Even violent fighting has certain rules

Leaders of the Israeli human rights organizations B'tselem and Physicians for Human Rights sent an urgent appeal to Ehud Barak, the Prime Minister and Minster of Defense, demanding that he immediately open the safe passage. Closing the safe passage constitutes collective punishment against the thousands of Palestinians who rely on it daily. Furthermore, they requested that he direct security forces to refrain from harming medical teams and journalists.

The text of the letter follows:

Mr. Ehud Barak, Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

Dear Sir:

We, Israeli human rights organizations, are writing to you in order to point out the distressing nature of certain phenomenon connected to the grave events of recent days. These occurrences violate humanitarian principles and may not be derogated from particularly in response to violent events. These breaches consist primarily of the following types of violent acts:

• Initial reports indicate that some medical teams have been injured as a result of gunfire at ambulances and that in a number of instances medical personnel were prevented from treating the wounded. These occurrences, which have also happened in the past, breach humanitarian principals to which parties to violent confrontations are bound as set forth in conventions ratified by Israel.

• Reports were received that journalists, mostly Palestinian, have been attacked while covering the events. As with the conduct directed against medical teams, these actions are absolutely prohibited under any circumstances.

• Since Saturday the safe passage route connecting the Gaza Strip and the West Bank has been closed to Palestinian use. Closure of the safe passage violates agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and constitutes collective punishment that harms innocent Palestinians and impedes normal life in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In addition, other restrictions on movement have been imposed primarily in the Gaza Strip.

While we chose to focus our appeal on these occurrences, it is not our intention to minimize the deep concern and fear resulting from recent events; particularly, the large number of dead and wounded, many of which are children. We are currently investigating these events and will inform you of our conclusions in the near future.

We urge you to order the security forces to comply with the law: to refrain from harming medical teams, allow them to reach wounded persons, and enable journalists to carry out their work free of harm. Furthermore, we ask you to immediately open the safe passage and revoke all restrictions on movement that are unnecessary for maintaining security.