Posts Tagged ‘uk’

Craig Murray: Get Your Banned News Here

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November 15th, 2011 • Awareness, News
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Craig Murray, Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Diplomat and Human Rights Activist, has published an article on the plot to attack Iran. He pre-announced the publication on his blog after the mainstream media refused to publish.

Matthew Gould and the Plot to Attack Iran

This is Matthew Gould, second from right, British Ambassador to Israel, who was pictured speaking at a meeting of the Leeds Zionist Federation that was also the opening of the Leeds Hasbarah Centre. The Leeds Zionist Federation is part of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland, motto “Speaking Up for Israel.” A collection was made at the meeting to send packages to members of the Israeli Defence Force.

On 29 May 2011 The Jerusalem Post reported: “British Ambassador Matthew Gould declared his commitment to Israel and the principles of Zionism on Thursday”.

Remember this background, it is unusual behaviour for a diplomat, and it is important.

The six meetings between British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould and Minister of Defence Liam Fox and Adam Werritty together – only two of which were revealed by Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell in his “investigation” into Werritty’s unauthorised role in the Ministry of Defence – raise vital concerns about a secret agenda for war at the core of government, comparable to Blair’s determination to drive through a war on Iraq..

This is a detective story. It begins a few weeks ago, when the Fox-Werritty scandal was first breaking in the media. I had a contact from an old friend from my Foreign Office days. This friend had access to the Gus O’Donnell investigation. He had given a message for me to a trusted third party.

Whistleblowing in the surveillance state is a difficult activity. I left through a neighbour’s garden, not carrying a mobile phone, puffed and panted by bicycle to an unmonitored but busy stretch of road, hitched a lift much of the way, then ordered a minicab on a payphone from a country pub to my final destination, a farm far from CCTV. There the intermediary gave me the message: what really was worrying senior civil servants in the Cabinet Office was that the Fox-Werritty link related to plans involving Mossad and the British Ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould.

Read the full article on Craig Murray’s website…

Reply to Our Open Letter on Universal Jurisdiction

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December 31st, 2010 • Action, Awareness, News
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The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill was debated recently in the Commons. Within the bill is Clause 151: “Arrest warrants : Restriction on issue of arrest warrants in private prosecutions”, which gives the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) a veto over whether or not an arrest warrant can be issued for war crime suspects.

As part of our effort to defeat this change, we sent an open letter from Members of Reading PSC to Rob Wilson (Con), Member of Parliament for Reading East.

This is the reply from Rob Wilson, sent 23 December 2010:

Thank you for contacting me about universal jurisdiction.

I believe it is vital for Israeli Government Ministers for example to be able to travel to foreign capitals. A country such as the UK needs to be able to tell Israelis that their actions are not acceptable, and this would not be possible if their travelling to western capitals was prohibited. I do not think it is advisable to further reinforce a bunker mentality within Israel.

As you know, the United Kingdom has asserted universal jurisdiction over war crimes under the Geneva Conventions Act, and over a few other offences of exceptional gravity, because of our international obligations and our commitment to ensuring that there is no impunity for those accused of such crimes. This commitment is unwavering.

It is important, however, that universal jurisdiction cases should be proceeded with in this country only on the basis of solid evidence that is likely to lead to a successful prosecution, otherwise there is a risk of damaging our ability to help in conflict resolution or to pursue a coherent foreign policy. It is unsatisfactory that, as things stand, an arrest warrant for these grave offences can be issued on the application of a private prosecutor on the basis of evidence that would be insufficient to sustain a prosecution.

Currently, anyone can apply to the courts for an arrest warrant. That is a right that the Government wants to protect. However, because the evidence necessary to issue an arrest warrant may be far less than would be needed for a prosecution, the system is open to possible abuse by people trying to obtain arrest warrants for grave crimes on the basis of flimsy evidence to make a political statement or to cause embarrassment.

The Government’s has, after careful consideration, decided that it would be appropriate to require the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions before an universal jurisdiction arrest warrant can be issued to a private prosecutor. The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill includes provisions to introduce this change. As such, I will not be signing EDM 108.

