“Until now we don’t understand why. We want peace; and we want an investigation; we want to know why me and my sisters have been orphaned. Why did they kill our parents, our family?” Fathiya Mousa, whose parents and siblings were killed in an Israeli air strike while sitting in their yard (see Chapter 1.1.2).
Imagine starting off your report with the above quote. Is it a bit ... biased / slanted / subjective?
Amnesty International did. Their pdf file / report at this hyperlink or if that is too lengthy a process, try HERE.
At 11.30am on 27 December 2008, without warning, Israeli forces began a
devastating bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip codenamed Operation “Cast
Lead”. Its stated aim was to end rocket attacks into Israel by armed groups
affiliated with Hamas and other Palestinian factions. By 18 January 2009,
when unilateral ceasefires were announced by both Israel and Hamas, some
1,400 Palestinians had been killed, including some 300 children and
hundreds of other unarmed civilians, and large areas of Gaza had been razed to the
ground, leaving many thousands homeless and the already dire economy in
ruins.Much of the destruction was wanton and resulted from direct attacks on
civilian objects as well as indiscriminate attacks that failed to distinguish
between legitimate military targets and civilian objects. Such attacks
violated fundamental provisions of international humanitarian law, notably
the prohibition on direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects (the
principle of distinction), the prohibition on indiscriminate or disproportionate
attacks, and the prohibition on collective punishment.Hundreds of civilians were killed in attacks carried out using high-precision weapons – airdelivered bombs and missiles, and tank shells. Others, including women and
children, were shot at short range when posing no threat to the lives of the
Israeli soldiers. Aerial bombardments launched from Israeli F-16 combat
aircraft targeted and destroyed civilian homes without warning, killing and
injuring scores of their inhabitants, often while they slept.Children playing on the roofs of their homes or in the street and other civilians going
about their daily business, as well as medical staff attending the wounded
were killed in broad daylight by Hellfire and other highly accurate missiles
launched from helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, and
by precision projectiles fired from tanks. Disturbing questions remain unanswered as to why such high-precision weapons, whose operators can see even small details of their targets and which can accurately strike even fast moving vehicles,1 killed so many children and other civilians.
[...]
In several cases Israeli soldiers also used civilians, including children, as
“human shields”, endangering their lives by forcing them to remain in or near
houses which they took over and used as military positions. Some were forced
to carry out dangerous tasks such as inspecting properties or objects suspected of being booby-trapped. Soldiers also took position and launched attacks from and around inhabited houses, exposing local residents to the danger of attacks or of being caught in the crossfire.
Amnesty Report:
“I want aggressiveness – if there’s someone suspicious on the upper floor of a
house, we’ll shell it. If we have suspicions about a house, we’ll take it down… There will be no hesitation… Nobody will deliberate – let the mistakes be over their lives, not ours.” An Israeli company commander in a security briefing to soldiers during Operation “Cast Lead”.11
What the original source says is:
"We're going to war," he told his soldiers. "We're not doing routine security work or anything like that. I want aggressiveness - if there's someone suspicious on the upper floor of a house, we'll shell it. If we have suspicions about a house, we'll take it down." "There will be no hesitation," the commander continued. "If it's us or them, it'll be them. If someone approaches us unarmed, shoot in the air. If he keeps going, that man is dead. Nobody will deliberate - let the mistakes be over their lives, not ours."
Are the two accounts different. Yes.
We live on two different planets.
I don't wish to live on their planet.
To be honest, I have never deeply felt very much affection or affinity for Amnesty, BUT after reading this full report I can say with certainty - I will never value anything they have to say again - unless it is an apology.
What is funnier is the Los Angeles Times had an opinion piece claiming Amnesty criticized both sides equally. I read the report and found very little about Hamas and their role. When it did surface it was separate from actions taken by Israel rather than as the cause of actions taken.
I wanted to, well, I did several times, stop reading and walk outside and take deep breaths. It is frustrating to say the very least.
Really want to be frustrated!!
- Some of those civilians Israel killed during the Operation can be found at this hyperlink.
Posts
