 Eleven Palestinian human rights groups have asked Hamas to conduct a credible internal investigation into allegations it committed war crimes during last winter's war with Israel. UN investigator Richard Goldstone has said he believes both Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers committed war crimes during Israel's offensive in Gaza. Goldstone said Israel used excessive force and Hamas terrorized Israeli civilians with indiscriminate rocket attacks. The UN General Assembly adopted Goldstone's findings and gave both sides until Febuary 5 to investigate. Neither has done so. Israel and Hamas deny the allegations. Shahwan Jabareen of the Palestinian group al-Haq said that Hamas told him it would investigate, but that he has not seen serious steps. JPost
 Richard Goldstone, the South African jurist and author of a controversial UN report which accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes during the Israel Defense Forces' military offensive in the Gaza Strip last winter, will receive the Stockholm Human Rights Award, it was announced on Thursday.
"Richard Goldstone has made an outstanding career in the promotion of the rule of law and human rights, first in his home country South Africa and during the last fifteen years in various highly prestigious international fora," the International Legal Assistance Consortium, a Sweden-based umbrella group of non-governmental organizations which oversees the awarding of the prize, said on Thursday.
The UN General Assembly endorsed the report last month and submitted it to the Security Council.
The 192-member General Assembly adopted the resolution last month by a vote of 114-18, with others absent or abstaining. The resolution calls on the Security Council to act if either side fails to launch credible investigations within three months.
The report on the Gaza war was drafted by an expert UN panel chaired by Goldstone, and concluded that both Israel and Palestinian militants committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.
The harshly worded UN draft resolution, composed by Arab member states, has not been softened despite U.S. and European efforts.
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, told Haaretz before the vote that she did not plan to take part. "I won't lend a hand to a debate whose conclusions are predetermined. It was a predictable Arab game."
 Why wouldn't the Post-American President allow this? After all, he already plans to try the CIA members who interrogated jihadis at Gitmo, and Navy Seals who captured a top jihadist. Why should he have any problem with this? "Prosecuting American 'War Crimes': The International Criminal Court claims jurisdiction over U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan," by Daniel Schwammenthal in the Wall Street Journal, November 26 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed "great regret" in August that the U.S. is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC). This has fueled speculation that the Obama administration may reverse another Bush policy and sign up for what could lead to the trial of Americans for war crimes in The Hague. The ICC's chief prosecutor, though, has no intention of waiting for Washington to submit to the court's authority. Luis Moreno Ocampo says he already has jurisdiction--at least with respect to Afghanistan. Because Kabul in 2003 ratified the Rome Statute--the ICC's founding treaty--all soldiers on Afghan territory, even those from nontreaty countries, fall under the ICC's oversight, Mr. Ocampo told me. And the chief prosecutor says he is already conducting a "preliminary examination" into whether NATO troops, including American soldiers, fighting the Taliban may have to be put in the dock. "We have to check if crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide have been committed in Afghanistan," Mr. Ocampo told me. "There are serious allegations against the Taliban and al Qaeda and serious allegations about warlords, even against some who are connected with members of the government." Taking up his inquiry of Allied soldiers, he added, "there are different reports about problems with bombings and there are also allegations about torture." It was clear who the targets of these particular inquiries are but the chief prosecutor shied away from spelling it out. Asked repeatedly whether the examination of bombings and torture allegations refers to NATO and U.S. soldiers, Mr. Ocampo finally stated that "we are investigating whoever commits war crimes, including the group you mentioned." The fact that he avoided a straightforward "I am looking into possible war crimes committed by American soldiers" showed that Mr. Ocampo is aware of the enormity of crossing this legal and political bridge. Appointed in 2003 for a nine-year period, the 57-year-old Argentinian has--so far--established a record of cautious jurisprudence.... With thanks to JihadWatch 
 The International Court came into being by virtue of the Rome Treaty in 2002.. To date, 110 states have signed on and a further 38 states have signed but not ratified it. The U.S. and Israel are among those who have yet to ratify the treaty.
The same year, Richard Goldstone delivered a speech at a Toronto synagogue arguing that it was in the interests of Israel and the U.S. that they sign on.
It was asked if Israel should sign on as she would never get a fair hearing. Goldstone vehemently disagreed.
