29 oct 2010
Analysis: Lies, leaks, death tolls & statistics
Does the WikiLeaks Iraq War dossier prove Israel was unfairly treated over civilian deaths following Operation Cast Lead?
The release of the WikiLeaks logs on the Iraq War this week has led some Israelis to ask anew whether the country is the victim of a double standard in the way the international community views human rights.
The key question: Why did Israel, following Operation Cast Lead last year, come under such harsh international criticism culminating in the Goldstone Report, while the war in Iraq, which has claimed the lives of over 150,000 people, has yet to lead to the establishment of a similar UN-sanctioned probe?
First, it is important to point out that the world's three premier human rights organizations Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Committee of the Red Cross do not have statistics on the number of combatants and civilians killed by coalition forces in Iraq and the consequent ratio between them.
The Jerusalem Post contacted all three organizations this week and not a single one had the necessary statistics. They do, however, have the numbers from the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip last year.
One researcher, in charge of the Iraqi desk for one of the NGOs, told the Post that no one had ever worked on tallying up the Iraq numbers. In addition, he said, it would be difficult to do so, since there are differences of opinion regarding the way to define combatants.
The Iraqis define combatants one way and the US another way, the researcher said.
This sounds familiar, given the differences of opinion that emerged between Israel and its critics during and following Operation Cast Lead.
The IDF claimed that the Hamas policemen killed during the operation totaling 264, according to Israel should be defined as combatants since in many instances, according to the IDF, the policemen took up arms against IDF troops. The Palestinians rejected this claim and categorized the policemen as civilians. The Goldstone Report did the same.
The New York Times, in its main article on the WikiLeaks revelations, cited a study by the Red Cross, which concluded that in the average of 20th century warfare, 10 civilians were killed for every combatant.
One organization that did claim to have a tally of combatants and civilians killed by US and coalition forces throughout the war was the Iraq Body Count (IBC), a UK-based organization that has tracked civilian deaths since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In total, over 150,000 people have been killed and 80 percent of them more than 122,000 were civilians, said the IBC.
According to John Sloboda, a founder of IBC, American and coalition forces have killed at least 22,668 combatants as well as 13,807 civilians.
The rest of the civilians were killed by terrorist groups, militias and insurgents.
According to Sloboda, this would mean that for every civilian killed, two combatants were killed, essentially a ratio of 1:2.
The number of people killed during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip is disputed by the different sides. Israel, for example, claims that 1,166 people were killed, including 709 combatants.
Based on this, the ratio of civilian to combatant deaths is 1:3 one civilian for every three combatants.
Many, however, do not accept the Israeli numbers.
B'Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, claims that 1,390 people were killed during the operation in Gaza. It says only 349 were combatants, 248 were policemen and 32 are unknowns since B'Tselem said it could not determine for certain whether they had participated in the hostilities.
Two more people are referred to as being killed in targeted killings apparently a reference to Nizar Rayan, a Hamas cleric, and Said Siam, the Hamas interior minister.
If one adds all of these together, Israel killed 60% civilians during Operation Cast Lead not greatly dissimilar to the ratio provided by the Iraq Body Count.
Notably, Operation Cast Lead came after a year during which the IDF had succeeded in lowering civilian deaths to an unprecedented ratio of 1:30. This was a far cry from 2002, when the ratio was 1:1, meaning that for every terrorist killed, one civilian was killed.
Partly behind Israel's improvement was the investment in special weapons systems, smart bombs that are large enough to kill a target but small enough to minimize collateral damage. There was also an upscaled Israeli effort to warn civilians to flee areas and to divert missiles at the last moment if civilians entered a planned strike zone.
In total, during Operation Cast Lead, the IDF dropped over 5,000 missiles in the Gaza Strip; over 81% of them were smart bombs, an unprecedented percentage in modern warfare.
In comparison, during the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003, coalition forces used smart bombs 68% of the time. During the Kosovo War of 1999, the percentage was 35%.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=193196
Report: Foreign Ministry prevents Geneva Convention meeting
The Foreign Ministry has succeeded in preventing a meeting of states which have signed the Geneva Convention, which could have resulted in a public statement that Israel has violated the charter during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip during 2009, Army Radio report Friday.
According to the report, Israeli embassies in Switzerland, New York and various European capitals with help from Washington, were able to diplomatically prevent the meeting in Switzerland. It was expected that the meeting would conclude that Israel did not do enough to prevent Palestinian civilian casualties during the 2009 war in Gaza.
Sources close to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also succeeded in preventing the establishment of the victim's compensation fund of those injured in Cast Lead, which was decided by the UN Human Rights Council.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=193241
Analysis: Lies, leaks, death tolls & statistics
Does the WikiLeaks Iraq War dossier prove Israel was unfairly treated over civilian deaths following Operation Cast Lead?
The release of the WikiLeaks logs on the Iraq War this week has led some Israelis to ask anew whether the country is the victim of a double standard in the way the international community views human rights.
The key question: Why did Israel, following Operation Cast Lead last year, come under such harsh international criticism culminating in the Goldstone Report, while the war in Iraq, which has claimed the lives of over 150,000 people, has yet to lead to the establishment of a similar UN-sanctioned probe?
First, it is important to point out that the world's three premier human rights organizations Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Committee of the Red Cross do not have statistics on the number of combatants and civilians killed by coalition forces in Iraq and the consequent ratio between them.
The Jerusalem Post contacted all three organizations this week and not a single one had the necessary statistics. They do, however, have the numbers from the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip last year.
One researcher, in charge of the Iraqi desk for one of the NGOs, told the Post that no one had ever worked on tallying up the Iraq numbers. In addition, he said, it would be difficult to do so, since there are differences of opinion regarding the way to define combatants.
The Iraqis define combatants one way and the US another way, the researcher said.
This sounds familiar, given the differences of opinion that emerged between Israel and its critics during and following Operation Cast Lead.
The IDF claimed that the Hamas policemen killed during the operation totaling 264, according to Israel should be defined as combatants since in many instances, according to the IDF, the policemen took up arms against IDF troops. The Palestinians rejected this claim and categorized the policemen as civilians. The Goldstone Report did the same.
The New York Times, in its main article on the WikiLeaks revelations, cited a study by the Red Cross, which concluded that in the average of 20th century warfare, 10 civilians were killed for every combatant.
One organization that did claim to have a tally of combatants and civilians killed by US and coalition forces throughout the war was the Iraq Body Count (IBC), a UK-based organization that has tracked civilian deaths since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In total, over 150,000 people have been killed and 80 percent of them more than 122,000 were civilians, said the IBC.
According to John Sloboda, a founder of IBC, American and coalition forces have killed at least 22,668 combatants as well as 13,807 civilians.
The rest of the civilians were killed by terrorist groups, militias and insurgents.
According to Sloboda, this would mean that for every civilian killed, two combatants were killed, essentially a ratio of 1:2.
