By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
GENEVA, Switzerland – Richard Goldstone, lead investigator of the United Nations fact-finding report on Israeli-Palestinian fighting in Gaza during the winter of 2008, called on the UN Human Rights Council to accept the report and to hold both Israelis and Palestinians accountable for violations of human rights laws.
“A culture of impunity in the region has existed for too long,” said Goldstone to the UN Human Rights Council on September 29. “The lack of accountability for war crimes and possible war crimes against humanity has reached a crisis point…The ongoing lack of justice is undermining any hope for a successful peace process and reinforcing an environment that fosters violence.”
The Goldstone Report called for the UN Security Council to refer any allegations of war crimes to the International Criminal Court in The Hague after six months from the report’s release if either the Israelis or the Palestinians did not investigate or prosecute those suspected of war crimes.
On September 30, Goldstone told CNN that he believed Israel had intentionally targeted civilians, though not as a policy, nor as the primary goal of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead. However, Goldstone pointed to evidence that some of the civilian casualties were intentional.
“There was no mistake in bombing factories,” Goldstone said. “The Israeli intelligence has very precise information.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to the UN Human Rights Council on September 30, urging the Council to “come to its senses” and reject the Goldstone Report. Netanyahu said that the UN Human Rights Council has passed more resolutions against Israel than any other nation, and that adopting this report would harm peace efforts in the Middle East.
“It will harm the war on terrorism and it will grant legitimacy to terrorists who hide behind civilians,” said Netanyahu. “It will also harm the UN’s standing and, most of all, it will be a crippling blow to the peace process.”
Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch, emphasized that the Goldstone Report sharply criticized both the Israeli government and the Hamas government, demonstrating the report’s lack of bias. Whitson called on both Israel and Hamas to conduct thorough investigations of the report’s allegations.
“Israel has repeatedly shown that it lacks the political will to investigate itself impartially,” Whitson said. “And Hamas’s record on internal investigations is even worse.”
For more information, please see:
Ha’aretz – Israel to UN Body: Come to Your Senses on Goldstone Report – 1 October 2009
Ma’an News Agency – Goldstone: Israel Intentionally Targeted Gaza Civilians – 1 October 2009
Al Jazeera – UN Investigator Defends Gaza Report – 29 September 2009
Palestinian News Network – Through Women’s Eyes: PCHR Report on Gender-Specific Impact and Consequences of Operation Cast Lead – 29 September 2009
Human Rights Watch – US: Endorse Goldstone Report on Gaza – 27 September 2009
