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Thursday, April 06, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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State: Israel, P.A. have ‘poor’ human rights record
The Israeli and Palestinian Authority governments had poor human rights records in the West Bank and Gaza Strip last year, the U.S. State Department said.
The grades came Wednesday in a report on U.S. support for human rights and democracy around the world. The grades were notable because the main State Department annual report on human rights, issued last month, omitted such grades for the first time.
The P.A. grade was “due in part to the government’s failure to fully establish control of public security, including insufficient measures to prevent attacks on targets within the occupied territories and in Israel by Palestinian terrorist groups, which operated with impunity,” the report said. Israel’s poor record was “due in part to actions by Israeli soldiers and settlers that resulted in death and injury to Palestinian civilians.”
The report praised January 2006 legislative elections in the Palestinian areas as free and fair, and noted a number of U.S. programs that encouraged moderation among Palestinians.
It failed to report that Hamas, a terrorist group that rejects Israel’s right to exist, won the elections.
House committee passes P.A. ban bill
A congressional committee approved a bill banning aid to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority.
The bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives’ International Relations Committee on Thursday by a 36-2 vote, now goes to the full House. It includes some compromises demanded by the Bush administration, including an allowance for funds to be sent through P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas, a relative moderate who belongs to Hamas’ rival party, Fatah.
The bill also restricts U.S. aid to non-governmental organizations to basic health needs. It also legislates that the removal of Hamas from the Palestinian Authority will not be enough to re-establish P.A. relations with the United States; no matter who runs it, the Palestinian Authority will have to prove it has eradicated terrorism and anti-Israel incitement.
A similar bill is being considered in the Senate, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the bill’s main sponsor, has garnered more than 200 co-sponsors, or about half the House. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbied for the bill.
Israel Project picks 30 for media fellows
The Israel Project selected 30 college and graduate students from around the world to participate in its summer Media Fellows program.
The program teaches Jewish and non-Jewish students communications techniques to bolster Israel’s image in the press.
The Media Fellows, who speak a variety of languages, will be divided among the Israel Project’s permanent offices in Washington and Jerusalem and a temporary office in New York City. Yossi Olmert, Prime Minister-elect Ehud Olmert’s brother and a former Israeli government spokesman, will direct the program.
http://www.jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 11:09 PM Permanent Link
 
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