Thank you for posting this important video, Siun. The graffiti on the walls of the ruined houses in jihar al-dik is telling, don’t you think? Your opinion why it is in ENglish?

Maybe this time, hasbara fails?
***********
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon demanded Tuesday that those responsible for bombing UN buildings in the Palestinian territory should be made accountable and accused Israel of using excessive force.

Amnesty International said it was “undeniable” that Israel had used white phosphorus in crowded civilian areas, contrary to international law, charging that this amounted to a war crime.

Eight Israeli human rights groups have called on the Israeli government to investigate given the scale of the casualties, describing the number of dead women and children as “terrifying.”

Gaza medics put the death toll at 1,330 with at least 5,450 wounded. Some 65 percent of the dead were civilians, including 400 children and 100 women.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20…..0123073215

Did you see the signs that the mini-freeway blogger put up in St. Petersburg, FL?

Israel has an election coming up very soon as I recall. We may find out if this incursion served it’s intended purpose at that time. People only get prosecuted for war crimes when they lose a war I think. Can anyone think of contrary cases?

“independent scrutiny that should characterize any military that is genuinely committed to respecting the laws of war”

Which leads to the obvious conclusion, Isreal and its Military do not respect the laws of war. Who would have guessed?

Also, this seems to be an interesting discussion of Gaza. I just started listening.

This will be embarassing for Israel, but that’ll be the end of it. Israel will neither deport nor try their own accused soldiers.

And America will back Israel 100% on that, being worried about prosecutions of officers and higher from Iraq.

Israel got what they really wanted, a BushCo deal including action against Iran that’s binding on Obama and punishing destruction on Gaza. They sure taught the common folk of Gaza a lesson they’ll pass on to their grandchildren.

Boxturtle (When we wrote those war crimes laws, we didn’t mean for them to apply to us)

And there are people who will defend this and not understand why it makes us angry and determined that, somehow, the craven support by nearly all of “the West” of everything the Israelis do must end.

JERUSALEM (JTA) — There is evidence that Israel committed war crimes during its operation in the Gaza Strip, a United Nations official said.

U.N. investigator Richard Falk, whose official title is U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, called for an independent inquiry into the issue on Thursday, Reuters reported.

http://jta.org/news/article/20…..war-crimes

DIGG is open.

Thanks, Siun, for this report!
It deserves Spotlighting, too.

Aloha,
Bob in HI

I do not see what Israel did as significantly different from the Gestapo in occupied France rounding up and shooting civilians in retaliation for attacks but the partisans of the French Resistance. So far as I can tell, those actions are morally equivalent.

Found answer to my question in #1- graffiti on the bombed and bulldozed houses is in English because very few Israeilis can read Arabic beyond the level of street signs and the reverse is equally true. Let’s hope tv 4 video is not the last look allowed at this horryfying and senseless destruction.

Israel attacked a UN Building, Schools, Hospitals. IDF also used white phosphorus. All war crimes.

There are reports this morning that Israel will approve an order this Sunday providing “support” to all IDF personnel accused of war crimes – and all IDF personnel are now required to check with commanders before traveling overseas to see if they are on a list of those likely to be indicted for war crimes.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058215.html

Yeah- but we did most of those things in Iraq and there have been no prosecutions. I don’t see anything happening to anyone as a result of this.

A video of pictures showing the similarity of WW2 and now. Warning..very graphic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjsem1F1_Dk

The attacks on UN facilities were horrible – but it is the tale of the extended family rounded up into one building and then shelled – killing over 40 – that haunts along with the multiple stories of women waving white flags being shot. Those are not accidental actions or simply “collateral” they are conscious choices on the part of IDF.

Influential Liberal and Shopping Mall Mogul, Tom Friedman will know what to do. We shall be hearing from his Wisdom Mustache soon.

That is apparently one argument being made inside Israel per Time – I’ll write something about this later when I get a work break – Israeli officials are saying “but we are more careful of civilians than the US is in Iraq” as a justification.

shame

I think you are correct. As long as the accused stay home they’ll be totally safe from prosecution. If they get the wanderlust, maybe some can get new passports like Ken Lay.

