25 Feb. 2000

The Editor:

The Guardian Weekly

London

 

Dear Editor:

Julie Flint’s admirable report: "Israel’s torture jails exposed" {Feb. 24}, reflects on a longstanding pattern of Israeli violation of human rights for decades in the Palestinian and Lebanese occupied territories. Virtually every article of the Fourth Geneva Convention has been violated by the Israeli occupying forces. These violations include torture of prisoners, kidnapping, expropriation of property, demolition of homes, including entire villages, creation of illegal settlements and transfer of population. For decades, Israel has had the unique distinction, amongst all countries, of practicing legislated torture.

While this goes on, it passes unnoticed by Messrs Clinton and Blair, the leaders of our "free world". They are busy in their daily bombing of Iraq where virtual genocide is being practiced against the innocent millions of Iraqi children,through starvation and disease, as testified by U.N. workers ,including Mr. Denis Halliday, Mr. Von Sponeck and Ms. Jutta Burghardt, and well-illusrated in Ewen MacAskill’s report: "Officials quit UN Iraq team" {Feb. 24}.

Yours sincerely

Ismail Zayid,M.D.