facility:international criminal court

  • Philippines becomes second country to quit ICC

    The Philippines on Sunday has withdrawn from the International Criminal Court, becoming the second country to leave the Hague-based tribunal meant to prosecute the world’s worst atrocities.

    The move comes a year after Manila officially notified the United Nations that it was quitting the ICC—the only permanent international judicial body to try individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

    Read more at https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/03/17/1901757/philippines-becomes-second-country-quit-icc#Cpd5wLjUQPUbf3U6.99

    https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/03/17/1901757/philippines-becomes-second-country-quit-icc

    #CPI #cour_pénale_internationale #Philippines #it_has_begun #Burundi #justice

    v. aussi
    https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/03/16/1797330/philippines-formally-informs-un-icc-withdrawal

    ping @reka

  • UN council: Israel intentionally shot children and journalists in Gaza - Israel News - Haaretz.com
    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/un-council-israel-intentionally-shot-children-and-journalists-in-gaza-1.697

    The investigative commission of the United Nations Human Rights Council that examined the most recent round of violence on the #Israel-#Gaza border presented its findings on Thursday, saying it found “reasonable grounds” that Israeli security forces violated international law.

    The commission determined that the majority of Gaza protesters who were killed by Israeli forces —154 out of 183 people — had been unarmed.

    The panel also recommended that UN members consider imposing individual sanctions, such as a travel ban or an assets freeze, on those identified as responsible by the commission.

    [...]

    The commiission found that 35 children had been killed, some from direct weapons fire. The commission also noted one case involving a disabled person in a wheelchair and direct fire at journalists who claimed that they were clearly identified as press. One commission member, Sara Hussein, responded that there was no justification for firing at children and the disabled, whom she claimed posed no danger. The commission also took note of injury to Israeli soldiers in the confrontations.

    The commission also recommended that materials it collected be transferred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague and that UN members “consider imposing individual sanctions, such as a travel ban or an assets freeze, on those identified as responsible by the commission.”

    #crimes #ONU #impunité

    En français, versions édulcorées
    https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2019/02/28/israel-mis-en-cause-par-une-commission-de-l-onu-pour-de-possibles-crimes-de-

    https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1159486/lonu-accuse-israel-de-possibles-crimes-contre-lhumanite-a-gaza.html

    https://www.rts.ch/info/monde/10254221-l-onu-suspecte-israel-de-crimes-de-guerre-lors-des-manifestations-a-gaz

  • Israel is indirectly cooperating with The Hague’s probe into 2014 Gaza war despite past criticism

    International Criminal Court’s criminal investigation into Israel’s actions in the Strip could lead to a wave of lawsuits against those involved and even to their arrest abroad

    Yaniv Kubovich
    Nov 11, 2018 9:49 AM

    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-is-indirectly-cooperating-with-the-hague-s-probe-into-2014-

    Over the last few months Israel has been transferring material to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which is examining whether war crimes were committed in the Gaza Strip. According to defense sources, the material relates to events that took place during Operation Protective Edge, the 2014 Israel-Gaza war. The ICC is also looking into the demonstrations along the Gaza border fence that began on March 30.
    In the past, Israel sharply criticized the court, saying that it had no authority to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, there is concern in the political and military echelons that the court will open a criminal investigation into Israel’s actions in the Strip, a process that could lead to a wave of lawsuits against those involved and even to their arrest abroad.
    >>Rising terrorism in West Bank overshadows optimism around Gaza-Israel deal | Analysis 
    In the last few months, diplomatic, military and legal officials have held discussions, some of them attended by the prime minister, to prepare for the court’s initial findings regarding the 2014 Gaza war. Toward that end, Israel has begun using third parties to transfer documents to the court that could bolster its stance and influence the examination team, which until now has been exposed mainly to the evidence presented by the Palestinian side.

    Demonstration near the Gaza border, November 9, 2018. Adel Hana/AP
    Military advocate general Maj. Gen. Sharon Afek has presented material regarding Israel’s response to the demonstrations in Gaza, but defense sources say these have been for internal use only and have not been passed on to the ICC or to any other body.
    Keep updated: Sign up to our newsletter
    Email* Sign up

    The sources say Israel has made a distinction between the two subjects of the court’s examination: While Israel is not cooperating with the ICC on its probe of incidents at the Gaza fence, it is already holding indirect discussions with the court over Operation Protective Edge.

    Last April the ICC’s chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that violence against civilians could be considered an international crime, as might the use of civilians as a cover for military operations. She added that the situation in Palestine was under investigation. She warned that the court was following events in Gaza, and emphasized that guidelines for opening fire at demonstrators could be considered a crime under international law.

    Public Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, August 28, 2017. Bas Czerwinski/Pool via REUTERS
    Officials told Haaretz that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to postpone the evacuation of the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar came after Israel realized that such a move could influence Bensouda, who said she would not hesitate to use her authority with regard to the village. Last month, Bensouda said she was watching with concern the plan to evacuate the West Bank Bedouin community and that a forced evacuation would lead to violence, adding that the needless destruction of property and transfer of populations in occupied territories are a war crime, based on the Treaty of Rome. She linked the planned evacuation to events in Gaza, saying she was concerned by the ongoing violence for which both sides are responsible.

    FILE Photo: The West Bank village of Khan al-Ahmar, September 25, 2018. Emil Salman

    Yaniv Kubovich
    Haaretz Correspondent

  • Foreign critics of Philippines drug war will be ‘human live targets’ to military – Duterte — RT World News
    https://www.rt.com/news/439090-duterte-critics-targets-icc

    The controversial president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has told his military that his foreign critics will make great ‘live human targets’ for home troops, as only his countrymen have the right to question his policies.

    Duterte, who has two complaints filed against him at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over his brutal war on drugs, attacked his opponents abroad as he addressed the military in the central city of Capas on Friday.

    If I fell short, then as a Filipino, that is your right to criticize and even slam me if you want. I would never, never [hold] it against you,” the President said, as cited by GMA website.

    But his foreign critics should keep their mouth shut, he warned, promising a grim fate to the investigators and human rights activists who would come to the Philippines to look into accusations against him.

