The BBC's Jim Muir: "A lot of Lebanese will be looking to these meetings to defuse tensions"

The Syrian and Saudi leaders have called on Lebanon's rival factions to avoid turning to violence amid mounting political tensions in the country.

The call came after unprecedented talks in Beirut between Saudi King Abdullah, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman.

They urged Lebanese to resolve issues through "legal institutions".

The trip marks progress in relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria - two of the region's most influential powers.
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Lebanon and Syria only exchanged embassies for the first time last year, and entente between them is seen as crucial to stability in Lebanon.

"The leaders stressed the importance of stability... the commitment (of the Lebanese) not to resort to violence and the need to place the country's interests above all sectarian interests," said a statement issued by the Lebanese presidency after talks between the three leaders.
Conflict looming?

The day-long visit was Mr Assad's first to Lebanon since Syria was forced to withdraw its troops after a 29-year military presence following the 2005 killing of former PM Rafik Hariri.
Analysis
Continue reading the main story
Jim Muir BBC News, Beirut

There was a flurry of last-minute preparations at the Lebanese presidential palace for what was an unprecedented event here.

For the leaders of Syria and Saudi Arabia to arrive here together and carrying the same message is a sign of the concern they seem to share that Lebanon must not be allowed to explode again into sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shias as happened two years ago on the streets of Beirut.

It was not clear exactly how they would try to defuse the tensions over the possible indictment of Hezbollah members by the UN tribunal looking into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

But their message was clear, that whatever transpires it must not be allowed to destabilise the country.

That message has certainly been delivered and many Lebanese are optimistic it will be taken on board.

The Syrian president gave reporters a thumbs-up as he left the talks at the presidential palace outside Beirut, saying simply: "It was an excellent summit."

Both he and the Saudi leader are worried conflict could break out if, as rumoured, a UN tribunal indicts members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement over the Hariri killing.

Mr Assad and King Abdullah pledged to work together to help stabilise Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah - who rarely appears in public - was not at the meeting, although Hezbollah cabinet ministers took part in talks between the Syrian and Saudi delegations and Lebanese MPs after the leaders' meeting.

Hezbollah is Syria's main ally in Lebanon, while the Saudis have strong ties with the country's Sunni community and the current Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the murdered ex-prime minister.

Mr Assad and King Abdullah are thought to have been instrumental in ending the five months of deadlock which preceded the formation of Lebanon's unity government - which includes Hezbollah - last November.

The Saudis and Syrians backed opposing factions when sectarian tensions spilled into raging street battles in Beirut two years ago.

Now they have mended their own fences, analysts say, they are urging their respective allies in Lebanon to put the country's stability above any other consideration.
'Major stability'

Lebanon's relations with Syria have been complicated since the Hariri assassination, the huge anti-Syrian demonstrations that followed, and Syria's military withdrawal in 2005.
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Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah (left) shakes hands with Syria's President Bashar Assad (right) as Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman (centre) smiles at his presidential palace in Baabda, near Beirut, 30 July, 2010

* Your views: Will leaders' visit defuse tensions?

But things have improved since then, analysts say. Saad Hariri has visited Damascus twice as prime minister for talks with Mr Assad, setting aside earlier accusations that Syria was behind his father's death.

Mr Assad's visit to Beirut takes that normalisation a step further.

Tensions have risen in the past week, however, with the Hezbollah leader reacting angrily to persistent reports that the Hariri tribunal may indict several members of his Islamist group.

He made clear that he would not accept such a scenario, accusing the tribunal of being politicised and part of an "Israeli project".

The Arab League has endorsed direct Palestinian peace talks with the Israelis, but has left the timing to the Palestinians, officials said.

The US has been pushing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to restart the direct talks, suspended since 2008.

Mr Abbas has demanded a settlement freeze and a return to 1967 borders as a precondition of direct talks.
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Correspondents say the move by the Arab League makes it likely the talks will resume in the coming months.

The Palestinian president is now expected to return to Ramallah and seek endorsement for the direct talks from a meeting of Palestinian factions, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly stated he wants direct talks to start as soon as possible.

