Israel blocks mission led by Tutu, UN officials say
Last Updated: Monday, December 11, 2006 | 3:51 PM ET
The Associated Press
Related
Internal Links
Israel has blocked a United Nations fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip led by Desmond Tutu, UN officials said Monday.
But Israel said no final decision has been made.
Tutu and a six-person team were supposed begin on the weekend to investigate the killing of 19 civilians in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun in November.
But Israel has refused to grant Tutu the necessary travel clearance, said officials in two UN departments, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and anti-apartheid campaigner, was supposed to report his findings to the UN Human Rights Council by Friday.
It is unclear whether Israel will allow the fact-finding mission to take place at a later date.
"Israel heard that they decided not to come," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. "We had not given them a negative response, our final decision was pending."
Israeli officials have expressed concern that Tutu's mission was only entrusted with investigating alleged human rights violations committed by Israel and not also by Palestinian militants.
"We had a problem not with the personalities, we had a problem with the institution," Regev said. "We saw a situation whereby the human rights mechanism of the UN was being cynically exploited to advance an anti-Israel agenda.
"This would do the Israelis, the Palestinians and peace in the Middle East no good at all. This would also have done nothing to serve the interest of human rights."
The UN authorized the mission last month, asking Tutu to assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors and make recommendations on ways to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli attacks.
Israeli tanks opened fire in a residential neighbourhood in Beit Hanoun, killing Palestinians children and adults as they slept. Israel has said the killings were unintentional.
The shelling came as Israeli troops wound up a weeklong incursion meant to curb Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel. The Israeli army claimed Beit Hanoun was a rocket-launching stronghold.
Tutu, a retired Anglican archbishop, was a vocal anti-apartheid campaigner in South Africa. When apartheid ended, he chaired the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- The federal government is scrapping two review boards used by people appealing decisions made about their employment insurance. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Serial carjacker gets life term for fatal crash
- An Ontario judge was moved to tears while delivering a life prison sentence to a serial carjacker who killed a woman and injured five others after driving a stolen van into her car during a 2010 police chase. more »
- Canada ending 'Buffalo shuffle' for visas, closing consulate
- The federal government is shutting the Canadian consulate in Buffalo less than two years after costly renovations, while dropping a requirement for visas to be renewed outside the country, CBC News has learned. more »
Latest World News Headlines
- Canadian restrained on flight to Miami arrested
- A 24-year-old Canadian man is in federal custody for rushing toward the front of an American Airlines flight from Jamaica after the plane landed in Miami. more »
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest

- The difficulty, danger and expense of removing the bodies of climbers who died in Mount Everest's "death zone" mean most of the dead remain on the mountain as a stark reminder to other climbers of the risks. more »
- Man faces murder charge in 33-year-old case of missing boy
- A former New York City convenience store clerk is now accused of murdering one of the first missing children to ever appear on a milk carton. more »
- Unloading of docked SpaceX capsule to start Saturday
- The privately bankrolled SpaceX Dragon capsule made a historic arrival at the International Space Station on Friday, and astronauts will begin unloading some of the 544 kilograms of food, water, clothing and other supplies its carrying starting Saturday. more »
Dispatches »
- Foreign slaves serving the U.S. military machine May. 24, 2012 3:33 PM How does a hairdresser recruited for work in Dubai, wind up slaving for the U.S. military in a war zone in Iraq? There are tens of thousands serving in what's come to be known as America's "Invisible Army."
Connect Newsroom Blog
Etan Patz Arrest, Helene Campbell & Facebook Flop May. 24, 2012 8:54 PM Three decades after a U.S. child Etan Patz disappeared, an arrest has finally been made.
- Aylmer triple stabbing leads to first-degree murder charges
- Everest victim's family asks for government help
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Canada ending 'Buffalo shuffle' for visas, closing consulate
- Double-lung recipient dances on Ellen show
- Brave cat makes epic leap of faith
- Conservatives move again to have robocalls suits tossed

