By IRNA,
London : Israel’s latest response to the UN on its investigations into alleged violations of international law by its troops in Gaza a year ago is totally inadequate, says Amnesty International.
Crucial questions about the conduct of attacks in which hundreds of civilians were killed and thousands were made homeless are not credibly addressed in Israel’s update to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the London-based human rights organisation said.
“The investigations undertaken by Israel fail to meet international standards of independence, impartiality, transparency, promptness and effectiveness,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
“The Israeli military is investigating itself and in no way can this be adequate in obtaining the truth and ensuring justice for the victims,” Smart said.
The 46-page update published on January 29 claimed that Israel has opened investigations into 150 incidents involving alleged violations of the laws of war by its forces during Operation “Cast Lead”, in which over 1,400 Palestinians were slaughtered.
The limited details released indicate that the Israeli authorities are failing to credibly address grave concerns about the army’s use of white phosphorus in densely-populated areas, Amnesty said.
Attacks on UN facilities and other civilian buildings and infrastructure, as well as direct attacks on Palestinian civilians, including ambulance crews have also not been adequately investigated by Israel, it furthered said.
“There were numerous credible allegations during Operation ‘Cast Lead’ that violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli forces caused the deaths of hundreds of civilians, led others to be used as “human shields” and destroyed or damaged thousands of homes and other civilian infrastructure,” Smart said.
“Yet more than one year on, according to the update, only one soldier has been convicted of an offence as a result of the Israeli investigations, and that was the theft of a credit card.”
All the Israeli investigations have been carried out by army commanders or by the military police criminal investigators and overseen by the Military Advocate General, severely compromising their independence and impartiality.
The response comes ahead of this month’s deadline set by the UN General Assembly for Israel to carry out its own investigations in alleged war crimes when endorsing the recommendations of the Goldstone Report.
These investigations, the General Assembly, said, should be “independent, credible and in conformity with international standards into the serious violations of international humanitarian and international human rights law.”