HAARETZ: President Shimon Peres said Wednesday that the Goldstone report, which accuses Israel of committing war crimes during its military offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip earlier this year, "makes a mockery of history."
The president issued a stinging rebuke to the report, which was commissioned by the United Nations and authored by Richard Goldstone, a South African war crimes prosecutor who investigated Israeli and Palestinian conduct during Operation Cast Lead.
Though the report accuses both Israel and Hamas of carrying out war crimes during the three-week campaign in Gaza, it focuses primarily on Israel's actions during the fighting.
Over the course of the hostilities, which erupted on 27 December 2008 and lasted three weeks, human-rights groups say approximately 1,400 Palestinians were killed, mostly civilians, along with Israeli fatalities of three civilians and 10 soldiers.
Israel says it launched the offensive in response to persistent Palestinian rocket fire against towns and communities in the western Negev.
"The report in practice grants legitimacy to terrorism, premeditated shooting and killing while ignoring the duty and the right of a state to defend itself, something which is explicitly stated in the UN charter," Peres said.
"The Hamas terror organization is the one that launched the war, and it also committed other horrific crimes," the president said. "Hamas has employed terrorism for years against Israeli children. It has detonated explosive devices in the heart of Israeli cities, harmed civilians, launched over 12,000 missiles and mortar shells aimed at innocent civilians with one clear goal in mind - to kill."
"Israel evacuated its soldiers and citizens from Gaza, opened its crossings, and aided in the rehabilitation of the Strip," Peres added. "After the Israeli evacuation, Gaza was overrun by force by a murderous, illegitimate terrorist organization - Hamas - which launched a mutiny against the legitimate Palestinian Authority."
"Instead of building Gaza and worrying about the welfare of its residents, Hamas built offensive tunnels against Israel and brutally used Palestinian children and civilians in order to conceal terrorists and hide weapons," Peres said.
The president said criticism against Israel's actions fails to offer effective alternatives that can stifle rocket fire against the country's outlying towns. >>> Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service | Tuesday, September 15, 2009
