Sunday, December 25, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Lebanon I Dream Of...
Although this documentary intends to open the eyes of the Lebanese youth to the real problems in their society. it is also a universal lesson for all.
It gathers 45 carefully selected Lebanese figures who start by showing how beautiful Lebanon is and how terribly ugly we have made it.
Then it states every practical issue in their daily life: social, political, economic, ecological and humanitarian. When reaching to solutions, those who were supposed to be a solution turn out to be the real problem: The judicial system, Media and civil society.
The only solutions left are education and elections.
In the end they all dream of the Lebanon they would like to have and turn with a direct message to the young generation and hand them the responsibility of change.
NB:
More powerful and influential people in the Arab world, trace their roots to Lebanon than any other country in the world, the Arabian Business Power 500 revealed. Despite just 27 power players residing in the Arab state, the rankings show that 83 entries – or nearly 17 percent – originate from Lebanon.
Among the top Lebanese names are Director Charles Elachi at No.7, Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn at No. 14, Author Amin Maalouf at No. 22, fashion designer to the stars Elie Saab, who holds the No.28 spot. Media mogul Elie Khouri, who runs his advertising empire from the UAE, also makes his mark at No.31, Lebanese-Australian Chairman Jacques Nasser held the 101th spot on the Power 500. See the full list.
As a region, the Middle East has dominated this year’s Power 500, generating 63 percent of entries. Africa follows in second place with 15 percent of entries, while the Americas and Europe account for 13 and 7 percent respectively. Bringing up the rear is the Asia/Pacific region, which generated two percent of Power players and included the list’s first entry from Vietnam.
Within the Middle East, the UAE is home to the largest number of Power 500 Arabs, taking 20 of the top 100 spots alone. Al-Waleed Bin Talal, who equally holds the Saudi & Lebanese nationality, held the top position. Saudi Arabia, the Gulf’s most populous state, contributes 62 entries while Egypt, Syria and Kuwait account for 45, 30 and 21 respectively. Jordan notches up 21 entries each, while a further 18 reside in both Bahrain and Palestine. A further 11 are in Iraq.
It gathers 45 carefully selected Lebanese figures who start by showing how beautiful Lebanon is and how terribly ugly we have made it.
Then it states every practical issue in their daily life: social, political, economic, ecological and humanitarian. When reaching to solutions, those who were supposed to be a solution turn out to be the real problem: The judicial system, Media and civil society.
The only solutions left are education and elections.
In the end they all dream of the Lebanon they would like to have and turn with a direct message to the young generation and hand them the responsibility of change.
NB:
More powerful and influential people in the Arab world, trace their roots to Lebanon than any other country in the world, the Arabian Business Power 500 revealed. Despite just 27 power players residing in the Arab state, the rankings show that 83 entries – or nearly 17 percent – originate from Lebanon.
Among the top Lebanese names are Director Charles Elachi at No.7, Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn at No. 14, Author Amin Maalouf at No. 22, fashion designer to the stars Elie Saab, who holds the No.28 spot. Media mogul Elie Khouri, who runs his advertising empire from the UAE, also makes his mark at No.31, Lebanese-Australian Chairman Jacques Nasser held the 101th spot on the Power 500. See the full list.
As a region, the Middle East has dominated this year’s Power 500, generating 63 percent of entries. Africa follows in second place with 15 percent of entries, while the Americas and Europe account for 13 and 7 percent respectively. Bringing up the rear is the Asia/Pacific region, which generated two percent of Power players and included the list’s first entry from Vietnam.
