Chris Hedges condemns Israeli Gaza Massacre

Chris Hedges, author, spoke at a Revolution Books Town Hall Meeting at Ethical Culture Society January 13, 2009 condemning Israel and US complicity in Israel's murderous destruction of Gaza

Global boycott movement marks its successes

Jeff Handmaker, The Electronic Intifada, 20 February 2009

Responding to the many calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, solidarity movements around the world have marked many successes. It is important for human rights advocates to build on this momentum and seize the opportunity to do what is within their power to try and hold Israel accountable for its abuses of human rights and other international laws.

Since the initial BDS call by Palestinian intellectuals and academics in October 2003, which was followed by separate calls for sports, arts, economic and other calls for BDS, there has been a seismic shift in the global solidarity movement for human rights in Israel-Palestine. Lawyers, doctors, academics, students, trade unionists, school teachers and many other activists have marked successes around the world. Their efforts are an inspiring reflection of the South African anti-apartheid movement, where BDS was also used very effectively.

In first few weeks of 2009 alone, European, North American and South African solidarity movements have made remarkable progress:

• A growing number of politicians in Europe and North America have put forward uncomfortable, probing questions to their governments and clearly want to do more. One example is the "Break the Silence" campaign within the Dutch Labor Party.
• Numerous letters and opinion pieces have been published by prominent figures in major national newspapers, including statement by prominent lawyers and professors published by The Sunday Times on 11 January 2009.
• The global "Derail Veolia" campaign has grown in leaps and bounds. An important success was the decision by the Stockholm municipality to cancel an agreement with Veolia Transport, on the basis of its involvement in the Jerusalem light-rail project, to the tune of several billion euros.
• There have been calls for international investigations of war crimes from the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the UN Human Rights Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the head of UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestine refugees) and the UN Secretary General as well as scores of high-profile international lawyers around the world.
• The European Parliament managed to halt negotiations on strengthening the trading relationship between the EU and Israel in the framework of the Association Agreement and there are new, emboldened efforts to try and get the Association Agreement suspended altogether.
• Countless demonstrations have taken place in villages, towns and cities around the world, from Cape Town to Swansea and from Stockholm to Montreal and they are attracting decent publicity. Where there has been no television crew present, activists have made effective use of online resources such as YouTube.
• In South Africa there was a major success when dockworkers affiliated with SATAWU and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) refused to unload a ship containing Israeli goods. The story made national headlines for several days.
• Academic boycott is taking hold in academic institutions around the world -- students in particular have been leading the way on this, but academics also.

Israel's 22-day-long bombardment of Gaza, the greatest use of military force in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 1967 and what several commentators have already referred to as the Palestinian Sharpeville, has greatly fueled BDS efforts.

Especially before the blockade and recent carnage in Gaza, some activists raised concerns that by pursuing BDS, they may be curtailing dialogue, isolating progressive elements within Israel or even harming Palestinians. However, these concerns have greatly diminished as activists have realized how effective a mechanism BDS really is. In any event, the existence of a dialogue towards a just and sustainable peace between Palestinians and Israel is clearly non-existent, and there is little incentive on the part of Israel to engage in this any time soon. Progressive elements within Israel are still very marginal, but growing and many of these courageous, progressive Israelis have themselves called for BDS against Israel. As for harm against Palestinians, the fact that Palestinians themselves have called for BDS should be as clear a sign as any that the cost of not responding to the call causes far more harm.

Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, activists should continue to grasp the opportunities that BDS offers and build up the momentum that has been generated. As Israeli apartheid week, taking place worldwide from 1-8 March (see http://apartheidweek.org), solidarity activists should continue to work within the narrow, but highly significant space that exists for them to try and hold the Israeli government, and their own governments, accountable for abuses of human rights and humanitarian law against Palestinians.

Jeff Handmaker is an author, a human rights lawyer, and a researcher and university lecturer in human rights at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. A version of this article was originally published by Indymedia US.

The dismantling of Israel Document: Israel is an outlawed entity

The dismantling of Israel Document: Israel is an outlawed entity

In the name of God
The Lord of all human beings

The authors of this document are a group of youth who do not belong to a political trend or party, and do not have any ethnic, racist, or religious agenda. We uphold humanity and the right of all humans to live with dignity and peace regardless of religion, color, race, political beliefs, ethnicity, and nationality.
We announce our full respect of all principles and creeds, and our support to righteousness and justice against oppression, suppression, murder, usurpation of rights, and distortion of facts.

As advocates for human rights and values, we believe in dismantling what is internationally recognized as “the state of Israel”.
This document states our legitimate and humanitarian arguments.

First: Israel is not a state according to the international definition.

The definition of a state is: “A state is a political association with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population.”
In reference to the above definition, we can construe that:
- Israel is not a political association; it is a religious-ethnic racist association.
- Israel is not a sovereign state, it depends entirely on US political, economical, and militarily support, making it an American colony, rather than a sovereign state.
Consecutive US administrations unremittingly state its commitment to Israeli security. According to international norms, every state is committed only to its own security, and no state on earth is committed to another state’s security, except the United States of America which is committed to Israeli security.
It would be more realistic and precise if Israel is recognized as a US colony.

Second: Israel is an internationally outlawed entity and must be prosecuted.
Although Israel is the creation of the United Nations — created after Zionist terrorist groups assassinated Folk Bernadette, the Count of Weisberg, who acquired legal proofs to avert the foundation of Israel — yet, Israel, from its very inception, was a deviant entity that never conformed to international laws or UN Security Council resolutions, relying on the US veto.

