Witness - Part 3 and 4

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Witness- Part 1 and 2

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PCHR Condemns Israeli Attempts to Legitimize Crimes in Gaza and Sheild Perpetrators from Justice

On 22 April 2009, Israeli Military Authorities announced the conclusion of five internal investigations examining the conduct of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) during the recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The investigations, supervised by IOF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, claimed that investigations found a very small number of incidents involving intelligence or operational errors, but that "throughout the fighting in the Gaza Strip" IOF "operated in accordance with international law".

Deputy IOF chief of staff, Major General Dan Harel, claimed that 1,166 Palestinians were killed in the offensive of which 295 were civilians, and 709 were combatants. 162 victims have not been classified.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly contest these figures and the results of the investigations, which constitute an attempt to legitimise crimes committed in the Gaza Strip, and to shield perpetrators from justice. PCHR's investigations indicate that 1,417 Palestinians were killed in the offensive, of which 1,181 (83%) were non-combatants. Civilian property in the Gaza Strip was also extensively targeted and destroyed: PCHR have found that, inter alia, approximately 20,000 homes and 1,500 factories and workshops were completely destroyed or damaged, and that 6,636 dunums of agricultural land were razed. Source



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Palestina - Video

This short video should help say alot about some of palestinian Issues with the Zionist policies.




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Palestinians in Hebron complain of racism - 24 Apr 09

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According to the Bible, Falestin was given to them by God.

Abraham stayed a long time there;

” And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.” Ge 21:34

David got protection there;

“But David kept thinking to himself, “Someday Saul is going to get me. The best thing for me to do is escape to the Philistines. Then Saul will stop hunting for me, and I will finally be safe.”" 1 Samuel 27:1

More righteous than Isaac;

“king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac fondling Rebekah his wife. So Abim’elech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, she is your wife; how then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’” Abim’elech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” (Genesis 26:6-11)

Palestinians are the Judges of Israel;

“These were the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the hill country of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. These people were left to test the Israelites – to see whether they would obey the commands the LORD had given to their ancestors through Moses.” Judges 3:3-4

“And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.” Jud 15:20

Israel Given to the Palestinians;

“And Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.” 1Samuel 15:28, and (jos 13:1)

Israel Sold To Palestinians;

“And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites” Jos 10:7


Hope this helps people see that the bible itself as well, rejects their version of favor of God.

Equal to Israel;

“Do you Israelites think you are more important to me than the Ethiopians ?” asks the LORD. “I brought you out of Egypt, but have I not done as much for other nations, too? I brought the Philistines from Crete and led the Arameans out of Kir” Amos 9:7






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Tell Congress to help humanitarian workers get into Gaza and to suspend all transfers of weapons to Israel

20 days into the Gaza crisis and the humanitarian crisis there gets worse each day. 398 women and children are dead, another 4700 injured, 750,000 lack access to water and one million are without electricity. Each day that passes guarantees more innocent civilians will suffer. Tell Congress to act swiftly to help humanitarian workers get into Gaza and to suspend all transfers of weapons to Israel.

Tell Congress to help humanitarian workers get into Gaza and to suspend all transfers of weapons to Israel



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The reasons behind the assassination of Ahmad Yassine

Ahmad Yassine, the spiritual leader of Hamas, was assassinated by the direct order of Ariel Sharon and carried out by Apache helicopters. This should not be analyzed as only the assassination of one person.
The reasons behind the assassination of Ahmad Yassine
There is no doubt that the Zionist regime had specific reasons and purposes for carrying out the assassination of Shaykh Ahmad Yassine. Shaykh Ahmad was born in the village al-Jawar near Asqalan. This village, along with many other villages, was occupied by Jewish forces in 1948. At that time, Yassine moved with his family to Gaza. Yassine started his resistance after completing his studies at Al-Azhar University. He was arrested numerous times by the Zionist regime before he was finally assassinated. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison in the year 1983 and was released two years afterwards. In 1989 he was arrested again and sentenced to 15 years in prison and was released in a prisoner swap in 1997. He lost his sight while resisting and at the time of his martyrdom his body was extremely fragile. Despite his fragile body he was considered the charismatic leader of Hamas. He was also loved by the rest of the Palestinian political parties. He held the second place of affection amongst the Palestinian people after Arafat. The Zionist regime wanted to strike Hamas, a group that takes responsibility for most of the martyrdom missions performed in Palestine, by murdering their founder, Shaykh Yassine.

