Rockbites: Human Rights Watch calls for independent inquiry in Israel

newsarchive

October 2000 • Rockbites Alternative Daily

back to October 2000 index

Human Rights Watch calls for independent inquiry in Israel
9 October 2000

(Yes, we know this is not music news. Read it anyway.) In New York on Saturday, the executive director for the Middle East/North Africa division of international human rights organization Human Rights Watch, Hanny Megally, called on the United Nations Security Council to set up an independent, impartial investigation into the actions of the Israeli and Palestinian military. Over the past week eighty persons have been killed, most of them unarmed civilians, many of them children. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is conducting his own investigation and rejects calls for an independent inquiry.
Megally wrote “In circumstances like these, involving forces under separate national commands, a credible investigation must have an international dimension... The extent of mutual distrust and tension makes it unlikely that separate or even joint investigations conducted by Israeli and Palestinian authorities would lead to anything other than further recriminations.”
The United States is a likely third party to conduct such an investigation, but Megally says that the extent of US political and material support for Israel disqualifies it. “To be effective, such an inquiry must be thoroughly depoliticized.” The current bloodshed began after Likud party leader Ariel Sharon taunted Muslims with a disrespectful visit to the Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) section of Jerusalem. | Human Rights Watch | | press release | | situation update from Washington Post | | top of page |

back to October 2000 index

click for Rockbites Home
	Copyright © 1998 - 2001 M. Jason. All Rights Reserved. Rockbites is not for profit and supports human rights. “Rockbites” and “Alternative Daily” are service marks of Rockbites. All names are the property of their respective owners. Send your feedback or questions to feedback@rockbites.com Send your press releases to press@rockbites.com Rockbites Alternative Daily contact information