UN MUST PERSEVERE IN SEARCH FOR JENIN TRUTH
long jock silver | 05.05.2002 07:55
Israel's decision not to cooperate with a United Nations fact-finding mission into the Israeli military assault on the Jenin refugee camp is intended to prevent the world from knowing the truth.In the face of the Israeli opposition, Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced Wednesday he was disbanding the mission. But there is an urgent need for the UN to dispatch the fact-finding team immediately.
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UN MUST PERSEVERE IN SEARCH FOR JENIN TRUTH
By Arjan El Fassed
Newsday, May 3, 2002
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpfas032691921may03.story
Israel's decision not to cooperate with a United Nations fact-finding mission into the Israeli military assault on the Jenin refugee camp is intended to prevent the world from knowing the truth.
In the face of the Israeli opposition, Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced Wednesday he was disbanding the mission. But there is an urgent need for the UN to dispatch the fact-finding team immediately.
With every passing day, it becomes more difficult to determine what took place in Jenin.
Among Israel's main initial conditions for allowing a fact-finding team to arrive were that Israel would decide which Israeli witnesses would testify before the UN team and Israel wanted guarantees that witnesses would be immune from any war-crimes prosecution arising from their testimony. But establishing the facts is a first step to justice and justice is essential to the human-rights cause. It provides a measure of respect for the victims of serious abuse. It punishes those who commit atrocities. Justice helps societies come to
grips with the past and move forward. And it promises to save lives by deterring at least some of tomorrow's abusers.
Human-rights investigations are being conducted in other parts of the world, but Israel is being shielded from investigation. If the UN is interested in investigating, it should investigate everything - not just what Israel wants investigated. The United States, which sponsored the UN resolution to establish the Jenin fact-finding team, should not allow the mission to die. If it does, it allows no justice for Jenin's victims.
It is imperative that the UN fact-finding team commence its work, with full independence, without further delay. The members of the team and their assistants are known for their expertise and independence. The UN should not allow any deals that undermine the search for truth.
It is not a surprise that Israel is unreceptive to any fact-finding mission. In 1996, United Nations military adviser Gen. Franklin van Kappen conducted an official on-site investigation of the tragic events that took place at Qana, Lebanon, on April 18, 1996, in which more than 100 Lebanese civilians were killed in the headquarters of a battalion of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
In a report to former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali, van Kappen concluded that "while the possibility cannot be ruled out completely, it is unlikely that the shelling of the UNIFIL compound was the result of gross technical and/or procedural error," as Israeli army officials had claimed. Van Kappen indicated that Israeli army officials of "some seniority" were involved in orders to fire
upon the base, which they knew was sheltering hundreds of unarmed civilians.
International human rights organizations also conducted
investigations into the Qana incident, and concluded that the
shelling of the compound was most likely deliberate, not mistaken.
The United States and Israel vigorously contended that the attack had been an unfortunate mistake, and the story gradually disappeared from all but the memories of those civilians, UNIFIL personnel and journalists who had witnessed the carnage at Qana.
The tragedy at Qana was that this incident was not unique in its general features. More than 20 years ago, refugees at Sabra and Shatila woke up to one of the bloodiest chapters in Lebanon's history - victims of Israeli-orchestrated attacks.
Moreover, there has been a consistent pattern that hardly suggests the United States desires implementation of international law. Faced with only verbal censure, Israel's policies and practices, including those that breach the Fourth Geneva Convention and constitute war
crimes, remain unconstrained. Through its vetoes in the Security Council, the United States continues to block the deployment of an international protection presence.
In an age that has witnessed the international community's growing intolerance of war crimes and the establishment of tribunals to indict and arrest war criminals in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, it is jarring indeed to see the same acts happening over and over again.
This and Israel's refusal to cooperate with a recent proposed visit by the UN high commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson, fly in the face of the desire to find out what happened in Jenin. It seems more and more that Israel, indeed, has something to hide.
In former Yugoslavia, investigations into war crimes and cooperation with the Hague Tribunal have been enforced by economic sanctions.
Also a mission of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq has been imposed on that country by economic sanctions. Now it's time for the United Nations to take its responsibility.
The United Nations has provided a program of justice to former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and East Timor, including fact-finding, investigations, indictments, tribunals and trials. Israeli actions should not be given impunity. If the United Nations disbands the Jenin fact-finding mission, it essentially turns its back on victims
of human-rights abuses.
Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.
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ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
http://electronicIntifada.net __________________________
UN MUST PERSEVERE IN SEARCH FOR JENIN TRUTH
By Arjan El Fassed
Newsday, May 3, 2002
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpfas032691921may03.story Israel's decision not to cooperate with a United Nations fact-finding mission into the Israeli military assault on the Jenin refugee camp is intended to prevent the world from knowing the truth.
