vehicle was stoned near the Arroub refugee camp. A petrol bomb was thrown at an Israeli bus in the area of Hebron, without causing any harm. Incidents were reported in the Rafah and Khan Younis refugee camps. A general strike was observed in the territories to protest the signature of the peace agreement between Israel and the PLO. (Ha'aretz, 14 October 1993) 107. On 15 and 16 October 1993, four Palestinians were killed as a result of internecine strife (see list). A Palestinian man was shot dead by IDF soldiers in unclear circumstances (see list). Nine Palestinians and one Israeli woman were injured during clashes between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in Hebron, after a yeshiva student was stabbed as he was walking past the Cave of the Patriarchs. The student was slightly injured. In Hebron, soldiers shot at a vehicle with territories' licence plates that did not stop at a roadblock. The vehicle managed to escape. Three petrol bombs were thrown at military and civilian vehicles in Hebron and in Neve Yaacov, in northern Jerusalem. No damage was reported. Palestinian sources reported incidents in Jabalia and Khan Younis, where two people were injured. (Ha'aretz, 17 October 1993; Jerusalem Post, 17 and 18 October 1993) 108. On 18 October 1993, four Arab residents were injured when a grenade was thrown at an IDF jeep in the Nablus market and exploded under a truck with the territories' blue licence plates. None of the soldiers was injured. Palestinian sources reported isolated disturbances in the refugee camps of the Gaza Strip (Rafah, Jabalia) and stone-throwing incidents involving Israeli vehicles in Hebron and Ramallah. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 19 October 1993) 109. On 19 October 1993, an Israeli grocer was shot and slightly wounded near Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 20 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 21 October 1993) 110. On 20 October 1993, a woman was fatally wounded and two others hurt in Khan Younis when they were hit by an army jeep carrying soldiers to quell the disturbances in the city market-place (see list). (Jerusalem Post, 21 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 21 October 1993) 111. On 21 October 1993, a leading Fatah activist was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in Gaza (see list). An Israeli bus driver was injured by /... A/49/67 English Page 31 stones thrown at his vehicle at the Sajaya junction in the Gaza Strip. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 22 October 1993). 112. On 22 and 23 October 1993, two Palestinians were killed over the weekend (see list). In the Rafah refugee camp, members of Fatah shot and wounded a supporter of the opposition PFLP, while a member of the Front fired at a Fatah supporter. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 24 October 1993) 113. On 24 October 1993, Hamas gunmen, apparently posing as Jewish settlers, killed two reserve soldiers, Ehud Roth, 35, and Ilan Levy, 23, after picking them up near the Gush Katif settlement as they were hitchhiking their way home from their base (also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 28 October 1993). On the second day of inter-factional fighting in the Rafah refugee camp, members of the Fatah Hawks who were shooting at members of the opposition Red Eagles accidentally shot a woman in the head and killed her (see list). Rival gangs exchanged gunfire in the Shabura and Rafah refugee camps. One woman was injured. Stone-throwing incidents involving IDF vehicles were reported in the territories. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 25 October 1993) 114. On 25 October 1993, a resident of the Bethlehem area was shot dead (see list). A Palestinian motorist whose car was loaded with explosives and cooking-gas canisters drove into several Israeli cars in Gaza City. Two employees of the Civil Administration were slightly wounded. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 26 October 1993) 115. On 27 October 1993, an IDF soldier was wounded in Gaza when he was hit in the head by a stone thrown at the vehicle that he was guarding. Two other stone-throwing incidents were reported in Bureij and Tulkarm, where one person was slightly injured. Two Palestinians were injured by IDF gunfire in Bureij. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 28 October 1993) 116. On 29 and 30 October 1993, Haim Mizrahi, a resident of the Beit El B settlement, was found dead in the trunk of his car near Surda, 24 hours after he had been stabbed and kidnapped by three masked men at a Palestinian-owned farm located near the settlement. The car and the body were burned. A Palestinian land dealer was killed (see list). A soldier was slightly wounded by stonethrowers in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Palestinian sources reported that two persons were injured in the Jabalia refugee camp. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 31 October 1993) 117. On 31 October 1993, an Israeli businessman from the Erez industrial zone shot and killed his employee who had tried to stab him (see list). A Palestinian from the Gaza Strip was shot and killed while running away from a roadblock in Kalkiliya (see list). An Israeli was slightly injured by stones thrown at his car in Ramallah. Palestinian sources reported clashes between residents and IDF soldiers in the Jabalia, Nuseirat and Khan Younis refugee camps. Two residents of Jabalia were reportedly injured. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 1 November 1993) 118. On 1 November 1993, shots were reportedly fired at four workers from Moshav Katif near Khan Younis. (Jerusalem Post, 2 November 1993; Ha'aretz, 3 November 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 32 119. On 2 November 1993, a Palestinian was blown up in a failed car bomb attack in the West Bank (see list). No other persons were reportedly injured. A Palestinian from Dahiriya tried to stab a guard in Beersheba. The assailant managed to escape. Two policemen were injured by stones thrown at their car at the Erez roadblock. Shots were reportedly fired at a settler from Pisgat. Stone-throwing incidents were reported throughout the territories, especially in Jabalia and Khan Younis, where one resident was injured. A general strike was observed in the territories, including East Jerusalem, in protest over the signing of the Balfour Declaration. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 3 November 1993) 120. On 3 November 1993, IDF troops, fearing that they were about to be blown up by a car bomb, shot and wounded two Palestinians whose vehicle had crashed into their own in the Gaza Strip. (Jerusalem Post, 4 November 1993) 121. On 5 and 6 November 1993, four Arab residents of Hebron, including a woman, were injured during clashes with Jews from Hebron and Kiryat Arba. Two roadside bombs were discovered and dismantled by security forces in Gush Katif. In the Gaza Strip, several incidents were reported and one resident was injured in Jabalia. (Ha'aretz, 7 November 1993; Jerusalem Post, 7 and 16 November 1993) 122. On 7 November 1993, gunmen from a passing car shot some 20 bullets into the car of former MK Rabbi Haim Druckman near Hebron, wounding him and killing his driver, Ephraim Ayoubi, 30, from Kfar Darom. Four Palestinians were shot by settlers in Gaza, apparently in retaliation for the attack on Druckman. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 8 November 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 11 November 1993) 123. On 8 November 1993, a gunman was killed in a shoot-out with the army, which was surrounding the house near Hebron in which he had taken refuge (see list). Another gunman was injured, while a third managed to escape. A soldier was slightly wounded in the exchange of fire. Two Arabs (father and son) were shot, apparently by settlers, and slightly injured when they drove near Awsarin village. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 9 November 1993) 124. On 9 November 1993, three masked gunmen riding in a stolen garbage truck drove into an Israeli car in Gaza City, crushing to death the driver, Salman Hawahjleh, a bedouin from the northern Negev. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 10 November 1993) 125. On 10 November 1993, an Arab passenger was slightly injured by glass fragments when the bus he was travelling in was stoned in the Gaza Strip, probably by settlers. (Ha'aretz, 11 November 1993) 126. On 10 November 1993, settlers from Kfar Darom threw stones at Palestinian-owned cars on the main roads to Gaza and Khan Younis. Six vehicles were destroyed. Attacks by settlers were also reported in Hebron despite the curfew imposed on the city. A 13-year-old boy, Amar Abu Senina, was injured by stones, while several houses and cars were damaged. (Al-Tali'ah, 11 November 1993) 127. On 12 and 13 November 1993, one Palestinian was killed by the army (see list) and four others were injured in separate incidents in the territories over /... A/49/67 English Page 33 the weekend. Two Israelis were stabbed and slightly injured in separate incidents in the Old City of Jerusalem near the Erez checkpoint. Stone-throwing incidents were reported in Ramallah and Hebron as well as in the Jabalia refugee camp, where two residents were reportedly injured by IDF shooting. Soldiers shot and wounded a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip who tried to get through a security fence into Israel. Six Israeli cars were damaged by stones near the Dheisheh refugee camp. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 14 November 1993) 128. On 13 November 1993, a Palestinian youth was killed (see list) when soldiers opened fire at a car they suspected of trying to go through the checkpoint. The driver of the car later denied this version of the incident, stating that there were no signs on the road indicating that there was a checkpoint and that soldiers had opened fire without any warning. (Al-Tali'ah, 18 November 1993) 129. On 14 November 1993, a fire-bomb was thrown at a police car passing through the centre of Bethlehem. No one was injured. (Jerusalem Post, 15 November 1993) 130. On 15 November 1993, two Arabs attacked with axes and seriously wounded an Israeli near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. The victim managed to shoot and kill one of the assailants (see list). The other assailant managed to escape. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 16 November 1993) 131. On 16 November 1993, a police officer and a civilian were stabbed by an Arab near the Erez checkpoint in the Gaza Strip. Another civilian who had witnessed the attack subsequently killed the assailant (see list). A young resident of the territories was killed by the army during a stone-throwing incident in El-Bireh (see list), when a large group of students threw stones at passing Israeli vehicles. IDF forces fired tear-gas grenades and entered the schoolyard, firing at the legs of the main inciters of the incident. Two other students were also wounded in the legs. Following the killing of the student, disturbances erupted in El-Bireh and in adjacent Ramallah, and a general strike was observed. A Border Policeman was slightly injured by stones in Ramallah. In Hebron, an IDF officer was slightly injured by stones thrown by settlers. An Israeli car was set on fire and damaged in East Jerusalem. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 17 November 1993) 132. On 17 November 1993, Staff Sgt. Haim Darina, 41, from Carmel, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian as he was having a drink in a outdoor café near the Nahal Oz entrance into Gaza. The assailant was arrested and turned over to the GSS. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 18 November 1993) 133. On 18 November 1993, a resident of Rafah died of wounds sustained several days earlier (see list). In Gaza City, a grenade was thrown at a Border Police post, without causing injury or damage. (Ha'aretz, 19 and 21 November 1993) 134. On 19 and 20 November 1993, three Arabs, including a woman, were killed over the weekend in the Gaza Strip (see list). A Gaza resident was injured by IDF soldiers. A petrol bomb was thrown at an army patrol, without causing injury or damage. An Israeli car was set on fire in East Jerusalem. (Ha'aretz, 21 and 22 November 1993; Jerusalem Post, 22 November 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 34 135. On 21 November 1993, a fire-bomb was thrown at an Israeli car passing through El-Bireh on its way to the Pesagot settlement. There were no injuries or damage. