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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest
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The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
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| NOVEMBER
30, 1998 2:36 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Human Rights Watch |
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| Rights Guarantees Should Be In All Israeli, Palestinian Agreements | ||||
| NEW
YORK - November 30 -
Human Rights Watch called upon donor governments meeting in Washington today to
incorporate human rights guarantees in all their agreements with Israel or the
Palestinian Authority. In a letter released
today, the New York-based human rights group urged that all new aid, trade,
or security treaties include explicit provisions for monitoring and preventing
human rights violations by Israeli or Palestinian forces.
The group sent the letter to ministers from the Middle East, Europe, Japan, Canada and Russia to coordinate funding for implementing the Wye River Memorandum. Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed the security memorandum on October 23. "The Wye River agreement lacks any mechanism for preventing human rights violations," said Hanny Megally, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division. "Making aid conditional on human rights performance would force both Israelis and Palestinians to take rights seriously." Megally noted that since signing the agreement the Palestinian Authority has conducted mass arrests of political opponents, increased restrictions on journalists, and made incitement to "breaching agreements" signed with the PLO a criminal offence. Human Rights Watch also expressed concern over Israel's violation of Palestinian human rights, including torture, administrative detention without proper judicial review, hostage-taking, house demolition, and the imposition of strict closures in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The group urged the ministers to question U.S. officials on the role of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in monitoring the memorandum's implementation. CIA officials represent the U.S. on the U.S.-Palestinian and U.S.-Palestinian-Israeli monitoring committees created by the agreement. "Secret intelligence agencies have a poor record of respecting human rights," said Megally. "In the past the CIA has been silent when groups it supported committed gross human rights violations. How can we depend on it to speak out now?" ### |
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