Israel's crimes

Israel Interrogates Chomsky, Denies Entry into West Bank to Give Talk @ ...

2010-05-19T22:18:00.000+09:00

Israeli Terrorism Against America

2010-05-04T14:35:00.000+09:00

HM - don't buy into the occupation!

2010-03-15T00:32:00.001+09:00

One year war on Gaza

2009-12-27T17:11:00.000+09:00

This is talk by Noam Chomsky about Gaza: one year after war

WANTED

2009-12-15T12:26:00.001+09:00

Senior officials in Israel confirmed reports on Monday that a British court issued an arrest warrant against opposition chairwoman Tzipi Livni for her role in orchestrating Israel's military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip nearly a year ago.

The request for the warrant was submitted by a pro-Palestinian organization.

British sources reported late Monday that though a British court had issued an arrest warrant for Livni over war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza while she served as foreign minister, it annulled it upon discovering she was not in the U.K.
Livni served as foreign minister alongside Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak during the Israel Defense Forces offensive in Gaza. The three figures comprised the "troika" of top decision-makers who charted the course of the war.

Earlier Monday, Arab-language media reported that Livni canceled her participation in a Jewish function in London after a warrant for her arrest was issued over part in last winter's Israel's Gaza offensive.

Israel's ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, conferred with officials in the British Ministry of Justice who told him that they were unaware of any criminal complaint or arrest warrant against the former foreign minister.

Yet, further inquiries by Israeli officials revealed that a warrant had indeed been issued.

Al-Quds Al-Arabi claimed on Monday that Scotland Yard advised the organizers of the Jewish National Fund conference in northwest London that the former foreign minister had canceled her scheduled address to the assembly over threats of a possible lawsuit by pro-Palestinian groups.

The Al-Quds Al-Arabi report also said that a group of about 100 anti-Israel protesters rallied outside the Hendon Hall Hotel on Sunday, just as delegates arrived at the JNF meet.

Livni's office said in a statement following the report that her appearance at the London event was canceled two weeks ago due to a scheduling conflict.

Livni's office also said that the opposition leader was proud of all the decisions she made as foreign minister during the Gaza war, an operation which she said achieved its goal of bring security to Israel.

A United Kingdom court two months ago deferred until further notice an appeal by local pro-Palestinian groups to issue an arrest warrant against Barak, who was visiting the country at the time.

A similar appeal was issued in 2004 against Israel's then defense minister, Shaul Mofaz. At the time, Mofaz was granted immunity from international arrest and trial - a precedent set by the British court, which until then had given such protection only to foreign ministers or premiers

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1134978.html

Ukraine academic: Israel imported 25,000 kids for their organs

2009-12-05T00:17:00.002+09:00

Stories appearing on several Ukrainian Web sites claim Israel has brought around some 25,000 Ukrainian children into the country over the past two years in order to harvest their organs.

The claim, which was made by a Ukrainian philosophy professor and author at a pseudo-academic conference in Kiev five days ago, is the latest expression of a wave of anti-Semitism in the country. It comes a few months after a Swedish tabloid ran an article alleging that Israel Defense Forces soldiers have killed Palestinian civilians for their organs.

Jews, Israel and anti-Semitism have become a major motif of the presidential election campaign in Ukraine, with some figures making anti-Semitic statements and others condemning them. Some candidates, including a Jew and someone whose rivals claim is Jewish, blame a third rival - Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko - for bringing anti-Semitism into the race.

"Ukraine's political system is a parody of democracy," Russia's Chief Rabbi, Berel Lazar, said.

Vyacheslav Gudin told the estimated 300 attendees of the Kiev conference a detailed story about a Ukrainian man's fruitless search for 15 children who had been adopted in Israel. The children, Gudin said, had clearly been taken by Israeli medical centers, where they were used for "spare parts." Gudin said it was essential that all Ukrainians be made aware of the genocide Israel was perpetrating.

The conference, some of whose participants belong to a Slavic-rights movement, also featured two professors who presented a book blaming "the Zionists" for the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s as well as the country's current condition.

Many Ukrainian Web sites covered the speeches without putting them into context. In response to a request by the country's Jewish community Ukraine's police force is investigating ZUBR, one of the Web sites that reported the speeches.

Meanwhile, Ukrainians demonstrated outside the Israeli Embassy in Kiev on Tuesday to protest a letter signed by 26 Knesset members condemning what they described as anti-Semitic remarks by presidential candidate Sergey Ratushnyak. Protesters chanted "Ukraine isn't the Gaza Strip," indicating they consider the MKs to be trying to exert control over their country.

The letter, sent to Ukrainian leaders last month, articulated fear of a new "wave of anti-Semitism in the Ukraine that has come to a peak with the authorization of Ratushnyak, the current mayor of Uzhgorod, to run for president." In his mayoral campaign Ratushnyak blamed the Holocaust on the Jews, saying they stole German property, and warned of the same thing happening in Ukraine.

Although the protesters did not describe themselves as Ratushnyak supporters, photographs of the demonstration were posted on the candidate's Web site shortly after the protest.

Haaretz

"Sit Down!" The Power to Silence the Truth about 9/11 Part 2

2009-11-29T19:48:00.001+09:00

Purpose of the 9/11 Attacks

2009-11-21T23:34:00.001+09:00

The Israel Lobby-Total Jewish Zionist Control of USA-1 of 6

2009-11-21T01:04:00.001+09:00

Please try to watch the whole series

Kill Enemy Children: Jewish Edict | Sabbah Report

2009-11-14T00:05:00.004+09:00

Kill Enemy Children: Jewish Edict | Sabbah Report

Hundreds of children were killed in Israel's war on Gaza earlier this year.

By Khalid Amayreh* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Hundreds of children were killed in Israel's war on Gaza earlier this year.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM – A Jewish rabbi has issued a book giving Jews permission to murder non-Jews, including babies and children, who may pose an actual or potential threat to Jews or Israel. "It is permissible to kill the Righteous among non-Jews even if they are not responsible for the threatening situation," Rabbi Yitzhak Shapiro, who heads the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in the Yitzhar settlement in the occupied West Bank, wrote in his book "The King's Torah."

He argues that Goyem (a derogatory epithet for non-Jews) may be killed if they threaten Israel.

"If we kill a Gentile who has sinned or has violated one of the seven commandments - because we care about the commandments - there is nothing wrong with the murder."

Shapiro, who heads a small Talmudic school at the settlement of Yitzhar near Nablus, claims his edict "is fully justified by the Torah and the Talmud."

The anti-goyem edict seems to come in response to the arrest by Israeli police of a Jewish terrorist who has confessed to having murdered two Palestinian shepherds in the West Bank.

The terrorist, an American-born immigrant named Yaakov Teitel, also confessed to have tried to assassinate leftist Jewish figures.

Police considered the arrest an important achievement in combating Jewish terrorism, which experts contend thrives on religious edicts issued by rabbis affiliated with the religious-Zionist camp.

Nearly 16 years ago, a Jewish terrorist named Yigal Amir assassinated then Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin.

Moreover, numerous innocent Palestinians have also been murdered in cold blood by Jewish terrorists.

In 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a notorious Jewish terrorist, murdered 29 Muslim worshipers inside Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank town of al-Khalil.

Non-Humans

The controversial edict is backed by numerous rabbis affiliated with the so-called national-religious camp as well as the Talmudic seminary in West Jerusalem, known as Merkaz Ha'rav.

Among the rabbis who have publicly supported the edict are Yitzhak Ginsburg and Ya'akov Yosef.

Ginsburg had written a leaflet glorifying murderer Goldstein and called him a "saintly figure."

Shapiro's views on how Palestinians and non-Jews in general ought to be treated according to Jewish religious law (halacha) are widely looked at as representing the mainstream not the exception in Israel.

During the Israeli onslaught against Gaza earlier this year, Mordecahi Elyahu, one of the leading rabbinic figures in Israel, urged the army not to refrain from killing enemy children in order to save the lives of Israeli soldiers.

He had even petitioned the Israeli government to carry out a series of carpet bombing of Palestinian population centers in Gaza.

"If they don't stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand. And if they do not stop after we kill a thousand, then we must kill 10,000. If they still don't stop, we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to stop them."

