Geneva, October 10: The Palestinians Authority asked the United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday to hold a special meeting soon on a contentious UN report blasting the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, officials said.
Palestinian leaders had earlier agreed to the council delaying a vote on the report until March 2010, apparently under heavy pressure from the US and Israel. The move sparked widespread condemnation from democratically elected Hamas, Palestinian people and across the Arab world.
But, in a reversal, the Palestinian envoy to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, said his mission has begun consultations to schedule an extraordinary meeting of the council “as soon as possible” to adopt the report and implement its recommendations.
The report, produced by an independent fact-finding mission headed by former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, accused both Israel and Palestinian armed groups of committing war crimes during the three-week war in Gaza that erupted on December 27, killing some 1,400 Palestinians (mainly civilians) and 13 Israelis (mainly soldiers).
The UN Security Council will discuss the report next week as part of a rescheduled debate on the Middle East, diplomats said on Wednesday.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki on Thursday urged broad support at the UN Security Council debate next week, blasting Israel’s conduct during the Gaza conflict.
“We are inviting all countries to come and intervene in the (October 14) session to stress the importance of endorsing the recommendations of such a report,” he told reporters after conferring with UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
Wednesday, a divided Security Council agreed in closed-door consultations to bring forward the regular monthly debate on the Middle East from October 20 to next Wednesday at which the Goldstone report will be raised.
Libya, backed by Arab, Islamic and nonaligned countries, had lobbied for “an emergency meeting” to focus exclusively on the report, which criticized Israel.
Malki said he would personally make the Palestinian case on the Goldstone panel’s recommendations at Wednesday’s council debate.
“It’s going to be an open debate but of course the emphasis will be on the Goldstone report,” he told reporters.
Malki said the Palestinians also intend to take their case to the General Assembly and noted that to that end he met with Ali Triki, the president of the 192-member body.
The Geneva-based Human Rights Council, which commissioned the Goldstone report, has postponed until March 2010 its vote on the report at the request of the Palestinian leadership.
But the controversial decision angered Hamas and many Palestinians, and weakened president Mahmud Abbas, according to observers.
In an about-turn, the Palestinian leadership is now pressing the Security Council and the General Assembly to ensure implementation of the Goldstone report recommendations.
The Palestinians are in particular insisting on one key recommendation in the report that calls on both Israel and the Palestinians to conduct investigations of alleged war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by their respective sides through their own national legal systems within six months.
The Goldstone panel also asked the UN secretary general to bring its report to the attention of the UN Security Council for follow-up action, which could be a referral to the International Criminal Court.
Israel, backed by the United States, has rejected the UN report.
—Agencies