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By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
14 January 2009

Trial Chamber officials of the Khmer Rouge tribunal will meet with defense and civil party attorneys Thursday to discuss the upcoming trial of jailed prison chief Duch.

The tribunal judges and prosecutors will discuss with attorneys evidence, witnesses and procedures for the hearing of Duch, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev.

“We will consider the situation of the parties that will participate in the process,” Trial Chamber chief judge Nil Non said. “We will also consider the question of witnesses, the question of evidence and the management of the hearing.”

The Trial Chamber has received the witness list from prosecutors and must still decide on trial preliminaries by the end of February, he said. The chamber is still waiting for a witness list from the civil parties, he added.

However, Hong Kim Suon, a civil party attorney, said the list of witnesses was sent Wednesday afternoon.

Tribunal prosecutor Robert Petit has said Thursday’s meeting will resolve many logistical issues and pave the way for Duch’s trial, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role as the head of Tuol Sleng prison.

The trial will be the first-ever held by the hybrid tribunal, which stood up in 2006 but has experienced a number of delays in reaching the trial stage for five jailed leaders of the regime

By VOA News
15 January 2009
Witnesses say Israeli ground troops have moved their offensive against Hamas into Gaza City's residential areas, despite efforts toward a truce to end the 20-day old conflict.

A Palestinian man calls for help as smoke rises from a window following an explosion caused by Israeli military operations in Gaza city, 14 Jan 2009

Israeli tanks were seen pushing deeper into the Gaza Strip's main city Thursday, causing thousands of Palestinians to flee their homes. Israeli warplanes also carried out new air raids across Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad was headed to Cairo for talks on an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire plan.

Hamas representatives, who met with Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Wednesday, said they do not reject the broad outlines of the plan but stopped short of accepting it.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is due to arrive in Israel Thursday as part of his regional trip to address the Gaza conflict. Mr. Ban is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres. On Wednesday, the U.N. chief held talks in Egypt and Jordan, renewing his call for an immediate cease-fire.

Egyptian officials say their plan involves both a temporary and long-term truce, an opening of Gaza's border crossings and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory. It would also call for the dispatch of international monitors to Gaza.

Palestinian officials say more than a thousand people have been killed during Israel's offensive in Gaza. U.N. officials say 300 children are among the dead. Thirteen Israelis have also died in the conflict, some by Hamas rocket fire from Gaza.

Israel says its offensive aims to stop Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel.

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
12 January 2009

Prosecutors have sent a list of witnesses to the Trial Chamber of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, officials said Monday, a key step in moving closer to a trial for jailed prison Duch.

By having the list of witnesses, judges can now chose who will appear in an upcoming trial. This will also help set a definite time-table for the trial of Duch, 66. wjp os charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and homicide for his role as the head of Tuol Sleng prison, known to the Khmer Rouge as S-21.

The trial for Duch, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, is expected to begin in earnest in March. The Trial Chamber is expected to hold a two-day meeting later this week to fix a date for the trial. Duch’s trial will mark the first for the tribunal, which has been beleaguered since its inception, with organization, management, funding, and allegations of corruption.

A source close to the tribunal said a list of more than 30 witnesses was sent to the Trial Chamber earlier this month. Among those listed are survivors of Tuol Sleng, family members of prisoners killed in there, and previous staff of the prison, where at least 12,000 people were tortured and later executed.

“It is clear that the first trial will allow witnesses to come and tell their stories, their experiences, which will permit them to shed light on what happened,” said Robert Petit, an international prosecutor for the tribunal.

The process will help some people understand better the regime, but the topic of the hearing would be focused only on the prison, he said.

The list includes an array of witnesses who will paint several pictures of the prison.

“There are, on one hand, survivors, and there are people who have worked in Tuol Sleng,” said Silke Studzinsky, a lawyer for civil party participants in the tribunal. “So there are of course witnesses that are very important and who are able to talk about the conditions in court.”

Tribunal judges could not be reached for comment Monday.

