|
_______________________________________________________________________
NPK-info 16-10-2001 - Nederlands Palestina Komitee
/ www.palestina-komitee.nl
_______________________________________________________________________
Meetings
* SOLIDARITE AVEC LE PEUPLE PALESTINIEN
Donderdag 18 oktober in Brussel [met vertaling in het
Nederlands, zie
hierna.]
* Vrijdag 19 oktober van 17-19 uur op het Plein in
Den Haag.
Stille wake tegen Israels geweld in de Palestijnse
gebieden en tegen de
Nieuwe Oorlog.
Organisatie: Vrouwen in 't Zwart Nederland
Deelnemers [vrouwen EN mannen] graag zwart gekleed.
* Zaterdag 20 oktober demonstratie tegen de Nieuwe
Oorlog te Amsterdam.
Wereldraad ziet niets in militaire acties, zie hierna
Acties
* Amnesty-actie "Stop Administrative Detention":
zie www.freeabed.org
* DCI/PS reminds the international community of the
Campaign to Free
Palestinian Child Political Prisoners.
Petition available at http://www.petitiononline.com/dcips/petition.html
Zondag 21-10 zendt de NMO de film over verdrijving en
terugkeer uit met
daarin Nur Masalha en Salman Abu-Sitta.
Verkiezingsprogramma's zijn in de maak; zie de
websites der politieke
partijen.
Men kan dus in de eigen partij aan de slag met
amendementen.
Benieuwd welk programma pleit voor sancties tegen
Israel zo lang dat land
zich niet eindelijk volledig terug trekt uit alle in
1967 bezette gebieden.
Hierna
* Trying to Try Sharon, Linda A. Malone, October 11,
2001
* Behind the News: MIFTAH's Weekly E-Bulletin (October
4th - October 12th,
2001)
Zie
* Robert Fisk / The Independent
* Edward Said / Al-Ahram Weekly Online
NPK/WL, 16-10-2001
_______________________________________________________________________
L'Association Belgo-Palestinienne et la Actieplatform
Palestina
Ont le plaisir de vous convier à une soirée de :
SOLIDARITE AVEC LE PEUPLE PALESTINIEN
Conférence débat
Le jeudi 18 octobre 2001 à 20heures
ULB
Auditoire Janson
50, avenue Franklin Roosevelt
1050 Bruxelles
Intervenants :
Mustapha Barghouti : Président de l' UPMRC -
Palestine
Leila Shahid : Déléguée générale Palestinienne
à Paris
Luisa Morgantini : Députée - Parlement Européen
Ilan Halevi: représentant de' l'OLP à
l'Internationale Socialiste
Michel Warshawski : Altenative Information Center -
Israël
Et nombreux partenaires palestiniens invités à
l'occasion du Forum Civil
Euromed
Coprésidents :
Pierre Galand : Président de l'Association
Belgo-Palestinienne
Tijl Declercq : Président du Vlaams Palestina
Komitee
Traduction simultanée Français-néerlandais anglais
_______________________________________________________________________
Wereldraad ziet niets in militaire acties
GENEVE - De Wereldraad van Kerken vreest dat een
militair antwoord op
terrorisme alleen maar tot meer geweld en terreur zal
leiden.Het antwoord op
terreur ligt in het terugdringen van onrecht, dat een
broedplaats is voor
geweld. Dit heeft secretaris-generaal dr. Konrad
Raiser geschreven aan Kofi
Annan, de secretaris-generaal van de Verenigde
Naties.De algemene
vergadering spreekt deze en volgende week over de
bestrijding van
terrorisme. ,,Een wereld waarin steeds meer landen en
volkeren gedoemd zijn
in bittere armoede te leven terwijl in andere landen
enorme rijkdom wordt
vergaard, zo'n wereld is instabiel en loopt het risco
van gewelddadige
acties.''
Een wereld, zo vervolgt hij, waarin de politiek van
machtige landen wordt
gedomineerd dooor oorlogsdenken, roept geweld op.
