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- Written by PROF. RICHARD FALK PROF. RICHARD FALK
- Published: 29 December 2008 29 December 2008
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27 December 2008
PRESS RELEASE
STATEMENT BY PROF.
RICHARD FALK,
UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL
RAPPORTEUR FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
IN THE OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES
ON THE CRISIS IN THE GAZA
STRIP
For
further information, contact
Phyllis
Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies,
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
telephone: 1-202-234-9382 ex 206
mobile:
1-202-309-1377
The
Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of
international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in
regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the
laws of war.
Those violations include:
Collective punishment – the entire 1.5 million people who live in the crowded
Gaza Strip are being punished for the actions of a few militants.
Targeting civilians – the airstrikes were aimed at civilian areas in one of the
most crowded stretches of land in the world, certainly the most densely populated
area of the
Disproportionate military response – the airstrikes have not only destroyed every police and security
office of Gaza’s elected government, but have killed and injured hundreds of
civilians; at least one strike reportedly hit groups of students attempting to
find transportation home from the university.
Earlier Israeli actions,
specifically the complete sealing off of entry and exit to and from the Gaza
Strip, have led to severe shortages of medicine and fuel (as well as food),
have resulted in the inability of ambulances to respond to the injured, the
inability of hospitals to adequately provide medicine or necessary equipment
for the injured, and the inability of Gaza’s besieged doctors and other medical
workers to sufficiently treat the victims.
Certainly the rocket attacks
against civilian targets in
The Israeli airstrikes today, and the catastrophic human
toll that they caused, challenge those countries that have been and remain
complicit, either directly or indirectly, in
I remind all Member States of the
United Nations that the UN continues to be bound to an independent obligation
to protect any civilian population facing massive violations of international
humanitarian law – regardless of what country may be responsible for those
violations. I call on all
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