De Israelische Oorlogsmisdaden 21

'In its heavy hangover period after the bloodbath in Gaza, Israel has awaken to massive, unprecedented accusations by some of the most prominent jurists around the world of committing war crimes of the worst types, amounting to crimes against humanity. After every Israeli massacre we've heard the same talk, a cynic must be itching to respond. True, but never at any level close to this. Associating Israel with the term "war crime" has really become mainstream, for the first time.

Even the incredibly dominant Zionist influence in mainstream western media outlets (BBC, FOX, NYT, CNN, Le Monde, most major European papers, you name it!) has failed to stop the spread of this fatal association with war crimes. Like its white phosphorous bombs that burnt Gaza children more than anything else, ironically, Israel's every desperate attempt to extinguish the flames of this accusation with propaganda and spin has only caused them to flare up even further.

In his perceptive style, UN Rapporteur Richard Falk here focuses on a particularly significant -- morally and legally -- aspect of Israel's crime in Gaza that not many have emphasized: the fact that Palestinians in the besieged and heavily bombarded Gaza Strip had absolutely no where to escape to, unlike in the great majority of wars. Even UN schools used as shelters were intentionally targeted in a long-honored Israeli policy of terrorizing the entire civilian population into submission or revolt against the resistance.

This exceptionally barbaric, Nazi-like policy has failed in Lebanon and in Gaza. Still, given the dizzying rise in Israel's impunity during the Bush -- especially post 9/11 -- era, no criticism or condemnation has managed to deter Israel from committing more crimes. Nothing, it seems, can stop it from realizing its genocidal potential in the near future. Conscientious Jewish intellectuals have raised the solgan: Israel must lose! I jsut add to that, only intense, persistent pressure, particularly in the shape of BDS, has any chance whatsoever in ending Israel's impunity and making its policy lose. The massive grassroots movement around the world is marching in the right direction, finally.

Omar Barghouti

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058196.html

Haaretz 23/01/2009
UN human rights official: Gaza evokes memories of Warsaw Ghetto
By Haaretz Service and Reuters
There is evidence that Israel committed war crimes during its 22-day campaign in the Gaza Strip and there should be an independent inquiry, UN investigator Richard Falk said Thursday.The mental anguish of the civilians who suffered the assault is so great that the entire population of Gaza could be seen as casualties, said Falk, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.Falk, speaking by phone from his home in California, said compelling evidence that Israel's actions in Gaza violated international humanitarian law required an independent investigation into whether they amounted to war crimes."I believe that there is the prima facie case for reaching that conclusion," he told a Geneva news conference.Falk said Israel had made no effort to allow civilians to escape the fighting."To lock people into a war zone is something that evokes the worst kind of international memories of the Warsaw Ghetto, and sieges that occur unintentionally during a period of wartime," Falk, who is Jewish, said, referring to the starvation and murder of Warsaw's Jews by Nazi Germany in World War Two."There could have been temporary provision at least made for children, disabled, sick civilians to leave, even if where they left to was southern Israel," the U.S. professor said.Falk said the entire Gaza population, which had been trapped in a war zone with no possibility to leave as refugees, may have been mentally scarred for life. If so, the definition of casualty could be extended to the entire civilian population.Falk, who was denied entry to Israel two weeks before the assault started on Dec. 27, dismissed Israel's argument that the assault was for self-defense in the light of rocket attacks aimed at Israel from the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip."In my view the UN charter, and international law, does not give Israel the legal foundation for claiming self-defence," he said.Israel had not restricted fighting to areas where the rockets came from and had refused to negotiate with Hamas, preventing a diplomatic solution, Falk said.A Foreign Ministry official rejected Falk's accusations. "There's no need to lose one's temper. Falk is a well-known Israel hater," he told Army Radio.'