let the mud be slung

Maybe only the morally bankrupt are successful politicians or vice versa. Perhaps it is only when you leave politics, such as Jimmy Carter or Malcolm Fraser have, that you can actually do something about human rights. While you are in power, forget it. It seems that the only human rights that are of concern to any of our successful politicians are those of their own class and country, perhaps, and a swathe of the middle to upper classes muddled in a fugue of deliberate ignorance. Those classes maybe do or don't want to be ignorant, but they are definitely kept that way.

I was withholding my opinion on our minister for foreign affairs, Stephen Smith. When he was relatively silent over the massacre in Gaza, letting his representatives talk for him, I thought that maybe he was not crossing that political suicide line of actually pointing out that America's dearest friend (and the country that Kevin Rudd has in his DNA) was, again, grossly violating human rights. However, the U.S. has decided not to go to Durban 2, though they were toying with the idea of going to Durban, and even though their many human rights groups, who felt that discussions of slavery and racism should be on the table, particularly given the U.S.'s background with said slavery, thought that they should go, they decided not to. Even though the organisers of the Durban Conference (the United Nations), under extreme pressure, decided there would be no side issues, or even open discussion, pertaining to the occupation of Palestine, and any racism charges that might stem from the situation of treating people like second class citizens, and even though they wiped discussion of slavery from the agenda, and it seemed there was no way in hell Israel was even going to be mentioned, the U.S. and Australia and some other countries have finally decided not to go. Israel and Canada had made their boycott positions known long before.

According to Middle East Reality Check

"The Australian understands the Dutch will not be going to the conference and Germany is also considering a boycott after intense lobbying by Mr Smith of his European counterparts..." (Israel slur fear forces boycott, Mark Dodd).

Nice going Mr. Smith. He is a sharp dresser, but that's about the extent of respect I now have for him. His Labor colleague, Julia Irwin, perhaps the only honest politician in Australia, had this to say about Smith's position (my emphasis):

Mr Smith's argument was strongly rejected by Ms Irwin.

"It's a shame Australia will be one of a handful of nations boycotting the Durban conference," Ms Irwin said.

"Any nation which has policies which discriminate on the grounds of race or religion should not be above criticism and should not be supported by the Australian Government."

And how right she is. She will never get to be prime minister with her outspokenness, but I hope she retains her seat forever.

Australian politics of late leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth. We have been the U.S.'s lackey since the end of WWII, and before that, England's, but it seemed to me there were times when we recognised fairness, human rights, and even the actual make up of the people in our population when we made decisions that affected others globally, and which affected how the global population saw us. Seems our politicians, even if they seem to lean left, are just another typical bunch of elites whose only concern is winning another term and another and another. Justice be damned. They couldn't give a shit.

The report from the Australian which MERC quotes says:

While Britain says it will be attending, the participation of countries such as Iran and Cuba, which have reputations as serial human rights violators, is likely to ensure the summit turns into an anti-Israel and anti-US slanging match.

Really, how is Iran different from Israel in this case, and how is the U.S. any different, given Guantanamo and Abu Graihb, and how is Australia any different, given its past compulsory detention for asylum seekers and off-shore processing, which has not entirely gone away? Keep in mind, Obama is keeping a lot of power, and is letting former human rights violators off the hook. Let the mud be slung, and let's get it out in the open. If we can slander all the other countries in the world, then let them do the same in return. And why do we not want to have a voice there? Why do we want to be known as the country that would not attend a conference discussing racism? What is wrong with us and the western world?

Posts on Durban (including this one) are here.

Other blogs and posts which discuss Durban in some detail are here and here.

*Note: However - please Stephen Smith, do something for this woman and her children.

monkey brain sushi

There is serious stuff to write, and hopefully I'll get around to it. Unfortunately, the world does not stand still while I'm nursing a hangover. Monkey Brain Sushi was a great book of Japanese short stories that I read in the early nineties. It's how my head feels, too, and my general being. Kind of raw and slithery. Still, I will go to the castle in a few hours with a friend, and enjoy some of the remaining cherry blossoms. Hopefully the weather is not too chilly. Oh, okay, I'll get a little serious. A follow-up to yesterday's story.

In these two photos, an Israeli protestor [sic] is seen in two different demonstrations, both held in front of the Ministry of Defense in Tel aviv, holding a sign with the same slogan: “Also I am an un-armed protestor- shot [sic] me!”

The first photo was taken on the 19/5/2004 during a demonstration after the Israeli army attacked a protest in the Gaza strip, kilning many Palestinians, and the second one, was taken on the 18/4/2009 during a demonstration after the Israeli army murdered Bassam Ibrahim Abu Rahme during a protest in Bilin.

Photos by: Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org

A Palestinian man holds the tear gas canister that killed Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahme (ElFeel), at a hospital in the West Bank city of Ramallah on the 17/4/2009.
Bassem was murdered by the Israeli army, during a protest against the apartheid wall in Bilin. A soldier shot him with an extended range tear-gas projectile that was aimed directly at him from a distance of 30 meters. Bassem was critically injured in the chest and died shortly after arriving at a hospital in Ramallah.

Photo by: oren Ziv/ Activestills.org

flying kites

From the active stills group.

An archive photo, taken on 25/7/2008, shows Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahme (ElFeel) during a protest against the wall in the village of Bilin.

Bassam was murdered by the Israeli army [17 April, 2009], during a protest against the apartheid wall in Bilin. He was shot with an extended range teargas projectile directly at him from a distance of 30 meters. Bassem was critically injured in the stomach and died not long after in a hospital in Ramallah.

That is a similar teargas projectile, and a similar way of targeting, that caused American, Tristan Anderson's, criticial condition.

*Note: I see that Israeli Uri Avnery at Gush Salom has commented on this. His post is short. It follows in full (my emphasis, apart from the title):

Bil'in demonstrator Bassam Abu Rahme killed – soldiers' trigger-happiness inspired from higher up
Already for four years, demonstrations are taking place at the village of Bil'in, to protest the "Separation Fence" which robs the villagers of much of their land, and whose route is in blatant violation of the Supreme Court ruling. Also before, the army used violence to disperse the Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators. But, until this morning no one got killed. The killing of Bassam Abu Rahme today, a Bil'in resident, follows upon the severe head wounding of American peace activist Tristan Anderson a month ago, and constitutes a grave escalation.

This escalation was not caused by the demonstrators' behavior, in which there had been no change, but to new instructions given to the military forces on the ground. Whether by explicit instructions or by a tacit nod and a new "spirit of the commander", the finger on the trigger was loosed and authorization given for the tear gas containers as lethal missiles.

