Tag: Cast Lead

Gazan human rights organizations hold press conference

ISM Gaza

3 October 2009

Following the Palestinian Authority decision on 2 October to defer the draft proposal endorsing the UN “Goldstone Report”, nearly twenty different human rights organizations issued a statement and held a press conference condemning the Palestinian Authority’s decision. Among the groups were the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Badil, Adalah, Defense for Children (DCI)-Palestine, and other women’s, prisoners’ and children’s rights groups from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

PCHR, Al Mezan, Addameer and the Commission for Human Rights representatives spoke at a press conference in front of the bombed Ministry complex, targeted repeatedly by F-16 attacks during the winter Israeli massacre of Gaza.

Following the 23 day massacre of Gaza, Justice Richard Goldstone and a team of investigators conducted two visits to Gaza, during which they heard nearly 200 interviews, and reviewed thousands of documents, photos, and videos, reported the UK’s Guardian.

The report, 575 pages, found evidence of Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity during their massacre of Gaza. Nearly 1500 Palestinians have died, during and following the massacre, as a result of injuries sustained during the attacks.

As Palestinian human rights organizations and international NGOs contended, the majority of those killed civilians.

While the United States accused the report of being biased (without clarifying exactly how, Goldstone pointed out), Israeli authorities did not cooperate with the UN investigation. Nonetheless, the UN report looked at what it called crimes committed by Palestinian resistance during the Israeli attacks.

“Justice delayed is justice denied. All victims have a legitimate right to an effective judicial remedy, and the equal protection of the law.”

This is the most important message from the human rights groups protesting the PA’s deferral.

“The crimes documented in the report of the UN Fact Finding Mission represent the most serious violations of international law,” the statement said. “Justice Goldstone concluded that there was evidence to indicate that crimes against humanity may have been committed in the Gaza Strip.”

The statement also notes that with the continued imposition of an all-encompassing siege on the population of Gaza, Israel’s violations of international law continue.

Aside from recognizing the validity of the UN report’s findings, the human rights groups point out that “International human rights and humanitarian law are not subject to discrimination, they are not dependent on nationality, religion, or political affiliation.
International human rights and humanitarian law apply universally to all human beings.”

And while NGOs from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, legal groups from the US and politicians from Europe have all concluded that Israel committed the cited violations, since the end of the Israeli attacks, “no effective judicial investigations have been conducted into the conflict. Impunity prevails,” say the human rights groups.

The PA, which initially supported the findings of the “Goldstone report”, changed its mind after what is believed to have been intense pressure from the United States, as well as Israel, citing the peace process negotiations as a reason to postpone endorsing the report.

The day before the PA back-tracked, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened that the endorsement of the UN report would hinder the ‘peace process’.

But the human rights groups disagree. “The belief that accountability and the rule of law can be brushed aside in the pursuit of peace is misguided. In such situations, international law demands recourse to international judicial mechanisms. Victims’ rights must be upheld. Those responsible must be held to account.”

Various Palestinian factions, including Hamas and the PFLP, have likewise strongly condemned the PA’s turn-around, calling it a ‘betrayal of the Palestinian cause’ and a confirmation of the ‘extent of the collaboration between and his aides with the Zionist enemy, against the Palestinian people’.

Al Jazeera reports that Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said the PA decision was ‘totally unacceptable, unjustified and the public here is very angry at it’.

The article continues, “Regardless of the position of the PA, I think the civil society and different political and human rights organisation are going to proceed in demanding sanctions, actions against the Israeli apartheid system and the war criminals that committed these crimes,” said Barghouti.

Just days earlier, Abbas had further backed down on the issue of Israeli illegal settlement expansion, retreating from the Palestinian call to stop settlement construction. This about-face is also believed to be due to US pressure.

The PA reversals clearly seem to be serving their own interest and that of Israel and the US. Ma’an news reported Badil’s statement that “this deferral of the UN report “is against the interests of Palestinian victims and against the higher Palestinian interest as well as efforts to incriminate Israel for its illegal actions.”

Richard Goldstone, a Jewish South African with a long history of involvement in justice, according an IPS report said, “Without some form of truth-telling, there cannot be an enduring peace. Truth-telling and acknowledgement to victims can be a very important assistance to peace.”

Palestinians cry ‘blackmail’ over Israel phone service threat

Ben Lynfield | The Independent

1 October 2009

Israel is threatening to kill off a crucial West Bank economic project unless the Palestinian Authority withdraws a request to the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged Israeli crimes during last winter’s Gaza war.

