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Weekly report on human rights violations

3 March 2005


This week Israeli forces killed 3 Palestinian civilians, including two children. Israel has continued the construction of the Wall in the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces confiscated more Palestinian land for this purpose. Israel isolates Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. Israeli forces conducted a number of military operations in Palestinian areas. Israeli forces raided homes and arrested at least 40 Palestinian civilians. Israeli forces continued to shell residential areas, seriously wounding a child in Rafah. Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian civilians and property in the West Bank. In the meantime, Israel continues to impose a total siege on the occupied territories. 

CMU reschedules controversial speaker

Bill Schackner 9 February 2005


A speaker whose planned appearance in a campus lecture series drew complaints from Jewish students at Carnegie Mellon University is being rescheduled so speakers with balancing viewpoints can be added. Carnegie Mellon yesterday confirmed the change involving a planned Feb. 21 speech by Norman Finkelstein. The school says it is discussing with him an appearance later in the spring semester, but no date has been set. On Thursday, about 40 Jewish students picketed a lecture series appearance by EI’s Ali Abunimah. Some students later asked why no opposing speakers were booked. 

Protesting 'The Place of Children in the Space of Conflict' conference

Iyad Sarraj and Rita Giacaman 3 March 2005


The French Ministry of Health, the French State Secretariat for Victims and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs are co-sponsoring an international congress entitled ‘The Place of Children in the Space of Conflict’, to be held in Toulouse, France on the 21-23 of March 2005. The primary purpose of the conference is to draw attention to the suffering of Israeli children, to the exclusion of serious and needed attention to other children living in war and conflict, the context within which these children suffer, and the reason for their suffering. 

"Damming" West Bank farmers

Atef Saad 3 March 2005


Sixty-two-year-old Shafiqa Massoud is, for all intents and purposes, the head of the household. Hers is a typical peasant family that lives in the Qalqilya area directly up against the Green Line. Her husband, 66-year-old Amin Hindi is unemployed due to chronic illness and her four children are all married. In all, her extended family comprises 27 members. The rainy season should have been the best time of the year for farmers like Shafiqa’s family. But in Qalqilya, the season brought more hardship than joy this time around. Israel’s separation barrier, in this area an eight-meter high wall, formed a concrete dam, trapping the water and preventing it from flowing out west. 

Unilateral Give, Unilateral Take

Roni Ben Efrat 3 March 2005


In days of yore, when right-wing thugs shouted “Arik, King of Israel!” leftist leaders grimaced in disgust. On Sunday, February 20, however - after the cabinet approved “Arik’s” Disengagement Plan - Labor ministers beamed with smug satisfaction. They had all they could do to keep from shouting, “Arik, King of Israel!” Sharon has begun to accomplish for them what the Oslo Accords never dared to broach: dismantlement of settlements. On that festive Sunday, few wanted to be reminded that after approving disengagement - practically in the same breath - the government decided to build its notorious “separation barrier” on a line that will unilaterally annex, in effect, 7% of the West Bank. 

Between South Africa and Israel: UNESCO's Double-Standards

Omar Barghouti and Jacqueline Sfeir 3 March 2005


UNESCO’s recent support for establishing a joint Palestinian-Israeli scientific organization placies the organization at odds with the decision of the Palestinian Council for Higher Education which has repeatedly rejected “technical and scientific cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli universities.” This move also conflicts with the Palestinian call for boycotting Israeli academic institutions which was endorsed by tens of the most important unions, associations and organizations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, including the Federation of Unions of Palestinian Universities’ Professors and Employees. This open letter to UNESCO challenges the move. 

Secretary-General discusses shattered Palestinian economy

2 March 2005


United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has discussed with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the importance of freedom of movement in occupied Palestinian lands in improving the economy, an essential pillar in securing peace with Israel. In a speech to the session Mr. Annan cited economic development as “the third pillar of the progress we hope to see,” side by side with governance and security, noting that without real and discernible change such as more jobs and the removal of Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks, the Palestinian economy will continue to struggle, sowing prolonged, pervasive despair among the Palestinian populace. 

Ethnic Cleansing 101: The Case of Lifta Village

Jacob Pace 2 March 2005


On the morning of Friday, February 25, 2005 a group of approximately 300 Israelis, Palestinian refugees and international activists gathered near the highway leading out of Jerusalem towards Tel Aviv. In the valley below lay the ruins of the ancient Palestinian village of Lifta. The event was part tour, part protest, and part homecoming. It had different meanings for each of the groups involved. The organization responsible for planning the event, Zochrot (Hebrew for “Remembering”) takes Israelis on tours of depopulated and partially destroyed Palestinian villages. They bring Palestinian refugees to tell the stories of their village and plant signs in Arabic and Hebrew that explain what happened there. This event, however, was also a protest aimed at stopping the impending demolition of what remains of Lifta. 

Speaking to the Presbyterians About Selective Divestment

Liat Weingart 2 March 2005


On 8 February 2005, Jewish Voice for Peace Co-director Liat Weingart and Israeli human rights attorney Shamai Leibovitz spoke to an audience of members of the Presbyterian Church in Chicago. JVP was the first Jewish group to publicly support the Presbyterian Church’s decision to investigate selective divestment. “There is a silent majority of Jews in the US,” said Weingart, “who feel completely alienated from mainline Jewish groups because those groups are no longer in line with their central beliefs of justice and equality.” Read the transcript. 

Citing ‘promise and potential,’ Annan pledges support for Middle East peace moves

1 March 2005


Citing a moment of “promise and potential” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called for global support for an independent, democratic Palestinian state and pledged the world body’s readiness to help in the three main areas of governance, security and economic development. “The sense of expectation is palpable. There is a real feeling that, after long years of suffering, bitterness and despair, better days may lie ahead,” he told an international meeting in London in support of the Palestinian Authority. “At long last, we can all sense a new wave of movement. I urge everyone to engage, do the hard work and turn today’s opening into a real end to the conflict.”