Abbas to Sign a Confidential Side Letter Not to Accede to the ICC « Kawther Salam

Abbas to Sign a Confidential Side Letter Not to Accede to the ICC « Kawther Salam

Abbas to Sign a Confidential Side Letter Not to Accede to the ICC

If it is true what Chris McGreal, correspondent of  The Guardian in Ramallah, reports, then yesterday Tuesday 27 November 2012 the US pressed Abbas to sign a confidential side letter, which would not be presented to the UN General Assembly, committing the Palestinian Authority not to accede to the ICC and to offer guarantees that the PA will not take advantage of the new status to accuse Israel of war crimes at the international criminal court (ICC) or to seek territorial rulings at the international court of justice. This is a conspiracy to betray the Palestinian national rights being played out on the theatre of international relations by a group of traitors who have renounced the National rights of all Palestinians under the cover of going to ask for statehood at the United Nations and in order to line their pockets with money paid to them by the enemy.

According to what Mr. McGreal reports,  the Palestinian leadership warned Europeand the US that failure to support its bid for statehood at the United Nations on Thursday Nov. 29 2012, will further strengthen Hamas after the Gaza fighting by suggesting that violence, rather than diplomacy, is the way to win concessions from Israel.

Senior Palestinian officials believe the vote is a crucial test of whether there is a future for President Mahmoud Abbas‘s diplomatic strategy after his credibility was badly damaged among Palestinians by what they regard as the success of Hamas in the conflict with Israel this month.

Many ordinary Palestinians believe the conflict showed that standing up to Israel delivers results, in contrast to years of concessions under US peace plans, and drawn-out negotiations. European diplomats concede that the fighting has shifted the ground before the Palestinian request for recognition as a “non-member state”. Failure to support Abbas could risk further undermining his increasingly weak position, to Hamas’s advantage, they warn.

France has said it will vote in favor, and Spain is shifting in that direction. But the US and Britain are attempting to weaken the impact of a UN vote in support of statehood by putting considerable pressure on the Palestinian leadership to offer guarantees that it will not take advantage of the new status to accuse Israel of war crimes at the international criminal court (ICC) or seek territorial rulings at the international court of justice.

Palestinian officials said Britain and the US had pressed Abbas to sign a confidential side letter, which would not be presented to the UN general assembly, committing the Palestinian Authority not to accede to the ICC. See full report

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