Goldstone report to be discussed at special session of UNHRC
Playing politics with the security of the Israeli people is something no human should ever advocate.
Mary Robinson knew that when she refused to Chair the UNHRC witch hunt against Israeli defensive actions earlier this year.
“the resolution is not balanced because it focuses on what Israel did, without calling for an investigation on the launch of the rockets by Hamas. This is unfortunately a practice by the Council: adopting resolutions guided not by human rights but by politics. This is very regrettable.”
Since it’s release the political football has been passed around the field. The UNHRC first were going to vote on the report only to have said vote delayed until March next year, apparently after Obama pressured Abbas to drop his demand for a vote, then a Libyan attempt to get the security council to look at the report failed, and now it would seem that Abbas, a man who has made an art out of doing nothing to further peace during his Presidency, has made public noises about requesting a special session of the UNHRC to debate and vote on the report.
The problem is the only reason why Abbas is making these moves is because he is fighting for his own political survival. Word on the Palestinian street is that Hamas were mighty miffed that the PA dropped their insistence of a vote the other week – so in a pathetic attempt to hold on to his political office, elections must be held next year, Abbas is hoping to bring forward a vote and use the UNHRC once again to demonise Israel, something that body does constantly.
The fall out from the Goldstone report is far from over – this is going to continue for some time. Speaking at the opening of the new Knesset session yesterday Binyamin Netanyahu attacked the report and its findings.
“Israel’s basic rights to self-defense and to exist as a Jewish state are under continued attack, which has become even stronger following the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead. Our first mission is to repel them,” the prime minister said as he attacked the Goldstone Report.
“This report, written by the warped [Goldstone] Commission, questions Israel’s very right to self-defense. This report encourages terrorism and also endangers peace. I want to emphasize this. Israel will not take chances for peace if it cannot defend herself.”
Warped indeed, but Israel needs to respond to the ongoing campaign by Palestinians and other in the UN who attack our basic rights to defend our population from the murderous intent of our so called peace partners.
A new website has been created by a number of bloggers who have been following events very closely since last winter. They offer analysis and challenge some of the issues raised by not just the report itself but the very make up of the team. Over the weeks and months ahead this will turn into a valuable resource to counter the huge anti-Israel campaign that will follow. Check them out.
Netanyahu responds to Obama
In the quagmire that is the middle east it is impossible, it would seem, to please everyone all of the time.
After US President Hussein Obama in his speech in Cairo, and through his poodle Secretary of State Clinton and puppet envoy Senator Mitchell, demanded that Israel come out in support of a two state solution, Prime Minster Binyamin Netanyahu, once again confirmed for all the world to hear, that the State of Israel accept the premise of a two states living side by side in peace and harmony.
Beginning his address at the Begin/Sadat Centre at Bar Ilan University, Bibi talked about the advantages of peace challenging the leader in Beirut, Damascus, Riyadh to meet with him. He maintained that together with Egypt and Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians could develop an economic peace that would help all in the region prosper.
Together, we can develop industrial areas that will generate thousands of jobs and create tourist sites that will attract millions of visitors eager to walk in the footsteps of history – in Nazareth and in Bethlehem, around the walls of Jericho and the walls of Jerusalem, on the banks of the Sea of Galilee and the baptismal site of the Jordan.
And then he spoke directly to the Palestinian Authority challenging them to meet immediately to begin negotiations without preconditions.
As he progressed through his speech he touched on the issue of settlement activity, and the fallacy that settlements are what hinders peace:
Many good people have told us that withdrawal from territories is the key to peace with the Palestinians. Well, we withdrew. But the fact is that every withdrawal was met with massive waves of terror, by suicide bombers and thousands of missiles.
We tried to withdraw with an agreement and without an agreement. We tried a partial withdrawal and a full withdrawal. In 2000 and again last year, Israel proposed an almost total withdrawal in exchange for an end to the conflict, and twice our offers were rejected.
We evacuated every last inch of the Gaza strip, we uprooted dozens of settlements and evicted thousands of Israelis from their homes, and in response, we received a hail of missiles on our cities, towns and children.
The claim that territorial withdrawals will bring peace with the Palestinians, or at least advance peace, has up till now not stood the test of reality.
In their analysis of his speech BICOM noted that Netanyahu echoed the language of Obama when he talked about the need of talking honestly about the conflict:
In seeking to explain why peace had not been possible until now, he argued that the key barrier to peace from the days of the British Mandate to today has been ‘the refusal to recognise the right of the Jewish people to a state of their own, in their historic homeland.’ This refusal to recognise Israel, he argued, predates the Jewish presence in the West Bank and Gaza. He accused the Palestinians of pulling away every time Israel has made peace offers in the past. He gave the situation in Gaza as an example in which Israel withdrew from territory and was showered with rockets in response.
During the speech Bibi did confirm that there would be no new settlements built but he defended Israel’s right to continue to build in existing settlements, something that is now referred to as ‘natural growth’ – something that the Obama administration is opposed to; and most importantly for many Israelis he reiterated his position that Jerusalem would remain the undivided capital of the state of Israel, with it’s holy places open to all to worship in.
