UN probe cites Israel, Palestinians for war crimes

 UNITED NATIONS -- A controversial United Nations probe into an Israeli attack on Gaza has found evidence of war crimes by both Israel's military and Palestinian militants, the world body said Tuesday.

The investigation led by Judge Richard Goldstone of South Africa also says neither side has properly investigated the conduct of their fighting forces during the 22-day war that ended Jan. 18. The four-member panel recommends that if they fail to do so in the next six months, the UN Security Council should refer the matter to the UN's International Criminal Court in The Hague for possible war-crimes prosecutions.

"There should be no impunity for international crimes that are committed, and time is of the essence," Judge Goldstone told a news conference at the UN. "Establishing the truth formally by credible institutions -- particularly domestic institutions -- can materially assist reconciliation and a peace process."

Israel said it launched the offensive to end Gaza-sourced rocket attacks into southern Israel that have numbered 8,000 since 2001.

The strip is run by the Palestinian group Hamas, which many Western governments list as a terrorist organization, including Canada's.

Israel refused to co-operate with the panel, saying in a statement Tuesday that its mandate "prejudged the outcome of any investigation."

Indeed, the bulk of the 574-page report documents alleged violations by Israeli forces after the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, where Muslim countries have led a slew of resolutions condemning Israel, created the panel in April.

But Judge Goldstone, who is internationally respected as an expert on human rights law, dismissed the Israeli concerns as "ridiculous."

"A report that is critical of Israel is not anti-Israel," he said.

Human rights groups say more than 1,400 Palestinians died in the war. While Israelis have acknowledged 1,166 Palestinian deaths, it says more than 700 were militants.

Of 13 Israelis killed over the 22 days, 10 were soldiers.

"Not all deaths constitute violations of international humanitarian law," says the report. But it adds that Israeli political and military statements made before the offensive suggest a "deliberate policy of disproportionate force" was aimed at destroying "supporting infrastructure," as opposed to enemy combatants.

"In practice, this appears to have meant the civilian population," the report says.

Code-named Operation Cast Lead, the offensive saw Israel's military destroy houses, factories, wells, schools, hospitals, police stations and other public buildings.

The panel investigated 36 incidents, which Judge Goldstone said were not the result of field decisions taken "in the heat of battle," but reflected "deliberate" policies.

He cited an example of an Israeli mortar attack on a mosque that killed 15. He said even if the Israeli claim that militants were using the building to hide and store weapons were true, it could have been struck "at night."

The panel concluded the rockets and mortars fired from Gaza -- attacks that continue sporadically -- amounted to "indiscriminate attacks upon the civilian population of southern Israel." It suggests their rudimentary construction renders them "incapable" of being directed toward any specific military target.

"These acts would constitute war crimes, and may amount to crimes against humanity," the report says.

The panel's bid to involve the UN Security Council could pose a dilemma for the United States, which has traditionally used its veto power as a permanent Council member to shield Israel from international censure when the criticism is deemed one-sided.

The report also emerges as U.S. President Barack Obama prepares to moderate an expected meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas when all three are at the UN annual summit this month.

"I would be disappointed if a permanent member of the Security Council would object to ... requiring Israel to investigate itself," Judge Goldstone said.

He also reacted to a question about how he personally felt about his panel's findings, given that he, himself, is Jewish.

"It's a great disappointment to me that Israelis have behaved in the way described in the report," he said.

Israel rejected that it had not conducted investigations into accusations of misconduct by its soldiers, saying it had examined more than 100, resulting in 23 criminal investigations.

"The mandate of the mission ... gave legitimacy to the Hamas terrorist organization and disregarded the deliberate Hamas strategy of using Palestinian civilians as cover for launching terrorist attacks," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

But it added that, "not withstanding its reservations," Israel would "read the report carefully."

There was no immediate reaction from Hamas officials in Gaza.

A retired colonel of the Israeli Defense Force, Jonathan Dahoah Halevi, who now lives in Toronto, said information he has gathered from the websites of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups suggests that Palestinian fighters themselves may have been responsible for killing an undetermined number of their own people.

"They spoke of firing rockets and booby-trapping buildings," he said.