- On April 3, 2009, a UN press release stated:
-
- "The Human Rights Council (HRC) today announced
the appointment of Richard J. Goldstone....to lead an independent (four-person)
fact-finding mission to investigate international human rights and humanitarian
law violations related to the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip....The
team will be supported by staff of the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights....Today's appointment comes following the adoption of
a resolution by the Human Rights Council....to address 'the grave violations
of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly due
to the recent Israeli military attacks against the occupied Gaza Strip."
-
- Established by the UN General Assembly on March 15, 2006,
the HRC's 47 member states are "responsible for strengthening the
promotion and protection of human rights around the globe."
-
- As a former South African Constitutional Court justice,
Goldstone is a respected jurist. He also served as chief prosecutor for
the Yugoslavia and Rwanda tribunals and is a Hebrew University board member.
As a Jew, he promised to be fair and even-handed, and "hope(s) that
the findings....will make a meaningful contribution to the peace process....and
will provide justice for the victims."
-
- At the time, Israel refused to cooperate, Foreign Ministry
spokesman, Yigal Palmor, saying: "This committee is instructed not
to seek out the truth but to single out Israel for alleged crimes."
He then accused the Council of having "practically (no) credibility
at all."
-
- On September 15, the HRC released the Commission's 575
page report, titled Human Rights in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories:
Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.
-
- It covered Operation Cast Lead, the Gaza siege, the impact
of Israel's West Bank military occupation, and much more including:
-
- -- events between the "ceasefire" period from
June 18, 2008 to Israel's initiated hostilities on December 27, 2008;
-
- -- applicable international law
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- -- Occupied Gaza under siege;
-
- -- an overview of Operation Cast Lead;
-
- -- the obligations of both sides to protect civilians;
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- -- indiscriminate Israeli attacks on civilians resulting
in many hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries;
-
- -- "the use of certain weapons;"
-
- -- attacking "the foundations of civilian life in
Gaza: destruction of industrial infrastructure, food production, water
installations, sewage treatment plants and housing;"
-
- -- using Palestinians as human shields;
-
- -- detention and incarceration of Gazans during the conflict;
-
- -- the IDF's objectives and strategy;
-
- -- impact of the siege and military operations on Gazans
and their human rights;
-
- -- the detention of the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit;
-
- -- internal Gaza violence - Hamas v. Fatah;
-
- -- the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem;
-
- -- Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank,
including excessive or lethal force during demonstrations;
-
- -- Palestinians in Israeli prisons;
-
- -- Israeli violations of free movement and access rights;
-
- -- Fatah targeting Hamas supporters in the West Bank,
and restricting free assembly and expression;
-
- -- rocket and mortar attacks against Israeli civilians;
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- -- repression of dissent, access to information, and
treatment of human rights defenders in Israel;
-
- -- Israeli responses to war crimes charges;
-
- -- proceedings by Palestinian authorities;
-
- -- universal jurisdiction;
-
- -- reparations; and
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- -- conclusions and recommendations.
-
- The introduction stated that:
-
- "The Mission interpreted (its) mandate (to) requir(e)
it to place the civilian population of the region at the centre of its
concerns regarding the violations of international law."
-
- It repeatedly tried to get Israel's cooperation, but
failed. However, it "enjoyed the support and cooperation of the Palestinian
Authority (PA) and of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the
United Nations." Israel denied the Commission access to the West Bank
and had to meet with PA officials in Amman, Jordan. "During its visits
to the Gaza Strip, the Mission (also) held meetings with senior (Hamas)
members, and they extended their full cooperation and support...."
-
- The Commission's "normative framework" was
international law, international humanitarian law, the UN Charter, and
international human rights and criminal law.
- Information gotten included:
-
- -- reports from different sources;
-
- -- interviews with victims, witnesses, and others with
relevant information;
-
- -- visitations to specific Gaza sites where incidents
occurred;
-
- -- an analysis of video and photographic images, including
satellite imagery;
-
- -- medical reports about injuries to victims;
-
- -- forensic analysis of weapons and munitions remnants
collected from incident sites;
-
- -- meetings with interlocutors;
-
- -- information received in response to requests to provide
it; and
-
- -- public hearings in Gaza and Geneva.
