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Last update - 17:12 05/11/2009
U.S. dodges UN debate on Goldstone Gaza report
By News Agencies
Tags: Israel news 

The United States on Wednesday openly eschewed a United Nations General Assembly debate on a resolution that would call on Israel and the Palestinians to investigate charges of war crimes during the Gaza war detailed in the Goldstone Commission's report.

The nonbinding resolution on the Goldstone report, which looked certain to be approved by the 192-nation assembly, also requests that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon submit the 575-page report to the Security Council.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice skipped the discussion and sent her deputy, Alejandro Wolff, as an observer instead.
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The report, commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council and published on Sept. 15, lambasted both sides in the December-January conflict, which killed more than 1,000 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, but was harsher toward Israel.

Diplomats say there is little chance that the report or the Arab-drafted resolution could lead to punishment of either side. But it has enraged Israel and galvanized American Jews.

In the assembly debate, Arab envoys praised the report by South African jurist Richard Goldstone and demanded an end to what they called the Israel's impunity. But Israel damned the document as "conceived in hate and executed in sin.""

There is no veto in the assembly and the resolution looked sure to win a majority. But with more than 40 envoys listed to speak, most of them from Arab and other Muslim countries, it was unclear when the vote would take place.

Israel's ally the United States was one of a small number of countries expected to vote against the resolution. In a clear warning to the administration, the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday urged President Barack Obama to oppose UN endorsement of Goldstone's findings.

Most members of the 27-nation European Union were likely to abstain, although diplomats said negotiations were underway with the Arabs to agree a text the Europeans could support.

The diplomats said the EU opposed the resolution's implicit endorsement of the Goldstone report, which Western states have called flawed, although making important points.

Representing the EU, Ambassador Anders Liden of Sweden, the bloc's current president, called the report serious and urged Israel and the Palestinians to launch "appropriate, credible and independent investigations" into its charges.

But Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev gave no hint that her country, which refused to cooperate with Goldstone, would respond.

In her address to the assembly, she attacked both the Goldstone Report and the international body as being "irreparably tainted" and "bending both fact and law."

The ambassador also said the report, which accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes during their war in the Gaza Strip in January, was "born in hate and prepared in sin."

"[The] report and this debate do not promote peace; they damage any effort to revitalize negotiations in our region," added Shalev, who was one of the first speakers at the assembly's debate on the report.

The ambassador said the report ignored "the reality of terror" and the complexities of urban warfare against terrorists.

She also dismissed the Goldstone panel as "a politicized body with predetermined conclusions."

Shalev reminded the General Assembly that Israel had suffered eight years of rocket attacks from Gaza, which violated the human rights of Israeli civilians.

"[But] rather than discuss how to better stop terrorist groups who deliberately target civilians, this body launches yet another campaign against the victims of terrorism, the people of Israel," she said.

Time and again, Shalev charged, the report turned Israel's unprecedented efforts to save civilian lives against it, using them as proof that any civilian casualties were therefore deliberate.

She also criticized the report for dismissing Israel's independent legal system, its investigations of misconduct in the armed forces, and its right to self-defense.

Goldstone's report urged the Security Council to order both sides to carry out credible investigations into alleged abuses during the conflict and to follow that up with legal action where necessary.

If either side refuses, the panel said, the Security Council should forward the evidence to the International Criminal Court, the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal, for prosecution.

Palestinian representative Riyad Mansour, meanwhile, rejected Israel's principal argument that the report ignored the Jewish state's right to defend itself. Israel attacked Gaza on Dec. 27 to try to stamp out Palestinian rocket fire against Israeli cities.

Of 36 incidents in Gaza investigated by Goldstone, "with only one exception, the facts prove that there were no military targets that could justify such attacks by the Israeli occupying forces," Mansour said.

He also reaffirmed that the Palestinian Authority was ready to investigate Goldstone's charges against the Palestinians. But the West Bank-based authority has no control over the Hamas authorities in Gaza.

The resolution follows Goldstone in calling on Israel and "the Palestinian side" to undertake within three months credible investigations into the report's charges.

It also asks Ban to submit the report to the Security Council. But diplomats said all five veto-wielding permanent council members opposed council involvement, so it was unlikely the 15-nation body would take action.

