Abbas' Decision to Defer Vote on Goldstone's Report Undercuts his Legitimacy and Obama's Credibility

By
Dr Daud Abdullah
Director, Middle East Monitor, MEMO, London

There is widespread consternation and outrage in the Palestinian territories and the region with the decision of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to defer the UN Human Rights Council vote on the Goldstone Report. Scores of condemnatory articles have been written by leading commentators across the political divide castigating the PA and the Obama administration for obstructing the process. They all seem to reach the same conclusion - that justice delayed is justice denied.

More than ever, Mahmud Abbas emerged with his credibility and legitimacy in utter tatters. For if  he, as many commentators noted, could not support a report conducted by the UN and endorsed by civil society in Palestine, the Middle East and the wider international community exposing the Israeli crimes in Gaza what claim can he now make to lead the Palestinian national liberation struggle.

Concerns about British and EU Roles in Palestinian Authority Human Rights Abuses in the Occupied West Bank

by
Dr Daud Abdullah
Director, Middle East Monitor, MEMO, London

“While it may be true that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, it is no longer true that what happens in the Middle East stays in the Middle East. And all of us on the security coordinator's team share the conviction that the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in the national interests of our respective nations, and for that matter, of the world.”


Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, US Security Coordinator, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Michael Stein address on US Middle East Policy, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 7 May 2009,