http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1107634.html
Last update - 00:42 15/08/2009
UN official: Evidence that Israel abused human rights in Gaza
By Reuters
There is significant evidence that Israeli forces violated international law
and human rights in their invasion of Gaza between late December and
mid-January, the United Nations human rights chief said on Friday.
A report by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay lambasted the
"nearly total impunity" for the violations.
The already critical human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian
Territory (OPT) deteriorated further during the war, she said in the report,
the first of a series of periodic reports ordered by the UN Human Rights
Council in January during Israel's "Operation Cast Lead."
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The 34-page report is one of two - together with a forthcoming one by South
African jurist Richard Goldstone who has been conducting hearings in Gaza -
that will be presented to the council next month.
"Significant prima facie evidence indicates that serious violations of
international humanitarian law as well as gross human rights violations
occurred during the military operations of 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009,
which were compounded by the blockade that the population of Gaza endured in
the months prior to Operation Cast Lead and which continues," Pillay said.
Pillay said rights violations included arbitrary detention, torture and
ill-treatment, extrajudicial execution, forced eviction and home demolition,
settlement expansion and related violence and restrictions on freedom of
movement and expression.
"While these violations are of deep concern in their own right, the nearly
total impunity that persists for such violations (regardless of the responsible
duty bearer) is of grave concern, and constitutes a root cause for their
persistence," the former South African high court judge said.
Pillay's recommendations included the following:
* Israel should lift the blockade of Gaza and restrictions on movement in and
out of the West Bank, which amount to illegal collective punishment.
* Allegations of violations of humanitarian law and human rights during the
Gaza war should be investigated by independent bodies, and victims should have
the right to reparations.
* Israel should tackle impunity for violations, and curb its use of the
military justice system, which does not meet international standards.
* Israel should end the illegal expansion of settlements in the occupied
territory, halt evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes, and end settler
violence.
Unlike rulings of the UN Security Council, the findings and recommendations of
the Human Rights Council are not binding.
Islamic and African countries, backed by Russia, China, Cuba and Nicaragua,
currently have a majority on the 47-member council, which has spent more time
on Israel/Palestine than on any other issue since being set up three years ago.
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