7 oct 2009
UN Security Council to hold debate on Goldstone report
The United Nations Security Council will hold a closed-door debate on Wednesday on a report detailing allegations of war crimes committed during Israel’s winter war on Gaza.
Diplomats told reporters that the meeting will take place after Libya, which holds one of the rotating seats on the 15-member council, requested a full debate on Judge Richard Goldstone’s investigation into the Israeli offensive on Gaza.
The Palestinian Mission to the UN in New York reportedly issued a press release saying it fully supported the Libyan request.
The United Nations Human Rights Council had been set to vote on the 574-page report on Friday until the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) envoy withdrew a motion endorsing the report, allegedly under pressure from the United States.
The withdrawal of the motion meant that the Human Rights Council would delay a vote until March. The decision to delay the report has sparked a political crisis in Palestine, threatening the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Abbas and his circle of advisors.
A spokesperson for Libya's UN mission, Ahmed Gebreel, told Reuters that his country had requested a meeting "because of the seriousness of the report and because we think it's too long to wait until March."
If the Security Council meeting ends without a vote, or with a resolution being vetoed by the US, Libya could bring the issue to the General Assembly, of which it holds the rotating presidency.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230347
UN Security Council to hold debate on Goldstone report
The United Nations Security Council will hold a closed-door debate on Wednesday on a report detailing allegations of war crimes committed during Israel’s winter war on Gaza.
Diplomats told reporters that the meeting will take place after Libya, which holds one of the rotating seats on the 15-member council, requested a full debate on Judge Richard Goldstone’s investigation into the Israeli offensive on Gaza.
The Palestinian Mission to the UN in New York reportedly issued a press release saying it fully supported the Libyan request.
The United Nations Human Rights Council had been set to vote on the 574-page report on Friday until the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) envoy withdrew a motion endorsing the report, allegedly under pressure from the United States.
The withdrawal of the motion meant that the Human Rights Council would delay a vote until March. The decision to delay the report has sparked a political crisis in Palestine, threatening the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Abbas and his circle of advisors.
A spokesperson for Libya's UN mission, Ahmed Gebreel, told Reuters that his country had requested a meeting "because of the seriousness of the report and because we think it's too long to wait until March."
If the Security Council meeting ends without a vote, or with a resolution being vetoed by the US, Libya could bring the issue to the General Assembly, of which it holds the rotating presidency.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230347
6 oct 2009
Moshe Ya'alon
Israel's vice premier, Moshe Ya'alon, recently cancelled a scheduled trip to the United Kingdom over fears he would be arrested there, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Monday.
In the past, human rights organizations have sought legal action on behalf of 14 civilians who were killed in a strike Ya'alon ordered while he was the Israeli military's chief of staff from 2002 until 2005, according to the paper.
The vice premier was expected to attend a fundraising dinner for an organization supporting British "lone soldiers," foreign immigrants conscripted in Israel's army while migrating via the country's race-based "Law of Return."
The Haaretz report said Ya'alon cancelled his plans when the Israeli Foreign Ministry's legal team warned him that a British court could order his arrest over the civilian deaths, which came during the assassination of Hamas militant leader Salah Shehade.
In July 2002, Israel's air force dropped a one-ton bomb on the Hamas official's home, killing Shehade, his wife, and all nine of his children. At least 50 other Palestinians in the surrounding area were injured.
Ya'alon blamed his predicament partly on South African justice Richard Goldstone, the paper said.
"This is a campaign whose goal is to delegitimize the state - first via the suits that have already been filed against senior officers over the Salah Shehadeh incident, and then in legal efforts to use the Goldstone report to harm those involved in Operation Cast Lead," Haaretz quoted the vice prime minister as saying, using Israel's name for the winter assault on Gaza.
Ya'alon added that he had been avoiding Britain for years, in light of legal advice, according to the report.
Israel's current defense minister escaped arrest last Wednesday when a London judge ruled he held diplomatic immunity. Ehud Barak was in Britain when a petition was brought forth by lawyers working on behalf of dozens of families who were victims of what were called Israel's "devastating military attacks which breached international law during Operation Cast Lead."
London law firms filed a petition at the city of Westminster's magistrate court to issue a warrant for Barak's arrest under the UK Geneva Conventions Act of 1957, which gives courts in England and Wales universal jurisdiction in war crimes cases. Under the terms of the act, the UK is "under a positive duty" to bring to court those who have allegedly committed war crimes.
Palestinian human rights groups Al-Mezan and Al-Haq expressed regret over the ruling, saying in a statement, "[I]ndividuals who commit or order the perpetration of war crimes must be held accountable."
In 2005, UK authorities failed to arrest Doron Almog, an Israeli army general, when he landed at London’s Heathrow airport, in spite of an outstanding arrest warrant. Almog was allowed to stay on his plane after apparently being informed that he could face arrest, and was allowed to return to Israel without incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229833
Israel's vice premier, Moshe Ya'alon, recently cancelled a scheduled trip to the United Kingdom over fears he would be arrested there, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Monday.
In the past, human rights organizations have sought legal action on behalf of 14 civilians who were killed in a strike Ya'alon ordered while he was the Israeli military's chief of staff from 2002 until 2005, according to the paper.
The vice premier was expected to attend a fundraising dinner for an organization supporting British "lone soldiers," foreign immigrants conscripted in Israel's army while migrating via the country's race-based "Law of Return."
The Haaretz report said Ya'alon cancelled his plans when the Israeli Foreign Ministry's legal team warned him that a British court could order his arrest over the civilian deaths, which came during the assassination of Hamas militant leader Salah Shehade.
In July 2002, Israel's air force dropped a one-ton bomb on the Hamas official's home, killing Shehade, his wife, and all nine of his children. At least 50 other Palestinians in the surrounding area were injured.
Ya'alon blamed his predicament partly on South African justice Richard Goldstone, the paper said.
"This is a campaign whose goal is to delegitimize the state - first via the suits that have already been filed against senior officers over the Salah Shehadeh incident, and then in legal efforts to use the Goldstone report to harm those involved in Operation Cast Lead," Haaretz quoted the vice prime minister as saying, using Israel's name for the winter assault on Gaza.
Ya'alon added that he had been avoiding Britain for years, in light of legal advice, according to the report.
Israel's current defense minister escaped arrest last Wednesday when a London judge ruled he held diplomatic immunity. Ehud Barak was in Britain when a petition was brought forth by lawyers working on behalf of dozens of families who were victims of what were called Israel's "devastating military attacks which breached international law during Operation Cast Lead."
London law firms filed a petition at the city of Westminster's magistrate court to issue a warrant for Barak's arrest under the UK Geneva Conventions Act of 1957, which gives courts in England and Wales universal jurisdiction in war crimes cases. Under the terms of the act, the UK is "under a positive duty" to bring to court those who have allegedly committed war crimes.
Palestinian human rights groups Al-Mezan and Al-Haq expressed regret over the ruling, saying in a statement, "[I]ndividuals who commit or order the perpetration of war crimes must be held accountable."
In 2005, UK authorities failed to arrest Doron Almog, an Israeli army general, when he landed at London’s Heathrow airport, in spite of an outstanding arrest warrant. Almog was allowed to stay on his plane after apparently being informed that he could face arrest, and was allowed to return to Israel without incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229833
US denies it pressured Abbas to delay UN action on Gaza
The United States denied reports on Monday that it pressured President Mahmoud Abbas to allow the United Nations to delay action to bring alleged Israeli war criminals to justice.
