Gaza and Israel IX
January 30, 2009 - 1:34pm
I'll start this one off with a hilarious Israeli video satirizing pro-Israeli arguments for the Gaza massacre.
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Syndicate
"Why did they fire rockets? There was no siege against Gaza," Peres said, his voice rising in emotion. "Why did they fight us, what did they want? There was never a day of starvation in Gaza."
So, help me out here. Did Perez tell a bald faced, glaringly obvious lie in front of the whole world, or is the Israeli leadership so far removed from human reality they actually believe themselves?
It was a bald faced, glaringly obvious lie. They certainly are removed from human reality, and if they do believe themselves, then we're getting into the pathological.
Today Israel announced it will continue its attacks on Gaza.
Is this a continuation of the Israeli political campaign? A continuation of Peres's snit at Davos? A challenge to Obama and Mitchell?
What the hell is wrong with them?
Is the Samson option the next thing up their sleeve if Obama doesn't cave or if the Palestinians manage to unite?
As for Davos, since I couldn't catch the whole session --I tuned in half-way through Peres's rather shrill and aggressive defence-- I can't say whether the Turkish President was right in saying he had been given only 15 minutes and the Israeli had taken 25 minutes, which justified Erdegun's claim to response time. I did find the start of his rebuttal quite calm and effective and I wish the moderator (David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist) hadn't pulled that crap about not keeping people waiting for their dinner. It was a very offensive put-down of a serious right to rebuttal.
Would it have been in order to give him his 10 minutes?
I am interested in people's take on both questions.
I think we've gotten into the pathological a long time ago. In fact, we're way beyond pathological -- look at our bizarre dependence on destructive economies, which lie at the source of Israel's policies as much as of our global financial meltdown.
An interesting summary of what's going on in Israeli politics - not tremendously promising:
With less than two weeks to go before Israel's elections on 10 February, the polls are such that Likud chairman Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu felt the need to warn his supporters that it's too early to celebrate. But while Bibi may be worried that the predicted victory could still elude him, Ha'aretz commentator Ari Shavit obviously believes it's time for the grim acknowledgement that "[the] right's victory in the 2009 election is unavoidable … Netanyahu will be the next prime minister. After three years of a centre-left government, a centre-right government will come to power. The unlikely scenario is a Likud-Shas-Yisrael Beiteinu government, while the likely scenario is a Likud-Labour-Kadima one."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/30/israelandthepalestinians-gaza
Israel's election is irrelevant to the violence.They are all violently committed to the same racialist state.
And the Turkish people appreciated his stand:
Turkish PM given hero's welcome
Talk about cynical politicians. This guy is putting on an act for the world, trying to look as if he's doing the decent thing (and attracting voter support as well) while helping to finance the Israeli war machine.
Turkey signed three other deals with Israel for the modernization of war jets. The financial amount of these agreements is 850 million dollars.
The trade volume between Turkey and Israel has reached to 3.3 billion dollars in 2008 from 1.4 billion dollars in 2002 when the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development came to power.
It might not be something he had the ability to stop. The military gets what it wants in Turkey.
"Why did they fire rockets? There was no siege against Gaza," Peres said, his voice rising in emotion. "Why did they fight us, what did they want? There was never a day of starvation in Gaza."
So, help me out here. Did Perez tell a bald faced, glaringly obvious lie in front of the whole world, or is the Israeli leadership so far removed from human reality they actually believe themselves?
Thanks ... I've been looking for that delusional quote.
This is more encouraging,
Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip said over the weekend that there were "indications" suggesting that the international community was on its way to ending its boycott of the Islamic movement.
Slideshow: Pictures of the weekThe officials said they were "encouraged" by statements made by former British prime minister Tony Blair, who serves as the Quartet's special Middle East envoy.
In an interview published in The Times of London, Blair said that Hamas must be involved in the Middle East peace process.
He said that in the past, the issue of the Gaza Strip was neglected in an effort to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank - an effort, he added, that was never going to work.
RELATEDBlair added that Hamas must both renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist before it could be involved in the peace process.
"I do think it is important that we find a way of bringing Hamas into this process, but it can only be done if Hamas is prepared to do it on the right terms," he said.
.....
... but there is that clinker in there.
"The local leaders believe that while they paid a heavy price, the leaders in Damascus were staying in five-star hotels in Arab capitals."
He said that while the Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip favored a new cease-fire with Israel, Mashaal and his friends were not eager to reach such a deal before achieving political gains.
... "political gains" ... like a place at the table?
If so, sounds like they still have a common goal, and Blair has moved too.
Recognition ... recognition of right of return for all peoples, and equal rights in all jurisdictions.
?
Is that a bit too broad? lol
Israel-Palestine dispute moves on to Facebook.
An oldie but goodie, LTJ. I wonder what's happening with that now, almost a year later? And of course - there's nothing like "the Facebook angle" to attract readers!
Israeli TV viewers have lately been exposed to a bizarre sight: army officers appearing with their faces hidden, as usual for criminals when the court prohibits their identification. Pedophiles, for example, or attackers of old women.
On the orders of the military censors, this applies to all officers, from battalion commanders down, who have been involved in the Gaza war. Since the faces of brigade commanders and above are generally known, the order does not apply to them.
