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Europa & Palestine News « Europa & Middle East News

Letter to President Abbas: The Ball Is Now In The Court Of Palestine

Dear President Abbas,

We, the undersigned Palestinian and international human rights organizations, write to urge you to ensure that Palestine pursues the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) by promptly acceding to the Rome Statute and/or filing a further declaration accepting the Court’s jurisdiction over crimes committed on Palestinian territory from 1 July 2002.

Taking such steps could ensure access to international justice for victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on Palestinian territories, and would send an important message that such crimes cannot be committed with impunity.

As you know, following the UN General Assembly’s decision in November 2012 to upgrade Palestine’s status to “non-member observer state”, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor stated that the decision “does not cure the legal invalidity of [Palestine's] 2009 declaration” which accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction over acts committed on its territory since 1 July 2002, and that “at this stage, the Office has no legal basis to open a new preliminary examination.”

The Office stated that it was, therefore, not in a position to consider allegations of serious crimes committed in Palestine without further steps by your government. On this basis, the current ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, has said that “the ball is now in the court of Palestine” to seek the court’s jurisdiction.

We understand the pressure that Palestine is under from Israel and the United States not to pursue the jurisdiction of the ICC, whether during or after the current US-sponsored negotiations with Israel. We are aware that even countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Canada, which are states parties to the ICC treaty and purport to seek its universal ratification, have, at times, opposed Palestine seeking access to the ICC.

We oppose these efforts to politicize justice for victims of serious crimes under international law, and urge you to resist them. Justice is an important end in its own right, preserving the rights of victims and affected communities regardless of the uncertain prospects for peace. The commission of war crimes with impunity has regularly undermined the peace process. A credible prosecution threat would help to advance the cause of peace.

Palestine’s accession in April to 20 international treaties and conventions was a significant and positive step, obliging the Palestinian government to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights, and requiring Palestinian forces to abide by international rules on armed conflict. Accession to the Rome Statute would be a vital further step towards protecting human rights by ensuring that the ICC can step in to address impunity when domestic authorities are genuinely unable or unwilling to do so.

Seeking the ICC’s jurisdiction over serious crimes committed on Palestinian territory should therefore be seen as an apolitical step towards ending impunity and could help deter future abuses.

The ICC represents an important tool for justice and effective remedies for victims. We urge you to seize it without any further delay.

Sincerely,

Sahar Francis, Executive Director
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
Khalil Abu Shammala, Executive Director
Al Dameer Association for Human Rights
Shawan Jabarin, General Director
Al-Haq
Issam Younis, General Director
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
Munir Nuseibah, Director
Al-Quds University Human Rights Clinic
Salil Shetty, Secretary General
Amnesty International
Nidal Azza, Director
Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
Rifat Kassis, Director
Defense for Children International – Palestine
Shawqi Issa, Director
Ensan Center for Human Rights and Democracy
Ken Roth, Executive Director
Human Rights Watch
Helmi al-Araj, General Director
Hurryyat Centre for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights
Said Benarbia, Director, Middle East and North Africa Programme
International Commission of Jurists
Karim Lahidji, President
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Issam Aruri, Director
Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center
Raji Sourani, Director
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Iyad Barghouti, Director
Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies
Maha Abu Dayyeh, General Director
Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling

Source: Al-Mezan for Human Rights

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66 Killed and Wounded in a Series of Israeli Attacks on Gaza « Kawther Salam

66 Killed and Wounded in a Series of Israeli Attacks on Gaza « Kawther Salam

66 Killed and Wounded in a Series of Israeli Attacks on Gaza

النمسا تهتف بصوت واحد: إسرائيل قاتلة الأطفال

Al Mezan condemns IOF escalation and calls for urgent international intervention. The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) escalated its attacks on the Gaza Strip today. Twenty-six air-strikes and dozens of artillery attacks were launched on Gaza during the evening hours. These attacks followed an air-strike in which Ahmed Al-Jaa’bari, leader of Hamas military wing, was killed at 3:50 pm in Gaza city.

Most IOF attacks against resistance members and locations occurred in residential areas; therefore, most of the casualties and injuries were among civilians. According to information collected by Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights in Gaza, seven people were killed and 59 injured in the IOF attacks. Among those killed were two children and a woman. Sixteen of the injured were children and eleven were women. The persons who were killed were:

•     Ahmed Al-Jaa’bari, 59, leader of the Al Qassan Brigades;
•     Mohammed Al-Hams, Jaa’bari’s companion;
•     Mohammed Kaseeh, 18;
•     Issam Abu Al-Mi’za, 19;
•     Mrs. Heba Al-Mashharwi –Turk, 19;
•     Rinan Arafat, 3; and
•     11-month-year-old Omar Al-Mashharawi.