The number of people killed during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip is disputed by the different sides. Israel, for example, claims that 1,166 people were killed, including 709 combatants.
Based on this, the ratio of civilian to combatant deaths is 1:3 one civilian for every three combatants.
Many, however, do not accept the Israeli numbers.
B'Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, claims that 1,390 people were killed during the operation in Gaza. It says only 349 were combatants, 248 were policemen and 32 are unknowns since B'Tselem said it could not determine for certain whether they had participated in the hostilities.
Two more people are referred to as being killed in targeted killings apparently a reference to Nizar Rayan, a Hamas cleric, and Said Siam, the Hamas interior minister.
If one adds all of these together, Israel killed 60% civilians during Operation Cast Lead not greatly dissimilar to the ratio provided by the Iraq Body Count.
Notably, Operation Cast Lead came after a year during which the IDF had succeeded in lowering civilian deaths to an unprecedented ratio of 1:30. This was a far cry from 2002, when the ratio was 1:1, meaning that for every terrorist killed, one civilian was killed.
Partly behind Israel's improvement was the investment in special weapons systems, smart bombs that are large enough to kill a target but small enough to minimize collateral damage. There was also an upscaled Israeli effort to warn civilians to flee areas and to divert missiles at the last moment if civilians entered a planned strike zone.
In total, during Operation Cast Lead, the IDF dropped over 5,000 missiles in the Gaza Strip; over 81% of them were smart bombs, an unprecedented percentage in modern warfare.
In comparison, during the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003, coalition forces used smart bombs 68% of the time. During the Kosovo War of 1999, the percentage was 35%.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=193196
Report: Foreign Ministry prevents Geneva Convention meeting
The Foreign Ministry has succeeded in preventing a meeting of states which have signed the Geneva Convention, which could have resulted in a public statement that Israel has violated the charter during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip during 2009, Army Radio report Friday.
According to the report, Israeli embassies in Switzerland, New York and various European capitals with help from Washington, were able to diplomatically prevent the meeting in Switzerland. It was expected that the meeting would conclude that Israel did not do enough to prevent Palestinian civilian casualties during the 2009 war in Gaza.
Sources close to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also succeeded in preventing the establishment of the victim's compensation fund of those injured in Cast Lead, which was decided by the UN Human Rights Council.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=193241
Israeli soldiers shot a mentally ill Palestinian man in the leg when he ventured near the Erez crossing, in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Last Wednesday, a 65-year-old man was shot in the neck in the same area. A week earlier the soldiers shot a 17-year-old, who entered the 300 to 500 meter "buffer zone" in northern Gaza to collect construction scrap which he hoped to sell for a few dollars. Human rights groups say there is a direct link between these daily shootings and the international community's failure to hold Israel accountable for past violations, especially during its 2008-2009 offensive on Gaza, which left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead, most of them noncombatants. 13 Israelis also died.
"The attacks [are] still going on, and the Israelis are taking the same stance as during Cast Lead. They're failing to distinguish between civilian and military targets," said Mahmoud Abu Rahma, of the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza. Last month, under US and Israeli pressure, the Palestinian Authority (PA), once again delayed the process of accountability. This came at a September 29 vote at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, in which the PA backed a resolution to give Israel and Hamas officials in Gaza six more months to investigate crimes documented in Richard Goldstone's UN Fact Finding Mission report. (Complete document in PDF format )
According to Palestinian and international human rights groups, the Palestinian Authority has decided that the Goldstone report must remain in Geneva, away from the relatively more powerful UN bodies in New York. This is a position identical to that of the US State Department, which wants to keep pressure off Israel during the newly re-launched political negotiations.
By adopting this position, rights groups say, the PA is placing itself in open conflict with the interests of its own people. "What's very clear now is that the PA wants the report to stay in Geneva," said Fred Abahams of Human Rights Watch. "We thought there was a lot of progress made in New York and this was a step backwards...with peace talks going, they don't want Goldstone anywhere near the agenda," Abrahams said on the phone from New York.
Palestinian rights groups slammed the PA the day of the vote, saying in a joint press statement, "by holding justice hostage to politics, the PA is extending impunity to Israeli military and political leaders." In negotiations before the September 29 vote, human rights groups directly confronted the PA, urging them to back a robust resolution that would ensure justice for the victims by referring the matter back to the UN bodies in New York. This vote, moreover, came at the precise moment when the US-led negotiations process reached yet another seemingly insurmountable impasse, with Israel refusing to continue even minor limitations on settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. The settlements themselves, rights groups will point out, are another violation of international law.
'Betrayal' in Geneva
"Actually it was catastrophic, what they did. They [the PA] took another direction that had nothing to do with law. It was a political direction," said Rania Madi, the Geneva representative of Bethlehem-based Palestinian refugee rights group Badil, in a phone interview regarding the Human Rights Council vote. According to several sources familiar with the negotiations in the lead-up to the September 29 vote, rights groups approached the PLO mission in Geneva asking for a resolution that would acknowledge and condemn the Israeli and Palestinian authorities for failing to carry out domestic investigations, and call for the issue to be referred to New York and then on to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In one meeting, the day before the vote on the resolution, one rights group representative told the PLO delegate, "The PA sends a very dangerous message, by proposing a resolution that gives the impression that Israel is able and willing to conduct investigations that are in accordance with international standards, when Israel has made it very clear that they are unwilling to do so." "This resolution doesn't represent the will of the Palestinian people and, as our government, it would be important to take that into consideration," the representative said, according to a record of the talks obtained by this reporter. Faced with repeated appeals of this sort, a PLO official in the meeting would not speak to the specifics of the matter, responding in generalities like, "I appreciate your very valuable input. We will continue talking to you to see how we can proceed on this."
Rania Madi said that when she raised the same issues in separate contacts with PLO officials, they responded that they did not want to endorse a strong resolution because it would jeopardize the reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas. Representatives of other rights groups confirmed that they were given the same explanation by the PLO. Strangely, the PLO's stated argument was not that furthering the Goldstone report would harm the talks with Israel, but rather that would impede the torturously slow and fruitless negotiations with Hamas.
This explanation has to do with the double-edged nature of the Goldstone report, which devotes long sections to the failure of the Hamas government to prevent rockets fired from Gaza from targeting civilian communities in Israel. However crude and ineffectual these homemade projectiles may be, the argument goes, the Palestinian militias are also obligated to avoid civilian casualties. "We follow the recommendations of the Goldstone report," Madi said, "We work legally, the PA works politically. They don't want to mention the other government in Gaza."
