EU-DIGEST

Legal fight to overturn Israel's Gaza media ban - by Roy Greenslade

Rory McCarthy wrote last week about Israel's ban on journalists entering the Gaza Strip. He reported that international media companies had sent a letter of protest to Israel's prime minister. Two days ago the Foreign Press Association (FPA) took the matter a step further by appealing to Israel's supreme court to overturn the government's ban. The court petition, which names Gaza's military commander, the defense minister and the interior minister, claims the ban constitutes "a grave and mortal blow against freedom of the press and other basic rights and gives the unpleasant feeling that the state of Israel has something to hide." The Tel Aviv-based FPA represents foreign correspondents working in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and has about 460 members from 32 countries, representing print, TV and radio. "We believe the Israeli government has an obligation to keep the Gaza border open to international journalists," says Steven Gutkin, the FPA's chairman and Jerusalem bureau chief of Associated Press. "The foreign media serve as the world's window into Gaza and it's essential that we be allowed in." Israel's defence ministry says foreign journalists will not be allowed in until Gaza militants stop shooting. But a ministry spokesman, Shlomo Dror, suggested Israel was not happy with press coverage from Gaza. "Where Gaza is concerned, our image will always be bad," he said. "When journalists go in it works against us, and when they don't go in it works against us."

Note EU-Digest: Journalists can be wrong sometimes, but they can not be wrong all the time.

Labels: Freedom of the Press, Gaza, Israel, Palestine

"Dialog is mightier than the sword" - Hamas leader Dr. Mahmoud Al Zahar at BBC Doha Debates News Show - by Rick Morren

This Sunday morning, while flipping around channels on my TV looking for a news channel, I ran into the Doha Debates, a news special from the BBC World News. It was featuring Dr. Mahmoud Al Zahar, a senior leader of Hamas. The presentation had just started and could certainly be classified as an open public debate, which is most unusual for the Middle East.

The Doha debates are modeled after Oxford Union debates where the the host Tim Sebastian usually presents a motion to the audience, two speakers argue for it, two argue against it, then Sebastian and the audience get the speakers to elaborate on their arguments by asking them questions. In the end, the audience votes to pass or defeat the motion. Over the last four academic years, the Doha Debates have brought academics, government officials, policy experts and religious and cultural figures to Doha the capital of Qatar to debate issues of relevance to the Arab and Islamic worlds.

The Doha debates are not only refreshing to watch, but also a prime example of how free speech works within the context of democracy. Compliments to Dr. Mahmoud Al Zahar for coming to the debate and staying cool while facing a pretty hostile crowd...and an aggressive moderator. Who knows, maybe one day the Doha Debates can also bring Ben Laden to the table for a debate. Dr. Benjamin Franklin once said, "the pen is mightier than the sword." In this case we can say, "dialog is mightier than the sword".

Labels: Dr. Mahmoud Al Zahar, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, The Doha Debates

For the complete report from the International Middle East Media Center click on this link

Hamas-Zahhar, “We presented our position to Suleiman, awaiting Israeli response”

Mahmoud Zahhar, one of Hamas political leaders, stated on Sunday that the movement presented its response to 15 questions presented by the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Omar Suleiman, regarding a truce deal, and added that Israel needs also to answer these questions.Zahhar stated that the former US President Jimmy Carter asked Hamas to declare a unilateral truce but the movement told him that it has previous experiences with Israel as the movement, and other factions, previously declared unilateral truces but Israel continued its assaults and violations. He said that any truce deal should be bilateral and should be a comprehensive deal under Egyptian supervision. He further said that Hamas will discuss on Monday the proposals of Carter regarding the truce and will present its official position.

Responding to a question by Carter, Zahhar said that if a comprehensive peace deal is achieved with Israel, and if this deal was subject to public referendum, then Hamas will accept whatever the people decide as long as this referendum includes all Palestinians in Palestine and in exile.

Labels: Egypt, Hammas, Israel, Palestine

EU releases 300 million euros in aid to Palestine

The European Union has provided 300 million euros (467 million U.S. dollars) in aid to the Palestinian people, the EU Commission announced here Tuesday. The commission said the aid has been provided to finance activities to support Palestinian refugees and the Palestinian Authority (PA)'s Reform and Development Plan."I am very pleased that the European Commission is largely fulfilling its pledge for the Palestinians only three months after the Paris donor conference," said Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy.

"Once again this shows our strong commitment to support the Palestinian Authority in its quest for improving the lives of the Palestinian people toward a peace agreement with Israel," she added. Of that sum, about 176 million euros (274 million U.S. dollars) will be used to allow the " continued delivery of essential public services," which is the highest priority of the PA.