    Someday when you’re out of targets… as well as live human target, I can just bring [the foreign critics] to you,” Duterte told the troops.

    Back in March, the Philippines’ leader already promised to feed international investigators to crocodiles if they dare arrive in the country.

  • Il “vicedittatore” eritreo, aggredito a Roma: è colui che ha ordinato il mio rapimento in Somalia

    Il 5 luglio scorso a Roma all’uscita da un ristorante l’ambasciatore dello Stato di Eritrea,
    Petros Fessazion, è stato aggredito da alcune persone, quasi certamente suoi connazionali
    stanchi di un regime repressivo che nega le libertà fondamentali dell’uomo.
    Ma con l’ambasciatore Petros, probabilmente c’era Yemane Gebrehab, il numero due della dittatura
    al potere nell’ex colonia italiana, rimasto gravemente ferito a uno zigomo.

    Ma nell’ospedale romano dove è stato ricoverato non risulta nessuno con quel nome.
    Che abbia dato generalità false per evitare di essere riconosciuto è assai probabile, ma, ovviamente
    non è certo. Per altro la presenza di Yemane era prevista in numerose iniziative in Europa
    dove il “vice-dittatore” non è comparso. Massimo Alberizzi scrive a Petros e a Yemane,
    che a suo tempo l’aveva condannato a morte e fatto rapire in Somalia.


    http://www.africa-express.info/2017/07/17/il-vicedittatore-eritreo-aggradito-roma-ha-ordinato-il-mio-rapiment

    #Petros_Fessazion #Erythrée #Yemane_Gebreab #Isaias_Afeworki

    Et quelques #victimes du régime:

    Dove sono finiti in miei amici #Petros_Solomon, #Haile_Woldensaye, #Mohammed_Sharifo , ex ministri, o #Isaac_Dawit, giornalista, solo per citarne alcuni, arrestati e messi in qualche arroventata galera dell’infuocato bassopiano? E Aster, la moglie di Petros? Avete ingannato anche lei, una combattente per la libertà, una vostra compagna d’armi.

    #Aster_Yohannes

    • Et un article sur Yemane Gebreab, numéro 2 du régime érythréen, reçu via la newsletter de Human Rights Concern Eritrea, 15.11.2017 :
      Yemane Gebreab’s Deadly Schemes and Network of Terror

      Various media outlets have reported that Yemane Gebreab (the Eritrean President’s Advisor) was not allowed to address the Eritrean government supporters’ public seminar, in Arlington, on 8 October 2017, during his visit in the United States. He was denied entry to the seminar venue by US law enforcement officers. It seems plausible that he was in violation of a US Executive Order which listed him as a person who threatened US national security and foreign policy with regard to the Somalia situation. Human Rights Concern Eritrea (HRCE) has previously written about the danger Yemane Gebreab poses to Eritreans inside and outside Eritrea and the international community at large. In particular, Yemane Gebreab set-up an unsuccessful assassination attempt in Somalia on an Italian journalist who lived to tell the story.

      Whilst the flier which was distributed to advertise the event at which Yemane Gebreab was going to be present, alongside Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh, the official website of the Eritrean Government reported that Osman Saleh alone conducted the seminar. Since the news that Yemane Gebreab was detained spread quickly, it appears the Eritrean Government tried to cover up this embarrassing turn of events. Manufacturing after-the-fact appearances is no new thing for the Eritrean government.

      The UN conducted an inquiry into human rights violations in Eritrea and concluded in June 2016 that crimes against humanity were both widespread and systematic. The country is a one-party state, run by the top members of the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), whose chairman is also the current and only president since 1991, Isaias Afewerki. His personal advisor is Yemane Gebreab, the man who proposes policies and implements them. Except that he does much more.

      Yemane Gebreab is widely known as the Presidential Advisor in Eritrea and head of Political Affairs in the PFDJ. However, these titles are nominal and only some of the roles he plays. Not only is Yemane Gebreab one of the main political minds behind the PFDJ, but his activities also range as widely in scope and depth as they do in nefariousness. He is active both at national and international level. HRCE has previously called for his arrest, and has since spoken to and received confidential testimonies from agents who in the past were deployed by Yemane Gebreab himself. They confirmed what most Eritreans already knew about him, through word of mouth or partial first-hand experience.

      On the international front, Yemane Gebreab is perhaps most infamous for masterminding and establishing the Young PFDJ (YPFDJ), a youth organisation which has parallels with the Balilla organisation which existed in Fascist Italy during the first half of the 20th century. YPFDJ even has enforcers called Eri-Blood, who intimidate anyone who expresses discontent with the Eritrean government and its practices. However, intimidation is not the only purpose of this organisation. Through the YPFDJ, whose members are not necessarily only youth, the PFDJ organises propaganda campaigns and spreads misinformation among the diaspora and other groups which interact with the Eritrean community abroad. Just as the YPFDJ meetings, often headed by Yemane Gebreab himself, spread false propaganda, they also serve as a means to fundraise and host events where money is either directly collected or obtained through sales of tickets or other items. This alone should have landed Yemane Gebreab in a US jail in the years since the standing executive order was first issued in 2010 by the then president Barack Obama.

      Most of the funds raised by the YPFDJ and PFDJ in the diaspora come from the older segments of the Eritrean community abroad. Worryingly, however, Yemane Gebreab organises these supporters to act as his informants. The former-agents whom HRCE has spoken with say that even middle-aged or elderly women, or other members of the Eritrean community abroad who might not raise suspicion, are used to spy on fellow Eritreans in the diaspora. Though many Eritreans knew this already, the testimony HRCE has received confirms the extent to which this tactic is systematic and widespread. Whilst the ordinary civilian may be used as an informant for Yemane Gebreab, trained individuals ranging from youth to middle-aged are deployed in the diaspora community.

