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A Critique of the Goldstone Report and Its Treatment of International Humanitarian Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2017

Abraham Bell
Abraham Bell*
Affiliation:
University of San Diego School of Law and Bar Ilan University Faculty of Law
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Type
The Goldstone Report and the Modern Law of War
Information
Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting , Volume 104 , 2010 , pp. 79 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2010

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References

1 Goldstone Report, supra note 1.

2 See Chatham House, Report of an Expert Meeting Which Assessed Procedural Criticisms Made of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (The Goldstone Report), Nov. 27, 2009, available at http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/15572_il271109summary.pdf.

5 See generally criticisms collected at http://www.goldstonereport.org.

4 1 Henckaerts, Jean-Marie & Doswald-Beck, Louise, Customary International Humanitarian Law 374 (2005)Google Scholar (Rule 103).

5 Goldstone Report, supra note 1, paras. 1305-09, 1328-31.

6 Id. at para. 78. The paragraph refers to an Israeli “blockade,” later defined in para. 311 as “the long process of economic and political isolation imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel, which is generally described as a blockade.”

7 On the Goldstone Report’s attempt to expand the law of belligerent occupation to make Gaza territory “Occupied” by Israel, see Bell, Abraham & Shefi, Dov, The Mythical Post-2005 Israeli Occupation of the Gam Strip, 16 ISR. Aff. 268 (2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Goldstone Report, supra note 1, para. 1330.

9 U.S. Department of State, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, List of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, available at http://www.state.gOv/s/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm.

10 European Union list of terrorist groups (2009), available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.-do?uri=OJ:L:2009:023:0037:0042:EN:PDF.

11 Canada Currently Listed Terrorist Entities, available at http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/prg/ns/le/cle-eng.aspx.

12 Israel List of Terrorist Organizations (Hebrew), available at http://www.mod.gov.il/pages/general/pdfs/teror.pdf.

13 See Japan Diplomatic Bluebook 2005, available at http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/other/bluebook/2005/ch3-a.pdf.

14 The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Aug. 18, 1988) (English translation), available at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp.

15 See, e.g., Kershner, Isabel & El-Khodary, Taghreed, UN Says Hamas Stole Aid Intended for Gazons, N.Y. Times, Feb. 4, 2009 Google Scholar, available at http://www.nytimes.conV2009/02/04/world/africa/04iht-mideast.4.19933553.html; Jordan Says Hamas Seizes Aid Convoy Sent to Gaza, Reuters, Feb. 9, 2009, at http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL0983878; Katz, Yaakov, Hamas Raids Aid Trucks, Sells Supplies, Jerusalem Post, Jan. 12, 2009 Google Scholar.

16 Goldstone Report, supra note 1, paras. 108, 884, 1164, 1171, 1328, 1494, 1893, 1921, 1927. The Report conceded that “continued [rocket] attacks” by “Palestinian armed groups” “caused terror” in Israel, and that it is “plausible” that “one of the primary purposes of’ the attacks was “to spread terror.” Id. at paras. 1689, 1691, 1900, 1951.

17 Id. at paras. 91, 100-02, 1501, 1550-61.

18 Id. at para. 376.

19 Id. at para. 416. On Shahwan’s general credibility as a witness, see Waked, Ali, Hamas: Israel Distributes Libido-Increasing Gum in Gaza, YNet News, July 13, 2009 Google Scholar, available at http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3746017,00.html, where Shahwan claimed to have intercepted libido-increasing chewing gum secretly distributed by Israeli intelligence operatives in the Gaza Strip in order to destroy the morals of Palestinian youth.

20 Goldstone Report, supra note 1, para. 420.

21 Id. at para. 424.

22 ld. at para. 437.

23 Final Report to the Prosecutor by the Committee Established to Review the Nato Bombing Campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, paras. 71-79 (June 13, 2000), reprinted in 39 ILM 1257 (2000).

24 Prosecutor v. Stanislav Galić, Judgment, No. It-98-29-T, paras. 372-87 (Dec. 5, 2003).

25 Goldstone Report, supra note 1, paras. 61, 1191.

26 Id. at para. 61.

27 Id. at para. 864.

28 Id. at paras. 25, 172.

29 See id. at paras. 1687-91 (where the Report acknowledged “Palestinian armed groups, among them Hamas, have publicly expressed their intention to target Israel civilians,” but ultimately refused to conclude that Hamas intentionally targeted civilians since it and other Palestinian groups “recently claimed that they do not intend to harm civilians”).

