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Annan hosts meeting of "Quartet" to discuss Middle East peace

United Nations News Service 4 May 2004


Meeting today at United Nations Headquarters in New York, the so-called Quartet issued a positive reaction to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to withdraw all Israeli settlements from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, calling it a “rare moment of opportunity” and a possible restart to its Road Map peace plan for the Middle East. In a communiqué read by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan after their meeting, the UN, EU, Russia and United States said they “took positive note” of Prime Minister Sharon’s announced intention to withdraw Israeli settlements, a plan that Israel’s Likud party rejected in a referendum Sunday. 

EI's Ali Abunimah banned by Chicago Zionist organization

Ali Abunimah 4 May 2004


“A few weeks ago, I registered online for the 2004 Israel Solidarity Day featuring the Walk With Israel, sponsored by the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago (JUF)…because I wanted to get on the JUF mailing list, then forgot all about it,” writes EI co-founder Ali Abunimah. So imagine how surprised Abunimah was when a few days before the event received a personal letter from Mr. Jay Tcath, the director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago informing him he was banned! Here is the story, and the exchange of letters between Tcath and Abunimah. 

Spat upon, threatened, we stood for Palestine

Ali Abunimah 6 May 2001

“Arafat is filthy swine, there is no Palestine,” and “Thank you for killing my cousins in Israel,” were some of the more polite slogans shouted at EI’s Ali Abunimah and Benjamin Doherty and me as we protested silently at the annual “Walk With Israel” on Chicago’s lakefront today on May 6, 2001. Abunimah tells a story of how Chicago’s leading Zionist organization met peaceful free speech with threats of violence, abuse and an effort to limit the constitutional right to free speech on public property. 

Israeli forces demolish 15 homes in the Gaza Strip

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 3 May 2004


In a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, article 33 of which prohibits collective punishment, on Sunday night the 2nd May 2004, Israeli forces demolished 15 Palestinian houses. The houses were located to the south of the “Kissufim” settler road in the center of the Gaza Strip. They also forced the occupants of 11 other houses to leave their premises. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights anticipates that these houses will also be demolished. 

Israeli helicopters fire missiles at Palestinian radio station

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 3 May 2004


On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, Israeli helicopters launched three missiles at the office of the local al-Aqsa broadcasting station, located on the top floor of an appartment building in Gaza City. Two of the missiles directly hit the station, a third missile destroyed a part of the roof of the building. A number of Palestinian civilians were reported to be suffering from shock, but no other injuries were reported. Since September 2000, Israeli forces have killed 8 journalists. 

Israeli forces assassinate four Palestinians in Nablus

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 3 May 2004


On Sunday evening, 2 May, 2004, Israeli occupying forces extra-judicially executed 4 Palestinians in Nablus. The victims were members of Fatah movement, who were wanted by Israeli forces. This assassination was the 5th in 10 days. Since September 2000, Israeli forces executed 177 assassinations. This has lead to the death of 373 Palestinians: 228 targeted persons and 145 civilian bystanders. In the past 10 days, Israeli assassinations killed 14 Palestinians. 

Israeli forces kill Palestinian child in Khan Yunis

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 2 May 2004


In another blatant disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians, on Saturday evening, 1 May 2004, Israeli occupying forces killed a Palestinian child and injured 9 other civilians, including 5 children in the Khan Yunis refugee camp.  Preliminary investigations conducted by PCHR concluded that Israeli forces used excessive force when no threat was posed to the lives of Israeli soldiers, while disregarding the lives of Palestinian civilians, especially children. Since the beginning of the current Intifada in September 2000, 493 Palestinian children under 18 have been killed by Israeli occupying forces. 

Seven children killed and one boy used as human shield by Israeli forces

World Organisation Against Torture 30 April 2004


The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by Defence for Children International - Palestine section and Al-Haq of the unlawful killing of seven children, the youngest of which was 4 years old, and the beating and use of a 13 year old boy as a human shield. OMCT expresses its grave concern over these events. The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your urgent intervention and asks you to write to the Israeli authorities urging them to order a thorough and impartial investigation, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and guarantee adequate reparation to the victims. 

Sharon’s violent policy, a point of no return for the European Union

Adri Nieuwhof and Jeff Handmaker 28 April 2004


Two weeks ago, Sharon met George Bush to discuss his plan for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. On the face of it, this could have been welcomed as a major first step towards peace, that is, if it was not linked with a further intention to retain most of the major settlements in the occupied territories on the West Bank. Adri Nieuwhof and Jeff Handmaker argue that up until now, the European Union has failed to use the means it has at its disposal to enforce respect for international law and human rights. The EU must no longer take the middle ground, merely limiting its role to expressing support for the peace process. They cannot claim that the peace process needs time. In fact, there is no peace process and no time left: we are at the point of no return. 

Israel, a country that respects the rule of law?

Jeff Handmaker and Adri Nieuwhof 30 April 2004


As a privileged young Israeli, Mordechai Vanunu took a risk and exposed Israel for operating an illegal nuclear weapons programme. While the rest of the world sought to reduce its weapons of mass destruction, Israel was evidently busy stockpiling them. After being illegally abducted from Italy, Vanunu served a sentence of 18 years imprisonment, 12 years of which were in solitary confinement. Now freed by the Israeli government, he leaves behind concrete walls, but will be thrown into a bureaucratic “prison” that denies him basic freedoms. Is this the democratic country in the Middle East that according to its government respects rule of law?