U.S. Reports Rise in Israeli Rights Abuses

The Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip led to a “substantial increase” in human rights violations by Israeli authorities last year, the State Department said Tuesday in its 11th annual report on rights conditions worldwide.

The 1,548-page report covered conditions in 169 countries and territories. The section on Israel was one of the harshest on that country since the State Department began issuing such reports in the mid-1970s.

The Palestinian uprising, which began in December, 1987, caught the Israeli army “by surprise,” the report said. The armed forces, “untrained and inexperienced in riot control, responded in a manner which led to a substantial increase in human rights violations.”

“Soldiers frequently used gunfire in situations that did not present mortal danger to troops, causing many avoidable deaths and injuries,” it said.

The report said that Israeli troops or settlers killed 366 Palestinian Arabs in 1988--an average of one death every day. More than 20,000 Palestinians were wounded or injured by Israeli troops, it added.

At least 13 Palestinian deaths were caused by beatings from Israeli soldiers, and four other fatalities occurred because of the improper use of tear gas in enclosed areas, it explained.

The State Department also noted that 36 Palestinians were deported from the occupied territories, considered a violation of international law by the United States.

At least 154 homes of Palestinian Arabs were demolished or sealed for security reasons, the report said, rendering the Arabs homeless because military permits are required for the construction of new homes.

After the report was issued, Israeli leaders defended the actions of their forces. Deputy Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, speaking on Israeli Television, said: “Israeli soldiers . . . maintain as best they can, apart from a few exceptions, the standards of proper conduct that no country in the world could maintain.”

And a spokesman for Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said: “We are doing our utmost to prevent unnecessary suffering and bloodshed.”

Meanwhile, the State Department indicated Tuesday that it has instructed its envoy in Tunis to raise with the Palestine Liberation Organization the issue of a guerrilla operation apparently aimed at Israeli targets.

Spokesman Charles Redman confirmed that the Israeli Embassy in Washington had used the thwarted attack last Sunday as an argument for the United States to reconsider its decision to restore direct contacts with the PLO.

RIGHTS AROUND THE WORLD

Highlights of State Department report on human rights :

Soviet Union: “Remarkable changes,” including freeing of all prisoners detained for political or religious offenses; significant expansion of freedom to leave country temporarily.

Iraq: “Abysmal . . . record remained unacceptable in 1988”; chemical warfare used against Kurdish rebels, political and individual rights sharply limited, media censored.

Afghanistan: Attacks by Soviet and government forces against civilian targets, including use “of napalm-like substance,” resulted in massive destruction, injuries to uncounted civilians.

Sudan: Between 100,000 and 250,000 civilians estimated to have died of starvation because civil war disrupted efforts to deliver food aid.

El Salvador: Resurgence of right-wing vigilante groups partly blamed for increase in apparently politically motivated killings to about 20 a month; 14 summary executions by Salvadoran armed forces.

Tibet: “Credible reports” suggest Chinese security forces used beatings and other forms of mistreatment.

South Korea, Taiwan and Pakistan: Significant steps toward democracy and human rights protection in each country.

Chile: October plebiscite raised hopes for return to democracy.