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October 21, 2009
Posted 3:41 PM
by Mary
Israel to form committee to fight U.N. Gaza report 20 Oct 2009 16:57:10 GMT Source: Reuters JERUSALEM, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The prospect Israeli officials could face war crimes trials abroad led the Israeli government on Tuesday to form a committee to deal with the international legal consequences of a U.N. report on the Gaza war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who promised a lengthy battle to "delegitimise" the findings by a U.N. commission, also instructed government officials to draft proposals for changing international laws of war. The U.N. Human Rights Council singled out Israel for censure in a resolution on Friday, while endorsing the report by South African jurist Richard Goldstone which condemned both Israeli and Hamas actions in the war last December and January. The report recommended the war crimes issue be referred to the U.N. Security Council if the sides failed to conduct credible domestic investigations within six months, and possibly then to the International Criminal Court. Netanyahu's office said in a statement his security cabinet instructed the Justice Ministry to form a committee to deal with the prospect of "legal proceedings abroad against the state of Israel or its citizens". "We need to keep punching a hole in this lie that is spreading with the help of the Goldstone report," Netanyahu was quoted as saying in the statement. The Israeli leader also instructed his government to draft an initiative to change the laws of war to take into account the need to contend with "the expansion of terrorism in the world". An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the issue of establishing an official inquiry into the conduct of the military during the Gaza campaign was not raised at the meeting. A Palestinian rights group said 1,417 Palestinians, including 926 civilians, were killed in the three-week offensive. Israel has said 709 Palestinian combatants were killed along with 295 civilians and 162 people whose status it was unable to clarify. Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians were killed during the campaign, which Israel launched with the declared aim of ending cross-border rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip. (Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Jon Hemming) Labels: Gaza, Human Rights, Israel, war crimes
September 15, 2009
Posted 11:08 PM
by Mary
UN Fact Finding Mission finds strong evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Gaza conflict;calls for end to impunity 15 September 2009 NEW YORK / GENEVA – The UN Fact-Finding Mission led by Justice Richard Goldstone on Tuesday released its long-awaited report on the Gaza conflict, in which it concluded there is evidence indicating serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel during the Gaza conflict, and that Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity. The report also concludes there is also evidence that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes, as well as possibly crimes against humanity, in their repeated launching of rockets and mortars into Southern Israel. The four members of the Mission* were appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council in April with a mandate to "To investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after." In compiling the 574- page report, which contains detailed analysis of 36 specific incidents in Gaza, as well as a number of others in the West Bank and Israel, the Mission conducted 188 individual interviews, reviewed more 10,000 pages of documentation, and viewed some 1,200 photographs, including satellite imagery, as well as 30 videos. The mission heard 38 testimonies during two separate public hearings held in Gaza and Geneva, which were webcast in their entirety. The decision to hear participants from Israel and the West Bank in Geneva rather than in situ was taken after Israel denied the Mission access to both locations. Israel also failed to respond to a comprehensive list of questions posed to it by the Mission. Palestinian authorities in both Gaza and the West Bank cooperated with the Mission. The Mission found that, in the lead up to the Israeli military assault on Gaza, Israel imposed a blockade amounting to collective punishment and carried out a systematic policy of progressive isolation and deprivation of the Gaza Strip. During the Israeli military operation, code-named "Operation Cast Lead," houses, factories, wells, schools, hospitals, police stations and other public buildings were destroyed. Families are still living amid the rubble of their former homes long after the attacks ended, as reconstruction has been impossible due to the continuing blockade. More than 1,400 people were killed during the military operation. Significant trauma, both immediate and long-term, has been suffered by the population of Gaza. The Report notes signs of profound depression, insomnia and effects such as bed-wetting among children. The effects on children who witnessed killings and violence, who had thought they were facing death, and who lost family members would be long lasting, the Mission found, noting in its Report that some 30 per cent of children screened at UNRWA schools suffered