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25/01/2009 Israel claimed Hamas was turning the victim into an attacker , signaling the Israeli community, following the Gaza war which killed more than 1,300 people and injured more than 5,000 others.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accused Hamas on Sunday of "attempting to turn the victim into the attacker and the attacker into the victim ‘through a spiral moral policy.’
Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Olmert addressed calls across the world to put Israel soldiers on trial over war crimes committed in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.
The government approves a motion aimed at backing the soldiers and commanders in case of a wave of lawsuits worldwide following the operation.
The prime minister warned the world of what he defined as "the international slalom aimed at turning the aggressors into victims".
"This has been the policy of Hamas and the terror organizations for years, to fight until the last drop of blood of Gaza's residents and hurt them.
"After the operation, the terror organizations are attempting to use different measures to harm us. This is the legal arena. The truth is that they have fired immorally at us, aiming at children and parents rather than at soldiers and military facilities," Olmert said.
"I am not familiar with a more ethical and decent army than the IDF. I have personally witnessed, and the defense minister and chief of staff can testify to this, many cases in which IDF soldiers refrained from executing operations and moved bombs from their course so as not to hurt civilians – even when terrorists were hiding within a civilian population."
Israel is accused of excessively using internationally banned weapons like white phosphorus in densely populated areas in Gaza.
Of the victims of the war, over 350 children were killed.
Richard Falk, an independent UN rights expert, said last week there was compelling evidence that Israel breached basic humanitarian rules and the laws of war by conducting a large-scale military operation "against an essentially defenseless population."
Colonel Yigal Slovik, commander of the 401st Brigade of the Armor Corps, told Ynet on Thursday, "I have no qualms about the manner in which I operated. At worst I'll be denied entry to a few European countries. My subordinates and I have chosen this profession out of faith in the righteousness of our path; we sacrifice much more than a trip to London."
Haneyya gov't forms committee to file war crime charges against Israel
[ 25/01/2009 - 12:35 PM ]
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian government headed by premier Ismail Haneyya formed an official committee to document the Israeli atrocities committed in the Gaza Strip in order to prosecute Israel's leaders as war criminals in regional and international courts.
Minister of justice Mohamed Al-Ghoul called on all international and local institutions working in the field of law or human rights to coordinate with this official committee, stressing the need to pool and intensify all efforts to confront the Israeli occupation and its Nazi leaders in order to achieve the desired objectives.
In another context, minister of social affairs Ahmed Kurd announced on Saturday the formation of the higher national committee for relief in order to coordinate and supervise urgent relief operations for the citizens affected by the Israeli war on Gaza.
Kurd told a news conference that the committee is formed of the ministry of social affairs in addition to Palestinian factions and institutions of civil society, noting that this committee is the only one operating in Gaza.
The minister explained that the committee would be the only authority which is referred to in relief efforts in order to provide transparency and ensure the distribution of relief assistance to all segments of the society.
He stressed that the ministry had contacts with all Palestinian factions in Gaza including Fatah, where a representative of Fatah participated in the preparatory meeting of the committee.
Kurd said that the committee would distribute more than 35 million euros to those affected by the aggression on Gaza.
The minister pointed out that the committee is not for the reconstruction of destroyed areas, but it was formed to provide instant relief to all citizens who were wounded or whose houses were destroyed partially or completely, adding that the reconstruction efforts need enormous amounts of money and coordination with donor countries.
In an exclusive statement to the PIC, Dr. Mohamed Askool, the minister of education stated that the opening of the second school semester and the return of students to classrooms on Saturday represent a message to the Israeli occupation that Palestinian students decided to continue their lives in defiance of the size of pain and destruction it caused in Gaza.
Dr. Askool said that 250,000 students from all levels returned to 380 schools in Gaza, adding that the destruction that affected some schools was addressed through transferring students to other schools.
About 200,000 students studying in UNRWA schools also returned on the same day to classrooms.
Haneyya gov't denies IFJ accusations
The Palestinian government in Gaza headed by Ismail Haneyya on Sunday belied accusations voiced by the secretary general of the international federation of journalists, Aiden White.
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