Israel Denies French Water Treatment Plant From Reaching Gaza

Protocol 1
Additional to the Geneva Conventions, 1977

PART IV: CIVILIAN POPULATION

Section 1: General Protection Against Effects of Hostilities

Article 54: Protection of Objects Indispensable to the Survival of the Civilian Population

1. Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited
2. It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive.
3. The prohibitions in paragraph 2 shall not apply to such of the objects covered by it as are used by an adverse Party:
   1. as sustenance solely for the members of its armed forces; or
   2. if not as sustenance, then in direct support of military action, provided, however, that in no event shall actions against these objects be taken which may be expected to leave the civilian population with such inadequate food or water as to cause its starvation or force its movement.
4. These objects shall not be made the object of reprisals.
5. In recognition of the vital requirements of any Party to the conflict in the defense of its national territory against invasion, derogation from the prohibitions contained in paragraph 2 may be made by a Party to the conflict within such territory under its own control where required by imperative military necessity.

The collapse of Gaza's water and waste water sector: Grave breaches of international humanitarian law and serious violations of international human rights law

Source: Al Mezan Center for Human Rights

Date: 20 Jan 2009

Following twenty two consecutive days of Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, water and sanitation services and facilities are on the brink of collapse. The water and sanitation sector was already in a dire state following the 18 month blockade on Gaza, which had prevented the entry of material necessary for construction and repair of water and sanitation facilities as well as the fuel and electricity necessary to operate essential services such as sewage pumping stations and water wells. Israel's aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip beginning on the 27 December 2008 and the ground invasion beginning on the 3 January 2009 have turned an already desperate humanitarian situation into a catastrophe.

Currently more than half a million residents of the Gaza Strip (a third of the population) have no access to clean water. Some have been without water for over ten days. The Costal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) the water sector service provider in Gaza, has announced that it is no longer able to maintain services in the water and waste water sector due to concerns for staff safety and an acute shortage of spare parts, materials, equipment, electricity and fuel required to rehabilitate facilities and operate services. FURTHER>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Water system at center of Gaza meeting

Friday, January 30, 2009

PARIS — The French Foreign Ministry said on January 30 that Israel has refused to allow a French-made water purification system into Gaza, Press TV reported on January 30. French Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Eric Chevallier said the Israeli ambassador was summoned to Paris to explain why the water treatment system was denied access. He said Israel’s explanation was not satisfactory, according to the report. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently warned that Israel’s recent 23-day military attack on Gaza pushed the Palestinian territory's sewage system to the brink of collapse and thus increased risks of groundwater contamination. This month, the World Bank referred to the situation as a “severe public health crisis,” as WaterTech Online™ reported. “The most dangerous thing is the contamination of drinking water with sewage. We need an international organization like the World Health Organization to investigate the matter,” Monther Shoblak, head of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), said in the Press TV report. The CMWA supplies water to Gaza. To read the full report, click here. For related information, click here. Source

Half a million Palestinians in Gaza without water: UNRWA | AUDIO

For more information, link to the Palestinian Water Authority

---

Israeli strikes destroy Blair project

Video of the World Bank water treatment plant which Israel destroyed.

Anaheim: Blanket/Stuffed Animal Drive for Gaza

GOOOOOD MORNING COMMUNITY ......

Here is your chance to help GAZA and get your family to be part of this worthy cause

A container of Blankets and Stuffed Toys to be shipped in February to the children of GAZA

Bring your donated Blankets and stuffed toys to our main drop of Location at the

US-OMEN / PCRF Office in ANAHEIM

716 N. Valley St # A

Anaheim, CA 92801

or at any of the listed locations on the flyer attached.

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD AND DISTRIBUTE THE FLYER AND THE INFORMATION TO ALL YOUR CONTACTS

Bring a Smile to the Faces of the GAZA Children

If you chose to donate money instead we will buy the blanket or the stuffed toy

$15 will pay for either one

DEAR COMMUNITY LETS DO IT

So Much for Change: Statement of Susan Rice at the UN Concerning Gaza

Statement by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, US Permanent Representative, on Respect for International Humanitarian Law, in the Security Council, January 29, 2009

"The United States is deeply concerned Mr. President about the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent weeks and the tragic suffering of Palestinian civilians, who require urgent humanitarian and reconstruction assistance. Violations of international humanitarian law have been perpetrated by Hamas through its rocket attacks against Israeli civilians in southern Israel and the use of civilian facilities to provide protection for its terrorist attacks. There have also been numerous allegations made against Israel some of which are deliberately designed to inflame. We expect Israel will meet its international obligations to investigate and we also call upon all members of the international community to refrain from politicizing these important issues."

Read her entire statement HERE

Oh sure, we all expect Israel to meet it's "international obligations to investigate" itself.

Sure we do.

Mustn't inflame either. No dead children, no no pity, don't get upset anyone, can't offend Israel, the shining beacon of democracy that it is.

This is Gaza, but I wonder if Susan Rice has heard what Livni said today, and don't forget, Livni is the "peace candidate" as opposed to the so-called hawk (vulture) Netanyahu. Straight out of Livni's mouth:

"I will only advance an agreement that represents our interests of maintaining a maximum of [West Bank Jewish] residents, keeping places that are important to us especially in Jerusalem, and not allowing the return of a single refugee." (source)

Yep. We trust Israel to investigate itself, sure we do, when they absolutely refuse to abide by international law.

Keep boot licking Rice, what a coincidence that you share the same name as the famous coiner of the phrase "birth pangs of the new Middle East"

Tally so far: over 1300 dead Palestinians, as the US continues to support the murderous, international law breaking Zionist regime.

Oh how SWEET the smell of "change".

Try sewer gas.

1/27/09 President Obama Interview with Al Arabiya

President Obama expressed optimism yesterday about the prospect of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but he said a peace accord will take time and require new thinking about the problems of the Middle East as a whole.

Obama's comments came during his first formal television interview as president, with a correspondent from al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based satellite network that is one of the largest English-language TV outlets aimed at Arab audiences.

The president sat for the interview, at the White House, moments after officially dispatching George J. Mitchell, his special envoy for Middle East peace, to the region last evening

As the BBC continues to refuse to air Gaza aid call...the video the BBC doesn't want you to see.........

MPs call on BBC to air Gaza film

Pro-Palestinian protestors demonstrate outside the BBC in central London

A Commons motion criticising the BBC and Sky for refusing to broadcast a plea for humanitarian aid funding for Gaza has been backed by 112 MPs. >>>>>>>>>

Then there is the brave and outspoken Tony Benn who appeared as a guest on the BBC who certainly got his two cents worth in on the subject

Tony Benn accuses the BBC ON AIR of capitualating to the Israeli Government by refusing to air an appeal for the Gazan people by the Disaster Emergency Commitee (DEC) he then broadcasts the Address himself much to the consternation of the interviewer!

Disaster Emergency Commitee (DEC)
Gaza Crisis
PO BOX 999
LONDON
EC3A 3AA

Disasters Emergency Committee Gaza humanitarian appeal:
Launched by UK charities on 22 January to raise money for Gaza aid relief and reconstruction

Participants: Action Aid, British Red Cross, Cafod, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Help the Aged, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, World Vision

Information on 0370 60 60 900 or at DEC website

Following is the DEC advertisement that the BBC and Skye News are refusing to air.

The video was made when the death toll was "just" "a few hundred" and it is completely apolitical (the word "Israel" doesn't even appear in the script). The power of its images alone is self-evident, making it clear why the BBC doesn't want it seen. Reality, in this case, has an anti-Israel bias.

