3 sept 2009
Amnesty, HRW: US, Security Council must ensure justice is done
The six-months between now and the next UN Human Rights Council meeting must be used by Israelis and Palestinians to conduct the independent investigations into war crimes they committed, as the Goldstone report suggested, and the governments must report their progress on their inquiries to the UN Security Council, Amnesty International suggested Saturday.
Human Rights Watch echoed the call, saying US intervention to quash a vote on the report “obliges the United States and other governments blocking action at the council to press Israel and Hamas to commence credible investigations.”
The calls were precipitated by representative of Pakistan to the UN Human Rights council Zamir Akram, speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Arab group, the African group and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), requesting that discussion of the resolution on the Goldstone report - whether or not to endorse its findings - be deferred until the next session to allow more time for members to consider the contents of the fact-finding probe.
In effect, the report has been sidelined until March 2010.
Palestinians from all political walks came out and condemned the move calling it a betrayal of the more than 1,400 Gazans killed during the Israeli war, with demands for the Palestine Liberation Organization to justify their actions coming from a coalition of Palestinian human rights organizations, and strong accusations of American pressure to make the move.
US Assistant Secretary for International Organizations and representative at the UN Human Rights Council Esther Brimmer did not deny US pressure for dropping the vote on the resolution. In a news conference in Washington DC on Friday, she said the United States was “grateful that that’s the approach that was taken by the parties to the report at this point. And the parties will now continue to look at it and prepare for the next session in March.”
Asked directly how much pressure the US put on Palestine to drop the report, Brimmer said, “This was an issue for those who brought the resolution, and I’m not going to comment on views and activities of others to say that we were happy to see that the parties were working constructively at the Human Rights Council.”
In their response to the sequence of events, Amnesty highlighted the remaining possibilities to retain the spirit of the Goldstone report. “Deferral provides both the Israeli government and the Hamas de facto administration in Gaza with one last opportunity to conduct independent investigations, meeting international standards, into violations that took place during the conflict,” the organization suggested.
With that in mind the group called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon “to refer the report to the UN Security Council without delay,” so the Seurity Council can monitor the progress of the independent investigations.
"If, within the set period of six months, the Israeli Government and the Hamas administration have proved unable or unwilling to conduct credible investigations, then the Security Council should refer the situation to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court," the Amnesty statement concluded.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229449
Bereaved Gaza Strip families demand answers
Families of Gaza war victims voiced their disappointment with the Palestinian request to postpone discussion of the Goldstone report at the UN Human Rights Council.
“This is not a political issue,” they said, countering US demands leading to the quashing of the resolution that the report “be discussed in a constructive and non-divisive manner.”
In Jabaliya, the Samounis, Baloushas, Subbehs, As-Silawis, Rayyans and Abed Rabbos demanded respect for the Goldstone report, and that Israel be taken to the International Criminal Court for its actions.
“This is a purely humanitarian issue,” they insisted at a news conference in the Al-Salam neighborhood, “If Israeli leaders are not held accountable this could happen again.”
“No one has the right to give up on our rights,” one member of the Samouni family said. He had been with the over 50 Samouni men, women and children trapped in one home, who lost 26 members including 10 children and seven women over the course of just over a day on 3 January.
A member of the Rayyan family, whose patriarch Nizar Rayyan was a Hamas leader, lost Nizar’s four wives and ten children, Hayam Timraz, Nawal Kahlout, Eyman Kassab, Sherin Udwan, and ten of his children, Ghassan, Abdul-Qadir, Ayah, Maryam, Zaynab, Abdul-Rahman, Aysha, Halima, Osama and Reem who were between four and 17 years old. All 14 were killed, along with Nizar in the first days of January.
One of Nizar’s surviving children said she had been looking forward to seeing the Israeli leaders who ordered the strike on her family home put on trial for their crime.
Mr Balousha, father of the five Balousha sisters killed in the Imad Aqil Mosque where they were taking shelter on 29 December 2008, called the decision by the Palestine Liberation Organization’s delegate to the UN one that was “not in the interest of the Palestinian people.”
The Abed Rabbo family, who lost two daughters when Israeli soldiers opened fire at close range while Khalid Abed Rabbo, his wife, mother and three children left their home holding white flags. They had run out of food. A third daughter and his mother were injured in the attack. Khalid spoke at the demonstration and denounced the role of the Palestinian Authority in postponing discussion of the Goldstone report.
