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Gaza mission "most difficult job" says Goldstone
Hermione Gee's picture
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Gaza City, Palestinian Territory
Gaza City, Palestinian Territory

Gaza mission "most difficult job" says Goldstone

Published on : 10 June 2009 - 3:04pm | By Hermione Gee
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Veteran war crimes investigator Richard Goldstone says his latest mission to investigate possible war crimes by Israel and Hamas is the most difficult job of his long and distinguished career.

 
The South African judge has prosecuted war crimes cases from Rwanda and Yugoslavia, and has led an investigation into political violence and intimidation in apartheid-era South Africa. He's now leading a UN fact-finding mission into the conflict that erupted last December in Gaza, and has just returned from the commission's first visit to the region.
 
Public hearings
Expressing his "shock" and "extreme sadness" at what his team saw during their week-long stay in Gaza, Goldstone explained why the commission has decided to hold public hearings as part of their investigation:
 
"We want particularly to help victims have their voices and faces heard and seen by the international community. I think it's very important for people not simply to read statistics or read stories, but actually to see victims. And we want to show what the effect of this violence is on communities. The mental effect it has on children in particular. We want to do that not only in respect of victims in Gaza, but also victims in Southern Israel who've been at the receiving end of pretty indiscriminate rocket attacks for some time."
 
Disappointed with Israel
Although Goldstone has made it clear that the UN team will also investigate attacks on Israel by Gaza-based paramilitary group Hamas, the Israeli government is refusing to co-operate and won't allow the team into the country.
 
Israel has long accused the UN of anti-Israeli bias and says the Gaza commission's mandate is "intrinsically flawed and defective." But this won't stop the investigation from going ahead, says Goldstone:

"It would have been preferable to have visited Southern Israel and seen the damage with our own eyes and met victims, personally. So it's disappointing from that point of view, but I believe that it will not affect either the completeness of our work or the credibility of the report. Because we're not going to stop and simply say that because Israel's not co-operating we're not going to involve ourselves with the victims in Israel."

 
Culture of accountability
And for Judge Goldstone, challenges such as these won't affect what he says drove him to accept this difficult mission in the first place:
 
"It was firstly my concern for violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law. We have a new growing culture of accountability. It's very important there shouldn't be impunity for the commission of these crimes and that leaders - whether political or military - should be held accountable. But it was really the opportunity to have an even-handed investigation in the Middle East, which really hasn't happened. That seems to me to be in the interest of all sides. It was really that and my hope that what we are doing can contribute to the peace process."
 
That hope, Goldstone says, is still alive.

