[QODLink]
Middle East
UN unveils latest Goldstone results
Human Rights Watch criticises Israeli and Hamas war crimes investigations as biased.
Last Modified: 19 Aug 2010 09:47 GMT
Goldstone wants his findings referred to The Hague if Israel and Hamas do not investigate [EPA]

The United Nations has released the latest results of Israeli and Palestinian investigations into alleged war crimes committed during Israel's war in Gaza in 2008 and 2009.

Israel has carried out roughly four dozen investigations into alleged war crimes, according to a report provided to the UN. The investigations are being carried out by the army, however, not by an independent panel.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian report to the UN was submitted by the Palestinian Authority. The results make no mention of any investigation by Hamas.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, declined to comment on the submissions.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement that neither side has carried out an impartial investigation.

"Israeli investigations still fall far short of being thorough and impartial, while Hamas appears to have done nothing at all to investigate alleged violations," the group said.

Four Israeli prosecutions

The investigations are a response to the so-called "Goldstone report," which was written by a panel led by Richard Goldstone, a South African judge. It accused both sides of war crimes, but most of its criticism was directed at Israel, which killed roughly 1,400 people during the war, according to rights groups.

The UN in November gave both sides three months to investigate the report. It extended that deadline by another five months in February.

Israel's update to the UN said the Israeli army launched more than 150 investigations into alleged crimes committed during the war. Roughly one-third of those resulted in criminal investigations, and four of those investigations led to prosecutions.

Two officers were indicted for using artillery too close to civilian homes, for example.

But the Israeli report also excused some of the most serious acts of destruction documented in the Goldstone report. The report accused Israel of violating international law, for example, by destroying Gaza's only working flour mill and a chicken coop housing more than 100,000 birds.

Israeli army investigations concluded that neither of those incidents violated the law.

The Goldstone report called for the UN to refer its findings to the International Criminal Court if Israel and Hamas do not carry out proper investigations.

Source:
Al Jazeera
Topics in this article
People
Country
City
Organisation
Featured on Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera's exclusive publishing of a key Guantanamo prison military document lays bare the brutality of force-feeding.
Former military official says poverty and anger in indigenous communities mean conditions for an "insurgency" are ripe.
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
Featured
Two years since the start of the uprising, rebels and Assad's forces remain locked in conflict.
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
News and analysis of 2013 presidential contest as Ahmadinejad finishes second term.
Extensive coverage of war crimes tribunals and controversial calls for blasphemy laws.
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
join our mailing list