Palestine: Abbas Facing Pressure from His Own Party?

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Palestine: Palestinian Authority Scrambles to Regain Authority
Palestine Video: Gazans Throw Their Shoes at Abbas

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Tension between Fatah and Hamas increases. After Hamas's decision to postpone the reconciliation talks in Cairo, the Fatah Party's Central Committee has urged Fatah and Palestianian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to issue a presidential decree on 25 October for presidential and parliamentary elections.

Fatah's counter-plan is more of a rescue operation for the party itself, rather than for Abbas himself. The problem is now far more than Hamas' declaration that they would not shake the hand of the "traitor". Within the last two weeks, the furour over Abbas' blocking of a UN vote on the Goldstone Report on Gaza has turned many in the West Bank against him. Faced  with renewed corruption allegations against Fatah and a weakening position, Fatah elites are looking for a way to re-take the initiative.

Meanwhile, Abbas tries to regain his position by resubmitting the proposal for a vote on the Goldstone Report. He said:

The council must reach a decision to judge anyone who committed crimes against the Palestinian nation... I respect the majority opinion, and in the wake of everything that has happened, I have decided that the matter should be turned over again to the Human Rights Council!" Then, he defended his previous decision at the Council: "The decision to postpone [the vote] was a result of a consensus among the different parties at the Human Rights Council ... and in order to secure the largest number of supporters for any resolution in the future.

Both sides continue to blame each other for political manipulation of the Gaza finding. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior PLO official and adviser to Abbas, accused Hamas of exploiting the Goldstone Report to "damage national unity." In return, Hamas warned the Palestinian Authority not to declare new elections unilaterally. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that polls in the West Bank alone would further divisions between Palestinians.

Palestine Video: Gazans Throw Their Shoes at Abbas

Palestine: Palestinian Authority Scrambles to Regain Authority

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This video is from Gaza's streets on Wednesday. Protesters were angered the decision of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to defer a vote on the Goldstone Report, which found evidence of crimes during the Gaza War, at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnFUy9SR5Ms[/youtube]

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The Palestinian Authority, trying to fend off increasing pressure over its deferral of the Goldstone Report at the United Nations Human Rights Council last week, called for a general strike in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Friday to protest Israel's "measures against the al-Aqsa Mosque" and asked the Human Rights Council to discuss both the Goldstone Report and the recent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli policemen in East Jerusalem .
On Friday, the Central Council of Fatah, the party of the Palestinian Authority leadership, called on the populace to mobilize "in defense" of al-Aqsa Mosque, protesting Israel's restrictions on access. Meanwhile, Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian Authority's ambassador to the UN, said, "We deferred, so we were expecting that the Israelis should respect in some way human rights, but this act of aggression against people, against the human rights and humanitarian law, is unbelievable."

Israeli media, however, report that the Palestinian move will be blocked by the US, which is supposedly embarrassed by the situation. Israeli officials claim that the "number one topic" for US envoy George Mitchell during his meeting with Palestinian officials was to convince them not to pursue the initiative.

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The Goldstone Report on the Gaza War is no longer a set of findings on possible crimes by both sides during the fighting. So, an enquiry that was supposed to cast bring light on the bombed rubbleis now  a political tool to be wielded against the "enemy". And that is not only the "enemy" in the Israel-Palestine conflict but also within Palestinian politics.

Yesterday the Palestinian UN Mission issued a press release saying asserting full support for the Libyan request for a meeting of the UN Security Council. However, Libya's proposal was rejected. Although the Council decided to move its next meeting from 20 October to 14 October, Washington's position was clear. US Deputy Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said that the Obama Administration would not approve any decision:

The report needs to be discussed by the Human Rights Council, and decisions on what next steps and what is the appropriate disposition of this report are decisions that will be taken in Geneva. So, for Washington, it is not the Report itself [but] the peace process [that] is more significant.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas tried to repair his political position, damaged by the PA's initial support for deferral of a UN vote on the Report. An Abbas associate said, "If Israel does not soften its positions on the peace process, the Palestinian Authority will resume pushing to get the Goldstone report moved to the Security Council, and thence to the International Criminal Court." Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told the French media that the PA could reveal the names of all the countries who pressured Abbas to defer the UN vote and, instead, negotiate with Israel without preconditions.

Hamas is increasing its bargaining power with the claim that Abbas deferred the UN vote because Israel threatened to expose his support for its war on Gaza. Egypt had announced that Hamas and Fatah would sign an accord on October 25, but on Wednesday, some Hamas officials said on Wednesday hat this was not the appropriate time for a deal. Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, reportedly told Egyptians to either postpone or call off the planned intra-Palestinian conference in the wake of Abbas's "high treason".

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UPDATE 1330 GMT: EA readers have noted this report, originally from Palestine's Shahab News Agency: "[Palestinian Authority] representatives at a meeting in the US initially rejected Israel's request not to endorse the Goldstone report. But, then, Brigadier Eli Avraham, an Israeli representative, played a videotape showing a meeting between Abbas and Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister during the Gaza war, in which Tzipi Livni, Israel's former foreign minister, was also present. The tape showed Abbas trying to convince Barak to continue the offensive.

"Avraham also played an audiotape of a telephone call between Dov Weissglass, a senior Israeli official, and al-Tayyib Abdul Rahim, secretary-general of the Palestinian president's office....In the conversation, Abdul Rahim noted that circumstances were suitable for entry of the Israeli army into Jabalya and al-Shatea refugee camps, and said that the fall of these two camps would end Hamas's rule in Gaza Strip....Weissglass then told Abdul Rahim that such an army operation would lead to the deaths of thousands of civilians, but, according to Shahab, Abdul Rahim said: 'They have all elected Hamas, so they are the ones who have chosen their fate, not us.'"

We have found no further information about this claim, but Al-Manar, Hezbollah's media outlet, adds: "[Israel's] Ma'ariv newspaper had previously quoted the Israeli occupation Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi as saying that the Palestinian Authority, represented by its President, went to war with Israel in Gaza. Ashkenazi sent a letter to the Israeli Attorney, in which he revealed that the Abbas maintained unprecedented cooperation with the Israeli occupation army during the Gaza war."

All this may be considered in the context of our repeated analyses, during the December-January Gaza War, that the Fatah party of Abbas was backing the Israeli operations against Hamas. See, for example, a 6 January entry, "Gaza: The Israel-Fatah Collaboration".

The pressure on Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, after his support for the deferral of a UN vote on the Goldstone Report on the Gaza War, is increasing.

For the first time, an Israeli Arab party (Balad) has challenged the Palestinian leadership, calling for Abbas' resignation. Haaretz reports that even members of Fatah have unofficially asked what needs to be done in to save the party's prestige.

On Monday, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called on Abbas to "go home." The council of Palestinian organizations in Europe also issued a call for Abbas to step down. Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh called the formation by the PA of a committee to investigate the circumstances around the deferred UN vote "unnecessary": "The circumstances here are clear. Abu Mazen [Abbas] gave the order to his representative. An investigation is only necessary when the circumstances are not clear."

And the issue is not going to disappear. At the request of Libya, the United Nations Security Council will discuss the Goldstone Report on Wednesday. Haaretz reports that Libya will look for possible ways to pass a resolution but in case of a veto, Libya is prepared to call on the UN General Assembly to make a decision. Yet the proviso is added that it would be "ridiculous" for Libya to act in the name of the Muslim world or the Arab League as long as the Palestinian Authority is not interested in acting.