| Washington Report Archives (2006-2010) - 2009 July |
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July 2009, pages 59-60
Waging Peace
Congressional Briefing on Operation Cast Lead
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CONGRESSMAN Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) hosted an April 29 congressional briefing on “Findings and Recommendations from Operation Cast Lead.” Kucinich opened the briefing by stating that the public needs to be informed about U.S. and Israeli actions during the 22-day assault on Gaza. He then introduced Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, who provided testimony about Israel’s use of white phosphorus (WP) during Operation Cast Lead.
Describing WP, Stork said, “It produces dense smoke and is used by military around the world for obscuring purposes.” It also is a highly incendiary device, he added. It bursts into flames that produce smoke, and, if it lands on an individual, animal, or a building, it burns very intensely and is very difficult to put out.
Not all instances in which Israel used white phosphorus were illegal, Stork explained, but it was illegally used on densely populated areas in neighborhoods of Gaza City, including hospitals, apartment buildings and the U.N. compound within Gaza City.
When Human Rights Watch questioned Israeli officials about the use of WP, Israel initially adamantly denied its use, then declared it had used it in compliance with the laws of war. Finally, by the end of the military operations, Israel explained that it would investigate possible misuse of the chemical weapon. “Denial, denial, denial” was the sole conclusion of the IDF’sinvestigation, Stork stated. “The issues were known at the highest level of command [of the IDF], yet this stuff was used repeatedly as the war went on.”
Zahir Janmohamed, Amnesty International’s advocacy director for Middle East and North Africa, first discussed his organization’s reports on the humanitarian crises in Gaza months before the Israeli military operation. More than 80 percent of Gazans lived in poverty, he noted, and 1.1 million depended on food aid. “The Gaza military offensive was launched against a population that had been thoroughly beaten down,” Janmohamed said.
Three critical issues remain after the war, he continued: First, much of the aid from donors has not gotten into Gaza and remains at the borders. Secondly, there’s been little discussion about accountability, which is the cornerstone of human rights. Thirdly, Israel’s controversial use of U.S. weapons and tax dollars to attack Gaza. Amnesty International found that most of the weapons fragments littering school grounds, hospitals and people’s homes were made in the USA—the largest supplier of weapons to Israel.
Israel used indiscriminate and disproportionate force against civilians in Gaza, Janmohamed noted, which is ironic because the Israeli military has some of the most precise weaponry, optics and intelligence networks in the world. Israel argued that it fired weapons into densely populated civilian areas because Hamas fighters hid between homes. Amnesty has corroborated instances where Hamas fired from civilian areas, but researchers also found that Hamas would often fire a rocket then immediately leave the site, but the Israeli response would come hours later.
Janmohamed concluded with three recommendations. First, put pressure on Israel to lift the blockade and also allow Palestinians access to a livelihood, including the right to leave Gaza and seek employment. “Just distributing aid will only put a Band-aid on the problem, and it doesn’t address the livelihood issue,” Janmohamed said.
Also, while keeping humanitarian aid as the prime focus, accountability cannot be overlooked.
Finally, there should be an investigation to decide if Israel’s use of U.S. weapons was in violation of U.S. laws. Washington should add restrictions on future use of U.S. weaponry by Israel, he argued.
Noura Erakat, an adjunct international law professor at Georgetown University, gave first-hand testimony from the Feb. 2-8 visit to Gaza by a National Lawyers Guild delegation investigating Israel’s alleged violations of rules of war. The delegation sought to determine if Israel:
- deliberately targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure;
- used illegal weapons or alternatively used legal weapons in illegal ways, and;
- deliberately obstructed the work of medical personnel.
The investigation found evidence of all three violations, Erakat explained, illustrating her heart-wrenching findings with pictures and testimonials. She told the story of Ibrahim Samouni’s family, which the The New York Times described in a front-page story. Ibrahim’s family was forcibly removed from their home, placed in an adjacent home, then forcibly moved again to join 120 Samouni family members in another home without food or water.
Israel attacked the home with a rocket known as a “house tap,” a small missile that ensures the accuracy of a projectile, and usually gives occupants five minutes to evacuate. The families were given no time to escape, however, and a second missile immediately struck, killing 29 civilians, including Ibrahim’s wife, Laila, his eldest son, Mohammad, and his two younger sons.
As a few survivors ran from the house, Israeli forces fired live ammunition at them, killing Ibrahim’s grandson, Mo’tassem, in his mother’s arms. Nine debilitated survivors remained among the dead for four days because Israel denied the Red Cross and the Palestine Red Crescent Society access to the home.
The last speaker, Mitchell Plitnick, Washington, DC director of Israel’s B’Tselem, presented recommendations as to how Israel should go about conducting an investigation into Operation Cast Lead. In densely populated Gaza, it is very difficult to have any type of fighting without putting civilians in harm’s way, he said, and an investigation must keep that in mind. He explained that B’Tselem and other Israeli human rights organizations would prefer that Israel conduct its own credible and thorough investigation, like that of the Kahan Commission after Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, which indicted some Israeli officials and found then-Defense Minister (and future Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon “indirectly responsible” for the Shabra andShatila massacre. Acknowledging that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) internal investigations in 2009 have not been adequate, Plitnick said it should be obvious that the military cannot investigate itself. He concluded by calling for an outside and independent body from Israeli civil society to investigate IDF actions during Operation Cast Lead.
A video of this briefing can be viewed at <www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tWCs35DeoU>.
—Meriana Alrabadi
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