There was applause in the UN General Assembly hall as the results showed up on the voting board: 114 states voted in favor, 18 voted against, and 44 abstained [while another 16 were absent during the vote] on a resolution endorsing the Goldstone report mandated by the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva that studied last winter’s Gaza war. The report was prepared by a four-person team lead by South Africa’s Justice Richard Goldstone, who formerly also headed the Independent Criminal Tribunals in the Former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda.
The resolution also requested UN Secretary-General BAN Ki-Moon to transmit the Goldstone report to the UN Security Council, and it requested the Swiss Government to undertake steps, as soon as possible, to reconvene a conference of the high contracting parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention, to ensure respect. And it requested the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly in three months’ time, on the implementation of the resolution.
Palestinian representative Riyad Mansour looked happy as the results were announced.
Israel was furious.
UPDATE: The Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement declaring that “The results of the vote and the large number of member states who voted against or abstained, demonstrate clearly that the resolution does not have the support of the ‘moral majority’ of UN members. Israel rejects the resolution of the UN General Assembly, which is completely detached from realities on the ground During Operation ‘Cast Lead’ in Gaza, the Israel Defense Force demonstrated higher military and moral standards than each and every one of this resolution’s instigators. Israel, like any other democratic nation, maintains the right to self-defense, and, as was witnessed in recent days, will continue to act to protect the lives of its citizens from the threat of international terrorism”.
The U.S. and Russia abstained.
Haaretz reported today that “While the IDF is opposed, in principle, to setting up a committee of inquiry into the allegations against Israel made in the Goldstone Report on the fighting in the Gaza Strip, the military advocate general, Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit, has ordered investigations into a number of allegations, currently being carried out by the Military Police … Two involved civilian deaths, based on Palestinian claims. In the 10 other incidents, Palestinians claimed their property had been destroyed. Coordination of the investigations is being handled by the chief of Military Police in the Southern Command, Lt. Col. Gil Mamon … The findings are to serve as the backbone for a counter-Goldstone report that is expected to be ready in a month. One of Mendelblit’s arguments against creating a committee of inquiry following the Goldstone Report is that such a committee has never been set up as a result of external pressure, and says that surrendering to international pressure will constitute a dangerous precedent. In his view there is no reason for an internal investigation into the policy decided by the government and then implemented into legal orders”. This Haaretz report can be read in full here.