Israel devastated the Strip's production capacity as well as destroying homes
By Donald Macintyre
The Independent
"Israeli forces used aerial bombing, tank shelling and armoured bulldozers to eliminate the productive capacity of some of Gaza's most important manufacturing plants during their 22 days of military action in the Gaza Strip. The attacks – like those which destroyed at least 4,000 homes, left some residential areas resembling an earthquake zone and more than 50,000 people in temporary shelters at their peak – destroyed or severely damaged 219 factories, Palestinian industrialists say.
Leaders of Gaza's business community – who have long stayed aloof from the different Palestinian political factions – say that much of the 3 per cent of industry still operating after the 18-month shutdown caused by Israel's economic siege has now been destroyed......"
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
ياسر عبد ربه : خطأ إسرائيلي فادح إيقاف حربها على غزة قبل تدمير حماس
"في لقاء خاص مع صحفيين في رام الله
ياسر عبد ربه: وقف إسرائيل الحرب على غزة خطأ كبير
واشنطن-محمد سعيد 24/1/2009
كشفت مصادر صحفية فلسطينية أن ياسر عبد ربه أحد كبار مساعدي رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس قال في لقاء خاص مع عدد من الصحفيين في رام الله يوم الخميس الماضي إن إسرائيل "ارتكبت خطأ كبيرا" بوقف عدوانها على قطاع غزة. وقالت هذه المصادر إن اللقاء عقد عقب المؤتمر الصحفي الذي عقده عبد ربه وهاجم فيه حركة حماس متهما إياها بأنها تسعى إلى إقامة ما سماه "إمارة ظلامية" و"كيان انفصالي" في قطاع غزة.
وقد أثار تصريح عبد ربه استغراب العديد من الصحفيين الذين حضروا اللقاء حيث طلب منهم عدم الإفصاح عن هويته والاكتفاء بالإشارة له كمسؤول فلسطيني كبير.
وقال عبد ربه "إن وقف الحرب بهذه الطريقة هو خطأ كبير، والحقيقة أن بقاء حماس في السلطة حتى الآن هو أمر سيء لنا جميعا."
واضاف عبد ربه أن قيادة السلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله قررت اتخاذ إجراءات قاسية جدا لإحباط أي محاولة من حماس لإثارة ما سماه اضطرابات في الضفة الغربية. وقال "لا يوجد مكان لزعران حماس في الضفة الغربية، ولن نسمح لحماس أن تحول الضفة الغربية إلى جمهورية إسلامية أخرى."
وقد تزامنت تصريحات عبد ربه مع قيام أجهزة أمن السلطة الفلسطينية بحملة اعتقالات في أوساط أنصار حماس في عدد من مدن الضفة الغربية، وخاصة في طولكرم والخليل، كما اشترطت هذه الأجهزة لقاء السماح بالقيام بمظاهرات تضامن مع قطاع غزة برفع أعلام حركة فتح وصور محمود عباس والهتاف بشعارات مؤيدة لهم. "
ياسر عبد ربه: وقف إسرائيل الحرب على غزة خطأ كبير
واشنطن-محمد سعيد 24/1/2009
كشفت مصادر صحفية فلسطينية أن ياسر عبد ربه أحد كبار مساعدي رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس قال في لقاء خاص مع عدد من الصحفيين في رام الله يوم الخميس الماضي إن إسرائيل "ارتكبت خطأ كبيرا" بوقف عدوانها على قطاع غزة. وقالت هذه المصادر إن اللقاء عقد عقب المؤتمر الصحفي الذي عقده عبد ربه وهاجم فيه حركة حماس متهما إياها بأنها تسعى إلى إقامة ما سماه "إمارة ظلامية" و"كيان انفصالي" في قطاع غزة.
وقد أثار تصريح عبد ربه استغراب العديد من الصحفيين الذين حضروا اللقاء حيث طلب منهم عدم الإفصاح عن هويته والاكتفاء بالإشارة له كمسؤول فلسطيني كبير.
وقال عبد ربه "إن وقف الحرب بهذه الطريقة هو خطأ كبير، والحقيقة أن بقاء حماس في السلطة حتى الآن هو أمر سيء لنا جميعا."
واضاف عبد ربه أن قيادة السلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله قررت اتخاذ إجراءات قاسية جدا لإحباط أي محاولة من حماس لإثارة ما سماه اضطرابات في الضفة الغربية. وقال "لا يوجد مكان لزعران حماس في الضفة الغربية، ولن نسمح لحماس أن تحول الضفة الغربية إلى جمهورية إسلامية أخرى."
وقد تزامنت تصريحات عبد ربه مع قيام أجهزة أمن السلطة الفلسطينية بحملة اعتقالات في أوساط أنصار حماس في عدد من مدن الضفة الغربية، وخاصة في طولكرم والخليل، كما اشترطت هذه الأجهزة لقاء السماح بالقيام بمظاهرات تضامن مع قطاع غزة برفع أعلام حركة فتح وصور محمود عباس والهتاف بشعارات مؤيدة لهم. "
Video: Mark Regev On The Ropes (War Crimes)
Contributed by Irish Eyes
"Jon Snow, top news guy at channel 4 interviews Mr Mark Regev, the Israeli government spokesperson. This about weapons used in civilian areas that contravene Customary International Humanitarian Law."
"Jon Snow, top news guy at channel 4 interviews Mr Mark Regev, the Israeli government spokesperson. This about weapons used in civilian areas that contravene Customary International Humanitarian Law."
Real News Video: White phosphorus in Gaza: the victims
Guardian: A look at the severity of injuries caused by the use of white phospherus
Real News Video: Evidence of white phosphorus in Gaza
Guardian: Footage filmed in the village of Khoza'a shows an unidentified incendiary substance
Obama's Inauspicious Beginning
By Khalid Amayreh
Palestine Think Tank
"......I know it is premature to judge the man since he has been only a few days in the White House. However, the signs are not very encouraging.
Obama has refrained from denouncing the recent Nazi-like crimes committed by the Zio-Nazi state in the Gaza Strip. Obama spoke elaborately about Israel’s right to defend itself, but said absolutely nothing about the Palestinian people’s right to defend themselves.
He cited the “thousands of rockets” that Hamas fired on Israel, but completely ignored the cruel and deadly aggressions Israel has been carrying out against an imprisoned people languishing under a manifestly criminal siege that has striking similarities with the German siege of Ghetto Warsaw during the Second World War.
Obama said the Palestinians needed food, clean water and basic medical care. However, he carefully refrained from uttering the word “freedom.” That was really mind-boggling, even shocking.
Well, Mr. Obama, are you betraying your own history? Your own Afro-American people’s struggle for freedom and justice? Besides, what happened to “give me freedom or give me death”? Indeed, have you come to think that certain classes of people, the Untermenschen, don’t deserve freedom or can live without it?........"
Palestine Think Tank
"......I know it is premature to judge the man since he has been only a few days in the White House. However, the signs are not very encouraging.
Obama has refrained from denouncing the recent Nazi-like crimes committed by the Zio-Nazi state in the Gaza Strip. Obama spoke elaborately about Israel’s right to defend itself, but said absolutely nothing about the Palestinian people’s right to defend themselves.
He cited the “thousands of rockets” that Hamas fired on Israel, but completely ignored the cruel and deadly aggressions Israel has been carrying out against an imprisoned people languishing under a manifestly criminal siege that has striking similarities with the German siege of Ghetto Warsaw during the Second World War.
Obama said the Palestinians needed food, clean water and basic medical care. However, he carefully refrained from uttering the word “freedom.” That was really mind-boggling, even shocking.
Well, Mr. Obama, are you betraying your own history? Your own Afro-American people’s struggle for freedom and justice? Besides, what happened to “give me freedom or give me death”? Indeed, have you come to think that certain classes of people, the Untermenschen, don’t deserve freedom or can live without it?........"
'They kept us out of Gaza and Israeli officials spun the war'
Frustrated in his effort to cover the conflict, Dominic Waghorn says the press controls backfired
The Independent
via Norman G. Finkelstein
"For three and a half weeks I have covered a war, if we can call it that, from a distance – for much of the time standing on a van. I did so because the Israeli government operated the most draconian press controls in the history of modern warfare during its offensive on Gaza. A strip of land 25 miles long, with one and a half million people living through bombardment and a humanitarian crisis, was closed to journalists......
There were only one or two places where we were allowed to film live that had a view of Gaza. We nicknamed one the Hill of Shame, a mound a mile or two outside the northernmost tip of Gaza. On it was camped a circus of news crews more than 100 strong. On weekends, Israeli war tourists – there is no other way to describe them – joined the scene, cheering the large explosions in the distance. I wondered how Israelis would view Palestinians doing the same. And during the week, a constant parade of Israeli experts and officials was on hand to spin the way they wanted us to view the war......
We all know TV news is at its most powerful when you think, "what if that was me, or my wife, or my child?" At that point you connect emotionally – when you realise what you are watching is happening to real people......
Other conflicts are censored too but the excuses given for keeping us out of Gaza don't stand up to scrutiny. Journalists and the Israeli terminal crossing staff have been in danger from mortar fire for years now, but our joint safety only became an excuse to close the border in the run-up to this offensive. Besides, when the crossings were open for humanitarian reasons, we still weren't allowed in.
The media control seems to have been a calculation made at the highest level in the Israeli government. We would do more harm reporting what was going on in Gaza than we would left outside complaining about restrictions on our press freedom.....
....And Israel's attitude has become a story. The country has been compared to the likes of China, Zimbabwe and Burma in the way it blocked efforts to report the humanitarian crisis in Gaza....
....Now we have been allowed into Gaza, we are feeding a pent-up demand for information, and the stories of alleged war crimes and atrocities are reinforcing the allegations of a cover- up.
When the Israelis review their policy in the long term, they may well conclude it was an own goal. The accusation they most frequently level at foreign journalists is that we distort the truth to give a biased view. Well for three weeks they have manipulated the way the world has viewed an event of enormous significance. What staggering hypocrisy. "
via Norman G. Finkelstein
"For three and a half weeks I have covered a war, if we can call it that, from a distance – for much of the time standing on a van. I did so because the Israeli government operated the most draconian press controls in the history of modern warfare during its offensive on Gaza. A strip of land 25 miles long, with one and a half million people living through bombardment and a humanitarian crisis, was closed to journalists......
