The Palestinian Foreign Ministry Monday condemned an Israeli army order giving soldiers the green light to shoot stone-throwing protesters even after withdrawing from the site, as an “act of self-defence”.
The Israeli state-run broadcaster reported that the army had given written instructions to soldiers in the occupied West Bank in the past weeks that allowed soldiers to shoot Palestinians throwing stones and Molotov cocktails.
“This decision constitutes a green-light for more field executions of unarmed Palestinians according to the soldiers’ own dispositions and calculations, and is a gross violation of the international humanitarian law and human rights principles,” the ministry said in a statement.
“It is a form of violating the lives of Palestinians and sowing fear and intimidation among them to break their will to confront settlement and settlers and defend themselves and their property,” it said.
The army order was welcomed by right-wing Israeli movements, which is part of the Israeli government policy of promoting Jewish settlement and providing political and legal protection to settlers, it said, holding the Israeli government fully and directly responsible for “this racist decision.”
The ministry urged the United Nations and international bodies to seriously deal with the Israeli decision and take all measures to immediately annul it.
Source: Jordan News Agency