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2 IDF officers endangered human life in Gaza with white phosphorous use
Haaretz / AGI
01 Febbraio 2010
An Israel Defense Forces brigadier general and
another officer with the rank of colonel endangered human life during
last year's military campaign in the Gaza Strip by firing white
phosphorous munitions in the direction of a compound run by UNRWA, the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the Israeli government says.
The finding aknowledges, at least in part, allegations by
international organizations. It was contained in a report that the
government provided to the United Nations over the weekend in response
to last September's Goldstone Commission report.
Gaza Division Commander Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg and Givati
Brigade Commander Col. Ilan Malka, were the subject of disciplinary
action by GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant after
headquarters staff found that the men exceeded their authority in
approving the use of phosphorus shells that endangered human life, the
Israeli government report said.
The incident in question occurred on January 15 of last year, two days
before the end of Operation Cast Lead, in the southern Gaza City
neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa, at a time when the Givati brigade and
other Israeli forces were in the area.
In the course of engagement with a Hamas squad, which according to
IDF intelligence possessed advanced anti-tank missiles, it was decided
to use phosphorus smoke munitions to create cover that would make it
harder for the Hamas fighters to see the IDF soldiers.
According to Israeli intelligence, the Hamas forces were stationed
in a commanding location from which they could easily see the soldiers
and the UNRWA compound that was located between the Israeli forces and
the Hamas position.
The munitions disperse hundreds of pieces of felt impregnated with
phosphorus and at least some of the pieces fell into the UNRWA
compound, causing injury to an UNRWA employee there as well as to two
Palestinian civilians who took cover at the location.
Many human rights organizations said that the IDF had illegally
used the phosphorus munitions, which are shot from 155 mm. cannon, and
that the material caused many burn injuries among the Palestinian
population. The IDF responded that the munitions were permitted under
international conventions and that similar shells are in use by other
Western armies. The army also contended that the munitions were used in
locations remote from heavily -populated areas.
With the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.
Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi ordered the convening of five special investigative
committees each headed by an officer with the rank of colonel to
examine some of the serious allegations leveled against the army. One
of the committees examined the use of phosphorus shells.
After three months, at the end of April of last year, then deputy
chief of staff Maj. Gen. Dan Harel presented the committees' findings
and with respect to phosphorus munitions said that they had found no
instances in which shells were fired in violation of orders and in any
event, they were fired in open areas.
Nonetheless, the report that the Israeli government gave to the
United Nations last Friday explicitly states that the two senior
officers were disciplined after one of the investigating committees
noted among its findings that they approved the firing of phosphorus
shells at Tel al-Hawa "exceeding their authority in a manner that
jeopardized the lives of others."
The report to the UN also says that Ashkenazi recently ordered the
convening of a sixth committee to examine additional allegations made
against the IDF as well as an incident which one of the previous panels
had been unable to thoroughly probe.
The investigative teams have been looking into only the most
serious and prominent of the allegations made as a result of Cast Lead.
This is in addition to military police probes that were carried out, or
are still in progress, into about 150 alleged incidents of improper
conduct on the part of soldiers involving civilians and Palestinian
property during the Gaza campaign.
Some of the incidents were raised in operational IDF debriefings
held after Cast Lead, but most came to light following complaints by
human rights organizations, individual Palestinian civilians and press
reports. Twelve incidents were raised for the first time in the
Goldstone Commission report, which was commissioned by the UN Human
Rights Council.
In the course of the IDF investigations, about 500 soldiers were
questioned and nearly 100 Palestinian civilians were interviewed at the
Erez checkpoint on the Israel-Gaza border. As a result of the IDF's
investigations, 36 criminal investigation files have been opened so
far, but criminal legal proceedings have so far been opened in only one
case, in which two Givati brigade soldiers were convicted of stealing a
Palestinian civilian's credit card.
Dershowitz: Goldstone is a traitor to the Jews
Prominent political commentator and pro-Israel campaigner Professor
Alan Dershowitz slammed jurist Richard Goldstone, the architect of a UN
report which accuses Israel of Gaza war crimes, calling him a traitor
to the Jewish people, Army Radio reported yesterday. Dershowitz and
Goldstone were colleagues and close friends for many years before the
UN Gaza probe, but once Goldstone published his report the ties between
the two were severed. (Haaretz Staff)
Source > Haaretz | feb 01
GERUSALEMME - L'esercito israeliano ha preso misure disciplinari nei confronti dei comandi militare che ordinarono l'utilizzo delle micidiali bombe al fosforo bianco sulla popolazione civile a Gaza.
Lo rivela il quotidiano israeliano Haaretz, citando la relazione consegnata da Israele nel week-end all'Onu in risposta al rapporto della Commissione Goldstone.
Nel documento, Israele in parte ammette le denunce fatte dalle organizzazioni internazionali: il colonnello Ilan Malka e il generale di brigata Eyal Eisenberg oltrepassarono la propria autorita' "nell'autorizzare l'utilizzo delle bombe al fosforo che misero in pericolo vite umane". L'episodio in questione e' l'attacco alla struttura dell'Agenzia Onu per i Rifugiati palestinesi (UNRWA), il 15 gennaio del 2009, due giorni prima della conclusione dell'operazione "Piombo Fuso", durata 22 giorni e in cui morirono piu' di 1.400 palestinesi.
Fonte > AGI
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