A.I. notes number of palestinians killed more than doubled since sept.11

The weekly toll of Palestinians killed has more than doubled since last September 11, said human rights advocacy association "Amnesty International" in a report tiled "Broken lives: a year of intifada"

With some 150 Palestinians killed in the past two months, the weekly death toll among Palestinians has more than doubled, AI notes adding that a large proportion of those killed and injured have been children: more than 160 Palestinian children

The report also deplores an "intolerable situation" accepted by Israel and the international community, and condemns the Israeli Government which has responded to the intifada by killing Palestinians and by shelling Palestinian towns. "In a blatant violation of the right to life, Israel continues to implement a deliberate policy of assassinating Palestinians said to have been planning attacks on Israelis. More than 40 Palestinians have been extrajudicially executed in attacks which also killed some 20 bystanders," the report goes on.

AI also reports that journalists and human rights organizations - like those who investigated the army assault on Beit Rima, where five Palestinians were killed and three homes demolished on October 24, 2001 - found that in many killings there appeared to have been no Palestinian fire against the Israeli forces.

The report criticizes Israel for cutting off almost every Palestinian town and village from the outside world. "Hundreds of Palestinian houses have been demolished and Palestinians barred from travelling along certain roads in the Occupied Territories. All Palestinians in the territories militarily occupied by Israel -- more than three million people -- have been collectively punished," AI deplores.

The report says that the international community "has made increasingly strong statements, but has failed to take the action necessary to ensure respect for human rights standards and international humanitarian law by Israel and the Palestinians."

"Human rights appear to be low on the international agenda at a time when they should regain center-stage, if any negotiation process is to achieve durable results," says the London-based association calling for an international observing presence which can greatly assist by defusing situations.