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ISRAEL APPROVES WEST BANK CONSTRUCTION  JERUSALEM (Agencies-10/3/2008) - Israel announced plans Sunday (9/3/2008) to build hundreds of homes in the West Bank and disputed east Jerusalem. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the new plans further undermine talks between Israel and the West Bank administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "Why do they insist on doing this and humiliating Abu Mazen in front of the Palestinian public," he said, using Abbas' nickname. Israeli Housing Minister Zeev Boim said the construction would include 350 apartments in Givat Zeev, a West Bank settlement just outside of Jerusalem, and 750 homes in Pisgat Zeev, a Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem. Israel captured and annexed east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war but Palestinians claim it as their capital and the annexation is not recognized internationally. [ Read the rest... ] 
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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY PROTESTS HIGLIGHT, VIOLENCE, INEQUALITY  Agencies (8/3/2008) - Calls to end forced marriage, domestic abuse and job discrimination marked International Women's Day on Saturday as demonstrators took to the streets worldwide.The issues highlighted crossed a wide spectrum, including abortion rights in Italy, violence against women in Iraq and women hostages in Colombia. Nearly 100 years old, the day marks the worldwide struggle for equal rights for half the globe's population. In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai spoke out against forced marriages and said threats from a Taliban-led insurgency were keeping girls out of school. "I call on religious leaders, tribal elders and particularly men: stop forcing your under-aged girls to marry, stop marrying them to old men," he said [ Read the rest... ]
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Ban KI-MOON PAYS TRIBUTE TO HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF, FOLLOWING EXIT ANNOUNCEMENT  UN:7 March 2008 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed “great regret” at the decision of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour to step down at the end of her first four-year term, which she confirmed today in Geneva.“I have been most impressed by her extraordinary courage, energy and integrity in speaking out forcefully on human rights, which is among the UN's most important mandates,” Mr. Ban said, following the announcement Ms. Arbour made at the Human Rights Council – the UN body inaugurated under her tenure, which ends in June. Mr. Ban said that she never hesitated to incur the criticism of States or other parties by highlighting the victims of abuses or pointing out the inadequacies of national legal systems, and she consistently represented the highest ideals of the Organization. [ Read the rest... ]
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UN OFFICIALS EXPRESS GRAVE CONCERN FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN AMID MIDDLE EAST VIOLENCE  UN: 7 March 2008 – Following yesterday’s shooting in Jerusalem, which killed eight students, and the recent Israeli incursion in Gaza, which left 28 children dead and educational facilities damaged, United Nations officials today appealed for protection of schools and their young wards.“Schools must be kept out of the conflict space and all parties should respect and preserve them as zones of peace,” Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict said in New York. In Geneva, the spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expressed hope that Israeli authorities would remove the obstacles to bringing into Gaza teaching kits and construction materials, which are needed to repair schools damaged in recent attacks. [ Read the rest... ]
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UN RIGHTS COUNCIL TO HOLD SPECIAL DEBATE ON GAZA  GENEVA (AFP-5/3/2008)--The United Nations Human Rights Council will convene a special debate on the situation in Gaza on Thursday, the council's president said.Muslim, African, Arab and nonaligned countries all requested the debate in a letter to the council's president and Romanian ambassador, Doru Romulus Costea. They asked that, in view of recent events, "the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories to be discussed as soon as possible". In order to slot in the debate, the presentation of the annual report by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has been pushed to Friday. The 47-member U.N. council was formed in late 2006 to replace its discredited predecessor, the Human Rights Commission. [ Read the rest... ]
