[News] Rights council adopts Gaza report

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Rights council adopts Gaza report

Friday, October 16, 2009
18:16 Mecca time, 15:16 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/10/2009101610455533672.html

The UN human rights council has endorsed the 
Goldstone report on Israel's war on Gaza, which 
accuses the military of using disproportionate 
force as well as laying charges of war crimes on 
Israeli occupation forces and Hamas.

The council's resolution adopting the report was 
passed in Geneva by 25 votes to six with 11 
countries abstaining and five declining to vote.

The inquiry, lead by Justice Richard Goldstone, 
calls on Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, 
to monitor whether Israel and Hamas conduct 
credible investigations into the conflict which took place last winter.

Should the two sides fail to do so, it calls on 
the UN Security Council to refer the allegations 
to the International Criminal Court.

Hamas 'thankful'

The Palestinian Authority had initially agreed to 
defer a vote on the UN-sanctioned report, but 
later backtracked under heavy criticism.

In depth

[]

[]
  <http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/10/200910518212141766.html#>Video: 
Anger at Abbas
[]
  <http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/09/200991517204625339.html>Video: 
Interview with Richard Goldstone
[]
  <http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/200917205418665491.html>Timeline: 
Gaza War
[]
  <http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/01/20091229274380583.html>Analysis: 
War crimes in Gaza?
[]
  <http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf>Goldstone's 
full report to the UN rights council
[]
  <http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/10/200910395820396287.html>Key 
points of the Goldstone report
[]
  <http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/09/2009915142916822510.html>UN 
inquiry finds Gaza war crimes
[]
  <http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/09/200999114019997778.html>'Half 
of Gaza war dead civilians'
[]
  <http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/plohistoryofrevolution/>PLO: 
History of a Revolution
[]
  <http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/10/200910475534235872.html>'Israel 
has to be accountable'
Al Jazeera is not responsible for external websites' content
The United States and Israel were among those 
countries which voted against the resolution.

Mike Hanna, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Geneva, 
said the vote was a "very strong victory" for the 
supporters of the resolution, but that the large 
number of abstentions was also "very significant".

In Gaza, Hamas thanked the nations that voted to endorse the report.

"We hope that vote will lead to a trial of the 
occupation leaders," Taher al-Nunu, a Hamas spokesman, said.

Mousa Abu Marzook, the deputy chairman of the 
Hamas political bureau in Damascus, Syria, told 
Al Jazeera: "We thank our people, all those who 
support to submit again this report to the human 
rights committee and all the countries who voted for the report.

"I think if the Palestinian Authority didn't 
withdraw this report it will be more efficient 
and the result will be stronger than the resolution.

"We will co-operate with this report and we will 
establish a new committee to investigate.

"Right now, there is no talking with Fatah, but 
during the dialogue between Fatah and Hamas in 
Egypt, within a few weeks, we are going to talk 
about reconciliation and, of course, this kind of 
subject we are going to talk about."

Israel condemned

In addition to endorsing the report, the 
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".

Goldstone report vote

[]
  For: Argentina, Brazil, China, Russia, Bahrain, 
Bangladesh, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Djbouti, Egypt, 
Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, 
Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, 
Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia

[]
  Against: US, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine

[]
  Abstentions: Belgium, Bosnia, Burkina-Faso, 
Cameroon, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia and Uruguay

[]
  No vote: UK, France, Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan and Angola
It also calls on Israel to stop digging and 
excavation work around the Al-Aqsa mosque as well 
as other Islamic and Christian religious sites.

Israel rejected the charges saying the resolution 
– drafted by the Palestinians with Egypt, 
Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, on behalf of 
non-aligned, African, Islamic and Arab nations – threatened peace efforts.

The Goldstone report recommended that its 
conclusions be sent on to the International 
Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor in The Hague if 
Israel and Hamas do not hold their own credible 
investigations into allegations of war crimes within six months.

The report accused Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It also accused Hamas, which has de facto control 
of Gaza, of war crime violations, but reserved 
most of its criticism for Israel.

'Rights undermined'

On Thursday, Navi Pillay, the UN human rights 
chief, endorsed the report, calling for 
"impartial, independent, prompt and effective 
investigations" into the alleged war crimes.

Pillay said: "A culture of impunity continues to 
prevail in the occupied territories and in 
Israel," Pillay said during the UN Human Rights 
Council's special debate session on the report on Thursday.

In her speech, Pillay cited concern about the 
restrictions on Palestinians wishing to enter 
al-Aqsa and expressed "dismay" about the Israeli 
blockade of Gaza that she said "severely 
undermines the rights and welfare of the population there".

On Thursday, Goldstone, a former South African 
judge, criticised the resolution, saying: "I hope 
that the council can modify the text."

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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