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JERUSALEM, Sept 17 (Reuters) - World powers should disavow a U.N. report censuring Israel's Gaza war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, suggesting that such support might be vital for progress in peace talks with the Palestinians.
A fact-finding mission organised by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council said on Tuesday is had found evidence of war crimes by both the Israeli army and Palestinian fighters.
Israel, which defended its December-January offensive as a response to Palestinian rocket fire, lambasted the findings as biased in favour of Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers. Israeli pundits voiced fear the report could prompt war crimes trials.
Israel's closest ally, the United States, said it had "very serious concerns" about the report. Its U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice, said the mandate given by the Human Rights Council was "unbalanced, one-side and basically unacceptable". [ID:nN17214711]
Netanyahu, a right-winger under international pressure to freeze Jewish settlements in the West Bank so talks with Hamas's U.S.-backed Palestinian rivals can proceed, said he would raise the report at next week's United Nations General Assembly.
"I am going to tell world leaders that they also suffer from terror," he said in an interview with Israel's Channel Two TV.
"I'm going to tell them: You talk about how you support our right to self-defence, that we should take risks for peace ... Don't tell me this after the next accord. Tell me now. Come out now, condemn this report and act to quash its consequences now."
Israel pulled soldiers and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 after 38 years' occupation, only to see the rise of Hamas and of cross-border rocket attacks. Palestinians say Israeli-led blockades on the impoverished territory enflamed their enmity.
Recalling sweeping foreign support for the Gaza pullout, Netanyahu said: "And now this same international public which applauded us for leaving that place is pointing a finger of blame against us, that we, and not Hamas, are the war criminal."
RIFT
Palestinians want statehood in both Gaza and the West Bank, another territory taken in a 1967 war. Israel has swathes of West Bank settlements which many Jews consider a biblical birthright. Netanyahu has refused to halt construction there.
This has opened a rare rift between Israel and the United States, and cast doubt on the prospects of a meeting between President Barack Obama, Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during the U.N. General Assembly.
Abbas holds sway in the West Bank, but Israel has made clear it would not consider ceding more land there unless confident this would not empower Hamas.
An Israeli-made rocket interceptor is scheduled for deployment outside Gaza next year and, if successful, could also help reassure Israelis that there is a safeguard available against any such attacks from the West Bank.
Netanyahu is due to hold talks with Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, on Friday, the latest in a series of meetings that have only inched toward agreement.
Mitchell, who visited Egypt on Thursday, has tried to buttress negotiations with goodwill gestures from Arab states.
An Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, said last week that 773 of the 1,387 Palestinians killed during the Gaza war were civilians. Israel has said 709 combatants, 295 civilians and 162 people whose status it was unable to clarify were killed.
Thirteen Israelis, 10 soldiers and three civilians, died.
Netanyahu said that any war crimes suits born of the U.N. report could serve as precedents against other countries.
"It's not just our problem," he told Channel Two.
"If they accused IDF (Israel Defence Force) officers, IDF commanders, IDF soldiers, IDF pilots and even leaders, they will accuse you too. What, NATO isn't fighting in various places? What, Russia isn't fighting in various places?"
By Dan Williams (Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Netanyahu demands world support vs. UN Gaza report | Reuters
A fact-finding mission organised by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council said on Tuesday is had found evidence of war crimes by both the Israeli army and Palestinian fighters.
Israel, which defended its December-January offensive as a response to Palestinian rocket fire, lambasted the findings as biased in favour of Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers. Israeli pundits voiced fear the report could prompt war crimes trials.
Israel's closest ally, the United States, said it had "very serious concerns" about the report. Its U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice, said the mandate given by the Human Rights Council was "unbalanced, one-side and basically unacceptable". [ID:nN17214711]
Netanyahu, a right-winger under international pressure to freeze Jewish settlements in the West Bank so talks with Hamas's U.S.-backed Palestinian rivals can proceed, said he would raise the report at next week's United Nations General Assembly.
"I am going to tell world leaders that they also suffer from terror," he said in an interview with Israel's Channel Two TV.
"I'm going to tell them: You talk about how you support our right to self-defence, that we should take risks for peace ... Don't tell me this after the next accord. Tell me now. Come out now, condemn this report and act to quash its consequences now."
Israel pulled soldiers and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 after 38 years' occupation, only to see the rise of Hamas and of cross-border rocket attacks. Palestinians say Israeli-led blockades on the impoverished territory enflamed their enmity.
Recalling sweeping foreign support for the Gaza pullout, Netanyahu said: "And now this same international public which applauded us for leaving that place is pointing a finger of blame against us, that we, and not Hamas, are the war criminal."
RIFT
Palestinians want statehood in both Gaza and the West Bank, another territory taken in a 1967 war. Israel has swathes of West Bank settlements which many Jews consider a biblical birthright. Netanyahu has refused to halt construction there.
This has opened a rare rift between Israel and the United States, and cast doubt on the prospects of a meeting between President Barack Obama, Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during the U.N. General Assembly.
Abbas holds sway in the West Bank, but Israel has made clear it would not consider ceding more land there unless confident this would not empower Hamas.
An Israeli-made rocket interceptor is scheduled for deployment outside Gaza next year and, if successful, could also help reassure Israelis that there is a safeguard available against any such attacks from the West Bank.
Netanyahu is due to hold talks with Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, on Friday, the latest in a series of meetings that have only inched toward agreement.
Mitchell, who visited Egypt on Thursday, has tried to buttress negotiations with goodwill gestures from Arab states.
An Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, said last week that 773 of the 1,387 Palestinians killed during the Gaza war were civilians. Israel has said 709 combatants, 295 civilians and 162 people whose status it was unable to clarify were killed.
Thirteen Israelis, 10 soldiers and three civilians, died.
Netanyahu said that any war crimes suits born of the U.N. report could serve as precedents against other countries.
"It's not just our problem," he told Channel Two.
"If they accused IDF (Israel Defence Force) officers, IDF commanders, IDF soldiers, IDF pilots and even leaders, they will accuse you too. What, NATO isn't fighting in various places? What, Russia isn't fighting in various places?"
By Dan Williams (Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Netanyahu demands world support vs. UN Gaza report | Reuters
