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UK to impose duties on Israeli goods from Israeli settlements

Arjan El Fassed 3 April 2003

The UK treasury will introduce in line with EU policy customs duties on Israeli goods produced in settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Treasury reaffirmed that the Occupied Palestinian territories are not part of the State of Israel, that Israel routinely and repeatedly fails to answer the direct question regarding the origin of goods, and that Customs & Excise have begun issuing duty demands to UK importers where goods are suspected to be have originated in the settlements. 

Israeli military forcefully occupies UNRWA school

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 3 April 2003

In the early morning on 2 April, Israeli military forces broke into and occupied a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)’s girls’ school in Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank, and proceeded to use the school as a detention centre for male residents of the camp between the ages of 15 and 40. 

The Minister of Defense and the IDF Commander of Judea and Samaria are obligated to allow an attorney to visit a physically disabled detainee who is confined to a wheelchair

Public Committee Against Torture in Israel 19 March 2003

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), in a petition filed to the High Court of Justice today, March 20, 2003, demanded that the Minister of Defense and the IDF Commander of Judea and Samaria allow an attorney to visit a physically disabled detainee, confined to a wheelchair, who is being held at the Howara Camp. 

Schlock and Awe

Michael Tortorello 3 April 2003


“This ‘Schlock and Awe’ tv glossary aspires to cut through what nearly every news anchor has ponderously been calling ‘the fog of war’ — as if they were quoting an obscure passage from Thucydides — and replace it with the fog of punditry. On the subject of obscure passages from Thucydides, how about this adage from The History of the Peloponnesian War: ‘Zeal is always at its height at the commencement of an undertaking.’ (Recall what Donald Rumsfeld declared last week, We’re still, needless to say, much closer to the beginning than the end.) Less than two weeks into the campaign, our zeal for war seems to have dissipated — and no one is looking forward to the undertaking.” This feature by Michael Tortorello appeared in Minnesota’s City Pages, which BNN’s editors could not let pass without sharing with our readers. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 3 April 2003

This week Israeli occupying forces killed 10 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including two children. Two of the victims bled to death. Israeli forces conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas, accompanied by indiscriminate shelling. The Israeli retaliatory campaign continues against families of wanted Palestinians and those who allegedly have carried out armed attacks against Israeli targets. Over 1200 Palestinians have been detained. The tight siege of the Occupied Palestinian Territories continued to be imposed.