The Gaza War and human rights: The Goldstone Report
By Max J. Castro
majcastro@gmail.com
Among the issues of particular concern to the Mission in Zeytoun are the killings of the Samouni family, the mass destruction in the area, including the systematic demolition of the Sawafeary chicken farms, and the air strike that killed 22 members of the al-Daya family.
A special United Nations investigation into the Gaza conflict between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009 has made some scathing allegations against Palestinian militants and, especially, the Israeli government.
The panel is presided by Justice Richard Goldstone — former judge for the Constitutional court of South Africa and a former war crimes prosecutor — who is Jewish and reportedly a Zionist as well. Notwithstanding, the Israeli government refused to cooperate with the investigation and dismissed the report as biased while the United States declared it “deeply flawed.”
Goldstone said that “a culture of impunity” has become endemic in the Middle East conflict and called for greater accountability. Goldstone was “highly critical of the pusillanimous efforts by Israel to investigate alleged violations of international law and the complete failure of the Gaza authorities to do so.”
The report concluded both the Israeli Defense Forces and Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.
The reality of the situation is that though both sides committed atrocities, the scale of the crimes and the U.S. responsibility are quite different. The number of Israelis killed in the conflict, including soldiers was about a dozen. The number of Palestinians killed was about ten times greater. Further, the homemade rockets used by Hamas were not provided by the U.S. government; many of the Israeli arms used against civilians were part of the vast package of U.S. military aid to Israel. Americans are not in complicity with Hamas atrocities, which our government rightly denounces. On the other hand, we are in complicity with Israeli atrocities, which we enable both materially and morally. Thus the United States has a unique ethical responsibility in bringing forth a just and lasting peace.
That fact is very clear to every small child in the world and not just the Arab world but it is a perspective that is basically excluded from the public discussion in the United States under penalty of being declared an anti-Semite. When Israeli officials criticize “moral equivalence,” they are right but not in the manner they mean. The extent of destruction and suffering is an order of magnitude greater for the Palestinians compared to the Israelis.
That is a fact that can be deduced from the over 500 pages of the Goldstone report and the images we have seen on our televisions. It is a major source of hatred and terrorism against the United States. The Goldstone report should further spur the administration to bring effective pressure on the Israelis to negotiate in good faith with the Palestinians.
The Goldstone report can be found at:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf
