planet earth looks blue

The international group, Human Rights Watch called on the UN to investigate possible human rights violations in the short war between Israel and Gaza at the end of last year, which left over 1,300 Palestinians dead, many of which were civilians, 3 Israeli civilians, and 10 Israeli soldiers.  On January 12 of this year, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva agreed to send an international group to investigate the allegations.  Although much of the focus is on Israel - it is believed that their forces fired into civilian and heavily populated areas, used white phosphorus (an illegal chemical weapon), and targeted civilian institutions - Hamas will also be investigated for shooting rockets into civilian areas.  In the past, the United States has blocked the UN from holding Israel accountable, but the Human Rights Watch points out that this only sells the civilians on both sides of the war short.

The offensive into Gaza hurt the Palestinians, arguably as much as one thousand times more than the Israelis, but the whole point of human rights violations at all is principle.  The basis that Israel had for its aerial bombing campaigns and alleged illegal warfare practices, as well as its choking off of medical supplies and food to Gaza was their belief that their human rights were infringed upon - yes, it was only a small fraction of their population that was affected, but it was enough for them to act upon it.

An investigation seems a proper closing to the whirlwind war that left many around the world appalled at the resulting suffering of the Palestinian people.  The only problem is that Israel is not going to cooperate with the investigation according to Reuters .  Richard Goldstone has been appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to head the investigations on both sides, but the Israel government sent a letter to Goldstone, saying that they could not cooperate.  Will there be any response by the international community?  Will Israel be able to avoid an investigation?  As a general rule, when a nation refuses to cooperate with the international community, such as in the case of Iran and North Korea, sanctions are imposed.  With such a powerful ally in the United States, this seems to be an unlikely outcome.  Which brings us back to square one on our global community - where are we on our trek towards a civilized world, if we are not held accountable for violating human rights?