When Obama mentioned that "Israel doesn't know what it's best interests are", he would have had this on his mind.

Israel is long overdue for a war crimes conviction. I hope this time there is some punitive action taken against them.

Investigators conclude all Israeli settlement activity in West Bank is unlawful and must cease 'immediately'.

Israeli settlements in the Occupied West Bank violate international law, and the country must "immediately" withdraw all settlers from such areas, United Nations human rights investigators have said.
"Israel must ... cease all settlement activities without preconditions [and] must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers" from the occupied territories, a UN fact-finding mission concluded in a report released on Thursday.
The inquiry was led by French judge Christine Chanet.
The settlements contravene the 1949 Geneva Conventions forbidding the transfer of civilian populations into occupied
territory, which could amount to war crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), it said.
In December, the Palestinians accused Israel in a letter to the United Nations of planning to commit further "war crimes" by expanding Jewish settlements after the Palestinians won de facto UN recognition of statehood and warned that Jerusalem must be held accountable.
Israel has not co-operated with the probe set up by the Human Rights Council last March to examine the impact of settlements in the territory, including East Jerusalem.
Israel says the forum has an inherent bias against it and defends its settlement policy by citing historical and Biblical links to the West Bank.
The independent UN investigators interviewed more than 50 people who came to Jordan in November to testify about confiscated land, damage to their livelihoods including olive trees, and violence by Jewish settlers, according to the report.
"The mission believes that the motivation behind this violence and the intimidation against the Palestinians as well
as their properties is to drive the local populations away from their lands and allow the settlements to expand," it said.
'Creeping annexation'
About 250 settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been established since 1967 and they hold an
estimated 520,000 settlers, according to the UN report.
The settlements impede Palestinian access to water resources and agricultural lands, it said. They were also "leading to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination," it said.
Following the UN general assembly's vote to upgrade the Palestinians status at the world body, Israel said it would build 3,000 more settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - areas Palestinians wanted for a future state, along with the Gaza Strip.
The UN human rights inquiry said that the International Criminal Court had jurisdiction over the deportation or transfer
by the occupying power of its own population into the territory.
"Ratification of the [Rome] Statute by Palestine may lead to accountability for gross violations of human rights law and
serious violations of international humanitarian law and justice for victims," the report said, referring to the treaty
setting up the Hague-based UN tribunal, which prosecutes people for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...=MasterAccount