Yes. There are hundreds of pictures to prove that, too. If ever someone is actually brought on trial, they will never be found innocent. It is surprising with the lack of electricity in Palestine that so many pictures were taken while the atrocity was ongoing.

It is not yet over. The MSM tells us that all Israeli troops were withdrawn. It does not tell us that the damned ships are still firing into Gaza.

I personally appreciate Israels actions as a distraction for the international community from all the US infractions of international law.
“Look, they do it too”

This is Gaza.

http://whatreallyhappened.com/…..m_dopo.jpg

Israel has pushed the Gaza fishing fleets to within three miles of shore, according to the World Report BBC on NPR last night. If I were a betting man, I’d say nowhere on the beach is safe from Israeli gunboats.

The Palestinians need a strong moslem nation to take up their cause with the willingness and capability to take on Israel. That ain’t gonna happen.

Yep – and 7 Palestinians were wounded by shells yesterday including 5 fishermen, two boys were killed a few days ago by shelling as well.

OT. I spotlighted this but is there some way to get spotlight updated? There are a lot of names that should be purged and several added. I have to wonder how accurate the editor etc list is too.

Is that an older photo from the previous attacks?

George Galloway, who is organising an aid convoy to Gaza leaving London on St Valentine’s Day, 14 February, says:

“This is a sickening decision by the BBC. When it said no, all the other broadcasters pulled the plug on the ad as well, according to some obscure ‘convention’. The BBC has already drawn international opprobrium for its unremittingly pro-Israel bias during the assault on Gaza. Now it is stymieing relief efforts. Three immediate responses are called for:

http://worldpressnetwork.net/f…..4987#p4987

Exactly. Very little of the available relief supplies are being allowed in. More will starve if the fisherman cannot supply food.

Thanks Siun. In the glossary of Günter Grass’ The Tin Drum is an entry:

ZOB – Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa, or Jewish Combat Organization, an underground movement formed in the ghetto in 1942-43

This refers IIRC to an armed group formed to give protection of the Warsaw ghetto from the German occupying forces.

How conveniently short are Israeli memories of their own pain. How dare Zionists refuse the Palestinian Hamas their natural right to defend their families and neighbours from Zionist’s “final solutions”. End Israel’s crimes; End Zionism.

Thank you, Siun, for this most heartbreaking update with the video which allows us to see the criminal assault on civilians of Gaza.

As for the hard-line officials in Israel, and their unconvincing pronouncements in the face of filmed evidence, I am reminded of George Orwell’s 1946 quote: “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful . . .and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

And they will starve if the tunnels are bombed again …

No. Site also has pictures from inside of Gaza. Warning..the first one is a piece of a body.

Just learned that George Mitchell’s (Obama’s ME special envoy) mother is Lebanese. Don’t know what flavor Lebanese, but it’s a start.

I swear that the majority of language used by the US and Israeli military is based on George Orwell’s doublespeak.

“Evil” is when others do it to us. “Good” is when we do it to them.

Christian.

..oops..

http://desertpeace.wordpress.c…..-in-ruins/

Mitchell’s wiki sez her name is Mary Saad, but doesn’t say which flavor Christian. I think the choices are Orthodox or Maronite? Do you know which, and does it matter?

And Orwell was only drawing attention to uses of language found throughout Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and going back through the history of the British Empire, where the rape, pillage, and plunder of indigenous peoples was called “the white-man’s burden.”

By golly, you are getting the hang of it. Refer to bluebutterfly @ 37 as well.

Zionism; a Disease of the Mind

To virtually incarcerate the Palestinian people inside degrading cages, destroying their livelihoods, confiscating their lands, stealing their water and uprooting their trees, and then to condemn their legitimate resistance as terrorism is a disease of the mind, notes Zaid Nabulsi.

http://www.middle-east-online……/?id=29932

The Wikipedia lists his religion as Roman Catholic rather than this or that Orthodox, which would indicate Maronite.

