Sunday, April 1, 2018

Belated transfer of CB back to Finance Ministry is welcome, but some more follies to be rectified

CB and state banks taken away from Finance Ministry

Monday, 2 April 2018 00:00

A confusing folly committed by the new government in January 2015 happened to be the listing of the Central Bank and other financial institutions away from the Ministry of Finance.

This was going against the tradition and also against the legal order. Thus, the Central Bank and related institutions were listed under the new Ministry of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs which functioned under the Prime Minister. Similarly, the state banks whose ownership is legally vested with the Secretary to the Treasury were listed under the Ministry of Public Enterprise Reforms.

Belated transfer of CB back to Finance Ministry is welcome, but some more follies to be rectified.docx by Thavam on Scribd

The Spread Of Morphed Information & Unprecedented Hatred Via Social Media

By Savindrie Jayawardane –APRIL 1, 2018

Savindrie Jayawardane

Decades ago, the main sources of information were mass media including news-papers, radio and television. However, the digital age and easy access to information via social media: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, WhatsApp, Instagram etc. threaten the mainstream mass media; where these novel sources of information leave us opinionated, often rendering a platform where opinions, be it positive or negative, go viral. All individuals have the right to showcase ideas or opinions in private accounts in various social media platforms. Nevertheless, it is not legitimate to fabricate morphed or distorted news which would generate hatred and unnecessary social unrest in the country. In hindsight, the unprecedented spread of hate speech and distorted news in social media relating to the recent communal unrest, led the Telecom Regulatory Commission (TRC) to monitor all social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp etc., for the first time in Sri Lanka. Following the repercussions, not only the Kandy Administrative District was under curfew, but the masses were also subjected to the digital surveillance. It goes without saying that, in social media anything and everything can go viral, without any control. Various groups would prefer to take the benefit from this uncontrollable flow of information, in order to spread morphed news with a pinch of sensationalism while, at times, intruding the personal space of individuals.

Subsequently, one could argue whether these security measures are effective. One could also question whether the government was thus controlling one’s right to free speech. But, this measure was initiated to control the proliferation of misinformation and unhealthy tension via social media. The government as the sovereign power is responsible to protect the security of the commonwealth and grant absolute authority to guarantee the common defense. This digital surveillance is adopted as a temporary solution for the recent racial unrest, even though it is not the best solution.

Hype about the sterilization pills

The video which made rounds in social media, on the uproar of the so-called sterilization pills, which were claimed to be found in an Ampara restaurant, was fraudulent. The issue came to the forefront as a customer had found a piece of dough in food thinking that it was sterilization pill. Consequently, few mosques and other property were damaged as a cause of the ferocity of the residents of that area, which got heightened after seeing the so-called video. At this juncture, there are several pressing issues that need to be tackled. Firstly, the mass media has the ability to tackle these rumors which are doing rounds and to educate the masses. Such communal clashes emphasize the unawareness and the sheer trust on fake and morphed information in social media. Such rumors or news of the so-called “sterilization pills” wouldn’t have been one of the reasons for such ethnic clashes, had the the relevant authorities nipped the issues at the bud before it gets contagious.

Video on the Throat-cutting gesture

Similarly, the recent video of the throat-cutting gesture by Brigadier Priyanka Fernando, Minister Counsellor (Defence) in the Sri Lanka mission in London, went viral in social media either for positive or negative reasons. Nevertheless, the burgeoning issue is that the video that went viral could have been taken out of proportion, the part where he had initially negotiating with diaspora was not visible in many of the videos that the masses initially came across. Social media makes the mass aware of some hideous topics that the mainstream mass media fails to do. But, the concern is that, sometimes social media makes unnecessary pressure on the state affairs, even before the affairs are acknowledged under an inquiry. Even the Military Spokesman Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said that the Brigadier Fernando cannot be punished based on a video clip alone. Thus, there is high tendency for all the wrong reasons or incomplete information to get rooted, even before the right reasons or information get spread. Sometimes, state affairs tend to be disturbed by the unscrupulous social media interaction.

TNA and EPDP : Formerly At loggerheads Now allies

By Manekshaw-02:00 AM MAR 31 2018

A new trend in the Northern political scene has emerged with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) joining hands in forming the Local Government bodies in the Province.
Not only in the North and even in the Eastern Province the EPDP has extended its support to the TNA.

The TNA was in its early stages known as even the political arm of the LTTE. The TNA and the EPDP remained at loggerheads until both sides joined hands in forming the Local Government bodies in the North and the East in recent days.
Not only the EPDP, even the members elected to the Local Government bodies from the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party have extended their support to the TNA in Karainagar, Point Pedro and in Velvettiturai.