However, let me reiterate that this will interfere as little as possible with the existing rights of private prosecutors, and will not prevent them from initiating prosecutions for these offences where the evidence justified that course.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

ROB WILSON MP
Member of Parliament for Reading East

“WHAT CAN I DO?”

It is important that you send a message to YOUR MP asking them to vote against the proposed changes. PSC have set up an easy to use e-tool to allow you to send a model letter to your MP: click here…

Background Information

OPEN LETTER: Universal Jurisdiction

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December 9th, 2010 • Action, Awareness, News
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UPDATE #1 – Monday 13/12/10

The police reform bill debate started at 6pm, watch live on BBC’s Democracy Live or BBC Parliament on Freeview 81, Freesat 201, Sky 504, Virgin 612.

Also, a letter was published in The Guardian today: “Grave dangers in police reform bill” – signed by Baroness Jenny Tonge, Jeremy Corbin MP, Michael Mansfield QC, Betty Hunter, Hugh Lanning, Gerald Kaufman MP and many others.

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On Monday 13th December the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill will be debated in the Commons. Within the bill is Clause 151: “Arrest warrants : Restriction on issue of arrest warrants in private prosecutions”, which gives the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) a veto over whether or not an arrest warrant can be issued for war crime suspects.

As part of our effort to defeat this change, we have sent an open letter from Members of Reading PSC to Rob Wilson (Con), Member of Parliament for Reading East. The open letter appears below:

Dear Rob,

You are receiving this open letter on behalf of the members of the Reading branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). We are sure you are aware of our organisation as you have met several of our members in the past to discuss our concerns about the treatment of Palestinians at the hands of the State of Israel.

Our organisation represents a wide spread of people in both Reading East and West. We are men and women. We are young and old. We are people of faith and no faith. We are the people of Reading.

We spend our time trying to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the catastrophe that has befallen the Palestinians, not because we enjoy it, but because we feel compelled by our conscience and simple human understanding and empathy to do so.

We understand that you are planning to support changes to the current Universal Jurisdiction laws in the UK. As we are sure you are aware, the current position is that a private individual may apply to a magistrate for an arrest warrant if a war crimes suspect is visiting the country or a visit is anticipated.

The issue of an arrest warrant for a war crime is decided only by specialist and legally qualified magistrates. In any case, the consent of the Attorney General is currently required for any prosecution to go ahead, but, in the absence of consent, a warrant may be issued if the magistrate considers that:

  1. there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence under such legislation has been committed;
  2. admissible evidence has been presented which (if uncontradicted) establishes the elements of the offence alleged;
  3. s/he has jurisdiction to issue the warrant and has ruled out the immunity of the suspect.

Any belief, therefore, that arrest warrants have ever been – or can still be – issued with little or no evidence to support a legitimate prosecution is a fundamental misconception of the existing law. If you think otherwise, we invite you to cite a single case in which an arrest warrant has been issued under Universal Jurisdiction law which could reasonably be considered an abuse of the existing system.

In the case of visiting Israeli ministers or leaders, the Goldstone Report, accepted by the UN, concluded that war crimes had been committed in Gaza by Israel during Operation Cast Lead in December 2008 – January 2009. It is not surprising, therefore, that a senior magistrate found there was enough evidence to warrant the arrest of former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had she visited the UK.

The argument that we must allow elected ministers to visit the UK and be immune from our laws in order to engage them diplomatic talks is misleading. There is nothing, for instance, to stop British ministers from visiting the home countries of suspected war criminals where they are immune from prosecution. Additionally, the serving Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of Defence of any sovereign country can visit the UK under the principle of sovereign immunity.

Any attempt to involve the Attorney General in the decision to issue the arrest warrant would be a regressive step in many ways. You must surely agree that the independence of the judiciary in the UK from political interference is critical. In fact, your voting record, Rob, proves this. In the past you voted against giving Ministers the right to intervene in inquests. But you apparently now think that the Attorney General – not exactly a wholly independent branch of Government – should have the right to intervene in cases brought by private individuals against people reasonably suspected of war crimes. How do you explain or justify this stance given that there is no case that you can cite where an arrest warrant was issued under the principle of Universal Jurisdiction which was not a valid use of the legal process?