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 22 November 1993) 136. On 22 November 1993, an Israeli woman soldier narrowly escaped death when she managed to avoid being run over by a stolen garbage truck driven by a Palestinian who was trying to drive into her on the Gaza bypass road. Soldiers riding in a car behind her managed to shoot and kill the assailant (see list). A number of shots were fired at a guard post in Nablus prison. Soldiers returned fire, but reportedly hit no one. Two fragmentation grenades and a home-made bomb were thrown at the Gaza District police station. No one was injured and no damage was caused. Another fragmentation grenade was thrown at an IDF unit near Nablus, in Deir Sharaf village. No injuries were reported. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 23 November 1993) 137. On 23 November 1993, a Palestinian was killed when the bomb he was trying to plant near Hebron exploded (see list). A resident of Khan Younis was killed when soldiers opened fire at the car in which he was riding when it failed to stop at a roadblock in Gaza City (see list). Four other passengers were wounded. Several shots were reportedly fired at a settler's vehicle in the centre of Ramallah. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 24 November 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 25 November 1993) 138. On 24 November 1993, the head of the Hamas military arm was shot dead in Gaza by the IDF (see list). An accomplice reportedly managed to escape. Another wanted fugitive from Hamas was killed by the army in the Jabalia refugee camp (see list). Morris Edri, 65, from Netanya was found stabbed to death in his electrical supplies store. The motive of the murder could have been criminal rather than nationalistic. (Ha'aretz, 25 November 1993; Jerusalem Post, 25 and 26 November 1993) 139. On 25 November 1993, a Palestinian was shot dead in Jabalia (see list). A tourist from Saudi Arabia was killed accidentally by the army, when soldiers fired at a suspicious car in Gaza City (see list). Two other persons were also injured during the incident. Twenty-seven Palestinians were wounded, two of them seriously, by army gunfire during the dispersal of riots in the Gaza Strip that senior officers described as been reminiscent of the early days of the uprising. Palestinian sources estimated the number of wounded at 33. Rioters threw stones at soldiers, burned tires and blocked roads, mainly in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, and the Shati' and Jabalia refugee camps. A grenade was thrown at an army patrol in Gaza City, while shots were fired at a jeep in the nearby Tufah district. No soldiers were reported wounded. Some 500 Palestinians demonstrated in the streets of the Sheikh Radwan district, chanting "Hamas is our way to paradise", in order to protest the killing of the head of the Hamas military wing in the Gaza Strip a day earlier. A three-day strike was called for the same purpose. The strike was apparently observed in much of the West Bank as well as in the Gaza Strip. Incidents of stone-throwing at soldiers were reported in Hebron. An Arab woman was hit in the head by a stone when she was driving through the centre of the town. (Ha'aretz, 26 and 28 November 1993; Jerusalem Post, 26 November 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 35 140. On 26 and 27 November 1993, security forces killed a second Hamas leader in the West Bank (see list). Four residents were reportedly injured in Gaza City and three in the Shati' refugee camp, during clashes with the army. An IDF soldier was slightly injured by a stone in Nablus. Two petrol bombs were thrown at an army base in Jenin, without causing any damage. Palestinian sources indicated that, following the killing of Imad Akkel, masked activists burned tires on main roads throughout Gaza, some 2,000 persons demonstrated in Gaza City, while imams in the local mosques called for an escalation of violence. Two marches took place, in Khan Younis and El-Bureij. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 28 November 1993) 141. On 28 November 1993, a Fatah fugitive who had been released from custody was killed by undercover unit troops in Khan Younis (see list). A second Palestinian was killed in the Khan Younis refugee camp (see list). Three other residents were reportedly injured in the same incident. A family from Gush Katif managed to escape uninjured from an incident in which they were fired upon accidentally by IDF troops on one of the main roads in the Gaza District. A soldier was shot and slightly wounded in Gaza City. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 29 November 1993) 142. On 29 November 1993, a Palestinian died of his wounds in hospital (see list). Disturbances erupted in the Khan Younis refugee camp during the funeral of the Fatah activist who was killed the previous day by undercover troops. An IDF position was attacked in the camp. No one was injured. In Rafah, hundreds of people took to the streets, attacking the security forces with grenades as they pursued fugitives. Three Border Policemen were wounded and at least three Palestinians were reportedly injured in the crossfire. Fatah Hawk squads fired shots at two police stations and three IDF installations in the Gaza Strip. No one was reported to have been injured. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 30 November 1993) 143. On 30 November 1993, one Palestinian was killed (see list) and some 80 were reportedly wounded, 5 of them seriously, during riots in the Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian sources, the rioting began shortly after Gazans were called to observe a three-day general strike to protest the killing of Ahmed Abu Rish. The rioting started in Jabalia when Palestinians blocked roads, burned tires and hurled stones at army patrols. Troops responded by opening fire with live ammunition. Armed confrontations also took place in Khan Younis. Near the Nasser hospital, a bomb was thrown at an IDF patrol and shots were fired by Fatah Hawk activists. No one was injured, however. There was a pronounced increase in the number of stone-throwing incidents in the West Bank as Palestinians sought to show support for their compatriots in Gaza. Three Israelis were hurt in stone-throwing incidents in Hebron, Jericho and Nablus. Two Border Policemen were slightly injured in Ramallah while dispersing stone-throwers. A fire-bomb was thrown at an IDF position in Hebron, but caused no damage or injuries. A saleswoman in Old Jaffa was attacked by two boys, who were apparently residents of the Gaza Strip. (Jerusalem Post, 1 December 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 36 B. Administration of justice, including the right to a fair trial 1. Palestinian population 144. On 31 August 1993, six youths from Jericho were sentenced by the Ramallah Military Court to 18 months' imprisonment for threatening Dr. Saeb Erekat, a member of the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks, for being members of Hamas and for threatening local residents who wanted to sell goods to Jews. (Jerusalem Post, 1 September 1993) 145. On 6 September 1993, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced Nariman Manasra, 19, from Bani Naim (West Bank) to 12 years' imprisonment for attempting to kill a policeman in eastern Jerusalem. (Ha'aretz, 7 and 21 September 1993; Jerusalem Post, 7 September 1993) 146. On 20 September 1993, Nasser Shkirat, 22, from Jebel Mukaber (East Jerusalem), was sentenced to 82 years in prison by the Jerusalem District Court for stabbing four or five high school students and their principal on 22 March 1993. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 21 September 1993) 147. On 26 September 1993, the Jenin Military Court sentenced two members of the Fatah Black Panther gang to life imprisonment for murder. Iman Jardat, from Silat el-Hartiya (Jenin area), was sentenced to four life terms plus 85 years in prison for the murder of three suspected collaborators and two Druze. In addition, he was convicted of attempted murder, of causing grievous bodily harm and of shooting at IDF patrols. Yosef Arshad, from Sir (Jenin area), was sentenced to five life terms plus 55 years in prison for the murder of five Palestinians. He was also found guilty of attempting to murder several residents of the territories who were suspected of collaboration and of shooting at IDF forces, abduction, causing grievous bodily harm and of possessing firearms. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 27 September 1993) 148. On 13 October 1993, the Nablus Military Court sentenced Ahmed Haled Abu Rub, a Black Panther leader, to 14 years' imprisonment plus a six-year suspended sentence for perpetrating attacks and incitement to attacks. (Ha'aretz, 14 October 1993) 149. On 18 October 1993, Black Panther member Salah Mahmoud Sadaya, from Nur Shams in the Tulkarm district, was sentenced by the Nablus Military Court to 55 years' imprisonment for the killing of three residents of his village. (Ha'aretz, 19 October 1993) 150. On 21 October 1993, the High Court of Justice ordered the Ministry of the Interior to explain its refusal to grant citizenship to Jaffar Hamuda, from Nablus, who had married an Israeli. Hamuda's wife, Hiyat, was born in Jaffa and they were married in 1984. The refusal had resulted in Hamuda's periodic arrest for "illegally" staying overnight in his own house. (Jerusalem Post, 22 October 1993) 151. On 22 October 1993, according to a revised indictment submitted to the Ramallah Military Court, Mohammed Salah, the American citizen who was arrested /... A/49/67 English Page 37 in Israel in January 1993, was the world-wide commander of the Hamas military arm. Salah was charged in June with transferring funds to Hamas activists in the territories. Subsequent investigations revealed that Salah was in fact the commander of the group's military activists. (Jerusalem Post, 22 October 1993) 152. On 26 October 1993, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced a 15-year-old Palestinian to six months' imprisonment plus a 12-month suspended sentence for throwing stones and bottles at MK Ariel Sharon's house in the Old City of Jerusalem. (Ha'aretz, 27 October 1993) 153. On 27 October 1993, the Gaza Military Court sentenced two Hamas activists to life imprisonment. Hamis Adi Akel was sentenced to 21 life imprisonment terms plus 20 years for causing the death of 16 Palestinians and participating in the murder of an Israeli, Doron Shorshan, on 1 January 1992. Mazen Adel Sliman Anhal was sentenced to four life imprisonment terms plus 20 years for three murders and one attempted murder. (Ha'aretz, 28 October 1993) 154. On 31 October 1993, it was reported that Tzedek-Tzedek, the Jewish Civil Liberties Centre, had petitioned the High Court of Justice to reincarcerate a former Palestinian prisoner, Avir Abu Ravak Elron, from Jenin. The woman, who had been convicted of stabbing a Border Policeman, had been released along with 616 other Palestinian prisoners. The group indicated that her case did not meet the Government's criteria for release since she had caused bodily harm to an Israeli. The Government stated in response that attempted murder did not constitute murder in itself, and thus did not enter into the category of having blood on one's hands. (Jerusalem Post, 31 October 1993) 155. On 3 November 1993, the Nablus Military Court sentenced Samir el-Usta, 35, from Nablus, to life imprisonment for the attempted murder of an IDF officer in Nablus. (Ha'aretz, 4 November 1993) 156. On 8 November 1993, the Supreme Court authorized the release on bail in the amount of $5,200 of Yussuf Aba-Zahra, a minor from the territories who had been convicted of stone-throwing. The defendant's lawyer had appealed the original no-bail decision, citing the altered situation since the signing of the accord with the PLO on 13 September 1993. In the past, such offenders were held in prison pending trial. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 9 November 1993) 157. On 15 November 1993, the State informed the High Court of Justice that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute the Waqf for illegal renovation of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, particularly since private individuals would not be prosecuted for the same offence. The statement was made at the hearing concerning a petition that had been filed by the Temple Mount Faithful, who demanded that the State and the municipality of Jerusalem put a stop to alleged illegal construction on the Mount and prosecute the Waqf for building without a licence. The group had filed several similar petitions in the past, all of which had been rejected. (Ha'aretz, 2 and 15 November 1993; Jerusalem Post, 16 November 1993) 158. On 18 November 1993, two residents of Kalandia, Mahmoud (or Mohammed) Afana, 29, and Ramadan Ya'akub (or Ya'akub Ramadan), 30, were convicted of /... A/49/67 English Page 38 brutally murdering prostitute Sara Sharon on 18 January 1993. They were sentenced to life terms and an additional 10 years' imprisonment by the Tel Aviv District Court. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 19 November 1993) 159. On 22 November 1993, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced two soldiers who had killed Yaron Chen to life plus 60 years' imprisonment. The third defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 20 years in jail. The three, Taisar Suleiman, 20, from Beit Hanina, Fahd Saludi, 22, from Kafr Jaba, and Marwan Abu Ramiliah, 22, from A-Ram, were convicted on the basis of their own confessions. Chen was kidnapped and killed while hitchhiking north of Jerusalem in August 1993. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 22 November 1993) 160. On 28 November 1993, it was reported that the Gaza Military Court had sentenced Nasser Fadi (Faidi), 31, from Khan Younis, to eight life sentences and an additional 60 years in prison for the murder in March of Gush Katif resident Simha Levy and the murders of seven Palestinians. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 28 November 1993) 161. On 29 November 1993, the Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Mahmoud Galaban, 40, Salam Abu Sha'ab, 29, and Jamal Abu Adi, 25, all from Khan Younis, and Nafez Nahar, 28, from Gaza City, to life imprisonment for the murder of Izhar Mansour in Petah Tikva on 15 February. (Jerusalem Post, 29 November 1993) 162. On 29 November 1993, Muhammad Salawah and his brother Ata were sentenced to life imprisonment for planting a bomb at the entrance of the Matityahu settlement, which killed one Israeli woman and injured six other persons on 17 October 1992. (Ha'aretz, 30 November 1993) 2. Israelis 163. On 12 September 1993, the High Court of Justice rejected two petitions against the agreement with the PLO, ruling in one case that the issue could not be subjected to judgement and in the other that no procedural laws had been violated. (Jerusalem Post, 18 September 1993) 164. On 23 September 1993, the High Court of Justice rejected a petition by the Temple Mount Faithful association asking that the Muslim Waqf be prosecuted for illegal construction on the Mount. The association also sharply criticized various Israeli authorities for turning a blind eye to the violations. The petition, which had been filed in 1990, cited several instances of illegal construction and planting of trees. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 24 September 1993) 165. On 25 October 1993, a three-justice panel of the Supreme Court turned down three petitions demanding that the release of Palestinian prisoners be delayed on the grounds that the decision of the Government was illegal and dangerous for the public. The Court accepted the Government's claim that it had acted within the framework of its powers and according to strict security criteria. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 26 October 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 39 166. On 15 November 1993, Attorney-General Michael Ben Yair asked the police to investigate the Kach-affiliated Committee for Road Safety, on the basis of press reports that the Committee had claimed responsibility for the shooting of Arab residents in Jericho on 8 November. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 16 November 1993) 167. On 19 November 1993, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court released Kach movement leaders Baruch Marzel and Noam Federman who had been arrested during President Ezer Weizman's visit to Kiryat Arba. The police had asked the Court to remand them in custody for seven days in order to be able to investigate their suspected involvement in disturbances in the territories. However, the judge ruled that the police could investigate the violations without the two being held in custody. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 21 November 1993) 168. On 23 November 1993, Rafi Ohana, 20, and his brother Moshe, 25, from Kfar Saba, were remanded in custody for 15 days by the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court. They were suspected of selling stolen IDF arms that were later used by Hamas activists in the killing of three policemen and the attempted murder of a Civil Guard officer. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 24 November 1993) 169. On 25 November 1993, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court extended by eight days the remand of David Bakush, 30, from Beit El, who was suspected of shooting and wounding an Arab during disturbances on 13 November near the site where settlement resident Haim Mizrahi had been killed. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 26 November 1993) 170. On 26 November 1993, Rabbi Avraham Toledano, of Kiryat Arba, who headed the Kach movement for some time after the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane, was remanded in custody for 10 days by the Kfar Saba Magistrates Court for attempted smuggling of arms and other contraband material from the United States. Police believed that he was planning with other members of the Kach movement to carry out attacks against Arabs. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 28 November 1993) C. 1. (a) Treatment of civilians General developments Harassment and physical ill-treatment 171. On 20 October 1993, IDF soldiers raided the houses of two Palestinians in the village of Azna during a search for their owners. The owners' wives reported that they had told the soldiers that their husbands were sleeping at their place of work, inside the Green Line. Nevertheless the houses were raided, the furniture smashed and all belongings ransacked. (Al-Tali'ah, 28 October 1993) 172. On 4 November 1993, two Border Policemen who had served in the Hebron area were arrested on suspicion that they had beaten an Arab resident of the area and had subsequently stabbed him. The two Border Policemen admitted to having been involved in the incident. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 7 November 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 40 173. On 16 November 1993, MK Tamar Gozhansky wrote a letter of protest to Labour and Social Affairs Minister Ora Namir asking her to look into complaints of harassment filed by Palestinian workers who were employed in Israel. Gozhansky indicated that a growing number of complaints had been made to the Workers' Hotline, alleging that Border Police were stopping Palestinian workers for humiliating searches that went on for an hour and more at points where they gathered in order to get a ride home. She noted in her letter that since the workers were leaving Israel in order to return to their homes, security was an implausible explanation for the searches. (Jerusalem Post, 17 November 1993) (b) Collective punishment (i) Houses or rooms that were demolished or sealed 174. On 5 September 1993, it was reported that the houses of six "terrorists" had been sealed in Hebron. (Ha'aretz, 5 September 1993) 175. On 12 September 1993, police and Border Police accompanied an IDF team to the Shu'fat refugee camp in northern Jerusalem where soldiers sealed the rooms of two activists who had been convicted of murder. Mahmoud Da'ajana, 45, and Juma'a Mussa, 50, were both serving life sentences for killing Sara Sharon, a prostitute from Tel Aviv, in January 1993. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 13 September 1993) 176. On 19 September 1993, Jerusalem municipality inspectors ordered the demolition of an illegally built structure in the Arab section of the capital's Abu Tor neighbourhood. The appeal that the landlord had filed with the High Court was rejected. (Jerusalem Post, 20 September 1993) 177. On 3 October 1993, Palestinian sources reported that the large-scale attack on wanted gunmen that had been carried out in the Gaza Strip a day earlier had caused damage to or destruction of 17 homes. Three houses were destroyed and 10 damaged in the Bureij refugee camp, in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City, in Jabalia village, Rafah and Khan Younis. The Shamali Mosque, which is located in the Shati' refugee camp, reportedly also sustained slight damage. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 3 October 1993) 178. On 18 October 1993, municipal crews under heavy police guard demolished an illegally built Arab home in Kfar Aqab, in northern Jerusalem, on the orders of Mayor Teddy Kollek. The house had not yet been occupied. (Jerusalem Post, 19 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 21 October 1993) 179. On 29 October 1993, one house was reportedly destroyed while two others were damaged in Nuseirat during attempts to capture Palestinian activists in the Gaza Strip. (Ha'aretz, 31 October 1993) 180. On 8 November 1993, anti-tank missiles were fired at a house in Beit Awa, near Hebron, where three gunmen had taken refuge and had ignored orders to surrender. The house was demolished and one of the gunmen killed. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 9 November 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 41 181. On 9 November 1993, it was reported that more than 100 houses had been destroyed in the territories during searches for wanted fugitives over the past three years. However, security authorities had announced recently that they would pay compensation to the owners whose houses had been damaged. (Ha'aretz, 9 November 1993) 182. On 18 November 1993, security forces sealed the home of Iyad Salam Hassan al-'Ar'ur, 19, from Gaza, who had stabbed Haim Darina to death. (Ha'aretz, 19 November 1993) (ii) Imposition of curfews, sealing off or closing of areas 183. On 2 September 1993, following the killing of an Israeli soldier near the village of Dura, in the Hebron area, the army imposed a curfew on the area of the attack. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 3 September 1993) 184. On 19 September 1993, it was reported that the general closure that had been imposed on the territories for the New Year and Shabbat (15 to 18 September) was to be lifted on the morning of 19 September. (Ha'aretz, 14 and 19 September 1993) 185. On 24 September 1993, it was reported that the territories would be sealed at 2 a.m. for 48 hours on the occasion of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). A curfew was imposed on the El-Bireh area following the stabbing of a soldier. (Ha'aretz, 26 September 1993; Jerusalem Post, 24 and 26 September 1993) 186. On 30 September 1993, it was reported that the curfew imposed on Kabatiya two days earlier was still in force. (Al-Tali'ah, 30 September 1993) 187. On 10 October 1993, Police Minister Moshe Shahal met with Faisal Husseini and other Palestinian representatives to discuss the possibility of ending the closure of the territories and of allowing Palestinians to enter Jerusalem. (Ha'aretz, 11 October 1993) 188. On 15 and 16 October 1993, Hebron was placed under curfew while soldiers combed the area in search of persons who had attacked a yeshiva student. (Jerusalem Post, 17 October 1993) 189. On 24 October 1993, the IDF imposed a curfew during searches conducted in the Khan Younis area after two soldiers were murdered there. (Ha'aretz, 25 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 28 October 1993) 190. On 2 November 1993, a curfew was imposed on Sinjil (West Bank), during the investigation conducted by the IDF after a failed car bomb attack. (Jerusalem Post, 2 November 1993) 191. On 7 November 1993, the IDF imposed a curfew on Hebron for 48 hours following the attack on Rabbi Druckman and the killing of his driver. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 8 November 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 11 November 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 42 192. On 15 November 1993, the IDF imposed a curfew on Hebron and prevented settlers from entering the town from Kiryat Arba. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 16 November 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 18 November 1993) 193. On 25 November 1993, a curfew was placed on the Jabalia refugee camp following the killing of Imad Akkel, the head of the Hamas military arm in the Gaza Strip. (Ha'aretz, 26 November 1993) 194. On 26 and 27 November 1993, the IDF imposed a curfew on the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, while the curfew continued to be in force in the Jabalia refugee camp. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 28 November 1993) (iii) Other forms of collective punishment 195. No information is available on this subject. (c) Expulsions 196. On 9 September 1993, 181 Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists who had been expelled in December 1992 to southern Lebanon returned to Israel and to the occupied territories. They were all taken directly to the following detention centres in Israel and the territories for identification, registration and medical examination: Dahiriya in Hebron, Fara in Nablus, Ketziot in the Negev and Beach in Gaza. A total of 189 deportees had received permission to return. However, eight among them who were reportedly facing long prison terms in Israel had decided to stay with the remaining activists at the Marj al-Zahour tent camp. The remaining deportees are scheduled to return to Israel in December. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 9 and 10 September 1993) 197. On 14 September 1993, Palestinian sources in Gaza and Nablus reported that several dozens of the activists who had returned from Lebanon several days earlier were released from detention centres and sent home. Their identities were not reported. (Ha'aretz, 15 September 1993) 198. On 11 October 1993, Omar Khatib, the deputy head of the PLO mission in Amman stated that an agreement had been reached in principle between the PLO and Israel and that Palestinians who were deported from their homeland after 1967 would be allowed to return in stages. He declined to reveal the number of Palestinian deportees who were included in the list that had been sent to Israel. However, another senior PLO official who confirmed Khatib's statement concerning the deportees indicated that the number could be as high as 200. No definite figures were available concerning the total number of Palestinians who had been deported by Israel since 1967. (Jerusalem Post, 12 October 1993) 199. On 15 November 1993, it was reported that the PLO had compiled a list of 1,800 Palestinians who had been deported by Israel since 1967 that would be submitted to Israel together with a proposed timetable for allowing them to return home. The PLO had reportedly also compiled or was compiling two additional lists, one of which concerned Palestinians who had left during a series of prisoner exchanges, while the other included prisoners who had accepted to go into exile in exchange for an early release from prison. (Jerusalem Post, 15 November 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 43 (d) Economic and social situation 200. On 30 August 1993, it was reported that a new gynaecological and maternity hospital was to be built in Beit Sahur, near Bethlehem, following a request made by the Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights. The head of the West Bank Civil Administration, Brig.-Gen. Gadi Zohar, had authorized the construction a week earlier. (Jerusalem Post, 30 August 1993) 201. On 6 September 1993, during an unprecedented visit to hospitals in eastern Jerusalem, Health Minister Haim Ramon stated that health services would be the first area for which the Palestinians in Gaza and Jericho would assume responsibility under the autonomy arrangement. He noted also that most health services in the territories were already run by local residents who worked for the Civil Administration. He promised to investigate the claims made by hospitals in eastern Jerusalem that the closure of the territories had prevented a number of patients from reaching them and that periodic applications for travel permits wasted the staff's time. He also agreed in principle to equate the licensing requirements concerning doctors in the occupied territories with those which apply to Jewish immigrant physicians. (Jerusalem Post, 7 September 1993) 202. On 9 September 1993, a spokeswoman for the Civil Administration denied rumours that the Administration was prepared to hand over the running of the Health and Education Departments to Palestinians. She added that it was highly premature to talk of any transfer of competence in these areas. Only internal administrative changes concerning the IDF were being considered. (Al-Tali'ah, 9 September 1993) 203. On 3 October 1993, it was reported that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) had drawn up a list of projects worth $90 million that were to be carried out immediately in order to help launch Palestinian self-rule. The projects included sanitation, the building of new schools, expanded health care and housing areas to be inhabited by returning refugees. UNRWA had already secured funds for a new Gaza hospital on which work was to begin later in the month, and whose cost was estimated at $35 million. UNRWA officials stated that the Gaza hospital was the first hospital to be built in the Gaza Strip since 1967. (Jerusalem Post, 3 October 1993) 204. On 7 October 1993, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it would provide $3.5 million worth of food aid to Palestinians in Gaza. The assistance would be the first material support for the territories since the signing of the peace accord. The aid consisted of almost 6,500 metric tons of food to be distributed with the help of local relief agencies to 140,000 Palestinians. (Jerusalem Post, 8 October 1993) 205. On 7 October far been prepared residents of East by Arab merchants seizure of goods. 1993, it was reported that some 14,000 legal procedures had so or filed by the municipality of West Jerusalem against Arab Jerusalem. The procedures concerned the unpaid arnona taxes and house owners who faced the imposition of high fines or (Al-Tali'ah, 7 October 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 44 206. On 10 October 1993, Dr. Jamal M. Safi, the director of the Environmental Protection and Research Institute in Gaza, stated that a catastrophic water shortage, lack of sewage disposal and solid waste treatment, overcrowding and the uncontrolled use of pesticides were the most pressing problems in Gaza. He was addressing a meeting on the theme "The State of the Environment in the Gaza Strip", held in Jerusalem under the auspices of the Israeli-Palestinian RoundTable Forum on the Environment. (Jerusalem Post, 11 October 1993) 207. On 18 October 1993, the Finance Committee approved some $7.6 million for the funding of 15,000 jobs in Gaza. The money, which was to be distributed by the Civil Administration, was taken from the budgets of several ministries. (Jerusalem Post, 19 October 1993) 208. On 19 October 1993, it was reported that the Workers' Hotline, a non-profit organization based in Tel Aviv, had sent a letter of complaint to the Minister for Labour and Social Affairs, Ora Namir, concerning the cases of some 20 workers from the territories who were unable to obtain a work permit because they could not produce a dismissal notice from their last employers. (Jerusalem Post, 19 October 1993) 209. On 24 October 1993, Health Minister Haim Ramon asked Finance Minister Avraham Shohat to approve an allocation of approximately $2.3 million to purchase a year's supply of vaccines for children in the territories. Ramon explained that the Civil Administration had been responsible for supplying vaccines so far. However, under the autonomy arrangement, the Palestinian self-rule authority might not initially be organized sufficiently to purchase the vaccines. As for public health, 95 per cent of the children in the territories were immunized, a percentage similar to that in Israel. The Civil Administration's health expenditures had reached some $105.7 million in all of the territories. There were 1,000 hospital beds in Gaza. In addition, 11,000 Palestinians from the territories suffering from very serious health conditions were hospitalized in Israeli medical institutions in 1993. (Jerusalem Post, 25 October 1993) 210. On 26 October 1993, the Labour and Social Affairs Committee approved, in a first reading, a bill entitling Palestinian women who work in Israel or whose husbands work in Israel to benefit from the National Insurance Institute grant of some $218 (NIS 650) for which Israeli working families are eligible. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 27 October 1993) 211. On 31 October 1993, it was reported that the Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights was demanding that Israel cooperate in the development of the Gaza health care system under the autonomy arrangement, stating that the Government still had a fundamental responsibility for the welfare of patients in the area. The Association had drawn up an 11-point proposal for cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli authorities until a functioning, independent Palestinian health care system could be established. One of the proposals was that Israel would commit itself to continuing to diagnose, treat and carry out operations in Israeli hospitals that could not be carried out in the existing Gazan medical centres. The Association also demanded Israeli aid for the development of an independent medical infrastructure in the area, which would consist of setting up training /... A/49/67 English Page 45 programmes for specialists in hospitals in Gaza and assisting in the purchase of equipment for those facilities. (Jerusalem Post, 31 October 1993) 212. On 1 November 1993, the Israel Electric Corporation cut off the electricity of some 100,000 residents of Gaza. According to Israeli Radio, neighbourhoods in Gaza have accumulated a debt of around $4.5 million in unpaid electricity bills. (Jerusalem Post, 2 November 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 4 November 1993) 213. On 2 November 1993, it was reported that the Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights had complained that Gazans who were in urgent need of medical treatment in Israeli hospitals were unable to receive it because of financial hardships. In a letter addressed to Maj.-Gen. Danny Rothschild, the IDF coordinator in the territories, and to the head of the Civil Administration, Brig.-Gen. Dubi Gazit, the Association indicated that 120 patients were awaiting transfer to hospitals on the basis of recommendations by specialists. The letter stated: "We demand that patients having been diagnosed as needing medical attention in Israeli hospitals be sent to them immediately." (Jerusalem Post, 2 November 1993) 214. On 4 November 1993, the residents of Gaza complained that electric power had been cut off during the night in the Strip for the past 80 days. Residents believed that this was the way in which the Israel Electric Corporation chose to punish persons who did not pay their electricity bills, in particular factories. (Al-Tali'ah, 4 November 1993) 215. On 5 November 1993, the Histadrut and the Palestinian trade unions reached a cooperation agreement at a meeting between Histadrut officials and Palestinian trade union leaders. It was decided to set up a joint work team to formulate areas of cooperation, including workers' training courses, examination of workers' rights in Israel and consideration of the Palestinians' demand for a return of the deductions made from the wages of Palestinian workers in Israel for the past 26 years. A week earlier, the head of the Citizens' Rights Movement in the Histadrut, MK Ran Cohen, had said that the Histadrut had to ensure that the hundreds of millions of shekels deducted from Palestinian workers' wages since 1967 - for severance pay, pensions, and national insurance - on which they never received benefits, were placed at the Palestinians' disposal. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 7 November 1993) 216. On 10 November 1993, it was reported that the Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights had accused the Civil Administration of Gaza of ignoring the plight of 120 patients from the Gaza Strip awaiting to be transferred to Israeli hospitals. Following the death of a seven-month-old baby that was waiting to be operated on in an Israeli hospital according to the Association, Wala Abu Ali died as a result of negligence MK Naomi Hazan requested that Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabin investigate the reasons for the delay in transferring patients. Hazan also asked why there was a continuous shortage of medication in Gaza pharmacies and hospitals, and what was being done to remedy the problem. Strongly denying the Association's claim, Civil Administration spokeswoman Yael Nussberg stated that the Administration was acting in a proper and orderly manner and that there had been no change in its hospitalization policy. Patients needing urgent medical attention were /... A/49/67 English Page 46 being sent to Israeli hospitals, regardless of the time of day, she added, on the basis of decisions taken by doctors in the local hospitals. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 10 November 1993) 217. On 11 November 1993, 90 Israeli and Palestinian physicians met in Jerusalem at a gathering sponsored by the Defence for Children International, and the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees in the West Bank and Gaza. They discussed how Palestinian children would be assured of receiving proper health care when Gaza and Jericho became autonomous. The result was the establishment of an Israeli-Palestinian committee whose task would be to follow up on referrals. (Jerusalem Post, 12 November 1993) 218. On 13 November 1993, the office of the State Attorney announced that it had no objection to issuing licences to work in Israel to Iman Abu Nida, Osama Salut and Salam Abu Assar from the Gaza Strip, who had appealed to the High Court of Justice. They would obtain the licence at the Civil Administration of the localities in which they resided. The demand of the fourth petitioner, Kamal Abu Nada, was rejected because he had been imprisoned in the past for selling drugs. (Ha'aretz, 14 November 1993) 219. On 21 November 1993, the Gaza Civil Administration denied accusations by the Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights that it was neglecting patients and the local health care system in view of the pending end of Israeli rule in the district. The Administration spokeswoman indicated that the health care system in Gaza was continuing to function as usual and that there had been no change in the way patients were dealt with. There was no basis for the charge that fewer patients were being referred to Israeli hospitals, with such transfers being made as necessary. The spokeswoman addressed the specific case of a seven-month-old baby who the group claimed had died because she had not been transferred to an Israeli hospital in time. According to the spokeswoman, there had been no delay in implementing the transfer, once it was determined to be necessary. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 22 November 1993) (e) Other developments 220. No information is available on this subject. 2. (a) Measures affecting certain fundamental freedoms Freedom of movement 221. On 1 September 1993, according to sources in the Prime Minister's Office, the agreement of principle concluded with the Palestinians reportedly dealt with the return of Palestinian refugees from the Six Day War and could lead to the return of several thousand Palestinians to the administered territories. A clause in the agreement specified that a standing committee would be set up to decide, by mutual consent, how persons who had been uprooted from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967 would be permitted to enter the autonomous areas. The sources confirmed that the number of refugees concerned was approximately /... A/49/67 English Page 47 200,000, although this number was not cited in the document. 1 September 1993) (Jerusalem Post, 222. On 2 September 1993, Israeli authorities were reported to have taken harsh measures to prevent Arab workers without a work permit from entering Israel. The IDF detained more than 300 workers along the Green Line and transferred them to the official checkpoint on the Beersheba-Hebron road. (Al-Tali'ah, 2 September 1993) 223. On 18 September 1993, sources in the Prime Minister's Office denied the existence of an agreement that would allow any of the Palestinian refugees of 1967 to return to Israel. Cabinet sources stated that a report from PLO sources about an agreement by Israel to allow 400,000 refugees to return over the next five years was "utterly groundless and nonsensical". (Jerusalem Post, 19 September 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 16 and 30 September 1993) 224. On 17 October 1993, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Yossi Beilin, confirmed that it had been decided several days earlier to allow 5,000 Palestinians per year to enter the territories as part of the family reunification programme. It was also agreed that marrying someone from the territories would entitle Palestinians from abroad to a permanent resident status in the territories, which was not the case before. (Ha'aretz, 13 October 1993; Jerusalem Post, 18 October 1993) 225. On 21 October 1993, governmental sources stated that the Government had planned to announce as a goodwill gesture the easing of regulations restricting the entrance of Palestinians into Jerusalem that were part of the measures linked to the closure of the territories. According to the sources, the closure would be completely lifted as at 26 October for women and persons with jobs in Jerusalem. Men over the age of 40-45 would also be issued entrance permits. Under the existing closure regulations in Jerusalem, children under the age of 16 and men and women over the age 60 were allowed into the city, in addition to persons who had been given special permits for humanitarian reasons. (Ha'aretz, 22 and 26 October 1993; Jerusalem Post, 22 October 1993) 226. On 5 November 1993, 30 Israeli women from the Women for Peace and Equality movement, including MKs Tamar Gozhansky and Anat Meor, were stopped at the Erez roadblock by IDF soldiers and were prevented from crossing it while on their way to meet Palestinian women prisoners who had been released in Gaza. (Ha'aretz, 7 November 1993) (b) Freedom of education 227. On 18 November 1993, the Israeli authorities ordered the Hashimiya Secondary School in El-Bireh closed for one week following the shooting and death of a student. (Al-Tali'ah, 18 November 1993) (c) Freedom of religion 228. No information is available on this subject. /... A/49/67 English Page 48 (d) Freedom of expression 229. No information is available on this subject. 3. Information on settlers' activities affecting the civilian population 230. On 3 and 4 September 1993, in Hebron, settlers clashed with Arab residents several times over the weekend after a grenade was thrown in the Beit Hadassa neighbourhood. (Jerusalem Post, 5 September 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 9 September 1993) 231. On 13 September 1993, in the Hebron area, Palestinians demonstrating in favour of the peace agreement clashed with settlers belonging to the Kach movement. Settlers from Gush Etzion and Ofra blocked roads at the Gush Etzion and Beit El junctions for more than an hour, preventing the vehicles of Arab residents from passing through. (Ha'aretz, 15 September 1993) 232. On 23 September 1993, the leaders of settlements located in the Gaza Strip asked that their settlements be classified as "confrontation line settlements", especially after the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip. The leaders also asked that a 54 kilometre-long electric fence, whose cost was estimated at NIS 54 million, be built for the defence of the settlements. (Al-Tali'ah, 23 September 1993) 233. On 3 October 1993, a group of settlers headed by Rabbi Moshe Levinger harassed Arab residents of the Al Khan neighbourhood in the Old City of Hebron. The settlers claimed that the Arab residents were living in houses belonging to Jews. (Al-Tali'ah, 7 October 1993) 234. On 16 October 1993, soldiers fired warning shots in the air during a clash between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in Hebron. During the clash, stones were thrown, windows and windshields were smashed, private property was damaged and six Palestinians were injured. The clash followed the stabbing of a yeshiva student on 15 October. Three Palestinians and an Israeli woman were injured in ensuing riots by settlers. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 17 October 1993) 235. On 30 October 1993, thousands of settlers blocked roads, burned tires and cars, and smashed and stoned Arab cars throughout the West Bank in protest against the killing of a resident of the Beit El settlement, Haim Mizrahi, on 29 October. One Palestinian car passenger was hurt near Kalkiliya and dozens of houses and cars were damaged in the Ramallah region, especially in El-Bireh. Five settlers from Beit Haggai, south of Hebron, were arrested. (Ha'aretz, 31 October and 1 November 1993; Jerusalem Post, 31 October 1993) 236. On 31 October 1993, settlers blocked the road to Kalkiliya near the Kedumim settlement (also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 4 November 1993). In El-Bireh, Dr. Mahrouf Saleh, from the El-Bireh branch of the Red Crescent Society, stated that he saw a dozen youths get out of a van and smash the windows of three cars across the street from his office. (Jerusalem Post, 1 November 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 49 237. On 1 November 1993, assailants believed to be Israelis from a nearby settlement set fire and burned a classroom for children from the Jalazone refugee camp. Settlers blocked roads in order to prevent Arab vehicles from passing freely in four locations between Jerusalem and Beit El, north of Khan Younis, and burned tires throughout the territories. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 2 November 1993) 238. On 2 November 1993, hundreds of settlers from Gush Katif blocked the road linking Gaza to Khan Younis in protest against the security situation. (Ha'aretz, 3 November 1993) 239. On 3 November 1993, several dozen settlers entered the Am'ari refugee camp near Ramallah and threw stones at cars and homes, after the windows of dozens of Israeli vehicles were broken by stones near the same refugee camp. (Jerusalem Post, 4 November 1993) 240. On 4 November 1993, the head of the Israeli Settlement Council, Benhas Felerstein, was reported to have described the release of Palestinian prisoners as a green light being given to Palestinians to eliminate settlers. The spokesman for the Emunim Settlement Movement, Roni Lutner, added that many settlers felt despair following the decision to release Palestinian prisoners. (Al-Tali'ah, 4 November 1993) 241. On 5 and 6 November 1993, Jews who had been stoned while walking to the Machpelah Cave in Hebron responded by smashing the windows of Arab-owned cars and houses. They also beat several Arabs who were passing by. Settlers threw stones at Arab cars travelling along the road between Hebron and Kiryat Arba. In Kiryat Arba, Jewish youths smashed the windows of cars that passed through the area. Four Arab residents, including a woman, were injured during the clashes between Jews and Arabs in Hebron and Kiryat Arba. Dozens of settlers demonstrated in the area of Beit El. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 7 November 1993) 242. On 7 November 1993, four Palestinians were shot by settlers in Gaza, apparently in retaliation against the attack on Rabbi Haim Druckman near Hebron. Settlers blocked the Beersheba-Hebron road for several hours. However, most of the Arab population of the area was under curfew and there were few clashes. A roadblock outside Kiryat Arba prevented settlers from entering Hebron. Nevertheless, Arab and Israeli sources reported that up to 40 cars had been destroyed in Hebron. Settlers also blocked roads in Gaza, including that linking Khan Younis to Gaza, and, according to Palestinian sources, more than 30 Palestinians were injured, most of them slightly, during clashes with settlers from Gush Katif. Settlers also set fire to greenhouses belonging to Palestinians. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 8 November 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 11 November 1993) 243. On 8 November 1993, two Arabs from Jericho (father and son) were shot, apparently by settlers, and slightly injured near Maaleh Ephraim, near the village of Awsarin. Hundreds of settlers blocked the 49 main roads in the territories for two hours and 60,000 Arab workers were thus prevented from reaching their places of work. (Al-Tali'ah, 11 November 1993) In Gaza, settlers set fire to the house of Abdul Karim Astal near Neveh Dekalim and to /... A/49/67 English Page 50 some 10 greenhouses near the Kfar Darom and Gush Katif areas. They also beat Palestinians and damaged Arab property. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 9 November 1993) 244. On 9 November 1993, following the killing of an Israeli, some 50 to 100 settlers from Gush Katif and students from the Ohr Etzion Yeshiva went to the scene of the murder in Gaza City, burned tires, set up roadblocks and threw stones at passing cars. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 10 November 1993) 245. On 10 November 1993, settlers from Kfar Darom entered a house in Deir el-Balah and damaged it. Police arrested a settler suspected of having participated in the incident. In the Gaza Strip, a bus with Arab passengers was stoned and damaged. All the windows were smashed. A passenger was slightly injured by glass fragments. (Ha'aretz, 11 November 1993) 246. On 13 November 1993, Najib Hasuna was shot and seriously injured while dozens of settlers were reportedly on a rampage near the farm near Ramallah where Haim Mizrahi had been killed earlier. (Ha'aretz, 15 November 1993) 247. On 15 November 1993, following the attack on an Israeli in Hebron, settlers from Hebron and Kiryat Arba attacked cars and buildings at the northern entrance to the city. Some eight local residents were reportedly slightly injured by stones, while scores of Arab cars were smashed or stoned or had their tires punctured. Police indicated that they had received two complaints about damaged property but no reports of injuries. Samaha Ziyadeh, a 17-year-old Palestinian girl, was badly cut on the face when a stone thrown through the windshield of a car near the Jalazone refugee camp struck her in the head. The stone was reportedly thrown by settlers who were driving in the opposite direction. (Ha'aretz, 16 November 1993; Jerusalem Post, 16 and 18 November 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 18 November 1993) 248. On 16 November 1993, a large number of settlers from Hebron and Kiryat Arba led by Rabbi Moshe Levinger blocked the roads in the centre of Hebron, throwing stones at Arab vehicles and overturning stands in the centre of the market. Several Arab traders were reportedly beaten by settlers and the windshields of many vehicles were smashed. A Border Policeman was hurt by a stone thrown by a settler. In the municipality of El-Bireh, settlers from Pesagot and Beit El blocked the road leading to the Pesagot settlement, after young Palestinians had reportedly stoned Israeli cars and blocked roads. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 17 November 1993) 249. On 17 November 1993, the Council of Jewish Settlers in Judea, Samaria and Gaza distributed a leaflet among settlers calling on them not to attack innocent Arabs. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 18 November 1993) 250. On 18 November 1993, dozens of settlers from Gush Katif blocked the Nahal Oz checkpoint, thus preventing Arabs from passing through during the funeral of Staff Sgt. Haim Darina. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 19 November 1993) 251. On 21 November 1993, the police and the IDF prevented a clash between settlers from Mitzpeh Yericho and Arabs from Jericho, after the settlers had /... A/49/67 English Page 51 blocked the road to Jericho, denying passage to Arab cars. 22 November 1993) (Jerusalem Post, 252. On 21 November 1993, settlers attacked and wounded Palestinian pedestrians and car drivers in Hebron's Old Town. Several people were treated in hospital for injuries. It was reported that the Israeli police had refused for the past two days to register new complaints concerning attacks by settlers on Palestinian persons and property. (Al-Tali'ah, 25 November 1993) 253. On 22 November 1993, government officials informed the Knesset Law Committee that dealing with settler attacks on Arabs and their property in the territories presented an unusual problem, both because of the insufficient number of policemen in the regions (at present, there were only 900 policemen in the territories) and because neither the settlers nor the Arabs were willing to cooperate in that regard. The meeting was convened by Chairman Dedi Zucker (Meretz Party) because of the security forces' "failure" to prevent such attacks. An IDF representative indignantly denied accusations voiced by the human rights organization, B'tselem, and a number of Committee members who thought that the army was turning a blind eye to disturbances caused by settlers. (Jerusalem Post, 23 November 1993) 254. On 23 November 1993, it was reported that a ministerial panel was being established to recommend law enforcement measures to be taken against militant settlers, after four ministers attacked the Government during a Cabinet meeting for its inability to control persons who blocked roads or damaged the property of innocent Arabs. Attorney-General Michael Ben Yair indicated that 61 complaints against settlers had been lodged with the police. Several ministers indicated that this was insufficient, since the complaints were not followed by investigations. (Jerusalem Post, 23 November 1993) 255. On 23 November 1993, Ran Cohen (Meretz Party) called for the convening of a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in order to discuss the lawlessness of the settlers and their opposition to the efforts of the GSS aimed at exposing criminal elements. (Jerusalem Post, 24 November 1993) 256. On 25 November 1993, the police of the Judea District collected the revolvers of 13 settlers from the Beit El, Beit El B and Pesagot settlements in order to check if the weapons had been used in an incident that occurred on 13 November when an Arab was shot near the Beit El settlement. (Ha'aretz, 28 November 1993) 257. On 29 November 1993, settlement leaders launched a campaign appealing to persons living within the Green Line to help guard settlements in anticipation of the scheduled IDF withdrawal from Gaza and Jericho the following month. (Jerusalem Post, 30 November 1993) 258. On 30 November 1993, Police Minister Moshe Shahal and MK Yossi Sarid voiced firm disagreement with the policy of Ha-Shomer, an organization set up by settlement leaders to enlist volunteers from within the Green Line to guard the settlements. The Peace Now movement issued a statement saying that the establishment of an independent militia was yet another effort among continuous /... A/49/67 English Page 52 attempts by the settlers to dictate policy under the guise of defence concerns. (Jerusalem Post, 1 December 1993) D. 1. Treatment of detainees Measures concerning the release of detainees 259. On 9 September 1993, 450 Palestinian prisoners were reportedly transferred from the Gaza District Prison to detention camps inside Israel. According to the Israel Prisons Authority, the prisoners in question were serving long-term sentences and would not be released within the framework of the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles. (Al-Tali'ah, 9 September 1993) 260. On 29 September 1993, it was reported that Police Minister Moshe Shahal had instructed the Prisons Authority to prepare for the possibility of releasing prisoners within the framework of the peace accord with the PLO. It was already clear that security prisoners who were involved in homicide would not be released and would be transferred to prisons within the Green Line. (Jerusalem Post, 29 September 1993) 261. On 30 September 1993, the Director of the Israel Prisons Authority, Arieh Bibi, declared that all arrangements had been made in the event that the Israeli Government decided to release Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Bibi added that a list had been drawn containing the names of prisoners who were charged with murder and who would be transferred to Israel. According to journalistic sources, some 2,000 prisoners were to be transferred to Israel by April 1994, when the self-rule arrangements would come into force. (Al-Tali'ah, 30 September 1993) 262. On 3 October 1993, Palestinians held a sit-in at the Red Cross headquarters in Ramallah and El-Bireh to call for the release of detainees and to protest against the planned transfer of Palestinian prisoners to prisons inside the Green Line. (Al-Tali'ah, 7 October 1993) 263. On 7 October 1993, representatives of the PLO and of the peace group Gush Shalom handed a letter to the director of Jneid prison in Nablus after some 3,000 Palestinians and Israelis had held a protest march in front of the jail. They demanded that Israel free all Palestinian prisoners. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 8 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 7 and 14 October 1993) 264. On 7 October 1993, some 350 protesters, mostly women, held a sit-in at the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners. (Jerusalem Post, 8 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 14 October 1993) 265. On 9 October 1993, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin asked the IDF and the security authorities to draw up a list of Palestinian security prisoners "without blood on their hands" so that they might be released. (Ha'aretz, 10 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 14 October 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 53 266. On 17 October 1993, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin indicated that a large number of Palestinian prisoners would be released within the framework of the negotiations with the PLO. The GSS and the police also stated that they had already categorized the prisoners according to the type of offence they had committed and to how much of their sentences they had already served. (Ha'aretz, 14 October 1993; Jerusalem Post, 18 October 1993) 267. On 19 October 1993, Salim Muhammed Hussein Zerai (or Zeri'i), 50, from Deir el-Balah, was released from jail. He was the first prisoner to be freed as a gesture of goodwill concerning Palestinian demands for a general amnesty. However, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin refused to comply with the other request made by PLO leader Yasser Arafat concerning the release of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. (On the other hand, Al-Tali'ah reported that discussions concerning his release were under way.) Zerai returned to his home in the Deir el-Balah refugee camp 23 years after being arrested on a boat full of guns off the coast of Haifa. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 20 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 21 October 1993) 268. On 24 October 1993, Prime Minister Rabin indicated that Israel would proceed with the agreement to begin releasing 700 to 760 Palestinian prisoners on 25 October despite the killing of two Israeli soldiers in Gaza. However, Israel would not free the Hamas prisoners whose release had also been planned. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 25 October 1993) 269. On 25 October 1993, more than 600 Palestinian prisoners were released from detention centres in Israel and in the territories, 280 of them from the Gaza Strip. Israel and the PLO had agreed in Taba to a limited release that week of about 700 prisoners who were aged under 18 or over 50, women, prisoners who were ill and those who had almost completed their sentences (also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 28 October 1993). Some 23 prisoners who were to be released initially remained in jail, as they required special permission because they had been convicted in civilian and not military courts. (Ha'aretz, 22 and 26 October 1993; Jerusalem Post, 22, 26 and 31 October 1993) 270. On 31 October 1993, the release of 10 out of the 23 prisoners who had remained in jail on 25 October because they needed special permission was reportedly approved. (Jerusalem Post, 1 November 1993) 271. On 31 October 1993, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin reportedly told the Cabinet that he had ruled out pardon or reduction of sentences for Palestinians who had perpetrated "terrorist" attacks after the Israel-PLO accord was signed on 13 September. (Jerusalem Post, 1 November 1993) 272. On 2 November 1993, it was reported that Palestinians were complaining that they had not received a detailed list of prisoners who had been released recently from IDF detention centres and Israeli jails. Palestinian sources indicated that out of the 65 women imprisoned for security offences, 30 had been released. The Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights indicated that out of the 400 prisoners who were described as "suffering from serious diseases", only 41 had been released. (Jerusalem Post, 2 November 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 54 273. On 29 November 1993, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin announced that he would not release any additional prisoners before Israel and the Palestinians had reached an agreement concerning the implementation of the accord. Rabin also linked the release of prisoners to receiving information on Israeli soldiers who were missing in action. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 30 November 1993) 274. On 30 November 1993, senior members of the Israeli delegation to the security talks in Cairo confirmed that Israel would agree to the release of 3,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees by 13 December. Dr. Nabil Sha'ath, the head of the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks, also stated that Israel had committed itself to a timetable for the release of 10,000 prisoners. However, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's spokesman, Oded Ben-Ami, denied that any such agreement had been reached. (Jerusalem Post, 1 December 1993) 2. Other information concerning detainees 275. On 2 September 1993, a Palestinian prisoner was shot and slightly injured when he tried to escape from the Gaza Military Court. (Ha'aretz, 3 September 1993) 276. On 2 September 1993, it was reported that Palestinian detainees in Hebron prison had suspended their protest after the prison administration had promised to meet their demands. The prisoners began their protest two weeks earlier in order to complain of water shortages and the lack of fresh air in their cells caused by the covers placed over the windows. Prisoners in the Dahiriya detention camp complained of ever harsher conditions, including detention in isolation cells, confiscation of prisoners' personal belongings and shorter bathing time. (Al-Tali'ah, 2 September 1993) 277. On 16 September 1993, MK Hashim Mahamid declared that 12,300 Palestinians were currently detained in Israeli prisons: 6,300 were imprisoned in detention camps controlled by the army, while 6,000 were detained in district prisons under the authority of the General Prisons Administration. (Al-Tali'ah, 16 September 1993) 278. On 20 September 1993, the Union of Prisoners' Families, a Palestinian prisoners' organization, demanded that the release of security prisoners not be made contingent upon their support for the PLO-Israel peace accord. The group stated that they were all prisoners of war and should therefore be released "immediately and unconditionally" in the wake of the accord. Israel stated that the Geneva Convention concerning prisoners of war did not apply to Palestinians because they were not regular soldiers and had mainly attacked civilians. Israel also did allow visits to those prisoners by ICRC officials. (Jerusalem Post, 21 September 1993) 279. On 22 September 1993, the Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights petitioned the High Court of Justice to close the Ketziot detention centre in the Negev desert because of "inferior conditions of imprisonment". Attorney Shlomo Lecker, acting on behalf of the Association and four prisoners, also argued that the detention of security prisoners outside the territories in a prison in Israel violated international law. Lecker called for a significant /... A/49/67 English Page 55 improvement in conditions of detention. Jerusalem Post, 23 September 1993) (Ha'aretz, 24 September 1993; 280. On 7 October 1993, a security prisoner died during exercises in the yard of the Nablus Prison. According to the Prisons Service, Ahmed Adel Hassen Ismail, 43, from Naqoura, a prisoner on remand, was jogging in the prison yard when he collapsed. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 8 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 14 October 1993) 281. On 11 October 1993, Palestinian security prisoners held a one-day hunger strike at the Judea and Samaria Prison in Nablus in order to protest poor living conditions and to make sure that they were not forgotten in the peace talks. (Jerusalem Post, 12 October 1993) 282. On 11 October 1993, the Knesset Law Committee stated that a bill intended to make the Justice Ministry responsible for investigating crimes allegedly committed by GSS investigators was a welcome first step but one which did not go far enough. The government-sponsored bill stipulated that any complaint relating to the conduct of GSS investigators in the course of an investigation would first be looked into by either the Attorney-General or the State Attorney. If either of those officials believed that the complaint warranted a criminal investigation, the matter would be transferred to the Justice Ministry's special unit for investigating policemen. The Committee agreed that the bill should not be limited only to investigators and to violence committed during an investigation. At present, complaints of that type were transferred to the police, whose officers often had close professional ties with GSS investigators. The bill was meant to prevent a situation in which investigators were investigating themselves. Instead, it would apply to all charges of unwarranted violence by the GSS, from the moment a suspect was taken into custody until he was released. It would also apply to anyone connected with the incident, including the investigators' superiors. Committee Chairman Dedi Zucker (Meretz) noted that out of the 11 Palestinians who had died during GSS investigation over the past five years, only two cases had resulted in the filing of criminal charges. Seven cases had been brought to internal disciplinary courts, while no action was taken in the other two. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 12 October 1993) 283. On 24 October 1993, security prisoner Yehya Abdel Latif Ali Natur, 24, from Tulkarm, died in the Nablus (Jneid) Central Prison infirmary. Natur was serving the third year of an 11-year prison term and reportedly suffered from a heart ailment (also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 28 October 1993). The Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights demanded that Police Minister Moshe Shahal open an urgent inquiry into Natur's death. (Ha'aretz, 26 October 1993; Jerusalem Post, 26 and 27 October 1993) 284. On 11 November 1993, a report by Amnesty International entitled "Physicians and Torture Methods" denounced the covering up of acts of torture committed by prison physicians. It mentioned as an example the case of Nadir Kamsya, 25, from Beit Sahur, who was detained on 4 May 1993. Kamsya was hospitalized for severe injury to the testicles as a result of beating. The prison physician wrote in his report that Kamsya had sustained the injury when he fell down the stairs. (Al-Tali'ah, 11 November 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 56 E. Annexation and settlement 285. On 30 August 1993, a large number of IDF troops evicted settlers from Gush Etzion from a site near the location at which Mordechai Lipkin had been killed in July 1993. On 29 August, some 70 to 120 settlers had declared the establishment of a settlement in Lipkin's name about 1 kilometre away from the Ephrat-Tekoa junction. (Ha'aretz, 30 August 1993; Jerusalem Post, 30 and 31 August 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 2 September 1993) 286. On 1 September 1993, construction work began on 400 new housing units in an area under the jurisdiction of the Ephrat Regional Council. A week earlier, several private contractors had received from the Civil Administration the final permits that enabled them to begin work. Gush Etzion was reportedly one of the areas beyond the Green Line where the Government had decided not to stop development. (Jerusalem Post, 2 September 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 9 September 1993) 287. On 23 September 1993, the Land and Water Establishment for Studies and Legal Services revealed that 60,500 dunums of land had been confiscated in the West Bank between December 1991 and August 1993. The Israeli authorities used four main pretexts to justify the confiscation: land considered state land (34,193 dunums of land), for settlement purposes (22,179 dunums), for public welfare (3,580 dunums) and for security and military reasons (531 dunums). In addition, 1,017 dunums of land had been confiscated for "other reasons". Israeli settlers also carried out construction activities on 300 dunums of land. According to the report, the majority of the land had been confiscated during the first eight months of 1993, that is, 25,891 dunums considered state land. (Al-Tali'ah, 23 September 1993) 288. On 24 September 1993, it was reported that Finance Minister Avraham Shohat had stated in an exclusive interview with the Jerusalem Post that Israel would not be making significant investments any more in the Jewish settlements in the territories. (Jerusalem Post, 24 September 1993) 289. On 26 September 1993, the Jerusalem City Council decided to postpone for two weeks the vote concerning the proposed Jewish housing project in the Rasel Amud area of eastern Jerusalem. Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek reiterated that he had approved the plan in principle although it was a departure from the city's policy of not authorizing Jewish construction in or adjacent to Arab neighbourhoods. The plan had been approved by the city Building and Planning Subcommittee on 23 September. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 23 and 27 September 1993) 290. On 4 October 1993, United States officials announced that the United States would penalize Israel by deducting $437 million from the 1993 loan guarantees because of settlement activity in the territories during the previous year. That meant that instead of the full $2 billion in United States guarantees Israel would have received during the year beginning on 1 October 1993, it could expect a maximum of $1.563 billion. (The loan guarantee legislation required each dollar spent in the territories be deducted from the yearly $2 billion United States loan guarantee.) (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 5 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 7 October 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 57 291. On 6 October 1993, it was reported that United States officials had indicated that the United States penalty deducting $437 million from the loan guarantees because of settlement activity in the territories included housing in eastern Jerusalem. The calculation was reportedly based on Israel's non-security expenditures for territories not under Israeli control on 4 June 1967. (Jerusalem Post, 6 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 7 October 1993) 292. On 10 October 1993, Finance Minister Avraham Shohat announced that the Government would not challenge the Clinton Administration's decision to cut $437 million from next year's loan guarantees from the Congress, hoping that the United States would make up for the amount in some other way. A government official dealing with the issue of loan guarantees stated that there was an agreement in principle to reduce the cut to $130 million. (Jerusalem Post, 11 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 7 October 1993) 293. On 11 October 1993, Minister the Government had decided not to generate serious divisions within facilitate the peace negotiations (Jerusalem Post, 12 October 1993) for Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres stated that dismantle settlements for fear that this would the nation, even though doing so would and reduce pressure on the IDF. 294. On 11 October 1993, Housing Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer declared that construction in the Jewish neighbourhoods of eastern Jerusalem (including Pisgat Zeev and Neve Yaacov) would not be halted by the peace talks. (Jerusalem Post, 12 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 14 October 1993) 295. On 14 October 1993, Arab residents of the territories reported that building had been accelerated in the Nafi Dikalim and Jedid settlements located near the Khan Younis refugee camp, particularly since the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian accord. (Al-Tali'ah, 14 October 1993) 296. On 17 October 1993, it was announced that 100 religious families, most of whom were from Bnei Brak, had recently moved into the new Kiryat Sefer settlement in the Modien region across the Green Line. The settlement, which is planned to encompass some 5,000 housing units, was built 1.5 kilometres from the Green Line on state-owned land and land that had been bought from Arabs. (Jerusalem Post, 18 October 1993) 297. On 20 October 1993, the Jerusalem City Council approved a controversial plan to build some 110 apartments for Jewish families in Ras el-Amud, an Arab neighbourhood of eastern Jerusalem. The land for building was clearly owned by Jews for over a century. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 21 October 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 21 October 1993) 298. On 20 October 1993, it was reported that Secretary of State Warren Christopher had informed American Jewish leaders that he had agreed to establish a joint panel with Israel in order to seek ways to deduct the least possible sum from the $437 million penalty that was to be applied to the loan guarantees. (Jerusalem Post, 20 October 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 58 299. On 20 October 1993, settlement leaders published a list of 16 or 17 security demands for settlements under the autonomy plan. Among the Council demands were: (a) That the settlements be grouped into blocs, to be linked both by territory and roads that would be patrolled exclusively by the IDF. The Council also requested that new roads be built between the blocs of settlements and the Green Line, and that those roads should also be patrolled exclusively by the IDF; (b) That the Government end its freeze on construction in the settlements; (c) That the Government not give to the Palestinian autonomous authority control over security, land, roads, water and other infrastructures in the territories. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 20 October 1993) 300. On 20 October 1993, settlers announced that they would tear down the 8 to 14 sukkot (huts) that they had built for the Feast of Tabernacles and that they had already begun to turn into residences in the A-Tor neighbourhood of eastern Jerusalem. The wooden structures were built near the Beit Orot Yeshiva, on land earmarked for the construction of an Arab school. They stated that they had been promised that the building of a Jewish neighbourhood would be allowed in that area after the municipal elections. The Jerusalem municipality did not confirm the announcement. (Jerusalem Post, 14, 15 and 19 October 1993; Ha'aretz, 21 October 1993) 301. On 21 October 1993, the Israeli Deputy Defence Minister, Mordechai Gur, stressed the necessity of annexing the Maaleh Adumim settlement to Jerusalem. During his visit to the city, Gur added that the settlement had been built to constitute a geographically integral part of Jerusalem and of the security belt surrounding East Jerusalem. Military camps and factories had been built in Maaleh Adumim for that purpose. (Al-Tali'ah, 21 October 1993) 302. On 28 October 1993, during the discussion concerning the 1994 budget, Finance Minister Avraham Shohat reportedly confirmed that the building of 13,000 housing units within the so-called Jerusalem security settlement belt would start at the beginning of 1994. Priority would be given to the construction of 9,000 housing units in the area east of Deir Mar Elias, south of Jerusalem. (Al-Tali'ah, 28 October 1993) 303. On 29 October 1993, according to Economics and Planning Minister Shimon Shetreet, a number of settlements in the territories might have to be dismantled under a permanent agreement with the PLO. Shetreet stated that the settlements to be considered for dismantling were located in isolated areas or next to large Arab communities. Aides to Prime Minister Rabin and settlement leaders were surprised by Shetreet's remarks and the Prime Minister's spokesman, Gad Ben-Ari, stated that Shetreet had spoken for himself, and that what he had said in no way reflected the position of the Government or that of the Prime Minister. (Jerusalem Post, 29 October 1993) 304. On 30 October 1993, some 700 Jewish and Arabs members of the Peace Bloc demonstrated in the Ras el-Amud neighbourhood of eastern Jerusalem against the /... A/49/67 English Page 59 municipality's decision to build a new Jewish neighbourhood at the foot of the Mount of Olives. (Jerusalem Post, 31 October 1993) 305. On 31 October 1993, the High Court of Justice rejected two petitions concerning the halting of governmental support for settlements in the territories, stating that it had no authority to change governmental policy. However, the Court ordered the Government to complete all the infrastructural work necessary to ensure reasonable living conditions for the residents of settlements. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 1 November 1993) 306. On 1 November 1993, eight families moved into some of the 60 empty apartments in the Beit El B settlement that the Housing Ministry had refused to allow to be inhabited for over a year. The families, who had contested the Government's decision, stated that they were motivated more by the opportunity to stop living in caravans with leaking roofs than by the murder by Hamas of local resident Haim Mizrahi. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 2 November 1993) 307. On 3 November 1993, Housing Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer told settlers during a surprise visit to the Beit El settlement that the freeze imposed on the sale of new apartments in that locality as well as in other settlements in the territories would be lifted. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 5 November 1993) 308. On 4 November 1993, the management of the Beit El settlement asked Central Command Maj.-Gen. Nehemia Tamari for permission to build a new neighbourhood near the site where a resident of the settlement had been killed. (Ha'aretz, 7 November 1993) 309. On 4 November 1993, Palestinians living near the Giv'on Hadasha settlement appealed to the High Court of Justice in order to have the development of the settlement stopped and to obtain the cancellation of the freeze concerning the land allocated for the building of the road between the neighbourhoods of Ramon and Giv'on Hadasha. They claimed that they were the owners of the land, which has been occupied since the Six Day War. (Ha'aretz, 5 November 1993) 310. On 4 November 1993, it was reported that the Hadashot newspaper had published a study concerning the Israeli Government's budget allocation for settlements in 1993. The study revealed that the Israeli Government had actually channelled large amounts of money to settlements through different ministries. For example, $16 million was allocated by the Ministry of the Interior for the salaries of the staff of the settlements' local council staff. Settlements also received $105 million through the Ministry of Tourism. The report also mentioned that settlements had benefited from a $25 million tax rebate under the pretext of being situated in development areas. The report pointed out that cuts that had been made in the 1993 budget for infrastructure works would be largely compensated for in 1994. According to the report, the United States was well aware of those facts. An official from the Israeli Finance Ministry asserted that the amount spent on settlements in 1993 was $732 million and not $432 million, as claimed by the Israeli Government. (Al-Tali'ah, 4 November 1993) 311. On 6 November 1993, Jerusalem Mayor-elect Ehud Olmert stated that he favoured the construction of Jewish neighbourhoods in eastern Jerusalem in order /... A/49/67 English Page 60 to prevent the city from being divided by a peace agreement with the Palestinians. He advocated the continuity of Jewish settlement from the north to the centre, including a number of areas in the eastern part of the city. (Jerusalem Post, 7 November 1993) 312. On 7 November 1993, Ehud Olmert said he supported the right of Jews to live anywhere they wanted in Jerusalem, describing as justified the purchase of homes by Jews in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. However, Olmert indicated that the city would not promote the building of Jewish neighbourhoods in areas densely populated by Palestinians. (Jerusalem Post, 8 November 1993) 313. On 7 November 1993, in his first meeting with settlers since the signing of the Israel-PLO accord in September, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin reportedly turned down a request by the leaders of the Gush Etzion religious kibbutzim to declare publicly that the area would be a part of Israel after a final settlement was reached with the Palestinians. He also rejected a separate request that he consider annexing the area immediately. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 8 November 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 11 November 1993) 314. On 8 November 1993, it was reported that the Antiquities Authority had announced that the number of requests for building permits in eastern Jerusalem had doubled since the signing of the Israeli-PLO accord. The Authority indicated that the requests concerned predominantly private construction and the development of commercial areas within ancient structures in the Old City and in the surrounding neighbourhoods. Construction is illegal in areas built more than 1,700 years ago. (Jerusalem Post, 8 November 1993) 315. On 11 November 1993, it was reported that a committee appointed by the Government had approved a plan for massive Jewish development in the administered territories, from the eastern borders of Jerusalem to the outskirts of Jericho. Sources linked to the committee indicated that the plan would connect Maaleh Adumim and the settlements located between Jerusalem and Mitzpeh Yericho into a single bloc to be called Gush Adumim. Some 5,000 dunums of land belonging to Arab villages near Jerusalem were included in the development area, in addition to land already within the jurisdiction of Maaleh Adumim and other settlements in the area. The planners hoped to settle some 70,000 Jews in the area. The committee consisted of officials from the Housing, Transport and Tourism Ministries, Maaleh Adumim and other settlements in the area, as well as officials from the Israel Lands Administration. (Jerusalem Post, 11 November 1993) 316. On 11 November 1993, it was reported that the Israeli authorities had confiscated 380 dunums of land from Beit Aksa village, located west of Jerusalem, for the purpose of building roads and settlements. Since 1967, a total of 10,000 dunums of land had been confiscated in the same village. On the other hand, Palestinian villagers were only allowed to build on 170 dunums of land. (Al-Tali'ah, 11 November 1993) 317. On 16 November 1993, the Knesset Finance Committee approved a transfer of approximately $34.5 million to the Housing Ministry aimed at completing the infrastructure work for government-built houses. The transfer also included /... A/49/67 English Page 61 some $1.03 million to $1.72 million for infrastructure work in the territories. (Jerusalem Post, 17 November 1993) 318. On 18 November 1993, it was reported that Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert had cancelled a demolition order against the illegally constructed temporary homes adjoining the Beit Orot Yeshiva in the A-Tur Arab neighbourhood. (Jerusalem Post, 19 November 1993) 319. On 18 November 1993, it was reported that construction works on highway No. 16 had started earlier in the week. The highway would link the Gush Emunim settlements with the French Hill settlement on the Jerusalem-Ramallah road. According to both Israeli and Palestinian sources, the political implications of this road were of great importance. The highway will reinforce the settlement belt around East Jerusalem and would divide the Arab neighbourhoods, ensuring that no link could exist between them. (Al-Tali'ah, 18 November 1993) 320. On 24 November 1993, a high-ranking municipality source indicated that the Jerusalem municipality would press for the construction of 10 to 12 Jewish housing projects in eastern Jerusalem, which would include some 10,000 housing units. According to the source, some of the projects had passed the initial phases of approval, as was the case with Jewish housing in Ras al-Amud, Jebel Mukaber and Har Homa. In addition, plans for construction both in the City of David section of Silwan and in Kerem Hamufti and Wadi Joz, which were supported by the former municipality, would also be advanced. According to the source, the city would also press for the expansion of the Pisgat Zeev neighbourhood in the north-eastern part of the city and of Gilo, in the south. Both neighbourhoods were built on land annexed after the Six Day War. (Jerusalem Post, 25 November 1993) F. Information concerning the occupied Syrian Arab Golan 321. On 30 August 1993, settlers from the Golan Heights celebrated the inauguration of Dor Hagolan, a new settlement in the region. The settlement, which virtually joins Moshav Sha'al on the northern reaches of the Golan, was already home to more than two dozen persons. The Government, however, refused to acknowledge the group as a separate settlement. The new settlement was composed of eight caravans, all of which had already been connected to water and electricity supplies and to the sewage network. (Jerusalem Post, 31 August 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 2 September 1993) 322. On 2 September 1993, the Chairman of the Golan Settlers' Committee, Elie Malaka, revealed a plan to settle 8,000 settlers in the Golan Heights within the next 12 months. Malaka added that the Committee had asked Syrian President Hafez al-Assad to reconsider his position concerning the restitution of the Golan Heights. (Al-Tali'ah, 2 September 1993) 323. On 21 October 1993, more than 50 Druze from the Golan Heights crossed the border into Syria at the Quneitra checkpoint in the first of a planned series of visits over the following two months. In addition, the Syrian and Israeli authorities gave their approval for 100 young Druze from the Golan Heights to study at universities in Syria. (Jerusalem Post, 22 October 1993) /... A/49/67 English Page 62 324. On 7 November 1993, Jewish residents of the Golan Heights called for elections before any decision regarding the future of the region was taken. (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, 8 November 1993; also referred to in Al-Tali'ah, 11 November 1993) 325. On 11 November 1993, it was reported that, if Israel had to withdraw from the Golan Heights as part of a peace treaty with Syria, the kibbutzim of the Kibbutz Artzi movement would either be relocated or their members would be invited to join other existing kibbutzim. That position, which was adopted by the movement when Kibbutzim Gshur and Natur were established in the southern Golan, was reiterated during talks of the movement's leaders with the members of the kibbutzim in question. The Golan settlement council vehemently condemned the approach of the kibbutz movement. (Jerusalem Post, 11 November 1993) 326. On 16 November 1993, the Knesset Golan Caucus decided to establish a six-man committee, to be composed of both coalition and opposition MKs, in order to draft a bill that would limit the Government's freedom to negotiate the future of the Golan Heights. (Jerusalem Post, 17 November 1993) -----