The TNA remained shaky last year with the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) which is one of the constituent parties walking out of the Alliance.
Formation of the Tamil People’s Council (TPC) with the blessings of Northern Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran in the North was also considered to create a setback in the popularity of the TNA.

However, despite facing the challenges, the TNA’s performance at the LG polls in North is significant and being a premier party, TNA with an accommodative outlook sought even the support of not only the EPDP but even the support of the UNP and the SLFP towards taking control of several LG bodies including in Velvettiturai, Point Pedro and Karainagar.

The TNA’s approach towards seeking the support of the EPDP, UNP and the SLFP to take control of the LG bodies in the North has highlighted its flexibility in accommodating the political parties opposed to it, in the best interest of strengthening Local Governance.

EPDP Leader and Jaffna District Parliamentarian Douglas Devananda welcoming the new approach of the TNA said that the LG bodies should be development oriented and, therefore, to expedite the post-war development activities and to strengthen democracy in the North the EPDP decided to support the TNA.

Douglas Devananda who underwent guerilla warfare training in Lebanon and led the military wing of the EPRLF in the seventies and eighties said that extremism would be destructive and hanging on to extremist ideologies in a post-war period could be meaningless as far as rebuilding a war-torn region is concerned.

Douglas Devananda

Devananda also lambasted the Tamil National People’s Front of Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam for misleading the people in the North and the East with extremist views.
The EPDP leader also regretted Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran being critical of TNA hierarchy seeking his support in LG bodies.

According to Devananda the EPDP extended its support where the TNA needed it take control of the LG bodies in the North following the request made to his Party by TNA Parliamentarians Mavai S. Senathiraja and M.A. Sumanthiran.

Apart from the EPDP taking control of Velanai and Delft, TNA has taken control of most of the LG bodies in the Peninsula with the support of not only the EPDP but even the national parties, the UNP and the SLFP.

As Tamil extremism was taking shape in the early seventies with the assassination of SLFP Mayor of Jaffna Alfred Duraiyappa in 1975, several members of the LG bodies representing national parties were gunned down by the LTTE.

So the Local Governance was the first to be destabilized with the assassinations of chairpersons and the members of the LG bodies in the North and the East.
Even first woman Mayor of Jaffna Sarojini Yogeswaran from the TULF and Pon Sivapalan who succeeded her were brutally assassinated by the LTTE in the nineties.

However, the EPDP led by Douglas Devananda was instrumental in reviving Local Governance in the North with the Party’s Yogeswari Patkunaraja becoming the second woman Mayor of Jaffna in 2009.

The EPDP stepping into Jaffna at a time when the North and the East were in the grip of the LTTE, the Party had focused on improving the humanitarian activities as well as establishing a civil administration in the North.

The EPDP had to pay a heavy price with several of its cadres being targeted by the LTTE. Douglas Devananda even escaped nearly fifteen attempts on his life when the LTTE targeted him.

So, now in the new political trend TNA’s approach of accommodating the EPDP, UNP and the SLFP has indicated the premier Tamil Party’s deviation from its previous defiant political stance which had kept away the national parties as well as all other parties in the North and the East.

Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) being the flagship of the TNA accommodating four other constituent parties in the Alliance was all out to attack the EPDP in the past.
However, the new coalition emerging between the TNA and the EPDP with the formation of the new Local Government bodies in the North and the East outlines the political maturity of both sides as well as their intention of giving food for thought for reconciliation from grassroots level.

Icebergs of intelligence

Sanjana Hattotuwa-March 31, 2018, 8:20 pm

As a mandatory visa requirement in order to undertake doctoral studies, I was asked to get a Police Clearance Report, which I had never done before. Online as well as in person, once my application was lodged, I was told to expect a response in around a fortnight. Six weeks passed. In desperation and as a last resort, I approached someone in government to inquire what the delay was about. In the interim, I had emailed the Clearance Branch four times to an official address given by them, receiving just a single response to my first email noting that my application was still being processed. The actual phrase used was that my application was "still under investigation". This, ironically, wasn’t far from the truth.

When on the day of the local government election in February, I went into the Police HQ in Fort, armed with an introduction to a senior Police officer to look into my case, I didn’t know what to expect. The HQ is a maze of corridors and partitioned office spaces, and a visitor, like a Pac-Man, is guided by regular sentries in the general direction of the office one has to end up in. After much theatricality in good spirit – references to how such delays always happen to the best of citizens, inquires as to what I did professionally, where my village was, whether I was related to others with my surname and in case I forgot, how busy they were on that day but yet felt it imperative to help me and my case – I finally discovered the reason why I hadn’t received my clearance. Technically, I was till then under investigation by the State Intelligence Service (SIS).

