26 sept 2010
PA: Goldstone resolution won't seek ICC action
PA: Goldstone resolution won't seek ICC action
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The Palestinian Authority will not seek immediate action from the International Criminal Court when it endorses in the coming days a UN-backed inquiry into Israel's winter assault on Gaza, Ma'an has learned.
A resolution to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday or Tuesday will reiterate allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed throughout the war and denounce Israel's investigations. But the language is likely to disappoint Palestinian and Israeli human rights advocates who have condemned the ongoing failure to prosecute the alleged violations of international law. A coalition of rights groups is calling on the UN body to ensure accountability by referring the allegations to the ICC after the UN days earlier rejected two domestic inquiries led by Israeli and Hamas authorities. The PA says going to the ICC is easier said than done. "Anyone can talk about it, but there's a process that needs to take place," Ibrahim Khraishi, the PA envoy in Geneva, said. "We'd like to go tomorrow to the ICC." Nevertheless, Khraishi says the PA will seek a strongly worded resolution calling Israel to account. "The Israelis have failed to undertake serious, credible investigations into these crimes against our people. This is the main issue," he said in a phone interview from Geneva on Sunday. The official added: "On the Palestinian side, there is also a lack of cooperation. Hamas hasn't fulfilled expectations. There's more work to be done, so any delay on the Palestinian side is due to Hamas' lack of cooperation." The Ramallah-based government, meanwhile, has met expectations, he said. "From our side, we are working within the international parameters to look into the violations, and we are willing to take responsibility in the event violations are found. The job was done in a very professional manner." The UN agrees that the PA has done its best, but investigations by Israel and the government in Gaza "remain incomplete in some cases or fall significantly short of meeting international standards in others," the chair of the UN committee of independent experts, Christian Tomuschat, said Tuesday. The PA's probe met international standards, Tomuschat said, although its investigators were hampered by Israeli and Hamas restrictions on entering Gaza. Hamas said the UN did not receive a copy of Hamas' investigations into the findings and that the Gaza government had contacted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over the matter. A political advisor to the Gaza government premier Ismail Haniyeh, Yousef Razqa, said the UN committee did not publish the Gaza government's findings. UN criticism was meant for the PA's report, he said. The PA sparked domestic outrage in October 2009 when its envoy to Geneva deferred debate on the report following pressure from Israel and the US, which opposed the report as biased. President Mahmoud Abbas, at the time facing calls to resign, took responsibility for the move that the PA insisted was a mistake. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=318262 |
24 sept 2010
'Robust' UN Security Council steps needed on Gaza: lawyers
The International Commission of Jurists on Thursday urged the UN Security Council to take "robust" steps to ensure that human rights violations during the Israeli military offensive on Gaza are prosecuted. Skip related content
The ICJ, a campaign group for judges and lawyers, said its call referred to rights violations and breaches of International Humanitarian Law by both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, in 2008/2009.
"The Security Council must take concrete and robust measures to ensure accountability for the perpetrators and justice for victims, and to this end consider the options at its disposal to break the cycle of impunity prevalent in this conflict, including by referring the situation in Gaza to the International Criminal Court," said ICJ Secretary General Wilder Tayler.
UN experts said Tuesday that Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas failed to carry out credible and adequate probes into claims of war crimes committed during the conflict in Gaza nearly two years ago.
The experts' mission was set up after a UN-mandated report by South African judge Richard Goldstone accused both Israel and Palestinian groups of war crimes during the three-week conflict which erupted in late December 2008.
Goldstone had asked for a follow-up to ensure both sides held "credible" investigations.
The ICJ argued in a statement that Israeli investigations had failed to meet international standards of "effectiveness, independence and impartiality".
The Hamas administration in Gaza has also failed to show that it was investigating violations committed by Palestinian armed groups in December 2008 to January 2009, it added.
Tayler said the 47-member UN Human Rights Council, which set up the probes "must therefore assess these domestic proceedings and report accordingly to the UN General Assembly and Security Council."
