The controversial Goldstone report on the Gaza War has ripple effects within Palestinian society, with some groups condemning Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for not taking a tougher, hard-line stance on condemning Israel for the findings in the report.
Ghassan Khatib writes in his latest piece about the weight of the report within Palestinian society. He writes:
“Palestinians feel that a historic opportunity was missed to make Israel answer for its atrocities against them. This is especially important because throughout the history of the conflict, Palestinians have always failed to ensure that Israel be held accountable by the international community….
“The decision of the Palestinian leadership to agree to a six-month deferral of the vote at the first stage of this process sparked an unprecedented wave of criticism from the public and political factions. This has weakened the public standing of the leadership. Indeed, it might be argued that the only reason the leadership has survived is the absence of any system of accountability, particularly the absence of a functioning legislative council.”
Similarly, George Giacaman describes the impact of the report on the overall peace process. The report, recent riots in Jerusalem, the Israeli government’s refusal to end settlements, and the minimal accomplishments of the Obama Administration on the peace process represent major hurdles for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Giacaman writes:
“These hopes are diminishing, at least as far as the conflict in Palestine is concerned, but have not completely vanished, certainly not on the part of the PA–even in the face of Israeli intransigence and the continued theft of Palestinian land. The very existence of the PA depends on the continuation of the “peace process”. That is partly the reason why it accepted to postpone voting on the Goldstone report. After all, Netanyahu had threatened publicly that there would be no such process if the report was voted on and accepted.”