UN Inquiry into Events in Gaza in January

[Yorkist]

Some of the testimony from Gaza. Distressing and moving.

UN public hearing in Gaza broadcasts accounts of war victims

• Inquiry held by Jewish South African judge
• Israeli witnesses to attend next round in Geneva

Rory McCarthy in Gaza City guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 June 2009 19.00 BST

The UN has held an unprecedented public hearing in Gaza to broadcast live witness accounts from Palestinians who described seeing their relatives killed and injured during Israel's January war.

One after another, they detailed Israeli rocket strikes and artillery shelling near a mosque, a UN school and on several homes across Gaza during the three-week war. The two-day hearing is part of an inquiry by the UN human rights council into the war led by the respected South African judge, Richard Goldstone.

Israel has refused entry for the inquiry team, accusing the UN council of an anti-Israel bias even though Goldstone himself is Jewish. But another round of hearings will be held in Geneva next week, for which some Israeli witnesses are expected to be flown in. They may include residents of Sderot, near Gaza, which has suffered repeated Palestinian rocket attacks.

"The purpose of the public hearings in Gaza and Geneva is to show the faces and broadcast the voices of victims – all of the victims," Goldstone said last week. He had sat on South Africa's constitutional court after the fall of apartheid and was a chief prosecutor on the UN criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Yesterday's public hearing was the first in a UN fact-finding mission, though there is little chance it will lead to prosecutions. Up to 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during the war.

Mousa Silawi, 91, described an explosion at the entrance to a mosque in the Jabaliya refugee camp late on 3 January, which killed 17 people, including three of his sons and two grandchildren.

"After evening prayer a huge shell hit the mosque," he said. "It was absolutely incredible. We starting screaming and calling for God." Silawi, who is blind, was led away to safety and was then told that his sons had died. "Where is law? Where is justice? I have lived 91 years. I have seen everything, but nothing of this sort. It was such a catastrophe," he said. His son, Moteeh, the mosque's sheikh, said there had been no warning before the missile struck. "People came to the mosque for safety and we saw bloodshed," he said. "I was leading my father out when my own foot stepped on the head of a small child," he said. "I saw people carrying decapitated heads and parts of bodies. I cannot describe what I saw … What crime did the children commit?"

In another case Ziad al-Deeb, a university student, described how an Israeli shell struck in the courtyard of his family home in Jabaliya on 6 January. The blast killed 11 of his relatives and sliced off both his legs. First he heard an explosion just outside the wall of the house and then moments later a second shell landed in their yard.

"In a single instant we had all of our joys replaced with blood," he said. "There was a severe whistling in my ears and a pillar of smoke and dust and that obliterated what happened. When I looked up I found I had lost both my legs. I was sprawled over the body of my own brother. I looked for my father and others, and I found them motionless. Most of them were dead."

He lost his father, grandfather, two brothers and a sister in the blast, which was one of several mortar shells that fell in quick succession that afternoon near a UN prep school being used as a shelter for those fleeing the fighting. Between 30 and 40 Palestinians were killed near the school. An earlier UN inquiry has already found Israel responsible for the shelling.

After hearing his evidence, Goldstone said: "We extend our deep condolences to you and your family for your terrible loss and it makes your coming here all the more painful for you."

Yesterday's hearing was held at a UN office in Gaza City and then broadcast live to a hall at a nearby cultural centre, deserted save for a handful of journalists. However, the hearing was broadcast on some television stations, including one al-Jazeera channel. The UN inquiry team will issue a final report in August.

UN public hearing in Gaza broadcasts accounts of war victims | World news | The Guardian

[Yorkist]

UN expert says Israeli seizure of aid ship a crime

Thu Jul 2, 2009 1:23pm EDT

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, July 2 (Reuters) - A U.N. human rights investigator on Thursday called Israel's seizure of a ship carrying relief aid for the Gaza Strip "unlawful" and said its blockade of the territory constituted a "continuing crime against humanity".