1- Israel was founded by terrorist groups prosecuted of bombing civilians in hotels, cinemas, and markets: Lehi, Stern, Revisionist Zionist group, Irgun, and Haganah.
2- Israel has violated 35 UN Security Council resolutions and, protected by the US veto, has not been prosecuted.
3- Israel maintains occupation, deliberately targets civilians, reporters, and doctors, and it prevents the arrival of aid to the injured.
4- Israel has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel develops weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons, and deliberately targets civilians with internationally prohibited weapons.
5- Israel violates the political and civil rights of its own citizens despite its claims of being a democracy. Israel has banned a number of Israeli political parties from nomination in the late elections because members of these parties are from Arab origins. This decree was issued according to discriminating and racist measures which are against international law and are reminiscent of the obsolete South African apartheid system.
Israeli officials announce openly that they believe in the “purgation” of the “Jewish State” from non-Jewish citizens. Tzipi Livni said that in the case of founding the Palestinian state, all Israelis from Arab origins would have to leave Israel to the Palestinian state in order to “purify” Israel.

Third: Zionism contradicts articles of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

1- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Articles breached by Israel:

Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colors, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

- Zionism is based mainly on discrimination. It is rooted in the idea of the “Chosen People”. Such a misinterpretation for the Torah explains the discrimination practiced by Israel against Palestinians and Arab-Israeli citizens as seen in occupation, blockade, targeting civilians, land confiscation, building an apartheid wall, and deprivation of political, social, and economical rights. All these atrocities are directed to Arabs because of their ethnicity and religions.
- N.B.: Such violations are totally condemned by religious Jews, and as human beings we believe that Zionism and Israel are the greatest anti-Semites in the world as they defame Judaism, distort the Jewish image, and monopolize what they think is the right interpretation of Judaism, which is completely rejected by anti-Zionist Jews.

Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.

- From the moment Israel was founded, it was mainly based on depriving people from their rights of life, liberty and security. It started with the Deir Yassin massacre, which was executed by the Zionist terrorist groups. This massacre was the seed of the Zionist state. Immediately after the foundation of Israel, several massacres against civilians took place. As there is no space to mention all of them here, so we will mention only a few of them: al-Dawayma massacre (1948), Kafr Kassem massacre (1965), and the most recent massacre took place in Gaza (2008/2009). Israel officials stated frequently that they deliberately target civilians to put pressure on groups that resist them.
- Israel bombed UN buildings and staff several times in Lebanon and Palestine.
- Israel targets civilians and UN buildings with internationally prohibited weapons.
- Israel refused to receive the UN deputy after the Jenin massacre (2002).

Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

- Israel practices unrelenting torture and degrading treatment of Palestinian prisoners, civilians seized at checkpoints, children on their way to schools, and civilian inhabitants of the Occupied Territories.
- Israeli soldiers handcuff and blindfold civilians and children seized at checkpoints. They also take children as human shields to protect themselves from the rocks thrown by other children.
- Palestinian homes are also subject to daily incursions by Israeli soldiers directing their rifles toward children and women to terrify them.

Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

- Israel from its very beginning expelled Palestinians from their lands, demolished their homes. As a result, Palestinians are now living as refugees in different countries.
- Israel denies the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland.
- Israel is imprisoning thousands of Palestinians, many of whom are children and women.
- Reports as well as eyewitnesses assert that during the recent aggression on Gaza (2008/2009), Israel arrested more than one thousand Palestinians over the age of 16 and placed them in dangerous areas, often using them as human shields.
- During the war on Gaza (2008/2009), the Israeli army arrested injured civilians and deliberately left them bleeding, preventing medical crews from reaching them.
- Witnesses assert that during the war (2008/2009), the Israeli army used injured civilians as human shields by placing them in holes dug right in front of tanks, jeopardizing their lives by placing them on the line of fire.
- Witnesses testify that Israeli soldiers used a number of families as human shields during breaking into homes in Gaza (2008/2009).
- The Israeli army used homes in Gaza as military observation points and military bases, detaining families in these homes to use them as human shields.
- Till now, there are more than 200 citizens under the custody of the Israeli army, some of whom were subjected to direct investigation, torment, and extortion.
- The Israeli army refused to cooperate with the Red Cross, Palestinian authorities, and human rights organizations which demanded that Israel reveal the numbers and names of the arrested. Such rejection of cooperation arouses intense apprehension in relation to the safety of the arrested.

Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

- Israel deprives Palestinians from their right to freedom of movement and residence by seizing them at checkpoints for long periods of time that may reach twenty hours or more.
- Israel prevents refugees from returning to their homeland.
- Israel restricts the residence of a huge number of Palestinians and stops them from leaving the country without stating reasons.

Article 14.
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

- Israel bombs Palestinian cities and stops Palestinian civilians from leaving dangerous spots by the closure of borders and blockade (war on Gaza 2008/2009).

Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

- Israel grants its nationality to any Jew in the world on a religious basis, while it threatens some Arab-Israelis with the revocation of their nationality, because they adopt certain political views that Israel does not agree with.
- After exiling Palestinians from their lands, Israel refuses to grant them the right of return.
- Israel imposes Israeli nationality on residents in the Golan Heights and practices all kinds of intimidations on those who refuse the Israeli nationality.

Article 17.
(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

- Israel confiscates Palestinian lands, expels Palestinians, and banishes them in order to build its own settlements on occupied territories.
- Israel, for decades, uproots and destroys tens of thousands of olive trees, as well as citrus and grape groves. They all belong to the Palestinians for centuries.
- Israel built an apartheid wall on confiscated Palestinian land and divided Palestinian villages into unviable cantons.

Article 21.
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

We have already pointed out that Israel has denied Arab-Israeli parties participation in elections and exercising their democratic rights because of their ethnic background. Israel refuses, suppresses, and undermines all democratic options of the Palestinian people at the territories under the Palestinian Authority’s rule. It detains democratically elected ministers, deputies, and representatives, and suppresses their freedom without trials or with formal military trials. Detainees do not enjoy the most basic civil rights as individuals and as representatives of the people.

Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

- Israel closes border crossings and denies Palestinians access to humanitarian aid as has been the ongoing situation in Gaza.
- Israel exploits Palestinian workers and makes them work for lower wages. Palestinian workers do not enjoy any legal rights inside Israel, further exposing them to ill-treatment and being fired at any time without having any legal rights.

Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Israel is violating all these articles by putting restrictions on Palestinian workers, detaining them for long hours at the crossings and checkpoints. Israel is also politically exploiting most of them by asking them to reveal security information to its intelligence agency about Palestinian officials and citizens in order to kill or arrest them, in exchange for the workers’ wages and rights.
Israel has made the humanitarian situation and living conditions of Palestinians a living hell.
Many Palestinian pregnant women give birth at the crossings and checkpoints in the open. The Israeli army does not offer any assistance or facilities to transport pregnant women and patients.
Hundreds die annually at the crossings after having been denied access to hospitals and aid. Palestinian children are born and grow up under bombardment and blockade, and among scenes of death and destruction, depriving them of their most basic rights as children.
Israel imposes on children a life in an environment of perpetual war, depriving them from their rights to learn and to go safely to schools.
Schools have been bombed many times, and the proportion of dead Palestinian children is the highest in modern wars. Among these children many infants are shot dead at point-blank range.

Israel breaches most, if not all, the articles of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political rights in relation with its conduct to Palestinians and residents in the occupied Golan Height’s.

PART 1

Article 1
1- All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
2- All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.
3- The States Parties to the present Covenant, including those having responsibility for the administration of Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories, shall promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect that right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.

- Israel is occupying Palestinian territories and the Golan heights, refusing to conform to Security Council resolutions stating that Israel must retreat from the occupied lands.
- Israel denies Palestinians and tenants of the Golan's their right of self-determination, and denies their rights of freedom in determining their political status, pursuing their economic, social and cultural development, and uses fierce and illegal force to prevent them from practicing the mentioned rights.
- Israel targets prominent Palestinian cultural figures. In 1970, Israel assassinated the prominent Palestinian literary figure Ghassan Kanafani. In 1987, Israel assassinated the prominent Palestinian cartoonist Naji Al-Ali.
- Israel prevents Palestinians from reaching their schools, and prevents them from joining universities, and when they try to acquire grants abroad, it stops them from traveling.

PART II
Article 2
Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Where not already provided for by existing legislative or other measures, each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to take the necessary steps. in accordance with its constitutional processes and with the provisions of the present Covenant, to adopt such legislative or other measures as may be necessary to give effect to the rights recognized in the present Covenant.
Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes:
To ensure that any person whose rights or freedoms as herein recognized are violated shall have an effective remedy, notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity; to ensure that any person claiming such a remedy shall have his rights thereto determined by competent judicial, administrative or legislative authorities, or by any other competent authority provided for by the legal system of the State, and to develop the possibilities of judicial remedy;
To ensure that the competent authorities shall enforce such remedies when granted.

- Israel breaches this article. Arab citizens in Israel are denied all the rights that are granted to any Jewish Israel. Jews in Israel are allowed to own and carry weapons, practice rituals of their religion — even if those rituals include extremist or racist activities like cursing other religions and races — and Jews are allowed to point their weapons at any non-Jewish citizens walking in the streets. Such acts are not illegal according to Israeli law.
- Non-Jewish citizens are forced to join the army, placed in the line of fire, and their lives are jeopardized deliberately, while Jews serving in the army are highly protected.
- Non-Jewish citizens are compelled to serve in the army in Arab districts, and forced to attack their own people. If they refuse, they face imprisonment.
- Israel deprives non-Jewish citizens from practicing rituals of their religions frequently, and if they allow them, the army sieges the church or the mosque.
- Israel prevents men under the age of fifty to pray in Al-Aqsa Mosque and force them to pray in the streets surrounded by tanks and rifles.
- Arabs arrested by Israel are denied all their rights, exposed to torment and receive fake trials in which the judge deals with the prisoner according to religion and race, not according to the legal situation.
- More than ten thousand Arabs are incarcerated in Israeli prisons because of their political views. Many of them have not undergone any trials.

Article 4
In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed, the States Parties to the present Covenant may take measures derogating from their obligations under the present Covenant to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with their other obligations under international law and do not involve discrimination solely on the ground of race, color, sex, language, religion or social origin.
No derogation from articles 6, 7, 8 (paragraphs 1 and 2), 11, 15, 16 and 18 may be made under this provision.
Any State Party to the present Covenant availing itself of the right of derogation shall immediately inform the other States Parties to the present Covenant, through the intermediary of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, of the provisions from which it has derogated and of the reasons by which it was actuated. A further communication shall be made, through the same intermediary, on the date on which it terminates such derogation.

Israel violates all these points in the above article. Under the pretext of protecting Israeli security, Israel divests all Arab citizens from security.
Protected by US veto, Israel never complies with UN Security Council resolutions.

Article 9
Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.
Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him.
Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release. It shall not be the general rule that persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, but release may be subject to guarantees to appear for trial, at any other stage of the judicial proceedings, and, should occasion arise, for execution of the judgment.
Anyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take proceedings before a court, in order that that court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of his detention and order his release if the detention is not lawful.
Anyone who has been the victim of unlawful arrest or detention shall have an enforceable right to compensation.

Palestinians under Israeli occupation do not enjoy any security. Israeli forces break up homes and subject civilians to arbitrary arrest. They are deprived of their freedom without any legal pretext and without even knowing the reason of their arrest.
They receive inhumane treatment during their arrest.
After arresting one Palestinian, frequently, Israeli army bulldozes his or her home, and abuses his or her family.
After arrest, Palestinians are subjected to fierce torture.
Israeli courts do not apply the law on the Palestinians. They take a prior hostile position toward the prosecuted according to race and religion.

Article 10
All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.
Accused persons shall, save in exceptional circumstances, be segregated from convicted persons and shall be subject to separate treatment appropriate to their status as unconvicted persons;
Accused juvenile persons shall be separated from adults and brought as speedily as possible for adjudication.
The penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of prisoners the essential aim of which shall be their reformation and social rehabilitation. Juvenile offenders shall be segregated from adults and be accorded treatment appropriate to their age and legal status.