At the daily State Department press briefing on Monday, spokesperson Ian Kelly was asked about reports that US officials demanded that Abbas ask the UN Human Rights Council to delay a vote the report of investigator Richard Goldstone.
“I don’t know if I would accept your characterization of pressuring,” Kelly responded. “I think that we recognized that we had serious concerns with the recommendations and some of the allegations.”
Goldstone’s report called for Israeli and Palestinian officials to be investigated and prosecuted for alleged war crimes committed during Israel’s three-week assault on Gaza last winter. The delay of international action on the report has caused a wave of public outrage at Abbas and the Palestinian Authority.
Kelly said that he felt that Israel’s own investigations would be sufficient, presumably making international action unnecessary: “We felt very strongly that while these investigations should be investigated and addressed, that we thought on the one hand that Israel had the kind of institutions that could address these allegations. And of course, we urged Israel to address these very serious allegations.
“We didn’t want the report to distract us from our ultimate goal, which was to address the root causes of the tragic events of last January, and that’s the lack of a regional and lasting peace between the two parties – between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Kelly also said.
The State Department spokesperson spoke in praise of the Palestinian Authority’s handling of the issue: “We appreciate the seriousness with which the Palestinians approach this very, very difficult issue, and we respect this decision to defer discussion of the report to a later date for the reasons that I just stated – that we want to make sure that we stay focused on the ultimate goal here.”
Asked specifically whether the US Consul General in Jerusalem held a meeting with Abbas in which he relayed a message from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanding that he call for a delay in the UN vote, Kelly said, “In all honesty, I’m not aware of that meeting, and so I can’t comment on it. I’m not sure that we would comment on a meeting – on a confidential, diplomatic exchange between one of our diplomats and a representative of the Palestinian Authority.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230094
Ramallah PLC members side with Abbas over Gaza report fiasco
Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) asked Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad Al-Maliki on Monday for an explanation as to why Palestinian diplomats dropped their endorsement of a key United Nations report on alleged war crimes in Gaza.
A statement that emerged from the Ramallah meeting was much less critical of Abbas and his government than a parallel but separate meeting of Hamas-affiliated lawmakers in the Gaza Strip that denounced President Mahmoud Abbas as a traitor for moving to delay international action on the report by Judge Richard Goldstone.
The Ramallah statement asked Al-Maliki to explain the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to follow up on the report, and welcomed Abbas’ decision to form a commission of inquiry into why the report was dropped.
The statement went on to praise the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its delegation at the UN in Geneva for supporting the report, apparently by giving delegates more time to consider its contents.
The lawmakers also urged Palestinian factions not to engage in debate that would “have a negative impact on the on the pursuit of the national reconciliation,” a possible allusion to Hamas’ strong denunciation of Abbas over the report.
Last week, Abbas, under reported pressure from the US, apparently ordered his envoy to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to move to defer action on the report until March.
Hamas leader and de facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh earlier on Monday said that the decision to delay action on the Goldstone report was “an unprecedented negligence of the blood of the martyrs and the rights of the Palestinian people in Gaza, West Bank, and Jerusalem.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230026
Hamas: Unity talks still on despite Gaza report controversy
Hamas denied news reports on Tuesday that the movement added new conditions for a proposed Palestinian unity deal as a result of the deferral of action on the Goldstone report on war crimes in Gaza.
“We have not set any new preconditions because we appreciate the Egyptian efforts and we are interested in completing a conciliation agreement,” Hamas spokesperson said over the phone.
Barhoum also explained that his movement and other factions were invited to a meeting on 26 October in Cairo at which a unity deal will reportedly be signed.The extent of our knowledge is that delegations will leave to Cairo on 18 October to begin dialogue on the 19th hoping to sign agreement before the end of the month, he added.
The Hamas official said the Palestinian Authority’s decision to defer action on the Goldstone report in the UN Human Rights Council did not, however, indicate good will for reconciliation.
President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has come under fire for buckling to US pressure to delay action on Justice Richard Goldstone’s investigation of Israel’s winter war on the Gaza Strip which claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians in just three weeks.
Asked about the possibility that Palestinian factions could be forced to go to Cairo to sign an agreement, he said Egypt has not force any side to sign on any given date. Barhoum said Egypt instead plays the role of mediator, extending every effort to complete a unity agreement.
These remarks were made after Egypt’s foreign minister told reporters on Tuesday that Hamas and Fatah would definitely sign a deal in Cairo on the 26th.
We agreed to hold a meeting for Palestinian factions in Cairo on October 25 before signing a reconciliation agreement on October 26," Ahmad Aboul Gheit told a joint news conference his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh, according to AFP.
Earlier on Tuesday, Hamas officials accused Abbas of treason for allegedly ordering UN envoy to delay action on the war crimes report.
“How can the parties sit at the reconciliation table and how can they create an atmosphere for signing the reconciliation in a situation created by the decision to postpone the Goldstone report?” asked de facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh during a meeting with lawmakers in Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230128
Hamas police: Abbas aides could be arrested if they enter Gaza
Hamas-backed police in the Gaza Strip threatened to arrest anyone involved in the deferral of international action on the United Nations report on war crimes in Gaza on Tuesday.
Police official Rafiq Abu Hani said during a Gaza news conference that if anyone linked to the decision to reverse the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) support for Judge Richard Goldstone’s report enters the Strip, they could be arrested. He said this could happen even if Hamas signs a unity deal with Fatah, which controls the PA in the West Bank.
“The police are legally considering the possibility of filing a lawsuit on behalf of the families of the police martyrs to sue Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,” Abu Hani referring to the hundreds of police who were killed in Israel’s attack on Gaza last winter.
The withdrawal of a motion to refer the report from the UN Human Rights Council to the Security Council, the official said, showed “disregard for the blood of the martyrs.”
Abu Hani also urged human rights organizations to investigate the issue.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230183
What was Abbas promised in return for burying Goldstone?
The public is both bewildered and outraged about President Mahmoud Abbas’ reported capitulation to US pressure in delaying action on Richard Goldstone’s report on war crimes in Gaza.
One of many unanswered questions about the Geneva affair is: What was he promised? What did the US offer Abbas that convinced him to burry Goldstone’s meticulously-researched indictment of Israel?
An Israeli journalist attempts to answer this question in an article that appeared on Tuesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been plotting to topple Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in order to relieve himself of US pressure over the last six months, an Israeli journalist claimed in an article published on Tuesday.
“During their tripartite meeting in New York last month, US president Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Palestinian President Abbas agreed to mislead his rightist coalition and advance towards political settlement,” journalist Ran Adelist writes in an article published on the Hebrew news site Nana10 on Tuesday.
However, the report states, instead of carrying out this agreement, Netanyahu tried his best to draw the public debate to other issues, such as a prisoner swap, Hamas, and the Iranian nuclear issue, in order to avoid reaching a point that he agrees to share land with the Palestinians.
The writer quotes friends of high-ranking US officials who confirmed to him that Washington decided it was the Palestinian president who should take risks, because Netanyahu’s turn would come later.
Under the subtitle “a pin in the ass of the Middle East,” the article says the Israeli public was happy to see the video of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit looking well. The video, they say, silenced those who suggested Shalit was dead. Now, after the video has been aired, Israel’s main focus will be Hamas and the prisoner swap deal, as the Israeli public will never remain silent while a soldier is being held, the article says.
