The Goldstone Report at the UN General Assembly: States Must EnsureVictims' Rights and Not Compromise the Rule of Law
By Guest Post • Nov 4th, 2009 at 13:55 • Category: Human Rights, Israel, Newswire, Palestine, Somoud: Arab Voices of Resistance, War
Goldstone and his delegation tour Gaza
Joint Press Release issued by Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel * Addameeer * Al Dameer Association for Human Rights * Al-Haq Law in the Service of
Man * Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights * Arab Association for Human Rights * Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights * Defence for Children International-Palestine Section * Ensan Center for Human Rights and Democracy * Jerusalem Legal Aid Center * Palestinian Centre for Human Rights * Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies * Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling
Today, 4 November 2009, the General Assembly will meet to discuss the Report of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (the Goldstone Report). A draft Resolution has been presented to the General Assembly for debate, and it is evident that those who claim to speak on behalf of human rights and international law are failing in their mandate. The draft Resolution is a politically motivated compromise, intended to obtain support for a Resolution without substance, one which fails to protect victims' rights or to pursue accountability. While the draft addresses certain demands, it does not explicitly include operational steps for the implementation of the Recommendations of the Goldstone Report, and absolutely fails to bring remedy and redress to victims.
There can be no compromise on the fundamental principles of human rights and international law. If international law is to prove capable of protecting civilian populations and of averting future atrocities, then it must be enforced. Each individual's basic human right to equal protection of the law and to an effective judicial remedy must be ensured. Those accused of committing international crimes must be investigated, tried, and prosecuted.
In supporting this draft the PLO are following the traditional policy of attempting to secure a Resolution by consensus. Too often have the rights of Palestinians been negotiated away in order to provide the appearance of political progress, and too often has progress manifested itself as mere maintenance of the status quo, which for decades has denied Palestinians their fundamental rights.
Impunity must not be allowed to prevail. International law, and the respect for the fundamental human rights of peoples throughout the world, must not be subject to the whim of powerful States. As Palestinians and representatives of the victims we demand justice, and the possibility of a peaceful future.
The General Assembly must request that the Security Council not only consider the Goldstone Report, but also implement its recommendations. Domestic investigations are essential; however, if these are not conducted credibly and in accordance with international standards “as past experience would suggest is the likelihood then the consequences must be clear. Should attempts be made to shield alleged war criminals
from justice, then the Security Council must take appropriate action, and the situation just be referred to the International Criminal Court.
It is also essential that, as recommended in the Goldstone Report, the General Assembly act now to ensure reparations for the victims of Operation Cast Lead. It is unacceptable that the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip continues to this day and that reconstruction and recovery have been denied. The General Assembly must establish an escrow fund to
handle reparations owed to the victims by Israel, and act to end this illegal blockade. The continued suffering of innocent civilians cannot be condoned by the United Nations.
At the Human Rights Council in September, the political vacillation of the PLO, the anti-accountability agenda of some of the most powerful UN member states, and a callous disregard for the victims of Operation Cast Lead saw the first attempt to bury the Goldstone Report. As the representatives of the Palestinians at the UN the PLO must ensure a second attempt is not successful, and must re-focus its efforts towards ensuring that a Resolution fully endorsing the Goldstone Report and its detailed recommendations be adopted by a majority of the General Assembly; a 'consensus' Resolution will effectively nullify the decision of the Human Rights Council's Special Session, repudiate the rule of international law, and implicitly endorse further impunity for those who target civilians.
Palestinians do not want to be part of a consensus that buries the Goldstone Report, and denies victims' legitimate rights. Palestinians should neither be forced to negotiate on the Recommendations of the Goldstone Report, nor to compromise their fundamental rights under international law. It is essential at the risk of condoning impunity and the commission of future international crimes that the General Assembly:
a) fully endorse the Report of the Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict;
b) urge the Security Council to endorse the Report, and to expeditiously pursue all accountability mechanisms presented therein; particularly a referral to the International Criminal Court in the absence of good faith investigations by the parties to the conflict;
c) demand that credible internal domestic investigations and prosecutions be carried out by the parties to the conflict in accordance with international standards of impartiality, independence, promptness and effectiveness;
d) establish of an independent committee of experts in international humanitarian and human rights law to monitor any domestic legal or other proceeding taken by the parties of the conflict and publicly report to the UNGA and Security Council;
e) remain fully appraised of the matter until appropriate action is taken at the domestic or international level in order to ensure justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators;
f) establish an escrow fund for the purpose of compensating the victims of violations of international law committed during Operation Cast Lead;
g) request Switzerland to convene a conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to ensure its respect;
h) promote an urgent discussion on the use of munitions such as white phosphorous (as mentioned in the Report), and a moratorium on their use by Israel.