Fast forward: In the days before to Operation Cast Lead, during a period when the Gazans were committing war crimes daily by firing rockets indiscriminately at Israeli civilians, Dr. Abraham Bell in his article on International Law and Gaza set out the basic principles and subtitled his article The Assault on Israel’s Right of Self Defense.
But what do these principles and rules he set out mean in practice? Did Israel have no choice but to invade or could it just have used artillery and bombs, even unintelligent inexpensive bombs? Bruce Tucker Smith, JD, LL.M. (International Law), Lt Col USAFR (ret). who is currently a US military Judge, summarized his opinion as follows: “In short…Israel’s defense forces are entitled to use whatever means is at her disposal to search out and destroy terrorist operatives.
Nothing in international law precludes a vigorous, intense and effective military campaign to destroy terrorist operations. That means, Israel may use air and ground-artillery resources -as she will-against those Hamas operatives (I hesitate to us the word “military” - since Hamas is NOT a recognized military force.) which are used to inflict casualties upon Israel.
“That means Israel may use her army in large or small measure to attack any place or person that attacks Israel. That means Israel can bombard Hamas targets as militarily necessary to render it impotent against a subsequent wave of Israeli soldiers.
Although politically preferable, nothing in international law absolutely requires Israel to use “smart” munitions in its operations against Hamas.
 BOSNIAN Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic won a small victory in a battle of wills with UN court judges when they adjourned his genocide trial to March next year, legal analysts have said. While the judges opted to impose a lawyer on Karadzic, who has boycotted his trial since it started on October 26, they did not strip him of the right to conduct his own defence and effectively gave him more time to prepare - exactly what he was after. "This is an indirect way of giving Karadzic a bit more time to prepare his case," while trying to minimise further interruptions, Willem van Genugten, international law professor at the Netherlands' Tilburg University, told AFP. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday ordered the imposition of a defence lawyer on Karadzic and adjourned his genocide trial to March 1, 2010. Karadzic, 64, has refused to attend his trial since it opened in The Hague nearly two weeks ago, insisting on more time to prepare his defence, which he is conducting himself with the backing of about 20 legal advisers, many of them volunteers. Karadzic stands charged with 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the 1992-95 Bosnian war in which some 100,000 people died and 2.2 million were forced to flee their homes. The judges warned that Karadzic would lose his right to self-representation should he continue his boycott when the trial resumes in which case the court-assigned lawyer would take over. "After several warnings (ignored by Karadzic), the tribunal had to send out a serious message if it didn't want to lose credibility," said Professor Van Genugten. In Thursday's decision the judges said Karadzic had "substantially and persistently obstructed" the proceedings and "effectively brought the trial to a halt". There have only been two days of trial hearings to date, both used for the opening statement of the prosecutor who urged the court not to allow Karadzic's antics to dictate the trial schedule. "The judges were looking for a compromise to end the impasse," said Harmen van der Wilt, international law professor at the University of Amsterdam. "They had to show that they retain the control, that they won't be held hostage, all the while trying to cooperate with the accused," he said. According to Xavier Tracol, a former ICTY prosecutor, Karadzic "has won a battle but not the war". "His objective is to hold the tribunal hostage. Winning time is one way of achieving that." Karadzic, who denies all charges, risks life in jail on accusations that he orchestrated the mass killing of Muslims and Croats in pursuit of a "Greater Serbia" that was to include 60 per cent of Bosnia's territory. Marko Sladojevic, one of Karadzic's legal advisers, said that his client had not yet decided whether he would appeal but would "take a constructive approach and will try to find a compromise that will satisfy all sides involved". Arrested on a Belgrade bus in July last year after 13 years on the run, Karadzic faces charges over the massacre of 7000 Muslims at Srebrenica and the 44-month siege of Sarajevo that killed some 10,000 people. "I am glad that they imposed a lawyer, on him, I hope it will prevent him to manipulate the trial," Srebrenica survivor Munira Subasic told AFP. "It is painful for us to see how his every wish is granted, almost as if they fear not to hurt his feelings. But we will continue to fight for justice, we will testify against him, we will pursue justice with all available means." Karadzic's trial is expected to continue until 2012, while any appeals have to be finalised by 2013. Source: The Australian
 The United Nations General Assembly voted Thursday in favor of endorsing the Goldstone Report on the Gaza war in full – 114 states voted in favor of the report, while 18 objected and 44 abstained. Discussions of the report, which accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes in the course of Operation Cast Lead, got underway Wednesday, with 15 envoys delivering speeches ahead of the vote. During the past 24 hours, Arab states attempted to reach a compromise with European and other countries that were unwilling to endorse the proposal.
