Report: IDF*, SLA** soldiers smuggling drugs and arms…(1)
"Soldiers in the IDF's Lebanon Liaison Unit are collaborating with militiamen of the South Lebanon Army to smuggle drugs, arms and other items into "Israel", according to the IDF's judge advocate-general, Uri Shoham".

"In his annual report, recently distributed to the General Staff, Brig. Gen. Shoham states that the smuggling phenomenon also exists in units which are not part of Northern Command but sometimes do operational activity in South Lebanon. But he notes that because Northern Command bears overall territorial responsibility for the sector, "the major part of the smuggling episodes in the IDF are related to soldiers of Northern Command." In 1998, the year to which the report refers, Northern Command was led by Maj. Gen. Amiram Levin, deputy head of the Mossad and then by Maj. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi.

"The report also notes "an increase in the number of drug episodes" in Central Command. Shoham finds "a worrying trend of the use of dangerous drugs by soldiers, as individuals and in groups, in army units in general and combat units in particular." Singled out in this connection are the Paratroop Brigade and the Military Police.

"The report notes an increase in indictments for sexual harassment within the IDF - 25 such indictments in 1998, as compared with 16 the year before.
 

Amnesty International: Fourth Geneva Convention meeting represents an abdication of responsibility …(1)
Amnesty International is appalled by a 10 minute meeting of High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, convened yesterday in Geneva, which failed to consider enforcement measures to ensure that "Israeli" respect its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

"The High Contracting Parties have only met to decide to defer their responsibilities. It is a supreme irony that, on the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, a conference that was set up to bring back to the limelight the plight of the protected population in the Occupied Territories lasts only 10 minutes. Today marks a scandalously missed opportunity to reaffirm international humanitarian law".

Resolution ES-10-6, adopted by almost all members of the UN General Assembly on 8 February 1999, called for the convening of this meeting of High Contracting Parties to consider enforcement measures. At today's meeting the High Contracting Parties failed to demonstrate a serious commitment to ensure protection for people in the territories occupied by "Israel" in particular, and to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law in general.

""Israel", as a High Contracting Party, has been violating the Fourth Geneva Convention for more that 30 years, when it carries out willful killings extrajudicially, when it (tortures) or when it indiscriminately uses force", Amnesty International said. "The High Contracting Parties themselves however have violated their obligation enshrined in Article 1 of the Convention, to ensure respect for the Fourth Geneva Convention".

Instead of studying ways to enforce compliance with the obligations of the Convention, the meeting was a simple procedural one and was concluded after 10 minutes. Even worse, it set no date for a substantive discussion and decisions on enforcement measures, confining itself to the postponement of the meeting sine die. The meeting will be reconvened only in the light of the developments in the "humanitarian situation in the field".

If the resolution adopted by the General Assembly is not to remain simple lip service, it is imperative that the meeting of High Contracting Parties be reconvened before that end of the year, and that the question of enforcement measures be addressed in order to lead to concrete steps.

Ethnic cleansing, domestic style…(2)
 While the new Interior Minister, Natan Sharansky, is examining his ministry's policies on East Jerusalem, a ministry official told historian Dr. Mousa Budeiri of Jerusalem that his residency visa would not be extended. The announcement means that Dr. Budeiri will be unable to leave the country - or, more accurately, that if he leaves he will be unable to return except as a tourist, and then he would lose the right to live permanently in Jerusalem. Budeiri's case is an example of the methods used by the Interior Ministry to mistreat the city's Arab residents.Dr. Budeiri was born 54 years ago in West Jerusalem's Katamon neighborhood, and soon after moved with his family to the eastern part of the city. His family is one of the most respected and wealthiest among Jerusalem's Arabs. His father was a doctor and leftist activist, who also left behind a well-known book of memoirs. Budeiri graduated from high school in East Jerusalem before going to Oxford. In 1967, while he was in England, the Israeli Interior Ministry approved a "family reunification" for him, and he received an Israeli identity card as a resident of East Jerusalem. His wife, who is English, also received an Israeli identity card.

Budeiri travels abroad frequently to pursue his academic interests. He has taught at both Bethlehem and Bir Zeit Universities, and for the past several years has been teaching at Jerusalem's Al-Quds University. Previously, he studied and taught at Cambridge and Princeton as well. Until 1979 he traveled abroad under an Israeli laissez-passer - a sort of passport issued by the Interior Ministry to Arab residents of the city who are not Israeli citizens.

In 1980, during a sabbatical in London, Dr. Budeiri noticed that his laissez-passer was about to expire. He turned to the Israeli embassy, where he was told to wait for an extension of the document to arrive from Jerusalem. He waited, and in the meantime the travel document expired. The Israeli consul told him that the only way he could return to Israel was by obtaining a foreign passport. He could then obtain a "returning resident" certificate and a visa that would allow him to return to Jerusalem and continue to hold an Israeli identity card.

Budeiri followed these instructions: Since his wife had a British passport, he obtained one as well and used it to return to Israel. Since then, Budeiri has traveled abroad frequently on his British passport, which had an Israeli visa stamped in it to enable him to enter and leave as a resident of Jerusalem rather than as a tourist.

The Israeli visa is very significant, since if he were here on a tourist visa, he would be prohibited from working. He would also be unable to receive health insurance and other benefits from the government.

The last time, in 1996, the Interior Ministry gave him a three-year visa (in his British passport). This was very convenient, because it meant that he did not have to extend it each time. However, a few weeks ago the visa expired. Three weeks ago he went, as usual, to the Interior Ministry to renew it. His wife and children divide their time between Jerusalem and London, and they wanted to spend Dr. Budeiri's summer vacation from Al-Quds University together in England.

This time, he was told at the Interior Ministry that there was a problem, since he travels abroad frequently, and they want to check whether he really lives in Israel. They checked and they checked and finally, last week, told him that they will not issue a visa for him. This means that he can leave the country on his British passport, but without a visa that would enable him to return. In other words, if he goes abroad, he would lose his right to live permanently in Jerusalem. In the meantime, about half of his vacation has gone by and he has asked his wife and children to come here, since he cannot go to them.

According to human rights organizations in Jerusalem, there are thousands more like Budeiri. The fact that in 1967 Jerusalem Arabs did not receive full Israeli citizenship, like all other Israeli Arabs, allows the Interior Ministry to torment them. The ministry seeks to take away their Israeli identity cards and force them to leave the city. That is the essence of the process that Jerusalem Arabs call the "quiet transfer." Those who prefer more direct names call it the Israeli bureaucracy of ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem