S/PV.6201
6201st meeting
Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 10 a.m.
New York
The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question
Mr. Shalgham (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) (spoke in Arabic): First of all, I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for having organized this emergency meeting of the Security Council in accordance with the understanding reached within the Council.
I thank Mr. Lynn Pascoe for his briefing. We also welcome our brother, Riad Al-Malki, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian National Authority.
As I said at a previous special meeting of the Council, I believe that there is a need to focus on the Goldstone report (A/HRC/12/48). That is because the Palestinian issue, including the occupation, in spite of its complexity, is sometimes summarized superficially — for example, by stating that it mainly concerns the settlements.
That is not so. The cause of the crisis and the source of all the violence and tension in the region over the past six decades is the ongoing Israeli occupation. The inhuman practices of the Israeli authorities, in particular the blockade that is still in effect, the expansion of settlements, the building of the racist separation wall despite the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, the daily systematic humiliation of the Palestinian people at checkpoints and in prisons, 11,000 detainees, including women and children, the destruction of their homes, the attempts to Judaize Jerusalem, the attacks on the Al-Aqsa mosque and the ongoing attacks by racist settlers on Palestinian citizens — the ongoing occupation is the main reason for all these violations of international humanitarian law and of the human rights of the Palestinian people.
Despite the adoption of resolution 1860 (2009), despite the outcome of the donors conference held in Sharm el-Sheikh on the reconstruction of Gaza and despite the most recent initiative of the Secretary-General aimed at lifting the blockade, the occupying authorities have stubbornly maintained their blockade. As the Israeli authorities are the occupying authorities, this is considered a blatant violation of their obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention. They do this because they are convinced — indeed, assured — of their allies’ support. That means that Israel no longer has to abide by any laws.
The international community and the Security Council in particular are still unable to refrain from using double standards in dealing with Israel. The international community is still not able to force Israel to respect international law and international humanitarian law or to implement Security Council resolutions, despite all the reports from the various United Nations bodies, agencies and commissions.
The most recent report is that of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, better known as the Goldstone report. That report reiterates that the occupying authorities have committed grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and that those acts constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Goldstone report is not the first on this issue. There were a number of previous reports, in particular the report by Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the Beit Hanoun massacre, the report of the international alliance for the defence of the victims of aggression and the report of the Board of Inquiry set up by the Secretary-General. All of them have concluded that the Israel army carried out direct and deliberate attacks against United Nations headquarters despite the Organization’s immunity. That has resulted in a great many deaths and injuries among those who sought shelter there, including United Nations staff members.
That report called for an independent inquiry to be held. However, the immunity that Israel enjoys meant that that report experienced the same fate as previous reports. This reinforces Israel’s belief that it cannot be touched, that it is above all laws. It encourages Israel to continue to commit crimes.
However, the scale of the crimes committed against Gaza, as described in the Goldstone report, is a wake-up call for the international community and the various international organizations. We must warn that if we disregard what is contained in this report, we will be losing ground in the progress made on human rights since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That would make the concept and ideals of human rights mere empty words, a tool to be used by certain States for their own political purposes. Violations of international law must be dealt with firmly when committed by a party allied with big Powers.
Before I address the issue of the Goldstone report, I would like to respond to those who say that it is not objective or fair. The Goldstone mission gathered facts in the following ways. Reports from various sources were considered. Interviews were conducted with victims and individuals who had confirmed information at their disposal. There were visits on the ground. Video footage and photographs were analysed, and satellite images were examined. Medical reports were considered. The reports of forensic scientists were analysed. Weapons were examined. There were calls for written information to be provided. Public hearings were held, and 188 individual interviews were held. Over 300 pieces of information, reports and documents were analysed.
Regardless of the nature of this information, this amounts to over 10,000 pages, 30 videos and 1,200 photographs. Of course, the Government of Israel simply refused to cooperate with the Mission.
We are aware of some of the procedures engaged in by international organizations, but this clearly shows that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed. This is more important than the rules of procedure, which cannot simply sail on seas of blood, far removed from the violence and destruction taking place. They cannot mask the horrifying disabilities that have been visited upon women, children and the elderly.
