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Palestinian Authority must achieve discussions over Goldstone's report in UN: member of Legislative Assembly

Politics Materials 7 October 2009 20:50 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, 7 October / corr. Trend U. Sadikhova /

Currently, the Palestinian Administration faces two major issues to concentrate their efforts in light of the report by Richard Goldstone regarding Israel's war crimes in Gaza, said Ziad Abu Amr, a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Palestinian National Authority.

"Now it is important to present the report for discussion in the UN Security Council and at the same time, to correct the error caused by the refusal of Palestinians to vote for the report," Abu Amr, former foreign minister, told Trend telephone from Ramallah.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas did not give orders to cancel voting on the report by Goldstone, so now it is important to correct the mistake, said Abu Amr.

The UN Security Council will meet on Wednesday for consultations, where they will discuss the possibility of holding a formal meeting to consider the report of the Commission regarding war crimes during the fighting in the Gaza Strip in December 2008 - January 2009, RIA Novosti reported.

According to the report compiled by Judge Richard Goldstone, the Israeli army and militants of Palestinian Hamas movement have committed war crimes against civilians.

Israel refused to recognize the conclusions by Goldstone's commission, and called the report biased.

But the feverish debates around the report have become more acute after the Arab media reported the decision by President Abbas to cancel the discussion over the report at the UN.

According to Abu Amr, the information that President Abbas gave such an order is simply unproven rumors.

Most important for the Palestinian Authority is to present the report by Goldstone to the consideration by the General Assembly and the UN Committee on Human Rights.

"The Palestinian Authority and Arab countries should comprehensively work in this regard [...] in order not to miss this opportunity," said Abu Amr.

Also, the Palestinian Authority must recognize the mistake to cancel voting on the report and correct it, said the member of the Legislative Assembly.

Former Ambassador of the Palestinian Authority to Egypt, Nabil Amr, put the responsibility for the decision to cancel the voting on the report by Goldstone on Mahmoud Abbas, Al Jazeera television reported.

Hamas representative to Lebanon Osama Hamdan said that Abbas has lost trust of Hamas, ordering to cancel voting on Goldstone's report.

The report mentions that the fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement during the period from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009 in Gaza killed more than 1,400 people, RIA Novosti reported.

The report's authors noted that even before the start of "Cast Lead" operation, Israel blockaded the Gaza Strip, systematically pursued a policy of isolation, thereby punishing all residents of the region.

During the military operation, the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip destroyed homes, factories, schools, hospitals, police stations and many other infrastructures. Work to repair them was postponed because of the continuing blockade of Gaza, which limits the possibility of bringing building materials.

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