By Alyxandra Stanczak
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt– Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League, visited the Gaza Strip today to call for an end to a blockade that has been in effect since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007.  Moussa called for a break in the blockade and said the position of the Arab League is clear in this matter.

The blockade has resulted in unemployment, inflated food prices resulting in reliance upon humanitarian aid, and poverty. Items barred in the blockade include basic goods such as food and fuel. Food which is not delivered by the UN and other agencies is often smuggled through the Egypt-Gaza border and is sold to Gaza residents. More than half of Gaza’s population are considered vulnerable; especially children, the elderly, the sick, and refugees. Civilians, rather than armed anti-Israeli groups, are most likely to be affected by the blockade.

Moussa’s trip was coordinated with the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and he is scheduled to meet with Hamas prime minister Haniyeh. Moussa’s trip to Gaza has already had an apparent effect in Israel, with Israeli prime minister Netanyahu responding that he supports an easing of the blockade, but still opposes a complete lift on the blockade.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Arab League demands Gaza siege end – 13 June 2010

Haaretz – Netanyahu: Naval blockade on Gaza will not be lifted – 13 June 2010

Amnesty International – Suffocating Gaza – The Israeli Blockade’s Effects on Palestinians – 1 June 2010

By Dallas Steele
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

EAST JERUSALEM, Israel — As tensions remain at an unprecedented high, Israeli border police officers have shot and killed a Palestinian driver who may have intentionally hit two border police officers with his motor vehicle on Friday. The incident began when the driver, forty-0ne-year-old Ziad al-Jolani, rammed his Mitsubishi van into two border police officers. It remains unclear whether al-Jolani intended to injure the two officers or whether the entire incident was an accident.

Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesman, said that after al-Jolani struck the two officers with his van, one of the officers fired warning shots in the air and called for the driver to stop his vehicle. As the driver ignored the border police officers’ request by driving away, the officers began to give chase to al-Jolani. Al-Jolani got out of his van in an attempt to flee by foot while the border police officers continued to call for the driver to cease and desist. After continuing to ignore the demand to halt, a border guard shot al-Jolani dead.

Palestinian witnesses have given a similar account as Rosenfeld, but have made the claim that the Israeli police officers began to fire indiscriminately in al-Jolani’s direction, causing not only his death, but the serious injury of a young woman as well.

Conflicting reports have been made on the injury of the passenger in al-Jolani’s van, Mahmoud al-Jolani, as some reports have stated he was injured during the incident and others saying he was injured earlier that day in a stone-throwing incident.

The killing has come at an extreme low point in Palestinian-Israeli relations. The checkpoint where the shooting occurred was located in the neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz, an area predominantly inhabited by Palestinians, but became part of Israeli territory after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Additionally, Israeli police had just recently announced a limited-access policy for Palestinian men under the age of forty travelling from East Jerusalem to the al-Aqsa Mosque for Friday prayers. This move was made in response to the heightened tensions in the region following last month’s clash between Israel’s commando raid on a Turkish ship bound for Gaza that left nine activists dead.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Israeli police kill Palestinian man — 11 June 2010

CNN — Palestinian driver shot dead after striking Israeli border guards — 11 June 2010

NY Times — Police kill Palestinian driver in East Jerusalem — 11 June 2010

By Warren Popp,
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait – As Kuwait maintains the detention of the prominent Kuwaiti journalist-blogger, Mohammad Abdel Qader al-Jasem, domestic and international pressure for his release have grown. These pressures include condemnation and calls for al-Jasem’s immediate release by human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Reporters Without Borders, along with protests by hundreds of Kuwaiti legislators, former members of parliament, and political and rights activists. The government has also drawn condemnation for its decision to ban media coverage of his case.

Originally sentenced in April to six months in prison on charges of slandering the prime minister of Kuwait, HRW reports that al-Jasim now faces charges of “instigating to overthrow the regime,” “slight to the personage of the amir [the ruler of Kuwait],” and “instigating to dismantle the foundations of Kuwaiti society.” These charges are based on posting on his blog over the past 5 years that are critical of the government and public officials, as well as three books on politics in Kuwait.

According to HRW, al-Jasem has been the object of more than 20 formal complaints throughout his career in relation to his writings and statements, including “remarks he made at a private gathering in the house of a member of parliament at which he allegedly questioned the prime minister’s fitness for office and called for his removal”—the source of the main allegations against him in his April trial.

Al-Jasem has now been detained for more than the 21 day maximum that is allowed under Kuwait’s criminal procedure laws for pre-trial detentions without an extension by a court order. The Court did order that Al-Jasem, who reportedly is in ill-health, to be examined by a medical commission.

Kuwait’s spokesman and Communications Minister, Mohammad al-Baseeri, stated,
“Jassem is now in the hands of the judiciary and we trust its justice and we do not accept any external interference.”

