PA condemns ethnic cleansing plan

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123826§ionid=351020202


The Palestinian Authority (PA) has condemned Tel Aviv's plan for the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland.

The Israeli military recently announced the measure, according to which anyone caught in the occupied West Bank without an Israeli entry or residency permit would be labeled an "infiltrator."

Acting PA chief Mahmoud Abbas said, "Israel does not have the right to deport any Palestinian, the Palestinian Authority will not allow it," the Ma'an news agency reported on Monday.

“Israel's decision is an act of provocation and was meant to anger Palestinians," he added.

"Our basic agreement with Israel is that the West Bank and Gaza are one geographic entity under the Palestinian Authority,” Abbas asserted, but failed to acknowledge the authority of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas over the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since wining the Palestinian parliamentary election in 2006.

PA calls for ICC probe into Israeli war crimes

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117975§ionid=351020202


The Palestinian Authority says it has sent a memorandum to The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) in a bid to seek justice for "all Israeli crimes" committed in the occupied Palestinian lands.

On Friday, Palestinian UN observer Riyad Mansour called on the court to adjudicate on war crimes committed against Palestinians during Israel's December 2008-January 2009 war on the Gaza Strip.

Mansour also said the Palestinian Authority had created a commission to investigate the crime allegations leveled against it.

Regarding the war crimes charges against both Hamas and Israel, he said the commission did not view potential wrongdoing on the Palestinian side as seriously as any acts by Israel.

"There is absolutely no symmetry or proportionality between the occupying power and the occupied people," he added.

A UN Human Rights Council report that was compiled by a team led by the South African judge Richard Goldstone has accused Israel of war crimes during the three week war in the region.

Mansour pleaded for ICC involvement in adjudicating the allegations, saying the representatives of the Palestinian authority have met several times with representatives of the ICC and called on the court to pen an investigation into the case.

He also criticized the UN Security Council, saying that it "has not carried out its responsibility" over bringing the case to ICC.

The Goldstone report could be referred to the council for action and ultimately to the International Criminal Court, but with the United States — a strong ally of Israel — as a member of the body, the move seems very unlikely.