September 23, 2008
On November 8, 2006, Israeli artillery shells were fired into a residential area of Beit Hanoun, killing 19 civilians. The injuries and loss of life, and especially the deaths of a number of young children, were tragic. That day, President Bush conveyed deepest condolences on behalf of the United States. The President called on all parties to act with care so as to avoid any harm to innocent civilians. We continue to call on all parties to respect fully their obligations under international law. We have seen the Israeli government’s apology and understand that Israel conducted an investigation.
In a special session of the Human Rights Council, the Council decided to dispatch a high-level fact-finding mission, to be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council, to travel to Beit Hanoun to, inter alia: (a) assess the situation of victims; (b) address the needs of survivors; and (c) make recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinian civilians against any further Israeli assaults.
The team, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and including only one other member (Professor Christine Chinkin of the United Kingdom), traveled to the region on May 27-29, 2008. The Mission’s report, released this week in Geneva, notes that Israel has not used artillery in Gaza since November 8, 2006.
As concerns the legal analysis contained in the report, we consider a number of the central conclusions and pronouncements on international law to be incorrect. We also disagree with the mission’s indication “that the international community is failing to fulfill its role in respect to the suffering of the people of Gaza, in particular its silence which begets complicity.” In contrast, the United States remains committed to achieving a real and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis. We seek to realize the vision of two states: Israel and Palestine, living side by side, in peace and security. However, it remains our position that the Human Rights Council’s excessive focus on Israel does not advance the cause of peace.
Unfortunately, the current session of the Human Rights Council includes another unbalanced resolution on Israel. With the addition of this resolution, the Human Rights Council will have passed over twenty resolutions on one country – Israel – while completely ignoring the suffering in places such as Iran. This only further obstructs the dialogue that needs to take place for peace to be attained in the Middle East and allows serious human rights abusers to act with impunity.
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