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Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel |
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Israeli free speech joins casualties in Mideast conflict: ACRI JERUSALEM, July 16 (AFP) - Israel's Arab citizens, the jobless and advocates of free speech have fared badly during an "inhospitable" year for human rights, marked by armed conflict and economic crisis, an Israeli group charged Tuesday. In its latest annual report, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) also listed the human cost from Palestinian suicide bombers and the Israeli army's "disproportionate use of force". The ACRI report said the last year had been "inhospitable" for enhancing human rights because of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the economic crisis, the right-wing-led national unity government and the makeup of parliament. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman Ranaan Gissin rejected the report findings when some of them were quoted to him over the telephone. "Israel stands as a shining beacon today given the fact we're in a state of war.... You can't find any other country in the region that abides by the rule of law," Gissin told AFP. In its report that covers the period from July 2001 to June 2002, ACRI warned that "the trend to limit and stifle free speech grew." It charged that "the last few months have seen this phenomenon take root in academia and in the media." Though the report gave no examples, ACRI's chief legal counsel Dan Yakir said his colleagues were barred from speaking at a conference this year on human rights and national security at Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, a private institution. He also told AFP that university professors in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem had received complaints filed by colleagues and others over their support for reserve soldiers refusing to serve in the Palestinian territories. Meanwhile, the news media have reported little on Palestinian suffering and instead given mainly the army's account of events in the territories, he charged. The report said Sharon's government, "even more so than the former, seeks to place the burden of economic recession on the shoulders of those who were forcibly removed from the workforce." It said the government has drastically reduced eligibility for unemployment allocations. In addition, it said, "many employers are exploiting the economic situation, and paying workers salaries below the minimum wage established by law." It said that in the "last year discrimination against the Israeli Arab sector became even more exacerbated." Governmental plans to bridge the services gap between Jewish and Arab towns were not implemented, and budget allocations to Arab towns, which were supposed to have been increased, were actually cut," it said. ACRI alleged abuses of the rights of Palestinians in the territories, particularly since Israel launched an offensive against the West Bank on March 29, and a reoccupation of the Palestinian towns in the last four weeks. Palestinian "acts of terror cannot justify acts of revenge on the part of Israel," it said. It charged that the Israeli army's ambiguous commands and "forgiving attitude toward unjustified fire" are to blame for the deaths of many Palestinian civilians. ACRI also accused the army of denying Palestinians access to medical treatment by preventing ambulances from taking away the wounded or damaging medical facilities. ACRI Web site:
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