In response to the Arab League decision, his office released a statement saying he was "ready to start, already in the next few days, direct and frank talks with the Palestinian Authority".
Thorny issues

The Arab League agreed in principle to direct talks with Israel provided the Palestinians saw fit, said Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, who chaired a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

When I receive assurances about the 1967 border and halting settlements, I will go immediately to the direct talks”

End Quote Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian leader

"Of course, there is agreement, but agreement over the principles of what will be discussed and the manner of the direct negotiations," he said.

But the timing of the direct talks was "a matter for the Palestinian side to decide", he said.

Mr Netanyahu has said he is ready to discuss all the core issues of the decades-old conflict, and has accused the Palestinians of avoiding direct talks.

Mr Abbas wants Israel to agree to a complete halt in settlement construction and to accept a Palestinian state in territories seized in the 1967 Middle East war - the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

"When I receive written assurances [about] accepting the 1967 border and halting the settlement [building], I will go immediately to the direct talks," Mr Abbas was quoted as saying by Egypt's state-owned news agency before the meeting.

Mr Netanyahu has accepted the idea of Palestinian statehood with conditions, but has ruled out giving up control of East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of a future state.

Israel also acceded to US pressure to temporarily limit settlement building in the West Bank, but its 10-month moratorium expires in September.

Mr Abbas suspended negotiations after Israel carried out an offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December 2008 in response to rocket fire

A sandstorm has downed an Iraqi military helicopter, killing its five-member crew, while a Baghdad blast has killed five Iraqis, officials say.

The helicopter was providing aerial protection to Shia pilgrims travelling to the city of Karbala when it crashed in the sandstorm early in the morning.

Although sectarian violence has fallen, Shia pilgrims are often targeted.
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The bomb in Baghdad was planted on a road in the predominantly Shia Sadr City neighbourhood.
Pensioners killed

The crash of the surveillance helicopter just west of Karbala, 50 miles (80km) south-west of Baghdad, was being investigated, officials said.

The Sadr City bomb killed at least five Iraqis and wounded 12 others as they waited to collect their pensions, police said.

The level of violence in Iraq has decreased since 2006 and 2007, when Sunnis and Shias fought a bloody sectarian conflict, but Shia pilgrims are still targets for Sunni insurgents, correspondents say.

On Monday, two car bombs exploded near Karbala, killing at least 20 mainly Shia pilgrims and wounding more than 50.

On Tuesday, six people were killed and dozens wounded when a female bomber blew herself up near a checkpoint in Karbala.

Shahram Amiri says he was subjected to "the harshest mental and physical torture"
An Iranian scientist who said he was kidnapped by the CIA has said he was subjected to extreme mental and physical torture by the Americans.

Shahram Amiri, who has flown from the US to Tehran, also denied being heavily involved in Iran's nuclear programme.

He disappeared last year and resurfaced this week in the Pakistani embassy in Washington asking to be repatriated.

The US said he had been in the country "of his own free will" and denied he was tortured.

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Trying to explain scientist mystery
Timeline: Shahram Amiri mystery
Profile: Shahram Amiri
Wearing a beige suit, a smiling Mr Amiri was greeted at Tehran's international airport early on Thursday morning by his tearful son and wife, along with other family members and Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi.

Speaking at a news conference afterwards, he repeated his earlier claims that he had been abducted by US agents while undertaking the Hajj pilgrimage in the Saudi Arabian city of Medina.

Mr Amiri said he was placed under intense pressure by his interrogators to co-operate in the first months following his alleged kidnapping.

"I was under the harshest mental and physical torture," he said, adding that Israeli agents had been present during the interrogations and that the CIA had offered him $50m (£32.8m) to remain in the US.

"The Americans wanted me to say that I defected to America of my own will to use me for revealing some false information about Iran's nuclear work. But with God's will, I resisted."

Mr Amiri offered no evidence, but said he would eventually.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
I have some documents proving that I've not been free in the US and have always been under the control of armed agents of US intelligence services”
End Quote
Shahram Amiri
"I have some documents proving that I've not been free in the United States and have always been under the control of armed agents of US intelligence services."