Having to wait for an Attorney General decision on issuing an arrest warrant will simply allow suspected war criminals time to flee the country as well as the possibility of political interference in the rule of law.

Our views are not outlandish. They are supported by many other respected Human Rights organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights, Global Witness, Justice and REDRESS who issued a joint statement saying they were:

“… gravely concerned that any changes to existing law and procedure will undermine the capacity of victims of serious international crimes to hold accountable alleged perpetrators who come within the UK’s jurisdiction by making all arrest decisions in such cases subject to political considerations rather than being based on the legal merits. Suspects may therefore find a safe haven in the UK, and the already considerable barriers to bringing such suspects to justice will be heightened.

Instead of making it more difficult to arrest with a view to prosecuting such suspects, the UK should be seeking to enhance its capacity to do so, and mooted legislative changes are a step entirely in the wrong direction.”

The Conservative party itself advocates the Big Society, a society where power is removed from a central political entity, and given to local people and communities. It seems it is fine for the general public to on the one hand ‘share the pain’ of budget cuts, but on the other they can not be trusted to share the responsibility of holding war criminals to account. A responsibility which you apparently wish to now restrict to a small but elite minority in Government.

In the the past the point has been made to us by you, Rob, to different members of our organisation, at different times, that not enough ‘pressure’ is being applied on parliament on the issues that we discuss with you. Please consider this letter as pressure. Please also consider the fact that the major Human Rights related organisations in the UK do not support any change to Universal Jurisdiction as pressure – and we know that they are undertaking to lobby MPs across the political spectrum. Consider the fact that no one has yet produced any example of a case where the existing Universal Jurisdiction law can be said to have been abused as further pressure upon your judgement.

We implore you to oppose any change to the law on Universal Jurisdiction on behalf of the people of Reading. We believe this is an issue that fundamentally alters the moral integrity of our country, and could well call your personal integrity into question should you support the changes.

Kind Regards,
Reading PSC
info@readingpsc.org.uk
http://readingpsc.org.uk
Sent via email @ 3.40pm Thursday December 9th, 2010

  • All replies to this letter will be posted on the Reading PSC website.
  • The Open Letter will also be sent to Alok Sharma, Member of Parliament for Reading West.

“WHAT CAN I DO?”

It is important that you send a message to YOUR MP asking them to vote against the proposed changes. PSC have set up an easy to use e-tool to allow you to send a model letter to your MP: click here…

Background Information

Abandoning universal jurisdiction?

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November 8th, 2010 • Film & Documentary, News
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from AJE’s Inside Story:

William Hague, the British foreign minister, has pledged that the UK will quickly amend a law that has allowed pro-Palestinian activists to request arrest warrants for visiting Israeli officials over alleged war crimes.

Activists in Britain have sought the arrest of Israeli officials in the past under the principle of “universal jurisdiction”, which allows courts to prosecute alleged war crimes from elsewhere in the world.

The reassurance came after Israel suspended ‘special strategic dialogue’ with the UK in protest over the law.

But what message is the UK sending to the rest of the world?

Joining Inside Story to discuss this are: Jeremy Corbyn, a member of the British parliament and a founding member of the Stop the War Coalition; Mark Taylor, an international legal analyst; and Dan Schueftan, the director of national security studies at the University of Haifa.

Israeli Knesset Members Visit House of Commons

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July 29th, 2010 • Awareness, Events, News
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Yesterday, MEMO organised a visit to the House of Commons by Arab members of the Israeli Knesset, Haneen Zoubi, Dr Jamal Zahalka & Talab Al-Sana.

Here’s a report from the event by artist and activist, Eleanor Kilroy:

Notes on MEMO Public Seminar with Palestinian members of the Israeli Knesset – House of Commons, UK, Wednesday 28 July 2010

