Today in Solidarity We're All Palestinians

Today in Solidarity We're All Palestinians
Monday, 19 January 2009
Today in Solidarity We're All Palestinians - by Stephen Lendman

World outrage continues over Israeli war crimes and Washington's complicity. Gazans are now immortalized. Hamas is more popular than ever and remains resolute despite everything the IDF threw against it.

Democrats and Republicans share equal guilt. They fund Israeli state terror, are partnered in its aggression, and have collaboratively planned, supported, and/or agreed to it for the past 41 years. Continuity under Obama is assured. The current Gaza carnage is the worst since 1967. In spite of its "unilateral" ceasefire, sporadic Israeli attacks continue. The IDF merely redeployed. Gaza remains under siege, and human suffering is overwhelming and unrelieved.

Since December 27, Israel conducted terror bombings, tank and naval vessel shellings, and assault troop slaughter on the ground. Illegal weapons were used. Neighborhoods are burning and in ruins. Horrific wounds are reported. Civilians were willfully massacred. They comprise 80 - 90% of the casualties according to human rights organizations and medical authority reports. All 1.5 million Gazans were targeted. They still are. There's no place anywhere to hide.

Sporadic fighting continues after Israel's January 17 announcement. Earlier, Israeli Radio reported that more reservists were activated and that IDF operations were in "phase three." Forces on the ground pushed deeper into Gaza where they remained up to now. Attacks on neighborhoods and refugee camps intensified. Death and injury tolls mount. They approach 7000 but exclude potentially hundreds of unidentified bodies under rubble.

A Brief History of Israeli Terror Killings Since 1946

Gaza is full-scale war but just the latest bloodstained episode in Israel's six-decade reign of terror against Palestinians. This section reviews others since 1946, two years before the establishment of a Jewish state. The list is long, way-incomplete, very disturbing, and shows what Palestinians have endured for over 60 years. Their ordeal continues in the West Bank and Gaza under siege, still attacked, and, as always, betrayed by the dominant media.

The King David Hotel July 22, 1946 Bombing

The Menachem Begin-led Irgun planned and conducted the massacre of 92 Brits, Arabs and Jews, wounding 58 others. As head of the Jewish Agency, David Ben-Gurion approved the operation. It was to destroy British-gathered evidence that its leaders colluded with the Haganah, Palmach, Irgun and Stern gangs in a wave of terrorist crimes and killings. Bombing the King David Hotel was the most notorious and followed a pattern before and since of brutal Israeli state terrorism.

The British Secretariat of the Palestine Government and British Army HQ kept offices in the hotel. Attackers disguised as milkmen, planted explosives in milk containers, placed them in the basement and left. At the time, the action shocked the civilized world and outraged the British leadership and House of Commons.

Other Israeli Terrorist Incidents against Palestinians

-- Tira, December 11, 1947 - five Palestinians were killed and six injured;

-- a village outside Haifa, December 12, 1947 - 12 Palestinians killed;

-- a village outside Tel Aviv, December 14, 1947 - 18 Palestinians killed and 100 injured;

-- al-Khias, December 18, 1947 - the paramilitary Haganah killed 10 Palestinians, most inside their homes;

-- Haifa, December 30, 1947 - six Palestinians killed and 42 wounded;

-- Jerusalem, December 30, 1947 - Irgun terrorists threw a bomb from a speeding car killing 11 Palestinians and two Brits;

-- Balad Esh-Sheikh, December 31, 1947 - the Haganah killed 60 Palestinians, most inside their homes;

-- Jaffa, January 4, 1948 - the Stern Gang killed up to 30 and wounded 100 in a truck bombing;

-- the Semiramis Hotel, Jerusalem, January 4, 1948 - the Haganah bombed the hotel killing 25 civilians;

-- Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem, January 7, 1948 - 17 Palestinians killed;

-- Tireh, February 10, 1948 - seven Palestinians killed and five injured;

-- on a bus from Safad, February 12, 1948 - five Palestinians killed and five injured;

-- Sa'sa', February 14, 1948 - 60 Palestinians killed, mostly in their homes;

-- Qisarya, February 15 - 20, 1948 - 25 Palestinians killed;

-- Haifa, February 20, 1948 - six Palestinians killed and 36 wounded;

-- Haifa, March 3, 1948 - the Stern Gang blew up the Salameh Building killing 11 Palestinians and wounding 27;

-- al-Husayniyya, March 12 and 16 - 17 - the Palmach twice raided the village killing 15 and wounding 20 in the first attack; killing 30 in the second one;

-- Jews blew up a train near Benjamina on March 31, 1948 killing 25 Palestinians and wounding 61;

-- al-Sarafand, April 5, 1948 - 16 Palestinians were killed and 12 wounded, most when a house was mortared;

-- Dier Yassin, April 9, 1948 - the Menachem Begin-led Irgun slaughtered well over 120 Palestinian men, women and children in a bloody rampage; The New York Times reported 254 killed on April 13; 53 orphaned children were dumped like trash along the wall of the Old City; homes were dynamited with inhabitants inside; people were shot at close range, including children; the massacre marked the beginning of what followed during Israel's "War of Independence:" depopulating 531 towns and villages; 11 urban neighborhoods; massacring or displacing 800,000 Palestinians; and committing countless rapes and other atrocities;" remember Dier Yassin; it, too, is immortalized;

-- Tel Litvinsky, April 19, 1948 - Jews killed 90 Palestinians;

-- Tiberias, April 19, 1948 - Jews blew up a home killing Palestinians inside;

-- Ayn al-Zaytun and nearby villages, May 1 - 4, 1948 - 27 Palestinians killed;

-- Acre, May 18, 1948 - Israeli troops killed over 100 Palestinians;

-- al-Kabri, May 20, 1948 - Israeli forces killed villagers and machine-gunned children who survived;

-- al-Tantura, May 22 - 23, 1948 - Israeli troops killed over 200 villagers, mostly unarmed young men shot in cold blood;

-- on May 26, 1948, David Ben-Gurion formed the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from the Haganah;

-- Lydda, July 11 - 12, 1948 - the IDF killed several hundred civilians, including 80 machine-gunned inside the Dahmash mosque;

-- Elot, late July, 1948 - the IDF arrested 46 young men; on August 3, several were found dead, and 14 of those arrested were shot in cold blood in an olive grove - in full view of the villagers;

-- Suqrir, August 29, 1948 - the IDF killed 10 villagers;

-- Hula, Lebanon, October 24 - 29, 1948 - the IDF machine-gunned 50 villagers;

-- al-Dawayima, October 29, 1948 - the IDF killed up to 200 villagers;

-- Majd al-Kurum, October 30, 1948 - the IDF slaughtered 20 or more villagers in cold blood;

-- Saliha, October 30, 1948 - IDF forces blew up a house killing 94 Palestinians;

-- Sa'sa', October 30, 1948 - hundreds of Palestinians were slaughtered in cold blood; the entire village was expelled;

-- Nahf, October 31, 1948 - a brutal massacre was carried out of unknown numbers;

-- Khirbat al-Wa'ra al-Sawda, November 2, 1948 - the IDF killed 14 villagers;

-- Beit Jala, January 6, 1952 - seven Palestinians were slaughtered in cold blood;

-- Jerusalem, April 22, 1953 - the IDF killed 10 Palestinians;

-- Bureji Refugee Camp, August 28, 1953 - the IDF killed 20 Palestinians and wounded 62 others;

-- Qibya, Jordan, October 14, 1953 - Ariel Sharon's infamous Unit 101 killed 70 villagers;

-- Nahalin, Jordan, March 28, 1954 - the IDF killed nine Arabs and wounded 19;

-- Gaza City, April 5, 1956 - IDF shelling killed 56 and wounded 193;

-- Kafr Kassem, October 29, 1956 - the IDF killed about 50 men, women and children;

-- the Suez War, October 29 - November 7, 1956 - the IDF executed about 273 Egyptian soldiers and civilians in cold blood;

-- Khan Yunis, November 3, 1956 - the IDF killed dozens of civilians in cold blood;

-- Rafah Refugee Camp, November 12, 1956 - the IDF slaughtered over 100 Palestinians;

-- Nuqeibi, Syria, March 16 - 17, 1962 - IDF artillery and aircraft killed at least 30 unarmed villagers;

-- Samu, Jordan, November 13, 1966 - the IDF destroyed 125 houses, a school, clinic and 15 houses in a nearby village killing 18 and wounded 54 in cold blood;

-- the Six-Day War, June 5 - 11, 1967 - IDF forces preemptively and without cause attacked Egypt, Syria and Jordan; they massacred as many as 2000 helpless or captured Egyptian soldiers; killed about 340 Syrian villagers in the Golan Heights and displaced more than 300,000 Palestinians who fled to the Jordan River's east bank along with others to Lebanon, Egypt and Syria;

-- the USS Liberty incident, June 8, 1967 - Israeli forces attacked and killed 34 Americans and wounded 171 in international waters; a Department of Defense inquiry whitewashed it as a case of "mistaken identity" despite clear knowledge it was a willful attack on a US naval intelligence vessel;

-- Rafah Refugee Camp, June 1967 - the IDF killed 23 Palestinians and buried them in a mass grave;

-- following the Six Day War, June 1967, 56 Palestinians were shot in cold blood trying to cross the Jordan River to the West Bank;

-- February 21, 1973, the IDF shot down Libya Airlines Flight 114 killing 106 passengers, including one American;

-- Hebron, February 25, 1994 - Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 praying Palestinians;

-- the First (1987 - 1992) and Second (2000 - 2005) Intifadas - thousands of Palestinians were killed and injured during IDF rampages against them;

-- the 1982 Lebanon invasion and occupation; 18,000 Lebanese and Palestinians were killed, including 3000 massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps;

-- Jenin, 2002 - the most infamous of numerous massacres during the Second Intifada; the IDF invaded the city and refugee camp; cut them off from outside help; destroyed hundreds of buildings; buried many alive in them under rubble; cut off power and water as well as food and other essential to life supplies; refused to allow in help, including medical aid; and killed and wounded dozens of Palestinian civilians; some accounts cite hundreds as Israeli forces swept up bodies and buried them to avoid an accurate count;

-- the summer 2006 33-day (Second) Lebanon War - the IDF inflicted mass terror attacks and destruction throughout the country; around 1300 were killed; many more were wounded; one million (or one-fourth of the population) were displaced; and most vital infrastructure was destroyed to bring the country to a halt;

-- the June 2006 Operation Summer Rain against Gaza; all border crossings were closed isolating the Territory and preventing essential to life supplies from getting in; air strikes and shellings were used; three main bridges were destroyed; the main water pipe for the Nusairat and al-Boreji refugee camps as well as the Strip's only power plant supplying 80% of the Territory's electricity; the IDF moved into Gaza and took control;

-- the assault followed a series of bloody Israeli attacks: a weekend beach shelling killing eight Palestinians, including seven members of one family; 32 others were injured, including 13 children; a highway missile attack killing 11 and injuring 30; another missile attack killing three children and wounding 15;

-- during the same period, the IDF conducted around 50 incursions into Palestinian West Bank communities; farmland was razed; homes were raided; dozens taken into custody, including children; on June 29, nearly the entire Hamas leadership was arrested, including eight cabinet ministers, 25 PLC members from the Change and Reform Party, and other Hamas officials.

Palestinians have endured all of the above and far more for over 60 years, 41 under occupation:

-- many thousands of Palestinians were killed, injured, imprisoned, and tortured; since 1967, over 700,000 have been incarcerated; the great majority are tortured; many are held uncharged in administrative detention; anywhere from 10 - 12,000 Palestinians or more remain in prison at all times;

-- rampaging military incursions occur repeatedly throughout Occupied Palestine; in November 2007 alone, 786 West Bank raids were conducted; several Palestinians were killed; dozens wounded; and around 400 arrested; in addition, public and private properties were damaged; crops destroyed; land seized; curfews imposed; and free movement was and remains severely restricted;

-- in addition, settlement expansions seize West Bank land; the Separation Wall is taking another 10%; Palestinians have few rights, and since Hamas won a January 2006 PLC majority none at all in Gaza; desperation now plagues them with the Territory under siege, and approaches disaster since Israel launched late December terror bombings and ground and offshore attacks.

Professor Joseph Massad on Gaza Under Attack

Columbia University Professor and Middle East expert Joseph Massad, a Palestinian American, wrote this about Israel's Gaza attack and invasion:

-- "Since 2006, Arab regimes, neoliberal Arab intellectuals (in America and elsewhere), as well as (Fatah under president Mahmoud Abbas and appointed prime minister Salam Fayyad) reached an understanding that only Israel will be able to save them from Hizbollah and Hamas, both organizations constituting a threat to the open alliance Arab regimes have with the US and Israel against Iran and all progressive forces in the region;"

-- "A veritable open alliance now exists between (Fatah), Arab regimes, and Israel (with neoliberal intellectual Arab support), wherein Israel is subcontracted to decimate the Hamas government - the only democratically elected government in the entire Arab world," and therein lies its problem; Washington and Israel won't tolerate democracies; they want repressive regimes they can control; Fatah is a collaborationist ally; Abbas and Fayyad its quisling leadership; Massad calls this "treachery;" it and other Arab regimes "rule by terror and fear;"

-- Israel's carnage is its latest attempt "to ensure that all Arabs and all Palestinians are ruled by dictators and never by democratically elected officials;" Fatah and world powers approve; nonetheless, Palestinians "understand very well that Abbas, his clique, the Arab regimes, the US and Europe are all culpable in their slaughter" as is Israel; they're all "co-conspirators and active partners in crime."

The IDF performs admirably against defenseless civilians. The aftermath, however, is another matter. "Palestinian determination" is strong enough to make Fatah and Abbas "losers" provided popular resistance won't let Israel conquer populations, steal their land, destroy their livelihoods, imprison them in ghettos, and starve them into submission.

