UMKR Newsletter Winter-Spring 2019: In the News: Israel/Palestine - UN Report on Israeli War Crimes Against Great March Protesters

UMKR Newsletter - Winter-Spring 2019
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IN THE NEWS: ISRAEL/PALESTINE

Crimes Against Humanity? UN Report Calls for Arrests

Israeli forces may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by using lethal military force against unarmed protesters in Gaza, a United Nations independent commission of inquiry has found. “Israeli security forces committed serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. These violations clearly warrant criminal investigation and prosecution,” Santiago Canton, the head of the commission, stated on Thursday. Sara Hossain, one of the four investigators, said “[Israeli forces] have intentionally shot children, they’ve intentionally shot people with disabilities, they’ve intentionally shot journalists, knowing them to be children, people with disabilities and journalists."
The commission’s report calls on Israel to immediately lift its blockade on Gaza – one of the key demands of the Great March of Return – and to investigate “every protest-related killing and injury, promptly, impartially and independently.” The report also calls on nations to arrest “persons alleged to have committed, or who ordered to have committed, the international crimes,” or seek their extradition.
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READ & WATCH MORE

NEWS & COMMENTARY
Haaretz, Youtube: Video Screened at

Human Rights Council (4.5 mins)
Video report to UN Council that

documents potential war crimes committed

against Gaza protesters

Al Jazeera: UN: Possible Israel crimes

against humanity in Gaza
Probe finds 'reasonable grounds to believe'

snipers intentionally shot at children, civilians

during 2018 Gaza rallies.
SEE ALSO THE VIDEO, TOP OF THAT PAGE

(90 seconds, begins with same footage
as video above)

NY Times: Israelis May Have Committed Crimes Against Humanity in Gaza Protests, U.N. Says
United Nations investigators said on Thursday that Israeli troops may have committed crimes against humanity in shooting unarmed civilians — including children — who posed no threat during the mass protests last year at the border with Gaza.
nytimes.com/2019/02/28/world/middleeast/israel-crimes-against-humanity-gaza-un.html
Electronic Intifada: UN investigators call for arrests over Gaza war crimes
A confidential file containing dossiers of alleged perpetrators of international crimes related to the Great March of Return will be handed over to the High Commissioner for Human Rights so that it can be transferred to the International Criminal Court.
Haaretz: UN War Crimes Panel Urges Israel to Stop Using Lethal Force Against Gaza Protesters
Israeli snipers use 'high velocity bullets and long-range sniper rifles' to disperse crowds, instead of rubber bullets, investigator tells Human Rights Council UN war crimes investigators called on Israel on Monday to stop its snipers from using lethal force against protesters on the border with Gaza, as the anniversary of the start of demonstrations last year, which saw 189 Palstinian killed, approaches.
Adalah: UN commission's report on Palestinian protests is scathing indictment of Israeli government on all fronts
In November 2018, Adalah [The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel] submitted a report to the UN COI highlighting Israel's inaction and persistent unwillingness to conduct genuine investigations into grave incidents of suspected war crimes against unarmed Palestinian civilians in both 2014 and 2018.
Adalah General Director Attorney Hassan Jabareen: "The report issued today by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests is a scathing indictment of the Israeli government on all fronts. Adalah welcomes the COI's adoption of the analysis that we and other human rights organizations provided and its rejection of the Israeli Supreme Court's decision which allowed the continued use of lethal force against Palestinian civilian protesters in Gaza. The commission also adopted Adalah's analysis that the Israeli government has not meaningfully investigated and prosecuted Israeli commanders and soldiers – and even expressed doubts over Israel's willingness to do so.

B'Tselem Reports: On unlawful gunfire against protesters in the Return Marches in Gaza
These reports include:
• Position paper, April 2018: If the heart be not callous: On the unlawful shooting of
unarmed demonstrators in Gaza
• Position paper, March 2019: After a year of protests in Gaza: 11 Military Police investigations, 1 charade
• 28 Feb. 2019: Following UN commission findings: B'Tselem reiterates call on soldiers to not comply with manifestly illegal orders

• 14 March 2019: Palestinian minors killed by Israeli troops at Gaza protests: B’Tselem reports on four cases

REPORTS TO AND FROM THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION OF INQUIRY

UN COMMISSION’S REPORT:Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory - A/HRC/40/74
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIOPT/Pages/Report2018OPT.aspx

DOWNLOAD: Adalah Report to the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoIOPT/A_HRC_40_74.pdf

DOWNLOAD:Defense for Children-International Report:
Submission to the UN Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory concerning unlawful killing and use of excessive force by Israeli forces against Palestinian children

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