Britain Caves To Israeli Pressure; Agrees To Revoke ‘universal Jurisdiction’ Law
By Saed Bannoura – IMEMC News – November 04, 2010
In his visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories this week, British Foreign Secretary William Hague reported being ‘ambushed’ by Israeli officials who cancelled a high-level security briefing with Hague in response to a British threat to arrest an Israeli official for war crimes.
Hague said he resented this move by Israel, since the British coalition government had already agreed to change the ‘universal jurisdiction law’ which allows for the prosecution of foreign citizens who have engaged in crimes against humanity.
Israeli officials have faced increasing threats of arrest by a variety of countries which use the universal jurisdiction law. According to Amnesty International, the law of universal jurisdiction is a requirement for all states who are signatories to the Convention against Torture and the Inter-American Convention, which states that whenever a person suspected of torture is found in their territory, they must submit the case to their prosecuting authorities for the purposes of prosecution, or to extradite that person.
Most recently, Israeli Cabinet Minister Dan Meridor had to cancel a trip to England November 1st after British intelligence officials warned him that he could face an arrest warrant upon entry into the UK.
Meridor is just the latest in a string of Israeli officials who have been cited for potential war crimes, including former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former Israeli defence minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, former Defense chief-of-staff Moshe Ya’alon, former air force chief Dan Halutz, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni, among others. Most were cited for the ongoing Israeli military occupation of Palestine, and attacks against Palestinians, while Ariel Sharon was cited for his role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon in 1982.
The British Foreign Secretary’s trip to the region this week was also criticized by Israeli officials due to the Secretary’s decision to meet with Palestinians who recently lost their homes to violent Israeli settler takeovers in East Jerusalem.
Most Yemenis See al-Qaeda Presence as ‘Myth’
History of Fake Attacks Cement Belief Saleh Govt Using AQAP as Excuse
By Jason Ditz | Antiwar.com | November 03, 2010
“The truth is there is no al-Qaeda.” Such a comment rarely finds currency in a nation’s popular consciousness but in Yemen, home to what the CIA calls the most dangerous of al-Qaeda’s many affiliates (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP), it is all too common.
For some AQAP is just a cynical excuse for the Saleh government to get increased foreign military aid from the US and others. Other Yemenis, particularly in the south, see it as an excuse to attack separatist groups that have nothing to do with international terrorism.
It isn’t naivete on the part of Yemenis, however, but a natural function of the Yemeni government’s constant use of “al-Qaeda” as a justification for attacks on separatist-linked civilians, and as a catch-all for the many different groups that have bones to pick with the Saleh regime.
Indeed AQAP appears responsible for precious little of the internal violence in Yemen, and the group’s focus on overseas targets makes it difficult to sell the idea of them being something for the Yemeni military to focus on. What few attacks they have claimed were usually clear retaliation for the government offensive, raising the inevitable question of whether the Saleh regime is simply hitting a hornet’s nest over and over and claiming a “threat” when it gets stung.
Would America look much different if Republican John McCain had beaten Democrat Barack Obama to become president?
By Cindy Sheehan | Al-Jazeera | 31 Oct 2010
If John McCain were president, we can never be exactly sure what would be happening, but I think we can make some educated speculations.
First of all, the “banksters” would be receiving their carte blanche bailouts and Ben Bernanke would have been re-appointed as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Robert Gates would probably still be the secretary of defence and Sarah Palin would be offering late night comedians endless fodder for their monologues.
If John McCain happened to be the one infesting the Oval Office at this time, single-payer health care would surely be “off the table”. I am confident that a health care “reform” bill probably would have contained massive giveaways to the insurance and big pharmaceutical industries, with no “robust” public option.
We citizens would, I’m sure, have been forced to purchase insurance from the very same insurance companies that spread out a largess of nearly $170m lobbying dollars to Congress in 2009. If we are one of the “lucky ones” that happen to already have coverage, we would have been taxed for the benefit.
McCain and ‘justice’
Without a doubt, McCain’s Justice Department would be protecting war criminals – like John Yoo – of the preceding administration and the McCain Department of Justice (DOJ) would probably be vigorously defending the discriminatory practise of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell for the military.
