Monthly Archives: February 2010

‘Goldstone Gaza claims will not reach war crimes court’

Article from Haaretz,28/02/2010, by Tomer Zarchin

The claims of alleged war crimes committed, according to the Goldstone report, during fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas in late 2008 and early 2009 will not reach the International Criminal Court at the Hague, a former ICC official told Haaretz on Sunday.

Legal attorney Nick Kaufman, who had served as a senior prosecutor at the ICC and a senior district attorney for the Jerusalem prosecution, said Israeli officials were likely safe from war crimes suits as the U.S. would probably veto such a move.

Until a month ago Kaufman, an expert on international law and rules of warfare, served as a senior lawyer in the Jerusalem prosecutor’s office.

Advertisement

- Nick Kaufman, do you think you will represent an Israeli official, who has been charged with committing war crimes following the Goldstone report, at the international court?

Kaufman: “I don’t believe so. I think the Goldstone report will receive a poor man’s burial.”

- You sound decisive.

” I don’t understand how the United Nations Security Council has made a decision to transfer the case to the international criminal court at The Hague, because I think in any event, the United States will veto the decision.”

“The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said he was satisfied with the investigation Israel has conducted, but the Arab League and other unidentified countries have insisted that a new investigation be conducted in the next 5 months. I don’t see it going beyond this.”

“On the other hand, I don’t believe the senior prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, will yield to the Palestinians request and order an investigation against Israel: For him to accept the Palestinian request to recognize their court authority to try and judge the violations committed on their land, he would first have to recognize the Palestinian Authority as an independent country, and I cant see him making such an extreme decision. I just don’t see it happening.”

Where did you first meet Judge Richard Goldstone?

“Before he headed the inquiry committee, Goldstone was the recipient of a scholarship and he served for a few months at The Hague. When rumors spread about his appointment to the committee that will investigate the events in Gaza, I went to hear him speaking at the central library in Hague.”

“I gave him a letter from Noam Shalit, in which he wrote that Gilad’s captivity is against international law, and that t should be declared a war crime and a breach of the Geneva Convention. It also said that he should recommend that he be released when he is appointed head of the committee.”

And what did he say?

“He got back to me several hours afterwards, and told me that he was touched by Gilad’s story in a personal manner, and he understands the concern. Eventually, the report he wrote has a legal mistake regarding the conditions of Gilad’s captivity.”

Do you agree with the Israel’s criticism against him?

“I think the personal criticism against him did him injustice. He might be naive, but I think that Goldstone is an Israel supporter. I don’t think he estimated the extent of the personal hatred Israel expressed towards him.”

“I think that the politician’s slander of him during the committee and after it, damaged israel’s image in the international community, as Israel did not understand what a respected legal personality Goldstone is. A man who served as the supreme prosecutor of two international courthouses knows something about violation of rules of warfare. Saying that he is stupid and knows nothing projects on us.”

The argument is that he claimed sole mandate of a unilateral investigation.

“This is a basic mistake, which I know has frustrated Goldstone extremely. I met with him several months later, at a MacArthur foundation event where they were honoring him for his work in the international legal arena, and he came up to me and expressed deep frustration from the fact that Israel is not allowing him to enter Sderot to hear eyewitness testimonies, and also to enter Gaza from Israel.”

“He was frustrated as he was the one who requested from the Human Rights Council in Geneva to extend the investigation to cover both the Palestinian and the Israeli actions in the Gaza War, and for some reason, even after the publication of the report Israel still criticized the report as being unilateral.”

Did you hear him express any affinity to Israel or Judaism?

“I remember when Noam Shalit brought him Gilad’s childhood book “when the shark and the fish first met,” during their meeting last year, he didn’t know how to read the book and opened it on the wring side. I remember thinking to myself, how come a Jew who prays every year at Yom Kippur doesn’t know how to hold a book in Hebrew.”

- You worked directly under the senior prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who also has the authority to order an investigation against Israel following the Gaza war. What can you tell us about him?

Ocampo’s position is not strong. He has been hit by strong criticism of his performance, as he has failed convict even one person in the international criminal court during his tenure. I estimate that his position is unstable, and he won’t want to interfere with such a controversial subject.

If you think the Goldstone report will be buried, there is no point in erecting a committee to investigate the war crime allegations during the Gaza offensive.

