U.N. rights body tells Israel to end Gaza blockade

Palestinian children fly kites on the beach of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip during a summer camp organised by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) July 29, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Mohammed Salem


(Reuters) - Israel must lift its military blockade of the Gaza Strip and invite an independent, fact-finding mission to investigate its raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a United Nations rights body said on Friday.

The U.N. Human Rights Committee also told Israel to ensure that Palestinians in the occupied territories can enjoy the fundamental civil and political freedoms that Israel had pledged to uphold in the main international human rights treaty.

Israel maintains that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights does not apply to the occupied West Bank and Gaza, although it says that the treaty does apply to Jewish settlers there, committee member Christine Chanet said.

There are no Israeli settlers in Gaza itself.

"In Israel's written responses to the committee, one could see a total discrimination in the sense that settlers benefited from the pact," she told a news briefing.

"We have maintained our position on the applicability of the covenant. We are stronger because the International Court of Justice has said we were right on this position," she added, referring to the World Court's 2004 advisory opinion.

Chanet, a former French judge and international human rights expert, said: "It is very difficult to have a real dialogue (with Israel)."

AID FLOTILLA

The committee's non-binding recommendations add to pressure on Israel to explain what happened in its attack on May 31 on an aid flotilla in which nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists were killed, damaging relations between Israel and Turkey.

Israel admitted errors in planning the raid but justified the use of lethal force saying its marines came under attack from activists wielding knives and clubs. Activists deny this.

There was no immediate reaction from Israel on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath but the government has repeatedly condemned the U.N. human rights bodies in Geneva as biased.

The recommendations are the latest in a series of reports and sessions in which Israel has been on the defensive at the United Nations over its policies in Gaza and the West Bank.

On July 23, another U.N. rights forum, the Human Rights Council, appointed a team of international experts to investigate the raid on the flotilla and called on all parties to cooperate.

The committee is a body of 18 independent experts, mainly prominent in international and human rights law, that monitors the implementation of the Covenant by the 166 countries including Israel that have signed up to it.

The recommendations on Israel's regular report to the committee on its compliance included calls for investigations into human rights abuses including killings in Israel's military offensive in Gaza between December 27, 2008, and January 18, 2009.

Israel should also refrain from holding criminal proceedings against children in military courts, the committee said.

"There are hundreds of children (being held)," Chanet said.

The committee also told Israel to end extra-judicial executions of terrorist suspects, make torture illegal, end construction of settlements in the occupied territories, stop building a wall cutting off some of the territories from other regions, and stop destroying homes as a collective punishment.

It asked Israel to say in its next report due by July 2013 what action it had taken on these and other recommendations.

(Reporting by Jonathan Lynn and Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

David Cameron: Israeli blockade has turned Gaza strip into a 'prison camp'

Prime minister intervenes in Middle East dispute and hopes Turkey can stop Iran's nuclear weapons programme

Nicholas Watt in Ankara and Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday 27 July 2010 13.43 BST


David Cameron defended his remarks at a press conference with Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photograph: Pool/REUTERS

David Cameron used a visit to Turkey to make his strongest intervention yet in the intractable Middle East conflict today when he likened the experience of Palestinians in the blockaded Gaza strip to that of a "prison camp".

Although he has made similar remarks before, his decision to repeat them on a world stage in Turkey, whose relations with Israel have deteriorated sharply since it mounted a deadly assault on the Gaza flotilla, gave them much greater diplomatic significance.

Cameron's comments, in a speech to busines leaders in Ankara, prompted the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to issue another strong condemnation of how Israel dealt with the flotilla.

Erdogan likened the behaviour of Israeli commandos, who shot dead nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists, to Somali pirates.

Cameron's criticism of Tel Aviv came when he called for Israel to relax its restrictions on Gaza. "The situation in Gaza has to change," he said. "Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp."

He strongly condemned Israel after the assault on the Gaza flotilla. "The Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla was completely unacceptable," he said. "I have told prime minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu we will expect the Israeli inquiry to be swift, transparent and rigorous. "Let me also be clear that the situation in Gaza has to change."

Cameron defended his remarks at a press conference with Erdogan. "My description of Gaza is something I said in the House of Commons several weeks ago. Perhaps this is final proof that if you want to keep something completely secret you should announce it in the House of Commons."

Hansard, the House of Commons' official record, shows Cameron said on 28 June: "Everybody knows that we are not going to sort out the problem of the Middle East peace process while there is, effectively, a giant open prison in Gaza."

His choice of the words "prison camp" instead of "open prison" is likely to be seized upon. But a Downing Street source later tried to play down Cameron's comments. "This is not an elevation of the rhetoric. This is equivalent language. The prime minister remains concerned."

Cameron said Britain remained opposed to the blockade of Gaza. "The fact is we have long supported lifting the blockade of Gaza, we have long supported proper humanitarian access. Even though some progress has been made we are still in the situation where it is very difficult to get in, it is very difficult to get out. So I think the description is warranted."

At the press conference, Erdogan heaped further criticism on Israel over its treatment of the flotilla. "What we saw happening was taking place in international waters and this attack in international waters, as such, can only be termed as piracy. There is no other way to describe it.

"The pirates are there in Somalia and we take our measures. When a similar situation occurs here ... political leaders, who are there to establish a fair life for everyone – they should not remain silent."

After Cameron made his remarks, Ron Prosor, the Israeli ambassador to London, blamed the Palestinians' situation on Hamas, the Islamist regime that controls the Gaza strip. "The people of Gaza are the prisoners of the terrorist organisation Hamas. The situation in Gaza is the direct result of Hamas' rule and priorities.

"We know that the prime minister would also share our grave concerns about our own prisoner in the Gaza strip, Gilad Shalit, who has been held hostage there for over four years, without receiving a single Red Cross visit."

Ephraim Sneh, the former Israeli deputy minister of defence, said: "Cameron is right – Gaza is a prison camp, but those who control the prison are Hamas. I'm totally against the double standards of a nation which fights the Taliban but is showing its solidarity with their brothers, Hamas.

"It's very regrettable that the British PM doesn't understand that. It reflects a lack of understanding and is a very bad sign. Cameron doesn't understand that 1.5m people live in Gaza under the repressive regime of Hamas – and yet he blames Israel. "

Also during his speech, Cameron challenged France and Germany over their opposition to Turkish membership of the EU.

In a passionate defence of Turkey, the prime minister accused Paris and Berlin of double standards for expecting Ankara to guard Europe's borders as a Nato member while closing the door to EU membership.

"When I think about what Turkey has done to defend Europe as a Nato ally ... I believe it's just wrong to say Turkey can guard the camp but not be allowed to sit inside the tent."

His tough language reflects Britain's frustration that Ankara's EU membership negotiations have stalled since they were formally opened in 2005. Turkey's involvement in the Cyprus dispute and its refusal to open its ports to Greek Cypriot goods are holding up the talks.

Cameron also said Turkey should use its links with Iran to persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear weapons programme.

Turkey is to abide by new UN sanctions, agreed last month, which are focused on individuals and companies linked to Iran's nuclear and missile programmes. But it will not implement wider US and EU restrictions on banks, and wants to deepen trade links with Iran.

The prime minister said Turkey's special place, as a bridge between east and west, gave it a key role with Iran. "It's Turkey that can help us stop Iran from getting the bomb," he said.

Iran reached an agreement in May with Turkey and Brazil to export 1,200kg of low-enriched uranium in return for fuel rods for a civilian reactor. The prime minister said he hoped this understanding could help "see Iran move in the right direction".

But he cast doubt over Iran's intentions when he said: "Even if Iran were to complete the deal proposed in their recent agreement with Turkey and Brazil, it would still retain around 50% of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium."

The prime minister is on a four-day visit to Turkey and India. Cameron laid a wreath at Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the father of modern secular Turkey, before delivering his address. This afternoon he will fly to India.

Urgent need for support to release 17 year old Ahmad Abed Al-Fatah from jail

19. July 2010 Bil'in was subjected to yet another Israeli Occupation Forces night raid when an unusually heavy number of Israeli soldiers entered the outskirts of the village to arrest a local youth; 17 year old Ahmad Abed Al-Fatah Burnat – who unfortunately was arrested.