Shalom Kital, an aide to defence minister Ehud Barak, said today that Israel will not release a share of the radio spectrum that has long been sought by the Palestinian Authority to enable the launch of a second mobile telecommunications company unless the PA drops its efforts to put Israeli soldiers and officers in the dock over the Israeli operation.

“It’s a condition. We are saying to the Palestinians that ‘if you want a normal life and are trying to embark on a new way, you must stop your incitement,” Mr. Kital said. “We are helping the Palestinian economy but one thing we ask them is to stop with these embarrassing charges.”

As long as the Wataniya Mobile company is unable to begin its operations, communications costs are likely to remain inordinately high for Palestinian businesses and individuals. But thwarting the company benefits four unauthorized Israeli operators who make sizeable profits in the Palestinian market using infrastructure they have set up in the illegal Israeli settlements across the West Bank.

The Qatari-owned Wataniya had begun making what was planned as the second largest private investment in West Bank history – to total seven hundred million dollars. But amid frustration at more than two years of Israeli foot-dragging over the frequencies it is now warning that if forced to miss its launch date of 15 October it may close down West Bank operations and seek the return from the Palestinian Authority of its $140m licensing fee and other damages. Mr Kital said the possibility of Wataniya closing “is something the PA will have to take into consideration.”

“This is sheer blackmail by the Israelis,” said Nabil Shaath, the former PA foreign minister. “Israel has no business stealing the frequencies, keeping them and using them as blackmail to escape an international inquiry into its violations.”

Nearly 1400 Palestinians, most of whom were not taking part in the hostilities, were killed during the Gaza war, according to the Israeli human rights group B’tselem. Fourteen Israelis died, some from Hamas rocket fire that Israel says forced it to mount its operation. A UN probe released last month found that both Israel and Hamas had committed “war crimes”.

Mr Shaath said the PA would not back down over the matter.“The Palestinians in Gaza suffered greatly and we are responsible for them. We are the aggrieved party. Israeli soldiers and those who gave orders should be questioned and be liable to prosecution.”

The Palestinian request to the ICC dates back eight months. But Israeli concern over international legal steps has intensified since the UN commission, headed by South African judge Richard Goldstone, concluded that the Israeli military judicial system did not meet international legal standards of independence and impartiality. It called for the ICC to activate an indictment process within six months unless the country mounts its own credible investigations of its troops actions.

The Israeli stance on the frequencies marks a flouting of the efforts of the international community’s Middle East envoy, Tony Blair, who last month urged that they be released and warned of harm to the local economy if Israel persisted in its refusal. Mr Kital said today that Mr Blair “is very aware” there will be no release unless the Palestinians drop their request to the ICC.

PCHR report on the gender-specific impact and consequences of Operation Cast Lead

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)

28 September 2009

In conjunction with the presentation of the UN Fact Finding Mission’s report to the Human Rights Council on 29 September, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) release “Through Women’s Eyes: A PCHR Report on the Gender-Specific Impact and Consequences of Operation Cast Lead”.

The Israeli offensive claimed the lives of 118 women, and injured at least 825 more. However, although the numbers of victims and casualties illustrate the appalling human toll of this conflict, the true extent of the suffering lies in the day-to-day reality of life in the Gaza Strip following Operation Cast Lead, as civilians struggle to rebuild their lives, come to terms with their loss, and restore some semblance of human dignity

PCHR has released ‘Through Women’s Eyes’ in order to highlight the gender-specific impact of Operation Cast Lead and the illegal Israeli closure. As a result of the patriarchal nature of Palestinian society, women in the Gaza Strip – victims of ‘peacetime’ discrimination – are particularly susceptible to the marginalization, poverty, and suffering brought about as a result of armed conflict and occupation. Israeli attacks result in often ignored gender-specific consequences. PCHR has chosen to allow these consequences, and the reality of life after the offensive, unfold through the victims words; although this report is necessarily grounded in international law, it is perhaps fitting that human rights, and human suffering, are expressed through human stories.

This report presents the cases of 12 women affected by Israeli attacks over the course of Operation Cast Lead. These examples are intended to demonstrate the extent of the suffering inflicted on the individual civilians of the Gaza Strip, and the continuing difficulties they face as a result of the devastation wrought by Israeli forces and the ongoing illegal closure.

