Israel's Actions in East Jerusalem May Constitute a War Crime

On Tuesday, Israel did not even try to hide the fact that their plans to accelerate the construction of 2,000 housing units in East Jerusalem – an area considered as ‘occupied’ by the international community thus making the construction illegal – was in response to and part of a series of punishments to be meted out against the Palestinian Authority for their successful pursuit for full membership to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and pursuit for full recognition for the State of Palestine by the United Nations body itself.

What is significant as well, but I’m afraid being over-looked, is that the announcement also came just two days after the well-respected organization, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), submitted a major and precedent-setting report to three of the UN’s Special Rapporteurs claiming that Israel’s actions in East Jerusalem violate international law and may constitute a war crime and asking for an investigation into these practices.

No Home No HomelandThe report, ‘No Home, No Homeland’ documents the slow, but steady displacement of thousands of Palestinians from East Jerusalem since Israel occupied the city following the 1967 war and the intentional implementation of policies to manipulate the demography to gain and maintain a Jewish majority there – “forcing the migration process on the basis of ethnicity – which violates international law, and is possibly a war crime”.

The report states that those who leave the city – for example, to pursue educational or job opportunities or to get married – lose residency rights if they are gone for seven or more years and they cannot return to live. Some 14,000 Palestinians lost their residency between 1967 and 2010, with half of those revocations taking place after 2006.

Those who build houses illegally, live in fear of having their property demolished and also face hefty fines.  Israel demolished more than 2,000 homes in East Jerusalem since 1967.  From 2000 to 2011, 771 homes were pulled down.   A further 1,500 demolition orders are pending execution. The problem is that Israel regularly denies permits to Palestinians to build or renovate there forcing them to build ‘illegally’.

At a press conference Monday, Michael Sfard, Israeli lawyer and legal counsel for the report said,

“We are witnessing a process of ethnic displacement.  Israel is manifestly and seriously violating international law … and the motivation is demographic.  There is a suspicion that a war crime is taking place and that is why an investigation should take place.”

ICAHD submitted complaints to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons), the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, and the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Occupied Palestinian Territories. ICAHD demanded to open an investigation into the legality of Israeli policy in East Jerusalem.

Amnesty International views East Jerusalem as part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel as an occupying power there which is legally obligated to follow the legal framework for an occupying power which includes not changing the topography or demography of the territory occupied unless it is to the benefit of the inhabitants or legitimate security reasons.  Based on this, Amnesty also believes all settlements built in East Jerusalem are not simply ‘Jewish neighborhoods’, but illegal settlements and any resolution on the issue of settlements must be based on international law, not ‘facts on the ground’ that have been created by one party or the other.

Update 11/3: Amnesty International just released a statement, ‘Israel ramps up settlement construction plans after Palestine UNESCO bid’, which criticizes the announcement by Israeli authorities to expand construction building in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem and proposal to cut off  tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.  Philip Luther, Deputy MENA Director at Amnesty said, “These moves are unacceptable and could result in further violations of the rights to adequate housing and livelihoods in Palestinian communities near the settlements. Suspending the transfer of tax revenues will directly affect the Palestinian Authority’s ability to provide essential services throughout the West Bank, as well as salaries and other support provided to people in Gaza.”

The statement also maintains that Amnesty has repeatedly called for an immediate end to the construction and expansion of settlements and related infrastructure in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and that Israel’s settlement policy is inherently discriminatory and perpetuates violations against the Palestinians there.  The statement also says, “When an occupying power has a formal policy of transferring parts of its civilian population onto occupied territory, it amounts to a war crime, and can be taken up for investigation by the International Criminal Court.”

See Amnesty document ‘Israel and the Occupied Territories: The issue of settlements must be addressed according to international law’ for more details.

AIUSA welcomes a lively and courteous discussion that follow our Community Guidelines. Comments are not pre-screened before they post but AIUSA reserves the right to remove any comments violating our guidelines.

