A U.N. human rights expert says he will proceed with a mission to the Gaza Strip to investigate possible war crimes during the recent Israel-Hamas conflict despite Israeli objections.
The U.N.’s Richard Goldstone says Israel has not responded to his request to enter the country and cross into Gaza for his investigation of Israel’s offensive against Hamas rulers.
Speaking in Geneva Wednesday, he said his four-member team hopes to visit the southern Israeli town of Sderot, before crossing into Gaza. But, he says the team will enter Gaza through Egypt if necessary.
Israel objects to the mission because, in its view, it is based on a biased mandate.
The 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council initially instructed the investigators to examine accusations of Israeli war crimes against Palestinians. It later broadened the mission’s scope to look at the actions of both sides in the war.
Goldstone says he also has decided to hold public hearings in which witnesses will testify about the conflict. He says the hearings will be held in Geneva if it is not possible to locate them in the region.
It will be the first time a U.N. human rights investigation conducts such public hearings. The hearings will be modeled on inquiries Goldstone conducted in post-apartheid South Africa, where he served as a judge.
Goldstone, who is from South Africa, says his team must submit its report by August 4. The other investigators include British law professor Christine Chinkin, retired Irish army colonel Desmond Travers and Pakistani human rights advocate Hina Jilani.
The U.N. team also plans to visit the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel says it launched the Gaza offensive in December, 2008 to stop cross-border rocket attacks by Palestinian militants. The fighting killed at least 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. Before it ended in January it also had destroyed thousands of homes in Gaza and damaged its infrastructure.
Palestinians and international rights groups accuse Israel of war crimes. Israel blames Hamas for the heavy casualties, accusing the militants of using schools, mosques and residential areas for cover.
The Israeli official put in charge of Jerusalem’s Arabs said he believes treating them more fairly will strengthen Israeli claims to all the disputed city, and says he’s seeking ways to legalize thousands of unlicensed Arab homes vulnerable to demolition.
With Israeli control comes responsibility for all Jerusalem residents, including a quarter million Palestinians who suffered decades of neglect, said the official, 32-year-old Yakir Segev, in an interview this week.
The former army commando was appointed six months ago by Mayor Nir Barkat to oversee east Jerusalem, the area captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and claimed by Palestinians as a future capital. The anniversary of the capture is marked Thursday, according to the Hebrew calendar, with parades and speeches.
The mayor’s critics say they’re getting empty promises. Demolitions of Arab homes have picked up under Barkat, with more than 1,000 orders issued this year, they note, while city funds are still mostly spent in Jewish areas.
Both Segev and his boss staunchly oppose a future partition of the city, seen as key to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal promoted by President Barack Obama. But Segev says he does want to narrow the gap between well-developed Jewish areas and Arab neighborhoods marked by an acute housing shortage, crowded schools and potholed streets.
“There are lots of obligations,” he said in his office near the walled Old City, site of major shrines sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians. “You cannot take shortcuts.”
Human rights groups insist they’ve seen no change and dismiss Barkat’s promise to allow construction of 13,500 homes for Arabs over the next two decades as insufficient.
“All the policies we are facing … show that they want to limit the number of Palestinians,” said Ahmed Rweidi, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israel has systematically tightened its hold on east Jerusalem since capturing it June 7, 1967. Immediately after the war, Israel drew new Jerusalem boundaries that reached deep into the West Bank, then annexed the enlarged area to its capital — a step never recognized internationally.
Today, some 180,000 Israelis live in Jewish neighborhoods built in east Jerusalem. Jewish settlement groups, often backed by the government, have established bridge heads deep inside Arab areas, particularly in and near the Old City.
Arabs have little say in city politics because they largely boycott municipal elections, fearing votes could be interpreted as acceptance of Israeli rule.
Israel’s previous prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said he was ready to give up most Arab neighborhoods, though not the Old City and its environs. But his successor, hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu, refuses to consider concessions.
Barkat ran a law-and-order campaign, including a pledge to end rampant unlicensed construction of nearly 20,000 homes in what he called the “Wild East.”
Palestinians argue the unlicensed construction is necessary because Israel uses restrictions on building permits to limit Arab growth and bolster a Jewish majority, which has fallen nonetheless to 66 percent.