- Any Palestinian or Arab arrested by Israeli forces is treated with indignity and inhumanely.
- Every Palestinian arrested by Israeli forces is subjected to torture.
- Palestinians arrested for political reasons are put in the same cells with criminals.
- Palestinian juvenile persons are put in the same cells with criminal adults.
- More than ten thousand Palestinians and Arabs are imprisoned and subjected to inhumane conditions. Many of them are children, women, and pregnant women.
- Pregnant Arab women imprisoned in Israeli jails give birth in the prison, and the babies are not allowed to go to relatives' custody outside the prison.

Article 12
Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence.
Everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own.
The above-mentioned rights shall not be subject to any restrictions except those which are provided by law, are necessary to protect national security, public order (ordre public), public health or morals or the rights and freedoms of others, and are consistent with the other rights recognized in the present Covenant.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.

- Israel deprives millions of refugees from returning to their country from which they were expelled by force.
- Israel arbitrarily deprives Palestinian youths from leaving the country to receive an education abroad. It also deprives them from receiving education in their country.

Article 14
All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals. In the determination of any criminal charge against him, or of his rights and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law. The press and the public may be excluded from all or part of a trial for reasons of morals, public order (ordre public) or national security in a democratic society, or when the interest of the private lives of the parties so requires, or to the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice; but any judgment rendered in a criminal case or in a suit at law shall be made public except where the interest of juvenile persons otherwise requires or the proceedings concern matrimonial disputes or the guardianship of children.
Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall have the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.
In the determination of any criminal charge against him, everyone shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality:
To be informed promptly and in detail in a language which he understands of the nature and cause of the charge against him;
To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defense and to communicate with counsel of his own choosing;
To be tried without undue delay;
To be tried in his presence, and to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing; to be informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right; and to have legal assistance assigned to him, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment by him in any such case if he does not have sufficient means to pay for it;
To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him;
To have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court;
Not to be compelled to testify against oneself or to confess guilt.
In the case of juvenile persons, the procedure shall be such as will take account of their age and the desirability of promoting their rehabilitation.
Everyone convicted of a crime shall have the right to his conviction and sentence being reviewed by a higher tribunal according to law.
When a person has by a final decision been convicted of a criminal offence and when subsequently his conviction has been reversed or he has been pardoned on the ground that a new or newly discovered fact shows conclusively that there has been a miscarriage of justice, the person who has suffered punishment as a result of such conviction shall be compensated according to law, unless it is proved that the non-disclosure of the unknown fact in time is wholly or partly attributable to him.
No one shall be liable to be tried or punished again for an offence for which he has already been finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of each country.

- Every single item in this article is violated by Israel when it comes to Palestinians and Arabs.
- Israeli courts defuse the action of Israeli law when it deals with Palestinians and Arabs. They are found guilty before they even step into the courtroom.
- Israeli courts often dismiss attorneys assigned by the accused and assign other ones who are known of their prejudice against Arabs as a race.

Article 17
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honor and reputation.
Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Israel violates this article under international cover. Israeli forces storms into Palestinian homes without any respect for privacy, abuses families, especially children.
Concerning the unlawful attacks on a person’s honor and reputation:
During the past years there have been constant attacks against Muslims and Arabs that are known as "Islamophobia" and "Arabo-phobia". Such an organized denigration, depicting Muslims and Arabs as "terrorists", "backwards", and "uncivilized" people was meant to give excuses and justify all illegal military atrocities waged against Arab and Muslim population, starting with Israeli massacres, the US invasion of Afghanistan, the illegal occupation in Iraq and ending with the most notorious prisons in the world: Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.
Such a campaign caused a great damage to all Muslim and Arab population worldwide. May Muslims, Arabs and even some Sikhs and Hindus (because they resemble Middle Eastern Muslims in color and features) were subjected to persecution, job loss, arrest and racist homicides.
Many Arab and Muslim nations were damaged economically, politically and militarily with the full support of both states and mobs.
Inhuman crimes and internationally prohibited acts were directed to Muslims and Arabs, collectively and individually word wide.
International media, relentlessly, broadcasts materials contains hate speech against Muslims and Arabs. FOX news persistently broadcasts materials arouse hatred towards Muslims, International News papers….etc).
Now, after taking steps toward closing Guantanamo Bay and retreating from Iraq, we demand the following:
1- Official apology from all those who convicted actions of material and moral atrocities against Muslims and Arabs which cause them great damages collectively and individually.
2- The immediate cease of any kind of hatred action whether militarily, economically or speech hatred.
3- Legal international condemnation of all offensives against Muslims and Arabs.
4- This spread hatred policies were meant to be a cover for inhuman war crimes executed by Israel and the world powers. Such policies have to be internationally condemned with official declaration and new legislations to protect Muslim and Arab subject from persecution.
5- Arabs are Semites, yet, they are not allowed to resort to the anti-Semite international law when they are attacked, therefore, it is essential to issue a new law to protect Arabs and Muslims.
6- Suitable financial, political and moral compensations for Arabs and Muslims have to be attributed immediately.

Article 20
Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.
Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.

Israeli politicians lead war propaganda and use it in election campaigns in which they repeatedly echo the call for war using racist tones against Arabs and threatening them with genocide.
By monitoring the Israeli politicians' statements since the foundation of Israel until now, we find constant campaigns led by politicians and religious leaders waged against Arabs, describing them with the most racist descriptions inciting soldiers to kill them for racist, religious, and security reasons.

Article 25
Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions:
To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;
To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors;
To have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his country.

Palestinians do not enjoy any political rights under the occupation. Israel does not respect the election results of the Palestinian people, and does not recognize the Palestinian people's representatives. Moreover, Israel arrests elected Palestinian MPs with disregard to their parliamentary immunity.
Arab-Israelis are not allowed to occupy leading posts no matter how qualified they are.
In employment, Jews have the priority over any Arab, even if the Arabs are more qualified.

Article 27
In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language.