Within the Middle East, the UAE is home to the largest number of Power 500 Arabs, taking 20 of the top 100 spots alone. Al-Waleed Bin Talal, who equally holds the Saudi & Lebanese nationality, held the top position. Saudi Arabia, the Gulf’s most populous state, contributes 62 entries while Egypt, Syria and Kuwait account for 45, 30 and 21 respectively. Jordan notches up 21 entries each, while a further 18 reside in both Bahrain and Palestine. A further 11 are in Iraq.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
A very interesting video by Erik Qualman of Socialnomics pertaining the development of Social Media. One must however counter-check the figures provided. At the very least you will enjoy the background music.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
29 years after the massacre at Shabra-Shatila
How much longer until we find the missing and grant civil rights to the rest?  Sabha, Libya “The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind” was the general consensus following a discussion between this observer and a gathering of Palestinian refugees in Sabha, Libya, many of whom would very much like to travel to Shatila camp in Beirut this week and participate in the 29th annual commemoration of the 1982 Israeli facilitated massacre that left more than 3000 dead and hundreds still missing.   Sabha, now the district Capitol, is about 400 miles south of Tripoli in the Saharan desert, and is one of the four main areas that NATO concedes is still controlled by pro-Gaddafi loyalists,(the other three are Sirte, Bani Walid, and Jufra) and for that reason NATO has intensified its, sometimes, seemingly indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas. Today, NATO is desperately wanting to announce “mission accomplished” and put an end to its ill-conceived mission “to protect Libya‘s civilians”, that President Obama assured the World nearly 7 months ago, “will last days, not weeks.” NATO continues to hope that no one bothers to carefully examine what it wrought here because no person of good will would accept its massive gratuitous carnage.NATO’s bad luck it that its war on Libya’s civilian population continues to be documented and it will be held accountable, at least in the court room of public opinion and conceivably elsewhere. It was from Sabha, following the 1969 September 1st Fatah Revolution that Gaddafi announced “the breaking dawn of the era of the masses". Today Sabha, with a usual population of around 130,000 is now less than half that but hosts a few thousand Palestinian refugees, who appear to avoid current Libyan politics. Some are survivors of the 1982 Israeli facilitated massacre at Shatila camp in Beirut and they insist that no Palestinian or Hezbollah groups were fighting anywhere in the East or around here. Maybe a few individual Palestinian members of the Benghazi based Muslim Brotherhood happened to be Palestinians but that was about all the gathered explained.  As NATO tightens its noose around Sabha, the cousin of the “brother leader” (as Moammar was nick named by Nelson Mandela in gratitude for Libyan support for the long African National Congress (ANC) resistance to South Africans apartheid), and his able spokesman, Musa Ibrahim, reminds his audiences that the deepening civil war in Libya which was forced on this peaceful people by NATO and its ill-advised rush for regime change, is just beginning. Ibrahim and some diplomats here believe it may well engulf other parts of Africa and the Middle East. Musa added yesterday, "Our leader will die in our sacred country" for what his hero, Omar Muktar sacrificed his life for, and that is our country’s freedom from colonialism.” Many of Libya’s Palestinian refugees in Libya, like those is the Diaspora, desperately seek to learn what became of their family members who disappeared before, during and following the events of Sept. 15-20, 1982.Palestinian refugees, like their Lebanese sisters and brothers suffer unrelenting pain and anguish as they resolve to take concrete steps to learn what happened to their loved ones. For more than 30 years Palestinians in Lebanon have disappeared as a result of various Israeli invasions and the Lebanese civil war with innocent refugee camp residents becoming victims of shifting regional and local political alliances. Thousands of Palestinians, like Lebanese from all the sects, became victims of enforced disappearances, abductions and other abuses. Seriously compounding the problem, Lebanon has failed to legislate a truth, justice and reconciliation agency. Consequently, along with the failure of the governments of other states that were involved, the result has been that the whereabouts of many Palestinians remain a mystery and those responsible remain unidentified and unpunished.
