Israeli document refutes Goldstone

Israel refuted allegations of war crimes in a paper detailing its process of investigating its military’s actions during the Gaza war.

The Foreign Ministry last week released the 46-page document describing Israel’s procedures for probing allegations of violations of the Law of Armed Conflict.

The paper refuted four of the 36 allegations against Israel of war crimes enumerated in the United Nations’ Goldstone Commission report, which accused Israel and the Palestinians of committing war crimes.

The document focuses on investigations, legal proceedings and lessons learned in relation to Israeli army actions during Operation Cast Lead last winter.

The United Nations set a Feb. 5 deadline for Israel and the Palestinians to provide independent investigations into the report’s findings.

The document reports that the “IDF has launched investigations into 150 separate incidents arising from the Gaza operation. Of the 150 incidents, so far 36 have been referred for criminal investigation. Criminal investigators have taken statements from almost 100 Palestinian complainants and witnesses, along with approximately 500 IDF soldiers and commanders.”

The IDF was expected to submit a 1,000-page point-by-point rebuttal of the Goldstone report to the U.N. by the deadline. — jta