Amnesty International accuses Israel of war crimes
iht.com
Group accuses Israel of war crimes
Joel Greenberg
The New York Times
Monday, November 4, 2002
JERUSALEM A new report by the human rights group Amnesty International says that Israeli forces committed war crimes in Nablus and Jenin during a large-scale offensive in the West Bank last spring, killing Palestinians unlawfully, blocking medical care, using people as human shields and bulldozing houses with residents inside.
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The assertions in the report, to be issued Monday, are the first time the group has accused Israeli forces of committing war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where they have been battling a violent Palestinian uprising for more than two years. A report issued by the rights group in July called attacks by Palestinian militants on Israeli civilians crimes against humanity.
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"The information in this report suggests that the Israeli Defense Forces committed violations of international law during the course of military operations in Jenin and Nablus, including war crimes, for which they must be held accountable," the new report says in its conclusions.
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The 76-page study focuses on army actions in Nablus in Jenin between April and June, and is based on interviews with witnesses, visits to sites of the fighting, autopsies by a forensic specialist and assessments of a military expert.
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The Jenin refugee camp and the old city of Nablus were the scenes of the fiercest fighting and the heaviest Palestinian losses during the Israeli offensive, which was begun at the end of March after a series of suicide bombings and deadly shooting attacks in Israel.
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A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry called the report one-sided, asserting that it "ignores the fact that Israel is in the midst of an armed conflict that was imposed on it."
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"Israel is struggling to defend its citizens against Palestinian terrorism that is deliberately conducted from behind the civilian population, including the use of children and ambulances," the spokesman said. "Israel regrets any harm to innocent people, and the Israel Defense Forces continue to make every effort to avoid harm to civilians." The Israeli authorities will study the cases raised in the report, but "our experience has shown that many Palestinian claims have proven to be unfounded," the spokesman said.
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Citing eyewitness accounts and on-site investigations by Amnesty International delegates, the report describes cases in which unarmed Palestinian civilians were fatally shot in custody or while in their homes, or when their houses were demolished on top of them without warning.
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In one incident, a man was shot and killed as he lay on the ground after he was rounded up with other men in the Jenin refugee camp April 6, the report says. In an incident the previous day, a woman was killed when soldiers blew open the door of her house with explosives as she went to open it.
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In Nablus on April 6, eight members of a single family were killed, including three children, their pregnant mother and an 85-year-old grandfather, when their house was bulldozed.
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The report documents what it calls a pattern of using people as human shields, forcing them to walk in front of soldiers and to enter and search homes suspected of being boobytrapped or sheltering armed men.
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"The soldiers would have us walk in front of them, sometimes with them resting their rifles on our shoulders," said Amer Abdel Karim, 24, who was arrested in the Jenin refugee camp on April 9. "At times they were exchanging gunfire and shooting from people's shoulders." |
