Israel cuts ties with UN human rights body

Al Jazeera

Co-operation with UN Human Rights Council suspended as punitive measure for probe of illegal West Bank settlements.

Navi Pillay, UN commissioner for human rights, said
West Bank settlement expansion is linked to violence

Israel has said it has severed contacts with the UN Human Rights Council after the group's launch last week of an international investigation into Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The decision, announced by a foreign ministry spokesman on Monday, meant that the fact-finding team the council planned to send to the West Bank will not be allowed to enter the territory or Israel, said spokesman Yigal Palmor.

"We are not working with them anymore," Palmor said about the Geneva-based forum. "We had been participating in meetings, discussions, arranging visits to Israel. All that is over."

The international investigation was launched on Thursday, with the United States isolated in voting against the initiative brought by the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli leaders swiftly condemned the UN body, saying it was hypocritical and biased against Israel.
"They systematically and serially make all kinds of decisions and condemnations against Israel without even symbolically considering our positions," Palmor said.

He said Israel would continue to cooperate with other UN bodies.

Settlement status

The UN Human Rights Council condemned Israel's planned construction of new housing units for Jewish settlers in the

West Bank and East Jerusalem, saying they undermined the peace process and posed a threat to the two-state solution and the creation of a contiguous and independent Palestinian state.

About 500,000 Israelis and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war.

Palestinians want the territory for an independent state along with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Palestinians say settlements, considered illegal by the International Court of Justice, the highest UN legal body for disputes, would deny them a viable state.

Israel cites historical and Biblical links to the West Bank and says the status of settlements should be decided in peace negotiations.

Israeli Warships Move Against Surprise Gaza Aid Flotilla

Israeli Officials Condemn Attempt to Deliver Aid as 'Deplorable Propaganda'

Antiwar

Israeli warships are on the move tonight, preparing to attack a pair of aid vessels from Ireland and Canada which are attempting to deliver medical supplies to the Gaza Strip, insisting they will “take whatever measures will be necessary” to prevent the ships from reaching Gaza.

Israeli officials were quick to condemn the move as a “provocation” and claimed that an attempt to deliver aid amounted to a “deplorable propaganda exercise.” The ships are currently in international waters.

The ships left from the Turkish port of Fethiye today, and were supposed to sail to Rhodes, according to Turkish officials. Instead the ships are heading to Gaza, with 19 activists and five journalists between them.

The sail was something of a surprise and activists from the two ships said they deliberately kept a low profile until reaching international waters, fearing that they would be detained in port or sabotaged like previous ships.

Israel Should Forget the Idea of a Jewish State

 

Hisham Al-Bastawisi

Egyptian Presidential Candidate, Judge Hisham Al-Bastawisi, 59, said during a meeting with the Egyptian community in Austria held at the Modul hotel in Vienna that Israel must become a democratic, civil and civilized state. According to him, “everyone born in Israel has the right to enjoy the same rights, and Israel should forget the idea of a religious jewish state”.

He added: “What is required from the international community, the western countries, which do not allow the establishment of a religious state in their countries, is to neither accept nor approve the racist idea of a religious jewish state in Israel, which threatens the whole region”.


He said: “Let’s agree that all states must be laicistic. Why should then we exclude Israel from this? The exclusion of Israel from precepts which all other countries accept, to give her the “right” to be a racist and religious state, is unacceptable”. Judge Al-Bastawisi visited Austria in order to communicate with the Egyptian community, to discuss with them his candidacy platform and to listen to their views and answer their questions.

udge Al-Bastawisi

The meeting was attended by representatives of several diplomatic missions in Vienna, as well as by hundreds of Egyptians and members of other Arab communities, who al received and welcomed him warmly. The dialogue was moderated by Mr. Mustafa Abbas, president of the Association of Arab Culture in Vienna. (Click on the picture to make it bigger).

Judge Al-Bastawisi is a well known leader of the protest by Egypt’s judges against the Mubarak regime’s misuse of the judiciary. He was a fighter against corruption under the former regime. He suffered lots due the former regimes harassment, which tried several times to involve him in immoral issues and implanted spying equipment in his house.

