From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Israel death squad defies call for truce By Phil Reeves in Jerusalem 06 May 2001 Even as the Israeli government was pondering the call for an immediate and unconditional end to violence issued by the Mitchell Commission one of its death squads was in action yesterday, assassinating another Palestinian militant. Eye-witnesses said Israeli forces shot dead Ahmed Khalil Assad, 37, pumping more than 20 bullets into his head and torso as he left his home in Artas village, close to Bethlehem, early yesterday. The Israeli army denied all knowledge, but it rarely comments on its assassinations, which have been repeatedly condemned as illegal by international human rights groups. The killing of Mr Assad, an activist with Islamic Jihad, comes as Israel and the Palestinians are preparing responses to the draft report of the committee, led by the former US senator and Northern Ireland peacemaker George Mitchell, into the causes of the past 31 weeks of violence, and how to prevent it recurring. The confidential report, acquired exclusively by The Independent on Sunday, passes no judgement on Israel's assassination policy � a policy denounced as "illegal, state-sponsored terrorism" by Dr Hanan Ashrawi, the Palestinian legislator, yesterday. But the committee is clearly unhappy about Israel's use of lethal force against unarmed Palestinians, and the lack of investigations into the killings. It calls on Israel to reinstitute mandatory investigations by its military police into the deaths of Palestinians killed by the Israeli armed forces in the occupied territories "in incidents not involving terrorism". Israel maintains that it is engaged in an "armed conflict short of war", a definition it has used to justify suspending such mandatory investigations. In reality, many of the hundreds of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops were unarmed. "By abandoning the blanket 'armed conflict short of war' characterisation, and by reinstituting mandatory military police investigations, (Israel) could help mitigate deadly violence and help rebuild mutual confidence," states the 32-page draft. Much of the report's importance resides in what it did not say. There is, for example, no mention of Palestinian children being used as human shields � a claim repeatedly made by the highly active pro-Israel lobby. Nor is does it present Yasser Arafat as controlling the violence day by day. The report rejects Israel's claim that the uprising was planned. Nor, it says, was the intifada caused by Ariel Sharon's visit to the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount on 28 September, although this was "provocative". More significant, it says, were the events of the following day � the use of live ammunition by Israeli police against Palestinian demonstrators, killing four. The report also questions Israel's contention that its troops kill Palestinians because they are facing live fire attacks "on a significant scale". It says that, for the first three months of the intifada, most incidents did not involve the Palestinian use of firearms or bombs. Nor will the Sharon government appreciate the call for a total freeze on building in the occupied territories, and for an end to Israeli blockades in the West Bank and Gaza. But the findings have not all gone the Palestinians' way. The five- member Mitchell team did not endorse the deployment of an international protection force, a central Palestinian demand, without Israel's approval. They also called for the Palestinian Authority to condemn, prevent and punish "terrorism". The release of Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists in the early stages of the intifada has been one of Israel's key complaints. Yesterday, near Bethlehem � yet again � the Israeli army decided on a more direct and bloody solution. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
