PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 000166

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, SEMEP, AND NEA/IPA; NSC FOR
SHAPIRO/KUMAR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2020
TAGS: PGOV PREL KWBG KPAL PHUM KAWC IS
SUBJECT: PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE
GOLDSTONE ALLEGATIONS

Classified By: Consul General Daniel Rubinstein for reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas
(Abu Mazen) issued a January 25 decree forming a committee to
examine allegations against Palestinians in the United
Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (the
Goldstone report). PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told the
Consul General on January 26 that the committee would be led
by recently-retired Supreme Judicial Council Chief Issa Abu
Sharar, along with four additional members: former supreme
court justice Zuheir Sourani, Ghassan Faramand, Yassi Amouri,
and Nasser Al-Rayes. Two of the five are Gazans.


2. (C) In a January 27 meeting with PolChief, Abu Sharar
noted that the committee would meet for the first time on
January 28. He anticipated that this first meeting would
produce a short workplan, which would be sent as an interim
response to the UN Secretary-General to inform his report to
the UN General Assembly on February 5. Abu Sharar gave no
deadline for the conclusion of the committee's full
investigation.


3. (C) Abu Sharar said that allegations against Hamas in
Gaza would fall under the committee's mandate, but that the
committee's ability to investigate these allegations would
depend on Hamas cooperation. He expressed pessimism on this
point, adding that the committee had not yet contacted Hamas
officials in Gaza. One of the Gaza-based members of the
committee (probably Sourani, he said) would be responsible
for this portion of the review. In response to a question
from Polchief, Abu Sharar said he was unaware of Hamas
efforts to conduct an independent review of allegations in
the Goldstone report.


4. (U) Later on January 27, Hamas "Minister of Justice"
Faraj al Ghoul announced through several media outlets that a
committee under his direction has completed a 52-page
response to allegations raised in the Goldstone report. He
claimed that the Hamas "government" in Gaza had also
commissioned international experts to assist in the
implementation of the Goldstone report,s recommendations.
Al Ghoul noted that Hamas,s report would be provided to the
offices of the UN Special Coordinator Office for the Middle
East in Gaza before the UN Secretary-General,s deadline.

RUBINSTEIN