tonight "worldfocus" -- israel rejects a call by the unitedations and sayst will not investigate whether its military committed war crimes during t conflict in gaza last winter. we wl interview a top israeli official. wel take you to moow whether ther are now signs that josef stalin is being rehabilitad. the granddaughr of nikita khrushch weighs in on the controversy. and it's off to rome for part two of our "signatur series," "preserving history." reoring ancient ruins is a noble goal, but whs going to pay r it? fromhe world's leading porters and analysts, here's what's hapning from around the wod. this is "wldfocus." ma possible in part by the

following funders -- major support has alsoeen provided by the peter petersonoundation, dedicated to promong fiscal responsibilitynd addressing key economic challenges cing america's future. good evening i'm daljit dhaliwal. yesterday we told you about a united natio investigation ich found that bothsrael and hamas had committedwar crimes during last winter's war in gaza. today reaction to theeport has been swift and it has been strong. united nations invtigators are now calli upon isrl and hamas to conduct their own independent inquies into the allegations. if not, the teamis recommenng that the cas be sent to an internationaar crimes tribunal.

israel has rejected that call, blasting the reporas, quote, being conceivedinsin. hamas isn't saying exactly what itlanso . toght's lead focus, john than mler of itn reports o the uproar. he filedhis report late last night. >> reporter: the searing.n. investigatn pulls no punches and accusing both sides of committi actions amountingo war cris and possibly crimes against humanity, too. the 22-day offensiv in gaza that iael called "operation cast lead" killed 10 pastinians and 13 israelis. hamas rockets from gaza nstituted indiscrimite and deliberate attacks on iaeli civilis, the u.n. fact fding mission concluded. isra, accusedf directing i mitary operation athe people ga. ofhe direct targeting and artrary killing of civilians, the wanon destrucon o

property. the former chief prosecutor from two u.n. criminal tribunal for the formerugoslavia and for rwanda led the four-man gaza investigation missio this afternoon in new yk judge richar goldsto of south africa pesented the findings of his 574-pagereport. >> there is stng evidence to establish that numerousserious violatio of international law, bo human tear and huma rights law, were coitted by israel during the military operatns in gaza. the mison concluded that actions aounting to war crimes and possibly insome respec crimes against humanity were mmitted by the israel defense force. turning to the palestinian-armed groups, there's no qution that e firing of rockets and mortars was delerate and calculated to caus loss of life and injuryto civiliansnd mage to civilian stuctures.

th mission found that these tions also amount toerious war crimes and also possib crimes against humanity. >> reporter: the bulkf the report fcusing on alleged israeli defense force violation of intertional humanitarian law. if found that the iidence and patterns o evidence in the report were the result of deliberate planning and policy decisions. threport notes that tese incidents indicate that the instructions given to the iseli forces moving into gaza prided for what it clled a low threshol for the use of lethal fire against the civilian popution. israel is accused of using paleinian civilians as hman shields and of being syematically reckless its use of whitehosphorus shells in built- areas. the effects on children who witnsed the killings and violen wod be long-laing, thu.n. mission fod. it ao found th hamas rockts

and mortar attacks which were inpable of being directed towards scificmilitary targets caused tearer the affected commities of southern israel. tonight, hamas responded the report saying thatalestinian rockets re fire in self-defense. israel did not cooperate with the u.n. investigatn. it's diissed judge goldstone's findings as one-sided whitewash >> theandate of t commison prejudges on any conclusion before annvestigation is even conducted. it alady pre-establies israel's ilt. reporter: judge goldstone commends that the u.n. secuty council calls on both israel and the gaza authority to investigate possible war crimes. if this esn't happen, he says, th situation gaza should be referr to the prosecuor of the internationalriminal court in the hague. >> itn'sonathan miller

reporting there. e united nations report has been the talk today in israel and throughoutherab world which bringss to onight's "how they see i" muchf the arab press focused on the allegations against israel while downplaying the actionof hams. today's headline in the arab ne and english lauage newspaper basedin saudi aria reads "israel committed war crimes gaza." it isn't untilater in the article that it gets to the allegaons against hamas. in rael, the report was almt unersally condemned. this headline in haaretz, on of israel's largest newspapers summed up the feelings of many israe israelis. refeing to the reaction of shon peres. it read z "peres, u.n. gaza report makes mockery of history." the united nations rert, while accusing both israelnd hamas, singledut israe for particularly harshcriticism.

