MIDDLE EAST: The war crimes against Palestinians, include the use of "human shields", torture, blocking ambulances and executions, reports Lara Marlowe
The Israeli army imposed a news blackout when it attacked the West Bank towns of Jenin and Nablus last April. Diplomats, journalists, human rights workers and medical personnel were kept out of the Jenin refugee camp for nine days, while the old city of Nablus was cut off from the world by Israeli tanks for 19 days.
It has taken more than six months, and a thorough investigation by the human rights group Amnesty International, to confirm that Israel committed war crimes in Jenin and Nablus.
A 76-page report entitled Shielded from Scrutiny: IDF Violations in Jenin and Nablus, issued by Amnesty today, says at least 134 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli onslaught. Amnesty methodically describes unlawful killings, the torture of prisoners, the destruction of more than 3,000 Palestinian homes (often after the end of military operations), the blocking of ambulances, Palestinians used as "human shields" and even the looting of Palestinian belongings by Israeli soldiers.
"We're saying that the Israeli Defence Forces are responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes," says Mr Seán Love, the director of Amnesty Ireland. "Unlawful killings, torture and ill treatment ... the wanton destruction of property ... the fact that they have been done in a systematic and widespread manner, and in pursuit of government policy, makes them crimes against humanity under the definition of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention make it clear that they are serious war crimes as well."
The report reiterates that suicide bombings by Palestinians are also crimes against humanity. "In the case of Palestinian armed groups", Mr Love continues, "attacks are widespread and systematic, and they are part of a publicly announced policy to target civilians." Yet "human rights abuses by armed groups can never justify violations of fundamental human rights by governments", Amnesty says, adding that the IDF "must be held accountable" for what happened in Jenin and Nablus.
The IDF bulldozed the house of Jamal Fayed (38), a severely disabled man, despite his family's pleas for mercy. Mr Fayed died in the rubble. Maher Musa Hussan al-Naqib (25) a paraplegic, was severely beaten by Israeli soldiers and lost consciousness when they threw him down the stairs.
In Jenin on April 5th, 59 year-old Afaf Desuqi responded immediately to the IDF's demand that she open the door of the family house. "She had just put her hand out to touch the handle," Desuqi's sister Aisha told Amnesty. "The door exploded in on her and the right side of her face was blown off ... I think she must have died instantly." The family doused Afaf's decomposing body with perfume for six days before they could bury her.
Mrs Hala Abu Irmaila had to live with the body of her husband Atiya (44) for a week after he was shot dead by an Israeli sniper in his home on April 5th. "Imagine someone you live with, you talk with, and now he is just a dead body," Mrs Abu Irmaila said. "My children kept speaking with him as if he were alive." The dead and wounded could not be moved because the IDF would not allow relief groups through, even after fighting stopped. Eleven ambulances of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestinian Red Crescent were kept waiting outside Jenin for five days. On April 16th, Amnesty delegates saw a Palestinian woman in labour struggling to walk the last 100 metres to hospital after the IDF stopped her ambulance. Nablus residents were fired on by the IDF when they tried to retrieve the body of a Palestinian fighter. They watched helplessly as he was eaten by dogs.
The Israelis used Palestinian men - and women - as "human shields" to lead IDF troops through Jenin and Nablus, in violation of the Geneva Convention. Eight thousand Palestinian men between the ages of 15 and 55 were detained.
Jamal al-Sabbagh (33), a diabetic, was shot in the head for no apparent reason in custody. Many detainees were stripped to their underwear and severely beaten with rifle butts - to the point of torture, says Amnesty. At least one, Husni Ahmad Amer, was beaten to death.
On April 5th, a mission sent by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, was denied entry to Israel and disbanded. Two weeks later, the Security Council unanimously passed resolution 1405 to endorse an agreement between the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, and the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, to send a high-level fact-finding mission to the West Bank. The Israeli government withdrew its co-operation and blocked access. Mr Annan disbanded the mission on May 3rd.
Amnesty provided the details of today's report to the Israeli government in June and July. By September, the Israeli government had still not responded. "The international community must stop being an ineffective witness of the grave violations taking place in Israel and the Occupied Territories," Mr Love says.
"Independent monitors with a human rights mandate have to be allowed in. This has been consistently obstructed by Israel, with the support of the United States." Ireland's term on the UN Security Council will end soon, Mr Love notes. "If it's ever going to have a significant impact on the situation in Israel and the Occupied Territories, Ireland has to exploit its role in the Security Council to best effect in the next two months."