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Palestinian Refugees Targeted With Death Threats in Iraq

6 October 2006


Shi’a armed groups have threatened to kill Palestinian refugees living in Baghdad if they do not leave Iraq within 72 hours, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch urged the Iraqi government and the Multi-National Forces to investigate these threats and provide greater security to Palestinians in Iraq. A new leaflet obtained by Human Rights Watch and bearing the name of the Al-Bayt Revenge Brigade Rapid Response Units states that “there is no place for Palestinians in the Iraq of Ali, Hassan, and Hussain.” The names refer to three revered Shi’a imams; in contrast, virtually all Palestinians are Sunni Muslim. 

Weekly report on rights violations: Nine Palestinians killed

5 October 2006


On 29 September 2006, IOF fired a missile at two Palestinian children, who passed near an abandoned rack used in launching home-made rockets at Israeli targets. The two children, who are brothers, were killed. On 30 September 2006, IOF extra-judicially executed two members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Fatah movement, in Rafah. The attacks also wounded two civilian bystanders, including a child. On 2 October 2006, IOF shot dead a Palestinian fisherman opposite to Deir al-Balah seashore in the central Gaza Strip. On 3 October 2006, a Palestinian child was killed and his brother was wounded, when IOF bombarded a workshops adjacent to their house in Khan Yunis. 

Israeli forces kill three Palestinians, injure five and destroy property

5 October 2006


The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue to target Palestinians and their property in the Gaza Strip. In the past three days IOF’s attacks resulted in the killing of three, injury of five and destruction of one home, four cars and one textile factory around the Strip. Al Mezan views that the international silence towards these violations, and many other violations of human rights in OPT, has encouraged Israel to continue and escalate them. Thus, the Centre calls on the international community, especially the High Contracting Parties to the Convention, to act with the view to bring to an immediate end the IOF’s breaches and provide effective protection to Palestinian civilians in OPT. 

ICG: "Now is the time to launch an Arab-Israeli peace initiative"

5 October 2006


Now is the time for a serious international push to launch an Arab-Israeli peace initiative. Catastrophic as the recent series of developments in the Middle East have been, they can give new impetus to the search for a comprehensive settlement. The Arab-Israeli Conflict: To Reach a Lasting Peace,* the latest report from the International Crisis Group, is a realistic analysis of all the obstacles to peace in the current climate. But it also charts a way forward that could succeed. “The Lebanon war must serve as a wake-up call”, says Robert Malley, Crisis Group’s Middle East Program Director. 

UN peacekeepers lay out rules of engagement, including use of force

3 October 2006


United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon have the authority to use force against hostile activity of any kind, whether in self-defence, to ensure their area of operations is not used for hostile activities or to resist attempts by force to prevent them from discharging their duties, according to guidelines published today. “Should the situation present any risk of resumption of hostile activities, UNIFIL rules of engagement allow UN forces to respond as required,” the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement, laying out the terms of the Security Council mandate that established it in August to oversee the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hizbollah. 

The Cooper Union "Israel Lobby" Debate

Terry Walz 4 October 2006


Last week the London Review of Books did a great service to free speech in this country by enabling Prof. John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago to have a debate on the Israel Lobby that he thought would never take place. The event was titled “The Israel Lobby - Does it Have Too Much Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy?” and its main purpose was to debate the pros and cons of a paper Mearsheimer wrote with Prof. Stephen Walt of Harvard University called “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.” It was a perfect opportunity for the much criticized national media to report on a key issue in our foreign policy. 

Destruction and Violations: Gaza, Lebanon and Israel

4 October 2006


Two leading human rights organizations registered serious concerns over Israel’s recent actions in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip as well as Hizballah’s action against northern Israel. However, Curt Goering of Amnesty International and Joe Stork of Human Rights Watch pointed out at this recent Palestine Center event that the nature of the weapons used by Israel indicates that the principles of international humanitarian law had been disregarded and that the consequences to civilians was not considered. Read the transcript of this event held at the Palestine Center last month. 

UN sets up camps for Palestinian children hit by school strike in West Bank

3 October 2006


With 500,000 Palestinian children out of school due to a strike in the West Bank that has left most public schools closed, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has set up youth clubs to provide extracurricular activities, safe indoor and outdoor play areas, and centres to provide literacy and computer training. The lack of access to schools come on top of an already very difficult year in which the number of children killed and injured are close to record highs as youngsters continue to take the brunt of the unrest in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, UNICEF spokesman Michael Bociurkiw told a news briefing in Geneva today. 

The International Community Must End the Collective Punishment of the Palestinian People

3 October 2006


As non-governmental human rights organisations based in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), we are gravely concerned by the recent internal clashes between forces loyal to Fateh and forces loyal to Hamas. Six people were killed in Gaza on Sunday 2 October 2006, in the worst internal fighting for months, as striking government employees demanded the back payment of outstanding salaries. The following day gunmen forced businesses to shut their doors in several towns throughout the West Bank. The hardship created by Israel’s retention of tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the cessation of international aid has brought the OPT to the brink of a civil war. 

Freshwater shortage leads to health problems in Gaza Strip

2 October 2006


Environmentalists and public health specialists are warning of escalating health problems due to a growing freshwater deficit and declining water quality in the Gaza Strip. Nahed Abu Dayyia, an ecologist with the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA), says water pollution in Gaza is primarily caused by high salinity and high nitrate concentrations in groundwater. The Gaza Strip, bordering Israel and Egypt, has a population of more than 1.4 million, one of the most densely populated areas in the world. “Insufficient sanitation conditions and the absence of sewage conveyance systems pose serious threats to public health and are the major causes of environmental degradation,” Dayyia said.