Gordon Duff: With UN report, will Israeli settlers be prosecuted for war crimes?

"Yigal Palmor, speaking for Israel, made it clear that Israel planned to continue to violate international law, and felt it was not subject to UN resolution, the Geneva Convention, or the International Criminal Court at the Hague." On January 31, 2013, a three member UN panel cited Israel in violation of the human rights of Palestinians, and the sovereignty of the Palestinian nation. Though a legal case was made for the immediate forcible removal of all Israeli citizens from the West Bank, citing the authority of the nations that are signatory to the Geneva Convention and, or members of the International Criminal Court, the real meaning of today's findings is unclear. Typically, the United Nations Security Council, a body that has, historically, protected Israel from compliance with international law through American vetoes, is the deciding body in breaches of the Geneva Convention. However, today's report cites "grave breaches" of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, particularly involving forced deportation, collective punishment and systematic violation of human rights. Precedent established for tribunals involving Rwanda and Yugoslavia have established universal jurisdiction under the ICC, under procedures that are not subject to the political "wranglings" of UNSC politics. Thus, the establishment today of "grave breaches", combined with the newly recognized status of the Palestinian State, if precedent is followed, opens the door for war crime prosecutions, something otherwise impossible previously. UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon stated that he was in complete agreement with commission findings, and reiterated his previous statement that "all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under international law." The Secretary General made it clear that the commission's findings that Israeli settlements contravened the Fourth Geneva Convention, forbidding the transfer of civilian populations into occupied territories. An immediate demand was made for Israel to cease all construction, and to withdraw up to half a million "settlers", whose continued occupation has been deemed illegal. The United Nations was very specific, and any and all "settlers" face potential indictment as war criminals. Israel's response was to cite the UN commission for bias, and to dismiss its findings out of hand.