Adelist argues that the Shalit case is a disgrace for Israeli security and military establishment, and Israel must admit this, especially in light of the Israeli failure to discover where Shalit is being held. The establishment must admit also that “Hamas is a pin in its lower back,” he says. Furthermore, this perceived failure on the Shalit issue raises doubts among the Israeli public about the credibility of Israel’s claims about Iran.
Under another subtitle, the writer explains that Israel’s bellicose approach to Iran has been disrupted by the international community’s new negotiations with the country. Iran’s willingness to allow international inspectors into its nuclear facilities has complicated Israel’s drive toward confrontation with Iran. Still, the writer argues, Israel refuses to accept this.
The undersecretary of Israeli Defense Ministry Efraim Snieh told the Sunday Times earlier this week, “If Israel remains alone, it will attack Iran alone. I don’t want to explain anymore.”
Under a third subtitle that reads “Abbas’ gamble,” the Israeli journalist reveals what he says are the details about the Palestinian Authority deferring the UN-backed Goldstone report on alleged war crimes in Gaza. He refutes Israeli news reports about Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman trying to threaten and blackmail Abbas with videos that would expose the Palestinian leader’s alleged complicity in the Gaza war.
What actually happened, the writer states, is that Abbas kept his promise to Obama while Netanyahu reneged.
“Netanyahu knew that Goldstone report would be a bone-breaking slap to Israel as it will face the same boycott the world imposed on the apartheid system in South Africa, and Israeli leaders would be tried in all capitals of the free world,” the article says.
The article goes on to say, “Netanyahu telephoned Obama terrified and begged him to mediate and convince Abbas to defer referring the Goldstone report to the UN Seurity Council. At that point, Obama asked him, ‘in return for what?’ and Netanyahu said he would be committed to remove illegal outposts, to stop Judaizing Jerusalem, and halt settlement activities in the West Bank.”
Then, the article claims, Obama phoned Abbas and asked him to wait on the Goldstone report, but Abbas refused. However, Obama promised him a something similar to the 1917 Belfour Declaration along the following lines:
First: The US president will be responsible for compelling Israel to halt the Judaization of Jerusalem and halt the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, the article states.
Second, the report says President Abbas was admonished not reveal the story to avoid exposing Netanyahu to flak from his right-wing government coalition.
Third, according to this account, Abbas refused to withdraw the report completely, and agreed to defer it until March 2010 in return for Obama promising to halt settlement activities.
Fourth, Obama is said to have begged Abbas again not to exposing the deal to media because this would arouse Israeli politicians’ anger, threatening the stability of his government.
The agreement also said to include a pledge to provide weapons to the Palestinian Authority, including tanks, as well as allowing PA forces to deploy at Gaza’s Rafah border crossing, which is currently under Hamas control on the Palestinian side.
In an interview with Ma’an the Israeli journalist who wrote the article said that Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul Gheit learned about the Obama-Abbas agreement from the White House.
“Obama told Netanyahu that he would give him six months to arrange himself domestically, and after that Obama will reveal his agreement with Abbas, and if Netanyahu refuses to adhere with the agreement, the US will not veto an expected UN decision against Israel in March,” he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230200
Israeli Arab party urges Abbas to quit over Goldstone report
The Balad party, representing Arabs and Palestinians in Israel, plans to call for the resignation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday following the Palestinian leader's failure to push through a resolution on the Goldstone commission.
The report suggested taking Israel and Hamas militants to the International Criminal Court over allegations of war crimes during Israel's Operation Cast Lead, but action on the accusations was postponed, allegedly under American pressure, until March 2010.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the party's leader Jamal Zahalka was leading the call.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230267
The United States denied reports on Monday that it pressured President Mahmoud Abbas to allow the United Nations to delay action to bring alleged Israeli war criminals to justice.
At the daily State Department press briefing on Monday, spokesperson Ian Kelly was asked about reports that US officials demanded that Abbas ask the UN Human Rights Council to delay a vote the report of investigator Richard Goldstone.
“I don’t know if I would accept your characterization of pressuring,” Kelly responded. “I think that we recognized that we had serious concerns with the recommendations and some of the allegations.”
Goldstone’s report called for Israeli and Palestinian officials to be investigated and prosecuted for alleged war crimes committed during Israel’s three-week assault on Gaza last winter. The delay of international action on the report has caused a wave of public outrage at Abbas and the Palestinian Authority.
Kelly said that he felt that Israel’s own investigations would be sufficient, presumably making international action unnecessary: “We felt very strongly that while these investigations should be investigated and addressed, that we thought on the one hand that Israel had the kind of institutions that could address these allegations. And of course, we urged Israel to address these very serious allegations.
“We didn’t want the report to distract us from our ultimate goal, which was to address the root causes of the tragic events of last January, and that’s the lack of a regional and lasting peace between the two parties – between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Kelly also said.
The State Department spokesperson spoke in praise of the Palestinian Authority’s handling of the issue: “We appreciate the seriousness with which the Palestinians approach this very, very difficult issue, and we respect this decision to defer discussion of the report to a later date for the reasons that I just stated – that we want to make sure that we stay focused on the ultimate goal here.”
Asked specifically whether the US Consul General in Jerusalem held a meeting with Abbas in which he relayed a message from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanding that he call for a delay in the UN vote, Kelly said, “In all honesty, I’m not aware of that meeting, and so I can’t comment on it. I’m not sure that we would comment on a meeting – on a confidential, diplomatic exchange between one of our diplomats and a representative of the Palestinian Authority.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230094
Ramallah PLC members side with Abbas over Gaza report fiasco
Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) asked Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad Al-Maliki on Monday for an explanation as to why Palestinian diplomats dropped their endorsement of a key United Nations report on alleged war crimes in Gaza.
A statement that emerged from the Ramallah meeting was much less critical of Abbas and his government than a parallel but separate meeting of Hamas-affiliated lawmakers in the Gaza Strip that denounced President Mahmoud Abbas as a traitor for moving to delay international action on the report by Judge Richard Goldstone.
The Ramallah statement asked Al-Maliki to explain the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to follow up on the report, and welcomed Abbas’ decision to form a commission of inquiry into why the report was dropped.
The statement went on to praise the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its delegation at the UN in Geneva for supporting the report, apparently by giving delegates more time to consider its contents.
The lawmakers also urged Palestinian factions not to engage in debate that would “have a negative impact on the on the pursuit of the national reconciliation,” a possible allusion to Hamas’ strong denunciation of Abbas over the report.
Last week, Abbas, under reported pressure from the US, apparently ordered his envoy to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to move to defer action on the report until March.
Hamas leader and de facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh earlier on Monday said that the decision to delay action on the Goldstone report was “an unprecedented negligence of the blood of the martyrs and the rights of the Palestinian people in Gaza, West Bank, and Jerusalem.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230026
Hamas: Unity talks still on despite Gaza report controversy
Hamas denied news reports on Tuesday that the movement added new conditions for a proposed Palestinian unity deal as a result of the deferral of action on the Goldstone report on war crimes in Gaza.
“We have not set any new preconditions because we appreciate the Egyptian efforts and we are interested in completing a conciliation agreement,” Hamas spokesperson said over the phone.
Barhoum also explained that his movement and other factions were invited to a meeting on 26 October in Cairo at which a unity deal will reportedly be signed.The extent of our knowledge is that delegations will leave to Cairo on 18 October to begin dialogue on the 19th hoping to sign agreement before the end of the month, he added.
The Hamas official said the Palestinian Authority’s decision to defer action on the Goldstone report in the UN Human Rights Council did not, however, indicate good will for reconciliation.
