UN to broadcast live testimonies of Gazans, Israelis

Jun 25, 2009, 11:19 GMT

Geneva - A United Nations fact-finding mission will hold hearings in the Gaza Strip next week and they will be broadcast live to the public, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

The following week, the mission will fly Israelis to Geneva to hold another round of public hearings. Palestinians from the West Bank will also be able to go to Europe to testify.

'As it stands, we have not been given permission to hold the hearings in Israel,' said Doune Porter, a spokeswoman for the mission, explaining why the people from southern Israel would have to travel to Switzerland.

'This mandate is completely balanced. We will be looking at all sides,' she added.

Israel has said it would not cooperate with the mission, led by South African Justice Richard Goldstone, alleging the mandate was biased against the Jewish State.

Goldstone and his team went into Gaza earlier this month through Egypt to conduct the first part of their investigation.

Though the hearings will be public, Porter said the mission would also accept testimonies of people affected by the conflict in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip in private settings, if they prefer to remain anonymous.

Goldstone was the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and was a key legal figure in South Africa's transition to democracy. He pushed for the open hearings for the Gazans and Israelis.

Israel said it launched the December 27 to January 18 offensive in Gaza in response to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants from the coastal salient at its southern towns and villages.

According to the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), 1,417 Palestinians, most of them civilians, died in the conflict, which also caused massive destruction. Thirteen Israelis also died.

The hearings in Gaza City would take place on June 28-29 and in Geneva on July 6-7.