Asked about this, the PLO's envoy to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khreisheh, said that the concern was not with the reconciliation talks, but with the inadequacy of a report filed to the UN by the Hamas government in Gaza regarding efforts to investigate war crimes. Hamas' report, he said on the phone from Geneva, was "not a serious one, not up to international standards. The Israeli one was also not applicable to international standards." He added: "so we had discussions with all the parties and decided to give them more time...In March we will receive the final reports." Khreisheh also accused human rights groups of trying to discredit the Ramallah government for political reasons, saying, "This is related to the political conflict in Palestine--they use this issue for convincing their supporters." Asked if he had received instructions from the US or Israel about the resolution Khreisheh became defensive. "We have contacts with everyone, with the Islamic group, the Arab group, the Africans, the Europeans, and yes...I am not afraid to say that I met with the Israeli representative."
Hamas officials in Gaza, meanwhile, emphatically deny that they demanded any delay in the Goldstone follow-up process. "It is unjustifiable, what Ibrahim [Khreisheh] said. I don't buy this nonsense," said Ahmed Yousef, an official in the Gaza-based government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He added in an interview in his Gaza office: "We fully cooperated with them [the Goldstone team] and we do believe that we have nothing to hide. We were defending ourselves against aggression, a war waged against us, and if anything went wrong, as Palestinians who are suffering from occupation, we have all the legitimate right to defend ourselves."
Analysts and rights advocates are also skeptical about Khreisheh's claim that the PA was trying to avoid an affront to Hamas. When asked to assess Hamas' position on the Goldstone report, Mahmoud Abu Rahma, of the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza, said, "Hamas has decided to swallow a razor." "They want to see the report implemented," he said, even though it also implicates the Gaza authorities in war crimes.
Indeed, Hamas did allow Goldstone's team to visit Gaza and operate freely, while Israel spurned the Fact Finding Mission. Hamas authorities did the same when a UN-mandated Committee of Experts visited Gaza to assess the progress of domestic investigations. Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director for Human Rights Watch said, "Hamas has not taken a position that opposed the Goldstone report." However she stressed, in a phone interview, that Hamas "pretends that they're investigating" allegations of war crimes, "but really they'd like to brush their own under the carpet."
‘Not once in the history of the occupation'
The diplomatic wrangling that has taken place in the UN since the Goldstone report's release centers on the question of whether Israel and the Palestinian authorities complied with Goldstone's call to conduct "appropriate investigations that are independent and in conformity with international standards," into the war crimes charges. If the parties fail to take strides to hold their own gunmen and officials accountable within three months, the report urges international bodies, in particular the International Criminal Court in The Hague, to take up the matter. In October 2009, under US pressure, the PA moved to delay an initial vote on the report in the Human Rights Council. When news of this move became public, the PA faced a full-scale political crisis, with calls for Abbas' resignation, or even to dismantle the PA entirely. Embarrassed, the PA immediately reversed its position, calling a vote in the Human Rights Council that referred the Goldstone report to the General Assembly in New York. Then, although Goldstone's document had made it out of Geneva and reached the UN bodies in New York, experts expressed concern that the UN, with the acquiescence of the Palestinian Authority, would merely go through the motions in addressing Goldstone's findings.
By leaving Geneva and arriving in New York, the report had made strides toward its implementation. After two inconclusive General Assembly resolutions, the PA took the report back to Geneva, confusing states sympathetic to the aim of following up on the report. In Geneva, the Human Rights Council created a Committee of Experts to evaluate Israeli and Palestinian war crimes investigations. "Creating the Committee of Experts was a confusing and dubious step because it turned attention away from the momentum in New York," said Human Rights Watch's Abrahams. States that were supportive of pursuing the report in New York, like Norway, did not support the creation of the Committee of Experts, because of this confusion. "What we were expecting or hoping to see was that the report would be referred back to New York so the momentum would continue in New York," Abrahams said. "The political base is in New York, it has more significance, more weight in New York."
In spite of these confusing origins, the Committee of Experts' report offered a chance to lay to rest the question of whether Israel and Hamas were capable of holding war criminals accountable. The Committee of Experts' answer to this question was a resounding "no." The Goldstone report documents 36 separate cases where Israel violated international law during the Gaza attack. The Committee of Experts noted that regarding these incidents, Israeli investigations yielded the following scorecard: "no violation or discontinuation of proceedings for various reasons (20); unclear results (7); disciplinary action taken (3); indictments (1); ongoing criminal investigations (5)." Of the two convictions in Israeli courts related to Operation Cast Lead, one was for credit card fraud. The other conviction, which was handed down after the Committee of Experts report was released, was for two soldiers' use of a Palestinian boy as a human shield.
In coming to the conclusion that Israel is either incapable or unwilling to investigate the claims in the Goldstone report, the Committee of Experts was endorsing a view long held by Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups. The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) issued a 76-page report [PDF] in August on Israel's reticence to investigate, titled "Genuinely Unwilling: An Update." "Not only is Israel unwilling, Israel's judicial system is also unable to investigate senior government and military officials, and assessing criminal responsibility for violations such as those outlined, inter alia, in the Goldstone Report," PCHR said in its report. Notably, the Committee of Experts also criticized the Hamas government for submitting a report that they said was sloppy and not in keeping with international standards.
Death of the Goldstone report?
Despite overwhelming evidence of the inadequacy of Israeli and Hamas investigations, the PA remains committed to the position that these domestic probes should be given more time. According to Abrahams, in terms of trying to move the report through the UN, "The bottom line is, they're [the PA] not going to push Goldstone right now."
One glimmer of hope is that the PA did approach ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in 2009, asking him to rule whether the Gaza war falls under ICC jurisdiction. However, under the Rome Statute that created the ICC, Ocampo would have to decide whether Palestine is a state, a designation which, in the words of Fred Abrahams of Human Rights watch, is "complex legally and loaded politically." While Ocampo and officials at the ICC go about making that decision, rights advocates are beginning to speak of "the end of the Goldstone process."
Fred Abrahams said follow-up on the report is not completely dead, but is close to it: "The process is not dead because the Committee of Experts is still going, but I do fear that it's pushed further into the back row, and the air around this process is a little thinner, and the risk is that this is the start of a slow death." "Justice has to move forward on its own, on behalf of the victims," Abrahams said, "and there will not be a sustainable peace until these issues of accountability are addressed. And in this case it's quite clear that justice has taken a back track to the political process."
Jared Malsin is the former chief English editor of the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency and is currently based in Gaza. His website is jaredmalsin.wordpress.com.
http://bit.ly/av3eck
"The attacks [are] still going on, and the Israelis are taking the same stance as during Cast Lead. They're failing to distinguish between civilian and military targets," said Mahmoud Abu Rahma, of the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza. Last month, under US and Israeli pressure, the Palestinian Authority (PA), once again delayed the process of accountability. This came at a September 29 vote at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, in which the PA backed a resolution to give Israel and Hamas officials in Gaza six more months to investigate crimes documented in Richard Goldstone's UN Fact Finding Mission report. (Complete document in PDF format )
According to Palestinian and international human rights groups, the Palestinian Authority has decided that the Goldstone report must remain in Geneva, away from the relatively more powerful UN bodies in New York. This is a position identical to that of the US State Department, which wants to keep pressure off Israel during the newly re-launched political negotiations.
