The Palestinian National Authority did not withdraw the resolution submitted to the UN Human Rights Council calling for the adoption of the Goldstone report's conclusions and recommendations regarding the Israeli war crimes committed in the Gaza strip. What had happened instead was that the representatives of Arab and Islamic countries, in addition to the African representatives at the UN Human Rights Council, requested deferring action on the report, with the consent of the Palestinian Authority. I denounce this position by Arabs, Muslims and Africans, and I denounce the Palestinian Authority along with them, for deferring action over the report. I also condemn all Palestinian factions, whose only reaction regarding this issue was to exchange base accusations (which if they were half true, would imply that everyone is a traitor). The person who has proven to be better than all of those mentioned above is Sarah Leah Whitson, the New York-based director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division. She called me while I was in a business meeting in Beirut last week, and informed me about the report's deferral. She was clearly pained by the news, as evident from the tone of her voice. I contacted her back after that and she said that she thinks the Council should have passed a resolution urging the Security Council to look into the report; however, this did not happen and the report was deferred because the U.S. put tremendous pressure on the Palestinian Authority (and I personally add that there were Israeli threats in this regard as well). Ms. Whitson also said that six months from now, the report will be discussed again, and that the US will have no choice but to accept Goldstone's report and endorse a resolution for international accountability, if Israel and Hamas fail to investigate what had happened. She also said that sadly, she does not expect either party to investigate and punish those responsible for violating the laws of war, if past record is any indication. Sarah Leah Whitson is a truth seeker, while the Palestinian factions only want to settle scores. As for the Arabs, Muslims and Africans, they are completely helpless. I also want to say that there can be no peace with the Netanyahu government, and that all concessions we make are nothing but free gifts to a fascistic state that is desecrating the holy mosque. There is rottenness in Israeli politics that goes beyond the current government and the rotten person who leads it, and beyond the Nazi occupation army and the settlers. In fact, I find this rottenness to be seeping even into the influential semi-independent Israeli press. Maya Bengal wrote an op-ed in Ma'ariv. Quoting Benjamin Netanyahu, she said that in recent years, the Human Rights Council in Geneva has passed more resolutions against Israel than against all 180 countries of the world. She also quoted Netanyahu as having said during a meeting of the Israeli cabinet last week that "If it [the Palestinian National Authority] should decide to promote the Goldstone report, this would first of all harm the war on terror because it would give absolute legitimacy to terrorists who shoot at civilians and who hide behind civilians.” If the condemnations made against Israel exceeds those made against the rest of the countries around the world combined, then the fault lies in Israel and not in the rest of the world, and in Israel's fascistic government. Language itself fails to find words to describe the arrogance of the belief that Israel alone is right, and the rest of the world is wrong. Moreover, the Israeli Prime Minister, the successor of a long line of terrorist Prime Ministers, accused those who are resisting against the occupation of terrorism, when true terrorism is in fact done by the occupier and when the war on terror should be against the occupier alone. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah meanwhile, are resistance heroes against a Nazi army that kills women and children, according to the statistics and figures by the Israeli peace and human rights groups themselves. In Yedioth Ahronoth meanwhile, the most popular Israeli newspaper, Guy Bechor quoted senior officers in the Israeli army as saying: “The next war will also be in Tel Aviv” because of the rockets that are being stockpiled by Israel's enemies in the region, and adds that “these rockets are a crime against humanity for all intents and purposes, since they are directed solely against Israeli civilians.” Where do I begin? I want to ask Bechor: What kind of weaponry does he suggest we should arm ourselves with? If there should be another war, then its primary cause would be the ongoing occupation. In other words, the cause would be Israel itself, and not the rightful owners of the occupied lands. I also want to say that rockets are not crimes against humanity; what is a crime against humanity instead is Israel, which was established on Palestinian lands, and which continues to steal and settle up until today, and will continue until the day when real terrorist attacks occur with weapons of mass destruction, when we will all pay the price for Israeli Nazism. Perhaps the reader noticed here that Bechor warns against an impending danger, which may or may not happen, and then overlooks the fact that it is Israel alone that kills civilians, especially women and children. How could these people be ever dealt with? If the top two newspapers in Israel are both committed to the policy lines of a fascistic government, then what is left for Arab and Israeli peace seekers? Yedioth Ahronoth said at the end of last month, that the Defense Minister Ehud Barak, another terrorist, “is tackling the findings of the Goldstone commission from another angle: The Defense minister has reportedly proposed to former [Israeli] Supreme Court president Aharon Barak to head an investigative committee for examining allegations that the IDF targeted Palestinian civilians in Gaza.” The newspaper also mentioned that political sources said that “the former Supreme Court president was inclined to accept the offer, since he viewed the refutation of the allegations against Israel as a national task.” Thus, literally, Aharon Barak is inclined to head an investigation committee to refute accusations against Israel but not to find the truth. This is justice the Israeli way, and a political rottenness on par with [Israel's] further killing and destruction. Sarah Leah Whitson and other voices like hers at Amnesty International that expressed similar positions are better than everyone else.
