Argentina has recognized an independent Palestinian State within the pre-1967 borders, the government announced 6 December. Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said, “the time has come to recognize Palestine as a free and independent state” in a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas he read out to the press.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman noted that “this regrettable decision will not help at all to change the situation between Israel and the Palestinians.” A statement released later said: “Recognition of a Palestinian state is a violation of the interim agreement signed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 1995, which established that the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will be discussed and solved through negotiations.”
US polititicians have called the decision “regrettable” and “severely misguided”. The move comes as part of a Palestinian strategy to gain UN support for an independent State. Peace talks between Israel and Palestine have bogged down amid Israel’s refusal to stop building settlements in the territories it occupied in the 1967 war.
The decision follows an similar announcement by Brazil. Uruguay and Paraguay are expected to follow suit in the new year.
Links to other sites: ABC News, Jerusalem Post
Israeli mine survivor’s uncomplicated prose begs for clearer political thinking
Daniel Yuval, age 11, addresses Geneva followup meeting to Cartagena Summit on implementing the Mine Ban Treaty
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Daniel Yuval is 11, an Israeli sixth grader who is in Geneva to make one thing perfectly clear to the world: it should get rid of its landmines and not another single child should be hurt by one. He appears to be getting the message across, both at home in Israel and further afield.
Daniel was enjoying the thrill of his first snow 6 February 2010, playing on a hillside in the Golan Heights with his father, older sister and a younger brothers, when he stepped on a landmine. He lost a leg to it, but gained a power for speaking out against landmines, which is literally moving mountains where adults have been able to achieve far less.
A bill was submitted 10 May 2010 to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, by 73 members, to establish a national mine action authority to manage the clearance of non-operational minefields. The bill followed Daniel’s address to the Knesset, asking them to take action.
Daniel Yuval during a break in Geneva, 29 November 2010
Israel is one of the 20 percent of countries that have not signed the Mine Ban Treaty. The 1997 treaty was implemented in 1999 and 156 States are signatories. Its web pages note: “The Mine Ban Treaty prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines. It is the most comprehensive international instrument for eradicating landmines and deals with everything from mine use, production and trade, to victim assistance, mine clearance and stockpile destruction.”
Israel and landmine groups estimate it has 260,000 mines.
Some 20 medical operations and 10 months later, with a prosthesis in place, Daniel has caught up on his schoolwork and is getting good grades, his father says. And he’s able to run faster than some of the kids in his class, Daniel says enthusiastically.
Daniel was in Geneva 29-30 November, brought by Roots of Peace. He gave a powerful speech (speech text in full) as part of the first followup meeting to the Cartagena Summit that took place in Colombia in November 2009. His audience included Micheline Calmy-Rey, Switzerland’s foreign minister, and Jakob Kellenberger, head of the ICRC (International Red Cross).
Daniel and Jerry White, founder of Survivor Corps, who also lost a leg on the Golan Heights when he was 20, will receive the 2010 Roots of Peace Global Citizens Award. Roots of Peace seeks to make sacred sites mine-free and safe for pilgrims and other visitors.
The pair spoke to GenevaLunch about Daniel’s experience and its impact on the current state of the Mine Ban Treaty. Daniel has been learning English for six months and hopes to perfect it so he can address the United Nations.
Israelis are closely watching the case of a woman whose partner has not been officially recognized as the father of their child because of the country’s “bastard clause”, reports the Jerusalem Post: “The Population Registry Law of 1965 states that no man can be listed as the father of a child unless he was married to the child’s mother or, in the case of unmarried parents, if the mother had not been married to another man 300 days prior to the child’s birth. The law stems from the Jewish religious law forbidding a woman to remarry for 90 days after a husband’s death or a divorce. The law is meant to prevent uncertainty over the father’s identity and to lift the suspicion of mamzer (bastard) status from any child subsequently conceived.”
The couple, whose child was born prematurely, are petitioning the Tel Aviv family court to allow the biological father’s name to be listed on the certificate, which remains blank for the name of the father.
The woman separated from her husband in January, filed for divorce in June, received divorce papers in September, became pregnant in October and her daughter was born in week 36 of the pregnancy.
