Commenters include Tariq Ali, John Mearsheimer, Rashid Khalidi, and others.
Tariq Ali:
The war on Gaza has killed the two-state solution by making it clear to Palestinians that the only acceptable Palestine would have fewer rights than the Bantustans created by apartheid South Africa. The only acceptable alternative is a single state for Jews and Palestinians with equal rights for all. Certainly it seems utopian at the moment with the two Palestinian parties in Israel – Balad and the United Arab List – both barred from contesting the February elections. Avigdor Lieberman, the chairman of Yisrael Beitenu, has breathed a sigh of satisfaction: ‘Now that it has been decided that the Balad terrorist organisation will not be able to run, the first battle is over.’ But even victory has its drawbacks. After the Six-Day War in 1967, Isaac Deutscher warned his one-time friend Ben Gurion: ‘The Germans have summed up their own experience in the bitter phrase “Mann kann sich totseigen!” — you can triumph yourself to death. This is what the Israelis have been doing. They have bitten off much more than they can swallow.’
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - The future of Gaza - 19 Jan 09
With Alastair Crooke and Abdel Bari Atwan
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Al-Jazeera Video: Israel's scorched earth policy - 20 Jan 09
"Some Palestinians have accused Israeli soldiers of destroying their homes as they pulled back towards the border in the last 24 hours of their 22-day war on Gaza.
Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna saw some of the evidence of what Palestinians describe as an Israeli scorched earth policy."
Al-Jazeera Video: Gaza's destruction revealed - 20 Jan 09
"The cessation of fighting in Gaza has allowed the true scale of destruction there to be revealed.
Sherine Tadros reports from the north of the strip on the despair of one father who says Israeli forces shot and killed two of his daughters at close range....... "
"Exterminate all the Brutes": Gaza 2009
By Noam Chomsky
"On Saturday December 27, the latest US-Israeli attack on helpless Palestinians was launched. The attack had been meticulously planned, for over 6 months according to the Israeli press. The planning had two components: military and propaganda. It was based on the lessons of Israel's 2006 invasion of Lebanon, which was considered to be poorly planned and badly advertised. We may, therefore, be fairly confident that most of what has been done and said was pre-planned and intended.
That surely includes the timing of the assault: shortly before noon, when children were returning from school and crowds were milling in the streets of densely populated Gaza City. It took only a few minutes to kill over 225 people and wound 700, an auspicious opening to the mass slaughter of defenseless civilians trapped in a tiny cage with nowhere to flee......
.....Israel is deliberately turning itself into perhaps the most hated country in the world, and is also losing the allegiance of the population of the West, including younger American Jews, who are unlikely to tolerate its persistent shocking crimes for long. Decades ago, I wrote that those who call themselves "supporters of Israel" are in reality supporters of its moral degeneration and probable ultimate destruction. Regrettably, that judgment looks more and more plausible.
Meanwhile we are quietly observing a rare event in history, what the late Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling called "politicide," the murder of a nation -- at our hands."
"On Saturday December 27, the latest US-Israeli attack on helpless Palestinians was launched. The attack had been meticulously planned, for over 6 months according to the Israeli press. The planning had two components: military and propaganda. It was based on the lessons of Israel's 2006 invasion of Lebanon, which was considered to be poorly planned and badly advertised. We may, therefore, be fairly confident that most of what has been done and said was pre-planned and intended.
That surely includes the timing of the assault: shortly before noon, when children were returning from school and crowds were milling in the streets of densely populated Gaza City. It took only a few minutes to kill over 225 people and wound 700, an auspicious opening to the mass slaughter of defenseless civilians trapped in a tiny cage with nowhere to flee......
.....Israel is deliberately turning itself into perhaps the most hated country in the world, and is also losing the allegiance of the population of the West, including younger American Jews, who are unlikely to tolerate its persistent shocking crimes for long. Decades ago, I wrote that those who call themselves "supporters of Israel" are in reality supporters of its moral degeneration and probable ultimate destruction. Regrettably, that judgment looks more and more plausible.
Meanwhile we are quietly observing a rare event in history, what the late Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling called "politicide," the murder of a nation -- at our hands."
Why Israel won't survive
Contributed by Zarathustra
A Good Analysis by Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 19 January 2009
From a hill just outside the Gaza Strip, Israelis watch the air assaults on Gaza and dance in celebration of the attacks, 8 January 2009.
"The merciless Israeli bombardment of Gaza has stopped -- for now -- but the death toll keeps rising as more bodies are pulled from carpet- bombed neighborhoods. Once again, Israel demonstrated that it possesses the power and the lack of moral restraint necessary to commit atrocities against a population of destitute refugees it has caged and starved. Yet paradoxically, it is Israel as a Zionist state, not Palestine or the Palestinian people, that cannot survive this attempted genocide. The Electronic Intifada's Ali Abunimah comments...."
A Good Analysis by Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 19 January 2009
From a hill just outside the Gaza Strip, Israelis watch the air assaults on Gaza and dance in celebration of the attacks, 8 January 2009.
"The merciless Israeli bombardment of Gaza has stopped -- for now -- but the death toll keeps rising as more bodies are pulled from carpet- bombed neighborhoods. Once again, Israel demonstrated that it possesses the power and the lack of moral restraint necessary to commit atrocities against a population of destitute refugees it has caged and starved. Yet paradoxically, it is Israel as a Zionist state, not Palestine or the Palestinian people, that cannot survive this attempted genocide. The Electronic Intifada's Ali Abunimah comments...."
Families flee to school refuges
UN-administered schools are now housing thousands of Palestinians displaced by Israel's bombardment of Gaza. (Eman Mohamed)
Eman Mohammed writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 19 January 2009
(Eman Mohammed is a Jordanian-Palestinian freelance photojournalist and reporter based in the Gaza Strip since 2005)
""I could not leave my house, it's too priceless to me -- it's home! Although I could hear the missiles hitting the house next door, kids in the family were frightened and wouldn't stop crying. Still we managed to hold on until they destroyed our cousin Sadlah Matar Abu Halemeh's causing the death of his nine-member family. All were killed and no one survived -- then we decided to leave!"
These were the words of Naima Abu Halemeh who moved into the al-Shati school in Gaza City after her husband, Zhaar, and son, Muhammad, were injured while they were trying to evacuate their house in Beit Lahia's al-Siafa neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip......"
(Eman Mohammed is a Jordanian-Palestinian freelance photojournalist and reporter based in the Gaza Strip since 2005)
""I could not leave my house, it's too priceless to me -- it's home! Although I could hear the missiles hitting the house next door, kids in the family were frightened and wouldn't stop crying. Still we managed to hold on until they destroyed our cousin Sadlah Matar Abu Halemeh's causing the death of his nine-member family. All were killed and no one survived -- then we decided to leave!"
These were the words of Naima Abu Halemeh who moved into the al-Shati school in Gaza City after her husband, Zhaar, and son, Muhammad, were injured while they were trying to evacuate their house in Beit Lahia's al-Siafa neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip......"
Hamas documented Israeli war crimes
Press TV
"A senior Hamas member has announced that the movement has documented irrefutable proof of Israeli war crimes inside the Gaza Strip.
"We will use that [proof] to build a case against the Israeli political and military leaders as a war crime," Osama Hamdan, Hamas' chief representative and senior leader in Lebanon told Press TV on Tuesday.
Speaking from Beirut, Hamdan said a meeting of European and Arab lawyers will take place next week in which the means of convicting Israel for war crimes at The Hague will be discussed.
Around 230 international lawyers have announced that they are set to file a lawsuit at the international Criminal Court against Israel for its policies in Gaza.
A French lawyer working on the lawsuit, Jill Devier made the announcement at a Sunday night anti-Israel protest in Paris.
More than 50 international lawyers and jurists are working on a dossier, which alleges that Israel has committed crimes against humanity in Gaza......"
"A senior Hamas member has announced that the movement has documented irrefutable proof of Israeli war crimes inside the Gaza Strip.
"We will use that [proof] to build a case against the Israeli political and military leaders as a war crime," Osama Hamdan, Hamas' chief representative and senior leader in Lebanon told Press TV on Tuesday.
Speaking from Beirut, Hamdan said a meeting of European and Arab lawyers will take place next week in which the means of convicting Israel for war crimes at The Hague will be discussed.
Around 230 international lawyers have announced that they are set to file a lawsuit at the international Criminal Court against Israel for its policies in Gaza.
A French lawyer working on the lawsuit, Jill Devier made the announcement at a Sunday night anti-Israel protest in Paris.
More than 50 international lawyers and jurists are working on a dossier, which alleges that Israel has committed crimes against humanity in Gaza......"
Gazans Do Not Blame Hamas
By Mel Frykberg
"RAMALLAH, Jan 19 (IPS) - Humanitarian aid is being rushed into Gaza as Israel and Egypt open their borders temporarily to allow convoys of aid to pass through.....
Elena Qleibo, a Gaza-based aid worker from Oxfam and an ex-Costa Rican ambassador to Israel, said parts of Gaza resembled an apocalypse.
"The destruction wrought on Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, and the Zeitoun suburb in eastern Gaza city is immense," Qleibo told IPS. "The sewage is flowing in the streets. Electricity pylons, water and sewage works, municipal and medical buildings, and homes have been levelled."
Initial estimates state that 15 percent or 20,000 of the Gaza Strip's buildings have been damaged, with nearly 30,000 Palestinians forced to find shelter in UN Relief and Welfare Agency (UNRWA) shelters and with family......
Gazans are not blaming Hamas, contrary to Israel's wishes. "People laugh at Israel's claims that this was a war against the Islamic resistance organisation and not one aimed at civilians.
"They see this as a war against all Palestinians. The number of civilians killed and maimed and the destruction wrought was way too extreme," said Qleibo.....
Meanwhile, rescue teams are pulling out bodies from underneath mountains of rubble, something Israeli soldiers stationed in the area previously prevented. Once all bodies are recovered, the death toll may rise significantly. Muawiyah Hassanain, director of Ambulance and Emergency Services in the Health Ministry in Gaza, said that dozens of bodies were extricated on Sunday alone.
The full scale of the horror is yet to be revealed as the international foreign corps based in Israel continues to fight for unrestricted access into Gaza to report first-hand. Israel has enforced a ban for close on two months on all media other than a few handpicked reporters embedded with Israeli forces, who were permitted entry.
"Professionals should be allowed into the battlefield," said Foreign Press Association secretary Glenys Sugarman, unimpressed by the reporters the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson's unit let in. "You can't just send journalists to join the military forces who show them around. That is not independent and open reporting. In the modern, open world, when there are people that see and are willing to comprehend what's going on here - this is an important message," added Sugarman."
"RAMALLAH, Jan 19 (IPS) - Humanitarian aid is being rushed into Gaza as Israel and Egypt open their borders temporarily to allow convoys of aid to pass through.....
Elena Qleibo, a Gaza-based aid worker from Oxfam and an ex-Costa Rican ambassador to Israel, said parts of Gaza resembled an apocalypse.
"The destruction wrought on Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, and the Zeitoun suburb in eastern Gaza city is immense," Qleibo told IPS. "The sewage is flowing in the streets. Electricity pylons, water and sewage works, municipal and medical buildings, and homes have been levelled."
Initial estimates state that 15 percent or 20,000 of the Gaza Strip's buildings have been damaged, with nearly 30,000 Palestinians forced to find shelter in UN Relief and Welfare Agency (UNRWA) shelters and with family......
Gazans are not blaming Hamas, contrary to Israel's wishes. "People laugh at Israel's claims that this was a war against the Islamic resistance organisation and not one aimed at civilians.
"They see this as a war against all Palestinians. The number of civilians killed and maimed and the destruction wrought was way too extreme," said Qleibo.....
Meanwhile, rescue teams are pulling out bodies from underneath mountains of rubble, something Israeli soldiers stationed in the area previously prevented. Once all bodies are recovered, the death toll may rise significantly. Muawiyah Hassanain, director of Ambulance and Emergency Services in the Health Ministry in Gaza, said that dozens of bodies were extricated on Sunday alone.
The full scale of the horror is yet to be revealed as the international foreign corps based in Israel continues to fight for unrestricted access into Gaza to report first-hand. Israel has enforced a ban for close on two months on all media other than a few handpicked reporters embedded with Israeli forces, who were permitted entry.
"Professionals should be allowed into the battlefield," said Foreign Press Association secretary Glenys Sugarman, unimpressed by the reporters the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson's unit let in. "You can't just send journalists to join the military forces who show them around. That is not independent and open reporting. In the modern, open world, when there are people that see and are willing to comprehend what's going on here - this is an important message," added Sugarman."
Blind and burnt: Mahmoud, 14, young victim of banned white phosphorus shelling
Times Online
"Israel's three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip may be over but Mahmoud Mattar, 14, will not be able to sense the quiet that has descended on his home town of Jabalya.
Blinded in both eyes, with third-degree burns over much of his torso, Mahmoud lies unconscious in the Sheikh Zayid Hospital on the outskirts of Cairo.....
Witnesses in Jabalya describe the signs of white phosphorus shelling — thick white smoke, a strong smell and fires that burn until covered with sand — and say that dozens more experienced burns in the same attack......
The Times has uncovered dozens of incidents in which doctors say that civilians have been wounded by white phosphorus, which burns at extremely high temperatures until its oxygen is cut off. Last week UN officials in Gaza were certain that their compound had been hit by white phosphorus shells......
Medical experts in Gaza said that they were collecting tissue samples from burns victims to test for white phosphorus, but were unsure when they could be sent to the laboratories. Doctors in Egypt have barred journalists from hospitals where hundreds of wounded Palestinians have been taken. They would not comment publicly on the wounds, but in private said that they had “no doubt” they were treating chemical phosphorus burns......."
"Israel's three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip may be over but Mahmoud Mattar, 14, will not be able to sense the quiet that has descended on his home town of Jabalya.
Blinded in both eyes, with third-degree burns over much of his torso, Mahmoud lies unconscious in the Sheikh Zayid Hospital on the outskirts of Cairo.....
Witnesses in Jabalya describe the signs of white phosphorus shelling — thick white smoke, a strong smell and fires that burn until covered with sand — and say that dozens more experienced burns in the same attack......
The Times has uncovered dozens of incidents in which doctors say that civilians have been wounded by white phosphorus, which burns at extremely high temperatures until its oxygen is cut off. Last week UN officials in Gaza were certain that their compound had been hit by white phosphorus shells......
Medical experts in Gaza said that they were collecting tissue samples from burns victims to test for white phosphorus, but were unsure when they could be sent to the laboratories. Doctors in Egypt have barred journalists from hospitals where hundreds of wounded Palestinians have been taken. They would not comment publicly on the wounds, but in private said that they had “no doubt” they were treating chemical phosphorus burns......."
Posturing and laughter as victims rot
Mahmoud Abbas stepped further into humiliation by saying the only option for Arabs is to make peace with Israel
By Robert Fisk
"The front page of the Beirut daily As-Safir said it all yesterday. Across the top was a terrible photograph of the bloated body of a Palestinian man newly discovered in the ruins of his home while two male members of his family shrieked and roared their grief. Below, at half the size, was a photograph from Israel of Western leaders joking with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister. Olmert was roaring with laughter. Silvio Berlusconi, arms on the back of Olmert's shoulders, was also joshing and roaring – with laughter, not grief – and on Olmert's right was Nicolas Sarkozy of France wearing his stupidest of smiles. Only Chancellor Merkel appeared to understand the moral collapse.....
All day, the Arabs also had to endure watching their own leaders primping and posing in front of the cameras at the Arab summit in Kuwait, where the kings and presidents who claim to rule them also smiled and shook hands and tried to pretend that they were unified behind a Palestinian people who have been sorely betrayed. Even Mahmoud Abbas was there, the powerless, impotent leader of "Palestine" – where is that precisely, one had to ask? – trying to suck some importance from the coat-tails and robes of his betters......
Al-Jazeera showed the ever-more putrid bodies being tugged from beneath cross-beams and crushed concrete as these mighty potentates debated their little disputes. There was really no adequate comment for this charade."
By Robert Fisk
"The front page of the Beirut daily As-Safir said it all yesterday. Across the top was a terrible photograph of the bloated body of a Palestinian man newly discovered in the ruins of his home while two male members of his family shrieked and roared their grief. Below, at half the size, was a photograph from Israel of Western leaders joking with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister. Olmert was roaring with laughter. Silvio Berlusconi, arms on the back of Olmert's shoulders, was also joshing and roaring – with laughter, not grief – and on Olmert's right was Nicolas Sarkozy of France wearing his stupidest of smiles. Only Chancellor Merkel appeared to understand the moral collapse.....
All day, the Arabs also had to endure watching their own leaders primping and posing in front of the cameras at the Arab summit in Kuwait, where the kings and presidents who claim to rule them also smiled and shook hands and tried to pretend that they were unified behind a Palestinian people who have been sorely betrayed. Even Mahmoud Abbas was there, the powerless, impotent leader of "Palestine" – where is that precisely, one had to ask? – trying to suck some importance from the coat-tails and robes of his betters......
Al-Jazeera showed the ever-more putrid bodies being tugged from beneath cross-beams and crushed concrete as these mighty potentates debated their little disputes. There was really no adequate comment for this charade."
Gaza has exposed the Arab leaders to fury and contempt
Internal rivalries over a deal with Israel have attracted opprobrium and put the very future of peace at risk
Ian Black
The Guardian, Tuesday 20 January 2009
".....Arab disarray was a fact of life before Israel's Operation Cast Lead. But the crisis has put it on cruel and very public display, drawing the contempt and fury of what is so condescendingly called the "street" from Algeria to Yemen. The league may be a bad joke, but its members still represent 320 million people. "In the fog of war," commented the Egyptian scholar Mamoun Fandy in the Saudi-owned daily al-Sharq al-Awsat, "everything was suddenly crystal clear"......."
Ian Black
The Guardian, Tuesday 20 January 2009
".....Arab disarray was a fact of life before Israel's Operation Cast Lead. But the crisis has put it on cruel and very public display, drawing the contempt and fury of what is so condescendingly called the "street" from Algeria to Yemen. The league may be a bad joke, but its members still represent 320 million people. "In the fog of war," commented the Egyptian scholar Mamoun Fandy in the Saudi-owned daily al-Sharq al-Awsat, "everything was suddenly crystal clear"......."
'I felt it was my duty to protest'
The Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe, tells Chris Arnot that speaking out for the Palestinians turned him into a pariah
Chris Arnot
The Guardian, Tuesday 20 January 2009
"......The death threats had already been arriving by post, email and phone since Pappe, 54, had been asked on national radio whether he was going to take his complaints about the treatment of Palestinians to the UN security council. "I had to point out that I was not a politician or a diplomat," he says, "I was an academic." Albeit an academic who had recently published a book called The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. A somewhat provocative title, I suggest.
"It was," he concedes. "I thought long and hard before using it, and my publisher [Oneworld Publications] hesitated. But I don't think that the military and political elite has given up on the policy of ethnic cleansing. They think that the survival, and certainly the prosperity, of the Jewish state is connected to its ability to minimise the numbers of Palestinians living within its borders - although it has not yet decided where those borders should be."
In 2005, Pappe and two friends wrote a warning online that Israeli settlers were being moved out of Gaza to allow government forces a free hand to bomb the residents of that overcrowded strip of land. When the current bombardment began at the end of last year, the Israeli government argued that it was trying to protect its citizens from rocket attacks by Hamas. But, says Pappe: "Those rocket attacks didn't start until after Israel had blockaded Gaza."......."
Chris Arnot
The Guardian, Tuesday 20 January 2009
"......The death threats had already been arriving by post, email and phone since Pappe, 54, had been asked on national radio whether he was going to take his complaints about the treatment of Palestinians to the UN security council. "I had to point out that I was not a politician or a diplomat," he says, "I was an academic." Albeit an academic who had recently published a book called The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. A somewhat provocative title, I suggest.
"It was," he concedes. "I thought long and hard before using it, and my publisher [Oneworld Publications] hesitated. But I don't think that the military and political elite has given up on the policy of ethnic cleansing. They think that the survival, and certainly the prosperity, of the Jewish state is connected to its ability to minimise the numbers of Palestinians living within its borders - although it has not yet decided where those borders should be."
In 2005, Pappe and two friends wrote a warning online that Israeli settlers were being moved out of Gaza to allow government forces a free hand to bomb the residents of that overcrowded strip of land. When the current bombardment began at the end of last year, the Israeli government argued that it was trying to protect its citizens from rocket attacks by Hamas. But, says Pappe: "Those rocket attacks didn't start until after Israel had blockaded Gaza."......."
Israel accused of war crimes over phosphorus use
Ian Black, Middle East editor
The Guardian, Tuesday 20 January 2009
"As Palestinians yesterday counted the human cost of the conflict, Israel was again accused of war crimes for using white phosphorus munitions.
"Such extensive use of this weapon in Gaza's densely populated residential neighbourhoods is inherently indiscriminate," said Donatella Rovera, a researcher with Amnesty International. "Its repeated use in this manner, despite evidence of its indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime."
The UN and Human Rights Watch have made similar claims about the use of white phosphorus in the three-week conflict. Amnesty sent a British weapons expert, Chris Cobb-Smith, into Gaza following the ceasefire at the weekend. He found widespread evidence of the use of the incendiary material......"
The Guardian, Tuesday 20 January 2009
"As Palestinians yesterday counted the human cost of the conflict, Israel was again accused of war crimes for using white phosphorus munitions.
"Such extensive use of this weapon in Gaza's densely populated residential neighbourhoods is inherently indiscriminate," said Donatella Rovera, a researcher with Amnesty International. "Its repeated use in this manner, despite evidence of its indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime."
The UN and Human Rights Watch have made similar claims about the use of white phosphorus in the three-week conflict. Amnesty sent a British weapons expert, Chris Cobb-Smith, into Gaza following the ceasefire at the weekend. He found widespread evidence of the use of the incendiary material......"
Lieberman: We Will Have an Upgraded Hezbollah in Gaza
Al-Manar
"20/01/2009 In an interview with Israeli daily Haaretz with Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing Knesset member said that the strategic objective of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip should have been the collapse of the Islamic resistance movement of Hamas. “This goal could have been reached not by capturing Gaza and Jabalya, but [simply] by taking over the crossing points and the Philadelphi route. There are enough forces in Gaza that could serve as an alternative to Hamas. When Hamas is dominant, those forces are silent. But if we had closed the Strip in a vice, we would have strangled Hamas," Lieberman said.
He added that after the cease-fire, everyone wants to know how it could be that the so-called “strongest army in the Middle East” was unable to overcome 12,000 fighters. Lieberman said that the result was similar to that of “the Second Lebanon War: damage to our deterrent capability. Instead of destroying Hamas, the operation upgraded it, turning it into an important regional player. It's only a matter of time before the government in Ramallah collapses and falls into Hamas hands. Within a year, we'll have an upgraded Hezbollah in Gaza, not a weak Hamas. That Hezbollah will have hundreds of rockets that reach central Tel Aviv. Ultimately, rockets will hit the Kirya [government complex] and Azrieli [towers]."
Asked whether he expects another conflict within the year, Lieberman said, "Without a shadow of a doubt. I think Hamas will aim for a time when it has instruments that will reach Ben-Gurion airport, the Kirya and Dimona."......."
"20/01/2009 In an interview with Israeli daily Haaretz with Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing Knesset member said that the strategic objective of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip should have been the collapse of the Islamic resistance movement of Hamas. “This goal could have been reached not by capturing Gaza and Jabalya, but [simply] by taking over the crossing points and the Philadelphi route. There are enough forces in Gaza that could serve as an alternative to Hamas. When Hamas is dominant, those forces are silent. But if we had closed the Strip in a vice, we would have strangled Hamas," Lieberman said.
He added that after the cease-fire, everyone wants to know how it could be that the so-called “strongest army in the Middle East” was unable to overcome 12,000 fighters. Lieberman said that the result was similar to that of “the Second Lebanon War: damage to our deterrent capability. Instead of destroying Hamas, the operation upgraded it, turning it into an important regional player. It's only a matter of time before the government in Ramallah collapses and falls into Hamas hands. Within a year, we'll have an upgraded Hezbollah in Gaza, not a weak Hamas. That Hezbollah will have hundreds of rockets that reach central Tel Aviv. Ultimately, rockets will hit the Kirya [government complex] and Azrieli [towers]."
Asked whether he expects another conflict within the year, Lieberman said, "Without a shadow of a doubt. I think Hamas will aim for a time when it has instruments that will reach Ben-Gurion airport, the Kirya and Dimona."......."
Israel…A Trail Ablaze On a Steep Slope
Al-Manar Exclusive
"20/01/2009 Between July 1942 and February 1943, a 200-day battle, the bloodiest in human history, left 1,800,000 casualties on the Russian and German sides. A total of 200,000 square kilometers were destroyed in the battle of Stalingrad, yet casualties and destruction were never the measuring unit of defeat and victory. The Germans lost the Battle and for the Russian heroism shown King George VI of the United Kingdom awarded the Stalingrad citizens a jeweled sword in appreciation of the bravery that they had shown.
Between December 27, 2008 and January 17, 2009 a 22-day assault, the bloodiest in human history, left more than 1,300 civilians killed on one side; the Palestinian side. Much of a total of 365 square kilometers has been destroyed in the Israeli war on Gaza. Still, casualties and destruction is not the measuring unit of victory and defeat. The Israelis who launched a disproportionate war on Gaza have been defeated. Throughout history, a resistance force has never been required to eliminate an enemy or capture land; like in France, Lebanon and Palestine, the resistance’s job is to fight, repel and hold out. Victory is achieved when these three conditions are met.
"20/01/2009 Between July 1942 and February 1943, a 200-day battle, the bloodiest in human history, left 1,800,000 casualties on the Russian and German sides. A total of 200,000 square kilometers were destroyed in the battle of Stalingrad, yet casualties and destruction were never the measuring unit of defeat and victory. The Germans lost the Battle and for the Russian heroism shown King George VI of the United Kingdom awarded the Stalingrad citizens a jeweled sword in appreciation of the bravery that they had shown.
