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?
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Israeli Siege Leaves Gaza Isolated and Desperate: "By Doug Struck | Washington Post Foreign Service | Monday, August 28, 2006; Page A01
GAZA CITY, Aug. 27 -- As the sun beat down on the city's central market, Khitam Shahleen, 37, glumly picked through a pile of cheap pencil sharpeners, searching for something -- anything -- she could afford to buy her two sons for the start of the new school year.
'We don't have money,' Shahleen said, eyes downcast beneath her head scarf. Her husband, who works as a laborer in Israel, has been trapped inside the Gaza Strip by a blockade. 'We are imprisoned here,' she said." ...
...
More than 200 Palestinians, at least 44 of them children, have been killed in the past 8 1/2 weeks. Three Israeli soldiers have been killed. Huge Israeli bulldozers and "pinpoint" missiles have razed at least 40 houses and dozens of other buildings, according to the army, leaving many families homeless.
GAZA CITY, Aug. 27 -- As the sun beat down on the city's central market, Khitam Shahleen, 37, glumly picked through a pile of cheap pencil sharpeners, searching for something -- anything -- she could afford to buy her two sons for the start of the new school year.
'We don't have money,' Shahleen said, eyes downcast beneath her head scarf. Her husband, who works as a laborer in Israel, has been trapped inside the Gaza Strip by a blockade. 'We are imprisoned here,' she said." ...
...
More than 200 Palestinians, at least 44 of them children, have been killed in the past 8 1/2 weeks. Three Israeli soldiers have been killed. Huge Israeli bulldozers and "pinpoint" missiles have razed at least 40 houses and dozens of other buildings, according to the army, leaving many families homeless.
Daily skirmishes regularly result in new casualties. The Israelis attack with tanks, F-16 jets and artillery. [Early Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed four members of the Hamas-led security force in the Gaza Strip, the Reuters news agency reported, citing medics and witnesses. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the report, but said two of the men were apparently killed by gunfire from ground troops.] ...
Print: "03:29 28/08/2006 | A policy of no-return | By Amira Hass
Since April 2006, Israel has imposed a sweeping ban on the return to the country of Palestinians of Western nationality, primarily Americans, who have been living and working in the West Bank for many years. The Interior Ministry and Civil Administration have not made an official announcement about this, and the people affected have only learned of the directive upon arriving at the border crossings.
On learning of the ban, Palestinian citizens of Western countries who have family, work and assets in the territories have sought help from their respective embassies.
Israeli officials have told Western diplomats that entry into the occupied territories through the crossings by Palestinians who are foreign nationals will be restricted to a minimum. The diplomats say they cannot intervene in Israel's sovereign decisions.
Most affected by the directive are Palestinians who were born in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and were stripped of their residency status after 1967, while abroad for work and study purposes. The hope they had of returning to reside in the territories was boosted by the Oslo Accords.
Spouses of Palestinians - business people, academics and teachers who are not of Palestinian origin - are also affected by the ban. Until recently, Israel allowed them to remain in the territories as tourists, and to renew their visas every three months. ...
Since April 2006, Israel has imposed a sweeping ban on the return to the country of Palestinians of Western nationality, primarily Americans, who have been living and working in the West Bank for many years. The Interior Ministry and Civil Administration have not made an official announcement about this, and the people affected have only learned of the directive upon arriving at the border crossings.
On learning of the ban, Palestinian citizens of Western countries who have family, work and assets in the territories have sought help from their respective embassies.
Israeli officials have told Western diplomats that entry into the occupied territories through the crossings by Palestinians who are foreign nationals will be restricted to a minimum. The diplomats say they cannot intervene in Israel's sovereign decisions.
Most affected by the directive are Palestinians who were born in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and were stripped of their residency status after 1967, while abroad for work and study purposes. The hope they had of returning to reside in the territories was boosted by the Oslo Accords.
Spouses of Palestinians - business people, academics and teachers who are not of Palestinian origin - are also affected by the ban. Until recently, Israel allowed them to remain in the territories as tourists, and to renew their visas every three months. ...
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Excite News: "Israel seizes deputy Palestinian PM | Aug 19, 8:14 AM (ET) | By Wafa Amr
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israel seized Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Naser al-Shaer, a top official of the Hamas militant group, at his home in the occupied West Bank on Saturday.
Hours later, a Palestinian gunman killed an Israeli soldier near the West Bank city of Nablus and was then shot dead by troops, the army and medics said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Israel has more than two dozen Hamas lawmakers and several other cabinet ministers in custody since late June, after it launched an offensive in response to the kidnapping of a soldier in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip. ...
