apartheid wall
supporting the illegal apartheid wall
Submitted by antarchi on April 6, 2009 - 17:00The ICJ’s opinion on the wall could not be clearer. It identifies 11 international obligations breached by Israel by the construction of the wall and the maintenance of the system flowing from it of gates, permits, and illegal settlements on Palestinian land. These included non-derogable rules on the Palestinian right to self-determination and the prohibition on the acquisition of land by force. The ICJ then identify seven separate obligations for other states – in the context of these non-derogable rules – that include two negative obligations that states must not: one, render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation; and, two, recognise the illegal situation. Negative obligations have a lower threshold than positive ones and the burden on the UK and other EU states to meet these negative international obligations from July 2004 has been a high one.
It is noteworthy that the UK, as one such state, has done nothing effective to meet these obligations, and has, in fact, increased its aid and assistance in Israel since the ICJ’s opinion.
ISRAEL / PALESTINE
Submitted by antarchi on November 23, 2007 - 13:58See nuggets on the Israel / Palestine disaster here.
40 Years of Occupation:
This is what the UN Security Council agreed in November 1967, after the Arab-Israeli 6-day war:
The Security Council;
Expressing its continuing concern with the grave situation in the Middle East,
Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in which every State in the area can live in security...
1. Affirms that the fulfillment of Charter principles requires the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East which should include the application of both the following principles:
(i) Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict;
(ii) Termination of all claims or states of belligerency...From UN Resolution 242 (November 1967).
And this is what the occupied West Bank looks like, 40 years on:
Map taken from The Humanitarian Impact of the West Bank Barrier on Palestinian Communities (UNOCHA)
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Fragmentation of the West Bank
Submitted by antarchi on June 15, 2008 - 12:25
Map taken from The Humanitarian Impact of the West Bank Barrier on Palestinian Communities (UNOCHA)
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I am forbidden to enter Ariel
Submitted by antarchi on November 30, 2007 - 03:49I’ve never visited Ariel’s beautiful homes and green gardens, so different from our poor, parched community, because as a Palestinian I am forbidden to enter Ariel, even though it sits on Palestinian land in the West Bank.
In 1978 when construction of Ariel began I was a child. Yet I recall my frustration and sorrow for the many Palestinian farmers who lost their lands to the Israeli colony...
smugness-propping aid "experts"
Submitted by antarchi on August 26, 2007 - 23:34Here is a small microcosm of how this madness works: A Palestinian town has a wall built surrounding it from all sides, making it impossible for previously prosperous farmers to access their land, patients to reach their doctors and children to reach their schools. Naturally, the town is devastated. That's when Europeans send in their conscience-assuaging, smugness-propping aid "experts" to "save" the town, in the process relieving Israel from having to deal with the consequences of its crimes.