A file opened on me during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), five years ago, had never been closed. I was told that the reason for the file being opened in 2013 was threefold – one, the fact the I worked at the Centre for Policy Alternatives. Two, the fact that I ran the Groundviews civic media website. Three, the fact that I had appeared in a BBC programme, aired just before CHOGM, which painted the then government in a negative light as one unfit to host the event. None of this I knew. What particularly struck me was that the file was opened at all based on the stated reasons. Here, in a very corporeal form, was evidence of the deep or dark state. My file I never saw – and it could have been physical, digital, or some combination of both. I didn’t ask and do not know what being under active investigation entails – whether I was followed, whether all open communications were logged and monitored with the complicity of my ISP and telco, or whether family, colleagues, visitors and friends also came under the official surveillance dragnet.

The senior Police official’s dismissal of the investigation was an interesting one, noting that it was opened by the previous government and thus had no relevance or merit at present. Interested only hastening the issue of my Clearance Report, I smiled and nodded. It did cross my mind however as to why he said this, unless it was known internally that investigations launched by the SIS under the Rajapaksa regime were politically motivated and had no real value after January 2015. Once the problem was flagged and cleared, my Clearance Report was issued in a matter of two days. My enduring thought is around how many more – dozens, perhaps hundreds – may be technically under active investigation, and worse, unknown today even to the agencies that opened their files in the first place, years ago.

Though there are obvious dangers to any generalisation based on personal experience, this interaction was a reminder of dangers in waiting under two types of government. One, the easiest to pin, is a reversion to the Rajapaksa regime. Dormant files will be reactivated, re-assessed and in most cases, escalated, because soon after regaining power will be the all-encompassing task of retaining it, taking out as early as possible those who are a threat to authoritarian entrenchment. This is why I fear and oppose Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. His political campaign, pegged to what is clearly a vision for what government under him can and will do, already espouses violence, murder and even torture without any qualm. When in power and supported not just by a sliver of society, but a far broader coalition of even elites in society, the lessons learnt in how power was lost in 2015 will be leveraged to design comprehensive and pervasive architectures of power, control, censorship and containment. To recall what was done from 2005-2015, both within and outside the theatres of active war, is to project the blueprint of what will be in store if and when power is regained – a process already well underway and succeeding to boot. The glitter and glamour of economic development will be to the rapid and sustained detriment of human rights, with a pendulum shift away from the incumbents in essence supporting the establishment of government that only if conformist, supine and silent, delivers la dolce vita.

Speak out, and you

are killed, or worse.

There is a second danger. Or more accurately, two combined into one - the enduring role and relevance of the dark or deep state – a euphemism really for the intelligence apparatus – and its anchors within the present government. Threats against a state, arguably, outlive the tenure of governments, so there’s logic and merit in institutional memory that retains surveillance records over the long term. But given we live in a country without any constitutionally or legally guaranteed right to privacy, where surveillance as an exercise of coercive power and control is largely invisible, intelligence services and those in them have unbridled authority to do as they see fit. It is clear that oversight and accountability are weak, if they exist at all. Political allegiances of those in the intelligence community may well be with those outside of the incumbent government, which then calls into question the information senior decision makers get.

The violence in Digana alone makes it obvious that there are serious issues around the accuracy, relevance and timeliness of actionable intelligence given to senior figures in government. The hidden hand of the deep and dark state is also evident in the substance and text of the Emergency Regulations in operation during the violence in Digana, the more recent draft Bills to govern civil society, as well as imprecise, overbroad and entirely unnecessary legislation being proposed to combat the generation and spread of hate speech. What is projected and presented as benevolent or beneficial to society, are in fact dangerous instruments of censorship and control.

Who benefits? Who are the architects of these draft Bills and legal instruments? In what guises do they appear in government, civil society and academia? What role do intelligence agencies play in all this, greatly animated by the degree to which they can control information flows as a consequence of the myopic decisions of this government? The dangers around a return to the Rajapaksas are well articulated. The greater danger of the intelligence operatives, never fully visible, never accountable, their tentacles extending to socio-political terrain we don’t know, embracing those who are close to us, corrupting trust and influencing policymaking is not known, studied or resisted.

Personally, the generation of my Police Clearance Report was extremely illuminating, and in hindsight, tragi-comic. More broadly, it reinforced my belief that true enemies of the people are not those most visible under Yahapalanaya or Viyathmaga, but others, always in and close to power, who like icebergs, wait for democracy to sail past, to wreak havoc from beneath.

Watery grave for four in Gin Ganga

The three girls who drowned

Imadoowa Group Lankinda Nanayakkara and Amali Mallawaarachchi-Monday, April 2, 2018

Four females including three teenage girls, drowned last Saturday (31) at Gin Ganga near Nugagala Mawatha in the Hiniduma Police Division.

