3 mar 2019
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the United Kingdom Labor Party and the country’s opposition, on Friday, called upon the UK to freeze arms sales to Israel and to condemn it for killing Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
In a tweet, Corbyn said, “The UN says Israel’s killings of demonstrators in Gaza – including children, paramedics and journalists – may constitute ‘war crimes or crimes against humanity’.”
He added, according to WAFA, that the “UK government must unequivocally condemn the killings and freeze arms sales to Israel.”
Corbyn’s statement came after UN investigators accused Israeli forces of intentionally firing on civilians and committed war crimes in their lethal response to Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza.
The independent Commission of Inquiry, set up last year by the UN’s human rights council, said that Israeli forces killed 189 people and shot more than 6,100 others with live ammunition near the fence that divides the two territories.
The panel said in a statement that it had found “reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such”.
02/27/19 Israeli Interference in British Politics: Targeted against Corbyn
In a tweet, Corbyn said, “The UN says Israel’s killings of demonstrators in Gaza – including children, paramedics and journalists – may constitute ‘war crimes or crimes against humanity’.”
He added, according to WAFA, that the “UK government must unequivocally condemn the killings and freeze arms sales to Israel.”
Corbyn’s statement came after UN investigators accused Israeli forces of intentionally firing on civilians and committed war crimes in their lethal response to Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza.
The independent Commission of Inquiry, set up last year by the UN’s human rights council, said that Israeli forces killed 189 people and shot more than 6,100 others with live ammunition near the fence that divides the two territories.
The panel said in a statement that it had found “reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such”.
02/27/19 Israeli Interference in British Politics: Targeted against Corbyn
1 mar 2019
The Palestinian Center For Human Rights – Press Release: On 28 February 2019, The United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory held a press conference in the UN Headquarters in Geneva.
During the conference, the Chair and Members of the Commission presented the conclusions and findings of their investigation during the period from 30 March until 31December 2018.
PCHR expresses its satisfaction with what the UN Commission and report presented as it transparently and impartially shows the truth about the violations committed by the Israeli forces against the peaceful demonstrators.
The Commission Members emphasized that the activities of the Great March of Return were peaceful in nature, and the applicable legal framework was thus based in international human rights law, being rejected by Israel.
The Members also criticized the rules of engagement, which apparently permitted live fire at the “main inciters”, emphasizing this is illegal.
The investigation findings also revealed the same as the human rights organizations’ conclusions that the Israeli forces used lethal force against the demonstrators, who did not pose imminent threat to the life of Israeli soldiers nor directly were participating in hostilities, in violation of the international human rights law.
In violation of law, the Israeli forces intentionally and directly used lethal force against civilians, including children, women, journalists, health workers, and persons with disabilities.
The Israeli snipers targeted them while the demonstrators, at the time, did not pose any threat to the life of the Israeli soldiers nor were they participating in hostilities. The Commission added that these actions may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.
The report also mentioned denying persons wounded of their treatment outside the Gaza Strip, which has been under blockade for 12 years, rendering the health-care system in a disastrous status.
The Commission also called for lifting the inhuman and illegal blockade on Gaza and ensure that all those injured at demonstrations are given permits to travel for medical treatment abroad in addition to developing the medical services in Gaza.
The Commission emphasized that the international community should holds its responsibilities relevant to protection of civilians and apply the recommendations of the International Commissions of Inquiry.
It should mentioned that On 18 May 2018, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution (S-28/1) in which it decided to dispatch the commission of inquiry that will present its report and recommendations to the Council at its fortieth session on 18 March 2019 in the UN Headquarters in Geneva.
PCHR believes that this report stresses civilians’ right to peaceful assembly and emphasizes the conclusions by all Palestinian, Israeli and international organizations that Israel has deliberately killed Palestinian civilians.
PCHR believes that this position of the Commission is a victory for the rule of law against the law of jungle applied by the Israeli forces against the peaceful demonstrators. PCHR adds that this report came to emphasize the human, moral and legal superiority of the Palestinian people over the occupation.
