Israel rejects blame in UN report for Gaza deaths cycle (2nd Roundup)

By JT Nguyen May 5, 2009, 20:56 GMT

New York - Israel Tuesday rejected a report by United Nations investigators that found its mortars had killed 30 to 40 Palestinians at the Jabalia school in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas conflict earlier this year.

The incident was one of six incidents in which a three-member investigation board held Israel Defence Forces (IDF) responsible for deaths or damages.

While acknowledging Israel's strong objections to all of the findings, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon supported the results, saying a summary released in New York was a 'faithful and objective reflection' of the findings.

The investigators called on Israel to acknowledge it had filed 'untrue' statements about attacks against the Jabalia school and a UN compound, and to express regret. They also suggested Israel should be pay reparations and reimbursement for deaths and injuries to UN personnel and property damage.

Ban said the board had developed a 'clear record' of facts.

'This summary is a faithful and objective reflection of the board's full report,' Ban said. 'I fully respect the complete independence of the board's activities and assessments.'

The Israeli government said its forces did not 'intentionally fire' at UN installations and charged that Hamas 'deliberately' positioned its fighters in built-up areas and 'cynically and manipulatively' used civilians as human shields.

'The state of Israel rejects the criticism in the board's summary report, and determines that in both spirit and language, the report is tendentious, patently biased, and ignores the facts presented to it,' the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.

'The board has preferred the claims of Hamas, a murderous terror organization, and by doing so has misled the world,' Israel said.

Israeli President Shimon Peres, after meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House, called the report 'one-sided.'

US State Department acting spokesman Robert Wood said the United States was reviewing the report's findings but said it was necessary to 'refrain from politicization.'

The 30 to 40 deaths took place at and near the Jabalia school in Gaza Strip, where hundreds of others had taken refuge during the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to the report.

A summary of the 184-page report was given to the UN Security Council at UN headquarters in New York.

The report said there was 'undisputed cause' that the IDF was responsible for six of nine attacks against UN-run compounds in Gaza while it fought Hamas militias.

In the Jabalia school case, the IDF fired mortar around the building on January 6, killing 30 to 40 Palestinians, the investigators found. The site was the refuge of hundreds of Palestinians who had fled the Israel-Hamas conflict in December and January.

'The board found that the undisputed cause of the injuries and the deaths to persons in the immediate vicinity of the school was the firing of 122 mm mortar rounds by the IDF, which landed in the area outside the school and at the compound of a family home nearby,' the report said.

The IDF claimed Hamas had used the school to fire missiles against Israel. But the board said 'there was no firing from within the compound and (it found) no explosives within the school.'

The report said the IDF had been given GPS coordinates of the Jabalia school, one of 91 shelter locations given to the IDF to avoid before it launched Operation Cast Lead against Hamas militias in Gaza.

'In six of the nine incidents, the board concluded that the death, injuries and damage involved were caused by military actions, using munitions launched or dropped from the air or fired from the ground, by the Israeli Defense Forces,' the investigators found.

The other incidents involved damage and deaths at the Asma school, the Bureij health center, a field office compound, the Beit Lahia school and a UN compound. The schools and field office were run by the UN refugee agency in the Middle East known as UNWRA.

Ban defended the neutrality of the three-member board, headed by UN veteran troubleshooter Ian Martin, and said that the report was an internal UN document.

'I would like to highlight my deep and abiding concern for the civilians of Gaza Strip and Israel, and their right to live in peace and security, free from the threat of violence and terrorism,' Ban said in prefacing the report.

He noted that while the plight of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza was reflected in the report, 'we should keep in mind that Israeli civilians in southern Israel faced and continue to face indiscriminate rockets of Hamas and other militant groups.'