Al-ManarTV:: PA Condemned over Gaza Report Vote Delay under US Pressure 05/10/2009

Al-ManarTV:: PA Condemned over Gaza Report Vote Delay under US Pressure 05/10/2009: "PA Condemned over Gaza Report Vote Delay under US Pressure

05/10/2009 Palestinian factions have condemned the decision by the UN to defer voting on the Goldstone report, that highlighted war crimes by Israel during its offensive on the Gaza Strip in December.

The factions, including Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad, met in Gaza City on Sunday and will form a joint committee to investigate why the vote was delayed. Bassem Khuri, the Palestinian economy minister, resigned on Saturday, reportedly in protest at the Palestinian Authority's (PA) agreement not to discuss the document.

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) postponed a vote to endorse the report until March after Pakistan made a request to do so on the behest of several Arab, African and Muslim nations.

The 575-page report by Richard Goldstone, a South African ex-judge appointed by the UN, blames both the Israelis and Hamas for “war crimes”, but is more critical of Israeli occupation troops for 'targeting and terrorizing civilians'.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of personally instructing his representative in Geneva to revoke his demand that the UN Goldstone Report be adopted by the UN Human Rights Council.

In a press conference in Gaza, Haniyeh said that this was an unprecedented move. Last week, the Hamas movement accused the Palestinian Authority of betrayal and of collaborating with the Israeli plot to neutralize the Goldstone Report.

Media reports said that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) delegation to the UNHRC, which has no Hamas member on it, had attempted to prevent discussion of the report under US pressure.

Abbas has ordered a panel to investigate what led the PA to request the UNHRC postpone discussion of the Goldstone report. Earlier on Sunday, Mohammed Dahlan, a member of Fatah's central council, asked the PLO Executive Committee for an official probe into the reasons for the delay in the vote. 'We call on the Palestine Liberation Organization to form an investigation committee into the causes of asking for a postponement to reach the truth about the situation and it is important to listen to Ambassador Khreisheh [the Palestinian representative at the UN in Geneva] because this is not related to the ambassador but rather to policies,' Dahlan said. He welcomed the report and praised its content and the integrity of the author. He said that the Goldstone report is a 'substantial national issue that relatively vindicated the Palestinian people and condemned the [Israeli] occupation and its policies'.

Other PLO factions, parliamentary groups and human rights organizations have been criticizing the vote delay. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called the step 'defeatist' while the secretary general of the People's Party called for an official investigation. A joint statement by 14 human rights organizations, called 'Justice Postponed is Justice Denied', was also released, harshly criticizing the Palestinian leadership's conduct on the issue.

On the streets of Ramallah, Abbas's West Bank base, there was dismay over the delay. 'This shows that the Palestinian leadership cannot be trusted to defend our just cause and this will cost us international sympathy,' Husam Ahmad, a bank clerk in the city, told the Reuters news agency.

More than a dozen rights groups said they planned to march in Ramallah on Monday to 'seek justice' and to condemn the PA's decision.

For its part, Syria has postponed a visit by Mahmoud Abbas in the latest fallout arising from his failure to endorse the UN Gaza report. Damascus had criticized the Palestinian Authority for agreeing to defer a vote on a resolution that would have condemned Israel's failure to co-operate with a UN war crimes investigation.

The Goldstone report, released last month, investigated the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip last December and January. About 1,300 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks, mostly women and children.
Palestinian sources said the Americans repeatedly stressed over the past few days their commitment to the “peace process”. They also stressed, according to the sources, that in exchange for the deferral of the hearing of the report, the Israelis would be pressured to stop construction in settlements. 'The matter of the process's timeframe is a clear American commitment and the Americans repeatedly stressed this both in talks held with our negotiations team in the United State and in talks with President Abu Mazen (Abbas),' the source said."