mental health problems. The report concludes that the Israeli military operation was directed at the people of Gaza as a whole, in furtherance of an overall and continuing policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population, and in a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at the civilian population. The destruction of food supply installations, water sanitation systems, concrete factories and residential houses was the result of a deliberate and systematic policy which has made the daily process of living, and dignified living, more difficult for the civilian population. The Report states that Israeli acts that deprive Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of their means of subsistence, employment, housing and water, that deny their freedom of movement and their right to leave and enter their own country, that limit their rights to access a court of law and an effective remedy, could lead a competent court to find that the crime of persecution, a crime against humanity, has been committed. The report underlines that in most of the incidents investigated by it, and described in the report, loss of life and destruction caused by Israeli forces during the military operation was a result of disrespect for the fundamental principle of "distinction" in international humanitarian law that requires military forces to distinguish between military targets and civilians and civilian objects at all times. The report states that "Taking into account the ability to plan, the means to execute plans with the most developed technology available, and statements by the Israeli military that almost no errors occurred, the Mission finds that the incidents and patterns of events considered in the report are the result of deliberate planning and policy decisions." For example, Chapter XI of the report describes a number of specific incidents in which Israeli forces launched "direct attacks against civilians with lethal outcome." These are, it says, cases in which the facts indicate no justifiable military objective pursued by the attack and concludes they amount to war crimes. The incidents described include: Attacks in the Samouni neighbourhood, in Zeitoun, south of Gaza City, including the shelling of a house where soldiers had forced Palestinian civilians to assemble; Seven incidents concerning "the shooting of civilians while they were trying to leave their homes to walk to a safer place, waving white flags and, in some of the cases, following an injunction from the Israeli forces to do so;" The targeting of a mosque at prayer time, resulting in the death of 15 people. A number of other incidents the Report concludes may constitute war crimes include a direct and intentional attack on the Al Quds Hospital and an adjacent ambulance depot in Gaza City. The Report also covers violations arising from Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank, including excessive force against Palestinian demonstrators, sometimes resulting in deaths, increased closures, restriction of movement and house demolitions. The detention of Palestinian Legislative Council members, the Report says, effectively paralyzed political life in the OPT. The Mission found that through activities such as the interrogation of political activists and repression of criticism of its military actions, the Israeli Government contributed significantly to a political climate in which dissent was not tolerated. The Fact-Finding Mission also found that the repeated acts of firing rockets and mortars into Southern Israel by Palestinian armed groups "constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity," by failing to distinguish between military targets and the civilian population. "The launching of rockets and mortars which cannot be aimed with sufficient precisions at military targets breaches the fundamental principle of distinction," the report says. "Where there is no intended military target and the rockets and mortars are launched into civilian areas, they constitute a deliberate attack against the civilian population." The Mission concludes that the rocket and mortars attacks "have caused terror in the affected communities of southern Israel," as well as "loss of life and physical and mental injury to civilians and damage to private houses, religious buildings and property, thereby eroding the economic and cultural life of the affected communities and severely affecting the economic and social rights of the population." The Mission urges the Palestinian armed groups holding the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to release him on humanitarian grounds, and, pending his release, give him the full rights accorded to a prisoner of war under the Geneva Conventions including visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Report also notes serious human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial executions of Palestinians, by the authorities in Gaza and by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. The prolonged situation of impunity has created a justice crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory that warrants action, the Report says. The Mission found the Government of Israel had not carried out any credible investigations into alleged violations. It recommended that the UN Security Council require Israel