Haaretz 26.7.2007
A Mazuz bypass law
By Yitzhak Bam
This week, in an attempt to rescue some of the honor of hundreds of thousands of our forefathers who collected their pennies and dreamed of redeeming the land, the Knesset had its say by a significant majority. With sweeping support it passed, at a preliminary reading, the amendment to the Israel Lands Administration Law, which will enable the ILA to administer the lands of the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael) according to the fund's goals, and to lease them for Jewish settlement only. The response among the non-Jewish MKs was bitter, and Meretz voiced criticism as well. The word "racism" sneaked in once again, the same old ugly and immoral accusation. This may be the place to cite what one of our public leaders once said about the JNF's lands: "The lands of the JNF, which were purchased with the money of the Jewish people, are devoted to Jewish settlement, just as the Islamic Waqf is devoted to providing the social needs of the Muslim community." These words were said by Yaakov Hazan, the outstanding, historic leader of Mapam, the left wing of the Zionist labor movement. The amendment to the law only fulfills Hazan's words. The amendment makes it possible to devote JNF lands to the purpose for which Jews throughout the Diaspora collected their meager funds in the "blue box" - Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. Anyone who claims that this is racism apparently believes that Zionism is racism, or simply does not understand the legal situation and the reason for the legislation.
The JNF purchased lands and administered them independently. It leased them for Jewish settlement. With the establishment of the state, the Israeli government, which was suffering from a lack of cash, sold from 1.25 million to 1.5 million dunams of land to the JNF. This was land belonging to refugees who fled the country with the establishment of the state. The JNF paid genuine compensation for the lands and helped to fill the state's coffers. With the establishment of the state, the JNF was incorporated as a private company, according to the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael Law. The fund administered its lands on its own. In 1960 the Knesset reorganized the land legislation, and passed three laws. According to the law, JNF lands, such as those belonging to the state and the Israel Lands Development Authority, would be defined as "Israel lands," with their administration entrusted to the ILA, which was established according to the Israel Lands Administration Law. This meant that a government authority took over the administration of the lands belonging to the JNF. But the ILA promised to administer the JNF lands in accordance with the JNF's goals. Their main purpose is to settle Jews on purchased lands. This commitment was formalized in an agreement between the JNF and the State of Israel. By dint of this agreement, for over 50 years the ILA dealt with JNF lands in accordance with its goals, and everything was orderly and proper. But in the autumn of 2005, in the wake of an appeal by Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, the attorney general ruled in his reply to the High Court of Justice that the ILA was not permitted to administer JNF lands in the spirit of its goals and must lease all the lands it handles (including JNF lands) to anyone, ignoring the JNF's basic purpose and the agreement signed between the state and the JNF. The bill I formulated while taking part in the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, on the request of MK Uri Ariel and others, tries to restore the former situation and anchor in law what is self-evident: the ILA's moral obligation and authority to administer JNF lands in accordance with the fund's goals, so that lands purchased with Jewish donors' money will be devoted to Jewish settlement. This is not a law that bypasses the High Court, but a law that bypasses Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. Even if the bill is passed, it does not deny the state's obligation to lease lands to anyone who wants them. It only prevents the state from fulfilling this obligation at the expense of the JNF. So it is surprising that Meretz chose to send an Arab as its representative to the JNF directorate, just as the party would not send an Arab representative to the administration of the Jewish Agency. His interests are not among the interests and goals of the fund. The representative would almost certainly support the dismantling of the JNF, and almost certainly his purpose for sitting on the board is to neutralize the JNF's basic purpose. It is doubtful whether the Mapam visionaries dreamed of that. According to the fundamentals of justice and equality, the State of Israel must act for the benefit of all its citizens. The JNF is not obligated to work for non-Jewish settlement. If that is racism, all of Zionism is racism. And its supporters are racists, including Yaakov Hazan and his party, Mapam.
Attorney Yitzhak Bam is a member of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel. He formulated the amendment to the Israel Lands Administration Law, which passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset.
jeudi 26 juillet 2007
mercredi 25 juillet 2007
'Sweet revenge,' say new Germans - Israelis flock to ask for German nationality
By Ofer Aderet
Haaretz 25.7.2007
Holding her brand-new German passport, Avital Direktor, 29, of Azor, just had to laugh. "What a crazy world," she thought to herself. "Germany's soil is drenched with my family's blood, and in spite of it all, I got German citizenship. I see it as taking revenge on Hitler. Sweet revenge." The past year has seen 4,300 Israelis receive German citizenship, according to data released this week by the Central Bureau of Statistics. The figure represents a 50 percent increase over the previous year.
