Ambassador Martin Uhomoibi,
President
UN Human Rights Council
Geneva, 28 December 2008.
Your Excellency,
We are writing to express our grave concern with the current situation in the Gaza Strip of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs). On 27 December 2008, at 11:30 hrs, Israeli military forces began bombarding Hamas militia and civilian targets killing approximately 275 individuals in a single day, the largest number of deaths caused by Israeli incursions into the OPTs in one day since 1967. This represents an unprecedented and dangerous escalation of the use of attacks on civilians and extrajudicial killings by Israel in the OPTs. The civilian death toll continues to increase.
Given the ongoing siege and closure of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military, Palestinian civilians have no safe areas to flee. The widespread use of disproportionate and indiscriminate force, including illegal killings, has also resulted in the destruction of civilian property. The attacks may also lead to devastating humanitarian consequences due to the prolonged lack of access to food, shelter and medication caused by the closure of the Gaza Strip.
Israel has justified these recent bombings as a response to rocket attacks by Hamas militias. Nonetheless, under international humanitarian law all parties to a conflict are strictly obligated to adhere to the principle of proportionality and to take all necessary precautions to prevent the loss of civilian lives when carrying out an attack. While Israel and Palestinian militants have violated these standards in the past, the most recent Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip demonstrates a wanton disregard for humanitarian and human rights standards on a an unprecedented level.
Given this situation, we urge the Human Rights Council to call for a Special Session on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Human Rights Council should take immediate steps to respond to the crisis, and should use a Special Session to decide on concrete measures to stop these current violations of International Humanitarian and human rights law in the OPTs. Any Special Session should provide for the immediate establishment of a fact finding mission to assess the human rights and humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, as well as violations committed by Israeli forces and Hamas militias
We also would like to call attention to Israel’s recent detention and deportation of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories. An act carried out in order to prevent him from carrying out his mandate in the OPTs. Resolution A/HRC/9/9 clearly states that all States involved in armed conflicts are obliged to facilitate the work of any mechanism that the Council may decide to establish, as and where appropriate, in response to such violations.
The international community has the responsibility to protect the civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Failure to address the situation in a timely and decisive manner, 17 days after the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, would severely damage the image and reputation of the UN and its main rights body the Human Rights Council.
We call on the Human Rights Council to fulfill General Assembly Resolution 60/251, under which the Human Rights Council is to “address situations of violations of human rights, including gross and systematic violations and make recommendations thereon”
Attacks on the Occupied Palestinian Territories have already taken a devastating toll on civilians and all necessary actions should be taken to halt civilian deaths. We therefore urge you to use your good offices as President of the Human Rights Council to encourage all HRC Member States to support the convening of a Special Session on these recent bombardments in the Gaza Strip.
Sincerely
Bahey eldin Hassan
Director, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
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