Associated Press says U.S. government seized journalists' phone records →

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Associated Press on Monday said the U.S. government secretly seized telephone records of AP offices and reporters for a two-month period in 2012, describing the acts as a massive and unprecedented intrusion” into news-gathering operations.
 

“There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters,” Pruitt said in the letter, which was addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder.

An AP story on the records seizure said the government would not say why it sought the records.

But it noted that U.S. officials have previously said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia was conducting a criminal investigation into information contained in a May 7, 2012, AP story about a CIA operation in Yemen that stopped an al Qaeda plot to detonate a bomb on an airplane headed for the United States.

Five reporters and an editor involved in that story were among those whose phone numbers were obtained by the government, the AP said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia, which notified the AP of the seizure, issued a statement on Monday saying it was “careful and deliberative” when dealing with issues around freedom of the press.

“We take seriously our obligations to follow all applicable laws, federal regulations, and Department of Justice policies when issuing subpoenas for phone records of media organizations,” the office said.

A Justice Department spokesman referred inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The seized phone records were for April and May of 2012 and AP bureaus in New York, Hartford and Washington were among those affected, as well as an AP phone at the U.S. House of Representatives press gallery, the AP said.

The records seized included general AP switchboard numbers and an office shared fax line, according to the AP story on the probe.

Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli interrogation center →

By  |Published February 23, 2013

A Palestinian man died in Israeli custody, reportedly during or after being interrogated by Israel on Saturday. The death comes amid spreading West Bank protests in solidarity with hunger striking prisoners. Near Nablus, settlers reportedly shoot a Palestinian man in the stomach.

A 30-year-old Palestinian man, Arafat Jaradat, died while in Israeli custody today. According to Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq, Jaradat died either during or shortly after he was interrogated in Meggido Prison.

Speaking to the Agence France Presse, a spokeswoman for the Israel Prisons Service confirmed the death. She claimed, “It was probably a cardiac arrest.”

But Al Haq reports that Jaradat, who was arrested on February 18, had no known health conditions. Jaradat was from the West Bank village of Sa’ir, which is north of Hebron. He is survived by two children and his wife is reportedly pregnant with their third child.

Palestinian prisoners will go on hunger strike in protest of Jaradat’s death, the Palestinian news agency Maan reports.

According to B’Tselem, more than 4,500 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons; 178 of the detainees are being held without trial in administrative detention. The UN reports that approximately 700,000 Palestinians have been held in Israeli prisons since the occupation began in 1967. Many of these prisoners have been held without charge on administrative detention orders. Children have also been jailed. In 2012, 143 children between 16 and 18 were held in Israeli jails, including 21 minors under the age of 15.

Jaradat’s death comes as Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi has been on hunger strike for over 200 days. Al Haq reports that Issawi’s family is being harassed by Israeli forces. Issawi’s brother, Shadi, was arrested last week; Issawi’s sister, Shirin, was detained for 24 hours in December and was put on house arrest. On New Year’s Day, Israeli forces razed the home of Issawi’s brother, Rafat.

As Samer Issawi’s condition deteriorates, protests and clashes have spread throughout the West Bank. Dozens of Palestinian protesters were injured in demonstrations throughout the West Bank on Friday, including one who was shot with live ammunition in Hebron.

On Saturday, 26-year-old Abdel Hassan was reportedly shot in the stomach by Israeli settlers who invaded the village of Qusra near Nablus, he was in serious condition in a Nablus hospital. A 16-year-old boy was also shot in the leg in the same incident.

