Failure to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Israel's 40-year occupation, in the words of UN former Secretary General Kofi Annan, would “continue to hurt the reputation of the United Nations and raise questions about its impartiality”.
No cause has consumed as much UN paper work as the plight of the displaced and occupied Palestinians. But hundreds of its resolutions on Palestine have not been respected let alone applied for over half a century.
Nowhere has the UN ideals and mechanisms been more mired in power politics than in Palestine. The efforts to neutralise UN intervention have been championed mainly by the United States. This week’s efforts by the Obama administration working on behalf of Israel took advocacy into a whole new level.
Washington has vetoed more than 40 UN Security Council resolutions critical of its policies some of which were drafted by its European allies. A quick look at today’s Middle East makes it clear that such obstructions worked for the interest of neither party, nor for peace and security in the region.
Cold-War rivalries have also contributed to UN paralysis in the Israeli Palestinian-Arab conflict, which explains why more than half of the 690 resolutions adopted by the General Assembly from 1947-1990 have been ignored.
But what justifies sidelining the UN ever since, while keeping it at an arm’s length from a two decades of Peace Process?
The short answer is a double standard.
All major post-Cold War conflicts have seen direct UN involvement including, Bosnia, Kosovo, Somalia, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria and of late, Lebanon, South Sudan. Not the Palestine problem. It was deferred to the US sponsored diplomatic process even though Washington’s close relations with Israel rendered it anything but an impartial broker.
Not only was Palestinian Israeli conflict snatched out of the world body, most relevant US resolutions critical of Israel were ignored by the US sponsors.
Only after the peace process failed to yield a solution a decade later, did the Bush administration allow the United Nations to join, and even then, only as a junior partner in a newly formed International Quartet that includes the European Union and Russia, all of whom are members of the UN!
Meanwhile, Israel has disregarded tens of resolutions, “censuring”, “calling”, “urging”, “recommending”, or “condemning” its attacks, settlement, deportations, occupation, etc.
Likewise, all pleas and demands for humanitarian and political interventions fell on deaf ears. The only time the UN was allowed to act, was in 1997 when it sent few international unarmed observers to the occupied city of Hebron. Alas, they weren’t mandated to speak publicly about the ongoing violations.
For the past four decades, Israel has violated all relevant UNSC council resolutions such as the resolution 465 of 1980 that strongly deplored all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure of status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem.
It also rejected Resolution 476, which reaffirmed the necessity to end the Israeli occupation of Arab territories ongoing since the 1967 war. The only UN Security Council Resolution that was accepted by the US and Israel as the basis of the diplomatic process, i.e. 242 of 1967, was also systematically violated. Israel has been expanding its settlement activity when the resolution notes the "inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force".
Paradoxically, Israel was created by a UN recommendation for Partitioning Palestine in 1947, and was accepted as a new UN member on the basis of its commitment to respect its resolution, and specifically UNGA 194 regarding the return of the Palestinian refugees.
Now that all other venues have been tried and failed, including 18 years of bilateral negotiations, the UN Security Council must carry its responsibilities by demanding that Israel carry its obligations under UN charter and by recognising the Palestinian right for self-determination in a state of their own. Period.
Marwan Bishara is Al Jazeera's senior political analyst.
He was previously a professor of International Relations at the American University of Paris. An author who writes extensively on global politics, he is widely regarded as a leading authority on the Middle East and international affairs.
Source : http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/09/2011921105321715717.html
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Monday, May 31, 2010
Gaza's real humanitarian crisis
By Gregg Carlstrom
The Israeli government has, for weeks, insisted that the 10,000 tonnes of supplies on board the Gaza aid flotilla are not necessary. Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, reiterated that claim on Friday, telling reporters "there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza".
"Israel is conducting itself in the most humanitarian manner, and allowing the entrance of thousands of tonnes of food and equipment to Gaza," he told reporters on Friday.
It's true that Israel allows basic necessities - which Israeli officials often term "humanitarian aid" - to enter the blockaded Gaza Strip. But it tightly controls both the type and quantity of goods allowed into the territory.
Navi Pillay, the United Nations' human rights chief, called the blockade devastating in an August 2009 report. Pillay said it constituted collective punishment, illegal under international law.
