Palestinians slam Abbas over UN Gaza report delay
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Mohammed Assadi - October 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Critics accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday of letting down his people by bowing to U.S. pressure and postponing action on a U.N. report that criticised Israel's offensive in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority agreed in Geneva on Friday to defer a vote in the United Nations Human Rights Council on a resolution that would have condemned Israel's failure to cooperate with a U.N. war crimes investigation led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone. It would also have forwarded his report to the Security Council.

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ISRAEL-US: Goldstone Rejects Netanyahu Remarks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Jim Lobe - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

"For the life of me, I don't understand the reason for that [Netanyahu's assertion]," Richard Goldstone, a former South African supreme court judge who also served as chief prosecutor for war-crime tribunals on Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, told reporters at the National Press Club here. "Without some form of truth-telling, there cannot be an enduring peace," he said, citing his experiences in South Africa, as well as in the trials on Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. "Truth-telling and acknowledgement to victims can be a very important assistance to peace," he added.

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What future for Goldstone report?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Richard Falk - (Opinion) October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

The United Nations has often been tested in the course of its history, and once again it is facing a major challenge directed at its capacity to serve the cause of peace, security and justice through respect for the rule of law.

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Palestinians Halt Push on War Report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Neil MacFarquhar - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

In a startling shift, the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council dropped its efforts to forward a report accusing Israel of possible war crimes to the Security Council, under pressure from the United States, diplomats said Thursday. The Americans argued that pushing the report now would derail the Middle East peace process that they are trying to revive, diplomats said.

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Palestinians say Goldstone report 'remains alive'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian diplomats in Geneva say a U.N. report on war crimes in Gaza "remains alive" despite dropping their support for a resolution endorsing the 575-page document. Deputy ambassador Imad Zuhairi says the resolution in the U.N. Human Rights Council was deferred to March to get more of the body's 47-members on board. He denies that the surprise decision to delay the resolution came after heavy pressure from the United States. Washington and its close ally Israel have rejected the report compiled by a U.N. team led by former South African judge Richard Goldstone.

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Britain becomes Palestinian-Israeli legal battleground
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by David Harris - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak had a narrow escape when he visited Britain earlier this week. Immediately prior to his meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a group of Palestinians attempted to use the court system to have him arrested for alleged war crimes. Their bid failed. The case is just the latest in a string of attempts by Palestinians in Britain to protest Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories.

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Lieberman: Norway too 'hostile' to have monitors in Hebron
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel should consider ousting Norwegian monitors from Hebron due to Oslo's "hostility" toward Israel, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told the cabinet Thursday.

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Erekat denies PA to withdraw support of Goldstone report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat denied on Friday reports that the Palestinian Authority has decided to withdraw its bid to adopt the Goldstone report on alleged war crimes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. Thursday night Israeli Ambassador o the UN in Geneva Aharon Leshno Yaar said his Palestinian counterparty told the UN body in Geneva that the Palestinian Authority plans to announced it's withdrawal at the Human Rights Council's vote on Friday.

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PA envoy to Geneva: We'll withdraw support for Goldstone report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

The Palestinian envoy in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraisha, told his Israeli counterpart Aharon Leshno Yaar that the Palestinian Authority (PA) plans to announce that it will be withdrawing its support for the adoption of the Goldstone Report during the UN Human Rights Council's vote on Friday. The report accuses Israel and Hamas of war crimes during their conflict in Gaza in January, an allegation Israel condemns and claims is the result of bias against the Jewish state.

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Goldstone defends commission’s report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
October 1, 2009 - 12:00am

Richard Goldstone defended the report by his U.N. panel on Israel's Gaza operation last winter. At a conference Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington, Goldstone said that every possible measure was taken to ensure that the report was compiled in an even-handed and fair manner. The former South African judge maintained that the report did not look at the justifications for either side's actions but rather at the manner in which military force was applied.

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