As Palestinian hunger strikes come to a head, world begins to take notice By Michael Omer-Man |Published February 18, 2013 All anyone in Israel has spoken about for the past week is ‘Prisoner X,’ the Jewish-Israeli-Australian Mossad agent held secretly by his own country, who supposedly took his own life in prison two years ago. But only a few miles from Israeli newsrooms in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, outrage over a different type of prisoner in Israeli jails has been mounting for months and is coming to a head. Four Palestinian men in Israeli prisons are currently in the late stages of prolonged hunger strikes protesting the legal basis of their imprisonment: administrative detention and military committee sentencing decisions based on secret evidence. Both amount to imprisonment without knowledge of what they are accused and without the right to a trial. In recent days, at least one of the prisoners reportedly intensified his hunger strike, refusing all medical treatment, including vitamins and minerals. Their health is said to be deteriorating. Thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets throughout the West Bank in recent weeks, leading to violent clashes with the IDF and including protests that shut down the Ramallah offices of the Red Cross and UN. European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Quartet envoy Tony Blair have both called on Israel to respect the human rights of Palestinian prisonersin accordance with its obligations in international law. Responding to the hunger strikers’ deteriorating health condition, Ashton said Saturday, “Under international law, detainees have the right to be informed about the reasons underlying any detention and to have the legality of their detention determined without undue delay.” The Arab League has demanded the international community take responsibilityand break its “unjustified silence” over the injustices Israel subjects Palestinian prisoners to. In its preparations for U.S. President Obama’s upcoming visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah, the Palestinian government is also reportedly pushing the issue of prisoners to the top of its agenda. The longest of the hunger strikes is reported to be around 200 days, although it was not clear if it has been continuous. Samer Issawi was released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in October, 2011, having served 10 years of a 30-year sentence. He began his hunger strike nine months later, shortly after the IDF re-arrested him. Issawi is protesting the legal mechanism that put him in prison without access to due process. He was re-sentenced by a military committee using secret evidence that neither he nor his lawyers can see, and therefore cannot mount a defense in court. Ayman Sharawna was also re-arrested and sentenced under similar conditions using secret evidence, thereby denying him the ability to defend himself in court. Two other prisoners on hunger strike, Jafar Azzidine and Tareq Qa’adan, are being held in administrative detention; they were never charged with a crime, told what they are accused of or given a chance to defend themselves or clear their names. Those two men have been on a continuous hunger strike for 84 days and are being held at a medical facility in Ramle Prison. According to Physicians for Human Rights, they are not eating but are drinking and receiving some minerals and vitamins. Administrative detention, which is permissible under international law only in extreme cases to prevent immediate and grave dangers, is widely abused by Israel to imprison Palestinians. During a mass, 1,400-prisoner hunger strike last year to protest the practice, Israel was said to be holding over 300 Palestinians in administrative detention. Acknowledging the legally problematic nature of the practice, even the most senior Israeli security officials have admitted it is unnecessary. But beyond the highly problematic and illegal (under international law) mechanisms for detaining them, Israel’s treatment toward the hunger strikers defies its own laws and regulations, medical ethics and international conventions, Israeli NGO Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) wrote in a statement. After petitioning Israeli courts to demand visits with the hunger striking prisoners, PHR recently met with and examined Azzidine and Qa’adan. They were are kept shackled in their hospital beds overnight and are being denied family visits, despite being in danger of dying, the statement said. The main health danger for hunger strikers, PHR’s executive director Ran Cohen told +972 is that heart failure can take place without any warning, at any time. Azzidine and Qa’adan were recently brought to Assaf Harofe Medical Center against their will and underwent medical testing despite their refusal to be treated, they told a lawyer representing PHR, Cohen said. The prisoners refused to be taken to civilian hospitals unless they were given guarantees they will not be shackled to their beds, which goes against Israeli Medical Association and Israel Prison Service regulations. Nonetheless, after being physically forced to go to the hospital, the two reported that their wrists and ankles were shackled to their beds overnight during their hospitalization. “Israel’s use of administrative detention based on military regulations to incarcerate individuals without trial is evidence that this is but one more tool used to repress residents of the occupied territories,” a PHR statement asserted. “The fact that medical personnel are also involved, the violations of the right to health and the courts failure to preserve the inmates’ rights is evidence of Israel’s widespread and systemic moral, ethical and professional failures,” the statement added. Israeli courts are set to hear appeals in two cases relating to the hunger strikers in the coming days. One of the cases is challenging the military committees that sentenced the men, and the second is by PHR seeking regular access to the hunger strikers. On a separate but related note, a PLO official reportedly said U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro promised him Israel would release 550 Palestinian prisoners ahead of Obama’s visit in the coming weeks, according to Israeli daily Ma’ariv on Monday. (Hebrew) Update (Tuesday, Feb 19):On Tuesday, 800 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons began a one-day hunger strike in solidarity with the four hunger strikers, Palestinian prisoner support and human rights NGO Addameer reported. Update 2 (Tuesday, Feb 19):The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court rejected a request to release Samer Assawi earlier Tuesday. His next hearing is scheduled for March 14.