I have friends from both groups, and there seem to be some differences in world views. In my experience, the Maronites hold more aggressive views — see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kataeb_Party

Well, his father is Irish, so that could explain his RCness, but I also suppose in those years that an Irish marrying a Lebanese was much more likely to choose one of the same religion.

Thanks for the other link.

The US and Israeli government should do everything in their power to PROTECT their servicemen engaged against the terrorists from any and all powers that would intrude on OUR sovereignty to do whatever it takes to protect us against those who would kill us and rape our women and take our children and despoil our holdings.

Obama urges Israel to open Gaza border
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama yesterday called on Israel to open Gaza border crossings to aid and commerce, as part of a lasting ceasefire following the conflict with Hamas.
“Now we must extend a hand of opportunity to those who seek peace, as part of a lasting ceasefire, Gaza’s border crossings should be open to allow the flow of aid and commerce,” Obama said during a maiden visit as president to the State Department.
The president, in his first major comments on the Middle East conflict since he was inaugurated on Tuesday, called for a monitoring regime involving the Palestinian Authority and the international community for open Gaza borders.
“Relief efforts must be able to reach innocent Palestinians who depend on them,” Obama said.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site…..rent_id=56

LRA Attacks in Haut Uélé, DRC, Kill Hundreds, Displace Tens of Thousands

As one of the few organizations working in the area, MSF finds it extremely hard to know what is happening in this region where attacks are quickly multiplying. Knowing how many people have been displaced or even killed in this vast territory, over which villages and small towns are scattered, has been impossible.

However, since a Human Rights Watch team investigated the Christmas events, they have confirmed the killings of more than 600 men, women, and children, and the kidnappings of 500 youths.

DR Congo: crowded church torched by rebels

A Catholic church crowded with worshippers in eastern Congo has been torched killing an unknown number of worshippers, with the Ugandan army blaming rebels for the attack, Caritas reports.

Army spokesman Captain Ronald Kakurungo said Ugandan troops in neighbouring Congo reported the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels set fire to a church on Saturday night in the village of Tora.

I was watching the superb animated documentary Waltz with Bashir about the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. It culminates in the massacre of some 1,700 Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in south Beirut by Christian militiamen introduced there by the Israeli army which observed the butchery from close range.

The film is about how the director, Ari Folman, who knew he was at Sabra and Chatila as an Israeli soldier, tried to discover both why he had repressed all memory of what happened to him and the degree of Israeli complicity in the massacre.

Nobody believes propaganda so much as the propagandist so Israel’s view of the outside world is increasingly detached from reality. One academic was quoted as saying that Arabs took all their views about was happening in Israel from what Israelis said about themselves. So if Israelis said they had won in Gaza, unlike Lebanon in 2006, Arabs would believe this and Israeli deterrence would thereby be magically restored.

Intolerance of dissent has grown and may soon get a great deal worse. Benjamin Netanyahu, who helped bury the Oslo accords with the Palestinians when he was last prime minister from 1996 to 1999, is likely to win the Israeli election on 10 February. The only issue still in doubt is the extent of the gains of the extreme right.

The views of these were on display this week as Avigdor Lieberman, the chairman of the Ysrael Beitenu party, which, according to the polls will do particularly well in the election, was supporting the disqualification of two Israeli Arab parties from standing in the election. “For the first time we are examining the boundary between loyalty and disloyalty,” he threatened their representatives. “We’ll deal with you like we dealt with Hamas.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/o…..88583.html

Nonetheless, not all Israelis were as sanguine about the Israeli offensive as the Sderot Obama appears to have been. “What luck my parents are dead,” wrote the Israeli journalist Amira Hass in Haaretz. Survivors of the Nazi concentration camps, her mother and father had long hated the Orwellian twists of language in which Israeli authorities couched their military actions against Palestinians.

