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Human Rights

Renewed Egyptian ceasfire attempts undermined by Israel
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, The Electronic Intifada, 24 March 2008

Palestinian women cry during the funeral of four assassinated Islamic Jihad fighters in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, 13 March 2008. (Luay Sababa/MaanImages)


In the wake of a series of deadly Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip early this month, Egypt has stepped up efforts aimed at brokering a ceasefire between Palestinian resistance groups and Tel Aviv.

"Egypt is talking to representatives from [Palestinian resistance factions] Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Israel in order to arrive at a tacit easing of hostilities," Mohamed Basyouni, head of the Shura (upper parliamentary) Council's committee for Arab affairs, and former Egyptian ambassador to Israel, told IPS.

Egyptian mediation efforts come in the wake of a ferocious six-day Israeli military incursion into the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip in early March that left more than 120 Palestinians dead. According to Tel Aviv, the assault was launched in retaliation for short-range rocket fire from the territory targeting nearby Israeli towns and settlements.

On 4 March, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit laid down the general outline of a proposed cessation of hostilities. "No missiles are to be fired on the Israelis, but the Israelis also are required not to respond in the manner that they have been responding over the last few days," Aboul-Gheit was quoted as saying.

According to Basyouni, talks are aimed at "reaching a comprehensive understanding that would include a general ceasefire, an opening of Egypt's border with Gaza and possible prisoner exchanges." He added, however, that such an understanding "would not involve the signing of any official agreements."

On 7 March, representatives from both Hamas and Islamic Jihad met with Egyptian officials in the Egyptian city of al-Arish to discuss Egyptian ceasefire proposals and the future of the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Shortly afterwards, Israeli defense ministry official Amos Gilad visited Cairo twice, where he also reportedly heard Egyptian plans for a cessation of hostilities.

Cairo's mediation efforts initially appeared to bear fruit, with Israel refraining from attacks on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and a concomitant cessation of rockets fired by Palestinian resistance groups.

The peace was shattered on 12 March, however, when the Israeli military killed four Islamic Jihad leaders in a "targeted assassination" in the West Bank. The next day, the resistance faction retaliated by firing a volley of short-range rockets into southern Israel.

"The cessation of hostilities held for a week," said Basyouni. "If Israel hadn't broken it, it would have held longer -- Jihad wouldn't have retaliated."

Hamas is also insistent that any proposed ceasefire plan also include a provision to lift the ongoing Israeli siege of the territory, which continues to prevent vital moneys and supplies from reaching the strip's estimated 1.5 million inhabitants.

The group's leadership further demands that the border between Egypt and Gaza -- tightly sealed since February -- be reopened by the Egyptian authorities. All other means in or out of the territory are closely controlled by the Israeli authorities.

Gaza's dire humanitarian circumstances reached crisis proportions in January, when some half million Palestinians poured across the 14-kilometer border with Egypt into the northern Sinai Peninsula. Ten days later, after most itinerant Gazans had stocked up on essential supplies and gone home, Egyptian authorities resealed the border and closed the crossing at Rafah.

"There must be a commitment by Israel to end all of its aggression against our people, assassinations, killings and raids, and lift the siege [of Gaza] and reopen the crossings," Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Hamas government in Gaza, said on 12 March when laying down the group's conditions for a ceasefire.

Any understanding reached with Israel, he added, must apply to both the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank, which is run by the US-backed Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli officials, however, continue to reject the notion of dialogue with Hamas. On 20 March, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak vowed to continue military operations against targets in the Gaza Strip, reiterating the long-standing Israeli refusal to negotiate with what Tel Aviv considers a "terrorist organization."

According to Abelaziz Shadi, coordinator for the Israeli studies program at Cairo University, Israel's maximalist position can be attributed to the Hebrew state's domestic politics.

"[Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert rejects the idea of a ceasefire because he is beholden to the right-wing parties in his government, which refuse to countenance the idea of making concessions to the Palestinians," Shadi told IPS.