The UN experts are due to present their findings to the council on Monday.
http://yhoo.it/bkNzMB
'Robust' UN Security Council steps needed on Gaza: lawyers
The International Commission of Jurists on Thursday urged the UN Security Council to take "robust" steps to ensure that human rights violations during the Israeli military offensive on Gaza are prosecuted. Skip related content
The ICJ, a campaign group for judges and lawyers, said its call referred to rights violations and breaches of International Humanitarian Law by both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, in 2008/2009.
"The Security Council must take concrete and robust measures to ensure accountability for the perpetrators and justice for victims, and to this end consider the options at its disposal to break the cycle of impunity prevalent in this conflict, including by referring the situation in Gaza to the International Criminal Court," said ICJ Secretary General Wilder Tayler.
UN experts said Tuesday that Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas failed to carry out credible and adequate probes into claims of war crimes committed during the conflict in Gaza nearly two years ago.
The experts' mission was set up after a UN-mandated report by South African judge Richard Goldstone accused both Israel and Palestinian groups of war crimes during the three-week conflict which erupted in late December 2008.
Goldstone had asked for a follow-up to ensure both sides held "credible" investigations.
The ICJ argued in a statement that Israeli investigations had failed to meet international standards of "effectiveness, independence and impartiality".
The Hamas administration in Gaza has also failed to show that it was investigating violations committed by Palestinian armed groups in December 2008 to January 2009, it added.
Tayler said the 47-member UN Human Rights Council, which set up the probes "must therefore assess these domestic proceedings and report accordingly to the UN General Assembly and Security Council."
The UN experts are due to present their findings to the council on Monday.
http://yhoo.it/bkNzMB
23 sept 2010
Fatah: Hamas obstructing Goldstone report
Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf said Thursday that Hamas was obstructing justice for the victims of Operation Cast Lead.
Assaf accused Hamas of refusing to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority committee charged with responding to Jurist Richard Goldstone's report on the three-week offensive in Gaza, launched in December 2008, which found that Hamas and Israel committed war crimes.
Hamas has given an unprofessional response to Goldstone's report, the Fatah official said, adding that the Islamist movement was hindering the possibility of establishing a fund for victims of the war.
Further, the party's political "ignorance" would prevent the PA from holding an international conference about Israel's use of illegal weapons during the offensive, Assaf said.
The spokesman confirmed Fatah's commitment to following up Goldstone's report, and to implementing all of the jurist's recommendations.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=317394
Fatah: Hamas obstructing Goldstone report
Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf said Thursday that Hamas was obstructing justice for the victims of Operation Cast Lead.
Assaf accused Hamas of refusing to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority committee charged with responding to Jurist Richard Goldstone's report on the three-week offensive in Gaza, launched in December 2008, which found that Hamas and Israel committed war crimes.
Hamas has given an unprofessional response to Goldstone's report, the Fatah official said, adding that the Islamist movement was hindering the possibility of establishing a fund for victims of the war.
Further, the party's political "ignorance" would prevent the PA from holding an international conference about Israel's use of illegal weapons during the offensive, Assaf said.
The spokesman confirmed Fatah's commitment to following up Goldstone's report, and to implementing all of the jurist's recommendations.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=317394
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Israel was criticized for its use of white phosphorus during its offensive on the Gaza Strip.
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has lashed out at Israel for failing to probe the alleged war crimes committed by Israeli forces during its offensive against the Gaza Strip. The committee of independent experts appointed by the UNHRC to investigate the war on Gaza said on Tuesday that Israel's investigations into allegations of law and human rights violations has been inadequate. The mission was set up after a UN-mandated report by South African judge Richard Goldstone accused Israel of having committed war crimes during the December 2008-January 2009 conflict. Israel neither investigated the role of its leaders, nor claims of violations which occurred in the occupied West Bank during the same period, AFP reported. The report by the committee underlined that the Goldstone mission contained "serious allegations that officials at the highest levels were complicit in violations" of international humanitarian and human rights laws. Chairman of the UN committee of independent experts Christian Tomuschat issued a statement saying that "Israel has not met its duty to investigate this charge." "Israel conducted investigations into many incidents, but only four resulted in criminal indictments, one of which led to a conviction for a credit card theft," Tomuschat explained. "There were also concerns about whether the inquiries met standards of impartiality," added the committee, which is due to present their findings to the UN Human Rights Council on September 27. The mission also criticized Palestinian resistance movement Hamas for falling short of tackling the Goldstone report. The report looked into 36 incidents during the Israeli war on Gaza. The committee found that there were no military targets that could justify the controversial incidents, which involved attacks by Israeli forces. Israel's onslaught on the Gaza Strip left some 1,400 Palestinians killed, mostly women and children. http://www.presstv.com/detail/143448.html |
UN panel: Hamas, Israel failed to address Goldstone Gaza report
A group of United Nations experts has criticized Israel and Hamas for failing to conduct serious probes into alleged war crimes last year in the Gaza Strip.