Immediately after the cease-fire, the Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, promoted a special law that would give unlimited backing by the state to all officers and soldiers who took part in the Gaza war and who might be accused abroad of war crimes. This seems to confirm the Hebrew adage: “On the head of the thief, the hat is burning”.
I do not object to trials abroad. The main thing is that war criminals, like pirates, should be brought to justice. It is not so important where they are caught. (This rule was applied by the State of Israel when it abducted Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and hanged him in Israel for heinous crimes committed outside the territory of Israel and, indeed, before the state even existed.)
But as an Israeli patriot, I would prefer suspected Israeli war criminals to be put on trial in Israel. That is necessary for the country, for all decent officers and soldiers of the Israeli army, for the education of future generations of citizens and soldiers.
There is no need to rely on international law alone. There are Israeli laws against war crimes.
Israeli war crimes:
Amongst the mountains of rubble that remained of homes, flattened either by F-16s or Merkava tanks, people were gingerly picking their way through, trying to salvage a few family items and attempting to clean away the debris.
Other residents were too numb to do anything, and just sat around in groups drinking tea. Even the dogs looked stunned, and instead of barking at us as they usually do when we pass, they just stared at us.
The worst hit areas appeared in one area of Jabalia refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza city. It used to be a nice neighbourhood with double-storey homes and neatly paved roads. Two houses remain. Some people sat in tents while others sat on what remained of their homes.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45637
The wholesale destruction of farms, greenhouses, dairy parlours, livestock, chicken coops and orchards has damaged food production, which was already hit by the blockade.
Buildings heavily damaged during Israel's Operation Cast Lead included much of its agricultural infrastructure. The Ministry of Agriculture was targeted, the agriculture faculty at al-Azhar university in Beit Hanoun largely destroyed, and the offices of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees in Zaitoun - which provides cheap food for the poor - ransacked and vandalised by soldiers who left abusive graffiti.
Although international and local officials are still gathering figures, they believe that scores, perhaps hundreds, of wells and water sources have been damaged and several hundred greenhouses have been levelled, as well as severe damage inflicted on 60,000-75,000 dunums of Gaza's 175,000 dunums (44,000 acres) of farmable land.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/01/gaza-food-crisis
I do not have words to express my feelings about this. But this is the sort of scorched earth criminal insanity supported by our politicians?
In realpolitik, Israel's leaders clearly have no intention of pulling 100,000 settlers out of what are now known to be illegal settlements, where Palestinian land was seized arbitrarily, to make a Palestinian state possible ...
A more promising avenue holds the key to regional stability. Engaging Iran secretly at the highest level, much the way Henry Kissinger opened the way to Beijing's Forbidden City for President Nixon, would seem to be a more profitable avenue for George Mitchell's diplomatic dexterity. Iran's influence in the Middle East -- Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Maliki government in Baghdad, diplomatic clout in Oman, Qatar, Dubai -- is not negligible.
When a UPI editorial starts calling for cutting Israel loose in favour if Iran, perhaps the days of the Vicious State are truly numbered.
I m not sure if Iran has much to do with Israels demise. These selfcentred egomeniacs are their own worst enemies in my opinion.
They are using a sledge hammer to kill a Hamas mosquito sitting between their eyes.
Extremist rabbis and their followers, bent on waging holy war against the Palestinians, are taking over the Israeli army by stealth, according to critics.
In a process one military historian has termed the rapid “theologization” of the Israeli army, there are now entire units of religious combat soldiers, many of them based in West Bank settlements. They answer to hardline rabbis who call for the establishment of a Greater Israel that includes the occupied Palestinian territories.
Their influence in shaping the army’s goals and methods is starting to be felt, say observers, as more and more graduates from officer courses are also drawn from Israel’s religious extremist population.
“We have reached the point where a critical mass of religious soldiers is trying to negotiate with the army about how and for what purpose military force is employed on the battlefield,” said Yigal Levy, a political sociologist at the Open University who has written several books on the Israeli army.
The new atmosphere was evident in the “excessive force” used in the recent Gaza operation, Dr. Levy said. More than 1,300 Palestinians were killed, a majority of them civilians, and thousands were injured as whole neighborhoods of Gaza were leveled.
“When soldiers, including secular ones, are imbued with theological ideas, it makes them less sensitive to human rights or the suffering of the other side.”
Jonathan Cook
The following link to parts I and II of the CBS 60 Minutes report that engendered so much anger from defenders of the Zionist racial supremacy movement. The problem with the segment? Truth. See for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYAgyv2MKyI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUaeID9Lap0
Excellent article by an Osgoode Law School Prof.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
Israeli Murder Forces gun down another kid, this time in Hebron
This 14-year old must have been throwing rockets at innocent Zionist civilians.
First-aid workers said soldiers opened fire killing Izzedin al-Jamal, 14, with a bullet to the chest.
The Israeli army had no comment on the incident in Hebron, where its troops defend a tiny Jewish enclave wedged inside the second largest Palestinian city in the territory Israel captured in a 1967 war.
Zionist or Israeli?
there is a difference. Hamas can't target zionists but they CAN target israelis, as all the citizens are Israeli.
Hamas are ruining it for everybody, even if Palestineans are backed into a corner with little else to do to defend themselves.
Don't make this bigger than it needs to be.
Zionist or Israeli?
there is a difference. Hamas can't target zionists but they CAN target israelis, as all the citizens are Israeli.