There were only one or two places where we were allowed to film live that had a view of Gaza. We nicknamed one the Hill of Shame, a mound a mile or two outside the northernmost tip of Gaza. On it was camped a circus of news crews more than 100 strong. On weekends, Israeli war tourists – there is no other way to describe them – joined the scene, cheering the large explosions in the distance. I wondered how Israelis would view Palestinians doing the same. And during the week, a constant parade of Israeli experts and officials was on hand to spin the way they wanted us to view the war......
We all know TV news is at its most powerful when you think, "what if that was me, or my wife, or my child?" At that point you connect emotionally – when you realise what you are watching is happening to real people......
Other conflicts are censored too but the excuses given for keeping us out of Gaza don't stand up to scrutiny. Journalists and the Israeli terminal crossing staff have been in danger from mortar fire for years now, but our joint safety only became an excuse to close the border in the run-up to this offensive. Besides, when the crossings were open for humanitarian reasons, we still weren't allowed in.
The media control seems to have been a calculation made at the highest level in the Israeli government. We would do more harm reporting what was going on in Gaza than we would left outside complaining about restrictions on our press freedom.....
....And Israel's attitude has become a story. The country has been compared to the likes of China, Zimbabwe and Burma in the way it blocked efforts to report the humanitarian crisis in Gaza....
....Now we have been allowed into Gaza, we are feeding a pent-up demand for information, and the stories of alleged war crimes and atrocities are reinforcing the allegations of a cover- up.
When the Israelis review their policy in the long term, they may well conclude it was an own goal. The accusation they most frequently level at foreign journalists is that we distort the truth to give a biased view. Well for three weeks they have manipulated the way the world has viewed an event of enormous significance. What staggering hypocrisy. "
Unexploded Bombs Hold More Deaths
By Erin Cunningham
"GAZA CITY, Jan 24 (IPS) - At first the 44 children that live in the Zani family home in Beit Hanoun were wary of the unexploded F-16 rocket whose tail has protruded menacingly from their garden since it landed in the first week of the Israeli assault on Gaza. Now, they have grown used it - playing excitedly near it and even building fires next to it, a relative says.....
an unknown number of unexploded munitions threaten to set off another wave of maiming and killing in the impoverished Palestinian territory.
Bombs, tank shells, rockets and missiles were left by the departing Israeli army across Gaza, and present a "major threat" to its civilian population, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement this week.
Because Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world - hosting 1.5 million people in an area just 40 kilometres long and 10 kilometres wide - the danger that the unexploded munitions will continue to kill is particularly great, says the ICRC.
Two children were killed Tuesday by previously unexploded ordnance in Shaaf, east of Gaza City.
The ICRC brought in two ordnance weapons experts Friday to assess how many unexploded munitions there are and where they are located.
"School is starting again and the children will be out on the streets," said ICRC spokesperson in Gaza Iyad Nasr. "If the assessment does not start quickly and we don't figure out where the weapons are, we will have a very tragic situation on our hands."......"
"GAZA CITY, Jan 24 (IPS) - At first the 44 children that live in the Zani family home in Beit Hanoun were wary of the unexploded F-16 rocket whose tail has protruded menacingly from their garden since it landed in the first week of the Israeli assault on Gaza. Now, they have grown used it - playing excitedly near it and even building fires next to it, a relative says.....
an unknown number of unexploded munitions threaten to set off another wave of maiming and killing in the impoverished Palestinian territory.
Bombs, tank shells, rockets and missiles were left by the departing Israeli army across Gaza, and present a "major threat" to its civilian population, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement this week.
Because Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world - hosting 1.5 million people in an area just 40 kilometres long and 10 kilometres wide - the danger that the unexploded munitions will continue to kill is particularly great, says the ICRC.
Two children were killed Tuesday by previously unexploded ordnance in Shaaf, east of Gaza City.
The ICRC brought in two ordnance weapons experts Friday to assess how many unexploded munitions there are and where they are located.
"School is starting again and the children will be out on the streets," said ICRC spokesperson in Gaza Iyad Nasr. "If the assessment does not start quickly and we don't figure out where the weapons are, we will have a very tragic situation on our hands."......"
Why the BBC is wrong over the Gaza appeal
Editorial
The Observer, Sunday 25 January 2009
"That the population of Gaza is experiencing a humanitarian crisis is a matter of fact, not political hypothesis. That the crisis follows directly as a result of action by the Israeli Defence Force is also hardly a matter for speculation. On what grounds then, might the BBC judge a charitable appeal on behalf of the people of Gaza to be politically partisan?......
An alternative interpretation, and one that is ultimately much more damaging to the BBC's reputation, is that any humanitarian intervention in Gaza, by definition, expresses a political position in the long-running conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. In other words, collecting charity for Palestinians is a kind of hostility to Israel.
By that logic, there can never be victims in a war zone, even among civilians, since to designate anyone as such would offend one of the combatant sides. That is patently absurd and inhumane......"
The Observer, Sunday 25 January 2009
"That the population of Gaza is experiencing a humanitarian crisis is a matter of fact, not political hypothesis. That the crisis follows directly as a result of action by the Israeli Defence Force is also hardly a matter for speculation. On what grounds then, might the BBC judge a charitable appeal on behalf of the people of Gaza to be politically partisan?......
An alternative interpretation, and one that is ultimately much more damaging to the BBC's reputation, is that any humanitarian intervention in Gaza, by definition, expresses a political position in the long-running conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. In other words, collecting charity for Palestinians is a kind of hostility to Israel.
By that logic, there can never be victims in a war zone, even among civilians, since to designate anyone as such would offend one of the combatant sides. That is patently absurd and inhumane......"
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Eyewitness in Gaza: Yesterday and Tomorrow
By Ewa Jasiewicz – Gaza
(Ewa Jasiewicz is an experienced journalist, community and union organizer, and solidarity worker. She is currently Gaza Project Co-coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement (www.FreeGaza.org))
Palestine Chronicle
"We're like trees, we have our roots and they allow us to grow, little by little, we grow up and then they cut us down. But, whatever they throw at us, whatever they do to us, we are still here and we will still be here – Om Bassim, Jabaliya Camp, January 2009.
'Our Home'
At the beginning of this war, when the bombs first started falling intensively, I remember lying on a mattress, late at night, I don’t remember where, maybe in Beit Hanoun hospital, maybe in Beit Lahiya. As I slipped into sleep, I could hear explosions, thuds, one after the other, some near, some distant, some to our east, to our west, again and again. In my semi-consciousness I felt they were all going off in my house, in my home, that the bombs were exploding in different rooms, upstairs, downstairs, next door, under me, over me. I didn't feel fear, I felt a closeness, a holding together. Maybe it was a consequence of Gaza being an incarcerated space, a walled camp, so small and close-knit, a prison, but also, a house, a home, with families in every part, every corner, every room, a community of relatives from north to south, every explosion and massacre felt acutely, felt intimately as if it had happened to ones own family, in the home, this home......."
(Ewa Jasiewicz is an experienced journalist, community and union organizer, and solidarity worker. She is currently Gaza Project Co-coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement (www.FreeGaza.org))
Palestine Chronicle
"We're like trees, we have our roots and they allow us to grow, little by little, we grow up and then they cut us down. But, whatever they throw at us, whatever they do to us, we are still here and we will still be here – Om Bassim, Jabaliya Camp, January 2009.
'Our Home'
At the beginning of this war, when the bombs first started falling intensively, I remember lying on a mattress, late at night, I don’t remember where, maybe in Beit Hanoun hospital, maybe in Beit Lahiya. As I slipped into sleep, I could hear explosions, thuds, one after the other, some near, some distant, some to our east, to our west, again and again. In my semi-consciousness I felt they were all going off in my house, in my home, that the bombs were exploding in different rooms, upstairs, downstairs, next door, under me, over me. I didn't feel fear, I felt a closeness, a holding together. Maybe it was a consequence of Gaza being an incarcerated space, a walled camp, so small and close-knit, a prison, but also, a house, a home, with families in every part, every corner, every room, a community of relatives from north to south, every explosion and massacre felt acutely, felt intimately as if it had happened to ones own family, in the home, this home......."
Amnesty International Calls on Israel to Urgently Disclose Weapons and Munitions Used in Gaza
Doctors Are Having Difficulty Treating Wounded with Unexplained Charred and Severed Limbs
Amnesty International Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
"(New York) -- Saying doctors are finding new and unexplained patterns of injury among the wounded in Gaza, Amnesty International today called on the Israeli authorities to urgently disclose all weapons and munitions their forces used during military operations to prevent the loss of more lives.
"It is vital and urgent that the Israeli authorities disclose all relevant information including what weapons and munitions they used," said Donatella Rovera, who is leading Amnesty International's investigations team in Gaza. "More lives must not be lost because doctors do not know what caused their patients' injuries and what medical complications may occur. They have to be fully informed so that they can provide life-saving care."........ "
Amnesty International Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
"(New York) -- Saying doctors are finding new and unexplained patterns of injury among the wounded in Gaza, Amnesty International today called on the Israeli authorities to urgently disclose all weapons and munitions their forces used during military operations to prevent the loss of more lives.
"It is vital and urgent that the Israeli authorities disclose all relevant information including what weapons and munitions they used," said Donatella Rovera, who is leading Amnesty International's investigations team in Gaza. "More lives must not be lost because doctors do not know what caused their patients' injuries and what medical complications may occur. They have to be fully informed so that they can provide life-saving care."........ "
Photos of destruction of the Red Crescent hospital in Tel el-Hawa, Gaza
01.21.2009
From Prof. Abdelwahed
Department of English
Faculty of Arts & Humanities
Al-Azhar University of Gaza
Click here for more shocking photos of the deliberate bombing of a HOSPITAL!
Assad Congratulates Palestinians on Gaza Victory
Al-Manar
"24/01/2009 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad congratulated Hamas politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal on the Islamic resistance movement's victory over Israel in Gaza at a meeting in Damascus on Saturday, official media said. Assad "congratulated the Palestinian people on the victory scored by the resistance in the Gaza Strip," the official SANA news agency said......"
COMMENT: Is that not the same Assad who was, until a few weeks ago, "negotiating" indirectly with Olmert through the good offices of the Turkish government? Was he not the same Assad who called for "direct negotiations" with the terrorist state? Was he not the same Assad who confidently predicted that Israel would return the Golan back to him?
Now he congratulates the Palestinians. Before, and after Israel's humiliating defeat by Hizbullah in 2006, he congratulated Hizbullah and the Lebanese. When is he going to stop being a cheerleader for others and try to put up a fight to regain the Golan?
Oh, I forgot: he is the head of a despised regime and Arab regimes are not known for their performance in fights with Israel. After all, the Syrian regime lost the Golan when it was beaten, together with the Egyptian and Jordanian regimes, in just 6 days in 1967!
We should never lose sight of the nature of Arab regimes and their mendacity, Assad's included.
Gaza Needs Many Years to Heal
by Dr. Mona El-Farra
Common Dreams
"I am still in Cairo. With a sad heart I am watching home from a distance. The hardest days were when I went to the Rafah Crossing point. I was only one kilometer away from Gaza, but could not enter. I was told that as a Palestinian with dual nationality, I can get in but not out.
Common Dreams
"I am still in Cairo. With a sad heart I am watching home from a distance. The hardest days were when I went to the Rafah Crossing point. I was only one kilometer away from Gaza, but could not enter. I was told that as a Palestinian with dual nationality, I can get in but not out.
While at the border I was greatly touched by the expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people. I met doctors from Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt, Greece, Turkey and many other countries who came to help the people of Gaza in defiance of Israel's savage attacks on children, women, and men. We must all work on continuing and expanding these solidarity efforts on different levels. We cannot let Israel get away with its crimes against humanity in Gaza.
I want to thank you all for your solidarity as well as for your practical support. Whether you donated one pound or thousands of pounds, your support and your continuous protests let the people of Gaza feel that they are not alone and will never be forgotten.
I am still in daily contact with friends, relatives, and fellow doctors back home. And I conveyed to them your messages of support and solidarity. I also visited dozens of the injured who were transferred to Egyptian hospitals. They are in great need of rehabilitation after their wounds heal.
I want to share the results of the concrete support for Gaza that the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) delivered:
3 ambulances
20 tons of medicine
30 tons of powdered milk and fortified baby cereal
50 wheelchairs
Thousands of coloring books and crayons for kids
Thousands of meals handed-delivered daily to displaced families taking shelter at UN schools
3 ambulances
20 tons of medicine
30 tons of powdered milk and fortified baby cereal
50 wheelchairs
Thousands of coloring books and crayons for kids
Thousands of meals handed-delivered daily to displaced families taking shelter at UN schools
I thank you all, with a special thank you for the teams of volunteers in different areas of Gaza who worked under fire to meet the needs of our community, and for the emergency workers who worked tirelessly to reach the injured and dead. Time is gold in saving lives but Israel deliberately delayed and shot at emergency vehicles leading to the death of 15 emergency workers and countless Gazans.
The 22 days of Israeli attacks on Gaza was just one episode in a long line of catastrophes for Palestinians. Our struggle for justice and freedom continues.
To help MECA send more medical aid to Gaza for thousands of sick and injured people living under siege, visit http://www.mecaforpeace.org/....."
"The Incendiary IDF"
The Israel Defense Forces use phosphorous shells--and forfeit credibility.
by Kenneth Roth
Human Rights Watch
"Throughout the recent war in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) insisted that it took extraordinary care to spare civilians. But it then prevented journalists and human rights monitors from entering Gaza during the conflict to independently verify this claim.
Now that Human Rights Watch and other observers have been let in, it has become clear that hundreds of Palestinian civilians were not the only casualties of the fighting. So was the credibility of the IDF......
Awful as it is to have white phosphorous raining down on you, the IDF probably caused more civilian casualties with its use of 155 mm high-explosive artillery shells in Gaza. These weapons can injure civilians from blast and fragmentation over an area with a radius of as much as 300 meters. That's roughly the equivalent of taking three football fields, lining them end to end and then rotating them around the point of the shell's impact. In the densely populated residential areas of Gaza, where Human Rights Watch saw these shells used on Jan. 15, they can cause extensive civilian casualties. Such use clearly violates the laws-of-war prohibition of indiscriminate attacks because the shells strike military targets and civilians without distinction........"
by Kenneth Roth
Human Rights Watch
"Throughout the recent war in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) insisted that it took extraordinary care to spare civilians. But it then prevented journalists and human rights monitors from entering Gaza during the conflict to independently verify this claim.
Now that Human Rights Watch and other observers have been let in, it has become clear that hundreds of Palestinian civilians were not the only casualties of the fighting. So was the credibility of the IDF......
Awful as it is to have white phosphorous raining down on you, the IDF probably caused more civilian casualties with its use of 155 mm high-explosive artillery shells in Gaza. These weapons can injure civilians from blast and fragmentation over an area with a radius of as much as 300 meters. That's roughly the equivalent of taking three football fields, lining them end to end and then rotating them around the point of the shell's impact. In the densely populated residential areas of Gaza, where Human Rights Watch saw these shells used on Jan. 15, they can cause extensive civilian casualties. Such use clearly violates the laws-of-war prohibition of indiscriminate attacks because the shells strike military targets and civilians without distinction........"
Al-Jazeera Video: UN struggles to house displaced after Gaza war - 24 Jan 09
"Israel has rejected international calls to fully reopen border crossings into Gaza, delaying the massive task of reconstruction on the strip.
That's adding to the woes of the tens of thousands of displaced people.
Zeina Awad reports from Gaza City."
Al-Jazeera Video: BBC spurns Gaza appeal - 23 Jan 09
"The British Broadcasting Corporation is defending its decision not to air a fund-raising appeal for the victims of the Gaza crisis. The televised appeal would be for the Disasters Emergency Committee, an organisation which represents a number of aid agencies. But, the broadcaster says it does not want to compromise public confidence in its impartiality. Al Jazeera's Fergal Parkinson reports. "
Al-Jazeera Video: Doctors struggle to treat Gaza victims - 23 Jan 2009
"Promiment human rights groups have been blaming Israeli army tactics for the difficulty that doctors in Gaza are having in treating their patients.
Al Jazeera's Todd Baer reports from Khan Younis where doctors believe that illegal chemical weapons were behind some injuries. "
A Must See Video: Unseen Gaza High Quality
A MUST SEE VIDEO
Contributed by Lisette
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Part 5:
Part 6:
"Source Channel 4, televised on 22.01.09 on Channel 4 11:05pm. This shows a truer picture of the Massacres, Carnage and Terrorist War-Crimes by the IMF (Israeli Murder Force), that they tried to hide by disallowing Foreign Journalists into Gaza!!! But the TRUTH ALWAYS COMES OUT THANK GOD!!! "
Contributed by Lisette
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Part 5:
Part 6:
"Source Channel 4, televised on 22.01.09 on Channel 4 11:05pm. This shows a truer picture of the Massacres, Carnage and Terrorist War-Crimes by the IMF (Israeli Murder Force), that they tried to hide by disallowing Foreign Journalists into Gaza!!! But the TRUTH ALWAYS COMES OUT THANK GOD!!! "
The Pharaoh Ehud Mubarak, A Partner in the Gaza Genocide
Egypt 'Not Bound' by Anti-Smuggling Pact
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
(Click on cartoon by Carlos Latuff to enlarge)
"CAIRO, Jan 24 (IPS) - The U.S. and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding last week ostensibly aimed at combating arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip. Egypt, however, which shares a 14-kilometre border with the embattled territory, rejected the accord as an infringement on its national sovereignty [COMMENT: Do not believe this "rejection" by the Pharaoh. This is just a smokescreen to hide behind. He is fully on board with USrael to keep the Gaza ghetto sealed and the genocide going!].
"Egypt was not even a signatory to this document," Tarek Fahmi, political science professor at Cairo University and head of the Israel desk at the Cairo-based National Centre for Middle East Studies, told IPS. "Egypt is not obliged to follow security procedures arranged behind its back."
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlines general procedures aimed at stopping weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip. The strip, governed by Palestinian resistance faction Hamas since 2007, was recently the target of a devastating, three-week-long Israeli military campaign that ended Jan. 17.
Signed in Washington by outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the accord notes that "securing Gaza's border is indispensable to realising a durable and sustainable end to fighting in Gaza." With this stated aim, the document commits Washington to "accelerate its efforts to provide logistical and technical assistance and to train and equip regional security forces in counter-smuggling tactics."......
According to Fahmi, any new security arrangement on the border would require formal changes to the 1979 Egypt-Israel Camp David peace agreement. "But in the past, when Egypt wanted to modify the agreement to allow it to increase its border forces, Israel has adamantly refused," he said.
The Camp David protocols stipulate that Egypt can deploy no more than 750 border police on its borders with Israel and the Gaza Strip.......
According to a "senior Israeli political source" quoted by Ha'aretz, the number of Egyptian police on the border with Gaza could be tripled to reach a total of 2,250. But it remains unclear, the newspaper added, whether new border procedures would entail an amendment of the Camp David protocols or would merely represent a "tacit agreement" between the two countries."
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
(Click on cartoon by Carlos Latuff to enlarge)
"CAIRO, Jan 24 (IPS) - The U.S. and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding last week ostensibly aimed at combating arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip. Egypt, however, which shares a 14-kilometre border with the embattled territory, rejected the accord as an infringement on its national sovereignty [COMMENT: Do not believe this "rejection" by the Pharaoh. This is just a smokescreen to hide behind. He is fully on board with USrael to keep the Gaza ghetto sealed and the genocide going!].
"Egypt was not even a signatory to this document," Tarek Fahmi, political science professor at Cairo University and head of the Israel desk at the Cairo-based National Centre for Middle East Studies, told IPS. "Egypt is not obliged to follow security procedures arranged behind its back."
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlines general procedures aimed at stopping weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip. The strip, governed by Palestinian resistance faction Hamas since 2007, was recently the target of a devastating, three-week-long Israeli military campaign that ended Jan. 17.
Signed in Washington by outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the accord notes that "securing Gaza's border is indispensable to realising a durable and sustainable end to fighting in Gaza." With this stated aim, the document commits Washington to "accelerate its efforts to provide logistical and technical assistance and to train and equip regional security forces in counter-smuggling tactics."......
According to Fahmi, any new security arrangement on the border would require formal changes to the 1979 Egypt-Israel Camp David peace agreement. "But in the past, when Egypt wanted to modify the agreement to allow it to increase its border forces, Israel has adamantly refused," he said.
The Camp David protocols stipulate that Egypt can deploy no more than 750 border police on its borders with Israel and the Gaza Strip.......
According to a "senior Israeli political source" quoted by Ha'aretz, the number of Egyptian police on the border with Gaza could be tripled to reach a total of 2,250. But it remains unclear, the newspaper added, whether new border procedures would entail an amendment of the Camp David protocols or would merely represent a "tacit agreement" between the two countries."
Plots, sense and nonsense: the view from the post bag
By Robert Fisk
"....First, here's reader Jack Hyde tipping me off about a possible (real) reason behind Israel's bloodletting in Gaza. He encloses a paper by University of Ottawa economist Michel Chossudovsky (COMMENT: This article was posted here, on Palestinian Pundit on January 8.) who says that "the military intervention of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves". It's not exactly The Plot. But it's something that Obama and his lads and lasses may need to study in the next few days.
For according to Chossudovsky, British Gas and its partner, the Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company – owned, apparently, by two Lebanese families – were granted 25-year oil and exploration rights off the Gaza coast by Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority in 1999. About 60 per cent of reserves along the Gaza-Israel coastline belong to "Palestine" (wherever that is these days).
But since the Hamas election victory in 2006 and its coup in Gaza in 2007, the Hamas government has been by-passed, even though poor old "President" Mahmoud Abbas, marooned in the West Bank, can only glimpse the Mediterranean from a hill near Jenin. Many negotiations later – and after Israeli "defence" officials claimed that the Palestinians could be paid only in goods and chattels for their gas rather than cash which might go to the dreaded Hamas – there was a proposed agreement under which Palestinian gas from Gaza wells would be channelled via undersea pipelines to the Israeli port of Ashkelon, thus transferring the control of gas sales to Israel. British Gas withdrew from these talks in December 2007.
But in June of 2008 – when, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz, Israel began its invasion plans for Gaza – Israel suddenly asked British Gas to resume talks. And, so says Chossudovsky, negotiations began again for the purchase of natural gas from the Gaza offshore fields. Israeli tanks have now driven out of the Gaza Strip, but Israeli naval vessels still control the coast and there's an obvious question: if the Israelis can continue to violate international law by seizing Palestinian land in the West Bank, why cannot they seize the sovereignty of Palestinian gas fields off Gaza? If Israel can annex Jerusalem, why not annex Gaza's maritime areas?......"
"....First, here's reader Jack Hyde tipping me off about a possible (real) reason behind Israel's bloodletting in Gaza. He encloses a paper by University of Ottawa economist Michel Chossudovsky (COMMENT: This article was posted here, on Palestinian Pundit on January 8.) who says that "the military intervention of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves". It's not exactly The Plot. But it's something that Obama and his lads and lasses may need to study in the next few days.
For according to Chossudovsky, British Gas and its partner, the Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company – owned, apparently, by two Lebanese families – were granted 25-year oil and exploration rights off the Gaza coast by Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority in 1999. About 60 per cent of reserves along the Gaza-Israel coastline belong to "Palestine" (wherever that is these days).
But since the Hamas election victory in 2006 and its coup in Gaza in 2007, the Hamas government has been by-passed, even though poor old "President" Mahmoud Abbas, marooned in the West Bank, can only glimpse the Mediterranean from a hill near Jenin. Many negotiations later – and after Israeli "defence" officials claimed that the Palestinians could be paid only in goods and chattels for their gas rather than cash which might go to the dreaded Hamas – there was a proposed agreement under which Palestinian gas from Gaza wells would be channelled via undersea pipelines to the Israeli port of Ashkelon, thus transferring the control of gas sales to Israel. British Gas withdrew from these talks in December 2007.
But in June of 2008 – when, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz, Israel began its invasion plans for Gaza – Israel suddenly asked British Gas to resume talks. And, so says Chossudovsky, negotiations began again for the purchase of natural gas from the Gaza offshore fields. Israeli tanks have now driven out of the Gaza Strip, but Israeli naval vessels still control the coast and there's an obvious question: if the Israelis can continue to violate international law by seizing Palestinian land in the West Bank, why cannot they seize the sovereignty of Palestinian gas fields off Gaza? If Israel can annex Jerusalem, why not annex Gaza's maritime areas?......"
Benn accuses BBC of betrayal over Gaza appeal
The Independent
"Veteran politician Tony Ben accused the BBC today of a "betrayal" of its public service obligations following its decision not to broadcast a public appeal for funds for Gaza.
Having spoken on the Today programme, he will address a pro-Palestine rally called by the Stop the War coalition outside Broadcasting House in central London.
The former Labour MP and Stop the War president will say: "The decision of the BBC to refuse to broadcast a national humanitarian appeal for Gaza, which has left aid agencies with a potential shortfall of millions of pounds in donations, is a betrayal of the obligation which it owes as a public service.
"The destruction in Gaza, and the loss of the lives of over a thousand civilians and children, has shocked the world as Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki Moon, made clear, when he saw the devastation for himself.
"The human suffering that the people of Gaza have experienced over the last few weeks has appalled people who have seen it for themselves on their television screens.
"To deny the help that the aid agencies and the UN need at this moment in time is incomprehensible and it follows the bias in BBC reporting of this crisis, which has been widely criticised......"
"Veteran politician Tony Ben accused the BBC today of a "betrayal" of its public service obligations following its decision not to broadcast a public appeal for funds for Gaza.
Having spoken on the Today programme, he will address a pro-Palestine rally called by the Stop the War coalition outside Broadcasting House in central London.
The former Labour MP and Stop the War president will say: "The decision of the BBC to refuse to broadcast a national humanitarian appeal for Gaza, which has left aid agencies with a potential shortfall of millions of pounds in donations, is a betrayal of the obligation which it owes as a public service.
"The destruction in Gaza, and the loss of the lives of over a thousand civilians and children, has shocked the world as Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki Moon, made clear, when he saw the devastation for himself.
"The human suffering that the people of Gaza have experienced over the last few weeks has appalled people who have seen it for themselves on their television screens.
"To deny the help that the aid agencies and the UN need at this moment in time is incomprehensible and it follows the bias in BBC reporting of this crisis, which has been widely criticised......"
In praise of… the Disasters Emergency Committee
Broadcasters are wrong to boycott the Gaza appeal
Editorial
guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 January 2009 15.13 GMT
""No politics. No boundaries. Send us money now. We'll rush your aid to the people of Vietnam," the Disasters Emergency Committee appealed in 1967, courtesy of a broadcast carried by the BBC, presented by Peter Snow. It did not judge the rights and wrongs of the conflict, or promise that aid would only reach those to the north or south of the border that then divided the country. It simply made the point that desperate people needed help. What was true of Vietnam then is true of Gaza today, which makes it all the more unfortunate that for the first time in 43 years a DEC appeal has been launched without the support of Britain's major broadcasters. The BBC's lame excuse yesterday – that it wants to "avoid any risk of compromising public confidence in the BBC's impartiality in the context of an ongoing news story" – could of course have applied to Vietnam 30 years ago, or any number of appeals since then. Broadcasters supported the DEC's call for public help in Sudan, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the first Gulf war and in Lebanon in 1982. What has changed now? The committee, which brings together 13 UK charities including the British Red Cross and Oxfam, decided to act this week because in Gaza its three criteria have been met: aid is needed, aid can be delivered and the public want to help. The DEC, which says it "regrets" the broadcasters' refusal, is pressing ahead regardless. Anyone who wants to donate to its appeal should call 0370 60 60 900 or visit www.dec.org.uk."
Editorial
guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 January 2009 15.13 GMT
""No politics. No boundaries. Send us money now. We'll rush your aid to the people of Vietnam," the Disasters Emergency Committee appealed in 1967, courtesy of a broadcast carried by the BBC, presented by Peter Snow. It did not judge the rights and wrongs of the conflict, or promise that aid would only reach those to the north or south of the border that then divided the country. It simply made the point that desperate people needed help. What was true of Vietnam then is true of Gaza today, which makes it all the more unfortunate that for the first time in 43 years a DEC appeal has been launched without the support of Britain's major broadcasters. The BBC's lame excuse yesterday – that it wants to "avoid any risk of compromising public confidence in the BBC's impartiality in the context of an ongoing news story" – could of course have applied to Vietnam 30 years ago, or any number of appeals since then. Broadcasters supported the DEC's call for public help in Sudan, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the first Gulf war and in Lebanon in 1982. What has changed now? The committee, which brings together 13 UK charities including the British Red Cross and Oxfam, decided to act this week because in Gaza its three criteria have been met: aid is needed, aid can be delivered and the public want to help. The DEC, which says it "regrets" the broadcasters' refusal, is pressing ahead regardless. Anyone who wants to donate to its appeal should call 0370 60 60 900 or visit www.dec.org.uk."
Guardian Video: War on Gaza – the aftermath
Residents of Jabaliya refugee camp, north of Gaza City, pick up the pieces of their lives from the rubble of Israeli bombing
Fida Qishta
guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 January 2009
(Click here to play)
In Pictures: Child victims in Gaza
Shahed Abu Sultan, eight, was killed by a bullet apparently fired from a helicopter as she sat on her father’s lap at the doorway to their home in the Jabaliya refugee camp on 5 January. Her father, Hussein, 40, wrote a message to his daughter which hangs on their sitting room wall: “I cried a sea of tears for you but those tears have not calmed my heart because you left, my daughter. I have no tears remaining, but my heart wants to go on crying blood, my daughter, my beloved Shahed.”
Children of Gaza: stories of those who died and the trauma for those who survived
Amal Abed Rabbo, two, photographed by her family after she died in an Israeli attack outside her house in the village of Izbit Abed Rabbo, Gaza, on 7 January 2009
Rory McCarthy reports from Gaza City on the individual stories of some victims and the physical and psychological toll on an estimated 350,000 youngsters
guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 January 2009
"Amira Qirm lay on a hospital bed today with her right leg in plaster, and held together by a line of steel pins dug deep into her skin. For several days after her operation Amira, 15, was unable to speak, and even now talks only in a low whisper.
In her past are bitter memories: watching her father die in the street outside their home, then hearing another shell land and kill her brother Ala'a, 14, and her sister Ismat, 16, and then the three days that she spent alone, injured and semi-conscious, trying to stay alive in a neighbour's abandoned house before she could be rescued last Sunday.....
Only now, after most of the dead have been buried, is the first properly researched reckoning of the toll emerging. What already stands out is the striking cost borne by the children of Gaza, who make up more than half of the 1.5 million people living in this overcrowded strip of land.
guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 January 2009
"Amira Qirm lay on a hospital bed today with her right leg in plaster, and held together by a line of steel pins dug deep into her skin. For several days after her operation Amira, 15, was unable to speak, and even now talks only in a low whisper.
In her past are bitter memories: watching her father die in the street outside their home, then hearing another shell land and kill her brother Ala'a, 14, and her sister Ismat, 16, and then the three days that she spent alone, injured and semi-conscious, trying to stay alive in a neighbour's abandoned house before she could be rescued last Sunday.....
