The myopic approach to the occupied territories04

By Ruth Hanau Santini EUOBSERVER / COMMENT -

The deteriorating and explosive situation in the occupied territories requires a long-term, strategic multilateral approach, as opposed to merely tactical devices aimed at divide and rule between a Fatah-controlled (for now) civilised West Bank, and a Hamastan, on its way to becoming or being perceived as a rogue territory, outside international control.

Some soul-searching on Europe's side is an indispensable precondition to devise sustainable and consistent strategies. Firstly, the legitimacy and efficacy of the Quartet was put to a serious test not just by events on the ground, but by internal criticism such as that voiced by former UN Middle East envoy Alvaro De Soto. One way to bridge the credibility gap would consist of enlarging the diplomatic team, working more closely with Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Not only are these Arab states legitimate stakeholders in the region's stability, but they have shown a willingness to play a more active role in conflict resolution: last February Saudi Arabia compelled Fatah and Hamas to strike a deal to create a national unity government, while last week the three countries participated in a conference with Mr Abbas and Israeli PM Olmert. This could provide a sense of ownership among Arab populations in the stakes involved in this crisis' resolution. By no means, however, this should be seen as a form of Western disengagement, with Arab countries taking off some of the burden from the US and Israel, as some commentators in Washington wish for.Rethinking the basic tenetsIn terms of roles played by the main international players, the EU needs to re-focus the correspondence between its stated interests in the Middle East and the policies it has adopted since 2006, when the Quartet started losing its legitimacy as honest broker in the conflict. If European countries want to be seen at least as intelligent payers, they must rethink the basic tenets characterizing their relations with Hamas. The grass-roots nature of this political movement has to be acknowledged, together with the recognition that in recent years Hamas has shown restraint and pragmatism. On the one hand, since the 2005 Cairo declaration, namely, the movement has avoided suicide terrorist attacks against Israel. On the other, it has participated in municipal and national elections and asked Fatah, which declined in the hope that the boycotted Hamas-led government would collapse, to establish a national unity government after the electoral victory in January 2006. By talking to Hamas, the EU would overcome the current impasse whereby one of its missions, EUBAM Rafah, is unable to operate without a Palestinian unity government - given that Gaza is under the direct control of Hamas -, while the other, EUPOL COPPS in Ramallah, can operate only in the absence of such a government as the area falls under the control of internationally-recognized Fatah-led emergency government.Secondly, the EU should come up with clear-cut aims, differentiating the time horizon for their pursuit. By so doing, Brussels would be in a position to advance a comprehensive strategic vision to the international community. The different political objectives should combine in the short-term political stabilization and humanitarian relief, both in the West Bank and Gaza, institution-building and good governance-inspired reforms in the medium-term, as the EU did with some success between 2001 and 2005, and democracy promotion as a long-term objective. In terms of the first objective, since Hamas' electoral victory and the ensuing adoption of economic sanctions, the EU has, quite paradoxically, increased by a third its humanitarian aid (totalling EUR 700 million in 2006) at the expense of development aid. While this has avoided a major humanitarian catastrophe, with the Temporary International Mechanism keeping one-third of Gazans afloat, the same policy has had perverse effects. Being unable to deliver public goods and having to rely on international assistance for basic services, the legitimacy and accountability of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has reached an all-time low, with 40% of Palestinians declaring themselves in favour of dismantling the PA, and thesame proportion supporting the establishment of a confederation with Jordan.The traditional EU focus on institution-building has since 2006 been marginalized, with even the most evident European presence there, the borders' control mission EUBAM Rafah and the police training mission EUPOL COPPS, having become almost irrelevant due to frequent Israeli security concerns which allowed EUBAM to operate only for 40% of the time.Long-term commitmentEU-pushed measures aimed at improving governance in the PA, by tying financial assistance to reforms in the judicial, fiscal, executive and administrative domains, which were bearing fruit, came to a grinding halt last year.Hence, the EU should first reformulate its views and priorities within the Quartet, using the current impasse in the territories as a window of opportunity for agreeing a different agenda with the US for the way forward. The main issues the EU should press ahead for are an engagement strategy with moderate Hamas members, pressures on Israel to deliver some of the basic commitments it has assumed under the Quartet-established conditions - increasing the freedom of movement, giving back all Palestinian tax revenues and committing itself to a calendar for concrete progress in negotiations. In a second stage, Brussels could reformulate a comprehensive strategy comprising relief efforts, institution-building tasks as well as the promotion of good governance. It is time for European countries to voice not just their concern, but their commitment to be major players with a long-term vision in mind for the Middle East. Given the poor credibility and all-time low success rate of our transatlantic partner in the region, conditions are propitious to subordinate our alliance concerns in order to realise our ambition to act as a responsible and capable player.

