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Mahmoud Abbas Signs Bid to Join ICC

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President Mahmoud Abbas signs Rome Statute to join International Criminal Court after UNSC resolution fails to pass.

abbas

by Ma’an

Ramallah/AFP: President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday signed a Palestinian request to join the International Criminal Court, seeking a new avenue for action against Israel after a failed UN resolution on ending the occupation.

The Palestinian leadership hopes ICC membership will pave the way for war crimes prosecutions against Israeli officials for their actions in the occupied territories.

But Israel said Palestinian crimes would be exposed to the judgement of the Hague-based court if Palestine joined.

Tuesday’s vote at the Security Council came after a three-month Palestinian campaign to win support for a resolution that would have set a timeframe for ending the Israeli occupation.

Israel hailed the rejection as a victory, saying it dealt a blow to Palestinian efforts to diplomatically “embarrass and isolate” Israel.

The Palestinians denounced as “outrageously shameful” the failure of the text to win the necessary nine votes for passage.

The resolution would have set a 12-month deadline for Israel to reach a final peace deal with the Palestinians and called for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Palestinian territories by the end of 2017.

Council heavyweights China, France, and Russia were among eight countries voting in favor, while the United States and Australia voted against.

Nigeria, which had been expected to support the resolution, was among five abstentions, which included Britain, Rwanda, Lithuania, and South Korea.

Nigeria had assured the Palestinians it would support them, but abstained after lobbying efforts by Israel and Washington.

The failure to win the nine votes necessary for adoption spared Washington having to wield its veto, which would have caused it embarrassment with key Arab allies.

But it was also a diplomatic blow for the Palestinians, who had counted on the symbolic victory of nine votes, even though the resolution would in all likelihood have vetoed by the United States.

Speaking Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his special thanks to Nigeria and Rwanda.

“This is what tipped the scales,” he said.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said “the failure of the Palestinian vote at the Security Council should teach the Palestinians that provocations and attempts to force Israel into unilateral processes will not achieve anything — quite the opposite.”

But Russia said the council’s failure to pass the resolution was “a strategic error.”

‘Shameful’

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi expressed regret over the outcome, criticizing the African nations that abstained and pledging to continue “intensive Arab diplomatic activity” in support of the Palestinian cause.

The Palestinians reacted furiously to the vote and pledged to press ahead immediately with an application for ICC membership.

“The UN Security Council vote is outrageously shameful,” said senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi.

“Those countries that abstained demonstrated a lack of political will to hold Israel accountable and to act in accordance with the global rule of law and international humanitarian law.

The Islamist movement Hamas blamed Abbas for the setback, demanding he make good on threats to cut security cooperation with Israel and join the ICC.

“He is now facing two choices after this failure … he must make good on his threats to end security cooperation with the occupier, and sign the Rome Statute,” spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP, referring to the court’s founding treaty.

Senior officials said Abbas would sign the Rome Statute later Wednesday, along with 15 other international conventions, in a move that would be discussed with the leadership at 6:30 p.m.

The ICC can prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, and Palestinian plans to become a party to the court have been strongly opposed by Israel and the United States.

Israel warned that joining the court would also expose Palestinians to prosecution.

“The Palestinians will themselves be judged by this court, which will show the world the nature of Palestinian terrorism and the war crimes committed in the name of the Palestinian Authority,” foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon told AFP.

PLO: Israel has detained 1266 Palestinian children in 2014

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Muntasser Bakr, an eleven-year-old Palestinian boy who lost four of his relatives when two Israeli missiles slammed into a beach during the 50-day July-August Gaza war, stands outside his house on December 24, 2014 in Gaza City. AFP / Mahmoud Hams

Muntasser Bakr, an eleven-year-old Palestinian boy who lost four of his relatives when two Israeli missiles slammed into a beach during the 50-day July-August Gaza war, stands outside his house on December 24, 2014 in Gaza City. AFP / Mahmoud Hams

by Al Akhbar

Israeli forces detained over 1,000 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank and annexed Jerusalem in 2014, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said Tuesday.

Abdul-Nasser Farawna, head of Authority of Prisoners’ Affairs, a PLO body, said that Israel detained 1,266 Palestinian children, below the age of 15, in the West Bank and Jerusalem in 2014.

“The vast majority of the arrests happened in the second half of the year,” Farawna said in a statement, adding that at least 200 children are still detained in Israeli jails on various charges.

Israeli forces routinely conduct arrest campaigns targeting Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and annexed Jerusalem on claims they are “wanted” by Israeli authorities.

According to the PLO, more than 10,000 Palestinian minors in the occupied West Bank and annexed Jerusalem have been held by the Israeli army for varying periods since 2000.