 Dr. Bayan Nuwayhed al Hout -- author of "Sabra and Shatila: September 1982" told this observer: "I'm positive that dozens of people were buried there with the help of bulldozers. The bulldozers were used to get rid of the dead bodies." Author Al Hout is referring to the fact that Israel supplied bulldozers, paid for by my American taxpayers, to their allies, the right wing Christian militia that committed the slaughter with Israeli facilitation. On Saturday morning, September 18, 1982 Israeli Mossad agents inside the camp actually were observed driving three of the bulldozers in a frantic attempt to assist the Lebanese Forces militia (now headed by March 14 key figure Samir Geagea) in covering up evidence of the crime before the exported international media arrived on the scene. The late American journalist, Janet Lee Stevens, documented that during Sept. 18 and 19th, most of the massacre victims killed during this period were slaughtered inside the joint Israeli-Lebanese Forces “interrogation center.” Janet testified that these killed were put in flatbed trucks and taken to the Golf Course, just 300 yards away, where waiting Israeli bulldozers dug pits. Other trucks drove in the direction of East Beirut. At the time of her death, seven months later, Janet was preparing her report for publication.  This observer packed Janet’s belongings and after some wrangling with the US Embassy staff who had arrived on the plane President Ronald Reagan sent to return Janet and the other Americans remains to the US, her two cardboard boxes of papers and research notes were onboard.Unfortunately, but understandably, a family member, who I was advised did not understand Janet’s work in Lebanon, discarded her papers, following Janet’s funeral in Atlanta Georgia and before they could be collected by the University of Pennsylvania for analysis and preservation. So we are deprived of most of Janet’s data on the missing Palestinians which confirmed the fate of several hundred who disappeared during the massacre. Fortunately, in February of 1983 Janet had forwarded some of her conclusions to friends and for publication. What needs to be done to locate the missing Palestinians and Lebanese?A serious and sustained effort to locate the disappeared Palestinians and Lebanese and bring some degree of solace and closure to their families should be undertaken without further delay. These Palestinian and Lebanese families have no idea if their loved ones are dead or alive. Obviously they are unable to organize a dignified burial or even properly grieve. Families of the disappeared suffer from a series of legal, financial, and administrative problems that result from not knowing what became of their missing loved ones.  A recent Amnesty International study of Lebanon’s problems on this urgent subject included the experience of Wadad Halawani, the founder of the Committee of the families of the Kidnapped and missing in Lebanon. Wadad described her life after her husband was taken away from their home in Beirut in September 1982, apparently by agents of Lebanese military Intelligence, the Duexsieme Bureau (also controlled by right wing militia leaders). Wadad was forced to raise her two young children, aged six and three alone following his disappearance, and she described how she “lost her balance in life.” She did not know “how to protect the children from the rockets” and was “lost for answers to their endless questions” about their father for which she had no replies.From knowing many families of missing husbands, Wadad outlined the problems faced by them, personal, social, legal, administrative, and economic. On the personal and social level, she explained that a Palestinian or any woman in Lebanon, whose husband is missing is neither a married woman nor single, divorced or a widow, and for all that time she will have faced serious problems and obstacles linked to the low status of women. On the legal and administrative level, she explained that “a woman cannot spend her husband’s money nor dispose of his property, such as selling his car, as she does not have power of attorney allowing her to do so. Nor can she get a passport for herself, nor for her children if they are under 18 as the guardian required the father even though the mother is raising the children. On the economic level, Wadad told Amnesty International that most of the missing people are from poor families, so the loss of the breadwinner has had devastating impact. In many cases, the families have been unable to cover basic daily needs, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and the costs of education. The families of missing and disappeared Palestinians and other persons have the right, under international law, to the truth which means a full and complete disclosure about events that transpired during the disappearance of their loved ones. In March 2010, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that this includes the right to know the exact fate and whereabouts of each victim. International law and human rights standards also require each party to an armed conflict must take all feasible measures to try and account for people reported missing as a result of the conflict, and release all relevant information concerning their fate or whereabouts.  This applies to Israel during the September 1982 massacre. More than once over the past three decades Israeli officials have reported that Israel has detailed records of what its sponsored militias did inside Shatila camp and on the periphery with respects to eliminating terrorists and hiding their remains.To date Israel has refused UN and international demands to turn over its records. The international community must sanction Israel until it complies with international law on this subject. In addition,friends of Palestine including NGO’s and relevant UN agencies should immediately establish an agency cooperating with independent experts and representatives of civil society, including relatives of missing individuals, in cooperation with the Government of Lebanon to investigate the fates of every missing Palestinian and Lebanese including locating and ensuring protection for mass graves and for exhumations, to be carried out consistent with international standards to identify human remains and match them with DNA from relatives.The Embassy of Palestine in Lebanon would be a good choice for organizing the collection of DNA samples from Palestinian families with missing relatives.  As many Palestinians and their supporters arrive at Shatila camp in Beirut this weekend, the thoughts of Palestinians in Libya and the diaspora, land their friends around the world will be with them.As a young Palestinian lady in Sabha told this observer, and sounding very much like Miss Hiba Hajj in Lebanon’s Ein el Helwe camp: “Every Palestinian must visit this site you told us about of this mass murder of our brothers and sisters. I will do it soon. I promise you. It is not an option, it is an obligation.” Franklin Lamb is doing research in Libya. He is reachable c\o fplamb@gmail.com  He is the author of The Price We Pay: A Quarter-Century of Israel’s Use of American Weapons Against Civilians in Lebanon. Dr. Lamb is Director, Americans Concerned for Middle East Peace, Wash.DC-Beirut Board Member, The Sabra Shatila Foundation and the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign, Beirut-Washington DC Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp Beirut Mobile: +961-70-497-804 Office: +961-01-352-127 |
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Palestine Civil Rights Campaign-Lebanon
PLEASE SIGN HERE!