The fact-finding mission of Justice Richard Goldstone last year recommended that the sides conduct independent investigations into his report, which charged that war crimes may have taken place during the 2008-2009 conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Addressing Israel's reaction to the findings of the Goldstone report, the panel blamed Israel Tuesday of only investigating low-ranking officials, adding that the inquiries didn't meet standards of impartiality.
Officials at Israel's mission to the UN in Geneva declined immediately to comment.
On Hamas, the experts said an inquiry by the Islamist group "made no serious effort" to address allegations leveled against the Palestinian militant group in the Goldstone report.
Earlier this year, the Human Rights Council voted to establish a committee to monitor investigations by Israel and the Palestinians into allegations of human rights violations and war crimes.
The council adopted a resolution to "establish a committee of independent experts in international humanitarian and human rights laws to monitor and assess any domestic, legal or other proceedings undertaken by both the Government of Israel and the Palestinian side."
The United States and some European Union countries, including Italy and the Netherlands, voted against the resolution tabled by Arab and Islamic nations. Britain, France, Japan, Norway and seven other states abstained, while the remaining members of the 47-state council voted in favor.
Last month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon released the results of Israeli and Palestinian investigations into alleged war crimes during the conflict in Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009, which did not appear to include any input from Gaza's Hamas rulers.
The UN chief introduced the 247-page report with brief observations that made no comment on the submissions by Israel or the Palestinians, which were requested by the General Assembly. He said it was important to respect international human rights and humanitarian law and expressed hope that steps will be taken wherever there are credible allegations of violations.
http://bit.ly/9pVsZE
A group of United Nations experts has criticized Israel and Hamas for failing to conduct serious probes into alleged war crimes last year in the Gaza Strip.
The fact-finding mission of Justice Richard Goldstone last year recommended that the sides conduct independent investigations into his report, which charged that war crimes may have taken place during the 2008-2009 conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Addressing Israel's reaction to the findings of the Goldstone report, the panel blamed Israel Tuesday of only investigating low-ranking officials, adding that the inquiries didn't meet standards of impartiality.
Officials at Israel's mission to the UN in Geneva declined immediately to comment.
On Hamas, the experts said an inquiry by the Islamist group "made no serious effort" to address allegations leveled against the Palestinian militant group in the Goldstone report.
Earlier this year, the Human Rights Council voted to establish a committee to monitor investigations by Israel and the Palestinians into allegations of human rights violations and war crimes.
The council adopted a resolution to "establish a committee of independent experts in international humanitarian and human rights laws to monitor and assess any domestic, legal or other proceedings undertaken by both the Government of Israel and the Palestinian side."
The United States and some European Union countries, including Italy and the Netherlands, voted against the resolution tabled by Arab and Islamic nations. Britain, France, Japan, Norway and seven other states abstained, while the remaining members of the 47-state council voted in favor.
Last month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon released the results of Israeli and Palestinian investigations into alleged war crimes during the conflict in Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009, which did not appear to include any input from Gaza's Hamas rulers.
The UN chief introduced the 247-page report with brief observations that made no comment on the submissions by Israel or the Palestinians, which were requested by the General Assembly. He said it was important to respect international human rights and humanitarian law and expressed hope that steps will be taken wherever there are credible allegations of violations.
http://bit.ly/9pVsZE
22 sept 2010
Israel rejects UN criticism of its Gaza war probe
Israel on Friday rejected UN claims that it failed to carry out credible probes into claims of war crimes committed during the conflict in Gaza nearly two years ago.