By adopting this position, rights groups say, the PA is placing itself in open conflict with the interests of its own people. "What's very clear now is that the PA wants the report to stay in Geneva," said Fred Abahams of Human Rights Watch. "We thought there was a lot of progress made in New York and this was a step backwards...with peace talks going, they don't want Goldstone anywhere near the agenda," Abrahams said on the phone from New York.
Palestinian rights groups slammed the PA the day of the vote, saying in a joint press statement, "by holding justice hostage to politics, the PA is extending impunity to Israeli military and political leaders." In negotiations before the September 29 vote, human rights groups directly confronted the PA, urging them to back a robust resolution that would ensure justice for the victims by referring the matter back to the UN bodies in New York. This vote, moreover, came at the precise moment when the US-led negotiations process reached yet another seemingly insurmountable impasse, with Israel refusing to continue even minor limitations on settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. The settlements themselves, rights groups will point out, are another violation of international law.
'Betrayal' in Geneva
"Actually it was catastrophic, what they did. They [the PA] took another direction that had nothing to do with law. It was a political direction," said Rania Madi, the Geneva representative of Bethlehem-based Palestinian refugee rights group Badil, in a phone interview regarding the Human Rights Council vote. According to several sources familiar with the negotiations in the lead-up to the September 29 vote, rights groups approached the PLO mission in Geneva asking for a resolution that would acknowledge and condemn the Israeli and Palestinian authorities for failing to carry out domestic investigations, and call for the issue to be referred to New York and then on to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In one meeting, the day before the vote on the resolution, one rights group representative told the PLO delegate, "The PA sends a very dangerous message, by proposing a resolution that gives the impression that Israel is able and willing to conduct investigations that are in accordance with international standards, when Israel has made it very clear that they are unwilling to do so." "This resolution doesn't represent the will of the Palestinian people and, as our government, it would be important to take that into consideration," the representative said, according to a record of the talks obtained by this reporter. Faced with repeated appeals of this sort, a PLO official in the meeting would not speak to the specifics of the matter, responding in generalities like, "I appreciate your very valuable input. We will continue talking to you to see how we can proceed on this."
Rania Madi said that when she raised the same issues in separate contacts with PLO officials, they responded that they did not want to endorse a strong resolution because it would jeopardize the reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas. Representatives of other rights groups confirmed that they were given the same explanation by the PLO. Strangely, the PLO's stated argument was not that furthering the Goldstone report would harm the talks with Israel, but rather that would impede the torturously slow and fruitless negotiations with Hamas.
This explanation has to do with the double-edged nature of the Goldstone report, which devotes long sections to the failure of the Hamas government to prevent rockets fired from Gaza from targeting civilian communities in Israel. However crude and ineffectual these homemade projectiles may be, the argument goes, the Palestinian militias are also obligated to avoid civilian casualties. "We follow the recommendations of the Goldstone report," Madi said, "We work legally, the PA works politically. They don't want to mention the other government in Gaza."
Asked about this, the PLO's envoy to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khreisheh, said that the concern was not with the reconciliation talks, but with the inadequacy of a report filed to the UN by the Hamas government in Gaza regarding efforts to investigate war crimes. Hamas' report, he said on the phone from Geneva, was "not a serious one, not up to international standards. The Israeli one was also not applicable to international standards." He added: "so we had discussions with all the parties and decided to give them more time...In March we will receive the final reports." Khreisheh also accused human rights groups of trying to discredit the Ramallah government for political reasons, saying, "This is related to the political conflict in Palestine--they use this issue for convincing their supporters." Asked if he had received instructions from the US or Israel about the resolution Khreisheh became defensive. "We have contacts with everyone, with the Islamic group, the Arab group, the Africans, the Europeans, and yes...I am not afraid to say that I met with the Israeli representative."
Hamas officials in Gaza, meanwhile, emphatically deny that they demanded any delay in the Goldstone follow-up process. "It is unjustifiable, what Ibrahim [Khreisheh] said. I don't buy this nonsense," said Ahmed Yousef, an official in the Gaza-based government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He added in an interview in his Gaza office: "We fully cooperated with them [the Goldstone team] and we do believe that we have nothing to hide. We were defending ourselves against aggression, a war waged against us, and if anything went wrong, as Palestinians who are suffering from occupation, we have all the legitimate right to defend ourselves."
Analysts and rights advocates are also skeptical about Khreisheh's claim that the PA was trying to avoid an affront to Hamas. When asked to assess Hamas' position on the Goldstone report, Mahmoud Abu Rahma, of the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza, said, "Hamas has decided to swallow a razor." "They want to see the report implemented," he said, even though it also implicates the Gaza authorities in war crimes.
Indeed, Hamas did allow Goldstone's team to visit Gaza and operate freely, while Israel spurned the Fact Finding Mission. Hamas authorities did the same when a UN-mandated Committee of Experts visited Gaza to assess the progress of domestic investigations. Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director for Human Rights Watch said, "Hamas has not taken a position that opposed the Goldstone report." However she stressed, in a phone interview, that Hamas "pretends that they're investigating" allegations of war crimes, "but really they'd like to brush their own under the carpet."
‘Not once in the history of the occupation'
The diplomatic wrangling that has taken place in the UN since the Goldstone report's release centers on the question of whether Israel and the Palestinian authorities complied with Goldstone's call to conduct "appropriate investigations that are independent and in conformity with international standards," into the war crimes charges. If the parties fail to take strides to hold their own gunmen and officials accountable within three months, the report urges international bodies, in particular the International Criminal Court in The Hague, to take up the matter. In October 2009, under US pressure, the PA moved to delay an initial vote on the report in the Human Rights Council. When news of this move became public, the PA faced a full-scale political crisis, with calls for Abbas' resignation, or even to dismantle the PA entirely. Embarrassed, the PA immediately reversed its position, calling a vote in the Human Rights Council that referred the Goldstone report to the General Assembly in New York. Then, although Goldstone's document had made it out of Geneva and reached the UN bodies in New York, experts expressed concern that the UN, with the acquiescence of the Palestinian Authority, would merely go through the motions in addressing Goldstone's findings.
By leaving Geneva and arriving in New York, the report had made strides toward its implementation. After two inconclusive General Assembly resolutions, the PA took the report back to Geneva, confusing states sympathetic to the aim of following up on the report. In Geneva, the Human Rights Council created a Committee of Experts to evaluate Israeli and Palestinian war crimes investigations. "Creating the Committee of Experts was a confusing and dubious step because it turned attention away from the momentum in New York," said Human Rights Watch's Abrahams. States that were supportive of pursuing the report in New York, like Norway, did not support the creation of the Committee of Experts, because of this confusion. "What we were expecting or hoping to see was that the report would be referred back to New York so the momentum would continue in New York," Abrahams said. "The political base is in New York, it has more significance, more weight in New York."