This is the harsh heritage of the Gaza War and the mass killings which it entailed. To this is added the odious spirit of the new government, which confronts the entire world and places a racist provocateur in charge of its foreign affairs - not to speak of the new-old Defence Minster Ehud Barak, who is responsible for a lot of bloodshed.

where do my tax dollars go? and Canadian humour

This money is entirely military aid and Israel uses it to uphold its apartheid system.
As far as I am aware, they are not my actual tax dollars, but as our government is one of the U.S.'s closest allies, my tax dollars do inadvertently end up supporting U.S. endeavours, whether I agree with them or not. The video and further commentary can also be found here.




George Galloway, a U.K. member of parliament who spear-headed the Viva Palestina aid convoy to Gaza, was denied access to Canada after some vigorous lobbying by special interest groups. The video above parodies the situation. The wrong George got let in.
On another issue (but related):Here, Galloway responds to the outrageous actions undertaken by the British Charity Commission against Viva Palestina.

down in New Mexico

Wow, I never thought anything like the above would ever come about:

The billboard is one of ten being put up in New Mexico by an Albuquerque-based grassroots org (the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel). Here is their press release. The group looks to be multicultural, and led by two Jews, Lori Rudolph and Rich Forer. Read more.

I am lucky, why can't my luck be extended to all?

I am lucky, and I do not think I really have any idea of what many other people face day to day. It is so far out of my experience. Update from the Palestinian mother who was denied access, by Egypt, to return to her Gazan home. She is back in the U.S., and it seems that with this refusal, she is on her way to being made one of the worldwide number of refugees without a country or state.

water tanks

Read the story here, and if you want to learn more about the restrictions Palestinians face when trying to access and store water, read here

Also, the latest from Tales to Tell. The writer was assisting medics during the war on Gaza. She is talking about the lives of some of the people she worked with and knows.

We have very much enjoyed our course and our teachers, who have found time for us in amongst their long hours and low pay (if any, many medics are volunteers) and Red Crescent job cuts (it hardly seems the time, does it.) Two out of three of our teachers have been in Israeli prison, but then what Palestinian man hasn’t. One told us of coming back via Egypt, having gone outside with his wife to get medical treatment for his small son who has cerebral palsy, and being arrested as he entered Gaza, back when the border was more directly controlled by Israel and not ostensibly by Egypt.

He then spent 3 years in prison, a lot of it sharing a small room with ten people; their sentences 25 years, 99 years. While he was in there, his father died, and his fourth child was born.

“What were you in prison for?” I asked.
“I don’t know exactly,” he said. “I think it was because we picked up a dead fighter in the ambulance, and I locked his gun temporarily in my office because the only other option was to leave it lying where we found him, which would have been irresponsible. Somehow they turned that into the accusation that I was selling weapons.”

Another teacher, when he was a teenager, was doing very well in high school and planned to study medicine in Turkey, but then was picked up for throwing stones at soldiers (in David-and-Goliath tradition, except for stones thrown by lads other than David usually being completely ineffective, since soldiers wear body armour). He was imprisoned as punishment, and banned from leaving Gaza. So he never did become a doctor.

I went to visit the Jordanian Field Hospital yesterday, in my quest to find some help for two children C met during the war, who need kidney transplants. Everything was set up for them to travel to France, back in January, but Egypt wouldn’t let them out. Kidney transplants can’t be done in Gaza, and infuriatingly, neither can tissue typing, from what I’ve found out so far. That’s how you find out who your donors can be. Even if we get permission for the kids and their donors to go out for surgery, how do they know who to take with them to be the donors, without knowing who is medically compatible? Anyway, further communication with the Jordanian folks might allow us to make some progress. Read more.

spring

Spring has come to Japan, and that means it is time for the sakura to bloom,

and for the tsubaki to fall.

internationals arrested

Keeping in mind the ongoing settler violence, over which the Israeli army rarely does anything except make sure that the settlers do not get injured,and the ongoing shooting at farmers trying to tend to their fields, or in fact the obstruction of them even getting there in the first place, there is this rather disturbing news release from ISM:

A German national and an Italian national were taken by Israeli forces while accompanying farmers at 11am. Both individuals have been taken to the police station at Kyrat Arba. Palestinian farmers in At-Tuwani rely on the presence of International and Israeli human rights workers to mitigate violence from settlers.

As soldiers in the area frequently ignore settler violence and rarely interfere to protect the farmers, international volunteers provide support for the Palestinians. The grazing action began around 8.30 am, and the German and Italian nationals were arrested at 11am.

At-Tuwani is a village of 300 Palestinians located in South Hebron Hills. Residents make their living through farming, primarily wheat, barley, olives and grazing sheep. At-Tuwani is also one of several villages under daily threat from extremist settlers living in the area. Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills are daily nonviolently resisting settlement expansion and violence at the hands of settlers and soldiers.

Internationals accompany Palestinians as they perform agricultural work on their land and in other nonviolent demonstrations. Internationals accompany Palestinians as they work their land, use video to document settlers, soldiers, and police, and intervene as Palestinians request.

Palestinians have always been vulnerable under the occupation, and the crimes committed against them are far greater in number, and usually, in viciousness, than those committed against internationals. However, considering reports about American volunteer Tristan Anderson, who was critically injured when a tear gas canister was fired into his forehead, state that he was deliberately targeted, it seems that it may be getting just as dangerous for all internationals. I think that after Gaza, and now that Lieberman is just another further extreme face to an already extreme government, and the world's democratic governments have no problem with what Israel is doing, and in fact, provide the aid and arms for them to continue, peace in our time will not be a possibility for either territory, I'm afraid, and maybe not for the whole world.

There have been horrendous crimes on both sides, one cannot deny it, however, the longer people are treated like animals and their plight, and the reasons for their plight, is ignored by the people who could make a difference, the worse the problem will grow. How can it possibly get any better?

Below are some images from some of the peaceful demonstrations that have been held. There are many peaceful demonstrations, but that does not mean that they are not dispersed with violence. It would be good if our media could show some of these images, too. Rocks and stones get thrown at the Israeli military, but I contend that rocks are not much of a match for the Israeli rubber bullets, sound bombs, tear gas, and live ammunition, which is often used.

Photographas are taken from the active stills flickr page, and information on them can be found here


and here.

honey, the cat

Alladin Sisalem and his cat honey
From Chroniques de Palestine

Leila Al Haddad a Palestinian citizen of Gaza, well known blogger and journalist, is currently being held with her two young children in the Cairo airport. Al Haddad arrived in Egypt from the United States intending to go to Gaza via the Raffa, Egypt border crossing.

Al Haddad holds both a Palestinian and an American passport. She is being told by the Egyptian port authorities that they have orders not to allow any Palestinians with residency abroad into Egypt and that her and her children will be sent back to the US.

Al Haddad’s husband is a Palestinian refugee, currently living in the U.S.; Because his right to return to Palestine is denied by Israel the couple have lived together on and off with Leila and the children living In Gaza for the rest of the time.

The Raffa border crossing is the only way Al Haddad can get into Gaza as Israel has blocked all sea and air access to Gaza as well as the land crossings under it’s control.

