Because good journalism always tells two sides of the story, and Friday's guest column by Yoav Mor was less than half of one side, allow me to clear up a few inaccuracies printed in the Alligator. This time, let's err on the side of fact rather than rhetoric.
To start at the beginning, the United Nations Fact Finding Mission into Gaza had two mandates. The first was rejected for legal concerns, and the second was a reformulated version. The mandate referenced in Friday's opinion section was the first, unused mandate which had a very narrow purpose, namely "to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by the occupying Power, Israel, against the Palestinian people."
Mary Robinson, the former U.N. high commissioner for human rights, and Richard Goldstone, the man who eventually led the Fact Finding Mission into Gaza, categorically rejected this mandate, saying that it presupposed guilt by Israel.
Upon re-evaluation, the U.N. Human Rights Council issued a new mandate that was accepted by Richard Goldstone and lauded by Robinson. The actual mandate, used by the Fact Finding Mission into Gaza when they left for the Palestinian territories, reads as follows: "to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed." Ultimately, the report produced evidence of war crimes by both Israel and Hamas.
Israel categorically refused to cooperate with the Fact Finding Mission, citing anti-Israel bias as the reason. They refused access to military documents, interviews with military personal and access to Israeli sites, and they ignored repeated calls for information submission from the U.N. Fact Finding Mission.
Despite this, Richard Goldstone and his team conducted many interviews with Israeli eyewitnesses to Hamas rocket fire, heard testimony about the psychological hardship suffered under rocket fire and interviewed Noam Shalit, the father of a captured Israeli soldier. All of this is public record, and it is a blatant lie to say that the Goldstone Report contains only testimony of Israeli acts of aggression; either Yoav Mor is ignorant about the actual background of the Goldstone Report or his interests lie in perpetrating a perverse version of the truth.
How does any of this relate to you? To quote Mor, "The egregious singling out of one nation repeatedly as an offender without giving the complete picture of the situation is a miscarriage of justice," and this is true. The U.S. has constantly denounced Palestinian actions, organizations, political goals and ideology while failing to represent the whole picture.
How many students here have even heard of the Goldstone Report? If you haven't, you are not alone. Although it was a top story internationally, it received little attention here at home.
Richard Goldstone is a Jewish, self-proclaimed Zionist and an expert in war crimes. He was picked for this mission because his credentials are above reproach. The allegations put forward in the Goldstone Report are very serious, and they concern all of us. Every day, a huge amount of your tax dollars go to supporting the Israeli military, and if even half of the allegations put forward in the Goldstone Report are factual, you should know that we have shared responsibility in what has occurred. Just one example of an allegation put forward in the report is that Israel used white phosphorous in civilian areas. White phosphorous is a chemical only legally usable in unpopulated areas; it is used to provide smoke coverage for troops. However, when white phosphorous comes into contact with skin, it burns the flesh down to the bone. Israel admits to using white phosphorous but only in non-populated areas. However, Gaza is the most densely populated area on Earth; it is only 25 miles long and about 5 miles wide with 1.5 million people. There are no unpopulated territories, and the countless pictures online of Palestinians whose legs, hands and faces have been burnt away testify to the use of white phosphorous in civilian areas.
So yes, Mor, this report is serious, its allegations are serious and it has everything to do with human rights. Shame on you for only hearing half-truths in a situation of life and death.
Christine Schoellhorn is the vice president of Students for Justice in Palestine.