The law was passed in 1965 and affects non-Jewish Israelis as well as those who subscribe to Jewish religious law. The father’s lack of legal recognition means that he cannot take part officially in raising the child, nor can he take the child abroad. The couple live together, giving them common law status, so the mother cannot receive single mother benefits.
Beware those who film themselves speeding and post it on Facebook: police in Israel have charged a man and two friends who were passengers with speeding and reckless driving after he drove 260kph in a 90kph zone, on the Tel-Aviv-Haifa coastal road, with his friends commenting and pushing him to go faster. One friend offered the video to Channel 2, which aired it and asked the police to comment, reports CNN. According to the Jerusalem Post, one of the friends afterwards told the television station that it was a gag and the trio’s car was actually going much slower, but police and the court were apparently not convinced. It’s the first time anyone has been arrested in Israel for a Facebook post, according to the Israeli newspaper.
Channel 2′s report, showing the speeders being questioned by the station about their antics, is still available on Facebook.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The report by a panel that investigated the Israeli raid on a flotilla of boats aiming to land in Gaza in May has been endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The raid by Israeli armed forces resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish activists, one of them also a US citizen. The report says that six of the dead activists were summarily executed by Israeli marines. The panel found that Israel violated international law by using excessive force.
A resolution backing the findings was adopted 30-1 with 15 abstentions 29 September by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, which ordered the investigation. The resolution leaves the door open to legal action.
The USA was the sole country to oppose the motion, charging that the investigation was not balanced. Israel declined to cooperate with the investigation. Israel says it will cooperate with a separate panel established by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to investigate the May incidents.
Links to other sites: AFP, Haaretz, Washington Post
US Secretary of State hosts Israeli, Gaza leaders for relaunch of peace talks
Hillary Clinton is pushing a solution to the West Bank to the top of the US foreign policy agenda when she hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday and Thursday in Washington. The New York Times reports that while an agreement on two states, with Israel giving up significant control to Palestinians is a long way off, “there are breakthroughs”. According to the Jerusalem Post, “Netanyahu told Likud activists at a pre-Rosh Hashana toast in Tel Aviv that he would be cautious during the talks and insist on security guarantees, so an Israeli withdrawal would not be met by the firing of hundreds of rockets, as was the case when Israel left the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.” The newspaper points out that he did not mention a 26 September moratorium on the settlement housing start that badly ruffled American diplomatic feathers several months ago.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, Jerusalem Post, NPR, New York Times
Easyjet at Cointrin airport, Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Easy Jet is hoping to reproduce its success with London-Tel Aviv flights when it begins operating Geneva-Tel Aviv Monday 30 August, with the first low-cost flights between the two countries. The company began its UK-Israel flights in January and has since flown 100,000 passengers. In October it will increase flights from six to seven days a week between London and Tel Aviv.
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, have backed Israel’s position following the skirmish on 3 August that left a high-ranking Israeli officer, two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist dead.
An Israeli detail was trimming a tree on the Israeli side of the blue line, the border, when Lebanese army sharpshooters shot at an Israeli military base nearby, killing one officer and wounding another. Israeli forces responded, killing two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist. The Lebanese termed the tree-cutting a “provocation”, but the operation had been cleared with UNIFIL and is not the first time it was undertaken. The UN clearly stated that the tree in question is on Israeli territory, and the Lebanese Information Minister Tarek Mitri said Lebanon respected the border but contests parts of it.
Links to other sites: AP, Jerusalem Post, UNIFIL site, Wall Street Journal
Ireland is expelling an Israeli diplomat over the near-certain manufacture of eight fake Irish passports by an agency of the Israeli government, says Foreign Minister Micheal Martin, in a veiled reference to Massud, the Israeli secret service. The passports were used by agents who carried out the murder of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in 2009. Martin noted that the Irish government had come to “the inescapable conclusion that an Israeli government agency was responsible for the misuse and, most likely, the manufacture of the forged Irish passports associated with the murder of Mr Mabhouh” following an investigation. It worked closely with the UK and Australia during the investigation. They, too, have expelled Israeli diplomats over the affair.
