Israel sent over 100 activists home this week. They came to Tel Aviv as part of the Flytilla, a symbolic demonstration of solidarity by European and US activists after the Gaza Freedom Flotilla ships were prevented from sailing out. Meanwhile, RNW journalist Abir Sarras postponed her trip to the region this year.
Many of the Flytilla activists now face a possible five- or ten-year ban from Israel. For example, Dutch activist Anna de Jong was banned from Israel for five years because of her participation in the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza in 2010.
Yet many Palestinians across the world have a lifelong ban from Israel. I am one of them.
Up until ten years ago, Palestinians could travel home via Tel Aviv with special permission from the military governor of the occupied territories. In 2001, during the second Palestinian Intifada, this became no longer possible. The temporary travel ban had become standard procedure.
Palestinians coming from abroad now must make a detour via Jordan. They are unable to fly directly to the Palestinian territories, so they depend on airports in neighbouring countries.
“Denied entry”
I discovered this a couple years ago when I went to Israel as a journalist. After spending a night in a cell in Tel Aviv, I was sent back to the Netherlands. “Next time you have to travel via Jordan, not Tel Aviv,” the border guard told me after stamping “Denied entry” in my passport. It made no difference that I hold Dutch nationality or am a permanent resident of the Netherlands.
A ban on entry via Tel Aviv means I can never travel with my Dutch husband and five- and seven-year-old daughters to visit my father in the West Bank. A direct trip from Amsterdam to Jerusalem, which normally takes less than half a day, takes me at least two days.
Faraway conflicts
For fear that they will also be forbidden from entering Tel Aviv, my husband and I decided not to give our Dutch daughters dual nationality. While my family travels to Palestine via Tel Aviv, I go alone through Jordan, where I’ve had to wait for hours at the border in the desert, 400 metres below sea level. We meet up two days later in the West Bank.
My children increasingly ask why we don’t travel to grandpa together. I once told them: “There’s no room on the plane for mum.” Another time I said: “Mum has to work for another couple days before going on holiday.” My excuses became sillier. I realised I would at some point have to explain the political situation.
But how do you tell that to a five year old? Where do you begin? For the time being, I’d rather not burden my children with faraway conflicts.
Not welcome
Though being turned away and possibly banned from travel to Israel is serious, the Flytilla activists have hope. They will be able to return. But for thousands – maybe even millions – of Palestinians who are not welcome at Tel Aviv airport or almost any Israeli border, there is no hope.
My father is due to undergo surgery this summer. “Grandpa needs some rest this holiday,” I told my daughters. And once again I found an excuse to put off the exhausting journey to my former homeland.
Abir Sarras works for the Arabic desk of Radio Netherlands Worldwide.
(nc/kh)
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Israeli human rights group B’Tselem released a report Monday on the findings of a investigation into the arrest, detention and interrogation of 50 Palestinian minors detained by Israeli military forces for throwing stones. The investigation shows a pattern of consistent abuse of the rights of minors both under Israeli and international law.
B’Tselem’s report into the arrest and detention of Palestinian minors on suspicion of throwing stones by Israeli forces has exposed a system of legal abuses conducted by the Israeli justice system such as beatings, forced confessions and the denial of legal representation and parental presence during interrogation.
The report was based on the testimony of 50 Palestinian minors on their experiences at the hands of the Israeli military justice system.
Thirty of the minors interviewed reported that they were taken during the middle of the night by Israeli military forces.
During the interrogation 47 stated they were not allowed adequate sleep, 23 stated they were not allowed access to the bathroom or to food or water and 19 said they were treated violently.
More broadly the report documents that at least 835 Palestinian miners were charged between 2005 and 2010 for throwing stones of which only one was acquitted.
Imprisonment was the punishment imposed in 93% of cases between 2005 and 2010. 60% of 12-14 year-olds were imprisoned despite this being illegal under Israeli law. Sentences increased with the age of the offender.
