By Clive Hambidge *

A military conquest

"... We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours ... When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do will be to scurry round like drugged roaches in a bottle." (Rafeal Eitan)

A 'moral articulation' by successive American administrations as to the primary reason for their unilateral support of 0.001% of the world's population, namely Israel, is not standing up to international law or American scrutiny. The perpetuated myth of an Israel surrounded by mortal enemies, battling heroically for its democratic rights against all odds fades as the world of right mindedness recognises in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip the daily abuse and horror for Palestinians under illegal occupation in Israel's 'battlefield' to test new weaponry. That abuse, brought into sharp focus by the U.S Department of State in early 2004, is systematic; perpetrated by Israel in 2011 and paid for by U.S tax payers' dollars in the form of indiscriminate, unwise and illegal aid according to America's own laws. The reason? Unquestioning support for Israel's militarised political continuum, where de jure occupation became de facto annexation, and where, according to Special Rapporteur Falk "the unbridled assault upon Palestinian rights" continues.

If one consciously moves in time backward and forward, that is in American/Israeli time, one finds the same pattern no matter the date. There is no change no progress. It is like watching a film, a play no matter where you cut, what montage you see, what curtain is lifted and what scene you view, it is the same film, the same play, the same day, from the same violent script. It is a continuum of brutal actions designed to oppress Palestinians enough to make them leave their own land. Pick a date at random and one finds the paradox of continuum. Israel is waiting for Godot

"Estragon: All the dead voices.
Vladimir: They make a noise like wings."

Matt Bowles, writing for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, makes plain the facts: America for decades allowing Israel to place "US aid into its general fund, effectively eliminating any distinction between types of aid. [means] Therefore, U.S. tax-payers are helping to fund an illegal occupation, the expansion of colonial-settlements projects, and gross human rights violations against the Palestinian civilian population." Facts continually denied by Israel, as it ruthlessly pursue 'the doctrine of politics free from law'.

Israel's persistent but illusory claim that its 'international human rights treaty obligations do not apply in the OPT' has been, according to Amnesty International, 'rejected' by the U.N Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Against Women, the Committee Against Torture, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the International Court of Justice', and every conscionable citizen on the planet.

So to February 2004, the U.S Department of State in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices makes clear the egregious human rights violations and status of Israel in the OPT 2003, "The international community does not recognize Israel's Sovereignty over any part of the occupied territories." All accredited missions are to be found rightfully, and legally, in Tel Aviv. "Israel's overall human rights record in the occupied territories remained poor and worsened in the treatment of foreign human rights activists." These abuses came in a fiscal year 2003 where Israel received from the U.S "a foreign military financing grant of $3.1 billion and a $600 million grant for economic security." (Jewish Voice for Peace - JVP); U.S dollars used in the advancing of Israel's policy of 'continuum' namely the illegal colonisation of Palestinian lands, the tormenting of its people and those that would assist them. Lest we forget, it was in March 2003 that Rachel Corrie, an American citizen performing a fundamental rule of law principle by campaigning for human rights in the OPT, lost her life under the tracks of a caterpillar bulldozer: 'Made in the U.S.A'.

The U.S Department of State found in the bloody year of 2003 that amongst other violations of international law:

• "Israeli soldiers placed civilians in danger by ordering them [Palestinians] to facilitate military operations."
• "Israeli forces sometimes arbitrarily destroyed, damaged, or looted Palestinian property".
• "Israeli security forces often impeded the provision of medical assistance to Palestinian civilians."
• "Israeli security forces harassed and abused Palestinian pedestrians."
• "Israel conducted mass, arbitrary arrests in the West Bank during military operations, summoning and detaining males between the ages of 15 and 45"
• "Israel carried out policies of demolitions, strict curfews, and closures that directly punished innocent civilians ... Israel often demolished homes after suspects had already been killed or arrested."
• Israel "maintained" according to the Department of State "that such punishment of innocents would serve as a deterrent against future terrorist attacks."

These insidious patterns have been sustained by all Israeli administrations and represent a 'continuum': a calculated militaristic policy of intimidation and worse toward the innocent civilians of Palestine. This being so, I must add my concerns to the concerns of the Rachel Corrie Foundation that "the State Departments Country Reports on Human Rights systematically exclude the State Departments own analysis of Israel's failure to perform a credible investigation into the killing of Rachel Corrie," and further concerns that "reports generated by international NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which noted a pattern of negligence in Israeli investigations into civilians killed by the IDF, were ignored in the creation of the Country Reports."

In recognition of the illegality of American Aid to Israel, the Rachel Corrie Foundation in its submission to the U.N Universal Periodic Review called upon the U.S to "enforce 22 U.S.C. 2304 (1994), protocol on Human Rights and Security Assistance, and the "Leahy Amendments" to the Foreign Operations Appropriations and Defence Appropriations Acts (e.g. P.L. 105-118 570), which prohibit the provision of security assistance to countries and military units that engage in a pattern of gross violations of human rights." Where, according to JVP, "Massive military aid promotes militarism, which has led to a reliance on military, rather than diplomatic means to work for a solution to this ongoing conflict.". The planned aim of 'continuum'.

The Continuum

"Zionism is a colonising adventure and therefore it stands or falls by the question of armed force. There is no other ethic" (Jabotinsky)

The U.N Mission Report (UNMR) on the Israeli operation in Gaza between December 27^th 2008 and 18^th January 2009 highlights that all Israel's operations must be viewed not as isolated moments in history where Israel feels threatened and then responds but, operation[s] that decidedly fit "into a continuum of policies aimed at pursuing Israel's political objectives with regard to Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a whole." Reel back, fast forward, press hold, you find 'continuum': "After we become a strong force, as the result of the creation of a State, we shall abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine." (Ben Gurion)

"The continuum is evident most immediately with the policy of blockade that preceded the operations [i.e Cast Lead] and that in the Mission's view amounts to collective punishment intentionally inflicted by the Government of Israel on the people of the Gaza Strip." (UNMR). Further, the Mission found "An analysis of the modalities and impact of the December-January military operations [also] sets them, in the Mission's view, in a continuum with a number of other pre-existing Israel Policies with regard to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The progressive isolation and separation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, a policy that began much earlier and which was consolidated in particular with the imposition of tight closures, restrictions on movement and eventually blockade, are among the most apparent." 'The plan that never changed' is the continuum that ever is, until God forbid "There is no more Palestine. Finished . . ." (Moshe Dayan)

Nothing has changed since 2004, nothing has changed since 1948. And nothing has changed in 2011. Pick a date between 1948 and 2011 and one finds systematic abuse, atrocities, and deaths of Palestinian civilians. One might pick Operation 'Defensive Shield' 2002, Operation 'Summer Rains' 2006 or 'Autumn Clouds' November 2006, I have picked December 2008/January 2009 and 'Cast Lead' from Israel's seasonal slaughter. Here's a U.N Report of 2009.

The 2009 Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict concluded, "The Mission found numerous instances of deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects (individuals, whole families, houses, mosques) in violation of the fundamental international humanitarian law principle of distinction, resulting in deaths and serious injuries. In these cases the Mission found that the protected status of civilians was not respected and the attacks intentional, in clear violation of customary law reflected in article 51 (2) and 75 of Additional Protocol 1, article 27 of the Four Geneva Convention and articles 6 and 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In some cases the Mission additionally concluded that the attack was also launched with the intention of spreading terror among the civilian population."

In addition, the Mission found all of this was planned meticulously by Israel, "legal opinions and advice were given throughout the planning stages and at certain operational levels during the campaign. There were almost no mistakes according to the Government of Israel. It is in these circumstances that the Mission [concluded] that what occurred in just over three weeks at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 was a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability."

One would remind Israel's planners of Article 7 of the Draft Code of Crimes Against the Peace and Security of Mankind (1996), "The official position of an individual who commits a crime against the peace and security of mankind, even if he acted as head of State or Government, does not relieve him of criminal responsibility or mitigate punishment." And of these compassionate words thundering through the centuries from Caliph Abu Bakr to "the first Moslem Arab Army invading Christian Syria:

Do not commit treachery, nor depart from the right path. You must not mutilate, neither kill a child or aged man or woman. Do not destroy a palm tree, nor burn it with fire and do not cut any fruitful tree." (634 A.D)

After Cast Lead, Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, reported that "During and after "Operation Cast lead", human rights organizations asked the Attorney General (AG) to open an investigation based on prima-facie evidence of gross-violations of international law; the AG rejected our request. Previous requests to the Military Advocate General (MAG) to open investigations into numerous other cases were also denied." Adalah further found "petitions filed to the Supreme Court against the MAG and AG's policy of not opening criminal investigations into the killing of Palestinians remain pending years later. It also appears that the Supreme Court's inaction has resulted in a brake on the submission of petitions by human rights organizations."

"Israel cannot build a society based on the principles of democracy, human rights, and compliance with international law while brutally occupying another people and their land. The United States is currently paying for that occupation with its annual aid," (JVP, Statement on Peace, U.S Military Aid and Israel, 2004.) and further, "When Palestinian doctors remove bullets from the bodies of Palestinian children, the bullets are typically stamped. Made in the U.S.A." Nevertheless, and, in remorseless fashion the United States defies international opinion, its own law and international law in providing massive military aid to its client state Israel. America supplies the boots that fit the feet that press on the necks of Palestinians.

Massive military aid for continuum

"The Arabs will have to go, but one needs an opportune moment for making it happen, such as war" (Ben Gurion)

The Congressional Research Service Report (CRSR) of 16^th September 2010 U.S Foreign Aid to Israel reported, "Almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance." The Bush Administration unsurprisingly sanctioned an increase of 6 billion dollars in U.S military assistance to Israel in August 2007. And the Obama Administration, also unsurprisingly, responded to the Bush Neo Con reverberation by requesting $3 billion U.S in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) to Israel for fiscal year of 2011. So, add those figures in your moral mind space to this cumulative 'conservative estimate' given by the U.S organisation 'If Americans Knew' of "total direct aid to Israel [1949 to 2008] of $113. 8554 Billion. Massive by any standards.

Decades of murder and mayhem began with a trade loan in 1949 of $100.000. God only knows when and how it will end. Today the billions of US taxpayers dollars that pour through the 'aid funnel' are used to buy arms and equipment such as caterpillar bulldozers made in the U.S; indeed a stipulation by the U.S is that Israel uses "75% of its military aid from the U.S. It funnels this money to more than 1,000 U.S arms suppliers, which in turn lobby for policies that benefit them at the expense of peace in the Middle East." (JVP).

According to the CRSR, by giving unconditional aid to Israel, America seeks to and "maintains ...[Israel's] qualitative military edge over potential threats, and prevent[s] a shift in the security balance of the region." in fact that aggressive 'military edge' keeps Palestinians locked down in interminable suffering and the region a tinderbox. And make no mistake the 'qualitative military edge' is not for Israel but for The United States of America and its continued hegemonic ambitions through its proxy, Israel.

U.S blood money was/is for "a militarized Israel that will serve the U.S. interest of controlling the Petroleum reserves of the Middle East ... policy debate in elite circles takes for granted, on all sides, the goal of maintaining U.S. control over Middle East petroleum resources and the flow of petrodollars." (Chomsky, Fateful Triangle). If we take a sordid trip down Israel's blood soaked memory lane we find U.S Aid increasing in direct proportion to Israel's military aggression, perceived success therefore usefulness to American interests. Israel's continuum is vital for American control over the oil reserves of the region.

Stephen Zunes, The Strategic Functions of U.S. AID to Israel, shows how U.S Aid shoots up after Israeli military successes and its long term strategic cooperation with America. From the "spectacular victory" in the 1967 war, through the Civil War in Jordan 1970-71 and the countering of 'attacking Arab armies' in 1973, to the "fall of the Shah, election of the right wing Likud, and the ratification of the Camp David Treaty in 1979", through the years 1983-84 "when the United States and Israel signed memoranda of understanding on strategic cooperation and military planning." U.S Aid kept rising 450%, 800%, increasing, sevenfold, quadrupling, as did Israel's aggression. America force feeding Israel with military aid through the 'aid funnel,' whilst Palestinian children can scarcely keep mind, spirit, and body together.

Then came Clinton, Bush, Obama, all maintaining Israel's 'qualitative edge', all maintaining Israel's brutal military occupation. All, letting down the Palestinians' lawful drive for legitimate Statehood. All U.S Aid equated with destruction, acquainted with death. The long suffering Palestinians sold out with 'no objections' from the 'liberal left of America.'

Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Senior, Clinton, Bush "I'm doing it for my daddy" junior, and Obama, all preserving 'Continuity Of Government' (C.O.G.) indeed, all cogs in the all consuming gas guzzling American machine. It will all end in tears and it won't be Palestinian tears, for they have wept too much and for too long for their lost freedom and their lost children.

O Captain My Captain

"Our American friends offer us money, arms, and advice. We take the money, we take the arms, and we decline the advice." (Moshe Dayan)

Questions are being asked of Captain America from unlikely and likely quarters. Walter Pincus of the Washington Post, "The question for the Obama administration, Congress and, in the end perhaps the American public, is given present economic problems, should the United States supply the money to make up for the reductions the Israelis are making in their own defence budget." A financial question of course. A superior question, because a moral one, is if, the American public, who should be asked first, were informed of the extent, nature and illegality of U.S Aid to Israel, would the American public then sanction any military aid to Israel at all?

As Hassan Fouda of Northern California Friends of Sabeel reminds, "Congress is planning deep cuts in social security, unemployment compensation, educational grants and other programs that help vulnerable Americans. Transferring billions of taxpayer's money to Israel now is immoral. Americans need to speak up and be heard.

Valuing Human Rights

Special Rapporteur John Duggard stated, "It is pointless for the Special Rapporteur to recommend to the Government of Israel that it show respect for human rights and international humanitarian law ... in these circumstances, the Special Rapporteur can only appeal to the wider international community to concern itself with the plight of the Palestinian people." (2006). After the end of the Israeli military operation Cast Lead 2008-2009 in Gaza, John Ging the UNRWA Director of Operations recalled a discussion that he had with a teacher in Gaza about 'strengthening human rights education in schools'. One would assume that the teacher had for obvious reasons a sceptical view of such an undertaking. In fact, recounts Ging "the teacher unhesitantly supported the resumption of human rights education." She said, "This is a war of values, and we are not going to lose it."

