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UN peacekeeping force tops 11,000

15 December 2006


The enhanced United Nations peacekeeping force sent to Lebanon this summer to monitor the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hizbollah now totals surpasses 11,000 troops from 23 countries, less than 4,000 below its mandated maximum strength. The current total of 11,018 consists of 9,124 ground troops and 1,747 naval personnel entrusted with stopping arms smuggling off the coast, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported today. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended 34 days of fighting in August, strengthened UNIFIL to a maximum of 15,000 troops and mandated a complete Israeli withdrawal, together with Lebanese army deployment in southern Lebanon. 

Palestinian refugees fear for their lives after recent attack

16 December 2006


Palestinian refugees living in Iraq say there is increasing fear in their community after a recent attack on a predominantly Palestinian Baghdad neighbourhood left nine people dead and several injured, including children. “We are getting worried about our situation in Iraq. We cannot leave the country because the borders are closed to us and the government doesn’t give us any hope that it can increase our security,” said Ahmed Muffitlak, spokesman for the Baghdad-based Palestinian Muslims Association (PMA). On 13 December, local militia attacked the al-Baladiya district of the capital, where hundreds of Palestinians have lived for years. 

Who has failed?

Rami Almeghari Gaza, Palestine 17 December 2006


Just prior to 1948, the Palestinians realized that they were about to get rid of the British colonial hegemony that began in 1917, yet they woke up on the day the Britons left to another occupation, called Israel. Since that year, Palestinians began all over again to fight for their sovereignty over their ancestral lands; however, despite recent peace agreements with their occupiers, they have not so far attained that sovereignty. The international community, which clearly concedes the Palestinians’ legitimate right to fight the occupation on the path to freedom and statehood, has so far not been able to involve itself actively to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. 

Palestinian Human Rights Groups Call for National Dialogue

17 December 2006


The undersigned Palestinian human rights NGOs express their grave concern over the deterioration in the internal security situation, which has mounted to the peak in the past few days due to the political tension between Hamas and Fatah movements resulted from the failure of the two movements to agree on the formation of a national unity government. Tension between the two movements has escalated since Thursday, 14 December 2006, in light of mutual accusations for responsibility for the failure to reach an agreement on the formation of a national unity government. 

When Human Rights Watch Equates Aggressor with the Aggrieved

2 December 2006


We are writing to you to express our reservations on the HRW news item of 22 November 2006 entitled: “OPT: Civilians Must Not Be Used to Shield Homes Against Military Attacks,” discussing HRW’s position on Palestinian civilians acting against the destruction of civilian homes by Israeli forces in Gaza. The HRW news item is self-contradictory and full of inconsistencies. While pointing that Israeli army destruction of civilian homes is illegal in the absence of concrete evidence indicating that these homes are legitimate military targets, HRW claims that unarmed civilian protest and action against these illegal Israeli activities is a “war crime!” 

PCATI comments on judicial approval of assassination policy

14 December 2006


The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) that filed the petition against the assassinations policy of the State of Israel in January, 2002, regrets that that the ruling of the panel of High Court of Justice justices headed by former Chief Justice, Aharon Barak, did not outline a clear set of criteria that permit or forbid “targeted assassinations”, or extrajudicial executions, in a way that would prevent the killing of innocent civilians. According to PCATI’s data, since the beginning of the second Intifada, and following the first targeted assassination on 9 November 2000, approximately 500 Palestinians were killed during targeted assassinations, including 168 innocent civilians. 

PCATI welcomes investigation into killing of Iman al-Hams

14 December 2006


The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) welcomes today’s ruling by the High Court of Justice which accepted the petition of the parents of Iman El Hams and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and ordered the judge Advocate General and the Military Attorney’s Office to open an investigation to determine whether illegal open fire orders were given in the area of the “Girit” military post which lead to the killing of Iman Al Hams on 5 October 2004. In addition, the Court ordered the respondents to pay the petitioners the sum of 15,000 NS for their court expenses. Iman El Hams, 13 years old, was killed by IDF fire while on her way to school. 

Israeli Supreme Court states that military-only mortgage benefits don't discriminate

13 December 2006


Today, the Supreme Court approved the use of the military criterion, which severely discriminates against Arab citizens. This ruling contradicts previous decisions of the Supreme Court which specify that the disparate impact test is the test which should be employed to determine the existence or otherwise of discrimination. Therefore, Adalah will request a second hearing before an extended panel of justices with regard to this ruling. On 13 December 2006, the Supreme Court of Israel rejected a petition filed by Adalah on 29 December 2005 against the Ministry of Construction and Housing. 

Fundamental attribution error

Rima Merriman 16 December 2006


In analyzing Palestinian behavior, analysts often slip into what sociologists call “a person-centered” analysis, which attributes most behavior change to personal pathologies or virtues. But to understand why Palestinians behave as they do, what is necessary is a situation-centered approach, one that focuses on external factors. This is because the Palestinian situation is as close to a controlled social experiment as anyone is likely to find in the wild. When US social scientists conducted the by-now classic prison experiment to test the power of the social situation to determine behavior, values and attitudes, they were surprised by the results. 

The 'Atarot Arab Orphan School under Threat

14 December 2006


As a non-governmental organisation committed to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Al-Haq would like to bring to your attention the current situation of the Arab Orphan School, a privately run charitable school in East Jerusalem with a long history of providing free vocational education for Palestinian children. As detailed in the attached study, the Arab Orphan School is now facing acute threats to its continuing existence. Located in ‘Atarot, which Israel illegally incorporated within its municipal boundary of Jerusalem, the school has been isolated from its students and staff, the majority of whom live in surrounding villages.