PCHR welcomes the results of the international investigation into the Great March of Return; and:
To view full report click here:
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoIOPT/A_HRC_40_74.pdf
Public Document
**************************************
Follow PCHR on Facebook and Twitter
For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 – 2825893
Gaza- Jamal ‘Abdel Nasser “al-Thalathini” Street – Al-Roya Building- Floor 12 , El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
During the conference, the Chair and Members of the Commission presented the conclusions and findings of their investigation during the period from 30 March until 31December 2018.
PCHR expresses its satisfaction with what the UN Commission and report presented as it transparently and impartially shows the truth about the violations committed by the Israeli forces against the peaceful demonstrators.
The Commission Members emphasized that the activities of the Great March of Return were peaceful in nature, and the applicable legal framework was thus based in international human rights law, being rejected by Israel.
The Members also criticized the rules of engagement, which apparently permitted live fire at the “main inciters”, emphasizing this is illegal.
The investigation findings also revealed the same as the human rights organizations’ conclusions that the Israeli forces used lethal force against the demonstrators, who did not pose imminent threat to the life of Israeli soldiers nor directly were participating in hostilities, in violation of the international human rights law.
In violation of law, the Israeli forces intentionally and directly used lethal force against civilians, including children, women, journalists, health workers, and persons with disabilities.
The Israeli snipers targeted them while the demonstrators, at the time, did not pose any threat to the life of the Israeli soldiers nor were they participating in hostilities. The Commission added that these actions may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.
The report also mentioned denying persons wounded of their treatment outside the Gaza Strip, which has been under blockade for 12 years, rendering the health-care system in a disastrous status.
The Commission also called for lifting the inhuman and illegal blockade on Gaza and ensure that all those injured at demonstrations are given permits to travel for medical treatment abroad in addition to developing the medical services in Gaza.
The Commission emphasized that the international community should holds its responsibilities relevant to protection of civilians and apply the recommendations of the International Commissions of Inquiry.
It should mentioned that On 18 May 2018, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution (S-28/1) in which it decided to dispatch the commission of inquiry that will present its report and recommendations to the Council at its fortieth session on 18 March 2019 in the UN Headquarters in Geneva.
PCHR believes that this report stresses civilians’ right to peaceful assembly and emphasizes the conclusions by all Palestinian, Israeli and international organizations that Israel has deliberately killed Palestinian civilians.
PCHR believes that this position of the Commission is a victory for the rule of law against the law of jungle applied by the Israeli forces against the peaceful demonstrators. PCHR adds that this report came to emphasize the human, moral and legal superiority of the Palestinian people over the occupation.
PCHR welcomes the results of the international investigation into the Great March of Return; and:
- Calls upon the UN Human Rights Council to adopt and ratify the report when it is discussed on 18 March at the fortieth session of the Council.
- Calls upon the High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit the report to the International Criminal Court.
- Calls upon the Member States of the Human Rights Council to adopt a decision to renew the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry, in the light of the continuation of Return March and the ongoing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by the Israeli forces during the period following the Committee’s work period.
To view full report click here:
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoIOPT/A_HRC_40_74.pdf
Public Document
**************************************
Follow PCHR on Facebook and Twitter
For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 – 2825893
Gaza- Jamal ‘Abdel Nasser “al-Thalathini” Street – Al-Roya Building- Floor 12 , El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
The Arab League (AL) welcomed, on Thursday, the results of a United Nations' report that Israeli forces may have committed war crimes killing scores of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The AL Assistant Secretary General for Palestine and occupied Arab territories, Said Abu Ali, said the results reflect the fairness of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which classify the ongoing Israeli violations as war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Abu Ali called on the international community to follow up the important results of this report and to focus on the principle of accountability, demanding that those responsible for the violations and crimes committed daily against the Palestinian people should be identified.
He stressed the importance and necessity of providing international protection to the Palestinian people as well as ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state on the territories occupied in 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital.