Avital, who belongs to that growing group of new German citizens, had not been aware that she was entitled to a German passport until three years ago. "Like many Israelis, I was completely unaware that I was entitled to citizenship," she said. Avital's grandparents are Holocaust survivors from Berlin and Stuttgart. When she asked them whether they objected to her applying for German citizenship, they asked whether she intended to go back to Germany to pick up where they "left off." It took Avital three years to get her German citizenship. "It's a long and complex process that stems from the rigid Germanic character," she said, recalling her experiences at the German embassy in Tel Aviv. "They require every possible piece of documentation. They want to see it all. Birth certificate, divorce papers, death certificates, the works." "Now, I will be able to pass it on to my children," she added. Avital said she is not surprised by the sharp rise in demand for German citizenship among Israelis. "Look at what's going on here. Ours is a land that devours its inhabitants. The obtuseness to the needy, the corruption. People are dying to get out of here." Avital hopes to study to be a sound technician in Germany. "Here, it's expensive like you wouldn't believe, but there, I'll get it practically free of charge. I had intended to study it in Israel, but I just can't afford it financially," she explained. According to Avital, most of her friends supported her decision to apply for German citizenship. "They said they wished they could get a German passport, too, and asked me what I was still doing here in Israel." But not all of Avital's friends jumped for joy. In her youth, she was a member of the right-wing Moledet party. She even attended demonstrations opposite the German embassy on Holocaust Memorial Day. "Some of my friends called me a traitor," she confessed.
Haaretz 25.7.2007
Holding her brand-new German passport, Avital Direktor, 29, of Azor, just had to laugh. "What a crazy world," she thought to herself. "Germany's soil is drenched with my family's blood, and in spite of it all, I got German citizenship. I see it as taking revenge on Hitler. Sweet revenge." The past year has seen 4,300 Israelis receive German citizenship, according to data released this week by the Central Bureau of Statistics. The figure represents a 50 percent increase over the previous year.
Avital, who belongs to that growing group of new German citizens, had not been aware that she was entitled to a German passport until three years ago. "Like many Israelis, I was completely unaware that I was entitled to citizenship," she said. Avital's grandparents are Holocaust survivors from Berlin and Stuttgart. When she asked them whether they objected to her applying for German citizenship, they asked whether she intended to go back to Germany to pick up where they "left off." It took Avital three years to get her German citizenship. "It's a long and complex process that stems from the rigid Germanic character," she said, recalling her experiences at the German embassy in Tel Aviv. "They require every possible piece of documentation. They want to see it all. Birth certificate, divorce papers, death certificates, the works." "Now, I will be able to pass it on to my children," she added. Avital said she is not surprised by the sharp rise in demand for German citizenship among Israelis. "Look at what's going on here. Ours is a land that devours its inhabitants. The obtuseness to the needy, the corruption. People are dying to get out of here." Avital hopes to study to be a sound technician in Germany. "Here, it's expensive like you wouldn't believe, but there, I'll get it practically free of charge. I had intended to study it in Israel, but I just can't afford it financially," she explained. According to Avital, most of her friends supported her decision to apply for German citizenship. "They said they wished they could get a German passport, too, and asked me what I was still doing here in Israel." But not all of Avital's friends jumped for joy. In her youth, she was a member of the right-wing Moledet party. She even attended demonstrations opposite the German embassy on Holocaust Memorial Day. "Some of my friends called me a traitor," she confessed.
dimanche 22 juillet 2007
Shifting attention from Yitzhar to Tel Aviv
By Yair Sheleg
Haaretz Last update - 01:29 22/07/2007
The timing of Danny Dayan's election as the new chair of the Yesha Council (which represents the settlements in Judea and Samaria) on Friday, July 13, was a coincidence, but it was symbolic. The election took place close to the date on which the settlers commemorated two years since the disengagement from Gaza (which began the day after the fast of the 9th of Av). The disengagement threw the Yesha Council into the most serious crisis in its history because it symbolized a crushing political failure in the most important struggle the council had ever engaged in. Had it not been for that crisis, it is doubtful whether Dayan, an activist who has until now not stood out in the settlement establishment and the second secular person to head the council since its inception, would have been elected to his new position.