For the last century, Zionists haven't learned that "the Palestinian yearning for freedom (can't) be extinguished no matter how barbaric Israel's crimes become," how collaborationist are other Arab regimes, or how traitorous are some of their own people like Fatah. "The Gaza Ghetto Uprising will" continue their proud resistance never to "accept the legitimacy of a racist European colonial settlement in their midst."

Collaborationist Fatah West Bank Crackdowns

On January 8, AP reported that with Gaza fighting raging, West Bank police violently suppressed pro-Gaza demonstrations. "It's as if Gaza has become another country," said university student Mohammed Akram standing next to pictures showing injured Gazans. "You watch TV and see an entire family killed by a missile," said Hossam Salim. "They're not militants or Hamas or anything."

Other reports said PA police assaulted street demonstrators, focusing mainly on anyone carrying Hamas green flags. Violence and arrests followed as Abbas won't let street protests become large, persistent, or openly hostile to Israel. Demonstrators were shocked that police attacked them for supporting their own people in Gaza. Abbas has orders to crack down, and some say he's "on the side of the Jews."

The Jerusalem Post highlights a Fatah - IDF "Iron Fist" policy, a massive crackdown, against all opposition. Reporters and photographers are threatened and assaulted. It's too early to tell, but Massad believes this may backfire and defeat Abbas.

The New York Times may agree. In a January 14 article, correspondent Isabel Kershner headlined: "War on Hamas Saps Palestinian Leaders." She says Fatah and Abbas "seem increasingly beleaguered and marginalized, even in the Palestinian cities....they control....The more bombs in Gaza, the more Hamas' support (grows) at the expense of the (PA)." It wants control over Gaza, but according to Palestinian analyst Ghassan Khatib: "How can it make gains in a war in which it is one of the casualties?"

As a result, Hamas (like Hezbollah in Lebanon) is more popular than ever - among their own people and the Arab street. They represent popular resistance against colonial rule and complicit Arab regimes. If history is a guide, oppression in the end won't work. It provokes anger, dissent and revolt, then liberation. Palestinian unity must denounce Fatah and Abbas, back Hamas, support its popular resistance, and continue struggling for peace, social justice, self-determination, and freedom.

Israeli Human Rights Violations in a Typical Week

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) compiles them daily for its weekly report. It's disturbing reading even without conflict and affects the West Bank as well as Gaza. Palestine is under military occupation. It's oppressive, illegal and continuous for the past 41 years.

PCHR gives detailed daily accounts of the Gaza slaughter. It also reports on Israel's West Bank oppression with collaborationist Fatah PA (Palestinian Authority) help. Abbas blamed Hamas for the violence, and prime minister Salam Fayyad said nothing to condemn it for the first 13 days of fighting. Afterwards, he made tepid comments, more indicative of complicity than condemnation. Why so? He's a former IMF and World Bank official with no standing among his people. In the 2006 PLC elections, he got 2.4% of the vote as a measure of his illegitimacy. He and Abbas are Israeli tools, enforcers, with considerable Western aid and weapons.

PCHR's West Bank report states:

"IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) have continued to impose severe restrictions on (free movement), including (in) occupied East Jerusalem." It cites hundreds of checkpoints, roadblocks, closed and controlled roads, and the illegal "Annexation Wall" that will stretch 724 kilometers when finished. It mentions continued assaults, killings, harassments, searches, neighborhood incursions, arrests, and numerous other indignities against a traumatized people like Gazans:

-- two-thirds of West Bank roads between Palestinian communities are closed and/or fully militarized; 500 kilometers of roads are restricted;

-- one-third of the West Bank, including Occupied East Jerusalem, is off-limits to Palestinians without a military permit; very few are available;

-- from January 8 - 14, six Palestinians, including two women were arrested at checkpoints;

-- on January 8 in Hebron, Israeli forces raided homes; arrested two brothers; and shot and killed Ibrahim Shamlawi in cold blood;

-- the IDF fired on al-Fawar refugee camp demonstrators wounding two, including a child;

-- on January 9 in Madama village southwest of Nablus, the IDF raided homes and arrested three men plus another in Nablus;

-- another man was arrested in Qabatya village, southeast of Jenin; homes were raided and searched;

-- in two East Jerusalem areas, Israeli police, border guards and undercover units fired rubber-coated bullets, tear gas and sound bombs on young men and children demonstrating; dozens of children were treated for tear gas inhalation;

- in Hawara village, south of Nablus, Beit Ummar village, north of Hebron, and southern Hebron, the IDF fired on demonstrators, wounded five men and one child, and arrested two others;

-- on January 10 in Azmout village, northeast of Nablus, homes were raided and searched;

-- in Sa'ir village, northeast of Hebron, the IDF fired on demonstrators, wounding three;

-- on January 11 in Beit al-Roush village, southwest of Hebron, homes were raided and searched;

-- in Askar refugee camp, northeast of Nablus, more homes were raided, searched and one man was arrested;

-- on January in Beit Ummar village, north of Hebron, homes were raided, searched, and two men were arrested;

-- in Sa'ir village, northeast of Hebron, homes were raided, searched, and one young teenager was arrested, age 14;

-- on January 13 near Kiryat Arba settlement and Jouhar Mount in east Hebron, dozens of homes were raided and searched;

-- in Dura village, southwest of Hebron, homes were raided, searched and two men arrested;

-- in Beit Oula village, northwest of Hebron, homes were raided, searched and one man arrested;

-- in Ethna village, northwest of Hebron, the IDF shot and killed one man while he was farming his land; according to witnesses, he was handcuffed, blindfolded, and violently beaten for hours, then fired on and killed at point blank range;

-- on January 14 in Awa village, southwest of Hebron, homes were raided, searched and six men arrested;

-- in Sa'ir village, northeast of Hebron, homes were raided, searched and one teenager arrested; and

-- in Kufor Qallil village, east of Nablus, homes were raided, searched and another teenager arrested.

On January 19 (for next week's PCHR's report), sources indicate that the IDF "kidnapped seven Palestinian civilians" during morning pre-dawn West Bank city and town invasions.

Under military occupation, this is daily West Bank life today made harsher by oppressive Fatah security enforcement for Israel. New checkpoints, restrictions, curfews, and other measures are imposed at any time - against peaceful, non-combatant civilians. Palestinians live in daily fear of being harassed, arrested, tortured, or killed. Under siege and terror attacks, conditions in Gaza are worse, but no place in Occupied Palestine is safe, "ceasefire," or no "ceasefire."

Gaza Aggression Timeline

On December 27 without cause, Israeli aircraft launched terror bombings on Gaza - not coincidentally timed for when children were leaving and arriving at school. Relentless round-the-clock attacks have continued for over three weeks. Ceasefire negotiations continue. Under immense pressure and with US collaboration, IDF assaults may pause. This section reviews the timeline.

December 27 - Day One:

At 11:25AM, an initial "shock and awe" attack was launched with 60 aircraft hitting 50 targets simultaneously. By early afternoon, over 100 tons of bombs had fallen. Around 230 deaths were reported and 400 injured, many seriously. Most victims were civilians, many women and children. The same pattern continues daily. From 80 - 90% of casualties are non-combatants according to medical authorities and three human rights organizations on the ground. News reports and independent observers called December 27 the bloodiest day in Occupied Palestine since the 1967 Six Day War.

Day Two

Deaths rose to about 300, injuries to around 900. Dozens of round-the-clock sorties were flown plus helicopter and naval vessel attacks and tanks shellings from inside Israel. Targets from the start included government buildings, the parliament building, police stations, roads, a main water pipe, fuel tanks, schools, the Islamic University of Gaza, mosques, power facilities, sewage systems, TV stations, fishing boats, animal farms, charities, a mental health center, pharmacies, the main prison, ambulances, medical storage warehouses, private dwellings, commercial buildings, workshops, the control room of a telecommunications company - Gaza's entire infrastructure network and civilian neighborhoods. The Territory is being reduced to dysfunction and ruin. The idea is to render Hamas impotent and let Fatah control all Occupied Palestine.

Day Three

Around 335 deaths and 1400 injured have been counted. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights(PCHR) reported that dozens of missiles hit "civilian facilities and mosques in densely populated areas (including refugee camps). In (one) very horrible crime (over night to early early morning), 22 Palestinian children were killed or wounded" while asleep at home.

Day Four

Deaths are up to 360. Injuries exceed 1400. PCHR reported that 23 private homes so far were bombed and 37 other civilian facilities.

Day Five

Deaths are now 390 and 1600 injured. PCHR reported that Israel "used fighter jets, helicopter gunships, drones and gunboats to launch hundreds of barbarian indiscriminate raids....with disregard for the (welfare), security and safety of the (entire) civilian population (and) vital services" they need. The humanitarian situation is "desperate."

Day Six

By New Year's day, deaths were up to 400 with 1700 injured.

Day Seven

Death and injury tolls mount - up to 420 killed and 1850 wounded, many so seriously they won't survive. Senior Hamas resistance leader Dr. Nizar Rayan was killed at home along with his wife and 11 of his children. PCHR reported that in the last 24 hours aircraft bombed and completely destroyed eight homes and a family meeting hall in Gaza City, 11 others in northern Gaza plus dozens of badly damaged neighboring homes in both locations. Six more were destroyed in central Gaza and three in Rafah. In the first seven days, 66 private homes were destroyed and their inhabitants killed or wounded.

Day Eight

Around 100 children and women so far were killed. More private homes and refugee camps are targeted. The New York Times reported that "Israeli tanks and troops swept across the border into Gaza on Saturday night opening a ground war....after a week of intense airstrikes."

Day Nine

Around 455 deaths are reported and 2300 injured. In one horrific incident, aircraft bombed a Jabalya mosque in northern Gaza killing 15 civilians, four children, and injuring 27 others. Ambulances trying to reach the wounded are attacked. AP reported that "Israeli ground troops and tanks cut swarths through the Gaza Strip on early Sunday, cutting the (Territory) into two and surrounding its biggest city (as the offensive) gained momentum."

Day Ten

Deaths reached 510. Injuries exceeded 2300. Daily counts are the best estimates. PCHR reported that Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza and fighting was intense in "densely populated residential areas;" whole families have been killed in attacks, many inside their homes.

Day Eleven

Deaths total 600 and injuries around 2400, including 130 children, 33 women and six medical personnel according to PCHR. Its investigations show "at least 90%" of Palestinian killed in the past few days are civilians. Everything is coming under fire. Israeli tanks shelled an UNWRA school used as a shelter killing at least 40 civilians inside. No place is safe. There's nowhere to hide. Gaza is totally isolated, surrounded, and cut off.

Day Twelve

Deaths jumped to 660 and injuries to 2800. The entire Strip is bombarded. Everything is targeted, including medical personnel and journalists. The enormity of the crimes is appalling. International community silence is shameful. Mass killing and destruction continue. No relief so far is in sight.

Day Thirteen

Deaths exceeded 700, including 169 children and 46 women. Injuries hit 3000. PCHR reported that even hospitals are attacked.

Day Fourteen

Deaths reached 760 and injuries around 3100. Thus far, 189 children, 50 women and six medical personnel have been killed.

Day Fifteen

The death toll hit 800. Injuries topped 3100. PCHR reported that the IDF "continued to attack and obstruct the work of medical, civil defense crews and humanitarian relief crews....(Israel) intends to cause maximum deaths and casualties among Palestinian civilians, and maximum destruction to their property."

Day Sixteen

Deaths numbered 852 with injuries up to 3200. PCHR reported that bombings against residential neighborhoods have been relentless, and ground operations expanded into more Palestinian towns, villages and residential areas. The IDF is using incendiary white phosphorous bombs "against civilians." They're shelling them with "flaming objects that explode into potentially lethal shrapnel while releasing suffocating white smoke." Severe burns to the bone, spasms, serious breathing difficulties, severed limbs, and other injuries are reported, many life-threatening.

Targeting civilians with white phosphorous (called Willy Pete) is illegal. It works by interacting with oxygen to produce fire and smoke for use as smokescreens or as a terror weapon. It's an incendiary like napalm and thermites. As a weapon, it can destroy an enemy's equipment, limit vision, or burn flesh to the bone. Exposure to the smoke can also cause liver, kidney, heart, lung, other organ damage and death. Ingesting it causes throat and lung blistering until victims suffocate while phosphorous burns their insides. Israeli forces are using this against civilians along with other terror weapons.

They're also forcing people from their homes, holding them in detention, treating them inhumanely, denying them food and water, and using them as human shields during clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters. Amnesty International's Israeli investigator Donatella Rovera told the London Guardian that:

"It's standard practice for Israeli soldiers to go into a house, lock up the family in a room on the ground floor, and use the rest of the house as a military base, as a sniper's position. That is the absolute textbook case of human shields." Other instances involved forcing Gazans at gunpoint to precede them into buildings to shield them from possible attack. The 1907 Hague Regulations and Fourth Geneva Convention prohibit these practices. Its Article 27 states:

"Protected (non-combatant) persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons....They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against all acts of violence...."

Its Article 28 states:

"The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points immune from military operations." Civilians may not be placed alongside soldiers or military facilities to deter attacks on them.

Articles 31 and 51 also prohibit use of physical or moral coercion to force civilians to perform military tasks. Nonetheless, Israel uses these tactics repeatedly in defiance of its own High Court ruling against them.

Day Seventeen

Deaths reached 885 and injuries 3900. Indiscriminate attacks continued. The great majority of casualties are civilians. At least 211 are children.

On January 12, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC - the successor body to its Commission on Human Rights) passed a Cuba-sponsored resolution condemning Israel's aggression and recommending international observers investigate atrocities on the ground. The vote was 33 ayes, one nay (Canada), and 13 abstentions by Germany, represented EU nations, South Korea, Switzerland, and others. Countries in support included Russia, China, Brazil and Argentina. America isn't a member.