According to Israel Shahak, author of "Jewish History, Jewish Religion: the Weight of Three Thousand years," the term "human beings" in Jewish law refers solely to Jews.

Many Jewish orthodox rabbis, especially within the national-religious sector, view international conventions incriminating the deliberate killing of civilians and destruction of civilian homes and property as representing "Christian morals" not binding on Jews.

In 2006, the Rabbinic Council of Jewish Settlements in the West Bank urged the army to ignore Christian morals and exterminate the enemy in the north (Lebanon) and the south (Gaza Strip).

Such manifestly racist and hateful edicts don't raise many eyebrows in Israel, neither among the intelligentsia nor in the society at large.

* Khalid Amayreh a journalist based in the Occupied Palestinian town of Dura.

Isreal Part 2

2009-11-12T15:12:00.001+09:00

Isreal Part 1

2009-11-12T15:11:00.001+09:00

Nice job

Shame on every person in the "free world"

2009-11-04T11:37:00.001+09:00

Palestinians homeless again after eviction - 29 Oct 09

Richard Falk on Palestine and Goldstone report - 07 Oct 09

2009-10-07T23:10:00.001+09:00

2009-10-04T00:15:00.002+09:00

A story of 13 years girls named Almasa

2009-10-01T17:49:00.001+09:00

Translated version

"It's a Trick, We Always Use It." (calling people "anti-Semitic")

2009-07-17T20:04:00.001+09:00

Gaza: 1.5 million people trapped in despair

2009-06-29T18:51:00.001+09:00

A report by International Committee of the Red Cross
Six months after Israel launched its three-week military operation in Gaza on 27 December 2008, Gazans still cannot rebuild their lives. Most people struggle to make ends meet. Seriously ill patients face difficulty obtaining the treatment they need. Many children suffer from deep psychological problems. Civilians whose homes and belongings were destroyed during the conflict are unable to recover.

During the 22 days of the Israeli military operation, nowhere in Gaza was safe for civilians. Hospitals were overwhelmed with casualties, including small children, women and elderly people. Medical personnel showed incredible courage and determination, working around the clock to save lives in extremely difficult circumstances. Meanwhile, daily rocket attacks launched from Gaza put thousands of residents at risk in southern Israel. Medical workers in Israel provided care for the traumatized population and treated and evacuated casualties.

©ICRC/VII/ T. Domaniczky / il-e-00106

Many children witnessed violence during the military operation. Bedwetting, insomnia and agitated behaviour are widespread. Thousands of children and adults need counselling to deal with emotional scars and post-traumatic stress.

©ICRC/VII/ T. Domaniczky / il-e-00106

Many people in Gaza lost a child, a parent, another relative or a friend. Israel's military operation left thousands of homes partly or totally destroyed. Whole neighbourhoods were turned into rubble. Schools, kindergartens, hospitals and fire and ambulance stations were damaged by shelling.

This small coastal strip is cut off from the outside world. Even before the latest hostilities, drastic restrictions on the movement of people and goods imposed by the Israeli authorities, particularly since October 2007, had led to worsening poverty, rising unemployment and deteriorating public services such as health care, water and sanitation. Insufficient cooperation between the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and the Hamas administration in Gaza had also hit the provision of essential services. As a result, the people of Gaza were already experiencing a major crisis affecting all aspects of daily life when hostilities intensified in late December.

Six months later, restrictions on imports are making it impossible for Gazans to rebuild their lives. The quantities of goods now entering Gaza fall well short of what is required to meet the population's needs. In May 2009, only 2,662 truckloads of goods entered Gaza from Israel, a decrease of almost 80 per cent compared to the 11,392 truckloads allowed in during April 2007, before Hamas took over the territory.

No reconstruction allowed, public health at risk

©ICRC / M. Al-Baba

Khan Younis. Public taps for drinking water, May 2009.

©ICRC / M. Al-Baba

Gaza neighbourhoods particularly hard hit by the Israeli strikes will continue to look like the epicentre of a massive earthquake unless vast quantities of cement, steel and other building materials are allowed into the territory for reconstruction. Until that happens, thousands of families who lost everything will be forced to live in cramped conditions with relatives. Others will continue to live in tents, as they have nowhere else to go.

Emergency repairs carried out after the military operation have made it possible to restore water and sanitation services, but only to the already unsatisfactory level prevailing before December 2008. The infrastructure is overloaded and remains subject to breakdown. Although chlorine is used to disinfect the water, the risk of sewage and other waste matter seeping into the water supply network represents a major threat to public health.

Every day, 69 million litres of partially treated or completely untreated sewage – the equivalent of 28 Olympic-size swimming pools – are pumped directly into the Mediterranean because they cannot be treated.

©ICRC / M. Al-Baba

Ezbet Abd Rabo, Gaza North, May 2009.

©ICRC / M. Al-Baba

Thousands of homes only have access to running water on certain days. Because the water supply network cannot be properly maintained, it is leaking, making it harder to maintain sufficient water pressure. Even when water is available in the pipes, many homes do not have sufficient power to pump it into rooftop storage tanks.

The taps of tens of thousands of people run dry when Gaza's municipal water wells break down, which frequently happens because of insufficient supplies of new water pipes, electrical spare parts, pumps and transformers.

The ICRC has occasionally found ways of repairing infrastructure without relying on imports. For example, it used recycled materials (including used water pipes and concrete segments of the old Rafah border wall destroyed in January 2008) to upgrade a wastewater treatment plant serving 175,000 people in Rafah.

However, on its own this is insufficient. Other repairs and reconstruction projects are urgently needed to prevent the further deterioration of the water supply system, carry out essential maintenance and stem the steady decline of the water and sanitation system throughout the Gaza Strip. The fact that water and sanitation services could collapse at any moment raises the spectre of a major public health crisis.

The only way to address this crisis is to lift import restrictions on spare parts, water pipes and building materials such as cement and steel so that homes can be rebuilt and vital infrastructure maintained and upgraded.

Insufficient access to health care

©ICRC/VII/ T. Domaniczky / il-e-01707

Gaza, Al-Shifa Hospital, January 2009

©ICRC/VII/ T. Domaniczky / il-e-01707

"I have a pancreatic tumour. At first, there was hope that I would be given an operation, but as time went by I stopped hoping. I am in pain and I know all too well that my disease is life threatening."
Do'aa, 26 years old, Gaza City. She has been waiting since January 2009 for permission to transit through Israel for an operation in Jordan.

Gaza's health-care system cannot provide the treatment that many patients suffering from serious illness require. Tragically, a number of them are not allowed to leave the Strip in time to seek health care elsewhere. Health issues in Gaza are often politicized and patients find themselves caught up in a bureaucratic maze. The procedures for requesting permission to leave the territory are complicated and involve both the Palestinian and Israeli authorities. Seriously ill patients sometimes have to wait for months before the relevant authorities allow them to leave the Gaza Strip.

Even when patients do obtain the necessary permits to leave, the transfer through Erez crossing into Israel can be arduous. Patients on life-support machines have to be removed from ambulances and placed on stretchers, then carried 60-80 metres through the crossing to ambulances waiting on the other side. Patients who can walk unassisted may face extensive questioning before they are allowed through the crossing for medical treatment – or, as sometimes happens, before they are refused entry into Israel and turned back.

"I loved to play football with my friends. I told the doctors that I wanted to be able to walk again – they promised that I would."
Ghassan, 14 years old, Gaza City. His older brother was killed and he himself was wounded during the military operation. He is waiting to be fitted with artificial limbs for both legs.

The shortage of basic medicines is a constant problem for Gaza hospitals and health clinics. They depend on a timely and reliable supply of medicines from the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health in the West Bank, but the supply chain often breaks down. Cooperation between the health authorities in the West Bank and Gaza is difficult. Complex and lengthy Israeli import procedures also hamper the reliable supply of even the most basic items such as painkillers and X-ray film developers. As a result, some patients, including people suffering from cancer or kidney failure, do not always get the essential drugs they need.

"Four of our 14 specialized ventilators for newborn babies are out of order. It is currently impossible to get spare parts into Gaza so that we can have the ventilators fixed. This is a real problem if we have many newborns in the intensive care unit at the same time."
Majdia Jouda, head of the neo-natal department at Shifa Hospital.

