Human Rights Group Decries Palestinians

Amnesty International issued a call for an end to torture in Palestinian self-rule areas at the same time that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat was quoted as declaring: “I will not tolerate torture.” The London-based human rights organization said a delegation met with lawyers, human rights groups, chiefs of branches of the security forces and victims of torture during a two-week visit to the Palestinian Authority that ended this month. “Evidence of widespread torture by branches of the PA’s security forces is incontrovertible,” it said. Arafat said in an interview published in Oslo that he would not tolerate torture in jails, but he said critics must understand that the Palestinian Authority is dealing with fanatics.