UN official: Apology insufficient when you kill 19 civilians

UN official: Apology insufficient when you kill 19 civilians(VIDEO) She's displeased with Israel's reaction to Beit Hanoun, says Qassams are illegal no matter the cause behind them and the PA is responsible for its territory. UN High Commissioner Louise Arbour speaks with Ynet about the situation and meeting Judge Aharon BarakAviram Zino


Commissioner Louise Arbour on Wednesday morning as she toured the town of Sderot. A Qassam rocket fired from Gaza hit a factory just 200 meters away from Arbour, killing an employee as he tried to make it to the bomb shelter in time.

Arbour asked her hosts to visit the scene and meet with residents who were less than thrilled to see her. Arbour, who is visiting both in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said that citizens on both sides expressed feelings of abandonment and neglect.
Speaking with Ynet. Arbour says that she urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to stop the Qassam fire, and that apologizing after the death of 19 civilians is simply not enough.

A lot of Palestinians claim that Israel is doing a kind of 'Holocaust', war crimes, in Gaza. Can you see any parallels here between Gaza, the Holocaust, what happened in Beit Hanoun…
Frankly I think that parallels to the Holocaust are very difficult, analogies to the Holocaust are very difficult to make. I think this is probably the darkest chapter in human history, or at least history within memory. And the order of magnitude… I think it's very dangerous to start making these kinds of analogies.

Israel claims that Hamas, Islamic Jihad are launching rockets into Sderot to harm innocent civilians and Israel is only protecting itself - yet the world treats both as equals, Israelis feel this is unfair. Can you understand this claim?

I do understand a lot of these arguments. Here's what I think and believe me I don't have all the solutions – if I did I'm sure I'd have a Nobel Prize and I'd be a great hero – it's a very complex situation politically, but here's what I think is the framework: Firsty I think that governments have not only the right, the have the duty to protect, not only their citizens but all the people who fall under their jurisdiction.

People depend on the government for their protection and are entitled to call on governments to protect them. I think that what is lacking now is accountability.
Frankly I don't think it's sufficient for the armed forces, after 19 innocent civilians are killed in their house, in their bed, two days later to say 'well, this was an accident'. It's not enough; it does not persuade the victims that this is the truth. I don't think it persuades the community at large and it certainly doesn't give any guarantee that it won't happen again.
What of the accountability of the Palestinian leaders regarding the attacks emanating from their territory?

Responsibility lies also on the Palestinian Authority, and I made that very clear in my conversion with President Mahmoud Abbas, I told him, 'You have to denounce, investigate, stop, punish the perpetrators of the launch of these Qassam rockets which target innocent civilians in Israel.

It's not a question of whether strategically it's a good idea to do it, whether it advances your cause, whether you have a good cause, that's beside the point – it is an illegal activity, it has to be condemned and all efforts have to be made to stop it.

'Israelis should be very proud of their courts' Arbour was born in Montréal, Canada in 1947 and studied law at the local university. She was appointed to the bench in 1987 became chief prosecutor on behalf of the UN Security Council war crime tribunals in Rwanda and Yugoslavia. In 1999 she was appointed Puisne Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court.
Before arriving in Israel Arbour sought to fulfill a personal request and asked the Israeli ambassador to Geneva to arrange a meeting for her with former Israeli Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak.
"It was a real treat," said Arbour, "in fact it made me quite nostalgic of my own work in the judiciary (system). And I will take every opportunity to tell that also to Israeli politicians – courts in general are the place where the backbone of the rule of law is developed and is preserved and I believe politicians, even when they disagree with the decision of the court, should always be the champions of the preservation of the institution. I think in particular in this country where the court is so sophisticated, so professional, so well respected all over the world, I think Israelis should be very proud of their court."

VIDEO at:

http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3331812,00.html