13 aug 2009
White Flag Deaths
Recent Human Rights Watch Reports on Israel and Gaza
Rockets from Gaza: Harm to Civilians from Palestinian Armed Groups’ Rocket Attacks, August 2009
Precisely Wrong: Gaza Civilians Killed by Israeli Drone-launched Missiles, June 2009
Under Cover of War: Hamas Political Violence in Gaza, April 2009
Rain of Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza, March 2009
Deprived and Endangered: Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip, January 2009
For full coverage, see here. and here
Israeli soldiers killed unarmed civilians carrying white flags in Gaza, says report
A shell fired by the Israeli military explodes in the northern Gaza Strip during the January offensive.
Human Rights Watch says Israel has failed to properly investigate 'white flag' killings during Gaza offensive
Israeli soldiers shot dead 11 unarmed Palestinian civilians carrying white flags during Israel's offensive in Gaza earlier this year, according to a report from Human Rights Watch, which said Israel had failed to investigate the killings adequately.
The deaths – including those of five women and four children – took place in seven separate incidents across Gaza in areas controlled by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), where there was no fighting and no Palestinian fighters were nearby.
Human Rights Watch, a New-York-based organisation, which published White Flag Deaths: Killings of Palestinian Civilians during Operation Cast Leadsaid it informed the Israeli military of the cases in February.
But the cases were not examined in an IDF internal investigation, which concluded that they "operated in accordance with international law." The group says at least three witnesses confirmed the details in each of the seven shootings.
Included among the cases is one first reported in detail by the Observer in Khuza'a, close to the fence surrounding Gaza.
Rawiya al-Najjar, 47, was shot dead, and her relative
Jasmin al-Najjar, 23,
was wounded while the two women were attempting to escape an attack on the village that included the use of white phosphorus and the bulldozing of houses.
Three other incidents occurred around the northern Gaza village of al-Atatra, which had previously seen fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters. By the time of the shootings, however, the fighting had stopped, and in each case the civilians were visible, unarmed, and displaying white flags, the report says.
In one case, the civilians were walking in a group on a street. In another, they were driving slowly on tractors and in cars, trying to leave the area with the wounded, according to the report.
"On the way we saw tanks and soldiers," said Omar Abu Halima, 18. "When we saw them [the Israeli soldiers] they told us to stop. After we stopped they fired at us. They killed my cousin Mattar. My cousin Muhammad was wounded and later died."
In another case – also in al-Atatra – two women holding white flags stepped out of a house that the IDF was demolishing to tell the soldiers that civilians were inside. "We opened the door and a sniper fired at us from a house," said Zakiya al-Qanu, 55. "Ibtisam was hit and I turned to go back inside and another bullet grazed my back. Ibtisam died in the doorway."
The Israeli military said that in some cases Hamas militants had used civilians with white flags for cover. It said yesterday the reports were based on "unreliable witnesses" whose testimony was "unproven".
Human Rights Watch said it could find no evidence of misuse of white flags or the use of civilians as human shields in the cases detailed. "These casualties comprise a fraction of the Palestinian civilians wounded and killed," the report says.
"But they stand out because, in each case, the victims were standing, walking or in slowly moving vehicles with other unarmed civilians, and were trying to convey their non-combatant status by waving a white flag."
Along with the use of white phosphorus on civilian areas, the shooting of unarmed civilians has become the most controversial issue of January's war.
The report follows the publication last month of anonymous testimonies by more than two dozen soldiers who fought in Gaza, compiled by Breaking the Silence, an organisation of former Israeli servicemen, which accused the IDF of allowing an atmosphere of permissive violence against civilians.
The allegations of white flag deaths, collected by human rights groups and the media, have yet to be adequately responded to. Under the Geneva conventions, combatants are obliged to distinguish between soldiers and civilians (as well as fighters who are hors de combat) and also have a legal obligation to protect civilians.
They are also required to investigate any alleged war crimes committed by their own troops.
Last month, the Israeli government released its own report defending its use of force in Gaza.
It said Israel was investigating five alleged cases in which soldiers killed civilians carrying white flags, incidents that it said resulted in 10 deaths. Two of the cases – the incident in Khuza'a and one in eastern Jabaliya – are among them.
War of words
While relations between Human Rights Watch and Israel have never been comfortable, the series of reports that HRW has released since the war in Gaza has brought both Israeli officials' criticism of the group to a new pitch of intensity.
They accuse the organisation of having an anti-Israeli bias, despite the fact that HRW has also forcefully criticised Palestinian rocket fire out of Gaza that targeted civilians. Israeli media commentators have tried to accuse the group of being part of a campaign to present Israel as "a primary perpetrator of war crimes".
More recently the group's US and Israeli critics have suggested that a series of meetings to encourage human rights campaigning in Saudi Arabia was a fundraising trip underpinned by its record of criticising Israel, claims that the group has vigorously denied.
The Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev referred to these allegations in an attempt to rebut the latest report and questioned the group's "impartiality, professionalism and credibility".
White Flag Deaths
Recent Human Rights Watch Reports on Israel and Gaza
Rockets from Gaza: Harm to Civilians from Palestinian Armed Groups’ Rocket Attacks, August 2009
Precisely Wrong: Gaza Civilians Killed by Israeli Drone-launched Missiles, June 2009
Under Cover of War: Hamas Political Violence in Gaza, April 2009
Rain of Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza, March 2009
Deprived and Endangered: Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip, January 2009
For full coverage, see here. and here
Israeli soldiers killed unarmed civilians carrying white flags in Gaza, says report
A shell fired by the Israeli military explodes in the northern Gaza Strip during the January offensive.
Human Rights Watch says Israel has failed to properly investigate 'white flag' killings during Gaza offensive
Israeli soldiers shot dead 11 unarmed Palestinian civilians carrying white flags during Israel's offensive in Gaza earlier this year, according to a report from Human Rights Watch, which said Israel had failed to investigate the killings adequately.
The deaths – including those of five women and four children – took place in seven separate incidents across Gaza in areas controlled by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), where there was no fighting and no Palestinian fighters were nearby.
Human Rights Watch, a New-York-based organisation, which published White Flag Deaths: Killings of Palestinian Civilians during Operation Cast Leadsaid it informed the Israeli military of the cases in February.
But the cases were not examined in an IDF internal investigation, which concluded that they "operated in accordance with international law." The group says at least three witnesses confirmed the details in each of the seven shootings.
Included among the cases is one first reported in detail by the Observer in Khuza'a, close to the fence surrounding Gaza.
Rawiya al-Najjar, 47, was shot dead, and her relative
Jasmin al-Najjar, 23,
was wounded while the two women were attempting to escape an attack on the village that included the use of white phosphorus and the bulldozing of houses.
Three other incidents occurred around the northern Gaza village of al-Atatra, which had previously seen fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters. By the time of the shootings, however, the fighting had stopped, and in each case the civilians were visible, unarmed, and displaying white flags, the report says.