On Al Haddad’s blog, a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com, she describes “the trials of raising my children between spaces and identities; displacement and occupation; and everything that entails from potty training to border crossings. My husband is a Palestinian refugee denied his right of return to Palestine, and thus OUR right to family life. Together, we endure a lot, and the personal becomes political.”

I referred to a similar situation in this post. People want to leave, or have to leave, because living in Palestine under occupation is dire, especially in Gaza, which is still under economic siege and has just been destroyed by the Israeli onslaught. They want to leave or have to leave to get work, to educate themselves. They want to leave, they have to leave, because Article 13 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights says:

■(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

■(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

However, as mentioned before, if a Palestinian has not been residing in Palestine for six years, they are no longer consider residents of Palestine, by the Israeli forces, that is. If immigration of Egypt and Israel are refusing those who need to get into Palestine to retain and maintain their right to live their, then it directly contravenes both of the two points above. But what's new?

As I wrote before, the Israeli Law of Return,

[which was]...enacted in 1950, [and which]... gives Jews, those of Jewish ancestry, and their spouses the right to migrate to and settle in Israel and gain citizenship

Israel was established in 1948. Palestinians were on that land. As seen by cases in Australia's handling of refugees under the Howard government, Palestinians are a people without an official country or state. The woman above has dual passports, what of those who don't? Once they have left Palestine, or Israel has expelled them, where do they go? And if they go somewhere where the government will not accept them, then where are they returned to?(As has happened to asylum seekers in Australia*, even though the asylum seeker is in Australia because non-acceptance has happened in Kuwait, Egypt and many other places). The western world really seems responsible for a lot of this mess, especially for not upholding the rights of humans beings and for not insisting on the application of international law and principles to all people.

*Indefinite detention permitted by Australian law

Mr Al-Kateb was born in Kuwait to parents of Palestinian origin. He arrived in Australia by boat. After two years in immigration detention he decided he wanted to be removed from Australia. The Australian Government tried to send him to Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and Syria as well as to the Palestinian Territories, but none of those countries would give him a passport. He was stuck in detention because the Australian Government couldn’t arrange for him to leave. When Mr Al-Kateb applied to the courts for his release, the Australian High Court found that Australian law permits the indefinite detention of asylum seekers. Mr Al-Kateb was eventually given a bridging visa and now lives in the Australian community.

However, this guy, who was denied asylum, and who returned to Gaza was not so lucky: Asylum seeker shot dead in Gaza in 2008.

A Palestinian asylum seeker who told Australian authorities he was frightened to return to the Middle East has been killed in the Gaza Strip, refugee advocates say.

The Federal Court in 2002 ordered Akram Al Masri be released from immigration detention, ruling the federal government did not have the right to detain him ahead of his deportation, despite his having been denied a temporary protection visa.

He left Australia a short time later.

At the time, Mr Al Masri said he feared for his life if forced to return to Israel but said he'd rather be returned home than go back to the detention centre.
...
"The previous Australian government is responsible for another terrible crime by forcing refugees to be sent back to Gaza when they knew the situation there," [Sydney-based Social Justice Network spokesman Jamal Daoud said].

"This guy had problems with Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He claimed to have been tortured and the previous government knew all that and still forced him out.

"It is a tragedy because we have lost another young person who could have been a good Australian citizen."

Other Palestinians have been granted asylum, and have stayed within Australia. There is a fascinating story that Arnold Zable, award winning author and president of the Melbourne chapter of PEN, tells of Alladin Sisalem, a poor guy stuck on one of our outpost processing islands, all by himself for ten months, except for the guards of course. We had the Pacific Solution, which was sending our asylum seekers kilometres of the shore, thousands of kilometres: to Nauru, Manus and Christmas Island. Christmas Island is still being used. Initially, under Howard, human rights workers, lawyers and reporters were not allowed to the islands. Additionally, it is incredibly expensive to go. Unbelievable.

Sisalem's story can be found in detail here. It is quite a story, and doesn't begin at Manus, but that is where the Australian government got involved, or tried not to get involved. For ten months he was the only person left in a detention camp that the Australian government had on Manus island, off the coast of Papua New Guinea. He was eighteen months in the camp in total, and he had also spent considerable amounts of time seeking asylum in other countries. In 2003, the Green Left Weekly ran a report including the following quotes:

The way the government has been able to wash its hands of Sisalem exemplifies the role that the offshore detention centres have played for the federal government. Asylum seekers there have been at the mercy of the immigration department, without access to Australia's courts or advice from lawyers.

The points made by Russell Skelton in the July 29 Australian apply as much to Manus Island as to the Nauru detention camp, which he said: "It suits the Howard government's callous purposes perfectly. The government has gone to extraordinary lengths to prevent Australians putting faces to those locked up in Australian detention centres. It would not do for voters to think they were normal, if desperate, human beings. On Nauru this policy is easy to enforce. Quite apart from the isolation, lawyers, human rights advocates and journalists have been denied visas to Nauru."

Only one journalist was successful in reaching the Manus Island prison. In January 2002, the Sydney Morning Herald's Greg Roberts posed as a tourist to get access to the island, and was able to report a history of suicide attempts, breakouts and hunger strikes by asylum seekers, as well as widespread, potentially fatal diseases, including malaria, typhoid fever and tuberculosis.

Anyway, in May 2004, the government closed the centre (despite saying it already had closed it), issued Sisalem with a humanitarian visa, and the whole saga finally had a happy ending which Mr. Al-Masri's did not.

Apart from being an award winning author and president of the Melbourne chapter of PEN, Arnold Zable is also Jewish. His Polish parents fled Europe before the Nazi invasion. And he has explored these themes in his writing. He has also run workshops for migrants and refugees, and has . . . spent considerable time with refugees held in Australian detention centres. He gave a wonderful 2009 Basia Leinkram Lecture, podcast here on Radio National (podcasts are kept back to 2006). I think the he Basia Leinkram lecture is is sponsored by B'nai B'rith, Anti-Defamation Commission. Zable tells many extraordinary stories, including details of the Tampa scandal. At about the 29 minute mark, Zable tells of having dinner with Sisalem, once Sisalem has been allowed into Australia. Sisalem is cooking dinner for him. On Manus, Sisalem had a cat, his only companion apart from the guards, I guess. The cat's name was Honey. On the day that Zable meets Sisalem, the cat had just come out of quarantine, so Zable got to meet it.

Alladin Sisalem and his cat honey
The name of the lecture is The Humanising Power of Story. Zable tells how an SBS reporter eventually got to talk to Sisalem and promised to return the following day. Sisalem had a nightmare, and it was the worst nightmare he had ever had. He dreamt that the reporter would not return, and nobody would ever hear his story, would ever know who he was. Referring back to the quote above:

"The government has gone to extraordinary lengths to prevent Australians putting faces to those locked up in Australian detention centres. It would not do for voters to think they were normal, if desperate, human beings,"

Sisalem's fears were not without merit. Hopefully, Australian has shifted into a more humanitarian policy in regards to asylum seekers. There are still faults, but nothing seems to be as draconian as it was under Howard. I could be wrong, of course.