Egypt does not officially recognize Hamas in Gaza, control of which was seized by the resistance group last June. Nevertheless, say local commentators, Cairo is also aware of the need to maintain contacts with the besieged territory's de facto rulers.

"Egypt is dealing with Hamas from a security perspective," explained Basyouni. "And on the basis that Hamas represents a fact on the ground."

Shadi agreed, noting that Egypt viewed the grave situation in Gaza "as having a serious effect on Egypt's national security." He added that, particularly after January's influx of desperate Gazans, "Cairo is acutely aware of the dire humanitarian situation in the territory as a result of the Israeli siege."

In a notable turn, the US administration -- which also calls Hamas a "terrorist" organization -- appears to be reconsidering its long-standing policy of politically and geographically isolating the Islamist group.

While in Brussels at a 6 March North Atlantic Treaty Organization ministerial meeting, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared to lend support to Egypt's Hamas-inclusive ceasefire initiative.

"We fully expect the Egyptians to carry out efforts ... to try to improve the situation in Gaza," Rice was quoted as saying in reference to Egypt's recent attempts at mediation.

According to Egyptian political analyst Jihan Fawzi, Washington -- like Cairo -- has little choice but to recognize Hamas if it hopes to influence Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

"The US administration has begun changing its approach," Fawzi wrote in the 14 March edition of independent daily al-Masri al-Youm. "The Americans have finally realized that Hamas cannot be ignored and must play a role in any Israel-Palestine peace settlement."

All rights reserved, IPS - Inter Press Service (2008). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden.


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Palestine : Development: Renewed Egyptian ceasfire attempts undermined by Israel (24 March 2008)

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Activism News

Towards a viable academic boycott campaign
Laith Marouf, The Electronic Intifada, 24 March 2008

For the past few years student and academic groups in North America and Europe have been openly campaigning for the boycott of Israeli academia. Some actions produced results (even if not long lasting) and some were unsuccessful. It is important for us working towards the defense of Palestinians' human rights to learn from these experiences so we may meet our goals in the future. One thing is clear, the stakes are very high and all the major Zionist organizations are responding accordingly.

Let us first look at the boycott campaign in the UK led by the British Committee for Universities in Palestine. The campaign was a well-thought-out initiative, though it was taken on a wild roller coaster ride. The leading organizers worked for over three years educating fellow academics about the case for boycott.

Professors succeeded in getting pro-boycott motions passed by two major academic unions, the Association of University Teachers and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education. At that time, these two unions were also in the process of merging. The day after the merger, the executive of the new union, the University and College Union (UCU), claimed to have no mandate for a boycott. Pro-boycott professors mounted a new campaign and triumphantly passed a motion for boycott in the first UCU General Assembly. In response, Harvard Law School's Alan Dershowitz threatened to unleash an army of lawyers ready to file perpetual lawsuits that would "devastate and bankrupt" any union that boycotted Israel. The UCU lawyers balked and eventually the campaign was vetoed by the UCU executive.

One lesson that can be learned is that the campaigns within the academic unions were not coordinated with and tied to a parallel campaign of student mobilization. We cannot know if greater student participation would have made a decisive difference, but generally student activism is less susceptible to financial and institutional pressure. Strikes, walk-outs and shutdowns -- as was done in the time of the South African anti-apartheid campaign -- might have provided the professors with the added leverage they needed to counter the pressure.

Across the Atlantic in Canada, tens of university provosts and presidents mounted a preemptive strike by issuing statements condemning the UCU boycott. This had a chilling effect on boycott efforts in many universities, although some groups on Canadian campuses have persisted. At McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) condemned their university's president for signing the letter. The university provost even banned the use of the term "Israeli Apartheid" on campus as a reaction to the continued campaigning. This led to the largest mobilization the campus has seen as hundreds of students and community members flooded McMaster from across southern Ontario. They defied the ban, hanging multiple banners that displayed the term "Israeli Apartheid." The administration backed down and even denied they had ever issued the ban.

At Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, professors, along with the local SPHR chapter, challenged their president for signing a statement. The administration capitulated and financed a discussion on the boycott. Similarly, after the president of Toronto's Ryerson University issued a statement against the UCU boycott, SPHR along with the Ryerson Student Union (RSU) went on the offensive. Once again the university eventually agreed to organize a panel to debate the boycott.

This affair also extended to the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), the largest student union in Canada, of which RSU is affiliated. At the CFS annual national meeting, RSU representatives put forward a motion to consider an educational campaign about boycott. The motion was not even allowed on the agenda, and the RSU representatives reportedly walked out. Also when students organized "Israeli Apartheid Week" at Ryerson members of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), the only Jewish group labeled by the FBI as a "right-wing terrorist group," were at the opening panel harassing attendees. Within weeks, an arson attack targeted the offices of the East African Students Group, one of the groups campaigning for boycott. The police still have not released any information about the culprits.

Though the divide is still wide and the pressure considerable, some students and professors are collaborating on campaigns. Certainly, mass student involvement has been lacking. While the boycott education campaign has just started, it is important to remember most students have had no experience with any campaign of this kind or magnitude. It is one thing to hold a conference or win over one union, but can we hold our gains without having a grassroots education campaign to solidify the ground we stand on? To this date efforts in Canada have been either reactionary or lacking in any long-term strategy.

What is at stake here? We cannot campaign on this issue and lose; that would be a disaster. It is paramount that leading activists, students, and professors develop a strategy to educate our constituencies on the issue before we expose them to the bullying of Zionist lobby groups. One thing people hate more than a bully is a failure.

Laith Marouf is the Chapter Coordinator of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), the largest network of students working on Palestinian human rights in North America. He can be reached at laith AT sphr DOT org.







Human Rights

Trapped in no man's land
James Denselow, The Electronic Intifada, 21 March 2008

Al-Waleed refugee camp. (MAP)


In 2006, as Iraq descended into new depths of civil conflict, 350 Palestinian refugees were driven out of Baghdad by targeted violence. They arrived in the desert no man's land between the Iraqi and Syrian border crossings at al-Tanf. The Syrian authorities denied the Palestinians access into Syria, while also preventing any more Palestinians arriving into the no man's land. The worsening violence in Iraq, however, saw the continuing arrival of Palestinian refugees at the border. An estimated 1,740 refugees are now stuck in al-Waleed camp on the Iraqi side. In addition, towards the end of 2007 about 350 Palestinians who previously entered Syria with Iraqi passports were relocated to al-Tanf camp. The number of refugees in al-Tanf has now increased to an estimated 720, 500 of whom are women and children.

For many of the refugees, the trigger for their attempt to leave Iraq was the extreme violence they had suffered. Bereft of a militia to protect their minority status, middle class Palestinians have been frequent targets of brutal kidnapping and ransom attempts. Tisar Abdel Fadi, a forty-year old mother of three, left Baghdad for al-Tanf following her husband's kidnapping. Taken from a hospital, he was subsequently tortured and killed.

For these vulnerable refugees, it was a case of leaving the frying pan of Baghdad only to find the fire of the barren desert camps. The refugees in the al-Waleed camp in particular are subject to fluctuating politics of local and regional sheikhs in the lawless Anbar province. These local authorities try to secure a share of the aid business and intervene according to their own interests. This makes the work of the international aid organizations extremely difficult as they are regularly hindered in carrying out their jobs effectively. Security is so poor that overnight visits are not possible. The camp is also subject to interference from the border police, local police and the Iraqi army.