Israel usually allows 81 items into Gaza, a list which is subject to revision on a near-daily basis. It is riddled with contradictions: Zaatar, a mix of dried spices, is allowed into the territory; coriander and cumin are not. Chick peas are allowed, while tahini was barred until March 2010.
"Luxury goods," things like chocolate, are prohibited altogether.
So are most construction materials, though Israel has relaxed this prohibition slightly over the last few weeks. The United Nations refugee agency has resorted to constructing houses out of mud because other building material are unavailable.
In January 2007, Gaza received more than 10,000 truckloads of goods each month; by January 2009, that number was down to roughly 3,000.
Medical goods, too, are in short supply. The World Health Organisation says dozens of basic medicines are unavailable in Gaza because of the blockade.
In 2008, Gaza had only 133 hospital beds per 100,000 people, less than one-fourth the hospital capacity of Israel. That capacity was further reduced during Operation Cast Lead - Israel's three-week war in Gaza, launched in December 2008 - which damaged a number of hospitals.
"The situation is deteriorating due to the closure - there are restrictions of movement, restrictions of food - it causes problems in areas of health, water, [and] sanitation," Cecilia Goin, a spokeswoman for the ICRC, said on Monday.
"The ICRC is especially concerned about the health situation of the people."
Fuel, too, is heavily restricted, with many Gaza residents facing hours of power cuts each day. The blackouts force many families and businesses to buy generators, and their widespread use has serious consequences: An Oxfam report released in March concluded that 15 Gazans have died from "generator-related accidents" since January.
All of this creates a scenario in which, according to Amnesty International's latest annual report, Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants are "cut off... from the rest of the world."
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Deir Yassin Remembered
Red Cross Eye-Witness Report On The Deir Yassin Massacre
April 9, 1948
On the night of April 9, 1948, the Irgun Zvei Leumi surrounded the village of Deir Yassin, located on the outskirts of Jerusalem. After giving the sleeping residents a 15 minute warning to evacuated, Menachem Begin's terrorists attacked the village of 700 people, killing 254 mostly old men, women and children and wounding 300 others. Begin's terrorists tossed many of the bodies in the village well, and paraded 150 captured women and children through the Jewish sectors of Jerusalem.
The Haganah and the Jewish Agency, which publicly denounced the atrocity after the details had become public several days later, did all they could to prevent the Red Cross from investigating the attack. It wasn't until three days after the attack that the Zionist armies permitted Jacques de Reynier, chief representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jerusalem, to visit the village by the surrounding Zionist armies.
Ironically, the Deir Yassin villagers had signed a non aggression pact with the leaders of the adjacent Jewish Quarter, Giv'at Shaul and had even refused military personnel from the Arab Liberation Army from using the village as a base.
Deir Yassin is described as one of Menachim Begin's finest moments.
Following is the translation from French of the report de Reynier filed with his office (Published in de Reynier's book "Jerusalem Un Drapeau Flottait Sur La Ligne de Feu", 1950, Geneva). Immediately after de Reynier's account are two public statements made by an Haganah witness to the devastation, Col. Meir Pa'el (retired) and by Zvi Ankori, the Haganah commander who occupied Deir Yassin after the Irgun's evacuation.
de Reynier's statement:
"On Saturday, April 10, in the afternoon, I received a telephone call from the Arabs begging me to go at once to Deir Yassin where the civilian population of the whole village has just been massacred.
"I learned that the Irgun extremists hold this sector, situated near Jerusalem. The Jewish Agency and the Haganah's General Headquarters say that they know nothing about this matter and furthermore it is impossible for anyone to penetrate an Irgun area.
"They advise me that I not become involved in this matter as my mission will run the risk of being permanently cut short if I go there. Not only can they not help me but they also refuse all responsibility for what will certainly happen to me. I answer that I intend to go there at once, that the notorious Jewish Agency exercises its authority over the territory in Jewish hands and that the agency is responsible for my freedom of action within the bounds of my mission.
"In fact, I do not know at all how to do it. Without Jewish support it is impossible to reach that village. After thinking I suddenly remember that a Jewish nurse from a hospital here had made me take her telephone number, saying with a strange look that if I ever were in a difficult situation I could call her. On a chance I call her late in the evening and tell her the situation. She tells me to be in a predetermined location the following day at 7 o'clock and to take in my car the person who will be there.