Remember Honey the cat, and Leila Al Haddad, who is being denied permission to enter her homeland. The human face is what is missing in our assessment of what is happening in Palestine, and in fact, in most conflicts around the world, and in our own countries, where it is all too easy to blame problems on 'the other'. Zable explores that concept and others in his lecture, and I hope this post reflects that to a degree.
There is also a report of Sisalem in Australia from this Age article. It contains the photograph I have featured.

11 April Note: 9th April update from a mother from gaza. She was being deported, at the time of her writing, denied entry into her home.

some of my best friends are books

Many of my friends and I share a love of books. Though I don't think I realised it when I was younger, books really do open up more worlds, and more worlds, and more worlds. When I was a kid, I just read instead of playing softball, or netball, or volleyball, though I did that too in limited amounts (it was compulsory). Not only did I read, but I used to write. Both my sister and I did. We would sit on the tin roof of the shed after climbing the paperbark tree. We used to take the white bark of the tree, and pretend it was the breast meat from Kentucky Fried Chicken. We had small notebooks, and we wrote down stories, some that we made up, and others, like The Three Little Pigs, which had already been made up.

We also used to sit on the cement lid of the old septic tank (pipes had been laid a couple of years earlier) and we'd have our Enid Blyton books, all of which had pictures that could be coloured, not that I think you were meant to do that with them. Our game was to delve into a bag of textas we had and pull out whichever colour our hand landed upon, and to then colour whichever part of the picture we were focussing on that shade. It was a real bummer when you pulled out dark green followed by navy blue followed by cacky brown. Well, I never was much of an artist.


Another of our favourite ways to wile away the time was to scour through our nan's magazines for names. Both my sister and I had ring-bound diaries from the year before, which our parents had not got around to using. Each two pages was a letter of the alphabet. We would paste names for each letter. Only girls names, mind you. No boys allowed. There was a designer popular in those days, with pink hair, Zandra Ross. Pink hair was radical in the seventies. Thank God for her. Zoe was not a popular name in those days. I don't know what we did for Q or X. Maybe we cheated with Queen Elizabeth - she certainly featured enough in the Women's Day and the Women's Weekly. For X, obviously there are lovely names around such as Xanthe, but I wasn't to meet one of those until many years in the future. Maybe the page was left as blank as a slate, as the saying goes.


And so, that brings me to the gist and the grist of this post. Look at the faces of these kids:

The Tamer Institute for Community Education, which promotes reading and works in the West Bank and Gaza, won The 2009 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. I referred to this briefly in a post, here.

The jury's reasons for awarding the world's richest literature prize are as follows (my emphasis):

With perseverance, courage and resourcefulness, the Tamer Institute has stimulated Palestinian children’s and young people’s love of reading and creativity for two decades. Under difficult circumstances, the Institute carries out reading promotion work of an unusual breadth and versatility. In the spirit of Astrid Lindgren, the Tamer Institute sees the power of words and the strength of books, stories and the imagination as important keys to the courage to face life, self-esteem and tolerance.

A description of the Tamer Institute is as follows (my emphasis):

Focusing principally, on the rights to education, identity, freedom of expression, and access to information, Tamer works across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, primarily targeting children and young people and developing alternatives and supplements to formal education. Our programs promote reading and writing on national and regional levels, development of children’s literature, and creative self-expression and youth empowerment through advocacy and community development initiatives. Our philosophy is centered on the idea that learning environments for children and young people can only be created among youth who are encouraged to read, write, and participate in dialogue while working in small groups united by a common dream and joint aspirations. In order to increase community learning, youth should also be involved in action at the community level, and come out with a tangible end product.

This is the seventh time the award has been given out. Previous winners have been Australia's Sonya Harnett (2008), Phillip Pullman (2005) and Maurice Sendak (2003). Other winners can be found here. This is the first time the award has been given to an organisation, though an organisation has always been able to qualify for the award, and Tamer has been nominated since 2004.

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world’s largest prize for children’s and young people’s literature. The prize totals SEK 5 million (equivalent to approx. USD 578,000, 445,000 EUR) and is awarded annually to a single recipient or to several. Authors, illustrators, storytellers and those active in reading promotion may be rewarded. The prize aims to strengthen and increase interest in children’s and young people’s literature globally. The award is designed to strengthen children’s rights at global level. An expert jury names prize-winners who are nominated by institutions and organisations worldwide. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is administered by the Swedish Arts Council.

Astrid Lindgren wrote Pippi Longstocking in 1944. Originally it was a story she told her sick daughter. She later wrote it down, when she, herself, was incapacitated (well, sprained ankle).

How could a girl from the village of Vimmerby in the Swedish countryside end up writing stories that touch people in such different cultures? Stories that comfort a girl in Poland, and make a boy in Thailand laugh? The answer is fairly simple: a good story is a good story anywhere. If it touches our humanity, makes us dream, makes us laugh so much it hurts, then it makes no difference if the comfortably chubby man in the best years of his life is called Kalli, Kljukec or Karlsson on the Roof.

Astrid once said that she always wrote for her inner child. By doing that, she reached out to the whole world.

Tamer particularly focuses on children as they are 60% of the Palestinian population, though children's (and adult's) rights to education, identity, freedom of expression, and access to information is something that shouldn't have to be fought for, and definitely something that should be encouraged.

In towns, villages and refugee camps:
A group of children are sitting round a table in the library in Ramallah. The librarian starts to tell a story: “Once upon a time, there was a fisherman who was no longer able to catch any fish.” A child continues: “He told his son that they had no money.” And so the story continues from child to child. When it is over, each child illustrates its sentence and the story becomes a book that is put on the shelf for other children to read.

At the same time, in Hebron, eleven librarians are studying classification, computer science and creative writing. And in a village nearby, thirty women are listening to a reading of Selma Lagerlöf’s The Changeling. A big discussion breaks out. Was the mother right or wrong to be nice to the young troll?

These are some examples of the activities carried out by the Tamer Institute for Community Education, an independent organisation working in the West Bank and Gaza. The organisation, which has received aid from sources including Unicef, Save the Children and the Anna Lindh Foundation, was founded in 1989 and is based in Ramallah.

There is a lot more information about its initiatives here, including the meaning behind its name.

I cannot get through to the Tamer Institute, though I did previously. I don't know if my computer is glitchy, or if it is the link, but this link is correct and there is a lot of information on their pages. I hope it works by the time you come to read this. Just in case, the address is www.tamerinst.org. or this might work better: http://www.tamerinst.org/index.php

Renad Qubbaj
General Director,
Tamer Institute for
Community EducationShe looks so happy. The award will be presented on the second of June by H.R.H Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden. Let's hope that Israeli forces allow representatives of the Tamer Institute to collect it.

