Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages of the Palestinian Bedouin6 February 2003
“The State of Israel today perpetrated an act of enmity against a mosque considered holy by Muslims. This act runs contrary to all international treaties which uphold the right to freedom of religion. The demolition inflamed the feelings of our people because it is the first time that the State has demolished a mosque in the Negev.” The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages of the Palestinian Bedouin in the Negev condemns the demolition of a mosque in the unrecognized village of Tel Al-Mileh, and warns it is just the beginning of Ariel Sharon’s plan to Judaize the Negev. Read more about Mosque destroyed in Israel as Ariel Sharon's Judaization project for the Negev begins
“Without justice there will be no peace in the region, and as long as people like Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein — both believed to be responsible for crimes against humanity — remain in power, the region’s problems will not be solved.” These are arguments put forth by leading international legal expert Chibli Mallat, who is also behind two initiatives aimed at bringing justice to the region. Maha Al-Azar reports in Beirut’s Daily Star. Read more about Lawyer for massacre victims calls for implementing justice throughout Middle East
Palestinian Center for Human Rights30 January 2003
This week, Israeli forces killed 25 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 3 children and a woman. Thirteen were killed during an Israeli incursion into al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza. This week, Israeli forces conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas, accompanied by indiscriminate shelling. Large areas of Palestinian agricultural land in the Gaza Strip were razed. The strict siege has continued and hundreds of Palestinian pilgrims were prevented from traveling to Saudi Arabia. Read more about Weekly report on human rights violations
‘Abla Sa’adat who was on her way to the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, was arrested and placed under four months administrative detention. Two other Palestinian women, who are held at Beit El military detention center were also placed under administrative detention. Read more about Addameer's WSF representative given four months of administrative detention
“The controversy started in 2001, when the survivors of the 1982 massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut by pro-Israeli Christian Lebanese militia filed a criminal complaint in Belgium against Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who was minister of defense in the early 1980’s. Soon, the law that had won widespread praise was being attacked by lawyers, business leaders and foreign governments — in particular, the United States and Israel.” Daphne Eviatar, writing in The New York Times, gives a full and fair overview of recent developments in Belgium’s Universal Jurisdiction law and the ongoing battle against impunity for war crimes. Read more about Debating Universal Jurisdiction in Belgium
Palestinian Center for Human Rights25 January 2003
This week, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including one child. Israeli forces conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas, accompanied by indiscriminate shelling. This week, Israeli forces razed large areas of Palestinian agricultural land in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s campaign of collective punishment continued. The strict siege of the OPT has continued and a number of Palestinians were arrested at Israeli military checkpoints. Read more about Weekly report on human rights violations
Addameer is concerned for the well being of Mrs. Abla Sa’adat, who is currently being detained by the Israeli authorities in an isolation cell at the Beit El military detention center, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah. Sa’adat was detained at the Allenby Bridge border crossing to Jordan on her way to the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Read more about Addameer's representative to WSF arrested
United Nations Environment Programme23 January 2003
Already stretched thin by the demands of a dense population coping with decades of conflict, natural resources in the Palestinian Occupied Territories are under constant pressure from water pollution, climate change, desertification and land degradation, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) says in a new study. Read more about Natural resources in occupied Palestinian territories under constant pressures
Israeli soldiers demolished 62 shops at a market yesterday, destroying the livelihood of hundreds of Palestinians. In the early morning, about 300 troops streamed into the market, just outside the village of Nazlat Issa. They brought seven bulldozers. Villagers poured out to protest as the bulldozers tore down the village market, the main source of income for Nazlat Issa’s 2,500 residents. Justin Huggler reports in the Independent.Read more about Israeli troops devastate West Bank village market