The family of journalist Omar As-Silawi, who was killed when his home was targeted by Israeli airstrikes, now live in a tent because there are no reconstruction supplies allowed into Gaza. A relative of Omar said "the crime committed in Gaza is the largest and the ugliest and cannot be ignored."
The Subehs, whose home was also destroyed in the war, joined the demonstration and the bereaved families stood together and demanded rights organizations intervene to “put a stop to the Palestinian leadership’s decision” and demand Israeli leaders be put on trial.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229405
Mash'al denounces Abbas over Goldstone report delay
Hamas leader in exile Khaled Mash'al on Friday denounced President Mahmoud Abbas for withdrawing support for UN investigator Richard Goldstone's report on alleged war crimes in Gaza.
"We are shocked today," he said in Damascus on Friday evening. "This is a shame … the blood of children and women in Gaza will curse those who renounced Palestinian blood."
The Hamas leader's televised address came during an event marking the Arab League's recent designation of Jerusalem as the capital of Arab culture.
While criticizing the president over the PLO's stance toward the Goldstone report, Mash'al said Hamas was nonetheless determined to achieve a reconciliation deal with his Fatah rivals who control the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.
Mash'al also congratulated the 19 women released from jail the same day in exchange for a video of captured soldier Gilad Shalit, asserting that the achievement should be attributed solely to Palestinian resistance. He said Hamas and others understood "the language" of Israeli leaders, and noted that the Islamic movement had demonstrated its ability to capture and hold prisoners for years at a time, and could do it again.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229424
PA minister: Our stance on UN report an embarrassment
The official Palestinian stance on the UN-backed Goldstone report harmed Palestinian national interests and embarrassed supporters of the Palestinian people, Minister of Social Affairs Majida Al-Masri said Saturday.
The first member of the caretaker government to speak out against the Palestine Liberation Organization move, Al-Masri called delaying discussion of the report to the March 2010 Human Rights Council meeting a move that "gave Israeli war criminals the opportunity to avoid the report's repercussions."
Al-Masri, a member of the politburo of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said the stance of the Palestinian ambassador to the UN "contradicts the Palestinian national consensus," adding that the delay had "angered friends and allies of the Palestinian people."
She called in the Palestinian leadership to "consider what happened there a lesson to avoid repeating in the future."
The DFLP leaders also accused the PLO, of which Hamas is not a member, of making a decision that "deepens Palestinian rivalry and raises questions about what motivated such a directive - as well as the decision-makers who ordered it."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229447
Gaza: UN sees rise in Israeli violence as state complains of "rockets"
After Palestinian representatives postponed discussion of the Goldstone report Friday, the Israeli delegation to the UN submitted an official complaint to the body's Security Council and secretary general over what it called "escalating rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip."
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)'s weekly Protection of Civilians Report Gaza militants “continued to fire sporadic rockets and mortar shells towards southern Israel, including military bases.” The past week saw at least two unsubstantiated Israeli announcements of projectile fire, with no damages, no injuries, and no evidence of the launch or an impact. Israeli media cited sources alleging the projectiles landed somewhere in the Negev desert.
Friday night marked the first time in five days Gaza militant factions claimed to have launched projectiles at Israeli targets, while Israeli forces have claimed projectiles have landed in the Negev four times in the same period.
Moreover, OCHA statistics for 16-29 September said Israeli violence against Gazans escalated, with five killed during the two-week period, including the injury of two children when an Israeli tank shell hit a civilian home. The report said all those killed were armed, two were near the border with Israel, and three were in a car in central Gaza when a targeted Israeli airstrike hit the vehicle. According to OCHA, "This is the first Israeli air strike targeting a militant’s car since the end of the 'Cast Lead' offensive on 18 January 2009."
The UN report also cataloged five incidents of Israeli warships firing on fishermen, and one incident where five boats were confiscated and the fishers detained.
Gazans continue to support the recommendations of the Goldstone report, which asks that the International Criminal Court investigate findings of war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by Israel in the lead-up and execution of their winter offensive.
Since the end of Israel's Operation Cast Lead, according to OCHA, "a total of 49 Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed, and 104 Palestinians and seven Israelis injured, in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza and southern Israel."
At the same time OCHA found the "weekly average of imported truckloads [to Gaza] remain below needs."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229291
PFLP slams PA for postponing Goldstone report
A spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) slammed the role of the Palestinian Authority in postponing discussion Saturday of the UN-backed Golstone report by the UN Human Rights Council.
