<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[UN Council: Will Not Retract Goldstone Report Due To Op-ed By Chief&nbsp;Investigator]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><span class="article-details"><span class="article-detail">Tuesday April 05, 2011 03:32</span><span class="article-detail"> by Saed Bannoura &#8211; IMEMC News</span></span></p>
<blockquote class="article-intro"><p>Richard Goldstone, the Chief  Investigator of the UN Human Rights Council&#8217;s investigation into war  crimes and violations by Israel and Hamas during Israel&#8217;s 2008-9  invasion of Gaza, created a diplomatic stir when he published an op-ed  on Friday entitled “Reconsidering the Goldstone Report on Israeli War  Crimes”.</p></blockquote>
<p class="photo"><a name="attachment36870"></a> <img class="summary-image" title="Click on image to see full-sized version" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.imemc.org/attachments/apr2011/judgerichardgoldstone2.jpg" alt="Judge Richard Goldstone (image from foreignpolicy blog)" width="300" height="209" /><br />
Judge Richard Goldstone (image from foreignpolicy blog)</p>
<p class="article">In  the op-ed, published in the Washington Post, Goldstone states that he  no longer believes that there was a deliberate Israeli policy to target  civilians during the invasion of Gaza in 2008-9, in which over 1100  civilians, including nearly 400 children, and an estimated 300  resistance fighters, were killed by invading Israeli forces.</p>
<p>His op-ed did not retract the findings of the report, which resulted  from a months-long investigation of war crimes committed by both Israeli  forces and Hamas fighters resisting the Israeli invasion.</p>
<p>Israeli officials from the Prime Minister to the Foreign Minister called  on the United Nations to revoke the 400-page UN Report, known as the  “Goldstone Report”, a call which has been rejected by the United Nations  Human Rights Council, which commissioned the report.</p>
<p>One of the points made by Richard Goldstone in Friday&#8217;s op-ed was the  claim that the so-called &#8216;Committee of Experts&#8217;, which followed up on  the recommendations of the Goldstone Report, had documented that Israeli  authorities began investigations into 400 incidents of violence against  civilians in the Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>He contrasted that with the Hamas Authority in the besieged Gaza Strip,  which he says has not investigated any of the homemade shells fired by  Palestinian fighters into Israel during the invasion, which resulted in 4  Israeli civilian casualties.</p>
<p>Analysts familiar with the Goldstone Report, and with the findings of  the &#8216;Committee of Experts&#8217;, released last week, say that the &#8216;Committee  of Experts&#8217; followup report on the Goldstone Report was actually much  more critical of Israel than implied by Goldstone&#8217;s op-ed. Although  Israel has begun investigations of 400 incidents, these have been  delayed, dismissed, and under-investigated.</p>
<p>Adam Horowitz, a US-based analyst, says that most of the killings of the  400 children in the Gaza invasion have yet to be investigated, and no  perpetrator has yet to be brought to justice for these war crimes</p>
<p><a href="http://www.imemc.org/article/60999">Source</a></p>
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<h2>Related</h2>
<p><strong>SPECIAL TOPIC | <a href="http://wp.me/p16sn9-5hT">WHITE WASH WATCH Goldstone&#8217;s reconsiderations on the Gaza Cast Lead Report</a></strong></p>
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