MEMO Event

“There is democracy for the Jews, and Jewishness for the Arabs,” says one of the speakers through smiles. I imagine few of us thought the Arab Knesset members would make us laugh, but humour is a strategy they use to brilliant effect, when conveying and arguing against the absurdly criminal, and criminally absurd, laws of the Israeli State. Referencing The Citizenship Law, ‘an Israeli invention’ that has to date destroyed 25,000 Palestinian families, the Chairman of Balad, Jamal Zahalka envisages a romantic encounter between a Palestinian couple: they begin their date with the question of how they can get together and change the demographic balance of Israel: Palestinian love, he reminds us, is a conspiracy against the state.In concluding his talk, Zahalka passes on to us the nature of Israeli democracy as defended to him by the Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin: you can debate, there is the first reading, the second reading of a bill, and so on, and only then is a law passed. The Knesset passed a law that says that any land confiscated by the Israeli State over 25 years ago cannot be reclaimed, even if it has not been built upon. Given that most Palestinian land (75 % between 1948 and 2010) was confiscated before the 1980s this law is of little use to Palestinians, so Zahalka suggests a trade: “You take my land and give me democracy; instead I propose that I take the land and you can have back your democracy.” Zahalka is also willing to forego the dubious compliment of being the proud Arab, a ‘folkloristic identity’, and a good citizen – for Palestinians being a good citizen of Israel means giving up your rights: there is no normal citizen in Israel: Just ‘citizen plus’ (a Jew) or ‘citizen minus’ ( a non-Jew).

Haneen Zoabi commands so much respect and love that several of us are compelled to stand when the chair, MP Jeremy Corbyn, introduces her. Zoabi’s words are a constant affirmation of her existence because she knows that, as a Palestinian, for Israel she has no identity, no history, no right of recognition: ‘We are phantoms, denied Israeli justice, not allowed to mention the word Nakba…. Don’t call me Muslim: I am a Palestinian… I am the indigenous people, and when I say I want equality I make a huge historical compromise. Yet in the minds of Israelis I am a strategic threat when I ask for democracy. I represent universal values, but in Israel they disqualify us from elections: “Look they are asking for democracy”… Israel is now more willing than ever to sacrifice its democratic image – it is easier and more beneficial for the State than to keep its Palestinian citizens free of democratic activity…. The law for all citizens to swear loyalty to a Jewish state is an obsession and by introducing its centrality to the State’s project, the present government hopes to blackmail the world with the notion of a ‘Jewish State’ before it is too late and the world wakes up to what that really means…. The Zionist project is to domesticate the Palestinians. Within Israel, I am not a Palestinian, and I am not an Israeli, but I must swear loyalty to a state that doesn’t recognise me.’

Zoabi underlined the role of the education system in Israel that erases her identity and history: ‘It is not surprising that in the Knesset I meet with hostility because as Israeli children these MKs didn’t learn about Palestinians… even if they could just teach them: “there were Palestinians, but they ran away from their homes [in 1947/8]”, that would be something’. The final speaker, Talab al-Sana, references research carried out by a professor at Haifa University on books for Israeli children; he found that in over 50% of the books included in the study, Arabs were presented in a negative light: as thieves, as armed thugs, even to the extent that if they ride a donkey, the beast is deformed, and if they have a dog, the dog is blind! The purpose, he emphasises, is to distort the image of Arabs in the eyes of this child so that when the child meets her/his first Arab, if the latter is well-dressed, they will say, ‘Oh you are a good Arab, not like the others.’ Children, al-Sana adds, are victims of brainwashing by the Zionist establishment.

We listen to Al-Sana through an interpreter, Daud Abdullah of Middle East Monitor. Al-Sana began his career as a lawyer, but frustrated with laws that allow for the demolition of people’s homes and the stealing of their land, he decided to enter politics in the hope of challenging these ‘democratic’ means of dispossession at their inception. Recently, he reminds the audience, a law was passed against commemorating the Nakba: ‘Whoever displays sadness or grief will be punished; we should go and visit our depopulated and ethnically cleansed village and show joy! There is no country which prosecutes emotions except Israel.’ Recently al-Sana asked in the Knesset if they would create a police force responsible for monitoring people’s feelings.

There are already 22 laws which legally discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel. Zoabi insists that every state that supports Israel supports undemocratic polices of racism, oppression and occupation. An examination and analysis of Israel’s treatment of its citizens throws into stark relief the myth of Israeli democracy: the US says it supports Israel because it is a ‘democracy’ and a ‘victim’, but the racism of the State is systematic – it is not just a policy, it is an ideology, and a part of the Zionist attitude to others.

