Tag: John Dugard

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Peace Train: Siege of Gaza is a crime against humanity by Ron Forthofer

Please TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW and send your letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor.

In February 2006, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s adviser Dov Weissglas shockingly admitted the goal for the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as: “We have to make them much thinner, but not enough to die.” In October 2006, John Dugard, a South African law professor and the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, stated that Israel has turned the Gaza Strip into a prison for Palestinians where life is “intolerable, appalling, tragic” and appears to have thrown away the key.
In a Jan. 11, 2008, article, Ilan Pappe, a Jewish professor and one of the leading historians of the Middle East, described the situation as genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. These statements were before Israel totally sealed Gaza on Jan. 18, 2008. After this hermetic closure, Karen Koning AbuZayd, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, stated: “Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution, with the knowledge, acquiescence and — some would say — encouragement of the international community.” On Jan. 30, 2008, Neve Gordon, who teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University, described the crisis as an experiment in famine.
In 2012, the U.N. warned that Gaza would be unlivable by 2020 if nothing were done to ease the blockade. 

Continue reading at https://www.coloradodaily.com/2019/07/19/peace-train-siege-of-gaza-is-a-crime-against-humanity/

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Let’s Talk About Genocide: Inferring Israel’s Genocidal Intent by Tali Shapiro

Contrary to the analysis of the Dugard report, both Ryan and Shaw’s arguments point to the conclusion that the additional “several reasonable conclusions”available, actually allow us to infer genocidal intent from the factual circumstances, rather than not:

the ICTR recognized that— since, absent extraordinary circumstances or a confession, direct evidence of genocidal intent will very rarely if ever be available— courts must rely on inferences from the surrounding factual circumstances in order to determine whether a defendant acted with the requisite genocidal intent. [Ryan, p. 151]

Factual Circumstances: A Roadmap to Genocide

Ryan goes on to list “four key factors… that courts look to when engaging in this highly-contextual analysis” [p.152]:

1. statements indicating genocidal intent;

2. the scale of the atrocities committed;

3. systematic targeting of the protected group; and

4. evidence suggesting that commission of the genocidal actus reus was consciously planned.

Continue reading at http://pulsemedia.org/2014/11/13/lets-talk-about-genocide-inferring-israels-genocidal-intent/

TAKE ACTION now and write a letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. Make sure to post a copy of the letter in our comments as well, so we can publish it.
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Academic Paper: International Law, Israel and Palestine by Professor John Dugard

Please TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW and send your letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor.

Ethnic cleansing is one of the most heinous of international crimes. It is certainly a crime against humanity and it may constitute genocide. The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the newly formed state of Israel in 1948 was originally portrayed by Israel as the “voluntary departure ”of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to neighbouring states. Today the historical record of the Nakba has been more carefully scrutinized by Ilan Pappe ( The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine ( 2006)) – and others and there can be no doubt that Israel in a cruel and calculated manner drove some 750,000 Palestinians from their homes by a process of terror and violence. 
… The West, and particularly Western Europe, is acutely aware of the sufferings of the Palestinian people and the injustices of the situation. European missions in Ramallah and East Jerusalem report accurately to their governments on the situation as do many European-based NGOs. These governments show their concern by funding humanitarian projects in Palestine on a large scale. European public opinion is also largely sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and support NGOs working on humanitarian programmes in the region. Without this assistance Palestine would not survive.

Continue reading at https://eng.alzaytouna.net/2014/08/05/academic-paper-international-law-israel-and-palestine/#.X4a180IzY63