Did Traitor Abbas Instigate the Gaza Massacre?

"Did the Palestinian Authority plan and even instigate the war crimes on Gaza together with Israel?

Is the PA also actively involved in urging the UN to postpone the vote on the report of Goldstone, which accuses Israel of committing war crimes against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip?

If these allegations are true, and the PA was involved in these inhuman crimes, then it is the duty of all human rights organizations to add the names of the President of the Palestinian Authority and Tayeb Abdel Rahim to the list of the Israeli war criminals involved in the massacre of Gaza last January.."

Comments

Submitted by canuquetoo on October 5, 2009 - 2:42pm.

Traitor Abbas? Why not Traitor Arafat too. They're all on the take.

Submitted by martin dufresne on October 5, 2009 - 5:34pm.

Why are these attacks against Palestinians tolerated here? I flagged this thread but to no avail.

Submitted by N.Beltov on October 5, 2009 - 5:59pm.

Yes, the PA was recently reported as encouraging the UN to delay the voting on the report. Reuters had a story about it a few days ago.

But the Israelis and their American financiers already have their super-agent, Mahmoud Dahlan, who's intimately connected with all sorts of Israeli and American-sponsored atrocities against fellow Palestinians -especially if those Palestinians have anything to do with the democratically elected Hamas government - and who had the following remarks made about him recently:

Quote:

... scores of Dahlan's operatives scouted Gaza and marked Hamas' hideouts for IAF strikes.

The report greatly damages Dahlan's reputation among Palestinians and significantly weakens his chances to succeed Abbas.

The divide and conquer activities of the Israelis and Americans (and Canadians and British and Europeans and ... ) continues.

What a surprise. I'm sure they're "real sorry" about all those dead Palestinian civilians from last year's attack.

Submitted by NDPP on October 5, 2009 - 9:05pm.

Another PA Betrayal

http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/10/05/another-pa-betrayal

"The PA has given a plethora of mostly mendacious pretexts to justify the scandalous act which numerous Palestinians, ordinary people as well as intellectuals, have described as an expression of national treason..."

Last Straw for the Palestinian "Authority"

http://sareemakdisi.net/2009/10/05/last-straw-for-the-palestinian-author... [6]

"If there were any lingering doubts concerning the status and integrity of the Palestinian National Authority - and its so-called President, Mahmoud Abbas ("so-called" because his term of office, such as it was, expired almost a year ago) - they were surely dispelled once and for all by its decisions to drop its support for a UN resolution that would have referred the Goldstone Report on Israel's post-Christmas 2008 attack on Gaza to the UN Security Council.."

Guernica Written with the Hands and Hearts of Children

http://www.alternativenews.org/english/2196-guernica-written-with-the-ha... [7]

"This week one of the architechts of the assault, Israeli Minister Ehud Barak, visited the UK to speak to Labour Friends of Israel at their annual reception. He was welcomed and entertained by British Cabinet Ministers. An application to Westminster Court for his arrest was over-ridden by the Foreign Secretary David Milliband, which enabled Barak to enjoy diplomatic immunity.

At what point, one wonders, can "diplomatic immunity" become an absolution for the crime.."

Submitted by mahmud on October 5, 2009 - 10:28pm.

I am surprised that people are surprised about what has always been known, at least by people who closely follow Israelo-Palestinian politics and events : The PA, under Mahmud Abbas, is a puppet regime sustained by Western powers. Add to that that inherited and perpetuates the corruption that had plagued the PA under Arafat.

Submitted by Pogo on October 5, 2009 - 10:37pm.

At times like this I miss Cueball's input.

Submitted by NDPP on October 5, 2009 - 10:58pm.

mahmud wrote:

NDPP

no surprise if you look at the domestic media treatment of the issue. Perhaps too, there is unwillingness to accept the use of an indigenous comprador class of collaborators or "traitors" whose task is to act as brokers in the sellout of Indigenous interests to the Colonizer. It must always be remembered and repeated that Canada has succeeded in its settler state occupation project in ways Israel can only dream of..

Submitted by al-Qa'bong on October 5, 2009 - 11:59pm.

Pogo wrote:

At times like this I miss Cueball's input.

I'll say.

Quote:

Traitor Abbas? Why not Traitor Arafat too[?]

Indeed, why not? Actually, Arafat was considered by many to be a sell-out, especially after his capitualation at Oslo. The ever-clumsy Israelis rehabilitated Arafat's reputation, however, by besieging him in his Ramallah compound during the months before he died (some say by Israeli poison), which made Arafat look like a defiant hero to the cause.

They'd have necklaced Abu Mazen in South Africa.

Quote:

This latest forthright collusion of the PA in Israel's campaign to whitewash its crimes and undermine the application of international law to punish these crimes came a few days after the far-right Israeli government publicly blackmailed the PA, demanding that it withdraw its support for adopting the Goldstone report in return for "permitting" a second mobile communications provider to operate in the occupied Palestinian territory. It therefore undermines the great efforts by human rights organizations and many activists to bring justice to the Palestinian victims of Israel's latest massacre in Gaza: the more than 1400 killed (predominantly civilians); the thousands injured; the 1.5 million who are still suffering from the wanton destruction of infrastructure, educational and health institutions, factories, farm lands, power plants, and other critical facilities, and from the long criminal Israeli siege against them.

It is nothing short of a betrayal of Palestinian civil society's effective Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, with all its recent, remarkable growth and achievements in mainstream western societies and among leading unions.

Dissolve the Palestinian Authority

By OMAR BARGHOUTI [12]

Submitted by M. Spector on October 6, 2009 - 12:00am.

Dissolve the Palestinian Authority [excerpt]

Omar Barghouti wrote:

This is not the first time, though, that the PA has acted under orders from Washington and threats from Tel Aviv against the express interests of the Palestinian people. The historic advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice in July 2004 that found Israel's Wall and colonies built on occupied Palestinian territory illegal had presented a rare diplomatic, political and legal opportunity that could have been used to isolate Israel as apartheid South Africa was after a similar ICJ decision in 1971 against its occupation of Namibia. Alas, the PA squandered it and systematically -- quite suspiciously, actually -- failed to even call on world governments to comply with their obligations stated in the advisory opinion.

The whole clause on Israel and Palestinian rights that was to be discussed at the recent UN Durban Review Conference in Geneva was dropped after the Palestinian representative gave his green light. Efforts by non-aligned nations and the former UN General Assembly president, Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, to push for a UN resolution condemning Israel's war crimes in Gaza and establishing an international tribunal were thwarted mainly by the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, causing several prominent diplomats and international law experts to wonder which side the official Palestinian representative was on.

The Mercosur-Israel Free Trade Agreement was almost ratified by Brazil this last September after the Palestinian ambassador there expressed approval, only urging Brazil to exclude Israeli settlement products from the Agreement. With prompt action by Palestinian and Brazilian civil society organizations and eventually by the PLO's Executive Committee, this ratification was averted and the Brazilian parliamentary committee in charge of this file recommended that the government refrain from approving the FTA until Israel complies with international law.

In all these cases and many similar ones, the instructions to the Palestinian representatives came from Ramallah, where the PA government has illegally appropriated the PLO powers to lead Palestinian diplomacy and set foreign policy, conceding Palestinian rights and acting against the Palestinian national interests, without worrying about accountability to any elected representatives of the Palestinian people.

Submitted by M. Spector on October 6, 2009 - 12:02am.

al-Qa'bong beat me by one minute.

Submitted by al-Qa'bong on October 6, 2009 - 1:18am.

Well, my alter-ego is named "Quick Draw" after all...

Submitted by mahmud on October 6, 2009 - 11:53am.

The cell phone project that Omar Barghouthi mentions (posts 8 & 9 above) seems a diversive "argument".

An (aljazeera) article in Arabic alleges that the reasons why Abu Mazin (Mahmoud Abbas) has ordered the Palestinian representative in UN to demand postponing the vote on Goldstone report on Gaza war. He gave that order after Israeli officials threatened to uncover the role of Abu Mazin and his administration in Ramallah in encouraging Israel to invade Gaza and continue the killings there. According to the report, the Israeli officials threatened to broadcast video tape of Abu Mazin urging Ehud Barak to continue Gaza onslaught. The report alleges that there was tape where Al Tayeb Abdurahim (Abu Mazin’s advisor) urged the Israeli commanders to attack refugee camps of Jambalaya and Al Shatie. When the Israeli commander told Abu Mazin advisor that this will result in killing tens of thousands of Palestinians, the advisor said that they deserve to be killed as they chose their destiny by voting for Hamas. I tried to find English version of the article, but it is still not available. As soon as I find it I will post it.

Source: http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C57AF109-F2BD-4960-BEF7-1DF23EE2AD93.htm

شريط فيديو أجَّل تقرير غولدستون

نقلت وكالة شهاب الفلسطينية للأنباء عن مصادر وصفتها بالمطلعة في واشنطن قولها إن شريط فيديو كان وراء ما قالت إنه قرار السلطة الفلسطينية سحب تأييدها لمشروع قرار في مجلس حقوق الإنسان التابع للأمم المتحدة يدعم تقرير ريتشارد غولدستون حول الانتهاكات في الحرب الإسرائيلية الأخيرة على قطاع غزة.

وقالت الوكالة إن اجتماعا جرى في واشنطن في الأيام الماضية بين ممثلين عن السلطة الفلسطينية ووفد إسرائيلي حول الموقف من التقرير، وأشارت المصادر إلى أن ممثلي السلطة رفضوا في البداية بشدة الطلب الإسرائيلي بعدم تمرير التقرير، وتمسكوا بموقفهم، إلى أن جاء العقيد إيلي أفراهام وعرض على جهاز الحاسوب ملف فيديو يعرض لقاء وحوارا دار بين رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس ووزير الدفاع الإسرائيلي إيهود باراك بحضور وزيرة الخارجية السابقة تسيبي ليفني.

ووفقا للمصدر نفسه ظهر عباس في التسجيل المصور وهو يحاول إقناع باراك بضرورة استمرار الحرب على غزة، فيما بدا باراك مترددا أمام حماسة عباس وتأييد ليفني لاستمرار الحرب.

وأشار المصدر إلى أن أفرهام عرض أيضا على وفد السلطة تسجيلا لمكالمة هاتفية بين مدير مكتب رئاسة الأركان الإسرائيلية دوف فايسغلاس والطيب عبد الرحيم الأمين العام للرئاسة الفلسطينية، الذي قال فيها إن الظروف مواتية ومهيأة لدخول الجيش الإسرائيلي لمخيمي جباليا والشاطئ، مؤكدا أن سقوط المخيمين سينهي حكم حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس) في قطاع غزة، وسيدفعها لرفع الراية البيضاء.

وحسب تسجيل المكالمة فإن فايسغلاس قال للطيب عبد الرحيم إن هذا سيتسبب في سقوط آلاف المدنيين، فرد عليه عبد الرحيم بأن "جميعهم انتخبوا حماس، وهم الذين اختاروا مصيرهم وليس نحن".

وقال المصدر إن الوفد الإسرائيلي هدد ممثلي السلطة بعرض المواد المسجلة أمام الأمم المتحدة وعلى وسائل الإعلام، ما دفع وفد السلطة للموافقة على الطلب الإسرائيلي، وقام بكتابة تعهد خطي يقر فيه بعدم إعطاء تصريح لأي دولة لاعتماد تقرير غولدستون.

وقد نقلت صحيفة معاريف التقرير الذي نشرته وكالة "شهاب" الفلسطينية للأنباء اليوم، وأضافت عليه أنه نقلا عن مصدر سياسي كان سحب تقرير غولدستون يعود إلى تهديد رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي بنيامين نتنياهو لمحمود عباس بأن عدم سحب التقرير "سيمس مسا خطيرا بالمسيرة السياسية".

لكن الصحيفة أشارت إلى أن الساسة في إسرائيل يفضلون الصمت في هذه القضية، "لأنه لا توجد رغبة في المس بأبو مازن أكثر من الذي تعرض له حتى الآن وخدمة حماس بالتالي".

واعتبرت أن "أبو مازن فعل الأمر السليم من ناحيته"، ونقلت عن مصدر سياسي "لو كان عاند على تقديم مشروع القرار، لمس مسا شديدا بالمسيرة السياسية".

صفقة الخلوي
كما ربطت صحيفة معاريف سحب تقرير غولدستون بمحاولة السلطة الفلسطينية إقامة شبكة خلوي جديدة في الضفة الغربية "الوطنية" التي قالت إن نجل أبو مازن يقف على رأسها.

