Gabriel Helou

Ereikat revealed that Obama considers Palestine’s application for “ non-Member Observer State” status at the UN as “crossing all American red lines”. Well, Obama can keep his red lines to himself. It’s exactly the United States and Israel which need bold red lines. Palestine ’s application was legal, while Israel - supported by the US - systematically violates international law, without any accountability .

“ Israel’s policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territory have come under unusually hard-hitting attack by the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, for their challenge to international law. In an article in the latest edition of the International Review of the Red Cross, Maurer explains this move away from the ICRC’s normal behind-the-scenes diplomacy by the fact that “the ICRC has been unable to engage in any meaningful dialogue with the Israeli government” on such key issues as the annexation of East Jerusalem, the routing of the barrier separating the West Bank and Israel, and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The organisation believes all of these are violations of  international humanitarian law, IHL .”

“The former South African president had been ill for some time and was admitted to hospital earlier this year with a recurring lung infection. President Jacob Zuma made the announcement, saying: "He is now at peace ".”

“This material below was distributed by   John Whitbeck , distinguished American lawyer and author, living in Paris,and doing his best to keep a group concerned with world affairs informed about latest developments, especially inthe   Middle East . I also add a slightly edited text of a message sent by Robert Stiver from Hawaii, who has exhibited consistent empathy for the suffering of the Palestinian. My press release below, although far less emotional than the cri de coeur   that Robert Stiver wrote, issues from the same place of urgent concern for the brave and resolute people of Gaza. I hope that Robert is wrong however when he ends with self-tormenting words of despair: “What to do, in the name of common justice?  I know not; it seems useless, all useless.” Such feelings of futility are quite understandable, but let us do all within our power to make sure that this unfolding catastrophe ENDS before its full tragic character is totally real...

“The UN has named 2014 as the ‘Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.’ The resolution was adopted by the majority of member-states with 110 voting in favor, 7 opposed and 54 abstaining. The year-long observance will entail organizing special events in cooperation with   “governments, relevant organizations of the United Nations system, intergovernmental organizations and civil society .”

“In the past few weeks the House Republicans introduced   legislation to increase aid to Israel by half a billion dollars. Israel is the top foreign recipient of U.S. aid.  This increase is on top of the $3.1 billion already provided to a country smaller than Rhode Island .  Economists estimate that if the U.S. cut off aid to Israel, their economy would crash.  Israel is a welfare nation.  I ask, where is the personal responsibility of the Israelis, and how does their addiction to welfare fit into the Republican plan of "self reliance?"  This past month the House Republicans cut food stamps by $400 million, and this during a time when our economy is very weak.  Over $100 million in food stamps was spent on U.S. military installations last year alone, because our military are paid starvation wages and qualify for food stamps.  So, the Republican House cut funding for food stamps, but increased funding for Israel.  At the same time, Israel u...

Today marks the 46 th anniversary of the adoption by the UN Security Council of Resolution 242 (1967). Security Council Resolution 242 contains some points worth review. Therefore, the main objective of the following is to shed light on these points, as a reminder. Monday, 5 June 1967, was another turning point in the history of Palestine, in the wake of the Six Day War between, on the one hand, Egypt, Syria and Jordan, and Israel on the other. On June 6 th , the Security Council, discharging its responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security [1] , unanimously adopted Resolution 233 (1967) [2] calling for an immediate cease-fire and a cessation of all military activities. Nevertheless, the hostilities continued. In these circumstances, the Security Council called for the same in Resolution 234 (1967) [3] , Resolution 235 (1967) [4] and Resolution 236 (1967) [5] . These three Resolutions were unanimously passed, but the belligerent parties d...

The Palestinian Rights Committee calls on   the UN General Assembly to proclaim 2014 “International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People ”.

“The Palestinians voted for the first time at the UN General Assembly Monday and claimed the moment as a new step in its quest for full recognition by the global body. Most of the 193 members of the General Assembly stood in applause when Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour cast a vote for a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The Palestinians became observer members of the United Nations on November 29 last year. It cannot vote on UN resolutions, but under UN rules, it and other observers such as the Vatican can vote in elections for judges on international courts. “This is an important step in our march for freedom and independence and full membership of the United Nations,” Mansour told the assembly .”

