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Last update - 13:06 21/10/2009
Deputy PM to Haaretz: Israel must probe Gaza war
By Gidi Weitz, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: israel news, dan meridor 

Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor thinks Israel should establish its own independent committee to investigate Israel Defense Forces activity in the Gaza Strip during last winter's Operation Cast Lead.

"I have faith in the army and it is my duty to protect it, its commanders and its soldiers - and the most effective tool for this is serious self-examination," Meridor said in a recent interview with Haaretz. "A state that examines itself [protects itself from] harassment. Today, with the development of international law, one of the best means of defense is for a state to investigate itself."

Meridor would like to see such a committee examine the statements made in the Goldstone report, a United Nations report accusing both Israel and Hamas of war crimes and recommending war crimes proceedings if the sides don't conduct their own independent investigations.
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"The commission of inquiry that I hope will be established must examine the Goldstone report's claims, even if it is a biased report, and its mandate from the outset was to examine Israel's crimes, and one of the committee's members stated prior to the investigation that Israel commits war crimes," said Meridor, who also serves as minister of intelligence and atomic energy. "But the threat is serious and a commission of inquiry should be established, also to examine the suitability of the rules of war to the new type of war that has been imposed on us."

Meridor said the Netanyahu government was determined to reach a final-status agreement with the Palestinians, but added, "This doesn't mean that an agreement is possible."

"I think it's in Israel's clear interest to make a very serious attempt, to take chances, to reach an agreement on resolving the conflict - one that would oblige us to make significant concessions on part of the land," the deputy prime minister said. "For this reason, I'm happy that [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu clearly stated, in his Bar-Ilan speech, that we accept that there should be a Palestinian state."

The government will not agree to former prime minister Ehud Olmert's proposal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said Meridor, because Netanyahu is not willing to cede sovereignty over Jerusalem's Old City or grant the right of return, and is also opposed to a territorial exchange.

"One thing that worries me is that if Abu Mazen [Abbas] said no even to Olmert's supposedly far-reaching offers, when Olmert really wanted an agreement, then how will we reach an agreement [now]?" Meridor asked. "Does anyone think that we'll give more than Olmert gave?"

Meridor added that he is open to negotiations with Syria. "If it seems possible to reach an agreement that would lead to full peace with Syria, like the peace with Jordan - with real elements of security cooperation and so on - and if it would be possible to simultaneously conclude a peace with Lebanon, which depends on the Syrians, and if this would make it possible to deal Hezbollah a mortal blow by cutting them off from their sources - then this would be strategically important and I would make an effort to negotiate with the Syrians," he said.

As for Meridor's recent return to politics, he attributed the move to the Second Lebanon War.

"I saw how a government of intelligent people, some of whom I know very well personally, weren't asking the elementary questions when sending the nation to war," he said. "Going to war is the hardest decision a government can make. You don't go to war unless all other options have been exhausted. You don't go to war because you're right, but because you know where you want to get to."