23 thoughts on “Israel's Actions in East Jerusalem May Constitute a War Crime

  1. It's difficult to gauge sarcasm in online comments and I'm not sure if the comment above is a serious comment or trying to insinuate that the Israeli authorities give notice and offers 'value plus compensation' for moving and inconvenience, but just to clarify how the process usually works –

    Israel does usually issue a notice of demolition for a property in violation of building without a permit, but the home owner rarely if ever knows exactly when the demolition is to take place. Often, homeowners wake up to find bulldozers sitting outside their homes and ready to begin. Belongings are destroyed as there's not enough time to remove even many of the most basic of items like medical equipment for elderly relatives, photos, momentos or clothes.

    Compensation is also not offered as the occupants are regarded by the authorities as renovating their property or building illegally. Matter of fact, within the Jerusalem municipality, occupants who receive a notice of demolition are told that if they pay for their own demolition or do it themselves by hand, they can save being billed by the city for the expense of the equipment and labor for destroying their property.

    Although not inside the Jerusalem municipality, Amnesty issued a statement just this summer about the fact that a Bedouin village was being sued for the cost of the repeated demolition and evictions of their community inside Israel proper, 'Israel sues Bedouin villagers for cost of repeated evictions' at http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/israel….

  2. Yes, those old Jewish hard liners are just as guilty as Hitler, Stalin or any other dictator for what they did to the Palestine's. Wars are terrible and always involves money,religion and power control's of the masses. Just eamagin we start bulldozing subdivisions in America with out a years notice and value plus compensation for moving and a hansom profit for those they inconvenianced

  3. It's difficult to gauge sarcasm in online comments and I'm not sure if the comment above is a serious comment or trying to insinuate that the Israeli authorities give notice and offers 'value plus compensation' for moving and inconvenience, but just to clarify how the process usually works –

    Israel does usually issue a notice of demolition for a property in violation of building without a permit, but the home owner rarely if ever knows exactly when the demolition is to take place. Often, homeowners wake up to find bulldozers sitting outside their homes and ready to begin. Belongings are destroyed as there's not enough time to remove even many of the most basic of items like medical equipment for elderly relatives, photos, momentos or clothes.

    Compensation is also not offered as the occupants are regarded by the authorities as renovating their property or building illegally. Matter of fact, within the Jerusalem municipality, occupants who receive a notice of demolition are told that if they pay for their own demolition or do it themselves by hand, they can save being billed by the city for the expense of the equipment and labor for destroying their property.

    Although not inside the Jerusalem municipality, Amnesty issued a statement just this summer about the fact that a Bedouin village was being sued for the cost of the repeated demolition and evictions of their community inside Israel proper, 'Israel sues Bedouin villagers for cost of repeated evictions' at http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/israel….

  4. It's difficult to gauge sarcasm in online comments and I'm not sure if the comment above is a serious comment or trying to insinuate that the Israeli authorities give notice and offers 'value plus compensation' for moving and inconvenience, but just to clarify how the process usually works –

    Israel does usually issue a notice of demolition for a property in violation of building without a permit, but the home owner rarely if ever knows exactly when the demolition is to take place. Often, homeowners wake up to find bulldozers sitting outside their homes and ready to begin. Belongings are destroyed as there's not enough time to remove even many of the most basic of items like medical equipment for elderly relatives, photos, momentos or clothes.

    Compensation is also not offered as the occupants are regarded by the authorities as renovating their property or building illegally. Matter of fact, within the Jerusalem municipality, occupants who receive a notice of demolition are told that if they pay for their own demolition or do it themselves by hand, they can save being billed by the city for the expense of the equipment and labor for destroying their property.

    Although not inside the Jerusalem municipality, Amnesty issued a statement just this summer about the fact that a Bedouin village was being sued for the cost of the repeated demolition and evictions of their community inside Israel proper, 'Israel sues Bedouin villagers for cost of repeated evictions' at http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/israel….

  5. The last of the nomadic Bedouin still living the traditional lifestyle and religion their ancestors had practiced for the last 20,000 years were still being rounded up and forced off their ancestral homelands at the point of a gun as late as the 1970's, 30 years after Israel's establishment.

