Israel preps for UN reports on Gaza assault

Ma'an
Israel's Foreign Ministry is preparing a defense brief in advance of two United Nations reports on its military's conduct in Gaza last winter, the country's press reported.

Both the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz reported on Monday that a group of legal experts is writing a response to the findings of the two commissions, which they expect will be harsh.

The UN Commission on Human Rights investigative committee headed by Jewish South African Justice Richard Goldstone is expected to release its findings in September, while an earlier report investigating Israeli culpability in the destruction of UN property during their war on Gaza was handed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in May. Israel will be given a chance to view both reports in full before they are released to the public.

Israel's assault on Gaza last winter killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and injured more than 5,000. Israel fears that facts compiled in the two UN commissions would serve as evidence for victims of the Gaza operation, who could then take legal action against Israel at the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

"The road to international courts is very short from the point we are at right now," a government source reportedly said, according to Haaretz. The operation has already in part been labeled a war crime by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Haaretz quoted the same government source as saying that the Foreign Ministry's legal department wants their response to contain the "Israeli narrative" of the assault...

"This is the way the government will now deal with these types of reports," the Jerusalem Post quoted their own government source as saying. That source said the military and Foreign Ministry may create a team that would go over the UN charges with a "fine-tooth comb."

Israel opted to cooperate with only one of the probes, that of the internal UN commission...

Only Hamas has agreed to cooperate into the commission led by Goldstone, a former war crimes prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda... Full story

Background on Gaza invasion Dec. 27-Jan. 18
Fact Box