The Middle East

Israel Approves Building New Settlements in East Jerusalem Ahead of John Kerry’s Visit to the Region

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited a controversial Israeli settlement in the West Bank on Monday where he dedicated a school named for his late father. The Netanyahu visit to the West Bank was played down by Israeli officials; however, the visit drew the Israeli settlement program into the limelight just ahead of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to the Middle East. The Secretary of State’s visit to the region is an attempt to reignite peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Jerusalem construction prepares new homes in two Palestinian-populated districts. (Photo courtesy of Aljazeera)

An Israeli planning committee has introduced a plan to build an additional sixty-nine housing units in Har Homa, a Jewish settlement of East Jerusalem originally constructed more than a decade ago with a population of roughly twelve thousand Israelis. The municipality has said that this plan is not new and has already been passed through initial planning stages.

Kerry’s visit will be his fifth to the region since being sworn in as Secretary of State in February. Kerry is expected to visit Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramalhal. Patrick Ventral, acting deputy spoken for the State Department decided to answer any questions about the announced settlements, but stated that on his trip Kerry will “sit down with both sides.” Kerry mentioned that he is not concerned with setting any deadlines for specific actions to be taken by either side, including limits on settlement development.

Kerry said “I’m not setting any deadlines. We purposefully wanted to avoid deadlines. Deadlines can become self-imposed hurdles and, in fact, impediments to actually making progress.” However, Kerry stated that this is an urgent time in the Middle East peace process and a critical moment to make difficult decisions because ultimately “time is the enemy of a peace process.”

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be recognized as the Palestinian state, which was annexed by Israel but never recognized by the international community. Palestine also feels that Israel must stop the development of new Jewish settlements in the occupied regions of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, lands that Palestinian hope will encompass the new Palestinian state. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of the state they seek in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. They say that Israel must stop building settlements before peace talks resume.

Palestinian officials condemned Netanyahu’s controversial visit to a Jewish Settlement and plans for continued construction in Har Homa as “message” to Secretary of State John Kerry intended to underpin the Israeli government’s possession in regard to continued settlement development in the West Bank.

For further information, please see:

Guardian – McDonald’s Israel Rejects West Bank Branch Proposal – 27 June 2013

Aljazeera – Israel Approves Settlements in East Jerusalem – 26 June 2013

CNN International – Israel Okays East Jerusalem Settlement Just before Kerry’s Peace Visit – 26 June 2013

Washington Post – Ahead of Kerry Visit, Israeli Leader Dedicates School in West Bank Settlement – 24 June 2013

Tunisia Frees Femen Activists After Apology

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TUNIS, Tunisia – Josephine Markmann, Pauline Hillier,  and Marguerite Stern, the three Femen activists arrested last month for a topless protest, were released on Wednesday after a Tunisian court heard their appeal.  The women had been sentenced to four months in jail for public indecency and offending public morals after protesting Amina Tyler’s arrest.  The women left Manouba prison late Wednesday night in the midst of small protest and arrived back in Paris on Thursday.

The three Femen activists held in Tunisia raise their fists triumphantly as they arrived at Orly airport on Thursday in Paris. (Photo Courtesy of Getty Images)

The women, dressed in the traditional Tunisian veil or sasfari, apologized for their actions during the appeal on Wednesday.

“I didn’t think it was going to shock Tunisians to that extent. Given the consequences, I would never do it again. We want to return to our country and our loved ones,” Ms Hillier told the court.

Local Islamist associations were attempting to join the trial as a civil party, which is allowed under Tunisian law, in an attempt to seek damages and delay the appeal.  Their lawyers asked for an extension and unsuccessfully argued that there had not been sufficient time to review the case file.

The activists’ French lawyer, Patrick Klugman, argued that the Islamist associations were merely trying to delay the appeal in an effort to keep the women imprisoned.  The court agreed and allowed arguments to proceed.  Klugman appealed to the court  that the protest was not sexual in nature and that the women did not exact such significant backlash as a result of their actions.

“You cannot pervert the message of Femen. Their breasts were visible to the public but they were carrying a message you can’t ignore. Stop looking at their breasts… and listen to them,” Klugman told the court.

The ruling comes after the Tunisian government came under pressure from Germany, France, and the European Union to reform its freedom of expression laws.  These governments along with international human rights groups had criticized the punishment as harsh and unjust.

The three activists had also received support from fellow Femen members.  Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Larayedh had been visiting Brussels on the eve of the hearing when three topless Femen protesters jumped on the hood of his car demanding the jailed Femen protesters be released.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Tunisia frees European Femen activists – 27 June 2013

Reuters – Tunisia frees trio who staged topless protest against Islamist-led government – 27 June 2013

BBC – Tunisia frees Femen topless protest activists – 26 June 2013

Daily Star – Jailed activists apologize for topless Tunisia protest – 26 June 2013

 

Lebanon Troops Attacked at Security Checkpoint

by Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Police arrested a follower of Sunni Musslim Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir at a security checkpoint twenty-eight miles south of Beirut on Sunday June 23rd.  The arrest sparked attacks on the police by other followers of the Sheikh.

Blocked roads and violent attacks plagued the city of Tripoli on Sunday June 23rd (photo courtesy of Reuters)

Reports say that at least ten Shi’ite soldiers were killed and forty wounded along with two Sunni gunmen being killed and thirteen wounded during the attack.  Violence has erupted due to Syrian conflict pitting Sunni rebels against Shi’ite supporters of President Bashar al-Assad, straining sectarian relations in Lebanon.

Sunni Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir has been surrounded by controversy after rising to power due to his strong opposition to Hezbollah and its ally, President Bashar al-Assad. Sheikh Ahmed recently has called on his supporters to fire on apartments near his home mosque that he believes to be used for surveillance on him by Hezbollah.

During Sunday’s fight, the Sheikh released a video message saying, “[w]e are being attacked by the Lebanese army,” and accusing the Shi’ite military of being “sectarian” in support of Hezbollah.  “I call on everyone. . .to cut off roads and to all honorable soldiers, Sunni and non-Sunni, to quit the army immediately,” continued the video message.

Following the security checkpoint clash and the Sheikh’s video message, Lebanon experienced severe outbursts of fighting throughout the regent.  Blocked roads and small protests in support of the Shi’ite army popped up in the province of Metn, north of Beirut.

“They are heightened in other cities, most notably Tripoli, and roads are said to be blocked.  There are also attempts to block certain roads in Beirut as well in support of Sheikh Assir,” said one reporter.

Bekaa Valley, home to a large Shi’ite population and Sunni supporters of the Syrian opposition experienced blocked roads and streets guarded by gunmen.  Ain al-Hilweh, a Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, suffered gunfire between Sunni radical groups and the Shi’ite army.

Shi’ite troops have been funneled to the various outbursts and the interior minister and other political leaders have been called on to take a stand.  The army issued a statement claiming that they would not tolerate Sunni uprisings and that it will “strike back with an iron fist anyone who. . .spills the bold of the army.”

“In cold blood” became the unofficial motto of the Shi’ite army who continued to fight against the Sunni rebels.  This tumultuous time in Lebanon has been equated to a fifteen year civil war in 1975, causing many to fear a repeat of history.

For more information, please see the following:

Al Bawaba – Lebanese army ramps up fight against radicals after Sidon deaths – 24 June 2013

Aljazeera – Violence spreads as troops killed in Lebanon – 24 June 2013

Sky News – Three Lebanese troops killed in clash– 24 June 2013

Reuters – Syria-linked clashes kill at least eight in Lebanon – 23 June 2013

Arrest of Syrian Network for Human Rights’ member in Aleppo

Name: Abeer Wanas

Father’s name: Adel

Mother’s name: Rahima Maesa Modares

Date of incident: 18/6/2013

Sex: Female

Date of birth: 1977

On Tuesday, 18 June 2013, Syrian Security Forces’ patrol broke into human rights defender, and member of the  Syrian Network for Human Right activist Abeer Wanas, without any formal charge and absent of prior-notifications.