Between December 27, 2008 and January 17, 2009 a 22-day assault, the bloodiest in human history, left more than 1,300 civilians killed on one side; the Palestinian side. Much of a total of 365 square kilometers has been destroyed in the Israeli war on Gaza. Still, casualties and destruction is not the measuring unit of victory and defeat. The Israelis who launched a disproportionate war on Gaza have been defeated. Throughout history, a resistance force has never been required to eliminate an enemy or capture land; like in France, Lebanon and Palestine, the resistance’s job is to fight, repel and hold out. Victory is achieved when these three conditions are met.
Triumphant Gazans will not wait for a ‘king’ to award them with a jeweled sword; they’ve already earned the accolade of honor.
Although Hitler’s strategic main objective of battle of Stalingrad was the capture of the Volga River, Olmert’s objective of the war on Gaza was…nobody inside and outside Israel knows........"
Although Hitler’s strategic main objective of battle of Stalingrad was the capture of the Volga River, Olmert’s objective of the war on Gaza was…nobody inside and outside Israel knows........"
Monday, January 19, 2009
Al-Jazeera Video: Gazans return to rubble - 19 Jan 2009
"A lull in fighting has given many Palestinians in Gaza a chance to return to home since Israel's offensive began 24 days ago.
Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros met one family who revisited their home in Attatra, but found nothing but destruction and desvastation."
The Unilateral People
Israeli girls writing messages (of hate?) on artillery shells to be fired into Southern Lebanon
By Gilad Atzmon
Palestine Think Tank
"They withdraw unilaterally
They ceasefire unilaterally
They invade unilaterally
They win unilaterally
They destroy unilaterally
They massacre unilaterally
They bathe in blood unilaterally
They spread white phosphorus unilaterally
They kill women and children unilaterally
They drop bombs unilaterally
They live on stolen land unilaterally
They support their homicidal leaders unilaterally
They love their ‘Jewish Only State’ unilaterally
Their democracy is unilateral
They love themselves unilaterally
They are the unilateral people.
Living behind walls of concrete, hatred and arrogance
They are still united and lateral failing to love their neighbours"
Palestine Think Tank
"They withdraw unilaterally
They ceasefire unilaterally
They invade unilaterally
They win unilaterally
They destroy unilaterally
They massacre unilaterally
They bathe in blood unilaterally
They spread white phosphorus unilaterally
They kill women and children unilaterally
They drop bombs unilaterally
They live on stolen land unilaterally
They support their homicidal leaders unilaterally
They love their ‘Jewish Only State’ unilaterally
Their democracy is unilateral
They love themselves unilaterally
They are the unilateral people.
Living behind walls of concrete, hatred and arrogance
They are still united and lateral failing to love their neighbours"
Operation Unpunished Lead
By Eduardo Galeano
(This article is dedicated to my Jewish friends assassinated by the Latin American dictatorships to which Israel acted as consultant)
"To justify itself, state terrorism manufactures terrorists: it sows hate and harvests alibis. Everything indicates that this slaughterhouse of Gaza, which according to its perpetrators is for finishing off the terrorists, will achieve boosting them.
Since 1948, the Palestinians live condemned to perpetual humiliation. They cannot even breathe without permission. They have lost their country, their land, their water, their freedom, everything of theirs. They do not even have the right to choose their governments. When they vote for those they should not, they are punished. Gaza is being punished. It turned into a mousetrap without exit since Hamas cleanly won the elections of 2006. Something similar happened in 1932 when the Communist Party triumphed in the elections of El Salvador. Drenched in blood, the Salvadorans atoned for their bad behaviour and since then have lived under military dictatorships. Democracy is a luxury which not everyone deserves....."
(This article is dedicated to my Jewish friends assassinated by the Latin American dictatorships to which Israel acted as consultant)
"To justify itself, state terrorism manufactures terrorists: it sows hate and harvests alibis. Everything indicates that this slaughterhouse of Gaza, which according to its perpetrators is for finishing off the terrorists, will achieve boosting them.
Since 1948, the Palestinians live condemned to perpetual humiliation. They cannot even breathe without permission. They have lost their country, their land, their water, their freedom, everything of theirs. They do not even have the right to choose their governments. When they vote for those they should not, they are punished. Gaza is being punished. It turned into a mousetrap without exit since Hamas cleanly won the elections of 2006. Something similar happened in 1932 when the Communist Party triumphed in the elections of El Salvador. Drenched in blood, the Salvadorans atoned for their bad behaviour and since then have lived under military dictatorships. Democracy is a luxury which not everyone deserves....."
Today in Solidarity We're All Palestinians: History of Israeli Terror Killings
Gaza Aggression Timeline
by Stephen Lendman
Global Research
"World outrage continues over Israeli war crimes and Washington's complicity. Gazans are now immortalized. Hamas is more popular than ever and remains resolute despite everything the IDF threw against it.
Democrats and Republicans share equal guilt. They fund Israeli state terror, are partnered in its aggression, and have collaboratively planned, supported, and/or agreed to it for the past 41 years. Continuity under Obama is assured. The current Gaza carnage is the worst since 1967. In spite of its "unilateral" ceasefire, sporadic Israeli attacks continue. The IDF merely redeployed. Gaza remains under siege, and human suffering is overwhelming and unrelieved.....
A Final Comment
So far, it hardly matters whether or not a ceasefire holds. What does matter is growing world outrage, millions globally condemning Israeli terrorism, and potentially gathering enough momentum to matter. It's crucial to maintain pressure, demand Israeli war criminals be punished, and build a world movement for sanctions, divestment, boycott, isolation and UN General Assembly expulsion until Israel complies with international law, ends the Gaza siege, the occupation of Palestine, makes just restitution, grants Palestinians self-determination, and is held accountable before the International Criminal Court or a special tribunal for Israel.
On July 9, 2005, the Global BDS Movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) called for action until Israel "complies with international law and universal principles of human rights." It's long past time to stop inaction, timidity, and weak-kneed indecisiveness.
Since its illegitimate May 14, 1948 birth, Israel defiled the rule of law, abused its neighbors, committed genocide against the Palestinians, stole their land and future, and affronted all humanity with its arrogance. It's high time these practices end and Israel be held to account. If not now, when? If not by us, who? If that's not incentive enough, what is?"
by Stephen Lendman
Global Research
"World outrage continues over Israeli war crimes and Washington's complicity. Gazans are now immortalized. Hamas is more popular than ever and remains resolute despite everything the IDF threw against it.
Democrats and Republicans share equal guilt. They fund Israeli state terror, are partnered in its aggression, and have collaboratively planned, supported, and/or agreed to it for the past 41 years. Continuity under Obama is assured. The current Gaza carnage is the worst since 1967. In spite of its "unilateral" ceasefire, sporadic Israeli attacks continue. The IDF merely redeployed. Gaza remains under siege, and human suffering is overwhelming and unrelieved.....
A Final Comment
So far, it hardly matters whether or not a ceasefire holds. What does matter is growing world outrage, millions globally condemning Israeli terrorism, and potentially gathering enough momentum to matter. It's crucial to maintain pressure, demand Israeli war criminals be punished, and build a world movement for sanctions, divestment, boycott, isolation and UN General Assembly expulsion until Israel complies with international law, ends the Gaza siege, the occupation of Palestine, makes just restitution, grants Palestinians self-determination, and is held accountable before the International Criminal Court or a special tribunal for Israel.
On July 9, 2005, the Global BDS Movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) called for action until Israel "complies with international law and universal principles of human rights." It's long past time to stop inaction, timidity, and weak-kneed indecisiveness.
Since its illegitimate May 14, 1948 birth, Israel defiled the rule of law, abused its neighbors, committed genocide against the Palestinians, stole their land and future, and affronted all humanity with its arrogance. It's high time these practices end and Israel be held to account. If not now, when? If not by us, who? If that's not incentive enough, what is?"
Gaza: Analysis, Pictures, Video Material
by Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh
Global Research, January 19, 2009
".....We believe this is not the time to relax but to intensify the pressure that is building especially introducing new BDS actions so that we can once and for all end the 61 year injustice against the native Palestinians (Israel must be made to comply with all Palestinian Rights especially the rights of refugees to return to their homes and lands). We also believe the International community should not be paying for Israel's war crimes and must hold Israel accountable.
Please begin to or expand your work in your community for BDS (see http://www.bdsmovement.net and http://www.pacbi.org) and develop legal, media, and out reach strategies to build up the isolation of Israel like we did with South Africa so that such atrocities that have been ongoing for 61 year are ended and we move to a post-Apartheid era of Peace with Justice. For resources and tools, we are listing below links to: pictures and video, facts on Gaza, Declarations by the UN and human rights groups, political analysis, and the link to 25 actions to do.
Pictures and videos of reality
.....
Facts on Gaza not well known
.....
DECLARATIONS......."
Global Research, January 19, 2009
".....We believe this is not the time to relax but to intensify the pressure that is building especially introducing new BDS actions so that we can once and for all end the 61 year injustice against the native Palestinians (Israel must be made to comply with all Palestinian Rights especially the rights of refugees to return to their homes and lands). We also believe the International community should not be paying for Israel's war crimes and must hold Israel accountable.
Please begin to or expand your work in your community for BDS (see http://www.bdsmovement.net and http://www.pacbi.org) and develop legal, media, and out reach strategies to build up the isolation of Israel like we did with South Africa so that such atrocities that have been ongoing for 61 year are ended and we move to a post-Apartheid era of Peace with Justice. For resources and tools, we are listing below links to: pictures and video, facts on Gaza, Declarations by the UN and human rights groups, political analysis, and the link to 25 actions to do.
Pictures and videos of reality
.....
Facts on Gaza not well known
.....
DECLARATIONS......."
Why American academics must join boycott of Israel
Rania Masri and Marcy Newman, The Electronic Intifada, 18 January 2009
"On Friday 16 January, Israeli occupation forces bombed the headquarters of the University Teachers Association-Palestine (UTA), in Gaza, during their indiscriminate, willful destruction of the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) noted that "the UTA, together with other Gaza-based civil society organizations, called on 15 January for a wide campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel in response to its well-documented, premeditated war crimes in Gaza. The Israeli bombing of UTA's headquarters occurred on the exact following day, 16 January."....."
"On Friday 16 January, Israeli occupation forces bombed the headquarters of the University Teachers Association-Palestine (UTA), in Gaza, during their indiscriminate, willful destruction of the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) noted that "the UTA, together with other Gaza-based civil society organizations, called on 15 January for a wide campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel in response to its well-documented, premeditated war crimes in Gaza. The Israeli bombing of UTA's headquarters occurred on the exact following day, 16 January."....."
The Circles Gaza's Hell
Written by Vittorio Arrigoni
The Free Gaza Movement
"Dante Alighieri could never have imagined circles as hellish as the wards of the damned in Jabalia's hospitals. The laws of divine justice are turned on their head around here: the more innocent the victim, the less likely that they'll be spared martyrdom through bombing. At Kamal Odwan and Al Auda hospitals, the ceramic tiles in the first aid units are always shiny. The cleaners are permanently busy wiping away the blood dripping copiously from the stretchers constantly carrying in the massacred bodies. Iyad Mutawwaq was walking in the street when a bomb tore open a building not far from him. He and other passers-by rushed over to try and bring some aid when a second bomb was dropped on the same building. It killed a father of 9, two brothers and another passer-by who had rushed over to help. The same story could be told over ten, or one hundred times. The perfect terrorist technique is being immaculately carried out by the Tsahal army. You drop a bomb, wait for the first-aiders, then drop another bomb on the wounded and the first-aiders........"
The Free Gaza Movement
"Dante Alighieri could never have imagined circles as hellish as the wards of the damned in Jabalia's hospitals. The laws of divine justice are turned on their head around here: the more innocent the victim, the less likely that they'll be spared martyrdom through bombing. At Kamal Odwan and Al Auda hospitals, the ceramic tiles in the first aid units are always shiny. The cleaners are permanently busy wiping away the blood dripping copiously from the stretchers constantly carrying in the massacred bodies. Iyad Mutawwaq was walking in the street when a bomb tore open a building not far from him. He and other passers-by rushed over to try and bring some aid when a second bomb was dropped on the same building. It killed a father of 9, two brothers and another passer-by who had rushed over to help. The same story could be told over ten, or one hundred times. The perfect terrorist technique is being immaculately carried out by the Tsahal army. You drop a bomb, wait for the first-aiders, then drop another bomb on the wounded and the first-aiders........"
Hamas: Our Arsenal of Rockets Has Not Been Affected
Al-Manar
"19/01/2009 Hamas vowed on Monday to rearm in defiance of any Israeli and international efforts to prevent the Islamic resistance group from replenishing its arsenal of rockets and other weapons after the Gaza war.
"Do whatever you want. Manufacturing the holy weapons is our mission and we know how to acquire weapons," Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas' armed wing, Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, told a news conference.
Addressing journalists with his face masked by a checkered Arab scarf, he said that only 48 Hamas resistance fighters were martyred in the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Abu Obaida also said that Israel lost "at least 80 soldiers" in the fighting; however the Zionist entity has adopted the media blackout policy concerning its losses there.
Palestinians report that at least 1,300 people were killed in the Strip in the past three weeks, including 420 children......"
"19/01/2009 Hamas vowed on Monday to rearm in defiance of any Israeli and international efforts to prevent the Islamic resistance group from replenishing its arsenal of rockets and other weapons after the Gaza war.
"Do whatever you want. Manufacturing the holy weapons is our mission and we know how to acquire weapons," Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas' armed wing, Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, told a news conference.
