UN Report: Israel Violations of Gazan Human Rights "Too Numerous to Count"

Full Text: UN Human Rights Council Report on Israel's Human Rights Violations in Gaza
Related Post: Flashback - How Israel Denied Civilian Casualties in Gaza

A United Nations Human Rights Council report has concluded that "there are strong and credible reports of war crimes and other violations of international norms" in Israel's recent military operations in Gaza.

The report documents incidents "too numerous to count" of human rights violations by Israeli troops during the 22-day war in December/January. The report cites the killing of unarmed civilians, sometimes without warning (in other words, in cold blood), and the use of Gazan children as human shields.

The report also cited "credible reports" of Hamas' use of human shields and putting civilians at risk, however, it focuses on a "disproportionate" Israeli military operation, putting the number of Gazan deaths at 1440 and those of Israelis at 13.

Israeli attacks have brought "a dramatic deterioration of the living conditions of the civilian population", with "targeted and indiscriminate" attacks on hospitals and clinics, water and sewage treatment facilities, government buildings, utilities and farms. The assault "intensified the already catastrophic humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people", damaging more than 200 schools and left more than 70,000 people homeless.

The inevitable response from those supporting Tel Aviv will be that the Human Rights Council is dominated by "anti-Israeli" and "undemocratic" states who have their own human rights issues. Indeed, the omnipresent Mark Regev, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman, has already jumped in: This is "another example of the one-sided and unfair attitude of the rapporteur of the Human Rights Council, a council that has been criticized by current and previous secretaries-general for its unbalanced attitudes toward Israel".

This response will ignore the fact that the report was not compiled by the states on the HRC but by nine investigators independent of any Government, including Radhika Coomaraswamy, the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. It will also ignore the release of another report on Monday from Physicians for Human Rights, which cited cases where Israeli forces did not evacuate injured civilians for days and prevented Palestinian teams from reaching the wounded, leading to further deaths.

It should also be noted that the cases cited in the UN report corroborate the "Oranim" testimonies of Israeli Defense Force soldiers, which revealed in detail the abuse and killing of civilians.

UPDATED: Senior Fatah Official Assassinated in Lebanon

Latest Post: The Assassination of Kamal Medhat in Lebanon
Latest Post: Update - The Killing of Kamal Medhat in Lebanon

Kamal Medhat (Kamal Naji), the deputy representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) in Lebanon and Fatah's former intelligence chief, Akram Daher, the head of the PLO's youth organisation in Lebanon, and two bodyguards have been killed in a bombing. The attack occurred outside Mieh Mieh refugee camp, near Sidon in southern Lebanon.

Abbas Zaki, the PLO chief in Lebanon, was visiting the camp at the time of the attack but was uninjured. Zaki and Mehdat were offering condolences to the families of two men killed in a family feud in the camp on Saturday.

The bomb, made up of more than 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of TNT, was detonated by remote control.

There are any number of possible suspects in the killing; on Saturday. Watch out for attempts to make political capital out of the assassination by pinning it on various groups --- Israel, Syria, Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah all jump to mind --- irrespective of evidence (or a lack of it).

The official in charge of security at the camp speculated that "a third party...got involved to create inter-Palestinian sedition and chaos," but a Fatah official in Lebanon, Edward Kattoura, said, "According to the style of the operation it seems that Israel is behind this, because it is a very highly professional execution."

Hamas official Osama Hamdan struck a conciliatory note, saying Naji had played a role in easing tensions among the Palestinian factions in the country, and cautioned, "It is not possible to speculate on who committed this crime."

Obama's "Engagement": Is Hamas Next?

Text: La Republicca summary of interview with Meshaal (in Italian)

Barack Obama has a new admirer.

Hamas political director Khaled Meshaal, speaking over the weekend to the Italian newspaper La Republicca, said: ""A new language toward the region is coming from President Obama."

More importantly, Meshaal made clear that Hamas is ready to take a relationship with the Obama Administration to the next level, notably the hand-holding and chats that would come with Washington's recognition of the Palestinian organisation:

The challenge for everybody is for this to be the prelude for a genuine change in US and European policies. Regarding an official opening toward Hamas, it's a matter of time.

The analysis of La Republicca was that Meshaal was riding the wave of Obama's Friday message to Iran; however, the Hamas leader made no reference to that US initiative. Instead, his comments should be read in light of Gaza. They are a signal that Hamas has not only survived the Israeli onslaught of December but has emerged politically stronger, and it is a clear challenge to Washington to recognise that "reality":

The great powers need us in order to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. Our weight in the Palestinian problem comes from us being rooted in the society, in the population, which voted for us and will do it again.

Engagement with Iran (Postscript): Did US Tell Israeli General to Take a Hike?

Related Post: Engagement with Iran - A Hopeful US Approach
Related Post: Engagement - And There's Hope on the Iranian Side As Well....

A story from Israel's YNet News on Monday raises the prospect of a Washington rebuff to Israel on how to approach Iran.

The article begins with a statement of the Israeli hopes for a hard line towards Tehran: "IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi (pictured), who is on an official visit to the United States, told his American colleagues Monday that the Iranian threat could still be handled via sanctions, but stressed that an Israeli military strike was a "serious" option."

It soon becomes clear, however, that Ashkenazi was told to put his airplanes away by US National Security Advisor James Jones, Dennis Ross, the State Department special advisor on Iran, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff: "[Ashkenazi] did note that economic sanctions on Iran remain the preferable option at this time."

Even more interesting is this note, which I don't think was picked up in the American press: "Later Monday evening, Ashkenazi decided to cut his visit to the US short, in order to attend the government's meeting Tuesday on the prisoner exchange deal meant to secure the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit."

Yeah, right. Ashkenazi is far from a central figure in the political talks with Hamas on Shalit. What is more likely is that, having originally scheduled a five-day stay in the US, the General saw that Tel Aviv's agenda was going nowhere. That interpretation is given even more substance by this denial, which still raises a smile:

IDF Spokesman Brigadier-General Avi Benayahu said that "the decision stemmed from his desire to attend meetings regarding Shalit's retrieval, but it is not to be taken as a reflection of any possible outcome of the negotiations."

Washington's rejection of Ashkenazi's approach is solely on the military side of the Iran question. What remains to be seen is whether, after Hillary Clinton and Dennis Ross floated the idea of a harder diplomatic line with Iran during the Clinton wide ride in the Middle East earlier this month, others in the Administration --- possibly eclipsing Clinton and Ross --- are also going to rebuff Tel Aviv's insistence on tougher economic sanctions.

The Latest from Israel-Palestine (17 March): Hopes of Prisoner Swap Recede

Evening Update (7 p.m. GMT): In a pointed indication that the talks over a prisoner swap are near break-down, Israel has played its most threatening card, short of military action. After Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, a spokesman emphasised, ""The crossings... are operating at a minimum to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. And they will remain so until [kidnapped soldier] Gilad Shalit (pictured) is released."

As the Israeli Cabinet meets on Tuesday afternoon to discuss negotiations with Hamas over an exchange of prisoners for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, it appears that the chances of a deal have all but disappeared.

After the return of Israeli negotiators Yuval Diskin and Ofer Dekel from Cairo, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office put out the pessimistic statement, "It became clear during the discussions that Hamas had hardened its position, reneged on understandings that had been formulated over the past year and raised extreme demands."