http://www.petitiononline.com/ssfpcrc/petition.html
“Failure is not an option for the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign, our only choice is success”
15 year old Hiba Hajj, PCRC volunteer, Ein el Helwe Palestinian Camp, Saida, Lebanon
Please check our website for UPDATES:
www.palestinecivilrightscampaign.org
Franklin P. Lamb, LLM,PhD
Director, Americans Concerned for
Middle East Peace, Wash.DC-Beirut
Board Member, The Sabra Shatila Foundation and the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign, Beirut-Washington DC
Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp
Beirut Mobile: +961-70-497-804
Office: +961-01-352-127
fplamb@palestinecivilrightscampaign.org
PLEASE SIGN HERE!
http://www.petitiononline.com/ssfpcrc/petition.html
“Failure is not an option for the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign, our only choice is success”
15 year old Hiba Hajj, PCRC volunteer, Ein el Helwe Palestinian Camp, Saida, Lebanon
Please check our website for UPDATES:
www.palestinecivilrightscampaign.org
Franklin P. Lamb, LLM,PhD
Director, Americans Concerned for
Middle East Peace, Wash.DC-Beirut
Board Member, The Sabra Shatila Foundation and the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign, Beirut-Washington DC
Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp
Beirut Mobile: +961-70-497-804
Office: +961-01-352-127
fplamb@palestinecivilrightscampaign.org
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Kempen Kebangsaan bagi Palestin: ahli PBB ke194’
Utusan Malaysia memetik laporan AP/Reuters yang menyebut Palestin pada 8 September 2011 secara rasminya melancarkan kempen mereka dengan tujuan untuk menyertai Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) sebagai negara anggota ke-194 badan dunia itu.
Kita mendoakan supaya perjuangan murni mereka di berkati Allah dan mencapai kejayaan sepenuhnya. Kita mengharapkan pengalaman silam masyarakat Arab tidak berulang demi memertabatkan keadilan manusia sejagat. Janganlah pula kepentingan sendiri dipertaruhkan sehingga maruah bangsa dan ugama dijual mudah.
Kita tidak mudah lupa bagaimana telah kesekian lama nasib negara dan bangsa Palestin di perggadaikan oleh kuasa-kuasa besar dan asing dengan "persetujuan" saudara sebangsa Arab sejiran.
Bermula dengan Sykes-Picot Agreement 1916, tanah Palestine telah di potong dan dibelah bahagikan sehingga menjadi sebagaimana ianya sekarang. Amat menyedihkan sekiranya ada pula dikalangan puak Palestine sendiri yang berjaya dibelahbahagikan dan diadudombakan oleh musuh dengan tujuan memecahbelahkan kesatuan mereka. Kita tidak mahu terjadi nanti Palestine sendiri yang memecahbelahkan dan menjual negara mereka sendiri, sebagaimana yang telah terjadi di Iraq, Libya dan negara-negara lain di dunia yang fana ini.
Kalau kita berpegang kepada ketaqwaan kepada Allah, kita akan selamat.
Pun begitu kita akan memantau perkembangan permohonan Palestine ini dengan rapi dan mendoakan kejayaan mereka.
Beberapa keratan rencana berkaitan asas permohonan keahliam PBB ini saya muatkan sebagai rujukan seperti berikut:-
http://www.nad-plo.org/etemplate.php?id=8
Kita mendoakan supaya perjuangan murni mereka di berkati Allah dan mencapai kejayaan sepenuhnya. Kita mengharapkan pengalaman silam masyarakat Arab tidak berulang demi memertabatkan keadilan manusia sejagat. Janganlah pula kepentingan sendiri dipertaruhkan sehingga maruah bangsa dan ugama dijual mudah.
Kita tidak mudah lupa bagaimana telah kesekian lama nasib negara dan bangsa Palestin di perggadaikan oleh kuasa-kuasa besar dan asing dengan "persetujuan" saudara sebangsa Arab sejiran.
