In refreshing fashion, the UN's Human Rights Council lambastes the murderous and colonial policies of Israel, writes Erica Silverman Palestinians in the Gaza Strip awoke Sunday morning for the first time in five months to a day free of the threat of physical violence and destruction wreaked by Israeli military forces. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to implement a ceasefire on Sunday morning, ending a five month-long series of Israeli military incursions into Gaza and regular shelling that claimed the lives or more than 457 people, a quarter of them children, and injured well over 1,000. Wanton destruction of homes, agricultural land and infrastructure rounded out the hellish summer. In a long-awaited unified political front, Palestinians assured Israel that rocket fire emanating from Gaza would cease, although a few rockets were fired into Israel shortly after the agreement was struck. Certain offshoots of Palestinian factions argue that Israel must also halt its military aggression in the West Bank before the ceasefire comes into effect. Prime Minister Olmert promised to exercise patience. The ceasefire renews hope for a political solution between the two sides, and gives President Abbas a significant achievement towards peace to present to US President Bush this week in Amman. The Palestinian Authority (PA) deployed security forces along Gaza's perimeter on Sunday, as Preventive Security Service forces and intelligence were increased inside the Strip to prevent violations of the ceasefire. "The agreement to stop firing rockets was agreed upon in the presence of all Palestinian factions," said a senior commander of the Hamas Executive Force, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicating newfound political will. "The [executive] force will work to stop the launching of rockets, by all factions, as part of the security apparatus. Our job is to maintain internal security only, while border security is the responsibility of PA national security forces," he said. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour ended a five-day trip to the region Wednesday. "I left Gaza with a sense that the right of its people to physical integrity -- their right to life -- was particularly imperilled. Beit Hanoun is only one case in many," she said, referring to the incident on 8 November in which Israel ruthlessly shelled a residential neighbourhood killing 20 civilians, nine of them children. The Israeli incursion into Gaza, cynically termed Operation Summer Rains and subsequently Autumn Clouds, began on 26 June, purportedly to halt the launching of Al-Qassam rockets into Israel and to secure the recovery of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas resistance fighters. On 6 July, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) decided to dispatch an urgent fact-finding mission headed by the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories. The HRC special session was prompted by Israel's arbitrary arrest of Palestinian lawmakers, as well as other civilians, military attacks against PA ministries, and the destruction of Gazan infrastructure, including water networks, power plants and bridges. John Dugard, who was to have led the mission said, "the Israeli government did not consent," and does not recognise his mandate. Dugard presented a graphic report to the UN General Assembly 5 September detailing the conflict in, and the siege of, Gaza, and called on the UN to "take real action" to halt what he describes as a "large scale violation [by Israel] of human rights and international law. In particular, Israel has violated the prohibition on the indiscriminate use of military power against civilians and civilian objects." Israel's use of lethal force against the civilian population in Gaza since the end of June failed to distinguish between military and civilian parties, inflicting mass suffering. Dugard's report enumerates the Israeli attacks, stating that "collective punishment was to be the instrument used to bring about regime change," referring to the Hamas-led government. Israel's bombardment of public utilities is the first violation cited. Israel destroyed all six transformers of the only domestic power plant in Gaza on 28 June, leaving residents without electricity and water supplies in sweltering summer temperatures. "Israel's military operations also destroyed the main water pipelines and sewage networks," read the report, while "frequent closure of the Nahal Oz pipeline, the only pipeline bringing fuel into Gaza, affected the use of back- up generators." Sanitation systems collapsed as raw sewage flowed through the streets, while hospitals were barely operational. Surgeries could not be performed and morgues could not preserve bodies. The bombardment of public buildings and facilities, including several ministries was also cited. Dugard made the point that Gaza, just like the West Bank and East Jerusalem, remains occupied territory, since "Israel retained control of Gaza's air space, sea space and external borders" after their withdrawal in September 2005. Israel's closure of Karni Crossing (Gaza's only commercial crossing) and Rafah (Gaza's only passenger crossing) inflicted widespread suffering on the civilian population. Karni's closure resulted in shortages of basic food supplies and medicine across the Strip. In July and August, staff from Gaza's primary hospital, Al-Shiffa Hospital, was left scavenging local pharmacies in search of antibiotics. "The actions of the IDF in respect to Gaza have clearly demonstrated that modern technology allows an occupying power to effectively control a territory even without a military presence," Dugard concluded. Most importantly, Dugard reported the "death and destruction" caused by repeated incursions, including home demolitions forcing thousands of families to seek refuge in UNRWA shelters. Regarding the use of lethal force, Arbour said, "it is imperative that there is a system of accountability available to Palestinians allowing for investigations, which are law- based, independent, transparent and accessible." If not the UN, then who could lead such an investigation? To date, there is no fact-finding mission to the region that has included an enquiry into the alleged use of new or illegal weaponry against the civilian population in Gaza, according to Dugard. "Many Palestinians have suffered burns concentrated in the lower body, which has resulted in a high number of amputations," he reported. Arbour also noted the impact of the "Barrier" -- or separation wall -- and the system of checkpoints, roadblocks, and trenches between Israel and the Palestinian territories, and internally within the West Bank, on the quality of life and "on human dignity and the sense of having any semblance of autonomy". Unemployment and poverty are soaring. "Central causes for this severe deterioration are the physical restrictions imposed on the territory by Israeli policies and practices," said the high commissioner. An improved economy will require freedom of movement, of goods (imports and exports) and people. "The plight of those imprisoned, captured or otherwise detained as a consequence of the crisis" requires "urgent attention", said Arbour. On Monday, the HRC overwhelmingly passed a resolution that urged Israel to halt expansion of settlements on occupied land, which should eventually be removed. However, there is debate within the UN General Assembly over the role of the six-month-old HRC that has thus far only censured Israel. The HRC also passed resolutions condemning Israel's invasion of Lebanon. Dugard will visit the region next month before his tenure expires at the end of December. Dugard concludes: "while it is readily conceded that Israel faces a security threat and is entitled to defend itself, it must not be forgotten that the root cause of the security threat is the continued occupation of a people that wishes to exercise its right to self-determination in an independent state."
