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16 July 2002. 6 Jamadi Al Awwal, 1423.
Call to prosecute Jenin killers
By a staff reporter
THE United Nations has proven incompetent and powerless in dealing with the situation in Palestine, said Professor Hans Koechler, President of the Vienna-based International Progress Organisation.
Delivering a keynote address to a conference on "Human Rights, Victims of War and International Law" which began in Abu Dhabi yesterday, Prof Koechler said: "Not only has the United Nations been unable to undertake credible and effective measures for the active protection of the Palestinian population, it has not even been in the position to undertake "passive" measures, namely sending a simple fact-finding team to the Jenin refugee camp".
In his address titled: "The United Nations Failure to enforce international law in Palestine and the need of effective mechanisms of international criminal law: The case of Jenin", he said that more than any other case in the recent history of war and occupation in Palestine, the atrocities - so far committed with impunity - in Jenin refugee camp had made it clear that only an independent entity such as the International Criminal Court would be able to prosecute such crimes in the future.
The total failure of UN system in undertaking an independent investigation of the grave violations of international human law by Israeli occupying forces in Palestine had highlighted once more the predicament of the UN organisation in all matters related to the Palestine issue in general and top the Palestinian right of self-determination and the continued hostile, illegal occupation of Palestinian land in particular.
"The Jenin tragedy may have been the catalyst of this development. It has exposed the total paralysis of the United Nations system when it comes to the protection of the civilian population in Palestine under the obligations resulting from the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949; it has made it clear beyond any doubt that effective, unbiased, mechanisms of international criminal law cannot be implemented by the Security Council, but only by an international entity that functions independently of the power constellation in the Security Council," Prof Koechler noted. "The UN has been condemned to follow a policy of double standards."
Justice for victims of war, whether in Jenin or in other areas of Palestine, would not be provided by an institution that is hostage to the most powerful member's bias in favour of the occupying power, but only a totally independent and impartial judicial institution.
The reasons for the extremely weak attitude on the part of the Security Council, vis-a-vis Israel was entirely political: any resolution with binding character, i.e. any resolution binding Israel to accept an independent international investigation of the atrocities committed in Jenin, would have been vetoed by at least one permanent member of the Security Council, namely the US.
Because of the traditional US bias in favour of Israel, the Security Council, if it adopts any resolution at all affecting Israeli interests, has been condemned to follow a policy of double standards, exempting the Israeli occupying power from measures adverse to Israeli interests.
Prof Koechler said that the early establishment of an internationally recognised sovereign State of Palestine would provide the possibility to accede to the Rome Statute of the ICC and thus warn all prospective perpetrators of war crimes in Palestine of the dire consequence of their behaviour.
