Yahoo news:
Alarmed by the recent violence in Gaza and Israel,
the top United Nations (UN) human rights official
has called for an investigation into the reported
killings of dozens of civilians, including children,
by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
"Israel, as the occupying power, bears a particular
responsibility under international human rights and
humanitarian law to protect the civilian population
and civilian installations in Gaza," UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour
said in a statement issued in Geneva. She called
on the Israeli government
"to conduct impartial investigations into the killings of civilians,
make the findings public and hold any perpetrators accountable".
While recognising Israel''s right to defend itself, she
condemned the IDF''s "disproportionate use of force".
The attacks targeted Palestinian groups who launched
dozens of rockets into southern Israel. Reports said the
operations, which prompted an emergency UN Security
Council session Saturday night, resulted in the deaths of
at least 110 Palestinians since Wednesday, according to
Palestinian medical sources.
The IDF said two Israeli soldiers were killed.
-- Both UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the
Security Council have condemned the escalating
violence in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel. Meanwhile,
the Gulf News daily, in its editorial, said any time Israel
committed atrocities in the Occupied Territories,
the first reaction from the international community would be:
Israel has the right to defend itself. "Don''t the Palestinians
have a right to defend themselves from Israel''s brutal and
indiscriminate killings. Gaza remains under occupation;
any country or region under occupation has a right to
defend itself; the Gazans don''t have the military power
to fight back," the Dubai-based English daily said.
It noted that the occupier (Israel) and the occupied
(the Gaza Strip) were being treated as equals by the
international community in a very unequal situation.
"There is no comparison at all between the fire power of
Israel and the Palestinians -- a fact that is being totally
ignored. And it is precisely this oversight that enables the
Jewish state to behave the way it wants to,"
the newspaper said.
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