The deceased, a mother, her daughter, and two friends of the daughter, had gone to take a bath in the Gin Ganga when the tragedy struck around 2.30 p.m.

Minurika Shyamalee, a Grade 9 student of a reputed Girls’ School in Galle, sought permission from her father, who is a school principal, to invite several of her friends to her house for the long weekend. They were supposed to visit Kalvari Mountain for religious purposes, which is a popular local tourist attraction.

On the ill fated day, Minurika along with her family and friends visited Mount Kalvari and returned home around noon. Then her friends suggested that they take a bath in the Gin Ganga, which was a walking distance from her house.

Minurika again sought permission from her father to go to the river. Minurika’s father went to inspect the commonly used bathing spot and checked the water level and finally decided to allow the teenagers to go for a bath accompanied by Minurika’s mother. Minurika’s father advised them not to go to the deep end, but stay closer to the river bank.

The overjoyed teenagers were bathing in the river when one girl went after the soap container which was drifting away into the deep waters. The girl who went after the soap container then suddenly disappeared in the water. Minurika’s mother and two more students followed the victim into the deep water to rescue her, only to become victims themselves.

The victims include Liyanagamage Shyamalee Anoma,(39), Mapalagama Liyanage Minurika Shyaamalee,(14), Muthuhettigamage Ravindi Yasasmini,(14), and Madawala Withanage Kawisha Anjalee. The victims were residents of Hiniduma, Tangalle and Mapalagama. The bodies were kept at the Hiniduma hospital for the post mortem. Hiniduma Police is investigating.

36 youths arrested with drugs on pilgrimage to Sri Pada

Sun, Apr 1, 2018, 12:17 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Apr 01, Colombo: Sri Lanka Police during a special operation conducted yesterday (31) arrested 36 youths, who were engaged in a pilgrimage to the sacred Sri Pada mountain with drugs in their possession.

During the emergency operation Hatton Police Anti Vice squad conducted the operation with the help of a Police dog at the Police Check Point in Diyagala on Hatton Colombo main road.

The Hatton Police canine unit's Police dog Cora was able to find the suspects who were in possession of heroin, Kerala cannabis and illegal cigarettes.

The suspects are aged between 18 and 30 years and are residents of Kegalle, Matale, Galle, Matara, Kalutara, Panadura and Avissawella areas.

They are to be produced before the Hatton Magistrate's Court today.

Special police teams have been deployed day and night on the route to Sri Pada to arrest pilgrims who bring drugs and liquor and over the past three months since the start of the pilgrimage season, police have arrested around 600 suspects for bringing drugs on the pilgrimage.

Why should technicalities of plastic bag ban continue to concern the masses?

Monday, 2 April 2018

Improving the common man’s knowledge on the ban on polythene in Sri Lanka is a critical task which requires investment in ensuring that the momentum of the ban does not dissipate.

Even if ignorance is considered bliss, the quintessential element of successful enforcement of any environmental regulation is regular awareness. Hence, the prevailing command-and-control mechanisms in addition to all market-based approaches require the enlightenment of the consumer with regard to the current ban, which in the books of environmental policymaking is considered making a partial ban on destructive plastic actually work.

In this regard, it is vital to reiterate the origins of the ban in Sri Lanka in the wake of the Meethotamulla garbage dump tragedy. Even as you read this, garbage is being piled up, either legally or illegally, in a landfill somewhere close to your neighborhood. Thus, the partial ban which is enforced currently ought to be considered a plausible way forward towards a complete ban on the destructive polythene bag, which is not only an action point in achieving the sustainable developmental goals as a nation, but is also vital in resolving the persisting solid waste management crisis in the island.

What exactly is prohibited?

In terms of polythene products, the ban on polythene currently covers the manufacture, sale, offer for sale or free of charge, exhibition and use of polythene or any product of polythene that is 20 microns or below in thickness (GN 2034/33).

In addition to that, it also bans the manufacture, sale, exhibition and use of polythene lunch sheets (GN 2034/34). In fact, the Gazette notification 2034/34 includes both high and low density polyethylene alongside polypropylene which was used as raw material in the production of lunch sheets in the past. Instead, compostable lunch sheets are an alternative available in the Sri Lankan market today.

The biodegradability of these plastics are due to the fact that the products are manufactured amalgamating raw materials such as Corn Starch, Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) and Poly Butylene Adipate-co-Terephthalate (PBAT) that have been specifically engineered to facilitate the process of biodegradation and compostability, based on scientific tests run as per the EN13432 standard, which is a standard recognised by the European Union which defines the criteria compostable packaging has to meet.

