Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Al-Jazeera Video: Intense clashes erupt in Gaza City - 12 Jan 09
"Fierce clashes have erupted in densely-populated areas of east Tuffah and Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip and on the outskirts of Gaza City as the offensive entered its 17th day.
Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin reports on the public who are struggling to cope under the bombardment in Gaza."
Real News Video with Eric Margolis: Who and what is Hamas?
Eric Margolis: Hamas is more of a threat to corrupt Arab regimes than to Israel
On Gaza, Britain is in a collective funk
The government has ducked moral obligation and overstated its world leverage as outrage over the bloodshed increases
Simon Tisdall
guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 January 2009
".....In a speech in Oxford last year, seen as defining his tenure, Miliband warned Britain must perforce be cautious about its capacity to change the world. "But while we have less influence than we might hope, we have more than we might fear," he said.
Miliband listed the powerful levers still at a diminished Britain's disposal. They included extensive financial and economic leverage, a relatively large aid budget, well-developed communication and media resources, and top-table membership of leading global institutions such as the UN, the EU, Nato and the World Trade Organisation.
But that was not all. Miliband went on: "Finally, there will be situations where the hard power of targeted sanctions, international criminal proceedings, security guarantees and military intervention will be necessary."
No sign of that in Gaza. As the blood flows and the outrage grows, critics say Britain is not only not doing enough – but has failed to use the not inconsiderable levers of powers that, by its own estimation, it still retains......."
Simon Tisdall
guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 January 2009
".....In a speech in Oxford last year, seen as defining his tenure, Miliband warned Britain must perforce be cautious about its capacity to change the world. "But while we have less influence than we might hope, we have more than we might fear," he said.
Miliband listed the powerful levers still at a diminished Britain's disposal. They included extensive financial and economic leverage, a relatively large aid budget, well-developed communication and media resources, and top-table membership of leading global institutions such as the UN, the EU, Nato and the World Trade Organisation.
But that was not all. Miliband went on: "Finally, there will be situations where the hard power of targeted sanctions, international criminal proceedings, security guarantees and military intervention will be necessary."
No sign of that in Gaza. As the blood flows and the outrage grows, critics say Britain is not only not doing enough – but has failed to use the not inconsiderable levers of powers that, by its own estimation, it still retains......."
We believe in resistance, not revenge
Hamas is demonised to justify Palestinian suffering in Gaza. But we have no quarrel with Jewish people, only the actions of Israel
Basim Naim
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 13 January 2009
"Sixteen days into its attack, Israel continues to bombard all areas in the Gaza strip from F16s, Apache helicopters, ships and tanks. Weapons used against our people include white phosphorus rockets, made in America, which burn the skin black and destroy human soft tissue completely. Now we can hear shooting around the outskirts of Gaza City.
Ninety per cent of the targets attacked are civilian. Of nearly 900 confirmed dead, 32% are children. More than 40% of the 4,000 wounded are children, while medical centres and 13 ambulances have been destroyed.
Hamas is not the only group fighting against this aggression: its fighters are joined by members of Islamic Jihad, the PFLP and Fatah. But the popularity of Hamas has increased during the invasion....
The continuing attempt to discredit and demonise Hamas by Israel, and its US backer, cannot hide the real atrocities and massacres they are now inflicting on our people. Hamas and its administration in Gaza remains intact, despite the devastation. This aggression will not succeed."
Basim Naim
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 13 January 2009
"Sixteen days into its attack, Israel continues to bombard all areas in the Gaza strip from F16s, Apache helicopters, ships and tanks. Weapons used against our people include white phosphorus rockets, made in America, which burn the skin black and destroy human soft tissue completely. Now we can hear shooting around the outskirts of Gaza City.
Ninety per cent of the targets attacked are civilian. Of nearly 900 confirmed dead, 32% are children. More than 40% of the 4,000 wounded are children, while medical centres and 13 ambulances have been destroyed.
Hamas is not the only group fighting against this aggression: its fighters are joined by members of Islamic Jihad, the PFLP and Fatah. But the popularity of Hamas has increased during the invasion....
The continuing attempt to discredit and demonise Hamas by Israel, and its US backer, cannot hide the real atrocities and massacres they are now inflicting on our people. Hamas and its administration in Gaza remains intact, despite the devastation. This aggression will not succeed."
Demands grow for Gaza war crimes investigation
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
The Guardian, Tuesday 13 January 2009
"Israel is facing growing demands from senior UN officials and human rights groups for an international war crimes investigation in Gaza over allegations such as the "reckless and indiscriminate" shelling of residential areas and use of Palestinian families as human shields by soldiers.
With the death toll from the 17-day Israeli assault on Gaza climbing above 900, pressure is increasing for an independent inquiry into specific incidents, such as the shelling of a UN school turned refugee centre where about 40 people died, as well as the question of whether the military tactics used by Israel systematically breached humanitarian law.
The UN's senior human rights body approved a resolution yesterday condemning the Israeli offensive for "massive violations of human rights". A senior UN source said the body's humanitarian agencies were compiling evidence of war crimes and passing it on to the "highest levels" to be used as seen fit.
Some human rights activists allege that the Israeli leadership gave an order to keep military casualties low no matter what cost to civilians. That strategy has directly contributed to one of the bloodiest Israeli assaults on the Palestinian territories, they say....."
The Guardian, Tuesday 13 January 2009
"Israel is facing growing demands from senior UN officials and human rights groups for an international war crimes investigation in Gaza over allegations such as the "reckless and indiscriminate" shelling of residential areas and use of Palestinian families as human shields by soldiers.
With the death toll from the 17-day Israeli assault on Gaza climbing above 900, pressure is increasing for an independent inquiry into specific incidents, such as the shelling of a UN school turned refugee centre where about 40 people died, as well as the question of whether the military tactics used by Israel systematically breached humanitarian law.
The UN's senior human rights body approved a resolution yesterday condemning the Israeli offensive for "massive violations of human rights". A senior UN source said the body's humanitarian agencies were compiling evidence of war crimes and passing it on to the "highest levels" to be used as seen fit.
Some human rights activists allege that the Israeli leadership gave an order to keep military casualties low no matter what cost to civilians. That strategy has directly contributed to one of the bloodiest Israeli assaults on the Palestinian territories, they say....."
The Zionist Pharaoh Speaks: Egypt to Hamas: Either Accept Truce or Lose Gaza!
Al-Manar
"13/01/2009 Egypt has been exerting fierce pressure on Hamas over the past 24 hours to accept its ceasefire proposal, Palestinian sources told Ynet.
According to the sources, Cairo warned Hamas that should it refuse to accept the proposal the Israeli army would continue to expand its operation in Gaza, “which in effect would mean an end to Hamas' rule over the coastal enclave it took over in June 2007.”
A Hamas delegation is currently in Cairo for the ceasefire talks, but it may return to the Strip on Monday. The Egyptian pressure stems from Israel's preparations for the third phase of “Operation Cast Lead,” which Cairo announced will be launched in the coming days and will conclude only after Israeli forces enter Gaza City.....
Yet, currently there is no sign of a breakthrough in the negotiations.
The intensive diplomatic activity taking place in Cairo is centered on developing an international monitoring.
Israeli media quoted Western sources as saying that Turkey is playing a key role in the talks because Hamas - due to its tensions with Egypt - currently has more confidence in Turkey than it does in Egypt.
The sources said that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's foreign policy advisor, Ahmet Davutoglu, was instrumental in convincing Hamas representatives to go to Cairo for the talks. He is reportedly intimately involved in the discussions. Davutoglu was the key go-between in the indirect talks between Israel and Syria that Turkey was mediating last year.
In the current talks Turkey is acting as the mediator between Egypt and Hamas, and not between Hamas and Israel. One Israeli source said that Israel's relationship with Turkey has been set back considerably because of Erdogan's extremely harsh criticisms of the Israeli offensive against Gaza......."
According to the sources, Cairo warned Hamas that should it refuse to accept the proposal the Israeli army would continue to expand its operation in Gaza, “which in effect would mean an end to Hamas' rule over the coastal enclave it took over in June 2007.”
A Hamas delegation is currently in Cairo for the ceasefire talks, but it may return to the Strip on Monday. The Egyptian pressure stems from Israel's preparations for the third phase of “Operation Cast Lead,” which Cairo announced will be launched in the coming days and will conclude only after Israeli forces enter Gaza City.....
Yet, currently there is no sign of a breakthrough in the negotiations.
The intensive diplomatic activity taking place in Cairo is centered on developing an international monitoring.
Israeli media quoted Western sources as saying that Turkey is playing a key role in the talks because Hamas - due to its tensions with Egypt - currently has more confidence in Turkey than it does in Egypt.
The sources said that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's foreign policy advisor, Ahmet Davutoglu, was instrumental in convincing Hamas representatives to go to Cairo for the talks. He is reportedly intimately involved in the discussions. Davutoglu was the key go-between in the indirect talks between Israel and Syria that Turkey was mediating last year.
In the current talks Turkey is acting as the mediator between Egypt and Hamas, and not between Hamas and Israel. One Israeli source said that Israel's relationship with Turkey has been set back considerably because of Erdogan's extremely harsh criticisms of the Israeli offensive against Gaza......."
Monday, January 12, 2009
ليفني: نحن والمصريون متفاهمون على الإنجازات المطلوبة
Al-Jazeera
أكدت أن مسؤولين في رام الله طلبوا إسقاط حماس
"قالت وزيرة الخارجية الإسرائيلية إن المفاوضات التي تجري هذه الأيام مع القاهرة "ضد حماس وليس معها". وأضافت "نحن والمصريون متفاهمون حول الإنجازات المطلوبة" كما أن مسؤولين كبارا بالسلطة الفلسطينية أوصوا بحرارة أن تسير إسرائيل حتى النهاية وتسقط حماس
....."
أكدت أن مسؤولين في رام الله طلبوا إسقاط حماس
"قالت وزيرة الخارجية الإسرائيلية إن المفاوضات التي تجري هذه الأيام مع القاهرة "ضد حماس وليس معها". وأضافت "نحن والمصريون متفاهمون حول الإنجازات المطلوبة" كما أن مسؤولين كبارا بالسلطة الفلسطينية أوصوا بحرارة أن تسير إسرائيل حتى النهاية وتسقط حماس
....."
Gaza war comparable to Sabra and Shatila massacre: medics
"OSLO (AFP) – Israel's offensive in Gaza can be compared to the massacre of Palestinian refugees by Israeli-backed Lebanese militiamen in 1982, two medics said Monday as they returned to Norway after working 10 days at a Gaza hospital.
"Gaza in 2009 is becoming a new bloody chapter in Palestinian and Middle Eastern history that is, unfortunately, comparable to Sabra and Shatila," Mads Gilbert [COMMENT: See Video of Dr. Mads Gilbert posted here on Palestinian Pundit on January 8] told reporters at Oslo's Gardermoen airport, referring to a three-day massacre at two Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut 27 years ago.
Gilbert, 61, and his colleague Erik Fosse, 58, were sent into Gaza to work at the Shifa Hospital by the pro-Palestinian aid organisation NORWAC on December 31.
They said they had both worked in Lebanon in 1982 when Lebanese Christian militia massacred between 800 and 2,000 Palestinians at the camps as Israeli troops stationed nearby did nothing to stop the bloodshed.
"We hoped we would never see anything like it again," Gilbert said.
The high number of civilian casualties and the huge amount of suffering in Gaza was, however, similar to what he had seen back then, he said, claiming that as many as 90 percent of the wounded he and his colleagues had treated at the Shifa hospital were civilians......"
"Gaza in 2009 is becoming a new bloody chapter in Palestinian and Middle Eastern history that is, unfortunately, comparable to Sabra and Shatila," Mads Gilbert [COMMENT: See Video of Dr. Mads Gilbert posted here on Palestinian Pundit on January 8] told reporters at Oslo's Gardermoen airport, referring to a three-day massacre at two Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut 27 years ago.
