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Dutch "research" group covers for Israeli crimes, violations

Stan van Houcke 4 November 2007


Doron Livnat is co-owner of Riwal, a Dutch company involved in the illegal construction of the separation Wall in occupied Palestinian territory. Livnat is also a member of the board of the Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), a pro-Zionist political lobby group based in Amsterdam. CIDI does not seem to have a problem with the judgment of the International Court of Justice finding the route of the Wall illegal, nor Livnat’s company’s involvement in this illegal activity. Yet, CIDI still has the audacity to condemn United Civilians for Peace, a broad-based Dutch human rights platform. Stan van Houcke analyzes for EI. 

Patients dying at closed Erez checkpoint

31 October 2007


Barely two weeks since extensive media attention successfully compelled Israel to allow access to lifesaving care for patients through Erez Crossing, Israeli policies at the crossing lead to a repetition of a similar crisis: Sixteen patients in life-endangering condition stranded in Gaza without proper care due to “security prohibitions”; permit-bearing cancer patient detained a full day at Erez Crossing and ordered to return; two permit-bearing patients die within one week at Erez Crossing; Erez Crossing closed again since 28 October 2007. 

Killing of Palestinian prisoner condemned

1 November 2007


The United Against Torture Coalition (UAT), comprised of Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights NGOs that cooperate in the struggle to combat torture and abuse in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, is gravely concerned by the actions of the Israel Prison Service (IPS) in Ketziot Prison in the Negev that left one Palestinian prisoner dead and dozens more injured. 

Film review: "Jerusalem ... The east side story"

Sam Bahour 9 December 2007


Jerusalem … The east side story squeezes nearly one hundred years of history into an hour or so of cinema. It mainly exposes the past forty years of Israeli military occupation policies in Jerusalem and their devastating impact on the city and its peoples. The producer of the film, Terry Boullata, says that the intention of the documentary is to bring the Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence to a Western audience which has shown by way of its acquiescence to the ongoing Israeli military occupation that it still needs to be educated. Sam Bahour reviews for EI. 

Israeli rocket fire kills four Gaza policemen

31 October 2007


In the evening of 30 October 2007, Israeli warplanes fired rockets at a police station in the southern Gaza Strip and killed four policemen in the police force of the dismissed government in Gaza. Israeli military sources commented on this crime by saying that “the air strike that [has been] relatively rare recently is an indication that Israel will not continue to exhibit restraint towards the firing of mortars at Israeli population centers.” 

Charges dropped in 20-year-old US case against Palestinian activists

31 October 2007


The 20-year effort to deport two men over their alleged political support of Palestinian self-determination officially came to an end today when the nation’s highest administrative body overseeing immigration cases dismissed all charges against Khader Hamide and Michel Shehadeh, members of a group of Palestinian student activists arrested in January 1987, who became known as the LA 8. The action by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) closes one of the nation’s longest-running and most controversial deportation cases, one that tested whether immigrants have the same First Amendment rights as citizens. 

Rights org: Cutting Gaza electricity and fuel is collective punishment

30 October 2007


New York, 29 October - Israel’s decision to limit fuel and electricity to the Gaza Strip in retaliation for unlawful rocket attacks by armed groups amounts to collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza, in violation of international law, and will worsen the humanitarian crisis there, Human Rights Watch said today. “Israel may respond to rocket attacks by armed groups to protect its population, but only in lawful ways,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division. 

Open letter to PM Siniora

Tamara Keblaoui Beirut 29 October 2007


Dear Mr. Siniora: I write to you as a Lebanese citizen with pressing concerns. Today, on the 27th of October 2007, I, along with a group of ten American University of Beirut students, made the journey north to Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. We went there with the purpose of carrying out a clean-up campaign for the homes of returning refugees. What we found in the homes made our heads spin. Tamara Keblaoui writes to her Prime Minister about what she saw at Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. 

Don't emulate Israel at Guantanamo

Lisa Hajjar 29 October 2007


Should the United States, seeking to recalibrate the balance between security and liberty in the “war on terror,” emulate Israel in its treatment of Palestinian detainees? That is the position that Guantanamo detainee lawyers Avi Stadler and John Chandler of Atlanta, and some others, have advocated. That people in US custody could be held incommunicado for years without charges, and could be prosecuted or indefinitely detained on the basis of confessions extracted with torture is worse than a national disgrace. Lisa Hajjar argues that is an assault on the foundations of the rule of law.