:icon_sadangel2: Palestine Peace a dream?

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No settlement freeze - Netanyahu
BBC

The Palestinian leadership insists settlement construction must stop
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rebuffed US demands for a total freeze on settlement building in the West Bank.
He is quoted as saying he had told Washington he would instead consider "scaling down construction".
US Mid-East envoy George Mitchell is in the region to finalise terms for renewed peace talks.
The Palestinians have said they will not take part unless Israel stops all construction in its settlements.
The US hopes the Israeli and Palestinian leaders can meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York later this month.
After talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres on Sunday, Mr Mitchell said they were working hard to reach agreement on "many outstanding issues".
The US envoy had been set to meet Mr Netanyahu on Monday, but talks were delayed so both men could attend the funeral of an Israeli air force pilot.
Lt Assaf Ramon - son of Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut killed in the 2003 Columbia space shuttle disaster - died when his fighter jet crashed in the West Bank on Sunday.
'Strike a balance'
Mr Netanyahu is reported to have laid out his position on settlement construction to the Knesset's Security and Foreign Affairs committee on Monday.


Jerusalem is not a settlement, and construction there will continue as usual
Benjamin Netanyahu

Obama Mid-East plans in jeopardy
He told them that Mr Mitchell had requested a complete halt to the building work.
"We made clear that we will build 2,500 housing units which are already in construction," Mr Netanyahu is quoted as saying by a parliamentary official.
"A few days ago, we confirmed 450 additional housing units. I told the Americans that we shall consider scaling down construction."
He said Israel would strike a balance between offering a gesture that would help restart peace negotiations and ensuring a "normal life" for residents in the West Bank settlements.
He also said that any scaling down of construction would be "for a temporary period", not as yet agreed with the Americans.
"The Palestinians expected a complete halt to construction, a freeze, now it is clear that will not be," he went on to say. "Jerusalem is not a settlement, and construction there will continue as usual."
In a statement late Monday, Mr Netanyahu's office said no meeting for peace talks had been set.
But his office added he was ready to move forward a visit to New York, currently set for 23 September, if necessary to enable dialogue.
The US has been preparing a package for peace talks that would see Israel halt settlement construction and Arab nations that have no peace deal with Israel take the first steps towards recognising Israel.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas insists he will not meet his Israeli counterparts until there is a freeze on the settlement of occupied territory, which is illegal under international law.
When news emerged of Israel's plan to build 450 new homes last week, he said there was no point attending a summit with Mr Netanyahu.
Sabri Seidam, an aide to Mr Abbas, told reporters: "Israel has to stop stalling and focus on creating the atmosphere for a resumption of the peace process.
"Its sole track should lead to the establishment of the Palestinian state."
Regarding other Arab states' recognition of Israel, a former Saudi ambassador to the US, Turki al-Faisal, wrote in the New York Times that diplomatic ties could be renewed "only after they [Israel] have released their grip on Arab lands".
Mr Abbas and the Israel prime minister are due to hold separate talks with Mr Mitchell on Tuesday.
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been suspended since December.

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The US rejects reports that Washington and Tel Aviv have struck a deal regarding cessation of Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank.

The US special envoy to the Middle East, George J. Mitchell, said on Monday that the reports were inaccurate, and expressed hope that an agreement would be reached in the near future.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority (PA) officials are maintaining that they will not re-launch negotiations with Israel unless Tel Aviv puts an end to all construction activities in the West Bank.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the PA would not accept anything less than an absolute construction freeze in the West Bank in return for the resumption of talks with Israel.

This is while the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday rejected US calls to halt all settlement construction in the West Bank, particularly in Jerusalem (al-Quds).

Netanyahu said Israel will continue to complete some 3,000 apartments that are already under construction. The hawkish premier is expected to meet with Mitchell on Tuesday.

Tel Aviv is currently under intense pressure form the international community as well as the Obama administration to halt the illegal settlement constructions in the West Bank.

Washington regards Israeli settlements as a hurdle in the way of comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Under the Roadmap for Peace plan brokered by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia, Israel has to 'dismantle settlement outposts erected since 2001 and also freeze all settlement activity'.

More than 285,000 Israelis currently live in the settlements -- considered by the international community as having been illegally constructed. The settlements are erected on occupied lands that the Palestinians claim for a future state.

MP/MMN

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In another act of tightening the screws on the people of Gaza, Egypt destroys ten more tunnels north of its border town of Rafah used to import vital supplies into the besieged Gaza Strip.

Egyptian security forces found the exact location of the cross-border tunnels and blew them up on Monday after receiving a tip-off from a Palestinian runner who was arrested last week.

