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PHRMG is appalled by the decision of
the United States to use its veto power against the United
Nations resolution condemning Israel for its army’s killing
of three United Nations workers in recent weeks. On
December 6, Ahlam Kandil and Osama Tahrawi, both Palestinian
school employees for UNRWA in Gaza, were killed by the
Israeli Army as troops invaded a crowded refugee camp. Two
weeks earlier, on November 22, British citizen Iain Hook was
shot to death in a Jenin refugee camp by the Israeli Army as
they claim they mistook Mr. Hook’s cell phone for a weapon.
All three worked for UNRWA, which
supplies humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Israeli troops
also destroyed a United Nations World Food Program warehouse
in Gaza on November 30, thus wasting 537 metric tons of
donated food supplies for desperate people.
This resolution stated “grave concern”
regarding these killings and demanded Israel “refrain from
the excessive and disproportionate use of force in the
Occupied Palestinian Territories,” as well as calling Israel
to fully comply with its obligations under the Fourth Geneva
Convention regarding the protection of civilians during
war. The U.S. wanted to amend the resolution by dropping
the reference to disproportionate force and dropping the
demand on Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The fact that the U.S. wants to mute a
call for Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention in
light of these recent and numerous violations of the law is
shameful. When one nation is violating international law,
it the responsibility of the others committed to the law to
speak out and condemn the violations and demand compliance
with agreed upon standards. 12 of the 15 members of the
U.N. Security Council voted in favor of this resolution,
including Britian. It is obvious bias on the part of the
U.S. towards Israel and manipulation of the U.N., which in
theory is designed to protect civilians and ensure good
governance. It is also not conducive to MidEast peace for
the U.S. to obstruct a necessary call to human rights
protection and show blatant favoritism.
Other international fatalities at the
hands of the Israeli Army include the killing of Italian
journalist Raffaele Cirielo on March 12, 2002, who was shot
six times by a tank in Ramallah and the killing of German
doctor Harry Fischer in November 2000, by shelling from an
Israeli air force attack on Beit Jala.
Since the beginning of the current
intifada on September 29, 2002, 1751 Palestinians have been
killed. 314 of these deaths are children. 958 others were
unarmed Palestinians. By all reasonable standards, this is
excessive force by a fully armed military against a civilian
population.
PHRMG
calls on the United States to not obstruct compliance with
the Fourth Geneva Convention that calls for the protection
of citizens in situations like the current
Palestinian-Israeli crisis. Many human rights violations
continue to occur and are endlessly documented in the
Occupied Territories--softening condemnation for the
perpetrator will not protect the innocent nor uphold the
law. |
