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Weekly report on human rights violations

10 March 2005


This week, Israeli forces wounded 12 Palestinian civilians, including 6 children. Israel continues the construction of its Wall on occupied Palestinian land. Israeli forces condiscated more Palestinian-owned land for that purpose. Israel isolates Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. Israeli forces raided numerous homes and arrested at least twenty Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. A Palestinian civilian was used as a human shield during a house raid in the village of Mughraqa in central Gaza Strip. Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property in the West Bank. Israeli forces have continued to impose a total siege on the occupied Palestinian territories. 

Single minds, double standards, and plural societies: One month on in Lebanon

Laurie King 13 March 2005


Once again, it seems that US President George W. Bush has declared victory and “mission accomplished” far too early: The heralded Lebanese Spring, which Washington’s PR experts quickly dubbed the “Cedar Revolution,” has not been a slam-dunk validation of US Middle East policies after all. Just ten days after stepping down from the position of prime minister in President Emile Lahoud’s government, Omar Karameh is about to step back into place again. EI co-founder Laurie King-Irani, who lived in Beirut from 1993-98, reviews the last month’s tumultuous events and considers what they might mean for the future of Lebanon and its neighbors. 

Chicago Palestine Film Festival 2005: Official Selections

12 March 2005


The Chicago Palestine Film Festival is pleased to announce its official selections for its 2005 screenings. This year’s festival will occur from April 15 to May 7 at the Gene Siskel Film Center and St. Xavier Valley Community College. Now in its fourth consecutive year, the Chicago Palestine Film Festival is an independent, not-for-profit, non-sectarian project based in Chicago that exhibits and promotes films by Palestinian directors and films about Palestine. CPFF is dedicated to presenting a film festival that is open, critical, and reflective of the culture, experience and vision of the filmmakers. 

World must persuade Israel to tear down barrier on Palestinian land – UN meeting

10 March 2005


A United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine has called on the international community to adopt measures to persuade Israel to dismantle a separation barrier it is building on occupied Palestinian territory and to make reparations for all damages caused by its construction. The two-day meeting, which ended yesterday in Geneva, called for Israeli compliance with international law and last year’s advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the construction of a wall, which Israel says it is building for security reasons, is illegal where it runs on occupied territory and should be torn down. 

Nablus rocked by clashes

Omar Karmi 11 March 2005


In a hospital room in Nablus’ Specialty Hospital, two gunshot victims share a room. The young men are both awake and alert, and their room is filled with relatives and colleagues. They look fine, though one only speaks with some difficulty and the other has to lie on his side because of his injuries. The scene is not an unusual one in a Palestinian hospital after four years of the Intifada, but the circumstances of their shooting have rocked Nablus. The two are policemen and were wounded when clashes broke out between the police and members of an armed group, the Fateh-affiliated Al Awda Brigades, on March 4. Their colleagues are not only there to wish them well but to protect them from possible further attacks. A policeman is stationed at the entrance to the hospital. 

Beating Israel's activist deportation system, this time

Flo Razowsky 10 March 2005


On the 3rd of March 2005, I left my home in the United States for Israel. I was expecting trouble upon arriving at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, as I had been forcibly expelled by the Israeli Authorities one year before due to this same work against the occupation. My expulsion at that time was based on false charges brought against me by the Israeli Ministry of Interior stating that I had resided illegally in Israel. When I arrived to Ben Gurion on the 4th of March, I was pulled aside at passport control, as I had expected. 

Apartheid targets Palestinian home-owners inside Israel

Jonathan Cook 10 March 2005


You won’t hear about the story of my Palestinian friend Ali Zbeidat and the threatened demolition of his “illegal” home, either from the hundreds of international correspondents in Jerusalem or from the Hebrew media. None of them will tell you about the story of Ali’s family and the imminent physical and financial ruin of their lives by Israel, even though Ali’s plight is far from unique. There are tens of thousands of other Palestinians in the same desperate situation as Ali, living in homes Israel defines as illegal. The problem for Ali is not just that he is Palestinian; if he were, you might learn of his story. Ali’s problem is that he is also a citizen of Israel. 

Two members of the Management Board of the Palestine Investment Fund resign

10 March 2005


GAZA — Two members of the management board of the Palestine Investment Fund have submitted their resignations from the management board, an informed Palestinian source has confirmed to al-Quds (newspaper). The source added that businessman Samir Said Khouri and businessman Engineer Jawdat al-Khudari submitted their resignations effective this month from the Fund’s management board due to disagreements within the board over the mechanism for managing the Fund’s investments in Arab countries. 

UN Meeting on Question of Palestine discusses responsibility of governments in upholding international law

9 March 2005


The United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine this morning heard a number of panellists discuss the responsibility of governments and intergovernmental organizations in upholding international law in relation to the implementation of the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the construction of a wall in the occupied Palestinian territory. Georges Abi-Saab, Honorary Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, said States had an obligation to do something to deter a violation such as the building of the wall by cutting off the funds used for that construction. 

Defusing Israel's "demographic bomb"

Hasan Abu Nimah 8 March 2005


Israel has long lived in fear of the so-called “demographic bomb” — the fact that the Palestinian population in Israel and the occupied territories is increasing much faster than the Israeli Jewish population. While Israeli Jews thought the day they would become a minority was perhaps still twenty years away, a new US government report says that Palestinians are already a majority in historic Palestine, as they were until Israel was created. EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah looks at the numbers and examines their implications for a just resolution to the Palestine/Israel conflict.