The writer is visiting fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies

Wangari Maathai - Resources and Conflict

No tengo otra manera de editarlo pinchad en el recuadro. Conferencia de Wangari Maathai sobre la relación de los conflictos armados con los recursos materiales.
Wangari Maathai (nacida el 1 de abril de 1940 en Nyieri, Kenia) es una activista política y ecologista keniana. En 2004 recibió el Premio Nobel de la Paz por "sus contribuciones al desarrollo sostenible, a la democracia y a la paz". Es la primera mujer africana que recibe este galardón. La doctora Maathai es además miembro electo en el parlamento y ministra de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales dentro del gobierno presidido por Mwai Kibaki. (pinchad en las palabras azules y os llevará al Wikipedia, por si quereis más información)

El brazo armado de Hamás anuncia el fin de la tregua y lanza misiles contra Israel

AGENCIAS - Gaza - 24/04/2007

El brazo armado del Movimiento de la Resistencia Islámica (Hamás), las Brigadas Azedín al Kasam, ha anunciado hoy formalmente la suspensión del alto el fuego alcanzado el pasado mes de noviembre por el que se comprometía a no atentar contra Israel desde Gaza. Sin más trámite, ha lanzado varios misiles contra territorio de Israel, a quien culpa del fin de la tregua por matar a varios activistas este fin de semana. Sin embargo, el Gobierno palestino, en manos de Hamás, ha pedido a sus radicales que retomen el alto el fuego para preservar "los intereses de los palestinos".
Ghazi Hamad, portavoz del Gobierno de Hamás, ha emitido un comunicado en el que "el Gobierno reitera su deseo de que la calma continúe y sea preservada de forma que se alcancen los intereses nacionales del pueblo palestino". Era la respuesta al anuncio, horas antes, del brazo armado de Hamás de que ponía fin a la tregua que mantenía con Israel desde noviembre.
El anuncio lo hacía a alrededor del mediodía el portavoz de las Brigadas, Abú Obaida, en un comunicado remitido a los medios de comunicación en la franja de Gaza. "No hay calma entre nosotros y la ocupación [israelí], la ocupación ha roto la calma", ha dicho Obaida, en referencia a los nueve palestinos muertos este fin de semana a manos de soldados israelíes. "La parte que ha roto la tregua ha sido la ocupación israelí, que nunca se ha comprometido con las condiciones de la tregua". Poco antes, se habían reanudado los lanzamientos de misiles contra Israel, que el grupo no había efectuado desde hace cinco meses. Según las brigadas, han lanzado entre 30 y 60 cohetes y disparos de mortero.
Hamás y la mayor parte de las facciones armadas palestinas declararon el pasado 26 de boviembre una tregua o hudna unilateral temporal en sus acciones contra Israel desde Gaza, que pretendían extender asimismo a Cisjordania. Últimamente, se ha producido un debate en el seno de Hamás sobre la conveniencia de mantener la tregua o suspenderla, ante acciones del ejército israelí como la del pasado fin de semana.
Un portavoz del ejército israelí ha declarado que al menos cinco misiles han sido disparados sobre Israel hoy martes, dos de los cuales han caído cerca de una ciudad del sur de Israel, sin causar víctimas. En respuesta, un helicóptero israelí ha disparado algunas ráfagas de ametralladora cerca de la valla fronteriza de Gaza para frenar los lanzamientos de cohetes.
El viceprimer ministro israelí, Simon Peres, ha declarado hoy que Hamás no ha mantenido totalmente la tregua durante su vigencia y que ha forzado a Israel a reaccionar militarmente. Según fuentes militares israelíes, activistas de Hamás han ayudado a otros grupos que no habían firmado la tregua. "Nuestra preocupación es que Hamás no ha mantenido el alto el fuego que prometió. Ha habido intentos de penetrar en el país y no tuvimos más remedio que evitarlo", ha dicho Peres.

Palestinian Minister of Information: "There is No Israeli Partner for Peace"

Ramallah, 14-04-07: In a press conference held in Ramallah today, Minister of Information and Official Government Spokesperson, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, underlined that Israel's continued refusal to discuss final status issues pointed to a lack of willingness to engage in peace negotiations.

He added that the Israeli government had failed to constructively address the four most recent Palestinian initiatives, namely (a) the formation of the new national unity government with a flexible political platform; (b) the Arab peace initiative for a comprehensive, complete solution; (c) the Palestinian proposal for complete cessation of all forms of violence through a mutual, reciprocal ceasefire agreement, and (d) the Palestinian proposal for a prisoner swap in exchange for the Israeli soldier captured in Gaza in June 2006.

The Minister emphasised that Israel's failure to address final status issues such as the borders of a future Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem, the refugee issue, and the issue of settlements, which were due to have been resolved under the Oslo process by 1999 but have never been addressed as Israel refuses to discuss these issues in violation of the Oslo agreement, betrayed the lack of a real Israeli partner for peace.

By continuing talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas whilst bypassing the goal of final status negotiations he said, Israel was buying time to create irreversible facts on the ground. Dr. Barghouthi added that by evading the issue of final borders, Israel was seeking to substitute the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state with the idea of a self-governing authority within interim borders with jurisdiction over people, but not land, water or borders.