      These youth, invariably members of the YPFDJ, but not necessarily openly so, are individuals who are carefully selected and sent to training camps inside Eritrea, often under the pretence of a vacation visit. They are trained using a program run by Yemane Gebreab which is intended to produce cadres fiercely loyal to the regime. These youth are taken around the country in a program called Zura-Hagerka, to the youth festival in Sawa Military Camp, to Nakfa (the old bastion town during the war for independence) to camps around Asmara (such as Asha Golgol) and other towns where their training is conducted. Not all of these youth are selected to become Yemane Gebreab’s agents. However, those who are selected are deployed in the diaspora and made to inform on the community, infiltrate organisations or set-up money laundering businesses, or even become part of the Eri- Blood.

      It is worrying that Eritrean youth from the diaspora willingly and voluntarily choose to partake in these criminal affairs, although the PFDJ regime has become expert at targeting the more vulnerable and disillusioned amongst the youth abroad. Unlike them, however, there are other Eritreans who also operate in the diaspora but have no choice in the matter. These are conscripts who hail from within the country and are trained in special cadre programs. These Eritreans might get brainwashed to the level of accepting the rhetoric fed them by Yemane Gebreab, although most are deeply aware that they have no choice but to obey, for it is not only their lives which are endangered; they also fear for their families. Few who manage to escape the grip of Yemane Gebreab’s network manage to share inside information. They are unambiguous about the fact that Yemane Gebreab runs these programs, participates in training and brainwashing cadres, as well as being the person who has the final word in all decision-making.

      The cadres deployed outside Eritrea by Yemane Gebreab have a slightly different job from the YPFDJ youth who are trained in the country and then sent back to their diaspora communities, although it must be kept in mind that often their roles overlap. These agents are told the country depends on them and that their training and job has been entrusted to them by the Eritrean people. They are made to believe they are the true inheritors of the legacy which led to the country’s independence and are instructed in no uncertain terms to put the country before their lives. Of course, by “country” Yemane Gebreab means the interests of himself, Isaias Afwerki and their kleptocratic clique. In fact, veneration of Isaias Afwerki is part of their training as they are assured that if it were not for Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ, the country would be lost.

      Thus trained, involuntarily conscripted men and women from Eritrea are often sent to work in embassies, consulates or other PFDJ offices around the world. The former agents whom HRCE spoke with clarify that these cadres are assigned the job of spying and watching every move of ambassadors, consuls and other staff in these offices. The sources recall how, during their training, Yemane Gebreab would warn them to watch very closely Eritrean officials, diplomats and other leadership figures who visit from Eritrea. He would caution them that they are to monitor these diplomats’ movements as if they were a cancerous tumour. Accordingly, he instructs the agents he sends abroad to record what Eritrean diplomats and officials say in meetings and at public events, keeping an eye out for any sign of dissent or criticism. If these officials show any hint of discontent, they are to be reported and are consequently recalled back to the country.

      While abroad, the cadres deployed from Eritrea are also made to monitor and report on Eritrean-owned businesses and Eritrean individuals. They may receive orders to repatriate individuals targeted by the PFDJ and Yemane Gebreab. In practice, this translates to finding ways to undermine these individuals and business owners so that either their immigration status or licences are revoked. It may even extend to outright abduction and enforced disappearance. This practice seems to be done more in African and middle-eastern countries, where some of governments might even co-operate with the PFDJ in deporting targeted individuals. Examples of this can be found in neighbouring countries such as Sudan, where, throughout the years, abductions of Eritreans from Sudanese territory are conducted by Eritrean agents.

      Moreover, agents who answer to and co-operate with Yemane Gebreab can also be foreign nationals. Recalling the assassination attempt on the Italian journalist mentioned above, the Somalis who allowed the journalist to escape were reprimanded by Yemane Gebreab. Furthermore, part of the reason his name is the only non-Somali name on the list in the Executive Order concerning the turmoil in Somalia is due to his and his agents’ work in the region.

      However, the international activities by Yemane Gebreab form only part of the picture, as he is also deeply entrenched in the terror his activities within the country cause to the Eritrean People. As mentioned in a previous article, Yemane Gebreab admits in an interview that he and the PFDJ arrested without due legal process and detained incommunicado a group of journalists and his former colleagues and senior ministers known as the G11 in 2001. (The G11 were part of the G15, a group of senior government officials who publicly called for democracy and change, but only 11 of them were in the country at the time of arrest, and few are thought to survive to this day). Though this case is the most famous internationally, Yemane Gebreab is co-perpetrator of other persecutions and enforced disappearances within the country.

      Inside Eritrea, Yemane Gebreab is one of the main political minds behind the PFDJ, and as such, he plans and implements various repressive internal policies. He plays a crucial role in the establishment and running of youth programs, including the national service and the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students (NUEYS), the internal equivalent of the YPFDJ and the organisation which handles all Eritrean youth affairs before they are conscripted into the military, which occurs before they even finish secondary education. This includes participation in PFDJ organised events and the release or withholding of the ID card all students must have before they are conscripted, on penalty of detention and early conscription into the military.

      Whilst Gebreab partakes in shaping such national policies to the extent that he is known as second-in-command in the country after Isaias Afewerki, the cadres he controls are put to work even inside Eritrea. The espionage network in Eritrea is as unnerving as possible, but what makes it even more fearsome for those who have to live under it is that elements like those organised and deployed by Yemane Gebreab do not fall under the control of any normal intelligence agency. They receive orders and respond solely to the president’s office and to Yemane Gebreab. For years the Eritrean population has lived in dread of accidentally offending one of these informants or any other covert agents infiltrated within the population.

      A particular terrorising effect is achieved by the agents of Yemane Gebreab inside Eritrea by the fact that they not only spy on the population but also demand that citizens inform on each other. The testimonies received by HRCE clarify that the cadres and agents trained and deployed by Yemane Gebreab are often given quotas and targets to monitor. Consequently, they follow the target in public places such as cafes, places of work, churches, mosques, etc. In such places, these agents approach the persons running the locales, businesses or places of worship and force them to inform on the targeted citizens. This creates a daily atmosphere of terror in the population, because no one can be sure if their colleague, their waiter, their church leader or their imam is watching their every move and reporting to these agents. To use a recent development within the country as a further example, it appears that the PFDJ regime is now assigning one family in each neighbourhood to act as informants on a group of surrounding families, reporting the comings and goings of each member of the assigned families they watch.

