THE UN general assembly is expected to approve a resolution this week calling on Israel and the Palestinians to carry out independent investigations into allegations of war crimes committed during the Gaza conflict last January.
A debate on a highly critical UN report, written by the South African judge Richard Goldstone, began yesterday, with a vote on a resolution likely today. Negotiations continue on the resolution and several European countries are trying to change the wording.
“We’re listening to all comments, but the draft resolution as it stands, the thrust of it, is asking for investigation, and there is unanimity on that call,” said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian observer at the UN. A resolution from the general assembly would not be legally binding, but would be easier to reach than one before the security council, where it is likely to be opposed by the US and China.
Israel did not co-operate with Mr Goldstone’s investigation and has campaigned against his report, which it says is biased. The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has insisted he will not let his soldiers face war crimes charges.
Mr Goldstone said Israel’s three-week war in Gaza was a “deliberately disproportionate attack” and that its troops committed grave breaches of the Geneva conventions with “individual criminal responsibility”. His report also said Palestinian rocket attacks into Israel, largely by Hamas, were war crimes and crimes against humanity because they targeted Israeli civilians.
Goldstone has called on Israel and the Palestinians to start their own investigations within six months, but this has yet to happen. If there were no inquiries, he said, the case should pass to the prosecutor of the international criminal court, although it is likely a US veto at the security council would stop that happening.
Last month his report was endorsed by the UN human rights council, which commissioned his work. The US opposed the council’s resolution, while Britain and France did not vote.
In Israel the human rights group B’Tselem criticised Israeli military investigations into the war. The group said it believed that 21 investigations by the military police had begun, but no charges had been brought. Only one soldier has gone on trial – for stealing a credit card.
B’Tselem said it believed the military was investigating cases in which Israeli soldiers were accused of firing at Palestinians who waved white flags, and of firing flechettes, deadly metal darts loaded into shells, and one case in which a white phosphorus shell was fired into a home, killing six people. But none of the investigations looked at policy-making and focused instead on “the lowest echelons only”. Around 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during the war.
The Goldstone debate comes at a time of deadlock over peace talks. The two sides have not met for negotiations since December. Although the US had called on Israel to halt all construction in its settlements, Mr Netanyahu has refused. He has offered instead a limited freeze.
Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, accused Israel of placing a “major obstacle” in the way of peace talks.
At a conference in Ramallah he produced figures showing that even with the partial settlement freeze, projections for construction in 2010-11 were higher than in 2008-09. – ( Guardianservice)