In spite of these confusing origins, the Committee of Experts' report offered a chance to lay to rest the question of whether Israel and Hamas were capable of holding war criminals accountable. The Committee of Experts' answer to this question was a resounding "no." The Goldstone report documents 36 separate cases where Israel violated international law during the Gaza attack. The Committee of Experts noted that regarding these incidents, Israeli investigations yielded the following scorecard: "no violation or discontinuation of proceedings for various reasons (20); unclear results (7); disciplinary action taken (3); indictments (1); ongoing criminal investigations (5)." Of the two convictions in Israeli courts related to Operation Cast Lead, one was for credit card fraud. The other conviction, which was handed down after the Committee of Experts report was released, was for two soldiers' use of a Palestinian boy as a human shield.
In coming to the conclusion that Israel is either incapable or unwilling to investigate the claims in the Goldstone report, the Committee of Experts was endorsing a view long held by Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups. The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) issued a 76-page report [PDF] in August on Israel's reticence to investigate, titled "Genuinely Unwilling: An Update." "Not only is Israel unwilling, Israel's judicial system is also unable to investigate senior government and military officials, and assessing criminal responsibility for violations such as those outlined, inter alia, in the Goldstone Report," PCHR said in its report. Notably, the Committee of Experts also criticized the Hamas government for submitting a report that they said was sloppy and not in keeping with international standards.
Death of the Goldstone report?
Despite overwhelming evidence of the inadequacy of Israeli and Hamas investigations, the PA remains committed to the position that these domestic probes should be given more time. According to Abrahams, in terms of trying to move the report through the UN, "The bottom line is, they're [the PA] not going to push Goldstone right now."
One glimmer of hope is that the PA did approach ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in 2009, asking him to rule whether the Gaza war falls under ICC jurisdiction. However, under the Rome Statute that created the ICC, Ocampo would have to decide whether Palestine is a state, a designation which, in the words of Fred Abrahams of Human Rights watch, is "complex legally and loaded politically." While Ocampo and officials at the ICC go about making that decision, rights advocates are beginning to speak of "the end of the Goldstone process."
Fred Abrahams said follow-up on the report is not completely dead, but is close to it: "The process is not dead because the Committee of Experts is still going, but I do fear that it's pushed further into the back row, and the air around this process is a little thinner, and the risk is that this is the start of a slow death." "Justice has to move forward on its own, on behalf of the victims," Abrahams said, "and there will not be a sustainable peace until these issues of accountability are addressed. And in this case it's quite clear that justice has taken a back track to the political process."
Jared Malsin is the former chief English editor of the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency and is currently based in Gaza. His website is jaredmalsin.wordpress.com.
http://bit.ly/av3eck
26 oct 2010
Givati commander protests conviction of 2 soldiers
Troops convicted of "overstepping authority" for using Gazan boy as a human shield during Cast Lead claim they are "victims of Goldstone."
Givati Brigade commander Col. Moni Katz and hundreds of IDF reservists arrived on Monday at the Southern Command Military Court in Kastina, near Kiryat Gat, to protest the ongoing trial of two soldiers who have been convicted of using a Gazan boy as a human shield during Operation Cast Lead in January 2009.
The sentencing stage began on Monday.
The soldiers, who cannot be identified, were found guilty two weeks ago of exceeding their authority by ordering a nine-year-old boy to open bags they suspected might be booby-trapped near his home in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood.
Military prosecutors requested on Monday that the court imprison the soldiers and demote them to privates for violating human rights and the IDF's code of purity of arms.
They are treating me like a war criminal who needs to pay dearly for years to come, one of the soldiers said.
The other soldier told the court, We feel as though we are victims of the Goldstone Report.
The defendants, identified only as St.-Sgt. A. and St.-Sgt H., have completed their mandatory military service. The charges carry a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
The military judges wrote in their ruling that the testimony of the Palestinian child was credible, and he answered questions in a coherent and clear manner. We have fully accepted his testimony.
The two sergeants came under investigation before the UN's Goldstone Report was released in September 2009. The IDF probe was opened based on information in a report compiled by a special UN representative appointed to investigate matters involving children and armed conflict, and following a specific complaint filed by the Israeli branch of Defense for Children International.
On Monday, as the military prosecutor began the sentencing phase of the trial Maj.-Gen. (res.) Uzi Dayan, former deputy chief of General Staff, testified in support of the soldiers.
He later said that the IDF has entered a lethal legal nightmare by allowing 600 soldiers and officers to be questioned by Military Police since the end of Operation Cast Lead.
I do not know these soldiers but felt that there is a need to give them support. Even if they did something wrong, they are not criminals, he said. We need to return to the time when the commander is in charge of investigating operational incidents and not everything needs to go to a trial.
As the court held session, demonstrators outside held signs reading, Soldiers for Soldiers, and Every Mother Should Know that Her Son has Been Abandoned, a play on a famous saying by former prime minister David Ben-Gurion that Jewish mothers should know that they are leaving their sons in the trustworthy hands in the IDF.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=192782
Givati commander protests conviction of 2 soldiers
Troops convicted of "overstepping authority" for using Gazan boy as a human shield during Cast Lead claim they are "victims of Goldstone."
Givati Brigade commander Col. Moni Katz and hundreds of IDF reservists arrived on Monday at the Southern Command Military Court in Kastina, near Kiryat Gat, to protest the ongoing trial of two soldiers who have been convicted of using a Gazan boy as a human shield during Operation Cast Lead in January 2009.
The sentencing stage began on Monday.
The soldiers, who cannot be identified, were found guilty two weeks ago of exceeding their authority by ordering a nine-year-old boy to open bags they suspected might be booby-trapped near his home in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood.
Military prosecutors requested on Monday that the court imprison the soldiers and demote them to privates for violating human rights and the IDF's code of purity of arms.
They are treating me like a war criminal who needs to pay dearly for years to come, one of the soldiers said.
The other soldier told the court, We feel as though we are victims of the Goldstone Report.
The defendants, identified only as St.-Sgt. A. and St.-Sgt H., have completed their mandatory military service. The charges carry a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
The military judges wrote in their ruling that the testimony of the Palestinian child was credible, and he answered questions in a coherent and clear manner. We have fully accepted his testimony.
The two sergeants came under investigation before the UN's Goldstone Report was released in September 2009. The IDF probe was opened based on information in a report compiled by a special UN representative appointed to investigate matters involving children and armed conflict, and following a specific complaint filed by the Israeli branch of Defense for Children International.
On Monday, as the military prosecutor began the sentencing phase of the trial Maj.-Gen. (res.) Uzi Dayan, former deputy chief of General Staff, testified in support of the soldiers.
He later said that the IDF has entered a lethal legal nightmare by allowing 600 soldiers and officers to be questioned by Military Police since the end of Operation Cast Lead.
I do not know these soldiers but felt that there is a need to give them support. Even if they did something wrong, they are not criminals, he said. We need to return to the time when the commander is in charge of investigating operational incidents and not everything needs to go to a trial.
