Some new and some older video clips, all well worth sending to your list!
Alexei Sayle Tells Leonard Cohen: Do NOT Play in Tel Aviv
Israeli Barrier: Security or Apartheid? – Jeff Halper
Israeli Jewish man says Zionism is the cause of the problems
Orthodox Jews condemning atrocities in Gaza and opposing AIPAC
Zionist Thugs Beating Up Jewish Rabbis
Lessons from Iraq’s nuclear quest
A must-watch film clip on the Iraq war!
Universal jurisdiction once again under threat: The Electronic Intifada, 10 June 2009
Sharon Weill and Valentina Azarov
Currently, the fate of one of the only remaining venues that offers a redress mechanism for Palestinians is at stake. It is one that can bring accountability of Israeli officials and decision-makers who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. The amendment of universal jurisdiction laws, often incommensurably restricting access to these mechanisms, is at variance with the effect of certain crimes on humanity as a whole, on which the notion of universal jurisdiction is premised. The pressure exerted on the Spanish government to amend its law is an example of the regrettable phenomenon of the weakening of international law at the price of the individual.
On 22 July 2002, around midnight, an Israeli Air Force plane dropped a one-ton bomb on Gaza City’s al-Daraj neighborhood, one of the most densely-populated residential areas in the world. The military objective of this operation was to target and kill Hamas’ former military leader in the Gaza Strip, Salah Shehadeh, who at that time was in his house with his family. As a result of the operation, Shehadeh and 14 civilians were killed, most of them children and infants, and 150 persons were injured, about half of them severely. Houses in the vicinity were either destroyed or damaged. Seven members of the Matar family, whose neighboring house was totally destroyed, were among the casualties.
More than six years later, in Madrid, just a few days after Israel’s most recent invasion of Gaza ended, Judge Fernando Andreu Merelles decided to open a criminal investigation on the basis of universal jurisdiction against seven Israeli political and military officials who were alleged to have committed a war crime — and possibly a crime against humanity — in the course of that operation. The officials included Dan Halutz, then Commander of the Israeli Air Forces; Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, then Israeli Defense Minister; Moshe Yaalon, then Israeli army Chief of Staff; Doron Almog, then Southern Commander of the Israeli army; Giora Eiland, then Head of the Israeli National Security Council; Michael Herzog, then Military Secretary to the Israeli Defense Ministry; and Abraham Dichter, then Director of the General Security Services.
Although the allegations in the action referred only to war crimes, the court stated that the facts could amount to more serious crimes than what was initially claimed — namely, crimes against humanity. This preliminary legal assessment motivated the legal team to work toward basing a new charge. The lawyers announced that they would redouble their efforts to demonstrate that the al-Daraj bombing was part of a policy of “widespread and systematic” attacks directed against a civilian population, fitting the definition of a crime against humanity.
As the request for Israel to provide information on the existence of any judicial proceedings concerning the military operation was not answered and the state expressed its unwillingness to cooperate with the legal team, the Spanish court thereby ruled that the investigation be conducted by the Spanish jurisdiction. On the same day the decision concerning the commencement of the investigation was rendered, Israeli officials sent a 400-page document to the Spanish legal team, stating that the facts of the complaint regarding the operation were subject to proceedings in Israel, and therefore the Spanish court should have declined to exercise jurisdiction.
Some unclean drops to drink: The Electronic Intifada, 12 June 2009
Mel Frykberg
FAQUA, occupied West Bank (IPS) – Faqua village has found itself unfortunately named. Faqua in Arabic means spring water bubbles; the village was named after the abundant natural underground springs that were once found all around it.
Today the people are on their own, the water springs have been taken over by Israel.
Faqua’s problems started in 1948 with the establishment of Israel, when 24,000 of Faqua’s 36,000 dunams of land (a dunam is the equivalent of 1,000 square meters) and most of the underground springs were appropriated by the new Jewish state.
After the signing of the Oslo peace accords in 1993, the establishment of the joint Israeli-Palestinian Water Committee still left the Palestinians short of the necessary amount of water, according to a World Bank report published in April.
The West Bank is divided into Areas A, under full Palestinian control, Areas B, under joint Israeli-Palestinian control, and Areas C under full Israeli control. Faqua falls under Area C.
Palestinians living in Areas C have a notoriously hard time getting the necessary Israeli permits to either dig new wells or get connected to the Israeli company Mekorot’s water network.
“We have been waiting for a permit from the Israelis to install a water network since 2000,” Dr. Amer Abu Farha, head of the village council told IPS. “But they refuse to give us one. We are also not allowed to dig deep wells or repair current wells. The Israeli settlements are allowed to dig wells far deeper than us, and to repair their other wells.”
