To view original article, published by the IMEMC on the 9th December, click here
BRUSSELS, December 9, 2008 – Despite the scathing remarks by European Parliament (EP) Vice-President last week, in regards to Israel’s human rights abuses and incessant disregard for International law and Geneva Conventions, today, the EP’s 27 foreign ministers voted unanimously to upgrade EU foreign relations with Israel.
Last week, after being denied a vote altogether by EP Vice-President, Luisa Morgantini, Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tzipi Livni, decided to do some more lobbying with the EP’s foreign ministers, but in particular Bernard Kouchner of France, who currently sits as the EU’s rotating president.
“At one point, she asked everyone else in the room to leave so that she could speak with Kouchner privately. During that conversation, the two agreed that there would be no linkage, but the EU would issue a separate statement stressing the need to continue the final-status talks.” It seems obvious, although difficult to actually find a formal report on the powers of EU President, that Kouchner overrode Morgantini’s earlier decision to hold Israel accountable to international law before a vote would take place in order to “upgrade” EU-Israeli relations.
“The two also agreed that the EU would not officially adopt the action plan for the peace process, which France had formulated, but would instead leave it as a mere proposal. The plan, first reported in Haaretz last week, stated that the EU would, inter alia, press Israel to reopen Orient House, the PA’s former headquarters in East Jerusalem.” Not only is Israel not accountable for it’s severe breaches of international law, it can now table the earlier peace process, formulated by France, as simply a mere proposal.
The burning question here is:
What exactly did Livni and Kouchner discuss in their private meeting?
Last week Morgantini declared, after suspending the vote to upgrade EU-Israeli relations, that:
“Finally this vote is positive for us Europeans, who are showing to ourselves and to the entire world that respect for human rights and the achievement of justice are not an abstract declaration of principles.”
In light of Kouchner’s reversal of Morgantini’s decision, and the unanimous vote by all 27 foreign ministers of the EP, the European Union is now sending a slightly different message: That the rule of law and the application of justice, when applied to Israel, is indeed an “abstract declaration of principles”. They are sending a clear message that Israel can effectively continue to terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with impunity, while enjoying”upgraded” relations with the EU.
This decision will, most likely, result in outrage across the Arab World.
At around 3 o’clock on Monday afternoon, the first day of Eid al-Adha, Israeli forces seized two members of the Jabari family from their home under charges of stone throwing.
The soldiers brought security camera tapes from the nearby the illegal Quiryat Arba settlement supposedly showing the two throwing stones along with two members of the settlement as “witnesses”. Fadi Jabari, 20 and Mohammed Jabari, 22, live directly across from the recently evicted Rajabi occupied house and over the past months have suffered tremendously from settler attacks on their home and families. In recent attacks they have had part of their home torched, their windows completely smashed and have each been injured by both rocks and assault.
Settlers attacking the Jabari family house
The police and army present during the multiple settler attacks did nothing to help the family protect themselves, in fact they often shot tear gas into and around their home. Both men have been treated for the effects of extreme exposure to the toxic gas. Mohammed has two small children, each under the age of two, to protect. None of this information was taken into account when apprehending the two Palestinians.
Local outrage in response to the arrests pushed the community around the Jabari house to hold a demonstration on Tuesday afternoon at the police station where the two are being held. The peaceful demonstration of 50 Palestinians and internationals was quickly dispersed by the authorities within the station, who violently attacked and detained three Swedish demonstrators from the International Solidarity Movement.
The demonstrators held signs proclaiming that the real criminals were the violent settlers who injured dozens of Palestinians in the days leading up to and following the eviction of the illegally occupied Rajibi house, not the two Jabari men who were only protecting their homes and children from the rampage that left large parts of their land torched and their house damaged.
Members from all of the Palestinian families in the neighbourhood around the Jabari home came to the demonstration today to show their solidarity with the two men and their family. The members of the community have banded together in many situations to protect one another from their violent settler neighbors.
The goal of today’s demonstration was to ensure that the arrests of these two men did not happen silently, that while all of the world was still watching they would see that illegal and arbitrary arrests of Palestinians by the Israeli authorities are commonplace in the West Bank and that the mass settler attacks on Palestinians that were seen on Thursday afternoon still has not ended.
The two men are currently still being held with no word of a trial or release date.