More than likely, under this nightmarish scenario, McCain’s Federal Bureau of Investigation would be committing home invasion break-ins (designated as “legal raids”) to intimidate activists.
McCain probably would have given himself the power to be judge and jury over any American citizen that didn’t approve of his foreign policy.
There is not even a shadow of doubt that McCain would be feigning strictness with Israel, while turning a blind eye to the continued expansions of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the completely immoral and destructive blockade of Gaza.
If the unthinkable occurred and McCain beat Obama in 2008, official unemployment would be hovering around 10 per cent (unofficial around 20 per cent). And one in every five homes would be in danger of being foreclosed upon. We might even be experiencing the widest income disparity between the rich and poor that we have seen since before the stock market crash of 1929!
McCain, being the “brave” military man, may have tripled troop deployments to Afghanistan and the needless deaths of US troops and Afghan civilians would probably have increased dramatically. I am sure that McCain would have given huge contracts to the US war machine for drones, mercenaries, airplanes and other military hardware.
Being a loyal Bushite, McCain would probably be conscientiously following the Status of Forces Agreement for the slow withdrawal from Iraq that was negotiated between the Bush government, and the puppet regime in Iraq.
At least we aren’t bombing Iran!
I get informed all the time, that even though “Obama isn’t so great”, at least he hasn’t invaded Iran yet, and McCain surely would have been bombing Iran by now.
Okay so rhetoric towards Iran would be heigtened, but whether McCain would have waged another military campaign during the current political climate would be an assumption too far.
Gosh, if McCain were president right now, the defense budget might be the largest – $741.2bn – since World War II. He might have even asked for billions upon billions of supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Horrors!
Of course, a McCain education budget would only be about 1/10th of the defense budget at $78bn. And, a McCain education plan would probably contain lots of rigorous testing if the states were to want more desperately needed funds.
If McCain were president, there would be an active “anti-war” movement. However – as during the Bush years – the “movement” wouldn’t be so much antiwar, but anti-war waged by the Republicans. The anti-Republican movement wants no systemic change, it just wants Democrats in office.
Blurring the political divide
However in almost every case, Democrat equals the status quo.
Of course, in all of my above scenarios, Obama and his regime have done all of those things that people were afraid that McCain would do, but there’s an extremely small outcry.
Here we are, once again, careening madly down the path to electoral ruin—where voting for the “lesser of two evils” has become a national pastime.
When the elite class gives the appearance of only two choices on the ballot, we end up voting “against” a candidate far more times than we vote “for” someone.
What’s wrong with us? We are lazy, we are fearful, the establishment beats us down, we are ignorant, and we are defeated. Voting at least gives us the latent feeling that we are doing something, when we are really doing very little.
We righteously march down to our polling place, like good soldiers for the status quo. We vote. We get our little stickers with an American flag that proudly proclaims: I VOTED. But when we vote for a member of the political duopoly, we are only voting for “Dee or Dum”.
The Democrats had their chance during the last four years, and instead of passing progressive legislation and ending the wars, they have pandered to the right, which has been emboldened by the power the Democrats gave it.
Now the Republicans are poised to take over at least the House of Representatives. And Democrats will begin to spew progressivism out of their lying mouths and abuse the energy of their newly-angry base to try to regain power – like the Republicans have done effectively for the past two years.
Will progressives ever learn that political pandering and fear-based voting never brings anything but defeat, or are we trapped in a vicious cycle of our own making?
Israeli colonies expand, Palestinians face home demolitions
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 2 November 2010
A Palestinian home demolished in Beit Hanina, occupied East Jerusalem, July 2009. (Silan Dallal/ActiveStills)
Bulldozers, backed by Israeli soldiers and police forces, razed a Bedouin Palestinian encampment in Isawiya, a village northeast of Jerusalem on Wednesday, 27 October. Israeli forces destroyed tents and other structures that were home to six families, according to Ma’an News Agency (“Israel Razes Bedouin Camp,” 27 October 2010).
“Hani al-Eisaway of the Isawiya Land Defense committee said that the Israeli [forces] bulldozed more than 50 dunams (12.5 acres) of land,” Ma’an reported. The encampment was close to the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.
Israel has designated the area where the homes were razed as the “E1 zone,” an area in the occupied West Bank and centered in East Jerusalem, where Maale Adumim and other nearby settlement blocs are being planned to connect together.
The massive settlement project would incorporate Givat Zeev and Ariel settlement blocs in the north, Maale Adumim in the center, and Gush Etzion in the south. The plan would also stretch east, connecting to settlements in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley — which Israel has designated a closed military zone, making it off-limits to most Palestinians.
All of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem are illegal under international law and violate several United Nations resolutions. There are currently more than half a million Israelis living in such illegal settlements.
Demolition orders issued in East Jerusalem
Elsewhere in East Jerusalem, protests broke out in the Old City on 25 October after Israeli police handed out 231 demolition orders to Palestinians in Silwan, Shufat, Beit Hanina, Isawiya, Wadi al-Dam and the al-Ras area in Wadi al-Joz, and other neighborhoods across the city, Bethlehem-based International Middle East Media Center reported (“Israel Hands 231 Orders Targeting Arab Homes In Jerusalem,” 26 October 2010).
Israeli police posted notices on the doors of five homes in the Palestinian neighborhood of al-Bustan in Silwan. The notices stated that the houses are “illegal” and therefore could face demolition, promting protests by residents, Ma’an reported. The head of the local popular committee, Fakhri Abu Diab, said “a large force of Israeli border guards ransacked the area, using homes as vantage points to fire tear-gas canisters, stun-grenades and rubber bullets ‘in all directions'” when the protests broke out (““Israeli ministers back new Jerusalem bill,” 24 October 2010).
Many Palestinian homes in Silwan have been demolished and more more are under regular threat as the neighborhood has been a target by the Israeli-controlled Jerusalem municipality. The Israeli government intends to destroy dozens of houses and turn the area into a Jewish historical theme park which would incorporate Jewish-only settlement housing units. Israeli settlers, police and armed forces frequently attack Palestinians in Silwan, prompting clashes and regular protests, while settler takeovers of Palestinian homes continue apace (“Home demolitions, arrest raids as Israel implements Jerusalem ‘Master Plan’,” 2 July 2010).
According to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem are faced with discriminatory housing and building policies, forcing residents to build homes without obtaining building permits, thereby designating the homes as “illegal” and subject to demolition. “The Jerusalem Municipality enforces the building laws on Palestinians much more stringently than on the Jewish population, even though the number of violations is much higher in the Jewish neighborhoods,” states B’Tselem (“East Jerusalem: Policy of discrimination in planning, building and land expropriation“).
According to an August report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), demolitions in East Jerusalem have seen a significant spike in 2010. While Israel continues to demolish more Palestinian homes, “it continues to subsidize the Jewish settlements nearby,” stated Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director of HRW (“Israel: New Peak in Arbitrary Razing of Palestinian Homes,” 19 August 2010).
The Israeli government and the municipal authorities have allocated “only 13 percent of East Jerusalem for Palestinian construction, compared with 35 percent for Israeli settlements,” HRW states in its report. “While Israel has built 50,000 housing units for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem, it has built virtually none for Palestinians, according to Israeli nongovernmental organizations.”
Settlement-building increases four-fold
Israeli daily Haaretz reported on 15 October that 240 building plans were approved by the Israeli housing ministry for units in Ramot and Pisgat Zeev, settlements in northeastern Jerusalem (“Netanyahu approves tenders for 238 homes east of Green Line,” 15 October 2010).
Illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem has currently increased up to four-fold that of the estimated rate before the so-called settlement moratorium began in December 2009, according to Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now (“Settlers confirm work has begun on up to 600 homes,” Associated Press, 25 October 2010). In the same report, Peace Now added that 600 settlement housing units are currently under construction following the end of the moratorium on 27 September.
Additionally, inside Israel itself, the Palestine News Network reported that several Palestinian-owned homes were demolished in the city of Lydd, near Tel Aviv (“Five Demolition Orders Given to Jerusalem Residents, Two Homes Leveled In Lod,” 26 October 2010).
