THE PEACE THRU JUSTICE FOUNDATION
11006 Veirs Mill Rd, STE L-15, PMB
298
Silver Spring, MD. 20902
RAJAB 1435 A.H.
(December 11,
2013)
We Must Take Advantage of this GLOBAL MANDELA
MOMENT!
Assalaamu Alaikum (Greetings of
Peace):
People of good will in the
international community must take advantage of this Global Mandela Moment
to shed much needed light on the country that represents Apartheid South Africa on Steroids -
Zionist Israel! Yesterday
was International Human Rights Day,
and it was my original intent to forward the results of last month's War Crimes Tribunal in Kuala Lumpur
to mark that occasion. Unfortunately, I was too mentally fatigued to compose
a fitting introduction for such an important topic, so the morning after
will have to suffice, insha'Allah.
A couple of days ago I sent out a
link to Nelson Mandela's interview with Ted Koppel/Nightline shortly after his
release from 27 years of harsh political imprisonment. The clips included a
number of Jewish-American Israel Firsters challenging
Madiba on his and the ANC's principled position on the Palestinian issue. The
challenge provided this global icon with an opportunity to show the
world what principled, backbone supported, political leadership looks
like!
As we've stated many time in the
past, the issue of Palestine is not just a Palestinian issue. It is at the heart
of much of what ails that region and the world. Israel
Firsters (both here and abroad) were in the leading position of America's wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq - and the expanded conflicts in other parts of
the Muslim world. They also lead the domestic response to America's
so-called "war on terrorism" (also known as the war against Islam and
committed Muslims), at the expense of the better of the "two America's" and
its people.
America's first president,
General George Washington, in his farewell address to the Union warned:
"A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils... It gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) the facility to betray or sacrifice the interest of their own country without odium, sometimes even with popularity. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests."
This surrendering of
interests (at America's expense) occurs everyday in the national and
international arena; and Israel firsters often boast about their accomplishments
with unabashed aplomb. Case in point: America's unconstitutional, international
law violating Drone Warfare.
In her book titled
Drone Warfare: Killing By Remote
Control, Madea Benjamin (a co-founder of Code Pink), quotes two
government functionaries at the beginning of chapter six ("Murder by
Drone: Is It Legal?," page 127); one is Israeli, the other appears to be
American, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that both had dual citizenship.
Colonel
Daniel Reisner, former head of the Israeli Defense Forces legal
Department, had this to say about the controversies surrounding America's
extra-judicial killing policy:
"If you do something for long enough, the world will accept it. The whole of international law is now based on the notion that an act that is forbidden today becomes permissible if executed by enough countries... International law progresses [actually regresses] through violations. We invented the targeted assassination thesis and we had to push it. At first there were protrusions that made it hard to insert easily into the legal moulds. Eight years later it is in the center of the bounds of legitimacy."
I don't know the
date of this observation; but what I do know is this, Israel has been
in the extra-judicial killing business of Palestinians of all ages - as
well as those who might come to their aid, such as the American activist
Rachel Corrie and the British activist Thomas Hurndall, for
decades!
Rachel Corrie Memorial Website
www.rachelcorrie.org/
Tom Hurndall | International Solidarity Movement
www.tomhurndall.co.uk/
The other quote comes
from a former CIA officer by the name of Bruce
Riedel:
"We're not in kindergarten on this anymore; we've been doing this [targeted killings] since 2001, and there's a well established protocol."
Indeed there is...a well
established protocol for this and a host of other evil practices in the
name of national security and "our national interests." For years now,
Israel, and its blind following puppy dogs in the West, have been beating
the drums for all out war with Iran - as if we were not already embroiled
in enough internal and external conflict. Where will it end? We cannot
afford to be silent, because silence is
consent!
It is past time that
committed Muslims - and morally conscious Christians and Jews -
stop avoiding the Palestinian crisis in our "interfaith dialogues." The
Israel Firsters who participate in
these so-called dialogues don't hide the fact that they are
dedicated supporters of Israel! Let us draw inspiration from the example of the
man who has (in his passing) become the focus international reflection
and acclaim. Let us take full advantage of this Mandela Moment before it's gone.
If not now...when?
In the struggle for peace
thru justice,
El-Hajj Mauri'
Saalakhan
* Please note the special
appeal at the end.
--------------------------------------------
Israel Charged
with War Crimes and Genocide
Israel
convicted of war crimes: “From 1948 and continuing to date the State of Israel
carried out against the Palestinian people a series of acts namely killing,
causing serious bodily harm and deliberately inflicting conditions of life
calculated to bring about physical destruction – with the intention of
destroying in whole or in part the Palestinian people.”