Grocery bags manufactured from high density polyethylene are also prohibited under the current ban (GN 2034/35) while the use of all forms of polythene, polypropylene and polyethylene as decorations in political, social, religious, national or cultural occasions are also banned (GN 2034/37). Importantly, the manufacture, sale and the use of lunchboxes, plates, cups, spoons from expanded polystyrene (commonly known as rigifoam) is also prohibited (GN 2034/38).

Importantly, activities varying from the regular use, manufacture, sale, free distribution, exhibition, use in decorations to open burning of refuse and other combustible material inclusive of plastic (GN 2034/36) is prohibited under the current ban; rendering all the aforementioned activities punishable offences in Sri Lanka, which will result in a Rs. 10,000 fine alongside two years of imprisonment.

Factors affecting compliance with ban

The factors affecting the compliance of the polythene ban are distinct according to the consumer and retailer. In terms of the consumer, the primary factor at the face of compliance is the level of enforcement of the ban, according to Lane and Potter (2007).

For example, Gupta (2011) notes that, irrespective of the production, distribution and use of plastic bags ban in Bangladesh, violations of the regulation are common. Cost is also a factor that determines compliance with the regulations on the part of the consumer. Consumers often prefer cost-free bags that can be used conveniently. Convenience can depend on various cultural factors as well as the individual choice on the consumer. However, as stressed by Winter and May (2001), awareness of the ban and its consequences is a predominant factor in terms of compliance.

Additionally, factors such as education, age as well as something as general as attitudes of the consumer can affect compliance. It should be understood that motivation primarily defines compliance (Becker, 1968). In Sri Lanka, awareness is a key issue in ensuring ban compliance. According to the Environmental Foundation Ltd. (EFL), consumer identification of banned items is a crucial problem, even for a person who’s willing to adapt. Hence, the public outreach in terms of awareness in identifying biodegradable or compostable plastics is an indispensable step that can be taken up by the Central Environmental Agency (CEA), considering it a priority.

The retailer on the other hand is interlinked with the policymaking process itself and has the ability to strike a balance between the public interest of the environmental regulation as well as other market oriented interests.

For example, retailers can benefit by reducing the cost of procuring polythene bags and profit by selling reusable or compostable bags. This is currently a practice being adopted by supermarkets in Sri Lanka, where in certain cases compostable bags are sold at Rs. 1.50 each.

However, it is also vital to ensure that small-scale retailers have sufficient means of adhering to the regulations. Moreover, purchasing compostable bags can be an inconvenient and unnecessary cost in the consumer’s eye. Thus, the CEA should enable certain mechanisms that balance both the interests of the consumer and the retailer in ensuring the smooth transition to eco-friendly alternatives, which is in return fundamental to ban compliance.

Awareness is positively correlated to compliance in terms of the retailer as well. Compliance in terms of retailers largely bounces between the costs incurred and the risk of being caught (Bishal, 2016).

The way forward: Making recycling a routine?

Lying on the said dynamics, the current ban, irrespective of its issues concerning enforcement efficacy, is arguably an environmentally sound step taken in terms of managing the inland solid waste management crisis, which continue to linger at every dusk and dawn. The real struggle lies in the shift towards sustainable means and methods of sufficing the purpose of a single-use polythene bag or lunch sheet that is such a common place consumer essential.

A fundamental issue also lies in disposing the types of polythene that isn’t covered by the polythene ban, given that recycling is not part and parcel of the everyday routine of an average Sri Lankan. EFL noted that low density polythene bags are continuously used by businesses given that it is not listed in the current ban on polythene.

The problem is that these bags are equally destructive if disposed irresponsibly even if they are comparatively easy to recycle. CEA’s National Post-consumer Plastic Waste Management program was recently launched where a tax on plastic imports is being used to help fund the collection and recycling of the waste.

According to EFL, the imports of plastic raw materials surpass over 150,000 tonnes each month and hence the program initiated by CEA encourages the masses to separate the plastic in order to collect it and send it for recycling.

In fact, information on 120 plastic and polythene recyclers based across the country can be located on the website of this program. However, similar to the ban, developing a routine of recycling is equally dependent on various factors amongst which motivation is crucial. Institutional as well as individual incentive towards the cause is of fundamental importance in this regard.

(The writer is a graduate of International Relations from the University of London. She is currently reading for her LL.B. degree at the University of Peradeniya.)

Israel rejects calls for inquiry into Gaza violence

Israel is facing international condemnation after 16 protesters were killed by Israeli fire

Medics evacuate a wounded Palestinian after clashes at the Gaza-Israel border (Reuters)

Sunday 1 April 2018

Israel's defence minister rejected on Sunday calls for an inquiry into the killing of 16 Palestinians by the military during a Palestinian demonstration that turned violent on Friday at the Gaza-Israel border.