Addressing journalists with his face masked by a checkered Arab scarf, he said that only 48 Hamas resistance fighters were martyred in the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Abu Obaida also said that Israel lost "at least 80 soldiers" in the fighting; however the Zionist entity has adopted the media blackout policy concerning its losses there.
Palestinians report that at least 1,300 people were killed in the Strip in the past three weeks, including 420 children......"
A 'Police State' Celebrates
By Nora Barrows-Friedman
"JERUSALEM, Jan 19 (IPS) - The Israeli government is stepping up efforts to suppress dissent and crush resistance in the streets. Police have been videotaping the demonstrations and subsequently arresting protesters in large numbers.
According to Israeli police reports, at least 763 Israeli citizens, the majority of them Palestinian and 244 under 18 years old, have been arrested, imprisoned or detained for participating in such demonstrations. Most have been held and then released, but at least 30 of those arrested over the past three weeks are still being held in prison.
Ameer Makhoul, director of Ittijah, the Union of Arab Community-Based Associations in Haifa, tells IPS that these demonstrations "are part of the uprising here inside the Green Line, to share responsibility and to share the challenge with the people in the Gaza strip."....."
"JERUSALEM, Jan 19 (IPS) - The Israeli government is stepping up efforts to suppress dissent and crush resistance in the streets. Police have been videotaping the demonstrations and subsequently arresting protesters in large numbers.
According to Israeli police reports, at least 763 Israeli citizens, the majority of them Palestinian and 244 under 18 years old, have been arrested, imprisoned or detained for participating in such demonstrations. Most have been held and then released, but at least 30 of those arrested over the past three weeks are still being held in prison.
Ameer Makhoul, director of Ittijah, the Union of Arab Community-Based Associations in Haifa, tells IPS that these demonstrations "are part of the uprising here inside the Green Line, to share responsibility and to share the challenge with the people in the Gaza strip."....."
Gaza War Divides Arab Governments From People
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
"CAIRO, Jan 19 (IPS) - Street protests against Israel's assault on Gaza continue to be held almost daily. The anger has not ended with the ceasefire called.
In Cairo, and in many Arab capitals, much of the anger is directed at the Egyptian regime, seen by critics as complicit in the Israeli campaign.
"The escalation of popular protests across the country indicates unprecedented levels of popular outrage over both Israel's aggression and Egypt's official position," Ibrahim Mansour, political analyst and managing editor-in-chief of independent daily Al-Dustour told IPS......"
"CAIRO, Jan 19 (IPS) - Street protests against Israel's assault on Gaza continue to be held almost daily. The anger has not ended with the ceasefire called.
In Cairo, and in many Arab capitals, much of the anger is directed at the Egyptian regime, seen by critics as complicit in the Israeli campaign.
"The escalation of popular protests across the country indicates unprecedented levels of popular outrage over both Israel's aggression and Egypt's official position," Ibrahim Mansour, political analyst and managing editor-in-chief of independent daily Al-Dustour told IPS......"
Another War, Another Defeat
The Gaza offensive has succeeded in punishing the Palestinians but not in making Israel more secure.
By John J. Mearsheimer
(professor of political science at the University of Chicago and coauthor of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy)
"Israelis and their American supporters claim that Israel learned its lessons well from the disastrous 2006 Lebanon war and has devised a winning strategy for the present war against Hamas. Of course, when a ceasefire comes, Israel will declare victory. Don’t believe it. Israel has foolishly started another war it cannot win.
The campaign in Gaza is said to have two objectives: 1) to put an end to the rockets and mortars that Palestinians have been firing into southern Israel since it withdrew from Gaza in August 2005; 2) to restore Israel’s deterrent, which was said to be diminished by the Lebanon fiasco, by Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, and by its inability to halt Iran’s nuclear program.
But these are not the real goals of Operation Cast Lead. The actual purpose is connected to Israel’s long-term vision of how it intends to live with millions of Palestinians in its midst. It is part of a broader strategic goal: the creation of a “Greater Israel.” Specifically, Israel’s leaders remain determined to control all of what used to be known as Mandate Palestine, which includes Gaza and the West Bank. The Palestinians would have limited autonomy in a handful of disconnected and economically crippled enclaves, one of which is Gaza. Israel would control the borders around them, movement between them, the air above and the water below them......."
By John J. Mearsheimer
(professor of political science at the University of Chicago and coauthor of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy)
"Israelis and their American supporters claim that Israel learned its lessons well from the disastrous 2006 Lebanon war and has devised a winning strategy for the present war against Hamas. Of course, when a ceasefire comes, Israel will declare victory. Don’t believe it. Israel has foolishly started another war it cannot win.
The campaign in Gaza is said to have two objectives: 1) to put an end to the rockets and mortars that Palestinians have been firing into southern Israel since it withdrew from Gaza in August 2005; 2) to restore Israel’s deterrent, which was said to be diminished by the Lebanon fiasco, by Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, and by its inability to halt Iran’s nuclear program.
But these are not the real goals of Operation Cast Lead. The actual purpose is connected to Israel’s long-term vision of how it intends to live with millions of Palestinians in its midst. It is part of a broader strategic goal: the creation of a “Greater Israel.” Specifically, Israel’s leaders remain determined to control all of what used to be known as Mandate Palestine, which includes Gaza and the West Bank. The Palestinians would have limited autonomy in a handful of disconnected and economically crippled enclaves, one of which is Gaza. Israel would control the borders around them, movement between them, the air above and the water below them......."
عزمي بشارة يكتب للجزيرة نت بيان وقف إطلاق النار
A Very Good Comment (Arabic) by Azmi Bishara
عزمي بشارة
"* وقف إطلاق النار (1) الذي أعلن ليلة السابع عشر من يناير/كانون الثاني 2008 هو تعبير عن عدم قدرة إسرائيل على الاستمرار بالحرب، وذلك في حملة برية لاحتلال غزة بأسرها
....
* توحدت الأمة العربية مع المقاومة، وتوحدت الشعوب معها، إلا في لبنان حيث ينقسم الشعب، ولكن ليس إلى مواقف، بل إلى طوائف.
* وانقسم النظام الرسمي العربي إلى اثنين لكل منهما هوامش ما زالت تتقاطع. ويمكن تمييزها باختصار شديد بما يلي: يعتبر الموقف الأول الاحتلال هو المشكلة وهو سبب الحرب، في حين يعتبر الموقف الثاني مقاومة الاحتلال هي المشكلة ويحملها مسؤولية الحرب.
* ومن هذه الزاوية فإن القمة العربية في الدوحة هي استجابة بالحد الأدنى ليس للانقسام الرسمي، بل للرأي العام العربي. والأمر الأهم الذي أنجزته هو كونها أول مراجعة رسمية لخط التسوية. لأول مرة تحصل انعطافة في الخطاب الرسمي العربي منذ أن سيطر عليه خطاب التسويات المنفردة مع إسرائيل.
....
* لذلك فالمهم الآن هو الضغط لفتح المعبر للإغاثة وإعادة البناء، وعدم السماح لإسرائيل أن تتملص بجريمتها، وأن يرفع الحصار. ويجب عدم التسامح مع الأنظمة التي صمتت أو تواطأت، وما زالت، يجب عدم التوقف الآن عن الحملة لفضحها، وذلك لأن هذه السياسة مستمرة ولم تتأثر. فما يقال في الخطابات شيء وما ينفذ على أرض الواقع شيء آخر تماما. ولن يصح أي تعهد تتخذه الدول العربية أو غيرها للمساعدة في إعادة الإعمار، إذا لم يفتح المعبر ولم تصل المساعدات لغزة.
...
* أما سياسيا فإن المرحلة هي مرحلة وقف توسع خطاب التسوية والتطبيع مع إسرائيل ورده على أعقابه وبدء صعود خطاب سياسي جديد. وهذه عملية بدأت في الدوحة ويجب أن تستمر وتندفع وأن يدافع عنها في الكويت بقوة.
* من أهم إنجازات المقاومة في هذه الحرب أن إسرائيل لم تعد خارج القطاع من طرف واحد كنوع من إعادة الانتشار. لقد خرجت في العام 2005 بخيارها كي تجتاحها متى شاءت. وها هي تدرك الحقيقة المرة. لقد تغيرت الأمور خلال عامين. وهي مضطرة أن تحارب كي تعود. فعودتها إلى غزة يعني حربا، وهي حرب غير محمودة العواقب. لم يتحرر قطاع غزة عام 2005، بل تحرر الآن من الاحتلال. لأول مرة منذ عام 1967 لا تجتاح إسرائيل المناطق التي احتلت عام 1967 بسهولة كنوع من إعادة الانتشار، بل تضطر أن تحارب لاجتياحها.
....
لقد آن الأوان أن تفكر حماس والجهاد والجبهة وغيرهم من طاقات وقوى الشعب الفلسطيني بتشكيل إطار تحرر وطني موحد مقاوم في كافة أماكن تواجد الشعب الفلسطيني، يحمل برنامجا وخطابا مؤهلا لقيادة الشعب الفلسطيني. وجود هذا الإطار وهذا الخطاب هو الذي سوف يشكل القوة الضاغطة والرافعة لإعادة بناء منظمة التحرير.
في هذه الحرب أدرك الجميع ما معنى دور الأجهزة الأمنية في الضفة، وما معنى تغييب منظمة التحرير حتى في الشتات وتهميشها من قبل السلطة. ولذلك فإن المهمة أعلاه مهمة تنظيم وتأطير بقية مناطق تواجد الشعب الفلسطيني، هي مهمة لا تحتمل التأجيل. فليست مهمة غزة أن تقاوم عن كل الشعب الفلسطيني، ولا مهمة الآخرين أن يتضامنوا.
* لقد قاومت بقية الجوالي الفلسطينية في الماضي، وواصلت الضفة الانتفاضة في حينه حتى حين حوصرت في غزة. فهي ليست جديدة على الموضوع. وما تغير هو قيام السلطة وتهميش الشتات وقيام جيل من الأجهزة الأمنية يقمع شعبه من يناضل ضد إسرائيل وينكل به. وهذا أمر لا يجوز تجاهله عند استخلاص النتائج وإعادة بناء المؤسسات على ضوء ما جرى في هذه الحرب.
....."
عزمي بشارة
"* وقف إطلاق النار (1) الذي أعلن ليلة السابع عشر من يناير/كانون الثاني 2008 هو تعبير عن عدم قدرة إسرائيل على الاستمرار بالحرب، وذلك في حملة برية لاحتلال غزة بأسرها
....
* توحدت الأمة العربية مع المقاومة، وتوحدت الشعوب معها، إلا في لبنان حيث ينقسم الشعب، ولكن ليس إلى مواقف، بل إلى طوائف.
* وانقسم النظام الرسمي العربي إلى اثنين لكل منهما هوامش ما زالت تتقاطع. ويمكن تمييزها باختصار شديد بما يلي: يعتبر الموقف الأول الاحتلال هو المشكلة وهو سبب الحرب، في حين يعتبر الموقف الثاني مقاومة الاحتلال هي المشكلة ويحملها مسؤولية الحرب.
* ومن هذه الزاوية فإن القمة العربية في الدوحة هي استجابة بالحد الأدنى ليس للانقسام الرسمي، بل للرأي العام العربي. والأمر الأهم الذي أنجزته هو كونها أول مراجعة رسمية لخط التسوية. لأول مرة تحصل انعطافة في الخطاب الرسمي العربي منذ أن سيطر عليه خطاب التسويات المنفردة مع إسرائيل.
....
* لذلك فالمهم الآن هو الضغط لفتح المعبر للإغاثة وإعادة البناء، وعدم السماح لإسرائيل أن تتملص بجريمتها، وأن يرفع الحصار. ويجب عدم التسامح مع الأنظمة التي صمتت أو تواطأت، وما زالت، يجب عدم التوقف الآن عن الحملة لفضحها، وذلك لأن هذه السياسة مستمرة ولم تتأثر. فما يقال في الخطابات شيء وما ينفذ على أرض الواقع شيء آخر تماما. ولن يصح أي تعهد تتخذه الدول العربية أو غيرها للمساعدة في إعادة الإعمار، إذا لم يفتح المعبر ولم تصل المساعدات لغزة.
...
* أما سياسيا فإن المرحلة هي مرحلة وقف توسع خطاب التسوية والتطبيع مع إسرائيل ورده على أعقابه وبدء صعود خطاب سياسي جديد. وهذه عملية بدأت في الدوحة ويجب أن تستمر وتندفع وأن يدافع عنها في الكويت بقوة.
* من أهم إنجازات المقاومة في هذه الحرب أن إسرائيل لم تعد خارج القطاع من طرف واحد كنوع من إعادة الانتشار. لقد خرجت في العام 2005 بخيارها كي تجتاحها متى شاءت. وها هي تدرك الحقيقة المرة. لقد تغيرت الأمور خلال عامين. وهي مضطرة أن تحارب كي تعود. فعودتها إلى غزة يعني حربا، وهي حرب غير محمودة العواقب. لم يتحرر قطاع غزة عام 2005، بل تحرر الآن من الاحتلال. لأول مرة منذ عام 1967 لا تجتاح إسرائيل المناطق التي احتلت عام 1967 بسهولة كنوع من إعادة الانتشار، بل تضطر أن تحارب لاجتياحها.
....
