Palestine: West Bank Leadership Scrambles to Regain Authority

Israel-Palestine: No Progress in Mitchell Tour

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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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President Obama's special envoy for the Middle East, George Mitchell, is back in Israel. He  held talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and President Shimon Peres on Thursday and is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today before moving to the West Bank to speak with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas this weekend.

Mitchell's visit comes midst increasing tension between Israelis and Palestinians over the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem and pressure on Abbas over the Goldstone Report on Gaza. The envoy did not refer to those events; instead, Mitchell told Peres of his hope that peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians can be restarted soon and of Obama's commitment to bringing peace to the region. After Mitchell gave him the same message, Barak portrayed Israel as the "partner" of United States in the peace process, adding, "The time has come to move forward to start the process and pass all of the obstacles, because this will help everyone... No obstacle is impassable!"

But Barak's words were not echoed by Lieberman, who is calling for detachment from the US and ruling out peace with Palestine in the near-future: "I will tell [Mitchell] clearly, there are many conflicts in the world that haven't reached a comprehensive solution and people learned to live with it." Since it was not the right time for a final agreement, Lieberman suggested that Mitchell should focus on an interim accord, leaving "the tough issues for a much later stage".

Haaretz reports that a senior U.S. official told Israeli reporters that Mitchell's visit was not likely to conclude with an announcement of renewed talks. Israeli sources, however, said --- despite Lieberman's unhelpful intervention --- that this was "within reach."

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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.