      At this point it is important to remind the reader that Eritreans live in terror of the consequences that may befall them if they appear to know anything unauthorised or do not cooperate with the demands made of them. In such ways Yemane Gebreab instils fear among Eritreans so that no one dares to speak to their neighbour openly, let alone organise to demand their rights or change the system. There is now an entire generation born and raised in such conditions of fear, and Yemane Gebreab is the main actor pulling the strings of the mechanisms that have terrorised many of the young people as well as most of the adult population for their entire lives, both inside and outside Eritrea. Gebreab has committed crimes against humanity and used people who have been forced into slavery to partake in his schemes. He is one of the main persons, perhaps only the second after Isaias Afwerki, to have illegitimately detained and directly caused the deaths of hundreds accused of dissenting against the PFDJ, of whom the most famous are amongst the G11 and journalists forcibly disappeared in September 2001.

      It baffles the mind then that Yemane Gebreab has thus far been allowed to enter Europe and the United States of America freely. European leaders and representatives of other United Nations member states should refuse to interact with such a criminal and should denounce him. The UN has recommended that those who systematically perpetrate crimes against humanity in Eritrea should face prosecution and Yemane Gebreab should be one of the most wanted men in Eritrea, detained immediately upon setting foot outside Eritrea and prosecuted at the International Criminal Court (ICC). HRCE recognises that some steps such as sanction and seizure of financial assets have been taken by the United States. However, it is feared that the seriousness of Yemane Gebreab’s crimes are grossly underestimated by the leaders of such countries and international organisations.

      HRCE appeals to all countries to deny entry to Yemane Gebreab and to refuse political and financial cooperation with him and the party he represents. It seems that Yemane Gebreab has been set free losing a major opportunity to detain him. However, if the U.S, European or other country’s authorities get another chance to put him in custody, HRCE recommends that instead of being released to perpetrate further crimes against humanity, he should be detained until he is brought before the ICC to answer for the major role he has played in terrorising and eliminating innocent Eritreans.

  • Sudan’s president invited by Saudi Arabia to Trump meeting
    https://www.apnews.com/951d765d37ad485cbcdabe9c40368500

    Al-Bashir, who has been Sudan’s leader since 1989, is wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands for war crime allegations. ICC prosecutors charged al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region.

    The Saudi officials who confirmed that al-Bashir had been invited to the meeting spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

    #chaos #Etats-Unis

  • Understanding the UN resolution on Israeli settlements: What are the immediate ramifications? - Israel News - Haaretz.com

    http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.761049

    In the long-term, what are the possible ramifications?

    In the medium-to-long-term the resolution may have serious ramifications for Israel in general and specifically for the settlement enterprise. The reason for this stems from the two main clauses of the resolution. The first clause states that the settlements have “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.” The International Criminal Court in The Hague is currently conducting a preliminary investigation concerning a suit filed against Israel by the Palestinians. One of the issues raised in the suit is the construction of settlements. International law takes form through different measures including Security Council resolutions. Thus, this decision, at this time, could influence the preliminary investigation and could provide cause for the ICC prosecutor to order a full investigation of Israel settlement construction.
    Another clause in the resolution calls on the nations of the world “to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.” This is a precedent in UNSC resolutions concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and actually calls on countries to cut ties direct and indirect with the settlements. This clause may create a path for countries, international organizations such as the EU, and corporations to impose sanctions on the settlements. The Foreign Ministry’s assessment is that the EU would have to pass a similar resolution in its institutions and base practical steps and legislation from it.

  • Landless Cambodian farmers look to International Criminal Court for justice | Reuters
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-icc-cambodia-landrights-idUSKBN13H1J9

    SRE AMBEL DISTRICT, Cambodia (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A group of farmers who survived the Khmer Rouge’s notorious “Killing Fields” genocide in Cambodia are at the center of a landmark legal case that could change the way global corporations manage large-scale land acquisitions, experts say.

    More than 400 families from a sleepy rural hamlet in Sre Ambel district in south-western Cambodia say they were pushed off their farms to make way for sugar plantations.

    The villagers are part of a larger group of about 770,000 Cambodians – or five percent of the nation’s population – taking action for being forced off at least four million hectares of land, according to a lawyer presenting their case at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.

    #Cambodge #terres #CPI

  • Beyond the #International_Criminal_Court
    http://africasacountry.com/2016/10/beyond-the-international-criminal-court

    In the past week, three African states (South Africa, Burundi, and Gambia) have announced their withdrawals from the International Criminal Court. Amnesty International describes these withdrawals as a “march away from justice,” and “drastic blow to countless victims globally.” Rather than simply decrying these decisions, perhaps it is time to think more carefully about what […]

    #POLITICS

  • Why is South Africa withdrawing from the #International_Criminal_Court? And why now?
    http://africasacountry.com/2016/10/why-is-south-africa-withdrawing-from-the-international-criminal-cou

    Last Friday, South Africa stunned the world when it announced it has officially initiated the process of withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC). The idea of a mass pullout of African states from the Court has been hanging in the air for a few years now. The main point of contention has been the […]

    #AFRICA_IS_A_COUNTRY #POLITICS #ICC

  • Projet de gazoduc Israël-Gaza avec l’aide des Pays-Bas
    http://www.romandie.com/news/Projet-de-gazoduc-IsraelGaza-avec-laide-des-PaysBas/734387.rom

    La Haye - Les Pays-Bas aideront Israël a améliorer l’approvisionnement en eau et en énergie de la Bande de Gaza avec notamment la construction d’un gazoduc, a annoncé mardi à La Haye le Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu au cours d’une visite de deux jours aux Pays-Bas.

    ≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

    Said Shoaib
    #Netanyahu Is Not Welcome in The #Netherlands'


    https://twitter.com/saidshouib/status/773158163608657920

    • Former Dutch PM calls Benjamin Netanyahu a ‘war criminal’ who should be tried in The Hague

      Dries van Agt said the Israeli leader should go ‘straight to the international criminal court’
      Harry Cockburn | 6 sept 2016
      http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/former-dutch-pm-dries-van-agt-benjamin-netanyahu-war-criminal-tried-t

      Former Dutch prime minister Dries van Agt has described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal who should be tried in the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

      His comments come ahead of Mr Netanyahu’s visit to The Netherlands this week.

