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Palestinian local elections: marked improvement, challenges remain

16 December 2005


“We have seen an impressive improvement in the organisation of the voting process during the fourth phase of local elections in the Palestinian Territories, compared to previous phases’, said Christopher Newbury, Head of the Council of Europe Congress Election Observation Mission, following the elections. “We are pleased that the Palestinian authorities have acted upon our recommendations”, he said, pointing out that two voter lists - based on the voter registration list and on the civil register - were replaced by only one electoral list, and that the question of overcrowding of polling stations has been efficiently addressed by breaking up large polling centres into smaller units. 

Racism in Israel

Savitri Groag 18 December 2005


In 2003, Susan Nathan moved from her comfortable home in Tel Aviv to Tamra, an Palestinian town in the northern part of Israel. Nathan had arrived in Israel four years earlier and had taught English and worked with various progressive social organizations. Her desire to help build a just and humane society in Israel took an unexpected turn, however, when she became aware of Israel’s neglected and often oppressed indigenous Palestinian population. Despite warnings from friends about the dangers she would encounter, Nathan settled in an apartment in Tamra. There she discovered a division between Israeli Jews and Palestinians as tangible as the concrete wall that surrounds the Palestinian towns of the West Bank and Gaza. 

Solana exposes European bias towards Israel once again

Arjan El Fassed 18 December 2005


The European Union threatened today to curb aid to the Palestinian Authority if Hamas wins next month’s Palestinian Legislative Council elections. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, following his recent shelving of a report critical of Israeli policies in Jerusalem, said during a visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories that if Hamas won the elections, it would be “very difficult that the help and the money that goes to… the Palestinian Authority will continue to flow”. Relations between Israel and the EU have warmed recently, with Israel agreeing to allow EU representatives to monitor the crucial Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. 

Lawsuit filed against Israeli General in U.S. Court for war crimes

15 December 2005


On December 15, 2005, in New York, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) served process papers on Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Ya’alon, former Head of the Intelligence Branch and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), for war crimes and other human rights violations. The class action lawsuit is in connection with the hundreds of civilian deaths and injuries in the 1996 shelling of a United Nations compound in Qana, in the south of Lebanon. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and process was served on the defendant this afternoon in Washington DC. The charges include war crimes, extrajudicial killing, crimes against humanity, and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 

UN Latin American, Caribbean Meeting on Question of Palestine opens in Caracas

13 December 2005


Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the opening session of the UN Latin American and Caribbean Meeting on the Question of Palestine in Caracas this morning that Palestinians needed to know that the future viability of a Palestinian State would not be eroded by settlement activity and barrier construction; Israelis needed to be assured that their security would not be compromised by failure to act decisively against terror. Vice-Minister for External Relations of Venezuela Alcides Rondón said that today, there was a change in the international context, in which the least favoured countries and countries without a voice were beginning to exercise their inalienable rights. 

Israelis and Palestinians should accelerate peace efforts, Annan says

13 December 2005


With Palestinians and Israelis gearing up for their respective elections, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is urging both parties to accelerate existing efforts to build peace and mutual trust. “Their elections will have important repercussions on the peace process,” Mr. Annan said in a message to the United Nations Latin American and Caribbean Meeting on the Question of Palestine, being held in Caracas, Venezuela. But he added that the parties must act on their obligations under the Road Map, an outline peace plan which aims to achieve two States – Israel and Palestine – living side by side within secure and internationally recognized borders. 

Speakers at Caracas meeting explore situation in Occupied Palestinian Territory

13 December 2005


Coordinator, Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, Jerusalem, Jeff Halper, told participants this afternoon at the United Nations Latin American and Caribbean Meeting on the Question of Palestine, that given the facts on the ground, a two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was no longer viable. Israel’s unilateral moves created an illusion of a Palestinian State that would leave Israel in control. This afternoon’s session, part of a two-day meeting sponsored by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, heard presentations by experts on the question of Palestine. 

Paradise Now nominated for Golden Globes

Arjan El Fassed 14 December 2005


Yesterday at the Beverly Hilton, the motion picture ‘Paradise Now’ was nominated in the best foreign language film category for the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards. The 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards will take place Monday, January 16, 2006, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel with a live telecast airing on NBC. Last week, Philip Berk, President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced that sixty foreign language films have been qualified for the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards. Earlier this week, it was announced that the film is a finalist for the Broadcast Film Critics Association award and has won the National Board of Review award. 

Olive harvest once again marred by settler violence

7 December 2005


During this year’s olive harvest, B’Tselem has once again documented attacks by settlers against Palestinian farmers and their property. In light of past experience, the Israeli security forces should have taken action in advance to protect the Palestinian harvesters. Instead, in many cases, IDF and police personnel have stood by and left the farmers to the mercy of their attackers, who sometimes even received assistance from security personnel. For example, on 9 November 2005, several female settlers arrived at an olive grove in the area of Ramallah and attempted to steal two bags of olives that had been harvested the same day. 

Letter: EU's Solana pushes cover-up of Jerusalem report

Ali Abunimah 13 December 2005


EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana successfully lobbied EU foreign ministers to suppress a report documenting the devastating effects of Israel’s separation wall and colonies in Occupied East Jerusalem. Solana argued that publishing the report would hurt Israeli sensitivities and would cause the EU to lose influence. Electronic Intifada co-founder, in a letter to Solana, argues that EU indulgence of Israel is like the action of “a person who provides an alcoholic with money for booze and a car to drive while drunk while saying that to do otherwise would offend the sensitivities of someone who is a great danger to himself and others.”