“Before demolition, soldiers arrested two family members for trying to stop the bulldozers,” PNN reported. “A state spokesman said the homes were built without permission.”
Britain in breach of NPT
Press TV – November 2, 2010
The United Kingdom breached its strict obligations under the non proliferation of nuclear weapons treaty (NPT).
The UK and France have agreed on the use of a French laboratory to help maintain and service the UK’s 160 nuclear warheads.
Officials in both countries say that a deal to share the secrets of their nuclear programmes would boost the defence collaboration between the countries and save money at a time when their defence budgets are being cut.
The agreement ends a half a century ban on the United Kingdom sharing nuclear secrets with countries other than the United States.
This collaboration with France goes against the “unequivocal undertaking” given by the nuclear weapon states, of which Britain is part of, in the year 2000 “to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals leading to nuclear disarmament”, in accordance with their NPT obligations.
PLO official: Dissolving PA an option
Ma’an – 02/11/2010
BETHLEHEM — PLO negotiator Nabil Sha’ath said Tuesday that dissolving the Palestinian Authority would be considered as a last resort if efforts to end Israel’s occupation failed.
The Fatah official told Ma’an radio that if the PA was unable to meet its responsibilities, it would be shameful to retain authority. “Its decisions are shot down by the occupation, as the people of the West Bank can’t visit Gaza and Gazans can’t live in the West Bank. It is not permitted for anyone to build a new Palestinian village or city, which is unacceptable.”
If Israel’s right-wing administration continues to ignore its obligations, the dissolution of the PA could force Netanyahu to find a solution for the conflict, Sha’ath said.
However, there are alternatives to dissolving the PA to be considered first, Sha’ath said, adding that the PA is ready to return to negotiations “tomorrow” if Israel stops expanding. If Netanyahu continues to refuse, the PLO will seek recognition of statehood from the UN Security Council, the US and the EU, he said.
The Arab League follow-up committee gave the US one month to resolve the current deadlock in negotiations, which stalled when Netanyahu resumed full-scale settlement building across the West Bank in late September.
Sha’ath questioned the ability of the US to put pressure on Israel, which has continued to build on Palestinian land despite signing agreements. “How will they stop the occupation?” he asked.
Anti-Arab Campaign Intensifies in Safed, With Public Humiliation of Elderly Man Who Rents to Arabs
By Saed Bannoura – IMEMC News – November 03, 2010
An 89-year old Jewish man has become the latest target of an organized campaign to rid the Israeli town of Safed of Palestinian-Israelis (Palestinians with Israeli citizenship). On Tuesday, posters appeared all over town denouncing the man for renting an apartment to three Palestinian-Israeli students studying at Safed College.
The public humiliation of the elderly gentleman comes just days after a gang of around thirty Jewish youth attacked a building housing Palestinian-Israeli students, breaking windows and illegally firing a government-issued rifle with live ammunition while shouting “Death to Arabs”.
The elderly apartment owner told reporters that he has also been threatened with violence by anti-Arab leaders in the town, and was told that his building would be torched if he did not evict the Arab students.
While the violence and threats have mainly been carried out by youth, the town’s leadership, including the Chief Rabbi of Safed, have encouraged the campaign with anti-Arab rhetoric and edicts. Chief Rabbi Eliyahu was one of 17 rabbis who issued a public edict to the residents of Safed to refuse to rent property to Arab students. The town’s mayor has also spoken against the presence of Arab students in Safed.
Three weeks ago, the town leadership held an ’emergency council’ to decry the increase in Arab students enrolled in the local college this term, and calling for the students to be removed from the town.
The 89-year old long-time resident of Safed who was targeted in Tuesday’s campaign, said that although he is scared, he knows that he has the support of other long-term residents of the town, many of whom, like him, moved there as refugees from Europe after World War II. He told reporters with the Israeli daily Ha’aretz that he felt an obligation to house the students because “They’re in school every day and needed a place to sleep at night.”
