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April 15, 2011

Gaza Inquiry Panelists Challenge Chair's Recantation 
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The three co-panelists of the U.N. probe into the 2008-2009 Israeli
assault on the Gaza Strip are rejecting the retraction by their chair,
Judge Richard Goldstone, of the report's key finding. Earlier this
month, Goldstone said that he no longer thinks Israel deliberately
targeted Palestinian civilians in its three-week assault. In a
statement, the three co-panelists—Hina Jilani of Pakistan, Desmond
Travers of Ireland and Christine Chinkin of Britain—write: "We] find
it necessary to dispel any impression that subsequent developments have
rendered any part of the mission’s report unsubstantiated, erroneous
or inaccurate." They continue: "Had we given in to pressures from any
quarter to sanitize our conclusions, we would be doing a serious
injustice to the hundreds of innocent civilians killed during the Gaza
conflict, the thousands injured, and the hundreds of thousands whose
lives continue to be deeply affected by the conflict and the blockade."



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