By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

TEL AVIV, Israel – Jared Malsin, the editor-in-chief of Ma’an News Agency’s English edition, has been detained by Israeli authorities at Ben Gurion International Airport on January 12, as Malsin returned from a holiday in the Czech Republic. Malsin is a Jewish American and Ma’an News Agency is a major Palestinian news outlet, based in Bethlehem in the West Bank.

 

After interrogating Malsin for eight hours, the Israeli Interior Ministry ordered officials not to admit Malsin into Israel and had scheduled him to be deported to the Czech Republic on a flight at 6 am on January 14. Castro Daoud, an attorney for Ma’an, as well as diplomats from the United States embassy, intervened on Malsin’s behalf and requested an injunction against the deportation. The Israeli attorney general rejected the request, but that decision was overturned by a Tel Aviv judge, who granted Malsin a hearing, scheduled for January 17.

 

Court documents revealed that Malsin was apparently deemed a security risk because of his political opinions. Interior Ministry interrogators reportedly compiled Malsin’s past stories for Ma’an, including those “criticizing the State of Israel.” The interrogators further questioned Malsin’s motives in wanting to enter the West Bank, adding that he “claimed to be Jewish,” and argued that Malsin “exploited his Jewishness to gain entry into the State of Israel.” Court records showed that among the specific reasons for detaining Malsin included “lying to border officials,” “here illegally,” and “entered into Israel by means of lies.” According to Israeli law, Jews from around the world are eligible to immigrate to Israel.

 

Malsin’s detention has provoked sharp rebukes from international press organizations, including the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which called the detention “unacceptable.”

 

“Israel cannot hide behind the pretext of security to sideline journalists who have done nothing more than maintain an editorial line that the authorities dislike,” said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the Middle East and North Africa coordinator for CPJ.

 

Malsin had lived in Bethlehem with his partner, Faith Rowold, for two years. Malsin had originally come to Israel on the Birthright program, and had never overstayed his visa, except for his most recent one, which was only a few days overdue. He had reportedly been told by Israeli authorities that this was not a problem. According to a colleague at Ma’an, Malsin was in frequent contact with Israeli officials, and was recently offered access to military installations in the West Bank.

 

Ma’an issued a statement saying it “scrupulously maintains its editorial independence and aims to promote access to information, freedom of expression, press freedom, and media pluralism in Palestine.”

 

For more information, please see:

 

Palestine News Network – US Editor Fights Israel For Denying Him Entry – 15 January 2010

 

BBC News – US Editor at Palestinian Agency Fights Israel Entry Ban – 14 January 2010

 

Ma’an News Agency – Tel Aviv Court Delay’s Ma’an Editor’s Expulsion – 14 January 2010

 

International Middle East Media Center – Chief Editor of Major Palestinian News Agency Detained – 13 January 2010

 

New York Times – Israel to Expel American Journalist – 13 January 2010

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On January 12 Iraqi security forces arrested twenty five people suspected of plotting attacks throughout Baghdad . They then imposed a temporary curfew on parts of Iraqi capital as they conducted raids and seized explosives. The raid followed a tip-off that a series of car bombings were planned in Baghdad. Security forces were already on heightened alert ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for March 7.

Iraqi police confiscated four hundred forty pounds of C4 explosives, the same amount of TNT and sixty other explosives of different types. Additionally, according to Baghdad security forces spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, a quantity of ammonium nitrate was found. Ammonium nitrate can be used as an ingredient in bombs.

According to Moussawi, the twenty five men who were arrested “were planning to implement terrorist acts.” Authorities in Iraq also said that at least four, and as many as ten, suicide car bombers were on their way to government buildings on the morning of January 12 when there were stopped by police and arrested.

The raids that followed brought much of Baghdad to a virtual standstill. Hundreds of checkpoints were set up throughout the city. The lockdowns caused gridlock of vehicles on roads into Baghdad. People were forced to travel by foot. Bridges into the center of the city were closed due to the alleged bomb plot, but were later reopened.

Government officials said that the far-reaching plot involved sending suicide bombers with vehicles packed with explosives to blow themselves up at the Ministries of Defense, Health and Trade. Other areas that were to be targeted included public places such as markets. Other insurgents were to be sent to assassinate political and tribal leaders. Mohammed al Askari, a defense ministry spokesman, said that the Iraqi forces received “tips about places (where people were making) car and vest bombs.” This led to the raids by security forces.