Day Eighteen

Deaths hit 910 and injuries 4250.

Day Nineteen

Terror bombings and savage ground attacks continued round-the-clock. The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that confirmed deaths passed 1000 and over 4580 have been injured, many seriously with hundreds "clinically" dead. A Gaza City municipal facility was struck by a blast described as enormous. A central Gaza City cemetery was also hit spreading body parts and rotting flesh over a wide area and simultaneously destroying homes in Sheikh Radwan. Jabaliya Refugee camp was targeted with deaths reported, and Israeli tanks continue to shell houses in densely populated areas.

Entire neighborhoods have been leveled. Agricultural land has been razed. Attacks continue night and day. PCHR cites the "massive forced internal displacement of the civilian population of Gaza City" and other targeted areas.

Reuters, Haaretz, and the Egyptian news agency MENA reported that with changes Hamas may be ready to accept an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire. Hamas leader Salah Al-Bardawil praised Egypt's initiative as "the only one calling for an immediate stop to Israeli aggression."

Hamas representative in Lebanon Osama Hamdan told Al-Jazeera that changes still must be made. "There are still points of difference" so far unresolved. "The initiative in its present form does not realize the (Palestinian national) interest. Specific points have to be changed....We believe there is no initiative which cannot be modified or changed."

Key sticking points remain, including Israel wanting Fatah (the PA) in charge of administering Gaza's reconstruction and controlling its borders - essentially empowering the Abbas - Fayyad government in Gaza as well as the West Bank and neutralizing Hamas.

Other problems also exist, according to Deputy chairman of Hamas' Political Bureau, Moussa Abu Marzouk. He told Al-Arabiya television that:

"Israel did not abide by any of the previous truce conditions, and therefore there must be a short and pre-defined period between each stage that would allow us to evaluate the situation and agree to move on to the next stage."

In addition, Abbas' presidential term expired on January 9. He claims the right to retain it for another year until January 2010 parliamentary elections are held. Hamas disagrees and no longer recognizes him as president. Its spokesman, Mushir al-Masri said: "He's in power only because the Israelis and Americans want him to stay."

Either way, Hamas PLC representative Salah al-Bardawil said ceasefire negotiations seek the following goals: ending Israel's aggression; withdrawing all Israeli troops from Gaza; lifting the siege; reopening border crossings, rehabilitating the Strip, and compensating Gaza residents for the damage. From Damascus, Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal offered the same terms and said: "We will not accept any political movement that doesn't satisfy these demands."

White House spokesperson Dana Perino said: "We have every right to be skeptical of things that you see in the newspaper reported about Hamas. And so I think we need to wait and see what actually happens. And as things develop, we'll comment from there." A State Department official added that Hamas hasn't met ceasefire terms. "It's not a done deal. There are a number of Hamas conditions that (have) to be dealt with." It's clear that means empowering Fatah and neutralizing Hamas.

Day Twenty

Haaretz: "Gaza City hospital (Al-Quds) in flames after hit in Hamas-IDF fighting." Thousands of Palestinians fled in fear as Israeli tanks stormed the city and shelled it, including randomly on residential areas. At the same time, terror bombings continued round the clock. Before midday, confirmed deaths reached 1097 (including 335 children) plus around 5000 injured (including 400 children). Over 400 of the injured are in critical condition.

Israeli aircraft bombed UNWRA headquarters, injuring three employees and attacked two other hospitals from the air and ground. The IDF surrounded Al-Aqsa Hospital, according to volunteers inside. No one can get in or out. Reuters also reported that a media compound was attacked. Several injuries were reported. An IDF spokesperson said attacks will continue despite reports that Hamas may be near accepting an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.

Hamas confirmed that its Interior Minister, Sa'ed Sayam and six others (including his son, brother and internal security department chief, Saleh Abu Sharekh) were killed when Israeli aircraft bombed his home.

Gaza Professor Said Abdelwahed emailed that his "neighborhood is under total control of Israeli army tanks, infantry and others after 13 hours of bombing and raiding. Snipers are outside (his) door." His later emailed included photos of his building that was damaged by shelling.

At the same time, Israeli gunboats intercepted another mercy ship (the Spirit of Humanity) in international waters. On board were doctors, journalists, European parliament members, and desperately needed medical supplies.

Bolivian President Evo Morales joined Hugo Chavez in severing diplomatic ties with Israel and said he'll ask the International Criminal Court to bring "genocide" charges against its government. He also denounced UN inaction and called for Shimon Peres to be stripped of his Nobel Peace Prize for supporting the slaughter.

Reports say the IDF "kidnapped" five West Bank Palestinians in pre-dawn raids, 60 more in Hebron since January 1, and others in Jenin and elsewhere. At the same time, foreign minister Livni "urge(d) the Red Cross (ICRC) to press Hamas for access to (the captured Israeli soldier) Gilad Shalit," according to "News Agencies" reports. She rises to new heights of hypocrisy.

While Gaza attacks continue, the Lebanese daily Al Safir reported a build-up of Israeli tanks, military vessels and Apache helicopters on its border:

"The Israeli army has mobilized its troops along the (southern) border from the western Lebanese village of Naqurah to the southern border village of Al Wazzani." As a result, the Lebanese army and Hezbollah are on high alert, and why not. Lebanon may be next according to Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya's January 18 "Israel's Next War" article on Global Research.ca. He cites reports that:

"This war is already in the advanced planning stage. In November 2008....the Israeli military held drills for a two-front war against Lebanon and Syria called Shiluv Zro'ot III (Crossing Arms III). The military exercise included a massive simulated invasion of both Syria and Lebanon. (Earlier), Tel Aviv also warned Beirut that it would declare war on the whole of Lebanon and not just Hezbollah."

Given Israel's past aggression on the country, this threat must be taken seriously. It may also be Obama's baptism of fire proof that permanent "wars on terror" will continue on his watch - against Lebanon, perhaps Iran, Syria, Pakistan, and so forth to solidify US hegemony while diverting attention from the collapsing the domestic economy.

Day Twenty-One

Casualties keep mounting. The latest confirmed death toll is 1133. Over 5150 have been injured. Israel is using Egypt to pressure Hamas to surrender. Abbas is on board in support. Khaled Meshal said never. "Israel will not be able to destroy our resistance, and the United States will not be able to dictate us their rules." They don't negotiate, they demand.

Hamas' spokesman in Lebanon, Usama Hamdan, said it will ignore an Israeli unilateral ceasefire agreement. "Either we hear what we have demanded or the result will be the continuation of the confrontation on the ground."

Meanwhile, reports claim Israeli forces are shooting Gazans waving white flags. On January 13, B'Tselem stated:

"Munir Shafik a-Najar (said) the army has been demolishing houses in his area." They use gunfire and loudspeakers ordering people out of their homes. "Rawhiya a-Najar stepped out of her house waving a white flag" and was shot in the head. Others were ordered to a school in a village center and were shot in cold blood. Casualties included three dead and many wounded.

General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann called Israel's assault "genocide" and told Al-Jazeera that he never believed the Security Council would do a thing. How can it with Washington vetoing all resolutions against Israel.

Day Twenty-Two

Confirmed deaths reached 1205. Injuries top 5300 with hundreds in critical condition. Six people were killed, including a woman and two of her children, when aircraft fired missiles at an UNWRA Beit Lahyia school used as a shelter. White phosphorous incendiaries and DIME weapons (that shred flesh to pieces) were used in the fourth attack on a UN school. In each case, Israel had the coordinates, knew the facilities were shelters, and shelled them anyway. Haaretz reported that a UN official wants "an investigation into possible war crimes...and that anyone who is guilty should be brought to justice."

In similar instances, Israel accuses Hamas of firing from schools, mosques, and civilian neighborhoods - the blame game, always against the victims to absolve the aggressor.

Meanwhile, Israel's cabinet will consider a "unilateral" ceasefire, according to Haaretz (and then declared it), in the wake of Washington and Tel Aviv signing a Friday agreement to:

-- "work cooperatively with neighbors....to prevent the supply of arms and related material to terrorist organizations....with a particular focus on" Gaza and Hamas;

-- NATO partners will be involved;

-- enhanced "US security and intelligence cooperation with regional governments" will as well;

-- enhanced "existing international sanctions and enforcement mechanisms" also;

-- "the United States and Israel will assist each other in these efforts" through intelligence sharing;

-- "the United States will accelerate its efforts to provide logistical and technical assistance and to train and equip regional security forces....;" and more.

In other words, Washington will reward Israeli aggression and war crimes with more aid and support. After a Tizpi Livni - Condoleezza Rice Washington meeting, the deal was done, but according to Livni, "If Hamas shoots, we'll have to continue. And if it shoots later on, we'll have to embark on another campaign."

For now, however, it appears that Israel and the Bush administration will quiet things down for the January 20 transition of power. Call it a "no-ceasefire" ceasefire, a pause, a conditional one, not a meaningful cessation of hostilities. Gaza is still occupied, under siege, isolated and alone. The Palestinian liberation struggle continues.

Day Twenty-Three

Overnight, Israel, as expected, announced a "no-ceasefire" ceasefire (beginning 2AM January 18), but vowed to assess the situation "minute-by-minute (and) respond with force" freely at any time. No Hamas demands were met. The occupation and siege continue. Borders will stay closed. Gaza remains isolated. The IDF keeps killing civilians. New deaths and injuries are reported. Corpses are being unearthed under rubble. The official known death toll exceeds 1300 but will rise considerably as new bodies are discovered.

Among the dead - 417 children, 108 women, 120 elderly, 14 medical personnel, and at least four journalists. Injuries exceed 5450. Dr. Muawiya Hassanen of the Palestinian Ministry of Health said dozens are still missing and believed dead.

Israel's Channel 10 reported that the IDF used half its air force over the past three weeks. It flew over 2500 sorties, dropped over 1000 tons of explosives plus tanks, artillery and navel vessels fired hundreds of shells from land and sea. Nonetheless, Hamas held firm and vows to resist until Gaza is free. Spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said:

"A unilateral ceasefire does not mean ending the aggression and ending the siege. These constitute acts of war so this won't mean an end to resistance." Nonetheless, on January 18, Hamas official in Cairo, Ayman Taha, announced a temporary ceasefire to "give Israel a week to withdraw," open all border crossings, and allow in "all materials, food, goods, and basic needs." Other Gaza resistance groups, except the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), agreed to honor the truce. It rejects a ceasefire, insists that "Israeli attack(s are) continuing," and said "armed resistance (will) continue as long as there is one Israeli soldier in Gaza."

For now, explosions are still heard in parts of the Strip. Reports also say shells hit a group of Rafah residents, and white phosphorous bombs struck the At-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City. Also an attack helicopter shot at civilians in Jabaliya. So much for the "ceasefire" that can start and stop as Israel chooses in spite of Israeli Channel 10 reporting Israeli tanks and soldiers redeploying from deep inside Gaza positions. Israeli aircraft are still active overhead and naval vessels control coastal areas

Medical crews report "horrifying scenes" of dead bodies "found in pieces." Many are women and children. Images reveal mass destruction, death and despair.

New York Times Apologetics for Israeli War Crimes

On January 16, Jerusalem-based Steven Erlanger headlined: "Weighing Crimes and Ethics in the Fog of Urban Warfare" in typical New York Times fashion. Poor Israel. Despite three weeks of round the clock war crimes against isolated, beleaguered, and defenseless civilians, he quotes Israeli spokesman, Mark Regev saying that the IDF makes every effort "Not to target civilians, not to target UN people, not to target medical staff. All this is very clear in Israeli military doctrine" in spite of clear contradictory evidence.

Tel Aviv University's Asa Kashar helped write Israel's military ethical code. Erlanger cites him calling the IDF's ethical and legal standards high and conscientiously taught to its military. Another unnamed Israeli chief army legal officer as well saying war crimes charges are "deeply unfair and unjust."

He dismisses attacks on civilian neighborhoods, hospitals, ambulances, mosques, schools, UN shelters, Gaza's entire infrastructure, and civilians with no weapons waving white cloths. He cites Israeli claims of being attacked and responding, with no evidence to prove it. He quotes Israeli officials denying collective punishment and claiming no humanitarian crisis exists. He mentions Major Dallal saying: the fundamental question is "How does an army fight a terrorist group?"

Most fundamental is how The New York Times fronts for Israel, conceals its state terrorism, war crimes, and Washington's complicity in their commission.

A Final Comment

So far, it hardly matters whether or not a ceasefire holds. What does matter is growing world outrage, millions globally condemning Israeli terrorism, and potentially gathering enough momentum to matter. It's crucial to maintain pressure, demand Israeli war criminals be punished, and build a world movement for sanctions, divestment, boycott, isolation and UN General Assembly expulsion until Israel complies with international law, ends the Gaza siege, the occupation of Palestine, makes just restitution, grants Palestinians self-determination, and is held accountable before the International Criminal Court or a special tribunal for Israel.

On July 9, 2005, the Global BDS Movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) called for action until Israel "complies with international law and universal principles of human rights." It's long past time to stop inaction, timidity, and weak-kneed indecisiveness.

Since its illegitimate May 14, 1948 birth, Israel defiled the rule of law, abused its neighbors, committed genocide against the Palestinians, stole their land and future, and affronted all humanity with its arrogance. It's high time these practices end and Israel be held to account. If not now, when? If not by us, who? If that's not incentive enough, what is?

