Where is Abu Mazen?
Marian Houk
October 09, 2009
The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, was due to return to Ramallah by Thursday night, but there is still no sign of him yet in the region, and he stayed in Italy another day for a meeting with the Pope in the Vatican. Abbas he was scheduled to meet U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East, George Mitchell, on Saturday or on Sunday -- but where?
The U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said at a briefing with journalists in Washington on Thursday that Mitchell "plans to see Prime Minister Netanyahu tomorrow [Friday], as well as Prime Minister Abbas tomorrow ... And then, I believe on Saturday morning, he´s going to see Prime Minister Fayyad".
Rumors circulated in Ramallah that Abbas is going to make a televised address to his people in the next day or so. Since the decision last week at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to delay -- until March 2010 -- consideration of the report into last winter's Gaza war issued by a Fact-Finding Mission headed by South Africa's Justice Richard Goldstone, Abbas has given no clear explanation to his increasingly angry people of how and why the decision was made.
A demonstration called by members of Fatah organizations was supposed to take place in Ramallah today -- not about the Goldstone report, but rather to show support for the Palestinian position in East Jerusalem. However, many -- including the demonstration's organizers -- decided not to attend, because Palestinian security forces reportedly insisted that the marchers should wear business-like civilian attire, and carry posters with pictures of the Palestinian president.
Some dozens of East Jerusalem Palestinians, and Palestinian citizens of Israel, have been camped out for over a week inside Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Haram ash-Sharif plateau in the Old City, because they feared an imminent attempt to seize control of part of the holy site by Jewish religious-nationalist forces who believe that the Second and possibly also the First Jewish Temples were situated there. Al-Jazeera Television is showing regular live shots of some dozens of Palestinian Muslims sleeping and/or praying inside Al-Aqsa.
While a high-ranking UN official visited the Al-Aqsa mosque compound to urge calm, U.S. envoy Mitchell was in Israel today, meeting various officials including State President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Alexander Lieberman, who said earlier in the day that it was unrealistic to think that a peace deal was within reach. He said that the Palestinians should just accept a "long-term intermediate agreement [that would create stability] ... that leaves the tough issues for a much later stage". Lieberman said in an interview on Israel Radio: "I will tell [Mitchell] clearly, there are many conflicts in the world that haven't reached a comprehensive solution and people learned to live with it ... But together with this, people made the most dramatic decision. To give up using force. To give up terror. And to stop inciting against one another". This is posted here.
Meanwhile, a newly-elected member of the Fatah Central Committee, former Preventive Security Chief in the West Bank Jibril Rajoub (now very successfully serving as head of the Palestinian Football Union and the Palestinian Olympic Committee), told journalists at the Ministry of Information in Ramallah today that "The Fatah movement is awaiting the results of the investigation committee formed by President Abbas on the issue of Goldstone's report ... If we find it was an intentional mistake to thwart this report, we will deal with that in a harsh way." In any case, Rajoub said that the controversy "does not justify continuing this farce and incitement, which benefits no one." He was referring to statements coming from Hamas officials in recent days-- though, Rajoub conceded, "It's not possible for one Palestinian to avoid talking about the consequences of the Goldstone report". Rajoub's remarks were reported by Ma'an News Agency, here
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Prime Minister in two governments after Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, but deposed by a very angry Mahmoud Abbas after the rout of Fatah Preventive Security forces in Gaza in mid-June 2007, reportedly said today that "I heard that Goldstone himself cried when he found out the report had been withdrawn for a vote at the UN Human Rights Council". This is posted in another story on Ma'an here.
In consultations during a closed-door session yesterday in New York, the UN Security Council decided not to take up Libya's suggestion to have an immediate debate on the report of the Goldstone Fact-Finding Mission into last winter's Gaza war. The UN Human Rights Council decided, at Palestinian suggestion, to defer dealing with the report until March 2010. The Security Council members decided, however, that anyone who wants to air views on the Goldstone report could do so during the Council's regular monthly debate on the Middle East, which was moved forward a few days, to 14 October.
The U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told journalists at a briefing in Washington on Wednesday that "What we wanted to do was defer discussion of it so it wouldn't become an impediment to the talks going on which are designed to develop the resumption of talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians ... [A]s I´ve said before and we said many times that we believe that the report raised some very serious allegations that should be reviewed that – but we also believe that these issues should be discussed in a constructive and non-divisive manner. And for that reason, we believe that the place for this kind of discussion is in the Human Rights Council ... We believe that it was in the interest of all concerned, of all who share this common goal of re-launching these negotiations, to delay discussion of this report. And as I said, this is what we are focused on is a long-term objective of getting to a point where we can talk about a real solution to the problems that caused these terrible events in Gaza ... [W]e are at a sensitive time in trying to re-launch these negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Senator Mitchell arrived this morning to resume these talks with the Israelis and Palestinians, and we think that we should all stay focused on that objective of addressing the underlying causes of the tragic events that are covered in the Goldstone report, which is the lack of a comprehensive peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians"...
