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American Muslim Group Urges Investigation of Palestinian Youths’ Murders
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| Israeli crimes against Palestinians must be investigsted. |
Report by Neveen A. Salem
WASHINGTON DC, Jan.7 (IslamOnline) - Israeli military occupation authorities delivered Tuesday, January 3, the mutilated bodies of three Palestinian teenagers, to the Palestinian Authority, sparking American Muslim calls on Monday for a U.S. inquiry into the systematic targeting of Palestinian civilians by Israel.
According to doctors at Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, the Israelis tortured the youths to death.
The teenagers were abducted December 30 and Israeli authorities issued death certificates three days later.
Doctors report that the boys' bodies were severely mutilated, with marks of torture evident all over their bodies.
According to Dr. Mu'awyeh Hassanain, 16-year-old Mohammad Lubad's body was returned with "no skull, no brain, and no eyes, just the skin of his head. It was a scene that I cannot describe," the Palestine Media Center reported.
Israel had announced that an Israeli commando unit had killed the three boys on December 30, but gave conflicting stories concerning exactly what lead to the murders.
At first, the Israeli army reported that the commando unit had specifically targeted the three boys and had been gathering intelligence on them before they were killed. But later, Israeli army officials said that the soldiers had fired upon the boys - claiming that they were carrying knives, sources told IslamOnline.
All three bodies displayed a series of bruises and wounds that seemed to have been made by sharp instruments.
The Israeli army claimed that one of the boys was "accidentally" run over by a tank.
"While the United States remains isolated in its continued rejection of an international protection force, Israel has free rein to torture and kill Palestinian civilians at will," said American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ) Executive Director, Khalid Turaani.
"This inhuman act underscores the brutality of Israel's military occupation and its blatant disregard for Palestinian life. The time has come for the United States to join the international community in condemning these crimes and demonstrating that it does not deem Palestinian life less sacred than Israeli," he continued.
The lack of accountability within Israel's military leaves Palestine's civilian population at the mercy of an occupation army that has demonstrated it is capable of this type of brutality, a statement from AMJ relayed.
The group, based in Washington DC, cited that the media has become increasingly critical of Israel's policies of torture, as well as the lack of disciplinary action taken against those perpetrating the crimes. This lapse illustrates that Israel seems to be directly sanctioning the tortures and murders, despite its governments attestations to the contrary.
A recent review by the Los Angeles Times of several civilian deaths "reveals a pattern of questionable Israeli military action and minimal inquiry into what went wrong, as well as little if any disciplinary action."
In the past 15 months, Israel has killed more than 900 Palestinians. One-third of those killed were children under the age of 18. Human rights organizations report that more than 85% of Palestinians killed by Israel in this uprising alone were civilians. Ninety-five percent were killed when no clashes were taking place or while engaged in nonviolent resistance activities.
AMJ has contacted the State Department and Congress members to urge an investigation of the incident and closer scrutiny of Israel's record of human rights abuses in Occupied Palestine.
"We hope the State Department will recognize the urgent need for international protection for the Palestinians, and that the U.S. government will investigate the systematic targeting of Palestinian children by the Israeli government," Turaani told IslamOnline.
"We have, in addition, contacted the Congressional Subcommittee on Human Rights and we hope that other human rights organizations focusing on human rights, and the rights of children will also join in our call," Turaani stated.
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