Hamas, the dominant Palestinian group in Gaza, said five of the dead were members of its armed wing. Israel said eight of the dead belonged to Hamas, designated a terrorist group by Israel and the West, and two others came from other militant factions.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation into Friday's bloodshed, which also led to 1,400 reported wounded.

His appeal was echoed by Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Amnesty International, and by Tamar Zandberg, leader of Israel's left-wing opposition Meretz party.

"Israeli soldiers did what was necessary. I think all our soldiers deserve a medal," the defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, told Army Radio. "As for a commission of inquiry - there won't be one."

Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered on Friday along the fenced 65km frontier, where tents had been erected for a planned six-week protest pressing for a right of return for refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel.

I think all our soldiers deserve a medal

- Avigdor Lierberman, Israeli Defense Minister

But hundreds ignored calls from organisers and the Israeli military to stay away from the frontier.

The military said some of those who were shot had fired at soldiers, rolled burning tyres and hurled rocks and firebombs toward the border.

However, video footage posted on social media, which could not be independently verified, appeared to show unarmed protesters being shot in the back or while praying.

In one video, a man identified by his relatives as Abdelfattah Abdelnabi, 19, is seen shot in the back while running away from the border clutching a tyre. Abdelnabi died of his wounds, the Palestinian health ministry said.

In another, video a worshipper limps away from afternoon prayers after apparently being shot in the leg.

Disturbing footage from @Joo_Gaza of a Palestinian boy being shot down today by an Israeli sniper while running AWAY from the Gaza buffer zone pic.twitter.com/nZ7kdGeXxC
— Liam O'Hare (@Liam_O_Hare) 30 March 2018

Liam O'Hare

✔@Liam_O_Hare

Disturbing footage from @Joo_Gaza of a Palestinian boy being shot down today by an Israeli sniper while running AWAY from the Gaza buffer zone 

12:58 PM - Mar 30, 2018

"The use of live ammunition should, in particular, be part of an independent and transparent investigation," Mogherini said in a statement on Saturday. "While Israel has the right to protect its borders, the use of force must be proportionate at all times."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israeli troops after the violence for "guarding the country's borders".

"Well done to our soldiers," he wrote in a statement. "Israel acts vigorously and with determination to protect its sovereignty and the security of its citizens."

The protest is scheduled to culminate on May 15, when Palestinians mark the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe" when hundreds of thousands fled or were driven out of their homes in 1948 when the state of Israel was created.

Israel has long ruled out any right of return, fearing it would lose its Jewish majority.

On Saturday, Israeli troops using live ammunition and rubber bullets shot and wounded about 70 Palestinians among demonstrators at the border, Palestinian officials said. Witnesses said stones were thrown at the soldiers.

More than 1,400 people who had mobilised as part of the "Great March of Return" on Friday were injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The ministry also noted that at least 773 Palestinians were wounded with live ammunition.

Dr Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesperson for the ministry, said that "most the dead were aged between 17 and 35".

He also told the Guardian that the remainder of the wounded, some of whom were in a critical condition, had been "shot with live ammunition".

Israel says Hamas is using the protests to deflect frustration among Gaza's two million inhabitants over deepening economic hardship.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but, citing security concerns, still tightly controls its land and sea borders. Egypt also keeps its Gaza frontier largely shut.

Palestine’s own Sharpeville massacre by its own Apartheid oppressors

Bloody Friday in Gaza was the Palestinians' own Sharpeville massacre at the hands of their own Apartheid oppressors, and the next six weeks could prove to be a turning point for the 70-year-long injustice inflicted upon them.

Yvonne Ridley

@yvonneridley

-April 1, 2018

Be in absolutely no doubt about the significance of the start of the peaceful Great Return March which began in Gaza on Friday and led to 17 Palestinians being killed and hundreds more wounded by the Israeli army and its snipers. That Israel felt the need to resort to violence in response to unarmed resistance speaks volumes about its innate brutality.

The wanton slaughter represents a turning point, as even the staunchest defenders of the Zionist state are scrambling to find the words to justify what happened when Palestinians mobilised in their thousands to walk towards the homeland stolen from them by what has been called “Jewish terrorism” in 1948.

Israel does not want the world to know that the UN recognised decades ago that the Palestinians have every right under international law to return to their land. On Friday, the Palestinians themselves adopted Gandhi-style peaceful resistance to gather together and make that point clear.

Despite attempts by some pro-Israel lobby groups in Britain to cast the march as a Hamas, and therefore “terrorist”, inspired protest, it was actually a grassroots initiative which had the support of all the Palestinian factions, including Hamas, Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Islamic Jihad. While the protest in Gaza is expected to continue daily until 15 May and the 70th anniversary of the Naqba — the Catastrophe of the creation of Israel — the message is very simple: Palestinians have a legitimate right of return to their pre-1948 homes and land.

