Amnesty International holds Israel responsible for death of over 300 Palestinians
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 5/30/2001

In its latest report on the human situation worldwide, Amnesty International said Israeli security forces are responsible for the death of more than 300 Palestinians, including more than 100 children under 18.

The human rights advocacy group says most of them were unlawfully killed during the new Intifadah (popular uprising that started last September. It went on that more than 2,500 Palestinians and Israelis were arrested for political reasons. Scores of detainees were ill-treated and at least 25 Palestinians were held in administrative detention during 2000.

"Hundreds of Palestinians from the Occupied Territories were tried before military courts in trials whose procedures fell short of international standards. Houses in the Occupied Territories continued to be demolished as a result of a discriminatory policy which denied most Palestinians building permits."

The London-based NGO also reports how Palestinians in the Occupied Territories continued to be almost invariably barred from travel to Jerusalem or elsewhere outside the Palestinian-ruled areas and from areas that are under security control of Israel and civil control of the PA.

The report further points to the visit by Ariel Sharon on September 29 to al-Aqsa Mosque precinct and the subsequent shooting and use of excessive force by Israeli police as the event that sparked daily demonstrations and riots in the Occupied Territories which were continuing at the end of the year. Five Palestinians died and more than 200 others were injured on that day.

Amnesty International also deplores Israel's excessive use of arms against demonstrators saying security forces "used excessive lethal force, firing rubber-coated metal bullets and live ammunition including high-velocity bullets at demonstrators." "Some Palestinians were deliberately targeted and extrajudicially executed. The Israeli airforce and the navy used heavy weaponry, including helicopter gunships, tanks and naval vessels, to shell randomly Palestinian areas from where armed Palestinians had opened fire. They also used heavy weaponry to conduct punitive raids against the Palestinian authority."

he report also cited cases of youngsters killed by settlers, like "eleven-year-old Sami Abu Jazzar who was shot dead during a stone-throwing demonstration in Rafah, Gaza Strip, in October by Israeli soldiers who were based in a blockhouse 100 meters away and who were not in danger at the time." The report equally cites the case of Hussein Abayat, who was extrajudicially executed in Beit Sahur in the West Bank by a shell launched from an Israeli helicopter gunship which killed two women standing near his van and injured nine others. The Police admitted that Hussein 'Abayat had been targeted, allegedly because he was going to launch an attack on Gilo settlement.

The year 2000 also saw the arrest of more than 2,000 people, the vast majority Palestinians, mostly on charges involving political violence. At least 900 Palestinians from Israel or Al-Quds and 300 Jewish citizens of Israel were arrested during the Intifada and charged with offences such as stone-throwing; many were minors. Arrests were often carried out at night by large numbers of armed security force personnel. Some of those arrested reported that they were beaten or kicked immediately after arrest.

Other criticism include Palestinian detainees under interrogation being held incommunicado for up to 20 days, beating of Palestinian prisoners, in addition to military trials which did not meet international standards for fair trials.

Israel was also incriminated for house demolishing (at least eight houses in the West Bank and 23 houses in East Jerusalem) and "a discriminatory policy apparently aimed at stopping Palestinians building in East Jerusalem or in areas of the West Bank under Israeli control."

Previous Stories:
  Israeli occupation soldiers attack Palestinian towns   (5/29/2001)
  Powell restricts his envoy's mission to Intifada halting, it is originally a proposal of Sharon   (5/28/2001)
  Two Palestinian suicide attacks against the Israelis   (5/26/2001)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search