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A reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, the rival Palestinian parties, has been delayed, following a bitter dispute over the Palestinian decision not to back a UN report on alleged Israeli war crimes.
The deal was to be signed on October 25, clearing the way for Hamas and Fatah to co-operate in rebuilding war-damaged Gaza by preparing for Palestinian elections in the first half of 2010.
Speaking of his disappointment to Al Jazeera on Monday, Mustafa Barghouthi - an independent member of the Palestinian parliament - said he believed Fatah and Hamas had turned a UN war-crimes report into a party-political issue, rather than into an honest attempt to seek justice.
The report, drawn up by a team of experts led by Richard Goldstone, a former South African judge, accuses Israel of using disproportionate force and failing to protect civilians during its bombardment of Gaza at the end of 2008.
Palestinian party politics
Barghouti said: "What is most unfortunate is that the Goldstone report should have been a unifying issue for all Palestinians ... to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes.
"What we see is that both Fatah and Hamas are making this into a party-political issue. This should stop."
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Following the takeover, there have been rival Palestinian governments in Gaza and the West Bank.
With mediation from Egypt, the parties have been trying to broker a deal to reconcile and establish a power-sharing agreement.
But Hamas said on its website on Sunday that it was postponing the agreement because of a much-criticised decision by the Palestinian Authority (PA), led by President Mahmoud Abbas, to delay action on the Goldstone report.
'Crime and scandal'
Seven Palestinian groups joined Hamas leaders based in Damascus, Syria, on Sunday in issuing a statement of support for the postponement of the reconciliation deal.
They called Abbas's decision to freeze action on the UN report a "crime and scandal".
The groups emphasised the importance of reconciliation but said Abbas's actions should not go unpunished.
"When Goldstone investigated the criminal aggression by Israel against Gaza, this was an opportunity to indict Israel," he said.
"But this group of Palestinian leaders [Fatah leadership] withdrew the report. This is the Goldstone scandal. A courageous leadership is a leadership that is frank with its people.
"Those who are accumulating political mistakes are today continuing their lies. This is not a leadership that deserves to be entrusted with the leadership of the Palestinians.
The Goldstone report recommended that the UN Security Council require both sides to carry out credible investigations into alleged abuses during the conflict - in which 13 Israelis and almost 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilian women and children, were killed.
Israel has rejected the report's allegations while the US has called it deeply flawed.
But many Palestinians, and not just Hamas members, were outraged after Abbas withdrew Palestinian support for having the UN Human Rights Council forward the report to the 192-nation General Assembly for possible action.
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"This campaign by Hamas is aimed at serving their interests, which is to postpone the signing of the reconciliation agreement," he said.
"They want to concentrate their rule and their regime in Gaza. They want to ensure the continuity of division in Gaza, that aims at weakening the Palestinian Authority."
Unity 'efforts continuing'
Some Palestinian parliamentarians are still hopeful that a reconciliation agreement might be reached by October 25.
Barghouti, the Palestinian politician, said despite the public media attacks, unity efforts are continuing.
"The Egyptians have provided a final copy of the agreement for reconciliation. And hopefully, by the 20th of this month, all parties will sign this agreement in preparation for a ceremony that would declare unity," he told Al Jazeera.
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| Abbas's decision not to back the Gaza report at the UNHRC was deeply unpopular [AFP] |
"Delaying the Goldstone report vote would never have happened if we had had a united Palestinian leadership.
"Given that Israel has arrested large numbers of parliamentary members, the parliament is paralysed and unable to function - so this agreement needs to happen."
But other Palestinians say the chances of national unity are slim.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on Monday, Azzam Tamimi, author of Hamas: Unwritten Chapters, said saving the reconciliation process while Abbas remains president is almost impossible.
"The overwhelming opinion in the Palestinian street now is that Abbas is a complete traitor. There is no coming back from that," he said.
"And what makes this worse is the reality that, despite much hope for change with a new US government under President Barack Obama, it seems clear now that it was American pressure that forced Abbas not to back the UN war report."
Tamimi said Washington's policy towards the whole Palestine issue "has not changed, despite a new set of faces in the White House".
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/10/2009101281249528777.html
Dear all,
I didn’t surprise with traitor Mahmood Abbas decision not to ask the United Nations Human Right Council to vote on the findings of the Goldstone report, which concludes that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during Israel's offensive in Gaza last winter.
Traitor Abbas, from day one supported of Israel’s attack on Gaza. Because of that I think what Aljazeera reported is correct make sense. Aljazeera reported that, 7 October 2009:
A videotape is behind the decision by the Palestinian Authority to delay the vote on a UN report accusing Israel of war crimes during its offensive on the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian news agency has reported.
videotape showing a meeting between Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister. The meeting was also attended by Tzipi Livni, Israel's former foreign minister.
The video showed Abbas trying to convince Barak to continue the war on Gaza, while Barak looked hesitant, although Livni appeared to be in support of the plan, Shahab quoted its sources as saying.
Read Aljazeera full report. Click HERE The report has removed from AlJazeera!!!
As you can see this submission included serious allegations against ASIO’s
assessment report and must taken seriously by peoples’ representatives in the
Parliament.
According to ASIO’s 2007 and 2009 assessment report Palestinian organisations,
not only Hamas’ Brigades and PIJ can be listed at terrorist organisations for
ever.
The public can accept the government bias, but for a government organisation
and public servants, like intelligence and security agencies, they must act
according to the specified magnate set to them by the Parliament. Accordingly,
they must report accurate facts and submit accurate reports to the Parliament.
That was not the case with ASIO’s assessment report submitted to PJCIS as part
of the Attorney-General submission.
