UN rejection sends harsh wake-up call to Abbas

UN rejection sends harsh wake-up call to Abbas
Amira Hass - Haaretz - Even if the Palestinian-Jordanian proposal had passed, no one deluded themselves that Israel would adhere to it and withdraw. European countries and the United States would not punish Israel the way they do other countries in breach of Security Council resolutions. From that perspective, the potential of nine council-member votes in favor was largely symbolic. But this symbolism would have helped Abbas continue to once again postpone the signing of the Rome Statute. (...) As a Palestinian activist involved for years in preparing the application to the International Criminal Court in The Hague told Haaretz, senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad senior members have said they are prepared to risk being tried in this court themselves, if that is the price for a Palestinian request to investigate suspicions of war crimes by Israelis and Israel. [bz]