“Because I don’t see the affair reaching the International court, I also don’t see a real – legal, political and international – reason to establish a committee. But at the same time, I think that there are ethical merits in establishing a committee for internal reasons, in which we can look at ourselves in light of the criticism the world and the report has voiced against us. I don’t think we have a reason to fear the investigation.”

Right to Education/Birzeit Twinning EUSA resolution

EUSAThis is the resolution adopted by EUSA in 2005. You can also see the text on this EUSA webpage.

THIS ASSOCIATION NOTES:

  1. That the right to education is a fundamental human right and basic to human freedom under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which states that “Everyone has the right to education”, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), which recognizes that “Education is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights.”
  2. That the right to an education is denied to millions across the globe as a result of economic hardship, political repression and social (including gender) discrimination.
  3. That the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (hereafter ‘the Fourth Geneva Convention’), to which the State of Israel and the United Kingdom are both signatories, compels occupying powers to guarantee the rights of the occupied population including, under Article 50, the right to a functioning educational infrastructure.
  4. That the Palestinian population’s right to an education has been radically curtailed as a result of the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian Territories : Gaza , the West Bank and East Jerusalem .
    1. Israel’s separation and isolation of Palestinian areas by the wall inside the West Bank (ruled to be illegal by the International Court of Justice), around 700 military roadblocks and checkpoints, frequent closures of cities, prolonged curfews, and extensive restrictions on the movement of all Palestinians, prevents thousands of students and teachers from reaching their schools and universities.
    2. Over one third of the Palestinian population are students in full-time school or university education; and that in spite of the systematic attacks on educational institutions over 38 years of the Israeli occupation, Palestinian education and higher education remain resilient.
    3. 73 educational institutions have been partially or fully destroyed in the Gaza Strip since September 2000, including kindergartens, schools, and a teacher training college which was completely demolished on16 March 2004.
    4. Over 700 children, 200 university students and 39 teachers have been killed by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) since September 2000 and that 117 Israeli minors have been killed during the same period, 81 of them within Israel proper.
    5. Over 3,000 Palestinian children have been arrested by the IDF since September 2000 and that some 300 children are currently held in Israeli prisons and detention centers.
    6. On April 3rd 2002 IDF forces invaded the Palestinian Ministry of Education destroying valuable computer equipment as well as the records kept pertaining to the one million Palestinian children the Ministry served; no justification in terms of military necessity was given.
  5. That Palestinian university students and staff are faced with particular obstacles to participating in education.
    1. Palestinians are not permitted to travel between the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in order to attend university, in violation of the right recognized under international law to travel freely within a territory.
    2. That 8 out of the total 11 universities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been shelled or broken into by the IDF since September 2000.
  6. -
    1. That Birzeit University, near Ramallah in the West Bank, is the only Palestinian University located outside of ‘Area A’- those heavily populated areas of the Palestinian Territories over which the Palestinian Authority gained broad control under the Oslo II agreement of 1995 and that, with most students and staff living several miles away in Ramallah, this makes the Birzeit University particularly subject to arbitrary interference and obstruction from the IDF.
    2. That over 50% of the student body at Birzeit University are women.
    3. Birzeit University was sealed off by an Israeli Army roadblock for nearly 3 years between 2001-2003; and that today the road to Birzeit remains subject to frequent ‘flying checkpoints’, which block, harass and intimidate students and faculty trying to reach the University.
    4. That Birzeit University has been closed down by Israeli military order 15 times in its history; and that all the Palestinian universities and the majority of schools, including kindergartens, were closed down by military order between the years 1987-1992, denying a whole generation their right to education.
    5. That 2 presidents of Birzeit University Student Council were imprisoned in 2004 and 4 out of the total 11 members of the Student Council were imprisoned in the same year; and that there are currently some 107 students from Birzeit University held in Israeli prisons and detention centers, 10 of whom are held without charge or trial, including human rights worker and sociology student, Ziyad Hmeidan.
    6. On November 18th 2004 four Birzeit students were arrested without charge, held for three days during which they reported being beaten, interrogated, and then deported to Gaza .
    7. That the Birzeit Student Council (BSC) conduct elections under the banner “a model for Palestinian Democracy”, representing their commitment to the free and open exchange of ideas.
    8. Birzeit University ‘s mission statement reads: “ Birzeit University strives to promote excellence in higher education by providing quality academic teaching, training, research and relevant community programs within the context of sustainable development, emphasizing social conscience and democratic values in a free civil Palestinian society.”
    9. That Birzeit University has extensive experience in hosting international students through both its year long Palestine and Arabic Studies Programme and its two-week volunteer placements.
  7. The right to education, as a fundamental human right, applies equally to both Israelis and Palestinians and that Israeli students also suffer as a result of the Israeli government’s policies of occupation and militarization.
  8. Birzeit University coordinates and administers a ‘Right to Education’ campaign that seeks to promote the idea of education as a right and to draw attention to the affront on that right perpetrated by the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian Territories.
  9. Birzeit Student Council are committed to fulfilling the objectives outlined in the present motion.
  10. Students studying Arabic at Edinburgh University can undertake their compulsory Arabic abroad studies at Birzeit University , but that the situation at Birzeit University makes this extremely difficult.
  11. Stirling University ’s students’ association recently voted, in a referendum, to affiliate to the ‘Right to Education’ campaign and to Twin Stirling University with Birzeit Universtiy.