But Barkat dismissed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as ill-informed after she called demolitions of Arab homes “unhelpful” to peace efforts. Since he took office, there’s also been uproar over plans to expand an archaeological park near the Old City, which would evict hundreds of Palestinians from unlicensed homes in the Silwan neighborhood.
Segev said a Jewish majority is important for Israel’s claims to the city, but should be achieved by attracting more Jews not limiting Palestinians. And the housing crisis in east Jerusalem has become untenable, he said. In reviewing licensing practices, “our goal is that the majority of the residents will receive a solution,” he said.
Unlicensed homes in residential areas would likely win retroactive approval, while those built on public land or areas earmarked for roads and schools would be demolished, he said. Demolitions will continue despite a call by the U.N.’s top Mideast envoy to suspend them, he said.
Danny Seidemann, who heads Ir Amim, a group that advocates a fair solution for Jerusalem, said he would applaud a policy change, but noted Barkat’s administration has so far rejected proposals, on a smaller scale, to legalize homes en masse.
Segev had never visited Arab areas of the city until Barkat appointed him, he said. Many Israelis are fearful to make the trip, belying Israel’s claims the city is united. But in the past six months, he’s often jogged in Silwan, where nearly 100 homes face demolition.
Segev, who lost his left arm in a childhood accident and overcame huge odds to get into the Egoz commando unit, displays the same can-do attitude now.
“I don’t think Silwan will be Rehavia,” he said, referring to a Jewish upscale neighborhood. “But I think the differences could be a lot less pronounced, and I would like to see to it that the (Arab) population feels that we are serious.”
Associated Press writer Joseph Marks contributed to this report.
'At a time when Gazans are under a siege... the coast has become an important psychological tool'
Every day, as the sun sets on the coast of Gaza, people make their way to the coffee shop-lined beaches and the pot-holed streets that run parallel to its coastline.
On the terrace of the famed Al Deira Hotel, patrons jostle for position, sipping sweet Arabic coffee as the sounds of legendary Arab musicians delicately waft through the air, mingling with the aroma of flavoured tobacco.
They all share one aim – to gaze out into the Mediterranean Sea as its turquoise waters transform into blue, then purple and then disappear into the moonlit night.
Another day has passed in Gaza.
For the few minutes where the sun and water meet and the sky glows warm, people here are moved by a deep beauty and for those few minutes, the beaming smiles of children frolicking in the sand, the laughter of friends and the line of fishermen setting out into the horizon suspend Gaza’s seemingly eternal suffering.
It is that time of year again, when temperatures rise and where the coast of Gaza takes on a whole new different meaning.
In this tiny territory caged in by Israel on two sides, north and east, and by Egypt to the south, Gaza’s west coast becomes its gateway to a world of possibilities and a painful reminder of its limited realities.
Gaza’s shoreline is a deceptive one. Its long, white sandy beaches are the ideal location for luxury hotels, trendy cafes, a vibrant nightlife, boutique shops, a palm-tree lined promenade for the health-conscious jogger, the inspired artist seeking to capture its beauty or the local street vendor selling traditional Palestinian handicrafts.
With its year-round, perfect Mediterranean weather, rich history at the crossroads of continents and civilisations and Arab hospitality, Gaza should be a tourist haven and entrepreneur’s dream.
Businesses, corporations and financial towers should be vying for this prime real estate.
Instead, today its 41km-long poorly paved corniche road is marked with potholes. Sections of it have been destroyed by Israeli air raids over the years.
A journey from its northern border to the south can take hours to travel, as you zig-zag through the destroyed stretches of road and the rubble of buildings levelled during Israel’s recent war.
Refugee camps
All along the coastal stretch, crowded and dirty refugee camps edge closer to the water, squeezing every inhabitable inch available.
The drive along the coast is marked by the smell of raw sewage spewing out into the sea at various points. The coast’s most underdeveloped stretches are the scars from where Israel maintained its military outposts and illegal settlements that were a chokehold on the Gaza Strip.
When the Israeli military and settlers pulled out in 2005, they left behind the land and the coast but left Gaza in ruins, caged in and cut off from the outside world.
