Gaza Flotilla Raid: 'Violated Human Rights'
Gaza Flotilla Raid: 'Violated Human Rights'I found a newspaper article titled -Gaza Flotilla Raid: 'Violated Human Rights' published on The New York Times, by Lynn, J. dated September 21, 2010. The article reports a present scenario in Israel and Palestine where human rights get rambled in the name of politics and religion. The article says,
"More than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in the conflict after Israel launcehd a military operation in Gaza in what it said was an attempt to halt Hamas rocket fire on its town near Gaza" (Lynn, 2010).
The U.N. Human Rights Watch (HRW) and many other international bodies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) consider Israel to be the occupying power of the Gaza Strip as Israel controls Gaza's airspace, territorial waters and does not allow the movement of people or goods in or out of Gaza by air or sea. Hamas is attacking in large part as a result of long-lasting, long-bred, resentments fostered in large part by Israel's siege of Gaza. Hamas has displayed self-defeating intransigence over reaching a political solution—either with Israel or with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
The conflict between Israel and Palestine is yet to be resolved. Gaza is suffering from a humanitarian crisis on the day of the raid. Gaza is the center where human rights are continuously violated. The failure of past peace efforts has left both sides with rigid demands and public ambivalence about the value of a negotiated settlement. The US President Barak Obama, in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, urged fellow world leaders to press forward with renewed determination in the quest for Mideast peace, an effort that he acknowledged has encountered "few peaks and many valleys." Without an agreement, he said, "more blood will be shed" and "this Holy Land will remain a symbol of our differences, instead of our common humanity" (The New York Times, 2010, September 22).
The Human Rights Council blamed Israel prior to the investigation saying that a series of violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, were committed by the Israeli forces during the interception of the flotilla and during the detention of passengers in Israel prior to deportation. The war crimes, human rights violation and possibly crimes against humanity have remained incomplete or fall significantly short of meeting international standards. For instance, it was reported in The New York Times,
"The Palestinian militant Hamas group has convicted a Gaza man on charges of spying for Israel and sentenced him to death. In May, Hamas executed three Gazans, convicted as collaborators. Eleven others have also been sentenced to death. Gazans support crackdowns on accused collaborators but Hamas' latest campaign has also sparked panic because many prominent Gaza residents are believed to have been arrested" (The New York Times, 2010, September 22).
Similarly, Israel is not aloof to committing the human rights violation. The U.N. Human Rights Council said Israel's military used unnecessary violence. There was clear evidence to back prosecutions against Israel for killing and torture when its troops stormed a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May. But, Israel always stands against it. Israel is of the opinion that the flotilla incident is amply and sufficiently investigated as it is. All additional dealings with this issue is superfluous and unproductive. As stated in the article,
"Israel has insisted that it acted in line with international law, arguing that it had the right to retaliate against ships attempting to breach its blockade of the impoverished Gaza Strip. As expected of a democratic country, Israel has been and still is investigating the events of the Gaza flotilla. The report is as biased and as one sided as the body that has produced it" (Cassicy, 2010).
Israel rejected the report of the U.N. Human Rights Council as "biased" and "one-sided." Through the perspective of human rights violation, the conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It is apparent that no effort was made to minimize injuries at certain states of the operation and that the use of live fire was done in an extensive and arbitrary manner. The circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution. Christine Chanet, a former French judge and international human rights expert, is of the opinion that,
"Israel must end extra-judicial executions of terrorist suspects, make torture illegal, end construction of settlements in the occupied territories, stop building a wall cutting off some of the territories from other regions, and stop destroying homes as a collective punishment" (Casssicy, 2010).
Thus, Israel must lift its military blockade of the Gaza Strip and invite an independent, fact-finding mission to investigate its raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Israel should ensure that Palestinians in the occupied territories can enjoy the fundamental civil and political freedoms that Israel had pledged to uphold in the main international human rights treaty. Both of the countries must vow to enhance and safeguard for the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to the people as stated in the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights.
References
Cassidy, K. (2010, September 22). Gaza Flotilla Raid 'Violated Human Rights' Sky News Online. Retrived from from http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Gaza-Flotilla-Raid-Violated-Human-Rights-Law-Says-UN-Probe/Article/201009415741253?f=rss
http://WWW.nytimes.com
Lynn, J. (2010, September 21). Investigations of Gaza conflict inadequate: U.N. experts. Reuders. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68K31220100921
Words by Karun
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Written on 2011-01-21 at 03:12
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