Arbour spoke to the Post in Tel Aviv on the tail end of a five-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories. The visit came on the heels of international condemnation and charges of human rights violations following an IDF strike in Beit Hanun in which 19 civilians were accidentally killed.
According to criminal law, "there is very little distinction between recklessness and intent," she said. "It is a small distinction as to whether you desire the result, or you foresee it as virtually certain and you do not care. In terms of culpability there is not a lot of difference between recklessness and intent."
Arbour indicated that this could mean that Israel was guilty of human rights violations for its actions in Lebanon.
Most of her meetings with members of both groups, she said, were characterized by a "profound sense of frustration and abandonment." But in looking at the two groups, she found that the lack of human rights was "particularly acute in the occupied Palestinian territory."
"I left Gaza with a sense that the right of its people to their physical integrity - their right to life - was particularly imperiled," Arbour said.
She blamed much of the human rights problem in Gaza on the "policies and practices" relating to Israel's security measures, as well as the fiscal constraints imposed on the Palestinians by Israel and the international community.
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