Escalation of violence

02/10/2000

Press release

en fr

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) is dismayed at the escalation of violence that has followed the visit of Ariel Sharon, head of Likoud, to the Dome of the Rock resulting in tens of people dying and hundreds being injured. It strongly condemns the provocative nature of this visit and the scale of the repression of the demonstrations by the Israeli security forces. This constitutes a flagrant violation of the four 1949 Geneva Conventions.

The FIDH calls on:

– the Israeli authorities to take all the necessary measures to respect the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, according to which they are directly accountable for the violations of the human rights in the Occupied Territories
– the French presidency of the European Union and the other members of the European Council to urgently call for a meeting of the Partnership Councils, which are in charge of supervising the respect of human rights in the context of the Partnership Agreements concluded between the European Union and Israel and the Palestinian Authority respectively
– the assembly of the States parties to the Geneva Conventions to hold an urgent meeting in order to asses the current situation

The FIDH urges the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to urgently reopen the dialogue in order to pacify the situation and facilitate the peace process.