“My parents despised all their everyday activities – stirring sugar into coffee, washing the dishes, standing at a crosswalk – when in their mind’s eye they saw, based on their personal experience, the terror in the eyes of children, the desperation of mothers who could not protect their young ones, the moment when a huge explosion dropped a house on top of its inhabitants and a smart bomb struck down entire families…

“Because of my parents’ history they knew what it meant to close people behind barbed-wire fences in a small area…. How lucky it is that they are not alive to see how these incarcerated people are bombarded with all the glorious military technology of Israel and the United States… My parents’ personal history led them to despise the relaxed way the news anchors reported on a curfew. How lucky they are not here and cannot hear the crowd roaring in the coliseum.”

http://www.lewrockwell.com/eng…..dt370.html

I’ve read that modern Zionism had its origins in the 19th-century ethnic-nationalism movement and its blood-and-soil world view. (It’s purely coincidental that Naziism had similar origins.)

Israel disputes Gaza death toll

In the absence of official Israeli figures, the 1,000 plus foreign journalists who covered the campaign relied almost exclusively on the Palestinian figures, as did foreign governments and NGOs. The death toll was one of the most critical aspects of the operation, and could be central to any war crimes claim against Israel.

International organizations, such as the United Nations and the Red Cross, said they had relied on the Palestinians for their own death counts, given that the verification process is cumbersome and could involve cross-checking records at the hospitals or the morgues as well as on-the-scene investigation at the site of the IDF attacks.

So far only the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) and Italian journalist Lorenzo Cremonesi have publicly attempted to verify the death count on their own, with vastly differing results.

On Thursday, Cremonesi published an article in the Italian paper Corriere della Sera, in which he claimed that the Palestinians had distorted their claims, much like in past incidents.

He quoted a doctor at Gaza City’s main Shifa Hospital who said no more than 500 or 600 could have been killed in the IDF attacks, and that most were men between 17 and 23 recruited to Hamas’s ranks.

Cremonesi, who based his report on tours of hospitals in the Gaza Strip and on interviews with families of casualties, also assessed the number of wounded to be far lower than 5,300, the number quoted by Hamas and repeated by the UN and the Red Cross in Gaza.

“It is sufficient to visit several hospitals [in Gaza] to understand that the numbers don’t add up,” he wrote.

Kenosha..right on time..as soon as too much truth is spoken.

Truth? Israel = Gestapo is not truth, no matter how much it may ease your guilty conscience.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 (S/RES/242) was adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council on November 22, 1967, in the aftermath of the Six Day War. It was adopted under Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter.[1] The resolution was drafted by British ambassador Lord Caradon and was one of five drafts under consideration.[2]

It calls for “the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East which should include the application of both the following principles: (i) Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict”, “(ii) Termination of all claims or states of belligerency” and respect for the right of every state in the area to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries.

It calls for “the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East which should include the application of both the following principles: (i) Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict”, “(ii) Termination of all claims or states of belligerency” and respect for the right of every state in the area to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries.

Didn’t we go over this yesterday? Israel withdrew from the Sinai. They withdrew from Gaza. Jordan gave up their claim to the West Bank and the Oslo agreement decided who controlled what there. Israel has been withdrawing for 40 years. When will they have the right to live in peace?

The US and Israeli government should do everything in their power to PROTECT their servicemen engaged against the terrorists from any and all powers that would intrude on OUR sovereignty to do whatever it takes to protect us against those who would kill us and rape our women and take our children and despoil our holdings.

And would you empower others to do the same against us for our infractions against them, including the slaughter of our civilians to force our military and intelligence agencies to stop those infractions?

Yep, catapulting the propaganda, the half truth, misdirection, distortion, and outright lies. These ignorant creatures, so easily captivated by facile deceptions, can generate more fog of disinformation than is possible to clear with fact. And since they already have the correct answer, their ability to interact with reality is terminally compromised. You can lead these creatures to water, but will never be able to get them to drink. Trolls all.

Thank you, bluebutterfly. The link you gave (Zionism is a Disease of The Mind) is a very powerful article. I’ve saved it to help explain to my kids (ages 48-54) what has changed me from a strong supporter of Israel into an equally strong supporter of the people of Gaza to be treated as human beings with a right to their own state, free from invasion from any other state.