Muhammad al-Shaer was arrested at the Rafah border crossing as he tried to enter Gaza on false documents. Egyptian officials say more tunnels will be uncovered following his arrest.

As a result of the crippling land, sea, and air blockade of the Gaza Strip imposed by Israel and Egypt since June 2007 when Palestinian resistance movement Hamas took control of the enclave, Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants have had to heavily rely on 'illicit' and perilous tunnels as the sole means of obtaining essential supplies such as food and medicines.

The cross-border tunnels -- also known as Gaza's feeding tubes -- along Rafah, are frequently being attacked by Israeli and Egyptian security forces.

HE/SC/DT

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Editorial: It’s time for action, Arab News
15 September 2009

Egypt has been quietly negotiating between Israel and Hamas for the release of Hamas prisoners held by Israel and also for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006. A deal appears imminent. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak; Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was also in the Egyptian capital a few days earlier and is expected there again this week. Neither of the two men would have turned up there if there were still a mountain of details to climb.

That Hamas and Israel are in discussions, albeit indirectly, and that a prisoner release appears about to happen are encouraging. But, only mildly so.

While the Egyptians have been working hard to resolve one relatively minor cause of rancor between Israelis and Palestinians, Netanyahu remains a hard-liner on the all-important issue of ending settlement construction — without which there can be no resumption of Middle East peace talks. He says that at best there might be a temporary freeze.

This is no concession. He is not going to ditch the settlers; he needs their votes (and the votes of those within Israel’s pre-1967 borders who support the settlements). If he turns against them, he is finished.

In ruling out a complete freeze before meeting President Obama’s Middle East envoy, Sen. George Mitchell, Netanyahu has put his back to the wall but he does not care. He knows that the US will bluster and threaten over this but he is convinced that the threats will be formulaic and that when it comes to blinking first, Obama will. And who would disagree with that?

Nor are Sen. Mitchell’s comments following talks on Sunday with Israeli President Shimon Peres any reason for optimism. He said he and Peres shared a “sense of urgency� over negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

Fine words, but ultimately empty ones. Peres does not have the power to end settlement expansion. As for Mitchell, while it is gratifying to know he understands that all settlement expansion, including so-called “growth expansion� has to stop, he is just as impotent. US pressure has to be powerful enough to force Netanyahu to his knees on this issue; anything less than a total end to the program is a “Road Closed� sign as far as Middle East peace talks go. But there is no evidence Obama is prepared to act tough. He thinks that he can talk the Israelis into being reasonable. That is futile. Without some hard threats, he will be talking pointlessly until doomsday.

The only sense the Arabs have as they watch these latest talks is of déjÃ*-vu and exasperation. They have been here so many times before and still the settlements grow, still the Israelis steal and colonize Palestinian land. An end to settlement expansion is, in fact, just the beginning. There can be no deal, no peace between Palestine and Israel, between Arabs and Israel, until the settlements — all the settlements — are handed over to the Palestinians. On that too, there can be no compromise.

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Olmert to Go on Trial Sept. 29 Date : 14/9/2009 Time : 19:08
TEL AVIV, September 14, 2009 (WAFA)- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's trial will begin on September 29 in the Jerusalem District Court, it was announced Monday.

Olmert is to stand trial for his involvement in the 'Rishon Tours' scandal, the 'cash envelopes' affair, and the 'investment center' case.

In accordance with the request of the prosecution, Olmert will report to the same judges who previously heard the testimony of Moshe Talansky, a key witness in the 'cash envelopes' scandal.

Charges against the former prime minister include fraudulent receipt of goods, false registration of corporate documents, fraud and breach of trust, and fraud and tax evasion.



Source: AJP

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UN condemns 'war crimes' in Gaza
BBC

It accuses Israel of deliberately using "disproportionate force" in the three-week operation in December and January.
The report also condemned rocket attacks by Palestinian groups which Israel says sparked its offensive.
Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166.
Three Israeli civilians and 10 Israeli soldiers were also killed.
Israel, which had refused to co-operate with the UN fact-finding team, said the report was "clearly one-sided".

The military operation was a result of disrespect for the fundamental principle of 'distinction' in international humanitarian law

Key extracts from UN statement
UN seeks close Gaza scrutiny
The investigation, led by South African judge Richard Goldstone, found evidence "indicating serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel during the Gaza conflict", a UN statement said.
Israel also "committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity".
The Israeli operations, the document states, "were carefully planned in all their phases as a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population".
Civilian targets
The report accuses Israel of imposing "a blockade which amounted to collective punishment" in the lead-up to the conflict.
It says "the Israeli military operation was directed at the people of Gaza as a whole".

