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The Only Democracy? » On The Ground Reports » New Profile, European Union Urge UN to Hold Israel Accountable

New Profile, European Union Urge UN to Hold Israel Accountable

March 11th, 2010 | Add a Comment

By Rela Mazali.

On January 28th 2010, New Profile, a feminist movement working to demilitarize society and state in Israel, dispatched a letter to a list of top U.N. officials urging the U.N. General Assembly and the U.N. Security Council to intervene to ensure implementation of the recommendations made by the U.N. Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.

“If the United Nations and wider international community are to meet their responsibilities in upholding the rule of law,” New Profile wrote the U.N. Secretary-General, among others, “then concerted, effective and prompt action must be taken at the highest level to end the impunity and ensure the accountability of the State of Israel.”

Based on its long years of research-based, oppositional praxis, New Profile stated in conclusion, that, “the militarized system in place in Israel renders the State of Israel incapable of conducting its own implementation of the U.N. Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.”

To read the entire analysis corroborating New Profile’s claim and first-hand information on recent silencing measures encountered by the movement, please see the full text of this collaboratively composed letter (PDF).

UPDATE: Despite early reports of furious lobbying against the bill, the European Parliament has voted to endorse the Goldstone Report, condemning Israel’s crimes during the Gaza War and echoing New Profile’s call.

The European Parliament passed a resolution that said European Union states should “demand the implementation of the Goldstone report’s recommendations.”

The resolution, which was approved Wednesday by a vote of 335-287, said that the EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, should monitor the progress of the implementation of the U.N.-ordered report.

The parliament also expressed its concern about “pressure placed on NGOs involved in the document’s preparation” — a statement that apparently refers to the targeting of the New Israel Fund for supporting Israeli organizations that assisted South African judge Richard Goldstone’s committee in the preparation of his report.

The report accused Israel, as well as Hamas, of committing war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza last winter.

Here’s a video of Judge Richard Goldstone’s appearance on Al Jazeera.

Related posts:

  1. Letter from New Profile
  2. Israeli Schoolchildren Learn to Count with Tanks
  3. Israel to World: Screw You, We will Continue to Block Gaza

Written by

Rela Mazali is an author, an independent researcher, and a feminist peace activist from Israel. Active since 1980 in efforts to end Israel’s occupation, and a founding and active member of New Profile. She was one of eight women from Israel nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize by the Swiss-based One-thousand Peacewomen project. She initiated and took part in creating the 1993 documentary "Testimonies", on Israeli soldiers' actions in the first Palestinian Intifada, and served on the Jury of Conscience at the concluding session of the World Tribunal on Iraq (2005). Maps of Women’s Goings & Stayings (Stanford University Press, 2001), her interrogation of women's spatial existence, was described by reviewers as one of the best among recent "narratives in space and time, by women about women for women", a "daring departure from the conventions of being, telling, writing, and knowing". Her recently published study, "The Gun on the Kitchen Table: The Sexist Subtext of Private Policing in Israel," (in: Farr, Myrttinen & Schnabel eds., Sexed Pistols: The Gendered Impacts of Small Arms and Light Weapons, 2009, UN Univ. Press, Tokyo) closely scrutinizes Israel's domestic 'security guard' industry.

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