'I don't hate Israel,' head of UN panel probing Gaza operation says

[bemildred]

William Schabas, the controversial international jurist who was tapped to head the United Nations Human Rights Council probe into possible war crimes by Israel and Hamas during Operation Protective Edge, denied on Wednesday that he “hates Israel.”

“I do not hate Israel,” Schabas is quoted as saying in an interview with the Arab-language daily Asharq al-Awsat.

Schabas’ appointment to head the panel has been assailed by Israeli government officials due to the Canadian law expert’s past statements regarding Israel’s alleged complicity in war crimes against the Palestinians.

In his interview with Asharq al-Awsat, Schabas vowed that he would “put my opinions aside” and proceed with the investigation in an impartial manner.

http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/I-dont-hate-Israel-head-of-UN-panel-probing-Gaza-operation-says-374919

[Jefferson23]

1. “Even if Spiderman was heading the probe, they would’ve attacked him,” he said.

Better believe it.

[bemildred]

6. tt's like a reflex at this point.

But it is getting rather full under the bus now.

[Jefferson23]

2. IDF to open internal probe into 99 Gaza war cases

Military prosecutor orders the investigate police unit look into cases of alleged misconduct and breach of international war, five of them criminal; decides against probing other questionable cases.

By Gili Cohen | Sep. 10, 2014

Chief Military Prosecutor Dani Efroni has ordered the Israel Defense Forces' investigative police unit to open 99 investigations into the army's operation in the Gaza Strip over the summer, including five criminal probes into soldiers' conduct. Forty-four of the cases are already under investigation.

The five criminal probes include the bombing of a Gaza beach, in which four children were killed; the strike on a United Nations school in Beit Hanun on July 24, in which 15 Palestinians were killed; the case of a 17-year-old who was arrested by IDF in the Khuzaa region and claims to have been used by soldiers as a human shield; the case of a Palestinian women who was shot dead by IDF troops in Dahaniyeh after her exit from the fighting zone was coordinated with soldiers in advance; and a fifth case involving suspected looting by a Golani Brigade soldier, who allegedly stole a sum of money from a house in Shujaiyeh.

Major General Efroni has decided, as of now, not to open investigations into seven additional cases, including the strike on the Koareh family home in Khan Yunis on July 8, which was carried out during the 'knock on roof' warning procedure, while the residents were still inside. The military prosecutor found that in that case, it would have been impossible to divert the missile and that it was not suspect to breach of international law.

He reached the same conclusion in another case, in which a vehicle reportedly carrying a local Gaza reporter was attacked in an aerial strike. The Military Prosecution said that the vehicle was hit after the army received intelligence information that it contained weapons and a terrorist. Major General Efroni is also currently investigating whether to order a probe into the strike on the Al-Batsh home in Gaza City, in which 18 members of the family were killed.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.615089

[Jefferson23]

3. Palestinian shot dead by IDF during riot in West Bank refugee camp

IDF says 22-year-old hurled explosive device at soldiers; some 50 rioters take to the streets as Israelis arrive to arrest Hamas operatives.

Yoav Zitun and Elior Levy
Published: 09.10.14, 09:10 / Israel News

After several days of increasing tensions in the West Bank, a young Palestinian man was shot dead by IDF soldiers during a riot in the al-Am'ari refugee camp near Ramallah early Wednesday morning, when troops entered the area in an attempt to arrest a wanted Hamas member.

According to Palestinian medical sources in Ramallah, 22-year-old Issa al-Qatari died after he was shot in the chest by live fire. The IDF said that troops had fired on one of the rioters, presumably al-Qatari, after he threw an explosive device at the soldiers.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4569420,00.html

[Jefferson23]

4. Israel 'coercing African migrants to leave'

HRW report alleges that Israel has used an "unlawful coercion policy" to deport nearly 7,000 African asylum seekers.

