Palestinian officials and activists on Friday condemned a decision taken one day earlier by the Israeli Security Cabinet allowing Israeli troops to respond to Palestinian stone-throwers with live ammunition.
“Allowing the use of live ammunition against people armed only with stones is a flagrant violation of the most basic principles of human rights,” Ayman Odeh, head of the Arab Joint List in the Knesset, told Anadolu Agency.
“This decision, which essentially gives Israeli troops a license to kill unarmed protesters and stone-throwers, will only lead to fresh cycles of violence,” he said.
Israel’s security cabinet on Thursday night unanimously approved a series of tough new measures–including new rules of engagement–to be taken against Palestinian stone-throwers.
“Israeli forces will be permitted to open fire–and they will know they have the right to open fire–in the event that lives are at risk,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Shawan Jabarin, head of Al-Haq, a Ramallah-based group, described the decision as “a blatant violation of the most basic tenets of human rights, which call for respect for peaceful demonstrations and the protection of civilian lives”.
The new rules of engagement, Jabarin added, “contradict the laws of peaceful protest and allow Israeli troops to murder any Palestinian deemed by police to be a threat.”
Palestinian groups, he went on to warn, “will not tolerate these racist actions against the Palestinian people; we will seek redress at international forums and rights organizations with a view to prosecuting Israel for its crimes.”
