Jewish groups struggle for Holocaust restitution

Jewish groups struggle for Holocaust restitution - — More than 67 years after the Holocaust, Jirina Novakova refuses to give up her battle to regain property confiscated from her family.

Her hopes got a boost two years ago when 43 countries vowed at a Prague conference to back global guidelines for the restitution of property confiscated from Jews during World War II to their rightful owners or heirs. The nations pledged to try harder to return real estate stolen by the Nazis, open archives that might help those dispossessed and to process claims for restitution faster. She thought that show of international determination would pressure her country, the Czech Republic, and help her finally win a court battle to get back a button factory seized from her family by the Nazis.

 

Associated Press - American lawyer and IPRC (Immovable Property Review Conference) co-chairman Stuart E. Eizenstat talks to journalists in Prague, on Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. The meeting in the Czech capital was held to urge countries in Eastern Europe to compensate Jews dispossessed of their property during the Holocaust and Eizenstat highlighted Germany and Austria as models for others to follow, for their property restitution and compensation laws. (AP Photo / CTK, Katerina Sulova) SLOVAKIA OUT

But the 62-year-old is still waiting.

This week, Novakova was among 200 people from 41 countries attending another international conference in Prague to review the progress made and put renewed pressure on European governments to restitute such property or provide fair compensation.

Shortly after the 2010 conference, the Czech Constitutional Court overturned a 2009 Supreme Court ruling and earlier lower court rulings in favor of Novakova and other relatives seeking the return of the Koh-i-noor button factory in Prague.

Originally owned by her grandfather, Zikmund Waldes, it was seized by the Nazis in 1939 during their occupation of what then-Czechoslovakia. The factory was nationalized by the communists after the war in 1945. After the fall of communism, the state sold the factory to a private owner in 1994. No compensation was ever paid to the family.

The 2010 agreement "didn't help at all," Novakova said. "It's a little bit depressing."

But she refuses to give up. Now she is challenging the Constitutional Court's ruling and vowed to go next to international courts if she loses her appeal.

"I still have hope," she said.

The two-day conference in Prague ended Wednesday with new calls for restitution.

"While progress has taken place since the fall of Communism and the subsequent breakup of the Soviet Union, there remains an urgent need to help the tens of thousands of elderly Holocaust victims and their heirs whose property claims remain unsatisfied," Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, said in a statement.

Some at the conference, however, say they have seen some progress.

"It's too easy to be pessimistic," said Stuart Eizenstat, a special adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State on Holocaust issues. "These conferences are not simply an exercising in speaking. They are peer reviews, they encourage action. Their declarations, even though not legally binding, have made profound differences in the ways in which countries have tackled this problem."

Eizenstat highlighted Germany and Austria as models for others for their property restitution and compensation laws.

But he also noted that post-communists countries, including Czech Republic, Poland Lithuania, Hungary, Romania have been doing well at returning communal Jewish property such as synagogues and cemeteries. But he said many of these countries have not done as well compensating for private property like homes and factories.

Poland, in particular, is often criticized for failing to pass legislation that would compensate Jews for their losses in the Holocaust. Once home to Europe's largest Jewish community, Poland had for many years vowed to tackle the problem, but in 2011, Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government suspended work on a compensation law, saying a rising state deficit left it unable to afford such payments.

Eizenstat said the struggle would go on.

"What we're doing is we're moving beyond the pledges that were made in 2010 to look at the concrete actions that have been taken," Eizenstat said. "We need to help survivors in their lifetime." ( Associated Press )

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Israel's Iron Dome Has Intercepted More Than 150 Rockets

Israel's Iron Dome Has Intercepted More Than 150 Rockets - Israel said that it will install a fifth "Iron Dome" battery before the end of the year, adding another installation to the country's missile defense system, which has proven itself this week, intercepting more than 150 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

The missile defense system, which can identify enemy rockets, determine if they pose a threat to populated areas, and destroy them within a matter of seconds, has been praised by Israel's leaders for saving hundreds of lives.