A report by the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the occupied Palestinian territory described the Israeli army shooting of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border fence with Israel as war crimes.
The commission was mandated by the Human Rights Council in May 2018 to investigate all Israeli violations and abuses of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the occupied Palestinian territory in the context of “The Great March of Return” protests that began in Gaza on March 30th 2018.
The AL Assistant Secretary General for Palestine and occupied Arab territories, Said Abu Ali, said the results reflect the fairness of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which classify the ongoing Israeli violations as war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Abu Ali called on the international community to follow up the important results of this report and to focus on the principle of accountability, demanding that those responsible for the violations and crimes committed daily against the Palestinian people should be identified.
He stressed the importance and necessity of providing international protection to the Palestinian people as well as ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state on the territories occupied in 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital.
A report by the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the occupied Palestinian territory described the Israeli army shooting of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border fence with Israel as war crimes.
The commission was mandated by the Human Rights Council in May 2018 to investigate all Israeli violations and abuses of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the occupied Palestinian territory in the context of “The Great March of Return” protests that began in Gaza on March 30th 2018.
Commenting on Israel’s release today of Palestinian lawmaker and prominent human rights defender Khalida Jarrar after spending 20 months in administrative detention, Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Member, said Israel’s administrative detention policy is “an assault on universal human rights.”
Ashrawi said in a statement, on Thursday, “After twenty months in Israeli captivity, Khalida Jarrar is finally free. This imprisonment was yet another chapter in a lifetime of persecution and oppression from the Israeli occupation to this prominent human rights defender and elected representative, including several arrests, house arrest, and a ban on travel due to her activism against occupation and her work in defending the national and human rights of her people.”
She added, “As we celebrate the release of Khalida, we must not lose sight that nearly 500 Palestinian citizens, including children and other elected officials, are languishing in Israeli prisons, without charge or trial, under so-called administrative detention.”
“This form of open-ended detention is a tool of cruel punishment and oppression that the Israeli occupation regime has employed against thousands of Palestinian activists throughout the past fifty-two years of occupation. It is an abhorrent practice that violates international law, including international humanitarian law and international criminal law, as well as the basic rights and dignity of Palestinians.”
She stressed that states that “champion the universal values of human rights and the rule of international law must not turn a blind eye to Israel’s policy of mass incarceration of Palestinians, including the use of the so-called administrative detention. This policy is a fundamental anchor of the system of control and oppression that Israel has employed against the Palestinian people for more than half a century to perpetuate its illegal occupation.”
Ashrawi continued, “It is time to confront this policy with resolve. Human rights are universal and indivisible. The state of human rights around the world is undermined so long as Israel is allowed to violate the basic human rights of the Palestinian people with impunity and without accountability.”
She also called on all concerned states and organizations “to work on ensuring accountability and ending Israel’s shameful legacy of mass incarceration and oppression.”
Ashrawi said in a statement, on Thursday, “After twenty months in Israeli captivity, Khalida Jarrar is finally free. This imprisonment was yet another chapter in a lifetime of persecution and oppression from the Israeli occupation to this prominent human rights defender and elected representative, including several arrests, house arrest, and a ban on travel due to her activism against occupation and her work in defending the national and human rights of her people.”
She added, “As we celebrate the release of Khalida, we must not lose sight that nearly 500 Palestinian citizens, including children and other elected officials, are languishing in Israeli prisons, without charge or trial, under so-called administrative detention.”
“This form of open-ended detention is a tool of cruel punishment and oppression that the Israeli occupation regime has employed against thousands of Palestinian activists throughout the past fifty-two years of occupation. It is an abhorrent practice that violates international law, including international humanitarian law and international criminal law, as well as the basic rights and dignity of Palestinians.”
She stressed that states that “champion the universal values of human rights and the rule of international law must not turn a blind eye to Israel’s policy of mass incarceration of Palestinians, including the use of the so-called administrative detention. This policy is a fundamental anchor of the system of control and oppression that Israel has employed against the Palestinian people for more than half a century to perpetuate its illegal occupation.”
