John Duggard, Chair of Independent Fact-Finding Committee on Gaza; and Former Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council on Human Rights in Palestine.

It is clear that serious crimes were committed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in its Operation Cast Lead. A number of independent reports including the Goldstone report to the Human Rights Council, the report of Independent Fact-Finding Committee on Gaza to the Arab League, the Martin Commission report to the UN Secretary General on attacks on UN premises, and reports by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Physicians for Human Rights and the National Lawyers Guild, support the conclusion that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed by the IDF in its Operation. Those who dispute this, such as the US House of Representatives, the US government and many European states, have clearly either not read the evidence presented by these reports or have decided that Israel is above the law. I would like to believe that the European States which voted against the Goldstone report in the General Assembly have not read the report but I fear that they have the reports and have decided that the norms of international Humanitarian law applicable to other states do not apply to Israel.

The pro-Israel lobby in Britain: FULL TEXT

Dispatches investigates the pro-Israel lobby in Britain which is working in support of the interests of the State of Israel. We have obtained a full copy of this by Peter Oborne and James Jones.

Here are some extracts of the 27 page document - The pro-Israel lobby in Britain: full text Click Here to download the full document.

Chapter Two: The Pro-Israel Lobby at Westminster

The senior Tory MP David Amess recently put down a question in the House of Commons to enquire what the British government was doing to improve British relations with Israel. The reply came from Ivan Lewis, foreign office minister with special responsibility for the Middle East: “Israel is a close ally of the United Kingdom and we have regular warm and productive exchanges at all levels… We shall continue to foster a close relationship with Israel.”

This conversation was not quite the simple public exchange that it seemed. Neither politician mentioned that both of them had very close links to pro-Israel organizations. David Amess is the secretary of the Conservative Friends of Israel, which has been described by the famous Conservative Party politician and historian Robert Rhodes James as “the largest organization in Western Europe dedicated to the cause of the people of Israel.”
The Conservative Prime Minister Harold MacMillan once remarked that “there are three bodies no sensible man ever directly challenges: the Roman Catholic Church, the Brigade of Guards and the National Union of Mineworkers.” It is tempting to speculate that today he might have added the Conservative Friends of Israel to that list.

The Haaretz Newspaper has obtained a copy of the draft resolution that the Palestinian Authority will present to the United Nations, calling for condemnation of Israel over its actions in Jerusalem, the Gaza conflict of last winter and the closure on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.