,,Zolang de schreeuw wordt
genegeerd van degenen die onder genadeloos onrecht
leven, die van hun
rechten worden beroofd en die door de arrogantie van
de militair machtige
landen worden vernederd, wordt terrorisme niet
overwonnen.''
Het is volgens Raiser zeker dat de slachtoffers niet
worden geëerd door
oorlogstaal, maar meer door een wereldwijde
herbezinning op de collectieve
verantwoordelijkheid om wonden te helen en een nieuwe
perspectieven te
openen.
De Wereldraad erkent dat christenen vaak hebben
bijgedragen aan een cultuur
van geweld. Degenen die oorlog voerden, werden
gezegend terwijl het geweld
werd gerechtvaardigd. In dat licht heeft de algemene
vergadering van de
Wereldraad in 1998 de kerken opgeroepen zich te
bevrijden van de boeien van
geweld. (3 oktober 2001)
©Nederlands Dagblad
_______________________________________________________________________
MERIP Press Information Note 72
Trying to Try Sharon
Linda A. Malone
October 11, 2001
(Linda A. Malone teaches at William and Mary Law
School in Williamsburg, Va.
She is author of two law review articles on the Sabra
and Shatila
massacres.)
The concept of universal jurisdiction in
international law is undergoing a
historic test in Belgium. On November 28, a Belgian
court will decide
whether Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon can be
tried for his alleged
role in the slaughter by Lebanese militiamen of
untold numbers of
Palestinian and Lebanese civilians in the Sabra and
Shatila refugee camps in
West Beirut in 1982. At the time, Sharon was in
charge of Israel's invasion
and occupation of Lebanon. On October 3, an appellate
court grand jury
convened in Brussels to begin determining whether
Belgium can invoke the
mechanisms of international law to prosecute a
sitting head of state from
another country.
HISTORIC SUIT
On June 18, survivors of the Sabra and Shatila
massacres filed two civil
lawsuits against Sharon in a Belgian court. The
complaints describe the
events leading up to the September 15, 1982 sealing
of Sabra and Shatila by
the Israeli army during the invasion of Lebanon,
followed by authorization
from Sharon, then Israeli Defense Minister, for a
unit of 150 Phalangists --
a right-wing Lebanese Christian militia -- to enter
the camps. In what
Sharon has termed a "mopping up" of the
camps, for the next two days the
Phalangists proceeded to rape, kill and injure
thousands of unarmed citizens
within the camps. The presentation of facts in the
complaint is supplemented
with testimonials from 22 of the plaintiffs and 12
witnesses who survived
the massacres but lost family members and suffered
injuries.
The complaint alleges Sharon is responsible for
crimes against humanity,
genocide and war crimes for his role in the massacres.
Under Belgian
legislation passed in 1993 and amended in 1999,
international law has been
incorporated into Belgian law to remove restrictions
on such suits from
statutes of limitations, jurisdictional constraints
and sovereign immunity.
The complaint invokes universal jurisdiction for
violations of international
humanitarian law, and relies upon this customary
international law as jus
cogens -- fundamental international law norms to
which there can be no
exceptions -- incorporated into the Belgian law to
validate the Belgian
court's jurisdiction.
Since the Israeli Kahan Commission in 1983 found
Sharon personally but
"indirectly responsible" for the Sabra and
Shatila massacres, there has been
no legal action against the Israeli leader. The Kahan
Commission found that
only those who actually committed the killings could
be found "directly"
responsible. As a result of the commission's report,
Sharon resigned from
his position as Minister of Defense, although he
remained in the cabinet
without a portfolio. He has served in subsequent
governments, and in
February 2001 was elected prime minister of Israel.
"INDIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE"
The Belgian complaint names Ariel Sharon as the
central Israeli figure in
the planning, preparation and commission of the Sabra
and Shatila massacres.
To demonstrate these claims, massacre survivors are
relying upon the
findings of Israel's Kahan Report.
