Posted on 10/16/2004 11:47:28 AM PDT by SmithL
Israel is guilty of severe human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including "wanton destruction" of houses and infrastructure, according to a United Nations report obtained by The Associated Press.
The annual human rights report is to be presented to the UN General Assembly later this month.
The 18-page report was prepared by John Dugard, the UN representative for human rights. It charges that while some of Israel's actions in the Palestinian areas can be explained by security concerns, many cannot.
During operations in the Gaza Strip, Israel engaged in "massive and wanton destruction of property," the report said. "Bulldozers have destroyed homes in a purposeless manner and have savagely dug up roads, including electricity, sewage and water lines."
The report is dated August 12, well before the current Israeli operation in northern Gaza, the largest in four years of fighting.
The report criticizes repeated Israeli operations in the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border. Israel says its operations in Rafah are essential to stop arms smuggling. Many arms smuggling tunnels have been uncovered in the area.
The UN document said that over four years, "1,497 buildings have been demolished in Rafah, affecting over 15,000 people." Some of the destruction, along the border, was for operational reasons, the report said. "Often, however, the destruction is wanton," it charged.
The UN report concentrates on Israeli violations, according to the mandate given by the world body, and does not cover Palestinian attacks against Israelis, beyond noting that nearly 1,000 Israelis have been killed during the conflict.
The report also criticizes Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza next year, as well as the security fence Israel is building along the line between Israel and the West Bank, dipping into the territory in some places.
Israeli Foreign Ministry legal adviser Daniel Taub said the fact that the document glossed over the Rafah gunrunners' tunnels and ignored the suicide bombings that Israel says the West Bank fence is meant to stop, means the report "has nothing to contribute to any serious discussion about finding the right balance between security and human rights."
Some of the harshest criticism in the report was aimed at the security barrier, called "the Wall" in the document.
Israel has said the complex of walls, fences, trenches and electronic surveillance devices is necessary to keep Palestinian suicide bombers out of Israel, after hundreds of Israelis were killed.
The UN report charges that Israel's real goals are to incorporate Jewish settlements into Israel, confiscate Palestinian land and force Palestinians to move - echoing Palestinian charges.
"The Wall is responsible for much of the suffering of the Palestinian people," the document charged. It noted that the UN world court ordered Israel to tear it down, but Israel is ignoring the ruling, following instead its own Supreme Court instructions to move the barrier to reduce hardships on Palestinians.
The report notes that "terrorist attacks inside Israel" dropped 83 percent in the first half of 2004 compared to the same period a year before, but "there is no compelling evidence that this cannot have been done with equal effect by building the Wall along the Green Line."
The report called for international action against Israel because of the barrier. "This is no time for appeasement on the part of the international community," the document said twice.
I guess Israel defending itself does not pass Kerry's global test.
Israel is guilty of destroying buildings and razing crops. <shudder No mention of Arabs mass-murdering Jews. According to the UN, THAT is not a human-rights violation.
UN warned of Wanton Stupidity.
FUUN
The UN is irrelevant.
Corruption and bigotry, that's all the UN is. I wonder why no politician talks seriously about withdrawing from the UN. Newt Gingrich talked about ten years ago, but nary a word since.
The UN is run by Commies, Nais, and terrorists.
The really fun part is where the UN is foaming at the mouth about how Israel's wall as virtually cut terrorist attacks by 83%. Its just too much if Jews don't die. Talk about an Orwellian definition of "human rights" based on the logic that world peace depends on dead Jews.
UN guilty of wanton idiocy.
Wonder if we could convince them that the UN hedquarters is housing terroist.
The sum bags at the UN probably call that "thinning the herd" and is perfectly acceptable. Screw the UN, please.
The UN is guilty of wanton idiocy and depraved indifference to the slaughter of Christians and Jews by Islamofascist vermin and their "surrender monkeys".
The actively encourage it, in fact.
And what are the Palestinian homicide bombers guilty of?
The = They
UN = Unlimited Nonsense
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