"Israel is a democratic and law abiding country that carefully observes international law and, when need be, knows how to investigate itself," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ygal Palmor said in a statement.
"That is how Israel has always acted, and that is the way in which investigations were conducted following operation Cast Lead," he said in reference to Israel's devastating December 2008-January 2009 Gaza offensive.
The Israeli military has said probes it carried out found it "operated in accordance with international law," while facing an enemy that deliberately fought from within civilian areas.
Palmor was responding to a claim by a UN committee that Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas failed to carry out credible or adequate probes into claims of war crimes committed during the Gaza conflict.
Israel had flatly refused to cooperate with the committee appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to examine the progress of investigations by all parties in the war which left some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
The mission was set up after a UN-mandated report by South African judge Richard Goldstone accused both Israel and Palestinian groups of war crimes during the three-week conflict.
Palmor said that because of "the biased, politicised and extremist approach of the same Human Rights Council that had initiated the skewed Goldstone Report, Israel sees no reason to cooperate with this commission."
"Israel will nonetheless read and study the report," he added.
http://yhoo.it/d6JVLj
Israel rejects UN criticism of its Gaza war probe
Israel on Friday rejected UN claims that it failed to carry out credible probes into claims of war crimes committed during the conflict in Gaza nearly two years ago.
"Israel is a democratic and law abiding country that carefully observes international law and, when need be, knows how to investigate itself," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ygal Palmor said in a statement.
"That is how Israel has always acted, and that is the way in which investigations were conducted following operation Cast Lead," he said in reference to Israel's devastating December 2008-January 2009 Gaza offensive.
The Israeli military has said probes it carried out found it "operated in accordance with international law," while facing an enemy that deliberately fought from within civilian areas.
Palmor was responding to a claim by a UN committee that Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas failed to carry out credible or adequate probes into claims of war crimes committed during the Gaza conflict.
Israel had flatly refused to cooperate with the committee appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to examine the progress of investigations by all parties in the war which left some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
The mission was set up after a UN-mandated report by South African judge Richard Goldstone accused both Israel and Palestinian groups of war crimes during the three-week conflict.
Palmor said that because of "the biased, politicised and extremist approach of the same Human Rights Council that had initiated the skewed Goldstone Report, Israel sees no reason to cooperate with this commission."
"Israel will nonetheless read and study the report," he added.
http://yhoo.it/d6JVLj
21 sept 2010
Hamas: Criticisms of Gaza probe 'aimed at PA'
The UN's criticisms of probes into the Gaza war were meant for the Palestinian Authority's report, the political advisor to the Gaza government premier Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday.
Yousef Razqa said accusations that "Hamas made no serious effort" to investigate the allegations into the UN fact-finding mission led by jursist Richard Goldstone should be directed at the Palestinian Authority, claiming the UN committee did not publish the Gaza government's findings into allegations of war crimes committed by Israel and the Islamist movement.
Razqa also said the UN did not receive a copy of Hamas' investigations into the findings and that the Gaza government had contacted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over the matter.
The panel of three experts mandated with overseeing the credibility of the PA, Hamas and Israel's investigations into the allegations put forward by Goldstone's mission said Tuesday that neither Israel nor Hamas had carried out complete or reliable probes.
"The investigations ... remain incomplete in some cases or fall significantly short of meeting international standards in others," said the chair of the UN committee of independent experts, Christian Tomuschat, in a statement quoted by Agence France-Presse.
However, the committee found that the PA's probe met international standards but said a lack of access into Gaza did not allow for a full probe of the allegations, AFP reported.
Israel 'not met its duty'
The committee concluded that Israel failed to investigate all the allegations put forward in Goldstone's report, which claimed "officials at the highest levels were complicit in violations."
"Israel has not met its duty to investigate this charge," the committee said.
"Israel conducted investigations into many incidents, but only four resulted in criminal indictments, one of which led to a conviction for a credit card theft," noted Tomuschat.