THIS ASSOCIATION BELIEVES:

  1. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (above) are correct in ascribing access to education the status of a fundamental human right.
  2. It is the responsibility of governments, civil society organizations and ordinary people to defend the universal right to education and to demand its realization and that this responsibility falls all-the-more acutely upon institutions of higher education.
  3. -
    1. That the obstruction and attacks on Palestinian education in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by the illegal Israeli occupation not only violate the human rights of individuals, but are an attack on the development of Palestinian society as a whole; they represent a massive curtailment of Palestinian rights that is in no way justified by military necessity.
    2. That under the Fourth Geneva Convention, given the articles relating to the obligations of an occupying power and the rights of an occupied population, it is incumbent upon the occupying force to ensure the rights of the occupied population, including the right to education, are not adversely affected.
    3. There is no legal or moral basis to the claim that the Palestinian Territories are not ‘occupied’ by the IDF in the sense intended by the Fourth Geneva Convention and therefore it is incumbent upon the State of Israel to guarantee the rights of the Palestinian population living under their control, including the right to education; this obligation not mitigated by claims of military necessity pursuant to the security or rights of those parts of the Israeli population transferred into the territories occupied, as it is stipulated explicitly under Article 48 that the occupying power must not transfer its any part of its civilian population into the territories occupied.
    4. Given a. and b. above, IDF policy vis-à-vis the Palestinian education system constitutes a massive, systematic war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention to which both the State of Israel and the United Kingdom are signatories.
  4. The prospects for a just and peaceful resolution to the conflict in Israel/Palestine would be greatly enhanced were academic freedom and the unimpeded access to places of education to exist for both Palestinians and Israelis.
  5. That Birzeit Student Council, in virtue of both their hardships and their democratic practices, represents an ideal organization for EUSA to foster links with to inaugurate a broad right to education campaign.
  6. That Birzeit University , given its predicament, experience in hosting international students and commitment to academic freedom, represents an ideal institution for the University of Edinburgh to foster links with.
  7. That institutions like Birzeit University are central to the creation of a vibrant, peaceful and prosperous Palestinian civil society.
  8. That the options available to Edinburgh University students studying abroad on compulsory course components are a core concern of this Association.

THIS ASSOCIATION RESOLVES:

