DECEMBER 2005

GAZA: November Diary 2005
FROM rAFAH.VIRTUALACTIVISM.NET AND OTHER SOURCES

Nov.1st: Israel approves Gaza border deal

Israel's security cabinet has approved a deal with Egypt that will allow a key border crossing to the Gaza Strip to be re-opened. Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz had agreed to open the border after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo last Wednesday. People will be able to use the crossing at Rafah, while goods will move through a terminal at Kerem Shalom. Meanwhile, Egyptian guards shot two Egyptian smugglers on the border.

EU ready to monitor Gaza-Egypt border, but Israel may not watch
By Israel Insider staff and partners  November 8, 2005

The EU has agreed to monitor the Gaza-Egypt Rafah border crossing and train Palestinian police forces. The decision, concluded Monday in a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, follows Israeli and Palestinian requests for EU presence at the Rafah crossing.

Javier Solana, the EU's security affairs chief, said that the missions would represent the "most important security presence in the Middle East ever undertaken by the European Union" as part of the Mideast peace process.

EU foreign ministers agreed to "assume the third-party responsibility" at the border crossing, Solana said at a meeting.

He did not give details of the conditions under which EU customs monitors would supervise traffic through the border point, saying Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were discussing the matter Monday. The Palestinians are hoping to reach an agreement by Nov. 15.

Both the Palestinians and Israelis had requested the EU presence at Rafah, aiming to keep the crossing open to cut the travel time between Gaza and Egypt. Israel closed the crossing for security reasons before withdrawing settlers and soldiers from Gaza in September.

While the Palestinians want the EU border mission to be strictly advisory, Israel wants EU customs officers to have the final say over border checks. Israel, concerned about an influx of terrorists and weapons, also want to monitor traffic at Rafah via closed-circuit television.

It is also expected to help boost the Palestinians' destitute economy, giving greater freedom of movement for people and goods beyond Israeli control for the first time in four decades.

The EU police mission, set to start Jan. 1, is to include up to 50 law enforcement experts who will advise the Palestinians on how to staff, manage and finance the forces.

"The mission will support the Palestinian Authority in establishing sustainable and effective police arrangements," the EU foreign ministers said in a statement. It will coordinate broader EU and international assistance to the police forces, and "advise and mentor senior members of the Palestinian Civil Police and criminal justice system."

Foreign officers with the mission will not do street patrols, but their first-priority advisory role should help bring security to the streets of Gaza City and Ramallah, and then to Nablus and other Palestinian cities, officials said.

The AP contributed this report.

DOUBTS THAT THIS DEAL WOULD GO FORWARD BROUGHT ABOUT AN AGREEMENT WITH CONDOLEEZA RICE:

Rice brokers deal on Gaza border

By Sue Pleming, Nov.15th 2005

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brokered a deal on Gaza border crossings in marathon talks with Israel and the Palestinians on Tuesday, scoring a rare breakthrough in Middle East diplomacy.Rice, who put her own reputation at stake by investing so personally in the negotiations, had postponed her departure to Asia for an APEC meeting, staying in Jerusalem an extra day until she secured an agreement on opening the Gaza-Egypt border.Bleary-eyed after an almost sleepless night of hard-nosed bargaining, Rice praised the deal as a "good step forward". It hands the Palestinians control of a border for the first time.

"This agreement is intended to give the Palestinian people the freedom to move, to trade, to live ordinary lives," she told a news conference in Jerusalem before flying out.

Rice said the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the strip's gateway to the outside world, should open on November 25 with the presence of European Union security monitors. Palestinians would also be able to start travelling in bus and truck convoys between Gaza and the occupied West Bank within months, and construction of a Gaza seaport would begin.

An agreement was reached whereby Israeli and Palestinian security officers at an EU-run control room a few kilometres (miles) from Rafah will monitor remote-control cameras.If the Israelis want someone stopped or detained, they must ask their Palestinian counterparts to do so. If the Palestinians refuse, an appeal can be made to the EU team of police experts while the person in question is held for up to six hours.

Many Palestinians in Gaza, one of the world's most densely populated places with a population of 1.2 million, welcomed the agreement as a way to ease their hardship.

"This is a good start and good omen," said Um Nizar Batran, waiting near Rafah to take her sick son to Egypt for treatment. Israel, which has kept control of Gaza's borders, air space and sea lanes since its withdrawal, has been under U.S. pressure to reopen the Rafah crossing, mostly closed since September amid sporadic violence. International Middle East envoy James Wolfensohn, who laid the groundwork for the crossings deal, had threatened to quit out of frustration over weeks of impasse. U.S. officials had also voiced frustration with what they saw as failure of both sides to capitalise on the Gaza pullout.