As Palestinian hunger strikes come to a head, world begins to take notice

By  |Published February 18, 2013

All anyone in Israel has spoken about for the past week is ‘Prisoner X,’ the Jewish-Israeli-Australian Mossad agent held secretly by his own country, who supposedly took his own life in prison two years ago. But only a few miles from Israeli newsrooms in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, outrage over a different type of prisoner in Israeli jails has been mounting for months and is coming to a head.

Four Palestinian men in Israeli prisons are currently in the late stages of prolonged hunger strikes protesting the legal basis of their imprisonment: administrative detention and military committee sentencing decisions based on secret evidence. Both amount to imprisonment without knowledge of what they are accused and without the right to a trial.

In recent days, at least one of the prisoners reportedly intensified his hunger strike, refusing all medical treatment, including vitamins and minerals. Their health is said to be deteriorating.

Thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets throughout the West Bank in recent weeks, leading to violent clashes with the IDF and including protests that shut down the Ramallah offices of the Red Cross and UN.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Quartet envoy Tony Blair have both called on Israel to respect the human rights of Palestinian prisonersin accordance with its obligations in international law. Responding to the hunger strikers’ deteriorating health condition, Ashton said Saturday, “Under international law, detainees have the right to be informed about the reasons underlying any detention and to have the legality of their detention determined without undue delay.”

The Arab League has demanded the international community take responsibilityand break its “unjustified silence” over the injustices Israel subjects Palestinian prisoners to.

In its preparations for U.S. President Obama’s upcoming visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah, the Palestinian government is also reportedly pushing the issue of prisoners to the top of its agenda.

The longest of the hunger strikes is reported to be around 200 days, although it was not clear if it has been continuous. Samer Issawi was released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in October, 2011, having served 10 years of a 30-year sentence. He began his hunger strike nine months later, shortly after the IDF re-arrested him. Issawi is protesting the legal mechanism that put him in prison without access to due process. He was re-sentenced by a military committee using secret evidence that neither he nor his lawyers can see, and therefore cannot mount a defense in court.

Ayman Sharawna was also re-arrested and sentenced under similar conditions using secret evidence, thereby denying him the ability to defend himself in court.

Two other prisoners on hunger strike, Jafar Azzidine and Tareq Qa’adan, are being held in administrative detention; they were never charged with a crime, told what they are accused of or given a chance to defend themselves or clear their names. Those two men have been on a continuous hunger strike for 84 days and are being held at a medical facility in Ramle Prison. According to Physicians for Human Rights, they are not eating but are drinking and receiving some minerals and vitamins.

Administrative detention, which is permissible under international law only in extreme cases to prevent immediate and grave dangers, is widely abused by Israel to imprison Palestinians. During a mass, 1,400-prisoner hunger strike last year to protest the practice, Israel was said to be holding over 300 Palestinians in administrative detention. Acknowledging the legally problematic nature of the practice, even the most senior Israeli security officials have admitted it is unnecessary.

But beyond the highly problematic and illegal (under international law) mechanisms for detaining them, Israel’s treatment toward the hunger strikers defies its own laws and regulations, medical ethics and international conventions, Israeli NGO Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) wrote in a statement.

After petitioning Israeli courts to demand visits with the hunger striking prisoners, PHR recently met with and examined Azzidine and Qa’adan. They were are kept shackled in their hospital beds overnight and are being denied family visits, despite being in danger of dying, the statement said.

The main health danger for hunger strikers, PHR’s executive director Ran Cohen told +972 is that heart failure can take place without any warning, at any time.

