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Israel angry at mayor of The Hague

Arjan El Fassed 22 February 2004


The mayor of The Hague, Wim Deetman, said on Dutch TV that the Israeli embassy in The Hague is contradicting his responsibility to maintain public order during the oral hearings of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the wall this week. The Israeli embassy has been coordinating protests and provided the pictures of 927 Israeli victims of suicide bombings to the Zionist-Christian organizations “Christenen voor Israel”. Deetman has argued that the provocative use of pictures will disrupt public order. The Israeli Foreign Ministry immediately issued a statement against the mayor. 

Israeli peace and human rights groups speak out on the wall

Alternative Information Center 25 January 2004


Thirteen Israeli peace and human rights groups are troubled that the position of the Israel government regarding the wall does not reflect the views of the Israeli peace and human rights movement, nor necessarily reflect the view of the Israeli public. They approached the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs with their request to include the statement in the materials presented to the Court. The wall in its present route constitutes a severe violation of human rights, serves political rather than security ends, and throws up a major obstacle to a just and sustainable peace between the two parties. 

Popular hearing: �The Wall in Palestine: illegality and consequences"

United Civilians for Peace 20 February 2004


Before the official hearings start on Monday, this weekend, on Saturday, 21 February, PENGON/Anti Apartheid Wall Campaign, the Netherlands Stop the Wall Coalition and United Civilians for Peace organise a symposium on the legal aspects and humanitarian consequences of the Wall. The program includes illustrations of the route of the wall; discussions by legal experts, Palestinian farmers, a photo exhibition, documentaries. Journalists and politicians have been invited. Speakers include Azmi Bishara, Jamal Juma’, legal expert Paul de Waart, B’Tselem’s Yehezkel Lein, Victor de Currea-Lugo and others. 

Switzerland and UNRWA to host major conference on humanitarian assistance to Palestine refugees

20 February 2004


The Swiss Government and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced today that they are to host a unique conference in Geneva in June to discuss the future of humanitarian assistance to Palestine refugees. More than five decades after they first lost their homes, millions of Palestine refugees continue to live lives of hardship and poverty across the Middle East. Now, for the first time in 54 years, countries humanitarian agencies will gather together to plan humanitarian and human development strategies for the 4.1 million refugees registered with UNRWA. 

Response to "Events Explore Middle East Controversy"

Benjamin J Doherty 20 February 2004


Rabbi David Rosenberg of the Newberger Hillel Center complained that a February 12 panel about the separation barrier Israel is building on occupied Palestinian land was unbalanced because “no campus group or outside group that is known to be supportive of Israel was extended an invitation to cosponsor” and that “no speaker has been chosen who will articulate why Israel might have chosen to have built a fence” But what does Rosenberg really mean when he calls for balance? None of the Israel-related events that the Rabbi’s organization has endorsed or promoted reveal any attempt to live up to the lofty standard he proposes. Benjamin J Doherty writes to the Chicago Maroon. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

18 February 2004


This week, Israeli forces killed 6 Palestinian civilians, including a child. One of the victims was killed in another extra-judicial execution in the West Bank. Israeli forces invaded various areas in the occupied Palestinian territories. Israeli forces razed more Palestinian agricultural land. Israel continued its construction of a wall in the occupied Palestinian territories, confiscating land, destroying livelihoods. Israeli forces demolished two homes. Israel continued indiscriminate shelling of Palestinian residential areas, in which a Palestinian civilian was killed. Israel continues to impose a total siege on Palestinian towns. 

Anti-Semitism at the World Social Forum?

Cecilie Surasky 19 February 2004


The Simon Wiesenthal Center has cited the WSF as one of the centers of what it and others refer to as the “new anti-Semitism”. Their description of the WSF is so disturbing, even frightening, that I am prepared to encounter at minimum silent hostility, and possibly even physical attacks from my fellow attendees. I have come to the WSF to be loudly and visibly Jewish, to make a presentation that deconstructs the theory that Jews dictate U.S. policy in the Middle East, and to see for myself this purported new tidal wave of hatred of Jews from the rest of the global left. Cecilie Surasky reports what she discovered. 

Amnesty: "The wall violates international law"

19 February 2004


On the eve of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) opening hearing on the construction of the wall by Israel, Amnesty International calls on the Israeli authorities to immediately dismantle the sections already built inside the West Bank and halt the construction of the fence/wall and related infrastructure inside the Occupied Territories. Israel objects to the ICJ hearing the case. “The construction by Israel of the fence/wall inside the Occupied Territories violates international law and is contributing to grave human rights violations. Therefore, it is appropriate that a court of law examines this matter,” said Amnesty International. 

Live video coverage of ICJ hearings on wall on the Internet

19 February 2004


The public hearings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), principal judicial organ of the United Nations, to be held from 23 to 25 February 2004 in the case concerning the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (request for advisory opinion), will be broadcast live and in full on the Court’s official website (www.icj-cij.org). 

Palestinian painter portrays raw emotions of Palestinians who long to go home

Courtney C. Radsch 18 February 2004


The figures in Zahi Khamis’ paintings have twisted necks, their almond-shaped eyes peering upside down, tragically staring out at a land they will never know. The visual experience of the exhibit Of Exile and Return replicates the emotional experience of pain, love, longing and fear that Palestinians feel as they struggle to define themselves. Khamis, a Palestinian who has lived in the US for 22 years, sees his paintings as a commentary not only on Palestinians exiled from their homeland, but on humanity as a whole, for whom home plays a central role in defining the self.