TEL AVIV, October 1, 2009 (WAFA)- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nixed the idea of setting up an inquiry committee into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip as a means of dealing with the Goldstone Commission's report, daily Haaretz said.

Goldstone report, submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, accuses Israel of war crimes during their three-week conflict in Gaza in January and recommends that both be referred to the International Criminal Court for prosecution unless they carry out in-house investigations that the UN deems adequate within six months. The council is slated to vote on the matter tomorrow.

Haaretz mentioned that various prominent Israelis have therefore argued that the only way to quash the report is to set up an inquiry commission headed by an internationally respected jurist like former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak.

Haaretz added that Netanyahu, who held two meetings on the subject on Wednesday, believes a more effective way of blocking the report would be to make it clear to the international community that referral to the ICC would sound the death knell of the peace process.

In contrast, Israeli Foreign Ministry sources said Israeli representatives overseas have been flooded with messages from friendly governments urging the establishment of an inquiry commission as the best way to block the report.

The Israeli Army minister's office said the government will therefore try to find some kind of compromise mechanism, headed by a senior legal figure such as Aharon Barak that would show the international community Israel has stepped up its efforts to investigate the allegations.

From Israel's perspective, the best decision the Human Rights Council could make is to continue dealing with the matter itself, while the worst would be referral to either the General Assembly or the Security Council, and thence, perhaps, the ICC, Haaretz said.

“Netanyahu warned that referral to the ICC would deal a mortal blow to the peace process - as well as to democratic states' ability to fight terror.” Haaretz  added, “the report undermines the UN itself by gutting the legitimate right of self-defense. And if this approach is authorized against Israel, it will ultimately be used against other nations, too, he warned. Hence anyone who cares about peace must block the Goldstone report, he said”