• by Thalif Deen (united nations)
• Wednesday, January 14, 2009
• Inter Press Service

The 192-member U.N. General Assembly, which is due to hold a special emergency meeting Thursday, may call for an international inquiry into the Israeli killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinian men, women and children in Gaza, diplomatic sources told IPS.

'A number of countries are in favour of the idea that Israel must be held accountable for its war crimes in Gaza,' said an Asian diplomat who did not want to be named. 'Most of those countries are from Africa and Asia and Latin America.'

The source added, however, there is resistance to this move on the part of certain European and Arab countries. 'The Arab world has a divided opinion,' he said. 'Countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt do not want such measures against Israel.'

In the past three weeks, thousands of people, mostly unarmed civilians, have been killed and wounded as a result of massive bombardment by the Israeli air force and an assault by ground troops.

Diplomats at U.N. headquarters in New York are currently having intense discussions with regard to the preparations of the text resolution for a vote before the General Assembly meeting convened by the Assembly president Miguel d'Escoto.

'The number of victims in Gaza is increasing by the day... The situation is untenable. It's genocide,' d'Escoto told Al-Jazeera television Tuesday. 'It's unbelievable that a country that owes its existence to a General Assembly resolution could be so disdainful of the resolutions that emanate from the U.N.'

In reaction, Israeli officials called him an 'Israel-hater'. On Tuesday, Israeli ambassador Gabriela Shalev wrote a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon blaming the Palestinians for their suffering, saying it is Hamas that 'bears sole responsibility for the result of the current campaign'.

D'Escoto's spokesman Enrique Yeves insisted that that, 'The president 'fully understands the rights of both [the Israelis as well as the Palestinians].'

According to Yeves, the General Assembly president decided to convene the emergency meeting only after a number of member states, who were disappointed with the Israeli defiance of the latest Security Council resolution, asked him to do so.

Calls are also growing among officials within the world body for a thorough investigation into the killing of innocent women and children in Gaza by the Israeli military.

On Tuesday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said accountability 'must be ensured for violations of international law'. She suggested the Council should consider setting up a commission to assess violations by both sides in the conflict.

The former chief of U.N. relief operations in Palestine, Peter Hansen, held similar views, telling IPS: 'Yes, they [the Israelis] must be held accountable for what they are doing in Gaza.'

Diplomatic observers say had Israel demonstrated its willingness to comply with the Security Council resolution 1860, there would have been no need to convene the emergency session of the General Assembly.

Last weekend, the Security Council adopted a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire by both sides. But both Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has maintained strong resistance to the Israeli assault, have refused to accept it.

Considering the grave situation in Gaza, the 118-member Non-aligned Movement (NAM) issued another statement Tuesday deploring 'the massive military aggression' being carried out by Israel against the civilian population in Gaza and its 'blatant disregard' of Council resolution.

NAM called for the 'immediate implementation' of the resolution, including in particular its call for an immediate ceasefire leading to the withdrawal of the Israeli occupying forces from Gaza as well as for measures to address the pressing humanitarian and economic needs of the Palestinian people.

The largest political bloc in the General Assembly described the Israeli military incursion into Gaza as 'a grave breach' of international humanitarian and human rights law. It demanded that Israel 'unconditionally comply' with its obligations as the occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of Aug. 12, 1949.

NAM said it fully supports all diplomatic and political efforts and initiatives being exerted at the international and regional levels to address this crisis, including by the U.N. system, stressing once again that there is no military solution to this crisis or to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whole.

It also endorsed yesterday's Human Rights Council resolution on the grave violations of human rights committed by the Israeli military in Gaza and called for a 'speedy dispatch of the independent international fact-finding mission' to investigate violations of human rights and of international law by Israel.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday various U.N. agencies and aid organisations issued statements reflecting growing concern about the fast deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

'Pregnant women and their newborn babies are some of the unseen victims of the current crisis in Gaza,' said UNFPA executive director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. 'Without attention to their special needs, including safe access to proper care and nutrition, many of them could suffer from silent deaths.'

A coalition of international aid agencies working in the occupied Palestinian territories said Wednesday that over 200 people have been killed since the U.N. called for a ceasefire on Jan. 8 and many more are still dying.

'Putting an end to violence and civilian casualties is not an option, it is an obligation,' said Charles Clayton of World Vision Jerusalem. 'We cannot stress enough that the current situation needs to be addressed without further delay. Too many people have died already.'

In a joint statement, the agencies -- Save the Children, Oxfam International, World Vision Jerusalem, Christian Aid and CARE International -- added that the three-hour 'lull' in the fighting for the delivery of aid, which is now restricted to Gaza City, detracts attention away from the immediate need for a ceasefire.

'With shelters overflowing, food shortages, inadequate facilities and the general sense of panic and abandonment felt, we must be allowed to sufficiently assist the needy population of the Gaza Strip at once,' said David Bourns, country director for Save the Children.

Last week, CARE International staffers were forced to flee a food distribution site when heavy bombing hit the area. Distributions of food take at least five hours per delivery, and a daily delivery of medical supplies took 11 hours last week -- far longer than the three-hour lull.

Even with an increase in the number of workers packing and dispatching, the needs of clinics and hospitals can't be met in the short time frame, the group said.

Oxfam International said it is 'impossible' to circulate within Gaza Strip during the three-hour lull. Oxfam's seven staff members in Gaza, most whom have themselves been displaced due to the violence, are also struggling to deliver food to thousands of civilians in such a tight space of time.

'The lulls are barely long enough to distribute a minimum of aid to the people who need it. In most cases, it's simply not sufficient time to provide adequate assistance,' said Oxfam's John Prideaux-Brune.

'It's akin to putting a band-aid on a bullet wound when surgery and life support is what is needed,' he said.

Meanwhile, during his regular televised briefing from Gaza, the chief of the U.N. relief operation in Gaza, John Ging, said: 'Everywhere here there is death and destruction. Everyone I met in the [U.N.] shelter, everyone has a traumatic story to tell. It's horrifying.'

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service