Jason Koutsoukis; 4/2/10; (3 Items)
A senior Israeli military official during last year’s war in Gaza has said that an independent commission of inquiry should investigate allegations that Israeli troops committed war crimes. Colonel Pnina Sharvit-Baruch, who was in charge of the Israel Defence Forces’ international law division and is now a law lecturer at Tel Aviv University, said the United Nations report on the war by Justice Richard Goldstone had severely damaged Israel’s international standing. The offensive left 1400 Palestinians dead. ”We are now in a situation in which we need to give [Israel's] friends, who don’t want to see lawsuits filed against us in their own courts, the tools to do away with such claims, along with other charges against us,” Colonel Sharvit-Baruch said.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/world/israel-war-crime-probe-urged-20100203-ndlz.html; U.S.: Easing Gaza siege would help counter Goldstone; Barak Ravid; 4/2/10 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1147463.html; Berlusconi: We mourn Gaza victims just as we cry over Holocaust; 4/2/10; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1147256.html; Mayor bows to pressure, pledges to remove E. Jerusalem settlers; Nir Hasson; 4/2/10; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1147297.html; Dutch pro-Palestinian socialite: Jewish lobby plays on Holocaust; Cnaan Liphshiz; 4/2/10; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1146333.html; IDF officer: Gaza civilians risked to protect Israel troops during war; Anshel Pfeffer; 3/2/10; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1147218.html; http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=132398&d=4&m=2&y=2010
Gaza atrocities
Editorial: 4/2/10
Shells containing phosphorus, which when exposed to air burns through anything with which it comes into contact, are OK in international law provided that they are not fired at civilians. During its bombardment of the Gaza ghetto, Israel repeatedly denied that it had used shells containing this horrific chemical. In the wake of the incontrovertible UN findings that phosphorus shells were deployed against Gaza’s heavily built up areas, the Israelis changed their tune. As a result of a military inquiry, two top Israeli commanders have been disciplined for ordering the shells be fired, repeatedly. Israeli government spokesmen around the world have been pointing to this apparently laudable display of Israel always being prepared to do what is right, as would any other civilized society.
See: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=132356&d=4&m=2&y=2010
Israel should face international justice
George S. Hishmeh; 4/2/10
Much as the world has responded generously to assist Haitians after their devastating earthquake last month, the opposite has been true about the impoverished Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who have been under an increasingly debilitating siege since the Israeli blitz a little over a year ago. The Obama administration has committed $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) to help rebuild Gaza, now home to more than 1.5 million Palestinians, many of them refugees from nearby towns in what is now Israel. The United Nations has also raised $4.5 billion (Dh16.5 billion) for this cause but, to date, neither the American nor the UN funds have been put to use because of the tight Israeli blockade, which is also enforced by the Egyptians on their border with the once Israeli-occupied Strip.
See: http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/israel-should-face-international-justice-1.577915