Israeli courts must end anti-Arab discrimination
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- Written by Haaretz Editorial Haaretz Editorial
- Published: 03 August 2011 03 August 2011
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Israeli courts discriminate against Israeli Arabs, there is no doubt about it.
Haaretz Editorial
Israeli courts discriminate against Israeli Arabs. If there had been any doubt left about this, a comprehensive, first-of-its-kind study commissioned by Israel's Courts Administration and the Israel Bar Association just determined it decisively.
According to the study, whose main findings were reported by Tomer Zarchin in yesterday's Haaretz, Arabs are given jail sentences more often than Jews convicted of the same offenses, and Arabs receive longer sentences than Jews who are jailed. The study's authors conclude that their most conspicuous finding is the tendency of Israeli courts to treat Arab defendants more harshly: When Arabs wind up in court, they are more likely to be convicted; when convicted, they are likely to receive a stiffer sentence than a Jew normally would. It's hard to imagine a more disturbing fact.
US to oppose Palestinian UN bid for statehood
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- Written by Al-Jazeera Al-Jazeera
- Published: 27 July 2011 27 July 2011
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US to oppose Palestinian UN bid
US envoy terms Palestine's approaching of UN as "unilateral action", despite backing of over 120 countries.
The US is to oppose Palestine's application to the UN for full membership status when the body's General Assembly convenes in September.
Rosemary DiCarlo, the US deputy ambassador to the UN, said that the US would not support "unilateral action" by the Palestinians at the UN.
DiCarlo was speaking at the final, regular UN Security Council discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian situation.
"Let there be no doubt: symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September will not create an independent Palestinian state," DiCarlo said.
"The United States will not support unilateral campaigns at the United Nations in September or any other time."
DiCarlo said the US is pressing for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, insists on a negotiated settlement, and will oppose any unilateral action by the Palestinians at the UN.
The US is among five veto-power members of the Security Council. It only considers UN admissions to the General Assembly from recommendations by its 15-member council.
Two-state solution
In response to DiCarlo's statement, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN observer, said that with more than 120 countries already recognising an independent Palestinian state, any UN action, whether at the Security Council or the General Assembly, would not be unilateral.
"On the contrary, it is multilateral, and the consecration of the two-state solution in bold resolutions, including recognition of the state of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the bases of the pre-1967 borders and its admission as a full member of the organisation will help to make the two-state solution more inevitable," he said.
Western diplomats say the Palestinians have not decided whether to seek membership in the UN as a sovereign state or to press for a non-binding resolution recognising a Palestinian state without UN membership.
Mansour said "This is the time for Palestine's independence."
He said the Palestinians are ready to resume negotiations with the pre-1967 war borders as the foundation, but stressed "we cannot keep waiting for Israel to negotiate in good faith."
In line with the US sentiment, Ron Prosor, Israel's UN ambassador said "it is clear that the Palestinians are not united and are far from united for peace".
"Now is the time for the international community to tell the Palestinian leadership what it refuses to tell its own people, there are no shortcuts to statehood," he told the 15-nation council. "You cannot bypass the only path to peace."
"The Palestinians will have to make compromises and make hard choices," Prosor said. "They will have to get off the bandwagon of unilateralism and back to the hard work of direct peacemaking."
End to occupation
The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, territories Israel occupied after the 1967 Middle East war.
Salam Fayyad, prime minister and head of the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, has limited say here, while Israel retains overall control over the territory.
Palestinian state-building efforts are often hampered by Israeli restrictions.
"We are seeking an independent state and that cannot be achieved without ending the occupation".
Israel's current government says it's willing, in principle, to accept the establishment of a Palestinian state.
However, it says it will not give up East Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital, and severely restricts
access to Gaza, ruled by the Hamas since 2007.
US President Barack Obama announced in September 2010, as US-brokered direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations resumed, that a peace treaty should be signed in a year, but those talks collapsed weeks later after Israel ended its freeze on building settlements.
The Palestinians insist they will not resume peace talks until Israel stops building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israel maintains that the Palestinians should not be setting conditions for talks and that settlements did not stop them from negotiating in the past.
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Report: UN panel rules IDF boarded Marmara 'to kill'
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- Written by Aviel Magnezi Aviel Magnezi
- Published: 25 July 2011 25 July 2011
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UN commission to publish findings on IDF raid on Turkish flotilla vessel, prompting Israel to debate whether to apologize to Turkey, newspaper says
The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet said Sunday that the Palmer report on last year's Gaza-bound flotilla is expected to be released this week.
According to the newspaper, the UN-appointed panel to investigate the raid on the Mavi Marmara vessel has ruled that IDF soldiers boarded the ship with an intention to kill.
The Turkish daily claimed that this assertion is what prompted the debate within Israel's government on whether the Jewish State should issue an apology to Turkey. The Forum of Eight Ministers was expected to discuss the issue on Sunday.
According to the article, Israel is considering compensating the families of the nine people killed aboard the ship, and intends to issue a statement regretting the loss of life - regardless of Turkey's demand for an official apology.
