Israel warns against U.N. council seeing Gaza report By Michelle Nichols – Fri Oct 23, 8:38 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Israel warned on Friday against bringing before the Security Council a U.N. report charging it with war crimes in the Gaza Strip, a position that diplomats said had the unlikely support of Russia and China.Moscow and Beijing have signaled they do not want the Security Council to consider the report as they feel it would interfere with the national sovereignty of the Jewish state, said Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity.South African jurist Richard Goldstone's report accuses both Israel and the Islamist group Hamas of war crimes in the Gaza Strip, but is most critical of Israel. Up to 1,387 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the war last December and January.If the Goldstone report comes to the Security Council it will damage the option to move forward in the political (peace) process with the Palestinians,Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom told reporters after meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon.
Shalom described the report as unacceptable and biased.The U.N. Human Rights Council recently endorsed the report by passing a resolution that singled out Israel for censure without referring to wrongdoing by Hamas. Palestinian officials then called for further U.N. inquiries into Israel's actions.In his report, Goldstone recommended that the U.N. Security Council refer the war crimes issue to the International Criminal Court in The Hague if the two sides failed to conduct credible domestic investigations within six months.Shalom said Israel has already investigated allegations against it and it does not need advice on how to handle its internal affairs.
RUSSIA, CHINA, U.S. UNITED ON GOLDSTONE REPORT
Western diplomats said Moscow and Beijing, which have been criticized in the past for their own human rights records, want to avoid the precedent of the council taking up such a report and see it as an issue for the Human Rights Council in Geneva.The Americans, they say, oppose the idea of giving Israel's critics another chance to bash the Jewish state in New York.Ban, who visited Gaza in January, also spoke to Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman overnight and emphasized the need for justice and accountability.He reiterated his call for a credible domestic investigation by all parties into any allegations of serious human rights violations committed during the conflict,Ban's spokesman, Farhan Haq, told reporters.Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libyan's deputy U.N. ambassador, told Reuters the Goldstone report likely would be taken up by the 192-nation U.N. General Assembly, where the Americans, Russians and Chinese have no veto power. Long hostile to Israel, Libya is on the Security Council until the end of the year.Lieberman also told Ban he hoped the report would not reach the General Assembly.U.S. President Barack Obama's administration pressed Israel and the Palestinians on Thursday to do more to help relaunch long-stalled peace talks after the latest flurry of U.S. diplomacy failed to yield any sign of a breakthrough.(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Chris Wilson)
Israeli PM to travel to Washington in November Fri Oct 23, 2:47 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Washington next month for a conference of Jewish organizations and hopes to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama, an Israeli official said on Friday.The trip comes as the Obama administration is pressing Israel and the Palestinians to do more to help relaunch long-stalled peace talks after the latest flurry of U.S. diplomacy failed to yield any sign of a breakthrough.It is not certain whether the two leaders will meet, the official from Netanyahu's office said.Organizers of the annual general assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America said both Netanyahu and Obama would participate in the three-day event, beginning November 8.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handed Obama this week a less-than-glowing assessment of Middle East peace efforts amid skepticism inside and outside of the region about the prospects for unblocking the peace process.Obama set Middle East peace as a top priority at the start of his presidency in January, in contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush, who was criticized internationally for neglecting the long-running conflict. But so far the new administration has little to show for its efforts.
Netanyahu, whose right-leaning coalition includes pro-settler parties, has resisted Obama's calls for a total freeze on settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, politically weak because he governs only in the West Bank while Hamas Islamists control the Gaza Strip, has said he will not resume direct talks until a complete settlement freeze is implemented.(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Myra MacDonald).
Mitchell: Mideast talks effort isn't a failure By GLENN ADAMS, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 22, 8:56 pm ET
WATERVILLE, Maine – President Obama's Mideast envoy George Mitchell said Thursday it's too soon to brand his efforts to resume peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders a failure.The former Senate leader recalled being asked hundreds of times while negotiating for years in Northern Ireland when he was going home because the talks there were considered a failure. He finally brokered the Good Friday peace accords in 1999.The administration's current efforts in the Mideast are "as difficult and complex as everyone told me it would be,said Mitchell.But we are determined to stay the course ... until the job is done.He said the process has been in motion only for months. His experience in Northern Ireland from 1995 to 1999 suggests that the current peacemaking effort could take years.
