Barbara Oomen en de Mensenrechten

Barbara Oomen is hoogleraar Sociologie van de Mensenrechten aan de Universiteit Utrecht. Per 1 april 2012 is mevrouw Oomen dean van het University College Roosevelt Academy. Haar onderzoek gaat over de wijze waarop mensenrechten werkelijkheid worden, onder andere in mensenrechtensteden. Daarnaast is zij Projectleider van Going Glocal. Eerder was mevrouw Oomen voorzitter van het Platform Mensenrechteneducatie, lid van de Staatscommissie Grondwet en lid van de Commissie Mensenrechten van de Adviesraad Internationale Vraagstukken.

Gisteren stelde ik de vraag: 

Wat let mevrouw Oomen om zich nu publiekelijk uit te spreken in het geval van de Israelische scherpschutters die met zichtbaar plezier een oorlogsmisdaad plegen? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUibXSgILv0

Die vraag is actueel, zeker gezien het feit dat professor Oomen zelf constateert dat:

NEDERLAND HEEFT WEINIG AANDACHT VOOR MENSENRECHTEN’

9 DECEMBER 2011

Nederland heeft altijd de mond vol van mensenrechten, maar de hand in eigen boezem steken is niet gebruikelijk. Als er kritiek komt op Nederland zelf, dan willen we dat niet weten. Dat constateert Barbara Oomen in haar oratie die ze vorige week vrijdag in de Middelburgse burgerzaal uitsprak.

http://www.visionair.nl/politiek-en-maatschappij/nederland-heeft-weinig-aandacht-voor-mensenrechten/

Vanochtend vroeg kreeg ik het volgende antwoord van Barbara Oomen:

Beste Stan van Houcke,

Dank voor deze oproep. De redenen om mij niet publiekelijk (wel in mijn omgeving) uit te spreken tegen de oorlogsmisdaden van Israël zijn praktisch van aard. Ik volg de misdaden, met afschuw en ontzetting, als krantenlezer, en niet als expert (for what it’s worth). Er zijn – zo denk ik – veel mensen die veel meer weten van, en beter geëigend zijn om de publieke opinie op dit gebied te voeden dan ik. U denkt daar kennelijk anders over, en dat zet mij wel aan het denken.

Vriendelijke groeten

Barbara

Mijn reactie hierop is deze: 

Beste professor Oomen,

Dank u voor de snelle reactie. Wat mij opvalt is dat uw 'verklaring' geen antwoord is op mijn vraag. Welke expertise dient een leek, laat staan een hoogleraar Sociologie van de Mensenrechten, te hebben om te beseffen dat bijvoorbeeld het vermoorden van meer dan 500 Palestijnse kinderen een ernstige schending is van de mensenrechten, en dat het hier een oorlogsmisdaden betreft omdat 

1.  Revealed: the Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces

MORE CHILDREN THAN PALESTINIAN FIGHTERS ARE BEING KILLED IN ISRAEL'S OFFENSIVE ON GAZA, ACCORDING TO THE UN. SHOWN HERE ARE THE NAME, AGE, AND SEX OF 132 OF THOSE CHILDREN, RECORDED BY THE AL MEZAN CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/10984259/Revealed-the-Palestinian-children-killed-by-Israeli-forces.html

2. Daarnaast is algemeen bekend dat de Israelische commandant Gadi Eisenkot, GOC Northern Command,  al in 2008 heeft verklaard dat het zionistisch regime bewust oorlogsmisdaden pleegt. Hij zei het volgende:

'What happened in the Beirut suburb of Dahiya in 2006 will happen in every village from which shots are fired in the direction of Israel,' Eisenkot said to journalists from Yedioth Ahronoth. 'We will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on Israel, and cause immense damage and destruction. From our perspective, these are military bases. This isn't a suggestion. This is a plan that has already been authorized.'

Hence, in two short sentences, one of the Israel Defense Force's senior commanders stated, with the world as his witness, hisintention to violate the two central tenets of the international laws of war: the principle of distinction, which states that every time military force is used, it is imperative to differentiate enemy combatants from enemy civilians, and that attacks may be directed only at the former; and the proportionality principle, which states that even in attacks against enemy combatants, disproportional use of power is prohibited. 

