Israel denies Gaza war crimes in report to UN, only admits to one credit card theft
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- Written by Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
- Published: 31 January 2010 31 January 2010
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Israel denies Gaza war crimes in report to UN
Israel insists troops did not violate international law despite 'operational lapses and errors'
An Israeli air strike on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, during the January 2009 conflict. Photograph: ABDALRAHEM KHATEB/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Israel has delivered a report to the UN defending its actions in last year's Gaza war and insisting its troops did not violate international law, but has not agreed to hold an independent investigation as demanded.
In the 46-page report, submitted on Friday and released late that night, Israeli authorities admitted some "operational lapses and errors in the exercise of discretion". But they strongly denied allegations of war crimes raised by international human rights groups and by two separate UN investigations.
The report reveals there has so far been only one criminal conviction in relation to the war – one soldier was jailed for seven and a half months for stealing a credit card from a Palestinian home and using it to withdraw £250 in cash.
Last September, the South African judge Richard Goldstone published a highly critical 575-page report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council which accused both Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas of "grave breaches" of the fourth Geneva convention, war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. It called on both sides to start their own credible, independent investigations or risk international prosecutions. Neither Israel nor Hamas has done so and the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, will report on this to the UN general assembly in the coming days. The three-week war left nearly 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
Last week Hamas officials in Gaza claimed their forces had not committed war crimes because their rockets only hit civilians by mistake because they were crudely built and unguided. Human Rights Watch dismissed that as a "whitewash" and said it was "factually and legally wrong".
But it was Israel that received much sterner criticism in the Goldstone report. Two weeks ago the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, listed the "Goldstone effect" as one of the top three security challenges facing Israel.
The Israeli report seeks to make the case that Israel's investigative system is rigorous and up to international standards. It blames Hamas for a "deliberate strategy … to blend in with the civilian population" and says the Israeli military made "strenuous efforts" to minimise harm to civilians.
It said 150 incidents have been or are being investigated, of which 36 have been referred for criminal investigation. But, apart from the soldier jailed for "looting", there have been no criminal charges.
Some incidents were detailed. Israel defended its attack on the al-Badr flour mill, in northern Gaza, which was severely damaged during the war. The Goldstone report concluded this was a "grave breach" of the fourth Geneva convention and a possible war crime. However, the Israeli report admits the building was hit by tank shells but specifically denies it was hit by an air strike, even though Goldstone found that it was. The Israeli report found no need for a criminal investigation into the military's actions at the mill, but admitted it "could not conclusively determine" whether the building was ever used by Hamas fighters and only claimed "some evidence" of such use.
Israel defended its use of white phosphorus and also found "no basis" to launch criminal investigations over the shelling of UN buildings and staff, even though UN schools were hit during the war, as was the main UN warehouse which was burned to the ground by Israeli white phosphorus shells. Israel has paid more than $10m (£6.25m) to the UN in compensation for the damage.
Oregon Congressman Kurt Schrader: touting the pro-Israel line . . .
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- Written by AUPHR AUPHR
- Published: 30 January 2010 30 January 2010
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[Oregon congressman Kurt Schrader must have received an A+ from AIPAC for studying their position papers, as witnessed by this letter to one of his constituents . . .]
Thank you for contacting me regarding the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories. I appreciate your thoughts and concerns on this issue.
For too many generations, an unending cycle of violence has existed in the heart of the Middle East. With constant war and terrorist attacks, for more than 60 years Israeli's and Palestinian's have lived in a constant state of fear and tension. For these reasons, I strongly feel that the United States must be proactive in working towards a permanent solution to this conflict.
At the same time, I do believe that dramatic actions must be taken from both Israeli's and Palestinian's to move towards a peaceful solution. The Hamas leadership in Gaza must renounce terrorism and accept Israel's permanent right to exist as a free and sovereign nation with safe, defendable, and recognizable borders. The Palestinian government must also educate their citizens and promote peace, instead of hatred against Jews and Israel. Similarly, the Israeli government must cease building settlements within the West Bank. The Israeli government took a bold step toward peace with their unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. They must demonstrate that they are willing to take similar steps in the West Bank. Israel must also work to guarantee that basic humanitarian supplies are able to get into the Gaza Strip.
Arab and European countries must also be proactive in fighting anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic statements and actions against Israel. I consider boycotts against Israeli corporations, products, government officials, and citizens as being detrimental and a hindrance to solving the conflict. Similarly, one-sided and biased resolutions at the United Nations that unfairly target Israel do nothing to bring Israeli's and Palestinians together. Instead these actions only intensify hatred and mistrust on both sides.