Ahmad was taken by jeep to Ofer military prison located outside Ramallah, where arrestees from Bil’in are normally taken. His family witnessed their son and brother being taken away without knowing why. There is still uncertainty why the Israeli army came in 12 jeeps and stormed the family’s house kidnapping the 17 year old that night.

Ahmad has now been held for seven days in Ofer. What we know from experience is that the prisoners in Ofer, especially young boys are put under harsh conditions, with the intention of pressuring them to give information about other villagers. We know that many are denied food and water for extended periods of time and exposed to extreme cold or heat. This coupled with the uncertainty of when he is to be released makes the situation unbearable for his family. All this is done to make the prisoners confess false charges, or to falsely confess that they have witnessed other people i.e. throwing stones.

Today Ahmad was brought in front of a judge. The court’s decision is that the military has to bring evidence of any crime committed by Ahmad, which they haven’t been able to do so far. If none is presented within 37 hours from today’s court, Ahmad is to be released. The condition is that there must be paid a bail of 10,000 shekel. If this isn’t paid, Ahmad will remain in Ofer military prison indefinitely, while waiting for the next court decision.

The popular committee has seen hundreds of Bil’in residents being arrested over the years, and have been forced to pay a total of more than 300,000 NIS for bail. In addition, the costs for the trials are estimated to lie at around 2,800 NIS per person, per court appearance. Thus, we urgently need your support now, to release Ahmad. If we together can raise 10 000 shekel as soon as possible Ahmad will be released after the 37 hours have passed. The popular committee is kindly asking for donations so that we can pay for Ahmad’s bail:

BANK OF PALESTINE PLC
RAMALLAH BRANCH
RAMALLAH, WEST BANK, PALESTINE TERRITORIES
SWIFT CODE: PALSPS22
BANK NO: 89
BRANCH NO: 458
BENEFICIARY NAME : popular Coordination Committee
BENEFICIARY ACCOUNT NO: 1205998
TELEPHONE NO : 0598914541

The money will be returned from the court in the future, and will be used for a future fund for releasing prisoners on bail condition.

Salaam and thanks for your continued support.

ibel3in@yahoo.com

U.S. group raising funds for new Gaza aid ship

Rashid Khalidi, a well-know critic of Israel, hopes to raise at least $370,000 in the next month.

By Natasha Mozgovaya
Haaretz.com

WASHINGTON - A fundraising campaign is currently underway in the United States to finance the purchase of an American ship in an effort to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip in the early autumn. The ship is to be named after U.S. President Barack Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope."

If that isn't enough to stir the ghosts of the 2008 American presidential election, one of the prominent figures to support the initiative is Columbia University history professor Rashid Khalidi, a well-know critic of Israel whose friendship with the American president from their days together in Chicago engendered criticism of Obama.


Rashid Khalidi
Photo by: Alex Levi

An e-mail being circulated by pro-Palestinian activists in the U.S. said the goal of the fundraising campaign is to raise at least $370,000 next month to obtain possession of a ship that could accommodate between 40 and 60 people and for operational expenses. The e-mail said the ship will join a flotilla of other vessels from Europe, Canada, India, South Africa and the Middle East in an additional attempt to break the Israeli naval blockade.

Right-wing Internet-based blog columnists immediately seized on the involvement of Khalidi, whom they portrayed as a friend of Obama who was supporting Hamas. Khalidi said he does not know what the ship will ultimately be named, but said the White House should not be embarrassed by the name "The Audacity of Hope" and should instead call for Israel's naval blockade of the Hamas-controlled territory to be lifted.

Khalidi, who was born in the U.S. and the son of a Palestinian refugee, told Haaretz that although he will participate in the fundraising event for the ship, he will not be sailing in tit himself. In a reference to the Israel Defense Forces, he added: "Given the national-religious hierarchy which determines what the IDF can do to whom, the fact that the ship is American will make it harder to deal with it as the Mavi Marmara was dealt with."

The Mavi Marmara was boarded by the Israel Navy at the end of May while part of a flotilla attempting to run the blockade. Nine people on board the ship were killed in the confrontation with naval commandos.

Khalidi said he visited relatives in the Gaza Strip a number of years ago. He characterized the blockade as a measure "imposed on a population of 1. 5 million people who are effectively imprisoned, and most of whom are deprived of living a normal life."

When asked by Haaretz if he was aware of the proposed name of the ship and whether the choice of name was appropriate, Khalidi said: "I am not one of the organizers of this effort, and had no knowledge that this name had been chosen. If the name is a problem for the [Obama] administration, it can simply insist publicly that Israel lift the siege. That of course would require it to respond to the systematic mendacity of those in Congress and elsewhere who support the siege. It is shameful that the U.S. and Egyptian governments are complicit in this indefensible siege."

Khalidi said the fact that the ship is American would bring attention to the Gaza issue, which had begun to have an impact on American public opinion.

"This has not been the result of the ineffective efforts of the two feeble Palestinian 'authorities', nor has it mainly been the result of the work of activists, important though this has been," he said.

"It has primarily been a natural response to the actions of successive Israeli governments. These actions have appeared more and more unjustifiable to growing segments of US public opinion - the only place largely impervious to this change has been the US Congress. This is especially the case among younger people, who can detect the deception and chicanery which are an essential part of 'selling' such rotten goods as occupation, discrimination, and attacks on civilians. It is also visible in widening sectors of the American Jewish community."

Israel's blockade of Gaza was punishing civilians while having little effect on the Hamas administration, Khalidi said.

"The siege is not imposed on the Hamas government, or on a 'terrorist entity', as the Israeli government describes the entire Gaza Strip: it is imposed on a population of 1.5 million people, who are effectively imprisoned, and most of whom are deprived of living a normal life. Moreover, it hardly affects that government, as has been amply reported by Haaretz, the NY Times and other organs not known for their sympathy for Hamas."

This for of collective punishment could constitute a war crime, he said.

"This is collective punishment of a civilian population, pure and simple - as Dov Weisglass cynically said, the Gazans would be “put on a diet”. That is potentially a war crime. Most of Gaza’s population, being children, did not vote for Hamas or anyone else. Any human being of any political orientation should oppose this siege".

Nor does Khalidi have any faith in current peace talks between the Netanyahu administration and the Palestinians.

"Negotiations between the most extreme Israeli government in decades and a Palestinian authority operating without a national consensus are unlikely to resolve the outstanding issues," he said.

"Doing so would require accepting international law as the basis for a settlement, and abandoning the bankrupt “peace process” approach and the flagrant American bias in favor of Israel’s policies that have significantly worsened the situation over the past two decades. If the new flotilla helps to end the blockade of Gaza, and perhaps helps to bring the two Palestinian authorities to understand how much damage the continuation of the division between them, and between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, is doing to the Palestinian cause, it will have been a good thing."

A new twist in conflict diamonds: Botswana bushmen lose right to Kalahari water well

A bushman in the Kalahari Rights groups say the bushmen's lifestyle is being made "impossible"

San bushmen in Botswana have lost a court case to allow them to re-open a vital waterhole in the centre of the Kalahari desert.

Diamonds were found in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, traditional home to the bushmen, in the 1980s - and the government asked them to leave.

In 2006 they won the right to return and hunt without permits, but many of them still live outside the reserve.

Water tankers, which used to serve the community, no longer enter the reserve.

“They usually have to travel approximately 40km (25 miles) to fetch water from the nearest available source, and unfortunately it's too far to go with livestock”

-Seranne Junne Lawyer for the bushmen

The BBC's Letlhogile Lucas in Gaborone says the borehole in question was used by De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, when it was prospecting for minerals in 1985.

The San bushmen community of Mothomelo had filed an application to be granted permission to equip and use the borehole.

A judge ruled that the bushmen were not entitled to do this, or to drill a new one.

Their lawyer, Seranne Junner, says the ruling was disappointment for the San community.

"They usually have to travel approximately 40km (25 miles) to fetch water from the nearest available source, and unfortunately it's too far to go with livestock," she told the BBC.

"They don't have motor vehicles at their disposal - and when they can get vehicles it's a very rough track, and that's what's leading to the suffering."

The ruling means the San bushmen in the reserve will have to depend on erratic rains and melons for water.

Human rights activists have urged the authorities to find a lasting solution to the bushmen's rights without resorting to lengthy litigation, our reporter says.