An estimated 100-150 people who lost limbs in the recent military operation are waiting to be fitted with artificial limbs. The ICRC-supported Artificial Limb and Polio Centre (ALPC) is the only physical rehabilitation centre in Gaza that can provide them with adequate rehabilitation and professional customized appliances. Being the only limb fitting centre in the Gaza Strip, the ALPC has to respond to the entire demand for artificial limbs. Yet importing prosthetic materials and components is still a difficult and lengthy process.

Gaza's hospitals are run down. Much of the equipment is unreliable and in need of repair. Complicated procedures for obtaining approval to import spare parts make it difficult and time consuming to bring in and maintain hospital equipment, such as CT scanners, and spare parts – even for hospital washing machines. The ICRC has had to wait as long as five months to import medical equipment for operating theatres, such as orthopaedic external fixators.

Daily power cuts and power fluctuations continue to damage medical equipment. Most hospitals have to rely on backup generators for several hours a day, but it is never certain that enough fuel will be available to run them.

Seriously ill patients should be given prompt and safe passage out of the Gaza Strip in order to access the specialized medical care they cannot get inside the territory. Essential medical items such as drugs, disposables and spare parts must be allowed into the Gaza Strip without delay and in sufficient quantities to ensure essential health services for the population.

A strangled economy

One of the gravest consequences of the closure is soaring unemployment, which reached 44 per cent in April 2009, according to the Gaza Chamber of Commerce. Restrictions on imports and exports of goods imposed since June 2007 have shut down 96% of industrial operations in Gaza, with the loss of about 70,000 jobs. This has also had a severe impact on the capacity to export products to Israel and the West Bank, which has become almost impossible.

©ICRC / M. Al-Baba

Ezbet Abd Rabo, Gaza North, May 2009.

©ICRC / M. Al-Baba

The tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border do not present an alternative route to economic development and are not ensuring a sufficient supply of affordable goods for the population.

The collapse of the Gaza economy has led to a dramatic increase in poverty. An ICRC household survey conducted in May 2008 showed that, even then, over 70 per cent of Gazans were living in poverty, with monthly incomes of less than 250 US dollars for a family of 7 to 9 members (1 dollar per household member per day, excluding the value of humanitarian assistance which they may receive). Up to 40 per cent of Gaza families are very poor; with a monthly income of under 120 dollars (0.5 dollar per household member per day). On average, each person who does work – whether as a paid employee or running their own business – has to support their immediate family of 6-7 people and a few members of their extended family.

This increase in poverty has taken a heavy toll on the population's diet. Many families have been forced to cut household expenses to survival levels. Generally, people are getting the calories they need, but only a few can afford a healthy and balanced diet. Poor families often substitute cheaper alternatives such as cereals, sugar and oil for fruits, vegetables, meat and fish. For tens of thousands of children, this has resulted in deficiencies in iron, vitamin A and vitamin D. The likely consequences include stunted growth of bones and teeth, difficulty in fighting off infections, fatigue and a reduced capacity to learn.

Most of the very poor have exhausted their coping mechanisms. Many have no savings left. They have sold private belongings such as jewellery and furniture and started to sell productive assets including farm animals, land, fishing boats or cars used as taxis. They are unable to reduce spending on food any further. The declining living standards will affect the health and well-being of the population in the long term. Those worst affected are likely to be children, who make up more than half of Gaza's population.

Gaza's alarming poverty is directly linked to the tight closure imposed on the territory. Local industry and other businesses have to be allowed to rebuild, to import essential inputs and to export their products. But even that would take time. The crisis has become so severe and entrenched that even if all crossings were to open tomorrow it would take years for the economy to recover.

Farming in the danger zone

©ICRC / M. Al-Baba

Al Mughraqa, May 2009.

©ICRC / M. Al-Baba

The closure has also badly hit farming families, which make up over a quarter of Gaza's population. Exports of strawberries, cherry tomatoes and cut flowers used to be an important source of income. They have come to a virtual standstill. Many farmers have had their income halved as they find it difficult to sell their entire harvest inside Gaza. Even if they succeed, the price they obtain is only a fraction of what they would normally earn from exports to Israel or Europe.

During the latest military operation, the Israeli army uprooted thousands of citrus, olive and palm groves, including those far inside the Gaza Strip. The army also destroyed irrigation systems, wells and greenhouses.

©ICRC / M. Al-Baba

Gaza city, Gaza beach, May 2009.

©ICRC / M. Al-Baba

Many farmers are effectively denied access to parts of their land because of the Israeli-imposed "no-go" zone on the Gaza side of the border fence with Israel. At least 30 per cent of the arable land in Gaza lies within this buffer zone, which can extend up to one kilometre from the fence. A farmer never knows for sure if it is safe to work his land or to harvest within the zone. Farmers risk being shot at when tending to their land and incursions by the army often leave fields and parts of the harvest destroyed.

Getting agricultural production up and running again is difficult not only because of the destruction that has occurred, but also because Israel does not allow the importation of suitable fertilizers and because many types of seedlings are difficult or even impossible to find in Gaza.

Fishing has also been hard hit by the Israeli-imposed restrictions on movement. Last January, the area at sea within which Israel allows fishing was cut from six to three nautical miles from Gaza's coastline, reducing catches and therefore the availability of this protein-rich food. Bigger fish and sardines, which constituted some 70 per cent of the catch before 2007, are found mainly outside the three-nautical-mile zone.

Urgent steps must be taken to allow farmers to resume growing their crops in safety. Fertilizers, spare parts for machinery, plastic sheeting for greenhouses and fodder must be allowed into the Gaza Strip in quantities that will ensure that they are sold at prices farmers can afford. At the same time, farmers must be permitted to resume their exports of produce in order to earn a proper living. Recent restrictions on fishing should be rescinded.

Trapped

©ICRC / A. Meier / il-e-00232

Family members waiting at Erez crossing in 2005 in order to exit Gaza and visit a relative in an Israeli prison. Such visits are no longer allowed.

©ICRC / A. Meier / il-e-00232

"Being stuck here gives me a sombre view of the future,” says Ibrahim Abu Sobeih, a 24-year-old student from Gaza. “I would like to be educated and to make something of myself. I want to be able to help my family financially. But it is very difficult when I am trapped. I feel very angry and hopeless."
Ibrahim Abu Sobeih, 24 years old, Gaza City: Received a scholarship from Clarion University in Pennsylvania, but was not allowed through Israel to go there. He now works for a local NGO.

People in Gaza are trapped. Because Israel has shut the crossing points, Gazans have scant opportunity for contact with relatives abroad or for further education or professional training. The restrictions on leaving and entering the Gaza Strip also apply to Palestinian staff of international organizations such as the ICRC. To make matters worse, it is seldom possible to use the Rafah border point with Egypt.

The emotional fallout from the closure is particularly apparent among families with relatives imprisoned in Israel. In June 2007, Israel stopped ICRC-supported visits by about 900 Gaza families to their detained relatives. As a result, many children have lost their one remaining link with a detained parent or sibling. These families must be allowed to resume visits to their relatives in Israeli detention.

Often, university students with grants to study abroad are not allowed to leave Gaza. Those who cannot leave are left with limited options for further education within the coastal enclave. University professors, teachers and health professionals are often prevented from participating in training courses and seminars abroad that would help them upgrade their skills and expertise.

Breaking the cycle of despair and destitution

Over the last two years, the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip have been caught up in an unending cycle of deprivation and despair as a result of the conflict, and particularly as a direct consequence of the closure of the crossing points.

The ICRC has repeatedly pointed out that Israel’s right to address its legitimate security concerns must be balanced against the right of the population in Gaza to lead a normal and dignified life. Under international humanitarian law, Israel has the obligation to ensure that the population's basic needs in terms of food, shelter, water and medical supplies are met.

©ICRC / M. Al Baba

Ezbet Abd Rabo, Gaza North, May 2009.

©ICRC / M. Al Baba

The ICRC once again appeals for a lifting of restrictions on the movement of people and goods as the first and most urgent measure to end Gaza's isolation and to allow its people to rebuild their lives.

The almost 4.5 billion dollars that donor countries pledged for reconstruction at an international summit in Egypt in March 2009 will be of little use if building materials and other essential items cannot be imported into the Gaza Strip.