I am reading the book, ‘Churchill’s Promised Land; Zionism and Statecraft’ by Michael Makovsky, copyright 2007 by Yale University. It has 53 pages of notes giving documentation sources. I highly recommend this book, for it is helping me to understand the attitudes of the world powers existing at the time the State of Israel was established, as well as the causes of deep-rooted resentment of the Arabic people toward ‘the West’ and Israel.

Military might will never resolve the Israeli/Arabic problems; nor will it ever change injustice into justice.

They did not return to the borders that existed before the war. UN RES 242 ordered them back. Peace when they get off of Palestinian land, when they stop starving the Palestinians of the necessities of life, when they stop using bombs, planes, ships, helicopters, white phosporous, DIME weapons, etc etc. to destroy homes, businesses, hospitals, schools, universities, roads, water supplies. Peace when they stop killing children..half of the population of Palestine consists of children.

Peace when they stop breaking ceasefires. Peace when greed and power are not paramount characteristics of the politicians. Peace when they listen to their own citizens..the Arabs, the Jews, the Christians..who live in Israel and are horrified by the genocide of the Palestinians. Peace when the politicians stop threatening other politicians in Israel. Peace when the invasion of Palestine is not used to bolster the standing of politicians.

Peace when people like you stop defending their actions. Join the millions around the world who are calling for war crimes trials. Work for life; not death. I have no guilty conscience about anything. And you know, Kenosha, one should not assume that they know what someone else’s race, or religion, is. As you know..anti-death is not anti-Semetic.

Yes..trolls all..the truth is out there and everybody knows it. The calibre of trolls in the past two weeks isn’t high. They don’t possess any good arguments..just diversionary tactics. They appear to be able to read and write in English..how come they can’t learn anything?

You are welcome. The article was powerful..and even more so because it was written by a Jew.

We are being tag teamed, again. Amazing how certain trolls show up together. Do you think they are are on a list of ‘friends in hasbara’?

You might find Zionism in the Age of Dictators by Lenni Brenner to be of interest: http://www.marxists.de/middleast/brenner/

Pro Zionist actions in Palestine have set up multiple sites that give talking points. Some of these talking points have shown up at FDL. The trolls who show up here don’t think for themselves; they parrot lies/misinformation from others.
*********

1. ISRAEL WANTS PEACE!
2. The IDF targets terrorist outposts and always attempts to limit civilian casualties.
3. The definition of TERRORISM is the deliberate targeting of civilians, which HAMAS does daily to Israel.
4. Israel is, and always has been, sending food and humanitarian aid into Gaza through the Karni and Keren crossings.
5. HAMAS is arbitrarily firing rockets into Israeli civilian areas including nursery schools, hospitals, and shopping malls.
6. Israel left Gaza for peace in August of 2005 and has been attacked from Gaza with thousands of rockets ever since.
7. Israeli citizens live with post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result of daily rocket attacks.
8. Israelis only have 15 seconds to run into bomb shelters once a rocket is fired by Hamas.
9. HAMAS’ incitement and ammunition build-up has reached dangerous levels and during the last week alone we have seen HUNDREDS of rockets fired into Israel.
10. Hamas openly admits to using civilians as human shields.
11. How would the US react to a missile attack on its citizens coming from Canada or Mexico?
12. Israel, as any viable democracy, must defend its citizens.
13. While Gaza suffers under Hamas’ rule, the West Bank has witnessed an upsurge in economic activity.
14. ISRAEL WANTS PEACE!

http://standwithuscampus.com/?p=288

I too appreciate the link to that article. These trolls demonstrate an overriding characteristic, none have the ability to reason or use logic. Their abilities are limited to recitation of supplied information. They have lost the greater part of what it is to be a functioning human being, things to be pitied, they will never know otherwise.

Some humans just aren’t human. I wonder if that article can be reprinted here? At the bottom of the article it mentions that it originally came from Jordan’s Living Well magazine. I assume from that permission was given to cross post if acknowledgement of the source is given? It is long, but it sure does sum up Zionism. It would be a good front page story. I’d like to hear the trolls argue against it..’g’

Thank you, wigwam. I’ve gone to your link and the Contents look good. I see several refs common to the book I mentioned. I’ve filed it since it looks to take a lot of time to read. I’m from back in the day before speed reading; and I stop often to consider what I’ve read to determine the degree to accept, discard, or file for further consideration.

