GOLDSTONE REPORT CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

GOAL = Achieving justice for victims of violations = peace and security in the region

GOAL = Serve the interests of all concerned including parties continuing hostilities.

# 1 Palestinian authorities have the responsibility to protect victims of violations and ensure that they do not continue to suffer the scourge of war or the oppression and humiliations of occupation or indiscriminate rocket attacks.

# 2 People of Palestine have the right to freely determine their own political and economic system, including the right to resist forcible deprivation of their right to self-determination and the right to live, in peace and freedom, in their own State.

# 3 The people of Israel have the right to live in peace and security.

# 4 Both peoples are entitled to justice in accordance with international law.

#5 Guides are International law + International human rights + Humanitarian law = Obligations they place on States + Rights and entitlements they bestow on individuals.

# 6 Cannot equate the position of Israel (Occupying Power) to that of the occupied Palestinian offended population

# 7 Major Differences with power and capacity to inflict harm or to protect = Israel Dominates

# 8 Equal attention and effort is required in the protection of all victims in accordance with international law.

# 9 Israeli military operations in Gaza = Links with Israel’s policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

# 10 Focus on Israel’s military operation and impact in Gaza between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009 + its impact from prior and subsequent operations = A continuum of policies aimed at pursuing Israel’s political objectives in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a whole.

# 11 Many Israel Operations and Policies result in violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

# 12 Israel’s Governments Military objectives do not explain the facts or patterns we ascertained.

# 13 Continuum policy of blockade preceding the operations = Amounts to collective punishment intentionally inflicted by Israel on the people of the Gaza.

# 14 When the operations began Gaza Strip had been under a severe regime of closures and restrictions on the movement of people, goods and services for almost three years and was SEVERELY DEPLETED ALREADY = No basic necessities of life = food + medical supplies + HEALTH SECTOR BELEAGUERED + products required for daily life + fuel + electricity + school items + repair and construction material + Compounded by withholding financial and other assistance from donors = Greater Hardship for Gaza Strip citizens every aspect of Life. = Survival was a STRUGGLE and was INHUMANE poverty with physical violence and psychological suffering.

# 15 Israel imposed the blockade measures to FURTHER isolate and weaken Hamas after its electoral victory + Perceived (NOT REAL) threat to Israel’s security.

# 16 THEN the Israeli armed forces launched their offensive in December 2008 on a extremely weakened Palestinian people. = Considerably exacerbated the aforementioned effects of the blockade. = Did in a very short time, unprecedented long-term damage both to the people and to their infrastructure and homes. = Destroying entire shopping districts with bulldozers.

# 17 Israel Continuum combined with other pre-existing Israeli policies = Separation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank = tight closures, restrictions on movement and eventually the blockade, are among the most apparent.

# 18 Several Israeli measures in the West Bank further deepen Israel’s control over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem = ROBBED MORE land + House demolition orders + Permits to build MORE homes in Israeli settlements + MORE BLOCKING of access for Palestinians + Systematic efforts to hinder Palestinian self-determined and democratic processes + Detention of elected political representatives and members of Government + Punishment of any Gaza Citizens Israel perceived as potentially harmful. = COMPLETE DICTATORSHIP AND IMPRISONMENT!

# 19 ISRAEL attacked on government buildings in Gaza included the Palestinian Legislative Council = Destroyed prospects for integration between Gaza and the West Bank.

# 20 Objectives and targets of the Israeli military operations in Gaza = Military operations in Gaza from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009 were qualitatively FAR MORE SEVERE from any previous military action by Israel in Gaza = Unprecedented in their severity and consequences on QUALITY OF LIFE.

# 21 Devastating effects of the operations on the population were visible + Destruction of houses, factories, wells, schools, hospitals, shopping, police stations and other public buildings, the sight of families, including the elderly and children, still living amid the rubble of their former dwellings

# 22 Israel BLOCKED reconstruction = Terrible living conditions in Gaza. + Great Trauma was suffered during the attacks + Stress of uncertainty about the future + Fear of further attacks = TERRIBLE LONG-TERM Effects.

