UN rights body suggests Israel pay Palestinians reparations for Gaza war

UN rights body suggests Israel pay for Gaza damage

GENEVA — Israel should pay Palestinians reparations for loss and damages suffered during last year’s war in the Gaza Strip, the U.N. Human Rights Council suggested Thursday.

The 47-nation body didn’t call for similar payments by Palestinians to Israelis. The resolution was opposed by the United States and five European countries.

Israeli Ambassador Aharon Leshno-Yaar said the resolution was biased and defamatory, and would do nothing to bring Palestinians and Israelis closer together.

The proposal by Pakistan passed by a majority of 29 to 6, with 11 abstentions. One country, Gabon, didn’t vote.

The resolution also suggested that the International Committee of the Red Cross should investigate Israel’s alleged use of white phosphorus, an incendiary munition, during the conflict that ended January 2009.

The council, which has been criticized for excessively focusing on Israel in the past, approved four other resolutions condemning the Jewish state Wednesday.

“The council is too often exploited as a platform from which to single out Israel, which undermines its credibility,” said U.S. envoy Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe.

EU countries were split, with Hungary, Italy, Netherlands and Slovakia opposing the resolution and Belgium, France and Britain abstaining.

The resolution, backed by African and Asian states who hold a majority in the Geneva-based council, called on Israel and the Palestinians to comply with the recommendations of a U.N.-appointed expert panel to conduct independent investigations into the three-week war.

The U.N. General Assembly last month voted to give both sides five more months to complete the probes after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported that he could not determine whether the parties had conducted credible investigations.