Israel/Palestinian Authority: Call on Islamic Jihad to Stop Civilian Killings

(11/08/01) -- Human Rights Watch today strongly condemned attacks on civilians by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization.

Attacks by any parties to a conflict that deliberately target civilians are in flagrant violation of the most fundamental principles of international law. The prohibition on attacking civilians is absolute, even if the declared purpose of an attack is as reprisal or to resist occupation. There can be no justification for such killings. Hanny Megally, Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch

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In a letter to Dr. Ramadan Shallah, the group's leader, Human Rights Watch urged the organization to renounce the practice of targeting civilians, and to call publicly on its adherents to cease such attacks in the future.  
 
The letter followed a November 4 attack by Islamic Jihad on an Israeli bus in Jerusalem that killed two schoolchildren and injured thirty-five other passengers.  
 
"Attacks by any parties to a conflict that deliberately target civilians are in flagrant violation of the most fundamental principles of international law," said Hanny Megally, Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "The prohibition on attacking civilians is absolute, even if the declared purpose of an attack is as reprisal or to resist occupation. There can be no justification for such killings," Megally explained.  
 
A copy of the letter to Dr. Ramadan Shallah, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization, can be found at:  
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/11/jihad1107.htm