The Goldstone Report (2009) is the United Nations war crimes report on the war in Gaza last winter. Richard Goldstone, a former South African judge (pictured above) led the UN’s fact-finding mission to Gaza. The report finds both sides guilty of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, but Israel much more so.
The report does not “prove” that war crimes took place, merely that it seems so based on facts found. The report calls on both Israelis and Palestinians over the next six months to carry out their own independent investigations that meet international standards.
If they fail to do so, then the UN Security Council should hand the matter over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the The Hague. But most likely America will block that: it has veto power in the Security Council and turns a blind eye to Israel’s misdeeds.
Findings:
- Palestinians:
- Fired rockets into southern Israel with little hope of ever hitting a military target, thereby spreading terror among civilians.
- Hamas, the ruling party, used the war as cover to kill some from the opposing party, Fatah.
- Israelis:
- Israel struck mosques, hospitals, schools, apartment buildings, water treatment plants and factories that had no military value. One mosque was struck while hundreds were there praying. If Israel’s true concern were weapons that may have been hidden there it would have struck the mosque in the middle of the night.
- It struck a house after the Israeli army told Palestinians to stay there to be safe.
- It used white phosphorus, which burns and kills people, in the middle of Gaza City.
- Israeli soldiers used Palestinian civilians as human shields.
In war you are supposed to fight the enemy’s military and destroy things of military value, like bridges, roads, armies and weapons factories. Some civilians will get killed, but you are supposed to take reasonable measures against that.
Israel did not. It was not just carelessness either: it went after things like water treatment plants that were a threat to no one.
The Israelis called the report “one-sided” and unacceptable – months before it even came out! They would not help the UN one bit, which had to cross into Gaza from Egypt.
After the report came out Israel said it was “one-sided” (again), “inaccurate and flawed” and that it would derail the peace process (a lie: the Israeli government is hardly serious about peace). Sadly American Congressmen and even The Economist repeat the same words and excuses as the Israelis.
Hamas does not agree with everything in the report but accepts it. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority and a Fatah man, says he will not hold a vote on the report till March 2010. He is seen as giving in to the Americans. That has led to protests (pictured below). In Gaza there are posters of Abbas with a black X across his face at which people throw their shoes.
See also:
- The war in Gaza
- Israel
- Palestine
- United Nations
- The Economist
- how to deny a genocide: #11: Peace matters more than justice
It probably is “one-sided” and “inaccurate and flawed”. If Israel wanted a more balanced result they should have cooperated with the investigators and been actively involved in the report. Then they would have something more concrete to complain about rather than making such a vague complaint.
Here’s the relevant Economist article:
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14455609
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When I see a statement like : “In war you are supposed to fight the enemy’s military and destroy things of military value, like bridges, roads and weapons factories. Some civilians will get killed, but you are supposed to take reasonable measures against that.”… I just need to disagree. What should be avoided is war in general, but you cannot expect people making war to act smart and to try to spare people.
Its an utopy, its an illusion. War is WAR! Kill or get killed, Kill the opponent, that’s all, you cannot expect more than that!
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Actually it’s not even a WAR. It’s more like an occupation, encroachment, land theft and genocide. This so-called WAR is akin to a mouse trying to defend itself and its territory against a rabid badger that is bent towards the destruction of the mouse as the whole world passively looks on.
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Gaza is in stage six of a genocide, the part just before mass killings:
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Black & German:
Some Israelis did give testimony about the Hamas rockets fired into Israel, but yes, almost all the testimony came from Palestinians. The Israelis are fine ones to complain about the report being one-sided since most refused to talk to the UN.
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Maluson:
“Its an utopy, its an illusion. War is WAR! Kill or get killed, Kill the opponent, that’s all, you cannot expect more than that!”
Well, then why not just carpet bomb Gaza into oblivion and be done with it? And if Israel does not have enough bombs, their good friends the Americans certainly do. Kill all 1.5 million Gazans. Why not. Kill or be killed, right?
Civilians are going to get killed in any war. “War is war” in that sense. But to go after people and infrastructure that are not a threat, that is a war crime.
Israel likes to claim self-defence and the American presidents repeat it, but the thing is such a huge lie.
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Israel has never paid any attention to the U.N. They have defied countless resolutions.
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