“The number of Palestinian children arrested by Israeli forces, especially in annexed East Jerusalem, has sharply risen,” Farawna declared, saying that the number of children detainees had increased by 87 percent over the past three years.

“The majority of the detained children were subjected to beatings and torture by Israeli security personnel while in detention,” he asserted.

Farawna’s statements echoed similar comments last month by another PLO official, Issa Qaraqe, who said that around 95 percent of children detainees were subjected to beatings and torture by Israeli security personnel while in detention, while many were forced to make confessions under duress and undergo unfair trials.

Violent practices by Israeli soldiers as well as settlers against Palestinian children is endemic and often abetted by the authorities.

“Israel does not provide any immunity for children and regularly violates international agreements on children’s rights by humiliating and torturing them and denying them fair trials,” Qaraqe explained.

A report by Defense for Children International (DCI) published in May 2014 revealed that Israel jails 20 percent of Palestinian children it detains in solitary confinement.

DCI said that minors held in solitary confinement spent an average of 10 days in isolation. The longest period of confinement documented in a single case was 29 days in 2012, and 28 days in 2013.

A report by The Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights Israeli forces arrested nearly 3,000 Palestinian children from the beginning of 2010 to mid-2014, the majority of them between the ages of 12 and 15 years old.

The report also documented dozens of video recorded testimonies of children arrested during the first months of 2014, pointing out that 75 percent of the detained children are subjected to physical torture and 25 percent faced military trials.

The most excruciating violations are seen in the psycho-physical torture methods, including the act of forcing children to sit on the investigation chair chained hand and foot and covering their entire heads with foul-smelling bags, in addition to depriving them of sleep.

In 2013, the UN children’s fund (UNICEF) reported that Israel was the only country in the world where children were “systematically tried” in military courts and gave evidence of practices it said were “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.”

The UNICEF report said in a 22-page report that over the past decade, Israeli forces have arrested, interrogated and prosecuted around 7,000 children between 12 and 17, mostly boys, noting the rate was equivalent to “an average of two children each day.”

Palestinian children as young as five years old have also been detained in the past.

In 2013, Israeli forces in the West Bank detained four Palestinian children aged five to nine years.

Palestinian activist Murad Ashtiye told AFP at the time that “Israeli soldiers arrest the children and tie their hands behind their backs using plastic strips.”

Meanwhile in Gaza, a 51-day Israeli aggression last August left at least 505 children dead, 20 percent of the total civilian death toll.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said 138 of its students were killed during the assault. The organization’s spokesperson Christopher Gunness said an additional 814 UNRWA students were injured and 560 have become orphans due to the Israeli onslaught.

The worst massacre took place in the Abu Hussein School of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north killing and injuring dozens even after the agency said that it gave the school’s coordinates to the Israelis more than 17 times so they won’t hit it.

(Anadolu, Al-Akhbar)

UNSC rejects resolution on Palestinian state

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Bid to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories by 2017 garners eight votes, one short of total needed to pass.

The Palestinian leadership has once again demonstrated its capacity to blow lots of smoke with no fire [AFP]

The Palestinian leadership has once again demonstrated its capacity to blow lots of smoke with no fire [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

The UN Security Council has rejected a Palestinian resolution calling for peace with Israel within a year and an end to Israel’s occupation by 2017.

The resolution failed to muster the minimum nine “yes” votes required in the council for adoption.

The motion received eight “yes” votes, including from Russia and France, two “no” votes from the United States and Australia, and five abstentions.

Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the UN, criticised the world body for the failure of the vote.

“The Security Council has once again failed to uphold its charter duties to address this crises and to meaningfully contribute to a lasting solution in accordance with its own resolutions,” Mansour said.

“This year, our people under Israeli occupation endured the further theft and colonisation of their land, the demolition of their homes, daily military raids, arrests and detention of thousands of civilians including children, rampant settler terrorism, constant affronts to their human dignity and repeated incursions at our holiest sites.”

Following the vote, the US, Israel’s closest ally, reiterated its opposition to the draft resolution.

Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, said the resolution undermined efforts to “achieve two states for two people”.

“It is deeply imbalanced and contains many elements that are not conducive to negotiations between the parties including unconstructive deadlines that take no account for Israelis legitimate security concerns,” she said.

Palestinian statehood

The resolution, which was submitted by Jordan – currently the only Arab member of the security council -had called for occupied East Jerusalem to be the capital of Palestine, an end to Israeli settlement building and settling the issue of Palestinian prisoner releases.

The resolution also called for negotiations to be based on territorial lines that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in 1967.

Israel had said the Security Council vote, following the collapse in April of US-brokered talks on Palestinian statehood, would deepen the conflict.

Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, derided the resolution, telling Al Jazeera it undermined Palestinian rights, including the rights of refugees and the future of Jerusalem.

“This was a terrible resolution which was unaninimously opposed by every major Palestinian faction, it contained so many compromises in an attempt to avoid a US veto that it was weaker than existing UN resolutions,” he said.

The Palestinians, frustrated by the lack of progress on peace talks, have sought to internationalise the issue by seeking UN membership and recognition of statehood via membership in international organisations.

Several European parliaments have adopted non-binding motions calling for recognition of Palestine.

The Palestinians had warned that if the UN resolution failed they were prepared to join the International Criminal Court to file suits against Israel.

UN Security Council vote on Palestinian draft resolution

YES: Jordan, China, France, Russia, Luxembourg, Chad, Chile, Argentina.

NO: United States, Australia.

ABSTAINED: United Kingdom, Lithuania, Nigeria, South Korea, Rwanda.

Afghanistan conflict: Taliban declares 'defeat' of Nato

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The US and its allies insist that Afghan security forces are strong enough to defeat Taliban insurgents

The US and its allies insist that Afghan security forces are strong enough to defeat Taliban insurgents

by BBC

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have declared the “defeat” of the US and its allies, a day after the coalition officially ended its combat mission.

A Taliban statement said the US-led force had “rolled up its flag” without having achieved “anything substantial”.

Nato formally ended its 13-year mission on Sunday, but about 13,000 troops will stay to train the Afghan army.

Meanwhile, officials said four Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack in Helmand province on Monday.

Three other soldiers were injured during the attack on an army checkpoint in Sangin district. Eight insurgents were said to have been killed.

The US-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) marked the end of its mission by lowering its flag at a ceremony in Kabul on Sunday.

Mission commander Gen John Campbell said the Nato force had “lifted the Afghan people out of the darkness of despair and given them hope for the future”.

‘Demoralised’

But in a statement on Monday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Nato ceremony was “a clear indication of their defeat and disappointment”.

He said the Taliban would establish “a pure Islamic system by expelling the remaining invading forces,” adding that Western troops were “demoralised”.

Nato’s Afghan deployment began after the 9/11 attacks against the US.

At its peak, the US-led Isaf deployment involved more than 130,000 personnel from 50 countries.

But from 1 January, the force will consist of about 13,000 mostly-American troops and will shift to a training and support mission for the Afghan army.

The US will also have an additional force of a few thousand troops whose focus will be counter-terrorism operations.

While the US and its allies say the Afghan security forces have been able to prevent a Taliban offensive, violence has increased in recent months.

This year has been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since 2001, with at least 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces having been killed.

Nearly 3,500 foreign troops have been killed since the beginning of the Nato mission in 2001, including about 2,200 American troops.

Bangladesh sentences Islamist leader to death

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Jamaat-e-Islami leader Azharul Islam found guilty of war crimes committed during 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

Azharul Islam was found guilty for the killing of more than 1,200 people in Rangpur [Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera]

Azharul Islam was found guilty for the killing of more than 1,200 people in Rangpur [Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera]

by Al Jazeera

Bangladesh’s war crimes court has sentenced a leading Islamist leader to death for rape, mass murder and genocide during the country’s 1971 liberation war.

ATM Azharul Islam, 62, assistant secretary general of the nation’s largest Islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, became the 16th person and the 11th Islamist to be convicted of atrocities by the International Crimes Tribunal.

The tribunal found him guilty on Tuesday of being a key member of a notorious pro-Pakistan militia.

He was ordered “hanged by the neck” for the genocide of more than 1,200 people in the northern district of Rangpur.

“No doubt, it was mass murder,” presiding judge Enayetur Rahimjudge Rahim told a packed court.

Those killed included hundreds of minority Hindus in one of the worst episodes of the nine-month war, which saw what was then east Pakistan break away from the regime in Islamabad.

Defence lawyer Tajul Islam rejected the charges against Azharul Islam and said his team planned to appeal the verdict in the Supreme Court.

“Azharul Islam was a 19-year-old student during the war and in no way was involved in war crime. The charges against him are false and fabricated,” the lawyer said.

Nationwide shutdown

Jamaat-e-Islami has called dawn-to-dusk countrywide shutdown for Wednesday and Thursday in protest against the verdict.

Previous death sentences handed down against Jamaat leaders, including its supreme and spiritual leaders, plunged Bangladesh into its deadliest unrest last year.

Thousands of Islamists clashed with police in nationwide protests over the verdicts and other issues that left some 500 people dead.

The BNP and Jamaat have called the trials politically motivated, aimed at eliminating opposition leaders rather than rendering justice.