There are many stories and activities presented and talked about at the Tamer website, but perhaps, the most topical and recent are the stories of the children who survived the war on Gaza.

I cannot print it here, but there is a wonderful pdf available of the poster commemorating this prize. It has the children from that second photograph above (the smiling girls), and would be gorgeous to see in any library or classroom across the world.

take a load off annabelle

Didn't realise that Gillian Welch had done a version of this. Didn't even realise the original was the Band. Sacrilege, I know. Just felt like listening to it tonight. Ooh, now that I'm at it, I want to put the following up, too. The sound is poor. You might be able to find a million better quality, but I like watching her play and sing.



Oh my, and not Gillian, but a Swedish band, the Rainbirds, from 1989. I didn't think I'd hear this song again. I had the album, maybe I still have it. Did you learn how to swim? Song is Sea of Time



And, last one, I promise! Birthday by the Sugarcubes. I never did get a copy of this song. I remember a girl at university describing them like the Garbriel Garcia Marquez of the pop world. I saw them in Perth, a venue that has so famously gone down in indie pop history that I can't remember its name (it did have cred though - hah!). I think Bjork was tired of singing this, so I never got to hear it live. Wonderful, though.

a country that respects human rights

I think I will preface all of my posts on the Durban 2 conference on racism with these three quotes. If anyone reads regularly, you would have seen two of them before. The first is from the Australian Jewish Democratic Society, who urged attendance, and pointed out that:

. . . only six of the 341 paragraphs on Durban 1 singled out Israel, while there was also a resolution stating that the Holocaust “must never be forgotten”

The second is from Ha'aretz, who is not quite so hysterical with cries of anti-semitism as many western papers seem to be, and who state quite matter of factly:

The United States and Israel walked out of the first UN conference on racism in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, to protest against an attempted resolution comparing Zionism to racism.

You might want to ask some Palestinians about that, seeing as they are under occupation due to Zionist beliefs. Maybe it is true.

The third quote is from UN Association of Australia president John Langmore: He concedes that at the 2001 conference attempts to misuse the talks to criticise Israel had taken place (but I wonder, if we return to the opening statistics put forward by the Australian Jewish Democratic Society), he also said that:

The 2001 World Conference Against Racism declared "the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination" while also recognising "the right to security for all states in the region, including Israel." [My emphasis].

Well, that's what the international community all agree on, isn't it? So what is the problem?

Further information on the Durban Conference website (IV. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) states :

In her October 6, 2008 speech, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay acknowledged the antisemitism of the 2001 NGO Forum, while minimizing its implications:

Seven years ago at the 2001 World Conference against Racism, the virulent anti-Semitic behaviour of a few non-governmental organizations on the sidelines of the Durban Conference overshadowed the critically important work of the Conference. Measures were taken to address this betrayal of the core principles of the Durban Conference, and the NGO document was not forwarded to the Conference. [My emphasis].

and

In his December 12, 2008 article, "Distortions plague anti-racism conference," Rupert Colville, Spokesperson of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights writes “The purpose of this Durban Review Conference (sometimes misleadingly referred to as ‘Durban II’) is to examine the implementation of the outcome document of the World Conference against Racism which took place in Durban, South Africa, in 2001. Unfortunately both newspapers replay a number of factual distortions which have become increasingly widespread on the internet over the past year, including numerous references to the review conference as an anti-Semitic ‘hate-fest’.” [My emphasis. The papers he is referring to are The Australian and The Wall Street Journal which ran articles on the Durban conference].

Australian Federal Race Discrimination Commissioner, Tom Calma, will lead an Australian delegation of three officials to the talks. He represents Australia's top human rights body. He said

... he had not observed either anti-Semitic or anti-Islamic sentiment in the preparations for the conference and urged both the Government and Opposition to send representatives.

Julie Bishop, the opposition foreign affairs spokesperson does not want Australia to attend, and our own government still seems to be sending human rights officials as opposed to government representatives, but it is better than nothing, which might have been the case. Julie Bishop fears it will become a platform for anti-Semitism, but I think Israel fears that it might become a platform for criticism against [it] for its occupation of Palestinian territories. Well, that's not anti-semitism, that's called having a conscience. At the same time, Israel said in January, in the midst of the onslaught of Gaza, that:

the Foreign Ministry considers the "Durban 2" World Conference against Racism, scheduled for April in Geneva, as the point when they can determine the extent to which Israel's standing as a democratic country that respects human rights has been damaged. Israel has rallied many countries against the conference on the grounds that it will become a platform for anti-Semitism, and has also announced, along with the United States and Canada, that it will boycott the conference. [My emphasis].

Considering Israel is not attending the conference, has convinced many other countries not to attend, or to be leery of the conference; considering its forces killed 1400 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, many of them children, might mean that its standing as a democratic country that respects human rights has been damaged quite severely. But I forget myself. Black is white, and Israel does not have to fear any criticism because no-one will be there to criticise them, (or to criticise other governments who do not respect human rights, either), if the Julie Bishops and Kevin Rudds of the world have their way.

Calma said:

the Geneva conference would examine issues critical to the role of national human rights institutions, such as policing and diversity and the rights of indigenous peoples.

"These are matters that governments need to engage on a global level in order to ensure that their policies are in line with international standards. It is also an opportunity to share good practices in these areas."

Hear, hear! Considering Australia has recently committed to honouring an election promise of signing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Langmore, in the same article, says:

"It is about the issue of racial discrimination, and that is a problem in our country and in a great many others, and we have some experience in trying to handle it, but we also have some lessons to learn from other countries," he said.

While Professor Langmore conceded attempts to misuse the talks to criticise Israel had taken place, he said it was an overreaction and a self-defeating gesture for Australia not to attend. "If you are concerned to ensure equitable principles are developed and applied, then you need to participate — Australia needs to participate," he said. [My emphasis].

Many Americans also feel that their country should be concerned about ensuring [that] equitable principles are developed and applied, and are also concerned about racial [and sexual] discrimination, as seen from the 92 signatories of human rights and civil groups, and individuals in the U.S. who are urging the Obama administration to attend (the U.S. has so far decided to boycott). Those signatures can be found at the end of this post. The open letter was published in Ha'aretz, which shows that the Israeli media is paying close attention to this issue, even if other media is not.

