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Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan holds a copy of the Amnesty International Report 2005, which provides a global overview of the state of the world's human rights, during a news conference in London on Wednesday. (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners May 25, 2005 |
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Yahad (Meretz) lawmaker Zahava Gal called for an urgent Knesset debate following the publication of the annual Amnesty International report on human rights violations, which accuses Israel Defense Forces soldiers of war crimes, including unlawful killings, torture, destruction of property, obstruction of medical assistance, and targeting of medical personnel.
The report says the IDF is responsible for the deaths of some 700 Palestinians, including 150 children, "most of them unlawfully."
The 2004 numbers were up from about 600 Palestinians who died by IDF fire in 2003, Amnesty said, but failed to draw a distinction between Palestinian civilians and Palestinian terrorists.
According to the report, most of the deaths were caused by shooting, explosions, and aerial attacks on residential areas.
At the same time, house demolitions in Gaza left almost 4,000 Palestinian homeless, according to the report.
The report did not mention how many of the destroyed houses were actually explosives-making facilities.
Amnesty said that in the same period Palestinian terror organizations killed 109 Israelis, of which 67 were civilians, including eight children.
The 2004 total marked a decrease from about 200 killed in 2003.
The report did not mention the number of terror attack attempts the IDF foiled.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the report was biased. "It is very one-sided," he said. "This accusation of Israeli soldiers in the West Bank being involved in war crimes is something we reject."
The report also stated that settlers have increased their attacks on Palestinians, harming trees and blocking the Palestinians from harvesting their crops.
Israel's ongoing construction of the West Bank barrier, "despite the ruling by the International Court of Justice," also comes under criticism in the report.
According to Amnesty, the work on the fence "continued to hinder or prevent Palestinians' access to their land, their workplaces and to education, health and other crucial services."
In a chapter devoted to the Palestinian Authority, the human rights group said Palestinian security officials are involved in fighting between various terrorist groups, stating that eighteen Palestinians were killed in the clashes after they were suspected of collaboration with Israel.
The report does not mention the fact that a lot of Palestinian security personnel were formerly terrorists, before they were appointed to their "security personnel" positions.
On the flip side, the report did mention that 750 prisoners are being held in Palestinian prisons, most of them haven't been given a trial and many of them are tortured and beaten in jail, according to Amnesty's findings.
Despite the negative report, Amnon Vidan, director-general of Amnesty International in Israel, said that the group feels encouraging progress has been made in protecting human rights in Israel and the territories.
According to AP figures based on Israeli and Palestinian field reports, in more than four years of fighting, 3,477 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 1,034 on the Israeli side.
The AP contributed to this report.
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