President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has come under fire for buckling to US pressure to delay action on Justice Richard Goldstone’s investigation of Israel’s winter war on the Gaza Strip which claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians in just three weeks.
Asked about the possibility that Palestinian factions could be forced to go to Cairo to sign an agreement, he said Egypt has not force any side to sign on any given date. Barhoum said Egypt instead plays the role of mediator, extending every effort to complete a unity agreement.
These remarks were made after Egypt’s foreign minister told reporters on Tuesday that Hamas and Fatah would definitely sign a deal in Cairo on the 26th.
We agreed to hold a meeting for Palestinian factions in Cairo on October 25 before signing a reconciliation agreement on October 26," Ahmad Aboul Gheit told a joint news conference his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh, according to AFP.
Earlier on Tuesday, Hamas officials accused Abbas of treason for allegedly ordering UN envoy to delay action on the war crimes report.
“How can the parties sit at the reconciliation table and how can they create an atmosphere for signing the reconciliation in a situation created by the decision to postpone the Goldstone report?” asked de facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh during a meeting with lawmakers in Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230128
Hamas police: Abbas aides could be arrested if they enter Gaza
Hamas-backed police in the Gaza Strip threatened to arrest anyone involved in the deferral of international action on the United Nations report on war crimes in Gaza on Tuesday.
Police official Rafiq Abu Hani said during a Gaza news conference that if anyone linked to the decision to reverse the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) support for Judge Richard Goldstone’s report enters the Strip, they could be arrested. He said this could happen even if Hamas signs a unity deal with Fatah, which controls the PA in the West Bank.
“The police are legally considering the possibility of filing a lawsuit on behalf of the families of the police martyrs to sue Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,” Abu Hani referring to the hundreds of police who were killed in Israel’s attack on Gaza last winter.
The withdrawal of a motion to refer the report from the UN Human Rights Council to the Security Council, the official said, showed “disregard for the blood of the martyrs.”
Abu Hani also urged human rights organizations to investigate the issue.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230183
What was Abbas promised in return for burying Goldstone?
The public is both bewildered and outraged about President Mahmoud Abbas’ reported capitulation to US pressure in delaying action on Richard Goldstone’s report on war crimes in Gaza.
One of many unanswered questions about the Geneva affair is: What was he promised? What did the US offer Abbas that convinced him to burry Goldstone’s meticulously-researched indictment of Israel?
An Israeli journalist attempts to answer this question in an article that appeared on Tuesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been plotting to topple Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in order to relieve himself of US pressure over the last six months, an Israeli journalist claimed in an article published on Tuesday.
“During their tripartite meeting in New York last month, US president Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Palestinian President Abbas agreed to mislead his rightist coalition and advance towards political settlement,” journalist Ran Adelist writes in an article published on the Hebrew news site Nana10 on Tuesday.
However, the report states, instead of carrying out this agreement, Netanyahu tried his best to draw the public debate to other issues, such as a prisoner swap, Hamas, and the Iranian nuclear issue, in order to avoid reaching a point that he agrees to share land with the Palestinians.
The writer quotes friends of high-ranking US officials who confirmed to him that Washington decided it was the Palestinian president who should take risks, because Netanyahu’s turn would come later.
Under the subtitle “a pin in the ass of the Middle East,” the article says the Israeli public was happy to see the video of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit looking well. The video, they say, silenced those who suggested Shalit was dead. Now, after the video has been aired, Israel’s main focus will be Hamas and the prisoner swap deal, as the Israeli public will never remain silent while a soldier is being held, the article says.
Adelist argues that the Shalit case is a disgrace for Israeli security and military establishment, and Israel must admit this, especially in light of the Israeli failure to discover where Shalit is being held. The establishment must admit also that “Hamas is a pin in its lower back,” he says. Furthermore, this perceived failure on the Shalit issue raises doubts among the Israeli public about the credibility of Israel’s claims about Iran.
Under another subtitle, the writer explains that Israel’s bellicose approach to Iran has been disrupted by the international community’s new negotiations with the country. Iran’s willingness to allow international inspectors into its nuclear facilities has complicated Israel’s drive toward confrontation with Iran. Still, the writer argues, Israel refuses to accept this.
The undersecretary of Israeli Defense Ministry Efraim Snieh told the Sunday Times earlier this week, “If Israel remains alone, it will attack Iran alone. I don’t want to explain anymore.”
Under a third subtitle that reads “Abbas’ gamble,” the Israeli journalist reveals what he says are the details about the Palestinian Authority deferring the UN-backed Goldstone report on alleged war crimes in Gaza. He refutes Israeli news reports about Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman trying to threaten and blackmail Abbas with videos that would expose the Palestinian leader’s alleged complicity in the Gaza war.
What actually happened, the writer states, is that Abbas kept his promise to Obama while Netanyahu reneged.
“Netanyahu knew that Goldstone report would be a bone-breaking slap to Israel as it will face the same boycott the world imposed on the apartheid system in South Africa, and Israeli leaders would be tried in all capitals of the free world,” the article says.
The article goes on to say, “Netanyahu telephoned Obama terrified and begged him to mediate and convince Abbas to defer referring the Goldstone report to the UN Seurity Council. At that point, Obama asked him, ‘in return for what?’ and Netanyahu said he would be committed to remove illegal outposts, to stop Judaizing Jerusalem, and halt settlement activities in the West Bank.”
Then, the article claims, Obama phoned Abbas and asked him to wait on the Goldstone report, but Abbas refused. However, Obama promised him a something similar to the 1917 Belfour Declaration along the following lines:
First: The US president will be responsible for compelling Israel to halt the Judaization of Jerusalem and halt the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, the article states.
Second, the report says President Abbas was admonished not reveal the story to avoid exposing Netanyahu to flak from his right-wing government coalition.
Third, according to this account, Abbas refused to withdraw the report completely, and agreed to defer it until March 2010 in return for Obama promising to halt settlement activities.
Fourth, Obama is said to have begged Abbas again not to exposing the deal to media because this would arouse Israeli politicians’ anger, threatening the stability of his government.
The agreement also said to include a pledge to provide weapons to the Palestinian Authority, including tanks, as well as allowing PA forces to deploy at Gaza’s Rafah border crossing, which is currently under Hamas control on the Palestinian side.
In an interview with Ma’an the Israeli journalist who wrote the article said that Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul Gheit learned about the Obama-Abbas agreement from the White House.
“Obama told Netanyahu that he would give him six months to arrange himself domestically, and after that Obama will reveal his agreement with Abbas, and if Netanyahu refuses to adhere with the agreement, the US will not veto an expected UN decision against Israel in March,” he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230200
Israeli Arab party urges Abbas to quit over Goldstone report
The Balad party, representing Arabs and Palestinians in Israel, plans to call for the resignation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday following the Palestinian leader's failure to push through a resolution on the Goldstone commission.
The report suggested taking Israel and Hamas militants to the International Criminal Court over allegations of war crimes during Israel's Operation Cast Lead, but action on the accusations was postponed, allegedly under American pressure, until March 2010.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the party's leader Jamal Zahalka was leading the call.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230267
Ramallah protesters denounce PA over UN Gaza report
Witnesses said that 500 protesters gathered in downtown Ramallah on Monday afternoon in the latest expression of public anger at the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) decision to delay action on a United Nations report on alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Organizers said that up to 1000 people attended the demonstration.
Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and the Diaspora have been united in their outrage at the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas for ordering the PLO envoy to Geneva to defer action in the UN Human Rights Council on the report compiled by former war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone.