Since 2006, when Hamas won democratic elections that were recognised by international observers as free and fair, Israel has imposed an increasingly stifling siege on Gaza, restricting everything that comes in and out of the strip.
The vast majority of the 1.5 million Palestinians living here have not been allowed to leave this territory, which is approximately 360sq km in size.
Every facet of life in Gaza has been restricted beyond imagination by Israel, crippling the economy and increasing the psychological pressure on the territory’s people.
Nowhere else in Gaza is the economy more visibly in tatters then along its coast. Its hotels, once buzzing with vacationing Palestinians from the diaspora and the sounds of wedding parties during the summer, are a faint echo of their past.
A pyramid-shaped building on Gaza’s northern shore was supposed to be the Movenpick Hotel. But it, like Gaza, never realised its full potential. Today it stands nearly complete but hollow, scarred by war yet towering over the pristine sands of the sea.
Gazan fishermen are forbidden to travel more than three nautical miles from the coast
For centuries, generations of Gaza’s fishermen set sail from its port cities, earning a livelihood for their families, feeding hundreds of local restaurants and giving the territory a distinct fish flavour to its food.
In Rafah, fishermen annually prepared for the sardine harvest this time of the year. This would have been peak season for them. Today, these fishermen are not allowed to exceed three nautical miles off the coast, far short from what is legally permissible by international law.
When they do try to fish beyond the imposed limits, they are harassed, shot at and detained by the Israeli navy, which patrols Gaza coast ferociously.
Gaza City’s fish market was known for its colourful array of seafood, from crabs to shrimps, sharks to local catches. The fish market at the port was so renowned that it was the preferred market for Israeli Jews, whose own coast dwarfs the length of Gaza’s.
Back then, as it is today, Gaza was under Israeli military control but unlike now, Palestinians and Israelis were allowed to move freely between the two territories.
Gaza’s gateway to the world was through its port. The blueprints had been already drawn up. The Gaza City Port was to be transformed into a modern day commercial trading hub, bringing cargo vessels from Europe, Africa and Asia across the Mediterranean Sea.
But that, too, never materialised. Today, empty vessels and rusted and decrepit dinner-boats encrust the port.
Besides the economic potential – or lack thereof – the coast has also come to symbolise something immeasurable.
At a time when the Palestinian people are under a siege that has prevented them from exercising their most basic rights and freedoms, the Gaza coast has become an important psychological tool.
Escapism
It has become a vehicle to escape their daily struggles.
Anyone who approaches the coast and stares aimlessly out at the horizon is forced to dream. Dream about what, it’s up to them, but they find themselves thinking about what lies beyond their immediate physical limitations.
One simply cannot look at its beautiful waters and not imagine what lies beyond. Your brain begins to race with endless possibilities about the rest of the world. You immediately ask yourself “what if”?
What if Gaza was not under siege? What if I could take a ferry to Cyprus? What if Gaza was free to pursue its economic potential?
A few minutes staring at the coast and one suddenly realises the people are thinking about everything and anything that has nothing to do with Gaza. When people are thinking about Gaza – it is not about Gaza as it is, but what it could or should be.
As a good friend of mine who regularly frequents the Al Deira Hotel terrace put it: “Typical of the melancholy and pride of living in Gaza, its sea not only inspires unending spirit and wonder but it also, often times, instills a sense of sorrow as one sees this great symbol of freedom one is unable to touch.
But Gaza’s sea will continue to inspire freedom no matter the circumstances.”
So it is that, as the sun sets on its shores and the light merges with nightfall, days become weeks and months become years, Gaza’s besieged coast becomes an outlet to nothing but hope for its people.
Three British medics began a hunger strike in Egypt today to protest against being refused entry into Gaza for a humanitarian mission.
Their aim is to establish a cardiac surgery unit at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, which currently has no such facility, and to help train medical students and junior doctors there. But the British medics have been denied access to the Palestinian territory at the Rafah crossing since the beginning of May.
Omar Mangoush, a cardiac surgeon at Hammersmith hospital, in London, told guardian.co.uk he had been to the crossing with his colleagues every day since arriving in Egypt on 4 May, only to be told they did not have permission to enter.
