Deadline nears for second UN report on Gaza war

Friday marks the three-month deadline set by the UN General Assembly for its own report on the Israel-Hamas fighting in Gaza Strip.

But it was not clear if Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will have received enough information from the two sides to produce the requested report. Ban had been asked by the 192-nation assembly to produce a report based on accounts to be provided by the two warring parties.

The General Assembly has already endorsed the controversial investigation led by South African Judge Richard Goldstone on the 22-day fighting between December 2008 and January 2009.

Israel said late on Thursday night that it would on Friday issue its own formal response to Goldstone's findings, Israel Radio reported. The government is expected to present the UN with a justification for IDF actions in Gaza - without referring specifically claims made in the document.

The Goldstone report, which had been commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, charged both Israel and Hamas with war crimes and acts that amounted to crimes against humanity, saying that the conflict dominated by Israel's military superiority had killed 1,400 Palestinians and caused widespread damage to properties in Gaza.

The council had urged the General Assembly to debate the report and then refer the alleged crimes to the International Criminal Court at The Hague. That proposal has so far been ignored.

Instead, the General Assembly asked for its own report based on submissions from both sides - following another recommendation from the 547-page Goldstone report that both Israel and Hamas conduct their own investigations.

On Wednesday, Ban said he planned to produce the report.

But he added: "I have not seen anything yet, so I am not in a position to tell you what my report will be. I will have to report within three months, and the three months is now coming to an end."

There were indications that Israel plans to send the results of its own investigation by Friday.

Judge Goldstone's 547-page report was promptly and strongly denounced by Israel and the United States as biased against Israel. They said its findings were flawed.

But the Israeli government last year answered some of the specific charges in the report, and last week sent the UN a check for 10.5 million dollars to compensate for damage to UN properties in Gaza. The UN had demanded more than 11 million dollars.

Hamas militants in Gaza roundly supported the Goldstone report.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1145999.html