Pressed by journalists, the State Department spokesman said Wednesday: "there are serious allegations in this report. And these allegations need to be addressed, and we have urged both sides to take steps to address these allegations and investigate them thoroughly ... [W]e recognize that the allegations in the report need to be investigated thoroughly, and we, of course, were very concerned about the number of civilians who were killed in this operation. But again, we need to stay focused on this long-term goal of addressing the underlying causes for the whole conflict. The conflict started because missiles were being fired into Israel and the operation was undertaken to stop these attacks on Israel. What we need to do is get to a point where there is peace between the two communities, between the Israelis and the Palestinians. And the way to do that is to have two states living side by side in peace and security and focusing on what´s really important, and that´s the future of their children and the prosperity of their countries".
During the regular briefing with journalists in Washington on Thursday, Kelly explained, again, that "what happened yesterday is we agreed to move up a regularly scheduled discussion in the Security Council of Middle East issues. This is a monthly meeting. I guess it happens in the third week of every month. We moved it up by a week. This was, rather than accepting a Libyan proposal for an open meeting specifically on the report ... Goldstone is not on the agenda. During these meetings, any country is welcome to raise whatever issue related to the Middle East that they want. And we have to assume that Libya is going to raise this ... You know what our position on this is. Our position is that we believe that the proper venue for a discussion of this is the Human Rights Council, not the UN Security Council, not the International Criminal Court, but the Human Rights Council. At that meeting yesterday, nearly all of the members agreed with us that the appropriate venue for this was the Human Rights Council. But because under the rules, any member can bring up any topic related to the main agenda item, we expect it to be discussed next week on the 14th ... [W]e´re not talking about a meeting that´s specifically – organized to specifically discuss this one issue. It is a meeting where any member can bring up any item for discussion. We haven´t – nobody said this is going to be a session to discuss the Goldstone report. It´s simply to discuss – a meeting that´s scheduled every month to discuss the Middle East ... [when] any member can raise whatever subject they want. And we have to assume that the member that had asked for a discussion of this, Libya, is going to raise it. So we can´t prevent that".
The U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said at a briefing with journalists in Washington on Thursday that Mitchell "plans to see Prime Minister Netanyahu tomorrow [Friday], as well as Prime Minister Abbas tomorrow ... And then, I believe on Saturday morning, he´s going to see Prime Minister Fayyad".
Rumors circulated in Ramallah that Abbas is going to make a televised address to his people in the next day or so. Since the decision last week at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to delay -- until March 2010 -- consideration of the report into last winter's Gaza war issued by a Fact-Finding Mission headed by South Africa's Justice Richard Goldstone, Abbas has given no clear explanation to his increasingly angry people of how and why the decision was made.
A demonstration called by members of Fatah organizations was supposed to take place in Ramallah today -- not about the Goldstone report, but rather to show support for the Palestinian position in East Jerusalem. However, many -- including the demonstration's organizers -- decided not to attend, because Palestinian security forces reportedly insisted that the marchers should wear business-like civilian attire, and carry posters with pictures of the Palestinian president.
Some dozens of East Jerusalem Palestinians, and Palestinian citizens of Israel, have been camped out for over a week inside Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Haram ash-Sharif plateau in the Old City, because they feared an imminent attempt to seize control of part of the holy site by Jewish religious-nationalist forces who believe that the Second and possibly also the First Jewish Temples were situated there. Al-Jazeera Television is showing regular live shots of some dozens of Palestinian Muslims sleeping and/or praying inside Al-Aqsa.
While a high-ranking UN official visited the Al-Aqsa mosque compound to urge calm, U.S. envoy Mitchell was in Israel today, meeting various officials including State President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Alexander Lieberman, who said earlier in the day that it was unrealistic to think that a peace deal was within reach. He said that the Palestinians should just accept a "long-term intermediate agreement [that would create stability] ... that leaves the tough issues for a much later stage". Lieberman said in an interview on Israel Radio: "I will tell [Mitchell] clearly, there are many conflicts in the world that haven't reached a comprehensive solution and people learned to live with it ... But together with this, people made the most dramatic decision. To give up using force. To give up terror. And to stop inciting against one another". This is posted here.
