[News] PA blamed for Goldstone vote delay - Demands for Abbas Resignation
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Tue Oct 6 10:40:34 EDT 2009
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/10/200910694937206242.html
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
15:29 Mecca time, 12:29 GMT
<http://english.aljazeera.net/>News Middle East
PA blamed for Goldstone vote delay
The Palestinians missed a rare chance by delaying a vote on the
Goldstone report which accuses Israel of committing war crimes in
Gaza, a senior Qatari foreign ministry official has said.
Sheikh Khaled bin Jassem al-Thani, the ministry's human rights
department head, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that the Palestinian
representative to the UN Human Rights Council had requested a delay
until the next meeting in March.
"We won't be more royal than the king," he said.
"The Palestinian decision was based on their wishes ... and member
states could not take unilateral measures contrary to the wishes of
the Palestinian Authority (PA)."
"There were many countries that supported [the report and a vote]
... it could have been adopted, but I think that an opportunity was
missed and it may not come back."
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, under pressure from the
PA's executive council and the central committee of his Fatah party,
has launched an investigation into the delay.
But there appears to be no respite for him from the barrage of
criticism from Palestinians.
Resignation urged
A senior member of Hamas has demanded that Abbas resign for
supporting the postponement of the vote.
Mahmoud al-Zahar told Al Jazeera on Monday that Abbas was guilty of
"a very big crime against the Palestinian people" over the PA's
support to defer endorsing the report.
"He is encouraging the Israeli military leaders to attack Gaza, to
kill Hamas, and to kill people because they voted for Hamas; to
postpone a very important report concerning the Israelis committing
crimes against human beings," al-Zahar said.
"He should resign and he should seek a fair trial. He is not
representing any of the Palestinian people."
The comments came as hundreds of people in the West Bank city of
Ramallah protested against the delay in the vote on the report by
Richard Goldstone, a former South African judge.
Protesters waved placards at Monday's events, saying the delay
"insults the blood of the martyrs and wounds our people".
Protests were also held in Jerusalem, where pro-Palestinian activists
demanded an apology from Abbas.
"If the government had anything to do with the decision we want it to
resign," Muhammad Jadallah, the head of the Coalition for Jerusalem, said.
Thirty-two Palestinian groups in Europe also called on Abbas to
immediately step down from office.
In a statement, the groups said "the step to delay the endorsement
was not less dangerous than the atrocities committed by the Israeli
occupation in Gaza".
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
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