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israel seized Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Naser al-Shaer, a top official of the Hamas militant group, at his home in the occupied West Bank on Saturday.
Hours later, a Palestinian gunman killed an Israeli soldier near the West Bank city of Nablus and was then shot dead by troops, the army and medics said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Israel has more than two dozen Hamas lawmakers and several other cabinet ministers in custody since late June, after it launched an offensive in response to the kidnapping of a soldier in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip. ...
Monday, August 14, 2006
hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken refuge in bomb shelters, many Arab-Israelis in say they have had no such protection
mparent7777: Shelters for Jews, None for Israel's Arab Citizens (W / Video): "Monday, August 14th, 2006 | No Shelters, Sirens for Israel's Arab CitizensWhile hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken refuge in bomb shelters, many Arab-Israelis in say they have had no such protection. They say they have been left on their own, thereby exposing some of Israel's worst inequalities. We go to Haifa to speak with the director of an Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens and to a Jewish Israeli who lives in an Arab town in Northern Israel and wrote a book about her journey across the Jewish Arab divide. We want to turn now to an overlooked aspect of the war as it's affected Israel's northern residents. Israel's civilian death toll is now at forty. But not all are Israeli Jews. Almost half of the victims of Hezbollah's attacks are Arab-Israeli. They're part of a community of more than one million living inside Israel.
While hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken refuge in bomb shelters, many Arab-Israelis say they've had no such protection. They say they've been left on their own, thereby exposing some of Israel's worst inequalities.
* Jafar Farah, director of the Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel, which campaigns for equal rights Israel's Arab citizens. He joins us on the line from Haifa.
* Susan Nathan, a British-born Israeli Jew who lives in the Arab town of Tamra, in Northern Israel. She's written a book about her time there titled 'The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish/Arab Divide.'
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/14/1358258"
Saturday, August 12, 2006
IDF Causes Serious Head Injury to Israeli Lawyer ... brain damage from rubber bullet?
Scoop: IDF Causes Serious Head Injury to Israeli Lawyer: "Saturday, 12 August 2006, 8:57 amPress Release: International Solidarity Movement
Israeli Army Cause Serious Head Injury to Israeli Lawyer at Demonstration
Earlier today, August 11, the Israeli Army and Border Police shot an Israeli demonstrator with rubber bullets from close range in the head and neck, causing serious injuries. The man, who is a lawyer, was taken by the army to Tel Hasomer hospital from where he is reported to have suffered brain damage.
In total 9 people were shot with rubber bullets in a non-violent demonstration in Bil'in. Those shot included 2 villagers of Bil'in as well as citizens of Denmark, France, USA, Japan and Israel. Other people from United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark were beaten, struck with rifle butt or injured by sound grenade fragments.
About 200 demonstrators joined the peaceful march from the Bil'in mosque to the Apartheid Wall about 1 km away. The purpose of the march was to demonstrate against the 'New Style of Killing' where even children are targetted by Israeli military forces. The marchers carried 5 mock bodies symbolising an entire family killed by Israeli military action."
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
. By saying it is a Jewish state is saying one people have more rights over others?
Every Human rights group on the planet has taken up issue with Israel and their grave violations of human rights. .. I have always thought Israel was victim of anti-Semitism but learned by doing my own research that it was the opposite. The 'mainstream mass media' perpetuated this myth. I learned that South Africa's apartheid and Israel were on about the same level of human rights violations. We didnt get these facts here in the USA. What convinced me further was that Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu were saying Israel had a system of Apartheid. ... They are saying it is a Jewish state and not a true Democracy. By saying it is a Jewish state is saying one people have more rights over others?Click here: Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
http://www.fair.org/index.php
Click here: Nelson mandela Desmond tutu on Israeli Apartheid - Google Search http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Nelson+mandela+Desmond+tutu+on+Israeli+Apartheid&spell=1
Click here: Noam Chomsky on Israel Apartheid Human Rights Violations - Google Search http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Noam+Chomsky+on+Israel+Apartheid+Human+Rights+Violations&spell=1
Click here: Grave Human Rights Violations of Israel - Google Search http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Grave+Human+Rights+Violations+of+Israel&btnG=Search
Click here: B'Tselem - Human Rights Links - Israeli Sites http://www.btselem.org/English/About_BTselem/Human_Rights_Sites.asp
Israeli sites
Adalah
The first Arab-run nonprofit legal center in Israel. The organization was established in November 1996 and its main goal is to achieve equal rights and minority rights protection for Arab citizens of Israel.
