United Nations, November 06: The UN General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling on Israel and the Palestinians to probe war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza nearly a year ago.
The vote, capping a two-day debate in the 192-member assembly on a controversial UN report that has accused both sides of war crimes during the 22-day conflict in the Gaza Strip, was 114 in favor and 18 against, with 44 abstentions.
Israel, which had strenuously opposed the non-binding resolution and the UN report which it endorsed, voted against as did its staunchest ally, the United States, along with Australia and a few European countries.
Many European Union countries, including Britain, France, Sweden and Spain, abstained after failing to secure amendments to the text, including one that would have dropped references to possible Security Council action if the report’s findings are not implemented. Russia also abstained.
The text endorsed a UN report by a panel led by respected former international prosecutor Richard Goldstone that accused both Israel and the Palestinians of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the 22-day Gaza conflict that ended in January.
Goldstone, a South African Jew, recommended that Israel and the democratically elected Palestinian movement Hamas in Gaza face possible prosecution before the International Criminal Court in The Hague if they fail to conduct credible, independent investigations within six months.
The assembly resolution also called on both Israel and the Palestinian side to conduct, within a period of three months, investigations “that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards.”
Yahya Mahmassani, the permanent observer of the 22-member Arab Leahue, welcomed the adoption of the resolution as “a very good result.”
“This is a victory for justice and accountability,” he added, saying the Arab sponsors would consider their next step after hopefully receiving a report from UN chief Ban Ki-moon on implementation of this resolution within three months.
Israel’s deputy UN ambassador Daniel Carmon slammed the resolution as “deeply flawed, one-sided and prejudiced.”
The Palestinian observer to the United Nations, Ryad Mansour, hailed “an important night in the history of the General Assembly and the history of fighting impunity and seeking accountability.”
He highlighted the fact that the resolution directs Ban to report back to the General Assembly on its implementation within three months, with “a view to considering further action, if necessary, by the relevant UN organs and bodies, including by the Security Council.”
“We will continue to knock on the door of the Security Council to (force it) to shoulder its responsibilities,” Mansour added, insisting that “Israeli criminals who have committed crimes against Palestinian civilians get the punishment they deserve.”
And he said the Palestinians were also preparing for implementation of a recommendation in the resolution urging Switzerland to convene a conference on enforcement of the Geneva Conventions in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.
A key finding of the Goldstone report was that Israel used disproportionate force in response to rocket attacks by Gaza-based resistance and failed to take adequate measures to protect civilians during its Gaza onslaught.
Some 1,400 Palestinians (mainly civilians) and 13 Israelis (mainly soldiers) were killed during the Israeli military offensive in the tiny coastal Palestinian enclave which ended in January.
Israel, which wants to crush any Palestinian liberation movement, responded to Hamas’s win in the elections with sanctions, and almost completely blockaded the impoverished coastal strip after Hamas seized power in 2007, although a ‘lighter’ siege had already existed before.
Human rights groups, both international and Israeli, slammed Israel’s siege of Gaza, branding it “collective punishment.”
Gaza is still considered under Israeli occupation as Israel controls air, sea and land access to the Strip.
The Rafah crossing with Egypt, Gaza’s sole border crossing that bypasses Israel, rarely opens as Egypt is under immense US and Israeli pressure to keep the crossing shut.
Fatah has little administrative say in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and has no power in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, both of which are Palestinian territories illegally occupied by Israel in 1967.
—Agencies