According to latest report from Gaza, the IOF continued aerial attacks on the central Gaza Strip late Friday, killing four Palestinians including a Hamas leaders. The attack on al-Maghazi refugee camp, which killed al-Qassam Brigades leader Ahmad Abu Jalal and three others, brought the death toll to 28 since Israel’s assault on Gaza began Wednesday.

Extra-judicial assassinations against resistance members occurred in residential areas. The IOF opened artillery fire directly on houses; including the house of Al-Mashharawi family and Arafat family, in which multiple civilian casualties and injuries occurred. Hundreds of houses and apartments were damaged around the Gaza Strip due to the heavy-missile attacks by the IOF.

The past five days saw a serious escalation of the hostilities in Gaza. On 11 November 2012, Palestinian resistance members fired an anti-tank rocket at an Israeli military jeep. The IOF retaliated by attacking a wake-house and a group of young civilians who were playing football in the east of Gaza city. Attacks continued since then, until today morning when the news reported a truce brokered by Egypt. However, the IOF attacks starting today afternoon may lead to the renewal of the hostilities in the coming days.

Al Mezan strongly condemns the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. IOF attacks continue to fail to observe the relevant rules of international law; therefore, cause death and injury to civilians and destroy civilian objects in violation of international law. Al Mezan calls on the United Nations Secretary-General and international community to intervene urgently and bring this Israeli escalation to an end. Israeli large-scale military operations against Gaza; such as Operation Cast Lead in the 2008/9 winter, have always failed to ensure due respect for civilians and civilian property. Al Mezan’s documentation of the IOF attacks during this week indicate that such violations by IOF persisted, as IOF violated the prohibitions against targeting civilian persons and objects; including extra-judicial executions.

Al Mezan highlights that the silence of international community will only encourage the IOF to continue these violations of international law. Efforts to ensure respect to human rights and international law will save lives and evade civilians further hardship; especially for Gaza’s population who have been living under Israeli closure and violence for years.

Al Mezan therefore reiterates its calls on international community; especially the UN and EU, to exert pressure on Israel; the occupying Power, to halt its attacks on Gaza, and to ensure full respect for international law. As IOF violation of IHL continue, Al Mezan also calls for the convening of the conference of the States Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians in Times of War (of 1949) to consider the serious violations of the Convention and the two Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions in the occupied Palestinian territory.

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Israeli Racist Discrimination in East of Jerusalem

“Israel” is it’s own worst enemy. Although after the countries gave Israel recognition as a State but this did not change it’s reality as an institution of Zionism. Institution of war criminals, institution of genocide, institution of war crimes and crimes against humanity. I wish that I could describe Israel as better than that. But the daily crimes committed against the occupied Palestinians, the sick people, force me to say more than that. It is a country with no morals, dignity or principles as if it came from another planet to occupy the earth and to torture the human beings.

It was 12:20 after mid night when I received the E-mail below,

Dear colleagues,

I am sending you what I received from Dr. Derek Summerfield, for your kind attention.

Dr. Tammam Kelani

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PRESS RELEASE

19 November 2009

Ambulances Prevented from Entering Palestinian Neighborhoods in East Jerusalem
without Prior Approval or Police Escort

• Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulances may not enter Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem to transfer injured or sick persons to hospital without a police escort, even in life threatening situations
• Preventing ambulances from entering Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem without a police escort violates the residents’ right to life and health
• Adalah, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights sent an urgent letter to the Israeli Deputy Minister of Health and the Jerusalem Police Chief demanding the immediate cancellation of this policy.

Adalah, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights sent an urgent letter to the Israeli Deputy Minister of Health and the Jerusalem Police Chief on 10 November 2009 demanding the immediate cancellation of instructions preventing Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulances from entering the Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem without prior permission and police escort even in emergency cases.

According to the instructions, the MDA ambulance must wait in a Jewish neighborhood adjacent to the Palestinian neighborhood and may not enter it to transfer the injured or the sick person to the hospital until a police escort arrives, even in life threatening situations. In many cases, the patient’s family members must transfer him/her in their own cars to the ambulance, which could increase the severity of the illness or injury and result in medical complications.

These procedures violate the first rule in the work of emergency crews, which is to provide medical aid as soon as possible, and the state’s obligation to ensure the life and physical well-being of each person under its authority. These practices may also be considered medical negligence by the MDA and a violation of professional and medical ethics. Further they may constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law.

