UPDATE: Former EU leaders sign letter urging creation of state with East Jerusalem as capital and settlement freeze. check below
The Washington Post reports today about a trial taking place at a tiny military courtroom at Ofer Military Base in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
"Diplomats from Britain, Germany, France, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Malta and an EU representative watched as Abu Rahmeh was led into the courtroom, wearing a brown prison uniform. A guard removed his handcuffs, but not his leg shackles. Abu Rahmeh smiled shyly at his wife, Majda."
Why so much interest in Abdullah Abu Rahmeh?
bbc: circa August 2010
'Legitimate right'
Jailed since December, Abdullah Abu Rahmeh was convicted by a military court on Tuesday of inciting protests in the West Bank village of Bilin and of participating in the protests without a legal permit.
Lady Ashton expressed deep concern "that the possible imprisonment of Mr Abu Rahmeh is intended to prevent him and other Palestinians from exercising their legitimate right to protest against the existence of the separation barriers in a non-violent manner," her office said. "The EU considers the route of the barrier where it is built on Palestinian land to be illegal," it quoted her as saying in a statement.
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In 2004, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an advisory ruling that the barrier was illegal and should be removed where it did not follow the Green Line, the internationally recognised boundary between the West Bank and Israel.
Residents of the town of Bil'in including many Israelis and Internationals have been protesting every Friday against the Wall for 5 years now. This isn't just about Bil'in and it isn't just about Abdullah Abu Rahmeh and that's why European Diplomats today have converged in this tiny courtroom.
It is about occupation and denial of human rights and dignity by the Israeli regime against the Palestinians both on their land and in exile.
wapo reports:
Israel views the West Bank school teacher as an instigator of violence and wants to keep him in prison, even though he has completed his yearlong sentence. Israel says the demonstrations are violent riots since some of the marchers routinely throw stones at Israeli troops.
However, prominent figures in the international community have embraced the demonstrations as peaceful resistance to Israel's 43-year military occupation, and say Israel's crackdown is an attempt to stifle dissent.
The conflicting views on the anti-barrier protests are part of a growing list of issues, foremost among them continued settlement construction, on which Israel's hard-line government seems to find itself at odds with members of the international community - at a time when U.S.-led efforts to reach a peace deal have stalled.
There is another topic that caught my eye over the last few days I have not seen published here in the US. Translated from Hebrew by Coteret: Yediot: "Security establishment" warns of imminent Palestinian prisoner strike
Israeli security officials said that the Palestinian Authority is behind the planned prisoners’ strike, which is expected to include a hunger strike and rioting in the larger prisons in Israel..... The assessment is that the Palestinian Authority will also launch a parallel "soft attack" that will involve the enlistment of Arab and other international media stations, as well as taking legal action to help shore up the prisoners’ struggle.
Israeli officials have taken into account the possibility that the prisoners will try to have footage and reports air from within the prisons. Alongside coverage of the riots by the media, a team of lawyers working on behalf of the Palestinian Authority will lodge complaints against Israel. The complaints, which are likely to be lodged across the world and also in Jerusalem, will focus on Israel’s treatment of the prisoners during the riots and in the period leading up to them. Meanwhile, officials from the Palestinian Authority are planning on holding international conferences about the security prisoners in the coming month in Algeria and Geneva. The title of those conferences is going to be: "Israel does not honor international law."
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The assumption is that the prisoners’ strike will not only serve Palestinian public relations against Israel, but will also be an answer to the intra-Palestinian conflicts. This campaign is geared to be the PA’s answer to Hamas’s propaganda as if the Palestinian Authority is indifferent to the fate of the prisoners, as opposed to Hamas, which has been driving a hard bargain in exchange for the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.
I find this incredibly interesting, especially considering the source 'Israeli security officials'. Palestine's Ma'an News reports:
Sources in the Palestinian armed factions holding an Israeli soldier captive denied rumors Friday that the factions had drawn up a new list of Hamas members to be freed in a potential prisoner exchange.
Rumors of a change to the list were spreading among Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, Ma'an learned. Seeking confirmation of the reports, prisoners have been attempting to contact officials from Hamas and other factions on the phone, or through their lawyers and family members in recent days.
Officials contacted by Ma'an expressed regret at the confusion among the prisoners.
Rumors? Officials? Prison strike? International media, International Conferences, and diplomats from Britain, Germany, France, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Malta ......
There's a lot going on, let's talk about it.
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UPDATE: Israel faces tougher line from EU after former heads call for Palestinian state
Twenty-six European grandees have urged the EU to adopt a tougher stance towards Israel including taking "concrete measures" and exacting "consequences" over continued settlement building on occupied land, which they say is illegal under international law.
Due to fair use issues i am not copying the six points that the group, which includes former EU commissioner Chris Patten, former EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, former Irish president Mary Robinson and another nine former heads of state sent in a letter to EU president Herman van Rompuy, foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and all EU heads of government prior to an upcoming meeting of foreign ministers on Monday. However I urge you to read the link. Something from the article screamed at me (my bold):
The letter says the group had received "signals" from US officials that the best way to help American efforts to reach a peace deal was to put a "price tag" on policies that contradict those advocated by Barack Obama.
Wow, that's one way of stepping around Congress.