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Saturday, October 17, 2009

[chottala.com] Norwegian nobel Committee divided over Obama's peace prize



Committee divided over Obama's peace prize

Oct 15, 2009 11:27 AM | By Sapa-dpa

The decision to select US President Barack Obama as the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate was not as clear-cut as initially suggested, reports an Oslo daily Verdens Gang (VG).

 

Photograph by: LARRY DOWNING
Credit: REUTERS

Three of the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee initially opposed the choice of Obama, according to sources cited by the newspaper.

The committee is appointed by the Norwegian parliament, and normally keeps a tight lid on its deliberations as well as advising nominators not to publicly announce their choices. For the 2009 award, there were a record 205 nominations.

Both Inger-Marie Ytterhorn of the Progress Party and Kaci Kullmann Five of the conservatives were especially doubtful about selecting Obama, VG reported.

Ytterhorn was apparently of the view that it was too early to consider Obama, who is just nine months into his presidency.

The unexpected choice of Obama was announced on October 9. Obama himself said he was "surprised and deeply humbled." Committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland, a former prime minister and foreign minister, underlined that Obama had helped change the tone of international politics and mentioned his proposals on reducing nuclear weapons.

Agot Vale of the Socialist Left Party also raised questions about Obama, and earlier this week was quoted as telling the Bergens Tidende newspaper that she had expected the choice to generate "a debate, especially concerning the war in Afghanistan which she herself found problematic."

Jagland of the Labour Party, who joined the committee in January, was likely supported in pushing for Obama by his party colleague Sissel Ronbeck, and finally secured a unanimous decision, VG reported.

The peace prize is one of the awards endowed by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.

 
Committee divided over Obama's peace prize - Times LIVE
Oct 15, 2009 ... Committee divided over Obama's peace prize ...
Three of the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee initially opposed the choice of ...
www.timeslive.co.za/news/article152474.ece - Cached - Similar
 


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[chottala.com] UN endorses Israeli war crimes report



[United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employees hold a U.N. flag stained with red paint during a protest in the West Bank city of Hebron against Israel's offensive in Gaza January 12, 2009. (Reuters/Nayef Hashlamoun/West Bank)]U
nited Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employees hold a U.N. flag stained with red paint during
a protest in the West Bank city of Hebron against Israel's offensive in Gaza January 12, 2009.
(Reuters/Nayef Hashlamoun/West Bank)
 
UN backs Gaza war crimes report

The UN human rights council has endorsed the Goldstone report on Israel's war on Gaza, which accuses the military of using disproportionate force as well as laying charges of war crimes on Israeli occupation forces and Hamas.

The council's resolution adopting the report was passed in Geneva by 25 votes to six with 11 countries abstaining and five declining to vote.

The inquiry, lead by Justice Richard Goldstone, calls on Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, to monitor whether Israel and Hamas conduct credible investigations into the conflict which took place last winter.

Should the two sides fail to do so, it calls on the UN Security Council to refer the allegations to the International Criminal Court.

Hamas 'thankful'

The Palestinian Authority had initially agreed to defer a vote on the UN-sanctioned report, but later backtracked under domestic criticism.

Goldstone report vote

 For: Argentina, Brazil, China, Russia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Djbouti, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia

Against: US, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine

Abstentions: Belgium, Bosnia, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia and Uruguay

No vote: UK, France, Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan and Angola

The United States and Israel were among those countries which voted against the resolution.

Mike Hanna, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Geneva, said the vote was a "very strong victory" for the supporters of the resolution, but that the large number of abstentions was also "very significant".

Mousa Abu Marzook, the deputy chairman of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, Syria, told Al Jazeera: "We thank our people, all those who support to submit again this report to the human rights committee and all the countries who voted for the report.

"I think if the Palestinian Authority didn't withdraw this report it will be more efficient and the result will be stronger than the resolution.
 
"We will co-operate with this report and we will establish a new committee to investigate.