Israeli authorities on Tuesday intercepted the vessel, which was also carrying 21 pro-Palestinian activists, and said it would not be permitted to enter Gaza coastal waters because of security risks in the area and its existing naval blockade.

Richard Falk, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said the move was part of Israel's "cruel blockade of the entire Palestinian population of Gaza" in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibiting any form of collective punishment against "an occupied people".

Falk, an American expert on international law, said Israel's two-year blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza restricted vital supplies such as food, medicine and fuel to "bare subsistence levels".

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a report this week that Israel was also halting entry to Gaza of building materials and spare parts needed to repair damage from its 22-day invasion late last December.

"Such a pattern of continuing blockade under these conditions amounts to such a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions as to constitute a continuing crime against humanity," Falk said in a statement released in Geneva.

Prior to leaving Cyprus, the ship was inspected by Cypriot authorities in response to Israeli demands to determine whether it carried any weapons, according to the U.N. investigator. "None were found and Israeli authorities were so informed."

"Nonetheless, the 21 peace activists on the boat were arrested, held in captivity and have been charged with 'illegal entry' to Israel even though they had no intention of going to Israel," Falk added.

ISRAEL ENVOY SAYS FALK "BIASED"

Israel's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Aharon Leshno-Yaar, rejected the remarks by Falk whom he said was "known for his bias against Israel and anti-Israel statements".

Israel is allowing relief aid to reach Gaza in coordination with Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, Leshno-Yaar said. "Clearly the purpose of that ship was to create a buzz and serve as a propaganda vehicle against Israel," he told Reuters.

Activists from the U.S.-based Free Gaza movement said that Irish Nobel peace prize laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. congresswoman Cynthia McKinney were among those aboard.

Falk, who is Jewish, has had his own difficulties with Israeli authorities in trying to fulfil his independent mandate for the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Last December, he was detained and turned back from Israel, forcing him to abort a planned mission to Gaza -- a deportation denounced by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

In a report last March, Falk said Israel's year-end military assault on the densely population coastal strip of 1.5 million appeared to constitute a grave war crime.

Amnesty International said in a report on Thursday that Israel inflicted "wanton destruction" in the Gaza Strip in attacks that often targeted Palestinian civilians [IDnL2307109].

A U.N. inquiry into alleged war crimes by both Israel and Hamas militants in the recent conflict held public hearings in Gaza this week and will also hear testimony in Geneva next week. It is led by former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, a South African jurist.

(Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

UN expert says Israeli seizure of aid ship a crime | Reuters

[The Mouth of Sauron]

All the hysteria about Israel starving Gaza with a blockade would be more credible if it wasn't for the fact that Gaza has a border with Egypt too.

Presumably the authorities in Cairo have no desire to starve their Muslim brethren ? Or is Hamas too busy using its common border with Egypt to smuggle in weapons and rockets to bother using that route to import food and medicine ?

[Yorkist]

Your remarks would be that much more credible if you bothered to read the post before commenting on it. The Egyptian border (and its control by Israel) is clearly referenced in the piece.

[catswiththumbs]

Hamas is love - I am sure all the rockets they fired into Israel before the crackdown landed harmlessly in verdant fields and ejected ribbon-tied Hallmark cards extolling the virtues of peace and good fellowship toward their beloved Jewish neighbors.

The press just didn't report it; it is a conspiracy. Zionist control.

[Yorkist]

Originally Posted by catswiththumbs

Hamas is love - I am sure all the rockets they fired into Israel before the crackdown landed harmlessly in verdant fields and ejected ribbon-tied Hallmark cards extolling the virtues of peace and good fellowship toward their beloved Jewish neighbors.

The press just didn't report it; it is a conspiracy. Zionist control.

Oh ffs. Shove the attitude. Here are the stats, work it out for yourself, but I think you'll find that 22 eyes for an eye works quite well.

B'Tselem - Statistics - Fatalities

[catswiththumbs]

Originally Posted by Yorkist

Oh ffs. Shove the attitude. Here are the stats, work it out for yourself, but I think you'll find that 22 eyes for an eye works quite well.

B'Tselem - Statistics - Fatalities

It's only a forum - nothing we say here matters one whit to those in Palestine or Israel.

[Yorkist]

Originally Posted by catswiththumbs

It's only a forum - nothing we say here matters one whit to those in Palestine or Israel.

Indeed. Would that it did. I apologise if I was over the top. I just get so sick and tired of reading that it's all the Palestinians' fault.

[Westerner]

Originally Posted by Yorkist

I just get so sick and tired of reading that it's all the Palestinians' fault.

Psalm 120:5-6 "Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!"

KEDAR

ke'-dar (qedhar; Kedar): Second in order of the sons of Ishmael (Gen 25:13 parallel 1 Ch 1:29). The name occurs as typical of a distant eastern country in opposition to the lands of the Mediterranean (Jer 2:10). The author of Second Isa introduces this tribe in company with Nebaioth, and both are represented as owners of flocks (Isa 60:7). Evidence of their nomadic habits appears in Jer 49:28,29, where they are classed among the Bene-Qedhem, and mention is made of their flocks, camels, tents, curtains and furniture. They are spoken of (Isa 42:11) as dwelling in chatserim ("villages"), from which it would appear that they were a somewhat settled tribe, corresponding to the Arabic chadariya or "town-dwellers," as distinct from wabariya or "nomads." Ezekiel (27:21) gives another hint of their pastoral nature where, in his detailed picture of the wealth of Tyre, Kedar and Arabia provide the Tyrians with lambs, rams and goats. The fame of the tribe is further reflected in Isa 21:16,17 (the only allusion to their might in war), and in the figurative references to their tents (Ps 120:5; Song 1:5). In this last passage where the tents are made symbolic of dark beauty, the word qadhar ("to be black") may have been in the writer's mind.
The settlements of Kedar were probably in the Northwest of Arabia, not far from the borders of Palestine. Assyrian inscriptions have thrown light upon the history of the tribe. There Kedar is mentioned along with the Arabs and Nebaioth, which decides its identity with Kedar of the Old Testament, and there is found also an account of the conflicts between the tribe and King Assurbanipal (see Margoliouth in HDB).
Of the Ishmaelite tribes, Kedar must have been one of the most important, and thus in later times the name came to be applied to all the wild tribes of the desert. It is through Kedar (Arabic, keidar) that Muslim genealogists trace the descent of Mohammed from Ishmael.
A. S. Fulton

[Uplifter]

From the peace loving Israeli regime:-

"We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population?' Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said 'Drive them out!"-- Yitzhak Rabin, leaked censored version of Rabin memoirs, published in the New York Times, 23 October 1979.

"Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the territories."
-- Benyamin Netanyahu, then Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, former Prime Minister of Israel, speaking to students at Bar Ilan University, from the Israeli journal Hotam, November 24, 1989.

"(The Palestinians) would be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls."
-- Isreali Prime Minister (at the time) Yitzhak Shamir in a speech to Jewish settlers New York Times April 1, 1988

[catswiththumbs]

Originally Posted by Uplifter

From the peace loving Israeli regime:-

"We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population?' Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said 'Drive them out!"-- Yitzhak Rabin, leaked censored version of Rabin memoirs, published in the New York Times, 23 October 1979.

"Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the territories."
-- Benyamin Netanyahu, then Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, former Prime Minister of Israel, speaking to students at Bar Ilan University, from the Israeli journal Hotam, November 24, 1989.

"(The Palestinians) would be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls."
-- Isreali Prime Minister (at the time) Yitzhak Shamir in a speech to Jewish settlers New York Times April 1, 1988

I suppose after 3500 + years of getting their asses kicked they decided it was time to hunker down and throw a few punches.

The Palestinians have not had a joyride, either.

As with every other human conflict, they will live together when one side is beaten or they both just get tired.

[Uplifter]

Originally Posted by catswiththumbs

I suppose after 3500 + years of getting their asses kicked they decided it was time to hunker down and throw a few punches.

The Palestinians have not had a joyride, either.