Western states attempted to moderate the Arab proposal but failed to do so, as the Arab bloc decided to submit the proposal for a vote as is, while taking advantage of the automatic majority possessed by Muslim and non-aligned states at the UN. The text voted on call "requests the Secretary-General to transmit the report of the 'United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict' to the Security Council, while granting Israel and the Palestinians three months in order to launch an internal inquiry into its charges. America's UN Envoy Susan Rice shunned the session and the United States is expected to veto the report in the Security Council later on. Israel's UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev also stayed away from the vote.
 THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Radovan Karadzic orchestrated the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys and his only regret was "that some Muslim men got away," a U.N. prosecutor said Monday at the former Bosnian Serb leader's war crimes trial. Karadzic again boycotted his own trial at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal on Monday, but pledged in a letter to judges that he would attend a procedural hearing Tuesday on his defense case. Prosecutor Alan Tieger focused on Europe's worst atrocity since World War II as he wound up his opening statement Monday for the tribunal's judges. Tieger called the July 1995 slaying in Srebrenica "one of humanity's dark chapters" and laid the blame squarely at Karadzic's feet. "The murder of these men and the expulsion of the women, children and elderly did not arise from nowhere," Tieger said. "These crimes were the culmination of the accused's determination to cleanse eastern Bosnia to ensure the Serb state he envisioned." Karadzic is charged with two counts of genocide and nine other crimes against humanity and war crimes linked to atrocities throughout Bosnia's 1992-95 war. He has refused to enter pleas, but insists he is innocent. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Karadzic's boycott of the trial last week frustrated dozens of war survivors — many of them widows from Srebrenica — who had traveled hundreds of miles (kilometers) by bus to see him face justice after 13 years on the run. Read more here,,,, Source: FoxNews
 Top Democratic and Republican foreign affairs leaders in the US Congress are calling on the Obama administration to quash the Goldstone Report. A non-binding resolution introduced on Friday by Rep. Howard Berman (D-California), the chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Ileana Ross-Lehtinen (R-Florida), the committee's ranking Republican, "calls on the president and the secretary of state to strongly and unequivocally oppose any further consideration of the 'Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict' and any other measures stemming from this report in multilateral fora." Also signing on as sponsors were the Middle East subcommittee's chairman and ranking member, Reps. Gary Ackerman (D-New York) and Dan Burton (R-Indiana). The report alleges Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in last winter's Gaza war.
The Obama administration has called the report flawed, but also says it raises allegations that deserve to be addressed by the parties to the conflict. The administration is opposed to furthering the report in international committees but has stopped short of unequivocally blocking such consideration. Meanwhile, Judge Richard Goldstone has turned down an invitation by the Israeli Press Council to speak at a journalism conference in Eilat, slated to be held in November, according to a statement issued on the council's Web site on Sunday. In response to the invitation, Goldstone wrote in a letter to Press Council director-general Eric Bahar that he would not be able to attend the conference, due to a prior speaking engagement at New York's Fordham University law school, according to the statement. Source: JPost
 Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spelled out war crimes that Hamas committed before, during and after the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign in Gaza 10 months ago.
In an interview published in the Washington Post on Saturday, he also said that Israel is “looking into” an independent inquiry on the Goldstone report. His spokesmen later clarified that his statement that does not mean that he wants a probe. The Prime Minister’s office said that the IDF already is probing two-thirds of the allegations against Israel as reported to the United Nations Human Rights Commission by Judge Richard Goldstone. It added that the probe was initiated by Israel for its own needs and not as a reaction to the Goldstone report. The Prime Minister told the Washington newspaper, “The best way to defuse this issue is to speak the truth because Israel was defending itself with just means against an unjust attack. Serious countries have to think about adapting the laws of war in the age of terrorism and guerrilla warfare. If the terrorists believe they have a license to kill by choosing to kill from behind civilian lines, that's what they'll do again and again. What exactly is Israel supposed to do?” He spelled out four specific war crimes that Hamas has committed: calling for the destruction of Israel, in contradiction to the U.N. charter, deliberate attacks on civilians, using Arab civilians as human shields and kidnapping IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been denied access to the Red Cross, a violation of the Geneva Convention. “Who gets accused of criminal behavior at the end of the day? Israel that sent thousands of text messages and made tens of thousands of cellular phone calls to Palestinian civilians to warn them to evacuate,” he said.