In any case, reconstruction alone does not offer a sustainable means of getting Gaza back on its feet. To go back to the situation prior to the latest military operation would be unacceptable, as that would only perpetuate Gaza’s plight.

A lasting solution requires fundamental changes in Israeli policy, such as allowing imports and exports to and from Gaza, increasing the flow of goods and people up to the level of May 2007, allowing farmers to access their land in the de-facto buffer zone and restoring fishermen's access to deeper waters.

Humanitarian action can be no substitute for the credible political steps that are needed to bring about these changes. Only an honest and courageous political process involving all States, political authorities and organized armed groups concerned can address the plight of Gaza and restore a dignified life to its people.

The alternative is a further descent into misery with every passing day.

* * *

ICRC activities in Gaza

The ICRC has had a permanent presence in the Gaza Strip since 1968. There are currently 109 ICRC staff working there, including 19 expatriates.

ICRC staff remained in Gaza throughout the Israeli military operation launched on 27 December 2008. In cooperation with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), they evacuated hundreds of people – some of whom were severely wounded in the fighting. In addition, they provided hospitals with vital medicines and supplies, and ICRC war surgeons helped perform operations in Gaza's Shifa Hospital.
Working with local authorities, the ICRC also carried out emergency repairs on the power and water supply lines.

©ICRC

In the aftermath of the military operation, the ICRC and the PRCS distributed relief items such as plastic sheeting, cooking sets, mattresses, blankets and hygiene kits to more than 72,000 Gazans whose houses had been partially or totally destroyed. ICRC delegates also gathered information on whether Israel and Palestinian groups conducted hostilities in accordance with international humanitarian law. The ICRC's findings are being discussed bilaterally with the authorities concerned.

At present, the ICRC is supplying eight hospitals with medicines and other medical items, equipment and spare parts, and is helping to maintain and repair ambulances. In addition, the ICRC is fitting amputees with artificial limbs and providing them with physiotherapy. It is helping to upgrade water and sanitation services and to maintain the water network. The organization is providing support for farmers and others in need through various programmes involving land rehabilitation, compost production and "cash for work."
The ICRC continues to visit detainees in the Gaza Strip and to promote knowledge of and respect for international humanitarian law among the authorities and weapon bearers.

Full report here

Ask the Rabbis... WHAT A SHAME

2009-06-05T14:53:00.004+09:00

No wonder how the Israeli are full of hatred and intolerance, since some of their Rabbis are like this one. This is an answer published in Moment magazine May/June issue to

How Should Jews Treat Their Arab Neighbors?
I don’t believe in western morality, i.e. don’t kill civilians or children, don’t destroy holy sites, don’t fight during holiday seasons, don’t bomb cemeteries, don’t shoot until they shoot first because it is immoral.

The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way: Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle).

The first Israeli prime minister who declares that he will follow the Old Testament will finally bring peace to the Middle East. First, the Arabs will stop using children as shields. Second, they will stop taking hostages knowing that we will not be intimidated. Third, with their holy sites destroyed, they will stop believing that G-d is on their side. Result: no civilian casualties, no children in the line of fire, no false sense of righteousness, in fact, no war.

Zero tolerance for stone throwing, for rockets, for kidnapping will mean that the state has achieved sovereignty. Living by Torah values will make us a light unto the nations who suffer defeat because of a disastrous morality of human invention.
Rabbi Manis Friedman
Bais Chana Institute of Jewish Studies
St. Paul, MN

This awful answer requires him to issue a statement trying to moderate it. The statement itself needs another statement to moderated it.

Documenting Gaza war

2009-06-04T10:39:00.004+09:00

As you might know, early this week a committee from UN reached Gaza to investigate about the war crimes done in Gaza by Israel during the last war. Surly there are plenty of evidences.

A comment on my previous post came telling about a great work done by a group of artiest all over the world, informing about 70 pages of articles and stories. Along with over 40 art works describing what happened.

It is my pleasure to show it here. The work tilted: Gaza Over & Over. Done by No-More-Ignorance group.

You can access their web page here and under interesting sites. The report it self can be access from their web page or directly by clicking here to download "download from Media Fire", or you can read it online from here "read from issuu".
Here is the press release of this document, along with some pictures:
Gaza: Over and Over

This 70 pages document try to summarize about Israel military aggression into Gaza Strip at December 2008 until February 2009. It contains photos, data, report and artworks related about the war. More then 30 artist involved and more then 40 artworks featured. This is the third project done by No-More-Ignorance. This document is a must for every people & organization who wants to see Israel-Palestine conflict closely.

In this occasion, we would like to ask you to tell your friends about this document. Tell them via your Facebook notes, links, DA journal, blog post, or anything. They could download our PDF file or read it online. You could post the 500px wide JPG image in this folder as a teaser in your publication. Just ask them to visit our landing page for this project. Tell them to drop by here:

www.nomoreign.wordpress.com

/2009/05/28/gaza-over-and-over

If you interested with our project, you could join us on Facebook pages or Deviant Art.
Thank you very much for your help.

Sincerely,
No-More-Ignorance.

How MSM Misleads the Public about Israel with Euphemisms like "Facts on the Ground"

2009-05-25T21:06:00.001+09:00

A story of 13 years girls named Almasa

2009-05-12T21:00:00.001+09:00

During the last war on Gaza, all of the family memebers of this little girlwere killed by the Israeli forces. It is in Arabic and i will try to add subtitles in English soon.

Gaza war crime claims gather pace as more troops speak out

2009-03-31T19:01:00.001+09:00

An investigation by a group of former Israeli soldiers has uncovered new evidence of the military's conduct during the assault on Gaza two months ago. According to the group Breaking the Silence, the witness statements of the 15 soldiers who have come forward to describe their concerns over Operation Cast Lead appear to corroborate claims of random killings and vandalism carried out during the operation made by a separate group of anonymous servicemen during a seminar at a military college.
Full story @ The Guardian

Gaza war crimes investigation

2009-03-25T13:25:00.001+09:00

Civilians, medics and investigators talk to the Guardian about allegations of war crimes during Israel's 23-day campaign in Gaza

Civilians, medics and investigators talk to the Guardian about allegations of war crimes during Israel's 23-day campaign in Gaza

Cut to pieces: the family drinking tea in a courtyard

Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles – drones – caused at least 48 deaths in Gaza during the 23-day offensive
- The Hermes 450 drone: how it works
Palestinian brothers: used as human shields in Gaza

Three teenage boys say they were made to kneel in front of tanks to deter Hamas attacks
Under attack: medics die trying to help casualties

Israeli military says medical staff 'take the risk upon themselves'

The Guardian

???

2009-03-25T13:21:00.003+09:00

Copyrighrt © Steve Bell 2009.

Calls for investigation into Gaza attacks

2009-03-16T15:40:00.001+09:00

In Le Monde diplomatique English Edition published 03.03.09

Calls for investigation into Gaza attacks

Israel’s war crimes

Israel blamed its earlier wars on the threat to its security, even that against Lebanon in 1982. However, its assault on Gaza was not justified and there are international calls for an investigation. But is there the political will to make Israel account for its war crimes?

by Richard Falk*

For the first time since the establishment of Israel in 1948 the government is facing serious allegations of war crimes from respected public figures throughout the world. Even the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, normally so cautious about offending sovereign states – especially those aligned with its most influential member, the United States – has joined the call for an investigation and potential accountability. To grasp the significance of these developments it is necessary to explain what made the 22 days of attacks in Gaza stand shockingly apart from the many prior recourses to force byIsrael to uphold its security and strategic interests.

In my view, what made the Gaza attacks launched on 27 December different from the main wars fought by Israel over the years was that the weapons and tactics used devastated an essentially defenceless civilian population. The one-sidedness of the encounter was so stark, as signalled by the relative casualties on both sides (more than 100 to 1; 1300-plus Palestinians killed compared with 13 Israelis, and several of these by friendly fire), that most commentators refrained from attaching the label “war”.

The Israelis and their friends talk of “retaliation” and “the right of Israel to defend itself”. Critics described the attacks as a “massacre” or relied on the language of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In the past Israeli uses of force were often widely condemned, especially by Arab governments, including charges that the UN Charter was being violated, but there was an implicit acknowledgement thatIsrael was using force in a war mode. War crimes charges (to the extent they were made) came only from radical governments and the extreme left.

