Author Archives: Arab America

The Palestinian Authority has officially become a member of the International Criminal Court two months after signing its treaty, and is marking the momentous occasion with a low-key ceremony at the court’s headquarters.

Palestinians signed the court’s founding treaty in January and it came into force Wednesday, an event welcomed by activists who see it as an opportunity to bring accountability to years of conflict between Palestinians and Israel.

Israel is not a member of the ICC, but the country’s military and civilian leaders could now face charges if they are believed to have committed crimes on Palestinian territory.

The court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, opened a preliminary investigation in mid-January after the Palestinians formally accepted the court’s jurisdiction dating back to just before last year’s Gaza conflict.

The Palestinian government would allow the International Criminal Court ample time to conduct an inquiry into possible war crimes during last year’s Gaza conflict, but would make a formal referral if it took too long, its foreign minister said. 

Source: www.haaretz.com

The Palestinians formally joined the International Criminal Court on Wednesday, as part of a broader effort to put international pressure on Israel and exact a higher price for its occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state.

Beyond seeking war crimes charges against Israel at the court, the Palestinians want the U.N. Security Council to set a deadline for an Israeli troop withdrawal and hope for new momentum of a Palestinian-led international movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions.

The atmosphere seems ripe for international intervention after recently re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu startled the world with a pledge to voters, since withdrawn, that he would not allow a Palestinian state to be established.

Source: www.statesman.com

This familiar cycle of destruction and reconstruction in Gaza must end. We demand that the the international community address the underlying causes of the hostilities and end the Israeli blockade. Aid is not a substitute for human rights and the denial of freedom can never lead to lasting peace.

The illegal Israeli blockade continues to have a devastating effect on all facets of society in Gaza. Exports from Gaza and people’s movement to and from the Gaza Strip remain banned, and access to fishing areas and land severely limited. The already dire economic situation was compounded in the summer of 2014 due to the Israeli assault, which left Gaza in rubble without any options to rebuild their homes or economy. Access to movement, goods, and services remains under Israeli control. Nearly 10,000 people are still living in temporary shelters because their homes are now rubble and they have no way to rebuild. Over 2,200 people lost their lives, including many children, because they had nowhere to run. A return to the status quo of the blockade is not a lasting solution.

The people of Gaza must have freedom of movement, freedom of access, freedom to trade, freedom from aid dependency and freedom from the fear of death and destruction. They have been living under the collective punishment of an Israeli-imposed blockade for over eight years. UNRWA works tirelessly to protect and support the people of Gaza, but there must also be a policy change for real progress. 

Source: www.change.org

The organizers of a planned conference on Israel say they are considering emergency legal action against the UK’s University of Southampton after administrators withdrew permission for the event.

University officials have confirmed that they are considering pulling the plug on the conference, but suggested on Tuesday morning that they may yet back off from that decision.

The news of the cancelation follows an intense smear campaign against the conference and its organizers by Israel lobby groups, columnists and UK government ministers and members of parliament.

The conference, “International Law and the State of Israel: Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism,” had been scheduled for 17-19 April.

Source: electronicintifada.net

The International Criminal Court on Wednesday held a ceremony at The Hague “to welcome the State of Palestine” as the 123 State Party to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty.

At the ceremony, the ICC’s Second Vice-President, Judge Kuniko Ozaki, presented Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Dr. Riad Al-Malki, with a special edition of the Rome Statute, as a symbol of their joint commitment to the rule of law.

The President of the Assembly of States Parties (which governs the ICC), H.E. Sidiki Kaba, a number of ICC Judges, ICC Deputy Prosecutor James Stewart and ICC Registrar Herman von Hebel attended the ceremony as well.

Vice-President Kuniko Ozaki stated: “Accession to a treaty is, of course, just the first step. As the Rome Statute today enters into force for the State of Palestine, Palestine acquires all the rights as well as responsibilities that come with being a State Party to the Statute. These are substantive commitments, which cannot be taken lightly.”

Kaba declared that “such a highly symbolic commitment confirms, once again, that people all over the world embrace the noble ideals of the ICC, that are ideals of peace and justice for all.”

Al-Malki said: “As Palestine formally becomes a State Party to the Rome Statute today, the world is also a step closer to ending a long era of impunity and injustice. Indeed, today brings us closer to our shared goals of justice and peace.”

The government’s position along with the US remains that there is no “Palestine” without a UN Security Council Resolution or through the Oslo peace process and it says it will ask the ICC to reject ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s recognition of Palestine if the ICC does intervene beyond the current stage of a mere preliminary examination.

Source: www.jpost.com

Users on the popular social media site took advantage of April Fools Day to point out the myriad problems in the Middle East.

