U.S. Rejects UN Proposal to Compel War Crimes Probes of Gaza Conflict

Colum Lynch (The Washington Post)

September 22, 2009

Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, rejected a U.N. proposal to compel Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip, to conduct credible investigations into war crimes during last winter’s war in Gaza or face possible prosecution by an international prosecutor. …

Rice said the United States is still reviewing Goldstone’s 574-page report and has not made a judgment on the merits of his findings. But she said it has long had “very serious concerns” about the mandate the Human Rights Council gave to Goldstone, calling it “unbalanced, one-sided and basically unacceptable.” Israeli officials have said the mandate was biased against Israel.

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