US, Australia oppose UN move for probe into Gaza killings

International Desk: Australia has defended its role as one of only two countries - along with the United States - to reject a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution to investigate the killings of dozens of Palestinians in Gaza on the grounds it prejudged Israel.

Australia and US were the only countries to vote against the resolution to send a commission of investigators, but it passed with the backing of 29 members of the 47-nation UN human rights body. Another 14 countries including Britain, Germany and Japan, abstained.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told Fairfax Media the resolution prejudged the outcome and failed to acknowledge the role of the Palestinian group Hamas in inciting the protests in Gaza. Some 62 people were killed by the Israeli military's response.

"Australia voted against the Human Rights Council resolution because of our principled opposition to resolutions that fail the test of balance and impartiality," Ms Bishop said.

"The UNHRC resolution pre-judged the outcome of an inquiry into violations of international law in the context of large-scale civilian protests in the Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem.

"Nor did it refer to the role of Hamas in inciting violent protests."

She said Australia would still consider specific proposals for external investigations into the incidents "on their merits".

The council - which Australia joined in January after campaigning for two years - issued a statement condemning "the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by the Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians, including in the context of peaceful protests".

It had gathered for an urgent meeting on Friday night, Australian time.

Israel's ambassador in Geneva, Aviva Raz Shechter, castigated the council for "spreading lies against Israel "during "five hours of ludicrous statements".

"Simply put, with this resolution, this council has reached a new height of hypocrisy, and the lowest standards of credibility," she said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it totally rejected the resolution, adding the entire purpose of the council was "not to investigate the truth but to compromise Israel's right to self-defence and to single out the Jewish state for demonisation".

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki welcomed the UN decision.

“The Human Rights Council's formation of an international committee of investigation is a step towards doing justice to the Palestinian people,” he said in a statement. He urged speedy implementation "to stop Israeli war crimes".

The special session of the Human Rights Council was convened after the bloodiest day for Palestinians in years on Monday, when 60 were killed by Israeli gunfire during demonstrations that Israel said included attempts to breach its frontier fence.

"Nobody has been made safer by the horrific events of the past week," UN human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein said as he opened the debate.

Israeli forces had killed 106 Palestinians, including 15 children, since March 30, he said. More than 12,000 were injured, at least 3500 by live ammunition. Israel was an occupying power under international law, obliged to protect the people of Gaza and ensure their welfare, he said.

"But they are, in essence, caged in a toxic slum from birth to death; deprived of dignity; dehumanised by the Israeli authorities to such a point it appears officials do not even consider that these men and women have a right, as well as every reason, to protest."

Israel says the deaths took place in protests organised by Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, which intentionally provoked the violence, an accusation Hamas denies.

Israel and the United States complain that the Human Rights Council, made up of 47 states chosen by the UN General Assembly, has a permanent anti-Israel bias.

The US has stood by Israel during the past week's violence, which coincided with the opening of a new US embassy in Jerusalem. American charge d'affaires Theodore Allegra said the Council was ignoring the real culprit: Hamas.

"The one-sided action proposed by the council today only further shows that the Human Rights Council is indeed a broken body," he said.

Two million people live in Gaza, most of them stateless descendants of refugees from homes in what is now Israel at its founding in 1948.

The territory has been run by Hamas since 2007, during which time the sides have fought three wars. Hamas denies Israel's right to exist.

Israel and Egypt, on the other side of Gaza, maintain a blockade of Gaza for security reasons, which the United Nations says has led to the collapse of Gaza's economy.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald


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