Both camps are characterized by tented accommodation[s] due to the fear that more solid structures would encourage permanent settlement in what constitutes the most peripheral and unforgiving of locations. Given the harsh weather conditions -- the freezing cold in winter, the unbearable desert heat in summer -- and the regular threats from fires, snakes and scorpions, long-term dwelling in a tented settlement is simply not a viable solution.

In al-Waleed, the refugees have installed toilets in their tents, but the ground does not allow for the absorption of the waste water. This forces the sewage to run openly through the camp, leading to a higher incidence of disease and infections as children play between the tents. The medical requirements of these refugees are numerous; they include the need for an additional female doctor, as well as more frequent visits from the gynecologist. There is also a need for a psychologist, trauma counsellors, a dentist, nurses and a proper medical health center in the camp. In addition, the only activities available in the camp are basic schooling for the children and embroidery work for women, condemning the vast majority of refugees to indolence.

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) took an Iraqi doctor and refugee in Damascus, to visit the camp. The doctor noted that the most serious medical conditions were clearly linked to the negative effects on the mental health of the refugees caused by a pervasive sense of the hopelessness for their situation and the difficulties of the environment.

Indeed the main problems faced by the Palestinian refugees currently living along the border are the unbearable physical conditions and their uncertain future. There is an urgent and seldom recognized need for these refugees to be resettled as soon as possible. It is also their explicit wish not to be brought to any other Arab country but to another country, which gives them permanent living status.

In August 2007, UN Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie visited al-Waleed and told the press afterward that, "it is absolutely essential that the ongoing debate about Iraq's future includes plans for addressing the enormous humanitarian consequences these people face." Yet almost half a year on, little has changed, the situation remains as desperate as ever for Palestinians stuck in this barren and unforgiving no man's land.

James Denselow is the communications officer for Medical Aid for Palestinians a UK-based charity that works for the health of Palestinians -- especially in conditions of occupation, displacement or exile -- based on principles of self-determination and social justice.







Human Rights

See no evil: Canadian government denies torture in Israel
Jesse Rosenfeld, The Electronic Intifada, 21 March 2008

"The Israelis tied my hands, blindfolded and then beat me all the way to the interrogation center. I was then cuffed to a chair for four days where interrogators prevented me from sleeping. I was tied in painful stress positions, and on one occasion the agents grabbed me while I was cuffed to the chair and shook me severely, I passed out when they started shaking me by the head," says "Samer" a former student activist at Birzeit University who was arrested in 2006.

Nonetheless, this isn't torture according to Canadian foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier and the Harper government. After it was exposed that Canada had Israel and the United States listed as offenders in a training manual for diplomats about torture, the two countries were promptly dropped on 19 January with Bernier's expression of regret and embarrassment.

However, for tortured Palestinians and Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, Bernier's expressions of regret and embarrassment should target Canada's lack of action against Israeli torture. Sarit Michaeli, a spokesperson for the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem says the international community has an obligation to act against torture. "We are very concerned about the Canadian government removing Israel from this list," she says.

On 21 January, B'Tselem sent a message to Bernier protesting the removal of Israel from a list of suspect countries in his department's torture awareness manual. Although, according to Foreign Affairs spokesperson Rodney Moore, the government has no record of receiving B'Tselem's letter.

Referring to the ministers statements about the manual he said "the Minister made it clear that this was not a position of government policy," refusing to elaborate. "The minister said in his statement that this was an embarrassment" said Moore in reference to the apology, refusing to comment as to why Israel was originally in the manual and then taken out.

B'Tselem's comments were echoed by Amnesty International Canada which obtained the diplomatic manual on torture before releasing it to the press. "We are disappointed that Canada would take countries off the list for diplomatic reasons," says Paul Champ, Amnesty's attorney who obtained the document. "Torture is a very serious issue and if there's evidence, the Canadian government needs to deal with it." Champ says that the manual was for training consular officers, and in the case of Israel, to bring claims of torture to their attention.