It is hard to give up my long held beliefs concerning Israel. I think that only Israel’s own conduct in this assault on Gaza could have ever severed me from my former stand of ‘Israel, right or wrong.’

FWIW, I’m Scotch-Irish-Dutch, formerly protestant, only really known one Jew in my life, never known a person of Arabic descent. My stand in this matter is solely for Human Rights.

These are the rest of the photos. They were sent by an Israeli who thinks it is great that Gaza is demolished.

http://whatreallyhappened.com/…..index.html

I have no knowledge of how spotlight and other such things work. I wonder if this would be of interest to you? It seems to address what you are talking about.
***************

Government propagandists, their hired private contractors and useful idiots are creating “downvote bots” or scripts to bury stories which question the government.

Anyone who has posted news items questioning the government’s version of 9/11, the government’s unquestioning support for Israel, or a host of other topics has probably noticed that all of their recent stories get downvoted virtually simultaneously, which defies the laws of probability.

One free, simple scripting program to create automatic downvotes of certain topics or news posters is called “Greasemonkey”, which is commonly used on large social news sites such as Reddit.

For example, there are some 2,480 hits for the google search site:reddit.com greasemonkey downvote. This is some 2,480 times that Reddit users are publicly admitting to using greasemonkey (see also this).

http://georgewashington2.blogs…..a-war.html

Anonymous from Israel..someone posted the pictures of Iraelis guilty of war crimes..as a Hague list of the wanted.

http://www.wanted.org.il/ehud_barak_en.htm

Some humans just aren’t ….

These are what cannon-fodder sound like. Self assured, self contained, impervious. Have always wondered if these troll’s mothers ever wished they had not taught them to talk, but that is idle speculation.

They had mothers? I though that they all just hatched out from under rocks.

Call it TOTAL Information Awareness.

We do not deliberately target civilians. We attempt to take out the leadership. Unfortunately, in war, collateral damage is inevitable. “War is Hell”–Gen. Sherman.

When you can’t win an argument, go for the ad hominem.

Some humans just aren’t human.

I though that they all just hatched out from under rocks.

This is how we hatch

These are comments from various members of the UK Parliament from their hearing on aid to Gaza, on Jan 21/09. I did not divide it, or acknowledge the members names, as it would have been even longer than it is. As there is only one link, I hope that I am forgiven for the length. How I wish that the US House and Senate members would speak as these parliament members do.

**********

We have seen the dreadful pictures of what has happened in Gaza. The population had nowhere to run. They could not escape its borders. Even UN buildings where some took refuge received hits. Nowhere was safe. I have just been sent the pictures from the UN school: the white phosphorus raining down, the damaged classrooms, the two little brothers dead. Were these not civilians? Was it not obvious that there would be large numbers of civilian casualties in such a crowded area? Did the Government of Israel think that what they were doing was unwatched, unrecorded, even proportionate to their own experience of violence? Have we let the Israeli Government feel that they are not accountable?

I can remember when Fatah was not to be supported or negotiated with. But the warnings came that this played into the hands of those who are more radical. Indeed, Hamas was elected in Gaza, and 40 of its MPs were immediately imprisoned by the Israelis. Right now, we hear how no negotiations should occur with

“This is a regime about which a lot of inaccurate statements are made, particularly by the Israeli and Washington Governments. It is not beholden to Iran … They are not trying to set up a Taliban-style Government in Gaza … They are not intent on the destruction of Israel; that is a rhetorical statement of resistance”.

I am sure that we will hear this evening how Israel should not have to put up with rockets being fired into its territories. Indeed it should not. But also hear what Sir Jeremy Greenstock says:

“The tragedy about what is happening is that the cessation of rocket fire on Israel would have been possible if Israel had lived up to its obligations under the June ceasefire to open the crossings”.