"Right now, there is no talking with Fatah, but during the dialogue between Fatah and Hamas in Egypt, within a few weeks, we are going to talk about reconciliation and, of course, this kind of subject we are going to talk about."

Israel condemned

In addition to endorsing the report, the resolution "strongly condemns all policies and measures taken by Israel, the occupying power, including those limiting access of Palestinians to their properties and holy sites".

In depth


 Video: Anger at Abbas
 Video: Interview with Richard Goldstone
 Timeline: Gaza War
 Analysis: War crimes in Gaza?
 Goldstone's full report to the UN rights council
 Key points of the Goldstone report
 UN inquiry finds Gaza war crimes
 'Half of Gaza war dead civilians'
 PLO: History of a Revolution
 'Israel has to be accountable'
Al Jazeera is not responsible for external websites' content 

It also calls on Israel to stop digging and excavation work around the al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem as well as other Islamic and Christian religious sites.

Israel rejected the charges saying the resolution – drafted by the Palestinians with Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, on behalf of non-aligned, African, Islamic and Arab nations – threatened peace efforts.

A statement from the Israeli foreign ministry said: "The adoption of this resolution by the UNHRC impairs both the effort to protect human rights in accordance with international law and the effort to promote peace in Middle East".

Sherine Tadros, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said: "Israeli officials we spoke to said that in their opinion most of those states that voted in favour of the resolution did so, not out of conviction, but really for their own domestic reasons - to cover up their own human rights violations.

"Whereas democratic states didn't favour the resolution, either they didn't vote or they abstained or they voted no.

"This has really been Israel's line of defence from the beginning of this process - to try to discredit the Goldstone mission and the resolution by discrediting the human rights council itself.

"By saying that its members have always been overwhelmingly biased against Israel and really trying to land Israel in hot water whatever motion was in front of them," she said.

'Rights undermined'

The Goldstone report recommended that its conclusions be sent on to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor in The Hague if Israel and Hamas do not hold their own credible investigations into allegations of war crimes within six months.

FROM THE BLOGS
Reaction out of Gaza to yet another UN resolution
By Ayman Mohyeldin in The Middle East blog
The report accused Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It also accused the Hamas movement, which has de facto control of Gaza, of war crime violations, but reserved most of its criticism for Israel.

Amr Hamzawy, a political scientist, told Al Jazeera: "The [endorsement] is a very positive step and indeed a victory for Palestinian-Arab diplomacy after the misery of the last two weeks.

"It definitely eats away at Israel's moral legitimacy which existed to an extent before the Lebanon and Gaza war.

"Israel is under extreme legal pressure internationally and morally, and they really have to account for what [happened] in Gaza during the war," he said.

At least 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during Israel's war on Gaza [EPA]
On Thursday, Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief, endorsed the report, calling for "impartial, independent, prompt and effective investigations" into the alleged war crimes.

Pillay said: "A culture of impunity continues to prevail in the occupied territories and in Israel," Pillay said during the UN Human Rights Council's special debate session on the report on Thursday.

In her speech, Pillay cited concern about the restrictions on Palestinians wishing to enter al-Aqsa and expressed "dismay" about the Israeli blockade of Gaza that she said "severely undermines the rights and welfare of the population there".

On Thursday, Goldstone, a former South African judge, criticised the resolution, saying: "I hope that the council can modify the text."

About 1,400 Palestinians – the majority of them civilians - and 13 Israelis were killed during Israel's three-week war on Gaza, which had the stated aim of stopping rocket attacks by Palestinian fighters from the coastal territory.

 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
 

UN body endorses Gaza report

Palestinian bodyguards wait to escort Gaza's Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh as he leaves a mosque after Friday prayers, in Gaza City, Friday, Oct. 16, 2009. The U.N. Human Rights Council is heading for a showdown vote on a report accusing Israeli forces and Palestinian militants of war crimes during their conflict in Gaza last winter.

