Israel Asks UN Chief to Block Gaza War Crimes Report

[Ha'aretz/AFP] Barak Ravid - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to keep the Goldstone Commission's report on Israel's offensive in Gaza from advancing further within the international body. In a telephone conversation Thursday, Lieberman reiterated his stance that bringing the report for a vote in the Security Council or the General Assembly would harm Middle East peace talks. The Palestinians should not be allowed to hold negotiations with Israel on a local level while fighting against it in the international sphere, he said. "Lieberman told Ban that a distorted international reality has developed where in every international forum there is an automatic majority of states far removed from concerns for human rights, such as Cuba, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, that transform the international system to one characterized by hypocrisy and which operates according to prejudice," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We should think of how to fix the situation in order to create a reliable and balanced international system," Lieberman told Ban.


2009-10-23 06:00:00

Full Article

BACK

Visit the Daily Alert Archive