You look at Gaza and the West Bank. How can families get on with their lives in a crushed economy? Olive groves and vegetable gardens are simply sliced through by the wall. Farmers are cut off from their land by settlers’ roads that may not be used by Palestinians. There are checkpoints everywhere. Water is taken by the settlements, which are green and fertile, surrounded by the arid dryness of the Palestinian lands. The current situation in Gaza cannot be separated from the challenges in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

My Lords, it is hard to see why Israel has got it so wrong again or why it has to make so many enemies in this world. Like others, I am concerned about Hamas too, but I have been appalled at the callous and disproportionate targeting of civilians in Gaza. The attacks on the UN and the terrible loss of Doctor Izeldeen Abuelaish’s family could hardly be called self-defence.

War crime seems too polite a phrase for a country which is supposedly democratic and concerned for the rule of law. The rule of war is more like it. Israel has again lost support throughout the world and among many of its own citizens and friends in this country.

It has flagrantly betrayed the second concept of the Balfour declaration, namely, the respect for minorities. Palestinians will soon no longer be a minority. They are a people with an equal right to life, whether in one state or two. Of course, Israel has a right to defend herself and Hamas must stop firing rockets, but that is not the way to stop them. Hamas is a popular movement and an elected party; it will never be bombed out of existence. The people have no alternative to Hamas, and this conflict can only be settled by dialogue.

Oxfam’s experience is that this is just not yet happening. The UN reported on 18 January that only 97.5 truckloads entered the Kerem Shalom crossing. But Israel continues to refuse fully to open the critical Karni commercial crossing, which, Oxfam understands, has a capacity of up to 1000 truckloads a day, if fully operational. Kerem Shalom is not mechanised and is therefore a slow and costly way—the handling charge is some $1000 per truckload—to move supplies into Gaza. Israel has opened a small grain conveyor at Karni, which provided the equivalent of 38 truckloads; however, according to the UN on 19 January, it has failed to repair a second conveyor.

Israel is still obstructing NGO access to Gaza with only two, both medical, there at the last count. This hardly expedites supplies and access, which, the Israeli Government claim, are a priority. Indeed, one initial report suggests that at least 500 truckloads a day are required.

There is a saying that goes: if your friends cannot tell you, no one can. I have been privileged to be a member of both Trade Union Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Israel. However, when the methods you use are worse than the evils you are fighting, it is time to examine your morality. Sadly, for Israel, that time has come.

http://www.publications.parlia…..1-0010.htm

thank you, Siun. it’s just dreadful what has happened.

i suppose Israel will not be rebuilding Gaza … oh, i thought not. perhaps the economic crisis will have some effect on the willingness of other countries to allow these adventures only to be left with the bill for cleanup.

i am heartily encouraged by the words Obama chose and spoke at his appearance at State yesterday afternoon. he spoke of the rights of the Gazans/Palestinians to a life with opportunity and hope. i am expecting him to be as intelligent about this as he has been about other things ~ he will be even-handed, i believe and that is more than we could have hoped for.

may the whole truth be shown.

Read this site and get a good grasp on the subject. One post there http://turcopolier.typepad.com…..egman.html

How is razing villages to the ground consistent with Israeli spin about stopping rockets and only targeting Hamas? Especially since no arms stockpiles or Hamas bunkers are revealed, just plain old rubble where an entire town used to be. Sure, the civilians are made homeless instead of blown up, it’s not a direct attempt at genocide, but it is still inarguably a gross and wanton punishment inflicted on innocents. There are war crimes that happen in every war, and then there’s razing villages without even bothering to claim a military objective. You just pretend it didn’t happen, or that Hamas must’ve lived there. What home isn’t a legitimate target to Israel? None, apparently.

Honestly, I’d like to see someone defend Operation Cast Lead based on the actual actions taken by the IDF, instead of based on blatantly false talking points and deflections. This is Israel, we’re talking about. I expect high quality propaganda but end up with Mark Regev screaming at the Channel 4 news anchor. Smooth. Better yet we get some idiot here claiming “Israel has been withdrawing for 40 years, when does it get peace.” Probably some time after it figures out why it gets no love every time it “withdraws” from a place it’s wantonly bombed the shit out of.