‘Through Women’s Eyes’ highlights the difficulties women in the Gaza Strip face as they attempt to come to terms with their grief and their injuries; with the loss of their children, their husbands, their relatives, their homes, and their livelihoods. These narratives are illustrative, not only of the trials faced by women in the Gaza Strip, but of the resilience and strength they have demonstrated over 42 years of conflict and occupation.

‘Through Women’s Eyes’ is release as a continuation of PCHR’s work documenting human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory. With respect to Operation Cast Lead, in May PCHR released ‘War Crimes Against Children’ a report on the killing of 318 children, while earlier this month ‘Targeted Civilians’ PCHR’s comprehensive report on the offensive was released in Arabic; it will be available in English shortly.

The Report is available at:

http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/Reports/English/pdf_spec/through-women’s%20_eyes.pdf

Israel demands PA drop war crimes suit at The Hague

Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff | Ha’aretz

27 September 2009

Tensions are mounting between Israel and the Palestinian Authority following Ramallah’s call on the International Court at The Hague to examine claims of “war crimes” that the IDF allegedly committed during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. The issue is already weighing in on the relations between the leadership of Israel’s defense and security establishment with their counterparts in the West Bank, and is part of a growing list of Israeli complaints about the behavior of PA officials.

Meanwhile, Israel has warned the Palestinian Authority that it would condition permission for a second cellular telephone provider to operate in the West Bank – an economic issue of critical importance to the PA leadership – on the Palestinians withdrawing their request at the International Court.

The issue of a second cellular provider is at the center of talks between the PA, the international Quartet, and Israel, and has been ongoing for some months. Currently the sole provider is Pal-Tel, and the PA prime minister, Salam Fayyad, considers the introduction of another carrier as an important step in improving the civilian infrastructure in the West Bank. The project is central to Watanya, the company that is set to serve as the second provider, and profits are expected to be substantial.

However, if the project is not approved by October 15, the PA will be forced to pay a penalty estimated at $300 million, the sum that has already been invested in licensing and infrastructure.

Western diplomats, including the Quartet’s envoy to the region, former British prime minister Tony Blair, and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham, have made it clear to senior Israeli officials that time is running out, and have urged them to allow for the establishment of a second provider to go forward.

Israel’s objections begin with the issue of transmission frequencies. The frequencies that the Palestinians want the new company to use are very close to ones used by the Israel Defense Forces in some of its most sensitive activities.

“Israel is making it difficult for us on many levels,” complains Mohammed Mustafa, economic adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas. “They now want us to pressure Pal-Tel to release some of its frequencies, so that they can be used by Watanya.”

However, another, more substantive issue was recently added, when the Palestinian Authority appealed to the International Criminal Court. Security sources told Haaretz that this move, which was authorized by Fayyad and Abbas, incensed senior officials of the defense establishment, especially army Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.

Ashkenazi has been kept busy by involvement in a holding action against the threat that Israeli officers would be brought before the court as a result of charges that the IDF committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Concern has intensified following the grave report that the Goldstone Commission released two weeks ago on behalf of the United Nations.

In Israel the argument is that the PA is being unfair, and that at the time of the operation in the Gaza Strip, last winter, its senior officials encouraged their Israeli counterparts to step up the pressure on Hamas, and even to attempt to bring its rule in the territory to the point of collapse. However, at a latter stage they joined those decrying Israel and its alleged actions in the Strip.

In light of this tension, the chief of staff conditioned his approval of a second cellular provider to the Palestinians’ withdrawing their appeal to the court.

“The PA has reached the point where it has to decide whether it is working with us or against us,” senior figures in the defense establishment have said. At the PA it is being said, in response to the Israeli demands, that Abbas and Fayyad will water down their appeal to the ICJ, though they will refuse to promise that it will rescinded entirely.

During the past year Israel defense officials have often praised the Palestinians on improving their contribution to securing the West Bank, and of the decisive character of the leadership under Fayyad. However, in recent weeks there have been increasing claims that even as the Authority is being praised by Israel and the international community, it is behaving irresponsibly by violating agreements between the two sides.

The Israeli claims focus on the growing presence of Palestinian security personnel in civilian clothing in East Jerusalem, contrary to the obligations of the PA. The security personnel participate in prayers at Al-Aqsa mosque, and at other sites in the city, and have stepped up their presence in the Jerusalem’s medical and educational facilities. Moreover, they have also been involved in the abduction of Palestinians suspected of selling property to Jews.