(GAZA, 9 December 2008) – The Free Gaza Movement ship “Dignity” successfully broke through the Israeli blockade for the fourth time since August, arriving in Gaza Port at 2:45pm, Tuesday 9 December. The ship carried one ton of medical supplies and high-protein baby formula, in addition to a delegation of international academics, humanitarian and human rights workers. Three earlier missions made landfall in Gaza in August, October, and November through the power of non-violent direct action and civil resistance. The Free Gaza ships are the first international ships to reach the Gaza Strip in over 41 years.
Ewa Jasiewicz, a Free Gaza organizer, journalist, and solidarity worker, pointed out that, “Tomorrow is International Human Rights Day, and it’s high time the world turned its rhetoric on human rights into reality. We mounted this mission to give our solidarity to the people of Palestine and to highlight the strangulating conditions Israel causes in besieged Gaza. The inhumane effects of this siege threaten to stunt an entire generation – both in terms of physical and mental growth due to malnutrition, terrorization by bomb attacks, incursions and the use of sonic booms – but also in terms of the generation of students which have won places at academic institutions around the world but cannot fulfill them, and those undermined on the ground in Gaza by a lack of food, medicine, electricity, materials, and the peace and space to make use of them in.”
For over two years, Israel has imposed an increasingly severe blockade on Gaza, dramatically increasing poverty and malnutrition rates among the 1.5 million human people who live in this tiny, coastal region. The World Bank recently warned that the entire banking system in Gaza may soon collapse resulting in “serious humanitarian implications.” Already, over eighty percent of Gazan families are dependent on international food aid in order to feed their children.
Lubna Masarwa, another Free Gaza organizer and the current delegation’s leader, pointed out that, “The Palestinians of Gaza don’t need charity. What they need is effective political action that changes their lives and ends the Occupation. We can’t bring electricity to Gaza on our boats. We can’t import freedom of movement or safety. But we can get into Gaza and we are intent to keep coming. We will come again and again and again until the world breaks its silence and we shatter this siege once and for all.”
On Thursday 4th December, extremist Israeli settlers began a multiple-day rampage throughout the West Bank in response to the eviction of a single settler-occupied house in Hebron. Beginning at 3pm, thousands of settlers blocked roads throughout the West Bank, stoning cars, attacking houses, burning olive groves and desecrating mosques.
The main roads into and out of Nablus were blocked by settlers, as were Huwwara, Beit Iba and Beit Furiq checkpoints, leaving many Palestinians stranded for hours. Settlers also blocked roads and attacked Palestinians in the villages of Huwwara, Burin, Al-Funduq, Turmasayya, and the old city of Jerusalem. The main road from Nablus to Qalqilia was blocked on Thursday night, only partly opening on Friday, with the section from Nablus to al Funduq closed by Israeli soldiers throughout Friday. Roads between Kufr Laqif and Jinsafut in Qalqiliya region; and Deir Istiyia to Haris in Salfit region were also closed due to settlers stoning Palestinian cars.
Settlers also took their attacks into Palestinian villages, terrorising families throughout the Northern West Bank.
In Assira al Qibliya, a village in the southern Nablus region notorious for attacks by settlers from neighbouring Yizhar settlement, settlers fire-bombed the Jamal family house, setting fire to various parts of the house including the bathroom. At approximately 9:20pm on Thursday night, at least 5 molotov cocktails were thrown at the house. The family, who were not home at the time, returned to find the outside and upper parts of their house burnt; a house full of smoke and smashed windows. This is the second attack by settlers on this family home in 3 days, with settlers setting fires in front of the house whilst the family was inside 2 nights before. Israeli police, who arrived later at the scene, appeared to do nothing in response to the attacks.
In the village of Beit Furiq, east of Nablus city, settlers opened fire at the checkpoint at approximately 6pm on Thursday night, shooting into the air and stoning Palestinian cars, while Israeli soldiers stood by passively. The settlers were only stopped when they tried to enter the village, with soldiers preventing settlers entering more than 200 metres into the village. The following day, however, at approximately 4pm, settlers from the Itamar settlement opened fire on Beit Furiq farmers in their olive groves. All farmers escaped uninjured.
In Azzun in Qalqiliya region, settlers, having entered the village a few days prior to desecrate the mosque, spray-painting “Death to Arabs” and “We will do to you what we did in Hebron”, again tried to invade the village, but were stopped at the main gate by Israeli soldiers.
