Geneva - The head of the United Nations fact-finding mission
for the recent war in the Gaza Strip said Tuesday that he regrets
having not been given access to Israel to see the situation on the
ground there.
South African Justice Richard Goldstone commented after the last
two days of public hearings in Geneva, where he and the three other
members of the commission heard testimony from Israelis, Palestinians
from the West Bank and special experts.
'We would very much have preferred to have this take place in
southern Israel, from where victims came, and on the West Bank,' said
Goldstone, a former war-crimes prosecutor for Rwanda and Yugoslavia.
'But, I think, it is well known the government of Israel decided
not to cooperate with the mission.'
He pointed out that Hamas did not fully cooperate with the team,
either.
Israel alleged the mission was biased against the Jewish State.
Goldstone said that he was investigating all possible violations of
international law by the parties to the conflict.
The team spent time in the Gaza Strip carrying out investigations
and holding similar public hearings with Palestinians who said they
were victims of human-rights abuses.
'One doesn't understand really the effect on people, the suffering
of people, if one doesn't get onto the ground and speak to people and
listen to people,' said the judge.
He said the scenes the mission witnessed in the blockaded
territory 'shocked' them.
He refused to talk about any conclusions, saying a report was
being compiled to be presented in September to the Human Rights
Council.
In Geneva, Goldstone heard the testimony of Israelis from the
southern part of the country in areas that came under rocket fire
from Palestinian militants in Gaza.
The commission spoke with Noam Shalit, father of Israeli soldier
Gilad Shalit, who has been held captive and incommunicado in the
enclave since 2006. The International Committee of the Red Cross has
demanded, but failed to receive, any access to the soldier.
Also testifying were lawyers from the West Bank, weapons
specialists and experts on international humanitarian law.
One member of the commission, Christine Chinkin, has come under
criticism from UN Watch, an organization connected to the American-
Jewish Committee, saying she was biased against Israel.
In January, as the conflict was taking place, the international
law professor signed a petition saying Israel's actions were 'prima
facie war crimes' and that Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, had
committed war crimes.
During the war, which started on December 27 and lasted three
weeks, human-rights groups say that more than 1,400 Palestinians were
killed, mostly civilians, along with Israeli fatalities of three
civilians and 10 soldiers.
dpa sg ffHonduras-Politics/
EXTRA: Arias to host Zelaya, Micheletti on Thursday =
San Jose (dpa) - Costa Rican President Oscar Arias' mediation
effort in the Honduran political crisis is set to take concrete shape
Thursday, when he hosts ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and
his designated successor, Roberto Micheletti, in San Jose.
Arias, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his role in
bringing peace to war-torn Central America, confirmed Tuesday that he
was expecting Zelaya to travel Wednesday to Costa Rica from
Washington.
Micheletti, he said, would be arriving late Wednesday or Thursday
in San Jose.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton confirmed earlier
Tuesday that Arias had agreed to lead the mediation effort. She told
Zelaya: 'The United States supports the restoration of the democratic
constitutional order in Honduras.'
Zelaya accepted the mediation, and Clinton said that the former
speaker of the Honduran Congress Micheletti had also agreed to
participate.
USA
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