ICC may try IDF officer in wake of Goldstone Gaza report

Yotam Feldman | Ha’aretz

24 September 2009

A senior prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague said Monday that he is considering opening an investigation into whether Lt. Col. David Benjamin, an Israel Defense Forces reserve officer, allowed war crimes to be committed during the IDF’s three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip this winter.

The officer – a dual citizen of Israel and South Africa, where he was born – served in the Military Advocate General’s international law department, which authorized which targets troops would strike before and during the operation.

Newsweek magazine released an interview Monday with ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina in which he said he is convinced his office has the authority to launch an investigation into Benjamin’s actions.

The ICC has until now refrained from trying IDF officers, as it lacks authority to do so, since Israel is not a signatory to the 2002 Rome Treaty that founded the court. South Africa, however, did sign the treaty, so the ICC is authorized to indict its citizens.

Moreno-Ocampo’s remarks are in line with the recommendations of a UN fact-finding commission on the Gaza war headed by South African justice Richard Goldstone. Last week, that panel urged the UN Security Council to refer both Israel and the Hamas leadership in Gaza for prosecution in the ICC unless both launched fully independent investigations into alleged war crimes by the end of this year.

The ICC began looking into Benjamin’s case after receiving material from pro-Palestinian organizations in South Africa. The material included a transcript of an interview Benjamin gave to the web site Bloomberg.com, in which the officer recounted his involvement in legal consultations with the IDF ahead of army operations.

“We were intimately involved in planning,” Benjamin said, including “authorizing the targets that could be struck, war materiel – everything passed by us.”

Benjamin served for many years as legal adviser to the GOC Southern Command, and later headed the Military Advocate General’s department on international law.

In August, he visited South Africa to attend a conference organized by the local Jewish community on international law during wartime, with special reference to the Gaza war. Benjamin later described the trip as a “personal hasbara [public diplomacy] trip.”

The pro-Palestinian organizations promptly asked South African state prosecutors to open an investigation into suspicions that Benjamin had committed war crimes in Gaza. To avoid a potential confrontation with local authorities, Benjamin left South Africa several days earlier than he had planned.

At the conference, Benjamin rejected claims that the IDF committed war crimes in Gaza, as well as demands that Israel’s wartime conduct be subject to an external investigation.

Dennis Davis – a South African district court judge and international law lecturer at the University of Cape Town, who directed the conference – said he firmly opposed the remarks delivered by Benjamin, who was once his law student. Davis added that were Benjamin still his student, he would “fail him.”

Benjamin resigned from the IDF in late January of this year, though his official retirement vacation began in November 2008. When the Gaza operation began, however, he returned to his former position in the Military Advocate General’s office.

But Benjamin says he was not directly involved in planning operations during the war. He told Haaretz yesterday that during the Bloomberg interview, he was speaking not of himself personally, but of the army, and the Military Advocate General’s office, as a whole.

“I spoke in the name of the army, and of the Military Advocate General, so I told them what we’re like in the collective sense,” he said. “We authorized and we carried out, but I wasn’t [directly] involved in Gaza.”

“What’s important is that the State of Israel doesn’t need Goldstone to tell it what needs to be done,” he added. “There is a human rights agenda in the world, but those who work with this agenda have the luxury of not needing to balance human rights needs and security needs, and we do need to have that balance.”

“Presumably the military advocate general, who personally authorized the IDF’s actions, will himself be investigated?” he continued. “There is a supervisory mechanism – the attorney general is above the military advocate general, and he can intervene. The High Court of Justice can also intervene.”

The IDF Spokesman’s Office said yesterday that “Lt. Col. David Benjamin is a respected officer who served for many years in legal positions in the IDF, and assisted the military in managing its activities in accordance with the rules of international law.”

“Although during Operation Cast Lead, Lt. Col. Benjamin was on retirement vacation abroad, he returned to Israel on his own initiative in order to aid the military in its public diplomacy efforts,” it continued. “Any attempt to initiate legal proceedings, as described in the article, is perverse and driven by political motives, and ultimately [the allegations] will be revealed as baseless.”

Col. (Res.) Pnina Sharvit-Baruch, who headed the Military Advocate General’s international law department during the Gaza War, refused to comment on Moreno-Ocampo’s remarks.

The ICC Office of the Prosecutor said officials had examined the material the court received as part of a preliminary investigation intended to determine whether it has the authority to hear cases on war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza.