By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

BEERSHEBA, Israel – On December 30, long-range rockets fired from Gaza have landed around the southern city of Beersheba, 28 miles (46km) from the Gaza-Israeli border.  Correspondents say it is the furthest the Palestinian militants in Gaza have managed to strike.

 No causalities were reported as the rockets hit an empty school in Beersheba and an open area in the nearby city of Rahat; several individuals were treated for shock. Also, on December 31, two rockets hit the city of Ashkelon, injuring one person slightly. 

Following the attack on Beersheba, an Israeli police spokesman said 860,000 Israelis were now in range of Hamas rockets.  According to the UN, over 700,000 Israelis are under immediate threat due to the 40-km range of the rockets fired from Gaza.

On December 31, the recent increase in the range of rocket-fire, led Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to declare a “special security situation” of all Israeli cities and towns within 30 km of the Gaza perimeter.  The declaration grants Home Front Command the authority to close factories, cancel conferences and events, and to conduct other civilian activities.  The Israeli cabinet is required to approve the special status, as it has already done for Israeli cities and towns within 20km of the border.

According to Home Front Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan, the Israeli air strikes in Gaza has impaired Hamas’ rocket firing capability, but it has not wiped it out.  “”This capability exists throughout the entire area and while it was hit hard, it was not eliminated.”  According to Israeli media, 100 rockets were fired from Gaza on December 30.  Three Israelis were killed in separate incidents.  Since the aerial campaign began on December 27, four Israelis have been killed in rocket attacks.

Also, Palestinian and IDF sources confirmed Israeli Air Force (IAF) strikes on dozens of smuggling tunnels in the Rafah area, near the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.  This is the second time the tunnels have been bombed since the beginning of Operation Lead Cast.  Israeli officials argue that the tunnels are being used to smuggle metal and pipes necessary for the construction of Qassam rockets.  It is also believed that weapons and money destined for militant groups is being smuggled through the tunnels as well.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Gaza Rockets Hit Deep into Israel – 31 December 2008

Ha’aretz – As Rockets Fall, Peres Tours Ashkelon and Vows IDF is Ready for Anything – 31 December 2008

Jerusalem Post – Barak: “Special Security Situation” For Towns within 30 Km. of Gaza – 31 December 2008 l

Telegraph – More Than 700,000 Israelis Now in Range of Hamas Missiles – 31 December 2008

Relief Web – Israel/OPT: Situation Update 30 Dec 2008 – 30 December 2008

Yedioth – Grad Rockets Lands in Kiryat Malachi – 30 December 2008

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

GAZA CITY, Gaza – December 30 is the fourth day of Israel’s aerial campaign in Gaza.  In Gaza City, Israeli air raids damaged five government buildings; including an Islamist university building, the Interior Ministry and the office of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader and former Palestinian Prime Minister.

As of December 29, the Palestinian death toll had reached 363, with 1,720 people wounded. According to UN figures, most of the victims have been Hamas security forces but at least 64 of them were civilians, including 39 children. 

In addition, rockets are still being fired from Gaza into Israel.  According to the Israeli military, since December 27, over 250 rockets have been fired from Gaza.  Additionally, on December 30, the Jerusalem Post reported that over 30 rockets have been fired that morning.

Also, on December 30, European Union (EU) foreign ministers will meet in Paris to discuss an appeal for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.  In France’s last act as EU president, Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister, will urge his European colleagues to issue a joint truce demand.  Reuters reported that a senior EU diplomat said that the EU were discussing ways to open humanitarian aid corridors to Gaza, by land, air or sea, but establishing them would require Israel and Hamas to hold their fire. 

According to Reuters, an Israeli government official said Kouchner spoke to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak by telephone and proposed a 48-hour truce to allow in aid.  In addition, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s spokesman, Mark Regev, stated that Israel would like to see “convoy after convoy of humanitarian support and we are willing to work closely with all relevant international parties to facilitate that goal.” 

However, Regev added, “At the same time, it is important to keep the pressure up on Hamas, not give them a respite, time to regroup and reorganize.”  In addition, there are multiple reports of both sides rejecting any possibility of a temporary truce or renewing the previous ceasefire agreement.

As EU leaders met, protests against the Israeli military action took place across the world.  In London, hundreds of demonstrators returned for a second day of protests in front of the Israeli Embassy.  People chanted slogans in support of Palestine behind metal barriers and in the presence of 30 police officers and a police helicopter.  Protests held on the previous day resulted in the arrests of seven individuals for public disorder offenses.

Demonstrations also occurred in cities across the Arab world.  Demonstrators burnt Israeli and US flags and gathered in front of UN offices demanding stronger international condemnation. 

On December 28, Jordanian deputies burnt an Israeli flag during a parliamentary session.  Khalil Atiyah, a prominent independent deputy, along with several pro-government MPs and an Islamist deputy, set the flag aflame inside the lower house chamber during a special session to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

In addition, on December 30, Iran announced that it had set up a court to try Israelis for its air attacks on Gaza and is ready to try Israeli officials in absentia.  Judiciary spokesman Alirezi Jamshidi said, “The court is in a special branch in Tehran and entrusted with the task of dealing with the executors, planners and officials of this (Israeli) regime who have committed crimes.”

Jamshidi said the court was set up on the basis of the UN Convention on the Prevention of Genocide to which Iran is a signatory.  He called on all Palestinians who have been affected by the Israeli operation in Gaza to file complaints.