Meanwhile, a newly-elected member of the Fatah Central Committee, former Preventive Security Chief in the West Bank Jibril Rajoub (now very successfully serving as head of the Palestinian Football Union and the Palestinian Olympic Committee), told journalists at the Ministry of Information in Ramallah today that "The Fatah movement is awaiting the results of the investigation committee formed by President Abbas on the issue of Goldstone's report ... If we find it was an intentional mistake to thwart this report, we will deal with that in a harsh way." In any case, Rajoub said that the controversy "does not justify continuing this farce and incitement, which benefits no one." He was referring to statements coming from Hamas officials in recent days-- though, Rajoub conceded, "It's not possible for one Palestinian to avoid talking about the consequences of the Goldstone report". Rajoub's remarks were reported by Ma'an News Agency, here
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Prime Minister in two governments after Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, but deposed by a very angry Mahmoud Abbas after the rout of Fatah Preventive Security forces in Gaza in mid-June 2007, reportedly said today that "I heard that Goldstone himself cried when he found out the report had been withdrawn for a vote at the UN Human Rights Council". This is posted in another story on Ma'an here.
In consultations during a closed-door session yesterday in New York, the UN Security Council decided not to take up Libya's suggestion to have an immediate debate on the report of the Goldstone Fact-Finding Mission into last winter's Gaza war. The UN Human Rights Council decided, at Palestinian suggestion, to defer dealing with the report until March 2010. The Security Council members decided, however, that anyone who wants to air views on the Goldstone report could do so during the Council's regular monthly debate on the Middle East, which was moved forward a few days, to 14 October.
The U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told journalists at a briefing in Washington on Wednesday that "What we wanted to do was defer discussion of it so it wouldn't become an impediment to the talks going on which are designed to develop the resumption of talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians ... [A]s I´ve said before and we said many times that we believe that the report raised some very serious allegations that should be reviewed that – but we also believe that these issues should be discussed in a constructive and non-divisive manner. And for that reason, we believe that the place for this kind of discussion is in the Human Rights Council ... We believe that it was in the interest of all concerned, of all who share this common goal of re-launching these negotiations, to delay discussion of this report. And as I said, this is what we are focused on is a long-term objective of getting to a point where we can talk about a real solution to the problems that caused these terrible events in Gaza ... [W]e are at a sensitive time in trying to re-launch these negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Senator Mitchell arrived this morning to resume these talks with the Israelis and Palestinians, and we think that we should all stay focused on that objective of addressing the underlying causes of the tragic events that are covered in the Goldstone report, which is the lack of a comprehensive peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians"...
Pressed by journalists, the State Department spokesman said Wednesday: "there are serious allegations in this report. And these allegations need to be addressed, and we have urged both sides to take steps to address these allegations and investigate them thoroughly ... [W]e recognize that the allegations in the report need to be investigated thoroughly, and we, of course, were very concerned about the number of civilians who were killed in this operation. But again, we need to stay focused on this long-term goal of addressing the underlying causes for the whole conflict. The conflict started because missiles were being fired into Israel and the operation was undertaken to stop these attacks on Israel. What we need to do is get to a point where there is peace between the two communities, between the Israelis and the Palestinians. And the way to do that is to have two states living side by side in peace and security and focusing on what´s really important, and that´s the future of their children and the prosperity of their countries".
During the regular briefing with journalists in Washington on Thursday, Kelly explained, again, that "what happened yesterday is we agreed to move up a regularly scheduled discussion in the Security Council of Middle East issues. This is a monthly meeting. I guess it happens in the third week of every month. We moved it up by a week. This was, rather than accepting a Libyan proposal for an open meeting specifically on the report ... Goldstone is not on the agenda. During these meetings, any country is welcome to raise whatever issue related to the Middle East that they want. And we have to assume that Libya is going to raise this ... You know what our position on this is. Our position is that we believe that the proper venue for a discussion of this is the Human Rights Council, not the UN Security Council, not the International Criminal Court, but the Human Rights Council. At that meeting yesterday, nearly all of the members agreed with us that the appropriate venue for this was the Human Rights Council. But because under the rules, any member can bring up any topic related to the main agenda item, we expect it to be discussed next week on the 14th ... [W]e´re not talking about a meeting that´s specifically – organized to specifically discuss this one issue. It is a meeting where any member can bring up any item for discussion. We haven´t – nobody said this is going to be a session to discuss the Goldstone report. It´s simply to discuss – a meeting that´s scheduled every month to discuss the Middle East ... [when] any member can raise whatever subject they want. And we have to assume that the member that had asked for a discussion of this, Libya, is going to raise it. So we can´t prevent that".
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