I am not in the slightest discouraged,said the 76-year-old Mitchell.Mitchell said no other president has taken action so early in his administration to start peace talks in the region.There's a sense of urgency, a sense of involvement and commitment on the part of the president, Mitchell said before delivering a speech on conflict resolution at Colby College, where his father once worked as a janitor.His speech also came as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received a report on the progress of peace efforts in the Mideast. Mitchell has been shuttling between Israeli and Palestinian leaders for months in an attempt to get peace talks between the two sides going again.Mitchell acknowledged setbacks in the process, including a United Nations report that accused Israel and Palestinian militants of committing war crimes last winter.We continue in our efforts, notwithstanding that report, Mitchell said. He noted that the United States has taken the position that the report is deeply flawed.Mitchell said he and Clinton plan to attend a conference in Morocco on Nov. 2 where they will meet with foreign ministers from most or all of the Arab countries.The secretary of state has been directly and personally and actively involved in the process, said Mitchell, adding that he completed a round of meetings this week with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators where some good progress was made.
US ambassador Rice pays quiet visit to West Bank Thu Oct 22, 11:31 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice paid a quiet visit to the West Bank on Thursday a day after she gave a speech in Israel denouncing international anti-Israel vitriol.Rice held closed-door meetings with Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad and Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), but did not make any public statements.
On Thursday Rice called on UN members to replace anti-Israeli vitriol with recognition of Israel's legitimacy and right to exist in peace and security at a Jerusalem conference organised by Israeli President Shimon Peres.She made no direct mention of the controversial Goldstone report on the Gaza war, which concluded that both Israel and the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.Officials said she discussed the report with senior Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who thanked Washington for its vigorous opposition to the report and its support for the Jewish state.The UN General Assembly is expected to discuss the report by Richard Goldstone, a South African former international war crimes prosecutor, by the end of the year, after it was endorsed by the Human Rights Council.Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the 22-day Gaza conflict that Israel launched on December 27 in response to rocket fire from the territory.Goldstone recommended referring the report's conclusions to the International Criminal Court prosecutor in The Hague, if Israel and Hamas fail to conduct credible investigations within six months.Israel called the endorsement by the UN Human Rights Council a diplomatic farce and said it harmed Middle East peace efforts.But the Palestinians welcomed the resolution which they said should result in follow-up action by the UN Security Council.
Israel, US rehearse state of the art air defence umbrella by Gavin Rabinowitz – Thu Oct 22, 9:44 am ET
TEL AVIV (AFP) – A massive air defence drill under way in Israel will join Israeli and US systems to create the world's most advanced anti-missile umbrella to protect the Jewish state, officials said on Thursday.The Juniper Cobra 10 exercises, the fifth in a series of joint air defence drills between the allies, began this week and comes amid heightened tension between Israel and arch-foe Iran.Some 1,000 US soldiers will take part in the two-week exercise combining Israeli and US systems to create the world's most advanced air defence system to protect our citizens and homes from attack,the commander of Israel's Air Defence Corps, Brigadier General Doron Gavish, told reporters.Israeli and US commanders refused to describe the scenarios they are simulating, but said they would practise merging different anti-missile systems that defend simultaneously against long-, medium- and short-range missiles.Israeli media reported that the exercise would likely include a scenario of a combined attack from Iran together with shorter range barrages from Syria and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Rear Admiral John Richardson, the commander of the US forces, said systems used would include the American THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence), the ship-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence System, and the Patriot anti-aircraft system, as well as the Israeli Arrow (Hetz) II.Israel and the US have cooperated in missile defence since the US sent batteries of Patriot missiles to Israel during the first Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein fired dozens of Scud missiles at Israel.Israel's air defences have since been further tested. Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets into Israel during the 2006 conflict in Lebanon and Palestinian militants have lobbed thousands of improvised rockets from the Gaza Strip.The exercises were purely defensive and, planned nearly two years in advance, were not in reaction to any current world events, the generals said.
But they come amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iran.
Israel, the sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, has never ruled out a resort to military action to stop Iran's nuclear drive which the West suspects is aimed at making nuclear weapons but Tehran insists is only for peaceful ends.Iran for its part has recently tested missiles that put Israel within range and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said that the Holocaust was a myth and that Israel was doomed to be wiped off the map.Juniper Cobra will take part in three stages, deploying US forces, simulating attacks and finally a live-fire testing of the Patriot system, Richardson said, adding that all US forces would leave the region once the drill ended.
