Fatah seeks joint action with Hamas over Gaza report

October 8, 2009

RAMALLAH, AFP — The Palestinian Fatah movement urged its Hamas rivals on Thursday to join forces to press for international action against Israel over a damning UN report on the Gaza war.

The move comes after the Islamist movement slammed Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmud Abbas for agreeing to delay a vote on the report at the UN Human Rights Council following Israeli and US pressure.

Senior Fatah official and Abbas ally Jibril Rajub told reporters that the secular movement supports using the report to bring Israeli officials to trial "for crimes against the Palestinian people".

"The Fatah leadership has decided to invite the Hamas movement as well as all other Palestinian factions to form a joint Palestinian committee," Rajub said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The committee's objective is "to take action on the regional and international levels in order to relaunch the Goldstone report".

"We want our joint efforts... to bring all the Israeli generals and leaders who had committed crimes against our people before the (International Criminal) Court in The Hague for war crimes," Rajub said.

Rajub went on to say that Fatah was checking the reasons that led to the delay in the vote on the report but urged Hamas "to end its provocation. I am not threatening anyone but the provocation does not serve Hamas or anyone."

The decision to support delaying consideration of the report -- which accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes -- led to an unprecedented tide of anger in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the Fatah-administered West Bank against Abbas.