Goldstone: Gaza report won't hurt peace process
UN investigator who issued report saying Israel, Hamas committed war crimes tells American rabbis, 'What peace process is Israel talking about? There isn't one. Lieberman doesn't want one'
South African judge Richard Goldstone, who headed a UN mission that investigated the December-January war in Gaza, rejected Israel's claim that the peace process would be harmed by his team's report, which accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes, BBC News reported Tuesday.
The report was adopted by the UN Human Rights Council last week.
"It's a shallow, utterly false allegation," the UN investigator said of Israel's claim that his report would hinder peace.
During a conference call with American rabbis this week, Goldstone said, "What peace process are they talking about? There isn't one. The Israeli foreign minister (Avigdor Lieberman) doesn't want one."
"If the Israeli government set up an appropriate, open investigation, it will really be the end of the matter. That's where the report would end as far as Israel is concerned," he added.
A few days ago Lieberman said he believed the Arab-Israeli conflict would not be resolved in the coming years, and people should "learn to live with it".
Earlier Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak prevented a debate by the Security Cabinet on the possible establishment of an inquiry committee on Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.
Barak said he believed such a committee would do more damage to Israel in the international arena, and commended the IDF once again for its conduct in the operation.
However the Cabinet did decide to establish a team to fight the Goldstone report.
The team will be under the Foreign Ministry's jurisdiction, and will involve officials from other ministries if need be. Its main goal is to prepare for a possible debate on the report by the UN Security Council in December.
