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Palestinian Authority must restore rule of law and respect human rights

16 June 2005


The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights is gravely concerned at the continued deterioration in internal security as a consequence of the escalation in the misuse of weapons and security chaos. Seven Palestinians, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed in less than one week of internal fighting in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. PCHR reiterates its calls for the Palestinian National Authority to restore law and order and respect human rights. The latest of these incidents took place on Tuesday, 14 June 2005, when four persons, including a father and his two sons, were killed in an exchange of fire during a family dispute. 

History's Greatest Reoccuring Hoax: Colonization "For Security Reasons"

Rima Merriman 16 June 2005


In Gaza and north of the West Bank, the Israelis are taking down what should never have been put up in the first place (their illegal settlements), all the while muttering, “they haven’t made us do it; we are doing it on our own”. On the West Bank, the Israelis are busy constructing what must in future be taken down and the US taxpayer is footing the bill! Day by day, what will have to be dismantled grows, concrete slab by concrete slab, what has to be “withdrawn” proliferates, and there is no one to stop it or even to protest against it. 

NYC Activists Take Message Against Caterpillar to �Business and Sustainability� Conference

15 June 2005


NYC activists on behalf of Palestinian rights brought their message to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel this morning, where an executive from Caterpillar was scheduled to appear on a panel social responsibility and sustainability. The spirited rally excited police attention but no arrests. Later, while the CAT exec’s talk was underway, an activist was arrested attempting to make a presentation to the same audience on CAT’s role in Israel’s ongoing campaign to destroy Palestinian homes, while another activist leafleted the conference attendees. 

Israelis will use U.S. Tax Dollars on Illegal Border

15 June 2005


A document recently published by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs entitled “Israeli Assistance Steps and Humanitarian Measures Towards the Palestinians,” reveals that the $50 million their congressional agents in Washington scrounged from the $200 million Palestinian aid package will go for the construction of high-tech processing terminals that will be located on the “separation lines” between Israel and Palestine. In other words, the money will be spent along the path of the Separation Wall that the Israelis have unilaterally constructed in the last two years and that lie within Palestinian territory. 

The Case for Israel, a Critical Review

Feroze Sidhwa 15 June 2005


The Case for Israel lacks objectivity, to say the least. Dershowitz treats evidence in much the same way Joan Peters does in From Time Immemorial, and the results are similar. Like Peters, Dershowitz selects facts to suit his theses. He employs distortion and fabrication while contending elsewhere that he knows the evidence he presents is distorted and falsified. He misconstrues sources in a tendentious manner. He draws hard conclusions from tenuous evidence. He adduces evidence that in no way supports his claims, even omitting “inconvenient” portions of quotations without inserting ellipses. He quotes sources completely out of context. 

A better strategy for the Palestinian Authority

Hasan Abu Nimah 15 June 2005


In Palestinian-Israeli politics, Israel remembers that there are certain mutual understandings used to manage the troubled relationship only when Palestinians take actions that anger the Israelis. Only in such circumstances does Israel complain of threats to the roadmap, the Sharm El Sheikh understandings, or even the entire peace process. When the Palestinians do whatever they are asked, however, such understandings and frameworks suddenly cease to exist. EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah looks at current Palestinian Authority strategy and considers alternatives. 

Conference Critiques Negotiation Tactics of Palestinians and Israelis

Evan Hays 13 June 2005


On June 7, 2005, the United States Institute for Peace held a conference entitled “How Israelis and Palestinians Negotiate: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Oslo Peace Process” that attempted to enunciate to the public a more in-depth understanding of the failure of the negotiations that took place at Camp David in the year 2000 and, more broadly, the Oslo peace process. Rather than simply reflecting on the issues that proved to be sticking points in the negotiations, the speakers attempted to evaluate the flaws that typified the negotiation styles of both Palestinians and Israelis, differences that dramatically flared up when they came together in at Camp David. 

Activists to protest Caterpillar in NYC on June 14th

13 June 2005


In recent weeks the Israeli government has announced plans to demolish 88 more Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem using Caterpillar bulldozers, as Israel continues to bulldoze Palestinian homes throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Simultaneously, Caterpillar executives will lead a June 14 workshop on Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility at a conference for international business leaders at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Given CAT’s continued provision of equipment for Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes and property, CAT executives are the last people who should give advice to others on such issues. 

The myth of incitement in Palestinian textbooks

13 June 2005


There has been a flood of accusations for several years over the content of Palestinian textbooks — that the textbooks incite children to hatred and violence towards Israeli Jews, and fail to promote the values of peace, tolerance and coexistence. This claim has been widely accepted as a fact mostly in the United States and Israeli official circles. Such claims are based on reports by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace (CMIP), a Jewish organization with links to extremist and racist Israeli groups that advocate settlement activities in the Palestinian territories, expulsion (transfer) of Palestinians from their homeland. 

Kofi Annan urges media to refrain from myths, hate propaganda in message to international media seminar

13 June 2005


Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Shashi Tharoor, delivered a message from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East, “Reinvigorating the Peace Process: The Role of International and Regional Actors in Facilitating a Comprehensive, Just and Lasting Peace in the Middle East in Cairo. “The people of the Middle East are now approaching a number of important turning points,” he said. With help from their regional and international partners, they can prevent a slide back into conflict and confrontation. And with help from responsible media — media that refrain from myths, stereotypes and hate propaganda –- they can avoid inflaming an already volatile climate.”