Haneen Zoabi is asked if she will take part in the next Freedom Flotilla to attempt to break the siege on Gaza and her candid response is that she feels she must participate: ‘To send a message that this is my right’.

– Elly

Elly is working with Reading PSC on our BDS activities focusing on artists planning on performing in Israel.

Haneen Zoubi was a Freedom Flotilla participant and first female Arab elected to the Knesset, watch this France24 report on the reaction within the Knesset to her description of the flotilla raid as ‘piracy’.

Al Jazeera’s Riz Khan interviewed Haneen Zoubi a few weeks ago:

UK readers can watch BBC HARDtalks’s interview with Haneen Zoubi on the iPlayer – non-UK on Youtube.

David Cameron: Gaza Strip a ‘prison camp’

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July 27th, 2010 • News
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Strong word during his visit to Turkey, The Guardian reports:

David Cameron: Israeli blockade has turned Gaza Strip into a ‘prison camp’

Prime minister intervenes in Middle East dispute and hopes Turkey can stop Iran’s nuclear weapons programme

Cameron & Erdogan

David Cameron used a visit to Turkey to make his strongest intervention yet in the intractable Middle East conflict today when he likened the experience of Palestinians in the blockaded Gaza Strip to that of a “prison camp”.

Although he has made similar remarks before, his decision to repeat them on a world stage in Turkey, whose relations with Israel have deteriorated sharply since it mounted a deadly assault on the Gaza flotilla, gave them much greater diplomatic significance.

Cameron’s comments, in a speech to business leaders in Ankara, prompted the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to issue another strong condemnation of how Israel dealt with the flotilla.

Erdogan likened the behaviour of Israeli commandos, who shot dead nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists, to Somali pirates.

Cameron’s criticism of Tel Aviv came when he called for Israel to relax its restrictions on Gaza. “The situation in Gaza has to change,” he said. “Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.”

He strongly condemned Israel after the assault on the Gaza flotilla. “The Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla was completely unacceptable,” he said. “I have told prime minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu we will expect the Israeli inquiry to be swift, transparent and rigorous. “Let me also be clear that the situation in Gaza has to change.”

Cameron defended his remarks at a press conference with Erdogan. “My description of Gaza is something I said in the House of Commons several weeks ago. Perhaps this is final proof that if you want to keep something completely secret you should announce it in the House of Commons.”

Hansard, the House of Commons’ official record, shows Cameron said on 28 June: “Everybody knows that we are not going to sort out the problem of the Middle East peace process while there is, effectively, a giant open prison in Gaza.”

His choice of the words “prison camp” instead of “open prison” is likely to be seized upon. But a Downing Street source later tried to play down Cameron’s comments. “This is not an elevation of the rhetoric. This is equivalent language. The prime minister remains concerned.”

Cameron said Britain remained opposed to the blockade of Gaza. “The fact is we have long supported lifting the blockade of Gaza, we have long supported proper humanitarian access. Even though some progress has been made we are still in the situation where it is very difficult to get in, it is very difficult to get out. So I think the description is warranted.”

Read more at The Guardian… (including the objections)

BBC has video… & report

MAP’s New Film: Life or Death

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March 23rd, 2010 • Awareness, Film & Documentary
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Medical Aid for Palestinians’ new film:

Life or Death: Medical Referrals from Gaza

The strict closure of the Gaza Strip has impoverished and restricted medical services in Gaza. This increases the need to refer patients for treatment outside Gaza.

The process of obtaining a referral document is not easy, and when a patient manages to obtain it, he or she then has to wait for a hospital appointment to come through, before applying to the Israeli Authorities for permission to leave Gaza.

MAP FILMS looks at the reality of life for Palestinians in Gaza trying to access health services outside the territory.

MAP’s New Film: The Silent War

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February 17th, 2010 • Awareness, Film & Documentary
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Medical Aid for Palestinians’ new film:

The Silent War: Israel’s Blockade of Gaza

Israel’s blockade of Gaza has been in place for almost three years.

Building on existing closures and restrictions, the blockade means the delay or denial of a broad range of items – food, industrial, educational, medical – deemed “non-essential” for a population largely unable to be self-sufficient at the end of decades of occupation. The blockade prevents access by sea, land and air, effectively closing off a population of 1.5 million Palestinians from the outside world.

