Israel rejects independent inquiry into Gaza war

By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM – Israel said Wednesday it would not appoint an independent inquiry into its conduct in the Gaza Strip war, rejecting a key recommendation from an explosive U.N. report that accused the Jewish state of war crimes.

The report by U.N.-appointed investigators said Israel used disproportionate firepower and disregarded the likelihood of civilian deaths in last winter's offensive, which killed hundreds of people and caused widespread damage to Gaza.

The report, released Tuesday, also urged Israel to conduct an independent investigation into its war conduct or face the prospect of referring the case to international war crimes prosecutors.

Israeli officials refused to cooperate with the investigation and vehemently rejected its findings, saying it was ordered by a U.N. body with a clear anti-Israeli bias. Israel's military has conducted its own inquiry and others remain pending, but so far has cleared itself of any systematic wrongdoing.

Government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel would not heed the call for an independent investigation, noting that army probes can be appealed in court.

"This report was conceived in sin and is the product of a union between propaganda and bias," Regev said. "Israel is a country with a fiercely independent judiciary ... Everything done by the military in Israel is open to judicial review by the independent judiciary."

Human rights groups in Israel and abroad have tarred the military probes as a "whitewash" and have also called for an independent inquiry.

The U.N. team, headed by former South African judge Richard Goldstone, concluded that both Israel and Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. Israel launched the three-week war in late December to quash Palestinian militants in Gaza who had bombarded southern Israel for years with rocket and mortar fire.

While harshly critical of Israel, the report also faulted Hamas for firing rockets into southern Israel without distinguishing between military targets and the civilian population.

Hamas officials welcomed its harsh condemnation of Israel and brushed off criticism of the Palestinian militants.

"The Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance were in a position of self-defense and not of attack. One cannot compare the simple capabilities of the resistance with the great strength of the occupation," said Hamas' prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh.

Some 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the conflict, including hundreds of civilians. Thirteen Israelis also died, including four civilians.

The U.N. investigators recommended the Security Council require both sides to launch their own, credible probes into the conflict within three months, and to follow that up with action in their courts. If either side refuses, the U.N. should refer the evidence for prosecution by the International Criminal Court, a permanent war crimes tribunal, within six months.

It's unclear whether the Council would take such action — but the report itself could damage Israel's public image, with people linking the state of Israel and war crimes no matter what happens in the legal arena.

Israel says the Human Rights Council that ordered the probe is biased by its 47-nation membership, dominated by Arab and developing nations. Israel took specific exception to the presence of Christine Chinkin, a professor of international law at the London School of Economics, on the commission. Before her appointment, Chinkin stated in an open letter in the Sunday Times of London that Israel committed war crimes.

Goldstone is a veteran prosecutor of war crimes in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia. Goldstone, who is Jewish and has close ties to Israel, told Israel's Channel 1 TV earlier this year that Chinkin has "a completely open mind and will not exhibit any bias."

Goldstone agreed to head up the probe only after he won agreement to look at Palestinian actions as well.

Regev said Israel didn't make a mistake in not cooperating with the commission.

"The mandate was biased from the beginning and it would have been a mistake to give credibility to a mission that has more in common with a kangaroo court than it does with a serious investigation," Regev said.