UN rights chief suggests mission to assess possible war crimes in Gaza conflict.
(SALEM, Ore.) - During the Third Reich and the years of Jewish persecution, the Nazi's were known for either blocking international human rights observers from seeing the Jewish ghettos, or putting on a show for them by arranging a small number of Jewish refugees who "appeared" to be well fed and cared for.
There are common parallels, and the fact that Israel has blocked international journalists from entering the Gaza Strip could be reminiscent of those dark years of the late 1930's and early 40's when Germany tried to hide its shameful dirty work from the world. If UN Human Rights inspectors continue to be blocked from Gaza as well, it makes the ambitions of the Israeli's military arm all the more suspect.
The top United Nations human rights official has proposed a mission to assess violations and possible war crimes committed by both Israel and Hamas in the Gaza conflict, and called for immediate implementation of a ceasefire.
“The situation is intolerable. The ceasefire called for by the UN Security Council must be implemented immediately. The violence must stop,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told a special session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“The situation is intolerable. The ceasefire called for by the UN Security Council must be implemented immediately. The violence must stophe vicious cycle of provocation and retribution must be brought to an end,” she said.
Pillay pointed out that the ongoing conflict had already caused the loss of hundreds of lives since Israel started its military operation 14 days ago with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza.
She stressed unequivocally that international human rights law must apply in all circumstances and at all times, and strongly urged the parties to the conflict “to fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian law to collect, care for and evacuate the wounded and to protect and respect health workers, hospitals, and medical units and ambulances."
“Accountability must be ensured for violations of international law,” she said, suggesting that the Council should consider authorizing a mission to assess violations committed by both sides in the conflict in order to establish the relevant facts and ensure accountability.
“I remind this Council that violations of international humanitarian law may constitute war crime for which individual criminal responsibility may be invoked,” she added.
She also called on both sides to allow the deployment of independent human rights monitors in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory to document any violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, urging that so-called Special Procedures mandate holders be granted unrestricted access to Gaza and the West Bank.
The special UN Security Council session was called in response to a request by Egypt on behalf of the Arab Group and the African Group, Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and Cuba on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement.
In a message read out to the session, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory Richard Falk said the use of force by an occupying power against security threats emanating from a population under occupation was permissible within the constraints set by international law.
"There was no legal or moral justification for firing rockets at civilian targets, and such behaviour was a violation of international human rights, associated with the right to life, as well as constituting a war crime, he stated. At the same time, the nature of the offence should be evaluated within the context of its occurrence," Falk said.
He cited the fact that for the year up to December 27th 2008, not a single Israeli death was caused by the rockets fired from Gaza. He also pointed to the fact that even though Israel had been expected to lift or at least ease a blockade imposing severe hardships on the entire population of Gaza, it has failed to do so.
Falk continued, "Such a blockade does not alter the unjustifiable character of the rocket attacks, but it does suggest two important conclusions from a legal perspective. First, the scale of civilian harm resulting from Israeli unlawful conduct was far greater than that of Palestinian unlawful conduct."
"Secondly, any effort to produce a sustainable ceasefire should ensure that Israel as well as Hamas respect humanitarian law, which most concretely means that interferences with the access of goods for the maintenance of normal civilian life must end, and cannot be re-established as a retaliatory measure if some sort of rocket attack occurs in the future, he added."
Several UN agencies say the terrible suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and the south of Israel demanded the Council''s urgent attention.
"Nothing less than ending the violence would be effective to improve the situation. In addition to those killed and wounded, thousands of Palestinians had been displaced, but there was no safe haven for them as had been shown by the incident at an UNRWA school, where Israeli shells killed 43 people and injured over 100," a joint statement added.
The people in Gaza injured by Israel's bombs are facing a lack of medical supplies and security. The movements of medical personnel have been restricted. Medical facilities had been damaged in most cases it took hours before ambulances could reach the wounded, if they could reach them at all, because of continuous shelling. Children urgently needed access to food and psychological counseling but were unable to have those necessities.
The UN also reports that health workers are exhausted, and they are also severely impaired food distribution. Electricity being knocked out means no hot meals are being made.
As the UN has pointed out, the needs of the population are so great at this time that humanitarian organizations needed to operate around the clock, but they can't.
The UN says the free and safe movement of the wounded have to be ensured. All parties to the conflict have to adhere to their obligations to protect the civilian population.
The Council will continue the session on Monday when it is expected to take action on a related draft resolution.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor.Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 in Afghanistan with Oregon troops. Tim recently returned from Iraq where he covered the war there while embedded with an Oregon Guard aviation unit. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators.You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com
UN Says Both Israel and Hamas Could Face War Crime ChargesSalem-News.com