Gaza violations “must not go unpunished”
Serious human rights violations committed during the recent war in the Gaza Strip should not go unpunished, says a top Swiss diplomat.
Dante Martinelli told states at the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council that it was “their duty” to follow up a report that accuses Israel and Palestinian groups, notably Hamas, of war crimes during the armed conflict in Gaza last winter.
“Serious crimes committed by both sides cannot be ignored,” the Swiss ambassador to the UN in Geneva told the packed room during a one-day debate on a recent report by Richard Goldstone, a South African jurist and former UN war crimes prosecutor.
The Goldstone report is considered by many observers as the most serious international inquiry into the Gaza conflict from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009, which left 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
Switzerland, like numerous other states which spoke on Tuesday, commended the “balanced” nature of the 575-page report.
“We are satisfied that the Goldstone commission carried out investigations into violations committed by all sides and not just those by one party [to the conflict],” Martinelli said.
But Israeli Ambassador Aharon Leshno-Yaar rejected the report as “shameful” and “one-sided”. Israel did not cooperate with the UN inquiry.
“Time for action”
Defending the document, Goldstone told the council that is was now “time for action”.
“A culture of impunity in the region has existed for too long,” he said.
The lack of accountability for war crimes in the Middle East had reached “a crisis point”, undermining any hope for peace, said Goldstone.
He urged the 47-member state forum to adopt the report and implement a number
of measures, including referral of the report to the UN Security Council.
The report calls on the Security Council to refer the allegations to the International Criminal Court in the Hague if either Israeli or Palestinian authorities fail to investigate and prosecute those suspected of war crimes within six months.
“Our primary recommendation is that Israel and the authorities in Gaza should carry out good-faith, transparent investigations. International courts are courts of last resort, not first resort,” he said.
In his speech the Swiss ambassador said the parties to the conflict should conduct independent investigations into the allegations of war crimes and an independent panel of experts should be set up to oversee legal procedures on both sides.
“[But] if the parties to the conflict are unwilling or unable to meet their obligations to bring to justice those allegedly responsible for the violations, it is up to the international community to ensure that they do not go unpunished,” said Martinelli.
US position
The United States also said Israel should conduct credible investigations into allegations of war crimes committed by its forces in Gaza, saying this would help the Middle East peace process.
Israel says it has already opened more than 100 investigations, 23 of which had led to criminal proceedings.
Michael Posner, US Assistant Secretary of State, said that Hamas leaders also had a responsibility to investigate crimes and to end what he called its targeting of civilians in Israel and use of Palestinians as human shields.
But Posner also criticised the report as “deeply flawed”, without providing any details. He added that the council paid “grossly disproportionate attention” to Israel.
Washington also rejected the suggestion that the allegations be taken up by the New York-based Security Council.
“If this standard were applied in every conflict situation around the world where there are alleged violations, then the role of the Human Rights Council would be dramatically different,” he said.
Encouraging signs
European nations cautiously welcomed the “serious” report, but diplomats have made clear they do not agree with all of its findings and are critical of how the document was compiled.
Goldstone told a press conference he was encouraged by support from ambassadors, especially the US, who “called for acceptable investigations of the allegations by both sides”.
Julie de Rivero, head of Human Rights Watch in Geneva, also said there were encouraging signs, but felt things could change during talks and follow-up.
“Many states realise they need to take action today,” she told swissinfo.ch. “Our main concern is that governments should focus on the need to supervise accountability efforts.”
A resolution on the Goldstone report is due to be adopted by the Human Rights Council on Friday.
Simon Bradley in Geneva, swissinfo.ch and agencies
December 27, 2008: Israel launches aerial bombardment on Gaza.
January 3, 2009: Israeli ground troops enter Gaza Strip.
January 8: UN calls for immediate ceasefire, leading to Israeli withdrawal.
January 16: Israeli-US agreement on combating Hamas weapons smuggling.
January 17: Israeli proclaims a unilateral ceasefire.
January 18: Hamas announces its own ceasefire, conditional on an Israeli withdrawal within one week. Israeli forces start withdrawing.
Some 1,400 Palestinians are reported to have been killed in the fighting. Israel says it has lost a total of 13 killed.
Israel’s incursion was “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself and to force upon it an ever-increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability”.
Israeli forces committed “grave breaches of the fourth Geneva convention” which gave rise to “individual criminal responsibility”, meaning soldiers could face prosecution.
Israeli troops used Palestinian civilians as human shields.
Israel’s economic blockade of Gaza in the years before the war amounted to “collective punishment intentionally inflicted by the government of Israel on the people of the Gaza Strip”.
Israeli actions depriving Gazans of means of subsistence, employment, housing and water, and denying their freedom of movement, “could lead a competent court to find that the crime of persecution, a crime against humanity, had been committed”.
Palestinian rocket attacks did not distinguish between civilian and military targets, caused terror among Israeli civilians and “would constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity”.
Gaza’s security forces, controlled by Hamas, carried out extrajudicial executions and the arbitrary arrest, detention and ill-treatment of people, especially political opponents.
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