By IRNA,
London : A former Israeli intelligence chief has admitted that Israel “failed” in the Gaza war “because of the horrible killing of civilian Palestinians”, saying that Israel has to hold an independent investigation into war crimes committed during the 22-day war.
Ami Ayalon, former head of Israel’s secret service Shin Bet, told a debate on London that Israel should give up Jewish settlements and give compensation to the Palestinian refugees.
Ayalon, who came to London despite the fear of arrest for war crimes, also said that the United Nations should abandon “the language of blame” and adopt “a new dictionary” which has been compiled with “the language of responsibility”.
He was making a speech for a large number of students at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) on Monday under stringent security precautions and the police presence.
“We need the language of responsibility and not the language of blame,” he said.
Referring to the Goldstone report on war crimes during the 22-day Gaza war, Ayalon said the report hinders the peace process as “the international law cannot bring peace” in the Middle East.
He added that there is no military solution to the peace in the region, saying that Jewish settlements should be abandoned and peace negotiations resumed immediately.
Ayalon, who is also an ex-commander of the Israeli Navy and former member of Knesset, said Israelis and Palestinians should make their decision as to either fight or come to the negotiating table.
“We have been fighting for decades and blaming each other. War is destructive. I tried to prevent the Gaza war but failed to do so.”
Also speaking in the LSE debate on “Goldstone Report and Peace Process” which was chaired by former UN official Lakhtar Brahimi, two members of the UN Goldstone report called for the implementation of Goldstone’s recommendations.
Christine Chinkin, professor of international law at LSE, confirmed that the Israeli government had not cooperated with the Goldstone mission. She said the Goldstone report is “objective” and therefore its recommendations should be heeded.
Desmond Travers, a former Colonel of the Irish Army and a member of the Goldstone report, also called on the international community to “ban all types of weapons” used by the Israeli Army during the war on Gaza.
Travers said Israel used phosphorous bullets and tungsten and DIME bombs against civilians in Gaza, adding that 400,000 Palestinians were affected by more than 3,500 such bombs fired by Israel.
Referring to the destruction of hundreds of houses, mosques, hospitals and schools in Gaza during the 22-day war, he called on the West to compensate Palestinians for the sufferings they are getting as the result of the Western collaboration with Israel during the Gaza war.
“We in the West bear the obligation to make sure that the Gaza environment does not get worse anymore. We are responsible and should not allow Palestinians to be more desperate”, he said.
Also speaking, Karma Nabulsi from the Oxford University, said peace in the Middle East can be only achieved through international law.
Nabulsi said the Goldstone report has provided many mechanisms for the administration of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
“Israel wants peace through force. Israel has been doing ethnic-cleansing of Palestinians since 1948. But, you get peace only through law”.
Asked about the divide between the two major Palestinian groups, Nabulsi said the pressure to divide Hamas and Fatah is “external”.
She added that Israel wants to divide Palestinians so that they cannot be represented by a united front.