World Notes HUMAN RIGHTS

For 13 years the U.S. has assessed human rights abuses around the world. But never has a friend figured as prominently as one has this year, when twelve pages of the State Department's survey were devoted to the "substantial increase in human rights violations" by Israel in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The report sketched a picture of excessive force by the Israeli army, resulting in "many avoidable deaths," against the Palestinian uprising. This account of shootings, beatings, imprisonment and deportation is the most critical U.S. review ever of Israeli actions in the territories.

Israeli officials condemned the report as "harsh" and "one-sided," but did not dispute the particulars. Instead they argued that the U.S. had ignored the "constant provocations" by "extremist elements." Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir charged that the "media exaggerate" and said that "the behavior of our army is equal to that of any other army in the Western world."