“We are on hunger strike until they let us through,” he said. “We’ll stay [at the crossing] until they let us in. We want to put pressure on the British embassy. We believe if the British embassy wanted us to do this they could exert pressure [on the Egyptian authorities].”
Mangoush said he had been told by the British embassy that it had received a letter from the Egyptian foreign ministry saying the medics’ request for access to Gaza had been “postponed”.
But he claimed American aid workers had gained entry to Gaza at their first attempt with the support of the US embassy.
Mangoush named the other British medics on hunger strike as Christopher Burns-Cox, a retired consultant, and Kirsty Wong, a nurse at Hammersmith hospital. Another six people are on hunger strike, including three Belgians, he said.
The cardiac surgeon took a month’s holiday from work to take part in the mission for the Manchester-based charity Palestine International Medical Aid (PIMA)
“This is very important for us,” he said. “There are loads of people with heart disease [in Gaza]. They can’t get here [to Egypt], they can’t get to Israel. If it’s this hard for us to get to, how difficult is it for the Palestinians to get out?”
PIMA’s director, Dr Ahmed Almari, said: “It’s unbelievable. They’re a group of doctors, they went for education and teaching, to set up a cardiac unit. It’s unfair and sad that it is only as a result of a hunger strike that anybody pays attention. There’s no reason to stop them from crossing.”
Egypt has kept the Rafah crossing largely closed since Hamas won the Gaza elections three years ago. One of the main demands of Hamas has been that all crossings into Gaza should be allowed to reopen permanently. A number of aid groups have said the closure of the crossings is contributing to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Palestinian medical sources reported today that a one-year-old infant died yesterday at a local hospital in Rafah owing to several complications, including pneumonia, as his transfer to a hospital outside of the Gaza Strip was not possible due to the ongoing Israeli siege.
The al-Ma’sara Committee against the Wall and Settlements has been organizing demonstrations against the confiscation of their land for the past two and a half years. During the demonstration on 1 May 2009, the Israeli army arrested Hasan Bergia, Mohammad Bergia, Mahmoud Zwahre (members of the popular committee), Mustafa Fuara, Azmi Ash-Shyukhi, Haggai Matar (Israeli activist) and Tom Stocker (British volunteer). The last two were released the same day on 1,500 NIS bail with conditions of not entering the West Bank for two weeks. Azmi Ash-Shyukhi, Mustafa Fuara and Mahmoud Zwahre were released on bail (50,000 NIS all together) on 13 May, after being held in military prison for almost two weeks.
Interview with MAHMOUD ZWAHRE, the Mayor of Ma’sara, member of the al-Ma’sara Popular Committee, and director of the joint council of nine villages South of Bethlehem.
How did al-Ma’sara nonviolent movement start?
We started in June 2006 to build a nonviolent resistance movement against the settlement and the Wall: we held meetings with farmers, with associations in the nearby villages and with the local councils. At that time, Israel started to confiscate land in the village of Umm Salomona. When we witnessed what was happening to our neighbors, we formed a committee of 13 persons coming from nine different villages (9.000 people) South of Bethlehem, which was later able to gather 100 persons.
Why does Al-Ma’sara play a key role in the movement?
Actually al-Ma’sara (1,000 persons) is the village less affected by the Wall, but it counts the highest percentage of educated population of the area, therefore the most active people of the committee come from there. Even if we have not been directly affected by the Wall and the settlements, we understand the importance of raising our voices against the violence and injustices Palestinians are suffering. Unluckily now, the villagers from al-Ma’sara are the only ones attending the demonstrations, but even if we are few, we stand firmly and we believe in the importance of keeping protesting.
Why don’t people from other villages join your action?
People do not attend protests and sometimes even complain about them because they are afraid: they fear that they can get arrested, injured or even killed, like what happened in Bil’in. Nevertheless, the attendance at protests is further compromised by some influential collaborators who keep discouraging people from attending protests in order to maintain their “special relationship” with the Israeli authorities. Despite these opponents, in 2006, Muhammad Bergia and I won the nine-village local council elections, but our victory made our position even worse. We exposed ourselves, and the result was that we got arrested on the last 1 May, during the weekly nonviolent demonstration.