Another reason behind the assassination was that the Zionist regime wanted to destroy the balance of the Palestinian political groups after the retreat from Gaza. In the opinion of the Zionist regime Palestinian groups such as Hamas, Jihad, and even the Quds Martyr Brigades – the military wing of Fatah – did not cooperate at all. This gap of strength must be filled. There was a gap of strength in the region because Egypt did not accept controlling it, the weakness of the PLO, and the inability of international organizations. Zionist sources announced that Yassine was assassinated at a time when the mentioned groups were on the verge of making an agreement over the control of Gaza. They then quoted members of Hamas. For example, they quoted Nasir Rayan, one of the top members of Hamas, as saying: “Hamas has a program for controlling Gaza after the retreat.” Sharon predicted that after the assassination of Yasin Palestinian groups, especially Hamas, would take severe revenge and then Sharon would be able to announce the insecurity of Gaza and the retreat would be cancelled. One of the points that must be observed is that this prediction did not actualize. In opposition to the prediction the assassination of Yassine did not create a third intifada.

Yassine was a father figure for all of the members of Hamas. He was the spiritual leader of Hamas. But, that does not mean that the Palestinians will not be able to find another leader like him.

At the end it must be said that the Zionist regime assassinated him by continuing their policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders. Shaykh Ahmad Yassine was 68 years old at the time of his martyrdom.



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Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against
Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
(OPT) and Continue to Impose a Total Siege on the Gaza Strip

• IOF killed two activists of the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip and one civilian in the West Bank.

• 16 Palestinian civilians, including two children and two journalists, were
wounded by IOF gunfire in the West Bank.

• 9 of these civilians were wounded by IOF and Israeli settlers in Kherbat Safa area, north of Hebron.

• IOF conducted 26 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

• IOF arrested 52 Palestinian civilians, including 8 children, in the West Bank and 10 fishers in the Gaza Strip.

• IOF conducted a wide scale incursion into Kherbat Safa area, north of Hebron.

• IOF occupied 8 Palestinian houses, and reclassified them as military sites.

• IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.

• IOF troops positioned at military checkpoints in the West Bank arrested 9 Palestinian civilians.

• IOF have continued measures aimed at the creating of a majority Jewish
demographic in East Jerusalem.

• IOF demolished two Palestinian houses in Jerusalem.

• A Palestinian house in the old town of Jerusalem was seized.

• IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.

• IOF ordered the demolition of a number of houses in Hebron.

• Israeli settlers seized 4 shops in the old town of Hebron.

Story




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The apartheid analogy

The apartheid analogy

It is perhaps understandable that some advocates of Palestinian rights look at the "apartheid label," in its comparative sense, as a politically useful tool. The struggle of the South African people for justice and equality reached a certain sacred status in the 1980s and '90s when the anti-apartheid struggle reached its zenith. The reverence with which activists and non-activists alike look to the righteousness of the South African struggle, and the ignominy of the colonial apartheid regime, are well placed. Black South Africans fought against both Dutch and British colonization for centuries, endured countless hardships including imprisonment and death, and were labeled terrorists as the powers of the world stood by the racist apartheid regime. They remained steadfast in their struggle, raising the cost of maintaining the apartheid system until South African capital found it no longer profitable and white political elites found it impossible to maintain. The comparison is further enhanced due to the relationship between the respective Palestinian and South African liberation movements, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the African National Congress, as well as the unabashed alliance between Israel and the South African apartheid regime, which remained strong even at the height of the international boycott against South Africa.

A further impetus for confining the "apartheid label" to a comparison with South Africa is that the commonalities and similarities between the liberation struggles of South Africa and Palestine are quite stark. Both cases involved a process of settler-colonialism involving the forced displacement of the indigenous population from most of their ancestral lands and concentrating them in townships and reservations, dividing the colonized community into different groups with differing rights, strict mobility restrictions that suffocated the colonized, and the use of brutal military force to repress any actual or potential resistance against the racist colonial regime.

Both regimes have enjoyed the impunity that results from full US and European support. Accompanying these and countless other similarities are a host of uncanny details common to both cases: both regimes were formally established in the same year -- 1948 -- following decades of British rule; approximately 87 percent of the land was off limits to most of the colonized population without special permission, and so on. While we speak here in the past tense for South Africa, this still applies to present-day Palestine.