These instructions do not apply to Jewish settlements in the heart of Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem; the ambulances travel through the Arab neighborhoods to reach the Jewish settlements without any police accompaniment. A case in point is the settlement of Nof Tzion, located in the heart of the Jabal al-Mukaber neighborhood in south east Jerusalem; it is just separated by one street. The ambulances travel on this street on their way to the settlement, but refuse to enter this same street to transfer a Palestinian patient without police protection.

Mr. Fuad Abu Hamed is the “Clalit” health care clinic director in the Sur Baher neighborhood in East Jerusalem. He emphasized that when an ambulance is called to the clinic to transfer a patient to the hospital, it is forced to wait outside the neighborhood for a long time, even an hour or more until the police arrive to accompany it to the clinic. This delay sometimes leads to a significant deterioration in the patient’s condition or even death. Recently, an ambulance was called to the Silwan neighborhood to transfer a person suffering from angina to the hospital.

The ambulance waited for more than two hours at the entrance of the village; the police refused to accompany the ambulance claiming that a violent quarrel was taking place which could put its forces and the crew at risk.

Attorney Haneen Naamnih of Adalah argued in the letter that “these examples, among many others, prove that the considerations determining the work of the Israeli ambulances in Jerusalem are not objective; they do not take into account the seriousness of the patient’s condition but solely consider his/her nationality and place of residence in violation of the law.”

Ms. Reut Katz of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel stressed that “the police escort of ambulances to transport patients coupled with their presence alongside medical staff during the treatment process also constitutes a flagrant violation of the privacy rights and medical confidentiality of the patient.”

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by Kawther Salam

Decision of Collaborators Furthers Palestinian Genocide

Decision of Collaborators Furthers Palestinian Genocide

Oct 3rd, 2009 by kawther.salam

Addameer, Al Haq, Al Mezan, Badil, Civic Coalition for Jerusalem, DCI- Palestine. NSAN Centre, Independent Commission for Human Rights, Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Ramallah Centre for Human Rights Studies, Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling, wrote a statement:

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied, Decision of Palestinian Leadership and International Pressure an Insult to the Victims

Yesterday, 2 October 2009, the Palestinian leadership, under heavy international pressure lead by the United States, deferred the draft proposal at the Human Rights Council endorsing all the recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission (the Goldstone Report). This deferral denies the Palestinian peoples’ right to an effective judicial remedy and the equal protection of the law. It represents the triumph of politics over human rights. It is an insult to all victims and a rejection of their rights.

The crimes documented in the report of the UN Fact Finding Mission represent the most serious violations of international law; Justice Goldstone concluded that there was evidence to indicate that crimes against humanity may have been committed in the Gaza Strip. Violations of international law continue to this day, inter alia, through the continuing Israeli-imposed illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. The findings of the Mission confirmed earlier investigations conducted by independent Palestinian, Israeli and international organizations.
The injustice that has now been brought upon Palestinians has been brought upon everyone on this globe. International human rights and humanitarian law are not subject to discrimination, they are not dependent on nationality, religion, or political affiliation. International human rights and humanitarian law apply universally to all human beings.

The rule of law is intended to protect individuals, to guarantee their fundamental rights. Yet, if the rule of law is to be respected it must be enforced. World history, and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land has shown us that as long as impunity persists, the law will continue to be violated; innocent civilians will continue to suffer the horrific consequences.

Justice delayed is justice denied. All victims have a legitimate right to an effective judicial remedy, and the equal protection of the law. These rights are universal: they are not subject to political considerations. In the nine months since Operation Cast Lead, no effective judicial investigations have been conducted into the conflict. Impunity prevails. In such situations, international law demands recourse to international judicial mechanisms. Victims’ rights must be upheld. Those responsible must be held to account.

The belief that accountability and the rule of law can be brushed aside in the pursuit of peace is misguided. History has taught us time and time again, that sustainable peace can only be built on human rights, on justice, and the rule of law. For many years in Palestine international law, and the rule of law, has been sacrificed in the name of politics, and cast aside in favour of the peace process. This approach has been tried, and it has failed: the occupation has been solidified, illegal settlements have continued to expand, the right to self determination has been denied; innocent civilians suffer the horrific consequences. It is now time to pursue justice, and a peace built on a foundation of human rights, dignity, and the rule of law. In Justice Goldstone’s words, there is no peace without justice.

As human rights organizations we strongly condemn the Palestinian leaderships’ decision to defer the proposal endorsing all the recommendations of the Fact Finding Mission, and the pressure exerted by certain members of the international community. Such pressure is in conflict with States’ international obligations, and is an insult to the Palestinian people.

As human rights organizations concerned with rights and justice, we declare that we will double our efforts to seek justice for the victims of the violations of human rights and international law without delay.