Haaretz
Kislev 19, 5767
International monitors
should be deployed in the Palestinian areas and Israel to document and
investigate human rights violations, the head of Amnesty International
said Saturday, after a weeklong tour of the region.
"There have
been so many incidents, abuses of human rights," said Irene Khan, the
group's secretary general. "There have been no independent investigations
into these incidents on the Israeli or Palestinian side. There needs to be
an end to impunity."
Khan said the situation, particularly in the
Palestinian territories, is becoming "very desperate" and that the world
is not paying enough attention.
"There is a human rights crisis
that will get much worse if it is not addressed," she said in a telephone
interview from the Gaza Strip.
Khan said she is sending a letter to
EU leaders on Sunday, to coincide with International Human Rights Day,
ahead of next week's meeting of the European Council, with a call for
action.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev had no
immediate comment.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat
welcomed the idea of monitors in the Palestinian areas, noting the weekly
demonstration against the separation fence in the West Bank town of Bilin,
where troops often clash with protesters.
"The presence of
international human rights monitors will really strengthen the nonviolent
movement and peaceful movement the Palestinians are leading against the
wall," he said.
Khan said that during her tour, she was struck by
the sense of despair and pessimism among Israelis and Palestinians. She
urged both sides to take advantage of the fragile truce that began in Gaza
two weeks ago, but has not been expanded to the West Bank.
On
Saturday, she toured Beit Hanun, a Gaza town on the border with Israel,
where last month 19 members of an extended family were killed by Israel
Defense Forces artillery fire. Israel faulted a technical failure for the
fatal shelling of a residential area.
However, Khan said she
believes IDF troops have fired recklessly in civilian areas, not just in
Beit Hanun, but also when aiming missiles at wanted militants moving in
densely populated areas.
"These kinds of situations, in which the
risk of civilian deaths is high, the [Israeli] government is taking it
[the risk] knowingly," she said. "Even though they take precautions, for
them this is war. They see these incidents as part of collateral damage.
We believe there needs to be a rethinking of strategy, where there are
such heavy civilian casualties."
Capt. Noa Meir, an IDF
spokeswoman, defended the army's tactics, saying Palestinian militants
routinely take cover in civilian areas.
"We target only terrorists.
Unfortunately the terrorists choose to operate from within civilian areas.
Therefore the responsibility for acting in these areas should fall on
them," she said. She also accused Palestinian militants of "firing
purposely and indiscriminately at Israeli civilians."
Israel pulled
out of Gaza a year ago, but Palestinian militants continued firing rockets
at Israeli border towns. In June, after IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was
captured by militants linked to the ruling Hamas party, Israel carried out
a series of military strikes in Gaza, killing more than 300 Palestinians,
more than two-thirds of them militants.
Five Israelis have been
killed during the Gaza offensive - three soldiers in Gaza and two
civilians hit by rocket fire on Israel.
Earlier in the week, Khan
visited the Israeli border town of Sderot, the primary target of rockets
from Gaza.
"The people there are terrified as well," she
said.
She also noted that dozens of Palestinians have been killed
in factional
fighting in the past year.