Only now, after most of the dead have been buried, is the first properly researched reckoning of the toll emerging. What already stands out is the striking cost borne by the children of Gaza, who make up more than half of the 1.5 million people living in this overcrowded strip of land.
The Palestinian death toll after three weeks of Israel's war was 1,285, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, or 1,268, according to the al-Mezan Human Rights Centre. Among those dead were at least 280 children......"
BBC under pressure to reverse Gaza appeal decision
Politicians and Muslim leaders describe broadcaster's refusal to air aid appeal as inexplicable, feeble and dereliction of duty
Nicholas Watt and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 24 January 2009
"The BBC came under renewed pressure from the government today to "stand up" to the Israeli authorities and broadcast an appeal to raise emergency funds for Gaza.
Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, yesterday rebuked Britain's broadcasters for refusing to air an emergency appeal for Gaza by Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).
In a letter to the BBC, Sky and ITV, Alexander expressed his "disappointment" that the appeal would not be broadcast.
Today the health minister Ben Bradshaw, a former BBC journalist, described the decision not to screen the appeal as "inexplicable" and dismissed the corporation's explanation for its position as "completely feeble".
The BBC refused to broadcast the humanitarian appeal for Gaza on the grounds that it did not want to risk public confidence in its impartiality. The decision meant other broadcasters also refused to air the appeal by the committee, the umbrella group for 13 aid charities......
The former Government minister Tony Benn will today join a protest against the decision outside the BBC's Broadcasting House. He used an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme to broadcast an appeal himself, urging listeners to send gifts to PO Box 999 London EC3A 3AA, or donate via freepay account 1210 at the Post Office.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said it viewed the BBC's decision to disallow an appeal by the DEC for Gaza as "a serious dereliction of its public duty".
In a statement, the MCB said: "We urge the corporation's governors to urgently reverse its decision which would severely jeopardise efforts to raise millions of pounds of voluntary contributions for emergency humanitarian assistance in Gaza.
"In sabotaging the DEC appeal broadcast, the BBC is clearly acting against the public interest. As custodians of the public trust in the BBC its governors must act immediately to avoid the blame of being complicit in denying humanitarian aid to the desperate people of Gaza."......"
COMMENT: Interestingly, a current poll by the Guardian shows that 81% of the public believes that the BBC is wrong in refusing to air the appeal. Does the BBC really represent the public interest or that of the Zionist lobby??
Nicholas Watt and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 24 January 2009
"The BBC came under renewed pressure from the government today to "stand up" to the Israeli authorities and broadcast an appeal to raise emergency funds for Gaza.
Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, yesterday rebuked Britain's broadcasters for refusing to air an emergency appeal for Gaza by Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).
In a letter to the BBC, Sky and ITV, Alexander expressed his "disappointment" that the appeal would not be broadcast.
Today the health minister Ben Bradshaw, a former BBC journalist, described the decision not to screen the appeal as "inexplicable" and dismissed the corporation's explanation for its position as "completely feeble".
The BBC refused to broadcast the humanitarian appeal for Gaza on the grounds that it did not want to risk public confidence in its impartiality. The decision meant other broadcasters also refused to air the appeal by the committee, the umbrella group for 13 aid charities......
The former Government minister Tony Benn will today join a protest against the decision outside the BBC's Broadcasting House. He used an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme to broadcast an appeal himself, urging listeners to send gifts to PO Box 999 London EC3A 3AA, or donate via freepay account 1210 at the Post Office.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said it viewed the BBC's decision to disallow an appeal by the DEC for Gaza as "a serious dereliction of its public duty".
In a statement, the MCB said: "We urge the corporation's governors to urgently reverse its decision which would severely jeopardise efforts to raise millions of pounds of voluntary contributions for emergency humanitarian assistance in Gaza.
"In sabotaging the DEC appeal broadcast, the BBC is clearly acting against the public interest. As custodians of the public trust in the BBC its governors must act immediately to avoid the blame of being complicit in denying humanitarian aid to the desperate people of Gaza."......"
COMMENT: Interestingly, a current poll by the Guardian shows that 81% of the public believes that the BBC is wrong in refusing to air the appeal. Does the BBC really represent the public interest or that of the Zionist lobby??
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Abbas MAFIA is at it, Again! Professor Abdel Sattar Kassem's Car Bombed in Front of his House!
منفلتو "فتح" وأجهزة عباس يفجرون سيارة الدكتور عبد الستار قاسم في نابلس
"رام الله - المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام
أقدمت عناصر منفلتة من حركة "فتح" وأجهزة محمود عباس الأمنية في مدينة نابلس في الضفة الغربية المحتلة على تفجير عبوة ناسفة في السيارة الخاصة بالدكتور عبد الستار قاسم أستاذ العلوم السياسية في جامعة النجاح والمحلل السياسي المعروف أثناء وجوده داخل بيته، ما أدى إلى تدميرها وإلحاق أضرار بمدخل المنزل.
وأكد قاسم في تصريحات له عقب الاعتداء الذي وقع مساء الجمعة (23/1) أن الانفجار نجم عن قنبلة محلية الصنع أدت إلى احتراق السيارة بشكل كامل إضافة إلى تضرر باب منزله القريب من موضع السيارة المشار إليها.
وقال الأكاديمي الفلسطيني بأنه كان داخل منزله ويجلس على الحاسوب، فأخبره جيرانه بصوت انفجار خارج المنزل، وأثناء خروجه تبين احتراق سيارته بقنبلة محلية. مشيراً إلى أن الحادث وقع بعد دقائق من وصوله لمنزله بعد مشاركته في ندوة تلفزيونية على فضائية "القدس" وجه فيها انتقادات حادة لسلطة رام الله.
وحول سؤاله عن اتهامه لأحد؛ قال قاسم بأنه تعرض قبل أسبوع لتهديد عبر الهاتف من قبل مجهولين ونفذوا تهديدهم بحرق السيارة، وأشار في الوقت ذاته إلى حادثة سابقة تعرض لها واتهم حينها أجهزة عباس، لكنه ختم كلامه بحمده لله أنه لم يصب بأذى جراء الحادث.
ويأتي هذا الاعتداء على خلفية الانتقادات التي يوجهها قاسم لسلطة رام الله وتنسيقها الأمني ومحاربتها للمقاومة الفلسطينية."
"رام الله - المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام
أقدمت عناصر منفلتة من حركة "فتح" وأجهزة محمود عباس الأمنية في مدينة نابلس في الضفة الغربية المحتلة على تفجير عبوة ناسفة في السيارة الخاصة بالدكتور عبد الستار قاسم أستاذ العلوم السياسية في جامعة النجاح والمحلل السياسي المعروف أثناء وجوده داخل بيته، ما أدى إلى تدميرها وإلحاق أضرار بمدخل المنزل.
وأكد قاسم في تصريحات له عقب الاعتداء الذي وقع مساء الجمعة (23/1) أن الانفجار نجم عن قنبلة محلية الصنع أدت إلى احتراق السيارة بشكل كامل إضافة إلى تضرر باب منزله القريب من موضع السيارة المشار إليها.
وقال الأكاديمي الفلسطيني بأنه كان داخل منزله ويجلس على الحاسوب، فأخبره جيرانه بصوت انفجار خارج المنزل، وأثناء خروجه تبين احتراق سيارته بقنبلة محلية. مشيراً إلى أن الحادث وقع بعد دقائق من وصوله لمنزله بعد مشاركته في ندوة تلفزيونية على فضائية "القدس" وجه فيها انتقادات حادة لسلطة رام الله.
وحول سؤاله عن اتهامه لأحد؛ قال قاسم بأنه تعرض قبل أسبوع لتهديد عبر الهاتف من قبل مجهولين ونفذوا تهديدهم بحرق السيارة، وأشار في الوقت ذاته إلى حادثة سابقة تعرض لها واتهم حينها أجهزة عباس، لكنه ختم كلامه بحمده لله أنه لم يصب بأذى جراء الحادث.
ويأتي هذا الاعتداء على خلفية الانتقادات التي يوجهها قاسم لسلطة رام الله وتنسيقها الأمني ومحاربتها للمقاومة الفلسطينية."
A bomb goes off under the car of a university professor
"RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- A bomb exploded, Friday evening, under the car of Abdel-Sattar Qasem, a professor of political science at the Najah University in Nablus, in the northern West Bank. No one was injured in the explosion.
Qasem said after the incident that the bomb, which seems to be locally manufactured, set fire to the car destroying it completely and the fire caused damage to the door of his house in front of which the car was parked.
He added that he was in his house working on his computer when his neighbours alerted him to the explosion and the fire.
Qassem had earlier in the day participated in a panel at al-Quds satellite channel during which he severely criticised the Ramallah Palestinian Authority and the incident took place minutes after his return home from this engagement, making Fatah vandals, or Abbas's security agencies, the prime suspects of being behind the attack.
On the question of who could be behind such a crime, Qasem said that he received threats a week ago from unknown individuals and it seems that they carried out their threat today. He also pointed out that there was a previous incident for which he blamed Abbas's security men at the time."
Al-Jazeera is reporting the same:
مجهولون يفجرون سيارة أكاديمي بالضفة
"ألقى مجهولون قنبلة حارقة على سيارة أستاذ العلوم السياسية بجامعة النجاح الدكتور عبد الستار قاسم قرب منزله بنابلس بالضفة الغربية.
وفي اتصال مع الجزيرة قال عبد الستار إن الحادث وقع بعد إجرائه مقابلة تلفزيونية مع فضائية القدس. وأضاف أنه تلقى تهديدات قبل أيام بعد مقابلة مع تلفزيون الأقصى.
واتهم قاسم جهات رسمية بالوقوف وراء تفجير السيارة التي احترقت بالكامل, نافيا وجود أي خلافات أو خصومات شخصية مع أحد.
وأشار إلى أنه أطلق عليه أربع رصاصات في أحد التهديدات, مضيفا أن "جهات أمنية هددتني في السابق ونفذت التهديد".
كما أوضح الأكاديمي الفلسطيني أن الهدف من تلك التهديدات هو تكميم الأفواه ومعاقبة من يتكلم بالاعتداء على ممتلكاته ووظيفته، على حد تعبيره. وأكد أيضا أنه يتعرض للاعتداء بشكل متكرر بواقع مرة أو مرتين سنويا."
