There is a strong recent trend in the world toward rule of law — hence the UN tribunals on Rwanda and Yugoslavia, and the ICC. Israel and the US signed the Rome Statute (agreeing to be bound by the ICC) but later refused to ratify. In general, if you sign, you agree to be bound even without ratification, UNLESS you make clear you don’t want to be bound. The US and Israel did that in 2002. That’s apparently the status of Israel now. Hamas and the PA, as non-states, can’t sign the Rome Statute, but the treaty allows for ad hoc recognition of non-state “actors” who bring complaints to the ICC. Hamas did that in February. Thus, there is agreement the much of the international law community that actions of both sides in the Gaza war can land in the ICC. I would go even further. I also would like US officials who gave Israel an “expanded blank check” on use of weapons with US technology to defend themselves at the ICC.
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Thus, NOTHING was as scary to the criminals of both sides, and their financial and weapons-enablers (including the US and Iran), as the Goldstone Report. It is a loose cannon, but one with a laser-guided aim at ALL the bad guys.

If active peace negotiations do not materialize over the next few months, I think a focus on getting the report acted upon would certainly be worthwhile.

http://www.tikkun.org/article.php/20091002111513371

The last paragraph makes it quite clear where Goldstone is coming from as a human being.

Israel’s friends need to stand behind the Jewish State while it is under a sustained political assault by its enemies. The Palestinians can attack Israel at the UN or they can have its cooperation in peace. They should not expect to have both. And there’s the chutzpah of Fatah leading the charge on behalf of Hamas which only two years ago seized power by a coup d’etat in Gaza and which is only in power in Yesha today thanks to the IDF. That shows how little Israel’s erstwhile “peace partner” appreciates its efforts to preserve the life of what should be a moderate Palestinian regime but isn’t.

There are two things that are clear: Israel can expect no justice from the international community and there will be no peace with the Palestinian Arabs for the foreseeable future.

“UN: number of `abject poor’ in Gaza triples”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091001/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_gaza_poverty

Once stated, you can see this at work all the time. It’s maybe not quite an iron law, as not everyone acts like this all the time. But it’s what the PA is doing. Their one source of real power within their society is their relatively friendly relationship with the US and the Israeli government, and so they’re willing to sell the Gazans down the river to maintain it. They probably see Hamas as a bigger threat than Israel.

Interesting that the ambassador mentions Hamas’s crimes, because the report also talks about PA abuses towards fellow Palestinians.