Archive for July, 2008

Another child shot dead at Wall protest

July 31, 2008 at 1:23 pm · Filed under Israel, Palestine, apartheid wall, occupation, zionism ·Tagged ,

From an ISM update email:

An 11 year old boy called Ahmed Ussam Yusef Mousa was shot dead at
approximately 6pm near the Palestinian village of Nil’in. He was shot
once in the head at close range with live ammunition.

According to ISM volunteers inside Nil’in, confrontations are taking
place between villagers and the Israeli forces; shots have been heard
and five people are said to have been wounded.

Demonstrations have been held almost every day for the past few weeks
as near Nil’in against Israel’s Apartheid Wall, declared illegal by
the International Court in the Hague in 2004. The wall will deprive
the village of almost 2,500 Dunums of agricultural land, and put the
existence of the entirely community in doubt.

The news came on the same day that Victor MacDiarmid, a Canadian human
rights worker was due for deportation at midnight from Ben Gurion
airport near Tel Aviv. The 23 year old had been shot twice, once in
the shoulder and once in the knee by rubber coated steel bullets
whilst attending the Nil’in protests. He was arrested whilst taking
pictures of a woman’s demonstration on 23rd of July.

The Israeli Army and Border Police have been increasingly ill-
disciplined and violent in response to the demonstrations. News came
this morning that Israeli Battalion Commander Lt. Col Omri, had been
sent on 10 days compulsory leave as a punishment for his conduct at
Nil’in. Omri held a 27 year old Palestinian detainee Ashraf Abu Rahma
by the shoulder while one of his men shot Abu Rahma with a rubber
coated steel bullet at very close range. Abu Rahma was blindfolded and
his hands were bound when he was shot in the foot.

At least 11 other Palestinians have died protesting against Israeli’s
apartheid wall. Their names are:

Mohammad Fadel Hashem Rayan, age 25.
Zakaria MaHmud Salem, age 28.
Abdal Rahman Abu Eid, age 62.
Mohammad Daud Badwan, age 21.
Diaa Abdel Karim Abu Eid, age 24.
Hussain mahmud Awwad Aliyan, age 17.
Islam Hashem Rizik Zhahran, age 14.
Alaa Mohammad Abdel Rahman Khalil, age 14.
Jamal Jaber Ibrahim Assi, age 15.
Odai Mofeed Mahmud Assi, age 14.
Mahayub Nimer Assi, age 15.

For more information contact the ISM Media Office (970)-2-2971824.
For ISM volunteers in Nil’in: Camilla (972) (0)54 2385681, Helena
(972) (0)549725207.

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Israeli occupation far worse than Apartheid South Africa

July 29, 2008 at 5:58 pm · Filed under Apartheid, Israel, Palestine, South Africa, human rights, occupation, west bank, zionism ·Tagged , , , ,

In “Don’t Call it Apartheid” (Haaretz English edition, July 17), Tova Herzl takes issue with the use of the word “apartheid” to describe the situation in Israel. In particular, she implies that the recent South African human rights delegation to Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank – of which I was a member – indeed came to such a conclusion. As a group, we did no such thing.

Instead, we sought to move beyond mere labels and focus on the manner and extent to which Israel is separating Palestinians and Israelis within the West Bank, the impact of the tools of separation on Palestinians in particular and the broader impact of the occupation on all. And in so doing, it was often impossible to avoid making comparisons with apartheid South Africa.

Whether motivated by legitimate security considerations, fear, mistrust or sheer prejudice, the occupation’s physical manifestations – including distinct identity cards, number plates and roads, as well as checkpoints, electronic fences and concrete walls – result in a degree of separation far in excess of what was achieved in South Africa. This separation speaks for itself, whether or not one categorizes it as apartheid.

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Israel finally agrees to move Bil’in wall

July 28, 2008 at 10:17 am · Filed under Israel, Palestine, apartheid wall, occupation, zionism ·Tagged ,

After a five-year battle, the defense establishment has finally given in: It agreed to dismantle a 2.4-kilometer stretch of the separation fence north of Qalqilyah. The move will return 2,600 dunams of agricultural land to its Palestinian owners.

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Good news – but don’t celebrate just yet…it might take years before this part of the wall is moved.

I’m not sure if this area is the same one at which the Palestinian and international activists have their weekly protests at – I am assuming it is not since the article doesn’t mention it.

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Prisoner exchange: a fitting end and a new beginning

July 18, 2008 at 10:00 am · Filed under Hizbullah, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, occupation, zionism ·Tagged

Hizbullah has once again brought victory, honor and dignity to the Arab and Muslim world. Away from all the rhetoric, I think this article in The Independent captures the essence of the prisoner exchange, excerpts below:

The macabre exchange that took place yesterday on the border between Israel and Lebanon is being widely presented as the final chapter in the ill-fated war of two years ago. And in many ways it is. Short, sharp and brutal, that war was Israel’s ill-judged response to the capture of two of its soldiers by forces of the Shia group, Hezbollah. Now, those two soldiers – emblems since then of Israel’s abiding sense of insecurity – have been returned to their homeland, in coffins. Their families can give them the religious burial their faith requires. The circle of retribution has been closed.

