Ahlul Bayt News Agency - ABNA - The United Nations' main human rights body will consider two resolutions this week demanding changes to Israeli policy toward the Gaza Strip, officials in Geneva say.
The Palestinian Authority plans to put forward a resolution condemning Israel over allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 2008-9 assault on the Gaza Strip, a senior PA official said Sunday.
But the PA's resolution is likely to disappoint human rights advocates who have condemned the international community's ongoing failure to prosecute the alleged violations of international law.
A coalition of rights groups is calling on the UN body to ensure accountability by referring the allegations to the ICC immediately, following the U's rejection of the domestic inquiries led by Israeli and Hamas authorities.
As recommended by South African jurist Richard Goldstone's UN fact-finding mission, "it is imperative that immediate urgent recourse be had to mechanisms of international criminal justice," the groups including Badil and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said.
"Those suspected of committing the most serious crimes of the international community cannot continue to be granted impunity. Victims' rights cannot continue to be denied," the statement, issued Thursday by seven rights groups, said.
The joint appeal, released just ahead of the council's last days in session, preceded calls by Amnesty International, and others, urgently seeking a determination by the Pre-Trial Chamber on whether the ICC prosecutor has jurisdiction over the Gaza conflict.
The PA says going to the ICC is easier said than done. "Anyone can talk about it, but there's a process that needs to take place," Ibrahim Khraishi, the PA envoy in Geneva, said. "We'd like to go tomorrow to the ICC."
Nevertheless, Khraishi says the PA will seek a strongly worded resolution calling Israel to account. "The Israelis have failed to undertake serious, credible investigations into these crimes against our people. This is the main issue," he said.
Sources in Geneva say Khraishi may delay the vote until Friday, when the vote would receive less attention due to the weekend and end of session, allowing diplomats to pass a mild resolution without the concern of significant media coverage.
Khraishi would not discuss the timeframe. "We don't know yet. We'll have to wait and see," he said.
The PA sparked domestic outrage in October 2009 when its envoy to Geneva deferred debate on the report following pressure from Israel and the US, which opposed the report as biased.
President Mahmoud Abbas, at the time facing calls to resign, took responsibility for the move that the PA insisted was a mistake.
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