In one case, the civilians were walking in a group on a street. In another, they were driving slowly on tractors and in cars, trying to leave the area with the wounded, according to the report.
"On the way we saw tanks and soldiers," said Omar Abu Halima, 18. "When we saw them [the Israeli soldiers] they told us to stop. After we stopped they fired at us. They killed my cousin Mattar. My cousin Muhammad was wounded and later died."
In another case – also in al-Atatra – two women holding white flags stepped out of a house that the IDF was demolishing to tell the soldiers that civilians were inside. "We opened the door and a sniper fired at us from a house," said Zakiya al-Qanu, 55. "Ibtisam was hit and I turned to go back inside and another bullet grazed my back. Ibtisam died in the doorway."
The Israeli military said that in some cases Hamas militants had used civilians with white flags for cover. It said yesterday the reports were based on "unreliable witnesses" whose testimony was "unproven".
Human Rights Watch said it could find no evidence of misuse of white flags or the use of civilians as human shields in the cases detailed. "These casualties comprise a fraction of the Palestinian civilians wounded and killed," the report says.
"But they stand out because, in each case, the victims were standing, walking or in slowly moving vehicles with other unarmed civilians, and were trying to convey their non-combatant status by waving a white flag."
Along with the use of white phosphorus on civilian areas, the shooting of unarmed civilians has become the most controversial issue of January's war.
The report follows the publication last month of anonymous testimonies by more than two dozen soldiers who fought in Gaza, compiled by Breaking the Silence, an organisation of former Israeli servicemen, which accused the IDF of allowing an atmosphere of permissive violence against civilians.
The allegations of white flag deaths, collected by human rights groups and the media, have yet to be adequately responded to. Under the Geneva conventions, combatants are obliged to distinguish between soldiers and civilians (as well as fighters who are hors de combat) and also have a legal obligation to protect civilians.
They are also required to investigate any alleged war crimes committed by their own troops.
Last month, the Israeli government released its own report defending its use of force in Gaza.
It said Israel was investigating five alleged cases in which soldiers killed civilians carrying white flags, incidents that it said resulted in 10 deaths. Two of the cases – the incident in Khuza'a and one in eastern Jabaliya – are among them.
War of words
While relations between Human Rights Watch and Israel have never been comfortable, the series of reports that HRW has released since the war in Gaza has brought both Israeli officials' criticism of the group to a new pitch of intensity.
They accuse the organisation of having an anti-Israeli bias, despite the fact that HRW has also forcefully criticised Palestinian rocket fire out of Gaza that targeted civilians. Israeli media commentators have tried to accuse the group of being part of a campaign to present Israel as "a primary perpetrator of war crimes".
More recently the group's US and Israeli critics have suggested that a series of meetings to encourage human rights campaigning in Saudi Arabia was a fundraising trip underpinned by its record of criticising Israel, claims that the group has vigorously denied.
The Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev referred to these allegations in an attempt to rebut the latest report and questioned the group's "impartiality, professionalism and credibility".
6 aug 2009
Human Rights Watch: Gaza projectiles unlawful
Hamas should repudiate unlawful projectile attacks against Israeli population centers and hold those responsible for them to account, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released Thursday.
The report came amidst Israeli outrage directed toward both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for their supposedly inordinate criticism of Israel's military rather than Hamas. However, the two groups have in fact alleged that both sides committed war crimes during the Gaza assault.
A UN fact-finding investigation into serious violations of the laws of war by both sides in the Gaza conflict, led by Judge Richard Goldstone, is due to report back to the UN Human Rights Council in September. Hamas agreed to cooperate with the probe; Israel did not, and issued a preliminary rebuttal last week.
The 31-page Human Rights Watch report released on Friday, "Rockets from Gaza: Harm to Civilians from Palestinian Armed Groups' Rocket Attacks," [PDF] documents attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups since November 2008 that killed three Israeli civilians and seriously injured dozens of others, damaged property and forced residents to leave their homes in southern Israel.
Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have over several years launched thousands of homemade projectiles at Israeli cities and towns, including hundreds during Israel's three-week assault on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. During the same period, Israeli airstrikes and military incursions killed at least 1,400 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians.
But Hamas' projectiles "unlawfully struck populated areas up to 40 kilometers inside Israel, placing roughly 800,000 Israeli civilians at risk," HRW said. Those falling short of their intended targets killed two girls and wounded others in Gaza during this period, some have alleged. According to HRW, armed groups that launched projectiles from densely populated areas also unlawfully put Gaza civilians at risk of Israeli counter strikes.
"Hamas rocket attacks targeting Israeli civilians are unlawful and unjustifiable, and amount to war crimes," said Iain Levine, program director at Human Rights Watch. "As the governing authority in Gaza, Hamas should publicly renounce rocket attacks on Israeli civilian centers and punish those responsible, including members of its own armed wing," the Al-Qassam Brigades.
"Rockets from Gaza" focuses on events after 4 November 2008, when armed groups resumed fire after an Israeli military incursion into Gaza. Based on interviews with witnesses to attacks and launches, field investigations of strike sites in Israel and Gaza, and media and other reports, the report details cases of Israeli and Palestinian civilians killed or wounded by projectiles last winter.
"While Human Rights Watch found no clear practice by Palestinian armed groups to deliberately use civilians to shield rocket launches from counterattack, it found they frequently violated the separate duty under the laws of war to take all feasible precautions to avoid endangering civilians when they launched rockets from densely populated areas," HRW's report alleges.
"Hamas forces violated the laws of war both by firing rockets deliberately or indiscriminately at Israeli cities and by launching them from populated areas and endangering Gazan civilians," added Levine.
Hamas has significantly limited projectiles in recent months, but has not renounced attacks that target civilians or brought to justice those responsible for initiating such attacks, or for endangering Palestinians by launching from populated areas in Gaza, HRW noted. Instead, Hamas' armed wing claimed responsibility for the three Israeli civilian deaths documented in the report. During the Israeli offensive in December and January, the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed to have fired 820 projectiles at Israel.
The locally made projectiles and Soviet-designed Grad rockets used by armed groups cannot be aimed with any reliability. But under the laws of war, such weapons are indiscriminate when used against targets in densely populated areas, HRW insisted. "The absence of Israeli military forces in the areas struck by the rockets, as well as statements from the leaders of the Palestinian armed groups, indicate that the armed groups deliberately intended to strike Israeli civilians and civilian structures."
For example HRW cited Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Qassam Brigades, who said in a video released on 5 January 2009 that "continuing the incursion will only make us increase our rocket range... We will double the number of Israelis under fire."
"Under the laws of war, individuals who willfully authorize or carry out deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians are committing war crimes," HRW said in response to that particular video.