Gilbert, 61, and his colleague Erik Fosse, 58, were sent into Gaza to work at the Shifa Hospital by the pro-Palestinian aid organisation NORWAC on December 31.
They said they had both worked in Lebanon in 1982 when Lebanese Christian militia massacred between 800 and 2,000 Palestinians at the camps as Israeli troops stationed nearby did nothing to stop the bloodshed.
"We hoped we would never see anything like it again," Gilbert said.
The high number of civilian casualties and the huge amount of suffering in Gaza was, however, similar to what he had seen back then, he said, claiming that as many as 90 percent of the wounded he and his colleagues had treated at the Shifa hospital were civilians......"
Israel is targeting medics, with documentary video
Eva Bartlett writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 12 January 2009
(Eva Bartlett is a Canadian human rights advocate and freelancer who spent eight months in 2007 living in West Bank communities and four months in Cairo and at the Rafah crossing. She is currently based in the Gaza Strip after having arrived with the 3rd Free Gaza Movement boat in November. She has been working with the International Solidarity Movement in Gaza, accompanying ambulances while witnessing and documenting the ongoing Israeli air strikes and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip)
"On 7 January, as Spanish human rights advocate and documentary filmmaker, Alberto Arce, and I accompanied Palestinian medics to retrieve the body of a man shot earlier by invading Israeli forces, we were also shot at as the medics carried the body towards the ambulance. It was in Dawwar Zimmo, eastern Jabaliya, near the area which has been occupied by Israeli soldiers since the land invasion began. It's an area where tens are thought to have been seriously injured by bombing and shooting by the Israeli army, and where many, many more will lie dead, uncollected for days, or weeks, out of reach of the medics whose duty is to retrieve them......
These medics are all too aware of, many all too familiar with, the mortal risks of their job in the face of invading Israeli soldiers with, apparently, no regard for the Geneva Conventions which should allow and oblige medics to reach the injured and the dead, without being fired upon by the invading army.
It was frightening. I thought we'd lost them both, and they are both young, wonderful men doing a job worthy of medals. The 10 to 15 seconds it took before Hassan and Jamal could jump into the ambulance and pull down its back door were a painfully long stretch, during which I'd feared the worst. As we pulled away, a final bullet caught the back door of the ambulance....."
ISM video of Israel troops shooting Palestinian paramedics in Jabaliya
(Eva Bartlett is a Canadian human rights advocate and freelancer who spent eight months in 2007 living in West Bank communities and four months in Cairo and at the Rafah crossing. She is currently based in the Gaza Strip after having arrived with the 3rd Free Gaza Movement boat in November. She has been working with the International Solidarity Movement in Gaza, accompanying ambulances while witnessing and documenting the ongoing Israeli air strikes and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip)
"On 7 January, as Spanish human rights advocate and documentary filmmaker, Alberto Arce, and I accompanied Palestinian medics to retrieve the body of a man shot earlier by invading Israeli forces, we were also shot at as the medics carried the body towards the ambulance. It was in Dawwar Zimmo, eastern Jabaliya, near the area which has been occupied by Israeli soldiers since the land invasion began. It's an area where tens are thought to have been seriously injured by bombing and shooting by the Israeli army, and where many, many more will lie dead, uncollected for days, or weeks, out of reach of the medics whose duty is to retrieve them......
These medics are all too aware of, many all too familiar with, the mortal risks of their job in the face of invading Israeli soldiers with, apparently, no regard for the Geneva Conventions which should allow and oblige medics to reach the injured and the dead, without being fired upon by the invading army.
It was frightening. I thought we'd lost them both, and they are both young, wonderful men doing a job worthy of medals. The 10 to 15 seconds it took before Hassan and Jamal could jump into the ambulance and pull down its back door were a painfully long stretch, during which I'd feared the worst. As we pulled away, a final bullet caught the back door of the ambulance....."
ISM video of Israel troops shooting Palestinian paramedics in Jabaliya
Israel's Moral and Political Insanity
"Has God Changed His Mind?"
By MIKE WHITNEY
CounterPunch
"Apart from the slaughter of 900 Palestinians and the vast destruction from 14 days of aerial bombardment, the Israeli invasion of Gaza has failed to achieve any of its strategic objectives. The Palestinian resistance is still intact, the rocket-fire has continued, and Hamas is stronger than ever. So, what has been gained? Hamas has withstood the ferocious Israeli assault without knuckling under or making any concessions. They've proved that they are the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people and the standard bearers of the national liberation movement. Their place at the head of the government is now assured thanks to Israel's criminal blunder. In contrast, Mahmoud Abbas and the PA have ended up looking like cowards and quislings kowtowing to Tel Aviv.
For Israel, the military campaign has been a public relations disaster. Photos on the internet of bloodied and dismembered children rushed off to make-shift hospitals or wrapped in their funereal shrouds has generated unprecedented sympathy for the plight of Palestinians....
One Israeli settler leader recently argued during a conversation with a visiting American peace activist that 'if it was right to commit genocide during Biblical time, why can’t it be right to commit genocide now. Has God changed his mind,' the settler wondered sarcastically."....."
By MIKE WHITNEY
CounterPunch
"Apart from the slaughter of 900 Palestinians and the vast destruction from 14 days of aerial bombardment, the Israeli invasion of Gaza has failed to achieve any of its strategic objectives. The Palestinian resistance is still intact, the rocket-fire has continued, and Hamas is stronger than ever. So, what has been gained? Hamas has withstood the ferocious Israeli assault without knuckling under or making any concessions. They've proved that they are the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people and the standard bearers of the national liberation movement. Their place at the head of the government is now assured thanks to Israel's criminal blunder. In contrast, Mahmoud Abbas and the PA have ended up looking like cowards and quislings kowtowing to Tel Aviv.
For Israel, the military campaign has been a public relations disaster. Photos on the internet of bloodied and dismembered children rushed off to make-shift hospitals or wrapped in their funereal shrouds has generated unprecedented sympathy for the plight of Palestinians....
One Israeli settler leader recently argued during a conversation with a visiting American peace activist that 'if it was right to commit genocide during Biblical time, why can’t it be right to commit genocide now. Has God changed his mind,' the settler wondered sarcastically."....."
Tens of Thousands Demonstrate Globally Against Israeli Actions, Jewish Women Among Those Leading Protests
Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman
"Tens of thousands of people took to streets over the weekend in cities across the globe to demonstrate against Israel’s assault on Gaza. Some of the protests have been organized by Jewish groups who are speaking out against Israel’s actions. We speak with two Jewish women for peace: Dorothy Zellner, one of 15 Jews who have signed a call for a protest in front of the Israeli Consulate in New York and Judy Rebick, who organized a sit-in comprised of Jewish Canadian women at the Israeli consulate in Toronto......"
With Amy Goodman
"Tens of thousands of people took to streets over the weekend in cities across the globe to demonstrate against Israel’s assault on Gaza. Some of the protests have been organized by Jewish groups who are speaking out against Israel’s actions. We speak with two Jewish women for peace: Dorothy Zellner, one of 15 Jews who have signed a call for a protest in front of the Israeli Consulate in New York and Judy Rebick, who organized a sit-in comprised of Jewish Canadian women at the Israeli consulate in Toronto......"
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is not self-defence – it’s a war crime
The Sunday Times
"ISRAEL has sought to justify its military attacks on Gaza by stating that it amounts to an act of “self-defence” as recognised by Article 51, United Nations Charter. We categorically reject this contention...."
"ISRAEL has sought to justify its military attacks on Gaza by stating that it amounts to an act of “self-defence” as recognised by Article 51, United Nations Charter. We categorically reject this contention...."
Blueprint for Gaza attack was long planned
by Jonathan Cook
Global Research, January 12, 2009
".....But Israel has also struck a range of patently civilian targets, including government buildings, universities, mosques and medical clinics, as well as schools. It has tried to argue, with less success, that the connection between these public institutions and Hamas, the enclave’s ruler, make them legitimate targets.
A second aspect of the military strategy was to declare areas of Gaza “combat zones” in which the army would have free rein and from which residents would be expected to flee. If they did not, they would lose their civilian status and become legitimate targets.
That policy already appears to have been implemented in the form of aerial leafleting campaigns warning residents to leave such areas as Rafah and northern Gaza. In the past few days Israeli commanders have been boasting about the extreme violence they are using in these locations.
The goal in both Rafah and northern Gaza may be to ensure that they remain largely unpopulated: in the case of Rafah, to make tunnelling to Egypt harder; and in the northern Strip, from which rockets have been fired at longer ranges, to ensure they do not reach Tel Aviv.
In a third phase such tactics would probably be significantly extended as the army pushed onwards. Swathes of Gaza might be declared closed military zones, with their residents effectively herded into the main population centres.
As Mr Barak was unveiling his strategy a year ago, the interior minister, Meir Sheetrit, suggested that the army “decide on a neighbourhood in Gaza and level it”. If a third phase begins, it remains to be seen whether Israel will pursue such measures."
Global Research, January 12, 2009
".....But Israel has also struck a range of patently civilian targets, including government buildings, universities, mosques and medical clinics, as well as schools. It has tried to argue, with less success, that the connection between these public institutions and Hamas, the enclave’s ruler, make them legitimate targets.
A second aspect of the military strategy was to declare areas of Gaza “combat zones” in which the army would have free rein and from which residents would be expected to flee. If they did not, they would lose their civilian status and become legitimate targets.
That policy already appears to have been implemented in the form of aerial leafleting campaigns warning residents to leave such areas as Rafah and northern Gaza. In the past few days Israeli commanders have been boasting about the extreme violence they are using in these locations.
The goal in both Rafah and northern Gaza may be to ensure that they remain largely unpopulated: in the case of Rafah, to make tunnelling to Egypt harder; and in the northern Strip, from which rockets have been fired at longer ranges, to ensure they do not reach Tel Aviv.
In a third phase such tactics would probably be significantly extended as the army pushed onwards. Swathes of Gaza might be declared closed military zones, with their residents effectively herded into the main population centres.
As Mr Barak was unveiling his strategy a year ago, the interior minister, Meir Sheetrit, suggested that the army “decide on a neighbourhood in Gaza and level it”. If a third phase begins, it remains to be seen whether Israel will pursue such measures."
From Guernica to Gaza: The History of Terror Bombing Victims
by Stephen Lendman
Global Research, January 12, 2009
"History's terror bombings. This article reviews some of the most infamous:
-- Guernica - 1937;
-- the London Blitz - 1940 - 41;
-- Dresden - 1945;
-- Tokyo - 1945;
-- Hiroshima and Nagasaki - 1945;
-- North Korea - 1950 - 53;
-- Southeast Asia - 1964 - 73;
-- Iraq - 1991 to the present;
-- Serbia/Kosovo - 1999;
-- Afghanistan - 2001 to the present;
-- Lebanon - 1982 and 2006; and
-- Gaza - 2008 - 09.
Strategic bombing involves destroying an adversary's economic and military ability to wage war. It targets its war making capacity and related infrastructure. Terror bombing is another matter. It's against civilians to break their morale, cause panic, weaken an enemy's will to fight, and inflict mass casualties and punishment.
Geneva and other international laws forbid the targeting of civilians. The Laws of War: Laws and Customs of War on Land (1907 Hague IV Convention) states.....
Remember Gaza - immortalized as one of history's terror-bombing victims. World outrage demands an end to this and the prosecution of its perpetrators. We stand together in solidarity. Today we're all Gazans. We're all Palestinians."
Global Research, January 12, 2009
"History's terror bombings. This article reviews some of the most infamous:
-- Guernica - 1937;
-- the London Blitz - 1940 - 41;
-- Dresden - 1945;
-- Tokyo - 1945;
-- Hiroshima and Nagasaki - 1945;
-- North Korea - 1950 - 53;
-- Southeast Asia - 1964 - 73;
-- Iraq - 1991 to the present;
-- Serbia/Kosovo - 1999;
-- Afghanistan - 2001 to the present;
-- Lebanon - 1982 and 2006; and
-- Gaza - 2008 - 09.
