Ref:
42/2014

With
participation of representatives of political factions and CBOs, this morning, the
Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) has organized at PCHR’s head office
in Gaza City a consultative meeting on Israel’s ban on
access of the International Independent Commission of Inquiry to Gaza
“Schabas Commission” formed by the UN Human Rights Council.

Lawyer
Raji Sourani, PCHR’s Director, opened the meeting by congratulating the
attendants for Palestinian Independence Day on 15 November. He then explained
that what had happened during the latest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip
was unprecedented. Since 1948, Israeli has not made such wide-scale destruction,
and Palestinians civilians and civilian objects were in the eye of the storm.
Sourani added that the Israeli offensive included the following:

1. Large
areas were subjected to the Dahiya doctrine, i.e. a complete destruction of a
whole area similar to what had happened in Lebanon. This strategy was applied
in Beit Hanoun, Khuza’a and al-Zanna.

2. Applying
the Hannibal Directive that is in itself a war crime. This strategy was also
applied in in al-Shuja’iya and Rafah.

3. The
application of these 2 strategies in the Gaza Strip rendered 540,000 civilians
homeless, which means more 25% of the Gaza population has become homeless that
is an unprecedented number.

4. The
Israeli forces targeted facilities that should not be targeted such as
hospitals, as Israeli forces destroyed al-Wafa Hospital in Gaza, shelled Abu
Yusef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah and shelled al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir
al-Balah. Moreover, some people were injured while being in the operation rooms.
Israeli forces also shelled UNRWA shelters in which thousands of civilians were
sheltering although Israeli forces had the coordinates of these shelters. On
top of that, Israeli forces targeted the only power plant in the Gaza Strip and
wastewater treatment plants. Finally, multi-storey buildings were targeted in
an unprecedented mannser. These buildings resemble to some extent the Trade
Center in New York. The Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip left over 10,000
wounded persons, including 3,000 disabled persons. In addition, about 543
children and 326 women were killed. This number is dreadful as 81% of those who
were killed were civilians and 86% of the wounded were civilians too.

Sourani
added: for all of that, we called for the formation of a UN Commission of
Inquiry, but the Human Rights Council agreed on its formation in the last days
of the offensive due to the objection of some western countries like the USA
and Germany, which reflects the double-standard policy, especially as the
majority of the victims were Palestinians. Once the commission was formed and
headed by Prof. William Schabas, we welcomed it and expected the commission
would start its work immediately. However, the commission started its work late
for unclear reasons. Israel as usual has obstructed the work of the commission
and denied it access to the Gaza Strip. We experienced this with the Goldstone Fact-Finding
Mission on the Gaza Strip offensive 2008-2009, as the mission entered the Gaza
Strip and met with all parties. Goldstone report was great and professional
regardless of the political influence on the report.

We as
human rights organizations were surprised that Schabas Commission started its
work from Amman and we were also surprised that the Commission invited human
rights organizations, eyewitnesses and victims to travel to Amman to testify
before the Commission. We were shocked by this position; therefore, we as human
rights organizations met and issued a position, not towards the Commission
itself, but towards its presence in Amman. Our remarks were as follows:

1. Time,
i.e. the Commission’s work was delayed and this delay implies professional and
technical flaws, especially regarding the crime scene and how scenes changed
months after the offensive was over;

2. The
proportionality in using force cannot be comprehendible unless the Commission
is present in the crime scene and observe closely the size of crimes against
civilians and civilian property;

3. Although
the Commission knows that Gaza is under the siege for years, it insisted on
inviting witnesses, victims, human rights organizations and competent bodies to
go to Amman in light of their inability to move out of the Gaza Strip unless by
an Israeli permission;

4. We
heard that Egypt suggested offering a warplane to secure the safe passage of
the Commission to the Gaza Strip to facilitate its work there, but the UN
security refused it.

Sourani
at the end allowed questions raised by attendants, who called for local and
international action to exert pressure on the international community in order
to send the Commission to Gaza and investigate war crimes on the ground. The
most prominent suggestions were:

1. Human
rights organizations supported by political factions send a memo to the UN
explaining their position towards the Commission and its role;

2. Inviting
international journalists to the Gaza Strip and holding a press conference to
clarify the Palestinian position towards the Commission;

3. Sending
a popular delegation to file a complaint to the Human Rights Council on the
role of the Commission; and

4. The
importance to have Palestinian-Egyptian coordination on the highest political
levels to guarantee the Commission’s access to the Gaza Strip.