As the Israeli apartheid label has gained ground, some have adopted the approach of describing the differences between the two regimes, albeit for various purposes. In general, Israel has not legislated petty apartheid -- the segregation of spaces such as bathrooms and beaches -- as was the case in South Africa. However, Israeli laws form the basis of systematic racial discrimination against Palestinians. The 1.2 million Palestinian citizens of Israel (approximately 20 percent of Israel's citizens) do indeed have the right to vote and run in Israeli elections while the Black community in South Africa, for the most part, did not. The South African version of apartheid's central tenet was to facilitate the exploitation of as many Black laborers as possible, whereas the Israeli version, although exploiting Palestinian workers, prioritizes the forced displacement of as many Palestinians as possible beyond the borders of the state with the aim of eradicating Palestinian presence within historic Palestine. South African visitors to Palestine have often commented on the fact that Israeli use of force is more brutal than that witnessed in the heyday of apartheid, thus leading several commentators to adopt the position that Israel's practices are worse than apartheid and that the apartheid label does not go far enough. Read more



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Galloway's Gaza mission runs into protests

George Galloway's high-profile mission to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza has run into controversy, just as his convoy reaches the final leg of its 5,000 mile journey.

Egyptian activists who had been planning to welcome Galloway's Viva Palestina trucks as they cross from Libya into Egypt today will instead be staying at home, after allegations surfaced that Galloway was planning to take part in official receptions with the unpopular Egyptian government, despite having recently called for it to be overthrown.

Rumours that Galloway had agreed to meet Ahmed Ezz, a steel magnate who is a close associate of President Hosni Mubarak and has been caught up in several corruption scandals, caused an outcry among groups opposed to a president Galloway has dismissed as a tyrant.

The mile convoy of 110 vehicles left England on 14 February and travelled through Europe and North Africa. Egyptian opposition groups had been preparing a "red carpet" welcome for Galloway and his caravan, impressed at the British MP's forceful denunciations of Mubarak's stance on the Gaza crisis. The Egyptian government largely refused to open its Rafah border crossing with Gaza during Israel's recent 22-day military assault on the area, prompting Galloway to declare that the "dictatorship" of Mubarak was "jointly responsible for the murder of every Palestinian who has died these last two years".

Earlier this week, Saad el-Katany, an MP for the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, said Galloway's arrival and the issue of aid for Gaza had united Egypt's fragmented opposition movement. "Egyptians across the political spectrum welcome the European convoy," Katany said in a statement. The sentiment was echoed by Abdel Gelil Moustafa, a co-ordinator for Kefaya, the country's largest secular opposition force, who promised public receptions for the convoy at each of its stops in Egypt.

But yesterday the opposition mood soured after accusations that Galloway had planned to co-ordinate with the ruling NDP party and take part in a welcoming ceremony featuring Ezz. In a statement on its website, the Egyptian Popular Committee for the Support of the Palestinian People - an umbrella organisation of opposition groups - said it was cancelling its plan to receive Galloway's convoy.

Some activists are claiming that Galloway was allowing the aid convoy to be used as a propaganda stunt by a repressive government. Hossam el-Hamalawy, a prominent opposition blogger, labelled Viva Palestina an "ass-kissing carnival". Source



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90,000 Palestinians are Homeless

At least 90,000 Palestinians have lost their homes as a result of Israel's war on Gaza, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has told the European parliament in France.

Abbas told politicians gathered in Strasbourg on Wednesday that Israeli blockades and illegal settlement expansion have continued, and called for Israel to answer for its activities.

"We should no longer deal with Israel as a state above the law, above all accountability, above international law," Abbas said.

"We should put an end to this policy. Israeli leaders should be held accountable for their violations of international and humanitarian law," he added, to applause from European parliament members.

Abbas' speech came shortly after he held talks with the president of the European parliament.



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Scholars Say Attack on Gaza an Abuse of Human Rights

Scholars Say Attack on Gaza an Abuse of Human Rights

Israel's recent assault on Gaza by land, sea and air against the backdrop of its control over the territory was a disturbing violation of Palestinians' human rights, speakers at the symposium said.

As far as I know, this is the first time that a civilian population has been locked into a war zone and denied the option of becoming refugees.