The spokesperson described the PA decision as “irresponsible” and one that deeply harms the Palestinian struggle. He said the report exposed the nature of the Israeli occupation and its continuous violations of human rights in Palestine and that it deserved to be discussed.
In his statement, the PFLP spokesperson said the PA request to delay the Goldstone report was putting to waste what could have been a major tool in the Palestinian struggle, and in fact encourages Israel and Israeli forces to continue to practice oppression against the Palestinian people. “There are no justifications for these actions,” a statement said.
When probed for a rationale PA sources said they wanted “unanimity” in the Human Rights Council on the report, and noted discussion on the matter would have a negative influence on the peace negotiations. According to the PFLP, the move is evidence that the “PA is yielding to US and Israeli directives.”
On Friday Hamas spokesman Taher An-Nunu in Gaza said the PA had asked Pakistan to call for a deferral on the Goldstone report. He called PA conduct a “betrayal of the Palestinians and of the blood of those killed.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229340
Badil demands PLO justify call to postpone action on Goldstone report
The Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights demanded an explanation from the PLO’s Executive Committee over the Palestinian stance on the UN-mandated Goldstone report.
A statement from the center, released Saturday, described the Palestinian stance as a “stunning blow” to the report which is called an “international achievement.”
The Palestinian stance, according to Badil statement, is against the interests of Palestinian victims and against the higher Palestinian interest as well as efforts to incriminate Israel for its illegal actions. The Goldstone report represented a viable chance to take legal procedures against Israeli decision-makers who were responsible for the war crimes in Gaza, it said.
The statement called for the formation of a Palestinian national committee to coordinate between the PLO and Palestinian human rights groups so they could play a more efficient role in the prosecution of Israeli crimes.
Badil lamented that the Palestinian response to the Goldstone report coincided with a noticeable improvement in the UN’s performance vis-à-vis the Palestinian situation.
“The PA is abandoning a golden opportunity to get the UN Human Rights Council, the UN General Assembly, and the UN Security Council along with the US and the EU to stick to their responsibilities of treating Palestinian victims justly against Israeli criminal acts,” it said.
Badil refuted the justifications the PLO gave describing them as “pulling wool over the eyes.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229384
Palestinian rights orgs: 'Justice delayed is justice denied'
A number of prominent Palestinian human rights organizations prepared a joint statement they intended to read at the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday.
However, that was before the Palestine Liberation Organization's decision to postpone debate denied them that right, they insisted, while 14 of them issued a separate statement the next day.
The following is a joint recommendation from Palestine's human rights community that Israel and Hamas be dragged in front of the International Criminal Court for war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza.
On 2 October 2009, the Palestinian leadership – under heavy international pressure lead by the United States – deferred the draft proposal at the Human Rights Council endorsing all the recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission (the Goldstone Report). This deferral denies the Palestinian peoples’ right to an effective judicial remedy and the equal protection of the law. It represents the triumph of politics over human rights. It is an insult to all victims and a rejection of their rights.
The crimes documented in the report of the UN Fact Finding Mission represent the most serious violations of international law; Justice Goldstone concluded that there was evidence to indicate that crimes against humanity may have been committed in the Gaza Strip. Violations of international law continue to this day, inter alia, through the continuing Israeli-imposed illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. The findings of the Mission confirmed earlier investigations conducted by independent Palestinian, Israeli and international organizations.
The injustice that has now been brought upon Palestinians has been brought upon everyone on this globe. International human rights and humanitarian law are not subject to discrimination, they are not dependent on nationality, religion, or political affiliation. International human rights and humanitarian law apply universally to all human beings.
The rule of law is intended to protect individuals, to guarantee their fundamental rights. Yet, if the rule of law is to be respected it must be enforced. World history, and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land has shown us that as long as impunity persists, the law will continue to be violated; innocent civilians will continue to suffer the horrific consequences.
Justice delayed is justice denied. All victims have a legitimate right to an effective judicial remedy, and the equal protection of the law. These rights are universal: they are not subject to political considerations. In the nine months since Operation Cast Lead, no effective judicial investigations have been conducted into the conflict. Impunity prevails. In such situations, international law demands recourse to international judicial mechanisms. Victims’ rights must be upheld. Those responsible must be held to account.
