All Content

Israel bars UN refugee agency head from leaving Gaza

1 September 2004


The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has today protested to the Israeli Government at the ongoing closure of the Erez Crossing into the Gaza Strip. The closure, which began on Tuesday 31 August, seriously damages UNRWA’s ability to carry out its humanitarian mandate in the occupied Palestinian territory. In an unprecedented and serious development, the Israeli authorities have barred Peter Hansen, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General and an Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, from leaving Gaza to carry out his duties in the West Bank. It is unheard of for the executive head of a UN agency to have his freedom of movement flagrantly curtailed by a member state of the UN in this way. 

Striking prisoners boycott prison clinic

30 August 2004


Mandela’s lawyer Buthaina Duqmaq affirmed Israeli prison authorities effected a series of transfers between Galbou’ and Shatta prisons. Duqmaq was made to wait for two and a half hours at the prison gate until she could meet with Yasser Abu-Bakr for five minutes. The administration claimed they were in the middle of moving inmates between the two prisons. Abu-Bakr affirmed the administration transferred 50 infirm prisoners from Galbou’ to Shatta and 90 inmates, on hunger strike, from Shatta to Galbou’. He explained the administration carried out several transfers within the same prison to create a sense of instability among the prisoners. 

Supreme Court petitioned on Separation Barrier near Qalqilya

31 August 2004


The Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned the Supreme Court: The route of the barrier in this area entraps more than a thousand residents in an isolated enclave, has a disastrous impact on the residents’ lives, and is liable to empty the area of Palestinian residents. ACRI urged the Supreme Court to dismantle the section of the barrier that was constructed in the Alfei Menashe enclave to the south and east of Qalqilya, and completely surrounds the residents of five villages cutting them off from the rest of the West Bank. 

Israel killed 436 Palestinians in past 'quiet' six months

Arjan El Fassed 31 August 2004


Anyone following mainstream media today couldn’t miss the news today. CNN reported that two suicide bombers set off almost simultaneous blasts on buses in Beer Sheva, killing 16 people in addition to themselves. At least 93 people were wounded. Usually, such attacks are followed with a wide range of condemnations. While mainstream media tend to portray suicide bombings as a return to violence after a “relatively quiet” period, at least 436 Palestinians have been killed since March 14. This month alone, Israeli forces killed 43 Palestinians and injured 285. This underscores the lack of evenhanded attention given to loss of life in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

New York Plays the Arab Card

Zachary Wales 31 August 2004


The “terrorist” charges against Shahawar Matin Siraj and James El Shafay of New York are nothing short of illegal entrapment. Regardless of what happens from this point on, their futures are ruined. Ironic that Siraj, a 21-year-old Pakistani immigrant who works longer hours than President Bush, in addition to attending night school, came to America for freedom and opportunity. His crime, as spelled out clearly in the complaint filed against him last weekend, was his “hatred of America.” In the coming days, the tabloid press will demonize Siraj and El Shafay, , while the moderate New York Times will dance around the digestible semantics of “Other” and the “anti-Americanist” template of Other’s mindset. 

Human Rights groups: "Prisoner Rights are Human Rights"

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Prisoner Association, Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA), Adalah, B'Tselem, Mossawa Center, HaMoked and Public Committee Against Torture in Israel 27 August 2004


Nine human rights organizations placed an advertisement in the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz, stating that the rights of thousands of incarcerated Palestinians are being violated and that the Israel Prison Service must respect the basic and universal principals of prisoners’ human rights. Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent diginity of the human person.The groups include ACRI, The Prisoner Association, The Arab Association for Human Rights, Adalah, B’Tselem, Mossawa, Ha’moked, and the Public Committee Against Torture. 

ACRI and Adalah petition High Court on hunger strike prisoners

30 August 2004


The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Adalah submitted a petition to the Supreme Court yesterday on behalf of seven attorneys and additional human rights organizations against the Israel Prison Service. The petition demands that the court order the IPS to allow prisoners who are classified as security prisoners or detainees, and are currently on hunger strike, to meet with their attorneys. The first hearing of the petition, which was submitted by Adalah Attorney Orna Kohn and ACRI Attorney Sonia Boulos, is on Wednesday at 11.30 am. At the beginning of August the prisoners and detainees declared their intention to begin a hunger strike in protest of the poor and deteriorating prison conditions. 

British journalist banned from speaking with the media

Ewa Jasiewicz 29 August 2004


The Israeli Ministry of the Interior has decided that I may not speak to the media. This attempt to silence me is not new; deportation and imprisonment for political reasons are the highest form of censorship. In this particular case the attempt to cut off my voice is part of a long term Israeli state attack on three vital narratives. The first is composed of international activists who act against the occupation. The second is that of the peace movement and refusniks, who take direct action against the occupation by refusing to serve in it and the third is that of the Palestinian people and the daily terror that they face. 

Pentagon/Israel Spying Case Expands: Fomenting a War on Iran

Juan Cole 29 August 2004


Here is my take on the Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal in the Pentagon. It is an echo of the one-two punch secretly planned by the pro-Likud faction in the Department of Defense. First, Iraq would be taken out by the United States, and then Iran. David Wurmser, a key member of the group, also wanted Syria included. These pro-Likud intellectuals concluded that 9/11 would give them carte blanche to use the Pentagon as Israel’s Gurkha regiment, fighting elective wars on behalf of Tel Aviv (not wars that really needed to be fought, but wars that the Likud coalition thought it would be nice to see fought so as to increase Israel’s ability to annex land and act aggressively, especially if someone else’s boys did the dying). Juan Cole comments. 

Palestinian prisoners press on with hunger strike

27 August 2004


For the 13th day of the hunger strike, the Israeli government continues to refuse to engage in negotiations with the prisoners or their representatives.  Instead, Israeli officials have responded with various forms of punishment designed to break the will of the prisoners to maintain the strike.  Prison officials have ordered Jewish prisoners in the Nafha prison to prepare barbeques for the strikers in hopes that the smells would force the men and women to cave in. The Israeli Prison Service has so far refused to transfer any sick prisoner to hospitals outside the prisons. Israeli hospitals are prevented from allowing striker prisoners in.