* Clive Hambidge is Human Development Director at Facilitate Global. He can be contacted at: clive.hambidge@facilitateglobal.org

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By Ray Smith * | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

More than three years after Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in the north of Lebanon was destroyed, its reconstruction is finally under way. However, the process runs at a slow pace and remains only partially funded as further political obstacles appear on the horizon. Meanwhile, the Lebanese army continues to maintain a tight grip on the camp's residents and attempts to silence any criticism.

Anyone approaching the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp on the highway connecting the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli to the Syrian border can see it -- the first row of houses are four stories high. After three years of tough negotiations, countless obstacles and various delays, reconstruction is actually underway.

The master plan for the reconstruction of the camp was prepared in early 2008, only half a year after a 15-week battle between the Lebanese army and the non-Palestinian militant group Fatah al-Islam that left the camp totally devastated. The camp's 30,000 residents were displaced, some for the third or fourth time since they were expelled from Palestine by Zionist militias in 1948 -- what Palestinians call the Nakba.

Delayed reconstruction

Reconstruction effectively kicked off in November 2009. "There were a number of problems getting the whole thing started, demining in the first place," said Charlie Higgins, Project Manager for the Reconstruction of Nahr al-Bared with the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA). "When we started the backfilling there, the whole archaeological controversy and the related court injunction came up, effectively delaying the process for another five months," he explained, referring to a politically-motivated attempt by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun in 2009 to stop reconstruction of the camp because of evidence of archaeological remains.

For practical reasons, the project was split into eight stages or "packages". The first stage -- consisting of 149 buildings which house 423 of more than 5,000 displaced families -- is approaching completion, however with significant delay. "We expect to be able to hand over a number of apartments probably in early 2011," Higgins said.

The main reasons for the delay are attributed to the construction company which subcontracted major parts of the work, adding additional layers of management that increased costs while reducing control of progress on site. Higgins said that without UNRWA's constant pressure and threats of penalties, less would have been done.

Most workers on the construction site are Syrians and Palestinians. One of them is "M," a resident of the Nahr al-Bared camp in his twenties. Almost three years ago, his family was permitted to return to the outskirts of the devastated camp. There, they've been living in steel containers, which residents call the "barracks," awaiting the reconstruction of their homes. "When we moved into the temporary housing, we didn't expect to be staying in there for such a long time," M said. "Living in the barracks has always been very difficult."

During the last years, unemployment, harsh living conditions, poverty, desperation and constant psychological stress have diminished M's initial hope for a quick return. Now, he's happy to have an income at least, although his job isn't safe. By working on the first stage, M is witnessing the slow pace of reconstruction. "I have no illusions," he admitted, "it will take a few more years until my family and I will be able to return home."

According to Higgins, UNRWA's efforts to get the contractor to employ Palestinians from the camp caused problems. "Workers need special permits to access the site, and to obtain them they may have to report to the headquarters of the Lebanese Armed Forces in al-Qubbe for investigation. This discourages some people from applying for jobs, and the contractor has cited the time taken as a factor beyond their control that delays the work."

Recently, backfilling work has started in parts of the area designated for stage two of the reconstruction. UNRWA anticipates its completion by autumn 2011. The agency is determined to avoid the delays it encountered in the first sector. In addition, three schools at UNRWA's coastal compound are under construction and will be ready by next summer.

One of the major obstacles on the way to rebuilding the camp is the lack of funding. "We have $120 million, but we still need another $209 million," said Higgins. Yet he remains optimistic that once the initial group of residents have moved into the first homes, donors will be encouraged to make further pledges. According to Higgins, "We'd have a strong case to say: we can prove it can be done. Now, what about the other 16,000 or 17,000 people we need to give back their homes?"

"The adjacent area"

Even more doubtful is the reconstruction of the immediate surroundings of the camp, which have been termed by UNRWA and the Lebanese government as the "adjacent area." The area forms a ring around the official boundaries of the camp and was inhabited by almost 10,000 Palestinian refugees. As the original camp became increasingly densely populated over time, houses grew in height and width, leaving hardly any place for streets and alleys. Consequently, many residents resettled in the camp's adjacent area.

Many homes in the surrounding area were either totally or partially destroyed in the war. The Vienna document of June 2008, outlining the Lebanese government's recovery and reconstruction strategy for the camp and the nearby municipalities, charged a Tripartite Committee consisting of the government itself, UNRWA and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) with the development of a full implementation plan for recovery and reconstruction in the adjacent area.

However, the committee was never formed. UNRWA denies having a role in the reconstruction of the adjacent area, limiting its responsibility to the camp's original site. Palestinian refugees living in the adjacent area are entitled to benefit from UNRWA's services as their registration with the agency is valid regardless of where they reside. UNRWA stresses its current infrastructure and efforts in the adjacent area have to be considered as temporary and within the agency's emergency response to the displacement of the residents.

Speaking on behalf of the PLO, Marwan Abdelal said bluntly: "In political terms, there's no partnership."

The Lebanese government has not taken part in any participatory mechanism, nor has it presented a plan for the adjacent area or undertaken any significant recovery efforts yet. However, it has compensated residents of the third-ring or outlying area of the camp for war-related losses.

Problems in the adjacent area have deep roots. Decades ago, zoning laws were violated when Lebanese private land plots were subdivided in order to sell them to Palestinians. This illegal practice is common to many Lebanese villages and poor neighborhoods. The Lebanese government and its appointed official responsible for the reconstruction of the camp, Sateh Arnaout, have made it clear that the zoning laws will be strictly followed. However, if the reconstruction in the adjacent area has to happen according to Lebanon's zoning laws, half of the existing buildings would actually have to be demolished.

In addition, approximately 90 percent of the refugees' land purchases before 2001 were never fully entered in the Lebanese land registry and remain listed under the name of the former Lebanese owners. Even worse, since 2001, Palestinians are forbidden to own or inherit property. Legal reconstruction and registration is therefore impossible.

"Palestinian residents in the adjacent area whose houses were totally destroyed are the first victims of this policy, as the government still blocks their reconstruction," said Abdelal. "At least we've successfully intervened concerning the rehabilitation of the partially demolished homes."

At a recent conference at the American University of Beirut, Rana Hassan, a Master of Urban Policy and Planning candidate at the university's Architecture and Design Department, stated that a different approach is needed by the Lebanese government. She cited precedents such as the reconstruction in south Lebanon's villages and Beirut's southern Dahiya suburb after the destructive Israeli invasion of Lebanon in July 2006. Nevertheless, the Lebanese government's Recovery and Reconstruction Cell (RRC) seems to stubbornly insist on strict adherence to zoning laws when it comes to Nahr al-Bared.