The veteran members of the Yesha Council learned two important lessons from the crisis: One, that they must focus their activity on an ongoing public relations campaign, which will begin long before the next withdrawal plan is announced. And secondly, that they must no longer be portrayed as bearded men wearing skullcaps, with an agenda that differs from that of most of the Israeli public. Instead they have to place the emphasis on people who will not only speak like the general public, but look like them as well. For this task Dayan, a former owner of a high-tech firm, seems very suitable.
Dayan was born in 1955 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in a veteran Revisionist home. His maternal grandfather headed the Herut movement's branch in Argentina, as did his father Moshe. His uncle Mordechai Dayan (father of journalist Ilana Dayan) was active in the Likud -- its liberal branch -- and even headed the Keren Kayemeth leIsrael- Jewish National Fund as a Likud representative. Only his older brother, Haaretz journalist Aryeh Dayan, broke with the family's tradition when as an adult he became a leftist. Aryeh Dayan did not want to be interviewed for this article. Nor was Danny eager to talk about the relations between them, and made do with the statement: "We are brothers in every sense of the word, and because we are both people with heightened political awareness and there are polar differences between us, we try not to get into political discussions."
Dayan immigrated to Israel with his parents early in 1971 and completed high school here. He was drafted during the period of the Yom Kippur War and served in the Israel Defense Forces' computer unit. After his army service and his bachelor's degree studies in computer science he founded a software company, which he sold two years ago. Since then he has been devoting his time to business initiatives and to activity as a teacher of computers and economics at the Academic College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel. Shortly after getting married, Dayan went to live in Ma'ale Shomron, a mixed religious and secular community. Until his present post, his only political activity was in the Tehiya party, which he joined after the Likud, headed by Menachem Begin, signed the Camp David treaty. He is considered very close to Geula Cohen, a co-founder of Tehiya, and in the late 1980s, shortly before the party fell apart, he served as its secretary-general (1989-1991). He even ran for a place on the party's Knesset slate but did not reach a realistic slot.
The election of Dayan is part of a broad move to change the face of the council. Since its establishment in 1979, Yesha has been primarily a body that unites the local council heads in the territories. The council was joined by a small group of public figures, also settlers, which include Elyakim Haetzni, Yoel Bin-Nun and Israel Harel. After the disengagement a steering committee headed by Adi Mintz (the council's former secretary-general) was established, which was tasked with planning a process of rehabilitation and rejuvenation. The main idea was to turn the council from a municipal body into a public one, which would include not only settlers but all the prominent public figures of the rightist camp, with the local council heads constituting only a minority in the council plenum and even in its administration.
Thus Dayan, who was a marginal activist at the time, was invited to become a member of the new plenum. When he received the list of plenum members, he says, "I was angry. The steering committee didn't include a single secular member, and on the list of plenum members I was the only secular person from Judea and Samaria. They even planned a 'steering committee of rabbis' for the council." Dayan responded with an angry public letter. "To their credit it must be said that they responded to the letter quickly and invited me to a discussion with the Yesha local council heads and the members of the steering committee," he says. As a result, Dayan and another secular person, former finance minister Yigal Cohen-Orgad, were invited to join the steering committee. The second result was the election of Dayan as head of the council. The two years that have passed since the disengagement, says Dayan, have helped public relations, "not only because of the outcome of the disengagement, which is now obvious to everyone, but also because of the loss of values and the corruption. It has been proven that anyone who has no ethical backbone regarding the Land of Israel also lacks such a backbone when it comes to other issues." Along with the security argument, it looks as though that will be the main public relations argument. In its attempt to plan a solution to the crisis, the Yesha Council finds itself in a catch-22 situation: In order to attract the secular-bourgeois public (the Kadima and Likud electorates) it must present a moderate policy. In order to bring back those settlers and "orange youth" who were disappointed with the council, it must present an extremist and uncompromising policy.
