Physicians For Human Rights Ask Israel To Protect Rights Of The Injured
WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) - An international organization, Physicians For Human Rights (PFHR), is calling for the intervention of Israel’s High Court of Justice to provide protection to its working personnel serving wounded Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.
In a recent petition the group sent to the High Court, they demanded that Israeli Defense Force (IDF) officials provide freedom of movement for medical supplies and food to their medical teams and ambulances and occupied Palestinian villages.
The petition called on the IDF to honor a commitment it already made in Israel’s High Court to allow the passage of wounded Palestinians through Israeli checkpoints for medical treatment, said the Ha’artez newspaper.
The petition was attached with reports on several incidents where the group was denied access to help injured civilians in Palestinian villages.
Following the eruption of violence in the Occupied Territories after the Aqsa Intifada PFHR has sent several medical missions to assist with the injured, and has issued several reports stating obstruction by Israeli forces of medical services the group hoped to provide Palestinian civilians.
Its reports also included documentation of Israeli policy towards the shooting of children, targeting upper body torsos and disabling shots, by Israeli officers on civilians.
The organization’s fact-finding missions mainly consist of medical relief physicians who have condemned Israeli attacks on ambulance drivers and medical personnel, all in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention protecting civilians under military occupation.
The group’s reports, which confirm excessive use of force by the IDF, called on
Israeli authorities to investigate and prosecute in Israel those military and civilians responsible for unjustified use of force in the current conflict.
PFHR is a non-for-profit organization based in the U.S. and was a co-recipient of the Noble Peace Prize in 1997 for its work in the field of banning land mines.