By Ajay Singh

BESIDES UNDERDEVELOPMENT and strife, Gaza and Tijuana have little in common. Yet the two places have been widely juxtaposed in a question that has figured in the U.S. media's coverage of the Gaza conflict: What would the United States do if rockets rained on it from Tijuana?

It's "completely false" to compare an attack from Mexico — or, for that matter, Canada — with the spectacle of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel, noted English Professor Saree Makdisi, an expert on the Israel-Palestine conflict, at a Jan. 21 symposium on campus. "In the analogy, it's never pointed out that we, of course, do not occupy Tijuana or Ottawa."

Israel's recent assault on Gaza by land, sea and air against the backdrop of its total control over the region since 1967 was a disturbing violation of Palestinians' human rights, speakers at the symposium said. Titled "Human Rights and Gaza," the well-attended public event was held at the Broad Art Center and sponsored by the Center for Near Eastern Studies and the International Institute.

Much of the public debate about the Gaza conflict has centered on whether or not Israel's offensive was disproportionate to the rocket attacks on Israeli territory by the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

"That immediately puts Israel in the position of defending itself against provocation from Hamas," said Richard Falk, a visiting professor of global and international studies at UC Santa Barbara. A United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Falk is also the author of "Achieving Human Rights," a book published by Routledge last fall.

But the notion that Israel acted in self-defense, "falsifies in fundamental ways the interaction between Gaza and Israel," Falk added, explaining that before Israel launched its offensive on Dec. 27, Gaza was subjected to an 18-month blockade that denied Palestinians "fuel, food and medicine and brought them to a point of near-collapse."

Moreover, the siege of Gaza amounted to "a form of collective punishment prohibited by the Geneva Conventions and a grave breach of international humanitarian law that is itself a war crime," said Falk, adding: "That's left out of the public understanding of how this conflict emerged." Read entire Article




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West Bank, Palestine: Israeli soldiers kidnap a security officer in Tulkarem, three residents in Bethlehem

West Bank, Palestine: Israeli soldiers kidnap a security officer in Tulkarem, three residents in Bethlehem

IMEMC & Agencies:

Palestinian security sources in Tulkarem city, in the northern part of the West Bank, reported that Israeli soldiers kidnapped on Thursday morning one member of the Palestinian Intelligence. Three more residents were kidnapped in Bethlehem.

The sources added that several military jeeps invaded the Tulkarem city, and surrounded a number of neighborhoods while soldiers broke into and searched several of homes.

Later on, soldiers kidnapped Ra’ed Wasfi Zahran, 35, after breaking into his home and searching it causing excessive damage. Zahran was taken to an unknown destination.

In Bethlehem District, soldiers kidnapped on Wednesday at night and Friday at dawn three residents In Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Fajjar.

Troops broke into a number of homes and searched them, before kidnapping the three residents.

The three were identified as Mohammad Fuad Zboun, 25, from Al Fawghra neighborhood in Bethlehem, Abdullah Issa Sh’ebat, 23, from Beit Sahour, and Taher Saber Deriyya, 23, from Beit Fajjar town, west of Bethlehem.

Source



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Palestine / Israel Population Statistics

The demographic composition of the Israel-Palestine region has played a major role in the events, policies and debates that have shaped the area. Early on, population figures were used to establish or deny the legitimacy of particular claims. As Ami Isseroff, Director of the MidEastWeb, notes "the Zionist claim that Palestine was 'a land without a people' is challenged by pro Palestinian historians who cite census figures showing a substantial Palestinian-Arab population by 1914. Zionists note that most of this increase seems to have occurred after 1880, when Jews began developing Palestine."

In addition to these claims, population statistics were used to determine the partition plans of 1937 and 1947, as well as British immigration policy in 1939. After 1967, demographics influenced settlement policy (especially in East Jerusalem), and during the 1990s it determined the areas to be turned over to the Palestinian Authority. Other relevant considerations include the demographic impact of war (especially the wars of 1948 and 1967) and of Palestinian refugee Right of Return upon the state of Israel. Demographics will likely play a role in any future peace talks and is currently a part of Sharon's motivation to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

History: The areas known today as Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, were in 1922 designated under the British Mandate as a single territorial unit called Palestine.

Prior to British rule, the area existed as several districts within the Ottoman Empire. (Only the inhabitants from the Ottoman districts that would become British Mandate Palestine were included in the population figures presented below).

