UN Official: Israeli Human Rights Violations in Gaza
Max | 14.08.2009 20:27
The UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has said that there is significant "prima facia" evidence that Israeli forces violated international law and human rights during their invasion of Gaza between late December and mid-January.
Israeli War Crimes in Gaza
A report by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay lambasted the "nearly total impunity" for these gross violation.
The 34-page report is one of two - together with a forthcoming one by South African jurist Richard Goldstone who has been conducting hearings in Gaza - that will be presented to the council next month.
General Assembly’s 64th session beginning next month, cites “violations of the international humanitarian law during the Operation Cast Lead (Israel’s offensive), in particular the targeting of civilian population and wanton destruction of property and religious and cultural objects.”
The already critical human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) deteriorated further during the war, she said in the report, the first of a series of periodic reports ordered by the UN Human Rights Council in January during Israel's "Operation Cast Lead."
The Palestinians in Gaza have been evicted from their homes, had their movements restricted by the Israeli military and suffered a long-term economic blockade turning Gaza into a virtual open prison, reminiscent of the Warsaw Ghetto. All these conditions existed before the brutal bombing and invasion of Gaza by Israeli troops.
"Significant prima facie evidence indicates that serious violations of international humanitarian law as well as gross human rights violations occurred during the military operations of 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, which were compounded by the blockade that the population of Gaza endured in the months prior to Operation Cast Lead and which continues," Pillay said.
Pillay said rights violations included arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, extrajudicial execution, forced eviction and home demolition, settlement expansion and related violence and restrictions on freedom of movement and expression.
"While these violations are of deep concern in their own right, the nearly total impunity that persists for such violations (regardless of the responsible duty bearer) is of grave concern, and constitutes a root cause for their persistence," the former South African high court judge said.
Pillay's recommendations included the following:
* Israel should lift the blockade of Gaza and restrictions on movement in and out of the West Bank, which amount to illegal collective punishment.
* Allegations of violations of humanitarian law and human rights during the Gaza war should be investigated by independent bodies, and victims should have the right to reparations.
* Israel should tackle impunity for violations, and curb its use of the military justice system, which does not meet international standards.
* Israel should end the illegal expansion of settlements in the occupied territory, halt evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes, and end settler violence.
Israeli crimes have now reached a point where they must be challenged.
It is time that the rogue state of Israel was forced to abide by Humanitarian and International Law.
SOURCE:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=31768&Cr=&Cr1=
The 34-page report is one of two - together with a forthcoming one by South African jurist Richard Goldstone who has been conducting hearings in Gaza - that will be presented to the council next month.
General Assembly’s 64th session beginning next month, cites “violations of the international humanitarian law during the Operation Cast Lead (Israel’s offensive), in particular the targeting of civilian population and wanton destruction of property and religious and cultural objects.”
The already critical human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) deteriorated further during the war, she said in the report, the first of a series of periodic reports ordered by the UN Human Rights Council in January during Israel's "Operation Cast Lead."
The Palestinians in Gaza have been evicted from their homes, had their movements restricted by the Israeli military and suffered a long-term economic blockade turning Gaza into a virtual open prison, reminiscent of the Warsaw Ghetto. All these conditions existed before the brutal bombing and invasion of Gaza by Israeli troops.
"Significant prima facie evidence indicates that serious violations of international humanitarian law as well as gross human rights violations occurred during the military operations of 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, which were compounded by the blockade that the population of Gaza endured in the months prior to Operation Cast Lead and which continues," Pillay said.
Pillay said rights violations included arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, extrajudicial execution, forced eviction and home demolition, settlement expansion and related violence and restrictions on freedom of movement and expression.
"While these violations are of deep concern in their own right, the nearly total impunity that persists for such violations (regardless of the responsible duty bearer) is of grave concern, and constitutes a root cause for their persistence," the former South African high court judge said.
Pillay's recommendations included the following:
* Israel should lift the blockade of Gaza and restrictions on movement in and out of the West Bank, which amount to illegal collective punishment.
* Allegations of violations of humanitarian law and human rights during the Gaza war should be investigated by independent bodies, and victims should have the right to reparations.
* Israel should tackle impunity for violations, and curb its use of the military justice system, which does not meet international standards.
* Israel should end the illegal expansion of settlements in the occupied territory, halt evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes, and end settler violence.
Israeli crimes have now reached a point where they must be challenged.
It is time that the rogue state of Israel was forced to abide by Humanitarian and International Law.
SOURCE:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=31768&Cr=&Cr1=
Max