لقد آن الأوان أن تفكر حماس والجهاد والجبهة وغيرهم من طاقات وقوى الشعب الفلسطيني بتشكيل إطار تحرر وطني موحد مقاوم في كافة أماكن تواجد الشعب الفلسطيني، يحمل برنامجا وخطابا مؤهلا لقيادة الشعب الفلسطيني. وجود هذا الإطار وهذا الخطاب هو الذي سوف يشكل القوة الضاغطة والرافعة لإعادة بناء منظمة التحرير.
في هذه الحرب أدرك الجميع ما معنى دور الأجهزة الأمنية في الضفة، وما معنى تغييب منظمة التحرير حتى في الشتات وتهميشها من قبل السلطة. ولذلك فإن المهمة أعلاه مهمة تنظيم وتأطير بقية مناطق تواجد الشعب الفلسطيني، هي مهمة لا تحتمل التأجيل. فليست مهمة غزة أن تقاوم عن كل الشعب الفلسطيني، ولا مهمة الآخرين أن يتضامنوا.
* لقد قاومت بقية الجوالي الفلسطينية في الماضي، وواصلت الضفة الانتفاضة في حينه حتى حين حوصرت في غزة. فهي ليست جديدة على الموضوع. وما تغير هو قيام السلطة وتهميش الشتات وقيام جيل من الأجهزة الأمنية يقمع شعبه من يناضل ضد إسرائيل وينكل به. وهذا أمر لا يجوز تجاهله عند استخلاص النتائج وإعادة بناء المؤسسات على ضوء ما جرى في هذه الحرب.
....."
So, I asked the UN secretary general, isn't it time for a war crimes tribunal?
Mr Ban said it would not be up to him to launch a war crimes tribunal. It was pathetic
By Robert Fisk
"It's a wrap, a doddle, an Israeli ceasefire just in time for Barack Obama to have a squeaky-clean inauguration with all the world looking at the streets of Washington rather than the rubble of Gaza. Condi and Ms Livni thought their new arms-monitoring agreement – reached without a single Arab being involved – would work. Ban Ki-moon welcomed the unilateral truce. The great and the good gathered for a Sharm el-Sheikh summit. Only Hamas itself was not consulted. Which led, of course, to a few wrinkles in the plan. First, before declaring its own ceasefire, Hamas fired off more rockets at Israel, proving that Israel's primary war aim – to stop the missiles – had failed. Then Cairo shrugged off the deal because no one was going to set up electronic surveillance equipment on Egyptian soil. And not one European leader travelling to the region suggested the survivors might be helped if Israel, the EU and the US ended the food and fuel siege of Gaza.......
And there'll be little time for the peacemakers of Sharm el-Sheikh to reflect on the three UN schools targeted by the Israelis and the slaughter of the civilians inside. Poor old Ban Ki-moon. He tried to make his voice heard just before the ceasefire, saying Israel's troops had acted "outrageously" and should be "punished" for the third school killing. Some hope. At a Beirut press conference, he admitted he had failed to get a call through to Israel's Foreign Minister to complain.
It was pathetic. When I asked Mr Ban if he would consider a UN war crimes tribunal in Gaza, he said this would not be for him to "determine". But only a few journalists bothered to listen to him and his officials were quickly folding up the UN flag on the table. About time too. Bring back the League of Nations. All is forgiven......"
By Robert Fisk
"It's a wrap, a doddle, an Israeli ceasefire just in time for Barack Obama to have a squeaky-clean inauguration with all the world looking at the streets of Washington rather than the rubble of Gaza. Condi and Ms Livni thought their new arms-monitoring agreement – reached without a single Arab being involved – would work. Ban Ki-moon welcomed the unilateral truce. The great and the good gathered for a Sharm el-Sheikh summit. Only Hamas itself was not consulted. Which led, of course, to a few wrinkles in the plan. First, before declaring its own ceasefire, Hamas fired off more rockets at Israel, proving that Israel's primary war aim – to stop the missiles – had failed. Then Cairo shrugged off the deal because no one was going to set up electronic surveillance equipment on Egyptian soil. And not one European leader travelling to the region suggested the survivors might be helped if Israel, the EU and the US ended the food and fuel siege of Gaza.......
And there'll be little time for the peacemakers of Sharm el-Sheikh to reflect on the three UN schools targeted by the Israelis and the slaughter of the civilians inside. Poor old Ban Ki-moon. He tried to make his voice heard just before the ceasefire, saying Israel's troops had acted "outrageously" and should be "punished" for the third school killing. Some hope. At a Beirut press conference, he admitted he had failed to get a call through to Israel's Foreign Minister to complain.
It was pathetic. When I asked Mr Ban if he would consider a UN war crimes tribunal in Gaza, he said this would not be for him to "determine". But only a few journalists bothered to listen to him and his officials were quickly folding up the UN flag on the table. About time too. Bring back the League of Nations. All is forgiven......"
Rafah, a landscape scarred by Israel's war
A Palestinian man sits amid the destruction caused by an Israeli air strike in Rafah
"The southernmost city in Gaza has suffered mightily at Israeli hands in recent years, but Donald Macintyre was not ready for what he found there....."
The Independent
A return to square one
Despite the ceasefire, the sources of the conflict in Gaza are unresolved and peace is unlikely to hold
Alastair Crooke
(former security adviser to the EU and founder and director of the Conflicts Forum conflictsforum.org)
The Guardian, Monday 19 January 2009
"....At another level, however, the 22-day war has changed the parameters in the region: it has produced an unparalleled, overt challenge to Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the formal structures of Arab political power. The Doha informal meeting of heads of state on Friday gave legitimacy to the Palestinian resistance movements, called for direct action to isolate Israel and pronounced the Arab initiative to normalise relations with Israel in return for withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967 to be "dead".
None of these decisions has any formal status, but they represent a striking and open attack on the Egyptian and Saudi claims of primacy over Palestinian affairs. It heralds the beginning of a bitter struggle of the Doha-Syria axis versus the Saudi-Egyptian alliance for control over the future of the region......
All of these separate initiatives - Israeli, American and Egyptian - have as a primary aim an agreement from which one of the main protagonists, Hamas, is excluded. None of this bodes well. It resembles the choreography for a further round of conflict......
In the longer run, however, things are not so clear. The uncompromising nature of the assault is having a profound impact. Muslims saw the Israeli mood as drawing on an ancient narrative: a desire for an unmitigated, religious victory. Israel will point to its statistics of perceived success, but the other side will see not the hollow counting of damage inflicted but an archetypal image of a heroic Muslim stand against overwhelming military odds. "Victory" may look rather different a few months from now."
Alastair Crooke
(former security adviser to the EU and founder and director of the Conflicts Forum conflictsforum.org)
The Guardian, Monday 19 January 2009
"....At another level, however, the 22-day war has changed the parameters in the region: it has produced an unparalleled, overt challenge to Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the formal structures of Arab political power. The Doha informal meeting of heads of state on Friday gave legitimacy to the Palestinian resistance movements, called for direct action to isolate Israel and pronounced the Arab initiative to normalise relations with Israel in return for withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967 to be "dead".
None of these decisions has any formal status, but they represent a striking and open attack on the Egyptian and Saudi claims of primacy over Palestinian affairs. It heralds the beginning of a bitter struggle of the Doha-Syria axis versus the Saudi-Egyptian alliance for control over the future of the region......
All of these separate initiatives - Israeli, American and Egyptian - have as a primary aim an agreement from which one of the main protagonists, Hamas, is excluded. None of this bodes well. It resembles the choreography for a further round of conflict......
In the longer run, however, things are not so clear. The uncompromising nature of the assault is having a profound impact. Muslims saw the Israeli mood as drawing on an ancient narrative: a desire for an unmitigated, religious victory. Israel will point to its statistics of perceived success, but the other side will see not the hollow counting of damage inflicted but an archetypal image of a heroic Muslim stand against overwhelming military odds. "Victory" may look rather different a few months from now."
الرابحون والخاسرون في حرب غزة
الرابحون والخاسرون في حرب غزة
عبد الباري عطوان
".....
اولا: الخسارة الاسرائيلية هي الأضخم، ان لم يكن عسكريا، فسياسيا بكل تأكيد، فبعد اكثر من ثلاثة اسابيع لم يخرج المقاومون من انفاقهم رافعين الرايات البيضاء، متوسلين وقف اطلاق النار، ولم تتوقف الصواريخ، ولم يخرج شعب قطاع غزة، رغم فجيعته الكبرى في مسيرات بين انقاض منازله المدمرة مطالبا بطرد سلطة 'حماس' وعودة سلطة رام الله ورجالاتها. القيادة الاسرائيلية، ذهبت الى واشنطن، وهي القوة الاقليمية العظمى، لتوقع اتفاقا امنيا معها لمراقبة تهريب الاسلحة الى القطاع. وظهرت امام العالم بأسره كقوة مكروهة متعطشة لمص دماء ضحاياهم من الاطفال والمدنيين في حرب يجمع انصارها انفسهم بأنها لم تكن ابدا شبه متكافئة.
اسرائيل خسرت الجزء الاكبر من الرأي العام العالمي، مثلما خسرت اصدقاءها العرب، وقتلت عملية السلام، وشجعت التطرف،
......
ثانيا: خرج النظام المصري الخاسر الاكبر عربيا، وخسر دوره كوسيط، بعد ان خسره كقوة اقليمية رائدة، وتعرض لطعنات قاتلة ومهينة من اقرب حلفائه، الامريكان والاسرائيليين، وتمثل ذلك في امرين اساسيين، الاول توقيع تسيبي ليفني وزيرة خارجية اسرائيل ونظيرتها الامريكية كوندوليزا رايس اتفاقا امنيا بمراقبة الحدود المصرية مع قطاع غزة، ومنع التهريب، دون التشاور مع الحكومة المصرية، او حتى اطلاعها على تفاصيل هذه الاتفاقية، مما يؤكد ان دور نظام مصر هو التابع المؤدي للخدمات بمقابل، وليس الحليف الاستراتيجي المحترم
.....
ثالثا: السلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله تهمشت بشكل مفجع، ليس بالنسبة الينا، وانما بالنسبة الى المسؤولين فيها، فقد خسرت تأييد نصف العرب على الاقل، ودول اسلامية عظمى مثل تركيا وايران واندونيسيا، ولم تتحقق احلامها في العودة الى قطاع غزة، واستمرارها في رام الله بصورتها وتركيبتها الحالية بات موضع شكوك. وجاء خطاب رئيسها محمود عباس في قمة شرم الشيخ انعكاسا واضحا لهذه الحقيقة، فقد كان الأقصر والأضعف من بين جميع الخطابات، لم يتحدث عن معاناة ابناء القطاع، ولم يطالب بفتح المعابر، ولم يكشف عن خيبة امله في عملية سلام فشل رهانه عليها.
رابعا: مني ما يسمى بمحور الاعتدال العربي بضربة موجعة في مصداقيته، او ما تبقى منها، امام مواطني بلدانه، عندما تهرب من القيام بأي تحرك فعلي، وظهر بمظهر المتورط المشارك في العدوان، سواء بتصدير الازمة الى مجلس الامن الدولي، او بعرقلة عقد قمة عربية طارئة، وتمسكه بمبادرة مصرية رمت بها اسرائيل في سلة المهملات، وأدارت الظهر لها ولصاحبها.
....
صمود اهل قطاع غزة حقق معجزة في زمن قلّت فيه المعجزات، مع اعترافنا بالثمن الباهظ لهذا الصمود. فالعالم كله منشغل حاليا في كيفية توفير الامن والحماية للاسرائيليين، وايجاد الطرق والوسائل وتوفير المعدات المتقدمة لمنع تهريب الاسلحة الى الصامدين المحاصرين في هذا القطاع الصغير في مساحته الكبير في عزيمة ابنائه.
هذا العناد في التمسك بالثوابت، وفي رفض الاستسلام هو الذي تخشاه اسرائيل وقيادتها وشعبها، فإذا كان هؤلاء صمدوا ثلاثة اسابيع، ولم يخرج واحد منهم على شاشات التلفزة يندد بالمقاومة،
....
حرب غزة اعادت القضية الفلسطينية الى الواجهة مجددا، وجبّت كل ما قبلها من مفاوضات عبثية، وعملية سلام مزورة، وقيادات متخاذلة، وما يسمى بحل الدولتين، وعززت ثقافة المقاومة، وكشفت عن المعدن الصلب المقاوم للشعب الفلسطيني، مثلما اعادت احياء الشارع العربي، والتلاحم بين ابنائه والتفافه حول قضيته المركزية، وتوسيع الفجوة بينه وبين الانظمة الدكتاتورية العاجزة، فاقدة الارادة والسيادة التي تحكمه.
مسرحية مؤتمر شرم الشيخ لن تنقذ النظام الرسمي العربي من مأزقه، ولن تعيد له شرعيته ومصداقيته لان هذا النظام بات فاقد الكرامة والشرعية، بعد ان سحبهما منه شهداء غزة، واحتجاجات الشرفاء، وهم الغالبية، داخل مصر المحروسة، والعواصم العربية الاخرى."
عبد الباري عطوان
".....
