Amnesty denounces Israeli demolitions

[kramadas]

THe US needs to put a leash around this mad dog!

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/18/israel.report.ap/index.html

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel is guilty of war crimes in its destruction of thousands of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the human rights group Amnesty International charged in a report Tuesday.

Release of the report coincided with an Israeli operation in the Rafah refugee camp on the Israel-Egypt border, where Israel has said it might knock down more homes to widen a buffer zone in its battle against weapons-smuggling tunnels.

However, army officials said Tuesday no systematic demolition of homes was planned.

The report said the demolition and destruction are "grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and are war crimes," calling on Israel to halt the practices immediately. Amnesty also said the house demolitions are linked to Israeli intentions to take over West Bank and Gaza land.

According to the report, Israel has destroyed more than 3,000 Palestinian homes, most of them in the impoverished and densely populated Gaza Strip, since Israeli-Palestinian fighting broke out more than three years ago.

The report also found that 10 percent of Gaza's agricultural land has been destroyed and more than 226,000 trees uprooted there in 2002 and 2003.

"In the vast majority of cases, it's wanton destruction," said Donatella Rovera, from the Middle East program of the London-based human rights group and a co-author of the report. "It's unnecessary, disproportionate, unjustified, and deliberate."

Responding to the report, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said Palestinian militants use houses in civilian neighborhoods to attack Israeli forces, and that makes the structures "legitimate military targets" under international law.

Also, the statement said, houses are used to cover entrances to weapons-smuggling tunnels. "The demolition of these structures is often the only way to combat this threat," the statement said, while blaming the Palestinian Authority for not taking action against the militants.

Amnesty charged that the destruction of homes, land and other property in the Palestinian territories is disproportionate to Israel's security needs.

Amnesty also accused Israel of collective punishment, demolishing homes and property of Palestinians who are not involved, even according to Israel, in attacks against Israel.

"This is the case with the majority of land and home destruction," said Rovera.

Israel's practice of blowing up the homes of the families of suicide bombers is one form of punishment Amnesty criticized in the report. It said that since September 2000, when the current conflict erupted, there have been at least 600 such cases.

Amnesty also called on Caterpillar Inc., the American heavy equipment company that provides the Israeli army with the giant bulldozers that carry out many of the demolitions, "to guarantee that its bulldozers are not used to commit human rights violations, including the destruction of homes, land, and other properties."

Caterpillar's Chairman and CEO Jim Owens recently wrote a letter to the parents of an American peace activist killed in Gaza when a bulldozer ran over her, saying that his company does not have "the practical ability -- or the legal right -- to determine how our products are used after they are sold."

The Amnesty report said most victims of demolitions are already among the poorest in Palestinian society, making it difficult for them to recover.

Most rely on relatives to house them, resulting in overcrowded and tense living quarters, an environment Rovera says "has an enormous effect on internal family relations and the natural development of children."

Rovera said Amnesty released the report to shed light on the long term social and economic effects of the mass demolitions on the Palestinian people.

"We want people to look beyond the immediate effects of the demolitions ... to how they will continue to affect the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians for many years to come," she said.

Along with calling on Israel to stop demolitions, the 65-page report also said Palestinian authorities should take "all possible measures" to stop attacks against Israelis and to keep militants from initiating armed confrontations from civilian areas.

[sobeton]

this is nonsense Israel does whatever they want and can just say " we are protecting ourselves from terrorists"..The President gives a luke warm response to the situation; while other countries are outraged. the double standard continues, and so will the killings on both sides .

[daprofessional]

shut the fuck up already, when you have been attacked mercillessly and without end for half a century, you are forced to take drastic measures

I don't see any of you bitching about the horrible shit the Palestinians do to Israeli's? Israel's first obligation is to protect her people, that's what they're doing.

[bigpoppanils]

you are forced to take drastic measures

would you also resort to drastic measures if you were removed from your homeland? especially if you could see it teasing you from behind a fence for 50 years?

[sobeton]

shut the fuck up already, when you have been attacked mercillessly and without end for half a century, you are forced to take drastic measures

I don't see any of you bitching about the horrible shit the Palestinians do to Israeli's? Israel's first obligation is to protect her people, that's what they're doing.

this argument is weak. nobody is buying it , but the US Israel’s number one financial and military backer. they did this, so we will do this. it's the same rhetoric over and over again. we scold the Palestinians at every opportunity, and do nothing when Israel launches missiles, murders people, blows up civilians homes,etc. simply because Israel attaches the term "terrorist", to there actions as a mere convenience.Israel wants to save face before agreeing to pull out of parts of the Gaza. it is so obvious it's almost pathetic.. personally, I would prefer my tax dollars not be paying for this crap.

[mursa]

... displacing innocent palestinians and killing some in the process will definetly do more good than harm .

[kramadas]

shut the fuck up already, when you have been attacked mercillessly and without end for half a century, you are forced to take drastic measures

I don't see any of you bitching about the horrible shit the Palestinians do to Israeli's? Israel's first obligation is to protect her people, that's what they're doing.

blah blah blah...

