The Israeli military announced on July 29 that it was investigating five incidents where Israeli soldiers allegedly killed civilians holding white flags, including at least two of the incidents in the report - the ‘Abd Rabbo and al-Najjar cases. Human Rights Watch expressed hope that Israel would carry out a full and impartial investigation into these incidents, but said that Israels poor record on investigations made objective probes unlikely. The military said it was conducting field investigations into about 100 incidents altogether involving its alleged violations of the laws of war during the Gaza operation. Field investigations typically consist of asking soldiers to question other soldiers, without seeking or considering testimony from external witnesses, and taking exculpatory claims of soldiers at face value. As of August 10, for example, no one from the military had contacted members of the ‘Abd Rabbo or al-Najjar families to ask about the deaths of their relatives. The Israel Defense Forces have for years permitted a pervasive culture of impunity regarding unlawful Palestinian deaths, Stork said. Field investigations may serve a useful military purpose, but they are inadequate to determine whether a soldier violated the laws of war, and serve as a pretext that a serious investigation is taking place.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 11:58:40 +0000
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