Dayan, who emphasizes that he does not favor territorial compromise, believes he is suited to fulfill both tasks: "There is no question that my election caters mainly to society in general, but I may also succeed in improving relations with the Gav Hahar ["hump of the mountain"] settlements [a nickname for the extremist settlements, such as Yitzhar and Bracha, Y.S.]. It's possible that they will be willing to accept things from me that they are unwilling to accept from religious leaders." The basis for this assessment is not clear. In the wake of increasing religious extremism among the settlers, there are some who are barely willing to accept orders from "defeatist" rabbis, not to mention from a non-observant council head. It therefore seems that the council has decided to prefer Tel Aviv to Yitzhar. Moreover, the process of consolidating a broad public plenum testifies to the fact that rather than bringing extremists under its wing, Yesha hopes to receive broad public backing in the anticipated confrontation with them.
Haaretz Last update - 01:29 22/07/2007
The timing of Danny Dayan's election as the new chair of the Yesha Council (which represents the settlements in Judea and Samaria) on Friday, July 13, was a coincidence, but it was symbolic. The election took place close to the date on which the settlers commemorated two years since the disengagement from Gaza (which began the day after the fast of the 9th of Av). The disengagement threw the Yesha Council into the most serious crisis in its history because it symbolized a crushing political failure in the most important struggle the council had ever engaged in. Had it not been for that crisis, it is doubtful whether Dayan, an activist who has until now not stood out in the settlement establishment and the second secular person to head the council since its inception, would have been elected to his new position.
The veteran members of the Yesha Council learned two important lessons from the crisis: One, that they must focus their activity on an ongoing public relations campaign, which will begin long before the next withdrawal plan is announced. And secondly, that they must no longer be portrayed as bearded men wearing skullcaps, with an agenda that differs from that of most of the Israeli public. Instead they have to place the emphasis on people who will not only speak like the general public, but look like them as well. For this task Dayan, a former owner of a high-tech firm, seems very suitable.
Dayan was born in 1955 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in a veteran Revisionist home. His maternal grandfather headed the Herut movement's branch in Argentina, as did his father Moshe. His uncle Mordechai Dayan (father of journalist Ilana Dayan) was active in the Likud -- its liberal branch -- and even headed the Keren Kayemeth leIsrael- Jewish National Fund as a Likud representative. Only his older brother, Haaretz journalist Aryeh Dayan, broke with the family's tradition when as an adult he became a leftist. Aryeh Dayan did not want to be interviewed for this article. Nor was Danny eager to talk about the relations between them, and made do with the statement: "We are brothers in every sense of the word, and because we are both people with heightened political awareness and there are polar differences between us, we try not to get into political discussions."
Dayan immigrated to Israel with his parents early in 1971 and completed high school here. He was drafted during the period of the Yom Kippur War and served in the Israel Defense Forces' computer unit. After his army service and his bachelor's degree studies in computer science he founded a software company, which he sold two years ago. Since then he has been devoting his time to business initiatives and to activity as a teacher of computers and economics at the Academic College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel. Shortly after getting married, Dayan went to live in Ma'ale Shomron, a mixed religious and secular community. Until his present post, his only political activity was in the Tehiya party, which he joined after the Likud, headed by Menachem Begin, signed the Camp David treaty. He is considered very close to Geula Cohen, a co-founder of Tehiya, and in the late 1980s, shortly before the party fell apart, he served as its secretary-general (1989-1991). He even ran for a place on the party's Knesset slate but did not reach a realistic slot.
The election of Dayan is part of a broad move to change the face of the council. Since its establishment in 1979, Yesha has been primarily a body that unites the local council heads in the territories. The council was joined by a small group of public figures, also settlers, which include Elyakim Haetzni, Yoel Bin-Nun and Israel Harel. After the disengagement a steering committee headed by Adi Mintz (the council's former secretary-general) was established, which was tasked with planning a process of rehabilitation and rejuvenation. The main idea was to turn the council from a municipal body into a public one, which would include not only settlers but all the prominent public figures of the rightist camp, with the local council heads constituting only a minority in the council plenum and even in its administration.
