The President of the 64th General Assembly session Ali Treki presides over an open debate on the Goldstone report of the UN General Assembly (GA) at UN headquarters in New York, the US, November 4, 2009. The 64th UN General Assembly on Wednesday kicked off an open debate on the Goldstone report which accused both Israel and Hamas militants of war crimes during the 22-day Gaza conflict. [Xinhua]

The UN General Assembly (GA) on Wednesday kicked off an open debate on the Goldstone report which accused both Israel and Hamas militants of war crimes during the 22-day Gaza conflict.

The 64th GA session convened a plenary session at about 10:20 AM EST on Wednesday and at least 30 speakers are expected to take the floor at the open debate.

The president of the 64th GA session, Ali Treki, told the plenary session that "the question before us is simple -- despite the political sensitivities associated with it."

"We have to answer whether respect to human rights is universal or not -- whether we be divided on human rights issues or should we remain united behind advocating their respect all over the world," the president said.

"The report before the Assembly documents serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law perpetuated against civilians," he said. "The report caused the General Assembly and other United Nation organs for concrete action to ensure regress for victims, protection for the vulnerable and accountability of all perpetrators."

"The GA is fulfilling its responsibility and undertaking its role as prescribed today," he said.

"Let us be clear what is at stake here -- the human rights of nearly 2 million civilians are at stake," he said. "Without justice, there can be no progress towards peace. Let us commit together -- to leave all politics and selectivity at the door and take up the cause of justice based on one universal set of rules --we should protect the rights of the victims."

At the GA plenary session, Egypt introduced a draft resolution that would call upon both Israel and Palestinians to conduct investigations "that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards."

The GA will put the draft resolution to vote after the debate, Jean-Victor Nkolo, the spokesman for the president of the 64th GA session, told reporters here Tuesday.

The non-binding resolution, pushed by the Arab Group in the United Nations, could easily be adopted by the General Assembly to back the implementation of the proposals contained in the Goldstone report despite opposition from Israel and its allies the United States and the European Union, diplomatic sources told Xinhua.

Israel has rejected the Goldstone report on the ground that it is "biased" and "one-sided."

Treki, a veteran Libyan diplomat, has received a letter from the UN Human Rights Council transmitting the report of the mission, which was headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, a former prosecutor at the UN war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

The four-member investigative team 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.

The Geneva-based Human Rights Council, when it took up the report two weeks ago, had strongly condemned a host of Israeli measures in the occupied Palestinian territory and called on both sides to implement the mission's recommendations.

The Wednesday meeting follows a request from the Arab Group in New York, supported by the 118-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), to consider the report in the Assembly during the first week of November, according to a note issued by the spokesperson for the president of the 192-nation General Assembly.

The Arab Group in the United Nations are circulating a draft resolution that would ask UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to bring the Goldstone report before the UN Security Council.

Ban has called on both Israelis and the Palestinians to carry out "full, independent and credible investigations" in accordance with the recommendations of the mission.

The secretary-general said he was aware both were now going to have their own investigations. "I have not received any further details, but that is positive, I would say," he told a news conference at the UN Headquarters in New York last week. "I have been repeatedly urging the Israeli government to institute a credible domestic investigation process."

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2009)