The system, however, comes with a steep price. Each interceptor missile, which includes a radar guidance system, costs $40,000. Israel has not disclosed how many missiles are required to take down an enemy rocket or how many interceptors it has fired, but experts estimate the country has fired $8 million worth of missiles in the past three days.

The Israelis are only trying to shoot down about a third of the rockets fired by militants, those on a trajectory towards populated areas, said Ben Goodlad, a senior aerospace and defense analyst at IHS Jane's. But of the rockets Iron Dome has targeted, the system is between 87 and 90 percent successful in destroying.

"That is an incredibly high success rate for the system," he said. "What isn't clear is how many interceptor missiles are fired. There may be two, three, or four fired at a one time to take down a rocket."

Palestinian militants working out of the Gaza Strip, a ribbon of coastline controlled by Hamas, have for years been stockpiling short- and medium-range rockets, built at a fraction of the cost of the Iron Dome missiles and then stored in highly populated areas near hospitals and schools.

Hamas is considered by the U.S. and Europe Union as a terrorist organization.

Militants this week fired rockets further into Israel than ever before, targeting the country's two largest cities, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, but there were no casualties in those cities. Three Israelis were killed by rockets elsewhere in Israel.

"We are very pleased with the interception rates," aerial defense commander Brig. Gen. Shachar Shochet told reporters on Thursday. "We have intercepted dozens of Grad and Qassam rockets fired by Hamas and other groups, and prevented serious harm to our civilians."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the country the system had saved lives.

"No other country in the world has technology like the Iron Dome," Barak said. "Had the system not existed, many civilians would be in harm's way. However, the system is not a 100 percent foolproof defense, and does not absolve citizens of their duty to closely follow instructions given by Homefront Command."

The system is not perfect, and can be breeched by a large volley of rockets fired at once, a problem of "saturation," said former White House counterterrorism adviser and ABC News consultant Dick Clark.

Israel, therefore, plans to target the rocket stockpiles rather than continue to shoot down individual missiles. Israel has called up more than 60,000 reserve soldiers and appears to be planning a ground strike in Gaza soon.

Currently four mobile batteries equipped with sophisticated radar technology and missiles and on-board radar, are combined to create a shield over the country.

In 2006, 4,000 rockets were fired at Israel during a war with Lebanon that left 44 civilians dead. In response, the Israeli Defense Forces and Israeli defense manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems began developing Iron Dome.

In 2010, after tests proved effective, the United States began funding the program in part. Earlier this year, Congress authorized $600 million for the program, with instructions that the U.S. would eventually begin co-production of the system. ( abcnews.go.com )

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Obama:`We Are Fully Supportive of Israel’s Right to Defend Itself’

Obama:`We Are Fully Supportive of Israel’s Right to Defend Itself’ — President Obama today fully backed Israel’s right to defend itself and warned that the escalating violence in the Middle East threatens the prospect for a lasting peace process.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Obama called for an end to the firing of missiles into Israel by militants inside Gaza, saying “there is no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders.”

The president cautioned that any ground offensive could lead to greater Israeli casualties.

“Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,” he said. “If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that’s preferable. That’s not just preferable for the people in Gaza, it’s also preferable for the Israelis because if Israeli troops are in Gaza they are much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded.”

Obama reiterated America’s unwavering support for Israel. “We are fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself from missiles landing on people’s homes and workplaces and potentially killing civilians. And we will continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself,” he said.

The president, who has been in contact with leaders in the region to try and de-escalate the violence, said “if we’re serious about wanting to resolve this situation and create a genuine peace process, it starts with no more missiles being fired into Israel’s territory and that then gives us the space to try and deal with these long-standing conflicts that exist.”

“We’re going to have to see what kind of progress we can make in the next 24, 36, 48 hours, but what I’ve said to [Egyptian] President Morsi and [Turkish] Prime Minister Erdogan is that those who champion the cause of the Palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza than the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future,” he said. ( abcnews.go.com )

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Israeli Airstrike Kills Top Islamic Jihad Commander

Israeli Airstrike Kills Top Islamic Jihad Commander - An Israeli strike on a Gaza City high-rise today has killed one of the top militant leaders of Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian militant group said.

