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Israel's IDF Has Killed Nine Journalists and Wounded 170 Since 2000

Israel kills Gaza Journalist Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana

The body of Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana lying down close to a Palestinian child after being hit by Israeli tank shell, ironically filming his own death by a highly questionable tank-fired flechette munition.

Image Credit: Mohammed Omer, Rafah Today 2008-04-16.

BBSNews 2008-05-14 -- By Mohammed Omer. Fadel Shana just had to go to the scene of the Israeli bombing. As a Reuters cameraman, that was his job. Hewasn't the only one killed, but through his pursuit of attacks as they happen, he was always more at risk than most others.

Fadel Shana was killed Wednesday because he was in the firing line, but also because, eyewitnesses said, hehad begun to film the tanks that were firing. A barrage of metal shrapnel pierced his body as a tank missile landed close to him.

Fadel Shana, 23, had been injured in August 2006 in the north of the Gaza Strip in an Israeli missile attack. This time he wasn't lucky enough to survive.

After the first missile that killed Fadel, a second tank missile directly hit the Reuters vehicle in which Fadel had been travelling, killing two children and another civilian close by, and injuring 12 others, including five children. Wafa Abu Mezyed, 25, aReuters sound man, was injured.

The Reuters silver coloured Mitsubishi SUV carried 'TV' and 'Press' stickers in English and Arabic prominently across its doors, hood, and roof. And yet it was attacked more than once. Agency-France Press photographer Mohammed Abed who was driving behind Abed said the vehicle burst into flames after the second missile struck it. "I saw the body and head of myfriend and colleague torn to pieces," he said, visibly shattered by the loss.

Fadel Shana was among many journalists and photographers who had come to film the children and civilians injured by earlier Israeli air strikes and tank shelling. At least 20 Palestinians have been killed since dawn on Wednesday, among them Fadel and eight children.

Abu Mezyed said that after filming some children, Fadel turned to film Israeli tanks. That was when a tank immediately fired a missile in his direction, killing him.

Journalists have long been targeted in the region. Since September 2000, Israeli forces have killed nine journalists, and have wounded at least 170 others.

Reuters has 70 journalists and other members of the media in Palestinian and Israeli areas, 15 of them in Gaza. Last October, a Reuters photographer was injured by Israeli occupation forces close to the Erez crossing.

The killing of Fadel Shana has raised new concern among Gaza's journalists. The Fatah party which runs the administration in the West Bank has called the killing of journalists "assassinating the truth." Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said "the Israeli occupation targets journalists in order to kill the truth."

The Palestinian Journalists Union announced a strike on Thursday in protest against the killing of journalists. Reuters editor-in-chief David Schlesinger called for an investigation. "This tragic incident shows the risks journalists take every day to reportthe news. All governments and organisations have a responsibility to take the utmost care to protect professionals trying to do their jobs," he said in a comment posted on the agency website.

"Our thoughts are with his family. We request an immediate investigation into the incident by the Israeli defence forces." The group Reporters Without Borders also called on Israeli authorities "to quickly investigate the circumstances that led to the Reuters cameraman's death."

Israel apologised for the killing of Fadel Shana, and pledged to investigate the circumstances of his killing.

Thousands attended the funeral of Fadel Shana Thursday. With his body was carried another stretcher bearing his camera.

But the attacks continue, for others to suffer, and still others to film. The attacks on Juhor al-Dik village, east of Bureij refugee camp have injured 35 people, at least eight of them critically. The injured include 17 children and a woman, according to thePalestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR).

And there is not enough fuel for ambulances to get to the injured. Some of the injured have been brought to hospital on donkey carts.

The latest Israeli assault follows what the Ezz al-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, an armed wing of Hamas, called a "sophisticated ambush" in which three Israeli soldiers were killed.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday: "We are aware of the suffering of the people of Gaza,but in our eyes, the suffering of the residents of communities that border on that area, and those of the Israeli army count more."

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Is it an Israeli Birthday Party or a Palestinian al-Nakba?

The West's leaders mark the Rogue State's 60th birthday with a back-slapping show of friendship... but what are they so pleased about?

Photo: The Tank, Musa al-Shaer.

BBSNews 2008-05-13 -- By Stuart Littlewood. Israel has ethnically cleansed and oppressed the Palestinian people for 60 years. Israel continues to occupy, rob, humiliate, threaten and slaughter its neighbours. Israel's military occupation of Palestine is illegal under international law and breaches countless UN resolutions. Israel is no western-style democracy. It is hatefully racist. 8 Palestinians die for every Israeli; when it comes to children the kill-rate is 11 to 1.

The Israel lobby has undue influence over many elected western politicians and government ministers, distorting foreign policy

Israel's cheer-leaders kick up a fuss about one captured Israeli soldier while 9000 Palestinians, including women and children, languish in Israeli jails.

Israel relentlessly pursues a policy of displacement, i.e. exile and deportation, economic impoverishment, land expropriation, revoking residency rights, etc, to expand its borders.

The siege of Gaza will end if the Qassam rockets stop, says Israel. No rockets are fired from the West Bank but Israel still occupies it, steals it, terrorises it and dumps toxic waste and raw sewage there.

Of the 1.4 million people squashed into Gaza, two-thirds are refugees from Israel's land-grabs. Now they are blockaded, blitzed and blasted with sophisticated weaponry paid for with US tax dollars.

Gaza's 3000 fishermen have no fuel for their boats. If they do put to sea they risk being shelled by Israeli patrol vessels.

Half the dialysis and other machines in Gaza's hospitals are out of action because the Israelis won't let spares in, or even essential drugs.

Israel is paralysing the Christian Church and terrorising the Holy Land's Christian communities.

Knowing all this, our prime minister Gordon Brown calls the State of Israel one of the �greatest achievements' of the 20th century. "Let us all stand ready to help Israel find a truly secure place in a peaceful Middle East," he says in a speech to mark the entity's celebrations.

Has the wee man lost his marbles? Jews themselves are critical of the Jewish state. In addition to the many well-known individuals who speak out, a number of organisations stand against the unspeakable abuses practiced by the Israel... Rabbis for Human Rights, ICAHD, Neturei Karta, Peace Now, Independent Jewish Voice, Gush Shalom, the human rights organisation B'Tselem and many more. Yesh Gvul supports Israeli soldiers who refuse to take part in acts of oppression and occupation. We salute them all.

Why do so many of our politicians carry on a love affair with Israel?

The Betrayal

Jerusalem was already 2000 years old when King David captured it. Jews controlled it for some 500 years, lost it to the Roman Empire in 63BC and were finally expelled by Hadrian in 135AD. Christians subsequently ruled Jerusalem for 88 years and Muslims for nearly 1200.

In 1897 a political movement, Zionism, was founded to return the Jewish people to their former homeland after 1700-odd years and resume sovereignty by pushing the Arabs out and injecting millions of East European Jews.

During WW1 historic Palestine was 'liberated' from Turkish Ottoman rule after letters in 1915 between Sir Henry McMahon and Sharif Hussein ibn Ali of Mecca promised Arab leaders independence in return for their help in defeating Germany's ally.

Top people among the British and American political classes, however, had been �massaged' by the Zionists and the Balfour Declaration of 1917 gave their project the green light. Balfour, a Zionist convert, wrote: "In Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country...."

In 1922 the League of Nations placed Palestine under British mandate. Jewish immigration was to be facilitated and Jews taking up residency would have Palestinian citizenship.

The British government, by now sensitive to Arab concerns, issued a White Paper. "The terms of the Declaration referred to," it said, "do not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a Home should be founded �in Palestine'."

As WW2 loomed Britain realised that its promises to Arabs and Zionists were irreconcilable and adopted the middle-of-the-road position of a Palestinian state with a guaranteed Arab majority. Furious, Zionist militants unleashed a reign of terror, which continued after the war. Britain gave up the mandate and the United Nations partitioned Palestine, handing the Jews 57% of the territory although they amounted to only 30% of the population. Jerusalem was to be separately administered.

The Arab League and the Palestinians rejected the plan. To force the issue Jewish terror gangs committed a massacre at Deir Yassin. More atrocities followed the declaration of Israeli statehood on 14 May 1948. 750,000 Palestinians were put to flight as Israel's forces obliterated hundreds of Arab villages and towns. 34 massacres are said to have been committed in pursuit of the new nation's racist and territorial ambitions. 15 May marks the dark day in 1948 remembered by Palestinians as al-Nakba (the Catastrophe) and the start of the military terror that forced them off their homeland.

And the West wonders why Islam aims to "obliterate" Israel......

Politics of Violence and Selfish Greed

UN Resolution 194, re-passed every year since 1948, requires Israel to let Palestinian refugees return to their homes or compensate them. Israel refuses to comply.

In the 1967 Six Day War Israel seized what remained of Palestine - the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Resolution 242 ordered Israel to withdraw its troops, but again it refuses.

As a result, Palestinians today comprise the largest refugee population in the world and have endured the longest, most brutal occupation of modern times.

David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, said that compulsory transfer gave the Zionist project "a vast area (for settlement)...I support compulsory transfer. I don't see anything immoral in it."

Ariel Sharon was a war-criminal at 25 when his secret death squad, Unit 101, dynamited homes and massacred 69 Palestinian civilians - half of them women and children - at Qibya in the West Bank. His troops destroyed 2,000 homes in the Gaza Strip, uprooting 12,000 people and deporting hundreds of young Palestinians to Jordan and Lebanon. He masterminded Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon causing massive loss of life. An Israeli tribunal found him indirectly responsible for the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps and removed him from office. Sharon was later welcomed in the drawing rooms of western leaders.

"The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state," says the manifesto of the Likud party which until recently governed Israel and may do so again. "Jerusalem is the eternal, united capital of the State of Israel and only of Israel."

The ruling Kadima party, a split-off from Likud, claims a national and historic right to the Land of Israel "in its entirety" and will keep Jerusalem and the settlements.

But the last official word on the future status of Jerusalem was the UN's declaration in 1947 that it should be a 'corpus separatum', an international city. In any event the Old City, with its Holy Places, is in Occupied East Jerusalem and belongs to the Palestinians, not Israel.

Israel claims to be a liberal democracy but is no respecter of democratic principles. Arabs still living in Israel do not enjoy equal rights. No sooner had the Palestinians democratically elected a government than Israel and the West conspired to smash it.

Israel has seized more than 38% of the West Bank, including prime agricultural land and strategic water resources. These areas are now off-limits to Palestinian. 80% of the West Bank's precious water is diverted to illegal settlers, who enjoy a 24/7 supply, filling their swimming pools and washing their cars while Palestinians are strictly rationed or go without.

The 'roadmap' endorsed by the UN Security Council requires Israel to dismantle outposts and freeze all settlement activity. But prime minister Olmert carries on regardless, approving 1900 more housing units across the West Bank and continuing to confiscate and demolish Palestinian homes and property.

"More than 200 settlements have been constructed in the Occupied Territories, and 450,000 Israelis have migrated across the 1967 boundaries," says ICAHD (Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions).

In 2004 the International Court of Justice ruled that the Separation Wall, where it bites deep into Palestinian territory, is illegal and must be dismantled. Israel is still building it. Its real purpose, of course, is to grab more land and the all-important Western Aquifer.

All this, together with the exclusive Jewish claim to the entire country, is designed to prevent the emergence of a viable Palestinian state. The settlements and associated infrastructure have chopped the remnants of Palestine into dozens of isolated, impoverished enclaves. Palestinians are forbidden to travel between them without military permission and their towns and villages have become prisons.

What else is the West helping its Israeli 'friends' to celebrate?

For 60 years Israel has terrorised and oppressed Christians and their Muslim neighbours. No Muslim or Palestinian Christian living outside Jerusalem is allowed to visit the Holy Places without special permission. Priests cannot go about their business normally or travel to see their families because Israel's new visa policy would prevent them returning to their parishes.
The proportion of Christians has fallen from 17% to less than 1.5% in the land where Christianity began.
Some 30 democratically elected Palestinian parliamentarians have been abducted and thrown in jail under �administrative detention'.
Israel's murder spree continues. Since the second Intifada in 2000, 4722 Palestinians including 974 children have been killed in their homeland by Israelis and thousands more maimed. 2199 were taking no part in hostilities when killed. Corresponding Israeli deaths are 573 including 84 children (B'Tselem figures up to end of April 2008).
According to the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission Israel has a nuclear arsenal numbering in the hundreds, possibly larger than the Britain's. Israel is the only state in the region not to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has not signed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention either. It has signed but not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, similarly the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Israel claims to have "withdrawn completely" from Gaza. Actually the Israeli military still occupies Gaza's airspace and coastal waters, invades with tanks, bulldozers and aircraft whenever it pleases and controls all entries and exits except the Egypt crossing, which it is allowed to 'monitor'.
British and European taxpayers wouldn't need to pour aid into Palestine if it had been left in peace to develop. As things stand we have to pick up the tab for Israel's unlawful occupation, economic strangulation and wrecking tactics.
80% of Conservative MPs and MEPs are �Friends of Israel' and the Labour party is also deeply infiltrated and corrupted.
US aid is about $3 billion annually with another $2 to 3 billion in indirect aid � i.e. military support, loan write-offs and special grants. So US tax-dollars pay for Israel's military operations to destroy Palestinian infrastructure, which in many cases British and EU taxpayers have paid for. Gee, thanks America! The US also bribes Egypt and Jordan to co-operate with Israel.
Israel relies heavily on the EU for its export trade and enjoys trading preferences under the EU-Israel Association Agreement of 1995, which requires adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. Israel disregards the terms but continues to reap the benefits. It would be relatively easy to bring Israel to heel by suspend the Agreement, and there have been many calls to do so for continual violation of Article 2, which says "respect for human rights and democratic principle... constitute an essential element of this agreement." In April 2002 the European parliament itself, with a large majority, requested the European Commission and the Council of Europe to suspend it, without success.
Israel is pushing for a two-state solution to guarantee the purity of its racist regime. What's left of Occupied Palestine - those fragments raped of resources and polluted - will become a permanent cluster of ghettos, traumatised, subservient, easy to control and having no chance of prospering or posing a threat... a dumping-ground for non-Jews �cleansed' from Israel proper. The British government endorses this shabby plan.
A single state solution, in which Jews live alongside their Arab neighbours as equal citizens and share the land within a common legal and democratic framework, would be fairer though not to the liking of the Zionists and their lackeys. So it is dismissed from the discussion.

Warnings unheeded

Israel, headed by a man facing corruption charges, invites us to celebrate 60 years of murder, mayhem, greed, land theft, illegal occupation, human rights abuses, contempt for international law and disregard for the will of the international community... and senior figures, from the Queen downwards, send their congratulations.

Many people warned against appeasing the Zionists. 90 years ago Lord Sydenham, in response to the Balfour Declaration, said: "The harm done by dumping down an alien population upon an Arab country may never be remedied. What we have done, by concessions not to the Jewish people but to a Zionist extreme section, is to start a running sore in the East, and no-one can tell how far that sore will extend."

The outcome? Ariel Sharon is famously quoted as saying: "We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it." Had he been available for comment today he'd probably be saying the same about Britain, with much congratulatory back-slapping from Mr Blair and Mr Brown.

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Stuart Littlewood is a business consultant turned writer and photographer living in England. He is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. For details please visit www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk

Lebanon's Fighting Spreads to Druze Heartland

Opposition continues military takeover, enforces siege

Saad Hariri's Future Movement headquarters in west Beirut was attacked by Shia fighters early on Friday morning.

Image Courtesy: � Hugh Macleod/IRIN

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BBSNews 2008-05-12 -- BEIRUT (IRIN) Lebanon's worst sectarian violence since its civil war ended in 1990 has spread from Beirut to the Druze heartlands of Mount Lebanon and on to the second city of Tripoli in the north as Hezbollah and its opposition allies continued their military takeover of the country.

Druze leader Waleed Jumblatt, who for many years has controlled the mountain areas southeast of Beirut, ordered his fighters to stand down and requested his rival Hezbollah-allied Druze leader Talal Arsalan to hand the area over to the army.

"I tell my supporters that civil peace, coexistence and stopping war and destruction are more important than any other consideration," Jumblatt told local TV station LBC.

Eye-witnesses in Aley, the Druze-majority town at the heart of the clashes, said Shia Hezbollah fighters patrolled the streets, firing into the air, following fierce clashes with Jumblatt's Progressive Social Party (PSP) militants.

Mountain conflict

The mountain conflict began late 9 May after Hezbollah and its opposition allies' took over Sunni-majority west Beirut. According to witnesses, Hezbollah militants operating in Mount Lebanon set up checkpoints between the villages of Qmatiye and Souk el-Gharb, two kilometers southwest of Aley.

Confronted by PSP fighters, Hezbollah kidnapped four of the Druze, killing one, according to residents of Aley. In revenge, PSP members kidnapped and executed three Hezbollah supporters.

"Mount Lebanon has nothing to do with the problems in Beirut," said Rami Shamseddine, a resident of Aley. "We've been through lots of wars here and have learned our lesson. We just want peace."

In Tripoli, supporters of Sunni parliamentary leader Saad Hariri, whose fighters in west Beirut were routed on 8 May, burned Hezbollah offices, triggering running gun battles between rival Sunni militants. At least 7,000 residents fled their homes and several civilians were wounded, though an uneasy calm held by the afternoon.

39 dead, dozens injured

At least 39 people have been killed and dozens wounded in four days of fighting between supporters of the Western-backed government, now facing collapse, and the Hezbollah-led Iranian and Syrian-backed opposition, triggered after the government ordered a crackdown on Hezbollah's military infrastructure.

The crisis deepened on 10 May after Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, vowed to confront Hezbollah over the issue of its arms, an issue Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said would be tantamount to a "declaration of war".

"Hezbollah today has a problem with all of Lebanon, not just the government," said Siniora. "We never suspected Hezbollah was capable of occupying Beirut militarily. Hezbollah must realize the force of arms cannot intimidate us."

The US and Israel have warned that the Hezbollah takeover of Beirut could trigger regional conflict, while Britain, Italy and France have readied evacuation plans for their nationals.

Turkey and Kuwait have already begun evacuating their citizens through Lebanon's northern border with Syria, the only open route out of the country. The road to Lebanon's airport has been blocked since 7 May by Hezbollah supporters. Other land routes are cut off, and the Beirut port is also shut.

Despite the siege, food supplies in Beirut remain good, with many grocers in the capital open for business.

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Residents and Aid Organizations Welcome Sadr City Truce

Sadr City Truce Ends Weeks of Clashes That Left Daily Life Paralyzed

An overview of Sadr City, Baghdad.

Image Courtesy: � DefenseLINK

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BBSNews 2008-05-12 -- BAGHDAD (IRIN) Aid organizations and residents of Baghdad's mainly Shia district of Sadr City welcomed on 11 May a truce between Shia militiamen loyal to radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr and US-backed government forces, ending seven weeks of clashes that left daily life almost paralyzed since 25 March.

"We welcome and encourage any act, agreement and dialogue that helps end the bloodshed of Iraqis and helps aid organizations do their work properly in reaching all needy persons," said Basil al-Azawi, head of the Iraqi Commission for Civil Society Enterprises (ICCSE), a coalition of over 1,000 Iraqi non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

"The deteriorated security situation that Sadr City witnessed over the past seven weeks hindered all aid operations and, in our estimation, only 1 percent of the City's medical, food and public services needs are being met. There is a lot to be done," al-Azawi told IRIN.

Al-Azawi added that there are plans and programs to assist residents of Sadr City "but all these plans are still in theory as we are monitoring the situation on the ground fearing that this lull [in fighting] could be a fragile one".

Elastic language

The 10-point truce agreement, which comes into effect on 11 May, stipulates that the Mahdi Army militia stop fighting US and Iraqi forces in Sadr City, an area where nearly 2.5 million people live, and stop displaying their weapons in public.

In return, the government will stop conducting random raids on al-Sadr's followers and open all the roads leading to Sadr City that had previously been closed.

But the agreement is unlikely to end the stand off, a Baghdad-based analyst said.

"It's a sketchy agreement and it's a fragile ceasefire," said Mohammed Jawad Nassir, a professor at Baghdad's University of Al-Rafidain.

"It talks of the ceasefire only in Sadr City and it doesn't refer to other areas in Iraq and it also doesn't mention anything about the special groups that splintered off the Mahdi Army and which receive support from Iran," Nassir added.

"This elastic language will give more space to Moqtada al-Sadr to manoeuvre and send his most wanted militiamen to other places or to fight in other places," he added.

While Iraqi authorities had not reported any violence by the afternoon of 11 May and Shia militants had seemingly disappeared from the streets, many of Sadr City residents are concerned and skeptical.

"We are happy with this good news but how long will this last? That is the question," said Sadr City resident Qassim Nasser al-Lami, a 54-year-old father-of-six.

"I just ventured out this morning to get some essential food but I hesitate to send my children to school or to open my shop," added al-Lami who runs a mechanical workshop in Sadr City.

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Rebellion in Northern Yemen Affecting Thousands

Living Conditions of War-Affected Population Deteriorating Since Beginning of 2008

Thousands of people in Saada depend on aid as their farms and houses were destroyed during fighting between government forces and rebels.

Image Courtesy: � WFP

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BBSNews 2008-05-12 -- SANAA (IRIN) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Yemen said on 10 May that about 100,000 people have been directly affected by clashes between government forces and Shia rebels in Saada province, northern Yemen.

Iman Moankar, a spokeswoman for the ICRC in Yemen, told IRIN that the living conditions of the war-affected population had been deteriorating since the beginning of 2008, not only because of clashes but also as a result of soaring food prices.

"Our concern at the moment is the security of the war-affected families and their living conditions. We appeal to fighting parties to facilitate humanitarian aid operations," she said, adding that tens of thousands of people in Saada province have become fully dependent on humanitarian assistance.

According to Moankar, there are 40,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Saada city alone, of whom 7,888 live in three camps. The rest live with host families. Moankar said that over the past three days 5,000 to 7,000 people had been displaced to the city. "They are waiting for shelter. They are not staying with host families," she said.

Fierce clashes

The ICRC's comments were made as fierce clashes continued in Saada between government forces and followers of Shia rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, according to residents in the province.

Sheikh Saleh Habrah, a representative of al-Houthi, told IRIN on 11 May: "Today there was fierce bombing in some districts. Warplanes and helicopters bombed Dahian, al-Mahader, and al-Ghobair areas, killing 30 citizens. In Dahian district alone, 15 people were killed when their house was shelled by army planes.

"In Harf Sufian, a district in Amran governorate, al-Houthi supporters clashed with army forces after they tried to stop more troops entering Saada." Habrah added that none of al-Houthi's followers were killed in the fighting.

Habrah's statements could not be independently verified but residents confirmed that the army has deployed more troops in the area over the past two days.

Aid operations

The intermittent four-year conflict has deteriorated the infrastructure in Saada, making it difficult for vulnerable people to have access to potable water and health services, according to the ICRC.

With a sub-office in Saada, including 11 international and 30 national staff, the ICRC is working closely with the Yemen Red Crescent Society (YRCS) to provide humanitarian assistance to the province's displaced and vulnerable residents.

According to Moankar, the ICRC has helped over 80,000 people over the past six months with relief items such as tents, tarpaulins, mattresses, blankets, jerry cans, stoves and hygiene kits. Over the past two months, it has distributed food to 11,000 people in four districts of Saada.

In addition, aid teams are providing clean drinking water on a daily basis to about 5,000 IDPs in the three camps, which have been kitted out with showers and toilets, and the ICRC is providing primary health care for camp residents through mobile clinics.

The aid organization has also helped 56,000 returnees. "The houses and farms of a lot of returnees were destroyed. We still provide assistance to them as they want to return to their normal life. We provide them with drinking water, kitchen utensils and shelter," Moankar said, adding that the ICRC coordinates with both warring parties in its aid operations and provides medical assistance to all injured persons, whether civilians or combatants.

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Tel Aviv Doing Best to Supply Education for Dozens of Refugee Children

Refugee Children Fell Through Cracks of System

Children of refugees playing in a park in southern Tel Aviv.

Image Courtesy: � Tamar Dressler/IRIN

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BBSNews 2008-05-12 -- TEL AVIV, 11 May 2008 (IRIN) - Hope may be on the horizon for dozens of children of refugees and asylum-seekers who fell through the cracks and have been left out of the education system since the school year started last September, the Tel Aviv Municipality said.

"The Tel Aviv Municipality is well aware of the shortage of available places in the schools in the southern Tel Aviv neighborhoods," spokesman Hillel Fartuk told IRIN, singling out the section of the city where refugees tend to congregate.

"We are doing our best to supply [education to] the children who fall under the primary education criteria," he said, adding that it would like to find places for them in other locations and "open a kindergarten suited to their special needs".

Despite Israel's progressive primary education law -- specifying that all children aged 5-15 who have resided in the country for more than three months are to be integrated into the public school system regardless of their legal status (or that of their parents) - about 60 children in this age group were left out of school, Israeli aid workers said.

The municipality's promises would probably only materialize in September at the earliest, meaning these children would have lost an entire year, with some skeptical observers wondering if the problem might not end up dragging into next year as well.

Furthermore, minors aged 16-17, especially the dozens of unaccompanied youngsters who arrived in the country in recent years seeking asylum, would still not have a solution, as the school law does not cover them. Without an education, these would-be students will probably be forced into the manual labour market, and miss out on the opportunity to get better jobs in the future.

When IRIN visited shelters commonly used as living quarters by asylum-seekers in Tel Aviv, quite a few children were playing in the streets during school hours.

Volunteers

Israeli volunteers working with the refugee community operate a classroom in one of the shelters for children aged 6-12.

"Some volunteers come in and teach some English and geography, but it's not easy," said Ann Shopie Cardinal who is trying to put together a more organized teaching system in the shelters.

Historically, migrant workers, and later asylum seekers and refugees, placed their children at the tolerant Bialik elementary school in south Tel Aviv, where most students are now children of these immigrants.

A special program was even implemented in light of their special needs, but the recent influx of refugees and asylum-seekers has stretched the school's resources, and a new solution is required, the aid workers said.

Over 8,500 refugees and asylum-seekers are said to have entered Israel in the last three years, according to UNHCR and aid organizations, with a noticeable increase taking place in the last year.

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Burma Should Lift Restrictions on Aid For Survivors of Cyclone Nargis

China, India, ASEAN Need to Push Generals to Accept International Help

Map of Burma, 2004.

Photo Credit: The University of Texas at Austin.

The map shown above in it's full size is available in BBSNews Maps.

BBSNews 2008-05-11 -- New York (HRW) China, India, Thailand and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should work to convince Burma's government to lift restrictions on international assistance so aid can reach survivors of Cyclone Nargis, Human Rights Watch said today.

"By blocking international relief efforts, the Burmese government is showing utter contempt for millions of its own people," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "China and Burma's other friends should lead international efforts, including at the UN Security Council, to persuade or compel Burma to accept the international aid that cyclone survivors so badly need."

Human Rights Watch called on the Burmese government to open cyclone-affected areas to a major international relief effort by immediately granting visas to aid workers; allowing United Nations and international humanitarian agencies to distribute aid directly to those in need; and allowing countries with assets nearby to deliver aid by air and sea to survivors who cannot otherwise be reached quickly. Many affected communities are only accessible by air and sea, which makes assistance by countries that are equipped to deal with humanitarian disasters essential to prevent further death and suffering.

All nations with the capacity to provide assistance by air and by sea, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, India, China, and members of ASEAN, should immediately deploy military and civilian response units -- preferably jointly -- as close as possible to Burma so that they are ready to provide relief as soon as permission is granted. Clean water, protein biscuits and other staple foods, and medical care should be pre-positioned in the region for immediate delivery.

"The world is watching to see if China does the right thing for Burma's cyclone victims," said Adams. "China should do everything in its power to get sufficient aid into Burma or it will share responsibility for the deaths of tens of thousands of people."

Human Rights Watch welcomed the recent strong statements urging the Burmese government to reverse course by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, officials of the World Food Program, and key governments. All have made it clear that the Burmese government does not have the capacity to address a natural disaster of this scale on its own. As John Holmes, head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the Security Council on May 9, 2008: "The sooner humanitarians are allowed in, and the less procedural and other obstacles we encounter, the more lives we can help save. The speed with which we deliver assistance to those in need is becoming more and more critical and the danger of the outbreak of epidemics rises by the hour."

However, thus far these entreaties have failed to persuade the Burmese government to change course.

"The Burmese military is neither willing nor able to get aid to those most in need," said Adams. "Only a massive coordinated international relief effort can spare the Burmese people further suffering."

Human Rights Watch urged the US, the UK, France, and other governments to urgently press China, India, and ASEAN -- publicly and privately -- to use their considerable influence and leverage with the Burmese government to allow aid and humanitarian workers access.

Human Rights Watch also called on ASEAN to demand that Burma respond to the cyclone as Indonesia did to the December 2004 tsunami, when after initial hesitation it opened the region to needed international aid and aid workers. Because of its terrible human rights record and continued repression of political opposition, Burma has long been a controversial member of ASEAN. Its military government has consistently broken promises to act in good faith to work with the political opposition on a genuine transition to civilian government. ASEAN issued a strong statement deploring the actions of the Burmese junta after the violent September 2007 crackdown on mass protests, but then took no further action.

"Burma's inhuman response to the cyclone is yet another embarrassment for ASEAN," said Adams. "If Burma doesn't reverse course on this epic tragedy, ASEAN should formally consider expelling Burma from the regional club."

Under international law, the million or so people thought to have been made homeless by the cyclone are considered internally displaced. The UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement provide that a state should not arbitrarily withhold permission for international humanitarian organizations and other appropriate actors to provide aid, "particularly when authorities concerned are unable or unwilling to provide the required humanitarian assistance." The principles further state that, "All authorities concerned shall grant and facilitate the free passage of humanitarian assistance and grant persons engaged in the provision of such assistance rapid and unimpeded access to the internally displaced."

More of Human Rights Watch's work on Burma is available online.

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Egyptian Should Prosecute Security Officials Responsible for Beating 'Facebook' Activist

Authorities Use Intimidation, Violence to Suppress Online Advocacy

Map of Egypt, 2004.

Image Credit: The University of Texas at Austin.

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BBSNews 2008-05-11 -- Cairo (HRW) Egyptian authorities should immediately investigate and prosecute those security officials responsible for beating Ahmed Maher Ibrahim, Human Rights Watch said today. Maher, a 27-year-old civil engineer, used the social-networking site Facebook to support calls for a general strike on May 4, 2008, President Hosni Mubarak's 80th birthday.

Maher told Human Rights Watch that officers from the Interior Ministry's State Security Investigations (SSI) department apprehended him on a street in the suburb of New Cairo on May 7, blindfolded him and took him to a police station where they stripped him naked, and beat him intermittently for 12 hours before releasing him without charge.

"This is the work of thugs, pure and simple," said Joe Stork, Middle East deputy director at Human Rights Watch. "The government must show that those responsible for upholding the law are also subject to the law."

Before the incident, Maher said, an SSI officer phoned him on April 25 to invite him "for a coffee" on the following day at SSI headquarters in Lazoghli, in downtown Cairo. Maher did not show up.

Over the course of the following week, Maher spoke with international news media about the strike. He told the BBC that several SSI officers had contacted him, but that he was undeterred. "If we allow ourselves to fear them, we won't do anything," he told the BBC. "Then I would consider myself a partner in the crimes taking place in Egypt."

On May 4, it appeared that few Egyptians had heeded the call for a strike. On May 7, however, as Maher was driving in New Cairo at around 1 p.m., an unmarked van with non-official license plates pulled in front of him. Three other unmarked cars, also with non-official plates, surrounded the car and some 12 men in civilian clothes pulled him into the van, where they handcuffed and blindfolded him.

Maher told Human Rights Watch that the men took him first to the New Cairo police station. There, he was beaten and insulted by men he could not identify because he was blindfolded. Maher said that around the time of the afternoon prayers (4:30 p.m.), his captors took him to SSI headquarters at Lazoghli. There, they stripped him down to his underwear, threatened to rape him with a stick, and continued kicking, beating, and insulting him, and dragging him across the floor. The blows fell mostly on his back and his neck, he said, and he lost some hearing after a sharp blow to one ear. Maher said his assailants wore gloves and applied lotion to his back between beatings in an apparent attempt to reduce bruising.

According to Maher, the officers did not accuse him of anything, but asked for the password of the May 4 Facebook group that news reports said he had started. They also asked him about members of the group he had never met. The SSI officers released him before dawn on May 8 with the warning that he would be beaten more severely the next time State Security detained him. The evening after his release, May 8, Maher went to a private hospital for a medical examination, including a CAT scan, the results of which were not available as of this writing.

"Sadly, Maher's treatment is part of a pattern of abuse and extralegal intimidation by state officials," Stork said. "Egypt needs to put an end to the lawlessness of its law-enforcement officers."

In another incident a month earlier, Isra'a 'Abd al-Fattah, 29, was among roughly 500 people arrested by police nationwide in connection with a call for a strike on April 6. (Most of those arrested were from the industrial Nile Delta city of Mahalla al-Kobra, where demonstrations against rising prices turned violent.) 'Abd al-Fattah had also used a social network group on Facebook to publicize the April 6 strike, leading to her detention for more than two weeks. Prosecutors had ordered her release a few days after she was arrested when charges against her of "inciting unrest" were dismissed, but interior ministry officials kept her in detention until April 23.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Egypt ratified in 1982, holds that "no one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law," and that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

A news release on the April 6, 2008 demonstrations in Mahalla al-Kobra is available online.

More of Human Rights Watch's work on Egypt is available online.

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Iraqi Authorities in Kurdistan Gearing Up for Cholera Outbreak

Cholera Outbreak Last Year Killed 24 While Affecting Over 4,200

A map of Iraq highlighting the six provinces that make up Iraqi Kurdistan, though only three are wholly under the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Image Courtesy: � IRIN

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BBSNews 2008-05-07 -- BAGHDAD (IRIN) The Iraqi authorities in the self-ruled northern region of Kurdistan are gearing up to face a possible cholera outbreak which last year affected nearly 4,200 people, and caused the deaths of 24 nationwide, a local official said on 6 May.

"We have allocated 25 billion Iraqi dinars (US$20 million) to fight any cholera outbreak in Kurdistan after concerns rose last month when at least 500 patients with diarrhea and vomiting were admitted to hospitals. So far no cases of the disease have been confirmed," said Mohammed Sadiq from the regional Health Ministry.

"We remain alert that there could be another outbreak of cholera this season as the factors that cause cholera still exist: a shortage of clean drinking water, high temperatures during the summer and poor sanitation," Sadiq told IRIN on 7 May.

He said the Kurdistan regional government had started a media campaign to raise awareness about the risks of cholera, how to keep food clean, and how to boil water.

The last cholera outbreak was first detected on 14 August 2007 in the northern city of Kirkuk. It then spread to Sulaimaniyah, Arbil, Dohuk, Tikrit, Mosul, Diyala, Basra, Wasit, Baghdad and Anbar provinces. The hardest-hit provinces were Kirkuk with 2,309 cases, and Sulaimaniyah with 870.

By October 2007, the Iraqi government and UN agencies were saying the outbreak was under control as more than 70 percent of the country's nearly 4,200 laboratory-confirmed cases were being treated successfully.

Cholera is a gastrointestinal disease typically spread by drinking contaminated water and can cause severe diarrhea which, in extreme cases, can lead to fatal dehydration. It can be prevented by treating drinking water with chlorine and by improving hygiene conditions.

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Leader of Shia Rebels Calls For International Aid

Severe Clashes Between Shia Supporters and Government Troops Stopped Flow of Food Supplies

Saada residents receiving WFP food assistance.

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BBSNews 2008-05-07 -- SANAA (IRIN) The leader of Shia rebels in the northern governorate of Saada, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, has called on aid agencies and the UN to focus their efforts on areas that have witnessed fierce clashes between his supporters and government troops over the past few days.

Al-Houthi told IRIN on 5 May the army had blockaded certain areas, preventing food supplies from getting through.

"For more than a week, the army has besieged Al-Takrit and Haidan districts. Food supplies are not being allowed to enter these areas and aid agencies are ignoring them... The authorities will be responsible for any famine that occurs as a result. Aid agencies have to show their kindness towards war-affected citizens," he said.

The blockade was being used to pressure citizens to support government forces, he said.

Dozens on both sides have been killed in the fighting over the past few days, according to the Ministry of Defense.

Al-Houthi said the past four days had seen some fierce clashes: "The army attacked Haidan and Munabeh districts using tanks, artillery and mortars. In other districts there was only tension. Now there is relative calm," he said.

He said the army had also attacked rebel checkpoints. Rashad al-Masri, the governor of Saada Governorate, told the media recently that al-Houthi supporters had escalated the conflict.

Recent major attacks

Sixteen people were killed and 45 wounded in a motorcycle bomb attack outside Bin Salman mosque in Saada city on 2 May. The bomb exploded as worshipers were emerging from the mosque after Friday prayers. Security authorities said the attack was planned by the rebels, an accusation rejected by al-Houthi.

Security authorities said seven soldiers were killed and another 17 injured in a rebel ambush in Majz District on 29 April.

Al-Houthi, meanwhile, has accused the government of not implementing the Qatari-brokered peace agreement signed in February by the two sides.

"They [the authorities] have not ceased fire or released prisoners, and life has not returned to normal. The army has not even vacated our villages, markets, farms and schools. We have complied 80 percent with the peace agreement. Our supporters have come down from 54 sites on the mountains, handed over main routes to the authorities and released prisoners of war," he said.

A new Yemeni presidential committee set up in late April to supervise the peace agreement arrived in Saada City on 4 May and held talks with the Qatari delegation which has also returned to the region in an attempt to end the fighting.

IDPs

"New displacements have taken place due to the latest fighting. Despite a peace agreement signed in February 2008, the situation remains volatile," the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) office in Yemen said, adding that new internally displaced persons (IDPs), were continuing to arrive in Saada city, including over 200 families in the past week.

Earlier, on 22 April, it had appealed for nearly US$3 million to assist 77,000 IDPs in Saada Governorate, one of the results of the stop-go conflict which dates back to 2004.

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Thousands of Yemeni Abandon Homes Due to Drought

Only Use Water to Drink and Muslim Ablutions

In rural areas sanitation services are difficult to set up, according to officials.

Image Courtesy: � Mohammed al-Jabri/IRIN

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BBSNews 2008-05-07 -- SANAA (IRIN) Drought has caused the displacement of thousands of people over the past 10 months from mountainous villages in al-Mahwit Governorate, some 113km northwest of Sanaa city, officials have said.

Hufash, one of al-Mahwit's nine districts, has been hit by drought over the past six months. Hufash includes 12 localities and is home to 40,000 people, according to the 2004 population census.

Abdul-Hamid al-Ashabi, head of Hufash's local council, told IRIN on 4 May that thousands of people had abandoned their homes and moved to the main cities. "The area is suffering from acute water shortages and drought. People depend on springs and rain. Rain has not fallen for almost a year," he said.

Some of those who have moved to cities have rented houses and others have moved in with relatives. Those who have moved to the valleys have erected huts. At present, it is difficult to assess how far they are overburdening local resources and services, said al-Ashabi, adding that most of the displaced could fend for themselves and required little assistance from the government.

Mohammed al-Aqabi, head of Hufash's Education Department, said the displacements had started in March.

"Hufash District is a series of mountains that cannot store water at all. People depend mainly on rainwater," he told IRIN. He said locals got water from a nearby valley some 19km away.

"They walk several kilometer to get a few liters of water a day. They just use water for drinking and 'wudu' [Muslim ablutions]. They cannot take a shower or wash their clothes. To do that they have to go to al-Mahwit city, two hours by car from here," he said, adding that water tankers could not reach the villages due to the rugged terrain and poor roads. "One thousand liters of water costs 5,000 riyals (about US$25). Animals have also been severely affected."

Water projects idle

Hufash local council head Al-Ashabi said there were two water projects in his district -- started 18 years ago -- but that the Urban Water Resources Authority had halted them as they were not being properly implemented.

He said the local council had tried to rehabilitate one of the projects but it had very limited resources. "The projects need millions of riyals... but our annual budget is no more than 70 million riyals (US$350,000)," he said.

The main crops in the area include 'khat' [a mild narcotic], corn, coffee, and fruit, which all depended on rainfall. Farmers were unable to irrigate their crops, he said.

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One in Six African Children Die Before Age Five

GLOBAL: Six million children "need not die every year"

Children having fortified food in a kindergarten in northern Turkmenistan.

Image Courtesy: � UNICEF/Giacomo Pirozzi

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BBSNews 2008-05-07 -- NAIROBI (IRIN) More than six million children could be saved from death every year if funding were increased to improve community-level health services in the developing world, where 99 percent of child deaths occur, according to a report by Save the Children-USA.

"One in every six children in sub-Saharan Africa still dies before age five," William First, the chairman of Save the Children's "Survive to 5 Campaign", stated in his forward to the report published on 6 May. "In some countries, parents don't name a child during the first six weeks of life because they fear the baby will not survive even its earliest days."

Save the Children published the report, State of the World's Mothers, to mark Mother's Day on 11 May. It ranks 55 developing countries on their effectiveness in reaching the poorest children with life-saving measures.

The report focuses on 200 million children under five, who do not get basic healthcare, according to Save the Children. It shows which countries are doing the best, and which are worst in reaching children with basic health measures.

"I believe medicine can serve as a currency for peace," Hirst said. "I've seen those who once took up arms against one another unify and lay down their weapons to build health clinics. I've seen medicine inject hope where once there was only despair."

Charles MacCormack, president and chief executive officer of Save the Children, said in an introductory note that while child mortality rates in the developing world had declined in recent decades, "it is of no solace to the 26,000 mothers who must mourn the loss of a child each and every day".

Four fronts

To address the global challenge of saving the lives of mothers and children, MacCormack said, Save the Children was working on four fronts: increasing awareness of the challenges and solutions to maternal, newborn and child survival; encouraging action by mobilizing the world to support programs aimed at reducing infant and maternal mortality; working with national health ministries and local organizations to deliver high-quality health services throughout the developing world; and leading the way in research on what works best to save the lives of babies.

"We count on the world's leaders to take stock of how mothers and children are faring in every country," he said. "Investing in this most basic partnership of all - between a mother and her child - is the first and best step in ensuring healthy children, prosperous families and strong communities."

According to the report's Basic Health Care Report Card, all 55 developing countries ranked together account for nearly 60 percent of the world's under-five population and 83 percent of all child deaths worldwide.

Eight of the 55 countries reach 60 percent or more children under five with basic healthcare. The Philippines was ranked top while Ethiopia came last.

The ranking also looked at child survival rates in 52 of these countries among children who are better off and those who are very poor.

"A child's chances of celebrating a fifth birthday should not largely depend on the country or community where he or she is born," MacCormack said. "We need to do a better job of reaching the poorest children with basic health measures like vaccines, antibiotics and skilled care at childbirth. These simple measures, while taken for granted in the United States, are not reaching millions of children under age five, and can determine whether a child survives or dies in poor countries and communities."

The report recommends designing healthcare programs to better target the poorest and most marginalized mothers and children; investing in community health workers to reach the poorest of the poor with essential life-saving care, and delivering a basic package of maternal, newborn and child healthcare that takes into account the realities for poor people in developing countries.

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Lack of Fuel in Gaza Erases Political Divisions

Gazans Search Trash for Combustibles to Cook Meals

Queues are long in places people think there might be fuel.

Image Courtesy: � Wissam Nassar/IRIN

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BBSNews 2008-05-07 -- JERUSALEM/GAZA (IRIN) Intense political divisions in the Gaza Strip have split people on most issues, except one: the situation has never been worse, nearly everyone agrees.

"I never remember Gaza being this bad," said one man in his early 40s. "Living here has become a game of survival." With fuel supplies nearly dry, many people no longer have cooking gas in their homes, leading some to search for alternative methods to make a meal.

"People now are starting to look through the garbage to find combustibles," a Gazan who works for a large international aid organization told IRIN.

"Even my colleagues have begun to search the garbage bins or the sides of the roads to find wood and plastics to burn so they can cook their food at night," he said, requesting anonymity so as to not embarrass his friends.

To add to the woes of the needy, UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has said it has been forced to stop food distribution today and is cutting back on other services it normally supplies, owing to the lack of fuel supplies. This is the second time in two weeks it has done this.

Ahmed, a taxi driver from Gaza City, said he ran out of cooking gas at home and he, his wife and their young daughter mostly eat raw vegetables and bread.

The rising cost of food has made matters worse: "Everything is more expensive, all over the world, but because of our situation of unemployment and blockade, it is even harder for us. I am afraid about how I will be able to feed my family," he said.

Lack of spare parts

He had to sell his taxi a few weeks ago as he could not find spare parts in Gaza to fix it. Only humanitarian aid and basic food supplies have been allowed into the coastal territory since the takeover by the Islamist group Hamas last June.

Like many others, Ahmed converted an older vehicle to run on cooking gas, as the Israeli sanctions on the enclave were not supposed to affect supplies of this fuel. However, since an attack on the Nahal Oz fuel crossing by Palestinian militants, imports have dwindled to just a trickle, and this too has run out.

"I don't have cooking gas for my food or my car. I paid US$350 for the conversion, and I still can't work. In the last month I have worked only three days," he said.

For others the situation has already hit rock-bottom.

"My father is unemployed so I collect garbage so I can sell it and bring home some money for my family," a young boy recently said while sifting through a bin with his younger brother. Together they manage to make $1.50-$3 a day.

Those who still have jobs -- not a given due to mounting unemployment -- tend to set their alarms earlier and earlier: Without fuel for buses and taxis, let alone private cars, people can wait for hours before they manage to get a ride in the general direction of their destination. Bus and taxi fares have gone up two or three times what they were a few moths ago.

Some people have attached contraptions to motorcycles enabling them to carry four or five people, somewhat haphazardly. Others, particularly farmers, have rediscovered their donkeys, which can be a suitable mode of transportation when nothing else is available.

UNICEF has also reported a rise in the number of youths not attending school, apparently due to their inability to get there.

"Unsanitary situation"

"Our chief surgeon had to walk to the hospital when he was called for an emergency. It took him 45 minutes, as he could not get a ride," Hassan Khalaf, the head of Gaza's main Shifa hospital, told IRIN.

He has begrudgingly become accustomed to his staff showing up late and some patients saying they cannot come to the medical center at all. Furthermore, the hospital can no longer do its laundry properly as it ran out of generator fuel to run the washing machines.

"This is slowly becoming a dangerous, unhealthy, unsanitary situation," Khalaf said.

This is also an accurate description of a recent incident in which raw sewage flooded a street in downtown Gaza City, when the pump -- out of fuel -- stopped working during a power cut.

Millions of liters of sewage are still being dumped into the sea daily. The Gaza Coastal Municipality Water Utilities, responsible for the sewage, has been given 60 bicycles by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and this is set to become the primary mode of transport for the staff. Even the new Hamas police officers can be seen riding around on bicycles.

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Israeli Holidays Mean Stricter Limitations on Movement for Palestinians

Checkpoints Closed or Moving Very Slow

Palestinians wait at the Qalandia checkpoint outside Ramallah during a closure in the West Bank.

Image Courtesy: � Shabtai Gold/IRIN

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BBSNews 2008-05-07 -- JERUSALEM (IRIN) Israelis commemorating national and Jewish religious days would like to do so in peace, without having to fear attacks by Palestinian militants. However, for Palestinians, the neighbors' holidays mean ever stricter limitations on their movements.

In the past few months, the holidays of Purim and Passover, as well as Holocaust Memorial Day, all translated into "general closures" on the occupied Palestinian territory.

"Every checkpoint is so slow today," remarked a taxi driver, inching his way through roadblocks on Holocaust Day.

Checkpoints where spot-checks were the standard method of control, suddenly created long queues as each car, and in many cases each passenger, was checked. Places known as being tough junctions on a good day were turned into long serpentine queues, causing most people to simply give up.

"When there is a closure, and we know the delays will be for hours, we just stay at home or don't leave the city, because we know it is not worth it," said a man from Nablus.

The problems are worse when the Palestinians are unaware of a closure in advance, and only find out when reaching a checkpoint, causing intense frustration. In general, Israel announces its plans in advance and Palestinian radio stations let their listeners know what to expect.

This week, Israel will mark Memorial Day for its fallen soldiers and then Independence Day. Visits by high-ranking dignitaries, including US President Bush, set to arrive in about a week, often slow things down further.

The Israeli military announced a closure "in light of security assessments" from 5-8 May as it was "a highly sensitive time" though it would try to preserve "the daily life of the Palestinian population".

A brutal suicide bombing at an Israeli hotel dining room at the coastal city of Netanya in 2002, during the main feast of Passover, left 30 people dead and created a collective Israeli scar. The Netanya bombing is often cited by Israeli officials as a primary reason why the holidays mean a lock-down for the Palestinians.

"All these restrictions could be avoided if there were no terrorist organizations on the other side," Shlomo Dror, the spokesman for Israel's Ministry of Defense, told IRIN. He said Israel wanted as many soldiers as possible home for the holidays, and that required security arrangements in which fewer troops were needed.

A primary impact of the "general closure" was a complete ban on Palestinian entry to Israel, except for humanitarian cases. As most Israelis were on vacation during the holidays, Dror felt the Palestinians did not require access to Israel, as their places of employment would be closed.

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UN Should Reject Sri Lanka's Bid to Join Human Rights Council

Don't Reward Failed Promises to Improve Rights

BBSNews 2008-05-07 -- New York (HRW) Sri Lanka's worsening human rights record and failed promises for improvement undermine its claim for a place on the UN Human Rights Council, a coalition of more than 20 national and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) said in a letter released today.

Elections to the 47-member council, the United Nations' leading human rights body, will be held in New York on May 21, 2008. Council members are required to "uphold the highest standards" of human rights and "fully cooperate" with the council.

In a letter to UN members, the NGO Coalition for an Effective Human Rights Council noted that Sri Lankan Government forces have in the past two years been implicated in a wide range of serious abuses, including hundreds of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, widespread torture, and arbitrary detention. Sri Lanka obstructs the work of the council's own appointed human rights experts, ignores their recommendations, publicly attacks senior UN officials who speak out on human rights issues, and has been unwilling to engage in serious discussions regarding UN human rights monitoring. The coalition noted in the letter that the armed separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have long been implicated in serious human rights abuses, but says this provides no justification for government abuses.

Sri Lanka pledged when it joined the Human Rights Council in 2006 to implement recommendations from UN bodies. It has notably failed to do so -- including through its refusal to confront the problems of torture and enforced disappearances.

The coalition's letter follows concerns expressed last week by a group of leading Sri Lankan NGOs, which urged UN members to "hold the Sri Lankan government accountable for the grave state of human rights abuse in the country" by rejecting its candidacy. The Sri Lankan organizations said that their government has "presided over a grave deterioration of human rights protection" since first winning membership in 2006, and "has used its membership in the Human Rights Council to protect itself from scrutiny."

