Calls are increasing from a number of quarters for an independent investigation into allegations that war crimes were committed during the just-ended Gaza War.
Richard Falk, an independent UN rights expert, said there was compelling evidence that Israel breached basic humanitarian rules and the laws of war by conducting a large-scale military operation “against an essentially defenseless population.”
“There needs to be an investigation carried out under independent auspices as to whether these grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions should be treated as war crimes,” Falk said.
Zookeeper Emad Jamil Qasim looks at a pregnant camel that Israeli soldiers fired a missile at and killed during the recent Gaza offensive. In every corner of the Gaza Zoo lie dead animals, many of them shot at point-blank range.
“I believe that there is the prima facie case for reaching that conclusion,” he told a press conference in Geneva.
Falk said Israel had made no effort to allow civilians to escape the violence.
“To lock people into a war zone is something that evokes the worst kind of international memories of the Warsaw Ghetto, and sieges that occur unintentionally during a period of wartime,” Falk, who is Jewish, was quoted by Haaretz newspaper as saying, in reference to the starvation and murder of Warsaw’s Jews by Nazi Germany in World War Two.
“There could have been temporary provision at least made for children, disabled, sick civilians to leave, even if where they left to was southern Israel,” the U.S. professor said.
Falk said the entire Gaza population, which had been trapped in a war zone with no possibility to leave as refugees, may have been mentally scarred for life. If so, the definition of casualty could be extended to the entire civilian population.
Falk, who,according to the Haaretz report, was denied entry to Israel two weeks before the offensive started on Dec. 27, dismissed Israel’s argument that the assault was for self-defense in the light of rocket attacks aimed at Israel from the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip.
“In my view the UN charter, and international law, does not give Israel the legal foundation for claiming self-defence,” he said.
Israel had not restricted fighting to areas where the rockets came from and had refused to negotiate with Hamas, preventing a diplomatic solution, Falk said.
A Foreign Ministry official rejected Falk’s accusations. “There’s no need to lose one’s temper. Falk is a well-known Israel hater,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.
There is growing anger in Gaza over the recent Israeli military operation that inflicted death, damage and destruction in the territory, a senior United Nations official separately warned Friday.
He stressed that ensuring accountability and restoring the local economy are the main ways to make certain the conflict does not create more extremists.
“People are increasingly angry about what has happened here. That is perfectly understandable. But we want to channel the emotions now into something constructive and positive,” John Ging, Director of Operations in Gaza for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), told a news conference in New York via video-link from the ground.
The 22-day offensive, which Israel launched on 27 December with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks, claimed over 1,300 lives and wounded 5,450, in addition to causing widespread damage and destruction.
Mr. Ging cautioned that those bent on extremism have been “emboldened” by what has happened because it has generated a high degree of grief, frustration and despair.
He stressed the need to restore the people’s confidence that there will be accountability and that they can rely on the rule of law being applied equally, fairly and objectively. “That is a big, big challenge,” he said, noting that there is a lot of cynicism on the ground as to whether that will be achieved. “If we don’t then we are defeated by the extremists. It’s as simple as that,” he said.
The UNRWA chief stressed that Israeli civilians had also suffered, and therefore, the investigation had to examine “legitimate allegations” on both sides.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes toured Gaza on Thursday and met with many of the victims of the violence, as well as medical teams and representatives of UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, all of whom were at the forefront of the humanitarian response.
The UN humanitarian chief said the level of human suffering and destruction he witnessed was “heartbreaking,” adding that it is “shocking that civilians suffered so disproportionately in this military operation.”
On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded that those responsible for bombing UN buildings in the Palestinian territory should be made accountable. Amnesty International said it was “undeniable” that Israel had used white phosphorus in crowded civilian areas, contrary to international law, charging that this amounted to a war crime.
In preparation for what it expects will be a “wave” of legal action over its military operation, the Israeli cabinet will on Sunday consider a proposal by Defense Minister Ehud Barak to provide financial aid and legal support to officers and soldiers who they expect will be charged with war crimes.
“The Israeli government bears the responsibility for sending IDF troops on missions, as well as for defending civilians, and as such is obligated to grant its full support,” Barak said in a statement Friday. “The IDF is a moral army, and I don’t know of any other army which operates to such high standards,” he said.
Barak said the IDF behaved according to its high moral values during Operation Cast Lead, the name designated by the army for its Gaza offensive. The defense minister said this was despite the fact that Hamas gunmen fired on Israeli army troops from areas heavily populated with civilians, in clear violation of international law.
“As an army which is unsurpassed in its moral traditions, the IDF has done all that it can in order to adhere to international law, in order to avoid harming civilians who are not involved in fighting,” Barak said, although noting it “was not always enough to prevent tragedies from happening.”
Additionally, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has ordered the assembly of a panel including PMO representatives, and nominees from the ministries of foreign affairs, defense and justice departments, and experts on international law to assist in the preparations of defenses for military personnel charged. The panel will be chaired by Justice Minister Daniel Friedman.
On Wednesday, the IDF censor issued new orders prohibiting the media from publishing the names or photographs of officers between the rank of company commander and battalion commander who participated in the Gaza offensive out of concern that international war crimes lawsuits might be filed against them. The officers can only be identified by the first letter of their name and their unit.
On Monday Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gathered with GOC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant, GOC Gaza Brig.-Gen. Eyal Eisenberg, the various brigade commanders who took part in Operation Cast Lead, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi, at the army’s Southern Command headquarters. “I can look each one of you in the eye and you could look each of your soldiers in the eye and know that nobody did anything morally regrettable,” Olmert told the assembly. “The Government will stand fast in defending each and every one of you against claims of acting against moral standards.”
Officials at the Israel Defense Ministry are concerned interviews given to the press by officers describing the destruction of homes or harm done to Palestinian civilians in areas where they commanded forces could become “self-incriminating” evidence in war crime cases filed by human rights groups. The sources said that an unofficial report was received two days ago on a suit allegedly brought in the Netherlands against the commander of one of the brigades, following the release of his identity to the media.
A number of rights organizations have begun preparing a list of officers involved in the fighting and where they fought in an effort to establish evidence that will allow legal proceedings to begin.
In 2005, Doron Almog, former officer in charge of Southern Command, avoided arrest at London’s Heathrow Airport. He was warned not to get off his flight from israel as British detectives were waiting to arrest him for allegedly ordering the demolition of Palestinian homes in Gaza in 2002.
In 2006, the then-Gaza Division commander Brig. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, who was scheduled to study at the Royal College of Defense Studies in London, was warned by an Israeli military judge that he could be arrested on arrival. Kochavi subsequently canceled his trip to the UK.
On another note, all schools run by UNRWA in Gaza were scheduled to open Saturday – one week later than the current school semester was supposed to have started. The schools will focus on the children’s psycho-social needs in the first weeks of operation, before resuming the teaching of core subjects.
In addition, the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) reports that a mine action assessment team involving the UN Mine Action Service arrived in Gaza Friday to look at the scope and scale of the unexploded ordnance problem.
UNSCO stressed that the number of trucks allowed into the Gaza Strip needs to be increased. In particular, it is crucial that the Sufa crossing be opened for basic construction materials to allow for the repair of public infrastructure and private homes.
In addition, chronically ill patients who were receiving care outside of the Gaza Strip prior to the conflict urgently need to resume their treatment.
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