"There were also concerns about whether the inquiries met standards of impartiality," added the committee, which is due to present their findings to the UN Human Rights Council on 27 September, the French newswire wrote.
Hamas 'made no serious effort' to probe claims
The committee also said Hamas' first investigation handed in on the allegations "made no serious effort to address the allegations raised by" the UN fact-finding mission headed by Goldstone and that the second "The second body provided information on measures taken to redress violations in the Gaza Strip, but failed to substantiate assertions that political prisoners had been released and criminal prosecutions had taken place."
The Goldstone report recommended that its findings be transferred the International Criminal Court in The Hague if Israel and Hamas fail to conduct credible investigations into the war.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316817
Hamas: Criticisms of Gaza probe 'aimed at PA'
The UN's criticisms of probes into the Gaza war were meant for the Palestinian Authority's report, the political advisor to the Gaza government premier Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday.
Yousef Razqa said accusations that "Hamas made no serious effort" to investigate the allegations into the UN fact-finding mission led by jursist Richard Goldstone should be directed at the Palestinian Authority, claiming the UN committee did not publish the Gaza government's findings into allegations of war crimes committed by Israel and the Islamist movement.
Razqa also said the UN did not receive a copy of Hamas' investigations into the findings and that the Gaza government had contacted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over the matter.
The panel of three experts mandated with overseeing the credibility of the PA, Hamas and Israel's investigations into the allegations put forward by Goldstone's mission said Tuesday that neither Israel nor Hamas had carried out complete or reliable probes.
"The investigations ... remain incomplete in some cases or fall significantly short of meeting international standards in others," said the chair of the UN committee of independent experts, Christian Tomuschat, in a statement quoted by Agence France-Presse.
However, the committee found that the PA's probe met international standards but said a lack of access into Gaza did not allow for a full probe of the allegations, AFP reported.
Israel 'not met its duty'
The committee concluded that Israel failed to investigate all the allegations put forward in Goldstone's report, which claimed "officials at the highest levels were complicit in violations."
"Israel has not met its duty to investigate this charge," the committee said.
"Israel conducted investigations into many incidents, but only four resulted in criminal indictments, one of which led to a conviction for a credit card theft," noted Tomuschat.
"There were also concerns about whether the inquiries met standards of impartiality," added the committee, which is due to present their findings to the UN Human Rights Council on 27 September, the French newswire wrote.
Hamas 'made no serious effort' to probe claims
The committee also said Hamas' first investigation handed in on the allegations "made no serious effort to address the allegations raised by" the UN fact-finding mission headed by Goldstone and that the second "The second body provided information on measures taken to redress violations in the Gaza Strip, but failed to substantiate assertions that political prisoners had been released and criminal prosecutions had taken place."
The Goldstone report recommended that its findings be transferred the International Criminal Court in The Hague if Israel and Hamas fail to conduct credible investigations into the war.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316817
14 sept 2010
'Israeli soldiers kill with impunity'
A rights group says Israeli soldiers are seldom punished for killing Palestinians due to the prosecution process and the army's indifference in probing such cases.
A report by Israel's B'Tselem indicates that 95 out of a total of 148 cases, in which 288 Palestinians were killed between 2006 and 2009, are still pending, the Jerusalem Post said on Monday.
The report, called "Void of Responsibility," which is to be released Tuesday, says only 22 of the cases resulted in the opening of a probe by the military police investigation unit.
Another 41 of the cases were dismissed, while the military has yet to issue a decision on the remaining 84. No criminal charges have been brought in any of the cases, AFP quoted B'Tselem as saying.
"Investigations are not opened even where there is a grave suspicion that the law has been broken," the human rights watchdog stated.
"Also, analysis of the files shows that the authorities' interpretation of the events is based solely on the results of an operational inquiry and the statements of the soldiers," it added.
The group further charged the Israeli army with disregard for the eyewitness testimony of other persons and other evidence that contradicts the soldiers' position.
According to B'Tselem, during the period in question, Israeli troops killed 1,510 Palestinians, including 617 civilians.