Last year, B'Tselem jointly released a report with the Israeli individual liberties group, Hamoked, that documents the pervasiveness of Israeli torture and ill treatment of Palestinian detainees. The document reported that two-thirds of interview subjects said they had experienced beatings, painful binding, humiliation and denial of basic needs at the hands of security forces from the moment of arrest.

However, for Gadi Zohar, former Chief of Israel's Civil Administration in the West Bank and former head of Israeli Army Intelligence's Terror Research Department, "we have to fight for our lives, not for anybody's reports." Zohar contends that Israel shouldn't be called a state that tortures because of its "special situation in fighting terrorism. When you have to make decisions about saving lives and someone suffering, then one should suffer," he says dismissing many Palestinian accusations of torture as propaganda.

In the office of the Israeli prime minister, spokesperson Mark Regev is terse and clear. "Torture is illegal in Israel," says Regev, referring to Israel's 1999 Supreme Court decision. "Nobody, not the Prime Minister's office, the Defense Establishment, nobody is above the Law."

Despite Israel's claim not to torture, the story of violent and tormenting ill treatment by Israeli officials during detention is common in the occupied territories. According to the general director of the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for victims of Torture in Ramallah, Mahmud Sehwail, there was little change after the 1999 Israeli High court ruling that partly barred torture. Sehwail says that 90 percent of Palestinian detainees have been tortured or ill-treated and the main switch after 1999 was from more physical to more psychological forms of torture. He also noted that the ruling's allowance for "physical pressure" to be applied in so-called "ticking time bomb" cases is a torture loophole.

Samer, who decided to use a pseudonym to keep his privacy, also relayed experiences of psychological torture where agents from the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) claimed to have arrested his mother and sister, threatening to rape them if he didn't confess. Samer says he suffers from back pain and diminished eyesight as well as psychological trauma since his detention. While his experiences are more severe than most detainees, they are not uncommon.

Hammad Selaman described the Israeli army coming to his door at two in the morning to arrest him when he was 17. Freed as part of Israel's token release of 429 prisoners in November 2007, he says he was charged with being a member of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas' political movement which is still considered an illegal organization by Israel. Describing being blindfolded and put on the floor of an army jeep, he says the soldiers kicked and beat him all the way to the detention center. He contends that the soldiers unleashed dogs on him in the jeep.

After arriving at the center where he says he was held for a month, he highlights being taken to a small room where soldiers beat him again. "I was then taken to a bigger room where I was blindfolded and cuffed to a chair for 10 hours waiting for interrogation. I could hear other prisoners screaming from the torture."

With Canada's Feds being evasive and the official opposition Liberal party refusing an interview, Paul Dewar, The Foreign Affairs critic for Canada's social democratic party -- the New Democratic Party (NDP), was cautious in his response. Dewar primarily targeted the government for not acting on their information.

"The government has to stop shutting up its bureaucrats when they come out with important information," he says highlighting that both Canada and Israel haven't signed the UN convention against torture. Shying away from condemning the Israeli government, Dewar said that Samer and Selaman's experiences sounded like torture, but he hasn't seen B'Tselem's report and doesn't know if Israel's actions would meet the criteria to be listed as a state that tortures.

While Canadian politicians distance themselves from publicly confronting Israel over its detention policies, many Palestinians who've passed through Israeli custody say that torture doesn't end in the interrogation room but continues in prison after sentencing.

Jihad Maher Shalapi was 16 when he says he was arrested at Nablus' Huwwara checkpoint, beaten all the way to interrogation and then severely beaten after refusing to sign a confession in Hebrew which he didn't understand. "The interrogator started screaming at me, beating me and kicking my head against the door. I was forced to stand on my tiptoes squatting in a stress position for half an hour at a time."

A member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine at the time of arrest, he says he was caught with two homemade explosives intended for a retaliation attack after the Israeli military carried out the extrajudicial execution of his uncle. He was sentenced to a year in prison by an Israeli military court where he says extreme mistreatment continued. Released in October 2007, he describes the regular use of tear gas by guards in the prison yard which would blow into the cells. He also highlighted cell block raids where the army would discharge tear gas into cells, then rushing in to beat prisoners with batons.

