IAF commends UN report on Gaza conflict, urges Arabs to concern about the Palestinian issue

The Islamic Action Front (IAF) in Jordan on Wednesday lauded a UN report on Israel’s offensive eight months ago against the Gaza Strip.

The UN report, released by the UN fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict on Tuesday, highlighted that Israel committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during Gaza conflict, saying the Arabs should use the report to serve the Palestinian issue.

“The report accusing Israel of committing war crimes and violating the humanitarian international law is a positive and unprecedented move that the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference should deploy in their efforts to support the Palestinians and help them restore their rights,” said Ishaq Farhan, secretary general of the IAF, the political arm of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, said in a statement Wednesday.

“There was evidence indicating Israel had committed serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the Gaza conflict and actions amounting to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity,” according to the report.

During the 22-day conflict, which started on Dec. 27, 2008, about 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

The IAF commended the UN’s report for recommending that “Israel immediately cease border closures and restrictions of passage through border crossings with the Gaza Strip.”

However, the IAF also had some criticism for the report. “It made the Palestinians who are the victims and the Israelis who are the aggressors seem equal in the blame for the conflict,” Farhan said.

The report also read that “evidence exists that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes, as well as possibly crimes against humanity, in their repeated launching of rockets and mortars into southern Israel.”

The fact-finding mission, established in April by the UN Human Rights Council, that had been charged with investigating, said that all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at anytime in the context of the military operations conducted during eight-month Gaza war, said the UN website.