DECEMBER 2005

  Palestineupdate

EI EXCLUSIVE: UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw violates International law on Jerusalem?
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 28 November 2005

DOCUMENTS OBTAINED BY EI UNDER FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT: TOP UK OFFICIALS VIOLATED INTERNATIONAL LAW, HELPED BRITISH FIRM PROFIT FROM ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF JERUSALEM WHILE ASSURING PUBLIC OF OPPOSITE. PAPER TRAIL LEADS RIGHT TO FOREIGN SECRETARY JACK STRAW

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw (right) greets Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in London on 15 May 2003. (Photo: Foreign and Commonwealth Office)

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was asked by his officials to personally lobby the Israeli government to award a contract to a British firm which, in breach of international law and long-standing UK policy, extends Israel's administrative and legal structures into Occupied East Jerusalem, an exclusive EI investigation can reveal.

New documents obtained by EI under the UK's Freedom of Information Act (2000) from the Department of Trade and Industry indicate that Straw was asked to back the bid, while UK officials dismissed concerns that the company's work could violate British policy and UN resolutions on the status of Jerusalem. In fact, UK officials have repeatedly and misleadingly reassured the public they would not support any work by firms in Occupied East Jerusalem when the record shows just the opposite.The active role of British officials in helping the firm secure the contract was first revealed by EI last April.

Under the contract, signed with the Israeli Ministry of Finance on 1 February 2005, Sheffield-based consulting firm A4e established an employment center in Jerusalem and operates programmes as part of the "Israel Works" welfare reform scheme. Israel Works, modeled on a programme in the American state of Wisconsin, is the brainchild of former Israeli Prime Minister and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. UK support for A4e's bid violates British policy and international law because the UK government, in compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, officially rejects Israel's claim that East Jerusalem is part of Israel. The UK recognizes de facto Israeli sovereignty over West Jerusalem, conquered by Israel in 1948, but the UK officially considers East Jerusalem, conquered by Israel in 1967, to be occupied territory subject to protections of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

In deference to this policy, the British Embassy in Tel Aviv has no jurisdiction over Occupied East Jerusalem and is supposed to undertake no activities there. British interests in the Occupied Territories, including East Jerusalem, are represented by a separate Consulate-General in the Shaykh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem that maintains relations with the Palestinian Authority.

The new documents reveal that in violation of the UK's own policy on Jerusalem, an official at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv emailed A4e executives that with respect to supporting the company's efforts to secure the bid, "We are the post responsible, not the BCG [British Consulate-General] in [East] Jerusalem." In other words, in every respect, British officials in Tel Aviv were treating Occupied East Jerusalem as if it were a part of sovereign Israel.

Detained Palestinian member of Parliament, Marwan Al-Barghouthi, won the Ramallah seat in the Fateh primary, in preparation for the
January parliamentary elections (Alhayat Aljadeeda, 11/27/05)

Date sent:      Mon, 21 Nov 2005 19:58:46
A day in which party upheavals took all media attention - that was a day
to demolish Palestinian homes. See below the sad report by ICAHD
activists who could not do much more than witness it and make pictures.

THE MISERABLE OCCUPATION ON A MISERABLE MORNING

Yesterday, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition
(ICAHD) received information that the Israeli government was
planning on demolishing houses in Anata, Beit Hanina and
Silwan. Although the demolition of Palestinian homes was
supposed to end with the first phase of the Road Map, Israel
insists disingenuously that we are only in a "pre-Road Map"
phase - even though the Road Map was initiated in mid-2003.
This means, in Israel's interpretation, that the Palestinians
must carry out all their responsibilities under Phase 1 and
even Phase 2 (reform the Palestinian Authority, end violence,
etc.), while Israel is free to pursue its goals of
strengthening its hold on the Occupied Territories without any
interference whatsoever - a clear violation of the principle of
"mutuality" that underlies the Road Map Process.

Indeed, for Israel, house demolitions are merely "business as
usual." The Jerusalem Municipality has a million and a half
unused shekels ($300,000) in the demolition line of its annual
budget. Whatever is left at the beginning of the year is lost.
Since such an amount pays for about 70 demolitions, the
Municipality is under pressure to demolish as many homes
as possible in the next month and a half. Add to this the
policy of demolishing Palestinian homes situated too close to
the route of the Wall.
This was one of the reasons given for demolishing the homes in
Anata - even though the Wall has not yet been built.

At 6:30 on this cold, rainy morning (imagine Palestinian
families removing all their belongings in the rain in the
middle of the night), ICAHD staff, volunteers and activists
traveled to Anata to resist, witness and document
the demolitions. By the time we arrived the area had already
been blocked off by the Border Police, so we were unable to
approach the houses.
Parking a half-mile away from the site, we were stopped by the
Border Police near the demolition site. One of the activists in
our group tried to convince the officers to allow us to get
closer, but to no avail. As we watched from afar, a Daewoo
bulldozer systematically demolished the first house, leaving
only a pile of rubble where a family once lived. The bulldozer
then moved up a small hill to the second house and began
drilling into it as well. After a few minutes, the roof began
to collapse and yet another family was left homeless.

Throughout the demolitions, a steady rain fell and we could
only wonder what the families whose houses had just been
demolished would do once the army, spectators and activists
left. Those of us who had come to witness the demolition were
wet, cold, and uncomfortable. But at least we had a
place to go to dry off and change our clothes. The people who
had just lost their homes no longer had that option. They were
left to stand in the pouring rain, wondering how they would
rebuild their lives, which like their homes, were now in
shambles.

Later today 5 other homes were also demolished: three in Beit
Hanina, one in Isawia and another one in A-Tur. The home of yet
another family suffered an even more grotesque fate. In a
"compromise" with the court, the family is to demolish half its
house with its own hands, while the other half will be sealed
while the family attempts to obtain a building permit.

28th November

For the second day, Israeli occupation soldiers harass Palestinian schoolchildren in the city of Al-Khalil (Hebron) without any reason to be near schools (Alquds, 11/27/05)

Israel Carries out Ethnic Cleansing Policy in Hebron City

HEBRON,Palestine November 28, 2005, (IPC + WAFA) - -

Ahmed Majdalani, Palestinian Minister of State for illegal Israeli Settlements and Apartheid Wall Affairs, confirmed that Israel is carrying out an ethnic cleansing policy in favor of constructing new settlements in the old town of Hebron City south of West Bank.

Majdalani added that the Israeli government has a plan to Judaize Hebron city, to expropriate further lands to build settlements.

Majdalani asserted that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is giving special concern for the villagers of the old town of Hebron City and exerts utmost efforts to support citizens who live near the Israeli settlements and the Apartheid Wall.

Majdalani toured the old town of Hebron City and the vicinity of the illegally-built Jewish settlements in the city. He said that his three- day visit comes in the framework of a plan set out by the government to find out a solution to problems the residents are facing.

The state minister listed intently to residents' complaints, demands and suggestions to improve livelihood conditions in the old town of the city.

On his part, Mayor of Hebron City, Areef Al-Jabary acquainted Majdalani with the latest developments in the occupied territories and with the Israeli violations against lands and people because of the ongoing construction in the settlements and the Apartheid Wall by Israel.

Al-Jabary told state minister Majdalani that the Israeli government decided to seize thousands of Dunums of arable lands to expand its settlements and to complete building new sites of the Apartheid Wall.

The pair agreed on co-working agenda and discussed ways to find a unified stance at all levels to face the Israeli violations.

They demanded the International Community and human rights' organizations to interfere immediately to stop the Israeli suppressive measures against people and lands as well as against Al-Ibrahimi Mosque.