The early Israeli wars were fought against Arab neighbours which were quite literally challenging Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign state. The outbreaks of force were of an inter-governmental nature; and even when Israel exhibited its military superiority in the June 1967 six day war, it was treated within the framework of normal world politics, and though it may have been unlawful, it was not criminal.

But from the 1982 Lebanon war this started to change. The main target then was the presence of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in southern Lebanon. But the war is now mainly remembered for its ending, with the slaughter of hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. Although this atrocity was the work of a Lebanese Christian militia, Israeli acquiescence, control and complicity were clearly part of the picture. Still, this was an incident which, though alarming, was not the whole of the military operation, whichIsrael justified as necessary due to the Lebanese government’s inability to prevent its territory from being used to threaten Israeli security.

The legacy of the 1982 war was Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon and the formation of Hizbullah in reaction, mounting an armed resistance that finally led to a shamefaced Israeli withdrawal in 1998. This set the stage for the 2006 Lebanon war in which the announced adversary was Hizbullah, and the combat zone inevitably merged portions of the Lebanese civilian population with the military campaign undertaken to destroy Hizbullah. Such a use of hi-tech Israeli force against Hizbullah raised the issue of fighting against a hostile society with no equivalent means of defending itself rather than against an enemy state. It also raised questions about whether reliance on a military option was even relevant toIsrael ’s political goals, as Hizbullah emerged from the war stronger, and the only real result was to damage the reputation of the IDF as a fighting force and to leave southern Lebanon devastated.

The Gaza operation brought these concerns to the fore as it dramatised this shift away from fighting states to struggles against armed resistance movements, and with a related shift from the language of “war” to “criminality”. In one important respect,Israel managed to skew perceptions and discourse by getting the media and diplomats to focus the basic international criminal law question on whether or not Israeli use of force was “disproportionate”.

This way of describing Israeli recourse to force ignores the foundational issue: were the attacks in any legal sense “defensive” in character in the first place? An inquiry into the surrounding circumstances shows an absence of any kind of defensive necessity: a temporary ceasefire betweenIsrael and Hamas that had been in effect since 19 July 2008 had succeeded in reducing cross-border violence virtually to zero; Hamas consistently offered to extend the ceasefire, even to a longer period of ten years; the breakdown of the ceasefire is not primarily the result of Hamas rocket fire, but came about mainly as a result of an Israeli air attack on 4 November that killed six Hamas fighters in Gaza.

Disproportionate force?

In other words, there were no grounds for claiming the right of self-defence as Israel was not the object of a Hamas attack, and diplomatic alternatives to force existed and seemed credible, and their good-faith reliance was legally obligatory. On this basis the focus of legal debate should not be upon whether Israeli force was disproportionate. Of course it was. The focus should be on whether the Israeli attacks were a prohibited, non-defensive use of force under the UN charter, amounting to an act of aggression, and as such constituting a crime against peace. At Nuremberg after the second world war, surviving Nazi leaders were charged with this crime, which was described in the judgment as “the supreme crime” encompassing the others.

The Gaza form of encounter almost by necessity blurs the line between war and crime, and when it occurs in a confined, densely populated area such as Gaza, necessarily intermingles the resistance fighters with the civilian population. It also induces the resistance effort to rely on criminal targeting of civilians as it has no military capacity directly to oppose state violence. In this respect, the Israeli attacks on Gaza and the Hamas resistance crossed the line between lawful combat and warcrimes.

These two sides should not be viewed as equally responsible for the recent events. Israel initiated the Gaza campaign without adequate legal foundation or just cause, and was responsible for causing the overwhelming proportion of devastation and the entirety of civilian suffering. Israeli reliance on a military approach to defeat or punish Gaza was intrinsically “criminal”, and as such demonstrative of both violations of the law of war and the commission ofcrimes against humanity.

There is another element that strengthens the allegation of aggression. The population of Gaza had been subjected to a punitive blockade for 18 months whenIsrael launched its attacks. This blockade was widely, and correctly, viewed as collective punishment in a form that violated Articles 33 and 55 of the Fourth Geneva Convention governing the conduct of an occupying power in relation to the civilian population living under occupation. This policy was itself condemned as a crime against humanity, as well as a grave breach of international humanitarian law.

It also had resulted in serious nutritional deficiencies and widespread mental disorders on the part of the entire Gaza population, leaving it particularly vulnerable to the sort of “shock and awe” attack mounted byIsrael from land, air and sea. This vulnerability was reinforced by Israel ’s unwillingness to allow Gaza civilians to seek safety while the tiny Strip was under such intense combat pressure. Two hundred non-Palestinian wives were allowed to leave, which underscored the criminality of locking children, women, the sick, elderly and disabled into the war zone, and showed its ethnically discriminatory character. This appears to be the first time in wartime conditions that a civilian population was denied the possibility of becoming refugees.

In addition to these big picture issues, there are a variety of alleged war crimes associated with Israeli battlefield practices. These charges, based on evidence collected by human rights groups, include IDF firing at a variety of civilian targets, instances where Israeli military personnel denied medical aid to wounded Palestinians, and others where ambulances were prevented from reaching their destinations. There are also documented claims of 20 occasions on which Israeli soldiers were seen firing at women and children carrying white flags. And there are various allegations associated with the use of phosphorus bombs in residential areas of Gaza, as well as legal complaints about the use of a new cruel weapon, known as DIME, that explodes with such force that it rips body parts to pieces.

These war crimes concerns can only be resolved by factual clarifications as to whether a basis exists for possible prosecution of the perpetrators, and commanders and political leaders to the extent that criminal tactics and weaponry were authorised as matters of Israeli policy. In this vein too are the Israeli claims relating to rockets fired at civilian targets and to Hamas militants using “human shields” and deliberately attacking from non-military targets.

Even without further investigation, it is not too soon to raise questions about individual accountability for war crimes. The most serious allegations relate to the pre-existing blockade, the intrinsic criminality and non-defensiveness of the attack itself; and the official policies (eg confinement of civilian population in the war zone) have been acknowledged. The charges against Hamas require further investigation and legal assessment before it is appropriate to discuss possible arrangements for imposing accountability.

A question immediately arises as to whether talk of Israeli war crimes is nothing more than talk. Are there any prospects that the allegations will be followed up with effective procedures to establish accountability? There are a variety of potentially usable mechanisms to impose accountability, but will any of these be available in practice? This issue has been already raised by the Israeli government at the highest levels in the form of official commitments to shield Israeli soldiers from facing warcrimes charges.

The most obvious path to address the broader questions of criminal accountability would be to invoke the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court established in 2002. Although the prosecutor has been asked to investigate the possibility of such a proceeding, it is highly unlikely to lead anywhere sinceIsrael is not a member and, by most assessments, Palestine is not yet a state or party to the statute of the ICC. Belatedly, and somewhat surprisingly, the Palestinian Authority sought, after the 19 January ceasefire, to adhere to the Rome Treaty establishing the ICC. But even if its membership is accepted, which is unlikely, the date of adherence would probably rule out legal action based on prior events such as the Gaza military operation. And it is certain thatIsrael would not cooperate with the ICC with respect to evidence, witnesses or defendants, and this would make it very difficult to proceed even if the other hurdles could be overcome.

The next most obvious possibility would be to follow the path chosen in the 1990s by the UN Security Council, establishing ad hoc international criminal tribunals, as was done to address thecrimes associated with the break-up of former Yugoslavia and with the Rwanda massacres of 1994. This path seems blocked in relation toIsrael as the US, and likely other European permanent members, would veto any such proposal. In theory, the General Assembly could exercise parallel authority, as human rights are within its purview and it is authorised by Article 22 of the UN charter to “establish such subsidiary organs as it deems necessary for the performance of its function”. In 1950 it acted on this basis to establish the UN Administrative Tribunal, mandated to resolve employment disputes with UN staff members.