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      1.   But that`s not really the point, is it? 02:11  |  Johnboy 05/11/09
      2.   israela sticking the finger up at the world 04:48  |  VIPER 05/11/09
      3.   Let Sudan, Iran and Syria `win` 05:09  |  Dan 05/11/09
      4.   Goldstone left Israel an out 05:46  |  Mark Lincoln 05/11/09
      5.   Look at the absurdity 06:31  |  Dan 05/11/09
      6.   Should be Interesting! 07:02  |  Cynic 05/11/09
      7.   The entire Goldstone report is invalid and morally tainted. 07:04  |  B. Gold 05/11/09
      8.   Dan: Then you`ll feel extra special. 07:08  |  Ryan 05/11/09
      9.   UNGA Res - As Useful As US House Res 07:54  |  Mark of Lewiston 05/11/09
      10.   Did Bibi write the script for Gabriella...? 08:16  |  Esther 05/11/09
      11.   The US is sitting out the debate as predicted for intransigence.. 09:13  |  BBSNews 05/11/09
      12.   It only shows that U.S. Republicans and Democrats are exactly.... 09:20  |  Swiss (Dino) 05/11/09
      13.   Lashon Hara 09:23  |  Ari 05/11/09
      14.   Israel could rid of politicians which stuck her 09:24  |  dani.a 05/11/09
      15.   dani.a 09:34  |  Jozef 05/11/09
      16.   A Non-Binding Vote 09:48  |  Mark of Lewiston 05/11/09
      17.   Galvanized American Jews????? 10:06  |  Hanna 05/11/09
      18.   ari, thank you for exposing real Judaism to regular posters here. 10:12  |  BBSNews 05/11/09
      19.   Swiss, your point is well taken... 10:19  |  BBSNews 05/11/09
      20.   #5 b/s news and the road map ?? 10:22  |  vhardman 05/11/09
      21.   Hanna, thank you for pointing that out.. 10:22  |  BBSNews 05/11/09
      22.   Holy Cow! 10:25  |  Johnboy 05/11/09
      23.   WHY waste time on an Arab dominated talkfest that has no interest 10:40  |  PETER SM 05/11/09
      24.   We heard a snippet of what Gabriella Shalev had to say. 10:43  |  Maureen Ann 05/11/09
      25.   # 16 BBSNews, no need at all for you to feel sorry..... 10:45  |  Swiss (Dino) 05/11/09
      26.   b gold 4 11:01  |  potobac 05/11/09
      27.   # 5 Ryan, you can also add little Switzerland to that list...:) 11:04  |  Swiss (Dino) 05/11/09
      28.   Everyone listen to Mark of L. #6 He got it right 11:04  |  Viewer 05/11/09
      29.   peter sm 20 11:06  |  potobac 05/11/09
      30.   #22 dopey dino and the failure syndrome 11:10  |  vhardman 05/11/09
      31.   Maureen Ann ,Australia has higher rate of aboriginal incarcernati 11:43  |  Absolute Sweden 05/11/09
      32.   # 9 Colnies? America had colonies 11:58  |  Petra 05/11/09
      33.   POTOBAC Its called perspective,seeing data in a meaningful 12:00  |  PETER SM 05/11/09
      34.   Hanna,"your" American Jews are galvanized if the shorts lenghth 12:02  |  Absolute Sweden 05/11/09
      35.   # 29 Pauli, what a tremendous understatement of yours..... 12:02  |  Swiss (Dino) 05/11/09
      36.   Makes no difference 12:06  |  Matthew Wright 05/11/09
      37.   What hypocrites at the EU 12:06  |  Cynic #2 05/11/09
      38.   Can TUTU-FALK and GOLDSTONE be Wrong? and Israel "Right"? 12:16  |  Two Jews 1 Gentile 05/11/09
      39.   tick tock.... 12:28  |  Welshman 05/11/09
      40.   UN haiku for Israel 12:39  |  Nico Mavelli 05/11/09
      41.   #34 dopey dino concurs that the un is giving israel stick 13:03  |  vhardman 05/11/09
      42.   #40 vhardman 13:57  |  Juge 05/11/09
      43.   Ari and Lashon Hara 14:21  |  Kevin 05/11/09
      44.   Why bother? let them vote, sing and dance. 14:41  |  17 05/11/09
      45.   dog meet tail 14:48  |  edgar 05/11/09
      46.   Game, set and match 15:59  |  The Prophet 05/11/09
      47.   Obama Needs to Demonstrate Integrity 16:18  |  Vladek 05/11/09
      48.   #8 - Ryan dreaming... 17:20  |  Maurice 05/11/09
      49.   43- Kevin 17:31  |  Eric 05/11/09
      50.   # 13 Ari - your lecture is directed at the wrong sinners 18:18  |  David 05/11/09
      51.   BS news 18:46  |  Philippe 05/11/09
      52.   Mark of Lewiston 18:50  |  flo 05/11/09
      53.   Maurice of Montreal 19:20  |  Hugh 05/11/09
      54.   Ari #13...alas, but only the `ganovim` might profit... 19:30  |  Esther 05/11/09
      55.   Ari - Beautiful and Well Said 19:41  |  Jane 05/11/09
      56.   Swiss (Dino) - The US Supports Israel. 19:46  |  Jane 05/11/09
      57.   backslap heard `round the world 19:59  |  binny 05/11/09
      58.   Transcripts of Shalev`s speech are available here ... 20:03  |  Paul 05/11/09
      59.   # 56 Jane, please read Esthers response (# 54) to Ari.... 20:22  |  Swiss (Dino) 05/11/09
      60.   #4 23:23  |  Leeguy 05/11/09
      61.   Vladek (47) and Esther (54), well said! 23:26  |  Ben Alofs 05/11/09
      62.   Ridiculous, overblown statement. 23:29  |  Maki 05/11/09
      63.   # 38 were you aware of the incitement all this has cauused 23:31  |  Big Sur 05/11/09
      64.   Esther 00:01  |  Philippe 06/11/09
      65.   #3, DAN, your no different to them in a way 00:30  |  VIPER 06/11/09
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