A/HRC/13/53 10. The more substantive argument against the approach taken in the report was that it neglected to take into account the actuality of a conflict in which Israel, as a democratic State, was entitled to defend itself by all effective means against Hamas, which is officially listed internationally as a terrorist organization. The implication of this argument seemed to be that the nature of the parties, in this instance, suspends the normal application of the rules of international humanitarian law. The representative of Israel to the General Assembly attacked the text of the report as disregarding Israel’s right to self-defence and that as such it amounted to a gift to terrorism. In fact, the FFM report affirmed Israel’s right to use force to defend itself, limiting its findings to the widely-supported conclusion that it was criminally unlawful to use force against the Gazan population as a whole, and also criminally unlawful to target civilians deliberately or to strike intentionally at protected buildings, including a variety of lethal attacks on United Nations facilities in Gaza that were lending shelter to Gazan civilians. There were also objections made by the United States representative to the call for the involvement of the Security Council or General Assembly in securing implementation of the report, claiming that the Human Rights Council was the appropriate forum. That argument was set forth despite — or possibly because of — the lack of any enforcement role or capability. Such efforts to steer subsequent action relating to the report away from implementation procedures seems designed to preserve Israeli impunity, and prompted the respected Gazan human rights leader and recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Award, Raji Sourani, to remark: “We hope the Goldstone Report doesn’t end as piles of paper.”15 B. Objections from Palestinians to the report of the United Nations Factfinding Mission on the Gaza Conflict 11. Most attention has been paid to Israeli complaints directed at the FFM report. Virtually no attention has been paid to Palestinian complaints, and in truth, the representatives of the Palestinian Authority have devoted themselves to the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report without expressing objections. Yet there are objections that should be considered as part of a comprehensive effort to gain a clearer understanding of the issues, as well as of the debate. 12. First of all, the FFM report pays no attention to the surrounding circumstances of a temporary Israel-Hamas ceasefire that had been put in place in June 2008, with notable success in reducing cross-border violence, especially as regards rockets. It also ignores the provocative violence of Israel during the ceasefire, especially the incident of 4 November 2008 in which Israel killed six Palestinians inside Gaza, as well as the frequent attempts by Hamas representatives to extend the ceasefire for as long as 10 years if Israel would lift the blockade and open the crossings. It is notable that these overtures by Hamas were made notwithstanding the failure by Israel to fulfil its commitments during the temporary ceasefire by easing, if not lifting, the blockade, which was in any event intrinsically unlawful under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledges that the number of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel declined by 80 per cent during the ceasefire.16 15 16 6 Agency, 5 November 2009. “UN human rights chief endorses Goldstone Gaza report”, Haaretz, 2 November 2009. See the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website at http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism+Obstacle+to +Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+2000/Terror+in+Gaza+Two+months+since+the+Hamas+takeover +16-Aug-2007.htm. GE.10-10260