Bermula dengan Sykes-Picot Agreement 1916, tanah Palestine telah di potong dan dibelah bahagikan sehingga menjadi sebagaimana ianya sekarang. Amat menyedihkan sekiranya ada pula dikalangan puak Palestine sendiri yang berjaya dibelahbahagikan dan diadudombakan oleh musuh dengan tujuan memecahbelahkan kesatuan mereka. Kita tidak mahu terjadi nanti Palestine sendiri yang memecahbelahkan dan menjual negara mereka sendiri, sebagaimana yang telah terjadi di Iraq, Libya dan negara-negara lain di dunia yang fana ini.
Kalau kita berpegang kepada ketaqwaan kepada Allah, kita akan selamat.
Pun begitu kita akan memantau perkembangan permohonan Palestine ini dengan rapi dan mendoakan kejayaan mereka.
Beberapa keratan rencana berkaitan asas permohonan keahliam PBB ini saya muatkan sebagai rujukan seperti berikut:-
Palestine Declaration of Independence
PLO Negotiations Office
Recognizing the Palestinian State on the 1967 border &
Admission of Palestine as a Full Member of the United Nations
JULY 2011
Palestine Declaration of Independence
November 15th, 1988
Quotes from the Palestine Declaration of Independence
“Whereas the Palestinian people reaffirms most definitively its inalienable rights in the land of its patrimony: Now by virtue of natural, historical and legal rights, and the sacrifices of successive generations who gave of themselves in defense of the freedom and independence of their homeland; In pursuance of Resolutions adopted by Arab Summit Conferences and relying on the authority bestowedby international legitimacy as embodied in the Resolutions of the United Nations Organization since 1947; And in exercise by the Palestinian Arab people of its rights to self-determination, political independence and sovereignty over its territory”.
“The State of Palestine herewith declares that it believes in the settlement of regional and international disputes by peaceful means, in accordance with the U.N. Charter and resolutions. With prejudice to its natural right to defend its territorial integrity and independence, it therefore rejects the threat or use
of force, violence and terrorism against its territorial integrity or political independence, as it also rejects their use against territorial integrity of other states”.
Why recognize Palestine?
• The establishment of a Palestinian state was a promise made to the Palestinian
people by the international community whose fulfillment that is long-overdue
The right of the Palestinian people to an independent, sovereign state has awaited implementation for sixty-four years. It is a debt owed by the international community to the Palestinian People that is long-overdue. When the British government sought to terminate its mandate in Palestine, the international community, through the United Nations (UN), recommended a solution to the conflict between immigrant Jewish communities and the indigenous Palestinian Arabs. That solution contained in General Assembly Resolution 181 (II), called for the creation of two states. Today, however, it is only one state, the State of Israel, that exists and is a full member of the UN. The Palestinians, who have suffered decades of displacement, dispossessions, and the systematic denial of their national and human rights, have yet to realize their independent state. In 1988, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) declared the establishment of the State of Palestine over the territory occupied by Israel in 1967 (the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip). By limiting our national aspirations to 22% of the Palestinian people’s historic homeland, the PLO made a historic compromise in the interest of peace. Palestinian concessions over land have been painful but they have been honored. Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the international community has repeatedly affirmed that the only formula for peace in the region is the two-state solution, which requires the establishment of a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. More recently in 2009, the international community endorsed the Palestinian state-building plan, which concludes in September 2011 and later recognized that Palestinians are indeed ready for statehood.
Now it is time for Israel and the international community to honor commitments made to us by recognizing the State of Palestine on the remaining 22% of our patrimony and admitting Palestine to the UN as a full member.
• Recognition of the State of Palestine affirms previous important UN resolutions
The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination has been universally recognized by the
UN. This includes UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 3236, which stated that the right of independence of Palestine is “inalienable” and that the Palestinian people have a right to a
“sovereign and independent” state. UNGA Resolution 2649 also confirmed the right of the people of Palestine to self-determination while UNGA Resolution 2672 declared that respecting
Palestinians’ inalienable rights is an indispensable element in the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. Moreover, the International Court of Justice, in its 2004 Advisory Opinion on the Wall of Separation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, recognized that Israel’s policy of Wall construction and settlement expansion inside the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, is illegal as it “severely impedes the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination, and is therefore a breach of Israel’s obligation to respect that right.”
