Settlers beat children

CPTnet
5 April 2009
AT-TUWANI: Masked settlers beat three Palestinian children, shoot at Palestinian shepherds for the second time in ten days.

[Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.]

(Juwayya, South Hebron Hills, West Bank) At 4:00 pm on 5 April 2009, Israeli soldiers and the Ma'on settlement security guard took three Palestinian boys—ages ten, eleven, and fourteen—and transported them Ma'on settlement. Soldiers delivered the children to six masked settlers who kicked and punched the children. At 4:45, the children arrived back in their village, after the settlers allowed them to leave to walk home through the hills alone.

Earlier the same day, settlers shot at a teenage Palestinian shepherd as he grazed his sheep near Juwayya. This is the second time settlers have shot at Juwayya residents over the last ten days. On 25 March, twenty Israeli settlers left the settlement of Ma'on and shot at Palestinian shepherds grazing their sheep on land belonging to the village of Juwayya. During the incident, four Israeli soldiers and the security guard of the Ma'on settlement were present and did not interfere with the settlers. The shepherds refused to leave their land, despite the danger.

"Feel my heart beat," the mother of the children said to a Christian Peacemaker Teams worker. "Really, we are afraid of the settlers."

Peacemaker goes to court

CPTnet
3 April 2009
BROCKVILLE, ON: Peacemaker goes to court for refusing to participate in Lockheed-Martin census

by David Milne

“Jesus calls us to make peace. Because Lockheed-Martin is involved, if I cooperated with the census I would violate my own religious beliefs.” Todd Stelmach gave this testimony on 5 March 2009 in a Brockville, Ontario courthouse packed with reporters and supporters, including members of Christian Peacemaker Teams. Stelmach, who participated in CPT’s November, 2008 Aboriginal Justice Delegation to Algonquin Territory, cited passages from the Old and New Testaments to support his testimony and defend himself against the charge of not completing the census, an offence punishable by up to three months in prison or a fine of up to $500.

Peter Morrison, the Director General for the census program, took the stand before Stelmach. He maintained that according to the North American Free Trade Agreement, (NAFTA), which the government of Canada signed, Lockheed-Martin had the right to bid on the contract to do the support work needed to complete the Canadian census of both 2006 and 2011. Morrison stated that as Lockheed-Martin’s bid was the best one in a fair and open process; refusing to award it to Lockheed-Martin would have violated NAFTA. The Canadian government will pay Lockheed-Martin $49 million for the census of 2006 and $18 million over five years to update this software for the census in 2011.

Morrison outlined the importance of the census to federal and provincial governments for assessing needs in fields such as health care, education and social assistance. Stelmach, an occupational therapist who also works with homeless people and youth, agreed. “Health programs rely on information the census provides. I support that. But it’s wrong for the world’s largest arms maker, one that makes weapons that kill innocent people, to be involved.”

The Crown Attorney tried to distance the census from Lockheed-Martin by saying that the entity conducting the census was Lockheed-Martin Canada. He also referred to the claim that Lockheed-Martin is a weapons’ manufacturer, as “hearsay” (inadmissible). Stelmach pointed out its own website confirms it is a weapons manufacturer.

The judge accepted the Crown Attorney’s argument that it should reject Stelmach’s defence based on the Charter of Rights' guarantee of freedom to practise one’s religion. When the Crown Attorney asked Gary Castle, Stelmach’s pastor, if he had completed the census in 2006, he said “I did. But I’m thinking about whether I’ll do it again.”

Citing the complexity and novelty of the case the judge reserved his decision to 6 April 2009 at 10 a.m.

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