Richard Goldstone speaking at the Press Club on Thursday. (Shahzad Chaudhary / MNS)
WASHINGTON— Richard Goldstone Thursday defended his highly controversial report on Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza that accused both sides of war crimes, saying the criticisms, which mainly come from Israelis, ignore the fundamental purpose of the investigation.
“Our mandate was (to investigate) human rights violations,” not to determine whether Israel was justified in its attack on Gaza, said Goldstone, a former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
The 575-page Goldstone Commission report, commissioned by the United Nations and released Sept. 15, accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. The Israeli government, which had refused to cooperate with Goldstone’s team of investigators, and Israeli supporters were indignant with the report’s findings, saying they ignored Israel’s right to self-defense and were not evenhanded.
“The Goldstone Commission is part of a long series of biased, one-sided actions taken by the United Nations Human Rights Council,” said The American Israel Public Affairs Committee in a public statement.
Goldstone said such broad criticisms are impossible to deal with because no details are given.
He also said he was disappointed in Israel’s decision not cooperate with his commission. “I started with the belief that Israel would cooperate,” said Goldstone. “We couldn’t go to West Bank at all and had to go to Gaza through Egypt.” Israel wouldn’t allow investigators into Israel, either.
The White House called the report ”unfair to Israel” because it didn’t focus enough on the actions of Hamas; however, the administration has said it will not prevent the report recommendations from reaching the International Criminal Court.
Israel began its military operation in Gaza on Dec. 27, 2008, claiming self-defense against Hamas rocket attacks. Though the report condemned the rocket attacks by Hamas, it accused Israel of using excessive and unnecessary force against civilians and civilian structures such as a flour factory, a legislative building and a sanitation plant.
“There’s no explanation as to how that relates to self-defense,” Goldstone said.
Groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have defended the U.N. report, urging the United States to endorse it. “Dismissal of all or parts of the Goldstone report would contradict President Barack Obama’s stated commitment to human rights in the Middle East,” said Human Rights Watch in a public statement.
Goldstone emphasized the importance of fact-finding reports like his in achieving lasting peace. “Without some sort of truth telling, there cannot be any sort of peace,” he said