-
- The Commission conducted 188 interviews, received over
300 reports, submissions, and other documents comprising more than 10,000
pages, 30 videos, and 1,200 photographs. As much as possible, it relied
on material gathered first-hand. Secondary sources were then used for corroboration.
Overall, enough information was obtained "of a credible and reliable
nature for the Mission to make a finding in fact." It established
clear evidence of crimes, and in almost all cases was able to determine
if the acts in question were deliberate or reckless.
-
- "By refusing to cooperate with the Mission, the
Government of Israel prevented it from meeting Israeli government officials,
but also from traveling to Israel to meet with Israeli victims and to the
West Bank to meet with Palestinian Authority representatives and Palestinian
victims."
-
- Commission's Findings
-
- A UN September 15 press release stated that the Mission
concluded that "there is evidence indicating serious violations of
international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel
during the Gaza conflict, and that Israel committed actions amounting to
war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity." Examples included
numerous incidents of civilians shot waving white flags while trying to
leave their homes for safer locations. Other instances of Palestinians
used as human shields, arbitrary arrests, and extra-judicial assassinations
in Gaza and the West Bank.
-
- In particular, the Commission noted that:
-
- "While the Israeli Government has sought to portray
its operations as essentially a response to rocket attacks in the exercise
of its right of self defence, the Mission considers the plan to have been
directed, at least in part, at a different target: the people of Gaza as
a whole." Rocket attacks were a pretext for naked aggression.
-
- Calling them war crimes, the Mission found evidence that
"Palestinian armed groups" launched rockets and mortars into
Southern Israel, but they were minor incidents compared to the Israeli
onslaught.
-
- The Commission called the Gaza siege collective punishment
through a "policy of progressive isolation and deprivation,"
and that Operation Cast Lead destroyed vast amounts of Gaza infrastructure,
homes, public buildings, factories, schools, hospitals, police stations,
and other structures and facilities.
-
- It cited the death toll at over 1,400, families still
living in rubble, the blockade preventing reconstruction, and significant
immediate and long-term trauma, especially on children.
-
- It blamed Israel for depriving Palestinians of a means
of subsistence, employment, housing, water, free movement, the right to
leave and return to their own country, and access to judicial redress constituting
a "crime of persecution (and) against humanity...."
-
- Israel also violated the principles of "distinction"
between combatants and military targets v. civilians and non-military ones,
and "proportionality" that prohibits disproportionate indiscriminate
force likely to cause extensive damage and great loss of life.
-
- The Commission found numerous incidents of Israeli forces
launching "direct (disproportionate) attacks against civilians with
lethal outcomes." These are war crimes because "no justifiable
military objective" was pursued.
-
- It cited "a justice crisis in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory that warrants action." It said Israel conducted no "credible
investigation into alleged violations," and recommended that the Security
Council (SC) require it to do so and report back within six months. It
further asked the SC to establish an expert independent body to oversee
the investigations and prosecutions progress and refer the matter to the
International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor if Israel doesn't comply.
-
- "The report concludes that the Israeli military
operation was directed at the people of Gaza as a whole, in furtherance
of an overall and continuing policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population,
and in a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at the civilian
population. The destruction of food supply installations, water sanitation
systems, concrete factories and residential houses was the result of a
deliberate and systematic policy which has made the daily process of living,
and dignified living, more difficult for the civilian population."
-
- Richard Goldstone's September 17, 2009 New York Times
Op-Ed
-
- Goldstone said that, "above all," he accepted
the UN mandate because of his deep belief "in the rule of law and
the laws of war, and the principle that in armed conflict civilians should
to the greatest extent possible be protected from harm."