Amnesty International -Israel Section
The Israel section of Amnesty International participates in the organization's campaigns to prevent human rights violations around the world. In accordance with Amnesty International's guidelines, the Israel section does not deal with human rights violations within Israel, the Palestinian Authority, or other countries in the Middle East.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel was established in 1972. ACRI is a non-partisan, independent organisation that works for the protection of human and civil rights in Israel and in the territories under its control.
The Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA)
Founded in 1988, HRA works to promote and protect the political, civil, economic, and cultural rights of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel and to further the domestic implementation of international human rights principles.
The Association of Forty
Formed in December 1988, the association represents the residents of so-called unrecognized villages and their problems and works to promote support locally and internationally.
Bizchut
Israeli nonprofit organization working to advance the rights of people with physical and mental disabilities as well as the mentally ill and to achieve their full integration in Israeli society.
Defence for Children International - Israel Section (DCI/Avi)
Israeli organization committed to the promotion and the protection of the rights of the child of children in Israel and under the effective control of the State of Israel in the occupied territories. The association is the Israeli division of Defence for Children International established in 1979.
The Israeli National Council for the Child
The Israel National Council for the Child (NCC), established in 1980, operates on several complementary fronts as it seeks change in legislation, policy, and practice. The NCC deals with the entire spectrum of issues concerning education, health, children at risk, abuse, police and delinquency, legislation and the law, media and consumerism and many other areas
Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights
The organization was established in May 1999 by planners and architects with the goal of strengthening the connection between human rights and spatial planning in Israel. As a professional organization, Bimkom strives to achieve the right to equality and social justice in matters of planning, development, and the allocation of land resources, and assists communities and minorities affected by social and economic disadvantage and by civil rights' discriminations to exercise their rights in this area.
Kav La'Oved
Non-profit organization established by a group of volunteers in 1990 dedicated to protecting the rights of disadvantaged workers in Israel.
Machsom Watch - Women for Human Rights
Founded in 2001 by a group of Israeli women in response to reports on violations of the Human Rights of Palestinian civilians at military and police checkpoints. The group conducts daily surveillances at various checkpoints, observes the procedures at the checkpoints, challenges wrongdoings, assists the local population and provide updated web reports.
Gisha: Center for the Legal Protection of Freedom of Movement
An Israeli not-for-profit organization that seeks to protect the fundamental rights of Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories by imposing human rights law as a limitation on the behavior of Israel's military.
HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual
An Israeli human rights organization whose main objective is to offer legal and administrative assistance and advocacy to Palestinians of the Occupied Territories whose rights are violated due to Israel's policies. These include Detainee Rights; Residency Rights and Family Unification; Freedom of Movement; Violence by security forces and settlers; House Demolitions and Deportations. HaMoked’s site contains information relating to these human rights violations: Israeli laws and regulations; international conventions; petitions to the Israeli High Court of Justice; claims for compensation for damages; decisions by Israeli and other courts; and other official documents and reports.
Physicians for Human Rights - Israel
PHR-Israel, established in 1988, is dedicated to promoting and protecting the medical human rights of residents of Israel and the Occupied Territories. PHR-Israel opposes the subjugation of medical care to political considerations and fights against breaches of medical human rights by the Israeli authorities. PHR-Israel also works to rectify and prevent breakdowns in health care delivery in the West Bank.
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI)
An apolitical organization dedicated to the elimination of torture as a means of interrogation by Israel's security forces. PCATI is the only organization in Israel exclusively devoted to the issue of illegal interrogation. PCATI documents, monitors and responds to cases of illegal interrogation, ill-treatment and police brutality within Israel, the Occupied Territories and the Palestinian National Authority.
Rabbis for Human Rights
The only organization in Israel today concerned specifically with giving voice to the Jewish tradition of human rights. RHR has helped numerous individuals, publicized causes, engaged in civil disobedience, lobbied the Knesset and participated in a landmark high court case limiting the scope of the army to abuse human rights under the guise of security.
Mossawa - The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel
The organization was established in October of 1997 as a Non Governmental Organization. Mossawa works to promote equality for Arab\Palestinians within the borders of Israel. Mossawa utilizes advocacy methods to change the social and political status of Arab/Palestinians in Israel in an attempt to gain minority recognition and rights, without sacrificing their national and cultural rights as Palestinians.
Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights
An Israeli not-for-profit organization comprised of women and men who have come together to take concrete action against the constant human rights abuses inflicted on the Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The members of the organization come from diverse personal, professional and political backgrounds, but share a deep concern for the significant damage these abuses are causing Palestinian and Israeli societies. To ensure the effectiveness of its action, Yesh Din is assisted by legal, human rights and media professionals.
