Israel says it is unlikely to cooperate with Special Tribunal

As reported in earlier posts, the U.N. Human Rights Council created a Special Tribunal in January to investigate possible war crimes during the fighting in the Gaza Strip in December 2008 and January 2009.  Justice Richard Goldstone agreed to lead the investigation after its mandate was expanded to include an investigation into the compliance of both Israel and Hamas with international humanitarian law.  Hamas has agreed to cooperate with the investigation.  However, recent news reports indicate that Israel is very unlikely to cooperate with the Special Tribunal because it doubts the objectivity of the investigation.  Apparently, Israel believes the investigation will not focus sufficiently on Hamas actions that led to the fighting in the Gaza Strip.  It is unclear whether the Tribunal will be able to effectively carry out its work without Israel's cooperation.  

(cgb)