60 Minutes: Time Running Out For A Two State Solution

Finally, 60 Minutes gets it, it is not the Palestinians who have not worked towards a solution, it is Israel.





Read,

Gazan Family Opens What's Left Of A Home

An Israeli Woman Asks: Obama, take away the pain in my stomach

Hat-tip to Hussam Ayloush

Illustration: Dwynn Ronald V. Trazo/Gulf News

Saudi patience is running out

By Turki al-Faisal, Special to Gulf News Published: January 24, 2009, 00:31

In my decades as a public servant, I have strongly promoted the Arab-Israeli peace process. During recent months, I argued that the peace plan proposed by Saudi Arabia could be implemented under an Obama administration if the Israelis and Palestinians both accepted difficult compromises. I told my audiences this was worth the energies of the incoming administration for, as the late Indian diplomat Vijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit said: "The more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war." But after Israel launched its bloody attack on Gaza, these pleas for optimism and co-operation now seem a distant memory. In the past weeks, not only have the Israeli Defence Forces murdered more than 1,200 Palestinians, but they have come close to killing the prospect of peace itself. Unless the new US administration takes forceful steps to prevent any further suffering and slaughter of Palestinians, the peace process, the US-Saudi relationship and the stability of the region are at risk. Prince Saud Al Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, told the UN Security Council that if there was no just settlement, "we will turn our backs on you". King Abdullah spoke for the entire Arab and Muslim world when he said at the Arab summit in Kuwait that although the Arab peace initiative was on the table, it would not remain there for long. Much of the world shares these sentiments and any Arab government that negotiated with the Israelis today would be rightly condemned by its citizens. Two of the four Arab countries that have formal ties to Israel - Qatar and Mauritania - have suspended all relations and Jordan has recalled its ambassador. America is not innocent in this calamity. Not only has the Bush administration left a sickening legacy in the region - from the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to the humiliation and torture at Abu Ghraib - but it has also, through an arrogant attitude about the butchery in Gaza, contributed to the slaughter of innocents. If the US wants to continue playing a leadership role in the Middle East and keep its strategic alliances intact - especially its "special relationship" with Saudi Arabia - it will have to drastically revise its policies vis a vis Israel and Palestine. The incoming US administration will be inheriting a "basket full of snakes" in the region, but there are things that can be done to help calm them down. First, President Barack Obama must address the disaster in Gaza and its causes. Inevitably, he will condemn Hamas's firing of rockets at Israel. When he does that, he should also condemn Israel's atrocities against the Palestinians and support a UN resolution to that effect; forcefully condemn the Israeli actions that led to this conflict, from colony building in the West Bank to the blockade of Gaza and the targeted killings and arbitrary arrests of Palestinians; declare America's intention to work for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, with a security umbrella for countries that sign up and sanctions for those that do not; call for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Sheba' Farms in Lebanon; encourage Israeli-Syrian negotiations for peace; and support a UN resolution guaranteeing Iraq's territorial integrity. Obama should strongly promote the Abdullah peace initiative, which calls on Israel to pursue the course laid out in various international resolutions and laws: to withdraw completely from the lands occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, returning to the lines of June 4 1967; to accept a mutually agreed just solution to the refugee problem according to the General Assembly resolution 194; and to recognise the independent state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital. In return, there would be an end to hostilities between Israel and all the Arab countries, and Israel would get full diplomatic and normal relations. Recently, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran wrote a letter to King Abdullah, explicitly recognising Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Arab and Muslim worlds and calling on him to take a more confrontational role over "this obvious atrocity and killing of your own children" in Gaza. The communiqué is significant because the de facto recognition of the kingdom's primacy from one of its most ardent foes reveals the extent that the war has united an entire region, both Shiite and Sunni. Further, Ahmadinejad's call for Saudi Arabia to lead a jihad against Israel would, if pursued, create unprecedented chaos and bloodshed in the region. So far, the kingdom has resisted these calls, but every day this restraint becomes more difficult to maintain. When Israel deliberately kills Palestinians, appropriates their lands, destroys their homes, uproots their farms and imposes an inhuman blockade on them; and as the world laments once again the suffering of the Palestinians, people of conscience from every corner of the world are clamouring for action. Eventually, the kingdom will not be able to prevent its citizens from joining the worldwide revolt against Israel. Today, every Saudi is a Gazan, and we remember well the words of our late King Faisal: "I hope you will forgive my outpouring of emotions, but when I think that our Holy Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem is being invaded and desecrated, I ask God that if I am unable to undertake Holy Jihad, then I should not live a moment more." Let us all pray that Obama possesses the foresight, fairness, and resolve to rein in the murderous Israeli regime and open a new chapter in this most intractable of conflicts.

1000 Rabbis Call On Obama: Make Mideast Peace A Top Priority

Prominent American Rabbis urge President Obama to Make Israeli-Palestinian Peace a Top Priority.

To view the (now 1017) signers and the statement for Brit Tzedek V'Shalom, link HERE





And if the two state solution as a viable option disappears, then what?

The one-state solution becomes the ONLY option, which as Hedy Epstein stated two years ago, will not happen in her lifetime, maybe not ours, but it WILL, because this is the ONLY just solution, the right of return is a HUMAN RIGHT.

International Law and Israel's War on Gaza- Francis Boyle

Znet, January 22, 2009 - ....First, we must immediately move for the de facto suspension of Israel throughout the entirety of the United Nations System, including the General Assembly and all U.N. subsidiary organs and bodies. We must do to Israel what the U.N. General Assembly has done to the genocidal rump Yugoslavia and to the criminal apartheid regime in South Africa! Here the legal basis for the de facto suspension of Israel at the U.N. is quite simple:

As a condition for its admission to the United Nations Organization, Israel formally agreed to accept General Assembly Resolution 181 (II) (1947) (partition/Jerusalem trusteeship) and General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) (1948) (Palestinian right of return), inter alia. Nevertheless, the government of Israel has expressly repudiated both Resolution 181 (II) and Resolution 194 (III). Therefore, Israel has violated its conditions for admission to U.N. membership and thus must be suspended on a de facto basis from any participation throughout the entire United Nations System....

Francis A. Boyle is a leading American professor, practitioner and advocate of international law. He was responsible for drafting the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, the American implementing legislation for the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. He served on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International (1988-1992), and represented Bosnia-Herzegovina at the World Court. Professor Boyle teaches international law at the University of Illinois, Champaign.

READ the FULL article HERE

John Stewart's Analysis of Obama's Inauguration Speech

Well, for all the "Hope" we are so desperately in need of as a nation after eight long years of the Bush administration, here is John Stewart to bring an acute analysis to Obama's inauguration speech as only this comic can do

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Poem for Gaza

Poem for Gaza by Michael Rosen

Submitted by ForYourHealth on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 21:30.

Source:

Michael Rosen

In Gaza, children,
you learn that the sky kills
and that houses hurt.
You learn that your blanket is smoke
and breakfast is dirt.

You learn that cars do somersaults
clothes turn red,
friends become statues,
bakers don’t sell bread.

You learn that the night is a gun,
that toys burn
breath can stop,
it could be your turn.

You learn:
if they send you fire
they couldn’t guess:
not just the soldier dies -
it’s you and the rest.

Nowhere to run,
nowhere to go,
nowhere to hide
in the home you know.

You learn
that death isn’t life,
that air isn’t bread,
the land is for all.
You have the right to be
Not Dead.
You have the right to be
Not Dead.
You have the right to be
Not Dead.

Yes you do my dear sweet children, yes you do.