The usual bullshit response the pro-Israeli crowd always loves to come up with - oh poor Israel always the victim, always on the right side - give up the BS already. LIke I said, its time to put a leash around the rabid dog.

[g420]

blah blah blah...

The usual bullshit response the pro-Israeli crowd always loves to come up with - oh poor Israel always the victim, always on the right side - give up the BS already. LIke I said, its time to put a leash around the rabid dog.

the US needs to put a leash on your momma & drag her through the streets for giving birth to you

[dnice35]

blah blah blah...

The usual bullshit response the pro-Israeli crowd always loves to come up with - oh poor Israel always the victim, always on the right side - give up the BS already. LIke I said, its time to put a leash around the rabid dog.

Oh please, you do the same, you and the rest of the "liberals" always rush to the defense of this criminal culture called Palestine...

boohoohoo poor Palestinians , boohoohoo they committed another suicide bombing because they feel oppressed, boohoohoo... quit the whinning, if they were peaceful people they would have found a way to co-exist with the Israelis, but they are ruthless animals who only understand violence, now they are getting what they had coming to them, like I said in a previous post, the Israelis have been more than patient with those useless monkeys.

[dnice35]

By the way, your little amnesty international organization is the same one which defended criminals all over central america and evetually gave them more right than law aviding citizens.

fuck amnesty international and all other bull shit organizations like it.

[dnice35]

by the way FUCK amnesty international.

[kramadas]

Fuck that - Israel stole that land from the Arabs anyway. They WERE living peacefully at the turn of the century before the rise of Zionism. Then, the Zionists started acquirng land, with the secret purpose of starting a Jew majority country, which worried the Arabs. After the British fucked up, moved thousands of Jews there from Europe, and fucked the Arabs up the ass. After the formation of Israel over half a million Arabs were driven out.

So, yeah, if I were Arab I'd be pretty pissed off too.

Its time to look at a little history before making comments on the present. The shit that goes on now does not start in a vacuum, its based on history.

[kramadas]

Do you have any links to articles regarding Amnesty Int'l and Central America? Or your view of that similar to your Israeli/Palestinian view?

[jamiroguy1]

This is a perfect opportunity for the US to move ourselves back up the moral authority chain which was so badly damaged with this torture scandal by condemning Israel's actions.

[daprofessional]

Fuck that - Israel stole that land from the Arabs anyway. They WERE living peacefully at the turn of the century before the rise of Zionism. Then, the Zionists started acquirng land, with the secret purpose of starting a Jew majority country, which worried the Arabs. After the British fucked up, moved thousands of Jews there from Europe, and fucked the Arabs up the ass. After the formation of Israel over half a million Arabs were driven out.

So, yeah, if I were Arab I'd be pretty pissed off too.

Its time to look at a little history before making comments on the present. The shit that goes on now does not start in a vacuum, its based on history.

actually you can blame the present conflict on stalin I think. When Israel was being founded, Stalin thought that the new nation would be under his influence. When they sided with the U.S. he proceeded to fund all the terrorists and all the countries surrounding Israel with weapons. Just my opinion.

Also, since every single fucking arab country in the middle east has attacked Israel, why wouldn't they accept those refuges from Israel? Israel is of miniscule size, it's not like they took a large amount of land from the arabs, there's a whole lot of land to go around. Why can't the arabs accept that they lost ALL those wars that they instigated and just leave the country alone? but no, they fund terrorists in Israel to continue this shit. thank god for a republican president or else we'd have more retarded palestinian sympathesizers.

remember that whole terrorists shacking up in a church fiasco a few years back?! every country except the U.S. decried that Israel is at fault but none of them offered to accept those criminal into it's jails or country when the time came.

God Bless Israel. stupid liberal idiots.

[barslut]

Anyone remember what happned to the jews last time they tried to pull shit like this? I think it was caled the halocaust.

[pattbateman]

kinda odd since almost all jews are liberals you dumb fuck. especially the ones with money and power

[daprofessional]

kinda odd since almost all jews are liberals you dumb fuck. especially the ones with money and power

yea, i'm still trying to figure that one out

[daprofessional]

Anyone remember what happned to the jews last time they tried to pull shit like this? I think it was caled the halocaust.

fuck you

[dnice35]

Do you have any links to articles regarding Amnesty Int'l and Central America? Or your view of that similar to your Israeli/Palestinian view?

oh come on you are a smart guy, do you think the papers would dare to go against amnesty international and its noble cause?

By the way I lived there, so I know a tad bit about the region, but if you still refuse to belive me, go online and read their papers (read between the lines)...

[bxbomb]

Anyone remember what happned to the jews last time they tried to pull shit like this? I think it was caled the halocaust.

How does that old joke go?

How many jews can you get into a MR2?

[barslut]

fuck you

Thank You.

[pattbateman]

yea, i'm still trying to figure that one out

what are you trying to figure out? you called some people stupid liberal idiots and god bless isreal. im a conservative and im telling you that all jews are liberals and if you didnt know that you are a fuckin moron.