By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – Amnesty International recently released its annual report on Syria, reporting that the Middle Eastern nation continues to stifle freedom of expression and free association, particularly among its ethnic minorities.

As recently as April, the Syrian Supreme State Security Court reaffirmed its nation-wide ban on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a  Kurdish separatist group, and sentenced five members to seven to eight years of imprisonment for plotting to “detach part of Syrian territory,” according to the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria (NOHRS).  The Supreme State Security Court is a special court that operates outside of the criminal justice system, with the purpose of prosecuting those challenging the government.  Syria has been under an official state of emergency since 1963, which has given government security forces broad powers to arrest, detain, and imprison those it views as dangerous dissidents.

Ethnic Kurds make up approximately ten percent of the Syrian population, and suffer restrictions on use of the Kurdish language and culture.  In September 2008, the Syrian government placed restrictions on Kurdish property and housing rights in sensitive border areas.   While confrontations between Arabs and Kurds receive the most media attention, Syria is home to many other ethnic minority groups, including Kurmandji and Aramaeans, all of whom are subject to the same restrictions on their cultural heritage.

The persecution of ethnic minorities may be part of a larger dialogue that has resumed between Syria and the United States, signaled by the meeting on June 12 between President Bashar al-Assad and U.S. envoy, former-Senator George Mitchell.  Relations between the two nations had chilled in 2004, when the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Syria for accusations that Syria sponsored terrorism.  The sanctions had been extended several times.  Mitchell said he hopes Middle East peace talks will resume shortly.

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – Syria welcomes US envoy Mitchell – 13 June 2009

American Chronicle – Amnesty International Report 2009 on Syria – 31 May 2009

Amnesty International – Report 2009—Syria – May 2009

Syria Today – Syrian state security court jails banned PKK members – May 2009

Human Rights Watch – Syria:  Dissolve the State Security Court – 24 February 2009

TSKHINVALI, South Ossetia – Attempts by the Georgian Republic to interfere with South Ossetia’s parliamentary elections on May 31 were thwarted, the South Ossetian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

While the European Union and NATO have dismissed the election as illegitimate, international observers have deemed the election process fair, including an Italian member of the EU, who declared the vote a “model of democracy.”

Moldavian monitors have also called for authorities to recognize the election results, reporting that polling stations were operated according to international standards.  The same monitors added that Moldavia should now recognize South Ossetia as an independent state.

Georgia Times – Moldavian monitors at South Ossetian elections called on the authorities to recognize it – 5 June 2006

Moscow News – The week in review—South Ossetia elections denounced by West – 4 June 2009

INO.com – NATO Rejects South Ossetia Elections Results – 2 June 2009

By Nykoel Dinardo
Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On June 13, Iraq held a state funeral for Sunni Leader Harith al-Obeidi after his assassination on June 12.  Al-Obeidi was the leader of the largest Sunni bloc in the Iraqi Parliament.  He was known for his strong stance on human rights issues.  He argued for the rights of many Sunni detainees in Iraq, a controversial issue between the Sunni minority and the largely-Shi’ite government. 

Al-Obeidi’s assassination took place outside a mosque in Baghdad, where he had just finished giving the sermon at the Friday afternoon services.  A teenaged gunman shot al-Obeidi twice in the head, and then opened fire on al-Obeidi’s guards.   He then ran down the street, and detonated a grenade on his own body, killing himself and several bystanders. 

The Interior Ministry of Iraq released a report stating that they believe that the assassination was orchestrated by al Qaida.  Ministry officials refuse to elaborate, saying that there would not be more information until a more thorough investigation had been completed.  However, there is speculation that al-Obeidi’s assassination was planned to aggravate tensions between Sunni and Shi’ite communities. 

Al-Obeidi was known for his attempts to unify the factions within the Iraqi parliament.  According to Shatha al-Abousi, another Sunni lawmaker, al-Obeidi wanted national unity.  Al-Abousi also explained that al-Obeidi, an avid human rights supporter, disclosed information about the torture and mistreatment that had taken place in Iraqi prisons.  Both Sunni and Shi’ite government officials from all over the country came to show their respect for al-Obeidi at his funeral. 