No freedom of movement

Three years after the end of hostilities in Nahr al-Bared, the refugee camp and the adjacent area remain a military zone. Checkpoints manned by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), a rigid permit system and recently reenforced barbed wire restrict access to the camp. For years, residents have protested this access regime without success. UNRWA's Higgins said that the agency believes the return of the first residents will be a change on the ground that could lead to more positive developments on access in general.

However, Abdelal argued that "The war has ended three years ago, so there's no need for the army's presence anymore."

Nor has the army eased its entry restrictions in response to the construction. "We haven't seen any significant change on access over recent months," Higgins acknowledged. Although Lebanese citizens can enter without special permits, they're subjected to questioning at the checkpoints. The refugees' permits are valid longer than before, but visitors or nongovernmental organization personnel face even more difficulties to obtaining entry permits.

Within the camp, hardly anyone dares to speak up against the LAF. "Freedom of speech is massively restricted," said Ismael Sheikh Hassan, an architect and urban planner who has worked with the community-based Nahr al-Bared Reconstruction Commission for several years. "Anyone in Nahr al-Bared can be arrested by the military intelligence and be held without access to family, lawyers, etc.," he explained. He says there are many cases that were never publicized, partly due to the fact that hardly any journalists manage to obtain army permits to access the camps.

Sheikh Hassan is convinced that under military siege, the camp's economy will never be able to function. Its residents are now almost completely dependent on international assistance.

"More importantly," Hassan said, "under the army's restrictions, there is no chance for reestablishing relations between the camp and the surrounding communities to return to a level of normality."

Even if some restrictions were relaxed, Hassan stated, any prolongation of the militarization and siege of the camp might have irreversible consequences. "Economies and consumer patterns might shift and Nahr al-Bared might never be able to return to its previous economic role in the region," he said.

Silencing the critics

In mid-August, Sheikh Hassan was arrested at a checkpoint when entering Nahr al-Bared. He was held for three days. His interrogation revealed that he was apparently detained because of an article he wrote for the Lebanese newspaper as-Safir describing the conditions in Nahr al-Bared. After his release, it remains unclear whether he'll have to appear in front of a court.

"The situation is gray," Hassan explained. "There is no official court date. But also, there's no acquittal that I'm innocent."

Over the past few months, the LAF have been conducting a campaign of intimidation against its critics. Recently, the director of a nongovernmental organization operating in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp had his entry permit revoked after criticizing the LAF. Also, since July, the LAF refused to issue permits to the staff of another organization, the Palestinian Human Rights Organization (PHRO).

Ghassan Abdallah, the PHRO's director, is an outspoken opponent of the LAF's permit regime and intimidation practices in Nahr al-Bared. The PHRO recently released a report examining restrictions on freedom of movement in the camp (Lebanese Restrictions on Freedom of Movement [PDF]). On 5 October, Abdallah was invited by Lebanese military intelligence to have a cup of coffee at the al-Qubbe army base. When he arrived at the base four days later, Abdallah was interrogated for three hours and even threatened with torture. In particular, Abdallah was questioned about a dialogue meeting on the LAF's access policy to Nahr al-Bared that he had co-organized.

"The security zone," Abdallah said, "is neither legal, nor humane. There's no excuse for it after three years." However, army intelligence doesn't accept this kind of criticism, he said. He expressed his outrage that after an official meeting where the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee and the LAF were represented, he was interrogated by military intelligence.

On 16 October, Lebanese activist and blogger Farah Kobeissi was arrested at the al-Abdi checkpoint at the northern entrance to Nahr al-Bared and interrogated for 14 hours after protesting against the army which denied her entry to the camp. During the protest, she held a banner stating: "No to the humiliating permits in Nahr al-Bared Camp."

The LAF maintains full authority over the camp, which it is not reluctant to display. Three months ago, it unveiled a monument dedicated to the fallen Lebanese soldiers of the Nahr al-Bared battle at the northern entrance to the camp.

Construction worker "M" is upset that the monument doesn't mention the fifty Palestinian civilians who were killed in the conflict. "This is the wrong place for this statue," he said. "They shouldn't have put it right in front of our camp."

Palestinians a "special category"

Nahr al-Bared isn't just a Palestinian refugee camp that was destroyed and has to be rebuilt. It showcases the difficult situation of the more than 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, who have faced massive discrimination for more than sixty years.

At the American University of Beirut, associate professor Sari Hanafi closely observes Palestinian-Lebanese relations. He understands Lebanon's desire to have full control over its territory and inhabitants. "However," he said, "when you talk about sovereignty, you have to define who's subjected to it." For decades, Lebanon's Palestinians have been treated as a special category.

Hanafi stressed that Lebanon finally has to clarify the Palestinians' status, bear the consequences and abolish their discrimination. "If it considers them foreigners," he said, "they need to be given the possibility to work, own property and join the professional syndicates. If it considers them refugees, they have to be given all their refugee rights according to the 1951 Refugee Convention."

The debate on the Palestinians' legal situation is directly connected to the Nahr al-Bared camp, where the Lebanese police have established a center. According to the Vienna document, "community policing" is to be implemented in the camp. The project is funded with $5 million by the United States. On the ground however, the LAF and the military intelligence remain in charge. Many residents compare their rule to the former Deuxieme Bureau, the military intelligence service which had harsly controlled the Palestinian refugee camps the 1950s and '60s.

Hanafi considers the police deployment as highly problematic, as long as the inhabitants' status isn't clearly defined. "I see the police stationed in Nahr al-Bared as a counterinsurgency police, not a community police," he said. "There's no agreement with the local popular committee. On the contrary -- the first thing the police did was outlaw all the Palestinian structures there."

"In any case: If any Lebanese police in Nahr al-Bared were to implement the current discriminatory law, nearly anyone in the camp would have to be arrested -- for owning property, for working in forbidden professions, etc," Hanafi added.

Hanafi said Palestinians have legitimate reason to fear the police. "They are right in saying: 'Before you bring the police, let us know if we can have shops, associations and a popular committee.'"

Earlier this month, the UN Human Rights Council reviewed the human rights situation in Lebanon. Many member states accused Lebanon of discriminating against the Palestinian refugees. Their recommendations focused on freedom of movement, property rights and access to all professions -- which were rejected by the Lebanese government. Similarly, Norway's specific request to allow free entry into and exit from the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp was also rejected by the Lebanese delegation.

The Nahr al-Bared refugee camp highlights every aspect of the problematic relationship between Lebanon and the Palestinian refugees within its borders. However, the Lebanese government would be better served by viewing the camp as a chance to radically change the traditionally conflict-ridden relationship in which Palestinians are only viewed as a "security issue." This could be achieved by respecting Palestinians' civil rights and seriously engaging in the reconstruction of the camp.

All images by Ray Smith.

* Ray Smith is a freelance journalist and activist with the anarchist media collective a-films, which has documented developments in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp for the past three years.

Related posts:

• Video: Nahr al-Bared Between Past and Present
• Video: Nahr al-Bared Camp – A Sip of Coffee
• Music: Rebellious rhymes from Nahr al-Bared camp

Nahr al-bared refugee camp has still not recovered from the devastating war in 2007 during which it was destroyed. The Lebanese army has been keeping a tight grip on the camp and the 20.000 displaced Palestinians that have returned so far. The army's siege seriously hampers the camp's economic recovery, as access is restricted and the area was declared a military zone. A recent survey found that the army's presence and measures are considered a difficulty by 98 per cent of nahr al-bared's business owners. The army meanwhile justifies its presence as necessary to the preservation of the safety of the people.

