Palestinian democratically elected Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has called on the Arab League to adopt effective measures to restrain Israeli aggressions toward the besieged Gaza Strip.
In a message to Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa on Tuesday, Haniyeh called on Arab nations to lodge a complaint at the UN Security Council over serious Israeli military threats against the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Information Center reported.
The message also urged Moussa to devise all appropriate measures to watch over Tel Aviv’s moves on Gazans, who are still suffering from the repercussions of a devastating war Israel launched on the coastal sliver in December 2008.
The senior Hamas official noted that no one can predict Israel’s deceit as it usually exploits the international community’s preoccupation with a certain development and then launches its aggressions.
More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the impoverished coastal sliver. The offensive also inflicted $ 1.6 billion damage to the Gazan economy.
A United Nations inquiry led by former South African Judge Richard Goldstone detailed what investigators described as Israeli actions "amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity," during its latest offensive against the Gaza Strip.
The 575-page report by Goldstone and three other investigators asserts seven incidents in which Palestinian civilians were shot while leaving their homes, trying to run for safety or waving white flags. The report says Israel targeted a mosque at prayer time, killing 15 people, and shelled a Gaza City house where soldiers had forced Palestinian civilians to assemble. These attacks constituted war crimes, the report says.
The probe also found that Israel had violated international humanitarian law in several ways. Dozens of Palestinian policemen were killed at the start of the Gaza onslaught when Israel bombed their stations. The security forces were not involved in the hostilities and should have been treated as civilians. Palestinians were also used as human shields and forced to walk ahead of Israeli soldiers searching through civilian neighborhoods.
Tel Aviv is worried that charges could be lodged against politicians and army officers for war crimes committed during Israel’s 22-day offensive against the blockaded Gaza Strip. Top officials who would be in the judicial cross-hairs could include former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as well as current Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
(Press TV)
