U.N. Affirms Israeli-Hamas War Crimes Report
Kayid Al-Kuffar
By Thalif Deen
November 06, 2009 -- UNITED NATIONS, Nov 5 (IPS) - A 575-page
blistering report by Justice Richard Goldstone detailing war crimes in
Gaza last December is refusing to die despite an aggressive Israeli
smear campaign to kill it.
The report, which was favourably voted by the 47-member Human Rights
Council in Geneva last month, received overwhelming support Thursday
in the 192-member General Assembly.
The vote was 114 in favour and 18 against, with 44 abstentions.
The 18 countries that voted against the resolution included the United
States, Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Israel.
Ambassador Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the
United Nations, singled out Ireland, one of the few Western nations to
vote for the resolution, for "supporting" it.
He also noted that a "sizeable number of European nations" abstained
on the resolution.
Among the abstentions were Britain, France, Norway, Sweden, Spain,
Luxembourg, New Zealand, Denmark and Greece.
"The General Assembly sent a powerful message," he told reporters,
adding that if Israelis do not comply, "We will go after them."
The Assembly requested Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to report within
three months on the implementation of the resolution.
Among other things, the resolution calls upon both the Israelis and
the Palestinians to undertake independent investigations of their own
on the serious violations of international humanitarian and human
rights laws during the 22-day conflict in Gaza in December.
Still, Mansour said he rejects any equation of the "occupying power's
aggression and crimes with actions committed in response by the
Palestinian side".
"We wish to clearly reaffirm that there is absolutely no symmetry or
proportionality between the occupier and the occupied," he added.
U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff rejected the Goldstone report as
"deeply flawed" and "unbalanced".
He said the United States was fully committed to a two-state solution
- Israel and Palestine - and will do nothing to hinder it.
Last month, the 15-member Security Council debated the report but
refused to take a vote primarily because of the opposition by the
United States, a veto-wielding member of the Council.
In Geneva, the Human Rights Council endorsed the report last month by
a vote of 25 in favour, six against, 11 abstentions and five no-shows.
The report was also the subject of a vote Tuesday by the U.S. House of
Representatives, traditionally sympathetic towards Israel. That vote,
condemning the report, was 344 in favour and 36 against.
Nadia Hijab, senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for
Palestine Studies, told IPS the importance of the Goldstone Report is
evident given the amount of effort Israel, the United States and their
allies are investing in trying to bury it.
She said irrespective of the strength or weakness of the General
Assembly resolution, the report is important because of its very
existence.
Not only does it provide an authoritative basis for Palestinians
seeking reparations and accountability, but it also puts the world on
notice that international law must be upheld and impunity must end,
she said.
"It's simply not going to go away," said Hijab.
The report, authored by a four-member international fact-finding
mission headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, details war crimes
charges against both Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The mission, and specifically Goldstone, has been politically
crucified by pro-Israeli groups in the United States.
The U.N. mission recommended that the Security Council require Israel
to report to it, within the next six months, on investigations and
prosecutions it should carry out with regard to the violations cited
in the report.
During the ruthless military operation, codenamed 'Operation Cast
Lead,' the Israelis destroyed houses, factories, wells, schools,
hospitals, police stations and other public buildings.
The number of Palestinian killed during the conflict is estimated at
between 1,387 and 1,417, mostly civilians, compared with four Israeli
fatal casualties in southern Israel and nine soldiers killed during
fighting, four of whom died as a result of friendly fire.
The report also recommended that the Security Council set up its own
body of independent experts to report to it on the progress of the
Israeli investigations and prosecutions.
"If the expert's reports do not indicate within six months that good
faith, independent proceedings are taking place, the Security Council
should refer the situation in Gaza to the Prosecutor in the
International Criminal Court (ICC)," the report recommended.
Hijab told IPS the Goldstone Report has already had an impact on the
Israeli-Palestinian scene.
"It will ensure that henceforth the Israeli state as well as
Palestinian armed groups are more careful about the use of force," she
said.
In addition, she said, the initial misguided attempt by the leaders of
the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian
Authority (PA) to "postpone" consideration has strengthened the hand
of political parties and civil society in setting limits on how far
the PA/PLO can go in their alliance with the U.S. and its erosion of
Palestinian human rights.
In short, the Goldstone Report has had a significant before it even
reached the General Assembly, and it continues to be discussed the
world over, Hijab declared.