Hamas are ruining it for everybody, even if Palestineans are backed into a corner with little else to do to defend themselves.
Don't make this bigger than it needs to be.
You're obviously not here to read the threads with an open mind, or discuss the issues intelligently. You're here to interrupt, disrupt, and lecture from your secure place of ignorance.
So please, fuck off.
Hamas are ruining it for everybody, even if Palestineans are backed into a corner with little else to do to defend themselves.
The Israeli Murder Forces (IMF) have been gunning down children since before you'd ever heard of Hamas, but go ahead, stick to the Zionist talking points if they make you feel knowledgeable.
For shame, Newbold.
Stone-throwing teenagers and children cannot and should not be equated with armed militants who shoot rockets.
But young IDF soldiers charged with protecting the hundreds of illegal settlements in Palestinian territory can be equated with those sent into Palestinian villages and into Gaza. They are trained to "defend" themselves by any means, which includes shooting unarmed civilians, whether they are throwing stones or walking to school or to pick up food from a UN centre. Thousands of young Israelis are being/have been conditioned into a kind of sociopathic behaviour that's no better than teaching little Palestinian schoolchildren to hate Jews and embrace martyrdom, which is one of Israel's bugbears about Palestinian education.
Shooting unarmed civilians, whether they are throwing stones or not, and whether the bullets are rubber-coated metal or body-piercing metal, is a major violation of the Geneva Convention.
Enough enabling already.
Clinton, new "Enemy of Israel' or just an "antisemite"?
Apparently pushing for humanitarian aid to decimated Gaza is the equivalent of "hammering Israel".
This is what politicians get if they deviate one iota from the script:
http://wcbstv.com/national/hillary.clinton.israel.2.945238.htmlJewish Leaders Blast Clinton Over Israel Criticism
Zuckerman, Lawmakers, Local Jews Say Secretary of State Not the Hillary Clinton They Used to Know; Hillary Pressuring Israel to Speed up Aid to Gaza
by Marcia Kramer
Israel may face war crimes trials over Gaza
The international criminal court is considering whether the Palestinian Authority is "enough like a state" for it to bring a case alleging that Israeli troops committed war crimes in the recent assault on Gaza.
The deliberations would potentially open the way to putting Israeli military commanders in the dock at The Hague over the campaign, which claimed more than 1,300 lives, and set an important precedent for the court over what cases it can hear.
As part of the process the court's head of jurisdictions, part of the office of the prosecutor, is examining every international agreement signed by the PA to decide whether it behaves - and is regarded by others - as operating like a state.
Following talks with the Arab League's head, Amr Moussa, and senior PA officials, moves have accelerated inside the court to deliver a ruling on whether it may be able to insist on jurisdiction over alleged war crimes perpetrated in Gaza, with a decision from the prosecutor's office expected within "months, not years".
Via Another Point of View
Things apparently come full circle.
I'm not sure that architecture can do what politics seemingly can't, but it's an interesting proposition anyway. What to do about states that aren't terriorially contiguous? Giant green-roofed bridges!
http://i.gizmodo.com/5162642/mindblowing-buildings-in-the-sky-may-solve-israeli+palestinian-conflict
My simple solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem is to ask God to turn all Palestinians into Jews. Unfortunately, I don't think this could actually work. The Palestinians could become Jewish enough for God, but not Jewish enough for the Israelis.
I appreciate reading Judy Rebick and Alan Sears's comments about criticizing Israel while being labelled anti-Semitic by others. One should not be called anti-Semitic or anti-Canadian just for criticizing Israel's actions. Perhaps Ms. Rebick and Mr. Sears just want to help make Israel into a better place for all.
Eight killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip
At least eight people have been killed and dozens injured after Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The dead included four civilians who were killed when a tank shell was fired at a Gaza City suburb. It is believed three members of the same family were killed. There were unconfirmed reports of a fifth victim.
Four people were killed when an Israeli aircraft fired at a car in another suburb of Gaza City. It was claimed the passengers were Islamic Jihad militants. Within an hour, a rocket was fired at the Israeli city of Ashkelon.
Tension has been mounting in the area since two members of Hamas were killed in an airstrike last week, after sporadic firing from Gaza into Israel. On Saturday, 50 mortar shells were fired from Gaza into Israel causing several injuries.
On Monday evening, an airstrike injured 18 people. The Israeli army said it had been an attack on a tunnel that could be used to smuggle terrorists into Israel. Attacks on Gaza continued from tanks and the air throughout Tuesday.
I hear NATO has some soldiers in the area. Perhaps they could conduct a humanitarian intervention.
Bomb blast hits bus at Jerusalem station
A bus has exploded opposite the central station in Jerusalem, injuring at least 25 people, four of them seriously.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which police said was caused by a bomb planted close to Jerusalem's main conference hall and central bus terminal. It was the first such attack in the city in seven years.
Arab League Proposes No-Fly Zone Over Gaza
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/174088.html
"Amid successive deadly attacks by Israel on the Gaza Strip, the Arab League plans to press the UN to impose a no-fly zone over the coastal sliver.."
Israel Attacks Gaza: Operation Scorching Summer
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24226
"All hospitals in Gaza have now declared a state of emergency. UN staff have been evacuated from Gaza.."
IOF Attacks Violate International Law: 61 Killed, Injured in Three Days of Attacks on Gaza
http://www.mezan.org/en/details.php?id=11938&ddname=IOF&id_dept=22&p=cen...