Many Palestinian minors enter into plea bargains with Israeli authorities so as to cut down on the time of their detention which is enforced throughout court proceedings.
The human rights organization stated their belief that the Military Youth Court, established in 2009 to hear the cases of Palestinian minors in the West Bank, has not alleviated the situation of accused Palestinian minors despite declarations by the court that it would rule in the spirit of Israeli youth law.
Palestinian youth are tried under adult military law which does not conform with Israeli or international standards for criminal proceedings against minors.
The treatment of Palestinian minors has twice been discussed in recent months in the British Parliament after British MP’s and Lords reported widespread human rights abuses against charged Palestinian minors similar to those reported in B’Tselem’s report following a fact finding mission to the West Bank.
Jihadist factions should stop abusing Palestinian minors by pushing them into war and hiding behind them. Those arrested are far better off in detention with Israeli’s than they are in the “care” of Hamas as this and many other videos clips clearly show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3c5uWIDBXY&feature=related
Saudi Arabia, one must say, has a government of theocrats that is even more repressive to those who it finds a threat, such as democrats and women!. So one must at least respect the Israelis for their consideration of women, at least they can drive cars and smile in public.
Billy Khan, women smile in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is very smart to not allow women to drive. Would you want a bunch of depressed women driving in Wales. Especially if their faces are covered and they can't see!
hiram
the promise land for israhell even if is written inside the koran that doesnt mean god gives the rigth to muder cowardly the population of palestiane .or maybe is your pastor terry jones in one hand the bible and the other hand the gun who is teaching you is not a sin to kill arabes in palestian and in the reste of the arabian world .am not surprise at all thanks to almighty allah not all our christian brothers thinks like your evil mind .is not only the jews who failet to listen to the teaching of the book
evangelist and that all criminal sectes made in usa you are a danger for
our humanity .you are juste a fanatic who is devoted and uncritical enthusiasm in your madness . you have strict standards and little tolerance for contrary ideas or opinions. you are not so godly is the contrary you are full of hatred and disregard for humain life ,and ecstatic at the expense of palestinains defenseless victimes satan is behind your teaching and your kingdom is darkness
Israel should be considered as the evidence in a trial for theft. It is basically a colony of Europeans who established their "nation" with bombs, guns and brutal force.
This article is another bit of anti Israeli propaganda.
The “humanitarian aid” Freedom Flotilla was a farce, since adequate humanitarian aid arrives in Gaza through Israel, and the Egypt/Israel blockade was initiated in order to prevent supplies for the constant attacks on Israel to enter Gaza.
This “Flytilla” is another farce. Activists hostile to Israel’s attempts to protect it’s citizens are deported and banned. This is a very controlled response by a tiny nation besieged by the Muslim world.
Given the security consciousness surrounding air travel everywhere, these activists shouldn’t whine about the consequences of creating a disturbance at an airport, especially at Ben Gurion International.
The western activists who participated in this disturbance would appear to be less hypocritical (or stupid) if they put some attention on the fact that they, and 5 billion others, are banned from entering Mecca or Medina forever and for no reason.
http://ajewwithaview.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/from-mecca-to-jerusalem-mu...
The lead in this article/opinion was "Banned from Israel, for life. " Again why were you banned for life. You wrote an article and you wrote "Who" (you); the "What"! What happen to you. Being banned for life; You left out the "When"... When did it happen; "Where" You stated where (Israel) you was banned for life; "When" You left out when it happened." and most important is the "Why". Now, if you are going to write an "OPINION" about your bannishment don't you think the readers of your opinion have a right to know "why" you were banished from Israel. Isn't the "Why' an important part of informing your audience of the basic information. How can one (the public) support your "opinion" without receiving the necessary information to form their opinions.
