Gaza. Hamas.
Conflict. FACTS!
A
terrifying litany of the violation and abuse of human rights by the Israeli
army in Gaza in
December and January last.
Extracted for the official
United Nations Report of the Fact
Finding Mission. April/May 2009
1. Deliberate attacks by the Israeli
army on civilians
2.
1400 Gazans killed in three weeks
3. The illegal use of white phosphorus
4. Israeli violations of the right to
free movement
5. Dehumanization
6. Torture and punishment
7.
Violations of international human rights and
humanitarian law
8. The
arbitrary deprivation of life
1887.
The timing of the first Israeli attack, at 11.30 a.m. on a weekday, when
children were returning from school and the streets of Gaza were crowded with people going about
their daily business, appears to have been calculated to create the greatest
disruption and widespread panic among the civilian population. The treatment of
many civilians detained or even killed while trying to surrender is one
manifestation of the way in which the effective rules of engagement, standard
operating procedures and instructions to the troops on the ground appear to
have been framed in order to create an environment in which due regard for
civilian lives and basic human dignity was replaced with disregard for basic
international humanitarian law and human rights norms.
1889.
The repeated failure to distinguish between combatants and civilians appears to
the
Mission to have been
the result of deliberate guidance issued to soldiers, as described by some of
them, and not the result of occasional lapses
1891. It is clear from
evidence gathered by the Mission
that the destruction of food supply installations, water sanitation systems,
concrete factories and residential houses was the result of a deliberate and
systematic policy by the Israeli armed forces. It was not carried out because
those objects presented a military threat or opportunity, but to make the daily
process of living, and dignified living, more difficult for the civilian
population.
1892. Allied to the
systematic destruction of the economic capacity of the Gaza Strip, there appears also to have been
an assault on the dignity of the people. This was seen not only in the use of
human shields and unlawful detentions sometimes in unacceptable conditions, but
also in the vandalizing of houses when occupied and the way in which people
were treated when their houses were entered. The graffiti on the walls, the
obscenities and often racist slogans, all constituted an overall image of
humiliation and dehumanization of the Palestinian population.
1893. The operations
were carefully planned in all their phases. Legal opinions and advice were
given throughout the planning stages and at certain operational levels during
the campaign. There were almost no mistakes made according to the Government of
Israel.
It is in these circumstances that the Mission concludes that what occurred in
just over three weeks at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 was a
deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and
terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity
both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing
sense of dependency and vulnerability.
1894. The Mission has noted with concern public statements by Israeli
officials, including senior military officials, to the effect that the use of
disproportionate force, attacks on civilian population and the destruction of
civilian property are legitimate means to achieve Israel's military and political
objectives. The Mission
believes that such statements not only undermine the entire regime of
international law, they are inconsistent with the spirit of the Charter of the
United Nations and, therefore, deserve to be categorically denounced.
1895. Whatever
violations of international humanitarian and human rights law may have been
committed, the systematic and deliberate nature of the activities described in this report leave the Mission in
no doubt that responsibility lies in the first place with those who designed,
planned, ordered and oversaw the operations.
1919. The Mission finds
that in a number of cases Israel failed to take feasible precautions required
by customary law reflected in article 57 (2) (a) (ii) of Additional Protocol I
to avoid or minimize incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and
damage to civilian objects. The firing of white phosphorus shells over the
UNRWA compound in Gaza
City is one of such cases
in which precautions were not taken in the choice of weapons and methods in the
attack, and these facts were compounded by reckless disregard for the
consequences. The intentional strike at al-Quds hospital using high-explosive
artillery shells and white phosphorous in and around the hospital also violated
articles 18 and 19 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. With regard to the attack
against al-Wafa hospital, the Mission
found a violation of the same provisions, as well as a violation of the
customary law prohibition against attacks which may be expected to cause
excessive damage to civilians and civilian objects.
1921. The Mission found numerous
instances of deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects (individuals,
whole families, houses, mosques) in violation of the fundamental international
humanitarian law principle of distinction, resulting in deaths and serious
injuries. In these cases the Mission found that the protected status of
civilians was not respected and the attacks were intentional, in clear
violation of customary law reflected in article 51 (2) and 75 of Additional
Protocol I, article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and articles 6 and 7 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In some cases the Mission additionally
concluded that the attack was also launched with the intention of spreading terror
among the civilian population. Moreover, in several of the incidents
investigated, the Israeli armed forces not only did not use their best efforts
to permit humanitarian organizations access to the wounded and medical relief,
as required by customary international law reflected in article 10 (2) of
Additional Protocol I, but they
arbitrarily withheld
such access.
Treatment of
Palestinians in the hands of the Israeli armed forces
(i) Use of human
shields
1925. The Mission investigated several incidents in which the
Israeli armed forces used local Palestinian residents to enter houses which
might be booby-trapped or harbour enemy combatants (this practice, known in the
West Bank as "neighbour procedure", was called "Johnnie procedure" during the
military operations in Gaza).
The Mission
found that the practice constitutes the use of human shields prohibited by
international humanitarian law. It further constitutes a violation of the right
to life, protected in article 6 of ICCPR, and of the prohibition against cruel
and inhuman treatment in its article 7.
1926. The questioning
of Palestinian civilians under threat of death or injury to extract information
about Hamas and Palestinian combatants and tunnels constitutes a violation of
article 31 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits physical or moral
coercion against protected persons.
