GENEVA (EJP)---The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva endorsed Friday the Goldstone Gaza war report that calls on Israel and the Palestinians to carry out credible investigations into alleged abuses — or face possible referral to international war crimes prosecutors.
The move — which was opposed by six nations, including the United States — means Israel could find itself facing a request at the UN Security Council to refer the case to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, a move likely to be blocked by Washington.
The resolution was passed 25-6, with eleven countries abstaining. France and Britain declined to vote.
Six countries voted against the resolution : the United States, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine.
Eleven states, including Belgium, Bosnia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Korea, Slovenia and Uruguay abstained.
25 states voted in favor of the resolution: Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Djbouti, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia.
The 575-page document, compiled by an expert panel chaired by South African jurist Richard Goldstone, concluded that Israel used disproportionate force, deliberately targeted civilians, used Palestinians as human shields and destroyed civilian infrastructure during its incursion into the Gaza Strip against Hamas to root out Palestinian rocket squads.
It also accused Palestinian armed groups, which controls Gaza, of deliberately targeting civilians and trying to spread terror through years of rocket attacks on southern Israel, but didn’t mention Hamas.
The report recommends that the 15-member Security Council require both sides in the conflict to show within six months that they are carrying out independent and impartial investigations into alleged abuses.
If they are not, the matter should be referred to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, the report says.
In order to be adopted, a U.N. Security Council resolution must get nine yes votes, and not be vetoed by a permanent member. The U.S. is likely to use its veto to block any call to get the International Criminal Court involved in the dispute over Gaza or to take action against Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said the Goldstone report could undermine U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace moves, was quoted as saying Israel would wage a protracted struggle against the criticism.
"Israel must delegitimise the delegitimisation," Netanyahu said, according to an Israeli official. He said the campaign "would not take just a week or two but possibly years."
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on Friday that "Israel totally and completely" rejected the U.N. council's vote condemning Israel but not the Palestinian Islamist group. However, Ayalon added that he thought Israel would not ultimately suffer any significant consequences.