This 30-minute film documents various consequences of the siege on nahr al-bared. Merchants and artisans explain their specific problems and the UNRWA project manager, a project coordinator of the palestinian-arab women league, The president of nahr al-bared's merchants' committee and a researcher provide their views and thoughts on the issue.

The short documentary can be downloaded here and watched here (part 1/2/3) on youtube.

Part 1/3:

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6E0tftrOms

Part 2/3:

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wd2upA4Vbc

Part 3/3:

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDtQsk41VYI

Related posts:

• Video: Nahr al-Bared Camp – A Sip of Coffee
• Video: Nahr al-Bared Between Past and Present
• Music: Rebellious rhymes from Nahr al-Bared camp

By Franklin Lamb* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

More than six decades after their expulsion from Palestine,  Lebanon's unwanted refugees justmight be granted some basic civil rights...

Part I: Hiba's Story

Granting even the most elementary and normally taken for granted civil rights to Palestinians in Lebanon won't be easy and it may not be pretty. Yet there is undeniable and growing Lebanese and international resolve for Lebanon's politicians to end a dark bleak chapter in Arab brotherly relations.

The disturbing paradox of Lebanon depriving its refugees of the most elementary civil rights, some of which are even granted Palestinians by their arch-nemesis, the Zionist occupiers of their own country, is increasingly being condemned in Lebanon. In addition, there is the gaping contradiction between the sweet words and the clarion trumpeting calls by groups wanting to liberate Jerusalem and all of Palestine and enforce the internationally mandated Right of Return (UNSCR 194), while at the same time appearing to avert their eyes from the very ones seeking to return and who exist in abject squalor, humiliation and indignity, thus appearing to tolerate their brothers and sisters' degradation. These contradictions are motivating an expanding panoply of Lebanese leaders, civil society organizations, side by side with local and international NGO's, to demand civil rights legislation from the current Cabinet and Parliament. What civil rights advocates seek is compliance with basic international law and indeed Lebanon's Constitution, both sources of law mandating civil rights for Palestine refugees including the right to work and to own a home.

In plenty of Lebanese neighborhoods, polite society often avoids the subject of 'haydoulik' ('they') when a foreigner mentions the teeming and squalid Palestinian camps, or brings up the subject of yet another local media or NGO's report detailing the alarming and accelerating deterioration of the world's oldest and largest refugee population. Close to half of Lebanon's Palestinian refugees are crammed into 12 camps and 27 unofficial 'gatherings'. Of the original 120,000 who were forced across the full length of the Palestine-Lebanon border during the 1948 Nakba, their offspring now number close to 450,000-some 425,640 of whom are registered with the United Nations Refugee Works Administration (UNRWA) as of April, 2010, and some also with the Lebanese Ministry of Interior. Since 1948, roughly 22 percent of the refugees in Lebanon have left loved ones and family members to seek jobs abroad so as to remit their foreign earnings back to the fetid camps. Lebanon leads the world in the amount of per capita in bound remittances, a significant contribution to its Gross Domestic Product.

The Untouchables

According to a Sunni Muslim family in the Sanayeh area of Beirut who has a long history of support for the Palestinians, including two sons who fought with the PLO against Israeli forces in 1982-83, a father who used to hide sensitive PLO documents inside his apartment walls as Israeli forces searched West Beirut house to house in the fall of 1982, and a mother who prepared home cooked meals during the summer of 1982 for 'Abu Ammar' (Yassir Arafat) and 'Abu Jihad' (Khalil al Wazir) and their office staffs, between 90-95% of Lebanese have never been inside a Palestinian camp. A teen-age member of the same Beirut family snarled to this observer, "Not since the ( 1982 ) Sabra-Shatila Massacre has a group of our Lebanese brothers visited a Palestinian camp!", referring to the right wing Phalange Lebanese groups who conducted the camp slaughter after being egged-on and equipped by the occupying Israeli military leadership including Israel's then Minister of Defense, Ariel Sharon.

With the exception of Druze leader, MP Walid Jumblatt, and a couple of Hezbollah members of Parliament, and one from the Saad Hariri Future Movement, not one member of the 128 member Parliament or the 30 Member Cabinet has acknowledged visiting a Palestinian refugee camp in the past five years, according to a March 2010 survey taken by the Sabra Shatila Foundation and the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign-Lebanon. For some of Lebanon's population the very idea of " going inside" a camp in enough to produce an exaggerated grimace.

As shocking as it is true, Lebanon by refusing to even allow Palestinians the right to work in dozens of professions or to own homes, stands in clear violation of no fewer than 43 international legal obligations contained in treaties, conventions, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Lebanon played a major role in drafting, international customary law, and indeed its own Constitution.

The arguments against granting civil rights to Palestine refugees are numerous, with some as imaginative as they are spurious. They vary widely depending on who from which of the 18 confessions is discussing the subject. Some arguments for the status quo currently being heard by advocates working to change Lebanon's right to work and home ownership laws include the following sampling:

• "If we grant civil rights to our Palestinian Refugees it could interfere with their Right of Return!"
• "How are Palestine Refugees in Lebanon deprived of the civil right to work since some do manage to find a job illegally."
• "The Palestinian refugee population poses a security risk for Lebanon and before any civil rights are discussed this must be resolved."
• "Palestinians are Sunni Muslim and giving them civil rights will interfere with the fragile sectarian balance among Christian, Druze and Shia Muslims."
• "Why shouldn't Lebanon take more time considering civil rights for the Palestinian Refugee families? At least their children are being looked after in UNWRA schools and are fine. Their elders must be more patient and haven't the Palestinians caused many of their own problems."
• "Lebanon needs more time to straighten out the "situation" with the Palestinians. Also, don't forget, Lebanon is quietly issuing Identification Cards to the 5000 plus Palestinian refugees who have never had either UNRWA or Interior Ministry registrations subjecting them to arrest at any time. So aren't we making solid progress?"
• "Since all other foreigners need work permits, how has the requirement that Palestine Refugees obtain a work permit unfairly affected Palestinians right to work in Lebanon?"
• "Lebanese women also are deprived of civil rights. They must get theirs before Palestine Refugees are given any."
• "Palestinian refugees don't contribute to Lebanon's economy so why should Lebanon allow them the right to work?"
• " Lebanon is a very small country and we cannot afford to allow refugees to own a home, given our limited available housing space."
• "If Lebanon grants civil rights to the Palestinian Refugees, they may become too comfortable and seek permanency in Lebanon via Naturalization (Tawtin)"

An analysis of these and other arguments against granting civil rights to Palestine refugees will be considered in Part II of this discussion but should any of these arguments prevail with Parliament, a least a quarter million Palestinian refugees in Lebanon will remain deprived of achieving much more than subsistence during their wait and struggle to return to Palestine.

