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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014 INTERNATIONAL Israel bars Norwegian doctor, but denies life ban

JERUSALEM: Israel has blocked barred Gilbert from Gaza for life. The a deadly 50-day confrontation between they don’t want the world to see what’s Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert from outspoken trauma specialist-who has Israel and militants in the tiny going on. If they feel threatened or entering the country and thereby worked in the for coastal strip. attacked by the facts on the ground-the accessing the Gaza Strip, but denied yes- three decades-accused Israeli authorities numbers of killed and injured civilians, terday it had imposed a lifelong ban on of backtracking yesterday, following ‘Don’t kill the messenger’ the lack of water and supplies due to the the outspoken medic. “He has been calls from to reconsider the ban. The war, which ended on August 26, siege, the bombing of hospitals and banned from entering Israel,” foreign “They have a little trouble explaining claimed the lives of around 2,200 ambulances-then change that, don’t kill ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson said, if I’m banned from Gaza or Israel,” he and 73 people on the Israeli the messenger,” he said. Hirschson, at categorically denying reports Gilbert said, adding that he was allowed into side. The letter in The Lancet described the Israeli foreign ministry, denied the had been blocked from entering Gaza. Israel in October but denied entry to Israel’s Gaza campaign as a “crime ban was a punitive measure, saying it Access to the Gaza Strip, which has been Gaza by Israeli soldiers and later against humanity”. Last week an Israeli was “exclusively a result of security con- under an Israeli blockade since 2006, is informed that the ban was “infinite”. foreign ministry spokesman said Gilbert siderations”. He did not explain further. possible only through the Erez crossing “They keep changing explanations all was a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who “The decision is exclusively a result of Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert from Israel, or the Rafah terminal on the the time, so I think they are fairly pres- uses his medical status to attack the a security consideration. It is not a pun- Egyptian border. surized by the reaction from the Jewish state. Gilbert replied that Israel ishment, and therefore it has no time pital during the 22-day war over New But Rafah has been blocked by Cairo Norwegian government and from the was trying to cover up the effects of its frame,” he said. “It is not ‘forever’ as some Year 2009 in which more than 1,440 since a deadly suicide bombing in the international outcry over denying entry ongoing blockade of Gaza and to stifle have implied, but for as long as the secu- Palestinians were killed. Last week, Israel northern Sinai on October 24, leaving to a medical doctor just because he’s criticism. rity considerations which have led to it said it would not cooperate with a Erez as the only point of entry to the criticizing Israel.” Gilbert was one of two “I am a medical doctor who speaks remain the same.” Gilbert, who works at United Nations inquiry into this sum- Palestinian territory. News of the ban dozen European doctors who signed a up about the conditions of the the University Hospital of North mer’s confrontation with Hamas, accus- was first reported last week by letter published in leading medical jour- Palestinian people which is my duty as a Norway’s Clinic of Emergency Medicine, ing it of “obsessive hostility against Norwegian media which said Israel had nal The Lancet in July, several weeks into doctor,” he said. “This is not about me, also volunteered in ’s Shifa hos- Israel”.—AFP

Italy under pressure over Roma camps squalor and corruption

ROME: As beetles scurry across the cracked comments by politicians on both the left and worn floor in the “Best House Rom”, it is and right quick to paint Roma as crooks. not hard to see why Italy has got into trou- The inordinate wealth of the ble with the EU over its treatment of ethnic “Casamonica” Roma and Sinti clan-the most Roma. In the windowless centre on the out- powerful organised crime group in the skirts of Rome that is a temporary home to region around Rome according to Italy’s some 300 people, families live up to eight anti-mafia police-feeds mistrust and resent- to a room and children are plagued by ment. Camp dwellers are prevented by sleep disorders and diseases Europe council regulations from applying for pub- thought it had consigned to history. lic housing even if they were born in Italy, The converted warehouse is one of trapping them permanently in fenced-off dozens of squalid and overcrowded camps centers far from schools, shops, health care around the capital which local authorities centers or workplaces. It is this isolation of use to house a mixture of Italian-born a community essentially on ethnic grounds Roma, recent migrants from eastern Europe that is the primary concern of officials in and Sinti, a traditionally itinerant ethnic Brussels. “The conditions are worse than in group which has been present in Italy for prison. There’s a total lack of human rights, centuries. “There’s no air, the children suffer we cannot allow people to be treated like from respiratory disorders and anxiety,” said beasts,” Senator Manuela Serra of the Five Sherazada Hokic from Bosnia, who lives Star movement told AFP during a visit to with seven of her nine children in one room the “Best House” centre. and survives on food handouts she says often include rotting fruit. One ghetto to another The European Commission has warned The 300 or so residents have just 2.5 Italy it may launch infringement proce- meters square each of space at their dispo- dures, expressing concern the camps “seri- sition. Fluorescent strip lights flicker over- WARSAW: Polish police guard the Russian Embassy in Warsaw, Poland yesterday. Russian and Polish officials confirmed yesterday that they have ously limit fundamental rights” according to head, ceiling tiles are missing and there are carried out tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions in an espionage affair that highlights intensified efforts by Moscow to penetrateTO NA counties and extracts of a letter published last week by holes in the graffiti-daubed walls, yet Rome a new determination by the West to fight back. —AP pro-Roma group Associazione 21 Luglio. A city council pours funds into the centre, report by the European Roma Rights Centre forking out over one million euros ($1.24 (ERRC) in March found children raised in million) in 2013, according to 21 Luglio. In these camps-often under guard or video total, some 45 million euros of taxpayers In tit-for-tat, Russia expels surveillance-”are prone to a number of money are spent a year on the camps and severe and debilitating conditions” includ- Serra, a member of the Senate’s human ing “anxiety disorders, phobias and sleep rights commission, called for an investiga- disorders” as well as “poverty diseases” such tion into “where these enormous sums are several Polish diplomats as tuberculosis, scabies and lice. really going”. The money is given, without It also warned of daily discrimination tender, to 35 public and private associa- and violence against Roma in “an ever- tions who run the camps and offer sporadic growing climate of racism”, including services such as limited rubbish collection EU set for new sanctions repeated cases of local residents attacking or school runs. Critics say corruption is camps with Molotov cocktails while police inevitable and their suspicions of mafia MOSCOW: Russia expelled several Polish diplo- Mogherini said sanctions would be discussed called on the West not to lose hope in what may turn a blind eye. Although over half the involvement. Many of the families at the mats for spying yesterday, deepening the worst “for sure” in response to violations of a be a long struggle with Russia over Ukraine, but 170,000 or so Roma and Sinti people in “Best House” were moved there from the East-West crisis since the Cold War as the EU September peace deal in Ukraine and discredit- vowed that the Kremlin “will not prevail”. “We Italy are Italian citizens with regular jobs Cesarina camp, which was demolished at eyed fresh sanctions against Moscow over the ed elections held by separatists in November. need to have the necessary patience for an and houses, hate crimes against the poor- the end of last year, at which point asbestos violence in Ukraine. Fresh bloodshed in “But sanctions in themselves are not an objec- uphill battle,” Merkel said in a speech after the est strata are rife, fuelled by inflammatory was discovered underneath.—AFP Ukraine between pro-Kremlin rebels and Kiev’s tive. They can be an instrument if they come Brisbane summit. Western leaders at the sum- forces added to the tensions after Russian together with other measures,” she said. These mit, including US President Barack Obama and President Vladimir Putin left a G20 summit in included pushing Ukraine to adopt reforms and British Prime Minister David Cameron Brisbane early amid criticism from western carrying on dialogue with Russia, said denounced Putin’s “unacceptable” actions in leaders. Mogherini, the former Italian foreign minister Ukraine, warning of more sanctions to come Work resumed meanwhile to remove the whose appointment to the EU job was opposed unless he changed course. The West would debris of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from by eastern states that saw her as too soft on keep up the pressure for years if necessary, to eastern Ukraine, paving the way for its return to Moscow. get Russia to reverse course, said Cameron who the Netherlands four months after it was The sanctions to be discussed yesterday branded the Russian president a “bully”. downed, allegedly by the rebels using a Russian would most likely be limited to adding individ- In the latest casualties in eastern Ukraine, missile. Moscow said yesterday it had expelled uals to the list of those already hit with travel seven Ukrainian soldiers and three police offi- a number of Polish diplomats for conduct bans and asset freezes, rather than wider eco- cers were killed in the past 24 hours, while one “incompatible with their status”, diplomatic jar- nomic measures, ministers said.Many EU states civilian was killed and eight wounded over the gon for espionage, adding that Warsaw had are dependent on trade relations with Russia, weekend, security officials said. An AFP earlier expelled Russian diplomats on the same and on Russian gas. “We are ready to support reporter in the city heard fresh shelling yester- grounds. Poland-which has been one of the these sanctions to persons and this will proba- day. Meanwhile, workers spent a second day most hawkish of the 28 European Union states bly be one of the main points on the agenda,” recovering wreckage from the doomed in its stance against Russia’s role in Ukraine- Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek told Malaysian Airlines plane, which was shot down confirmed Moscow’s move was a “symmetric reporters. There were deep divisions within the en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur response”. EU’s member states on the initial sanctions over rebel-controlled territory. “The recovery of against Russia after the annexation of Crimea in wreckage of flight MH17 has been continued Sanctions eyed ‘for sure’ March. But the bloc took a harder stance after this morning. For the second day wreckage will In Brussels, EU foreign ministers met to dis- the shooting down of MH17 in July, with the be recovered for the investigation into the cuss hitting Russia with fresh sanctions, most loss of nearly 300 people. cause of the crash,” the Dutch Safety Board said. ROME: A Roma woman does the laundry at the “Best House Rom” reception centre in likely targeting individuals linked to the vio- The wreckage is being placed on trains and will Rome. — AFP lence in Ukraine, in which around 4,100 people 10 dead in fresh violence eventually be returned to the Netherlands, have died. New EU foreign affairs chief Federica German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday which is leading the inquiry, it said.— AFP Germany’s far-left set to head first regional state Romania anti-graft mayor