An Israeli early warning siren system, which gives civilians roughly 10 to 45 seconds to find cover in prepared shelters, depending on their distance from the launch site in Gaza, has undoubtedly limited the number of civilian casualties in Israel. Gazans have no such system to protect against Israeli bombardments, but nonetheless HRW noted that the repeated attacks have taken a psychological toll on Israelis.
"The laws of war prohibit attacks the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population," HRW insisted. "Because of the rocket attacks, thousands of people have moved away from frequently targeted areas such as Sderot municipality."
Palestinian armed groups have argued that the rocket attacks are appropriate reprisals for Israeli military operations and the ongoing economic blockade of Gaza, and are a lawful response to Israel's control over Gaza. But while HRW has also documented numerous laws of war violations by Israeli forces in Gaza, "violations by one party to a conflict never justify violations by the other," the group said.
"Attacks targeting civilians are never permitted under the laws of war, which require armed forces to target only military objectives, and to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians from harm, regardless of the reasons for resorting to armed conflict," HRW added.
Similarly and although Israeli military operations caused far greater total harm to civilian lives - killing several hundred civilians with airstrikes, artillery, tank shelling, and other attacks - and property than operations by Palestinian armed groups, "violations of the laws of war are not determined by the number of civilian casualties, but by whether each side is refraining from conducting deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians and is taking all feasible precautions to minimize civilian loss," HRW went on to say.
"Human Rights Watch is committed to documenting the worst violations of the laws of war committed by all sides in armed conflicts throughout the world," Levine said. "We published this report because civilians must never be the object of attack, regardless of the relative strength of the attacker."
While Hamas' rockets are crude and typically cause no serious damage or injuries, the use of unsophisticated weapons "does not justify failure to respect the laws of war, just as an adversary's use of sophisticated weapons does not provide a pass to its opponents to ignore those laws," HRW said.
"Such disparities exist in many wars, and if they provided a justification for ignoring the laws of war the civilian toll in armed conflicts would rise dramatically," the human rights group said in conclusion. "The loss of civilian life from armed conflict can be minimized only if each party recognizes its legal obligations to abide by the laws of war, regardless of the weaponry at its disposal."
"Rockets from Gaza" is the fifth in a series of reports Human Rights Watch has issued on the Israeli offensive launched on 27 December 2008, and can be found in full here. Two reports are forthcoming, the group said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=217298
Human Rights Watch: Gaza projectiles unlawful
Hamas should repudiate unlawful projectile attacks against Israeli population centers and hold those responsible for them to account, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released Thursday.
The report came amidst Israeli outrage directed toward both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for their supposedly inordinate criticism of Israel's military rather than Hamas. However, the two groups have in fact alleged that both sides committed war crimes during the Gaza assault.
A UN fact-finding investigation into serious violations of the laws of war by both sides in the Gaza conflict, led by Judge Richard Goldstone, is due to report back to the UN Human Rights Council in September. Hamas agreed to cooperate with the probe; Israel did not, and issued a preliminary rebuttal last week.
The 31-page Human Rights Watch report released on Friday, "Rockets from Gaza: Harm to Civilians from Palestinian Armed Groups' Rocket Attacks," [PDF] documents attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups since November 2008 that killed three Israeli civilians and seriously injured dozens of others, damaged property and forced residents to leave their homes in southern Israel.
Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have over several years launched thousands of homemade projectiles at Israeli cities and towns, including hundreds during Israel's three-week assault on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. During the same period, Israeli airstrikes and military incursions killed at least 1,400 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians.
But Hamas' projectiles "unlawfully struck populated areas up to 40 kilometers inside Israel, placing roughly 800,000 Israeli civilians at risk," HRW said. Those falling short of their intended targets killed two girls and wounded others in Gaza during this period, some have alleged. According to HRW, armed groups that launched projectiles from densely populated areas also unlawfully put Gaza civilians at risk of Israeli counter strikes.
"Hamas rocket attacks targeting Israeli civilians are unlawful and unjustifiable, and amount to war crimes," said Iain Levine, program director at Human Rights Watch. "As the governing authority in Gaza, Hamas should publicly renounce rocket attacks on Israeli civilian centers and punish those responsible, including members of its own armed wing," the Al-Qassam Brigades.
"Rockets from Gaza" focuses on events after 4 November 2008, when armed groups resumed fire after an Israeli military incursion into Gaza. Based on interviews with witnesses to attacks and launches, field investigations of strike sites in Israel and Gaza, and media and other reports, the report details cases of Israeli and Palestinian civilians killed or wounded by projectiles last winter.
"While Human Rights Watch found no clear practice by Palestinian armed groups to deliberately use civilians to shield rocket launches from counterattack, it found they frequently violated the separate duty under the laws of war to take all feasible precautions to avoid endangering civilians when they launched rockets from densely populated areas," HRW's report alleges.
"Hamas forces violated the laws of war both by firing rockets deliberately or indiscriminately at Israeli cities and by launching them from populated areas and endangering Gazan civilians," added Levine.
Hamas has significantly limited projectiles in recent months, but has not renounced attacks that target civilians or brought to justice those responsible for initiating such attacks, or for endangering Palestinians by launching from populated areas in Gaza, HRW noted. Instead, Hamas' armed wing claimed responsibility for the three Israeli civilian deaths documented in the report. During the Israeli offensive in December and January, the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed to have fired 820 projectiles at Israel.
The locally made projectiles and Soviet-designed Grad rockets used by armed groups cannot be aimed with any reliability. But under the laws of war, such weapons are indiscriminate when used against targets in densely populated areas, HRW insisted. "The absence of Israeli military forces in the areas struck by the rockets, as well as statements from the leaders of the Palestinian armed groups, indicate that the armed groups deliberately intended to strike Israeli civilians and civilian structures."
For example HRW cited Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Qassam Brigades, who said in a video released on 5 January 2009 that "continuing the incursion will only make us increase our rocket range... We will double the number of Israelis under fire."
"Under the laws of war, individuals who willfully authorize or carry out deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians are committing war crimes," HRW said in response to that particular video.
An Israeli early warning siren system, which gives civilians roughly 10 to 45 seconds to find cover in prepared shelters, depending on their distance from the launch site in Gaza, has undoubtedly limited the number of civilian casualties in Israel. Gazans have no such system to protect against Israeli bombardments, but nonetheless HRW noted that the repeated attacks have taken a psychological toll on Israelis.
"The laws of war prohibit attacks the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population," HRW insisted. "Because of the rocket attacks, thousands of people have moved away from frequently targeted areas such as Sderot municipality."
Palestinian armed groups have argued that the rocket attacks are appropriate reprisals for Israeli military operations and the ongoing economic blockade of Gaza, and are a lawful response to Israel's control over Gaza. But while HRW has also documented numerous laws of war violations by Israeli forces in Gaza, "violations by one party to a conflict never justify violations by the other," the group said.
