"There needs to be an investigation carried out under independent auspices as to whether these grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions ... should be treated as war crimes,"
UN expert wants probe of 'war crimes'
Jan. 22, 2009
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST
The UN expert on the Palestinian territories said Thursday an independent investigation should establish whether Israel committed war crimes in Gaza during its recent offensive.
Richard Falk, an independent UN rights expert, said there was compelling evidence that Israel breached basic humanitarian rules and the laws of war by conducting a large-scale military operation "against an essentially defenseless population."
"There needs to be an investigation carried out under independent auspices as to whether these grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions ... should be treated as war crimes," Falk said.
"I believe that there is the prima facie case for reaching that conclusion," he told reporters in a telephone briefing from California.
Israel's Ambassador in the US, Aharon Leshno-Yaar, said in response that "Professor Falk's bias against Israel is well known."
"He disqualified himself from being what he is supposed to be, a neutral, balanced and professional rapporteur," Leshno-Yaar told The Associated Press.
Falk, a retired American law professor, said the rockets fired from Hamas-ruled Gaza on southern Israel were also a violation of international law.
"This is the first time I know of where a civilian population has been essentially locked into the war zone, not allowed to leave it despite the dense population and the obvious risks that were entailed," Falk said. "The civilians in Gaza were denied the option of becoming a refugee."
Israel, which has an obligation to protect the civilian population under its occupation, did not even allow children, women or sick people to leave the besieged territory, he added.
Over half of Gaza's people are children, Falk said.
"In this sense, it almost has the appearance of being a war that is waged directly at the expense of children," he said.
The 78-year-old Falk is unpaid and without enforcement power in the UN post, which he has held since May.
He previously angered Israel by comparing the Jewish state to Nazi Germany and accusing it of crimes against humanity because of its treatment of Palestinians.
He was barred from entering Israel and sent back on a plane to the US in December.
Jan. 22, 2009
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST
The UN expert on the Palestinian territories said Thursday an independent investigation should establish whether Israel committed war crimes in Gaza during its recent offensive.
Richard Falk, an independent UN rights expert, said there was compelling evidence that Israel breached basic humanitarian rules and the laws of war by conducting a large-scale military operation "against an essentially defenseless population."
"There needs to be an investigation carried out under independent auspices as to whether these grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions ... should be treated as war crimes," Falk said.
"I believe that there is the prima facie case for reaching that conclusion," he told reporters in a telephone briefing from California.
Israel's Ambassador in the US, Aharon Leshno-Yaar, said in response that "Professor Falk's bias against Israel is well known."
"He disqualified himself from being what he is supposed to be, a neutral, balanced and professional rapporteur," Leshno-Yaar told The Associated Press.
Falk, a retired American law professor, said the rockets fired from Hamas-ruled Gaza on southern Israel were also a violation of international law.
"This is the first time I know of where a civilian population has been essentially locked into the war zone, not allowed to leave it despite the dense population and the obvious risks that were entailed," Falk said. "The civilians in Gaza were denied the option of becoming a refugee."
Israel, which has an obligation to protect the civilian population under its occupation, did not even allow children, women or sick people to leave the besieged territory, he added.
Over half of Gaza's people are children, Falk said.
"In this sense, it almost has the appearance of being a war that is waged directly at the expense of children," he said.
The 78-year-old Falk is unpaid and without enforcement power in the UN post, which he has held since May.
He previously angered Israel by comparing the Jewish state to Nazi Germany and accusing it of crimes against humanity because of its treatment of Palestinians.
He was barred from entering Israel and sent back on a plane to the US in December.
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Israel are going to investigate themselves
23.01.2009 08:58
In the same report they showed an interview with a young Palestinian woman whose wrecked house, the whole tower block, had been commandeered by Hamas fighters. The reporters kept stating that Hamas had used the residents of the tower block as human shields, but it was quite clear by what the woman said that she and family and indeed all the families had been free to leave. At one stage the fighters told her "either leave or stay here and die with us" The story was a blatant fabrication, I have also read on Aljazeera of some seriously dodgy stories circulating in the Italian (fascist) press.
During the actual bombardments and massacre the Italian TV companies show exactly the same "impartiality" as the BBC, reporting the deaths on both sides equally, only problem was that on most days there were no Israeli casualties against hundreds of Palestinians deaths and as Hamas was firing glorified fire works against Israels latest high tech killing machine. If we can't trust journalists to accurately report the facts on Palestine why should we believe anything that say about anything else, quite simply we can't .. I hope they all feel so guilty after the latest round of lies and bullshit that they drink themselves to death.
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