The geopolitical realities that exist within the UN make this an unlikely course of action (although it is under investigation). At present there does not seem to be sufficient inter-governmental political will to embark on such a controversial path, but civil society pressure may yet make this a plausible option, especially ifIsrael persists in maintaining its criminally unlawful blockade of Gaza, resisting widespread calls, including by President Obama, to open the crossings fromIsrael . Even in the unlikely event that it is established, such a tribunal could not function effectively without a high degree of cooperation with the government of the country whose leaders and soldiers are being accused. Unlike former Yugoslavia and Rwanda,Israel ’s political leadership would certainly do its best to obstruct the activities of any international body charged with prosecuting Israeli warcrimes.

Claims of universal jurisdiction

Perhaps the most plausible governmental path would be reliance on claims of universal jurisdiction (1) associated with the authority of national courts to prosecute certain categories of war crimes, depending on national legislation. Such legislation exists in varying forms in more than 12 countries, including Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Britain and the US. Spain has already indicted several leading Israeli military officers, although there is political pressure on the Spanish government to alter its criminal law to disallow such an undertaking in the absence of those accused.

This path to criminal accountability was taken in 1998 when a Spanish high court indicted the former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, and he was later detained in Britain where the legal duty to extradite was finally upheld on rather narrow grounds by a majority of the Law Lords, the highest court in the country. Pinochet was not extradited however, but returned to Chile on grounds of unfitness to stand trial, and died in Chile while criminal proceedings against him were under way.

Whether universal jurisdiction provides a practical means of responding to the war crimes charges arising out of the Gaza experience is doubtful. National procedures are likely to be swayed by political pressures, as were German courts, which a year ago declined to proceed against Donald Rumsfeld on torture charges despite a strong evidentiary basis and the near certainty that he would not be prosecuted in the US, which as his home state had the legally acknowledged prior jurisdictional claim. Also, universal jurisdictional proceedings are quite random, depending on either the cooperation of other governments by way of extradition or the happenchance of finding a potential defendant within the territory of the prosecuting state.

It is possible that a high profile proceeding could occur, and this would give great attention to the war crimes issue, and so universal jurisdiction is probably the most promising approach to Israeli accountability despite formidable obstacles. Even if no conviction results (and none exists for comparable allegations), the mere threat of detention and possible prosecution is likely to inhibit the travel plans of individuals likely to be detained on war crime charges; and has some political relevance with respect to the international reputation of a government.

There is, of course, the theoretical possibility that prosecutions, at least for battlefield practices such as shooting surrendering civilians, would be undertaken in Israeli criminal courts. Respected Israeli human rights organisations, including B’Tselem, are gathering evidence for such legal actions and advance the argument that an Israeli initiative has the national benefit of undermining the international calls for legal action.

This Israeli initiative, even if nothing follows in the way of legal action, as seems almost certain due to political constraints, has significance. It will lend credence to the controversial international contentions that criminal indictment and prosecution of Israeli political and military leaders and warcrimes perpetrators should take place in some legal venue. If politics blocks legal action in Israel, then the implementation of international criminal law depends on taking whatever action is possible in either an international tribunal or foreign national courts, and if this proves impossible, then by convening a non-governmental civil society tribunal with symbolic legal authority.

What seems reasonably clear is that despite the clamour for war crimes investigations and accountability, the political will is lacking to proceed against Israel at the inter-governmental level, whether within the UN or outside. The realities of geopolitics are built around double standards when it comes to warcrimes . It is one thing to proceed against Saddam Hussein or Slobodan Milosevic, but quite another to go against George W Bush or Ehud Olmert. Ever since the Nuremberg trials after the second world war, there exists impunity for those who act on behalf of powerful, undefeated states and nothing is likely to challenge this fact of international life in the near future, thus tarnishing the status of international law as a vehicle for global justice that is consistent in its enforcement efforts. When it comes to international criminal law, there continues to exist impunity for the strong and victorious, and potential accountability for the weak or defeated.

It does seem likely that civil society initiatives will lead to the establishment of one or more tribunals operating without the benefit of governmental authorisation. Such tribunals became prominent in the Vietnam war when Bertrand Russell took the lead in establishing the Russell Tribunal. Since then the Permanent Peoples Tribunal based in Rome has organised more than 20 sessions on a variety of international topics that neither the UN nor governments will touch.

In 2005 the World Tribunal on Iraq, held in Istanbul, heard evidence from 54 witnesses, and its jury, presided over by the Indian novelist Arundhati Roy, issued a Declaration of Conscience that condemned the US and Britain for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and named names of leaders in both countries who should be held criminally accountable.

The tribunal compiled an impressive documentary record as to criminal charges, and received considerable media attention, at least in the Middle East. Such an undertaking is attacked or ignored by the media because it is one-sided, and lacking in legal weight, but in the absence of formal action on accountability, such informal initiatives fill a legal vacuum, at least symbolically, and give legitimacy to non-violent anti-war undertakings.

The legitimacy war

In the end, the haunting question is whether the war crimes concerns raised by Israel’s behaviour in Gaza matters, and if so, how. I believe it matters greatly in what might be called “the second war” – the legitimacy war that often ends up shaping the political outcome more than battlefield results. The US won every battle in the Vietnam war and lost the war; the same with France in Indochina and Algeria, and the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The Shah of Iran collapsed, as did the apartheid regime in South Africa, because of defeats in the legitimacy war.

It is my view that this surfacing of criminal charges against Israel during and after its attacks on Gaza resulted in major gains on the legitimacy front for the Palestinians. The widespread popular perceptions of Israeli criminality, especially the sense of waging war against a defenceless population with modern weaponry, has prompted people around the world to propose boycotts, divestments and sanctions. This mobilisation exerts pressure on governments and corporations to desist from relations withIsrael , and is reminiscent of the worldwide anti-apartheid campaign that did so much to alter the political landscape in South Africa. Winning the legitimacy war is no guarantee that Palestinian self-determination will be achieved in the coming years. But it does change the political equation in ways that are not fully discernable at this time.

The global setup provides a legal framework capable of imposing international criminal law, but it will not be implemented unless the political will is present.Israel is likely to be insulated from formal judicial initiatives addressing war crimes charges, but will face the fallout arising from the credibility that these charges possess for world public opinion. This fallout is reshaping the underlyingIsrael /Palestine struggle, and giving far greater salience to the legitimacy war (fought on a global political battlefield) than was previously the case.

*Richard Falk is professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and in 2008 was appointed UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights

(1) The idea of universal jurisdiction has its roots in the approach taken to piracy in prior centuries, allowing any country to capture and prosecute wherever a pirate vessel was found and regardless of the nationality of those charged with the crime.

If Americans Knew What Israel Is Doing! VIDEO WAS CENSORED!

2009-02-06T20:20:00.001+09:00

Worth to watch

Reminder

2009-01-30T21:41:00.002+09:00

There was a debate between Prof. Norman Finkelstein and Josh Block, director of Media Affairs for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). It is useful to remember that debate.
You can access a ruch transcription in the same page.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan Slams Israeli President Shamon Peres Over Gaza Killings

2009-01-30T21:32:00.001+09:00

One minute! One minute!

Mr.Peres, you're older than me. Your voice is coming too loud. I know that the reason of your voice's coming this loud is a guiltiness psychology. My voice won't come this loud, know that so.....When it comes to kill, you know how to kill very well. I know how you shot, how you killed the children on plages, very well. Two people who had been prime minister in your country made important statements to me. You have prime ministers who said that "When i get in to Palestine on tanks, i feel myself a different kind of happy." And you're giving me numbers. I can give you names. You may be wonder... I also condemn who acclaims to this grimness......Because i suppose acclaiming the people who killed those children, those people, is another humanity crime. Look, we can not edge out a reality here. I keep a lot of notes here, but i don't have a chance to reply all here. But i only say two words from here.......

First, - Please don't interrupt me!

First, The Torah says in the sixth topic that "You are not going to kill!". There is killing here. Second, -this is also interesting too- Gilad Atzmon: Israel barbarism is on the further side of fiendishness -a Jewish

Life

2009-01-21T12:27:00.000+09:00

They want it, give them the life

victory???

2009-01-21T12:22:00.003+09:00

I wonder how the criminal Olmert can say victory. Unless his target really was to make all this destruction. his soldiers run away out from Gaza letting their machines behind them

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-21T12:14:00.007+09:00

Gaza: Israel under fire for alleged white phosphorus use | csmonitor.com

2009-01-19T17:00:00.001+09:00

Gaza: Israel under fire for alleged white phosphorus use | csmonitor.com

Posted using ShareThis

sample

2009-01-19T10:21:00.003+09:00

This is a sample of the bombs were sent to the civilians and children in Gaza. The stupid PM of "Israel" said they were not trying to kill the people. I wonder if they were trying to kill a fly bu such bombs.

