UN chief withholds judgment on responses to Goldstone

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has confirmed that he received responses to the Goldstone Report from the government of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas authorities in Gaza. The UN secretary-general's written message to the UN General Assembly acknowledged that Israel had responded to all the charges made against it. However, Ban appeared to avoid judgment as to whether the responses could be considered 'independent, credible and in conformity with international standards.'

It is further unclear from Ban's statement what his next move will be, whether he plans further action with regard to the Goldstone Report, and how the General Assembly will respond. The Goldstone Report accused both sides of committing war crimes in the course of Operation Cast Lead, but it paid far more attention to Israeli activities. The report also said that if the sides failed to carry out credible investigations, then the matter should be referred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The IDF is currently preparing a point by point rebuttal of the Goldstone Report, which is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.

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