“ The concept of ‘international community’ and the International Court of Justice Despite its constant invocation in doctrine, rhetoric and countless international documents, international lawyers still struggle with arriving at a well-defined understanding of the concept of an ‘international community’, whether in identifying the members that compose it, the values and norms that it represents, or the processes which underlie its functioning. The term could be reduced merely to ‘constructive abstraction’, or rhetorical flourish; yet a concept of international community that would be legally operative (create enforceable legal rights and obligations) would require reflection as to the nature of international law and whether it serves the interests of a constituted community .”

The status of the Palestinian General Delegation in Brussels - accredited to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union - was upgraded today to the level of “Mission of Palestine”. The Head of Mission now carries the title of “ Ambassador ”. 

“ Special Rapporteur Richard Falk rebukes Dexia Bank and Belgian Government for financing illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories Richard Falk describes in his report to the UN General Assembly that the Belgian government can be held responsible for the funding by Dexia Bank of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Richard Falk also welcomed Dutch firm’s decision to pull out of an illegal Israeli project in East Jerusalem .”

“UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday transmitted a recommendation to the General Assembly during its 68th session seeking advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over legal consequences of prolonged occupation of Palestine if diplomacy fails. This was one of recommendations contained in a report by Richard Falk, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, in accordance with a Human Rights Council resolution. Falk recommended that "if current diplomacy fails to produce a solution to the underlying conflict," the Assembly should "request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice as to the legal consequences of the prolonged occupation of Palestine." The ICJ already ruled in 2004 that the Israeli separation wall in the West Bank was illegal and "tantamount to annexation." The ruling did not deter Israel from continuing with its construction. F...

Here is an interesting   article   on "Jerusalem bill". However, the author should have added that Israel must rescind "Jerusalem Basic Law" enacted in 1980. The article: “By a 5-4 majority, a ministerial committee on Sunday approved a bill that proposes to require 80 Knesset members to approve any negotiations about the future of Jerusalem before the issue can even be discussed in peace talks …”

“The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported that Israeli violations against detained Palestinian children are still ongoing, despite an alleged Israeli decision to improve their conditions, and the methods of interrogation . ”

“The Palestinian Ministry Of Detainees issued a press release revealing that Israel is currently holding captive 5200 Palestinians in 17 prisons, detention camps, and interrogation facilities. It said that this year witnessed a sharp escalation in arrests as the soldiers kidnapped 2450 Palestinians, including 476 children and 49 women since the beginning of the   year . ”

Whenever you hear about Palestinian-Israeli “peace talks/peace negotiations”, remember the following lines. In the North Sea Continental Shelf Case [i] , the International Court of Justice ruled that there is an obligation on States to enter “... i nto negotiations with a view to arriving at an agreement … they are under an obligation so to conduct themselves that the negotiations are meaningful , which will not be the case when either of them insists upon its own position without contemplating any modification of it…” Therefore, the ICJ in this Case set out the scope and extent of the obligation to negotiate. Now: are the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations truly engaged into “with a view to arriving at an agreement”? Are they “meaningful”? How many pre-conditions to reaching “peace” has Israel imposed? And has Israel stopped creating irreversible facts on the ground? [i]   North Sea Continental Shelf (Federal Republic of Germany/Netherlands), Judgment...

“If the   politics of deflection   exhibit the   outward   reach of   Israel’s grand strategy of territorial expansionism and regional hegemony, the   politics of fragmentation   serves Israel’s   inward   moves designed to weaken Palestinian resistance, induce despair, and de facto surrender. In fundamental respects deflection is an unwitting enabler of fragmentation, but it is also its twin or complement .”

“ Yesh Din: “A defective legal culture and the absence of legislation prevent the prosecution of soldiers for offenses considered war crimes” The human rights organization Yesh Din today published a report entitled “Lacuna: War Crimes in Israeli Law and in the Rulings of the Military Courts.” War crimes form part of the category of international crimes – crimes that violate the common values of the entire international community, and which are therefore particularly grave. Many countries around the world have already enacted laws intended to define such offenses and punish their perpetrators, as required by international law. Israel has not yet enacted a law defining war crimes, and the military courts judge soldiers who violate the rules of law according to “regular” offenses. The Yesh Din report published today presents the need for Israeli legislation on this subject .”

