By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Water Reporter, Middle East

 

NEW YORK, United States – A day after the leaders of the United States, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories, many on all sides have expressed doubts that the meeting will result in productive peace negotiations.

 

On September 23, U.S. President Barack Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Despite efforts by U.S. Mideast Envoy George Mitchell, the Obama Administration was unable to secure an agreement by Prime Minister Netanyahu to freeze all settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinian negotiators have demanded a settlement freeze as a pre-condition to any peace talks.

 

President Obama has begun to change tack in his efforts to restart peace negotiations, now focusing on the status of Jerusalem, the so-called “right of return” for Palestinian refugees, and the borders of a future Palestinian state. One international observer characterized President Obama’s efforts at the U.N. as completely unproductive.

 

“We’re in a corner,” said Zakaria al Qak, the foreign affairs director at Al-Quds University. “Obama is running out of steam. He was expected to set the direction in the first six months. But now it’s the politics of no choice, of deadlock.”

 

The Israeli Prime Minister appeared to be more optimistic about the possibility of progress.

 

“The president said let’s come and resume the peace process without preconditions. As you know I have been saying that for nearly six months,” said Prime Minister Netanyahu to Israeli television.

 

Other Israelis seemed more downbeat.

 

“This is a mood of resignation, of quiet despair that there is really [no] way out of the conflict,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director of Israeli pro-peace group J Street.

 

Many Palestinians have considered President Obama’s insistence on moving forward with peace talks as backing off from the President’s call for a settlement freeze. Hamas, the ruling Palestinian party in the Gaza Strip, condemned President Obama’s call to resume the peace talks without an agreement on a settlement freeze.

 

One Palestinian put a positive gloss on the situation:

 

“It is clear that Obama will not accept failure of his political investment in dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict,” wrote columnist Talal Okal in the newspaper al-Ayyam.

 

For more information, please see:

 

Ha’aretz – Netanyahu: No Peace Until Palestinians Accept Israel as Jewish State – 24 September 2009

 

Jerusalem Post – Hamas Slams Obama for Backing Down on Demand for Settlement Freeze – 24 September 2009

 

Reuters – All-round Pessimism After Dud Middle East “Summit” – 24 September 2009

 

Ha’aretz – Obama Tells UN: We Do Not Accept Israeli Settlements – 23 September 2009

 

New York Times – White House Pivots on Mideast Peace Bid – 23 September 2009

 

 

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – On September 18, thousands of opposition supporters came to blows with Iranian security forces at a mass rally sponsored by the Mahmoud Ahmedinejad-led government. The supporters of the opposition held up signs in favor of the former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Moussavi, who lost the controversy-filled June presidential election to Ahmedinejad.

Ahmedinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had both warned supporters of the opposition that any demonstrations would not be tolerated. The Islamic Republic threatened that there would be a crackdown on any opposition at the annual rally. The clash between the two sides is viewed a clear defiance against the orders of the sitting President and the Islamic Republic, whose authority has come into question since the disputed June election.

Tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets on the Islamic Republic’s annual al-Quds day rally. The yearly assembly is held on the final Friday of Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini established the day as an annual international day of support for all Muslims to support Palestinians against the state of Israel.

The rally began peacefully, but tensions escalated as the march continued. Over one hundred thousand Iranians took the streets in Tehran for the yearly rally. Opposition supporters used the day to stage their first government protest in two months. The clash between the two sides led to multiple arrests and the use of violence by both sides. Opposition supporters threw stones and Iranian police used tear gas.

Reports have come through saying that Moussavi and former President Mohammad Khatami, another opposition leader, were attacked when the clash when opposition protesters clashed with government forces. It is alleged that attempts to beat former President Khatami after his turban was knocked off were stopped by opposition supporters. According to reports, the former President was not hurt during the day of clashes. Witnesses have come forward to say that opposition supporters held hardliners back from Moussavi as he attempted to get away in a car.

Ahmedinejad also used Friday’s rally in order to repeat his famous claims that the Holocaust was a myth. The Iranian President alleged that it was used as a “false pretext” to create the state of Israel and claimed that it was both a national and religious duty for Iranians to confront the “Zionist regime.” Despite his strong comments about Israel, Ahmednejad’s problems in his own country remain as chants of “resign” could be heard from the crowd.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Iran Opposition Chiefs Attacked as Mass Protests Hit Regime – 18 September 2009

Al Jazeera – Iranians Rally on ‘al-Quds Day’ – 18 September 2009

BBC – Clashes Erupt at Iran Mass Rally – 18 September 2009

New York Times – Despite Warning, Thousands Rally in Iran – 18 September 2009

21 September 2009

UN Report Finds War Crimes in Gaza Conflict

By Mario A. Flores
Special Features Editor, Impunity Watch Journal

New York, United States – Justice Richard Goldstone, Head of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, concluded Tuesday that both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, raising the prospect that officials may seek persecution in the International Criminal Court.