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BAN KI-M00N: HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL MUST CONTINUE TO BUILD TRUST  Geneva: (Agencies-3/3/2008) - The Human Rights Council must create an environment of trust if it is to fulfill its true promise of tacking human rights abuses, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday. He was speaking as the 47-strong member council, which was established by the UN in March 2006 to replace its Commission on Human Rights, convened its seventh regular session in Geneva. "Let us be clear: implementing international obligations entails difficult, focused, sustained and often thankless work. But it is not hopeless. We now have wide and increasing acceptance of human rights standards," Ban said. The situation in the Palestinian territories, the crisis Sudan's western Darfur region, and Myanmar are all due to come under the spotlight during the four-week session. The council will also begin scrutinizing the human rights records of all 192 UN member states through the innovative Universal Periodic Review process. [ Read the rest... ]
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FUTURE BLEAK FOR MIDEAST PEACE ● Israel vows more Gaza strikes; ● Rice urges Mid-East talks renewal; ●Arab League accuses UN Security Council of double standards; ● Aim is Palestinian statehood, not final agreement: Rice.  Gaza, Jerusalem, Brussels (Agencies-3/3/2008): There has been widespread international alarm at the scale of the Israeli military Operation in Gaza that killed more than 120 Palestinians and dealt a major blow to Middle East peace talks. The way ahead looks bleak as Israel vowed on Monday to keep hitting Gaza even as troops pulled out of the Hamas-run territory. On the eve of her latest visit to the region, tomorrow (Tuesday, 4/3/2008). US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on the Palestinians and Israel to resume peace talks which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas broke off in protest at Israel's Gaza offensive. Rice's deputy spokesman Tom Casey said Israel had a "right to defend itself" against Hamas rocket attacks but Israel also had to show appropriate consideration" for the humanitarian situation in Gaza Strip [ Read the rest... ]
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ISRAEL PULLS TROOPS OUT OF GAZA, PALESTINIANS SUSPEND TALKS  114 Palestinians killed since Wednesday including children; Broader Gaza operation possible: Ehud Barak; Washington demands halt to fighting; Nine separate Israeli airstrikes over Gaza early this morning; "Shame on the Arabs, shame on the Muslims, shame on humanity": Ordinary Palestinian  GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (3/3/2008) – Most Israeli troops have pulled out of northern Gaza after days of fighting that has left more than 100 people dead and drawn protest worldwide. There has been widespread international alarm at the scale of the Israeli action and West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has formally suspended contacts with Israel in protest. However, Israel brushed off international criticism and vowed to press ahead with its Gaza offensive until militants halt rocket attacks. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said an even broader Gaza operation was possible, aimed at crushing militant rocket squads but also to "weaken the Hamas rule, in the right circumstances, even to bring it down." [ Read the rest... ]
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80 PALESTINIANS KILLED INCLUDING CHILDREN SINCE YESTERDAY, UN SECURITY COUNCIL MEETS TO DISCUSS SITUATION  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has called on both Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip to halt the violence of the past few days.Addressing the Security Council, he condemned Israel's "excessive" use of force and called Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel "acts of terrorism". The Security Council later voiced deep concern at events after an emergency session called by the Palestinians. At least 54 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers died on Saturday. It was one of the bloodiest days in Gaza since Israel withdrew in 2005. Local doctors say at least 13 of the Palestinians were civilians, including eight children. More than 150 Palestinians, and seven Israelis, were also injured on a day that saw both Israeli air and ground assaults and new rocket attacks on Israel. [ Read the rest... ]
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CUBA SIGNS HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES AT UN  UNITED NATIONS: Agencies (28/2.2008) - Cuba's government signed two key international human rights treaties Thursday that Fidel Castro long opposed, but said it had reservations about some provisions and accused the United States of impeding the Cuban people's enjoyment of their rights.Fidel Castro was still president when Cuba announced Dec. 10 that it would sign the accords on civil, political and economic rights and at the time he asked government television to re-air his objections in case Cubans had forgotten his opposition. The formal signing came four days after Fidel's younger brother, Raul, permanently replaced him in the presidency after filling in during Fidel's illness since mid-2006. Correspondents say whether the signing by Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque marks a turning point for human rights on the communist island nation remains to be seen. [ Read the rest... ]
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