Goldstonerapporten i FN

Finland och de flesta EU länderna visade igen en gång vad de står för i FN. I fredags röstade man i FN:s generalförsamlingen på arabländernas initiativ för att Goldstonerapporten fortsättningsvis skall behandlas i generalförsamlingen. Israel och palestinierna fick ytterligare 5 månader på sig att utreda Gazakriget, därefter får man se vad generalförsamlingen beslutar.
Finland röstade för resolutionen som alltså skall hålla liv i den mycket kritiserade Goldstonerapporten och där udden är riktad mot Israel. (Analys av Goldstonerapporten)
USA:s representant har alldeles rätt när han konstaterar att rapporten är obalanserad och inte tar i beaktande konfliktens natur.
Rapporten gjordes ursprungligen för FN:s mänskorättsråd och där borde den ha stannat om det är mänskliga rättigheter man oroar sig för. Tyvärr är det arab/muslimländerna som styr mänskorättsrådet och de ville att generalförsamlingen och eventuellt säkerhetsrådet senare skall behandla rapporten (för att fördöma Israel).
Det kan konstateras att Israel har utrett och håller på att utreda påstådda brott under kriget. En israelisk talesman säger att egentligen har det inte så stor betydelse vad generalförsamlingen säger, Israel har ett eget intresse av att granska eventuella fel de begått under kriget. Dessa undersökningar görs oberoende av om någon annan kräver det eller inte.
Den palestinska sidan har inte gjort några utredningar, de palestinska myndigheterna har inget i Gaza att göra och att låta Hamas undersöka sig själv kanske inte ens FN skulle vara nöjd med.
UN: 5 more months for Gaza probes (Jerusalem Post)

General Assembly Requests Secretary-General to Submit Further Report
on Investigations into Violations During Gaza Conflict (FN)

Introduction of Draft Resolution
NASSIR ABDULAZIZ AL-NASSER (Qatar), introducing the draft resolution on the Follow-up to the report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (document A/64/L.48), said today’s meeting was a crucial step in the international community’s efforts to prevent future violations of international law, end impunity, and promote real peace. That required serious steps to ensure accountability and justice for the grave breaches of international humanitarian law and human rights committed during Israel’s 2008/2009 military operations in Gaza, which had caused extensive loss of life and destruction and from which the besieged Palestinian population continued to suffer.
He said the text was an important procedural follow-up to resolution 64/10, bearing in mind that the Secretary-General’s report to the Assembly stated that “no determination can be made on the implementation of the resolution by the parties concerned”. To promote accountability and justice, the Assembly should once again call on the parties concerned to comply with that resolution, he said, calling for the broadest support for today’s text. The international community must remain steadfast and firm in its efforts to uphold international law and ensure accountability and justice in all circumstances, including in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in East Jerusalem. The adoption today of the text would contribute constructively and significantly to those principled efforts, he added.

GABRIELA SHALEV (Israel), speaking before the vote, said her country would continue to conduct credible and independent investigations into the aftermath of the Gaza operation, as it did after any military operation, as part of Israeli law and practice. She asked who, on the other hand, would conduct the Palestinian investigation.
She said it could not be the Palestinian Authority, which had been ousted from Gaza in a bloody coup, or the Hamas terrorists, who targeted civilians, and used schools and hospitals as shields. Israel would never neglect its duty to defend its citizens, its existence, its democracy and its freedom against Hamas, Hizbullah or any other terrorists, wherever they might be, she declared. Facing that existential threat, Israel remained committed to acting in accordance with international law and the belief that human life must be protected, she said, stressing that it was a belief that drove its desire for peace.

PABLO ANTONIO THALASSINOS ( Panama) said he had voted against the text because it had the same lack of objectivity and consideration for due process as its predecessor. Israel and the Palestinian Authority must carry out independent, worthy and suitable investigations, in accordance with international law, whereas the text prejudged those investigations and prematurely declared both parties guilty. Such condemnation would not lead to a peace process that respected international law and the rights of both peoples to live in peace and harmony, he said, emphasizing that Panama’s vote was not against the Palestinians or in favour of Israelis. It was a vote against partiality.

ALEJANDRO WOLFF ( United States) said his country remained deeply concerned about the suffering of both Palestinians and Israelis, but the only way to end it would be to reach a negotiated permanent settlement. Both sides in the conflict should continue credible domestic investigations, he stressed, reiterating that the Goldstone Report was deeply flawed and unbalanced. It did not acknowledge the nature of the conflict and over-reached in its conclusions and recommendations. Today’s resolution was similarly flawed and for that reason the United States had voted against

HERMAN SCHAPER (Netherlands),(som lade ner sin röst) speaking also on behalf of the Czech Republic and Hungary, said the text was silent on the differences in follow-up thus on the part of both parties, notably that Israel was conducting investigations while the Palestinian Authority had only set up a committee to do so. The resolution should have reflected those realities, he said. Concerned that the text called for a Conference of the High Contracting Parties, he noted the lack of full agreement on the need for such a conference, which would be politicized and detrimental to Middle East peace efforts. Such matters should be pursued in Geneva, not New York, he added.

HASAN KLEIB ( Indonesia),(röstade för) stressing that the Goldstone Report should be fully and consistently implemented, said Israel used excessive force and punishment against the Gaza population, who continued to suffer serious humanitarian distress. Their suffering was disproportionate, and the wording of the text did not reflect an appropriate balance. Justice must be ensured in the near future, he added.

Mot resolutionen röstade: Canada, Israel, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Panama, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United States.

Följande stater avstod från att rösta: Albania, Australia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Samoa, San Marino, Slovakia, Ukraine

För resolutionen röstade:Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Gabon, Greece, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Qatar, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.