The Palestinian Authority initially expressed strong support for the United Nations' Goldstone Report, which charged Israel with war crimes in connection with the late 2008-early 2009 Cast Lead counter-terror offensive in Gaza. However, on Thursday night PA officials told Arab media that they would not support the report in a UN Human Rights Council vote on Friday.
After having termed the report “professional” and “unbiased” when it was first released, the PA has now backtracked and seeks several months in which to study the document.
PA negotiator Saeb Erekat denied reports of waning PA support for the document on Friday. Erekat said the PA continues to back the report.
Whether or not the PA supports the report, due to its observer status at the UN it will be unable to cast a vote. However, the PA's stance is likely to influence votes cast by the Committee of Islamic Nations.
Arab media reported that the PA had begun to oppose the Goldstone report because the report states that Israel had the right to fight Gaza terrorists following rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. Gaza terrorists had targeted Israelis in Gaza, and later in the Negev, for eight years prior to the Cast Lead operation.
In addition, the report states that Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorist groups committed war crimes by firing rockets on Israeli civilians. The PA fears that by voting in favor of the report, it would be seen as terming terrorism a war crime – a stance that could negatively affect the odds of reconciliation between the Fatah-led PA in Ramallah and the Hamas-run breakaway PA in Gaza.
The release of the Goldstone report has pitted Arab and African countries against the United States and Europe in the UN, as the former enthusiastically support the report while the latter have expressed reservations. The U.S. has termed the report “deeply flawed.”
Israeli officials explained Thursday that if the report were to be accepted in the UN Human Rights Council and the case against Israel to continue to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the affair could have serious consequences for America and Europe as well. All countries facing terrorism could find themselves in a similar situation as Israel, forced to fight terrorist who operate from within a civilian population – making such countries unwilling to condemn Israel for fear that their own leaders will be dragged before the ICC as a result.