This short film examines what the blockade means for the people of Gaza, as they struggle to rebuild their lives over a year after Operation Cast Lead.

URGENT: Britain must not become a safe haven for war criminals

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January 19th, 2010 • Action, News
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The British government have announced they wish to change the law to avoid future attempts to prosecute suspected war criminals. It is reported that they may come forward with proposals this week.

Please act NOW!

1. Email Gordon Brown and the Foreign Office, telling them not to change the law…

2. Email your MP & ask them to sign Early Day Motion 502 on Universal Jurisdiction… – see if they have already signed –  if they have, please email to thank them.

Both Reading East & West MPs have failed to sign the EDM, please contact them:

Reading East: Rob Wilson MP (Con) / robwilsonmp@parliament.uk / 0118 375 9785 & 0118 375 8343 & 020 7219 2498 & 020 7219 6519

Reading West: Martin Salter (Lab) / salterm@parliament.uk / 0118 954 6782 & 020 7219 2416

Surrounding constituencies – none of them have signed:

Aldershot: Gerald Howarth (C) / geraldhowarth@parliament.uk /  020 7219 5650

Bracknell: Andrew Mackay (C) / bracknellca@tory.org & mackaya@parliament.uk / 01344 868286 & 020 7219 2989

Wokingham: John Redwood (C) / redwoodj@parliament.uk  / 020 7219 4205 & 0118 962 9501

Henley: John Howell (C) / howelljm@parliament.uk / 020 7219 4828 & 020 7219 6676 & 01491 613072

Maidenhead: Theresa May (C) / mayt@parliament.uk / 0118 9345433 or 01628 604961 & 020 7219 5206

Newbury: Richard Benyon (C) / mp@richardbenyon.com / 0207 219 8319 & 01635 551070

North West Hampshire: Sir George Young (C) / sirgeorge@sirgeorgeyoung.org.uk / SMS: 07624 806278 / Camilla: 0207 2196665 & Lucinda: 01264 401401

(Thanks to Reading PSC’s JP for the list)

The Absurdity and Intention of Israeli Policy

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December 22nd, 2009 • 1 comment Awareness, News
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One family’s powerful and moving story.

by Mohammad Alsaafin

Khan Younis Refugee Camp

I am a Palestinian refugee, from the village of Fallujah which lies between Gaza, Hebron and Asqalan. I’ve never been allowed to visit Fallujah; my grandparents were exiled from there in 1949 (a year after the founding of Israel) and took refuge in the Gaza Strip. My father and I were both born in the Khan Younis refugee camp-he a few years before Gaza was occupied by Israel, and I in 1988, a month after the outbreak of the first intifada. My dad married a woman from the West Bank-they had met and fallen in love while they were both studying at Birzeit University, and when I was two years old we emigrated to the UK where he received his Phd.

Fourteen years later, in 2004, we all returned to Palestine to live in Ramallah. Now British citizens, my parents were determined that my three siblings and I would forge a stronger connection to our homeland than we ever could living abroad. At first, the transition was made easier by the fact that our foreign passports gave us the freedom of movement that was denied to other Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. For me, this reality was shattered when in late 2005 I attempted to cross the River Jordan from the West Bank to visit my aunt in Amman. The Israeli border agents told me that I could not pass, because I had an Israeli issued Gaza ID. Under Israeli military rules, this meant that I could not ‘legally’ be present in the West Bank because the Israeli occupation had mandated that Palestinians from Gaza could not enter the West Bank, and Palestinians from the West Bank could not enter Gaza. This policy had been in force since the early 1990’s, but was applied with increasing severity after the outbreak of the second intifada.

I lived the next four years under constant fear of arrest by the Israeli military, because that would have resulted in almost certain deportation to Gaza, and isolation from my family. For those four years, I never left the confines of Ramallah, so as to avoid the Israeli checkpoints on every one of the town’s entrances-but even this couldn’t give me a sense of security because I had to commute daily to Birzeit University, on a route frequently patrolled by Israeli forces from the nearby settlement of Bet El.

Read more »

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