Israeli group monitors rights
violations
By MARGOT PATTERSON
Jerusalem
While Israeli opposition forced the United Nations to disband a
fact-finding mission to Jenin to investigate Palestinian allegations of
civilian massacres by Israeli troops, other human rights groups have been
conducting their own investigations. Jessica Montell, executive director of
BTselem, an Israeli information and advocacy center for human rights in
the occupied territories, said preliminary findings indicate human rights
abuses took place at Jenin but not a massacre.
There is no evidence of mass willful killings if that is
what is meant by massacres, Montell said. There is fairly strong
evidence suggesting human rights violations and violations of humanitarian law,
particularly in the failure to allow access to humanitarian workers -- by which
I mean ambulances to attend to the injured or the sick as well as access to aid
workers providing food and water to the population under curfew.
Other human rights abuses BTselem is investigating before
issuing its report include the vandalization of civil society structures by
Israeli soldiers, who destroyed offices, computers and databases during their
recent sweep through West Bank towns and villages, as well as soldiers
use of Palestinian civilians as human shields. Its clear that both abuses
occurred, said Montell. What is still unclear is whether these abuses occurred
at the initiative of individual soldiers or reflected military policy, she
said.
BTselems findings are in line with a May 3 report by
the international group Human Rights Watch, which found evidence of Israeli war
crimes in Jenin but not evidence to support claims that the Israeli Defense
Force massacred hundreds of Palestinians in the refugee camp.
Since its founding in 1989 by a group of academics, attorneys,
journalists and Knesset members, BTselem has reported to an often
unresponsive Israeli public on human rights violations in the occupied
territories ruled by Israel. One of the organizations stated aims is to
combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public and
help create a human rights culture in Israel.
According to some, that culture is still far in the distance.
Though human rights groups like BTselem, Rabbis for Human Rights, the
Israeli Committee against House Demolitions and others exist in Israel, even
their sympathizers and supporters say they are bucking a strong national
consensus that supports harsh measures against Palestinians as necessary and
justifiable.
Theres no concept in Israeli society that Palestinians
have a legitimate case, that they have human rights, that there is
international law that applies here, said one journalist for a well-known
U.S. newspaper who has covered Israel for several years.
Over the years BTselem has published reports on torture --
standard operating procedure for Israeli military forces interrogating
Palestinian suspects up until 1999, when the Israeli Supreme Court disallowed
the practice -- house demolitions by Israeli forces in the occupied territory,
assassinations of Palestinian activists and leaders, beatings and physical
abuse of Palestinians, unjustified shootings of Palestinians, the water crisis
in Palestinian villages, and the sealing of Palestinian towns and villages.
Even as it has earned the respect of other human rights activists around the
world for its careful documentation of Israeli violations of humanitarian law,
BTselem has not become beloved by Israelis.
Most of the public feels that BTselem is a
traitor, said Montell, a 34-year-old native of Northern California who
grew up in a liberal Jewish home and first visited Israel during high school.
Montell moved to Israel after college, along the way shedding what she said
were Zionist myths about her adopted country.
Since the onset of the second intifada almost 20 months ago,
Montell said Palestinian human rights in the occupied territories have
deteriorated seriously. Particularly dramatic has been the disruption of
medical care, with ambulances carrying patients to hospitals often stopped at
checkpoints and roadblocks and prevented from continuing their journey. Though
Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that emergency medical cases are
allowed to cross at checkpoints, the procedures for allowing the ill to cross
are not implemented, according to BTselem and other sources. As of March,
BTselem reported that 24 Palestinians have died since the start of the
second intifada because they were unable to reach a medical center.
While Palestinians are seeing their human rights and living
standards deteriorate, Montell said concern about human rights has declined
among the Israeli public as the threat posed by suicide bombers has grown.
The feeling is that human rights are a luxury we cant afford,
she said.
Some Israelis complain that journalistic objectivity has become
another casualty of the escalating conflict.
There are very few reporters in the Israeli press who say
what is going on, and the ones who do are discredited in the eyes of the
public. Their sources are Palestinian, and theyre considered to have a
political mission, said Ronit Chachan, an Israeli writer who is
researching a book on the refuseniks, the Israeli soldiers who are
refusing to serve in the occupied territories.
Chachans comments were echoed by Karen Akoka, a French Jew
who has lived in Israel for many years. Akoka said Israeli radio gives the
number of Israelis killed but seldom cites Palestinian casualties on the other
side.
The media is reflective of the Israeli public, which is
mostly supportive of the Israeli Defense Force [IDF] and believes that in this
time of hardship we should all stand together. Most journalists are part of
that consensus, Montell said. Almost all of the military
correspondents report what the IDF tells them as Gods truth. They
dont even say, The IDF said this.
While the Israeli Defense Forces targeting of doctors and
ambulances during recent incursions triggered worldwide outrage, Montell said
she remains just as concerned about restrictions on freedom of movement in the
occupied territories, which is a less serious abuse but affects far more
people. The policy of closing off Palestinian towns and villages first began
during the Gulf War 11 years ago, Montell said, but has become much more severe
during the past 18 months, affecting the daily lives of 3 million Palestinians
and inhibiting their ability to move freely from one town to another and to
earn a living.
Youre talking about 18 months of people not getting to
work or not having work. Its been a complete collapse of the Palestinian
economy. The unemployment rate is three times what it was at the beginning of
the intifada. Estimates of the poverty rate are that 60 percent of the
population is living on $2 per person a day, Montell said.
Montell called the May 7 suicide bombing of a pool hall near Tel
Aviv horrific. At least 15 Israelis were killed in the attack, and
58 persons were wounded. The worst human rights violation is the
intentional targeting of innocent civilians to be killed, said Montell.
It only reinforces the need for human rights as a universal value
applicable to all human beings.
Its clear that Israeli incursions into the West Bank
have not at all diminished the motivation for Palestinians to attack
Israelis, Montell said. The military solutions do not appear to be
bringing us security.
Margot Patterson is NCR senior writer. Her e-mail
address is mpatterson@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, May 17,
2002
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