PA demands UN censure Israel over Temple Mount, Gaza

By Barak Ravid

The UN Human Rights Council's deliberations over the Goldstone report on last winter's Gaza offensive will also deal with Jerusalem, the Temple Mount riots and the siege of Gaza, according to a resolution the Palestinian Authority and a group of countries intend to submit.

Haaretz has received a copy of the draft resolution, and the Foreign Ministry is bracing for a diplomatic battle ahead of the vote, which is scheduled to take place on Monday.

According to a political source in Jerusalem, the PA's ambassador to UN institutions in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, told the ambassadors of the countries involved, most of them Arab and Muslim, that the main motivation behind the Palestinian request to discuss the Goldstone report stemmed from "Israeli provocations in Jerusalem." The Palestinians had originally decided not to have the report discussed.

The Palestinian ambassador said Israel must be shown that it cannot evade international law.

The new draft resolution is entitled "The human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem."

The resolution, which Foreign Ministry sources have described as "very extreme," has three parts: East Jerusalem, the Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead, and the report by the UN's human rights commissioner on conditions in the Gaza Strip.

An official at the Foreign Ministry says the draft "will only serve to show how excessive the Palestinian claims really are."

In the section on Jerusalem, the council states that it is "deeply concerned ... at the Israeli policy of closure and severe restrictions, including the permit regime, that continue to be imposed on the movement of Palestinians, hindering their free access to their Christian and Muslim holy sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

The resolution "strongly condemns all policies and measures taken by Israel, the occupying power, to limit access of Palestinians to their properties and holy sites particularly in Occupied East Jerusalem, on the basis of national origin, religion, sex, age or any other status, which are in grave violation of the Palestinian People's civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights."

The draft proposal demands that Israel abide by international conventions and "allow Palestinian citizens and worshippers unhindered access to their properties and religious sites."

There is also a demand that Israel "immediately cease all digging and excavation works ... beneath and around Al Aqsa Mosque and its vicinity, and refrain from any acts or operations that may endanger the structure or foundations or change the nature of holy sites both Christian and Islamic in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem."

Regarding the Goldstone report, the draft resolution states that the council "fully endorses the recommendations contained in the report, and calls upon all concerned parties including UN bodies, to ensure their immediate implementation in accordance with their respective mandates."

The resolution recommends that the General Assembly "consider the report during its 64th session" and requests that the Secretary General submit a report to the 13th session of the council on "the status of implementation" of the report's recommendations. On Gaza, the resolution states the "Israeli siege imposed on the occupied Gaza Strip, including the closure of border crossings and the cutting of the supply of fuel, food and medicine, constitutes collective punishment of Palestinian civilians and leads to disastrous humanitarian and environmental consequences."

The deliberations at the council will take place tomorrow and Friday, with a vote on the resolution on Monday.

The Foreign Ministry is preparing for a difficult struggle.

According to instructions being sent out to Israeli ambassadors, "We must make it clear to our interlocutors that we are opposed to any resolution on which there would be a vote, and we expect that their delegations will oppose [such a move]."

The Goldstone report will also be mentioned today at the Security Council during the monthly general review of developments in the Middle East. But the council will not deliberate on it, turning down an effort by Libya to hold a special session on the subject.