The points that the signatories raise are eloquently argued, but too long for this post. I have posted the article in full before, and it is linked to at the end of this entry, or go to the source, here. The sub-titles within their letter summarise why the signatories think the Obama administration should attend Durban, and those titles are listed following this paragraph. If one really believes that a democratic world with equality for all is the way to go, then what dispute is there with the ideas that are being expressed?:

Refusing to Discuss Racism on a Global Platform is Inconsistent with a Policy of Engagement with the International Community

The United States Should be Fighting for the Strongest Protections against Racism

Specific Objections Raised do not Warrant a Boycott

The United States Must Not Attempt to Ignore our History of Slavery

The United States Must Engage the Global Fight for Racial Justice in Good Faith

The Current Position of Non-Participation is worse than that of the Bush Administration

A United States Refusal to Discuss Racism Encourages Other Countries to do the same

So at least Australia will have a face at the Durban Review Conference, which means that we must be slightly better than the Bush administration, or is that the Obama administration? The conference seems to be labelled as a racism forum in the press, but is really anti-racist, or is about tackling racism. As Mr Calma said of the Australian government, and the opposition:

"I'd encourage them to participate, I don't think it's going to compromise anything."

___________________________________________________________________

Other posts referencing Durban 2 in lizardrinking are as follows:
Durban 2 - Americans who want Obama to Attend
Still no decision
It's all in the genes
Stories and Controversies
I guess Catholics just don't like them

___________________________________________________________________

Organizational Signatures on the open letter to Obama.

1. Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
2. Alianza Latinoamericana por los Derechos de los Inmigrantes, ALDI
3. Black Alliance for Just Immigration
4. Black Workers for Justice - Europe (BWJ-e)
5. BLACK Advisors
6. Center for Constitutional Rights
7. Cidadao Global
8. Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European, and Latino Immigrants of Illinois
9. Coalition to Save Harlem
10. Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
11. Croydon African Caribbean Family
12. Equal Justice Society
13. Equality Now
14. Four Freedoms Forum
15. Global Afrikan Congressuk
16. Hawai'i Institute for Human Rights
17. Highlander Research and Education Center
18. International Action Center
19. Justice Now
20. Labor/Community Strategy Center
21. Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
22. Maria Iñamagua Campaign for Justice
23. Matahari: Eye of the Day
24. The Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute
25. Minnesota Tenants Union
26. Movement for Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA)
27. National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Chicago Branch
28. National Conference of Black Lawyers
29. National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
30. National Lawyers Guild
31. National Lawyers Guild - Minnesota Chapter
32. National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights
33. National Rail Maritime and Transport Union 0543 Local Finsbury Park Branch
34. Norbertines of the Priory of St. Moses the Black
35. NY Solidarity Coalition with Katrina & Rita Survivors and the Survivors Assembly
36. United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE)
37. Urban Justice Center
38. Willets Point Defense Committee
39. Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
40. Women of Color United
(please see individual signatures on next page)

Individual Signatures (with organizational affiliation for identification purposes only)

1. Ajamu Baraka, Executive Director, US Human Rights Network
2. Alexandra Oprea, Senior Editor, UCLA Law Review, Vol. 57
3. Aleyamma Mathew, Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action
4. Alice J. Palmer, Chicago, Co-Chair of the People Programme
5. Amelia Parker, Program Coordinator, Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, American University Washington College of Law
6. Amy Agigian, Center for Women's Health and Human Rights, Suffolk University
7. André Degbeon, Founder, AFRO TV BERLIN
8. Andrés Castro, Founder/Managing Ed., The Teacher's Voice
9. Ann Fagan Ginger, The Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute
10. Anthony Gifford, Barrister (UK) and Attorney-at-law (Jamaica)
11. Asantewaa Gail Harris, Community Vision Council
12. Bill Fletcher, Jr., Executive Editor, BlackCommentator.com
13. Brenda Stokely, New York Solidarity Coalition with Katrina & Rita survivors
14. Charles Amjad-Ali, Ph.D., Th.D., The Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor of Justice and Christian Community, Director Islamic Studies Program, Luther Seminary
15. Council Member Charles Barron, New York City Council
16. Chris Crass, Catalyst Project
17. Clarence C. Gravlee, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida
18. Colin Rajah, International Migrant Rights & Global Justice Program Director, National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (NNIRR)
19. Professor Connie de la Vega, University of San Francisco, School of Law
20. Dr. Corann Okorodudu, Professor of Psychology & Coordinator, Africana Studies
21. Daniel Hazen, Board Member, US Human Rights Network
22. David Gespass, President-Elect of the National Lawyers Guild
23. David Kreindler, Vermont Workers' Center
24. David Wildman, Executive Secretary, Human Rights & Racial Justice Mission, Contexts & Relationships, General Board of Global Ministries United Methodist Church
25. Dawn Stanger, Vermont Workers' Center
26. Denise Williams, Ph.D., Negotiation, Conflict Resolution & Peacebuilding, California State University Dominguez Hills
27. Ms. Diane King, Director, Seeking Joint Solution
28. Dianne Burnham, Ohio Valley PEACE, Outreach
29. Donald H. Smith, Ph.D., Past President, the National Alliance of Black School Educators; Former chair, the Board for the Education of People of African Ancestry, the John Henrik Clarke House, New York City
30. Dowoti Désir, Founder of the DDPA Watch Group
31. Ms. Dra Barryl A. Biekman, President of the African European Women's Movement "Sophiedela"; Chair of the National Platform Dutch Slavery; Past President of the Pan African Strategic and Policy Group (Panafstrag Europe EU/NL; Board member of Tiye International
32. Edith M. Jackson, Howard University
33. Edward L. Palmer, Chicago, Co-Chair of the People Programme
34. Ellen Raider, Independent Commission on Public Education
35. Emira Woods, Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies
36. Eric Mann, Author, Dispatches from Durban: The World Conference Against Racism and Post-September 11 Movement Strategies.
37. Erika Simard, Vermont Workers' Center
38. Eva Paterson, President, Equal Justice Society
39. Francisco Ramos, Executive Director, Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European, and Latino Immigrants of Illinois. (CAAAELII)
40. Gary Orfield, Professor of Education, Law, Political Science and Urban Planning. Co-Director, Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA
41. Gerardo Renique, Associate Professor, Department of History, City College of the City University of New York
42. Dr. Gloria A. Caballero-Roca, Hispanic Studies, Earlham College
43. Gwendolyn Anderson, Member, NEA, WEAC and Milwaukee Teachers Association
44. Henrietta Faulconer, Northside Neighbors for Justice
45. Ignatious Muhammad, Member, Nation of Islam
46. Dr. Irma Loemban Tobing-Klein, President MDG Global Watch
47. Iwan Leeuwin, Chairperson, AAD Network in the Netherlands
48. James Haslam, Vermont Workers' Center
49. James Rowan, Northeastern University School of Law
50. Dr. Jason M. Ferreira, Department of Race and Resistance Studies College of Ethnic Studies, San Francisco State University
51. Jeanne Mirer, Secretary General of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers
52. Rev. Jeremy Tobin, Board Member, US Human Rights Network and Executive Board, Movement for Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA)
53. Jerrika Rivera, President, Asociacion Latina DBA Latina Association
54. Jewel L. Crawford, MD, National Medical Association; Participant, UN World Conference Against Racism, 2001
55. Joanna Cuevas Ingram, Student Member, National Lawyers Guild - San Francisco
56. Joceline A. Clemencia, Director Cultural Institute Independence, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles
57. John A. Powell, Executive Director, the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
58. Jonathan Kissam, Vermont Workers' Center
59. Jose R. Matus, Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras
60. Joshua Cooper, Director, Hawaii Institute for Human Rights
61. Kalin Williams, Malcom X Grassroots Movement
62. Katie Seitz, Teaching for Change
63. K-C Nat Turner, Assistant Professor, School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
64. Keith Jennings, President, African American Human Rights Foundation
65. Kristine Suozzi, Ph.D., New Mexico Health Equity Working Group Coordinator
66. Dr. Lady Dhyana Ziegler, Professor of Journalism, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Florida
67. Laura Roskos, Ph.D., Co-President of U.S. Section, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
68. Lisa A. Crooms, Howard University School of Law
69. Loretta J. Ross, National Coordinator, SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective
70. Lucy Murphy, Convenor, Gray Panthers of Metropolitan Washington
71. Lynn Roberts, PhD, Assistant Professor & Coordinator, Community Health Education Track, Urban Public Health Program, Hunter College
72. M. Thandabantu Iverson, Ph.D., Indiana University Labor Studies Program, School of Social Work
73. Madeline Labriola, Hudson Valley PaxChristi
74. Marc Pilisuk, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, The University of California. Professor, Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center
75. Marilyn Fischer, Franciscans International
76. Martin Y. Iguchi, Ph.D., UCLA School of Public Health
77. Dr. Martin C. Okeke, (PhD) Former President of the Organisation NIDOE-France, Vice President PanAFSTRAG-France
78. Matt McGrath, Vermont Workers' Center
79. Mavis G. Biekman, Board Member, African European Women's Movement Sophiedela, The Hague, The Netherlands
80. Monami Maulik, DRUM-Desis Rising Up & Moving
81. Monique Ndigo Washington, The Healing Drum Collective
82. Nancy J. Bothne, Instructor, DePaul University
83. Nancy Munger, Co-President of U.S. Section, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
84. Nina T. Harawa, MPH, PhD, Department of Research, Charles Drew University
85. Nkem Dike, Northwestern University, IL
86. Nzingha Assata, Founding Member, The Alliance of Afrikan Women in England
87. Peg Franzen, Vermont Workers Center
88. Mr. Philip M. J. Baptiste, III, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc
89. Queen Quet, Founder, Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition
90. Radhika Balakrishnan, Professor of Economics and International Studies , Marymount Manhattan College
91. Raj Patel, Affiliation. UC Berkeley Center for African Studies
92. Ramona Ortega, Executive Director, Cidadao Glo

