Human Rights

The U.N. report on events in Jenin is seriously flawed, Human Rights Watch said today. The report, mandated by a U.N. General Assembly resolution after Israeli objections forced the Secretary-General to disband a U.N. fact-finding team, largely limits itself to presenting competing accounts of the events during the Israeli military operations.

Amnesty International is concerned about the decision by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to unlawfully transfer from the West Bank to Gaza three relatives of Palestinians believed to have been involved in organizing or carrying out attacks against Israelis.

The death of Abu M’khisan illustrates the illegality of the policy outlined in the State’s response. Using civilians to enter homes is just as life threatening as the practices the State discontinued. The IDF must prohibit this practice as it did all others.

A joint statement issued by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists at a press conference in Jerusalem.

Amnesty International condemned today’s decision by the Israeli High Court of Justice that will allow demolition, without the right to judicial review, of homes belonging to families of people who are believed to have carried out attacks against Israelis.

This morning, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected petitions on behalf of 49 families, whose homes are threatened to be demolished, filed by the human rights organisations LAW and Hamoked.

As the UN Security Council meets today to discuss the grave situation in Israel and the Occupied Territories, Amnesty International reiterates its calls for an international inquiry into alleged human rights abuses against Palestinians in Jenin Refugee Camp since 3 April 2002, and the deployment of international human rights monitors.

Amnesty International has submitted a briefing on torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians by members of the Israeli Defense Forces and the General Security Services to the Committee against Torture (CAT) which is due to discuss the situation in Israel and the Occupied Territories on 14 May 2002.