Fury Over Amnesty Report
by Jeremy Last - Thursday 7th June 2007
Israel has hit back at a report by human rights group Amnesty International released to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War which calls for Israel to be prosecuted in the world's courts for committing war crimes against the Palestinians.
Entitled
"Enduring Occupation: Palestinians under siege in the West Bank,"the Amnesty report includes chapters with headings such as "Israeli settlements – the reason for the restrictions" and "violations of international law."
In a statement released on Monday, the Israeli justice ministry dismissed the report as "one-sided, immoral, and riddled with mistakes and numerous factual and legal inaccuracies."
Using personal stories as examples, the report focuses on the plight of the Palestinians who are forced to go through roadblocks and checkpoints to travel around the West Bank.
Dismissing Israel's reasoning behind creating "a web of military checkpoints and blockades," the report's authors wrote: "The Israeli authorities contend that this regime of closures and restrictions is necessary to prevent Palestinians from entering Israel to carry out suicide bombings and other attacks. However all the checkpoints, gates, blocked roads are located inside the West Bank, not between the West Bank and Israel."
Accusing Israel of breaking the law, the report added: "The stringent restrictions on movement imposed for years by the Israeli authorities on more than two million Palestinians who live in the West Bank are unlawful as they are disproportionate, discriminatory and violate the right to freedom of movement."
The justice ministry spokesman complained that the Amnesty report all but ignores the "centrality of Palestinian terrorism" to the conflict and its results as well as Israel's human rights record.
"The report's total disregard of the conduct of Palestinian terrorist organizations and of the war crimes that they perpetrate daily, when they directly and indiscriminately target civilian populations while using the local population as human shields, is another outstanding example of the significant problems embodied in the report," the spokesman said.
"Israel views with the utmost importance the safeguarding of human rights and invests abundant resources in doing so, in keeping with its commitment to values and to international law."
In the report Amnesty International called for Israel to dismantle all West Bank settlements and roadblocks but also urged Palestinians to end attacks on Israeli civilians, claiming that an international force is needed to monitor both sides.
"For 40 years, the international community has failed adequately to address the Israeli-Palestinian problem; it cannot, must not, wait another 40 years to do so," Amnesty regional director Malcolm Smart said.
The Jerusalem based organisation NGO Monitor called on those involved in the publication of the report to resign. In a statement NGO Monitor sid the Amnesty report "provides more evidence of AI's strong political agenda on Arab-Israeli issues."
Instead of working to improve human rights, the NGO Monitor said Amnesty International "undermine the basis of universal human rights."
"This Amnesty report, following tendentious condemnations of Israel, demonstrates the moral bankruptcy of this organization. We call on the members of Amnesty International, including Amnon Vidan who heads the Israeli branch to submit their resignations in protest," said Gerald Steinberg, Executive Director of NGO Monitor.
Using personal stories as examples, the report focuses on the plight of the Palestinians who are forced to go through roadblocks and checkpoints to travel around the West Bank.
Dismissing Israel's reasoning behind creating "a web of military checkpoints and blockades," the report's authors wrote: "The Israeli authorities contend that this regime of closures and restrictions is necessary to prevent Palestinians from entering Israel to carry out suicide bombings and other attacks. However all the checkpoints, gates, blocked roads are located inside the West Bank, not between the West Bank and Israel."
Accusing Israel of breaking the law, the report added: "The stringent restrictions on movement imposed for years by the Israeli authorities on more than two million Palestinians who live in the West Bank are unlawful as they are disproportionate, discriminatory and violate the right to freedom of movement."
The justice ministry spokesman complained that the Amnesty report all but ignores the "centrality of Palestinian terrorism" to the conflict and its results as well as Israel's human rights record.
"The report's total disregard of the conduct of Palestinian terrorist organizations and of the war crimes that they perpetrate daily, when they directly and indiscriminately target civilian populations while using the local population as human shields, is another outstanding example of the significant problems embodied in the report," the spokesman said.
"Israel views with the utmost importance the safeguarding of human rights and invests abundant resources in doing so, in keeping with its commitment to values and to international law."
In the report Amnesty International called for Israel to dismantle all West Bank settlements and roadblocks but also urged Palestinians to end attacks on Israeli civilians, claiming that an international force is needed to monitor both sides.
"For 40 years, the international community has failed adequately to address the Israeli-Palestinian problem; it cannot, must not, wait another 40 years to do so," Amnesty regional director Malcolm Smart said.
The Jerusalem based organisation NGO Monitor called on those involved in the publication of the report to resign. In a statement NGO Monitor sid the Amnesty report "provides more evidence of AI's strong political agenda on Arab-Israeli issues."
Instead of working to improve human rights, the NGO Monitor said Amnesty International "undermine the basis of universal human rights."
"This Amnesty report, following tendentious condemnations of Israel, demonstrates the moral bankruptcy of this organization. We call on the members of Amnesty International, including Amnon Vidan who heads the Israeli branch to submit their resignations in protest," said Gerald Steinberg, Executive Director of NGO Monitor.
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