Israel to build security fence in the heart of the West Bank

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Written by Allison Deger Allison Deger

Published: 21 November 2013 21 November 2013

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It’s barely 100 meters, but a fence Israel plans to build through four villages in the heart of the iconic hills of the West Bank shows how deep the occupation reaches into Palestinian life.

Earlier this month, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) ordered the construction of a separation fence in the north central West Bank on agricultural land belonging to four Palestinian villages. The “security fence,” or “security wall,” from the Hebrew and Arabic appropriation orders respectively, will run east-west along highway 5, near Tapuach Junction, a checkpoint between Ramallah and Nablus.

This fence is not an extension of the famous separation barrier. Rather it will be a free-floating chain linked plank in the heart of the West Bank. A miniature version of the wall, it separates nothing and can easily be bypassed on foot. It only stretches 3.8 dunums in length, well under one kilometer. Still this fence is part of a patchwork of barriers in the Nablus district that trace the highway system.

The fence is slated for construction on farms lands belonging to the hillside localities of Beita, Osrain, Qabalan and Yitma. Together the four villages form a square with two to the north and two to the south of an Israeli highway. The planned path of the fence lines the bisecting highway.

Read more: Israel to build security fence in the heart of the West Bank

US to lose vote at UNESCO, incurs debts

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Written by THOMAS ADAMSON, AP THOMAS ADAMSON, AP

Published: 08 November 2013 08 November 2013

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PARIS (AP) — American influence in culture, science and education around the world is facing a high-profile blow Friday as the U.S. is stripped of its voting rights at the world's cultural agency, UNESCO. And it would cost the U.S. hundreds of millions of dollars to win this voice back.

The U.S. hasn't paid its dues to the Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in three years, in protest over the decision by world governments to make Palestine a UNESCO member in 2011.

Under UNESCO rules, the U.S. has until Friday morning to resume funding, or it automatically loses its vote.

The suspension of U.S. contributions, which account for $80 million a year — 22 percent of UNESCO's overall budget — brought the agency to the brink of a financial crisis and forced it to cut American-led initiatives such as Holocaust education and tsunami research over the past two years.

It has worried many in Washington that the U.S. is on track to becoming a toothless UNESCO member with a weakened voice in international programs fighting extremism through education, and promoting gender equality and press freedoms.

"We won't be able to have the same clout," said Phyllis Magrab, the Washington-based U.S. National Commissioner for UNESCO. "In effect, we (now won't) have a full tool box. We're missing our hammer."

The UNESCO tension has prompted new criticism of U.S. laws that force an automatic funding cutoff for any U.N. agency with Palestine as a member.

The agency may be best known for its program to protect the cultures of the world via its Heritage sites, which include the Statue of Liberty and Mali's Timbuktu.

But its core mission, as conceived by the U.S., a co-founder of the agency in 1946, was to be an anti-extremist organization. In today's world, it tackles foreign policy issues such as access to clean water, teaches girls to read, works to eradicate poverty, promotes freedom of expression and gives people creative thinking skills to resist violent extremism.

Among UNESCO programs already slashed over funding shortages is one in Iraq that was intended to help restore proper water facilities. Another was a Holocaust and genocide awareness program in Africa to teach about non-violence, non-discrimination and ethnic tolerance, using the example of the mass killing of Jews during World War II.

This loss is a particular blow to the U.S., since Holocaust awareness was one of the areas the country aggressively promoted in the agency's agenda when it rejoined in 2002 after an 18-year hiatus, during which the U.S. had withdrawn from the organization over differences in vision.

The concern over UNESCO is resonating in the U.S. Congress.

"The United States must not voluntarily forfeit its leadership in the world community," Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, told The Associated Press in an email.

With efforts by President Barack Obama to get the money restored having failed or stalled, Ellison plans to introduce legislation in Congress to overturn what he calls the "antiquated" laws that automatically halted the flow of funds to the agency from November 2011.