"Attacks targeting civilians are never permitted under the laws of war, which require armed forces to target only military objectives, and to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians from harm, regardless of the reasons for resorting to armed conflict," HRW added.
Similarly and although Israeli military operations caused far greater total harm to civilian lives - killing several hundred civilians with airstrikes, artillery, tank shelling, and other attacks - and property than operations by Palestinian armed groups, "violations of the laws of war are not determined by the number of civilian casualties, but by whether each side is refraining from conducting deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians and is taking all feasible precautions to minimize civilian loss," HRW went on to say.
"Human Rights Watch is committed to documenting the worst violations of the laws of war committed by all sides in armed conflicts throughout the world," Levine said. "We published this report because civilians must never be the object of attack, regardless of the relative strength of the attacker."
While Hamas' rockets are crude and typically cause no serious damage or injuries, the use of unsophisticated weapons "does not justify failure to respect the laws of war, just as an adversary's use of sophisticated weapons does not provide a pass to its opponents to ignore those laws," HRW said.
"Such disparities exist in many wars, and if they provided a justification for ignoring the laws of war the civilian toll in armed conflicts would rise dramatically," the human rights group said in conclusion. "The loss of civilian life from armed conflict can be minimized only if each party recognizes its legal obligations to abide by the laws of war, regardless of the weaponry at its disposal."
"Rockets from Gaza" is the fifth in a series of reports Human Rights Watch has issued on the Israeli offensive launched on 27 December 2008, and can be found in full here. Two reports are forthcoming, the group said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=217298
27 juli 2009
Israel preps for UN reports on Gaza assault
Israel's Foreign Ministry is preparing a defense brief in advance of two United Nations reports on its military's conduct in Gaza last winter, the country's press reported.
Both the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz reported on Monday that a group of legal experts is writing a response to the findings of the two commissions, which they expect will be harsh.
The UN Commission on Human Rights investigative committee headed by Jewish South African Justice Richard Goldstone is expected to release its findings in September, while an earlier report investigating Israeli culpability in the destruction of UN property during their war on Gaza was handed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in May. Israel will be given a chance to view both reports in full before they are released to the public.
Israel's assault on Gaza last winter killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and injured more than 5,000. Israel fears that facts compiled in the two UN commissions would serve as evidence for victims of the Gaza operation, who could then take legal action against Israel at the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
"The road to international courts is very short from the point we are at right now," a government source reportedly said, according to Haaretz. The operation has already in part been labeled a war crime by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Haaretz quoted the same government source as saying that the Foreign Ministry's legal department wants their response to contain the "Israeli narrative" of the assault. Members of the Justice Ministry's international department and Military Advocate General's international law department are helping out, as well.
"[T]he document would be extensive and include the 'whole story' from the Israeli perspective," Haaretz reported. It would include the "reasons for the operation, the security situation in the south [of Israel] after disengagement [from Gaza], the phases of the operation and the orders given to the army."
"This is the way the government will now deal with these types of reports," the Jerusalem Post quoted their own government source as saying. That source said the military and Foreign Ministry may create a team that would go over the UN charges with a "fine-tooth comb."
Israel opted to cooperate with only one of the probes, that of the internal UN commission. Foreign Ministry Deputy Director for International Organizations Eviatar Manor met last week with the commissioner of the Human Rights committee in Geneva, where she said the unfinished report "had no basis in reality," and was authored by "Arab UN personnel." A similar reaction was published following the preliminary release of the internal UN report, which found Israeli culpability in the damage of UN property and asked for over 11 million US dollars in damages.
Only Hamas has agreed to cooperate into the commission led by Goldstone, a former war crimes prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. In early June the Hamas-affiliated de facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh spoke with Goldstone and the two discussed claims of Israeli aggression toward Gazans and allegations of war crimes in the latest assault on Gaza, in addition to the ongoing siege.
Earlier this month Goldstone headed a panel in Geneva that heard from Israeli witnesses and victims of attacks on southern Israel, including from one women severely injured by a projectile fired from Gaza. Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin and a number of other Israeli residents and officials testified before the panel in Switzerland, where they were forced to travel due to Israel's refusal to cooperate with the probe.
"The refusal of cooperation will not in any way decrease the weight of our investigation," he said while in Gaza, adding that his commission would still probe Israel's opponents. He also said that Palestinians' attitudes toward the probe had been "admirable" and their cooperation would be noted in the report, including that of the Hamas-run government.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=214935
Israel preps for UN reports on Gaza assault
Israel's Foreign Ministry is preparing a defense brief in advance of two United Nations reports on its military's conduct in Gaza last winter, the country's press reported.
Both the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz reported on Monday that a group of legal experts is writing a response to the findings of the two commissions, which they expect will be harsh.
The UN Commission on Human Rights investigative committee headed by Jewish South African Justice Richard Goldstone is expected to release its findings in September, while an earlier report investigating Israeli culpability in the destruction of UN property during their war on Gaza was handed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in May. Israel will be given a chance to view both reports in full before they are released to the public.
Israel's assault on Gaza last winter killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and injured more than 5,000. Israel fears that facts compiled in the two UN commissions would serve as evidence for victims of the Gaza operation, who could then take legal action against Israel at the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
"The road to international courts is very short from the point we are at right now," a government source reportedly said, according to Haaretz. The operation has already in part been labeled a war crime by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Haaretz quoted the same government source as saying that the Foreign Ministry's legal department wants their response to contain the "Israeli narrative" of the assault. Members of the Justice Ministry's international department and Military Advocate General's international law department are helping out, as well.
"[T]he document would be extensive and include the 'whole story' from the Israeli perspective," Haaretz reported. It would include the "reasons for the operation, the security situation in the south [of Israel] after disengagement [from Gaza], the phases of the operation and the orders given to the army."
"This is the way the government will now deal with these types of reports," the Jerusalem Post quoted their own government source as saying. That source said the military and Foreign Ministry may create a team that would go over the UN charges with a "fine-tooth comb."
Israel opted to cooperate with only one of the probes, that of the internal UN commission. Foreign Ministry Deputy Director for International Organizations Eviatar Manor met last week with the commissioner of the Human Rights committee in Geneva, where she said the unfinished report "had no basis in reality," and was authored by "Arab UN personnel." A similar reaction was published following the preliminary release of the internal UN report, which found Israeli culpability in the damage of UN property and asked for over 11 million US dollars in damages.
Only Hamas has agreed to cooperate into the commission led by Goldstone, a former war crimes prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. In early June the Hamas-affiliated de facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh spoke with Goldstone and the two discussed claims of Israeli aggression toward Gazans and allegations of war crimes in the latest assault on Gaza, in addition to the ongoing siege.
Earlier this month Goldstone headed a panel in Geneva that heard from Israeli witnesses and victims of attacks on southern Israel, including from one women severely injured by a projectile fired from Gaza. Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin and a number of other Israeli residents and officials testified before the panel in Switzerland, where they were forced to travel due to Israel's refusal to cooperate with the probe.
