Israeli and Western diplomats say that Israel and the US are trying to block a special session in mid-December on conditions in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.
Switzerland had invited almost 200 states, party to the 4th Geneva Convention, to the session.
In early April, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas requested accession to 15 international conventions. The step followed Israel’s refusal to free the last group of Palestinian prisoners scheduled for release, and the Netanyahu Government’s announcement that it would build 700 homes in East Jerusalem.
One of the agreements was the Fourth Geneva Convention, which tries to protect the civilian population in conflict areas or occupied territories.
Weeks after Abbas’s announcements, Palestinians and the Arab League officially asked Switzerland to call a conference of the convention signatories to discuss the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and damage caused by Israel affecting civilians in Gaza.
Four attempts have been made to convene the 4th Geneva Convention – all of them in regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The last was in 2009 after Israel’s invasion of Gaza in Operation Cast Lead.
In 2009, after consultations by the Swiss Foreign Ministry at the time, it was decided that international support was not sufficient to convene the conference.
A conference was held in 2001 during the second Palestinian intifada. Israel and the US boycotted it.
The Sultan Erdoğan:
“…Western states “don’t like us” (…) They look like friends, but they want us dead, they like seeing our children die”.
“…The only condition to overcome the crisis in the Islamic world is unity, solidarity and alliance.” (or in other words, Caliphate / Sultanate).
“…If we act together, we will end the loneliness of Palestine which has continued for nearly one century”. (One should read between the lines to decipher the Islamist spin. What happened a century ago? The Ottoman empire / Caliphate, got defeated? ).
The link
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?pageID=238&nID=74893&NewsCatID=338
“Sultan Erdoğan” indeed, in his brand new 1000 room palace, the largest in the world. :-). We were in Turkey just there 3 weeks ago. Our tour guide was so ashamed of it that she just barely pointed it out from a distance while our bus drove by.
Another jewel from the Sultan:
Turkish President Erdogan’s sexist remarks ‘reinforces prejudices against women’
Erdogan triggered a storm of criticism on Monday when he said at a summit hosted by a women’s group in Istanbul that women and men are not equal “because their nature is different.”
It’s not the first time the Turkish leader makes sexist comments, having previously told Turkish university students that they shouldn’t be “picky” when choosing a husband. He has also called on all Turkish women to have three children.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s sexist remarks serve to reinforce discrimination against women, Turkish parliament member Binnaz Toprak told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2014/11/26/turkish-president-erdogans-sexist-remarks-reinforces-prejudices-against-women/
And here’s a link to the full Haaretz article referred to above, but unfortunately behind a pay wall:
Israel, U.S. attempting to prevent Geneva Convention summit on occupation
https://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/israel-u-s-attempting-to-prevent-geneva-convention-summit-on-occupation/
My apologies for the tendentious aspects of the website above where I found the link. It’s just the only place I could quickly find the entire Haaretz article.