Jillian Kestler-D'Amours Last updated: 09 Sep 2014

The Israeli authorities have employed an "unlawful coercion policy" to force almost 7,000 African asylum seekers to leave Israel, putting them at risk of imprisonment and torture upon returning to their home countries, a new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report has alleged.

The report, released on Tuesday, found at least 6,400 Sudanese asylum seekers, and another 367 Eritreans, left Israel for their home countries by the end of June. Home to approximately 50,000 African aslyum seekers, Israel recognised only two Eritreans and one Sudanese as refugees in that same time.

"We’ve documented how some Sudanese are detained, interrogated, tortured, put in solitary confinement and charged with treason for visiting Israel, while Eritreans face detention and torture by officials who consider evasion of indefinite national military service as an act of treason," Gerry Simpson, a senior refugee researcher with HRW, told Al Jazeera.

The report pointed to Israel's indefinite detention of asylum seekers as the primary means of coercion. HRW also documented how nine Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers were deported to third countries - Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia - though these countries have not publicly confirmed taking them in.


Speaking to HRW, a 32-year-old man from Darfur was sent from Israel to the Sudanese capital Khartoum in February 2014. "I knew that [Israel] would detain me for an unlimited amount of time and that is a form of mental and physical imprisonment," he said, explaining his reason for leaving.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/09/israel-coerces-sudan-eritrea-migrants-deportation-201495130968214.html

[Jefferson23]

5. Israeli police detain Jerusalem child, 12, for several hours

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli police arrested a 12-year-old boy in Jerusalem on Tuesday for several hours, relatives said.

Mizyid Muhammad al-Abbasi, 12, was detained Tuesday afternoon while walking home from school, relatives told Ma'an.

Israeli police officers chased Mizyid and several other children before taking the boy to a police station on Saladin Street without an accompanying adult.

His father found out about his arrest through the boy's friends and immediately went to the police station.

Police interrogated Mizyid for several hours on suspicion of throwing stones and released him under house arrest for five days.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=726577

[bemildred]

7. Hamas Rocket Launches Don't Explain Israel's Gaza Destruction

Washington - Israel and its supporters abroad have parried accusations of indiscriminate destruction and mass killing of civilians in Gaza by arguing that they were consequences of strikes aimed at protecting Israeli civilians from rockets that were being launched from very near civilian structures.

That defence has already found its way into domestic US politics. A possible contender for the Democratic nomination for president, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, defended her vote for more military aid for Israel during the Israeli assault on Gaza by citing the rocket launch defence.

“[W]hen Hamas puts its rocket launchers next to hospitals, next to schools, they’re using their civilian population to protect their military assets,” said Warren. “And I believe Israel has a right, at that point, to defend itself.”

But although some Hamas rockets were launched near homes or other civilian structures, military developments on both sides have rendered that defence of Israeli attacks on civilian targets invalid.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26095-hamas-rocket-launches-dont-explain-israels-gaza-destruction

[Jefferson23]

14. +1. I like Porter, his work is solid on Iran and the negotiations too. n/t

[bemildred]

19. Yes, him and Englehardt, nt

[bemildred]

8. IDF opens criminal probe into 5 cases in wake of Gaza op

Less than two weeks after the 50-day conflict in Gaza, the Military Advocate General Corps has ordered an investigation into five cases, ranging from high-profile airstrikes to a simple case of alleged theft, a senior IDF officer said Wednesday.

He said that a fact-finding team headed by Maj. Gen. Noam Tibon and staffed with officers with the rank of colonel and above is in the process of investigating 44 “exceptional incidents.” Of those, 12 have already been referred to the Military Advocate General’s office for a final decision, with seven cases closed, three pending, and two resulting in criminal investigations.

Three other cases, in which there was a prima facie “reasonable suspicion” of violations of the law, resulted in immediate investigations without further review.

