Palestinian UN envoy urges for end of impunity of Israeli crimes

Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour Wednesday called on the international community to end impunity of Israeli crimes and take a clear stand for unholding justice and international law.

Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the UN, made this remarks at his address to a plenary General Assembly session here to consider a Goldstone report which accused both Israel and Hamas militants of war crimes during the 22-day Gaza conflict that broke out on Dec. 27, 2008.

"There is no doubt the Human Rights Council's endorsement of the Goldstone Report and its recommendations constitutes a significant step towards ending the insidious culture of impunity that has for too long prevailed and towards ensuring accountability for the perpetration of crimes and ensuring justice for the Palestinian people," Mansour told the General Assembly.

Calling Israel "the occupying Power," Mansour said it has collectively punished, imprisoned and deprived more than 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip from all of their basic rights for more than two years.

Yet as Israel "has no fear of being held accountable for its crimes," the Israeli blockade continues to be imposed despite repeated international appeals to end such unlawful measures, the Palestinian envoy said.

He called upon countries to stand together and united to face the most important test of credibility, integrity, and sustainability of the international system based upon international laws.

"We must not allow our discussion today to become just another opportunity to express our sympathies and display respect for international law," Mansour said, adding that "words of sympathy will not suffice to compensate for the decades of violence, oppression."

He said only firm intolerance and a principled commitment to the law "are what will help us to break this cycle of impunity and bring an end to the crimes that have caused so much suffering and prolonged this tragic conflict."

Wednesday's plenary session will put the draft resolution to vote after the debate, Jean-Victor Nkolo, the spokesman for the president of the 64th GA session, told reporters Tuesday.

The non-binding resolution, pushed by the Arab Group in the United Nations, could easily be adopted by the General Assembly to back the implementation of the proposals contained in the Goldstone report despite opposition from Israel and its allies the United States and the European Union, diplomatic sources told Xinhua.

Calling the draft resolution "representing a serious, responsible, collective effort to address the serious human rights violations," Mansour urged strong support for it from the member states.

A four-member investigative team, led by Richard Goldstone from South Africa, found evidence that both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants committed serious war crimes and breaches of humanitarian law, which may amount to crimes against humanity, during the conflict.

At the end of the 22-day conflict in Gaza, more than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis had been killed. Israel has rejected the report on the ground that it is "biased" and "one-sided."

The Geneva-based Human Rights Council, when it took up the report two weeks ago, had strongly condemned a host of Israeli measures in the occupied Palestinian territory and called on both sides to implement the mission's recommendations.

Source: Xinhua