Source: www.jpost.com

Where there is war, there is destruction. The costs for local cultural sites are often high, as was the case during World War II where countless artworks were lost to bombing and looting, as well as in Iraq during the 2003 invasion. Today, some of the world’s oldest and most important cultural sites and artifacts in Syria are under immediate threat from the ongoing civil war in the country. But the AFP reports that Syrian officials have managed to preserve 99 percent of its cultural heritage so far, thanks to the efforts of museum staff.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria’s Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums is among those taking extreme measures to ensure that Syria’s art and artifacts stay safe, including works that date to the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires.

“The images of the looting of the museum in Baghdad and other Iraqi sites are always on my mind, and I told myself that everything must be done to avoid a repeat of that here,” he said to the AFP.

Mr. Abdulkarim has overseen the storage and shipment of 300,000 items to secret protected locations. So far, works from 34 museums have been protected, with up to 80,000 from Damascus, Syria’s capital and second largest city.

Yaarub al-Abdullah, head of the National Museum and former director of antiquities for Deir Ezzor, helped to get 13,000 objects out of the city on a military plane after ISIS invaded Mosul, Iraq last August. He and museum staff dodged gunfire while transporting the work, and in the months since over a dozen have lost their lives.

“They feel that protecting our heritage is a question of honor, like defending the honor of their mothers,” said Mr. Abdulkarim.

But while good work is being done, plenty has still been lost. The AFP reports damage to 300 cultural sites and 445 buildings in Syria, and of its six UNESCO heritage sites, five have suffered damages since the fighting began.

Source: observer.com

When Mona Karam landed in California, the young Egyptian civil engineer’s professional goals added up to little more than a vague desire to get a master’s degree in whatever the latest tech trend happens to be, she said.

Five weeks later, Karam is determined to help create an eco-friendly business culture on par with Silicon Valley’s when she heads back home to Cairo. She calls her participation in the State Department’s initiative for Middle Eastern and African women a “life-changing” experience that has given her the contacts and the inspiration to become a leader for change.

“That’s the thing: Now I have a goal, and I have an objective,” the 28-year-old told Al-Monitor.

Source: www.al-monitor.com

Activists at Northeastern University in Boston say they have been silenced by their student government after it blocked a divestment referendum from appearing on an upcoming election ballot.

The referendum would have asked students whether they would support divestment from four US companies that profit from Israel’s violations of Palestinians’ rights.

More than 900 undergraduate students signed a petition in support of putting a divestment referendum up for a vote. The signatures were presented to the student government during a three-hour hearing on 16 March.

Source: electronicintifada.net

The last time Elizabeth Warren was asked about her views on the Israeli attack on Gaza – on July 17 – she, as Rania Khalek put it, “literally ran away” without answering. But last week, the liberal Senator appeared for one of her regularly scheduled “office hours” with her Massachusetts constituents, this one in Hyannis, and, as a local paper reported, she had nowhere to run.

One voter who identified himself as a Warren supporter, John Bangert, stood up and objected to her recent vote, in the middle of the horrific attack on Gaza, to send yet another $225 million of American taxpayer money to Israel for its “Iron Dome” system. Banger told his Senator: “We are disagreeing with Israel using their guns against innocents. It’s true in Ferguson, Missouri, and it’s true in Israel . . .  The vote was wrong, I believe.” To crowd applause, Bangert told Warren that the money “could have been spent on infrastructure or helping immigrants fleeing Central America.”

Source: firstlook.org

Winter has hit Lebanon full force with its freezing temperatures, bone-chilling wind and snow. Refugee camp residents across Lebanon face the harsh conditions with little heat or proper clothing. Palestinian families fled their homes in Syria, leaving everything behind except a few articles of clothing and a pair or two of summer shoes.

Source: www.anera.org

“There can no longer be an armistice between the Jewish Nation and its youth and a British administration in the Land of Israel which has been delivering our brethren to Hitler,” Menachem Begin’s February 1944 declaration of revolt announced. “Our nation is at war with this regime and it is a fight to the finish.”

With just a few hundred combat-ready fighters and a pitifully small weapons arsenal, the Irgun Tzvai Leumi (Etzel), the pre-state underground militia led by Begin, probably did not seem like much of a threat to the British administration in Mandatory Palestine. Yet just over four years later, 80,000 battered and demoralized British troops withdrew from the Holy Land and the State of Israel arose. Bruce Hoffman, in “Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle for Israel, 1917-1947,” presents a detailed chronicle of the guerrilla war waged by the Irgun, the Stern gang (also known as Lehi) and occasionally the Haganah against the British authorities.

Source: www.haaretz.com