Media reports have suggested that Abbas’ government made the decision under heavy international pressure led by the US.
Monday’s demonstration in Al-Manara square went ahead without incident or interference from PA security forces, witnesses said.
Political parties, the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) and civil society organizations called for the demonstration.
Among the parties who visibly attended the demonstration were the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI – Al-Mubadara) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
One of the convening organizations, the Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, also issued a statement in advance of the protest.
“This irresponsible action is detrimental to the interests of our people, their rights and their struggle. It denies justice to the sacrifices of our people and the blood of our martyrs,” the organization said of the decision to postpone the vote in the Human Rights Council.
The delay of the vote was, the campaign said, “a slap in the face of all those who stand in solidarity with our people's struggle for justice, and all of the human rights organizations and institutions which have mobilized their forces to hold Israel accountable for its massacres and violations of Palestinian rights”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229802
Haniyeh: Abbas himself responsible for Goldstone report delay
Gaza-based Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh accused President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday of being personally responsible for the delay of international action on a United Nations report on war crimes in Gaza.
Abbas has come under fire since the Palestinian envoy to the UN in Geneva dropped the Palestinian endorsement of Justice Richard Goldstone’s report on the Israeli attack on Gaza last winter. The move means that action on the report will be delayed until March 2010 at the earliest.
Haniyeh told a meeting of meeting of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza that “the withdrawal of the report and postponing the vote is a political decision that has security, financial, and political dimensions that is linked to the movement of the US administration and its settlement process.”
“Withdrawing the Goldstone report came from the top authority in the West Bank, after the Authority in Ramallah demanded the Palestinian envoy in the UN to apply to the representative of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to postpone the vote on the report,” he added.
“We see the seriousness of stopping the decision equivalent to the decision itself which brought the Palestinian arena in new mazes and it is a real blow to all efforts made to restore national unity,” the Hamas leader also said.
“How can the parties sit at the reconciliation table and how can they create an atmosphere for signing the reconciliation in a situation created by the decision to postpone the Goldstone report?” he asked.
Haniyeh considered the postponement of Goldstone to be part of the Palestinian Authority’s overall approach: “The approach began by statements which justify the war and holds Hamas fully responsible of the war, and there are statements which give cover for the continuation of the war.”
According to Haniyeh, “the approach lasted after the war when the PA disrupted the process of reconstructing what was demolished by the Israeli occupation through putting pressure on the regional and international countries so as not to reconstruct Gaza in addition to continuing the siege of Gaza and preventing any serious international move to end the siege.”
“What happened was an unprecedented negligence of the blood of the martyrs and the rights of the Palestinian people in Gaza, West Bank, and Jerusalem,” he added.
Haniyeh said that Abbas’ decision to appoint a committee to investigate the affair did not make sense, because it was clear that Abbas himself was responsible: “The investigation is held when the doer is unknown, but in the case of withdrawing the Goldstone report the doer is known.”
Salah Bardaweel, a Hamas-affiliated member of the Legislative Council, said that Hamas should “ask Egypt to postpone the signing of the reconciliation agreement until there are clarifications of the facts.” He also asked “with whom should we sign a reconciliation agreement?”
Mahmud Az-Zahhar asked the Legislative Council to take practical action to “strip President Mahmud Abbas and all those who participated in the withdrawal and the postponing of the Goldstone report from the Palestinian nationality morally.”
Another official, Ismail Al-Ashkar said, “The withdrawal of the Goldstone report was because of security, economic and political reasons.” He accused the Palestinian Authority of being complicit in the recent war on Gaza. He also claimed that Israel had threatened to expose the PA’s role in the war if it had not withdrawn the report.
Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya argued that since it was expected that the US would eventually veto any action on the report in the Security Council, the PA’s actions in the Human Rights Council were a “free gift” to Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229971
Syria rescinds Abbas invitation amid UN controversy
Syria turned away President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday, reportedly over his decision to delay a vote over South African justice Richard Goldstone's report on the Gaza assault last winter.
The president was originally scheduled to arrive in Damascus on Tuesday, following a brief state visit to Yemen that began on Sunday.
The Qatari network Al-Jazeera reported on Monday that Abbas' trip was suddenly called off in light of Syria's outrage over the Palestine Liberation Organization's decision in Geneva on Friday to stall debate on the report.
The wildly unpopular move led the UN Human Rights Council to delay approval for the Gaza fact-finding mission's results until March 2010 at the earliest.
Meanwhile, the Paris-based news agency AFP quoted a Palestinian official confirming that Damascus had "postponed" the visit, although the anonymous source insisted it had nothing to do with the Gaza report.
The real reason Syria pushed off the trip, the official said, was because of a "surprise" state visit from Saudi King Abdullah. The source did not mention whether there were plans to reschedule.
In any case, Damascus was outraged about the UN postponement, which, according to a number of reports, was ordered by Abbas at the behest of the United States and other Western powers seeking to protect Israel from international criticism.
"Syria was surprised by the request of the Palestinian National Authority [PNA] to postpone taking action," reported SANA, the Syrian state news agency.
It added, "Syria finds it strange that the PNA could go for delay, cutting short many Arab, Islamic and international efforts to take appropriate measures to put the report's recommendations into effect."
According to a government source quoted in the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan, Damascus "opted to cancel the visit... out of respect for the blood of martyrs and victims in Gaza, which Israel attacked for 23 days."
While the PA "markets itself as a defender of its people in the face of Israeli aggression," the official added, "Instead of seeking direct condemnation of Israel, the [Palestinian] Authority whitewashed the blood and corpses of innocent children, women and elderly civilians."
The independent newswire Champress quoted an official source as saying, "Damascus is preoccupied with a number of concerns at the moment, which may not allow us to accommodate Abu Mazen's [Abbas'] visit."
It said observers viewed the cancellation a result of "Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' blatant rejection of the positions of Syria, and his policies toward the Goldstone report."
Meanwhile, the president touched down in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a on Sunday, and was previously scheduled to arrive in Damascus on Tuesday to meet Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad and other senior officials, as well as Palestinians.
He was not expected to meet with Khaled Mash'al, Hamas' Damascus-based leader in exile, who sharply criticized the PA leader on Friday for the UN controversy.
Back in Palestine, several hundred Palestinians turned out for a demonstration in Ramallah.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229868
Witnesses said that 500 protesters gathered in downtown Ramallah on Monday afternoon in the latest expression of public anger at the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) decision to delay action on a United Nations report on alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Organizers said that up to 1000 people attended the demonstration.
Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and the Diaspora have been united in their outrage at the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas for ordering the PLO envoy to Geneva to defer action in the UN Human Rights Council on the report compiled by former war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone.
Media reports have suggested that Abbas’ government made the decision under heavy international pressure led by the US.
Monday’s demonstration in Al-Manara square went ahead without incident or interference from PA security forces, witnesses said.
Political parties, the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) and civil society organizations called for the demonstration.
Among the parties who visibly attended the demonstration were the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI – Al-Mubadara) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
One of the convening organizations, the Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, also issued a statement in advance of the protest.
“This irresponsible action is detrimental to the interests of our people, their rights and their struggle. It denies justice to the sacrifices of our people and the blood of our martyrs,” the organization said of the decision to postpone the vote in the Human Rights Council.
The delay of the vote was, the campaign said, “a slap in the face of all those who stand in solidarity with our people's struggle for justice, and all of the human rights organizations and institutions which have mobilized their forces to hold Israel accountable for its massacres and violations of Palestinian rights”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229802
Haniyeh: Abbas himself responsible for Goldstone report delay
Gaza-based Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh accused President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday of being personally responsible for the delay of international action on a United Nations report on war crimes in Gaza.
