Peace for the World

Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Rajapaksas’ files are with us – JVP

lankaturthTHURSDAY, 01 JANUARY 2015
They are in possession of files of Rajapaksas who attack artistes but talk about patriotism states the JVP. This was stated by the Information Secretary of the JVP Vijitha Herath speaking at a media conference held at the head office of the JVP at Pelawatta today (1st).
Mr. Herath speaking to the media said, “The government blatantly uses state resources and the state media for its election campaign. They are now talking about conspiracies and have started mudslinging. When the situation became critical the ‘sensitive leader’ deployed his gangs of thugs to attack the opposition. The artistes in the country were assaulted. Jayatilleke Bandara, who started ‘Opposition of the Street’, was attacked at Eppawala. Government goons assaulted them again at Hambantota. The person who became notorious as the ‘mayor of the toy pistol’ and his thugs attacked artistes. Recently, the group of artistes from ‘New Generation’ was attacked by thugs led by a Chairman of a Divisional Council of the government at Kumbukgate in Kurunegala. These artistes went round the country to express their views without expecting anything in return. It is such a group of artistes that was attacked by Namal Rajapaksa’s thugs of the ‘Blue Brigade’. Young artistes are assaulted by Rajapaksa’s son who leads the ‘tomorrow for youth’ organization. Samanalee of our country is attacked with stones while Bollywood stars brought down by Mahinda Rajapaksa are cordially welcomed. Millions of people’s money is spent for these ‘stars’. The policy of the ‘sensitive leader’ is ‘stones for Samanmalee but wreaths for Salman’.
Our police service and the Army are shamelessly deployed for Rajapaksa’s election campaign. They are forced to join government’s election campaign.  We, of the JVP, pasted a poster on the 30th with the theme ‘Let’s end corrupt regime on 8th January!” The government, deploying the police, removed the posters throughout the island before morning on the 31st. The police have no right to remove that poster. It’s our legal right to put up that poster. The poster had the responsibility of the JVP printed on it. This act shows how bankrupt this government is. The police have been politicized. Circulars are issued pressurizing the personnel of the three forces. The government is so bankrupt and is so resigned to defeat that circulars are sent asking soldiers to watch TV programmes in which Gotabhaya Rajapaksa appears. All this shows how scared the government is regarding the election.
Now files of frauds and corruption of Rajapaksas are being exposed. Mahinda Rajapaksa first said he had files of those who leave the government. We would like to tell Mahinda Rajapaksa and company that we have plenty of their files with us. We have the files of a water project to the Southern Province which cost only Rs.125 million but fake documents had been prepared to make the cost go up to Rs.270 million. Agreements made with Israel construction companies and banks in Netherlands have been exposed. All those illegal transactions are being revealed now. We have the files of 32% profits pilfered by giving contracts outside the tender process to construct roads to China Harbour company. We have the files of the stealing from road construction and Colombo Harbour project. Rajapaksa family have got scared now.
The government has started sowing false patriotism to conceal their robberies. Those who are leaving the government are labeled traitors. Hakeem was in the government all this time. He was the Minister of Justice, one of the most important ministries in the government. Also, several from his party were made deputy ministers.  Now they have become traitors as they have left the government. Mahinda Rajapaska says Rauff Hakeem left the government as he the separate administrative division he had asked for was not given to him. When the Minister of Justice of his government asked for a separate administrative area Mahinda Rajapaksa could have sacked him from his ministerial post and remove him from the government. Why didn’t he do it?  Basil Rajapaksa tried until the last moment to keep Hakeem in the government. What this government displays is its indecency. The artistes are attacked due to this indecency.