وتشير الصحيفة نقلا عن مصدر أمني كبير إلى أن الجيش الإسرائيلي عارض إقامة الشبكة الخلوية الجديدة بدعوى أنها تصطدم بموجات بثه، لكن الجيش الإسرائيلي "ألمح لمسؤولين فلسطينيين بأنهم إذا ما سحبوا التأييد لتقرير غولدستون فسيحصلون على مساعدة في دفع المصالح لإقامة شبكة خلوية ثانية في الضفة الغربية".

وكانت الجزيرة نت علمت من مصادر فلسطينية مقربة من عباس قبيل التصويت على تقرير غولدستون الجمعة الماضي أن السلطة ستسحب اعترافها بالتقرير بعد تعرض الرئيس الفلسطيني لضغوط شديدة من رئيس حكومة تصريف الأعمال سلام فياض.

في السياق ذكرت المصادر للجزيرة نت أن فياض تذرع بالوضع الاقتصادي وإمكانية عرقلة عمل الشركة الجديدة واستغلال إسرائيل والإدارة الأميركية للموافقة الفلسطينية على التقرير بغية التراجع عن تعهدات بالعمل على تسوية سلمية للصراع.

وكانت إسرائيل اشترطت قبل أيام سحب السلطة الفلسطينية موافقتها على التقرير الذي يدين إسرائيل بارتكاب جرائم حرب أثناء حربها بغزة مقابل السماح لشركة اتصالات فلسطينية جديدة بالعمل وإعطائها الترددات اللازمة.

حرب غزة
في السياق ولغرض تأكيد معلوماتها أشارت وكالة شهاب لما نشرته صحيفة معاريف الإسرائيلية بتاريخ 11/5/2009، حول تصريحات رئيس أركان الجيش الإسرائيلي غابي أشكنازي بأن السلطة الفلسطينية ممثلة برئيسها محمود عباس خاضت مع إسرائيل الحرب على غزة.

وأعادت الوكالة التذكير بما نشرته الصحيفة في وقته من أن أشكنازي أرسل رسالة إلى المستشار القضائي للحكومة الإسرائيلية كشف من خلالها عن التعاون غير المسبوق بين الجيش الإسرائيلي والسلطة الفلسطينية ممثلة برئيسها عباس أثناء الحرب على غزة.

وكانت الصحيفة قالت إن سلطة رام الله ضغطت على إسرائيل لإسقاط حكم حماس قبل بدء الحرب، كما أشارت إلى وثيقة أعدت في مكتب ليفني تكشف عن ممارسة عناصر فلسطينية رفيعة المستوى ضغوطا على إسرائيل بشكل كبير لإسقاط حكم حماس في غزة.

وحسب الوثيفة دفعت السلطة الفلسطينية الاحتلال الإسرائيلي وبقوة لبدء تنفيذ عملية الرصاص المصبوب وضرب حماس، وقالت الصحيفة إن ما دفع وزارة الخارجية الإسرائيلية للكشف عن هذه الوثيقة هو ما شرعت به شخصيات في السلطة الفلسطينية في أعقاب عملية الرصاص المصبوب، للبدء في التحقيق مع القادة الإسرائيليين في جرائم الحرب التي ارتكبوها أثناء الحرب.

ونوهت وكالة شهاب إلى تصريحات أشكنازي في ذلك التاريخ للقناة الثانية في التلفزيون الإسرائيلي، التي قال فيها لأول مرة "إسرائيل وسلطة رام الله قاتلتا جنبا إلى جنب أثناء عملية الرصاص المصبوب على قطاع غزة".

وكان وزير الخارجية الإسرائيلي أفيغدور ليبرمان قد أطلق تصريحات قبل بضعة أسابيع هدد فيها السلطة الفلسطينية بالكشف عن دورها في الحرب على غزة، إذا أصرت على مواصلة دعم تقرير غولدستون.

وكانت صحيفة هآرتس الإسرائيلية قد أكدت في أعدادها السابقة أن رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس هو من اتخذ قرار مطالبة مجلس حقوق الإنسان التابع للأمم المتحدة بتأجيل مناقشة تقرير غولدستون، وذلك بناء على ضغوط أميركية.

يذكر أن قرار تأجيل ريتشارد غولدستون أثار غضبا فلسطينيا عارما بين جميع الهيئات والفصائل الفلسطينية بما فيها حركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني (فتح) التي يرأسها عباس، كما أثار غضب واستهجان المنظمات الحقوقية التي وصفت التقرير بالحيادية والدقة والنزاهة

Submitted by NDPP on October 6, 2009 - 1:11pm.

