Ban Ki-moon declines to comment on Israeli, Palestinian reports.
By ASSOCIATED PRESSJudge Richard Goldstone(photo credit: courtesy)
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday released the Israeli and Palestinian investigations responding to the Goldstone report, which alleged war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009.Israel reported it had launched over 150 investigations into misconduct and law violations, opened 47 criminal investigations, and initiated criminal prosecutions of four soldiers in separate incidents, while Hamas "appeared to have done nothing at all to investigate the alleged violations," according to the UN Human Rights Council, which also slammed the Israeli investigation for falling short of being "thorough and impartial."RELATED:IDF wraps 'counter-Goldstone' reportOpinion: Desperately smearing GoldstoneThe Palestinian Authority submitted the Palestinian report, which did not appear to include any input from Gaza's Hamas rulers.The UN chief introduced the 247-page report with brief observations that made no comment on the submissions by Israel or the Palestinians, which were requested by the General Assembly. He said it was important to respect international human rights and humanitarian law and expressed hope that "steps will be taken wherever there are credible allegations of violations."Last November, the 192-member world body gave Israel and the Palestinians three months to undertake "independent, credible investigations" into the findings of a UN-appointed expert panel chaired by South African Judge Richard Goldstone. In February, it gave both sides an additional five months to conduct their inquiries.The 575-page Goldstone report concluded that both sides committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the Gaza war, in which 13 Israelis and almost 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including many civilians.Both sides rejected the charges when the Goldstone report was issued, and their positions remained unchanged in the newly released reports.Human Rights Watch called on governments and the UN to maintain pressure on Israel and Hamas to conduct thorough and impartial investigations, and to provide justice to the victims of abuses."Israeli investigations still fall far short of being thorough and impartial, while Hamas appears to have done nothing at all to investigate alleged violations," the rights group's program director Iain Levine said in a statement. "We regret that the secretary-general merely passed on the reports he received from Israel and the Palestinian side instead of making the failings of these investigations clear."UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said Ban was asked by the General Assembly to solicit investigation reports from both sides but was not requested "to express his views on the responses received."The Israeli military submitted its report on July 21 and said it has made "numerous changes to its operational procedures and policies in order to further enhance the protection of civilians from the hazards of battle and the protection of private property during military operations."The report said Israel has launched more than 150 investigations in allegations of misconduct or violations of international law during the Gaza conflict. It said the military has opened 47 criminal investigations and initiated criminal prosecutions of four soldiers in separate incidents.The Palestinian report was submitted by the Independent Investigation Commission established by the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank but lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007.It said "the numbers and the facts speak for themselves" and accused Israel of acting with impunity, disregarding international law, and justifying "its indiscriminate, disproportionate and collective punishment measures against the Palestinian people, as if no limitations applied to Israel."The Palestinian commission said that since Hamas took over Gaza "legal institutions are being undermined and this has resulted in a high number of violations of international human rights law, negatively impacting the situation of human rights in Gaza." But the commission emphasized "that there is no moral equivalency" between Israel's violations of international humanitarian and human rights law during the Gaza conflict "and the situation concerning observance and respect for human rights in Gaza by Hamas."
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