UN chief backs Abbas decision to debate Goldstone report

How far can lies be supported?

"It's the economy, stupid" was the phrase that drove the first Bush out of the White House. And, in all the fuss over whether the Goldstone report can be blocked, whether the actions of the governments of Turkey, and Norway can be laid at the door of hate, Israel seems to have lost track of the issue that could end the state of Israel. It's the occupation, stupid.

I agree with everything you wrote until you got to the part about Israel being a hostile nation. The lesson to take away from Cast Lead, is that if you are weak and defenseless, don't provoke by firing rockets at surrounding villages. And even if you are strong, don't provoke by firing rockets at surrounding villages. Follow these simple rules, sam i am, and Jesus will reward you.

"Commissioner Pillay, the UNHRC High Commissioner wrote the preface that said it all" i downloaded a copy of the goldstone report. i don't find any preface in the document. please say the page number you call the preface. .

Israel got away with murder in Jenin, with the killing of Rachel Corrie, Tom Hundle and Miller. The international community will not let them get away with it this time and their propaganda about defensive and a war on terror is too tranparent to be seen as anything but a diversion. The chickens are coming home to roost and Israel is panicking. Didnt cooperate with the report;didnt set up its own commission to investigate. So, at least have the moral compass to take your punishment like a strong nation rather than a shtele whinner.

And another 30,000+ pieces of cannon fodder just written off to Afghanistan.

"There is not too much disputed about the greenline -- so lets stick to it aye" Any terrirory East of the Green Line where Israelis intrude by force is occupied territory. And that includes 100% of Jerusalem. No different from occupied France in 1940 or occupied Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Czekoslovakia, Yugoslavia, etc. Disputed territory, Bah! Ask the ghost of Marshall Petain! Ot Quisling!

what goes around.... I admire what Mick has to say. In the UK there is a growing movement to bring Tony Blair before a court, charged with war crimes. Soon the goons and crooks who make up too much of the leadership in Israel will find themselves shut in by fear of arrest if they dare step out. No military person will feel safe in the EU. So much for the image of wider Jewry. And Islam? At least a quarter of the world's population is embittered by Israel's intransigence.

Those arabs who care for the civilians among the Palestinian population should at least keep their cover by denouncing, marching, protesting, and fighting Hamas, who treat their women and children shields worse than dogs. Moral socities protect their women and children. Hamas has never EVER chosen to take one step to protect their children from their Islamic and hate-filled war against Israeli civilians.

"So what makes anyone assume that all agree that Israel has uncontested ownership of the lands inside the green line? Hamas doen`t think so; Iran doesn`t think so; Saudi Arabia doesn`t think so; Lebanon doesn`t think so" It seems hard to swallow that the Saudi peace proposal includes exactly that "uncontested ownership of the lands inside the green line" which you are denying. Digging up this and that statement which says otherwise is as useful as digging up Zionist claims that Israel will NEVER be reduced to that uncontested territory.

that Israel will refuse further steps towards peace when the Goldstone report is considered. A hollow threat: Nobody expects anything towards peace from the rightist Israeli government. Goldstone or not Goldstone.

Don't think that anything inside the green line is not diputed. The reason for the 6 day war was for the arabs to conquer precisely those lands inside the green line. There was nothing east of the green line at that time that was not in arab hands. So what makes anyone assume that all agree that Israel has uncontested ownership of the lands inside the green line? Hamas doen't think so; Iran doesn't think so; Saudi Arabia doesn't think so; Lebanon doesn't think so. The only ones who do are the leftist fools who think they have undisputed claim to Tel Aviv. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Israeli govt must assume that everybody but them is just plain brain-dead stupid. I mean, really, for 10 years Hamas "fighters", guys who we in the states would call juvenile delinquents, have been firing thousands of rockets at southern Israel. I think that they have actually killed about 10 people-in as many years. To say that the incursion into Gaza to stop this "slaughter" was to save the state's existence does not even pass the straight face test. For the life of me, I can not even figure out what anybody expected to acheive. But a lot of people did get killed, many of them not combatants. It appears to this observer that at some point the Israeli govt decided that it had to pretend (pretend, because you knew the day you left Gaza, the rockets resume) to stop the annoyance of the rockets no matter how many Palestinian women and children they would have to kill. On your scales, 10 Israeli lives equals 1,000 Palestinian lives-do you not understand what is wrong with that?

... and President of America? We got a pretty list: - A few weddings bombed in Afghanistan. - Anywhere between 85,000 and 1 milion civilians killed in Iraq. - Abu Ghraib.

'disputed territories' I think not. They are the 'occupied territories' and the settlements therein are a breach of international law. And a shameless land grab. Wasn't the partition resolution enough? 56% of a land (not possessed under self-rule by the Hebrew tribes since 387 BC) to a recently emigrated minority people of largely European descent? There is not too much disputed about the greenline -- so lets stick to it aye

Perhaps you just like to see 1.5 million of the poorest and most downtrodden people in the region suffer under an inhumane economic embargo. Your peace is someone elses misery. Apart from that your figures must have been lifted from a comic. For months we here about 7 or sometimes 8,000 rockets over a spell of 8 years. Today you decided to add on another 4,000 for effect. You are good enough work for FOX News. "For showing so much patience" Israel showed NO patience. It fired some 7,000 artillery shells into Gaza during the same 8 year period. Each one was of an order of magnitude more powerful than any qassam. It killed thousands of Gazans *before* Cast Lead in military ops including F-16, attack helicopters and drone attacks. Over a thousand of those killed were *civilian*, that is PRE Cast Lead. Patient he says?! "In the weeks before the Gaza operation, Israel was bombarde with about 60 rockets per day on its civilian population" says the dreamer Oh pray why would that be? I will just mention that the ceasefire which had endured for 4 months until Nov 4th had reduced rocket fire by 98% according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Then on November the 4th Israel launched a major incursion inside Gaza resulting in the death of 6 Hamas. Of course the ceasefire was thenceforth OVER. Never let it be said that the *peace-lover* does not tell the whole story! Now why don?t you go and practice your sums. 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 and then 12 000. Bravo!