Prior to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, Safed was a Palestinian town, but was depopulated by Jewish gangs in 1948, and the ‘Arab quarter’ became a haven for Jewish artists and mystics.
Cluster bomb ban gaining ground
Bilal Randeree | Al-Jazeera | 01 Nov 2010
The first comprehensive report into cluster bombs around the world has been released by Cluster Munition Monitor, a civil society-based programme providing research on cluster munitions.
Cluster bombs are a particular menace because they often fail to explode on impact, leaving behind de-facto landmines.
The report, released on Monday, found that seven countries have destroyed their stockpiles.
“Norway, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Colombia, Moldova and Montenegro have destroyed their weapons, and 11 others are in the process of doing so,” Conor Fortune, media officer with the Cluster Munition Coalition, told Al Jazeera.
“The UK is a key country that has destroyed more than a third of its stockpile. It has been one of the biggest users in the last decade, in the Balkans and Iraq, so it is important that they are destroying their stockpile.”
Fortune said that the biggest culprits are the US, Russia, China and Israel: “With the exception of China, all have used cluster munitions in the last decade.”
“The US has only agreed to ban the export on munitions and claim that they will phase out use of the weapons by 2018,” he said.
The report found that of the 16,816 cluster munition casualties confirmed globally through the end of 2009, the vast majority (14,719) were caused by unexploded munitions that failed to detonate during attacks.
Thousands killed
However, the report said that most casualties go unrecorded and it is likely that the actual number of casualties was at least between 58,000 and 85,000.
According to the report, 74 nations currently had stockpiles of cluster bombs and some 23 countries remained contaminated by the deadly weapons.
“Laos is the most heavily affected country in the world and that is one of the reasons why it will host the upcoming Convention on Cluster Munitions,” Fortune said.
The first meeting of more than 100 countries that have signed up to the convention will take place in Vientiane, Laos from November 8, 2010.
“There is real momentum behind the ban on cluster munitions,” Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch, said.
“It is encouraging to see so many countries showing such commitment to eradicating cluster munitions and their severe impact on civilians now and forever.”
Positive signs
Goose, who took part in the talks that brought about the Convention on Cluster Munitions, said that the impressive number of signatories to the ban convention, the short time to bring it into force, and the rush to implement its life-saving provisions are all very positive.
However, according to the report for 2009, casualties have been recorded in at least 27 states and three other areas affected by cluster munitions.
“Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Balkans in Europe are all affected. This is a problem that has resonance in many parts of the world and that is why we are seeing interest from many countries,” Fortune said.
“Things are going more quickly that anybody expected – it is less than two years after the convention opened for signature and countries have already started implementing it and destroying their stockpiles, putting them out of use forever.
“We are very encouraged at the rate that countries have started destroying their weapons, but the work on the cluster munition ban is far from done and we have lots of work to do still.”
Danish party urges Arab TV ban
People’s Party says Al Jazeera and other Arabic channels sow hatred against Western society in immigrant communities
Awad Joumaa | Al-Jazeera | 02 Nov 2010
Pia Kjærsgaard, leader of the far-right Danish People’s Party, is calling for a ban on satellite antennas in residential areas with large immigrant populations in Denmark.
She has since pushed for the national broadcasting authority to prevent Al Jazeera and other Arab satellite channels from broadcasting in Denmark.
Kjærsgaard accuses them of “broadcasting indoctrination from the Middle Eastern world”, and “inoculating the viewers in Denmark to hate Denmark and the West”.
The controversial proposal has so far been met with criticism from the Danish People’s Party’s coalition partners, the liberal and conservative parties.
Although both main parties disagree with the proposed ban, they fundamentally agree with the People’s Party’s claims – as a spokesman for the conservatives put it – that Arab channels “espouse anti-Jewish and anti-Western propaganda”.
But banning Arab channels will give the impression that Denmark is suppressing Arab points of view, the spokesman said.
The current government has relied on Kjærsgaard and the People’s Party for its majority since 2001, when the coalition came to power following campaign laced with anti-immigration rhetoric.
The ruling party’s Kristian Jensen says Denmark should defend freedom of speech, but cautions that there is an opportunity to make a case to the country’s broadcasting authority if the channels break the law.