"The Human Rights Council is meant to uphold human rights, not undermine them," said Steve Crawshaw, UN advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "To elect Sri Lanka would be a travesty, given its appalling rights record over the past two years."

Six candidates -- Bahrain, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Timor Leste -- are running for four seats allocated to Asian states.

"Many countries have human rights problems, but Sri Lanka truly stands out amongst this year's candidates," said Michael Anthony, program coordinator of the Asian Human Rights Commission. "Sri Lanka is the Asian state in this year's election which most clearly fails to meet the council's membership standards, without even a hint of possible improvement."

In 2007, a coalition of NGOs successfully opposed the candidacy of Belarus for the Human Rights Council.

"Cheers went up amongst human rights defenders around the world when Belarus was defeated," said Hassan Shire Sheikh of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project in Uganda. "This year's election provides an opportunity for African states to send a strong signal, following up on the defeat of Belarus. The Human Rights Council must stand with the victims, not become an abusers' club."

"Sri Lanka's record of torture, disappearances, and extrajudicial killings should lead Latin American countries to oppose electing such an abusive government to the Human Rights Council," said Salvador Herencia, legal adviser with the Andean Commission of Jurists.

The letter from the NGO coalition to the UN Human Rights Council, opposing Sri Lanka's candidacy, is available online.

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U.S. 'War on Drugs' Unjust to African Americans

Two National Reports Detail Racial Disparity in Arrests and Imprisonment

BBSNews 2008-05-07 -- Washington, DC, (HRW) Ostensibly color-blind, the US "war on drugs" disproportionately targets urban minority neighborhoods, Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project said in two reports released today. Although whites commit more drug offenses, African Americans are arrested and imprisoned on drug charges at much higher rates, the reports find.

In the 67-page report, "Targeting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the United States," Human Rights Watch documents with detailed new statistics persistent racial disparities among drug offenders sent to prison in 34 states. All of these states send black drug offenders to prison at much higher rates than whites.

"Most drug offenders are white, but most of the drug offenders sent to prison are black," said Jamie Fellner, senior counsel in the US program at Human Rights Watch and author of "Targeting Blacks." "The solution is not to imprison more whites but to radically rethink how to deal with drug abuse and low-level drug offenders."

Key findings in the Human Rights Watch report include:

Across the 34 states, a black man is 11.8 times more likely than a white man to be sent to prison on drug charges, and a black woman is 4.8 times more likely than a white woman.

In 16 states, African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at rates between 10 and 42 times greater than the rate for whites. The 10 states with the greatest racial disparities in prison admissions for drug offenders are: Wisconsin, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, Colorado, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

The Sentencing Project's 45-page study, "Disparity by Geography: The War on Drugs in America's Cities," is the first city-level analysis of drug arrests, examining data from 43 of the nation's largest cities between 1980 and 2003. The study found that, since 1980, the rate of drug arrests in American cities for African Americans increased by 225 percent, compared to 70 percent among whites. Black arrest rates grew by more than 500 percent in 11 cities during this period; and, in nearly half of the cities, the odds of arrest for a drug offense among African Americans relative to whites more than doubled.

"The alarming increase in drug arrests since 1980, concentrated among African Americans, raises fundamental questions about fairness and justice," said Ryan S. King, policy analyst for The Sentencing Project and author of "Disparity by Geography." "But even more troubling is the fact that these trends come not as the result of higher rates of drug use among African Americans, but, instead, the decisions by local officials about where to pursue drug enforcement."

Among The Sentencing Project report's key findings:

African-American drug arrests increased at 3.4 times the rate of whites despite similar rates of drug use.

Extreme city variations in drug arrests point to local enforcement decisions as a prime contributor to racial disparity.

Six cities experienced more than a 500-percent rise in overall drug arrests between 1980 and 2003: Tucson (887 percent), Buffalo (809 percent), Kansas City (736 percent), Toledo (701 percent), Newark (663 percent), and Sacramento (597 percent).

The Sentencing Project and Human Rights Watch urge public officials to restore fairness, racial justice, and credibility to drug-control efforts. They recommend public officials take a number of concrete steps, including:

Eliminating mandatory minimum sentences and restoring judicial discretion to sentencing of drug offenders;
Increasing public funding of substance abuse treatment and prevention outreach to make these readily available in communities of color in particular;
Enhancing public health-based strategies to reduce harms associated with drug abuse and reallocating public resources accordingly.

Today's reports follow in the wake of the March 2008 recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The committee urged that US criminal justice policies and practices address the unwarranted racial disparities that have been documented at all levels of the system.

The report: "Targeting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the United States," is available online.

The report: "Disparity by Geography: The War on Drugs in America's Cities," is available online.

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Zogby Poll: Obama Expands Lead in NC; Dems Still Biting Nails in Indiana!

Obama enjoys a strong final day of polling before the elections

BBSNews 2008-05-06 -- (Zogby) UTICA, New York - On the strength of good polling numbers on the final day before the primary elections in Indiana and North Carolina, Barack Obama of Illinois holds a convincing lead in North Carolina, but the race is simply too close to call in Indiana, the latest Zogby two-day telephone tracking poll shows.

The pair of surveys of the Democratic presidential contests shows Obama with a significant 14-point lead in North Carolina, winning 51% support to Hillary Clinton�s 37%. Another 12% said they were either favoring someone else or were as yet undecided. In Indiana, the race is clear as mud, as Obama holds a statistically insignificant lead of two points, winning 45% support to Clinton�s 43% support, with 12% either undecided or favoring someone else.

The electorates in both states are divided significantly along racial lines, income, and age, the telephone survey shows.

The telephone surveys, conducted May 4-5, 2008, are the final of Zogby�s two-day daily tracking surveys. In North Carolina, 643 likely Democratic primary election voters were polled. In Indiana, 644 likely voting Democratic primary voters were surveyed. Both surveys carry a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percentage points.

The telephone surveys were conducted using live operators working out of Zogby�s call center in Upstate New York.

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Israel's High Court Rejects Plea to Save Palestinian Village from Demolition

Small Palestinian village faces slow death

A playground in the kindergarten which received demolition orders.

Image Courtesy: � Shabtai Gold/IRIN

For the image shown above in a larger size, please see: A playground in the kindergarten which received demolition orders.

More BBSNews images are available in BBSNews Photos.

BBSNews 2008-05-05 -- AQABA, WEST BANK (IRIN) At the entrance to the small village, labourers continued to work on a cement divider, creating two lanes to make the road safer, while in a side room next to the village kindergarten, Haj Sami Sadiq, the head of the local council, carried on sorting out agricultural development projects for his residents.

Sadiq pretends it is "business as usual", but he knows that at any moment Israeli troops can arrive and begin demolishing most of the village's structures and even some of the streets.

Israel's High Court last month rejected petitions by Aqaba residents asking that it cancel the military's demolition orders, which include the kindergarten, the mosque, a health care centre and residential homes.

"The first demolition orders were issued in 1997. In 2003, 13 more were issued, and since then every year they have given us more. In the whole village there are 45 structures and 35 have orders against them," he said.

The village, in the northeast section of the occupied Palestinian territory, at the top of the Jordan valley, has had a troubled existence since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967.

Following the occupation, which caused many residents to flee, the area was declared a military zone, and training bases for the Israeli army were established in and around the village. According to the local council, eight residents have been killed and 42 injured during training exercises.

Unexploded ordnance

"We still find unexploded ordnance around the village, and we tell the children never to touch anything," one resident said. While working the fields recently several small rockets were found, as well as shells and bullets.

"When I was 12, I found a live tank shell. I didn't know what it was and I played with it. It exploded and burnt my hands and my face," said one man, now in his 40s.

In January 2008 residents found a man "blown to pieces", according to a person who saw the body, by an explosive the soldiers left behind.

One of those injured by the training exercises was Sadiq himself, now confined to a wheelchair from the bullets that entered his torso in the early 1970s. "They also destroyed harvests by driving tanks through our fields," Sadiq said, moving on from his personal plight.

The military bases were pulled out in 2003, after the residents petitioned the Israeli High Court, saying their safety was at risk.

No new buildings

On the outskirts of the village Abdullah Daraghmeh rents a small area for his wife and four children. They were kicked off their own land, further away in a valley, in 1984.

Abdullah and his family live in makeshift tents because "the [Israeli] army has threatened to demolish any structure I build," he said.

That is exactly what happened to 85-year-old Salem Jaber. He worked for decades as an imam (Muslim priest) in a mosque in the lower Jordan Valley. Several months ago he decided to retire and return to his native village.

