Fact finding committee leaves Gaza, disappointed over Israel's lack of cooperation

Saturday June 06, 2009 01:48 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agecnies

The 17 members of the UN fact-finding committee, probing the latest war on Gaza, left the coastal region on Friday after probing the devastating effects of Israel’s war. Committee head, Richard Goldstone, said that Israel’s lack of cooperation is disappointing but will not decrease the importance of the UN investigation.

Press TV Images of WP use in Gaza

Goldstone stated that his team would also probe Israel’s allegations of “war crimes” carried out by Palestinian fighters.  

His team spent one week in Gaza, collected testimonies, interviewed witnesses and observed the destruction caused by Israel’s shelling.

He refused to reveal information regarding the investigation, and added that the report would be made public by the first week of September.

 Goldstone praised the Palestinians for their “admirable” cooperation with the investigation, and that this cooperation would be referred to in the report.

Ismail Haniyya, Prime Minister of the dissolved Hamas government in Gaza, met on Thursday night with Goldstone, and told him that Israel is not only blocking humanitarian aid, but is also shelling civilian areas, killing women and children.

 Haniyya added that this war “humiliated humanity itself”, and called for “sending Israeli war criminals to international courts to judge them for their crimes”.

Israel refused to cooperate with the investigation and claimed that its own investigation “proved that the Israeli army acted in accordance to international principles, and did not violate the International Law”.

 Goldstone, a Jewish South African Judge, was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli war on Gaza, from December 27 to January 18, left more than 1600 Palestinians dead, 40 percent of whom were civilian women and children. The shelling rendered more than 6000 Palestinians injured and caused the complete and/or partial destruction of thousands of homes and buildings.

The Israeli army used White phosphorus shells over densely populated areas in direct violation to the International Law.

White Phosphorus (P4) is a waxy fat soluble colorless or slightly yellow solid with a garlic smell that is not naturally occurring but is produced in the laboratory.  It is highly reactive with oxygen (ignites spontaneously upon drying and exposure to air) producing compounds like P4O6 (phosphorus pentoxide) and P4O10 which upon contact with water becomes oxophosphoric acids (aslternatively direct reaction with water can lead to phosphoric acid HPO4 through some intermediate compounds).

HRW: Israeli crimes in Gaza, Lebanon shame on humanity

[ 06/06/2009 - 08:31 AM ]

NEW YORK, (PIC)--

Richard Dicker, the director of Human Rights Watch's international justice program, has described the Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip and south Lebanon as a shame on humanity.

The Syrian news agency quoted Dicker as saying on Friday that Israel committed serious war crimes in its latest war on Gaza Strip and other crimes in its aggression on south Lebanon in July 2006 without being brought to account.

He said that the HRW collected evidence that authenticated those crimes.

For his part, Jeremy Corbyn, the British MP, charged that Israel was posing a serious nuclear threat to the Middle East region.

He told Al-Jazeera TV network that Israeli owns nuclear warheads and did not sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Corbyn opined that there could be no Middle East free of nuclear weapons unless Israel was ready to get rid of its nuclear warheads.