In a letter to the commission, a copy of which was seen by the Reuters news agency, Canadian academic William Schabas said on Monday he would step down immediately to prevent the issue from overshadowing the preparation of the report and its findings, which are due to be published in March.
Schabas was appointed last August by the head of the UN Human Rights Council to lead a three-member group looking into alleged war crimes during Israel's military offensive against Gaza.
Schabas' departure highlights the sensitivity of the UN investigation just weeks after prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague said they had started a preliminary inquiry into alleged atrocities in the Palestinian territories.
In the letter, Schabas said a legal opinion he wrote for the PLO in 2012, for which he was paid $1,300, was not different from advice he had given to many other governments and organisations.
"My views on Israel and Palestine as well as on many other issues were well known and very public," Schabas said.
"This work in defence of human rights appears to have made me a huge target for malicious attacks."
Claims against Schabas
Israel had long criticised Schabas' appointment, citing his record as a strong critic of the country and its current political leadership.
Schabas said his work for the PLO had prompted the Human Rights Council's executive on Monday to seek legal advice about his position from UN headquarters.
"I believe that it is difficult for the work to continue while a procedure is underway to consider whether the chair of the commission should be removed," Schabas said.
The commission had largely finished gathering evidence and had begun writing the report, he added.
The commission is looking into the behaviour of both the Israelis and of Hamas, the movement that controls Gaza.
aljazeera.com and Reuters
3/2/15
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The head of a U.N. inquiry into last summer’s conflict between Israel and Gaza said on Monday he would resign after Israeli allegations of bias due to consultancy work he did for the Palestine Liberation Organization...
ReplyDeleteCanadian academic William Schabas was appointed last August by the head of the United Nations Human Rights Council to lead a three-member group looking into alleged war crimes during Israel's military offensive in Gaza.
In a letter to the commission, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, Schabas said he would step down immediately to prevent the issue from overshadowing the preparation of the report and its findings, which are due to be published in March...............http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/02/03/Head-of-U-N-inquiry-into-Gaza-conflict-to-quit-over-Israeli-bias-claim.html
3/2/15
Netanyahu welcomes Schabas' resignation from UN Gaza probe, says time to discard report ...
ReplyDeleteBenjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday responded to the decision by Canadian jurist William Schabas to step down from the United Nations’ investigation into the recent Gaza war by saying that the report that he was working on should also be discarded.
The Schabas commission was established by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), a body that Netanyahu said was an anti-Israel institution that has shown through its decision that there is no connection between it and human rights.
The commission has concluded collecting evidence, and is scheduled to present its conclusions to the UNHRC on March 23.
“This is the same body that only in 2014 passed more resolutions against Israel than against Iran, Syria and North Korea combined,” Netanyahu said. “Hamas, other terrorist organizations and the terror regimes around us are the ones who need to be investigated, and not Israel.”
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Netanyahu-welcomes-Schabas-resignation-from-UN-Gaza-probe-says-time-to-discard-report-389815
3/2/15
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Tuesday that Canadian jurist William Schabas’ resignation from the chairmanship of the UN Human Rights Council’s probe into Operation Protective Edge was another “diplomatic victory” for Israel and the dedicated hard working staff in his ministry...
ReplyDelete“It proves that even the biggest hypocrites in international bodies cannot ignore the fact that appointing Schabas to investigate Israel was like appointing Cain to investigate who killed Abel,” he said.
Liberman added that he did not believe Schabas’ departure, however, would change the nature of the report, which is expected to condemn Israel.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Liberman-hails-Schabas-resignation-from-UN-Gaza-probe-as-diplomatic-victory-389811
3/2/15