It is important to understand this: The international legal definition of an illegal military attack is one directed at civilians, or one that involves a disproportional use of force. It was as if Eisenkot, then, was standing on a hilltop, declaring his intention to commit war crimes, yelling to passersby, 'My intentions are biggest of all!'

Upholding international law is not a privilege or a choice. It does not bend and shift depending on the complexities of regional geopolitics. Israel, as an active and essential member of the global community, relying on support and friendship from nations worldwide, has a responsibility and obligation to uphold the highest international standards of conduct...

In case you're still thinking that we misunderstood the commander, that he meant something different, he then elaborated: 'If there is firing [by Israel] into Shi'ite villages in Lebanon, that is the plan, aggressive shooting ... the possibility of harming the population is the only means for restraining [Hassan] Nasrallah.'

Straight and to the point. Without the usual lip service of 'IDF expresses condolences,' or 'in every war civilians are harmed.' Eisenkot, contender on the new reality show 'War Criminal Idol,' was giving us a rare peek into the true goals behind the pulling of the trigger, goals usually clouded by a fog of operational and legal secrets. And these intentions are simple and clear, like the strategy of a terror organization: 'to harm civilians until we achieve political goals.'

Usually people hide their criminal intentions, because of the binding legal risk and moral embarrassment exposing them could cause. This is why the confessions of the street thief in the documentary were so interesting. This is why many thought that the film was a fraud. In Eisenkot's case, the situation is apparently simpler. He is not afraid and not ashamed. 

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1027755.html

En ook over de laatste langdurige terreur-aanval op de Palestijnse burgerbevolking is bekend:

Operation Protective Edge has not officially ended, but the IDF's Technological and Logistics Directorate (known as Atal in Hebrew) has released a number of figures it collected throughout the month-long conflict.

Some of the numbers published reveal what many in the IDF already knew, and one senior officer echoed on Thursday: 'It was basically a preview of what will happen in the next war with Lebanon, where we will have 80 Shuja'ias (een buurt in Gaza stad svh) and a significant hit on the economy.'

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4558916,00.html

3. U constateert zelf dat er 'oorlogsmisdaden' door Israel zijn gepleegd. Met andere woorden: de reden dat u blijft zwijgen kan geen gebrek aan kennis zijn.

Maar zelfs zonder alle achtergrond informatie moet het voor u als een geschoold burger, levend in een veilige rechtstaat toch duidelijk zijn dat kinderen dienen te worden beschermd door het recht. Er zijn talloze internationale verdragen op dat gebied. Wanneer ruim 80 procent van de recente slachtoffers Palestijnse burgers zijn, dan hoeft men geen hoogleraar te zijn om zich te realiseren dat dit in strijd is met de mensenrechten. Het feit dat u als argument gebruikt: 

Er zijn – zo denk ik – veel mensen die veel meer weten van, en beter geëigend zijn om de publieke opinie op dit gebied te voeden dan ik,

kan niet anders uitgelegd worden dan dat u een excuus gebruikt om u publiekelijk niet te hoeven uitspreken. Mijn vraag is dan ook: wat is het ware argument om als hoogleraar in de Sociologie van de Mensenrechten en als voormalig lid van de Commissie Mensenrechten van de Adviesraad Internationale Vraagstukken zo pijnlijk zwijgzaam te blijven? Die vraag stel ik in feite aan alle Nederlanders die hun status en inkomen verdienen aan het pleiten voor de bescherming van de mensenrechten, en dus ook aan u.

Vriendelijke groet,

Stan van Houcke,

vader en grootvader,

journalist/auteur

Amsterdam.

Mevrouw Oomen, niet alleen als hoogleraar maar ook als moeder van vier kinderen mag van u verwacht worden dat u publiekelijk in actie komt tegen de Israelische terreur. Wat zou uw gevoel zijn wanneer uw kinderen waren vermoord terwijl Europese mensenrechten-deskundigen hun mond hielden?

Mevrouw Oomen, welke mensenrechten moet Israel schenden voordat u zich als 'lid van de Commissie Mensenrechten van de Adviesraad Internationale Vraagstukken' publiekelijk uitspreekt tegen grote schendingen van de mensenrechten en tegen oorlogsmisdaden van de zogeheten 'Joodse staat'? 

'It was basically a preview of what will happen in the next war with Lebanon, where we will have 80 Shuja'ias and a significant hit on the economy.'