Judge Goldstone's Recantation: A Disgraceful Collapse - by Ramzy Baroud
http://www.counterpunch.org/baroud04152011.html
"Shocking is not a sufficient term to describe Justice Richard Goldstone's decision.."
Now Israel Is Free To Declare Its Innocence Before the ICJ - by William A Cook
http://mwcnews.net/focus/editorial/10009-william-a-cook.html
"How astute, how learned, how compassionate; how absurd, how facetious, how despicable.."
PFLP: Comrade Sa'adat's Letter Marks Prisoners' Day in Gaza
http://www.pflp.ps/english/?q=comrade-saadats-letter-marks-prisoners-day...
"...on behalf of himself and his comrades and brothers in the prisons calling for unifying all efforts of political and social forces and national institutions to manage and organize a unified support movement for the prisoners. He said further that Prisoners' Day this year coincides with the people's spring of change in the Arab world.
He expressed his greetings to the steadfast Palestinian people in every place they are, and called for them to stay on the same track - towards liberation. He added that the ever-increasing racism of the Zionist state is evident in its practices against Palestinian prisoners..."
Video: Israeli Troops Filmed Attacking Palestinian Prisoners
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/middleeast/2011/04/201141710101577555...
"Shocking footage of Israel's so-called Control and Restraint Unit, or 'Masada', attacking Palestinian prisoners. Television images show troops using live ammunition in deadly operation at detention centre. Activists have demanded people in charge of the operation be charged.."
Sunday, September 11 2011|Joseph Dana
Israel approves plan to uproot 30,000 Bedouins
The approval of the ‘Prawer Plan’ concerning Bedouins in the Negev desert demonstrates that Israel’s principle of divide and rule, which has been perfected in the West Bank and Gaza, also applies to citizens of Israel living inside 1948 boundaries.
quote:
The decision to evacuate as many as 30,000 Bedouins and relocate them to large Bedouin towns such as Rahat has been called by some a “declaration of war on the Bedouin.” It is actually a long time coming if the experience of the Bedouin village of al Arakib is any indication. The village has been destroyed almost 30 times by Israel in an effort to make way for a new Jewish National Fund forest in its place.
Gaza Children's Images of War Censored Under Pressure from US Israel Lobby
http://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-childrens-images-war-censored...
"Israel lobby groups claimed the children's drawings were 'anti-semitic' in a bid to shut down the exhibition. The child artists in Gaza are upset that their work has been censored according to MECA staff.."
Same old same old...
Can't they post the exhibition on the internet? You'd get a bigger crowd/exposure anyways...
A Child's View from Gaza: Art the Israel Lobby Doesn't Want You to See
http://warincontext.org/2011/09/12/a-childs-view-from-gaza-art-the-israe...
there's some more images here - very powerful - no wonder the Zionists are trying to suppress them..
Can't they post the exhibition on the internet? You'd get a bigger crowd/exposure anyways...
Yeah, we all know the Zionists never try to censor the internet!
Making A Killing: The Canadian Israel Military Partnership
http://rabble.ca/comment/1093828
thanks NDPP, if you find anymore please post them here.
Yeah, we all know the Zionists never try to censor the internet!
True but I doubt they can censor the entire internet.
+972 Magazine: Independent commentary from Israel & the Palestinian territories
..went to this site a little while ago and found this. it was very active. this is suspicious.
This Account Has Been Suspendedhttp://972mag.com/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi
'Tears of Gaza'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0WKVhIpgr4&feature=player_embedded#!
a documentary by Vibeke Lokkeberg
Prayers, Taunts and Weary Resignation in Jerusalem
By Robert Fisk
Monday, September 26, 2011
quote: Prayers had ended at the Al-Aqsa mosque and the police were ready to go home and the shopkeepers were reopening their stalls when an old Palestinian woman in black came hobbling down some steps with two large, empty cardboard boxes. They were the "legs" to a table upon which she started arranging a set of tawdry children's clothes and plastic shoes decorated with stars.
But a soldier told her to move the boxes three feet further down the street. There was no reason to – he was bored, I suppose, and in the mood for a bit of fun – but the old lady started shouting in Arabic that "It's all over". I think she meant that it was "all over" for the Palestinians – or maybe for the Israelis. But the soldier laughed and repeated her words in Arabic. "Yes, it's all over," he said, and maybe he was talking about the morning prayers.
And as he went on taunting the old woman and kicking the cardboard boxes, a trail of tourists came winding their way up the laneway from the Via Dolorosa. The woman was shrieking away and the tourists, light-coloured hair, blue eyes, speaking German, were all too aware of what was happening.
Their eyes flicked to the side of the road where the woman was shouting and the soldier was still kicking the boxes, but their heads didn't move. They still faced forward, as if the whole wretched scene was a normal part of Jerusalem life. They wouldn't directly look at the woman or the soldier. They certainly wouldn't intervene. And so they passed by on the other side.
http://www.zcommunications.org/prayers-taunts-and-weary-resignation-in-j...
The video is co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, which calls for an end of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank, and for a just resolution to the Palestinian refugee problem.
http://972mag.com/watch-jewish-youth-release-high-holy-day-manifesto-for...