Israel violates this article as mention above in the document.
Israel breaches all items of Part IV of the Covenant. It does not permit the establishment of any international human rights committees to follow up the rights of people under occupation, or assist in the prosecution of criminals who take part in killings, genocide, arrest and imprisonment against the people. The United Nations and the international community are responsible for this part, but cannot prosecute Israel, its leaders, officers or soldiers. At the same time, Israel prevents the work of any international inquiring committee, whatever its reasons and goals are.
This part is not recognized or practiced by Israel, nor practiced at all on Israel by any international organization.

It is obvious to any researcher that Israel has clearly violated all international documents, charters and treaties. It is very strange indeed that Israel and its officials had never been prosecuted or held accountable for their actions.
As for the economic part of the International Covenant, below we show how Israel deals with this aspect:

Article 1
1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
2. All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.

- We have mentioned earlier in the civil and political covenants how Israel violates this article by occupying Palestinian land, building the separation wall, placing Gaza under siege, and building settlements on Palestinian land whose owners have documents of ownership, deploying barriers between cities and villages, and stopping Palestinians for long hours on these barriers, including the workers who lose their jobs because of permanent delay.
- Israel has seized all fresh water resources in the West Bank and Golan Heights. It is establishing settlements on fertile land after the expulsion of its inhabitants and confiscation of the land. It builds its army camps near freshwater resources.Israel also had and is still cutting off hundreds of thousands of olive and citrus trees which belong to Palestinians, destroying their orchards and vineyards and confiscating them to construct the separation wall and build settlements or military barracks.

PART III
Article 6
1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right.
2. The steps to be taken by a State Party to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include technical and vocational guidance and training programs, policies and techniques to achieve steady economic, social and cultural development and full and productive employment under conditions safeguarding fundamental political and economic freedoms to the individual.

- Most of the Palestinian youth are unemployed due to harassment at Israeli checkpoints. They are delayed for long hours and asked to provide information about their own people in order to facilitate their transit to work. At the same time, Israel has bombed most factories in Gaza after a suffocating siege where it denied Gaza the entry of any raw materials or spare parts for machines. Israel bombards small workshops, continuously pounding them to the ground and claiming that the resistance fighters are using them to manufacture explosives. These claims have often proved to be untrue because these workshops are very small and do not have any facilities for manufacturing any explosives or the like.
- All these items are not available in Gaza or the West Bank because of the policies of the occupation. No efficiency or technology is available in schools and educational institutes because of the poverty, siege, and restrictions. A Palestinian worker can not find a decent job except in Israel and most employed workers lose their jobs for the reasons mentioned earlier (delaying at checkpoints or being questioned by Israeli intelligence).

Article 7
The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favorable conditions of work which ensure, in particular:
(a) Remuneration which provides all workers, as a minimum, with:
(i) Fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value without distinction of any kind, in particular women being guaranteed conditions of work not inferior to those enjoyed by men, with equal pay for equal work;
(ii) A decent living for themselves and their families in accordance with the provisions of the present Covenant;
(b) Safe and healthy working conditions;
(c) Equal opportunity for everyone to be promoted in his employment to an appropriate higher level, subject to no considerations other than those of seniority and competence;
(d) Rest, leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for public holidays

Such conditions cannot be obtained under the constraints mentioned earlier as a result of the occupation. Palestinian women work in very bad conditions under the occupation in dilapidated old factories. Palestinian women working as teachers are always vulnerable to danger and stop working as schools often close for security reasons. Workers do not get paid often because Israel denies the entry of money to Gaza and prevents the entry of private banking remittances of employee salaries. Gaza often witnesses strikes because workers do not receive their salaries for months, therefore, they do not have the minimum requirements of employments and payments. They cannot get paid most of the year.

Article 10
The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize that:
1. The widest possible protection and assistance should be accorded to the family, which is the natural and fundamental group unit of society, particularly for its establishment and while it is responsible for the care and education of dependent children. Marriage must be entered into with the free consent of the intending spouses.
2. Special protection should be accorded to mothers during a reasonable period before and after childbirth. During such period working mothers should be accorded paid leave or leave with adequate social security benefits.
3. Special measures of protection and assistance should be taken on behalf of all children and young persons without any discrimination for reasons of parentage or other conditions. Children and young persons should be protected from economic and social exploitation. Their employment in work harmful to their morals or health or dangerous to life or likely to hamper their normal development should be punishable by law. States should also set age limits below which the paid employment of child labor should be prohibited and punishable by law.

- There is no protection for an individual or family under the Israeli occupation. Almost every Palestinian family is divided in several countries because of the displacement, and each Palestinian house has victims because of the Israeli bombardment. This article and many others cannot even be applied on Palestinians under the relocation, displacement, killings, bombings, and intimidation.
- Many Palestinian mothers, whether working or not, have given birth at checkpoints and on the way to hospitals because of the restriction policy at the crossings, and long waits with no distinction between patients and pregnant women or ordinary people.
- Palestinian children are exposed to death in the streets and on the way to schools. Many of them are forced to leave schools and work to support their families due to the death of the father or the mother, or because of extreme poverty caused by the continuous blockade and the starvation policy imposed on Gaza by Israel.

Article 11
1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent.
2. The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international co-operation, the measures, including specific programs, which are needed:
(a) To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources;
(b) Taking into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need.

- We have stated previously and it is well known that the Israeli blockade makes the application of such articles impossible. Israel has bombed relief warehouses, even those belonging to the UNRWA, as happened in Gaza recently.
- Israel has been imposing a suffocating siege, shelling relief agencies and warehouses, and preventing Palestinians from importing goods, food and medicines from abroad.

Article 12
1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for:
(a) The provision for the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child;
(b) The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene;
(c) The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases;
(d) The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness.

