Israel on Trial: Renowned Historian Testifies at War Crimes Tribunal

Testimony by Dr. Ilan Pappe on Genocide in Palestine by Israel

The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal Hearing on Palestine–Testimony by Dr. Ilan Pappe.

On November 22, 2013, the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal (KLWCT) went into the third day of the hearing on genocide and war crimes charges against the State of Israel and Amos Yaron, a retired Israeli army general.

The tribunal heard the testimony of renowned historian and socialist activist, Prof Ilan Pappe, who informed the tribunal about the systematic ethnic cleansing via expulsion and killing of the Palestinians from their homeland since 1948. Three witnesses from West Bank also gave an account of their trials and tribulations under the Israelis.

The testimony of Dr. Pappe was an interesting and revealing account of the Israeli leadership strategy to rid the Palestinians from their homeland since the 1940s. He testified that the expulsions were not decided on an ad hoc basis, as other historians have argued, but constituted the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, in accordance with Plan Dalet drawn up in 1947 by Israel’s leaders then.

He testified that the expulsion of the Palestinians in 1948 constituted ethnic cleansing, as the Zionists movement was not concerned with the native people. He revealed that it was as early as in the 1940s when it began deliberating the fate of the indigenous people of Palestine and that they wanted to take over Palestine with as little Palestinians in it by having them leave voluntarily or be forced out.

He further revealed that from 1948 until 1949, the plan was enforced by Israeli forces to cleanse villages and towns of Palestinians by encircling the villages/towns from three flanks to intimidate the residents into leaving by leaving one flank open. Some 530 villages were wiped out physically. Under the partition plan, 56% of the land was to be handed to Israel wherein the 2/3 of the population was Palestinians. In the end, 93% of the land came under the control of Israel and 750,000 Palestinians were left out as refugees in neighbouring countries, in Gaza and West Bank. After the 1967 war, Gaza and West Bank were occupied.

He added that having taken over most of Palestine territories, the policy changed from expelling to destroying the Palestinians. Hence, the Sabra & Shatilla massacre was an attempt to destroy Palestinians in Lebanon.

He told the tribunal that the use of military action against Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank was considered genocidal against people who cannot defend themselves. Military operations such as Summer Rains, Autumn Clouds, and Cast Lead were just to kill the Palestinians and destroy the economy, culture and their spirit.

In cross-examination by Amicus Curiae Jason Kay, Prof Pappe agreed that his view of history is a minority view and that while he is grateful that the Zionist movement had saved his parents from the Nazi holocaust for which he is grateful; however, the moral way is to live together with the Palestinians, not expel and kill them.

For more information, please visit:
http://criminalisewar.org/2013/renowned-historian-testifies-on-systemati…

Global Research

Israel on Trial: Renowned Historian Testifies at War Crimes Tribunal

Russia dismisses intl tribunal ruling on Greenpeace"s Arctic Sunrise ship and crew

Russia dismisses intl tribunal ruling on Greenpeace"s Arctic Sunrise ship and crew
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Published time: November 23, 2013 18:06

Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise (RIA Novosti / Sergey Eshenko)

Russia is not going to comply with a maritime tribunal’s ruling to release the Greenpeace vessel as the issue does not fall within its jurisdiction, said a Kremlin official, accusing the activists of using ‘unsuitable means’ for implementing their idea.

“We have no plans to participate in the process”, Sergey Ivanov, the head of the Russian Presidential administration told journalists in St. Petersburg on Saturday. According to a 1982 convention Russia can ignore the findings of the Tribunal on the Law for the Sea if it concerns Russia’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction.

Ivanov was referring to the Friday’s ruling of the tribunal in Hamburg that ordered Russia to allow the Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise vessel and the 30 activists who were onboard to leave the country for a bond of €3.6 million (about $ 5 million).

The vessel is currently moored in the Russian port of Murmansk while the international maritime court still has to rule on the legality of Russia seizing the ship.

Ivanov reaffirmed Russia’s dismissal of the ruling adding that the “question will be solved in a judicial, not political manner, [and] based on Russian legislation, not someone’s political wishes.”