The treachery of the PA to which you refer is in the first article in this thread by Kawther Salam. Here's another:

The Abu Mazen Tapes, the Goldstone Report and the Israeli Blackmail

http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/oh-people-of-palestineif-not-bulletspra...

"Israeli figures showed the PA a series of tapes in which Palestinian Authority officials could be heard urging Israel to continue the operation in Gaza. Israel threatened to reveal the material to media outlets as well as to the UN and this, in turn, resulted in the Palestinian retreat..."

Submitted by mahmud on October 6, 2009 - 5:32pm.

NoDifferencePartyPooper wrote:

The treachery of the PA to which you refer is in the first article in this thread by Kawther Salam. Here's another:

The Abu Mazen Tapes, the Goldstone Report and the Israeli Blackmail

http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/oh-people-of-palestineif-not-bulletspra...

Thank you for pointing that out to me, NDPP. I admit that while I read Babblers' post, I did not go into links. Even though, I have also to admit that I am usually wary of blogs, no matter where their owners stand on issues.

Submitted by Diogenes on October 9, 2009 - 4:03am.

I was going to leave this thread alone because the title alone was a little alarming and the content a little unbelievable.

But I was also amazed that Abbas caved in to pressure from the US and Israel. The explanation proffered in the North Americian media, that it "would damage the peace process", was just as unbelievable. There is no peace process happening.

I figured that a bribe was probable and that blackmail might be a possibility. But at this level of scrutiny?

Now the BBC new has a story - Goldstone fallout plague Abbas - that lends credence to what has been discussed in this thread. Commercial interests, secret tapes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

The US has no place claiming to be a peace broker in the mid east.

Submitted by NDPP on October 10, 2009 - 9:56am.

Embarrassed and Denounced

a third intifada?

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/967/re72.htm

"What is clear is that the latest scandal, or 'Goldstone-gate' as some Palestinian journalists are beginning to refer to events in Geneva, is likely to seriously undermine PA standing with the Palestinian public. Weakened popularity coupled with obvious US failure to force Israel to freeze Jewish only settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem along with mounting tension around Al-Aqsa Mosque, could form an incendiary trigger that might eventually explode in a new wave of violence--a third Intifada.."

Submitted by Frustrated Mess on October 10, 2009 - 11:01am.

From the BBC report:

Quote:

The PA move in Geneva has probably not made a major difference to the likelihood of Israel ending up in the dock of the International Criminal Court. This was always low.

Even if the Palestinians had persuaded enough countries to vote last Friday to forward the Goldstone report to the UN Security Council, the US and possibly others would most likely have vetoed sending it any further.

Indeed. What were the words of Nobel Peace Prize winner and US President Barack Obama in Cairo? Here it is:

Quote:

But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice ...

The peace prize winner will, of course, ensure those yearnings remain unfulfilled for those not of the right skin color, religion, or of settler stock.

Submitted by al-Qa'bong on October 10, 2009 - 11:31am.

Quote:

I was going to leave this thread alone because the title alone was a little alarming and the content a little unbelievable.

But I was also amazed that Abbas caved in to pressure from the US and Israel.

Abu Mazen didn't "cave in" to the Zionists; he's their guy.

Submitted by M. Spector on October 11, 2009 - 11:21am.

This West-Bank journalist says the pressure all came from the U.S.:

Quote:

On October 1, U.S. presidential envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, reportedly approached a senior PA official and Hillary Clinton called Mahmoud Abbas in a climax of "intensive diplomacy," which indicates that the pressure was coordinated at the U.S. White House level. Amira Hass reported in Haaretz that Abbas capitulated to American pressure after a visit from the American consul-general on the same day, and phoned Geneva. Pakistan's representative Zamir Akram told the 47-member Council that the co-sponsors of the resolution wanted the vote to be postponed until the next session in March. The next day, U.S. Assistant Secretary, Esther Brimmer, confirmed the U.S. diplomatic intervention and told reporters: "We discussed with [Human Rights] council members - and in particular, we discussed with council members and the state of Israel, as well as the Palestinian Authority - how to approach the Goldstone report." A senior U.S. official told AP that the Palestinian decision came after "intense diplomacy" by Washington to convince the Palestinian leadership that going ahead with the resolution would harm the Middle East peace process, and "The Palestinians recognized that this was not the best time to go forward with this."