Category: In the Media

Daily News Egypt: Scottish couple barred from delivering medical supplies at Gaza’s Rafah crossing

By Eva Bartlett
July 21, 2008

To view original article, published by the Daily News Egypt on 21st July, click here

Ten days after setting out from Edinburgh, five days past their projected July 15 arrival, Scottish humanitarian Khalil Al Niss and his wife Linda Willis finally pulled up Sunday afternoon at the Gaza-Egypt Rafah crossing only to be denied entry to Gaza.
The Gazan side, just over 100 meters from the Egyptian gate and Israeli-constructed wall, is visible from where the couple’s van sits idle; doctors inside Gaza wait for the expected delivery of essential medical aid.

Having arrived by ferry after 11 pm, Khalil and Linda were made to wait over 24 hours at the border town of Nuweiba, where Egyptian authorities sent them around repeatedly to six different departments to fill out form after form.

Once again, the van was unloaded, Egyptian officials inspecting the contents and re-loading,satisfied the couple really was bringing in vital medicines and equipment.

“Egyptian bureaucracy is amazing. We sat, had tea,filled out forms and were told ‘okay, you’re ready to go now. Just goover to that office there and fill out one more form,’ Linda told Daily News Egypt.

Just after 1 pm Sunday they drove into Al-Arish,the pair weary but pleased to have made it to their second-lastdestination. “We’re completely exhausted. Since Wednesday morninguntil now we’ve only slept a cumulative 10 hours,” said Linda.

Lindaand Khalil have driven day and night in a van crammed with urgently-needed medical supplies and equipment to reach north-eastern Sinai’s Rafah.

They are part of a growing trend of international citizens who have decided to help end the Israeli siege on Gaza where residents are denied the most basic necessities—including vital medicines and hospital equipment parts.

Native Scot Linda and Jerusalemite Palestinian living in Scotland, Khalil, took time off from work, ferried to Belgium, and continued drivingthrough Germany, Austria, and Slovenia.

Although the team anticipated difficulties crossing borders with a van decked out in the Palestinian and Scottish flags and filled with medicines, they hadn’t expected a flat-out denial of entry. Arriving at Croatia’s border, the pair was refused entry, causing them to backtrack and alter their route, driving instead through Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria to cross via Turkey two days later.
Turkish authorities also initially turned the van away, yet eventually relented some 17 hours later,having partially unloaded and searched the van’s contents, andpermitted the van to pass. “I was surprised,” Linda explained, “because Turkey is a Muslim country and I had thought they would support and empathize with Gaza.”

Thankfully, travel got easier after Turkey.

“Syria was fantastic,” Khalil said, praising the country’s aid in expediting travel through and on to Jordan. “Syrian authorities even provided us with a security convoy, all the way to the border.”

In Jordan,the duo once again faced excessive red tape and an unwillingness to allow them passage, a reticence which again surprised them given Jordan’s large population of Palestinian refugees. After again partially unloading the van, four hours later they boarded a ferry bound for Egypt.

Greater Obstacles

Yet it turns out that the last and most trying delays have come in Egypt, first at Egypt’s border with Jordan.

They are now optimistic but wary about the likelihood of entering Gaza.

“It’s just been such a long journey. It would be fantastic if we could enter and deliver the medicine, save some lives,” Linda explained. “But Idon’t think it will be easy, I think we’ll need to get help from ourScottish Parliamentarians.”

Arriving at 2 pm at Rafah’s closed gates, Khalil and Linda were told they must first return to Al-Arish to fill out border-crossing forms with officials based there before their crossing will be considered.

The two, having been on the road for 10 days and already having faced days of bureaucracy and waiting,refused to leave the area, afraid that roadblocks might prevent their re-entry the following day. After a warning from Egyptian authorities that the area in front of the border was now a closed military area forbidden to foreigners, Linda and Khalil relented, leaving the vanparked at the side, waiting to enter and deliver its goods.

Linda,a nurse in Scotland, explained the coordination with Gaza’s doctors:“We spoke with a doctor in one of Gaza’s hospitals. He’s desperate forthe medicine and equipment we’re bringing. He’s particularly thrilled about the endotracheal tubes used in surgery that we are bringing as hesays they are re-using the only tubes they have right now.”