Links to other sites: BBC, Irish Times
European Union considers the option of accompanying aid ships
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has refused calls from the international community for an outside investigation into an Israeli raid last week of a flotilla of aid ships heading for Gaza. France Sunday said that the European Union would be willing to check the cargo of aid ships if Israel agrees, in order to ease the blockade.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, France 24, Guardian, Today’s Zaman
Hundreds of activists who were part of the six-boat flotilla raided and captured by Israel at the end of May are now being deported. They include 124 people from 12 Muslim nations who were bused to Jordan, which will help repatriate them, and 315 from Turkey, flown home Wednesday 2 June on Turkish planes. Israel ordered the families of its diplomats in Turkey to leave the country, while the Turkish government reinforced security around Israeli buildings. Meanwhile, Israel’s defense department continues to release film footage as part of its efforts to show that its soldiers were provoked, including captured footage its says shows activists throwing stun grenades and boxes of plates.
Links to other sites: Huerriyet Daily News, Jerusalem Post, New York Times
Video from the Israel defense ministry
©2010 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
The United Nations Security Council early Tuesday 1 June formally condemned the Israeli commando raid on a flotilla of six ships carrying aid supplies to Gaza, demanding a full and open investigation into the incident. The Security Council, which met for 10 hours in an emergency session that ended in the early morning hours, also insisted that Israel provide consular access to families of passengers, and that it return the ships immediately.
Links to other sites: CNN, Guardian, NPR, Ria Novosti
The United Nations reacted quickly to condemn Israel for its attack on a humanitarian aid boat carrying activists, although few countries went as far as Turkey in their statements. The six ships attacked were carrying Turkish flags. Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, said that “the distance between terrorists and state has been blurred.” The US representative, Alejandro Wolff, said the US was “deeply disturbed” by the attack, but the US and its ally Israel were unable to come up with a joint statement in the hours following the attack. The incident strains relations that have suffered in recent months following Israel’s poorly timed announcement that new housing would go up in the West Bank, during a peace mission by US Vice-president Joe Biden.
“At the very least, Israel has become more isolated than at any time in recent history, an isolation that may undermine global efforts to bring its arch-foe, Iran, to heel over its nuclear ambitions,” writes The Globe and Mail, Canada.
More than 10,000 protesters gathered in front of the Israeli Embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday night.
Links to other sites: Globe & Mail, Huriyet Daily News, Turkey, New York Times, Times of India,
International condemnation but Israel says, a bit late, it was ambushed
Update 15:40, video International condemnation has been swift, following an attack by Israeli commandoes on a convoy of six humanitarian aid boat taking supplies to Gaza, despite an Israeli sea blockade. Reports vary that anywhere from 10-19 activists were killed, with four Israeli soldiers injured.
In the wake of foreign outrage, Israel has scrambled to show what happened, saying the ship carried “peace activists” who had terrorist ties and that the attack took place after warnings were issued – and that the peace activists attacked its forces with weapons. So far, the Israeli version of events has done little to soften the criticism of other governments, although there is widespread recognition that Israel did not expect a confrontation, given its handling of previous, similar ships.
The attack has increased tensions with Turkey, whose flag the ships were carrying.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, BBC, CBS, Jerusalem Post, Reuters
Video, Reuters
Israel carried out eight air strikes in different areas of the Gaza Strip early Friday, after dropping leaflets Thursday to warn residents of possible attacks. There were no initial reports of injuries, and the reasons reported for the strikes varied from retaliation for the death of two Israeli soldiers in a military operation in Khan Younis, one of the areas hit Friday, to a response to what CNN calls “makeshift” rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. The Jerusalem Post says the attacks on four areas were in retaliation for a rocket fired from Gaza Thursday evening.
Links to other sites: CNN, Jerusalem Post, New York Times
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left an unusually long meeting with US President Barack Obama smiling and talking about a “golden way” forward that had been discussed, but equally unusually there has been no official comment about the talks involved or agreements reached. Unofficially and off the record, says NPR in Washington, US officials are saying no agreement was reached and tensions remain high. The two met in what is widely being described as the worst crisis in relations between the two countries in decades, following Israel’s announcement that it would build new homes in East Jerusalem, with the news made public during a visit by US Vice-president Joe Biden to the region to restart Middle East peace talks.
Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, in Washington for meetings, is seeing US following sharp criticism from the US and increased tensions over Israel’s decision to build new settlements in East Jerusalem, but he came out forcefully on Israel’s right to build on land that is part of disputed territory taken during the 1967 Middle East War. “”The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 year ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today. Jerusalem is not a settlement. It’s our capital,” Netanyahu said at a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an American pro-Israel lobby group.
He met Monday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice-president Joe Biden and he meets Tuesday with President Barack Obama.
Links to other sites: BBC, Jerusalem Post, New York Times, Xinhua
The diplomatic Middle East Quartet, which met in Moscow Friday 19 March, has issued a strongly worded reaction to Israel’s recent announcement it intends to build 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem. The group of four (the UN, US, Russia and the EU) are calling for Israel to remove settlement homes within 24 months. and for Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate an agreement in the same time period that provides for an independent Palestinian state living next to Israel in peace. “The quartet condemns the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem, “UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon said unequivocally.
The New York Times had earlier reported that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared anxious to lower the temperature after Israel came in for heavy criticism over the housing. “We all condemned the announcement, and we all are expecting both parties to move toward the proximity talks and to help create an atmosphere in which those talks can be constructive,” Clinton said before the Quartet’s statement.
Links to other sites: Guardian, UK, Jerusalem Post, Moscow Times, New York Times
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland has added its voice to a growing number of nations asking Israel to end its plans to build 1,600 new homes in the Occupied West Bank. The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in a statement Thursday morning 11 March called the decision a clear violation of international law.
“The FDFA is following with concern the events taking place in East Jerusalem, and deplores the go-ahead given by the Government of Israel to the building of 1,600 new dwellings in the settlement of Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It asks the Government of Israel not to proceed with the building project. East Jerusalem is an integral part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“Switzerland considers the building of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to be a violation of international humanitarian law, which forbids an occupying power to transfer any part of its civilian population to an occupied territory. The Israeli settlements are a clear violation of international law.”
Arab League Secretary-general Amr Moussa announced after an emergency meeting Wednesday 10 March that Palestine is withdrawing from indirect talks with Israel. Moussa reportedly had been phoned by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who said that given Israel’s announcement that it will build 1,600 new settler homes, his government cannot participate in talks. Al Jazeera quotes Moussa as saying “The Palestinian president decided he will not enter into those negotiations now . . . the Palestinian side is not ready to negotiate under the present circumstances.” Al Jazeera interviewed US Vice-president Joe Biden, who is in the region to encourage the talks, which were announced Sunday, just two days before the Israeli announcement about the planned new West Bank construction. Biden told Al Jazeera that “Everyone knows the Palestinians deserve an independent state, the Israelis deserve an independent and secure state and for those kinds of actions to occur when there’s more agreement than disagreement is just destabilising.”
Israel has apologized for the timing of the announcement, and it appears that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was unaware the announcement would be made.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, CBS News commentary, CNN, Jerusalem Post, Times, UK
Lyons, France / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Dubai police have added 16 more international arrest warrants to the 11 already issued, linked to the 20 January death of Hamas military leader Mahmoud Al Mabhouh. Interpol has added the new warrants to its existing Red Notices for the case. Interpol, based in Lyons, insists on the likely use of identity theft by the murderers. “Since Intepol has reason to believe that the suspects linked to this murder have stolen the identities of real people, the Red Notices specify that the names used were aliases used to commit murder,” its web site notes. “Interpol has officially made public the photos and the names fraudulently used on the passports in order to limit the ability of accused murderers from traveling freely using the same false passports.”
The international criminal police organization says it contacted the Geneva-based World Economic Forum in January to alert it to the increased risk of terrorists traveling on documents using stolen identities, which makes it easier for them to avoid detection.
Dubai police are now saying that Hamas military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was first drugged with a muscle relaxant, then suffocated in a hotel room. They believe evidence is more clearly pointing to Israel’s Mossad undercover agency, but Israel has not commented on the latest details or its possible role. Police Sunday 28 February said the drug, succinylcholine, was used to make it appear the victim had not struggled, possibly in order to stage what would look like a natural death.