The figures do not include the mortalities from Israel's December 2008-January 2009 war in the Gaza Strip, which took the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/142442.html
Report: Palestinian civilians deaths go unpunished
No ramifications?
B'Tselem says military JAG consistently refrains from investigating cases where Palestinian civilians are killed by IDF soldiers; says JAG takes soldiers' at their word, ignores other evidence.
The Israel Defense Forces policy of refraining from thoroughly investigating the wrongful deaths of Palestinian civilians absolved soldiers from such action even when criminal charges should be brought against them, B'Tselem said.
The conclusion is at the core of a new report by the human rights group, released Tuesday, which says that soldiers who kill Palestinian civilians are rarely prosecuted, even when circumstances clearly indicate foul play.
B'Tselem based its report on the Judge Advocate General's actions over the past four years, saying there is a clear pattern of avoidance from launching full scale Military Police investigations in such cases.
A Ramallah market after an IDF operation
The reports lists 148 cases detailing 288 Palestinian civilian deaths, between 2006 and 2009 excluding Operation Cast Lead which it asked the military to investigate.
B'Tselem claims that during the period in question, the IDF killed 1,510 Palestinians, 617 of them non-combatants; but according to the group, out of its 148 requests only 22 less then 15% - were investigated, 29 cases were closed, 16 cases are pending decision on prosecution, and the rest are still pending decision on further review.
Of he 22 cases investigates, two cases were closed, three are still investigated, four are pending completion, and 13 are pending decision on prosecution.
B'Tselem claims that JAG decided to closed cases even when there was basis to assume foul play, adding that its analysis indicated that the Military Prosecution prefers to base its decision in IDF inquests and soldiers testimonies, while disregarding eye witness reports and other evidence, which contradict the soldiers' accounts.
'Armed conflict' ruling obsolete
The military's policy of not investigating such cases, states the report, is based on an adjudication made during the days of the
al-Aqsa Intifada, rendering the territories an "armed conflict" area, and on the misinterpretation of International Law, which supposedly allows the IDF to refrain from such investigations.
B'Tselem warned that such police gives soldiers de facto immunity, and in applying it, the Israeli military fails to do its duty to spare no effort in minimizing civilian casualties. Moreover, the report claims this police "allows soldiers to violate the law and encourages them to act in a trigger-happy manner, while blatantly disregarding human lives."
The report recommends the legal definition of "armed conflict" be rescinded, saying it has brought on a significant decline in Military Police probes in wrongful death cases.
It further recommends the IDF adhere to Attorney General's Office guidelines as to the timely investigation and prosecution of cases, saying that "while a 2005 High Court ruling states a timeline for such investigations, it did not state a timeline for their processing and prosecution and therefore they are sometimes delayed for months, or even years, which hinders the effectiveness of actions taken."
B'Tselem slams the state's stance, which says it must investigate only cases where soldiers clearly meant to hurt civilians, saying the claim is devoid any legal basis be it in the Israeli law or International Law: "The military's duty does not start and end with barring deliberate harm to civilians, which is a war crime.
"It must also ensure that soldiers and officers follow both military orders and the letter of the law, which bar not only shooting with the intent to kill, but also a slew of acts, including negligent homicide and lesser offenses."
In October 2003, B'Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel appealed to the High Court against the JAG prosecution policy.
In its response, the State told the court that "the fact that a civilian is hurts in conflict does not prove a crime has been committed or that the soldiers exhibited criminal intent."
The case is still pending ruling, despite the fact that the last hearing took place in May 2006.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3953759,00.html
'Israeli soldiers kill with impunity'
A rights group says Israeli soldiers are seldom punished for killing Palestinians due to the prosecution process and the army's indifference in probing such cases.
A report by Israel's B'Tselem indicates that 95 out of a total of 148 cases, in which 288 Palestinians were killed between 2006 and 2009, are still pending, the Jerusalem Post said on Monday.
The report, called "Void of Responsibility," which is to be released Tuesday, says only 22 of the cases resulted in the opening of a probe by the military police investigation unit.
Another 41 of the cases were dismissed, while the military has yet to issue a decision on the remaining 84. No criminal charges have been brought in any of the cases, AFP quoted B'Tselem as saying.
