Human Rights

NOVANEWS   The father of a Turkish-American man killed last year in an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla will file a compensation case against the Israeli government Tuesday in the United States, his lawyer has said. “We will open a compensation case against Israel and we’ll declare this at a press conference tomorrow [Tuesday] in front of the U.S. Capitol,” Ramazan Arıtürk, a lawyer for the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or İHH, which organized the ill-fated flotilla, told the Hürriyet Daily News on Monday. The declaration will come after the lawyers meet with officials from the U.S. Department of Justice as well as U.S. senators and congressmen on the issue, the lawyer said. The Israeli raid May 31, 2010, killed nine people aboard the Mavi Marmara, including Furkan Doğ...

NOVANEWS   In November 2008, we reported to you about demolition orders, issue by Israel’s Civilian Administration of the Occupied Territories, against eleven structures in Umm-Al-Kheir (including stone and tin residential structures, lavatory structures, tents, and a tin storage structure). The structures are located in two residential clusters in Umm al-Kheir that are home to five extended families (over 100 children and adults). Thirty years ago, these families have had the misfortune of the Israeli settlement Carmel settling right on top of their lands and living quarters. The continued expansion of Carmel means continued demolitions and evictions for Umm-Al-Kheir. Following the demolition orders of November 2009, the families of Umm al-Kheir began a judicial fight to have the or...

NOVANEWS     Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Saturday reported that a man was shot to death by the IDF near the border fence with Israel, east of Gaza City. An IDF spokesman said the troops opened fire at a suspect who entered a restricted zone near the border fence. On Friday, following calls to renew the processions toward Israel’s borders, a few dozen Palestinians approached the border fence east of Khan Younis and torched tires. The IDF stated that the soldiers aimed at the lower part of the body of one of the “main instigators” and hit him. Sources in the Strip reported that the Palestinian man participated in rallies calling for a third intifada. After the shooting, the protesters drew back from the fence and continued their demonstration. Last weekend, thousands held...

NOVANEWS   The International Criminal Court: An Imperial Tool by Stephen Lendman Established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on July 1, 2002, it’s mandated to prosecute individuals for genocide and aggression, as well as crimes or war and against humanity. Much earlier, the UN Charter was created “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our life time has brought untold sorrow to mankind.” Its Chapter I states: “To maintain international peace and security, (member states shall respect the) principle of the sovereign equality (of other members), settle their international disputes by peaceful means, (and) refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independ...

NOVANEWS by Stephen Lendman   Coincidental with high-level US – China May 9 and 10 talks, the Atlantic magazine quoted Hillary Clinton calling China’s human rights record “deplorable.” She also suggested possible unrest erupting like in the Middle East, then added:     “They’re worried, and they are trying to stop history, which is a fool’s errand. They cannot do it. But they’re going to hold it off as long as possibl e,” ignoring America’s scandalous human rights record, by far the world’s worse. Each year, the State Department publishes human rights reports for over 190 countries. Its April 8-released 2010 China assessment can be accessed through the following link. Unsparing in its harshness, it calls China “an authoritarian state in which the Chinese Communist Party (...

NOVANEWS Palestinian teen dies of wounds sustained in East Jerusalem clashes   Milad Said Ayyash, 17, was shot in the stomach on Friday during violent clashes near Silwan; police deploy heavily throughout Jerusalem as further demonstration expected. Haaretz A Palestinian teenager who was shot on Friday during clashes with Israeli security forces near the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, succumbed to his wounds on Saturday morning. Expecting further demonstrations, Israeli police have been deployed heavily throughout the city. Milad Said Ayyash, 17, was hospitalized in critical condition in East Jerusalem Al-Mukassad hospital shortly after he was shot in the stomach on Friday. The doctors said he had no pulse when he arrived, and had already lost a great deal of blood. A Pal...

NOVANEWS   The human rights organization B'Tselem yesterday called (on 11 April) for the establishment of an independent and effective investigative apparatus to examine suspicions of breaches of the law by security forces. The apparatus would operate in circumstances in which the Military Police Investigation Unit (MPIU) cannot investigate properly. B'Tselem’s executive director, Jessica Montell, raised this demand before the Turkel Commission, which is studying the question whether Israel’s present apparatus for examining and investigating claims of breach of the laws of war conforms to its international obligations. In her testimony, Montell related to four subjects: The Judge Advocate General’s Office’s handling of cases investigated by the MPIU; Investigations involving ...

NOVANEWS   The village of Khirbet a-Deir, which lies next to the village of Tuqu’, is built on both sides of Route 356 that connects Bethlehem and Hebron. On 9 February 2011, a bulldozer accompanied by two army jeeps laid dirt piles and boulders at the two entrances to the Abu Ghassan neighborhood, which is the northern section of the village, and at the entrance to the nearby village of al-Halqum, thus blocking access by car through these entrances. The action was taken without informing the residents in advance and without explanation. Residents of Abu Ghassan carry provisions on foot. Photo: Suha Zeid, B'Tselem, 10 Feb. '11. Following firm exchanges between residents and representatives of the Civil Administration, the army opened the entrance to al-Halqum the same day. The ent...

NOVANEWS At least three people bitten in April, two additional cases are being investigated by B’Tselem B'Tselem has written to the OC Central Command and to the judge advocate general, demanding that they immediately terminate the use of attack dogs against Palestinian workers who enter into Israel without permits. In the last month alone, at least three Palestinians were bitten as a result of the practice. B’Tselem is looking into two additional cases that raise serious suspicions that dogs attacked Palestinians who tried to cross the Separation Barrier. In her letter, B’Tselem Executive Director Jessica Montell writes: “This policy harms and terrifies those affected. It also contradicts Israeli and international law. Israel has the authority to control the entry of Palestinian into ...

NOVANEWS   The Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea area contains the largest land reserves in the West Bank. The area covers 1.6 million dunams, which constitute 28.8 percent of the West Bank. Sixty-five thousand Palestinians, live in 29 communities, and an estimated additional 15,000 Palestinians reside in dozens of small Beduin communities. Some 9,400 settlers live in the 37 settlements (including seven outposts) in the area. Israel has instituted in this area a regime that intensively exploits its resources, to an extent greater than elsewhere in the West Bank, and which demonstrates its intention: de facto annexation of the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea area to the State of Israel. Taking control of land Greenhouses of settlements next to ‘Ein al-Bida, in the Jorda...