- Palestinian hospitals and clinics have no modern equipment, and there is no electricity most of the time because Israel prevents fuel and gas from reaching Gaza. It also prevents the import of medical equipment. Palestinian patients often die because of simple medical causes which can easily be cured, as a lot of medicines are not available and cannot be imported because of the blockade.
- We've described previously the situations in hospitals and how babies are born in primitive conditions on crossings which cause their death due to the lack of basic conditions of life that the newborn needs and the requirements of special monitoring and care at hospitals.
In addition to the foregoing reasons, Israel has bombed populated Palestinian areas with internationally prohibited weapons such as phosphorus bombs, and this poses a threat to people's health as well as the environment in general.
Israel has bombed ambulances and paramedics were killed and prevented from reaching victims who die as a result. This has happened in all Israeli wars in southern Lebanon, the West Bank, Jenin, and Gaza recently.
In all wars Israel targeted ambulances and paramedics; the archives of these wars are available.

Article 13
1- The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to education. They agree that education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity, and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. They further agree that education shall enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society, promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups, and further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

In addition to the previously mentioned status of Palestinian schools and students, Israeli curriculums are full of racial lessons, songs and stories inciting hatred against Arabs, showing them as primitive criminals who deserve to be killed, displaced and abused. This may be the most dangerous thing in the world facing children, to teach them the culture of hatred and racism. These children will not make peace in the future nor will they have any mercy on those whom they consider enemies. They grow up and learn that the "other" deserves to be killed. Israeli curriculums which contain a lot of this racism can be checked for details. Photos have also been published by international news agencies that show how young Israeli children were signing their names on the missiles of the Israeli army in Lebanon war in July 2006.

It should be noted here that Israel has breached and violated most of the Geneva Convention items relating to people's status and how to deal with them during wars and conflicts. All the violations that have been mentioned earlier in this document are explicit violations of the provisions of this treaty which is known to all countries and human rights and international organizations.

From the above mentioned, we find it clear that the so-called state of Israel, is a racial entity not entitled to live. It prevents decent living and peace for all its neighbors and those under its control, specifically non-Jews. It is an entity that is not governed by any basis of legal or ethical standards like the rest of the world.

Israel is a criminal entity based on murder and destruction, and poses a danger to humanity, environment, and all forms of life.
Hereby, as we place this document in front of all mankind, we express our clear resentment and rejection of the obvious silence of most international and humanitarian organizations, and even the bias of some of these organizations against the victim and their support of the aggressor. We put this responsibility before everyone who believes in humanity, and people's rights to enjoy all the noble standards of civilization.

Sign The dismantling of Israel Document: Israel is an outlawed entity Petition

Nawara Negm
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ElBaradei: Ignoring Israel undermines NPT

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:11:59 GMT
The UN nuclear chief says a double-standard approach to Israel's nukes has undermined the non-proliferation regime.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Monday that Arab nations believe that Israel has undermined the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and this is a major obstacle to nuclear disarmament.

"What compounds the problem is that the nuclear non-proliferation regime has lost its legitimacy in the eyes of Arab public opinion because of the perceived double-standards concerning Israel, the only state in the region outside the NPT and known to possess nuclear weapons," he wrote in The Herald Tribune.

Israel is largely believed to posses the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East and has refused to sign the NPT or put its nuclear facilities under the UN supervision.

Former US president Jimmy Carter confirmed in May 2008 that Israel has 150 nuclear weapons in its arsenal.

ElBaradei's remarks come amid speculations that the new administration of Barack Obama intends to engage Iran in direct negotiations over the country's nuclear program.

The UN nuclear watchdog has been investigating the Iranian program but its findings are often ignored by the international community.

"The UN and related agencies must be given adequate authority and funding and put in the hands of leaders who have vision, courage and credibility," the UN official added.

ElBaradei also blamed the US and Israel's unilateral policies for encouraging other nations to develop nuclear arms.

"Above all, we need to halt the glaring breach of core principles of international law such as limitations on the unilateral use of force, proportionality in self-defense and the protection of civilians during hostilities in order to avoid a repeat of the civilian carnage in Iraq and, most recently, in Gaza."

Source

Blackwater Changes Its Name to Xe

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Blackwater Worldwide is abandoning the brand name that has been tarnished by its work in Iraq, settling on Xe (pronounced zee) as the new name for its family of two dozen businesses.

Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, the subsidiary that conducts much of the company’s overseas operations and domestic training, has been renamed U.S. Training Center Inc., the company said Friday.

The company’s rebranding effort grew more urgent after Blackwater guards in Baghdad were involved in a shooting episode in September 2007 that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.

Blackwater’s president, Gary Jackson, said in a memo to employees that the new name reflected the company’s shift away from providing private security. He has said the company is going to focus on training.

Last month, Iraqi leaders said they would not renew Blackwater’s license to operate in Iraq; the State Department said later that it would not renew Blackwater’s contract to protect diplomats when it expired in May.

A Blackwater spokeswoman, Anne Tyrrell, acknowledged the need to shake the company’s past in Iraq. “Certainly that is an aspect of our work that we feel we were defined by,” she said.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/us/14blackwater.html

Israel mobilizes forces on Lebanon border

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:18:59 GMT

Israeli forces along the Lebanese border are now on full alert.

Israel has reportedly mobilized its forces along its northern borders amid concerns that Tel Aviv may be planning to provoke Lebanon.

The Lebanon Files news agency reported Thursday that Israeli military forces were seen heavily patrolling the northern border.

The news comes amid Israeli suggestions that the Lebanese Hezbollah may launch retaliatory attacks for the assassination of its top commander, Imad Mughniyah, who was killed in a car bomb attack in Damascus last February.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has recently touched on the issue, threatening to launch a massive military attack against Lebanon should Hezbollah try to retaliate for the assassination.

Israel's counter terrorism bureau has also issued warnings, claiming that Hezbollah was seeking to target or abduct Israelis abroad.

Hezbollah has vowed to avenge the murder of its commander, saying all evidence gathered so far indicate the involvement of Israeli spy agency Mossad in the assassination.

Last week, the Israeli military carried out a mock attack over Lebanese border regions and launched reconnaissance flights over the country.

Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=85499&sectionid=351020202

Canada becomes Israel

Yves Engler, The Electronic Intifada, 12 February 2009

(EI Illustration)

Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper's government publicly supported Israel's brutal assault on Gaza and voted alone at the UN Human Rights Committee in defense of Israel's actions three weeks ago. Now Canada has taken over Israeli diplomacy. Literally.

In solidarity with Gaza, Venezuela expelled Israel's ambassador at the start of the bombardment and then broke off all diplomatic relations two weeks later. Israel need not worry since Ottawa plans to help out. On 29 January,The Jerusalem Post reported that "Israel's interests in Caracas will now be represented by the Canadian Embassy." This means Canada is officially Israel, at least in Venezuela.

Prior to the recent bombing in Gaza, the Harper government made it abundantly clear that it would support Israel no matter what that country did. It publicly endorsed Israel's 2006 attack on Lebanon, voted against a host of UN resolutions supporting Palestinian rights and in January 2008 refused to criticize illegal Israeli settlement construction at Har Homa near Jerusalem (even Washington publicly criticized these settlements). Canada was also the first country (after Israel) to cut off financial aid to the elected Hamas government and Ottawa has provided millions of dollars as well as personnel to create a US-trained Palestinian police force to act as a counterweight to the Hamas government and to oversee Israel's occupation.

Harper's support for Israel is extreme, but despite what many well-meaning commentators claim, it is not a break from Canada's role as an "honest broker" in the Arab-Israeli conflict. There is a long history of Canadian support for Zionism, a European settler ideology that has violently dispossessed Palestinians for more than six decades.

The idea for a Middle Eastern Jewish homeland to serve Western imperial interests has a long history in Canada. Since at least the 1870s Christian Zionists called for their biblical prophesies to be fulfilled under British auspices. By November 1915, Solicitor General (and then Prime Minister) Arthur Meighen publicly proclaimed, "I think I can speak for those of the Christian faith when I express the wish that God speed the day when the land of your [Jewish] forefathers shall be yours again. This task I hope will be performed by that champion of liberty the world over -- the British Empire." Two decades later Prime Minister RB Bennett began a national radio broadcast of the United Palestine Appeal with a speech about how the Balfour declaration and British control over Palestine was a step towards Biblical prophecies. "Scriptural prophecy is being fulfilled," he noted. "The restoration of Zion has begun."

During the 1947 UN negotiations over the British mandate of historic Palestine, Canada played an important role in creating Israel. Lester Pearson (then under-secretary of state for External Affairs) who chaired two different UN committees dealing with the mandate and Supreme Court Justice Ivan C. Rand, a member of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), played central roles in the negotiations that led to partition. InState in the Making, David Horowitz (the first governor of the Bank of Israel and first director general of Israel's ministry of finance) writes: "It may be said that Canada more than any other country played a decisive part in all stages of the UNO [United Nations Organization] discussions of Palestine."

The UN's 1948 partition plan gave the new Jewish state the majority of Palestine despite the Jewish population owning roughly seven percent of the land and representing a third of the population. Rand's assistant on UNSCOP, Leon Mayrand, provides a window into the dominant mindset at External Affairs: "The Arabs were bound to be vocal opponents of partition but they should not be taken too seriously. The great majority were not yet committed nationalists and the Arab chiefs could be appeased through financial concessions, especially if these accompanied a clearly declared will to impose a settlement whatever the means necessary." A dissident within External Affairs, the department's only Middle East expert, Elizabeth MacCallum, claimed Ottawa supported partition, "because we didn't give two hoots for democracy."

Above all else support for partition was driven by a geostrategic worldview. An internal report circulated at External Affairs explained: "The plan of partition gives to the western powers the opportunity to establish an independent, progressive Jewish state in the Eastern Mediterranean with close economic and cultural ties with the West generally and in particular with the United States." The Ottawa mandarins largely supported Israel as a possible western outpost in the heart of the (oil-producing) Middle East.

When the first Palestinian intifada broke out in 1987, then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney told the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) that Israel's brutal suppression of rock throwing Palestinian youth was handling the situation with "restraint." When questioned by a CBC reporter about the similarity between the plight of Palestinians and Blacks in South Africa, Mulroney replied that any comparison between Israel and South Africa was "false and odious and should never be mentioned in the same breath."

A decade later, Ottawa signed a free trade agreement with Israel. It was only Canada's fourth free trade agreement. Begun January 1997, the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement includes the West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of where Israel's custom laws are applied.

The political motivation for supporting Israel has not changed significantly over the years. The government in Ottawa today receives limited electoral support from the Jewish community, but is close to a right-wing Christian Zionist movement. Most importantly, the Harper government strongly supports Western (US-led) imperialism in the Middle East. This is why Canada has taken over Israeli diplomacy in Venezuela.

Yves Engler is the author of the forthcoming Canada on the World Stage: A Force for Good or Bad Actor? and other books. He can be reached at yvesengler A T hotmail D O T com

America! here is your money (Israel)