Rishard Badurdeen was with the government the whole time. When they go out of the government they become traitors. The TNA has told the people to vote against the government. Now the government is attempting to spread the view that the country is to be divided. They are trying to rouse the people. Many leaders of the LTTE such as KP, Karuna Amman, Pilleyan, Nagulan and Ram are with Mahinda Rajapaksa. TNA is a political party. It is a political party which has MPs elected by the people in Parliament. The government, while petting tigers is trying to label TNA as tigers.
Hence, we tell the people that patriots and traitors should be identified. Where were Gorabhaya, Basil and Dallas, who chant patriotism, during the past? They fled to the USA. Pushpa Rajapaksa has houses in California. They have four or five houses bought in California. Those who have property in the USA try to sow pseudo patriotism in this country. When becoming naturalized citizens of the USA all foreign-born men and women should take the Oath of Allegiance. The oath states "I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
Gotabhaya, Basil and Dallas, who gave the oath of allegiance to the USA, now talks about patriotism to conceal their plunder. Those who have given the oath of allegiance should be prepared to take arms on behalf of the USA. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who is a citizen of the USA enters into a defense agreement with the USA. He, representing Sri Lanka government, signed the agreement with Robert O Blake, who was the ambassador for USA in Sri Lanka then. According to this agreement Sri Lanka is bound to allow the forces of the USA the land, water, houses, clothing and infra structure facilities at a time of war. Is this patriotism? Signing this agreement is a treacherous act. We carried out a massive struggle in parliament demanding to reveal this agreement. However, the government did not reveal it. Due to our struggle the agreement has been made available deleting certain sections. Such individuals are displaying a false patriotism now. They run to the USA even for a small ailment.
The ‘sensitive leader’ who reiterates his love for the country has sold to foreign companies islands belonging to Sri Lanka. Thousands of acres of land at Somawathiya are sold to ‘Dole’ company in the USA. China is assigned to reclaim land and build ports and cities. What they have is not patriotism but love for commissions. They try to avoid the defeat by talking about patriotism.
Hence, we tell the masses that this family rule should be and could be defeated. It is the JVP that dedicated itself and made a lot of sacrifices on behalf of the unitary state of the country and to defeat separatism. We continued with this struggle in the past, is engaged in it now and will continue to do so in the future as well. Those in the government say there is a danger of the country being divided if Mahinda Rajapaksa is defeated. We categorically say whether Mahinda Rajapaksa is there or not, whether there is someone else; if anyone tries to divide the country the JVP will never allow it. We ask the people not to be deceived. Use your vote on the 8th to defeat the corrupt Rajapaksa regime, to end despotic family rule and to establish democracy.”
Responding to questions posed by journalists Mr. Herath said, “The bankrupt government gets down various kinds of actors. They get down actors like Salman Khan from Bollywood or Gunaratnam from Australia. This shows the bankruptcy of the government. The JVP doesn’t have any secret agreements. If we want to have an agreement we would do so in public. We had an agreement with Mahinda Rajapaksa. We got a letter from Chandrika to abolish executive presidency. People in this country know about it. We need not do such acts in secret. The government is prepared to do any low-grade thing to come out of the pit it has fallen to. People in this country know why certain individuals come to Sri Lanka at this time. The manner such individuals flee the country and come back indicates they fulfill the interests of Rajapaksas.
Our standpoint is very clear, definite and steadfast. This Rajapaksa corrupt regime should be defeated. Democracy should be established in the country. There won’t be any change to this standpoint.
Today, Dallas Alahapperuma and the likes have come up with a falsehood that the country is to be divided to scare the people. When the ceasefire agreement was signed in 2001 and the country was to be divided Dallas Alahapperuma and his likes were not in Sri Lanka. Whole families were in the USA. Now they talk of a division. It was the JVP that prevented the country being divided. That was the time the real mediation should have been made. It is the government of Dallas that talks of patriotism that signed the treacherous agreement with the USA.”

