Bethlehem – Ma’an – A French-British initiative is to call on Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to undertake independent investigations into allegations of war crimes in Gaza, an effort to relegate the Goldstone report to Geneva, out of the reach of the Security Council or the International Criminal Court.
According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the new initiative is a list of “red lines” backed by 27 members of the EU and includes the assurance that the Goldstone report will not reach the Security Council or the International Criminal Court.
The initiative also calls for an independent investigation into Operation Cast Led to be undertaken by Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), and setting a deadline for the new independent investigations. The initiative also included referring the Goldstone Report back to the Human Rights Council.
The newspaper noted that the proposal was discussed during a phone conversation between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The new EU-French initiative comes as the UN General Assembly prepares to discuss the Goldstone report on Wednesday.
