تقرير الأمم المتحدة عن أحداث فلسطين - إنجليزي
 

Tuesday October 17 12:17 PM ET
U.N. Investigator Says Israeli Killings 'Unprecedented'

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - A U.N. investigator to the Palestinian territories said Tuesday the scale of Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israeli forces during a wave of violence over the past 20 days was ``unprecedented.''

Giorgio Giacomelli, an independent rapporteur mandated by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights to monitor the territories, also expressed concern about what he called Israeli settler ''paramilitaries'' who he said were responsible for at least five Palestinian deaths in the West Bank.

The former Italian diplomat, who has also headed the U.N. refugee agency which cares for 3.7 million Palestine refugees scattered in the Middle East, backed setting up a ``mechanism for a speedy and objective inquiry into the ongoing crisis.''

The report on his Oct 11-15 mission, which said Israeli killings of Palestinians exceeded the first four months of the 1987-88 intifada, was issued to the U.N. human rights commission Tuesday at a two-day special session in Geneva.

The forum's 53 member states began the session in Geneva on the same day as a Middle East crisis summit in Egypt ended with an Israeli-Palestinian agreement to halt the wave violence that has claimed the lives of at least 105 people. An overwhelming majority of those killed were Palestinians or Israeli Arabs.

``In some sense the scale of this violation is unprecedented. It is worthy of note that the number of deaths caused by Israeli forces so far approximate the number killed in the first four months of the intifada, in 1987-88,'' Giacomelli said in his seven-page report issued in Geneva.

Israel, which does not recognize his mandate, refused to cooperate with the U.N. investigator, according to his report.

Israel's ambassador Yaakov Levy took the floor to defend the record of Israeli security forces in the occupied territories, who he said had ``returned fire only when absolutely necessary.''

``Deadly Force Used Without Warning''

Giacomelli also supported establishing a permanent mechanism to ensure that as an occupying power, Israel issues and obeys orders which comply with international humanitarian norms.

In case of violations, it would determine accountability, assign punishment and redress violations, his report said.

Israeli forces ``appear to have indiscriminately used excessive force in cases where there was no imminent threat to their lives,'' according to Giacomelli, who met Palestinian Authority representatives, Palestinian and Israeli non-governmental organizations, international organizations, human rights monitors, medical professionals, and some wounded.

``Whether in cases of Israel Defense Forces or Israeli police actions, deadly force is used without warning, and without employing deterrence or gradual measures consistent with the minimum standards and methods of crowd control or management of civil unrest,'' Giacomelli's report said.

The report also said that about 40 percent of an estimated 2,000 to 3,700 Palestinians wounded by Israeli occupation forces were under age 18 and that at least half of the injuries resulted from the use of live ammunition.

Israeli settlers in the West Bank were ``responsible for at least five of these Palestinian deaths over the past 18 days,'' the report said.

``Presently, the Israeli settler population has emerged as an increasingly obvious source of paramilitary activity...Numerous reports indicate that Israeli occupation forces have not acted to deter such paramilitary activities,'' it said.

``Some Palestinians bearing arms'' had taken part in the protests,'' the report said. ``These new factors, within a context of escalating violence, form a particularly alarming development that calls for urgent action.''


(نقلا عن رويتر)

تفتح لجنة حقوق الإنسان التابعة للأمم المتحدة جلسة طارئة اليوم للنظر في المصادمات الفلسطينية الإسرائيلية التي وقعت في الضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة خلال الأسبوعين الماضيين
وقد انتقدت إسرائيل بالفعل اجتماع اللجنة الطارئ الذي يضم ثلاثا وخمسين دولة

وتنعقد اللجنة بناء على طلب من جامعة الدول العربية تقدمت به الأسبوع الماضي ، وقد أيد الطلب سبع و أربعون دولة وعارضته الولايات المتحدة فقط ، ويذكر أن إسرائيل ليست عضوا باللجنة

وطلبت الدول العربية من المفوضة العليا لحقوق الإنسان التابعة للأمم المتحدة ماري روبنسون السفر إلى الأراضي الفلسطينية في مهمة محددة

وترغب الدول العربية أن تحدد اللجنة في اجتماعها الطارئ المسؤولية المبدئية عن اندلاع أعمال العنف بعد زيارة اريل شارون زعيم حزب الليكود للمسجد الأقصى في الثامن والعشرين من الشهر الماضي

ويذكر أن الجلسات الطارئة السابقة التي عقدتها اللجنة، التي عادة ما تجتمع بصورة اعتيادية في جنيف في مارس آذار وأبريل نيسان، قد انعقدت عامي اثنين وتسعين وثلاثة وتسعين للتحقيق في أعمال التطهير العرقي في يوغوسلافيا السابقة و عام اربعة وتسعين للتحقيق في مذابح رواندا ، وفي العام الماضي لمحاولة إيقاف انتهاكات حقوق الإنسان في إقليم تيمور الشرقية

ويذكر ان اللجنة التي تهيمن عليها الدول النامية كثيرا ما انتقدت اسرائيل بسبب نشاطات الاستيطان وانتهاكات حقوق الإنسان في الأراضي الفلسطينية وبسبب احتلال مرتفعات الجولان السورية

وتعقيبا على اجتماع اللجنة قال السفير الإسرائيلي لدى الأمم المتحدة ياكوف ليفي إن تلك الإجراءات قد تزيد من تصعيد أعمال العنف في المنطقة

(نقلا عن البي بي سي)