UN chief presses end to Israeli occupation of Palestine

UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Israeli criticism of attacks on its settlement policy unsustainable in an opinion piece published Sunday by The New York Times, doubling down on comments earlier in the week that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said encouraged terrorism.
In the piece entitled, “Don’t Shoot the Messenger, Israel,” Ban reiterates many of his earlier comments to Security Council last Tuesday, calling Israeli settlement activity “an affront to the Palestinian people,” adding that “it is human nature to resist occupation.” He also called for a freeze on settlement activity, which most of the international community views Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal or illegitimate.
“Criticism of the United Nations — or attacks against me — comes with the territory. But when heartfelt concerns about shortsighted or morally damaging policies emanate from so many sources, including Israel’s closest friends, it cannot be sustainable to keep lashing out at every well-intentioned critic,” Ban wrote.
Ban wrote that he would always stand up for Israel’s right to exist, but added: “the time has come for Israelis, Palestinians and the international community to read the writing on the wall: The status quo is untenable. Keeping another people under indefinite occupation undermines the security and the future of both Israelis and Palestinians.”
Ban’s criticism was sparked by Israel’s recent approval of 150 new homes in settlements on the West Bank. In the opinion piece, Ban also pointed out that last month Israel declared 370 acres in the West Bank, “state land,” which he said “typically leads to exclusive settler use.”

Saudi inquiry into war crime claims in Yemen inadequate, say rights groups

Saudi Arabia’s pledge to investigate allegations of civilian casualties caused by its bombing campaign in Yemen has been dismissed as inadequate by human rights groups, which insist an independent inquiry is needed to settle mounting controversy and provide accountability for possible war crimes.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting in Yemen said on Sunday that it regretted civilian deaths, which it said were “unintended”, and it was now investigating the allegations and improving its targeting mechanisms. About 6,000 people have been killed since the start of Operation Decisive Storm in March last year.

The coalition command said it had formed “an independent team of experts in international humanitarian law and weapons to assess … incidents and investigate the rules of engagement”. The objective was to reach “conclusions, lessons learned, recommendations and measures that should be taken” to spare civilians.

The statement came in response to sharp criticism of the coalition by UN expertsfuelling growing international concern about the human cost of the war. The US and Britain, which both supply weapons to the Saudis and back the intervention in Yemen, have been pressing for a response from Riyadh. Amnesty International said coalition members had a duty to investigate allegations of violations by their forces. “But there must be an international, independent, impartial commission of inquiry to look into all reported violations and abuses by all parties to the conflict, to establish the facts and identify the perpetrators … with a view to ensuring that those responsible are held accountable,” it said.

Human Rights Watch said its concerns would only be addressed if it had “guarantees that the committee will be taking real measures towards ensuring accountability”. The Campaign to Stop Bombing Yemen said a UN inquiry was necessary.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), whose facilities in Yemen have been hit three times, called the establishment of a ‎committee “a step in the right direction”. But independent and impartial international investigations were also needed, it said. Last November Philip Hammond, the UK foreign secretary, said the Saudis’ denials that there had been breaches of international humanitarian law were not enough and called for “proper investigations”.

The Saudis repeatedly advertise the backing they are getting from the US and Britain. “Experts from the United States … [will] work on extensive reports and develop operating mechanisms, together with the British side,” said the coalition spokesman, Brig Gen Ahmed Asseri, adding that the advisers had held a workshop in recent days at coalition headquarters.

Amnesty said the UK “should immediately suspend export licences for all further arms bound for the Saudi war machine pending the outcome of its own review of UK arms to Saudi Arabia”.

A report by UN experts seen by the Guardian last week said the coalition had carried out 119 sorties that violated humanitarian law, and called for an international commission of inquiry.

The Saudi-led alliance is seeking to prevent Houthi rebel fighters, whom it sees as a proxy of Iran, from taking complete control of Yemen. The Houthis deny any backing from Tehran and accuse the coalition of launching a war of aggression.