From December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009, the Israeli army launched a major ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, called Operation Cast Lead in response to Hamas rocket attacks on the Israeli town of Sderot. Goldstone’s report found that Israel’s use of disproportionate force in Gaza resulted in the death of about 1,400 Palestinians, of which 926 were civilians including 313 children and 116 women. On the Israeli side, 13 people were killed, including 3 civilians.

The report also described the firing of rockets by Hamas at Israeli towns and villages as a war crime.

The Golstone Report proposed a series of non-binding recommendations to Israel and the Palestinians, such as:

1. Recommendations to Israel:

a. Israel should immediately cease the border closures and restrictions of passage through border crossings and allow passage of goods into Gaza.

b. Israel should cease restrictions on sea access for Palestinian fishermen and allow fishing activities within 20 nautical miles of shore.

c. Israel should review the rules of engagement, standard operating procedures and open fire regulations. It should avail itself of international and local experts, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, to ensure compliance with international law.

d. Israel should allow freedom of movement for Palestinians within the territories and between Gaza and the West Bank.

e. Israel should release prisoners detained in connection with the occupation.

f. Israel should stop interfering with national political processes in the territories.

g. Israel should cease actions inside Israel aimed at limiting criticism by the public concerning Israeli policy and military operations in Gaza.

h. The government should refrain from acts of reprisal against Israelis and Palestinians who testified before the committee.

i. Israel should reiterate its commitment not to harm UN premises and personnel.

2. Recommendations to Palestinian armed groups:

a. Palestinian armed groups should respect international law.

b. The groups holding Gilad Schalit should release him or at least recognize his status as a POW.

3. To responsible Palestinian Authorities (PA):

a. The PA should instruct security forces under its command to abide by human rights norms and investigate all allegations of serious human rights violations.

b. The PA and Gaza authorities should immediately release all political detainees.

c. The PA and Gaza authorities should continue to enable free and independent operation of NGOs.

For additional information, please see:

The New York Times – U.N. Study Is Called Unfair to Israel – 18 September 2009

The Examiner – War crimes: Goldstone led UN commission critical of Israel – 20 September 2009

ABC News – Both sides culpable in Gaza War: UN report – 16 September 2009

By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

NEW YORK, United States – Leaders from Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and the United States will meet on September 22 on the sidelines of the General Assemble at the United Nations in New York, though none of the parties holds high expectations for the meeting.

 

The planned meeting is the culmination of intense efforts over the past several months by U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell and the Obama Administration to create an atmosphere conducive to restarting peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.

 

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on September 21 that the Obama Administration did not hold any “high expectations” of any major breakthroughs in the peace process, but that U.S. President Barack Obama hoped that the meeting would “continue to build on progress,” moving closer to actual negotiations.

 

Political realities in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, however, may push any negotiations far into the foreseeable future. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, has said that as long as Israel is unwilling to talk about a freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the issue of a right to return for Palestinian refugees, the Palestinians will not come to the table.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged his refusal to freeze settlements, but says that decisions on borders and settlements cannot be made until talks begin. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s governing coalition is right-wing and adamantly pro-settlement.

 

Another complicating factor in the peace process is the continuing animosity between the two Palestinian ruling parties—Fatah, which governs the West Bank and is the party of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh stated that Hamas will reject any agreement that comes out of the meeting in New York. Haniyeh’s statement is indicative of the deep political divide in the Palestinian Territories; in an August public opinion poll by Khalil Shikaki, only 12% of Palestinians said they expected a reconciliation between the governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the near future.

 

Despite widespread pessimism regarding any progress in the U.S. meeting, representatives from the three other so-called Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators – Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations – all still plan to hold meetings with the Israelis and Palestinians during the General Assembly.

 

For more information, please see:

 

Ma’an News Agency – White House Seeks to Lower Expectations Ahead of Abbas-Netanyahu Meet – 21 September 2009

 

Voice of America – US, Israeli, Palestinian Leaders to Meet in New York – 21 September 2009

 

Christian Science Monitor – Can Hamas Spoil Obama’s Three-Way Mideast Summit? – 20 September 2009

 

New York Times – Obama to Meet With Mideast Leaders – 20 September 2009

 

Al Jazeera – US Fails to Make Peace Breakthrough – 19 September 2009