Concludes Israel used disproportionate force during Dec/Jan conflict and accuses Palestinian armed groups including Hamas of deliberately targeting civilians

"Israel's future is very dim!"
Future generations including Israelis are not going to accept two classes of citizens ...
comments(46) [Add comment]

 

Al Jazeera English - Americas - UN blames Israel for Gaza attacks

The UN report, commissioned by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said the Israeli military intentionally fired at UN facilities and civilians hiding in ...
english.aljazeera.net/news/.../05/200955143232389149.html - Cached - Similar

U.N. Condemns Israeli Offensive - washingtonpost.com

World news headlines from the Washington Post,including international news and opinion from Africa,North/South America,Asia,Europe and Middle East.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/.../AR2006111701769.html - Similar

UN report condemns Israel over Gaza war - Times Online

May 6, 2009 ... Obama hints at tough line on Israel A United Nations investigation yesterday accused Israel of "reckless disregard" for human life.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle.../article6229545.ece - Similar

 



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[chottala.com] U.N. report condemns Israel for Gaza operation



 

U.N. report condemns Israel for Gaza operation

CNN) -- Israeli soldiers routinely and intentionally put children in harm's way during their 22-day offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza, according to a United Nations report made public Monday.
On March 6, a Palestinian boy sits on the rubble of a building destroyed during Israel's 22-day Gaza offensive.

On March 6, a Palestinian boy sits on the rubble of a building destroyed during Israel's 22-day Gaza offensive.

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 The report said a working group had documented and verified reports of violations "too numerous to list."

For example, on January 15, in a town southwest of Gaza City, Israel Defense Forces soldiers ordered an 11-year-old boy to open Palestinians' packages, presumably so that the soldiers would not be hurt if they turned out to contain explosives, the 43-page report said.

They then forced the boy to walk in front of them in the town, it said. When the soldiers came under fire, "the boy remained in front of the group," the report said.

It said the boy was later released.

Also cited were "credible reports" that accused Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that runs Gaza, of using human shields and placing civilians at risk.

But it singled out the Israelis for more sweeping criticism.

A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister called the report another example of the "one-sided and unfair" attitude of the U.N. Human Rights Council, which requested it.

The report cited two alleged incidents from January 3. In one, it said, after a tank round struck near a house, a father and his two sons -- both younger than 11 -- emerged to look at the damage.

"As they exited their home, IDF soldiers shot and killed them (at the entrance to their house), with the daughter witnessing," the report said.

In the second, it said, "Israeli soldiers entered a family house in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. Standing at the doorstep, they asked the male head of the household to come out and shot him dead, without warning, while he was holding his ID, hands raised up in the air, and then started to fire indiscriminately and without warning into the room where the rest of the family was huddled together.

"The eldest son was shouting in vain the word 'Children' in Hebrew to warn the soldiers. The shooting did not stop until everyone was lying on the floor. The mother and four of the brothers, aged 2-12 years, had been wounded, one of them, aged 4, fatally."

The alleged instances occurred during Operation Cast Lead, which was launched December 27 to halt rocket attacks into southern Israel from Gaza and ended January 17 with a cease-fire.

The U.N. report called the response by Israel disproportionate.

Of the 1,453 people estimated killed in the conflict, 1,440 were Palestinian, including 431 children and 114 women, the report said.

The 13 Israelis killed included three civilians and six soldiers killed by Hamas, and four soldiers killed by friendly fire, it said.

The report said the Israeli operation resulted in "a dramatic deterioration of the living conditions of the civilian population."

It cited "targeted and indiscriminate" attacks on hospitals and clinics, water and sewage treatment facilities, government buildings, utilities and farming and said the offensive "intensified the already catastrophic humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people."

It said Israeli strikes damaged more than 200 schools and left more than 70,000 people homeless.

"There are strong and credible reports of war crimes and other violations of international norms," it said, adding that many observers have said war crimes investigations should be undertaken.