Mr. Hesham Mohamed Othman Al-Bastawisi, with 30 years of working in the field of law, is an Egyptian judge and Vice-President of the Court of Cassation. He received a Bachelor of Laws in 1976 from Cairo University. He is married to Ms. Olfat Salah al-Sahli and has three sons, Mohammed, a graduate of Engineering, Ahmed, a student of law in France in his third year, and Mustafa, who also studies law in France, in his first year.

At the beginning of his speech, judge Al-Bastawisi said that Egypt had lost justice during the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak. This makes them needy for justice in all fields. Al-Bastawisi sees that justice is the basis of governance and that Egyptians miss freedom and democracy and were not satisfied with the level of hypocrisy and corruption of the former dictatorial regime. He also pointed out that his platform is based on improving conditions for the farmers and the agricultural sector, and solving the problem of the Nile water, indicating that 51% of Egypt’s water is wasted in the Mediterranean.

The audience at Hotel Modul included a hot dialogue with Judge Al-Bastawisi. Many of the attendees expressed their resentment for the policies of the Egyptian military council which rules Egypt now. With its unclear and blurry policy, the council does not respond to the inquiries of the Egyptian revolutionists. The Egyptian questions about the elections and the long due day for ending the rule of the military receive no answers, and the council is very slow in achieving the demands of the Egyptian revolution.

I asked the judge about his program on foreign relations and international law and his position on the crimes against humanity committed and abetted by the former Egyptian regime, especially the blockade on the Gaza Strip and starving the Palestinians to appease Israel and to comply to the American pressure, which links continued financial support to Egypt to the extent of Egypt’s commitment to achieving the demands of Israel, which are all against local and international laws, specifically the Israeli demands with regard to the Palestinian cause. I asked how he would deal with this issue if he elected as a president of Egypt.

Judge Al-Bastawisi said that the Egyptian regime committed crimes against humanity in Gaza, which are punishable under international laws and against international treaties, and acknowledged that what the former regime did was a crime in the field of international law, stating that there are many treaties saying that states must not close the borders for humanitarian assistance to their neighboring countries.

He said: “in my opinion and in the opinion of the candidacy platform, dealing with the Palestinian issue will be on the grounds that the Palestine issue is not an issue of Palestinians only, but is an issue of the whole Middle East and we can only deal with this issue through cooperation with the other Arab countries”. He added: “in order to know how to deal with the Palestine issue, we must first know what are our priorities, our interests and our security? We should know from where to start and where to end”.

He said: “Let’s talk about land for peace. My question is, which party will give the land? Which party will lead the peace?” He continued: “thinking about the answer to this question, I find that we are the part who gave the land, and gave the peace and everything else, and that Israel gave us nothing in return while international law talks about the return of Israel to the 1967 borders”. He added: “In order that I recognize Israel, I think that Israel should recognize me and return to the borders of 1967 which they occupied during the war”.

The judge asked: “If I am only the part who will give Israel the land, normalization of relations, peace and security … etc., then what Israel will give me?” He said: “We are not assaulting Israel, but Israel is continuing to assault us. We are the party that really is in need for security. So which is the security that Israel wants from us?”

He said that we should think in the same way of Israel, and in order to solve our problem with Israel, we must clarify that our problem with Israel is a problem of identity and struggle for civilization and culture: Our identity, culture and civilization are threatened by Israel.

He gave an example to illustrate his opinion. He said: “When the state of France realized the increase in the phenomenon of wearing the “Islamic Hijab” on its territory, they initiated laws that prohibit it in order to preserve its identity, civilization and culture. In my view France was within its rights with all the adopted resolutions on this issue, and this example should apply to Israel, which threatens not only the identity and security of Palestine, but of the whole Middle East”.

Egypt to Open Gaza Border as Israel Cites Concern Over Hamas

Bloomberg

Egypt plans to open its border crossing with the Gaza Strip, possibly within the next two weeks, the Foreign Ministry said, as Israel expressed concern over its neighbor’s ties with Hamas, which rules the territory.

“We’ll open the crossing point for individuals in a continuous way,” Menha Bakhoum, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, said in an interview today. “The details are still being worked out.”