He also denied he had been heavily involved in Iran's nuclear programme, saying he was a "simple researcher who was working at a university".

"I'm not involved in any confidential jobs. I had no classified information.

"I had nothing to do with the Natanz and Fordo sites," he said, referring to Iran's two uranium enrichment plants.

Unconfirmed reports that he worked for Iran's atomic energy organisation were "a tool the US government brought up for political pressure".

Mr Qashqavi thanked the scientist for his "resistance to pressure".

He rejected suggestions that Mr Amiri's return was linked to a possible deal to release three US hikers who have been detained in Iran since 2009.

'Breakdown'

In the US, unnamed officials and security sources said that Mr Amiri defected and was put into a programme similar to a witness-protection scheme.

Later, he apparently became concerned for family members he had left behind, had a breakdown and decided to return to Iran, US reports claim.


Shahram Amiri was greeted at Tehran's airport by his tearful son and wife A US official told the BBC: "He provided useful information to the United States. The Iranians now have him. In terms of win-loss, it's not even a close call."

The official said Mr Amiri was not held in the US against his will, had lived there freely and had chosen freely to return to Iran.

In its online edition, The Washington Post newspaper quoted unnamed officials saying Mr Amiri had been working for the CIA for more than a year and was paid $5m (£3.3m).

In June, the Iranian government announced that it had handed evidence to the US that the scientist had been abducted.

It came shortly after Mr Amiri appeared in two videos posted on the internet giving conflicting stories about how he had arrived in the US.

He said in the first that he had been kidnapped by CIA and Saudi agents while on a pilgrimage. In the second message, he said he had gone to the US to improve his education and was living freely in Arizona.

In a third message posted on the internet later that month, Mr Amiri said he had escaped from US custody and was on the run in Virginia.

In an interview with Iranian state Press TV before he left the US, Mr Amiri said he was in Medina when three men in a van posing as fellow pilgrims offered him a ride.

"As I sat down, the man in back held a gun toward me and told me to keep quiet," he said.

"They took me to a secret place and injected me, and when I woke up I saw myself in a huge airplane," and was taken to the US.

The US state department repeatedly denied it had kidnapped him, but never said that he was not in the country.

However on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged publicly for the first time that the scientist was indeed in the US.

An Iranian nuclear scientist who claims he was abducted by CIA agents last year and taken to the US is on his way back to Tehran, Iran says.

Foreign Ministry officials, who claim they have evidence Shahram Amiri was kidnapped, told state media he had now left the US.

The US state department has insisted he was in the US of his own free will.

In June, Mr Amiri appeared in three videos giving conflicting stories about how he had arrived in the US.

He said in the first that he had been kidnapped by CIA and Saudi agents while on a pilgrimage.

Analysis
Continue reading the main story
Jon Leyne

Tehran correspondent

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iran continues to declare that he was kidnapped by the Americans and they are clearly going to take full propaganda advantage of his return with Mr Amiri promising to give full details once he is back in his home country

Who wins propaganda war?
In the second message he said he had gone to the US to improve his education and was living freely in Arizona.

In the third, he claimed to have escaped from US custody.

On Monday evening Mr Amiri arrived at the Iranian Interests Section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington, which handles Iranian affairs in the US capital, and asked to be repatriated.

Since then, he has renewed his allegations that he was kidnapped, giving more details to the Iranian media.

But in the US, unnamed officials and security sources are claiming that Mr Amiri defected and was put into a kind of witness-protection programme.

Later, he apparently became concerned for family members he had left behind, had a breakdown and decided to return to Iran, US reports claim.

'Free to go'

Iranian media quoted foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying Mr Amiri would travel back to Iran though a "third country".

Continue reading the main story “
Start Quote
Mr Amiri has been in the United States of his own free will and he is free to go”
End Quote
Hillary Clinton

Secretary of State
Timeline: Nuclear scientist mystery
Profile: Shahram Amiri
"With the efforts of the Islamic Republic of Iran and effective co-operation of Pakistan's embassy in Washington, a few minutes ago Shahram Amiri left American soil and is heading back to Iran," Mr Mehmanparast said.

