News Digest

Israel wants UN Gaza war probe shelved as chief quits

Israel called Tuesday for the shelving of a UN inquiry into its war last summer in the Gaza Strip after the probe’s head quit over Israeli accusations of conflict of interest. Canadian international law expert William Schabas resigned Monday after Israel complained that he had prepared a legal opinion for the Palestine Liberation Organisation in October 2012, the United Nations said. Schabas strongly denied that he was beholden to the PLO but said he was reluctantly stepping down to avoid the inquiry into the July-August conflict – commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council – being compromised in any away.

Under the circumstances and with great regret, I believe the important work of the commission is best served if I resign with immediate effect.

Part of the resignation letter written by William Schabas

Council president Joachim Ruecker accepted the resignation, with spokesman Rolando Gomez saying that “in this way even an appearance of conflict of interest is avoided, thus preserving the integrity of the process.” But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seized on Schabas’s departure to demand whole investigation be abandoned, charging that the rights council was an “anti-Israel body”. The Palestinians said Netanyahu’s calls were an attempt to intimidate UN investigators and cloud the issue.