اولا: الخسارة الاسرائيلية هي الأضخم، ان لم يكن عسكريا، فسياسيا بكل تأكيد، فبعد اكثر من ثلاثة اسابيع لم يخرج المقاومون من انفاقهم رافعين الرايات البيضاء، متوسلين وقف اطلاق النار، ولم تتوقف الصواريخ، ولم يخرج شعب قطاع غزة، رغم فجيعته الكبرى في مسيرات بين انقاض منازله المدمرة مطالبا بطرد سلطة 'حماس' وعودة سلطة رام الله ورجالاتها. القيادة الاسرائيلية، ذهبت الى واشنطن، وهي القوة الاقليمية العظمى، لتوقع اتفاقا امنيا معها لمراقبة تهريب الاسلحة الى القطاع. وظهرت امام العالم بأسره كقوة مكروهة متعطشة لمص دماء ضحاياهم من الاطفال والمدنيين في حرب يجمع انصارها انفسهم بأنها لم تكن ابدا شبه متكافئة.
اسرائيل خسرت الجزء الاكبر من الرأي العام العالمي، مثلما خسرت اصدقاءها العرب، وقتلت عملية السلام، وشجعت التطرف،
......
ثانيا: خرج النظام المصري الخاسر الاكبر عربيا، وخسر دوره كوسيط، بعد ان خسره كقوة اقليمية رائدة، وتعرض لطعنات قاتلة ومهينة من اقرب حلفائه، الامريكان والاسرائيليين، وتمثل ذلك في امرين اساسيين، الاول توقيع تسيبي ليفني وزيرة خارجية اسرائيل ونظيرتها الامريكية كوندوليزا رايس اتفاقا امنيا بمراقبة الحدود المصرية مع قطاع غزة، ومنع التهريب، دون التشاور مع الحكومة المصرية، او حتى اطلاعها على تفاصيل هذه الاتفاقية، مما يؤكد ان دور نظام مصر هو التابع المؤدي للخدمات بمقابل، وليس الحليف الاستراتيجي المحترم
.....
ثالثا: السلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله تهمشت بشكل مفجع، ليس بالنسبة الينا، وانما بالنسبة الى المسؤولين فيها، فقد خسرت تأييد نصف العرب على الاقل، ودول اسلامية عظمى مثل تركيا وايران واندونيسيا، ولم تتحقق احلامها في العودة الى قطاع غزة، واستمرارها في رام الله بصورتها وتركيبتها الحالية بات موضع شكوك. وجاء خطاب رئيسها محمود عباس في قمة شرم الشيخ انعكاسا واضحا لهذه الحقيقة، فقد كان الأقصر والأضعف من بين جميع الخطابات، لم يتحدث عن معاناة ابناء القطاع، ولم يطالب بفتح المعابر، ولم يكشف عن خيبة امله في عملية سلام فشل رهانه عليها.
رابعا: مني ما يسمى بمحور الاعتدال العربي بضربة موجعة في مصداقيته، او ما تبقى منها، امام مواطني بلدانه، عندما تهرب من القيام بأي تحرك فعلي، وظهر بمظهر المتورط المشارك في العدوان، سواء بتصدير الازمة الى مجلس الامن الدولي، او بعرقلة عقد قمة عربية طارئة، وتمسكه بمبادرة مصرية رمت بها اسرائيل في سلة المهملات، وأدارت الظهر لها ولصاحبها.
....
صمود اهل قطاع غزة حقق معجزة في زمن قلّت فيه المعجزات، مع اعترافنا بالثمن الباهظ لهذا الصمود. فالعالم كله منشغل حاليا في كيفية توفير الامن والحماية للاسرائيليين، وايجاد الطرق والوسائل وتوفير المعدات المتقدمة لمنع تهريب الاسلحة الى الصامدين المحاصرين في هذا القطاع الصغير في مساحته الكبير في عزيمة ابنائه.
هذا العناد في التمسك بالثوابت، وفي رفض الاستسلام هو الذي تخشاه اسرائيل وقيادتها وشعبها، فإذا كان هؤلاء صمدوا ثلاثة اسابيع، ولم يخرج واحد منهم على شاشات التلفزة يندد بالمقاومة،
....
حرب غزة اعادت القضية الفلسطينية الى الواجهة مجددا، وجبّت كل ما قبلها من مفاوضات عبثية، وعملية سلام مزورة، وقيادات متخاذلة، وما يسمى بحل الدولتين، وعززت ثقافة المقاومة، وكشفت عن المعدن الصلب المقاوم للشعب الفلسطيني، مثلما اعادت احياء الشارع العربي، والتلاحم بين ابنائه والتفافه حول قضيته المركزية، وتوسيع الفجوة بينه وبين الانظمة الدكتاتورية العاجزة، فاقدة الارادة والسيادة التي تحكمه.
مسرحية مؤتمر شرم الشيخ لن تنقذ النظام الرسمي العربي من مأزقه، ولن تعيد له شرعيته ومصداقيته لان هذا النظام بات فاقد الكرامة والشرعية، بعد ان سحبهما منه شهداء غزة، واحتجاجات الشرفاء، وهم الغالبية، داخل مصر المحروسة، والعواصم العربية الاخرى."
'Hamas Didn't Fire from UN Compounds'
Al-Manar
"19/01/2009 A spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said Sunday that senior Israeli army officers quietly admitted that Hamas fighters had not shot from UNRWA buildings hit last week by Israeli occupation soldiers’ fire.
According to Christopher Gunness, the Israeli army's claim that it was returning fire from Palestinian resistance fighters within or near the UN compounds was "baseless misinformation."
"Senior IDF officials fully admitted to us in coordination meetings that there were no militants inside our compound," he told Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post. "So you have public statements that say UNRWA is allowing terrorists into its facilities, while in meetings they fully acknowledge [this was untrue]."
He added that there was "a pattern emerging of the IDF making false allegations against UNRWA," and he called on the army and Israeli spokespeople generally "to sort out their messaging, because with every flip and every flop, their credibility is hanging in rags."....."
"19/01/2009 A spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said Sunday that senior Israeli army officers quietly admitted that Hamas fighters had not shot from UNRWA buildings hit last week by Israeli occupation soldiers’ fire.
According to Christopher Gunness, the Israeli army's claim that it was returning fire from Palestinian resistance fighters within or near the UN compounds was "baseless misinformation."
"Senior IDF officials fully admitted to us in coordination meetings that there were no militants inside our compound," he told Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post. "So you have public statements that say UNRWA is allowing terrorists into its facilities, while in meetings they fully acknowledge [this was untrue]."
He added that there was "a pattern emerging of the IDF making false allegations against UNRWA," and he called on the army and Israeli spokespeople generally "to sort out their messaging, because with every flip and every flop, their credibility is hanging in rags."....."
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Israel accused of war crimes over 12-hour assault on Gaza village
White flags ignored and houses bulldozed with families inside, claim residents
Fida Qishta in Khuza'a and Peter Beaumont in London
The Observer, Sunday 18 January 2009
"Israel stands accused of perpetrating a series of war crimes during a sustained 12-hour assault on a village in southern Gaza last week in which 14 people died.
In testimony collected from residents of the village of Khuza'a by the Observer, it is claimed that Israeli soldiers entering the village:
• attempted to bulldoze houses with civilians inside;
• killed civilians trying to escape under the protection of white flags;
• opened fire on an ambulance attempting to reach the wounded;
• used indiscriminate force in a civilian area and fired white phosphorus shells.
If the allegations are upheld, all the incidents would constitute breaches of the Geneva conventions.
The denunciations over what happened in Khuza'a follow repeated claims of possible human rights violations from the Red Cross, the UN and human rights organisations......"
Fida Qishta in Khuza'a and Peter Beaumont in London
The Observer, Sunday 18 January 2009
"Israel stands accused of perpetrating a series of war crimes during a sustained 12-hour assault on a village in southern Gaza last week in which 14 people died.
In testimony collected from residents of the village of Khuza'a by the Observer, it is claimed that Israeli soldiers entering the village:
• attempted to bulldoze houses with civilians inside;
• killed civilians trying to escape under the protection of white flags;
• opened fire on an ambulance attempting to reach the wounded;
• used indiscriminate force in a civilian area and fired white phosphorus shells.
If the allegations are upheld, all the incidents would constitute breaches of the Geneva conventions.
The denunciations over what happened in Khuza'a follow repeated claims of possible human rights violations from the Red Cross, the UN and human rights organisations......"
White phosphorus: "The patient came back smoking"
Eva Bartlett writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 18 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 third 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)
"17 January 2009
It's hard to believe it can get worse, but daily it does.
Last week, I saw the white phosphorus clouds doctors have written about and condemned. From a tall Gaza City building, the panoramic view showed a spreading stream of poison, on eastern Gaza.
The chemical burns deeply, to the bone, experts say. It is considered illegal warfare, not to be used in civilian areas. Yet the accounts grow of its use: heavy use in the Khosar region, east of Khan Younis, and in the northwest of Gaza, and in eastern Jabaliya, Sheik Zayid, Sheik Rajleen, al-Zaitoun, everywhere. The United Nations headquarters housing hundreds of fleeing Palestinians which was bombed on 15 January was hit with white phosphorus.
"Five days ago, in Jabaliya, I saw an abnormal material: white dust, spread out in spinning circles which spread the dust further. From inside there was something falling down which looked like snow. It covered a large area, over many houses," Maher al-Madhouan, head of the physiotherapy department in Sheik Radwan hospital, told me last week.
At al-Shifa hospital, Dr. Nafez Abu Shabaan, Head of the burn department, told me they've received some burn cases unlike anything they've ever seen. "We're not familiar with phosphorous burns, but some patients have very deep burns, very strange burns." He cites the case of a patient sent for a brain scan who three hours later, still alive, "came back smoking."....."
(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 third 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)
"17 January 2009
It's hard to believe it can get worse, but daily it does.
Last week, I saw the white phosphorus clouds doctors have written about and condemned. From a tall Gaza City building, the panoramic view showed a spreading stream of poison, on eastern Gaza.
The chemical burns deeply, to the bone, experts say. It is considered illegal warfare, not to be used in civilian areas. Yet the accounts grow of its use: heavy use in the Khosar region, east of Khan Younis, and in the northwest of Gaza, and in eastern Jabaliya, Sheik Zayid, Sheik Rajleen, al-Zaitoun, everywhere. The United Nations headquarters housing hundreds of fleeing Palestinians which was bombed on 15 January was hit with white phosphorus.
"Five days ago, in Jabaliya, I saw an abnormal material: white dust, spread out in spinning circles which spread the dust further. From inside there was something falling down which looked like snow. It covered a large area, over many houses," Maher al-Madhouan, head of the physiotherapy department in Sheik Radwan hospital, told me last week.
At al-Shifa hospital, Dr. Nafez Abu Shabaan, Head of the burn department, told me they've received some burn cases unlike anything they've ever seen. "We're not familiar with phosphorous burns, but some patients have very deep burns, very strange burns." He cites the case of a patient sent for a brain scan who three hours later, still alive, "came back smoking."....."
Al-Jazeera Video: Destroyed homes greet returning Gazans - 18 Jan 09
"In the first few hours of the supposed ceasefire in Gaza, some Palestinians have tried to return to their homes. But many residential buildings have been destroyed in the Israeli bombardment, and what some people find is rubble and devastation."
