The Palestinian Right to Jerusalem Is an International Law that Cannot Be Taken Away

Posted on December 7, 2017 by Admin

Position Paper: A Grant of Recognition from those who do not own to those who do not deserve

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), December 7, 2017

Baflour Declaration Recurs
In a dangerous precedent that violates the international law, on Wednesday, the US President, Donald Trump, declared that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and the American Embassy will be removed to it, signing an order of this. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the irresponsible statements by the US President and emphasizes that Jerusalem’s legal status as part of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) codified in the international law according to the resolutions adopted by the UN and International Court of Justice (ICJ) and recognition of an overwhelming majority of the world’s States. 154 States voted in favor of recognizing the state of Palestine on the territory occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem.

PCHR believes that the declaration represents granting recognition from those who do not own to those who do not deserve as if the history repeats itself to bring out a new “Balfour Declaration in the centennial of the old declaration but by an American tongue this time. PCHR stresses that the Palestinian right to Jerusalem is an international law that cannot be changed by political statements and measures, adding that the declaration convicts its issuer, making him a criminal at the international level and a big shame to the free world.

PCHR emphasizes that Trump’s declaration explicitly violates the international law, Security Council Resolutions, and Geneva Conventions, and constitutes two crimes. The first crime is a crime of aggression against the Palestinian State as the declaration supports and upholds the annexation of lands using force. The second crime is a war crime as the declaration is considered as a complicity in the Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.

In his comment, Lawyer Raji Sourani, PCHR’s Director, said that, “This decision is an explicit call for imposing the rule of jungle and de facto policy in addition to completely flouting the international law and UN’s role… This declaration also gives political legitimacy for the Israeli crimes and affects the history, present and future of the Palestinian people.”

This development came in light of the current US administration’s systematic policy of denying the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and attempting to close down the Palestinian cause. This policy started with supporting the settlement expansion, which was explicitly expressed by the American administration in many events, through being deliberately silent to condemn it or through frankly speaking that settlements belong to Israel and denying they are an occupied territory. In addition, the huge pressures practiced by the US on the UN Bodies, Intentional Criminal Court (ICC) and the Palestinian leadership to deprive the Palestinians of resorting to the International Justice. This was a position expressed by the US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, when she said that, “the days of Israel bashing at the UN are over.” And finally, the Us Administration’s aggression on the Palestinian territory came to end practically the Peace efforts and the two-state solution.

It should be mentioned that 13 States had embassies in Jerusalem until 1970s without recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. However, the US was not among those States as it only had a Consulate in Jerusalem that refers to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. Those 13 States then moved their embassies from Jerusalem to other cities in Israel, especially following the Security Council’s Resolutions No. 476 and 478, which both condemn Israel’s attempted annexation of Jerusalem.

It is noteworthy that the US Congress recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 1995, and the US President recommended in his decision at that time to issue an official declaration to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem. Since then, the US Presidents continued to delay the embassy move until today when the US President Trump dared to issue the declaration in violation of the international law and disregard for the international peace and life of many innocents that would be endangered due to provoking feelings of millions of Muslims and Christians around the world.

Explicit Violation of UN Resolutions

The Security Council issued 12 resolutions that emphasize Jerusalem is a territory occupied by the Israeli authorities. Eight of them stipulate that all measures and changes in the legal status of the city are not lawful and the Israeli forces shall be withdrawn from it. The four other resolutions call upon Israel to withdraw from the territories occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem. The first of them was the Security Council’s Resolution 242.

Of those resolutions directly relevant to Jerusalem is the Security Council’s Resolution 476 in 1980 that Calls upon Israel to withdraw from the occupied territory, including Jerusalem, emphasizing any change to the status and character of Jerusalem has no legal validity.

In the same year, Resolution 478 was adopted to condemn Israel’s Basic Law which declared Jerusalem to be Israel’s “complete and united” capital, constituting a violation of international law and not affecting the continued application of the Geneva Convention on the City as an occupied territory. The Resolution also condemned all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of Jerusalem are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith.

One of the latest and most prominent resolutions condemning settlements in the oPt, including Jerusalem, was Resolution 2334 in 2016, which states that Israeli settlement activity constitutes a “flagrant violation” of international law and has “no legal validity” in addition to undermining the peace process and two-state solution. The Resolution also calls upon all States to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967. It is noteworthy that this Resolution passed in a 14–0 vote by members of the UN Security Council with the US abstention. This Resolution is considered the fifth of its kind affirming and condemns Israel’s commission of the settlement activity crime.

In its Advisory Opinion on the Annexation wall in 2004, the ICJ affirms that the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including Jerusalem, are occupied territories according to the international law. On this basis, the ICJ’s Resolution came to affirm that the wall has no legal validity as it cuts off parts of the Palestinian territory.

The General Assembly also adopted many resolutions affirming that Israel has no right to Jerusalem as it is an occupying power. The first of these resolutions was Resolution 303 in 1949, which condemns Israel’s declaration of Jerusalem as its capital.

following the Israeli Six Day War in 1967 on the Arab countries and occupying part of them, including the Gaza Strip and West Bank, The General Assembly adopted Resolution 2253 which denounces the application of the Israeli Law in East Jerusalem. Following this, Resolution 1536 was adopted in 1981 to consider any change to the status of Jerusalem is illegal.

The UNESCO also adopted many resolutions relevant to the status of Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque. The latest was in 2016 affirming that al-Aqsa Mosque/ Al-Haram Al-Sharif is an Islamic heritage, including the Buraq Plaza (Western Wall), and Jewish people has no right to it. The Resolution also condemns all Israeli changes and encroachments in the archeological sites there, considering al-Aqsa Mosque as an integral part of the internationally protected human heritage.

Aggression and Complicity in War Crime:

The US Declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is a flagrant violation of the International humanitarian Law (IHL) and a clear complicity in a crime of aggression, which directly threatens the international peace and security. This declaration also provokes the religious feelings of millions of Muslims and Christians around the world, not only in Palestine, and that was clear from the international reaction.

The crime of aggression violates the UN Charter, which prohibits the annexation of others’ lands using force and considers it as one of the bases that allow the intervention of the Security Council under Chapter (7) of the Charter to restore international peace and security. This crime is also considered as one of these crimes that falls within the Jurisdiction of the ICC even if its term has not entered into force yet.

The settlement activity crime is considered as a war crime codified in Article (49) of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Article (8), paragraph (8) of the Rome Statute of the ICC.

According to this, the US is complicit with Israel in the settlement activity crime. Thus, the ICC has the right to prosecute the US officials responsible for this declaration, particularly President Trump. It should be noted that the settlements file is one of the files into which the ICC has been conducting preliminary investigations since June 2014.

Destruction of the Global System that Protects Humanity

The US decision undermines the international law and the UN and sets a dangerous precedent when a State like the US violates the Security Council’s resolutions and international law.

Thus, President Trump undermines the efforts that started after the end of the Second World War to replace resorting to force with resorting to law, and the world has gone a long and important way to this. This world that prevented the occurrence of a Third World War, and the UN was one of its main means in addition to the promotion and respect for the international law, including the IHL.

The US Declaration, which violates all the International humanitarian laws, along with all the policies that support, cover and legitimate the Israeli violations of the international law in the oPt puts the whole world before important inquiries: does the UN still have real effectiveness with regard to restoring international peace and security?!.. Does the international law that Protects humanity and peoples’ rights have any consideration?!.. Have the International bodies protecting humanity become completely powerless and a weapon in the hands of the powerful states to intervene in the affairs of the weak states?!

The US is no Longer a Mediator in the Peace Process, but Rather Undermines it

The US has always been an unfair mediator and uncommitted to the international law in the peace process in the Middle East. It has continued to claim, as in today’s speech, that its violation of the international law and using the Veto Power for dozens of times to prevent the adoption of any decision against the Israeli violations by the Security Council, not even a condemnation, in order to protect the peace process.

This declaration came to show the ugly face of the American administration and its false allegations. The resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly relevant to Palestine have been always confirming that: any prejudice to the legal status of Jerusalem or any change in it would undermine the peace process and threatens the two-state solution. Here comes the American President’s declaration to end any opportunity for the peace process and the two-state solution and deny the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

The UN Secretary General confirmed that the US President’s declaration undermines the peace process, emphasizing that the whole borders issue, particularly those related to Jerusalem, shall be left for the two parties to find a solution through negotiations. This statement was followed by several others by States’ presidents stressing on the same content.

PCHR stresses that the Palestinian cause shall not enter in the frame of political bargains, emphasizing that the international law and resolutions define the borders of the Palestinian State. PCHR also emphasizes that any negotiations should be limited to how to implement what was stipulated in the international law in a way that guarantees peace for everyone.

Confronting the American Step

Continue reading →

Gaza City in the spotlight: hesitant hope in a city where everyone still wants out

Posted on December 2, 2017 by Admin

As the UN’s day of solidarity with Palestinians nears, Gazans have restored a hesitant bustle

Miriam Berger, The Guardian, Saturday 25 November 2017

Fishermen off the coast of Gaza City, which is home to a 5,000-year-old port. (David Levene, The Guardian)

Today Medinat Ghazzah, or Gaza City, is running on empty – and yet still going. Gaza City, the Gaza Strip’s principal urban centre, carries various scars of war. Since 2006, Gaza has endured one civil war between Palestinians, three wars between the ruling Hamas militant group and Israel, a decade of Hamas’ repressive rule, and a crushing blockade by neighbouring Israel and Egypt – all of which have crippled the economy and turned the tiny territory into a site of humanitarian crisis.

Gaza City’s dusty buildings and bumpy roads, many still damaged or half-rebuilt from the last war, are at times reminiscent of facades found in Egypt and the Palestinian West Bank. But it is the crushing monotony and suffocating limits of life that define the city for residents who have walked the same streets for a decade without a chance of getting out. Still, the city carries on, with coffee shops, traffic, clothes stores, restaurants and even a new upscale mall offering diversions for those who can afford them.

Palestinians attend Friday noon prayer beneath the fallen minaret during the 2014 war.

The city’s framework, like the rest of Gaza, is innately tied up with politics. Gaza was once part of Britain’s Mandate Palestine. Then came Egyptian occupation in 1948, followed by Israeli in 1967. Now, for the last decade, Hamas, which the European Union has designated as terrorist group, has ruled the tiny territory while Israel controls most borders.

Limited visitors

This month – on 29 November – brings the United Nations international day of solidarity with Palestinians. Gazans, however, don’t see much of the international community these days. That’s in part because Israel strictly limits entry to the Gaza Strip, with mainly journalists (Israelis and Palestinians excluded) and aid and development workers allowed through. Even then, UN bodies and NGOs working in Gaza constrain much of the movement of their foreign staff due to security protocols. Along Gaza City’s highly polluted coast are two expensive hotels that are considered the “safe zone” where aid workers and many journalists stay.

The five-star Arcmed al-Mashta Hotel, built in 2011

Facing an ineffective and corrupt government, the UN and NGOs have stepped in. Gazans are grateful – but know they can do better and mistrust the politics that dictates where funds are directed. Around much of Gaza are signs thanking Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates for funding reconstruction projects. But the Arab countries have pledged far more for reconstruction than they’ve actually delivered, while many Gazans feel acutely abandoned by the Arab states and international community, and know new buildings still go first to those with Hamas connections.

Gaza City in numbers

40 – rank of Gaza city in 2014 list of most densely populated cities worldwide. At the time, the population of Gaza City and surrounding area was estimated at 750,000.

360 – square kilometers covered by the Gaza Strip, about the size of Detroit.

80 – percentage of families in Gaza who receive some sort of aid.

44 – percentage official unemployment rate in Gaza; for those aged 15-29, the rate rises to 60%.

3 – number of hours of electricity generated by Gaza’s only working electricity plant at a severe low point this summer. For the last few years Gaza has averaged around at most eight hours a day of electricity.

History in 100 words

Gaza City, famed for its port, is more than 5,000 years old. Over centuries various empires between the Nile River and Middle East – Philistines, Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Alexander the Great, Romans, Byzantines, Moguls, Ottomans, among others – ruled Gaza, as Jean-Pierre Filiu documents in Gaza: A History. Gaza’s status as a key trading and transit place shaped its unique culinary traditions, melding flavours like hot pepper and dill. Today Gazan culture and society has expanded to incorporate the Palestinian refugees who fled to here during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Fresh produce on sale at Al-Zawiya market. Photograph: Rex/APAimages

City in sound and vision

Each of Gaza City’s 10 neighbourhoods have their own rhythm and reputation. There’s the Remal neighbourhood, the city’s nicest, where many of the fancy shops and NGOs are based. Along the main drag, Omar Mukhtar Street, cars honk and shouting street vendors sell all kinds of wares. Along the way are various historical landmarks: the Square of Unknown Soldiers, Gaza’s largest open space, filled with music and light-up cars for kids to ride at night; Saraya Square, an old prison where political rallies are now held; cinemas that have been closed by Hamas; and the city’s public park, teeming with children. Keep going and there’s the old city, with the traditional Al-Zawiya market, one of the oldest in the Gaza Strip and filled with everything from spices to shoe shiners, and the Great Mosque of Gaza, the largest and oldest in Gaza and originally a Byzantine-era church. To Gaza City’s east is the Shejayia neighbourhood, a dense network of cement houses and narrow side streets that was heavily bombed during the 2014 war, and has the reputation as housing its toughest people. On Gaza City’s Mediterranean side is Al-Shati, known as the beach refugee camp. Here the sounds and rhythm of the sea mix with the honking of horns and occasional wafts of sewage as Gaza City brings the sweet and sour all at once.

fatma_mosabah
Gaza Strip
مسجد السيد هاشم 🕌
يعتبر من أقدم مساجد غزة وأتقنها بناء ❤️
ويقع في حي الدرج في المنطقة الشمالية لمدينة غزة القديمة ويبعد عن المسجد العمري مسافة كيلو متر واحد تقريباً 👌🏻
وورد في الموسوعة الفلسطينية أنه من الراجح أن المماليك هم أول من أنشأه 💛
وقد جدده السلطان عبد المجيد العثماني سنة 1266 هـ 1830م"
Mosque of Hashim 🕌
Is one of the oldest mosques in Gaza and trained building️️ and located in the neighborhood of the stairs in the northern area of the old city of Gaza and away from the mosque Omari approximately one kilometer 👌🏻 The Palestinian Encyclopedia stated that it is most likely that the Mamluks are the first toestablish 💛 Renewed by Sultan AbdulMajeed Ottoman in 1266 AH 1830 AD "

How liveable is Gaza City?

For many residents, to remain living in Gaza is a point of national pride. But after a decade of war, siege, and Hamas rule, just about everyone wants out – even if only temporarily. The generation born since the siege have mostly never left Gaza; the older generation have memories of what came before, when Israelis came to the city’s markets and Gazans worked in restaurants and construction in Ashkelon and Tel Aviv. Now unemployment in Gaza is among the highest in the world, electricity and clean running water are in dire shortage, and the young generation is well educated with no place to go.

fatma_mosabah
Gaza Strip
نأمل من الله أن يكون هناك غداً أفضل 🌹🌿

On the move

Most people get around by foot, shared taxi or car – the former growing more common towards the end of the month, as salaries are stretched thin. The city has no formal public transport. Instead, regular cars roam around looking for riders heading in the same direction, each ride costing the customer one or two shekels (about the price of a falafel sandwich) depending on the distance – and the driver’s mood. Inside the shared taxi, there are informal rules governing how males and females should interact.
Palestinians speed through Gaza City by car. Photograph: Santiago Lyon/AP

There used to be buses and microbuses serving Gaza City. Now they are mainly reserved for students to get to school or for travel between Gaza City and other areas. There are a few hubs around the city to catch cars going to the rest of Gaza. Companies sometimes provide transportation for employees, as does the government. Gas is expensive due to import restrictions (Gazans say the gas from Israel is better than Egypt’s watered-down offerings). For a more secure, albeit expensive ride there are private taxi companies.

What’s next for the city?

It has been three years since the last war between Hamas and Israel and for many in Gaza the dream of what’s next is the same as it ever was: reconstruction and employment. Huge swaths of the territory’s infrastructure, including 171,000 homes, were damaged or destroyed during the 2014 war. The city centre is now hesitantly bustling during the day , and a little brighter than other areas at night when the sun sets and electricity-starved Gaza largely goes dark. Many structures remain partially finished as people can only sporadically afford building materials.

wissamgaza
Al-Shatee refugee camp in Gaza City on February 14, 2017. By Wissam Nassar @wissamgaza #wissamgaza مخيم الشاطئ للاجئين والبحر المتوسط

These days, the streets convey a sense of hesitant hope tempered by fatigue. Last month, Hamas and its rival, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank, signed a unity deal intended to end the territorial dispute that began when Hamas evicted Fatah from Gaza in 2007. Reconciliation has eased some imports, hindered some of Hamas’ much-resented taxes and provided more work for Fatah employees in Gaza. But people in Gaza have heard these promises before and then repeatedly seen them fail. In Gaza City, the centre of economic activity, people say there’ll believe this time is different when there’s work and opportunities again. For now, it’s still the same suffocation. Continue reading →

New Palestine 101 video! – US Campaign for Palestinian Rights

Posted on November 29, 2017 by Admin

Anna Baltzer, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, 29 Nov 2017

Have you ever heard anyone say that the issue of Palestine/Israel is “complicated?” We have, and now there is a video to debunk it.

Today, on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and the 70th anniversary of the United Nation’s (UN) partition of Palestine, we are releasing a short video showing what Palestinians and their allies have known all along: it’s not that complicated.

Watch, and then share, Palestine 101: Not That Complicated on Facebook and Twitter.

The state of affairs – apartheid – on the ground in Palestine/Israel today is not too complicated to understand. It is, quite simply, a continuation of the ongoing and unwavering process of Zionist settler colonization.

70 years ago today, the UN proposed partitioning Palestine against the will of the native Palestinian population, emboldening Zionist militias to create a Jewish state by force, including through the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Today is just one of four significant anniversaries for Palestinians this year: 2017 also marked 100 years since the Balfour Declaration, 50 years since the beginning of Israel’s illegal military occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and ten years since the imposition of the siege on Gaza. All of those anniversaries point to the undisguised settler colonial nature of the Zionist project.

Palestine 101: Not That Complicated can help folks both familiar and unfamiliar with the issue understand the ongoing process of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine, and the legacy of Palestinian resistance to the colonization of their homeland.

You can learn more about the dynamic history of that same Palestinian resistance on Dec. 9. On the 35th anniversary of the 1987 intifada, we are hosting a webinar that will cover the rich history of Palestinian resistance, from the general strike of 1936 to hiding cows from Israeli soldiers in 1987.

From the Arab Revolt to the Intifadas to BDS: 100+ Years of Palestinian Resistance
Saturday, Dec. 9 | 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET
Register here!

Featuring Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, author of Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment, Nadia Hijab of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, and Abdulrahman Abunahel, Gaza Regional Coordinator for the BDS National Committee

Both the video and webinar are part of Together We Rise: Palestine as a Model of Resistance, our political education curriculum designed to provide critical voices, context, and resources to strengthen liberation struggles from the US to Palestine. Together We Rise includes 101 resources on Palestine, skill-building tools, outlines how US and Israeli colonialism and racism are connected, and what we can learn from Palestinian, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other freedom struggles.

What was true in 1917 is still true in 2017: a Jewish state was made possible through the violent removal of native Palestinians and resettlement of Jewish people in their place. Today, educate yourself on the issue by watching and sharing Palestine 101, and registering for the Dec. 9 webinar outlining more than a century of Palestinians fighting for freedom, justice, and equality.

December 2, 2017
Fair Trade Holiday Festival

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Admin

Monona Terrace Convention Center
1 John Nolen Drive, Madison
9 am to 4 pm

Come do your holiday shopping with Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, Playgrounds for Palestine-Madison and 54 other vendors selling fair trade products from around the world!

MRSCP and PfP will be selling Palestinian olive oil in several sizes, olive oil soap, zaatar, “Playgrounds” brand Fair Trade Coffee, a great NEW selection of ceramics from Hebron, Hirbawi kuffiyehs, earrings, our beautiful Palestinian embroidered scarves, shawls, purses, bookmarks, and more.

We will also be accepting donations to benefit a deaf children’s classroom at the Atfaluna Society for the Deaf in Gaza City, which produces many of our embroidery and wood crafts items.

The Festival will feature items from the SlaveFree Madison’s Fashion Show “Saving the World, One Accessory at a Time”.

FREE! Bring your friends & family to this one-of-a-kind event!
More info? Visit fairtrademadison.org/ or facebook.com/fairtradeholidayfestival/

Israel and the US are trying to prevent publication of a ‘blacklist’ of companies doing business in the West Bank

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Admin

Israel West Bank Business Insider/Julie Bort

Josef Federman, Josh Lederman, Jamey Keaten, Business Insider, November 27, 2017

Israel and the Trump Administration are working “feverishly” to prevent a database of companies that operate in Israel’s West Bank settlements from being published.
Dozens of major names are expected to appear on the list, including 100 local companies and 50 international companies, mostly from the US and Europe.
The UN’s top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, ordered the compilation of the database in March 2016.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Weeks ahead of the expected completion of a U.N. database of companies that operate in Israel’s West Bank settlements, Israel and the Trump Administration are working feverishly to prevent its publication.

While Israel is usually quick to brush off U.N. criticism, officials say they are taking the so-called “blacklist” seriously, fearing its publication could have devastating consequences by driving companies away, deterring others from coming and prompting investors to dump shares of Israeli firms. Dozens of major Israeli companies, as well as multinationals that do business in Israel, are expected to appear on the list.

“We will do everything we can to ensure that this list does not see the light of day,” Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, told The Associated Press.

The U.N.’s top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, ordered the compilation of the database in March 2016, calling on U.N. rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein to “investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on Palestinians.”

The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements, built on occupied land claimed by the Palestinians for a future state, to be illegal. Israel rejects such claims, citing the land’s strategic and religious significance, and says the matter should be resolved in negotiations.

Israeli officials say that about 100 local companies that operate in the West Bank and east Jerusalem have received warning letters that they will be on the list. In addition, some 50 international companies, mostly American and European, also have been warned.

The companies have not been publicly identified, but one official said they include Israeli banks, supermarkets, restaurant chains, bus lines and security firms, as well as international giants that provide equipment or services used to build or maintain settlements. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.

The only company to confirm receiving a warning letter has been Bezeq, Israel’s national telephone company. Bezeq’s chief executive, Stella Handler, posted a copy of the letter sent by Zeid’s office in September on her Facebook page. It accused Bezeq of using West Bank land for infrastructure, providing phone and Internet services to settlements and operating sales offices in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Handler angrily wrote that Bezeq provides service to all customers, regardless of race or where they live.

“The council’s bias against Israel is so extreme that it has lost all relevance in the world,” she wrote. “We will not cooperate with a move that is all in all anti-Israeli propaganda.”

But hours later, Handler removed the post, saying she had done so at the request of the government. The Israeli official confirmed the government has asked companies not to speak about the issue. Bezeq declined comment.

Israel has long accused the United Nations, and particularly the rights council, of being biased against it.

Israel is the only country that faces an examination of its rights record at each of the council’s three sessions each year. Some 70 resolutions, or about quarter of the council’s country-specific resolutions, have been aimed at Israel. That is nearly triple the number for the second-place country: Syria, where hundreds of thousands have been killed in a devastating six-year civil war.

Israeli leaders and many non-governmental groups also complain that some of the world’s worst violators of human rights, including Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Congo and Cuba, sit on the council.

Some Western diplomats have said the database could set a harmful precedent by blurring the line between business and human rights on issues that are better left to trade policy than the Geneva council.

Israel seems to have little leverage over the council. But its campaign has received a big boost from the United States. The Trump administration has taken a tough line against the U.N., demanding reforms and in October, withdrawing from the cultural agency UNESCO because of alleged anti-Israel bias.

In a speech to the council last June, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley railed against its makeup and demanded that Israel be removed as a permanent fixture on its agenda. She also hinted that the U.S. could quit the council.

The upcoming release of the database could test that commitment. It has triggered a quiet, but high-stakes effort by Israel and the U.S. to try to block its release.

“We just view that type of blacklist as counterproductive,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said recently.

Danon, the Israeli ambassador, accused the council of unfairly targeting Israel at a time of conflict throughout the world, saying it amounted to a “blacklist” of Jewish companies and those who do business with the Jewish state.

He also said it would turn the rights council into “the world’s biggest promoter of BDS,” an acronym for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement — a grassroots international boycott movement against Israel. Most of the companies linked to the blacklist are frequent targets of the BDS movement.

“What kind of message will this send?” Dannon said.

But Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian official, said the list is an “important step” moving from verbal condemnation to practical action against the settlements. He expressed hope that it would lead companies to stop doing business with the settlements and even lead to sanctions against those that continue.

The original resolution calling for the list stipulates only that the council’s high commissioner is requested “to transmit the data therein in the form of a report” to the council.

To that end, Israel and its allies have been encouraging the council to leave the list out and submit only a basic, broad-strokes report that doesn’t name names, according to several U.N. diplomats familiar with the discussions. The diplomats were not authorized to comment publicly and demanded anonymity.

The pressure campaign has shown some signs of success. After an earlier delay, Zeid’s office said the release of the “report” has been pushed back again, from December to early next year.

For now, it does not appear that the list’s publication would be the direct trigger that leads the U.S. to quit the council. Haley’s office said it is focused on implementing reforms on the council, though publication of the list could make U.S. participation “less likely.”

Eugene Kontorovich, the director of international law at the Kohelet Policy Forum, a conservative think tank in Jerusalem, said he was “deeply skeptical” the report will not be published and said the Israeli government would be better off trying to discredit the report ahead of time. “I think it’s important for people to understand how bad this is,” he said.

The resolution, he warned, would cause “reputational harm” to companies and put “a cloud over business in Israel.” Although nonbinding, he said it could be used as a basis for future legal action. “The goal of this is to cause problems for Israel,” he said.

Stop Violence against Women and Girls,

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Admin

PCHR’s Women Unit Starts 16 Days of Activism Campaign to End Violence

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), November 26, 2017

#16 Days #Orange the World

On Sunday, 26 November 2017, the Women Unit at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) has started the first activities of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign to end Violence against women and girls. The Unit held a legal awareness lecture on violence against women and girls in al-Jaleel High School for Girls, targeting the 11^th Grade students.

Mona al-Shawa, Head of PCHR’s Women’s Unit, welcomed the students and reviewed PCHR’s work and the 16 Days of Activism Campaign to end Violence against women. The campaign starts on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and ends on 10 December, which marks the International Day for Human Rights. Al-Shawa explained the close link between women’s rights and human rights in general, and that this campaign is an international campaign that activates this time of year in most countries of the world to raise awareness of violence by moving it from private to public sphere and to call for providing protection women and girls. Al-Shawa also stressed the importance of raising girls and high school students’ awareness of violence, its forms and causes and how to eliminate violence.

Majedah Shehahdah, Researcher at the Women’s Unit, explained the concept of violence against women and girls as defined in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, which was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1993. Shehahdah discussed the most significant forms of violence practiced in the Palestinian society against women and girls and the reasons behind it. She also highlighted the mechanisms to reduce violence against women and girls in the Palestinian society and the importance to provide protection for them.

The female Students interacted with the topic and recounted the most prominent forms of violence prevailing in the Palestinian society, including verbal and physical violence in addition to the early marriage phenomenon and depriving women of inheritance rights and etc.

By the end of the lecture, the students praised the importance of raising students’ awareness of violence against women and girls and called for holding further awareness lectures that would target young girls and students in secondary schools.

It should be noted that the Women Right’s Unit will hold more awareness lectures on violence in a number of secondary schools for girls in Gaza city over the next two weeks.

Israel no longer bothers with the illusion of legal proceedings

Posted on November 22, 2017 by Admin

Israel is so confident of its ability to expel Palestinian communities that it no longer even bothers to create the illusion of legal proceedings

B’Tselem, November 22, 2017

Over the past month, the state has informed three Palestinian communities that it intends to expel them from their homes and land. The notification was made by leaving orders on the roadside.

In the northern Jordan Valley, on 9 November 2017 the state notified two communities – Umm a-Jamal and Ein al-Hilweh – that they must leave their homes within eight days. These communities total 20 families, five of whom live in the area on a seasonal basis. The total number of residents is 130, including 66 youths and children under the age of 18.

In the Ma’ale Adumim area, on 16 November 2017 the state informed the residents of Jabal al-Baba that they must leave their homes within eight days. This community numbers about 60 families, and has a total of 284 residents, including 151 youths and children under the age of 18.

Israel has acted for years to expel communities around the West Bank. In the past, its efforts were based mainly on military orders concerning planning and building. However, the proceedings concerning such orders are protracted and require the precise mapping of the land and buildings, as well as the issuing of separate demolition orders for each building.

Now the state has found a new mechanism it hopes will enable it to circumvent such proceedings and accelerate the expulsion of residents: the “Order concerning Unauthorized Buildings (Temporary Provision) (Judea and Samaria) (No. 1539), 5744-2003.” This order was originally intended for the expulsion of settlers from “outposts” established around the West Bank, although the state very rarely used it for this purpose. The order allows the Military Commander to declare an area in the West Bank a “confined area,” and to order the eviction of all property in that area. On this basis of this order, GOC Central Command Major-General Roni Numa signed the new orders concerning the Palestinian communities.

It seems that Israel is so confident in its ability to expel entire villages without incurring judicial or international criticism that it is no longer bothering to create even the illusion of legal proceedings. However, the difference between the proceedings is purely technical. The planning and building proceedings never stopped the state; even if they managed to postpone expulsion, they never removed the threat of expulsion from thousands of people. Over many years, thousands of Palestinians in dozens of communities have lived under a constant and real threat. The state has refused to regulate their status, allow them to connect to the water and electricity infrastructure, establish educational institutions for their children, pave roads to their living areas, and maintain a reasonable living routine.

The state has recently declared its intention to expel two additional communities over the coming months – Susiya in the southern Hebron Hills and Khan al-Ahmar close to Ma’ale Adumim. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced that in the absence of opposition from the American Administration, these communities will be expelled by April 2018. The expulsion proceedings against these communities have continued for years before the Supreme Court, which has refrained from prohibiting their expulsion.

Whatever the proceedings used by the state in its attempt to expel Palestinian residents from their homes, the crime is the same: the forcible transfer of a protected population, which amounts to a war crime. This is the case whether the violence used is direct or indirect, physical or administrative. Whether the expulsion is undertaken by force or by creating an intolerable reality that forces the residents to leave their homes and land – the essence is the same. All those involved in committing this crime – including the Prime Minister, Defense Minister, the justices who approve the expulsion, and the GOC who signs the orders – bear personal liability.

For additional information: Amit Gilutz, +972-54-6841126, amit@btselem.org
Our mailing address is
B’Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
P.O. Box 53132, Jerusalem 9153002

#TalkAboutYemem

Posted on November 22, 2017 by Admin

Donna Smith, Progressive Democrats of America, Nov 22, 2017

Yemen Is Suffering. Please Help.

While there is so much going on in this country and so much upheaval continues to swirl around our planet, many millions of Americans find themselves in a rush to get away from all things political long enough to find even a few moments of distraction. We all deserve and need that from time to time.

Still, I find it very difficult to distract myself from the reality of 7 million people in Yemen at risk of famine and another 900,000 facing life-threatening diseases such as cholera. Yes, that’s right. Cholera. In 2017. But the Trumpublican standard bearer in the White House and his self-proclaimed “family-values defenders” in Congress could do something, but have done almost nothing to address this human-made catastrophe.

Call Congress: (202)-224-3121

A boy and his sisters watch graffiti artists spray on a wall, commemorating the victims who were killed in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, May 18, 2015. Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Shiite rebels resumed early on Monday in the southern port city of Aden after a five-day truce expired amid talks on the war-torn country’s future that were boycotted by the rebels. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

Crisis paid for by our taxes. We can’t remain silent. Act now!
Tell Congress: ”End US support for Saudi atrocities in Yemen”

Of course Trump couldn’t be bothered with real action on behalf of Yemen before jetting away to Florida for some badly needed golf time at Mar-a-Lago. Yes, he pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys in a routine symbolic gesture, but what about our fellow human beings? Cue the crickets. Trump and the Trumpublicans won’t act, but we can.

Click here to find your Senators and Representative.
Call the United States Capitol switchboard at (202)-224-3121.
An operator will connect you directly with the Senate and House offices you request.
Ask to speak with the staffer assigned to defense, military and / or foreign relations issues.
Leave a voice mail message if he or she is unavailable.
Identify yourself by your name and town or city.
Say you demand that the U.S. act to halt the Saudi aggression against the people of Yemen.
Thank them for their time and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving.

PDA National Advisory Board Member and Code Pink Co-founder Medea Benjamin said it this way, “What does it say about us as a people that we allow our government to keep supporting the devastating Saudi bombing of Yemen, and now the blockade of humanitarian aid, that is starving children every day? As we sit around the Thanksgiving table this holiday, please think of the children of Yemen and ask your representative in Congress to speak out.” #TalkAboutYemen

We’re encouraged that the House finally passed a resolution specifying that not authorized U.S. participation in war in Yemen, but that does little to stop the unfolding, yet highly preventable catastrophe. It’s way past time for us all to demand as fellow human beings that our government stop supporting this, and we must stand with other nations to bring medical and humanitarian resources swiftly to the aid of these suffering souls. To do less is unacceptable.