Let us strengthen the Law, Justice and democracy..! - Maithree's New Year Wishes


LEN logo(Lanka-e-News- 31.Dec.2014, 10.30PM) May 2015 be the year in which you become truly free and are able to reap the full benefits of good governance. We are a people who suffered much on account of the fears generated by war, unrest and of course blood-letting and a people who began to be hopeful of a different future. These hopes have been all but dashed. In its place uncertainty has entered people's minds. There has been a collapse in the overall law and order situation. An environment has been created where the primacy of justice has come under threat. Nepotism has raised its ugly head and oppression and fear have spread across our fair land. Critically important areas of the economy have come under the sway of foreign powers in alarming ways. Our national image has been terribly scarred in the international arena. We are getting increasingly isolated. It would not be incorrect to say that we are at the brink of an abyss whose depths we are unable to fathom. It is for this reason that I fervently wish for our country a new year where true freedom and good governance will permit all of us to legitimately entertain the hope that we can and will emerge from this tragic state of affairs.
You are privileged that within the first few days of the coming year you will have the opportunity to make a choice that can set the country back on track and ensure a future for our children that is devoid of miseries produced by a crisis-ridden economy, devoid of tensions and oppression. I am confident that a new year awaits us in which a dark age comes to a close and a new and hopeful one begins. This broken land direly needs democracy, justice, and unity. This is how we can erase differences. I firmly believe that all our people deserve equal opportunity. This is why we need a just, law-abiding society where good governance and human rights are accorded the values they so deserve. It is such a society that I wish to see emerge in the year 2015. This is what I wish for all our people in the coming year. 
I wish you a happy new year!
Thank you.
Yours Sincerely,
Maithripala Sirisena
Common Candidate
31st December 2014

Delivering democracy!

  • Maithri tells diplomats his mission is to bring democracy back to Sri Lanka
The Opposition’s common presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena speaks during a meeting with the diplomatic community in Colombo yesterday – REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte





By Dharisha Bastians-January 2, 2015
Opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena told Colombo-based diplomats yesterday that his “mission” was to bring democracy back to Sri Lanka and hoped the country could re-qualify for the GSP Plus import concessions to Europe under his Government.

‘Sirisena-JVP secret pact to be revealed’

Visa granted, Gunaratnam to arrive here


article_image
By Saman Indrajith-

The government has granted leader of the JVP splinter group, Frontline Socialist Party, Kumar Gunaratnam alias Kumar Mahattaya, a visa to come here from Australia. He is scheduled to address the final FSP rally where he is expected to reveal a secret deal between the JVP and opposition’s common presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena, party sources said yesterday.

FSP Propaganda Secretary Pubudu Jagoda said Gunaratnam, who now goes as Noel Mudalige had been informed by the Department of Immigration and Emigration that his visa had been granted.

Gunaratnam would book air tickets yesterday itself and the date of his arrival here would be announced shortly, Jagoda said.

FSP Central Committee member and Galle District MP Attorney at Law Ajith Kumara last week paid the Rs. 39,130 fine on behalf of Gunaratnam to the Department of Immigration and Emigration for violating visa conditions on an earlier occasion.

Gunaratnam was deported from the country two and a half years ago after being fined for overstaying his visa. He submitted an on-line visa application from Sydney on Dec. 16.

FSP politburo member Chameera Koswatte said that their leader’s wife and son had already arrived in the country. They were staying in an undisclosed location for security reasons, he said.Wife of Gunaratnam, Champa Somaratne, a doctor serving in Australia, and son Manula Amandana Somaratne arrived in the country from Australia via Singapore on Singapore Airline flight SQ 468 at 00.51 hours on Dec 26 and are now residing at Champa’s sister’s house in Piliyandala.

Koswatte said that Gunaratnam is scheduled to address FSP’s final rally in support of common left front’s candidate Duminda Nagamuwa at 6.00 pm at Kadawatha. "Our leader would expose many wrongdoings of our erstwhile comrades who betrayed the revolution and the party’s rank and file before petty bourgeoisie politicians. He would also expose the secret deal between the JVP and Sirisena camp," he said.