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      1.   Finally a sane voice in this insane goverement 03:19  |  David 21/10/09
      2.   Point of view 03:21  |  Apa 21/10/09
      3.   And what will this "independent committee" say? 04:39  |  Ryan 21/10/09
      4.   War Crimes and the most moral army in the world! 04:47  |  Cynic 21/10/09
      5.   It is finally sinking in 05:16  |  Mark Lincoln 21/10/09
      6.   #1 yes he`s got a sane voice, david; but so does barak 06:33  |  eric 21/10/09
      7.   Apa - we shall see, but you overlook 06:54  |  Mark Lincoln 21/10/09
      8.   Ryan - what? 06:56  |  Mark Lincoln 21/10/09
      9.   The world needs to get that this is `its` problem 07:16  |  Kevin Walsh 21/10/09
      10.   To #5 go investigate your own country 07:39  |  jeff 21/10/09
      11.   Yes, go for it! 07:40  |  Dafna 21/10/09
      12.   If Israel would return... 08:30  |  Moshe 21/10/09
      13.   wouldn`t matter 08:36  |  blash 21/10/09
      14.   Col Richard Kemp at the UN Human Rights Council (part 1) 08:43  |  Yonatan 21/10/09
      15.   Col. Richard Kemp at the UN (Part 2) 08:45  |  Yonatan 21/10/09
      16.   Col. Richard Kemp at the UN (Part 3) 08:45  |  Yonatan 21/10/09
      17.   Speaking to oneself is a `survival-tactic`... 09:50  |  Esther 21/10/09
      18.   WHY Israel and not Hamas??Why did UNHCR prostitute the report? 10:08  |  PETER SM 21/10/09
      19.   Boker tov Eliyahu 10:11  |  sh 21/10/09
      20.   COLONEL Richard Kemp, Yonatan 10:13  |  sh 21/10/09
      21.   SH Kemp told it as a military intelligence officer,to the UNHCR 10:44  |  PETER SM 21/10/09
      22.   Appeasing the world by investigating the innocent! 11:23  |  henderson 21/10/09
      23.   Islamic lawfare 11:25  |  Stephen 21/10/09
      24.   Would Goldstone submit to punishment if guilty of false acussatio 11:28  |  Absolute Sweden 21/10/09
      25.   Thre articles 11:39  |  Peter 21/10/09
      26.   Kemp was speaking on behalf of UN Watch, 11:46  |  r cummings 21/10/09
      27.   So... 11:49  |  ana 21/10/09
      28.   Yes Indeed 12:02  |  MiddleStanian 21/10/09
      29.   henderson and the `moral IDF` 12:31  |  John Spear 21/10/09
      30.   #20,sh. What does it mean military inquiry? 12:47  |  leon 21/10/09
      31.   yonatan and Col Kemp #14-16 14:26  |  Roo 21/10/09
      32.   Meridor 14:30  |  DT 21/10/09
      33.   `Someone influential in the USA wanted to 15:06  |  r cummings 21/10/09
      34.   18 Peter SM - Read the Report 15:32  |  Mark of Lewiston 21/10/09
      35.   looool to Moshe 16:11  |  proud american 21/10/09
      36.   Henderson #22 is right on, however... 16:16  |  Lyle 21/10/09
      37.   Leon#29: Dropping leaflets, phone-calls are toughtful... 16:18  |  Esther 21/10/09
      38.   Kemp propaganda 16:44  |  Jan 21/10/09
      39.   mark lincoln`s JOKE - "while the cease fire was working" 17:14  |  CK Tan 21/10/09
      40.   #20 sh - SSHHHHH, quiet, goldstone has a MILITARY man on HIS team 17:15  |  CK Tan 21/10/09
      41.   r cummings 17:46  |  paul 21/10/09
      42.   CK Tan #39 The `Joke` is on YOU 18:22  |  Roo 21/10/09
      43.   To Paul 41 - Kemp 18:46  |  r cummings 21/10/09
      44.   Moshe 19:09  |  TC 21/10/09
      45.   Most moral country in the world 19:21  |  Fred 21/10/09
      46.   #20, sh, "independent judicial inquiry" 19:52  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 21/10/09
      47.   Hamas cannot win a war against Israel 20:04  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 21/10/09
      48.   #5 Mr Lincoln is it conceivable Israel finds little guilt 20:07  |  Big Sur 21/10/09
      49.   #46, this post was to be a comment on the Amos Harel article 20:14  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 21/10/09
      50.   #42 roo - THANKS for the LAUGHS 20:17  |  CK Tan 21/10/09
      51.   #41 aul did you know Goldstone claims to be Zionist 20:17  |  Big Sur 21/10/09
      52.   Mark Lincoln"if the men who made the decisions were identified... 20:20  |  IAF Veteran 21/10/09
      53.   TC #44 Allah Achbar G-d is gr8 said before they behead their 20:22  |  Big Sur 21/10/09
      54.   Goldstone claims to Love Israel his daughter made Aliyah there 20:35  |  Big Sur 21/10/09
      55.   #42 roo - THANKS for the LAUGHS 20:36  |  CK Tan 21/10/09
      56.   Military testimony 20:42  |  r cummings 21/10/09
      57.   #37, Esther 20:44  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 21/10/09
      58.   #26 r.cummings:"was speaking on behalf of UN Watch, .Pro Israeli 20:45  |  Canadian Historian 21/10/09
      59.   CK Tan still SHOUTING? #55 08:49  |  Roo 22/10/09
      60.   Israel keep on fighting terror 11:49  |  protect yourself 22/10/09
      61.   The current government is not interested in peace. 13:30  |  Pablo Luis 22/10/09
      62.   Roo why don`t you send the URL that CK Tan wants to see? 13:31  |  Meo 22/10/09
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