Europa NewsWire.
UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras.
United Nations, November 04 2009 - The General Assembly met today at the request of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Arab Group, to take up a Report of the Human Rights Council focused on continuing violations of human rights by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian territories, and its endorsement of the recommendations set out in the Goldstone Report.
Ambassador Maged Abdelfattah Abdelaziz of Egypt on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement said that “nothing justifies a policy of collective punishment of a people under occupation” adding that “the merciless military aggression” carried out by the Israeli government contributes to a situation “where young people grow up in a culture of hatred and violence, with little hope for change in the future.”
The 576-page report of the output of the mission headed by South African jurist Richard Goldstone details violations of international human rights law committed before, during, or after the military operations conducted in Gaza between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009.
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour voiced frustration that “Israel’s crimes” have been extensively documented by the United Nations, “yet nothing has been done seriously to follow up these reports”
The Goldstone Report urged the Human Rights Council and the international community as a whole to stop impunity for violations of international law in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It also accused both Israel and Hamas militants of war crimes.
Swedish Ambassador Anders Lidén on behalf of the European Union (EU) validated the credibility of the report, saying that the EU “is committed to assessing it seriously” and emphasized “the obligations of all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
The Mission’s recommendations focused on seven areas: accountability for serious violations of international humanitarian law, reparations, serious violations of human rights law, the blockade and reconstruction, the use of weapons and military procedures, the protection of human rights organizations and defenders, and the follow-up to the Mission’s recommendations.
Israel Ambassador Gabriela Shalev dismissed the report saying that it was “conceived in hate and executed in sin” and that the “one-sided mandate” of the Gaza fact-finding mission “was a politicized body with pre-determined conclusions ‘. She accused the Human Rights Council of being “a body whose obsession with Israel has led it to pass more resolutions against Israel than on all other UN member states put together.”
The Goldstone Report issued a series of recommendations to the General Assembly, including creating an escrow fund to pay adequate compensation to Palestinians who have suffered losses and damage as a result of unlawful acts attributable to Israel.
Source: UNTV.