Thevan also carries desperately-needed medication for heart conditions and diabetes, as well as syringes, bandages, swabs, antibiotics.

An Egyptian humanitarian who traveled to the border to support theScottish effort condemned what he called the complicity of the Egyptian government in the siege. “Egypt shares in this crime,” he said. “Theofficers here denying you entry are taking orders from higher powers.”

Just a Boycott?

Linda and Khalil don’t agree that the Israeli siege is merely an ‘economic boycott.’ “Israel is trying to wipe out the younger population. If young people die, there is no future for Palestinians in the area.”

The Gaza-based Popular Committee Against the Siege (PCAS) last reported the number of victims who had died preventable deaths as a result of unattainable medical care under the siege as 212, the last two victims being an 11-month-old infant and a 44-year-old father of eight. Both died on Sunday, after being denied permits to exit Gaza for treatment.

PCAS lists 107 classes of basic medicines that are depleted in Gaza, 97 more nearing depletion, 136 halted or not functioning medical instruments,and over 1,500 patients who need to leave the Strip for medical treatment.

Despite the June 19 agreement to halt Israeli military operations, invasions, and indiscriminate shelling on Gaza, in return for an end to the launching of home-made rockets from Gaza towards Israel, Israel has not met its obligations in opening the borders with Gaza and allowing in adequate amounts of food, medical supplies, construction materials, fuel, and other vital elements denied the civilian population for well over one year.

Instead, the opening of Rafah, and the passage of goods into Gaza via other crossings, has been put on hold, used as a bargaining tool for the release of Israeli solider Gilad Shalit, even though his release was not part of the ceasefire agreement.
Khalil and Linda remain hopeful that they will enter and bear witness, deliver aid and a message: the siege is inhumane, and if the international political community won’t do anything to end it, civilians will.

Their success may be echoed by the efforts of a team of over 50internationals, including Israelis, who aim to reach Gaza’s coast by water.

Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, an organizer of the Free Gaza boat movement, hopes like Linda and Khalil, to ‘remind the world that we will not stand by and watch 1.5 million people suffer death by starvation and disease.’

Linda and Khalil’s journey may be tracked by visiting www.gaza.tk , www.scottishpsc.org.uk/ and www.gphrc.org/main.html

Huffington Post: Susan Sarandon’s double standards

By Omid Memarian

To view original article, published by the Huffington Post on 19th July, click here

Susan Sarandon has expressed surprising unwillingness to denounce her support for the Israeli Billionaire, Lev Leviev, who is has been criticized by a variety of NGOs for his involvement in building settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
In 2004, the ICJ declared both current Israeli settlements and the wall Israel is building inside the West Bank to facilitate future settlements inside the West Bank to be illegal under international law.

UNICEF has recently rejected all offers of partnerships and financial support from him. Lev Leviev had previously sponsored UNICEF fundraising events in France, and his support of UNICEF is featured in several places on his company’s website.

But it seems that Susan Sarandon, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, has decided not to follow UNICEF’s lead and cut all ties with Leviev. As recently as Nov. 13th, 2007, Sarandon appeared as a guest at Leviev’s New York jewelry store gala.

Last week while working on a story, I send an email to her spokesman. He responded:

“She is not a spokesperson for any jewelry company nor is she an expert on this matter. She has read information from various sources about both sides of the issue. Beyond this Ms. Sarandon does not feel qualified to make any further comment.”

I’ve always admired Ms. Sarandon’s good will and aspirations, but I was amazed by her response to this particular situation and especially her use of the phrase “reading information from both sides.” Christopher de Bono, UNICEF’s chief of media, told me that, “UNICEF’s decision was made after they undertook an internal screening process [and] concluded that donations from him would not be appropriate, because of the nature of some of his business activities.”

But was Ms. Sarandon an expert on Iraq, WMD, etc? How about when she spoke out against the U.S. war on Iraq? The fact is one doesn’t need to be an expert on agriculture or food to talk about the taste of egg or tomato. Regarding the international law, Israeli settlements on Palestinian land are morally wrong. Any participation and involvement in the creation of such settlements violates international law and presents an obstacle to peace.

