2009-03-18

Headlines for March 18, 2009

from Democracy Now!

Talks Fail on Israel-Hamas Prisoner Exchange

In Israel and the Occupied Territories, talks on a prisoner exchange between the Israeli government and Hamas have broken down after Israel rejected a deal. Hamas is seeking the return of hundreds of prisoners in return for the captured soldier Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The talks reportedly collapsed around an Israeli demand that Palestinians detain or deport most of the prisoners once they’re released.

Tutu Campaigns for Gaza War Crimes Probe

The South African Arbishop Desmond Tutu is among a group of sixteen leading war crimes investigators and judges calling for a UN inquiry into war crimes committed during Israel’s attack on Gaza. The group has written a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

* Arbishop Desmond Tutu*: “It isn’t that we want to sensationalize, it’s just that some very serious things have happened and if, if we are hoping to have a world that is stable, a world that abides by the rule of law, then it has to apply to everybody.”

Other signatories joining Tutu include former Irish President Mary Robinson and Richard Goldstone, the former chief prosecutor for Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

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