15 - 21 November 2001
Issue No.560
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 15 - 21 November 2001 Issue No.560 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
In New York and Geneva, Arab diplomats are pushing for the UN and the international community to engage more actively in the deteriorating Middle East peace process. Dina Ezzat examines the diplomatic offensive
Interrogating apartheid
Israel claims that it has not been violating the human rights of Palestinians and Arab-Israelis. Next week, it will present its regular progress report to the Geneva-based Convention on the Prohibition of Torture and Other Forms of Inhumane Punishment or Treatment (CAT), in which it will state that it has improved the quality of human rights for all of its citizens, with no exceptions.Israel's defence of its human rights record comes at a time when the its government is launching a campaign against Arab-Israeli Knesset members. Azmi Bishara, one of 12 Arab legislators in the 120-seat Knesset, was charged this week with supporting Hizbullah and arranging visits to Syria -- offences for which he was stripped of his rights to participate and vote in the Knesset.
"There is a political campaign in Israel to exclude certain political ideas and political empowerment in the Arab community," according to Bishara. "If they have it in mind to exclude us, I think they will be making a very, very big mistake because that will be heading towards turning Israel into a total apartheid state."
Discrimination against Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel is just one of many charges that Israel will have to refute when it presents its case to the ten-member CAT board of trustees on 21 November. This is Israel's third report to CAT, and the first to be presented since the outbreak of the second Intifada on 28 September 2000.
Israel's first report was presented to CAT when it joined the organisation in the early 1990s -- an era when the Oslo peace process was in full swing. This time, however, Israel is likely to face serious interrogation, from certain members of CAT's board of trustees if not others. The elected chair of the board is a Canadian. Other elected members are Russian, Chinese, Senegalese, Danish, Portuguese, Chilean, Cypriot and Egyptian.
In the first of two meetings this year, CAT's Egyptian member Sayed Qassim El-Masri indicated that Israel will be hard-pushed to defend its deteriorating record on the "excessive use of force against Palestinians and the detention of Palestinian minors in prisons that are unfit for them."
El-Masri, who is a retired Ambassador, said that "Israel's excessive use of force has been referred to in documents issued by several internationally recognised human rights groups." He added that "Israeli actions that could be seen as violations of the rules of CAT are mentioned at length in several international human rights documents, including a report by a delegation of the UN Human Rights Commission."
CAT rules prohibit governments from using a shoot-to-kill policies against demonstrators. The rules also make it illegal for police or law- enforcement agencies to shoot-to-kill, even if government authorities order such actions. The convention spells out exactly how demonstrations should be dispersed: at first, authorities may use microphones only, and only later can they resort to non-lethal weaponry. Even in cases of imminent threat, CAT stipulates that law enforcement agents should only aim bullets at demonstrators' feet.
Israel's closure of the Palestinian territories and its adoption of extra- judicial killings are also in violation of CAT rules. Israeli representatives are expected to face tough questions on these practices in Geneva next week.
Sources close to CAT have told Al-Ahram Weekly that Israel is planning to plead not guilty of violations of the convention's rules. Its main defence is that most of the prohibited actions took place in Zone A of the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, which are under full Palestinian control. That argument may not stand up. The New York-based UN legal counselor of CAT will have to consider the fourth Geneva Convention related to the protection of civilians under occupation, under which responsibility for acts in an occupied territory rests solely with the occupying army.
Israel faces several other legal hurdles in presenting its third progress report to CAT. It will have to argue that Israeli practices on the ground do not conflict with CAT's definition of torture. The convention's definition includes the prevention of torture, prevention of transfer and deportation of citizens, and several other detailed legal clauses.
"If Israel gets away with what it does to Palestinians in the occupied territories, it will still have to answer hard questions in relation to its recent practices against Arab-Israeli citizens," commented one Geneva-based Arab diplomat.
If the CAT board of trustees believe that Israeli replies to its questions are unsatisfactory, or if the body receives complaints from individuals relating to Israeli violations, CAT is entitled to conduct its own secret investigations into Israeli actions.
Despite its powers of investigation, CAT's rulings are not legally binding. They do carry considerable moral force, however.
CAT is one of 6 human rights bodies which fall under umbrella of the UN Commission for Human Rights. It was created by a treaty which entered into force in 1989. The body traces its origins to efforts that started in 1955 during a UN crime conference, at which a clear definition of torture of prisoners and detainees was adopted for the first time.
Ukraine, Zimbabwe, Indonesia and Benin are also presenting their progress reports to this session of CAT, which opened on 12 November. Saudi Arabia, which joined CAT recently, was also expected to present its initial report to this session, but its presentation was later deferred.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page