Open letter to the President of Israel, by Jean-Moïse Braitberg: *

* Published in Le Monde, Paris on 28 January 2009 Dear Sir, I am writing to you, to ask you to contact those who are authorized to do so, to remove the name of my grandfather from the memorial at Yad Vashem, which is dedicated to the Jewish victims ofNational Socialism. It says "Moshe Brajtberg, gassed in 1943 in Treblinka." The rest of my family also perished in the various of the camps to which they were deported. I beg you. Mr. President, to do this, because that which has happened in Gaza, and in other places, and has defined the fate of the Arab peoples of Palestine for 60 years now, disqualifies - to my mind -Israel to be the center which is dedicated to remember the suffering of the Jews, and by extension, that of all of mankind. Understand me: ever since I was a child I have lived among survivors of the death camps. I saw the numbers tattooed on their arms and heard the stories of their tortures. I experienced the unbearable mourning and shared the nightmares. I learned that these crimes shall never again take place, that no person, ever again, shall despise another for his ethnicity or religion, and rob him of his elementary Human Rights, just as he has a right to a life lived in decent circumstances, with the hope of better things for his family. Still, Mr. President, I have noticed that despite innumerable Resolutions of the international community, despite the obvious injustices to which the Palestinians have been heirs since 1948, despite the hopes of Oslo, and despite the repeated recognition on the part of the Palestinian authorities that Israeli Jews have the right to live in peace and security, the only answer of successive Israeli governments has been brute force, blood shed, incarceration, constant controls, colonization and expropriations. You will tell me, Mr. President, that it is legitimate for a country to defend itself against rockets aimed at its people, or kamikazis who take many innocents with them in death. To which I will answer that my human sympathies do not ask after the nationality of the victim. You, on the other hand, lead a nation that means to represent the Jews in their entirety, but also claim to preserve the memory of the victims of National Socialism. That is what touches me and is unbearable to me. While you write the names of my loved ones at Yad Vashem, in the heart of Israel, the state holds the memory of my family prisoner behind the barbed wire of Zionism, in order to make them hostages of a so-called authority which - day after day - practices injustice. So I beg you to take away the name of my grandfather from the memorial that testifies to the horrors suffered by the Jews, so that it can no longer be used to justify the horror which is visited upon the Palestinians. Veuillez agréer, monsieur le president, l'assurance de ma respectueuse considération. ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ____ * Published in Le Monde, Paris on 28 January 2009 http://www.lemonde. fr/archives/ article/2009/ 01/28/effacez- le-nom-de- mon-grand- pere-a-yad- vashem_1147635_ 0.html

Fear and trauma in Gaza's schools

By Alex Dziadosz in Gaza


Counselors and teachers are addressing the trauma and fears of students in Gaza [GALLO/GETTY]

As students filed into the courtyard of Asma elementary school in Gaza City for the first time since the Israeli offensive began, they were greeted by a bleak reminder of the violence that left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead and thousands injured.
A hole punched by an Israeli rocket scarred the courtyard latrine and blood soiled the wall beside it.

Asma is one of over 600 schools in Gaza - most of which reopened on January 24 - that is today facing a large number of post-war operational challenges.
Educators across the Gaza Strip are now considering whether to reschedule exams which were abandoned when Israel began bombing the territory on December 27.
Teachers are also faced with the task of teaching in rooms which had served as shelters for dozens of refugees.
Addressing the trauma

On their first day back to class, most children meandered in the courtyard, eating bread and cheese provided by the school and playing with their friends. Inside the classrooms, debris left by the scores of refugees housed there until a few days ago still covered the floors – a box of tomatoes, empty bottles and, in some rooms, the shattered remnants of boards and chairs used for firewood in the absence of gas and electricity.
Many teachers say that a normal curriculum cannot be administered until students have been treated for trauma from the deaths of their classmates and family members.
"In the morning when I was working among the students, some of them were very frightened," said Amirah Hamdan, a teacher at Asma who handles the morning attendance call.
"They thought that the war would start again because they were in the school."
Other teachers and administrators say they will take the next few days to help the school's nearly 900 students put the war behind them and return to their studies, but the first day made it clear that this will take time.
Students at the Asma school were mostly glad to return, though many were still shaken by the violence of the past few weeks.

Nour Abdel All, 10, says she lost two of her seven brothers during the war and is worried that she will lose more.
When she is old enough to work, she says, she would like to teach human rights, an attitude inspired by the loss of her brothers.
The bombing terrified her and she is still scared - particularly of the Israeli fighter jets.
"I pray that God will one day burn them all," she says
School exams
Suha Dawoud, a supervisor at Asma, says her daughter was one of many students who had been taking her annual exams when the Israeli attacks began.
"They [the students] are not in a state of mind in which they can concentrate and focus," says Dawoud.
"Even the most disciplined student would not be able to cope with examinations after the horrible scenes they have watched either on TV or on the ground."
However, many students had been performing poorly at school even before Israel launched the war on Gaza on December 27.
The Israeli blockade has stifled the local economy forcing many students to reportedly abandoned their studies and seek employment.
Turning to education



Several schools in Gaza were damaged in the Israeli attacks [AFP]
Many Palestinians see education as one of the few paths available to them to leave the territories in search of better lives.
In recent decades, the West Bank and Gaza Strip have posted better high school enrolment rates than Lebanon and higher literacy rates than Egypt and Yemen.

The Palestinian territories and diaspora have produced many influential academics, such as Edward Said, Rashid Khalidi and Mahmoud Darwish.
"Our goal is to keep the wheel of education going, because education is what our children have. It is their actual wealth," says Dawoud.
"We do not have resources here in Gaza. We do not have raw materials or industry. We have nothing other than education itself."
Educators like Dawoud are also up against the prevailing atmosphere of occupation and violence.
Graffiti depicting armed and masked men cover the walls, the faces of fallen "martyrs" glare down from lamppost signs, and digital gunfire sputters from internet cafes as rows of children sit enthralled by military-themed video games.
Even in Dawoud's classes, the air of violence is there.
As a kind of therapy, she often gives children papers and pencils and asks them to draw what they are feeling.
"You might be shocked," she says.
"Blood, destruction, people killing each other; guns are in their paintings and drawings."
Angry students
At the Palestine Secondary School for Boys, a government-run school for some 700 students in Gaza City, administrators have decided to cancel exams altogether.
They had been scheduled for December 29 – two days after the Israeli assault began.
El-Khalily, the school's manager, told Al Jazeera that on their first day back, teachers did not hold regular class session but instead chose to help students cope with what they had seen and heard during the war.
Two students from the school were killed during the war and another five were wounded.
Teachers at the school are worried that student anger could lead to violence and failing grades in the days ahead.
"Maybe a teacher is explaining a lesson and the student is in another mental place," says Nour El-Deen, an English teacher.
"His body is with the teacher, yes, but his mind is out. He is thinking of destruction, demolition."

Source: Al Jazeera

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/crisisingaza/2009/01/200912553199345.html