Prime Minister Netanyahu also said, ”It is too early to say” anything on the apparent deal between Iran and Western countries on curbing development of its nuclear capability. “The issue is not merely the security of Israel but of the world,” he stated. Concerning the refusal of the Palestinian Authority to resume negotiations, he charged that pre-conditions set by the PA, including a freeze on building for Jews in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria represents an “old technique [of] ‘Let's agree on what the results of the negotiations will be before the negotiations begin.’” In a separate interview, President Shimon Peres said that the media is mistaken by defining Prime Minister Netanyahu as a “right-winger.”
Asked by the Post about the President's remarks, the Prime Minister responded, “I think we do represent a consensus of the Israeli public. The popular explanation is that this conflict is about the territories captured in the 1967 war. So why did the conflict rage [when] there were no settlements?
The Arabs fought wars and terror campaigns in the 1920s, '30s and '40s against any Jewish state, and then they rejected the partition. Our presence in the territories is not the cause of the conflict but one of its results.” Source: INN
 BARACK Obama's attempts to resume Middle East peace talks looked doomed last night after a UN committee endorsed the Goldstone report into the Gaza conflict, which accuses Israel and Hamas of war crimes. The UN Human Rights Council approved a Palestinian-backed resolution after two days of debate on the report, which it commissioned following the December 27 to January 18 conflict in which almost 1400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. The resolution passed 25-6, with developing countries mostly in favour and the US and five European countries opposing. Eleven mostly European and African countries abstained, while Britain, France and three other members of the 47-nation body declined to vote. US diplomat Douglas M. Griffiths told the council Washington was disappointed with the vote. The US had wanted the report to stay in Geneva, and is likely to veto any action in the Security Council. The resolution - which also condemns recent Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories and East Jerusalem - endorses the report's recommendation that both sides in the conflict should show the Security Council within six months that they are carrying out credible investigations into the claims of abuse. Before the vote, Israel warned that any endorsement of the report would endanger the Middle East peace process. Israel engaged in an intense last-minute effort, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to stop the report's endorsement. Mr Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak telephoned world leaders to ask their countries to vote against the report. In one conversation, described as "robust", Mr Netanyahu was reportedly rebuffed by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who told him Israel could avoid being criticised by the UN if it held its own independent inquiry. South African judge Richard Goldstone held an inquiry into the Gaza war, and his report said Israel and Hamas might be guilty of crimes against humanity. Last night's vote means the Goldstone report can now be passed to the UN General Assembly and possibly the International Criminal Court, where charges could be brought against Israeli politicians or military officials in charge of the war. Read more here,,,, Source: The Australian
 The UN Human Rights Council will hold a special session in Geneva, as requested by the Palestinian Authority, in which the Goldstone report is expected to be addressed, Al Jazeera has learnt. The session will begin on Thursday and is expected to last into the following day. The request by the Palestinian Authority (PA) is co-sponsored by the 18 member states of the human rights council. Those members are: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Senegal. The meeting will be the 12th special session of the council, following the Security Council's open debate on the Middle East expected in New York on Wednesday. The Palestinians have pressed for a vote on the report at the UN Human Rights Council, effectively a policy reverse by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, whose government had earlier agreed to delay the vote for six months. That decision, apparently made under US pressure, sparked sharp criticism and protests across Palestinian society. Should a vote takes place by the council, the matter could be referred to higher UN bodies that could, in theory, push for a war-crimes prosecution. The news of the UN special session comes a day after Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, lashed out against the Goldstone report, which criticises Israel for deliberately targeting civilians during its war on Gaza earlier this year. He called the report, compiled by a team led by Richard Goldstone, a South African judge, a "distorted report, written by this distorted committee". "This report encourages terrorism and threatens peace," he said, and announced that he would never allow any of the country's leaders or soldiers to be put on trial for war crimes. Read more here,,,, Source: Al Jazeera (English)
 JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed never to allow Israeli leaders or soldiers to stand trial on war crimes charges over their actions during last winter's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, furiously denouncing a U.N. report in a keynote address to parliament. Netanyahu's fiery rhetoric — and his decision to open the high-profile speech with remarks on the report — reflected the deep distress felt among Israeli leaders after a U.N. commission accused Israel of intentionally harming civilians when it launched a massive attack in Gaza to stop years of rocket fire. "This distorted report, written by this distorted committee, undermines Israel's right to defend itself. This report encourages terrorism and threatens peace,"
Netanyahu said in his address at the opening of parliament's winter session. "Israel will not take risks for peace if it can't defend itself." The U.N. report, compiled by a team led by former war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, accused Israel of using disproportionate force, deliberately targeting civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure during a three-week offensive against Hamas militants last winter.