“ Since 1967 Israel has razed over 800,000 Palestinian olive trees, the equivalent to destroying Central Park 33 times over This week marked the start of the annual Palestinian olive harvest, an ancient tradition on which 80,000 families still rely for their livelihoods. Yet these families face growing economic hardship due to Israeli land confiscations, access restrictions, settler attacks, and not least the widespread uprooting, destruction and theft of the trees themselves. The infographic ‘Uprooted’ focuses on the staggering fact that Israeli authorities have uprooted over 800,000 Palestinian olive trees since 1967, the equivalent to razing all of the 24,000 trees in New York’s central park 33 times .”

“ Trapped between the separation barrier and the Green Line, Palestinians living in the ‘Seam Zone’ are forced to reckon with a Kafkaesque permit regime that appears designed to do one thing and one thing only: make them give up and leave. Israeli NGO Hamoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual   published “The Permit Regime”   earlier this year, a report amazing in its discoveries and the level it details the parallel universe Israel has created in the “Seam Zone,” the area between the separation barrier and the Green Line. The bulk of the information in the report was collected from UN reports (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA) and the State of Israel’s responses to 76 Supreme Court petitions filed by Hamoked over the years. As expected, the report gained zero media coverage. The following 25 stations, on the journey to the land of permits, were drawn from the report. Refreshment stations, scattered along the way, were taken from sour...

“ The Israeli government wants to prolong its long-term thievery, based on a particularly dirty trick. A few words on the uneven ground upon which the settlement of Beit El rests. The first is a seizure order signed by Brig. Gen. Binyamin Eliezer on July 18, 1979; the second is a map of the seized land, taken from the lands of the village Dura Al Qara; the third is a document issued by Major Amnon Shasha a day later. Please pay attention to paragraphs 6a and 8 in Shasha’s document: in the first, Shasha stipulates that the “seizure order is not to be published to the locals,” and in the second, that “no publicity is to be given to the order.” Why am I boring with paperwork from 1979, a time so unenlightened its favorite music was disco? Ah: because it shows us how the system of theft works in the West Bank …”

“During my period as the UN Special Rapporteur for   Human Rights in Palestine   on behalf of the Human Rights Council I have been struck by the persistent efforts of Israel and its strong civil society adjuncts to divert attention from the substance of Palestinian grievances or the consideration of the respective rights of Israel and Palestine under international law. I have also observed that many, but by not means all of those who represent the Palestinians seem strangely reluctant to focus on substance or to take full advantage of opportunities to use UN mechanisms to challenge Israel on the terrain of international law and morality… The recently exhumed direct negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and the Government of Israel exemplify this approach: proceeding despite the absence of preconditions as to compliance with international law even during the negotiations, reliance on the United States as the convening intermediary, and the appointment by President Ob...

“Therefore, instead of inventing more new solutions, forms, procedures, steps, tools, terms, maps and documents to bypass the root of the problem, the time has come to address it. The root of the problem is the Palestinians’ uprooting from their land in 1948. The root of the problem is the fact that they were not allowed to return to their homes. The root of the problem was imposing the outcome of this violence as a   fait accompli , as a new board game where Israeli-Jews incarnate sovereignty, and can therefore set the rules. A board game where Palestinians can – and should – be continuously dispossessed and beg for their rights, as if Israelis could have their rights while Palestinians are dispossessed of them… Instead of more “solutions,” the time has come to acknowledge the monumentality of the Nakba :  without fully addressing it, all visions for Israel-Palestine are doomed to fail. The time has come to acknowledge the Nakba as a catastrophe not only for Palestinians bu...

“ Last week, as negotiations continued between Israeli and Palestinian officials, both  Human Rights Watch  and the  United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights  (OHCHR) issued statements condemning Israel’s ongoing destruction of Palestinian homes and other structures, particularly in the occupied West Bank and the Negev desert in southern Israel. Israel’s policy of destroying Palestinian homes, usually under the pretext of demolishing structures built without permission from Israeli authorities, is a highly sensitive subject for Palestinians, as home demolitions have played a central role in Israel’s attempts to dispossess the native, non-Jewish Palestinian population of Israel and the occupied territories since the creation of the state in   1948 .”

“Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (26 Sep.- 02 Oct. 2013)”