On balance: Evaluation of the Israeli festival of slaughter and butchery in Gaza
A Good Analysis
From Angry Arab
"From war to war (which is a title of a book by Nadav Safran), that is the context in which we need to evaluate our century-old conflict with Israel. You can't isolate each chapter or war or slaughter and analyze it without the larger context of the conflict. The press conference by the Israeli prime minister and his defense minister was remarkable: less triumphalist than usual, and certainly vague about goals and successes. Now we can evaluate the goals within the context of Israel's declared goals, and within the context of Israel's strategic plan. For somebody of my age, I can say this at first: that from 1948 until the 1990s, every Israeli military success more smashing the one before: the 1973 was a different story because it was the only Arab-Israeli war that was initiated by the Arab side (remarkable when you think about the propaganda of the "beleaguered Israel"), and it was bungled by the Egyptian (Nazi) dictator, Anwar Sadat (Jimmy Carter's favorite personality and friend), and Israel (contrary to present-day Arab states' propaganda) wound up winning overall at the end. So Israel's strategic posture was predicated on intimidating 1) the armies of the enemy; 2) the population of the enemy. Israeli psychological warfare succeeded for decades in convincing the enemy that Israel is way too mighty and way too invincible to be damaged by any military effort. Arabs reached a mood of defeatism that permeated the political culture, and helped in securing the survival and propaganda of the ruling regimes. Israel's tactic was meant to discourage any political violence or even defense from the other side........ But Hamas performed far better than the expectations of its enemies and even of its leadership in Syria and Lebanon. Israel would have succeeded if it achieved what it wanted: to achieve an unconditional surrender of Hamas. That was it used to get from Fatah in the West Bank: Arafat would negotiate the terms of his surrender with third-parties and that would be that (like in Bethlehem). Yet, Hamas defiance and the launching of rockets continued to the last day--in fact it continues as I write this from what I see on the screen. Hamas leaders did not leave as Fatah leaders and fighters would (in the era under Arafat-Dahlan-Rajjub in the West Bank bantustan after Oslo), but continued in stiff resistance and defiance to the very last end. So Israel failed in 1) achieving a total surrender of Hamas; 2) in propping up the Dahlan-Abu Mazen gangs who are more discredited today than ever. Early in the campaign, Dahlan appeared on Al-Arabiyya and on Egyptian TV and was quite bombastic because he was expecting that the matter would be over in the first week. When that did not happen, he disappeared, and some say that he went back to Montenegro--his news base. 3) Israel failed in achieving a victory that it needed: a victory that would once and for all put to rest the humiliating defeat of Israel in 2006. Hamas knew that its performance was extremely influential in possibly dramatically altering the image of the Israeli soldiers in the eyes of all Arabs: fighters and lay people alike, and it knew that expectations were in building on the performance on Hizbullah in 2006; 4) Israel failed in creating a rift between the Palestinian people and Hamas, just as it failed to create a rift between the population of the South and Hizbullah, its silly SMS messages notwithstanding; 5) Israel failed in putting an end to the rockets; 6) Israel failed in smashing Hamas; 7) Israel failed in creating a new psychological climate in the Middle East: it was expected that Israel would use more massive and indiscriminate violence than before, and that it would try to "shock and awe" more than before because it wanted to kill the image of its humiliation in South Lebanon. That was not accomplished despite the high number of casualties among the civilians. 8) Israeli prime minister today bragged about intelligence successes: but that was inflated. It is true the killing of two Hamas leaders (along with tens of innocent civilians but that is how Israel "assassinates") was a success for Israel but there are other Hamas leaders. Plus, Israel policy of assuming that an organization would die by killing the leader has always been one of the many dumb Israeli miscalculations. The most recent case was in 1992 when Israeli terrorist leaders killed Abbas Musawi (and his family) and they got...Hasan Nasrallah instead. I have no doubt that they probably now regret killing Musawi. And Hamas now operates on the assumption that all leaders may die and they have most likely structured the organization on that assumption, unlike the centrally run, say, DFLP or Fatah under `Arafat. 9) Israel failed to build on the years-old Saudi policy of mobilizing Arab public opinion against Iran, instead of Israel. That clearly failed miserably. If anything, Arab public opinion is more mobilized against Israel than any other time in memory. 10) Israel failed to sell its slaughter as a legitimate contribution to the "war on terrorism". Clearly, the scenes of carnage offended public opinion around the world with the exception of the US and the UN embassy of Mironesia. But there are successes: if Israel was aiming to kill a very large number of women and children, that was achieved to a large measure. Very knowledgeable sources in Beirut tell me that only 5% of Hamas' fighting abilities were damaged in this war thus far, and there will be another round no doubt. But think about Karamah battle. In Karamah: a lot of the lore was built by Arafat's bombast and a unit of the Jordanian army fought with the Palestinian resistance. This time around, Arab and particularly Palestinian public opinion will look with admiration at the performance of Hamas during this 22 days. It is commonly estimated that some 20,000 Palestinians volunteered in the resistance movement after Karamah, and I expect a region-wide campaign of recruitment to the benefit of Hamas. Israel's choice of Palestinian leadership (supported by Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt), i.e., Dahlan gangs, are discredited beyond repair. I mean, when I read in Saudi newspapers description of Dahlan as an Israeli stooge, you know how Palestinian opinion will regard him--and the fleeing of his men in their underwear did not help either. From 1968 to 1978, the Fatah movement transformed from a band of fighters in Jordan to an army (badly run to be sure by Arafat) with all sorts of heavy weapons. There is now a point of no-return: Arabs are no more afraid of Israeli soldiers. From that loss, Israel shall never recover and it will expedite the inevitable process of the elimination of Zionism from Palestine. The confrontation with Israel is cumulative, and this accumulation is now not in the interests of Israel. Many Arabs now talk about the defeat of Israel: I rarely heard those sentiments before 2006. "
From Angry Arab
"From war to war (which is a title of a book by Nadav Safran), that is the context in which we need to evaluate our century-old conflict with Israel. You can't isolate each chapter or war or slaughter and analyze it without the larger context of the conflict. The press conference by the Israeli prime minister and his defense minister was remarkable: less triumphalist than usual, and certainly vague about goals and successes. Now we can evaluate the goals within the context of Israel's declared goals, and within the context of Israel's strategic plan. For somebody of my age, I can say this at first: that from 1948 until the 1990s, every Israeli military success more smashing the one before: the 1973 was a different story because it was the only Arab-Israeli war that was initiated by the Arab side (remarkable when you think about the propaganda of the "beleaguered Israel"), and it was bungled by the Egyptian (Nazi) dictator, Anwar Sadat (Jimmy Carter's favorite personality and friend), and Israel (contrary to present-day Arab states' propaganda) wound up winning overall at the end. So Israel's strategic posture was predicated on intimidating 1) the armies of the enemy; 2) the population of the enemy. Israeli psychological warfare succeeded for decades in convincing the enemy that Israel is way too mighty and way too invincible to be damaged by any military effort. Arabs reached a mood of defeatism that permeated the political culture, and helped in securing the survival and propaganda of the ruling regimes. Israel's tactic was meant to discourage any political violence or even defense from the other side........ But Hamas performed far better than the expectations of its enemies and even of its leadership in Syria and Lebanon. Israel would have succeeded if it achieved what it wanted: to achieve an unconditional surrender of Hamas. That was it used to get from Fatah in the West Bank: Arafat would negotiate the terms of his surrender with third-parties and that would be that (like in Bethlehem). Yet, Hamas defiance and the launching of rockets continued to the last day--in fact it continues as I write this from what I see on the screen. Hamas leaders did not leave as Fatah leaders and fighters would (in the era under Arafat-Dahlan-Rajjub in the West Bank bantustan after Oslo), but continued in stiff resistance and defiance to the very last end. So Israel failed in 1) achieving a total surrender of Hamas; 2) in propping up the Dahlan-Abu Mazen gangs who are more discredited today than ever. Early in the campaign, Dahlan appeared on Al-Arabiyya and on Egyptian TV and was quite bombastic because he was expecting that the matter would be over in the first week. When that did not happen, he disappeared, and some say that he went back to Montenegro--his news base. 3) Israel failed in achieving a victory that it needed: a victory that would once and for all put to rest the humiliating defeat of Israel in 2006. Hamas knew that its performance was extremely influential in possibly dramatically altering the image of the Israeli soldiers in the eyes of all Arabs: fighters and lay people alike, and it knew that expectations were in building on the performance on Hizbullah in 2006; 4) Israel failed in creating a rift between the Palestinian people and Hamas, just as it failed to create a rift between the population of the South and Hizbullah, its silly SMS messages notwithstanding; 5) Israel failed in putting an end to the rockets; 6) Israel failed in smashing Hamas; 7) Israel failed in creating a new psychological climate in the Middle East: it was expected that Israel would use more massive and indiscriminate violence than before, and that it would try to "shock and awe" more than before because it wanted to kill the image of its humiliation in South Lebanon. That was not accomplished despite the high number of casualties among the civilians. 8) Israeli prime minister today bragged about intelligence successes: but that was inflated. It is true the killing of two Hamas leaders (along with tens of innocent civilians but that is how Israel "assassinates") was a success for Israel but there are other Hamas leaders. Plus, Israel policy of assuming that an organization would die by killing the leader has always been one of the many dumb Israeli miscalculations. The most recent case was in 1992 when Israeli terrorist leaders killed Abbas Musawi (and his family) and they got...Hasan Nasrallah instead. I have no doubt that they probably now regret killing Musawi. And Hamas now operates on the assumption that all leaders may die and they have most likely structured the organization on that assumption, unlike the centrally run, say, DFLP or Fatah under `Arafat. 9) Israel failed to build on the years-old Saudi policy of mobilizing Arab public opinion against Iran, instead of Israel. That clearly failed miserably. If anything, Arab public opinion is more mobilized against Israel than any other time in memory. 10) Israel failed to sell its slaughter as a legitimate contribution to the "war on terrorism". Clearly, the scenes of carnage offended public opinion around the world with the exception of the US and the UN embassy of Mironesia. But there are successes: if Israel was aiming to kill a very large number of women and children, that was achieved to a large measure. Very knowledgeable sources in Beirut tell me that only 5% of Hamas' fighting abilities were damaged in this war thus far, and there will be another round no doubt. But think about Karamah battle. In Karamah: a lot of the lore was built by Arafat's bombast and a unit of the Jordanian army fought with the Palestinian resistance. This time around, Arab and particularly Palestinian public opinion will look with admiration at the performance of Hamas during this 22 days. It is commonly estimated that some 20,000 Palestinians volunteered in the resistance movement after Karamah, and I expect a region-wide campaign of recruitment to the benefit of Hamas. Israel's choice of Palestinian leadership (supported by Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt), i.e., Dahlan gangs, are discredited beyond repair. I mean, when I read in Saudi newspapers description of Dahlan as an Israeli stooge, you know how Palestinian opinion will regard him--and the fleeing of his men in their underwear did not help either. From 1968 to 1978, the Fatah movement transformed from a band of fighters in Jordan to an army (badly run to be sure by Arafat) with all sorts of heavy weapons. There is now a point of no-return: Arabs are no more afraid of Israeli soldiers. From that loss, Israel shall never recover and it will expedite the inevitable process of the elimination of Zionism from Palestine. The confrontation with Israel is cumulative, and this accumulation is now not in the interests of Israel. Many Arabs now talk about the defeat of Israel: I rarely heard those sentiments before 2006. "
Israel's Next War: Today the Gaza Strip, Tomorrow Lebanon?
Feature Article
by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
Global Research, January 17, 2009
"The March to War: Today the Gaza Strip, Tomorrow Lebanon...
In the Middle East, it is widely believed that the war against Gaza is an extension of the 2006 war against Lebanon. Without question, the war in the Gaza Strip is a part of the same conflict.
Moreover, since the Israeli defeat in 2006, Tel Aviv and Washington have not abandoned their design to turn Lebanon into a client state.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, in so many words, during his visit to Tel Aviv in early January that today Israel was attacking Hamas in the Gaza Strip and that tomorrow it would be fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon.[1]
Lebanon is still in the cross-hairs. Israel is searching for a justification or a pretext to launch another war against Lebanon......
Blitzkrieg in the Making
Tel Aviv has been mapping a large-scale blitzkrieg against Lebanon as a whole, which includes an immediate land invasion. [7] Just before the Israeli massacre in the Gaza Strip started, Israeli officials and generals had promised that no Lebanese village would be immune from the wrath of Israeli aerial bombardments, regardless of religion, sect, and/or political orientation. [8]
In substance, Tel Aviv has promised to totally destroy Lebanon. Israel has also confirmed that in any future war against Lebanon, the entire country rather than Hezbollah will be the target. In practice, this was already the case in 2006’s Israeli aerial attacks on Lebanon. [9]...... "
by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
Global Research, January 17, 2009
"The March to War: Today the Gaza Strip, Tomorrow Lebanon...
In the Middle East, it is widely believed that the war against Gaza is an extension of the 2006 war against Lebanon. Without question, the war in the Gaza Strip is a part of the same conflict.
Moreover, since the Israeli defeat in 2006, Tel Aviv and Washington have not abandoned their design to turn Lebanon into a client state.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, in so many words, during his visit to Tel Aviv in early January that today Israel was attacking Hamas in the Gaza Strip and that tomorrow it would be fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon.[1]
Lebanon is still in the cross-hairs. Israel is searching for a justification or a pretext to launch another war against Lebanon......
Blitzkrieg in the Making
Tel Aviv has been mapping a large-scale blitzkrieg against Lebanon as a whole, which includes an immediate land invasion. [7] Just before the Israeli massacre in the Gaza Strip started, Israeli officials and generals had promised that no Lebanese village would be immune from the wrath of Israeli aerial bombardments, regardless of religion, sect, and/or political orientation. [8]
In substance, Tel Aviv has promised to totally destroy Lebanon. Israel has also confirmed that in any future war against Lebanon, the entire country rather than Hezbollah will be the target. In practice, this was already the case in 2006’s Israeli aerial attacks on Lebanon. [9]...... "
Real News Video: Israeli FM confronted at National Press Club
Journalists' microphones turned off when Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was challenged in Washington
"Just as Israel has bombed a hospital and a UN compound in Gaza, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni came to Washington, in the dying days of the Bush administration, to sign a new US-Israel agreement barring Hamas from rearming. Meeting with journalists, she had the right to say whatever she wanted about Israel's "war on terror", while paying lip service to civilian Palestinian victims. Journalists for their part were systematically prevented from asking legitimate questions. Pepe Escobar argues that when it comes to media supremacy, at least inside the US, Israel will accept nothing but the upper hand."
"Just as Israel has bombed a hospital and a UN compound in Gaza, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni came to Washington, in the dying days of the Bush administration, to sign a new US-Israel agreement barring Hamas from rearming. Meeting with journalists, she had the right to say whatever she wanted about Israel's "war on terror", while paying lip service to civilian Palestinian victims. Journalists for their part were systematically prevented from asking legitimate questions. Pepe Escobar argues that when it comes to media supremacy, at least inside the US, Israel will accept nothing but the upper hand."
Resistance Factions Cease Fire in Gaza, Give Israel Week to Withdraw
Al-Manar
"18/01/2009 Moussa Abu Marzuq, deputy of Hamas politburo Chief, announced a one-week truce to allow Israeli occupation troops to withdraw, in a speech on Syrian state television. "The Israeli enemy has failed in its bid to impose conditions. We in the Palestinian resistance movements announce a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and demand that enemy forces withdraw in a week and open all the border crossings to permit the entry of humanitarian aid and basic goods," Abu Marzuq said.