Strategic bombing involves destroying an adversary's economic and military ability to wage war. It targets its war making capacity and related infrastructure. Terror bombing is another matter. It's against civilians to break their morale, cause panic, weaken an enemy's will to fight, and inflict mass casualties and punishment.
Geneva and other international laws forbid the targeting of civilians. The Laws of War: Laws and Customs of War on Land (1907 Hague IV Convention) states.....
Remember Gaza - immortalized as one of history's terror-bombing victims. World outrage demands an end to this and the prosecution of its perpetrators. We stand together in solidarity. Today we're all Gazans. We're all Palestinians."
The Language of Death
By Chris Hedges
"Israel will, from now on, speak to the Palestinians in the language of death. And the language of death is all the Palestinians will be able to speak back. The slaughter—let’s stop pretending this is a war—is empowering an array of radical Islamists inside and outside of Gaza.......
The incursion into Gaza is not about destroying Hamas. It is not about stopping rocket fire into Israel. It is not about achieving peace. The Israeli decision to rain death and destruction on Gaza, to use the lethal weapons of the modern battlefield on a largely defenseless civilian population, is the final phase of the decades-long campaign to ethnically cleanse Palestinians. The assault on Gaza is about creating squalid, lawless and impoverished ghettos where life for Palestinians will be barely sustainable. It is about building ringed Palestinian enclaves where Israel will always have the ability to shut off movement, food, medicine and goods to perpetuate misery. The Israeli attack on Gaza is about building a hell on earth......."
"Israel will, from now on, speak to the Palestinians in the language of death. And the language of death is all the Palestinians will be able to speak back. The slaughter—let’s stop pretending this is a war—is empowering an array of radical Islamists inside and outside of Gaza.......
The incursion into Gaza is not about destroying Hamas. It is not about stopping rocket fire into Israel. It is not about achieving peace. The Israeli decision to rain death and destruction on Gaza, to use the lethal weapons of the modern battlefield on a largely defenseless civilian population, is the final phase of the decades-long campaign to ethnically cleanse Palestinians. The assault on Gaza is about creating squalid, lawless and impoverished ghettos where life for Palestinians will be barely sustainable. It is about building ringed Palestinian enclaves where Israel will always have the ability to shut off movement, food, medicine and goods to perpetuate misery. The Israeli attack on Gaza is about building a hell on earth......."
The Ceasefire
Sunday, 11 January 2009 23:32
Written by Ewa Jasiewicz in Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya
The Free Gaza Movement
"10-11th January 2009. Last night was a quiet one in Jabbaliya. ‘Only’ six homes bombed into the ground, the Market, again, maybe four lightly injured people – shrapnel to the face injuries – and no martyrs. Beit Hanoun saw a young woman, Nariman Ahmad Abu Owder, just 17, shot dead as she made tea in her family’s kitchen. It was 9pm in the Hay Amel area when witnesses reported ‘thousands’ of bullets shot by tanks onto homes in
Azrah Street.....
Meanwhile, as the killing continues, the Ministry of Health ambulances in the north are becoming slowly paralysed. Four M.O.H ambulances based at Kamal Odwan have no fuel and have been grounded, two have just half a tank each. One in Beit Hanoun has also been immobilised. A senior source co-ordinating the rescue services who did not wish to be named, said, ‘We haven’t got the capacity now to respond. The Civil Defence and the Red Crescent will go out, we cannot, only in case of a major emergency. In case of another strike like the one at Fakhoura, the injured will have to be transported by donkey cart. People will die’. Petrol is available, just a short drive away in Salahadeen Street, although Israeli Occupation Forces control the area and won’t let any vehicle pass. To add to the M.O.H’s woes, the radios they’ve had since the beginning of the invasion have had no service – there’s been no radio contact between the base and ambulances and the Jawwal mobile network is also frequently down.
So everybody who can, still keeps going. Israeli war planes keep targeting civilians. The evidence piling up points to a deliberate campaign and policy of targeting civilians. And the bombs keep falling, thudding all around all of us, everywhere we go, everywhere we sleep, everywhere we walk, drive, sit and pray. Everyone is exhausted and just wants these attacks to end and for a real ceasefire to materialise."
Written by Ewa Jasiewicz in Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya
The Free Gaza Movement
"10-11th January 2009. Last night was a quiet one in Jabbaliya. ‘Only’ six homes bombed into the ground, the Market, again, maybe four lightly injured people – shrapnel to the face injuries – and no martyrs. Beit Hanoun saw a young woman, Nariman Ahmad Abu Owder, just 17, shot dead as she made tea in her family’s kitchen. It was 9pm in the Hay Amel area when witnesses reported ‘thousands’ of bullets shot by tanks onto homes in
Azrah Street.....
Meanwhile, as the killing continues, the Ministry of Health ambulances in the north are becoming slowly paralysed. Four M.O.H ambulances based at Kamal Odwan have no fuel and have been grounded, two have just half a tank each. One in Beit Hanoun has also been immobilised. A senior source co-ordinating the rescue services who did not wish to be named, said, ‘We haven’t got the capacity now to respond. The Civil Defence and the Red Crescent will go out, we cannot, only in case of a major emergency. In case of another strike like the one at Fakhoura, the injured will have to be transported by donkey cart. People will die’. Petrol is available, just a short drive away in Salahadeen Street, although Israeli Occupation Forces control the area and won’t let any vehicle pass. To add to the M.O.H’s woes, the radios they’ve had since the beginning of the invasion have had no service – there’s been no radio contact between the base and ambulances and the Jawwal mobile network is also frequently down.
So everybody who can, still keeps going. Israeli war planes keep targeting civilians. The evidence piling up points to a deliberate campaign and policy of targeting civilians. And the bombs keep falling, thudding all around all of us, everywhere we go, everywhere we sleep, everywhere we walk, drive, sit and pray. Everyone is exhausted and just wants these attacks to end and for a real ceasefire to materialise."
On Day 17 of Op, Israel Proves “It’s Weaker than a Spider’s Web”
Al-Manar
"12/01/2009 After 17 days of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, Israel failed to achieve its announced goal, which is “to stop the rocket attacks fired from the Strip into the Israeli settlements”, and the Palestinian resistance groups have continued to rain the occupied territories with tens of rockets putting the Israeli government in an embarrassing situation before the entire world.
Instead of restoring the image of the “invincible army” that had lost during the Second Lebanon War in July 2006, Israel has proved, more now than ever, that “it is weaker than a spider’s web”, as Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has always said......."
"12/01/2009 After 17 days of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, Israel failed to achieve its announced goal, which is “to stop the rocket attacks fired from the Strip into the Israeli settlements”, and the Palestinian resistance groups have continued to rain the occupied territories with tens of rockets putting the Israeli government in an embarrassing situation before the entire world.
Instead of restoring the image of the “invincible army” that had lost during the Second Lebanon War in July 2006, Israel has proved, more now than ever, that “it is weaker than a spider’s web”, as Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has always said......."
Dear Israeli Citizen: No Other Option?!
By Sam Bahour - The West Bank
Palestine Chronicle
"....You may not see us over the Separation Wall you built; you may not see us from the cockpits of your F-16s or from the inside of your tanks; you may not see us from the command and control center in the heart of Tel Aviv as you direct your pilots to launch their ton of munitions over our heads. Still, I can assure you of one thing. Until you wake up and demand that your leaders choose a different path, a path toward a life as equals and neighbors instead of trampler - on and trampled-on, you and your warrior sons and daughters will continue to see us - all of us, living and dead - in your nightmares, where we will continue to demand peace with justice."
Gaza Is the Future
Israel's on a rampage – and here's why
by Justin Raimondo
"...... No one knows, of course, but the general outlines of what is going down, as we say in America, were laid out in "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for the Realm," a policy paper produced by a remarkable group of American analysts in 1996, for then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The realm being Israel, and the unique group that produced it characterized by their centrality in pushing for war with Iraq. Led by Richard Perle, the "Clean Break" group consisted of James Colbert, Charles Fairbanks Jr., Douglas Feith, Robert Loewenberg, David Wurmser, and Meyrav Wurmser.
All of these august personages, but especially Perle, can claim the dubious credit of having co-authored what the late Gen. William E. Odom ruefully referred to as the greatest military disaster in American history....
Elbow room – or Lebensraum?
Of course, any war Israel involves itself in will drag in the United States, its principal patron and protector. In this, America is truly an empire of unique type – one that has been taken hostage by one of its own satellites. That, at least, is the intention, and, so far, the plan seems to be working.
The endgame is a general war against Israel's principal enemy in the region: Iran. The Lobby is already gearing up to make the new president miserable until he finally caves. What we have to look forward to in the next four years is lots of aggressive "diplomacy," to be followed by even more draconian economic sanctions and the looming threat of war.
Israel is following the "Clean Break" plan almost to the letter, shedding its old role as a dependent settler-colony under continuous siege. In Gaza – and, be assured, throughout the Middle East – Israel is asserting its new role as regional hegemon in a multi-polar world. Israel, not the U.S., is taking the initiative and leading its great ally and "protector" around by the nose, with the Lobby serving as an effective rein on any sudden spasms of self-interest.
This can only end in one way: a general war, perhaps a world war, pitting the U.S. and Israel against virtually every nation in the region – in effect, the entire Muslim world. A new Hundred Years War, a molten eruption of religious conflict that reaches into every continent and smolders for generations until the last embers of hatred and memory are cooled. A century of escalating terrorism and devastating war: is this what the American people want?......."
by Justin Raimondo
"...... No one knows, of course, but the general outlines of what is going down, as we say in America, were laid out in "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for the Realm," a policy paper produced by a remarkable group of American analysts in 1996, for then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The realm being Israel, and the unique group that produced it characterized by their centrality in pushing for war with Iraq. Led by Richard Perle, the "Clean Break" group consisted of James Colbert, Charles Fairbanks Jr., Douglas Feith, Robert Loewenberg, David Wurmser, and Meyrav Wurmser.
All of these august personages, but especially Perle, can claim the dubious credit of having co-authored what the late Gen. William E. Odom ruefully referred to as the greatest military disaster in American history....
Elbow room – or Lebensraum?
Of course, any war Israel involves itself in will drag in the United States, its principal patron and protector. In this, America is truly an empire of unique type – one that has been taken hostage by one of its own satellites. That, at least, is the intention, and, so far, the plan seems to be working.
The endgame is a general war against Israel's principal enemy in the region: Iran. The Lobby is already gearing up to make the new president miserable until he finally caves. What we have to look forward to in the next four years is lots of aggressive "diplomacy," to be followed by even more draconian economic sanctions and the looming threat of war.
Israel is following the "Clean Break" plan almost to the letter, shedding its old role as a dependent settler-colony under continuous siege. In Gaza – and, be assured, throughout the Middle East – Israel is asserting its new role as regional hegemon in a multi-polar world. Israel, not the U.S., is taking the initiative and leading its great ally and "protector" around by the nose, with the Lobby serving as an effective rein on any sudden spasms of self-interest.
This can only end in one way: a general war, perhaps a world war, pitting the U.S. and Israel against virtually every nation in the region – in effect, the entire Muslim world. A new Hundred Years War, a molten eruption of religious conflict that reaches into every continent and smolders for generations until the last embers of hatred and memory are cooled. A century of escalating terrorism and devastating war: is this what the American people want?......."
Al-Jazeera Video: Shelled family recounts Gaza horror
"The International Committe for the Red Cross alleged that the Israeli army had refused to let them help a family trapped in a shelled house.
When paramedics were granted access, they say what they found was shocking: starving children were sitting beside the bodies of their dead parents and family.
Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros has gained exclusive access to the survivors."
Al-Jazeera Video: Israeli army 'using white phosphorus' - 12 Jan 08
"Human rights groups say Israel is indiscriminately using white phosphorus in Gaza's densely populated areas.
When ignited, the chemical can burn the flesh off of a person, down to the bone.
