Israel and the Occupied Territories: An Urgent Appeal by the ICRC

To the Editors:

The following statement was released by the International Committee of the Red Cross on April 14. It may be of interest to your readers.

Gail Pressberg
Executive Director, Foundation for Middle East Peace, Washington, DC

Geneva (ICRC)—On 13 April, six Arab inhabitants of the village of Nahalin, in the Israeli-occupied territories, were killed and about thirty others were wounded in the course of an operation by the Israeli armed forces. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) vigorously protests against this latest tragic incident, during which troops opened fire without discrimination and without restraint.

For several months the ICRC has been extremely concerned by the increasingly frequent use of firearms and by acts of physical violence against defenseless civilians. In addition, the evacuation of the injured has been hampered, as well as the work of medical staff and hospitals in the occupied territories.

Following numerous representations the ICRC has now addressed an urgent appeal to the Israeli authorities, calling for an end to such practices which violate the fundamental principles of humanitarian law.