The General Secretary of United Nations (UN) Ban Ki-Moon collaborated in secret with Israel and the United States to weaken the effects of a Board of Inquiry's report accusing Israel of human rights violations in Gaza in the time between December, 2008 and January 2009.
Wikileaks released documents on Friday that revealed that Ban wrote a letter to the UN Security Council asking its members not to take recommendations by the UN Board of Inquiry about Israeli bombings in Gaza into account.
The online portal of teleSUR, a pan–Latin American terrestrial and satellite television network headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela, published the story on Saturday.
The report demonstrated that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) had a direct role in seven of the nine attacks against buildings of the UN in the Gaza strip, and accused Israel of having breached the inviolability and immunity of UN premises.
The confidential report, titled “Gaza Board Of Inquiry and next steps,” sent by United Nations (New York) to Group Destinations Arab Israeli Collective, Secretary of State, United Nations Security Council, on May 7, 2009, revealed by Wikileaks, said “the IDF did not take sufficient precautions to fulfill its responsibilities to protect UN property and personnel and civilians taking shelter therein. The Board found the Israeli government responsible for the deaths, injuries, and physical damages that occurred in those seven cases and estimated the cost to repair the damages to be over USD 11 million.”
According to Wikileaks, Susan Rice, White House National Security Advisor, spoke at least four times with Ban Ki Moon “to discuss concerns over the Board of Inquiry's report on incidents at UN sites in December 2008 and January 2009".
The report's recommendations included the need for a deeper and impartial investigation into the recent "incidents", and into the bombings of UN facilities.
It was also recommended in the report that non-UN-related incidents involving civilians be investigated as well as part of an impartial inquiry into "allegations of violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza and southern Israel by the IDF and by Hamas and other Palestinian militants."
According to Wikileaks, Rice first asked Ban not to include the recommendations in the final report's summary, supposed to be transmitted to the UN Security Council on May 5.
Ban responded that “he was constrained in what he could do since the Board of Inquiry is independent; it was their report and recommendations and he could not alter them”.
In the second conversation, “Rice urged the Secretary-General to make clear in his cover letter when he transmits the summary to the Security Council that those recommendations exceeded the scope of the terms of reference and no further action was needed."
Ban then replied that "his staff was working with an Israeli delegation on the text of the cover letter”.
According to the confidential file sent from United Nations (New York) on May 5, titled as Ambassador Rice's May 4 telcons with Un Secretary-General On Gaza Board Of Inquiry Report, Ambassador Rice asked the Secretary-General to get back in touch with her before the letter and summary are released to the Council.
He confirmed in the last phone call that “a satisfactory cover letter” had been completed.
Ban underscored that Boards of Inquiry do not consider questions of legality nor make legal findings; that Israel continues to work with the UN Secretariat to address the Board's recommendations; and that he will seek no further inquiry into matters the Board addressed which are outside its Terms of Reference, according to another May 7 file.
