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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last update - 01:18 27/05/2004 Amnesty: IDF killed 100 children last year By Joseph Algazy The Israel Defense Forces killed some 600 Palestinians, including more than 100 children in 2003, says Amnesty International's annual report, which was released yesterday. The report accuses both Israel and the Palestinians of war crimes. According to the report, most of those who died were killed unlawfully, in "reckless shooting, shelling and bombing in civilian residential areas, in extra-judicial executions and through excessive use of force." The report also denounces the deaths of around 200 Israelis, at least 130 of them civilians and including 21 children, who were killed in suicide bombings and other "deliberate attacks" by Palestinian militants. This "deliberate targeting of civilians by Palestinian armed groups," the report says, "constituted crimes against humanity." The IDF also comes under criticism for "certain abuses" that constitute war crimes, including unlawful killings, obstruction of medical assistance and targeting of medical personnel, the extensive and wanton destruction of property, torture and the use of "human shields." The report condemns the restrictions imposed on the Palestinians' movement, stating that these have caused "unprecedented poverty, unemployment and health problems." The IDF demolished hundreds of Palestinians' houses and destroyed extensive cultivated lands and hundreds of commercial and other properties. Israel is building a barrier-wall, mostly deep inside the West Bank territory. Consequently thousands of Palestinians are incarcerated in compounds and severed from their lands and vital services located in nearby cities and villages, the report says. The document also condemns the expansion of settlements in the territories, saying that they have further deprived Palestinians "of natural resources such as land and water." Thousands of Palestinians are incarcerated in IDF prisons, the report says, although no charges have been brought against many of them. At least 1,500 were held in "administrative detention" without charge or trial. The report says that trials before Israeli military tribunals fall short of international standards, and that there are widespread allegations of torture and abuse of Palestinian detainees. In a separate report released yesterday, Amnesty urges Israel to hold a "thorough, independent and impartial investigation" into the deaths of two teenage siblings during the recent IDF raid in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. On May 18, 16-year-old Asma al-Mughayr and her 13-year-old brother Ahmed were killed within minutes of each other from gunshot wounds to the head, while they were on the roof of their house collecting laundry and feeding pigeons respectively. The Amnesty report says the information points to lethal gunshots from the top floor of a nearby building, which was taken over by IDF troops shortly before the shots were fired. The report dismisses IDF claims that the children could have been killed in an explosion caused by militants. It says that photographic evidence shows bullet holes in the clothes hanging on the line, on the satellite dish and in the wall, whereas there was no damage that could have been caused by an explosion. Furthermore, the children's family heard only gunshots. The Knesset will debate the grave findings of Amnesty's report next week. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=432024 close window www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