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday through Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions on world and national topics with distinguished guests. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11822
http://kurtrudder.blogspot.com/2009/01/today-in-solidarity-were-all.html
---------------------------------

In Solidarity With Heroic Gaza
1st Feb 2009
Excellent WORLD & GAZA news source:
www.presstv.ir

SOCIAL JUSTICE LINKS

IN SOLIDARITY WITH HEROIC GAZA
PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE
FREE GAZA

ISRAEL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS
PALESTINIAN TOLL OF LIFE,
LIVELIHOOD & PROPERTY:
*
A REMINDER,
WITHIN THIS UNIMAGINABLE
CATASTROPHE, ISRAEL STILL REFUSES
TO LIFT ITS BLOCKADE, SO THE SUFFERING
& PAIN OF THE PALESTINIANS CONTINUES...
*
* CIVILIAN DEATHS: 1,550
CHILDREN'S DEATHS: 460
* WOMEN'S DEATHS: 100
ELDERLY MEN DEAD: 123
* CIVILIANS INJURED: 6,000
(Gaza has only 2,000 beds - not coping)
* DISPLACED CHILDREN: 20,000 plus
* HOMELESS GAZANS: 60.000
* AID WORKERS DEAD: 14
(deliberate targeting)
* CIVILIAN POLICEMEN DEATHS: 230
(deliberately slaughtered)
* JOURNALIST DEATHS: 4
(deliberate killings)
*
* HEATH FACILITIES & CENTRES: 16
(deliberately bombed)
* SCHOOLS: 67 bombed
* UNITED NATION SCHOOLS: 4
(all deliberaely targeted)
* AMBULANCES BOMBED: 16
(deliberate targeting)
* HOSPITALS DESTROYED:
(deliberate destruction - no numbers yet)
WAREHOUSES 2 (phosphorous shelled)
(burnt - full of emergency food)
* PRIVATE HOMES DESTROYED:
(tens of thousands - deliberate destruction)
* MOSQUES: 41 (totally destroyed)
Partial damaged: 51
* BUILDINGS DESTROYED: 1 in every 6 bombe
FISHING BOATS: 700 bombed
(deliberately destroyed)
VINEYARDS: destroyed
FRUIT ORCHARDS: (all bulldozed)
VEGETABLE FARMS: (total destruction)
CHICKEN FARMS: (total destruction)
BEE HIVES: all bombed
CEMETARIES: 5 desecrated
* HAMAS DEATHS: (never divulges)
*
TAKING IN
THE HORROR LIST ABOVE
ISRAEL IS WITHOUT DOUBT
THE PROFESSIONAL TERRORIST
STATE OF THE MIDDLE EAST.
*
ISRAELI TOLL:
CIVILIAN DEATHS: 3
CIVILIANS INJURED: (not divulged)
IDF DEATHS: (never divulges true numbers)
*
ATTENTION:
"Israel closed Gaza's banks on December 4th '08".
(before invasion)
THEY ARE STILL SHUT!!!
*
"Israel must be judged at the International
Criminal Court - Universal petition”
PLEASE SIGN THIS IF YOU WANT
TO "SEE JUSTICE FOR PALESTINIANS"
http://www.tlaxcala.es/detail_campagne.asp?lg=en&ref_campagne=10
--------------

Source: http://pamspoetrypitchblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/we-are-all-indigenous-to-planet-earth.html

The Wounds

P U L S E
The Wounds of Gaza 2009
Written by annelk
January 30, 2009 at 9:47 am



This first-hand field report and analysis comes direct from UK physicians Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah and Dr Swee Ang in Gaza. Please consider supporting their important medical efforts through any designated charities or through MAP.

Forthcoming dispatches will be published here as received; here is the first which provides background to the situation as well as salient medical and political details often directly garnered on the situation at hand. Emphasis in bold is editorial.

The wounds of Gaza are deep. Dr Ghassan describes it as multi-layered. Are we talking about the Khan Younis massacre of 5,000 in 1956 or the execution of 35,000 prisoners of war by Israel in 1967? Yet more wounds of the First Intifada, when civil disobedience by an occupied people against the occupiers resulted in massive wounded and hundreds dead? We also cannot discount the 5,420 wounded in southern Gaza alone since 2000. Hence what we are referring to below are only that of the invasion as of 27 December 2008.

Over the period of 27 December 2008 to the ceasefire of 18 Jan 2009, it was estimated that a million and a half tons of explosives were dropped on Gaza Strip. Gaza is 25 miles by 5 miles and home to 1.5 million people. This makes it the most crowded area in the whole world. Prior to this Gaza has been completely blockaded and starved for 50 days. In fact since the Palestinian election Gaza has been under total or partial blockade for several years.

On the first day of the invasion, 250 persons were killed. Every single police station in Gaza was bombed killing large numbers of police officers. Having wiped out the police force, attention was turned to non-government targets. Gaza was bombed from the air by F16 and Apache helicopters, shelled from the sea by Israeli gunboats and from the land by tank artillery. Many schools were reduced to rubble, including the American School of Gaza, 40 mosques, hospitals, UN buildings, and of course 21,000 homes, 4,000 of which were demolished completely. It is estimated that 100,000 people are now homeless.

ISRAELI WEAPONS
The weapons used apart from conventional bombs and high explosives also include unconventional weapons of which at least 4 categories could be identified:

1. Phosphorus Shells and bombs.
The bombs dropped were described by eyewitnesses as exploding at high altitude scattering a large canopy of phosphorus bomblets which cover a large area. During the land invasion, eyewitnesses describe the tanks shelling into homes first with a conventional shell. Once the walls are destroyed, a second shell – a phosphorus shell is then shot into the homes. Used in this manner, the phosphorus explodes and burns the families and the homes. Many charred bodies were found among burning phosphorus particles.

One area of concern is the phosphorus seems to be in a special stabilizing agent. This results in the phosphorus being more stable and not completely burning out. Residues still cover the fields, playground and compounds. They ignite when picked up by curious kids, or produce fumes when farmers return to water their fields. One returning farming family on watering their field met with clouds of fumes producing epistaxis. Thus the phosphorus residues probably treated with a stabilizer also act as anti-personnel weapons against children and make the return to normal life difficult without certain hazards.
Surgeons from hospitals are also reporting cases where after primary laparotomy for relatively small wounds with minimal contamination find on second look laparotomy increasing areas of tissue necrosis at about 3 days. Patients then become gravely ill and by about 10 days those patients needing a third re-look encounter massive liver necrosis. This may or may not be accompanied by generalized bleeding, kidney failure and heart failure and death. Although acidosis, liver necrosis and sudden cardiac arrest due to hypocalcemia is known to be a complication of white phosphorus it is not possible to attribute these complications as being due to phosphorus alone.

There is real urgency to analyze and identify the real nature of this modified phosphorus as to its long term effect on the people of Gaza. There is also urgency in collecting and disposing of the phosphorus residues littering the entire Gaza Strip. As they give off toxic fumes when coming into contact with water, once the rain falls the whole area would be polluted with acid phosphorus fumes. Children should be warned not to handle and play with these phosphorus residues.

2. Heavy Bombs
The use of DIME (dense inert material explosives) were evident, though it is unsure whether depleted uranium were used in the south. In the civilian areas, surviving patients were found to have limbs truncated by DIME, since the stumps apart from being characteristically cut off in guillotine fashion also fail to bleed. Bomb casing and shrapnels are extremely heavy.

3. Fuel Air Explosives
Bunker busters and implosion bombs have been used. There are buildings especially the 8-storey Science and Technology Building of the Islamic University of Gaza which had been reduced to a pile of rubble no higher than 5-6 feet.

4. Silent Bombs
People in Gaza described a silent bomb which is extremely destructive. The bomb arrives as a silent projectile at most with a whistling sound and creates a large area where all objects and living things are vaporized with minimal trace. We are unable to fit this into conventional weapons but the possibility of new particle weapons being tested should be suspected.

5. Executions
Survivors describe Israeli tanks arriving in front of homes asking residents to come out. Children, old people and women would come forward and as they were lined up they were just fired on and killed. Families have lost tens of their members through such executions. The deliberate targeting of unarmed children and women is well documented by human right groups in the Gaza Strip over the past month.

6. Targeting of ambulances
Thirteen ambulances had been fired upon killing drivers and first aid personnel in the process of rescue and evacuation of the wounded.

7. Cluster bombs
The first patients wounded by cluster were brought into Abu Yusef Najjar Hospital. Since more than 50% of the tunnels have been destroyed, Gaza has lost part of her lifeline. These tunnels contrary to popular belief are not for weapons, though small light weapons could have been smuggled through them. However they are the main stay of food and fuel for Gaza. Palestinians are beginning to tunnel again. However it became clear that cluster bombs were dropped on to the Rafah border and the first was accidentally set off by tunneling. Five burns patients were brought in after setting off a booby trap kind of device.

DEATH TOLL
As of 25 January 2009, the death toll was estimated at 1,350 with the numbers increasing daily. This is due to the severely wounded continuing to die in hospitals. 60% of those killed were children.

SEVERE INJURIES
The severely injured numbered 5,450, with 40% being children. These are mainly large burns and polytrauma patients. Single limb fractures and walking wounded are not included in these figures.

Through our conversations with doctors and nurses the word holocaust and catastrophe were repeatedly used. The medical staff all bear the psychological trauma of the past month living though the situation and dealing with mass casualties which swamped their casualties and operating rooms. Many patients died in the Accident and Emergency Department while awaiting treatment. In a district hospital, the orthopaedic surgeon carried out 13 external fixations in less than a day.

It is estimated that of the severely injured, 1,600 will suffer permanently disabilities. These include amputations, spinal cord injuries, head injuries, large burns with crippling contractures.

SPECIAL FACTORS
The death and injury toll is especially high in this recent assault due to several factors.

1. No escape: As Gaza is sealed by Israeli troops, no one can escape the bombardment and the land invasion. There is simply no escape. Even within the Gaza Strip itself, movement from north to south is impossible as Israeli tanks had cut the northern half of Gaza from the south. Compare this with the situation in Lebanon 1982 and 2006, when it was possible for people to escape from an area of heavy bombardment to an area of relative calm – there was no such is option for Gaza.

2. Gaza is very densely populated. It is eerie to see that the bombs used by Israel have been precision bombs. They have a hundred percent hit rate on buildings which are crowded with people. Examples are the central market, police stations. Schools, the UN compounds used as a safety shelter from bombardment, mosques (40 of them destroyed), and the homes of families who thought they were safe as there were no combatants in them and high rise flats where a single implosion bomb would destroy multiple families. This pattern of consistent targeting of civilians makes one suspect that the military targets are but collateral damage, while civilians are the primary targets.

3. The quantity and quality of the ammunition being used as described above.

4. Gaza’s lack of defense against the modern weapons of Israel. She has no tanks, no planes, no anti-aircraft missiles against the invading army. We experienced that first hand in a minor clash of Israeli tank shells versus Palestinian AK47 return fire. The forces were simply unmatched.

5. Absence of well constructed bomb shelters for civilians. Unfortunately these will also be no match for bunker busters possessed by the Israeli Army.

CONCLUSION
Taking the above points into consideration, the next assault on Gaza would be just as disastrous. The people of Gaza are extremely vulnerable and defenseless in the event of yet another attack. The International Community, if it were serious about preventing this large scale of deaths and injuries, will have to develop a defense force for Gaza if it is considered desirable for Gaza were to continue to be inadequately armed to defend herself.
------------------------


Source: http://pulsemedia.org/2009/01/30/the-wounds-of-gaza-2009/

The Wounds

Post-Gaza

“A number of questions arise about the post-Gaza world.”

Read the full post at: Press TV / Source: http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=83887§ionid=3510303

The post-Gaza world
Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:54:49 GMT
By Hamid Golpira
-----------

“Be hopeful but be prepared for the worst.
Welcome to the post-Gaza world.”

Certainly peace loving people are hopeful.
Knowing the super-hawks in Israel and the US – the worst is yet to come.
Is “prepared of the worst” means the utter destruction of the globe?
--------------

HERE ARE SOME OF THE QUESTIONS.
----------

“Will the UN act on Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's call for accountability?”

What accountability? Who dares make Israel and the US accountable? To them the UN is not even worth a cupful of warm spittle.
--------

“Will Israel be brought to the International Court of Justice?”

ICJ who? This can of squirming worms? How many times have Israel or the US for that matter ignored it?
---------

“Will an international tribunal be established to prosecute Israeli officials for war crimes? “

Can’t you see? They blamed the Palestinians for being slaughtered for the war crimes. How can you blame the rogue lion for making a feast of an abandoned fawn?
---------

“If an international tribunal is set up, will the people really responsible for ordering the attack on Gaza be held accountable or will a few Israeli officials be made scapegoats to appease the world's conscience?”

O how beautiful. You are describing the elephant walk – especially when the US and Israel are involved. The laws they are a signatory to never apply to them – to others yes.
---------

”Will the international community finally tell Israel it can no longer commit war crimes and human rights violations with impunity?”

Do you think the US is part of this “international community” you talk about? The ‘big brothers’ of the world are effectively gagged and shackled. So who do you propose tell Israel?
----------

“Will reparations be paid to the Palestinians of Gaza?”

Nobody will be paid reparation – only the Jews have ‘a right’ to it. The victims are made to pay reparation. Typical holy-of-hollies Zionists mind.
-----------

“Will the siege of Gaza end soon?”

My friend, it will end when Gaza and the West Bank cease to exist. Then the siege will be placed somewhere else – and somewhere – and somewhere – till the map of the world is completely redrawn.
-------------

”Will anyone be held accountable for turning the Gaza Strip into a giant concentration camp during the siege?”

Can anyone hold Israel and the US accountable for anything? How many times have these two terrorist states ignore UN resolutions? Now it (the UN) can’t even string a good-sentenced ‘resolution’ without these rouge-states’ approval. What can the UN do? It’s a decorated portal no good for window shopping owned by cigar chomping fat-bellied hook-nosed carrion vulture of the Kalahari plains.
----------

“Will a Palestinian state finally be established in the near future?”

