FEBRUARY 2004

STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS :

International Court of Justice
The public hearings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ),
principal judicial organ of the United Nations, to be held from 23
to 25 February 2004 in the case concerning the Legal Consequences of
the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
(request for advisory opinion), will be broadcast live and in full
on the Court's official website (www.icj-cij.org).

The Court has decided to provide video coverage of its hearings on
the Internet in response to the exceptional interest in this case
shown by the general public, civil society and the media worldwide,
and in view of the Court's very limited seating space for members of
the public and journalists at the Peace Palace in The Hague. The
Court intends to provide such webstreaming in the future for cases
of a similar nature.

The hearings will be filmed by the Court's permanent network of
cameras in the Great Hall of Justice at the Peace Palace. Audio
streaming will be available only in the Court's two official
languages, English and French.

Israel, on May 8, 2003, completely closed off Gaza to
the international community
From: International Solidarity Movement
The situation in Gaza is one of constant oppression of and almost daily
attack on Palestinian civilians by one of the most powerful, well-equipped
army in the world. On Wednesday, February 11, Israeli military raids on the
Sajaiyah Neighborhood of Gaza City as well as in Rafah, left 14 Palestinians
dead and 50 wounded; almost half of the wounded, children.  The situation
is so dire that even the United Nations Relief Works
Agency (UNRWA) has been forced to close schools in the Gaza Strip as they
were no longer considered a safe place for the children to be in under the
snipers constant aim.

This and other attacks on the Palestinian people are being carried out
behind closed doors as Israel, on May 8, 2003, completely closed off Gaza to
the international community and has kept it closed ever since.  No
solidarity groups, volunteers, observers, or human rights workers are
allowed to pass through the Erez Checkpoint, leaving the Israeli government
free to carry out violations of human rights and international law against
the people of Gaza, away from the eyes of the world.

We demand the right to enter Gaza and have access to the people.  We call
for an immediate end to the atrocities being carried out by the Israeli army
against the people of Gaza City, Rafah, Beit Hanoun, Khan Younis, Jabalia,
Nuseirat, Deir al Balah and all of the Gaza Strip. We oppose the Israeli
occupation and the violence perpetrated against the people and will not
remain silent.
receivedFeb13th 2004

Evidently Politics escapes Legal Censure in the European Union except in France or Sweden:

EU, Challenges ICJ Authority, But Critical of The Barrier
.IMEMC & Agencies, February 5, 2004

The European Union expressed a serious criticism of Israel’s separation wall and cited an official condemnation in its brief submitted to the International court of Justice in The Hague. The brief, however, voices reservation over the court authority to rule on the wall issue. The document considered the issue as rather political and lacks legal nature.

Israeli officials welcomed the EU reservations over the court authority, but condemned the submitted criticisms against the wall.

Few European countries submitted their own briefs. In its brief, France recommended that the case should not be dealt with in the tribunal, however, (FRANCE)said that if the judges decided to go ahead with the hearing, France considers the wall to be illegal.

In their briefs, Switzerland and Sweden supported the Palestinian position against the wall. Sweden did not dispute the authority of the court to deal with this issue.

On the other hand, Israeli political sources expressed satisfaction with the British and the German briefs, in which both expressed reservations the court authority to look into the issue. Both British and Americans while cased similar reservations, included in their briefs criticisms to the current route of the wall.

As chances for canceling the hearings are seen as slim, Israel is getting ready to the upcoming session at The Hague. The head of the security team of the Israeli steering committee dealing with The Hague, Brigadier General Mike Herzog, has compiled needed security data about the wall.

The three parts document, consists of analysis and background information about the wall including data about Palestinian resistance attacks against Israel and an explanation about the construction of the wall including the route of the wall and the so far results of the wall with regards to preventing attacks from Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank.

Downing Street in whitewash demo

"A group of protesters have been arrested for throwing white paint at the gates of Downing Street.

A spokesman said protesters were concerned about the narrow remit of an inquiry to examine UK intelligence on Iraq's WMDs.

The attack took place at about 0900 GMT and five people were arrested for criminal damage

Police are considering whether it is in the public interest to formally charge the protesters.

The demonstrators were said to be dressed in judges' wigs and robes."!!!
BBC Jan4th2004

International Court of Justice
ICJ Hearing Likely to Proceed Regardless of Growing Opposition IMEMC & Agencies, February 2, 2004 Israeli officials are worried that the hearings in the ICJ are likely to proceed regardless of the growing opposition to the authority of the international court to deal with the legality of the Separation wall issue. Despite the opposition, the chances of cancellation are very slight. The Israeli Foreign Ministry legal advisor, Alan Baker said, "Maybe at the end. We have to go through the whole process."
The Israeli Government refused a request submitted by the Minister of Justice, Tommy Lapid, to send an Israeli judge to join the forum of judges in the ICJ, fearing that such a step might legalize the hearing.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, top aid of the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, said, the Arab and Palestinian affidavit have enough evidence that the wall is built on the West Bank land, which is a clear violation of all the signed agreements, especially the Road Map. "The ICJ has to give an advisory opinion with regard to the Wall. It is a UN General Assembly decision that is binding to everybody" he said The EU joined the countries opposing the upcoming hearing at The Hague in which the Separation Wall issue will be discussed. So far, around 30 countries opposed the hearing, while 17 supported it. The UN General Assembly has decided on December to take the case of the
wall to the ICJ.
The Fifteen-member European Union and 10 members-in-waiting, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, Russia, South Africa and Cameroon, joined Israel in submitting affidavits to the ICJ against the authority of the court to rule on the wall. Despite opposing the hearing at the ICJ, still, the official position of most of those countries opposes the current route of the separation wall, however; they claim that the ICJ is not the body to deal with such an issue, rather, direct negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis are. The EU decision was warmly welcomed by the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Silvan Shalom, who said Saturday that he hoped the filed objections would convince the court to cancel the hearing, "because it is a political, not judicial issue."
The UN submitted a 600-page affidavit to the ICJ, including all the various decisions related to the Middle East conflict, as well as all items included in the December 8 decision, including resolution 194 which addresses Palestinian refugees' right to return. The Palestinian Authority submitted an affidavit claiming the illegality of the wall.
In his meeting with religious leaders in his confinement in Ramallah on Sunday, the Palestinian president Yasser Arafat said that Israel would have to cooperate with the court. It is apparent that ICJ decision, if made, would not be binding to
Israel, however, it will be diplomatically embarrassing. On the other hand, Israel has asked the USA to delay publishing its annual report on Human Rights till after the upcoming ICJ session in February 23. Israel fears that the report, which includes harsh criticism to the separation wall, might damage the Israel stand.