The Obama administration has proposed language to amend the legislation, but it remains on the table amid recent U.S. budget setbacks.

For some it's a question of sooner rather than later, with the U.S. racking up arrears to UNESCO of some $220,000 a day, which it will have to pay back if it ever wants to fill the empty chair and get back the vote.

"Paying off three years is manageable, but it indeed becomes much more difficult if you allow many years to pass and the bill gets larger and larger and larger," said Esther Brimmer, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for international organizations.

The Palestinian Ambassador to UNESCO, Elias Sanbar, said other countries are beginning to make up for the U.S. shortfall.

"Is this in the interest of the U.S., to be replaced?" he asked.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova lamented the changes that are not only seeing America silenced within her organization but also bringing UNESCO financially to its knees.

"I regret to say that I'm seeing, in these last two years . a declining American influence and American involvement," Bokova told The Associated Press.

"I can't imagine how we could disengage with the United States at UNESCO. We are so intertwined with our message. . What I regret is that this decision became so divisive and triggered this suspension of the funding," she added.

Bokova said she accepts political reality and would find ways for UNESCO to continue its work, despite a 2014 budget that's down by an estimated $150 million.

Some fear this debacle is just the tip of the iceberg, and worry about more serious consequences, if Palestine joins other agencies such as the World Health Organization.

Crisis in Syria: Some ways to help . . .

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Written by Oxfam, Mercy Corps, MTI, and World Vision Oxfam, Mercy Corps, MTI, and World Vision

Published: 06 November 2013 06 November 2013

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Here are several links to organizations helping Syrians face this terrible crisis

Mercy Corps: http://www.mercycorps.org/articles/jordan-lebanon-syria/quick-facts-what-you-need-know-about-syrian-refugee-crisis

Oxfam: http://www.oxfam.org/en/emergencies/syria-crisis

Medical Teams International: http://www.medicalteams.org/donate/syrian-refugees-relief

World Vision: http://www.worldvision.org/news-stories-videos/faqs-war-syria-children-and-refugee-crisis

This from Oxfam:

More than two million refugees have now fled violence in Syria and are in desperate need of shelter, food and water. Over half of them are children.

The scale of the Syria crisis is rapidly deepening, particularly as winter approaches, leaving relief agencies overstretched and struggling to cope with massive numbers of refugees, who are often living in inadequate shelter in neighboring countries.

We've reached more than 220,000 people with aid. Any donation, no matter how small, will help us support more families caught up in this crisis.

The scale of the Syrian crisis

Fighting continues to escalate across northern Syria and its western border. With growing numbers of people fleeing the conflict in Syria, the situation has become critical. Aid agencies and host countries have almost reached their capacity to cope with recent surges.

The UN estimates that almost 7 million Syrians inside of Syria are in need of assistance, including 4.25 million internally displaced.
Thousands continue to flee Syria daily.
The total number of refugees in neighboring countries is now more than 2.1 million.
It is estimated that the population of Lebanon has increased by more than 10% and the population of Jordan by 6%. This is putting extreme pressure on local infrastructure.
Additionally, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, the majority of Syrian refugees in Jordan live in urban areas, outside of formal camp settings. This makes it harder for them to access vital help.

Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with polonium, tests show

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Written by Angelique Chrisafis in Paris, theguardian.com, Angelique Chrisafis in Paris, theguardian.com,

Published: 06 November 2013 06 November 2013

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Swiss scientists find levels of polonium 18 times higher than normal in first forensic tests on former Palestinian leader's body

The first forensic tests on remains from the exhumed corpse of Yasser Arafat have shown unexpectedly high levels of radioactive polonium-210, suggesting the Palestinian leader could have been poisoned with the rare and lethal substance.

The Swiss scientists who tested Arafat's remains after the exhumation of his body in November discovered levels of polonium at least 18 times higher than the norm in Arafat's ribs, pelvis and in soil that absorbed his leaked bodily fluids.