to report to it, within six months, on investigations and prosecutions it should carry out with regard to the violations identified in its Report. The Mission further recommends that the Security Council set up a body of independent experts to report to it on the progress of the Israeli investigations and prosecutions. If the experts' reports do not indicate within six months that good faith, independent proceedings are taking place, the Security Council should refer the situation in Gaza to the ICC Prosecutor. The Mission recommends that the same independent expert body also report to the Security Council on proceedings undertaken by the relevant Gaza authorities with regard to crimes committed by the Palestinian side. As in the case of Israel, if within six months there are no good faith independent proceedings conforming to international standards in place, the Council should refer the situation to the ICC Prosecutor. The full report can be found on the web page of the Fact Finding Mission: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFindingMission.htm For further media information: contact Doune Porter, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Tel: 1-917-367-3292 or +41-79-477-2576. Email: dporter@ohchr.org * The members of the Fact Finding Mission are: Justice Richard Goldstone, Head of Mission; former judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa; former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Professor Christine Chinkin, Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science; member of the high-level fact-finding mission to Beit Hanoun (2008). Ms. Hina Jilani, Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan; former Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders; member of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur (2004). Colonel Desmond Travers, former Officer in Ireland's Defence Forces; member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for International Criminal Investigations. Labels: Gaza, Human Rights, Israel, war crimes
April 17, 2009
Posted 8:52 PM
by Mary
The Baltimore Sun A Step Toward Ending Israel's Impunity by George Bisharat The appointment of Richard Goldstone to head a United Nations fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip represents an important first step toward ending Israel's impunity from international law. Mr. Goldstone - a former supreme court justice in South Africa and chief prosecutor in the international tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia - and three other esteemed experts will investigate both Israel and Hamas for possible offenses before, during, and after Israel's invasion of Gaza. Evidence, indeed, suggests that Israel committed war crimes and crimes against humanity before, during, and after its winter assault on the Gaza Strip. Long before the attack, Israel had imposed a ruinous siege on Gaza, collectively punishing its residents for choosing Hamas in democratic elections in January 2006. During the December-January invasion, Israeli troops apparently killed civilians without justification, wantonly destroyed civilian infrastructure and private property, used weapons illegally, and abused Palestinian detainees. Since a January cease-fire, Israel has blocked relief supplies to Gaza, and it continues to attack and kill Palestinians. Individual misconduct does not explain Israel's offenses during the invasion; lax rules of engagement were the root problem. Israeli military lawyers classified any Palestinian who remained in an area after a warning of an impending attack as a "voluntary human shield" and therefore a combatant subject to attack. Warnings were issued via leaflets, cell phone calls, and in some cases, bombing of a building's corners (before the roof was collapsed by additional fire). Yet Gaza Palestinians were barred refuge outside of the tiny strip, and thus were denied effective flight. Israeli jurists also approved the bombing of a police cadet graduation ceremony; in total, some 250 civilian Palestinian policemen lost their lives during the invasion. Military rabbis exacerbated matters, counseling that Israeli soldiers show no mercy to Palestinians. Such elastic definitions of "combatants" defy well-settled international law. Yet Daniel Reisner, the former head of the International Law Division of the Israeli Military Advocate General, recently claimed: "If you do something for long enough, the world will accept it. The whole of international law is now based on the notion that an act that is forbidden today becomes permissible if executed by enough countries ... International law progresses through violations." Hamas, in its indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, also committed war crimes, and should be held to account. Yet Hamas' violations have no power to alter the terms of international law. Israel, by its capacity to defy the world community - and because its doctrines have been followed by some other nations, including the United States - jeopardizes the status of international law in a way that Hamas cannot. Labels: Gaza, idf, Israel, war crimes
April 8, 2009
Posted 2:19 PM
by Mary