Israel says the use of white phosphorus is permitted under international law, although it hasn't openly admitted using the chemical.
Ayman Mohyeldin reports from Gaza City. "
Al-Jazeera Video: Israel criticised over alleged use of white phosphorus - 11 Jan 09
"Human rights groups are calling on Israel to stop using white phosphorus in its war on Gaza.
The use of the deadly chemical in wars is only legal in areas that are not densely populated by civilians, Human Rights Watch says.
Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin reports from the burns unit at Shifa hospital in Gaza.
This package contains images that may disturb or offend some viewers."
'Soon we'll have nowhere left to run. Nowhere in Gaza is safe'
Our correspondent and pregnant wife forced to flee Israeli onslaught
By Fares Akram in Gaza city
Monday, 12 January 2009
The Independent
"We've left our home. Like 60,000 other Gazans, we've taken our belongings and fled. Once again, we've become displaced people. Soon, there will be nowhere to run to, since nowhere in Gaza is safe. In the early hours of Saturday, the bombing got louder and closer to our home, and the rattle of machine-gun fire became more intense. The tanks were not far off....."
By Fares Akram in Gaza city
Monday, 12 January 2009
The Independent
"We've left our home. Like 60,000 other Gazans, we've taken our belongings and fled. Once again, we've become displaced people. Soon, there will be nowhere to run to, since nowhere in Gaza is safe. In the early hours of Saturday, the bombing got louder and closer to our home, and the rattle of machine-gun fire became more intense. The tanks were not far off....."
عفوا: المقاومة لا تدمر الفلسطينيين
عفوا: المقاومة لا تدمر الفلسطينيين
عبد الباري عطوان
"لم يكن السيد محمود عباس رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله موفقا عندما استخدم بعض العبارات الاستفزازية في مؤتمره الصحافي الذي عقده في القاهرة، في ختام اجتماعاته مع الرئيس المصري حسني مبارك، خاصة عندما قال 'ان المقاومة التي تدمر شعبها لا نريدها'، في اشارة الى الفصائل الفلسطينية، وحركة 'حماس' على وجه الخصوص
....
فالايحاء بان المقاومة هي التي تدمر الشعب الفلسطيني بصواريخها وعملياتها الاستشهادية، هو تبرير للعدوان الاسرائيلي الحالي، سارع الكثير من المسؤولين والاعلاميين الاسرائيليين والغربيين لاختطافه بتلهف، والتركيز عليه، لادانة المقاومة، وتحميلها مسؤولية كل القتلى والجرحى، خاصة ان هذا الايحاء، جاء على لسان شخص من المفترض انه رئيس للشعب الفلسطيني، ومنتخب من اجل الدفاع عنه، والانحياز الى جانبه في السراء والضراء.
وربما يكون مفيدا تذكير الرئيس عباس، بأنه لولا هذه المقاومة لما وجد اساسا في مقره في رام الله، ولظل حتى هذه اللحظة في المنافي العربية المجاورة لفلسطين المحتلة
.....
كنا نتمنى لو ان السيد عباس قد التزم الصمت، ولم يطلق ايا من هذه التصريحات المسيئة للمقاومة، وفي هذا الوقت بالذات، او ان يقول ما قاله زعماء مثل رجب طيب اردوغان (تركيا) او هوغو شافيز (فنزولا) او حتى ساباتيرو رئيس الوزراء الاسباني الذي حمّل اسرائيل وحدها مسؤولية المجازر الحالية في قطاع غزة، دون اي اشارة للمقاومة وصواريخها، ولكن تمنياتنا هذه لم تكن ابدا في مكانها.
السيد 'ابو الوليد' الناطق باسم شهداء الاقصى (فتح) في قطاع غزة خرج على قناة 'الجزيرة' ليقول لنا ان ابناء 'فتح' يقاومون جنبا الى جنب مع اشقائهم في 'حماس' والجهاد الاسلامي، والوية الناصر صلاح الدين، والجبهتين الشعبية والديمقراطية، وكتائب الشهداء ابو الريش والقيادة العامة، ويتحدث عن تنسيق كامل، وغرفة عمليات مشتركة، ويبشر بالنصر القريب.
هذه هي 'فتح' التي نعرفها، والتي احببناها والشعوب العربية والاسلامية جميعا، وحملت النضال الفلسطيني لاكثر من اربعين عاما، واستحقت القيادة بجدارة بفضل تضحيات شهدائها. 'فتح' الشهيد ياسر عرفات وزملائه خليل الوزير (ابو جهاد) وصلاح خلف (ابو اياد) والقائمة تطول."
عبد الباري عطوان
"لم يكن السيد محمود عباس رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله موفقا عندما استخدم بعض العبارات الاستفزازية في مؤتمره الصحافي الذي عقده في القاهرة، في ختام اجتماعاته مع الرئيس المصري حسني مبارك، خاصة عندما قال 'ان المقاومة التي تدمر شعبها لا نريدها'، في اشارة الى الفصائل الفلسطينية، وحركة 'حماس' على وجه الخصوص
....
فالايحاء بان المقاومة هي التي تدمر الشعب الفلسطيني بصواريخها وعملياتها الاستشهادية، هو تبرير للعدوان الاسرائيلي الحالي، سارع الكثير من المسؤولين والاعلاميين الاسرائيليين والغربيين لاختطافه بتلهف، والتركيز عليه، لادانة المقاومة، وتحميلها مسؤولية كل القتلى والجرحى، خاصة ان هذا الايحاء، جاء على لسان شخص من المفترض انه رئيس للشعب الفلسطيني، ومنتخب من اجل الدفاع عنه، والانحياز الى جانبه في السراء والضراء.
وربما يكون مفيدا تذكير الرئيس عباس، بأنه لولا هذه المقاومة لما وجد اساسا في مقره في رام الله، ولظل حتى هذه اللحظة في المنافي العربية المجاورة لفلسطين المحتلة
.....
كنا نتمنى لو ان السيد عباس قد التزم الصمت، ولم يطلق ايا من هذه التصريحات المسيئة للمقاومة، وفي هذا الوقت بالذات، او ان يقول ما قاله زعماء مثل رجب طيب اردوغان (تركيا) او هوغو شافيز (فنزولا) او حتى ساباتيرو رئيس الوزراء الاسباني الذي حمّل اسرائيل وحدها مسؤولية المجازر الحالية في قطاع غزة، دون اي اشارة للمقاومة وصواريخها، ولكن تمنياتنا هذه لم تكن ابدا في مكانها.
السيد 'ابو الوليد' الناطق باسم شهداء الاقصى (فتح) في قطاع غزة خرج على قناة 'الجزيرة' ليقول لنا ان ابناء 'فتح' يقاومون جنبا الى جنب مع اشقائهم في 'حماس' والجهاد الاسلامي، والوية الناصر صلاح الدين، والجبهتين الشعبية والديمقراطية، وكتائب الشهداء ابو الريش والقيادة العامة، ويتحدث عن تنسيق كامل، وغرفة عمليات مشتركة، ويبشر بالنصر القريب.
هذه هي 'فتح' التي نعرفها، والتي احببناها والشعوب العربية والاسلامية جميعا، وحملت النضال الفلسطيني لاكثر من اربعين عاما، واستحقت القيادة بجدارة بفضل تضحيات شهدائها. 'فتح' الشهيد ياسر عرفات وزملائه خليل الوزير (ابو جهاد) وصلاح خلف (ابو اياد) والقائمة تطول."
Israel fails to capture Gaza City
Press TV
"Israeli forces have failed to capture Gaza City despite sending thousands of reserve soldiers to invade the city on Sunday, a Press TV correspondent reports.
Israeli troops and tanks which have been trying to enter the Gaza City are still engaging resistance fighters and have not succeeded to sweep into the city Press TV correspondent Akram al-Satarri reported.
On Sunday, thousands of Israeli reservists backed by tanks and helicopter gunships attacked eastern Gaza city, facing a strong resistance from Palestinian fighters.
On Monday, heavy clashes between the Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces are going on in East and South of the Gaza City.
Palestinian forces are fiercely fighting Israeli troops in Hay al-Zaytoun neighborhood in eastern Gaza, preventing them from penetrating inside the city.
Plums of smoke have darkened Gaza sky on 17th day of the US-backed Israeli onslaught on the besieged region as the Israeli army continues shelling and air strikes in the city.
Israeli massive bombing campaign of the besieged Gaza Strip which started on December 27, and its later ground offensive has so far killed at least 900 Palestinians and wounded 4000 others, most of them women and children......"
"Israeli forces have failed to capture Gaza City despite sending thousands of reserve soldiers to invade the city on Sunday, a Press TV correspondent reports.
Israeli troops and tanks which have been trying to enter the Gaza City are still engaging resistance fighters and have not succeeded to sweep into the city Press TV correspondent Akram al-Satarri reported.
On Sunday, thousands of Israeli reservists backed by tanks and helicopter gunships attacked eastern Gaza city, facing a strong resistance from Palestinian fighters.
On Monday, heavy clashes between the Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces are going on in East and South of the Gaza City.
Palestinian forces are fiercely fighting Israeli troops in Hay al-Zaytoun neighborhood in eastern Gaza, preventing them from penetrating inside the city.
Plums of smoke have darkened Gaza sky on 17th day of the US-backed Israeli onslaught on the besieged region as the Israeli army continues shelling and air strikes in the city.
Israeli massive bombing campaign of the besieged Gaza Strip which started on December 27, and its later ground offensive has so far killed at least 900 Palestinians and wounded 4000 others, most of them women and children......"
Venezuela sends aid to impoverished Gaza
Press TV
"The Venezuelan government has sent humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the densely-populated area which has been under fire in the last 17 days.
An army Hercules C130 cargo plane bearing 12.5 tonnes of medical supplies and other materials was headed to Cairo which will transport the supplies into Gaza.
"We count on the support of the Egyptian Government and the United Nations so this life-sustaining shipment can reach the Palestinian people," AFP quoted President Hugo Chavez as saying on Sunday.
Chavez added that a second 80-tonnes humanitarian shipment would leave Venezuela for Gaza next week......"
"The Venezuelan government has sent humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the densely-populated area which has been under fire in the last 17 days.
An army Hercules C130 cargo plane bearing 12.5 tonnes of medical supplies and other materials was headed to Cairo which will transport the supplies into Gaza.
"We count on the support of the Egyptian Government and the United Nations so this life-sustaining shipment can reach the Palestinian people," AFP quoted President Hugo Chavez as saying on Sunday.
Chavez added that a second 80-tonnes humanitarian shipment would leave Venezuela for Gaza next week......"
Sunday, January 11, 2009
NY Rally Sunday
Once more, the people of New York must take to the streets and demand an END to the massacres against the Palestinian people in Gaza! Demand an END to the siege of Gaza! Demand JUSTICE and RETURN for the Palestinian people as we demand an END to all US aid to Israel!! Join us as we march to CNN to demand an end to the media lies justifying massacres!
SUNDAY, JANUARY 11
1 PM
Times Square (42nd St. and 7th Ave)
Subways: N/Q/R/S/W/1/2/3/7
Followed by a march to CNN offices
Break the Siege on Gaza Coalition - NY
info@bsg-ny.org
on Facebook
SUNDAY, JANUARY 11
1 PM
Times Square (42nd St. and 7th Ave)
Subways: N/Q/R/S/W/1/2/3/7
Followed by a march to CNN offices
Break the Siege on Gaza Coalition - NY
info@bsg-ny.org
on Facebook
Why the Gaza calm crashed
A Good Analysis
By Alastair Crooke, Conflicts Forum, January 11, 2009
(Alastair Crooke is a former European Union mediator with Hamas and is currently director of Conflicts Forum, based in Beirut)
Many have asked in the wake of Israel’s attack on Gaza, how Hamas, if it saw the consequences of ending the ceasefire — and Hamas did foresee the likelihood of disproportionate Israeli military action — nonetheless could have acquiesced to the inevitable bloodshed — bloodshed that an Israeli army, fixated on restoring its deterrence after its failed 2006 war with Hesballah, would visit on the citizens of Gaza. Some may read into this decision the cynicism of a movement that prioritises resistance; but to do so would be to misread how Hamas analyses their situation and understands the nature of resistance.
