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Last update - 02:46 05/06/2008 Welcome to year 41 By Michael Sfard Tags: Israel, hebron, apartheid  The military commander of the West Bank, Major General Gadi Shamni, is a busy man. He has a country to run, and he has no separation of powers to worry about. He is at once legislator, judge, and director general of his little government that comprises his minister-officers aged 20-something. Only a small portion of his activities are known to the public, because running occupied territory includes countless daily decisions, instructions and actions. The following are some examples of his recent activities. One day the commander declared war on the handicapped of Qalqilyah. In an order he signed, he declared organizations he suspects of terrorist activities to be outside the law: the Association for the Rehabilitation of the Handicapped in Qalqilyah, the Handicapped Association, the Handicapped Rehabilitation Association, the Qalqilyah Association for the Rehabilitation of the Handicapped, the Qalqilyah Association for the Handicapped, the Organization for Assisting and Caring for the Handicapped, the Qalqilyah Association for the Rehabilitation of the Handicapped. These organizations thus became illegal and their members criminals. Advertisement Several days later he announced an extension of the two-year ban imposed on Shawan Jabarin, director of the largest Palestinian human rights organization, Al-Haq, from traveling to conferences abroad. According to the commander, Jabarin as well is up to his neck in terrorism. Last week Major Shmuel Lavie, a judge at the military court in Camp Ofer and Shamni's counselor on legal issues, ruled that two Palestinians who rented shops in Hebron - which were taken over by settlers from the Avraham Avinu neighborhood - lost their rights as renters because they "abandoned" their assets. The judge was aware of the orders issued by the military commander several years earlier, which banned Palestinians from entering their shops, so they were not there in recent years. Nonetheless he ruled that forced abandonment of property also constitutes abandonment. Last Friday, as he has done every week for the past six weeks, the Hebron military commander signed an order declaring the area a closed military zone, banning members of the group Breaking the Silence from holding information tours in the city. The settlers in the city opposed the tours, and some of them attacked the organizers, so the commander found a way to preserve the peace. A representative of the military commander was a key speaker at a Hebrew University conference entitled "Permissible distinction or unacceptable discrimination - does the security argument constitute relevant differentiation?" This is indeed the central question in the activities of the military commander, who has recently been signing orders preventing Palestinians from traveling on this or that street, or entering particular areas in the West Bank. It would have been possible to give the conference a less complicated title: "Apartheid - for or against." These are only some examples of the commander's job: fighting aid organizations and limiting the actions of human rights activists, entrenching discrimination in the law on the basis of nationality, and stripping Palestinians of their property while permitting the settlers' injustices. But it is not only the military commander who is doing all this. It is us. Welcome to year 41. The author is the legal counsel for the human rights organization Yesh Din, and represents plaintiffs in some of the cases mentioned in the article. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Terrorist donuts U.S. Arabs irate over criticism of celebrity cook's kaffiyeh. All the way to hell Rosner's blog: It's Obama's good intentions that pro-Israel activists fear.   1.   Gadi Shamni is a filthy war criminal 12:40  |  Palestinian in UK 05/06/08   2.   what else is new? 13:38  |  potobac 05/06/08   3.   Michael Sfard is Finkelsteins lawyer 14:22  |  Herbert Kaine 05/06/08   4.   The author is writing an editorial 14:25  |  Slappy 05/06/08   5.   It has become immoral for people & leaders to support Israel 14:33  |  Dutch 05/06/08   6.   Welcome to the 41st anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem, 15:13  |  Chaim 05/06/08   7.   Did Ben Jabo Ben Tize read this article? 15:16  |  Aounist 05/06/08   8.   #3 Herbert asks: Is it true? 15:43  |  Johnboy 05/06/08   9.   Security. 15:59  |  ZISD 05/06/08   10.   All it takes is a simple visit to the West Bank 16:07  |  Ibrahim 05/06/08   11.   Potobac and Master Races 16:10  |  ZISD 05/06/08   12.   Potobac: Living the Nazi Dream 16:21  |  Tex 05/06/08   13.   Doris the Do-Do Bird 16:24  |  Tex 05/06/08   14.   # 9 GO BLOW DIXIE SOMEWHERE ELSE. 17:20  |  petra 05/06/08   15.   ZISD, you are quite misguided. 17:29  |  Ibrahim 05/06/08   16.   Old cake wrapped in new paper... 19:15  |  Hans 05/06/08   17.   Chaim # and yes welcome 21:16  |  American in NY 05/06/08   18.   It`s truly amazing how low Israel has sunk... - 2nd try 03:32  |  BBSNews 06/06/08

Read & React U.S.: We will address Iran nuclear threat diplomatically Responses: 170 Olmert: Broad Gaza military operation closer than ever Responses: 124 Bradley Burston: Leave it to Fox News to elect Obama Responses: 118 Obama's pro-Israel speech before AIPAC riles Arab press Responses: 46 More Headlines 23:54 U.S.: We will address Iran nuke threat diplomatically 23:56 Negev pounded with Qassams, mortar shells fired from Gaza 00:17 Author Thomas L. Friedman: No short-term leverage on Iran other than military 03:43 PM to Bush, Abbas: I'll weather legal storm, stay in office 18:12 Obama's pro-Israel speech before AIPAC riles Arab press 00:03 Thousands attend 10th annual Gay Pride parade in Tel Aviv 18:16 New database gathers tales of Shanghai's Holocaust refugees 00:50 Israel lags behind Sudan, Pakistan in number of women in legislature 01:36 Olmert hints major Gaza operation is imminent 22:24 A rabbi, an imam and a priest discuss their 'painful verses' 03:07 Olmert aides: Progress made with U.S. on forging common view on Iran 03:54 IDF spokesman: Announce war casualties only once a day 05:20 New radar system in the works to detect mortars from Gaza Previous Editions Select Day 06 jun 05 jun 04 jun 03 jun 02 jun 01 jun 30 may 29 may 28 may 27 may 26 may 25 may

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