PT-Occupied Ramallah

 A committee formed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to look into the circumstances surrounding the initial postponement of the Goldstone Report’s presentation before the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva nearly four months ago has held PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas fully responsible for the debacle.

The postponement, which was seen as a treasonous act by most Palestinians, triggered an unprecedented wave of indignation throughout the occupied territories, as well as Palestinians in the Diaspora, forcing the PA leadership to present again the Goldstone Report before the United Nations-affiliated HRC.

The Report was eventually ratified by a large margin of Member States.

Faced with public outrage, Abbas was forced to form a committee to find out who was responsible for the initial postponement. The committee issued its findings nearly two months ago which were handed over to Abbas at his Ramallah headquarters. However, Abbas has so far refused to publish the findings, apparently fearing a public backlash.

On Thursday, 21 January, a member of the investigating committee, Dr. Azmi Shueibi, revealed that the committee indicted Abbas and found that he was fully responsible for the Geneva debacle.

Shueibi said Abbas admitted that he was the one who had instructed the PLO envoy in Geneva to request the postponement.

“The postponement decision was taken by the Palestinian delegation on 2 October 2009, following a telephone call from Nimr Hammad.” Hammad is the main political advisor of the PA leader.

Shuebi said the investigating committee met with Abbas for three hours and listened to his testimony.

“He told us that he was the one who requested the postponement and that he was fully responsible for what happened.”

Shuebi added that “signs of distress and anxiety appeared on Abbas” and that he was worried about the findings and the way the entire issue was exploited against him.

According to the investigating committee, the PA leader and his aides didn’t fully realize the significance of the Goldstone Report nor the implications and ramifications of the postponement.

When the investigating committee was formed more than two months ago, the PA undertook to publicly publish the findings once they were reached.

The head of the committee, Hanna Amira, accused the PA leadership of reneging on that promise, saying that questions as to why the findings were not published ought to be directed to Abbas himself.

Amira said the committee amassed a large volume of information and testimonies from 22 Palestinian figures, including Abbas himself, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Foreign Minister Riyadh al-Maliki, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations at home and abroad.

It is widely believed that Abbas is reluctant to release the findings of the committee, fearing negative reactions from the Palestinian republic.

Hani al-Masri, a noted political commentator based in Ramallah, told al-Jazeera.net that “they don’t want to publicly admit that a mistake was made, although such an admission would be a virtue.”

Al-Masri opined that the whole episode had a positive impact on PA political behaviour and played a key role in the PA’s refusing to resume stalled peace talks with Israel until the Zionist entity agrees to freeze all settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Goldstone Report debacle markedly exacerbated the internal Palestinian situation, with Abbas accusing his arch-foe Hamas of standing behind the whole controversy in order to weaken him politically.

Hamas rejected the accusations, arguing that the decision to postpone the Goldstone Report amounted to assisting Israel to escape international condemnation, which the movement’s leadership said amounted to treason.

The PA carried out reprisals against Hamas’ supporters in the West Bank, arresting hundreds of Islamic activists. The PA security authorities reportedly asked the detainees to pressure Hamas to stop its campaign against Abbas.

Far from dying down, the Goldstone Report controversy resurfaced lately when Sheikh Yousuf Qaradawi called on the Arab League and Organization of Islamic Conference to investigate reports that Abbas and his government in Ramallah had actually colluded with Israel against Hamas during the murderous Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip last year.

He reportedly said—ostensibly rhetorically—that Abbas should be stoned in Mecca if it became clear that he colluded with the Israelis against his own people and if he knowingly and deliberately demanded the postponement of the Goldstone Report.

PA and Fatah spokesmen launched a vitriolic campaign against Qaradawi, using dirty epithets against the honourable religious scholar. Moreover, the PA Waqf Minister, Mohammed Habbash, circulated a special Friday sermon critical of the Qatar-based scholar, asking imams to recite them during Friday congregational prayers.

However, the bulk of imams ignored the sermon.

Qaradawi, one of the most respectable religious scholars in the Muslim world, took an uncompromising stand against the Israeli blockade of Gaza and recently issued a religious edict forbidding the building by Egypt of a steel-and-concrete wall along Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip.

There is no doubt that the vast majority of ordinary Palestinians, and probably other Muslim peoples as well, are more sympathetic to Qaradawi, who has long stood against the U.S. invasion and occupation of Muslim countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and who remained a consistent supporter of the Palestinian cause during the first and second Intifadas.

This is why the rantings and ravings of Fatah leaders against Qaradawi have not been received well in the West Bank, especially in East Jerusalem and Gaza where people can generally voice their views without fear of PA reprisals.

Abdel-Sattar Qassem, professor of political science at An-Najah University in Nablus and a prominent intellectual and commentator, lambasted Qaradawi's critics, saying, “Sheikh Qaradawi is loftier and more sublime than paying attention to these midgets. Qaradawi is a fluttering banner of the Islamic umma [nation]; he is a shining symbol for all Muslims. He is a great scholar, a polymath; he is always at the forefront defending Arab and Muslim causes in general and the Palestinian cause in particular.”

“Qaradawi is a giant in his knowledge, a giant in his morality, a giant in his humanity. We may differ with him on this or that issue, but this should never make us question his status and stature as one of the greatest living scholars of the Muslim umma,” wrote Qassem in January. He added: “A nation that does not show respect to its best sons is a nation ruled by ignoramuses who would sell out their countries for the lowest price.”