Dead Palestinian Children Have Names!

At least 300 children are among the more than 1,000 Palestinians who have died since Israel began to bombard the Gaza Strip on December 27.

Al Jazeera has obtained the names of 210 of the young victims, 44 of which were under five years old.

By Date, Name, Gender and Age:

27/12/2008
Ibtihal Kechko Girl 10
Ahmed Riad Mohammed Al-Sinwar Boy 3
Ahmed Al-Homs Boy 18
Ahmed Rasmi Abu Jazar Boy 16
Ahmed Sameeh Al-Halabi Boy 18
Tamer Hassan Al-Akhrass Boy 5
Hassan Ali Al-Akhrass Boy 3
Haneen Wael Mohammed Daban Girl 15
Khaled Sami Al-Astal Boy 15
alaat Mokhless Bassal Boy 18
Aaed Imad Kheera Boy 14
Abdullah Al-Rayess Boy 17
Odai Hakeem Al-Mansi Boy 4
Allam Nehrou Idriss Boy 18
Ali Marwan Abu Rabih Boy 18
Anan Saber Atiyah Boy 13
Camelia Al-Bardini Girl 10
Lama Talal Hamdan Girl 10
Mohammed Jaber Howeij Boy 17
Nimr Mustafa Amoom Boy 10
29/12/2008
Ismail Talal Hamdan Boy 10
Ahmed Ziad Al-Absi Boy 14
Ahmed Youssef Khello Boy 18
Ikram Anwar Baaloosha Girl 14
Tahrier Anwar Baaloosha Girl 17
Jihad Saleh Ghobn Boy 10
Jawaher Anwar Baaloosha Girl 8
Dina Anwar Baaloosha Girl 7
Samar Anwar Baaloosha Girl 6
Shady Youssef Ghobn Boy 12
Sudqi Ziad Al-Absi Boy 3
Imad Nabeel Abou Khater Boy 16
Lina Anwar Baaloosha Girl 7
Mohammed Basseel Madi Boy 17
Mohammed Jalal Abou Tair Boy 18
Mohammed Ziad Al-Absi Boy 14
Mahmoud Nabeel Ghabayen Boy 15
Moaz Yasser Abou Tair Boy 6
Wissam Akram Eid Girl 14
30/12/2008
Haya Talal Hamdan Girl 8
31/12/2008
Ahmed Kanouh Boy 10
Ameen Al-Zarbatlee Boy 10
Mohammed Nafez Mohaissen Boy 10
Mustafa Abou Ghanimah Boy 16
Yehya Awnee Mohaissen Boy 10
Ossman Bin Zaid Nizar Rayyan Boy 3
Assaad Nizar Rayyan Boy 2
Moaz-Uldeen Allah Al-Nasla Boy 5
Aya Nizar Rayyan Girl 12
Halima Nizar Rayyan Girl 5
Reem Nizar Rayyan Boy 4
Aicha Nizar Rayyan Girl 3
Abdul Rahman Nizar Rayyan Boy 6
Abdul Qader Nizar Rayyan Boy 12
Oyoon Jihad Al-Nasla Girl 16
Mahmoud Mustafa Ashour Boy 13
Maryam Nizar Rayyan Girl 5
01/01/2009
Hamada Ibrahim Mousabbah Boy 10
Zeinab Nizar Rayyan Girl 12
Sujud Mahmoud Al-Derdesawi Girl 10
Abdul Sattar Waleed Al-Astal Boy 12
Abed Rabbo Iyyad Abed Rabbo Al-Astal Boy 10
Ghassan Nizar Rayyan Boy 15
Christine Wadih El-Turk Boy 6
Mohammed Mousabbah Boy 14
Mohammed Iyad Abed Rabbo Al-Astal Boy 13
Mahmoud Samsoom Boy 16
Ahmed Tobail Boy 16
Ahmed Sameeh Al-Kafarneh Boy 17
Hassan Hejjo Boy 14
Rajeh Ziadeh Boy 18
Shareef Abdul Mota Armeelat Boy 15
Mohammed Moussa Al-Silawi Boy 10
Mahmoud Majed Mahmoud Abou Nahel Boy 16
Mohannad Al-Tatnaneeh Boy 18
Hani Mohammed Al-Silawi Boy 10
01/01/2009
Ahmed Al-Meshharawi Boy 16
Ahmed Khodair Sobaih Boy 17
Ahmed Sameeh Al-Kafarneh Boy 18
Asraa Kossai Al-Habash Girl 10
Assad Khaled Al-Meshharawi Boy 17
Asmaa Ibrahim Afana Girl 12
Ismail Abdullah Abou Sneima Boy 4
Akram Ziad Al-Nemr Boy 18
Aya Ziad Al-Nemr Girl 8
Ahmed Mohammed Al-Adham Boy 1
Akram Ziad Al-Nemr Boy 13
Hamza Zuhair Tantish Boy 12
Khalil Mohammed Mokdad Boy 18
Ruba Mohammed Fadl Abou-Rass Girl 13
Ziad Mohammed Salma Abou Sneima Boy 9
Shaza Al-Abed Al-Habash Girl 16
Abed Ziad Al-Nemr Boy 12
Attia Rushdi Al-Khawli Boy 16
Luay Yahya Abou Haleema Boy 17
Mohammed Akram Abou Harbeed Boy 18
Mohammed Abed Berbekh Boy 18
Mohammed Faraj Hassouna Boy 16
Mahmoud Khalil Al-Mashharawi Boy 12
Mahmoud Zahir Tantish Boy 17
Mahmoud Sami Assliya Boy 3
Moussa Youssef Berbekh Boy 16
Wi'am Jamal Al-Kafarneh Girl 2
Wadih Ayman Omar Boy 4
Youssef Abed Berbekh Boy 10
05/01/2009
Ibrahim Rouhee Akl Boy 17
Ibrahim Abdullah Merjan Boy 13
Ahmed Attiyah Al-Semouni Boy 4
Aya Youssef Al-Defdah Girl 13
Aya Al-Sersawi Girl 5
Ahmed Amer Abou Eisha Boy 5
Ameen Attiyah Al-Semouni Boy 4
Hazem Alewa Boy 8
Khalil Mohammed Helless Boy 12
Diana Mosbah Saad Girl 17
Raya Al-Sersawi Girl 5
Rahma Mohammed Al-Semouni Girl 18
Ramadan Ali Felfel Boy 14
Rahaf Ahmed Saeed Al-Azaar Girl 4
Shahad Mohammed Hijjih Girl 3
Arafat Mohammed Abdul Dayem Boy 10
Omar Mahmoud Al-Baradei Boy 12
Ghaydaa Amer Abou Eisha Girl 6
Fathiyya Ayman Al-Dabari Girl 4
Faraj Ammar Al-Helou Boy 2
Moumen Alewah Boy 9
Moumen Mahmoud Talal Alaw Boy 10
Mohammed Amer Abu Eisha Boy 8
Mahmoud Mohammed Abu Kamar Boy 15
Marwan Hein Kodeih Girl 6
Montasser Alewah Boy 12
Naji Nidal Al-Hamlawi Boy 16
Nada Redwan Mardi Girl 5
Hanadi Bassem Khaleefa Girl 13
06/01/2009
Ibrahim Ahmed Maarouf Boy 14
Ahmed Shaher Khodeir Boy 14
Ismail Adnan Hweilah Boy 15
Aseel Moeen Deeb Boy 17
Adam Mamoun Al-Kurdee Boy 3
Alaa Iyad Al-Daya Girl 8
Areej Mohammed Al-Daya Girl 3 months
Amani Mohammed Al-Daya Girl 4
Baraa Ramez Al-Daya Girl 2
Bilal Hamza Obaid Boy 15
Thaer Shaker Karmout Boy 17
Hozaifa Jihad Al-Kahloot Boy 17
Khitam Iyad Al-Daya Girl 9
Rafik Abdul Basset Al-Khodari Boy 15
Raneen Abdullah saleh Girl 12
Zakariya Yahya Al-Taweel Boy 5
Sahar Hatem Dawood Girl 10
Salsabeel Ramez Al-Daya Girl 6 months
Sharafuldeen Iyad Al-Daya Boy 7
Doha Mohammed Al-Daya Girl 5
Ahed Iyad Kodas Boy 15
Abdullah Mohammed Abdullah Boy 10
Issam Sameer Deeb Boy 12
Alaa Ismail Ismail Boy 18
Ali Iyad Al-Daya Boy 10
Imad Abu Askar Boy 18
Filasteen Al-Daya Girl 5
Kamar Mohammed Al-Daya Boy 3
Lina Abdul Menem Hassan Girl 10
Unidentified Boy 9
Unidentified Boy 15
Mohammed Iyad Al-Daya Boy 6
Mohammed Bassem Shakoura Boy 10
Mohammed Bassem Eid Boy 18
Mohammed Deeb Boy 17
Mohammed Eid Boy 18
Mustafa Moeen Deeb Boy 12
Noor Moeen Deeb Boy 2
Youssef Saad Al-Kahloot Boy 17
Youssef Mohammed Al-Daya Boy 1
07/01/2009
Ibrahim Kamal Awaja Boy 9
Ahmed Jaber Howeij Boy 7
Ahmed Fawzi Labad Boy 18
Ayman Al-Bayed Boy 16
Amal Khaled Abed Rabbo Girl 3
Toufic Khaled Al-Khahloot Boy 10
Habeeb Khaled Al-Khahloot Boy 12
Houssam Raed Sobeh Boy 12
Hassan Rateb Semaan Boy 18
Hassan Ata Hassan Azzam Boy 2
Redwan Mohammed Ashoor Boy 10
Suad Khaled Abed Rabbo Girl 6
Samar Khaled Abed Rabbo Girl 2
Abdul Rahman Mohammmed Ashoor Boy 12
Fareed Ata Hassan Azzam Boy 13
Mohammed Khaled Al-Kahloot Boy 15
Mohammed Samir Hijji Boy 16
Mohammed Fareed Al-Maasawabi Boy 16
Mohammed Moeen Deeb Boy 17
Mohammed Nasseem Salama Saba Boy 16
Mahmoud Hameed Boy 17
Hamam Issa Boy 1
08/01/2009
Anas Arif Abou Baraka Boy 7
Ibrahim Akram Abou Dakkka Boy 12
Ibrahim Moeen Jiha Boy 15
Baraa Iyad Shalha Girl 6
Basma Yasser Al-Jeblawi Girl 5
Shahd Saad Abou Haleema Girl 15
Azmi Diab Boy 16
Mohammed Akram Abou Dakka Boy 14
Mohammed Hikmat Abou Haleema Boy 17
Ibrahim Moeen Jiha Boy 15
Matar Saad Abou Haleema Boy 17
09/01/2009
Ahmed Ibrahim Abou Kleik Boy 17
Ismail Ayman Yasseen Boy 18
Alaa Ahmed Jaber Girl 11
Baha-Uldeen Fayez Salha Girl 5
Rana Fayez Salha Girl 12
Rola Fayez Salha Girl 13
Diyaa-Uldeen Fayez Salah Boy 14
Ghanima Sultan Halawa Girl 11
Fatima Raed Jadullah Girl 10
Mohammed Atef Abou Al-Hussna Boy 15

