Introduction:

The astonishment was obvious on the lady that was given the task by the UN to visit the Palestinian occupied territories in order that she prepare a report on the human conditions there.

Mary Robinson was shocked and could not believe what she saw and heard of tales of killings and torture that were practiced by “Israeli” forces against the unarmed and besieged Palestinian people.

She returned and wrote her report that was described by many in the international community as a blow in the ugly face of “Israel”, and that which revealed the lies about many of “Israel’s” claims. In the following lines the Egyptian “Al-Ahram” newspaper reviews Mary Robinson’s report who was authorized by the UN to visit the occupied territories of “Israel”.

In the period between the 17^th and the 19^th of October 2000 the human rights commission of the UN met in a special meeting to discuss the deteriorating human rights conditions in the Palestinian occupied territories, and that by request of the President of the Higher Commission for human rights and the Algerian representative to the UN on behalf of the members of the Arab League. The special meeting ended in requesting the President of the Human Rights Commission of the UN to make a quick visit to review the human rights practice by “Israel” in the Palestinian occupied territories against the Palestinian people which represent a violation to all human rights conventions, and to submit a report to the commission which would be presented to 57^th committee of human rights commission.

In the light of this, the President of the Higher Commission toured the middle east in the period between the 8^th and 16^th of November, 2000, during her tour she visited the Palestinian occupied territories, Egypt, “Israel” and Jordan and the results came as follows:

During the meeting with the President of the Higher Commission “Israel” accepted that her visit to the region would also include “Israel”, and in Ghaza the President of the commission met with the Palestinian president Yasser Arafat and a number of representatives of both the Palestinian Parliament and social organizations as well as the President of the Independent Committee for the Rights of Palestinian Citizens and representatives of UN programs and their agencies including the head of the UNR‎WA and the special UN coordinator.

In East Jerusalem the President of the commission met with a number of Islamic and Christian societies and non governmental organizations, she also visited some refugee camps and a number of schools. In Cairo the President of the Commission met with Foreign Minister Amro Mousa and a number of high ministerial officials and representatives of Egyptian organizations and societies as well as the Secretary General of the Arab League. In Jordan she met with King Abdullah II and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Khalifa and during these meetings the President of the Commission listened to various points of views of hundreds of people who gathered round her during her tour.

The President of the Higher Commission concluded from her notes concerning human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories that the civilian inhabitants in the occupied territories were always under the feeling that they were continuously besieged by a military force that was always ready to use force against any demonstration or anyone who throws stones, and in all of the Palestinian Authority’s meetings with her the PA would ask for International protection.

From the point of view of the Palestinian Authority regarding the situation of the Palestinian people in this present crisis in regards to complying with human rights, the PA sees that the reason the situation is at such a low ebb in the way that they are being humiliated under the “Israeli” occupation and the anger the people feel is all due to the failure of executing the UN’s 188, 194 and 242 resolutions as well as the policy of confiscating land and the building of settlement and the refusal of accepting the fact that East Jerusalem is the Capital of the Palestinian people.

The President of the Higher Commission for Human Rights pointed out that the Palestinian people are suffering a severe and dangerous case of discrimination even among the Arabs who have the “Israeli” nationality, because on the principle of insuring the security of the “Israeli” citizen many bureaucratic procedures are enforced on the Palestinian people.

Regarding the assessment of the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, the President of the Higher commission received a number of reports from various sources confirming the violation of human rights in the occupied territories during the last incidents.

The reports also mentioned that the “Israeli” government does not abide by International conventions regarding human rights, especially those concerning the protection of civilians in the time of war which is specified in the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Convention.

Also concerning unnecessary use of force as well as attacking medical teams during war and the destruction of property and limiting the movements of the Palestinian citizen which affects their economical situation negatively.

The most important of all violation of human rights was the use of “Israeli” intelligence units the use of excessive force that does not justify the size of threat that the “Israeli” soldiers may be facing from the Palestinians, and a large number of observers including the UN observers, registered an increase in the number of the wounded and the killings as a result of the use of excessive force against the civilians, as a result the President of the Higher Commission met with officials in the “Israeli” ministries that were held in Tel Aviv Airport on the 13^th of November before she left to Cairo where she discussed the ways in which the use of violence against the civilians may be stopped.

And a large number of the injured Palestinians were injured with fatal wounds in the upper part of the body, resulting in the loss of their eye site or fatal injuries to the brain that resulted in the death of the injured as a result of the use of tear gas or rubber bullets or live bullets.

And according to estimations of the Palestinian ministry of Health the number of wounded was about 6958 and from the start of the lastest Intifada that started on the 29^th of September until the 9^th of November 2000, and that 10% of those wounded were under the age of 18, and that the weapons that caused those wounds was 41% rubber bullets, 27% live bullets and 27% tear gas.

As for the Red Crescent society it estimated the number of dead in the latest Intifada from the period between 23^rd till the 29^th of November to about 236 as well as 9353 wounded Palestinian, were as the number of dead “Israeli” was estimated at about 30 and 375 wounded according to official “Israeli” sources.

As for the affect of these practices on children, according to statistics of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, from the start of the 20^th of November 2000, the number of children killed in the Intifada under the age of 18 was 80 children, as for the wounded the number reached 3000 children among between 200 to 300 children that may suffer permanent disabilities.

Not forgetting that hundreds of Palestinian children were forced to leave their homes to avoid the violent “Israeli” practices, and the destruction of Palestinian homes led to displacement of more than a thousand children that suffer malnutrition and the lack of medical health, many of the children suffer social and mental problems as the result of all the violence and the situation in the West Bank and Ghaza affected the Palestinian educational system, since the latest violence 40 schools were shut down as well as non concentration of students in class as a result of all the violence a matter that has affected the performance of educational process.

Concerning the “Israeli” practices towards medical ambulances many deaths were caused as a result of the “Israeli” forces not allowing them to go about their duties towards the wounded.

In Ghaza the President of the Higher Commission visited the refugee camps and its vicinities and she noticed that a large number of houses were directly destroyed by “Israeli” tanks and rockets, as well as removing a lot of olive trees and gardens in an excuse that armed Palestinians hide in them.

As a result of the shut down of the occupied territories that “Israel” said was necessary for its security more than 128,000 Palestinian workers were unable to go to work into “Israel” which resulted depriving the Palestinian people from their economic rights reported UN agencies for human rights.

The Secretary General of the Arab League Dr. Ismat Abdul Majid said that Mary Robinson’s report saw at first hand as the President of the Higher Commission for human rights how the killings and displacements were going on and that she was stricken with fear at what she witnessed, and that she demanded for International protection for the Palestinian people against “Israeli” bullets as well against the use of human destructive weapons.

He also said that the report brought shame and disgrace to “Israel”, and that the report was distributed to all the Arab countries as well as human rights organizations, confirming that all such organizations had a humane duty towards all the crimes that were being committed.

Mr. Musa the Egyptian Foreign Minister said that Mrs. Robinson the President of the Higher Commission for human rights did think that she would see what she saw, he also said to the “Ahram Al-Arabi” that this was exactly the effect of the media in hiding the truth and by not introducing the true face of “Israel” to the western world.