Abbas pushes for U.N. rights report

JERUSALEM, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has asked the U.N. Human Rights Council to endorse the Goldstone report and punish "brutal crimes" committed in Gaza.

In a televised address aired on Palestinian television Sunday night, the Palestinian Authority leader, who has been harshly criticized for failing initially to support the findings in the United Nations report, said he bears full responsibility for the delayed response, the Palestinian news agency Maan, said.

The Goldstone report accused Israel of committing alleged war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip early this year.

"Our people have the right to criticize (their leaders), and the elected president should take all responsibility. ... I respect and appreciate the views of those who are angry, including the PLO factions, parties, and ordinary people, because their motivation was to bring (war) criminals to justice," Maan quoted Abbas saying.

There is no point in resuming peace talks with Israel as long as settlements continue to exist, Israel's Channel 10 television quoted the Palestinian leader saying.

"Jerusalem is the gateway and the key to peace … any agreement that does not include ending occupation of (East Jerusalem) is a failure," Al Arabiya news channel reported Abbas said.

"We are facing an escalation of Israel's actions in Jerusalem, including home demolition, land confiscation, and settlement construction, carried out on a daily basis aimed at implementing a program of ethnic cleansing while targeting Al Aqsa mosque," Abbas said.