UN meets on Goldstone Report
General Assembly session on report probing Gaza war underway. Assembly likely to defer report to UN Security Council, where US is expected to veto proposed resolution imposing new inquest
WASHINGTON – The United Nations' General Assembly convened Wednesday to debate the Goldstone Report probing the Gaza war.
The controversial report accused Israel of committing war crimes during January's military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
"The report before you was conceived in hate and executed in sin. From its inception in a one-sided mandate, the Gaza fact-finding mission was a politicized body with predetermined conclusions," said Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gabriella Shalev, as she took the podium. Shalev was the sixth to speak before the assembly.
She quickly pointed out the faults of the Goldstone Report: "The report ignores the reality of terror activity and the complexity of military challenges in fighting terrorists in urban warfare.
"It ignores overwhelming evidence that Hamas intentionally operated from densely populated areas and from within hospitals and mosques, and booby-trapped civilian structures… and makes no reference to the recruitment and exploitation of civilians by Hamas and its use of human shields.
"It undermines every democracy defending itself against terrorist attacks. It concedes that the rule of law will be replaced by the rule of terrorism," said Shalev.
Inquest a must
Sweden's Ambassador to the UN Anders Lidén, representing the European Union, called on both Israel and the Palestinians to "take responsibility for the crimes perpetrated," stressing that any violation of human rights must be investigated.
Lidén expressed the EU's concern of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and urged all violence – "including rocket fire" – to cease.
Egyptian ambassador to the UN Magued Abdel Aziz was the first to take the podium. The session is expected to hear some 40 speakers and may carry through to Thursday.
The report, said Aziz, "Verifies grave violations of international law by Israel during the Gaza campaign… it was revenge against civilians and it went against international law… This kind of blatant violation of human right must be stopped," he said.
Aziz urged the international body to take immediate steps and insist Israel investigates Operation Cast Lead anew. Aziz did, however, issue a similar call for the Palestinian Authority.
The Egyptian delegate spoke on behalf of 118 of the 192 member nations, which he claimed support a vote on a resolution urging Israel to launch "an inquest which complies with international standards for the investigation of international humanitarian law."
Palestinian Observer to the UN Riyad Mansour accused Israel of "committing crimes against humanity" and urged the body to hold it "criminally liable."
Mansour said that the current UN session cannot turn out to be "just" another session with no follow-through.
As for the demand for a parallel Palestinian probe, he said that "once cannot compare between the occupying force and the Palestinians living under occupation."
US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice was conspicuously absent from the debate, while her deputy, Alejandro D. Wolff, heard the speeches of the Israeli and EU representatives and then left the hall.
The Obama Administration was against the decision by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to refer the report to the General Assembly.
On Tuesday the US House of Representatives condemned the report as biased and urged President Barack Obama to oppose UN endorsement of its findings.