Sameh Habeeb: Facts and Accounts from Gaza (vid)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lSjaLKKYp0&feature=player_embedded#1
High Court okays Citizenship Law, legalizing racial discrimination of Arabs
quote:
The practical meaning of the law is that Arab citizens of Israel who marry Palestinian non-citizens – something that happens quite often, since these are members of the same nation, and sometimes of the same communities – won’t be able to live with their wives or husbands. If they want to unite, they will have to leave the country. By doing so, the law achieves two (racist) objectives against members of the Arab minority: (a) it prevents non-Jews from entering the country and applying for permanent residency or citizenship and (b) it makes it harder for Israeli Arab citizens to build families in their own community or in their own country, thus encouraging them to leave Israel. Arab Palestinians comprise roughly 20 percent of Israel’s population.
It is important to note that it is not the right of the non-citizen wife or husband that is being violated (since the state has no legal obligation towards them), but that of the citizen, who should enjoy the possibility to form a family and live with his loved one in his own community.
Despite the use of the future tense to describe the effect of this racist law, the law has been in effect for nine years already, so it has been reality for many years for Israeli Arabs.
Supreme Court’s latest decisions inch towards West Bank annexation
The country’s highest court supports Israel’s right to despoil the West Bank – but won’t allow its residents to marry Israelis
About two weeks ago, the Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, rejected an appeal by the Yesh Din NGO against the activities of quarries in the West Bank. Such quarrying seems to contradict international law, which forbids the exploitation of the resources of an occupied territory. The High Court, led by outgoing President Dorit Beinisch, rejected the appeal, citing some pretty strange reasons (read the decision in full here). One was that the quarrying has been going on for some 40 years, prompting the court to wonder why the petition was filed only recently, in 2009. Which means that yes, there’s exploitation, but it’s been going for quite some time, so that supposedly makes it fine. Another reason was that the quarrying is actually helpful to the Palestinian economy – which ignored the acknowledged fact that 94 percent of quarried stone and sand are exported directly to Israel....
IDF Arrests Palestinian Parliamentary Speaker in West Bank
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-officials-idf-arrest...
"...Hamas officials said Thursday that the speaker of the Palestinian Parliament was arrested by Israeli soldiers. The IDF confirmed that Israeli soldiers arrested Duaik on suspicion of being a member of a terror organization.."
Haniyeh: PLO Must Suspend Talks with Israel Until MPs Freed
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453919
"Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Friday called on the PLO to suspend talks with Israel until PLC speaker Aziz Dueik is released. 'A Palestinian should not shake the hand of his enemy, the enemy who arrests the symbols of Palestinian legitimacy, Haniyeh said.
'This is the minimal response to the detention of Dueik and all lawmakers until they are freed.' Israeli forces detained Dueik, the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, at a checkpoint near Ramallah on Thursday.
On Friday, Israeli soldiers detained the MP Khaled Ibrahim Tafesh, 50, from his home in Bethlehem. The detention raises the number of parliamentarians in Israeli jails to 25.
'Talk To Us' Says Hamas in Rare Visit to Europe
http://electronicintifada.net/content/talk-us-says-hamas-rare-visit-euro...
"Three Hamas politicians made a rare visit to Europe this week.
'Although the pro-Israel lobby has tried to jeopardize our visit to Geneva, we are here to tell you about our suffering under the siege of Gaza. We are here to defend the rights of the Palestinian people living in Gaza and the West Bank, to defend the rights of all the political prisoners adn to defend the rights of the Palestinians who live outside Palestine.
Al Masri called on European states to be just and impartial and not always to follow the United States. 'The European Union made a mistake by adding Hamas to its terrorist list. Hamas was elected by the people. The European countries should apply international law. Our ultimate goal is to obtain our freedom by all means. No matter the strength of our occupier, justice will win.'
Socialist Party member of the Swiss national parliament, Carlo Sommeruga, told the audience that, 'it does not make sense to bury one's head in the sand. Hamas won the majority at the 2006 elections and then the movement and the Palestinian people were marginalized by the US and Europe - a policy that has brought us nowhere.."
* And Canada was the first to follow in support of this shameful and illegal Zionist suppression of Palestinian democracy. Please call for the release of Palestinian parliamentarians in Israeli jails. Call for Canada's NDP 'loyal opposition' to abandon their shameful policy of silence, support and collaboration with these Israeli outrages and violations of international law.
Opposition Foreign Affairs critic: paul.dewar@parl.gc.ca
Consulate of Israel (Toronto): consular2@toronto.maf.gov.il
Continued Maltreatment of Palestinian Prisoners (and vid)
http://www.presstv.ir/Program/221167.html
"there are still 4500 Palestinians in Israeli jails..."
Israel Detains 2 More Lawmakers
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=454686
"Israeli forces on Monday detained two Palestinian MPs during a raid on the Jerusalem headquarters of the International Red Cross. The ICRC said Mohammad Tawtah and Abu Arafa were arrested inside its premises and said a relative of one of the men was also detained, in a statement Monday.
The ICRC has said it told Israeli authorities that international humanitarian law prohibited the forcible transfer of Palestinian residents from their homes, for whatever reason. At the ICRC compound a crowd of Palastinians smashed its gate to protest against what they saw as the failure of the organization to protect the MPs..."
If Israel is an Ally, Press Them for Peace, Abbas Urges
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/if-israel-is-an-ally-press-the...
"...Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas delivered a message to Canada this week: Now that you are Israel's best friend, use your relationship to push the country into substantive peace talks...
