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ADC Press Release:
January 26, 2001
Washington D.C., Jan. 26- In yet another attempt to block the progress
of the U.S. led Mitchell Commission of Inquiry into the outbreak of the
Al-Aqsa Intifada and continuing violence in the Occupied Territories,
Israel suspended its contacts with the Commission and forced Larry Pope,
head of the Commission’s Technical Staff to resign. The
commission originally received it’s mandate based on the
understandings reached at Sharm al-Sheikh last October but the committee
is a far cry from the broad-based, comprehensive U.N. investigation the
violence warrants.
Despite the formation of the Mitchell Commission each day more unarmed
Palestinians civilians are killed. The American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) urgently repeats its call for
international protection for the Palestinians and the establishment of a
broad based U.N. commission of inquiry into the continuing violence in
the Occupied Territories. ADC urges the international community to
act immediately in establishing an independent U.N. commission or, at
the barest minimum, ensure that the Mitchell Commission continue their
investigation unimpeded.
From the outset Israel has objected to any international investigation
of its actions and stymied the progress of the Mitchell Commission, in
spite of the fact that the Mitchell Commission is composed of
representatives of 4 governments which are all NATO members and staunch
Israeli allies. Soon after the Mitchell Commission was
established, the Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Alon
Liel, said the Commission’s mandate was “limited” and he did not
see the Commission as in any way running an independent investigation.
He further urged that the commission do most of its work in Washington,
analyzing written documentation submitted by both sides. Israel
has been successful at manipulating the composition of the Commission
and once it was established, Israeli actions have cast doubts as to
whether it will ever fully cooperate with the Commission in good faith.
When Larry Pope of the Mitchell Commission traveled to the Al-Aqsa
Mosque, the flashpoint for the Intifada, without notifying the Israeli
authorities, Israel demanded and received his resignation. It then
ended what little cooperation it had extended to the Commission, citing
a violation of procedural agreements dictated by Israel. Its
refusal to cooperate with the Commission makes it clear that Israel not
wanting any investigation into its excessive use of force against
unarmed Palestinian civilians as recognized by the UN Security Council,
the UN Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International, and numerous other independent agencies. To date,
more than 341 unarmed Palestinians civilians have been killed, many of
them children, and thousands have been maimed.
ADC President Hala Maksoud said, “Our government should ensure that
its own Commission, which Israel agreed to, is allowed to investigate
these serious human rights abuses. It is incomprehensible that
Israel be allowed to control how this inquiry operates or allowed to
thwart it altogether. The international community also has an
obligation to extend immediate protection to the Palestinians living
under Israeli occupation, and our government should take the leading in
extending such
protection."
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Palestine Affairs Council