"The refusal of cooperation will not in any way decrease the weight of our investigation," he said while in Gaza, adding that his commission would still probe Israel's opponents. He also said that Palestinians' attitudes toward the probe had been "admirable" and their cooperation would be noted in the report, including that of the Hamas-run government.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=214935
23 juli 2009
No charge for Srour; bail, "conditions" following UN testimony
A Nil'in man who testified for the UN’s Gaza fact finding mission was released on “conditions” though he was not charged following his detention by Israeli border officials on his way home from Geneva.
Srour was testifying at the UN’s fact finding mission on Gaza, lead by Richard Goldstone. The mission has a broad mandate that includes investigations over how the political situation in Israel in the lead-up and fall out of their war on Gaza affected the West Bank.
According to Srour’s lawyers at the office of Gaby Lasky, Srour was released on “conditions,” and was asked to post bail, said to be around 4,000 shekels (1,000 US dollars). The courts said they were likely going to charge the non-violence activist, but they did not say with what he was to be charged, or when. No court date has been set for his reappearance.
Srour, a member of the Ni'lin Popular Committee Against the Wall, participates in demonstrations that take place against the theft of Ni'lin's land. He and Pollack were witness to the shooting of two Ni’lin residents, Arafat Rateb Khawaje and Mohammed Khawaje, on 28 December 2008, during a demonstration in solidarity with Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=214093
No charge for Srour; bail, "conditions" following UN testimony
A Nil'in man who testified for the UN’s Gaza fact finding mission was released on “conditions” though he was not charged following his detention by Israeli border officials on his way home from Geneva.
Srour was testifying at the UN’s fact finding mission on Gaza, lead by Richard Goldstone. The mission has a broad mandate that includes investigations over how the political situation in Israel in the lead-up and fall out of their war on Gaza affected the West Bank.
According to Srour’s lawyers at the office of Gaby Lasky, Srour was released on “conditions,” and was asked to post bail, said to be around 4,000 shekels (1,000 US dollars). The courts said they were likely going to charge the non-violence activist, but they did not say with what he was to be charged, or when. No court date has been set for his reappearance.
Srour, a member of the Ni'lin Popular Committee Against the Wall, participates in demonstrations that take place against the theft of Ni'lin's land. He and Pollack were witness to the shooting of two Ni’lin residents, Arafat Rateb Khawaje and Mohammed Khawaje, on 28 December 2008, during a demonstration in solidarity with Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=214093
22 juli 2009
Israeli forces arrest Palestinian after giving testimony to UN
Nil’in activist Mohammad Srour was detained by Israeli authorities at the Allenby Bridge on his way home from testifying at a UN commission hearing in Geneva, his lawyers confirmed Thursday
Srour was testifying at the UN’s fact finding mission on Gaza, lead by Richard Goldstone. The mission has a broad mandate that includes investigations over how the political situation in Israel in the lead-up and fall out of their war on Gaza affected the West Bank.
According to a spokesperson for Srour’s lawyer Lymor Goldstein, the activist was speaking about the situation in Ni’lin, specifically about the slaying of two young men by Israeli forces during a demonstration, a news release added. He testified alongside fellow activist Jonathan Pollack, an Israeli solidarity activist who regularly participates in the Friday protests.
Srour was arrested on 20 July 2009 while crossing the Allenby Bridge from Jordan, he testified to the United Nations in Geneva on 6 July.
Srour, a member of the Ni'lin Popular Committee Against the Wall, participates in demonstrations that take place against the theft of Ni'lin's land. He and Pollack were witness to the shooting of two Ni’lin residents, Arafat Rateb Khawaje and Mohammed Khawaje, on 28 December 2008, during a demonstration in solidarity with Gaza.
“I know full well that I will pay the price for this testimony when I return at Israeli crossing points in my journey of return after this hearing,” a news statement quoted Srour as saying during his testimony in Geneva.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=213827
Israeli forces arrest Palestinian after giving testimony to UN
Nil’in activist Mohammad Srour was detained by Israeli authorities at the Allenby Bridge on his way home from testifying at a UN commission hearing in Geneva, his lawyers confirmed Thursday
Srour was testifying at the UN’s fact finding mission on Gaza, lead by Richard Goldstone. The mission has a broad mandate that includes investigations over how the political situation in Israel in the lead-up and fall out of their war on Gaza affected the West Bank.
According to a spokesperson for Srour’s lawyer Lymor Goldstein, the activist was speaking about the situation in Ni’lin, specifically about the slaying of two young men by Israeli forces during a demonstration, a news release added. He testified alongside fellow activist Jonathan Pollack, an Israeli solidarity activist who regularly participates in the Friday protests.
Srour was arrested on 20 July 2009 while crossing the Allenby Bridge from Jordan, he testified to the United Nations in Geneva on 6 July.
Srour, a member of the Ni'lin Popular Committee Against the Wall, participates in demonstrations that take place against the theft of Ni'lin's land. He and Pollack were witness to the shooting of two Ni’lin residents, Arafat Rateb Khawaje and Mohammed Khawaje, on 28 December 2008, during a demonstration in solidarity with Gaza.
“I know full well that I will pay the price for this testimony when I return at Israeli crossing points in my journey of return after this hearing,” a news statement quoted Srour as saying during his testimony in Geneva.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=213827
6 juli 2009
UN's Goldstone collects evidence from Israeli victims
Israeli witnesses of the country's assault on Gaza last winter testified before UN human rights investigators on Monday in Geneva.
South African Judge Richard Goldstone, a former war crimes prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, headed a panel that heard from victims of attacks on southern Israel.
At one point, Goldstone comforted a woman who began crying during her testimony while describing injuries all over her body caused by a homemade projectile launched at Ashkelon during the assault, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
Goldstone told her there was no need to apologize for breaking down during the investigation and added that his committee sympathized with her pain, calling her story important, the newspaper reported.
Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin and a number of other Israeli residents and officials testified before the panel in Switzerland, where they were forced to travel due to Israel's refusal to cooperate with the probe.
Also in Geneva on Monday was the father of a soldier who was captured in a cross-border raid over two years before the Gaza conflict began in late December 2008. Noam Shalit had recently submitted a written statement calling for his son's release.
In early June the Hamas-affiliated de facto prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, spoke with Goldstone and the two discussed claims of Israeli aggression toward Gazans and allegations of war crimes in the latest assault on Gaza, in addition to the ongoing siege.
Haniyeh accused Israel of a number of attacks against Palestinians, the commercial siege and claims that Israelis are preventing Palestinians from "all life sources," in addition to shelling residential buildings, "killing mothers and children in cold blood" and using prohibited weapons, violating international law, and torturing Palestinian detainees.