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Let's not be too "optimistic" maybe.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110400§ionid=351020202
While the whole world will be discussing this report there might maybe be attendings to have "work done" by Israel for the next report….
mms://217.218.67.244/presstv/20091106/OUTPUT_10-56-00-FTP-AFAF-UN.wmv
please listen carefully to the words of anne bayefsky (http://www.bayefsky.com/)
: "The idea that Hamas is going to investigate itself, a terrorist organisation is going to decide for itself whether or not it’s, it’s – violates the rules of law is is something that I think no serious democratic society will take seriously. "
AND SHE IS SO RIGHT! NO DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY WILL TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.
As long as HAMAS is considered as a terrorist organisation etc. and will be shown as this in the West, in all of the media, the whole world will be watching another Gaza Atrocity, the blockade will continue, this INHUMANITY will continue, nothing will change, nothing is going to be better, just worse…
As long as Israel is considered as a legal state, Israel's administration is considered as a legal administration of a legal state and Palestine is a land governed by a terrorist organisation there can be dozens of goldstone or silverstone or platinumreports NOTHING will change on the situation of people in Gaza and the people of Palestine.
Mary, your revelation
http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/10/19/hamas-%e2%80%93-they%e2%80%99re-not-bad-they%e2%80%99re-just-drawn-that-way/
is considered as propaganda for terrorist Hamas….
GOLDSTONE is a ZIONIST; hardly an objective report that comes from a ZIONIST and LOVER OF ISRAEL
This Goldstone report was cleansed by Goldstone to protect Israel and to include an occupied people, Palestinians, as being guilty of “war” crimes and “crimes against humanity” when Goldstone, as a judge, knows that an occupied people have EVERY RIGHT to resist the occupiers
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"MY FATHER IS A ZIONIST, LOVES ISRAEL"
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251804583376&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
Quote:
“Nicole Goldstone, the daughter of Richard Goldstone, whose report on Operation Cast Lead alleged that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza, maintained on Wednesday that her father "is a Zionist and loves Israel."
"Speaking from Toronto, where she now lives, Nicole told Army Radio she had many conversations with her father after he was asked to head the UN inquiry………….
She said she planned to host her parents in Toronto for Rosh Hashana, and that while speaking with her father following the report's release, he had quipped, "Are you sure we can still come?"
"Nicole insisted that the fact the report also accused the Palestinians of crimes against humanity showed that her father tried to be balanced.
"I am not angry with him. I love him and respect him," she said."
"He is a Zionist," she added. "My dad loves Israel and it wasn't easy for him to see and hear what happened. I think he heard and saw things he didn't expect to see and hear, and I am 100 percent sure he [conducted the investigation] in the hope that the Israelis would come to cooperate, and he wanted to help find a long-term solution for the state of Israel."
Nicole, who lived in Israel for six months, said that the country "is the most important thing in my life, my heart is there…. I love Israel more than my family and friends and anything else."
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The FOOLS, blinded by ARROGANCE and SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, are rejecting even SEMI-TRUTH, which comes from a ZIONIST, their own lover and supporter:
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My mission – and motivation
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255694838474&pagename=JPArticle/ShowFull
By RICHARD GOLDSTONE
“as a Jew who has supported Israel and its people all my life………………I sincerely believed that because of my own record and the terms of the mission's mandate we would receive the cooperation of the Israeli government. Its refusal to cooperate was a grave error."
“Israel missed a golden opportunity to actually have a fair hearing from a UN-sponsored inquiry. Of course, I was aware of and have frequently spoken out against the unfair and exceptional treatment of Israel by the UN and especially by the Human Rights Council. I did so again last week. Israel could have seized the opportunity provided by the even-handed mandate of our mission and used it as a precedent for a new direction by the United Nations in the Middle East. Instead, we were shut out"
"As I stated in response to a recent letter from the mayor of Sderot, I believed strongly that our mission should have been allowed to visit Sderot and other parts of southern Israel……………..We were prevented from doing so by, what I believe, was a misguided decision by the Israeli government."
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Do you know whay the mission was prevented from visiting Sderot??
find out why, here:
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WATCH:
Hamas's "crimes against humanity" and israel's "innocence":
http://palestinian.ning.com/forum/topics/the-other-side-of-the-story
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"Despite the mission’s charges over Israeli war crimes, South African jurist Richard Goldstone actually bent over backwards to protect Israel as much as possible"
Jeff Halper
http://www.icahd.org/eng/articles.asp?menu=6&submenu=2&article=552
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Thank you so much.
This whole thing has not even any legal ground. It has just the function of a "counsel".
I've read the news in Germany's major news sites, and believe me this report will not contribute anything to it to change the position of Germans to Hamas and Palestine in a positive way, it will just worsen it more.
"The bad (terrorist) Muslims and their sympathizers are trying to accuse the good Jews! And they do that in our UN! Unbelievable!"