Abbas has come under fire since the Palestinian envoy to the UN in Geneva dropped the Palestinian endorsement of Justice Richard Goldstone’s report on the Israeli attack on Gaza last winter. The move means that action on the report will be delayed until March 2010 at the earliest.
Haniyeh told a meeting of meeting of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza that “the withdrawal of the report and postponing the vote is a political decision that has security, financial, and political dimensions that is linked to the movement of the US administration and its settlement process.”
“Withdrawing the Goldstone report came from the top authority in the West Bank, after the Authority in Ramallah demanded the Palestinian envoy in the UN to apply to the representative of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to postpone the vote on the report,” he added.
“We see the seriousness of stopping the decision equivalent to the decision itself which brought the Palestinian arena in new mazes and it is a real blow to all efforts made to restore national unity,” the Hamas leader also said.
“How can the parties sit at the reconciliation table and how can they create an atmosphere for signing the reconciliation in a situation created by the decision to postpone the Goldstone report?” he asked.
Haniyeh considered the postponement of Goldstone to be part of the Palestinian Authority’s overall approach: “The approach began by statements which justify the war and holds Hamas fully responsible of the war, and there are statements which give cover for the continuation of the war.”
According to Haniyeh, “the approach lasted after the war when the PA disrupted the process of reconstructing what was demolished by the Israeli occupation through putting pressure on the regional and international countries so as not to reconstruct Gaza in addition to continuing the siege of Gaza and preventing any serious international move to end the siege.”
“What happened was an unprecedented negligence of the blood of the martyrs and the rights of the Palestinian people in Gaza, West Bank, and Jerusalem,” he added.
Haniyeh said that Abbas’ decision to appoint a committee to investigate the affair did not make sense, because it was clear that Abbas himself was responsible: “The investigation is held when the doer is unknown, but in the case of withdrawing the Goldstone report the doer is known.”
Salah Bardaweel, a Hamas-affiliated member of the Legislative Council, said that Hamas should “ask Egypt to postpone the signing of the reconciliation agreement until there are clarifications of the facts.” He also asked “with whom should we sign a reconciliation agreement?”
Mahmud Az-Zahhar asked the Legislative Council to take practical action to “strip President Mahmud Abbas and all those who participated in the withdrawal and the postponing of the Goldstone report from the Palestinian nationality morally.”
Another official, Ismail Al-Ashkar said, “The withdrawal of the Goldstone report was because of security, economic and political reasons.” He accused the Palestinian Authority of being complicit in the recent war on Gaza. He also claimed that Israel had threatened to expose the PA’s role in the war if it had not withdrawn the report.
Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya argued that since it was expected that the US would eventually veto any action on the report in the Security Council, the PA’s actions in the Human Rights Council were a “free gift” to Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229971
Syria rescinds Abbas invitation amid UN controversy
Syria turned away President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday, reportedly over his decision to delay a vote over South African justice Richard Goldstone's report on the Gaza assault last winter.
The president was originally scheduled to arrive in Damascus on Tuesday, following a brief state visit to Yemen that began on Sunday.
The Qatari network Al-Jazeera reported on Monday that Abbas' trip was suddenly called off in light of Syria's outrage over the Palestine Liberation Organization's decision in Geneva on Friday to stall debate on the report.
The wildly unpopular move led the UN Human Rights Council to delay approval for the Gaza fact-finding mission's results until March 2010 at the earliest.
Meanwhile, the Paris-based news agency AFP quoted a Palestinian official confirming that Damascus had "postponed" the visit, although the anonymous source insisted it had nothing to do with the Gaza report.
The real reason Syria pushed off the trip, the official said, was because of a "surprise" state visit from Saudi King Abdullah. The source did not mention whether there were plans to reschedule.
In any case, Damascus was outraged about the UN postponement, which, according to a number of reports, was ordered by Abbas at the behest of the United States and other Western powers seeking to protect Israel from international criticism.
"Syria was surprised by the request of the Palestinian National Authority [PNA] to postpone taking action," reported SANA, the Syrian state news agency.
It added, "Syria finds it strange that the PNA could go for delay, cutting short many Arab, Islamic and international efforts to take appropriate measures to put the report's recommendations into effect."
According to a government source quoted in the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan, Damascus "opted to cancel the visit... out of respect for the blood of martyrs and victims in Gaza, which Israel attacked for 23 days."
While the PA "markets itself as a defender of its people in the face of Israeli aggression," the official added, "Instead of seeking direct condemnation of Israel, the [Palestinian] Authority whitewashed the blood and corpses of innocent children, women and elderly civilians."
The independent newswire Champress quoted an official source as saying, "Damascus is preoccupied with a number of concerns at the moment, which may not allow us to accommodate Abu Mazen's [Abbas'] visit."
It said observers viewed the cancellation a result of "Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' blatant rejection of the positions of Syria, and his policies toward the Goldstone report."
Meanwhile, the president touched down in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a on Sunday, and was previously scheduled to arrive in Damascus on Tuesday to meet Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad and other senior officials, as well as Palestinians.
He was not expected to meet with Khaled Mash'al, Hamas' Damascus-based leader in exile, who sharply criticized the PA leader on Friday for the UN controversy.
Back in Palestine, several hundred Palestinians turned out for a demonstration in Ramallah.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229868
4 sept 2009
Hamas: Abbas can't investigate himself
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered an investigation into why his own government delayed international action on a United Nations report calling for investigations on alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Reacting to this decision, the ruling Hamas movement in Gaza said the investigation was not enough. Party spokesperson Ismail Radwan said since Abbas is himself the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), he cannot investigate the PLO’s actions.
“We do not need to form a national investigating committee but to form a committee to bring to account those responsible [for the decision,]" Radwan said.
There was an outpouring of public anger at Abbas and his leadership when the PLO mission to the UN in Geneva dropped its endorsement of Justice Richard Goldstone’s report in the UN Human Rights Council last week. The PLO’s move, reportedly under US pressure, led the Council to delay action on Gaza until March 2010.
The secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, Yasser Abed Rabbo said in a statement, “after deliberations among President Abbas and members of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, President Abbas issued a decree to form a committee to find the reasons behind postponement of the debate on Goldstone’s report at the UN Human Rights Council.
“The mission of the committee will be specifying the responsibilities concerning this issue and to submit a report to PLO Executive Committee within two weeks,” the statement added.
National consensus against deferral
In Gaza, the leaders of nationalist and Islamic political factions held a meeting to discuss the deferral of action on the UN’s report on Gaza. After the meeting, Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Al-Hindi said that the factions agreed there needed to be an independent investigation into how the decision was made.
Al-Hindi said the factions also agreed to hold a “popular conference” in Gaza on Monday to give voice to what he said was a “national consensus” against “this dangerous precedent.”
“Those convening [the meeting] reject all of the naïve, misleading, contradictory justifications that were mentioned to excuse the postponement decision.”
Al-Hindi also said the groups praised the PLO itself for opposing the deferral and seeking an independent investigation.
Gaza-based Fatah leader Abdullah Abu Samhadana said his movement is part of a national consensus that rejects the decision to postpone action on the Goldstone report.
The PLO’s apparent capitulation in the Human Rights Council was widely denounced by the political factions, civil society organizations and the families of the victims of Israel’s three-week assault on Gaza last winter.
