Human Rights

UN called on to investigate repression of human rights defenders

12 February 2010



A joint report submitted by Addameer, The Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall) and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) to Special Rapporteurs of the UN Human Rights Council examines the ongoing, systematic campaign of repression levied by Israel against Palestinian human rights defenders active against the Annexation Wall. 

Rights orgs: Israel's Gaza investigation falls short of justice

12 February 2010



Information and material available to date suggest that the parties responsible for investigating the violations committed during the Gaza conflict have not met the standards prescribed by international instruments. The investigations carried out by the Israeli military authorities fall short of complying with international standards of proper investigations into alleged violations of international law. 

Gaza's energy crisis continues

Mel Frykberg 9 February 2010



RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Pressure exerted on the Palestinian Authority by international and regional officials has given Gazans a last minute reprieve, albeit temporary, from plunging into darkness and plummeting temperatures. “The emergency has been temporarily halted after the PA released urgent funds to finance two fuel tankers entering Gaza on Sunday,” says Osama Dabou from Gaza’s Power Plant authority. 

Jerusalem mayor to raze 200 Palestinian homes

Jonathan Cook 8 February 2010



Jerusalem’s mayor threatened last week to demolish 200 homes in Palestinian neighborhoods of the city in an act even he conceded would probably bring long-simmering tensions over housing in East Jerusalem to a boil. His uncompromising stance is the latest stage in a protracted legal battle over a single building towering above the jumble of modest homes of Silwan. Jonathan Cook reports from Jerusalem. 

Justice denied in Gaza

Mel Frykberg 8 February 2010



RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Gazans hoping for a modicum of justice following Israel’s indiscriminate military assault on the coastal territory during December 2008 and January 2009 — which left 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, dead — could be waiting in vain. The Israeli government has taken the offensive in the propaganda battle and attacked United Nations-appointed Justice Richard Goldstone’s report into war crimes committed during the war. 

Israel slaps six-month travel ban on Palestinian map expert

Marian Houk 5 February 2010



Citing “security reasons” — the ubiquitous and unanswerable catch-all phrase against which it is almost impossible to mount any defense — Israel’s Ministry of the Interior has just issued a six-month travel ban on map expert Khalil Tafakji. Tafakji, like almost all other Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, is a “permanent resident,” but not a citizen of Israel. Marian Houk reports. 

Report: Israel stole $2 billion from Palestinian workers

Jonathan Cook 4 February 2010



Over the past four decades Israel has defrauded Palestinians working inside Israel of more than $2 billion by deducting from their salaries contributions for welfare benefits to which they were never entitled, Israeli economists have revealed. A new report, “State Robbery,” to be published later this month, says the “theft” continued even after the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994. Jonathan Cook reports. 

Raze illegal buildings -- unless they are Jewish

Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler 3 February 2010



SILWAN, occupied East Jerusalem (IPS) - Backed by armed security men, the municipal inspectors race their jeeps through the narrow alleyways and up a hillside crowded with buildings. One block of flats stands out for its unusual seven-story height in an area of the city where two or three storied buildings are the norm. And then there is the giant, blue-and-white Israeli national flag draped demonstratively over the front of the building, from the roof down to the ground. 

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