The Kahan Commission was established by the Israeli
cabinet on September 26,
1982 to investigate state and individual
responsibility for the massacres.
Israel's Commission of Inquiry Law of 1968 empowers
the government to set up
a commission of inquiry regarding any matter of
"vital public
importance...which requires clarification."
During its investigation, the
commission issued notices of potential harm from the
commission's findings
to nine people, including Sharon.
The Commission of Inquiry Law provides no standards
by which a commission is
to determine questions of responsibility. The
commission devised two levels
of responsibility -- direct, for those who actually
perpetrated the
massacres, and indirect. Based on this delineation,
the commission
necessarily did not find that Israel or any of the
nine Israelis issued
notices of harm were "directly" responsible
for the massacres. Under
international law, however, legal responsibility for
international crimes is
not limited to the actual perpetrators. Accomplices,
co-conspirators and
individuals responsible under the law of command
responsibility for forces
within their control can also be found culpable.
Although finding Sharon "indirectly"
responsible, the commission reserved
its strongest finding of personal responsibility for
Sharon, coming very
close to saying that he sent in the Phalangists
anticipating a massacre: "If
in fact the Defense Minister, when he decided that
the Phalangists would
enter the camps without the IDF taking part in the
operation, did not think
that that decision could bring about the very
disaster that in fact
occurred, the only possible explanation for this is
that he disregarded any
apprehensions about what was to be expected...."
In other words, the
commission concluded that, at the very least, Sharon
acted with extremely
reckless disregard of the possibility of a massacre.
The Kahan Report also faulted Sharon for having
failed to impose any
restrictions on the Phalangists before sending them
into the camps. These
critical findings of failure to act and mens rea (the
intentional element)
strongly support a legal determination that Sharon
was responsible for grave
breaches of the laws of war under the law of command
responsibility. Under
those principles of law, a commander who knows, or
should have known, that
forces within his control are about to commit war
crimes is legally
responsible for those crimes if he fails to take
steps to prevent those
crimes. The commission concluded that Sharon, along
with four other high
military officials, knew or should have known that
extensive killings would
result from the entry of the Phalangists. According
to the report, numerous
Israeli officers and officials, including Sharon,
received reports of
killings in the camps during the Phalangist
occupation. All failed to take
any steps to halt the violence.
THE CASE
On September 19, 1982, the UN Security Council
condemned the massacres. A
December 16, 1982 General Assembly resolution
characterized the massacres as
an act of genocide. The Belgian complaint relies upon
the definition of
genocide in the 1948 Convention on Genocide,
reproduced in Article 6 of the
International Criminal Court (ICC) Statute and in the
Belgian law of June
16, 1993. Utilizing survivor testimony, journalists'
accounts and Sharon's
autobiography, the plaintiffs contend that the
massacre deliberately
targeted Palestinians living in Sabra and Shatila
because of their national
origin.
The plaintiffs cite the Rome Statute of the ICC,
international customary law
and jus cogens as for their definition of crimes
against humanity. Following
the definition of the ICC, the complaint sets forth
the criteria as "a
widespread or systematic attack directed against any
civilian population,
with knowledge of the attack." According to the
complaint, the massacres
involved the rape, murder and abduction of hundreds
of civilians with
"highly efficient cooperation" between the
Phalangist forces and the Israeli
army, with the Israeli commander's full knowledge
that the camps contained
civilians. The complaint states that recognition of
the massacres as
genocide automatically satisfies the criteria for
crimes against humanity in
these factual circumstances.
Relying on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva
Convention as well as Article
8 of the ICC Statute to define grave breaches of the
laws of war, the
complaint specifically notes "intentional
homicide, torture or other
inhumane treatment; destruction of property without
military necessity;"
attacks on civilians; and attacks on undefended
locations. All of these
crimes are alleged to have been committed in Sabra
and Shatila by the
Phalangist militia, with the full support and aid of
the Israeli army.