The speed with which the MAG Corps is operating stands in contrast to the army’s actions in the wake of the 2008-9 Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, when an international panel headed by Judge Richard Goldstone began investigating cases that the army had yet to fully address.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-to-open-criminal-probe-into-2-deadly-gaza-strikes/

[bemildred]

9. EU envoy to Israel: Gaza fighting will resume if talks don't progress

The European Union's envoy to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, told reporters in Jerusalem on Wednesday the he is concerned fighting will resume with the Gaza Strip if negotiation for a long-term cease-fire between Israel and Hamas do not begin to see progress.

"If the situation in Gaza goes unaddressed there is a big potential for violence to resume. We must not return to the status quo," he said. Faaborg-Anderson added that he had been informed that Egypt was planning to send invitations to Israel and the Palestinian factions in the coming days to return to Cairo and continue talks on the long-term cease-fire.

According to Faaborg-Andersen, any agreement would have to ensure the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip while simultaneously meeting Israel's security needs.

"There is a need to go back to the Cairo talks as soon as possible. We need to see a return of the PA to Gaza in order to lead the reconstruction efforts. We don't want to go back to instability within a few months," he said.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.615108

[bemildred]

10. UN mulling separate inquiry into Israeli attacks on its Gaza facilities

The top official at the United Nations said the agency was considering an inquiry into the attacks on its facilities and staff during Operation Protective Edge, Israel's seven-week conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

Speaking with the Arabic daily Al-Hayat, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that such a probe would aim to "investigate the killing and wounding of U.N. personnel and to hold accountable those responsible, whoever they are."

He told the paper that he had discussed the prospect of the probe with Israeli authorities.

The inquiry would be separate from one being conducted by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which is investigating whether Israel committed war crimes in Gaza. The Israeli government has condemned the formation of that panel, saying that Hamas should be the subject of the inquiry.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.615090

[bemildred]

11. . nt

[Jefferson23]

12. Israel declares some 380 hectares in West Bank as state land

On 25 August 2014, Israel declared about 380 hectares of West Bank land as state land. According to the military order, the declaration applies to vast tracts of land belonging to the Palestinian villages of Husan, Wadi Fukin, Jab'a, Surif and Nahalin, in the Bethlehem district, northwest of the settlements of Beitar Illit and Gush Etzion and adjacent to the Green Line.

According to media reports, the declaration was carried out under directives from government officials in retaliation for the abduction and killing of Yeshiva students Eyal Yifrah, Naftali Fraenkel and Gilad Shaar in June 2014. As such, the declaration constitutes collective punishment of the residents of these five villages, who will no longer be permitted to use their land. Such punishment is prohibited.

Public land is meant to serve the needs of the Palestinian public, rather than those of Israel or of the settlers. However, it appears that the purpose of the current declaration, as others before it, is to clear the way for developing nearby settlements or establishing new ones in the declared area. It is also meant to impede the development of the Palestinian villages whose lands have been declared state land and intensify the territorial divide between them, already exacerbated by the presence of Israeli settlements in the area.

Moreover, the location of the lands that have been declared state land suggests an intention to create territorial contiguity between Israel and the nearby settlements of Beitar Illit, Gva’ot and the Gush Etzion bloc, in a manner that would effectively erase the Green Line in the area. This declaration is one of several actions taken by the state in this vicinity, including the April 2014 declaration of some 100 hectares of land in Neve Daniel as state land and a plan to advance building projects in the Gva’ot settlement (officially part of Alon Shvut).

B’Tselem calls on the Civil Administration to cancel the declaration immediately.

Background

Israel began a massive project of declaring state land in the West Bank in 1979, following the High Court of Justice ruling in Elon Moreh, which restricted the government’s power to establish settlements on private Palestinian land that had been seized by military order, as had been the practice until then. The Israeli government announced it would build settlements only on land that had been declared state land. However, the reserve of state land Israel had “inherited” from the Jordanians was limited. Hence, by 2002, Israel had declared almost 100,000 hectares of West Bank land as state land. In Area C, which is under full Israeli control, there are currently 120,000 hectares of state land, comprising about 36.5% of Area C (22% of the West Bank).

