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Khalil Suleiman

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Khalil Suleiman
Head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society Emergency Medical Service in Jenin
Death of Khalil Suleiman
LocationWest Bank Jenin, West Bank, Palestine
Deaths1
Injured5
VictimsKhalil Suleiman and 5 other ambulance staff
Perpetrators Israel Defense Forces

Khalil Suleiman (Arabic: خليل سليمان) (1943/1944–4 March 2002) was a Palestinian doctor and the head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) Emergency Medical Service in Jenin. He was killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 2002 while traveling in an ambulance to rescue the wounded during the Second Intifada.

Life

Suleiman was a doctor. Around 1982, he began volunteering with the PRCS and later served as the head of the PRCS Emergency Medical Service in Jenin for 10 years.[1] Beginning in 1996, he conducted first aid trainings throughout 40 villages in the West Bank as part of a health education project funded by Norwegian People's Aid.[2]

Death

On March 4, 2002, Suleiman was traveling in a clearly marked ambulance[3] while attempting to rescue a wounded girl from Jenin.[2][4] According to the PRCS director and a physician at the Jenin Hospital, the ambulance's trip had been pre-approved by the IDF.[5] The IDF fired at the ambulance, hitting the oxygen tanks and causing a fire.[6][7][8][5] Sources differ on the weapon used, pointing to gunfire,[4][9] tank shell,[3][2] or rifle-mounted grenade.[10][5] Another ambulance team was dispatched to treat the casualties but was prevented from reaching the site of the attack because the IDF fired on their ambulance, wounding them.[5] Suleiman died.[4][11] Five other ambulance personnel were injured, including two who were hospitalized with burns.[4][10][5]

In an interview with B'Tselem, a man who lived nearby said that the IDF had taken over his home the day of the attack. The eyewitness watched an Israeli commander fire a grenade at Suleiman's ambulance and then saw the ambulance go up in flames. The next day, he saw that the ambulance had crashed into a house and burned completely.[5]

Suleiman's funeral was held on March 5. The procession through Jenin was led by doctors wearing their white coats. He was buried in Jenin.[9]

Reactions

The IDF accused Palestinians of using ambulances for medical purposes[12] and pointed to the fact that the ambulance had exploded when hit: "which raises questions about what was in it and what the intent of the drivers was."[13] Later, they stated that the soldiers had fired on the ambulance in self-defense after it “charged toward them at a high speed from an area in which there were exchanges of fire”.[13][12][8] According to witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch and Reuters, Suleiman's ambulance was attacked while it was moving slowly[8] on a narrow street.[6] Additionally, the IDF called the attack a "tragic aberration".[8] The Israeli Embassy in Canada said that the attack was not intentional and mentioned that Wafa Idris, a Palestinian paramedic, had carried out a suicide bombing.[12]

The International Red Cross (ICRC) released a statement advocating for "both sides to respect the safety and security of emergency health personnel". The IRC noted that Suleiman was the second PRCS worker killed in the Second Intifada and that so far 122 PRCS workers and six Magen David Adom workers had been injured.[1]

Sign at Jenin Governmental Hospital designating it as the Martyr Doctor Khalil Suleiman Hospital (2019)

The attack was condemned by several organizations. Norwegian People's Aid stated that: "Israel's indiscriminate killing of medical rescue personnel and civilian refugees in Jenin amounts to state terrorism".[2] The European Commission noted that the ambulance was one of 6 that ECHO had donated to PRCS in January 2001 and called the attack a "grave breach of the IVth Geneva Convention".[10] Human Rights Watch released a statement entitled: "Israel: Cease Attacking Medical Personnel" after the IDF fired on three ambulances in one week, injuring nine and killing three ambulance workers, including Suleiman. They stated that "deliberate attacks on medical personnel, vehicles and infrastructure constitute a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions."[6] The National Arab American Medical Association condemned Suleiman's death as "murder" and denounced "the systematic targeting of ambulances and health care workers by the Israeli occupation army."[7]

Suleiman's death and other Israeli attacks on healthcare in the West Bank were mentioned in reports by several organizations including Amnesty International, B'Tselem,[5] Physicians for Human Rights-US,[14] and the United Nations Secretary-General.[3]

