State Department Annual Human Rights Report Says Israel is a Democracy but Faults Its Practices in T

The State Department, in its annual report on human rights practices around the world, repeats its assertion that Israel’s main human rights problem is due to its control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the situation is made worse by the policy of establishing Jewish settlements there.

“The essential fact is that Israel is governed democratically and the West Bank is not,” Elliott Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, said Friday at a press conference releasing the State Department’s eight annual country reports on human rights practices. The 1,485 page report which covers conditions in 163 countries during 1983 was submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

As in the previous reports, the 1983 edition lauds Israel as a free and open parliamentary democracy. “Israeli society is characterized by its openess and by its wide-ranging and lively public debate of all issues of popular concern,” the report said.

“Police and internal security functions are under the control of Cabinet ministers who must answer to the Knesset concerning the actions of personnel for whom they are responsible and whose performances are subject to the scrutiny of a free press.” The report notes that this condition exists even through Israel has been in a state of war with all of its Arab neighbors, except with Egypt since 1979, and has to be constantly alert against terrorist incidents.

MOST SIGNIFICANT HUMAN RIGHTS PROBLEMS

But the report adds, “The most significant human rights problems for Israel (in 1983) derived from the strained relations between the Israeli authorities and the Arab inhabitants of the occupied territories. These problems were exacerbated as a consequence of the government’s continued implementation of its policy of strengthening, expanding, and developing Jewish settlements in those areas.”

This is basically the same finding as in last year’s report although at that time the document specifically mentioned by name the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. However, the 1983 report does define the occupied territories as the West Bank, East Jerusalem the Golan Heights and Gaza.

While the report is laudatory about conditions in Israel it does note that while Israeli Arabs have equal rights under the law, they “are substantially power less and tend to feel alienated. Despite some governmental and private efforts to bridge the gap there is little social interaction with Israeli Jews.”

In the West Bank, the report said that “civil administration of authorities have attempted to reshape local politics, particularly by blocking the influence of the Palestine Liberation Organization and by promoting on alternate leadership.”

A NUMBER OF CREDITS FOR ISRAEL

Israel is credited for allowing the establishment of four universities in the West Bank but it is noted it “has deported faculty members for taking political stands that it regards as threatening to its security. Israel has permitted outspoken criticism of Israeli policy by the East Jerusalem-based Arabic press but has often censured articles and editorials on security grounds and restricted the circulation of Arabic publications in the West Bank and Gaza. In addition, Israel has imposed broad restrictions on speech and assembly in those areas.”

The report finds “no evidence that torture is condoned by Israel’s authorities” and notes that while some Palestinian prisoners charge mistreatment, some of these charges “seemed to result from antiquated or overcrowded places of detention to which not only Palestinians are subject.”

The situation in Israel is contrasted with its Arab neighbors where the report shows all of them live under authoritarian rule distinguished only by the degree of harshness. Abrams, who noted that the major gain in human rights last year was in Central and South America, said there was no improvement in the Mideast.

WORST SITUATION FOR JEWS IS IN THE USSR

The conditions of Jews is mentioned in several of the country reports, with the worst situation being in the Soviet Union. “The Jewish community faced a particularly difficult year in 1983, which saw a sharp increase in official anti-Semitic propaganda, thinly veiled as anti-Zionism,” the report says of the USSR.

The report noted the establishment of the Anti-Zionist Committee, harassment against Jews and the arrest and trials of refusniks like losif Begun. The “sharp drop” in emigration with only 1,315 Jews being allowed to leave is also mentioned.

SITUATION IN OTHER COUNTRIES

Elsewhere, the report finds improved conditions for Jews. While noting some anti-Semitic incidents in Argentina last year, the report stresses “Argentina’s Jewish community of 300,000 to 400,000 practices its religion without restraint.” The report finds “no evidence of an official policy of anti-Semitism.”

In Iran, the report notes that the religious persecution against Jews and other religious minorities seems to have been a factor in the early stages of the revolution rather than today. The Bahai faith, however, is not recognized and its leaders continue to be persecuted.

In Egypt, where most Jews have emigrated, “those who remain appear to practice their faith without restriction or harassment from government or non-government sources,” according to the State Department report.

The report found that in Morocco, “publications in Hebrew are permitted and rabbis serving the Jewish community are trained in Morocco. The Jewish community has extensive links to its coreligionists elsewhere, especially in Israel. Although the number of Moroccan Jews has dwindled over the years as a result of voluntary emigration, more than 20 major synagogues operate in Morocco. The government has explicitly encouraged Jews who voluntarily departed to return to Morocco.”

Even in Syria, the report found that its 3000-4000 Jews “are free to practice their religion. The situation of the Syrian-Jewish community has improved in recent years, and in general, Jews are not discriminated against except for restrictions on foreign travel.” The report also states that Jews are the only Syrians required to post a bond if they want to travel abroad. However, all members of the same family cannot get a passport at the same time. Jews cannot emigrate to Israel.

There will be no Bulletin dated February 20, Washington’s Birthday, a postal holiday.