What future? Palestine is gone. The Palestinians are reduced to the status of the Jews back before 1947 – citizen without a country. Right now they are laying on the table all options to ‘Palestinianize’ Iran, by ‘pulling out’ of Iraq, concentrating on Afghanistan, destabilizing Pakistan and ‘roping in’ India.
--------

“Will the masses in Arab countries now rise up against their leaders, who actually did very little to support the Palestinians?”

That would be serving Israel its breakfast-to-supper meals in golden plates. Israel has everything to gain and the Arabs have everything to lose. Right now most Arab states are ‘made’ to sing the Israeli tune in blaming and placing the siege on Hamas (West Bank later perhaps). Do you ever wonder what the end-game would be on the Middle Eastern chess board? So many pawns are promoted to queens, rook or whatever. Abbas is one of them. Can you think of anyone in Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait etc. etc.? They even have their Trojan horses in Malaysia.
----------

“Will Muslims finally wake up to the fact that we are one ummah and realize that the struggle of the oppressed Muslims of Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Congo, and the rest of the world is one struggle?”

This is a struggle indeed. But Muslims are dancing to their tune. Muslims should play their own game on their own board using their own pieces and promoting their own pawns. Right now they are sacrificing their own pieces. All because there are too many players and all moves are consequential, devoid of strategies.
----------

“Will the corporations of the military industrial complex that armed Israel be held accountable?”

This is like asking, “Will global industrialization and global burning of fossil fuel be held responsible for global warming?” Everyone knows the answer. But because of want, one renders oneself impotent. Most deaths suffered by the knights of the round table and the musketeers of France were by the swords. Can you blame them for arming themselves with swords?
----------

“Will nothing be done, meaning the world is about to enter an era of ultra-violence where international law means nothing?”

This feeling of helplessness, this impotence, this being shackled and motivated by our own carnal wants, this indignity of allowing atrocities being meted out by humans to fellow humans, this resulting suppressed ‘anger’ will first make mankind, the oppressor and the oppressed alike, to look up into the skies and their first cry will be, “God where are you” as if they find their gods there. But some will find their answers there, some elsewhere and yet some others in themselves. All meaningful responses and manifested physical actions follows these kinds of mute cries be it of love or hate.
--------

“Since it was obvious that there would be some response from the world, and even Israel's allies, to such a brazen assault on civilians, did the Israeli leadership suddenly suffer from a bout of collective madness or was there some hidden agenda behind the Gaza war?”

Nothing other than hate. Hate begets hate. Only prophets teaches how to beget love out of hate.
---------

“Was the Gaza war used to test new weapons such as dense inert metal explosive (DIME) bombs?”

Motivated by hate --- convenient isn’t it?
----------

“Will there be an investigation into Israel's illegal use of white phosphorus against civilians?”
”Will there be an investigation to determine if Israel used depleted uranium in Gaza?”

These investigations will cheer the Zionists up. It will occupy everybody’s attention. They are freed from prying eyes and medaling hands, and have a free hand to plot and execute the next phase of their agendas.
-----------

”And if it is proven that Israel used depleted uranium in Gaza, does this mean that the Israelis are thinking the unthinkable, namely the Samson Option?”

The Americans used that in Iraq. What’s Samson Option?”
----------

“The Samson Option is a mutually assured destruction plan devised by the Zionists many years ago to be implemented if Israel ever finds itself on the verge of collapse and total defeat.

In the doomsday scenario of the Samson Option, Israel would use its nuclear weapons against its enemies in Palestine and other countries, turning Palestine and other parts of the region into irradiated wastelands.

Although no one can predict the future, it appears that nothing will be the same in the post-Gaza world.

Be hopeful, be positive, but be prepared for the worst since the world is entering uncharted territory. Welcome to the post-Gaza world.”

O God, the God of all creations, Your love is infinite. Surely your love smothers any and all hate.
-----------

Sekadar Lawatan Bertanya Khabar

Ada hati atau tidak Presiden Obama melawat Gaza selepas dahulu melawat Sderot di selatan Israel.

Sderot kena dua biji roket Qassam buatan bengkel kimpalan Hamas.

Gaza kena dua ribu biji roket bunker buster buatan teknologi tinggi Amerika.

Sekurang-kurangnya naluri ingin tahu sudah cukup kuat untuk menggerakkan Obama meninjau sendiri untuk mambuat bandingan.

Ataukah dia juga nujum pak belalang --- awal-awal lagi sudah tahu.

Beast Of Prey And Of Burden

Israel, US and Britain, by their most self-righteous actions are unilaterally adding the following lines to the UN Charter, in order to successfully rise to the utmost of virtues and to morph into technologically advanced beasts of prey.

1) The only right lies in force. Merciless severity is the greatest agent of might, and result must justifies means. Make-belief, bribery, deceit, treachery, cunning and violence rules the principle. Export, maintain, perpetrate and perpetuate terror. Say the opposite of what transpired.

2) Freedom, political or personal, is only an idea, never a fact. Utilize the blind might of the unthinking mob who are forever naively vulnerable to ideas from all sides. Install the blind upstarts to lead the blind.

3) The power of the purse (whose purse may I ask?) must replace the power of rulers, beginning with the infection of ‘ideas of liberalism’ to affect them to surrender all of their powers. Throw nations to ruins by exciting rulers to the pursuit power, wealth, glory and the satisfaction of personal wants.

4) A despot, our despot will then hold all reins to the world. Any pretenders to the throne – destroy them. Submission and sovereignty must only be secured by seizure of properties, annihilation, carnage, catastrophe, and devastation so that demand for equality and liberty fuel more annihilation, carnage, catastrophe, and devastation.

5) In fact none deserves equality, liberty and fraternity who failed to transform to BEAST OF PREY.

Slaughter House Revisited

A Report From Gaza
Terribly Bloodied, Still Breathing
By CAOIMHE BUTTERLY
Gaza

The morgues of Gaza's hospitals are over-flowing. The bodies in their blood-soaked white shrouds cover the entire floor space of the Shifa hospital morgue. Some are intact, most horribly deformed, limbs twisted into unnatural positions, chest cavities exposed, heads blown off, skulls crushed in. Family members wait outside to identify and claim a brother, husband, father, mother, wife, child. Many of those who wait their turn have lost numerous family members and loved ones.

Blood is everywhere. Hospital orderlies hose down the floors of operating rooms, bloodied bandages lie discarded in corners, and the injured continue to pour in: bodies lacerated by shrapnel, burns, bullet wounds. Medical workers, exhausted and under siege, work day and night and each life saved is seen as a victory over the predominance of death.

The streets of Gaza are eerily silent- the pulsing life and rhythm of markets, children, fishermen walking down to the sea at dawn brutally stilled and replaced by an atmosphere of uncertainty, isolation and fear. The ever-present sounds of surveillance drones, F16s, tanks and Apaches are listened to acutely as residents try to guess where the next deadly strike will be- which house, school, clinic, mosque, governmental building or community centre will be hit next and how to move before it does. That there are no safe places- no refuge for vulnerable human bodies- is felt acutely. It is a devastating awareness for parents- that there is no way to keep their children safe.

As we continue to accompany the ambulances, joining Palestinian paramedics as they risk their lives, daily, to respond to calls from those with no other life-line, our existence becomes temporarily narrowed down and focused on the few precious minutes that make the difference between life and death. With each new call received as we ride in ambulances that careen down broken, silent roads, sirens and lights blaring, there exists a battle of life over death. We have learned the language of the war that the Israelis are waging on the collective captive population of Gaza- to distinguish between the sounds of the weaponry used, the timing between the first missile strikes and the inevitable second- targeting those that rush to tend to and evacuate the wounded, to recognize the signs of the different chemical weapons being used in this onslaught, to overcome the initial vulnerability of recognizing our own mortality.

Though many of the calls received are to pick up bodies, not the wounded, the necessity of affording the dead a dignified burial drives the paramedics to face the deliberate targeting of their colleagues and comrades- thirteen killed while evacuating the wounded, fourteen ambulances destroyed- and to continue to search for the shattered bodies of the dead to bring home to their families.

Last night, while sitting with paramedics in Jabaliya refugee camp, drinking tea and listening to their stories, we received a call to respond to the aftermath of a missile strike. When we arrived at the outskirts of the camp where the attack had taken place the area was filled with clouds of dust, torn electricity lines, slabs of concrete and open water pipes gushing water into the street. Amongst the carnage of severed limbs and blood we pulled out the body of a young man, his chest and face lacerated by shrapnel wounds, but alive- conscious and moaning.

As the ambulance sped him through the cold night we applied pressure to his wounds, the warmth of his blood seeping through the bandages reminder of the life still in him. He opened his eyes in answer to my questions and closed them again as Muhammud, a volunteer paramedic, murmured "ayeesh, nufuss"- live, breathe- over and over to him. He lost consciousness as we arrived at the hospital, received into the arms of friends who carried him into the emergency room. He, Majid, lived and is recovering.

A few minutes later there was another missile strike, this time on a residential house. As we arrived a crowd had rushed to the ruins of the four story home in an attempt to drag survivors out from under the rubble. The family the house belonged to had evacuated the area the day before and the only person in it at the time of the strike was 17 year old Muhammud who had gone back to collect clothes for his family. He was dragged out from under the rubble still breathing- his legs twisted in unnatural directions and with a head wound, but alive. There was no choice but to move him, with the imminence of a possible second strike, and he lay in the ambulance moaning with pain and calling for his mother. We thought he would live, he was conscious though in intense pain and with the rest of the night consumed with call after call to pick up the wounded and the dead, I forgot to check on him. This morning we were called to pick up a body from Shifa hospital to take back to Jabaliya. We carried a body wrapped in a blood-soaked white shroud into the ambulance, and it wasn't until we were on the road that we realized that it was Muhammud's body. His brother rode with us, opening the shroud to tenderly kiss Muhammud's forehead.

This morning we received news that Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City was under siege. We tried unsuccessfully for hours to gain access to the hospital, trying to organize co-ordination to get the ambulances past Israeli tanks and snipers to evacuate the wounded and dead. Hours of unsuccessful attempts later we received a call from the Shujahiya neighborhood, describing a house where there were both dead and wounded patients to pick up. The area was deserted, many families having fled as Israeli tanks and snipers took up position amongst their homes, other silent in the dark, cold confines of their homes, crawling from room to room to avoid sniper fire through their windows.

As we drove slowly around the area, we heard women’s cries for help. We approached their house on foot, followed by the ambulances and as we came to the threshold of their home, they rushed towards us with their children, shaking and crying with shock. At the door of the house the ambulance lights exposed the bodies of four men, lacerated by shrapnel wounds- the skull and brains of one exposed, others whose limbs had been severed off. The four were the husbands and brothers of the women, who had ventured out to search for bread and food for their families. Their bodies were still warm as we struggled to carry them on stretchers over the uneven ground, their blood staining the earth and our clothes. As we prepared to leave the area our torches illuminated the slumped figure of another man, his abdomen and chest shredded by shrapnel. With no space in the other ambulances, and the imminent possibility of sniper fire, we were forced to take his body in the back of the ambulance carrying the women and children. One of the little girls stared at me before coming into my arms and telling me her name- Fidaa', which means to sacrifice. She stared at the body bag, asking when he would wake up.

Once back at the hospital we received word that the Israeli army had shelled Al Quds hospital, that the ensuing fire risked spreading and that there had been a 20-minute time-frame negotiated to evacuate patients, doctors and residents in the surrounding houses. By the time we got up there in a convoy of ambulances, hundreds of people had gathered. With the shelling of the UNRWA compound and the hospital there was a deep awareness that nowhere in Gaza is safe, or sacred.

We helped evacuate those assembled to near-by hospitals and schools that have been opened to receive the displaced. The scenes were deeply saddening- families, desperate and carrying their children, blankets and bags of their possessions venturing out in the cold night to try to find a corner of a school or hospital to shelter in. The paramedic we were with referred to the displacement of the over 46,000 Gazan Palestinians now on the move as a continuation of the ongoing Nakba of dispossession and exile seen through generation after generation enduring massacre after massacre.

Today's death toll was over 75, one of the bloodiest days since the start of this carnage. Over 1,110 Palestinians have been killed in the past 21 days. 367 of those have been children. The humanitarian infrastructure of Gaza is on its knees- already devastated by years of comprehensive siege. There has been a deliberate, systematic destruction of all places of refuge. There are no safe places here, for anyone.

And yet, in the face of so much desecration, this community has remained intact. The social solidarity and support between people is inspiring, and the steadfastness of Gaza continues to humble and inspire all those who witness it. Their level of sacrifice demands our collective response- and recognition that demonstrations are not enough. Gaza, Palestine and its people continue to live, breathe, resist and remain intact and this refusal to be broken is a call and challenge to us all.
-------------

Caoimhe Butterly is an Irish human rights activist working in Jabaliya and Gaza City as a volunteer with ambulance services and as co-coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement, She can be contacted at sahara78@hotmail.co.uk

-------------

Source: http://www.counterpunch.org/butterly01162009.html

Contemplate In Silence

THE (first part – opening part of the) SERMON OF
THE LAST MESSENGER OF ALLAH (PBUH&HF)
ON THE DAY OF GHADIR KHUM (on the journey back from his (pbuh&hf) last haj - while stopping at Ghadir Khum)

Lets contemplate his (pbuh&hf) words as against the supposed hegemonic power that causes so much sufferings and death in the lands that once saw the birth of Musa (Moses), Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad (peace be upon them all).

O citizens of Islam and of Palestine, lets mention the praise of Allah.
====================

Part 1
Praising Allah and
regarding Him pure
******************

Praise belongs to Allah Who
is exalted above (all the
creation) in His Oneness,1

and is near (to His creation)
in His aloneness.2

Sublime is His authority,
and great are the pillars3 of
His (names).

His knowledge encompasses
everything while He is lofty
in status.1

He subdues all the creation
through His power and
evidence.

He has always been praiseworthy
and shall always be
praised.

