Khalil
14th December 2006, 16:06
Israel blocks Tutu’s UN mission
This is big news in South Africa while the Zionist controlled western media simply did not report it
Israel blocks Tutu’s UN mission (http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/article.aspx?ID=339590)
Israel has blocked a UN human rights fact-finding mission led by South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu into the killing of 19 Palestinians in their homes in the Gaza Strip, a United Nations official in Geneva said today.
Israeli authorities will not grant Tutu and his team the necessary travel authorisation, the official, who declined to be named, added.
The UN Human Rights Council voted on November 15 to set up the fact-finding mission into the deaths during an Israeli artillery bombardment in Beit Hanun. The mission was intended to assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors, and make recommendations on ways "to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli attacks".
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said that Israel was concerned about the mission’s platform, saying it "advances a biased anti-Israeli agenda".
Regev nevertheless said Israel was "still considering the request" for the mission’s authorisation to travel.
Israel has blocked similar UN human rights missions in the past, the UN official said. Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, chaired the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the end of the apartheid regime.
The decision to dispatch the mission revealed divisions within the Human Rights Council, which has been criticised by the outgoing Secretary General Kofi Annan for excessive focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Itzhak Levanon, said he had met Tutu to explain the decision and accused the Council of being silent on Palestinian violence.
"In my meeting with Reverend Tutu, I stressed the fact that our decision has nothing to do with the persons involved in the Mission, but rather with the Council itself, which has been hijacked by member states whose sole purpose is to criticise and besmirch Israel," Levanon said in a statement.
Levanon said there was strong public resentment in Israel at the Council’s perceived bias.
In the three special sessions called since the Council was set up earlier this year, it has exclusively condemned Israeli human rights violations in Palestinian territories and in Lebanon following appeals by Arab states.
Thirty-two countries in the 47-member Council, mainly from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, voted for the resolution setting up the mission headed by Tutu.
Eight countries, including Canada and European nations such as Britain and Germany, opposed the move. Six countries, including France, Switzerland and Japan, abstained.
UN human rights chief Louise Arbour said after meeting Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the region last month that transparent and credible investigations by Israel into incidents such as the deaths in Beit Hanun were key to breaking a climate of impunity in the region.
Nineteen Palestinians were killed on November 18 in the shelling of private homes in the northern Gaza town, which the Israeli military blamed on a technical malfunction
This is big news in South Africa while the Zionist controlled western media simply did not report it
Israel blocks Tutu’s UN mission (http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/article.aspx?ID=339590)
Israel has blocked a UN human rights fact-finding mission led by South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu into the killing of 19 Palestinians in their homes in the Gaza Strip, a United Nations official in Geneva said today.
Israeli authorities will not grant Tutu and his team the necessary travel authorisation, the official, who declined to be named, added.
The UN Human Rights Council voted on November 15 to set up the fact-finding mission into the deaths during an Israeli artillery bombardment in Beit Hanun. The mission was intended to assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors, and make recommendations on ways "to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli attacks".
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said that Israel was concerned about the mission’s platform, saying it "advances a biased anti-Israeli agenda".
Regev nevertheless said Israel was "still considering the request" for the mission’s authorisation to travel.
Israel has blocked similar UN human rights missions in the past, the UN official said. Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, chaired the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the end of the apartheid regime.
The decision to dispatch the mission revealed divisions within the Human Rights Council, which has been criticised by the outgoing Secretary General Kofi Annan for excessive focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Itzhak Levanon, said he had met Tutu to explain the decision and accused the Council of being silent on Palestinian violence.
"In my meeting with Reverend Tutu, I stressed the fact that our decision has nothing to do with the persons involved in the Mission, but rather with the Council itself, which has been hijacked by member states whose sole purpose is to criticise and besmirch Israel," Levanon said in a statement.
Levanon said there was strong public resentment in Israel at the Council’s perceived bias.
In the three special sessions called since the Council was set up earlier this year, it has exclusively condemned Israeli human rights violations in Palestinian territories and in Lebanon following appeals by Arab states.
Thirty-two countries in the 47-member Council, mainly from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, voted for the resolution setting up the mission headed by Tutu.
Eight countries, including Canada and European nations such as Britain and Germany, opposed the move. Six countries, including France, Switzerland and Japan, abstained.
UN human rights chief Louise Arbour said after meeting Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the region last month that transparent and credible investigations by Israel into incidents such as the deaths in Beit Hanun were key to breaking a climate of impunity in the region.
Nineteen Palestinians were killed on November 18 in the shelling of private homes in the northern Gaza town, which the Israeli military blamed on a technical malfunction