If the government wants to list Hamas’ Brigades and PIJ as terrorist
organisations forever, then the government should ask the Parliament to give
more executive power to the Attorney-General to list any organisation without
seeking any intelligence information from ASIO.
Today, October 10th, the media has leaked some information about the debate in
the White House regarding sending more 40,000 American soldiers to
Afghanistan. The media reported that one of options inside the White House is
to negotiate with moderate factions within Taleban and focus NATO effort to
fight al-Qaida.
If USA welling to discuss this approach with those who planned, sponsored,
harboured the organisers of September 11 terrorist attack. Then it wiser for
Australia to remove Hamas’ Brigades and PIJ from the terrorist list. Simply
because both Hamas’ Brigades and PIJ are not al-Qaidaa. They are not impose
any threat whatsoever to Australia.
Israel’s attack on Gaza early this year and Justice Richard Goldstone report
should wake up our consciousness and focus seriously on the root causes of
terrorism, occupation, not blaming the victims, Palestinians.
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Richard Goldstone said
a lack of accountability for war crimes committed in the Middle East had reached "crisis point", undermining any hope for peace in the region.
The former South African judge rejected criticism by Israel that the 575-page
report was politically motivated.
He said his team was led by a belief in the rule of law, human rights and the
need to protect civilians during war.
If this report is to matter, it will be for a number of reasons. One is its length.
There have been a slew of reports into the war in Gaza. This is the lengthiest,
weighing in at 575 pages.
There is the man who wrote it: Richard Goldstone is a judge and judicial
investigator with an impressive record. The UN Human Rights Council, for
whom he wrote this, is also no longer a body which is quite as easy for Israel to
dismiss as a congenitally biased. The US has recently run for, and been elected
to a seat on its council.
Mr Goldstone has also shown a measure of political astuteness. This is not the
first time that Israel, or Palestinian militants, has been accused of war crimes -
and in Israel's case, crimes against humanity as well. But previous allegations
have quickly begun to moulder on the shelf.
Mr Goldstone recommended that the Security Council require Israel, and the
Gaza authorities, to report in six months about its own investigations into the
alleged crimes. If they did not come up to scratch, then the International
Criminal Court should become involved. Who, said Judge Goldstone, could
object to that?
The democratically elected Palestinian government has strongly supported
Goldstone’s report, in spite of the accusations against Hamas of war crimes in
the report.
As a result of Goldstones report, Haaretz, 6 October 2009, reported that:
The Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip have arrested over the last two
days a number of Palestinian militants planning to fire rockets at
western Israel.
The report quoted group sources as saying Hamas leader Ismail
Haniyeh has organized a crackdown against Palestinian factions to
curb the attacks against Israel.
Hamas has warned the factions not to fire rockets under any
circumstances, according to the report, even in response to Israeli
measures at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.“1
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security Review of the re-listing of Hamas' Izz al-
Din al=Qassam Brigades
1
Haaretz 6/10/09. ‘Report: Hamas arrests militants planning to fire rockets at Israel’
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1119165.html
That proves the point that occupation and Israeli apartheid policies are the root
causes for violence and terrorism.
Most importantly, Hamas, and all other Palestinian resistance groups, are not
al-Qaidaa.
That proves that Hamas is a moderate organisation, not as ASIO alleges an
extremist organisation.
Committee members,
Sheller Inquiry stated that the ‘guiding principle’ in any critical assessment of
security and counter terrorism legislation is that such legislation must be a
reasonably proportionate means of achieving the intended object of protecting
the security of Australians and Australian interests. Legislation must be well
framed and kept within the boundaries imposed by human rights law. The
language must be specific and unambiguous, to provide a level of certainty to
the obligations such legislation places on members of the community.
The position taken by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in
September 2005 following a special meeting on counter-terrorism, which is
quoted by the Sheller Inquiry (see p. 34):
… any strengthened counter-terrorism laws must be necessary, effective
against terrorism and contain appropriate safeguards against abuse …
and be exercised in a way that is evidence-based, intelligence-led and
proportionate [emphases added].
This submission proves neither Sheller Inquiry ‘guiding principle’ nor the
position taken by COAG in September 2005, has been followed by the Attorney-
General, past and present, and ASIO.
Because of that I strongly recommend and demand that PJCIS de-list Hamas’
Brigades and PIJ from the terrorist list and focus more on the root causes
behind violence and terrorism in Middle East in general and particular in
Palestine-Israel.
As Richard Goldstone rightly said a lack of accountability for war crimes
committed in the Middle East had reached "crisis point", undermining any
hope for peace in the region.
The other option we have is what American Jewish professor Marc Ellis said
here in Australia when I organised his visit July-August 2001. Theologian
Professor Ellis and author of at least 15 books said just that:
More people will die, and the ultimate dignity that even in surrender
you can have, by speaking the truth and letting it be heard, is forsaken.
The Palestinians are on the other side of history and those of us who
know, especially in high places, who don’t speak the truth now, it’s a
crime. What we owe each other now in these sorts of final days of the
conflict, when anything can happen, when a million Palestinians could
be driven out tomorrow, I’m not predicting, when a war could break out
and under cover of that war we owe each other at least the truth. For
God’s sake, speak the truth before it’s too late, otherwise we bequeath to
our children as Jews, a lie, a hypocrisy.2
If the West continues their hypocrisy and double standards, be assured that
Palestinians will be more resilient and will continue resisting Israeli barbaric
occupation until the international community take Goldstone’s words
seriously and act.
Palestinians will never relinquish their basic rights.
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security Review of the re-listing of Hamas' Izz al-
Din al=Qassam Brigades
2
American-Jewish Professor Marc Ellis speaking to ABC Radio National, 8 August
2001. Asem Judeh has organised his visit to Australia.
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