Alain Gresh
Association France Palestine Solidarité
20 octobre 2008

N’oublions pas que la Palestine occupée compte sans doute le plus grand nombre de prisonniers politiques du monde ..." Ce qui est scandaleux dans cette affaire, c’est le silence assourdissant des autorités françaises".

Salah Hammouri est ce jeune franco-palestinien, emprisonné durant plus de trois ans, condamné par un tribunal miliaire israélien sans preuves à sept ans de prison à l’issue d’un procès où l’utilisation des « aveux » rappelle de sinistres souvenirs. Hammouri reste inconnu pour de nombreux français. Alors que la mairie de Paris et le gouvernement français se mobilisent pour les « otages », et en premier lieu pour le soldat franco-israélien Gilad Shalit, le silence autour du cas de Hammouri a quelque chose d’exemplaire, comme l’explique dans un article d’une page de Libération Christophe Ayad, « Israël : un Français aux oubliettes » (18-19 octobre 2008).

JENIN, (PIC)-- The Mandela institution which caters for Palestinian captives called on all human rights organisations to intervene to save the life of Dr. Hatem Jarrar, the Mayor of Jenin, who is detained by the Israeli occupation at the Shatta prison.

Buthaina Dakmak, a lawyer working with the institution, said that Jarrar, who serving a six year term, suffers from various ailments including slipped disc, diabetes, and hypertension. The Israeli Prison Authority rejects providing him with the necessary treatment for his condition despite deterioration in his condition and his need for constant medical attention.

From The Guardian, UK
Jonathan Steele in Baghdad, 8 September 2008

· Children as young as nine held in sweltering cells
· No money to improve conditions, says ministry

Hundreds of children, some as young as nine, are being held in appalling conditions in Baghdad's prisons, sleeping in sweltering temperatures in overcrowded cells without working fans, no daily access to showers, and subject to frequent sexual abuse by guards, current and former prisoners say.

Background and resources below

Troy Davis was scheduled to be executed on September 23 for the murder of Police Officer Mark MacPhail in Georgia but the U.S. Supreme Court granted a temporary stay of execution. The Supreme Court has now declined to hear his appeal, but serious doubts of his guilt remain and compelling evidence of his innocence will now never be heard in court. On Friday, September 12, the Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles denied clemency to Davis -- we must urge them to reconsider their decision..

Olmert Admits Israel Must Withdraw
by Jesse Rosenfeld, The Real News Network, October 14, 2008. (Found via The Dominion Daily Weblog)

Israel/Palestine- Ehud Olmert passes leadership of the Kadima Party to Tzipi Livni and leaves a challenging legacy. In comments he made during an interview with Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, Olmert admits Israel must withdraw from areas of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and even the Golan Heights, an area at the center of the Israeli-Syrian dispute.

read more

Michael Skinner

Conservative Party leader, Stephen Harper, attempted to remove questions about Canada's role in Afghanistan from debate during the election campaign by announcing the combat role of the Canadian Forces will end, in 2011, if he is re-elected as Prime Minister.

But let's be clear about what the current combat role entails. Many Canadian political and military leaders claim the current counterinsurgency war will help bring stability, development, democracy, and the liberation of women to Afghanis, which will in turn make Canadians and the people of the world safer. However, Canada is participating in a counterinsurgency war using tactics prohibited by international law. Canada is also participating in a global American-led war with obscured geopolitical and economic objectives. Canadian political leaders have put us in this position to curry favour with the United States and benefit a small minority of Canadians – primarily investors in Canada's military industrial complex, the extractive industries, construction, transportation, communications, and other industries that can profit from war.

None of the Canadian political parties has produced a clearly focused foreign policy that most people – and not just people on the left – in Canada and Quebec can support in good conscience.

read more