Another foreign ministry spokesman later told the Associated Press that the scientist would make a stopover in Qatar. There are no direct flights from the US to Iran.

In June, Iran claimed it had handed evidence to the US that the scientist had been abducted.

The US had repeatedly said it had no information about Mr Amiri.

However, on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged publicly for the first time that the scientist was in the US - but she flatly denied allegations of abduction.

"Mr Amiri has been in the United States of his own free will and he is free to go," she said.

Iranian media reports say Mr Amiri worked as a researcher at a university in Tehran, but some reports say he worked for the country's atomic energy organisation and had in-depth knowledge of its controversial nuclear programme.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says Iran is "moving closer" to having the potential to create nuclear weapons.

It is one of the first times Moscow has publicly recognised that Iran might be moving towards a nuclear weapon.

Russia, which has strong economic and military ties with Iran, has traditionally been an ally of Tehran.

But it has recently adopted a tougher stance towards Tehran's nuclear drive, and backed the fourth round of UN sanctions that was imposed last month.

"Iran is moving closer to possessing the potential which in principle could be used for the creation of nuclear weapons," Mr Medvedev told a meeting of ambassadors in Moscow.

The US and major European Union powers suspect that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful.

On 10 June, the UN Security Council endorsed a fourth round of sanctions on Iran, including tighter financial curbs and an expanded arms embargo.

Since then, the US and EU have unilaterally imposed additional sanctions, including a ban on investment in Iran's oil and gas industry, as well as trade with key banks and individuals.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed the vote and rejected calls to halt uranium enrichment - which could have military as well as civilian uses.

A ship with supplies for Gaza will dock at el-Arish in Egypt, officials say, after Israeli pressure to stop the vessel breaking its Gaza blockade.

The Moldovan-flagged ship chartered by a charity run by the son of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, left a Greek port on Saturday.

Israel asked for help from the UN, and had talks with Greece and Moldova. But organisers insist they will go to Gaza.

An Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound ship in May killed nine Turkish activists.

Israel insisted its troops were defending themselves but the raid sparked international condemnation.

Israel recently eased its blockade, allowing in almost all consumer goods but maintaining a "blacklist" of some items.

Israel says its blockade of the Palestinian territory is needed to prevent the supply of weapons to the Hamas militant group which controls Gaza.

Diplomatic drive

The Amalthea, renamed Hope for the mission, set off from the Greek port of Lavrio, loaded with about 2,000 tonnes of food, cooking oil, medicines and pre-fabricated houses.

It has been chartered by the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation. Its chairman is Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.

The organisation said the 92m (302ft) vessel would also carry "a number of supporters who are keen on expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people".

The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Lavrio says the Libyans clearly believe the time is right to test Israel's resolve to maintain the naval blockade.

Continue reading the main story
We are heading to Gaza for purely humanitarian reasons, we are not out to provoke anyone or to seek media attention
Youssef Sawwan

Director, Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation
Israel carried out intense diplomatic activity to prevent the Amalthea reaching Gaza.

A foreign ministry statement said that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had spoken with his Greek and Moldovan counterparts on the issue.

The statement said: "The foreign ministry believes that due to these talks, the ship will not reach Gaza."

And Libya has now told the Greek government that the ship will now dock in Egypt's el-Arish on the coast of the Sinai Peninsula.

"We confirmed their destination in talks with the Libyan ambassador and the ship's agent," foreign ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras told Associated Press news agency.

Israel also lobbied the UN to take action.

Israel's UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said in a letter: "Israel calls upon the international community to exert its influence on the government of Libya to demonstrate responsibility and prevent the ship from departing to the Gaza Strip."

Ms Shalev also warned: "Israel reserves the right under international law to prevent this ship from violating the existing naval blockade on the Gaza Strip."

She said the motives of the operators were "questionable and provocative".

However, the director of the Libyan charity told the BBC the vessel was heading for Gaza.

"We have not cut deals with anyone," Youssef Sawwan, told the BBC Arabic service.

