gelatik
05.11.02, 16:02
Amnesty Accuses Israel of Committing War Crimes in Jenin
Israel on Sunday, November 3, rebuked Belgian ambassador for criticizing
Israel’s policies against the Palestinians, as Amnesty International Accused
Israel of War Crimes.
Israeli Cabinet Secretary Gideon Saar scolded Belgian ambassador Wilfred
Geens that his comments branding a hard line cabinet minister "a fascist"
were "false and revolting."
In an interview with the Israeli Arab daily Kol el-Arab, widely quoted in the
Hebrew press Sunday, Geens called Israeli Infrastructure Minister Effi
Eitam "a fascist", and said "the Palestinian territories are the biggest
prison camp in the world."
Saar, in his talks with Geens, stressed "the gravity of the comments
attributed to the ambassador about the infrastructure minister," a statement
from the prime minister's office said.
Saar told him the remarks were "grave, false and revolting" and "demonstrate
a misunderstanding of the right and fundamental duty of Israel to defend the
lives of its citizens in line with international law," it added.
In the interview, Geens attacked Israel's policies at checkpoints and
roadblocks in the West Bank.
"I have seen how the Israeli soldiers humiliate the Palestinians at the road
blocks. It is contrary to international law and human values," he was quoted
as saying.
The Israeli statement added the ambassador had "denied certain remarks
attributed to him, stressing they had been contorted because of translation
problems, and said he was planning to publish a correction and write a letter
about the issue to the infrastructure minister."
Geens was also summoned to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International accused Israel Sunday of committing war
crimes during its invasion of the West Bank towns of Nablus and Jenin between
April and June 2002.
An Amnesty report, entitled "Shielded from Scrutiny: IDF (Israeli occupation
forces) violations in Jenin and Nablus", demanded that Israel and the
international community investigate those responsible, no matter how high
their position in power, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
It said that between last April and June the Israeli army killed civilians,
tortured prisoners, used civilians as human shields, destroyed homes and
blocked humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
"Amnesty International believes that some of the acts by the IDF (Israeli
army) described in this report amount to grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva
Convention and are war crimes," it says.
The rights watchdog called for "a full, thorough, transparent and impartial
investigation into all allegations of violations of international human
rights and humanitarian law."
Javier Zuniga, Amnesty's international director of regional strategy, said
Israel should accept responsibility for its actions and cooperate with an
investigation into the army's conduct during the spring offensive.
"The culpability goes from the soldier who shot somebody with no necessity to
those in the line of the command who ordered or condoned or covered up and to
the highest authority of the state because they are politically responsible --
that would be the prime minister," said Zuniga.
But Zuniga, one of the authors of the report, added: "We are not a court of
law ... The first thing that has to happen is a proper judicial investigation
and this has not happened yet."
The report comes out just two days after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
named as his defense minister former army chief of staff Shaul Mofaz, who
headed the military's six-week occupation of the West Bank.
The report is sharply critical of the UN probe into the fighting in Jenin,
which began when the army entered the town and barred access to humanitarian
groups from April 4 to 15.
The 31-page UN report released by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on August 1
claimed no widespread killing occurred in Jenin, after the Jewish state
blocked an on-the-scene investigation.
In April, Palestinian officials accused Israel of massacring between 300 to
500 people. However, Amnesty says 54 Palestinians were killed in the fighting
in Jenin, many of them civilians.
The Jenin toll includes "seven women, four children and six men over the age
of 55. Six people had been crushed by houses," it added.
About the UN probe, Amnesty said: "This report was written without a visit to
Jenin or any other Palestinian cities.
"Israel did not respond to any request by the UN undersecretary general for
political affairs to provide information for the report ... The secretary
general's report on Jenin can not be a substitute for a full, independent,
impartial and thorough investigation or inquiry," it added.
In Nablus, Amnesty said at least 80 people were killed last April, including
seven women and nine children under the age of 15.
Amnesty also said the Israeli army tortured detainees in Nablus.
"In Nablus, the IDF (army) ill-treated and sometimes tortured detainees
arrested in mass roundups of males between 15 and 45 years old," it said.
In one case, the report chronicles the beating of a 25-year-old man in a
wheelchair who was taken into detention and pushed down a stairwell.