In An Nabilias and Kufr Laqif, villages near Azzun, settlers also desecrated the mosques there a few days earlier, insulting Islam and the prophet Mohammad. On Thursday 4th the settlers returned to these villages to stone cars.
At approximately 3pm on Thursday near the village of Turmas’ayya in Ramallah region, the Israeli army established a flying checkpoint, allowing settlers to then stone the more than 100 cars waiting in the queue. Settlers also set fire to Turmas’ayya olive groves, destroying an as yet unknown number of trees, as villagers are prevented from entering these lands without Israeli army coordination.
At 12pm, settlers entered Turmas’ayya, attacking one house, breaking many windows while the family slept in another room. Settlers also attacked an empty house 100 metres from the main road, while the Israeli army stood by, doing nothing to prevent the attack.
In the village of Huwarra south of Nablus, settlers blocked the road, throwing stones and bottles at Palestinian cars. Settlers also threw rocks and bottles at cars near Haris and Deir Istiya.
In the village of Burin, approximately 120 extremist settlers from the Yizhar settlement, attacked Palestinian villagers. The settlers threw stones at dozens of Palestinian cars and set fire to olive groves. One fire raged for over 2 hours, as the Israeli military prevented Burin’s firefighters from arriving at the scene. The settlers also threw burning tyres at one Palestinian family’s house.
After confrontations with Palestinian youth and Israeli military, settlers were forced from the scene, only to return later in the night. The group of approximately 10 settlers walked down from Yizhar to the soldiers who were still stationed at the junction between route 60 and the road leading up to the settlement. After talking with the soldiers, the settlers walked up the hill to the closest Palestinian house, that of Ahmad Soufan, and began once again to throw stones at it. The dozens of soldiers and numerous military vehicles failed again to intervene until international human rights observers called the DCO (District Coordination Office) saying that the house they were in was being attacked by settlers.
But the Israeli military, rather than respond appropriately to the settler attack, invaded Ahmad’s house. The army woke up all the small children who were sleeping (the youngest 20 days old) and forced them into one room of the house. The family was held captive in the house and were prohibited from making or receiving phone calls. The army continued to occupy the house until 2am the next morning. Although the Israeli army claimed they came to protect the Palestinians, settlers were allowed to roam free while Palestinians were persecuted still further.
This type of response has been typical of the Israeli army throughout this settler rampage. The Israeli army, instead of defending Palestinians from settler attacks, in many cases responded by further victimizing Palestinians.
Rami Najar, a taxi driver from Burin was driving through Jit, when his car was attacked by settlers throwing rocks. One of his passengers, a woman from Burin, was injured in this attack. Rather than arrest the violent settlers, obviously responsible for the confrontation, Israeli military authorities instead pulled Rami from his car when he attempted to continue driving through the throng of settlers. Soldiers detained him for 15 minutes, with 3 soldiers punching, kicking and beating him with their guns, before allowing him to continue driving.
In the village of Haris in Salfit, one driver was surrounded by Israeli soldiers pointing their guns at his car after being stoned by settlers. The soldiers only backed-off at the intervention of an international human rights worker.
Israeli military have also implemented curfews in Palestinian villages as a result of these attacks, although no curfews (a clear violation of international law) have been reported from any of the illegal Israeli settlements. The main road of the village of al Funduq in Qalqiliya region was placed under curfew on Thursday 4th, with all shops forced to close and residents return to their homes. One resident reports that Israeli soldiers advised villagers the curfew was imposed “In case settlers come here”. An Nabilias in Qalqiliya was also placed under curfew on Thursday 4th in the wake of the settler attacks there.
In other cases the response of the Israeli military has largely been that of passive complicity. The settler rampage has been allowed to continue unchecked, with just a few examples of soldiers keeping settlers out of Palestinian villages.
The rationale for this inaction was explained to the Jamal family after the most recent attack on their house. “They are our sons”, the unit commander told him. “What do you want us to do?”.
Two days after settlers attempted to block Huwwara checkpoint, Palestinians are still denied entrance into Nablus via the key checkpoint. Israeli soldiers now, rather than Israeli settlers, block the main entrance to Nablus. As Ahmad Soufan says, “I think the Israeli settlers and the Israeli army are working together.”