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Children not exempt from widespread torture in Israeli detention
Omar Alaaeddin, 25, a Palestinian from the village of al-Maasara, a day after his release by Israeli forces on 23 March 2010. He has been arrested and beaten for several hours. (Anne Paq ActiveStills)
Sleep-deprived and suffering from a broken leg, 16-year-old Muhammad Halabiyeh endured days of torture at the hands of Israeli soldiers and police officers, who punched him repeatedly in the face and abdomen, shoved needles into his hand and leg and threatened the Palestinian teenager with sexual abuse.
Arrested near his home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Dis in February 2010, Halabiyeh confessed after days of abuse and torture to the charge that he threw a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli army base. More than one year after his arrest, which was spent in Israeli custody, Halabiyeh was found guilty in an Israeli military court.
His conviction came despite the fact that the Israeli military judge in his case stated that she believed the teenager was tortured. However, the judge argued that there was no evidence that his confession was the direct result of the torture he endured. Halabiyeh’s sentencing hearing has now been postponed until 19 July.
“[The judge] said there’s no direct connection that he confessed later on in the police station because of this torture,” Sahar Francis, the director of Addameer, the Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association, told The Electronic Intifada. Addameer represented Halabiyeh in his trial at the Ofer military court.
“She didn’t believe that he was threatened the whole way [to the police station]. He said in the court that he was [afraid of more torture], but she decided not to give much weight [to this],” Francis added.
Since Israel began occupying the Gaza Strip and the West Bank including East Jerusalem in 1967, it is estimated that approximately 700,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This amounts to approximately 20 percent of the total Palestinian population, and 40 percent of the male Palestinian population, in the occupied Palestinian territories, according to Addameer.
Today, more than 5,600 Palestinian prisoners remain in Israeli jails, and more than 1,500 Israeli military orders continue to govern all aspects of life in the West Bank. In fact, the Israeli military courts system controls the trial, sentencing and imprisonment of Palestinian detainees. Notably, the principal court officials including the prosecutor and the judge are Israeli army officers — which means that the Israeli occupation army is both accuser and judge of Palestinians living under its control. Moreover, this system is reserved only for Palestinians; Israeli settlers living in the West Bank are subject to Israeli civil law and civil courts.
According to a 2007 report issued by Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, “of 9,123 cases concluded in the [Israeli] military courts in the year 2006, only in 23 cases - which constitute 0.29 percent of the rulings - was the defendant found to be entirely not guilty.”
While no specific figures are available, Francis explained that the use of torture against Palestinian detainees and prisoners is widespread and that often, Israeli soldiers use torture during an arrest - before the detainees are brought into the interrogation center - as a way to intimidate the detainees and coerce confessions from them later on.
“Especially in the case of juveniles, it’s threatening them before even coming to the interrogation so it will make it easier to collect their confessions. They will be really terrified. They humiliate them. They start to beat them and kick them and abuse them all the way to the detention center. It affects [the detainees’] confidence and the way they will treat the whole process of the interrogation later on,” Francis said.
Sleep deprivation, threats of sexual abuse and physical violence, prolonged periods spent in complete isolation, and the arrests of family members are some of the methods used to coerce confessions from Palestinian detainees, Francis explained. While most of the torture the Israeli authorities use is psychological in nature, she added that physical torture does take place as well.
“In some cases, they use electric shock. In some other cases, they close [their] eyes and tie [them] to the chair. They push back [their] head and then they bring a cup of water and they start to drop water on [their] face, giving a feeling like [they] can’t breathe,” she said. ”[Torture is] very common. It’s very common.”