"Right after I started building a home here, for myself and my family, they issued stop-building orders," he said.

"This land was my grandfather's grandfather's land. Why are they preventing me from building a house? I don't have anywhere else to live," he said.

Israel's Civil Administration in the West Bank told IRIN the High Court had approved the orders given, though for now the mosque and kindergarten would probably not be destroyed.

"There is no master plan for the village. The residents asked for permits after they had already built," a spokesman said. "They can go and live in Taiyser, so they have a solution," he added, referring to a village a few kilometers away.

The residents said that in some cases the permits were indeed requested retroactively, but that there is a specific process for such cases and it is not unusual. In any event, they said, even properly filed permits were never granted.

"They want us off this land and that's it. They will always find an excuse," said Sadiq.

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Zogby Poll: Obama Leads by 8 Points in NC; Race Still Very Tight in Indiana

Undecideds in both states remain high, as likely voters wait for last minute to commit to Clinton or Obama

BBSNews 2008-05-05 -- (Zogby) UTICA, New York - The Democratic Party presidential contests in Indiana and North Carolina remained remarkably stable on Sunday, with Illinois' Barack Obama holding an 8-point lead in North Carolina and a statistically insignificant two-point lead in Indiana, the latest Zogby daily tracking telephone poll shows.

The survey of likely Democratic Party primary voters shows that in North Carolina, Obama leads with 48% support, compared to 40% for Clinton and 13% either undecided or preferring someone else. In Indiana, Obama is nursing a tiny lead of two points, winning 44% support, compared to 42% for Clinton and 15% unsure or wanting someone else.

Both candidates stumped for votes in Indiana Sunday, as the state's voters prepare to cast ballots in Tuesday's elections. Actually, early voting has been underway in both states for awhile (longer in North Carolina than in Indiana), and this latest Zogby polling shows one-quarter of North Carolina voters - 26% - have already voted, and 13% in Indiana have already cast ballots.

While Obama holds a small edge in Indiana, Clinton appears to hold at least a small advantage among those who are yet undecided. Among those undecided Indiana voters who said they were leaning toward one candidate or the other, Clinton held an edge. It also remains unclear what impact, if any, the new Indiana requirement that voters show identification before casting ballots will have on the contest.

More evidence of turmoil in Indiana: among those Hoosier voters who said they have changed their support in the last two weeks, one-third of them - 33% - said the recent statements of Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, made them less likely to support him.

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Kosovar and Albanian Governments Should Investigate Postwar Abductions

Official Dismissals Premature

Map of Kosovo, 1998

Image Credit: The University of Texas at Austin.

For the map shown above in it's full size, see Map of Kosovo, 1998.

More maps are available in BBSNews Maps.

BBSNews 2008-05-05 -- New York (HRW) Additional information has emerged that bolsters allegations of abductions and cross-border transfers from Kosovo to Albania after the 1998-1999 Kosovo war, Human Rights Watch said today. The Kosovar and Albanian governments should open independent and transparent investigations to help resolve the fate of approximately 400 Serbs who went missing after the war.

"Serious and credible allegations have emerged about horrible abuses in Kosovo and Albania after the war," said Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch, who investigated human rights violations in Kosovo and Albania for the organization from 1993-2000. "The Prishtina and Tirana governments can show their commitment to justice and the rule of law by conducting proper investigations."

The allegations became public recently in a new book by Carla Del Ponte, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Human Rights Watch has obtained independent information and documentation that provides credibility and corroboration of much of what Del Ponte writes about postwar abuses in Kosovo. Del Ponte's Italian-language book is titled "The Hunt: War Criminals and Me."

Human Rights Watch wrote letters to Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha on April 4 to request that they open investigations into the allegations, but by May 2 neither government had replied, Human Rights Watch said. Top officials in both places publicly rejected the claims as unsubstantiated and libelous.

According to Del Ponte, the ICTY received information from "credible journalists" in 2003 that individuals in Kosovo had abducted and transported between 100 and 300 persons from Kosovo into northern Albania after June 12, 1999, when NATO forces entered Kosovo. The information was consistent with and corroborated what the tribunal had developed in house.

Human Rights Watch viewed the information the ICTY obtained from the journalists and considers it well researched and credible: seven ethnic Albanians who served in the Kosovo Liberation Army, interviewed separately, gave details about participating in or witnessing the transfer of abducted Serbs and others prisoners from Kosovo into Albania after the war.

According to the journalists' information, the abducted individuals were held in warehouses and other buildings, including facilities in Kukes and Tropoje. In comparison to other captives, some of the sources said, some of the younger, healthier detainees were fed, examined by doctors, and never beaten. These abducted individuals -- an unknown number -- were allegedly transferred to a yellow house in or around the Albanian town of Burrel, where doctors extracted the captives' internal organs. These organs were then transported out of Albania via the airport near the capital Tirana. Most of the alleged victims were Serbs who went missing after the arrival of UN and NATO forces in Kosovo. But other captives were women from Kosovo, Albania, Russia, and other Slavic countries.

"The information on organ trafficking is suggestive but far from complete," said Abrahams. "But the fact remains that hundreds of people, most of them Serbs, are reported to have gone missing after the war. The Kosovo and Albanian governments should try to determine the fates of these people by launching serious investigations with adequate witness protection."

According to the information obtained by the ICTY, the bodies of some of the abducted individuals were buried near the yellow house and a nearby graveyard about 20 kilometers south of Burrel. Investigators from the tribunal and the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), accompanied by an Albanian prosecutor, inspected the house in February 2004. The house had been painted white but, in a photo of the investigation site viewed by Human Rights Watch, a yellow strip was visible at the house's base.

According to Del Ponte, near the house investigators found medical equipment used in surgery -- syringes, gauze, drip bags, and medicine vials for muscle relaxant often used in surgery. Using a chemical spray, the team found evidence of significant blood stains on the walls and floor of one room, except for a clear six-foot by two-foot rectangle on the floor.

Human Rights Watch spoke separately with two people who were present during the visit of the ICTY and UNMIK investigators to the house near Burrel. Both people corroborated the story as told in Del Ponte's book.

Human Rights Watch also obtained a copy of UNMIK's official report from the February 4-5, 2004 investigation, titled "Forensic Examination and Assessment in Albania," which largely corroborates Del Ponte's claims. The chemical spray called Luminol, the report says, revealed traces of blood in two rooms, including one spot at a right angle on the floor, which "would indicate that there may have been by [sic] a rectangular item covering this area." In a stream bed next to the house, investigators found an empty intravenous bag, syringes, and empty bottles of medicine, which they collected as evidence.

A tribunal spokeswoman confirmed on April 16 that ICTY and UNMIK investigators had looked into the allegations and visited the house near Burrel, but that they "could not substantiate the allegations and had no further basis on which to proceed in relation to [the tribunal's] jurisdiction." In response to a question, the spokeswoman said the investigators found "no reliable evidence" to substantiate the allegations.

"Collecting reliable evidence to launch a criminal prosecution and collecting evidence that adds weight to assertions are two different things, and the evidence found near Burrel clearly adds weight to the assertions," Abrahams said. "The tribunal mandate also only covers crimes committed during the armed conflict, which ended on June 12, 1999. The alleged kidnappings and other crimes took place after that date, so that was a further obstacle to pursuing an investigation."

Last week, Albanian Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha dismissed Del Ponte's allegations as "immoral" and "libelous."

"Minister Basha should take the allegations more seriously because he knows from his own experience that there is credible evidence of cross-border transfers," Abrahams said. "He worked for the tribunal and the Justice Department at UNMIK after the war, and personally investigated reports of detention facilities in northern Albania."

Human Rights Watch said it had not conducted its own investigation into the reports, beyond viewing the material presented to the ICTY, obtaining the UNMIK investigation report and speaking with two people who were present during the investigation in Burrel. But it noted the large number of persons missing from the Kosovo war -- Albanians, Serbs, and other ethnic groups.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 1,613 persons from Kosovo are still reported missing and 350 are reported dead, but their bodies have not yet been found and identified. The organization gives no ethnic breakdown. According to the Association of Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons in Kosovo and Metohija, 533 Serbs from Kosovo remain missing, 430 of whom disappeared after June 10, 1999.

Human Rights Watch also urged the Serbian government to help solve the fate of the roughly 1,500 missing ethnic Albanians from the war. Human Rights Watch has documented the removal of ethnic Albanian bodies from 10 places in Kosovo in 1999. Hundreds were reburied in mass graves inside Serbia, including on a base used by the special police.

"The Serbian government is rightfully complaining about the reported abductions and transfers of Serbs to Albania," Abrahams said. "But it has also failed to cooperate enough to shed light on the even larger number of Kosovo Albanians missing from the war."

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