failed to deter those involved in suicide bombings, who it described as "war criminals."
"The people who carry out suicide bombings are not martyrs, they’re war criminals, and so are the people who help to plan such attacks," said Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), which presented a report on the violence.
In a statement on the HRW website, Roth noted that "the scale and systematic nature of these attacks sets them (the suicide bombers) apart from other abuses committed in time of conflict. They clearly fall under the category of crimes against humanity."
The 170-page report released Friday, November 1, "is the first full-fledged examination of individual criminal responsibility for suicide bombings against civilians in Israel and the Israeli- occupied territories," the HRW said.
"THOROUGH STUDY"
HRW’s report "Erased in a Moment: Sucide Bombing Attacks against Israel Civilians" also provides what researchers described as "the most thorough study to date of the suicide bombing operations" carried out by different terrorist organizations.
The report specifically mentions Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), groups that have claimed responsibility for almost all recent suicide bombings.
Since January 2001, 52 Palestinian suicide attacks killed some 250 civilians and injured 2,000 more, according to HRW figures. Although the group said it did not find evidence that Arafat had a hand in attacks against Israelis, it accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) of not doing enough to prosecute those responsible.
"ARAFAT FAILED"
"The greatest failure of President Arafat and the PA leadership is their unwillingness to deploy the criminal justice system to deter the suicide bombings, particularly in 2001, when the PA was most capable of doing so," Roth added.
HRW officials said that Hamas’ spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, and Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah should face criminal investigation for their roles in the attacks.
While Arafat condemned suicide attacks as "immoral" he criticized the report, saying the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian areas was the root cause of the violence, news media reported. "We have to blame the occupation for what is going on," he told reporters Friday, November 1, outside his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah .
CHRISTIANS WELCOME REPORT
However the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), a pro-Israel organization, seemed to welcome the HRW findings. "Human rights groups are more usually known for their sharp criticism of the Israeli military and their silence on Palestinian abuses, " the ICEJ News Service said Friday, November 1.
It noted that an earlier report by Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli Army of committing war crimes in Jenin and demanded that soldiers face charges.
"The sentencing to death of Palestinian human rights worker Haidar Ghanem this week for “collaboration” with Israel has finally brought PA abuses" to light, the ICEJ News Service said.
HRW "NO PACIFISTS"
However Joe Stork, Washington director for Human Rights Watch, suggested his organization was not advocating the end of the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising but questions the approach of militants.
"We don’t take issue with them (the Palestinians) taking up arms — we are not a pacifist organization … but the question is what they do with those arms," The Associated Press quoted him as saying Friday, November 1, in Jerusalem. "They should not be targeting civilians. There is no excuse for these kinds of attacks," he stressed.