Opposing Israeli settlements is one of the clearest morally “correct” positions to take on an Israel-Palestine issue. Many Israelis and even Zionists agree that it is wrong. Secretary of State Condi Rice regularly has warned the Israelis against settlements expansion. Leviev’s companies are among those responsible for expanding the settlements.

“Our position on settlements, I think, has been very consistent, very clear. The secretary expressed it not too long ago. He said settlement activity has severely undermined Palestinian trust and hope, preempts and prejudges the outcome of negotiations, and in doing so, cripples chances for real peace and prosperity. The U.S. has long opposed settlement activity and, consistent with the report of the Mitchell Committee, settlement activity must stop.” Mr. Richard Boucher, U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing — November 25, 2002

In denouncing settlements and those who build them, Sarandon does not need expertise to follow the lead of UNICEF, Oxfam International, the UN, all leading human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B’Tselem (Israeli) and almost all governments worldwide. If she is concerned about her expertise, she or her assistants can get on the phone and talk to any of those organizations..

Sarandon appears to be employing a double standard with respect to human rights in Palestine.,. She may be doing this due to personal beliefs or out of fear that publicly defending Palestinian rights will hurt her standing to speak out on issues in Iraq. Or, perhaps she might even fear that supporting Palestinian rights and criticizing Israel could hurt her position in Hollywood. Whatever the reason is, Sarandon seems to have forgotten that beyond the names of countries and influential people there are some universal rules we all should respect, and those are international laws.

Pending Eviction in East Jerusalem – Settler organisation attempts to occupy Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jerrah

Since Wednesday evening, a group of Palestinian, Israeli and international solidarity activists are camping out to protest against a Palestinian family being threatened with eviction from their home in East Jerusalem

Map from The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ)

The eviction order was announced on Monday, requesting the family to leave by Wednesday under constant threat of forcibly being evicted. The neighbourhood, Al Sheikh Jarrah, with a long history of legal struggle, has organized a local committee in an attempt to save the house – which they fear is just the beginning of a full eviction of the whole Palestinian neighbourhood. At the moment, the family the neighbourhood committee are facing a nervous wait, afraid to be evicted at any time, while trying to overrule the court ruling.

The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ) have written a report on the case.

To view original report click here

“The “High Court of Justice” has issued an evacuation order for one of the 28 houses to be evacuated and demolished in the Palestinian Al Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem. As an occupied part of the West Bank, Israel has no right to issued and carryout such decisions, especially that East Jerusalem remains one of the main issues to negotiate between the Palestinian and the Israeli sides. The Israeli court decision is neither legally justified or morally. However, and in this respect is has been leading a methodological campaign against the Palestinians’ rights and very existence in the occupied city of East Jerusalem.

The storyline of Al Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem started out back in the year 1985 when the contrive of the planned neighbourhood illegally assumed control of a Palestinian expropriated property (the Shepherd Hotel) from the Israeli custodian of absentee property who has taken control of the hotel following the 1967 war, despite the fact the heirs of the rightful owner of the hotel (Grand Mufti Al-Haj Amin Al-Husseni) are still alive and long legal residents of Jerusalem. At the end of 2005, the planning committee at the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem authorized demolition of the Shepherd Hotel located in Karem Al-Mufti at the Palestinian Al Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood -but the order was not carried out to date-; in addition to that multiple city committee approvals were needed to add and to complete the application file number 11536 submitted to the Israeli Jerusalem municipality to build a complex project on 30 Dunums (including the land where the hotel is standing), which at the time of the application is to have 90 housing units, kindergarten and a synagogue.

The plan for the new Israeli neighbourhood will form the missing link between the illegal Jewish neighbourhoods stretching from Mount Scopus (south of Shepherd hotel) where Shim’oun Hatzdik Tomb area became residence to some 8 Israeli families with an additional 4 dozen of yeshiva students and a cluster of various governments institutions including the national police headquarter to the north.

The plan for the new illegal neighbourhood goes much further than the immediate threat that hunts the shepherd hotel and its surrounding area to include an entire sector in the Al Sheikh Jarrah area called Karem Al-Mufti. In addition to the 30 Dunums that encompass the shepherd hotel and the lands surrounding it; an additional 110 Dunums (mostly cultivated with olive trees) of Karem Al-Mufti area falls under threat of being reclassified from an open and public space area to residential area once plans are developed to build a Jewish neighbourhood.

