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March 24, 2009

UN Official Accuses Israel of War Crimes in Gaza
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Meanwhile, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the
Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, accused Israel Monday of
committing war crimes in Gaza. Falk called for an independent inquiry to
examine possible war crimes committed by both Israel and Hamas.

Richard Falk: “The overall ratio of deaths—1,434 on the Palestinian
side, thirteen on the Israeli side—is suggestive of the one-sidedness of
the military encounter and provides a basis for challenging the legality
of initiating a military assault with modern weaponry against an
essentially defenseless society.”

Richard Falk also accused Israel of preventing Palestinian civilians
from fleeing the military assault.

Richard Falk: “This indictment of Israeli tactics is strongly reinforced
by a feature of the military operations that is unique in contemporary
warfare: namely, coercively confining the Gazan civilian population to
the combat zone during the Israeli military operations. This effectively
denied to all Palestinians in Gaza the option of becoming refugees. Such
a war policy should be treated as a distinct and new crime against
humanity and should be formally recognized as such and explicitly
prohibited."

Israel dismissed Falk’s report, saying it was part of a pattern of
demonizing Israel by the United Nations. The UN’s special rapporteur on
the right to food, Olivier de Schutter, also criticized Israel’s attack
on Gaza and suggested Israeli officials could be tried outside of Israel
if Israel does not investigate possible war crimes.

Olivier de Schutter: “We would like to emphasize that the primary
responsibility of ensuring the respect of international humanitarian law
lies with the national justice system. Should the Israeli military or
civilian justice system adequately and transparently investigate
allegations of violations of the laws of war and, if necessary,
prosecute those responsible, the IDF has no reason to fear that its
officers will face indictments in foreign jurisdictions.”

On Monday, Israeli Army spokesperson Major Avital Leibovich defended
Israel’s actions and disputed a report that Israeli troops targeted
Palestinian medical facilities.

Major Avital Leibovich: “The IDF has decided to open a thorough
investigation. Investigation was not complete yet, and when it will be
complete, we will be more than happy to share the details with the
public. We know and we can say today for a fact that the IDF soldiers
were instructed to take very good care of the different medical
facilities and medical vehicles in the area in Gaza.”



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