"We are heading to Gaza for purely humanitarian reasons, we are not out to provoke anyone or to seek media attention," Mr Sawwan said

The head of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon has appealed for calm, following recent incidents in which villagers attacked soldiers.

Locals were angered by what they saw as plans by the UN force to undermine the Hezbollah militant group in the event of a renewed conflict with Israel.

The area is a Hezbollah stronghold.

In an open letter to residents, Maj Gen Alberto Asarta Cuevas said the best way to deal with any concerns was through dialogue, not by beating peacekeepers.

In the latest of the clashes, villagers on Saturday disarmed a French patrol of UN peacekeepers in the village of Tuline and attacked them with sticks, rocks and eggs before the army intervened.

Residents have complained that Unifil has stepped up its patrols in southern Lebanon, which has been under the de facto control of Hezbollah since the withdrawal of Israeli forces in 2000.

Open letter
There have been a series of clashes between residents and peacekeepers "As you all know, some recent incidents have cast a shadow on the positive environment in which Unifil peacekeepers have been working, in close co-ordination with the Lebanese army, for your safety and security," Maj Gen Cuevas said in a rare open letter released on Thursday.

The UN commander said Unifil respected the privacy and property of the villagers in the south, and that problems should be resolved by discussion "not by obstructing the work of the peacekeepers or by beating them".

Tensions in southern Lebanon have increased after recent Israeli claims that weapons were flowing in to Hezbollah fighters.

Continue reading the main story
Unifil should always carry out its role... in a way so as not to arouse mistrust and worry of citizens as was the case during the latest exercises
Naim Qassem

Hezbollah leader
On Wednesday, the Israeli military published an aerial photograph purporting to show Hezbollah weapons caches in the southern Lebanese village of al-Khiam.

Following the recent clashes, Hezbollah - which fought a devastating 2006 war with Israel - urged the peacekeepers to stick to their mandate.

"Unifil should always carry out its role... in a way so as not to arouse mistrust and worry of citizens as was the case during the latest exercises," Hezbollah's number two, Naim Qassem, said in a newspaper interview.

The UN Security Council is due to meet later on Friday, at France's request, to discuss the confrontations and reaffirm the peacekeeping force's right to free movement.

The UN force was originally formed in 1978 after Israeli troops entered southern Lebanon and began a 22-year occupation.

Security Council Resolution 1701, that ended the 2006 war, expanded the mandate of Unifil and paved the way for the Lebanese army to deploy in the sensitive border area.

The relentless violence intensified Wednesday evening, with at least 41 people killed by bomb attacks in the capital, an Interior Ministry official said. Another 174 people were wounded, the official said. The vast majority of the victims were Shiite pilgrims.

In the latest attacks, which occurred despite heightened security, a roadside bomb detonated in western Baghdad Wednesday evening, killing at least six pilgrims and wounding 30 others.

Another bombing, in central Baghdad's Haifa street, wounded nine pilgrims on Wednesday evening.

A suicide bomber struck at pilgrims in northern Baghdad's predominantly Sunni Adhamiya district as they were walking toward neighboring Kadhimiya, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had gathered to mark the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Musa al-Kadhim. Twenty-eight were killed and 81 were wounded, the official said.

Two roadside bombs left at least five pilgrims dead and 36 wounded in eastern Baghdad's mostly Shiite districts of New Baghdad and al-Fudhailiya, the official said.

A roadside bomb targeting pilgrims exploded in al-Bayaa, in southeastern Baghdad, wounding at least six. In central Baghdad, another five pilgrims were wounded in a roadside bomb blast.

Earlier Wednesday, soldiers at an army checkpoint west of Baghdad fired upon a vehicle driven by a suicide attacker when he refused to stop, Interior Ministry officials told CNN. The vehicle exploded, leaving one civilian dead and four Iraqi army soldiers and police wounded. It was unclear whether the attacker detonated the bomb or if shots fired at the vehicle triggered the explosion.

In another incident, a roadside bomb targeting an army patrol exploded in the Al-Jamia neighborhood of western Baghdad, wounding three soldiers.

