'Israel Committed War Crimes'
Yoav Kapshuk | 24.05.2007 02:36 | Repression | World
Just as critics (and the UN) said at the time, Israel committed several War Crimes in its attacks on Lebanon. It's a bit late to save the UN observers Israel murdered after they said this publicly, but perhaps the Zionist Lobby, which attacked politicians who said this, could find the time to apologize for their actions ...
'Israel committed war crimes'
Amnesty: Threefold increase in killings of Palestinians by IDF in 2006
Human rights group’s annual report slams Israel’s activity in the territories, says settlers, soldiers committed ‘serious human rights abuses’; report also says Jewish state committed war crimes during Second Lebanon War
Yoav Kapshuk
Published: 05.23.07, 13:29 / Israel News
Increased violence between Israelis and Palestinians resulted in a threefold increase in killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces in 2006, according to Amnesty International’s annual human rights report.
More than 650 Palestinians, including some 120 children, and 27 Israelis were killed last year, the report said.
The Amnesty report said Israel “continued to expand illegal settlements and to build a 700 kilometer fence/wall on Palestinian land in the Occupied Territories”.
“Military blockades and increased restrictions imposed by Israel on the movement of Palestinians and the confiscation by Israel of Palestinian custom duties caused a significant deterioration in living conditions for Palestinian inhabitants in the Occupied Territories,” according to the report.
The report further stated that Israeli soldiers and settlers committed “serious human rights abuses”, including unlawful killings against Palestinians, mostly with impunity. “Investigations and prosecutions relating to such abuses were rare and usually only occurred when the abuses were exposed by human rights organizations and the media,” Amnesty said.
'Israel littered south Lebanon with cluster bombs'
As for last summer’s war in Lebanon against Hizbullah, the report said Israel committed “serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes."
Israeli bombardments killed nearly 1,200 people and destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of homes and other civilian infrastructure, the report said. Israel also “littered south Lebanon with around a million unexploded cluster bombs which continued to kill and maim civilians after the conflict,” the Amnesty report said.
“Israeli forces also appear to have carried out direct attacks on civilian infrastructure intended to inflict a form of collective punishment on Lebanon’s people, in order to induce them and the Lebanese government to turn against Hizbullah.”
mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2007/05/amnesty-israel-committed-war-crimes.h
Amnesty: Threefold increase in killings of Palestinians by IDF in 2006
Human rights group’s annual report slams Israel’s activity in the territories, says settlers, soldiers committed ‘serious human rights abuses’; report also says Jewish state committed war crimes during Second Lebanon War
Yoav Kapshuk
Published: 05.23.07, 13:29 / Israel News
Increased violence between Israelis and Palestinians resulted in a threefold increase in killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces in 2006, according to Amnesty International’s annual human rights report.
More than 650 Palestinians, including some 120 children, and 27 Israelis were killed last year, the report said.
The Amnesty report said Israel “continued to expand illegal settlements and to build a 700 kilometer fence/wall on Palestinian land in the Occupied Territories”.
“Military blockades and increased restrictions imposed by Israel on the movement of Palestinians and the confiscation by Israel of Palestinian custom duties caused a significant deterioration in living conditions for Palestinian inhabitants in the Occupied Territories,” according to the report.
The report further stated that Israeli soldiers and settlers committed “serious human rights abuses”, including unlawful killings against Palestinians, mostly with impunity. “Investigations and prosecutions relating to such abuses were rare and usually only occurred when the abuses were exposed by human rights organizations and the media,” Amnesty said.
'Israel littered south Lebanon with cluster bombs'
As for last summer’s war in Lebanon against Hizbullah, the report said Israel committed “serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes."
Israeli bombardments killed nearly 1,200 people and destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of homes and other civilian infrastructure, the report said. Israel also “littered south Lebanon with around a million unexploded cluster bombs which continued to kill and maim civilians after the conflict,” the Amnesty report said.
“Israeli forces also appear to have carried out direct attacks on civilian infrastructure intended to inflict a form of collective punishment on Lebanon’s people, in order to induce them and the Lebanese government to turn against Hizbullah.”
mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2007/05/amnesty-israel-committed-war-crimes.h
Yoav Kapshuk
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
Bizarre misrepresentation of the report
24.05.2007 11:21
Now that is no excuse for the conduct of the Israelis. IThat Hezbollah was just as nasty in conducting war is no reason for the Israelis to act the way they did.
