George Bisharat talks with the Institute for Palestine Studies about the Goldstone Op-Ed and the controversy surrounding the “Litigating Palestine” conference, which he helped organize at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law.
The Bisharat interview follows up on his San Francisco Chronicle article “Israeli intimidation brings shift in Gaza report.” In that article he writes:
[Goldstone] now maintains that, had he seen data later revealed by Israeli military investigations, the “report would have been a different document.” Of the al-Samouni family compound bombing that killed more than 20, Goldstone wrote last week: “The shelling of the home was apparently the consequence of an Israeli commander’s erroneous interpretation of a drone image, and an Israeli officer is under investigation for having ordered the attack.” He then expressed confidence that the Israeli military’s self-investigations would lead to fair results, opining that “they also indicate that civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy.” He thus adopts the Israeli position that any misdeeds during the Gaza assault were caused by individual deviants, not by policies or rules of engagement ordered by military leaders.
Yet the original report never accused Israel of widespread deliberate attacks on civilians, and thus Goldstone retracted a claim that had never been made. Most of its essential findings remain unchallenged.
Goldstone’s newfound confidence in the Israeli military’s self-investigations is inexplicable. The Goldstone Report itself concluded that they “do not comply with international standards of independence and impartiality.” Another body of U.N. experts led by retired New York Supreme Court Justice Mary McGowan Davis found, “there is no indication that Israel has opened investigations into the actions of those who designed, planned, ordered and oversaw Operation Cast Lead.”
Hence nothing should impede the progress of the Goldstone Report through the United Nations system, including, ultimately, to the International Criminal Court. Israel’s impunity from international law must end not only to provide justice to its victims – but also to promote durable peace in the Middle East.