Miss Hiba Hajj

One of the hundreds of thousands wretched refuse facing continuing condemnation is a gifted 15 year old named Hiba Hajj, born and raised in the teeming 90,000 plus resident Ein el Helwe Palestinian Camp, in the 6000 year old town of Saida Lebanon.

Hiba, is a stunning, savvy, totally charming, hijabed Palestinian youngster who lives with her large family near the Sharia Bustan Yahoudi (Jewish Park Street) area of Ein el Helweh ('Eye of the Beauty' or 'Source of sweet water'). Hiba's neighborhood is named after the Jewish community that used to live in the quarter before Zionist colonials invaded Palestine. Most Jews who stayed in Lebanon after 1948 left during the 1982 Israeli invasion and the subsequent 18 year occupation-fewer than 30 are thought to remain in the country today.

To this foreign observer, when Hiba ('gift from God') relates her story of dreams defered, she becomes every Palestinian Refugee in Lebanon and her personal and anguished narrative embodies the urgency and historical imperative for Lebanon to immediately grant the most elementary civil rights for her and Hiba's close to 450,000 fellow Palestinian refugee.

Like many of her friends, Hiba, reputed to be one of the best female teenage football players and long distance runners in Lebanon (she runs an approximate 5 minute 20 second mile on her slower days) is considering dropping out of school to help support her family , whose income has plummeted since the recent fighting between camp factions because, as she explains to an American visitor, people are too afraid to enter the camp to have their cars fixed at her father's auto repair shop. The American Embassy has instructed the Lebanese army which has blocked off seven entrances to the camp and mans checkpoints at the four remaining entrances to Ein el Helwe, not to allow American passport holders inside the camp "for their personal safety".

Hiba often spends her free time at her sister Zeina's home, filled with four squirming babies, which is located in the explosive no-man's-land known as Taamir, between the boundary of Ein al-Hilweh and one of the Lebanese army checkpoints that overlooks the camp.

Hiba's peers consider her an expert on the camps factions, that range from the Saudi Wahhabi Takfiri groups who she says, "want to kill us Muslims and anyone else who don't follow their Wahabist version of our religion", to Osbat al-Nour (League of Light), Ansar Allah (Followers of God), Fatah al Islam remnants on the lam from the 15 week battle at Nahr al Bared in the summer of 2007, Jund al-Sham (Soldiers of Greater Syria) Islamic Jihad, Asbat-al-Ansar (League of Followers) seven or eight Palestinian factions including Fatah, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmad Jebril's Syrian bankrolled Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, Fatah al-Intifada, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the defunct Saiqa, along with some upstart secretive and well armed global jihadist cells sporting new heavy weapons from Iraq according to camp officials, courtesy of US military inventory "shrinkage."

"Hiba acts crazy sometimes," her older sister anguishes, " and our family worries about her. I have seen her walk into the center of a gathering of young fighters, many of whom she knows from rival gangs while they are yelling and threatening to shoot each other. Just last month she grabbed a boys AK-47 from him just as he took aim at a rival and she screamed at the boys to go home and read the Koran!" And they left without firing one shot"

Hiba needs to stay in school where she is an excellent student but like so many Palestinian teenagers she sees no point because she can do nothing with an advanced education. For all her energy and 'don't blame others just make your own life the way you want it' attitude Hiba grows introspective and seems sad as she explains to visitors what she would like to do with her life.

Like all Palestinian refugees born in Lebanon, Hiba is stateless and unprotected, brought up in the misery and hopelessness of a Lebanese Palestinian refugee camp. This sweet kid, like all Palestinian refugees, has no civil or political rights in Lebanon. She is barred from working in over 70 professions, cannot own or inherit property, is subject to I.D. checks every time she enters or exits the camp, and has no access to public healthcare or public education.

No Palestinian need apply

Her brother Ahmad explains: " To start off, if you are a 'camp kid' in Lebanon that is a big strike against you. For us we feel there is nothing here. Our country is there (he points in the direction of the Palestinian border 35 miles South). There is nothing to do here, maybe play games on the internet if you can find somewhere with a connection-if you go and play games at the internet place, you're happy that you did something for the day. Some of my friends accept a small salary and join a militia group."

Refugee-camp teenagers like Hiba once fuelled the anger and resistance to Israel occupying their land. "Not now" says Ahmad "Much of that anger has turned into depression, increasing drug use, gang violence, dropping out of school, domestic violence, feelings of hopelessness. "

"My sister wants to become an eye doctor", he explains, "She has no chance".

Today, Palestinians in Lebanon continue to suffer from draconian measures which the Lebanese state claims are needed to prevent them from becoming permanent guests.

As of February 10, 2010, the following dozens of jobs remain off limits to Palestinians in Lebanon per Ministry of Labor Regulation No. 10l1–either because they are restricted to Lebanese nationals, or are forbidden due to the Reciprocity requirements. Since Palestine is not recognized by Lebanon as a country it is impossible to fulfill the Reciprocity requirement, since the job seeker must be licensed in his recognized country and his country must allow a Lebanese to work at the same job. In addition, a Palestinian job seeker must have been a very expensive and difficult to obtain work permit by the Lebanese government.. The Minister of Labor can theoretically exempt a person from the laws for certain jobs if the job-seeker:

- has been residing in Lebanon since birth

- has a Lebanese mother

- has been married to a Lebanese woman for more than one year.

- or if he or she is from a recognized country that allows Lebanese nationals to do the same job, i.e. the barrier of Reciprocity again.

The jobs that Hiba and her fellow refugees are barred from include the following updated forbidden careers:

" Archeology Guide, Banking and administrative work of all kinds, particularly: Manager-Assistant manager-Staff manager-Treasurer-Accountant-Secretary Manager Clerk-Documentalist-Archivist, Computer worker-Commercial representative-Marketing representative-Forman-Warehouse keeper-Salesman-Jeweler-Tailor-Darning worker with the exception of darning carpets-Electrical installations-Mechanics and maintenance-Painters, Glass panes installer-Doorman-Watchman-Driver-Waiter-Hairdresser-Electronic work-Arabic food chef, All technical professions in the construction sector and its derivatives such as tiling, coating, plastering, installation of aluminum, iron, wood or decoration works and the like-Teaching at the elementary, intermediate and secondary levels with the exception of foreign language teacher when necessary, hairdressing, Ironing and dry-cleaning upholstery, publishing, printing, Engineering work in all specialties, Smithery and upholstery work. All kinds of work in pharmacies, drug warehouses and medical laboratories. In general all occupations and professions which can be filled by Lebanese nationals- money changer, real estate agent, attorney, physician, dentist, taxi driver or driver training instructor, registered nurse or assistant nurse, or other job in the Medical field, dentistry, health controller, any job in the engineering field, licensed health controller, medical laboratory worker, clinical health industry jobs, prosthetic devices fitter, certified accountants, dental laboratory science technician, jobs relating to nutrition and meals, topography, physiotherapy, veterinary medicine."

The only four jobs listed by the Lebanese Ministry of Labor that are open to Palestinian refugees are:

1. midwife

2. financial brokerage firm owner

3. roving photographer

4. land surveyor.