-
- Yet Israel willfully killed hundreds of civilians as
a result of "disproportionate attacks," including on hospitals
and civilian structures. "Repeatedly, the Israel Defense Forces failed
to adequately distinguish between combatants and civilians, as the laws
of war strictly require....Pursuing justice in this case is essential because
no state or armed group should be above the law." Failure to do so
"will have a deeply corrosive effect on international justice, and
reveal an unacceptable hypocrisy. As a service to hundreds of civilians
who needlessly died and for the equal application of international justice,
the perpetrators of serious violations must be held to account."
-
- Amnesty International's (AI) Response to the Goldstone
Report
-
- Donatella Rovera, head AI's Operation Cast Lead investigation,
called on the UN Human Rights Council to "endorse the report and its
recommendations and request the UN Secretary-General to refer it to the
UN Security Council. (It) and other UN bodies must now take the necessary
steps to ensure that the victims receive justice and reparation that is
their due and that perpetrators don't get away with murder." The Security
Council "must refer the Goldstone findings to the International Criminal
Court (ICC) Prosecutor if Israel and Hamas do not carry out credible investigations
within a set, limited period." AI added that the report's findings
are consistent with its own.
-
- The New York Times Response to the Goldstone Report
-
- A September 15 Neil MacFarquhar article quoted the report
citing Israel's "deliberately disproportionate attack designed to
punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population," but suggested
that Hamas was equally culpable.
-
- Then on September 17, it published two highly critical
letters of Goldstone. One was from Richard Sideman, president of the American
Jewish Committee saying:
-
- "Richard Goldstone displays the same disregard for
Israel and naivete regarding Hamas that permeates the report he wrote for
the United Nations Human Rights Council."
-
- He then vilified the HRC as "consistently demoniz(ing)
Israel while giving a free pass to some of the world's worst tyrants, from
Sudan to Iran, (and) Mr. Goldstone largely neglects what prompted Israel
to act militarily against Hamas....In sum, Mr. Goldstone's conclusions
are a disservice to the credibility of the United Nations itself."
-
- In the second letter, Matan Shamir, a Legacy Heritage
Fellow, said Richard Goldstone is "absolutely right" about "the
'corrosive effect on international justice' and the 'unacceptable hypocrisy'
of not holding Israel accountable....but through the select application
of international law against one democratic nation, Israel." By that
standard, "United States troops would similarly be unable to defend
themselves in Iraq and Afghanistan without being smeared as war criminals."
-
- On September 18, The Times ran two more anti-Goldstone
letters condemning Hamas "terrorism," defending Israel's right
to self-defense, and saying that since its founding, "Israel was plagued
by attacks by rejectionist groups that continue to this day."
-
- It also ran a September 18 story headlined "UN Study
Is Called Unfair to Israel" and quoted State Department spokesman
Ian Kelly saying:
-
- "Although the report addresses all sides of the
conflict, its overwhelming focus is on the actions of Israel. Its conclusions
regarding Hamas' deplorable conduct and its failure to comply with international
humanitarian law during the conflict are more general and tentative."
-
- Absent entirely from The Times, now and always, is an
emphasis on the egregiousness of Israeli crimes, its ability to commit
them with impunity, the unconscionable Gaza siege, and 42 years of oppressive
military occupation and state terror against millions of Palestinian civilians.
In covering a persecuted people, The Times looks the other way.
-
- The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) Response
-
- PCHR welcomed the Goldstone report and called for "effective
judicial redress and the protection of victims' rights." It urged
that the Mission's recommendations be adopted to assure accountability,
either through the Security Council; under the UN Charter's Chapter VII
that deals with breaches of or threats to peace and acts of aggression;
or by referring the matter to the ICC for criminal prosecutions and to
compensate Palestinians in accordance with international law.
-
- PCHR stressed that normal relations can't be conducted
with states that commit crimes of war and against humanity. International
pressure must be exerted to insure Israel's compliance. The siege must
be ended and reconstruction allowed to begin. So far, the international
community is silent and has granted Israel impunity to act above the law.