Judge named to lead Gaza inquiry is known for fairness Martial Trezzini / Associated PressReporting from Johannesburg, South Africa, and Jerusalem -- Richard Goldstone, a quiet, self-effacing jurist from South Africa, agonized for days over the job offer: Unravel the accusations and counter-accusations of war crimes related to Israel's winter assault on the Gaza Strip. The inquiry was a hot potato. The United Nations resolution ordering it focused on alleged "grave violations" by Israel, but not on rocket fire by Palestinian militants. Several experts invited to serve on the U.N. Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission had refused because they considered the mandate one-sided, a U.N. official said. Goldstone, a Jew, insisted on a balanced approach. His proposal: Talk to the victims. All the victims... "I decided to accept it because of my deep concern for peace in the Middle East and my deep concern for victims on all sides in the Middle East," he said at a news conference in Geneva. The mission, he and U.N. officials said, would examine abuses on both sides of the 22-day conflict. Goldstone's appointment poses an immediate policy question for Israel's new government. Israel considers the 47-member council incorrigibly biased and has refused to take part in some of its previous inquiries, including one led by Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who took office last week, is acutely aware of Israel's isolation over the Gaza conflict and has assured Western leaders that his government, though dominated by right-wing parties, is eager to work with them on peace efforts in the Middle East. Goldstone's international reputation for fairness and balance, more than the fact that he is Jewish, could make it awkward for Israel to shut him out. "He's a person of impeccable integrity," said South African lawyer Mervyn Smith, who has known Goldstone for 25 years and is a former president of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. "The fact that he's Jewish is not going to influence him one way or another." Yuval Shany, director of the Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said he was surprised by the appointment. He said the U.N. council, dominated by Arab, African and Asian countries, usually sends outspoken critics of Israel to lead such inquiries. "Clearly this is not the case here, because Richard Goldstone is a fair-minded jurist, and I don't think anyone can say he's hostile to Israel in any way," Shany said. For most of his adult life, Goldstone, 70, has delved into victimhood. Growing up in apartheid South Africa, he did not make black friends until he went to a university. He hated what apartheid did to them, treating them as lesser mortals, forcing them to carry passes and live in segregated townships. Labels: Gaza, war crimes
February 6, 2009
Posted 3:20 PM
by Mary
U.N.’s Gaza Refugee Director Criticizes Israel and Hamas * Sign In to E-Mail * Print * Reprints * Share o Linkedin o Digg o Facebook o Mixx o Yahoo! Buzz o Permalink Article Tools Sponsored By By NEIL MACFARQUHAR Published: February 5, 2009 UNITED NATIONS — John Ging, the director of operations for the United Nations refugee agency in Gaza, said Thursday that Israel’s blockade was creating growing misery there by choking off basic humanitarian supplies like food, medicine, clothes and blankets as well as school supplies. Skip to next paragraph Related Israeli Navy Diverts Ship Bound for Gaza (February 6, 2009) He also criticized the leadership of Hamas for letting its police force run wild, attacking a distribution center for the needy to cart off supplies. “We are neither getting in the volume nor the range of supplies that we need here,” Mr. Ging told reporters at the United Nations, speaking via video link-up from Gaza. “This is creating a lot of misery among the people.” In one example, Mr. Ging said that the teachers in the schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency had worked throughout the three-week Israeli bombardment that ended Jan. 18 to create a new human rights curriculum. But because Israel was blocking paper supplies, the textbooks and workbooks could not be printed, so some 60 percent of the children in United Nations schools lack books. The human rights curriculum was designed to combat extremism, he said, a growing problem in the wake of the Israeli bombardment. Ordinary Gazans are particularly frustrated, he said, because they have seen news reports about generous donations from around the world stuck just outside the enclave. It is premature to talk about Gaza’s reconstruction until the issue of access for basic humanitarian supplies is fixed, Mr. Ging said. Israel has maintained a strict blockade of Gaza since Hamas took power there in a brief civil war with its secular rival, Fatah, in June 2007. Labels: Gaza, Israel
January 29, 2009
Posted 1:09 PM
by Mary
Gaza Update: Shooting at the French - and Everything that Moves (NO UN personnell included, afaik) Along with today's air strikes on Gaza which AFP report "wounded 18 Palestinians including 11 schoolchildren and a pregnant woman," there are also reports that yesterday Israeli troops fired “warning shots” at a group of diplomats, including the French consul-general: France has summoned Israel's ambassador to protest after Israeli troops fired warning shots as European diplomats were blocked at a Gaza border crossing, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. A diplomatic convoy carrying France's consul general was halted by Israeli troops at the Erez border crossing on Tuesday and held for six hours as it tried to leave the Gaza Strip and return to Jerusalem, a spokesman said. "The convoy, which included other European diplomats, was subject to two warning shots from Israeli soldiers," French spokesman Eric Chevalier said. Labels: Gaza, Israeli
