76
Friday, February 22, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
NEWS
Israel's WB Policies
Scored In U.S. Report
Remember the
1 1 th Commandment:
"And Thou
Shalt be
Informed"
Israeli troops patrol the Jewish settlement in Nablus on the West Bank,
one of the trouble spots singled out by the U.S. State Department in its
annual report on human rights violations.
Washington (JTA) — The State
Department's ninth annual re-
port on human rights throughout
the world praises Israel as an open
society with a democratic goir-
ernment, but criticizes the Jewish
state for human rights problems
because of its control of the West
Bank and Gaza.
"Each year we note that despite
the tremendous security threat
against Israel, it maintains a very
vigorous democracy." Elliott Ab-
rams, Assistant Secretary of State
for Human Rights and
Humanitarian Affairs, told a
press conference marking the re-
. lease of the report last week.
Abrams said that the Depart-
ment's country-by-country "Re-
port on Human Rights Practices
for 1984" finds that the problems
for Israel on the West Bank are
the result of it having a military
government rule there rather
than a democratically elected one.
He added that there was an in-
crease in violence in the adminis-
tered territories in 1984, but it
was occupants against other oc-
cupants — apparently a reference
to Jewish and Arab residents —
and not the military government
against the residents.
The 1,450.-page report, covering
164 countries, was submitted ear-
lier to Congress. It is the fifth such
report submitted to the Reagan
Administration.
The section on Israel stresses
that "Israel is a parliamentary
democracy which guarantees by
law and respects in practice the
civil, political, and religious
rights of its citizens."
But it notes, "as in 1983, the
most significant human rights
problems for Israel continued to -
derive from the strained relations
between Israeli authorities and
the Arab inhabitants of the occu-
pied territories. These problems
were exacerbated as a conse-
quence of the activities of Jewish
settlers in those areas.
"During the year, Israeli lead-
ers expressed concern over the
potential growth of extreme views
and violent actions and their ef-
fect on Israeli society."
One problem in Israel pointed
out by the report is that of the
Israeli Arabs who, while having
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equal rights under the law, "are
relatively powerless and tend to
feel alienated. Despite some gov-
ernmental and private efforts to
bridge the gap, there is little so-
cial interaction with Israeli Jews.
"Israeli Arabs assert that they
are denied equal access to educa-
tion; housing and other services,
and that they are discriminated
against in such areas as employ-
thent and appointment to gov-
ernment positions."
While Arabs have frequently
charged that Israel tortures Arab
prisoners, the report states that
"torture is forbidden by Israeli
law and there is no evidence that
torture is condoned by the Israeli
authorities. Several Israeli border
and national policemen were con-
victed of abusive use of force
against Arab prisoners during
1984."
Stories of genocidal
actions by Ethiopian
authorities against
that country's Jews
appear unfounded.
The report also noted that U.S.
representatives received reports
of "cruel or degrading" treatment
from several U.S. citizens under
arrest, one of them an Arab and
the others supporters of Rabbi
Meir Kahane, and succeeded in
getting conditions improved for
them.
The report asserts that while
living standards in the adminis-
tered territories have "risen sub-
stantially since 1967," Israel's
economic problems began to affect
them last year with less Palesti-
nians working in Israel and a drop
in business in the territories.
In addition, the report charges
that Israel has hampered eco-
nomic development on the West
Bank, and that the taking of land
for settlements or military use
has hurt Arab agriculture.
Abrams said there was no way
Continued on Page 78
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