Obama urges Israel to open Gaza borders
Under its ceasefire, Hamas has given Israel until Sunday to open the borders. Much of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been destroyed during the three-week Israeli offensive and, without building materials and other supplies, there is little hope of rebuilding the water, sewage and power networks as well as private homes and key government buildings...
But in comments referring to the Gaza conflict he added: “I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza. Our hearts go out to Palestinian civilians who are in need of immediate food, clean water, and basic medical care, and who’ve faced suffocating poverty for far too long.”
But in comments referring to the Gaza conflict he added: “I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza. Our hearts go out to Palestinian civilians who are in need of immediate food, clean water, and basic medical care, and who’ve faced suffocating poverty for far too long.”
Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll
The question is:
Do you expect a change in American policy as regards the Palestinian cause under Obama?
With over 2,500 responding so far, 88% said no.
Do you expect a change in American policy as regards the Palestinian cause under Obama?
With over 2,500 responding so far, 88% said no.
Al-Jazeera Video: Mosques not spared in Gaza war - 23 Jan 09
"Gazans have started the massive task of rebuilding, after Israel's three-week war on the strip.
Even its 24 mosques weren't spared.
But for the first time since the offensive ended, Muslims will be able to hold Friday prayers....."
The Zionist Pharaoh at Work: Egyptian Security interrogate wounded Palestinians on homemade shells, arms smuggling
"A number of injured Palestinians who received treatment in Egyptian hospitals and returned to Gaza said that the Egyptian Security interrogated some of them, and demanded they reveal information on the locations of manufacturing plants used to produce homemade shells, and the tunnels that are being used to smuggle arms, as well as food and medical supplies, into the Gaza Strip.
Some of the wounded Palestinians said that they were violently interrogated at the hospitals, and were threatened to be thrown out of Egypt, without completing medical treatment.
They added that after they partially recovered from their wounds, they were interrogated and were asked to provide information on the resistance, and were asked “not to help or be affiliated with Hamas”.
One of the residents said in a phone interview with Al Jazeera that the Egyptian Security told him “to inform the resistance that Egypt will not allow arms smuggling, and will not allow Hamas to rebuild its military power”. He added that after he recovered from his wounds, a physician asked him to wait in a room adjacent to the hospital, and later on interrogators came to the room and asked him to provide them with information “after vowing that whatever he says will remain a secret”." “They asked me about the resistance, and how it stores weapons, how long can the resistance hold in Gaza under Israeli attacks, they asked me to provide them with information about the leadership of Hamas”, he said, “at first they were nice with me, but when I told them I have no information, one of the interrogators struck me on my wound, and said, do not lie, you are a Hamas and Qassam member, we will not allow you to continue your treatment, we will throw you to the dogs”.
Some of the wounded Palestinians said that they were violently interrogated at the hospitals, and were threatened to be thrown out of Egypt, without completing medical treatment.
They added that after they partially recovered from their wounds, they were interrogated and were asked to provide information on the resistance, and were asked “not to help or be affiliated with Hamas”.
One of the residents said in a phone interview with Al Jazeera that the Egyptian Security told him “to inform the resistance that Egypt will not allow arms smuggling, and will not allow Hamas to rebuild its military power”. He added that after he recovered from his wounds, a physician asked him to wait in a room adjacent to the hospital, and later on interrogators came to the room and asked him to provide them with information “after vowing that whatever he says will remain a secret”." “They asked me about the resistance, and how it stores weapons, how long can the resistance hold in Gaza under Israeli attacks, they asked me to provide them with information about the leadership of Hamas”, he said, “at first they were nice with me, but when I told them I have no information, one of the interrogators struck me on my wound, and said, do not lie, you are a Hamas and Qassam member, we will not allow you to continue your treatment, we will throw you to the dogs”.
Video: Chomsky on Gaza, 1/13/2009
"Noam Chomsky's recent address on the Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
Jan. 13th, 2009
Wong Auditorium, MIT Cambridge, MA "
Part 1/6:
Part 2/6:
Part 3/6:
Part 4/6:
Part 5/6:
Part 6/6:
Jan. 13th, 2009
Wong Auditorium, MIT Cambridge, MA "
Part 1/6:
Part 2/6:
Part 3/6:
Part 4/6:
Part 5/6:
Part 6/6:
Come On Down For Your Freedom Medals
A Great Piece by John Pilger
"......As satire was made redundant when Henry Kissinger and Rupert Murdoch were honoured for their contributions to the betterment of humanity, Bush's ceremony was, at least, telling of a system of which he and his freshly-minted successor are products. Although more spectacular in its choreographed histrionics, Barack Obama's inauguration carried the same Orwellian message of inverted truth: of ruthlessness of criminal power, if not unending war. The continuity between the two administrations has been as seamless as the transfer of the odious Bono's allegiance, symbolised by President Obama's oath-taking on the steps of Congress - where, only days earlier, the House of Representatives, dominated by the new president's party, the Democrats, voted 390-5 to back Israel's massacres in Gaza. The supply of American weapons used in the massacres was authorised previously by such a margin. These included the Hellfire missile which sucks the air out of lungs, ruptures livers and amputates arms and legs without the necessity of shrapnel: a "major advance", according to the specialist literature. As a senator, then president-elect, Obama raised no objection to these state-of-the-art [sic] weapons being rushed to Israel - worth $22 billion in 2008 - in time for the long-planned assault on Gaza's fenced and helpless population. This is understandable; it how the system works. On no other issue does Congress and the president, Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals, give such absolute support. By comparison, the German Reichstag in the 1930s was a treasure of democratic and principled debate......."
"......As satire was made redundant when Henry Kissinger and Rupert Murdoch were honoured for their contributions to the betterment of humanity, Bush's ceremony was, at least, telling of a system of which he and his freshly-minted successor are products. Although more spectacular in its choreographed histrionics, Barack Obama's inauguration carried the same Orwellian message of inverted truth: of ruthlessness of criminal power, if not unending war. The continuity between the two administrations has been as seamless as the transfer of the odious Bono's allegiance, symbolised by President Obama's oath-taking on the steps of Congress - where, only days earlier, the House of Representatives, dominated by the new president's party, the Democrats, voted 390-5 to back Israel's massacres in Gaza. The supply of American weapons used in the massacres was authorised previously by such a margin. These included the Hellfire missile which sucks the air out of lungs, ruptures livers and amputates arms and legs without the necessity of shrapnel: a "major advance", according to the specialist literature. As a senator, then president-elect, Obama raised no objection to these state-of-the-art [sic] weapons being rushed to Israel - worth $22 billion in 2008 - in time for the long-planned assault on Gaza's fenced and helpless population. This is understandable; it how the system works. On no other issue does Congress and the president, Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals, give such absolute support. By comparison, the German Reichstag in the 1930s was a treasure of democratic and principled debate......."
Olmert, Barak, Livni Okay Egyptian anti-Smuggling Plan
Al-Manar
"23/01/2009 A few days following their defeat against the Palestinian Resistance in the Gaza strip, the Israeli "war trio" reportedly approved security arrangements with Egypt aimed at thwarting flow of arms into the besieged strip, apparently seeking to achieve through diplomacy what they have failed to achieve militarily.
Indeed, the limited Israeli cabinet, consisting of Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni approved Thursday night the security arrangements with Egypt aimed at preventing the smuggling of arms into Gaza. The arrangements mostly concern technical matters and Egyptian operating methods to stop the smuggling from within its borders......
On Sunday, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the Israeli cabinet that Israel's offensive on Gaza failed to wipe out Hamas's network of arms smuggling tunnels below the border with Egypt which Palestinians will now likely rebuild. Speaking at the end of the weekly cabinet meeting, Diskin said he feared the situation along the border, known as the Philadelphi route, would return to the pre-war status quo unless agreements with the US and Egypt on greater surveillance are followed through."
Hamas Fights on Uneven Battlefield
By Thalif Deen
"UNITED NATIONS, Jan 22 (IPS) - In the 1967 movie classic the "Battle of Algiers", which recreated Algeria's war of independence against France, a handcuffed and shackled insurgent leader, Ben M'Hidi, is brought before a group of highly-partisan French journalists for intense interrogation.
One of the journalists asks M'Hidi: "Don't you think it is a bit cowardly to use women's handbags and baskets to carry explosive devices that kill so many innocent people [in cafes and night clubs]?"
Responding with equal bluntness, the Algerian insurgent retorts: "And doesn't it seem to you even more cowardly to drop napalm bombs on unarmed villages on a thousand times more innocent victims?"
"Of course, if we had your fighter planes, it would be a lot easier for us," he adds. "Give us your bombers, and you can have our handbags and baskets."
Like the Algerian insurgents, Hamas militants were not fighting on a level battle field - as the Israeli military unleashed its massive firepower on a virtually defenceless population in Gaza, killing over 1,300 Palestinians in the 22-day conflict.
"Perhaps it would be interesting to see the roles reversed: the Palestinians with American fighter planes and battle tanks and the Israelis with homemade rockets," says one Arab diplomat, striking a parallel with the Algerian insurgency......"
"UNITED NATIONS, Jan 22 (IPS) - In the 1967 movie classic the "Battle of Algiers", which recreated Algeria's war of independence against France, a handcuffed and shackled insurgent leader, Ben M'Hidi, is brought before a group of highly-partisan French journalists for intense interrogation.
One of the journalists asks M'Hidi: "Don't you think it is a bit cowardly to use women's handbags and baskets to carry explosive devices that kill so many innocent people [in cafes and night clubs]?"
Responding with equal bluntness, the Algerian insurgent retorts: "And doesn't it seem to you even more cowardly to drop napalm bombs on unarmed villages on a thousand times more innocent victims?"
"Of course, if we had your fighter planes, it would be a lot easier for us," he adds. "Give us your bombers, and you can have our handbags and baskets."
Like the Algerian insurgents, Hamas militants were not fighting on a level battle field - as the Israeli military unleashed its massive firepower on a virtually defenceless population in Gaza, killing over 1,300 Palestinians in the 22-day conflict.
"Perhaps it would be interesting to see the roles reversed: the Palestinians with American fighter planes and battle tanks and the Israelis with homemade rockets," says one Arab diplomat, striking a parallel with the Algerian insurgency......"
Cornering of Civilians Unprecedented, Says UN Official
By David Cronin
"BRUSSELS, Jan 22 (IPS) - Israel's refusal to allow civilians any exit route from Gaza as its defence forces rained bombs down on schools and houses appears unprecedented in modern warfare, a United Nations investigator has said.
Richard Falk, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, described the sealing off of the Gaza Strip in order to ensure that nobody could flee it as "a distinct, new and sinister war crime."