January 22, 2009
Posted 5:22 PM
by Mary
UN official: Israel should probe shelling which damaged UN buildings in Gaza By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters The United Nations' humanitarian chief has begun a tour of the Gaza Strip to examine the extent of the devastation left behind by a three-week Israeli offensive. John Holmes says the number of casualties is "extremely shocking." He also wants Israel to conduct a thorough investigation into shelling attacks that damaged UN buildings in Gaza. Holmes says he's thinking about immediate humanitarian needs and longer-term reconstruction. He says the biggest concerns are providing clean water, sanitation, electricity and shelter. Advertisement Holmes says Gaza's border crossings will have to be opened to allow reconstruction materials into the area. Israel and Egypt have kept the crossings largely closed since Hamas militants seized power of Gaza in 2007. Hamas wants the borders opened as part of any long-term cease-fire. UN seeks explanation from Israel over attacks on Gaza schools The UN Security Council is likely to release a statement on Wednesday demanding Israel provide urgently an explanation of attacks on UN facilities in Gaza. The statement comes after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the council he expected Israel to provide a full explanation, and that those responsible must be held accountable. A diplomat who attended the brief said "the Secretary-General's address was harsh and grim." Reporting to the UN Security Council on his return from the Middle East, Ban said the recent violence in Gaza was a sign of "collective political failure" and called for a "massive international effort" to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. Ban visited the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Tuesday to pledge aid for Palestinians after Israeli attacks killed 1,300 and made thousands homeless in a 22-day assault Israel said was to stop Hamas firing rockets at southern Israel. Hamas and Israel independently declared cease-fires on Sunday and Israel has withdrawn its troops from Gaza. Ban said he had demanded a thorough investigation by Israel of "several incidents of outrageous attacks against UN facilities," including UN-run schools that were being used as shelters and a warehouse storing aid supplies. Israel blames Hamas for fighting around civilians and sites run by the United Nations, which provides support for much of the 1.5 million population. "I expect to receive a full explanation of each incident and that those responsible will be held accountable for their actions," Ban told the Security Council in a report delivered for him by Under-Secretary-General Lynn Pascoe because Ban had lost his voice. He said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had promised to provide the results of an inquiry "on an urgent basis," and he would decide on any appropriate follow-up steps when he had heard Israel's explanation. Ban said Palestinian reconciliation was vital and appealed to Arab countries and the international community to support efforts to reconcile the two rival factions - President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, in the West Bank, and Hamas, which drove Fatah out of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Ban said the tools and plans to end the Arab-Israeli conflict were in place in Security Council resolutions and an Arab peace initiative, but the political will had been lacking. "Nothing short of a massive international effort is now required to support, and insist on, a resolution of this conflict," Ban said. Other UN officials, including John Ging, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza, have called for an independent investigation into the attacks. UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said Ban also wanted one after the Israeli inquiry but could not himself initiate it. Labels: Gaza, UN ambassador, UNRWA
January 15, 2009
Posted 10:12 AM
by Mary
CNN is reporting that a UN compound in Gaza is now burning as a result of Israeli artillery and tank fire. Here is the AFP/Getty Images photo they are using in the story: "Fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in Gaza City set part of a U.N. relief agency's central storehouse for humanitarian aid ablaze, its director said Thursday. The fire left black smoke hanging over Gaza City, and there was no way to control the fire, said John Ging, the head of operations in Gaza for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. "It's a very big fire, and we're not able to get it under control at the moment," he said. With gun battles going on around the facility, "the emergency services are not able to get to us." Perhaps the most disturbing part of the story is the type of shells that were used, as Ging continues: "What we've had all night and into this morning is a relentless bombardment of this area by artillery fire, which is coming from kilometers away, and by tank fire," he said. He said