Gaza report seals Abbas' political fate
By Sami Moubayed
A United Nations report commission, created after the 2008-2009 Gaza War, has
released a thundering report that has ripped through the Palestinian and Arab
street, threatening to bring down Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and his
entire cabinet. Mandated to lead the mission was Richard Goldstone, the
respected South African president of the United Nations Human Rights Council
(UNHCR).
The 574-page Goldstone Report, released in mid-September, came out with a
relatively balanced report, accusing both the Palestinians and Israelis of "war
crimes" and possible crimes against humanity-verdicts strongly challenged by
the Hamas-led government in Gaza and the Israeli government.
Also critical of the report, for its criticism of Israel, was the United
Statesl; while supporting it were Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Among other things, the report claims that Israel breached laws of armed
conflict by attacking civilians indiscriminately, targeting civilian facilities
and failing to provide them with early warning prior to attacks. It added that
the Israeli blockade of the Strip, which was imposed after Hamas took control
of Gaza in the summer of 2007, represented disproportionate force aimed at
collective punishment.
The US representative to the UN Susan Rice expressed "serious concern" claiming
that the report was "unbalanced, one-sided and basically unacceptable". State
Department spokesman Ian Kelly said, "Although the report covers both sides of
the conflict, it focuses overwhelmingly on Israel's actions" while keeping the
"deplorable actions of Hamas to generalized remarks".
Within the US Congress, Gary Ackerman of New York, chairman of the House
Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, added, "In the self-righteous
fantasyland inhabited by the authors [of the report], there's no such thing as
terrorism, there's no such thing as Hamas, there's no such thing as legitimate
self-defense."
The views were echoed in Israel, where Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
noted, "The Goldstone Commission is a commission established with the aim of
finding Israel guilty of crimes ahead of time." For his part, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu argued that the findings would "devastate the peace
process".
Although equally condemned in the report, Hamas saw it as a blessing in
disguise because of its very harsh criticism of the Israelis. If criticism of
their conduct was the price for exposing and nailing Israel in the
international community, this is something the leaders of Hamas were readily
planning to accept.
The unexpected outcome of the Goldstone Report, however, was a stunning U-turn
by the West Bank-based Palestinian National Authority (PNA) of President Mahmud
Abbas. Last week, they surprised observers by seeking deferral of a UN debate
on the Goldstone Report until next March, ostensibly, until awaiting a
consensus on the findings.
The postponement request was made by the Pakistani representative at the UN
Human Rights Council, who claimed to be speaking on behalf of countries in the
Arab and Muslim world. Popular lore in the Arab world - along with heavyweight
media - claims that the decision to postpone the Goldstone Report was taken by
the PNA, under pressure from the United States and Israel.
The news broke through the Palestinian street like mad, whipping up tremendous
resentment for President Abbas. Hamas claimed that his attitude had been
"shameful and irresponsible", calling on him to step down. Thousands of
protestors took to the streets, even in the Fateh controlled West Bank,
chanting anti-Abbas slogans while posters were plastered on the walls of Gaza
saying, "To the trashbin of history, traitor Mahmud Abbas!"
Syria, which was expected to host Abbas last week, unilaterally canceled his
visit, citing his stance on the Goldstone Report. So high was the pressure on
Abbas that one of his senior aides, former Information Minister Yasser Abd
Rabbo, came out and said, "We must say a mistake has been made. This mistake
should not be underestimated or concealed."
Abbas, who originally supported the six-month delay, quickly backed down,
calling for an investigation to see how his own government supported such a
decision. Abd Rabbo and Abbas' statements were a de facto admission that the
PNA had in fact lobbied to delay the report, further complicating matters,
rather than soothing the Palestinian Street. The Palestinian government
released a statement saying that it was "unacceptable" to undermine the
Goldstone Report, while Economy Minister Bassem Khoury stepped down to protest
the president's actions.
Rami Khoury, a respected journalist with the Beirut newspaper The Daily Star,
wrote, "The Palestinian presidency has become an international embarrassment.
It generates no respect among the four principal constituencies where it should
matter: the Palestinian people, the Israeli people and government, the Arab
people and governments, and the rest of the world. It is shocking -
unbelievable, in fact - that Abbas should have totally wasted away the last
bits of credibility and respect Yasser Arafat had left for him."
To understand why Abbas is facing the worst turn of a political career that has
spanned nearly 40 years, we must look into the political background of the man
who grew old and grey under the towering influence of Yasser Arafat.
Abbas was never a fan of armed resistance, and always looked down upon military
leaders of the Palestinian movement; seeing them as rough and unrefined, no
match for a civilian like himself raised in the grace of Damascus, where he
studied university, obtained a degree in law from Cairo and a PhD from Moscow.
He has a particular disdain for Hamas, seeing them as political amateurs who
challenge him for leadership of the Palestinians.
The 74-year-old president, elected after Arafat's death in 2004 - precisely
because of his long association with Arafat - unilaterally extended his term as
president last January, apparently more concerned with the trappings of power
than parliamentary procedures or democratic life.
Back in March 2003, the US had literarily forced Yasser Arafat to appoint him
prime minister, hoping that Abbas could clip the veteran Palestinian leader's
wings, but he resigned seven months later, due to lack of popularity and
constant conflicts with Arafat over the distribution of power in the PNA. His
name had graced the ill-fated Oslo Accords of 1993 between Israel and the
Palestinians, making him more unpopular at the street level, especially with
Hamas.
Since coming to power he has repeatedly tried to disarm and weaken armed groups
like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are very popular with grassroots
Palestinians. When Abbas campaigned for office in 2005, however, he had to
appeal to this same constituency - wearing Arafat's famous checkered kufiyya
- to elicit support from ordinary Palestinians who favored a steadfast approach
towards dealing with Israel.
While Arafat looked like his people - always at war, with pistol to his side,
wearing a military outfit - Abbas drives around in tinted cars, wearing a
neatly pressed suite; very alien from the Palestinians he represents.
The Hamas seizure of Gaza in 2007 split Abbas' PNA right in two, further
undermining the colorless president. The Gaza war came as a blessing in
disguise for Abbas, raising hopes that the IDF would crush Hamas and restore
Gaza to what he sees as its rightful owners, being him and his government. The
fact that it destroyed thousands of homes, hundreds of civilian facilities and
80 official buildings meant nothing to the PNA President. Nor did the fact that
according to Palestinian sources, more than 1,400 people were killed in 23 days
of violence; more than half of them being civilians.
That war failed to eliminate Hamas from the Palestinian street and so did the
US-led boycott of Gaza. Nothing could be more upsetting to Abbas than the
Goldstone Report, which shows how indifferent he was to the winter war raging
on Palestinian territory, and raises the popularity ratings of Hamas by
exposing Israeli war crimes.
Desperate perhaps, or impatient because of old age and months left in his
presidency, Abbas took the ill-fated decision to support the delay of the
Goldstone Report. This effectively destroyed whatever credibility and
legitimacy he had left on the Palestinian and Arab streets. That credibility -
gained at a time when Fateh was lead by Arafat and enjoyed some world respect -
is now history, because of Mahmud Abbas and his stance on the Goldstone Report.
No wonder an increasing number of voices are now calling on him to step down
not only in the Palestinian territories but within the wider Arab and Muslim
world as well.
Sami Moubayed is editor-in-chief of Forward Magazine
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