Israel Accused of Condoning Attacks on Arabs
Amnesty International on Tuesday accused the Israeli government of effectively encouraging troops to kill or wound Palestinians during the uprising in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The international human rights group also urged Israel to set up an independent judicial inquiry into what it called a wide range of rights violations by security forces.
A spokesman said Amnesty International believes authorities were “in effect encouraging” misuse of force by failing to speak out against excessive violence or issue clear guidelines to soldiers.
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s spokesman Avi Pazner called the charge “outrageous.”
“Our troops are under strict instructions not to cause any casualties and we take great care when it happens that there is an inquiry in every case,” Pazner said.
In continuing violence in the occupied territories, three Palestinians were killed by unknown assailants in Nablus on the West Bank and in Gaza City. However, Palestinian sources said Tuesday they believe the killers were other Arabs retaliating against suspected “collaborators” with Israel’s secret police.
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