staffers identified the source of the fires as white phosphorous shells, whose use is restricted under international law.What will be the official US response to this double war crime ( 1--shelling a relief agency with refugees present, 2--using white phosphorus for a purpose other than illumination)? Back in August of 2003, a UN compound in Baghdad was bombed in one of the first incidents of the insurrection in Iraq. Here is what George W. Bush had to say about that attack: Today in Baghdad terrorists turned their violence against the United Nations. The U.N. personnel and Iraqi citizens killed in the bombing were in that country on a purely humanitarian mission. Men and women in the targeted building were working on reconstruction, medical care for Iraqis. They were there to help with the distribution of food. A number have been killed or injured. And to those who suffer, I extend the sympathy of the American people. He goes even further: The terrorists who struck today have again shown their contempt for the innocent. They showed their fear of progress and their hatred of peace. They are the enemies of the Iraqi people. They are the enemies of every nation that seeks to help the Iraqi people. By their tactics and their targets, these murderers reveal themselves once more as enemies of the civilized world. Bush could issue much the same statement today, merely replacing "Baghdad" with "Gaza" and "Iraqis" with "Palestinians". Will he? I'm not going to hold my breath. Labels: Gaza, Israel, war crimes, zionist
Posted 10:04 AM
by Mary
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, engulfing the compound and the main warehouse in fire and destroying thousands of pounds of food and humanitarian supplies intended for Palestinian refugees. The U.N. chief, in Israel for the day, demanded a "full explanation." A senior Israeli military officer said Israeli troops shelled after coming under fire from Palestinian militants inside the compound _ an account dismissed by a U.N. official there at the time as "nonsense." U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is in the region to end the devastating offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers, said the Israeli defense minister told him there had been a "grave mistake." Labels: Gaza, Israel, war crimes
January 10, 2009
Posted 11:21 AM
by Mary
9From JuanCole.com) Since the Bush administration is diplomatically challenged, the primary work on the resolution was done by Egypt and Britain, among others. It was little noticed that China dared break with Washington on the need for a ceasefire even before Thursday's vote. Chinese special envoy for the Middle East Sun Bi Gan said, according to Xinhuanet, "The Gaza conflict proves again that military means are not the way out for resolving Palestinian-Israeli disputes. Military force could only bring more hostility and enmity, without giving either side absolute safety," he said. Sun said international society and relevant parties, when endeavoring to ease the tense situation, should also consider carrying out feasible actions to accelerate the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, to establish an independent Palestinian state at an early date, and to realize peaceful coexistence. So China's explicit position is the early announcement of a Palestinian state, and immediate talks to that end. At the moment, China is the Dennis Kucinich of Middle Eastern diplomacy. But as it rises as a great power, and given that it is the second largest petroleum importer in the world after the US--and so increasingly close to Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Iran, it may be come a player over time. China is usually so taciturn in these matters that I was surprised to see Sun Bi Gan speak out forcefully and before he had the cover of a UN Security Council resolution. Less surprising is that France and Russia had begun calling for a ceasefire. Both have long been assertive in foreign policy, unlike the Chinese. Labels: China, Gaza
Posted 10:12 AM
by Mary
UN: IDF officers admitted there was no gunfire from Gaza school which was shelled By Barak Ravid and Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent The United Nations is claiming Israeli military officers have admitted there was no Palestinian gunfire emanating from inside an UNRWA school in Gaza which was shelled by an IDF tank. In addition, UNRWA Thursday announced it will cease activities in the Strip due to the death of an UNRWA staffer in an IDF shelling during Thursday morning's humanitarian hiatus. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told Haaretz yesterday that the army had conceded wrongdoing. "In briefings senior [Israel Defense Forces] officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabalya were responding did not originate from the school," Gunness said. "The IDF admitted in that briefing that the attack on the UN site was unintentional." He noted that all the footage released by the IDF of militants firing from inside the school was from 2007 and not from the incident itself. "There are no up-to-date photos," Gunness said. "In 2007, we abandoned the site and only then did the militants take it over." The UNRWA is now demanding an objective investigation into whether the school shelling constituted a violation of international humanitarian law, and if so, that those responsible stand trial. The UN reported Thursday that a Palestinian working for the UNRWA was killed by an IDF tank shell while driving an aid truck at the Erez border crossing. The organization claims the UN truck was well-marked and the incident took place during the humanitarian hiatus slated to allow Gaza residents to acquire supplies Labels: Gaza, war crimes
