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UN chief unsure whether Israel, Palestine war crimes reports comply with UN mandate

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said Thursday that it is unclear whether Israel and Palestine have fully met UN demands to set up a commission to investigate war crimes that may occurred during the Gaza conflict. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in November giving Israel and Palestine three months to complete an investigation into war crimes allegations. In a press briefing before Ban's report to the General Assembly, a UN spokesperson said that the secretary-general has received reports from both the Israeli and Palestinian governments, but he is unsure about whether they fully comply with the UN resolution. Ban's report to the general assembly is expected to be released after UN member states first receive a copy. Last week, the Israeli Foreign Ministry released its 46-page report to the UN, partially detailing Israeli operations in Gaza and revealing that the Israeli military had disciplined two high-ranking Army officers for firing shells into a populated area in the Gaza strip. Hamas has also denied that it committed war crimes, saying that Israeli civilian deaths during the conflict were an accident. The investigations come after the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted the findings of the Goldstone Report, the result of a UNHRC fact-finding mission which said that both the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas had committed war crimes during the conflict.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 05, 2010 (boomark / email).