The belief that accountability and the rule of law can be brushed aside in the pursuit of peace is misguided. History has taught us time and time again, that sustainable peace can only be built on human rights, on justice, and the rule of law. For many years in Palestine international law, and the rule of law, has been sacrificed in the name of politics, and cast aside in favor of the peace process. This approach has been tried, and it has failed: the occupation has been solidified, illegal settlements have continued to expand, the right to self determination has been denied; innocent civilians suffer the horrific consequences. It is now time to pursue justice, and a peace built on a foundation of human rights, dignity, and the rule of law. In Justice Goldstone’s words, there is no peace without justice.
The justifications given by the Palestinian leadership regarding the decision to defer are inappropriate. Consensus is not required, the United Nations system works on a majority basis. Since the beginning of the UN, and over the course of the Israeli occupation begun in 1967, consensus has rarely been acquired. The UN was established to represent the will of the nations of the world; it is inevitable that there will be dissent and disagreement. Decisions must rest on the will of the majority.
As human rights organizations we strongly condemn the Palestinian leaderships’ decision to defer the proposal endorsing all the recommendations of the Fact Finding Mission, and the pressure exerted by certain members of the international community. Such pressure is in conflict with States international obligations, and is an insult to the Palestinian people.
As human rights and civil society organizations concerned with rights and justice, we declare that we will double our efforts to seek justice for the victims of the violations of human rights and international law in Palestine without delay.
Signatories: Adalah, Addameer, Aldameer, Al Haq, Al Mezan, Arab Association for Human Rights, Badil, Civic Coalition for Jerusalem, DCI-Palestine, ENSAN Centre, ITTJIAH, Independent Commission for Human Rights, Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Ramallah Centre for Human Rights Studies, and the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229398
Five factions meet in Gaza over future of UN report
Five Palestinian factions held a meeting in Gaza to discuss ways to leaders can push forward the recommendations of the Goldstone report for investigations of alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Called to order by Islamic Jihad, the factions, including Hamas, the DFLP, the PFLP and the PPP, collectively expressed their condemnation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) decision to have debate over the report quashed at the UN Human Rights Committee on Friday.
Daoud Shehab of Islamic Jihad said parties set a committee to find ways that would see a continued “pursuit of Israeli war criminals.” He said delegates decided to hold an expanded meeting next week to “determine how Palestinians seeking justice for the crimes committed in Gaza can proceed.”
The delegations were composed of the following members:
Islamic Jihad
Mohammad Al-Hindi
Khaled Al-Batsh
Daud Shehab
Hamas
Jamal Abu Hashem
Ayman Taha
PFLP
Rabah Muhana
Kayed Al-Ghoul
DFLP
Saleh Naser
Mahmoud Khalef
PPP
Tal’at As-Safadi
Walid Al-A’wad
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229484
PA minister 'resigns in protest of UN move'
The Palestinian Authority minister of national economy, Dr Bassem Khoury, on Saturday refused to confirm or deny reports he was planning to resign over the PA's involvement in a controversial move carried out by the PLO's ambassador to the UN.
The Paris-based news agency AFP quoted an anonymous official close to the minister as saying that Khoury "has resigned to protest the Palestinian Authority's agreement not to discuss the Goldstone report [at the UN on Friday]."
However Khoury, a political independent, would not speculate on his future in government when pressed during a telephone interview with Ma'an late Saturday evening.
Bowing to pressure from the West on Friday, the Palestine Liberation Organization's ambassador to Geneva delayed until March a vote at the Human Rights Council that would have confirmed South African justice Richard Goldstone's comprehensive report, which found evidence that Israel and several Palestinian factions committed war crimes during the assault on Gaza last winter.
Khoury would be the second minister to resign since caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's government was formed earlier this year. Hatem Abdul Qader, the former PA minister of Jerusalem affairs, stepped down in July over what he called the PA's failure to help East Jerusalem residents facing Israeli home demolitions and efforts to strip them of residency.
In any event, the economy chief would not be the first PA official to register his or her outrage on Saturday.
Hours before reports surfaced on Khoury's resignation, Majida Al-Masri, the PA social affairs minister, said the government's position at the UN had harmed national interests and embarrassed Palestine's allies. The first caretaker minister to speak out against the move, she said the delay "gave Israeli war criminals the opportunity to avoid the report's repercussions."
Al-Masri, a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine's political office, said the PLO ambassador's move "contradicts the Palestinian national consensus," adding that the delay had "angered friends and allies of the Palestinian people." She urged the leadership to "consider what happened there a lesson to avoid repeating in the future."
