Mission & Justice

Uri Blau; 15/8/08

Police, soldiers and military officers prefer to “turn a blind eye” instead of handling incidents in which settlers attack Palestinians in the West Bank. In a meeting held by West Bank precinct operations officer Ronen Yefet last week, participants - including a Shin Bet security service representative and a senior police and army officers - reported a recent increase in the number of violent incidents involving settlers. The Shin Bet representative stated in the discussion that settler violence has been “intentional and planned,” adding that any Israel Defense Forces operations against settlers (eviction or demolitions) now comes with a violent “price tag.” Police officers at the meeting criticized the IDF for reportedly saying they do not want to act against settlers, and purported comments like “Leave me alone, don’t get me mixed up with those guys.”

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Editorial; 15/8/08

There has been worldwide condemnation by journalists of yet another decision by an Israeli military tribunal to clear Israel troops of killing journalists. The death in April of Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana while filming an Israeli tank during an incursion into Gaza roused media protests that Israeli soldiers were deliberately targeting members of news organizations sent to cover their activities. Shana and his team were about a mile away from the tank that he was filming. He was wearing a fluorescent vest announcing that he was a journalist and the vehicle in which the Reuters party was traveling was also marked prominently “TV”. The tank crew told the military board of inquiry that they saw neither sign. What they thought they saw was a fighter wearing body armor with a tripod-mounted rocket he was about to fire. They, therefore, shot first, killing Shana instantly and destroying the Reuters TV vehicle. The tribunal bought this.

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15/8/08

A military judge barred a US general yesterday from further involvement in the war crimes trial of a young Afghan prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, the second time the legal adviser has been blocked from a case. The judge also ordered that the attempted murder charges against defendant Mohammed Jawad, 23, be sent back to the overseer of the tribunals for revalidation. But the judge denied a defense request to dismiss all charges against Jawad, who is accused of throwing a grenade into a US military jeep at a bazaar in Kabul in December 2002, wounding two US soldiers and their Afghan interpreter.

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15/8/08

Around 135,000 residents have fled a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan to escape ongoing clashes between troops and pro-Taliban fighters, officials said. Half of the population of some villages in the Bajaur tribal district had reportedly moved on Thursday. There have also been reports that fighters were stopping people from leaving some areas. “We have around 135,000 people who have left their homes there,” said Habibullah Khan, the additional chief secretary for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

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15/8/08

Six American sailors working as prison camp guards in Iraq face courts martial for abusing detainees, some of whom were sealed in a cell with pepper spray. The US Navy said seven other sailors were given non-judicial punishments over the incident, which took place on May 14 at Camp Bucca, the vast desert camp in southern Iraq where the US military houses 18,000 of its 21,000 prisoners. “Two detainees suffered minor abrasions as a result of the alleged assaults, eight others were confined overnight in a detainee housing unit which was sprayed with riot control agent and then the ventilation secured,” the Navy said in a statement.

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15/8/08

An international aid group which has worked in Afghanistan for 25 years said it was suspending relief work after three of its female aid workers and their Afghan driver were shot dead. The killings, claimed by Taliban insurgents, came amid warnings about deteriorating security. Aid groups warned this month of the extreme dangers facing their staff, saying 19 non-government workers had been killed in the first seven months of the year, more than in all of 2007.

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Richard Kerbaj’; 15/8/08

The secret dossier that former immigration minister Kevin Andrews relied on to cancel Mohamed Haneef’s visa, and which federal police have since refused to publicly disclose, contained no evidence of criminality against the Indian doctor. Instead, the document sought to establish an association between Dr Haneef and his cousins Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed, the men allegedly responsible for the botched terror attacks in London and Glasgow last year. The brief was prepared by Immigration Department officials based on evidence gathered by the Australian Federal Police and used by Mr Andrews to strip Dr Haneef of his visa on character grounds on the day he was granted bail on a terror charge. According to several sources who have seen the document, it contained no evidence linking Dr Haneef to the terror attacks or any criminal activities.

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Yuval Azoulay;14/8/08, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1011862.html

Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem on Thursday relayed that since the start of 2007, it had asked the Israel Defense Forces to investigate 99 incidents in which 189 Palestinians were killed - but the army only actually launched probes in four of the instances. B’Tselem also Thursday harshly criticized the Military Advocate General, Brig. Gen. Avihai Mandelblit, over his decision to close the investigation into the death of a Reuters cameraman in the Gaza Strip last April. The army cleared the IDF tank crew that killed the journalist of any wrongdoing and said the soldiers will not face any disciplinary action. B’Tselem branded this decision as extremely unreasonable. The army found that troops acted properly when they opened fire on Fadel Shana, suspecting he was a militant preparing to fire a missile after he set up a tripod in a Gaza battle zone in which three IDF soldiers were killed.

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Ben White; 14/8/08

On Tuesday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published what seemed like a significant development in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, reporting that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had presented Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president “with a detailed proposal for an agreement in principle on borders, refugees and security arrangements between Israel and a future Palestinian state.” The “offer” is nothing too different to what we’ve seen before: Israel keeps the main settlement blocs, including around Jerusalem, Gush Etzion, Maaleh Adumim, and, the Haaretz article suggests, Efrat and Ariel too. There is no mention of arrangements for the Jordan Valley, crucial territory that Olmert has previously declared his intention to annex. While Israel apparently keeps seven percent of the West Bank, the Palestinians are “compensated” with land from the Negev Desert and a road connecting the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In fact, the overall borders are by and large determined by the separation wall, which the report rightly notes has created a “new physical reality”.

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Aluf Benn; 13/8/08

The American administration has rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support that would improve Israel’s ability to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. A report published last week by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) states that military strikes are unlikely to destroy Iran’s centrifuge program for enriching uranium. The Americans viewed the request, which was transmitted (and rejected) at the highest level, as a sign that Israel is in the advanced stages of preparations to attack Iran. They therefore warned Israel against attacking, saying such a strike would undermine American interests. They also demanded that Israel give them prior notice if it nevertheless decided to strike Iran. As compensation for the requests it rejected, Washington offered to improve Israel’s defenses against surface-to-surface missiles.

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