Thus Dayan, who was a marginal activist at the time, was invited to become a member of the new plenum. When he received the list of plenum members, he says, "I was angry. The steering committee didn't include a single secular member, and on the list of plenum members I was the only secular person from Judea and Samaria. They even planned a 'steering committee of rabbis' for the council." Dayan responded with an angry public letter. "To their credit it must be said that they responded to the letter quickly and invited me to a discussion with the Yesha local council heads and the members of the steering committee," he says. As a result, Dayan and another secular person, former finance minister Yigal Cohen-Orgad, were invited to join the steering committee. The second result was the election of Dayan as head of the council. The two years that have passed since the disengagement, says Dayan, have helped public relations, "not only because of the outcome of the disengagement, which is now obvious to everyone, but also because of the loss of values and the corruption. It has been proven that anyone who has no ethical backbone regarding the Land of Israel also lacks such a backbone when it comes to other issues." Along with the security argument, it looks as though that will be the main public relations argument. In its attempt to plan a solution to the crisis, the Yesha Council finds itself in a catch-22 situation: In order to attract the secular-bourgeois public (the Kadima and Likud electorates) it must present a moderate policy. In order to bring back those settlers and "orange youth" who were disappointed with the council, it must present an extremist and uncompromising policy.
Dayan, who emphasizes that he does not favor territorial compromise, believes he is suited to fulfill both tasks: "There is no question that my election caters mainly to society in general, but I may also succeed in improving relations with the Gav Hahar ["hump of the mountain"] settlements [a nickname for the extremist settlements, such as Yitzhar and Bracha, Y.S.]. It's possible that they will be willing to accept things from me that they are unwilling to accept from religious leaders." The basis for this assessment is not clear. In the wake of increasing religious extremism among the settlers, there are some who are barely willing to accept orders from "defeatist" rabbis, not to mention from a non-observant council head. It therefore seems that the council has decided to prefer Tel Aviv to Yitzhar. Moreover, the process of consolidating a broad public plenum testifies to the fact that rather than bringing extremists under its wing, Yesha hopes to receive broad public backing in the anticipated confrontation with them.
jeudi 19 juillet 2007
Bill allocating JNF land to Jews only passes preliminary reading
Haaretz 07:43 19/07/2007
By Yoav Stern and Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondents
The Knesset plenum approved a bill Wednesday, in its preliminary reading, which calls for all lands under the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to be allocated to Jews only. The bill passed by a massive majority of 64 MKS to 16.The bill, initiated by MK Uri Ariel (National Union-National Religious Party), MK Zeev Elkin (Kadima), and MK Moshe Kahlon (Likud), is geared to bypass a 2004 court ruling which annulled an Israel Lands Administration (ILA) policy that prevented Arabs from participating in bids to purchase land owned by the JNF. As a result of the ruling, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided that all land managed by the ILA, including land owned by the Jewish National Fund, will be marketed without discrimination or limits including to non-Jews.
The JNF owns 13 percent of state land, purchased for Jewish settlement.When the bill was discussed in the Knesset presidency, there were demands to nullify it because it was called racist, but Knesset legal advisor Nurit Elstein said a bill should only be rejected if the racism is explicit in the proposal. Hadash Chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh called the bill an "abominable legislation" and added that "the Knesset's face is the face of Uri Ariel, the radical of the settlers." He maintained that, "this is another expression of a series of racist laws that are passed every day in the state of the Jews. The Arab population won't accept the theft of their rights to the lands that have been expropriated from them for years."In response to the bill, MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra`am-Ta`al) said "this is institutionalized Jewish racism and ethnic democracy that is raging against anything Arab." The Meretz faction said that the government's support in the racist bill exposes its real face. "The Knesset is giving an excellent excuse for whoever is asking to represent Israel as an apartheid state which must be destroyed," said the party's statement.MK Wassel Taha (Balad) said, "Only an insane Knesset passes a racist law that perpetuates the 'great land robbery of 1948' and changes it into an only Jewish asset."MK Jamal Zahalka, also of Balad, maintained that the law shows an increase in the level of racism, and a decrease in the level of democracy, and a sprint to the direction of institutionalized apartheid.MK Elkin, however, said that the bill comes to prevent the state of Israel from breaching the basic treaty between the state and the JNF, and to make historical justice.