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LEOIESCRIBO 3 October 2009 - 10:05pm
Who and how much did they paid you to write this inform?
LEOIESCRIBO 22 September 2009 - 3:46pm
Ramat Hasharon, Israel 17.9.2009 Open letter to judge Goldstone. Who is Goldstone? Or perhaps we should ask: What is Goldstone? By Holocaust survivor Solly Ganor. I am a Holocaust survivor therefore; I can not help but regard all events that affect my country, Israel, from the point of view of a Holocaust survivor. Many of us after our liberation came here to fight in the War of Independence and help reestablish the state of Israel. Those of us who survived the wars, established families brought children and grand children to the world and today our grand children in whose hands we leave the safety of this country and the safety of each individual, may be accused by you of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Our grand children, who bodily stand between the Hamas terrorist of Gaza and hundreds of millions of Islamic fanatics who openly declare to the whole world that they will and must destroy us, are being accused by you, Mr. Goldstone of crime against Humanity . And what were their war crimes? And how else were they going to ferret out each Hamas terrorist hiding behind the women and children? The same terrorists who were shooting off rockets into Israel for eight bloody years? And why did Israel wait eight years to start with, while every country in the world would have sent in their armies after the first rockets hit their towns? We waited because we knew that if we go into Gaza trying to ferret out the rocket attackers, A Mr. Goldstone would appear with his lofty Sickening biased morality and declare our grand children war criminals! We finally had to send them in because larger and larger rockets were arriving from Iran and a million Israelis were threatened by these rockets. That was not only unacceptable, but also intolerable. What would you have us do? Mr. Goldstone? How were we going to defend our towns against these attacks? If by your definition our grand children are war criminals what are the Americans, the British and all the Nato forces who mercilessly bombarded, Afganistan killing thousands of civilians, the Americans and British in Iraq, the Russians who did the same in Chenchnya? I would agree to be called a war criminal if we simply sent in our planes and bombarded Gaza into stone age like the Americans did in Afganisthan. But we did not do it, Mr. Goldstone. Instead we sent in our grand children to be killed by the Hamas terrorist in order to avoid reducing Gaza to rubble. And for this our grand children are war criminals? I was in Dachau, Mr. goldstone, when five hundred American plans would fly over our heads almost daily and drop thousands of bombs on Munich's civilian population reducing the town to rubble and killing thousands of civilians. At the end of the war the British dropped thousands of incendiary bombs on Dresden killing hundreds of thousands civilians. The war was over, still they did it. Perhaps you should call all those war criminals before you so blatantly accuse us? I know it is much easier to accuse the Jews than the Americans, or the British or the Russians, although by your definition they are the real war criminals. No, Mr. Golstone, war is not a nice thing, but if you want to stay alive, we Jews have learned by experience, that unless we defend ourselves, no one else will defend us. What really we find despicable of you is that you as a Jew accepted to participate in a committee that a priori condemned us. Your feeble excuse is that the UN only gave you a mandate to investigate Israel's war crimes in Gaza! By accepting your role on this committee you declared yourself the enemy of Israel. I think that you would very few Israelis who wouldn't agree with me. Mr. Goldstone, Condemning Israel is as if you would condemn the British and the French for starting World War Two, after all it was France and Britain who declared war on Germany. And ignoring the fact the Germans attacked Poland first! As far as I am concerned, as a survivor, You, Mr. Goldstone are doing a selection, ( Like in the good old days) singling out Israel, a small country trying to survive the constant onslaught of millions of Arabs. You picked us as a convenient target when by your definition of war crimes, your true target should have been America, Russia, Nato forces who sent in heavy bombers to drop thousands of bombs on civilian targets, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Chechnya, Belgrade and hundreds of other places around the world. If we should follow your dictate the world has no right to defend itself against terrorism, as terrorism deliberately hides itself behind women and children and innocent civilians, if we do we are to be classified as war criminals? Mr. Goldstone, It was from Gaza that the rockets came bombarding Israeli towns for eight years, and it is a fact that the Palestinians voted Hamas into power. They started the war. Those who start a war Should be blamed before those who defend themselves are blamed. You chose to ignore that fact. All I can add is that as a judge, you are bigoted like the rest of the UN institutions, and as a Jew, Shame on You. Shana Tova Sincerely yours, Solly Ganor
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Ou Toppie 10 June 2009 - 5:20pm
Abdullah, do you think that using pejorative adjectives such as "apartheid Israel" really advances the cause of the Palestinian people? How do you feel when people refer to "terrorist Fatah"? I suggest you go and study the history of Richard Goldstone (there is a good entry on Wikipedia) and you will learn that he was, in fact, once upon a time a judge in Apartheid South Africa. However, despite being part of the formal Apartheid state apparatus Goldstone used his office to protect the oppressed and preserve what little remained of the rule of law in South Africa under Apartheid. There are shades of grey in all things. There are good people on both sides. Learn from President Obama and stop spouting meaningless jargon and slogans.
abdullah 10 June 2009 - 4:11pm
Repeatedly, apartheid Israel has demonstrated unwillingness to efficiently investigate serious allegations of illegal activities committed by its forces in the occupied Palestinian territory. A lack of commitment, accountability, transparency and cooperation fully with the United Nations fact-finding mission, headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, only serves to confirm that apartheid Israel is guilty of war crimes. As evidenced, Israel is unwilling to work together with the commission, then under United Nations Charter Article 22, the U.N. must establish an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel.
LEOIESCRIBO 3 October 2009 - 10:42pm
Mayor of the southern Israeli town of Sderot, David Buskila, on Saturday sent a scathing letter to South African justice Richard Goldstone, who headed the United Nations fact finding mission on Israel's offensive in Gaza last winter. Goldstone's commission compiled a report accusing both Israel and Hamas of war crimes during the three-week offensive. Buskila, whose city of Sderot has been bombarded by Qassam rockets fired from Gaza for eight years, accused Goldstone of remaining silent while "8,000 rockets pounded us." In his letter, Buskila wrote that his city had suffered from Hamas' aggression more than any other israeli city, with death and destruction that left an indelible mark on the residents of the city. "The world, and you in it, was silent. You were silent in the face of the dead bodies of our children, in the face of our children's frightened eyes, you were silent in the face of every one of the 8,000 Qassam rockets that hit our city," Buskila wrote. "Your silence was frightening, and reminiscent of things forgotten," he added. The letter began with the mention of three Sderot children who were killed in rocket attacks. "The blood of the children whose lives were cut short is screaming out from the earth, there is no redemption and no forgiveness for the blood of a little child whose short existence had not yet taught him that there is evil and that there are wars," Buskila wrote, attaching pictures of the three children "who will never grow up" to the letter. The Sderot mayor also expressed his identification with the Palestinian people, writing that "I regret and am sorry for the death of every Palestinian child, I feel the pain of the Palestinian civilians, but let's not ignore the facts - the leaders of Hamas and other fundamental Islamic terror organizations are to blame for the suffering of Sderot residents and their children, as well as the suffering of Gaza's residents. These people, whose sole purpose in life are war crimes, and to whom the norms of the West do not apply, are to blame." Buskila concluded his letter by expressing hope that "peace will prevail in our region, and I invite you to personally examine the suffering of the residents of Sderot, who represent the other part of the equation, the part you didn't bother understanding." Mr Goldstone, you must go to Sdertot and spend some time there. This probaly, will open your mind to understand on what you have wrote
Steve 10 June 2009 - 3:26pm
It is wrong for Israel to complicate the data collection for this report. I can, however, see how they feel that the UN is against them. The UN has resolutions in place allowing Israel to protect itself, but whenever Israel acts within the guidelines of these resolutions it is condemned. The UN has such colorful members as Iran, Syria, and Egypt (and many more) who would like to see Israel cease to exist. Europeans seem to hate Je...I mean Israel down to their very bones. Russia and most former Bloc states have a horrible track record with Jewish people causing many to immigrate to Israel and the US. Face it, most members of the UN would like to see Israel disappear even if it is not the "official" stance of their country. If I were in Israel's place I would be skeptical of the motives as well.

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