South Africans mark Mandela's birthday

In this photo supplied by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, former South African president Nelson Mandela, smiles as he is surrounded by children at his home in Johannesburg Saturday July 17, 2010. Mandela celebrates his 92nd birthday tomorrow. (AP Photo/Debbie Yazbek-Nelson Mandela Foundation)

By DONNA BRYSON (AP) – 5 hours ago

PRETORIA, South Africa — A South African community once riven by anti-foreigner violence came together Sunday in the spirit of Nelson Mandela to play a little soccer.

The so-called "goodwill games" were among activities around the world marking Mandela Day, which falls on Mandela's July 18 birthday and was conceived as an international day devoted to public service. Community leaders in Atteridgeville organized the unity-building tournament of teams of South Africans, Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Somalis who all live in this poor, black neighborhood on the western edge of South Africa's capital.

Mandela, who turned 92 years old on Sunday and is largely retired from public life, was spending the day with his family in Johannesburg. Early Sunday, his wife went to an orphanage in Soweto to help plant a vegetable garden.

"Today is an opportunity for millions of people around the world to look inside themselves and find those beautiful qualities as any human being has and say: `I am able to make a difference to my neighbor, to someone underprivileged, I can extend my goodness to other people,'" Mandela's wife Graca Machel said Sunday.

She said that while her husband was no longer so physically strong, "his spirit is strong as ever."

President Jacob Zuma and other government officials were marking the day in Mandela's birthplace of Mvezo by planting trees and painting class rooms in that far southern region of the country that is among the poorest in South Africa.

In a speech in Mvezo, Zuma said Mandela taught South Africans that "we must work together to entrench African unity and solidarity in our country."

He said South Africans had embraced visitors from the rest of the continent during the World Cup that ended a week ago. After their own national team was knocked out early, many South Africans cheered for Ghana, the African team that went the farthest in the tournament.

"We urge a continuation of this spirit of African unity, love and friendship," Zuma said.

President Barack Obama, in a statement released Sunday by the White House, wished Mandela a happy birthday.

"We are grateful to continue to be blessed with his extraordinary vision, leadership, and spirit. And we strive to build upon his example of tolerance, compassion and reconciliation," President Obama said.

He encouraged the public to heed the call to engage in some form of service to others, and said of Mandela, "We strive to follow his example of what it means to truly give back to our communities, our nations, and our world."

Mandela Day organizers in South Africa this year had called on citizens to, among other things, honor the anti-apartheid leader by devoting time to calming fears anti-foreigner sentiment could again erupt into widespread violence, as it did in Atteridgeville and across the country in 2008.

National police commissioner Nathi Mthethwa was in Atteridgeville Sunday. He kicked a ball around with young men on a dusty field next to a cemetery before the tournament began. Earlier, he addressed a crowd of about 1,000 on the field. Mthethwa said Mandela had taught South Africans about the need for unity and cohesion.

The people of Atteridgeville listened intently to Mthethwa, some recording him on their mobile phones, as he spoke in a mixture of Sotho and English. He said other Africans had supported South Africans in the fight against apartheid, and now were bringing skills and resources that would help build the economy.

"My brother from another mother is still my brother," Mthethwa said. "My sister from another mother is still my sister."

In 2008, protests over lack of homes, schools, jobs and clinics for the poorest South Africans erupted into anti-foreigner rioting. More than 60 people were killed — two in an Atteridgeville squatter camp — in weeks of sporadic violence scattered in squatter camps and other impoverished areas across South Africa.

Sociologists trying to explain what happened pointed to decades of vilification of other black Africans by the white government during the apartheid years, and competition now for scarce resources as people from poorer, less stable countries to the north come to South Africa in search of opportunity.

Researchers at Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand have found cases where local political leaders or businesspeople organized attacks on foreigners, either to consolidate political power or eliminate economic competition.

Such conditions have not eased, but the scale of the 2008 attacks has not been revisited despite reports in recent weeks of new threats to foreigners.

Sunday, as Mthethwa listened, a master of ceremonies led a call and response in Atteridgeville:

"Away with xenophobia, away!"

"Away!" the crowd responded, before local religious, political, business and other leaders presented the police commissioner with a signed pledge to build a "united, nonracial, nonsexist, democratic, prosperous, humane and caring society."

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Libyan Aid Ship for Gaza Unloading Supplies in Egypt

VOA News
15 July 2010


Egyptian Red Crescent personnel wait for the docking of the Libyan aid vessel, the Amalthea, at the port of the coastal city of al Arish, Egypt, 15 Jul 2010

An aid group in Egypt has begun unloading supplies from a Libyan ship that initially tried to break through Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Egypt's Red Crescent Society began the process Thursday of unloading the estimated 2,000 tons of aid aboard the Amalthea, preparing it for transport to Gaza by land. The ship docked late Wednesday at Egypt's El-Arish port.

Egyptian officials say the aid will go through Israeli checkpoints. The Libyan-based charity that sponsored the Amalthea says some of its representatives will accompany the aid, but that its delegation will not include the nine pro-Palestinian activists who had traveled on the ship itself.

The Tripoli-based Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation had wanted the ship to take the supplies directly to Gaza. But officials said they docked at the Egyptian port late Wednesday to avoid a confrontation with the Israeli navy. Activists on the ship said Israeli naval vessels repeatedly blocked their attempts to reach Gaza by sea. The foundation's executive director, Youssef Sawani, also said the Israelis even threatened to take over the ship if it persisted in its attempts to break through the naval blockade.

An Israeli spokesman denied an ultimatum had been given.

Six weeks ago, Israeli commandos intercepted another Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing nine activists - eight Turks and one Turkish-American - and sparking international outrage. Israel says its forces acted in self-defense after passengers on the Turkish aid ship attacked them.

Since the fatal encounter in May, global pressure has forced Israel to ease its land blockade on Gaza to allow in goods that do not have a potential military use.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley urged Libya on Tuesday to avoid confrontation and allow the Israelis to inspect the vessel, said to be carrying 2,000 tons of aid supplies. The activists on board the Amalthea are affiliated with the ship's sponsor, a charity run by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

UK refuses to grant visas to Iroquois lacrosse team

BBC News
14 July 2010



The Iroquois lacrosse team The Iroquois team is ranked fourth in the world

The UK has said it will refuse to allow a Native American lacrosse team to travel to the country using passports issued by the Iroquois Confederacy.

Officials told the team they would be granted a visa at immigration only with documents considered valid by the UK, including US or Canadian passports.

The announcement came after the US cleared them to travel at the behest of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The team says using other passports would be an attack on their identity.

The Iroquois Confederacy of six Indian nations oversees tribal land that stretches from upstate New York into the Canadian province of Ontario.

The UK's decision not to accept the confederacy's travel documents came a day before the opening day at the Lacrosse World Championships in Manchester, during which the Iroquois team were due to play England.

“There was flexibility there to grant this kind of one-time waiver given the unique circumstances of this particular trip”
-PJ Crowley US State Department spokesman

Only hours earlier, team members born with US borders had been granted a "one-time-only waiver" by the state department at the request of Mrs Clinton allowing them to make the trip without US passports.

The team, which ranks fourth in the world in lacrosse, have always travelled on the confederacy's documents as an expression of their Iroquois identity, but US officials had said they do not meet new, stricter passports standards.

"There was flexibility there to grant this kind of one-time waiver given the unique circumstances of this particular trip," state department spokesman PJ Crowley told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

The Canadian-born players were also experiencing problems obtaining leave to travel from Ottawa when British officials spoke to the team.

Federation of International Lacrosse spokesman Ron Balls said in a statement on the championship website on Wednesday that the Iroquois team would forfeit their opening game if it did not arrive on time.

The Iroquois helped invent lacrosse, as early as 1,000 years ago.

Fidel Castro returns to TV with dire warning of nuclear conflict

In rare appearance, Cuba's former president, 82, analyses Middle East situation and says Iran will not be cowed by the US

Jo Tuckman in Mexico City
The Guardian, Tuesday 13 July 2010


Former president Fidel Castro speaks on Cuban television, the second time in less than a week that he has made a public appearance. Photograph: Reuters

The Middle East is on the verge of a nuclear war triggered by a US attack on Iran in the name of preventing the country from developing its own weapons, according to ageing Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

"To do this on the basis of a calculation that the Iranians are going to come running out to ask the Yankees for forgiveness is absurd," Castro said. "They [the US] will encounter a terrible resistance that will spread the conflict that cannot end up any other way than turning nuclear."