The findings of the Kahan Report would appear to give
the plaintiffs a
strong case for the war crimes charge. Sharon's
responsibility for genocide
will depend in large part upon proof that he intended
to destroy the
Palestinians as a group. His responsibility for a
crime against humanity, on
the other hand, will be dependent upon demonstrating
that the massacres were
part of a larger policy or systematic course of
conduct against the
Palestinians.
UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION?
In September, Sharon's attorneys postponed the
court's ruling by challenging
the concept that Israel's prime minister is subject
to investigation by a
Belgian court. The validity of the Belgian law's
invocation of universal
jurisdiction for genocide is supported in the
complaint by reference to jus
cogens and the 1948 Convention on Genocide. The
plaintiffs cite decisions
from the International Court of Justice and the UN
Tribunal for Yugoslovia
Appeals Chamber, which held that all parties to the
Convention on Genocide
assume the obligation to punish the crime and that
such obligation includes
the power to "extradite the persons presumed
responsible for grave
violations of international humanitarian law."
Crimes against humanity are similarly premised
jurisdictionally on jus
cogens. Citing the Pinochet and the Demjanjuk
decisions, the complaint
states that under the universality principle "any
nation which has custody
of the perpetrators may punish them according to its
law applicable to such
offenses." Based on jus cogens drawn from the
Geneva conventions, the
Belgian law and the complaint assert universal
jurisdiction for the
punishment of war crimes which constitute grave
breaches of the conventions.
OUTLOOK
Sharon can be tried in the civil suit in absentia. If
the Belgian government
issues an indictment, he can also be arrested upon
his arrival in the
country, or extradition can be sought.
The most critical amendment in the 1999 Belgian law
is the removal of
official immunity for the commission of the crimes
enumerated under the law.
This provision states that sovereign immunity does
not prevent "application
of the present law." Broadly stated, this
provision can be read to preclude
sovereign immunity as a defense, regardless of
whether the individual was
acting in an official capacity at the time of
commission of the acts, or is
acting in an official capacity at the time of the
suit, or both. However
difficult it might be to overcome a defense of
immunity for a sitting head
of state in most domestic courts, the Belgian law and
a growing body of
international law indicate that there should be no
sovereign immunity from
grievous crimes such as genocide, crimes against
humanity and grave breaches
of the laws of war. At the very least, given the
prospects of similar suits
in Great Britain, Spain and the US, Ariel Sharon may
find himself
increasingly isolated and cut off from travel to
several major world powers
and centers of diplomacy.
Sharon may be the worst enemy of his own image. While
the appellate court
grand jury was convening in Brussels, the Israeli
leader gave a speech
berating the US government for pressuring him to
engage in talks with the
Palestinian leadership. In it, he compared George W.
Bush to Neville
Chamberlain, who tried to appease Nazi Germany by
allowing it to seize parts
of Eastern Europe. The US response was quick and
sharp. Already criticized
by Secretary of State Colin Powell for taking
advantage of the September 11
tragedies in the US to engage in more offensive
operations against the
Palestinians, Ariel Sharon may have alienated the one
government -- other
than his own -- most likely to defend him in his
Belgian troubles.
(When quoting from this PIN, please cite MERIP Press
Information Note 72,
"Trying to Try Sharon," by Linda A. Malone,
October 11, 2001. The author can
be reached at lamalo@wm.edu.)
-----
Press Information Notes are a free service of the
Middle East Research and
Information Project (MERIP). To subscribe to the
MERIP PIN distribution
list, simply respond to ctoensing@merip.org and
provide your address in the
text message box, indicating "SUBSCRIBE
PIN" in the subject line. To
unsubscribe, indicate "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the
subject line. Thank you!
_______________________________________________________________________
From: MIFTAH
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2001 11:48 AM
Subject: MIFTAH's Weekly E-Bulletin (No.8) {01}
The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of
Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH)
Note: This issue covers a two-week period. We will
not issue the newsletter
in this format any longer. Starting Friday November
2nd, 2001, we will
launch our new bi-monthly newsletter, which we intend
to give more
comprehensive analysis and reporting.