"We are ready to accept all efforts, particularly those of the Egyptians, Turks, Syrians and Qataris, to reach an agreement that meets our known demands, namely the lifting once and for all of the blockade and the opening of all the crossing points, including the Rafah crossing" between Gaza and Egypt.......
"18/01/2009 Moussa Abu Marzuq, deputy of Hamas politburo Chief, announced a one-week truce to allow Israeli occupation troops to withdraw, in a speech on Syrian state television. "The Israeli enemy has failed in its bid to impose conditions. We in the Palestinian resistance movements announce a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and demand that enemy forces withdraw in a week and open all the border crossings to permit the entry of humanitarian aid and basic goods," Abu Marzuq said.
"We are ready to accept all efforts, particularly those of the Egyptians, Turks, Syrians and Qataris, to reach an agreement that meets our known demands, namely the lifting once and for all of the blockade and the opening of all the crossing points, including the Rafah crossing" between Gaza and Egypt.......
Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas-affiliated parliament member, said "Israel failed in the war, did not achieve even one of its objectives and fled from the Strip. The age of quick, decisive wars, such as Israelis like, has disappeared."
"The resistance pushed back the attack and the enemy is forced to deal with continued rocket fire, continued threat from Hamas and no change regarding the issue of (kidnapped soldier Gilad) Shalit," he added.
Likewise, the spokesman for the Palestinian Resistance Committees (PRC) Abu Mujehad said that "the Zionist enemy fled. The rockets didn't stop. The organizations are alive and kicking and keep firing and operating and (captured Israeli occupation soldier Gilad) Shalit is still in our hands."
According to Mujehad, the additional victims discovered Sunday morning under the rubble in Gaza only demonstrates Palestinian suffering, not Israeli success. "If Israelis enjoy seeing hundreds of building destroyed and 1,200 civilians killed, then they can say that they won. But if we look at this from a military perspective, any small child understands that they didn't win, they were defeated. Our rocket arsenal exists, smuggling will not stop, the shooting capabilities of the organizations continue unabated," he said.
Mujehad confirmed that only a few dozens fighters had been killed in the war, adding, "We, in contrast to the enemy, don't hide casualties because shahids (martyrs) deserve a special funeral worthy of their holiness… Israelis, on the other hand, has turned hiding casualties into an art." "
"The resistance pushed back the attack and the enemy is forced to deal with continued rocket fire, continued threat from Hamas and no change regarding the issue of (kidnapped soldier Gilad) Shalit," he added.
Likewise, the spokesman for the Palestinian Resistance Committees (PRC) Abu Mujehad said that "the Zionist enemy fled. The rockets didn't stop. The organizations are alive and kicking and keep firing and operating and (captured Israeli occupation soldier Gilad) Shalit is still in our hands."
According to Mujehad, the additional victims discovered Sunday morning under the rubble in Gaza only demonstrates Palestinian suffering, not Israeli success. "If Israelis enjoy seeing hundreds of building destroyed and 1,200 civilians killed, then they can say that they won. But if we look at this from a military perspective, any small child understands that they didn't win, they were defeated. Our rocket arsenal exists, smuggling will not stop, the shooting capabilities of the organizations continue unabated," he said.
Mujehad confirmed that only a few dozens fighters had been killed in the war, adding, "We, in contrast to the enemy, don't hide casualties because shahids (martyrs) deserve a special funeral worthy of their holiness… Israelis, on the other hand, has turned hiding casualties into an art." "
Can Abbas survive after Gaza war?
Al-Jazeera
"Mouin Rabbani, a contributing editor to the Middle East Report magazine, talks to Al Jazeera about what Israel's war on Gaza means for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and his Fatah faction, and what its wider repercussions may be.
Q: If the Israeli bombardment stops, what will be the most prominent political battle for the Palestinians?
The most difficult battle that is going to be waged within the Palestinian political system once this war subsides is going to be Mahmoud Abbas's fight for political survival.
He has been under tremendous pressure and growing widespread criticism all along for the absolute failure of each and every one of his strategies since he assumed the presidency in November 2004...... "
Q: If the Israeli bombardment stops, what will be the most prominent political battle for the Palestinians?
The most difficult battle that is going to be waged within the Palestinian political system once this war subsides is going to be Mahmoud Abbas's fight for political survival.
He has been under tremendous pressure and growing widespread criticism all along for the absolute failure of each and every one of his strategies since he assumed the presidency in November 2004...... "
'Tungsten bombs' leave Israel's victims with mystery wounds
As it declares a unilateral ceasefire, Jerusalem faces a UN call for a war crimes investigation
By Raymond Whitaker
Sunday, 18 January 2009
The Independent
A Palestinian woman with severe facial injuries from a Dime bomb
"Israel was facing demands for war crimes investigations as it declared a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza last night after a 22-day assault in which more than 1,200 Palestinians, a third of them children, were killed and 13 Israelis died.
Two children were killed yesterday when Israeli tanks shelled a UN school in which families were sheltering, leading a UN spokesman, Chris Gunness, to say: "There has to be an investigation to determine whether a war crime has been committed.".....
...But among numerous allegations of disproportionate use of force, questions are also multiplying about the use of unconventional weapons by Israel, including a new type of bomb that causes injuries that doctors have not seen before, and which they find impossible to treat.......
.....the UN is not the only international body insisting that inquiries must be held as soon as possible into the tactics and weapons used by Israel. Erik Fosse, a Norwegian doctor who worked in Gaza's hospitals during the conflict, said that Israel was using so-called Dime (dense inert metal explosive) bombs designed to produce an intense explosion in a small space. The bombs are packed with tungsten powder, which has the effect of shrapnel but often dissolves in human tissue, making it difficult to discover the cause of injuries.
Dr Fosse said he had seen a number of patients with extensive injuries to their lower bodies. "It was as if they had stepped on a mine, but there was no shrapnel in the wounds," he said. "Some had lost their legs. It looked as though they had been sliced off. I have been to war zones for 30 years, but I have never seen such injuries before." However, the injuries matched photographs and descriptions in medical literature of the effects of Dime bombs.
"All the patients I saw had been hit by bombs fired from unmanned drones," said Dr Fosse, head of the Norwegian Aid Committee. "The bomb hit the ground near them and exploded." His colleague, Mads Gilbert, accused Israel of using the territory as a testing ground for a new, "extremely nasty" type of explosive. "This is a new generation of small explosive that detonates with extreme power and dissipates its power within a range of five to 10 metres," he said.......
While the loudest controversy has been over accusations that white phosphorus was illegally used, other foreign doctors working in Gaza have reported injuries they cannot explain. Professor Mohammed Sayed Khalifa, a cardiac consultant from Sudan, said that two of his patients had had uncontrollable bleeding. "One had a chest operation, and continued bleeding even after having been given large quantities of plasma," he said. "The other had what seemed to be a minor leg injury, but collapsed with profuse bleeding. Something was interfering with the clotting process. I have never seen such a thing before."
Dr Ahmed Almi, an Egyptian cardio-thoracic consultant at al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said he had seen a number of patients with inexplicable injuries. A boy of 14 had a small puncture wound in his head, but extensive damage to his brain, making it impossible to save his life. "I don't know the nature or type of these weapons that make a very small [entry wound] and go on and make massive destruction in the tissues," he said........"
By Raymond Whitaker
Sunday, 18 January 2009
The Independent
A Palestinian woman with severe facial injuries from a Dime bomb
"Israel was facing demands for war crimes investigations as it declared a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza last night after a 22-day assault in which more than 1,200 Palestinians, a third of them children, were killed and 13 Israelis died.
Two children were killed yesterday when Israeli tanks shelled a UN school in which families were sheltering, leading a UN spokesman, Chris Gunness, to say: "There has to be an investigation to determine whether a war crime has been committed.".....
...But among numerous allegations of disproportionate use of force, questions are also multiplying about the use of unconventional weapons by Israel, including a new type of bomb that causes injuries that doctors have not seen before, and which they find impossible to treat.......
.....the UN is not the only international body insisting that inquiries must be held as soon as possible into the tactics and weapons used by Israel. Erik Fosse, a Norwegian doctor who worked in Gaza's hospitals during the conflict, said that Israel was using so-called Dime (dense inert metal explosive) bombs designed to produce an intense explosion in a small space. The bombs are packed with tungsten powder, which has the effect of shrapnel but often dissolves in human tissue, making it difficult to discover the cause of injuries.
Dr Fosse said he had seen a number of patients with extensive injuries to their lower bodies. "It was as if they had stepped on a mine, but there was no shrapnel in the wounds," he said. "Some had lost their legs. It looked as though they had been sliced off. I have been to war zones for 30 years, but I have never seen such injuries before." However, the injuries matched photographs and descriptions in medical literature of the effects of Dime bombs.
"All the patients I saw had been hit by bombs fired from unmanned drones," said Dr Fosse, head of the Norwegian Aid Committee. "The bomb hit the ground near them and exploded." His colleague, Mads Gilbert, accused Israel of using the territory as a testing ground for a new, "extremely nasty" type of explosive. "This is a new generation of small explosive that detonates with extreme power and dissipates its power within a range of five to 10 metres," he said.......
While the loudest controversy has been over accusations that white phosphorus was illegally used, other foreign doctors working in Gaza have reported injuries they cannot explain. Professor Mohammed Sayed Khalifa, a cardiac consultant from Sudan, said that two of his patients had had uncontrollable bleeding. "One had a chest operation, and continued bleeding even after having been given large quantities of plasma," he said. "The other had what seemed to be a minor leg injury, but collapsed with profuse bleeding. Something was interfering with the clotting process. I have never seen such a thing before."
Dr Ahmed Almi, an Egyptian cardio-thoracic consultant at al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said he had seen a number of patients with inexplicable injuries. A boy of 14 had a small puncture wound in his head, but extensive damage to his brain, making it impossible to save his life. "I don't know the nature or type of these weapons that make a very small [entry wound] and go on and make massive destruction in the tissues," he said........"
A pointless war has led to a moral defeat for Israel
Editorial
The Observer, Sunday 18 January 2009
"In historical terms, it is impossible to separate Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza from the long narrative of conflict and mutual grievance in the region....
All of which makes it difficult to judge where - even if a unilateral Israeli ceasefire holds - the war really begins and ends.
That fact alone explains why the operation represents a defeat for Israel, as was always likely to be the outcome. The notion that the country's security problems can be resolved by the unilateral use of extreme force is a persistent delusion among Israeli politicians. In this case, the problem was perceived to be Hamas rocket fire into southern Israel; the solution was judged to be a war against Hamas. That analysis did not allow for the vital, humane recognition that, in densely populated Gaza, an all-out war against Hamas is, by necessity, an attack on the civilian population.
Even on its own terms, the campaign has failed. Israeli authorities will insist that they have limited the ability of Hamas to launch rocket attacks. But the ostensible war aim was destroying that capability completely.
Israel will also claim that its campaign has exposed a lack of support for Hamas in many Arab capitals; that Hamas' position as the ruling authority in Gaza has been undermined; and that Hamas has been revealed as little more than a terrorist proxy acting on behalf of and armed by Syria and Iran.
But the reality is that the status of Hamas as the preferred vehicle for Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation has been enhanced by the indiscriminate brutality of the military assault.....
Meanwhile, any increased consideration of Iranian or Syrian sponsorship of terrorism will pale against global outrage at the extraordinary disregard shown by Israeli forces for the lives of Palestinian civilians. It is quite possible, as the Observer today reports, that an Israeli withdrawal will reveal evidence of actions deserving indictment as war crimes. Those allegations must be independently investigated......."
The Observer, Sunday 18 January 2009
"In historical terms, it is impossible to separate Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza from the long narrative of conflict and mutual grievance in the region....
All of which makes it difficult to judge where - even if a unilateral Israeli ceasefire holds - the war really begins and ends.
That fact alone explains why the operation represents a defeat for Israel, as was always likely to be the outcome. The notion that the country's security problems can be resolved by the unilateral use of extreme force is a persistent delusion among Israeli politicians. In this case, the problem was perceived to be Hamas rocket fire into southern Israel; the solution was judged to be a war against Hamas. That analysis did not allow for the vital, humane recognition that, in densely populated Gaza, an all-out war against Hamas is, by necessity, an attack on the civilian population.
Even on its own terms, the campaign has failed. Israeli authorities will insist that they have limited the ability of Hamas to launch rocket attacks. But the ostensible war aim was destroying that capability completely.
Israel will also claim that its campaign has exposed a lack of support for Hamas in many Arab capitals; that Hamas' position as the ruling authority in Gaza has been undermined; and that Hamas has been revealed as little more than a terrorist proxy acting on behalf of and armed by Syria and Iran.
But the reality is that the status of Hamas as the preferred vehicle for Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation has been enhanced by the indiscriminate brutality of the military assault.....
Meanwhile, any increased consideration of Iranian or Syrian sponsorship of terrorism will pale against global outrage at the extraordinary disregard shown by Israeli forces for the lives of Palestinian civilians. It is quite possible, as the Observer today reports, that an Israeli withdrawal will reveal evidence of actions deserving indictment as war crimes. Those allegations must be independently investigated......."
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