Rights groups have said the trials fall short of international standards. The government maintains they are needed to heal the wounds of the war, which it says left three million people dead.

Independent researchers put the toll much lower.

Nato ends its war in Afghanistan as Taliban continues to grow

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Event carried out in secret due to threat of Taliban strikes in Afghan capital, which has been hit by repeated bombings.

Photo: EPA/CPL JANINE FABRE / ISAF

Photo: EPA/CPL JANINE FABRE / ISAF

by Al Jazeera

NATO has held a ceremony in Kabul formally ending its war in Afghanistan, officials said, after 13 years of conflict and gradual troop withdrawals that have left the country in the grip of worsening conflicts with armed groups.

The event was carried out on Sunday in secret due to the threat of Taliban strikes in the Afghan capital, which has been hit by repeated suicide bombings and gun attacks over recent years.

On January 1, the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) combat mission will be replaced by a NATO “training and support” mission.

“Resolute Support will serve as the bedrock of an enduring partnership” between NATO and Afghanistan, US Army General John F Campbell told an audience of Afghan and international military officers and officials, as well as diplomats and journalists.

He paid tribute to the international and Afghan troops who have died fighting in the conflict saying: “The road before us remains challenging but we will triumph”.

The closing of NATO’s combat mission comes at the end of the country’s deadliest year during the war, which saw at least 4,600 Afghan soldiers and police killed and many other civilian deaths.

About 12,500 foreign troops staying in Afghanistan will not be involved in direct fighting, but will assist the Afghan army and police in the battle against the Taliban, who ruled from 1996 until 2001.

When numbers peaked in 2011, about 130,000 troops from 50 nations were part of the NATO military alliance.

‘Milestone for US’

Obama called the ceremony “a milestone for our country.”

“Now, thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, our combat mission in Afghanistan is ending, and the longest war in American history is coming to a responsible conclusion,” he said in a statement.

Obama thanked the troops and intelligence workers who served in Afghanistan, crediting them with “devastating the core al-Qaeda leadership, delivering justice to Osama bin Laden, disrupting terrorist plots and saving countless American lives”.

“We are safer, and our nation is more secure, because of their service.”

But, Obama warned, “Afghanistan remains a dangerous place, and the Afghan people and their security forces continue to make tremendous sacrifices in defence of their country.”

Sunday’s ceremony completes the gradual handover of responsibility to the 350,000-strong Afghan forces, who have been in charge of nationwide security since the middle of last year.

Al Jazeera’s Jennifer Glasse, reporting from Kabul, said that Afghans were very concerned with the complete pullout, citing a security vacuum and political instability as the main threats as heavy fighting rages across the country.

“The government has also failed to name a cabinet, so it is not just the lack of security that is a concern, but also political instability”.

Notes from the field: Al Jazeera’s Jennifer Glasse reports from Kabul

There was a lot of mingling before the ceremony among Afghan officials, military officers, ambassadors, and diplomats from more than a dozen countries. It was a gathering befitting NATO’s largest and longest ever coalition.

In the blue and white gymnasium on ISAF’s main headquarters, a small brass military band played in the corner as US General Joseph Campbell rolled up the green flag emblazoned with ISAF for the International Security Assistance Force, he has commanded since August.

He unfurled a green flag with RS on it – the new colours as the military call them, of the NATO Resolute Support force that takes over on January 1.

The changeover marks the end of the 13-year long NATO combat mission. But about 5,500 US forces will remain in Afghanistan outside the NATO mission, carrying out counterterrorism operations.

In total, that puts about 17,000 international troops in Afghanistan in 2015.

The head of the Afghan Army, General Sher Mohammad Karimi says his forces will miss ISAF, and all the resources NATO offered. “ISAF had everything,” he told me. “We are limited. We do not have enough equipment to get rid of the IEDs [improvised explosive devices, or roadside bombs] or equipment to give us early warning, but still we are doing better.”

But Afghan forces continue to take punishing losses with more than 4,600 killed this year, and thousands more wounded.

The speeches acknowledged the sacrifices made. Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar said, “We will never forget your sons and daughters who have died on our soil. They are now our sons and daughters. Afghan and Coalition personnel have spilled their blood to ensure a brighter future for our country and to bring peace to the world.”

No one here thinks peace will be easy. After 13 years and more than a trillion dollars spent in military and humanitarian support, Afghanistan is still in a perilous position.

It’s heavily dependent on foreign aid, and the Taliban and other groups that oppose the government continue to battle Afghan forces on a number of fronts.

The mood at the transition ceremony was one of deep camaraderie between allies who have come a long way, but recognise there is still a long way to go. Not necessarily a mission accomplished – more a mission continued.