The Hamas prime minister said the Israeli war on Gaza that began in late December 2008 was "humiliating to humanity itself and not just to Palestinians," insisting on the importance of sending "these war criminals to court and judging them for their crimes."
For his part, Goldstone insisted that he would seek justice and that his committee will be honest, praising the cooperation of the de facto government, which is run by Hamas.
Regarding Israel's participation in the investigation of both sides' conduct during the assault, Goldstone said the country was approached a number of times in an effort to seek its cooperation.
"The response," he said, "was a complete refusal."
"But we will not let that stop us from carrying out our mission," Goldstone added, ". the refusal of cooperation will not in any way decrease the weight of our investigation," noting that his team would also probe Israel's own allegations of war crimes committed by its opponents, part of which began Monday in Geneva.
He also said that Palestinians' attitudes toward the probe had been "admirable" and their cooperation would be noted in the report, including that of the Hamas-run government.
Goldstone, a Jewish South African judge and veteran of two international war crimes tribunals, was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to lead the investigation into Israel's assault on Gaza that killed nearly 1,500 and injured thousands.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=211721
UN's Goldstone collects evidence from Israeli victims
Israeli witnesses of the country's assault on Gaza last winter testified before UN human rights investigators on Monday in Geneva.
South African Judge Richard Goldstone, a former war crimes prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, headed a panel that heard from victims of attacks on southern Israel.
At one point, Goldstone comforted a woman who began crying during her testimony while describing injuries all over her body caused by a homemade projectile launched at Ashkelon during the assault, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
Goldstone told her there was no need to apologize for breaking down during the investigation and added that his committee sympathized with her pain, calling her story important, the newspaper reported.
Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin and a number of other Israeli residents and officials testified before the panel in Switzerland, where they were forced to travel due to Israel's refusal to cooperate with the probe.
Also in Geneva on Monday was the father of a soldier who was captured in a cross-border raid over two years before the Gaza conflict began in late December 2008. Noam Shalit had recently submitted a written statement calling for his son's release.
In early June the Hamas-affiliated de facto prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, spoke with Goldstone and the two discussed claims of Israeli aggression toward Gazans and allegations of war crimes in the latest assault on Gaza, in addition to the ongoing siege.
Haniyeh accused Israel of a number of attacks against Palestinians, the commercial siege and claims that Israelis are preventing Palestinians from "all life sources," in addition to shelling residential buildings, "killing mothers and children in cold blood" and using prohibited weapons, violating international law, and torturing Palestinian detainees.
The Hamas prime minister said the Israeli war on Gaza that began in late December 2008 was "humiliating to humanity itself and not just to Palestinians," insisting on the importance of sending "these war criminals to court and judging them for their crimes."
For his part, Goldstone insisted that he would seek justice and that his committee will be honest, praising the cooperation of the de facto government, which is run by Hamas.
Regarding Israel's participation in the investigation of both sides' conduct during the assault, Goldstone said the country was approached a number of times in an effort to seek its cooperation.
"The response," he said, "was a complete refusal."
"But we will not let that stop us from carrying out our mission," Goldstone added, ". the refusal of cooperation will not in any way decrease the weight of our investigation," noting that his team would also probe Israel's own allegations of war crimes committed by its opponents, part of which began Monday in Geneva.
He also said that Palestinians' attitudes toward the probe had been "admirable" and their cooperation would be noted in the report, including that of the Hamas-run government.
Goldstone, a Jewish South African judge and veteran of two international war crimes tribunals, was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to lead the investigation into Israel's assault on Gaza that killed nearly 1,500 and injured thousands.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=211721
3 juli 2009
Haniyeh responds to Amnesty report on Gaza assault
De facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Friday commented on Amnesty International's report this week that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during the Gaza assault last winter.
At his weekly address at a local Gaza City mosque, Haniyeh said "there are important and positive issues" in the Amnesty report, which he commended for it's honesty.
"It includes eight crimes committed by the [Israeli] occupation forces during the latest war on Gaza, in which internationally banned weapons were used," he noted, adding that the document "cleared the Palestinians and resistance of using residents as human shields."
The report said it found no evidence that Hamas used human shields, but that Israel routinely kept people inside occupied homes for added protection, an act it called a war crime. Israel continues to maintain that Hamas too used human shields during the conflict.
However, Haniyeh criticized the report for "describing equally the victim and the perpetrator," and urged the international organization to "have more balance" and step back from its "double-standard policy."
In regard to a UN fact-finding mission led by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, Haniyeh said that "the committee was touched [by what it saw] and reached the truth," noting that "we await a UN report that will be fair to the Palestinians."
The leader also expressed his gratitude to peace activists on the Spirit of Humanity aid ship that was seized by Israeli navy boats en route to Gaza on Tuesday, calling Israel's actions "acts of piracy."
With regard to ongoing unity talks in Cairo, the leader alleged that intervention was hindering their success, saying, "Outside intervention in the Palestinian national dialogue is the main obstacle to reaching a Palestinian national agreement" with the Hamas movement's Fatah rivals.
The leader also insisted on balance in the talks with Fatah, which maintains that Hamas' takeover in 2007 was an illegal revolt that ought to be dealt with first and foremost within the unity talks taking place this week in Egypt.
"Dealing with the current crisis as if it were some kind of coup is a misunderstanding," Haniyeh said. "To anyone who says he is not satisfied with the situation in Gaza, we say we are not satisfied with what is happening in the West Bank," adding that "we should get past the confusion occurring within the dialogue."
Haniyeh also urged negotiators to deal with disputed issues separately, and not to link certain files together. Instead, he called for immediately dealing with the most pressing issues of the siege and the Strip's reconstruction: "Do not link construction [to the deal], with the serious effects it has on the people, or by linking opening the crossings [into Gaza] with conciliation," he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=211668
Haniyeh responds to Amnesty report on Gaza assault
De facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Friday commented on Amnesty International's report this week that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during the Gaza assault last winter.
At his weekly address at a local Gaza City mosque, Haniyeh said "there are important and positive issues" in the Amnesty report, which he commended for it's honesty.
"It includes eight crimes committed by the [Israeli] occupation forces during the latest war on Gaza, in which internationally banned weapons were used," he noted, adding that the document "cleared the Palestinians and resistance of using residents as human shields."
The report said it found no evidence that Hamas used human shields, but that Israel routinely kept people inside occupied homes for added protection, an act it called a war crime. Israel continues to maintain that Hamas too used human shields during the conflict.
However, Haniyeh criticized the report for "describing equally the victim and the perpetrator," and urged the international organization to "have more balance" and step back from its "double-standard policy."
In regard to a UN fact-finding mission led by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, Haniyeh said that "the committee was touched [by what it saw] and reached the truth," noting that "we await a UN report that will be fair to the Palestinians."
The leader also expressed his gratitude to peace activists on the Spirit of Humanity aid ship that was seized by Israeli navy boats en route to Gaza on Tuesday, calling Israel's actions "acts of piracy."