At one level, the six month ceasefire simply had failed to satisfy two key litmus tests: The circumstances of life of the Gazan people continually had deteriorated, and the ceasefire was not seen to be taking the Palestinian people any closer to a political solution. On the contrary, Hamas saw a settlement receding further into the distance.......
In making such a decision, Hamas knew it could not defeat Israel’s military strength; but the ‘war’ already is shuffling the cards of both Palestinian and regional politics. If it extends, and if the resistance is perceived by Palestinians and Muslims to acquit itself well, then the structure of Palestinian leadership may fall ripe to major re-structuring. Equally the regional anger being generated by graphic scenes of death in Gaza possesses a potential for the conflict to widen geographically and is coalescing Arab and Islamic resistance against certain Arab leaderships. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of Hesballah has pointed to this prospect in two recent key speeches: Were such a broadening-out of the conflict to occur, it will carry important consequences. These are all big and significant ‘ifs’. But Hamas’ decision should be placed against this backdrop — rather than be painted as the callous disregard of Palestinian lives."
Many have asked in the wake of Israel’s attack on Gaza, how Hamas, if it saw the consequences of ending the ceasefire — and Hamas did foresee the likelihood of disproportionate Israeli military action — nonetheless could have acquiesced to the inevitable bloodshed — bloodshed that an Israeli army, fixated on restoring its deterrence after its failed 2006 war with Hesballah, would visit on the citizens of Gaza. Some may read into this decision the cynicism of a movement that prioritises resistance; but to do so would be to misread how Hamas analyses their situation and understands the nature of resistance.
At one level, the six month ceasefire simply had failed to satisfy two key litmus tests: The circumstances of life of the Gazan people continually had deteriorated, and the ceasefire was not seen to be taking the Palestinian people any closer to a political solution. On the contrary, Hamas saw a settlement receding further into the distance.......
In making such a decision, Hamas knew it could not defeat Israel’s military strength; but the ‘war’ already is shuffling the cards of both Palestinian and regional politics. If it extends, and if the resistance is perceived by Palestinians and Muslims to acquit itself well, then the structure of Palestinian leadership may fall ripe to major re-structuring. Equally the regional anger being generated by graphic scenes of death in Gaza possesses a potential for the conflict to widen geographically and is coalescing Arab and Islamic resistance against certain Arab leaderships. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of Hesballah has pointed to this prospect in two recent key speeches: Were such a broadening-out of the conflict to occur, it will carry important consequences. These are all big and significant ‘ifs’. But Hamas’ decision should be placed against this backdrop — rather than be painted as the callous disregard of Palestinian lives."
STATEMENT OF SPECIAL RAPORTEUR FOR THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES OCCUPIED SINCE 1967 FOR PRESENTATION TO THE SPECIAL SESSION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
STATEMENT OF SPECIAL RAPORTEUR FOR THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES OCCUPIED SINCE 1967 FOR PRESENTATION TO THE SPECIAL SESSION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ON THE SITUATION IN THE GAZA STRIP, 9 JANUARY 2009
"1. This statement focuses on the impact of Israel's continuing Gaza military campaign, initiated on 27 December 2008, on the humanitarian situation confronting the 1.5 million Palestinians confined to the Gaza Strip. In accordance with the undertaking of the mandate, it confines its comments to issues associated with Israel's obligations as occupying power to respect international humanitarian law (IHL), which refers mainly to the legal obligations contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which sets forth in some detail the legal duties of Israel as the occupying power.....
12. From the perspective of the Mandate for oPt the following recommendations seem worthy of the attention at this Special Session:
(1) To request restoring access for Special Rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territories as an essential feature of UN monitoring role;
(2) To seek General Assembly initiatives with respect to investigating allegations of war crimes;
(3) To propose long-term truce based on cessation of rocket launchings from Gaza and unconditional lifting of blockade;
(4) To request an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice to assess the legal status of Israeli control in Gaza subsequent to Israeli 'disengagement' in 2005."
"1. This statement focuses on the impact of Israel's continuing Gaza military campaign, initiated on 27 December 2008, on the humanitarian situation confronting the 1.5 million Palestinians confined to the Gaza Strip. In accordance with the undertaking of the mandate, it confines its comments to issues associated with Israel's obligations as occupying power to respect international humanitarian law (IHL), which refers mainly to the legal obligations contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which sets forth in some detail the legal duties of Israel as the occupying power.....
12. From the perspective of the Mandate for oPt the following recommendations seem worthy of the attention at this Special Session:
(1) To request restoring access for Special Rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territories as an essential feature of UN monitoring role;
(2) To seek General Assembly initiatives with respect to investigating allegations of war crimes;
(3) To propose long-term truce based on cessation of rocket launchings from Gaza and unconditional lifting of blockade;
(4) To request an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice to assess the legal status of Israeli control in Gaza subsequent to Israeli 'disengagement' in 2005."
Unusually Large U.S. Weapons Shipment to Israel: Are the US and Israel Planning a Broader Middle East War?
by Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, January 11, 2009
"A very large delivery of US weaponry to Israel consisting of 3,000 tons of "ammunition" is scheduled to sail to Israel. The size and nature of the shipments are described as "unusual".....
It is highly unlikely that the bulk of the weaponry included in these two large shipments, scheduled to arrive in Israel in late January, is intended to be used in Israel's military operation in Gaza....
Whatever the nature of these large weapons shipments, they are intended for use in a future military operation in the Middle East.
Since the launching of the Theater Iran Near Term Operation Operation (TIRANNT) in May 2003, an escalation scenario involving military action directed against Iran and Syria has been envisaged. TIRANNT was followed by a series of military plans pertaining to Iran. Numerous official statements and US military documents have pointed to an expanded Middle East war.
What these shipments suggest is that the "escalation scenario" not only prevails, but has reached a more active stage in the process of US-Israeli military planning.
Whether these weapons will be used or not is not known. The central question, in this regard, is whether the Gaza invasion is part of a broader military adventure directed against Lebanon, Syria and Iran, in which heavier weaponry including US made bunker buster bombs will be used......
The large shipments of US ordinance, slated to arrive in Israel after the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States and Commander in Chief are part of the broader program of US-Israeli military cooperation in relation to Iran.
The reinforcement of Israel's missile defenses combined with the large shipments of US weapons are part of an escalation scenario, which could lead the World under an Obama Administration into a broader Middle East war........"
Global Research, January 11, 2009
"A very large delivery of US weaponry to Israel consisting of 3,000 tons of "ammunition" is scheduled to sail to Israel. The size and nature of the shipments are described as "unusual".....
It is highly unlikely that the bulk of the weaponry included in these two large shipments, scheduled to arrive in Israel in late January, is intended to be used in Israel's military operation in Gaza....
Whatever the nature of these large weapons shipments, they are intended for use in a future military operation in the Middle East.
Since the launching of the Theater Iran Near Term Operation Operation (TIRANNT) in May 2003, an escalation scenario involving military action directed against Iran and Syria has been envisaged. TIRANNT was followed by a series of military plans pertaining to Iran. Numerous official statements and US military documents have pointed to an expanded Middle East war.
What these shipments suggest is that the "escalation scenario" not only prevails, but has reached a more active stage in the process of US-Israeli military planning.
Whether these weapons will be used or not is not known. The central question, in this regard, is whether the Gaza invasion is part of a broader military adventure directed against Lebanon, Syria and Iran, in which heavier weaponry including US made bunker buster bombs will be used......
The large shipments of US ordinance, slated to arrive in Israel after the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States and Commander in Chief are part of the broader program of US-Israeli military cooperation in relation to Iran.
The reinforcement of Israel's missile defenses combined with the large shipments of US weapons are part of an escalation scenario, which could lead the World under an Obama Administration into a broader Middle East war........"
Will Hizballah intervene in the Gaza conflict?
A Good Article and Recommended Reading
Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, The Electronic Intifada, 11 January 2009
"While Israel fervently attempts to terrorize the Palestinians into submission in Gaza, many observers have started to wonder why Hizballah has refrained from stepping in militarily to assist its brothers-in-arms, Hamas. Such musings fail to take account of the constraints on Hizballah's room for action, as well as the circumstances under which Hizballah would ignore such constraints. The question that should be posed is not so much if Hizballah will act, but when.....
Over and above this political coordination, Hizballah must have helped Hamas ready itself for such an Israeli operation by providing weapons and training, as well as through joint military planning. Hizballah officials' strong confidence in Hamas' military performance appears to stem from an intimate knowledge of the organization's capabilities. This conclusion reveals itself in the assertion made by the head of Hizballah's parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, who claimed on 2 January that "the enemy will be surprised by the range of rockets found in the resistance's arsenal in Gaza." ......
Hamas' fighting style also seems to bear the hallmarks of the military tactics Hizballah used during the July War such as its use of underground bunkers and tunnel networks, as well as adopting similar rocket tactics, all of which suggest Hizballah's extensive training of Hamas' military forces. Nasrallah came close to admitting as much when he claimed on 31 December that "the resistance in Gaza benefitted more from these lessons [from the July War] than the Israelis." More than simply receiving military training, Hamas's military strategy appears to conform to the "new school of fighting" founded by Hizballah's assassinated military leader, Imad Mughniyeh (himself rumored to have personally trained and equipped several Palestinian groups over the years), which combines conventional and non-conventional, guerilla warfare.....
Not only did Hizballah coordinate its activity on the Gaza crisis with Hamas, but also with Iran. One such indication of this coordination was the fact that the Iranian campaign against Egypt's closure of the Rafah crossing was launched several days in advance of the one kicked off by Nasrallah.....
While many have conjectured that Nasrallah's threats suggest Hizballah's acquisition of advanced weapons such as anti-aircraft missiles, an equally valid conclusion (and one that doesn't rule out the former) would be that it has developed a new method or strategy of warfare involving a much larger number of fighters than has been used in the past. As declared by Nasrallah on 14 February 2008: "In any coming war, not just one Imad Mughniyeh will be waiting for you, and not just a few thousand fighters. Imad Mughniyeh has left behind him tens of thousands of trained, equipped and ready-for-martyrdom fighters." These fighters would display "an unprecedented method of fighting" which Israel had supposedly "never seen since its establishment," Nasrallah stated on 24 August 2008.
Regardless of Hizballah's readiness for war, and its potential to destroy Israel's military deterrence, what is certain is that for the movement and many of its supporters and allies, destroying the Zionist regime in Israel is no longer confined to the ideological realm but has entered the realm of strategic interests as well. Regional security requires that the perpetual threat that Israel poses to its neighbors be neutralized once and for all. While such logic may seem like a throw back to the 1950s and 1960s, the new thinking shares more in common with the American notion of "regime change" and one-state solution proposals rather than with "throwing the Jews into the sea." If the war against Gaza has achieved anything, it is that it has succeeded in drumming this logic in the Arab and Muslim political consciousness."
Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, The Electronic Intifada, 11 January 2009
"While Israel fervently attempts to terrorize the Palestinians into submission in Gaza, many observers have started to wonder why Hizballah has refrained from stepping in militarily to assist its brothers-in-arms, Hamas. Such musings fail to take account of the constraints on Hizballah's room for action, as well as the circumstances under which Hizballah would ignore such constraints. The question that should be posed is not so much if Hizballah will act, but when.....
Over and above this political coordination, Hizballah must have helped Hamas ready itself for such an Israeli operation by providing weapons and training, as well as through joint military planning. Hizballah officials' strong confidence in Hamas' military performance appears to stem from an intimate knowledge of the organization's capabilities. This conclusion reveals itself in the assertion made by the head of Hizballah's parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, who claimed on 2 January that "the enemy will be surprised by the range of rockets found in the resistance's arsenal in Gaza." ......
