Sealed report documenting the case for crimes against humanity by Bashar al-Asad and others

"The United Nations has drawn up a list of the most senior officials in the Syrian regime, including, it is claimed, President Bashar al-Assad himself, who it says should be investigated for ordering "crimes against humanity" and other gross human rights violations."

November 2011 report the UN's Human Rights Report.

An end to Oslo?

Head of the main pro-Israel think-tank in Washington generously approves Obama's UN speech.

"Instead, with no discussion of Israeli settlement activity, building in Jerusalem, or the difficulties of Palestinian movement through checkpoints, Obama limited himself to one side of the story. In essence, the punishment meted out to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas for rejecting Washington's request to shelve his UN gambit was that Obama came to New York as Israel's ally, not as an impartial mediator of peace diplomacy."

Turki al-Faisal is one of the most outspoken Saudi royals but his NYT Oped is astounding not just in its blunt tone, but also its patent exasperation with U.S. policy

US vetoes UNSC resolution describing Israel's illegal settlements as illegal while accusing Israel of violating "international commitments"

Ambassador Susan Rice:

"Our opposition to the resolution before this Council today should therefore not be misunderstood to mean we support settlement activity. On the contrary, we reject in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity. For more than four decades, Israeli settlement activity in territories occupied in 1967 has undermined Israel’s security and corroded hopes for peace and stability in the region. Continued settlement activity violates Israel’s international commitments, devastates trust between the parties, and threatens the prospects for peace."

An abstention would have sent a far stronger and far more appropriate message to Israel. Rice's statement will cause some indigestion, but the resolution would have facilitated additional sanctions.

[Added: text of the vetoed resolution.]

The Mavi Marmara assault

Hugh Pope offers a thoughtful commentary on the UN Human Rights Commission's September 23, 2010, report on the Mavi Marmara incident.  While Israeli officials were at pains to dismiss the report out of hand, Pope shows that the report reflects a careful weighing of evidence.  The report disproves key aspects of Israel's account, including the allegation that the passengers were armed with firearms.  The report establishes that two of those killed on board were documenting the boarding with video equipment, including Furkan Dogan, a U.S. citizen.  (Dogan was shot twice in the head at close range.)

The report also addresses the intentions of the passengers, some of whom were intent on repelling an Israeli assault rather than meekly submit to being boarded in international waters.

The Human Rights Council finds that the Israeli blockade of Gaza constitutes collective punishment of Gazan civilians.

Reflecting on this episode, one wonders about the dubious strategic judgment of Israeli decision-makers who decided to assault a Turkish flagged vessel in international waters, particularly given the importance of Israel's relationship with Turkey.

Speaking of Turkey, a snapshot from a recent session with the Turkish Foreign Minister is available at Kamil Pasha.

What pressure looks like: I

On May 11, 2009, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a Presidential Statement on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.  Such statements lack the implementation or enforcement measures associated with resolutions, but this statement was 

noteworthy for several reasons:

• It was passed unanimously in a draft form that closely coincides with the public position of the White House.
  
• The statement unequivocally reiterates the validity of all prior agreements and undertakings, including Quartet's Road Map, which gathered dust during the ineffectual mediatory efforts of Condoleezza Rice.  Implicitly, the statement reiterates the Road Map's requirement for a freeze to Israeli settlement expansion and construction.
  
• The 2002 Arab League Initiative is explicitly validated in the statement.
  
• Palestinian reconciliation is endorsed under the aegis of the PA, and through the offices of Egyptian diplomacy.
  
• The statement endorses a conference "in 2009" under Russian auspices.
  

If you wonder, what significant, carefully designed pressure looks like, just ponder this statement.  It is one of a series of important signals emanating directly or indirectly from the Obama administration.  All very smooth, almost seamless in design.

The SG's Board of Inquiry report on 9 incidents in the Gaza war

The Secretary-General Off the Cuff

The full report has not been released but an extended summary, which Ban Ki-Moon claims is faithful to the full report, was prepared by the UN Secretariat. The summary is available here. Even in summarized form the report--examining a total of nine incidents--reveals pattern of intentional targeting of UN facilities by the Israeli army, which exercised inadequate regard for protected persons and sites. Several untruthful claims by Israeli officials are noted. In one instance it found Hamas gunmen responsible for firing, in another it did not determine responsibility.

See this informative Guardian report, and UN-Truth has a nice summary about the release of the Board of Inquiry report.

The Israeli reaction to the report was to accuse the investigators of bias and negligence. Citing Israel's own inquiry, the statement claims that the IDF did not intentionally fire on UN installations. "The State of Israel rejects the criticism in the board's summary report, and determines that in both spirit and language, the report is tendentious, patently biased, and ignores the facts presented to the committee. The board of inquiry has preferred the claims of Hamas, a murderous terror organization, and by doing so has misled the world."

Perhaps the most noteworthy component of the Israeli statement is in the final paragraph: "Israel views the publication of the report's findings as the end of the internal UN inspection process." In that regard, Ban Ki-Moon has indicated that there will no further investigations, in contrast to the recommendations of the Board of Inquiry.

Interview with LA Times

Babylon & Beyond | GAZA STRIP: When will it end? One professor says soon | Los Angeles Times - Mideast news

Trial balloon: Former US Ambassador (to Egypt and Israel) Ned Walker suggests UN force for Gaza.

I will add a comment, reflecting my own experience with UN peacekeeping, later today.
U.N. Border Force May Be All That Can Stop Chaos in Gaza - Forward.com"