With regard to ongoing unity talks in Cairo, the leader alleged that intervention was hindering their success, saying, "Outside intervention in the Palestinian national dialogue is the main obstacle to reaching a Palestinian national agreement" with the Hamas movement's Fatah rivals.
The leader also insisted on balance in the talks with Fatah, which maintains that Hamas' takeover in 2007 was an illegal revolt that ought to be dealt with first and foremost within the unity talks taking place this week in Egypt.
"Dealing with the current crisis as if it were some kind of coup is a misunderstanding," Haniyeh said. "To anyone who says he is not satisfied with the situation in Gaza, we say we are not satisfied with what is happening in the West Bank," adding that "we should get past the confusion occurring within the dialogue."
Haniyeh also urged negotiators to deal with disputed issues separately, and not to link certain files together. Instead, he called for immediately dealing with the most pressing issues of the siege and the Strip's reconstruction: "Do not link construction [to the deal], with the serious effects it has on the people, or by linking opening the crossings [into Gaza] with conciliation," he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=211668
2 juli 2009
Amnesty: Israel killed hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians
Israel is guilty of committing atrocious war crimes during its operation in the Gaza Strip in December and January, a new Amnesty International report published Thursday found.
As UN tribunals and committees continue to work or have their findings summarized and partially released, the Amnesty document is the first comprehensive report on the Israeli war on Gaza, termed Operation Case Lead.
"Israel's failure to properly investigate its forces' conduct in Gaza, including war crimes, and its continuing refusal to cooperate with the UN international independent fact-finding mission headed by Richard Goldstone, is evidence of its intention to avoid public scrutiny and accountability," said Donatella Rovera, who headed an Amnesty field research mission to Gaza and southern Israel during and after the conflict.
The report documents the killings of hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians and destruction of thousands of homes in Gaza by attacks from Israeli forces. It also catalogues the three deaths of Israeli civilians from the "hundreds of rockets" Palestinian militant factions fired into southern Israel. Analysts did not shy away from categorizing the "unlawful" projectile attacks as "war crimes," as well.
Israel's list of rights violations, however, was much more extensive. The report said Israeli attacks "breached the laws of war" when it used "battlefield weapons against a civilian population trapped in Gaza, with no means of escape."
Amnesty figures found that the scale and intensity of the attacks on Gaza were "unprecedented." They upheld numbers from the Gaza Ministry of Health which found at least "300 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians who took no part in the conflict were among the 1,400 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces."
Amnesty investigators found most of the deaths in Gaza were caused by "high-precision weapons, relying on surveillance drones which have exceptionally good optics, allowing those observing to see their targets in detail," making Israeli claims of civilian casualties as collateral damage unsustainable.
The victims of the attacks Amnesty investigated were "not caught in the crossfire during battles between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces, nor were they shielding militants or other military objects. Many were killed when their homes were bombed while they slept."
The report also condemned the use of white phosphorus weapons, which it called "imprecise" and something that "should never be used in densely populated areas." The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas on the planet, with 3,945.4 people per square kilometer.
Israel's army has not responded to Amnesty International's repeated requests over the past five months for information on specific cases detailed in the report and for meetings to discuss the organization's findings, Amnesty said.
On Thursday, however, a spokesperson for Israel's military said in a statement that "[t]he slant of their [Amnesty's] report indicates that the organization succumbed to the manipulations of the Hamas terror organization."
"The Amnesty report ignores a critical aspect of Operation Cast Lead -- Hamas consistently, deliberately and routinely violated international law, specifically the prohibition against the use of 'human shields,'" the statement added, although Amnesty insisted on Thursday it had found no evidence that Hamas used such tactics.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=211634
Both Israel and Hamas reject Amnesty's Gaza findings
The de facto Information Ministry in Gaza on Thursday rejected findings by Amnesty International that Hamas committed war crimes during the Israeli assault last winter.
Responding to a report released on Thursday that termed projectile attacks on Israeli targets as unlawful, the ministry said Amnesty was "treating the victim and the perpetrator equally," according to a statement sent to Ma'an.
"Ignoring the main reasons behind what is happening is providing a cover for killing and expelling, and justifies the [Gaza] siege, which is in violation of international law," the Hamas-run ministry added.
Amnesty's report called Hamas' and other armed groups' attacks during the assault evidence that they had "no qualms about launching attacks against civilians and that they in fact carry out attacks intending to kill and injure israeli civilians. Such attacks constitute war crimes."
But the Hamas-run ministry insisted that by describing armed action against Israel as illegal, the international human rights organization was blurring the line between "legitimate resistance" and "Israeli weaponry," and further denounced the findings as slanted toward Israel.
The statement went on to accuse Amnesty of creating excuses for the "[Israeli] occupation's crimes," and noted that the ministry would hold the international human rights organization "fully responsible" for what it said was encouraging Israel's behavior by criticizing resistance.
Yet despite Amnesty's thorough criticism of Hamas, Israel's military in its own statement to Ma'an said that "[i]t is to Amnesty International's discredit that the report they issued, focuses so intently on any and all IDF [Israel Defense Forces] infractions, and ignores the blatant violations of international law perpetrated by Hamas."
"The slant of their [Amnesty's] report indicates that the organization succumbed to the manipulations of the Hamas terror organization," the military spokesperson added in a written response to the accusations on "Operation Cast Lead," Israel's name for the assault.
"We find it both questionable and objectionable that a well-respected and ostensibly objective international organization such as Amnesty could produce a report on Operation Cast Lead without properly recognizing the unbearable reality of nine years of incessant and indiscriminate rocket fire on the citizens of Israel," the spokesperson wrote.
"The Amnesty report ignores a critical aspect of Operation Cast Lead -- Hamas consistently, deliberately and routinely violated international law, specifically the prohibition against the use of 'human shields,'" the statement added, although Amnesty insisted on Thursday it had found no evidence that Hamas used such tactics.
In fact, the group charged in its report that it was instead Israeli soldiers who repeatedly used Palestinians as human shields during the three-week onslaught. In response to that, the military spokesperson admitted on Thursday to a few "unfortunate incidents that are unavoidable during combat - especially the type of combat Hamas forced upon the IDF," when it "chose to fight from within civilian population centers."
According to the country's Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, Israel's military "is currently looking into complaints that were received from various sources - private lawyers, human rights organizations (including Amnesty) and media outlets (both domestic and international) - that raise different questions regarding the way in which the IDF operated."
"In certain cases, the Chief Military Advocate has already ordered the opening of a criminal investigation," the Israeli military official added.
Nevertheless, Amnesty's 117-page report charged that Israel has not fully investigated violations and is guilty of committing egregious war crimes during its operation in the Gaza Strip in December and January, which left nearly 1,500 Palestinians dead and thousands more seriously injured.
