“…’this morning I was in congress and I spoke to one congressman about an upcoming resolution to be taken by the U.S. congress condemning the Goldstone report.
[Richard] Goldstone, for those of you who don’t know, is a famous, Jewish Zionist judge from South Africa who did reports on human rights abuses, on war crimes in various parts of the world; in ex-Yugoslavia, in Africa–Rwanda, Darfur and elsewhere. Goldstone was asked in January by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to go and investigate. The funny part is that congress wants to condemn the investigation–that he shouldn’t have investigated. You know, to me, who is worried about an investigation? Only a guilty [party] is worried about an investigation. So Goldstone started to embark on his work. Israel was very clear and said that they will not cooperate with him. Of course, there are voices in Israel today that are saying we made a mistake. The report of Goldstone was very balanced. It spread the blame and it said clearly that both sides committed what he thinks are war crimes even though Israel acted in self-defense. But its actions in self-defense still crossed red lines and constituted war crimes. And Goldstone basically recommends and asks the different parties to form independent commissions to investigate what happened. Failure to have these investigations will definitely open the door wide open to all sorts of litigation against the different parties. What is really amazing is that congress is now thinking of passing a resolution that condemns the report, that condemns the language of the report, but more importantly, condemns the language of the resolution adopted in Geneva two weeks ago. Reviewing the language of the resolution, it is identical to the same resolution language that passed when it was on Darfur, when it was on Rwanda and when it was on Serbia. How the language is deplorable when it comes to Palestine-Israel and the language is okay of a resolution when it comes to other places of the world is really beyond me. Secondly, if Israel is so sure it did nothing wrong, why not allow an open investigation; a credible one that is independent, that would come and either say, no you committed war crimes and the guilty should be punished or it will come and clear Israel of those charges. But to come and say that we condemn the report and we are not willing to be part of that report is not something that I think is right. It’s not right for Israel. It’s not right for Palestinians. It definitely is not right for the U.S. and for the Obama administration which claims to have opened a new page in relations with the Arab and Muslim worlds.
As you know, I resigned my post over the handling of the Goldstone [report]. I did it in silence. I never wanted this to be an issue that will be used against the PA. After all, I’m proud of the fact that I am part of that establishment. I’m not on their payroll but I am a Palestinian who is proud of our legitimacy, who is proud of our elections. And, as a result, we have an elected leader. So you have to stand with him. Right after that, I went to Geneva. I got a legal opinion on how we should tackle Goldstone. And I’m very proud of the fact that I advocated that. And at that exact moment, two o’clock in the afternoon when Hassan Abu Libdeh was sent by the prime minister to hand me the letter accepting my resignation, was the exact same moment we were discussing the Goldstone report again. By the way, it passed with more votes than we thought we will have the first time. I’m happy this is done. I believe the Goldstone report is a way that should set a foundation of future relations between us and the Israelis. Israel always thought they could do whatever they want and they will have impunity. For the first time ever, there was a situation whereby somebody came–a Jew, a Zionist, a credible person–came by and told them what you did was wrong. And I am sure, hopefully we will never have a next conflict, but I am sure the next time we have a conflict in the area, Israeli generals will think more than twice before giving orders to commit war crimes’…

Mr. Bassem Khoury is the outgoing Minister of National Economy (MoNE) for the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
This transcript may be used without permission but with proper attribution to The Palestine Center. The speaker’s views do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jerusalem Fund”.

This can be read in full here:
http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/d/ContentDetails/i/7697

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1123705.html