Meanwhile, the DFLP also said the PLO had made a terrible mistake that "deepens Palestinian rivalry and raises questions about what motivated such a directive - as well as the decision-makers who ordered it."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229521
Amnesty, HRW: US, Security Council must ensure justice is done
The six-months between now and the next UN Human Rights Council meeting must be used by Israelis and Palestinians to conduct the independent investigations into war crimes they committed, as the Goldstone report suggested, and the governments must report their progress on their inquiries to the UN Security Council, Amnesty International suggested Saturday.
Human Rights Watch echoed the call, saying US intervention to quash a vote on the report “obliges the United States and other governments blocking action at the council to press Israel and Hamas to commence credible investigations.”
The calls were precipitated by representative of Pakistan to the UN Human Rights council Zamir Akram, speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Arab group, the African group and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), requesting that discussion of the resolution on the Goldstone report - whether or not to endorse its findings - be deferred until the next session to allow more time for members to consider the contents of the fact-finding probe.
In effect, the report has been sidelined until March 2010.
Palestinians from all political walks came out and condemned the move calling it a betrayal of the more than 1,400 Gazans killed during the Israeli war, with demands for the Palestine Liberation Organization to justify their actions coming from a coalition of Palestinian human rights organizations, and strong accusations of American pressure to make the move.
US Assistant Secretary for International Organizations and representative at the UN Human Rights Council Esther Brimmer did not deny US pressure for dropping the vote on the resolution. In a news conference in Washington DC on Friday, she said the United States was “grateful that that’s the approach that was taken by the parties to the report at this point. And the parties will now continue to look at it and prepare for the next session in March.”
Asked directly how much pressure the US put on Palestine to drop the report, Brimmer said, “This was an issue for those who brought the resolution, and I’m not going to comment on views and activities of others to say that we were happy to see that the parties were working constructively at the Human Rights Council.”
In their response to the sequence of events, Amnesty highlighted the remaining possibilities to retain the spirit of the Goldstone report. “Deferral provides both the Israeli government and the Hamas de facto administration in Gaza with one last opportunity to conduct independent investigations, meeting international standards, into violations that took place during the conflict,” the organization suggested.
With that in mind the group called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon “to refer the report to the UN Security Council without delay,” so the Seurity Council can monitor the progress of the independent investigations.
"If, within the set period of six months, the Israeli Government and the Hamas administration have proved unable or unwilling to conduct credible investigations, then the Security Council should refer the situation to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court," the Amnesty statement concluded.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229449
Bereaved Gaza Strip families demand answers
Families of Gaza war victims voiced their disappointment with the Palestinian request to postpone discussion of the Goldstone report at the UN Human Rights Council.
“This is not a political issue,” they said, countering US demands leading to the quashing of the resolution that the report “be discussed in a constructive and non-divisive manner.”
In Jabaliya, the Samounis, Baloushas, Subbehs, As-Silawis, Rayyans and Abed Rabbos demanded respect for the Goldstone report, and that Israel be taken to the International Criminal Court for its actions.
“This is a purely humanitarian issue,” they insisted at a news conference in the Al-Salam neighborhood, “If Israeli leaders are not held accountable this could happen again.”
“No one has the right to give up on our rights,” one member of the Samouni family said. He had been with the over 50 Samouni men, women and children trapped in one home, who lost 26 members including 10 children and seven women over the course of just over a day on 3 January.
A member of the Rayyan family, whose patriarch Nizar Rayyan was a Hamas leader, lost Nizar’s four wives and ten children, Hayam Timraz, Nawal Kahlout, Eyman Kassab, Sherin Udwan, and ten of his children, Ghassan, Abdul-Qadir, Ayah, Maryam, Zaynab, Abdul-Rahman, Aysha, Halima, Osama and Reem who were between four and 17 years old. All 14 were killed, along with Nizar in the first days of January.
One of Nizar’s surviving children said she had been looking forward to seeing the Israeli leaders who ordered the strike on her family home put on trial for their crime.
Mr Balousha, father of the five Balousha sisters killed in the Imad Aqil Mosque where they were taking shelter on 29 December 2008, called the decision by the Palestine Liberation Organization’s delegate to the UN one that was “not in the interest of the Palestinian people.”
The Abed Rabbo family, who lost two daughters when Israeli soldiers opened fire at close range while Khalid Abed Rabbo, his wife, mother and three children left their home holding white flags. They had run out of food. A third daughter and his mother were injured in the attack. Khalid spoke at the demonstration and denounced the role of the Palestinian Authority in postponing discussion of the Goldstone report.