As the court held session, demonstrators outside held signs reading, Soldiers for Soldiers, and Every Mother Should Know that Her Son has Been Abandoned, a play on a famous saying by former prime minister David Ben-Gurion that Jewish mothers should know that they are leaving their sons in the trustworthy hands in the IDF.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=192782
Madrid tells former Shin Bet chief they will not offer him immunity if he proceeds with visit.
MK Avi Dichter (Kadima) was planning on taking part in an international peace summit in Spain over the weekend, but was forced to cancel over fears he would be arrested, and possibly imprisoned, by Madrid authorities, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.
According to report several days ago, a Spanish organization called The Madrid Coalition, invited Israeli and Palestinian representatives to take part in a summit focusing on the peace process and the Saudi initiative. Senior officials from the Palestinian Authority, including Mohammed Dahlan had RSVP'd to the event.
The Madrid Coalition works in cooperation with the former Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos. The summit organizers decided to invite a small group of MKs from Israel to take part in the summit. Former Shin Bet Chief MK Avi Dichter was set to lead the delegation.
Earlier this week, Dichter requested to look into the possibility that he may face legal action in Spain over complaints against him for his involvement in the Salah Shehade assassination, which took place when Dichter was head of Shin Bet) and for his involvement in Operation Cast Lead, Dichter was Ministerof Public Security at the time). After looking into the legal aspects of the situation,
Madrid officials told Dichter that Spain did not intend to offer him immunity from arrest or interrogation, after which he cancelled his participation in the event.
Dichter said that he had planned on taking part in the summit in order to discuss the peace process, but fears that he would be met with an arrest warrant or subpoena upon arrival in Spain.
This is not the first time that senior Israel politicians are forced to cancel trips abroad, or make a swift about face once they land in European airports. An arrest warrant was taken out against Kadima Chairman MK Tzipi Livni in England over claims she committed "war crimes" when she served as Foreign Minister during Operation Cast Lead.
Dichter responded with anger to Spain's behavior, sending Spain's foreign minister a harsh letter of protest.
Dichter noted that: "This isn't the first time I have come up against a dangerous situation like this one, where I go to a country and am unsure of my being able to leave it without being arrested. It is important to remember that that this isn't just dangerous for Avi Dichter, an arrest of this kind has dangerous national repercussions".
"It's absurd that representatives from the Palestinian Authority, who worked within the Palestinian security mechanism with God knows what kind of record, meet with no difficulties when they arrive in Spain. The Spanish must take responsibility for the situation and I am optimistic that we will find a solution", he added.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3975066,00.html
Israel is relieved not to be the only war criminal
The voice of joy, the voice of rejoicing is heard in Israel: The Americans and British have also committed for war crimes, not only us.
The voice of joy, the voice of rejoicing is heard in Israel: The Americans and British have also committed for war crimes, not only us. WikiLeaks' revelations have inflamed all our noisy propagandists: Where is Goldstone, they rejoiced, and what would he have said? They were relieved. If the Americans are allowed to do it, so are we.
Indeed, the Americans are not allowed, and neither are we. When the traffic police stop a driver for speeding, the argument that "others do it" will not help him. When Richard Goldstone exposes war crimes in Gaza, the claim that "everyone does it" will not help us. Not everyone does it, and when they do, they should be excoriated and penalized.
According to the logic of Israeli propagandists, some of whom are disguised as journalists, Israel should now proudly look at the rest of the world: They killed more people there. There is no need to improve prison conditions in Israel - in China the situation is much worse; there is no need to upgrade health services - in America 50 million people have no insurance; no need to reduce the gap between rich and poor - in Mexico it is greater; we can continue to assassinate without trial - the British also do it; human rights are protected here - the Iranians are much worse; Israel has no corruption - look what's happening in Africa; the United States has the death penalty - let's have it too; it is even permissible to kill dissident journalists - look at the Russians.
Yes, war is cruel, the world is full of crimes and injustice, but not one of them exonerates Israel, even if Israel's sins seem pure as snow compared to those of the great United States. Now is the time to sharply censure America, not to forgive Israel.
It is the task of all patriots and people of conscience to express their fury over any such revelations, especially, of course, in their own country. Israelis must aspire to a more just and much more law-abiding country, without reference to what is going on in the world. True, we are not the worst; far from it. The number of civilians killed in Iraq, as was revealed, is a thousand times more horrific than the number killed in Gaza. So what? Even if the world holds us to a harsher standard, our hands do not become any cleaner. The world is more strict with us for various reasons, some justified, and at the same time treats us favorably and turns a blind eye to many other things. And in any case, the determining factor should be what we see in the mirror, if we look at it honestly.
Our rejoicing propagandists have changed their tactics now: no longer "the most moral army in the world," a contention any reasonable person can see is ridiculous. Now they say: "We are terrible, like all the rest." That claim does not hold water, especially because Israel is not judged only by one or another of its military operations, but by its decades-long occupation, with no end in sight. Such a lengthy occupation is unparalleled in the modern world and a disgrace to Israel, no matter what America is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
WikiLeaks has proven that in the end the truth will out; it is hard to hide anything in this era. Goldstone also showed it, albeit much less dramatically. Some two years after Operation Cast Lead, even the Israel Defense Forces is still dealing with it here and there, investigating and trying officers and soldiers who did what the Goldstone report, which so infuriated Israel, said they did.
Israel should thank Goldstone, and America should thank Julian Assange. Their revelations prove the futility of war and its crimes. Imagine how much hatred America has sown in Iraq, with its thousands of mourning families, and how much hatred Israel has sown in Gaza, with its thousands of mourning families and its ruination.
How futile are all the assassinations and the torture, abuse and false arrests, with Iraq and Gaza looking as they do.
What are we brandishing? More than 100,000 dead in a terrible, useless war, the whim of a democratic leader? True, George W. Bush should now be sent to The Hague. But the fact that others are doing it, as Assange's revelations show, is the consolation of fools, and theirs alone.
http://bit.ly/cKSdHb
MK Avi Dichter (Kadima) was planning on taking part in an international peace summit in Spain over the weekend, but was forced to cancel over fears he would be arrested, and possibly imprisoned, by Madrid authorities, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.
According to report several days ago, a Spanish organization called The Madrid Coalition, invited Israeli and Palestinian representatives to take part in a summit focusing on the peace process and the Saudi initiative. Senior officials from the Palestinian Authority, including Mohammed Dahlan had RSVP'd to the event.
The Madrid Coalition works in cooperation with the former Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos. The summit organizers decided to invite a small group of MKs from Israel to take part in the summit. Former Shin Bet Chief MK Avi Dichter was set to lead the delegation.
Earlier this week, Dichter requested to look into the possibility that he may face legal action in Spain over complaints against him for his involvement in the Salah Shehade assassination, which took place when Dichter was head of Shin Bet) and for his involvement in Operation Cast Lead, Dichter was Ministerof Public Security at the time). After looking into the legal aspects of the situation,
Madrid officials told Dichter that Spain did not intend to offer him immunity from arrest or interrogation, after which he cancelled his participation in the event.
