Defiant Israel Violates Human Rights -Again
Israel Admits UNRWA School Shelling A Mistake But Makes No Apology
Jan 14, 2009
As expected, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) shelling of an UNRWA school in Gaza turned out to be “a mistake.” This little “blunder” -war crime punishable by international law to human beings with a conscience- killed over 40 Palestinians and scores more. What makes this even more heinous is that the footage that the IDF released to the media as testament to Palestinian gunfire from the school grounds was actually taken in 2007! UN calls for an immediate investigation are falling on deaf ears.
UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz January 8, 2009, that the army had conceded wrongdoing.
"In briefings senior [IDF] officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabalya were responding did not originate from the school," Gunness said. "The IDF admitted in that briefing that the attack on the UN site was unintentional."
He also revealed all the footage released by the IDF of militants firing from inside the school was from 2007.
The Israeli government has not commented on the “mistake” and there has since been no further mention of this gaffe in the media, in a deplorable repeat of many other “errors” -and responses thereto- against innocent Palestinian targets in the 50 years of Palestinian-Israeli struggle.
In addition to the tragic deaths of civilians seeking shelter in UN grounds, this and other attacks on UNRWA buildings and UN relief workers have resulted in the cessation of all UN humanitarian activities to the one million Palestinians in Gaza solely reliant on UN aid.
Investigation, Accountability?
The Canadian government was the only member on the UN Human Rights Council to vote against a resolution calling for a fact-finding mission to investigate “grave” human rights violations by Israeli forces against Palestinians. Alarabiya.net reported that 33 African, Asian, Arab, and Latin American countries voted for the resolution, while 13 European states abstained. The highly “sensitive” resolution did pass, with the final version miraculously including the qualifier “strongly” in its condemnation of the Israeli military operation in Gaza resulting in “massive violations” of the human rights of Palestinians.
Western countries criticized the resolution for being too “one-sided” because it failed to recognize that Hamas was actually responsible for the Israeli offensive in the first place. Because the United States is not on the Human Rights Council, the only North American country left to carry the torch for Israel was Canada.
The resolution, focusing on investigating all human rights and international law violations by Israel, specifically tasked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with investigating the shelling of UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay “warned that human rights in Gaza were extremely serious and some attacks that hit civilians and relief workers might warrant prosecutions for war crimes.” (Alarbiya.net, January 14, 2009).
The chief UN aid official for Gaza, John Ging, appealed to the international community to protect Gaza’s civilians, saying the conflict has become “a test of humanity.”
For now, Israel owes “humanity” an immediate apology. Surprisingly, however, very few are calling for one. The death toll in the 19th day of Operation Cast Lead has exceeded 1000, with over 4450 wounded. More than 300 Palestinian children have been murdered. So far, there are no signs that the Israeli offensive is nearing its end.
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