Complete
Judgment of Kuala Lumpur Tribunal
“The
perpetrators had committed acts against the Palestinians, with intent to kill,
cause serious bodily or mental harms and deliberately inflict conditions of life
calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the Palestinians as a
whole or in part.”
“The Tribunal
recommends to the War Crimes Commission to give the widest international
publicity to this conviction and grant of reparations, as these are universal
crimes for which there is a responsibility upon nations to institute
prosecutions. The Tribunal deplores the failure of international institutions to
punish the State of Israel for its crimes and its total lack of respect of
International Law and the institutions of the United
Nations.”
..THE KUALA LUMPUR WAR
CRIMES TRIBUNAL
20 – 25 NOVEMBER 2013
Case No. 3 – CHG – 2013The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission
Against
Amos Yaron
Case No. 4 – CHG – 2013The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission
Against
The State of Israel
20 – 25 NOVEMBER 2013
Case No. 3 – CHG – 2013The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission
Against
Amos Yaron
Case No. 4 – CHG – 2013The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission
Against
The State of Israel
..
The Kuala
Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal (Tribunal) reconvened on 20 November 2013 to hear two
charges against Amos Yaron (first Defendant) and the State of Israel (second
Defendant). The first Defendant was charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, whilst the second
Defendant was charged with the crime of genocide and war crimes.
The charge
against the first Defendant is as follows –
Massacre of 3,000 to 3,500 Palestinians in the Sabra
and Shatila refugee camps in Israeli-occupied Lebanon in September of
1982.
“The
Defendant Amos Yaron perpetrated War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and
Genocide in his capacity as the Commanding Israeli General in military control
of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Israeli occupied Lebanon in September
of 1982 when he knowingly facilitated and permitted the large-scale Massacre of
the Residents of those two camps in violation of the Hague Regulations on Land Warfare of 1907; the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949; the 1948 Genocide Convention; the Nuremberg Charter (1945), the Nuremberg Judgment (1946), and the Nuremberg Principles (1950); customary
international law, jus cogens, the Laws of War, and International Humanitarian
Law”
The charge
against the second Defendant [State of Israel] is as follows –
Bodies of Palestinians massacred in Deir Yassin
village, massacre by Israeli Haganah against Palestinian civilians on April 9,
1948.
“From 1948
and continuing to date the State of Israel (hereafter ‘the Defendant’) carried
out against the Palestinian people a series of acts namely killing, causing
serious bodily harm and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to
bring about physical destruction.
The conduct
of the Defendant was carried out with the intention of destroying in whole or in
part the Palestinian people. These
acts were carried out as part of a manifest pattern of similar conduct against
the Palestinian people.
These acts were
carried out by the Defendant through the instrumentality of its representatives
and agents including those listed in Appendices 1 and 2.
Such conduct
constitutes the Crime of Genocide under international law including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide 1948
(‘the Genocide Convention’) in particular Article II and punishable under
Article III of the said Convention.
It also
constitutes the crime of genocide as stipulated in Article 10 of the Charter of the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise
War.
Such conduct
by the Defendant as an occupying power also violates customary international law
as embodied in the Hague Convention of 1907 Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on
Land, and the Fourth
Geneva Convention of 1949.
Such conduct
also constitutes War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity under international
law.”
The charges
(together with the particulars of the charges) had been duly served on the
Defendants, and were read in open court by the Registrar as these proceedings
commenced.
Neither
Defendant was present in these proceedings, but both were represented by the
Amicus Curiae-Defence Team.
The Kuala Lumpur
War Crimes Commission (KLWCC) versus the State of Israel
The proceedings
directed against the State of Israel were led by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes
Commission.
Members of the
Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC) are:
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Former Prime Minister of
Malaysia
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (Chairman), Prof. Michel Chossudovsky,
Dr. Denis Halliday, Mr. Musa Ismail, Dr. Zulaiha Ismail, Dr. Yaacob Merican, Dr.
Hans von Sponeck.
Working in
liaison with their Malaysian counterparts, commissioners Dr. Denis Halliday,
former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and Prof. Michel
Chossudovsky, Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization were present
in Kuala Lumpur throughout the proceedings.
This important
judicial process has received very little coverage in the Western media. Global
Research will be publishing several reports following this historic judgment
against the State of Israel.
***
Selected
Excerpts
2.
Prosecution’s Case
The
Prosecution’s case against the first Defendant is that the first Defendant had
committed War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and Genocide in his capacity as
the Commanding Israeli General in military control of the Sabra and Shatila
refugee camps in Israeli-occupied Lebanon in September of 1982 when he knowingly
facilitated and permitted the large-scale Massacre of the Residents of those two
camps. These crimes were in violation of, inter alia, the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, the 1948 Genocide Convention, jus cogens,
International Humanitarian Law; and Articles 9, 10, and 11 of the Charter of the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise
War.
