Abbas defends decision to defer vote on UN Gaza reportPalestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Sunday defended his controversial decision to support deferring a vote on a damning Gaza war report at the UN Human Rights Council. In a televised address, the embattled em·bat·tled adj. 1. Prepared or fortified for battle or engaged in battle: embattled troops; an embattled city. 2. president also accused the rival Hamas movement of leading the storm of criticism at the decision as a means to postpone post·pone tr.v. post·poned, post·pon·ing, post·pones 1. To delay until a future time; put off. See Synonyms at defer1. 2. To place after in importance; subordinate. a long-delayed Palestinian reconciliation deal. Abbas said the Palestinian delegation at the Geneva-based council backed the October 2 postponement of a vote on the so-called Goldstone gold·stone n. An aventurine with gold-colored inclusions. Noun 1. goldstone - aventurine spangled densely with fine gold-colored particles report which was highly critical of Israel in order to gather maximum support for the measure. "Since we felt that we would not be able to gather enough support, we asked for the postponement of the draft resolution until the upcoming session of the Human Rights Council" in March, he said. He said the "storm of criticism" at the decision by the Islamist movement Hamas was aimed at postponing a long-delayed Palestinian reconciliation deal that Egypt had announced for October 25-26 in Cairo. "We are totally aware of this campaign by Hamas aimed at serving their interests, which is to postpone the signature of the reconciliation agreement," Abbas said. "They want to consolidate their rule and their regime in Gaza." Hamas has led the torrent See BitTorrent. torrent - BitTorrent of criticism of Abbas, charging he "betrayed" the some 1,400 Palestinian victims of the December-January war and has asked Egypt to postpone the signing of the reconciliation deal because of the decision. Hamas routed long-dominant Fatah in the last Palestinian legislative election on January 25, 2006, ushering in Noun 1. ushering in - the introduction of something new; "it signalled the ushering in of a new era" first appearance, introduction, debut, entry, launching, unveiling - the act of beginning something new; "they looked forward to the debut of their new product line" months of tensions between the two main Palestinian factions that often boiled over into deadly street clashes and culminated with Hamas's bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip Gaza Strip (gäz`ə), (2003 est. pop. 1,330,000) rectangular coastal area, c.140 sq mi (370 sq km), SW Asia, on the Mediterranean Sea adjoining Egypt and Israel, in what was formerly SW Palestine. in June 2007. Egypt has been trying for months to persuade the two camps to sign a reconciliation deal and has already twice postponed signing ceremonies A signing ceremony is a ceremony in which a bill passed by a legislature is signed (approved) by an executive, thus becoming a law. Modern-day signing ceremonies are derived from ceremonies that occurred when the British monarch gave Royal Assent to acts of Parliament. . 
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