Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
19 February
ISRAELI REPRISAL KILLINGS FOR ATTACK ON CHECKPOINT
On this day in 2002, two Palestinian fighters attacked the Ein ’Arik army checkpoint and killed six of the eight soldiers there. Israel retaliated that night, killing 15 Palestinian police officers, some unarmed. One attacker was later jailed and died in prison shortly afterwards. Israeli army checkpoints rigidly control movement of Palestinians and their goods. They routinely humiliate and detain without cause, and frequently abuse and shoot Palestinians, part of Palestinian life under a system of state terrorism.عمليات القتل القمعية الإسرائيلية ردا على هجوم عند نقطة تفتيش
19 فبراير
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 2002 هاجم مقاتلان فلسطينيان حاجز عين عريك العسكري وقتلوا ستة من الجنود الثمانية هناك. ردت إسرائيل في تلك الليلة ، فقتلت 15 شرطيا فلسطينيا ، بعضهم أعزل. وسُجن أحد المهاجمين وتوفي في السجن بعد ذلك بوقت قصير. تسيطر نقاط التفتيش التابعة للجيش الإسرائيلي بشكل صارم على حركة الفلسطينيين وبضائعهم. إنهم يذَلًون ويحتَجزون بشكل روتيني دون سبب ، وكثيراً ما يُسيئ الجنود إلى الفلسطينيين ويُطلقوا النار عليهم ، كجزء من حياة الفلسطينيين في ظل نظام إرهاب الدولة.
One of the attackers was seized and died shortly afterwards in Israeli prison in suspicious circumstances. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's military wing, said it held Israel responsible for the death of Shadi Sawa'ada, the Palestinian who killed six soldiers at the Ein Ariq checkpoint near Ramallah in February 2002. Sawa'ada died at the Soroka hospital in Beersheba. Kamal Ranam, chief of the Al Aqsa Brigades in Ramallah told Ynet that "Sawa'ada was in excellent health when he was arrested... We are sure Israel killed him as revenge (for the 2002 attack).
The revenge killing of randomly chosen Palestinian policemen was described by Israeli participants:
One said his commander described their mission: "Six of our soldiers were killed at a checkpoint, and we are going out on a revenge operation. We are going to kill Palestinian policemen at a checkpoint, as blood revenge for the six of our soldiers who were killed."
Referring to the killing of a Palestinian, one soldier said. "About five of us sprayed him at the same time. I emptied a magazine in him." A member of a reconnaissance unit said they were instructed to go to three checkpoints near Nablus and shoot Palestinian police officers regardless of whether they were armed.
Another solider described his group's attack on the Palestinians: "They [the policemen] gathered in a group drinking coffee. Maybe there were seven or eight. Only two were armed. All the rest were unarmed civilians. We looked at them...At the moment we knew we were going to liquidate them we didn’t see them as human beings. Again, we very attuned to our objective."
Film: examples of daily harassment and humiliation at Israeli checkpoints. Soldiers admit their role on camera
(https://youtu.be/4n2VtDerCyQ)