"The next day on the hour and in the location upon which we agreed, an individual in civilian clothes, but with pistols stuffed in his pockets, jumps into my car and tells me to drive without stopping. At my request, he agrees to show me the road to Deir Yassin, but he admits not being able to do to much more for me. We drive out of Jerusalem, leave the main road and the last regular army post and we turn in on a cross road. Very soon two soldiers stop us. They look alarming with machine guns in full view and larger cutlasses at the belt.
"I recognize the uniform of those I am looking for. I must leave the car and lend myself to bodily search. Then I understand that I am a prisoner. All seems lost when a very big fellow ... jostles his friends, takes my hand ... He understands neither English nor French, but in German we arrive at a perfect understanding. He tells me his joy at seeing an ICRC delegate, for having been a prisoner in a camp for Jews in Germany he owes his life to nothing else but our intervention and three reprieves. He says that I am more than a brother for him and that he will do anything I ask. ... We go to Deir Yassin.
"Having reached a ridge 500 meters from the village which we see below, we must wait a long time for permission to go ahead. The shooting from the Arab side starts every time somebody tries to cross the road and the Commander of the Irgun detachment does not seem willing to relieve me. Finally he arrives, young, distinguished, perfectly correct, but his eyes have a strange, cruel, cold look. I explain my mission to him which has nothing in common with that of a judge or arbiter. I want to help the wounded and bring back the dead.
"Moreover, the Jews have signed a pledge to respect the Geneva Convention and my mission is therefore an official one. This last statement provokes the anger of this officer who asks me to consider once and for all that here it is the Irgun who are in command and nobody else, not even the Jewish Agency with which they have nothing in common.
"My (guide) hearing the raised voices intervenes ... Suddenly the officer tells me I can act as I see fit but on my own responsibility. He tells me the story of this village populated by about 400 Arabs, disarmed since always and living on good terms with the Jews who encircled them. According to him, the Irgun arrived 24 hours previously and ordered by loudspeaker the whole population to evacuate all the buildings and surrender. There is a 15 minute delay in the execution of the command. Some of the unhappy people came forward and would have been taken prisoners and then turned loose shortly afterwards toward the Arab lines. The rest did not obey the order and suffered the fate they deserved. But one must not exaggerate for there are only a few dead who would be buried as soon as the `clean up' of the village is over. If I find a bodies, I can take them with me, but there are certainly no wounded.
"This tale gives me cold chills. "I return to Jerusalem to find an ambulance and a truck that I had alerted through the Red Shield ... I arrive with my convoy in the village and the Arab fire ceases. The (Jewish) troops are in campaign uniforms with helmets. All the young people and even the adolescents, men and women, are armed to their teeth: pistols, machine guns, grenades, and also big cutlasses, most of them still bloody, that they hold in their hands. A young girl with the eyes of a criminal, shows me hers still dripping. She carries it around like a trophy. Thisis the `clean up' team which certainly has accomplished its job very conscientiously.
"I try to enter a building. About 10 soldiers surround me with machine guns aimed at me. An officer forbids me to move from the spot. They are going to bring the dead that are there, he says. I then get as furious as ever before in my life and tell these criminals what I think about the way they act, menacing them with the thunder I can muster, then I roughly push aside those who surround me and enter the building.
"The first room is dark, completely in disorder, and empty. In the second, I find among smashed furniture covers and all sorts of debris, some cold bodies. There they have been cleaned up by machine guns then by grenades. They have been finished by knives.
"It is the same thing in the next room, but just as I am leaving, I hear something like a sigh. I search everywhere, move some bodies and finally find a small foot which is still warm. It is a little 10 year old girl, very injured by grenade, but still alive. I want to take her with me but the officer forbids it and blocks the door. I push him aside and leave with my precious cargo protected by the brave (guide).
"The loaded ambulances leaves with orders to return as soon as possible. And because these troops have not dared to attack me directly, it is possible to continue.
"I give orders to load the bodies from this house on the truck. Then I go on to the neighboring house and go on. Everywhere I encounter the same terrible sight. I only find two persons still alive, two women, one of whom is an old grandmother, hidden behind the firewood where she kept immobile for at least 24 hours.