Syrian Network for Human Rights has almost certain information that she is in political security branch in Aleppo.

SNHR daily documents more than 5 cases of civilians being tortured to death, including activists, where Syrian Security Forces do not distinguish between human rights activists, media activists, and fighters.  Also, security forces do not take gender into account.

SNHR documented 26 cases where women were tortured to death.  The last one was the media activist Marwa Hamdo Khalil, 21 years old – student in Sharia college – Aleppo governorate.

From this standpoint we are so afraid on the fate of human rights defender Abeer Wanas, where she might have been subjected to torture in order to reveal the SNHR members that she was dealing with.  The other goal is to send threatening letters to SNHR through the arrest of its members or their relatives to stop not just their work, but collectively ours also.

The detainee of Syrian nationality hasn’t been mentioned by any Arab or International human rights hand, or made any action for his arrest.

The SNHR confirms the call for the immediate release of Abeer, and request that the necessary means to protect her life and ensure her physical and psychological safety while she is under arrest, and to increase pressure on the Syrian Government to stop daily ongoing human rights violation, and escalating attacks on human rights defenders.

We request the Syrian government to pay attention to fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organizations of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as recognized internationally, in particular:

Article 5

For the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, at the national and international levels:

(b) To form, join and participate in non-governmental organizations, associations or groups;

Article 12

2. The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.

UN Report Accuses Israeli Forces of Using Palestinian Children as Human Shields

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Middle East

A report assembled by the United Nations Committee in the Rights of the Child accused Israeli military forces of abuses against Palestinian children that include torture, sexual assault, threats of death and solitary confinement in Israeli persons. In the report the committee voiced its “deepest concern about the reported practice of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian children arrested, prosecuted and detained by the military and the police.”

UN report finds abuse of Palestinian children by Israeli forces. (Photo courtesy of Aljazeera)

The Committee’s report claims that Israeli soldiers have “used Palestinian children to enter potentially dangerous buildings ahead of them and to stand in front of military vehicles in order to stop the throwing of stones against those vehicles.” The report cited evidence offered by the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism to back its claim.

According to the report Palestinian youth are arrested regularly during night raids with the children often having their hands tied behind their backs before being transferred to detention centers without their parents being informed of their arrest.

The report goes on to say that an estimated 7,000 children aged from 12 to 17 years and even as young as 9 years old, have been arrested, interrogated and detained in Israeli prisons since 2002. Most of the arrested children were arrested after being accused of throwing stones at Israeli forces or settlers, an offense which can carry a 20-year penalty.

The Israeli government has denied the allegations made by the UN Committee in its report. Aaron Sagui the spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC claimed that the report “is based on the recycling of old accusations, based on political biases – and not based on direct investigation on the ground – with the intention of bashing Israel.” Sagui went on to claim that the goal of the report was not to address legitimate concerns faced by Palestinian children but only to make headlines.

The Committee on the rights of the child expressed its “deepest concern that children on both sides of the conflict continue to be killed and injured,” and acknowledges the severity of Israel’s national security challenges, however it contends that Palestinians suffer a disproportionate amount of victimization as the result of what it calls Israel’s “illegal long-lasting occupation of Palestinian territory.” The committee believes that the plight of children on both sides of the conflict must be addressed for true peace to develop between Israel and Palestine.

For further information, please see:

CBS News – UN Report Accuses Israeli Forces of Using Palestinian Children as Human shields, Abusing Children in Custody – 21 June 2013

The Telegraph – Israel Furious at UN Report Detailing Torture of Palestinian Children – 21 June 2013

Aljazeera – Palestinian Authority PM Offers Resignation – 20 June 2013

Aljazeera – UN: Israeli Forces Abuse Palestinian Children – 20 June 2013

United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) Committee on the Rights of the Child – Committee on the Rights of the Child Issues Concluding Observations – 20 June 2013