• Recognition of the State of Palestine is consistent with the understanding that
formed the basis of the Interim Agreement
Recognizing the Palestinian State is consistent with the very basis of the Declaration of Principles, including the principle of the two-state solution and relevant UN resolutions like 242 and 338.
Regrettably, almost 20 years have passed since the signing of the first Interim Agreement and Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and exploitation of natural resources is further entrenched. In fact, since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the number of Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, more than doubled. In the past twenty years Palestinians have seen more of their homes and properties demolished and razed than ever before. They have also seen their economy shrink because of a regime of closure and checkpoints in the West Bank and an inhumane siege in Gaza.
Throughout the past years, Palestinians have honored their commitments while Israel systematically violated its obligations by undertaking unilateral actions that violate all signed agreements. We are well beyond the interim period and Palestinian national institutions under the umbrella of the interim Palestinian National Authority are now ready to serve the State of Palestine.
• Recognizing the State of Palestine is a sovereign decision that supports international
law
To recognize the State of Palestine on the 1967 border is a sovereign decision of each state; it is a nonviolent action that supports the enforcement of international law. Recognition of the State of Palestine and support for its admission to the UN makes clear that that Israel has no valid claim to any parts of the territory it occupied in 1967 and reaffirms that Israel’s colonization of Palestinian land is illegal. Recognition of the Palestinian state also reaffirms the international community’s commitment to the two-state solution. It is an investment in peace.
• Recognizing the State of Palestine is not a substitute for negotiations
Recognition of the State of Palestine is not a substitute for negotiations. Rather, it strengthens the possibility of reaching a just and lasting peace based on the terms of reference accepted by the international community as the basis for resolving the conflict. It affirms respect for UN Security Council Resolution 242, which did not recognize Israel’s acquisition of Palestinian land beyond the 1967 border by force. It is also consistent with the Arab Peace Initiative, which promised recognition of Israel and normalized relations between Israel and the Arab World upon ending the occupation of Arab territories that began in 1967 and reaching an agreed upon solution to the issue of the right of return.. By recognizing Palestine, the international community would be formalizing these terms of reference and protecting the two-state solution.
Palestine remains committed to negotiations as we believe that ending the conflict still requires the parties to reach a negotiated comprehensive peace agreement on all outstanding issues, including refugees, security, water, and other.
• Recognizing the State of Palestine protects the viability of the two-state solution
from continued unilateral Israeli actions
Opponents of our efforts to obtain recognition and to join the UN as a full member argue that
recognizing the State of Palestine violates Article XXXI, para. 7 of the Oslo Interim Agreement
which provides that “parties agree not to initiate or take any step that will change the status quo of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations.” In fact, it is Israel, the occupying power, that has sought to change both the de jure and de facto status of the occupied territory through its illegal colonization of Palestinian land, and the implantation of its settlers, a population which has increased from 236,000 in 1993 to over 500,000 today. Other examples of Israel’s attempts to change the status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory include its illegal annexation of occupied East Jerusalem and the No Man’s Land, construction of the Wall in the West Bank, its isolation of the Gaza Strip, and its closure of the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea. The international community considers all these actions to be illegal and does not recognize them. Recently, European diplomats concluded in a study that these unilateral Israeli actions, especially in occupied East Jerusalem, threaten the two-state solution. Also, the World Bank and UN have also concluded that the continued Israeli occupation is the only remaining obstacle for Palestinian statehood.
• The realization of the Palestinian People’s right to self-determination is an
international responsibility
The right to self determination of the Palestinian people is an inalienable right that is not up for negotiations. . It is a jus cogens norm that must be respected by states and it has been recognized as an erga omnes right, which makes the realization of this right the responsibility of the international community. The Palestinian people must be provided the opportunity to “freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development" as provided by Common Article 1 of the international covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic and Social Rights. Likewise, UN member states have overwhelmingly and repeatedly recognized that Palestinians enjoy the human rights outlined by relevant Covenants and Declarations, which make up the body of International Human Rights Law.
• The State of Palestine is ready to join the community of nations as a full member to
the United Nations.