-
- "The results of this impunity are evident. The situation
cannot be allowed to persist. If the rule of law is to be relevant, it
must be upheld." According to the UN Charter, individual states and
the UN must fulfill their legal obligation "to save succeeding generations
from the scourge of war....reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights....establish
conditions under which justice (and) international law can be maintained,
(and resolve) to maintain international peace and security...."
-
- Other Responses from Human Rights Organizations
-
- Rabbis for Human Rights called on Israel to take the
report seriously, study its findings, and investigate charges of "violat(ions
of) the laws of war as well as human rights." Rabbi Ellen Lippmann,
co-chair, Rabbis for Human Rights-North American (PHR-NA) said:
-
- "Our colleagues in Israel have been urging Israel
to launch an independent and impartial investigation of its own. As we
rabbis and our communities prepare to celebrate Rosh HaShanah, our hearts
and minds are turned toward Israel, hoping than an investigation will begin
shortly....to work toward justice and right in Israel and at home."
-
- The Arab Association for Human Rights (ARABHRA) endorsed
the Goldstone report's findings of "strong evidence of war crimes
and crimes against humanity committed during the Gaza conflict." It
called for an end to Israeli impunity and action to hold it accountable.
-
- "Taking into account the ability to plan, the means
to execute plans with the most developed technology available, and statements
by the Israeli military that almost no errors occurred, (it's clear) that
the incidents and patterns of events considered in the report are the result
of deliberate planning and policy decision."
-
- B'Tselem said "Israel must investigate Operation
Cast Lead" crimes, and called on its government "to take the
report seriously and to refrain from automatically rejecting its findings
or denying its legitimacy. Already it is clear that the findings of the
report will join a long series of reports indicating that Israel's actions
(in Gaza) violated the laws of combat and human rights law."
-
- Other human rights organizations endorsed this statement
including: Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Adalah, Bimkom,
Gisha, HaMoked, Physicians for Human Rights (Israel), The Public Committee
Against Torture (PACTI), and Yesh Din.
-
- Israel's Response
-
- Not surprisingly, Israeli officials condemned the report
and dismissed it out of hand. President Shimon Peres called it "a
mockery of history" and charged that it "fails to distinguish
between the aggressor and a state exercising its right of self defense....The
report legitimizes terrorist activity, the pursuit of murder and death.
The report disregards the duty and right of self-defense...."
-
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said:
-
- "The Goldstone report is a kangaroo court against
Israel, whose consequences harm the struggle of democratic countries against
terror."
-
- Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, called the report
"a dangerous attempt to harm the principle of self-defense by democratic
states and provides legitimacy to terrorism. (It's) a cynical attempt at
role reversal in blaming Israel for war crimes instead of terrorist organizations."
He added that Israel would enlist the support of Western democracies in
a campaign "to prevent turning international law into a circus."
-
- Defense Secretary, Ehud Barak, said the report constituted
"a prize for terrorism. The comparison between those who foment terrorism
and its victims is unconscionable."
-
- UN ambassador, Gabriela Shalev, said: "The mandate
of the Goldstone Commission was one-sided from the beginning and the initiative
to establish the commission came from the UN Human Rights Council, which
is known for regularly and routinely condemning Israel."
-
- The extremist Jerusalem Post called the report "nauseating
(by equating) a democratic state with a terror organization."
-
- Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said:
-
- "The whole purpose of the report, from the moment
the decision was made to write it, was to destroy Israel's image, in service
to countries where the terms 'human rights' and 'combat ethics' do not
even appear in their dictionaries. I can say wholeheartedly....that the
IDF is the most moral army in the world, and it is forced to deal with
the most vile terrorists, who set for themselves the goal of killing women
and children, and hide behind women and children."
-
- "(The report) wishes to take the UN back to the
dark ages....(It) has no legal, factual or ethical value, (and) it is a
testament to the writers of the report and those that sent them."
-
- Lieberman heads the ultranationalist/revisionist Zionist
Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is Our Home) party, and has openly called for
the assassination of Hamas leaders, saying:
-
- "They have to disappear, go to Paradise, all of
them and there can't be any compromise."