Precedents to such activity took place in many areas, the most infamous of which are the Abu Ghanim Mountain and the Shu’fat hill cases; where the Israeli Jerusalem municipality reclassified the status of the mountain areas from “green areas” to residential areas; and are identified today by Israel as Har-Homa and Reches Shu’fat settlements.

The plans for the new Israeli neighbourhood, if implemented would compromise the terms of the Oslo Peace Accord which prohibit any of the conflicting parties to take any action that may alter the outcome of final status negotiation over Jerusalem.

Hour: It takes a village

Palestinians take Israeli settlements to Quebec court

By Stefan Christoff

To view original article, published by Hour on 17th July, click here
Palestinians in Bil’in hold their ground

Bil’in, a small Palestinian town in the West Bank, stands to make legal history in Canada. Palestinians from Bil’in have filed a lawsuit in Quebec Superior Court against two sister companies registered in Quebec, Green Park International and Green Mount International, currently constructing in Modi’in Illit, an exclusive Israeli settlement on lands within Bil’in’s municipal jurisdiction.

“Bil’in village and human rights attorneys both share the same goal in this legal battle – to put pressure on companies or even investors internationally to halt their involvement in illegal Israeli settlement construction,” explains Michael Sfard, an Israeli lawyer representing Bil’in. “Israeli settlement construction is the number one obstacle to lasting peace, as settlements are forcing Palestinian people from their lands, from their homes, from their towns.”

According to Michael Sfard, this lawsuit is the first time a private company is being sued for involvement in constructing Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands.

The Bil’in lawsuit asks the Quebec Superior Court to rule on whether the settlement construction violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, signed after WWII, which outlines international legalities for civilians and lands under foreign occupation. The legal submission will also ask the court to decide if the settlement construction contravenes Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, and the Civil Code of Quebec.

UN Security
Council resolutions have described Israeli settlements as having “no legal validity.” According to the International Court of Justice, Israeli settlement construction within Palestinian lands (occupied by Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war) violates international law. Despite legal rebukes at the highest international level, the government of Israel continues to back new settlement construction in the Palestinian West Bank.

“This case is part of the globalization process that the entire world is experiencing,” continues Sfard. “[The] Bil’in case illustrates that a domestic court in Quebec can have jurisdiction over an international war crime, in the case of illegal Israeli settlement construction on Bil’in’s lands.”

For more info, visit www.bilin-village.org.

IPS: Sarandon refuses to renounce Israeli settlement-builder

Israeli Magnate Draws Activists’ Ire

By Omid Memarian

To view original article, published by the Inter Press Service (IPS) News Agency on 15th July, click here

Having successfully lobbied the U.N. Children’s Agency UNICEF to stop accepting donations from Israeli billionaire Lev Avnerovich Leviev, activists are urging celebrities who have made public appearances with Leviev to cut all ties with him.

Leviev is the chairman of Africa Israel Investments, a global conglomerate that has been criticised by a variety of NGOs for its involvement in building settlements in the occupied West Bank. During an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz earlier this year, Leviev said that he would continue building in the Palestinian territories as long as he had permission from Israel.

Seven diverse groups committed to justice, human rights and peace and representing hundreds of organisations and tens of thousands of people in the U.S., Palestine and Israel have also called on Susan Sarandon, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, to follow UNICEF’s lead and cut all ties with Lev Leviev. Sarandon appeared as a guest at Leviev’s Nov. 13, 2007 New York jewelry store gala.

Last month, UNICEF rejected all offers of partnerships and financial support from Leviev, who had previously sponsored UNICEF fundraising events in France. Leviev’s support of UNICEF is featured in several places on his company’s website.

A representative for Sarandon told IPS that the award-winning actress, known for her embrace of progressive causes, is not a spokesperson for any jewelry company nor is she an expert on this matter. “She has read information from various sources about both sides of the issue,” wrote her representative in an email. “Beyond this Ms. Sarandon does not feel qualified to make any further comment.”