By Yoav Stern and Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondents
The Knesset plenum approved a bill Wednesday, in its preliminary reading, which calls for all lands under the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to be allocated to Jews only. The bill passed by a massive majority of 64 MKS to 16.The bill, initiated by MK Uri Ariel (National Union-National Religious Party), MK Zeev Elkin (Kadima), and MK Moshe Kahlon (Likud), is geared to bypass a 2004 court ruling which annulled an Israel Lands Administration (ILA) policy that prevented Arabs from participating in bids to purchase land owned by the JNF. As a result of the ruling, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided that all land managed by the ILA, including land owned by the Jewish National Fund, will be marketed without discrimination or limits including to non-Jews.
The JNF owns 13 percent of state land, purchased for Jewish settlement.When the bill was discussed in the Knesset presidency, there were demands to nullify it because it was called racist, but Knesset legal advisor Nurit Elstein said a bill should only be rejected if the racism is explicit in the proposal. Hadash Chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh called the bill an "abominable legislation" and added that "the Knesset's face is the face of Uri Ariel, the radical of the settlers." He maintained that, "this is another expression of a series of racist laws that are passed every day in the state of the Jews. The Arab population won't accept the theft of their rights to the lands that have been expropriated from them for years."In response to the bill, MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra`am-Ta`al) said "this is institutionalized Jewish racism and ethnic democracy that is raging against anything Arab." The Meretz faction said that the government's support in the racist bill exposes its real face. "The Knesset is giving an excellent excuse for whoever is asking to represent Israel as an apartheid state which must be destroyed," said the party's statement.MK Wassel Taha (Balad) said, "Only an insane Knesset passes a racist law that perpetuates the 'great land robbery of 1948' and changes it into an only Jewish asset."MK Jamal Zahalka, also of Balad, maintained that the law shows an increase in the level of racism, and a decrease in the level of democracy, and a sprint to the direction of institutionalized apartheid.MK Elkin, however, said that the bill comes to prevent the state of Israel from breaching the basic treaty between the state and the JNF, and to make historical justice.
vendredi 6 juillet 2007
UN expert says U.S., EU, others ignoring rights abuses by Israel
Haaretz 05:20 06/07/2006
By The Associated Press
GENEVA - A UN human rights expert on Wednesday criticized the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations for ignoring countless Israeli violations of human rights, international law and other standards. John Dugard, a South African lawyer responsible for investigating alleged human rights abuses by Israel in Palestinian areas, said the United States and other international powers who make up the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators have done nothing to rein in Israel.
"Israel's conduct is morally indefensible," Dugard told an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council. "I am concerned with the law, and here it is clear that Israel is in violation of the most fundamental norms of humanitarian law and human rights law." Dugard said he had "every sympathy" with Israel Defense Forces Corporal Gilad Shalit, whose kidnapping by Palestinian militants in Gaza sparked the latest IDF reprisals, but he said Israel's response has only increased its violations of the Geneva Convention on the treatment of occupied people.
Dugard was the keynote speaker at the first emergency session of the new UN Human Rights Council, called at the request Friday of Arab countries, who are seeking a resolution that would censure Israel for its behavior. Israel's ambassador to the UN's European headquarters in Geneva called the session "a planned and premeditated" attack on his country, and said it continued the anti-Israel bias set by the discredited UN Human Rights Commission, which was phased out this year. Dugard, an anti-apartheid civil rights lawyer in the 1980s, was appointed by the dissolved commission in 2001 to investigate only violations by the Israeli side, prompting Israel and others to dismiss his reports as one-sided.
"We find ourselves in an absurd situation in which the Human Rights Council, convened into urgent session, ignores the rights of one side and holds a special meeting to defend the rights of the other side," Ambassador Itzhak Levanon told the 47-member body. Levanon also defended Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip, which followed the kidnapping of the IDF soldier in a cross-border raid on May 28. "It was triggered by the attack on our sovereign territory by Palestinian terrorist groups with the aim of sewing death," he said. "These terrorists dug a tunnel under the benevolent eye of the Palestinian authorities to achieve their goal."
Dugard said Israel's response, which has included the detention of Palestinian Cabinet ministers and other Hamas officials, broke the prohibition on collective punishment and on "measures of intimidation and terrorism" in the Fourth Geneva Convention, limiting the conduct of an occupying power. The arrest of Hamas Cabinet ministers and legislators "seems to constitute the taking of hostages," also prohibited by the convention, he added. "In the past week the situation has worsened," Dugard said. "In Gaza people are without water, food is scarce, medicines are running out, 200,000 households are without electricity due to the destruction of power plants," Dugard said. "Over 1,500 rounds of artillery have been showered on Gaza," he said. "Sonic booms terrorize the people. Transport has been seriously disrupted by the destruction of roads and bridges. Sanitation is threatened."
