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The news  9-15 February 2004:

under occupation


The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has published its report on Israeli human rights violations for the period 29 January to 11 February.

A Palestinian military court put four suspects on trial for the assassination of US diplomats.

Hundreds of activists resigned from Fatah in protest against Arafat’s ‘political bankruptcy’.

Palestinian security adviser Jibril Rajoub said that militarising the intifada and attacking civilians within the ‘Green Line’ had been a mistake.

Mustafa Barghouti describes the Israeli destruction of Rafah.

Nablus continues to decline into factional warfare.

French prosecutors are investigating transfers of some £6m to the private bank accounts of Yasser Arafat’s wife, as well as claims that EU money was transferred by Arafat to Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. The allegations coincide with mounting Palestinian protests at PA corruption.

Israel launched an incursion into Gaza killing 14 to teach Palestinians a lesson not to see Sharon’s ‘withdrawal’ plan as a sign of weakness. The IDF denied reports that the raid resulted from army opposition to Sharon’s plan to dismantle settlements in the Gaza strip. But the aims of the incursion were clearly clearly political.

Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz made clear his view that troops would stay in the Gaza Strip after the evacuation of the settlements.

The villagers of Budrus have decided on non-violence as the way forward in their fight against the fence.

A UN agency is relieving the distress of West Bank farmers by buying their olive oil to distribute in Gaza.

Khalil Shikaki is an independent pollster in Ramallah - which can be a dangerous occupation, as he found when he published the findings of a poll of refugees on the Right of Return.

Amira Hass describes the degraded state of an imprisoned community in the Gaza strip - where despite Sharon’s talk, a settlement is being extended at Palestinian expense. And Gideon Levy explains why Gaza is the IDF’s shooting range.

‘withdrawal’?


Akiva Eldar argues that Sharon’s withdrawal plan is not due to the corruption inquiry but rather to the failure of his policies of force.

Israel was hopeful that changes in the wall’s route would help its case before the Court despite the fact that it is boycotting the proceedings.

In an election year, Sharon’s disengagement plan seems attractive to Washington as a way of keeping the issue off the boil. Although there are still doubts about Sharon’s long-term intentions, it looks as if the US Administration will take a positive attitude to the plan. But flexibility on the route of the wall could be a quid pro quo.

Sharon is expecting Washington to meet the estimated $2bn cost of disengagement.

Mofaz wants to continue the occupation after the evacuation of most Gaza settlements.

Debra DeLee of American Friends of Pace Now, sets out eight conditions for US aid to Sharon’s withdrawal plan if it is not just to reinforce the occupation.

the wall and the court


Despite support from the US and the EU for its rejection of the Court’s competence, Israel faces real problems in the forthcoming hearing according to this informative analysis from a progressive Washington think-tank.

Palestinians are disgusted by Europe’s ‘betrayal’ over the Hague hearings on the Wall.

Oxford Public Interest Lawyers (OXPIL) has released a legal opinion condemning Israel's construction of a separation Barrier in the Occupied Territories for numerous violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The 58-page Opinion was written at the request of Israel's leading human rights organization, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, for use in the cases currently before the Israeli courts.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath claimed that Israeli officials at Ben Gurion Airport confiscated documents and pleas relating to the Palestinian case before the Hague Court.

The Washington Post carried a grim and detailed description of how Israel’s settlement and wall-building programme round Jerusalem is destroying Palestinian hopes.

Israeli residents of Kfar Saba welcome the wall round nearby Kalkilya - though few have actually seen it.

The Wall goes through the middle of Abu Dis.

Israeli human rights groups have taken the case against the wall to Israel’s Supreme Court.

In response the Israeli Government announced it might alter the route of the wall to lessen the destructive impact on Palestinian life. Unbelievably, Israeli spokesmen were acting as if surprised by the sudden discovery that the route of the wall was harming Palestinians.

Jessica Montell of B’Tselem exposes the claim that the wall is being built for ‘ security’.

In an extended political analysis Israel; the threat from within Henry Siegman argues that the question of the wall and its route embodies the territorial issues which are at the heart of the the conflict.

inside Israel


Elite commandos who refuse to serve have spoken out.

Israeli Tourism Minister Benny Elon was slated for his call to Christian missionaries in Israel to concentrate on converting Moslems.

Two members of Balad, the party led by MK Azmi Bishara, have been arrested on charges of forming a Hizballah cell in Israel. The party, while stressing that the accused are innocent till proven guilty, has dissociated itself from their alleged actions.

Ghassan Atmallah, one of the accused, has a record of attention from Israel’s security services for his activism.

The refusenik organisation Yesh Gvul has published its annual report for 1983.

Israeli writer Shulamit Hareven was a passionate activist for peace.

elsewhere


US Jews voted in record numbers for Bush last time. But traditional Democrat loyalties are still strong.

Bush is planning an impressive-sounding initiative on human rights in the Middle East. But there is suspicion in the EU and the UN that it may be an election ploy which ignores other initiatives already under way. The scepticism seems to reach even into some circles in Washington.

The Pope received Palestinian Premier Ahmed Qurie and repeated his condemnation of the Israeli barrier.

There is more disturbing evidence of antisemitism in French schools

The US envoy to the EU claimed antisemitism in Europe was ‘nearly as bad as in the 1930s’. But Germany has become a more popular immigration destination than Israel for Jews leaving Eastern Europe.

Uri Avnery is in typical form in his trenchant satirical look at official inquiries into ‘intelligence failures’. In the USA, Britain or Israel, ‘Yes Minister’ is the rule.

2002

 

 

 

 


 

 

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