Participants of the 18th session of Human Rights Council in Geneva - Photo Jean-Marc Ferré UNIS
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A panel of five independent UN rights experts reporting to the Human Rights Council unanimously rejected the conclusion of the Palmer Report that says Israel’s blockade of Gaza is legal.
On a statement produced by the UN in Geneva on 13 September, the panel says it rejected the Palmer Report findings because the blockade had subjected Gazans to collective punishment in “flagrant contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law.”
“The Palmer report was aimed at political reconciliation between Israel and Turkey. It is unfortunate that in the report politics should trump the law,” said Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur on human rights, on the statement.
According to the panel, the blockade should immediately cease as “the people of Gaza must be afforded protection in line with international law.”
For the United Nations experts, “decisive steps must be taken to defend the dignity and basic welfare of the civilian population of Gaza, more than half of whom are children.”
Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on the right to food said at least two-thirds of Gazan households are food insecure, and “evidence has shown that the so-called ‘easing’ of the blockade has not led this to improve.”
A convoy of 1,000 tons of aid and medical supplies has crossed the land border from Egypt to Gaza, according to Ria-Novosti 3 January.
Earlier a ship carrying the aid worth $1 million for the Gaza Strip had left the Syrian port of Latakia headed for the Egyptian port of Al-Arish. The Israeli navy had been tailing the ship and contacted its captain by radio. The Asia to Gaza Solidarity Caravan was organized by Indian activists and has driven overland through Pakistan, Iran and Syria.
Only eight activists were allowed on board the ship; the others were flown to Egypt from Syria after waiting for one week in Syria. Egyptian authorities granted visas to activists from as far away as New Zealand, but denied visas to 46 people from Iran and Jordan.
After deliberating a week Egypt agreed to allow the aid to pass through the Rafa crossing into Gaza.
Israel carried out eight air strikes in different areas of the Gaza Strip early Friday, after dropping leaflets Thursday to warn residents of possible attacks. There were no initial reports of injuries, and the reasons reported for the strikes varied from retaliation for the death of two Israeli soldiers in a military operation in Khan Younis, one of the areas hit Friday, to a response to what CNN calls “makeshift” rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. The Jerusalem Post says the attacks on four areas were in retaliation for a rocket fired from Gaza Thursday evening.
Links to other sites: CNN, Jerusalem Post, New York Times
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have denied that two high-ranking military men involved in last year’s Israeli military operation in Gaza were disciplined for using phosphorus in a built-up area. The IDF is responding to an Israeli government report submitted to the United Nations this past weekend outlining its investigation into alleged abuses and crimes during last year’s incursion into the Gaza strip.
The two men were said to have been disciplined when they authorized the use of white phosphorus shells in an attack on a Hamas position two days before the end of operation Cast Lead. Some of the shells landed in a UN compound and wounded three people.
The Israeli government report is a partial response to last year’s Goldstone Report which alleges possible war crimes against civilians by both Israeli forces and Hamas before and during the conflict. The IDF had repeatedly denied the use of phosphorus shells, which are permitted in battlefield conditions but not when they may endanger civilians. The shells are used as incendiary devices and burn for hours.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The UN Human Rights Council, meeting in a special session 15 and 16 October, has approved the report into possible war crimes during the December 2008-January 2009 incursion by Israel into the Gaza Strip. The council will forward the report to the UN General Assembly for consideration. At the end of the session countries voted, 25-6, to approve the report, and 11 countries abstained.
Israel argued that the report was one-sided and ignored the attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians which precipitated the war. The US voted against approval, saying that it would hamper Mideast peace efforts.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva will reopen a debate Thursday 15 October on the conduct of both sides in last winter’s brief war in Gaza, Palestine, between Israel and Hamas, the Gaza strip’s political authority. A report by former South African judge Richard Goldstone suggests both armed groups may have committed war crimes. It recommends that they conduct their own impartial investigations within six months or have the case referred to the International Criminal Court. A call by Libya for the UN in New York to take up the report by strongly rebuffed by Israel which said late Wednesday 14 October that as long as the report is “on the table” there can be no peace negotiations with Palestine.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), the nominal representative of the Palestinians, initially asked for the debate on the report to be deferred, but it came under sharp criticism from Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza strip since elections in 2007 forced out Fatah and the PA.
The BBC reports that Israel has confirmed it is sending reservists to the Gaza Strip. Nearly 1,000 people are reported dead as the war in Gaza enters in its 17th day.
Israel and Hamas leaders in Gaza are both refusing the ceasefire proposed by the UN and leaders from around the world. BBC
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – In a rare strongly-worded public statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) based in Geneva criticized Israel for delaying the entrance of rescue workers to Gaza City where they found 15 dead and 18 people wounded, including children.
A school run by the United Nations and used recently to house refugees from Israeli bomb attacks has been hit by Israeli tank fire, killing at least 40 civilians who were sheltering there. National Public Radio (US) Note: due to the high level of interest in the war in Gaza, NPR is making transcripts of its reports available.
CNN carries a story about the impact of the past 10 days’ bombings in Gaza on the next generation of Palestinians, with the seeds of future violence probably being sown, according to specialists interviewed by the US television network.
Hamas and Israeli troops were fighting after Israeli ground troops entered the Gaza Strip on the eighth day of fighting in the area. Reuters
The World Health Organization (WHO) is one of a growing number of organizations and governments calling on Israel to stop its attacks on the Gaza Strip, as Israel rejects truce overtures. Reuters The WHO has issued a report on the health care situation in the area.
Reuters reports that the “fiercest offensive in decades” continued Monday in the Gaza Strip, with Israel readying troops and tanks for a ground attack that looks increasingly likely. Three people were killed in Israel by rockets launched from Gaza. The wire service credits medical officials in Gaza as saying 335 people are dead and some 700 injured following Israeli air attacks. Related stories, Jerusalem Post, Al-Jazeera
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland is demanding that Israel end its nearly total blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has forced most humanitarian aid to the region to be stopped, it says. The work has come to a virtual standstill of two United Nations agencies, the WFP, UNRWA, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, all of whom work closely with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