the israeli government rused to coopera with the investation saying that the outcome was prejudged. joining us now for more on the israi government's pition is yosspeled,n the current nd a form general in t israeli army. welcome to "worldfocu" why won' israel iestigate at happened in gaa? >> israel investigated in many ways what happen in gaza. what we think about this report of this committee is the first time that hamasy the mandate of ts committee the first time that hamas getshe kind of legitimate organation by the mandate. secoly, in thisreport, nothing s been mepgsed about seven, eight yrs the south part of israel wasunder attack by hamas shellig, rockets. >> well, the report des single out both thesraeli government's actions a mas, but wanted to ask you very

specifically aboutthe report accusing israel of -- and it said, diberately targeting civilians and using palestinis as human shields. how do you respondo that? >> i try to respond. and i will try to do agn. israel w attacked the last ven years. theivilians along the israeli boarr in the south rt was attaed by the hamas, the palestinians seven yers. israel tied to dohe best not to escalate t situation. but in 2006 weame into a tuation that wannot allow our citizens toontinue to li such uer attack when aroup like hamas is using iaeli moral limitation that w took o ouelf not to respond many years, they are ableto do atever they want. r example, the shelng on ou citizens cming out fr palestinian hools. ey did it because theywere

sure that we would not respond. why they wer sure? because ourorallimitations. buthey push us to t rner, they ph us to the point that we have the right and e obgation to protect oselves. they act against civilns. cause they act against civilians, i'm sorry, there are also palestinian cilians hurt by us. we didn't have anothe choice. weave to protect ourself. that's an oligation of the authorities in israel through the citizens alo the border. >> what do you make ofhe findings of the report that israel has aeady said that theyelt that iwas prejudged? i mean, for our audience who doesn't understand wt prejudged ans, let's talk about that a little bi what do you mn by it being prejudge >> for exple, they should tell you at one of the member of this comttee is a british professor to iernational law. a few mohs ago, the professor,

the british ofessor, this is one of the mbers of ts mmittee said israel has no right defend theelf. now, if somebodyike that with such an opinionabout israel is a member of this committ, what do you eect uso feel through such a committee? >> buto you also understand that by not investigating, that it possibly leaves the impression that isra has somethg to hide? >> israel hasothing to hide. israel has nothin to hide. i say it vry clearly. we try. weave tried ny yea not to respond. many years. an we pay a price for it. the price is leaveur citizens, our villages alone, the southern border under the attack of hamas. when we came to the point that we ha to rpond because we have the obligation to protect our vilians, our children, we have to act.

and we act, as i said because the palestinians undersod our moral limitatn, th're attacking civili areas. that'she reason that palestinians have beenhurt. >> ssi peled,hank you very ch for joiningus on "worldfocus." thank you. want to know what you think about thecontrovers do you believe either israel, hamas or both committed war crim in last winter's war in gaza? tell us what you think by visiting the ow yo see it" section of our website at worldfocus.org. turning from theontroversy in israel to onein afghanistan, the ongoing uncertainty ov th country's presidentl election. today afghanfficials announced what they called the fal preliminary votecount. it would give president karzai nearly 55% of e vote enough fohim to win the ection outright overopposition candidate abdullah abdulla however, monitoring group i still considering what to do

about widespread aegations of fraud and could invidate enough vos to force a runoff. clos to ho, another sign that life is in se wys changingnside cu. that country will now low christian inmates t attend organized prison services. previously inmates were only allowed to rship invidually. earlier a group lan american cathic bishops had asd that inmates be allowed to celebrate mass gether. in ussia, an effort to restore a moscow strain ation ha many people concerned that the project is also trying to store the imageof former dictator josef stalin. the rtoration work includes a returnf a quote praising stalinhich was remed back in

the 1950s after his dth. millions of russia are believed tha been killed dung stalin's reign. scott ben of c australia's "lateline" progr reports is it history or heres >> reporr: busy commuters in kurskaya metro staon are being stopd in their tracks by a freshly painted name from the past. a me that still divides th nation. >>ranslator: he is a good person, a very nice pern. >> erybody knows stalin was not -- not gentleman. >> reporter: josef stalin was the oviet'seader for a quarteof acentury. this station was built durg his ule, and as part of the lash restorationf the 60-year-old buildinga line from the natiol anthem of the time has reappead in the enance hall after being removed about hlf aentury ago. "wwere raised stalin be loyal to the people," it reds "he inspir our worand heroic

deeds." i think it must be here because it's our history. >> not for rusians, not for everyone in the world. >> reporter: tho who have rked on the poject say th restoration isn'meant to be politica >> it's paying tribute and showing respe to r refathers. that's it. >> reporter: human rits groups are concerned that the restation of stalin'sname at this metrstation feeds into a broader push to reinstate h age and helpsaper ov the pain inflicted by his regi on millions of russians. >> translator: thehing is history has beco a measure of litics in russia. >> reporter: the memorial organization says it's not the metro station's face-lt but these face thatreflect stalin's era victimof his terror campaigns. th human rights organization estimates 12 million were killed, imprisoned or actively pressed during stalin'srule. memorial has rsen to moscow mayordemanding the metro

station inscription be removed immediately. >> translator: to me, itould be like installing hitler's nam in a metrostation. just outrageous and nsulting. >> rorter: the comparin between stalin and hitler was ma in july by the parliamentary sembly of the organizationor security and cooperation in europe the assembly passed a resoluti that coemned stalinism for its crim against humanity and equated itithnazi germany. that srked a backlash in moscow and added fuel to a historyebate that's been ging. president dmitry medvedev d already instituted a special commission to fight what h coiders the rewriti of history, particularly anything that downplays the soviet unios role in feating hitler'sorces. to many rsians, that's a high point in their cntry's past and remains rallying point, partularly for politiians. >>ranslator: we really must treat our history wh care, pecially in regard to those questions k4 the whole world h

already given a eque cliskal answer. reporter: the moscow helsink group has a view of the monumental stalinist buiing from her he and car memories of what the soviet leader was like. >> doelieve is the bigges criminal in all times in all nions. >> reporr: even bigger than hitl? >> he may be comred. he m be compared. >> reporter: while t travelers take i the wrds -- >> i think it's history. >> reporter: -- otrs say it's stalin's acons that shoun't be forgotteno ensurhat happened tn never returns. scott beva "latine." to talabout this issue i a bit more detail we're pleased toe joined once again by nina khrushcheva, she's the granddaughter of nikita khrushchev. yo grandfathewas the one who first condemn josef stalin,

yet 50 year on what do you mke of this continug rehabilitation of stalin? >> stalin made rsia great. he turned a peasant untry, as the legend goes, into a great industrial nation. and russians who were after '91, after the collapse of communism felt very much unappreated by everybodaround them. they felt that they wre the victimof history a all of a suen president puti came back and brought that greatne back to russia. and his predecessor was legedly josef stalin aboutp we love him for that toda >> right. and his so of enduring aeal for the arage russia woulde what? >> a i said, i men, it's all about e russian greatness. ssia is very big on its grandiose position in the world. it considers itself a serate civilizati civilizationrussians like to think of themselves this way they believe wit stalin and with puin tod, they were brought back -- theyow have the world position they rightly

they belie, deserve. >>ust recently alsandr solzheniyn's work "t gulag aripelago" has become part of the hi school curriculum in russia. at do you thinkis bend that? >> i so think that this is part of thisreat aeal of ruia's great because his history books, foexampe, aise josef stin. yocan imagine the kids coming t of the new historybooks since 2006, the kids are coming out of th history lesson learning stalin was areat manager of the soet state in the '30snd '40s and '50s. they go intohe literature class where they read about the gulags and people perisheand proseced. so i believen some ways,it actually does not create ultimately doesn'treate a culture of greatss but of a spli personality disorder. cause you really have to decide who your leaders are, whether they were murde or heroes. >> wt does that tl usbout

the mind-set of the politians and ho the united stateshould try to rlate to themin terms of resettg the reset button? >> e resetbutton, i mean, as alwaysealing wth russia, o one hand, on the otherhand, it's never a straight line. it never a linear approh becae i think the problem with th russians is that they rely haven't decided what theyare. in dostoevsky's words they haven't decide if they want beauty or progress. i think tt is aroblem in the russian approach to itself and also for the u.s. aders. soy suggestion is just to talk on ises, to deal with sepate issues rather than with a gre russia sort of cultural molith. rather than democracy, talk about democric developments in certain areas. >> all right, nina khrushcheva, thank you very mh. >> thank you.

and now to our "signature segment," part two of oureries we call "preserving history." in moscow they maye debating what qualifies as hisry,ut in rom they are debating how much history may be too much. rome, of course, is a city defined by its antiquities. places like the coliseum and the forum. but world focus secial coespondent martin seemungal reports th the cost of maintaining it all h some romans worried i could end up breaking the bank. >> reporter: from one of t seven hills ofome, it's easy to see why it's called the eternal city. in the distance runs of ancient buildis, of paces of th caesars yum. and just around the bend in the tiber river st. peter's a billick ka. then there's thepantheon with

its spectacular opulence. everywhere medieval chches and renaissanceuildings mix with modern architectu. the central part of rome today is oneig seum. it attracts millions of tourists a year. but the cost of preserving all this is astronomical. and maintenan, like the city, eternal. >> they want to finish the restorion or cleaning of one side of the monument, the alady have to start on the other sid continuous job. >> repter: it's angelo's job to make sure it gets done, but ask him ifhe's got the mey to do it. absolutely t, he says. we get some helprom the ate, but mo of the moyes from sellg tickets, and it's not engh, he says. touris do pay to t into the forum,s the center o the ancien roman empire, is a huge attraction. but st of the people who come here really do't know how lucky they are.

because the buiings around here are rough 2500 years old, it's easy to thi that it's ways looked like th. well, it hasn't. it was only about 150 years ago that these buildgs were excavated. after the fall of t roman empire, the forum was forgotten and slowly buried as the ceuries passed a the city grew. archaeologists onlytarted stripping away the layers in the 19th century. a piece o rome past glory s finally revealed but this hiory professor thinks it's a miracle svived after it was unvered. >> we ca in'69. you could drive a car near the churchross the waext to the th and you could dve a car, the llid not exist then. the road continued throu here and then around the curve and some yearsater they realized this was probablynot wise forth with the cars dring through.

reporter: the coliseum has survived thrgh the ages because it's just so enormous. hard to bury something li this even though huge chunk of it were carted off as buildi material in thbuilding ages. butany significant monuments didn't rvive. takehe story of roe's pymids. this one was built about years before the birth o christ, butfew people know the was another pyramid in rome andn even bigger one. and it was right about here. just down the road from the tican. it was destroyed in 1500 by pope alexander vi. it is says tha marble fm that pyrad is now theteps of st. peters. later popes banned the destruction of roman buildings. in rent years archaeologists have bn turning up some amazg finds. two yrs ago clemmen tooen a heteam unvered a spectacular sceptealmost certain she says from the 3rd century roman

emperor. "it's usuay something we d't expe" she says. "i've be doing this for years and years, but every timee fi something, it's an incredible emotion." but not everythi gets to b seen byhe public beuse ther simply isn't enough ney to preserve and display a the things t archaeologists are finding. more tha once she's h to cover up her work. these were originally the apartments i the winter of the vestal virginsthemselves. reporter: russell scott an ameran history professor has been digging around in the foru for over 20 ars and is ju as frustrat. >> it's surpring what you may be able to find, but then t question is can anying beone to help preser it, to treat it? and the answ here is there's no money for it. >> reporter: coving thins up agn protects watever has been

exposed from poution and the weather, but it means what you see here today is probably what yore going to getfor a lo time to come. physal reconstruction is just tooexpensive. but what about virtual reconstrucon? this is a sophisticated computer modelnd the experts say it's prettylose to what the city looked like at the height o the roman empire. me reborn 'salled and now available on google earth. so you d't just fly over the cosseum, you fly into it. >> our model includes many of the interrs of t great public buildings and certainly of the colosseum. and the chambers you s behind me. >> reporter:t is hoped that tools like at from the digital world will gerate interest and ultimately lead to more funding so that archaeologists c reveal and preserve me of the ancient wod. for "worldfocus," i martin seemungain rome.

and that is "worlocus" for this wednesday evening. don't forget to ll us wha you thk by visitingur wbsite at worldfoc.org. i'm daljit dhalil in new york. from me and the rst of the orldfocus" team, have a good night. orldfocus" team, have a good night. good-bye. -- captions by vic -- www.tac.com "worldfocus" is de possib in part by the following funds -- major supporhas also been provided by the peteg. peterson foundion, dedicated to promoting fcal responsibility and addreing key economichallenges facing erica's future.