January 9, 2009
Posted 1:42 PM
by Mary
Gaza under fire: Children found next to dead mothers By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Four small starving children too weak to stand were found next to the bodies of their dead mothers by ambulancemen who had been trying to reach their Gaza neighbourhood for four days after it came under Israeli attack, the Red Cross said yesterday. In what the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called a "shocking incident", another man, also too weak to stand, was found in the same bombed house, along with at least 12 corpses on mattresses. Accusing Israel of violating international law by imposing "unacceptable" delays on rescuers trying to reach the scene, the ICRC said that when ambulance crews were finally allowed to access the area in Gaza City's Zeitoun district during a bombardment pause on Wednesday, they found 15 other survivors, including several wounded in another house. In a third house, they found three more corpses. Labels: Gaza, Israel, war crimes
Posted 1:40 PM
by Mary
U.N. rights official urges independent Gaza probe Stephanie Nebehay Reuters North American News Service
GENEVA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The top U.N. human rights official called on Friday for "credible and independent" investigations into any violations of international humanitarian law in the Gaza conflict which may constitute war crimes. Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, also said that U.N. human rights monitors must be deployed in Israel as well as Gaza and the West Bank to document violations. "The vicious cycle of provocation and retribution must be brought to an end," she said. Scores of people, including children, had been killed or wounded in "Israel's totally unacceptable strikes" against clearly marked U.N. facilities sheltering Gaza civilians, she said. Harm to civilians caused by rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel was also "unacceptable". Pillay was addressing a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council a day after the Security Council adopted a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the 14-day-old conflict and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. "Accountability must be ensured for violations of international law. As a first step, credible, independent and transparent investigations must be carried out to identify violations and establish responsibilities," she said. "Violations of international humanitarian law may constitute war crimes for which individual criminal responsibility may be invoked," said Pillay, a former International Criminal Court judge from South Africa. Pakistan's ambassador Zamir Akram, speaking on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), denounced Israel's "unrestrained use of force", killing of innocent civilians and violation of U.N. safe havens. "In their totality these constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity," he declared. Labels: Gaza, UNHCR
Posted 1:38 PM
by Mary
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The U.N. Security Council late Thursday overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. A photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces shows Israeli paratroopers in Gaza on Thursday. Fourteen of the council's 15 members voted in favor of the resolution, with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice abstaining from the vote on behalf of the United States. The resolution expresses "grave concern" about the growing humanitarian crisis and heavy civilian casualties in Gaza, as well as civilian deaths in Israel from Hamas rocket fire. Roughly 765 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have been killed since Israel began its military assault on Gaza on December 27. The resolution "stresses the urgency of, and calls for, an immediate, durable, and fully respected cease-fire which will lead to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza." A resolution from the council, particularly one that passes with such large support, can put international pressure on parties involved in a conflict. But they are in no way binding, and many in the past have been ignored by warring factions. "We are all very conscious that peace is made on the ground while resolutions are written in the U.N.," said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. "Our job here is to support the efforts for peace on the ground and turn the good words on paper into changes on the ground that are so desperately needed." Rice applauded the resolution's goals, but said the United States prefers to wait for results of ongoing, Egyptian-brokered talks in Cairo, Egypt, with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Labels: Gaza, UNSC
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"War does not determine who is right--only who is left." - Bertrand Russell
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