Settlers force Palestinians out of East Jerusalem home
- Details
- Written by Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent
- Published: 03 November 2009 03 November 2009
- Hits: 2931 2931
"This land is Israel. We are in Israel. God gave this land to the Jews. The Torah tells us so. You want war? Declare war on God, not on us," Israeli settler{/josquote}
Shortly after the verdict was passed dozens of settlers stormed into the house with hired security guards, and demanded that the family vacate immediately.
A violent riot erupted between the settlers and the neighborhood's Palestinian residents, and police were called to disperse the protesters.
A legal battle has raged for some 30 years over the ownership of 28 houses in this neighborhood.
The particular house, built 10 years ago by the al-Kurd family, was unoccupied and locked for eight years by court order pending settlement of a land-ownership dispute.
Police kept members of the family back as a dozen Israeli men removed furniture.
"They can go to Syria, Iraq, Jordan. We are six million and they are billions," said Yehya Gureish, an Arabic-speaking Yemen-born Jew who said his family owned the land and had Ottoman Empire documentation to prove it.
"This land is Israel. We are in Israel. God gave this land to the Jews. The Torah tells us so. You want war? Declare war on God, not on us," he said.
The home takeover was filmed by an activist from the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, whose video includes some cursing and a brief scuffle, but no violence.
"I am Jerusalemite, a Palestinian. I didn't come from all over the world," said Rifqa al-Kurd, who had the house built 10 years ago for her married daughter.
The Palestinians who currently reside in the area were housed there as refugees by the United Nations after they fled western Jerusalem following the War of Independence in 1948.
During the 1970s, a committee of Sephardic Jews claimed ownership of the land, according to papers which proved that they had purchased it from the Turks before the war.
The committee had been active amongst the Jerusalem Jewish community for several hundred years in ownership claims over land in the area.
The court decided after long deliberation, that the Sephardic committee's claim to ownership is legal, but the Palestinian residents had also received a protected residency status which forced the Jews to keep them on as tenants.
Since then the committee filed several claims stating that the Palestinians had breached the lease with their new landlords, and demanded that they be evacuated from the premises.
Due to these recurring claims, several Palestinian families were evacuated from their homes and replaced by settler families.
The Sheikh Jarrah Palestinian residents said they fear that the settlers are strengthening the pressure to move them all out of town.
Two Palestinian families that were forced to leave their homes last August have been living out of protest in a tent on the town's sidewalks despite municipal pressure to remove the tents.
Israel and Gaza Deserve Better Than H.Res. 867
- Details
- Written by Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA)
- Published: 03 November 2009 03 November 2009
- Hits: 3269 3269
Israel and Gaza Deserve Better Than H.Res. 867
By Rep. Brian Baird
Special to Roll Call
http://www.baird.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1041&Itemid=99
Nov. 2, 2009, 12 a.m.
Before House Members vote on H.Res. 867, regarding the U.N. Goldstone report on the Gaza conflict, there are a few questions worth asking.
First, why are we bringing this resolution to the floor without ever giving former South African Constitutional Court Justice Richard Goldstone a hearing to explain his findings? Have those who will vote on H.Res. 867 actually read the resolution? Have they read the Goldstone report? Are they aware that Justice Goldstone has issued a paragraph-by-paragraph response, available on my Web site at baird.house.gov, to H.Res. 867 pointing out that many of its assertions are factually inaccurate or deeply misleading?
Since scarcely a dozen House Members have actually been to Gaza , what actual firsthand knowledge do the rest of the Members of Congress possess on which to base their judgment of the merits of H.Res. 867 or the Goldstone report?
What will it say about this Congress and our country if we so readily seek to block "any further consideration" of a human rights investigation produced by one of the most respected jurists in the world today, a man who led the investigations of abuses in South Africa, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Kosovo, and worked to identify and prosecute Nazi war criminals as a member of the Panel of the Commission of Enquiry into the Activities of Nazism in Argentina?
As one of the first two American officials, along with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), to enter Gaza shortly after the conclusion of major bombing from "Operation Cast Lead," then again several months later, I have seen firsthand the devastating destruction of hospitals, schools, homes, industries and infrastructure. Much of that devastation was wrought using U.S. manufactured and paid for weaponry. I have also spoken with health workers, average Gazans, nongovernmental organization relief workers and many others.
In addition, I have been to the Israeli town of Sderot , which has been the target of repeated rocket attacks, and to a number of Palestinian towns and Israeli settlements in the West Bank . Colleagues who have not been to the region may wish to view some of the images and interviews from these visits on my Web site.