      Speaking to Dutch television channel NPO 1, Mr van Agt said: “There’s a war criminal coming to this country.

      “The occupation and expansion… building of settlements, of occupied territory, this is according to the Rome Statute, which is… the statute on which the international criminal court is based, in so many words, a war crime.

      In a rambling interview, the 85-year old, who was prime minister of The Netherlands for five years until 1982, added: “So why should we receive someone who continues with such things?

      “We could have sent him straight away to the international criminal court – that would have been better.”

      Mr Van Agt has been highly critical of Israel in recent years, despite supporting the state during his years in office.

      In 2012, he caused controversy after saying Jews should have built a state in Germany rather than in the Middle East.

      Dutch pro-Israel group Likoed Nederland said in a statement on Monday: “Van Agt merits no serious podium”.

      Mr Netanyahu’s official visit to the Netherlands includes meetings with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who he calls a “personal friend”, and with King Willem-Alexander.

      Mr Netanyahu said he planned to speak to Dutch leaders about Israel’s role in preventing the spread of Islamist terrorism.

  • Outrage as war crimes prosecutors say Tony #Blair will not be investigated over Chilcot’s Iraq war report – but British soldiers could be
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/02/outrage-as-war-crimes-prosecutors-say-tony-blair-will-not-be-inv

    Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court will examine the Chilcot report for evidence of abuse and torture by British soldiers but have already ruled out putting Tony Blair on trial for war crimes, The Telegraph can disclose.

    The decision has outraged families of troops killed in Iraq who blame Mr Blair for engineering the war.

    Sir John Chilcot’s report will finally be published on Wednesday and is expected to strongly criticise Mr Blair’s role in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

    But in an official statement to the Telegraph, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said its prosecutors would comb through the 2.3 million word report for evidence of war crimes committed by British troops but that decision to go to war remained outside its remit.

    Fatou Bensouda ou pas, c’est pareil,
    http://bibliobs.nouvelobs.com/idees/20160602.OBS1810/pourquoi-bush-n-a-t-il-pas-ete-juge-devant-la-cour-penale-intern

    #CPI #parodie #justice #crimes #complicité

  • Europe’s secret deal with Africa’s dictators
    https://martinplaut.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/europes-secret-deal-with-africas-dictators

    Detailed plans, copies of which have been seen by the New Statesman, lay out a programme of co-operation with some of Africa’s most notorious regimes. The aim is to curtail the exodus of African refugees, whose arrival in Europe has become such a toxic political question.

    The first inkling that this was under way was provided by the New Statesman last November. Now the German magazine, Der Spiegel and the television programme Report Mainz have given details of how this will be implemented.

    The magazine says Germany is leading this work, but that the European Commission has warned that “under no circumstances” should the public learn what was said during talks that were held on 23 March. A staff member working for Federica Mogherini, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, warned that Europe’s reputation could be at stake.

    The EU is fully aware of just how dangerous these proposals really are. Under the heading “Risks and assumptions” the document states:

    “Provision of equipment and trainings [sic] to sensitive national authorities (such as security services or border management) diverted for repressive aims; criticism by NGOs and civil society for engaging with repressive governments on migration (particularly in Eritrea and Sudan).”

    The detailed proposals outline a range of requirements for nine African states, from Uganda to Djibouti. But the most controversial involve proposed deals with Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia. The Sudanese President Omar al Bashir is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court; Eritrea is being investigated by the UN for crimes against humanity; Ethiopia has repressed its largest ethnic group, the Oromo people.

  • Bombing Hospitals Is a War Crime, Even When Your Friends Do It | The Tyee
    http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/03/19/Bombing-Hospitals-Is-War-Crime

    Just the other day, Trudeau said, “Regardless of how we may feel about a previous government, the fact is they were democratically elected. They signed on to a contract and we are bound to respect that contract.”

    But any prime minister who respects a contract with a government that commits war crimes might as well turn himself in to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for complicity in those crimes.

    Ten years ago, the brand new Conservative government of Stephen Harper faced (and failed) a similar challenge when Israel went to war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

    #crimes_de_guerre #canada

  • How to say #Joseph_Kony’s name
    http://africasacountry.com/2016/02/how-to-say-joseph-konys-name

    Between 21 and 27 January, far away from the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the small town of Gulu in the northern region of #Uganda was engrossed in the confirmation of charges hearing for alleged rebel commander Dominic Ongwen. It is one of the few public criminal proceedings for crimes committed during the 20 […]

    #FRONT_PAGE #ICC #Justice

  • Palestinians Urge Speedy ICC Probe Into Alleged Israeli Crimes
    Haaretz Israeli News Source
    http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.683358

    Palestinian leaders on Friday handed what they called evidence of Israeli crimes committed in the recent outburst of violence to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court.
    Foreign Minister Riad Malki said the Palestinians submitted details to Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of what they described as extra-judicial killings of Palestinians as well as home demolitions and other forms of collective punishment.

  • International Criminal Court planning to send delegation to examine complaints against Israel - Diplomacy and Defense - - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
    http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.660633

    A delegation from the prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court at The Hague is due to arrive in Israel on June 27 as part of the prosecution’s preliminary examination into whether war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in the occupied Palestinian territories, according to senior Palestinian sources.

    The sources said Palestinian political leaders had been informed of the delegation’s planned arrival by the court recently. The purpose of the preliminary examination is to determine if there is a reasonable basis to the claim that crimes have been committed that are within the court’s authority to investigate. If the prosecution does decide to launch an investigation, it is possible they will not just investigate allegations of Israeli war crimes, but also actions committed by the Palestinians.
    […]
    On June 25, meanwhile, the Palestinians will give the prosecution two files containing detailed information about Israeli activities in the West Bank settlements, including in East Jerusalem, and about Israeli military attacks in the Gaza Strip over the past year. A Palestinian delegation headed by Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki will be traveling to The Hague to deliver the files to prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

    De son côté Israël réfléchit à la suite à donner à la demande de visite. Vu les arguments développés, une pleine et entière collaboration ne semble pas vraiment à l’ordre du jour.