HIRAM CONTINUE TO PLAY THE DEVIL S ADVOCATE
PEOPLE OF THE WORLD SHOULD STAND UP AND GIVES ARMES AND WEAPONS TO THE PALESTINIANS TO BE ABLE TO DEFEND THER DIGNITY AND THER LIVES TO FREE THEM SELF FROM A GENOCIDER ..THIS IS THE ONLY WAY UNFORTUNATLY .. ISRAHELLIS ARE NOT INTERREST IN ANY PEACE PROCESSIS IS ONLY A COMEDIE TO WIN TIME TO FINISH THEIR FINAL SOLUTION .. ETHNICK CLEANSY ... ,WHY ISRAEHELL IS ARMED UNTIL THE TEETHS EVEN WITH NUCLEAIRE BOMBES AND IN THE OTHER SIDE PALESTINIAN HAVE ONLY STONES TO TROW AWAY TO THER BUTCHER ..SICKENING SITUATION AFTER 60 YEARS OF MASSACRE THE GOAL OF THE ISRAELIS IS TO ELIMINETE THE ALL PALESTINIANS POPULATION LIKE THE INDIANS IN THE SWEETY NORD AMERICA AND THE RESTE OF THE WORLD .THE SO CALL DEMOCRATIC BULLET SHIT CIVILISET ZOMBIES ARE ACCOMPLICE AND RESPONSABLE FOR EVERY CRIME IN THE NAME OF SOME FAIRY TALES KILLING AND TORTURING ANY ONE WHO OPPOSET TO THE LEGENDE OF THE SHOSEN PEOPLE .WHO IS THAT GOD WHO NEEDS THE BLOOD OF INNOCENT AND DEFENSELESS PEOPLE AND THEY HAVE THE AUDACITY TO ACCUSE THE MUSLIM OF BEEN FANATIC,,,,,,,,,,EVEN SOME JEWS WHO HAVE CONSCIENCE AND HUMAIN FEELING START TO LOUD THEIR VOICES AGAINTS THE CRIMES COMMITTED IN OPEM AIR WITH ARROGANCE AND CONFRONT THE ISRAELI APARTHEID ..THE ISREILIS WILL NEVER STOP KILLING AND TORTURING EVEN KIDS UNTIL THEY WILL BE CONFRONTED THEM SELF WITH THE SAME KIND OF TRAITEMENT.THAT DAY IS IN IS WAY ..WITH THE GODS WILL ......INCHALLAH......
MORGTAR, why does Israel exist as a nation today? Is it because of " insha Allah". Israel would not exist today, if God did not willed it to be so. Morgtar, I know you will not answer these questions because you wouldn't respond to my previous questions but I will ask you anyway: According to the Quran, to whom is Israel promised? Why has Allah allowed the children of Israel to return to Israel? Was it because of His promise to the Believers of the Book and therefore He willed it? Twice, the land of Israel was taken from the people of the Book because they failed to listen to the profhets and obey the Book. Because Allah promised the land to the Believers of the Book, he has allowed them to gather(return) to the promise land for a third time. Allah does not take back something He promises. The Jewish people returned because Allah so allowed it.
CommentApartheid in the Holy Land
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Desmond Tutu The Guardian, Monday 29 April 2002 02.21 BST Article historyIn our struggle against apartheid, the great supporters were Jewish people. They almost instinctively had to be on the side of the disenfranchised, of the voiceless ones, fighting injustice, oppression and evil. I have continued to feel strongly with the Jews. I am patron of a Holocaust centre in South Africa. I believe Israel has a right to secure borders.
What is not so understandable, not justified, is what it did to another people to guarantee its existence. I've been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about.
On one of my visits to the Holy Land I drove to a church with the Anglican bishop in Jerusalem. I could hear tears in his voice as he pointed to Jewish settlements. I thought of the desire of Israelis for security. But what of the Palestinians who have lost their land and homes?
I have experienced Palestinians pointing to what were their homes, now occupied by Jewish Israelis. I was walking with Canon Naim Ateek (the head of the Sabeel Ecumenical Centre) in Jerusalem. He pointed and said: "Our home was over there. We were driven out of our home; it is now occupied by Israeli Jews."
My heart aches. I say why are our memories so short. Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon? Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about the downtrodden?
Israel will never get true security and safety through oppressing another people. A true peace can ultimately be built only on justice. We condemn the violence of suicide bombers, and we condemn the corruption of young minds taught hatred; but we also condemn the violence of military incursions in the occupied lands, and the inhumanity that won't let ambulances reach the injured.