"There were 400 persons in the village. About 50 had fled, three are still alive, but the rest have been massacred on orders, for as I have noticed, this troop is admirably disciplined and acts only on command.
...[De Reynier continues that he returns to Jerusalem where he confronts the Jewish Agency and scolds them for not exercising control over the 150 armed men and women responsible for the massacre.]...
"I then go to see the Arabs. I say nothing about what I have seen, but only that after a first quick visit to the spot there seems to be several dead and I ask what I shall do or where to bring them ... they ask me to see that a suitable burial be given them in a place which will be recognizable later on. I pledge to do so and on my return to Deir Yassin, I find the Irgun people in a very bad mood. They try to stop me from approaching the village and I understand when I see the number and above all the state of the bodies which have been lined up on the main street. I demand firmly that they proceed with the burial and insist on helping them. After some discussion, they begin actually to scoop out a big grave in a small garden. It is impossible to verify the identity of the dead, for they have no papers, but I wrote accurately their descriptions with approximate age.
"Two days later, the Irgun had disappeared from the spot and the Haganah had taken possession. We have discovered different places where the bodies have been piled up without either decency or respect in the open air.
"Back in my office I received two gentleman in civilian clothes, very well dressed who had waited for more than one hour. It is the commander of the Irgun detachment and his aide. They have prepared a text they ask me to sign. It is a statement according to which I have been received courteously by them, that I have obtained all the help needed to accomplish my mission and I thank them for the aide they gave me.
"As I hesitate, I begin to discuss the statement, and they tell me that if I care for my life I should sign immediately."
...[Calling the statement contrary to fact, de Reynier refuses to sign. Several days later in Tel Aviv, de Reynier says he approached by the same two men who ask the ICRC to assist some of their Irgun soldiers.]...
Former Haganah officer, Col. Meir Pa'el, upon his retirement from the Israeli army in 1972, made the following public statement about Deir Yassin that was published by the Israeli paper Yediot Ahronot, April 4, 1972:
"In the exchange that followed four [Irgun] men were killed and a dozen were wounded ... by noon time the battle was over and the shooting had ceased. Although there was calm, the village had not yet surrendered. The Irgun and LEHI men came out of hiding and began to `clean' the houses. They shot whoever they saw, women and children included, the commanders did not try to stop the massacre .... I pleaded with the commander to order his men to cease fire, but to no avail. In the meantime, 25 Arabs had been loaded on a truck and driven through Mahne Yehuda and Zichron Yousef (like prisoners in a Roman `March of Triumph'). At the end of the drive, they were taken to the quarry between Deir Yassin and Giv'at Shaul, and murdered in cold blood ... The commanders also declined when asked to take their men and bury the 254 Arab bodies. This unpleasant task was performed by two Gadna units brought to the village from Jerusalem."
Zvi Ankori, who commanded the Haganah unit that occupied Deir Yassin after the massacre, gave this statement in 1982 about the massacre, published by the Israeli paper Davar on April 9, 1982:
"I went into 6 to 7 houses. I saw cut off genitalia and women's crushed stomaches. According to the shooting signs on the bodies, it was direct murder."
The 12 March cartoon by South African cartoonist Zapiro that was later attacked by David Saks of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies and which sparked debate in the country.
Source : www.radioislam.org/islam/english/toread/deiryas.htm
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Gaza’s civilians, still unable to rebuild one year after Operation Cast Lead, ‘betrayed’ by international community
“It is not only Israel that has failed the people of Gaza with a blockade that punishes everybody living there for the acts of a few. World powers have also failed and even betrayed Gaza’s ordinary citizens”
Jeremy Hobbs - Oxfam International Executive Director
- Only 41 truckloads of construction materials allowed to enter since January;
- Homes, schools, hospitals and water networks cannot be rebuilt.
The international community has betrayed the people of Gaza by failing to back their words with effective action to secure the ending of the Israeli blockade which is preventing reconstruction and recovery, say a group of 16 leading humanitarian and human rights groups in a new reportreleased today ahead of the anniversary of the start of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
The Israeli authorities have allowed only 41 truckloads of all construction materials into Gaza since the end of the offensive in mid-January, warn the groups, which include Amnesty International, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Mercy Corps and Oxfam International. The task of rebuilding and repairing thousands of homes alone will require thousands of truckloads of building materials, they add.