With the information from these personal visits and on-the-ground knowledge, I read with care and interest the Goldstone report in its entirety, and my firm conclusion is that, although the findings may be unpleasant and troubling, they are, unfortunately, consistent with the facts and evidence. In my judgment, far from meriting the obstruction called for in H.Res. 867, the Goldstone report is without question worthy of further investigation.a
I know this conclusion is not easily accepted, and I know it raises serious charges against entities and individuals on both sides of this conflict, Israel and Hamas. But if our own country is truly to stand for human rights and the rule of law, and if facts matter, how can we do other than insist that legitimate questions and evidence are followed by further investigation and, if necessary and warranted, appropriate consequences?
H.Res. 867 is very serious business. If, as Goldstone asserts and the evidence I have seen supports, there were in fact gross violations of international law and human rights on all sides, we cannot in good conscience support H.Res. 867.
This is about much more than just another imposed political litmus test that we are all too often asked to perform. This is about whether we as individuals and this Congress as an institution find it acceptable to drop white phosphorous on civilian targets, to rocket civilian communities, to destroy hospitals and schools, to use civilians as human shields, and to deliberately destroy nonmilitary factories, industries and basic water, electrical and sanitation infrastructure. This is about whether it is acceptable to restrict the movement, opportunities and hopes of more than a million people every single day.
At the end of the day, this is also about our own domestic security. If we are seen internationally as condoning violations of human rights and international law, if our money and our weaponry play a leading role in those violations, and if we reflexively obstruct the findings of someone with the credentials, history and integrity of Justice Goldstone, it can only diminish our international standing and our own security.
Rep. Brian Baird (D) represents Washington's 3rd district.
Justice Goldstone refutes House Bill H.Res 867
- Details
- Written by Justice Richard J. Goldstone Justice Richard J. Goldstone
- Published: 02 November 2009 02 November 2009
- Hits: 2394 2394
The Honorable Howard Berman Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs
The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Ranking Member, House Committee on
Foreign Affairs
October 29, 2009
Dear Chairman Berman and Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen,
It has come to my attention that a resolution has been introduced in
the Unites States House of Representatives regarding the United
Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, which I led earlier
this year.
I fully respect the right of the US Congress to examine and judge my
mission and the resulting report, as well as to make its
recommendations to the US Executive branch of government. However, I
have strong reservations about the text of the resolution in question
– text that includes serious factual inaccuracies and instances where
information and statements are taken grossly out of context.
I undertook this fact-finding mission in good faith, just as I
undertook my responsibilities vis à vis the South African Standing
Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation, the
International War Crimes Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia, the
InternationalCriminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Panel of
the Commission of Enquiry into the Activities of Nazism in Argentina,
the Independent International Commission on Kosovo, and the Volker
Committee investigation into the UN’s Iraq oil-for-food program in
2004/5.
I hope that you, in similar good faith, will take the time to consider
my comments about the resolution and, as a result of that
consideration, make the necessary corrections.
America, stop sucking up to Israel
- Details
- Written by Gideon Levy Gideon Levy
- Published: 01 November 2009 01 November 2009
- Hits: 3090 3090
{josquote}Israel of 2009 is a spoiled country, arrogant and condescending, convinced that it deserves everything and that it has the power to make a fool of America and the world. The United States has engendered this situation, which endangers the entire Mideast and Israel itself. That is why there needs to be a turning point in the coming year - Washington needs to finally say no to Israel and the occupation. An unambiguous, presidential no. - Giden Levy{/josquote}
Join ADC in Calling on Congress to Oppose H.RES 867
- Details
- Written by ADC ADC
- Published: 28 October 2009 28 October 2009
- Hits: 3097 3097
This is an Attack on the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.
Washington, D.C. | October 28, 2009 | The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) urges you to contact your Representatives and encourage them not to support H.RES 867 which was introduced by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). H. RES. 867 calls on the President and the Secretary of State to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration of the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. The Resolution considers the Report –and its findings- “to be irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy.” At the moment, the resolution has been co-sponsored by four members of Congress, and has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The Report is the conclusion of a three-month investigation of Israeli war crimes committed against Palestinians in Gaza. It was undertaken by the UN Fact Finding Mission, headed by Justice Richard Goldstone. The Mission called for “the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law [which] would contribute to ending such violations, to the protection of civilians and to the restoration of peace.”
With your quick action, we can encourage opposition for H. RES. 867, and urge accountability for war crimes committed in Gaza. Let’s act NOW!