By Dallas Steele
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

For the second time this summer, masked gunmen have set fire to a United Nations-run summer camp in the Gaza Strip. The site of the second vandalized camp is in the vicinity of the camp which was vandalized this past May.

The UN estimates that roughly twenty-five armed men attacked the camp between late Sunday night and early Monday morning, when children were not present. Security guards at the camp were tied up before the armed militants set about slashing plastic sheds and toys, vandalizing a swimming pool, and burning down chairs, tables, easels, and other equipment. Fortunately, no one was harmed during the attack.

As with the incident in May, no group has come forth to claim the attack. Following the attack from last month, however, it was later discovered that a previously unheard of Islamic extremist group was behind the razing of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) summer camp.  The unknown Islamist group claimed the summer camp was a corrupting influence on local children because it introduced activities considered at odds with conservative Islamic customs. It is also believed that the group objected to boys and girls going to camp together.

John Ging, the director of the agency’s operations, responded to the second attack saying: “The overwhelming success of UNRWA’s Summer Games has once again obviously frustrated those that are intolerant of children’s happiness. This is another example of the growing levels of extremism in Gaza and further evidence of the urgency to change the circumstances on the ground.”

Ging again pledged to continue to run the 1,200 UN-sponsored summer camps, which have allowed about 250,000 Gazan children to take part in such activities as sports, swimming, arts, and theater.

Hamas, Gaza’s militant Islamist ruler, condemned last month’s attack and has said it will apprehend and jail whoever carried out the current attack. BBC Gaza correspondent Jon Donnison, however, has reported that there are those that think Hamas may be connected to the most recent attack.  They argue that an attack involving around twenty-five masked men could not be conducted without at least the implicit support of Hamas.  Hamas also runs summer camps which compete with the UN sponsored camps for the enrollment of Gazan youth. The Hamas summer camp offers such activities as horseback riding, swimming, as well as classes on Islam, but also teach children military-style marching and anti-Israel doctrine.

There are roughly 700,000 children under the age of 15 living in Gaza.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Gaza gunmen ‘set fire to UN summer camp for children’ – 28 June 2010

CNN – Militants attack UN-sponsored summer camp in Gaza – 28 June 2010

The New York Times – Vandals Set Fire to UN Children’s Camp in Gaza – 28 June 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – The parents of Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who has been held captive in Gaza for the past four years, began a twelve-day march on Sunday from their home to Jerusalem, where they plan to camp out in front of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence until the Israeli government wins Shalit’s release.

“We won’t wait any longer in our home,” said Noam Shalit, Gilad’s father, at the start of the march, which drew approximately two thousand supporters, including dozens of local celebrities. Hundreds of the supporters waved Israeli flags and carried signs, many of which read, “Gilad Shalit, we’re waiting at home for you.”

Shalit was captured in a cross-border dispute in June 2006 by Palestinian militants, and has been held in Gaza by Hamas militants who are demanding the release of as many as one thousand Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit’s release. Several prisoner swap deals between Israel and Hamas have failed in the past.

An Israeli poll indicated that seventy-five percent of Israelis would support the release of Palestinian prisoners, some of them convicted killers, in exchange for Shalit’s release.

Shalit has not been allowed any contact with the outside world nor with the International Red Cross. Apart from one audio tape and a video tape released by Hamas in October 2009 as a proof of life, the details of Shalit’s physical condition remain unknown. He was nineteen years old when he was captured.

Palestinians and Israelis alike are vested in the prospect of a prisoner exchange. Many Palestinians have relatives who are currently jailed in Israeli prisons. And in Israel, where military service is compulsory for most Jews and where most people have a family member or relative who serves in the military, the fate of Shalit resonates deeply.

Israel’s restriction of goods into and out of Gaza began shortly after Shalit’s capture in 2006 in an effort to pressure Hamas to release him. Later, a full blockade was imposed, but was eased after the recent deadly Israeli raid on the aid flotilla. The Shalits fear that the easing of the blockade has shown that the government is abandoning their son.

Negotiations for Shalit’s release have occurred through German and Egyptian mediators, since Israel does not deal directly with Hamas, considered by Israel to be a terrorist organization.

For now, Noam and Aviva Shalit will wait. “We don’t see any alternative after four years of government failure to obtain the release of my son,” Noam told England’s Observer, adding, “there have been many, many failures, but it’s time to put public pressure on the government.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Israeli soldier’s family urges swap – 27 June 2010

BBC – Captive Israeli soldier Shalit’s parents begin march – 27 June 2010

CNN – Captured Israeli soldier’s family marches to bring about release – 27 June 2010

Los Angeles Times – Family of captured Israeli soldier launches march to Jerusalem to press for his release – 27 June 2010

Observer – Israeli protesters press Binyamin Netanyahu to help free abducted soldier Gilad Shalit – 27 June 2010

New York Times – Family of Captured Israeli Soldier Press for Deal – 27 June 2010

By Dallas Steele
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

[Warning: Graphic photo at the end of the article.]

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt– Twenty-eight-year-old Khaled Said was forcibly dragged from an internet café and savagely beaten to death by two plainclothes police officers in broad daylight. Although Khaled’s death occurred on June 6, 2010, public prosecutors have not yet summoned for interrogation any of the key players involved in the incident, including the two plainclothes officers involved in the death.  The lack of accountability by investigators, and allegations that Khaled was intentionally murdered by the police have sparked a wave of demonstrations across Alexandria.

One of the nine witnesses that came forward as witnesses to the beating, Haitham Misbah, the son of the internet café owner, told investigators how the plainclothes officers did not ask Khaled any questions before they began to beat him. Misbah described how the officers continually smashed Khaled’s head against a marble wall and iron wrought fence before he fell to the ground and was continually kicked long after he stopped moving. Numerous witnesses say Khaled’s last words were, “I am dying. I am going to die.” Allegedly, the plainclothes officers replied:“You’re already dead.”

Misbah said that when he attempted to intervene, the officers told him to stay out and threatened to shut down the café. Other witnesses have only recently come forward for fear of reprisal from law enforcement authorities in the area.

The initial investigation by the local prosecutor concluded that Khaled died of asphyxiation after swallowing a packet of drugs when he saw the plainclothes officers approaching him. The investigation into Khaled’s death reportedly failed to gather any evidence from the scene of the crime or interview any witnesses. The two plainclothes officers allegedly responsible for Khaled’s death remain on active duty and have yet to be questioned by the prosecutor. Furthermore, reports have emerged that the officers responsible for Khaled’s death returned to the area of the incident days later and threatened people not to cause trouble for them.

After public protest over the incompetence of the first inquisition, a second, higher-level investigation was conducted. The forensic medical investigation in the second inquest also said that the cause of Khaled’s death was asphyxiation. However, the second medical report also stated that Khaled suffered numerous injuries from the beatings and concluded that there was “nothing to prevent the injuries from having occurred as a result of beating during the arrest of the victim.”

The entire incident has caused a public uproar in Egypt, and has resulted in various demonstrations. Certain individuals protesting Khaled’s death and the two inquests are claiming that Khaled was targeted for trying to expose official corruption in the area. Others are claiming that Khaled’s death is direct evidence that Egypt’s emergency law, created thirty years ago following President Sadat’s assassination by an Islamic militant, has created a culture of police impunity in Egypt.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Mohamed ElBaradei leads Egypt ‘police death’ protest – 25 June 2010

CNN – Demonstrators in Egypt rail against brutality, man’s death – 25 June 2010

Human Rights Watch – Egypt: Prosecute Police in Beating Death – 24 June 2010