Israeli Visa Policy Traps Thousands of Palestinians in a Legal Quandary
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- Written by GREG MYRE, New York Times GREG MYRE, New York Times
- Published: 20 September 2006 20 September 2006
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Over the past six years, more than 70,000 people, a vast majority of them of Palestinian descent, have applied without success to immigrate to the West Bank or Gaza to join relatives, according to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group that tracks the issue. Many who followed Mr. Bahour’s route and worked around the ban with tourist visas now have no legal way to remain.
Read more: Israeli Visa Policy Traps Thousands of Palestinians in a Legal Quandary
Forced Migration Review 26: Palestinian displacement: a case apart?
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- Written by FMR FMR
- Published: 19 September 2006 19 September 2006
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The September 2006 issue includes a major feature on Palestinian displacement. Twenty-eight articles by UN, Palestinian and international human rights organisations, Palestinian scholars in the diaspora and Jewish and Israeli activist groups examine the root causes of the displacement of Palestinians, the consequences of the failure to apply international humanitarian law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Palestinian entitlement to protection and compensation.
The articles in this issue discuss how failure to address the Palestinian refugee crisis represents perhaps the gravest shortcoming of the UN since its foundation. The international community has not exerted sufficient political will to advance durable solutions consistent with international law and Security Council resolutions requiring Israel to withdraw from Palestinian territory it occupied in 1967. Durable solutions for displaced Palestinians have been discussed without reference to the legal norms applied in other refugee cases. Refugee rights, entitlements to compensation or restitution and the rights to protection of those Palestinians living under continued military occupation were not central to the now-moribund Oslo peace process – nor are they part of the subsequent US-sponsored ‘Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution’. Creeping annexation continues unchecked. Upon completion of Israel’s Wall, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will be restricted to a series of non-contiguous enclaves which constitute an eighth of the area of historic Palestine. Despite pro-democracy rhetoric, Western response to the internationally-validated Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006 has sparked a politically-induced crisis and crippled the Palestinian economy. Ordinary Palestinians are suffering as donors freeze funding required to maintain humanitarian assistance and development programmes.
Read more: Forced Migration Review 26: Palestinian displacement: a case apart?
Gaza: The Children Killed in a War the World Doesn't Want to Know About
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- Written by Donald Macintyre, The Independent UK Donald Macintyre, The Independent UK
- Published: 19 September 2006 19 September 2006
- Hits: 6237 6237
Nayef Abu Snaima says his 14-year-old cousin Jihad had been sitting on the edge of an olive grove talking animatedly to him about what he would do when he grew up when he was killed instantly by an Israeli shell.
He says he clearly saw a bright flash next to the control tower of the disused Gaza international airport, occupied by Israeli forces after Cpl Gilad Shalit was seized by militants on 25 June. "I went two or three steps and the missile landed," said Nayef, 24. "I thought I was dying. I shouted 'La Ilaha Ila Allah' [There is no God but Allah]."
When Jihad's older brother Kassem, 20, arrived at the scene: "My brother was already dead. There was shrapnel in his head. Nayef was shouting 'Allah, Allah'. The missile landed about four metres from where Jihad had been standing. There was shrapnel in his body as well, his legs, everything. He had been bleeding a lot everywhere."
Jihad Abu Snaima was just the most recent of more than 37 children and teenagers under 18 killed [out of a total death toll, including militants, of 228] in the operations mounted by the Israeli military in Gaza since 25 June, according to figures from the Palestinian Centre of Human Rights (PCHR).
Of these, the PCHR classifies 151 as "civilian", although beside non-combatants and bystanders, that total also includes militants or faction members not involved in operations against Israel at the time for example those deliberately targeted in Israeli air strikes because of their involvement in previous attacks. The Israel Defence Forces have always maintained that being under 18 does not automatically exclude a person from taking part in action against them.
Read more: Gaza: The Children Killed in a War the World Doesn't Want to Know About
We cannot afford to maintain these ancient prejudices against Islam
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- Written by Karen Armstrong, The Guardian Karen Armstrong, The Guardian
- Published: 19 September 2006 19 September 2006
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But the old myth of Islam as a chronically violent faith persists, and surfaces at the most inappropriate moments. As one of the received ideas of the west, it seems well-nigh impossible to eradicate. Indeed, we may even be strengthening it by falling back into our old habits of projection. As we see the violence - in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon - for which we bear a measure of responsibility, there is a temptation, perhaps, to blame it all on "Islam". But if we are feeding our prejudice in this way, we do so at our peril.
Read more: We cannot afford to maintain these ancient prejudices against Islam
'No justice' for Palestinian crime victims
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- Written by Conal Urquhart in Salem Conal Urquhart in Salem
- Published: 18 September 2006 18 September 2006
- Hits: 8211 8211
The farmer was lying on the blood-soaked earth with crows circling above him when his son found him. Saber Shteia, 74, was battered by four settlers in his olive groves and left to die. As his son, Thourri, and another farmer loaded Mr Shteia on his donkey, he muttered, "They have killed me".
The attack happened outside the village of Salem in the West Bank, which is under the jurisdiction of the Israeli police. Despite the severity of the attack, the police were reluctant to investigate and questioned Mr Shteia when he awoke in hospital only because of pressure from Israeli human rights groups. The investigation, like most Palestinian complaints about settler violence or crimes against them, led nowhere.
A new report by the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din ("There is a law") published last week estimates that 90% of all police investigations into crimes against Palestinians end in failure. The group monitored police activity in the West Bank for one year and found that the investigations were stopped because police did not have enough evidence or could not identify those responsible. The report found that the files were thin and basic police procedures were not carried out.