"For the first time in a military operation, the civilian population as a whole has been locked into a war zone," he told a meeting of the European Parliament by telephone. "No children, women, sick people or disabled people were allowed to leave. For the first time, the option of becoming a refugee has been withheld."......"
"BRUSSELS, Jan 22 (IPS) - Israel's refusal to allow civilians any exit route from Gaza as its defence forces rained bombs down on schools and houses appears unprecedented in modern warfare, a United Nations investigator has said.
Richard Falk, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, described the sealing off of the Gaza Strip in order to ensure that nobody could flee it as "a distinct, new and sinister war crime."
"For the first time in a military operation, the civilian population as a whole has been locked into a war zone," he told a meeting of the European Parliament by telephone. "No children, women, sick people or disabled people were allowed to leave. For the first time, the option of becoming a refugee has been withheld."......"
هيكل: المرحلة المقبلة لفرض التسويات وتصفية حماس
Please See The Link to The English Equivalent, as Posted by Al-Manar, Below the Arabic Text.
"اعتبر الكاتب والصحفي المصري محمد حسنين هيكل أن المرحلة المقبلة ستشهد محاولة لتصفية حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس) عبر سلاح عملية إعمار قطاع غزة في أعقاب العدوان الإسرائيلي الذي تواصل على مدى ثلاثة أسابيع.
وأكد هيكل في حلقة خاصة على قناة الجزيرة أن حلف شمال الأطلسي (الناتو) سيلعب الدور الأبرز في المرحلة المقبلة التي سيتم خلالها فرض الأمر الواقع على العرب "الذين لم يكن لهم أي دور في وقف العدوان على قطاع غزة على عكس ما توهمه بعضهم".
وفي السياق أكد هيكل أن مبعوث اللجنة الرباعية الدولية توني بلير هو "مهندس" الزج بالحلف الأطلسي في المنطقة العربية من خلال ترتيبه زيارات القادة الأوروبيين للمنطقة "في لحظة فراغ".
وفي هذا الصدد أشار هيكل إلى أن الاندفاع الأطلسي يستغل انشغال الولايات المتحدة بشأنها الداخلي في ظل الأزمة المالية.
وشدد الصحفي المصري على أن اعتمادات الإعمار ستجري تحت رعاية الأطلسي، وعلى أن هناك كما هائلا من أموال الإعمار التي ستوظف لإغفال الجانب السياسي للقضية الفلسطينية.
ولعل أبرز وأخطر ما ورد في تحليل هيكل, ترتيبات الأمر الواقع والتسويات التي قال إنها ستفرض في المنطقة, وبالتالي ستكون هناك حقائق -لا حلول- تفرض بأساليب مختلفة: الإعمار والضرب والتهدئة. وحث هيكل العرب على الانتباه إلى خطورة ما يحاك ضد منطقتهم التي "تواجه أحوالا خطيرة جدا".
ترتيبات وتحركات
من جهة أخرى تناول هيكل بالتحليل التحركات الأوروبية التي سبقت إعلان إسرائيل عن وقف إطلاق النار من جانب واحد.
وكشف في هذا السياق أن الإدارة الأميركية هي من دفع إسرائيل لوقف الهجوم على غزة كي لا تفسد حفل تنصيب الرئيس باراك أوباما, وحتى لا تتم عملية التنصيب وسط أنهار الدم والنيران التي تلتهم الفلسطينيين في غزة.
ووفقا لتحليل هيكل فإن الجميع بمن فيهم العالم العربي تحركوا في الوقت الضائع, وأن العرب لم يلعبوا في الواقع أي دور في وقف القتال. وقال بهذا الصدد إن العرب لم يكونوا مدركين لما يجري في هذه المرحلة.
وأضاف أن ما جرى وما يجري وما سيجري يتطلب الكثير من التحقيق والحساب مع النفس ومع الآخرين. وحث هيكل العرب على أن يتحركوا في اتجاه محاسبة إسرائيل, أو على الأقل تسجيل ما اقترفته من جرائم عبر استدعاء الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة بان كي مون ليدلي بشهادته أمام الجمعية العامة للأمم المتحدة حول زيارته الخاطفة لغزة.
غير أنه استبعد في المقابل إمكانية محاسبة إسرائيل على مجازرها في غزة أمام أي من المحاكم الدولية المتخصصة في جرائم الحرب وغيرها.
وأشار في هذا الإطار إلى أن ما حصل في القطاع على امتداد ثلاثة أسابيع كان مجازر غير مسبوقة في التاريخ, مشيرا إلى دور قناة الجزيرة في نقل الصورة إلى العالم في مقابل التعتيم الذي مارسته إسرائيل عبر منع المراسلين الغربيين من دخول غزة, بل وحتى محاولة ثني بان كي مون عن زيارة القطاع.
خطورة بالغة
وفي سياق تحليله للحرب وتداعياتها, أوضح محمد حسنين هيكل أن إسرائيل استغلت لحظة فراغ في الساحة الدولية, خاصة الفترة الانتقالية في الولايات المتحدة بين إدارتي جورج بوش وباراك أوباما.
وأضاف أن تل أبيب قامت بما كان مطلوبا منها, قائلا في هذا الصدد إن الحرب على غزة بدأت بإشارة سماح أميركية بهدف إزالة عقبات على رأسها حركة حماس التي كانت ترفض تسويات الأمر الواقع التي جرت محاولة فرضها عبر مؤتمر أنابوليس وما بعده.
وحسب تأكيد هيكل, كان مطلوبا ضرب حماس لأنها تسلحت ولأنها عقبة في طريق التسوية, مؤكدا أنه كان من بين العرب من يحرض على ضربها.
وحسب تقديره أيضا كان القتل المروع والجنون الذي تعرضت له غزة بمنزلة "دروس" للآخرين, وأكد أن سوريا كانت المقصودة في هذه المرحلة وليس إيران.
وحين تطرق إلى التحركات الدبلوماسية التي تمت في الوقت الضائع, أشار هيكل إلى ما تعرضت له مصر من استغلال سياسي عبر لقاء شرم الشيخ الذي رأى فيه أولى علامات تشكل مرحلة جديدة سمتها البارزة تدخل الحلف الأطلسي في البحرين الأبيض المتوسط والأحمر بحجة مكافحة منع تهريب الأسلحة إلى قطاع غزة.
ودلّل على ذلك بالاتفاقية الأمنية التي أبرمتها وزيرة الخارجية الأميركية كوندوليزا رايس ونظيرتها الإسرائيلية تسيبي ليفني قبل ساعات من توقف القصف."
Haykal Unveils Plot to "Dissolve" Hamas Resistance
"اعتبر الكاتب والصحفي المصري محمد حسنين هيكل أن المرحلة المقبلة ستشهد محاولة لتصفية حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس) عبر سلاح عملية إعمار قطاع غزة في أعقاب العدوان الإسرائيلي الذي تواصل على مدى ثلاثة أسابيع.
وأكد هيكل في حلقة خاصة على قناة الجزيرة أن حلف شمال الأطلسي (الناتو) سيلعب الدور الأبرز في المرحلة المقبلة التي سيتم خلالها فرض الأمر الواقع على العرب "الذين لم يكن لهم أي دور في وقف العدوان على قطاع غزة على عكس ما توهمه بعضهم".
وفي السياق أكد هيكل أن مبعوث اللجنة الرباعية الدولية توني بلير هو "مهندس" الزج بالحلف الأطلسي في المنطقة العربية من خلال ترتيبه زيارات القادة الأوروبيين للمنطقة "في لحظة فراغ".
وفي هذا الصدد أشار هيكل إلى أن الاندفاع الأطلسي يستغل انشغال الولايات المتحدة بشأنها الداخلي في ظل الأزمة المالية.
وشدد الصحفي المصري على أن اعتمادات الإعمار ستجري تحت رعاية الأطلسي، وعلى أن هناك كما هائلا من أموال الإعمار التي ستوظف لإغفال الجانب السياسي للقضية الفلسطينية.
ولعل أبرز وأخطر ما ورد في تحليل هيكل, ترتيبات الأمر الواقع والتسويات التي قال إنها ستفرض في المنطقة, وبالتالي ستكون هناك حقائق -لا حلول- تفرض بأساليب مختلفة: الإعمار والضرب والتهدئة. وحث هيكل العرب على الانتباه إلى خطورة ما يحاك ضد منطقتهم التي "تواجه أحوالا خطيرة جدا".
ترتيبات وتحركات
من جهة أخرى تناول هيكل بالتحليل التحركات الأوروبية التي سبقت إعلان إسرائيل عن وقف إطلاق النار من جانب واحد.
وكشف في هذا السياق أن الإدارة الأميركية هي من دفع إسرائيل لوقف الهجوم على غزة كي لا تفسد حفل تنصيب الرئيس باراك أوباما, وحتى لا تتم عملية التنصيب وسط أنهار الدم والنيران التي تلتهم الفلسطينيين في غزة.
ووفقا لتحليل هيكل فإن الجميع بمن فيهم العالم العربي تحركوا في الوقت الضائع, وأن العرب لم يلعبوا في الواقع أي دور في وقف القتال. وقال بهذا الصدد إن العرب لم يكونوا مدركين لما يجري في هذه المرحلة.
وأضاف أن ما جرى وما يجري وما سيجري يتطلب الكثير من التحقيق والحساب مع النفس ومع الآخرين. وحث هيكل العرب على أن يتحركوا في اتجاه محاسبة إسرائيل, أو على الأقل تسجيل ما اقترفته من جرائم عبر استدعاء الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة بان كي مون ليدلي بشهادته أمام الجمعية العامة للأمم المتحدة حول زيارته الخاطفة لغزة.
غير أنه استبعد في المقابل إمكانية محاسبة إسرائيل على مجازرها في غزة أمام أي من المحاكم الدولية المتخصصة في جرائم الحرب وغيرها.
وأشار في هذا الإطار إلى أن ما حصل في القطاع على امتداد ثلاثة أسابيع كان مجازر غير مسبوقة في التاريخ, مشيرا إلى دور قناة الجزيرة في نقل الصورة إلى العالم في مقابل التعتيم الذي مارسته إسرائيل عبر منع المراسلين الغربيين من دخول غزة, بل وحتى محاولة ثني بان كي مون عن زيارة القطاع.
خطورة بالغة
وفي سياق تحليله للحرب وتداعياتها, أوضح محمد حسنين هيكل أن إسرائيل استغلت لحظة فراغ في الساحة الدولية, خاصة الفترة الانتقالية في الولايات المتحدة بين إدارتي جورج بوش وباراك أوباما.