Canada, he suggested, goes further in supporting Israel than the United States..."
Text of Doha Declaration of Palestinian Reconciliation
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=485127...
"President Mahmoud Abbas and Khalid Mishal expessed their deep thanks and appreciation to the efforts HH the Heir Apparent Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani has exerted for completing the reconciliation process ending the partition and division in the Palestinian arena to contribute to enhancing Palestinian national unity..."
'Israeli Claims of Democracy Absurd' (and vid)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/227555.html
"The situation in Gaza continues to worsen as the coastal strip's main power plant remains without fuel. The Ministry of Health in Gaza has warned the lives of more than 80 percent of hospital patients are at risk. Press TV interviews Ralph Schoenmann
New Meditteranean Oil and Gas Bonanza
http://rt.com/news/reserves-offshore-middle-east-engdahl-855/
"The discovery of huge reserves off Israel's coast is changing the geopolitical balance in the region.."
Exhibition: A Child's View From Gaza (and podcast)
http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye/2012/03/exhibition-childs-view-ga...
"Barbara Lubin has just returned from her latest visit to Gaza, a trip she describes as the most difficult she has ever taken. Barbara Lubin is bringing an exhibition of children's art in Gaza to Vancouver in March.."
Gaza Under Attack! 18 Killed, Including Children
http://www.countercurrents.org/ag110312.htm
"Besieged Gaza, Occupied Palestine -- We condemn in the strongest possible terms the latest Israeli war crimes committed against our people in the Gaza Strip. We call on the international community and the Arab and Islamic world, to take up their responsibility to protect the Palestinian people from this heinous aggression and immediately terminate the continuing Israeli policy of Collective Punishment.
Over the last 48 hours Gaza has been bombed by Apache helicopters, F16s and V58 fighter-planes. 18 civilians have been killed in Gaza City, Jabilya, Rafah and Shejaaiya. In the latest attacks on Jabilya, 12 year old Aamer Asaleyah was killed as a result of an Israeli air strike which targeted a group of children on their way to school..."
Israel's Bogus Case for Bombing Gaza Obscures Political Motives - by Max Blumenthal
http://www.countercurrents.org/blumenthal110312.htm
"...Almost as soon as he limped back to Jerusalem in frustration, Netanyahu gathered with his generals to gin up a case for pounding Gaza. The Gaza Strip, with its warehoused population of stateless refugees, would serve as their punching bag and pressure release valve. They could not have their war on Iran - not yet, at least - but they could assault Palestinians in Gaza without fear of repercussions from Washington.
Yesterday, as the Gaza death toll climbed into the teens, US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice took to Twitter to declare: 'We thoroughly condemn terrorist rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israeli towns and cities and call on both sides to restore calm.'"
Netanyahu: Israel to Target Gaza As Long As Necessary
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/231209.html
"We extracted a high price from them and will continue to do so,' Netanyahu said at the beginning of a cabinet meeting in al-Quds on Sunday, referring to the Palestinian Resistance groups based in Gaza. Eighteen Palestinians, including a 12-year-old child have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the besieged coastal sliver since Friday. Thousands of mourners participated in a funeral procession for the victims on Saunday.
'We condemn the silence of the international community, including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly: Because it is clear now that Israel is a criminal entity and continues to defy all international law. Therefore it is our right to resist the occupier. We tell the world that we will defend our people using all available means,'
said Abdullah Shami, a member of the resistance group, Islamic Jihad in Palestine on Sunday..."
'As Long As It Takes' : Netanyahu Not Done With Gaza Campaign (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/strikes-netanyahu-gaza-egypt-315/
"Gideon Levy, a journalist at Haaretz newspaper, believes that the latest exchange of fire between Israel and Gaza is a short term escalation, dictated by the Israelis seeing an opportunity to eradicate al-Qaisi.."
15 Killed As Israel Strikes Gaza Overnight (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/killed-israel-strikes-gaza-243/
"Political analyst Dr Hani Al Basoos told RT the current escalation of tensions in Gaza reflect and are linked to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's trip to Washington on Monday. ' I think such an escalation comes after the Israeli PM Netanyahu came from the US, taking a green light from Obama to attack the Palestinians after they failed to attack Iran.
And now I think they're trying to use their own power and might against the Palestinian people as the people in Gaza are a weak society. Even Palestinian resistance factions do not have the ability to respond to the Israeli state. I think the peace process is dead and there are no negotiations anymore.
The Israeli government hasn't accepted the Palestinian initiatives for peace. They do not want any kind of truce or ceasefire. There is no hope for peace with the Israeli state."
Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza Strip Injures 35
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/231219.html
"Fresh airstrikes by the Israeli military on the blockaded Gaza Strip left at least 35 persons, including nine children, injured. The raids took place late on Sunday after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel would continue to launch airstrikes on targets in the coastal enclave as long as it deems necessary.."
Israeli Airstrikes Kill Two [More] Palestinians in Gaza: Medics
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/231238.html
"Medical sources say two Palestinians have been killed in new Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll from the Israeli air raids in the past few days to 20. The latest attacks were carried out against the city of Khan Yunis during the early hours of Monday. At least 40 more Palestinians, including nine children, were also injured in earlier Israeli aerial attacks against Gaza on Monday.