Shuja'ia Neighborhood After Been Bombed  Palestijnse woonwijk na recente terreuraanval Israel. http://stopthewall.org/shujaia-neighborhood-after-been-bombed 

Cut off arms to Israel, Amnesty International says, citing 22 civilians killed at protests last year

Phil Weiss with Annie Robbins on February 27, 2014 66

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Bilal Tamimi being attacked by an Israeli soldier during demonstration in Nabi Saleh, May 2013. Photo by Tamimi Press, used in Amnesty Int’l report

Amnesty International has released a stunning report saying that the international community should cut off military aid to Israel because Israel has killed dozens of civilians at peaceful protests in the last three years “widespread impunity”– including 22 civilians last year. The human rights organization concludes

It urges the USA, the European Union and the rest of the international community to suspend all transfers of munitions, weapons and other equipment to Israel.

“Without pressure from the international community the situation is unlikely to change any time soon,” said Philip Luther [Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International].

“Too much civilian blood has been spilled. This long-standing pattern of abuse must be broken. If the Israeli authorities wish to prove to the world they are committed to democratic principles and international human rights standards, unlawful killings and unnecessary use of force must stop now.”

Here’s the PDF for the 87-page report, which is titled, “‘Trigger-happy’ Israeli army and police use reckless force in the West Bank.”

The Institute for Middle East Understanding emphasizes that the report comes out just as AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is having its Washington conference at which it will celebrate US aid to Israel:

Its publication coincides with the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, which runs from March 2 to 4 in Washington, DC, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with President Obama, which is scheduled to take place while Netanyahu is in Washington for the conference.

The report documents “mounting bloodshed” in the occupied territories as a result of the Israeli army’s use of “unnecessary, arbitrary and brutal force against Palestinians” over the past three years. In the press release accompanying the report, which is included below, the director Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, Philip Luther, notes: “The frequency and persistence of arbitrary and abusive force against peaceful protesters in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers and police officers – and the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators – suggests that it is carried out as a matter of policy.”

Amnesty’s summary emphasizes that the victims were protesting occupation:

Israeli forces have repeatedly violated their obligations under international human rights law by using excessive force to stifle dissent and freedom of expression, resulting in a pattern of unlawful killings and injuries to civilians. They do so with virtual impunity due to the authorities’ failure to conduct thorough investigations. This report focuses on the use of excessive force in the West Bank since the beginning of 2011. It includes cases of killings and injuries of Palestinian civilians in the context of protests against Israel’s continuing military occupation of the Palestinian territories, illegal Israeli settlements and the fence/wall.

Here’s more from Amnesty’s coverage of its report,

Israeli forces have displayed a callous disregard for human life by killing dozens of Palestinian civilians, including children, in the occupied West Bank over the past three years with near total impunity, said Amnesty International in a report published today.

The report, Trigger-happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank, describes mounting bloodshed and human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) as a result of the Israeli forces’ use of unnecessary, arbitrary and brutal force against Palestinians since January 2011.

In all cases examined by Amnesty International, Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers did not appear to be posing a direct and immediate threat to life. In some, there is evidence that they were victims of wilful killings, which would amount to war crimes.

“The report presents a body of evidence that shows a harrowing pattern of unlawful killings and unwarranted injuries of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces in the West Bank,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.

“The frequency and persistence of arbitrary and abusive force against peaceful protesters in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers and police officers – and the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators – suggests that it is carried out as a matter of policy.”

Deaths and injuries

Amnesty International has documented the killings of 22 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank last year, at least 14 of which were in the context of protests. Most were young adults under the age of 25. At least four were children.

According to UN figures, more West Bank Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in 2013 than the total number killed in 2011 and 2012 combined. Forty-five were killed in the past three years.

Peaceful protesters, civilian bystanders, human rights activists and journalists are among those who have been killed or injured.

In the last three years at least 261 Palestinians, including 67 children, have been seriously injured by live ammunition fired by Israeli forces in the West Bank.

An astonishing number of Palestinians in the West Bank – more than 8,000, including 1,500 children – have been wounded by other means, including rubber-coated metal bullets and the reckless use of tear gas, since January 2011. http://mondoweiss.net/2014/02/amnesty-civilians-protests.html/comment-page-1