In Brussels, a spokeswoman for the European Council said the European Union was to launch its monitoring mission on Monday. Major-General Pietro Pistolese, a 64-year-old Italian with 40 years' experience in the paramilitary police (carabinieri), will head a team of 40 to 50 EU officials.

(Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Jonathan Saul in Jerusalem, Wafa Amr in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

16 November 05

PRESS RELEASE

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Ref: 142/2005
Date: 16 November 2005
Time: 13:30 GMT

Israeli Military Court Acquits Israeli Officer of All Charges
Relating to the Killing of a Palestinian Girl

On Tuesday, 15 November 2005, the Israeli military southern command court acquitted an officer in the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) of charges relating to the killing of 13-year-old Iman al-Hams; the illegal use of his weapon; and the obstruction of court proceedings.

Iman al-Hams, 13, from Rafah, was killed on 5 October 2004, when IOF positioned in a military post on the Egyptian border, south of Rafah, opened fire at her, as she was walking with her schoolbag. The case received wide-spread attention when an Israeli soldier, working in the aforementioned post, confessed that his officer had "confirmed the kill" and shot the girl multiple times from a close range, after she had already been hit by IOF gunfire and was lying on the ground. Consequently, the Israeli military prosecutor initiated an investigation into the case. Moshe Ya'lon, the former Israeli military Chief of Staff supported the officer's claim that the shooting of the girl had coincided with shooting at the military post by Palestinian gunmen. As the Israeli newspapers published more details about the case, however, the officer was arrested under charges of providing false testimonies. On 22 November 2004, the Israeli military prosecutor presented a bill of indictment against the officer and the military court and extended his detention for two months in an open military post. On 23 November 2004, the Israeli media showed a video tape in which the officer was seen moving towards the child, who was lying on the ground, and shooting at her multiple times. On 9 December 2004, the officer was charged with the illegal use of his weapon. The Israeli military court released the officer on 6 February 2005, when the witness and other soldiers held back their testimonies, which had stated that they saw the officer shooting at the child. The witnesses and other soldiers claimed that they had lied during the investigation in order to get rid of this officer.

This latest Israeli court ruling strongly evidences the lack of justice in the Israeli judiciary system, especially the military judiciary. Investigations are usually conducted by IOF and cases are referred then to the military judiciary, thus undermining the credibility of investigations and court rulings on them. Since the outset of the current Palestinian Intifada in September 2000, 2908 Palestinians, including 651 children, have been killed by IOF. Hundreds of complaints submitted to the Israeli courts by human rights organizations, including PCHR, on behalf of victims have been ignored, and only a few cases have been seriously investigated. In this context, B'Tselem, the Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, published on 27 June 2005 statistics which demonstrated that the Israeli police conducted investigations into 108 cases of killing and injuring Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) out of thousands of similar cases, and that bills of indictments were submitted in just 19 cases, which led to only two soldiers being convicted of killing Palestinians.

One of the significant examples that prove the non-seriousness of investigations in cases of killing or injuring civilians in the OPT by IOF was a decision taken by an Israeli military judge in April 2005, acquitting an Israeli soldier of charges relating to the killing of James Miller, a British journalist, claiming that there was not "enough evidence to prove his connection to the killing." Miller was killed by IOF in May 2003 in Rafah, while he was working in the area.

In 2003, an Israeli soldier was acquitted of charges related to the killing of Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist, who was run down by an IOF bulldozer in Rafah in March 2003, while she was attempting to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes by IOF. The investigation into the incident conducted by IOF concluded that Corrie was killed "when she obstructed the operations of bulldozers" and that she was hit "when she attempted to climb the bulldozer." The investigation also concluded that Corrie's death "was not a result of a direct action by the bulldozer rather because of a hill of sand pushed by the bulldozer, which covered her, so there is no reason to take disciplinary measures against the soldiers who were involved in the incident."

These cases are a clear indicator of the impunity afforded to Israeli soldiers in the OPT, which encourages them to perpetrate more crimes against Palestinian civilians and property and to act freely, without being accountable.

The latest of such crimes took place in Jenin on 3 November 2005, when IOF fired at 11-year-old Ahmed al-Khatib when was playing with his friends on the first day of the Eid al-Futr. He was wounded by two live bullets to the head and the abdomen. The child died from his injuries in an Israeli Hospital on 5 November. IOF claimed that the child was killed by mistake, as the soldiers thought that a toy gun he was holding was a real gun, and so they shot him. The child's father refuted this claim and asserted that his child was not holding a toy gun. There is no indication that IOF have initiated a serious investigation into this case.

Earlier, 13-year-old 'Adli Tantawi, from 'Askar refugee camp in Nablus, was shot dead by IOF on 2 October 2005, while he was near his home. IOF claimed that they shot him because they suspected him of shooting at them. However, preliminary investigations conducted by IOF proved that the shooting was in violation of instructions, which had stated that that the child was not armed and did not pose any threat to the lives of Israeli soldiers (according to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, 2 October 2005). The Israeli "Civil Administration" phoned the family and apologized for the death of the child, promising to initiate an investigation into his death. However, there has been no indication that IOF have initiated an investigation into the child's death.

It is worth noting that the most severe sentence issued against an Israeli soldier, convicted of killing civilians during the Intifada, was that issued against a soldier who was convicted of killing Thomas Hurndall in Rafah in April 2003; the soldier was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Sentences against soldiers are very rare in these cases.

PCHR strongly condemns this latest court ruling to acquit the IOF officer of charges relating to the killing Iman al-Hams:

1. PCHR calls for conducting fair investigations into all crimes committed by IOF against Palestinian civilians and property, some of which amount to war crimes under international humanitarian law.

2. PCHR believes that this latest court ruling proves the inadequacy of the Israeli judiciary in relation to such cases, as it is impossible to achieve justice when IOF constitute the judge and the accused together.

3. PCHR believes that a judiciary that provides a legal cover for torture, unlawful transfer, collective punishment and extra-judicial executions can never be credible and trustable.

4. Through its long experience, PCHR asserts that the Israeli military judiciary is used to provide a legal cover for crimes committed by IOF against Palestinian civilians.

5. PCHR asserts that the impunity afforded to Israeli soldiers encourages them to commit more serious crimes against protected Palestinian civilians.

18 November 05

Israeli jets have launched different false raids last month around the Gaza Strip, causing gross damages to civilians' properties as well as killing and wounding many of them.

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks stationed near the northern and southern borders of Gaza continued bombarding different parts of the Strip.

GAZA, Palestine, November 21 (IPC + Agencies) - -

The Ministers of the EU issued an order of dispatching an immediate observation mission to Gaza Strip to help the Palestinians directing Rafah crossing. In accordance with an agreement signed between the Palestinian National Authority (PAN) and the Israeli government to reopen the terminal of Rafah on November 25, the mission will provide the Palestinian policemen, not least the inspectors of taxes with techniques and experiences.

Press resources made clear that the mission was formed over the last fortnight. It will include 40 observers, in addition to employees of telecommunications and logistic support. A patch of 12 members will arrive to Gaza within the running week.

The agreement is important for two reasons.

For the Palestinians, it is vital that goods and people can enter and leave Gaza. Only when border crossings are functioning normally can they hope to lift their economy from its current state of crisis - and can they begin to feel a bit less beleaguered.

For the Bush administration, the deal matters for a very different reason.

US officials want some tangible sign that Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in September really has enhanced the prospects for reviving the moribund Middle East peace process.

They also need to see some good news coming from the Middle East, at a time when the bad news, especially from Iraq, is starting to hurt the Bush presidency.

It is this which explains why Condoleezza Rice invested such time and effort, as well as her own personal authority, in securing a deal on what are relatively minor, relatively technical issues. BBC

25th November 2005

The banner reads: "Rafah crossing: Palestine's gateway to freedom"
The crossing will actually be opened to Palestinians coming from and going to Egypt on Saturday.

Gaza has no sea port and the Israel has not agreed to allow the international airport to re-open, so the Rafah border is Gaza's gateway to the outside world. The Israelis have insisted on the right to monitor the crossing point on television screens from a base a few kilometres away. Israeli security officials will watch all movements at the crossing on TV screens, but they will not have veto power over individuals moving through. While exports will not supervised by the Israelis, the flow of goods into Gaza will remain entirely under its control at the border crossing at Kerem Shalom.

Palestinians will control the border, but EU monitors will have the authority to detain vehicles or individuals if they feel they have not been properly checked.Palestinians will be able to travel in bus convoys between Gaza and the West Bank from December, and in lorry convoys a month after that.

On Wednesday, the head of the team of EU monitors, Italian military police General Pietro Pistolese, said the crossing would only be open for four hours a day until the number of monitors increases from 20 to between 50 and 70. European officials have described their role as one of the most important missions the EU has ever undertaken. It is the first time the EU has been so directly involved in efforts to ease the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As the Europeans are also expecting to play a role at the start of next year in training the Palestinian police force, there is a sense in Brussels that this is a mission that cannot be allowed to fail, correspondents say. BBC news