By: Saher Ghazawi
A short while ago, Mizan Human Rights Center in Nazareth announced the release of a new book titled “Field Executions: Arab Citizens Killed by Israeli Security Forces Outside the Law, authored and prepared by myself. However, the urgency of focusing attention on certain aspects of the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has been continuing for over half a year and is condemned by all divine laws, international conventions, and humanitarian norms, led me to delay writing a few words for the preface of this book.
This book emphasizes that the hostile treatment of Israeli security forces toward Palestinian Arab citizens is evident in their readiness to pull the trigger without justification. The reasons and motivations behind the killing of Yaqub Toukhi from Jaffa, shot by an undercover Israeli police officer on the third day of Eid al-Fitr, mirror the reasons and motivations behind the majority of cases documented in the book, spanning from 2000 to 2022. This illustrates that the policy of extrajudicial killings pursued by Israeli security forces—comprising the police, military, and security guards—is embedded within a broader framework of discriminatory practices against Palestinian Arabs, under official political and legal cover and sheltered by a culture of impunity within Israeli policy.
Before starting the preparation of the book, Mizan Human Rights Center conducted a thorough review of existing reports and publications related to extrajudicial killings in our Palestinian community within Israel. In fact, we found reports prepared by human rights organizations documenting the names of Palestinian Arab victims killed by the Israeli police and military from 2000—the year the second intifada (the Al-Aqsa Uprising) erupted. However, these reports were lacking in detailed information about each case of extrajudicial killings. They only recorded the victims’ names, places of residence, and the dates of their killings. Moreover, there were several victims of extrajudicial killings who were not included in these reports, as well as other Palestinian victims from outside the Green Line who were added to these lists merely because they were killed inside Israel’s borders. The book, however, excludes such cases, as it focuses specifically on the policy of extrajudicial killings carried out by Israeli security forces against Palestinian citizens holding Israeli citizenship in the past two decades.
One of the striking observations during our review was the repetition of an error in several reports. For example, the name “Tawfiq Ughbaria,” listed as a resident of Umm al-Fahm, appeared in reports indicating that he was killed by the military at a checkpoint near Jenin on February 6, 2003. Upon further investigation and review of the Al-Sannara newspaper archives from that period, it became clear that this person was from a town in the West Bank and his name was mistakenly included in these reports. This error was noted in the Al-Sannara issue of March 14, 2003, but the name remained on the lists in the reports.
Thus, we found it necessary, for the sake of archival accuracy, to cross-check and verify every name and its details. This process took more than a year of intensive work by Mizan, which included direct contact with the families of the victims to gather information and document their accounts, which often contradicted the police version. You will find the results of these investigations in the second part of the book, where each case is detailed with specific circumstances. The first part of the book presents an analysis of the data, statistics, and information on the victims of the extrajudicial killings policy, which identifies 79 victims between 2000 and 2022. We also encountered difficulties in communication and cooperation with some of the victims’ families, a situation that we can somewhat understand given the sensitivity of the issue.
Based on the above, it can be said that “Field Executions: Arab Citizens Killed by Israeli Security Forces Outside the Law” is an important and necessary addition to the body of knowledge regarding Palestinians within the Green Line. This book documents a historical phase marked by significant developments and transformations in the relationship between indigenous Palestinians and the state over the past two decades. It can also be considered a key historical document and a vital reference for understanding the experience of Palestinians inside Israel, highlighting their ongoing struggle against blatant racial discrimination by Israeli authorities and its security apparatus.
Readers who finish this book will have completed a critical understanding of a crucial historical phase in the lives of Palestinians within the Green Line. This period has granted Israeli security forces sweeping powers to use excessive violence against Palestinians inside Israel, institutionalizing the policy of extrajudicial killings as part of a broader racist agenda. However, the policy of field executions is still very much active, and new pages are being written with fresh victims. Since the beginning of 2023, 18 new cases have been documented. The murder of Yaqub Toukhi from Jaffa serves as a grim reminder, alerting us once again to the dangers of this policy and the possibility that, with the recent shifts in the Israeli political landscape, the number of victims of extrajudicial killings will increase, as the security forces find it easier to pull the trigger on Palestinian citizens within Israel’s borders.
