Israel to use Hezbollah against Goldstone report
Israel to use alleged weapons shed explosion that occurred in Lebanon Monday to divert world's attention from UN debate on Gaza war report. Israel to highlight Hezbollah's violation of UN Resolution 1701, calling for its disarmament
The political echelon in Jerusalem has decided to use the explosion that occurred at the Hezbollah member's house in Tyre this week to divert international attention from the Gaza war report to be debated in the UN starting Wednesday. Israel is hoping to put the spotlight on Hezbollah's violation of Resolution 1701 that ended the Second Lebanon War.
The first challenge facing Israel, which has been accused by the Goldstone report of carrying out war crimes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, will be in Wednesday's UN Security Council meeting. The session will held on the lowest level, with the participation of ambassadors of all 15 members, five of which are permanent.
The report will be discussed in the frame of the monthly session dedicated to the Middle East. The monthly meeting was moved up from the original date, October 20, to Wednesday at Libya's request.
Wednesday's session comes as little comfort to Libya, which currently holds the Security Council's rotating presidency, as it asked to have a separate session dedicated solely to discussing the report.
Both the Palestinian ambassador to the UN and Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev will be present at the session, which is expected to end with no results.
The more important UN meeting will take place later this week, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. The debate is expected to begin Thursday, with the goal of wrapping it up before the weekend, allowing enough time for a vote on the matter.
However, there is the possibility that the debate may only commence on Friday, with the vote on Palestinian Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi's proposal that to adopt the report conclusions be passed on to other bodies in the UN and international community may take place next Monday.
Some two weeks ago a debate of the report was deferred after the Palestinians gave in to American and Israeli pressure and decided to withdraw their bid to have the report discussed.
The decision brought with it harsh criticism from the Palestinians and Arab world aimed at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which led him to change his stance.
Abbas now backs efforts to work on every possible front to have the report adopted by UN bodies. Jerusalem sources claim that Abbas' new approach is a form of revenge on Israel for the haste in which it reported it "succeeded" in preventing the report from being reviewed.
Meanwhile, Israel is trying to divert the world's attention from the Goldstone report and direct the focus on the Shiite organization's repeated violations of UN Resolution 1701 calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah.
To this end Israel plans to use this week's explosion in south Lebanon – which it claims occurred in a weapons shed belonging to the Shiite organization.
On Wednesday, Ambassador Shalev filed an official complaint with Secretary-General Ban-Ki-moon over what she said was Hezbollah's violation of Resolution 1701.
Earlier Tuesday the IDF released footage showing weapons being loaded onto trucks near the home of Hezbollah operative Abdel Nasser Issa in the southern Lebanon village of Tayr Filsi, on the outskirts of Tyre. Issa and his son were reportedly killed in Monday's explosion.
Jerusalem is also making sure to brief the media and diplomats working in Israel on Syria and Hezbollah's violations of UN resolution. These measures are meant to counter the Goldstone report, and highlight to the international community the reality Israel was faced with before Operation Cast Lead and the reality it is still facing.
