|
Amnesty Calls For War Crimes Probe Over Jenin
 |
| AI mission delegates examine a targeted ambulance at Tulkarem |
LONDON,
April 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies ) - Amnesty International
called Monday, April 22, for an international war crimes probe into
the events surrounding the recent Israeli incursion into Jenin,
following a recent fact-finding mission to the West Bank town.
"We
have concluded that very serious breaches of international law were
committed, and we are talking here of war crimes," said Amnesty
delegate Javier Zuniga, who visited Jenin last week as part of a
three-day survey by the human rights group.
A
second Amnesty delegate, Derrick Pounder, added: "The claim that
only fighters were killed is simply not true - a mixture of bodies
were clearly civilians and combatants," Agence France-Presse
(AFP) reported.
He
said what was needed was "the same type of investigation as in
the Balkans."
In
a report published in the Amnesty International website Amnesty said
Israeli government's military action is accompanied by massive human
rights abuses.
The
report referred to a quote by hawkish Israeli premier as saying “the
Palestinians must be hit and it must be very painful. We must cause
them losses, victims, so that they feel the heavy price," he said
on March 5.
Since
February 27 the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have launched two waves
of incursions into the occupied territories, using tanks, armored
personnel carriers (APCs) and Apache helicopters. In the six weeks up
to April 11 hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, many
unlawfully, and thousands injured.
Amnesty
International delegates, who visited five refugee camps in the
Occupied Territories between March 13 and 21, saw a trail of
destruction: homes, shops and infrastructure demolished or damaged;
apartments trashed and looted; cars crushed and lamp-posts, walls and
shop fronts smashed.
Israel’s
occupation forces had deliberately cut electricity and telephone
cables and water pipes, leaving whole areas without power and water
for up to nine days, the Amnesty said.
Amnesty
International reiterated earlier 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 website reported.
Amnesty
International delegates in Jenin said "There is strong evidence
that human rights and international humanitarian law were breached in
Jenin by the Israeli Defense Forces."
Amnesty
International delegate, Derrick Pounder, a forensic pathologist,
performed autopsies on two bodies in Jenin Hospital both of which gave
"cause for suspicion". Delegates heard accounts of houses
demolished with people still inside them, and reports of
extra-judicial executions.
"The
longer the bodies deteriorate, the more the evidence
deteriorates," said Professor Pounder. "These facts call out
for an urgent independent, international, expert inquiry,"
Amnesty International said.
In
a statement submitted to the Security Council, Amnesty International
repeated its call for the deployment of expert human rights monitors,
which could save Palestinian and Israeli lives.
These
experts must be mandated to monitor, investigate and report on the
respect for international human rights and international humanitarian
law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Amnesty reported.
Monitors
must be able to visit all places and interview individuals freely and
confidentially. Both the Israeli Government and the Palestinian
Authority must permit and assist monitors to work effectively within
their jurisdictions and take all necessary measures to ensure the
monitors' security.
Speaking
from Jenin refugee camp, Javier Zuniga of Amnesty International said,
"Independent and impartial reporting is urgently required as are
measures to ensure that the desperately needed humanitarian assistance
is not obstructed and reaches those in need. Practical measures are
required - words are not enough."
|
