Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Israel Refuses to Cooperate in Nuremburg/Gaza War Crimes Investigation

How do you win in a game where the cards have been stacked against you?

"Officially" a stateless people with almost no voice or representation, Palestinians must rely on uncertain legal ground to prove Israel Defense/Occupation Forces and the civilian leadership of Israel, conspired to commit war crimes against the entire Gaza Strip killing almost 400 children and another 500 civilian women and men, plus close to 5000 wounded and the total destruction of large swaths of the country. Including hospitals, schools, libraries, police stations, UN buildings, farms and water, sewer and electric utilities.

The UN takes a stand.
The Palestinian Authority has accepted the authority of the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes by both Hamas and Israel.
This is a necessary step, but one on shaky legal ground as Palestine is not "officially" a state, and the UN charter says a "state" must request/agree to an investigation.

Israel denies everything.
Not surprisingly, Israel has denied any crimes, yet has buttoned up their shop so tight only official spokesmen are allowed by law, to talk to the press or anyone else. They have also said Israel will pay for the legal defense of any accused Israeli soldiers or government officials.
To further hamper both the investigation and a popular uprising against Israeli war crimes among their own populace, they have banned the publishing or circulation of names and photos of suspected Israeli war criminals. See the wanted poster here:
http://www.wanted.org.il/ehud_barak_en.htm

New legal precedent?
Since most nations are very shy about publicly criticizing Israel for fear of being the object of the formidable Israeli Lobby PR Army, they might prefer to quietly support the UN in their efforts at correcting Israel's increasingly rouge state behavior.

Israel's next legal move.
Since Palestine is not an "official state, Israel will no doubt challenge the UN's right to investigate on Palestines behalf.
Additionally, Israel may start their own investigation in an effort to shut down the UN investigation...as the UN charter says a state may do their own and that would preclude the UN action.

Likely outcome.
I don't have a crystal ball and have read of no one else who has one, but based on past performance, I think we can expect a long investigation, a long legal battle and a finding of blame and excuses on both sides. But, with Israel again winning the PR war in the heavily Israeli influenced world press. With almost every nation on the UN Security Council having acted as Israel is now acting...ignoring international law...it is doubtful the axe will come down too hard on Israel, especially since Israel seems to have been the birth place for so many of these tactics...or was it in Germany in WWII?
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=84605&sectionid=351020202
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29009543

- Terry Allen -

2 comments:

  1. The Wanted posted for Ehud Barak is no longer there. As a matter of fact, the whole wanted.com.il site is gone.

    www.bushama.com/blog

    ReplyDelete