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Saturday Sept. 1, 2012 2:14 PM (EST+7)
UN rights expert condemns Israeli ruling on Corrie death
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GENEVA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - A U.N. investigator condemned an Israeli court on Thursday for clearing the military of blame for the death of American activist crushed by an army bulldozer, calling it a "victory for impunity".
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 The family of slain peace activist Rachel Corrie, crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza, 2003, sit in a courtroom in Haifa. Wednesday, March 10, 2010. (AP/Moti Milrod)
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Multimedia
 al-Jazeera Int: Gunmen attack Gaza summer camp
May 24, 2010 9:10 AM (EST+7)
Trailer for 'State 194'
Sept. 13, 2012 3:23 PM (EST+7)
Al-Haq: Virtual tour of the Wall in the West Bank
Oct. 11, 2011 1:20 PM (EST+7)
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 Documents
 Covenant of the League of Nations
Fueling conflict: Foreign arms supplies to Israel/Gaza
Legal Consequences of Constructing a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
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Publications
Poll No. 77, Nov. 2012 - Governance, the UN Bid and the Arab Spring
Poll No. 13, February 1996 - On Palestinian Elections, its fairness, Women and the Palestinian National Charter
Poll No. 25, February 1998 - On Palestinian Position and Attitudes Towards the Current Crisis between Iraq and the United States
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Background
Education (Palestinian)
International law
Refugees and internally displaced persons
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Resources
Ban Ki Moon statement on border crossings at Gaza - UN news centre
International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination
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The ruling handed down on Tuesday on the civil suit brought by the family of Rachel Corrie was part of a pattern of decisions exonerating Israeli military actions and political leaders, said Richard Falk, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.
"The judge's decision represents a defeat for justice and accountability, and a victory for impunity for the Israeli military," Falk said in a statement issued in Geneva.
Corrie's family accused Israel of intentionally and unlawfully killing their 23-year-old daughter in March 2003, launching a civil case in the northern city of Haifa after a military investigation found the army was not responsible.
Corrie had joined activists trying to stop the Israeli army from demolishing houses in the southern Gaza town of Rafah during a Palestinian uprising. The family has said it will appeal the ruling.
Judge Oded Gershon said the death was a "regrettable accident" and invoked a clause that absolved the army because the incident had happened during a wartime situation.
But Falk said that the decision "flies directly in the face of the Geneva Conventions, which impose on an occupying power an unconditional obligation to protect the civilian population".
As an aid worker, Corrie was entitled to protection by occupying forces and the house demolition appeared to violate the pact's prohibition on targeting civilian property, he said.
"This is a sad outcome, above all for the Corrie family ... but also for the rule of law and the hope that an Israeli court would place limits on the violence of the state, particularly in relation to innocent and unarmed civilians in an occupied territory," he said.
Falk, an American expert on international law serving as an independent U.N. expert since 2008, is a vocal critic of Israel, accusing it of crimes against humanity for its blockade of Gaza.
Falk, who is Jewish, was detained and turned back from Israel in 2008, forcing him to abort a planned mission to Gaza - a deportation denounced by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
He reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council, whose June/July session was boycotted by Israel's delegation, which accuses the 47-member forum of bias. Its latest investigation into Israeli practices is into whether Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories violate human rights law. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Andrew Roche)
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The family of slain peace activist Rachel Corrie, crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza, 2003, sit in a courtroom in Haifa. Wednesday, March 10, 2010. (AP/Moti Milrod)
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