Dec. 5, 2002

By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH

Amid a worsening rift between the IDF and United Nations relief workers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the army has issued a new directive restricting the movement of UN vehicles throughout the territories.

According to the order, sources told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, soldiers are to prohibit official UN vehicles from passing army roadblocks unless at least three UN or UNRWA personnel are inside. The temporary order is a precautionary measure not meant to hinder the activities of workers providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians, said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, rather it arose from intelligence that Palestinian terrorists may be attempting to carry out an attack inside Israel by hiding in official UN vehicles.

Early on Thursday, the IDF Spokesman's Office issued a stern response to the unprecedented petition, signed by over 60 UN relief workers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, that condemns the army following the accidental killing of UN worker Iain Hook in Jenin.

The petitioners, staff members from more than 20 countries, call on Israel to hold the army accountable for the killing, and to protect aid workers operating in the territories.

"We write to express our absolute condemnation at the senseless killing of Iain Hook in Jenin on November 22," the petition declares. "Based on publicly available information, we condemn the Israeli army in the strongest possible terms for this wanton act against an unarmed man a man shot in the back by a military sniper while negotiating with the Israeli army to evacuate the women, children, and UN staff who were in the UN compound at the time."

The petitioners also condemned the army for preventing access to an ambulance to assist Hook. Noting that Hook was shot amidst a firefight with terrorists at the UN compound where he and others worked, the IDF Spokesman said a Palestinian gunman was firing at troops from inside the compound, while hiding behind a woman holding a UNRWA flag.

After the shooting, the army released details of a recorded phone message left by Hook on the phone of former Civil Administration spokesman Capt. Peter Lerner, in which Hook said he was trying to prevent armed Palestinians from entering the compound.

"The [terrorists'] cynical use of the civilian population and relief organization buildings means that innocent civilians find themselves in the midst of fighting that can lead to injury," the statement said.

It also noted that the army's offer to take Hook to hospital in Israel was rejected. "For over two years, Israel has been confronted with Palestinian terrorism on both sides of the Green Line," the statement said. "In order to protect the citizens of Israel, the IDF has waged a war against terrorism and terrorist organizations that operate inside Palestinian cities, using the innocent Palestinian population as cover.

"The IDF seeks to ease up restrictions imposed on the Palestinian population, encourages the continuation of the humanitarian aid offered by UNRWA and other relief organizations operating in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in education, health, and welfare....

"IDF troops operate in the Palestinian cities to thwart terrorism, and [the army] focuses its operations against terrorists and the terrorist infrastructure at the same time making every effort to minimize harming innocent Palestinian civilians," the statement continued.

The petitioners declared that "for two years United Nations staff have been subject to escalating harassment and violence by Israel's military, so that the protection supposed to be afforded by the blue letters of the UN is being steadily eroded... UN staff international and Palestinian alike have been verbally abused, stripped, beaten, shot at, and killed by Israeli soldiers."

The petition noted that in March, UN worker Kamal Hamdan was shot dead while traveling in an UNRWA ambulance in the West Bank, and in April, Husni Amer died in Israeli military custody in Jenin. "From its silence, we presume the Israeli authorities have ignored UN requests for an investigation and report of these two incidents, and have not seen fit to take any disciplinary action against the soldiers involved. To us, this seems to confirm a pattern of utter contempt on the part of the Israeli army for the lost lives of these men, the safety of UN staff, or the minimum standards imposed by international law which should protect UN staff and other humanitarian workers."

The IDF Spokesman said that each case in which suspicions arise that innocent civilians are harmed, is investigated by the army and the commanders of the troops involved.

Herb Keinon contributed to this report.

-- Anonymous, December 07, 2002