EU parliament gives new life to Goldstone report

By ICEJ News

10 Mar 2010

In a move likely to fray EU ties with Israel, the European Parliament on Wednesday adopted a measure urging its 27-member states to monitor the Israeli and Palestinian probes into alleged “war crimes” in Gaza last winter which the UN General Assembly has demanded in response to the Goldstone report. The EP also called on Israel to immediately open border crossings with the Gaza Strip, saying the blockade was worsening the humanitarian crisis there. The resolution, passed by a margin of 335-287, backed the findings of the Goldstone commission, which concluded that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the three-week conflict which ended on January 18, 2009. The parliamentary move would give the EU an unprecedented role in evaluating the progress of Israel's war crimes probe, but it was sharply criticized by Israeli officials and by European Jewish leaders. They argued that it was counterproductive to efforts to renew Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and that the Goldstone report would effectively deny Israel the right of self-defense. The UN General Assembly recently gave Israel and the Palestinians five more months to conclude their own investigations into the war crimes allegations.

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