Dichter said that he had planned on taking part in the summit in order to discuss the peace process, but fears that he would be met with an arrest warrant or subpoena upon arrival in Spain.
This is not the first time that senior Israel politicians are forced to cancel trips abroad, or make a swift about face once they land in European airports. An arrest warrant was taken out against Kadima Chairman MK Tzipi Livni in England over claims she committed "war crimes" when she served as Foreign Minister during Operation Cast Lead.
Dichter responded with anger to Spain's behavior, sending Spain's foreign minister a harsh letter of protest.
Dichter noted that: "This isn't the first time I have come up against a dangerous situation like this one, where I go to a country and am unsure of my being able to leave it without being arrested. It is important to remember that that this isn't just dangerous for Avi Dichter, an arrest of this kind has dangerous national repercussions".
"It's absurd that representatives from the Palestinian Authority, who worked within the Palestinian security mechanism with God knows what kind of record, meet with no difficulties when they arrive in Spain. The Spanish must take responsibility for the situation and I am optimistic that we will find a solution", he added.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3975066,00.html
Israel is relieved not to be the only war criminal
The voice of joy, the voice of rejoicing is heard in Israel: The Americans and British have also committed for war crimes, not only us.
The voice of joy, the voice of rejoicing is heard in Israel: The Americans and British have also committed for war crimes, not only us. WikiLeaks' revelations have inflamed all our noisy propagandists: Where is Goldstone, they rejoiced, and what would he have said? They were relieved. If the Americans are allowed to do it, so are we.
Indeed, the Americans are not allowed, and neither are we. When the traffic police stop a driver for speeding, the argument that "others do it" will not help him. When Richard Goldstone exposes war crimes in Gaza, the claim that "everyone does it" will not help us. Not everyone does it, and when they do, they should be excoriated and penalized.
According to the logic of Israeli propagandists, some of whom are disguised as journalists, Israel should now proudly look at the rest of the world: They killed more people there. There is no need to improve prison conditions in Israel - in China the situation is much worse; there is no need to upgrade health services - in America 50 million people have no insurance; no need to reduce the gap between rich and poor - in Mexico it is greater; we can continue to assassinate without trial - the British also do it; human rights are protected here - the Iranians are much worse; Israel has no corruption - look what's happening in Africa; the United States has the death penalty - let's have it too; it is even permissible to kill dissident journalists - look at the Russians.
Yes, war is cruel, the world is full of crimes and injustice, but not one of them exonerates Israel, even if Israel's sins seem pure as snow compared to those of the great United States. Now is the time to sharply censure America, not to forgive Israel.
It is the task of all patriots and people of conscience to express their fury over any such revelations, especially, of course, in their own country. Israelis must aspire to a more just and much more law-abiding country, without reference to what is going on in the world. True, we are not the worst; far from it. The number of civilians killed in Iraq, as was revealed, is a thousand times more horrific than the number killed in Gaza. So what? Even if the world holds us to a harsher standard, our hands do not become any cleaner. The world is more strict with us for various reasons, some justified, and at the same time treats us favorably and turns a blind eye to many other things. And in any case, the determining factor should be what we see in the mirror, if we look at it honestly.
Our rejoicing propagandists have changed their tactics now: no longer "the most moral army in the world," a contention any reasonable person can see is ridiculous. Now they say: "We are terrible, like all the rest." That claim does not hold water, especially because Israel is not judged only by one or another of its military operations, but by its decades-long occupation, with no end in sight. Such a lengthy occupation is unparalleled in the modern world and a disgrace to Israel, no matter what America is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
WikiLeaks has proven that in the end the truth will out; it is hard to hide anything in this era. Goldstone also showed it, albeit much less dramatically. Some two years after Operation Cast Lead, even the Israel Defense Forces is still dealing with it here and there, investigating and trying officers and soldiers who did what the Goldstone report, which so infuriated Israel, said they did.
Israel should thank Goldstone, and America should thank Julian Assange. Their revelations prove the futility of war and its crimes. Imagine how much hatred America has sown in Iraq, with its thousands of mourning families, and how much hatred Israel has sown in Gaza, with its thousands of mourning families and its ruination.
How futile are all the assassinations and the torture, abuse and false arrests, with Iraq and Gaza looking as they do.
What are we brandishing? More than 100,000 dead in a terrible, useless war, the whim of a democratic leader? True, George W. Bush should now be sent to The Hague. But the fact that others are doing it, as Assange's revelations show, is the consolation of fools, and theirs alone.
http://bit.ly/cKSdHb
25 oct 2010
Convicted soldier: I feel like a war criminal
Convicted soldier: I feel like a war criminal
|
|
Prosecution demands prison sentence for Givati troops who forced Palestinian boy to open bags thought to contain explosives, while Maj-Gen Uzi Dayan demands a stop to probes against soldiers who fought in Cast Lead.
A sentencing hearing was held for two Givati soldiers convicted of endangering a Palestinian boy during Operation Cast Lead on Monday, amid a large crowd of friends, family, and supporters. After the prosecution demanded the two be incarcerated, one defendant said he felt "like a war criminal". Major-General (Res.) Uzi Dayan spoke at the hearing. "I have come here to show support for combat soldiers and to stress that they are not criminals," Dayan, who heads the National Security Council, explained. |
"So far 600 soldiers have passed through the military police's hands, and it needs to be stopped. The military police does not investigate combat troubles," he told a room full of friends and family who had come to support the troops. The crowd was so large that some were forced to wait outside.
The two soldiers were found by the court to have overstepped their authority by letting a 9-year old boy open bags believed to contain explosives during a raid on a building in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood.
At the sentencing hearing, the prosecution asked that the soldiers be incarcerated. "The message should be clear: This is not at all a simple case," the prosecutor told the court.
Fighting to fight, in reserves
The two soldiers were found by the court to have overstepped their authority by letting a 9-year old boy open bags believed to contain explosives during a raid on a building in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood.
At the sentencing hearing, the prosecution asked that the soldiers be incarcerated. "The message should be clear: This is not at all a simple case," the prosecutor told the court.
Fighting to fight, in reserves
(Majid Rabah, now age 11)
But the defendants requested leniency. "I was placed at the forefront of terror, a barrier between the state and its enemies, between your loved ones and those who seek to harm them," one of the soldiers said. "Nothing was done on my part for personal gain or out of evil intentions."
The other defendant described his family, which boasts 11 children and parents who emigrated from Ethiopia. "They wanted me to stay close to home, but I volunteered to enlist into combat service. Now I am being treated like a war criminal and I will have to pay dearly," he said.
Both soldiers were most upset by their demotions, and the fact that their conviction will prevent them from serving in the reserves.
