Posted on May 31st, 2009 by Marian Houk
Speaking at a literary festival in England apparently sponsored by The Guardian, South Africa’s Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu told the audience that it was urgent to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “If we don’t solve that problem, you can give up on all other problems. You can give up on nuclear disarmament, you can give up [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on May 30th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Until the last minute, it was not clear how South Africa’s Justice Richard Goldstone would arrive in the region this weekend with a mandate from the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to begin an inquiry into the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead against Gaza (27 December – 18 January), or whetherIsrael will or will [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on May 29th, 2009 by Marian Houk
The international press is writing that it seems different this time, that this new American administration may be serious this time — about stopping Israeli settlement-building, expansion, and whatnot. But, that’s what sells newspapers.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and company were received at the White House in Washington on Thursday 28 May. Obama is [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Gaza, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Negotiators and negotiations, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on May 28th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Unfortunately, it was predictable.
Israel’s Ministry of the Interior ordered the closure (for tonight, at least) of the Palestinian National Theater (Hakawati) in East Jerusalem, where the final event of the PalFest09, the Palestinian Literary Festival, was due to be held.
Photo from PalFest’s photostream on Flikr here
However, as happened in the opening PalFest09 event in Jerusalem [...]
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Filed under: International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on May 25th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Why is Israel suppressing the activities of Palestinian and/or Palestinian Authority (PA) activities in East Jerusalem?
The argument being offered by Israeli authorities is that PA activities are banned in Jerusalem under the Oslo Accords.
But, these activities were allowed — with difficulty — before and after the start of the “Olso” process in 1993.
It’s hard to [...]
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Filed under: Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on May 24th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Claiming that this year’s Palestinian literature festival, PalFest09, was somehow organized by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (with which Israel has been engaged in peace negotiations), Israeli police and Border Police shut down the opening session at a theater in East Jerusalem at 6:30 on Saturday evening. The French Cultural Center then offered its premises, and [...]
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Filed under: French, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on May 21st, 2009 by Marian Houk
Today, Israel mark’s “Jerusalem unification” day.
However, According to Gershon Baskin, co-chairman and founder of the Israeli-Palestinian Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) — who ran in the last Knesset elections as a candidate from a green party which did not gain the minimum number of votes for a seat — Jerusalem is one of the [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, NGOs, Palestine & Palestinians, Register of damages due to The Wall
Posted on May 20th, 2009 by Marian Houk
This is a heartbreaking story.
Even worse than the physical abuse, even worse than the misplaced trust in those who were supposed to be most caring, even worse than the official indifference and efforts to avoid accountability, was the effort to break a person’s soul and spirit through humiliation.
It is difficult to say that some things [...]
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Filed under: Human Rights, Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment
Posted on May 19th, 2009 by Marian Houk
The BBC has reported that “The head of Israel’s security service has said there is no security reason for continuing construction of Israel’s barrier through the West Bank. Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told a parliamentary committee that Israel had enough capabilities to prevent attacks from the Palestinian territory. Since building began years [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Israel, Journalism and Journalists, Palestine & Palestinians, Register of damages due to The Wall
Posted on May 17th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Time Magazine’s Tim McGirk has put together a video, Graffiti for Hire in the West Bank, on a project to write the contents of an entire letter by a South African anti-apartheid activist on The Wall.
Parts of this letter already stretch a great distance along The Wall in ar-Ram, which offers a nice long vista [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Human Rights, International Court of Justice - ICJ, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Iran, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Register of damages due to The Wall, UN Security Council
