The U.N. will meet for a special debate on the report of the fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict – the Goldstone Report on Friday, February 26, 2010. The Arab Group has submitted a draft resolution calling on the Government of Israel and the “Palestinian side” to conduct investigations that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards. 

AJC Chicago has sent the following letter to all consulates whose countries voted against or abstained on the first vote to approve the Goldstone report, asking them to continue to not support the flawed report.

Dear Consul General,

 Once again, the General Assembly is scheduled to meet for a special debate on the report of the fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict – the Goldstone Report. In preparation for this debate, the Arab Group has submitted a draft resolution calling on the Government of Israel and the “Palestinian side” to conduct investigations that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards. In addition, it calls on the Government of Switzerland to convene a Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention “as soon as possible,” and requests the Secretary General to report to the General Assembly within five months.

As the annex to the Secretary General’s report of February 4 clearly indicates, Israel has been engaged in investigations that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards. On the other hand, calling on the “Palestinian side” to do the same is meaningless, as the Palestinian Authority does not have control over the Gaza Strip – where the December 2008-January 2009 hostilities took place; that area is controlled by Hamas, a terror organization that instigated the military escalation, using Palestinian civilians as human shields. Do the sponsors of the draft resolution really expect that terror organization to cooperate with investigations intended to reveal the truth about the atrocities it committed?

We are equally concerned about the call on the Swiss Government to convene a Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention. Since the signing of that Convention in 1949, there have been numerous armed conflicts around the world – some involving hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of civilian casualties. Yet the High Contracting Parties have never been convened to address these conflicts. That such a conference is promoted only with regard to Israel is a clear indication that the authors of the draft resolution seek to use the Geneva Convention not to promote compliance with international humanitarian law, but as a tool in their political campaign against Israel.

Your Government did not support the one-sided resolution on the Goldstone Report adopted by the General Assembly on November 5, 2009. We urge your Government to take the same principled stance regarding the current draft.

                                                 Respectfully,

             Daniel Elbaum, Director                               Lawrence Adelman, President