Little of the extensive damage the offensive caused to homes, civilian infrastructure, public services, farms and businesses has been repaired because the civilian population, and the UN and aid agencies who help them, are prohibited from importing materials like cement and glass in all but a handful of cases, says the report.
Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam International Executive Director, said: “It is not only Israel that has failed the people of Gaza with a blockade that punishes everybody living there for the acts of a few. World powers have also failed and even betrayed Gaza’s ordinary citizens. They have wrung hands and issued statements, but have taken little meaningful action to attempt to change the damaging policy that prevents reconstruction, personal recovery and economic recuperation."
“Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, too, must maintain their current de facto cessation of violence and permanently cease all indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza. And all the Palestinian factions also need to intensify their reconciliation dialogue to pave the way for a reunified Palestinian government able to effectively provide for the needs of its civilian population.”
The effect of the construction materials ban goes much wider, say the authors of the report. They say the blockade has also led to frequent power, gas and water shortages,seriously affecting daily life and public health. Parts of the Gaza electricity network were bombed during the conflict and require urgent repairs, which have still not been allowed to proceed almost one year after the conflict. This, combined with Israel continuing to restrict the supply of industrial fuel into Gaza, means that 90% of people in Gaza suffer power cuts of four to eight hours a day.
Power cuts also cause daily interruptions to water supply, as does the inability to repair water pipes, roof top water tanks and household connectors, because materials and spare parts are not deemed essential humanitarian supplies by Israel and so are prevented entry under the blockade. With the loss of pressure in the pipes, polluted water from the ground contaminates the supply. Together with chronic disrepair to the sewage system, poor water quality is a major concern for aid agencies in Gaza, with diarrhoea causing 12 % of young deaths.
The blockade, which began in June 2007 after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, has sharply increased poverty, helping make 8 out of 10 people dependent on some form of aid. Businesses and farms have been forced to close and lay off workers. An almost complete ban on exports has hit farmers hard, compounded by the offensive which wrecked 17% of farmland together with greenhouses and irrigation equipment, and left a further 30% unusable in no-go ‘buffer zones’ expanded by the Israeli military after the end of the offensive.
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: “The wretched reality endured by 1.5 million people in Gaza should appal anybody with an ounce of humanity. Sick, traumatised and impoverished people are being collectively punished by a cruel, illegal policy imposed by the Israeli authorities.
“Israel’s responsibility to protect its citizens does not give it the right to punish every man, woman and child of Gaza. All states are obliged under international law to intervene to put an end to this brutal blockade but their leaders are failing in this fundamental measure of their own humanity. All states must insist that the Israeli government end its blockadeand let the people of Gaza rebuild their shattered lives.”
The report argues that, while Israel has a duty to protect its citizens, the measures it takes must conform to international humanitarian and human rights law. By enforcing its blockade on Gaza, Israel is violating the prohibition on collective punishment in international humanitarian law, it says. In the report the groups call on Israel to end the blockade. But they also say, ‘the people of Gaza have been betrayed by the international community which can and must do far more to end this illegal and inhumane blockade’. They urge the EU, for example, to take immediate and concerted action to secure the lifting of the blockade of Gaza so that the close of Spain’s six-month presidency of the EU in June 2010 does not also mark the third anniversary of the blockade being imposed.
The report’s authors also call on European foreign ministers and the EU’s new High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton to visit Gaza to see for themselves the impact of the blockade on its people. Securing an immediate opening of the Gaza crossings for building materials to repair ruined homes and civilian infrastructure as winter sets in would be an important step towards an end to the blockade, say the organisations.
Janet Symes, Head of Middle East Region, Christian Aid said: “Expressions of disapproval over the blockade of Gaza by the international community are no longer enough. It is time to allow the people of Gaza to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and rebuild. There must be no more excuses from the international community.”
source : http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2009-12-22/gaza-civilians-rebuild-one-year-operation-cast-lead
Jeremy Hobbs - Oxfam International Executive Director
- Only 41 truckloads of construction materials allowed to enter since January;
- Homes, schools, hospitals and water networks cannot be rebuilt.
