Israel 'breaking law' with Gaza war

[leftchick]

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/01/2009115171631306757.html


The president of the United Nations General Assembly has accused Israel of violating international law with its war on Gaza in which almost 1,100 Palestinians have been killed, nearly half of them civilians.

"Gaza is ablaze. It has been turned into a burning hell," Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann told an emergency session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday.

He said Israel's offensive was "a war against a helpless, defenceless and imprisoned people" and accused Israel of carrying out attacks on civilian targets.

"The violations of international law inherent in the Gaza assault have been well documented: collective punishment, disproportionate military force attacks on civilian targets, including homes, mosques, universities, schools," he said.

He also rebuked UN member-states for their lack of action over the crisis, saying: "The may have found itself unable or unwilling to take the necessary steps to impose an immediate ceasefire, but outsourcing that effort to one or two governments, or through the quartet, does not relieve the council of its own responsibilities under the UN charter.

[EFerrari]

1. Well, Thomas Friedman agrees with d'Escoto that Israel is targeting civilians.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4831787

[azurnoir]

2. I wonder if his words could be used

as evidence in court? Probably not but at least they could be a premise.