Flashback: How Israel Denied Civilian Casualties in Gaza

Related Post: UN Report - Israel Violations of Gazan Human Rights “Too Numerous to Count”

As yet more reports, this time from Israeli soldiers and from the United Nations Human Rights Council, document the extent of Israeli abuses and killing of Gazan civilians, Enduring America takes a look back at the Israeli explanations --- and denials --- during the war:

On 27 December, Israel began bombing the 360 square kilometres of Gaza, in which 1.4 million Palestinians live. A day later, On 28 December, 2008, Tim Marshall of Sky News interviewed Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpUslPq_GGc[/youtube]

Tim Marshall: “What concern the outside world it seems most of all is the civilian deaths. Now the death toll is approaching 300. Approximately a third to be civilians.”

Livni: “Not civilians!”

Tim Marshall: “Hamas is saying maybe 180 of its men of being killed. That leaves about a third of civilians. You do not accept of these figures?”

Livni: “We do not accept these figures and this is not only the values of the international community. These are our values as well. We are targeting Hamas, we are trying to avoid any kind of civilian casualties. Before the operation we called all the population which lives nearby Hamas headquarters to leave. We are doing everything in order to avoid or minimize civil casualties but a war is a war and these things can happen, this is not our intention but we can not avoid completely any kind of civilian casualties. But the possibility for this, lies on the Hamas shoulders.”

Almost a month later, Yigal Palmor, the Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman, claimed there was no evidence to support claims that white phosphorus bomb shells were illegally fired near civilians.

Subsequent reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and foreign journalists have documented evidence of the use of white phosphorous in crowded residential areas. The United Nations said that its headquarters were hit by three white phosphorus shells during the Israeli operation.

Israeli officials have fallen back on the claim of a "legal" use of white phosphorous on the battlefield. In 2005 spokesman Peter Kraiser told the BBC:

It's not forbidden by the CWC [Chemical Weapons Convention] if it is used within the context of a military application which does not require or does not intend to use the toxic properties of white phosphorus. White phosphorus is normally used to produce smoke, to camouflage movement. If that is the purpose for which the white phosphorus is used, then that is considered under the Convention legitimate use.

There's another part of Kraiser's explanation, however, which does not sit easily with the Israeli invasion of Gaza more than three years later:

If on the other hand the toxic properties of white phosphorus, the caustic properties, are specifically intended to be used as a weapon, that of course is prohibited, because the way the Convention is structured or the way it is in fact applied, any chemicals used against humans or animals that cause harm or death through the toxic properties of the chemical are considered chemical weapons.

In Gaza, where approximately 4000 people are jammed into each square kilmetre, no one can talk about “minimizing civilian casualties". The worst thing in this case is that, given the geographical and demographical data, even a 5 year-old child can tell you that phosphorus bombs will not only kill combatants/terrorists but also will take lives of dozens of women, children, and elderly people in the midst of crowded buildings located on narrow streets.

There is no 'but" after the revelation of innocents lives taken by disproportionate and illegal military operations. There is no escape with the hard-nosed declaration “war is war".

Torture Update: US Tried to Silence Binyam Mohamed

The Independent of London reveals that the US Government offered a deal to British resident Binyam Mohamed, held in Pakistan, Morocco, and then Guantanamo Bay for more than six years: he could go free "if he pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, ended his High Court case to prove his claims of torture, and agreed not to speak to the media about his ordeal".

The plea bargain was offered to Mohamed last year while he was still at Guantanamo Bay; under its terms, he would have received a 10-year sentence, nine years of which would be suspended. He rejected it.

After a sustained campaign earlier this year revealed further evidence of his rendition and torture, Mohamed was returned to the United Kingdom.

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.

Breaking News: Suicide Bombings in Iraq, Pakistan

In the northern Iraq town of Jalawla, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at the funeral of the father of Kurdish regional government official Hameed Khudadat, killing at least 25 people and wounding 45.

Eight people were killed and 10 wounded in a bombing west of Baghdad, while a suicide bomber killed a policeman and wounded eight in Tal Afar.

In Pakistan, a suicide bomber walked up to a station of the special intelligence branch of the Islamabad police and blew himself up, killing an officer. Geo News report a total of three dead. Two police officers were critically wounded.

It is the second suicide bombing in the area in a week.

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."