"For three years I struggled to earn these ranks. I want to be in the reserves in order to serve my country," one of the soldiers told the court, asking for a reprieve.
Their attorney, Ilan Katz, inveighed against the prosecution for the sentence it had requested. "The prosecutor is adding insult to injury by quoting the issue of human dignity towards the victim. I believe IDF soldiers' human dignity should come first," he said. "Their dignity was trampled."
Katz also reminded the court that the Palestinian boy emerged unscathed from the incident. "He may have been traumatized, but no one is asking how much soldiers are traumatized by being place on the defendant's stand," he said.
'They gave up on a lot to enlist'
"We respect the court's verdict, but this does not justify such severe punishment. I ask the court to consider the fear that grips soldiers during times of war, that they be given a more symbolic punishment such as a warning and be allowed to serve in the reserves.
Yair Lichtman, who was summoned as a witness for the defense, said, "These are two guys who gave up on a lot in order to enlist and be combat soldiers. They are from struggling families new immigrants."
He added that the police had tricked them into answering questions. "They were summoned to a meeting at a shopping mall, and then it turned out they were being interrogated. This is not how you treat those returning from battle," Lichtman said.
Brigadier-General (Res.) Moni Chorev, the former commander of the Givati Brigade, said it was hard for him to accept that two soldiers sent to fight in Gaza would soon have a criminal record.
"This journey of accusations on which the military police have embarked is difficult for me this giving of testimony that is even harsher than the punishment itself. It must be stopped," he said.
"They didn't think there were explosives in there. It doesn't make sense that they would tell someone to open (the bags) if they thought there were explosives inside."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3974487,00.html
Dayan: Stop probing troops for Cast Lead
Maj-Gen says soldiers who forced boy to open bags thought to contain explosives are 'not criminals'.
Major-General (Res.) Uzi Dayan spoke at a sentencing hearing for two Givati soldiers convicted of endangering a Palestinian boy during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. "They are not criminals," he told the court Monday.
"I have come here to show support for combat soldiers and to stress that they are not criminals," Dayan, who heads the National Security Council, explained.
"So far 600 soldiers have passed through the military police's hands, and it needs to be stopped. The military police does not investigate combat troubles," he told a room full of friends and family who had come to support the troops. The crowd was so large that some were forced to wait outside.
The two soldiers were found by the court to have overstepped their authority by letting a 9-year old boy open bags believed to contain explosives during a raid on a building in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood.
Yair Lichtman, who was summoned as a witness for the defense, said, "These are two guys who gave up on a lot in order to enlist and be combat soldiers. They are from struggling families new immigrants."
He added that the police had tricked them into answering questions. "They were summoned to a meeting at a shopping mall, and then it turned out they were being interrogated. This is not how you treat those returning from battle," Lichtman said.
Brigadier-General (Res.) Moni Chorev, the former commander of the Givati Brigade, said it was hard for him to accept that two soldiers sent to fight in Gaza would soon have a criminal record.
"This journey of accusations on which the military police have embarked is difficult for me this giving of testimony that is even harsher than the punishment itself. It must be stopped," he said.
"They didn't think there were explosives in there. It doesn't make sense that they would tell someone to open (the bags) if they thought there were explosives inside."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3974487,00.html
But the defendants requested leniency. "I was placed at the forefront of terror, a barrier between the state and its enemies, between your loved ones and those who seek to harm them," one of the soldiers said. "Nothing was done on my part for personal gain or out of evil intentions."
The other defendant described his family, which boasts 11 children and parents who emigrated from Ethiopia. "They wanted me to stay close to home, but I volunteered to enlist into combat service. Now I am being treated like a war criminal and I will have to pay dearly," he said.
Both soldiers were most upset by their demotions, and the fact that their conviction will prevent them from serving in the reserves.
"For three years I struggled to earn these ranks. I want to be in the reserves in order to serve my country," one of the soldiers told the court, asking for a reprieve.
Their attorney, Ilan Katz, inveighed against the prosecution for the sentence it had requested. "The prosecutor is adding insult to injury by quoting the issue of human dignity towards the victim. I believe IDF soldiers' human dignity should come first," he said. "Their dignity was trampled."
Katz also reminded the court that the Palestinian boy emerged unscathed from the incident. "He may have been traumatized, but no one is asking how much soldiers are traumatized by being place on the defendant's stand," he said.
'They gave up on a lot to enlist'
"We respect the court's verdict, but this does not justify such severe punishment. I ask the court to consider the fear that grips soldiers during times of war, that they be given a more symbolic punishment such as a warning and be allowed to serve in the reserves.
Yair Lichtman, who was summoned as a witness for the defense, said, "These are two guys who gave up on a lot in order to enlist and be combat soldiers. They are from struggling families new immigrants."
He added that the police had tricked them into answering questions. "They were summoned to a meeting at a shopping mall, and then it turned out they were being interrogated. This is not how you treat those returning from battle," Lichtman said.
Brigadier-General (Res.) Moni Chorev, the former commander of the Givati Brigade, said it was hard for him to accept that two soldiers sent to fight in Gaza would soon have a criminal record.
"This journey of accusations on which the military police have embarked is difficult for me this giving of testimony that is even harsher than the punishment itself. It must be stopped," he said.
"They didn't think there were explosives in there. It doesn't make sense that they would tell someone to open (the bags) if they thought there were explosives inside."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3974487,00.html
Dayan: Stop probing troops for Cast Lead
Maj-Gen says soldiers who forced boy to open bags thought to contain explosives are 'not criminals'.
Major-General (Res.) Uzi Dayan spoke at a sentencing hearing for two Givati soldiers convicted of endangering a Palestinian boy during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. "They are not criminals," he told the court Monday.
"I have come here to show support for combat soldiers and to stress that they are not criminals," Dayan, who heads the National Security Council, explained.
"So far 600 soldiers have passed through the military police's hands, and it needs to be stopped. The military police does not investigate combat troubles," he told a room full of friends and family who had come to support the troops. The crowd was so large that some were forced to wait outside.
The two soldiers were found by the court to have overstepped their authority by letting a 9-year old boy open bags believed to contain explosives during a raid on a building in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood.
Yair Lichtman, who was summoned as a witness for the defense, said, "These are two guys who gave up on a lot in order to enlist and be combat soldiers. They are from struggling families new immigrants."
He added that the police had tricked them into answering questions. "They were summoned to a meeting at a shopping mall, and then it turned out they were being interrogated. This is not how you treat those returning from battle," Lichtman said.
Brigadier-General (Res.) Moni Chorev, the former commander of the Givati Brigade, said it was hard for him to accept that two soldiers sent to fight in Gaza would soon have a criminal record.
"This journey of accusations on which the military police have embarked is difficult for me this giving of testimony that is even harsher than the punishment itself. It must be stopped," he said.
"They didn't think there were explosives in there. It doesn't make sense that they would tell someone to open (the bags) if they thought there were explosives inside."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3974487,00.html