Meawhile the Jordanian government condemned the 'barbaric aggression' of the Tel Aviv regime on Sunday.."
Bibi Stirs Trouble With Attack on Gaza - by Ramzy Baroud
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NC13Ak03.html
"It is election year, and Israel knows that a window of opportunity will not be open for long. 'Netanyahu won a crucial battle in Washington this past week. No one brought up the Palestinians [Nor in Ottawa] Netanyahu has quite masterfully shifted the conversation to the subject of Iran.."
Israel & Gaza Militants Reach Ceasefire After 4 Days of Attacks
http://rt.com/news/israel-gaza-ceasefire-egypt-419/
"Israel and groups of militants in the Gaza Strip have agreed to an Egypt mediated truce, Reuters reports, citing a senior Egyptian security official. It will put an end to 4 days of border violence between the sides.."
of course there is no equivalency 'between the sides'..
Israel Initiates Bloodbath on Gaza - Which Continues 4 Days Later - by Eva Bartlett
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/israel-initiates-bloodbath-on-gaz...
"Whenever you hear Israel's tired hasbara refrain about rockets, rockets, rockets, remember to ask the question Yousef Munayyer recently asked:
Why don't Israel's spokespeople ever tell us how many rockets, missiles and bullets Israel has fired on Gaza?
As Gaza endures its 4th day of intense bombing from Israeli F16s, V58 Fighter planes, Apache helicopters, UAVs and warships, please take the time to look at these websites and read these key articles.."
New Israeli Invasion of Gaza Looming?
http://rt.com/news/israel-palestine-ground-operation-427/
"The Israeli military is ready for a major ground incursion into Gaza in response to attacks from the Palestinian territories. The news comes as the latest escalation of violence continues into its fifth day, despite an Egypt sponsored ceasefire announced on Monday."
Experts Float Canadian Naval Support for Israel
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/world/archives/2012/03/20120312-203...
"...Do we send a frigate to help the Israeli navy enforce its blockade against the Gaza Strip, for instance, so that the Israeli navy can focus on other problems?"
Maybe we could arrange to have a Canadian frigate there to fire upon the next humanitarian aid boat from Canada that tries to get to Gaza...
Netanyahu Raises Prospect of Ground Invasion of Gaza - by Jason Dix
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/03/12/egypt-predicts-ceasefire-as-gaza-atta...
"Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is openly talking of a full scale ground invasion, and the Israeli military says it is 'ready' to launch such an operation, the first of its kind since 2009's Cast Lead, which killed about 1,400 people. Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman says that rockets fired in retaliation to Israel's attacks meant the Palestinians no longer would be allowed to have a territorially continguous state..."
UN Expert Urges Israel To Free Female Hunger Striker
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/231745.html
"A UN human rights expert has urged the Israeli regime to free Hana Shalabi, a Palestinian female prisoner, who has been on a hunger strike since being rearrested by Tel Aviv a month ago. 'The situation of Ms Shalabi is morbid and life threatening..This is an appeal to the conscience and to humanity and a desperate call to all of us,' said Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, on Wednesday.
'Israel ought to end its inhumane treatment of Ms Shalabi. Release her immediately,' he added, urging Tel Aviv to live up to its responsibilities under international law."
Call To Action: Support Hana al Shalabi As Her Health Declines 4 Weeks into Hunger Strike in Israeli Jail
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/linah-alsaafin/call-action-support-h...
"...Approximaely 310 Palestinians are currently held in administrative detention in Israeli prisons. Administrative detention allows Israel to hold detainees for indefinitely renewable six-month periods. The arrest is granted on the basis of 'secret information' and without a public indictement. Therefore, administrative detainees and their lawyers cannot defend against these allegations in court."
Release Hana al Shalabi!
ottawa@israel.org
Ongoing Israeli State Terror - by Stephen Lendman
http://warisacrime.org/content/ongoing-israeli-state-terror
"After days of violence, will Cast Lead II follow?..."
Israel Underestimated Palestinian Response to Gaza Attacks (and vid)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232348.html
"Israel has underestimated the Palestinian thinking that they could assassinate the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) without retaliation from the Palestinian side. Discussion with analysts"
They Will Never Beg - by Johnny Barber
http://warisacrime.org/content/they-will-never-beg
"Why is it that the Palestinians have no right to respond to Israeli aggression? If rocket fire into Israel is a 'cowardly' act, what exactly is bombing with F-16s or drones? Why does Israel have a right to defend itself, but no such rights extend to the Palestinian people? But I assure you, those killed have a name, and each has a family that grieves for them..."
Palestinians Rally in support of Hunger Striker (and vid)
http://www.presstv.ir/Program/232275.html
Report/discussion on hunger striker Hana Shalabi, now gravely ill.
Gaza Out of the Spotlight...and Power, Gasoline and Cooking Gas for that Matter - by Eva Bartlett
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/2012/03/21/gaza-out-of-the-spotlight-and-out...
"Every time I speak with Emad in Gaza things are even worse than the day before. The impact is significant and catastrophic.."
Eva Bartlett will speak at a fundraiser for the Global March to Jerusalem. Saturday, March 24, 2012, 2-4 PM, 612 Markham St. Toronto
Gaza To Be Connected To Egypt's Power Grid
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232724.html
"The Egyptian Ambassador to Occupied Palestinian Territories Yasser Othman has announced that the Israeli blockaded Gaza Strip will be connected to Egypt's power grid within the next four to five months.."