The former Cuban president said Israel would throw the first bomb, but the risk that red buttons would also be pressed in Pakistan and India was latent.

Castro made the prediction on Cuban TV last night, in a dramatic return to public life after four years in near-seclusion.

"The US is activating the machinery to destroy Iran," he said. "But the Iranians have been building up a defensive force little by little for years."

Castro said attacking Iran would have a very different result from invading Iraq. "When Bush attacked Iraq, Iraq was a divided country," he said. "Iran is not divided."

The Cuban leader also emphasised that India, Pakistan and Israel are the three nuclear powers who have refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

"The control that Israel has over the United States is enormous."

"US foreign policy is better described as the policy of total impunity."

The leader of the 1959 Cuban Revolution who went on to become an icon of resistance to US dominance in Latin America during the Cold War, and ended up as the great survivor of the fall of communism, fell seriously ill in 2006. After emergency intestinal surgery he handed power over to his younger brother Raul, who is now 79, first temporarily and then permanently.

Castro appeared in a couple of videotaped interviews with Cuban television in 2007 and rather more frequently in photographs greeting foreign leaders visiting the island. He had not been seen in a public setting until photographs of him visiting a science centre in Havana were published in the Communist party newspaper Granma on Monday. He was shown smiling and chatting to workers, dressed in sports clothes and looking relaxed.

Still the official head of Cuba's Communist party, Castro maintains a lively presence in print, publishing regular 'Reflections' on his own nation and the world.

In recent weeks he has turned his attention to the Middle East, prompted by the Israeli raid on an aid convoy attempting to break the blockade of Gaza on 31 May. During Monday's broadcast of a special edition of a daily public affairs show called Round Table, the 82-year-old looked rather frail and his voice was somewhat weak. He shuffled papers and quoted extensively from the Arabic press, Pentagon and Noam Chomsky, among others.

Dressed casually in a tracksuit top over a checked shirt, the man once known for always wearing military fatigues, interspersed his warnings of imminent nuclear conflict with a rambling history lecture that ranged from the roots of the Korean war to the Cuban missile crisis, by way of the war in Angola.

"We have experiences of being close to it [nuclear war]," he said. "Now I believe the threat of war has greatly increased. They [the US] is playing with fire."

News that Castro would appear on TV garnered emotional responses from Havana residents. "We are so, so excited to see him. It is unbelievable," sugar ministry worker Paula Alonso told Reuters TV. "Especially for people from the same generation, we want to see our president."

Castro's reappearance comes after last week's decision by the regime to release 52 political prisoners over the next few months, following negotiations with the Vatican and Spain. They were jailed in 2003 during a crackdown on dissidence when he was still in power. The first group of freed prisoners was expected to arrive in Madrid today.

Zionist fascism in action: IDF fires upon Gazan wheat harvesters and internationals aiding them.

Palestinian villagers battle plans to wall them in

By Selim Saheb Ettaba (AFP) – 5 hours ago



AL-WALAJAH, Palestinian Territories — Omar Hajaj says he will soon be caged "like a zoo animal," with an electric fence encircling his house and his village hemmed in by the notorious West Bank barrier.

The rumble of bulldozers has become a common sound around this Palestinian village on Jerusalem's southern outskirts as earthmovers work on a huge trench which will be filled with towering slabs of concrete.

After years of interruptions, work finally got under way in April to lay the foundations for another stretch of Israel's "security fence" -- a section which will completely encircle this southern West Bank village.

At the moment, villagers have more or less open access to the nearby city of Bethlehem. But not for much longer.

"It is the only village in the West Bank that will be completely surrounded by the wall," says Willow Heske, of the Oxfam humanitarian group, which is helping villagers make their voices heard.

Since the 1967 Middle East War, half of Al-Walajah was annexed by Israel as part of municipal Jerusalem, while the other half remained in the West Bank.

The initial route would have sliced the village in two but following intervention by Israel's high court, it was changed to incorporate the rest of the village -- with one exception: the Hajaj family.

When the towering concrete wall is erected, it will cut directly through Hajaj's property, leaving half on the Al-Walajah side, and the rest -- including his house and nine acres of land -- on the Israeli side.

This would normally have given him free access to Jerusalem.

But last week, government officials told Hajaj his property would be hemmed in by an additional barrier -- a five-metre (16-feet) high electric fence.

His only way into the village will be via a gate in the concrete wall.

From his house, Hajaj can just make out Jerusalem's biblical zoo -- and fears his fate will soon be like that of the animals.

"Anyone one seeing my house closed off will think they are looking at a zoo with caged animals."

Oxfam's Heske said the electronic fence would also cut off Hajaj from his olive trees and a well which are also on the Israeli side. "He would have been the only person who was not going to be closed in by the wall, but now that is no longer the case."

For now, at least, there is little visible evidence of the construction, except for a deep trench which cuts off the village from the vineyards of the Cremisan Monastery whose Salesian monks are famed for their wine.

Villagers say one of the biggest concerns is how they will reach Bethlehem on which they depend for employment, health care, education and other services.

Ahmad Saleh Barghout, a white-haired farmer in his 60s, said he has filed a petition asking for access to his orchard, where his parents and grandmother are buried.

"It's the family graveyard," he explained. "We are Muslims but my brother married a Christian woman and this is the only place where they could be buried together."

Blue flags mark the planned route along which dozens of trees have been uprooted to make way for the wall, including olive trees.

Al-Walajah is home to one of the oldest olive tree in the world -- a knobbly giant that is considered to be around 7,000 years old.

Locals also fear that construction of the wall could spell the demise of the village. "All the young people are talking of leaving the village and going to Bethlehem so that they won't be trapped," said Saleh Helmi.

Helmi, who heads the village council, also rejected the argument that the barrier serves to protect Israelis from Palestinian attacks. "The stopping of suicide attacks is, above all, a Palestinian decision," he said.

"The proof? The wall still isn't finished and there are no more attacks."

Israel has completed 413 kilometres (256 miles) of the planned 709-kilometre (435-mile) barrier since construction began in 2002 following a wave of bombings. When it is completed, 85 percent of the barrier will have been built on occupied West Bank land.

Six years ago, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a non-binding ruling condemning the barrier but Israel has ignored the ruling and continued building.

Israel says the fence is essential to its security, but the Palestinians, reject it as a crude "land grab" whose purpose is to steal Palestinian land.

"Simply put, the wall is an integral part of a regime intent on heading in the direction of apartheid," said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said in a statement marking six years since the ICJ ruling.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.

Israel Warns Aid Ship Not to Sail to Gaza

ship sailed from Greece six weeks after Israeli commandos intercepted an international aid flotilla trying to break the three-year-old Gaza blockade

Robert Berger | Jerusalem Post
11 July 2010


Workers load supplies on to a cargo ship at the Lavrio port, about 60 kilometers southeast of Athens,Greece, 9 Jul 2010
Photo: AP

Workers load supplies on to a cargo ship at the Lavrio port, about 60 kilometers southeast of Athens,Greece, 9 Jul 2010. The Moldova-flagged cargo ship Amalthea commissioned by a Libyan state charity organization made preparations Friday to set sail to Gaza from Greece loaded with aid.

More than a month after Israel's deadly flotilla raid, another aid ship is sailing toward the blockaded Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip.

Israel has warned a ship carrying Libyan aid to Gaza not to defy the naval blockade on the territory. The ship sailed from Greece six weeks after Israeli commandos intercepted an international aid flotilla trying to break the three-year-old Gaza blockade. Nine activists were killed, sparking international outrage.

Israeli Cabinet Minister Daniel Hershkowitz said Israel has not changed its policy and its policy is very clear.

"No ships will be allowed to arrive at Gaza," Hershkowitz said.

Speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Hershkowitz said there are legal ways to help the Palestinians.

"If they want to transfer the humanitarian equipment there to the people in Gaza they are welcome to do it through Ashdod," Hershkowitz said.

Ashdod is an Israeli port near Gaza. Egypt has also offered to receive the ship at the nearby port of El Arish, and there were early reports that the vessel was headed there. But the Libyan charity that hired the ship denies that.

Ayash Daraji, a reporter for the pan-Arab TV station al-Jazeera, is on board the ship

He says the captain told him unequivocally the ship is sailing to Gaza.

