Israel continues fight against the Goldstone report

Paul Woodward, Online Correspondent

• Last Updated: October 22. 2009 11:50AM UAE / October 22. 2009 7:50AM GMT

Since the release of the report by the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, now generally known as the Goldstone report, named after its principal author, Judge Richard Goldstone, the Israeli government has engaged in a vigorous campaign aimed at preventing the report's recommendations being followed or its findings discussed.

Ynet reported that Israel's defence minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday prevented a security cabinet debate on the possible establishment of an inquiry committee on Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

"Barak said he believed such a committee would do more damage to Israel in the international arena, and commended the IDF once again for its conduct in the operation.

"However the cabinet did decide to establish a team to fight the Goldstone report, which claims Israel committed war crimes during Cast Lead, including its international and legal manifestations.

"The team will be under the foreign ministry's jurisdiction, and will involve officials from other ministries if need be. Its main goal is to prepare for a possible debate on the report by the UN Security Council in December."

Agence France-Presse said: "Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his government on Tuesday to draw up proposals to amend the international laws of war after a damning UN report on its war in Gaza.

"The security cabinet did not, however, discuss calls made by ministers for an internal investigation into the 22-day offensive at the turn of the year that killed some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, an official told AFP.

" 'The prime minister instructed the relevant government bodies to examine a worldwide campaign to amend the international laws of war to adapt them to the spread of global terrorism,' his office said in a statement."

Meanwhile, the author of the UN report on the war in Gaza has said that Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, does not want there to be an Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

"Goldstone, a South African Jurist, made the claim in a conference call on Sunday with 150 US rabbis from left-leaning organizations. He was speaking in reference to an Israeli assertion that the report would harm peace talks," Haaretz reported.

" 'That just is a shallow, I believe, false allegation,' he said. 'What peace process are they talking about? There isn't one. The Israeli foreign minister doesn't want one at all.'

"Lieberman, a right-winger, has drawn fire for criticising Israel's past efforts in seeking a peace agreement with the Palestinians."

In an op-ed written for The Jerusalem Post, Mr Goldstone said: "Five weeks after the release of the Report of the Fact Finding Mission on Gaza, there has been no attempt by any of its critics to come to grips with its substance. It has been fulsomely approved by those whose interests it is thought to serve and rejected by those of the opposite view. Those who attack it do so too often by making personal attacks on its authors' motives and those who approve it rely on its authors' reputations.

"Israeli government spokesmen and those who support them have attacked it in the harshest terms and, in particular my participation, in a most personal and hurtful way. The time has now come for more sober reflection on what the report means and appropriate Israeli reactions to it.

"I begin with my own motivation, as a Jew who has supported Israel and its people all my life, for having agreed to head the Gaza mission. Over the past 20 years, I have investigated serious violations of international law in my own country, South Africa, in the former Yugoslavia, in Rwanda and the alleged fraud and theft by governments and political leaders in a number of countries in connection with the United Nations Iraq Oil for Food programme. In all of these, allegations reached the highest political echelons. In every instance, I spoke out strongly in favour of full investigations and, where appropriate, criminal prosecutions. I have spoken out over the years on behalf of the International Bar Association against human rights violations in many countries, including Sri Lanka, China, Russia, Iran, Zimbabwe and Pakistan.

"I would have been acting against those principles and my own convictions and conscience if I had refused a request from the United Nations to investigate serious allegations of war crimes against both Israel and Hamas in the context of Operation Cast Lead.

"As a Jew, I felt a greater and not a lesser obligation to do so."

Haaretz reported: "President Peres on Wednesday harshly condemned the Goldstone report and told the US envoy to the United Nations, Susan Rice that, 'It is outrageous that a respected institution like the United Nations provides a platform to spread lies and stories about Israel.'

"The Goldstone report accuses Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian militants of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during their December 27-January 18 conflict in the Gaza Strip.

"The report also calls on the UN Security Council to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court at The Hague, which could prosecute Israeli officials for war crimes.

" 'The United Nations provides a stage for Ahmmadinejad, who threatens to annihilate Israel, and lets him stand judge,' continued Peres. 'This is nothing short of ridiculous.'

"Rice promised that the United States will continue to stand by Israel as a loyal friend in the fight against the Goldstone report."

While for most of the last month there has been solidarity within Israel's political establishment in resisting the call for an independent inquiry, that unity is now beginning to fracture.

Haaretz reported: "Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor thinks Israel should establish its own independent committee to investigate Israel Defense Forces activity in the Gaza Strip during last winter's Operation Cast Lead.

" 'I have faith in the army and it is my duty to protect it, its commanders and its soldiers - and the most effective tool for this is serious self-examination,' Meridor said in a recent interview with Haaretz. 'A state that examines itself [protects itself from] harassment. Today, with the development of international law, one of the best means of defense is for a state to investigate itself.'

"Meridor would like to see such a committee examine the statements made in the Goldstone report, a United Nations report accusing both Israel and Hamas of war crimes and recommending war crimes proceedings if the sides don't conduct their own independent investigations.

" 'The commission of inquiry that I hope will be established must examine the Goldstone report's claims, even if it is a biased report, and its mandate from the outset was to examine Israel's crimes, and one of the committee's members stated prior to the investigation that Israel commits war crimes,' said Meridor, who also serves as minister of intelligence and atomic energy. 'But the threat is serious and a commission of inquiry should be established, also to examine the suitability of the rules of war to the new type of war that has been imposed on us.'"

pwoodward@thenational.ae