Faqua’s village council believes the Israelis have a deliberate policy to drive inhabitants out of the ten water-starved villages in the area due to their strategic significance.
Faqua, in the northern West Bank district of Jenin, sits atop a hill with panoramic views of the Jordan Valley. The village, about an hour’s drive north of Ramallah, is situated close to both the Syrian and Lebanese borders.
The village of about 5,000 residents is blighted by a security barrier set up by Israel that separates it from Maale Gilboa, a religious kibbutz that is home to 400 Israeli settlers.
The village is not connected to any piped supply. Instead Faqua has to rely on exorbitantly expensive water brought in by tankers. This water still does not meet the village’s needs.
Half of the village’s working age people are unemployed. Hundreds lost their jobs in Israel following the building of the barrier that separates the village from settlers’ land. Now they cannot get entrance permits to Israel.
Livestock has been reduced from 7,000 heads to 2,000 due to Israel’s expropriation of village land for the building of the barrier, and due to water shortage.
“We have a lot of health problems related to poor quality water which we have no choice but to drink,” says Farha.
“We are uncertain about the water quality and where it comes from. A lot of children are suffering from diarrhea and other diseases related to fecal bacteria such as e-coli,” Farha told IPS.
While villagers struggle with insufficient quantities of dirty water to drink, Maale Gilboa just 500 meters from Faqua’s perimeter is connected to Mekerot’s water network.
Veolia reportedly drops light rail project, but campaign goes on: The Electronic Intifada, 14 June 2009
Adri Nieuwhof
On 8 June the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz announced that French transport giant Veolia might abandon the light rail project that will connect Jerusalem with several illegal Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land. Reports also indicate that Veolia wants to pull out of the 30-year contract to operate the train and is also reportedly trying to sell its five percent stake in the City Pass consortium to Israeli bus companies.
The City Pass consortium consists of French companies Alstom and Connex (Veolia Transport), two Israeli companies, as well as the Israeli Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi. The consortium holds the contract with the State of Israel for the construction of the light rail project. News of Veolia’s withdrawal came a few days after the Israeli government filed a claim with court arbitrators against City Pass over delays in the project. Haartez noted heightened tensions between the partners in City Pass, mainly between equipment provider Alstom, operator Veolia and the Israeli contractor Ashtrom. Alstom’s trains have already been delivered and are stored at the company’s depot near the French Hill settlement, in occupied East Jerusalem.
The “Derail Veolia and Alstom Campaign,” carried out by activists in many countries, is pressuring the two French transport companies to quit the light rail project. In early June, the leading French newspaper Le Monde published an article summing up the successes of the campaign, reporting that the company is losing money because of the publicity of its role in a project that is in violation of international law. After pressuring the mayor of Tehran over Veolia’s role in developing the city’s transport system, the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission was informed two weeks ago of Tehran’s decision to cancel Veolia’s involvement in the transport system. To date, Veolia has steadfastly refused to provide information about its participation in the light rail project.
Speaking to Gulf News on 9 June, Ambassador Hind Khoury, representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Paris, stated that Veolia’s possible withdrawal from the light rail project was “certainly a positive development and a success,” but “we can’t declare victory while the infrastructure of this tramway sits on occupied Palestinian land.” Khoury said that it was time to put pressure on Alstom to abandon the project because it plays a bigger role in the tramway than Veolia.
The pressure on Alstom to quit the light rail project is indeed increasing. Gulf News reported on 30 May that Palestinian Authority (PA) officials intensified diplomatic efforts to persuade Saudi Arabia to exclude Alstom from a multi-billion dollar contract for the Haramain Express railway. The Haramain Express will connect the holy cities of Mecca and Medina via Jedda. PA officials hope they will be able to pressure Alstom through Saudi Arabia.
In a television interview with Al Jazeera on 11 December 2008, Alstom’s Heriberto Biarte explained that the company participated in the Jerusalem light rail project to improve the existing transport system and stated “We have no political, no diplomatic position to take.” However, with its involvement in the project, activists argue, Alstom is directly implicated in maintaining illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the company is playing a key role in Israel’s attempt to make its annexation of Palestinian East Jerusalem irreversible.
The “Derail Veolia and Alstom Campaign” plans to keep the pressure on Veolia and Alstom until the companies end their services to Israel’s activities and projects that are in violation of international law. Targeted projects include the Jerusalem light rail project, the bus services that link Jerusalem with the illegal settlements, and the dumping of waste from Israel and the illegal settlements in Tovlan landfill in the Jordan Valley, occupied West Bank.
Adri Nieuwhof is a consultant and human rights advocate based in Switzerland.