However, the response to this demonstration of people power was shocking, even by Israel’s brutal standards; the fourth largest army in the world killed 17 Palestinian civilians and wounded 1,600 others, including 150 children. The so-called “Israel Defence Forces” — a misnomer if ever there was one — was unable to silence the call for the right of return to be implemented. Instead, the IDF has ignited a fire which will rage for another six weeks at least.

This is a PR disaster for Israel. The world’s media gathered in Gaza to witness the start of the peaceful protest. With their long lenses scanning the crowds, photographers were no doubt looking for armed resistance fighters; an image of a Hamas gunman using children as a human shield; or even someone waving a gun. In reality, there wasn’t even a Hamas flag on display; everyone with a Palestinian flag waved it with pride.

On Saturday morning, Australian-born Mark Regev took to the airwaves to try to defend the indefensible. Israel’s ambassador in London spoke about the violence of Hamas, the incitement and threats to Israeli lives which forced the IDF to respond in the way it did. It all sounded very convincing on radio, but the TV news, YouTube and social media images conveyed a very different message. Israel’s propagandist-in-chief was clearly not only bending the truth but had also twisted it beyond breaking point; Regev, in short, insulted the intelligence of those who had the misfortune to listen to him.

Any violence on Friday came from the Israeli side of the border, what the Palestinians call 1948-occupied Palestine. A deadly mix of IDF snipers, soldiers and, yes, armoured vehicles, lay in wait to let rip with their weapons on defenceless, unarmed men, women and children. There has probably been nothing like this in civil rights terms since the notorious Sharpeville massacre in Apartheid South Africa.

On the morning of 21 March 1960, thousands of South Africans gathered in a field not far from the Sharpeville police station to protest against the hated racist pass laws. They sang freedom songs and calling out “Izwe lethu” (Our land); “Awaphele amapasti” (Down with passes); “Sobukwe Sikhokhele” (Lead us [political dissident Robert] Sobukwe); and “Forward to Independence, Tomorrow the United States of Africa”.

When they reached the police station, a small scuffle began near the entrance. A policeman was pushed over — accidently, protesters insisted — and the 5000-strong crowd began to move forward to see what was happening. Without warning, 300 armed police officers opened fire with live ammunition for approximately two minutes. According to the official inquest, 69 people were killed and 180 were seriously wounded.

Adopting what can now be called “the Regev position” defending Apartheid Israel, the South African Apartheid police claimed that they were in desperate danger because the crowd was stoning them. Yet only three policemen were reported to have been hit by stones, while more than 200 South African civilians were shot down in cold blood. The police also claimed that the crowd was armed with “ferocious weapons” which, it was alleged, littered the compound after they fled. There were no weapons. Within hours — long before the internet and social media, remember — the name of Sharpeville and the massacre had flashed around the world and the police lies were exposed, just as Regev’s lies were exposed this weekend.

Bloody Friday in Gaza was the Palestinians’ own Sharpeville massacre at the hands of their own Apartheid oppressors, and the next six weeks could prove to be a turning point for the 70-year-long injustice inflicted upon them. The world looked on as Israel unleashed its high-tech weaponry upon peaceful protesters. The UN Secretary General and various human rights organisations have expressed their outrage, rightfully so, as has the influential US-based Jewish Voices for Peace.

The Sharpeville parallel has now prompted human rights and Palestine solidarity groups, including the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, in South Africa, to tell their government to implement without delay the ruling ANC’s resolution calling for the “immediate and unconditional downgrade of the SA embassy in Israel to a liaison office”. Similar groups around the world are calling on Israel to be held to account for its murderously disproportionate response to a peaceful demonstration.

Among those killed on Friday was artist Mohamed Abu Nmr, aged 26, who 24 hours earlier had created a sand sculpture on Gaza’s beach reading, “I am returning”. The young artist’s act of heroic resistance will not be forgotten but it must be remembered that he did not die fighting. He was not carrying weapons. There was no confrontation or clash. He was gunned down without warning because he dared to take part in a peaceful protest to tell his oppressors that he wanted his land back.

All Palestinians have the law on their side; the right of return is an individual right afforded to every single one of them, and it cannot be negotiated away by third parties, no matter who they might be.

They also have the legitimate right to resist Israel’s brutal military occupation, and once the mourning period is over they will be back to their protest more determined than ever. Israel has crossed a red line with its murderous contempt for international and humanitarian laws; like Apartheid South Africa and Sharpeville, Israeli violations against unarmed Palestinians are starting to stack up and tip the balance towards the state’s inevitable day of reckoning. If there’s one thing that Israel and its “Defence Forces” cannot handle, it is peaceful resistance.