President Obama has shown great leadership in appointing Special Envoy Mitchell as his representative in the Middle East. As your member of Congress, I look forward to working with him, Secretary Clinton, and congressional leadership in promoting a permanent and peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sincerely,
KURT SCHRADER
Member of Congress
KS/ep
Goodbye & Thank You, Howard Zinn
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- Written by Barbara Lubin Barbara Lubin
- Published: 28 January 2010 28 January 2010
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"What matters most is not who is sitting in the White House, but "who is sitting in" -- and who is marching outside the White House, pushing for change." - Howard Zinn
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Dynamic Map of Empires
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- Written by AUPHR AUPHR
- Published: 22 January 2010 22 January 2010
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Dynamic Map of Empires
This fascinating dynamic map plays the ebb end flow of empires from 3000 BC to the present. Supporters of Israel's domination of Palestinians like to tout the Jewish Empire that existed in the past and site it as a reason that their ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is justified. A review of empires through history shows how all the empires of the past are just blips on the march of history.
http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/EMPIRE17.swf
When Does It Become Genocide?
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- Written by Nadia Hijab Nadia Hijab
- Published: 20 January 2010 20 January 2010
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Alarmingly Close in Gaza
During a visit to Ramallah a year ago while the Israeli bombardment of Gaza was underway, I shared my fears with a close Palestinian friend. "It may sound insane, but I think the Israelis' real objective is to see them all dead."
My friend told me not to be silly, the assault was horrific, but it was not mass killing. I said that wasn't the issue: This was a population already very vulnerable to disease, ill-health, and malnutrition after years of siege, with its infrastructure rotted, its water and food contaminated. Israel's war would surely push the people over the brink, especially if the siege was maintained -- as it has been.
In other words, Israel would not directly kill tens of thousands of Palestinians, but it would create the conditions for tens of thousands to die. Any epidemic could finish the job. My friend fell silent at these words, but still shook his head in disbelief.
Two things have changed since last year: More people have started to apply the term "genocide" to what Israel is doing to Gaza. And not only is Israel being directly accused but also, increasingly, Egypt.
Is it genocide? "The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" -- a clear, concise document adopted by the United Nations in December 1948 -- states that genocide is any of five acts committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."
Three acts appear to apply to the situation in Gaza: "(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."
Legal scholars disagree about how to interpret the Convention's articles and it has proven difficult, over the years, to define crimes as genocide, let alone to prevent or end them. In line with the Bosnia precedent -- the only authoritative legal treatment of genocide to date -- it would be necessary to establish deliberate intent for an accusation of genocide against Israel to stand up in court.
Israel's leadership has not, of course, issued a declaration of intent. However, many leading Israeli officials can be said to have done so. For example:
• Putting the Palestinians of Gaza "on a diet" -- Dov Weisglass, chief aide to Ariel Sharon, in 2006.
• Exposing them to "a bigger shoah (holocaust)" -- Matan Vilnai, former deputy defense minister, in 2008.
• Issuing religious edits exhorting soldiers to show no mercy -- the Israeli army rabbinate during the actual conflict.
Such declarations echo at least three of the "8 stages of genocide" identified by Genocide Watch president Gregory Stanton in the 1990s after the Rwanda genocide: Classification, dehumanization, and polarization.
Then there is the deliberate destruction or barring of means of sustenance as Israel has done on land and at sea. Already, the Goldstone Report has said that depriving the Gaza Palestinians of their means of sustenance, employment, housing and water, freedom of movement, and access to a court of law, could amount to persecution.
Since the December-January assault, there have been many authoritative reports by human rights and environmental organizations on the impact of the war and the ongoing siege on the people, soil, air, and water, including the increase in cancers, deformed births, and preventable deaths. The death toll in Gaza from swine flu reached nine in mid-December and 13 a week later -- an epidemic in waiting.
The eighth stage of genocide Stanton identifies is denial by perpetrators "that they committed any crimes." Ironically, Stanton headed the International Association of Genocide Scholars during the conflict, which shut down discussion of Israel's actions despite protests by, among others, genocide scholar and author Adam Jones. Jones and 15 other scholars had posted a declaration stating that Israeli policies were "too alarmingly close" to genocide to ignore and calling for an end to the silence.
Alarmingly close is right. Here is how Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-Jewish legal scholar who pushed for the genocide convention, defined it in 1943:
"genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation.... It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups."
It is hard to conceive of a better description of what is going on in Gaza.
All UN member states have the duty to prevent and stop acts of genocide. What is needed is a country brave enough to take the lead, before it is too late.
- Nadia Hijab is an independent analyst and a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies.
Published in CounterPunch on January 5, 2010.