ANALYSIS

Tim Franks, BBC News, Jerusalem
If this report is to matter, it will be for a number of reasons. One is its length. There have been a slew of reports into the war in Gaza. This is the lengthiest, weighing in at 575 pages.
There is the man who wrote it: Richard Goldstone is a judge and judicial investigator with an impressive record. The UN Human Rights Council, for whom he wrote this, is also no longer a body which is quite as easy for Israel to dismiss as a congenitally biased. The US has recently run for, and been elected to a seat on its council.
Mr Goldstone has also shown a measure of political astuteness. This is not the first time that Israel, or Palestinian militants, have been accused of war crimes - and in Israel's case, crimes against humanity as well. But previous allegations have quickly begun to moulder on the shelf.
Mr Goldstone recommended that the Security Council require Israel, and the Gaza authorities, to report in six months about its own investigations into the alleged crimes. If they did not come up to scratch, then the International Criminal Court should become involved. Who, said Judge Goldstone, could object to that?
The reports says Israel must be held accountable for its actions during the war, a process which could lead to the conflict being referred to the International Criminal Court.
The report found there was also evidence that Palestinian groups had committed war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity, in their repeated rockets and mortars attacks on Israel.
It says the launching of rockets which "cannot be aimed with precision at military targets" breaches the fundamental principle of sparing civilian lives.
"Where there is no intended military target and the rockets and mortars are launched into civilian areas, they constitute a deliberate attack against the civilian population," it said.
It also calls for the immediate release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier seized in a Palestinian raid in 2006 and taken to Gaza.
Both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities are criticised for the treatment of their own civilians during the conflict.
Israel's interrogation of political activists and repression of criticism of its activities had "contributed significantly to a political climate in which dissent was not tolerated", it said.
Meanwhile, the alleged "arbitrary arrests" and "extra-judicial executions" of Palestinians by the authorities in both Gaza and the West Bank were also criticised.
'No mandate'
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told the BBC the report had been "born in sin" and had no mandate for its investigation.
The authorities in Gaza and the West Bank did co-operate with the UN mission, but Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has also dismissed the report as "political, unbalanced and dishonest".

Israel said the conflict was to end rockets attacks from Gaza
Ismael Radwan, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, was quoted by AFP news agency as saying it "puts on the same level those who perpetrate crimes and those who resist".
Mr Goldstone rejected such allegations, and told the BBC that "fair minded people" should read the report and "at the end of it, point out where it failed to be objective or even-handed".
The 574-page document recommends that authorities in both Israel and Gaza be required to investigate the allegations and report to the UN Security Council within six months.
The Israeli military insists troops acted lawfully during the conflict.
The government says it has carried out more than 100 investigations into allegations of abuses by its forces - most were dismissed as "baseless" but 23 criminal investigations are still pending.
It reiterated that it was "committed to acting fully in accordance with international law and to examining any allegations of wrongdoing by its forces".
The full report - which is based on 188 interviews, more than 10,000 pages of documentation and 1,200 photographs and other material - will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council at the end of this month.
Eight months after the conflict, very little reconstruction has taken place in Gaza because of the strict Israeli-imposed blockade which bans all but essential supplies from entering the enclave.
The stated aim of the blockade is to weaken Hamas's leadership but aid agencies say it serves only to punish the civilian population.

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Key excerpts: UN Gaza report
BBC