Some might also see in yesterday’s solemn ceremony a symmetry that was not inappropriate. The prisoner exchange looked as unbalanced as the war itself, which cost the lives of 157 Israelis and more than 1,200 Lebanese. In return for the bodies of its two student conscripts, Israel handed over five Hezbollah prisoners, alive, and the remains of 200 Hezbollah fighters. The agreement was fiercely contested in Israel, and could yet weaken still further the position of the already beleaguered Prime Minister.
…
Nor, in its outcome, was the war as one-sided as the casualty figures suggest. That Israel used this pretext to launch a full-scale war on Hezbollah, the degree of force it used, and especially its pursuit of hostilities even after the ceasefire had been declared, left its international reputation in shreds. Even staunch allies declined to mince their words.

…
It was inside Israel, however, that the Lebanon war may have had the greatest lasting impact. A war declared in haste, without – as is now known – the wholehearted support of the top brass, became that rare thing: an Israeli military enterprise that failed to achieve its declared objective. Israel could not secure the release of its captives, and its invasion ended in an unproductive retreat.

The war thus demolished the myth of Israel’s military invincibility, not just in the region, but at home. It removed many of the arguments for the special place of the military in Israeli life, and precipitated soul-searching at every level of Israeli society. The report of the Winograd Commission, published earlier this year, marked the end of an era in which Israel believed it could rely on military prowess for its security. In truth, though, that process had begun earlier, as a generation reached adulthood with no memory of a time when their country’s very existence was at stake.

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ICC joins the Crusade

July 12, 2008 at 9:06 pm · Filed under Sudan ·Tagged ,

Well said Ali Khan!

“The International Criminal Court (ICC) joins the crusade to defame Islam, demonize internal conflicts in Muslim nations, and prosecute Muslim leaders for crimes against humanity, rape, genocide, and other international crimes. The Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, holds evidence “on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years.” Ocampo will be seeking the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes committed in Darfur.

The ICC is a good idea. We need a world court to hold international criminals accountable. No leader should be able to get away with heinous international crimes. The weakening of personal sovereign immunity is also a welcome legal development in that no leader, army general, senator, representative, or even judge is immune from criminal liability if he or she commits crimes or provides material assistance in the commission of crimes.

In practice, however, the ICC is a Western instrumentality that ignores the grave crimes of Western leaders and generals. The ICC has so far shown no interest in prosecuting President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and State Secretary Colin Powell for the crimes they planned, organized, incited, and committed with the help of lethal weapons in Afghanistan and Iraq. These leaders have destroyed Iraq, a Muslim country, and killed its leader, Saddam Hussein, without a fair trial. The NATO genocide in Afghanistan continues as world leaders sit in high galleries to watch the ghoulish killings of the “Taliban and terrorists.”

Ocampo is an incompetent, unethical, and perhaps a racist prosecutor who does not deserve to lead the Prosecutorial office of the ICC. He has already botched up the prosecution of a Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga, by wrongly withholding evidence that could have helped the defense.

The prosecution of President Omar for the Darfur conflict comes after years of distortions and misreporting in the Western media. The Western media singles out Muslim leaders and Muslim nations for explaining the ills of the world. Syria is listed as a terrorist state, Pakistan is blamed for trouble in Afghanistan, the Iranian President has been turned into an imminent murderer, and President Omar is soon to be prosecuted as a war criminal. Militias that resist Western occupation in their own countries are labeled as terrorists and jihadis.

While hardened criminals sit out in shameless liberty, the politically-inspired prosecution of President Omar is, at its best, selective enforcement of international criminal law; and, at its worst, it is one more crusade against the Muslim world.”

Source

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No new EU-Israel action plan!

July 11, 2008 at 12:06 pm · Filed under Boycott and divestment, Europe, Israel, Palestine, occupation ·Tagged ,

On the fourth anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s ruling that Israel’s Wall is illegal, the BNC is calling on the EU not to upgrade its relationship with Israel and to suspend the EU Association Agreement. Today’s call is supported by 100 European civil society organizations. Join in the campaign for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement!

In a statement, the BNC said:

“We are appalled by the EU’s blatant refusal to hold Israel to account for its persistent violations of human rights and international law … The EU is well aware of Israel’s ongoing illegal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the massive colonization of the latter; after all, the EU member-states have regularly voted for UN resolutions condemning Israel’s human rights violations, collective punishment and construction of settlements and the Wall.”

Continue here and check out the new Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sactions website here.

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Guardian Weekly: Special focus on the Apartheid Wall

July 9, 2008 at 8:51 pm · Filed under Apartheid, Israel, Palestine, U.S., occupation, zionism ·Tagged , , , ,

The barrier in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that separates Israelis from Palestinians continues to divide them – and not just in a physical sense. Israelis believe it is vital to their security, while Palestinians say it is a land-grab that cuts them off from their livelihoods. The Guardian’s Rory McCarthy reports from Jayyus, a Palestinian village, and from Alfe Menashe, an Israeli settlement.
Al Ram, on the main route between Ramallah in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, was once a thriving market town. But it has been transformed by the wall into a ghost town, as Toni O’Loughlin reports for the Guardian.

Click here to listen to the Guardian Weekly’s special on The Apartheid Wall

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