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In
Leak of UN's Gaza Summary
to Inner City Press Phosphorous and Violations
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee
of
Inner City Press at the UN: Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, May 5 --
The UN's
report on attacks on its premises in the Gaza
Strip, a closely held secret for weeks, has been leaked to Inner
City Press, a
27-page summary now placed online here.
In a four page
cover letter to the Security
Council president for May, Russia's Vitaly Churkin, Secretary General
Ban
Ki-moon states that "as with all UN Boards of Inquiry, the Board's
report
is an internal document and is not for public release." Then follows a 27-page
summary of the report analyzing nine separate incidents between
December 27, 2008 and January 19, 2009.
For example, of the January 17 deaths and injuries
at UNRWA's Beit Lahia
Elementary School, the summary states that "the Board found that the
undisputed cause of the deaths, injuries and damage was the artillery
firing by
the IDF, specifically, the firing of 155mm M825A1, smoke projectiles,
containing white phosphorous impregnated felt wedges."
UN's Ban, Kim Won-soo and Lynn Pascoe
in Gaza, binding report not shown
The summary continues, "The Board concluded that
there was a breach
of the inviolability of UN premises and a failure to accord the
property and
assets of the Organization immunity from any interference."
Reportedly, Ban has since issued a memo that
the Report's conclusions are not legally binding, and condemning Hamas'
use of
rockets. However, the now-leaked summary of the report is sure to give
rise to
many questions, both in UN Headquarters on Tuesday, in the region and
worldwide.
Inner City Press reported
on use of white phosphorous on January 15, click here.
On January 20, Ban
traveled to Gaza and viewed ruins, see above and click here for
Inner City Press story.
On February 9,
Ban named as head of the Board of Inquiry Ian Martin, previously the
UN's envoy to Nepal. (Click here for
Inner City Press story.)
Watch this site.
Click here
for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters
footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN
Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's
mobile (and
weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com -
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