Amnesty International says UN report on Jenin underscores need for investigation in Israel's human rights
Amnesty International (AI) says the UN report released on Thursday to investigate whether Israel committed massacres during its incursions in the Palestinian town of Jenin underscores the need for a thorough, on-the-spot investigative inquiry into reports of serious human rights abuses that accompanied the Israeli army incursions into Jenin and other cities last April.
AI argues that such an investigation is all the more important in view of Israel's continuing failure to conduct proper investigations into allegations of human rights violations as required by international law.
The report, a compilation of reports from various sources, sets out the chronology of events in Jenin and other cities.
Among the serious human rights concerns highlighted in the report and shared by Amnesty International are the blocking of medical aid for 11 days in Jenin and the destruction of homes in Hawashin.
However, AI blames the report for "inevitably falling short of a comprehensive inquiry" and regrets that the Israeli government has impeded the search for truth and justice.
AI charges the Israeli government of failing to provide information to the UN Secretary-General for his report and in April rejected the deployment of a fact-finding mission established by the Secretary-General, composed of distinguished international experts, and including military, police and forensic advisers.
The London-based human rights advocacy association "reiterates its call for international monitors with a strong human rights mandate to be deployed as a matter of urgency." "There will be no peace and security until human rights are respected and there is truth, justice and redress for the victims," says AI adding "the fundamental importance of a full investigation to uncover the truth cannot be overestimated. "
AI which gained access to Jenin on April 17 and has carried out a series of fact-finding missions in Jenin, Nablus and other cities expresses serious concerns about the blocking of medical and humanitarian assistance and direct attacks on medical and humanitarian workers, the use of "human shields," unlawful killings, and wanton destruction of homes, arbitrary and administrative detention and torture and ill-treatment, by Israel, as well as targeted attacks on Israeli civilians carried out by armed Palestinian groups.