The international community has betrayed the people of Gaza by failing to back their words with effective action to secure the ending of the Israeli blockade which is preventing reconstruction and recovery, say a group of 16 leading humanitarian and human rights groups in a new reportreleased today ahead of the anniversary of the start of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
The Israeli authorities have allowed only 41 truckloads of all construction materials into Gaza since the end of the offensive in mid-January, warn the groups, which include Amnesty International, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Mercy Corps and Oxfam International. The task of rebuilding and repairing thousands of homes alone will require thousands of truckloads of building materials, they add.
Little of the extensive damage the offensive caused to homes, civilian infrastructure, public services, farms and businesses has been repaired because the civilian population, and the UN and aid agencies who help them, are prohibited from importing materials like cement and glass in all but a handful of cases, says the report.
Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam International Executive Director, said: “It is not only Israel that has failed the people of Gaza with a blockade that punishes everybody living there for the acts of a few. World powers have also failed and even betrayed Gaza’s ordinary citizens. They have wrung hands and issued statements, but have taken little meaningful action to attempt to change the damaging policy that prevents reconstruction, personal recovery and economic recuperation."
“Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, too, must maintain their current de facto cessation of violence and permanently cease all indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza. And all the Palestinian factions also need to intensify their reconciliation dialogue to pave the way for a reunified Palestinian government able to effectively provide for the needs of its civilian population.”
The effect of the construction materials ban goes much wider, say the authors of the report. They say the blockade has also led to frequent power, gas and water shortages,seriously affecting daily life and public health. Parts of the Gaza electricity network were bombed during the conflict and require urgent repairs, which have still not been allowed to proceed almost one year after the conflict. This, combined with Israel continuing to restrict the supply of industrial fuel into Gaza, means that 90% of people in Gaza suffer power cuts of four to eight hours a day.
Power cuts also cause daily interruptions to water supply, as does the inability to repair water pipes, roof top water tanks and household connectors, because materials and spare parts are not deemed essential humanitarian supplies by Israel and so are prevented entry under the blockade. With the loss of pressure in the pipes, polluted water from the ground contaminates the supply. Together with chronic disrepair to the sewage system, poor water quality is a major concern for aid agencies in Gaza, with diarrhoea causing 12 % of young deaths.
The blockade, which began in June 2007 after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, has sharply increased poverty, helping make 8 out of 10 people dependent on some form of aid. Businesses and farms have been forced to close and lay off workers. An almost complete ban on exports has hit farmers hard, compounded by the offensive which wrecked 17% of farmland together with greenhouses and irrigation equipment, and left a further 30% unusable in no-go ‘buffer zones’ expanded by the Israeli military after the end of the offensive.
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: “The wretched reality endured by 1.5 million people in Gaza should appal anybody with an ounce of humanity. Sick, traumatised and impoverished people are being collectively punished by a cruel, illegal policy imposed by the Israeli authorities.
“Israel’s responsibility to protect its citizens does not give it the right to punish every man, woman and child of Gaza. All states are obliged under international law to intervene to put an end to this brutal blockade but their leaders are failing in this fundamental measure of their own humanity. All states must insist that the Israeli government end its blockadeand let the people of Gaza rebuild their shattered lives.”
The report argues that, while Israel has a duty to protect its citizens, the measures it takes must conform to international humanitarian and human rights law. By enforcing its blockade on Gaza, Israel is violating the prohibition on collective punishment in international humanitarian law, it says. In the report the groups call on Israel to end the blockade. But they also say, ‘the people of Gaza have been betrayed by the international community which can and must do far more to end this illegal and inhumane blockade’. They urge the EU, for example, to take immediate and concerted action to secure the lifting of the blockade of Gaza so that the close of Spain’s six-month presidency of the EU in June 2010 does not also mark the third anniversary of the blockade being imposed.
The report’s authors also call on European foreign ministers and the EU’s new High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton to visit Gaza to see for themselves the impact of the blockade on its people. Securing an immediate opening of the Gaza crossings for building materials to repair ruined homes and civilian infrastructure as winter sets in would be an important step towards an end to the blockade, say the organisations.