Asked whether Gunaratnam would be able to do politics using a tourist visa, FSP Propaganda Secretary Jagoda said that many of their political enemies would raise the same question, but Gunaratnam was born in Sri Lanka and he had a birth right to do politics. "But we are consulting legal experts to get to know the exact provisions applicable with regard to that right," Jagoda said.

Gunaratnam using an Australian passport (N 1016123) bearing the name, Noel Mudalige, arrived in Sri Lanka on Sept. 4, 2011 and engaged in clandestine JVP operations until the party faced a split paving the way for the creation of FSP.

He claimed he had been abducted by a group who came in a white van from a house at No: 291, Gemunu Mawatha, Kiribathgoda on April 06, 2012 and dumped near the Colombo Crime Division head office at Dematagoda in the early hours of April 09, 2012. The Australian High Commission intervened to secure his release. The then Australian High Commissioner, Robyn Mudie, met top defence authorities after Gunaratnam’s wife Champa had requested the Australian government to intervene on behalf of her husband. The following day, he was deported to Australia, where Gunaratnam alleged that he had been abducted, interrogated and tortured by men attached to the state intelligence agencies.

My New Year’s Wish – A Change Of Status Quo


Colombo Telegraph
By Chrishmal Warnasuriya -January 1, 2015 
Chrishmal Warnasuriya
Chrishmal Warnasuriya
Why I wish for a “change of guard”
Maithripala Temple
Frankly (and in a few words), I am utterly disgusted with what I see! From such a promising future that was so easily within our grasp with the defeat of terror in 2009, we have done everything but capitalize on it; and even at the risk of being tagged a non-patriot, I am not willing to allow a regime to remain simply out of “gratitude”! We will be eternally indebted to H.E. President Rajapaksa (MR) for leading us with unparalleled political defiance during that period, thus paving the way for the ensuing military victory by our valiant forces; unfortunately though, the administration has failed miserably thereafter to manage the country according to democratic norms and standards accepted universally, such as good governance, the rule of law, equal and equitable distribution of economic benefits and this cannot be tolerated any longer by any right-minded citizen.

Denial of our sovereign power to govern ourselves

Although Article 3 of the Constitution proudly proclaims that Sovereignty of this Republic lies in us its PEOPLE and is inalienable, this regime has, by carefully calculated moves shrouded in meticulously stage-managed PR and media exercises, surreptitiously alienated those rights from us, which in my humble opinion, denies them the mandate to administer us any further. I am reminded of the authoritative wording used by the framers of the US Declaration of Independence – (quoting excerpts only) Read More

Displacement And Deception: The History Of Lanka

Colombo Telegraph
By Sajeeva Samaranayake – January 1, 2015
 Sajeeva Samaranayake
Sajeeva Samaranayake
Stability and drift: our history up to 1505
Senaka Bandaranayake identifies the period between 1000 – 500 BC as the time when the islanders moved ‘from stone age food gathering to the making of pottery, sedentary farming, irrigation, wet rice cultivation and iron technology.’ From 500 BC up to the beginning of the Common Era there is a period of remarkable growth in which there is ‘complex social and political systems, adoption of a higher religion, the formation of a (relatively) centralised state and an advanced literate civilization – the latter, centuries earlier than similar developments in mainland or insular Southeast Asia or Japan.[1]
This growth phase coincided with several waves of migration from North Eastern India – also referred to as the Aryan migrations. The majority Sinhala population derive their identity from these migrations while the Tamils trace their ancestry to the Dravidians of South India. The North Indian migrants evolved a distinct agrarian culture and way of life centred around Buddhist values. According to Rambukwelle this ancient state consolidated a balance of power between the king, the Buddhist monastic order or Sangha and the self – sufficient village which was the key economic unit of production. Up to the final demise of Sinhalese monarchy in 1815 the village also provided men and materials for the defence of the country in times of war and the state was not unduly militarized.[2]
This ancient state was blessed with continuity for a period of approximately 1500 years. The kingdoms of Anuradhapura (1300 years) and Polonnaruva (200 years) in the North Central plains maintained a robust spirit of self reliance, internal cohesion and economic sovereignty during this period notwithstanding a number of South Indian invasions – all of which were effectively repulsed or driven out after relatively short periods of foreign rule.