Saudi Arabia braces for $39bn deficit, to cut wages due to low oil prices

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saudi-arabia-oil

by RT

The number one crude oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has projected a $39 billion deficit in 2015. The impact of lower oil prices, along with the decision not to cut production, is putting pressure on the country’s finances.

The figure was part of the endorsed 2015 budget, which was made public in a statement read out on state-run television on Thursday.

The estimated trade deficit will be Saudi Arabia’s largest on record.

The Finance Ministry said the government will try to save some money by cutting salaries, wages, and allowances that represent around “50 percent of total budgeted expenditures.” But the move could anger Saudi youth, who are already struggling to cover the costs of living in the country.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), about two-thirds of the population works for the government.

The 2015 budget includes 860 billion riyals (US$229.3 billion) in spending and 715 billion riyals ($190.7 billion) in revenue. Saudi Arabia promised to cover the difference by digging into its reserves.

At the latest OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria, the Gulf country opted not to cut the production ceiling of 30 million barrels per day, despite oil prices plunging nearly 50 percent since summer.

Saudi Arabia has also made clear that it is unwilling to cut down production, even if oil prices continue to fall further. Last week, the country’s oil minister, Ali Al-Naimi, said that output would not be reduced, even if prices fall to $20 a barrel.

The decision has been interpreted by some experts as trying to weed out new players from North America, who can competitively produce shale oil only at higher crude prices. However, lower oil prices also directly hurt the economies of countries like Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.

Some economists fear that the deficit in 2015 might be even larger than projected, since Saudi Arabians have underestimated the figure in the past.

“I believe we are headed for a difficult year in 2015. I think the actual deficit will be around 200 billion riyals [$53 billion] because actual revenues are expected to be lower than estimates,” Saudi economist Abdulwahab Abu-Dahesh told AFP. “Spending in the budget is not in line with the sharp decline in oil prices,” he said.

According to the country’s Finance Ministry, the 2014 fiscal year budget is set to post a deficit of 54 billion riyals ($14.4 billion) – the first budget shortfall since 2009.

Saudi Arabia sends women drivers to 'terrorism' court

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Saudi activist Manal Al Sharif, who now lives in Dubai, drives her car in the Gulf Emirate city on October 22, 2013, as she campaigns in solidarity with Saudi women preparing to take to the wheel on October 26, defying the Saudi authorities, fight for women's right to drive in Saudi Arabia. AFP / Marwan Naamani

Saudi activist Manal Al Sharif, who now lives in Dubai, drives her car in the Gulf Emirate city on October 22, 2013, as she campaigns in solidarity with Saudi women preparing to take to the wheel on October 26, defying the Saudi authorities, fight for women’s right to drive in Saudi Arabia. AFP / Marwan Naamani

by Al-Akhbar

Two women’s rights campaigners detained in Saudi Arabia for driving have been transferred to a special tribunal for “terrorism,” activists said on Thursday after the women appeared in court.

The ruling came at a hearing in al-Ahsa, in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, according to the activists who declined to be named.

Loujain Hathloul has been detained since December 1 after she tried to drive into the kingdom from neighboring United Arab Emirates in defiance of a ban. Maysaa Al-Amoudi, a UAE-based Saudi journalist, arrived at the border to support Hathloul and was also arrested.

US-ally Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world which does not allow women to drive.

Activists say women’s driving is not actually against the law, and the ban is linked to tradition and custom ultra-conservative Wahhabi nation, and not backed by Islamic text or judicial ruling.

Some leading members of the kingdom’s powerful Wahhabi clergy have argued against women being allowed to drive, which they say could lead to them mingling with unrelated men, thereby breaching strict gender segregation rules.

Last November the oil-rich kingdom’s top cleric, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, said the female driving prohibition protects society from “evil” and should not be a major concern.

“They will transfer her case to the terrorism court,” said an activist familiar with Hathloul’s case, adding that her lawyer plans to appeal.

A second activist confirmed that Amoudi’s case was also being moved to the specialist tribunal.

Human Rights Watch have urged the Saudi authorities to abolish The Specialized Criminal Court, Saudi Arabia’s scandalous “terrorism tribunal,” to which the women’s cases were referred.

The court is the same body that convicted prominent cleric and pro-rights advocate Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and sentenced him to death alongside four other pro-democracy advocates for criticizing the kingdom’s unfair doings and calling for greater rights for Saudi minorities.

HRW said that analysis of trials of a number of human rights workers, peaceful dissidents, activists and critics of the Saudi regime revealed “serious due process concerns” such as “broadly framed charges,” “denial of access to lawyers,” and “quick dismissal of allegations of torture without investigation.”