"Israel's failure to properly investigate its forces' conduct in Gaza, including war crimes, and its continuing refusal to cooperate with the UN international independent fact-finding mission headed by [South African Judge] Richard Goldstone, is evidence of its intention to avoid public scrutiny and accountability," said Donatella Rovera, who headed an Amnesty field research mission to Gaza and southern Israel during and after the conflict.
The report documented the killings of hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians and destruction of thousands of homes in Gaza by attacks from Israeli forces. It also catalogued the three deaths of Israeli civilians from the "hundreds of rockets" Palestinian militant factions fired into southern Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=211643
Amnesty: Israel killed hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians
Israel is guilty of committing atrocious war crimes during its operation in the Gaza Strip in December and January, a new Amnesty International report published Thursday found.
As UN tribunals and committees continue to work or have their findings summarized and partially released, the Amnesty document is the first comprehensive report on the Israeli war on Gaza, termed Operation Case Lead.
"Israel's failure to properly investigate its forces' conduct in Gaza, including war crimes, and its continuing refusal to cooperate with the UN international independent fact-finding mission headed by Richard Goldstone, is evidence of its intention to avoid public scrutiny and accountability," said Donatella Rovera, who headed an Amnesty field research mission to Gaza and southern Israel during and after the conflict.
The report documents the killings of hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians and destruction of thousands of homes in Gaza by attacks from Israeli forces. It also catalogues the three deaths of Israeli civilians from the "hundreds of rockets" Palestinian militant factions fired into southern Israel. Analysts did not shy away from categorizing the "unlawful" projectile attacks as "war crimes," as well.
Israel's list of rights violations, however, was much more extensive. The report said Israeli attacks "breached the laws of war" when it used "battlefield weapons against a civilian population trapped in Gaza, with no means of escape."
Amnesty figures found that the scale and intensity of the attacks on Gaza were "unprecedented." They upheld numbers from the Gaza Ministry of Health which found at least "300 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians who took no part in the conflict were among the 1,400 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces."
Amnesty investigators found most of the deaths in Gaza were caused by "high-precision weapons, relying on surveillance drones which have exceptionally good optics, allowing those observing to see their targets in detail," making Israeli claims of civilian casualties as collateral damage unsustainable.
The victims of the attacks Amnesty investigated were "not caught in the crossfire during battles between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces, nor were they shielding militants or other military objects. Many were killed when their homes were bombed while they slept."
The report also condemned the use of white phosphorus weapons, which it called "imprecise" and something that "should never be used in densely populated areas." The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas on the planet, with 3,945.4 people per square kilometer.
Israel's army has not responded to Amnesty International's repeated requests over the past five months for information on specific cases detailed in the report and for meetings to discuss the organization's findings, Amnesty said.
On Thursday, however, a spokesperson for Israel's military said in a statement that "[t]he slant of their [Amnesty's] report indicates that the organization succumbed to the manipulations of the Hamas terror organization."
"The Amnesty report ignores a critical aspect of Operation Cast Lead -- Hamas consistently, deliberately and routinely violated international law, specifically the prohibition against the use of 'human shields,'" the statement added, although Amnesty insisted on Thursday it had found no evidence that Hamas used such tactics.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=211634
Both Israel and Hamas reject Amnesty's Gaza findings
The de facto Information Ministry in Gaza on Thursday rejected findings by Amnesty International that Hamas committed war crimes during the Israeli assault last winter.
Responding to a report released on Thursday that termed projectile attacks on Israeli targets as unlawful, the ministry said Amnesty was "treating the victim and the perpetrator equally," according to a statement sent to Ma'an.
"Ignoring the main reasons behind what is happening is providing a cover for killing and expelling, and justifies the [Gaza] siege, which is in violation of international law," the Hamas-run ministry added.
Amnesty's report called Hamas' and other armed groups' attacks during the assault evidence that they had "no qualms about launching attacks against civilians and that they in fact carry out attacks intending to kill and injure israeli civilians. Such attacks constitute war crimes."
But the Hamas-run ministry insisted that by describing armed action against Israel as illegal, the international human rights organization was blurring the line between "legitimate resistance" and "Israeli weaponry," and further denounced the findings as slanted toward Israel.
The statement went on to accuse Amnesty of creating excuses for the "[Israeli] occupation's crimes," and noted that the ministry would hold the international human rights organization "fully responsible" for what it said was encouraging Israel's behavior by criticizing resistance.
Yet despite Amnesty's thorough criticism of Hamas, Israel's military in its own statement to Ma'an said that "[i]t is to Amnesty International's discredit that the report they issued, focuses so intently on any and all IDF [Israel Defense Forces] infractions, and ignores the blatant violations of international law perpetrated by Hamas."
"The slant of their [Amnesty's] report indicates that the organization succumbed to the manipulations of the Hamas terror organization," the military spokesperson added in a written response to the accusations on "Operation Cast Lead," Israel's name for the assault.
"We find it both questionable and objectionable that a well-respected and ostensibly objective international organization such as Amnesty could produce a report on Operation Cast Lead without properly recognizing the unbearable reality of nine years of incessant and indiscriminate rocket fire on the citizens of Israel," the spokesperson wrote.
"The Amnesty report ignores a critical aspect of Operation Cast Lead -- Hamas consistently, deliberately and routinely violated international law, specifically the prohibition against the use of 'human shields,'" the statement added, although Amnesty insisted on Thursday it had found no evidence that Hamas used such tactics.
In fact, the group charged in its report that it was instead Israeli soldiers who repeatedly used Palestinians as human shields during the three-week onslaught. In response to that, the military spokesperson admitted on Thursday to a few "unfortunate incidents that are unavoidable during combat - especially the type of combat Hamas forced upon the IDF," when it "chose to fight from within civilian population centers."
According to the country's Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, Israel's military "is currently looking into complaints that were received from various sources - private lawyers, human rights organizations (including Amnesty) and media outlets (both domestic and international) - that raise different questions regarding the way in which the IDF operated."
"In certain cases, the Chief Military Advocate has already ordered the opening of a criminal investigation," the Israeli military official added.
Nevertheless, Amnesty's 117-page report charged that Israel has not fully investigated violations and is guilty of committing egregious war crimes during its operation in the Gaza Strip in December and January, which left nearly 1,500 Palestinians dead and thousands more seriously injured.
"Israel's failure to properly investigate its forces' conduct in Gaza, including war crimes, and its continuing refusal to cooperate with the UN international independent fact-finding mission headed by [South African Judge] Richard Goldstone, is evidence of its intention to avoid public scrutiny and accountability," said Donatella Rovera, who headed an Amnesty field research mission to Gaza and southern Israel during and after the conflict.
The report documented the killings of hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians and destruction of thousands of homes in Gaza by attacks from Israeli forces. It also catalogued the three deaths of Israeli civilians from the "hundreds of rockets" Palestinian militant factions fired into southern Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=211643