He is the glorified Whose
glory has no end.

He begins and repeats (the creation),2

and to Him all affairs are
returned.■1

He is the maker of what has
been elevated (i.e., heavens),

the expander of what has
been spread out (i.e., the
earth),

and the dominator of the
planets and the heavens.

He is holy and exalted above
all purifications, the Lord of
the angels and the spirit.

He grants to all that He
created.

He prolongs His grace to all
that He originated.

He sees all eyes, and eyes do
not see Him.

He is generous, forbearing,
and patient.

He made His mercy encompass
everything,2

and He favored them by His
grace.

He does not hasten His
revenge,

nor does He take the
initiative on what (He
knows) they deserve of His
punishment.

He comprehends the secrets,
and knows what the hearts
conceal.

Hidden things are not
concealed from Him,

nor do they make Him
doubtful.

He encompasses (in knowledge)
and dominates
everything,

and has strength and power
over everything.

Nothing is like Him1, and He
is the establisher of “the
thing” when it was nothing.

He is everlasting [and free of
need]♦, who acts justly;

there is no god but He, the
mighty, the wise.1

He is exalted beyond being
grasped by visions, while He
grasps all visions, and He is
subtle, well aware (of all
things).2

None can reach His description
by seeing Him, nor can
anyone find out how He is,
secretly or openly, and (He is
not known) except by what
Allah, the mighty and the
majestic, has made as the
signs of Himself.3

I testify that He is Allah,
Whose holiness overspreads
all ages,

Whose light overwhelms
perpetuity1,

Who enforces His command
without consulting an
advisor.

There is no partner with Him
in (His) planning, nor is there
any discrepancy in (His)
management.

He shaped whatever He
originated without
a preexisting model,

and created whatever He
created without getting
assistance from anyone,
burdening Himself, or having
any need to find out a
solution.

He originated it (in His will),
thus it came into being, and
He formed it (in His
intention), thus it became
distinct.1

So, He is Allah, the One that
there is no god but He,

Who is proficient in skill,
and beautiful in action.

He is the just Who never
oppresses, and the most
generous to Whom all affairs
are referred.2

I further testify that He is
[Allah]■ that before His
magnificence everything is
lowly, before His might
everything is humble,

before His power everything
surrenders, and before His
awe everything yields.

He is the king of all domains,
the turner of the heavenly
bodies in their orbits,

the dominator of the sun and
the moon, each of which
pursues its course to an
appointed time.

He makes night overtake
day, and day overtake night,
(each one) seeking the other
rapidly1.

He is the destroyer of every
stubborn tyrant, and the
annihilator of every rebellious
Satan.

Neither has there been any
opposing power beside Him,
nor any peer.

He is Unique and impenetrable.
1 He never begets nor is
He begotten, and none can
ever be a match for Him.2

He is the only God, the
glorious Lord, Who wills,
and thus carries out, Who
intends, and thus decrees,
Who knows, and thus takes
into account.

He causes death and gives
life. He impoverishes and
enriches.3 He makes (men)
laugh and makes (them)
weep.4 [He brings near and
drives away.]♦ He denies and
grants.

For Him is sovereignty, so is
praise. In His hand is all
goodness, and He is powerful
to do everything.5

He lets night enter the day,
and day enter night;1 there is
no god but He, the mighty,
the oft-forgiving.

He is the responder to
supplication, open-handed in
granting, the enumerator of
breaths, and the Lord of the
Jinn and the humans.

Neither does anything bring
difficulty for Him, nor does
the cry of those who appeal
for help annoy Him, nor does
the insistence of those who
insist exhaust Him or force
Him to assent.

He (is Who) protected the
righteous, and gave success
to the prosperous.

He is the guardian of the
faithful, and the Lord of the
worlds,

Who deserves that all His
creations thank Him and
praise Him in any situation.

I (therefore) praise Him and
thank Him in joy and
sorrow, and in hardship and
comfort.

I believe in Him, His angels,
His books, and His messengers.

I listen to His command,
obey Him, proceed towards
whatever pleases Him, and
submit to what He decreed,
longing for His obedience
and fearing His punishment,1

for He is Allah against
Whose schemes no one
should feel secure, nor
should anyone be in fear of
injustice from Him.


Source: http://www.dartabligh.org/books/ebooks/Ghadir%20Sermon.pdf

The Blue Print

1) There were "...... 750,000 Palestinians that were forced from their homes in 1948, ....." http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/refugees.html


2) Menachem Begin, head of one of the Jewish terrorist groups, called this a “splendid act of conquest,” and stated: “As in Deir Yassin, so everywhere, we will attack and smite the enemy. God, God, Thou has chosen us for conquest.” Zionist/Israeli forces committed 33 massacres altogether. http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/ A Synopsis of the Israel/Palestine Conflict.

3) Today, after 60 years of killings, ethnic cleansing and babaric genocide by scores of Menachem Begins, Israel, the US and Britain end up with 1.5 million refugees in Gaza alone, never mind those in The West Bank and neighbouring countries.

4) Never mind what Menachem Begin thanked his god for, it seems that God has His own plan.

==================


Pictures (Of Death That) Speak A Thousand Words.

1)
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/phopto-gallery-of-gazas-martyred-children/

2)
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2009/01/11/actual-photographs-of-hamas-most-wanted-terrorists/

3)
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/dead-palestinian-children-have-names-too/


4) Update Jan 16 2009 6:15 pm -- watch slide at http://www.ikhwanweb.com/

5) Watch another slide at: http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/01/16/gaza-the-tip-of-an-iceberg/

6) Update Jan 24th 2009
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/photo-essay-never-to-forgive-never-to-forget-the-child-martyrs-of-gaza/

Victory Even In Death

Victory Even In Death - aview by an Israeli peace activist.


Israel Is Losing This War
By Uri Avnery, January 11, 2009


NEARLY SEVENTY YEARS ago, in the course of World War II, a heinous crime was committed in the city of Leningrad. For more than a thousand days, a gang of extremists called “the Red Army” held the millions of the town’s inhabitants hostage and provoked retaliation from the German Wehrmacht from inside the population centers. The Germans had no alternative but to bomb and shell the population and to impose a total blockade, which caused the death of hundreds of thousands.


Some time before that, a similar crime was committed in England. The Churchill gang hid among the population of London, misusing the millions of citizens as a human shield. The Germans were compelled to send their Luftwaffe and reluctantly reduce the city to ruins. They called it the Blitz.


This is the description that would now appear in the history books – if the Germans had won the war.


Absurd? No more than the daily descriptions in our media, which are being repeated ad nauseam: the Hamas terrorists use the inhabitants of Gaza as “hostages” and exploit the women and children as “human shields”, they leave us no alternative but to carry out massive bombardments, in which, to our deep sorrow, thousands of women, children and unarmed men are killed and injured.


IN THIS WAR, as in any modern war, propaganda plays a major role. The disparity between the forces, between the Israeli army - with its airplanes, gunships, drones, warships, artillery and tanks - and the few thousand lightly armed Hamas fighters, is one to a thousand, perhaps one to a million. In the political arena the gap between them is even wider. But in the propaganda war, the gap is almost infinite.


Almost all the Western media initially repeated the official Israeli propaganda line. They almost entirely ignored the Palestinian side of the story, not to mention the daily demonstrations of the Israeli peace camp. The rationale of the Israeli government (“The state must defend its citizens against the Qassam rockets”) has been accepted as the whole truth. The view from the other side, that the Qassams are a retaliation for the siege that starves the one and a half million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, was not mentioned at all.


Only when the horrible scenes from Gaza started to appear on Western TV screens, did world public opinion gradually begin to change.


True, Western and Israeli TV channels showed only a tiny fraction of the dreadful events that appear 24 hours every day on Aljazeera’s Arabic channel, but one picture of a dead baby in the arms of its terrified father is more powerful than a thousand elegantly constructed sentences from the Israeli army spokesman. And that is what is decisive, in the end.


War – every war – is the realm of lies. Whether called propaganda or psychological warfare, everybody accepts that it is right to lie for one’s country. Anyone who speaks the truth runs the risk of being branded a traitor.


The trouble is that propaganda is most convincing for the propagandist himself. And after you convince yourself that a lie is the truth and falsification reality, you can no longer make rational decisions.


An example of this process surrounds the most shocking atrocity of this war so far: the shelling of the UN Fakhura school in Jabaliya refugee camp.


Immediately after the incident became known throughout the world, the army “revealed” that Hamas fighters had been firing mortars from near the school entrance. As proof they released an aerial photo which indeed showed the school and the mortar. But within a short time the official army liar had to admit that the photo was more than a year old. In brief: a falsification.


Later the official liar claimed that “our soldiers were shot at from inside the school”. Barely a day passed before the army had to admit to UN personnel that that was a lie, too. Nobody had shot from inside the school, no Hamas fighters were inside the school, which was full of terrified refugees.


But the admission made hardly any difference anymore. By that time, the Israeli public was completely convinced that “they shot from inside the school”, and TV announcers stated this as a simple fact.


So it went with the other atrocities. Every baby metamorphosed, in the act of dying, into a Hamas terrorist. Every bombed mosque instantly became a Hamas base, every apartment building an arms cache, every school a terror command post, every civilian government building a “symbol of Hamas rule”. Thus the Israeli army retained its purity as the “most moral army in the world”.


THE TRUTH is that the atrocities are a direct result of the war plan. This reflects the personality of Ehud Barak – a man whose way of thinking and actions are clear evidence of what is called “moral insanity”, a sociopathic disorder.


The real aim (apart from gaining seats in the coming elections) is to terminate the rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In the imagination of the planners, Hamas is an invader which has gained control of a foreign country. The reality is, of course, entirely different.


The Hamas movement won the majority of the votes in the eminently democratic elections that took place in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. It won because the Palestinians had come to the conclusion that Fatah’s peaceful approach had gained precisely nothing from Israel - neither a freeze of the settlements, nor release of the prisoners, nor any significant steps toward ending the occupation and creating the Palestinian state. Hamas is deeply rooted in the population – not only as a resistance movement fighting the foreign occupier, like the Irgun and the Stern Group in the past – but also as a political and religious body that provides social, educational and medical services.


From the point of view of the population, the Hamas fighters are not a foreign body, but the sons of every family in the Strip and the other Palestinian regions. They do not “hide behind the population”, the population views them as their only defenders.
Therefore, the whole operation is based on erroneous assumptions. Turning life into living hell does not cause the population to rise up against Hamas, but on the contrary, it unites behind Hamas and reinforces its determination not to surrender. The population of Leningrad did not rise up against Stalin, any more than the Londoners rose up against Churchill.


He who gives the order for such a war with such methods in a densely populated area knows that it will cause dreadful slaughter of civilians. Apparently that did not touch him. Or he believed that “they will change their ways” and “it will sear their consciousness”, so that in future they will not dare to resist Israel.


A top priority for the planners was the need to minimize casualties among the soldiers, knowing that the mood of a large part of the pro-war public would change if reports of such casualties came in. That is what happened in Lebanon Wars I and II.


This consideration played an especially important role because the entire war is a part of the election campaign. Ehud Barak, who gained in the polls in the first days of the war, knew that his ratings would collapse if pictures of dead soldiers filled the TV screens.


Therefore, a new doctrine was applied: to avoid losses among our soldiers by the total destruction of everything in their path. The planners were not only ready to kill 80 Palestinians to save one Israeli soldier, as has happened, but also 800. The avoidance of casualties on our side is the overriding commandment, which is causing record numbers of civilian casualties on the other side.


That means the conscious choice of an especially cruel kind of warfare – and that has been its Achilles heel.


A person without imagination, like Barak (his election slogan: “Not a Nice Guy, but a Leader”) cannot imagine how decent people around the world react to actions like the killing of whole extended families, the destruction of houses over the heads of their inhabitants, the rows of boys and girls in white shrouds ready for burial, the reports about people bleeding to death over days because ambulances are not allowed to reach them, the killing of doctors and medics on their way to save lives, the killing of UN drivers bringing in food. The pictures of the hospitals, with the dead, the dying and the injured lying together on the floor for lack of space, have shocked the world. No argument has any force next to an image of a wounded little girl lying on the floor, twisting with pain and crying out: “Mama! Mama!”


The planners thought that they could stop the world from seeing these images by forcibly preventing press coverage. The Israeli journalists, to their shame, agreed to be satisfied with the reports and photos provided by the Army Spokesman, as if they were authentic news, while they themselves remained miles away from the events. Foreign journalists were not allowed in either, until they protested and were taken for quick tours in selected and supervised groups. But in a modern war, such a sterile manufactured view cannot completely exclude all others – the cameras are inside the strip, in the middle of the hell, and cannot be controlled. Aljazeera broadcasts the pictures around the clock and reaches every home.


THE BATTLE for the TV screen is one of the decisive battles of the war.


Hundreds of millions of Arabs from Mauritania to Iraq, more than a billion Muslims from Nigeria to Indonesia see the pictures and are horrified. This has a strong impact on the war. Many of the viewers see the rulers of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority as collaborators with Israel in carrying out these atrocities against their Palestinian brothers.


The security services of the Arab regimes are registering a dangerous ferment among the peoples. Hosny Mubarak, the most exposed Arab leader because of his closing of the Rafah crossing in the face of terrified refugees, started to pressure the decision-makers in Washington, who until that time had blocked all calls for a cease-fire. These began to understand the menace to vital American interests in the Arab world and suddenly changed their attitude – causing consternation among the complacent Israeli diplomats.


People with moral insanity cannot really understand the motives of normal people and must guess their reactions. “How many divisions has the Pope?” Stalin sneered. “How many divisions have people of conscience?” Ehud Barak may well be asking.
As it turns out, they do have some. Not numerous. Not very quick to react. Not very strong and organized. But at a certain moment, when the atrocities overflow and masses of protesters come together, that can decide a war.


