Israel adviser switches to top FO job
Ewen MacAskill
7 March 2006 The Guardian
The British Foreign Office has appointed a controversial Israeli government adviser to one of its most sensitive posts as head of the legal department.
Advice from Daniel Bethlehem QC in 2002 to the then Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, led Israel to block a UN inquiry into the battle of Jenin. The Israeli refusal to cooperate was widely condemned at the time by various human rights organisations.
Mr Bethlehem, who was Israel’s external legal adviser, also took the lead for the Israeli government at the International court of justice in The Hague in 2004 to defend the barrier being built along the West Bank. Israel lost the case.
Challenging Empire
How People, Governments, And The UN Defy US Power
Phyllis Bennis
pp. 50-51
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, appalled by the reports of his special envoy, called for an international investigative team to be sent. A draft Security Council resolution sponsored by the Arab Group at the UN called on Annan to investigate “the full scope of the tragic events that have taken place in Jenin refugee camp.” It also called on Israel to respect the 1949 Geneva Convention for protecting civilians in times of war, and called for “an international presence that could help provide better conditions on the ground.”
In the Council, however, those initial efforts to craft a tough resolution condemning Israel’s actions collapsed. The United States immediately made it clear it would veto any resolution with strong language or any enforcement clout. After days of squabbling, a weakened resolution was finally passed, at least supporting the secretary-general’s initiative in sending a fact-finding team to Jenin. Israel had earlier denied entry to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, who had assembled a team to implement her Commission’s decision to investigate the human rights aspects of the Israeli incursion into the West Bank. Along with Robinson, the high-profile team excluded by Israel included former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and the former secretary-general of South Africa’s African National Congress, Cyril Ramaphosa.
At first Israel announced it would accept a UN team to investigate the crisis in Jenin. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told the UN secretary-general that Israel “has nothing to hide” and would welcome an investigation. But as soon as the Council actually voted to support the secretary-general’s fact-finding team, Israeli opposition began. First came complaints about the composition of the team; it was to be led by Finnish president and experienced UN envoy Maarti Ahtissari, joined by Sadako Ogata, former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and Cornelio Sommaruga, former head of the International Committtee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The team also included retired United States general William Nash, initially as a military adviser but raised to full participatory level at Israeli insistence, and leading Irish police official Peter Fitzgerald as police adviser. Next Israel wanted additional “anti-terrorism” experts to be added. Then Israel demanded the right to determine which Israeli witnesses would be allowed to testify, as well as guarantee ahead of time that any witnesses would be immune from war-crimes prosecution that could arise from their testimony. Ultimately Israel made clear that unless its demands were met, it would not allow the fact-finding team to enter the country at all.
Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, was very clear: “Suspects shouldn’t be able to choose their investigators.” But Israeli rejectionism prevailed. And the United States provided Israel with protection in the Security Council, effectively preventing any Council action to hold Israel accountable, to impose some kind of sanction, or even to condemn the Israeli action. The Council issued only a mild statement of “regret” that the fact-finding team was not able to work. No blame apportioned, no condemnation. On May 2, the UN secretary-general officially disbanded his investigation team, whose members had been cooling their heels in Geneva waiting for Israeli authorization.