General Assembly Sixty-first session Agenda items 13 and 14 The situation in the Middle East Question of Palestine Security Council Sixty-first year Identical letters dated 22 November 2006 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council I write to inform you of the grave increase in Qassam rocket attacks by Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the heinous murder of an Israeli yesterday. The aggressive campaign of Palestinian terror is no doubt an assault on the sovereignty of the State of Israel and the right to life of its people. Yesterday, a 43-year-old Israeli man, Yaakov Yaakobov, died from critical wounds he sustained when a Palestinian Qassam rocket struck his place of work in Sderot. In a month, Mr. Yaakobov would have celebrated the Bar-Mitzvah of his 13year-old son. Instead, his son and family will be in mourning. Mr. Yaakobov is the second fatal Israeli victim of Palestinian terror and Qassam rockets in a week. Faina Slutzker, a 57-year-old Sderot resident, was murdered by a Qassam rocket while standing on the street last week. Mr. Yaakobov is the eighth resident of Sderot to be murdered by Palestinian Qassam rockets. The rockets, however, have still not stopped. Just this morning, more Qassam rockets hit an elementary school and kindergarten in Sderot. The time has long come for the international community to outrightly, without qualification, condemn and ensure the end of Palestinian terror — once and for all. The launching of these rockets has undeniably created a serious humanitarian situation, and is a debilitating factor for our region, both in the callous murdering of Israelis and the continued endangering of Palestinian civilians as human shields to veil terror. Children in Sderot have been evacuated because their homes and schools are not safe. Sderot is a ghost town, as residents flee en masse to escape to safer areas. As long as these terror attacks continue, Israel will respond in defence of its citizens. There can be no mistaking these Israeli actions for anything other than the reaction of a sovereign nation, as any other would do, exercising its right to self-defence in protection of its people. I should be grateful if you would circulate the text of this letter as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 13 and 14, and of the Security Council. (Signed) Daniel Carmon Ambassador Chargé d’affaires a.i.   sss1 \* MERGEFORMAT A/61/594 sss2 \* MERGEFORMAT S/2006/916 sss1 \* MERGEFORMAT A/61/594 sss2 \* MERGEFORMAT S/2006/916 FooterJN \* MERGEFORMAT 06-62817 \* MERGEFORMAT 2 \* MERGEFORMAT 1 FooterJN \* MERGEFORMAT 06-62817 United Nations A/61/594–S/2006/916 General Assembly Security Council Distr.: General 24 November 2006 Original: English jobn \* MERGEFORMAT 06-62817 (E) 241106 Barcode \* MERGEFORMAT *0662817*