On Jul. 9, human rights advocates gathered outside the storefront of the Leviev jewelry store on Madison Avenue in New York to demand that the businessman be brought to justice for his alleged human rights violations.

Such violations “include the illegal construction of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land,” stated Adalah-NY, a Jewish-Palestinian coalition of activists.

Protestors chanted, “You sparkle, you shine, but settlements are still a crime” and “You’re glitzy, you’re glam, you’re stealing Palestinian land” while carrying mug shots of Leviev emblazoned with the words “Wanted, Lev Leviev, For Violating International Law.”

The protest took place on the fourth anniversary of a critical decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, the world’s highest legal body. In 2004, the ICJ declared both current Israeli settlements and the wall Israel is building inside the West Bank to facilitate future settlement expansion to be illegal under international law.

Following the protest last Wednesday, similar demonstrations have been held in Palestinian towns directly affected by Leviev’s illegal settlement construction.

The Manhattan protestors also expressed their support for the striking workers of Lev Leviev Diamonds in Windhoek. These 153 Namibian employees have been striking for three weeks because, among other things, they are paid less than two dollars per day. Adalah-NY, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and Palestinian civil society groups issued a joint statement supporting the Namibian workers early this month.

Leviev has yet to publicly respond to the protests or UNICEF’s statement, and IPS was unable to reach him for comment.

“Susan Sarandon’s denunciation of Lev Leviev would be a blow to his companies’ prestige and his ability to operate within polite high society,” Ethan Heitner, a spokesperson for Adalah-NY, told IPS. “By associating himself with the Hollywood elite and with major charities, Leviev has deflected attention from his companies’ human rights abuses in Palestine, Angola and Namibia.”

Christopher de Bono, UNICEF’s chief of media, told IPS that, “UNICEF responded by letter to a civil society organisation that had advised UNICEF that some of Mr. Leviev’s websites represented him as a donor to UNICEF…The decision was made after UNICEF undertook an internal screening process [and] concluded that donations from him would not be appropriate, because of the nature of some of his business activities.”

De Bono said that the decision was about fundamental principles and good practice for UNICEF. “It was made on the basis of the normal screening process that UNICEF undertakes regarding partnerships and large or controversial donors,” he said.

“In response to enquiries from a number of civil society organisations that noted that Mr. Lev Leviev was represented on his websites as a donor to UNICEF, UNICEF reviewed the activities of Mr. Leviev’s corporate vehicles and determined that it would decline any further support from him.”

The basis for Leviev’s representation as a donor was the gift of one item auctioned by the French magazine Gala at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival in support of the French National Committee for UNICEF, and the loaning of jewelry to Gala for a related charity fashion show and fashion calendar, produced by Gala for UNICEF’s benefit. “To the best of our knowledge, this was his only donation,” emphasised De Bono.

UNICEF’s review of Leviev’s donations is not an unprecedented action. “UNICEF currently assesses some 400-500 prospective partners and donors each year to ensure they share the core values of the organisation,” said De Bono. “In the past 12 months, UNICEF declined to be involved with more than 20 potential partners or donors, [which], in some cases, are legitimate businesses engaged in activities that are legal but are not in the spirit of UNICEF’s mission.”

“Like UNICEF, which did not know until we informed them, we understand that when you attended the gala opening of Leviev’s Madison Avenue jewelry store, as Adalah-NY protested outside, you were unaware of Leviev’s record of human rights abuses in Palestine, Angola and beyond,” wrote Adalah-NY in a public letter to Sarandon asking her to cut ties with Leviev.

“However, as a popular and respected human rights advocate and a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, not publicly severing ties with Leviev has sent and will continue to send a message to the world that you support Leviev’s highly unethical business activities which result in grave human rights abuses in Palestine.”

“Ms. Sarandon promised us in December 2007 to explore Leviev’s companies’ human rights violations, which are well documented. UNICEF, the organisation which she represents as a Goodwill Ambassador, explored the issue and severed their ties,” Lubna Ka’abneh, a spokesperson for Adalah-NY, told IPS.

“We remain hopeful and confident that Ms. Sarandon will again courageously do the right thing. The human rights of Iraqis, Palestinians, Angolans and Namibians should all be defended,” she said.