Look for Israel to seal the area off to aid groups and the media before any investigation can begin.
UN panel censures Israel for Gaza attack
By Eliane Engeler, Associated Press | November 16, 2006
GENEVA -- The UN Human Rights Council yesterday condemned Israel -- the only country the body has censured during its six-month existence -- for an artillery barrage that killed 19 civilians in a northern Gaza town.
The UN's top human rights monitor also voted to send a fact-finding mission to Beit Hanoun, the target of recent Israeli military operations to end Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.
It was the third time the UN's most powerful rights body censured Israel since its creation earlier this year to replace the highly politicized and much-maligned UN Human Rights Commission.
The council voted 32-8, with six abstentions, to approve the resolution sponsored by the body's powerful Muslim bloc. Most European Union members voted against the resolution because they considered it too one-sided, but France abstained.
Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Levanon said the special session was another example of the council's lack of objectivity. "Those who pushed for this special session are conspicuously ignoring tragedies in other parts of the planet," he said.
China, Russia, and Cuba joined members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in supporting the resolution.
Finland, speaking on behalf of the EU, called on both the Israelis and Palestinians to end violence and said the council should address "all human rights violations wherever they occur."
Pakistan's Ambassador Masood Khan rejected criticism that the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, which has 17 members in the council, was unbalanced in singling out Israel.
The Beit Hanoun shelling, which Israel said was unintended, came after Israeli troops wound up a weeklong incursion meant to curb Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel from the town.
www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/11/16/un_panel_censures_i/
The Palestinians, who had observed a unilateral, two-year cease-fire, began firing the rockets in response to Israeli military operations over the past several months, which claimed the lives of over 300 Palestinians.
Take back Gaza, Israeli official says
By Karin Laub, Associated Press Writer | November 18, 2006
RAMALLAH, West Bank --Israel should ignore moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, wipe out the Hamas leadership and walk away from the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, Israel's new deputy prime minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said Saturday.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert forged an alliance with Lieberman, one of Israel's most divisive politicians, last month to shore up his shaky coalition. The appointment of Lieberman as minister of strategic affairs raised concern that Olmert's government, weakened by the summer's war in Lebanon, would freeze all peace efforts.
www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/18/take_back_gaza_/
In the past week alone, the Olmert Regime has rejected Hamas' third offer of a 'Hudna', a period of peace which is taken more seriously than a simple cease-fire, but which also demands that the two sides work towards lasting peace. Zionists don't want peace.
Just yesterday, Olmert dismissed out of hand a peace plan designed by Italy, Spain, France, and Germany.
By Eliane Engeler, Associated Press | November 16, 2006
GENEVA -- The UN Human Rights Council yesterday condemned Israel -- the only country the body has censured during its six-month existence -- for an artillery barrage that killed 19 civilians in a northern Gaza town.
The UN's top human rights monitor also voted to send a fact-finding mission to Beit Hanoun, the target of recent Israeli military operations to end Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.
It was the third time the UN's most powerful rights body censured Israel since its creation earlier this year to replace the highly politicized and much-maligned UN Human Rights Commission.
The council voted 32-8, with six abstentions, to approve the resolution sponsored by the body's powerful Muslim bloc. Most European Union members voted against the resolution because they considered it too one-sided, but France abstained.
Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Levanon said the special session was another example of the council's lack of objectivity. "Those who pushed for this special session are conspicuously ignoring tragedies in other parts of the planet," he said.
China, Russia, and Cuba joined members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in supporting the resolution.
Finland, speaking on behalf of the EU, called on both the Israelis and Palestinians to end violence and said the council should address "all human rights violations wherever they occur."
Pakistan's Ambassador Masood Khan rejected criticism that the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, which has 17 members in the council, was unbalanced in singling out Israel.
The Beit Hanoun shelling, which Israel said was unintended, came after Israeli troops wound up a weeklong incursion meant to curb Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel from the town.
www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/11/16/un_panel_censures_i/
The Palestinians, who had observed a unilateral, two-year cease-fire, began firing the rockets in response to Israeli military operations over the past several months, which claimed the lives of over 300 Palestinians.
Take back Gaza, Israeli official says
By Karin Laub, Associated Press Writer | November 18, 2006
RAMALLAH, West Bank --Israel should ignore moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, wipe out the Hamas leadership and walk away from the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, Israel's new deputy prime minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said Saturday.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert forged an alliance with Lieberman, one of Israel's most divisive politicians, last month to shore up his shaky coalition. The appointment of Lieberman as minister of strategic affairs raised concern that Olmert's government, weakened by the summer's war in Lebanon, would freeze all peace efforts.
www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/18/take_back_gaza_/
In the past week alone, the Olmert Regime has rejected Hamas' third offer of a 'Hudna', a period of peace which is taken more seriously than a simple cease-fire, but which also demands that the two sides work towards lasting peace. Zionists don't want peace.
Just yesterday, Olmert dismissed out of hand a peace plan designed by Italy, Spain, France, and Germany.