Israel says the naval blockade is necessary to prevent weapons from reaching the Palestinian militant group Hamas that rules Gaza. Israeli officials describe the latest attempt to break the blockade as an unnecessary provocation.

Abbas: No point in direct talks with Israel now

By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH (AP) – 1 hour ago

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian president, who is under U.S. pressure to resume direct talks with Israel, said that doing so under current circumstances would be pointless.



Mahmoud Abbas sounded determined not to return to the table unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commits to an internationally mandated settlement freeze and agrees to pick up talks where they left off under the Israeli leader's predecessor in December 2008. However, it could become increasingly difficult for him to stick to his position as the Obama administration pushes harder to revive the negotiations.

Netanyahu hasn't agreed to either demand, and has so far curbed but not frozen settlement activity. He insists negotiations should be held without any preconditions.

Later this week, White House envoy George Mitchell is to meet with Abbas and is expected to lay out some gestures Israel is prepared to make to bring Abbas back to the table, said an Abbas aide.

The Palestinians were not informed about the nature of the gestures, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to brief reporters on the issue. Israeli defense officials said Israel was considering expanding the role of Palestinian security forces in West Bank towns and removing additional checkpoints that hinder the movement of people and goods. They spoke on condition of anonymity because no final decision had been made.

Any decision on resuming talks would not be made without Arab backing, the Abbas aide said. Arab foreign ministers are to discuss the fate of negotiations later this month, he added.

In the absence of direct talks, U.S. envoy George Mitchell has been shuttling between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Abbas said in a speech late Saturday that he has no incentive to resume direct talks.

"We have presented our vision and thoughts and said that if progress is made, we will move to direct talks, but that if no progress is made, it (direct negotiations) will be futile," Abbas said.

"If they (the Israelis) say `come and let's start negotiations from zero,' that is futile and pointless," Abbas added.

Netanyahu reiterated Sunday that he is ready to move to direct talks immediately. "The goal is to promote the political process and to try to reach a peace settlement," he said. "The condition is guarding Israel's security scrupulously."

Netanyahu said in New York last week that if Abbas agreed to sit down with him in direct talks, then a peace agreement could be hammered out within a year.

President Barack Obama called Abbas last week, following the U.S. president's meeting with Netanyahu. The White House said Obama and Abbas talked about ways to revive direct talks soon.

The Palestinians have said that after 17 years of intermittent talks, they don't want to start all over again, especially with an Israeli leader who has retreated from positions presented by his predecessors.

Abbas' aide Yasser Abed Rabbo told Palestinian radio Sunday that the Palestinians don't want to enter open-ended negotiations with Israel.

"There must be a ... timetable, a framework for these negotiations," he said. "We will not enter new negotiations that could take more than 10 years."

The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War. They have said the 1967 borders must be the baseline for negotiations, but that they are ready to swap some land to enable Israel to keep some of the largest settlements it has built on occupied land since 1967.

Netanyahu says he will not relinquish any part of Jerusalem and has not presented his own border plan.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Libyan ship 'will continue to Gaza'

Aljazeera
Sunday, July 11, 2010
13:25 Mecca time, 10:25 GMT



Weeks after the deadly raid on a Turkish aid flotilla, a Libya-sponsored ship is heading with aid to Gaza

Organisers of a Libya-sponsored aid ship have said they will continue their attempt to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, despite Israeli claims that the vessel would instead sail to Egypt.

Yousseuf Sawani, a director of the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, told Al Jazeera that there were no plans for the Al-Amal to dock at the port El-Arish.

"This is definitely a part of the campaign against the ship, a campaign of distortion, but we are definitely heading towards Gaza, because that is where aid should be heading to," he told Al Jazeera.

"This is a purely humane mission, it is neither provocative nor hostile," he said.

The ship set sail from Greece on Saturday, carrying 2,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, but the Israeli foreign ministry said that it had reached an agreement with Greece and Moldova to have the ship diverted to Egypt.

Israeli request

Israeli authorities also reportedly contacted Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian intelligence chief, to request that the ship be allowed to dock in El-Arish, close to the border with the Gaza Strip.
IN DEPTH

But Hossam Zaki, a spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry, said that he was not expecting the ship to travel to the Egyptian port.

"This ship is not headed Egypt. We did not get any official request from the Libyan side for the ship to dock in Egypt," he said.

"Its not about the Israelis' request. Its up to the will of the organisers of the ship.

"They said they are heading to Gaza, they did not approach us. The situation as far we are concerned is a ship heading to Gaza."

The boat was chartered by a charity headed by the son of Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, and is carrying "a number of supporters who are keen on expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people in the plight amidst the siege imposed on Gaza".

'Very serious consequences'

The 92-metre ship, renamed Al-Amal which means "Hope" in Arabic, has a 12-man crew and is carrying at least nine passengers, a representative of Piraeus-based agents Alpha Shipping said.

The passengers were made up of six Libyans, a Moroccan, a Nigerian and an Algerian.
The Moldova-flagged cargo ship is carrying 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid for Gaza [AFP]

"Israel will not let the boat reach Gaza," Yossi Peled, an Israeli cabinet minister, said on Sunday.

Allowing boats to reach the Hamas-run Gaza Strip without being checked would have "very serious consequences" for Israel's security, he said.

The latest attempt to defy the Israeli blockade comes after the killings in May of eight Turks and a dual US-Turkish citizen when Israeli armed forces attacked a flotilla heading for Gaza.

Amid increasing international condemnation after the raid, Israel has begun easing the blockade on the Gaza Strip by allowing in some previously banned items, but still maintains a naval blockade, prevents the export of goods or people over land, and controls the territory's airspace.

Construction materials to repair extensive infrastructure damage suffered during Israel's war in Gaza in December 2008-January 2009 are also heavily restricted.

The Cost of Being Jewish

How the recession affects religion.

by Lisa MillerJuly 08, 2010
Newsweek


It sounds like a Catskills-era joke with a Jewish lawyer in the punchline, but among Jewish leaders it’s deadly serious. Why does it cost so much to be Jewish? At a time when American families are tightening household budgets, does it really make sense to continue to charge thousands of dollars to participate in Jewish life? “Sheer institutional survival now preoccupies the heads of Jewish institutions,” wrote Jack Wertheimer in Commentary in March.

American Jews are always worrying about the fate of American Jewry, of course. Intermarriage rates, hovering around 50 percent, are perennially cited as the prime factor in Jews’ inevitable extinction; and in The New York Review of Books last month, the journalist Peter Beinart argued that unless “establishment Jewry” made room for Jewish dissent about Israel, it would wake up to find “a mass of secular Jews who range from apathetic to appalled.” But on the day-to-day level, the high cost of the basics—synagogue membership, in particular—is troubling, both outdated as a business model and onerous to families having to choose between Hebrew school and math tutoring. A 2005 study put the average yearly synagogue membership at $1,100—but in big cities, fees can be twice or even three times as much (and, anecdotally at least, higher than churches, which often depend on voluntary donations rather than dues). At the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue (italics mine) on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch says dues are “consistent with everyone else’s,” about $3,100 a year. (He, like virtually all rabbis, vows never to turn someone away for an inability to pay.)

Beinart’s piece created major blogosphere buzz, but Wertheimer’s gave chills to professional Jews everywhere. It focused mostly on the plight of the Orthodox, more likely to be poor than Conservative or Reform Jews, and who, because of their strong commitment, often pay more. According to his calculations, an Orthodox Jewish family with three children could expect to spend between $50,000 and $110,000 a year on school fees, synagogue dues, summer camps, and kosher food. He argued that the fate of American Jewry rested on increased and enthusiastic support from philanthropists and activists to enable these families to live, as he would say, “Jewishly.”

I would argue otherwise. In 2008, 2.7 million Americans called themselves religiously Jewish, down from 3.1 million in 1990. Wouldn’t the central challenge of American Jewry be to encourage the broadest range of people (including the intermarried, like me) to identify as Jewish and to raise Jewish kids? Costly barriers to entry need to be taken away, or, at least, reimagined. “We have this very bizarre pay-to-play philosophy,” says Jay Sanderson, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. Christian churches, Sanderson points out, begin with an invitation to prayer; they ask for money later. “The Jewish community’s first instinct is ‘give us money,’ instead of ‘come in.’ ” Sanderson points to the wild success of the Chabad movement, the black-clad proselytizers who stand on street corners worldwide, extending invitations to Jewish passersby. Come pray with us, they say; come eat with us. “Chabad,” says Sanderson, “is working on the Christian model.”