Analysis / The Hague turns to the fence
By Friday's deadline for the submission of arguments about the separation fence at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, 47 briefs were delivered by countries around the world. The materials will remain classified until the court translates them for distribution;
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/389293.html

From Australia: Stop the War Coalition

MEDIA RELEASE January 30, 2004

Anti-war activists’ prison sentence hypocritical

Dr Will Saunders and Mr David Burgess, the two anti-war protesters who painted "No War" on a sail of the Sydney Opera House last year were today sentenced to 9 months’ imprisonment to be served in periodic detention. The two activists have also been ordered to pay the Sydney Opera House Trust’s full compensation demand of $151,000.

The Stop the War Coalition, a broad community-based coalition of anti-war activists and organisations, declared the sentence "outrageous" and clearly failed to take into account the social and political context in which the protesters acted. The Coalition has organised pickets of hundreds of people in support of Will and Dave at their court hearings.

Anna Samson, a spokesperson for the Stop the War Coalition, pointed out the irony of the sentencing judge’s position. "Judge Blackmore argued that there was no difference between the men’s desire to make a political point by painting the Opera House and ‘an irresponsible drunken man’ graffiting private property. This was consistent with his view that the invasion of Iraq was ‘irrelevant’ to the question of how Will and Dave should be treated by the legal system. At the same time, the judge believed the severity of the sentence was warranted to act as a ‘general deterrent’ to all activists who may consider disobeying the law in such a public manner in the future.

"If the Judge wanted to make an example of Will and Dave to the community then he has succeeded. He has showed us the hypocrisy of a system that jails non-violent protesters for expressing the will of millions of Australians, while our Prime Minister, John Howard, who is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqi children, is yet to be indicted for war crimes.

"Australia was drawn into an illegal and immoral war that the majority of Australians opposed. The Howard government ignored the peaceful demonstrations of a million citizens through the country’s streets. Will and Dave are heroes who did their utmost to try and prevent innocent people from being unnecessarily slaughtered and for this they are being sent to prison."

The Stop the War Coalition has pledged to continue the campaign to have Will and Dave’s sentence overturned.

The campaign to end the occupation of Iraq is also far from over. "Jailing activists will not deter us in our struggle to bring justice to the Iraqi people and to hold our governments to account," Ms Samson said. www.StopWarCoalition.org

From:Tony Lee  

Is Hidden True Cause Of Alzheimer's Your Toothpaste?


I am a truck driver, and have hauled just about everything over the past 13 years.
I read an article postulating that naturally occurring aluminum found in water might be the key to Alzheimer's disease. I'll go one better than that.

I once picked up a 44,000 pound load of aluminum dioxide powder in the aptly-named town of Bauxite, Arkansas. Noting that the destination for the load was not a processing plant or a mill, I enquired as to why this load was destined for the Colgate-Palmolive Company. The shipping agent said that the quality of bauxite (Aluminum dioxide) found in Arkansas was too low grade for manufacturing purposes, but was fine for toothpaste. "Toothpaste?" I enquired. He then went on to explain that common white toothpaste is made largely from Aluminum Dioxide, which is a mildly abrasive, brilliantly white powder. They'll simply add a sudsing agent to make the bubbles, a flavoring agent to make it palatable, perhaps a food coloring agent, some water, and presto - toothpaste.

Go read the ingredients on your tube of toothpaste. It'll list one or two 'active ingredients'...notice the combined total amounts of 'active ingredients' is usually less than 1%. What about the other 99%?

* Were you aware that every day of your life, you are filling your mouth with a gob of nearly pure aluminum dioxide? * Can you imagine the possible health effects? * Do you see how this is the number one entry point for aluminum to enter the body? * Can you guess why the inactive ingredients aren't listed? * Imagine the outcry from all the millions of health conscious Americans who suddenly discovered that they are being poisoned!

*Yes, that's why they aren't listed. So, if you and your vast readership are concerned about getting too much aluminum in their diets, you can all relax about naturally occurring aluminum in the water, or cooking with pots and pans. These are trivial sources of aluminum compared with the several pounds of aluminum directly swallowed or absorbed through the tissues while brushing our teeth.

On the bright side, we can all still have a beautiful smile in our old age, if only we can remember how to smile.

From Paul Kuhlman