By Jamey Keaten Associated Press Writer Published: Nov 1, 2002

JERUSALEM (AP) - Palestinians who launch suicide attacks against Israeli civilians are guilty of "crimes against humanity," and Yasser Arafat has not done enough to deter them, an international human rights group said Friday.

Human Rights Watch called for the prosecution of those responsible and said no Israeli military action or violations of international law justified such attacks.

"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," Kenneth Roth, executive director of the New York-based group, said in a statement. "They clearly fall under the category of crimes against humanity."

In an interview with Associated Press Television News on Thursday, Arafat condemned suicide attacks as "immoral."

But on Friday, he was critical of the 170-page report, saying the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian areas was the root cause of the violence.

"We have to blame the occupation for what is going on," Arafat told reporters outside his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The report, titled "Erased in a Moment: Suicide Bombing Attacks against Israeli Civilians," was the first of its kind by Human Rights Watch. The London-based human rights group Amnesty International issued a similar study in July.

Human Rights Watch examined bombings by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Those militant groups have most often claimed responsibility for attacks.

The group said Hamas' spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, and Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah should face criminal investigation for their roles in the attacks.

Three Hamas leaders in Gaza said they would not comment before seeing the report.

According to figures compiled by The Associated Press, 80 suicide bombings have left 294 people dead since the latest round of Mideast fighting began Sept. 29, 2000.

Human Rights Watch said it did not find evidence that Arafat or the Palestinian Authority ever had a hand in attacks against Israelis, but said the authority has not done enough to prosecute those responsible.

"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 said.

The report said Arafat and the Palestinian Authority "bear a high degree of political responsibility for the atrocities."

The report said the Palestinian leader apparently could not control groups such as the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - a militia loosely linked to Arafat's Fatah movement.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an aide to Arafat, said Israel's occupation leads to violence and the world should be working to get Israeli forces out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"The report should have criticized the Israeli policy of occupation which is behind all the violence," Abu Rdeneh said.

Joe Stork, Washington director for Human Rights Watch, said the organization was not advocating the end of the Palestinian intefadeh, or uprising, but questions the use of an "any means necessary" approach of some Palestinian 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," he said in Jerusalem. "They should not be targeting civilians. There is no excuse for these kinds of attacks."

Israeli attacks that have killed Palestinian civilians do not justify the suicide bombings, the report said. Many Palestinians say Israel's superior military force has left them with no other option.

"Even in the face of Israeli violations of international law, Palestinian armed groups must refrain from deliberate attacks against civilians," Roth said.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2002