06 July 2009

UN Fact Finding Mission

“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts." — Abraham Lincoln



After flying into Tel Aviv during the attacks on Gaza in January of this year I have been trying to follow it closely. Its normal I guess for me to want someone to have to pay the piper... in this case that someone would be those who called the shots (figuratively and literally) during the attacks early this year. In April of this year the UN established a Fact Finding Mission and the NGO I worked for in Jerusalem provided testimony in front of this commission last week.
To my dismay and I can't say surprise, Israel is not cooperating with the Mission and further more is completely cutting off access to the areas under its control.

Here is the full article

and an excerpt:

Israel refuses to cooperate with this UN Fact Finding Mission, established in April 2009 by the UN Human Rights Council and is not permitting access to areas under its control, thus rendering implementation of the Mission’s already challenging mandate that much more difficult. Mission members are accordingly unable to gain first-hand evidence and impressions of rights issues related to Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Israeli damage to property and human lives in the Gaza Strip did not end with “Operation Cast Lead” and continues to this day through the ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip.

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