The report also accused Hamas of war crimes by deliberately targeting civilians and trying to spread terror with rocket attacks. Read more here,,,, Source: FoxNews
 By Richard Landes Judge Richard Goldstone has presented his report on Gaza and, among other recommendations, suggested that Israel conduct its own inquiry.
Israeli government officials, assuming he meant an investigation like his into Israel's misdeeds, declined, noting that that they have and continue to investigate their army's behavior on a constant basis. But after reading most of the report, another possibility presents itself.
It rapidly becomes clear to any reader not driven by a thirst for "dirt" on Israel, that Goldstone's work represents a new low in the tragically deteriorating world of international justice.
It fails on every count, from its handling of evidence, to its legal reasoning, to its unstated but pervasive assumptions of Israeli guilt and Palestinian innocence, to its astonishing conclusion (from someone who knows the gruesome details of Bosnia and Rwanda), that Israeli behavior was so bad it might well constitute "crimes against humanity." Read more here,,,, Source: JPost The writer teaches history at Boston University, blogs at the Augean Stables (http://www.theaugeanstables.com ) and the Second Draft (http://www.seconddraft.org), and has just launched a new collective website: Understanding the Goldstone Report (http://www.goldstonereport.org ). The internet version of this article contains numerous links.
 The Palestinian leadership has shifted course and endorsed a UN Security Council debate next week over a UN report accusing Israel of possible war crimes in Gaza. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki acknowledged a "clear crisis" exists over the report. The Palestinian Authority had received harsh criticism for agreeing under US pressure not to push the issue at the UN. He didn't say who was responsible for the crisis, but told reporters the Islamist terror group Hamas wants to "score points" instead of taking a "principled" approach on the report. The report also accuses Palestinian armed groups of possible war crimes in the Israeli-Hamas conflict last winter. Hamas, the Palestinian Authority's main rival, controls Gaza. The Palestinian Authority had agreed last Friday to delay a push for possible Security Council action. Source: YNet
 The United States and other countries are against a discussion on the report, but even if the Libyan initiative is curbed, the matter is expected to be raised during the periodical discussion on the Middle East on October 20.
Libya, which represents the Arab countries bloc at the Security Council, surprised the Arab countries and the Palestinians when it asked for a discussion on the report. Ynet has learned that other countries are also opposed to a Security Council discussion, both because of the political aspect and due to the fact that the report should be first discussed by the Human Rights Council in Geneva, which was behind the initiative to probe the Israeli operation in Gaza. The Geneva vote has been postponed by half a year after the Palestinians pulled a resolution to adopt the Goldstone Report and condemn Israel. Diplomatic sources have said that the Libyan initiative will be opposed by several Security Council members, but that the issue may be voted on any case, although Libya may find it difficult to get the support of nine countries out of 15, as required. Behind the scene, the Americans are trying to come up with a compromise which will see the vote on the Goldstone Report held as part of the open periodical discussion on the situation in the Middle East. As far as Israel is concerned, this option is the lesser of two evils, as the discussion will deal with a variety of issues in the region. One possibility is that the sides will compromise on moving up the discussion on the situation in the Middle East. A State Department source said that the US had not changed its mind on the report, which the source said focused on Israel in an unbalanced manner in most of its recommendations. The American stand, which was to be expressed at the Security Council discussion Wednesday night, is that the report includes serious accusations which must be probed by both sides. Washington wants the discussion on the report to be held as part of the Human Rights Council in Geneva rather than at the UN headquarters in New York. The Obama administration supports an independent Israeli investigation into the war crime claims, for fear that the controversy over the Goldstone Report will disrupt the efforts of US special envoy George Mitchell to resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Source: YNet
 Libya on Tuesday requested a meeting of the Security Council to discuss a UN report that accused Israel and Palestinian militants of war crimes during Israel's offensive in Gaza, diplomats said. Dang Hoang Giang, a spokesman for the mission of Vietnam, which currently holds the council's rotating presidency, said the Libyan request was being considered. A Libyan spokesman, however, said he understood a meeting would be held on Wednesday. An investigation ordered by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council and led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone found that both the Israeli armed forces and Hamas militants committed war crimes in the December-January war. But it was more critical of Israel. The council had been due to vote on Friday on a resolution that would have condemned Israel's failure to cooperate with the inquiry and forwarded the report to the Security Council. But action was postponed until March after US pressure aimed at getting the peace process back on track.