As with every other human conflict, they will live together when one side is beaten or they both just get tired.

3,500+ years of getting their asses kicked??!!.......

I guess two "wrongs" actually make a "right", do they?

Are the Israeli regime getting their asses kicked now by the Palestinians, or are they kicking the Palestinians asses, just like they kicked the British armies asses?

[catswiththumbs]

Originally Posted by Uplifter

3,500+ years of getting their asses kicked??!!.......

I guess two "wrongs" actually make a "right", do they?

Are the Israeli regime getting their asses kicked now by the Palestinians, or are they kicking the Palestinians asses, just like they kicked the British armies asses?

If people acted perfectly we wouldn't be having this discussion or need this forum.

You know the history of the offenses against the Jewish people - and you know if Britain had been determined to stay and oversee Palestine they would have. Britain was sick of war - the Jewish people finally had a place no one could kick them out of - and the residents of Palestine undoubtedly scratched their heads wondering "how the hell did this happen?"

Unfortunately, since 1948 things have escalated to where the original problem (who gets to live where) can not be solved amicably.

[Yorkist]

Originally Posted by catswiththumbs

Unfortunately, since 1948 things have escalated to where the original problem (who gets to live where) can not be solved amicably.

Why not? All that is lacking is the political will.

[catswiththumbs]

Originally Posted by Yorkist

Why not? All that is lacking is the political will.

There is too much recent blood on the ground - people do not forget so easily their dead relatives or who killed them.

[Yorkist]

Originally Posted by catswiththumbs

There is too much recent blood on the ground - people do not forget so easily their dead relatives or who killed them.

Whilst I accept the truth of that statement, people have been able to get past these sorts of hurts to achieve peace in the past. South Africa and Northern Ireland spring to mind immediately, for example.

[catswiththumbs]

Originally Posted by Yorkist

Whilst I accept the truth of that statement, people have been able to get past these sorts of hurts to achieve peace in the past. South Africa and Northern Ireland spring to mind immediately, for example.

After years of killing - goes to my earlier post:

As with every other human conflict, they will live together when one side is beaten or they both just get tired.

[Yorkist]

Originally Posted by catswiththumbs

After years of killing - goes to my earlier post:

Or, conversely, when the US withdraws its support for Israel's continuing persecution of the Palestinians.

[catswiththumbs]

Originally Posted by Yorkist

Or, conversely, when the US withdraws its support for Israel's continuing persecution of the Palestinians.

Short sighted - US support for Israel only the most recent incarnation - and as long as the world lines up either on Israel or the Palestinian's side there will be no solution - they become pawns in a larger game.

There have been enough killings on both sides of the border in our eyes, but not yet, evidently, for the people who actually live there - the Palestinians and Israelis. Only when they are tired, feel they have won, or both, will it stop - as it has been with all wars throughout history.

[Uplifter]

Originally Posted by catswiththumbs

If people acted perfectly we wouldn't be having this discussion or need this forum.

You know the history of the offenses against the Jewish people - and you know if Britain had been determined to stay and oversee Palestine they would have. Britain was sick of war - the Jewish people finally had a place no one could kick them out of - and the residents of Palestine undoubtedly scratched their heads wondering "how the hell did this happen?"

Unfortunately, since 1948 things have escalated to where the original problem (who gets to live where) can not be solved amicably.

I think you'll find that it was the Israelis that wanted the British to leave.
The parents of those running the regime currently.

Just because the Jewish people have suffered terribly in the past, does not entitle the regime to inflict suffering onto another people. The regime is killing Palestinians at a rate so high, it could be termed "ethnic cleansing".
The continual land grab that is being dictated under the regimes policies will come to an end soon, if Obama can do something about it. Rebuilding of the Palestinian infrastructure, politics and military should be the next priority.
Only after the two sides share the wealth and resources equally will there be peace. Not under the constant bombardment of missiles raining down on the innocent Palestinians of Gaza. The shooting of innocent people. The constant restriction of movement of a people within their own borders and the destruction of innocents homes, belongings and lives.