1930. In addition to
being violations of international humanitarian law, these extensive wanton acts
of destruction amount to violations of Israel's duties to respect the right to
an adequate standard of living of the people in the Gaza Strip, which includes
the rights to food, water and housing, as well as the right to the highest
attainable standard of health, protected under articles 11 and 12 of the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
1932. The Mission finds
that, despite the information circulated by Israel about the humanitarian
relief schemes in place during the military operations, Israel has essentially
violated its obligation to allow free passage of all consignments of medical
and hospital objects, food and clothing that were needed to meet the urgent
humanitarian needs of the civilian population in the context of the military
operations, which is in violation of article 23 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention.
1933. In addition to
the above general findings, the Mission also considers that Israel has violated
its specific obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,
including the rights to peace and security, free movement, livelihood and
health.
1934. The Mission concludes that the conditions resulting from
deliberate actions of the Israeli armed forces and the declared policies of the
Government with regard to the Gaza Strip before,
during and after the military operation cumulatively indicate the intention to inflict
collective punishment on the people of the Gaza Strip. The Mission, therefore, finds a violation of the
provisions of article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
(g) Grave breaches of
the Geneva
Conventions and acts raising individual criminal responsibility under
international criminal law
1935. From the facts
gathered, the Mission found that the following
grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention were committed by the Israeli
armed forces in Gaza:
willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, wilfully causing great suffering
or serious injury to body or health, and extensive destruction of property, not
justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly. As
grave breaches these acts give rise to individual criminal responsibility. The Mission notes that the use of human shields also
constitutes a war crime under the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court.
1936. The Mission
further considers that the series of acts that deprive Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip of their means of subsistence, employment, housing and water, that deny
their freedom of movement and their right to leave and enter their own country,
that limit their rights to access a court of law and an effective remedy, could
lead a competent court to find that the crime of persecution, a crime against
humanity, has been committed.
2. Actions by Israel in
the West Bank in the context of the military operations in Gaza from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009
(a) Treatment of
Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli
security forces, including use of excessive or lethal force during
demonstrations
1936. The Mission
further considers that the series of acts that deprive Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip of their means of subsistence, employment, housing and water, that deny
their freedom of movement and their right to leave and enter their own country,
that limit their rights to access a court of law and an effective remedy, could
lead a competent court to find that the crime of persecution, a crime against
humanity, has been committed.
2. Actions by Israel in
the West Bank in the context of the military operations in Gaza from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009
(a) Treatment of
Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli
security forces, including use of excessive or lethal force during
demonstrations.
1937. With regard to
acts of violence by settlers against Palestinians, the Mission
concludes that Israel
has failed to fulfil its international obligations to protect the Palestinians
from violence by private individuals under both international human rights law
and international humanitarian law. In some instances security forces acquiesced
to the acts of violence in violation of the prohibition against cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment.
When this acquiescence
occurs only in respect of violence against Palestinians by settlers and not
vice versa, it would amount to discrimination on the basis of national origin, prohibited
under ICCPR.
1938. Israel also violated a
series of human rights by unlawfully repressing peaceful public demonstrations
and using excessive force against demonstrators. The use of firearms, including
live ammunitions, and the use of snipers resulting in the death of
demonstrators are a violation of article 6 of ICCPR as an arbitrary deprivation
of life and, in the circumstances examined by the Mission, appear to indicate
an intention or at least a recklessness towards causing harm to civilians which
may amount to wilful killing.
1939. Excessive use of
force that resulted in injury rather than death constitutes violations of a
number of standards, including articles 7 and 9 of ICCPR. These violations are
compounded by the seemingly discriminatory "open fire regulations" for security
forces dealing with demonstrations, based on the presence of persons with a
particular nationality, violating the principle of non-discrimination in ICCPR
(art. 2) as well as under article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
1940. The Mission finds that Israel failed to investigate, and
when appropriate prosecute, acts by its agents or by third parties involving
serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law.
1941. The Mission was alarmed at
the reported increase in settler violence in the past year and the failure of
the Israeli security forces to prevent settlers' attacks against Palestinian
civilians and their property. These are accompanied by a series of violations
by Israeli forces or acquiesced by them, including the removal of residential
status from Palestinians, which could eventually lead to a situation of virtual
deportation and entail additional violations of other rights.
(b) Detention of Palestinians
by Israel
1942. The Mission
analysed information it received on the detention of Palestinians in Israeli
prisons during or in the context of the military operations of December 2008-
January 2009 and found those practices generally inconsistent with human rights
and international humanitarian law. The military court system to which
Palestinians from the Occupied
Palestinian Territory
are subjected deprives them of due process guarantees in keeping with
international law.
1943. The Mission finds that the detention of members of the
Palestinian Legislative Council by Israel violates the right not to be
arbitrarily detained, as protected by article 9 of ICCPR. Insofar as it is
based on political affiliation and prevents those members from participating in
the conduct of public affairs, it is also in violation of its articles 25
recognizing the right to take part in public affairs and 26, which provides for
the right to equal protection under the law. Insofar as their detention is
unrelated to their individual behaviour, it constitutes collective punishment,
prohibited by article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Information on the
detention of large numbers of children and their treatment by Israeli security
forces point to violations of their rights under ICCPR and the Convention on
the Rights of the Child.