    Israeli government troops first poisoned their pack animals and flocks to destroy their way of life in a deliberate act of organized planned cultural genocide. They were then forced into squalid nightmarish concentration camps without running water, toilets, or protection from some of the most extreme elements on earth and imported Jewish missionaries to convert them and destroy their religion. By the 1990's most children were addicted to gasoline and solvent inhaling, and the rates of suicide, murder, and imprisonment were among the worst anywhere on earth.

    Ooops. Did I say Israeli and Bedouin? I really mean to say Canadian and Inuit.

    Please replace the word Israel for Canada and replace the word Bedouin for Inuit, and replace the two hundred square kilometers of Israeli Negev with 5 million square kilometers of Northern Canada in what I wrote above and it all becomes true.

    Not that Amnesty could care less of course.

    http://archives.cbc.ca/health/public_health/topic

    "Davis Inlet is Canada's third world. The homes in this community have no running water, sewage disposal or proper heating. These basic amenities, promised by the government back in 1967 when the formerly nomadic Inuit were forced to settle here, were never delivered. Many children, some as young as six months, are neglected by parents too drunk to care. They suffer from tuberculosis and skin infections caused by poor hygiene. The crushing conditions in Davis Inlet have led to the highest suicide rate on earth."

    http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=

    "From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Inuit’s nomadic way of life all but vanished. The sled dog population of Northern Canada dropped from an estimated 20,000 to just a few hundred dogs. The dogs were deliberately killed by the RCMP as part of a government policy to force the Inuit off the land – and into “civilization.”

  6. The last of the nomadic Bedouin still living the traditional lifestyle and religion their ancestors had practiced for the last 20,000 years were still being rounded up and forced off their ancestral homelands at the point of a gun as late as the 1970's, 30 years after Israel's establishment.

    Israeli government troops first poisoned their pack animals and flocks to destroy their way of life in a deliberate act of organized planned cultural genocide. They were then forced into squalid nightmarish concentration camps without running water, toilets, or protection from some of the most extreme elements on earth and imported Jewish missionaries to convert them and destroy their religion. By the 1990's most children were addicted to gasoline and solvent inhaling, and the rates of suicide, murder, and imprisonment were among the worst anywhere on earth.

    Ooops. Did I say Israeli and Bedouin? I really mean to say Canadian and Inuit.

    Please replace the word Israel for Canada and replace the word Bedouin for Inuit, and replace the two hundred square kilometers of Israeli Negev with 5 million square kilometers of Northern Canada in what I wrote above and it all becomes true.

    Not that Amnesty could care less of course.

    http://archives.cbc.ca/health/public_health/topic

    "Davis Inlet is Canada's third world. The homes in this community have no running water, sewage disposal or proper heating. These basic amenities, promised by the government back in 1967 when the formerly nomadic Inuit were forced to settle here, were never delivered. Many children, some as young as six months, are neglected by parents too drunk to care. They suffer from tuberculosis and skin infections caused by poor hygiene. The crushing conditions in Davis Inlet have led to the highest suicide rate on earth."

    http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=

    "From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Inuit’s nomadic way of life all but vanished. The sled dog population of Northern Canada dropped from an estimated 20,000 to just a few hundred dogs. The dogs were deliberately killed by the RCMP as part of a government policy to force the Inuit off the land – and into “civilization.”

  7. The last of the nomadic Bedouin still living the traditional lifestyle and religion their ancestors had practiced for the last 20,000 years were still being rounded up and forced off their ancestral homelands at the point of a gun as late as the 1970's, 30 years after Israel's establishment.

    Israeli government troops first poisoned their pack animals and flocks to destroy their way of life in a deliberate act of organized planned cultural genocide. They were then forced into squalid nightmarish concentration camps without running water, toilets, or protection from some of the most extreme elements on earth and imported Jewish missionaries to convert them and destroy their religion. By the 1990's most children were addicted to gasoline and solvent inhaling, and the rates of suicide, murder, and imprisonment were among the worst anywhere on earth.