30 See Bronner, Ethan & El-Khodary, Taghreed, No Early End Seen to ‘All-Out War’ on Hamas in Gaza, N.Y. Times, Dec. 30, 2008 Google Scholar, available at http://www.nytímes.com/2M8/12/30/world/africa/30iht-30mideast.l8990855.html.

31 See Koutsoukis, Jason, Hamas Tried to Hijack Ambulances During Gaza War, Sydney Morning Herald, Jan. 26, 2009 Google Scholar, available at http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/hamas-tried-to-hijack-ambulances-during-gaza-war/ 2009/01/25/1232818246374.html.

32 See Israel Hits Second U.N. School, Blasts Way Into Southern Gaza, FoxNews.com, Jan. 6, 2009, available at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,476664,00.html.

33 See Erlanger, Steven, A Gaza War Full of Traps and Trickery, N.Y. Times, Jan. 11, 2009 Google Scholar, available at http://www.nytimes.eom/2009/01/11/world/middleeast/llhamas.html; El-Khodary, Taghreed & Kushner, Isabel, For Civilians in Gaza, Warnings But Nowhere to Run, Int’l Herald Trib., Jan. 7, 2009 Google Scholar; Fletcher, Martin, Frenkel, Sheera & Keshawi, Azmi, Gaza’s Tunnels, Traps and Martyrs, Times (London), Jan. 12, 2009 Google Scholar, available at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5497340.ece.

34 See Putz, Ulrike, ‘Who Has Won Here?’, Spiegel, Jan. 23, 2009 Google Scholar, available at http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,603203,00.html; Nordland, Rod, Hamas and its Discontents, Newsweek.com, Jan. 20, 2009 Google Scholar, available at http://www.newsweek.com/id/180691/page/lv.; Bronner, Ethan, Parsing Gains of Gaza War, N.Y. Times, Jan. 18, 2009 Google Scholar, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/world/middleeast/19assess.html.

35 See Erlanger, Steven, Weighing Crimes and Ethics in the Fog of Urban Warfare, N.Y. Times, Jan. 16, 2009 Google Scholar, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/17/world/middleeast/17israel.html; Frenkel, Sheera, Human Shields Were Forced Into the Front Line—By Both Sides, Times (London), Feb. 2, 2009 Google Scholar.

36 Goldstone Report, supra note 1, para. 451.

37 See id. at para. 614.

38 Id. at paras. 311-1335.

39 ld. at paras. 439-98.

40 Id. at para. 479.

41 Id. at paras. 467, 483, 503, 551, 622, 645, 683, 723, 741, 752, 762, 768, 777, 798, 838, 922, 925, 1011, 1032, 1090, 1091, 1164, 1354, 1366.

42 Id. at paras. 1378, 1591.

43 Id. at paras. 41, 675, 690, 866.

44 Id. at paras. 675, 702.

45 Id. at paras. 551, 645, 723, 741, 752, 762, 768, 777, 798, 838, 922, 1011, 1012, 1090, 1164.

46 Id. at paras. 1378, 1593.

47 See id. at para. 469.

48 Id. at para. 452.

49 Id. at para. 452. See also http://www.youtube.com/watch7vsArJbn-lUCh4.

50 Goldsterne Report, supra note 1, para. 452.

51 Id. at paras. 1032-1106.

52 Id. at para. 1091.

53 Id. at para. 1101.

54 Id. at para. 1098. See also Adalah v. Commander of the Central Region, HCJ 3799/02 (2005).

55 See Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Military Prosecution Indicts Two IDF Staff Sergeants for Unauthorized Conduct During Operation Cast Lead, Mar. 11, 2010, available at http://www.mfa.gov.il/Mfa/Government/Communiques/2010/Military_Prosecution_indicts_sergeants_Operation_Cast_Lead_11-Mar-2010.htm.

56 See Boot, Max, The Goldstone Report, Commentary Contentions, Sept. 16, 2009 Google Scholar, available at http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/boot/96122; Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Goldstone Fact-Finding Report: A Challenge to Democracies Fighting Terror, Sept. 17, 2009, available at http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Hamas+war+against+Israel/Goldstone+Fact-Finding_Report_Challenge_democracies_fighting+_error.htm.

57 Richard Kemp, Testimony before UN Human Rights Council (Oct. 16, 2009), available at http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1313923&ct=7536409.