Why do you think the Israeli military is becoming more aggressive against nonviolent movements?
The Israeli military is now working hard to stop nonviolent resistance movements because our protests clearly show that Palestinians are trying to fight for their rights through peaceful means, which are not only accepted, but even encouraged by the international community. Through nonviolent demonstrations, we prevent Israeli government from portraying Palestinians as violent terrorists who threaten Israel’s security and safety. We put Israel in the uncomfortable position of not being able any longer to put a mask on its armed attacks against unarmed civilians. They are trying to repress our peaceful struggle against their illegal acts. This is the reason why they are mainly targeting people who lead these resistance movements and this is the reason why they arrested us.
Tell us about the day of your arrest
At the May 1st demonstration, a speech concerning the effects of the Wall on workers’ life was held. After that the protesters stood in front of the soldiers and Muhammad Bergia was in the frontline. Suddenly they caught him and dragged him away. Hasan Bergia, Mustafa Fuara, Azmi Ash-Shyukhi, an Israeli solidarity activist and Tom Stocker, a British volunteer, tried to release him, but got arrested as well. Then the launch of tear gas began in order to break up the crowd. I later decided to go and talk to the soldiers, trying to discuss the release of my comrades, but I got arrested too.
The soldiers took us, hands tied, to the detention center in the Gush Etzion settlement and threatened us, saying: “now we’ll see how you will be able to protect yourselves without journalists and cameras.” Then the police border officer started to beat Muhammad right in front of us and tried to choke him. We have pictures of this officer and we will denounce him with the support of B’Tselem. After signing a document with our names and IDs numbers, we went to the doctor, but despite our health problems, he refused to give us the proper medical treatments. Then the soldiers released the Israeli and the British and took us to the jail, also in Gush Etzion. Before entering the prison, the police officers registered Muhammad with the wrong name and this mistake made by the police officer was later used in the process as evidence against him, accusing him of giving wrong information. Then they made us wear prison uniforms, forced us to kneel down with tied hands and ankles, and prevented us from walking while holding our heads high. That was to humiliate us. The next morning they came into the cell to count us, but to do that we were forced to kneel down and look at the floor while saying our names and we had to remain in that position for half an hour. Then a breakfast of one tomato and one yogurt came for me and the other eight persons. I decided to talk to the jail director, asking him “Why are you treating us in this way? Above all, we are human beings and there are international laws protecting prisoners that you are not respecting.” He just answered: “for security reasons!” When we asked for a lighter to smoke, we were told: “Shalit is not allowed to smoke!,” so we couldn’t. I remained in this jail for 12 days.
How about the process?
The first trial was after three days of detention, on 4 May. The DVD of the demonstration was shown to the judge, who decided that there was no reason for detaining us because we did nothing illegal that could represent a danger for the State security, so he asked for our release with a bail of 5,000 NIS. But the military replied that it needed more time to complete the investigation and obtained a first appeal, postponing the process until 7 May. The military appealed a second time, stating the investigation was not yet completed and we still could represent a potential danger for the security of the state. Then the judge doubled the bail to 10,000 NIS. However, they did not release us because the military was given three further days to find evidence against us. On 10 May, the military appealed once again and the process was fixed on 11 May. On Monday the 11th, our lawyer, who was provided by Anarchists against the Wall and the Bil’in Committee, pointed out there had been a different behavior towards Palestinians from one side and Israelis and foreigners from the other, but “it was Shabbat and the police couldn’t detain too many people,” was the excuse.
On 9 June the final court will be held, but in order to be released on 11 May, Hazmi and I had to pay 20,000 NIS each bail and Mustafa 10,000 NIS. We were also prevented from taking part in any demonstration until the court case will be resolved. We were able to pay the bail money thanks to the help of some friends, the Bil’in Committee, Israeli associations and activists. Unluckily, the situation is more complicated and difficult for Muhammad and Hassan, who are still in jail.
What will be your next actions?
We have to keep demonstrating. We don’t have to give up even if things are getting worse and harder. We need the help of Israeli activists and internationals, we need them to join our struggle and help us in spreading what is happening here. But above all, we have to raise awareness among Palestinians, who are the ones meant to be active on the frontline against what they are suffering.