disappointed but not surprised

Too bad, it seems that Spain will probably suspend its investigation into war crimes that Israel is alleged to have committed in 2002.

Spanish prosecutors have asked a Madrid judge to suspend an investigation of seven Israeli officials over a 2002 bombing in Gaza that killed Hamas militant Salah Shehadeh and 14 others, including nine children.

It seems that the Israelis are now going to conduct their own investigation. Considering how quickly they declared that there were no war crimes committed in Gaza, despite a plethora of evidence to the contrary, I wouldn't be holding my breath for anything to come of it.

International law will apply to none, soon, it's obvious.

In some positive news, Australia has committed to honouring an election promise of signing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2007, 4 member states voted against the declaration, those being Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. and Canada.

The vote was 143 countries in favour, four against, and 11 abstaining.[5] ... The abstaining countries were Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Samoa and Ukraine; another 34 member states were absent from the vote.

death ship arrives

Information on this photo found here
The delivery of munitions from the U.S. to Israel that Chomsky references in this post have arrived in Israel. Amnesty International has the report here. Below are some paragraphs from the report. My emphasis.

Amnesty International said that the delivery should have been stopped and that failure to do so throws into question whether President Obama will act to prevent US weapons from fuelling conflicts and contributing to attacks against civilians that may amount to war crimes, as were perpetrated in Gaza.

Information on this photo found here
"Legally and morally, this US arms shipment should have been halted by the Obama administration given the extent of the evidence showing how military equipment and munitions of this kind were recently used by the Israeli forces to commit war crimes," said Brian Wood. "Arms supplies in these circumstances are contrary to provisions in US law.

"There is a great risk that the new munitions may be used by the Israeli military to commit further violations of international law, like the ones committed during the war in Gaza. We are urging all governments to impose an immediate and comprehensive suspension of arms to Israel, and to all Palestinian armed groups until there is no longer a substantial risk of serious human rights violations."

The US was by far the largest supplier of weapons to Israel between 2004 and 2008. The US government is also due to provide $30 billion in military aid to Israel.

According to one US official, President Obama has no plans to cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel under a new 10-year contract agreed in 2007 by the Bush administration. This new contract is a 25 per cent increase compared to the last contract agreed by the previous US administration.

I sometimes think there is too much money tied up in the development and supply of weapons for peace to ever prevail. This information about the U.K.'s supply of arms.
__________________________________________________________________

In keeping with the above, Gush-Shalom, the Israeli peace group which Uri Avnery is part of, ran this advert in the April 3rd Ha'aretz:

Surprise! Surprise!

The army has
Investigated itself
And found
(Surprise! Surprise!)
That it is the
Most moral army
In the world.

That legitimizes
All the atrocities
Of Gaza War II
Into which
Netanyahu, Barak and Liberman
Are dragging us.

Ad published in Haaretz, April 3, 2009

pasta sauce

One of the joys of cooking pasta sauce is not the actual end product, but getting sweet, sickly, unhealthy, Tip Top kind of slices of white bread, putting butter or some kind of substitute on them, and dipping it, or lightly pressing it, butter side down, into the sauce as it is cooking. Works with toast, too. Sometimes I think I make a pasta sauce just so I can do that. As it takes at least an hour for the sauce to reduce and the flavours to permeate, I'm often too full to eat it by the time it's finally ready.

Tragedies all

The latest from B'Tselem: Tragedies all:

Palestinian kills a 13 year-old boy and injures a 7 year-old boy
B'Tselem strongly condemnss [sic] the killing of a 13 year-old boy and the injuring of a 7 year-old boy by a Palestinian in the settlement of Bat Ayin in the Bethlehem district. Deliberate attacks against civilians are immoral and illegal. Wilful killing of civilians is defined as a "grave breach" of international humanitarian law and is a war crime.*


Phosphorous victim from Gaza dies
Ghada Abu Halima, 21, a Gazan mother of two, died on 29 March. Abu Halima was wounded and 5 of her relatives, among them 4 children, were killed, when the military shelled their house with white phosphorus during "Operation Cast Lead". In her testimony of 9 January, she described the attack.