"Investigations are not opened even where there is a grave suspicion that the law has been broken," the human rights watchdog stated.
"Also, analysis of the files shows that the authorities' interpretation of the events is based solely on the results of an operational inquiry and the statements of the soldiers," it added.
The group further charged the Israeli army with disregard for the eyewitness testimony of other persons and other evidence that contradicts the soldiers' position.
According to B'Tselem, during the period in question, Israeli troops killed 1,510 Palestinians, including 617 civilians.
The figures do not include the mortalities from Israel's December 2008-January 2009 war in the Gaza Strip, which took the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/142442.html
Report: Palestinian civilians deaths go unpunished
No ramifications?
B'Tselem says military JAG consistently refrains from investigating cases where Palestinian civilians are killed by IDF soldiers; says JAG takes soldiers' at their word, ignores other evidence.
The Israel Defense Forces policy of refraining from thoroughly investigating the wrongful deaths of Palestinian civilians absolved soldiers from such action even when criminal charges should be brought against them, B'Tselem said.
The conclusion is at the core of a new report by the human rights group, released Tuesday, which says that soldiers who kill Palestinian civilians are rarely prosecuted, even when circumstances clearly indicate foul play.
B'Tselem based its report on the Judge Advocate General's actions over the past four years, saying there is a clear pattern of avoidance from launching full scale Military Police investigations in such cases.
A Ramallah market after an IDF operation
The reports lists 148 cases detailing 288 Palestinian civilian deaths, between 2006 and 2009 excluding Operation Cast Lead which it asked the military to investigate.
B'Tselem claims that during the period in question, the IDF killed 1,510 Palestinians, 617 of them non-combatants; but according to the group, out of its 148 requests only 22 less then 15% - were investigated, 29 cases were closed, 16 cases are pending decision on prosecution, and the rest are still pending decision on further review.
Of he 22 cases investigates, two cases were closed, three are still investigated, four are pending completion, and 13 are pending decision on prosecution.
B'Tselem claims that JAG decided to closed cases even when there was basis to assume foul play, adding that its analysis indicated that the Military Prosecution prefers to base its decision in IDF inquests and soldiers testimonies, while disregarding eye witness reports and other evidence, which contradict the soldiers' accounts.
'Armed conflict' ruling obsolete
The military's policy of not investigating such cases, states the report, is based on an adjudication made during the days of the
al-Aqsa Intifada, rendering the territories an "armed conflict" area, and on the misinterpretation of International Law, which supposedly allows the IDF to refrain from such investigations.
B'Tselem warned that such police gives soldiers de facto immunity, and in applying it, the Israeli military fails to do its duty to spare no effort in minimizing civilian casualties. Moreover, the report claims this police "allows soldiers to violate the law and encourages them to act in a trigger-happy manner, while blatantly disregarding human lives."
The report recommends the legal definition of "armed conflict" be rescinded, saying it has brought on a significant decline in Military Police probes in wrongful death cases.
It further recommends the IDF adhere to Attorney General's Office guidelines as to the timely investigation and prosecution of cases, saying that "while a 2005 High Court ruling states a timeline for such investigations, it did not state a timeline for their processing and prosecution and therefore they are sometimes delayed for months, or even years, which hinders the effectiveness of actions taken."
B'Tselem slams the state's stance, which says it must investigate only cases where soldiers clearly meant to hurt civilians, saying the claim is devoid any legal basis be it in the Israeli law or International Law: "The military's duty does not start and end with barring deliberate harm to civilians, which is a war crime.
"It must also ensure that soldiers and officers follow both military orders and the letter of the law, which bar not only shooting with the intent to kill, but also a slew of acts, including negligent homicide and lesser offenses."
In October 2003, B'Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel appealed to the High Court against the JAG prosecution policy.
In its response, the State told the court that "the fact that a civilian is hurts in conflict does not prove a crime has been committed or that the soldiers exhibited criminal intent."
The case is still pending ruling, despite the fact that the last hearing took place in May 2006.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3953759,00.html
