PREVIEW: UN General Assembly to discuss Goldstone report on Gaza

New York - The United Nations General Assembly is scheduled to debate on Wednesday a controversial report on the Israeli-Hamas fighting in the Gaza Strip, which brands both sides as war criminals. The crimes are liable for prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) if so demanded by the UN. But neither the UN Security Council nor the 192-nation assembly is close to making the move. The assembly is dominated by the voting bloc of Arab and Islamic states as well as the Non-Aligned Movement with 119 countries, which have overwhelmed all voting in favour of the Palestinians in the divisive issues related to the Middle East conflict since the end of War World II. Israel, backed by the United States, strongly rejected the report drawn up by South African Judge Richard Goldstone as biased and deeply flawed. The report was adopted by a 25-6 vote by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on October 19 despite Washington's efforts to stop it. Major human rights groups have urged the assembly to also adopt the report. Arab states and those groups had asked the UN Security Council, but it refused. The report, drawn up by a four-member panel headed by Goldstone, said both Israel and Palestinian militant groups committed war crimes and acts that amounted to crimes against humanity during the December-January fighting in the Gaza Strip. The report said 1,400 Palestinians and 10 Israelis were killed. The 547-page report called on Israeli and Palestinian authorities to separately investigate the killings and destruction in 'good faith and independent proceedings.' It called on the UN Security Council to send the case to the ICC at The Hague. The investigators were able to carry out their duties in Gaza, but not in Israel proper and Israeli authorities withheld their cooperation. They also made several recommendations for the UN to implement an end to the culture of impunity in the Middle East conflict. The Israeli blockade of Gaza was condemned as a 'collective punishment' and humiliation of the Palestinians and an attempt to isolate them. Rockets and mortars fired by Hamas into southern Israel were condemned as 'war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity' because the militants were indiscriminate and caused terror to Israeli civilians. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Euro- Mediterranean Human Rights Network called on the European Union and its 27 members to support the assembly debate. 'The Goldstone report is a watershed and its endorsement by the UN Human Rights Council represented a major step towards the promotion of human rights and the rule of law,' FIDH said. FIDH said the Goldstone report has created a highly polarized and politicized atmosphere, but the UN should commit to fight impunity. Civil society organizations like Physicians for Human Rights, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza, the Open Society Institute and some groups in Latin America all endorse the debate and adoption of the Goldstone report. It was expected that draft resolutions would be introduced calling for the adoption of the report.