A United Nations investigation into Israel's campaign in the Gaza Strip earlier this year has concluded that there is evidence both sides committed war crimes.
Below are extracts from a UN statement accompanying the report:
[The report ] concluded there is evidence indicating serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel during the Gaza conflict, and that Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity.
The report also concludes there is also evidence that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes, as well as possibly crimes against humanity, in their repeated launching of rockets and mortars into Southern Israel…
The Mission found that, in the lead up to the Israeli military assault on Gaza, Israel imposed a blockade amounting to collective punishment and carried out a systematic policy of progressive isolation and deprivation of the Gaza Strip. During the Israeli military operation, code-named "Operation Cast Lead," houses, factories, wells, schools, hospitals, police stations and other public buildings were destroyed… More than 1,400 people were killed during the military operation…
The report concludes that the Israeli military operation was directed at the people of Gaza as a whole, in furtherance of an overall and continuing policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population, and in a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at the civilian population. The destruction of food supply installations, water sanitation systems, concrete factories and residential houses was the result of a deliberate and systematic policy which has made the daily process of living, and dignified living, more difficult for the civilian population…
The report underlines that in most of the incidents investigated by it, and described in the report, loss of life and destruction caused by Israeli forces during the military operation was a result of disrespect for the fundamental principle of "distinction" in international humanitarian law that requires military forces to distinguish between military targets and civilians and civilian objects at all times…
[The ]report describes a number of specific incidents in which Israeli forces launched "direct attacks against civilians with lethal outcome." These are, it says, cases in which the facts indicate no justifiable military objective pursued by the attack and concludes they amount to war crimes…
A number of other incidents the Report concludes may constitute war crimes include a direct and intentional attack on the Al Quds Hospital and an adjacent ambulance depot in Gaza City.
The Report also covers violations arising from Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank, including excessive force against Palestinian demonstrators, sometimes resulting in deaths, increased closures, restriction of movement and house demolitions. The detention of Palestinian Legislative Council members, the Report says, effectively paralyzed political life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories…
The Fact-Finding Mission also found that the repeated acts of firing rockets and mortars into Southern Israel by Palestinian armed groups "constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity," by failing to distinguish between military targets and the civilian population( Trying to sell the report to Israeli's?, so as to show them that please accept it as we have also blamed them for your crimes??? Remember that 3 Israeli civilians died in that shelling &reports says it is war crime, and its intensity matches the Israeli?). "The launching of rockets and mortars which cannot be aimed with sufficient precisions at military targets breaches the fundamental principle of distinction," the report says. "Where there is no intended military target and the rockets and mortars are launched into civilian areas, they constitute a deliberate attack against the civilian population."
The Mission concludes that the rocket and mortars attacks "have caused terror in the affected communities of southern Israel," as well as "loss of life and physical and mental injury to civilians and damage to private houses, religious buildings and property, thereby eroding the economic and cultural life of the affected communities and severely affecting the economic and social rights of the population." (Point to be noted is only 3 civilians died and not even 0.1 % of destruction was caused in Israel but still UN wants to balance, its due to sheer fear of Israel. As UN was made to protect Israel, know as Israel is committing crimes openly UN is forced to give report on Arab pressure but to please Israel it has dragged Palestinians into the same court as that of Israel)
The Mission urges the Palestinian armed groups holding the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to release him on humanitarian grounds, and, pending his release, give him the full rights accorded to a prisoner of war under the Geneva Conventions including visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Report also notes serious human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial executions of Palestinians, by the authorities in Gaza and by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. ( This represents thw wonderful technique of BBC and UN to present to the world that Israel's are reacting to Palestinians, they almost negate each others, One soldier of Israel is the custody of Palestinians and BBC mentions it in the start that they had held him as captive and then mentions that Israel also does the same, which means both sides does it not a big deal. The case here is Gilad Shalid was held captive by Hamas because more than 11,500 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons, and they are not being released even after years of punishments for there crime of being a Palestinian, Is 11,500 in any branch of mathematics or logical science equal to one? and can holding one soldier as captive can amount to war crime?, and can one holding one soldier as captive same as holding 11,500 civilians? )
The prolonged situation of impunity has created a justice crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory that warrants action, the Report says. The Mission found the Government of Israel had not carried out any credible investigations into alleged violations.
It recommended that the UN Security Council require Israel to report to it, within six months, on investigations and prosecutions it should carry out with regard to the violations identified in its Report. The Mission further recommends that the Security Council set up a body of independent experts to report to it on the progress of the Israeli investigations and prosecutions.
If the experts' reports do not indicate within six months that good faith, independent proceedings are taking place, the Security Council should refer the situation in Gaza to the ICC Prosecutor. The Mission recommends that the same independent expert body also report to the Security Council on proceedings undertaken by the relevant Gaza authorities with regard to crimes committed by the Palestinian side.
As in the case of Israel, if within six months there are no good faith independent proceedings conforming to international standards in place, the Council should refer the situation to the ICC Prosecutor.

Note: Text highlighted in Blue are my comments

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UN: Israel terrorised Gazans in war

The UN report accused Israel of committing serious human rights violations during its war on Gaza [AFP]
Israel "punished and terrorised" civilians in Gaza in a disproportionate attack in its three-week war on the territory earlier this year, a United Nations report has found.

Judge Richard Goldstone, who led the inquiry, said he found evidence Israel targeted civilians and used excessive force in the assault, which was launched on December 27.

"The mission concluded that actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly in some respects crimes against humanity, were committed by the Israel Defence Force," Goldstone, a former South African justice, said.

More than 1,400 Palestinians - about a third of them women and children - were killed in the war. Thirteen Israelis died.

Sharp criticism

Goldstone's report, which came at the end of a six-month inquiry and will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council later this month, said Israel deliberately attacked civilians, failed to take precautions to minimise loss of civilian life and cited strong evidence that Israeli forces committed "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions.


