Amnesty Condemns Israeli Assassinations, Closures

Additional Reporting By Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

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 assassinations policy is vehemently condemned as a violation of the
international law, since they are adopted by the whole country and not as
individual acts, Amnesty International spokesman Kamal Samari told
IslamOnline.net commenting on the report issued by the London-based rights
group under the title The impact of movement restrictions on the right to
work.

Even if those subjected to Israeli assassinations are related to unlawful
acts, they should rather be arrested or a request for the Palestinian
Authority be submitted to detain and put them on trail, Samari echoed the
report that came two days after Yassein was slightly injured in an Israeli
strike on Saturday, September 6.

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".

'Lengthy, costly'

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."

Separation Wall Heavily Criticized

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.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said: "We will be studying the report
and we will make a comment at a later stage."

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