Azzidine and Qa’adan were recently brought to Assaf Harofe Medical Center against their will and underwent medical testing despite their refusal to be treated, they told a lawyer representing PHR, Cohen said. The prisoners refused to be taken to civilian hospitals unless they were given guarantees they will not be shackled to their beds, which goes against Israeli Medical Association and Israel Prison Service regulations. Nonetheless, after being physically forced to go to the hospital, the two reported that their wrists and ankles were shackled to their beds overnight during their hospitalization.

“Israel’s use of administrative detention based on military regulations to incarcerate individuals without trial is evidence that this is but one more tool used to repress residents of the occupied territories,” a PHR statement asserted.

“The fact that medical personnel are also involved, the violations of the right to health and the courts failure to preserve the inmates’ rights is evidence of Israel’s widespread and systemic moral, ethical and professional failures,” the statement added.

Israeli courts are set to hear appeals in two cases relating to the hunger strikers in the coming days. One of the cases is challenging the military committees that sentenced the men, and the second is by PHR seeking regular access to the hunger strikers.

On a separate but related note, a PLO official reportedly said U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro promised him Israel would release 550 Palestinian prisoners ahead of Obama’s visit in the coming weeks, according to Israeli daily Ma’ariv on Monday. (Hebrew)

Update (Tuesday, Feb 19):
On Tuesday, 800 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons began a one-day hunger strike in solidarity with the four hunger strikers, Palestinian prisoner support and human rights NGO Addameer reported.

Update 2 (Tuesday, Feb 19):
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court rejected a request to release Samer Assawi earlier Tuesday. His next hearing is scheduled for March 14.

"The officials added that the deal would not be a written agreement, and that no papers will be signed. “There will be understandings that will center on the cessation of Gaza rocket fire and the end of IAF strikes,” the officials said, adding that “discussions with the Egyptians on other issues like border crossings and arms smuggling will take place down the line” (Barak Ravid)"

Ha’aretz (via fireintheheart)

Well.
mohandasgandhi: crisisgroup: Turkey police crack down on Kurds | CNN By Ivan Watson and Gul Tuysuz Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) - About 200 Kurdish demonstrators marched up a narrow Istanbul street behind a large banner that said “political prisoners are our pride, we will not stay silent over the deaths in prison.” The group’s organizers were expecting trouble. They were marching on Tuesday without a government permit. Barely 200 yards up the road, the crowd encountered a squad of armored Turkish riot police and a big police vehicle blocking the road. FULL ARTICLE (CNN) Photo: Alienari/Flickr What’s going on in Turkey right now is really interesting. I’d pay attention to it.

mohandasgandhi:

crisisgroup:

Turkey police crack down on Kurds | CNN

By Ivan Watson and Gul Tuysuz

Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) - About 200 Kurdish demonstrators marched up a narrow Istanbul street behind a large banner that said “political prisoners are our pride, we will not stay silent over the deaths in prison.”

The group’s organizers were expecting trouble. They were marching on Tuesday without a government permit.

Barely 200 yards up the road, the crowd encountered a squad of armored Turkish riot police and a big police vehicle blocking the road.

FULL ARTICLE (CNN)

Photo: Alienari/Flickr

What’s going on in Turkey right now is really interesting. I’d pay attention to it.

Possible Early Israeli Elections [as usual]

Israeli governments are frequently prone to collapse, this comes as little surprise when following the current economic situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories  Naturally this will be of some interest given recent developments on the international stage.  News on new government coalitions is already developing. 

Knesset speaker calls for early elections

Oct.05, 2012

Speaker Reuven Rivlin called on the Knesset on Thursday to pass a resolution to disband within a few days after it reconvenes on October 15 - a move that would prepare the ground for early elections.

MK Rivlin said he expects the country to go to the polls during the second or third week of February, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forming the next government.

Among the other parties in Netanyahu’s coalition, there is a growing sense that the elections will be held in February or March. Absent a move toward an early vote, the country would go to the polls next autumn.

“There is no doubt that the political decision has been made and all the parties are preparing for elections,” said Rivlin (Likud). “If we really are facing elections, the Knesset would do well to pass a law and disband immediately, within days or even within the first hours of the winter session and not drag the decision out for weeks and weeks.”

Rivlin also stressed the need to approve a 2013 budget as soon as possible. “We are in a global financial crisis that threatens to sweep up Israel, and without a 2013 budget, there will be disastrous consequences for the socioeconomic situation and for weaker segments of the population,” he said.