THE FAILURE to grasp the nature of Hamas has caused a failure to grasp the predictable results. Not only is Israel unable to win the war, Hamas cannot lose it.


Even if the Israeli army were to succeed in killing every Hamas fighter to the last man, even then Hamas would win. The Hamas fighters would be seen as the paragons of the Arab nation, the heroes of the Palestinian people, models for emulation by every youngster in the Arab world. The West Bank would fall into the hands of Hamas like a ripe fruit, Fatah would drown in a sea of contempt, the Arab regimes would be threatened with collapse.


If the war ends with Hamas still standing, bloodied but unvanquished, in face of the mighty Israeli military machine, it will look like a fantastic victory, a victory of mind over matter.


What will be seared into the consciousness of the world will be the image of Israel as a blood-stained monster, ready at any moment to commit war crimes and not prepared to abide by any moral restraints. This will have severe consequences for our long-term future, our standing in the world, our chance of achieving peace and quiet.


In the end, this war is a crime against ourselves too, a crime against the State of Israel.
===========================


Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He is a contributor to CounterPunch's book The Politics of Anti-Semitism.



Source: http://www.progressive.org/mag/avnery011109.html

An Open Prison

We feel people should know this. Events with an Israeli-slant are detailed greatly and thoroughly covered – more infect - by the controlled main stream media. Therefore, we attempt to fill in the many intentionally left out items – most of them about incidents in the Palestinian territories – that are rarely available.

For more thorough daily coverage of the region, we provide these links. http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/daily_news.html.
==========================


Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip live in an odd and oppressive limbo. They have no nation, no citizenship, and no ultimate power over their own lives.
Since 1967, when Israel conquered these areas (the final 22 percent of mandatory Palestine), Palestinians have been living under Israeli military occupation. While in some parts Israel has allowed a Palestinian “autonomous” entity to take on such municipal functions as education, health care, infrastructure and policing, Israel retains overall power.

According to international law, an occupying force is responsible for the protection of the civilian population living under its control. Israel, however, ignores this requirement, routinely committing violations of the Geneva Conventions, a set of principles instituted after World War II to ensure that civilians would “never again” suffer as they had under Nazi occupation. Israel is one of the leading violators of these conventions today.

Israeli forces regularly confiscate private land; imprison individuals without process – including children – and physically abuse them under incarceration; demolish family homes; bulldoze orchards and crops; place entire towns under curfew; destroy shops and businesses; shoot, maim, and kill civilians – and Palestinians are without power to stop any of it.

When a child is arrested, for example – often by a group of armed soldiers in the middle of the night – parents can do nothing. Knowing that their son is most likely being beaten by soldiers on the way to the station, stripped and humiliated in prison, quite likely physically abused in multiple additional ways, and destined to be held – perhaps in isolation – for days, week, or months (all before a trial has even taken place), parents are without the ability to protect their child. Quite often, in fact, they cannot even visit him.

Finally, when the military trial under which their son is to be sentenced – often to years (sometimes decades) in prison – all they can do is hire a lawyer whose efforts, at best, will reduce the ultimate sentence by a few months. Rarely, if ever, can even the most skilled lawyer do more than afford the child a friendly face in court and be an outside witness to the injustice of the proceedings. Meanwhile, the presence of such a lawyer provides Israel cover for its “judicial system.”
Perhaps most significant – and rarely understood by people in the outside world – is the fact that Palestinians live, basically, in a prison in which Israel holds the keys.

They cannot leave Gaza or the West Bank unless Israeli guards allow them to. If they have been allowed out, they cannot return to their homes and families unless Israeli guards permit it.

Frequently, in both cases, Israel refuses such permission.
Academics invited to attend conferences abroad, high school students given US State Department scholarships to study in the United States, mothers wishing to visit daughters abroad, American citizens returning to their families, humanitarians bringing wheelchairs – the list goes on almost without limit – have all been denied permission by Israel to leave or enter their own land.
The “Intifada”

Living under such hardship and humiliation, in the year 2000 the Palestinian population began an uprising against Israeli rule called the “Intifada.” This term – rarely translated in the American media – is simply the Arabic word for uprising or rebellion – literally, it means “shaking off.” The American Revolutionary War, for example, would be called the American intifada against Britain.

This is the second such uprising. The first began in 1986 and ended in 1993 when the peace negotiations offered hopes of justice. (Sadly, in the following years these hopes were crushed after Israel, rather than withdrawing from the West Bank and Gaza, as promised, actually doubled its expansion in these areas.)

During this first uprising, which consisted largely of Palestinians throwing stones at Israeli troops (very few Palestinians had weapons), Palestinians were killed at a rate approximately 7-10 times that of Israelis.

One of the ways Israeli forces attempted to put down this rebellion was through the “break the bones” policy, implemented by Yitzhak Rabin, in which people who had been throwing stones – often youths – were held down and their arms broken. On the first day of this policy alone, one hospital in Gaza treated 200 People for fractures.1
Today’s uprising – termed the “Second Intifada” – was sparked when an Israeli general, Ariel Sharon, known for his slaughter of Palestinian civilians throughout his career, visited a Jerusalem holy site, accompanied by over a thousand armed Israeli soldiers. When some Palestinian youths threw stones, Israeli soldiers responded with live gunfire, killing 5 the first day, and 10 the second.

This uprising has now continued for over five years, as Israel periodically mounts massive invasions into Palestinian communities, using tanks, helicopter gunships, and F-16 fighter jets. Palestinian fighters resisting these forces possess rifles and homemade mortars and rockets. A minute fraction strap explosives onto their own bodies and attempt to deliver their bombs in person; often they kill only themselves.

While the large majority of Palestinians oppose suicide bombings, many feel that armed resistance has become necessary – much as Americans supported war after the attack at Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless, only a small portion take an active part in the resistance, despite the fact that virtually all support its aim: to create a nation free from foreign oppression.

Most Palestinians attempt – with greater or lesser success – to go on with their lives, raise their children, attend school, go to work, celebrate festivals, organize weddings, raise their crops, provide for their families – all the things that preoccupy people around the world.

As Israel constructs a wall around them, however, prevents them at checkpoints from traveling from town to town, destroys their crops, prevents children from traveling to schools and the sick and injured from getting to the hospitals, it is becoming increasingly difficult to live even an approximation of a normal life.
Most Palestinians feel that the Israeli government’s intention is to drive them off the land, and there is a great deal of evidence that this is the goal of many Israeli leaders.

At the same time, however, there is a small but determined minority of Israelis, joined by citizens from throughout the world, who are coming to the Palestinian Territories to oppose Israeli occupation. These “internationals,” as they are often called, take part in peaceful marches, attempt to help Palestinian farmers harvest their crops despite Israeli military closures, live in refugee camps in the hope that their presence will prevent Israeli invasions and shelling, and walk children to school.

They are sometimes beaten, shot, and killed.
Some Israeli soldiers are refusing to serve in the West Bank or Gaza, stating: “We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.”
Meanwhile, the semblance of Palestinian autonomy continues. Elections held in January, 2005, resulted in new Palestinian leadership that will govern under occupation and will attempt to negotiate eventual Palestinian liberation. Yet even this election demonstrated Israel’s power, as various Palestinian candidates were arrested, detained, and sometimes beaten by Israeli forces. This aspect, however, like so much else, was rarely reported by the American media.


End Notes

1.“Under orders from Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabin, ‘Soldiers armed with cudgels beat up those they could lay their hands on regardless of whether they were demonstrators, or not, breaking into homes by day and night, dragging men and women, young and old, from their beds to beat them. At Gaza’s Shifa Hospital 200 people were treated during the first five days of the new policy, most of them suffering from broken elbows and knees. Three had fractured skulls.’” (PALESTINE AND ISRAEL: THE UPRISING AND BEYOND, David McDowall, University of California Press, 1989, p. 7.)


Source: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/

Palestine - A Very Short Story.

A Jewish State

“WE, the members of the National Council, representing the Jewish people in Palestine and the Zionist movement of the world...
“HEREBY PROCLAIM the establishment of the Jewish State in Palestine, to be called ISRAEL.”
– Declaration of the State of Israel, May 14 1948

“Despite the steady arrival in Palestine of Jewish colonists after 1882, it is important to realize that not until the few weeks immediately preceding the establishment of Israel in the spring of 1948 was there ever anything other than a huge Arab majority.”
– Edward Said, The Question of Palestine.

======================

A very short synopsis of the history of this conflict.

1) Palestine – the 19th century – inhabited by approximately 86% Muslims, 10% Christians – 4% Jewish – no conflict.

2) Late 1800s - the Zionist Jew – an extremist minority decided to create a Jewish homeland on this land.

3) More and more Zionists immigrated to Palestine – many with the express wish of taking over the land for a Jewish state – alarming the indigenous population - fighting broke out, with escalating waves of violence.

4) 1947 - the UN decided not to adhere to the democratic principle but to revert to the medieval strategy whereby an outside power divides up other people’s land.

5) Under strong Zionist pressure, the UN gave 55% of Palestine to a Jewish state – despite the fact that the Jews make up about 30% of the total population, and owned under 7% of the land.

6) 1947-1949 War - “While it is widely and correctly reported that the resulting war eventually included five Arab armies, less well known is the fact that throughout this war Zionist forces outnumbered all Arab and Palestinian combatants combined – often by a factor of two to three. Also contrary to popular belief, Arab armies did not invade Israel – virtually all battles were fought on land that was to have been the Palestinian state.“
(http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/) A Synopsis of the Israel/Palestine Conflict.

7) “Finally, it is significant to note that Arab armies entered the conflict only after Zionist forces had committed 16 massacres, including the grisly massacre of over 100 men, women, and children at Deir Yassin. Future Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, head of one of the Jewish terrorist groups, called this a “splendid act of conquest,” and stated: “As in Deir Yassin, so everywhere, we will attack and smite the enemy. God, God, Thou has chosen us for conquest.” Zionist/Israeli forces committed 33 massacres altogether.”
(http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/) A Synopsis of the Israel/Palestine Conflict.

8) By 1949 - end of the war - Israel conquered 78% of Palestine - 0.75 million Palestinians made refugees - over 500 towns and villages destroyed - a new map drawn up - every city, river and hillock received Hebrew name - all vestiges of Palestinian culture erased. For decades Israel denied the existence of this population - former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once said - “There is no such thing as a Palestinian.”

9) Today 100% of Palestine is virtually a conquered territory, (even the US Congress is a conquered territory) with puppet Abbas 'representing' the West Bank - and through the 'Jewish legal' process of ethnic cleansing - apparently the word 'Palestine' is to disappear from the world map in the not too distant future.

Negative Energies

For any country of today, economics is obviously the number one issue. That’s enough to keep any leader occupied.

Yet, some leaders are planning to start new wars, some to perpetuate existing skirmishes and others to escalate on-going armed conflicts. The scheming, sly and shady ones strive to induce others to get involved.

Peace loving citizens exert their minds and resources how to avoid the smallest of clashes and how to extricate combatants from present hostilities.

There is that human, military and political disaster in Iraq caused by the Americans and the British.

Now Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan are already a sinkhole morphing into a black-hole for the invader and the invaded.

Yet they are sending more troops in, ostensibly to stabilize the situation; only to cause further and wider destabilization ... more deaths.

The Jews, Americans and the British are either the Prince of Darkness personified or the subjects of Lucifer themselves. They do not value lives. They thrive on sufferings. They live on Negative Energies.

Dajjal l.a.

Hari ini timbullah sudah Dajjal la'natullah di bumi Pelastin. Waktu perang dunia satu dan dua dia ini tersembunyi lagi. Tapi peranannya yang paling utama. Yang lain patung sahaja.

Matanya hanya sa-biji. Yang ada hanya mampu memandang kepada kebendaan keduniaan yang nyata sahaja. Yang sa-biji, lawan bagi yang di atas yang memandang ka dalam telah hilang.

Besarnya tiada bandingan. Lautan dalam setakat lututnya sahaja. Tiada bumi dan laut yang tidak dijelajah atau jajahnya.

Ia mengandar dua bakul besar. Satu bakul 'kesenangan'. Satu lagi bakul 'kesengsaraan.' Makanannya ialah manusia.

Kepakarannya ialah berbohong. Siapa yang percaya kepada pembohongannya dimasukkan kedalam bakul 'kesenangannya.' Siapa yang tidak percaya pembohongannya dimasukkan kedalam bakul 'kesengsaraannya'. Bila lapar, orang-orang ini dimakannya.

Pegangan hidup Si Dajjal ialah yang tipu itulah kebenaran. Yang benar itulah penipuan. Yang palsu dikatakan benar. Yang benar dikatakan palsu.

Ramai yang termakan penipuannya. Ramai yang dimasukkan kedalam bakul 'kesenangan'nya. Setengahnya ialah Al-Maliki, Karzai dan Bush. Negeri Mesir, Arab Saudi dan Amerika.

Ramai yang menolak 'kebenarannya'. Yang sudah dimasukkan kedalam bakul 'kesengsaraan'nya ialah Hamas, Taliban, negara Pelastin, Iraq dan Afghanistan. Ramai yang sudah dimakannya. Setengahnya ialah Saddam, Mas'ud JF Kennedy dan RF Kennedy.

Dajjal la'natullah ini sedang melaksanakan langkah-langkah memasukkan Pakistan dan Iran ke dalam bakulnya.

Bakul yang mana agaknya. Dulu Pakistan di dalam bakul 'kesenangan'nya. TunM dan Malaysia?
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Dengar di sini berkenaan Dajjal l.a.:-
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2113563453256462293

Polis ..... Polis ..... Tolong.

Polis dunia sudah lumpuh.

Ketenteraan negara sherif Billy The Kid ini, walaupun yang terbesar di dunia terperangkap di merata dunia. Di Jepun, di Korea, di Jerman, di Poland, di Pasifik, di Atlantik, di Amerika Selatan, di Arab Saudi, di Iraq di pesisir Iran dan di Afghanistan.

