Civil and Human Rights Looking Deeper into the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Israel is portrayed as a democracy that shares American values. Is this true? Do all its citizens enjoy the same civil rights before the law? What about the human rights of those under occupation?
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Students protest against racism at Hebrew University sports center: "This is an apartheid pool,"
Haaretz - Israel News - Students protest against racism at Hebrew University sports center: "03/11/2005
Students protest against racism at Hebrew University sports center
By Tamara Traubman, Haaretz Correspondent
Dozens of students demonstrated at Hebrew University in Jerusalem on Thursday to protest the Lerner Sports Center's refusal to allow Arabs to obtain memberships.
The sports center is intended to serve students and staff at Hebrew University.
However, a Channel 10 TV news footage revealed that Jews who were not affiliated with the university were allowed to obtain memberships while Arabs not affiliated with the university were turned away.
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"This is an apartheid pool," Meretz-Yahad Youth Chairman Uri Zaki said. He said the protesters were boycotting the pool and called on those arriving at the center not to swim in a "racist pool." They also organized a petition calling for a boycott of the pool. ...
Palestinians hit by sonic boom air raids ... created 28 [in 1 week] sonic booms by flying at high speed and low altitude over the Gaza Strip
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Palestinians hit by sonic boom air raids: "Chris McGreal in Gaza | Thursday November 3, 2005 | The Guardian
� UN condemns night noise attacks as indiscriminate
� Agencies say they cause trauma and miscarriages
Israel is deploying a terrifying new tactic against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip by letting loose deafening 'sound bombs' that cause widespread fear, induce miscarriages and traumatise children.
The removal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip opened the way for the military to use air force jets to create dozens of sonic booms by breaking the sound barrier at low altitude, sending shockwaves across the territory, often at night. Palestinians liken the sound to an earthquake or huge bomb. They describe the effect as being hit by a wall of air that is painful on the ears, sometimes causing nosebleeds and 'leaving you shaking inside'."
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Over the past week, Israeli jets created 28 sonic booms by flying at high speed and low altitude over the Gaza Strip, sometimes as little as an hour apart through the night. During five days in late September, the air force caused 29 sonic booms.
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A senior Israeli army intelligence source, who the military would not permit to be named, said the tactic is intended to break civilian support for armed Palestinian groups. "We are trying to send a message in a way that doesn't harm people. We want to encourage the Palestinian public to do something about the terror situation," he said. "What are the alternatives? We are not like the terrorists who shoot civilians. We are cautious. We make sure nobody is really hurt."
Yesterday, two medical human rights groups asked the Tel Aviv high court to outlaw the use of sound bombs on the grounds it amounts to illegal collective punishment and is detrimental to health.
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The UN's Middle East envoy, Alvaro de Soto, wrote to the Israeli high command this week saying he was "deeply concerned at the impact on children, particularly infants, of the use of sonic booms".
Mr de Soto said he did not accept that the tactic was a legitimate response to Islamic Jihad and Hamas firing rockets into Israeli towns. "Sonic booms are an indiscriminate instrument, the use of which punishes the population collectively. We ask therefore that their use be stopped without delay," the letter said. ..
