UN Panel Defers Vote on Gaza Report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Colum Lynch, Howard Schneider - October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday shelved a controversial report on Israel's recent war in the Gaza Strip, averting a crisis in the push to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks but potentially scuttling efforts to initiate broad war-crimes prosecutions over the conflict.

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Abbas faces uproar over deferred war crimes vote
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

Engulfed by domestic outrage, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rushed Sunday to limit the fallout from his decision to suspend efforts to have Israeli officials prosecuted for war crimes over last winter's military offensive in Gaza. The decision set off a wave of condemnation, not just from his Islamic militant Hamas rivals, but also Palestinian human rights groups, intellectuals and commentators. Leading members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and even Abbas' own Fatah movement quickly distanced themselves, saying they had been taken by surprise.

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PA source: US to press Israel on settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian sources told Ynet the United States has reiterated its commitment to the Palestinian Authority in recent days to reach a peace deal with Israel within two years, based on the Road Map and the 1967 borders. The sources said that in light of the PA's position on the Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, the Americans said they would continue to pressure Israel in the matter of settlements, and said this would be put into action in the coming days with special Mideast envoy George Mitchell's visit to the region.

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Analysis: US backs Israel, but leaves door open for external Cast Lead probe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Dan Izenberg - (Analysis) October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

The address last week by US Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner to the UN Human Rights Council on the Goldstone Report must have been music to Israel's ears. Posner said almost exactly what Israel has been trying to say, without much success, ever since the report was published last month. Here are some of those statements: • We believe that the document is deeply flawed and disagree sharply with its methodology and many of its recommendations, including their extraordinarily broad scope.

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Palestinians outraged over Abbas bowing to Israel, US
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

Demonstrators descended Monday on this city's most famous traffic circle, Manara Square, which for years was a launching point of Palestinian protests against the Israeli occupation.

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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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Palestinians cry 'blackmail' over Israel phone service threat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Ben Lynfield - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel is threatening to kill off a crucial West Bank economic project unless the Palestinian Authority withdraws a request to the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged Israeli crimes during last winter’s Gaza war. Shalom Kital, an aide to defence minister Ehud Barak, said today that Israel will not release a share of the radio spectrum that has long been sought by the Palestinian Authority to enable the launch of a second mobile telecommunications company unless the PA drops its efforts to put Israeli soldiers and officers in the dock over the Israeli operation.

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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 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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