Human Rights Watch has reviewed some of the articles that allegedly were written to incite violence and “instigat[e] the overthrow of the regime”, and found that they are simply criticism of public officials.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Rights Body Urges Kuwait to Stop Prosecuting Writer – 8 June 2010

Arab Times – Court Shuns Demands to Call PM, Hire New Lawyer – 7 June 2010

Gulf Daily News – Hundreds Rally to Free Writer – 11 June 2010

Human Rights Watch – Kuwait: End Persecution of Journalist-Blogger – 7 June 2010

Kuwait Times – ‘Legal Amendments Needed to Prevent Recurrence of Incident’ – 20 May 2010

Reporters Without Borders – Mohammed Abdel Qader al Jassem has Detention Extended – 7 June 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Israel – The Geneva-based, non-governmental organization, Defense for Children International (DCI), has asked the United Nations to investigate reports that Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons from January 2009 to April 2010 were subjected to sexual abuse in an effort to gain their confessions.

DCI has collected more than one hundred sworn affidavits from Palestinian children claiming mistreatment. Fourteen of the statements reveal sexual assault and abuse by the soldiers. The DCI said that such practices violate international law and children’s rights.

Nearly every minor was handcuffed for long periods of time, according to the one hundred statements taken by DCI. Many were blindfolded for extended periods of time. Boys as young as thirteen said they were threatened with rape if they did not confess.

Al Jazeera was able to interview some of the children, who confirmed the mistreatment by their captors. One child said he was bound, blindfolded, and placed on the floor of the vehicle taking him to prison. Many said that they were often held for hours without food or drink. They were also told that the soldier who beat them was the same one to whom they had to confess.

Parents do not typically want to come forward to report the abuse, distrustful of the system that is abusing their children.

Israel has rejected DCI’s claims and has said that such practices are consistent with international law, adding that any claims related to abuse or violence should be formally raised at trial or in a complaint.

Different laws apply to Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza. All Palestinians, including minors and adults, are tried in military courts. Further, Palestinian children are not permitted to see their lawyers until they are in court.

Each year, about seven hundred Palestinian minors aged twelve to eighteen are arrested in Israel. There are approximately 340 Palestinian children in Israeli jails. Sixty percent of them have been charged with throwing stones. There is no appeals process for decisions by Israeli military courts.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Israel faces child-abuse claims – 31 May 2010

Tehran Times – Israel faces child abuse claims – 31 May 2010

Bruneinews.net – Child sex abuse alleged in Israeli juvenile prisons – 30 May 2010

Palestine Note – Rights group: Israeli officers sexually assaulted children – 30 May 2010

Haaretz.com – Over 100 Palestinian minors reported abuse in IDF, police custody in 2009 – 28 May 2010

 By Alyxandra Stanczak
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt– Yesterday, the State Counsel’s Supreme Administrative Court, Egypt’s supreme court, upheld a decision to strip the citizenship from an Egyptian man who married an Israeli Jewish woman. Nabih el-Wahsh, the lawyer who brought the case to court, said this decision is aimed at protecting Egyptian youth and Egypt’s national security.

 Grounds for this decision were found in a 2008 fatwa, or religious edict, issued by Egyptian Islamic scholar Sheikh Farahat Al-Mongy, which commented on the sinfulness of Egyptians who marry Israelis. Shortly after this fatwa, a proposition was made during Egypt’s 2008 People’s Assembly (the lower house of Egypt’s Parliament) by three members who proposed a law to strip the citizenship of Egyptians who marry Israelis of any faith. Despite the timing of the ruling, which coincides with Israel’s hostile actions against an aid flotilla headed for Gaza, this decision is not meant as a direct response to that action; rather it is purportedly designed to solidify national security concerns.

Approximately 30,000 Egyptian men are married to Israeli women. The court asked the Ministry of the Interior to present for approval all marriages between Egyptians and Israelis to the cabinet in order to give consideration to national security and personal freedom. If the court’s recommendations arising from this case are followed, it would necessarily result in a threat to personal freedom guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 16 – the right to family protection (which includes marriage) by society and State. This decision also could result in an arbitrary denial of marriage rights by Egypt’s state body under the guise of national security.

The implementation of this decision would have a far-reaching effect – not only on individualcitizens of both Israel and Egypt, but could serve to undermine the tenuous peace between the two countries. Egypt’s President Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Begin entered into a peace treaty initially in 1979, which has provided the foundation for later security arrangements.

This decision shows what Egyptian lawyer and human rights activist Negad al-Boraldescribes as mixed messages about Israel which result in “the [Egyptian] president congratulat[ing] Israel’s president in national holidays yet it punishes the people for having relationships with Israel.”

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Egypt restricts marriage to Israelis – 6 June 2010

Al Jazeera News – Egypt targets marriages to Israelis – 5 June 2010

BBC News – Cairo court rules on Egyptians married to Israeli women – 5 June 2010

Jewish Journal – Egypt-Israel love fatwa highlights split on peace – 11 January 2008