Comments (0)Israel Satisfied with Ban’s Report on Goldstone
February 10, 2010Jerusalem
JTA Wire Service
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s report to the General Assembly “reflected accurately” Israel’s response to the Goldstone report, the Foreign Ministry said.
“This Israeli document expresses Israel’s full commitment to carry out credible independent investigations that meet the standards of international law,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement released shortly after the General Assembly’s meeting last Friday on the status of the implementation of the Goldstone report’s recommendations.
The statement continued: “Despite the difficult combat conditions against Hamas terrorism in Gaza, Israel took care to respect international norms and will continue to do so in the future while maintaining its foremost commitment to protecting the security and well-being of its own citizens.”
In his report submitted to the General Assembly last Friday, Ban said Israel had responded to every allegation made against it. He said it was too early to determine whether Israel and the Palestinian Authority had implemented the recommendations, since investigations were ongoing.
Ban did not offer his opinion on whether the investigations were independent and conformed to international standards, as required by Goldstone.
The General Assembly in November called on both Israel and Palestinian groups to investigate alleged war crimes enumerated in the Goldstone report. The assembly threatened to turn over the cases to international courts if the sides did not undertake the investigations properly.
The Palestinian Authority set up a commission of inquiry and provided Ban with preliminary findings, according to reports. The PA has no authority in Gaza, which is run by Hamas.
Hamas responded to Goldstone by saying it did not target Israeli civilians, according to reports.
The Israeli military conducted an in-depth investigation into its conduct and last week provided Ban with a response that included a point-by-point refutation of Goldstone’s charges.
Netanyahu: Israel Wants Peace with Syria
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel wants peace with Syria following several days of mutual recriminations.
“Israel aspires to complete peace agreements with all of its neighbors,” the Israeli leader said at the start of Sunday’s Cabinet meeting. “We did this with Egypt and Jordan, and we aspire to achieve similar agreements with both the Palestinians and Syria.”
Netanyahu said the negotiations must be conducted “without preconditions. We do not accept the idea that Israel must always make extraordinary concessions in advance while the other side is exempt from making its own concessions. It is negotiations that will bring about an agreement, and we will not enter into negotiations when everything is known in advance.”
Syria has demanded that Israel agree to give up the Golan Heights under a peace agreement before entering into negotiations. The Palestinians also have made demands before they agree to sit at the negotiating table, including that a future Palestinian state be created along the 1967 borders.
Netanyahu’s remarks come after his foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, on Feb. 4 challenged what he called “blatant threats” by Syria against his country and said that if Syria goes to war with Israel, “not only will you lose the war, you and your family will no longer be in power.”
Lieberman’s comments came following Syrian President Bashar Assad’s assertion a day earlier that Israel is “pushing the region towards war” and that Israel “is not serious about achieving peace.”
Israel Arrests Foreign Activists
Two members of the International Solidarity Movement were arrested in Ramallah.
Israeli soldiers reportedly entered the city, which is under Palestinian control, on Sunday and arrested two women for staying in the area with invalid visas. The women—a Spaniard and an Australian—were turned over to the Interior Ministry’s Oz unit in charge of deporting illegal immigrants to Israel.
Following an appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court, their deportation was delayed pending a hearing Monday.
The women reportedly have demonstrated in protests against the West Bank security fence.
They were “involved in illegal activity, including riots and jeopardizing IDF soldiers and public property,” an Israel Defense Forces spokesman told Ynet.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.