Abbas. Received message from Clinton?
Photo: AP
Mitchell. Not to damage peace efforts
Photo: AFP
US says did not pressure Abbas on UN report
State Department rejects claims that Palestinian president was pressured to defer Human Rights Council discussion on Goldstone committee's conclusions
WASHINGTON – The American administration on Monday denied claims that it had pressures Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
to defer a Human Rights Council discussion on a United Nations report
into the Israeli operation in Gaza.
"I don’t know if I would accept your characterization of pressuring," State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly said Monday night when asked about the reports, which have stirred a row
in the Palestinian Authority. "We had serious concerns with the recommendations and some of the allegations."
Washington admitted that Israel could probe the allegations itself, clarifying that an international handling of the report would damage the progress made in the peace process, which US special envoy George Mitchell has been working on for the past few months.
Arab Controversy
Associated Press
Mahmoud Abbas' planned visit to Syria was postponed amid controversy about his role in postponing discussion over Goldstone Report
According to Kelly, an investigation of the report's conclusions could be carried out by the Israeli government. "We felt very strongly that while these investigations should be investigated and addressed, that we thought on the one hand that Israel had the kind of institutions that could address these allegations. And of course, we urged Israel to address these very serious allegations," he said.
"We didn’t want the report to distract us from our ultimate goal, which was to address the root causes of the tragic events of last January, and that’s the lack of a regional and lasting peace between the two parties – between the Israelis and the Palestinians. So we were concerned that we stay focused on that ultimate goal.
"We are not saying that the allegations in the report should be ignored. We simply do not want the report itself to become any kind of impediment to this ultimate goal," Kelly added.
The State Department spokesman praised the Palestinian leadership's handling of the matter, despite the harsh criticism it has been subject to in the past few days.
"We appreciate the seriousness with which the Palestinians approach this very, very difficult issue, and we respect this decision to defer discussion of the report to a later date for the reasons that I just stated – that we want to make sure that we stay focused on the ultimate goal here," he noted.
Kelly was also asked whether the US consul general in Jerusalem had relayed a message to Abbas message from Secretary of State Clinton is that he is to defer the report going to the UN Human Rights Council, but avoided giving an answer.
"I’m not aware of that meeting, and so I can’t comment on it. I’m not sure that we would comment on a meeting – on a confidential, diplomatic exchange between one of our diplomats and a representative of the Palestinian Authority. I’m just saying that we have been very frank about where we think the focus should be, and that should be on resolving this longstanding conflict," Kelly clarified.