Motivated by the cruelty and violent repression that led to the Sharpeville massacre, the UN General Assembly proclaimed in 1965 that 21 March would henceforth be the International Day of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Three years later, the UN promoted the creation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which is monitored by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). This body also serves as an individual complaints mechanism, effectively making it enforceable against its member states.

What happened in Gaza on Friday was a turning point; Bloody Friday should be recognised as the day that Israel committed one massacre too many. Its murderous intent was trailed in advance by IDF spokespeople and media mouthpieces, and its brutality was witnessed by the assembled media and everyone with a smart phone. Mark Regev’s claim that Israel was forced to defend itself by firing off thousands of live rounds into an unarmed crowd of men, women and children exposes him as a man bereft of a moral compass; very much, it must be said, like the regime that he is paid to get off the hook. The slaughter in Sharpeville led eventually to the fall of Apartheid South Africa. Palestine’s own Sharpeville massacre by its own oppressors is yet another crack in the Wall of Israeli Apartheid. All the Regevs in the world cannot paper over the cracks any longer. He knows it; Israel knows it; the world knows it. Now is the time to admit it.

‘No more DACA deal,’ Trump says as he threatens to ‘stop’ NAFTA if Mexico doesn’t better secure border

President Trump's position on DACA has taken several twists and turns over the years.(Meg Kelly, Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

By Philip Rucker April 1 at 11:37 AM

PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump said Sunday that there would be no deal to legalize the status of millions of “dreamers,” undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, and directed congressional Republicans to pass tough new anti-immigration legislation.

[ Supreme Court declines to enter controversy over ‘dreamers’ ]

Trump also criticized Mexican authorities as being too lax about border security, saying the U.S.-Mexico border was “getting more dangerous.” He threatened to “stop” the North American Free Trade Agreement if Mexico does not “stop the big drug and people flows.”

In fiery Sunday morning tweets, sent an hour after he wished Americans a “HAPPY EASTER” and minutes before he attended a church service here, Trump vowed, “NO MORE DACA DEAL.”

As he walked into an Episcopal service at the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea with first lady Melania and daughter Tiffany, Trump elaborated on his position on immigration to the traveling pool of reporters. He accused congressional Democrats of stymieing a potential deal to protect dreamers, after Trump canceled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in the fall.

“A lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of DACA,” Trump said. “They had a great chance. The Democrats blew it.”

The president added, “Mexico has got to help us at the border ... They flow right through Mexico; they send them into the United States. It can't happen like that way anymore.”

In his first of three immigration-related tweets, Trump wrote, “Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. ‘Caravans’ coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!”

[ Immigration bills fail in Congress, leaving ‘dreamers’ in limbo ]

The DACA program was begun during the Obama administration to provide temporary protection to dreamers. Trump canceled DACA in the fall but said he would like to reach a deal with Congress to protect the dreamers from deportation in exchange for funding to build his long-promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

He, however, went on to reject immigration proposals from congressional Democrats.

Trump's Sunday tweets may have been in response to commentary on Fox News Channel, which he is known to watch regularly. Fox aired a segment earlier in the morning with the headline:

“CARAVAN OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS HEADED TO U.S.”

.@tomilahren on migrant marchers headed to US: We can have compassion for these people but it doesn’t mean the laws don’t matter - Americans come first pic.twitter.com/0ME64e2soo
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) 1 April 2018

FOX & friends

✔@foxandfriends

.@tomilahren on migrant marchers headed to US: We can have compassion for these people but it doesn’t mean the laws don’t matter - Americans come first

9:05 AM - Apr 1, 2018

In a second tweet, Trump lashed out at Mexico and threatened to “stop” NAFTA, saying Mexican authorities are not doing enough to secure the border with the United States.

Trump wrote: “Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!”

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!

10:25 AM - Apr 1, 2018

And in a third tweet, the president wrote, “These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!”

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!

10:28 AM - Apr 1, 2018

Trump sent his tweet on the fourth day of his vacation in Palm Beach, Fla., where he has been staying at his private Mar-a-Lago Club with a small coterie of aides. White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly did not travel with him, but senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, a proponent of hard-line immigration policies, has been spending the Easter weekend with Trump.

By calling for Republicans to use the “Nuclear Option” to pass tough new immigration measures, Trump seemed to urge a parliamentary procedure by which Senate Republicans could pass legislation with a simple majority of 51 votes as opposed to the 60-vote majority required to end debate and bring a vote to the floor.

Trump’s tweets come amid tense negotiations over NAFTA between his administration and that of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. A call between the two men in February became testy after Trump refused to publicly affirm Peña Nieto’s position that Mexico will not pay for the wall’s construction, leading the Mexican leader to cancel a planned visit to Washington.

[ After testy call with Trump over border wall, Mexican president shelves plan to visit White House ]