# 23 Women were affected in significant ways by blockade and continuing military occupation.

# 24 Gaza military operations = Were thoroughly and extensively planned by Israel

# 25 Israeli Government operations are NOT in response to rocket attacks or to do self-defense = BUT the plan was directed at the people of Gaza as a whole. = Punishing the Gaza population for its resilience and for its apparent support for Hamas. = REMOVE HAMAS SUPPORT WITH GREAT PAIN AND SUFFERING. = confirmed by the accounts of soldiers who served in the campaign

# 26 Principal focus in the aftermath of military operations = 1,400 People Killed in just 3 weeks = Attempt in a very small way to restore the dignity of those whose rights have been violated in the most fundamental way of all – the arbitrary deprivation of life. = International community MUST CONDEM such violence on the basis of fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals.

# 27 THE deeds by the Israeli armed forces and words of military and political leaders prior to and during the operations indicate that, as a whole, they were premised on a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed not at the enemy but at the “supporting infrastructure.” = ATTACKS on civilian population.

# 28 First Israeli attack timed when children were returning from school and the streets of Gaza were crowded with people going about their daily business = Calculated to cause greatest disruption and widespread panic among the civilian population.

# 29 Many civilians were detained or killed while trying to surrender = SOP for Israel

# 30 Israeli Standard Troop procedures was to create panic and fear for civilian lives and basic human indignity = Full Disregard for basic international humanitarian law and human rights norms.

# 31 Parameters of international law = Must avoid risking the lives of civilian men, women and children. = Fundamental principles of proportionality apply. = This WAS EXCESSIVE RISK AND FORCE!

# 32 Israel repeatedly FAILED to distinguish between combatants and civilians was deliberate guidance issued to soldiers, as described by some of them, and not the result of occasional lapses.

# 33 Some killed were combatants engaged against Israel But many were NOT = Only partially aimed at killing leaders of Hamas and its allies.

# 34 Israel forces to a large degree aimed at destroying or incapacitating civilian property and the means of subsistence of the civilian population. = Destruction of food supply installations + Water sanitation systems + Concrete factories + Residential houses = Deliberate and systematic EVIL policy by the Israeli armed forces to make daily living more difficult for the civilian population = NOT because they presented a military threat.

# 35 Israel did systematic destruction of the economic capacity of the Gaza Strip = An assault on the dignity of the Palestinian People. = Israel used human shields and did unlawful detentions in unacceptable conditions + Vandalized houses + People were treated with FEAR AND HATE = Graffiti left on the walls = Obscenities and Racist Insults = Constituted an overall image of humiliation and dehumanization of the Palestinian population.

# 36 Israel claims the operations were carefully planned with Legal opinions during the campaign and they claim almost no mistakes were made = STILL WE KNOW INTERNATIONAL LAWS WERE VIOLATED AND INNOCENT PEOPLE WERE KILLED IN AN UNHOLLY 3 WEEK WAR JUST AS GW BUSH WAS LEAVING OFFICE!

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FACT Hamas Rockets into Israel ‘Rarely Do Damage’

ISRAEL = Military operation targeting Gaza + Invested in an intense media campaign to PUT its message OUT.

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren = “we will take the necessary and legitimate measures to defend our citizens.” = “We have no option…but to defend our citizens by all necessary and legitimate means.” + BEFORE WE BOMB GAZA WE MAKE “tens of thousands of phone calls, drop leaflets, sent text messages to people, civilians in these areas, warning them to clear out.”

FACT: 46 to 198 pound Rockets rarely do damage = Rarely hit targets and low impact but unnerving. = “certainly a psychological trauma….the rockets are essentially very ineffective, they rarely do damage.” Buttu says Palestinian rockets do not have explosive warheads + Hamas is a result of the Israeli occupation.