-
- He also wants the peace process abandoned, Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas ignored, and once urged that Israeli Arabs be deported
and Arab Knesset members who met with Hamas or Hezbollah executed. Haaretz
called him:
-
- an "unrestrained and irresponsible man....a threat
(to Israel for) his lack of restraint and his unbridled tongue (that may)
bring disaster (to) the whole region."
-
- Like other Israeli leaders, confrontation with Iran is
one of his top priorities as well as continued West Bank land seizures
(including all of East Jerusalem) for settlement expansions, denying Palestinians
their rights and freedom, and restricting them to isolated cantons.
-
- New UN Report Says Israel Is Blocking Gaza's Reconstruction
-
- On September 18, the London Guardian reported on a leaked
September UN report accusing Israel of causing "de-development"
by keeping Gaza under siege, denying essential aid, and blocking its reconstruction.
-
- From Jerusalem, Rory McCarthy wrote:
-
- "....much reconstruction work is still to be done
because materials are either delayed or banned from entering the strip.
The UN (Office of the Humanitarian Co-ordinator) Report, obtained by the
Guardian, reveals the delays facing the delivery of even the most basis
aid. On average, it takes 85 days to get shelter kits into Gaza, 68 days
to deliver health and paediatric hygiene kits, and 39 days for household
items such as bedding and kitchen utensils."
-
- All sorts of essentials are either delayed or banned.
The report accused Israel of "contraven(ing)" the Security Council's
January 2009 resolution 1860 calling for "unimpeded provision and
distribution" of humanitarian aid.
-
- Titled "Access for the Provision of Humanitarian
Assistance to Gaza: An Overview to Delivering Principled Humanitarian Assistance,"
it said:
-
- "....there has been no significant improvement in
the quantity and scope of goods allowed into Gaza....The lack of construction
materials, as well as equipment and material necessary for maintenance
and repair of public infrastructure, has lead to a process of de-development
in the Gaza Strip, which potentially could lead to the complete breakdown
of public infrastructure and further deterioration in the economy."
-
- In 2005, Israel signed an Agreement on Movement and Access
(AMA) with the PA. At the time, 9,470 monthly truckloads into Gaza were
considered inadequate. During June and July 2009, only 2,406 entered monthly,
a 75% reduction and 80% below the June 2007 12,352 level for the Strip's
1.5 million people.
-
- "The result is a gradual process of de-development
across all sectors, devastating livelihoods, increasing unemployment, and
resulting in increased aid dependency amongst the population."
-
- Everything is urgently needed, but blocked from entering,
including vital construction materials for redevelopment. Getting in are
inadequate amounts of food, hygiene, and some other items plus what enters
through Gaza's tunnel economy.
-
- Final Comments
-
- For over six decades, Israeli state terror continued
its tradition of blaming the victim and choosing militarism, violence,
intimidation, and naked aggression over peaceful coexistence, respect for
human rights, and observance of international laws and norms. Israelization
and De-Arabization are fixed policies. So is the Dahiya Doctrine, named
after the Beirut suburb that the IDF destroyed in the 2006 Lebanon war.
It calls civilians a strategic target "at the heart of the enemy's
weak spot," and for using disproportionate force against them, their
property, and infrastructure.
-
- Arabs are thus disenfranchised, denied rights, and deemed
inferior as subhumans. Israeli policy is confrontation, conflict, oppression,
impoverishment, displacement, slow-motion genocide, and state terror to
depopulate historic Palestine for Jews only.
-
- Operation Cast Lead was the latest episode, but Gaza
remains isolated under siege. The West Bank is under military occupation.
Land seizures, arrests, random killings, torture, checkpoint restrictions,
home demolitions, crop destruction, permits, economic strangulation, and
incarcerations occur daily, yet the world community is silent. The Goldstone
Commission offers the latest evidence of what's persisted for decades.
Holding Israel accountable is essential. It's high time world bodies and
jurists demanded it.
-
- Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre
for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
-
- Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday
- Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished
guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
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