By Sonja Pace
Jerusalem
12 January 2009

A Palestinian woman carries her belongings in Rafah, after Israeli air strikes, 12 Jan 2009

It has been more than two weeks since Israel launched massive air strikes and then a ground offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and all the while, Hamas continued to fire rockets into southern Israel. The Palestinian death toll from the conflict now stands at around 900; and 13 Israelis have also died, including three civilians killed by rockets. In this report we look at how the violence has affected people on both sides.

The sounds of war are a daily reality on both sides of a bloody conflict - Palestinians in Gaza have had to live with the effects of Israeli air strikes, naval bombardments, tank fire and artillery. Israelis have been subjected to continuous rocket attacks from Palestinian militants inside Gaza.

Reports from Gaza say much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble - government buildings, police stations, mosques, smuggling tunnels, the university, the homes of senior Hamas militants - all under attack. And in the process many innocent Palestinian civilians have been caught in the crossfire.

Palestinians who fled their homes eat at a United Nations school where they are sheltering in the Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, 12 Jan. 2009

From Gaza City, Palestinian journalist Mohammed Dawwas described what life has been like.

"It has been very difficult for us," said Mohammed Dawwas. "We have been moving every day from my house to another house, to my father-in-law's house because we think it is safer there. For my children - my kids are very worried. When it gets dark, they are very frightened. And, you have to know, we have no electricity, we have nothing here. We are just surviving, minute, hour, day by day."

Television footage shown around the region and the world, of injured civilians, bloodied children and mangled bodies recovered from the rubble of bombed buildings, of civilians killed by Israeli shells at a U.N. school. These images have outraged public opinion in the Muslim world and elsewhere.

In their apartment in Ramallah,

The Dhabour family in Ramallah

watches and worries. Ibrahim Dhabour is from Gaza and while he lives in the West Bank with his wife Suhad and their two young boys - the rest of his family is back in Gaza.

"When I see this on TV - the Israeli army killing Palestinians - men, women and children," said Ibrahim Dhabour. 'It's very difficult he says, adding his thoughts are always on what is happening in Gaza.

The only way to stay in touch is by phone.

Ibrahim Dhabour calls his mother. He asks her how the family is doing and how they are coping, what the latest news is from home. He later says she told him about the neighbors who have been killed, some by Israeli air strikes, some feared trapped under the rubble of collapsed houses.

He says she talks about the daily worries. She says there has been so much shelling that they fear the apartment building will soon collapse or might be hit at anytime. If we die, she tells him, do not worry - it is God's will.

His wife, Suhad gets on the phone to talk with her mother-in-law. She was crying, Suhad says, and her message was, "Do not worry about us, just take care of the family, your husband and the children."

Medical officials in Gaza say about 900 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,500 injured in the Israeli attacks. At least half are believed to be civilians.

An Israeli woman, suffering from shock, is helped by a soldier after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit the southern town of Sderot, Sunday, 11 Jan. 2009

Israeli officials insist they are not targeting civilians and say they had no choice but to launch the military offensive after talks with Hamas over the extension of a cease-fire broke down and Islamist militants stepped up rocket attacks on southern Israel.

People in Sderot have become used to air raid sirens and warnings.

Sderot lies within a few kilometers from Gaza, in plain view, and has come under sporadic rocket fire for the past eight years. It has again become a target and 23-year-old Tamara Amr says it makes daily life very difficult.

"It is not so easy to live like this for eight years," said Tamara Amr. "All my days are in fear. I am 23-years old and I am so scared to stay alone, to shower alone, to sleep. I need to be in my own place and live a normal life, but it is not."

Tamara Amr, like most average Israelis, supports the military offensive for one reason, to stop rocket attacks from Gaza.

"I hope that [it] will stop and we can live in peace and we can live a normal life," she said.

"A normal life" is a hope expressed by people on both sides of this conflict. Diplomatic efforts are underway to end the violence and for civilians -Israelis and Palestinians - a resolution cannot come soon enough.