Occupied Territories

On 8 April 2010, Open Shuhada Street launched our 2010 lecture series at the Book Lounge in Cape Town. Advocate Geoff Budlender gave the first lecture. The discussant was Fatima Hassan (formerly of the AIDS Law Project and currently advisor to the Minister of Public Enterprises) and the meeting was chaired by Nabeelah Martin (Open Shuhada Street board member).

Here are Budlender's notes of his lecture:

The limits of the law: Practising law under occupation

(Notes for a talk on 8 April 2010)

1. Just under two years ago, I was a member of the South African Human Rights delegation that went to Israel and the occupied territories.

2. One of the people who came to talk to our group was an Israeli human rights lawyer, Michael Sfard.  He gave us a fascinating talk about the Israeli policy of separation which had been developed and implemented in the West Bank since the 1990s – since the two Intifadas, which had shattered the policy of the unification of the lands.  He described five phases or elements of the separation on the West Bank.

By Doron Isaacs

Below is a debate on Shuhada Street in Hebron. The first article is written by Daniel Mackintosh and Karla Green. They are both members of Open Shuhada Street, a description of which is given in their article. The article's depiction of the current reality is as I experienced it on a few visits to the street. The second article is by David Saks, associate director of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies. Below the two articles you will find my comments on Saks' piece which point out basic errors of fact and logic, as well as a few tricks of the propagandist trade. If you've already read both articles, scroll to the bottom now.

Contents

• Shuhada: The road less travelled by Daniel Mackintosh and Karla Green in Times newspaper
• Response by David Saks of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies in Times newspaper
• Reply by Doron Isaacs to David Saks

Hagit Ofran from Peace Now Settlement Watch wrote to us:

There is much international controversy right now regarding the building freeze in the settlements. It might seem because of the focus on the building in East Jerusalem, that other than that the building has stopped.

This is not the case, as these examples show:

• In the last couple of months there has been a building boom in Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron (since July 2009).
• In Nofei Mamreh neighborhood over a hundred building units, massive land preparation near the Yeshiva (learning seminary) in Harsina neighborhood, more building in the center of the settlement and digging next to the girls' seminary for a new building.

BTW, the leftover building supplies are thrown onto Palestinian privately owned land, as seen here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9AAH2fqrUM

Both the Israeli Government and Hamas keep prisoners in conditions that violate human rights. This article presents some information on the way both sides treat people imprisoned as a consequence of their role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (This article does not deal with the imprisonment of Palestinian dissidents by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority nor Israeli dissidents by the Israeli government. It also does not deal with common criminals imprisoned for non-political actions.)