The 575 page "Goldstone Report" on Operation Cast Lead continues to divide the international community, reports CNN. The report calls for the independent investigation of both Israel and Hamas's respective military personnel during the offensive.

According to the news site, the United Nations Human Rights Council approved a resolution endorsing the Goldstone report and has passed it on to the UN General Assembly for further consideration.

However, the report, heralded by Israel as "anti-Semitic," goes beyond the recent conflict in Gaza and condemns "Israeli violations of human rights in Occupied East Jerusalem, particularly the confiscation of lands and properties, the demolishing of houses and private properties, the construction and expansion of settlements, the continuous construction of the separation wall, changing the demographic and geographic character of East Jerusalem, as well as digging and excavation works in and around Al-Aqsa mosque and its vicinity."

The report also looks to finalize the dispute regarding the number of people killed in the offensive. The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights put the death toll at 1,419 and said 1,167 of those were "non-combatants," while the Israeli military released its own figures earlier this year, saying that 1,166 people were killed, 60 percent of whom were "terror operatives."

The strongest source of opposition comes from the military and political leaders of Israel and their allies, according to Jack Khoury of Haaretz. Khoury comments, "Israel has rejected the report as biased and the US has said it would support Israel's efforts to prevent a UN Security Council debate on the report."

Israel vehemently defended its three week offensive in Gaza, claiming that it was designed to stop Palestinians from firing rockets and mortars from Hamas-controlled areas of Gaza into Israel. Although there are some in the Israeli government who argue that an independent investigation would establish international credibility and prove the moral actions of Israel during Operation Cast Lead, many members of Israel's defense community believe otherwise.

What Israeli President Shimon Peres has called "one-sided" and "unfair," Defense Minister Ehud Barak has described as damaging, according to Ynet News. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone so far as to say that if the Goldstone report is adopted, it would deliver a "mortal blow" to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

According to Roni Sofer of Ynet News, although Russian representatives voted in favor of adopting the Goldstone report at the UN Human Rights Council meeting, "Russia has made it clear to Israel that it will oppose a Goldstone Report discussion at the United Nations Security Council or at the International Criminal Court in the Hague."

Russian Ambassador to Israel Peter Stegney stressed that Russia feels that Israel should investigate itself, stressing the importance of the peace process. The Sofer article also notes that Stegney slammed the Goldstone Report by saying "it includes statements that do not rely on the facts, but rather subjective estimations."

There was also a strong opposition to the report from the United States, Italy, Holland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Ukraine- all of which voted against it at the UN Human Rights Council meeting.

The US House of Representatives has rejected the "irredeemably biased" UN-sponsored report which says Israel committed war crimes during its military assault on the Gaza Strip, reports Al-Jazeera. On Tuesday, the House voted 344 to 36 in favor of a non-binding resolution calling on Barack Obama, the US president, to maintain his opposition to the report.

The US House vote came a day before the United Nations General Assembly was expected to debate its own resolution endorsing the findings of the Goldstone report. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the UN, criticized the Security Council for so far failing to act "in triggering the mechanism that Goldstone wanted, the investigation, the monitoring and then reporting after six months before considering moving into the ICC."

Steven Rothman, a Democratic congressman from New Jersey, told Al-Jazeera that the report was biased against Israel. He explained, "I did not read the 400 or 500 pages, but I read the executive summary designed for members of congress and other world leaders to read, and I found it terribly, terribly biased and one-sided."

The influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobbied strongly for the latest resolution and said that it "strongly applauded" the House's action on Tuesday.

In January, as Israel bombarded the Palestinian territory, the House had overwhelmingly backed a resolution "recognizing Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from Israel." Last week, South African Judge Richard Goldstone sent a letter to the US House of Representatives saying that the text of the US resolution had "factual inaccuracies and instances where information and statements are taken grossly out of context."

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas strongly opposed Israel's actions in Gaza, remarks Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban for Asharq Al-Awsat. She notes, " The endorsement of the UN Human Rights Council of the [Goldstone Report] ... demonstrates that the world has changed."

Dr. Shaaban also criticizes Israel's PR efforts to dismiss the report as a threat to the peace process and the "random accusations of anti-Semitism." She states, "It imposes a comprehensive media blackout, prevents politicians from criticizing it in public and prevents reporters from accessing the crime scene."

Others such as Ibrahim Khaishi, the Palestinian Authority's United Nations ambassador in Geneva, warned, "Our people will never forgive the international community if they leave criminals of perpetrators of crime to enjoy impunity outside the scope of justice."