Asseri said a hotline had been set up with MSF to protect its facilities. He acknowledged that the coalition was responsible for the bombing of an MSF hospital in northern Yemen on 27 October, which it denied at the time, telling reporters that planes had targeted Houthi fighters nearby.

MSF has requested that the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission investigate the attack. The body has a mandate to investigate violations of international humanitarian law under the Geneva conventions.

“MSF cannot rely solely on internal investigations by one or another party to the conflict in establishing the events … involving our medical facilities,” the medical aid organisation said on Monday. “An independent, impartial inquiry that is distanced from the interests of those at war must be carried out. We need to understand what happened and why, for the safety of our teams and our patients, in Yemen and in all conflicts.”

Belkis Wille, Yemen researcher for Human Rights Watch, said the statement from Riyadh “does not sound like it includes what the coalition is obliged to do under the laws of war: transparently investigate those attacks that led to violations, hold accountable those who perpetrated the violation, and compensate the victims.”

How to survive prison in Iran

As a student and political activist in Iran, Abbas Hakimzadeh was jailed three times between 2007 and 2010. He survived physical and psychological abuse, enduring torture for up to 15 hours a day.

Suspecting a fourth arrest was imminent, in 2010 Hakimzadeh fled across the border to Turkey. The Iranian authorities had confiscated his travel documents, and Hakimzadeh took the risk of being shot by border guards to avoid yet another stint in prison.

Still, the ordeal he faced over five years ago pales in comparison to what currently awaits activists and journalists who fall into the clutches of Iran’s justice system, he says. Since the unrests of 2009, the Islamic republic expanded its use of legal tools, including capital punishment, to silence dissidents.

“The stakes are much higher now,” says Hakimzadeh. “In my time, the price you paid for activism was prison. But since the Green Movement, this price has gone up.”

UK considering military action against Isis in Libya

A British decision on whether to join western powers considering direct military intervention against Islamic State in Libya is likely to rest on whether long-running efforts to form a viable national unity government will materialise in the coming weeks.

The Pentagon and the French government have been pressing for direct action following a meeting in Paris last week, with Italy saying it would consider involvement. Downing Street said on Monday that no decisions had been taken regarding British troops and fended off questions about whether they would be in a combat or training role.

Stationery chain Typo pulls world globe that names Palestine over Israel

The Australian stationery chain Typo has inadvertently waded into one of the world’s thorniest political conflicts, pulling a line of globes that named Palestine but omitted to label Israel.

The design choice, which saw Israel and 12 other countries represented by a number on the map, corresponding to a legend at the base of the globe, prompted threats of boycott and charges of anti-Semitism by supporters of the Jewish state.

The decision to halt production of the globes led to similar threats by Palestine advocates.

Issues with the original design were first pointed out on 21 January by a flurry of customers on the store’s Facebook page, including one who asked why Typo was selling a globe “that has wiped Israel from the face of the earth”.

Syria: former UK development secretaries appeal for safe havens

No-fly zones and safe havens in areas in the north and south of Syria must be considered if Russia and the Syrian government refuse to lift the sieges of starving towns and cities, two former British international development secretaries have said.

Clare Short, Labour international development secretary until 2003, and Andrew Mitchell, aid secretary in David Cameron’s first government, made their appeal as the Syrian peace talks in Geneva heard calls for the sieges to be lifted and for aid convoys to be given unfettered access.

The top United Nations human rights official, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, speaking at a briefing in Geneva, said the starvation of Syrian civilians is a potential war crime and crime against humanity that should be prosecuted and not covered by any amnesty linked to ending the conflict.

The British citizens living in Europe's worst refugee camp

The ‘new jungle’ near Dunkirk is home to 1,500 people, almost all of them Kurds, fleeing war, poverty and persecution in Iraq. Conditions are shocking, and there is little sign of a solution. But among those trying to survive we find two naturalised British citizens who have chosen to live in one of Europe’s only shanty towns because their family members have been denied entry to the UK