Mission & Justice

2/7/08

Hundreds of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have stormed the Egyptian gate at the Rafah crossing, clashing with security forces. Palestinian youth on Wednesday threw rocks at Egyptian soldiers, who responded in kind, keeping the crowd at bay with water cannons. At least six border guards were hurt in the exchange, Reuters news agency reported, citing an Egyptian police source. Television footage showed some Palestinians were also wounded. Egypt opened the crossing for two days to allow in Palestinians who need medical treatment not available in Gaza, and for Palestinians to return home.

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Natalie O’Brien; 28/6/08

The USA Government told the head of Australia’s spy agency ASIO that it wanted to render Mamdouh Habib to Egypt for questioning, but the then ASIO chief, Dennis Richardson, has never publicly admitted the official approach was made. The startling revelations come from his successor, Paul O’Sullivan, who said Mr Richardson was told about the rendition plan by a US government official weeks before the Sydney father of four was “kidnapped” and sent to Egypt, where prisoners are known to be tortured. This contradicts the Howard government’s claims it had no knowledge of Mr Habib’s rendition until after he had been transferred to Egypt. Mr Richardson, who was questioned in Senate estimates hearings about his knowledge of Mr Habib’s rendition to Egypt, has never admitted the US had told him of the possibility or that he had told the US that Australia would not condone it.

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24/6/08

Three rockets fired from the Gaza Strip have hit southern Israel, hours after Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the West Bank.Tuesday’s incidents cast doubt over the future of a fragile truce that has been in force in Gaza between Israel and armed Palestinian groups during the last five days.Al-Quds, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, took responsibility for the rocket attacks which caused sosome damage but no casualties in the Israeli town of Sderot. The rocket attacks followed an Israeli raid into the West Bank town of Nablus earlier during the day. Israeli troops killed the men in an exchange of fire, an Israeli military spokesman said, adding that one of them was a fighter from Islamic Jihad and the other was a “militant”.me damage but no casualties in the Israeli town of Sderot. David Baker, a spokesperson in the Israeli prime minister’s office, said: “Any rocket fire from the Gaza Strip would be a grave violation of the calm.”

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17/6/08

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire arrangement, according to Egyptian and Palestinian officials. “Implementation of the truce will begin at 6am (0300 GMT) on Thursday,” a Palestinian official said on Tuesday. Hamas said it would respect the six-month deal, which materialised after months of mediation by Egypt. “Hamas will adhere to the timetable which was set by Egypt but it is our right to respond to any Israeli aggression before its implementation,” Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said. Israeli officials, however, have yet to confirm the Egyptian-brokered deal.

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Gloria Esguerra Melencio; 13/6/08

The family of an overseas Filipino worker who worked as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia cried foul over her alleged suicide as they met her casket at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday. Remains of OFW Eugenia Baja were repatriated through the Saudi Airlines flight number CX 903, a report to the media sent by an organization of OFWs said. The Baja siblings, together with Migrante, met her at the airport. Her body will be flown to her province in Bohol in a connecting flight this morning.

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Ramadan Al Sherbini; 9/6/08

Mustafa, a father of three girls, is proud of having his children circumcised, and vows to do the same if he gets a new baby girl. Under a new law passed by the Egyptian Parliament this week, female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM) is criminalised. “This is nonsense,” said Mustafa, a native of the south Egyptian city of Sohag who has been living in Cairo for around 20 years. “Circumcision for girls is a must as it protects their chastity,” added the 48-year-old Muslim father. “Islam also encourages circumcision for girls as well.”

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5/6/08

A four-year-old girl has been killed and her mother wounded in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip.Another woman was also wounded in the attack which the Israelis said had targeted Palestinian armed groups. The attack came after Palestinian fighters shelled an Israeli kibbutz (collective village), killing one person and injuring three others. The girl and her mother were outside their house near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza when a drone fired a missile, witnesses said.

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Natalie O’Brien; 27/5/08

The former head of spy agency ASIO, Dennis Richardson, warned US authorities that Canberra could not agree to their transferring Mamdouh Habib to Egypt at least a week before the Sydney man was “kidnapped” and sent to the North African country, where he was subjected to months of torture. The current head of ASIO, Paul O’Sullivan, revealed during a Senate estimates hearing yesterday that his predecessor, Mr Richardson, was per-sonally involved in discussions with the US State Department and the intelligence community about the “hypothetical” possibility of Mr Habib being taken to Egypt. “The director-general of ASIO informed the US au-thorities that it was not the Australian government policy position to engage in practices of rendition,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

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14/5/08

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has promised to build about 600 housing units in contentious West Bank settlements, a political ally of the prime minister said Wednesday, adding new tensions to peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The announcement came shortly before U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Israel to take part in the Jewish state’s 60th anniversary celebrations - and to try to nudge forward Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Palestinians want all of the West Bank as part of their future state. They oppose all Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, saying it undermines peace talks.

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14/5/08
A judge in Milan has ruled that Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister, can be called to testify in a trial of CIA and Italian spies who are accused of kidnapping a ‘terrorism’ suspect in Milan and flying him to Egypt. Berlusconi is not accused of any crime and would appear as a witness to speak on the issue of state secrets in the case. The 71-year-old billionaire could become the first head of government in the world to testify in criminal proceedings over secret US transfers of “terrorism” suspects, known as renditions. Judge Oscar Magi also ruled that Romano Prodi, Berlusconi’s predecessor, could be called to give evidence.

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