Halper asks, "What details make the difference between a just and lasting peace and apartheid?" He outlines the following steps Israel will have to take in order to guarantee that a Palestinian state is viable...
BRUSSELS (EJP)---A two-day conference by a UN panel on the rights of the Palestinians will take place in the European Parliament in Brussels at the end of this month in spite of complaints by Israel and Jewish groups about the anti-Israeli character of the meeting. The conference, entitled International Conference of Civil Society in Support of sraeli-Palestinian Peace, will bring together several non-government organizations (NGOs).
An August 6, 2007 article in the Jerusalem Post reports on a reportGround to a Halt: Denial of Palestinians Freedom of Movement in the West Bankissued by BTselem on Israeli check-points and security arrangements on West Bank roads. "According to the report, since movement restrictions on Palestinians were first imposed following the outbreak of the second intifada in September, 2000, they have come to serve extraneous purposes such as to control and channel Palestinian movement in order to separate them from Israelis. The restriction of movement allows Israelis to move uninterruptedly"
In a July 27th BBC News article, Steve Crawshaw, spokesman for Human Rights Watch, offers harsh criticism of the new Human Rights Council (HRC), based in Geneva and established one year ago to replace the UN Human Rights Commission: "I think it would be crazy to say that it has not been a disappointing year...The HRC should have been, if you like, a beacon of human rightsWe really hoped that the new council would move things forward radically. It has, to be honest, failed to do so," states Crawshaw. The article goes on to note that "critics say the council is barely any improvement on its predecessor ? and now there are moves in the US congress to try to cut off funding." Later in the article, Kristen Silverberg, the US assistant secretary of state responsible for US policy, highlights the Council's singling out of Israel: "It's really been a grave disappointment to usThis is a council that devoted eight different actions to bashing and criticising Israel before it lifted a finger to help people in any other part of the world, including the long-suffering people of Burma, or North Korea, or Zimbabwe."
Having completed a 5-day tour of the West Bank and Gaza, a "high-level delegation" of The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has issued July 17 press release calling on all Palestinian groups "to uphold the rule of law," and condemning human rights abuses by Palestinian factions, including torture and summary executions. During their visit to Gaza, the members of the mission met with three senior Hamas officials, including Hamas Gaza chief Ismail Haniyeh. The FIDH does not indicate that it held any meetings with Israeli government officials in its mission. The statement calls upon Israel "to immediately and without condition release the 43 elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council currently detained in Israel." Yet, disturbingly, the FIDH fails to call on Palestinian groups, including Hamas, to cease terrorist attacks against Israel. The report is yet another example of FIDH's strong pro-Palestinian political agenda and one-sided analysis.
Sabeel has announced that it will be holding a conference, in conjunction with North American Friends of Sabeel October 26-27 in Boston. The conference promotes the Durban strategy of demonization, referring to Israel with terms such as "apartheid". Advertised speakers include Desmond Tutu, John Dugard, (UN Special Rapporteur on the situation in the Palestinian Territories), Naim Ateek, and Jeff Halper (head of ICAHD, which is funded by the European Union).
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) issued a press release on July 15th calling "for an immediate investigation into attacks against 3 journalists while they were covering a demonstration organized by national factions in Khan Yunis on Thursday evening, 12 July 2007, forcing them to delete all video footages and photographs before releasing them." PCHR demanded an investigation into "violations, including beating and degrading treatment, against a number of people who were arrested following the demonstration." Who committed the violence? Palestinian groups?
Neither Israel nor Lebanon has investigated allegations of war crimes from last year's conflict, the human rights group Amnesty International charged in a statement released Thursday, calling for a United Nations inquiry. In its reports since the war, Amnesty criticized Hezbollah for firing nearly 4,000 rockets at Israeli cities and towns, and Israel for bombing civilian areas and using cluster bombs in south Lebanon...Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev's response to the Amnesty charges was quoted in The International Herald Tribune -- "The Israeli system of justice is independent, professional and transparent. Allegations of inappropriate behavior by Israeli military personal have been thoroughly investigated. Israel is a country in which respect of human rights and the rule of law are at the very center of the political process."
Jessica Montell, Executive Director of BTselem, has announced that BTselems Board of Directors recently approved the establishment of a U.S. office in Washington, DC, thereby becoming "the only Israeli human rights organization to have a presence in Washington" (the news was released via a letter sent out on their email update subscribers). According to their release, their "first task is to fundraise for this initiative." The release also includes job postings for the new office: "We are looking for two people who between them must be well-versed in Washington advocacy, familiar with the US Jewish community, and able to speak authoritatively about the Israeli human rights situation."
In a July 9th press release, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemned the breaking into of Al Azhar University by members of Hamas Executive Force, calling for an investigation into the incident. The group of broke into the campus of Al Azhar University in Gaza City and seized materials from its science laboratories. In their statement, Al Mezan condemned the assault as a violation of the provisions of the Palestinian Basic Law, which prohibits the entry, surveillance, or inspection of public or private property without a prior judicial order. This conduct is also in breach of articles (19), (20), (21), and (39 to52) of the Palestinian Penal Code. The Palestinian law clearly prohibits seizure of property without a due process.
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