Video:

Children suffer in Israel's war on Gaza - 15 Jan 09

Sunday Offering #68: Dear God, Dear God, Let Israel Hear

Empathy. What is empathy? Simply, it is the ability to feel another's suffering.

This song, "Chad Gadya" is sung at the end of Seder during passover.

Can you feel another's suffering Israel? What is a Palestinian life worth to you that you cleansed them from their lands, using your "G-d" as a sorry excuse for this, your real estate deed written in book by your own ancestors setting you above all others as his "chosen".

God will damn you Israel, the God of mercy and love will DAMN you, for you did not look over Palestine, you have raped and slaughtered them.

A father bought a kid for two zuzim;
a cat came and ate the kid;
a dog then bit the cat;
the dog was beaten by a stick;
the stick was burned by fire;
water quenched the fire;
an ox drank the water;
a shohet (ritual slaughterer) slaughtered the ox;
the shohet was killed by the Angel of Death who
in punishment was destroyed by God.





"An Arab Shepherd is Searching for his Lamb" by Yehuda Amichai (the MERCILESS machine)

רועה ערבי מחפש גדי בהר ציון
An Arab Shepherd is searching for his kid [lamb] on Mt. Zion
ובהר ממול אני מחפש את בני.
On the opposite mountain I am searching for my kid [son]
רועה ערבי ואב יהודי
Arab shepherd and a Jewish father
בכשלונם הזמני.
in their temporary setback.
קולות שנינו נפגשים מעל
Our voices meet over
לברכת השולטן
The Sultan's Pool
שנינו רוצים שלא ייכנסו
we don't want them to enter
הבן והגדי
the son and the kid
לתוך המכונה הנוראה
into the horrible machine
של חד-גדיא."
of the Chad Gadya.

Sibel Edmonds Documentary - Kill The Messenger -

Sibel Edmonds, a 32-year-old Turkish-American, was hired as a translator by the FBI shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 because of her knowledge of Middle Eastern languages. She was fired less than a year later in March 2002 for reporting shoddy work and security breaches to her supervisors that could have prevented those attacks

Important watch: The US-Turkish-Israeli Triangle.





Sibel Edmond's WEBSITE

Cynthia McKinney, What is Dignity?

http://www.wearechange.org
http://www.infowars.com
http://www.cynthiamckinney.com

There is NO reason to be uninformed, watch Al Jazeera FREE on the internet!

Here's the LINK

Watch other international media stations also.

Los Angeles: JEWS SHUT DOWN ISRAELI CONSULATE!

“Jews of Conscience” Blockade Israeli Consulate in LA, Join Growing Global Movement

Published 14 Jan 2009, 10:46 am - No Comments -
Filed under Feature Stories

Listen to this segment | the entire program

As the Israeli offensive in Gaza has entered its nineteenth day, the Palestinian Ministry of Health is reporting that nearly one-thousand lives have been lost with more than three hundred children among the dead. Israel’s military said it carried out its latest overnight strikes on sixty targets as reservists are being prepared for possible ground operations into the densely populated urban areas of the coastal strip. Meanwhile for the second time since the conflict began, Katyusha rockets landed in Northern Israel after being fired from Southern Lebanon sparking concerns that fighting could open on a second front. As the assault on Gaza continues, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in urging for a ceasefire. The Foreign Minister of Germany is also publicly calling for an end to all hostilities. At the start of the Israeli offensive against Gaza, protests around the world immediately called for an end to the killing. From the West Bank to Egypt, to London, and even Chile, demonstrations have denounced Israeli military incursions. In the United States and Canada, Israeli consulates have become sites of protests as a group of eight Jewish women occupied the consulate in Toronto last week and four demonstrators were arrested in Boston after staging a sit-in at their consulate in Boston this past weekend.

