Thursday, June 05, 2003

Amnesty International - Library - Israel/Occupied Territories: Human rights should not be bargained away in roadmap negotiations
'Amnesty International calls on the participants in the "roadmap" peace plan summit in Jordan to recognize that respect for human rights and international law is a fundamental obligation - not a bargaining chip to be used in negotiations, or a concession... The failure of past agreements between Israel and the Palestinians has demonstrated that while a human rights agenda alone may not be the answer, it must be a central part of any solution. Only a just settlement, which respects the human rights of all parties, will endure.'

'In the past two and half years the Israeli army has killed more than 2,000 Palestinians and Palestinian armed groups have killed more than 700 Israelis. Most of those killed were civilians and included some 350 Palestinian children and more than 90 Israeli children... The Israeli army has also destroyed more than 3,000 Palestinian homes, vast areas of cultivated land, and hundreds of commercial and public properties. Prolonged and disproportionate closures and curfews imposed by the Israeli army throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip have impeded or prevented Palestinians' access to medical care, education and work. Poverty, unemployment and health problems, including malnutrition, have spiralled as a result.'

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