“The economic situation does not permit the country to exist without an approved budget, so elections should be held as quickly as possible.”

On Tuesday, Netanyahu held meetings with the heads of the other coalition parties to consider whether to step up efforts to pass the 2013 budget or move up the elections. He met with officials including Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz of his Likud party and Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who heads the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.

The prospect of early elections arose after Yishai said Shas would not support wide-ranging budget cuts, particularly cuts to benefits for the elderly, single-parent families and the poor.

A senior Likud minister close to Netanyahu told Haaretz this week that barring unforeseen developments, the elections will be moved up due to the budget impasse. If the Knesset disbands shortly after it reconvenes and therefore fails to pass a budget for next year, ministries will head into the new year with monthly budgets equal to their original monthly allocations for 2012.

“The price of cuts is highly problematic as far as the public is concerned,” the minister said. “I see no logical reason to defer going to the polls before October [2013], and it’s better to go to early elections, unless the prime minister decides to pass the budget at any price.”

Political sources told Haaretz this week that Netanyahu indeed seeks to bring the elections forward but wants to put the blame on Shas for opposing the cuts to entitlements. The sources say Netanyahu wants to create the impression that he seeks to pass a budget for next year, but Shas is complicating matters and forcing him to go to the polls.

In any case, sources at the Prime Minister’s Office said this week that no final decision had been made.

“The prime minister made it clear on his return from the United States that he is looking into the feasibility of an early election, and he’s expected to make a decision in the coming days,” said a source close to Netanyahu. “But no such decision has been made. There is nothing new on the subject.”

More examples of Israeli government interference in academia. →

These recent upgrades, in the case of Ariel, and now shutdowns, as with Ben-Gurion, appear to demonstrate a disturbing trend toward government repression and control of higher education. This not only poses difficulties for the Israeli left, but raises some questions about the free expression of ideas within that state. 

State council seeks to shut down ‘leftist’ department at BGU

Noam Sheizaf | 24 September 2012

A major political battle is taking place this autumn within Israeli academia: the Israeli Council for Higher Education (CHE), a government-appointed body charged with the supervision and financing of universities and colleges in Israel, is attempting to shut down the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University (BGU). In recent years, the Department of Politics and Governments has been labeled by right-wing organizations as “the most leftist in Israel,” and leading academics have been subject to boycott call and demands not to renew their contracts. Yet, never before has the fate of the entire department been threatened.

Earlier this month, a sub-committee for quality control, which was appointed by the Israeli Council for Higher Education, recommended that the Department of Politics and Government at BGU be prevented from registering new students in the coming academic year, due to the failure to implement a report regarding “professional failures” in the department, issued last year. The recommendation, which effectively means closing down the department, will be voted on by the CHE on October 23rd.

Both the original report and the recent decision not to allow the Department of Politics and Government to register new students were leaked to the press before they were made known to Ben-Gurion University.

The attempt to shut down the BGU department cannot be separated from the government’s recent decision to turn a college in the West Bank settlement of Ariel into Israel’s eighth university. After packing the Israeli courts with right-wing judges and weakening the independent media, Netanyahu’s government is now attempting to politicize academia and silence dissenting voices. As a result, the nature of the public debate in Israel is rapidly changing.

In a public letter to all members of the Israeli academic and research community, Prof. Rivka Carmi, President of Ben-Gurion University stated:

The sub-committee’s decision was reached without any factual base to back it up; it is unreasonable and disproportional and most notably, it does not in any way reflect the opinion of the international committee which oversaw the process. We therefore wonder what is actually behind this decision.

Ironically, Professor Carmi has been known for years as a leading voice in criticizing the Israeli academics at her university who have expressed radical left-wing positions. But the attack on the university was so brutal and extreme, that it left the president no choice but to lead the campaign against it, several sources involved in the affair told me.

(cont.)