Legacy

The Jenin Governmental Hospital is now also known as the Martyr Doctor Khalil Suleiman Hospital.[15][16][17] The hospital director said that the purpose of the name: "is to remember a person, a national hero, who sacrificed to save others."[18] His brother's son was named Khalil in his memory.[citation needed] In 2015, a ceremony was held to commemorate the 13th anniversary of Suleiman's death.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b "Palestine Red Crescent official killed". International Committee of the Red Cross. 4 March 2002. Archived from the original on 4 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d "Norwegian People's Aid condemns killing of Palestinian doctor - occupied Palestinian territory | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 5 March 2002. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  3. ^ a b c "REPORT OF SECRETARY-GENERAL ON RECENT EVENTSIN JENIN, OTHER PALESTINIAN CITIES | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". press.un.org. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d "Attacks on health personnel and disrupted health care". Amnesty International. 14 March 2002. Archived from the original on 22 September 2006.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Wounded in the Field: Impeding Medical Treatment and Firing at Ambulances by IDF Soldiers in the Occupied Territories" (PDF). B'Tselem. March 2002.
  6. ^ a b c "Israel: Cease Attacking Medical Personnel | Human Rights Watch". 8 March 2002. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  7. ^ a b "Murder of Palestinian Health Care Providers Condemned by National Arab American Medical Association". PR Newswire. 7 March 2002. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007.
  8. ^ a b c d Assadi, Mohammed (4 March 2002). "Israel kills 19 Palestinians; air raids in West Bank - Israel | ReliefWeb". Reuters. Retrieved 10 January 2025 – via reliefweb.
  9. ^ a b AP Archive (21 July 2015). WRAP Ramallah raid aftermath, doctor funeral, Nablus cleanup. Retrieved 10 January 2025 – via YouTube.
  10. ^ a b c "Memorandum submitted by the European Commission: European Community financial assistance to the Palestinians". UK Parliament. The Red Crescent ambulance was attacked and destroyed by the IDF in Jenin on 4 March 2002, reportedly by a rifle-mounted grenade. The Head of the Red Crescent Emergency Service in Jenin, Dr. Khalil Suleiman, was killed in the assault, while two other PRCS staff were seriously wounded and burned and remain in Hospital. The ambulance was one of 6 financed by ECHO (for PRCS through ICRC) with the project ECHO/TPS/210/2000/20001 dating back to October 2000. The ambulance had been delivered to PRCS in January 2001. Both the International Committee of the Red Cross and the EU have protested this attack, which is a grave breach of the IVth Geneva Convention.
  11. ^ "PHYSICAL DAMAGES INFLICTED BY IDF ATTACKS TO EU FUNDED DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS" (PDF). UK Department for International Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 April 2005.
  12. ^ a b c Sullivan, Patrick (25 June 2002). "Israel criticized after Palestinian MDs shot, killed by soldiers in West Bank". CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal. 166 (13). Archived from the original on 2 December 2024.
  13. ^ a b Williams, Daniel (4 March 2002). "Israeli Shell Kills Woman, 5 Children". The Washington Post.
  14. ^ "Statement of medical delegation from PHR-USA on health dimensions of human rights violations in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza - Israel". ReliefWeb. 22 March 2002. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  15. ^ Vega, Luis de (18 December 2023). "Destruction and humiliation in Jenin after the longest Israeli incursion of the war". EL PAÍS English. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  16. ^ "Miles from Gaza, fresh graves are dug for Palestinians killed in Jenin". Middle East Eye. 28 August 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  17. ^ Levy, Gideon (17 January 2008). "Jenin, Jenin". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 10 January 2025.
  18. ^ Allen, Lori (2008). "GETTING BY THE OCCUPATION: How Violence Became Normal during the Second Palestinian Intifada". Cultural Anthropology. 23 (3): 453–487. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1360.2008.00015.x. ISSN 1548-1360.
  19. ^ "جنين: إحياء الذكرى الثالثة عشرة لاستشهاد الدكتور خليل سليمان [Jenin: Commemorating the Thirteenth Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Doctor Khalil Suleiman]". الأيـــام [Al-Ayyam]. 8 March 2015. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019.


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