Dr. Barghouthi also focused on the continued use of Palestinian civilians, including children, as human shields by the Israeli military, the violent repression of peaceful protests against the Apartheid Wall by Israeli soldiers and border police, and the plight of more than 10,000 Palestinians currently being held in Israeli prisons.

Human Shields

The issue of the use of human shields, a practice frequently employed by the Israeli military, has been brought back into the media spotlight by a film recorded by a member of the Research Journalism Initiative. The footage clearly shows Israeli soldiers using two Palestinian youths, one aged just 14-years-old, as human shields during an Israeli military invasion into Nablus last Wednesday, [1] a practice illegal under both the Fourth Geneva Convention and under Israeli law itself. [2]

The film can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqInB1Pvnhk

Dr. Barghouthi stressed that this was not an isolated incident but a systematic procedure that endangers the lives of Palestinian civilians. Nineteen-year-old Nidal Abu M’khisan was killed in this way on 14 August 2002. [3] He called the incident a war crime, and labelled the suspension of the commander in charge of Operation Hot Winter by the Israeli military in response to the issue as mere "window-dressing," adding that the Israeli military has continued using human shields despite an Israeli Supreme Court ruling in October 2005 forbidding the practice.

Violent Repression

The Minister also showed a film recorded at yesterday's weekly peaceful protest against the construction of Israel's Apartheid Wall in a village south of Bethlehem, at which peaceful protests were met with violent repression by the Israeli military and border police, who can be seen beating and kicking a group of Palestinian, Israeli and international protestors, without provocation. The film was yet one more example of the aggression with which Israel responds to non-violent protests against construction of its Wall, which was declared illegal under a ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague in July 2004.

The film can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqInB1Pvnhk

Prisoners

In the run-up to Palestinian Prisoners Day on 17 April, Dr. Barghouthi also focused on the fate of the 10,400 Palestinians currently being held in Israeli jails in contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. [4] Of these:

- 86 percent are from the West Bank
- 7 percent are from the Gaza Strip
- 7 percent are from Jerusalem

- 4,430 (44 percent) have been sentenced by Israeli military tribunals
- 611 (14 percent) have been sentenced to 50 years or more in prison
- 4,575 (46 percent) have not undergone trial
- 950 (10 percent) are being held in administrative detention
- 7 (0.7 percent) have spent more than 25 years in prison; 3 have spent 29 years or more in prison
- 376 are children under the age of 18
- 5,000 children have been arrested since 2000
- 600 are women who have been arrested since 2000
- 118 women prisoners are currently in Israeli jails
- 40 are members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), including the Head of the PLC
- 95 percent of Palestinian prisoners have reported being subjected to various forms of torture
- 183 Palestinians have died in prison
- 69 died due to torture
- 42 died due to medical negligence
- 1,000 are suffering from chronic diseases
- 200 suffering from serious health conditions
- 72 Palestinians were assassinated following their arrest


Notes

[1] The dialogue between the cameraman and the Israeli soldier can be clearly heard, in which the cameraman questions the use of the two youths as human shields:

Cameraman : I want to ask you, are these men being detained?
Soldier : Yes.
Cameraman : You can't use them as human shields, this is a war crime. You know that, right?
Israeli soldier : They're not human shields.
Cameraman : They're standing in front of your jeep. That's not a human shield?
Solider : No.
Cameraman : How is that not? You're using them to protect you from stones.
Soldier : We asked them to speak with their friends to stop throwing stones.
Cameraman : Then why are they standing here? This is illegal, you know this.
Soldier : [Shuts jeep door, ending discussion]

[2] Article 28 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that "The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations." Under Article 4 of the Convention, protected persons are defined as "those who, at a given moment and in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a Party to the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals." [http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm]; In a ruling by Israeli Supreme Court on 6 October 2005, Judge Aharon Barak stated that "You cannot exploit the civilian population for the army's military needs, and you cannot force them to collaborate with the army." The ruling came in response to a petition filed by seven Israeli-registered human rights organisations to the High Court of Justice against the use of Palestinians as human shields. See the petition here: http://www.btselem.org/english/Legal_Documents/HC3799_02_20020505_Human_Shields_Petition.pdf.

[3] See B'Tselem. 14 August 2002. IDF is Responsible for Death of "Human Shield". http://www.btselem.org/english/Press_Releases/20020814.asp.

[4] Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that: "Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein." [http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm].

L'ONU acusa a Israel d'aplicar l'Apartheid a Palestina

El mateix dia, dijous 22 de març, en què el relator pels drets humans de Nacions Unides per als territoris ocupats palestins, John Dugard, de nacionalitat sud-africana, va acusar Israel d'utilitzar pràctiques pròpies del colonialisme i l'apartheid a Cisjordània i Gaza, el nou ministre d'informació palestí, Mustafà Barghouti, distribuïa una cinta on es veu com l'exèrcit d'ocupació utilitza gossos de presa per reprimir la població civil, i fa ús de la violència sobre els menors palestins.