    Ooops. Did I say Israeli and Bedouin? I really mean to say Canadian and Inuit.

    Please replace the word Israel for Canada and replace the word Bedouin for Inuit, and replace the two hundred square kilometers of Israeli Negev with 5 million square kilometers of Northern Canada in what I wrote above and it all becomes true.

    Not that Amnesty could care less of course.

    http://archives.cbc.ca/health/public_health/topic

    "Davis Inlet is Canada's third world. The homes in this community have no running water, sewage disposal or proper heating. These basic amenities, promised by the government back in 1967 when the formerly nomadic Inuit were forced to settle here, were never delivered. Many children, some as young as six months, are neglected by parents too drunk to care. They suffer from tuberculosis and skin infections caused by poor hygiene. The crushing conditions in Davis Inlet have led to the highest suicide rate on earth."

    http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=

    "From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Inuit’s nomadic way of life all but vanished. The sled dog population of Northern Canada dropped from an estimated 20,000 to just a few hundred dogs. The dogs were deliberately killed by the RCMP as part of a government policy to force the Inuit off the land – and into “civilization.”

  8. Yes, those old Jewish hard liners are just as guilty as Hitler, Stalin or any other dictator for what they did to the Palestine’s. Wars are terrible and always involves money,religion and power control’s of the masses. Just eamagin we start bulldozing subdivisions in America with out a years notice and value plus compensation for moving and a hansom profit for those they inconvenianced

  9. It’s difficult to gauge sarcasm in online comments and I’m not sure if the comment above is a serious comment or trying to insinuate that the Israeli authorities give notice and offers ‘value plus compensation’ for moving and inconvenience, but just to clarify how the process usually works –

    Israel does usually issue a notice of demolition for a property in violation of building without a permit, but the home owner rarely if ever knows exactly when the demolition is to take place. Often, homeowners wake up to find bulldozers sitting outside their homes and ready to begin. Belongings are destroyed as there’s not enough time to remove even many of the most basic of items like medical equipment for elderly relatives, photos, momentos or clothes.

    Compensation is also not offered as the occupants are regarded by the authorities as renovating their property or building illegally. Matter of fact, within the Jerusalem municipality, occupants who receive a notice of demolition are told that if they pay for their own demolition or do it themselves by hand, they can save being billed by the city for the expense of the equipment and labor for destroying their property.

    Although not inside the Jerusalem municipality, Amnesty issued a statement just this summer about the fact that a Bedouin village was being sued for the cost of the repeated demolition and evictions of their community inside Israel proper, ‘Israel sues Bedouin villagers for cost of repeated evictions’ at http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/israel-sues-bedouin-villagers-cost-repeated-evictions-2011-07-29.

  10. The last of the nomadic Bedouin still living the traditional lifestyle and religion their ancestors had practiced for the last 20,000 years were still being rounded up and forced off their ancestral homelands at the point of a gun as late as the 1970’s, 30 years after Israel’s establishment.

    Israeli government troops first poisoned their pack animals and flocks to destroy their way of life in a deliberate act of organized planned cultural genocide. They were then forced into squalid nightmarish concentration camps without running water, toilets, or protection from some of the most extreme elements on earth and imported Jewish missionaries to convert them and destroy their religion. By the 1990’s most children were addicted to gasoline and solvent inhaling, and the rates of suicide, murder, and imprisonment were among the worst anywhere on earth.

    Ooops. Did I say Israeli and Bedouin? I really mean to say Canadian and Inuit.

    Please replace the word Israel for Canada and replace the word Bedouin for Inuit, and replace the two hundred square kilometers of Israeli Negev with 5 million square kilometers of Northern Canada in what I wrote above and it all becomes true.

