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Peace caravan prevented from entering Palestine
Fifty members of a European caravan of peace activists who were trying to enter occupied Palestine in order to show their solidarity with the Palestinians and to demonstrate against the Zionist regime’s apartheid wall were prevented by Israeli authorities from crossing from Jordan into the West Bank on Thursday.
Peace caravan prevented from entering Palestine
TEHRAN, July 23 (MNA) -- Fifty members of a European caravan of peace activists who were trying to enter occupied Palestine in order to show their solidarity with the Palestinians and to demonstrate against the Zionist regime’s apartheid wall were prevented by Israeli authorities from crossing from Jordan into the West Bank on Thursday.
Caravan member Hayet Thomasson said 150 peace activists had been blocked at the Allenby Bridge since July 19, after arriving on the Jordanian side of the border in "a caravan for Palestine and the law" -- a convoy of cars and a bus belonging to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, AFP reported.
The caravan activists were hoping to join a demonstration against the apartheid wall alongside Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, she added.
Israeli border police said that only 50 requested permission to cross into the occupied West Bank.
"We arrived Tuesday (July 19) at the Allenby Bridge, but the Israeli authorities made us wait hours to check our passports and then refused to allow us through, without giving any explanation," Thomasson said.
The convoy of about 50 vehicles arrived in Jordan on July 18.
The peace caravan, which took off July 4 from outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France with people from 20 European nations, was organized by the Earth Association for International Development and supported by the UN Commission on Human Rights (Geneva) and the European Parliament.
Organizers said they are campaigning to raise awareness for the implementation of international law to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and were planning a protest near the controversial apartheid wall.
The caravan traveled through France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Jordan.
Earlier on the trip, Croatian police violently stopped the peace caravan on the border between Slovenia and Croatia, Indymedia reported.
One of the activists was arrested and deported back to Slovenia. Police used violence on the activists, who were peacefully protesting with their hands in the air.
Croatian police pushed and beat the gathered crowd, including older people and small children.
After a seven-hour delay, the caravan was allowed to continue on its way.
On the Palestine-Jordan border, a member of the caravan said that the Israelis’ behavior proved that the Zionist regime has no respect for international law.
“We are the messengers of peace and love from European nations, but the Israelis behave as if we are their enemies. I believe that the systematic terrorism of Israel is the most savage kind of terrorism in the world. Seventy percent of the people in Europe believe that the Zionist regime is a threat to world peace and security,” he added.
He went on to say that the peace activists sought to uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinians and to encourage Israel to observe international law, which United Nations resolutions have also emphasized.
Israel is always wary about the activities of foreign peace activists, reporters, and representatives of international organizations in the occupied territories, fearing their presence would reveal the crimes the Zionists commit against the innocent Palestinian nation on a daily basis.
Thus, the Zionist regime has adopted a policy of either preventing foreign observers from entering Palestine or obstructing their activities in the occupied territories.
Despite the international community’s objections, the Zionist regime is committing more crimes than ever with impunity, largely due to the all-out support of the United States and most European countries.
The peace caravan mission to the occupied territories to defend the inalienable rights of the Palestinians is a sign that European public opinion is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
However, such measures will only be effective when European governments submit to the will of European public opinion, and, in line with their claims about being defenders of human rights, pressure the Zionist regime to implement the UN resolutions on Palestine and stop oppressing the innocent Palestinians.
TEHRAN, July 23 (MNA) -- Fifty members of a European caravan of peace activists who were trying to enter occupied Palestine in order to show their solidarity with the Palestinians and to demonstrate against the Zionist regime’s apartheid wall were prevented by Israeli authorities from crossing from Jordan into the West Bank on Thursday.
Caravan member Hayet Thomasson said 150 peace activists had been blocked at the Allenby Bridge since July 19, after arriving on the Jordanian side of the border in "a caravan for Palestine and the law" -- a convoy of cars and a bus belonging to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, AFP reported.
The caravan activists were hoping to join a demonstration against the apartheid wall alongside Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, she added.
Israeli border police said that only 50 requested permission to cross into the occupied West Bank.
"We arrived Tuesday (July 19) at the Allenby Bridge, but the Israeli authorities made us wait hours to check our passports and then refused to allow us through, without giving any explanation," Thomasson said.
The convoy of about 50 vehicles arrived in Jordan on July 18.
The peace caravan, which took off July 4 from outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France with people from 20 European nations, was organized by the Earth Association for International Development and supported by the UN Commission on Human Rights (Geneva) and the European Parliament.
Organizers said they are campaigning to raise awareness for the implementation of international law to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and were planning a protest near the controversial apartheid wall.
The caravan traveled through France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Jordan.
Earlier on the trip, Croatian police violently stopped the peace caravan on the border between Slovenia and Croatia, Indymedia reported.
One of the activists was arrested and deported back to Slovenia. Police used violence on the activists, who were peacefully protesting with their hands in the air.
Croatian police pushed and beat the gathered crowd, including older people and small children.
After a seven-hour delay, the caravan was allowed to continue on its way.
On the Palestine-Jordan border, a member of the caravan said that the Israelis’ behavior proved that the Zionist regime has no respect for international law.