GUESTS: Lisa Adler, member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, participating at a sit-in in Los Angeles in front of the Israeli Consulate at 6380 Wilshire Blvd.

JEWS SHUT DOWN ISRAELI CONSULATE!

10 JEWS CHAIN TOGETHER TO BLOCK DRIVEWAY AND ENTRANCE!

Who: Jewish people of conscience in Los Angeles, including a nurse, a school counselor, a retired school teacher, a retired union representative, and a community organizer.

What: Civil Disobedience to shut down the Israeli consulate, with people risking arrest by chaining themselves to the building, strong visuals condemning Israeli attack on Gaza

Where: Consulate General of Israel, 6380 Wilshire Blvd # 1700, Los Angeles, CA 90048

When: 8:30am

Concerned Jewish residents of Los Angeles will shut down the Israeli consulate for the first time ever in a historic protest against the policies of Israel. An ad-hoc, multi-generational group including members of the recently founded International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, will send a message to the Israeli government and its US supporters: "Not In Our Name! We will not be silent! Jews demand an end to the Israeli siege on Gaza and an end to Israeli apartheid." The demonstration will kick off a wave of demonstrations across the United States uniting Palestinians, Jewish people, and other Americans outraged by the siege.

"We are shocked and outraged at Israeli's latest act of violent aggression against the Palestinian people. Killing over 950 people, including 250 women and children, bombing schools and mosques and then calling it self-defense— that is the worst kind of hypocrisy. It also amounts to war crimes," said Hannah Howard, a local member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. "We are shutting down the Israeli consulate today because as Jewish people we cannot allow business as usual while violence is being done in our name. This is a direct betrayal of our Jewish tradition of social justice."

Action participants will also speak out against the US government's unconditional support for Israel's siege and its ongoing war against the Palestinian people. "While US-funded F16's rain down bombs on the people of Gaza, our elected officials locally and nationally offer unqualified support." said Marsha Steinberg, a retired union representative. "Our government must stop sending billions of dollars in military and economic aid to the Israeli war machine while defending Israel in the international community," Steinberg said. In the coming week, concerned Americans from all backgrounds will call on the new Presidential administration to make a 180 degree change in policy.

"While the end of the siege on Gaza is our most immediate priority, this is only the latest chapter in Palestinians' 60 plus year experience of occupation and ethnic cleansing. Peace and justice in the region will only come when Palestinians have freedom and control their own destiny," said Lisa Adler, a community organizer in Los Angeles and another member of the International Jewish Solidarity Network. "Even before the siege began, Israel's inhumane months-long blockade of Gaza created a major humanitarian crisis. We must end the siege. And we are building a nonviolent international movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions that brings an end to Israel's policies of occupation and apartheid and advances the Palestinian struggle for justice," said Adler.

For more information on the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, visit www.ijsn.net

On the Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Black Activists Condemn Role of U.S. as Israel's Siege of Gaza Continues -say Israel's war is genocide

For Immediate Release - Attention Assignment Desk!

On the Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Black Activists Condemn Role of U.S.
as Israel's Siege of Gaza Continues

-say Israel's war is genocide

What:
Press Conference of Black Community Leaders and Activists

Who:
Hank Jones: San Francisco 8, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights; Jasimen Syler: co-founder Active Students for African People; Minister Tony Muhammad: Nation of Islam; KPFK Host Margaret Prescod: of Global Women's Strike; KPFK Host Dedon Kamathi, of All African People's Revolutionary Party; John Parker: International Action Center

When:
Dr. King's Birthday - Thursday, January 15th at 12 Noon

Where:
Downtown Federal Building - 300 N. Los Angeles, St., Los Angeles


While the president of the UN General Assembly has condemned Israel's killings of Palestinians as "genocide," so too have Black activists and religious leaders who will be holding a press conference Thursday at the Downtown Federal Building to denounce the U.S. government for funding and supplying with arms Israel's latest war in Gaza, which has killed nearly 1,000 Palestinians with well over 4,000 injured.

"Given the history of lynchings of Black people in the U.S., and the recent murders of Black men in Oakland, Texas and New Orleans by police, it is no wonder that we feel an obligation to be in solidarity with innocent people being massacred by a military power propped up by the U.S. government," said one organizer of the press conference.

Human Rights Watch has added to the assertion of genocide by also confirming that white phosphorous is indeed being used against Palestinians. Used as a chemical weapon, this targets civilian populations due to its indiscriminate and wide reach. Doctors in Gaza have stated that they are now witnessing the skin of children and anyone who comes into contact with this substance literally peeling off as they lay in hospital beds. Yet, as the offensive by Israel continues on the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, so too will the outrage of these Black activists who say they are very disappointed in white, and especially Black, elected officials who have been complicitly silent in the face of this new holocaust.

Echoing Former Congresswoman and Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney, activists will be urging that President Obama end his silence and live up to his campaign promises of initiating change towards Dr. King's dream of justice and an end to racism and genocide.

Online petition - Send UN Peacekeepers into Gaza and the West Bank Now

Online petition - Send UN Peacekeepers into Gaza and the West Bank Now

From Vancouver, with Love: a prayer for Gaza from Elders of the Coast Salish Territory

I haven't found the words, mine are in the silence of my heart, spoken in a language to the drumbeat of humanity............





Peace Rally
10 January 2009
Vancouver, Canada
Coast Salish Territory

chycho
http://www.chycho.com/

INDIGENOUS ACTION MOVEMENT Coast Salish Territory

O'mums the word on Gaza

Press Release by Gaza's Coastal Municipalities Water Utility

This is a war crime depriving the citizens of Gaza of clean water and the ability to treat their sewage!

Press Release: By Coastal Municipalities Water Utility

January 10, 2009 -- Gaza, Palestine

Due to the current situation in the Gaza Strip that was imposed by

the Israeli military operations since Saturday 27/12/2008, the

Coastal Municipalities Water Utility "CMWU" hereby announces its

inability to (failure) maintain its services in both the water sector in terms

of production and distribution and wastewater sector in terms of collection

and discharging in Gaza Strip governorates. Despite our several appeals to

all international aid agencies and organizations to help out and support our

technical teams in keeping all water and wastewater facilities operational

and repairing the infrastructure damages and destructions caused by the

Israeli bombarding, but all these requests were declined until this moment.

In addition to the continuation of many obstacles during the past three

years such as closures and sieges, the CMWU faced acute shortage in

necessary spare parts, equipments, and machines for affording

the required infrastructural services and had to deal with

electricity insufficiency and fuel (diesel) shortage as power supply

alternative for restoring these services.

According to the above, the CMWU would like to brief the followings:

1. The water carrier line between Al-Moghraga wells and Nussierate city

was damaged due to Israeli air strikes to nearby El Zahraa'a and Nussierate

Bridge . As a result, more than 30,000 residents in Nussierate city are

inaccessible to water services.

2. Complete destruction of El-Edara Well in eastern side of Jabalia city. As

a result, more than 25,000 residents in Jabalia city are inaccessible to

water services. "CMWU" wants to state that the well operator has been

deceived due to Israeli bombarding.

3. The main electrical transistor that belongs to El Shiekh Ejleen water well

has been damaged. As a result, more than 40,000 residents of southern Tal

El Hawa city and the surrounding residential towers are out of water

services.

4. The main 12" steel water carrier that supply 40% of total water produced

from Gaza city northern side has been destroyed due to the Israeli military

operations. As a result, more than 200,000 residents in Gaza city are out of

vital water source.

5. Main sewerage line in Bait Hanoun city has been destroyed by the Israeli

military actions. The line is not repaired until this moment, which caused

health hazardous consequences.