As part of its attempt to appear to “crackdown” on ultra-right wing settler extremists, on Thursday 4th December, the Israeli army finally carried out the Israeli supreme court ruling to evacuate one settler-occupied but Palestinian-owned house in Hebron. Although the Israeli authorities received the order to evacuate the illegal settlers more than two weeks ago, Israeli military officials, expecting a settler backlash, waited until precisely the time when most Palestinians would be out of their houses to carry out the command. On the Thursday before the Muslim holiday of Eid, the Festival of Sacrifice, one of the busiest days of the year in Palestine, the Israeli army acted, and as expected, settlers retaliated with violence against Palestinians.
Arab Knesset members, left-wing activists planning to sail south from Jaffa in bid to ‘break the blockade’, transfer humanitarian equipment to Strip stopped by Israel Police; vessel transferred to Tel Aviv marina. ‘This is a coward move; all we wanted was to deliver medicines,’ says MK Tibi
To view original article, published by Ynet on the 7th December, click here
Police prevent Gaza sail: A boat scheduled to leave the Jaffa Port on Sunday morning with several Arab Knesset members and sail to the Gaza Strip was seized by the police early Sunday and transferred to the Tel Aviv marina, Ynet has learned.
The police also seized a truck carrying equipment and medications and detained three suspects for questioning.
Left-wing activists and several Arab MKs were planning to dock in the Strip a day before the Muslim Festival of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) in protest of the “Israeli blockade” and transfer humanitarian equipment, including medications, food and toys.
Police officials explained that they acted according to clause 24 in the “disengagement implementation law”, which states that Israelis will not enter Gaza without a permit.
There were no reports of clashes in the area, but the police boosted their forces in Jaffa for fear of riots. Police officials estimated that was the only boat scheduled to sail to Gaza.
Hadash Chairman Mohammad Barakeh was on his way to Jaffa when he heard about the police operation from Ynet.
“If this is the state of things, the strong Israel must be afraid of a humanitarian act,” he said. “We wanted to show the world that there is a different Israel, but it appears that the authorities insist on presenting Israel in its ugliness.”
‘Illegal move’
Zahi Nujaidat of the Committee against the Siege, which initiated the move, claimed that the police operation had no illegal basis. “No one told us, ‘Don’t sail.’ Every person in Israel can pay a boat owner and sail and travel to Gaza’s waters, just like anyone can sail to Akko and Tiberias,” he said.
United Arab List-Ta’al Chairman Ahmad Tibi, who joined the sail initiative at the last moment, said this was “a coward and anti-Democratic move by people and an establishment fearing the supply of medicines to a Gaza hospital.
“This is the same institution which turns a blind eye and silently agrees – recently more intensely – to the riots and pogroms of Jewish fascists from the settlements, and is the one preventing a ship of medications carrying a human message to sail to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza in order to deliver the medicines.”
Tibi stressed that the sail was not a political one and that there were no scheduled meetings with members of movements which do not recognize Israel (i.e. Hamas).
“This was a symbolic sail aimed at breaking the siege. We support the lull and we succeed in the humanitarian test, while the occupation fails once and again.”
MKs Wasal Taha and Jamal Zahalka (Balad) said in a statement, “We will continue our efforts to send aid boats to Gaza from Israel and abroad and won’t give up. “Gaza is hungry on the eve of the Festival of Sacrifice and this is humanitarian aid.”
3 sails despite truce
Last week, Libya demanded that the United Nations Security Council hold an emergency session to discuss Israel’s refusal to allow a Libyan vessel carrying humanitarian supplies to dock on Gaza’s shore.
During the discussion, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev responded to the claims on damaging peace efforts, saying, “You’re adapting yourselves to Hizbullah and al-Qaeda.
In the past Israel allowed ships to transfer equipment to Gaza, but has apparently decided to increase the pressure on Hamas following the recent attacks on Israel.
Three sails have reached the Strip’s shores in recent months, despite the Israeli siege. The first sail of peace activists arrived in Gaza in August with Israel’s approval.
In November, another group of activists reported that it had managed to reach the Strip’s shores after sailing from Cyprus. Several weeks later, 11 European parliament members from Britain, Ireland, Switzerland and Italy also decided to visit Gaza via sea in order to examine the humanitarian situation in the Strip.
Settlers attacking the Jabari family house
