Abbas, shirking responsibility?
Photo: AP
Fatah official Nabil Amr
Photo: Reuters
Fatah official: Abbas shirking responsibility
Nabil Amr, outgoing Palestinian ambassador to Cairo, accuses President Mahmoud Abbas of being responsible for the deferral of a vote on Goldstone Gaza war report in UN. 'How can he chose to travel the world and not explain situation to the people?,' he wonders
Senior PLO official and outgoing Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt Nabil Amr, harshly criticized President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday over his stance on the Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.
Amr, who until recently served as a close advisor to the president, said Abbas is responsible for the change in the Palestinian Authority's position with regards to the report, which led to the deferral of a vote in the UN's Human Rights Council on whether action should be taken.
Amr's remarks come as particularly harsh statements from a senior Fatah official.
He slammed Abbas' decision to form an internal inquiry commission to probe the matter, and said this was an insincere attempt by Abbas to shirk responsibility.
"How, in the shadow of such an affair, can Abu Mazen (Abbas) chose to travel around the world and not be with the people and explain to them what happened?" he said.
The outgoing ambassador said he was resigning from all posts in the Palestinian Authority, and not just from his position in Cairo. Amr's verbal attack comes as Fatah sources are busy trying to minimize the damage caused by the affair.
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat earlier said President Abbas was "seriously considering" asking that the report be passed on to the Security Council.
"President Abbas is seriously studying the possibility of asking the Arab and Islamic bloc to officially take the Goldstone Report to international bodies, including the UN General Assembly and the Security Council," he said in a phone call from Amman.
Criticism from within the Palestinian Authority comes following a wave of criticism from around the Arab world over the Palestinian stance on the war report. On Monday, it was reported that Abbas' scheduled visit to Damascus was postponed, as Syria slammed the PA's decision to withdraw its support of pushing forward on action on the war report.
Earlier this week, Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh said Abbas had personally instructed the Pakistani representative in Geneva to take back the demand to have the Goldstone Report discussed by the UN.
