All human lives are valuable; AMP demands equal recognition for Palestinian victims

(CHICAGO 07/01/2014) – The American Muslims for Palestine, a national education and advocacy organization, holds that all life is sacred. And while the world marks the deaths of the three Israeli settlers, AMP asserts that Palestinian life is no less important. We call upon western media and President Barack Obama to recognize the more than one dozen Palestinians who have been killed since Israel launched “Operation Brothers’ Keeper” on June 12 in response to the settlers’ disappearance.

AMP mourns the loss of:

Fatima Ismail Issa Rushdi, 78. Died of a heart attack during an Israeli raid in el Arroub Refugee Camp near Hebron.

Jamil Ali Abed Jaber, 60. Died of a heart attack during an Israeli raid on his home in Haris village.

Ahmad Said Suod Khalid, 27. Disabled. Shot by Israeli soldiers four times as he walked to morning prayers at the mosque in al-Ein Refugee Camp near Bethlehem.

Mahmoud Ismail Atallah Tarifi, 30. Shot by Israeli snipers. Bled to death.

Mustafa Husni Aslan, 22. Shot in the head by Israeli soldiers in Qalandia Camp, near Ramallah.

Mohammad Dudeen, 15. Shot by Israeli soldier in Dura, near Hebron.

Ahmad Sabarin, 21. Shot in the chest by Israeli soldiers during raids in al-Jazalon Refugee Camp.

Ali al-‘Awour, 10. Died from shrapnel wounds from an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have condemned Israel’s disproportionate response to the settlers’ disappearance. The recent incursions into the West Bank, arrests of more than 500 Palestinians – including dozens of children -- thousands of raids, dozens of home demolitions, and airstrikes in Gaza are vestiges of the world’s longest-lasting military occupation, which not only violates international law but also serves to dehumanize Palestinians at home and on the world arena. On Monday, the Israeli air force launched massive airstrikes into Gaza, hitting at least 34 targets, and occupation forces blew up at least two houses near Hebron and raided several others.

The settlers’ disappearance must be viewed from within the context of the occupation and the creation of Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits an occupying force from settling its population on the land it occupies. Settlements are illegal and are a constant source of friction between expansionist Jews and the Palestinians, whose land they are stealing. At least 2,100 settler attacks against Palestinians have occurred since 2006; and 1,500 Palestinian children were injured by “weapons other than live ammunition,” between 2011 and 2013, according to human rights group DCI-Palestine.

Furthermore, the airstrikes on Gaza and calls for extrajudicial executions in retaliation for the death of the three settlers is a clear act of revenge directed at Palestinians as a whole. It amounts to collective punishment, which directly contravenes the Fourth Geneva Convention and other international laws.

Additionally, Israel’s use of American-made weapons or weapons purchased with US taxpayer money against a civilian population violates the US Arms Export Control Act.

President Barack Obama has condemned the killing of the three settlers. And AMP calls upon President Obama and his administration to also condemn Israel’s killing of innocent Palestinians and to apply the same human rights standards to Israelis as they do to Palestinians.

AMP calls upon the United States to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law and the collective punishment it inflicts on the Palestinian people, both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

AMP calls upon the United States to uphold the Fourth Geneva Convention by declaring once and for all that Israeli settlements violate international law; and to take all appropriate measures to end these violations.

AMP calls upon Congress to investigate Israeli abuses of American-made weapons and weapons purchased with American money against the Palestinian civilian population, and to prohibit future sales of arms or funding of military aid until Israel complies with international law.

Finally, AMP calls upon the United States, the European Union and the United Nations to uphold the right to life and the right to quality of life enshrined in international law and to act together to prohibit Israel from unleashing another massacre, reminiscent of Operation Cast Lead in December 2008-January 2009, in Gaza.