UNITED NATIONS - The UN General Assembly voted Friday to give Israel and the Palestinians an additional five months to conduct independent investigations of alleged war crimes during last year's conflict in Gaza and warned of possible "further action" by UN bodies, including the Security Council, if they don't. The Palestinian-drafted resolution was adopted by a vote of 98-7 with 31 abstentions. Fifty-six countries did not vote, probably because of difficulties getting to UN headquarters as heavy snow fell in New York City. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN observer, called the vote a "victory to the victims of the Palestinian people and victory to international humanitarian law." In November, the 192-member world body gave Israel and the Palestinians three months to undertake "independent, credible investigations" into the findings of a U.N.-appointed expert panel chaired by South African Judge Richard Goldstone. It concluded that both sides committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the Gaza war, in which 13 Israelis and almost 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including many civilians. The conflict began in December 2008 and ended three weeks later in January. The assembly asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to report back on implementation of the resolution in three months. But in his highly anticipated report in early February, Ban said he could not determine whether the Israelis or Palestinians had conducted credible investigations. That set the stage for Friday's follow-up resolution, which was consponsored by more than 20 mainly Islamic countries. Israel's UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev, reiterated the government's opposition to the Goldstone report and said "Israel is conducting and will continue to conduct, investigations that are independent, credible in conformity with international standards" into its actions in Gaza. But the Palestinians and many Arab and non-Arab speakers who took the floor after the vote insisted that the Israeli investigations are not independent.