Conflicting opinions
Kjærsgaard says that the broadcasting authority can move to ban a channel it sees as promoting hatred.
Meanwhile, opposition parties are outraged, describing the People’s Party’s proposal as a “desperate” attempt to maintain its grip on the debate on Muslims and immigrants in Denmark.
The main opposition party, the Social Democrats, thinks that it is “un-Danish” to forbid people from deciding which TV channels they can access.
“We live in Denmark, not in North Korea or China,” the party has said.
Al Jazeera broadcast a documentary in 2009 entitled Confrontation in Copenhagen, which dealt with the racialised debate on crime in Denmark as well as the new anti-immigrant laws, sparking a huge debate in the country.
Calls to strip me, the producer of the piece, of my citizenship were heard on the fringes.
In the lead-up to the film’s screening, headlines such “A Palestinian-Dane produces a dark film that portrays Denmark as a racist country” filled the screens and front pages of many Danish media outlets.
The main two television broadcasters, TV2 and Danish Broadcast Co-operation, as well as all major national news papers, treated the film as second “cartoon crises in making”, referring to the controversy stirred when the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005.
In the hours before the documentary’s screening, there was a heightened state of alert across Danish embassies in the Arab and Muslim world. As Al Jazeera went on air with the film, Denmark’s main TV channel picked up the telecast live.
Nasser Khader and Fathi al-Abded, two Danish politicians and representatives of the communities, concluded that the film would harm Danish national interests, especially if the “imams” made use of it.
Sober evaluation
The verdict of independent media experts and the Danish ministry of foreign affairs was considerably less alarmist. They judged the film “innocent”, “critical”, “fair and balanced”.
The next day the Danish press reported that no embassy representatives across the Arab and Muslim world had reported any attacks or threats against Danish embassies. The story died down.
Nonetheless, the initial panic was reflective of how the Danish People’s Party, major media outlets and the government have been dealing with any critique of Denmark’s treatment of its Muslim minorities.
However, unlike during the cartoon crisis, the shoe was on the other foot this time around. It was Denmark that was under the spotlight. It was Denmark that was reacting, not so-called outsiders, as we saw during the cartoon crisis.
Education in Palestine in world spotlight
The impact of the Israeli occupation on Palestinians’ right to education has previously not received enough attention. (Khaleel Reash/MaanImages)
Eva Bartlett | IPS | October 31, 2010
GAZA CITY – The focus on people’s movements in Palestine continues to gain momentum with growing non-violent demonstrations in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, and with a Palestine-wide call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
Years of the non-violent demonstrations throughout the occupied West Bank against Israel’s separation wall have finally generated some media interest in the issue of the wall and annexation of Palestinian land. Yet the behind-the- scenes work of Palestinian unions, Palestinian and international BDS groups, video conferences bridging Palestine to the outside world, and the struggle of Palestinian students to access an education continues largely unnoticed by the cameras.
In July, 2010, the United Nations IRIN news reported that roughly 39,000 Palestinian children from Gaza would not have schools to attend, following the destruction or severe damage of some 280 schools and kindergartens during the 2008-2009 Israeli war on Gaza, and the continued inability to repair or rebuild due to the severe Israeli-led siege on Gaza and lack of construction materials.
The UN also reports that 88 percent of UNRWA schools and 82 percent of government schools operate on a shift system as a result, still resulting in serious overcrowding.
On the heels of popular protests against the G-20 summit in Toronto, and branching from the annual World Social Forum (WSF), the first World Education Forum (WEF) in Palestine began Oct. 28 and in regions throughout historic pre-1948 Palestine. From Jaffa to Nazareth, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Gaza Strip, forums on education and Palestinian culture continued until Oct. 31.
Dubbed ‘Education for Change’, the forums included global points of focus on education – including adult literacy and gender equity in early education – but delved further into Palestine-specific topics: occupation and emancipation; the psychological needs of Palestinian students traumatised by occupation and war; keeping Palestine’s history and culture prominent in educational programmes; the physical and bureaucratic roadblocks to higher education within and outside of Palestine; and the innovative means Palestinians use to educate themselves under six decades of occupation.
