Amnesty urges EU to address Mideast crisis

London, Dec 10: The European Union must urgently address worsening human rights' abuses in Israel and the Palestinian territories, Amnesty International urged today, predicting ''widespread violence'' and ''disaster''.

In an open letter to EU leaders on International Human Rights Day and ahead of a European Council meeting next week, Amnesty's Secretary General Irene Khan set out a list of recommendations to help reverse rights' violations.

''We urge you ... to use your utmost influence on all sides to immediately end the killings and attacks on civilians and to agree to human rights measures which can help to build confidence and hope,'' she wrote.

Khan proposed the deployment of international human rights monitors across Israel and Israeli-occupied territories, who should report publicly and suggest corrective measures.

She called for the investigation and prosecution of those on all sides responsible for war crimes under international law and the immediate end to the sale or transfer of weapons to all parties.

She said rockets fired by Palestinian groups from the Gaza Strip at Israel, damaging homes and public buildings and killing Israeli civilians, ''have created a climate of fear''.

That was leading to a hardening of positions in favour of a harsh military response towards the Palestinians, ''reinforcing the cycle of violence and human rights abuses,'' she added.

Khan said EU leaders should ensure Israel protects the welfare of Palestinians while the bloc should take steps to minimize the human rights' impact of its sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, imposed since the militant Islamic group Hamas took power in March.

Any peace process must address the human rights abuses at the heart of the conflict, including removing any Israeli settlements from Palestinian territories, Khan added.

''We see a downward spiral of human rights abuses and entrenched impunity, sowing the seeds of a disaster with catastrophic consequences for ordinary people,'' she wrote.

''The prognosis is of widespread violence, collapse of already failing Palestinian institutions and a worsening of the human rights and humanitarian crisis,'' added Khan who is currently leading an Amnesty International fact-finding mission to the region.

The United States and EU imposed crippling sanctions on the Palestinian Authority in March because of Hamas' refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence. Israel has also withheld tax and customs receipts.

The United Nations has launched an appeal for emergency humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. About 1.4 million Palestinians live in coastal Gaza and 2.4 million in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel and Palestinian militant groups declared a truce in Gaza on November. 26 in the wake of a crushing, five-month-old Israeli army offensive.

Amnesty said the international community must seize on the truce to encourage a political solution but one that addresses human rights' concerns as a matter of priority.

Reuters