FACT: The number of rocket attacks on Israel has dramatically increased since 2009 = Policy of VIOLENT AIR STRIKES IN PALESTINE = MASSIVE FAILURE

200 Rockets in 2009
700 Rockets in 2012

FACT: Gaza has been under constant siege from Israeli forces from the air and from the sea = A densely populated place and crowded urban environment

Former PLO spokeswoman Diana Buttu sees the “One-State Solution” covering the territory of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

Buttu = Born in Canada to Palestinian citizens of Israel. Received a B.A. in Middle East and Islamic Studies and an LL.M. from the University of Toronto, a J.D. from Queen’s University Faculty of Law, a J.S.M. from Stanford Law School, and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Buttu has held a fellowship at the Stanford Center for Conflict Resolution and Negotiation and is currently listed as an instructor at Harvard Extension School = Harvard course entitled “Negotiations Skills: Strategies for Increased Effectiveness.”

Buttu was a negotiator in 2000 and spokesperson for the Negotiations Support Unit of the PLO = Lauded for breaking the stereotype of Palestinians as villains. = Now a Political Analyst at the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) = Non-profit organization that provides journalists with quick access to information about Palestine and the Palestinians.

Buttu = “There is a structural problem when Palestinians negotiate with Israelis. It’s like negotiating with a gun to your head; where the people under occupation have to negotiate their own release.”

Buttu (2012) said Palestinian-Israeli negotiations are “futile” given the power imbalance between the two parties. “Every Israeli proposal, and later the underlying premise of the negotiations,” she additionally argued, “sought to accommodate Israel’s illegal behavior.”

Buttu (2012) said that conflict between the Palestinians and Israel would not end until Israel was held “to account under international law.” = Forcing Israel to “completely withdraw from the West Bank and from the Gaza Strip,” thus allowing “all Palestinians to live in freedom.”

Buttu = US must make aid to Israel contingent on withdrawal of settlers from the West Bank of Palestine.

Buttu = Accused Jarrett (FOX) of “blaming the victim,” claiming that “even when Hamas does not fire a single rocket…Israel continues to fire upon Gaza.” + Accused him of a False claim that Hamas uses “innocent civilians including children as human shields.”

Buttu (2012) called Gaza “an open-air prison” and charged that “Israel’s latest bombing campaign…does not distinguish civilian from combatant, adult from child.”

Buutu (2012) accused Israel of setting “policies on the minimum number of calories needed to prevent malnutrition” and of strictly limiting Gaza’s access to the sea.

Buttu (2013) said Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, both before, during, and after her involvement, had failed “primarily because we had two very unequal parties.”

Buttu (2013) expressed the desire that Mahmoud Abbas “sign on to the International Criminal Court,” to “hold Israel accountable for the settlement construction and expansion,” and “declare this apartheid.”

Did Israel “ethnically cleansed” 75 percent of Palestinians in 1948.[20]

Richard Goldstone Report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf

1. 2009 UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict to investigate “all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after.”

2. Justice Richard Goldstone appointed to head the Mission.

3. Mission = Place the civilian population of the region at the centre of its concerns regarding the violations of international law.

4. The Mission conducted three field visits: two to the Gaza Strip between 30 May and 6 June, and between 25 June and 1 July 2009; and one visit to Amman on 2 and 3 July 2009. Several staff of the Mission’s secretariat were deployed in Gaza from 22 May to 4 July 2009 to conduct field investigations. Public hearings were held in Gaza on 28 and 29 June and in Geneva on 6 and 7 July 2009.

5. Invited all interested persons and organizations to submit relevant information and documentation to assist in the implementation of its mandate.

6. Mission Repeatedly sought cooperation from Government of Israel = FAILED so Mission obtained the assistance of the Government of Egypt to enter Gaza.

7. Mission enjoyed the support and cooperation of the Palestinian Authority But a complete lack of cooperation from the Israeli Government.

8. Subsequent to public the Mission was informed that a Palestinian participant, Mr. Muhammad Srour, had been detained by Israeli security forces when returning to the West Bank and became concerned that his detention may have been a consequence of his appearance before the Mission.