Hamas' fighting style also seems to bear the hallmarks of the military tactics Hizballah used during the July War such as its use of underground bunkers and tunnel networks, as well as adopting similar rocket tactics, all of which suggest Hizballah's extensive training of Hamas' military forces. Nasrallah came close to admitting as much when he claimed on 31 December that "the resistance in Gaza benefitted more from these lessons [from the July War] than the Israelis." More than simply receiving military training, Hamas's military strategy appears to conform to the "new school of fighting" founded by Hizballah's assassinated military leader, Imad Mughniyeh (himself rumored to have personally trained and equipped several Palestinian groups over the years), which combines conventional and non-conventional, guerilla warfare.....
Not only did Hizballah coordinate its activity on the Gaza crisis with Hamas, but also with Iran. One such indication of this coordination was the fact that the Iranian campaign against Egypt's closure of the Rafah crossing was launched several days in advance of the one kicked off by Nasrallah.....
While many have conjectured that Nasrallah's threats suggest Hizballah's acquisition of advanced weapons such as anti-aircraft missiles, an equally valid conclusion (and one that doesn't rule out the former) would be that it has developed a new method or strategy of warfare involving a much larger number of fighters than has been used in the past. As declared by Nasrallah on 14 February 2008: "In any coming war, not just one Imad Mughniyeh will be waiting for you, and not just a few thousand fighters. Imad Mughniyeh has left behind him tens of thousands of trained, equipped and ready-for-martyrdom fighters." These fighters would display "an unprecedented method of fighting" which Israel had supposedly "never seen since its establishment," Nasrallah stated on 24 August 2008.
Regardless of Hizballah's readiness for war, and its potential to destroy Israel's military deterrence, what is certain is that for the movement and many of its supporters and allies, destroying the Zionist regime in Israel is no longer confined to the ideological realm but has entered the realm of strategic interests as well. Regional security requires that the perpetual threat that Israel poses to its neighbors be neutralized once and for all. While such logic may seem like a throw back to the 1950s and 1960s, the new thinking shares more in common with the American notion of "regime change" and one-state solution proposals rather than with "throwing the Jews into the sea." If the war against Gaza has achieved anything, it is that it has succeeded in drumming this logic in the Arab and Muslim political consciousness."
Thousands of Gaza houses destroyed and damaged by Israeli strikes
Press release, Al Mezan, 11 January 2009
"Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continued its military campaign against the Gaza Strip for the 16th day. The IOF also continue to act in violation of the rules of international law relevant to conflict and belligerent occupation, motivated by the failure of the international community to stand for the principles and rules itself had set. In particular, there is much evidence indicating the perpetration of grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War. With advanced technology for surveillance and sophisticated weapons, the IOF bears the responsibility to distinguish between civilian and non-civilian targets. Facts on the ground show the opposite: guided missiles and bombs have been fired deliberately at civilian targets including homes, civilian shelters and ambulances......."
FREE GAZA TO ISRAEL: "WE ARE COMING IN ON TUESDAY"
Written by Free Gaza Movement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Cyprus, 11 January 2009) - The Free Gaza Movement ship, "SPIRIT OF HUMANITY," will leave Larnaca Port at 12:00 noon, Monday, 12 January, on an emergency mission to besieged Gaza. The ship will carry desperately needed doctors, journalists, human rights workers, and members of several European parliaments as well as medical supplies.
This voyage marks Free Gaza's second attempt to break through the blockade since Israel began attacking the Gaza Strip on 27 December.
Between August and December 2008, the Free Gaza Movement successfully challenged the Israeli blockade five times, landing the first international ships in the port of Gaza since 1967.
The Israeli military violently attacked an earlier attempt by the Free Gaza Movement to send an emergency boat filled with doctors and medical supplies to Gaza. In the early hours of Tuesday, 30 December, the Israeli navy deliberately, repeatedly, and without warning rammed the unarmed ship, the DIGNITY, causing significant structural damage and endangering the lives of its passengers and crew. The ship found safe harbor in Lebanon, and is currently awaiting repairs.
Fouad Ahidar, a member of the Belgian Parliament sailing to Gaza aboard the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, responded to concerns that Israel may attack the unarmed mercy ship by saying, "I have five children that are very worried about me, but I told them, you can sit on your couch and watch these atrocities on the television, or you can choose to.....
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Take Action! CALL the Israeli Government and let them know that the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY is coming to Gaza. DEMAND that Israel immediately STOP slaughtering civilians in Gaza and STOP using violence to prevent human rights and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.
CALL
Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Cyprus, 11 January 2009) - The Free Gaza Movement ship, "SPIRIT OF HUMANITY," will leave Larnaca Port at 12:00 noon, Monday, 12 January, on an emergency mission to besieged Gaza. The ship will carry desperately needed doctors, journalists, human rights workers, and members of several European parliaments as well as medical supplies.
This voyage marks Free Gaza's second attempt to break through the blockade since Israel began attacking the Gaza Strip on 27 December.
Between August and December 2008, the Free Gaza Movement successfully challenged the Israeli blockade five times, landing the first international ships in the port of Gaza since 1967.
The Israeli military violently attacked an earlier attempt by the Free Gaza Movement to send an emergency boat filled with doctors and medical supplies to Gaza. In the early hours of Tuesday, 30 December, the Israeli navy deliberately, repeatedly, and without warning rammed the unarmed ship, the DIGNITY, causing significant structural damage and endangering the lives of its passengers and crew. The ship found safe harbor in Lebanon, and is currently awaiting repairs.
Fouad Ahidar, a member of the Belgian Parliament sailing to Gaza aboard the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, responded to concerns that Israel may attack the unarmed mercy ship by saying, "I have five children that are very worried about me, but I told them, you can sit on your couch and watch these atrocities on the television, or you can choose to.....
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Take Action! CALL the Israeli Government and let them know that the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY is coming to Gaza. DEMAND that Israel immediately STOP slaughtering civilians in Gaza and STOP using violence to prevent human rights and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.
CALL
Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264"
Brothers in Thought, Not in Arms
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
"CAIRO, Jan 11 (IPS) - Egypt's official press has recently alleged an "organisational relationship" between the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) opposition movement and Palestinian resistance group Hamas, currently facing the brunt of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip. MB spokesmen, however, say their relationship with Hamas is purely ideological.
"Hamas has adopted the principles of the MB," Essam Al-Arian, leading member of the Egyptian MB, told IPS. "But there is absolutely no 'organisational relationship' between the two movements."....
According to Al-Arian, Ibrahim's claims are simply an attempt to distract an increasing alienated public from the government's failure to resolve the 60-year-old Israel-Palestine conflict.
"Until now, the so-called Arab 'moderate' states -- led by Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- have been unable to produce anything even remotely positive for the Palestinians," he said. "The Arab regimes lost their wars with Israel. Now, fearing for their hold on power, they don't want anyone else to fight the Zionist enemy.""
"CAIRO, Jan 11 (IPS) - Egypt's official press has recently alleged an "organisational relationship" between the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) opposition movement and Palestinian resistance group Hamas, currently facing the brunt of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip. MB spokesmen, however, say their relationship with Hamas is purely ideological.
"Hamas has adopted the principles of the MB," Essam Al-Arian, leading member of the Egyptian MB, told IPS. "But there is absolutely no 'organisational relationship' between the two movements."....
According to Al-Arian, Ibrahim's claims are simply an attempt to distract an increasing alienated public from the government's failure to resolve the 60-year-old Israel-Palestine conflict.
"Until now, the so-called Arab 'moderate' states -- led by Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- have been unable to produce anything even remotely positive for the Palestinians," he said. "The Arab regimes lost their wars with Israel. Now, fearing for their hold on power, they don't want anyone else to fight the Zionist enemy.""
Bombing the Fundamentalists
By Dr. Ahmed Yousef – Gaza
Palestine Chronicle
"Perhaps it is indeed time to bomb religious groups given their belief that heaven is their destination......Except, of course, when it comes to Jewish fundamentalists, who have rarely been ostracized....
Even the most belligerent of these have enjoyed the Israeli government’s protection and encouragement; so much so that their beliefs are incorporated into official literature. For example, the training manual of the Israeli army’s Central Region Command contains the following injunction:
"When our forces come across civilians during a war or in hot pursuit or in a raid, so long as there is no certainty that those civilians are incapable of harming our forces, then according to Halakah [Jewish law] they may and even should be killed…. Under no circumstances should an Arab be trusted, even if he makes an impression of being civilized…. In war, when our forces storm the enemy, they are allowed and even enjoined by the Halakah to kill even good civilians.."
The late Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky noted such vitriol is rooted in Talmudic attitudes towards non-Jews:
“For religious Jews, the blood of non-Jews has no intrinsic value” because Jewish fanatics believe non-Jews have souls that “come entirely from the female part of the satanic sphere.” The same logic applies to expropriating land, which is not seen as stealing but rather a transfer from the satanic to the divine realms. Most chilling, Rabbi Israel Ariel, a leading fundamentalist, has used the Code of Maimonides, among Judaism’s greatest philosophers, to infer that “a Jew who killed a non-Jew is exempt from human judgment and has not violated the [religious] prohibition of murder.”......"
Palestine Chronicle
"Perhaps it is indeed time to bomb religious groups given their belief that heaven is their destination......Except, of course, when it comes to Jewish fundamentalists, who have rarely been ostracized....
Even the most belligerent of these have enjoyed the Israeli government’s protection and encouragement; so much so that their beliefs are incorporated into official literature. For example, the training manual of the Israeli army’s Central Region Command contains the following injunction:
"When our forces come across civilians during a war or in hot pursuit or in a raid, so long as there is no certainty that those civilians are incapable of harming our forces, then according to Halakah [Jewish law] they may and even should be killed…. Under no circumstances should an Arab be trusted, even if he makes an impression of being civilized…. In war, when our forces storm the enemy, they are allowed and even enjoined by the Halakah to kill even good civilians.."
The late Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky noted such vitriol is rooted in Talmudic attitudes towards non-Jews:
“For religious Jews, the blood of non-Jews has no intrinsic value” because Jewish fanatics believe non-Jews have souls that “come entirely from the female part of the satanic sphere.” The same logic applies to expropriating land, which is not seen as stealing but rather a transfer from the satanic to the divine realms. Most chilling, Rabbi Israel Ariel, a leading fundamentalist, has used the Code of Maimonides, among Judaism’s greatest philosophers, to infer that “a Jew who killed a non-Jew is exempt from human judgment and has not violated the [religious] prohibition of murder.”......"
Al-Jazeera Video: Scenes in Gaza after more Israeli raids - 11 Jan 09
"Many of the almost 900 Palestinians killed in Israel's war on Gaza have been civilians, while thousands of others have received treatment in hospital.
Al Jazeera's Imran Khan reports on the medics who are struggling to cope under the bombardment...."
Al-Jazeera Video: Israel accused of using white phosphorus in Gaza - 11 Jan 09
"Human rights groups have expressed concern that a highly flammable weapon used by Israel could be causing additional casualties among civilians in Gaza...."
Guardian Video: Civilian casualties escalate in Gaza
Guardian: Wounded Palestinians pour into overrun hospitals on the 10th day of Israel's offensive
Geoffrey Wheatcroft: How Israel gets away with murder
Indifference to criticism of the bombing and invasion of Gaza is the result of indulgence by the West
By Geoffrey Wheatcroft
The Independent
"....That has been accomplished to a fault, many would say as they watch the news from Gaza, where one image after another has caused deep revulsion. But then that rejection of martyrdom and victimhood may also explain what has puzzled as well as dismayed onlookers – the fact that Israel seems to be quite oblivious to international opinion......
The West is different, and European sentiment can be changed by events, as indeed it has been. Israel and Zionism were once very popular causes in Europe, not least on the liberal left, until the 1967 Six Day War and after. Since then, European sympathy has steadily ebbed away as Israel attacked Lebanon in 1982, and again in 2006, with the suppression of the intifadas between. And yet Israel shrugs off all strictures and rebukes. No criticism from relief agencies or the Red Cross makes any difference.