Behind the News: MIFTAH's Weekly E-Bulletin
(October 4th - October 12th, 2001)
Israeli forces raid and re-occupy
Palestinian-controlled areas: Nine
martyrs, 70 wounded as Israeli forces occupy
Palestinian homes. Twelve homes
have been taken over by Israeli forces. Many
homes were damaged in the
process and two were completely destroyed. The
Israeli forces also stationed
some troops in an elementary school. Students
are not able to get to their
schools as a result of the occupation and the danger
it causes. This is the
longest time that Israeli troops have stayed in a
Palestinian controlled
area since the Intifada started in September 2000.
200,000 Palestinians and
400 Jewish settlers inhabit Hebron. Hebron
became under the PNA control
during Netanyahu's term as prime minister. These 400
settlers live in the
heart of Hebron. Ariel Sharon has totally disregarded
any agreement that had
been reached. This has been the policy of Israel,
breaching contracts and
pointing the finger of blame at Palestinians.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
elects a new leader
after Israel's' assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa last
August: Ahmad Sa'adat
is the new secretary general of the PFLP group. The
two candidates for the
position were Ahmad Sa'adat & Abdul Rahim Maluh.
Maluh is the new deputy
secretary general. Sa'adat, a mathematics teacher by
profession, spent over
ten years of his life in Israeli prison. Maluh is 56
years old. PFLP was
founded by Dr. George Habash in 1967.
Settlers celebrate at two locations in the West Bank.
Jewish Settlers
celebrate the construction of new settlements. This
comes two days after
Peace Now movement showed that at least 10 new
settlement sites, including
65 structures, have been established in the West
Bank. A spokesman for the
settlers stated: "our intention is not
necessarily the settlement itself,
which is the responsibility of the Yesha Council,
rather leading a public
relations campaign for the education of the general
public as to the value
of settlement, and in a sense to rehabilitate the
view of the Israeli public
toward settlement." Settlements built on
occupied land are a direct
violation of internationally binding agreements. The
breaching of this
contract by Israel has created a great obstacle in
the way of peace in the
region. Israel's policy has been to delay agreements
and build more
settlements; this strengthens their roots in occupied
land, making it
difficult to negotiate an agreement. These
illegal settlements are also
making it difficult to draw borders or allocate
certain areas for the "land
for peace" principals for a peace agreement.
Israeli bulldozers disregard Byzantine Church
discovered in Gaza: The
secretary general of the department of archeology has
warned from the
dangers artifacts in Gaza are facing. The
joint French-Palestinian team of
archeologist had discovered a Byzantine Church dating
back to 1444. There
has been 17 scrolls discovered in that church, this
is the largest number of
scrolls discovered at one site in the Middle East
region. This team had to
come to a halt with the start of the Intifada and the
closure. The French
effort had to come to a stop and leave the dangerous
areas of the Gaza
Strip. They had discovered artifacts dating
back to the Persian, Greek,
Byzantine and Muslim eras. These beautiful
marble walls and mosaics
Byzantine churches are known for, have been left
without work since the
closure. Israeli tanks and bulldozers have
ruined many sites and artifacts
and have showed no concerns for destroying ancient
historical artifacts.
Israel has also followed discriminatory policies when
it comes to
archeological sites found. They have
disregarded any non-Jewish artifacts.
This country is rich with its historical landmarks;
Israel has been very
careful in what they will dig out. By doing so,
the Israeli government can
weaken any ties people might have to this
internationally rich city.
Palestinian Neighborhood in east Jerusalem under
threat:
A group of Jewish investors, locals and from abroad,
is setting to buy 18
dunums (4.5 acres) of land from the Sephardic Ethnic
Council. This land is
located in the Sheikh Jarah neighborhood, and is
inhabited by hundreds of
east Jerusalem Palestinians. The Homot Shalem
association assembled these
investors in an effort to ensure Jewish control over
the area, and the
sustainability of Israel's illegal occupation of east
Jerusalem.
