Amnesty Accuses Israel of Using ‘excessive’ Force in Territories

Amnesty International, the London-based human rights organization, has accused Israel of using “excessive and indiscriminate force” in response to the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The “death or injury of thousands, including many children,” were the consequence, according to Amnesty’s 1989 report, released here Wednesday.

The 310-page report details extra-judicial killings and human rights violations in 133 countries.

Iran, Iraq and Israel with the territories it administers have the longest entries of the 18 countries in the 34-page section on the Middle East and North Africa.

The report says that at least nine Palestinians reportedly died from beatings in 1988 while “in the hands of Israeli forces.”

At least five died “in suspicious circumstances” while in detention, and others died “apparently as a result of deliberate misuse of tear gas by Israeli forces,” the report says.

It states that more than 5,000 Palestinians were detained without charge or trial, some of whom were “prisoners of conscience.”

Hundreds of teen-agers and young people were “summarily” tried and imprisoned, “often without legal representation,” Amnesty charges.

Iraq is accused of “a systematic and deliberate policy” to “eliminate large numbers of Kurdish civilians,” 400 of whom, including women and children, were said to have been murdered by the military in one day.

Iran is charged with the execution of more than 1,200 political prisoners.

In Egypt, thousands of political and religious activists were arrested under emergency laws in effect since 1981, the report says.

Syria is accused of continuing to detain thousands of “actual or suspected opponents of the government.” Torture there is reported to be “routine and widespread.”