|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
|
May 29th,
2009 - Israeli Army Targeted Civilians, Rules UN Report |
|
Israeli Army Targeted
Civilians, Rules UN Report By Elham Asaad Buaras The Muslim News May 29, 2009 In a number of incidents
“too numerous to list” the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) “recklessly and
intentionally” put Palestinian children, civilians and aid workers in danger
during their 22-day onslaught on Gaza, that is the scathing verdict of a
43-paged UN report. The UN Secretary General
also accused Israel of lying about attacks on UN schools and other facilities
during the Gaza military campaign - including one reported to have killed
more than 40 people, and demanded compensation. Ban Ki-moon also said a UN
investigation found conclusively that Israeli weaponry, some containing white
phosphorus, was “the indisputed cause” of attacks on several schools, a
health clinic and the world body’s Gaza headquarters. The first of 11
recommendations calls for the UN to seek “formal acknowledgment by the
government of Israel that its public statements alleging that Palestinians
fired” from within the UN’s school in Jabalia on January 6 and within the
UN’s field office compound on January 15 “were untrue and are regretted.”
Another says the UN should “take appropriate action to seek accountability
and pursue claims to secure reparation or reimbursement for all expenses
incurred and payment made by the United Nations” because of deaths and
injuries involving UN personnel and property. Ban described the investigation
as “completely independent” from his staff and denied the report was “watered
down” in any way to please the US. In one incident IDF soldiers
ordered an 11-year-old boy to open Palestinians’ packages, so that the
soldiers would not be hurt if they turned out to contain explosives, the
report released on May 5 said. The child was then forced to walk in front of
the soldiers when they came under fire, “the boy remained in front of the
group,” the report said. Also cited were “credible
reports” that accused Hamas of using human shields and placing civilians at
risk. But it singled out the Israelis for more sweeping criticism. The report cited two alleged
incidents from January 3, on one, it said, after a tank round struck near a
house, a father and his two sons both younger than 11 emerged to look at the
damage. “As they exited their home,
IDF soldiers shot and killed them, with the daughter witnessing,” the report
said. In the second, it said, “Israeli soldiers entered a family house in the
Zeitoun neighbuorhood of Gaza City. Standing at the doorstep, they asked the
male head of the household to come out and shot him dead, without warning,
while he was holding his ID, hands raised up in the air, and then started to
fire indiscriminately and without warning into the room where the rest of the
family was huddled together. “The eldest son was shouting
in vain the word ‘Children’ in Hebrew to warn the soldiers. The shooting did
not stop until everyone was lying on the floor. The mother and four of the
brothers, aged 2-12 years, had been wounded, one of them, aged 4, fatally.” Of the 1,453 people
estimated killed in the conflict, 1,440 were Palestinian, including 431
children and 114 women, the report said. The 13 Israelis killed included
three civilians and six soldiers killed by Hamas, and four soldiers killed by
friendly fire, it said. The report said the Israeli operation resulted in “a
dramatic deterioration of the living conditions of the civilian population.”
It cited “targeted and indiscriminate” attacks on hospitals and clinics,
water and sewage treatment facilities, government buildings, utilities and
farming and said the offensive “intensified the already catastrophic
humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people.” It said Israeli strikes
damaged more than 200 schools and left more than 70,000 people homeless.
“There are strong and credible reports of war crimes and other violations of
international norms,” it said, adding that many observers have said war
crimes investigations should be undertaken. “The alternative is de facto
impunity,” it said. It called for the end of Israel’s blockade of Gaza and
the free passage into the territory of food, medicine, fuel and construction
supplies. Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud
Olmert spokesman, Mark Regev, called the report “another example of the
one-sided and unfair attitude of the rapporteur of the Human Rights Council,
a council that has been criticisd by current and previous secretaries-general
for its unbalanced attitudes toward Israel.” However, attempts to
discredit the Human Rights Council were foiled earlier last month when
Israeli soldiers confessed to Haaretz newspaper that Palestinian civilians
were killed and Palestinian property intentionally destroyed during Israel’s
military campaign in Gaza. Another report issued from
Physicians for Human Rights said the Gaza incursion violated IDF’s own code
of ethics. The report by a Nobel Peace prize winning medical group, said IDF
forces did not evacuate injured civilians for days and prevented Palestinian
teams from reaching the wounded, and said some of them died as a result. It
said 16 Palestinian medical personnel were killed by IDF fire and 25 were
wounded during the IDF operation, and accused the IDF of attacking 34 medical
centres in violation of the IDF’s own “ethical code for fighting terror.” Speaking to The Muslim News,
Human Rights Watch, and Jerusalem based spokesman Bill Van Esveld said, “We
are very happy with the report. It is very credible.” But he accentuated the
report's short-coming in only assessing nine cases of damage to UN facilities
and not examining violations of humanitarian law which caused the death of
civilians by Israel. Van Esveld blasted Ban Ki-moon’s decision to reject any
further inquiries which “undercut his own organisations inquiry.” Daud Abdullah of the
Palestinian Return Centre echoed Van Esveld’s sentiments saying there should
have a “measure of accountability” in the report. He told The Muslim News the
report did not mention or recognise or condemn the particular groups who
“commissioned and who carried out these crimes.” He concluded, “The
international mechanisms of justice should be activated” to address the issue
more properly. External link: http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/paper/index.php?article=4107 |