On the whole, a well received speech, by all it would seem except the PA.
Immediately after his speech, representatives of the Palestinian Authority were all over the press. A statement from President Abbas’s office read:
The speech has destroyed all initiatives and expectations. . . . It has also placed restrictions on all efforts to achieve peace and constitutes a clear challenge to the Palestinian, Arab and American positions.
Saeb Erekat, supposed Chief negotiator on behalf of the PA goes a step further by demanding that all Arab countries cease work on the Arab peace initiative:
It didn’t come as a surprise to all those who are familiar with the Israeli mentality. It’s time for the Arab world to announce a clear position toward Netanyahu’s speech
What Erekat is forgetting is that their position has remained unchanged for 61 years. Its about time the US administration now makes demands on Arab states and particularly the Palestinian Authority to drop their unrealistic conditions of continually demanding off of Israel whilst offering nothing back in return.
Bibi has now firmly thrown the ball into their court – now lets see what they do with it.
Palestinian man sentanced under Jordanian law.
Elder of Ziyon has a piece up today giving a reason why the Palestinian Authority can not survive (here). In it he quotes an article from the Ma’an News Agency that talks about a man being sentenced to a life time of hard labour for collaboration with Israel (here).
The man, identified only as HA was found guilty under:
articles 11 and 112 of Palestinian penal law number 16 of the year 1960
Now I’m no legal expert, but in 1960 there was no country called Palestine, so I did a bit of research.
It would seem that the Palestinian Authority, who have controlled the Palestinians since as far back as 1996 (based on that is when the first elections were held), are happy to rely on laws in the territories that are actually laws of Jordan and Egypt.
Mel Frykberg wrote last year for The Electronic Intifada an article about the death penalty in the PA. In it, Frykberg says:
According to the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Palestinian law justifying the death sentence is based on the Jordanian Penal Code which applies to the West Bank and the Egyptian Penal Code which applies to Gaza.
Whilst I hate to make any assumptions here, but considering the law HA ha been found guilty of stems from 1960, one can only gather that too is Jordanian law. Which leads me to this: with all the money the PA has received from foreign donors since Oslo for ‘nation building’, with all the help Tony Blair, the Quartet, the UN has offered the PA, why are they still using laws of countries that were occupying ‘their’ territory?
Now considering they are using Jordanian laws, is there any other reason, apart from the fact that King Abdullah will never accept it, why the PA should not become part of its historic homeland, Jordan? (Well not quite historic but more on that another time!)
Maybe when President Hussain Obama gives his much anticipated speech later this week in Cairo he will share with us his vision of uniting The West Bank and Gaza Strip with their homelands of Jordan and Egypt, after all it does seem a natural progression if the PA is already using their laws.
More talk from Hussein Obama
Yesterday the US President Barack Hussein Obama finally met up with the so-called Palestinian leadership in the guise of ‘President’ Abbas, after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu last week.
These round of meetings which Hussein Obama has under taken will culminate in a next weeks much hyped visit to Cairo where no doubt President Hussein Obama will not only feel right at home but will also lay out his vision for a safe and secure Middle East.
What seems apparent is that Hussein Obama will be, like GW Bush before him, pushing the Road Map for Peace as if it’s some sacred cow that needs to be followed to the letter.
According to a report on the BBC, Hussein Obama has stated:
“I am confident that we can move this forward if all parties are ready to meet their obligations,”
We’ve already heard from Hussein Obama what that means in terms of Israel – recognising a Two State Solution, cessation of all settlement activity. That’s all fine and dandy were the Road Map something for just Israel to implement. But its not. It never was.
The first key element of the Road Map is defined as Phase I
In Phase I, the Palestinians immediately undertake an unconditional cessation of violence according to the steps outlined below; such action should be accompanied by supportive measures undertaken by Israel.
Palestinians and Israelis resume security co-operation based on the Tenet work plan to end violence, terrorism, and incitement through restructured and effective Palestinian security services.
Palestinians undertake comprehensive political reform in preparation for statehood, including drafting a Palestinian constitution, and free, fair and open elections upon the basis of those measures.
Israel takes all necessary steps to help normalise Palestinian life.
Israel withdraws from Palestinian areas occupied from September 28, 2000 and the two sides restore the status quo that existed at that time, as security performance and co-operation progress.
Israel also freezes all settlement activity, consistent with the Mitchell report.
Up until the representatives of the Palestinian people, for this purpose we must include the both wings of Palestinian government, the President and the Parliament, recognise Israels right to exists as a Jewish Land then any talk about pushing the Road Map, or even its bastard brother the nefarious Arab Peace Initiative is moot.
Israel has in the past given up land for peace. First with Sinai, then with Jordan and again in 2005 when Israel removed itself from Gaza – and yet recognition from the theocratic regime in Gaza of Israels right to exists is where?
If Hussein Obama wants Israel to live up to its obligations under the Road Map then he should demand the same from Abbas.