Activists did not provide full details of the allegations against Hathloul and Amoudi but said investigations appeared to also focus on the women’s social media activities.

Saudi Arabia, which is on media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) group’s “Enemies of the Internet” list, has been particularly aggressive in policing the Internet, including by arresting those who post critical articles or comments.

Hathloul, who has 228,000 followers on Twitter, tweeted before her arrest, sometimes with humor, details of the 24 hours she spent waiting to cross into Saudi Arabia after border officers stopped her.

Amoudi has 131,000 followers and has also hosted a program on YouTube discussing the driving ban.

Some 41 percent of internet users in the oil-rich kingdom use Twitter, a study published by the US-based Business Insider website found.

The micro-blogging site has stirred broad debate on subjects ranging from religion to politics in a country where such public discussion had been considered at best unseemly and sometimes illegal.

Scores of Saudis have been arrested over the years for posting content critical of the Wahhabi regime on Twitter and other social media outlets.

In February, RSF said that Gulf monarchies, in a yet another crackdown on dissent, have stepped up efforts to monitor and control the media, particularly online.

In early December, Saudi authorities blocked the website of a regional human rights group which reported the two women’s arrest.

Moreover, Saudi women have taken to social media in protest of the ban on female driving.

In October, dozens posted images online of themselves behind the wheel as part of an online campaign supporting the right to drive.

They also circulated an online petition asking the Saudi government to “lift the ban on women driving” in a move that attracted more than 2,400 signatures ahead of the campaign’s culmination on October 26.

In response, the Ministry of Interior said it would “strictly implement” measures against anyone undermining “the social cohesion.”

Late October, the UN Human Rights Council urged Saudi Arabia to crack down on discrimination against women among other rights abuses.

The council had already adopted a report listing 225 recommendations for improvements a couple of days earlier in Geneva during a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Western-backed kingdom’s rights record.

Many of the UN recommendations called on Riyadh to abolish a system requiring women to seek permission from male relatives to work, marry or leave the country, and one urged it to lift the driving ban.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)

Bahrain adopts Israel strategy to alter demographics: activist

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Nabeel Rajab speaks to the crowd in Bahrain regarding the deliberations at Geneva. Photo: Ahmed Al-Fardan

Nabeel Rajab speaks to the crowd in Bahrain regarding the deliberations at Geneva. Photo: Ahmed Al-Fardan

by Al-Akhbar

Prominent Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab accused Bahrain’s ruling family of seeking to change Bahrain’s demography by adopting a strategy similar to that used by the UK in the creation of Israel.

Talking to Iranian news channel Press TV, Rajab said the systematic naturalization of foreigners and the deportation of locals after revoking their citizenships are proof that al-Khalifa family is implementing the same strategy that Britain implemented in Palestine.

Dozens of Bahrainis have had their citizenship revoked and several have also been deported since Bahrain adopted the Bahraini Citizenship Law last year stipulating that suspects convicted of “terrorist” acts could be stripped of their nationality.

“The Bahraini authorities are running out of arguments to justify repression. They are now resorting to extreme measures such as jail sentences and revoking nationality to quell dissent in the country, rather than allowing people to peacefully express their views,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa deputy director.

“Arbitrarily depriving these Bahrainis of their nationality and forcing them out of Bahrain renders them ‘stateless’ and goes contrary to Bahrain’s international obligations,” said Sahraoui.
Moreover, the Bahraini ruling family have been naturalizing foreigners since 2012 in an attempt to change the demographics of the country.

According to information Al-Akhbar received earlier this year, the Bahraini authorities have granted tens of thousands of people, with certain characteristics and from designated countries, Bahraini citizenship, in an attempt to create a new sectarian majority, which would deny the Shia their rightful representation in the state’s institutions.
These tactics are similar to those used by the West to alter the demography of Palestine.

Khalil al-Tafakji, a settlement and map expert in East Jerusalem, asserted to Al-Akhbar that Israel has been systematically working since 1967 to turn Jerusalem into a city with Jewish features. “In 1967, 70,000 Palestinians and not a single Israeli lived in [East] Jerusalem, whereas today 320,000 Palestinians and at least 200,000 Israelis are residing in the city.”

Tafakji then said that “125,000 Palestinians have been forced by the Israeli occupation forces to live behind the [apartheid] wall, which means only 195,000 Palestinians are currently living in East Jerusalem, making Zionist settlers the city’s majority.”

The roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict date back to 1917, when the British government, in the now-infamous Balfour Declaration, called for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”

Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Zionist state – a move never recognized by the international community.