    Israel has yet to respond to the prosecution request and will hold discussions about it over the next few days. “We will examine every request for a visit while taking into account all the relevant considerations, including Israel’s position that Palestine is not a state and therefore the court has no authority to consider the Palestinian complaint.

  • Netanyahu : #Israel preparing ’offensive’ to combat boycott calls
    By Barak Ravid | Jun. 7, 2015 | 12:20 PM
    http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.660003

    Le message à faire passer est dans le pur style #foutage_de_gueule éhonté de Netanyahu,

    As far as those leading the boycott calls are concerned, the settlements in Judea and Samaria [West Bank] are not the focus of the conflict, but rather our settlements in Tel Aviv and Jaffa, in Haifa and Jerusalem,"

    [...]

    “At the same time that we are trying to advance a diplomatic process, the Palestinians are pushing forward with steps against us in the United Nations and at the International Criminal Court in The Hague,”

    #Israël #bds

  • ICC prosecutor: Without cooperation, Gaza war probe will rely on evidence from just one side - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
    http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.656241

    Fatou Bensouda tells AP that she has not received any information yet from either side regarding last summer’s Gaza war.

    he prosecutor of the International Criminal Court warned Israel on Tuesday that if it does not provide reliable information for her preliminary probe into possible war crimes in Palestinian territories, she may be forced to decide whether to launch a full-scale investigation based only on Palestinian allegations.

    Fatou Bensouda told The Associated Press in an interview that she has not received any information yet from either side regarding last summer’s Gaza war. She stressed that it was in “the best interest” of both sides to provide information.

    Bensouda opened a preliminary examination in mid-January after the Palestinians accepted the court’s jurisdiction dating back to just before last year’s Gaza war in which more than 2,200 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, were killed. In Israel, 67 soldiers and six civilians were killed.

    The Palestinians accepted the court’s jurisdiction in mid-January and officially joined the ICC on April 1 in hopes of prosecuting Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict so they are certain to provide Bensouda with information. Israel, however, has denounced the Palestinian action as “scandalous,” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning that it turns the ICC “into part of the problem and not part of the solution.”

    Bensouda said her office is “making attempts” to contact the Israelis and to reach out to the Palestinians.

    “If I don’t have the information that I’m requesting,” she said, “I will be forced to find it from elsewhere, or I may perhaps be forced to just go with just one side of the story. That is why I think it’s in the best interest of both sides to provide my office with information.”

    She stressed repeatedly that a preliminary examination is not an investigation, calling it “a quiet process” to collect information from reliable sources and both sides of the conflict.

    Bensouda said the prosecutor’s office will then analyze the information to determine whether four criteria are met: Do the crimes come under ICC jurisdiction? Are there any national legal proceedings dealing with those crimes, which could take precedence over ICC action? Are the crimes grave enough to warrant the intervention of the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal? Will it not be against the interest of justice if the ICC intervenes?

    Once the analysis is made, she said, the prosecutor has three options — to open an investigation, not to open an investigation, or to seek additional information.

  • Otherwise Occupied / Fighting for Bruce Lee at The Hague
    A word of advice to the International Criminal Court: Law enforcement officers who don’t put settlers on trial for attacking Palestinians must also be considered suspects.
    By Amira Hass | Jan. 19, 2015 Israel News | Haaretz
    http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.637747

    If Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had asked me, I would have suggested that the International Criminal Court in The Hague investigate suspicions of war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories starting from April 18, 2011, not June 13, 2014. Why? Because on April 19, 2011, a terrorist with a Jewish appearance shot Bruce Lee.

    Bruce Lee? His friends from the West Bank village of Burin hoped his unconventional name would attract widespread attention, so that the attack against him would not be buried – like almost 100 other documented cases since 2005 had been of Jewish terrorists attacking village residents.

    His friends were mistaken. Lee’s name did not lead to earth-shattering headlines. I, too, am partly at fault. Twice I intended to write; twice, events of force majeure intervened and the reporting was postponed.

    The most important thing: Israel Police’s Judea and Samaria District let the investigation drift away, as is it customarily does. The file was passed back and forth from the police in Ariel to the Central District prosecutor’s office, and to the prosecution in the Samaria District – and then closed. Closed despite the file containing video footage of the incident that had been provided to the police, along with three eyewitnesses who identified the Israeli with the pistol from a lineup of digital pictures, and despite Bruce Lee’s serious injury.

    Bruce Lee? Some 40 years ago, his elder brother really loved the actor from the martial arts movies, and asked his pregnant mother to name his soon-to-be-born brother after him.

    After high school, Bruce Lee Eid thought about studying overseas, maybe law. “But then my brother, who returned to the West Bank with the Sulta [Palestinian Authority] in 1994, told me, ‘Join the Palestinian police. Serve your people. A state will be established and things will be okay.’ We are all Fatah, we are all for the PLO and peace, and we fought for independence. They convinced us that the way to independence is peace, and this is the peace of the brave.”

    Truly brave

    And Bruce Lee Eid is truly brave. Brave like the rest of his neighbors who built their homes in a section of northeast Burin. This is in Area B – in other words, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for providing building permits here, and the Israeli Civil Administration cannot prevent it from doing so. The neighborhood climbs up on a number of levels on the side of a mountain, below the peak, above which spreads out the unauthorized and illegal outpost of Givat Ronen, a descendant of the government-authorized but illegal settlement of Har Bracha.

  • If Palestinians join ICC, Israel’s actions may trigger court’s jurisdiction - Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court would have a hard time arguing that the occupation and the plight of Gaza Palestinians are outside their jurisdiction.
    By Aeyal Gross | Jan. 3, 2015 | Haaretz
    http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.635096

    In November, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Fatou Bensouda, halted the investigation into the 2010 Gaza flotilla affair in which Israeli commandos killed civilians on the Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara. She did so despite concluding that there were reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes had been committed on board. She said the case was not of sufficient gravity to justify further action by the ICC.

    However, several of the Prosecutor’s statements highlight the risks facing Israel, especially now that the Palestinians have moved to join the court. For example, the prosecutor insisted that even though Israel declares that it no longer controls Gaza, the prevalent view amoung the international community is that Israeli control of the territory even after the 2005 disengagement is tantamount to an occupation.