The State of Palestine has met all prerequisites to statehood listed in the Montevideo Convention, which is the 1933 treaty that sets out the rights and duties of states. The permanent population of our land is the Palestinian people; its right to self-determination has been repeatedly recognized by the UN and by the International Court of Justice in 2004. Our territory is recognized as the lands framed by the 1967 border, though it is occupied by Israel. We have the capacity to enter into relations with other states and have embassies and missions in more than 100 countries. And the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Union have indicated that our institutions are developed to the level where we are now prepared for statehood. The State of Palestine also intends to be a peace-loving nation, committed to human rights, democracy, the rule of law and the principles of the United Nations Charter. In UNGA Resolution 181 II- the resolution that provided the legal basis for Israel’s admission to the UN - the General Assembly instructed that “sympathetic consideration” be given to our application for membership in the UN. Thus, international recognition of the State of Palestine and its admission to the UN as a full member is consistent with and supports a resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. that was envisioned by the international community since 1947.
Source: www.nad-plo.org
Palestinians, America and the U.N.
| Palestinians are well within their rights to bring the issue of Israeli settlements and their illegality before the United Nations Security Council. Our decision to do so follows both Israel’s refusal to cease all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, and America’s failure to ensure Israel’s compliance with international law and existing agreements. The United States should support such a move, not block it. It is universally recognized that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, and that without a full cessation of all settlement activity, Palestinian-Israeli negotiations and the two-state solution are both doomed. In spite of the dilution of American public statements, the United States still recognizes settlements as illegal. Not only are they a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention; under the Rome Statute, they are considered a war crime. With America unwilling to hold Israel accountable to international law and existing agreements, Israel has remained intransigent in the face of international efforts to revive genuine negotiations. A Security Council resolution would reaffirm today’s international consensus in support of the two-state solution by recognizing the threat posed by illegal settlements. This is not rocket science. Settlements are built on occupied Palestinian land. They also entail the exploitation of Palestine’s natural resources, including water. Both belong to a future Palestinian state. Without them, no Palestinian state can be viable. The true impact of Israeli settlements is measured not only by the way they undermine the two-state solution; it is also the enormous damage they inflict on countless Palestinian communities. Settlements superimpose a colonial grid over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. They constitute an illegal exercise of Israeli extraterritoriality in Palestine. Built on the expropriation and theft of Palestinian land, they dominate the surrounding hilltops of the occupied West Bank, encircling and besieging Palestinian towns and villages below. They stand at the heart of an ever expanding web of checkpoints, walls, roadblocks and settler-only bypass roads that marginalize Palestinian realities and render all normal life impossible. Palestinian farms, businesses and homes have all been destroyed to make way for settlement expansion, while Palestinian lives and livelihoods have been shattered in the process. The rights and protections enshrined under international law apply as much to Palestinians as to anyone else. Indeed, at the very heart of the Palestinian struggle is a determination to win back these very rights and protections long denied us by Israel. This applies as much to the rights of Palestinian refugees living in exile for the last 60 years, as it does to the many Palestinians who have suffered for over four decades under the brutality of an Israeli military occupation. Settlements are a fundamental part of this. Given that they continue to expand in flagrant violation of international law, it is perfectly reasonable for Palestinians to turn to the United Nations as a forum in which to pursue their legitimate rights. The question is not whether or not Palestinians should approach the United Nations. We have every right to pursue all legal avenues available to us, whether in the absence of or parallel to negotiations, just as the African National Congress did in its struggle to overthrow apartheid in South Africa. Rather, the question is why the United States should oppose such a move, particularly given that its own attempts to revive Palestinian-Israeli negotiations have been thwarted time and again by Israel’s refusal to stop building settlements. Negotiations are not a substitute for international law. Rather, they should be guided by international law, which alone establishes the benchmarks for a just peace. Nor are settlements a bilateral issue whose illegality is up for discussion. It is just such a message that the Obama administration is in danger of sending by opposing a Security Council resolution reaffirming the illegality of Israeli settlements. It sets up a false opposition between negotiations and international law, substituting one for the other. And it closes down what few avenues are open to Palestinians, in the absence of negotiations, to continue our national struggle through nonviolent means. The U.N. charter explicitly references its “faith in fundamental human rights” and the need to uphold “conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law” be respected. What could be more applicable than the damage done by Israeli violations, in particular unilateral measures like settlement activity? Hanan Ashrawi is a former Palestinian peace negotiator and an elected member of both the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee and the Palestinian Legislative Council. |
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