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-19T10:18:00.004+09:00

Those are the members of the same family, were sheltering together. The died together.

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-19T10:11:00.007+09:00

After the ceasefire was announced it was the time to take a look to the destruction occurred in Gaza. It is really looks like a huge earthquake hit the area.

Enough

2009-01-17T23:50:00.002+09:00

A reproduction of Israel Haaretz newspaper's page on January 16, 2009 shows an advertisement by Israeli non-governmental organization "Association for Civil Rights in Israel" with the gender and the ages of Palestinian children killed in the Gaza Strip during Israel's 21-days military offensive. In the center of the page, the word, "enough" in Hebrew

The lies of Isrealis' leaders

2009-01-17T23:46:00.002+09:00

They did not announce about their lose. This image shows a part of a tank destroyed by the resistant in Gaza.

Also in the West bank

2009-01-17T23:43:00.003+09:00

Not only in Gaza but also in the West bank the "Israelis" keep killing the civilians. This time they were protesting against the war in Gaza. Yet even this is forbidden for the democracy of "Israel"

Gaza massacre ?? UN school again

2009-01-17T23:30:00.005+09:00

In those school there are the people whom were forced to leave their homes under the "Israeli" fire. Targeting those schools and UN headquarters, where also people sheltered, means one thing. It is intentionally anti-civilians war.

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-17T23:17:00.004+09:00

Ambulance!!!!!

Help them

2009-01-16T17:26:00.002+09:00

It is not fire work

2009-01-16T17:24:00.001+09:00

It is the ignoble, mean, full of hatred, bloody despicable pigs aramy

"Isreal" hits building for media agencies in Gaza

2009-01-16T17:22:00.001+09:00

"Isreal" hits hospitals & mosques in Gaza

2009-01-16T17:20:00.004+09:00

Those from Alqouds hospital in gaza

Those from Alaqsa Hospital in Gaza

And this mosque

"Isreal" hits UN headequarter in Gaza

2009-01-16T17:19:00.002+09:00

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-16T17:14:00.005+09:00

Secretary General outraged at shelling of UN building in Gaza

2009-01-16T11:37:00.000+09:00

The U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon says he has expressed "strong protest and outrage" to Israel over the shelling of a United Nations compound in Gaza City.

“I conveyed my strong protest and outrage to the defense minister and the foreign minister and demanded a full explanation," Ban said, adding that he had demanded an investigation into the shelling.

"The defense minister said to me it was a grave mistake and he took it very seriously. He assured me that extra attention will be paid to U.N. facilities and staff and this will not be repeated."

Israeli shells damaged the international organization's headquarters in Gaza City, according to witnesses and U.N. officials. U.N. spokesman Chris Gunness says at least three people were wounded.

UNRWA

Gaza pounded amid push for truce

2009-01-15T19:40:00.002+09:00

Gaza pounded amid push for truce
Israeli tanks have pushed deep into Gaza City, prompting fierce exchanges of gunfire with fighters of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The UN's relief agency, Unrwa, says part of its HQ in the city is on fire after being shelled by the Israelis.
BBC

UN chief condemns Israeli shelling of UN compound
JERUSALEM (AP) -- The U.N. chief says he has expressed "strong protest and outrage" to Israel over the shelling of a United Nations compound in Gaza City.
AP

GAZA (Reuters) - An explosion blasted a tower block in the city of Gaza on Thursday that houses the offices of Reuters and several other media organizations, injuring a journalist for the Abu Dhabi television channel.
Reuters

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-15T17:18:00.004+09:00

Those pictures show the gas being used by the "Israeli" forces against civilians. It is white phosphor gas.

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-15T17:05:00.008+09:00

Till now 1054 martyr and 4850 injured most of them are children, women and civilians in general. Complete district were destroyed, including homes, mosques, clinics, schools and even grave yards.

Thank You

2009-01-15T16:23:00.002+09:00

A father of 4 children died togther asking why

2009-01-15T00:10:00.000+09:00

Atrocity in Gaza

2009-01-14T23:31:00.000+09:00

Never broadcasted even on AlJazeera. very strong scenes

Simple true

2009-01-14T19:29:00.000+09:00

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-14T12:40:00.000+09:00

Pictures from The Times

Gaza: Israeli troops reveal ruthless tactics against Hamas

2009-01-14T12:37:00.000+09:00

Palestinian doctors say that more than 900 people have been killed, nearly half of them civilians

At the first sign of movement in the dark Gaza alleyway, Alon opened fire without hesitation. Snipers liked to operate at night, he said, and the area had been cleared of Israeli troops.

“He could have been advancing to attack,” the Israeli lieutenant explained. “We are treating everything as hostile right now. We were told not to take chances — to shoot rather than ask questions.”

Full story @ The Times

Betrayers

2009-01-14T10:42:00.000+09:00

Of course there is the whole list but those are the main

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-14T10:39:00.000+09:00

Please take a close look at the type of injuries and the type of the smoke after the bombing. They are different from "normal" smoke from "classical" bombs.

Enough

2009-01-13T13:25:00.000+09:00

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-13T13:23:00.000+09:00

Weapons under test are being used

2009-01-13T09:35:00.000+09:00

Several reports are talking about a newly weapons are being used some of them are still under test and labeled as highly lethal weapons are being used by the "Israelis" forces. Reports from "Israelis" newspaper and other international organizations. More details later.

Israel: Stop Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza

2009-01-13T09:32:00.000+09:00

(Jerusalem, January 10, 2009) - Israel should stop using white phosphorus in military operations in densely populated areas of Gaza, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 9 and 10, 2009, Human Rights Watch researchers in Israel observed multiple air-bursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over what appeared to be the Gaza City/Jabaliya area.

Israel appeared to be using white phosphorus as an "obscurant" (a chemical used to hide military operations), a permissible use in principle under international humanitarian law (the laws of war). However, white phosphorus has a significant, incidental, incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire. The potential for harm to civilians is magnified by Gaza's high population density, among the highest in the world.

"White phosphorous can burn down houses and cause horrific burns when it touches the skin," said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch. "Israel should not use it in Gaza's densely populated areas."

Human Rights Watch believes that the use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas of Gaza violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life. This concern is amplified given the technique evidenced in media photographs of air-bursting white phosphorus projectiles. Air bursting of white phosphorus artillery spreads 116 burning wafers over an area between 125 and 250 meters in diameter, depending on the altitude of the burst, thereby exposing more civilians and civilian infrastructure to potential harm than a localized ground burst.

Since the beginning of Israel's ground offensive in Gaza on January 3, 2009, there have been numerous media reports about the possible use of white phosphorous by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF told both Human Rights Watch and news reporters that it is not using white phosphorus in Gaza. On January 7, an IDF spokesman told CNN, "I can tell you with certainty that white phosphorus is absolutely not being used."

HRW

UNICEF Situation in Gaza is 'Simply Desperate'

2009-01-12T23:18:00.000+09:00

Gaza facing 'medical crisis'

2009-01-12T23:16:00.000+09:00

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-12T20:40:00.000+09:00

Isreal's reality is well known

2009-01-11T23:48:00.000+09:00

People around the world know what the Israelis are.

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-11T23:31:00.000+09:00

Although I hate to write how many were killed and injured because this will make them just numbers, but I have to do this in order to know how much those Israelis are bloody thirsty cruels.
879 martyrs and 3695 injured. Just for informative purpose, the number of Israelis were killed by the rockets launched during the last 10 years is 20 (including the people were killed in recent 15 days)

Open Letter to Israeli Soldiers: Jews call on Israeli soldiers to stop War Crimes

2009-01-11T01:43:00.000+09:00

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-10T22:16:00.000+09:00

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-10T01:34:00.000+09:00

Gaza under fire despite truce call

Israel is pushing ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip after branding a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire "unworkable".
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, rejected the truce call following a security cabinet meeting on Friday.
Aljazeera English

UN ceasefire call goes unheeded
Israel is to keep up its offensive in the Gaza Strip despite a UN call for an immediate end to nearly two weeks of conflict involving Hamas militants.
BBC contains video

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza Friday and Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets on at least two cities as both sides defied a U.N. call for an immediate cease-fire.
AP

Israel presses on with Gaza strikes despite UN resolution
A defiant Israel has pounded Gaza with bombs and shells, vowing to pursue its war on Hamas despite a truce order from the UN Security Council. The UN has warned that Gaza is running out of food.
AFP

It is all clear the one who break the truce in the first place still breaking it. Some people should wake up and see the truth.