A Palestinian official said the Palestinian Authority had agreed to a request from the United States, European Union and Russia for a delay. The Libyan spokesman, Ahmed Gebreel, said his country, which currently has a Security Council seat, had requested the meeting "because of the seriousness of the report and because we think it's too long to wait until March." Critics of the Palestinian Authority have accused President Mahmoud Abbas of letting his people down by agreeing to the postponement. A statement by the Palestinian observer mission at the United Nations said it fully supported the Libyan request for a council meeting. US veto power in the Security Council effectively rules out any action or statement by the 15-nation body that is hostile to Washington's ally Israel. Source: YNet
 by David Lev Retired South African Judge Richard Goldstone told an interviewer Sunday on the CNN cable news network that as a Jew, he had an "obligation" to investigate war crimes, such as the ones the he claimed the IDF committed in Gaza. Goldstone headed a panel on behalf of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, which issued a report accusing the IDF of committing "war crimes" against residents of Gaza. While parts of the interview were dedicated to enumerating the supposed war crimes committed by Israeli soldiers – for example, he accused troops of killing thousands of chickens and destroying the egg industry in Gaza – Goldstone spent a good portion of the interview reflecting on his personal philosophy, and how the fact that he is Jewish figured into his investigation. Speaking to CNN host Fareed Zakariah on the GPS program, Goldstone said that he tried to be fair to both sides, and that any limitations on his investigation was due to a lack of resources. For example, he said, his panel was unable to verify whether Israeli accusations that Hamas used Gaza Arabs as human shields in hospitals and schools were true or not. "We investigated specific incidents, we didn't find the Israeli claims to be justified," he told Zakaria, but added that did not mean that Israel's claims weren't true. And, Goldstone said, he was certainly not anti-Israel. "I have great love for Israel and have worked for many Israeli causes. What saddens me is that Jews, whether inside or outside of Israel, think that because I am a Jew, I should not investigate Israel. However, I believe I have a greater responsibility, as a Jew, to do so. If I have investigated war crimes in other countries, why should Israel be different? That should be welcomed," Goldstone said.
In general, he said, he believed Israel had the wrong idea about his mission. "We didn't question the right [of Israel] to defend itself, we looked at the method," he said. Goldstone added that despite the report, Israel's actions could not be compared to war crimes around the world that have taken place in recent years, such as those committed in Yugoslavia. "I don't like making comparisons," he said. He added that Israel's relationship to Gaza "is also not apartheid. I don't like that comparison, there are some similarities but there are more differences." He added that he hoped his report would be an impetus for both Israel and Hamas to settle their differences in a peaceful manner. "No South African can be pessimistic regarding the chances for peace. We [South Africans] had an impossible situation and we were positive there would be a bloodbath. And thanks to good leadership, this was prevented.
And I am proud to say that today we have a wonderful democracy in South Africa. True, there are problems, but we are progressing in the right direction," he said. Source: INN
 RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas faced growing outrage at home Sunday over his decision to withdraw support for a U.N. report that alleged Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in last winter's Gaza war. Abbas' reversal came as a result of intense U.S. pressure, Palestinian officials said. The report by respected justice Richard Goldstone will now lie dormant for at least six months rather than be sent to the U.N. General Assembly with possible recommendations for action. Israel, which vehemently denies the war crimes allegations, has warned that dealing with the Goldstone report now would derail peace efforts.