    The insufficient-gravity argument is based on the court’s constitution, which stipulates that the ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes when they are committed as part of a plan or policy, or as part of a large scale commission of the crimes.. In the Marmara case, the prosecutor cited insufficient gravity because this was an isolated case with a small number of victims.

    The court has no authority over incidents that occur in the wider context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the prosecutor said. While the situation of Gaza’s civilian population is a matter of international community, it did not fall under the jurisdiction of the court.

    The fact that the Palestinians are moving to join the court completely changes the situation. The prosecutor will now have to decide whether to treat Palestine as a state that can join the court — which is likely to happen.

    In April 2012, an ICC prosecutor decided not to investigate Palestinian claims of war crimes committed during the 2008-09 Gaza war. He noted that it was unclear whether Palestine was a state; the court’s statute stipulates that only a state can agree to the ICC’s investigation of alleged crimes committed on its soil (the exception being cases brought by the UN Security Council). The prosecutor said Palestine was only recognized as an observer, not a nonmember state, and that if this changed he could consider alleged crimes committed in Palestine.

    But things have changed. In November 2012 the UN General Assembly recognized Palestine as a nonmember state. Acceptance as a member state requires a recommendation by the Security Council, but an American veto precludes such a step. Still, Palestine is recognized as a nonmember state. Based on her predecessor’s decisions, which were largely based on UN resolutions, Bensouda will now be able to open files against Israelis and Palestinians suspected of war crimes.

    This is different than the Marmara case, where the vessel was registered in the Comoros Islands, which lodged the complaint. The prosecutor will now have a hard time arguing that the plight of Gaza Palestinians is outside its jurisdiction. Recognition of Palestine as a state and its joining the ICC can be interpreted as an extension of the court’s jurisdiction over all Palestinian territory in the West Bank and Gaza. The scope of incidents in both places would make it harder to claim insufficient gravity.

    So which topics might show up at the court’s doorstep? The killing of civilians by Israel could launch an investigation, as would the killing of Israeli civilians by Palestinians; for example, by Hamas’ rockets.

    True, the Palestinians’ move to join the ICC contains risks for Palestinians as well, but in cases of Palestinians attacking Israelis, they are already at risk of assassination by Israel or long prison terms if caught. In contrast, Israelis have enjoyed de facto immunity from prosecution for Israel’s actions. The Palestinian move is designed to lift this immunity.

    Also note that the ICC’s constitution, just like the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibits the transfer of civilians from an occupying power to an occupied territory. Such activity is deemed a war crime. This opens the path to proceedings against Israeli leaders responsible for establishing and expanding settlements in the West Bank.

    Israel claimed in the past that the settlements were not banned by international law because the Geneva Convention does not apply to territory in which there was no previous sovereign. This claim was rejected by the international community and the International Court of Justice in The Hague when it ruled on the building of the separation barrier. (The ICJ deals with contentious cases between states, and gives advisory opinions, , while the ICC tries individuals.)

    It’s unlikely that the ICC will decide differently. Some may consider that the prosecutor and court will evade the matter because the alleged crimes in this case do not involve the killing of civilians. But a specific clause on this matter was added to the Rome Statute despite Israel’s opposition, and the court can’t ignore it.

    The ICC may actually decide that the settlements, no less than the killing of civilians, lie at the heart of the occupation and the denial of Palestinian self-determination, making it a good case to focus on. In contrast, when civilians are killed there are more complex issues, such as “proportionality.”

    Also, in such cases the court’s authority may be blocked by the principle of “complementarity,” which states that the court will not have jurisdiction over a case if the relevant country conducts a genuine investigation or prosecution regarding it. Israel may claim that it has probed all cases in which civilians were killed during the 2014 Gaza operation. The complementarity principle does not, however, apply to the settlements which form part of a declared government policy.

    It’s still a long way before Israelis are prosecuted. The prosecutor may try to quash any attempts to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so as to avoid a collision course with the United States and certain European countries. On the other hand, all current cases are against Africans, so the prosecutors, which is currently considering some cases involving world powers such as the United States and Russia, may be eager to show the court does not only prosecute Africans.

    All told, the path is now open for embarrassing judicial-diplomatic complexities. The Israeli High Court’s recent approval of punitive house demolitions reflects the gap between Israeli legal positions and international norms; such demolitions could be construed as war crimes. This is but one example of the risks posed by the Palestinians’ move in recent days.

  • France to Israel: We backed Palestinians in Security Council to prevent ICC bid
    Israeli diplomat meets French ambassador, conveys Israel’s deep disappointment with France’s vote in Security Council; French envoy says Paris wanted to encourage sides to return to negotiating table.
    By Barak Ravid | Jan. 2, 2015 | 1:45 PM Haaretz
    http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.635054

    French ambassador to Israel Patrick Maisonnave reported to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on Friday after being summoned over his country’s vote in favor of the Palestinian statehood resolution at the UN Security Council earlier this week. French officials told Haaretz that Maisonnave clarified in the meeting that France voted for the resolution in order to try and prevent the Palestinians from pursuing other unilateral steps such as joining the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

    Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said that the ministry’s deputy director-general for Western Europe, Aviv Shir-On, told the French ambassador that Israel was deeply disappointed by France’s stance and its vote in the UNSC. “The only way to reach progress with the Palestinians is through direct negotiations, not through unilateral announcements or a unilateral policy,” Shir-On said at the meeting.

    During the meeting, the French ambassador said that the international community is of one mind over the need to break the diplomatic stalemate and the dangerous status quo. According to him, France voted as it did in order to encourage the sides back to the negotiating table.

    Maisonnave also said that France disagreed with several parts in the Palestinian resolution and therefore tried to formulate its own draft.

    He noted that the vote was not aimed against Israel, but an effort to prevent further unilateral steps that would strengthen extremists on both sides. “That’s exactly what happened after the Security Council rejected the proposal, and the Palestinians went to The Hague,” the French ambassador said.

    He added that France would keep trying to promote its own version of the resolution in the Security Council, presenting principles for the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on all the core issues of the conflict.