The military action of recent days, I predict with certainty, will not provide the security and peace Israelis want; it will only intensify the hatred.
Israel has three options: revert to the previous stalemated situation; exterminate all Palestinians; or - I hope - to strive for peace based on justice, based on withdrawal from all the occupied territories, and the establishment of a viable Palestinian state on those territories side by side with Israel, both with secure borders.
We in South Africa had a relatively peaceful transition. If our madness could end as it did, it must be possible to do the same everywhere else in the world. If peace could come to South Africa, surely it can come to the Holy Land?
My brother Naim Ateek has said what we used to say: "I am not pro- this people or that. I am pro-justice, pro-freedom. I am anti- injustice, anti-oppression."
But you know as well as I do that, somehow, the Israeli government is placed on a pedestal [in the US], and to criticise it is to be immediately dubbed anti-semitic, as if the Palestinians were not semitic. I am not even anti-white, despite the madness of that group. And how did it come about that Israel was collaborating with the apartheid government on security measures?
People are scared in this country [the US], to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful - very powerful. Well, so what? For goodness sake, this is God's world! We live in a moral universe. The apartheid government was very powerful, but today it no longer exists. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet, Milosevic, and Idi Amin were all powerful, but in the end they bit the dust.
Injustice and oppression will never prevail. Those who are powerful have to remember the litmus test that God gives to the powerful: what is your treatment of the poor, the hungry, the voiceless? And on the basis of that, God passes judgment.
We should put out a clarion call to the government of the people of Israel, to the Palestinian people and say: peace is possible, peace based on justice is possible. We will do all we can to assist you to achieve this peace, because it is God's dream, and you will be able to live amicably together as sisters and brothers.
Desmond Tutu is the former Archbishop of Cape Town and chairman of South Africa's truth and reconciliation commission. This address was given at a conference on Ending the Occupation held in Boston, Massachusetts, earlier this month. A longer version appears in the current edition of Church Times
HIRAM OR HARRAM
I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT MAKE YOU SO SICK ABOUT MUSLIMS YOU SEE MY ANCESTOR WAS NOT A GENTILE ....MY FATHER WAS NOT A GOY.....MYSELF AM NOT A GOYIM AND I CAN ASSURE YOU MY KIDS WILL NEVER SLAVE LIKE YOU DO FOR THE SO CALL SHOSEN PEOPLE .........WE WILL NEVER BOW DOWN TO ZIONISM OR SATANISM but we will be come back to Palestine AND THAT S IS FOR SURE
Morgtar, if that is what floats your boat, go for it. Before, you set sail on your boat, I would like to ask you a few questions. Why are millions of Muslims fleeing Islamic countries like Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Libya, and numerous other countries to the lands of Goys? A vast majority of them use peronal safety from tyranny of their government as an excuse to enter the lands of the Goys. Why would Islam nations murder so many Muslims? Doesn't the Quran teach that it is wrong to knowingly murder another Muslim? Why do the major Islam sects murder Muslims of other sects? Are they not all children of Islam? As to the "SHOSEN PEOPLE" ( I am sure you were referring to the Jewish people), I would bet the Syrians, especially the one's being attacked by their government, would prefer to live in the land of "Israel" and the goyish lands of Europe and North America. Do you not see and understand that Muslims, like any humans, ae basicly good people but they have been conditioned to believe it is okay to murder, Jews, Goys, and Muslims who are not consider true Muslims of the same sect. MORGTAR, if I was you, I wouldn't sail your "boat" into deep waters. It has too many holes in it and is beyound repair.
SALAMOILIKOUM HIRAM
Israel's one way democracy
When Palestinians point out the obvious - that Israel is hardly a democracy when it comes to them - they are ignored. But it is not just Palestinians who lack democratic rights in Israel. Consider, for example, what happened to 19-year old Lucas Koerner, who is an American Jew. On "Jerusalem Day", June 1, he talked publicly and peacefully about the Palestinians’ right to freedom. In a video he is heard saying, "Israel is occupying the Palestinian people in my name and in the name of world Jewry. That is ethically reprehensible." As a result, Koerner was brutally beaten and arrested by the Israeli police and detained for two days before being "advised" to leave the country.