The
Prosecution’s case against the second Defendant is that from 1948 and continuing
to date the State of Israel had systematically carried out against the
Palestinian people a series of acts namely killing, causing serious bodily harm
and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about
physical destruction – with the intention of destroying in whole or in part the
Palestinian people.
These acts
constitute the Crime of Genocide under international law including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide 1948
(‘the Genocide Convention’) in particular Article II and punishable under
Article III of the said Convention. It also constitutes the crime of genocide as
stipulated in Article 10 of the Charter of the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise
War.
In his opening
statement, the Chief Prosecutor Prof Gurdial Singh said that the Prosecution
will adduce evidence to prove the counts in the indictment through oral and
written testimonies of victims, witnesses, historical records, narrative in
books and authoritative commentaries, resolutions of the United Nations and
reports of international bodies.
6. The
Defence case
Mr. Jason Kay
Kit Leon of the Amicus Curiae-Defence Team submitted that in the charges against
the two Defendants, the Prosecution had listed war crimes, crimes against
humanity and crimes against peace. Apparently the Prosecution had abandoned
these charges, concentrating only on genocide.
He said that the
offence of genocide is defined in Article 2 of the Genocide Convention 1948,
whilst the OED defines it simply as “the deliberate killing of a large group of
people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group”.
He submitted
that the charge of genocide is unique; it means that you don’t like a group, you
kill them; you kill them in a grand manner. Genocide means that at the end of
the act, you have a lesser number of victims than before the genocide
started.
He further
submitted that when one talks of “massive killing”, it is many hundreds of
thousands to millions of people. To suggest that an isolated event, the
unfortunate murder of 3,000 people (Sabra and Shatila) is the same as massive
killing is almost disrespectful of the true horror of massive killing (as in
Rwanda, where 800,000 people were killed in 100 days).
With regard to
the Kahan Report, the Amicus Curiae-Defence Team said that it also identified
other people as being responsible, with two other names other than Yaron still
alive. The question is why only Yaron was charged? Why was Defence Minister
Ariel Sharon spared?
He also
submitted that the PLO had repeatedly violated the July 1981 cease-fire
agreement. By June 1982, when the IDF went into Lebanon, the PLO had made life
in northern Israel intolerable through its repeated shelling of Israeli
towns.
Gaza massacre: 42 police cadets killed in a single
missile strike on Dec. 27, 2008, during Israel’s Cast Lead
Operation.
On Cast Lead, the Amicus Curiae-Defence Team
submitted that the IDF had come out with two reports. The point is if you are
going to kill people nilly willy, you do not report it.
On the issue of
the wall, the Amicus Curiae-Defence Team submitted that the primary
consideration is one of security of the Israeli settlers. The State of Israel
has a duty to defend their lives, safety and well-being.
On the issue of
checkpoints, the Amicus Curiae-Defence Team said countries have a right to
immigration laws. With regard to Plan Dalet, the Amicus Curiae-Defence Team said
that it is subject to divergent opinions, with historians on one side asserting
that it was entirely defensive, while other historians assert that the plan
aimed at an ethnic cleansing.
4.
Prosecution’s closing submission
In his closing
submission, the Chief Prosecutor said that he had called 11 witnesses (some of
whom had testified through Skype), tendered 15 exhibits and furnished several
documents and reports to the Tribunal during the course of the
proceedings.
He urged the
Tribunal to bear in mind that this is a Tribunal of Conscience and the case
before it is an extraordinary case, which Winston Churchill used to call as a
“crime without a name”.
He said that the
Prosecution had provided evidence of facts which, examined as a whole, will
show that the perpetrators had committed acts against the Palestinians, with
intent to kill, cause serious bodily or mental harms and deliberately inflict
conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the
Palestinians as a whole or in part.
Ilan Pappe, Israeli historian, socialist activist and
professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the
University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.
From the
testimony of Prof Pappe (PW8) the Prosecution had shown that before 1948, before
UN Resolution 47, there was already a plan in place to take over the Palestinian
territory, and this plan would be activated the moment the British relinquished
its mandate over the territory.
At that point
in time, the Palestinians were on 94% of the land, with the Jewishpopulation
settling over a mere 6% of the land. Under the UN partition plan, more than 50%
of the land was to be given to the Jews.
Plan Dalet might not legally be genocidal in form
at its inception, but as it took shape the ethnic cleansing metamorphised into
killing, massacre and creating impossible conditions for life for the
Palestinians – either they leave or they die. The Prosecution submits this is
genocide within the meaning of Article 2 of the Genocide Convention.