    Not that Amnesty could care less of course.

    http://archives.cbc.ca/health/public_health/topics/1671/

    “Davis Inlet is Canada’s third world. The homes in this community have no running water, sewage disposal or proper heating. These basic amenities, promised by the government back in 1967 when the formerly nomadic Inuit were forced to settle here, were never delivered. Many children, some as young as six months, are neglected by parents too drunk to care. They suffer from tuberculosis and skin infections caused by poor hygiene. The crushing conditions in Davis Inlet have led to the highest suicide rate on earth.”

    http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=55892

    “From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Inuit’s nomadic way of life all but vanished. The sled dog population of Northern Canada dropped from an estimated 20,000 to just a few hundred dogs. The dogs were deliberately killed by the RCMP as part of a government policy to force the Inuit off the land – and into “civilization.”

  11. Edith, I think you're probably far too cautious here. Israel's illegal construction "may" constitute a war crime? It is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which is the classic definition of what a war crime is. The U.N. Security Council and the ICRC have been active and definite since 1968 on the illegality of all Israeli acts to incorporate E. Jerusalem (e.g. with UNSCR 252, and many since then.)

    Amnesty does not have to rely only on a recent publication from ICAHD to make this point, but should always reference the solid record in international law on this issue.

    Also, when you wrote, "Those who build houses illegally, live in fear of having their property demolished and also face hefty fines… " I thought, "Wow, that would be a new development", thinking you were referring to the illegal Israeli house-builders. Sadly, no, you were referring to indigenous Jerusalem Palestinians who were desperately trying to have a normal life while laboring under Israel's highly illegal planning constraints. Maybe place your word "illegal" in some kind of scare-quotes there, instead?

  12. Thank you Helena for comment.

    Amnesty considers the settlements in the OPT not only illegal, but a breach of int'l law and a war crime. Amnesty has repeatedly called for an immediate end to the construction and expansion of settlements and related infrastructure in the OPT and that Israel's settlement policy is inherently discriminatory and perpetuates violations against the Palestinians there.

    A press release distributed by Amnesty this morning also said, "When an occupying power has a formal policy of transferring parts of its civilian population onto occupied territory, it amounts to a war crime, and can be taken up for investigation by the International Criminal Court."

    It was probably unclear, but I was trying to focus on ICAHD's report and submission to UN representatives in this blog and then just give Amnesty's position at the end via link.

    ICAHD's report talks specifically about the acts of demolition and forced evictions happening in East Jerusalem and worded accordingly to their submission to the UN representatives they use the language of 'may be a war crime' which warrants investigation.

    You are absolutely correct though in what you said and I apologize that my post wasn't clear. Your argument is in line with Amnesty's position which is based on international law. You can see the press release issued this morning at http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/israel-r….

  13. Edith, I think you're probably far too cautious here. Israel's illegal construction "may" constitute a war crime? It is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which is the classic definition of what a war crime is. The U.N. Security Council and the ICRC have been active and definite since 1968 on the illegality of all Israeli acts to incorporate E. Jerusalem (e.g. with UNSCR 252, and many since then.)

    Amnesty does not have to rely only on a recent publication from ICAHD to make this point, but should always reference the solid record in international law on this issue.

    Also, when you wrote, "Those who build houses illegally, live in fear of having their property demolished and also face hefty fines… " I thought, "Wow, that would be a new development", thinking you were referring to the illegal Israeli house-builders. Sadly, no, you were referring to indigenous Jerusalem Palestinians who were desperately trying to have a normal life while laboring under Israel's highly illegal planning constraints. Maybe place your word "illegal" in some kind of scare-quotes there, instead?

  14. Edith, I think you're probably far too cautious here. Israel's illegal construction "may" constitute a war crime? It is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which is the classic definition of what a war crime is. The U.N. Security Council and the ICRC have been active and definite since 1968 on the illegality of all Israeli acts to incorporate E. Jerusalem (e.g. with UNSCR 252, and many since then.)

    Amnesty does not have to rely only on a recent publication from ICAHD to make this point, but should always reference the solid record in international law on this issue.

    Also, when you wrote, "Those who build houses illegally, live in fear of having their property demolished and also face hefty fines… " I thought, "Wow, that would be a new development", thinking you were referring to the illegal Israeli house-builders. Sadly, no, you were referring to indigenous Jerusalem Palestinians who were desperately trying to have a normal life while laboring under Israel's highly illegal planning constraints. Maybe place your word "illegal" in some kind of scare-quotes there, instead?