Comprehensive research conducted by B’Tselem showed that state land had been declared over the years in breach of the basic norms of due process and natural justice. Palestinian residents often did not know that their land had been registered as government property, and by the time they found out, it was too late to appeal the decision. The burden of proof always rests on the Palestinian claiming ownership of the land, and even if the landowner manages to prove the land is his, in some cases, it would still be registered to the state on the claim that it had been handed over to a settlement “in good faith”.

http://www.btselem.org/settlements/20140910_declaration_of_state_land_in_bethlehem_area

[Jefferson23]

13. Gaza schools still filled with displaced despite school year start

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- 63,000 Palestinians are still living in temporary shelters for displaced located in Gaza schools even though the academic year is set to begin in four days, a UN official said on Tuesday

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees public information officer Adnan Abu Hasnah told Ma'an that 29 of the agency's schools were still being used to house the displaced more than two weeks after the end of the Israeli offensive, despite efforts to find other shelter.

At the height of the Israeli offensive in late July and August, around 485,000 Palestinians were forced to flee their homes in the biggest sudden mass displacement in the region since Israel's 1967 invasion of neighboring countries, including Gaza.

At the end of hostilities, it was estimated by the UN that 110,000 had become permanently homeless due to the destruction of their homes.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=726546

[Jefferson23]

15. Palestinian salaries dispute puts Gaza ceasefire at risk

Hamas thought ceasefire deal meant Palestinian Authority would renew salary payments to over 40,000 Hamas' government civil servants who have been without pay for months - Abbas' Fatah seems to think otherwise.

Reuters
Published: 09.10.14, 17:26 / Israel News

Tensions between Fatah and Hamas are close to breaking point over the non-payment of salaries to Gaza's public sector workers, raising the risk of a return to conflict in the territory, officials say.

The ceasefire struck last month to end the conflcit Hamas included stipulations that the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, should take over civil administration in Gaza from Hamas.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4569652,00.html

[King_David]

16. So Hamas has a problem with Fatah

And the solution is to attack Israel ?

Of course that makes sense .

[Jefferson23]

17. Hamas: Cairo truce talks to resume mid-September

GAZA CITY (AFP) -- Hamas' exiled deputy leader said Wednesday that indirect talks with Israel to consolidate a Gaza ceasefire are to resume in Cairo in mid-September.

Fifty days of deadly fighting between Israel and Gaza fighters, which killed more than 2,140 Palestinians and 73 on the Israeli side, ended on Aug. 26 with an open-ended truce agreement.

Under terms of the deal, the parties agreed to resume Egyptian-brokered negotiations within a month to discuss key issues, including a Hamas demand for a port and an airport, a prisoner swap and Israel's insistence on Gaza fighters disarming.

Speaking to reporters in Gaza City during a visit from his base in Cairo, Mousa Abu Marzouq said it was "expected that the talks would resume in mid-September."

Israel agreed as part of the initial ceasefire to immediately ease restrictions on the entry of goods, humanitarian aid and construction materials into Gaza, and to expand the fishing zone off Gaza to six nautical miles.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=726725

[Jefferson23]

18. Hamas MP: Group ready to fight if Israel violates ceasefire

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Hamas said Wednesday that it was prepared to fight back if Israel did not commit to the ceasefire agreement signed in August.

"The resistance is ready to fight for months and cause Israel huge losses," Hamas MP Ismail al-Ashqar said.

The ceasefire agreement stipulated that Israel would immediately expand the fishing zone off Gaza's coast, allowing fishermen to sail as far as six nautical miles from shore, and would continue to expand the area gradually.

Under the terms of the deal, Israel also agreed to ease its siege on the coastal enclave.

Since Aug. 26, Israeli naval forces have opened fire at Palestinian fishermen at least four times and on Tuesday, four Palestinian fishermen were detained off the coast of northern Gaza.


http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=726684

[sabbat hunter]

20. he may say he doesn't hate israel

but his history says otherwise.