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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israel 'fails' to probe Gaza war crimes: HRW |
| 2010-02-08 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Human Rights Watch said on Sunday that Israel has failed to properly investigate alleged crimes committed during last winter's devastating Gaza war as demanded by the United Nations. "Israel claims it is conducting credible and impartial investigations, but it has so far failed to make that case," said Joe Stork, HRW's New York-based group's deputy director for the Middle East. "An independent investigation is crucial to understand why so many civilians died and to bring justice for the victims of unlawful attacks," Stork said in a statement. About 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the 22-day onslaught launched by Israel on Dec. 27, 2008, aimed at halting rocket attacks from the Islamist Hamas-ruled enclave. Thirteen Israelis were killed in the fighting. The U.N. General Assembly in November called on Israel and Palestinian armed groups to investigate alleged war crimes detailed in a UN report by the respected former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone. But U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that he had not yet determined whether both sides had adequately probed the accusations. Last Friday, the U.N. chief received a 46-page report from Israel in which it denied violating international law but admitted "tragic results" due to the "complexity and scale" of fighting in heavily populated areas. In his report, Ban highlighted Israel's assertion that two of its senior officers -- a brigadier general and a colonel -- were disciplined for the firing of white phosphorous shells toward a U.N. compound during the war. Also on Friday, the U.N. secretary general was handed a preliminary report from the Palestinian side in which it said a commission had been set up to look into allegations that Palestinian militants committed war crimes. Hamas also carried out an investigation into the conflict, and has previously absolved its fighters of any wrongdoing, saying they did not deliberately target civilians. HRW has rejected Hamas's claims, saying that most of the rockets fired during the war hit civilian areas. "Civilians were the target," the group said, and "deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 And I don't really care how we win, just make sure we do before the clueless ones start bemoaning how we did it so they can assuage their cluelessly "guilty" conscience. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-02-08 12:42 |
| #2 When you lose you lose. So everybody is "failing" to examine Israeli "warcrimes"? That's because wars tend to favor the sorts who win them. Hamas lost the war, so they whine it wasnt "fair". Wars are murder, sanctioned and legal and that's what you do. And usually you pay lip service to how its done BUT the truth is you dont really care how they get so cold...as long as they do. You gang up on them. You come at them while they are asleep or sitting on the toilet with their pants down. You say honey I'm home while you pour gasoline in their breakfast. Sometimes you use atomics and you film it so that future generations can clap at the movies. There IS no nice way. You close the door when the captain isnt there and check their wounded who are gonna die "anyway". You push it as far as it will go and use a knife so there isnt any noise. And then you write the history books and you were all heroes. And that's the kind of men you want at three in the morning. Honor is a relative thing at best. Good intentions are usually better left for bandleaders. You dont tell your mother the truth, you tell her what she needs to hear. Soldiers are not shoe-salesmen. Dont lie to yourself. And living to be old is its own reward. SOMEBODY is going to lose, make sure it isnt you. Hamas can whine all they like...smile at 'em. You know, when I heard we tortured Khalid after we shot him four times( we did, you know)...and waterboarded him while we drove him nuts throwing him up against the wall and leaving him in a freezing little box with his leg behind his ear and playing AC/DC with a sonic booster while he was spreadeagled in chains....(we did , you know)...I didnt feel an ounce of pity. I ate my breakfast and kept smiling. We intend to win this thing. We dont care about how we win ( lie to me and I will smile back at you) and honor and justice and the "American Way" can go toot on a penny whistle. |
| Posted by: Shoot Back 2010-02-08 06:33 |
| #1 Human Rights [abuse] Watch is just doing its job of equalating the deliberate targeting and murder of civilians by Hamass with the unavoidable casualties of Human Shields / Civilian Terrorists by Israel. Classic propaganda technique - claim the 'other side' is doing it too so as to dilute or avoid blame. The fact remains that Israel did everything in its power to avoid civilian casualties - even to the point of dropping leaflets and 'knocking on the roof' prior to an attack - that is a well known and documented fact. While on the other hand Hamas did (and has been for 10 years) all in its power to deliberately target and murder as many civilians as it possibly can and during the war hid behind 'human shields' - which, in many cases, were effective since Israel was trying her upmost to avoid civilian deaths. Human shields who either Hamas forced into harms way or who were, in truth, terrorists or actively-participating terrorist supporters. Human Rights Watch, and the U.N. General Assembly, and Ki-Moon, know this. They are just attempting to give the terrorist organization 'cover'. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-02-08 05:09 |