The newspaper claimed that Israel is worried that such an apology will pave the way for international law suits to be filed against the IDF soldiers.
Commandos boarding Mavi Marmara (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)
The newspaper went on to express optimism that Israel and Turkey are to make progress in improving ties when officials from both nations meet in New York on Tuesday. As per the article, Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon is expected to confer with Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, among other officials. Sources in Jerusalem confirmed that Yaalon will be traveling to New York, but said that they are unaware that any such meeting was scheduled.
"I'm in favor of improving relations but this should not be at the expense of Israel alone," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said prior to Sunday's cabinet meeting. "It's in the interest of both countries to improve relations and the ball is in Turkey's court. There is no reason for Israel to apologize, there are soldiers who were sent to do their job mid-sea."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak also addressed the report: "I hope we won't have to answer these questions this week and that we have more time to fully examine the matter. It is our business to protect officers, commanders and soldiers from possible overseas lawsuits."
B'tselem raps Israel for jailing Palestinian children
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- Written by Jon Donnison BBC News, Gaza City Jon Donnison BBC News, Gaza City
- Published: 18 July 2011 18 July 2011
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An Israeli rights group has criticised the government for jailing Palestinian children, some as young as 12.
Israel's civilian courts forbid jailing any child under 14. But Palestinian children arrested in the West Bank are usually tried in military courts.
The group, Btselem, says the children are often given jail terms of up to two months. Most are arrested for throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli military says the children are being exploited by "terror groups".
It called the report "unbalanced" and lacking in "detailed reference to the deliberations of sentencing and the deterrence that results from them".
The West Bank and East Jerusalem have been occupied by Israel since 1967.
One acquittal
Israel's military courts are violating the rights of Palestinian youngsters, says the Btselem report, No Minor Matter.
Out of 835 Palestinian children arrested for stone throwing between 2005 and 2010, only one was acquitted, it notes.
It says that in the past six years, 19 Palestinian children aged either 12 or 13 have been jailed for up to two months after being convicted of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.
Military justice for Palestinian minors
835 Palestinian minors tried for stone-throwing in the West Bank, 2005-2010
Thirty-four of them were aged 12-13; 255 were 14-15; 546 were 16-17.
93% of those convicted were given jail sentences
Only one acquitted
97% of minors' stone-throwing cases ended with a plea bargain (around 50% usually)
Source: Btselem citing official Israeli military figures
The report also says many children are pressured into pleading guilty to get a lesser sentence.
In response to the report, the Israeli army said stone throwing was a serious criminal offence that could result in serious injury or damage to property.
"It is unfortunate that Btselem decided to deal with the subject in an unbalanced manner, while ignoring the exploitation of minors by terror organisations in a manner that violates international law and infringes upon their rights," it said in a statement.
It dismissed Btselem's concerns about guilty pleas as "perhaps besides the point", saying plea bargains were not unique to military justice and were "the sole and final decision" of the defendant and his legal counsel.
It also noted the creation two years ago of the Special Court for Minors in the West Bank where "military judges have displayed great sensitivity to issues of minors' rights".
"At times, minors have been released from detention by judges because their rights have been infringed," it said.
The Israeli army offered to investigate any allegation of improper conduct during the detention of minors.
Israeli army kills man in Nablus, hits Gaza targets
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- Written by BBC News BBC News
- Published: 13 July 2011 13 July 2011
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[PHOTO: Friends and relatives of Ibrahim Sarhan at the morgue in Rafidiya Hospital, Nablus, 13 July Relatives mourned the death of Ibrahim Sarhan at the Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus]
A Palestinian man has been killed in an Israeli military raid on a West Bank refugee camp.
The Israeli military said troops fired at a man who tried to evade arrest in the el-Fara camp north of Nablus.
But a witness said residents had thrown stones at the troops, who responded with live fire, killing 21-year-old university student Ibrahim Sarhan.
In Gaza, Israeli aircraft struck two suspected weapons factories overnight, injuring a Palestinian woman.
The air strikes also damaged the main water pipe in an eastern neighbourhood of Gaza City, cutting water to a large part of the city, said Gaza's emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya.
Israel's military said the air strikes came in retaliation for rockets fired from Gaza into Israel on Tuesday.
Another rocket hit southern Israel on Wednesday morning, Israel's military said, but no-one was hurt in the attacks.
'Bled to death'
Omar Sarhan said his son was shot after attending morning prayers in a local mosque, and bled to death because no ambulance was allowed to attend to him.
Map
The 21-year-old had been shot twice, once in each thigh, and was dead by the time he reached hospital, Palestinian medics said.
Israel's military said the dawn raid was part of "routine activity" at the refugee camp.
"One of the Palestinians tried to flee arrest, at which point the soldiers began an arrest procedure, eventually firing at his lower body," a spokeswoman told the AFP news agency.
Seven Palestinians were arrested during the raid, the spokeswoman said, adding that an explosive device was hurled at Israeli troops during the operation. No soldiers were injured.
The Israeli army often carries out raids in Palestinian town and cities, some of which are coordinated with Palestinian police, says the BBC's Jon Donnison from Ramallah.
The West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967.