6. The main power generator in Beit Lahia wastewater treatment

plant "BLWWTP" has been targeted by the Israeli military operations,

which halted the CMWU from carrying on its services in collection

and discharging the wastewater in Beit Lahia city. In addition to

several damages in several wastewater networks due to continuous Israeli

shelling.

7. Due to the presence of the Israeli troops in Netzarim area, the CMWU

states that the Gaza Wastewater Treatment Plant is completely out of

operation and yet the plant is unable to discharge the wastewater to the

sea. As a result, the collection ponds are threatened to be broken down at

any moment in which it will impose serious catastrophic humanitarian,

health, and environmental consequences on the surrounding lives and

properties from danger of sewerage floods.

8. Since the beginning of the Israeli military operations in Gaza Strip, the

wastewater level in main Beit Lahia discharging pond is increasing due to

power shortage and lack of fuel in the plant. As a result, major catastrophe

shall threaten the lives of thousands of residents of eastern Beit Lahia city

of danger of drowning in the sewage flooding.

9. The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility "CMWU" assures that it has

applied for several coordination requests from the Israeli side and through

the Palestinian Water Authority "PWA", International Committee of Red

Cross "ICRC", UNRWA, and all international humanitarian aid

organizations working in Gaza strip to facilitate the CMWU to repair all the

aforesaid damages points, and to distribute the fuel (diesel) to all water

and wastewater facilities that was donated by UNRWA as an urgent aid to

CMWU, but all these requests were declined and failed until this moment.

The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility "CMWU" appeals all international

humanitarian aid organizations allover the world for quick and prompt

intervention and involvement with the Israeli side to allow the CMWU for

providing and affording the minimum basic water and wastewater services

and restoring the operational capability of its water and wastewater

facilities to avoid further serious catastrophic humanitarian, health, and

environmental consequences under this hard situation in Gaza Strip.

www.cmwu.ps

The War on Children

Gaza: The War On Children
Jamal Dajani
Senior Director and Producer of Mosaic News, Link TV
Posted January 12, 2009 | 05:03 PM (EST)



War is traumatizing for anybody, but it's especially devastating to children caught in the crossfire. They are the ones who bear absolutely no responsibility for all the violence, yet they are the ones left with some of the worst physical and psychological scars -- scars they'll carry for life.

As the Israeli army continues its attack on Gaza for the 17th consecutive day, the number of Palestinian civilian deaths continues to rise amidst massive destruction of buildings and property. Israel has employed its full-fledged arsenal to bombard Palestinian residential areas. The latest numbers stand at more than 900 dead and 4,000 injured. More than 280 children have died and approximately 1,480 have been injured since Israel began its offensive against Gaza on Dec. 27, 2008. According to U.N. sources, close to a third of the dead and one fourth of the injured are children. Israel has accused Hamas of intentionally attacking from civilian-populated areas, driving up casualties among non-combatants to provoke anger against Israel. Regardless of this claim, do children have to pay the price?

Below is a chronology of just three days of fighting and its effect on Gaza's children:

On Jan. 6, Israeli soldiers fired mortar shells at a school in the Jabaliya refugee camp. Forty-two people were killed, and Palestinian medical officials said many were children. Israel says Hamas militants had been firing mortar shells from the school, something the U.N. denies.

On Jan. 7, emergency personnel were allowed to enter the Zaytoun neighborhood; previously the Israeli military had kept the International Committee of the Red Cross from entering for four days. Among at least 12 bodies found in one house were four weakened but living children lying next to their mothers' bodies.

On January 8, three brothers were killed from the Hamdoun family: Sami 12, Ali 10, and Mohsen 9. Their televised images have caused outrage in Europe and the Arab world.

In the American media, images from Gaza have been sanitized and when partially shown, they are portrayed as incidental casualties of war. This past Sunday, CNN tried to show "balance" between Palestinian children suffering in Gaza and Israeli families bidding farewell to their sons heading to the front. I'm sorry, but I could not see the balance between the maimed children in Gaza and those shooting at them.

Meanwhile, mounting evidence is emerging that Israel is experimenting with new non-conventional weapons on the civilian population in Gaza. "It is happening again, what we saw in Lebanon two years ago", says Paola Manduca, a genetics teacher and researcher at the University of Genoa and member of New Weapons Research Committee (NWRC), "where Israel used white phosphorus, dense inert metal explosive (DIME), thermobaric bombs, cluster bombs and uranium ammunitions, and experimented with novel weapons and delivery modalities." If this is true, more children are destined to die and to suffer under the watchful eye of the entire world.

For those who care, Jamila al Hayash was playing with her friends on her roof when an Israeli missile struck. Her story is in this video:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/gaza-the-war-on-children_b_157249.html

Jamal Dajani produces the Mosaic Intelligence Report on Link TV

Note to my stalker

It sure is nice that yahoo allows you to block emails.

Try sending from an different address and that will be blocked also. Blocking has been on for several days now.

Update Monday January 12

Time to move on elsewhere Elric66.

Reese's Peeses, LOLOLOL, you are so darn transparent Elric, TATA!

UPDATE Tuesday January 13. How immature can you get? Elric66 has now subscribed me to 7 different Zionist "news" services through my email.

CHOP CHOP, all gone.

Geesh what a harrassing goon this guy is. And CHILDISH.

Norwegian Train Drivers In Solidarity With The People Of Gaza!

The Norwegian Locomotive Drivers Union has shown what trade unions in Britain should be doing now... Taking action in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. On Thursday 8 January all trains in the whole of Norway, and all trams and subways in Oslo, stood still for two minutes in protest against the Israeli invasion. The union issued the following information for passengers:

"Because of the situation in the Gaza Strip, the Locomotive Drivers Union in Norway has decided to demonstrate our solidarity with the Palestinian people. This will be organised by adding two more minutes of stoppage at the station. The same action applies to all passenger trains in Norway simultaneously. We demand the immediate withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the Palestinian territory. Thank you for your understanding." (Source)

MIDEAST: Israel Rejected Hamas Ceasefire Offer in December

By Gareth Porter* (SOURCE)

WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (IPS) - Contrary to Israel's argument that it was forced to launch its air and ground offensive against Gaza in order to stop the firing of rockets into its territory, Hamas proposed in mid-December to return to the original Hamas-Israel ceasefire arrangement, according to a U.S.-based source who has been briefed on the proposal.

The proposal to renew the ceasefire was presented by a high-level Hamas delegation to Egyptian Minister of Intelligence Omar Suleiman at a meeting in Cairo Dec. 14. The delegation, said to have included Moussa Abu Marzouk, the second-ranking official in the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, told Suleiman that Hamas was prepared to stop all rocket attacks against Israel if the Israelis would open up the Gaza border crossings and pledge not to launch attacks in Gaza.

The Hamas officials insisted that Israel not be allowed to close or reduce commercial traffic through border crossings for political purposes, as it had done during the six-month lull, according to the source. They asked Suleiman, who had served as mediator between Israel and Hamas in negotiating the original six-month Gaza ceasefire last spring, to "put pressure" on Israel to take that the ceasefire proposal seriously.

Suleiman said he could not pressure Israel but could only make the suggestion to Israeli officials. It could not be learned, however, whether Israel explicitly rejected the Hamas proposal or simply refused to respond to Egypt.