“We are the messengers of peace and love from European nations, but the Israelis behave as if we are their enemies. I believe that the systematic terrorism of Israel is the most savage kind of terrorism in the world. Seventy percent of the people in Europe believe that the Zionist regime is a threat to world peace and security,” he added.
He went on to say that the peace activists sought to uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinians and to encourage Israel to observe international law, which United Nations resolutions have also emphasized.
Israel is always wary about the activities of foreign peace activists, reporters, and representatives of international organizations in the occupied territories, fearing their presence would reveal the crimes the Zionists commit against the innocent Palestinian nation on a daily basis.
Thus, the Zionist regime has adopted a policy of either preventing foreign observers from entering Palestine or obstructing their activities in the occupied territories.
Despite the international community’s objections, the Zionist regime is committing more crimes than ever with impunity, largely due to the all-out support of the United States and most European countries.
The peace caravan mission to the occupied territories to defend the inalienable rights of the Palestinians is a sign that European public opinion is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
However, such measures will only be effective when European governments submit to the will of European public opinion, and, in line with their claims about being defenders of human rights, pressure the Zionist regime to implement the UN resolutions on Palestine and stop oppressing the innocent Palestinians.
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The rights of people to protest need to be respected.
Israel denies access to a caravan for justice in Palestine
1 comment(s).
Israel denies access to a caravan for justice in Palestine
by George Rishmawi
Israel denied access to a group of 130 international human rights and peace activists of the Caravan for Justice in Palestine, who tried to access the country, coming from Jordan, Palestinian sources reported on Friday.
The activists were interrogated for nine hours, according to the source, before they were forced to return to Jordan.
The Israeli embassy to Amman claimed the activists want “to go to Israel to hold provocative activities,” and that “every country has the right to decide who enters its territories.”
The delegation included members from 18 countries including France, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, Mexico and Germany. Three of the 130 strong delgation were children.
According to Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, the soldiers prevented the activists from entering Israel, stamped their passports with a mark that will prohibit them from entering Israel or the Palestinian Territories for the rest of their lives and forcefully dragged them onto busses, which then sent them back to Jordan. Soldiers beat, dragged, and pushed many of the Caravaners and confiscated one of their cameras while they were forcing them onto the buses. Israel brought extra security forces onto the scene to carry out the forced evacuation.
The Caravaners have been on the road for over two weeks on the way from Strasbourg, France, to their destination in Jerusalem to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and to demand that Israel comply with international law, UN resolutions and the International Court of Justice decision last summer that declared the Apartheid Wall unlawful and ruled that all states party to the Fourth Geneva Convention do everything in their power to see that Israel complies with the ruling, tears down the Wall and compensates all victims.
According to the organizers, the Caravan for Justice in Palestine is a group of over 150 activists who have made a caravan trip from France through Geneva, Bologna, Trieste, Patras, Athens, Istanbul, Ankara, Damascus, Amman, and many other big cities to reach Palestine.
Along its way, the delegation met with UN and government representatives to plead the case for international law in solving the Israel/Palestine conflicts.
The Caravan members, according to organizers, believe that the application of international law is the key to resolving the conflict, and have decided to produce a strong and united civil society showing in support of it.
Israel has become more active in preventing peace activists from entering the country because of mounting nonviolent anti-occupation activities organized by the International Solidarity Movement and other peace groups that function in the area.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?opti...
1 comment(s).
Israel denies access to a caravan for justice in Palestine
by George Rishmawi
Israel denied access to a group of 130 international human rights and peace activists of the Caravan for Justice in Palestine, who tried to access the country, coming from Jordan, Palestinian sources reported on Friday.
The activists were interrogated for nine hours, according to the source, before they were forced to return to Jordan.
The Israeli embassy to Amman claimed the activists want “to go to Israel to hold provocative activities,” and that “every country has the right to decide who enters its territories.”
The delegation included members from 18 countries including France, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, Mexico and Germany. Three of the 130 strong delgation were children.
According to Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, the soldiers prevented the activists from entering Israel, stamped their passports with a mark that will prohibit them from entering Israel or the Palestinian Territories for the rest of their lives and forcefully dragged them onto busses, which then sent them back to Jordan. Soldiers beat, dragged, and pushed many of the Caravaners and confiscated one of their cameras while they were forcing them onto the buses. Israel brought extra security forces onto the scene to carry out the forced evacuation.
The Caravaners have been on the road for over two weeks on the way from Strasbourg, France, to their destination in Jerusalem to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and to demand that Israel comply with international law, UN resolutions and the International Court of Justice decision last summer that declared the Apartheid Wall unlawful and ruled that all states party to the Fourth Geneva Convention do everything in their power to see that Israel complies with the ruling, tears down the Wall and compensates all victims.
According to the organizers, the Caravan for Justice in Palestine is a group of over 150 activists who have made a caravan trip from France through Geneva, Bologna, Trieste, Patras, Athens, Istanbul, Ankara, Damascus, Amman, and many other big cities to reach Palestine.
Along its way, the delegation met with UN and government representatives to plead the case for international law in solving the Israel/Palestine conflicts.
