Puzzling on one level, but not on another - the Palestinians agreeing to the Goldstone Report on the Gaza War not going forward at the UN until March next year. The suggestion is that Israel pressured the Palestinians [Fatah that is - the corrupt and ineffectual organisation that it is] that the Israelis would withhold communications equipment the Palestinians want. The Americans also wanted agreement to deferment.
Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard, does an analysis on FP of the so-called peace process - and ponders whether Obama isn't just going to be seen as making speeches [witness the Cairo one so widely hailed at the time] without delivering anything tangible as a US President - or worse, being seen as a partisan supporter of Israel and its positions.
"While everyone else is welcoming the hopeful signs from the nuclear negotiations with Iran -- and I'm cautiously encouraged too --I'm going back to the less-than-hopeful news from elsewhere in the Middle East. According to the Associated Press, the Palestinian National Authority has agreed to defer its efforts to get the Goldstone Report on war crimes in the Gaza conflict referred out of the U.N. Human Rights Commission to the Security Council or the General Assembly. This seems puzzling: given the findings of the report, and the fact that roughly 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the carnage (along with 13 Israelis), why would they decide to hold back? Simple: because the United States, principled defender of human rights, put a lot of pressure on them. Here's the Associated Press's explanation (my emphasis):
Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard, does an analysis on FP of the so-called peace process - and ponders whether Obama isn't just going to be seen as making speeches [witness the Cairo one so widely hailed at the time] without delivering anything tangible as a US President - or worse, being seen as a partisan supporter of Israel and its positions.
"While everyone else is welcoming the hopeful signs from the nuclear negotiations with Iran -- and I'm cautiously encouraged too --I'm going back to the less-than-hopeful news from elsewhere in the Middle East. According to the Associated Press, the Palestinian National Authority has agreed to defer its efforts to get the Goldstone Report on war crimes in the Gaza conflict referred out of the U.N. Human Rights Commission to the Security Council or the General Assembly. This seems puzzling: given the findings of the report, and the fact that roughly 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the carnage (along with 13 Israelis), why would they decide to hold back? Simple: because the United States, principled defender of human rights, put a lot of pressure on them. Here's the Associated Press's explanation (my emphasis):
"Senior U.S. and Palestinian officials in Washington and Ramallah, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the Palestinian decision came after heavy U.S. pressure and a warning that going ahead with the resolution would harm the Middle East peace process."
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