Civil and Human Rights Looking Deeper into the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Israel is portrayed as a democracy that shares American values. Is this true? Do all its citizens enjoy the same civil rights before the law? What about the human rights of those under occupation?
Monday, March 14, 2005
Christians flee homes after Druze youths riot: Witnesses said they saw police in cars watch as the mob stoned and burned buildings.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Christians flee homes after Druze youths riot: "Conal Urquhart in Mughar | Monday March 14, 2005 | The Guardian
Dozens of Christian families have fled their homes in northern Israel, accusing the Israeli police of failing to protect them from attacks by their Druze neighbours.
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Violence began on February 10 and continued for the next two days, forcing many Christians to flee.
The Israeli internal security minister, Gideon Ezra, who visited the area after the attacks, said: "These are the worst sectarian riots I have ever seen in the Israeli Arab community."
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Although Christians are angry at their treatment at the hands of the Druze, most of their anger is reserved for the Israeli police, who they say could have halted the violence.
Witnesses said they saw police in cars watch as the mob stoned and burned buildings.
One witness said: "The attacks on cars and people are nothing new. But this time they were very well organised. They had petrol and tubes to pour it through doors and they had tools to break into the houses.
"The Druze have no fear. They are in the police and the army."
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One father who plans to leave the town said: "My children were in their room and for the first time ever I thought that they could all be killed. If there was any question of a Jewish family being threatened there would be thousands of police on the streets."
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Russia slams US human rights report.
Russia slams US human rights report. 03/03/2005. ABC News Online: "Thursday, March 3, 2005. 11:45am (AEDT) |
Russia slams US human rights report
Russia has rejected criticism on human rights from the United States, attacking the US State Department's annual human rights report as a 'politically biased' document that ignored the rest of the world's concerns on alleged US violations of human rights.
'Unfortunately, the contents of the annual human rights report by the US State Department again gives grounds for saying that double standards are characteristic of the American approach to this important subject,' the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
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The Russian foreign ministry statement noted that despite reserving harsh criticism for countries around the world, the US report failed to address issues that have raised "serious concern among international human rights organisations" about US violations of human rights.
"These include the inhuman treatment of detainees in American prisons in Iraq, collisions over presidential elections, continuing discrimination against racial-ethnic minorities," Russia said.
Annual US Human Rights Report Disregards Abu Ghraib
Islam Online- News Section: "US HR Report Disregards Abu Ghraib"
WASHINGTON, March 1, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) - Turning a blind eye to abuses of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo at the hands of its own forces, the United States annual report on human rights rebuked its Mideast allies for their poor records in the field.
The criticism was contained in the State Department's report on human rights progress in 2004, the first issued since US President George W. Bush was reelected for a second term in office, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Iran and Syria took the heaviest lashing in the region, with the report -- released Monday, February 28 -- saying Tehran's rights performance had worsened, citing “continuing violations such as summary executions, disappearances and torture”.
Damascus was also accused of clamping down on dissents, “resorting to arbitrary arrests, prolonged detention without trial, torture and a pattern of discrimination against women and a stateless Kurdish minority”.
The annual report also reserved some tough language for ally Saudi Arabia.
Mild Criticism
But the report mildly chided Israel over its “dealings” with the Palestinians.
It also said that Tel Aviv had done little to curb discrimination against the country's Arab citizens.
It said the government had detained thousands of people without charge on security grounds and recounted without judgment the dispute over Israel's move to erect its separation wall on Palestinian soil.
On the other hand, the report described the Palestinian Authority's overall rights record as “poor,” marked by reports of torture, prisoner abuse, and arbitrary and prolonged detention.
No Abu Gharib
The report, however, made no mention whatsoever to the shocking abuses of Iraqi prisoners by US occupation forces, blaming most of Iraq’s problems on the “insurgents.”