It would be a mistake to assume that Jewish success depends on emulating Christians. Throughout the 20th century, as Jews became prosperous, they built massive synagogues and community centers. Many looked like churches, with stained-glass windows and organ pipes; their pews were full of Jews who had, in a very real sense, nowhere else to go. The country clubs wouldn’t have them; their community, religious, and social life revolved around the temple. Today, American Jews have all kinds of choices about where to spend time and money—Jews no longer need a Jewish pool to swim in—and the buildings have become a burden. “The bills are very high,” says Arnold Eisen, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, who paid $4,000 this year in temple dues. “People need sacred spaces, but when you’re looking at budgets, you’re looking at heat and air conditioning.”

Eisen believes that money questions will force a painful transition in American Judaism. He agrees that the “middle group is in play” and so is seeking to reduce costs to families through something like corporate downsizing: making alliances across denominations, sharing spaces, rabbis, and staff. “Jews have been around for a long time,” says Eisen. “We’ll adjust.”

Lisa Miller is NEWSWEEK's religion editor and the author of Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination With the Afterlife.


When one researches the religious affiliation of editors of America's most popular news magazines we see America's less than 2% Jewish minority overly represented just as they are in advisory positions for the last three U.S. presidents. With this sort of Jewish bias acting to influence Americans through selective news reporting and editorials, is it any wonder that the American people are so relatively naive about their involvement with Israeli policies of repression of Palestinian peoples? Another way to see this is to ask where are the Arab Muslims religious and economic editorial staff of Newsweek, Time, N.Y. Times, Wall Street Journal?

Hamas vows to punish collaborators with Israel as remorse ultimatum is over

English.news.cn 2010-07-11 01:30:13
by Emad Drimly, Saud Abu Ramadan

GAZA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Gaza Strip ruling Islamic Hamas movement vowed to harshly punish Palestinians accused for being collaborators with Israel after the two-month ultimatum period Hamas authorities had given for collaborators to remorse was over on Saturday.

The interior ministry of deposed Hamas government announced on May 8 that it gave a last chance for the Palestinians collaborating with the Israeli security intelligence to give themselves up to the Hamas security forces and remorse until July 10.

The ministry called the campaign "the national campaign to fight collaboration with Israel."

Over the past two months, Hamas has carried out a campaign of public awareness and explained the dangers of collaborating with Israel via local radio, television stations and internet.

Security sources in the Hamas interior ministry said that the campaign "has achieved a great success in the fields of public awareness and fighting the phenomena of collaborating with Israel. "

The sources said that many collaborators responded to the campaign and handed themselves up.

"Around 15 collaborators came to the security headquarters all over the Gaza Strip and expressed readiness to remorse and quit collaboration with Israel," said the sources, adding "after they were questioned for several hours, they were released and sent to their homes."

Palestinian observers said that despite the highly sophisticated technology and intelligence data adopted by Israel to carry out assassinations against Palestinian activists, Israel also deploys human beings to help obtain the needed information.

Hamas said the Israeli Shabak (internal security intelligence) has been working on recruiting dozens of Palestinian youngsters and luring them to work as collaborators, adding the Israeli security recruit them by various means.

"The Israeli intelligence security focuses on the social and economic needs of the Palestinians and takes advantage of the hard living circumstances of the population to pressure on certain individuals, mainly young people, who easily become collaborators, " said the interior ministry sources.

The campaign against collaboration with Israel also included publishing advertisement in main streets, roads and public squares as well as at mosques, which urged the collaborators to remorse and hand themselves up, promising that "it will be kept as a top secret to protect the honor of the collaborators' clans."

Ihab al-Ghussein, spokesman of the Hamas interior ministry, told Xinhua that the campaign focused mainly on developing the public awareness as a preparation to fight against the phenomena, adding that the campaign aimed at forming a Palestinian public opinion against collaboration.

"The campaign has evolved from treating the phenomena and suing those collaborating with the Israeli occupation to educating the people and explaining to them how dangerous it is to be a collaborator," said al-Ghussein.

Meanwhile, Hisham al-Mghari said that the Palestinian society " is able to plan and hold campaigns to get rid of collaboration with Israel and its security apparatuses."

He added that in the Palestinian territories, collaborators are individuals, but in other countries, collaborators usually represent clans and tribes.

"The Israeli intelligence security is taking advantage of the religious and national affiliation, lower education, in addition to the lower living standard and poverty to recruit Palestinians for collaboration," said al-Mghari.

Israeli sources revealed that several armed Palestinian groups managed to unveil a number of Palestinian collaborators with Israel, many of whom were executed, mainly during the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip that last for three weeks in early 2009.

On April 15, the deposed government of Hamas executed two Palestinians convicted for being collaborators with Israel, which was the first ever execution Hamas carried out since it seized control of the Gaza Strip by force in the summer of 2007.

The execution of the two collaborators, which had outraged the Palestinian rights groups, was carried out without getting the approval of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. According to the Palestinian law, the government should get the approval of the president before it executes any criminal.

Palestinian village to be encircled by barrier

By KARIN LAUB (AP) – 6 hours ago

WALAJEH, West Bank — Israel has started construction on a new section of its West Bank separation barrier that Palestinian residents say could sound a death knell for their hamlet.

The barrier, running much of the length of the West Bank, has already disrupted lives in many Palestinian towns and villages in its path. But it threatens to outright smother Walajeh: The community of about 2,000 on the southwest edge of Jerusalem is to be completely encircled by a fence cutting it off from most of its open land, according to an Israeli Defense Ministry map.


FILE - In this Tuesday, April 27, 2010 file photo, Israeli border police officers detain a Palestinian protester after they have sprayed colored pepper spray in his face, as Israeli security forces scuffle with Palestinians during a demonstration against the construction of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Walajeh, outside Jerusalem. Israel has started construction on a new section of its West Bank separation barrier that could mean the death knell for this Palestinian hamlet of 2,200 people. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi, File)


FILE - In this Sunday, April 25, 2010 file photo, an Israeli soldier scuffles with a Palestinian man during a demonstration against the construction of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Walajeh, outside Jerusalem, Sunday, April 25, 2010. Israel has started construction on a new section of its West Bank separation barrier that could mean the death knell for this Palestinian hamlet of 2,200 people. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi, File)


Map locates Walajeh in the West Bank

Walajeh old-timers are determined to stay, but doubt their children will feel the same way.

"We will cling to the village by our teeth," said Adel Atrash, a village council member. "But we don't know how the next generation will look at things. Maybe they won't be able to live with all the difficulties and decide to leave."

Israel began building the barrier in 2002, saying it would be a temporary bulwark against Palestinian suicide bombers and gunmen who have killed hundreds of Israelis. However, the barrier's zigzag through the West Bank brought allegations that Israel is unilaterally drawing a border and grabbing land by scooping up dozens of Jewish settlements.

Six years ago Friday, the International Court of Justice said in a nonbinding ruling that the barrier's path through occupied territory violates international law and that Israel should tear down what it has built.

Israel rejected the decision, saying the barrier is crucial for keeping Israelis safe, and denies it is drawing a border.

"In future negotiations (on Palestinian statehood), the route of the security barrier will not constitute a political factor," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.

Construction of the barrier continues as Israel and the Palestinians hold indirect negotiations the U.S. hopes will eventually lead to face-to-face talks on a peace treaty establishing a Palestinian state. But the Palestinians have refused direct negotiations without a complete freeze on settlement building.

Today, the barrier, almost two-thirds complete, runs for more than 250 miles (400 kilometers) through the West Bank and east Jerusalem, war-captured territories claimed by the Palestinians for a state. Once finished, the barrier would put 9.4 percent of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, on the Israeli side, along with 85 percent of half a million Israeli settlers, according to a U.N. report.

The barrier — walls of cement slabs in urban areas and wire fences in the countryside — has made it harder for tens of thousands of Palestinians to reach farm land, schools and medical care.

Those who live in the "seam zone" between Israel and the barrier or have farm land there need special permits they can't always obtain and cross through gates that aren't always open, according to the U.N. report, issued on the anniversary of the world court ruling.