The report reiterated more than once that the Israeli authorities have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. It reaffirmed that the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip was a policy of collective punishment and a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The fact that the Security Council did not speak out about this simply means that it accepts that this should continue. The report lists the great number of crimes committed by the Israeli army and the Israeli Government against the Palestinian people. For example:
“The Mission investigated several incidents in which the Israeli armed forces used local Palestinian residents to enter houses which might be booby-trapped or harbour enemy combatants” (A/HRC/12/48, para. 1925).
During those searches, the men were handcuffed and blindfolded. The use of these individuals as human shields constitutes a war crime.
The report also indicates a number of attacks that were carried out, in particular the destruction of the only flour mill in the Gaza Strip, the attempted destruction of the water supply system and the destruction of a poultry processing plant. All of these are violations of international law and are considered war crimes.
Israel has masked its true intentions since the beginning of the war against Gaza, within the framework of its Operation Cast Lead, an operation carried out against a besieged people, a people on the brink of famine, an occupied, besieged people who have nothing left but their readiness to face up to the occupation. That is exactly what Mr. Goldstone stated. The Mission carried out a detailed investigation and included in its report statements by Israeli political and military leaders that they would target the infrastructure of the Hamas movement. Hamas is the freely and democratically elected authority of the Palestinian people.
If this is what passes for a legitimate military target — despite the fact that it constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law built up over the past century — that would make civilians and civilian infrastructure legitimate targets. We can therefore affirm that these attacks represent instances of vengeance and collective punishment. And that constitutes war crimes.
The report reaffirms in paragraph 1883 that the Israeli army targeted all the inhabitants of Gaza and did not distinguish between combatants and civilians, and that this was the result of clear orders given to the soldiers. These were not blunders. That is affirmed in paragraph 1889. The report also clearly represents that Palestinians were the targets of ongoing, systematic ill-treatment and subject to humiliating and degrading treatment, which violates the principles of international law and human rights law. The Fact-Finding Mission again concludes that such conduct represents collective punishment of civilians. In other words, it violates the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War and thus constitutes a war crime.
The attack on Gaza was unprecedented in terms of both its violence and ferocity and of the extent to which it flouted basic tenets of international law and human rights. The Israeli army knowingly targeted hospitals, ambulances, mosques and United Nations installations. Paragraph 36 states that the Fact-Finding Mission found no proof of Israeli allegations that Palestinian militants had used these buildings as shields for military purposes.
The Security Council did not fulfil its responsibility to protect civilians in the Gaza strip. That is reaffirmed in paragraph 1916 of the report. The report reiterates that the Mission noted that the international community remained silent. The Security Council did not take action to protect civilians in the Gaza strip and the occupied Palestinian territory in general. That makes it amply clear that the Security Council did not adequately respond to the Gaza blockade and its consequences. It would have been be wise for the Council, given its responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, to adopt the report and to invite the Human Rights Council to debate it in order to ensure that it did not suffer the same fate as previous reports.
The Israeli position on the peace process has been made very clear by declarations issued by the Israeli authorities. They do not hesitate for one moment to state that they will grant the Palestinians nothing. They call for a racist Jewish State. They want to expel the Palestinians who lived there before 1948. Special emissaries to Israel return empty-handed again and again, revealing the peace process as a simple absurdity that will lead to nothing. Proof of this lies in the fact that nothing has been done or achieved to lift the blockade on Gaza and to end its colonization.
It is time to end the culture of impunity in the region that has prevailed for so long and led to yet another crisis. As Justice Goldstone has very rightly said, it undermines all hopes and aspirations for peace in the region. It is necessary to bring the criminals to justice and to compensate victims of Israeli crimes in order to move forward the peace process forward. Israel’s ongoing settlement activity, collective punishment and humiliation of the Palestinian people will only lead to an escalation of violence, death and suffering.
I conclude by referring once more to the Goldstone report. The commitments of the Israeli Government to the Israeli people in no way justify the policy of collective punishment against an occupied people. Nothing can justify the fact that the Palestinian people have been deprived by the disastrous operations in Gaza of their right to live in dignity. This will lead to succeeding generations growing up in a culture of hatred and enmity and in a future offering very little hope.