In the face of the Israeli opposition, Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced Wednesday he was disbanding the mission. But there is an urgent need for the UN to dispatch the fact-finding team immediately.
With every passing day, it becomes more difficult to determine what took place in Jenin.
Among Israel's main initial conditions for allowing a fact-finding team to arrive were that Israel would decide which Israeli witnesses would testify before the UN team and Israel wanted guarantees that witnesses would be immune from any war-crimes prosecution arising from their testimony. But establishing the facts is a first step to justice and justice is essential to the human-rights cause. It provides a measure of respect for the victims of serious abuse. It punishes those who commit atrocities. Justice helps societies come to
grips with the past and move forward. And it promises to save lives by deterring at least some of tomorrow's abusers.
Human-rights investigations are being conducted in other parts of the world, but Israel is being shielded from investigation. If the UN is interested in investigating, it should investigate everything - not just what Israel wants investigated. The United States, which sponsored the UN resolution to establish the Jenin fact-finding team, should not allow the mission to die. If it does, it allows no justice for Jenin's victims.
It is imperative that the UN fact-finding team commence its work, with full independence, without further delay. The members of the team and their assistants are known for their expertise and independence. The UN should not allow any deals that undermine the search for truth.
It is not a surprise that Israel is unreceptive to any fact-finding mission. In 1996, United Nations military adviser Gen. Franklin van Kappen conducted an official on-site investigation of the tragic events that took place at Qana, Lebanon, on April 18, 1996, in which more than 100 Lebanese civilians were killed in the headquarters of a battalion of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
In a report to former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali, van Kappen concluded that "while the possibility cannot be ruled out completely, it is unlikely that the shelling of the UNIFIL compound was the result of gross technical and/or procedural error," as Israeli army officials had claimed. Van Kappen indicated that Israeli army officials of "some seniority" were involved in orders to fire
upon the base, which they knew was sheltering hundreds of unarmed civilians.
International human rights organizations also conducted
investigations into the Qana incident, and concluded that the
shelling of the compound was most likely deliberate, not mistaken.
The United States and Israel vigorously contended that the attack had been an unfortunate mistake, and the story gradually disappeared from all but the memories of those civilians, UNIFIL personnel and journalists who had witnessed the carnage at Qana.
The tragedy at Qana was that this incident was not unique in its general features. More than 20 years ago, refugees at Sabra and Shatila woke up to one of the bloodiest chapters in Lebanon's history - victims of Israeli-orchestrated attacks.
Moreover, there has been a consistent pattern that hardly suggests the United States desires implementation of international law. Faced with only verbal censure, Israel's policies and practices, including those that breach the Fourth Geneva Convention and constitute war
crimes, remain unconstrained. Through its vetoes in the Security Council, the United States continues to block the deployment of an international protection presence.
In an age that has witnessed the international community's growing intolerance of war crimes and the establishment of tribunals to indict and arrest war criminals in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, it is jarring indeed to see the same acts happening over and over again.
This and Israel's refusal to cooperate with a recent proposed visit by the UN high commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson, fly in the face of the desire to find out what happened in Jenin. It seems more and more that Israel, indeed, has something to hide.
In former Yugoslavia, investigations into war crimes and cooperation with the Hague Tribunal have been enforced by economic sanctions.
Also a mission of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq has been imposed on that country by economic sanctions. Now it's time for the United Nations to take its responsibility.
The United Nations has provided a program of justice to former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and East Timor, including fact-finding, investigations, indictments, tribunals and trials. Israeli actions should not be given impunity. If the United Nations disbands the Jenin fact-finding mission, it essentially turns its back on victims
of human-rights abuses.
Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.
--
ABOUT US: This e-mail was sent by THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA, a resource
to help counter myth, distortion, and spin from the Israeli media war
machine, found at
http://electronicIntifada.net. Articles about us can be found at
http://electronicIntifada.net/about/. MAILING LIST INSTRUCTIONS: Your e-mail address is considered private
and will not be passed to any third party by either us or Yahoo
Groups who hosts our mailing list. To JOIN our mailing list, which
will let you know what updates have been made to the site and alert
you to new action items, please send a blank e-mail to
eIntifada-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. To LEAVE the list, send a blank e-mail to
eIntifada-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. More information about the list, including its archive, is available at
http://electronicIntifada.net/mailinglist.html SPREAD THE WORD: Please help spread THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA by
participating in our action items to the media, by telling your
e-mail contacts and journalists about our site, and by linking to us
at
http://electronicIntifada.net. Together, we can make an positive impact on coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
SUPPORT THE PROJECT: More info at
http://electronicIntifada.net/supporttheproject.html ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Stock for $4
and no minimums.
FREE Money 2002.
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