With a Canadian election on the horizon, the NDP has said the issue of torture will be part of the party's human rights platform. However, Dewar kept the kid gloves on and was vague as to how the issue will be addressed. Regardless of the muted response in Canada to the descriptions of Israeli torture, Shalapi, Selaman and Samer have all called on the Canadian government to place Israel back in the manual and take concrete diplomatic action to end Israeli torture.

Jesse Rosenfeld is a freelance journalist based in Ramallah. His blog can be found at www.allvoices.com/users/jesse.rosenfeld. A version of this article originally appeared in NOW magazine.







Live from Palestine

Gaza's situation: frustration and determination
Rami Almeghari writing from occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 20 March 2008

A Palestinian woman makes bread outside the festival near the seat at Gaza.


A few kilometers from where the Israeli army attacked Gaza's coast, a coalition of 27 women's organizations held a festival marking International Women's Day. Organized by the Women's Affairs Center based in Gaza City, the event titled, "Gaza women defy the Israeli siege," was held at the Beach Hotel along the coast.

The hall overlooking Gaza's shore is crowded with dozens of attendees and a number of booths selling various products. One woman sells traditional folk dresses, while another delivers homemade Palestinian foods, and another stand offers homemade accessories and household items.

Exhibit organizer Reem Elneerab.

Reem Elneerab, organizer of the exhibition says that today's festival is "exceptional as it comes during a crippling siege," enforced by Israel since June 2007. "The exhibition is sending out a message of steadfastness by Gaza women that despite the Israeli closure and measures, the Palestinian women can emerge with more creativity and ability to sustain," she explains.

Donya Al-Amal Ismail, a local journalist and a participant in the fair, believes that such an exhibition "helps women express their talents and creativity in a way that exposes an important aspect of Palestinian society in Gaza, despite the ongoing suffering of the population." She adds that the exhibition faced a number of problems this year including "the lack of raw materials and people's inability to make purchases at these difficult times."

Traditional Palestinian embroidery made by women in Gaza.

Ismail's sentiments are echoed by the Zakher Women's Society for Craftwork and Textiles, which has a stand in the exhibition. Reem Al-Haddad, a customer service representative, says that she has been displaying her products since the early hours of the morning, yet visitors come to look without buying.

She smiles and explains that "when I look at the eyes of my customers I can understand they want to buy, but they can not afford to buy. The situation has affected their ability to purchase."

After Hamas took over Gaza last June, Israel imposed a harsh economic blockade on the coastal region. According to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine Refugees, more than 80 percent of Gaza's 1.5 million residents depend entirely on food assistance that the organization provides.

As Ms. Al-Haddad observed, many Palestinians want to participate in events like the Women's Day festival and purchase the crafts on display, however, they are unable to afford these items. Because of the siege even purchasing basic items like bread has become difficult.

Now Gaza's local industries have been forced to shut down due to lack of raw materials and Israel's closure of border crossings, leaving more than 70,000 local laborers jobless. Near the women's exhibition of homemade craftwork and foods, the local chapter of the Committee for Breaking the Siege held a symbolic funeral procession for Gaza's local factories. The procession drew hundreds of men who marched through Gaza City's Kateeba district.

This is the situation in Gaza today: in the midst of the ongoing Israeli siege and attacks, Palestinians in Gaza feel a mixture of frustration and determination to continue with their lives.

Rami Almeghari is currently contributor to several media outlets including Palestine Chronicle, IMEMC, The Electronic Intifada and Free Speech Radio News. Rami is also a former senior English translator at and editor in chief of the international press center of the Gaza-based Palestinian Information Service. He can be contacted at rami_almeghari at hotmail.com.

All images by Rami Almeghari