The Group's company has already prepared a
construction plan. This plan
includes three buildings to cater for forty families.
These buildings will
be constructed in the first stage of the project. The
second stage will
include another forty apartments being built in that
same area. These
projects have found great support from rabbi Yosef
Eliashiv. Rabbi Eliashiv
is the same man who preaches violence and death to
Arabs. This time he was
quoted saying "real redemption of the land, and
the entrepreneurs have to be
encouraged".
"Real redemption of the land" as rabbi
Eliashiv stated, is been the question
concerning this issue. According to Ha'aretz
newspaper, 28 Arab families
that lived there were granted the status of "protected
residents". But
their request for the ownership of the land was
rejected.
Jerusalem was occupied in 1967. Prior to that as well
as today, this land is
inhabited and owned by Arabs. The Israeli court is
still deciding on this
issue. The Palestinian effort to protect their
homes has presented papers
proving the ownership of the land. These papers
presented by Abu Hijazee
(the legitimate owner of the land), are legal
evidence of his ownership.
The building on any of the land occupied by Israel in
1967 is illegal. The
Hague Convention of 1907 and The Geneva Convention of
1949 clearly state
that: "The occupying power shall not deport or
transfer parts of its own
civilian population into territories it occupies."
(Article 49, Paragraph 6)
Human Focus
This week our human focus is on Mr. Ja'far Ladadweh.
A father of three
girls and a boy; Jaf'ar travels great distances and
encounters obstacles to
make it to work everyday. He considers himself lucky
for "at least having a
job to go to".
I live in Mazra' Al Kebliya. It is about 20 km (8
miles) from the office
that I work at in Beit-Hanina. It used to take
me 25 minutes to get to
work. I used to leave my village at 8:15 and be at
work by 8:45 maximum
9:00. Since the closure I have to ride 8 cabs a
day to travel back and
forth and it takes about two hours to get to work.
Now I leave at 6:30-7:00
so I can be there by 9:00.
There was a day when they closed the road to my
village after I had already
left to go to work. I never was able to make it to
work, due to closure. I
headed back home about 11:00 a.m. When I got to
the checkpoint soldiers
were shooting teargas at the people trying to cross
to get to their
destinations. There was a mother with a baby
who had to be a couple of
months old. Teargas bombs landed close to her
and we rushed to take the
baby from her hands to the hospital. It was very
smoky and everyone was
running in different directions. We could not
remember what the mother
looked like and had to go around asking and telling
women that the baby is
safe at Ramallah Hospital. It was a little
embarrassing to tell you the
truth. That same day I tried to enter my
village four times, until I
decided to take a 50 km (31 miles) detour. This road
was dangerous, but I
had to get home to my family somehow. I finally
made it home at about 8:00
o'clock at night.
The checkpoints are there everyday. ID confiscation
is followed by hours of
waiting and is an everyday experience. Ridding in a
cab that stinks of
teargas has become almost an everyday event. The
Israeli soldiers have been
punishing cab drivers that carry passengers too close
to the checkpoint.
They confiscate the keys and throw a teargas bomb
inside their car. This
results in the taxis stinking of teargas for weeks to
come. You can't tell
when you first ride in the cab, but soon your eyes
are burning. I got to get
to work though and it has become a normal thing for
me.
MIFTAH's picks:
Article of the Week:
The Clash of Ignorance
by Edward W. Said
MIFTAH's Perspective:
The Constant Variable
Intifada Update:
To view this e-bulletin on-line, please go to
MIFTAH is a Palestinian, Jerusalem-based, independent
institution committed
to fostering the principles of democracy and
effective dialogue based on the
free and candid exchange of information and ideas.
Established in January
1999, MIFTAH's underlying premise is the integration
of several processes:
Palestinian nation-building and empowerment on the
basis of the principles
of democracy, human rights, rule of law, and
participatory governance;
international reconciliation and cooperation; the
gathering and
dissemination of information and the active
participation in the global
dialogue as an equal partner. www.miftah.org
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
|
|
|