Egypt against Israel FM at Mediterranean forum Wed Oct 21, 10:44 am ET
CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt is opposed to hardline Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman attending a meeting of the Mediterranean Union which it co-chairs with France, diplomats said on Wednesday.Foreign ministers of the 43-strong grouping, which brings European Union members together with states from north Africa, the Balkans, Arab countries, Israel and Turkey, are due to gather in November in Istanbul.An Egyptian diplomat told AFP that Cairo did not want to send an invitation to the Israeli (foreign) minister,but could accept that Lieberman be represented by someone else.Egyptian officials refused anything to do with Lieberman after he said last year that President Hosni Mubarak could go to hell if he continued to refuse to visit Israel.But earlier this year, Mubarak received hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks on the deadlocked Middle East peace process.Other Arab members of the Mediterranean Union also have no wish to see the ultra-nationalist Lieberman join the Istanbul forum because of his hardline positions concerning the Palestinians, other diplomats said.
But an Israeli official told AFP in Jerusalem that Lieberman was not the problem.The issue from the beginning has been the refusal by Egypt and Arab countries to discuss joint cooperation projects with Israel,the official said on condition of anonymity.
The Mediterranean Union was launched at a summit in Paris last year and is aimed at developing projects for regional integration in one of the most volatile regions of the world.But like its regional predecessor, the Barcelona Process which stalled in large part over Arab-Israeli disputes, the union got bogged down by Israel's war on the Gaza Strip at the turn of the year in response to Hamas missile strikes.
Rights group in hot water over Israel criticism by Olivia Hampton – Tue Oct 20, 10:02 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – One of the world's leading human rights groups is battling a barrage of criticism for lashing out at Israel's record while allegedly soft-pedaling violations by Saudi Arabia.The latest accusation against Human Rights Watch came from an unlikely critic Tuesday, as former chairman Robert Bernstein blasted the group he helped found for helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state.Bernstein's charges, in an opinion piece published in The New York Times, revived debate over the organization that ranks as a respected leader in its field along with Amnesty International.HRW, which counts over 275 staff members posted around the globe and publishes reports on some 90 countries each year, has been forced to issue a series of red-faced statements in recent months amid charges of anti-Israel bias and a soft stance toward authoritarian regimes.Last month, the New York-based rights group temporarily suspended Marc Garlasco, a US senior military analyst, after it emerged he was an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia.The former Pentagon official helped investigate and co-authored an HRW report on Israel's use of white phosphorus in the 22-day Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip at the turn of the year that killed some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.An HRW delegation's May visit to Saudi Arabia also came under scrutiny, with opinion pieces in leading US and Israeli newspapers claiming the trip sought to raise Saudi money without criticizing Riyadh's rights record.The allegations were echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, the largest US pro-Israel lobby AIPAC and former Israeli minister Natan Sharansky, who claimed HRW has become a tool in the hands of dictatorial regimes to fight against democracies.The group, which began in 1978 as Helsinki Watch with a policy of publicly naming and shaming abusive governments, insisted it did not solicit funds from Saudi officials, noting it raises money from private sources and not governments.
Pointing the finger at HRW is merely a distraction, critics say.There is a very, very intense campaign dedicated to making sure that the conversation becomes about Human Rights Watch rather than the Israeli government's actions,said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator who heads the Middle East Task Force at the New America Foundation.The real thing that threatens Israel's legitimacy is the way it behaves and maintains the occupation, and it's a tragedy,he told AFP.The row with Bernstein, the former HRW chairman, emerged at a critical time, amid a global spat over a damning UN report on the Gaza war that accused both Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas of war crimes.Bernstein initially raised his concerns in April at a full meeting of HRW's Board of Directors, which unanimously rejected his claims, the group said.We fundamentally disagree with Mr Bernstein's views, HRW said in a statement Tuesday, adding that it does not believe that the human rights records of closed societies are the only ones deserving scrutiny.Open societies and democracies commit human rights abuses, too, and Human Rights Watch has an important role to play in documenting those abuses and pressing for their end,it said.Bernstein, however, charged that HRW casts aside its important distinction between open and closed societies and Israel faces the brunt of Human Rights Watch's criticism.
There is a difference between wrongs committed in self-defense and those perpetrated intentionally,said Bernstein, who chaired HRW from 1978 to 1998. He highlighted Israel's democratic record and said HRW had lost critical perspective as it ignored the plight of citizens of the Middle East's authoritarian regimes.HRW said its work on Israel is only a tiny fraction of its activities.Out of 75 HRW reports this year, three dealt with rights concerns related to Israel, one looked at Palestinian militant groups' rocket attacks, another condemned political violence by Gaza rulers Hamas and three drubbed Saudi Arabia's rights record.The group's annual world report also criticized those violations.