The assassination comes just one day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned that there may be an increase in violence in the coming months.  U.S. troops are scheduled to withdraw from urban areas by June 30, and there is concern that violence will increase without the extra military assistance.  Furthermore, elections are scheduled for January of next year, and there is concern that there will be an increase in assassination attempts before the election.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Iraq Blames al-Qaida for Sunni Killing – 13 June 2009

Los Angeles Times – Leader of Iraq Parliament’s Arab Bloc Assassinated – 13 June 2009

Reuters – Iraq Holds State Funeral for Murdered Lawmaker – 13 June 2009

Voice of America – Iraqi Leaders Mourn Slain Sunni Lawmaker – 13 June 2009

Associated Press – Iraq: Senior Sunni Lawmaker Killed Outside Mosque – 12 June 2009

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – “We only get running water a few hours each day,” says Aziz Harbi, a Palestinian Authority security officer who lives with his family in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.  “The water is not drinkable.  We use it for cleaning and washing.  But it is dirty.  After a shower, the skin is irritated, and my children often come out with a rash.”

Since the Israeli military siege on Gaza in January 2009, only 7% of the available water supply meets the standards of the World Health Organization.  The World Bank reports that in 2005 the Gaza Strip began a “well-designed master plan for water and sanitation,” though less than 2% of the plan has been fully implemented, and since the end of the siege, progress has frozen.  In addition, the water filtration systems were damaged and the aquifer beneath the Gaza Strip dropped, saline water from the Mediterranean has flooded into the aquifer. 

A recent World Bank report found that Israel uses four times more water than the Palestinians from a vital West Bank aquifer.  Israelis use 240 cubic meters of water per person each year, compared with 125 cubic meters per person in the Gaza Strip and 75 cubic meters in the West Bank. Gidon Bromberg, the Israeli head of Friends of the Earth Middle East said there was a “clear failure” to meet the water needs of both Israelis and Palestinians, and that Israel was taking the “lion’s share.”

As severe as the water crisis is in Gaza, matters are more complicated in the West Bank.  According to several agreements, the mountain aquifer running the length of the West Bank is to be shared by Israel and the Palestinians, but the World Bank reports that the Palestinians have access to only a fifth of the water.  Palestinian water sources are often contaminated by pesticides and fertilizers from Israeli settlements.  Palestinians are also concerned by the impact of the Israeli separation barrier, which dips into the West Bank to include water sources, and which many Palestinians contend undermines Palestinians’ hope of a viable independent state.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian – Israelis Get Four-Fifths of Scarce West Bank Water, says World Bank – 27 May 2009

The Electronic Intifada – Israeli Army Contaminating Water Sources – 25 May 2009

The National – Water Fails to Flow Fairly in West Bank – 20 April 2009

Palestinian Hydrology Group – The Water and Sanitation – 12 January 2009 

Palestinian Monitor – Water – 18 December 2008

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt– Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal spoke in Egypt on Tuesday, giving conditions on which the peace process between Israel and Palestine can succeed after a conference with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.  Meshaal stressed the need for disputes between factions to cease, specifically, the security forces of Fatah need to stop their raids against Hamas in the West Bank. Additionally, immediate action to create and implement a two state solution must be taken.

Exiled Meshaal resides in Damascus in  Syria. Meshaal referred to conflicts on the West Bank,  as the biggest hurdle in the peace process for Israel and Palestine. He cited last week’s violent attacks which killed nine Palestinians, four security officers of President Mahmoud Abbas and one civilian as an example of these conflicts.

Meshaal found the speech that President Obama gave in Cairo last week “encouraging.” However, Meshaal is concerned that these words need to be followed with action in the form of true continued pressure from the United States for an Israeli and Palestinian peace process, or there will not be any progress. Meshaal welcomes Obama’s contact with Hamas as the first American contact since President Carter.

Egypt is also putting the pressure on Hamas and Israel to come up with a viable two- state solution. Particularly, Egypt is putting the pressure on the different Palestinian factions, like Hamas and Fatah, to “bridge divisions” by July 7, so that the Palestinian state could hold elections in 2010.

Meshaal thinks that if the violence between Fatah and Hamas could stop then there would be a real chance for the peace process to succeed. Meshaal expressed his approval of a two- state solution that would use the 1967 borders to delineate the two states. He also expressed Hamas’s willingness to be involved in the peace process.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Hamas: Fatah Raids Disrupting Talks– 10 June 2009

BBC News- Hamas ‘Will Not Obstruct’ 1967 Borders Deal – 10 June 2009

Xinhua- Meshaal in Cairo to Defuse Tension Between Hamas-Fatah– 10 June 2009

Reuters- Raids Hamper Palestinian Reconciliation- Hamas – 9 June 2009

Voice of America- Hamas Leader Meshaal in Egypt for Reconciliation Talks– 9 June 2009