The Caravan members, according to organizers, believe that the application of international law is the key to resolving the conflict, and have decided to produce a strong and united civil society showing in support of it.
Israel has become more active in preventing peace activists from entering the country because of mounting nonviolent anti-occupation activities organized by the International Solidarity Movement and other peace groups that function in the area.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?opti...
Deaths inside Israel from suicide bombings have dropped dramatically as Israel's security barrier goes up. The Palestinian Authority has shown it is unwilling or incapable of reining in the terror groups Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade as they agreed to do under the Oslo accords in 1993. Hence the barrier is necessary due to unchecked Palestinian violence.
Israel HAS compensated individual property owners as the barrier (which is 5% WALL and 95% FENCE) has gone in under the LEGAL emminent domain laws of Israel. Israel has moved 60,000 trees which were in the path of the barrier.
The ruling at the Hague was conducted AFTER a majority of the countries of the United Nations boycotted the proceedings, and Israel did not even send a representative to plead its side ---opting instead to park the burned out hulk of a bus that had been bombed by a Palestinian suicide bomber outside the proceedings.
For all this talk of "international law" those who are making these claims are not international lawyers, and do not even understand that UN resolution 242 is the international law of the land.
242 provides for Israel to remain in control of the territories UNTIL a peace agreement can be reached with all parties involved. Nevermind that there were no "Palestinian People" in 1967. Israel has since made peace treaties with Jordan (the former occupying force on the West Bank) and with Egypt (the former occupying force in Gaza up until 1967) and keeps trying to make peace with the Palestinians.
In fact, Israel has attempted to faciliate the creation of a Palestinian state 13 times since 1937. In 2000, Barak offered 95% of the west bank, Jerusalem as the Palestinian capitol, and other lands to make up for the remaining 5%. Arafat said "no" and launched his intifada which has caused 4000 deaths so far.
People need to read UN resolution 242 and commentary about it in the press at the time to understand this situation. Israel is in no way violating International law by its "occupation" nor by putting up a necessary security fence.
Israel HAS compensated individual property owners as the barrier (which is 5% WALL and 95% FENCE) has gone in under the LEGAL emminent domain laws of Israel. Israel has moved 60,000 trees which were in the path of the barrier.
The ruling at the Hague was conducted AFTER a majority of the countries of the United Nations boycotted the proceedings, and Israel did not even send a representative to plead its side ---opting instead to park the burned out hulk of a bus that had been bombed by a Palestinian suicide bomber outside the proceedings.
For all this talk of "international law" those who are making these claims are not international lawyers, and do not even understand that UN resolution 242 is the international law of the land.
242 provides for Israel to remain in control of the territories UNTIL a peace agreement can be reached with all parties involved. Nevermind that there were no "Palestinian People" in 1967. Israel has since made peace treaties with Jordan (the former occupying force on the West Bank) and with Egypt (the former occupying force in Gaza up until 1967) and keeps trying to make peace with the Palestinians.
In fact, Israel has attempted to faciliate the creation of a Palestinian state 13 times since 1937. In 2000, Barak offered 95% of the west bank, Jerusalem as the Palestinian capitol, and other lands to make up for the remaining 5%. Arafat said "no" and launched his intifada which has caused 4000 deaths so far.
People need to read UN resolution 242 and commentary about it in the press at the time to understand this situation. Israel is in no way violating International law by its "occupation" nor by putting up a necessary security fence.
If I ran Israel, there's no way in hell I'd let any lunatics who refer to the country as "the zionist regime" into Israel.
No one sane would.
They can go sit in the desert in Egypt and protect to cactus trees or something.
No one sane would.
They can go sit in the desert in Egypt and protect to cactus trees or something.
>>>Deaths inside Israel from suicide bombings have dropped dramatically as Israel's security barrier goes up. The Palestinian Authority has shown it is unwilling or incapable of reining in the terror groups Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade as they agreed to do under the Oslo accords in 1993. Hence the barrier is necessary due to unchecked Palestinian violence.<<<Becky Johnson >>>
FINE!!! but build the wall on the Green Line (the pre 1967 border), that way we can get to the point of the viable Palestinian State called for in the Road Map to Peace on the whole of the West Bank and Gaza.
The settlers who live east of the wall....if they do not like living east of the wall, they can choose to on their own to move into Israel Proper....of course Israel can help them with expenses.
To build the wall on the Green Line instead of taking more Palestinian land would do much to end the cause of the conflict in the first place.
FINE!!! but build the wall on the Green Line (the pre 1967 border), that way we can get to the point of the viable Palestinian State called for in the Road Map to Peace on the whole of the West Bank and Gaza.
The settlers who live east of the wall....if they do not like living east of the wall, they can choose to on their own to move into Israel Proper....of course Israel can help them with expenses.
To build the wall on the Green Line instead of taking more Palestinian land would do much to end the cause of the conflict in the first place.
The Green Line is an Armistice line not a border. Its where the armies stopped in '67. To insist that its a border is to pre-determine the outcome of future negotiations. Oh,and a fence can be moved if need be.
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