Holding both sides accountable

A giant step was made towards holding both sides accountable regarding war crimes and other violations of international law, committed earlier this year during the conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel. Last week the UN General Assembly voted to adopt key recommendations in South African judge Richard Goldstone's report. Goldstone recommends that Israel and the Palestinians carry out independent investigations into severe allegations of war crimes committed during the Gaza conflict last January. On Friday November 6, Yvonne Terlingen, Head of Amnesty International's Office at the UN, said:

Both Israel and Hamas in Gaza have been served due notice, in this defining General Assembly resolution, that they must immediately conduct credible, independent investigations into the alleged grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed during the conflict. The clock is now running and we urge both parties to act without further delay. The UN has spoken up today for accountability and for an end to the cycle of impunity that has for so long obstructed the search for peace and justice between Israelis and Palestinians.

Goldstone's report was based of a UN Fact Finding Mission he led, that found both Israeli and Palestinian forces committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. The resolution was adopted by a large majority: 114 countries voted in favour, while 18 voted against it and 44 abstained. The U.S. and seven European nations voted against the resolution, with Russia abstaining.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that he will not allow any Israeli soldiers be prosecuted. While Goldston's investigation was conducted, Israel provided no cooperation, and has since forcefully fought the report, which it claims is unjustly biased and does not hold Hamas to account.

If Israel and Hamas prove unwilling or unable to perform independent investigations that meet international standards, the resolution requires the UN Secretary-General to send Goldstone's report to the Security Council, which can direct the Gaza predicament to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. However it is probable the U.S. would intervene and prevent that course of a action with a veto at the Security Council. The report also recommends that in three months time, the UN Secretary-General offer a progress report to the General Assembly. However that resolution would not be legally binding and once it reached the Security Council, it is believed that it would be opposed by the U.S. and China.

The UN Human Rights Council also endorsed Goldstone's report and commissioned it. But once more, the U.S. opposed the Human Rights Council's decree.

The findings of the Goldstone report reiterate the findings of an Amnesty International team which investigated apparent violations during and after the conflict, which resulted in hundreds of Palestinian civilian deaths, including three hundred children. Three Israeli civilians were killed. A statement from Amnesty read:

Almost one year on, those who suffered war crimes and other gross violations of their rights, are still waiting for justice. It is our fervent hope that today's UN General Assembly resolution will act as a catalyst to make justice and reparation a reality for the victims on both sides.

The report concluded that Israel's three week incursion into Gaza was a "deliberately disproportionate attack" and that Israeli soldiers committed severe violations of the Geneva conventions with "individual criminal responsibility", suggesting they could be prosecuted. Hamas' rocket attacks into Israel, which targeted Israeli civilians, were also found to be war crimes and crimes against humanity.

This video, provided by the Guardian, examines the alleged Israeli war crimes committed during the Gaza conflict.

Here's another documentary from earlier this year, in three parts: