Madison-Rafah Journal

Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, said the human rights situation there continued to be of great concern, primarily due to a lack of progress in the peace process, ongoing restrictions to the movement of Palestinians, and a harsher regime of confinement and siege imposed on the population of Gaza. As well, a deepening health crisis had resulted in a serious deterioration of the mental and physical health of Palestinians, and additional checkpoints had caused a growing number of deaths. Established procedures had failed to end the occupation and, after 40 years, there still seemed to be no signs of an end.

It was now up to the United Nations to seek alternative procedures that would bring greater relief to the Palestinian people, he said. In particular, the General Assembly should seek a legal assessment of the Israeli occupation by the International Court of Justice and, in an effort to implement previous international legal opinions of the Court, the Security Council should consider assisting in the implementation of the Court’s advisory opinion on the construction of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

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mrgrieves9876, YouTube, May 15, 2007

Jonathan Cook, The National, September 27, 2008

The words “Jewish” and “terrorist” are not easily uttered together by Israelis. But just occasionally, such as last week when one of the country’s leading intellectuals was injured by a pipe bomb placed at the front door of his home, they find themselves with little choice.

The target of the attack was 73-year-old Zeev Sternhell, a politics professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem specialising in European fascism and a prominent supporter of the left-wing group Peace Now.

Shortly after the explosion, police found pamphlets nearby offering 1.1 million shekels (Dh720,000) to anyone assassinating a Peace Now leader. The movement’s most visible activity has been tracking and criticising the growth of the settlements in the West Bank.

Mr Sternhell, whose leg was injured in the blast, warned that this attack might mark the “collapse of democracy” in Israel. He has earned the enmity of the religious far-right by justifying the targeting of settlers by Palestinians in their resistance to occupation.

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"Who thinks seriously that if we sit on another hilltop, on another hundred meters, that this is what will make the difference for the State of Israel’s basic security?" Maintaining sovereignty over an undivided Jerusalem would involve bringing 270,000 Palestinians inside Israel’s security barrier.

ETHAN BRONNER, New York Times, September 29, 2008

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an interview published on Monday that Israel must withdraw from nearly all of the West Bank as well as East Jerusalem to attain peace with the Palestinians and that any occupied land it held onto would have to be exchanged for the same quantity of Israeli territory.

He also dismissed as “megalomania” any thought that Israel would or should attack Iran on its own to stop it from developing nuclear weapons, saying the international community and not Israel alone was charged with handling the issue.

In an unusually frank and soul-searching interview granted after he resigned to fight corruption charges — he remains interim prime minister until a new government is sworn in — Mr. Olmert discarded longstanding Israeli defense doctrine and called for radical new thinking, in words that are sure to stir controversy as his expected successor, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, tries to build a coalition.

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AFP, Aug 6, 2008

An Israeli army officer has been demoted but will not face a jail term for ordering that a bound and blindfolded Palestinian be shot with a rubber-coated bullet, military sources said on Wednesday.

They said Lieutenant Colonel Omri Borberg would face the relatively minor charge of "conduct not in conformity with army norms," under an accord struck between his lawyers and the military justice system.

The accord, which has to be approved by the army chief of staff, means the officer will no longer be given a command but will not be formally expelled from the military, the sources said.

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Ramallah: Allan Richardson stands in the empty office where he plans a call center for Palestine's second mobile network. (Joshua Mitnick)

Joshua Mitnick, The Christian Science Monitor, May 28, 2008

Mobile phone service in Gaza Strip and the West Bank could spur investment – and bolster prospects for peace.

Ramallah, West Bank - After getting Iraq's first post-invasion cellular phone network operational in four months, Allan Richardson expected that launching the second Palestinian mobile service would be easy.

But nearly a year and a half after arriving here, the chief executive officer of Wataniya Palestine Telecom is still waiting for Israel to release cellular frequencies.

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AFP, May 27, 2008

Thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank risk being displaced as the Israeli authorities threaten to tear down their homes and in some cases entire communities, a UN agency said on Wednesday.

"To date, more than 3,000 Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank have pending demolition orders, which can be immediately executed without prior warning," the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report.

"At least 10 small communities throughout the West Bank are at risk of being almost entirely displaced due to the large number of pending demolitions orders," OCHA said.

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Investing in Peace:
Addressing an Ongoing Occupation

Co-sponsored by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

Delegation Leaders: Felicia Eaves and Jacob Pace

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