The latest ruling is consistent with the one-sided approach taken by the U.N. over the years vis-à-vis the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
From wiki.answers.com: About 20% of German territory was taken over by other nations, mostly Poland [after WWII]. Millions of German civilians living in these areas (some with roots back over a thousand years) were forcibly ejected. About two million were murdered by Polish and Soviet groups before they could escape to the new smaller Germany. Germans living in Bohemia and France were also ejected - their homes and lands confiscated.
Poland, Bohemia and France were not charged with War Crimes for what they did to the Germans after WWII? Then why is Israel, which did not murder millions of Palestinians, being accused of War Crimes for taking over lands it conquered after its 1967 six-day war with Egypt, Jordan and Syria, neighboring countries that were bent on eradicating the tiny Jewish state?
I don’t understand why Israel doesn’t just withdraw from the United Nations. Why would they want to remain in an organization that continually sides with its enemies? Israel is already pretty much isolated within the international community, so withdrawing from the U.N. wouldn’t make much difference.
Its enemies know full well that the settlements constitute a vital part of Israel’s defensible borders that enhances the Jewish state’s chances of survival in the event of a future attack. The U.S. and the Europeans either don’t understand that or, more likely, don’ want to understand that.
U.N. RIGHTS INQUIRY SAYS ISRAEL MUST REMOVE ALL 500,000 SETTLERS
By Stephanie Nebehay
Reuters
January 31, 2013
GENEVA -- U.N. human rights investigators called on Israel on Thursday to halt settlement expansion and withdraw all half a million Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank, saying that its practices could be subject to prosecution as possible war crimes.
A three-member U.N. panel said private companies should stop working in the settlements if their work adversely affected the human rights of Palestinians, and urged member states to ensure companies respected human rights.
"Israel must cease settlement activities without preconditions and provide adequate, prompt and effective remedy to the victims of violations of human rights," Christine Chanet, a French judge who led the U.N. inquiry, told a news conference. The judges also said that Israel must start withdrawing all settlers from the occupied territories.
The settlements contravened the Fourth Geneva Convention forbidding the transfer of civilian populations into occupied territory and could amount to war crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the United Nations report said.
"To transfer its own population into an occupied territory is prohibited because it is an obstacle to the exercise of the right to self-determination," Chanet said.
All U.N. member states must comply with their duty under international law on the settlements, she said. "We have highlighted states' responsibility because the facts we denounce are known. The problem is nobody is doing anything about it."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reacted to the inquiry's findings by repeating his position that "all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under international law," according to a statement.
In December, the Palestinians accused Israel in a letter to the United Nations of planning to commit what they said were additional war crimes by expanding Jewish settlements after the Palestinians won de facto U.N. recognition of statehood, and said Israel must be held accountable.
Israel has not cooperated with the probe set up by the Human Rights Council last March to examine the impact of settlements in the territory, including East Jerusalem. Israel says the forum has an inherent bias against it and defends its settlement policy by citing historical and biblical links to the West Bank.
Israel's foreign ministry swiftly rejected the report as "counterproductive and unfortunate" and said it provided a reminder of the Human Rights Council’s “systematically one-sided and biased approach toward Israel.” Palestinians welcomed the report, saying it vindicated their struggle against Israel.
"The only way to resolve all pending issues between Israel and the Palestinians, including the settlements issue, is through direct negotiations without pre-conditions. Counterproductive measures - such as the report before us, will only hamper efforts to find a sustainable solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict," Israel's Yigal Palmor said.
But Hanan Ashrawi, a senior PLO official, told Reuters in Ramallah: "This is incredible. We are extremely heartened by this principled and candid assessment of Israeli violations."
1 comment:
Once upon a time the UN did some wonderful work, especially in the public health field in third-world countries. Unfortunately it has become a Hate-The-US and Hate-Israel cheerleading group, funded largely by the US. I think we should invite the UN to leave. The French wanted it, let it move to Paris and they can put up with the bullshit. They can turn the UN building into low-rent housing. If the French are smart enough to not want it, I am sure somebody else will take it. I hear Khartoum is a lovely place.
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