The family of journalist Omar As-Silawi, who was killed when his home was targeted by Israeli airstrikes, now live in a tent because there are no reconstruction supplies allowed into Gaza. A relative of Omar said "the crime committed in Gaza is the largest and the ugliest and cannot be ignored."
The Subehs, whose home was also destroyed in the war, joined the demonstration and the bereaved families stood together and demanded rights organizations intervene to “put a stop to the Palestinian leadership’s decision” and demand Israeli leaders be put on trial.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229405
Mash'al denounces Abbas over Goldstone report delay
Hamas leader in exile Khaled Mash'al on Friday denounced President Mahmoud Abbas for withdrawing support for UN investigator Richard Goldstone's report on alleged war crimes in Gaza.
"We are shocked today," he said in Damascus on Friday evening. "This is a shame … the blood of children and women in Gaza will curse those who renounced Palestinian blood."
The Hamas leader's televised address came during an event marking the Arab League's recent designation of Jerusalem as the capital of Arab culture.
While criticizing the president over the PLO's stance toward the Goldstone report, Mash'al said Hamas was nonetheless determined to achieve a reconciliation deal with his Fatah rivals who control the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.
Mash'al also congratulated the 19 women released from jail the same day in exchange for a video of captured soldier Gilad Shalit, asserting that the achievement should be attributed solely to Palestinian resistance. He said Hamas and others understood "the language" of Israeli leaders, and noted that the Islamic movement had demonstrated its ability to capture and hold prisoners for years at a time, and could do it again.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229424
PA minister: Our stance on UN report an embarrassment
The official Palestinian stance on the UN-backed Goldstone report harmed Palestinian national interests and embarrassed supporters of the Palestinian people, Minister of Social Affairs Majida Al-Masri said Saturday.
The first member of the caretaker government to speak out against the Palestine Liberation Organization move, Al-Masri called delaying discussion of the report to the March 2010 Human Rights Council meeting a move that "gave Israeli war criminals the opportunity to avoid the report's repercussions."
Al-Masri, a member of the politburo of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said the stance of the Palestinian ambassador to the UN "contradicts the Palestinian national consensus," adding that the delay had "angered friends and allies of the Palestinian people."
She called in the Palestinian leadership to "consider what happened there a lesson to avoid repeating in the future."
The DFLP leaders also accused the PLO, of which Hamas is not a member, of making a decision that "deepens Palestinian rivalry and raises questions about what motivated such a directive - as well as the decision-makers who ordered it."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229447
Gaza: UN sees rise in Israeli violence as state complains of "rockets"
After Palestinian representatives postponed discussion of the Goldstone report Friday, the Israeli delegation to the UN submitted an official complaint to the body's Security Council and secretary general over what it called "escalating rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip."
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)'s weekly Protection of Civilians Report Gaza militants “continued to fire sporadic rockets and mortar shells towards southern Israel, including military bases.” The past week saw at least two unsubstantiated Israeli announcements of projectile fire, with no damages, no injuries, and no evidence of the launch or an impact. Israeli media cited sources alleging the projectiles landed somewhere in the Negev desert.
Friday night marked the first time in five days Gaza militant factions claimed to have launched projectiles at Israeli targets, while Israeli forces have claimed projectiles have landed in the Negev four times in the same period.
Moreover, OCHA statistics for 16-29 September said Israeli violence against Gazans escalated, with five killed during the two-week period, including the injury of two children when an Israeli tank shell hit a civilian home. The report said all those killed were armed, two were near the border with Israel, and three were in a car in central Gaza when a targeted Israeli airstrike hit the vehicle. According to OCHA, "This is the first Israeli air strike targeting a militant’s car since the end of the 'Cast Lead' offensive on 18 January 2009."
The UN report also cataloged five incidents of Israeli warships firing on fishermen, and one incident where five boats were confiscated and the fishers detained.
Gazans continue to support the recommendations of the Goldstone report, which asks that the International Criminal Court investigate findings of war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by Israel in the lead-up and execution of their winter offensive.
Since the end of Israel's Operation Cast Lead, according to OCHA, "a total of 49 Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed, and 104 Palestinians and seven Israelis injured, in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza and southern Israel."
At the same time OCHA found the "weekly average of imported truckloads [to Gaza] remain below needs."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229291
PFLP slams PA for postponing Goldstone report
A spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) slammed the role of the Palestinian Authority in postponing discussion Saturday of the UN-backed Golstone report by the UN Human Rights Council.
