Foreign Ministry orders staff to keep mum on Goldstone report

Dear Helen. What a wondeful remark! I always want to be in Alabama. Sweet Alabama! In Maryland we are absorbed by China { our dollars in their coffers} , by S. Arabia { our oil in their fields}, by Iraq { our trops in their cities }, by Iran { nukes developed by us but soon in ther hands}, by Pakistan { our security in their decisions],by Russia { our democracy with their modification}. Poor Israel, sweet as Alabama but absorbed solely with its survival. but if financial crisis & unemployment hit us full force all of us would become absorbed , more accurately, self-absorbed, just like Israel.

They have threaten the Palestinians with peace, should they forge ahead with this Goldstone report.Israel seem to forget that the Palestinians have Shalit.Abbas should resign, Obama,like all the US presidents before has caved in to Israelis pressure. Shame on you America for offering the the Palestinians nothing and trying to bribe them.

try for terrorists all hamas and fatah!! rockets for 8 years from gaza! hamas is in power only 2 years!! abbas is plo from 1966 and what concessions are you suggesting ??

Dream on dreamers. It is not going to go away. You might have applied this policy to the Body parts scandal---but this body parts scandal---aint about to go away. Not in a hundred lifetimes. This Naqba will be taught in Schools in Palestine,(formerly Israel) and the children of those who perpetrated it will know what their parents did in the name of land theft. In other words sold off Israel.

Fadi the report state hamas was at fault for criminal unjust also. That been said, what Abbas and Obama is trying to do is make Netanyahu stop settlement and start to make a fair deal for the palestinian in exchange of stopping the report for now. We the world know what IDF did to Gazan people same is we know what Hamas did to the Gazan people! Both are at fault. Try to see this is 2D picture not just a gray one.

The US has managed to do Abbas in, first by forcing him to appear at the UN meeting when he'd refused to go, then by forcing him to withdraw the motion to the UNHRC. Terrific, the one moderate Pal leader is now holed below the waterline and the stage is set for Hamas and the Islamists to sweep the elections in a few months time. Is there anyone in the US State Dept who has a clue what they're doing? Obama clearly doesn't have the backbone to stand up to AIPAC and its paid congressmen, so instead we'll have real turmoil in Palestine. Nice move USA.

Afghanistan? Not to mention surviving members of US Bomber Command who had flattened so many German towns..

the goldstone report has done immeasurable harm to relations between israel and the palestinians. it is a one sided, biased report, which libels israel. yet, at the same time, it ties the hands of peace negotiators and the peace process. the only winners in this sordid game are the terrorists, be they hamas, hezbollah or the taliban and al qaeda.

before you begin teaching Israel how to defend homeland. Goldstein report is a Hamas' lackey doing. It's unfortunate that lackeys wedged into the painful process in which Hamas is obligated to sign unconditional peace treaties or leave eventually in a puff of smoke. It's not he says she says, they started war, they lost it and if Goldstein or you, or may it be even our temporary Tzar think that there is a thread in between their lives and unconditional peace, keep thinking until your savior gives you new pair of eyes. The ones that can actually see. My hope however for the miracle was never as low. They always treated puff of smoke with more esteem then school full of own children.

I cheered for Obama the night he was elected. No more. Getting Abbas to drop the Goldstone report was a disgraceful episode that has shamed America. Obama was supposed to bring in a new war crime-free era after the moral cesspit of the Bush, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib years. Instead we have the US using all its muscle to defend possible war criminals. Disgusting.

Biased reports, biased elections, biased everything, lead only to collusion, never to cooperation.

Now that Abbas is carry a large amount of Israeli water concerning the Goldstone report, how about giving him something back--like a reasonable settlement freeze. It seems no Palestinian concession is enough 18 months of a Hamas ceasefire in Gaza (before the rockets). No let up in the blockade, no lessening of restrictions at the border crossings, Continuing to establish facts on the ground in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Obama, the Israel hater(?), keeps the Goldstone report from going forward--will he get anything for it? I doubt it. Nothing but delay from this this Israeli PM. How long do you think you can keep this up?

Abbas gives, and gives, and gives to Israel. He collaborates with the Shin Bet to crack down on his own people. He stood silently for years as Israel continued building more and more Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands. He broke his word showed up at the UN conference and shook hands with Netanyahu who is the biggest settlement proponent of all. Now he has sold out the people of Gaza. All this, and what has he achieved in return for his people?? NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Abbas is weak, it is time for him to step down.

Terrible miscalculation by Obama/Netanyahu. This time they really stepped over the line in ordering their puppet Abbas to drop support of the Goldstone report. For years, Abbas has done everything his masters in America and Israel told him to do--especially cracking down heavily on his own people in the West Bank in collaboration with the Shin Bet. And what has he achieved for his people from all this collaboration with America/Israel? NOTHING except more and more Jewish settlement construction. Abbas is a weak leader and its time he steps down.

I have read your newspaper for about six months and come to the conclusion that Israelis are utterly self absorbed.

for fayyad to come out and acuse abbas now is hypocritical since it was he who told abbas that the americans would drop the fat paychecks (including fayyad' and abbas)for the PLO...and the zionist collaborator dahlan has to run his mouth as well say the PA was investigating who did it (as if he doesn't know)and there is a difference between fateh, the PLO and the PA....oh really dahlan? i though abbas was in charge of all 3? obviously the PLO, fateh, and the PA all gone for big bucks and are zionist shills and need to be gotten rid of

Israel is not doing itself a favor by ignoring the Goldstone Report. Instead, Israel should face the facts, admit its mistakes and take responsibility for its actions. Taking responsibility is a sign of strength and not weakness. The same is true of the United States government. They should encourage Israel to do the right thing. Setting up Mahmoud Abbas does not serve the long term interests of either Israel or the United States. The stigma for the crimes in Gaza will always come to the surface and the price will be paid sooner or later. Might as well come clean and move forward.