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Concerns over conflict

The Goldstone report

The Goldstone report raises very serious concerns about the conduct of both Israel and Hamas during the Gaza conflict. Other reports by such credible organisations as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International raise similar issues.  It is vital that each of the parties involved: Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority address the allegations made against them.

Israel is in the process of carrying out its own internal investigations, which we hope will bring about the accountability we seek for individual incidents reported. However, concerns remain at both the operational and wider policy levels, concerns that will best be put to rest by an independent Israeli inquiry, separate from the Israeli Defence Force investigations. 

Such inquiries are not an easy process, as the UK has experienced with its own independent inquires into the Iraq war.  However, democracies should rightly be held to high standards.  Israel is at its most impressive when it shows beyond doubt that it respects the rule of law.

The UK has been consistent in its call for full, credible and independent investigations by all parties to the conflict and rightly voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution to that effect on 26 February 2010.  We will continue to closely follow the progress of investigations currently being implemented in readiness for when this issue returns to the General Assembly towards the end of July.  The government is committed to upholding accountability for breaches of international humanitarian law through full and fair investigations by the parties.

West Bank Military Orders

Israeli Military Orders (1649 and 1650), that came into effect on 13 April 2010, raise obvious concerns, both for West Bank Palestinians and visiting UK nationals. To date we are not aware of any cases of these new military orders being invoked. However, we support the EU Presidency’s efforts to seek greater clarity from the Israelis on the issue, and have ourselves raised the need for such clarification with the Israelis.