Egypt has cooperated with Israel to impose a blockade on Gaza that Israel says is necessary to prevent Hamas and other Islamist groups from importing weapons that could be used against the Jewish state. The policy, implemented by former President Hosni Mubarak, has been unpopular in Egypt and was one of the targets of the protest movement that forced Mubarak out of office in February.

A senior Israeli official, speaking anonymously because the issues are being pursued in diplomatic channels, said Israel is concerned that Egypt is upgrading its ties with Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union.

Israel is also concerned about signs of a rapprochement between Egypt and Iran, which backs Hamas, and about increasing calls in Egypt for the abrogation of a peace treaty with Israel signed in 1979, the Israeli official said.

On Feb. 11, the day Mubarak stepped down, Hamas called on any new Egyptian government to reopen the Rafah border crossing and help Palestinians end the blockade.

Hamas-Fatah Accord

Egypt’s transitional military-led government this week brokered an agreement between Hamas and its rival, the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas, to end a division lasting almost four years, create a unified administration and pave the way for Palestinian elections.

The accord follows protests in March in which thousands of Palestinians, inspired by the popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, called for national unity.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil el-Arabi said last month that the country is ready to “open a new page” with Iran, with which it hasn’t had full diplomatic relations since 1979, after the overthrow of Mubarak. Iran hopes to “witness further expansion of relations,” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in response.

Israel and Egypt maintained a blockade on Gaza since Hamas ousted Abbas’s forces and took over running the territory in 2007, after it won Palestinian parliamentary elections the previous year.

Goods Shortages

The blockade cut off most civilian traffic and restricted trade with the territory, whose residents say they face shortages in some goods as a result.

Last month Israel’s navy boarded an Egypt-bound ship and found weapons that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said were sent by Iran and intended for “terrorist forces” in the Gaza Strip. Israel came under international criticism a year ago after a naval commando raid on an aid flotilla headed for Gaza left nine Turkish citizens dead.

Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, declined to comment today on Egypt’s plan to open the Rafah border crossing.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mariam Fam in Cairo at mfam1@bloomberg.net; Maram Mazen in Khartoum at mmazen@bloomberg.net; Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net.

Israel places resources at Suleiman's disposal "to protect the Egyptian regime"

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (C)
welcomes then Egyptian intelligence
chief Omar Suleiman in 2008

Middle East Monitor

Well-placed Israeli sources have disclosed that the Zionist state has offered to place "all its capabilities" at the disposal of General Omar Suleiman, the recently appointed Vice President of Egypt, for the "protection of the regime in Egypt". This offer includes the implementation of "various operations to end the popular revolution". Israel has also asked Suleiman to work on preventing arms being smuggled into the Gaza Strip.

An official in Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called Suleiman, who is also the director of Egypt's General Intelligence Service, and expressed his concern about the situation in Egypt. Netanyahu apparently suggested the possibility of Israeli intelligence personnel undertaking various specialist operations to bring an end to the demonstrations. The source added that Netanyahu and Suleiman also discussed ways of securing the border between Israel and Egypt.

The Hebrew newspaper Ma'ariv revealed that in recent days highly placed individuals in Netanyahu's office have conducted a series of telephone conversations with Suleiman to impress on the Vice President the necessity of coordinating on security with Israel. The telephone conversations were described as "urgent" and were designed to alert the Egyptians about the consequences of losing control of the tunnels described by many as Gaza's "lifeline" during the Israeli blockade. Israel is, claims Ma'ariv, concerned about increased activity in the tunnels "given the developments in progress inside Egypt" which have seen the Egyptian army "softening its anti-smuggling activities". In addition, it is claimed that there has been an increase in the number of illegal immigrants entering Israel from Egyptian territory.

Sources inside the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that Israel does not rule out General Suleiman "sacrificing his ties to Israel in order to satisfy the Egyptian street and bestow a measure of legitimacy on his appointment in the general opinion of the public". Suleiman maintains strong ties with Israeli officials and was responsible for several files linked to the Zionist state, including those relating to the ceasefire and a possible prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.