American and Iraqi forces have said that there is an expectation that violence will increase sharply as the date of the Iraqi elections grows nearer. The outcome of the Iraqi elections could determine whether American forces are able to withdraw from the country on schedule by the end of 2011.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Arrests, Explosives Seized as Baghdad Car Bombs Foiled – 12 January 2010

Al Jazeera – Bomb Plot Prompts Baghdad Lockdown – 12 January 2010

New York Times – Iraq Says Raid Uncovered Plot to Bomb Ministries – 12 January 2010

Reuters – Iraqi Forces Seize Explosives, Arrest 25 in Raids – 12 January 2010

By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – In an effort to keep out illegal migrants, Israel will build a barrier wall in two sections along its southern border with Egypt. The announcement was made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference on January 10.

 

Israel has become a new “promised land” of opportunity for many refugees from war-torn countries in northeast Africa, with border crossings increasing over the past several weeks. In recent years, thousands of undocumented migrants have crossed in Israel through its southern border. Eritrea is the most common country of origin for migrants crossing into Israel from Egypt, followed by Ethiopia and Sudan.

 

International human rights observers have strongly criticized practices by Egyptian border officials; many migrants attempting to cross into Israel have either been shot dead by Egyptian border guards or detained in Egyptian prisons before being sent back to their home countries. This violates the standards set out in the United Nations Convention on Refugees.

 

Israel’s border with Egypt spans 226 kilometers, and Israeli officials estimate the construction will take approximately two years to complete. The border wall will not cover the length of the Israeli-Egyptian border, the initial construction will focus on the area near the Israeli city of Eilat and the area near the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip near the town of Rafah.

 

Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Israel would “remain open to refugees” but said that Israel “cannot let tens of thousands of illegal workers infiltrate into Israel through the southern border and inundate our country with illegal aliens.” Netanyahu added the decision was one “to secure Israel’s Jewish and democratic character.”

 

Egyptian officials said they had not been notified of Israel’s decision to build a wall, but that they did not object, so long as the wall was built on Israeli soil.

 

Approximately fifty to sixty percent of Israel’s borders are already walled in, according to Alon Liel, a professor at the University of Tel Aviv. Israel has built walls along its borders with Lebanon, Jordan, most of the West Bank, and all of the Gaza Strip.

 

“It is a very unpleasant feeling, but for the Israeli public the alternative to not having a fence seems worse,” said Professor Liel.

 

For more information, please see:

 

Al Jazeera – Israel Plans Wall for Egypt Border – 11 January 2010

 

Ma’an News Agency – Israel to Build Wall Along Egyptian Border – 11 January 2010

 

Palestine News Network – Israel to Construct Barrier Along Egyptian Border – 11 January 2010

 

Ha’aretz – Israel to Build NIS 1.5b Fence Along Egypt Border – 10 January 2010

By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

HEET, Iraq – Coordinated bombings on January 7 targeted the homes of four police officers in western Iraq. The bombings took place in the Iraqi town of Heet and killed seven individuals. Among the dead was the town’s anti-terror chief. The bombings wounded six individuals. Heet is located thirty five miles

The attackers alleged planted explosives around the bedrooms of the policemen in the town. According to Lieutenant Colonel Fadhil Nimrawi, the head of Heet’s emergency response unit, “at 3:00am, men planted bombs around the bedrooms of four houses belonging to members of the police force, including Major Wali al-Heeti, the head of Heet’s anti-terror department.”

According to Nimwari, the dead include Heeti’s wife and mother, child and three other police officers. The four houses targeted were in different neighborhoods across the center of the city. No vehicles were being allowed in or out of the town as part of the ramped up security.

Nimwari also said that several people had been arrested in connection with the attack, but did not specify how many. Security forces were still looking into other people they suspected of being involved in the bombings. According to Sheikh Muhammad Abu Wissam, a tribal leader, “there are terrorist cells there and they are benefiting from an security breach to carry out more attacks.

Violence has been rising in Iraq as the country prepares for a March general election. The attack comes a week after a double suicide blast in the provincial capital Ramadi killed twenty five people and severely injured regional governor Qassim Mohammed. The Anbar Province, where Heet is located, will have over half its seven thousand five hundred American troops withdrawn by the end of the month.

The BBC reports that Anbar province was once a hotbed of insurgency, but two years ago, local Sunni tribes and their followers turned against the militants, and joined common cause against them with the Iraqi government and American forces. The province remained relatively calm for some time, but it appears to be suffering from a number of revenge attacks by Islamist militants.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Anti-terror Chief Among Seven Killed in Iraq Blasts – 7 January 2010

BBC – Iraq Bomb Attack on Senior Police Kills Eight – 7 January 2010

New York Times – Blasts Strike at Officials in Iraq’s West – 7 January 2010

Reuters – Bombings Target Iraqi Army Commander – 7 January 2010