Open letter to Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez

Dear Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez,

Rajapaksa Was The Biggest Beneficiary From P-TOMS Legislation

| by Upasiri de Silva
( January 1, 2014, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) With the Presidential Election looming, P-TOMS, has taken a centre stage, as many who write or talk about the P-TOMS is not aware how and when P-TOMS legislation was presented to the Parliament by present President Mahinda Rajapakse when he was the Prime Minister under Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranayke Kumaratunge. Everyone who write about P-toms direct the finger accusing Mrs. C.B.K, without any clues why it was necessary for the then government to create such a legislation.
So, Mahinda Rajapakse is the only beneficiary of the Tsunami funds given by the World Bank, as he got benefited from helping Hambantota.
2004 December Tsunami devastated the Coastal belt of the country and the North and the East was battered badly and the South coastal sea belt form Hambantota to Negombo was also got battered loosing many lives and their houses.
Donors from world over rushed to help the country and, World Bank also took their time and approved US $ 720,000 as compensation for the Reconstruction of the damage dwellings along the coastal belt.
World Bank country Director and his two assistance wanted the 1/3 share allocated for the LTTE areas to be handed over to LTTE directly by them. As THRU Officials came to understand the reality of what the WB was trying to do, they informed then President Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranayke Kumaratunga and her immediate action with the World Bank in Washington, stop the Sri Lanka Country Director disposing the LTTE share direct to the LTTE.
Money Deposited with the Treasury
As Sri Lankan government refused to allow the WB to hand over the US $ 240,000 million to LTTE direct, CB country Director got very angry and stop GOSL using the US 480,000, till the GOSL take proper steps to distribute the US$ 240,000 to the LTTE.
To overcome this impasse P-TOMS Legislation was prepared by the legal department, but they left few loop holes to over throw the legislation if challenge.
P-TOMS Legislation was presented at the Parliament by then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and it was approved with a majority vote, and the JVP, as instructed by some legal official’s took the matter to courts, and then CJ disallowed the legislation and the funds was confined to treasury Vaults.
2005 Presidential Election.
As the election was proclaimed Mahinda used Tiran Ales to promise to hand over the funds to LTTE and he came to an agreement with the LTTE THRU Head Pulidevan (shot by the Armed Forces) to hand over the funds after the election if Mahinda wins on one condition. That was to stop Tamils voting in the Presidential election. Pulidevan did it and Tamils boycott the election and Mahinda won the Presidency.
So, Mahinda Rajapakse is the only beneficiary of the Tsunami funds given by the WB, as he got benefited from helping Hambantota.

Sri Lanka's presidential race closely monitored by Australia

Sri Lanka's main opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena, right, listens to Investment Promotion Deputy Minister Faizer Mustapha at a press conference in Colombo on Wednesday.A Sri Lankan boy in Colombo stands next to a wall of election campaign posters spruiking Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
A Sri Lankan boy in Colombo stands next to a wall of election cam
paign posters spruiking Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Photo: AP
January 2, 2015 
Daniel Flitton

-January 2, 2015 


Australian officials are carefully watching Sri Lanka's surprisingly close presidential election, uneasy about how a change of government might affect joint action to stop asylum seekers' boats.
Sri Lanka's Presidential Race Closely Monitored by Australia by Thavam Ratna

Ranil rejects Rs. 50 m from Avant Garde owner!

ranil avenRetired Army Major Nissanka Senadhipathi, who has amassed wealth from his Avant Garde Security service while being a close friend of defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has tried to give Rs. 50 million to UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe through a key figure of the party.
Despite the UNP’s shortage of cash to spend on electioneering, Mr. Wickremesinghe has turned down the money without thinking twice.
The key UNP figure has tried to explain to his leader about Nissanka, who hails from a traditional UNP family, but, Ranil remained steadfast, saying, “He may be a UNPer. But, I know very well how he has earned that money. Our party does not need that sort of money. If we do not have money, let’s stop the campaign. I am not prepared to do the campaign by accepting money from such persons.”
When he was told about Ranil’s response, Nissanka has told the key UNP figure, “They have now forgotten that Maj. Prasanna Ginige and I killed students of Embilipitiya in 1989 in order to protect the UNP, and not for our personal gains.”