  15. Thank you Helena for comment.

    Amnesty considers the settlements in the OPT not only illegal, but a breach of int'l law and a war crime. Amnesty has repeatedly called for an immediate end to the construction and expansion of settlements and related infrastructure in the OPT and that Israel's settlement policy is inherently discriminatory and perpetuates violations against the Palestinians there.

    A press release distributed by Amnesty this morning also said, "When an occupying power has a formal policy of transferring parts of its civilian population onto occupied territory, it amounts to a war crime, and can be taken up for investigation by the International Criminal Court."

    It was probably unclear, but I was trying to focus on ICAHD's report and submission to UN representatives in this blog and then just give Amnesty's position at the end via link.

    ICAHD's report talks specifically about the acts of demolition and forced evictions happening in East Jerusalem and worded accordingly to their submission to the UN representatives they use the language of 'may be a war crime' which warrants investigation.

    You are absolutely correct though in what you said and I apologize that my post wasn't clear. Your argument is in line with Amnesty's position which is based on international law. You can see the press release issued this morning at http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/israel-r….

  16. Thank you Helena for comment.

    Amnesty considers the settlements in the OPT not only illegal, but a breach of int'l law and a war crime. Amnesty has repeatedly called for an immediate end to the construction and expansion of settlements and related infrastructure in the OPT and that Israel's settlement policy is inherently discriminatory and perpetuates violations against the Palestinians there.

    A press release distributed by Amnesty this morning also said, "When an occupying power has a formal policy of transferring parts of its civilian population onto occupied territory, it amounts to a war crime, and can be taken up for investigation by the International Criminal Court."

    It was probably unclear, but I was trying to focus on ICAHD's report and submission to UN representatives in this blog and then just give Amnesty's position at the end via link.

    ICAHD's report talks specifically about the acts of demolition and forced evictions happening in East Jerusalem and worded accordingly to their submission to the UN representatives they use the language of 'may be a war crime' which warrants investigation.

    You are absolutely correct though in what you said and I apologize that my post wasn't clear. Your argument is in line with Amnesty's position which is based on international law. You can see the press release issued this morning at http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/israel-r….

  17. Edith, I think you’re probably far too cautious here. Israel’s illegal construction “may” constitute a war crime? It is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which is the classic definition of what a war crime is. The U.N. Security Council and the ICRC have been active and definite since 1968 on the illegality of all Israeli acts to incorporate E. Jerusalem (e.g. with UNSCR 252, and many since then.)

    Amnesty does not have to rely only on a recent publication from ICAHD to make this point, but should always reference the solid record in international law on this issue.

    Also, when you wrote, “Those who build houses illegally, live in fear of having their property demolished and also face hefty fines… ” I thought, “Wow, that would be a new development”, thinking you were referring to the illegal Israeli house-builders. Sadly, no, you were referring to indigenous Jerusalem Palestinians who were desperately trying to have a normal life while laboring under Israel’s highly illegal planning constraints. Maybe place your word “illegal” in some kind of scare-quotes there, instead?

  18. Thank you Helena for comment.

    Amnesty considers the settlements in the OPT not only illegal, but a breach of int’l law and a war crime. Amnesty has repeatedly called for an immediate end to the construction and expansion of settlements and related infrastructure in the OPT and that Israel’s settlement policy is inherently discriminatory and perpetuates violations against the Palestinians there.

    A press release distributed by Amnesty this morning also said, “When an occupying power has a formal policy of transferring parts of its civilian population onto occupied territory, it amounts to a war crime, and can be taken up for investigation by the International Criminal Court.”

    It was probably unclear, but I was trying to focus on ICAHD’s report and submission to UN representatives in this blog and then just give Amnesty’s position at the end via link.

    ICAHD’s report talks specifically about the acts of demolition and forced evictions happening in East Jerusalem and worded accordingly to their submission to the UN representatives they use the language of ‘may be a war crime’ which warrants investigation.

