|
By Thameen Kheetan
AMMAN - The 57-member Human Rights Council will on Monday look into a report by a UN fact-finding mission that blamed Israel for “grave violations” to human rights and international laws for its attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May in which nine activists were killed.
“The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence,” said the mission’s report, which was published last week.
International human rights activists and Freedom Flotilla members described the report’s findings as a “chance” to hold Tel Aviv accountable for the incident
On May 31, 2010, Israeli forces boarded the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was carrying international activists and humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip, forcing it to head to the Israeli port of Ashdod instead of the coastal enclave.
The UN mission’s report noted that Israel’s attack on the flotilla involved crimes that breach the Fourth Geneva Convention, including “willful killing”, “torture or inhuman treatment” and “willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health”.
Tel Aviv has attributed the attack to the fact that Gaza is under sea blockade and any aid has to go through Israeli authorities before reaching the Palestinian strip.
But the fact-finding mission says the blockade is illegal.
Despite reiterating Israel’s right to peace and security and condemning Hamas' firing of rockets on Israel, the report insists that “action in response which constitutes collective punishment of the civilian population in Gaza is not lawful.”
The report tackles chronologically the developments since the flotilla was being organised and the Israeli response to that, the interception of the flotilla on May 31, the detention of activists on board and their deportation from Israel, the confiscation and return of the passengers’ property, and the consequences for Israeli citizens taking part in the initiative.
The mission, headed by judge K. Hudson-Phillips, slammed Israeli authorities for not cooperating with the investigators during the period of the inquiry.
Israel has accused the activists of using violence and arms against its soldiers, which caused them to open fire.
The passengers of the Mavi Marmara were “committed to the spirit of humanitarianism and imbued with a deep and genuine concern for the welfare of the inhabitants of Gaza”.
British lawyer Daniel Machover, who is advising 29 of the 33 British passengers who were on board the flotilla, urged his country’s government to support holding the Israelis accountable.
“The government must refer the war crimes cases to the International Criminal Court without delay and must demand in clear terms that the Israeli authorities return every single item of property unlawfully seized from the British passengers,” he said in a statement by the Palestine Legal Aid Fund and the Free Gaza Movement, a copy of which was sent to The Jordan Times.
Mary Nazzal-Batayneh, Chairperson of the Human Rights Legal Aid Fund, described the findings of the UN mission as a “huge first step”.
“We all still have a lot of work to do to make sure that these cases are pursued in court,” the statement quoted Nazzal-Batayneh as saying.