Customers reject SLT calendar!

telecom slA majority of Sri Lanka Telecom customers yesterday (31) rejected SLT’s 12-page calendar for 2015 which is to be distributed at its teleshops island wide until today, say SLT sources.
The calendar’s pages have the pictures of Mattala airport, Magampura port in Hambantota, Nelum Pokuna, Nelum Kuluna, Nenasala, southern expressway, scenes near Sri Jayewardenepura parliament and of other government projects. Consumers have rejected, saying they have no need to see things which they already see every day over television.
SLT has spent more than Rs. 100 million on these calendars, at the rate of Rs. 5,000 per calendar.
It has printed a separate calendar, with beautiful pictures of coral reefs, to be distributed among its employees, as they cannot be hoodwinked by government boastings.

Egypt orders retrial of Al Jazeera staff


Egypt's top court has accepted the appeal of three Al Jazeera journalists who have been in prison for more than a year, and ordered a retrial, the defence lawyer has said.
"They will not be released until they appear before the new chamber, which will decide whether to release them or not," said Mostafa Nagy, a defence attorney, on Thursday.
Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were denied bail at the appeal hearing as the court said the case had to go back to the criminal court.
"The Court of Cassation has accepted their appeal and ordered a retrial," Greste's defence lawyer Amr Al-Deeb said after a hearing lasting just 30 minutes.


After the conviction was overruled by the court of cassation today, an Al Jazeera spokesman said:

"Baher, Peter and Mohammed have been unjustly in jail for over a year now. The Egyptian authorities have a simple choice – free these men quickly, or continue to string this out, all the while continuing this injustice and harming the image of their own country in the eyes of the world. They should choose the former."
Defence lawyer Negad Al-Borai told journalists after the hearing that he hoped for a "happy end" to the case.
"The court has the right to release them today," he said.
Defence lawyers said they believed a retrial for the three men would be held within a month.

Greste's brothers Mike and Andrew said they were disappointed with the court's decision.
View image on Twitter"We have learned in the past that this is not over until he is out and it looks like we have a long road ahead of us."
Adel Fahmy, Mohammed Fahmy's brother, said he had hoped his brother would have been freed on Thursday. He said each lawyer received three minutes to argue their stance on the case.
"I hoped for more today," he said.
Jehan Rashed, Baher Mohammed's wife, said she also expected her husband would be set free today, but thought the development was still a possitive step.
"I was nervously waiting for the court's decision from the morning, thank God they accepted the appeal, and this is a small but positive step towards my husband being freed," said Rashed.

Egyptian authorities offered no immediate comment on the ruling.

A retrial is a milestone toward victory in our free press battle!Our spirits are bullet-proof! Back to white garb!
Amnesty International said the retrial acknowledged major flaws in the original convictions.
"These men should never have been jailed in the first place and should not have to spend one more day in prison. Instead of prolonging their unjust detention pending a retrial, they must be freed immediately," said Hassiba Hadjsahraoui, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.
Falsely accused 
The three journalists did not attend the brief hearing that began around 9am local time (0700 GMT) in Cairo.
Reporters gathered to report on the hearing were not allowed in for those arguments, but later entered the court.
The trio have been imprisoned in Egypt for 369 days, after being falsely accused and then found guilty of aiding the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Greste and Fahmy were sentenced to seven years in prison, while Mohamed received an additional three years for having a spent bullet in his possession, which he had picked up at a protest site.
The journalists have repeatedly said that they were being punished for just doing their jobs.
The judge who sentenced the journalists released his reasoning in July, saying they were brought together "by the devil" to destabilise the country.
Al Jazeera has called the accusations against its three journalists absurd and has demanded their release.