Crackdown

Moreover, Rajab, director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) and co-founder of Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), said that Britain has been supporting the Bahraini authorities, as well as other Gulf states, in their crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

Foreign military presence and military cooperation with Western countries are common in Gulf countries.

Britain said on December 5 it had sealed a deal to open a new military base in Bahrain, its first permanent base in the Middle East since it formally withdrew from the Gulf in 1971, drawing concern from Bahraini opposition groups.

Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid al-Khalifa considered the agreement to be a step that bolstered “growing” cooperation between his country and the UK.

Washington is also a long-standing ally of the ruling al-Khalifa dynasty and Bahrain is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

During the Gulf War in 1991, the US military presence became firmly-established with permanent bases and a comprehensive support structure after signing “protective” agreements with all the countries on the Western bank of the Gulf.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf neighbors sent troops into Bahrain in March 2011 and reinforced a crackdown that led to accusations of serious human rights violations.

With Saudi Arabia’s help, Bahrain crushed peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations that began on February 14, 2011.

The small nation has yet to resolve the conflict between the monarchy and the opposition, which argues that the country’s Shia majority population is discriminated against.

Secret flight linking Israel to the UAE reveals 'open secret' of collaboration

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A private jet is covertly flying between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi, which are said to be engaging in high-level trade in the security sector

The aircraft flying between Israel and the UAE lands in Tel Aviv on 18 December (MEE/Oren Ziv)

The aircraft flying between Israel and the UAE lands in Tel Aviv on 18 December (MEE/Oren Ziv)

by Rori Donaghy, Middle East Eye

A private jet is flying between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi up to twice per week, an analysis of publicly available data has revealed.

Analysts said the news lends weight to the “open secret” that the UAE is “actively collaborating” with Israel due to shared concerns about their future in a region racked by conflict.

Relations between Israel and the Gulf states are sensitive due to the ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories, popularly opposed by Gulf nationals, and none of the monarchies have official diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv.

Israeli daily Haaretz first reported a plane flying between Israel and an unspecified Gulf state earlier in December. After initially not responding to requests for comment, the article’s author told MEE he “cannot go into why” the newspaper did not publish the UAE as being the destination.

The Tel Aviv-Abu Dhabi route

The flight between Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi International Airport is operated by the Geneva-based private airline PrivatAir, on an Airbus A319 registered with the tail-number D-APTA.

The plane leaves Tel Aviv on flight number PTG 315, with Jordan as the stated destination, although the Queen Alia Airport in Amman does not list its arrival. Jordan is one of the few Arab countries to have diplomatic ties with Israel.

While online flight radars have showed the flight departing Tel Aviv, and stopping briefly at Amman, they then depart for Abu Dhabi.

While online flight radars have showed the flight departing Tel Aviv and stopping briefly at Amman, they then depart for Abu Dhabi.

The private jet leaves Amman under the callsign – a plane identification number – of PTG 126 but its arrival in the UAE is not listed on Abu Dhabi International Airport’s website.

A recent trip saw an outbound flight take place from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi on 16 December. The plane returned from Abu Dhabi on 18 December using the callsign PTG 124 until Amman but then arrived at Ben Gurion on flight number PTG 313.

The PrivatAir jet approaches Amman from Abu Dhabi on 18 December (Planefinder.net)

The PrivatAir jet approaches Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on 18 December (Planefinder.net)

Neither the departure from Abu Dhabi nor the arrival at Amman is listed on each respective airport’s website.

Only Ben Gurion acknowledges the plane’s arrival and departure – the next flight is due to depart Tel Aviv at 10pm local time (2000 GMT) on 27 December using flight number PTG 315.

PrivatAir registered the Airbus A319 under their ownership on 5 March 2014 and made the first trip from Tel Aviv two days later.

The plane can hold up to 56 passengers, according to PrivatAir’s website, and is kitted out with eight business class seats around two tables at the front.

When contacted by MEE PrivatAir said they could not divulge any information about the identity of their client.

“Unfortunately the information you have requested is confidential as it concerns a private client,” a spokesperson said. “We have to remain discreet and cannot provide you with any details regarding this operation.”

The private airline did not answer whether AGT International – a Geneva-headquartered company owned by Israeli businessman Mati Kochavi – was their client.

Israel-UAE relations

A 2012 report by the French Intelligence Online website said AGT International had signed a contract worth $800 mn to provide Abu Dhabi’s Critical National Infrastructure Authority with “surveillance cameras, electronic fences and sensors to monitor strategic infrastructure and oil fields.”

The corporate intelligence website described AGT’s owner Kochavi as “the Israeli businessman most active in Abu Dhabi.”

