Il giorno prima del discorso di Silvio Berlusconi alla Knesset, Amnesty International aveva emesso un comunicato sull’Operazione Piombo Fuso, condotta da Israele contro Gaza. Eccone una parte:
“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.” The 46-page update published on 29 January says that Israel has opened investigations into 150 incidents involving alleged violations of the laws of war by its forces during Operation “Cast Lead”, its 22-day military offensive in Gaza which ended on 18 January 2009.
Around 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the conflict that took place in Gaza and southern Israel.
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. 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. Such incidents were reported by the UN, Amnesty International and other human rights and media organizations at the time of the conflict.
“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,” said Malcolm Smart. “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.”
Su di una linea simile, B’Tselem, associazione israeliana per i diritti umani:
B’Tselem has sent an urgent letter to the judge advocate general, Maj. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit, demanding that he immediately order a Military Police investigation into the circumstances of the firing of phosphorus shells at the UNWRA compound in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. This morning, the media reported that the commander of the Gaza division, Brig. Gen. Eyal Eizenberg, and the commander of the Givati brigade, Col. Ilan Malka, were disciplined for authorized the shelling. The report that Israel submitted to the UN last weekend omitted details of the incident, stating only that the two officers had been brought before disciplinary hearings for exceeding their authority in a way that endangered lives, by permitting shelling of populated areas, contrary to the army’s regulations.
A comprehensive investigation of the incident conducted by Human Rights Watch indicates that on the morning of 15 January 2009, the army began firing artillery shells at an UNWRA facility in which the headquarters of the entire organization’s activities in the Middle East were located. At that time, 700 civilians who had fled from their homes had found shelter in the facility, which also housed storehouses containing food and medical supplies. Some of the shells contained white phosphorus and these started fires, which could very easily have spread to the facility’s diesel fuel reserve and two full fuel tankers. This danger placed the large numbers of civilians sheltering there at grave risk. During the shelling, UNRWA workers, among them UNRWA Gaza director John Ging, placed dozens of calls with senior army officials, warning them of the immense danger to civilians and demanding that the firing cease.
Pochi giorni fa, Israele ha versato nelle casse dell’Onu dieci milioni e mezzo di dollari. E’ il risarcimento per le distruzioni causate dai bombardamenti israeliani su Gaza.