PARIS, September 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A new report released by Amnesty International on Sunday, September 7, condemned the Israeli policy of assassinations, including the latest attempt on the life of Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin a few days ago, adding that restrictions imposed by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have had a disastrous impact on the lives of Palestinians.

The report also criticized that sweeping and indiscriminate restrictions on Palestinians and their goods by Israeli occupation forces violated their right to freedom of movement and the right to work.

"Unemployment and poverty has spiraled, malnutrition has emerged, anemia and other health problems have increased and education has been negatively affected."

"Some 60 percent of Palestinians now live below the poverty line of two U.S. dollars per day and most are forced to depend on aid," it said.

"The high levels of unemployment, poverty, malnutrition and other health problems afflicting Palestinians are not just a humanitarian problem - they are the direct result of the restrictions imposed by Israel on the Palestinians in the occupied territories."

The report came to re-cast a spotlight on the impact of Israeli policy of closures and curfews on the basic right to free of movement, Amnesty International spokesman Samari commented.

"As an occupying power, Israel has an obligation under international law to ensure freedom of movement, an adequate standard of living and as normal a life as possible to the population in the occupied territories," said the report.

The organization said sweeping restrictions "imposed by Israel violate these obligations. Such restrictions also in many cases constitute collective punishment - prohibited by international law".

The report also said that traveling even a short distance between towns and villages in the West Bank usually entailed "a lengthy, costly and potentially dangerous journey for Palestinians".

Army checkpoints frequently forced Palestinians to make major diversions, often by foot.

"Such detours are difficult or impossible for the sick, the elderly or those carrying heavy packages or small children."

The report also criticized the impact of curfews which are frequently imposed by the Israeli authorities in Palestinian areas which are under their control.

"After the Israeli army retook control of the main West Bank towns in the spring of 2002 (at the height of the Palestinian Intifada), 24-hour curfews were imposed for days and in some cases weeks," it said.

"The army almost completely stopped vital service providers and ambulances from functioning."

The report also took aims at a controversial separation wall being built across the West Bank, which at times cuts deep into Palestinian territory.

"The barrier/fence cuts off scores of Palestinian villages from the rest of the West Bank or from their farming land.

"The land in these areas is among the most fertile in the West Bank, with better water resources than elsewhere, and agriculture constitutes the main source of income for the Palestinians," added the report.

The Israeli government has claimed the wall is necessary to prevent infiltrations by militant Palestinians intent on carrying out attacks.

The Palestinians, however, regard it as a bid to pre-empt the boundaries of any future two-state settlement.

"Yet, the wall/fence runs mostly deep inside the West Bank, and not on the pre-1967 border between Israel and the West Bank. This, in order to isolate the local Palestinian communities from nearby Israeli settlements, which have been established in violation of international law," the report added.

The report said the wall puts about one million Palestinian in a large prison as it makes them unable to move from one village to the other because of Israeli-build roads, said Samari.

‘Concrete Measures’

AI also urged Israel to put an immediate end to the construction or expansion of Israeli settlements and related infrastructure and to take measures to evacuate Israeli settlers from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"Israel should have never transferred its civilian population into the Occupied Territories. This is a violation of international humanitarian law. Now Israel must remedy this violation by taking concrete measures to evacuate the settlers," said the organization.

"Not only are the settlements illegal, they are constructed and maintained in a discriminatory manner and are the proximate cause of so many of the arbitrary restrictions on movement and other human rights abuses."

Jewish settlements are seen by the international community as illegal as they even helped increase the number of Palestinian refugees and homeless, but Israel disputes this fact.

AI report also reiterated its call on Palestinian groups to put an immediate end to their policy of killing and targeting Israeli civilians, including settlers, whether inside Israel or in the Occupied Territories.

"Similarly, the Palestinian Authority should take urgent measures to prevent such attacks by Palestinian armed groups and carry out thorough investigations in all cases," the organization said.

Amnesty International also reiterated its call on the Israeli authorities to put an immediate end to the practice of extrajudicial executions and other killings of civilians.