Renewed violence as Israel responds to first lethal rocket attack since 2005
CAIRO: Warplanes raided targets in the Gaza Strip Thursday in response to rocket attacks that killed an Israeli woman and injured two others earlier this week, according to reports.
Israeli officials said the aerial assault centered on military targets used by fighters, Agence France Press reported.
On Wednesday, a 57-year-old Israeli woman was killed after a Qassam rocket launched from Gaza slammed into a residential neighborhood in the border town of Sderot.
The rocket landed about 100 meters away from the home of Israel’s Defense Minister Amir Peretz, where it also wounded one of his bodyguards, according to London’s Independent newspaper.
The military wing of Hamas and Islamic Jihad both claimed responsibility for the attack.
The woman is the ninth civilian since 2000 to be killed by a Qassam rocket attack, and Peretz said on Wednesday that those responsible would pay a “heavy price for the attacks. Later that day, another rocket hit the center of Sderot, injuring a 17-year-old Israeli boy.
The violence comes two days after a special UN human rights body called on Palestinians to end the “cycle of violence in the region and implored the international community to implement economic sanctions against Israel if it doesn’t improve its human rights record in Palestine.
The report draws attention to travel restrictions, the confiscation of Palestinian lands, extrajudicial killings and “excessive use of force.
“What we have seen this year is much, much worse than in previous years, said Prasad Kariyawasam, a Sri Lankan UN official who headed up the report, at a press conference on Tuesday.
“It looks like they are imprisoned in Gaza, he said. “It’s a very, very sad situation.
Echoing a decision by the International Court of Justice in 2004, the report also says that Israel should cease building a wall that separates the Palestinian territories.
However, when asked by The Daily Star Egypt how realistic the report’s recommendations were, Kariyawasam replied, “We don’t want to get involved in how realistic it is or isn’t.it’s up to the international community to decide.
“As you know, there are some countries in the UN that aren’t supporting our work, he said.
Kariyawasam added that during the research period earlier this year, Israeli officials “denied us access and refused to cooperate with us.
However, an official with the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the committee investigating the abuses is anti-Israeli and a waste of UN resources.
“We’re opposed to the special committee because we think it’s a relic of the cold war.
Sandra Simovich, a representative with the Department for Human Rights in Israel’s Foreign Ministry, however, deflected the criticism and said the UN is neglecting more serious humanitarian crises, like the refugee issue in the Darfur region of Sudan.
“You must know that there are other humanitarian crises in the world, and the world behaves like it isn’t interested, she said in a telephone interview.
While Simovich noted that Israel is eager to work to improve the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories, she said that parts of the current UN framework to deal with the issues are flawed.
While the report may not have an immediate impact on international opinion, in the long run, it puts pressure on Israel and other governments to work towards a solution, says Susan Akram, an expert on Palestinian legal issues and a visiting professor at the American University in Cairo.
“I take a very long view of what the UN machinery can accomplish, she says.
Drawing comparisons to the situation in South Africa before the end of apartheid, Akram pointed to the 2004 ICJ decision as a “watershed for Palestinians.
“None of these is important in and of itself, but they create a lot of pressure on other states to act, she said.
The report aimed to meet with 18 witnesses, however, due to travel restrictions, the researchers were only able to meet personally with four Palestinians. Four more witnesses had to be interviewed over the phone – a fact the authors say represents the restrictions on Palestinians. Information was also gathered from non-governmental organizations and aid agencies.