By Avi Issacharoff, Jack Khoury and The Associated Press | Sep.08, 2012 Mahmoud Abbas announced Saturday that the Palestinian Authority has decided to seek United Nations recognition as a non-member state. This will happen, said the Palestinian president, despite United States pressure opposing the move. Abbas, who spoke to reporters Saturday afternoon in the West Bank city of Ramallah, said the PA intends to submit the request to the UN General Assembly on September 27. “We are going to the United Nations so that it will confirm that we are a state under occupation. There are 133 states that recognize Palestine with its capital in Jerusalem and additional states with which we share diplomatic relations,” he said. Abbas said there are numerous obstacles and pressures facing the PA, which are directed at preventing the application to the UN. According to the PA president, United States opposition to the move is one of those pressures. The PA faces two difficult options, he added: one is to “turn to the UN and know what awaits us. The other is not to turn [to the UN], and not know what we are missing out on.” During his speech to the press on Saturday, Abbas also said that government employees would not receive full salaries in October because donor countries have not delivered promised aid. The U.S. and Arab countries have failed to come through this year with the aid money they have pledged, leaving the Palestinian Authority that governs much of the West Bank in a budgetary shortfall that has contributed to rising prices and delays in the payment of government salaries. The economic conditions have helped spark small but growing protests in the West Bank. Last week demonstrators halted traffic in key Palestinian cities. There are some 154,000 Palestinian civil servants, and their salaries help keep extended families out of poverty.

By Avi Issacharoff, Jack Khoury and The Associated Press | Sep.08, 2012

Mahmoud Abbas announced Saturday that the Palestinian Authority has decided to seek United Nations recognition as a non-member state. This will happen, said the Palestinian president, despite United States pressure opposing the move.

Abbas, who spoke to reporters Saturday afternoon in the West Bank city of Ramallah, said the PA intends to submit the request to the UN General Assembly on September 27. “We are going to the United Nations so that it will confirm that we are a state under occupation. There are 133 states that recognize Palestine with its capital in Jerusalem and additional states with which we share diplomatic relations,” he said.

Abbas said there are numerous obstacles and pressures facing the PA, which are directed at preventing the application to the UN. According to the PA president, United States opposition to the move is one of those pressures.

The PA faces two difficult options, he added: one is to “turn to the UN and know what awaits us. The other is not to turn [to the UN], and not know what we are missing out on.”

During his speech to the press on Saturday, Abbas also said that government employees would not receive full salaries in October because donor countries have not delivered promised aid.

The U.S. and Arab countries have failed to come through this year with the aid money they have pledged, leaving the Palestinian Authority that governs much of the West Bank in a budgetary shortfall that has contributed to rising prices and delays in the payment of government salaries.

The economic conditions have helped spark small but growing protests in the West Bank. Last week demonstrators halted traffic in key Palestinian cities.

There are some 154,000 Palestinian civil servants, and their salaries help keep extended families out of poverty.

Morocco accused of systematic abuses in W. Sahara

(AFP)

RABAT — A US human rights group on Monday accused Morocco of systematic human rights violations in Western Sahara, after visiting the disputed territory last week, saying its people live in a “state of fear.”

Responding to the accusations, government spokesman Mustapha al-Khalfi slammed “the biased nature” of the organisation, and insisted Rabat would follow through on its commitment to improving human rights throughout the kingdom.

The RFK Centre for Justice and Human Rights, in a preliminary report on its four-day visit, said it recognised positive changes to the Moroccan constitution, including “the criminalisation of torture, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances.”

The Washington-based group also highlighted greater gender equality and freedom of expression in the North African kingdom.

But it deplored the heavy military and police presence in the Moroccan-held territory, reporting widespread intimidation of the Sahrawi people, and saying it heard of “many cases of police brutality” against non-violent protesters.

It said the delegation itself was constantly followed by plain-clothes security officers, but still witnessed a uniformed policeman and three individuals attacking a woman who was peacefully protesting.

“The overwhelming presence of security forces, the violations of the right to life, liberty, personal integrity, freedom of expression, assembly, and association creates a state of fear and intimidation that violates the rule of law and respect for human rights of the Sahrawi people,” the group said.

It called on the Moroccan government “to put an end to the pattern of violence” that it said affected the Sahrawi people who support the independence of Western Sahara.

