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.