  1. To embrace its responsibility (above) to support, where possible, the right to education globally.
  2. To seek to foster links with universities and their relevant student bodies whose capacity to provide an education to its students and enhance the academic, cultural and social life of its community is marginalized as a result of economic hardship and/or political repression.
  3. To encourage and support interested societies that will undertake the fundraising and collection of money for the activities outlined in clauses 4, 5, 7 and 9 below, and any other activities linked to the motion.
  4. To host a “Right to Education” week in conjunction with interested societies that aims to raise awareness about the obstacles to education faced by students and would-be students around the globe.
  5. To affiliate, at no cost, to the Right to Education Campaign at Birzeit University as a public show of solidarity and support to all Palestinian students and teachers who are struggling to live, work and study under occupation.
    1. To commit to hosting the Birzeit students photo exhibition, ideally during the week outlined in 3. above.
    2. To screen films relating to the Right to Education campaign.
  6. To raise awareness within this union and beyond, particularly within the National Union of Students, about the issues facing Palestinian education under military occupation.
  7. To affiliate, at no cost, to Friends of Birzeit University, a registered British charity, and support its work for Birzeit University and Palestinian education.
    1. To make space and facilities available for the Friends of Birzeit University in London to hold a Scottish recruitment and interview day for the Volunteer placement and the Palestine and Arabic Studies Programme.
    2. To help facilitate, where feasible, Friends of Birzeit University’s fundraising and political lobbying.
  8. To publicly condemn attacks on Palestinian education and to lobby the elected representatives of our own government to pressure the government of Israel to adhere to its legal obligations to end attacks on civilian infrastructure and to allow unimpeded access for all Palestinians to their places of study.
  9. To twin EUSA with BSC with the aim of increasing awareness and mutual understanding between the respective student bodies and to provide support to students at Birzeit in their struggle to gain a university education
    1. Encourage dialogue and other forms of interaction between students.
    2. Take steps in coordination with BSC pursuant to 9 (below).
    3. To send a delegation to Birzeit and host a delegation from Birzeit.
    4. To extend the rights afforded to Scottish students visiting EUSA venues to students matriculated at any Palestinian university.
  10. To lobby the University of Edinburgh to adopt a formal, active and robust twinning arrangement with the Birzeit University , including but not limited to:
    1. The adoption, where feasible, of exchanges of both students and staff between the two universities and a commitment by the University to seek funding for any such programme.
    2. A commitment of support should either university have its capacity to educate its students and to advance learning within its society marginalized or threatened by political and/or military policy.

Feminist Day School: The role of women in the internal politics of Palestine and Israel – 7th march

FeministWhen: 7th March, 17:30
Where: Reading Room-Teviot, Bristo Square, Edinburgh
If not a student, please bring photo ID (Union Policy)

A facilitated discussion group and workshop looking at the role of women in the internal politics of Palestine and Israel, the history of women’s movement in both countries, and the gendered aspects of wider international solidarity campaign, for the Feminist Day School.  Facilitated by Hana Agil, who was brought up in Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza and has recently visited for the first time in 14 years. She is a graduate of Hebrew and Israeli Politics and has recently worked with UNRWA in Jordan.

Shuhada Street pictures & video

On the 25th of February, Edinbugh University SJP students peacefully occupied Guthrie St, taking part in the international day of action Open Shuhada Street!

Shuhada Street was a thriving commercial street in the centre of Hebron, itself commercial centre of the entire southern West Bank. Over the years, the (Israeli) authorities imposed a legal and physical segregation between the Israeli settlers and the Palestinian majority, officially to protect the settlers. This has been implemented by limiting freedom of movement to Palestinians, preventing their access to some streets and forcing them to use streets with checkpoints. Added to this, the army has imposed round-the-clock curfews and the closure of several hundreds of shops. Those policies have generated the economic collapse of the centre of Hebron and have driven many Palestinians out of the city.

For more details on the policies in Hebron and their consequences, see this text by B’Tselem, an Israeli NGO.

Edinburgh University SJP decided to take part in the campaign, bringing music, food and their energy, to denounce the Israeli policies in the occupied territories that have catastrophic consequences on the lives of the Palestinians, which are segregative and/or illegal under international law.

Here are some pics and a video.

UN officials statements following the Israeli heritage sites decision

UNESCO Director General expresses concern about Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb

Source: UNESCOPRESS
25/02/2010UNESCO

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, expressed her concern today at the announcement by the Israeli Prime Minister that two sites located in the occupied Palestinian territory, the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb, are to be included in a National Heritage Programme. She also expressed concern at the resulting escalation of tension in the area.

Endorsing the statement by Robert H. Serry (below), United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, that these sites are “of historical and religious significance not only to Judaism but also to Islam, and to Christianity as well”, the Director-General reiterated UNESCO’s long-standing conviction that cultural heritage should serve as a means for dialogue.

UNESCO has been mandated by its Member States to provide assistance to the Palestinian Authority in the fields of education and culture. In this regard, UNESCO has been working for many years with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian civil society to protect and preserve the cultural heritage sites in the West Bank and is committed to continue doing so.

Indeed, the Director-General is committed to strengthening “UNESCO’s financial and technical assistance to the Palestinian educational and cultural institutions in order to address new needs and problems resulting from recent developments”, as requested by UNESCO’s General Conference at its 35th session (resolution 35C/Resolution 75).