On Sabra and
Shatila, prosecution witnesses (PW1 and PW6) had testified that the Palestinian
refugees in those camps had been killed by the Phalangists, aided and abetted by
the Israelis who were in complete control of the two camps.
According to the
Kahan Report, all of Beirut was under Israeli control, and there was clear
symbiotic relationship between Israel and the Christian forces (the Lebanese
Maronite Christian militia or the Phalangists or Keta’ib).
Palestinian civilians and medics run to safety during
an Israeli strike using phosphorus shells at a UN school. Photograph: Mohammed
Abed/AFP
On Operation Cast Lead in 2008, the Chief Prosecutor
said that the Israeli Defence Force had used all kinds of weapons, including white phosphorus – which is an incendiary
weapon. The use of incendiary weapons is prohibited under Protocal III on the
Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons.
As a result
of the Israeli occupation of Gaza, nowhere in Gaza is safe for civilians. 1.5
million Palestinians are now trapped in despair, their fragile economy ruined.
Under the Dahiya Doctrine (October 2008), the complete destruction of Gaza is
the ultimate objective, the whole place must be flattened.
The Prosecution
submits that the cumulative effect of the actions taken by the Israeli
government, as shown by the Prosecution witnesses and the several documents
tendered to the Tribunal, have shown beyond reasonable doubt that Israel is
guilty of the crime of genocide under the Genocide Convention and the Charter of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (The
Charter).
Co-Prosecutor
Tan Sri Abdul Aziz, submitting on the first charge against Amos Yaron, said that
Amos Yaron was the commanding officer in charge of the Israeli Defence Force, in
charge of the area of Beirut, and camps Sabra and Shatila. He said there were
two issues which he has to deal with – first, whether or not there was a large
scale massacre of the 10 residents of the two camps, and second, whether or not
Amos Yaron facilitated and permitted such massacre, in violation of
international law and Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Charter?
On the first
issue, he submitted there was a large scale massacre, as testified by PW1.
She was there, and she saw the massacre with her own eyes. There was
corrobating testimony by PW6, and further acknowledged in the Kahan
Report.
On the second
issue, Amos Yaron was in charge, to ensure that there would be peace and law and
order. The Kahan Report itself concluded that anybody who knew about Lebanon
would know that by releasing the Phalangists into Beirut, there would be
massacre. Surely, Amos Yaron, the General in charge, must have known that by
allowing the Phalangists to go into the two camps, the massacre would take
place. But he decided to do nothing.
He received the
reports of the killing of women and children, but he did not check the report.
He did not pass the report to his superiors. The co-prosecutor submits that by
ignoring all this despite knowing the circumstances, he himself had the
intention of causing the death of the people in the two camps.
The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal in
session.
10.3
Commission’s Register of War Criminals
Further, under
Article 35 of the same Chapter, this Tribunal recommends to the Kuala Lumpur War
Crimes Commission that the names of the two convicted parties herein be entered
and included in the Commission’s Register of War Criminals and be publicised
accordingly.
10.4 The
Tribunal recommends to the War Crimes Commission to give the widest
international publicity to this conviction and grant of reparations, as these
are universal crimes for which there is a responsibility upon nations to
institute prosecutions.
10.5 The
Tribunal deplores the failure of international institutions to punish the State
of Israel for its crimes and its total lack of respect of International Law and
the institutions of the United Nations. It urges the Commission to use all means
to publicise this judgement and in particular with respect to the Parliaments
and Legislative Assemblies of the major powers such as members of the G8 and to
urge these countries to intervene and put an end to the colonialist and racist
policies of the State of Israel and its supporters.
----------------------------------------------------
Please
see:
Address by President Nelson Mandela at the
International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Pretoria, 4 December 1997
---------------------------------------
AN URGENT & TIME SENSITIVE
APPEAL
Insha'Allah, next month I will be departing the U.S.
for a renewed international campaign for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui; I expect to
visit at least four countries in the course of this very important
initiative. In preparation for my overseas visit (the first in two decades), I
would like to release a small book that will answer the most oft-repeated
question put to me over the past four years: Why
Aafia?
Those of you who respond to the needs of this campaign
with a donation (sooner rather than later :) will receive a copy
of the book as a gift of appreciation. Please send your contribution (made
payable) to the following:
The Peace Thru
Justice Foundation
11006 Veirs Mill
Road
STE L-15, PMB
298
Silver Spring, MD.
20902
May
ALLAH bless all who respond to this urgently needed appeal. The struggle
continues. - MS
--
SIGN THE JERICHO COINTELPRO PETITION!
Free All Political Prisoners!
www.jerichony.org
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