Links to other sites: Dubai police report, Reuters
The number of suspects in the murder of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in December has now grown to 26, say Dubai police, with Australian passports reportedly used. Australia called in the Israeli ambassador and issued a sharp warning that it will not tolerate any government condoning or being behind the theft of its citizens’ passports, with suspicion growing that Israel was behind the murder. Australia has reportedly warned Israel in the past not to use Australian passports for its espionage activities. The Israeli government has said there is no proof that Mossad, its secret service, is involved. Some of the Australians identified, who are living in Israel, were shocked to learn of what appears to be several cases of identity theft.
Settlement-building in the occupied West Bank will be halted for 10 months, but not in East Jerusalem, and the construction of schools, synagogues and community centres will continue as part of its “natural growth” doctrine, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced 26 November. The news was welcomed by former US Senator George Mitchell, the US special envoy for the Middle East, who called it “significant.” President Barack Obama’s administration has urged Israel to respect its commitments under the 2003 roadmap to peace in the Middle East.
Palestine’s chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, dismissed the Israeli move as “mere propaganda” and said that it had more to do with appeasing the USA than making peace with the Palestinians.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, Jerusalem Post, New York Times, US State Department briefing
Israel has approved plans for 900 housing units to be built at Gilo, on land captured in 1967, which is today part of the municipality of Jerusalem. A White House spokesperson in the US and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed dismay, saying the move would not help peace talks in the Middle East. The new housing is illegal under international law as widely interpreted, although Israel disputes this. Aljazeera reports that US negotiator George Mitchell asked Israel Monday 16 November not to approv the plans. . The plans are now subject to public comment.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, BBC, New York Times
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, 74, has said he will not seek re-election in the elections he called for January 2010. He said his decision was not “a manipulation or a manoeuvre” in a speech from his headquarters in Ramallah, on the West Bank 5 November. He said he had had enough after years of frustration. Abbas succeeded long-time president Yasser Arafat in 2004.
Addressing the Israeli public directly, he said: “Peace is more important than any achievement for a political party. Peace is more important than any government coalition. For many years, my opinion and vision have been that peace was still possible and I have sincerely worked to achieve this goal“.
The decision is seen as a blow to the US administration’s attempts to restart the Middle East peace process, coming just days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the region, which she judged to be a success. Palestinians were outraged when she said Israel’s offer to slow down illegal settlements in the West Bank was “unprecedented”. Al-Jazeera, Jerusalem Post, New York Times
The findings of the Goldstone report on the war in Gaza last December 2008 and January 2009 are being debated 4 and 5 November in the UN General Assembly in New York.The Goldstone investigation was commissioned by the UN to investigate allegations of war crimes during the brief war that killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and 31 Israelis.
A resolution could be voted on that includes calls for the General Assembly to endorse the Goldstone report, that both Israel and the Palestinians conduct independent investigations into the allegations that war crimes were committed, and for the Secretary General of the UN to refer the matter to the Security Council.
The Goldstone report calls on both sides to investigate the allegations or else be referred to the Security Council for consideration by the International Criminal Court. Israel, which did not cooperate with investigators, has said it is opposed to the findings because they are biased.
Shabtai Kalmanovich, who was accused of spying for the KGB in Israel in 1988 after 17 years in the country to which he had emigrated, was killed after being shot in central Moscow Monday 2 November. The Lithuanian-born Kalmanovich was shot more than 20 times by a passing car, according to Russian media, and his driver sustained serious injuries. Kalmanovich moved to Russia in 1993 after being given a medical pardon in Israel, and he became a successful businessman who owned a women’s basketball team and organized major international concerts, among other ventures.
Links to other sites: Jerusalem Post, Moscow Times, Novosti
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The UN Human Rights Council is this week debating whether to take action on the 557-page report on the Gaza conflict produced for it by South African judge Richard Goldstone and published 15 September. The report has been the subject of accusations of bias from Israel and Palestine, both of which are accused, by the report, of serious crimes. The United States jumped into the fray Tuesday 29 September with Michael Posner, US assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, calling the report “deeply flawed” and saying the US disagrees “sharply with its methodology and many of its recommendations.”