The second strike in two days on the downtown Gaza City building that houses the Hamas TV station, Al Aqsa, has killed Ramez Harb, who is a leading figure in Al Quds Brigades militant wing, according to a text message Islamic Jihad sent to reporters.

Witnesses told the AP that the Israeli airstrike, part of a widening effort to suppress Hamas rocket fire into Israel, struck the building Monday afternoon, and ambulances quickly rushed to the scene. Paramedics told the AP that one person was killed and several wounded.

It is also the second high profile commander taken out in the Israeli offensive, which began six days ago with a missile strike that killed Ahmed Jibari, Hamas' top military commander.

Today mourners buried the 11 victims of an Israeli air strike on Sunday, the single deadliest incident since the escalation between Hamas and Israel began Wednesday. Among the dead were nine members of the Daloo family, killed when an Israeli warplane targeted their home in Gaza City while trying to kill a Hamas rocket maker, whose fate is unknown.

Palestinian deaths climbed to 96 Monday when four more, including two children, were killed in a strike on a sports stadium the Israel Defense Forces said was being used to launch rockets. Gaza health officials said half of those killed were children, women or elderly men.

With the death toll rising, Egypt accelerated efforts to broker a cease-fire, but so far the two sides are far apart. Egypt is being supported by Qatar and Turkey in its peacemaking mission and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to arrive at the talks later today.

President Obama called Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today to discuss ways to reduce tensions and bring the fighting to a halt.

Israel carried out 80 air strikes this morning, down from previous morning totals. There were 75 militant rocket launches, the Israeli military said, also a relatively low tally. The Israel Defense Forces said that since Wednesday, around 1,100 strikes had been carried out in Gaza while militants have launched about 1,000 rockets towards Israel.

Three Israeli civilians died from militant rocket fire in one attack Thursday and dozens have been wounded.

Sunday proved to be one the deadliest days of what Israel has called "Operation Pillar of Defense" with at least 23 Palestinians reported killed. Of those, at least 14 were women and children, according to a Gaza health official. The Israel Defense Forces told ABC News it was targeting Hamas rocket maker Yehiya Bia, who lives near the Daloo family in a densely populated Gaza neighborhood and has not been accounted for.

Israel shifted its tactics this weekend from striking rocket arsenals and firing positions to targeting the homes of senior Hamas commanders and the offices of Hamas politicians in Gaza. Doing so brought the violence into Gaza's most densely populated areas.

Israel hit two high-rise buildings Sunday that house the offices of Hamas and international media outlets, injuring at least six journalists. 

Israeli Missile Kills Top Islamic Jihad Commander

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will discuss the crisis with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday on the sidelines of the Asean meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Gilad Sharon, son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, took to the Jerusalem Post op-ed page today to call for Israel to "flatten all of Gaza."

"There is no middle path here, either the Gazans and their infrastructure are made to pay the price, or we reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip," he wrote.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held cabinet meetings in Jerusalem Sunday, saying, Israel is "prepared to significantly expand the operation."

While speaking in Bangkok, President Obama Sunday said he was in touch with players across the region in hopes of halting the fighting. While defending Israel's right to defend itself against the rocket fire, he also warned of the risks the Jewish state would take if it were to expand its air assault into a ground war.

"If we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza, the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future," Obama said. ( abcnews.go.com )

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Urgent collective international action needed to protect the Rohingya

Urgent collective international action needed to protect the Rohingya -- We express our serious concern that the most brutal violence is now reoccurring in Arakan; and we strongly condemn the ongoing mass killing, burning and destruction of Muslim villages and rape of their women.

Scores of terrorized villagers fleeing in boats have reportedly been drowned; and many dead bodes are now floating in the sea and rivers. The resultant effects of the mass atrocities, in terms of human and material loss, are too great. In particular, the port city of Kyaukpyu has now been ethnically cleansed of the people of Islamic faith.