It is not the first time the RFK Centre has visited the region, and Moroccan officials have already accused the group of siding with the Polisario Front, which has been campaigning for Western Sahara’s independence since before its annexation in 1975.

“We are astonished by the speed with which this document has been compiled, which corresponds to the arguments of the other party,” said Khalfi, who is also communications minister.

The group also travelled to Tindouf, in western Algeria, where tens of thousands of Sahrawi refugees live in extreme conditions, and where the delegates met Polisario leaders, families of the conflict’s victims, UN agencies and NGOs.

The RFK Centre, in its 11-page report, referred only briefly to the problems facing the refugees in Tindouf.

It lamented the “very harsh” living conditions of “more than 100,000 Sahrawi people,” but praised the organisation and administration of the camps, which it said “have brought a sense of stability and normalcy.”

seinedoll: Jewish and Muslim leaders to gather in Paris to discuss attempts to proscribe religious practices in Europe PARIS (EJP) — 80 Jewish and Muslim religious leaders from 18 European countries, will gather this week in Paris to discuss mutual issues of concern, especially the escalating assault on religious practices in Europe. The “Second Gathering of European Jewish and Muslim Leaders,” will be hosted by the European Jewish Congress (EJC) in cooperation with the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and the Great Mosque of Paris. The two-day event on Tuesday and Wednesday will also be an opportunity for lay and religious leaders to discuss various issues such as Muslim-Jewish cooperation, fighting anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim bigotry and discuss effective strategies for combating extremism through mutual solidarity. Recent attempts to proscribe circumcision and religious slaughter are part of a growing assault on religion on the continent, Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress, will tell the participants. “The recent attacks against our religious practices in Europe are an assault on all people of faith and they are indeed an attack on freedom of expression, the very basis for a free, democratic and tolerant European society.” “Yesterday it was Jews, today it is Muslims and tomorrow it could be Christians.” “We, European citizens, Muslims and Jews, stand together and say to our opponents that you will not be able to change our culture, our traditions and our religion.  We are of course ready for compromise and dialogue with the governments and leadership of Europe. The Dutch model where the government and the communities sat and discussed until a compromise was reached is a positive model that I hope will be replicated in every country of good will,” says Kantor. Recent attacks against Jews and Muslims in Europe will also be addressed and the role community leaders can play. “When an attack is launched against a mosque or a synagogue, against Muslim or a Jew, like in Berlin in recent days, it is the responsibility of all of us to stand up and make loud our protest,” Kantor will say.

seinedoll:

Jewish and Muslim leaders to gather in Paris to discuss attempts to proscribe religious practices in Europe

PARIS (EJP) — 80 Jewish and Muslim religious leaders from 18 European countries, will gather this week in Paris to discuss mutual issues of concern, especially the escalating assault on religious practices in Europe.

The “Second Gathering of European Jewish and Muslim Leaders,” will be hosted by the European Jewish Congress (EJC) in cooperation with the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and the Great Mosque of Paris.

The two-day event on Tuesday and Wednesday will also be an opportunity for lay and religious leaders to discuss various issues such as Muslim-Jewish cooperation, fighting anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim bigotry and discuss effective strategies for combating extremism through mutual solidarity.

Recent attempts to proscribe circumcision and religious slaughter are part of a growing assault on religion on the continent, Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress, will tell the participants.

“The recent attacks against our religious practices in Europe are an assault on all people of faith and they are indeed an attack on freedom of expression, the very basis for a free, democratic and tolerant European society.”

“Yesterday it was Jews, today it is Muslims and tomorrow it could be Christians.”

“We, European citizens, Muslims and Jews, stand together and say to our opponents that you will not be able to change our culture, our traditions and our religion.  We are of course ready for compromise and dialogue with the governments and leadership of Europe. The Dutch model where the government and the communities sat and discussed until a compromise was reached is a positive model that I hope will be replicated in every country of good will,” says Kantor.

Recent attacks against Jews and Muslims in Europe will also be addressed and the role community leaders can play.

“When an attack is launched against a mosque or a synagogue, against Muslim or a Jew, like in Berlin in recent days, it is the responsibility of all of us to stand up and make loud our protest,” Kantor will say.