“There’s a legal procedure and we’re observing it strictly,” he said adding that he believes the activists will leave Russia as soon as all legal issues are completed.

Ivanov noted that their ‘noble idea’ was implemented using ‘unsuitable means’ and described the actions of the activists who he called ‘environmentalists or pseudo environmentalists’ as ‘PR for profit.’

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the Russian literary meeting in Moscow on Thursday said that the actions of the Greenpeace environmentalists threatened the lives of those who worked on the oil rig.

“When [somebody] is climbing on the platform, [they] are creating an emergency situation, the operator [of the rig] could have made more than one error. They are distracted from the ongoing work. Among other things, there were divers underwater and their life was in danger,” said Putin.

Thirty Arctic Sunrise activists including two journalists were detained after they scaled the Prirazlomnaya oil platform in the Pechora Sea in September in order to stop its operations.  Twenty nine of them have been released on bail, however they face jail terms of up to seven years if found guilty of hooliganism and cannot leave Russia till the court proceedings are over.

The detention of the Arctic Thirty has sparked sharp criticism from the group’s supporters and human rights organizations.

RT – News

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‘Back to the 19th century’: Mysterious techno breakdown hits Gitmo 9/11 tribunal

Published time: August 24, 2013 10:18

Defense lawyers for Guantanamo detainees asked the judge in the military tribunal on Friday to suspend pretrial hearings as mysterious computer glitches are just the latest technological setbacks to complicate the legal proceedings.

Defense lawyers for Guantanamo detainees asked the military tribunal judge to suspend pretrial hearings as mysterious computer glitches have made their job a ‘hot mess’ forcing some of them to draft motions with pen and paper.

“We’re basically put back in the 19th century,” Army Major Jason Wright, who represents the alleged mastermind of the terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, said on Friday, as quoted by Reuters. “It takes about five to 10 times what it would normally take to do defense functions.”

Defense lawyers for five Guantanamo detainees said email correspondences they sent were never received, investigative records that took years to compile had disappeared and external monitors were unable to access their internet searches. Even the prosecuting and defense teams had been given access to each other’s files.

The technical problems had started earlier in the year but by April they had become so severe that the chief defense counsel, Air Force Colonel Karen Mayberry, ordered defense lawyers not to use their Pentagon computers for any confidential casework.

The situation became so dire that when Pentagon officials wished to convey messages to legal advisors in other cities, they had to place the sensitive data onto external drives, head to Starbucks and file them via Wi-Fi using their personal computers and personal email accounts, Wright revealed.

Defense attorney James Harrington, who represents Yemeni prisoner Ramzi bin al Shibh, said he had been forced to draft motions with pen and paper.

Another defense attorney for Mohammed, David Nevin, commented: “In this day and age you cannot practice law this way.”

He said the chief of staff for the Pentagon official overseeing the military tribunals issued her judgment during a conference call on Thursday, declaring: “This is a hot mess.”

Pentagon technical personnel have said it would take “up to 111 days” to fix the glitches once a contract was signed and money allocated, and that it was doubtful the work could be finished before the start of 2014.

The judge, Army Colonel James Pohl, said he would give the matter further consideration at a pretrial hearing scheduled to start on Sept. 16 and decide then whether to cancel hearings scheduled for October, November, December and January.

“I understand the serious nature of being able to communicate as a defense counsel,” the judge said.

This is not the first time that the maximum-security tribunal has suffered from ‘ghosts in the machinery.’

Judge Pohl in January convened an emergency meeting after it was discovered that some outside source was cutting the audio feed when particular subjects in the trial were being discussed. 

The judge stated he was not happy with this interference and added that he would like some clarification on “who turns that light on or off.”

“It’s a ‘whoa moment’ for the court,” Human Rights Watch observer Laura Pitter said in January, as quoted by the Miami Herald. “Even the judge doesn’t know that someone else has control over the censorship button?”

The five defendants are accused of training and funding the hijackers who allegedly crashed four commercial jets into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.

The Obama administration has backed down on its promise to close Gitmo and give the detainees civil trials on US territory in the face of extreme Republican pressure.

RT – USA

‘Back to the 19th century’: Mysterious techno breakdown hits Gitmo 9/11 tribunal