Israel - Palestine Conflict

Israel - Palestine Conflict Damningnew evidence of Israel s abuse of Arab children has emerged, adding anothertier to the stack of human-rights violations committed over the past six weeksof violence.Itcomes amid deepening controversy surrounding the visit to the region of Mary Robinson,the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, whom Israel s Foreign Minister hasrefused to meet to discuss accusations of excessive force.Areport by Amnesty International released last week, but barely publicised,describes how Arab teenagers have been arrested in the middle of the night,subjected to high-pressure interrogations including beatings and heldbehind bars for more than a month.

Thefocus of Amnesty s latest investigation was not the Palestinians taking part inriots in the occupied territories, many scores of whom have been shot dead bythe Israeli army, but members of Israel s one million Arab population.Hundredsof Palestinians living within Israel have been arrested after riots erupted inArab towns early last month in protest over killings by the Israeli securityservices in the early days of the intifada.

Some have been held in custody,denied bail or immediate access to lawyers. Amnesty sfindings are further evidence that, after moves towards reform, Israel isslipping back into the pattern of widespread human-rights violations thatcharacterised the first six-year intifada.Itincludes the story of two young Palestinians in east Jerusalem who say theywere beaten, shackled, and kicked while lying on the ground with hoods on theirheads.

They say they were repeatedly slapped during interrogation. One saidthat 20 police officers entered their detention cell where he and 30 other youngArabs were held and randomly beat them with batons.Israel sArab population a fifth of thetotal has long complained of sweepingcivil-rights violations by the Jewish majority.But the riots, the worst in the52-year history of the state, dealt a severe blow to the already strainedinter-ethnic relations.

Thirteen Israeli Arabs were killed during the unrest. According to Ha aretz newspaper, the securityforces have drawn up plans to fortify Jewish communities close to Arab villagesin Israel on the grounds that they are next to hostile populations .The government plans to begin a major demographic drive to increase the Jewishpopulation in predominantly Arab areas, notably Galilee.Amnesty sreport states that Palestinians arrested, including children those under 18 ,were beaten, shouted at, and threatened while indetention.

It says that around-up of Palestinians is still continuing in Israel, a month after the riotsended. Although they are mostly accused of relatively minor public-order offences,some have been held in custody for weeks in what the Israeli authoritiesjustify as an effort to establish calm.Thehuman rights group also says that several hundred Jews were arrested afteranti-Palestinian riots, some of whom have also been badly mistreated.But a farhigher proportion of Palestinians have been kept behind bars.