Janet Symes, Head of Middle East Region, Christian Aid said: “Expressions of disapproval over the blockade of Gaza by the international community are no longer enough. It is time to allow the people of Gaza to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and rebuild. There must be no more excuses from the international community.”
source : http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2009-12-22/gaza-civilians-rebuild-one-year-operation-cast-lead
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Israel withholding bodies of 300 Palestinian fighters
RAMALLAH: Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-detainees Issa Qaraqi’ said Saturday that Israeli authorities have been withholding for years the remains of some 300 Palestinians killed in combat in secret cemeteries known as the “Cemeteries of Numbers”.
During a visit to a Palestinian family in the West Bank village of Arourah, north of Ramallah, Qaraqi’ said Israel was in violation of basic international laws by denying Palestinian families the right to claim their dead. Israel has agreed to release the body of a Palestinian from Arourah killed by its forces in 1976 after keeping it for nearly 33 years for unexplained reasons.
Israeli media said the Israeli High Court ruled recently that the body of Mashhour Al-Arouri should be released. The ruling came after the Palestinian family petitioned the court for the custody of his body.
The appeal, lodged by Arouri’s relatives, is part of a national Palestinian campaign to bring home the bodies of Palestinian fighters killed by the Israeli military during operations.
Qaraqi’ said that Arouri’s body will be retrieved after DNA checks confirm his identity.
The court ruled that in case the body is found in a state not fit for reburial in Palestine, the family will be granted permission to visit the grave. Palestinians are skeptical about this as authorization to enter Israel is rarely granted to Palestinians.
Qaraqi’ said the “forced burial of the martyrs is a punishment to their families.” He also said that the practice of withholding the men’s remains for years sparked speculation Israel assassinated them after detention or harvested their organs.
Palestinian sources say Israeli is holding the remains of Palestinian and Arab fighters in four Cemeteries of Numbers.
Meanwhile, Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov opposed Saturday the inclusion of jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti in any prisoner swap for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
The minister said Barghouti does not qualify for release as he “has become a symbol of armed conflict and bloodshed.”
Hamas sources said that a deal is eluding the parties due to difference over the release of eight prisoners. They are Barghouti, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s Ahmed Sa’adat, top Hamas activists Ibrahim Hamed, Abbas Al-Sayed and Abdullah Al-Barghouti, female prisoners Amenah Muna, Ahlam Al-Tamimi and Qaherah Al-Sa’di.
source : http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=129524&d=13&m=12&y=2009
RAMALLAH: Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-detainees Issa Qaraqi’ said Saturday that Israeli authorities have been withholding for years the remains of some 300 Palestinians killed in combat in secret cemeteries known as the “Cemeteries of Numbers”.
During a visit to a Palestinian family in the West Bank village of Arourah, north of Ramallah, Qaraqi’ said Israel was in violation of basic international laws by denying Palestinian families the right to claim their dead. Israel has agreed to release the body of a Palestinian from Arourah killed by its forces in 1976 after keeping it for nearly 33 years for unexplained reasons.
Israeli media said the Israeli High Court ruled recently that the body of Mashhour Al-Arouri should be released. The ruling came after the Palestinian family petitioned the court for the custody of his body.
The appeal, lodged by Arouri’s relatives, is part of a national Palestinian campaign to bring home the bodies of Palestinian fighters killed by the Israeli military during operations.
Qaraqi’ said that Arouri’s body will be retrieved after DNA checks confirm his identity.
The court ruled that in case the body is found in a state not fit for reburial in Palestine, the family will be granted permission to visit the grave. Palestinians are skeptical about this as authorization to enter Israel is rarely granted to Palestinians.
Qaraqi’ said the “forced burial of the martyrs is a punishment to their families.” He also said that the practice of withholding the men’s remains for years sparked speculation Israel assassinated them after detention or harvested their organs.
Palestinian sources say Israeli is holding the remains of Palestinian and Arab fighters in four Cemeteries of Numbers.
Meanwhile, Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov opposed Saturday the inclusion of jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti in any prisoner swap for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
The minister said Barghouti does not qualify for release as he “has become a symbol of armed conflict and bloodshed.”
