PLO Executive Committee member Hanan ‘Ashrawy warned on Monday that Israel may take advantage of Richard Goldstone’s softening of some of his positions against Israel in the 2008 Israeli war on Gaza to undertake a second aggression.

In a statement on the national radio station “Voice of Palestine,” Hanan ‘Ashrawy expressed her regret towards the “dangerous” retraction of the South African Judge’s position.

She said that people have gotten used to politicians backing away due to pressure exerted on them, but Israel’s pressure on human rights officials to back down is completely unacceptable.

She added that this doesn’t mean that such actions will be tolerated, saying that the PLO will continue to hold Israel accountable, and will continue pursuing all those responsible for war crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

 ‘Ashrawy views Israel as a state that thinks it is capable of changing laws internationally – even UN resolutions -- in order to stop the pursuit of war criminals and to make its occupation unaccountable.

‘Asshrawy assured that the Palestinian Authority is committed to making sure Israel be held accountable by law in all international arenas for its attempts to drop the Goldstone report.

Goldstone had been harshly criticised in Israel after the war over the report which accused both Israel and the Hamas of possible war crimes during the conflict.

Yet he recently issued statements showing he has revised his position, deeming his report to have been biased against Israel.

"If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document," he wrote in a commentary piece in the Washington Post.