Subj:  Reuters: Amnesty accuses Israel of violations
Date: 11/1/00 6:34:25 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: DUMONT@XAVIER.XU.EDU
 
 
                             Nov 01, 15:43 est
 
   Amnesty accuses Israel of violations  
   LONDON (Reuters) - An Amnesty International researcher accused Israel
   today of ''gross human rights violations'' in the current West Bank
   violence that ''may well amount to war crimes.''
 
   Speaking to reporters after returning from a visit to the Middle East,
   Claudio Cordone condemned Israel's use of helicopters to hit
   Palestinian targets and urged its troops to show restraint,
   particularly against children.
 
   ''There is a pattern of gross human rights violations that may well
   amount to war crimes,'' Cordone said.
 
   ''If a kid is throwing stones at you, but is not putting any lives at
   risk, then you do not shoot him,'' he added.
 
   He called for an independent investigation into the violence to
   establish what has happened during a month of killing that has left at
   more than 156 people dead, all but a few of them Palestinians and
   Israeli Arabs.