The United States submitted a written statement to the International Court expressing its continuing view that the referral is inappropriate and may impede efforts to achieve progress towards a negotiated settlement between Israelis and Palestinians. The statement emphasized the Quartet-led roadmap as the agreed upon method for moving forward and it urged the Court to give due regard to the principle that its advisory opinion jurisdiction is not intended as a means of circumventing the right of states to determine whether to submit their disputes to judicial settlement. Read more about US rejects ICJ jurisdiction on separation barrier
In December of last year the United Nations General Assembly decided to request an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on one of the most controversial issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent years, Israel’s construction of a “security wall” in the Occupied Territories. The ICJ, often called the World Court, is based at the Peace Palace in The Hague and was established under the Charter of the United Nations, adopted in San Francisco in 1945. A judgement or an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice carries considerable weight. Shane Darcy explains the process and implications. Read more about Legality of Israel's Wall to be tested before the International Court of Justice
Toine van TeeffelenBethlehem, Palestine2 February 2004
At the teacher workshop about diary writing the participants say that nowadays Palestinians here are less strict in observing customs like not holding, for a period of up to one year, a wedding party after somebody in the family has passed away. In the past it was unthinkable not to comply but the negative events are so frequent and overwhelming these days that it is simply too unpractical to let one’s social life be prescribed by them. As Mary says, one has to live. Toine van Teeffelen writes from occupied Bethlehem. Read more about The bittersweet lives of Palestine's children
SANFRANCISCO - It is a tragic irony that, more than 55 years ago, one desperate people seeking sanctuary from murderous racism decimated another - and continue to oppress its scattered survivors to this day. In 1948, about 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homeland, their land and possessions taken by the new Jewish state of Israel. This included the Jerusalem home of my grandparents, Hanna and Mathilde Bisharat, which was expropriated through a process tantamount to state-sanctioned theft. George Bisharat comments. Read more about Right of Return: Two-State solution again sells Palestinians short
“The struggle for justice in Palestine would be stronger if Tom were still with us. Yet I believe that his selfless actions and the ultimate price he paid for believing in humanity sparked a desire to know, struggle, and act. He will live on by helping to bring about a revolution in perception and action concerning Palestine. Tom made a choice. It is people like him, Rachel, and many others who personify a new generation unwilling to blindly accept the world as it is, but who instead take risks and work together to forge new protest movements.” Activist Miriyam Aouragh remembers ISM member Tom Hurndall and his impact on a new generation of human rights activists. Read more about An open letter to the family and friends of Tom Hurndall
“A successful military career in Israel is a stepping-stone to success in the political arena and it is not unreasonable to suppose that ex-soldiers carry army-inspired prejudices with them when they enter the Knesset. Therein, perhaps, lies a partial explanation for the construction of the apartheid wall. Maybe the idea wouldn’t have taken root had those involved not been conditioned during their formative years in uniform, and maybe it also explains why the wider Israeli public fails to oppose the project in larger numbers.” Nick Pretzlik muses on the psychological roots of Israeli violations of Palestinian rights. Read more about The hour before dawn
Dr. Baruch Kimmerling is George S. Wise Professor of Sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Writing for the History News Network, he says: “Benny Morris has abandoned his historian’s mantle and donned the armor of a Jewish chauvinist who wants the Land of Israel completely cleansed from Arabs. And in order to be completely lucid on this point he drew an analogy between Israel and North America: ‘Even the great American democracy could not have been created without the annihilation of the Indians. There are cases in which the overall, final good justifies harsh and cruel acts that are committed in the course of history.’ I do not know today any American historian or social scientist who agrees that the annihilation of the indigenous population of the continent was a necessary condition for the constitution of American democracy.” Read more about Top Israeli historian analyzes Benny Morris's shocking interview
Mika Minio-PaluelloNablus, Palestine25 January 2004
The Israeli invasion and siege of Nablus city ended two weeks ago now (Wed Jan 7), with a return to the nightly machine gun fire from the mountains, daily mini-incursions, and deadly proddings by jeeps and the occasional tank. With the invasion competing with the horrific Iranian earthquake, aircrashes, Sharon’s speeches and the Christmas holiday, media coverage was minimal, in Israeli, international, Arab and even Palestinian media, adding to the Nablus perception of abandonment by the world. Mika Minio-Paluello writes from occupied Nablus. Read more about Violent invasions, extrajudicial killings, and suicide bombings
The youth who play football on the small streets and narrow alleys of Bourj El Barajneh represent an entire generation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon who live in a day-to-day low intensity war. This is a war waged against Palestinian refugees by the Lebanese government. It is not waged through military campaigns as in the Lebanese civil war, but through policies and laws which are slowly choking the life from Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps. Stefan Christoff reports from Beirout. Read more about Living War: Palestinians Refugees in Lebanon
Israeli occupation forces have issued land confiscation orders to 28 families in the town of Dair al-Balah. Located near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom in the Central Gaza strip, the total area subject to confiscation and eventual “fencing in” is approximately 1000 dunums – the equivalent of one square kilometre - according to the Central Area Governorate. The move comes despite declarations by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon earlier in the week that he might withdraw from some of the more controversial and costly settlements in remote areas of the Gaza Strip. Laila El-Haddad reports from the Gaza Strip. Read more about Israel orders land seizures in Gaza