Won’t you join us in calling your Congress members? You can click here to find your Senators and Representative. Call the United States Capitol switchboard at (202)-224-3121. An operator will connect you directly with the Senate and House offices you request.

Ask to speak with the staffer assigned to defense, military and / or foreign relations issues. Identify yourself by your name and town or city. Say you demand that the U.S. act to halt the Saudi aggression against the people of Yemen. Then, what a happy day of thanksgiving that will be for us all.

In peace and solidarity,

Donna Smith, PDA Executive Director, for Deb, Mike F., Judy, Mike H., Amos, Janis, Dan, Kimberly, Bryan, and Dr. Bill—your PDA National team

P.S. The midterm elections are less than a year away, and primaries are even sooner. We need you to step up big right now! Please dig deeply and give generously to help PDA elect progressives to Congress. You’ll barely notice the $20.18 (or any other amount) per month to join the Win in 2018 Team. Whatever you can afford to give, your regular contribution will make all the difference!

Children are starving in Yemen

Posted on November 22, 2017 by Admin

The White House should intervene

A Yemeni woman takes the clothes off her malnourished child. (Yahya Arhab/Epa-Efe/Rex/Shutterstock)

Editorial Board, Washington Post, November 20, 2017

IT HAS been two weeks since Saudi Arabia imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Yemen, a country already devastated by two and a half years of Saudi bombing. Before the embargo, Yemen was suffering from the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations, with 7 million people on the brink of famine and another 900,000 stricken by cholera. Those conditions have now grown far worse — and yet the Saudis persist with their siege. It is time for the Trump administration, which has indulged the Saudi leadership for too long, to intervene.

Yemen’s 28 million people depend on imports for up to 90 percent of their basic needs, including food, fuel and medicine. The vast majority of those imports come through the port of Hodeida, in northern Yemen, which along with the capital, Sanaa, is under the control of Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia imposed the blockade after a missile allegedly fired by the Houthis came close to its capital, Riyadh. The Saudis blamed Iran for supplying the weapon, though U.N. monitors in Yemen say they have not seen convincing evidence of that.

U.N. humanitarian officials warned that the shutdown would quickly lead to an emergency. Now their predictions are coming true. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Sanaa, Hodeida and three other crowded cities — with 2.5 million people in all — have lost access to clean drinking water because of a lack of fuel. One million children are at risk from an incipient diphtheria epidemic because vaccines are out of reach on U.N. ships offshore. According to Rasha Muhrez, Save the Children’s director of operations in Yemen, several governates are down to a five-day supply of the fuel needed to operate flour mills, without which the millions dependent on food handouts will starve. “This blockage has cut off the lifeline of Yemen,” Ms. Muhrez told us.

Last week the Saudis began allowing limited humanitarian imports through the southern port of Aden, which is controlled by their Yemeni allies. But that is not adequate access. That’s why three U.N. agencies — the World Health Organization, the World Food Program and UNICEF — issued a joint statement last Thursday saying that the continued shutdown of other ports and airports “is making an already catastrophic situation far worse.” A confidential report by U.N. monitors, seen by Reuters, went further, saying the Saudis were violating a 2015 U.N. Security Council resolution on Yemen by obstructing humanitarian assistance.

The Trump administration, through the State Department, has objected to the ongoing blockade and called for “unimpeded access” for humanitarian supplies. But many in Yemen suspect, with some reason, that the White House is tolerating, if not encouraging, the crime. Shortly before the siege was announced, Jared Kushner paid a visit to Saudi Arabia and reportedly met late into the evening with Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince. Even if it was unaware of the subsequent crackdown, the White House has the leverage to put a stop to it. It should act immediately, or it will be complicit in a crime against humanity.

Jackson Diehl: No one is paying attention to the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II

Michael Dempsey: The news from Yemen is terrible — let’s focus on what can be achieved

November 21, 2017
In Service of State Violence

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Admin

“Palestine and the Restrictions on Academic Freedom”

Listen live online here
Tuesday, November 21
11:30 am – 1:00 pm CENTRAL TIME
Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi
The Palestine Center, Washington, DC
The presentation will also be posted on line after the talk.

Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies/Race and Resistance Studies & the Senior Scholar of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative, San Francisco State University.

Dr. Abdulhadi will speak about her own experiences of being the target of long standing and systemic attempts to silence Palestine activism in the United States. Her talk will underscore the consequences of limiting academic freedom on issues of state violence, namely, allowing it to go unchallenged. Finally, Dr. Abdulhadi will address the role of preserving academic freedom as paramount to sustaining vibrant institutions of learning and discuss her own experiences challenging the many attempts to silence dissent that she has encountered, including a harassing court case that was just dismissed.

For more info see: http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/events/upcoming/service-state-violence-palestine-restrictions-academic-freedom