The latest official to condemn the PLO’s actions in the Human Rights Council was Salim Zanoun, the speaker of the Palestinian National Council (PNC). In a statement issued on Sunday afternoon, he said he was “shocked” at the decision to delay action on the report.
Zanoun said he supported calls for an investigation to find out who was responsible for the Geneva move.
According to the news agency AFP, Palestinian Authority Minister of National Economy Bassem Khoury tendered his resignation over the PA's involvement in the deferral of the Goldstone report. In an interview with Ma’an however, he refused to confirm or deny this report.
Also on Saturday, a coalition of 16 Palestinian human rights and legal organizations condemned the PA and PLO leadership in a news conference in Gaza.
“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,” the organizations said in a statement read at the news conference.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” the groups said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229678
'Justice delayed is justice denied'
Fares Hamouda, a young Palestinian boy, was killed on 11 January 2009, during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, a three-week offensive against the Gaza Strip. Here, Hamouda’s body appears in the morgue in Gaza’s Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
According to human rights groups, more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the three-week onslaught, the majority of them women and children, raising serious concerns that Israel violated the laws of war by failing to distinguish between civilian and military targets.
Last Thursday the Palestinian mission to the United Nations in Geneva buckled to international pressure and dropped its endorsement of the report of Justice Richard Goldstone’s Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza conflict. This decision to reverse course, reportedly made by President Mahmoud Abbas himself, means that no international action will be made on Goldstone’s findings until next year.
On Saturday a coalition of 16 human rights organizations made the following statement denouncing the Palestinian leadership for this decision:
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.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229767
Bahar: Abbas, Fayyad to blame for failure in Geneva
Ahmad Bahar, the deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) said that President Mahmoud Abbas and caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad were to blame for the a decision to postpone a key UN vote on allegations of Israeli war crimes.
The PLO’s envoy to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khreisha, was instructed to drop the Palestinian delegation’s endorsement of Justice Richard Goldstone’s investigation into the Israeli war on Gaza last winter.
During a news conference on the rubble of the PLC building in Gaza, which was leveled by Israeli warplanes last winter, Bahar called for Khreisha to be fired.
In his remarks, Bahar also lashed out at the Organization of the Islamic Conference for defending the Palestinian Authority.
“We regret the statement that is said by Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in which he justified the postponement of the vote on Goldstone’s report … under US agreement with the Palestinian Authority accepted by the Islamic organization.”
“How could the Islamic organization accept this agreement and allow it to pass it through its representative at the UN Human Right Council realizing very well that this is wasting the blood of the Palestinians which was shed in Gaza, giving a cover for the Israeli leaders for crimes which they committed against unarmed Palestinians?”
Bahar also urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to bring the Gaza report to the Security Council.
He also called for an emergency meeting of PLC members on Monday to discuss action on the issue.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229803
Dahlan works damage control as UN outrage spreads
Muhammad Dahlan, a senior Fatah official, told Ma'an on Saturday that the Palestine Liberation Organization would investigate why debate of South African justice Richard Goldstone's report was postponed at the UN on Friday.
"We've called for a commission of inquiry into what motivated the deferral request, to find out what happened," he said during an interview in Ramallah, vowing to uncover what led the PLO's envoy to Geneva to drop the endorsement.
Dahlan's remarks came just hours before Mahmoud Abbas formally announced an inquest into what was widely believed to be the president's own decision, made following some reportedly swift but effective wrangling from the Palestinian Authority's US allies.
As outrage spread throughout Palestine, and particularly his native Gaza, Dahlan sought to distance himself and Fatah from the wildly unpopular move, which has forced the UN Human Rights Council to delay action on the report until next March.
"Fatah has a dynamic vision," he said, reiterating strong support for Goldstone, and adding that its Central Committee had convened an entire session devoted to studying and unanimously endorsing the report's findings, before it made "a clear statement in this regard."
Ma'an's records on the most recent official meeting, held on Friday, include no mention of Goldstone, nor does any similar report published since his bombshell investigation was released in September. But on Saturday, several members met to write up a news release that said Fatah had "adopted the report and all its contents."
"The committee expresses its deep regret for the damage caused by the postponement," the statement added.
Meanwhile, Dahlan urged Palestinians not to rush to judgment, since it was apparently unclear who was calling the shots in the first place.
"You have to distinguish between Fatah, the PLO and the PA," he insisted, "as each body has its own platform, so in any case one body could agree [to postpone the report] while another wouldn't, especially considering these latest developments."
Dahlan added, "We've looked into what happened, but we don't yet have enough information about the [UN's procedural] mechanics that led to the ambassador's decision, so we're waiting for the president to return before we convene the [PLO] Executive Committee."
Shortly after he attended the UN General Assembly in New York, Abbas was in Cuba before ultimately landing in Yemen on Sunday.
'Fatah backs Goldstone unequivocally'
"We don't ignore or disregard political or diplomatic issues," Dahlan said. "Goldstone's report is a major national concern, as it relatively redresses the rights of the Palestinian people," and "condemns the [Israeli] occupation's crimes."
He said Fatah stood united behind the findings, applauded that there was finally a clear message from "our friends" in the international community, and promised that the mainstay Palestinian movement would do its utmost to publicize them.
Dahlan said his arch-rivals in Hamas, who do not belong to the PLO or, since 2007, the PA, were more deserving of blame for the Geneva disaster than the West Bank government's dominant faction.
The Fatah movement "values Goldstone's position," Dahlan said of the UN report, which he called "a tribute to his character and professionalism, that denounced Israel and exposed the occupation's true face."
He said it was rather Hamas that had "attacked Goldstone and described him in a number of terrible ways."
The Islamic movement, in fact, hesitantly endorsed the report and vowed to seriously investigate charges that it was responsible for the deaths of three Israeli civilians, whom Goldstone alleged were directly targeted by Gaza-based fighters.
'Don't shoot the messenger'
In any event, the Fatah strongman urged Palestinians to refrain from blaming the PLO's mission to Geneva, which he explained was simply following orders from Ramallah.
"It's important to hear what Ambassador [Ibrahim] Khreisha has to say, because the issue is about government policy, not the envoy," Dahlan said of the PLO ambassador, who declared on the day of the postponement that "we have enough votes" to move forward.
A few days earlier, Khreisha also told the UN rights body, "This report should not be another report to just document and archive."
"My people will not forgive the international community if it lets these criminals go unpunished," the ambassador added, demonstrably unaware at the time that it was indeed his own people who would ultimately stop his hand.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229528
Hamas: Abbas can't investigate himself
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered an investigation into why his own government delayed international action on a United Nations report calling for investigations on alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Reacting to this decision, the ruling Hamas movement in Gaza said the investigation was not enough. Party spokesperson Ismail Radwan said since Abbas is himself the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), he cannot investigate the PLO’s actions.
“We do not need to form a national investigating committee but to form a committee to bring to account those responsible [for the decision,]" Radwan said.
There was an outpouring of public anger at Abbas and his leadership when the PLO mission to the UN in Geneva dropped its endorsement of Justice Richard Goldstone’s report in the UN Human Rights Council last week. The PLO’s move, reportedly under US pressure, led the Council to delay action on Gaza until March 2010.
The secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, Yasser Abed Rabbo said in a statement, “after deliberations among President Abbas and members of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, President Abbas issued a decree to form a committee to find the reasons behind postponement of the debate on Goldstone’s report at the UN Human Rights Council.
“The mission of the committee will be specifying the responsibilities concerning this issue and to submit a report to PLO Executive Committee within two weeks,” the statement added.
National consensus against deferral
In Gaza, the leaders of nationalist and Islamic political factions held a meeting to discuss the deferral of action on the UN’s report on Gaza. After the meeting, Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Al-Hindi said that the factions agreed there needed to be an independent investigation into how the decision was made.
Al-Hindi said the factions also agreed to hold a “popular conference” in Gaza on Monday to give voice to what he said was a “national consensus” against “this dangerous precedent.”
“Those convening [the meeting] reject all of the naïve, misleading, contradictory justifications that were mentioned to excuse the postponement decision.”
Al-Hindi also said the groups praised the PLO itself for opposing the deferral and seeking an independent investigation.
Gaza-based Fatah leader Abdullah Abu Samhadana said his movement is part of a national consensus that rejects the decision to postpone action on the Goldstone report.
The PLO’s apparent capitulation in the Human Rights Council was widely denounced by the political factions, civil society organizations and the families of the victims of Israel’s three-week assault on Gaza last winter.
The latest official to condemn the PLO’s actions in the Human Rights Council was Salim Zanoun, the speaker of the Palestinian National Council (PNC). In a statement issued on Sunday afternoon, he said he was “shocked” at the decision to delay action on the report.
Zanoun said he supported calls for an investigation to find out who was responsible for the Geneva move.
According to the news agency AFP, Palestinian Authority Minister of National Economy Bassem Khoury tendered his resignation over the PA's involvement in the deferral of the Goldstone report. In an interview with Ma’an however, he refused to confirm or deny this report.
Also on Saturday, a coalition of 16 Palestinian human rights and legal organizations condemned the PA and PLO leadership in a news conference in Gaza.
“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,” the organizations said in a statement read at the news conference.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” the groups said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229678
'Justice delayed is justice denied'
Fares Hamouda, a young Palestinian boy, was killed on 11 January 2009, during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, a three-week offensive against the Gaza Strip. Here, Hamouda’s body appears in the morgue in Gaza’s Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
According to human rights groups, more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the three-week onslaught, the majority of them women and children, raising serious concerns that Israel violated the laws of war by failing to distinguish between civilian and military targets.
Last Thursday the Palestinian mission to the United Nations in Geneva buckled to international pressure and dropped its endorsement of the report of Justice Richard Goldstone’s Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza conflict. This decision to reverse course, reportedly made by President Mahmoud Abbas himself, means that no international action will be made on Goldstone’s findings until next year.
On Saturday a coalition of 16 human rights organizations made the following statement denouncing the Palestinian leadership for this decision:
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.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229767
Bahar: Abbas, Fayyad to blame for failure in Geneva
Ahmad Bahar, the deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) said that President Mahmoud Abbas and caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad were to blame for the a decision to postpone a key UN vote on allegations of Israeli war crimes.
The PLO’s envoy to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khreisha, was instructed to drop the Palestinian delegation’s endorsement of Justice Richard Goldstone’s investigation into the Israeli war on Gaza last winter.
During a news conference on the rubble of the PLC building in Gaza, which was leveled by Israeli warplanes last winter, Bahar called for Khreisha to be fired.
In his remarks, Bahar also lashed out at the Organization of the Islamic Conference for defending the Palestinian Authority.
“We regret the statement that is said by Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in which he justified the postponement of the vote on Goldstone’s report … under US agreement with the Palestinian Authority accepted by the Islamic organization.”
“How could the Islamic organization accept this agreement and allow it to pass it through its representative at the UN Human Right Council realizing very well that this is wasting the blood of the Palestinians which was shed in Gaza, giving a cover for the Israeli leaders for crimes which they committed against unarmed Palestinians?”
Bahar also urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to bring the Gaza report to the Security Council.
He also called for an emergency meeting of PLC members on Monday to discuss action on the issue.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229803
Dahlan works damage control as UN outrage spreads
Muhammad Dahlan, a senior Fatah official, told Ma'an on Saturday that the Palestine Liberation Organization would investigate why debate of South African justice Richard Goldstone's report was postponed at the UN on Friday.
"We've called for a commission of inquiry into what motivated the deferral request, to find out what happened," he said during an interview in Ramallah, vowing to uncover what led the PLO's envoy to Geneva to drop the endorsement.
Dahlan's remarks came just hours before Mahmoud Abbas formally announced an inquest into what was widely believed to be the president's own decision, made following some reportedly swift but effective wrangling from the Palestinian Authority's US allies.
As outrage spread throughout Palestine, and particularly his native Gaza, Dahlan sought to distance himself and Fatah from the wildly unpopular move, which has forced the UN Human Rights Council to delay action on the report until next March.
"Fatah has a dynamic vision," he said, reiterating strong support for Goldstone, and adding that its Central Committee had convened an entire session devoted to studying and unanimously endorsing the report's findings, before it made "a clear statement in this regard."
Ma'an's records on the most recent official meeting, held on Friday, include no mention of Goldstone, nor does any similar report published since his bombshell investigation was released in September. But on Saturday, several members met to write up a news release that said Fatah had "adopted the report and all its contents."
"The committee expresses its deep regret for the damage caused by the postponement," the statement added.
Meanwhile, Dahlan urged Palestinians not to rush to judgment, since it was apparently unclear who was calling the shots in the first place.
"You have to distinguish between Fatah, the PLO and the PA," he insisted, "as each body has its own platform, so in any case one body could agree [to postpone the report] while another wouldn't, especially considering these latest developments."
Dahlan added, "We've looked into what happened, but we don't yet have enough information about the [UN's procedural] mechanics that led to the ambassador's decision, so we're waiting for the president to return before we convene the [PLO] Executive Committee."
Shortly after he attended the UN General Assembly in New York, Abbas was in Cuba before ultimately landing in Yemen on Sunday.
'Fatah backs Goldstone unequivocally'
"We don't ignore or disregard political or diplomatic issues," Dahlan said. "Goldstone's report is a major national concern, as it relatively redresses the rights of the Palestinian people," and "condemns the [Israeli] occupation's crimes."
He said Fatah stood united behind the findings, applauded that there was finally a clear message from "our friends" in the international community, and promised that the mainstay Palestinian movement would do its utmost to publicize them.
Dahlan said his arch-rivals in Hamas, who do not belong to the PLO or, since 2007, the PA, were more deserving of blame for the Geneva disaster than the West Bank government's dominant faction.
The Fatah movement "values Goldstone's position," Dahlan said of the UN report, which he called "a tribute to his character and professionalism, that denounced Israel and exposed the occupation's true face."
He said it was rather Hamas that had "attacked Goldstone and described him in a number of terrible ways."
The Islamic movement, in fact, hesitantly endorsed the report and vowed to seriously investigate charges that it was responsible for the deaths of three Israeli civilians, whom Goldstone alleged were directly targeted by Gaza-based fighters.
'Don't shoot the messenger'
In any event, the Fatah strongman urged Palestinians to refrain from blaming the PLO's mission to Geneva, which he explained was simply following orders from Ramallah.
"It's important to hear what Ambassador [Ibrahim] Khreisha has to say, because the issue is about government policy, not the envoy," Dahlan said of the PLO ambassador, who declared on the day of the postponement that "we have enough votes" to move forward.
A few days earlier, Khreisha also told the UN rights body, "This report should not be another report to just document and archive."
"My people will not forgive the international community if it lets these criminals go unpunished," the ambassador added, demonstrably unaware at the time that it was indeed his own people who would ultimately stop his hand.
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