Palestinians join war crimes court, angering Israel, U.S

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a Christmas Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem 
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a Christmas Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem December 25, 2014. REUTERS/Ammar AwadDecember 25, 2014.
BY NOAH BROWNING-Thu Jan 1, 2015
Reuters(Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed on to 20 international agreements on Wednesday, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a day after a bid for independence by 2017 failed at the United Nations Security Council.

The move, which angered Israel and the United States, paves the way for the court to take jurisdiction over crimes committed in Palestinian lands and investigate the conduct of Israeli and Palestinian leaders over more than a decade of bloody conflict.

"They attack us and our land every day, to whom are we to complain? The Security Council let us down -- where are we to go?" Abbas told a gathering of Palestinian leaders in remarks broadcast on official television.

Under the ICC rules, Palestinian membership would allow the Hague-based court to exercise jurisdiction over war crimes committed by anyone on Palestinian territory, without a referral from the U.N. Security Council. Israel is not a party to the Rome statute but its citizens could be tried for actions taken on Palestinian land.

The Palestinian U.N. observer mission initially announced it would deliver on Wednesday to the United Nations the signed documents to accede to the Rome Statute. It later said the delivery had been delayed and would likely take place on Friday.

According to the Rome Statute, the Palestinians would become a party to the court on the first day of the month that follows a 60-day waiting period after depositing signed and ratified documents of accession with the United Nations in New York.

In the months leading up to Tuesday's failed U.N. bid, Sweden recognised Palestinian statehood and the parliaments of France, Britain and Ireland passed non-binding motions urging their governments to do the same.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Abbas's action would expose the Palestinians to prosecution over support for what he called the terrorist Hamas Islamist group, and vowed to take steps to rebuff any potential moves against Israel.

Israel and Hamas fought a July-August war in which more than 2,100 Palestinians, 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed.

"We will take steps in response and defend Israel's soldiers," Netanyahu said in a statement.

The United States said the move was of deep concern and unhelpful to peace efforts in the region.

"It is an escalatory step that will not achieve any of the outcomes most Palestinians have long hoped to see for their people," State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a statement. "Actions like this are not the answer."

Palestinians seek a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem - lands Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War.

Momentum to recognise a Palestine has built up since Abbas succeeded in a bid for de facto recognition of Palestinian statehood at the U.N. General Assembly in 2012, which made Palestinians eligible to join the ICC.

U.S. OBJECTIONS

Palestinian officials said on Tuesday American opposition made inevitable the defeat of a Security Council resolution calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state by late 2017 after no more than a year of peace negotiations.

The United States and Australia voted against the bid, while eight countries voted yes and five abstained. The Palestinians were unable to achieve a hoped-for nine votes which would have forced the U.S. to exercise its veto as one of the council's five permanent members.

Peace talks mediated by the United States collapsed in April in a dispute over Israeli settlement-building and a prisoner release deal, as well as Abbas's decision to sign on to over a dozen previous international texts Israel saw as a unilateral move the contravened the negotiations.

"We've been playing Mr. Nice Guy with negotiations since 1991, meanwhile the possibility of a two-state solution erodes," Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian diplomat, told Reuters.

She added that there were no immediate plans to lodge a formal complaint at the ICC, but that Abbas's move is "a clear signal to Israel and the international community that Israel must cease and desist its war crimes, especially settlements."

Other agreements approved by Abbas included several articles on the court's jurisdiction, commitments against banned weapons and cluster munitions along with less controversial pledges on the political rights of women, navigation and the environment.

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams and Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem and Louis Charbonneau in New York; Editing by Peter Graff)