[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [GushShalom] A further threat to Gush Shalom and to what
democracy there is
Al Kagan
akagan at uiuc.edu
Tue Oct 29 13:52:13 CST 2002
Forwarding for your use from the Israeli Peace Bloc.
>From: "Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)" <info at gush-shalom.org>
>Subject: [GushShalom] A further threat to Gush Shalom and to what
>democracy there is
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>Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 20:33:40 +0200
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>GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - http://www.gush-shalom.org/
>
>Press Release, 29/10/2002
>
> A further threat to Gush Shalom
> And to what democracy there is...
>
>= == = == = == = == = == = == = == = == = == = == = == = == =
>Assistance to International War Crimes Tribunal to be punishable
>Israeli Government Coalition Chair proposes new bill.
>Gush Shalom activists would face 10 years in prison
>= == = == = == = == = == = == = == = == = == = == = == = == =
>
>While the Sharon government struggles for survival, another effort
>to hit Israeli
>democracy and in particular Gush Shalom:
>
>A bill tabled today at the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) would criminalize
>any assistance rendered by an Israeli citizen to the International
>War Crimes Tribunal
>at the Hague. It was presented by MK Zeev Boim, a senior member of
>the ruling Likud
>party and chair of the government coalition. Under the bill, any
>assistance by an Israeli
>citizen to the Hague Court would be punishable by up to ten years'
>imprisonment.
> The bill includes a detailed list of proscribed acts, all liable to
>such a punishment:
>"The provision of any information such as writings, photographs,
>documents, opinions
>and reports" as well as "The collection, keeping and preparation and
>transfer of
>information" and "The holding of investigations and the writing down
>of their results".
>Additionally, any association engaged in any such activities would
>be liable to be
>disbanded.
>
>Evidently, the proposed law is primarily directed against Gush
>Shalom, the Israeli
>Peace Bloc, which recently cautioned 15 senior IDF officers that
>certain actions may
>lead to their indictment in the International Court. At the time,
>Prime Minister Sharon
>has demanded that Gush activists be indicted. The Attorney General, Elyakim
>Rubinstein, started an investigation but - after a wave of
>international protests, among
>them leading Jewish voices - the AG found that the Gush Shalom
>action did not violate
>any existing law. Thereupon the Minister of Justice, Meíir Sheetrit,
>threatened to
>initiate a new law. The Boim Bill is evidently designed to fulfil
>this promise.
>
>Once enacted, however, the new law could find a much wider
>application. In fact, any
>act of by human rights organization collecting and disseminating
>testimonies of human
>rights violations might be eventually construed as violation of the
>new law, on the
>pretext that the reports might find their way to the Hague Court and
>used by it as
>evidence. The same may hold for the Settlement Watch reports
>periodically issued
>which contain information about a clear violation of international
>law, and which are
>widely disseminated throughout the world.
>
>ìThis bill betrays the memory of six million Holocaust victims,î
>declared former
>Knesset Member and Gush Shalom activist Uri Avnery. ìAfter the Holocaust, the
>Jewish people fought with all its strength for the creation of an
>International War
>Crimes Court, and now the Sharon Government tries to destroy it.
>This is tantamount
>to an admission that they have something to hide.î
>ìEven the USA, which wants to exclude its soldiers from the
>jurisdiction of the Hague
>Court, has not dared to enact such a despicable law,î commented Adam
>Keller, the
>Gush Shalom spokesperson. ìIt would turn Israel into an
>international outcast - a
>country which first signed the Rome Treaty, and would now forbid its
>own citizens on
>pain of dire punishment from helping the same court. It would place
>the best of Israel's
>citizens, the sensitive and conscientious persons who care about
>human rights and
>international law, in an impossible dilemma: either be an accomplice
>to war crimes or
>face prosecution and imprisonment". Keller called upon the Labor
>Party, now at last
>starting to make its way out of the Sharon Government, to struggle against its
>enactment.
>
>Under Knesset procedures, a private member's bill needs 45 days between being
>tabled and being presented to a vote, which gives some time for
>organizing an protest
>campaign. Sometimes during these 45 days, the Boim Bill should come up on the
>agenda of the Cabinet Legislative Committee, which should decide
>whether or not the
>government would back it.
>
>For more information:
>Adam Keller +972-3-5565804 / +972-56-709603
>
>N.B.
>Protests should be addressed to
>
>Justice Minister Sheetrit <sar at justice.gov.il>
>and/or to the fax number: + 972 (0)2 6285438;
>
>and to
>The Foreign Minister <sar at mofa.gov.il>
>and/or to the fax number (+972-2) 5303506 / 5303896 / 5303367
>
>
>(As things look now, within a few days the Foreign Affairs portfolio
>might be held by
>somebody else than Mr. Shimon Peres; but whoever the minister,
>Foreign Ministry
>officials can be expected to be concerned for Israel's image in the
>world and therefore
>vulnerable to protests from abroad.)
>You can use the following text, or of course make your own.
>
>Dear Minister
>
>I am deeply concerned about the bill presented at the Knesset by KM
>Ze'ev Boim,
>which would make for Israeli citizens the collection of evidence of war crimes
>punishable as "assistance to the International War Crimes Tribunal
>at the Hague", nd
>which could lead to up to ten years of imprisonment.
>
>The enactment of such a law would violate both democratic norms
>inside Israel and
>Israel's adherence to the international community and the
>institutions established by
>the community to maintain International Law. I call upon you to take
>all measures in
>your power to prevent such a bill from being enacted and becoming a
>shameful blot on
>Israel's law books.
>
>---
> Transcript of the war crimes panel available on the Gush site
> For Hebrew http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum.html
> For English http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum_eng.html
> French available at request
>
>At request, a selection of documents is also available in Spanish
>
>Also on the site:
> photo's - of action or otherwise informative
> the weekly Gush Shalom ad - in Hebrew and English
> the columns of Uri Avnery - in Hebrew, Arab and English
> (and a lot more)
> http://www.gush-shalom.org
>
>In order to receive our Hebrew-language press releases [mostly WORD
>documents -
>not always same as English]
>mailto:gush-shalom-heb-request at mailman.gush-shalom.org
>+ NB: write the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
>
>In order to receive weekly a selection of English-language articles,
>reports and
>announcements collected by Adam Keller and Beate Zilversmidt send
>one blank mail
>to: TOI_Billboard-subscribe at topica.com
>
>If you want to support Gush Shalom's activities you can send a cheque or
>cash, wrapped well in an extra piece of paper, to:
>
> Gush Shalom pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033
>
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>Shalom
>
>(Please, add your email address where to send our confirmation of receipt.
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>
>For more about Gush Shalom you are invited to visit our website:
> http://www.gush-shalom.org/
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>For assistance: info at gush-shalom.org
--
Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA
tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu
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