"If the intent is to tie Israel`s hands in its struggle against the armed forces threatening it and its citizens, as the Goldstone Report does ,,,,,," Oh my! Now Israel and its citizens are threatened by armed forces! And the Goldstone Report will tie the hands of the best equipped Army, Navy, and Airforce in all of the Middle East while poor Israel suffers the debilitating onslaughtof puny qassam rockets that can't hit a barn door! Are Israel's consistent reports that qassama hurt no one and do no damage mere propaganda? Prevarications? For shame! And where are these armed forces that threaten mighty Israel?

a war is fought by 2 or more armies. palestinians have no f-16's, apaches, tanks or nuclear weapons. the Palestinians should be armed just like israel to be able to defend themselves, just like any other people. we see when people are defensless, they get slaughtered and no one lifts a finger to help them. war crimes trials are their only defense against hostile nation

"In reality, what`s good for the Jewish State in Palestine is seldom good for the USA, but nobody dares to say that out loud." Many of us have been saying that for some time now. But, as usual, the US government lags behind the times. They think we are still defending the Russian aristocracy against its Red revolutionaries, the kaput French government in Saigon against the North Vietnamese, and the Israeli establishment against the viscious antisemite hoard. None of these poor choices has been good for the USA, only for US businesses. But change is possible. The USA just might switch policy when Iran's turn comes around and twist the arm of an established government for a change. Meanwhile, Afghanistan.

After 12,000 rockets and mortars, Israel defended itself. In the weeks before the Gaza operation, Israel was bombarde with about 60 rockets per day on its civilian population. For showing so much patience, Israel deserves the full support of peace loving folks like myself.

refuse, and rightly so, to take any additional risky steps towards peace. Israel has taken many significant steps towards peace. It has enabled the Palestinian Authority to be proclaimed and to rule over most Arabs in the disputed territories. It has permitted the Palestinian Authority to set up its armed "police" force, one that already used its guns against Israeli security forces, e.g. 1996. Israel left every single square centimeter of the Gaza Strip, thousands soldiers and civilians alike, only to find the Strip being used as a staging ground from which Israeli civilians continued to be attacked by the Arab armed forces in the Strip. If the intent is to tie Israel's hands in its struggle against the armed forces threatening it and its citizens, as the Goldstone Report does, Israel will simply walk away from any option of ever taking additional risky steps as the ones mentioned above from which Israel only suffered so far.

Then you must also hope and pray that the recent allegations of a 50% increase in birth defects in Gaza related to the use of certain weapons during Operation Cast Lead will only remain an allegation after independent tests have been carried out.

Did the UN like getting paid it's past dues? Does it expect to be paid it's future dues? Does the UN not understand that Uncle Sugar can stop the dues as it has before? Honesty, decency, reality have nothing to do with the real world. "He who pays the fiddler calls the tune." - an old American saying

Muslims who shoot missiles at Jews are fine. Jews who defend themselves are war criminals. A state which defends its citizens is accused. A terrorist enclave turned into an Iranian launchpad to terrorize Jewish children is fine. A Jewish state which defends its children is not Goldstone should be tried, and Ban Ki Moon too.

Netanyahu said. "Israel will not take risks for peace if it can't defend itself." So, the peace process is now held hostage, if Goldstone moves forward, Bibi will kill the peace process. The threat is empty. You cannot kill what is already dead. Bibi beat Obama on the WMD reaffirmation deal, the settlement freeze and on Goldstone. When Bibi yanks Obama's chain on the re-introduced Goldstone, once again, the willing submissive will do as he's told. To an American patriot, this "Special Relationship" is starting to smell like a sham, a scam and a flim-flam. In reality, what's good for the Jewish State in Palestine is seldom good for the USA, but nobody dares to say that out loud.

the UN. Although the US representative to the UN said the report was "deeply flawed". This does not suffice. The US needs to go on the offensive against this junk to protect not only Israel's interests but the interests of the free world. Can't wait till 2010 when the true Americans will eviscerate him!!!!!

Hey, don't look at us.

It helps divert attention from the UN's abject failure in southern Lebanon and the big explosion today.

Netan-yahoo can protect his clan in Israel, but as soon as they set foot in another country they are toast. Roman Polanski can attest to the far reach of the law.

if these hypocrites dare denouncing israel after ALL it had done i think that at the very least they should be given a fair warning of things to come: divide the gaza AND south lebanon villages if need be into sectors and describe with accuracy what will happen in that sector (from where rockets are fired)no water, no electricity, on the way to becoming a parking lot etc. and JUST DO IT!

Although Israel (as well as the US) claim they will never be put on trial, they will. Its unavoidable. We can't go around killing and destroying people & their homes (Gaza/Iraq/Afghanistan...) (no matter how we justify it) without expecting the worm to turn. Whether the UN rises to the challenge of justice remains to be seen, but its a mistake for any of us to believe that we can prosper on another's pain forever.

But I guess you and your government could not defend yourselves from all Israeli and IDF atrocities committed in Gaza.

Commissioner Pillay, the UNHRC High Commissioner wrote the preface that said it all. She stated clearly that all testimonies from Israeli civilians living in the Negev were purposely censored from the report so as not to distract from the report's intentions. Additionally, the way she described the report in her preface is quite illuminating. But then, the Antisemites conveniently overlook that element. If they bothered to read it, it would destroy the intended blood libel. But of course, Haaretz won't print it either. So go to the UNHRC site where it is published.