Punishment of policeman who killed Palestinian increased
The Israeli Supreme Court has increased the prison sentence of border policeman Yanai Lazla for the killing of 18-year-old Imran Abu Hamdiya in 2002. Lazla and three other policemen threw Abu Hamdiya from a jeep moving at high speed after they had abducted, beaten, and abused him. B'Tselem and the Palestinian human rights organization al-Haq exposed the affair.

*3rd April: The following has just been brought to my attention regarding the Israeli boy who was murdered, and the one who was injured, by axe in the occupied territories yesterday (see the opening paragraph of this post), and, as my commenter says, it is neither an explanation, nor an excuse, but it does provide more information. Emphasis is mine.:

Ofer Gamliel, the jailed father of Yair Gamliel, who was wounded in the Bat Ayin terror attack, on Thursday refused to visit his son in the hospital accompanied by prison guards.

The Prison Service on Thursday said it would allow Gamliel to visit his son with wardens chaperoning him and without handcuffs. Gamliel who was sentenced seven years ago for participating in a plot to attack a Palestinian girls' school demanded to be released temporarily in order to visit his son.

. . .

The second victim, a 13-year-old who was killed in the attack, has been identified as Shlomo Nativ, the son of Haim and Ravital Nativ, one of the original settlers who founded Bat Ayin, a community of secular-cum-religious Jews.

Ofer Gamliel is currently serving a prison sentence for his involvement in the 'Bat Ayin underground,' which had planned to carry out an attack several years ago at a girls' school in the A-Tor neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

The 'Bat Ayin underground' was active in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the early years of the Second Intifada.

In April 2002, police arrested Shlomo Dvir, Yarden Morag and Ofer Gamliel, 'Bat Ayin underground' members, who were later convicted of attempting to place an explosive device near the East Jerusalem school.

There is more information in the news article. I wonder if the background will be printed in the Western papers which cover the story. You might also like to look at the Alison Weir documentary on the evident disparity between reporting the deaths of Palestinian children and Israeli children. Both are tragic, of course, therefore both should be equally reported.

life in spite of everything

From the Israeli Human Rights group B'Tselem:

Gaza, Sderot, Life in spite of everything. An interesting video letting the people speak for themselves.

_____________________________________________________________

Let's hope that the following actually eventuates into something, and is just not more bluster whereby western nations murmur, Israel murmurs, and everything remains the same:
New government may face EU sanctions over two-state solution. What is at stake is the two-state solution, which seems almost impossible, anyway, considering how many illegal settlements there are in the occupied territories, and the settler only roads and apartheid wall that divides it up, but if the international community really got involved in ensuring it, it could work. However, according to the article, President Obama said: "The United States is committed to Israel's security, and that cannot be undermined." Which means no help will come from that quarter. Considering how much aid it gives to Israel, it might be foolish to think anything can change, but the whole world is not the United States.

Boycotts are apparently affecting 21% of the Israeli economy, and if sanctions really were enforced by Europe, then maybe the rest of the world would have to pull its head out of the sand.

The article about possible EU sanctions states:

One communique expressed the impression of one guest at the dinner, who spoke of an atmosphere of "ganging up on Israel," and that terms were imposed "on a government that had not yet been formed."

The message also indicated that several ministers spoke of the "need to teach Israel a lesson about its treatment of the Palestinians."

The Belgian foreign minister called for a renewed examination into Israel-EU ties, while at the same time evaluating the possibility of establishing ties with a Palestinian unity government composed of Hamas and Fatah.

The central issue discussed at the dinner was the future of Israel-EU relations. Many ministers demanded that Israel be presented with an ultimatum stating that an upgrade of those relations be carried out only with an Israeli government explicitly committing itself to the two-state solution.

Regarding that "ganging up on Israel" - I wonder why that would have occurred? Maybe because of Israel's behaviour? Perhaps? I also wonder if the Palestinians ever feel that the western international community is and has "ganged up" on them. No doubt.

After the dinner [Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg of the Czech Republic] told a Czech newspaper that a decision had been made to cancel a summit between the Israeli prime minister and EU leaders planned for late May or early June.

That is an excellent start. In the U.S., it seems that former (or maybe still current) Mossad members who have not always had the best intention of the U.S. at heart, and have been denied entry to the U.S. previously, are to get visas, anyway, because they are now part of the Israeli government.

Regarding the sanctions, if they were ever to come into place, wait for the calls of racism to echo long and loud.

infected by a climate of impunity

"The Israeli military and government is repeatedly blaming Hamas for civilian deaths in Gaza. Now, do we have something to say about Hamas' behavior in Gaza? Yes, we do ... This is the first in a series of reports we will be issuing. Its rocket attacks in Israel ... are a war crime. In the cases of this report ... we did not find evidence of Hamas using civilians as human shields. Now, were they in the area at the time of these attacks? In some cases, we believe they were, and that is documented in the report. We state very clearly where we believe Hamas was, and where it was not. The bottom line, and the crucial point, is even if enemy forces -- from the Israeli perspective, Hamas fighters -- are in the area, white phosphorus should not be used in civilian neighborhoods. And that's the bottom line."

"In our view, the Israeli military has been infected by a climate of impunity, going back over since 2005, the disengagement [Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza]. There is an attitude that soldiers can do what and how they want in Gaza, and this has had a direct impact on civilian lives. It has caused civilians to die. That's because soldiers believe they can get away with what they want -- no one is watching. And that's why investigations are so important, to break this climate of impunity."

Human Rights Watch, a report on Israel's Unlawful use of White Phosphorous (March 25, 2009), summarised in this article, Report excoriates Israel's use of white phosphorous in Gaza (April 1st, 2009).
_________________________________________________________________

3rd April: There is a good article at Anti-War, Israel is changing the rules of war, a point that Julia Irwin made, and which does not, ultimately, bode well for anyone.

cosmos

Red Cross did not comment publicly on the legality of phosphorous weapons in Gaza

It still seems to be getting reported that the International Red Cross and Human Rights Watch stated that the use of white phosphorous in Gaza was lawful. From my readings, these claims have been repudiated by the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch. Could be that there is an update that I am not aware of, however, the following is what I have read:

Peter Herby's comments on the 17th of January on the ICRC's homepage:

"If ICRC delegates in the field gather credible and precise evidence of violations, or if ICRC medical personnel corroborate reports by others, the ICRC would begin by discussing this with the party concerned – rather than speaking publicly – in keeping with our standard practices. We have not commented publicly on the legality of the current use of phosphorous weapons by Israel, contrary to what has been attributed to us in recent media reports."

Within the article linked to above, he also outlines the the rules of international humanitarian law applicable to the use of phosphorous weapons and intended to spare civilians.

Peter Herby is Coordinator of the Mines-Arms Unit in the Legal Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Human Rights Watch (Kenneth Roth, "The Incendiary IDF", 22 January, 2009) and Amnesty International ( The conflict in Gaza; A briefing on applicable law, investigations, and accountability, January 2009) are more forthright in their discussion of the illegality.
2nd April, 2009: Also refer here.