Posted on 14-4-2002
Who
Wants More Killing?
From Jim Lobe,OneWorld US, Thu Apr 11, 9:39 AM ET
International concern about the human toll caused by Israel's
continuing
military offensive in the Palestinian West Bank is rising steeply
amid
reports of hundreds killed and rumors of summary executions
and beatings of
prisoners.
Hopes that the imminent arrival in Israel of United States Secretary
of
State Colin Powell would spur Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
to
curtail operations sank Wednesday after a Palestinian suicide
bomber blew
up a bus in the northern port city of Haifa, killing at least
eight people.
Sharon's security cabinet reportedly reaffirmed its decision
to continue
the offensive in a meeting after the bombing and later sent
tanks and
soldiers into Bir Zeit, north of occupied Ramallah, even as
Powell joined
his colleagues from the European Union (news - web sites) (EU)
and Russia
at a meeting in Madrid in calling for Israel "to halt immediately"
its
military operations. That demand was backed by a coalition of
European
relief and labor groups, Solidar, which, while condemning "unreservedly"
the attacks on Israeli civilians, called on the EU to suspend
trade
preferences to Israel until the occupation of Palestinian territory
ends.
Echoing a number of United Nations agencies, the coalition also
urged the
EU to "take the lead in demanding an international presence
in the Middle
East" in order to reduce the level of violence there.
In two statements released Wednesday, Amnesty International
condemned the
suicide bombing, noting "that even the gravest human rights
abuses do not
justify the deliberate retaliation or targeting of civilians."
At the same
time, however, it expressed fears about abuses by the Israeli
Defense Force
(IDF), especially in Jenin, where it said 200 people had been
killed over
the last several days. "We fear that the gravest abuses against
the
Palestinian population are taking place behind closed doors
as humanitarian
agencies and the media are being barred access to most of the
Occupied
Territories...Families whose relatives have been arrested often
do not know
if they are alive or dead. Reports of extrajudicial executions
cannot be
verified," the London-based group said, repeating its previous
call for
human rights observers to be deployed throughout the West Bank.
Local human rights groups were busy Wednesday trying to get
their own
picture of what was taking place in the Palestinian towns and
cities which
have come under attack since Sharon launched his offensive following
a
suicide bombing on a Passover dinner at a hotel in Netanya which
killed
more than 20 Israelis March 27. Palestinian human rights groups
said
Wednesday they had received reports that an undetermined number
of
Palestinian fighters in the Jenin refugee camp had been summarily
executed
after trying to surrender to the IDF. Jenin has been the site
of the most
unrelenting resistance to the IDF, 13 of whose soldiers were
killed Tuesday
in an ambush. The Palestinian Society for the Protection of
Human Rights
and the Environment also said it had received reports from witnesses
leaving the camp of bodies of residents that appeared to have
been run over
by military bulldozers and others within the rubble of their
homes. It
estimated that 30 percent of the total area of the camp, including
homes
and other buildings, had been destroyed.
B'Tselem, Israel's foremost rights watchdog active in the occupied
territories, released a report Wednesday summarizing some of
the specific
incidents which have taken place, adding, however, that, in
most cases, its
fieldworkers were unable to reach the victims and eyewitnesses
to collect
testimonies in person. Among the cases were the deaths of two
Palestinian
men returning from morning prayers when a missile was shot from
a
helicopter. Their bodies were taken to a nearby house, which
was also hit
in the attack, but neither they nor those injured in the house
were
evacuated due to IDF curbs on the movement of ambulances. In
another case
reported by B'Tselem, a 30-year-old Nablus man was shot and
killed five
meters from the road and in plain view of nearby IDF soldiers.
When another
unidentified Palestinian tried to evacuate the body, he was
detained by
soldiers, who beat him, took off his clothes and took him away.
When the
Palestinian Red Crescent Society tried to remove the body Tuesday,
they
were shot at by the IDF which finally allowed the group to evacuate
it
Wednesday evening.
Seven IDF soldiers were also reported to be patrolling one village
near
Nablus where each day they have chosen a house at random and
thrown shock
and tear-gas grenades into it. On Tuesday, the same group reportedly
stopped passers by and beat them at a cafe in the village center.
B'Tselem
also reported that at least 1,000 Palestinian detainees were
being held in
Ofer military camp and another 1,000 to 1,500 in Megiddo military
prison,
as well as dozens more in jails throughout the West Bank.
Detainees released from the Ofer camp had reported extremely
overcrowded
conditions with insufficient space even to sleep, inadequate
food supplies,
beatings, and humiliation. Human rights groups have tried to
gain access to
the facilities, but on Sunday Israel's highest court rejected
a petition
requesting permission to visit Ofer. "This report paints only
a partial
picture and does not necessarily reflect the worst of the human
rights
violations being perpetrated," the Israeli group said.
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