On December 29, the Iranian Islamic Republic News Agency reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had called for immediate legal action against Israeli leaders for the humanitarian crisis and death of innocent civilians in Gaza.  Iranian leaders said those involved in the attacks in Gaza “should be designated as a war criminal and murderer” and added that they would urge the UN to bring Israeli leaders before an international court.

In addition to targeting the governments of Israel and the US, demonstrators are also targeting Arab leaders.  In Beirut, hundreds of Hezbollah supporters demonstrated near the Egyptian Embassy, protesting against what they see as a tacit green light given by some Arab countries for the Israeli attack on Hamas. 

In Yemen, hundreds of angry protesters stormed the Egyptian consulate in Aden.  According to a security official, the protesters stormed the front gate, climbed the two-story building to the roof and set fire to the Egyptian flag.

In Annan, Jordanian protesters marched to the Egyptian Embassy and demanded that Cairo open its border with Gaza to end the blockade imposed on Gaza.  Demonstrators also demanded that the Jordanian and Egyptian governments sever their diplomatic ties with Israel and expel the Israeli ambassadors. 

The Israeli government has downplayed the international and Arab criticism regarding its recent aerial campaign.  A senior government official told AFP, “The tone of the criticism is moderate, restrained, more balanced, at least in the case of those countries that count… I’m not talking about Iran or other extremist states.”

Jerusalem Post noted the support from the US and the “evenhanded” reaction from the European leaders, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.  The Israeli newspaper dismissed the angrier condemnations as coming “from those who make no pretence at being evenhanded.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Israel Downplays Criticism of Gaza Blitz – 30 December 2008

Jerusalem Post – Palestinian Terrorists Continue to Rocket Southern Israel; No Causalities – 30 December 2008

International Herald Tribune – Yemeni Protesters Attack Egyptian Consulate – 30 December 2008

Reuters – Iran Sets Up Court to Try Israelis over Gaza – 30 December 2008

Reuters – Israel Presses on with Gaza Strikes Amid Truce Talks – 30 December 2008

Scotsman – Hundreds Protest Outside Israeli Embassy over Gaza Attacks – 30 December 2008

Times – EU Leaders Meet to Discuss Gaza Violence – 30 December 2008

The Wall Street Journal – Gaza Protests Now Target Arab Leaders – 30 December 2008

Middle East Times – Iran Calls for War Crimes for Israel – 29 December 2008

Times – Protest Erupt in the Arab World Against Airstrikes – 29 December 2008

Reuters – Jordan Deputies Burn Israeli Flag in Assembly – 28 December 2008

By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On December 27, the Iraqi High Tribunal commenced a new trial against several former Baathist officials, including former Iraqi Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as ‘Chemical Ali’, on charges that they were involved in the persecution of political opponents while Saddam Hussein was in power.  20 other high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein’s government were also indicted.

The current charges allege that both Aziz and Al-Majid’s perpetrated crimes against humanity, including the arrest of nearly 250,000 members of Dawa and other political parties.  Between 1981 and the 2003 US-led invasion, many of those arrested were either imprisoned or executed.  In 1980, the Iraqi government banned the Dawa party and threatened to execute any members.

One incident included in the indictment, is the massacre in Balad in 1981, where the government arrested 1,135 Dawa members and their families and held them captive at a camp in the desert near the Saudi border.  All men ages 15 years and older were executed, resulting in a death toll of 379.  When the women and children were released in 1984, the government had confiscated their homes and property.

Prosecutor Mahdi al-Haddo cited other instances of the Hussein government’s persecution of Dawa members in his opening remarks to the court including, accounts of Dawa members being fatally poisoned, tied to dynamite, or thrown into vats of acid.  Other allegations include the rape of the wives and daughters of Dawa party members.

According to al-Haddo, “We want to give a true depiction of crimes committed by the Saddamists against sons of Iraq in Balad.  We must show people across the nation, especially those characterizing Saddam as an Arab nationalist and his government as a democracy.”

The Dawa Party is currently led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.  While many Iraqis, including relatives of the victims, welcome the new charges, critics claim that the timing of the trial is a political move by the Maliki government to increase their support among its core constituency – Iraq’s Shia population – before the upcoming provincial elections in January.  These critics argue that the fact that several of the current defendants have previously been tried, convicted and sentenced suggests that the timing of the current trial is politically motivated.

Al-Majid has previously received two death sentences by the Iraqi court for his role in the gassing of Kurds in northern Iraq, which killed nearly 5,000 people, and for his role in suppressing a Shia uprising in 1991.  Aziz was previously tried for his involvement in the execution of Iraqi businessmen for allegedly raising prices during the first Gulf War.  Several of the other defendants are currently facing charges in other trials involving atrocities committed while serving in the Hussein government.

For more information, please see:

Alsumaria – New Charges Against Former Regime Officials – 29 December 2008

Azeri Press Agency –  Former Saddam Hussein’s Associate’s Tariq Aziz and “Chemical Ali” Go on New Trial – 29 December 2008

BBC – Saddam Loyalists Face New Charges – 28 December 2008

NY Times – Ex-Hussein Officials and Others Go on Trial  – 28 December 2008

Reuters – Iraq Tries Saddam Officials for Crushing Opponents – 28 December 2008