“Education is not only a basic human right, one that cannot [be] postponed or neglected during conflict or emergency, but also has a key role to play in protecting and sustaining the lives of children and youths,” says Dr. Mazen Hamada of Gaza’s Al-Azhar University and one of the WEF Gaza organisers. “The effect of siege on Gaza Strip has exceeded the economical, agricultural, heath and environmental levels to reach also the educational sector. The academic achievements of the students at all levels has decreased after the last war on Gaza, and the number of students not attending their classes has increased.”
Hamada notes that the siege’s simple act of banning paper and educational materials needed for schools affects students’ ability to study. He adds, “Because of the siege, many parents are unemployed and are not able to cover the tuition of their children at universities and schools. And university students aren’t able to continue their studies abroad, nor are professors able to participate in international conferences or obtain further training outside.”
The WEF-Palestine, over its four days of forums and events addressed these problems, while reiterating the need to include Palestinian culture and history in curriculum and activities.
“When I was a student, we studied Egyptian history and geography, we never even saw a map of Palestine in school,” says Abu Arab, 30, of his studies in Gaza under Egyptian control. “Palestinian culture wasn’t a part of the education programme then, especially since the Israelis could censor any information they didn’t want studied.”
“Ironically, I learned more about Palestine when I was in prison,” says Abu Basel. “I was imprisoned by the Israelis when I was 16 and hadn’t yet finished high school. Since they kept me for nine years, I had to finish my studies in jail.”
Like many Palestinians, Abu Basel used his time in prison to study from others who had an education. “Some had finished university, some had their Masters, some had studied abroad. We’d study together, like workgroups. We also studied Palestinian history and learned about Zionism.”
Specific to the WEF-Palestine is the problem of access: with all of Palestine’s borders controlled by Israel and Egypt, other means of communication and participation are vital. With group participation from Japan, Canada, Latin America, Africa, and Europe, the WEF-Palestine included video conferences and live streaming on the Internet, as well as interactive workshops, visits to important areas and cultural sessions.
In Gaza, participants joined a popular demonstration in Gaza’s northern Beit Hanoun, as well as meeting fishermen whose livelihoods have been destroyed by the siege and by attacks from Israeli gunboats in Gazan waters.
For farmers living in the buffer zone, the need to enhance education and international understanding is not simply a question of their children’s futures but also of their livelihoods, routinely destroyed by Israeli invasions.
The Garrara elementary school in southeastern Gaza is but one of many schools suffering from multiple problems under siege and under attacks by Israeli soldiers along the border. “We are under one kilometre from the border and the students experience regular firing from Israeli soldiers,” says Umm Mohammed, teacher at the school. “Many of our students have classmates who were killed or injured by these attacks, and that affects their psychological state and ability to study,” she says.
The school itself is still in shambles after the Israeli war on Gaza, and many of the students study in tents year-round.
The WSF a decade ago set out to promote notions of sustainable development, fair trade, and social justice. The WEF-Palestine by virtue of necessity focuses on the urgent educational issues at hand, but likewise harnesses the knowledge of grassroots activists, civil society groups, and educators, citing education as means of resistance, for peace and equality.
Al Azhar’s Dr. Hamada is positive about the outcome. “The WEF is a good opportunity to exchange information and experiences between Palestinians and other international educational organisations towards improving the educational system and teaching methodologies in Palestine,” he says.
As the statement from WEF-Palestine reminds everyone, “Transforming the world and liberating humanity from colonialism, racism and exploitation requires a struggling and educated population. Therefore education is an indispensable tool for liberation.”
UN: Gaza construction materials delayed
Ma’an – 02/11/2010
GAZA CITY — Less than 200 truckloads of food and commercial goods were slated to enter the Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, Palestinian liaison officials said.
The goods, crossings official Raed Fattouh said, would be transported via the southernmost crossing Kerem Shalom, and would be transferred into Gaza along with limited amounts of industrial diesel and cooking fuel.
According to reports by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, current import levels – controlled by new terms of siege established by Israel following a global outcry in June – remain less than 40 percent of pre-siege levels.
