Region | Palestinian Territories
ICC urged to indict Israel over policies against Palestinians
A leading UN official has said Israel's policies against the Palestinians amounted to a "crime against humanity". Richard Falk also urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict and prosecute Israeli leaders.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:39 December 10, 2008
- Palestinian demonstrators block a path with barbed wire left by the Israeli army, during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Nilin.
- Image Credit: AP
Geneva: A leading UN official has said Israel's policies against the Palestinians amounted to a "crime against humanity". Richard Falk also urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict and prosecute Israeli leaders.
In a statement, Falk called on the United Nations to make an "urgent effort" to "implement the agreed norm of a responsibility to protect' a civilian population being collectively punished by policies that amount to a crime against humanity."
He went on: "In a similar vein, it would seem mandatory for the ICC to investigate the situation, and determine whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law."
Falk said that "such a flurry of denunciations by normally cautious UN officials has not occurred on a global level since the heyday of South African apartheid", continuing: "And still Israel maintains its Gaza siege in its full fury, allowing only barely enough food and fuel to enter to stave off mass famine and disease."
Israel allowed dozens of trucks filled with humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the fifth such shipment permitted to enter the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory in the past month.
The military also allowed in diesel fuel for Gaza's sole power plant and for the UN refugee agency, which provides aid to hundreds of thousands of Gazans.
Israel has sealed off the territory from all but limited aid since the Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007. After a surge in violence on November 4, Israel tightened the blockade and has said it cannot open the crossings because of the danger to its staff at the terminals from mortar and rocket fire by Gaza fighters.
Meanwhile, Nobel peace laureate Martti Ahtisaari says the US and other powers can no longer sit back and watch Israel and Palestinians destroy each other if the goal is to achieve Middle East peace.
Advantage Netanyahu
Israel's right-wing Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu is well-placed to win the most seats in a February election after selecting a hawkish candidate list, opinion polls showed on yesterday.
If elections were held today, Likud would gain 31 seats in the 120-member Knesset or parliament, according to a survey carried out by the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
It would be followed by the centrist Kadima party of outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, which would win 24 seats, five less than it currently holds, the poll said.
A November 20 poll by the same newspaper showed Likud winning 32 seats and Kadima 26. The results were published after Likud elected a list of candidates that includes several right-wing hardliners and that was panned by Kadima, which said a Likud-led government would be unable to hold peace negotiations.
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