UN human rights envoy John Dugard calls for the UN to pull out of Quartet

Hamas applaud UN human rights envoy's call for UN to pull out of Quartet

Date: 16 / 10 / 2007 Time: 12:24

(Ma'anImages) Bethlehem – Ma'an –

Hamas on Tuesday applauded the declarations of the UN human rights envoy to the Palestinian territories, John Dugard, that he will push for the UN to pull out from the Middle East Quartet unless it addresses human rights violations against Palestinians.

Dugard said that the Quartet was failing to challenge Israeli restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the territories under Palestinian control. He also criticized the Quartet's cooperation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and ignoring the political schism between Hamas and Fatah rivals. In an interview with the BBC on Monday, Dugard said the UN "does itself little good by remaining a member of the Quartet". He also described the Quartet as "weak" because it was "heavily influenced" by the US. Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement, "We are proud of these declarations which we consider to be a new testimony to the UN's and the Quartet's bias towards Israel and against the Palestinian people."

Abu Zuhri called on Arab countries and Palestinian officials to take such a brave stance as Dugard. He also pointed out that Dugard's declarations did not adequately describe western bias towards Israel, adding that the US exerts pressure on the rest of the international community to secure support for the Israeli position and to turn a blind eye to their criminal acts.

Hamas welcomes Dugard's statements urging UN to withdraw from quartet

[ 16/10/2007 - 11:17 AM ]

LONDON, (PIC)--

Hamas has welcomed the statements of the UN's special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian lands, John Dugard, in which he confirmed that he would urge the UN in his next report to withdraw from the quartet of Middle East mediators if it insists on its passive policy towards the ongoing Israeli siege and aggressions against the people Palestinian.

"We appreciate Dugard's statements, believing that such statements reflect his reading of reality and awareness of the gravity of the situation in the Palestinian arena as well as his awareness of the complicity of international parties in favor of the Israeli occupation which tightens the siege on the Palestinian people and kills their children and women," Mushir al-Mesri, the secretary-general of Hamas-affiliated change and reform parliamentary bloc, said.

Mesri called on those international parties, especially the UN to take Dugard's advice since he is closely familiar with the humanitarian situation in Palestine, highlighting that any denial of the reality that Dugard had talked about is a renunciation of the moral values, international conventions and human rights and siding with the Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people.

He added: "I believe that the negative attitude of UN as a member in the quartet towards democracy in the Palestinian arena and its participation in imposing the siege on the Palestinian people is a blatant violation of all laws and conventions the UN was founded on."

In a BBC interview on Monday, Dugard, who frequently visited the occupied Palestinian territories during the past seven years, had said that the UN "does itself little good by remaining a member of the Quartet."

"I was very struck by the sense of hopelessness among the Palestinian people," the rapporteur stated, attributing this to the crushing effect of human rights violations and in particular Israeli restrictions on Palestinians' freedom of movement.

The rapporteur told the BBC that the Israeli measures to protect its security is exaggerated and not commensurate with the alleged threats imposed by the Palestinians.

The rapporteur, also a South African retired professor of international law, added that the response of the Quartet towards Israeli violations was weak because it was "heavily influenced" by the US.

He charged that the international community has given its support almost completely to one faction - to Fatah instead of mediating in the inter-Palestinian dispute, adding: "That's not the role the UN should take."

Caretaker government accuses USA of fully controlling UN

[ 16/10/2007 - 11:48 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The caretaker government accused the American administration of fully dominating the UN and the Quartet and of influencing them to be biased in favor of the Israeli occupation, welcoming at the same time the statements of John Dugard, the UN human rights envoy to the occupied Palestinian lands.

Tahir Annono, spokesman for the caretaker government called on the UN to be a balanced mediator between the Palestinian factions rather than to incite one Palestinian party against another and to condemn the Israeli aggressions instead of supporting the Israeli occupation.

Annono pointed out that since USA, Israel's closest ally in the region, is in the Quartet, it is no longer a neutral committee but is fully biased towards the Israeli occupation, urging the UN to have a positive role in the region.

The spokesman explained that even when the democratically-elected 10th Palestinian government was there, many international parties refused to deal with it and rejected the results of democratic elections, calling for reconstructing the entire system and policy of UN and directing it towards achieving justice, security and stability in this region and the world.

Dugard, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in occupied Palestinian lands had stated on Monday in a BBC interview that he would urge the UN to withdraw from the Quartet of Middle East mediators, confirming that the committee failed to fulfill its duties toward the Palestinian people.

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