But...I thought that was the subtext of every thread in the Arabic forum!

Carter on Hamas after meeting the exiled Hamas head twice:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351953,00.html April 21, 2008 "The problem is not that I met with Hamas in Syria," Carter said Monday. "The problem is that Israel and the United States refuse to meet with someone who must be involved."

Originally written by Jacek Krankowski on January 10, 2008 9:10 PM My link was: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001442.html, .... "The survey cost about $50,000 and was paid for by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for International Studies."

Why the CDC and the Pentagon buried the first scientific tally of Iraq's civilian death toll.

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/11/witness-after-math.html

Israeli horrors are getting so much and so many that it is getting almost absurd to enumerate them.

Some say we should, since there are so many people who don't know about them, I say that the blind is the guy who doesn't want to see.

Anyhow, today a group of EU Ambassadors were not allowed by Israeli authorities to enter Gaza. Let's wait and see their reactions.

AlJazeera broadcated today an interview of an ex-prisoner in the Israeli jails. His witness gave us an idea also about the "secret Israeli jails". Example: a resistant during the Jenine massacre has been imprisoned and is still until today in a completely isolated cell. His wife too, his two sons too, his daughter too...

Alcatraz and Guantanamo seem a children game compared to what we heard today.

Salaam,

Ouadoud

Salaam Ouadoud,

Please continue to report on this.  It is important that Arab voices be heard.

www.unitedagainsttorture.org

Wednesday 12 November 2008

The United Against Torture Coalition (UAT) calls upon the Israeli government, military and legal authorities to immediately release Salwa Salah (aged 17) and Sara Siureh (aged 16)

The United Against Torture Coalition (UAT) is deeply concerned about the decision of the Military Judge at Ofer Military Court to reject the appeal, brought by Addameer - Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and Nadi al Asir, Palestinian Prisoners Club, to reduce the time of imprisonment mandated by the administrative detention order of two Palestinian girls: Salwa Salah and Sara Siureh. Having spent in excess of five months in Israeli prisons without charge or trial, Salwa and Sara are due to remain in administrative detention until their current detention order expires on January 3, 2009.

The arrest of Salwa and Sara marks the first time that girls of the age of 16 have been placed in administrative detention. Arrested from their family homes in Bethlehem and initially detained under respective four month orders (Sara’s detention time was reduced after an appeal), their detention was further extended on 5 October 2008 on the basis that the girls remain “dangerous,” despite the fact that the military prosecutor has not leveled any charges against either girl.

Although administrative detention is permitted under international law in times of emergency, its parameters are strictly limited due to potential misuse by detaining individuals indefinitely without trial, amounting to a substitute for criminal prosecution in instances of insufficient evidence to obtain a prosecution. The 2008 UAT Annual Report detailed this particular abuse of administrative detention by the Israeli military authorities. Military Order 1226, in particular, empowers Israeli military commanders to detain Palestinians, including children, without charge or trial, for up to six months if they have “reasonable grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the detention.” No definition of “security of the area or public security” is given in the Order and the initial six-month period can be extended by additional six-month periods indefinitely, amounting to indefinite arbitrary detention. In the case of Salwa and Sara, this provision means that there is no guarantee that they shall be released when their current detention orders expire in January.

The case of Salwa and Sara contravenes multiple human rights standards from the point of arrest to detention including central tenets of the international standards of juvenile justice, e.g. that if a juvenile is detained s/he should be detained in an appropriate facility and that recourse to deprivation of liberty should only be the last resort. 

Sara and Salwa, are being detained at Addamoun Prison inside Israel. Although, the girls are 16 and 17 years old respectively, they are both being detained in an adult facility. The requirement to separate minors and adults is based on the simple concern that minors are potentially vulnerable to the negative influences of some adult detainees and that an account should always be taken of the needs particular to their stage of development. As 16 is the age of majority under Israeli military law for youth in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (in contrast to 18 being the age of majority in Israel) Salwa and Sara are being detained as adults.

The call to limit a State’s capacity to deprive minors of their liberty, including requiring that it be used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, has been consistently repeated  in numerous human rights instruments, including Article 37 (b) of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, Article 1 of the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty (Havana Rules) 1990, Article 13.1 of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice  (Beijing Rules) 1985. It was once again reiterated in Resolution 4 of the Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention and the Treatment of Offenders, which specified that rules relating to juvenile justice, inter alia, should reflect the principle that pre-trial detention should be used only as a last resort.

