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If you wish, say a scandal was concealed by a greater scandal. That it is one of the rare times in history where the victim volunteered to enable the killer to escape punishment despite his conviction.
Signed at Geneva on Friday 2/10, after being submitted to the UN Human Rights Council the report of Judge Richard Goldstone, who back the first comprehensive international instrument proved commit Israel to a long list of war crimes during the recent aggression on Gaza. Judge Goldstone was presented to the Board on Monday, 28/9, for a discussion that lasted until Friday, which was supposed to be issued by the Council's decision thereon, and by what I heard from one of the diplomats who attended the meeting, the Arab Group, including the representative of Palestine to the report, she was eager and willing to transmit the resolution to the General Assembly of the United Nations, and of course, the United States and Israel were renouncing it. The European Union has been restive, so that the representative of Sweden asked during the debate on the consequences that could bring down the report to the ongoing peace process, thus necessitating the political calculus beyond the jurisdiction of the Council, echoing the Israeli argument that invoked that adopting the report would paralyze the current peace efforts (which we know its fate in advance).
According to the system applied in the Council, the decision is either to be a consensus among the members, and if they could not solve any confusion then it would be by voice vote. And then should be sent to the General Assembly (followed by the Council) or to the Security Council. The report about the conviction of a long list of Israeli practices in Gaza and some practices of the Hamas government sector, it was understood hence how it has alarmed Israel and its allies from, as it criminalizes the actions which had been continuously conducted since 1948, but remained all these years away from condemnation and denunciation, sheltered by the Western biases that have been coveted by all the time.
after all of the aggression that occurred in the Strip amounts it happened to have been selected a judge known for his integrity and competence with a history of investigation of war crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, Richard Goldstone, to head a fact-finding team that the violations and crimes against humanity committed in the sector. The judge happened to be Jewish and from South Africa. The former attribute shields him against any alleged anti-Semitism, and his emanation from the latter enabled him to stand on the fact of the apartheid regime, with all that it represents an affront to the dignity of human beings.
Such a background has enabled the man to prepare a full report, sober in the six hundred page that can not be defamed, unless you take it that he was dishonest by telling the truth. Which is reflected in a statement the British Foreign Office spokesman (that is historically biased towards Israel), which describe the report as «balanced».
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A common fact is that a conviction decision of the National Council for Human Rights is to provide every Israeli leader responsible for crimes committed in the Gaza Strip to the International Criminal Court, and opens the door wide to pursue them wherever they went outside their country. This is true no doubt, but it crosses these limits, because such a resolution would should submit all of the western countries to halt their support and contribution to the isaeli military device. (In Britain now is a case raised against the government that claims it had provided weapons to Israel used in the aggression on Gaza).
In addition, the resolution provides for civil society organizations in Europe and the United States with strong legal grounds to demand their country's disengagement with Israel, with respect to scientific and academic activities that enhance the military capability of Israel as a proven right to commit crimes against humanity.
That was sufficient reason not only for the inconvenience of Israel, as it should result in a setback in its external relations, as well as expose politically and morally, not to mention the embarrassment caused to its allies who used to cover up its crimes,so it was not surprising about that to exert all the pressure and have utilized all of its wiles in order to stop a decision by the Human Rights Council. , I understand, that the United States has played a major role in that.And that one of the Arab countries which is closely related to Israel has participated in the exercise of pressure on the Palestinians and the Arabs. The main argument used is that an adoption of the resolution and support of the Arab group to fail the efforts of President Obama to "build bridges" and to achieve the desired settlement. The owners of such argument were based on the fact that Obama represents the «chance» which should not be wasted. An even further fallout from the issuance of Human Rights Council resolution to miss that opportunity.
This is not the whole story, because Israel has dropped in the face of the Palestinian Authority another bomb, when it declared in the words of the Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman that the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah is to demand justice for Israel for the violence committed on the war on Gaza, while they were those who pressured Israel to take its war to the fullest extent to bring down the Hamas regime in Gaza. (Jerusalem Post, 25/9).
This information is supported by a report in The «sunrise» Egypt on 4/10 were quoted by an international political organization in Gaza, as saying that Israel has what does prove that the Security devices of the authority did provide information to Israel in the framework of close security cooperation between the two sides on the activities of the resistance in Gaza.