The readiness of Hamas to return to the ceasefire conditionally in mid-December was confirmed by Dr. Robert Pastor, a professor at American University and senior adviser to the Carter Centre, who met with Khaled Meshal, chairman of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus on Dec. 14, along with former President Jimmy Carter. Pastor told IPS that Meshal indicated Hamas was willing to go back to the ceasefire that had been in effect up to early November "if there was a sign that Israel would lift the siege on Gaza".

Pastor said he passed Meshal's statement on to a "senior official" in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) the day after the meeting with Meshal. According to Pastor, the Israeli official said he would get back to him, but did not.

"There was an alternative to the military approach to stopping the rockets," said Pastor. He added that Israel is unlikely to have an effective ceasefire in Gaza unless it agrees to lift the siege.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment Thursday on whether there had been any discussion of a ceasefire proposal from Hamas in mid-December that would have stopped the rocket firing.

Abu Omar, a spokesman for Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Syria, told CBS news Wednesday that Hamas could only accept the ceasefire plan now being proposed by France and Egypt, which guarantees an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza as soon as hostilities on both sides were halted. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel would only support the proposal if it also included measures to prevent Hamas from re-arming.

The interest of Hamas in a ceasefire agreement that would actually open the border crossings was acknowledged at a Dec. 21 Israeli cabinet meeting -- five days before the beginning of the Israeli military offensive -- by Yuval Diskin, the head of Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet. "Make no mistake, Hamas is interested in maintaining the truce," Diskin was quoted by Y-net News agency as saying. (HERE is the link to that YNet article)

Israel's rejection of the Hamas December proposal reflected its preference for maintaining Israel's primary leverage over Hamas and the Palestinian population of Gaza -- its ability to choke off food and goods required for the viability of its economy -- even at the cost of continued Palestinian rocket attacks.

The ceasefire agreement that went into effect Jun. 19, 2008 required that Israel lift the virtual siege of Gaza which Israel had imposed after the June 2007 Hamas takeover. Although the terms of the agreement were not made public at the time, they were included in a report published this week by the International Crisis Group (ICG), which obtained a copy of the understanding last June.

In addition to a halt in all military actions by both sides, the agreement called on Israel to increase the level of goods entering Gaza by 30 percent over the pre-lull period within 72 hours and to open all border crossings and "allow the transfer of all goods that were banned and restricted to go into Gaza" within 13 days after the beginning of the ceasefire.

Nevertheless, Israeli officials freely acknowledged in interviews with ICG last June that they had no intention of opening the border crossings fully, even though they anticipated that this would be the source of serious conflict with Hamas.

The Israelis opened the access points only partially, and in late July Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni declared that the border crossings should remain closed until Hamas agreed to the release of Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier abducted by Hamas in June 2006. The Hamas representative in Lebanon, Usam Hamdan, told the ICG in late December that the flow of goods and fuel into Gaza had been only 15 percent of its basic needs.

Despite Israel's refusal to end the siege, Hamas brought rocket and mortar fire from Gaza to a virtual halt last summer and fall, as revealed by a report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) in Tel Aviv last month. ITIC is part of the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Centre (IICC), an NGO which is close to the Israeli intelligence community.

In the first days after the ceasefire took effect, Islamic Jihad fired nine rockets and a few mortar rounds in retaliation for Israeli assassinations of their members in the West Bank. In August another eight rockets were fired by various groups, according to IDF data cited in the report. But it shows that only one rocket was launched from Gaza in September and one in October.

The report recalls that Hamas "tried to enforce the terms of the arrangement" on other Palestinian groups, taking "a number of steps against networks which violated the arrangement," including short-term detention and confiscating their weapons. It even found that Hamas had sought support in Gazan public opinion for its policy of maintaining the ceasefire.

On Nov. 4 -- just when the ceasefire was most effective -- the IDF carried out an attack against a house in Gaza in which six members of Hamas's military wing were killed, including two commanders, and several more were wounded. The IDF explanation for the operation was that it had received intelligence that a tunnel was being dug near the Israeli security fence for the purpose of abducing Israeli soldiers.

Hamas officials asserted, however, that the tunnel was being dug for defensive purposes, not to capture IDF personnel, according to Pastor, and one IDF official confirmed that fact to him.

After that Israeli attack, the ceasefire completely fell apart, as Hamas began openly firing rockets into Israel, the IDF continued to carry out military operations inside Gaza, and the border crossings were "closed most of the time", according to the ITIC account.

Israel cited the firing of 190 rockets over six weeks as the justification for its massive attack on Gaza.

*Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specialising in U.S. national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, "Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam", was published in 2006.

UN: IDF officers admitted there was no gunfire from Gaza school which was shelled

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1054009.html

_{By Barak Ravid and Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent}

The United Nations is claiming Israeli military officers have admitted there was no Palestinian gunfire emanating from inside an UNRWA school in Gaza which was shelled by an IDF tank.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed in the shelling.

In addition, UNRWA Thursday announced it will cease activities in the Strip due to the death of an UNRWA staffer in an IDF shelling during Thursday morning's humanitarian hiatus.

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told Haaretz yesterday that the army had conceded wrongdoing.

"In briefings senior [Israel Defense Forces] officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabalya were responding did not originate from the school," Gunness said. "The IDF admitted in that briefing that the attack on the UN site was unintentional."

He noted that all the footage released by the IDF of militants firing from inside the school was from 2007 and not from the incident itself.

"There are no up-to-date photos," Gunness said. "In 2007, we abandoned the site and only then did the militants take it over."

The UNRWA is now demanding an objective investigation into whether the school shelling constituted a violation of international humanitarian law, and if so, that those responsible stand trial.

The UN reported Thursday that a Palestinian working for the UNRWA was killed by an IDF tank shell while driving an aid truck at the Erez border crossing. The organization claims the UN truck was well-marked and the incident took place during the humanitarian hiatus slated to allow Gaza residents to acquire supplies.

Playing into the hands of Hamas

By Bernard Avishai and Sam Bahour

Israel and Hamas are not equals on the battlefield - not at all, clearly - and when the power to harm or control others is this uneven, it is meaningless to speak about moral symmetry. But as the current onslaught in Gaza unfolds, it is sadly evident that both sides are continuing to respond to real provocations in ways that are not morally right, or even politically smart.

If Hamas thought that lobbing missiles into Israeli civilian neighborhoods was a decent or proportionate response to the grim realities of the occupation, they were wrong. On the other hand, if Israel thinks it can bludgeon the Palestinians into political surrender, or get Hamas - or the Palestinian community at large, for that matter - to acquiesce to military occupation then it, too, is wrong.

There is no military solution to this conflict. Until both sides fully grasp this, the world can expect only continuing violence and vendetta, with civilians on both sides paying the price for leaders who - because of pressure, ambition or hubris - feel that they must do the most damage, fire the last shot or make the most credible threat. Indeed, it is sad, and repellent, to hear military correspondents speak of "teaching a lesson," "increasing pressure," "making a statement," achieving "deterrence," when those they are reporting on are really trying to control the news cycle, or win arguable (and in any case temporary) psychological advantage, by killing, or accepting the deaths of, people at random on the other side.

Operation Cast Lead - the heart-wrenching death and wanton destruction the Israeli army is inflicting on Gaza as we write - is the product of just such thinking. In the first week, Israeli air raids killed over 500 people, many of them non-combatants; invading ground forces have now killed 100 more. Israelis knew in advance that Hamas forces are not a regular army; they will not come out of hiding and be mowed down like soldiers in World War I. To go after them effectively, in, of all places, the Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated places on earth, the IDF would have to level its towns and cities, block by block, and intensify the nightmare of the Gazan population, more than half of which is children under the age of 15.