Labels: Aid programs, EU, Palestine

Israeli assault worse than a holocaust: Abbas

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday denounced a deadly Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip that has killed at least 33 people as "more than a holocaust." "It's very regrettable that what is happening is more than a holocaust. We tell the world to see with its own eyes and judge for itself what is happening and who is carrying out international terrorism," Abbas told reporters in Ramallah. He appeared to be referring to remarks made by Israel's Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai, who used the Hebrew word "shoah" -- generally used only for the Nazi Holocaust -- in remarks to army radio on Friday. "By intensifying the rocket fire and extending their reach (Gaza Palestinians) are bringing onto themselves a worse catastrophe (shoah) as we will use all means to defend ourselves," Vilnai said.

"It is regrettable that Israel uses this word, banned for more than 60 years, the word 'holocaust,' and we demand that the world respond," Abbas said.

Labels: Gaza, Israel, Palestine

EU condemns Israel's attacks on Gaza

The European Union (EU) on Sunday condemned Israel's "disproportionate use of force" against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, one day after more than 60 people were killed in a land and air blitz by Israeli forces. "The Presidency condemns the recent disproportionate use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) against the Palestinian population in Gaza," said a statement issued by Slovenia, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. Israel should exercise maximum restraint and refrain from all activities that endanger civilians, said the statement, adding that such activities are "contrary to international law." The EU rejects "collective punishment" of the people in Gaza, especially innocent children, it said.

Labels: EU, Gaza, Israel, Palestine

Israel - Bringing down the new Berlin Walls - by John Pilger

The recent breakout of the people of Gaza provided a heroic spectacle unlike any other since the Warsaw ghetto uprising and the smashing down of the Berlin Wall. Whereas on the occupied West Bank, Ariel Sharon's master plan of walling in the population and stealing their land and resources has all but succeeded, requiring only a Palestinian Vichy to sign it off, the people of Gaza have defied their tormentors, however briefly, and it is a guarantee they will do so again. There is profound symbolism in their achievement, touching lives and hopes all over the world. "[Sharon's] fate for us," wrote Karma Nabulsi, a Palestinian, "was a Hobbesian vision of an anarchic society: truncated, violent, powerless, destroyed, cowed, ruled by disparate militias, gangs, religious ideologues and extremists, broken up into ethnic and religious tribalism, and co-opted [by] collaborationists. Look to the Iraq of today - that is what he had in store for us and he nearly achieved it." Israel's and America's experiments in mass suffering nearly achieved it. There was First Rains, the code name for a terror of sonic booms that came every night and sent Gazan children mad. There was Summer Rains, which showered bombs and missiles on civilians, then extrajudicial executions, and finally a land invasion. Ehud Barak, the current Israeli defence minister, has tried every kind of blockade: the denial of electricity for water and sewage pumps, incubators and dialysis machines and the denial of fuel and food to a population of mostly malnourished children.

Labels: EU, Genocide, Israel, Palestine, US

The EU is marginalizing itself in Gaza - by Stuart Reigeluth

The European Union has expressed concern as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has deteriorated to unprecedented levels during the two years in which EU monitors were meant to supervise the passage of Palestinians at the Rafah crossing, but now find themselves restricted to the Dan Gardens beach resort in Ashkelon. Despite the failure to alleviate suffering, the experience was not entirely futile: The EU should never again be hostage to the Israeli border closures policy or a pawn of the parties involved. The EU role in Gaza increased after Israel's 2005 disengagement from the territory. As the first step of the Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA), signed in November 2005 by Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), the EU sent a civilian border assistance mission to monitor the Rafah crossing. Brussels initially hailed the mission, known as EUBAM-Rafah, for its rapid deployment to the crossing in December 2005, when a team of 80 monitors began assessing the technical needs and supervising operations by PA police and customs officers. Larger numbers of Palestinians passed to Egypt and back via the Rafah crossing, until Hamas won legislative elections in January 2006.

In early February 2008, European officials restated their concern with the deteriorating situation in Gaza, but to no avail. The US used the EU to provide a facade of impartiality to the AMA, but this broke down when the EU began implementing the Israeli closure policy. Israel has long abused EU humanitarian benevolence. Though the EU takes pride in being the largest donor to the Palestinians, the aid paradoxically helps pay for Israel's occupation. Though it wants desperately to do something, the EU cannot even bring itself to denounce the Israeli destruction of EU-funded projects.Unfortunately Brussels continues to allow its interests to be sidelined. As Israel prepares a renewed invasion of Gaza to stop Qassam rocket attacks, it recently spiked a PA plan to create a buffer zone between the Rafah crossing (with EU monitors) and the Hamas controlled interior of Gaza. Nor does Hamas want the Europeans to be present if they are going to be unassertive. At least to save face, the EU monitors really should either engage more, or simply go home. Then again Brussels will most probably decide to just watch and wait, as usual.

