Israel ‘satisfied’ with UN chief’s handling of Goldstone response

Ban Ki Moon: Can draw no conclusions from Israel, Hamas probes

By ICEJ News

05 Feb 2010

Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Friday announced that it was “satisfied” with the way UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon responded yesterday to its recent submittal on the Goldstone report, after the UN chief said he was uncertain whether Israel or Hamas had made “credible” internal investigations of the war crimes allegations arising out of Operation Cast Lead last year.

Under the pressure of yesterday’s deadline set by the UN General Assembly for submitting formal responses to the Goldstone report, the Foreign Ministry handed over a 46-page letter last Friday outlining the internal steps Israel has taken to probe IDF actions during Cast Lead, explaining that it conducted investigations of over 150 separate incidents, including 36 criminal probes, and interviewed almost 100 Palestinians who had complaints or were witnesses.

In response, Ban told the General Assembly yesterday that he was uncertain whether Israel or the Palestinians had met UN demands to undertake "credible" investigations into last year's Gaza offensive. He did acknowledge that Israel had responded to every charge brought against it, but cautioned that no conclusions can be drawn from the Israeli and Hamas submittals.

The matter is still not closed, as the Assembly could urge the Security Council to take enforceable action. But Israel expects the US would veto such a measure to prevent a bad precedent for the war on terror and out of concern for its negative impact on the peace process.

The Israeli cabinet is divided over whether to order a full-blown civilian inquiry, while the IDF is completing an in-depth, point-by-point rebuttal of the Goldstone report, which is expected to number over 1,000 pages and be ready within a number of weeks.

Meantime, Hamas announced last week that it had conducted a thorough investigation of its fighters conduct during the war and came to the conclusion that they had done absolutely nothing wrong. The Palestinian Authority only created a commission to carry out an investigation in late January, several months after the February 4 deadline was set last November.

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