Gaza Is Dying!
http://www.odsg.org/co/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2517...
"Israel has turned the Gaza Strip into the largest concentration camp with the largest population of prisoners in the world. The international conspiracy of silence towards the slow genocide taking place against the 1.5 million civilians in Gaza indicates complicity in these war crimes.
We therefore call upon the international community to demand that the rogue state of Israel end its siege and compensate for the destruction of life and infrastructure that it has visited upon the Palestinian people. We also call upon all Palestinian solidarity groups and all international civil society organizations to demand..."
Ambulances, Bakeries Hit By Gaza Fuel Crisis
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=470020
"Half of Gaza's ambulances and fire trucks are out of service due to the fuel crisis, officials said Wednesday. Emergency Services spokesman Adhems Abu Salmiya said no ambulances will be operating if the crisis is not resolved quickly.."
Palestinians Denied Essentials of Life - by Stephen Lendman
http://warisacrime.org/content/palestinians-denied-essentials-life
"Besides persecution, repression, and injustice, deprivation defines life in Occupied Palestine. Essentials fall way below minimum standards. Shortages and crises affect water, sanitation, electricity, fuel and vital healthcare when most needed. Only Jews have rights. Palestinians struggle for justice on their own, even to obtain essentials to life and survival.."
Israel Extends New Border Fence But Critics Say It Is A Sign of Weakness
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/27/israel-extends-border-fence-...
"Israel's newest frontier fence is being erected at high speed along the 150 mile boundary between the Sinai and Negev deserts. Once it is finished, Israel will be almost completely enclosed by steel, barbed wire and concrete, leaving only the southern border with Jordan between the Dead and Red Seas without a physical border. That too, may be fenced in future..
But in a scathing commentary in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's biggest selling newspaper, respected defence analyst Alex Fishman recently wrote:
'We have become a nation that imprisons itself behind fences, which huddles terrified behind defensive shields.' It was, he said, a 'national mental illness.'
Palestine Has Always Been Off the Agenda - by Gregory Harms
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/04/03/palestine-has-always-been-off-the...
"...So while the Palestinian question is presently eclipsed by other affairs in the international arena, it bears consideration that the Palestinians have always been off the agenda.. The occupation has become procedural and the Bush 2-Obama paradigm could conceivably go on for years to come..."
ICC Declines To Probe Into Israel's War on Gaza
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/234632.html
"The International Criminal Court (ICC) has announced that it has declined to investigate the ISRAELI regime's WAR CRIMES in the Gaza Strip during Tel Aviv's December 2008-January 2009 offensives against the populated enclave.."
International Cangaroo Court (ICC) rules Israel above the law. Can mass-murder with impunity.
'The bloody Israeli sojourn in Gaza'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIr4lEIqTkM
- Source
Dumb question - why doesn't the PA ask some member states to file the complaint? There are at least one or two "real" states that pretend to be sympathetic to the cause of the Palestinian people.
Mind you, there's a lot I don't understand about what the PA and Fatah and Hamas do and don't do. As an ally, I just keep hoping that they have some kind of game plan to achieve justice and freedom. It's not my place to criticize, so I thought I'd just ask a question, if anyone knows the answer.
That's actually a good question... maybe the plan is to have the PA try first and now that the ICC has rejected the PA request (this just happened right?) a "real" state will now make the request on the PA's behalf. Time will tell.
'Inhumane Israeli Siege of Gaza Must End' (and vid)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/235301.html
"Hamas Health Minister Basem Naeen has called for an end to the ongoing 'inhumane' Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip as health conditions of patients in the impoverished territory remain at grave risk. Naeem called on the international community to 'STOP SITTING IDLE and to intervene to help end the suffering of the people of Gaza. Patients are the hardest hit by the Israeli blockade and many have died.."
The Suffering of the Palestinian Child Under the Israeli Occupation
http://www.alzaytouna.net/en/about-the-centre/al-zaytouna-news/151377-te...
"This book is about the various dimensions of the suffering of the Palestinian children under the Israeli occupation. These children, whose basic rights are continuously violated, and whose psychological, health, education and social status is most alarming.."
'Israel has no greater friend in the world than Canada' said John Baird recently. 'I am an ardent supporter of Israel in all situations and in all circumstances.' said the Opposition leader, Thomas Mulcair. Looks like there won't be any support from official Canada..
'Israel Tightens Inhumane Seige of Gaza' (and vid)
http://presstv.com/detail/239437.html
"Israel denies about 1.7 million people in Gaza their basic rights, including the freedom of movement or the right to decent living, work, health and education. Interview with Kevin Ovenden organizer of the Viva Palestina Arabiya convoy to Gaza.."
Seven Injured By Israeli Shells in Gaza
http://www.imemc.org/article/63512
"Palestinian medical sources reported Thursday that seven Palestinians were wounded when Israeli soldiers fired several artillery shells into the Al-Shujaeyya neighborhood in Gaza. The shelling came after the army carried out two invasions on the northern and southern part of the Gaza Strip. Media sources in Gaza reported that the Israeli army is still operating in the area east of Kham Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
just another day of Israeli occupation...
Gaza Population in Danger (and vid)
http://presstv.com/Program/240982.html
"Toughened restrictions, attacks by Israeli authorities on Gaza fishers, hunger strikers.."