The Swiss forensic report was handed to representatives of Arafat's widow, Suha Arafat, as well as representatives of the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday. A copy of the report was obtained exclusively by the al-Jazeera TV network, which shared it with the Guardian prior to publication.

The Swiss report said that even taking into account the eight years since Arafat's death and the quality of specimens taken from bone fragments and tissue scraped from his decayed corpse and shroud, the results "moderately support the proposition that the death was the consequence of poisoning with polonium-210".

Suha Arafat said the evidence in the report suggested that her then healthy 75-year-old husband, who died in 2004 four weeks after he first fell ill shortly after eating dinner, was almost certainly murdered by poisoning.

She told al-Jazeera: "This is the crime of the century."

Speaking to the Guardian after receiving the report, Suha Arafat said she would press for answers on who was responsible. "It's shocking … I remember how Yasser was shrinking at the hospital, how in his eyes there were a lot of questions. Death is a fate in life, it is everybody's fate, but when it's poison it's terrible. We are mourning him again now."

With Zahwa, 18, her daughter by Arafat, she said she suspected a "conspiracy to get rid of him", adding: "My daughter and I have to know who did it. We will not stop in our quest to find out. I hope the Palestinian Authority goes further on it, searching every single aspect of it. It is of course a political crime." She said: "This is separate from the peace process or talks. Any judicial investigation is separate from the peace process."

David Barclay, a British forensic scientist who had studied the report, told al-Jazeera: "The report contains strong evidence, in my view conclusive evidence, that there's at least 18 times the level of polonium in Arafat's exhumed body than there should be." He said the report represented "a smoking gun". He said: "It's what killed him. Now we need to find out who was holding the gun at that time." Barclay added: "I would point to him being given a fatal dose. I don't think there's any doubt at all."

Arafat died in a French military hospital on 11 November 2004, without an autopsy. He had been transferred there from his headquarters in the West Bank after his health deteriorated over weeks, beginning with severe nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea around four hours after eating dinner on 12 October. French doctors have said he died of a massive stroke and had suffered from a blood condition known as disseminated intravascular coagulation, or DIC. But the records were inconclusive about what brought about the DIC. Allegations that Arafat may have been poisoned emerged immediately after his death and theclaim was raised again by al-Jazeera TV last summer, following a nine-month investigation culminating in the film What Killed Arafat?.

Al-Jazeera said it was given access to a duffel bag of Arafat's personal effects by his widow, which it passed to a Swiss institute. Swiss toxicological tests on those samples including hair from a hat, saliva from a toothbrush, urine droplets on underpants and blood on a hospital hat found that the belongings had elevated traces of polonium-210, the lethal substance used to kill the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

The Swiss institute said Arafat's bones would have to be tested to get a clearer answer, warning that polonium decayed fast and an autopsy needed to be done quickly. In August last year, French prosecutors opened a murder inquiry into Arafat's death. In November, Arafat's corpse was exhumed from its mausoleum in Ramallah in the presence of three international teams of scientists: the Swiss team, a French team that was part of the Paris judicial investigation and a Russian team.

The Swiss team's report states that they carried out toxicological tests on Arafat's "almost skeletonised body along with residues from his shroud". The samples, including fragments of bones taken from his left ribs and pelvis as well as remnants of tissue from the abdominal cavity and grave soil, showed "unexpectedly high" activity of polonium-210.

Suha Arafat's lawyer, Saad Djebbar, told the Guardian the Swiss report was "evidence that there was a crime committed". He said he had handed the Swiss report to French investigators, whose inquiry is ongoing. French scientists conducted their own tests as part of the legal investigation but have not published findings as the inquiry continues.

Arafat's daughter, Zahwa, a student of international relations in Malta, told the Guardian: "I want to find out who did it and their motive for doing it." She said she trusted the French investigation to shed light on that.