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PCHR Condemns Israeli Attempts to Legitimize Crimes in Gaza and Sheild Perpetrators from Justice

News Type: Event — Seeded on Fri May 1, 2009 5:19 PM EDT
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On 22 April 2009, Israeli Military Authorities announced the conclusion of five internal investigations examining the conduct of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) during the recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The investigations, supervised by IOF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, claimed that investigations found a very small number of incidents involving intelligence or operational errors, but that "throughout the fighting in the Gaza Strip" IOF "operated in accordance with international law".

Deputy IOF chief of staff, Major General Dan Harel, claimed that 1,166 Palestinians were killed in the offensive of which 295 were civilians, and 709 were combatants. 162 victims have not been classified.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly contest these figures and the results of the investigations, which constitute an attempt to legitimise crimes committed in the Gaza Strip, and to shield perpetrators from justice. PCHR's investigations indicate that 1,417 Palestinians were killed in the offensive, of which 1,181 (83%) were non-combatants. Civilian property in the Gaza Strip was also extensively targeted and destroyed: PCHR have found that, inter alia, approximately 20,000 homes and 1,500 factories and workshops were completely destroyed or damaged, and that 6,636 dunums of agricultural land were razed.

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{"commentId":6839075,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Wheel
These latest investigations are the last in a long series of ineffective investigations, which do not meet international standards of independence or transparency. No investigation supervised by those responsible for the alleged crimes, can be considered impartial. Additionally, the investigations conducted by Colonels, making it difficult, if not impossible, to effectively investigate superiors, including the Chief of Staff. The Israeli Military Attorney General and the Attorney General were heavily involved in the planning and execution of Israeli military operations throughout the course of the offensive, it is unsurprising that in a letter dated 24 February 2009, the Attorney General rejected a demand made by human rights organizations calling for an independent investigation. Most recently, Israeli officials have claimed that they will refuse to cooperate with an independent United Nations mandated investigation, lead by Justice Richard Goldstone, a respected lawyer who served as chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

And yet the zionist denial squad on the vine continue to declare the investigation was fair and thorough when it was clearly neither.

Within the Israeli legal system there exists a fundamental flaw with respect to the investigation of alleged crimes committed by IOF in the oPt. Currently, a case is presented to the Military Legal Advisor, who then consults with the relevant field commander. If requested, the field commander conducts an investigation; subsequent to this, the Military Advocate General judges the legal issues arising from the facts presented by the field commander. This results in a situation whereby the accused conducts the investigation. The inadequacies of this system have implications for the effectiveness and independence of any investigation; justice for Palestinian victims is not attainable within this system.

These investigations and the crimes which they attempt to legitimize are an affront to the principles of law and justice which they purport to uphold. They are also an affront to the civilians of the Gaza Strip, who have suffered at the hands of a brutal occupation, and the horrors of this most recent offensive.
{"commentId":6839075,"threadId":"568401","contentId":"2762466","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
  • 5 votes
Reply#1 - Fri May 1, 2009 5:26 PM EDT
{"commentId":6839863,"authorDomain":"drfade3000"}
Fada
And yet the zionist denial squad on the vine continue to declare the investigation was fair and thorough

How they know? but what else to expect from those who advocated the illegal siege on Gaza and cheered up on Vine to the massive killing of civilians during the barbarian raids?

{"commentId":6839863,"threadId":"568401","contentId":"2762466","authorDomain":"drfade3000"}
  • 5 votes
Reply#2 - Fri May 1, 2009 6:08 PM EDT
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