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UN Social Committee approves draft resolutions on Palestinian children

6 November 2003

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today approved a draft resolution on the situation of Palestinian children. The draft resolution was approved in a vote of 86 in favour to 4 against, with 58 abstentions. The text would have the General Assembly stress the urgent need for Palestinian children to live a normal life free from foreign occupation, destruction and fear in their own State, and demand that Israel respect relevant provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and relevant provisions of the Geneva Convention. 

Grave concern expressed over deteriorating situation in Occupied Palestinian territories, as Fourth Committee takes up report on Israeli practices

5 November 2003

Expressing grave concern over the deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, the Chairman of the Special Committee established to investigate Israeli practices in those territories presented his annual report to the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) this morning. 

Accreditation rules for journalists to be tightened

4 November 2003


The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives in over 120 countries, is dismayed by the announcement that Israel’s accreditation rules for journalists are to be tightened. According to information provided to IPI, the director of the Government Press Office (GPO), Daniel Seaman, recently announced new regulations for foreign and Israeli journalists, to be introduced on 1 January 2004. Today it sent a letter to Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 

Israel's secret service becomes press card authority

5 November 2003


RSF has expressed alarm over new rules for accrediting journalists that are expected to be introduced shortly in Israel. Under the new rules, journalists will have to be cleared by the Shin Bet state security service. RSF described the new rules as a serious threat to press freedom and a flagrant violation of journalists’ rights, and called for their cancellation. The new rules, which are to take effect on 1 January 2004, apply to all journalists working in Israel, including foreign, Palestinian and Israeli journalists. 

Shadow of home

Toine van Teeffelen Bethlehem, Palestine 5 November 2003

The Palestinian home also lacks something else typical of a normal home: basic safety. Lately Mary had a terrible dream. She dreamt about herself running in the oldest street of Bethlehem with Tamer on her arm away from an aircraft threatening to bomb her and the town. Like in a cover drawing of a war novel. 

The prosecutor and the judge

Adam Keller 4 November 2003

It’s nearing the end - this routine of coming again and again to the Jaffa Military Court, to which we have grown accustomed in the past half year. The testimonies and cross-examinations are past. Today the prosecutor - Captain Yaron Kostelitz, will make his final summation, trying his utmost to make the most heavy case and use the most specious arguments against the five young guys in the dock. 

The Violence of Construction: Israel's Wall and International Law

Michael Kearney 4 November 2003

The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, initiated through aggressive military campaigns in 1948 and 1967, has been consolidated and standardised through a continuous and ongoing assault on the very environment of Palestine. The Israeli grip on the Palestinian Territories has been ensured through a paradoxical “violence of construction.”