UN to address Gaza war report

08/10/2009| IslamWeb

The UN Security Council has agreed to hold a discussion next week on a report that accuses Israel of war crimes during its war against Gaza in December.

The council on Wednesday agreed to discuss a request by Libya that an emergency meeting be held on the report, which was authored by a panel chaired by Richard Goldstone, a South African judge.

The council voted to bring forward its monthly meeting on the Middle East by six days, to October 14.

The talks will focus on the Goldstone report, which accuses Israel of using "disproportionate force" and "deliberately harming civilians".

Anger at Abbas

The council's move comes amid public anger among Palestinians over the support from Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and head of Fatah, that action be suspended in regard to the Goldstone report's findings.

Hundreds of posters appeared in public areas around Gaza City on Wednesday criticizing Abbas.

Abbas is accused of backing the postponement of a UN Human Rights Council vote in Geneva last Friday that would have condemned Israel's failure to cooperate with a UN investigation into the December-January war.

Such a vote would have been one of many steps to bring Israel before a war crimes tribunal, something many Palestinians want to see.

Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, said: "There's no doubt the public outrage over the decision by the PA to withdraw support for the Goldstone report continues several days after that decision.

"We saw today some of the more powerful images of the people here in Gaza turning against the Palestinian Authority president."

He said a rally was held and that dozens of people - mostly intellectuals as well as university students, some of whom were relatives of the victims of the Gaza war – attended.

"During the course of that rally, we heard some very strong condemnation of the PA president," he said.

'Offensive gesture'

"We saw a very offensive public gesture. Many of them had taken off their shoes and slapped the posters of the Palestinian president."

Israel launched a major offensive on the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip in December 2008, saying it wanted to stop rockets fired by Hamas into its territory.

At least 1,400 Palestinians died during the three-week war.

Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, told Al Jazeera it was possible Libya might try to put a draft resolution forward "but I think there is no chance of any consequential action being taken by the Security Council".

Still, Ahmed Gebreel, a Libyan government spokesman, said his country had requested the emergency meeting at the UN "because of the seriousness of the report and because we think it's too long to wait until March [to discuss it]".

Hamas and Abbas both backed the Libyan move, with Abbas even sending a delegate to add weight to the Libyan request.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, Abbas's senior adviser, told the Voice of Palestine radio that backing the postponement of the UN human rights council vote was "a mistake".

"We have the courage to admit there was a mistake," he said, but added that the situation "can be repaired".

Palestinians, including members of Fatah, Abbas's party, have strongly criticized the Goldstone vote postponement, holding him responsible for the decision.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said that the controversy surrounding the Goldstone report could affect the Palestinian reconciliation deal which Egypt has said will be signed later this month.

"All the Palestinian factions, including Hamas, are angry at the [Palestinian] Authority after what happened with the Goldstone report and this could affect the arrangements for the [reconciliation] dialogue," he said on Wednesday.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinians protest in the West Bank city of Ramallah on October 5 against the Palestinian Authority's support for delaying the endorsement of a UN report on possible war crimes committed during Israel's Gaza offensive.

Al-Jazeera