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October 17, 2009 at 8:36 pm (Chutzpah, Corrupt Politics, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, War Crimes)
Netanyahu vows to fight UN report
Israel’s prime minister has vowed a long-term battle to “delegitimise” United Nations charges that his country committed war crimes during its offensive on Hamas in Gaza at the start of the year.
Israeli media reports on Saturday quoted Binyamin Netanyahu as telling a special ministerial forum to prepare for what would be a “lengthy battle”.
“We are now setting out to delegitimise those who try to delegitimise us,” Netanyahu was quoted on the Ynet website as saying.
“We will not tolerate it and we will respond on a case-by-case basis.”
Netanyahu convened the forum shortly after the UN human rights council (UNHCR)endorsed a report by Richard Goldstone, a South African judge, on Friday.
Goldstone’s report accused both Israel and Hamas, which has de facto control of Gaza, of war crime violations during the conflict last December and January, reserving most of its criticism for Israel.
Resolution adopted
Twenty-five countries voted in favour of the UNHCR resolution, while six opposed it, 11 abstained and five declined to vote.
The council’s resolution endorsed Goldstone’s recommendation that the war crimes issue be referred to the UN Security Council if the sides failed to conduct credible domestic investigations within six months, and possibly then to the International Criminal Court.
But the resolution did not mention Hamas, which Goldstone also criticised for its actions during the Gaza war.
Danny Ayalon, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, said Israel “totally and completely” rejected the UN council’s vote, adding that he thought Israel would not ultimately suffer any significant consequences.
In addition to endorsing the report, the human rights council resolution “strongly condemns all policies and measures taken by Israel, the occupying power, including those limiting access of Palestinians to their properties and holy sites”.
It also calls on Israel to stop digging and excavation work around the al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem as well as other Islamic and Christian religious sites.
Criticism rejected
Israel rejected the charges in the resolution, which was drafted by the Palestinians with Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, on behalf of non-aligned, African, Islamic and Arab nations.
A statement from the Israeli foreign ministry said: “The adoption of this resolution by the UNHRC impairs both the effort to protect human rights in accordance with international law and the effort to promote peace in Middle East”.
Netanyahu has said before that the Goldstone report could undermine US-sponsored moves towards peace in the Middle East.
The Palestinian Authority, supposedly under US-pressure, had initially agreed to defer a vote on the UN-sanctioned report, but later backtracked under domestic criticism.
About 1,400 Palestinians – the majority of them civilians – and 13 Israelis were killed during Israel’s three-week war on Gaza, which had the stated aim of stopping rocket attacks by Palestinian fighters from the coastal territory.
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