RAMALLAH: Several Palestinian political factions and human rights organizations on Saturday harshly criticized the Palestinian Authority’s request to defer a UN Human Rights Council vote on a resolution that would have condemned Israel’s failure to cooperate with a Gaza war crimes probe.
Palestinian Economy Minister Bassem Khuri resigned on Saturday in protest at the PA decision, an official close to him said. Khuri is the second minister to step down since the government was formed earlier this year.
“Bassem Khuri has resigned to protest the Palestinian Authority’s agreement not to discuss the Goldstone Report,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The adoption of the report, which looked into Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip earlier this year, was deferred by six months after the Palestinian Authority on Thursday decided to drop its draft resolution condemning Israel’s conduct during the offensive. The PA had originally planned to present the draft to the Human Rights Council for a vote in Geneva on Friday.
An Israeli political source was quoted by the daily Haaretz as saying the decision not to pursue the resolution means any similar effort would have to wait until at least March. The source said the decision appears to be based on pressure from the US, as well as through contacts between Washington and Fatah.
Taher Al-Nouno, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said the PA’s request constitutes “a serious crime against our people, a betrayal to the blood of our martyrs and collaboration with the Zionist enemy and cooperation with it in the war and aggression on Gaza.”
“Not adopting the report means giving the green light to the occupation forces to carry out more war crimes against the Gaza Strip as long as it will not be held accountable for its actions with a Palestinian cover,” he added.
Mohammed Al-Hindi, a senior Islamic Jihad official, said: “While we are celebrating the release of our prisoners from the Zionist prison, the PA continues to cooperate with the Israeli plot to erase signs of the massacre against the Palestinian people.”
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestine People Party also condemned the PA’s decision and called to convene the PLO’s executive committee to discuss the issue.
For their part, 14 Palestinian human rights organizations said the PA’s request “deprived the Palestinian people of an effective judicial investigation and from the protection of the law.” Schools all over the Gaza Strip went on strike in protest at the PA’s decision.
