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 Goldstone Commission Gaza Conflict Findings and Reactions 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
-- Occupied Gaza under siege;
-- an overview of Operation Cast Lead;
-- the obligations of both sides to protect civilians;
-- 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;
-- 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
-- conclusions and recommendations. "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." 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. "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." 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." 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." 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."
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