NEW YORK, November 5, 2009 (WAFA)- Permanent Observer of Palestine to the UN, Dr. Riyad Mansour called upon the international community, on behalf of all the Palestinian victims who have suffered from the Israeli crimes, to take a clear stand for upholding justice and international law.
Mansour expressed before the UN General Assembly, hope that Member States will strongly support the draft resolution built on Report of the Human Rights Council, Follow-up of the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (Goldstone Report).
“The occupying Power must know that the international community will no longer tolerate its illegal actions, violations and crimes because the commitment to the principles of international law must be above any other considerations that may make a mockery of our international system,” he said. “Such firm intolerance and a principled commitment to the law are what will help us to break this cycle of impunity and bring an end to the crimes that have caused so much suffering and prolonged this tragic conflict.”
He expressed the gratitude of Palestine to the General Assembly for its support in this effort, confident that it will continue to take principled positions on this serious matter and especially at this very critical time in history that, if we prevail, can be the turning point that ultimately allows our efforts for justice and peace to converge, truly taking us over the threshold into a new era for our peoples and the region.
“If we fail this test when it comes to the human rights of the Palestinian people,” Mansour said “then the international human rights movement that has thus far championed human rights throughout the world, which it can also claim as the greatest achievement of the international community in the past sixty years, will truly be at risk. Moreover, history has taught us that a perpetual lack of accountability and justice only leads to further conflict and violence and the dashing of hopes for the achievement of peace and coexistence.”
“The situation in the Gaza Strip is untenable, unacceptable and wholly deplorable,” he added. “For more than two years, Israel, the occupying Power, has collectively punished, imprisoned and deprived more than 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip from all of their basic rights. Despite repeated international appeals to end such unlawful measures, the Israeli blockade continues to be imposed as the occupying Power has no fear of being held accountable for its crimes. Not sufficing with this brutal blockade, Israel launched a brutal war in December 2008, against the besieged and defenseless civilian population. Over the course of three weeks, the Israeli occupying forces caused thousands of deaths and injuries among the civilian population, including among children and women, and wanton destruction of homes, vital civilian infrastructure, public institutions, economic, industrial and agricultural properties and UN facilities.”
“Since the issuance of the report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict – the Goldstone Report, it has received wide support, but it has also been subjected to criticism by a minority and attacks have even been hurled against the Mission’s members,” Mansour said. “Here, we must repeat what was said by Judge Goldstone in this regard: that the answer to these questions exists in the findings of the report, the preparation of which was exclusively guided by international law, including international human rights law and international humanitarian law and the obligations incumbent on States therein. Here we add: if such criticism and attacks are aimed at evading responsibility for the serious violations and grave breaches committed by the occupying Power as a result of its aggression on the Gaza Strip, we assure them that their efforts will fail because we are determined to follow up this report and its recommendations in all relevant international forums, including the Security Council and the International Criminal Court, until the realization of justice with the accountability of the perpetrators of these crimes and violations.”
“The investigation carried out by the Mission led to findings that clearly confirm that Israel, the occupying Power, committed serious human rights violations and grave breaches of international humanitarian law, including the 4th Geneva Convention - amounting to war crimes and even crimes against humanity - against the Palestinian people” he indicated. “This includes the willful killing of civilians, torture and inhuman treatment, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, all of which give rise to Israeli criminal responsibility.”
“Moreover, some of the most important aspects of the report confirm that Israel’s aggressive intentions have no relation to what it publicly declares and especially its constant declaration of the issue of “right of self-defense” mentioned in Article (51) of the UN Charter” he said. “Of the 36 specific incidents in the Gaza Strip investigated by the Mission, with only one exception, the facts prove that there were no military targets that could justify such attacks by the Israeli occupying forces.”
“The investigation concluded that Israel failed to take the precautions required by international law to avoid or minimize loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian property, flagrantly violating the principle of distinction. Moreover, it concluded that that Israeli military campaign was planned in all of its phases as a deliberately disproportionate and systematic attack aimed at punishing, humiliating and terrorizing the Palestinian civilian population, radically diminishing its domestic economic capacity to sustain itself and forcing upon it a heightened sense of dependency and vulnerability. That shocking finding is confirmed thousands of times over by the depth of the trauma and anguish suffered by the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip – children, women, men, elderly and disabled – to this day. In this regard, it is highly deplorable that this same civilian population continues to live in misery and hardship in the ruins of their homes and communities because of Israel’s continuing blockade and its obstruction of any reconstruction and real recovery efforts, which has only deepened their humanitarian hardship and further intensified the prevailing feelings of injustice among the population and beyond” Dr. Mansour said.
He expressed awareness that the Mission investigated all allegations of violations of international law in the course of the Gaza conflict, including the allegations against the Palestinian side. “While we reject any equation of the occupying Power’s aggression and crimes with actions committed in response by the Palestinian side, we wish to clearly reaffirm that there is absolutely no symmetry or proportionality between the occupier and the occupied. We take very seriously the allegations contained in the Goldstone report regarding possible Palestinian violations. Furthermore, in affirmation of our utmost respect for and conviction in the rule of law, we reiterate the commitment, as publicly stated, to the pursuit of domestic legal investigations to address that crucial matter.”
He said: Yet what the Goldstone report essentially constitutes is another damning record of the Israeli crimes committed against our people under occupation. Its recommendations represent a significant contribution to the pursuit of accountability and justice. In this regard, while significant deterrent power is presented by this report, along with other relevant investigations that preceded it - including, inter alia, the report of the Secretary-General’s Board of Inquiry and investigations by the League of Arab States Independent Fact-Finding Committee on Gaza - it is clear that serious and responsible follow-up at all levels is imperative. This is very important to prevent the recurrence of such Israeli crimes against our people. As stated by Justice Goldstone before the Human Rights Council, “a culture of impunity in the region has lasted for too long…The mission is convinced that the international community must confront the realities highlighted in this report and that by doing so find a meaningful basis for the pursuit of peace and security for all the people of the region. Only in that way will the human dignity and security of these people be realized.”