The latest report on the crossing from the UN body said the import of construction materials, which remain strictly controlled by Israeli officials, and banned, except for projects under international supervision – remains limited.
Projects spearheaded by the UN Relief and Works Agency, the main body charged with the care of Palestinian refugees in the Near East, have been delayed by Israeli border officials, the report said.
Of the 1.7 percent of building projects approved for Gaza, OCHA said, Israeli officials have only allowed a small fraction of the supplies necessary for reconstruction into the coastal enclave.
Citing capacity constraints of the conveyor belt at the northern bulk goods crossing, Karni, the report said only 39 of 226 truckloads of materials requested by UNRWA for the projects, mainly clinics and schools, have entered Gaza.
Featured Video
Your Enslavement Begins in Gaza: The ‘Board of Peace’
or go to
Aletho News Archives – Video-Images
From the Archives
The US: The Century of Lost Wars
By James Petras | Global Research | September 12, 2018
Introduction
Despite having the biggest military budget in the world, five times larger than the next six countries, the largest number of military bases – over 180 – in the world and the most expensive military industrial complex, the US has failed to win a single war in the 21st century.
In this paper we will enumerate the wars and proceed to analyze why, despite the powerful material basis for wars, it has led to failures. … continue
Blog Roll
Aletho News- Israeli troops executed Palestinian aid workers at ‘point blank range’: Report
- Iran war What if today’s Iran is resigned to a long, hellish war with the US?
- Why Israel Is Escalating Its War Crimes Against Lebanon
- Iran in the face of the armed diplomacy of imperialism
- The US build-up around Iran constitutes strategic war option, not ‘deterrence’
- Iran to US: Sanctions and war failed; try diplomacy and respect
- China supplies Iran with radar, surveillance tech to track US stealth aircraft: Report
- Zelensky rejects territorial concessions to Russia
- German leader of EU’s largest faction sounds the alarm of possibility of right-wing forces coming to power in France, Poland
- Putin: Developing Russia’s nuclear forces ‘absolute priority’
- If Americans Knew
- Maria Farmer: Epstein Victim Reveals Explosive Information Covered Up by Media
- Average of five Palestinians killed by Israel every day in Gaza since ceasefire – Not a ceasefire Day 136
- Palestinian church leaders admonish Christian Zionist Mike Huckabee – Not a ceasefire Day 135
- Ominous messaging from Trump’s “Board of Peace” – Not a ceasefire Day 134
- ‘Christians Out’: Jerusalem Church Tagged With Hate Graffiti, Police Investigating
- Israeli Settlers Kill American Teen
- ‘We returned from hell’: Palestinian journalists recount torture in Israeli prisons
- No mercy for Gaza in Ramadan – Not a ceasefire Day 133
- The Israeli Government Installed and Maintained Security System at Epstein Apartment
- Tucker Carlson interrogated in Israel, has passport seized after interviewing US ambassador
- No Tricks Zone
- New Research Reaffirms Clouds, Aerosols, And Surface Solar Radiation Are ‘Driving The Climate System’
- Germany: Electric Car Catches Fire At Charging Station, Sets Off Local “Inferno”, Widespread Damage
- New Study: Canada’s New Brunswick Was 1°C Warmer Than Today During The Medieval Warm Period
- Coal Power Back In Trend As Globe Tries To Keep Pace With Growing Demand For Power
- New Study: A 4°C Warmer Beaufort Sea Had ‘No Sea Ice’ 11,700 – 8200 Years Ago
- Unfudging The Data: Dutch Meteorological Institute Reinstates Early 20th Centruy Heat Waves It Had Erased Earlier
- German Gas Crisis…Chancellor Merz Allegedly Bans Gas Debate Ahead of Elections!
- Pollen Reconstructions Show The Last Glacial’s Warming Events Were Global, 10x Greater Than Modern
- Germany’s Natural Gas Storage Level Dwindles To Just 28%… Increasingly Critical
- New Study Rebuts The Assumption That Anthropogenic CO2 Molecules Have ‘Special’ Properties
Aletho News 