Labels: EU, Israel, Palestine

EU slams Israel's 'collective punishment' in Gaza

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero Waldner hit out at Israel Monday, slamming its blockade of the strife-torn Gaza Strip as "collective punishment". "I am against this collective punishment of the people of Gaza. I urge the Israeli authorities to restart fuel supplies and open the crossings for the passage of humanitarian and commercial supplies," she said in a statement. Gaza's sole power plant shut down overnight for want of fuel as a punishing four-day Israeli blockade on the Hamas-run territory threatened to spark a humanitarian crisis.Ferrero-Waldner, while also condemning rocket attacks on Israeli territory, said the decision to close all border crossings into Gaza as well as to stop the provision of fuel "will exacerbate an already dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip."

Labels: EU, Genocide, Israel, Palestine

The European Middle East Regional Space: Abbas highlights China's just, constructive role in Middle East

Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday highly praised China's just and constructive role in the Middle East during a meeting here with visiting China's special envoy on the Middle East issue Sun Bigan. Abbas appraised the positive development of ties between the Palestinian territories and China, expressing gratitude for China's help to the Palestinian people. Abbas said that Palestinians will dedicate to solving final status issues through political negotiations with Israel and achieving the goal of setting up an independent Palestinian state, adding that his people welcome China and the international community's active role in promoting the Palestinian goal.

Labels: EU, Middle East, Palestine

US Dysfunction in the Middle East - John Nichols

The tragedy of Washington's narrow to the point of dysfunctional "debate" about the Middle East is that few American political players are willing to comment in a serious manner about the fact that George Bush's mishandling of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has done more than money or guns could have to advance the cause of the Islamic fundamentalists who now control of the Gaza Strip. Disengaged when engagement was called for, meddling when a hands-off approach would have been wiser, and always staggeringly ignorant -- remember Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's shock when Hamas won the Palestinian elections early in 2006 -- the Bush administration's approach has been so disastrous that the International Crisis Group's Robert Malley is actually being generous when he says: "Almost every decision the United States has made to interfere with Palestinian politics has boomeranged."

Labels: Middle East, Palestine, US

Europe's Democratic Deficit - by John Horvath

Perhaps one of the most shameful foreign policy positions taken by the EU is with regard to Palestine. In many ways, the internal violence and bloodshed which now occurs on a regular basis in the West Bank and Gaza is directly a result of the policies followed by the EU and other "mediators" in the Middle East. Despite the fact that the elections which had brought the former Hamas-led government to power in 2006 was judged as free and fair, the EU along with other Western powers refused to recognize the result. In essence, it was telling the people of Palestine that you have the right to vote, but only to vote for who we want you to vote for. This twisted form of democracy was reinforced by an economic boycott. In effect, it attempted to economically strangle the popularly elected government.

Labels: EU, Palestine

Europe and the Arab world: divided souls - by Pierre Schor

At a meeting of the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) in Amman on 18-19 April 2007, Prince Turki al-Faisal outlined the new, proactive Saudi foreign policy: "Reform is imperative, not optional for the Arabs." The prince backed the ARI programme but rejected "external offerings... which present us with preconceived diagnoses and prescription...and perspectives that are very far from the regional reality."

For many participants in the Amman meeting, as for millions of people in the region, the European position demonstrates a desire for regime change in Palestine - an approach unaffected by the transition to a Palestinian unity government on 17 March 2007, or the internal tensions that have followed.

The Arafat precedent suggests that ending the boycott and beginning a debate of principles with the Palestinian national-unity government is a much better recipe for the European Union than passively to observe the growing anguish and desperation, the poverty and the rage in the occupied territories.

The Finnish presidency of the European Union, with foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja in the vanguard, tried unsuccessfully to change the EU's common position. The debate should continue

Labels: EU, Middle East, Palestine

Merkel: Europe to help with Israel-Palestinians peace talks

The visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised Sunday that Europe will try to build a new burst of international efforts to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. In her first Middle East trip as the current rotating EU president, Merkel told Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni the Europeans are ready to offer support, but ultimately the sides must resolve their differences themselves, according to the news released from Israeli Government Press Office.

"The Europeans must not assume that they could force a solution. We can't and I don't want to do it," she said in her speech, adding "Within my abilities, I would like to support the sides to walk the path toward peace."

Labels: EU, Israel, Palestine, Peace negotiations

Norway ends Palestinian boycott

A one-year-old diplomatic boycott of the Palestinian government has been eased after a Norwegian diplomat met the Palestinian prime minister in Gaza. Western powers imposed an economic and diplomatic blockade in March 2006 in a bid to pressure the ruling Hamas group to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace deals.

But Norway, which is not a member of the European Union, restored full relations with the Palestinian Authority on Monday after Ismail Haniya's Hamas movement and Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction formed a unity government on Saturday. Raymond Johansen, Norway's deputy foreign minister, said: "We hope that all the European countries, and even other countries, will ... support this unity government.

Labels: Europe, Norway, Palestine, Peace negotiations