Walajeh's fate appears to be sealed because it is virtually surrounded by Israeli settlements.

The barrier will make a large dip into the West Bank to keep the settlements, including Har Gilo and the Gush Etzion bloc, on the "Israeli" side. Within that pocket, an extra loop of barrier is to surround Walajeh on three sides, with a fenced settler road to Har Gilo closing off the fourth side, according to the Defense Ministry map of the projected route.

Moreover, the loop runs tightly around Walajeh's built-up area, penning it within less than a square mile and isolating it from almost all its farmlands. Of 36 Palestinian villages that are or will be caught in the "seam zone," none are as closely encircled as Walajeh, said Ray Dolphin, a U.N. barrier expert in Jerusalem.

Israeli Defense Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror said Friday he could not comment on the details of construction around Walajeh, but noted the route withstood a challenge in an Israeli court four years ago.

The Israeli military would not comment on how villagers are to get in and out of their enclave. Israel has raised the possibility of an access road with a checkpoint, Atrash said, as well as gates so farmers could reach their lands. Residents are skeptical, considering the difficulties farmers elsewhere have had.

In recent weeks, bulldozers began leveling land and uprooting trees near Walajeh in the run-up to construction.

Ahmed Barghouti, 63, who lives close to the fence's path, says he lost 88 olive trees last month and now fears for a nearby family burial plot. The village's lawyer, Ghiath Nasser, says he won a temporary order to stop work on that section until Israel's Supreme Court decides what should be done with the graves of Barghouti's parents and grandmother.

The house of a neighbor, Omar Hajajla, lies just outside Walajeh's barrier loop. Hajajla said Israeli officials last week informed him his home would be surrounded by its own electric fence.

"This is like putting my entire family in jail," the father of three young boys said. "My children need to cross four gates to go school. We don't know how it will work out, but I'm sure it will be hell for my entire family."

The barrier is just the latest blow for Walajeh, which has lost most of its land to Israel in decades of conflict.

Israeli forces took control of the village in the 1948 Mideast War, and residents fled, some resettling on parts of its lands that ended up in the Jordanian-controlled West Bank.

After 1967, Israel expanded east Jerusalem's boundaries and absorbed half of Walajeh. But residents were still classified as West Bankers, not Jerusalemites, limiting their rights and freedom of movement.

Since then, Walajeh has lost more acres to expanding settlements and roads, said Matteo Benatti, a U.N. official. From its pre-1948 size of 4,400 acres, Walajeh now has around 1,100 acres, nearly half of which will be cut off by the barrier if built as projected, he said.

Plans have been floated to build more homes for Israeli settlers in the area. In November, Israel's government gave preliminary approval to expand the nearby east Jerusalem's Gilo settlement. Private developers propose building apartments for Israelis on the lands surrounding Walajeh and have been lobbying to include the village on the Israeli side of the barrier, so far to no avail. Dror, the Defense Ministry spokesman, said he did not believe the developers would get their plan approved.

Also, more than two dozen houses in Walajeh have been demolished over the years and 41 out of about 200 remaining homes face Israeli demolition orders on grounds they were built without permits, said Meir Margalit, a Jerusalem city council member. Margalit, who supports the village, says permits are impossible to obtain.

Walajeh faces an uphill battle for survival, said Margalit. "In any scenario, my feeling is that Walajeh will disappear."

Associated Press writer Dalia Nammari in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Israel steps up bid to block aid ship bound for Gaza

BBC News
July 10, 2010

Israel has stepped up its attempts to stop an aid ship breaking its blockade of Gaza, sending a letter to the UN and engaging Greece and Moldova in talks.


The Moldovan-flagged ship, Amalthea, chartered by a charity run by the son of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, was due to leave the Greek port of Lavrio on Saturday.

Israel said it now believed the ship would not reach Gaza.

An Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound ship in May killed nine Turkish activists.

Israel insisted its troops were defending themselves but the raid sparked international condemnation. Israel recently eased its blockade, allowing in almost all consumer goods but maintaining a "blacklist" of some items.

Israel says its blockade of the Palestinian territory is needed to prevent the supply of weapons to the Hamas militant group which controls Gaza.

The foreign ministry believes that due to these talks, the ship will not reach Gaza

Israeli foreign ministry

Israel has been engaged in intense diplomatic activity to prevent the Amalthea, renamed Hope for the mission, reaching Gaza.

A foreign ministry statement said that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had spoken with his Greek and Moldovan counterparts on the issue.

The statement said: "The foreign ministry believes that due to these talks, the ship will not reach Gaza."

Ministry officials quoted by the Israeli news source Haaretz said that if the ship did sail it would travel instead to the Egyptian port of el-Arish.

Israel also lobbied the UN to take action.

Israel's UN ambassador Gabriela Shalev said in a letter: "Israel calls upon the international community to exert its influence on the government of Libya to demonstrate responsibility and prevent the ship from departing to the Gaza Strip."

Ms Shalev also warned: "Israel reserves the right under international law to prevent this ship from violating the existing naval blockade on the Gaza Strip."

She said the motives of the operators were "questionable and provocative".
'Expressing solidarity'

The Amalthea is being loaded with about 2,000 tonnes of food, cooking oil, medicines and pre-fabricated houses.

It has been chartered by the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation. Its chairman is Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.

The organisation said the 92m (302ft) vessel would also carry "a number of supporters who are keen on expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people."

The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Lavrio says the Libyans clearly believe the time is right to test Israel's resolve to maintain the naval blockade.

Charity director Yousef Sawani said: "We are doing what we can, this is our responsibility. If everyone says 'we will not allow this', nothing will happen and the people of Gaza will continue under starvation."

Iran imposes media blackout over stoning sentence woman

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani will not be stoned, the regime has said, but family fear she will be hanged instead.

Saeed Kamali Dehghan
guardian.co.uk,
Friday 9 July 2010 18.28 BST


Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who has been convicted of adultery in Iran and sentenced to death. Photograph: AP

Iran has imposed a media blackout over the case of a 43-year-old mother of two who was sentenced to be stoned to death and whose fate is still unclear despite an apparent "reprieve".

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is still facing execution by hanging after being convicted of adultery, her son told the Guardian today.

Newspapers, agencies and TV channels in Iran have been banned from reporting Mohammadi Ashtiani's death sentence, despite an international campaign launched by her children, which has been joined by politicians and celebrities from all over the world.

The campaign, first highlighted by the Guardian last week, has failed to stop the Iranian authorities from pressing ahead.

Last night the Iranian embassy in London issued an opaque statement saying that Mohammadi Ashtiani would not be stoned to death. "According to information from the relevant judicial authorities in Iran, she will not be executed by stoning punishment," it said.

The statement was not reported inside Iran and neither was the news of stoning death sentences for 15 other Iranians.

"It's not the first time we are banned from reporting a stoning case, but because of the sensitivity over Sakineh's case the censorship for her story is even stricter," said an Iranian journalist from Tehran who asked not to be named.

"We are banned from reporting any details about her case. If they think that it [stoning to death] is an Islamic rule, why are they afraid of it so much? I think that the statement issued by Iran's embassy in London is just to calm down the situation. Once the outrage has cooled off, they might hang Sakineh instead."

Iran has not stoned a woman to death since 2007 when the execution of Mahboubeh M sparked outcry in Iran. She had been forced to confess to adultery.

"They told her that they'll pour boiling water on her head if she refuses to confess that she had sex with another man except her husband," said Soheila Vahdati, a human rights activist in California. "They executed her in secret and we were all informed when her death sentence was completed."

Mahboubeh's story became known only when an official witness of her death revealed that she had been buried alive up to her shoulders while the guards stoned her to death.

A number of men have been stoned to death in recent years.

Mohammadi Ashtiani's son, Sajad, 22, who began the campaign to save her, said the embassy's statement has not stopped him worrying for his mother. "They just said that she won't be stoned, it doesn't mean that she won't be executed. She's still on death row."

A prisoner reprieved before stoning may be hanged, as was the case for Abdollah Farivar in 2008. Farivar, convicted of "illicit relationship outside marriage", was initially sentenced to death by stoning but later hanged when a campaign for his case attracted worldwide attention.