This cannot succeed in achieving Israel's stated aim of degrading Hamas' long-term capabilities and motivation. It will certainly not undermine Hamas' appeal, especially since the electricity and water infrastructures are also inevitably targeted. Now that Israeli soldiers have been killed in this tragic operation, there are the unavoidable cries that the IDF "go all the way," so their deaths would not have been in vain. But Israel cannot make Hamas surrender - it cannot "win." Meanwhile, the carnage will help Hamas, and other Palestinian military factions, make their case - not only in Gaza, but across the West Bank too. A glorious stand will even turn them into cultural heroes among Israel's Palestinian Arab citizens.

It should be clear by now that Hamas' appeal only grows when Israelis attacks Palestinians. It increased when Israel insisted that occupied territory was merely "disputed," ignoring its obligations under international law, and tried to dissociate its unilateral "disengagement" from Gaza from the continuing occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Hamas appealed to circles upon circles of Palestinian youth, who, grieving for friends or relatives killed in clashes with occupation forces, or appalled by iron-fist policies, succumbed to rage or survivors' guilt. Its appeal increased in the absence of any concrete progress toward peace, indeed, when the peacemaking process seemed endlessly stalled.

Hamas' appeal spread, finally, when Palestinian economic life seemed futile, or inevitably corrupt - when a fight to the last martyr seemed the only chance at a meaningful life - or death. Give Gazans open borders, relief from grinding poverty, and business opportunities with West Bank and foreign partners and, over time, this will win over Hamas-controlled tunnels and smuggling every time. The Palestinian private sector, centered in Ramallah, has begged Israel and the international community for 18 months to allow it access to Gaza, to build new businesses. Israel refused. Tragically, many who have been killed this past week were not Hamas militants, but rather Palestinians who worked in Hamas-run ministries or institutions because they had no choice if they wanted to feed and clothe their children.

The critical point, surely, is that one cannot do in two weeks with force what you need to do over a generation with reciprocity. Even as it worked toward an overall solution to the conflict, Israel could have respected international law regarding occupation, observed the Geneva conventions, helped build Palestinian civil society, stopped settlement construction, invited international monitors, and allowed Palestinians to compete non-violently, politically, economically and socially. It could have, in short, allowed for unity and rationality in Palestinian politics. This is not, well, rocket science.

Bernard Avishai is an author and management consultant who lives in Jerusalem. He blogs at www.bernardavishai.com. Sam Bahour is a management consultant and entrepreneur living in Ramallah. He blogs at epalestine.blogspot.com.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=1054157

Israel: Boycott, Divest, Sanction-Naomi Kline

Lookout

By Naomi Klein

This article appeared in the January 26, 2009 edition of The Nation.

January 7, 2009

It's time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.

• Naomi Klein: Brace yourself for a final, frantic stripping of public wealth as the Bush regime goes out the door.

In July 2005 a huge coalition of Palestinian groups laid out plans to do just that. They called on "people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era." The campaign Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions--BDS for short--was born.

Every day that Israel pounds Gaza brings more converts to the BDS cause, and talk of cease-fires is doing little to slow the momentum. Support is even emerging among Israeli Jews. In the midst of the assault roughly 500 Israelis, dozens of them well-known artists and scholars, sent a letter to foreign ambassadors stationed in Israel. It calls for "the adoption of immediate restrictive measures and sanctions" and draws a clear parallel with the antiapartheid struggle. "The boycott on South Africa was effective, but Israel is handled with kid gloves.... This international backing must stop."

Yet many still can't go there. The reasons are complex, emotional and understandable. And they simply aren't good enough. Economic sanctions are the most effective tools in the nonviolent arsenal. Surrendering them verges on active complicity. Here are the top four objections to the BDS strategy, followed by counterarguments.

1. Punitive measures will alienate rather than persuade Israelis. The world has tried what used to be called "constructive engagement." It has failed utterly. Since 2006 Israel has been steadily escalating its criminality: expanding settlements, launching an outrageous war against Lebanon and imposing collective punishment on Gaza through the brutal blockade. Despite this escalation, Israel has not faced punitive measures--quite the opposite. The weapons and $3 billion in annual aid that the US sends to Israel is only the beginning. Throughout this key period, Israel has enjoyed a dramatic improvement in its diplomatic, cultural and trade relations with a variety of other allies. For instance, in 2007 Israel became the first non-Latin American country to sign a free-trade deal with Mercosur. In the first nine months of 2008, Israeli exports to Canada went up 45 percent. A new trade deal with the European Union is set to double Israel's exports of processed food. And on December 8, European ministers "upgraded" the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a reward long sought by Jerusalem.

It is in this context that Israeli leaders started their latest war: confident they would face no meaningful costs. It is remarkable that over seven days of wartime trading, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange's flagship index actually went up 10.7 percent. When carrots don't work, sticks are needed.

2. Israel is not South Africa. Of course it isn't. The relevance of the South African model is that it proves that BDS tactics can be effective when weaker measures (protests, petitions, back-room lobbying) have failed. And there are indeed deeply distressing echoes: the color-coded IDs and travel permits, the bulldozed homes and forced displacement, the settler-only roads. Ronnie Kasrils, a prominent South African politician, said that the architecture of segregation that he saw in the West Bank and Gaza in 2007 was "infinitely worse than apartheid."

3. Why single out Israel when the United States, Britain and other Western countries do the same things in Iraq and Afghanistan? Boycott is not a dogma; it is a tactic. The reason the BDS strategy should be tried against Israel is practical: in a country so small and trade-dependent, it could actually work.

4. Boycotts sever communication; we need more dialogue, not less. This one I'll answer with a personal story. For eight years, my books have been published in Israel by a commercial house called Babel. But when I published The Shock Doctrine, I wanted to respect the boycott. On the advice of BDS activists, I contacted a small publisher called Andalus. Andalus is an activist press, deeply involved in the anti-occupation movement and the only Israeli publisher devoted exclusively to translating Arabic writing into Hebrew. We drafted a contract that guarantees that all proceeds go to Andalus's work, and none to me. In other words, I am boycotting the Israeli economy but not Israelis.

Coming up with this plan required dozens of phone calls, e-mails and instant messages, stretching from Tel Aviv to Ramallah to Paris to Toronto to Gaza City. My point is this: as soon as you start implementing a boycott strategy, dialogue increases dramatically. And why wouldn't it? Building a movement requires endless communicating, as many in the antiapartheid struggle well recall. The argument that supporting boycotts will cut us off from one another is particularly specious given the array of cheap information technologies at our fingertips. We are drowning in ways to rant at one another across national boundaries. No boycott can stop us.

Just about now, many a proud Zionist is gearing up for major point-scoring: don't I know that many of those very high-tech toys come from Israeli research parks, world leaders in infotech? True enough, but not all of them. Several days into Israel's Gaza assault, Richard Ramsey, the managing director of a British telecom company, sent an e-mail to the Israeli tech firm MobileMax. "As a result of the Israeli government action in the last few days we will no longer be in a position to consider doing business with yourself or any other Israeli company."

When contacted by The Nation, Ramsey said his decision wasn't political. "We can't afford to lose any of our clients, so it was purely commercially defensive."

It was this kind of cold business calculation that led many companies to pull out of South Africa two decades ago. And it's precisely the kind of calculation that is our most realistic hope of bringing justice, so long denied, to Palestine.

Further Reading: Disengagement and the Frontiers of Zionism

About Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist and syndicated columnist and the author of the international and New York Times bestseller The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (September 2007); an earlier international best-seller, No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies; and the collection Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate (2002). more...