وأضاف أن تل أبيب قامت بما كان مطلوبا منها, قائلا في هذا الصدد إن الحرب على غزة بدأت بإشارة سماح أميركية بهدف إزالة عقبات على رأسها حركة حماس التي كانت ترفض تسويات الأمر الواقع التي جرت محاولة فرضها عبر مؤتمر أنابوليس وما بعده.
وحسب تأكيد هيكل, كان مطلوبا ضرب حماس لأنها تسلحت ولأنها عقبة في طريق التسوية, مؤكدا أنه كان من بين العرب من يحرض على ضربها.
وحسب تقديره أيضا كان القتل المروع والجنون الذي تعرضت له غزة بمنزلة "دروس" للآخرين, وأكد أن سوريا كانت المقصودة في هذه المرحلة وليس إيران.
وحين تطرق إلى التحركات الدبلوماسية التي تمت في الوقت الضائع, أشار هيكل إلى ما تعرضت له مصر من استغلال سياسي عبر لقاء شرم الشيخ الذي رأى فيه أولى علامات تشكل مرحلة جديدة سمتها البارزة تدخل الحلف الأطلسي في البحرين الأبيض المتوسط والأحمر بحجة مكافحة منع تهريب الأسلحة إلى قطاع غزة.
ودلّل على ذلك بالاتفاقية الأمنية التي أبرمتها وزيرة الخارجية الأميركية كوندوليزا رايس ونظيرتها الإسرائيلية تسيبي ليفني قبل ساعات من توقف القصف."
Haykal Unveils Plot to "Dissolve" Hamas Resistance
Gaza conflict 'remains unsettled'
Al-Jazeera
"Hamas and Israel are observing separate ceasefires after a 22-day Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.
Alastair Crooke, founder of the Conflicts Forum think-tank, shares his thoughts on the conflict, the region and what Obama might bring to the mix.
Al Jazeera: Can Israel be said to have achieved its aims through its offensive on Gaza?
As time goes on, it will become more and more clear that Israel has not achieved the aims that it set for itself. The intended aim - that by an overwhelming show of force it would make people both docile and deterred - has not been achieved.
The core of the conflict itself – the rockets and the issue of the opening of the crossings [into Gaza] – remains completely unsettled. And Israel has not defeated Hamas in a military sense, despite massive destruction of property and people's lives......."
"Hamas and Israel are observing separate ceasefires after a 22-day Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.
Alastair Crooke, founder of the Conflicts Forum think-tank, shares his thoughts on the conflict, the region and what Obama might bring to the mix.
Al Jazeera: Can Israel be said to have achieved its aims through its offensive on Gaza?
As time goes on, it will become more and more clear that Israel has not achieved the aims that it set for itself. The intended aim - that by an overwhelming show of force it would make people both docile and deterred - has not been achieved.
The core of the conflict itself – the rockets and the issue of the opening of the crossings [into Gaza] – remains completely unsettled. And Israel has not defeated Hamas in a military sense, despite massive destruction of property and people's lives......."
Bush's 'puppet in Kabul' will not go quietly
By Patrick Cockburn
"Hamid Karzai is fighting for his political life. He has often been written off as "the mayor of Kabul", but he does not intend to go quietly just because the Pentagon has increasingly seen him as an obstacle to its plans for a "surge" or increase in US troop strength by 20,000 or 30,000 to try to turn the corner in the Afghan war......."
"Hamid Karzai is fighting for his political life. He has often been written off as "the mayor of Kabul", but he does not intend to go quietly just because the Pentagon has increasingly seen him as an obstacle to its plans for a "surge" or increase in US troop strength by 20,000 or 30,000 to try to turn the corner in the Afghan war......."
Fatah fears Gaza conflict has put Hamas in the ascendancy
Palestinian party created by Yasser Arafat suffers sharp decline in support
By Patrick Cockburn in Nablus
Friday, 23 January 2009
"The Islamic movement Hamas is taking over from Fatah, the party created by Yasser Arafat, as the main Palestinian national organisation as a result of the war in Gaza, says a leading Fatah militant. "We have moved into the era of Hamas which is now much stronger than it was," said Husam Kadr, a veteran Fatah leader in the West Bank city of Nablus, recently released after five-and-a-half years in Israeli prisons. "Its era started when Israel attacked Gaza on 27 December."
The sharp decline in support for Fatah and the discrediting of Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, because of his inertia during the 22-day Gaza war, will make it very difficult for the US and the EU to pretend that Fatah are the true representatives of the Palestinian community. The international community is likely to find it impossible to marginalise Hamas in reconstructing Gaza.
"Hamas has been highly successful in portraying itself as the party of the resistance, and Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas as the opponents of resistance at a time [when] the public wants to resist," said Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian minister of planning. He adds that Mr Abbas was badly damaged in the eyes of Palestinians when he blamed Hamas for Israel's assault on Gaza in the conflict's first two days.
...... "The Hamas era comes 40 years after Karamah began the Fatah period," he says.
Aside from Gaza there is another reason why President Abbas and Fatah are weak. Long years of negotiations with Israel have achieved nothing while red-roofed Israeli settlements have sprouted on every West Bank hilltop. .......
The rise of Hamas and the demise of Fatah is best explained by the failure of President Abbas to achieve anything through negotiations for ordinary Palestinians. "We in Fatah have failed to remove a single Israeli checkpoint," admits Mr Kadr. "It takes me as long to reach Ramallah 50 kilometres away as it would to fly from Jordan to Ankara."
He believes the Gaza war has spread the seeds for another Palestinian uprising. "The coming uprising will be very hard for both the Palestinians and the Israelis," he warns, though he does not forecast when it will occur. He points to a television in his office on which a young Palestinian girl called Dalal is shown picking through the ruins of her house in Gaza where all her family had died and only her cat had survived. "Can you imagine how Palestinians feel when they see this?" he asks."
By Patrick Cockburn in Nablus
Friday, 23 January 2009
"The Islamic movement Hamas is taking over from Fatah, the party created by Yasser Arafat, as the main Palestinian national organisation as a result of the war in Gaza, says a leading Fatah militant. "We have moved into the era of Hamas which is now much stronger than it was," said Husam Kadr, a veteran Fatah leader in the West Bank city of Nablus, recently released after five-and-a-half years in Israeli prisons. "Its era started when Israel attacked Gaza on 27 December."
The sharp decline in support for Fatah and the discrediting of Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, because of his inertia during the 22-day Gaza war, will make it very difficult for the US and the EU to pretend that Fatah are the true representatives of the Palestinian community. The international community is likely to find it impossible to marginalise Hamas in reconstructing Gaza.
"Hamas has been highly successful in portraying itself as the party of the resistance, and Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas as the opponents of resistance at a time [when] the public wants to resist," said Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian minister of planning. He adds that Mr Abbas was badly damaged in the eyes of Palestinians when he blamed Hamas for Israel's assault on Gaza in the conflict's first two days.
...... "The Hamas era comes 40 years after Karamah began the Fatah period," he says.
Aside from Gaza there is another reason why President Abbas and Fatah are weak. Long years of negotiations with Israel have achieved nothing while red-roofed Israeli settlements have sprouted on every West Bank hilltop. .......
The rise of Hamas and the demise of Fatah is best explained by the failure of President Abbas to achieve anything through negotiations for ordinary Palestinians. "We in Fatah have failed to remove a single Israeli checkpoint," admits Mr Kadr. "It takes me as long to reach Ramallah 50 kilometres away as it would to fly from Jordan to Ankara."
He believes the Gaza war has spread the seeds for another Palestinian uprising. "The coming uprising will be very hard for both the Palestinians and the Israelis," he warns, though he does not forecast when it will occur. He points to a television in his office on which a young Palestinian girl called Dalal is shown picking through the ruins of her house in Gaza where all her family had died and only her cat had survived. "Can you imagine how Palestinians feel when they see this?" he asks."
A Guardian Poll: Is the BBC right on Gaza?
The BBC has refused to broadcast a humanitarian appeal for Gaza, saying it doesn't want to risk compromising public confidence in its impartiality. The Disasters Emergency Committee, on the other hand, says the appeal is "a response to humanitarian principles". Is the BBC justified in its decision?
Is the BBC justified in refusing to air the Gaza aid appeal?
20% Yes. To show it would undermine the BBC's impartiality
80% No. The decision will stop vital aid reaching Gaza
Is the BBC justified in refusing to air the Gaza aid appeal?
20% Yes. To show it would undermine the BBC's impartiality
80% No. The decision will stop vital aid reaching Gaza
From London to Gaza
Despite official apathy to the suffering in Gaza, Londoners are gathering for a solidarity convoy to deliver aid to Palestine
George Galloway
guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 January 2009
"......That's why I've taken the initiative to launch a solidarity convoy from Britain to Gaza, through north Africa, headed by firefighting equipment donated by the Fire Brigades Union. The convoy will contain trucks and vans from towns and cities across the country containing medicines and other necessities the Palestinians of Gaza desperately need.
George Galloway
guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 January 2009
"......That's why I've taken the initiative to launch a solidarity convoy from Britain to Gaza, through north Africa, headed by firefighting equipment donated by the Fire Brigades Union. The convoy will contain trucks and vans from towns and cities across the country containing medicines and other necessities the Palestinians of Gaza desperately need.
This is not an alternative, of course, to the vast amounts of aid that ought to be airlifted now to Gaza. The purpose of the convoy, however, is not simply to bring aid. It is to provide a focus for solidarity and actions such as those in Birmingham city council, which has taken a big step towards boycotting Israel. I think the time is ripe to push these issues into London councils and the London Assembly. The mayor of London's silence over Gaza is out of step with the feeling of most Londoners. That gap is going to be keenly felt in the coming months.
The convoy's route through north Africa is deliberately chosen. It will take it through big Arab centres and into Egypt, which holds the key to the liberation of Gaza and Palestine. The response to the call for the convoy has been overwhelming. Mosques, community groups, trade unions and other organisations are busy organising to get a truck on the road and to fill it with useful things.
In my experience it is tapping something wider than a basic humanitarian response to the suffering in Gaza. I cannot think of anything better to forge the bonds of social solidarity the government says it wants to see. In the 1930s ordinary people across Europe rallied to aid the people of Republican Spain, who faced the bombing of towns and the massacres of civilians by the jackbooted General Franco. The cry was "Aidez L'Espagne!" – today the call should be "Viva Palestina!""
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