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.

US defends vote against Palestinian rights

PressTV

The United States has defended its vote against a recent UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution ordering a first probe into the impact of illegal Israeli settlements on the rights of Palestinians.

US State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said during a briefing in Washington, DC on Friday that the country had opposed the resolution because it “further politicizes the situation,” according to a transcript of her comments posted on news website, enewspf.com.

The 47-member council passed the resolution on Thursday, with 36 votes in favor, singular disapproval on the part of Washington, and 10 abstentions.

“We strongly opposed the creation of this fact-finding mission to Israel, a mission…which further politicizes the situation and distracts attention from what really needs to happen, which is for these parties to get back to the table,” Nuland said.

About 500,000 Israelis live in more than 100 settlement units built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the number of the settlers is increasing.

In September 2010, Israel resumed settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territories after a 10-month partial freeze, prompting the Palestinian Authority to break off direct talks with Tel Aviv.

On February 22, Israeli officials announced a decision to authorize the building of 500 new illegal settler units in the West Bank settlement of Shilo. The officials also said more than 200 settler homes built ‘without a permit’ by the Tel Aviv regime in the Palestinian territory would be “legalized.”

The United Nations says the Israeli settlement activities are illegal and “will not be recognized by the international community.”

HSN/HN

WHAT MIGHT THE THE EVENTS IN EGYPT MEAN TO ISRAEL/PALESTINE?

Desert Peace


The Mubarak dictatorship is a core pillar of the U.S./Israeli order in the Middle East, an order that completely ignores the wishes and aspirations of people on the ground.  The U.S. and Israel are scared of the new order that is to come.

The Egyptian intifada and what it may mean for Israel/Palestine

Posted by Alex Kane 

The Egyptian uprising against the Mubarak regime is historic and important in its own right.  But it may also lead to significant changes in the region that could be positive for the Palestinian cause.  Israel is worried about a reliable ally being toppled next door.

The Mubarak dictatorship is a core pillar of the U.S./Israeli order in the Middle East, an order that completely ignores the wishes and aspirations of people on the ground.  The U.S. and Israel are scared of the new order that is to come.
As As’ad Abu Khalil notes at his blog, “the Israeli strategy in the Middle East has been firmly set on the continuity of the Sadat-Mubarak dictatorship.”  

Israel’s peace agreement with Egypt in 1979 removed a military threat to Israel and secured millions of U.S. dollars and military support for the Egyptian dictatorship.  The Mubarak regime got carte blanche for its repressive rule.

Currently, there is extensive cooperation between Egypt and Israel. Cables obtained by WikiLeaks, and published by Counterpunch, reveal that the Israeli military coordinated bombing runs with the Egyptian military during the 2008-09 assault on Gaza and closed the Rafah border when told in advance that Israel’s ground invasion was to begin.  WikiLeaks’ documents shed further light on Egypt currently building a wall meant to choke off smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip.

The fall of the Mubarak regime, which is what the youth revolt currently sweeping Egypt is calling for, could mean a number of things related to the siege of Gaza, continued efforts to crush Hamas and the political situation Israel finds itself in.
All told, what happens in Egypt will not stay in Egypt.  It will have ripple effects across the Middle East, and especially in Israel/Palestine.