Among diverse services AGT International offers “critical asset management”, described on its website as:

“Innovative oil and gas solutions [that] deliver real-time situational awareness which ensures the safety and security of people, critical assets and operations, superior control of incidents, emergencies and crises, and business continuity.”

Israeli entrepreneur Kochavi first made his fortune in property before moving into the security field. He has reportedly employed “dozens” of former Israeli army and intelligence officers, according to Haaretz, and recently launched media outlet Vocativ.

When contacted by MEE, AGT International said they did not have a press office and would not comment on whether they were PrivatAir’s client on the Tel Aviv-Abu Dhabi flight.

Political approval

Trade between Israel and the UAE must be approved by the political leadership on both sides, according to political economy experts on the region.

“The relationship is high-level and the business has to be done with the blessing and participation of state actors but, of course, nobody admits this – the trade is conducted entirely through third-party channels,” said Yitzhak Gal, professor of political economy at Tel Aviv University.

“Nobody has any statistics because the trade is covert but I estimate there to be around $1bn per year, possibly more, with between a third and half of this business taking place in the security sector – it’s not a small amount but it’s only a fraction of the potential trade.”

While Israeli citizens are officially barred from entering the UAE, a leaked diplomatic cable by Wikileaks from 2009 revealed positive high-level ties between political leaders from both countries.

“[UAE ] Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah [bin Zayed al-Nahyan] has developed good personal relations with [then Israeli] Foreign Minister [Tzipi] Livni, but the Emiratis are ‘not ready to do publicly what they say in private’,” read a briefing by Marc Sievers, then political advisor to the US embassy in Tel Aviv.

The cable also detailed relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as describing how covert Israeli ties with Qatar had soured due to the latter’s support for the Palestinian movement Hamas.

“Gulf Arabs believe in Israel’s role because of their perception of Israel’s close relationship with the US but also due to their sense that they can count on Israel against Iran,” the cable read.

“They believe Israel can work magic.”

Secretive Israeli-Emirati ties – including the sale of security equipment to Abu Dhabi – may have been aided by the presence of exiled Palestinian strongman Mohammed Dahlan in the UAE.

Dahlan lived in the UAE since being chased out of the West Bank in 2011, accused by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of financial embezzlement and acting as an Israeli agent involved in assassination attempts on the late Yasser Arafat.

Dahlan is said to have helped foster valuable relations between the UAE and Serbia and was allegedly involved in shipping Israeli-made arms to former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

After initially agreeing to be interviewed by MEE, Dahlan declined to comment on UAE-Israel relations.

The secret is out

The flight between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi has not been specifically reported on until now but airline industry experts said there can be no doubt other Gulf states will have been aware of it taking place.

The journey involves the private jet flying through Saudi, Qatari, and Bahraini airspace after departing from its brief stop in Amman.

“They [Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain] definitely would know where the plane has come from,” a private jet pilot, who asked to remain anonymous, told MEE.

The pilot told MEE it was “very common” for private airlines to operate covert flights between countries who publicly deny having relations, explaining that “aircraft operators can get special dispensation depending on which kind of person is flying – perhaps a politician or influential businessman.”

“We sign so many confidentiality agreements – you’re dealing with extremely powerful people. Phones get tapped and all sorts of things go on when you’re flying these people. Operators have to be very careful.”

Israel has previously had trade missions in Gulf states, including in both Qatar and Oman during the 1990s, however both were closed down due to bloody Israeli army offensives in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Earlier this year, in the absence of official diplomatic relations, Israel opened a Twitter account to engage with Gulf citizens. @IsraelintheGCC has been used to open “dialogue with people” from the Gulf monarchies, a spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry told the Financial Times.

Analysts responded to news of a regular flight between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi by suggesting it provided further evidence of a good relationship borne out of shared interests.

“It seems to lend more weight to the now open secret that a number of Gulf states, most notably the UAE, are actively collaborating with Israel, especially in the field of high-tech security,” said Christopher Davidson, reader in Middle East Politics at the UK’s Durham University.

“As unpalatable as this may be to many pious and well-meaning Gulf citizens in the wake of this summer’s Gaza massacres, this is doubtless a symptom of declining trust in the UAE and Israel’s mutual US security guarantor.”

Davidson added that Israel, the UAE, and other Gulf states see a need to “band together as they face an increasingly turbulent future.”

The US has long been a vital ally for both Israel and the Gulf states. For the Gulf monarchies, with their resource-driven wealth, they have invested heavily in the American arms industry in a quid pro quo deal for diplomatic and security protection.

Both Israel and Gulf monarchies have expressed concern over the recent US détente with Iran and are said to be worried about being left exposed to security threats in a distinct period of tumult in the Middle East and North Africa.

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