UN Human Rights Council Will Consider Goldstone Report Despite US Pressure, Haniyah Says Will Survive it

Haniyah: Resistance will survive Goldstone report

Published today (updated) 14/10/2009 16:35

]Gaza – Ma’an –

Accusing Hamas of being against the Goldstone report is a “desperate attempt to cover the crime of withdrawing the vote at the Human Rights Council,” de facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah said Wednesday.

Hamas dealt with the committee during the duration of its investigations in Gaza, Haniyah said, and will continue to deal with the realities of the report. He said media coverage of an alleged Hamas rejection of the UN-mandated Goldstone report was unsubstantiated.

Speaking at a sit-in protest in Gaza organized by victims and families of victims of Israel’s war on Gaza last winter, Haniyah explained, “If there is a concern about how the report will affect the peoples’ right to resistance vis-à-vis the Goldstone report, that in no way means we have withdrawn our support for the document in general.”

Haniyah said de facto government personnel would offer up their total support to the Goldstone report mission, “offering all we can to convict the Israeli occupation.” The Hamas leader also said he hoped Israeli leaders would be held accountable at the International Criminal Court.

“We are for a serious, national effort ahead of dealing with this document and implementing its recommendations,” he said, comparing the de facto government’s reaction with the Israeli position. Israeli officials refused to allow the UN-mandated fact finding mission into the country, so organizers were forced to enter Gaza via Egyptian Rafah, and fly residents of Israel and dozens who live in the Negev towns like Sderot to Geneva to give testimony on life under projectiles fired from Gaza. On Wednesday an Israeli member of the Knesset ripped up the report on the floor of the government house.

Draft UN resolution on Goldstone’s report inserts text on Jerusalem

Published today (updated) 14/10/2009 15:31

Bethlehem – Ma’an –

A draft resolution submitted by Palestinian diplomats to the United Nations Human Rights Council calls for a full endorsement of the Goldstone report on Gaza and also condemns Israel for its policies in Jerusalem.

The draft was made public on Wednesday on the website of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. President Mahmoud Abbas’ government reportedly submitted the draft after it demanded a new debate on the Goldstone war crimes report.

The draft resolution “Strongly condemns all policies and measures taken by Israel, the occupying power, to limit access of Palestinians to their properties and holy sites, particularly in Occupied East Jerusalem.”

The request for a new debate on war crimes committed during the Israeli war on Gaza was in itself an about-face for Abbas, who initially buckled to US pressure and called for debate on the report to be postponed. Palestinian public outrage, and sharp criticism from Hamas apparently resulted in this the reversal.

Debate in the Human Rights Council begins on Thursday, and a vote is expected on Friday.

The report was compiled by an international, independent fact-finding mission led by former UN war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone.

The new resolution, however, adds additional language about Jerusalem which, observers say, could hurt its chances of gaining the support of European countries.

“Abbas also understands that the upgraded report he served to Geneva will not go far. He doesn't really believe that Netanyahu will have to rescue Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert, and Tzipi Livni from the claws of the International Court of Justice in The Hague,” wrote diplomatic correspondent Akiva Eldar in analysis for Haaretz.

“That was his only way to free his hands from his critics from Hamas and from his own party. Not only did he return the Goldstone report to the council in Geneva, but added more and more topics to it,” Eldar also wrote.

UN Human Rights Council will consider Goldstone Report despite US pressure

 Wednesday October 14, 2009 06:13 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Despite pressure from the Obama administration to drop the Goldstone Commission Report on Israeli and Palestinian human rights violations during Israel's invasion of Gaza this January, the UN Human Rights Council has announced that it will reopen discussion on the Goldstone Commission Report on Thursday.

The report, authored by renowned South African jurist Richard Goldstone, detailed the results of a UN fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict. The findings recommended that both Hamas and the Israeli government bring to justice those who are responsible for war crimes during the three weeks of fighting in late December and early January.

If they don’t, the report urges that the case be referred to the International Criminal Court for possible prosecution.

In the US Congress, sixteen Democrats joined an equal number of Republicans in denouncing the report, which stated that the ratio of civilian casualties inflicted by Israelis was 250 to one, compared to those inflicted by Hamas.