Statement by Robert H. Serry, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, following the Israeli heritage sites decision and tensions in Hebron

United Nations flagSource: UNSCO

Jerusalem, 22 February 2010.

I am concerned at the announcement of the Israeli government regarding holy sites in Hebron and Bethlehem and the heightened tensions that have resulted. These sites are in occupied Palestinian territory and are of historical and religious significance not only to Judaism but also to Islam, and to Christianity as well. I urge Israel not to take any steps on the ground which undermine trust or could prejudice negotiations, the resumption of which should be the highest shared priority of all who seek peace. I also call for restraint and calm. As I underscored in my visit to Hebron last week, I would like to see more positive steps by Israel to enable Palestinian development and state-building in the area and throughout the West Bank, reflecting a genuine commitment to the two State solution.

Trip to Palestine in May

Visit PalestineAt the end of May students from the University of Edinburgh will be making a trip to the West Bank in Palestine. The trip will include visits to three universities: Birzeit, Al Quds Open and Nablus. There will also be visits to Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron.

The cost of the trip will be $300 (about £190), including airport transfer, accommodation, food, travel and a guide at all times, but not travel to the West Bank (flights are around £200).

The trip will last for 8 days although people are welcome to stay for longer if they choose. The precise date of the trip will be confirmed in the next few days.

See the Facebook group. Invite your friends or anyone who might be interested to come along, it’s an amazing opportunity!

EU: West Bank goods aren’t Israeli

An article from Haaretz, 25/02/10, by The Associate Press. Original text here.

In a ruling touching on the status of the West Bank, the European Union high court said Thursday the disputed area is not part of Israel and Israeli goods made there are subject to EU import duties.

The ruling has no immediate bearing on the Mideast peace process.
But for trade purposes, it argues Israel has no standing in the area where it has built settlements and where its companies make such products as cookies, pretzels, wines, cosmetics and computer equipment.

The ruling opens the door to EU import duties on Israeli goods from the West Bank rendering those products less competitive.

The EU has accords with both Israel and the Palestinians that end customs duties.

The court said the EU deal with Israel “applies to the territory of the State of Israel” and the Palestinian one to “the territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”

Each of those two association agreements has its own territorial scope,” it said, adding Israeli goods made in the West Bank cannot enjoy duty-free access to the vast EU market.

A source in the Foreign Ministry told Army Radio that the EU ruling “surprised no one,” adding that “Israel regrets a decision which authorizes the persecution of Israeli products made in Judea and Samaria and a constitution of the European political campaign against the settlements.”

But it is likely to stir Israel, whose military maintains control over the area, its Israeli settlements and Israeli companies there.

The latter can benefit from cheaper labor in the West Bank.

Many of the settlements there use Palestinian workers, who earn less than their counterparts in Israel.

But since Palestinians are largely barred from working in Israel and have few job opportunities in the Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank, jobs in settlement factories are sought after.

Pro-Palestinian groups in Europe are likely to be pleased by Thursday’s ruling because they regularly protest in European supermarkets to complain about Israeli labels on farm products from the West Bank.

Israel continues to build settlements there that are widely seen as illegal under international law and a hindrance to the search for peace with the Palestinians.

Thursday’s ruling stems from a German case filed by Brita GmbH, a German company that imports drink-makers for sparkling water and fruit syrups from Soda-Club Ltd., an Israeli company in Mishor Adumim, one of 10 Israeli industrial areas in the West Bank.

Brita told German customs authorities its imports came from Israel and were therefore exempt from import duties.

Suspecting they came from the West bank, German authorities asked Israel to clarify matters.

Israeli customs only confirmed the goods originated in an area under Israeli responsibility and said nothing about the West Bank.

That led Germany to impose customs duties. On appeal, a Hamburg appeal court asked the Court of Justice of the European Union for its opinion.
The Palestinian Authority cannot lose rights to trade benefits to an EU-Israel deal and Israeli goods can only get preferential treatment if they have been manufactured in Israel proper, the court said

To Shoot An Elephant

To Shoot an Elephant

“To shoot an elephant” is an eye witness account from The Gaza Strip. December 27th, 2008, Operation Cast Lead. 21 days shooting elephants. Urgent, insomniac, dirty, shuddering images from the only foreigners who decided and managed to stay embedded inside Gaza strip ambulances, with Palestinian civilians.

SJP organised a screening of the film during the Right To Education Week in February 2010.