Israel condemns UN's Gaza report

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Moedig van Mr. Goldstone dat hij dit rapport geproduceerd heeft.

Weer eens wat anders dan een halfbakken aktie om bloemen vrij te krijgen
uit Gaza. Hoe lang heeft dat geduurd?
Toch vliegt ElAl nog dagelijks bloemen (naar Luik), hoe kan dat?

Overigens maakte één van de betrokken generaals recent een tussenlanding
in Londen en werd toen (met vliegtuig en al, want hij kwam er niet uit)
vastgehouden na een verzoek tot zijn aanhouding.
Dit verzoek verraste de autoriteiten kennelijk wel, want die namen
spoorslags kontakt op met de voormannen van de Joods gemeenschap in Londen
om hun eventuele reakties te peilen.

Uiteindelijk mocht de generaal gewoon doorvliegen.

Groet / Cees

Israel condemns UN's Gaza report

Israel has strongly criticised a UN human rights report into alleged war
crimes during the Gaza conflict.

The report said both the Israeli army and Palestinian militants committed
war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during fighting in
January.

The report "was flawed from A-to-Z", the UN panel was "biased" and some of
its findings "ludicrous", said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.

The report called for fresh war crimes inquiries under international
scrutiny.

It said said Israel's "Operation Cast Lead", launched in response to
militant rocket fire, used disproportionate firepower against the densely
populated Gaza Strip and disregarded the likelihood of civilian deaths.

The militant group Hamas criticised parts of the report alleging it fired
rockets at Israel without distinguishing between military targets and the
civilian population.

Intimidation

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Regev said the panel was "born in sin" because
"even the UN" considers the Human Rights Council which commissioned the
report "to have a one-side anti-Israeli agenda".

“ The investigations Israel has done into its troops' behaviour in the
Gaza Strip is 1,000 times more serious than this investigation ”
Mark Regev

He also cast doubt on the impartiality of the four-judge panel, led by
South African Richard Goldstone, based on comments one of its members had
made before the inquiry.

Mr Regev charged that evidence collected in public hearings in the Gaza
Strip, where he said witnesses were subject to intimidation from the
militant Hamas movement, had the validity of a "show trial".

And he rejected the panel's recommendation that the UN Security Council
should call on Israel to fully investigate possible violations by its
forces, or face possible referral to the International Criminal Court.

"In the last six months, the investigations Israel has done into its
troops' behaviour in the Gaza Strip is 1,000 times more serious than this
investigation," Mr Regev said.

Resistance

Hamas officials welcomed the Goldstone report's unusually harsh
condemnation of Israel, but rejected criticism of itself.

"The Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance were in a position
of self-defence and not of attack," said senior Hamas official Ismail
Haniya.

"One cannot compare the simple capabilities of the resistance with the
great strength of the occupation," he said.

Israel did not co-operate with the commission and its members had to enter
the Gaza Strip from the border, which is under Egyptian supervision.

At the Israeli Foreign Ministry, a spokesman said a diplomatic offensive
was being planned to block possible referral of Israeli commanders or
officials to the ICC.

The Israeli military has conducted investigations into some claims of
human rights violations that have found no systematic wrongdoing. Some
cases remain pending.

Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were
killed in the violence between 27 December and 16 January, though Israel
puts the figure at 1,166. Three Israeli civilians and 10 Israeli soldiers
were also killed.

Mr Goldstone urged "fair-minded people" to read the 574-page report and
"at the end of it, point out where it failed to be objective or
even-handed".

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