Selebihnya di negara sendiri.

Sesudah terikat di merata tempat sebegini, bakinya yang boleh dideploy pasti tidak seberapa. Setakat satu per enam dari kemampuan asal.

Israel mempunyai ketenteraan keempat terbesar di dunia.

Katakanlah tiba-tiba Amerika hendak memjadi hero lalu berkeras kepada Israel sehingga peringkat ketenteraan ... menghantar tentera pengaman umpamanya.

Kalau Israel memilih untuk tidak menghiraukan (sebagaimana kebiasaannya) apa-apa mandat BBB dan membelasah 'tentera pengaman' ini .... besar kemaluan US. Mereka belum lupa insiden kapal perang Liberty mereka dibedil tentera udara Israel dan 267 tentera mereka mati katak di laut.

Jadi sekarang ini Amerika diam, Bush salahkan Hamas, Obama no comment bukan kerana mereka suka-suka atau saja-saja menyebelahi Israil. Sebenarnya mereka takut separuh mati. Terkencing dalam seluar. Obama lagi kelakar. Lari sembunyi ke Hawai ... lalu terberak di sana. Macam mana nak komen? Sedang kemalu-maluan pun.

Kalau beranilah polis dunia ini masuk campur di Gaza, sudah pasti mereka akan dimalukan oleh Israel. Mana tahan. Baru dapat malu besar dibaling kasut kat muka.

Zaman kemerosotan negara tergagah di dunia ini sudah bermula.

Letter To Bush On Gaza Crisis

Letter To Bush On Gaza Crisis

By Ralph Nader
Countercurrents.org


Dear George W. Bush,

January 02, 2009 -- Cong. Barney Frank said recently that Barack Obama's declaration that "there is only one president at a time" over-estimated the number. He was referring to the economic crisis. But where are you on the Gaza crisis where the civilian population of Gaza, its civil servants and public facilities are being massacred and destroyed respectively by U.S built F-16s and U.S. built helicopter gunships.

The deliberate suspension of your power to stop this terrorizing of 1.5 million people, mostly refugees, blockaded for months by air, sea and land in their tiny slice of land, is in cowardly contrast to the position taken by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956. That year he single handedly stopped the British, French and Israeli aircraft attack against Egypt during the Suez Canal dispute.

Fatalities in Gaza are already over 400 and injuries close to 2000 so far as is known. Total Palestinian civilian casualties are 400 times greater then the casualties incurred by Israelis. But why should anyone be surprised at your blanket support for Israel's attack given what you have done to a far greater number of civilians in Iraq and now in Afghanistan?

Confirmed visual reports show that Israeli warplanes and warships have destroyed or severely damaged police stations, homes, hospitals, pharmacies, mosques, fishing boats, and a range of public facilities providing electricity and other necessities. Why should this trouble you at all? It violates international law, including the Geneva Conventions and the UN Charter. You too have repeatedly violated international law and committed serious constitutional transgressions.

Then there is the matter of the Israeli government blocking imports of critical medicines, equipment such as dialysis machines, fuel, food, water, spare parts and electricity at varying intensities for almost two years. The depleted UN aid mission there has called this illegal blockade a humanitarian crisis especially devastating to children, the aged and the infirm. Chronic malnutrition among children is rising rapidly. UN rations support eighty percent of this impoverished population. How do these incontrovertible facts affect you? Do you have any empathy or what you have called Christian charity?

What would a vastly shrunken Texas turned in an encircled Gulag do up against the 4th most powerful military in the world? Would these embattled Texans be spending their time chopping wood?

Gideon Levy, the veteran Israeli columnist for Ha'aretz, called the Israeli attack a "brutal and violent operation" far beyond what was needed for protecting the people in its south. He added: "The diplomatic efforts were just in the beginning, and I believe we could have got to a new truce without this bloodshed.....to send dozens of jets to bomb a total helpless civilian society with hundreds of bombs-just today, they were burying five sisters. I mean, this is unheard of. This cannot go on like this. And this has nothing to do with self-defense or with retaliation even. It went out of proportion, exactly like two-and-a-half years ago in Lebanon."

Apparently, thousands of Israelis, including some army reservists, who have demonstrated against this destruction of Gaza agree with Mr. Levy. However, their courageous stands have not reached the mass media in the U.S. whose own reporters cannot even get into Gaza due to Israeli prohibitions on the international press.

Your spokespeople are making much ado about the breaking of the six month truce. Who is the occupier? Who is the most powerful military force? Who controls and blocks the necessities of life? Who has sent raiding missions across the border most often? Who has sent artillery shells and missiles at close range into populated areas? Who has refused the repeated comprehensive peace offerings of the Arab countries issued in 2002 if Israel would agree to return to the 1967 borders and agree to the creation of a small independent Palestinian state possessing just twenty two percent of the original Palestine?

The "wildly inaccurate rockets", as reporters describe them, coming from Hamas and other groups cannot compare with the modern precision armaments and human damage generated from the Israeli side. There are no rockets coming from the West Bank into Israel. Yet the Israeli government is still sending raiders into that essentially occupied territory, still further entrenching its colonial outposts, still taking water and land and increasing the checkpoints This is going on despite a most amenable West Bank leader, Mahmoud Abbas, whom you have met with at the White House and praised repeatedly. Is it all vague words and no real initiatives with you and your emissary Condoleezza Rice?

Peace was possible, but you provided no leadership, preferring instead to comply with all wishes and demands by the Israeli government-even resupplying it with the still active cluster bombs in south Lebanon during the invasion of that country in 2006.

The arguments about who started the latest hostilities go on and on with Israel always blaming the Palestinians to justify all kinds of violence and harsh treatment against innocent civilians. From the Palestinian standpoint, you would do well to remember the origins of this conflict which was the dispossession of their lands. To afford you some empathy, recall the oft-quoted comment by the founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, who told the Zionist leader, Nahum Goldmann: "There has been anti-Semitism the Nazis Hitler Auschwitz but was that their [the Palestinians] fault? They only see one thing: We have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?"


Alfred North Whitehead once said: "Duty arises out of the power to alter the course of events." By that standard, you have shirked mightily your duty over the past eight years to bring peace to both Palestinians and Israelis and more security to a good part of the world.

The least you can do in your remaining days at the White House is adopt a modest profile in courage, and vigorously demand and secure a ceasefire and a solidly based truce. Then your successor, President-elect Obama can inherit something more than the usual self-censoring Washington puppet show that eschews a proper focus on the national interests of the United States.

Sincerely,
Ralph Nader

IJN Dibawa Kahwin Lari?

Banyak sebab telah dikemukakan oleh orang awam mengapa IJN jangan diswastakan.

Tidak kurang pembelog heavyweight mengutarakan hujjah kejelekan jika kesengsaraan pesakit jantung rakyat miskin didedahkan kepada spekulasi perniagaan.

Para pentadbir, doktor dan penjawat IJN pun telah menyuarakan pemilihan mereka supaya pengurusan, pemunya dan pentadbiran sekarang dikekalkan.

Para menteri pun ramai yang menentang pensewastaan IJN.

Khabarnya Parliamen menanggoh rancangan ini. (Heran ya? Tanggoh saja?)

Demi Allah, kami merayu kapada ahli niaga yang berkenaan, carilah niaga lain. Atau dirikanlah institute sendiri. Bina 'bandar kapal terbang' di Labu mampu, mana munkin institute sebutir pun tidak mampu.

Tiba-tiba kita dengar ada lagi usaha untuk mengambil alih IJN melalui 'midnight regulations' kata Rocky's Bru.

Hai si tamak, kita hanya ada ini untuk kamu. "Dengan Nama Allah, kita ludah muka-muka kamu. Phet..tui. Mudah-mudahan Allah segerakan ... untuk kamu."

Hai tali barut, kita hanya ada ini untuk kamu. "Dengan Nama Tuhan Muhammad, kita ludah muka-muka kamu. Phet..tui. Mudah-mudahan Allah segerakan habuan ... kamu."

Hai pengkhianat, kita hanya ada ini untuk kamu. "Dengan Ismul-Adzam, kita ludah muka-muka kamu. Phet..tui. Mudah-mudahan Allah segerakan bahagian ... kamu."

Dan hai pak sanggup, kita hanya ada ini untuk kamu. "Dengan Nama Yang Empunya Nama Wahhab, kita ludah muka-muka kamu. Phet..tui. Mudah-mudahan Allah segerakan perolehan ... kamu."

Ya Allah, aku berlindung dengan Engkau daripada Engkau.

Bani Israel

Teramat banyak Allah Perkatakan tentang Bani Israel ini di dalam Al-Qur-an. Salah satu daripadanya ialah yang berikut.

Surah Ai-Isra’ Ayat 4-8 (17:4-8) (Terjemahan ka Bahasa Malaysia)

4) Dan Kami menyatakan kepada Bani Israil dalam Kitab itu: Sesungguhnya kamu akan melakukan kerosakan di bumi (Palestin) dua kali dan sesungguhnya kamu akan berlaku sombong angkuh dengan melampau.

(5) Maka apabila sampai masa janji (membalas kederhakaan kamu) kali yang pertama dari dua (kederhakaan) itu, Kami datangkan kepada kamu hamba-hamba Kami yang kuat gagah dan amat ganas serangannya lalu mereka menjelajah di segala ceruk rantau (membunuh dan membinasakan kamu) dan (sebenarnya peristiwa itu) adalah satu janji yang tetap berlaku.

>>>> Munkinkah ini merujuk kepada manakala Bani Israel dihancurkan oleh Nebucatnezar dan kemudian oleh Empayar Rom yang akibatnya mereka bersepah di seluruh negara-negara?<<<

(6) Kemudian (setelah kamu bertaubat), Kami kembalikan kepada kamu kekuasaan untuk mengalahkan mereka dan Kami beri kepada kamu dengan banyaknya harta kekayaan dan anak pinak, serta Kami jadikan kamu kaum yang lebih ramai pasukannya.

>>>>Munkinkah ini merujuk kepada Bani Israel dari zaman perang dunia pertama hingga kepada masa kini?<<<

(7) Jika kamu berbuat kebaikan, (maka faedah) kebaikan yang kamu lakukan adalah untuk diri kamu dan jika kamu berbuat kejahatan, maka (kesannya yang buruk) berbalik kepada diri kamu juga. Oleh itu, apabila sampai masa janji (membalas perbuatan derhaka kamu) kali kedua, (Kami datangkan musuh-musuh kamu) untuk memuramkan muka kamu (dengan penghinaan dan keganasannya) dan untuk memasuki masjid (BaitulMaqdis) sebagaimana mereka telah memasukinya pada kali yang pertama dan untuk menghancurkan apa sahaja yang mereka telah kuasai, dengan sehancur-hancurnya.

>>>>Munkinkah ini merujuk kepada apa yang akan terjadi terhadap Bani Israel seterusnya?<<<

(8) Mudah-mudahan Tuhan kamu akan mengasihani kamu (kalau kamu bertaubat) dan jika kamu kembali (menderhaka), maka Kami pula akan kembali (menyeksa kamu di dunia); dan kami telah jadikan Neraka: Penjara bagi orang-orang kafir (pada hari akhirat).

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(Terjemahan ka Bahasa Indonesia)

4) Dan telah Kami tetapkan terhadap Bani Israil dalam kitab itu: "Sesungguhnya kamu akan membuat kerusakan di muka bumi ini dua kali dan pasti kamu akan menyombongkan diri dengan kesombongan yang besar."

(5) Maka apabila datang saat hukuman bagi [kejahatan] pertama dari kedua [kejahatan] itu, Kami datangkan kepadamu hamba-hamba Kami yang mempunyai kekuatan yang besar, lalu mereka merajalela di kampung-kampung, dan itulah ketetapan yang pasti terlaksana.

(6) Kemudian Kami berikan kepadamu giliran untuk mengalahkan mereka kembali dan Kami membantumu dengan harta kekayaan dan anak-anak dan Kami jadikan kamu kelompok yang lebih besar.

(7) Jika kamu berbuat baik [berarti] kamu berbuat baik bagi dirimu sendiri dan jika kamu berbuat jahat maka kejahatan itu bagi dirimu sendiri, dan apabila datang saat hukuman bagi [kejahatan] yang kedua, [Kami datangkan orang-orang lain] untuk menyuramkan muka-muka kamu dan mereka masuk ke dalam masjid, sebagaimana musuh-musuhmu memasukinya pada kali pertama dan untuk membinasakan sehabis-habisnya apa saja yang mereka kuasai.

(8) Mudah-mudahan Tuhanmu akan melimpahkan rahmat [Nya] kepadamu; dan sekiranya kamu kembali kepada [kedurhakaan], niscaya Kami kembali [mengazabmu] dan Kami jadikan neraka Jahannam penjara bagi orang-orang yang tidak beriman.

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Terjemahan ka Bahasa Inggeris. (Yusuf Ali)

4) And We gave (clear) warning to the Children of Israel in the Book, that twice would they do mischief on the earth and be elated with mighty arrogance (and twice would they be punished)!

(5) When the first of the warnings came to pass, We sent against you Our servants given to terrible warfare: they entered the very inmost parts of your homes; and it was a warning (completely) fulfilled.

(6) Then did We grant you the Return as against them: We gave you increase in resources and sons, and made you the more numerous in manpower.

(7) If ye did well ye did well for yourselves; if ye did evil, (ye did it) against yourselves; so when the second of the warnings came to pass (We permitted your enemies) to disfigure your faces, and to enter your Temple as they had entered if before and to visit with destruction all that fell into their power.

(8) It may be that your Lord may (yet) show Mercy unto you; but if ye revert (to your sins), We shall revert (to Our punishments): and We have made Hell a prison for those who reject (all Faith).