On Sunday, Israel reopened a major crossing point into Gaza to allow basic food products and humanitarian supplies to reach the coastal strip. But it closed the crossing a day later, citing a security threat. The United States and the EU urged Israel to exercise restraint, but they said the Palestinians also had to act for peace and release Shalit. "We call on the Palestinian leadership to bring an end to violence and terrorist activities, including the firing of rockets on Israeli territory," said Finnish Ambassador Vesa Himanen, speaking for the EU. U.S. Ambassador Warren W. Tichenor added: "Hamas cannot claim to govern responsibly while simultaneously calling for the destruction of Israel, sending in militants to carry out terrorist attacks and firing Qassam rockets into Israel from Gaza.
By The Associated Press
GENEVA - A UN human rights expert on Wednesday criticized the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations for ignoring countless Israeli violations of human rights, international law and other standards. John Dugard, a South African lawyer responsible for investigating alleged human rights abuses by Israel in Palestinian areas, said the United States and other international powers who make up the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators have done nothing to rein in Israel.
"Israel's conduct is morally indefensible," Dugard told an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council. "I am concerned with the law, and here it is clear that Israel is in violation of the most fundamental norms of humanitarian law and human rights law." Dugard said he had "every sympathy" with Israel Defense Forces Corporal Gilad Shalit, whose kidnapping by Palestinian militants in Gaza sparked the latest IDF reprisals, but he said Israel's response has only increased its violations of the Geneva Convention on the treatment of occupied people.
Dugard was the keynote speaker at the first emergency session of the new UN Human Rights Council, called at the request Friday of Arab countries, who are seeking a resolution that would censure Israel for its behavior. Israel's ambassador to the UN's European headquarters in Geneva called the session "a planned and premeditated" attack on his country, and said it continued the anti-Israel bias set by the discredited UN Human Rights Commission, which was phased out this year. Dugard, an anti-apartheid civil rights lawyer in the 1980s, was appointed by the dissolved commission in 2001 to investigate only violations by the Israeli side, prompting Israel and others to dismiss his reports as one-sided.
"We find ourselves in an absurd situation in which the Human Rights Council, convened into urgent session, ignores the rights of one side and holds a special meeting to defend the rights of the other side," Ambassador Itzhak Levanon told the 47-member body. Levanon also defended Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip, which followed the kidnapping of the IDF soldier in a cross-border raid on May 28. "It was triggered by the attack on our sovereign territory by Palestinian terrorist groups with the aim of sewing death," he said. "These terrorists dug a tunnel under the benevolent eye of the Palestinian authorities to achieve their goal."
Dugard said Israel's response, which has included the detention of Palestinian Cabinet ministers and other Hamas officials, broke the prohibition on collective punishment and on "measures of intimidation and terrorism" in the Fourth Geneva Convention, limiting the conduct of an occupying power. The arrest of Hamas Cabinet ministers and legislators "seems to constitute the taking of hostages," also prohibited by the convention, he added. "In the past week the situation has worsened," Dugard said. "In Gaza people are without water, food is scarce, medicines are running out, 200,000 households are without electricity due to the destruction of power plants," Dugard said. "Over 1,500 rounds of artillery have been showered on Gaza," he said. "Sonic booms terrorize the people. Transport has been seriously disrupted by the destruction of roads and bridges. Sanitation is threatened."
On Sunday, Israel reopened a major crossing point into Gaza to allow basic food products and humanitarian supplies to reach the coastal strip. But it closed the crossing a day later, citing a security threat. The United States and the EU urged Israel to exercise restraint, but they said the Palestinians also had to act for peace and release Shalit. "We call on the Palestinian leadership to bring an end to violence and terrorist activities, including the firing of rockets on Israeli territory," said Finnish Ambassador Vesa Himanen, speaking for the EU. U.S. Ambassador Warren W. Tichenor added: "Hamas cannot claim to govern responsibly while simultaneously calling for the destruction of Israel, sending in militants to carry out terrorist attacks and firing Qassam rockets into Israel from Gaza.
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