Even more strikingly, Israel has ignored the Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire. One reason for this is that the only Western country that really counts is the United States, and Israel has for many years been able to rely on unconditional American support. Having threated to veto previous draft resolutions, the US took part in drafting the security council resolution calling for a ceasefire, and was evidently going to vote for it.
Then late on Thursday the American representative shocked other council members by abstaining. This volte face came on direct orders from the White House, after president Bush had spoken to Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and the Israelis have taken abstention as permission to continue their action. "Israel is not going to show restraint," Tzipi Livni, the Israeli Foreign Minister, told The Washington Post yesterday, understandably enough in the circumstances.
Although Israel is sometimes described as an American client state, which receives huge financial subsidy from Washington, she is unique as a client state: she can do exactly as she likes in the knowledge that she will never be seriously restrained by her sponsor......
Anyone who thought that there would be a change of heart and direction after the last American election hasn't been concentrating. The Senate in question is the newly elected, strongly Democratic one, which has just met for the first time. During the presidential campaign Barack Obama went out of his way to endorse Israel. He has appointed in the form of Hillary Clinton perhaps the strongest supporter of Israel ever to serve as Secretary of State, not excluding Henry Kissinger, a Jewish refugee from Hitler, though even she is surpassed in her commitment by Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff.
But there is more to it, and Israeli intransigence or indifference to outside opinion goes back before the birth of the state. As it happens, Emanuel has something in common with Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni: their fathers all served in the Irgun. This was the intransigent Zionist militia – described as terrorists by Isaiah Berlin among others, and as fascists by Albert Einstein among others – which waged a campaign of violence against the British, and the Palestinian Arabs, in the last years of the British Mandate in 1946-48. Its exploits included the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, with great loss of life, the hanging of two captured British sergeants in reprisal, and the massacre of villagers at Deir Yassin.
Behind that brutality lay something else. Men take revenge for small wrongs, Machiavelli said, unable to avenge the larger, and the Irgun was avenging an incomparably and unimaginably greater crime just suffered by the European Jews. The Jews had tried to be nice to the goyim, Zionism said in effect, and see where it had got them. A Jewish state would now be created and guarded with all necessary force, indifferent to what the outside world thought. If need be, Israel will borrow the old chant of the Millwall fans, "No one likes us, we don't care"– and no more Jewish martyrology...... "
By Geoffrey Wheatcroft
The Independent
"....That has been accomplished to a fault, many would say as they watch the news from Gaza, where one image after another has caused deep revulsion. But then that rejection of martyrdom and victimhood may also explain what has puzzled as well as dismayed onlookers – the fact that Israel seems to be quite oblivious to international opinion......
The West is different, and European sentiment can be changed by events, as indeed it has been. Israel and Zionism were once very popular causes in Europe, not least on the liberal left, until the 1967 Six Day War and after. Since then, European sympathy has steadily ebbed away as Israel attacked Lebanon in 1982, and again in 2006, with the suppression of the intifadas between. And yet Israel shrugs off all strictures and rebukes. No criticism from relief agencies or the Red Cross makes any difference.
Even more strikingly, Israel has ignored the Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire. One reason for this is that the only Western country that really counts is the United States, and Israel has for many years been able to rely on unconditional American support. Having threated to veto previous draft resolutions, the US took part in drafting the security council resolution calling for a ceasefire, and was evidently going to vote for it.
Then late on Thursday the American representative shocked other council members by abstaining. This volte face came on direct orders from the White House, after president Bush had spoken to Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and the Israelis have taken abstention as permission to continue their action. "Israel is not going to show restraint," Tzipi Livni, the Israeli Foreign Minister, told The Washington Post yesterday, understandably enough in the circumstances.
Although Israel is sometimes described as an American client state, which receives huge financial subsidy from Washington, she is unique as a client state: she can do exactly as she likes in the knowledge that she will never be seriously restrained by her sponsor......
Anyone who thought that there would be a change of heart and direction after the last American election hasn't been concentrating. The Senate in question is the newly elected, strongly Democratic one, which has just met for the first time. During the presidential campaign Barack Obama went out of his way to endorse Israel. He has appointed in the form of Hillary Clinton perhaps the strongest supporter of Israel ever to serve as Secretary of State, not excluding Henry Kissinger, a Jewish refugee from Hitler, though even she is surpassed in her commitment by Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff.
But there is more to it, and Israeli intransigence or indifference to outside opinion goes back before the birth of the state. As it happens, Emanuel has something in common with Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni: their fathers all served in the Irgun. This was the intransigent Zionist militia – described as terrorists by Isaiah Berlin among others, and as fascists by Albert Einstein among others – which waged a campaign of violence against the British, and the Palestinian Arabs, in the last years of the British Mandate in 1946-48. Its exploits included the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, with great loss of life, the hanging of two captured British sergeants in reprisal, and the massacre of villagers at Deir Yassin.
Behind that brutality lay something else. Men take revenge for small wrongs, Machiavelli said, unable to avenge the larger, and the Irgun was avenging an incomparably and unimaginably greater crime just suffered by the European Jews. The Jews had tried to be nice to the goyim, Zionism said in effect, and see where it had got them. A Jewish state would now be created and guarded with all necessary force, indifferent to what the outside world thought. If need be, Israel will borrow the old chant of the Millwall fans, "No one likes us, we don't care"– and no more Jewish martyrology...... "
Welcome to Hell: Gaza's unending misery
A family of nine is among the latest Palestinian civilian casualties as the fighting continues.
Ibrahim Barzak, Kim Sengupta, Geoffrey Lean and David Randall report
The Independent
".....And civilians. In the day's bloodiest incident, an Israeli tank shell landed outside a home in the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya, killing nine people as they sat in their garden. They were all from the same clan, and, said health administrator Adham Hakim, their bodies were so mangled they were brought to hospital in the boot of a civilian car. Two were women and two were children.
This wretched pair will be added to the nearly 300 Gaza children who have been killed by Israeli fire.....The United Nations corroborates this, a report two days ago from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs putting the number of children killed at 265.....But it is Israeli fire, Israeli weapons and Israeli military that do the aiming – and Palestinian women and children being killed at a rate that is sickening world opinion, if not yet world leaders.
And behind the statistics, the pictures of broken bodies wrapped in winding sheets are the stories of real people. People such as Olvera Al-Jarou and her tiny son Yusuf. Mrs Al-Jarou, 36, originally from Ukraine and married to a Palestinian doctor, became the first foreigner to lose her life in Gaza. Her one-year-old son Yusuf, clinging to her in fright during a bombardment, also died when an Israeli shell hit their home. A daughter, Yasmine, was severely injured and is now in intensive care....
Death from the skies is not the only threat facing Gaza's children. Medical facilities are stretched almost to breaking point, and no one can vouch for this better than Dr Al-Jarou. He is at the Shifa, Gaza's biggest hospital, where about 70 patients are in intensive care, among them his daughter Yasmine.....
Rules of engagement: Is Israel in breach of the laws of war?
Critics of the Israeli invasion of Gaza say that the military response has been disproportionate and in breach of international rules of war. According to international agreements based on principles dating back to St Thomas Aquinas and enshrined in the Geneva Conventions, Israel should adhere to rules on:
Proportionality No more force should be used than is necessary, and casualties should be kept to a minimum. The response should be in proportion to the level of the threat.
Civilians Should not become victims of the war and have the right to be protected and their safety ensured.
Children Are not to be treated as combatants; medicines, food and clothing should be allowed through.
Targets Only military targets should be attacked and indiscriminate bombing is forbidden.
Weapons White phosphorus should not be used as a weapon of war in civilian areas, but Israel has argued that there is nothing to stop it being used as a smokescreen. "
Ibrahim Barzak, Kim Sengupta, Geoffrey Lean and David Randall report
The Independent
".....And civilians. In the day's bloodiest incident, an Israeli tank shell landed outside a home in the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya, killing nine people as they sat in their garden. They were all from the same clan, and, said health administrator Adham Hakim, their bodies were so mangled they were brought to hospital in the boot of a civilian car. Two were women and two were children.
This wretched pair will be added to the nearly 300 Gaza children who have been killed by Israeli fire.....The United Nations corroborates this, a report two days ago from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs putting the number of children killed at 265.....But it is Israeli fire, Israeli weapons and Israeli military that do the aiming – and Palestinian women and children being killed at a rate that is sickening world opinion, if not yet world leaders.
And behind the statistics, the pictures of broken bodies wrapped in winding sheets are the stories of real people. People such as Olvera Al-Jarou and her tiny son Yusuf. Mrs Al-Jarou, 36, originally from Ukraine and married to a Palestinian doctor, became the first foreigner to lose her life in Gaza. Her one-year-old son Yusuf, clinging to her in fright during a bombardment, also died when an Israeli shell hit their home. A daughter, Yasmine, was severely injured and is now in intensive care....
Death from the skies is not the only threat facing Gaza's children. Medical facilities are stretched almost to breaking point, and no one can vouch for this better than Dr Al-Jarou. He is at the Shifa, Gaza's biggest hospital, where about 70 patients are in intensive care, among them his daughter Yasmine.....
Rules of engagement: Is Israel in breach of the laws of war?
Critics of the Israeli invasion of Gaza say that the military response has been disproportionate and in breach of international rules of war. According to international agreements based on principles dating back to St Thomas Aquinas and enshrined in the Geneva Conventions, Israel should adhere to rules on:
Proportionality No more force should be used than is necessary, and casualties should be kept to a minimum. The response should be in proportion to the level of the threat.
Civilians Should not become victims of the war and have the right to be protected and their safety ensured.
Children Are not to be treated as combatants; medicines, food and clothing should be allowed through.
Targets Only military targets should be attacked and indiscriminate bombing is forbidden.
Weapons White phosphorus should not be used as a weapon of war in civilian areas, but Israel has argued that there is nothing to stop it being used as a smokescreen. "
Gaza conflict will shake the Arab world
Egypt's leadership could be the first hit by shockwaves sent through the neighbourhood by Israel's attacks
Ismail Patel
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 11 January 2009
"The human cost of Israel's decision to attack Gaza is being paid by the Palestinians. However, the fallout from this wanton violence is going to have long-term political consequences throughout the Arab world. The Israeli attack on Gaza is likely to bring to the fore political trends that up to now have remained just below the parapet of influence. The situation has brought the Arab world to an historic crossroads, where leaders will either move towards Arab independence from western policies, which is likely to be driven by popular grassroots support, or continue to toe the line of Israel/US influence.....
The first and obvious fact in the current war is that since the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948, this is the first war that Israel has launched that Palestinians have defended themselves without any neighbouring Arab country militarily intervening. The Palestinians have taken up arms independently, whether home-made or imported, to defend their land and people against this full-scale Israeli military attack from the air, sea and ground. This could be argued to be the first Palestinian-Israeli war. ......
Ismail Patel
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 11 January 2009
"The human cost of Israel's decision to attack Gaza is being paid by the Palestinians. However, the fallout from this wanton violence is going to have long-term political consequences throughout the Arab world. The Israeli attack on Gaza is likely to bring to the fore political trends that up to now have remained just below the parapet of influence. The situation has brought the Arab world to an historic crossroads, where leaders will either move towards Arab independence from western policies, which is likely to be driven by popular grassroots support, or continue to toe the line of Israel/US influence.....
The first and obvious fact in the current war is that since the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948, this is the first war that Israel has launched that Palestinians have defended themselves without any neighbouring Arab country militarily intervening. The Palestinians have taken up arms independently, whether home-made or imported, to defend their land and people against this full-scale Israeli military attack from the air, sea and ground. This could be argued to be the first Palestinian-Israeli war. ......