All Palestinian job seekers for the "available" four jobs are required to have been issued the nearly impossible to obtain work permit.

"This scheme by Lebanon is among the most egregious easily preventable massive human rights violations imaginable, given what the largest and oldest refugee population on earth has been through", according to Dr. Suoheil El-Natour, long time analyst of the Palestinian camp populations in Lebanon, and director of a Human Development Center (HDC) in Mar Elias camp.

Meanwhile, Hiba has promised her family and the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign-Lebanon that she will stay in school through the current academic year to see what Parliament will do about allowing Palestine refugees some basic civil rights. She has joined the PCRC from her camp and recently emailed her colleagues in Shatila Camp to get to work on the Petition drive to Parliament with the following message:

"Failure is not an option for us, our only choice is success."

The online version of the hard copy Petition can be signed at:http://www.petitiononline.com/ssfpcrc/petition.html.

Part II: Analysis of the arguments against Palestinian civil rights and handicapping the draft laws arriving at Parliament: Promises are being made, are fools rejoicing?

* Franklin Lamb is a researcher and volunteer with the PCRC in Lebanon. He can be reached at fplamb@palestinecivilrightscampaign.org

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Full text of speech delivered on the occasion of the last official visit to Jerusalem by Karen AbuZayd, Commissioner General of UNRWA and on International Human Rights Day

Karen AbuZayd, Commissioner General of UNRWA and on International Human Rights Day

Today we mark the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a high water mark of international resolve to make the full enjoyment of human rights a living reality for all mankind. The noble aspirations of this document bring with them obligations on states, obligations which are universal and whose solemn injunctions lie beyond the reach of any particular jurisdictions.

It is, therefore, fitting that on my last official visit to Jerusalem as UNRWA Commissioner General, and on International Human Rights Day, I should come to the Sheikh Jarrah, where the failure of the international community to fulfill the promise of the Universal Declaration is so acutely felt and where the pain and ugliness of dispossession and occupation are so tragically in evidence.

I have said before that "Palestine" is a metaphor for dispossession and that dispossession, along with displacement, is a key feature of the Palestinian experience, indeed of Palestinian identity. This derives not only from the initial dispossession and displacement of the Palestine refugees in 1948, but more from the fact that 61 years later they and their descendents remain in forced exile, struggling to maintain their very presence on the remnants of their homeland.

East Jerusalem holds a special place in the hearts and minds of the Palestinian people, not least because it is the place, one day, they intend to establish the capital of their own state. While the international community is committed to the goal of establishing two states, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, it is difficult to imagine how that outcome can be achieved in light of the systematic settlement activity and violations of basic human rights afflicting the Palestinian community in East Jerusalem. The impact of this urban settlement activity, conducted with seeming impunity, is manifold and acute. The juxtaposition of two cultures, as exists in the building behind me, with its accompanying violence and tension, destroys the communal atmosphere that has evolved over decades.

One of the most noteworthy cases looms large over hundreds of Palestine refugees at this moment, in this very place. Since the mid-1950s, a community of 28 Palestine refugee families has been living in Sheikh Jarrah, following their forced displacement from homes and lands in Palestine in 1948, including from West Jerusalem. They found their way here as part of a unique housing scheme developed between the Jordanian government and UNRWA in 1954. Its aim was to help them become self-sufficient in preparation for the day when, along with hundreds of thousands of other Palestine refugees, a durable solution to their collective plight would be realized.

To date, four of the 28 families have lost their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, affecting over 55 people, including 20 children. At present a further eight families are under direct threat of forced eviction, having been served with orders to vacate their homes, potentially affecting as many as another 120 people. In all incidents, settlers have taken over, with the protection and assistance of the Israeli authorities. But the numbers don't convey to the human suffering and trauma that has been the hallmark of these forced evictions.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are told that these evictions in Sheikh Jarrah are the result of a dispute involving competing property claims between Palestinians and Israelis, that it is in essence a private matter being dealt with by local courts. The United Nations rejects Israel's claims that these cases are a matter for municipal authorities and domestic courts. Such acts are in violation of Israel's obligations under international law.

As the Secretary-General stated last week, the United Nations is "dismayed" at the continuation of demolitions, evictions and the installing of settlers. UNRWA calls upon the Israeli authorities to reinstate all Palestine refugee families that have been displaced or forcibly evicted from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, and asks that the dignity, rights and freedoms of these people be protected at all times.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On International Human Rights day, I would also like to highlight the plight of one of the most disadvantaged groups in this region, the Bedouins of the West Bank. As the occupying power, Israel remains responsible for ensuring that the basic needs of the occupied population are met. But many refugee Bedouin and herding communities originally displaced from their traditional lands in 1948 are experiencing multiple counts of displacement from Area C, as they are forcibly moved from their homes, most noticeably in the Greater Jerusalem envelope, the Jordan Valley and from areas close to settlements and the wall.

These groups are sinking deeper into food insecurity and abject poverty as grazing land continues to shrink and access to natural resources is severely restricted by the occupying power. Administrative demolition, forced evictions, collapsing livelihoods, poverty and settler harassment represent the key triggers to displacement for Area C herding communities and their already stretched coping mechanisms are reaching their limits. Their full rights must be respected as a matter of urgency.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have already referred to home demolitions, which the UN condemns. According to OCHA, this year alone, over 1,200 Palestinians have been displaced or affected as a result of demolitions of both residential and non-residential property in Area C and Jerusalem. Over half of these have been children.

The revocation of residency rights is also being used against the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem. According to press reports, last year set an all-time record for the number of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem who were stripped of residency rights by the Israeli Interior Ministry. Altogether, the ministry revoked the residency of 4,577 East Jerusalemites in 2008 - 21 times the average of the previous 40 years.

Friends,

I conclude where I began, with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The opening sentence of its preamble reminds us that "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world". Nowhere is this more true than with respect to the prolonged dispossession and exile of the Palestine refugees. While their dispossession and displacement continues into the fourth generation we would do well to recall that the very same General Assembly which passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948, passed resolution 194 the very next day, resolving that "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live in peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date."

On this day, and in this place, I wish to remind the international community of the unfinished business in Sheikh Jarrah and elsewhere in the West Bank. The dispossessed, the displaced must see their losses acknowledged, their injustices addressed. Peace is possible, but only if we insist on our universal humanity.
(end)

Israeli Occupation Forces Disrupt Farewell of UNRWA Chief

Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israeli occupation government police ordered outgoing UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen Abu Zayd to leave an East Jerusalem home on Thursday during her last official visit as the head of the relief agency.

Ma’an’s reporter on the scene said Abu Zayd left after police gave her five minutes to evacuate the premises of the house of the Al-Kurd family, which was evicted by the Israeli government from their home.

Israeli occupation army soldiers were also on the scene, the reporter added. The forces also dispersed journalists from the area.

While in the Shaikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, Abu Zayd delivered her last remarks as the head of UNRWA, the UN’s relief agency for Palestinian refugees.

