All Content

Journey into prison

Toine van Teeffelen Bethlehem, Palestine 20 January 2004


My family’s costs for the journey from Bethlehem to Amman and the return trip almost equalled a flight trip, per person about $200, including the costs of special taxis, border taxes, the entry authorization from Jordan, and a hotel in Amman. Not for poor people. “Back to the abnormal life,” Mary is used to saying upon entering Palestine. It was raining heavily. The taxi driver was nervous about soldiers checking the car, as he is not allowed to carry passengers without the relevant permits, and wanted to drop my family somewhere before ‘Azzariyyeh (Biblical Bethany). Toine van Teeffelen writes from Bethlehem. 

Five refuseniks sentenced to one year imprisonment

5 January 2004


The Israeli Military court in Jaffa pronounced the sentence of one year imprisonment against five Israeli conscientious objectors. Noam Bahat, Adam Maor, Haggai Matar, Shinri Tsameret and Matan Kaminer, who are among more than 300 high school seniors, who refuse to serve in military forces involved in the occupation of Palestinian Territories are considered as “selective conscientious objectors”, as they refuse to join an army of occupation. They have already been detained over a year for refusing to serve. 

The detention of the refuseniks is arbitrary says the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

19 January 2004


In its final opinion the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated that although at present time the rejection by a state of the right to conscientious objection cannot be considered incompatible with international law, the repeated penalties imposed on Matan Kaminer, Adam Maor, Noam Bahat and Jonathan Ben Artzi were arbitrary. The UN Working Group stated that the repeated penalties for the disobedience to serve in the military are not compatible with international law. 

Israeli rights group calls for investigation into killing of unarmed Palestinians in Khan Yunis

15 January 2004


The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel calls on Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon and Judge Advocate General Menachem Finkelstein to investigate the killing of five unarmed Palestinian civilians from Khan Yunis. On December 11, 2002, an Israeli Merkava tank fired a shell at five unarmed Palestinians, all members of the same family from Khan Yunis, killing them all. An Israeli spokesperson said that they had carried ladders but no arms were found. PCATI demands that the incident be immediately investigated. 

Campaign Against Collective Punishment

Al-Haq 20 January 2004


Al-Haq, the oldest Palestinian human rights organization and the West Bank affiliate of The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), recently launched a Campaign to Stop Collective Punishment. Collective punishment is simply penalising a group as a whole with no regard for individual responsibility. Such punishments and other measures of intimidation have been utilised by the Israeli authorities against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for decades, including house demolitions, movement of restrictions, and the wall. 

LA activists rally in solidarity with the Palestinian People

Haithem El-Zabri 16 January 2004


Activists from several peace and justice groups gathered infront of the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles yesterday to protest against the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The protests were prompted by the four-week siege and attacks on the town of Nablus. During this time, at least 18 Palestinians had been killed and over 250 injured. The town had been under 24-hour curfew much of the time, and homes have been demolished in the Balata refugee camp, Beit Foreek, and the historic center of the city. The rally in LA was a signal of solidarity with the people of Nablus and other areas that are continuously under attack. 

Israel's apologists and the Martin Luther King Jr. hoax

Fadi Kiblawi and Will Youmans 18 January 2004


Many of Israel’s apologists, and even former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declaring, “anti-Zionist is inherently anti-Semitic, and ever will be so.” There’s only one problem with this famous quote: King never said it, because its a hoax. EI contributors Fadi Kiblawi and Will Youmans investigate the use and abuse of Dr. King’s legacy to justify Israeli abuses, and silence criticism of Israel. 

After three Israeli invasions in Rafah: 75 Palestinians homeless

17 January 2004


Since Friday, Israeli forces have invaded various areas in Rafah. Israeli forces demolished a mosque and nine Palestinian homes, razed nine donoms of land, leaving 75 Palestinians, mostly children and women, homeless, adding to the thousands who have been left homeless by similar Israeli military raids in the occupied Palestinian territories. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed in Rafah since the beginning of the current uprising. Israel’s intention is to ethnically cleanse a large section of Palestinian land alongside the Egyptian border, to create a buffer zone and consolidate its military occupation. 

Unbound Spirit: Ayed Morar and Martin Luther King

Adam Shapiro 16 January 2004


Ayed Morar, or Abu Ahmed as he is known to all, sits in jail tonight and I wonder if he is thinking of Martin Luther King, Jr. Unlike Dr. King, Abu Ahmed will not be leaving jail anytime soon, and is he unable to protest his imprisonment by exemplifying the moral injustice done to him and his people, for the world’s powers have maintained a deaf ear to the plight of the Palestinian people. Like Dr. King, however, Abu Ahmed is in jail for organizing and participating in nonviolent direct action against unjust, discriminatory and violent policies targeting his people on the basis of their ethnicity. Adam Shapiro writes. 

PRCS medic beaten and detained by Israeli soldiers

12 January 2004


On 11 January 2004, a PRCS medic was beaten, detained and threatened with fatal harm by Israeli soldiers during a routine transfer of patients from Nablus to Ramallah. The ambulance was carrying a child with a cardiac condition and a disabled person suffering from leg injuries. According to the medics’ affidavit, the ambulance was allowed to cross the Howwara checkpoint. However, Israeli soldiers on Al-Sawia road stopped the ambulance. Israeli soldiers searched the ambulance and then refused to allow the ambulance to pass. Later, the ambulance was allowed to pass after coordination with the ICRC.