A bomb attached to a police officer's car went off Wednesday as he was driving in the Dora neighborhood in southern Baghdad. The officer was killed, officials said.

The attacks came a day after bombings left at least nine dead and 43 wounded. Pilgrims have been targeted since Friday.

The capital is under tight security for the pilgrimage, with many roads blocked and a ban on motorcycles and bicycles in place.

Security measures include: Vehicles to transport pilgrims; thousands of deployed troops; security cameras in and around the shrine; aerial surveillance; and 500 personnel to combat the threat of female suicide bombers.

The Kadhimiya shrine is one of the holiest to Shiite Muslims around the world. The imam died more than 1,200 years ago.

An Israeli soldier faces a manslaughter charge in the death of a Palestinian waving a white flag during a three-week incursion into Gaza, the Israeli military said Tuesday.

The criminal indictment is one of three legal actions taken by the Israeli military for incidents that occurred during Operation Cast Lead. More than 1,100 Palestinians died during the operation, which began late in 2008 and ended early in 2009. It was intended to halt the firing of missiles from Gaza into Israel.

The manslaughter charge was filed after an investigation into the shooting, the Israel Defense Forces said in a news release.

"This decision is based on evidence that the soldier, who was serving as a designated marksman, deliberately targeted an individual walking with a group of people waving a white flag without being ordered or authorized to do so," the IDF said.

Conflict between the testimonies of Palestinian witnesses and military personnel made it "impossible to make a criminal connection" between this incident and an incident described by those Palestinian witnesses in which Israeli soldiers allegedly fired at people waving white flags, the IDF said.

In another incident, a battalion commander authorized sending a Palestinian man into a house sheltering terrorists next to his own house in order to persuade them to leave, the news release said. The commander was indicted "because he deviated from authorized and appropriate IDF behavior" and ignored rules on the use of civilians in military operations, it said.

But the release did not appear to say what charges he faces, and the IDF did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking clarification.

Tuesday's news release also said a criminal investigation has been ordered into an incident in which a residence holding about 100 members of a family was struck from the air.

In a separate case, an investigation into an assertion that the Ibrahim Al-Makadma mosque had been attacked concluded that that did not happen, but that an aerial strike near the mosque had occurred.

"The aerial strike targeted a terror operative involved in the launching of rockets toward Israel who was standing outside of the mosque," the news release said. "Injuries caused to civilians inside were unintentional and caused by shrapnel that penetrated the mosque."

But the investigation concluded that the officer who ordered the attack had "failed to exercise appropriate judgment" and, as a result, will not be allowed to serve in similar positions of command.

Legal measures were deemed unnecessary, however. "The military advocate general decided that the attack did not violate international laws of warfare because the attack did not target the mosque, rather it targeted a terror operative, and when the attack was authorized, no possibility of harming civilians was identified," it said.

Israeli investigators looked into more than 150 reports and conducted nearly 50 probes of incidents during Operation Cast Lead.

Earlier this year, the Israeli military disciplined two officers -- a brigadier general and a colonel -- for allowing artillery shells to be fired into a populated area of Gaza.

But Palestinians said Israel's actions were unsatisfactory.

"I think Israel should take all responsibility for all the war crimes that it is responsible for during its unjustified war in Gaza, and what they just announced is too little too late," Palestinian spokesman Ghassan Khatib told CNN.

The IDF news release said that Israel carried out the operation after enduring eight years of rocket attacks from Gaza. Israel, it said, had "practiced a policy of restraint for a long period of time."

It accused the Palestinian movement Hamas of terrorizing the population and said the crowded urban centers of Gaza created a complex security situation.

More than 1,400 Palestinians died in Israel's incursion, according to officials in Gaza. The Israeli military said 1,166 people were killed, 60 percent of whom were "terror operatives."

The 575-page Goldstone report -- approved by the U.N. Council for Human Rights in 2009 -- accused both Israel and Hamas of "actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity" during the three-week offensive that ended in January 2009.

The report, known for its author, South African jurist Richard Goldstone, called on both Israel and Hamas to independently investigate the alleged human rights violations cited in the report.