The Obama administration is pushing hard to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and a senior U.S. envoy is returning to the region in coming days to try to narrow gaps over the terms of such talks. Israel launched the three-week war to quash militant rocket barrages from Gaza that had terrorized residents of southern Israel for years. The U.N. report accused Israel of using disproportionate force and targeting civilian areas. It faulted Hamas for firing rockets indiscriminately at Israeli towns. Both sides have denied committing war crimes. The Palestinian decision to suspend the campaign for war crimes prosecutions was first reported late Thursday as the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva was considering a vote on the Goldstone report. With the Palestinians out of the picture, Arab and Muslim supporters followed suit, and the vote was deferred to March. Since then, anger in the Abbas-run West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has been building. Leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization met late Saturday and demanded action. Planning Minister Ali Jarbawi said he would seek an explanation at a Cabinet meeting on Monday, saying "someone made a mistake." "There was a wrong decision, and this is terribly bad," he said. In an apparent attempt at damage control, Abbas announced he has appointed a three-member committee to look into how the decision was made. The announcement, made on the Palestinian news agency Wafa, did not say whether Abbas himself would come under scrutiny. Abbas' critics are unlikely to go after Abbas personally and are more likely to seek the dismissal of advisers seen as encouraging him to take the decision. Abbas aides have defended the decision, saying the Palestinians needed more time to win international support for the Goldstone report. But on Sunday, Abbas' spokesman said the Palestinian economics minister, Bassem Khouri, had resigned. It was unclear whether the resignation was to protest Abbas' decision, and Khouri declined comment. In a rare sign of public criticism, a prominent Palestinian commentator, Zakaria Mohammed, said Abbas was clearly to blame. "People are furious at him and his decision," he wrote on the independent "Faisal" Web site. Read more here,,,, Source: FoxNews
In a September 29th report in the Washington Post, Major General Scott Gration, the US Special Envoy for Sudan, stated that he plans to implement a “normative” relations policy to solve the Darfur crisis with the only war-crime indicted President in the world, Omar Al-Bashir. Gration believes that positive cooperation with the Sudanese government is the best way to end the genocide: “We've got to think about giving out cookies. Kids, countries, they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk,” Gration stated.
The Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy is extremely saddened by Gration’s proposal and naïve remarks about Darfur and the Sudanese government. It is clear that Gration and the Obama administration fail to realize or choose to ignore the severity of the genocide and rampant corruption within the Sudanese government. As fellow Darfur activist John Prendergast bluntly criticized Gration in the report, “They [The Sudanese Government] do not respond to nice guys [like Gration] coming over and saying, 'We have to be a good guest…they eat these people for dinner.”
It appears that Gration and the Obama administration have no plans to hold the Sudanese government and President Omar Al-Bashir accountable for their crimes against humanity-killing more than 450,000 innocent people thus far. As Gration begins his normative relations process with ICC-indicted Bashir, countless Darfuris will continue to be killed, detained, and raped while their villages, from Jabel Mara to Kornoy to El-geneina on the western border, are pillaged and destroyed. It is obvious now that Gration, who denied a full-fledged Darfuri genocide and merely called it “a remnant genocide," is paving the way for the Sudanese government to escape accountability and punishment for their crimes against humanity; it is shame that the U.S. seems to be working for the criminal government rather than protecting the victims of Darfur.
Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy strongly condemns Gration’s naïve and unfair policy and strongly urges the following actions to be implemented:
- Immediately act to reconsider this policy before any serious implementation occurs.
- Replace Gration with a strong, honest, and effective new envoy for Sudan.
- Terminate U.S. relations with the Sudanese government to protect the rights of Darfuris.
- Arrest Al-Bashir and the associated Sudanese government officials and transport them to the ICC before any peace negotiations take place.
- Suspend elections in Sudan until all refugees are returned, their villages rebuilt, and the Janjaweed settlers are evacuated.
- Fully deploy the promised 26,000 UN Peace keepers with helicopters and associated financial and logistical resources to fully protect the Darfuri refugees.
- Enact a non-fly zone over Darfur to protect innocent Darfuris from Sudanese aircraft bombings.
-Disarm the Janjaweed Arab militias immediately.
Source: damanga
 |
|
|
Copyright Muslims Against Sharia 2008. All rights reserved.
E-mail: info AT ReformIslam.org
|
|
|
Eleven Palestinian human rights groups have asked Hamas to conduct a credible internal investigation into allegations it committed war crimes during last winter's war with Israel.
Posts