Another successful Zionist enforcement of their control of U.S. and U.K. policies: UK envoy's praise for Lebanon cleric draws Israel anger

BBC News
10:52 GMT, Friday, 9 July 2010 11:52 UK


Frances Guy Frances Guy has extensive experience in the Middle East

Israel has criticised Britain's ambassador to Lebanon for eulogising a recently deceased Lebanese cleric said to have inspired Hezbollah.

Frances Guy wrote on her personal blog that Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah was a "decent man" who rated among the people she most admired.

An Israeli spokesman said Ayatollah Fadlallah was "unworthy of praise".

The UK foreign office says it has taken down the blog after "mature consideration".

It said the comments reflected Ms Guy's personal opinion, not official UK policy.

Ayatollah Fadlallah, Lebanon's top Shia Muslim cleric, died on Sunday at the age of 74. Thousands of people attended his funeral in Beirut and tributes poured in from all over the Arab and Islamic worlds.

Two days ago, CNN sacked a veteran Middle East editor who wrote on Twitter that she "respected" the late cleric, saying that her credibility had been compromised.
Controversial figure

Ayatollah Fadlallah was customarily described as the spiritual leader of the militant movement Hezbollah when it was formed in 1982 - a claim both he and the group denied.

When you visited him you could be sure of a real debate, a respectful argument and you knew you would leave his presence feeling a better person

Frances Guy British ambassador to Lebanon Mixed legacy of Ayatollah Fadlallah CNN sacks Middle East journalist

Ms Guy, who has been ambassador since 2006, wrote on her blog that Ayatollah Fadlallah was the politician in Lebanon she most enjoyed meeting.

"The world needs more men like him willing to reach out across faiths, acknowledging the reality of the modern world and daring to confront old constraints," she wrote.

Israel's foreign ministry denounced the comments.

"We believe that the spiritual leader of [Hezbollah] is unworthy of any praise or eulogising," a spokesman told the Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot.

"If Hezbollah was firing missiles at London and Glasgow, would this leader still be called 'decent'?" he added.

Ayatollah Fadlallah was a controversial figure.

He was revered as one of Shia Islam's highest religious authorities and won support from many Muslims for his anti-American stance and his support for the Islamic revolution in Iran.

He advocated suicide attacks as a means of fighting Israel, and has been linked to the 1983 suicide bombings that killed more 300 American troops at the US marine barracks in Beirut.

But he condemned the 9/11 terror attacks and had relatively progressive views on the role of women in society.
'Personal view'

Hezbollah's military wing is proscribed in the UK as a terrorist organisation.
Continue reading the main story Women at Ayatollah Fadlallah's funeral in Beirut, 6 July Thousands mourn cleric Obituary: Grand Ayatollah Fadlallah

But Ms Guy, who has met with Hezbollah officials on several occasions, wrote that Ayatollah Fadlallah's passing left Lebanon "a lesser place".

"When you visited him you could be sure of a real debate, a respectful argument and you knew you would leave his presence feeling a better person," she wrote.

"That for me is the real effect of a true man of religion; leaving an impact on everyone he meets, no matter what their faith."

The British foreign office said it had removed the blog post as it did not fully reflect the British government's policy.

"The ambassador expressed a personal view on Sheik Sayyed Fadlallah, describing the man as she knew him," a spokesman told the BBC.

"While we welcomed his progressive views on women's rights and interfaith dialogue, we also had profound disagreements - especially over his statements advocating attacks on Israel," he added.

Iranians still facing death by stoning despite 'reprieve'

Fifteen could still die in horrific sentence after being allegedly convicted of adultery

Saeed Kamali Dehghan and Ian Black
guardian.co.uk,
Thursday 8 July 2010 21.01 BST




An Iranian woman at a protest in Brussels highlights the barbarity of death by stoning, in which women are buried up to their necks in front of a crowd of volunteers. Photograph: Thierry Roge/Reuters

Twelve Iranian women and three men are on death row awaiting execution by stoning despite an apparent last-minute reprieve for a mother of two who had been facing the horrific sentence after being convicted of adultery.

Iran halts woman's death by stoning



Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani could still face death penalty, despite reprieve that follows international campaign led by her children

Human rights groups and activists welcomed a wave of international publicity and protests over the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, who was awaiting execution in the western Iranian town of Tabriz after what her lawyer called an unjust trial and a sham conviction.

The Iranian embassy in London said in a statement that "according to information from the relevant judicial authorities" the stoning would not go ahead. If confirmed it would be an victory for a brief but intense campaign that was first highlighted by the Guardian last week.

However, there are still concerns over her plight. In a previous case a prisoner who was to be stoned was instead executed by hanging.

Speaking to this paper Mohammadi Ashtiani's son Sajad, said his mother – whom he had spoken to by telephone – believed the pressure on her behalf might succeed, although he had not heard of any reprieve. "The campaign for her release is going very well," he said. "They gave me permission to talk to her and she was very thankful to the people of the world for supporting her. I'm very happy that so many have joined me in protesting this injustice. It was the first time in years I heard any hope in my mother's voice."

Without a reprieve, Mohammadi Ashtiani would have been buried up to her neck before being pelted with stones large enough to cause pain but not so large as to kill her immediately. Iran routinely censors information about executions, but all the 12 other women on death row have been convicted on adultery charges, as has one of the three men.

Azar Bagheri, 19, was arrested when she was 15 after her husband accused her of seeing another man. She has been subjected to mock stonings along with partial burial in the ground.

Ashraf Kalhori, 40, also sentenced to death by stoning, was forced to confess to a relationship with her husband's murderer, and has been in Tehran's Evin prison for seven years, according to her lawyer.

In one especially gruesome case, Maryam Ayubi, another alleged adulteress, fainted while being ritually washed before her execution in 2001 and was stoned to death while strapped to a stretcher. Outrage over that led to the marking of 11 July as the annual international day against stoning – which will see demonstrations at the Iran embassy in London.

Iranian activists say the tragedy is that the families of those sentenced to death often ignore them. "It doesn't matter to them whether the charge of adultery is true or not because the honour of the family is tainted so they forget the poor creature awaiting death," said Soheila Vahdati, who is now based in California.

"It's not possible to talk about these prisoners in public because their families don't want their names mentioned or their pictures published. Their families don't want to defend them neither. Mohammadi Ashtiani's case is amazing because her children are campaigning for her courageously and said that their mother is innocent."

Shammameh Ghorbani, who is awaiting stoning, begged not to be freed from prison because she feared being killed by her family.

Shadi Sadr, an acclaimed Iranian lawyer, said it was hard to know exactly how many people were still facing stoning. Last year the Iranian parliament passed a law banning it, but the powerful Guardian Council has been silent on the issue.

"Many women are kept in prison because the government is very scared of the public attention," Sadr said. "One of my clients has been there for eight years and her family have abandoned her."

Publicity helps. "The only reason the Iranian government has not carried out stoning sentences on all these people is that it is afraid of Iranian public reaction and international attention," said Sadr.

The embassy said in its statement: "This kind of punishment has rarely been implemented in Iran" and condemned media reports about the case as unreliable.

The 12 women on death row also include Mariam Ghorbanzadeh, 25, Iran Iskandari, 31, Kheyrieh Valania, 42, Sarimeh Sajadi, 30, Kobra Babaei, and Afsaneh R.

Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted of having "illicit relationships" with two men. But her lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaie, insisted there was no evidence to justify an adultery conviction. As a member of Iran's Azerbaijani minority, her inability to understand the language of the court also prevented a fair trial, he said.

William Hague, the foreign secretary, added his voice to the outrage today, condemning a "medieval punishment that has no place in the modern world". He added: "The continued use of such a punishment in Iran demonstrates a blatant disregard for international human rights commitments ... as well as the interests of its people. I call on Iran to put an immediate stay to the execution of Ms Mohammadi Ashtiani on the charge of adultery and review the process by which she was tried, and her sentence.

"She has already faced the disgraceful punishment of 99 lashes for adultery; her execution would disgust and appal the watching world."

Actors Emma Thompson, Colin Firth and Juliette Binoche have backed the appeal to halt the stoning and playwright Sir David Hare. John Bercow, the Commons speaker, made a rare statement condemning a "horrific" matter and a "grotesque abuse" of human rights.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party, requires states that have not yet abolished the death penalty to restrict its use to the "most serious crimes". The United Nations general assembly has called on all states to introduce a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.