She told the families and journalists that the international community had “unfinished business” in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Source: Ma'an News

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Summer Games organized by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (www.unrwa.org) at 152 camp locations throughout the Gaza Strip are helping many children get over the trauma of the fighting which ended earlier this year. The camps are mostly at UNRWA schools, and each location hosts an average of 200 campers who attend for two-week sessions. The participants – children of Palestinian refugees living in Gaza – are aged 6-15.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTaMqYLnFKI

Via: Australians for Palestine

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A very important UN press conference today.

The UN is criticized by some journalists for failing to define "legitimate target", "civilian causalities" and giving the accurate numbers of civilians massacred by Israeli war criminals.

On the other hand, UN explains the difficulties and danger they are facing to provide their aid and safe shelters, which they are entitled for Palestinians in Gaza. John Ging says he "lost confidence in Israel due to their continues false promises."

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Popular Committee Against Siege PCAS issues a comprehensives report on the latest of siege outcomes which hit all life aspects. The crisis came up strongly as Israel completely closed crossings, banned food stuff, fuel shipments and all products into Gaza Strip.

This new report comes out as a final call before a real collapse hits the life totally. This report uncovers part of enormous repercussions resulted in Israeli inhuman siege. It is also a clear message to United Nations, European Union and International Community to take responsibility immediately and end siege.

Siege Report of the latest 20 days only:

Health Sector:

Crisis and Catastrophes:

A Palestinian man holds wood as he walks in a street in the southern Gaza Strip November 23, 2008. Gaza is facing a humanitarian catastrophe as Israel continues to prevent aid reaching the territory by blocking crossing points. Photo: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA)

- Sterilization and Disinfection and medical equipments and clothes face decrease up to 30%.

- There is severe shortage in Solutions and pigments and laboratories tools. These shortages amounted of 40% directly affect patients.

- Some Medical Machines are in bad need for spare parts and maintenance. Due to siege none of the needed is being achieved. Medical machines of Gas measurements of children incubators are being affected as well.

- The power cuts and continued blackouts damaged part of machines and its programming systems.

- Damage hit C.T and X.Ray Departments at al Shifa' and European hospitals. These are so crucial to diagnosis tumours of cancer and other diseases. Spare parts for medical T.V are not available!

- Gases used for surgeries are not enough and what's available is only for 7 days. In the normal time there has to be a strategic storage for at least 3 months of these gases.

- Generators of hospitals are working for long hours due to Power cuts and this affected performance, already a generator of Al shifa' hospital stopped.

- Natural cocking gas is not available leaving kitchens of all gazan hospitals closed. This affects food quality for sick people. Additionally, laundries of clothes and medical cloths are closed vowing of more disease.

- Vaccines for children are about to vanish vowing of problems for children in regard of immunity against diseases.

- Around 260 peoples already died due to closure and not being able to travel. More than 35% of victims are of children.

- Hospitals run the badly needed surgeries and some other normal ones due to the above problems.

- Around 60% of ambulances are being stopped and some medical vans as well.

Agricultural, Animal and Bird Sector:

This sector is one of most negatively affected by recent closure of collective punishment. Animals are and birds are being sorted as terrorists as the same as Gazans in Israeli view.

- Gaza needs 150 tons of fodder a day, since 3 weeks none of it entered.

- More than 700000 of chickens executed due to lack of fodder.

- Looses amounted of 20% due to lack of vaccinations, serums and lack of fodder.

- Fishing sector lacks natural gas needed for fishing and also the process of incubation is being halted.

- Agricultural tools like insecticides, seeds and fertilizer not available. This negatively affects the sector and already did with start of siege.

Palestinians queue with their cooking gas bottles at a station in the central Gaza Strip refugee camp of al-Nusseirat. Israel said it will maintain its siege of the Gaza Strip despite international concern over a deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the aid-dependent Palestinian territory. Photo: AFP/Mahmud Hams

Closing Commercial Crossings:

Israel closed crossings and decreased quantities of all sorts of commodities into Gaza starting in mid of 2007. Only 15% of Gaza's needs amounted of 600 vans get into Gaza. On the 4th of November, Israel closed all crossings totally. Even the 15% which is not enough, Israel cut it.

Fuel Crisis:

Israel completely cut all kind of fuel including the Industrial one needed for the key power plant. Cocking gas, fuel, Benzine and Gasoline don't enter Gaza leaving people in dire situation.

The power plant is function 50% of its capacity as it was hit by Israel in 2006. It produces around 70 Megawatt out of 140 Megawatt due to lack of spare parts. It consumes around 300 thousands litters of industrial fuel beside the storage fuel, none of that entered Gaza for the last 20 days.

The stoppage of plunged 50-60% into deep darkness due to lack of power. The rest parts depend on Israeli and Egyptian power. Israeli power lines are in bad need for maintenance and repair.

Bread and Bakeries Crisis:

In Gaza the number of bakeries is 47 but now the working ones are 17 only.

Normally, Gaza needs 450 tons of flour; 100 goes for bakeries and 300 for house use. Part of the house share is being provided by UNRWA which halted its work lately.

The remaining flour and wheat quantities would be covering the needs of people for 15 days. After then and if Israel would no be opening border points then a real famine would happen.

Water and Sewage:

The setcor faces a sharp shortage in chlorine needed for Water and soon it will not be pumped along with drinking water. Therefore, contaminated water mixed with sewage would be a reason for plagues.

A more bacterium water would be pumped for civilians in Gaza. Gaza needs 60 cubic of chlorine material and the recent storage is Zero.

Around 100 water wells work out of 145 with 60% capacity of the normal performance. 45 water wells work with ability of 80% this due to spare parts shortage and Israeli closure.

Consumption of water is 220 thousand cubic in the normal time. However, it decreased to 40%. Some areas in the Gaza strip don't get water especially the high locations.

Another serious outcome is sewage water leaking into the sea. It is estimated of 77million litters a day This kills fish resources and causes environmental disaster.

Commodities and Food Crisis:

Basic food stuff like milk, flour, food oils, meat, rice and legumes are not available with big quantities. Other needs are not available like raw materials.

Estimates for daily consumption of the following food products in the Gaza Strip are: 867 tons of flour, 153 tons of sugar, 110 tons of rice, 75 tons of different kinds of oil and 49 tons herbs and vegetables. According to crossing administration only 15 % of Gaza needs get in.

UNRWA Crisis:

Due to the crossing closures all kind of services and relief stuff are being banned to get into Gaza. The UNRWA which provides food parcels for 750.000 persons stopped its vital work.

Industrial Sector:

The industrial sector depends completely on imported raw materials. It depends up to 80% on imported machines and spare parts, and during the peak season of production (May - June) it is possible to export 748 truckloads of industrial products per month (including furniture, food products, clothing and agricultural products).

Since the beginning of the siege, the Occupation cancelled the application of its Customs Code for the Strip, resulting in the stopping of all industrial activities, which depends up to 85% on imported raw materials that are imported from Israel or in transit through it, and statistics indicate that more than 97% of industrial establishments, a total of 3,900, were shut down, stopping the export of their product; as a consequence 33,000 out of 35,000 employees and workers in this sector joined the ranks of the unemployed up to the date of the imposition of the siege in mid June 2007, and after the siege the number of employed industrial workers does not exceed 1,500.

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