BUT (and this is a very big but) what's YOUR excuse in the way you have reported Israeli discussions of their own conduct here? We (readers on this IMC site) are presumably neither Israelis nor Hezbollah and need to judge between the conduct of these two sides accordingly.
Mike Novack
e-mail:
stepbystefarm mtdata.com
Balance?
24.05.2007 14:51
As you are no doubt well aware, the 'sides' in the Middle East conflict are very different. Israel is a national government, a so-called democracy, with some very powerful friends. Whereas Hamas and Hizbollah are militant groups, routinely described as terrorists by the media. Some of us hold the 'democratic' government of Israel to higher standards of conduct.
Besides there is no real need to mention the 'terror' inflicted by Hamas, Hizbollah etc, it is very, very widely reported on just about every single day. This is not the case with Israel's crimes, in fact they are routinely covered-up, unreported, minimised, or excused.
You think we are one-sided on this site? Maybe some of us just want to redress the imbalance elsewhere?
You say Hizbollah are "just as nasty" in waging war as the Israeli's. I say that is a highly contentious statement. Actually, I suggest to you that it is demonstrably false.
John
Most Palestinians killed in Israeli raids were civilians, Amnesty says
26.05.2007 01:54
Note how the "Independent", careful not to offend, uses benign language to describe the most recent raids, even as it reports on the Amnesty report stating that Israeli raids kill mainly civilians.
Most Palestinians killed in Israeli raids were civilians, Amnesty says
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Published: 24 May 2007
More than 320 civilians were among a threefold increase in the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces last year, according to Amnesty International. The human rights group's 2007 report says that over half of the more than 650 Palestinians killed in 2006 were civilians, 120 of them children and young people under 18. Amnesty defines civilians, "as people that are reasonably supposed never to have been involved in armed operations".
While Amnesty said that dozens of Palestinians were killed in the West Bank it pointed out that most of the increase resulted from aerial and artillery bombardments in Gaza after the abduction of the Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit in late June and in response to increased Qassam rocket fire on Israel. These included, for example, the shelling of a house in the northern town of Beit Hanoun which killed 17 members of the Athamneh family.
The report said 21 Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians militants in the same year, the lowest figure since the beginning of the second intifada in 2000.
Amnesty also accused soldiers and settlers of committing "serious human rights abuses, including unlawful killings against Palestinians mostly with impunity". Although it said settler attacks on farmers in the West Bank had decreased, they were continuing.
It said that, at times, security forces were present at such incidents and did not intervene. It also accused the security forces of often only opening investigations after the cases had been highlighted by journalists and human rights groups.
The Israeli military said yesterday it did its utmost "to avoid harming innocent people... in contrast to terror organisations that do their utmost to harm innocent civilians".
It rejected what it called "the attempt to equate terror organisations" with a "democratic state that acts within the confines of the law to exercise its right to defend itself, its sovereign territory, and civilians against terror organisations".
Israeli troops launched a rare raid into the southern Gaza Strip early yesterday, briefly detaining seven Palestinians on the outskirts of Khan Yunis. The detainees were later released. Palestinian medics said that seven people, including a pregnant woman and a teenage boy, had been injured in two further air strikes on suspected Gaza militants yesterday.
news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2578484.ece
"Rare"?
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT..HOW ISRAEL IS DEALING WITH IT
(Ben Heine © Cartoons)
Yesterday, Amnesty International published a Report dealing with Israel and the Occupied Territories. It is a very comprehensive report and is a must read for anyone who wants to see the crimes committed against the Palestinians.
A thorough and brilliant analysis of the report can be seen on Sabbah's Blog and the Report itself can be seen HERE.
Ynet published THIS about the Report, without comment.
The Jerusalem Post attempted to comment, but not much could be said to counter what Amnesty had to say. Their article can be seen HERE.
Now the question is, how does Israel intend to deal with the contents of the Report? So far there has been no comment from any government official or ministry.... BUT, first thing this morning Israeli forces arrested 30 leading members of Hamas including government ministers. That seems to be Israels favourite way of dealing with criticism. If there is a chance that the crimes against the Palestinians will be further exposed, remove the Palestinians from the picture.
Just how long will the world tolerate these actions and remain silent?
The facts are right here in the following reports for everyone to read...
desertpeace.blogspot.com/2007/05/amnesty-international-reporthow-israel.
Zionism, Irrelevant Within A Generation