The prolonged administrative detention of Salwa and Sara, and the failure to inform them of any charges against them, deprives them their right to effective due process. Their prolonged detention will have an untold impact upon their emotional, physical and social well-being. Salwa’s detention means that she will miss the first few months of her final year of high school and may have to repeat the year upon her release.

The UAT coalition is deeply concerned about the continued violations of the human rights of both Salwa and Sara, We reiterate the statement made in the 2008 UAT annual report, that “[a]ll administrative detention orders should strictly conform to international legal standards and all children detained in administrative detention should be promptly charged with a recognisable offence or be immediately released.” It is imperative that Salwa and Sara be informed of the charges leveled against them and afforded their right to a fair trial or be released immediately.

 “United against Torture” Coalition:

Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel

Al-Haq – Law in the Service of Mankind

Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights

Al-Quds University Human Rights Clinic

Defence for Children International–Palestine Section (DCI/PS)

Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP)

Hurriyat – Center for Defense of Liberties & Civil Rights

Italian Consortium of Solidarity (ICS)

Nadi Al Asir (Palestinian Prisoners Club)

Nafha Society for Defence of Prisoners and Human Rights

Mandela Institute for Human Rights and Political Prisoners

Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI)

Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (TRC)

Addameer - Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association*

* (Addameer is not member of UAT Coalition)

Thanks Chani for your concern. There are too many names to list. Two days ago the below press release was issued in response to the exacerbating humanitarian conditions of the Gazans in particular. I wanted to post it here on the same day but got no chance due to prolonged power failure.

Best,

Abdallah

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Website link

Reference: 98/2008

Date: 16 November 2008

Press Release

IOF Steps up Collective Punishment as Humanitarian Conditions Exacerbate in Gaza; Al Mezan Calls for Urgent International Intervention

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continues sealing off the Gaza Strip for the 11^th day in a row, in escalation of the collective punishment of Gaza's population imposed since 2000. The IOF resumed its military attacks and killed four Palestinians today morning in an airstrike in east Gaza.

The humanitarian conditions quickly exacerbate in the Gaza Strip as the Israel's tight siege has impacted all aspects of the life of the Palestinians and violated their human rights, which are protected by the international law of human rights and the rules of the IHL.

Gaza Power Plant has suspended its work for the 3^rd day in a row due to lack of fuel necessary to run it. Hospitals and clinics are greatly affected. Not only do they suffer from suspension of surgery sections and ICUs, but also from the damage of a number of vaccines and serums that are preserved in fridges. Moreover, tens of thousands of the Palestinians suffer from a severe shortage of drinking water, especially those who live in high buildings and have no access to water even when municipalities manage to pump water to their area. Municipalities cannot run their water pumps for sufficient periods of time due to power failure.

Power failure also disturbed sewage treatment plants and internal transportation due to the lack of fuel. Gas stations are now empty after the IOF stopped pumping fuel supplies for the 11^th day in a row.

Power failure and the lack of fuel negatively impact on the education sector especially that the crisis is exacerbating with the start of school mid-term exams. Students and teachers also have difficulties when they go to their schools and universities.

The Gaza siege is continuously tightened as the IOF resumed military attacks and killings of Palestinians in Gaza. Today morning, Sunday, 16 November 2008, the IOF killed four Palestinians in an airstrike in east Gaza city. They were identified as Talal al-Amoudi, 23, Muhammad Hassouna, 22, Ahmad el-Hilo, 22, and Basil al-'Uff, 21.

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights is highly concerned with the IOF's determination on imposing collective punishment on the Gaza Strip in spite of the appeals and frequent condemnations by the United Nations and other international and local human rights and humanitarian organizations.

The Center warns the international community about the outcome of ignoring the exacerbating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and about the international community's failure to fulfill its legal and ethical responsibilities towards civilians in the Strip. This silence, particularly in light of the IOF's contempt for EU consuls and representatives last Thursday, serves only to encourage Israel to proceed with its violations.

Therefore, Al Mezan Center asserts that the international community and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention in particular must assume their legal and ethical responsibilities to take immediate actions to end the Israeli gross violations and provide international protection for civilians. The Center also believes that the international community's action is significant in view of the roaming threats of a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip if the IOF continues imposing its tight siege on it.

End

P.s. For more info on the 'in light of the IOF's contempt for EU consuls and representatives last Thursday' of the previous press release, I insert the below release, which was issued on 13/11/2008.

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Website link