Israel rejects Gaza war crime accusation

30 Jan 2010, 9:13 am   -   Source: AAP
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Israel has handed the United Nations a report on its military investigations into the Gaza war, rejecting accusations of war crimes.

Israel has handed the United Nations a report on its military investigations into the Gaza war, rejecting accusations of war crimes and refusing to say whether it will hold an independent inquiry.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon's office confirmed he had received a letter from Israel on Friday responding to allegations and he "was working on his response" to the UN General Assembly.

The 46-page report said the Israeli army had examined 150 reports of wrongdoing during last year's war, of which 36 had been referred to criminal investigation.

While admitting several fatal errors in judgement, the report denied any violations of international law during the war where about 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

"The complexity and scale of such operations means that inevitably there are tragic instances, mistakes, and errors of judgment. Tragic results, including civilian death and damage to property do not necessarily mean that violations of international law have occurred," it said.

The 36 cases under criminal investigation included 34 incidents addressed by a fact-finding mission by the UN Human Rights Council headed by South African international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, the report said.

"I think this report again proves the fact that the IDF (Israel Defence Force) is the most responsible and serious army and operates in the most moral way," Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak said in a statement earlier on Friday.

He called the Goldstone report - which accused both Israel and Palestinian armed groups of war crimes during the three weeks of fighting - "distorted, biased and unbalanced".

Hamas has also denied accusations of war crimes.

The Israeli report provided several detailed examples of its probes into some incidents.

In one instance, the report said after investigating allegations the army had used munitions containing white phosphorous - banned by international war conventions - the army found its use was "consistent with Israel's obligations under international law".

The report also summarised the Israeli army's internal judicial and investigative systems, comparing it to a number of Western army's, including those of Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States.

The 192-member General Assembly has given Israel and Hamas until February 5 to conduct independent investigations into the war.

The report made no reference to whether the Israeli government would agree to form an independent inquiry committee.

Information Minister Yuli Edelstein said earlier in the week Israel rejected the demand for a "verification commission" to probe the devastating offensive launched on December 27, 2008 in response to Palestinian rocket fire.

But Israeli media have said the government may agree to a limited probe to deflect some of the international criticism.

In such a case the investigators would examine decisions and orders given by government officials and military top brass and would interview only senior officials, the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot said.

Leading Israeli human rights groups have urged Israel "to establish, without delay, an independent and impartial investigation".

The Hamas rulers of Gaza insisted this week their investigations showed Palestinian fighters in the coastal strip did not target Israeli civilians during the war - a stand rejected by Human Rights Watch.

"Hamas's claim that rockets were intended to hit Israeli military targets and only accidentally harmed civilians is belied by the facts," the New York-based group said.

The 575-page Goldstone report recommended that its conclusions be referred to the International Criminal Court prosecutor in The Hague if Israel and Hamas fail to carry out credible investigations.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians have handed over to the United Nations a preliminary report on how they plan to probe war crimes allegedly committed by Palestinian militants during last year's Gaza war, their UN envoy says.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian observer to the UN, told reporters that on Friday he submitted to UN chief Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar a preliminary report by a commission of five well-known judges and legal experts set up by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

In doing so, he said the Palestinian side "met the deadline in submitting what is required from it".

Mansour gave no further details on what the report contains.

Last November, the 192-member UN General Assembly endorsed a UN enquiry panel report that accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes during the devastating 22-day conflict and gave the two sides until February 5 to conduct independent probes of the charges.

Wednesday, the Islamist Hamas movement said it investigated the allegations in the UN report and absolved Palestinian armed groups of any atrocities.

Hamas, which along with other armed groups has launched thousands of makeshift rockets into southern Israel in recent years, said a committee it appointed to follow up on the report found no intention to harm civilians.

Asked about the Hamas announcement, Mansour replied: "What you are referring to is just basically press reports and I don't respond to press reports."

He insisted that what he turned over to the UN was the response received from the official Palestinian government.

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