This information emerged ratifications to the proverb stating that if partners disagreed the hidden should appear. It seems that it was just the tip of the iceberg, because the Israelis have also threatened to shut down some of the economic projects of interest to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, notably the establishment of a new telecommunications company owned by the son of President Abu Mazen, a man of great business in the West.
All of these pressures were exerted over the head of the Palestinian Authority leader before and during meetings in Geneva, that there had been a surprise, or great scandal on the day of voting on the resolution (Friday 2/10), when asked the Palestinian envoy Ibrahim Khreisheh to defer consideration of the resolution on to the Board's next session in March next year, after six months. On the Haaretz newspaper (number 4 /10) was published that President Abu Mazen was the one behind postponement decision that was taken after the visit of the American Consul on Thursday 1/10. Note that 33 countries out of 47 members had planned to approve the report.
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the staggering Palestinian request was outrageous at all levels. As the Authority had accepted to cover the Israeli position, it got completely naked, it was unimaginable to anyone that the Authority would disrupt and abort the report that defends the people that it claims it represents. And That is the frightening thing which is that the authority as it did can be no longer trusted for the future of the case and fate-determination of the Palestinian poeple.
Leaks from Ramallah, which have tried to justify what happened. Once waved American pressure. Another with reference to Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and and pressures that he exerted upon Abbas. A third was the allegation that it was government's position and not the position of Fatah movement, which a spokesman tried to wash the hands of the movement of the scandal. But all this did not convince anyone, even amongst the members of the government themselves from which have resigned the Minister of Economy and Jerusalem affairs to protest the policies, said Minister of Social Affairs: The position of the Authority has damaged the Palestinian public interest.
At the same time, ensued other successive echoes in the Palestinian arena, where 14 human rights organizations condemned the position of Authority and voices in the Gaza Strip, saying that such position is «a betrayal of the martyrs and wastage of blood» and «a political and moral scandal» and «a blow to the victims of Arabs». Which was expressed by the Palestinian writer and political Bilal al-Hasan by saying: The Authority in the West Bank is falling among its own people first, and falling to the lowest level of prestige and reputation as it appears as an authority pliant to American orders.
The Palestinian condemnation had echoed throughout the Arab world, which shocked the position of the Authority. But even beyond the region, as expressed by Amnesty International «Amnesty» which has condemned the postponement of the vote on the report and called for converting it to the Security Council.(4)
Shocking and tragic this situation really is, but is it a surprise? My answer to the question in the negative. Because the history of the conflict when as it is documented, many will discover that the Palestinian leadership since been engaged in the political climate of the Arab refraction expressed by the Camp David Accords in 1979, it continued to offer free gifts to Israel. These gifts are all poured in the course of the erosion issue on the one hand, and empowerment of Israel on the other.
Before the signing of the Oslo agreement in 1993, Mr. Yasser Arafat had sent a letter to the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in which he regarded the resistance as «terrorism» and announced to Forsworn. In the agreement Israel received the official Palestinian approval on the legitimacy of the zionist presence and its right to enjoy security without charge, but to recognize the PLO as a representative of the Palestinian people. And directly after the recognition Israel has carried out the transformation of the lands it has occupied in 1967 into a disputed terrotory the it commenced mass judeanization and recolonization of it. And it was the very Palestinian leadership which has requested from the United Nations to end its previous report that regards the Zionism as a racist movement. And it was the leadership which that ignored the International Court of Justice decision of the invalidity of the separation wall and settlements on the occupied territories, and was the same leadership which has dropped in negotiations the right of return for refugees and accepted the exchange of land.
They admitted ignoring United Nations resolutions and international reference, and access to the road map in the U.S., which provided the first items on the need to liquidate the resistance. They have entered into a network of security coordination with the Israelis against the Palestinian resistance. Having participated in the siege of Gaza, the Authority's representative in the Assembly opposed the resolution submitted by Qatar, Indonesia and called for the sector as a disaster zone. Moreover, it did not move a finger when the informed with the decision of the Israeli Knesset that allows the sale of Palestinian land and to whom He demands of the world's Jews,which is a flagrant violation of international law.
Against this background, which jumped out over the many other facts it tells one thing that this with such a record can very simply act in collusion with the Israelis in the Gaza war. Or to prevent a decision to refer the war crimes committed by Israel to the United Nations. If true, this analysis implies that what happened did not give rise to a shameful surprise to everyone. But caught in Geneva as the act of committing an incident revealing it. (this article was translated by the blogger from the arabic version written by the author: Fahmi Howeidi)
