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News, Views, & Analysis Governments, Lobbies, & the
Corporate Media Don't Want You To Know
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Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday referring to the Arab-Israeli conflict and other "problems" in the Middle East: "Their consequences no longer stay fixed in that area."
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THE APARTHEID WALL
One year since the International Court of Justice Ruling
MER - MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 9 July: On 9 July last year the International Court of Justice issued its opinion on the sui generis "Wall" Israel is constructing in the West Bank. As usual, the corrupt and co-opted 'Palestinian Authority' has been totally unable and unwilling to capitalize on this unprecedented international legal ruling. Of course that is a big part of the price it has to pay for being armed and financed and kept in power by the U.S. and Israel. As usual as well, the amazingly weak and cowered Arab States, so badly misorganized into a pathetically impotent Arab League, have been unable and unwilling to take the actions that could have resulted from the ICJ ruling. Of course that is a big part of the price the 'Arab world' has to pay for being reduced to 'Client Regimes' and thuggish authorities.
Meanwhile the Israelis have continued racing ahead not only with 'The Wall' but also with their grand design to further build and consolidate the great majority of settlements they plan to keep and expand, while feinting 'withdrawal' from the small few they have always planned to give up as far too costly, isolated, and 'dispensable'.
It is all a receipe for much further conflict, bloodshed, and turmoil in the years ahead; just as it is this Jews Vs Arabs conflict in the 'Holy Land' which in the past has so poisoned the region and indeed now the world.
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One year on: Governments have obligations to hold Israel to account
By Jeff Handmaker, Peter Malcontent and Gentian Zyberi
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The Wall separates Palestinians from their
agricultural lands. (Maureen Clare Murphy) |
One year ago on 9 July 2004, at the request of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an Advisory Opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s construction of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
What the Advisory Opinion said
The Advisory Opinion was important in a number of fundamental respects. While the Opinion itself is not binding, it represents the most authoritative statement to date of the content and applicability of international law concerning Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. In fact, the Court’s Opinion did not create any new obligations, it simply confirmed existing ones.
In summary, the Court concluded that the West Bank and Gaza, including East Jerusalem, are occupied territories under international law, and Israel is an occupying power with consequent legal obligations. Furthermore, Israeli settlements breach international law. Finally, Israel’s occupation practices violate both international human rights and humanitarian law obligations.
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The Israeli settlement Pisgat Zeev seen from the
Palestinian village Hizma. (Maureen Clare Murphy) |
In short, the Court made clear that the construction of the Wall and the settlements were illegal. Israel should not only immediately stop with its construction, but also begin dismantling them and to pay reparations to those who had lost their property as the result of the Wall’s construction.
The Court furthermore declared that Israel stop its violations of international law, which includes human rights and humanitarian law violations against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.
Consequences for The Netherlands?
But, the Court did not stop at Israel’s obligations. An overwhelming majority of the Court concluded that all states were obliged not to recognize the illegal situation Israel has created and to refrain from any financial support to Israel in maintaining the illegally constructed wall.
The Court also pointed out that signatories to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (including The Netherlands) had “additional obligations to ensure Israel’s compliance” with the Conventions. Finally, the Court declared that United Nations General Assembly and Security Council ought to “consider further actions” against Israel to bring an end to the “illegal situation”.
What has been the response so far?
Throughout the Advisory Opinion, references were made to breaches of international instruments that organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have been raising for years. These all point to Israel’s persistent violations of international law, which these same human rights organisations have since reaffirmed. The reaction of the international community has been more muted.
While Israel’s violations have continued to be raised, mainly in the United Nations, powerful governments have only issued private protests, if at all. There has been an obvious reluctance to openly and strongly condemn Israel’s violations of international law.
Secondly, there have been several fact-finding missions undertaken by, amongst others, Professor John Dugard of Leiden University. Dugard has been designated by the UN as Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories; each of his reports, the last one issued in March 2005, have amounted to strong indictments of Israel’s failure to respect or even acknowledge its international law obligations, let alone cease its violations.
However, each of these steps has fallen short of insisting that there will be consequences if Israel continues to defy the will of the international community. This is despite a stern warning from Dugard that:
“Israel's defiance of international law poses a threat not only to the international legal order but to the international order itself. This is no time for appeasement on the part of the international community.”
What remains to be done?
Much remains to be done before States can be said to be in compliance with international law: this includes the Netherlands government. States must emphasise in all their contacts with Israel of the imperative need of compliance by Israel with international law, which includes compliance with the advisory opinion. States must also hold Israel to account by taking measures in the event of further non-compliance.
In addition to what has been done so far, the Dutch government, both on its own and with the European Union and United Nations (especially the Security Council), could persistently condemn Israel’s violations of international law and threaten to take further action against Israel if these violations continue. These could be backed up by direct, public protests of individual states and privately and publicly denouncing Israel’s continued violations of international law.