The spokesperson described the PA decision as “irresponsible” and one that deeply harms the Palestinian struggle. He said the report exposed the nature of the Israeli occupation and its continuous violations of human rights in Palestine and that it deserved to be discussed.
In his statement, the PFLP spokesperson said the PA request to delay the Goldstone report was putting to waste what could have been a major tool in the Palestinian struggle, and in fact encourages Israel and Israeli forces to continue to practice oppression against the Palestinian people. “There are no justifications for these actions,” a statement said.
When probed for a rationale PA sources said they wanted “unanimity” in the Human Rights Council on the report, and noted discussion on the matter would have a negative influence on the peace negotiations. According to the PFLP, the move is evidence that the “PA is yielding to US and Israeli directives.”
On Friday Hamas spokesman Taher An-Nunu in Gaza said the PA had asked Pakistan to call for a deferral on the Goldstone report. He called PA conduct a “betrayal of the Palestinians and of the blood of those killed.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229340
Badil demands PLO justify call to postpone action on Goldstone report
The Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights demanded an explanation from the PLO’s Executive Committee over the Palestinian stance on the UN-mandated Goldstone report.
A statement from the center, released Saturday, described the Palestinian stance as a “stunning blow” to the report which is called an “international achievement.”
The Palestinian stance, according to Badil statement, is against the interests of Palestinian victims and against the higher Palestinian interest as well as efforts to incriminate Israel for its illegal actions. The Goldstone report represented a viable chance to take legal procedures against Israeli decision-makers who were responsible for the war crimes in Gaza, it said.
The statement called for the formation of a Palestinian national committee to coordinate between the PLO and Palestinian human rights groups so they could play a more efficient role in the prosecution of Israeli crimes.
Badil lamented that the Palestinian response to the Goldstone report coincided with a noticeable improvement in the UN’s performance vis-à-vis the Palestinian situation.
“The PA is abandoning a golden opportunity to get the UN Human Rights Council, the UN General Assembly, and the UN Security Council along with the US and the EU to stick to their responsibilities of treating Palestinian victims justly against Israeli criminal acts,” it said.
Badil refuted the justifications the PLO gave describing them as “pulling wool over the eyes.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229384
Palestinian rights orgs: 'Justice delayed is justice denied'
A number of prominent Palestinian human rights organizations prepared a joint statement they intended to read at the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday.
However, that was before the Palestine Liberation Organization's decision to postpone debate denied them that right, they insisted, while 14 of them issued a separate statement the next day.
The following is a joint recommendation from Palestine's human rights community that Israel and Hamas be dragged in front of the International Criminal Court for war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza.
On 2 October 2009, the Palestinian leadership – under heavy international pressure lead by the United States – deferred the draft proposal at the Human Rights Council endorsing all the recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission (the Goldstone Report). This deferral denies the Palestinian peoples’ right to an effective judicial remedy and the equal protection of the law. It represents the triumph of politics over human rights. It is an insult to all victims and a rejection of their rights.
The crimes documented in the report of the UN Fact Finding Mission represent the most serious violations of international law; Justice Goldstone concluded that there was evidence to indicate that crimes against humanity may have been committed in the Gaza Strip. Violations of international law continue to this day, inter alia, through the continuing Israeli-imposed illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. The findings of the Mission confirmed earlier investigations conducted by independent Palestinian, Israeli and international organizations.
The injustice that has now been brought upon Palestinians has been brought upon everyone on this globe. International human rights and humanitarian law are not subject to discrimination, they are not dependent on nationality, religion, or political affiliation. International human rights and humanitarian law apply universally to all human beings.
The rule of law is intended to protect individuals, to guarantee their fundamental rights. Yet, if the rule of law is to be respected it must be enforced. World history, and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land has shown us that as long as impunity persists, the law will continue to be violated; innocent civilians will continue to suffer the horrific consequences.
Justice delayed is justice denied. All victims have a legitimate right to an effective judicial remedy, and the equal protection of the law. These rights are universal: they are not subject to political considerations. In the nine months since Operation Cast Lead, no effective judicial investigations have been conducted into the conflict. Impunity prevails. In such situations, international law demands recourse to international judicial mechanisms. Victims’ rights must be upheld. Those responsible must be held to account.
The belief that accountability and the rule of law can be brushed aside in the pursuit of peace is misguided. History has taught us time and time again, that sustainable peace can only be built on human rights, on justice, and the rule of law. For many years in Palestine international law, and the rule of law, has been sacrificed in the name of politics, and cast aside in favor of the peace process. This approach has been tried, and it has failed: the occupation has been solidified, illegal settlements have continued to expand, the right to self determination has been denied; innocent civilians suffer the horrific consequences. It is now time to pursue justice, and a peace built on a foundation of human rights, dignity, and the rule of law. In Justice Goldstone’s words, there is no peace without justice.
The justifications given by the Palestinian leadership regarding the decision to defer are inappropriate. Consensus is not required, the United Nations system works on a majority basis. Since the beginning of the UN, and over the course of the Israeli occupation begun in 1967, consensus has rarely been acquired. The UN was established to represent the will of the nations of the world; it is inevitable that there will be dissent and disagreement. Decisions must rest on the will of the majority.
As human rights organizations we strongly condemn the Palestinian leaderships’ decision to defer the proposal endorsing all the recommendations of the Fact Finding Mission, and the pressure exerted by certain members of the international community. Such pressure is in conflict with States international obligations, and is an insult to the Palestinian people.
As human rights and civil society organizations concerned with rights and justice, we declare that we will double our efforts to seek justice for the victims of the violations of human rights and international law in Palestine without delay.
Signatories: Adalah, Addameer, Aldameer, Al Haq, Al Mezan, Arab Association for Human Rights, Badil, Civic Coalition for Jerusalem, DCI-Palestine, ENSAN Centre, ITTJIAH, Independent Commission for Human Rights, Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Ramallah Centre for Human Rights Studies, and the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229398
Five factions meet in Gaza over future of UN report
Five Palestinian factions held a meeting in Gaza to discuss ways to leaders can push forward the recommendations of the Goldstone report for investigations of alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Called to order by Islamic Jihad, the factions, including Hamas, the DFLP, the PFLP and the PPP, collectively expressed their condemnation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) decision to have debate over the report quashed at the UN Human Rights Committee on Friday.
Daoud Shehab of Islamic Jihad said parties set a committee to find ways that would see a continued “pursuit of Israeli war criminals.” He said delegates decided to hold an expanded meeting next week to “determine how Palestinians seeking justice for the crimes committed in Gaza can proceed.”
The delegations were composed of the following members:
Islamic Jihad
Mohammad Al-Hindi
Khaled Al-Batsh
Daud Shehab
Hamas
Jamal Abu Hashem
Ayman Taha
PFLP
Rabah Muhana
Kayed Al-Ghoul
DFLP
Saleh Naser
Mahmoud Khalef
PPP
Tal’at As-Safadi
Walid Al-A’wad
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229484
PA minister 'resigns in protest of UN move'
The Palestinian Authority minister of national economy, Dr Bassem Khoury, on Saturday refused to confirm or deny reports he was planning to resign over the PA's involvement in a controversial move carried out by the PLO's ambassador to the UN.
The Paris-based news agency AFP quoted an anonymous official close to the minister as saying that Khoury "has resigned to protest the Palestinian Authority's agreement not to discuss the Goldstone report [at the UN on Friday]."
However Khoury, a political independent, would not speculate on his future in government when pressed during a telephone interview with Ma'an late Saturday evening.
Bowing to pressure from the West on Friday, the Palestine Liberation Organization's ambassador to Geneva delayed until March a vote at the Human Rights Council that would have confirmed South African justice Richard Goldstone's comprehensive report, which found evidence that Israel and several Palestinian factions committed war crimes during the assault on Gaza last winter.
Khoury would be the second minister to resign since caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's government was formed earlier this year. Hatem Abdul Qader, the former PA minister of Jerusalem affairs, stepped down in July over what he called the PA's failure to help East Jerusalem residents facing Israeli home demolitions and efforts to strip them of residency.
In any event, the economy chief would not be the first PA official to register his or her outrage on Saturday.
Hours before reports surfaced on Khoury's resignation, Majida Al-Masri, the PA social affairs minister, said the government's position at the UN had harmed national interests and embarrassed Palestine's allies. The first caretaker minister to speak out against the move, she said the delay "gave Israeli war criminals the opportunity to avoid the report's repercussions."
Al-Masri, a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine's political office, said the PLO ambassador's move "contradicts the Palestinian national consensus," adding that the delay had "angered friends and allies of the Palestinian people." She urged the leadership to "consider what happened there a lesson to avoid repeating in the future."
Meanwhile, the DFLP also said the PLO had made a terrible mistake that "deepens Palestinian rivalry and raises questions about what motivated such a directive - as well as the decision-makers who ordered it."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229521
