MaximsNewsNetwork: UN GAZA REPORT: Amb. GABRIELA SHALEV & Amb. RIYAD MANSOUR

MaximsNewsNetwork: 14 October 2009 - UNTV - United Nations Following a Security Council session on the Goldstone Report, Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev argues for Israel's right to defend itself, while Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour says that "the pretext of self defense" does not give the right to collective punishment.

The Security Council held today (14 October) its periodic debate on the Middle East which was moved up one week from its regular scheduled date as a compromise response to Libya's request to convene a special session on the Goldstone Report.

Referring to the report which found evidence that both sides in the three-week war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in December and January, committed serious war crimes and breaches of humanitarian law. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe reiterated Secretary-General Ban Ki-moons call that all parties carry out a credible investigation into the conduct of the conflict without delay.

He stressed that the report made recommendations for ensuring accountability for perpetrators and redress for victims and also called on Palestinian armed groups to respect international humanitarian law by renouncing attacks on Israeli civilians.

Pascoe noted that the Secretary-General has from the outset supported the missions work.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki told the Council that the world has for too long witnessed Israels impunity saying that consequences have been suffered by generations of innocents throughout sixty years of statelessness and over forty-two years of occupation.

US Ambassador Alejandro Wolf in his address to the Council said that UN members states, must fulfill their responsibility to prevent the smuggling of arms into Gaza and called for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit held captive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for more than three years.

Wolf said that the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza cannot be accepted and added that the people of Gaza must have hope for a better future and know that the international community hears their concerns.

Despite extensive discussions, Israel has not yet approved the UNs Gaza recovery proposals for schools, clinics and housing destroyed or damaged in the fighting, and is still blocking exports out of the area, while food and hygiene items continue to make up the bulk of the imports it allows in.

Outside the Council, Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said that the Goldstone report was one sided and was biased as was the mandate that established it and argued for the right of every sovereign country to defend its citizens.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour rejected Israels arguments and said that, "the pretext of self defense does not give the right to collectively punish an entire people.

In his latest report to the Council and General Assembly on the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine, which was released yesterday, the Secretary General called on the parties to honour all existing agreements and pursue an irreversible effort towards the two-State solution.

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