He said: "In the months since the end of the war, various rights groups both domestic and international have provided evidence of Israel’s war crimes."

He said the evidence included accounts of "the shooting of civilians holding white flags ... the deliberate and unjustifiable targeting of UN shelters ... and the killing of over 300 children whilst the Israeli Army had at their disposal the most precise weaponry in the world".

The report also said there was evidence "that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes, as well as possibly crimes against humanity", by firing rockets into southern Israel.

But the report was more sharply critical of Israel and only four paragraphs of a seven-page summary were devoted to Palestinian violations. ( But the BBC reported as if 4 pages were devoted to Palestinians and 3 to Israel )

Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from Gaza, said: "The theme that runs through this new UN report is the idea of excessive force being used [by Israel] and deliberate targeting of civilians.

"There was nothing to warn civilians that there were incoming rockets.

'Israeli war crimes'

"The Israelis say they provided leaflets and made thousands of calls to Gazan citizens, but after they called them and dropped leaflets, they didn't give them any option of where to go.

"Even the United Nations shelter was hit."

The report said there were "numerous instances of deliberate attacks on civilians" and civilian objects in Gaza by Israel.

Its firing of white phosphorous shells and the use of high explosive artillery shells were listed as "violations of humanitarian law".

The investigators recommended that the UN Security Council should call on Israel and the Palestinian authorities to launch their own credible investigations into the conflict within three months.

If either side failed to do that, the council should refer the matter to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor in The Hague within six months, they added.

Rejection 'surprising'

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, told Al Jazeera: "This report is further evidence Israel committed war crimes during its war on Gaza, and we call on the international community to bring Israeli war criminals to trial."

Israel which had refused to co-operate with the investigation, claimed the UN Human Rights Council that ordered it was biased against Israel, allegations which Goldstone and the three other members of the team have denied.


Goldstone urged both sides to launch investigations into the conflict [Reuters]
Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli government, said the army did not target civilians during its campaign against Hamas, which governs the Palestinian territory.

"Israel did not target civilians. The opposite is true - we made every effort not to see the civilian population caught up in the crossfire," he told Al Jazeera.

Israel said its military had opened more than 100 inquiries into allegations of alleged wrongdoing by its forces, but had closed most of them because the accusations were found to be baseless.

Goldstone told Al Jazeera: "I'm surprised that Israel has so speedily read a 575-page report and so quickly rejected it."
( It would have taken atleast hours to read it but they rejected in minutes?)
Goldstone, the former chief prosecutor of the international courts for Yugoslavia and Rwanda, headed the fact-finding mission which conducted dozens of interviews and investigations.

Source: Al Jazeera

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The Israeli Knesset is working on a bill to grant more immunity to Israeli soldiers as the number of Palestinian lawsuits against the Israeli army hits a record high.

The bill --an amendment to the 1952 Civil Wrongs (Liability of the State) Law-- says Israel is not civilly responsible for damages incurred during a military operation launched in a situation of war, providing a broader defense for soldiers' actions in military operations.

Under the current law, soldiers must prove that their lives were in danger for their actions to be considered a military operation. But the new proposal calls for removal of the obligation on all Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and foreign countries since it assumes that the lives of soldiers operating outside Israel are inherently in danger, the Israeli publication, The Jerusalem Post, reported.

Another provision of the amendment allows the Israeli army to declare an area "hostile territory" whenever it likes, which absolves Tel Aviv of liability for damages sustained by residents of that area. Thus, whenever - and for as long as - a certain area of the West Bank, or the entire West Bank, is declared a "hostile territory", Palestinians do not have the right to sue the Israeli army for the incidents that occurred.

The bill also deems Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians were killed and injured during a recent Israeli military offensive, a hostile area. Following the three-week war, hundreds of lawsuits were filled against misconduct of the Israeli troops.

The bill aims to decrease the number of Palestinian lawsuits against Israel. Palestinians have reportedly filed over 500 lawsuits against Israeli soldiers since 2000.

HE/TG/DT

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The Islamic Development Bank has donated $1 million to the Palestinian Ministry of Health to help prevent the spread of the swine flu virus.

Dr. Muhammad Shtayeh of the Fatah Central Committee said the contribution came as part of its mandate to improve the health condition of Palestinians, the Ma'an News Agency reported on September 15,

The grant is meant to help institutions fighting the H1N1 virus and which struggle against its spread, he added.

The announcement came the same day that seven students were diagnosed with the virus in a Nablus area school.

The caretaker ministries of health and education closed the school to prevent the spread of the disease.

FTP/ZAP/HGL