ABBAS U-TURN

by MONITOR
BINYAMIN Netanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas and perhaps even Barack Obama want the Goldstone Report into the Israeli attack on Gaza earlier this year to disappear into thin air so that controversy over its contents does not get in the way of whatever progress is being made in peace and two-state negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Three weeks ago the report, which is strongly critical of Israel's actions in Gaza, was surprisingly withdrawn from consideration by the UN Human Rights Council which had commissioned it; when it was discovered that Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, had agreed to the withdrawal, indeed might even have proposed it, he faced a barrage of criticism some of which came from his own Fatah party. Now, in response, Mr Abbas has changed his mind and said he is asking for a special session of the Human Rights Council, which is in recess, so that the report can be considered and “those who committed the worst, the ugliest crimes against our people are punished.” It is generally assumed that the United States put pressure on Mahmoud Abbas when he was in New York for the UN General Assembly after it had become clear how strongly the Israeli government felt about the Goldstone Report. Abbas is obviously a weak man and what little authority he retains as president of the Palestinian Authority will have been further diminished by this incident.