Reported here and below, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has lined up with a key provision of Goldstone report debate at the outset of debate on the Gaza war this morning at the U.N.:

UN urges ‘credible’ probes into Gaza war
October 14, 2009

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urges Israel and the Palestinians to conduct, without delay, “credible” domestic probes of war crimes allegations during the Gaza conflict, a top UN official said Wednesday.

Ban “calls upon all of the parties to carry out credible domestic investigations into the conduct of the conflict without delay,” UN Under Secretary General for political affairs Lynn Pascoe told the UN Security Council.

“He hopes that such steps will be taken wherever there are credible allegations of human rights abuses throughout the world,” he added.

Pascoe noted that Ban’s call dovetails with a key recommendation in a UN report that accused both Israel and Palestinian armed groups of war crimes during the three-week Gaza conflict over the new year.

The damning report by a team led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone, a former international war crimes prosecutor, also directed Ban to bring its report to the attention of the UN Security Council for follow-up action, which could be a referral to the International Criminal Court.

(Note to Israel Lobby: any anti-Ban smears at hand?) Tomorrow, the UN Human Rights Council takes up the report:

Human Rights Council to discuss recent UN probe into Gaza conflict
October 13, 2009

The Human Rights Council announced today that it will hold a special session on Thursday to discuss the report of the recent United Nations fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict that took place at the start of the year. . . .

The mission, headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, found evidence that both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants committed serious war crimes and breaches of humanitarian law, which may amount to crimes against humanity, during the conflict in December 2008 and January 2009.

Presenting his report to the Council late last month, Justice Goldstone called for an end to impunity for those found to have committed human rights violations.

“It is accountability above all that is called for in the aftermath of the regrettable violence that has caused so much misery for so many,” he said.

Justice Goldstone urged the Council to implement a number of measures, including a referral of the mission’s report to the Security Council, since neither the Government of Israel nor the responsible Palestinian authorities have so far carried out any credible investigations into alleged violations.

Meanwhile and empowered by the Goldstone report, the divestment movement in the U.S. courageously marches on, university by university. Yesterday the University of Wisconsin took on Israel’s bulldozers:

UW must divest from Caterpillar
Sam Stevenson
October 13, 2009

Israel is a criminal nation. This statement has been a verifiable fact for many decades and continues to gain support with each new violation of international law Israel commits. Most recently, a U.N. report authored by Richard Goldstone — a South African judge and self-proclaimed Zionist — found that Israel (and Hamas) committed war crimes and (quite possibly) crimes against humanity earlier this year during the Israeli invasion of Gaza. During that war the Israeli army killed more than 1,300 Gazans including 437 under 18. They also wounded nearly 2,000 Gaza children. In contrast, the Israel Defense Forces suffered 13 causalities, nearly half victims of friendly fire. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were left homeless in the war’s aftermath. Even before the war, figures as diverse as President Jimmy Carter and Archbishop Desmond Tutu had compared the conditions of Palestinians in the occupied territories to those of blacks in South Africa under apartheid.

. . . The UW system has an endowment that is invested in a long list of corporations. One of those corporations is Caterpillar — the manufacturer of the bulldozers that the IDF employs to tear down Palestinian homes — to the tune of nearly $400,000. The tuition dollars we give the university every year fund this system and makes us, in part, responsible for how and where this endowment is invested. A brief review of the facts makes it clear the UW System Board of Regents must follow historical precedent and withdraw endowment funds from companies doing business with perpetrators of war crimes.

In the past, the UW has divested from countries and companies that are complicit in violations of international law. These include South Africa, Burma and Sudan. In fact, the UW System Trust and Fund Policy states it will “seriously reconsider” investments in companies that “violate, frustrate or subvert” international law. Cases involving Caterpillar’s complicity in violations of international law as well as the legality of Israel’s demolition policy are currently being litigated; indisputably, compelling evidence of criminality exists. Other universities in the U.S. and Europe have already divested from Caterpillar for these very reasons.

The student idealists of the Israel divestment movement, following the path of the successful South Africa boycott movement of two decades ago, are the best hope for justice in Palestine. Aside from the direct pressure of divestment on Israel, the effort puts pressure from the left on the Democratic Party and the Obama administration, highlighting their hypocrisy and subservience to Israel. Great learning experience for Poli Sci and other students about what is at stake and about the bipartisan imperial policy. Foreign Policy in Focus’s Stephen Zunes writes:

The [Goldstone] report, authored by renowned South African jurist Richard Goldstone, detailed the results of the UNHRC’s fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict. These findings included the recommendation that both Hamas and the Israeli government bring to justice those responsible for war crimes during the three weeks of fighting in late December and early January. If they don’t, the report urges that the case be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for possible prosecution.

The Obama administration has declared — in the words of U.S. ambassador to the UN Susan Rice — that such a recommendation is “basically unacceptable.” It has insisted that any legal remedies be handled by the respected parties internally. Since neither Hamas nor the Israeli government will likely prosecute those responsible for war crimes, the administration’s action will essentially prevent these Palestinian and Israeli war criminals from ever being brought to justice.

. . . The Goldstone Commission report cited in detail a whole series of violations of the laws of war by Hamas, including rocket attacks into civilian-populated areas of Israel, torture of Palestinian opponents, and continued holding of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

What has upset Obama administration officials and congressional Democrats, however, was that the report also concluded that Israel’s military assault on Gaza was “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish humiliate and terrorize a civilian population,” citing Israel’s deadly attacks against schools, mosques, private homes and businesses nowhere near legitimate military targets. These conclusions echo detailed empirical reports released in recent months by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, among others.

. . . Though Rice had argued just a few months earlier during a UN debate on Darfur that war crimes charges should never be sacrificed for political reasons, she reinforced Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley’s insistence that the report “should not be used as a mechanism to add impediments to getting back to the peace process.”

Students, alumni, is your college or university funding the bulldozers that flatten Palestinian homes or human rights protestors? Is it financing apartment blocks for illegal settlements in the West Bank? Learn, then learn the most important lessons by acting for justice.