Responses to pna’s decision to delay the un vote on the Goldstone’s Gaza Report

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  According to STRATFOR’s sources, Khaleed Meshal condemned the Palestinian Authority, Oct. 2.
  
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  Taher Nunu, a spokesman for Hamas, the group controlling the Gaza Strip, criticized the U.N. delay, Oct. 2.
  
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  Damascus- Syrian officials have postponed a scheduled visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in apparent protest at his backing of a delay on a vote endorsing the UN war crimes report into the conflict in Gaza, local media reported Monday, Oct. 5. (Monsters and Critics)
  
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  TEHRAN (ISNA)-Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi expressed regret over the UN Human Rights Council's decision to postpone ratification of the report by the Head of the UN inquiry committee Richard Goldstone on Gaza war. (ISNA)
  
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  Jordan's associations of 14 professions on Sunday criticized a request by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to the UN to defer a vote on the Goldstone report that condemned Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, Oct. 4.(Xinhua)
  
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  In Cairo, Arab League chief Amr Mussa told reporters he was "disturbed" by the delay, and added in veiled criticism of the PA that "there was no consultation" with the league before it agreed to support the delay, Oct. 5. (AFP)
  
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  In Lebanon, the militant Shiite group Hezbollah said in a statement that the vote delay was "a response to an American demand, with the complicity of some Arabs."
  
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  The PA decision also drew criticism from within the ranks of president Mahmud Abbas's own Fatah party, with senior leader Mohammed Dahlan saying he was against delaying the vote to endorse the report. "Fatah fully supports the Goldstone report. We don't know the exact reasons for delaying" the vote, he told AFP on Saturday. Also on Saturday, Palestinian economy minister Bassem Khuri, an independent, resigned in protest at the decision on the report, a senior official said.
  
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  Protesters said they would march in Ramallah on Monday. A group of 14 rights groups issued a statement condemning the consent to a delay and vowing to "seek justice". (Reuters)
  
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  The factions, including Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad, met in Gaza City on Sunday and will form a joint committee to investigate why the vote was delayed. Earlier on Sunday, Mohammed Dahlan, a member of Fatah's central council, asked the PLO Executive Committee for an official probe into the reasons for the delay in the vote. (Al Jazeera)
  
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  Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered a panel to investigate what led the PA to request the United Nations Human Right Council postpone discussion of the Goldstone report.(Oct. 4) Palestinians are furious at the president, who is seen to have issued the instruction to the diplomatic delegation following his meeting Thursday with the United States consul-general. Abbas - who has been abroad since Friday - his spokespeople, and his aides have cagily denied the claim. The announcement failed to satisfy the various factions who comprise the PLO as well as Palestinian human rights organizations. These groups say the decision to form a commission of inquiry should be made at an official meeting of the Executive Committee and not just by Abbas. (Haaretz)
  
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  Abbas' aides have defended the decision to defer the vote on the Goldstone report, saying Palestinian diplomats needed more time to win international support for the document. They insisted the report wasn't being shelved. (AP)
  

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  Haniyeh: Prisoner release step towards honorable deal. Reception ceremony held in Gaza Strip to welcome home Roda Habib, 20th prisoner released by Israel in exchange for video of Gilad Shalit. Hamas prime minister thanks Egyptian and German mediators, Oct. 4. (Ynet News)
  
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  Over the weekend, Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal said in a speech in Damascus that those who have been holding Gilad Shalit for the past three years "are capable of capturing Shalit, and another Shalit, and another Shalit, until not even one prisoner will remain in the enemy's jails." (Ynet News)
  
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  Noam Shalit, father of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, called on the youth campaigning for his son's release not to abandon their activities advocating for Gilad's release. (Ynet News)
  
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  Senior Hamas terrorist Mahmoud al-Zahar, who is based in Gaza, told the German Der Spiegel weekly that a deal with Israel for the release of Gilad Shalit is a matter of weeks or perhaps a maximum of months. He stated that Hamas is genuinely interested in reaching an agreement and bringing the matter to an end, adding there is still the issue of 125 names, terrorists who Israel in the past has refused to release, indicating Hamas is unwilling to exhibit flexibility in the matter, Oct 4. (The Yeshiva World)
  
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  Three days after a video of Gilad Shalit was received by Israel, the Israel Hayom newspaper reports that a majority of government ministers now support a trade for the kidnapped soldier, even at the price of releasing hundreds of terrorists. Ministers from the Likud, Israel Beitenu, Shas and Labor are all expected to support the move, with dissension coming from only a couple of Likud ministers and perhaps the head of the Jewish Home party, Daniel Hershkowitz, Oct. 5. (The Israel National News)
  
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  Former United States President Jimmy Carter played an active role in the Israel-Hamas exchange last week in which Israel released 20 female terrorists in exchange for a short video of hostage soldier Gilad Shalit. Carter's involvement was revealed by senior Hamas terrorist Mahmoud A-Zahar in an interview with the Arab-language daily Al-Kuds al-Arabi. While current U.S. politicians do not speak to Hamas, which is recognized internationally as a terrorist group, Carter has had frequent contact with the group as a private citizen. He has met with Hamas's Gaza head, Ismail Haniyeh, and its foreign leader, Khaled Mashaal. (The Israel National News)
  
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  The London-based Al-Shark al-Awsat reports Israel does know the location where Gilad Shalit is being held, quoting a senior official in Yerushalayim. The report continues to explain that while the location is known, and is monitored constantly by Israel, with Hamas’ awareness, a rescue mission would be too risky since the soldier’s location is surrounded by large quantities of explosives placed in a radius of about 400-500 meters in all directions. (The Yeshiva World)
  

Links:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3785354,00.html