25-3-2009
Al Mezan Center Condemns the Escalation of Israeli Violations against Palestinian Fishers and Calls on the International Community to Act, and Civil Society to Intensify its Solidarity Campaigns
At approximately 8.00am on Wednesday 25 March 2009, Israeli gunboats opened fire at a small fishing boat which was in the sea west of the
According to fishermen who were near the area, three Israeli gunboats surrounded the Palestinian fishing boat and ordered the fishermen to take off their clothes, jump in the water and swim towards one of the gunboats. They took the fishers and their boat to an unknown destination. According to information collected by Al Mezan field workers, the fishermen were identified as Mohammed Abdullah Khalil An-Najar, 27; his brother Khalil, 22; Yousef Abdullah An-Najar, 19; and Hasan Khalil An-Najar, 19.
A few days earlier, on 23 March 2009 at approximately 3.30pm, Israeli gunboats opened heavy fire at Palestinian fishing boats in the open sea close to
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly condemns the continuous escalation of the IOF offensive against Palestinian civilians, including fishermen. These practices constitute grave and systematic violations of the rights guaranteed by international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
Al Mezan renews its calls for the international community to immediately intervene and stop the ongoing Israeli violations of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories. Al Mezan emphasizes that the continued silence of the international community is unacceptable, particularly after the unprecedented scale of the war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in the recent Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip.