Since June, the violence in Arakan has claimed about 5000 Muslim lives, left over 100,000 of them homeless, with thousands more detained, unknown numbers wounded and tortured. "The Burmese government is NOT only failing to protect its Muslim Rohingya population" but has also been the primary force behind the systematic persecution of them. Evidently the government's apparatus with police, army and security forces are directly involved in the killing of them and torching of their villages.

President Thein Sein told the UNHCR in July that Burma/Myanmar will not take responsibility for the Rohingya because they are not citizens and "not our ethnicity."

As Burma is manifestly failing to protect its Rohingya population, the "responsibility to protect" them or the duty to prevent and halt genocide and mass atrocities, now lies with the international community

We, therefore, urge upon the international community UN, OIC, EU, ASEAN, UK, US and her western allies and Burma's neighbours to take effective collective action in time to protect the Muslim Rohingya people in Arakan, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. Or otherwise this unprotected minority community will be wiped out. ( arrahmah.com)

Signatories to this joint statement:

1. Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO),
2. Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK),
3. Burmese Rohingya Association Japan (BRAJ),
4. Burmese Rohingya Community in Australia (BRCA)
5. Burmese Rohingya Association Deutschland (BRAD)
6. Burmese Rohingya Community in Norway (BRCN)
7. Burmese Rohingya Community in Netherlands (BRCNL)
8. Rohingya Community in Demark (RCD)
9. Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT)
10. Rohingya League for Democracy Burma (RLDB)
11. Rohingya Society Malaysia (RSM)

For more information, please contact:

Aman Ullah : + 880-15584 8691

Tun Khin: + 44- 788 871 4866

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No humanitarian aids to Rohingya moslem's community in Maungdaw

No humanitarian aids to Rohingya moslem's community in Maungdaw - - No humanitarian aids are allowed to distribute to Rohingya community in Maungdaw since June after riot, according to a politician from Maungdaw. at Saturday (10/11).

"The government is not allowed International NGOs – UNHCR and WFP- to distribute aids to Rohingya community in Maungdaw, where these NGOs were distributing humanitarian aids to these people before riot betwwen Rakhine and Rohingya in June."

"The aids block only for Rohingya community in Maungdaw, but the NGOs distribute aids to Rakhine community in Maungdaw."

The NGOs in Maungdaw need permission from Maungdaw authority – district and Township administration offices- to go anywhere in Maungdaw to see Rohingya community , said an official from Maungdaw.

"UNHCR had visited to survey the condition of Oodunag and Kyauk Pandu village where Rohingyas from Rathedaung are staying in miserable condition. The UNHCR found the situation of Rohingya and said they - NGOs- will be back soon after getting permission from authority."

The UNHCR and WFP are not able to give any aids those Rohingyas in Maungdaw municipal areas – Wards number 3, 5, Bomu and samawna village- which were burned in June ,but every month WFP and UNHCR are giving rice to fake Rakhine refugee who are staying in Maungdaw , said an elder from Maungdaw.

"The Thein Sein government is always giving aids to this fake Rakhine refugee whenever high level official visit Maungdaw and also local NGOs from Burma also distributed aids to fake Rakhine refugee only, no to Rohingya refugee or IDPs."

"I hope, the government will not allow the NGOs to help Rohingya IDPs in Maungdaw, and the authority deny every time to accept Rohingya IDPs in Maungdaw, showing Rohingyas are majority in Maungdaw and attack to minority Rakhine. But, in reality, Rohingyas are more sufferers in Maungdaw as authority with together Rakhines attacked Rohingyas in Maungdaw."

"There is no Rohingya IDPs in Maungdaw and only Rakhine IDPs," said an officer from Maungdaw district administration office." ( arrahmah.com )

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5 terrorism suspects extradited from UK to US

5 terrorism suspects extradited from UK to US — An ailing extremist Egyptian-born preacher and four other terrorism suspects arrived in the United States early Saturday under tight security to face trial after losing their lengthy extradition fight in England, authorities said.

The preacher, Abu Hamza al-Masri, was taken to a federal lockup next to the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan to face charges that he conspired with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and that he helped abduct 16 hostages, two of them American tourists, in Yemen in 1998.

 

Associated Press/Max Nash, File - FILE - This Friday, April 30, 2004 file photo shows Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, as he arrives with a masked bodyguard, right, to conduct Friday prayers in the street outside the closed Finsbury Park Mosque in London. A British court is expected to rule on whether extremist cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri is too ill to be extradited to the United States to face terror charges. London's High Court is set to decide Friday Oct. 5, 2012 whether al-Masri and other terror suspects can be sent to the U.S. to face charges that include helping set up a terrorist training camp in rural Oregon. (AP Photo/Max Nash, File)

The one-time nightclub bouncer will be housed there along with Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary, who will face trial on charges that they participated in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998. The attacks killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. They were indicted in a case that also charged Osama bin Laden.

In the 1990s, al-Masri turned London's Finsbury Park Mosque into a training ground for extremist Islamists, attracting men including Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

Two other defendants — Syed Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad — were scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Conn., on Saturday morning, U.S. Marshal Joseph Faughnan said. It was not immediately clear exactly when al-Masri, al-Fawwaz and Bary will appear in federal court in Manhattan.

Ahmad and Ahsan face charges that they ran websites that sought to raise cash, recruit fighters and seek equipment for terrorists in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Authorities say the websites included Azzam.com, which investigators say was used to recruit members for the al-Qaida network, Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime and Chechen rebels.

Al-Masri is not the first ailing Egyptian-born preacher to be brought to Manhattan for trial. A blind sheik, Omar Abdel-Rahman, is serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 1995 in a plot to assassinate then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and of plotting to blow up New York landmarks, including the United Nations and two tunnels and a bridge linking New Jersey to Manhattan. Abdel-Rahman has numerous health issues, including heart trouble.

In England, lawyers for the 54-year-old al-Masri, who has one eye and hooks in place of hands he claims to have lost fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, said he suffers from depression, chronic sleep deprivation, diabetes and other ailments.

The overnight trip to the United States came after a multi-year extradition fight that ended Friday, when Britain's High Court ruled that the men had no more grounds for appeal and could be sent to the U.S. immediately. The men have been battling extradition for between eight and 14 years.

"I'm absolutely delighted that Abu Hamza is now out of this country," British Prime Minister David Cameron said. "Like the rest of the public I'm sick to the back teeth of people who come here, threaten our country, who stay at vast expense to the taxpayer and we can't get rid of them."

"I'm delighted on this occasion we've managed to send this person off to a country where he will face justice," he added.

Al-Masri has been in a British jail since 2004 on separate charges of inciting racial hatred and encouraging followers to kill non-Muslims.

While al-Masri has been portrayed in the British media as one of the most dangerous men in the country, the case against Ahmad in Connecticut has raised concerns among legal experts and human rights advocates.

The London computer expert is accused of running terrorist-funding websites in a case that was brought in Connecticut because an Internet service provider was allegedly used to host one of the websites. He and Ahsan both face charges including using a website to provide support to terrorists and conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country.

Some lawyers and lawmakers have expressed concerns about the case against Ahmad because Britain agreed to extradite him even though his alleged crimes were committed in Britain and British courts declined to prosecute him for lack of evidence.

In prison since 2004, Ahmad has been held without charge for the longest period of any British citizen detained since the Sept. 11 attacks.

In a statement read on his behalf outside court in London Friday, Ahmad said his case had exposed flaws in U.S.-U.K. extradition arrangements. "I leave with my head held high, having won the moral victory," he said.

His father, Ashfaq Ahmad, said he would continue to fight for his son.

"It's not just one Babar Ahmad. Tomorrow there will be another Babar Ahmad and another one," he said. ( Associated Press )

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