Ashrawi continued, “It is time to confront this policy with resolve. Human rights are universal and indivisible. The state of human rights around the world is undermined so long as Israel is allowed to violate the basic human rights of the Palestinian people with impunity and without accountability.”
She also called on all concerned states and organizations “to work on ensuring accountability and ending Israel’s shameful legacy of mass incarceration and oppression.”
28 feb 2019
A United Nations (UN) probe said, on Thursday, that Israeli security forces may have committed war crimes killing scores of Palestinians and wounding more than 6,100 suppressing weekly protests in the besieged Gaza Strip over the past year.
Santiago Canton, Chairman of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry said, in a statement, that "Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity."
The inquiry, set up by the UN Human Rights Council, investigated possible violations from the start of the riots on March 30, 2018 through to December 31.
"More than 6,000 unarmed demonstrators were shot by military snipers, week after week at the protest sites."
The statement added that "The Commission found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such."
The investigation added that Israeli forces killed and injured Palestinians "who were neither directly participating in hostilities, nor posing an imminent threat."
However, according to Israeli news outlets, Israeli Acting Foreign Minister, Yisrael Katz, responded saying that Israel rejected the report outright and that "the Jewish state cannot be denied the right to defend itself."
“The theater of the absurd of the Human Rights Council produced another hostile, untrue and misleading report against the State of Israel.”
Santiago Canton, Chairman of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry said, in a statement, that "Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity."
The inquiry, set up by the UN Human Rights Council, investigated possible violations from the start of the riots on March 30, 2018 through to December 31.
"More than 6,000 unarmed demonstrators were shot by military snipers, week after week at the protest sites."
The statement added that "The Commission found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such."
The investigation added that Israeli forces killed and injured Palestinians "who were neither directly participating in hostilities, nor posing an imminent threat."
However, according to Israeli news outlets, Israeli Acting Foreign Minister, Yisrael Katz, responded saying that Israel rejected the report outright and that "the Jewish state cannot be denied the right to defend itself."
“The theater of the absurd of the Human Rights Council produced another hostile, untrue and misleading report against the State of Israel.”
A UN probe has affirmed that there is evidence Israel committed crimes against humanity when its forces responded to protests in Gaza in 2018, as snipers targeted people clearly identifiable as children, health workers, journalists and people with disabilities.
“Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity,” Santiago Canton, the chair of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement.
The inquiry, set up by the UN Human Rights Council, investigated possible violations from the start of the protests on March 30, 2018, through December 31.
“More than 6,000 unarmed demonstrators were shot by military snipers, week after week at the protest sites,” it said.
“The Commission found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such,” it said.
The investigators specified that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli troops killed and injured Palestinians “who were neither directly participating in hostilities, nor posing an imminent threat.”
The UN team also dismissed claims by Israel that the protests were aimed to conceal acts of terrorism that have included shootings, grenade and bomb attacks, Molotov cocktails and breaches of the border fence.
“The demonstrations were civilian in nature, with clearly stated political aims,” the statement said. “Despite some acts of significant violence, the Commission found that the demonstrations did not constitute combat or military campaigns.”
“Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity,” Santiago Canton, the chair of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement.
The inquiry, set up by the UN Human Rights Council, investigated possible violations from the start of the protests on March 30, 2018, through December 31.
“More than 6,000 unarmed demonstrators were shot by military snipers, week after week at the protest sites,” it said.
“The Commission found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such,” it said.
The investigators specified that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli troops killed and injured Palestinians “who were neither directly participating in hostilities, nor posing an imminent threat.”
The UN team also dismissed claims by Israel that the protests were aimed to conceal acts of terrorism that have included shootings, grenade and bomb attacks, Molotov cocktails and breaches of the border fence.
“The demonstrations were civilian in nature, with clearly stated political aims,” the statement said. “Despite some acts of significant violence, the Commission found that the demonstrations did not constitute combat or military campaigns.”