The greatest impact of the political shockwave from the Palestinian resistance is most heavily felt in Egypt. Here, the dictatorial "life" regime of President Hosni Mubarak continues to march in a diametrically opposite position to the sentiments of the public, whose sympathies are with the Palestinians, leading the government and people to a collision course. As Jack Shenker noted here on Cif, the people on the streets are getting bolder by the day. Despite the heavy hand of the police in Egypt, which could see protesters imprisoned, thousands have taken to the streets daily and the chorus is getting louder with chants that are both anti-Israeli and anti-Mubarak.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which is the only credible opposition to Mubarak, has joined hands with the secularists, leftist and others in denouncing Mubarak's ties with Israel and his choking of the Palestinians by keeping the Rafah crossing shut. Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader in Lebanon who is viewed as a hero by many on the Egyptian streets for taking on the might of the Israeli army in 2006, and surviving, has weighed in strongly against Mubarak. Short of calling for an uprising, he has encouraged the Egyptian public to take action and force open the Rafah crossing......
At present the call has been for non-violent protests but with the emotions proportionately rising with the continued attack on Gaza, things may change. There is an emerging consensus on the streets of Cairo that Mubarak is as great an obstacle to Palestinian freedom as Israel. If this consensus coalesces it could result in the emergence of political actors in Egypt capable of challenging Mubarak's regime......."
Israel: Stop Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza
Chemical ‘Obscurant’ Poses Serious Risk to Civilians
Human Rights Watch
January 10, 2009
"(Jerusalem) – Israel should stop using white phosphorus in military operations in densely populated areas of Gaza, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 9 and 10, 2009, Human Rights Watch researchers in Israel observed multiple air-bursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over what appeared to be the Gaza City/Jabaliya area.
Israel appeared to be using white phosphorus as an “obscurant” (a chemical used to hide military operations), a permissible use in principle under international humanitarian law (the laws of war). However, white phosphorus has a significant, incidental, incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire. The potential for harm to civilians is magnified by Gaza’s high population density, among the highest in the world.
“White phosphorous can burn down houses and cause horrific burns when it touches the skin,” said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch. “Israel should not use it in Gaza’s densely populated areas.”
Human Rights Watch believes that the use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas of Gaza violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life. This concern is amplified given the technique evidenced in media photographs of air-bursting white phosphorus projectiles. Air bursting of white phosphorus artillery spreads 116 burning wafers over an area between 125 and 250 meters in diameter, depending on the altitude of the burst, thereby exposing more civilians and civilian infrastructure to potential harm than a localized ground burst.
Since the beginning of Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza on January 3, 2009, there have been numerous media reports about the possible use of white phosphorous by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF told both Human Rights Watch and news reporters that it is not using white phosphorus in Gaza. On January 7, an IDF spokesman told CNN, “I can tell you with certainty that white phosphorus is absolutely not being used.”"
Human Rights Watch
January 10, 2009
"(Jerusalem) – Israel should stop using white phosphorus in military operations in densely populated areas of Gaza, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 9 and 10, 2009, Human Rights Watch researchers in Israel observed multiple air-bursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over what appeared to be the Gaza City/Jabaliya area.
Israel appeared to be using white phosphorus as an “obscurant” (a chemical used to hide military operations), a permissible use in principle under international humanitarian law (the laws of war). However, white phosphorus has a significant, incidental, incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire. The potential for harm to civilians is magnified by Gaza’s high population density, among the highest in the world.
“White phosphorous can burn down houses and cause horrific burns when it touches the skin,” said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch. “Israel should not use it in Gaza’s densely populated areas.”
Human Rights Watch believes that the use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas of Gaza violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life. This concern is amplified given the technique evidenced in media photographs of air-bursting white phosphorus projectiles. Air bursting of white phosphorus artillery spreads 116 burning wafers over an area between 125 and 250 meters in diameter, depending on the altitude of the burst, thereby exposing more civilians and civilian infrastructure to potential harm than a localized ground burst.
Since the beginning of Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza on January 3, 2009, there have been numerous media reports about the possible use of white phosphorous by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF told both Human Rights Watch and news reporters that it is not using white phosphorus in Gaza. On January 7, an IDF spokesman told CNN, “I can tell you with certainty that white phosphorus is absolutely not being used.”"
HRW: IOF used white phosphorus in aggression on Gaza
"LONDON, (PIC)-- Human Rights Watch has disclosed that its researchers had monitored the explosion of white phosphorus bombs in the air over Gaza city and Jabalia refugee camp on 9 and 10 January.
The human rights group said that the Israeli occupation forces were using this bomb to conceal its military operations, which is allowed in principle according to the international law.
However, the HRW said that the incendiary device has a strong effect on humans that could lead to severe burns and could incinerate buildings, fields and other civilian materials.
The damage is greater on civilians due to the high population density in the Gaza Strip, the highest in the world, the group underlined.
A 41-year-old woman called Hanan Al-Najjar was killed after being hit with the shrapnel of a phosphorus bomb, which was used in abundance by the invading IOF soldiers east of Khuza town in southern Gaza.
Medical sources told PIC reporter that 50 other citizens were wounded in the shelling of those bombs in the vicinity of the woman's home."
Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll
This brand new poll asks:
Do you support deploying international troops in Gaza?
With about 1,000 responding (it is very early), 91% said no.
Do you support deploying international troops in Gaza?
With about 1,000 responding (it is very early), 91% said no.
Israel Excessively Uses White Phosphorus Shells on Gaza
Al-Manar
"11/01/2009 On the sixteenth day of Israel’s war on Gaza, fighters jets, vessels and tanks continued to pound the Gaza strip overnight into Sunday.
More houses have been targeted, more civilians have fell martyrs and injured in this day’s excessive use of internationally prohibited white phosphorus shells.
Palestinian medics said at least four Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded early Sunday. Doctors said burn wounds were caused by banned white phosphorous shells, with Israel denying the charge. Exposure to white phosphorus may cause burns and irritation, liver, kidney, heart, lung, or bone damage, and death.
Indications that white phosphorous is being used in Gaza follow the sighting of thick white smoke in the sky above the Palestinian territory.
Israel had used white Phosphorus shell in its war on Lebanon in 2006. Under the Geneva Treaty of 1980, white phosphorous is banned as a weapon of war in civilian areas because of the severe injuries it causes.
At least 875 Palestinians, including some 300 children and 100 women, have been killed so far with another 3,700 people injured since the beginning of the war 16 days ago......."
"11/01/2009 On the sixteenth day of Israel’s war on Gaza, fighters jets, vessels and tanks continued to pound the Gaza strip overnight into Sunday.
More houses have been targeted, more civilians have fell martyrs and injured in this day’s excessive use of internationally prohibited white phosphorus shells.
Palestinian medics said at least four Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded early Sunday. Doctors said burn wounds were caused by banned white phosphorous shells, with Israel denying the charge. Exposure to white phosphorus may cause burns and irritation, liver, kidney, heart, lung, or bone damage, and death.
Indications that white phosphorous is being used in Gaza follow the sighting of thick white smoke in the sky above the Palestinian territory.
Israel had used white Phosphorus shell in its war on Lebanon in 2006. Under the Geneva Treaty of 1980, white phosphorous is banned as a weapon of war in civilian areas because of the severe injuries it causes.
At least 875 Palestinians, including some 300 children and 100 women, have been killed so far with another 3,700 people injured since the beginning of the war 16 days ago......."
Olmert Slams "World": Don't Preach to Us!
Al-Manar
(Cartoon by Emad Hajjaj)
(Cartoon by Emad Hajjaj)
"11/01/2009 The Israeli war on Gaza has entered its third week; the number of martyrs is nearing 900 and the number of injured is drawing closer to 4,000. The number of Palestinian victims is not in Tel Aviv’s account as it never had been before, however, the political leadership seems more perplexed and troubled the mounting international "pressure" and "cries" to halt the operation.
In this context, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert slammed the international cries and expressed deep resentment at the “world”, saying it “mustn't preach morals to Israel.”
"What is acceptable for the rest of the world is barely accepted when it comes to Israel," Olmert said. "No country in the world, including those that preach morals to us, would have shown restraint as we have," he clamed. "We knew this wouldn't be simple, and what is acceptable for every other country in the world is barely accepted when it comes to Israel," he added.
The Israeli PM renewed rejection to UNSC resolution 1860 that called – not demanded - for a “ceasefire” in Gaza. He claimed that nobody but the Zionist entity can decide how best to protect its citizens. "We have never allowed anyone to decide for us whether we are allowed to strike those that hurl bombs at our kindergartens and schools and we never will agree to that in the future," Olmert proudly declared, ignoring that 300 Palestinian children have been killed in the framework of Israel’s alleged “restraint.”
Olmert called the world for "more patience," claiming that Israel was "approaching" the targets, without actually declaring their nature. "More patience, determination and courage are needed for us to achieve those goals in a way that will change the security reality in the south, and for our citizens to feel long-term security and stability," Olmert appealed."
In this context, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert slammed the international cries and expressed deep resentment at the “world”, saying it “mustn't preach morals to Israel.”
"What is acceptable for the rest of the world is barely accepted when it comes to Israel," Olmert said. "No country in the world, including those that preach morals to us, would have shown restraint as we have," he clamed. "We knew this wouldn't be simple, and what is acceptable for every other country in the world is barely accepted when it comes to Israel," he added.
The Israeli PM renewed rejection to UNSC resolution 1860 that called – not demanded - for a “ceasefire” in Gaza. He claimed that nobody but the Zionist entity can decide how best to protect its citizens. "We have never allowed anyone to decide for us whether we are allowed to strike those that hurl bombs at our kindergartens and schools and we never will agree to that in the future," Olmert proudly declared, ignoring that 300 Palestinian children have been killed in the framework of Israel’s alleged “restraint.”
Olmert called the world for "more patience," claiming that Israel was "approaching" the targets, without actually declaring their nature. "More patience, determination and courage are needed for us to achieve those goals in a way that will change the security reality in the south, and for our citizens to feel long-term security and stability," Olmert appealed."
النائب الكويتي وليد الطبطبائي يقترح كراكاس مقرا للجامعة العربية
النائب الكويتي وليد الطبطبائي يقترح كراكاس مقرا للجامعة العربية
"لندن ـ القدس العربي ـ من احمد المصري ـ اقترح وليد الطبطبائي، النائب عن الكتلة السلفية في البرلمان الكويتي، نقل مقر جامعة الدول العربية من العاصمة المصرية القاهرة إلى كراكاس عاصمة فنزويلا.
وذلك تقديرا لموقف الرئيس الفنزويلي "هوجو شافيز"، الذي طرد مؤخرا السفير الإسرائيلي لدى بلده؛ احتجاجا على الحرب الإسرائيلية على قطاع غزة، وهو ما لم تُقدم عليه أي من الدول العربية الثلاث التي تقيم علاقات دبلوماسية كاملة مع تل أبيب.
....
"
Kuwaiti parliamentarian calls to move the Arab League to Caracas, Venezuela!
This, in recognition and appreciation of Hugo Chavez' support of the Palestinians and the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Venezuela. This, while the three Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania) that have diplomatic relations with Israel have refused to do the same.
"لندن ـ القدس العربي ـ من احمد المصري ـ اقترح وليد الطبطبائي، النائب عن الكتلة السلفية في البرلمان الكويتي، نقل مقر جامعة الدول العربية من العاصمة المصرية القاهرة إلى كراكاس عاصمة فنزويلا.
وذلك تقديرا لموقف الرئيس الفنزويلي "هوجو شافيز"، الذي طرد مؤخرا السفير الإسرائيلي لدى بلده؛ احتجاجا على الحرب الإسرائيلية على قطاع غزة، وهو ما لم تُقدم عليه أي من الدول العربية الثلاث التي تقيم علاقات دبلوماسية كاملة مع تل أبيب.
....
"
Kuwaiti parliamentarian calls to move the Arab League to Caracas, Venezuela!
This, in recognition and appreciation of Hugo Chavez' support of the Palestinians and the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Venezuela. This, while the three Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania) that have diplomatic relations with Israel have refused to do the same.
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