The following is the text of a letter from Eshkol Regional Council Chairman
Haim Jelin to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon regarding Gaza Strip
terrorist organizations' use of phosphorus shells against a civilian
population.
January 2, 2012

Mr. Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General
United Nations
Dear Sir:

Re: Complaint regarding Gaza Strip terrorist organizations’ use
of phosphorus shells against a civilian population

For ten years now, residents of the Eshkol Regional Council, bordering the
Gaza Strip, have absorbed Kassam rocket fire and mortar rounds fired under
the auspices of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, and targeting
innocent civilians living here since the founding of the State of Israel.
The sole interest of the residents is to work their agricultural lands in
peace. These lands provide them with their livelihood, their daily bread.

Yesterday, January 1st,2012, at 07:00 AM, two salvos of mortar shells were
fired from the territory of the Gaza Strip towards farmers working fields in
the Eshkol Regional Council. After the firing, two shells were identified on
the ground and had a phosphorus explosive head. As you know, use of
phosphorus as munitions directed at civilians is prohibited by the
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (Geneva, October 1980).

The Israel Defense Forces, charged with protecting the residents of the
State of Israel, are criticized and judged due to their being the military
of a UN member state. In contrast, Hamas, the “neighborhood bully,” is not
subject to international laws, and feels free to use illegal weaponry
against an innocent civilian population – without being judged or criticized
by any international body. I call upon you to put an end to this hypocrisy!
In the western Negev region lives an entire population that suffers the
consequences of prolonged regional combat, and attention must be paid to
this.

This letter is written to you as an official complaint in the name of 13,000
residents of the Eshkol Regional Council, regarding the firing of phosphorus
shells toward a civilian population.

I request of you to receive this complaint as the internationally accepted
method of protest, in our democratic and enlightened world, for the purpose
of condemning use of illegal weapons and enforcing international rules even
on our neighbors to the west.

Sincerely,

Haim Jelin
Chairman, Eshkol Regional Council

Copies:
Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
Mr. Ehud Barak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense
Mr. Avigdor Lieberman, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
Mr. Ron Prosor, Israel Ambassador to the UN

For further details (including photographs), please contact Eshkol Regional
Council Spokeswoman Ronit Minaker at 052-4269969