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Media watchdog calls for the release of three journalists kidnapped in Gaza City

14 March 2006


Reporters Without Borders has voiced concern about the kidnapping of two French journalists, Caroline Laurent of “Elle” and Alfred Yaghobzadeh of “Sipa”, and South Korean journalist Yong Tae-young of KBS on 14 March in Gaza City, hours after an Israeli army raid on a prison in the West Bank city of Jericho. “We call on the kidnappers to free their hostages, who were just doing their job as journalists and can in no way be held responsible for Israeli army operations in the West Bank, and we call on the Palestinian authorities to do everything possible to locate them and ensure they are returned safe and sound to their families,” the organisation said. 

Journalists, others kidnapped as prison siege sparks violence

14 March 2006


The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by reports that Palestinian gunmen abducted journalists and other foreigners in Gaza City today. A wave of violence erupted in Gaza and elsewhere in the West Bank, after Israeli forces laid siege to a Jericho prison to arrest militants believed responsible for the 2001 assassination of an Israeli minister. CPJ sources said as many as four South Korean and French journalists were abducted from Gaza’s Dira hotel. Armed kidnappers stormed the hotel this afternoon, according to news reports, which said one gunman was killed in a confrontation with Palestinian police. 

Israeli elections are opportunity to address human rights

14 March 2006


Candidates standing in Israel’s elections should take the opportunity to reassert the importance of human rights and pledge to a programme that, if implemented, would enhance peace and security in the region, Amnesty International said today. Making a direct appeal to all candidates contesting the elections, to be held on 28 March 2006, the organization called for an open debate to address longstanding human rights challenges in Israel and in the Occupied Territories. “Israel’s security will be enhanced, not jeopardised, by greater attention to human rights,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. 

2006 World Social Forum, European Social Forum, and beyond: New energy for the quest for justice and freedom in Palestine

15 March 2006


Awareness of the Palestinian Nakba of 1948 and the need to restore the rights of millions of Palestinian refugees, and a principled and rights-based global campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law, have come to represent the global social movements’ answer to the failure of international diplomacy in the Middle East. At the 6th World Social Forum (WSF) convened in January in Caracas, Venezuela, the Social Movements Assembly adopted the Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). The Caracas meeting, one of three World Social Forums taking place in 2006 and bringing together civil society organizations and movements from all across the globe, was attended by well over 100,000 participants. 

ICRC concerned following events in Jericho

14 March 2006


The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is concerned about the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories following the attack by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on the prison in Jerichoand the abduction of civilians by Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip. The civilians abducted included humanitarian workers and an ICRC delegate, who was later released. While military operations were still under way in Jericho, the ICRC reminded the Israeli authorities of their obligations under international humanitarian law. Detainees who are not participating in hostilities are protected under this body of law and are not military targets. 

Palestinian human rights group condemns attacks on internationals

14 March 2006


The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights strongly condemns the series of attacks on international institutions and citizens in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), especially in the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, 14 March 2006. PCHR calls upon the Palestinian National Authority to take legal action against the perpetrators of these crimes, which reflect the state of security chaos, undermine the rule of law, and damage the Palestinian people’s interests and their just struggle for liberation and independence. Most of these attacks took place in the Gaza Strip. They included raids on, destruction and arsons of diplomatic representative offices, relief agencies and kidnappings of internationals, including journalists and humanitarian staff. 

Palestinian Filmmakers Question EU Audiovisual Grant

16 March 2006


Forty Palestinian filmmakers, including the 2006 Golden Globe winner Hani Abu Assad and 2002 Cannes Festival Jury Prize winner Elia Suleiman, signed a letter to the EU Euromed Audiovisual program questioning the shortlisting of an Israeli-led project. Despite serious indicators of mismanagement, and lack of legitimacy raised about the project, entitled Greenhouse, the Europe Aid office in Brussels decided to go ahead and grant it 1.5 million Euros, bringing into question the transparency and credibility of the criteria and decision-making employed by Europe Aid in the granting process. 

Human Rights Watch urges Israeli parliament to reject new bill on arrest and detention of Gaza residents

15 March 2006


Human Rights Watch has sent a letter to the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in which it expressed concerns over a bill introduced by the Israeli government, which sets forth rules for detaining “non-resident security suspects,” after the disengagement from Gaza and the consequent revocation of military orders pertaining to arrest and detention of Gaza residents. This bill creates a two-tiered system: one set of rules for Israeli citizen and resident security suspects and a considerably more stringent set of rules for non-residents (Palestinians from the Gaza Strip) suspected of the same types of crimes. 

Britain's Duplicity and the Siege of Jericho Jail

Jonathan Cook 15 March 2006


To Palestinians, the British broken promise, as well as the hasty exit from Jericho and apparent collusion with Israel, all smacked a little too painfully of other episodes of British foreign policy in the Middle East. There were echoes of 1956 and London’s pact during the Suez Crisis with Israel on the invasion of Egypt. And there were echoes too of 1948, when Britain hurriedly abandoned Palestine, though not before it had effectively fulfilled the Balfour Declaration’s promise of creating a Jewish homeland by allowing hundreds of thousands of Jews to immigrate. 

Israel's attack on Jericho: Palestinians remain without protection

Ali Abunimah and Arjan El Fassed 14 March 2006


The Israeli attack on Jericho and kidnap of a number of Palestinian prisoners, including the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) demonstrates once again the fiction that there is a functioning Palestinian “government” in the occupied territories. The ease and impunity with which the occupation forces attack Palestinians everywhere serves to remind us that these territories remain today, as they have been since 1967, under full Israeli military dictatorship. It is a mistake to keep referring to a “Palestinian government,” because this gives the false impression that Palestinians under occupation are in control of their destiny. Palestinian factions may be negotiating to form a “government,” but this does not mean that this “government” can exercise any control or protect Palestinians from the ravages of the occupying power write EI co-founders Ali Abunimah and Arjan El Fassed.