#1 Human Rights Watch rejects Hamas' claims on rockets
Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 4:37 pm
BBC
I don't blame the Palestinian civilians are hating Israel. It is after all Israeli bombs dropping on them and their reaction is human and the same one that any of us would feel in their situation. On the flip side I don't Israel for bombing them either. Let me point out that during those rocket attacks Israel withheld from counterattacking for months. Most nations wouldn't hold back for a day. Peace isn't gonna reached anytime soon.
In my view listing the causalities doesn't actually tell you much. And seems to be really just an attempt to pull on emotions. Israeli's causalities are low due to a mass infrastructure designed to protect and shelter civilians from these attacks. If Gaza had large well built bomb shelters fewer Palestinians would be dead to. Another has to do with the deployment practices of HAMAS. HAMAS likes to set itself up right next to civilians whenever possible, for use as shields. Even then Israel doesn't stop from blowing them up. That's okay to HAMAS, because then those dead civies they sacrificed are now useful as martyrs to pull in their surviving family members for fresh fodder.Human Rights Watch has rejected claims by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that it did not target civilians during the war in Gaza a year ago.
Hamas said that the hundreds of missiles launched at Israel during an offensive on the Gaza Strip were targeted at the Israeli military.
But Human Rights Watch said the claim Hamas rockets only accidentally harmed civilians was "belied by the facts".
A UN-backed report accused both Hamas and Israel of committing war crimes.
Israel launched a 22-day offensive against the Gaza Strip in December 2008, bombing Palestinian cities before sending in ground troops.
Hamas launched its highly inaccurate Qassam rockets in increased numbers at Israeli towns near the Gaza border, before agreeing to a ceasefire.
Palestinians and rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans died conflict but Israel puts the figure at 1,166. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed.
'War crime'
"Hamas' claim that rockets were intended to hit Israeli military targets and only accidentally harmed civilians is belied by the facts," the New York based group said.
"Civilians were the target, deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime."
A former international war crimes prosecutor, South African Judge Richard Goldstone, investigated the offensive and said crimes had been committed on both sides.
The UN General Assembly demanded that both sides launch independent investigations into their behaviour during the offensive, called Operation Cast Lead by the Israeli Defence Force.
I don't blame the Palestinian civilians are hating Israel. It is after all Israeli bombs dropping on them and their reaction is human and the same one that any of us would feel in their situation. On the flip side I don't Israel for bombing them either. Let me point out that during those rocket attacks Israel withheld from counterattacking for months. Most nations wouldn't hold back for a day. Peace isn't gonna reached anytime soon.