June 1989, Page 20

Human Rights

By Sally Clark Nyhan

Three Jailed Israeli Editors Adopted as Prisoners of Conscience

Amnesty International has adopted as prisoners of conscience three Israeli editors imprisoned on charges of membership in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

The three, Yacov Ben Efrat, Asaf Adiv, and Michal Schwartz, were given jail terms of six months to over two years last January. They managed the Hebrew-Arabic newspaper Derech Hanitzoz, which was banned by Israel last year, and frequently exposed human rights abuses in the occupied territories.

The three are the first Israeli Jews to be adopted by the human rights organization, which cited their imprisonment for the "nonviolent exercise of their right to freedom of expression and association" as the basis for declaring the men prisoners of conscience.

Amnesty International, International Red Cross and Palestine Human Rights Campaign Protest Raid on Nahalin

Amnesty International has called for an independent judicial inquiry into the killing and wounding of Palestinians by Israeli forces in the occupied territories. Amnesty said it is "gravely concerned" that senior Israeli authorities appear to be "condoning if not encouraging" excessive use of force by soldiers and border police.

Amnesty spokesmen said the request for an independent inquiry was partly spurred by the April 13 incident at Nahalin, in which rive Palestinians were shot and killed and more than 50 others wounded by Israeli soldiers. The Israeli army has since announced that disciplinary action will be taken against four officers and seven border policemen for misconduct during the raid.

Amnesty cited several other examples of Israeli military misconduct, including incidents in which victims, some as young as 11 years old, were killed even when presenting no danger to Israeli troops.

The Palestine Human Rights Campaign (PHRC) also called for an independent investigation of the Nahalin raid, saying that the "dangerous escalation in the level of lethal force by the IDF and border police units reveals the frightening degree of brutality by the occupying forces and the utter lack of control that presently exists in occupied Palestine. Residents. . call for impartial outside forces to protect them."

PHRC is asking Congress to convene open public hearings on the deteriorating human rights situation in Palestine. PHRC urges people to write their representatives in Congress, asking them to press Chairman Lee Hamilton of the House Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East, and Chairman Gus Yatron of the House Subcommittee on Human Rights to open hearings.

The International Red Cross also condemned the Israeli raid, protesting "this latest tragic incident, during which troops opened fire without discrimination and without restraint."

Arab-American Women Call for Release of Women Under Israeli Detention

The league of Arab-American Women has begun a campaign to release some of the thousands of Palestinian women currently held under administrative detention by Israel. Many of the women have been separated from their children and are held without charges on six-month administrative detention orders, which are often renewed. The organization is organizing a letter-writing campaign to Israeli officials and hoping for more sponsors to promote the campaign. For more information, contact the League of Arab-American Women, P.O. Box 23134, San Jose, CA 95153.

UNGA Extraordinary Session on Palestine Sought

The International Co-ordinating Committee for Non-Governmental Organizations on the Question of Palestine (ICCP) is calling for an extraordinary session of the United Nations General Assembly on the question of Palestinian human rights. The ICCP is asking nongovernmental organizations to call on their governments to request a UN session to discuss application of the 1949 Geneva Convention to the occupied territories and the extension of the mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to Palestinian refugees. Director Jean-Marie Lambert of the ICCP requested that UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar send a fact-finding mission to the occupied territories and establish a special commission to investigate reported human rights abuses by Israeli troops, prison authorities, and Jewish settlers.

DataBase Project Tries to Free Human Rights Worker

The DataBase Project on Palestinian Human Rights has released an urgent appeal for the safety of Terry Boulatta, a 23-year-old Palestinian human rights activist currently in detention in Israel's Tel Monde Prison. Although Boulatta suffers from a liver dysfunction and an Israeli physician at Tel Aviv Hospital has agreed to treat her, she is not receiving medical attention because Israeli military and prison officials refuse to allow her to leave the prison. Amnesty International has adopted Boulatta!s case as an emergency medical alert. PHRC requests that appeals on Boulat's behalf be sent to Yitzhak Rabin, Minister of Defense, 7 A Street, Hakirya, Tel Aviv 67659, Israel. For more information, contact the DataBase Project on Palestinian Human Rights at I Quincy Ct., Suite 1308, Chicago, IL 60604, (312) 987-1985.

Iran Executions

Iran Liberation, the news bulletin of the People's Mojahedin of Iran, reports that the Khomeini regime is continuing its executions of political prisoners, including the execution of Monireh Rajavi, the sister of Iranian resistance leader Massoud Rajavi. Iran has previously been condemned by international human rights organizations for mass executions of political prisoners.

Thirty-four Palestinians Killed in April

The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights reported that 34 Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers in April, the second-highest monthly total since the beginning of the intifada. The group reported that 33 of the victims died from gunshot wounds, and one victim was beaten to death.

Qaddafi Award to Nelson Mandela

Jailed South African leader Nelson Mandela was awarded the first Muammar Qaddafi International Prime for Human Rights. A fund was set up by the Libyan leader to provide an annual award to a third-world leader in "liberation struggles." Qaddafi, who donated $10 million to fund the award, reportedly has no say in determining the recipients.

Publications

Three new publications have been released by the DataBase Project on Palestinian Human Rights:

The Cost of Freedom: Palestinian Human Rights Under the Israeli Occupation, for $3; The Palestinian Intifada Dec. 9, 1987-Dec. 8, 1988—A Record of Israeli Repression, for $10; and Uprising in Palestine: The First Year, for $35. All three publications, and others, can be ordered from the DataBase Project, I Quincy Ct., Suite 1308, Chicago, IL 60604. Add $1 postage per mailing.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists issued a 100-page report titled Attacks on the Press 1988. The study documents attacks on journalists as well as instances of journalists being arrested, expelled, and killed. For more information, call the committee at (212) 944-7216.

Sally Clark Nyhan is the Book Club Editor at the American Educational Past.