Hamas sources said that a deal is eluding the parties due to difference over the release of eight prisoners. They are Barghouti, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s Ahmed Sa’adat, top Hamas activists Ibrahim Hamed, Abbas Al-Sayed and Abdullah Al-Barghouti, female prisoners Amenah Muna, Ahlam Al-Tamimi and Qaherah Al-Sa’di.
source : http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=129524&d=13&m=12&y=2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Palestinians seek organ theft probe
Several Palestinians in the West Bank have called for an international inquiry into a Swedish newspaper report that suggests members of the Israeli army stole body organs from Palestinians. The report, published last week in Aftonbladet, Sweden's leading tabloid, accused Israeli forces of stealing the organs from Palestinian men after killing them, a charge Israel has denied. But Jalal Ghanem, a resident of the West Bank village of Immatain, told Al Jazeera this week that his brother, Bilal, was one of the victims of the alleged theft following his death by Israeli fire in 1992. Ghanem said Israeli soldiers ambushed Bilal, a member of the Fatah movement and an activist during the second Intifada, at the gate of his family's home.
"They [Israeli soldiers] called him, Bilal, Bilal। He automatically turned, and they shot him," Ghanem said. A military ambulance then transferred Bilal to a helicopter at the gate of the village, his family said.
'Body opened'
Ghanem said Israeli forces returned the body to his family a week later, but it was cut and showed signs of being opened. "It was very clear that there was no abdomen, it showed from the way it was stitched. There were no teeth in his mouth," he said. Bilal's death was included in the Swedish newspaper report by Donald Bostrom, a Swedish freelance journalist. Bostrom said the report was based on his own eyewitness account of an Israeli army raid on a Palestinian village in 1992. He told Al Jazeera he was not anti-Semitic and insisted that what he had written was true. "The body was taken away and the authorities made an autopsy with this young man against the will of the family," Bostrom said। "All those things are actually true and happened. When the military returned the body the family said, 'We think they stole the organ of the body' because there was an empty belly.
Israeli outrage
The article has sparked outrage in Israel, with scores of ministers and commentators calling it anti-Semitic. "The statements in the Swedish press were outrageous," Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was quoted as telling his cabinet on Sunday.
"We are not expecting an apology from the Swedish government... We are expecting condemnation." The Swedish government has refused to apologise for the article, saying the country's press freedom prevents it from intervening. "If I devoted myself to correcting all the strange claims in the media, I would probably not have time to devote to very much else," Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, said. The newspaper commented on its story on Sunday, acknowledging that it had no proof of any organ theft but argued that the story deserved publication because of the issues it raised।
Source : Al Jazeera & agencies
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/08/200982510415994815.html
"They [Israeli soldiers] called him, Bilal, Bilal। He automatically turned, and they shot him," Ghanem said. A military ambulance then transferred Bilal to a helicopter at the gate of the village, his family said.
'Body opened'
Ghanem said Israeli forces returned the body to his family a week later, but it was cut and showed signs of being opened. "It was very clear that there was no abdomen, it showed from the way it was stitched. There were no teeth in his mouth," he said. Bilal's death was included in the Swedish newspaper report by Donald Bostrom, a Swedish freelance journalist. Bostrom said the report was based on his own eyewitness account of an Israeli army raid on a Palestinian village in 1992. He told Al Jazeera he was not anti-Semitic and insisted that what he had written was true. "The body was taken away and the authorities made an autopsy with this young man against the will of the family," Bostrom said। "All those things are actually true and happened. When the military returned the body the family said, 'We think they stole the organ of the body' because there was an empty belly.
Israeli outrage
The article has sparked outrage in Israel, with scores of ministers and commentators calling it anti-Semitic. "The statements in the Swedish press were outrageous," Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was quoted as telling his cabinet on Sunday.
"We are not expecting an apology from the Swedish government... We are expecting condemnation." The Swedish government has refused to apologise for the article, saying the country's press freedom prevents it from intervening. "If I devoted myself to correcting all the strange claims in the media, I would probably not have time to devote to very much else," Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, said. The newspaper commented on its story on Sunday, acknowledging that it had no proof of any organ theft but argued that the story deserved publication because of the issues it raised।
Source : Al Jazeera & agencies
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/08/200982510415994815.html
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