It is therefore not even correct to say that Israel is a democracy for Jews, since Lucas Koerner is a Jew and he was not allowed to exercise his democratic right to free expression. Other Jews have met with the same treatment: Norman Finkelstein, the son of a Holocaust survivor has been denied entry to Israel for ten years, and UN envoy Richard Falk, also an American Jew, was banned entry into Israel for comparing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the Nazis’ treatment of Jews.
Israel is intolerant of any opinion that detracts from it’s self-proclaimed image as a democracy. Thus, when a 19-year old is beaten and arrested, the explanation becomes that he "attacked and bit a police officer" – which was untrue. Norman Finkelstein’s banning was not because he criticizes Israel’s policies but because "he met with Hizbullah". And Richard Falk was not banned because he spoke about crimes against Palestinians in Gaza but because he called Israelis Nazis and exceeded his human rights "mandate".
Israel’s facade will not remain intact forever. Palestinian voices are louder than ever and those who stand with them are increasingly determined not to remain silent. People like Lucas Koerner, Richard Falk and Norman Finkelstein and thousands of others are making cracks in Israel’s facade of deceit, a facade that is rapidly breaking open for all to see.
Adapted from "Israel’s One Way Democracy", written by Joharah Baker and published on line by MIFTAH, The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy. Full text available on line at: http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=23580&CategoryId=3
Joharah Baker is Director of MIFTAH and can be contacted at mid@miftah.org
Distributed by PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity)
WWW.PAJUMONTREAL.ORG
stop boasting ........and also stop la folie des grandeur do you see what i mean
you having been banned from Palestin for life time and he doesnt stop you to continue to lick the boots of you masters ....shame on you...
Shalom aleichem!
Hiram, we may be banned from Israel, but we will be come back to Palestine! what are you mormon, evangelist, striving for the apocalypse? check out this link and tell me if you can sleep at night
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/middleeast/2011/07/201171316351366788...
if you can you deserve to work at Ashwitz!
When "Mahdi" arrives on the world scene, I will let you know; but until then, it appears the Middle East is working towards that goal.
You are right Hiram 1, the journalist presents his "opinion" of how it is banned to enter Israel, but argues that that decision taken by the Israeli authorities, any government is the right to prohibit entry to persons that may cause conflicts or problems of a institucional.reconozco also that in this conflict on all sides many have lost their lives in different ways and for different reasons, the Palestinian-Israeli confilcto not be resolved while both are recognized to exist as a sovereign nation.
I believe that day will arrive when it's neighbours recognise it's right to exist as a nation.
HIRAM YOU ARE A HYPOCRIT WHY DONT YOU ASK WHEN ISRAHELL WILL RECOGNISE THE RIGHT TO RESPECT AND TO STOP KILLING INNOCENTE CIVILIANSES
"Yet many Palestinians across the world have a lifelong ban from Israel. I am one of them." Why were you banned? Why would Israel ban a journalist for reporting the news? Banishment is an "effect". What were the causes preceding the banishment? Why would a journalist write an "OPINION" on why she was banned and not write the reason why she was banned? What was Israel's official reason for banishment for life? "OPINION" Journalists write and ivestigate newsworthy events. They "should" not let their biases interfere with reporting the news. When a newsworthy event takes place, the journalist gathers and write the facts. Nothing more!Therefore, when a nation such as Israel, banishes a journalist, there must have been a severe cause for such an action. Provide all the facts and let the readers make a decision if your "OPINION" was newsworthy. P.S. I hope for a day when Israel no longer has to restrict people from entering into "their" country. I believe that day will arrive when it's neighbours recognise it's right to exist as a nation.
I certainly never had ANY intention on going there!
Great!
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