ERFURT: The German far-left look set to an alliance between former members of the make history this week in a deal that will SED and voters disillusioned with the Social wins presidential election lead to them taking their first regional state Democrat SPD party of the west. “It’s been a premiership since the Berlin Wall fell a quar- long journey, but we’ve reached a point ter-century ago. Bodo Ramelow, 58, a mem- when we can now open a new political BUCHAREST: An ethnic German mayor of a But 46 percent of the ballots cast abroad were for ber of the Linke, the successor to the for- chapter in Thuringia,” Ramelow told AFP in medieval Transylvanian city pulled off a shock victo- Iohannis compared to just 16 percent for Ponta, who mer East Germany’s ruling Marxist-Leninist an interview, just days before the coalition ry in Romania’s presidential elections, defeating the was so confident of victory he said he planned to Social Unity Party (SED), will break political talks are wrapped up. premier after vowing to stamp out corruption in the watch the results at home eating popcorn in the front taboos by signing a deal that will see him In the regional elections on September graft-riddled country, early results showed yester- of the television. Experts had earlier said that a high appointed regional prime minister in the 14, the Linke came second with 28.2 per- day. Klaus Iohannis, a soft-spoken former physics turnout in the second round could well tilt the bal- state of Thuringia next month. The move is cent of votes behind the centre-right teacher known for avoiding conflict, secured an ance in Iohannis’s favor. “The vote has been phenom- part of a power-sharing deal with the cen- Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of overwhelming 54 percent of the votes cast in enal. The turnout was huge,” said Iohannis, the centre- tre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and envi- Chancellor Angela Merkel, who won 33.5 Sunday’s poll, according to partial results, soundly right mayor of the Transylvanian city of Sibiu, who ronmentalist Greens to be signed this week percent. The CDU has held power in beating Prime Minister Victor Ponta. The election comes from the country’s ethnic German community and then formalised in a regional parlia- Thuringia since 1990, when the first-ever was seen as pivotal for one of the poorest countries that was persecuted under the country’s communist mentary vote on December 5. free elections were held in the ex-GDR. The in Europe that has struggled to overcome an dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu. Iohannis, who faced Even though the Linke traditionally fares centre-left SPD, currently sharing power entrenched culture of corruption. Exit polls had put accusations of not being a “real Romanian”, cam- well in the former east of the country and with the CDU on a national level, saw its the two candidates neck-in-neck after Sunday’s elec- paigned on an anti-corruption platform, vowing to has already regularly participated in region- share of the vote nosedive to 12.4 percent tion, but did not take into account the votes cast by turn Romania into a “normal” country. al government there, the prospect of one of from 18.5 percent in in 2009. the large Romanian diaspora, which was seen as Observers say he appealed to voters with his reli- their members being appointed regional Both the SPD and the environmentalist more likely to vote to Iohannis. ability and honesty in a country sick of government state premier for the first time has fuelled Greens voted unanimously to throw in their “We’ve won!” Iohannis wrote on his Facebook page. corruption, with several senior figures in Ponta’s for- Klaus Iohannis heated debate across Germany. On lot with Bodo Ramelow. The alliance Ponta conceded defeat, saying “I congratulated Mr merly communist Social Democrats accused of graft. Ahead of the vote experts said Romania’s diaspo- November 9, when the entire country was angered Merkel, who described the new Iohannis on his victory. The people are always right.” Rodica Avram, a 56-year-old teacher, said after cast- ra, which numbers about three million, could play a celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Fall coalition as “bad news” for Thuringia, a Partial results showed that a record 64 percent of vot- ing her ballot in Bucharest that she had voted for key role in swinging the result. Only 160,000 were of the Berlin Wall, around 4,000 people ral- small rural state with a population of 2.1 ers cast ballots in the poll in a country where previous change. “For the past 25 years we have heard noth- able to cast their ballots in the first round due to an lied in Erfurt, the regional state capital of million. ballots have been marked by voter apathy. Official ing but lies and promises that weren’t kept,” she said. insufficient number of polling stations in countries Thuringia, to protest against the party. German president Joachim Gauck was results are expected to be announced later on Monday. “I hope we’ll finally have a president who respects including France, Germany and Britain. On Sunday, “Out with the Stasi” they chanted, refer- even more outspoken. The former dissident Ponta, 42, had hoped to become Romania’s youngest people and does what he promises.” Ponta’s main long queues of people snaked outside polling sta- ring to the former German Democratic Lutheran pastor from the East broke the ever president and cement his Social Democrat party’s support base came from the hugely influential tions in Paris, London and several other cities includ- Republic’s much-hated secret police. The neutrality of his office to ask whether the hold on power in the former communist state. In the Romanian Orthodox Church, as well as his party’s ing the southern English town of Portsmouth, anti-capitalist and pacifist Linke, which is far-left party was fit to lead its first state first round on November 2, he took 40 percent of the traditional electorate of the rural population, small according to pictures shown on Romanian televi- German for “The Left”, was set up in 2007 as government.—AFP vote against 30 percent for Iohannis. business employees and the elderly. sion.—AFP