    You are absolutely correct though in what you said and I apologize that my post wasn’t clear. Your argument is in line with Amnesty’s position which is based on international law. You can see the press release issued this morning at http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/israel-ramps-up-settlement-construction-plans-after-palestine-unesco-bid.

  19. Sri Lanka's (nearly) forgotten massacre http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Lanka+nearly+for
    Imagine, for a moment, the international outcry that would accompany this bloodshed. It would be the Goldstone Report times a hundred. The daily massacres would be frontpage news all over the world, every day. One can even imagine Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Syria and Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon joining the war and invading Israel.

    Yet if you re-read the second paragraph of this column, and replace just three words – "Arab" with "Tamil," "Hamas" with "Tiger," and "Israel" with "Sri Lanka" – everything I described actually did happen in 2009, when Sri Lanka's military overran Tamil Tiger forces in the northern part of that island nation. Yet, around the world, few paid these events any attention.

    now sri lanka targeting the witness
    Tamil witnessess who gave evidence at the sittings of the Sri Lanka’s Lessons learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and whose evidence was taken under the oath of secrecy have now been singled out for interrogation by the Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department, sources in Colombo said. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

  20. Sri Lanka's (nearly) forgotten massacre http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Lanka+nearly+for
    Imagine, for a moment, the international outcry that would accompany this bloodshed. It would be the Goldstone Report times a hundred. The daily massacres would be frontpage news all over the world, every day. One can even imagine Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Syria and Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon joining the war and invading Israel.

    Yet if you re-read the second paragraph of this column, and replace just three words – "Arab" with "Tamil," "Hamas" with "Tiger," and "Israel" with "Sri Lanka" – everything I described actually did happen in 2009, when Sri Lanka's military overran Tamil Tiger forces in the northern part of that island nation. Yet, around the world, few paid these events any attention.

    now sri lanka targeting the witness
    Tamil witnessess who gave evidence at the sittings of the Sri Lanka’s Lessons learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and whose evidence was taken under the oath of secrecy have now been singled out for interrogation by the Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department, sources in Colombo said. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

  21. Sri Lanka's (nearly) forgotten massacre http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Lanka+nearly+for
    Imagine, for a moment, the international outcry that would accompany this bloodshed. It would be the Goldstone Report times a hundred. The daily massacres would be frontpage news all over the world, every day. One can even imagine Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Syria and Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon joining the war and invading Israel.

    Yet if you re-read the second paragraph of this column, and replace just three words – "Arab" with "Tamil," "Hamas" with "Tiger," and "Israel" with "Sri Lanka" – everything I described actually did happen in 2009, when Sri Lanka's military overran Tamil Tiger forces in the northern part of that island nation. Yet, around the world, few paid these events any attention.

    now sri lanka targeting the witness
    Tamil witnessess who gave evidence at the sittings of the Sri Lanka’s Lessons learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and whose evidence was taken under the oath of secrecy have now been singled out for interrogation by the Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department, sources in Colombo said. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

  22. Sri Lanka’s (nearly) forgotten massacre
    http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Lanka+nearly+forgotten+massacre/5672386/story.html
    Imagine, for a moment, the international outcry that would accompany this bloodshed. It would be the Goldstone Report times a hundred. The daily massacres would be frontpage news all over the world, every day. One can even imagine Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Syria and Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon joining the war and invading Israel.

    Yet if you re-read the second paragraph of this column, and replace just three words – “Arab” with “Tamil,” “Hamas” with “Tiger,” and “Israel” with “Sri Lanka” – everything I described actually did happen in 2009, when Sri Lanka’s military overran Tamil Tiger forces in the northern part of that island nation. Yet, around the world, few paid these events any attention.

    now sri lanka targeting the witness
    Tamil witnessess who gave evidence at the sittings of the Sri Lanka’s Lessons learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and whose evidence was taken under the oath of secrecy have now been singled out for interrogation by the Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department, sources in Colombo said.
    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=34610

Comments are closed.