    “The latest escalation is all the more reason to keep acting,” he emphasized.

    The Palestinian proposal calling for peace with Israel within a year and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories by late 2017 failed to pass the UNSC vote on Tuesday, after only eight member states voted in its favor, one vote short of the requirement.

    Israel’s Foreign Ministry has been closely following the deteriorating relations with France, and even held a special meeting on the matter about two weeks ago. A source who took part in the meeting said participants conveyed a sense that France is less attuned to Israel’s positions on the Palestinian matter.

    Moreover, over the past three months the Foreign Ministry has identified several incidents in which events, delegations, and planned collaborations with French bodies were canceled in the last minute. Among these were a Paris conference of Israeli and French high-tech companies and a visit by a delegation of French lawyers in Israel.

    A senior official said that in each of these cases a different reason was given, and that on the face of it they were unconnected. It is also unclear if the French government was behind the cancellations. However, the overall impression is that of deteriorating relations. “There is a sense that the French are trying to link the progress in the peace process to the promotion of bilateral ties with Israel,” the official said.

    In addition to these incidents, there is also the recent vote in the French parliament calling on the government to recognize the Palestinian state.

    • « Profonde déception »
      Publié 02 Janvier 2015 - 20:52
      http://www.i24news.tv/fr/actu/israel/diplomatie-defense/56439-150102-resolution-palestinienne-israel-exprime-sa-profonde-deception-a

      L’ambassadeur de France en Israël Patrick Maisonnave a précisé au ministère des Affaires étrangères à Jérusalem lors de la réunion que la France a voté pour la résolution afin d’essayer d’empêcher les Palestiniens de poursuivre d’autres mesures unilatérales comme l’adhésion à la Cour pénale internationale à La Haye, a rapporté Haaretz vendredi.

      L’ambassadeur français a en effet déclaré que la communauté internationale a en tête de sortir de l’impasse diplomatique et du statu quo dangereux dans la région. Selon lui, la France a voté en faveur de la résolution à l’Onu afin d’encourager les parties à revenir à la table de négociation.

      Maisonnave a également déclaré que la France était en désaccord avec plusieurs paragraphes de la résolution palestinienne et a donc essayé de formuler son propre projet.

      « Le vote n’était pas dirigé contre Israël », a-t-il tenu à préciser, ajoutant que la France tentait encore de soumettre sa propre version de la résolution au Conseil de sécurité, basée sur un principe de négociations directes.

  • Palestine’s UNSC defeat is nothing to celebrate
    Israel is now facing the conflict’s internationalization - and potentially the dock of the International Criminal Court.
    Haaretz Editorial | Jan. 1, 2015 Haaretz
    http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.634801

    The failure of the Jordanian-Palestinian UN Security Council draft resolution was not an Israeli success. It brought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back to the starting point and also pushed the Palestinian government into applying to join the International Criminal Court by ratifying the Rome Statute. Both results are bad and pose threats to Israel.

    In putting the resolution to a vote in the Security Council, the Palestinians sought to punch through the diplomatic dead end by setting a short timetable for negotiations and an end to the occupation, or as the French envoy to the United Nations put it, with the vision of a two-state solution receding, “the peace process must evolve. If parties can’t take decisions alone, the international community has to share the burden.”

    This logical conclusion should also guide the policy of the United States, which has firsthand experience with the defensive wall that Israel has put up against negotiations with the Palestinians. If the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, genuinely believes, as she said, that the vote “should not be interpreted as a victory for an unsustainable status quo” but rather “as a wake-up call to catalyze all interested parties to take constructive, responsible steps to achieve a two-state solution,” then she and those whom she represents must explain what is wrong with setting a short timetable for negotiating and ending the occupation. Do they have some untried invention, or are they in fact motivated by political considerations, by the calculation that were the resolution approved it could bolster the right wing in Israel’s March election?

    The states that voted against the resolution ostensibly did so because they disagreed with its formulation, particularly the reference to the refugee problem and the recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. But these two points, which are also included in the Saudi peace initiative, are not really an obstacle. Israel’s anger, which has so far managed to sweep along the United States as well, is over Palestinian temerity for “taking a unilateral step” and “creating a provocation” instead of sitting down at the negotiating table.

    Israel views the internationalization of the conflict as the real threat. This could deprive Israel of the exclusive management, of nonmanagement, of the negotiations, of setting preconditions and formulating the outcome.

    These states cannot carry the burden in the stead of Israel’s government. The resolution’s defeat is the wake-up call of the Israeli public, which in two and a half months must decide whether to continue to live with the explosive status quo or to give the peace process a genuine chance.

  • Palestinian killed in Israel jail buried | Maan News Agency
    http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=727070

    HEBRON (Ma’an) — Palestinian detainee Raed al-Jabari, 35 , who allegedly died after being tortured while in Israeli prison custody, was laid to rest on Friday in Hebron.

    Palestinian mourners marched from al-Hussein Bin Ali mosque in central Hebron voicing their demands that Israeli leaders be held accountable in the International Criminal Court.

    Al-Jabari was detained by Israeli forces on July 26 when he turned himself in after running into several Israeli settlers with his car in Gush Etzion.

    He told Israeli forces that it was an accident, and a court decided to release him on bail.

    However, he later died in custody after what Palestinian officials described as torture.

    Issa Qaraqe, former minister of prisoner affairs, said in a news conference that the results of an autopsy showed that internal bleeding and a concussion were the cause of death.

  • US Leaders Aid and Abet Israeli War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes against Humanity

    By sending vast amounts of military aid to Israel, members of the US Congress, President George W. Bush, President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel have aided and abetted the commission of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity by Israeli officials and commanders in Gaza. An individual can be convicted of a war crime, genocide or a crime against humanity [PDF] in the International Criminal Court (ICC) if he or she “aids, abets or otherwise assists” in the commission or attempted commission of the crime, “including providing the means for its commission.”


    http://truth-out.org/news/item/25476-us-leaders-aid-and-abet-israeli-war-crimes-genocide-and-crimes-agai

    #USA #Israël #aide_militaire #Etats-Unis