Protester assails Blair in Palestinian mosque Tue Oct 20, 12:53 pm ET
HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) – Bodyguards subdued a Palestinian man Tuesday as he approached Middle East envoy Tony Blair, shouting You are a terrorist.The former British prime minister was verbally assailed while visiting an ancient mosque during an official trip to the West Bank city of Hebron.The protester, carrying a bag, was backed into a corner by guards who tried to shut him up. He is not welcome in the land of Palestine,the struggling man shouted.Blair, 56, is envoy for the Quartet of powers on the Middle East, comprising the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations.He gave a tight-lipped smile and a pacifying wave in the general direction of the shouting man, and afterwards played down the incident as a protest and that's fair enough,but not one that should be viewed as typical of local feelings.Most Palestinians and Israelis want the conflict resolved in a peaceful way,he said. They understand it's not going to be resolved unless we find a way of creating two states, a state of Israel and a state of Palestine side by side in peace.Frankly it's not protests that will do that. It's patient negotiation,Blair told reporters.A spokesman for the envoy told Reuters it was unclear why the protester launched his attack on Blair.We've heard nothing on that,he said.Blair's Hebron hosts were upset by the security breach. He remains unpopular with some Arabs for supporting the 2003 United States invasion of Iraq and for what they perceive as his bias in favor of Israel when he was Britain's prime minister.You know, he made his protest and that's fair enough,Blair told reporters once the man was removed.I think it's important for you guys as well to not always mistake the protest for the general view of the whole population,he said.(Reporting by Reuters TV; writing by Douglas Hamilton; editing by Jon Boyle).
Jurist: Ties to Israel obligated war crimes probe By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer – Mon Oct 19, 10:53 am ET
JERUSALEM – The internationally renowned jurist who oversaw a U.N. report accusing Israel of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip said Monday that his deep attachment to the Jewish state compelled him to carry out the investigation.South African jurist Richard Goldstone also faulted Israel for not cooperating with the investigation in an op-ed piece published in the Jerusalem Post, an English-language Israeli daily. It was the first time he has reached out to the Israeli public since his report was published last month.Goldstone's report on the three-week winter war has set off an uproar in Israel. Leaders say the document was biased and commissioned by a U.N. body known for its hostility against Israel. The report's harsh findings against Hamas militants in Gaza have done little to temper the criticism, much of which has been personal. Some critics have gone so far as to accuse Goldstone of being a pawn of anti-Israel forces.Goldstone, who is Jewish and has strong connections to Israel, said he has been hurt by the attacks. He noted his years of work battling human rights abuses in places as diverse as South Africa, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, China, Russia and Iran.I would have been acting against those principles and my own convictions and conscience if I had refused a request from the United Nations to investigate serious allegations of war crimes against both Israel and Hamas,he wrote.As a Jew, I felt a greater and not a lesser obligation to do so.Goldstone also took Israel to task for not cooperating with the investigation, saying it had committed a grave error by not telling its side of the story.Israel could have seized the opportunity provided by the evenhanded mandate of our mission and used it as a precedent for a new direction by the United Nations in the Middle East. Instead, we were shut out,he said.Israel attacked Gaza last December in a mission it says was meant to end eight years of incessant rocket attacks by Palestinian militants. Some 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the offensive, including hundreds of civilians, according to Palestinian officials and human rights groups. Thirteen Israelis, including four civilians, also died.The 575-page report concluded that Israel used disproportionate force, deliberately targeted civilians, used Palestinians as human shields and destroyed civilian infrastructure during the incursion.
It also accused armed Palestinian groups including Hamas, which controls Gaza, of deliberately targeting civilians and trying to spread terror through years of rocket attacks on southern Israel.It called on both sides to carry out credible investigations into alleged abuses, or face possible referral to international war crimes prosecutors. Last week, the U.N. Human Rights Council, the body that commissioned the investigation, endorsed the report.Israel has an internationally renowned and respected judiciary that should be (the) envy of many other countries in the region,Goldstone wrote in the op-ed.It has the means and ability to investigate itself. Has it the will? Israel refused to cooperate with the investigation, saying the rights council has a history of anti-Israel decisions and could not possibly be fair. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the report's findings encourage terrorism and would make it difficult to pursue peace since it questions Israel's right to self-defense.Hamas, an Islamic militant group backed by Syria and Iran, has welcomed the report's harsh condemnations of Israel while brushing off the criticism of its own conduct.
