The United Nations’ investigation into Israel’s recent massacre in Gaza has now concluded. In general I think the release of their 500+ page report is an important step forward in the process of holding Israel accountable for its horrendous actions earlier this year. Judge Richard Goldstone (whom I met at a talk in San Diego years ago) is a principled man; his South African background makes him acutely aware of racial oppression and his prosecution of war crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia must have prepared him for his work in the Middle East. Despite Israeli obstruction and opposition every step of the way, Goldstone pushed ahead and attempted to conduct a professionally thorough investigation.

The report concludes in rather strong terms:

From the facts gathered, the Mission found that the following grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention were committed by Israeli forces in Gaza: wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and extensive destruction of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly. As grave breaches these acts give rise to individual criminal responsibility. The Mission notes that the use of human shields also constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. (par. 1732)

They go on to make some minor criticism of the treatment of Palestinian detainees by the Israeli military as well as the suppression of critical media outlets within Israel.

More importantly, the team rejects Israeli accusations that Hamas members were “hiding” in civilian areas.

The Mission found no evidence to suggest that Palestinian armed groups either directed civilians to areas where attacks were being launched or that they forced civilians to remain within the vicinity of the attacks. The Mission also found no evidence that members of Palestinian armed groups engaged in combat in civilian dress. Although in the one incident of an Israeli attack on a mosque it investigated the Mission found that there was no indication that that mosque was used for military purposes or to shield military activities, the Mission cannot exclude that this might have occurred in other cases. (par. 1750)

Although Judge Goldstone has predicted that no prosecutions will take place for Israeli crimes, one hopes that if Israel refuses to investigate the allegations this report makes, that the International Criminal Court (ICC) will press ahead with their own investigation. There is a possibility this may happen… which would be a sign of great progress for that body. Although Israel is not a member of the ICC, I think it would be an important step towards greater jurisdiction for the court. Rather than punishing only the petty dictators or génocidaires of various 3rd world countries, the ICC could demonstrate that the leaders of the rich world are not entirely immune from the repercussions of their murderous romps. And Zionists are afraid of this:

Attorney Michael Sefarad, who specializes in human rights international law, was more cautious: “The Goldstone report is highly unusual, since it states Israel’s inquests into the operation were unworthy. The bottom line is that this report brings us one step closer to seeing foreign courts hear war crimes cases involving Israeli officials.” (more…)

On a final note, it should be said that while the report does criticize Palestinian rocket attacks targeting civilian areas, this issue takes a very minor role in the report. Not in this case, but I think too often the United Nations (and the Western media) attempts to apply flimsy standards of parity between Israeli and Palestinian actions. Sure, rocket attacks are war crimes… but there can be no serious comparison between the crimes of the occupant and the crimes of the occupied [Norman Finkelstein discussed the matter with Amy Goodman the other day]. Besides the clear disparity in economic and infrastructural terms, the occupation is the single greatest source of violence relevant to the conflict. Israel’s ongoing economic/military siege and the near-daily invasion of Palestinian land does not excuse rocket attacks, but neither does it put them on equal footing. I understand the need for this universality under international law, but realistically we would never dream of arguing that the participants in the Warsaw ghetto uprising were equally culpable for war crimes as were the Nazis during WWII.

Download the full report here.

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