Ramallah – Ma'an – Jibril Rajoub, a member of Fatah's Central Committee, on Thursday called on Hamas to stop "this continued farce" and what he termed incitement against President Mahmoud Abbas.

"Insulting Fatah or its leadership serves neither Fatah or Hamas," he told reporters at the Ministry of Information in Ramallah.

Rajoub was referencing outrage from within Hamas, other factions, and even his own Fatah party over a decision reportedly made by President Abbas himself to end debate at the UN Human Rights Council over justice Richard Goldstone's investigation into the Gaza war.

"The Fatah movement is awaiting the results of the investigation committee formed by President Abbas on the issue of Goldstone's report," Rajoub added. "If we find it was an intentional mistake to thwart this report," he said, "we will deal with that in a harsh way."

Abbas has vowed to investigate what led to the decision, which many insist was most likely made by the president himself, under heavy pressure from the West and especially the United States.

In any case, Rajoub said that the controversy "does not justify continuing this farce and incitement, which benefits no one." "We want to form Palestinian consensus to inspire international and regional efforts with the available resolutions that we have."

"It's not possible for one Palestinian to avoid talking about the consequences of the Goldstone report," he said, reiterating that the president had not intended to stifle debate. "Fatah sees this report as living testimony that would convict the [Israeli] occupation, and it will be used to pursue the occupation on the crimes that were committed, which is the responsibility of all Palestinians."

Rajoub added, "The justice of the Palestinian cause obliges us to unify efforts in this respect, since we have this report, the decision of the Hague court [regarding the illegality of the wall in 2004] other denunciations, and plenty of resolutions that would justify Palestinian efforts on all levels to strip the legitimacy of Israel in the event it continues to refuse to implement the establishment of a Palestinian state."