Ultimately, if Israel continues to defy the international community, then there are several concrete steps available, ranging from expulsion of Israeli diplomats and halting existing negotiations (for example halting arms sales to Israel from the European Union) to stopping technical assistance so long as Israel continues to violate international law by building settlements and constructing the Wall. A further measure could include the EU suspending its Association Agreement with Israel on the grounds that Israel has persistently violated the human rights clause to the Agreement.
Respect for human rights as a pre-requisite to peace
“But isn’t peace more important than human rights”, some have asked?
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the Advisory Opinion is that respect for human rights and humanitarian law does not depend upon a peace settlement. The Security Council has repeatedly made clear that violations of human rights are themselves “threats to international peace and security”. Indeed, the Court made it very clear that a negotiated solution should be achieved “on the basis of international law” and that these obligations to ensure respect for international law bind not only Israel, but all States.
One year after the highest judicial authority in the world made clear that respect for international human rights and humanitarian law is of utmost priority, it is time for concrete follow-up.
Just as in apartheid South Africa, the Israeli government’s violent policy of repression presents a point of no return for the international community. For the sake of both Israelis and Palestinians, the government of The Netherlands and the rest of the international community must take concrete action and live up to their international obligations. The Electronic Intifada, 8 July 2005
* Jeff Handmaker and Gentian Zyberi are both international legal scholars and Ph.D. candidates and Dr. Peter Malcontent is lecturer in international relations, all at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), Utrecht University.
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The most honest, most comprehensive, and most mobilizing news and
analysis on the Middle East always comes from MER. It is indispensable!"
Robert Silverman - Salamanca, Spain
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July 2005
It's The Damn Policies Stupid!
(July 20, 2005)
Long-time MER readers will not find all this a total surprise. We've been 'preaching' for some time that what is happening today can in fact be traced back to what has happened ever since the end of World War I in the Middle East, to Western policies ever since the carve-up of the old Ottoman Empire. It was then, at the so-called 'Paris Peace Conference', that the Turkish Muslim Empire of old was ended by force of arms and the Arab peoples tricked once again by those who professed 'self-determination' (the 'freedom' slogan of that era) but were in fact determined to deny the Arabs their independence and any semblance of democracy.
American Terror and the Coming War With Iran
(July 19, 2005)
"In their ignorance and arrogance, the Bushists will almost certainly strike at Iran -- despite the fact that even Iranian dissidents support the effort to make their nation a nuclear power and would join the mullahs in retaliation. The result will be a
conflict far surpassing the horror and magnitude of the Iraq disaster."
George Bush's Twisted and Perverted World
(July 18, 2005)
So much for real democracy. Even in the supposed 'bastion of freedom', the United States of America, we are all now closer than ever to living in what has to be considered a complicated modern day police-states using pre-fascist techniques. That is what omni-present 'survelliance', unchecked Gulags, 'Patriot Acts', Supreme Court 'stop the vote counting' decisions, torture techniques, legalized 'censorship', CIA covert and black ops, and continual press manipulation are really all about.
A BIG WARNING - Too Little Too Late Too Bad
(July 18, 2005)
Unfortunately, tragically, those who oppose what the Israelis are doing are not only very weak, they are badly organized and led -- miserably and probably fatally in fact. This 'Warning' Statement 'to raise the alarm' published over the weekend by three Israelis is an example -- correct in the warnings and conclusions, badly written, even more badly presented, and without any serious strategy other than a kind of pathetic assertion to sign another petition that has no chance of any kind of having any impact...only further misleading people as to what is really involved and what the situation really requires.
(July 18, 2005)
(July 18, 2005)
Greg Szymanski Articles - 9/11 Conspiracy
(July 18, 2005)
Witchhunt against Ward Churchill
(July 17, 2005)
ISRAEL and SHARON'S LATEST AND GREATEST DECEPTION
(July 16, 2005)
There are very few print magazines that deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a serious and sophisticated way. One of these is a bi-monthly English magazine called Challenge; and this editorial from the current issue is of particular interest and importance at this particular time. All the more so with the Israelis so outrageously trying to cajole and extort still further billions from the U.S. -- a financial swindle on top of what really rises to the level of a major historical and political scam. It is indeed always challenging to really understand the actual, rather than the public relations, policies of Israel; and of the U.S. as well. More and more in fact.
Arafat's 'Stealth Assassination' Confirmed
(July 13, 2005)
Last November, long before any other credible expert news and analysis media, and even as the Israeli/U.S.-chosen Palestinian leaders were strenuously denying it, MER repeatedly published articles detailing the "STEALTH ASSASSINATION" of Yasser Arafat.
Washington Prepares More Attacks in the name of the 'New World Order'
(July 12, 2005)
Nothing like more 'terrorism', more appeals to no-nothing patriotism, and more 'defending the homeland' jingoism to rally the people around the flag, no matter what the long-term costs, no matter how much social polarization and opposition... Washington's current political/military and domestic/international time-table goes something like this: Get one or two right-wing appointees within a few months onto the Supreme Court, get the Israelis out of little imprisoned Gaza giving the false impression of 'progress' in the 'Middle East Peace Process', claim to be fast-track training Iraqi regime troops so the Iraqis can be blamed themselves for not 'stabilizing' their country and/or for the escalating civil war; and then be ready to strike one way or another whenever the timing and excuses are suitable against the remaining 'evils'... Iran, North Korea, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas.
Washington Firestorm over Rove, Court - Calculating Next 'New World Order' Strikes
(July 12, 2005)
"...and then be ready to strike one way or another, whenever the timing and excuses are suitable, against the remaining 'evils'... Iran, North Korea, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas."
Recent MER Articles
(July 09, 2005)
Has Karl Rove Finally Screwed Himself?
(July 11, 2005)
If you read MER and BlogWashington.com you have known for some time that the Karl Rove/White House scandal would soon be exploding in Washington with potentially devastating political results. It's a modern-day Watergate-like cover-up saga so far missing a modern-day Deep Throat. But in the past few days this major story is beginning to emerge from journalistic hesitation and cowardice on the part of what we all now call the 'mainstream' and 'corporate' media. It was more than a week ago on 2 July that the following appeared at BlogWashington.com:
POPE FANS FLAMES OF CHRISTIAN - MUSLIM WAR
(July 10, 2005)
Add to these acts and statements of the Pope of Rome, certainly the most visible and powerful symbol of Christianity, the ever-increasing Evangelical 'Born Again' nature of American society these days on top of George W. Bush's public assertion of 'Crusade' both in word and deed, and you have a formula for escalating religious-inspired warfare for a long time to come. Things are now escalating further out of control into a real 'Clash of Civilizations'; though this certainly did not have to be.
The Apartheid Wall - A Year After the Historic ICJ ruling
(July 9, 2005)
Meanwhile the Israelis have continued racing ahead not only with 'The Wall' but also with their grand design to further build and consolidate the great majority of settlements they plan to keep and expand, while feinting 'withdrawal' from the small few they have always planned to give up as far too costly, isolated, and 'dispensable'.
It is all a receipe for much further conflict, bloodshed, and turmoil in the years ahead; just as it is this Jews Vs Arabs conflict in the 'Holy Land' which in the past has so poisoned the region and indeed now the world.
Britain had been warned says Robert Fisk
(July 8, 2005)
"If you bomb our cities," Osama bin Laden said in one of his recent video tapes, "we will bomb yours."
The Most Cowardly War in History
(July 8, 2005)
"The assault on Iraq is an assault on all of us: on our dignity, our intelligence, and our future."
Egypt - "It's Like 1952"
(July 7, 2005)
"Egyptian society is boiling. We have seen this only one or two times in the past 80 years,"
Receiving MER - Free, Easy, Necessary
(July 7, 2005)
"Finally, I am beginning to understand, as I see so many parallels right here. I look forward to more valuable insights coming from your publication."
White House Threatened?
(July 6, 2005)
Is it really conceivable that in 2005 a legal investigation about who in government leaked the name of a secret CIA operative to the media could unravel the Bush Administration? There are so many differences from what happened to President Nixon in his second term. But even so legal proceedings have a kind of insolation from normal politics, none other than top Bush Adviser Karl Rove is being fingered as the man who did it, and supoenas are said to have now been issued for White House and Air Force One records involving Rove.
Front Nixon to Bush - 'Where Is The Press Now?' Asks Actor Robert Redford
(July 5, 2005)
He was the big star in the ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN Movie that made the Watergate scandal and 'Deep Throat' famous. Now he is saying quite loudly that President Bush is like President Nixon but that the press is not doing its crucial investigative job as it should. Redford chose American Independence Day, the 4th of July, to make his comments. And it was The Sunday Times two Sunday's ago now that published their tale of "Britain's Deep Throat":
Judith Miller and Karl Rove
(July 4, 2005)
"Miller...has a formidable track record of egregious violations of journalistic standards and best practices, and a habit of sending the public off on what turn out to be wild goose chases. Relying on a small circle of highly interested parties (often anonymous "sources"), she became the leading journalistic purveyor of the fallacy that Saddam Hussein had WMD and that he was tied to Al-Qaeda."
Iraq Quagmire Indeed! 42% support Impeaching Bush
(July 3, 2005)
"...more than two-in-five (42%) voters say that, if it is found that President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should hold him accountable through impeachment. While half (50%) of respondents do not hold this view, supporters of impeachment outweigh opponents in some parts of the country."
Karl Rove Fireworks Looming
(July 2, 2005)
It's been rumored for some time; but now that the long investigation is going to definitely and legally 'out' Karl Rove as 'the source' -- in this case according to federal statute an illegal act knowingly revealing the identity of an undercover CIA agent -- what is fast approaching is some fierce political and legal fireworks immediately after the 4th of July fireworks.
Recent MER Articles
(July 1, 2005)
From Germany To America
(July 1, 2005)
"What no one seemed to notice...was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider.... What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if he people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security."
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