United Nations: Hamas Did Not Break the Truce, Israel Did.

2009-01-09T14:21:00.000+09:00

the reality from UN

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-09T14:03:00.000+09:00

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-09T13:58:00.000+09:00

Those are samples of the targets in Gaza. Ambulances and mosques

Gaza Terrorists...

2009-01-08T17:18:00.000+09:00

									To finish all terrorist members of Hammas (As some claim) Israel started a bloody war against the residents of Gaza , and some pictures were released....what a mess للقضاء على إرهابى حماس قامت إسرائيل بشن حرب شاملة ضد قطاع غزة وتم تسريب عدة صور للإرهابيين المستهدفين First one is A very active member of resistance troops الإرهابى الأول عضو نشط فى خلايا المقاومة He is all terror نظرة عن قرب Second one was using his legs to run which cause a lot of terrifying to Israel people الإرهابى الثانى كان يستخدم قدميه فى الجرى مما أخاف الشعب الصهيونى Third one was hunted with her family by a concentrated air strike on her house الإرهابية الثالثة تم القضاء عليها وعلى عائلتها بقصف جوى مكثف على منزلها Fourth one is active member of Aksa Troops الإرهابية الرابعة عضوة نشطة فى كتائب الأقصى House of some terrorists have been bombed by accurate air strike منزل بعض الإرهابيين تم دكه بواسطة ضربات جوية دقيقة Fifth one is one of dangerous members of Kassam Troops الإرهابى الخامس من أخطر أعضاء كتائب القسام Some terrorists were hunted down by smart bombs إرهابيين تم القضاء عليهم بالقنابل الذكية terrorist have been injured and will never be able to keep terrifying Israel إرهابى سادس تم إصابته ولن يتمكن من مواصلة إرهاب إسرائيل Terrorists brothers and sisters زملاء وأخوات الإرهابيين Seventh terrorist has been hunted down by apache إرهابى سابع تم إصطياده بطائرات الأباتشى Eighth terrorist whom helped the others Let her cry for her family تبكى أخوها وأبوها الإرهابيين with thanks to مع تحيات .....

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-08T10:35:00.000+09:00

Why they have been killed

2009-01-07T17:39:00.000+09:00


هذا الطفل فقد أسرته في عدوان الاحتلال الإسرائيلي الذي لم يتحرك العالم لوقفه (الجزيرة) Lost his family

وهذه الطفلة الفلسطينية في مخيم عين الحلوة تتعاطف بطريقتها مع أشقائها الذين استشهدوا أو فقدوا عائلاتهم في العدوان (الفرنسية)
From AinElhelwa refugee camp saying I am with you

أما الطفل محمد سموني فوالده يستعد لمواراته الثرى بعد أن انضم لقائمة طويلة من الأطفال الأبرياء الذين قتلوا دون ذنب جنوه (الأوروبية)
Moahmmed Smonei while his father graving him

أحد الضحايا الأطفال الذين استشهدوا في القصف الإسرائيلي على منزل القيادي في حماس نزار ريان (الجزيرة)
A child were killed by the air strike killed Hamas leader Nizar Rayan and his family

حتى أطفال غزة مستهدفين من آلة الحرب الإسرائيلية (الأوروبية)
Any child in Gaza is a target

ثلاثة من أطفال نزار ريان الذين أزهقت الصواريخ الإسرائيلية أرواحهم وهم في منزلهم (الفرنسية)
3 sons of Nizar Rayan were killed along with their father & mother

آلة الحرب الإسرائيلية صبت الحقد الإسرائيلي على نزار ريان قتلا وتشويها لأطفاله (الفرنسية)
Children of Nizar Rayan, because they are only his children

ابنة القيادي في حماس نزار ريان قتلتها الطائرات الإسرائيلية لأنها اعتبرتها خطرا على أمن إسرائبل (الفرنسية)
A daughter of Nizar Rayan

الطفلة هيا حمدان (4 سنوات) توارى الثرى بعد قصف إسرائيلي للعربة التي كانت تستقلها مع شقيقتها لما ذات التسعة أعوام (الفرنسية)
Haya Hamdan were riding a cart pulled by a donkey. Surley they hasn't rokects

لما حمدان (9 سنوات) لم تكن تحمل بندقية أو حجرا عندما قتلها صاروخ إسرائيلي في بيت حانون (الفرنسية)
Lama Hamdan also died with her sister

شقيقتا هيا ولما ودعاتهما بالدموع والحيرة بأي ذنب قتلت شقيقتاهما (الأوروبية)
Sisters of Lama and Haya wondering why ??

الطفلتان لما وهيا حمدان هل حملتا السلاح أثناء ركوبهما عربة حمار لكي تستهدفهما صواريخ الاحتلال؟ (الفرنسية)
The two sisters Lama and Haya togther, in life and in death

هناك أطفال لم يموتوا ولكنهم يقاسون مبكرا آلاما لا علاقة لها بالطفولة والبراءة (الفرنسية)
The lucky children whom did not die, have to live in suffer

الطفلة دينا بعلوشة قتلت مع أخواتها الأربع في قصف استهدف منزل ذويها في بيت لاهيا شمال غزة (رويترز)
Dyna Balousha were killed with her 4 sisters and brothers

حتى الأطفال في الضفة الغربية الذين عبروا عن غضبهم الطفولي عاجلتهم آلة الاحتلال بالقتل (الفرنسية)
Children in the west bank were not in safe also

هذا الرجل الذي فقد بناته الخمس لم يقاتل إسرائيل كي يتعرض منزله للقصف (رويترز)
This man lost his 5 daugthers, he did not fight Isreal, but his home was bombed

أقارب طفلة فلسطينية يستعدون لدفنها بعد انتشالها من أنقاض بيتها المدمر (رويترز)
Another child with same story, she never thought that she is threating the security of Isreal

قريب الطفلة دينا بعلوشة يشهد العالم على فظاعة جريمة قتل الأطفال (رويترز)
World see her

جدة الطفل يحيى الحايك تتعرف عليه بعد انتشاله من تحت الركام (الجزيرة نت)
The grandmother of Yahuya Haiek trying to recognize him

شاب فلسطيني يحمل طفلا لفظ أنفاسه قبل أن يصل ألى المسشفى (الجزيرة نت)
A child died before reaching the hospital

Pictures and Arabic comments from Aljazeera
English comments by me

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-07T16:24:00.000+09:00

Nothing to say

More children among Gaza dead

2009-01-07T14:27:00.000+09:00

Same but the English version

This is special report about children in the current massacre

2009-01-07T14:22:00.000+09:00

10th day report from Aljazeera Arabic

2009-01-07T14:18:00.000+09:00

Terrible

2009-01-07T13:26:00.000+09:00

Yesterday more than 135 people were killed ,mainly they are children and women. Over 400 were injured. The barbarians "Israelis" bombed 3 UN schools in which many civilians were sheltered.
I wonder when the Western countries will do any thing to stop them. I am saying the western countries because I do not have any trust in any of the Arabs leaders. Total so far 630 killed and 3025 injured
More photos later

pictures from Aljazeera

Do you think

2009-01-06T21:20:00.000+09:00

It is a brave or by this you will be a strong army???

Do you think it was a picnic

Do you think you will escape with this

Do you think you will be safe
Do you think by this you will be protected
Do you think it finished for you

Do you think it is priceless

Coming one might be one of you

Gaza massacre ??

2009-01-06T21:10:00.000+09:00

Speak Up

2009-01-06T20:18:00.000+09:00

THEY ARE DYING

Your duty

2009-01-06T19:14:00.000+09:00

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sample

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Gaza massacre ??

Enough

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A father of 4 children died togther asking why

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Gaza massacre ??

Gaza massacre ??

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