This is life for the children of Gaza. There is no lie big enough to cover up the reality of trauma and death.

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THE SHADOURA family live in the Moaskar Jabaliya area in the north of the Gaza Strip. They are originally from the town of Majdal in 1948 Palestine, now Ashkelon in present-day Israel. Their simple white, one-storey house is just yards away from the Fakhoura UN school where 42 people died, 20 of them children, when Israeli tanks opened fire on a busy intersection. Paramedics and eyewitnesses reported seeing nothing but “limbs and meat” in the street at the time. Witnesses report that four tank shells smashed into the ground releasing flying chunks of burning shrapnel.

Mohammad Shadoura, aged nine, had been playing marbles with friends in the street at the time. Mohammad’s father, Bassem Ahmad Shadoura, was close by. He describes the scene: “I saw an explosion, after which there was black smoke everywhere – the area was pure black. They hit twice in the same area. I saw a boy with his finger in the air saying I am a witness to God’ and I picked him up to take him out. Then I saw my son, he had been hit twice, in the legs and in the head. His brain was out’.”

Mahmoud, 15, recalled what he saw, his eyes widening with trauma. “We saw legs everywhere, flesh, some people without heads, meat. A boy next to me, he went crazy, he was overwhelmed, he saw the massacre, the street was full of blood, the nails from the shells were as long as your hand.”

http://www.sundayherald.com/ne…..r_hand.php

Pictures of Gaza children..beautiful and alive then..dead now. Some of their brothers and sisters, too. Can we quit calling it a war? It is not a war..it is a premeditated slaughter.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…..=342225611

The Orthodox Lebanese are called Melkites, vs. the Maronites (named after St. Maron iirc). I believe that both are recognized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Is there a religious scholar in the house?

Olmert said that in approving the assault in Gaza, aimed at the enclave’s ruling Hamas Islamist movement, his government had no illusions that Palestinian civilians would be hurt given the densely populated areas in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.

“When you win, you automatically hurt more than you’ve been hurt. And we didn’t want to lose this campaign. What did you want, for hundreds of our soldiers to die? That, after all, was the alternative,” Olmert told the newspaper.

Ten soldiers were killed, and three Israeli civilians.

The independent Palestinian Center for Human Rights said its researchers had documented the deaths of 1,284 people in the war, of whom 894 appeared to be civilians, including 280 aged under 18. A further 167 members of Hamas’s police force died.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenew…..571480.htm

It’s a catastrophe. They destroyed everything. Even our ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) hospital and buildings were damaged, and a lot of medical supplies destroyed. A huge number of families are without shelter. The U.N. is making shelters in schools. The Israeli helicopters also attacked a shelter for the homeless.

Khalid Jodi, head of the Palestinian Red Crescent

Hundreds if not thousands and thousands of houses are destroyed. Reports show in certain areas complete devastation, which will take months if not years to build up again. Of course, the main issue is the people, those who have been left disabled or worse by the war. There will be a huge job for all humanitarian agencies in rebuilding the infrastructure, the economy in Gaza, but it’s really difficult to assess the scope of it at this point.

http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_…..1959-1.htm

bluebutterfly – please use quote marks when using the words of other people – thanks.

Thank you for the link, Kiwi. It’s a very believable presentation of the realities of the Israel/Palistinian predicament.

A few days ago, I had this discussion with a mod. It was agreed that I could use **** to separate if I actually made a comment. I will not make anymore comments so there is no confusion.

We are delighted to have you make comments. Please use quotation marks, generally located to the right of the letter L on your keyboard, thanks.

Generally located to the right of the letter L?..yeah..ok..thanks for that little piece of information. Even someone who has as much difficulty as I do at learning new things on the computer, frickin’ knows where the ” key is. I tried to explain what was agreed to between myself and a moderator. You choose to give me a smart comment in return. I therefore have a choice..to put up with the attitude, or leave.

Good. Now that Israel is acknowledging it’s own war crimes, maybe America and our media can wake up and notice also?