Ramallah, 13-03-08: "Ehud Barak‘s actions are those of a war criminal, one who should be tried in an international court for crimes against humanity," said PNI Secretary General Dr. Barghouthi today, dismissing a statement by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak that the killing of four Palestinians by an undercover Israeli death squad in Bethlehem late on Wednesday night, demonstrated Israel‘s commitment to "pursue and strike all killers with Jewish blood on their hands."
"Barak is directly responsible for the recent massacre of scores of Palestinian civilians, including 31 children, in the Gaza Strip. Now he is intensifying killings in the West Bank to provoke a reaction from armed Palestinian groups, in order to justify the massive violations of human rights and international law perpetrated against the Palestinian people under his orders."
Mohammad Shehada, Imad el-Kamel, Issa Marzouk and Ahmad el-Balboul were ambushed by an undercover Israeli death squad last night and shot to death as they waited in a car outside a bakery.
Media reports describe how undercover Israeli forces sprayed the car with bullets once, then moved closer to the car and opened fire again to make sure that the men were dead.
"Such killings are a form of extra-judicial execution, which are illegal under Article 3 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. They are wilful killings and thus qualify as war crimes under the same Convention," said Dr. Barghouthi.
"If Israel has credible evidence that certain individuals are involved in criminal activity, it may arrest, charge and try them in a court of law," he added, referring to two of the men‘s membership of the Islamic Jihad movement. "Instead, the Israeli military makes of itself, "prosecutor, judge and executioner," concluded Dr. Barghouthi.