"The alternative is de facto impunity," it said.

It called for the end of Israel's blockade of Gaza and the free passage into the territory of food, medicine, fuel and construction supplies.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, called the report "another example of the one-sided and unfair attitude of the rapporteur of the Human Rights Council, a council that has been criticized by current and previous secretaries-general for its unbalanced attitudes toward Israel."

He added, "The negative fixation on Israel by the council has done a disservice to the issue of human rights internationally as has been attested to by the leading NGO's [nongovernmental organizations] on human rights."

Another report issued Monday also was critical of the IDF. The report from Physicians for Human Rights said the Gaza incursion violated IDF's own code of ethics.

The report by the medical group, which shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, cited instances where it said IDF forces did not evacuate injured civilians for days and prevented Palestinian teams from reaching the wounded, and said some of them died as a result.

It said 16 Palestinian medical personnel were killed by IDF fire and 25 were wounded during the IDF operation, and accused the IDF of attacking 34 medical centers in violation of the IDF's own "ethical code for fighting terror."

In response, the IDF accused Hamas of having used medical vehicles, facilities and uniforms to conceal its members' activity.

"Hamas used ambulances to 'rescue' terror activists from the battlefield and used hospitals and medical facilities as hiding places," the Israelis said in a written statement.

"Despite this, throughout the fighting, IDF forces were instructed to avoid firing at ambulances, even if they were being used by armed fighters. They were instructed only to shoot if there was fire towards our forces emanating from the direction of the ambulance."

Regarding the reported delays in casualty evacuations, "there existed real difficulties in evacuating the injured, due to the roadblocks, booby-trapped roads and dirt mounds placed by the Hamas as well as the considerable damage to the infrastructure," the statement said.

Nevertheless, it said, an IDF investigation is ongoing and its conclusions will be made public once it is complete.

But Dr. Dani Filc, PHR-Israel chairman, was skeptical that the investigation would prove useful. "There are considerable doubts that the IDF is the correct institution to investigate suspicions of these violations," he said.

"The IDF's repeated promises to the High Court to look into attacks on medical teams and medical centers have gone unfulfilled, and there are suspicions concerning its seriousness and readiness to carry out the matter."

The Israeli military did accept criticism Monday on another matter -- the practice of some Israeli soldiers of wearing T-shirts that appear to condone acts of violence against Palestinians.

The Israeli daily Haaretz newspaper reported that Israeli soldiers who had finished basic training ordered the shirts, one of which showed a pregnant Arab in the crosshairs of a gun sight with a caption reading "1 Shot 2 Kills." Another showing a small child in a gun's sight was captioned, "The smaller they are, the harder it is."

"The examples presented by The Haaretz reporter are not in accordance with IDF values and are simply tasteless," the Israeli military said in a written statement. "This type of humor is unbecoming and should be condemned."

Israeli soldiers said last week that Palestinian civilians were killed and Palestinian property intentionally destroyed during Israel's military campaign in Gaza, according to Haaretz.

The IDF has said it is investigating the claims, but its top general expressed skepticism Monday.

"I don't believe that soldiers serving in the IDF hurt civilians in cold blood, but we shall wait for the results of the investigation," Lt. Gen. Ashkenazi, the chief of staff, said in a speech.

"I tell you that this is a moral and ideological army."

He blamed Hamas for choosing "to fight in heavily populated areas.

"It (was) a complex atmosphere that includes civilians and we took every measure possible to reduce harm of the innocent," he said, according to an IDF statement.

 

UN report condemns Israel

Workers World - ‎2 hours ago‎
These protests will also demand that the Goldstone Report not be suppressed, that Israeli war criminals be punished, that war crimes against the people of ...
BBC NEWS | Middle East | UN condemns 'war crimes' in Gaza
Sep 16, 2009 ... There is evidence that both Israeli and Palestinian forces committed war crimes in the Gaza conflict, the UN report concludes.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8257301.stm - Cached - Similar


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