In 1948, the British withdrew, Israel declared statehood, and the first Arab-Israeli war broke out. The armistice lines established between Israel and Jordan, and Israel and Egypt formed the West Bank and Gaza Strip respectively. These territorial divisions remained until the 1967 War when Israel came to control both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as well as East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Since 1967, population figures for Israel have included the residents of East Jerusalem as well as the Jewish settlers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (until their removal in Aug. 2005). The population of the Golan Heights was included in the Israeli figures starting in 1982. See our complete history of these developments as told through maps.

Demographic Divisions: We have divided the population into two main ethnic groups: Jews and Arabs. For Jerusalem however, we used religious rather than ethnic designations because of the religious significance of the city to Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

Demographic Display: The demographic information below is displayed in graphs and charts. Each graph derives from the data in its corresponding chart. The accompanying maps designate the territory of focus.

Accuracy: The population statistics below are approximations. Older data is generally seen as less accurate than more modern population figures.

Get all the statics here




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Newsest Israeli Military Fashion.

Dead babies, mothers weeping on their children’s graves, a gun aimed at a child and bombed-out mosques - these are a few examples of the images Israel Defense Forces soldiers design these days to print on shirts they order to mark the end of training, or of field duty. The slogans accompanying the drawings are not exactly anemic either: A T-shirt for infantry snipers bears the inscription "Better use Durex," next to a picture of a dead Palestinian baby, with his weeping mother and a teddy bear beside him. A sharpshooter’s T-shirt from the Givati Brigade’s Shaked battalion shows a pregnant Palestinian woman with a bull’s-eye superimposed on her belly, with the slogan, in English, "1 shot, 2 kills." A "graduation" shirt for those who have completed another snipers course depicts a Palestinian baby, who grows into a combative boy and then an armed adult, with the inscription, "No matter how it begins, we’ll put an end to it."

There are also plenty of shirts with blatant sexual messages. For example, the Lavi battalion produced a shirt featuring a drawing of a soldier next to a young woman with bruises, and the slogan, "Bet you got raped!" A few of the images underscore actions whose existence the army officially denies - such as "confirming the kill" (shooting a bullet into an enemy victim’s head from close range, to ensure he is dead), or harming religious sites, or female or child non-combatants.

In many cases, the content is submitted for approval to one of the unit’s commanders. The latter, however, do not always have control over what gets printed, because the artwork is a private initiative of soldiers that they never hear about. Drawings or slogans previously banned in certain units have been approved for distribution elsewhere. For example, shirts declaring, "We won’t chill ’til we confirm the kill" were banned in the past (the IDF claims that the practice doesn’t exist), yet the Haruv battalion printed some last year.

The slogan "Let every Arab mother know that her son’s fate is in my hands!" had previously been banned for use on another infantry unit’s shirt. A Givati soldier said this week, however, that at the end of last year, his platoon printed up dozens of shirts, fleece jackets and pants bearing this slogan.

"It has a drawing depicting a soldier as the Angel of Death, next to a gun and an Arab town," he explains. "The text was very powerful. The funniest part was that when our soldier came to get the shirts, the man who printed them was an Arab, and the soldier felt so bad that he told the girl at the counter to bring them to him."

Does the design go to the commanders for approval?

The Givati soldier: "Usually the shirts undergo a selection process by some officer, but in this case, they were approved at the level of platoon sergeant. We ordered shirts for 30 soldiers and they were really into it, and everyone wanted several items and paid NIS 200 on average."

What do you think of the slogan that was printed?

"I didn’t like it so much, but most of the soldiers wanted it."

Palestine monitor



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Women in fetters! 6 Palestinian women are currently being held under administrative detention orders

Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association on 8 March 2003, International Women's Day, issued a touching statement about the tragic condition of Palestinian Women under occupation. The Association said: “As we also commemorate International Women's Day today, we also remember the remaining 65 Palestinian female detainees currently being held by Israel in the Neveh Terzah section of Ramleh Prison. Of the 65 Palestinian women being detained, 10 are Palestinian minors under the age of 18, held in conditions that contravene international standards of detention and contrary to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which stipulates that all individuals under the age of 18 are considered children, must not be submitted to forms of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, nor should they be deprived of their liberty except as a last resort. The youngest of the detainees are Zainab Al Shouly and 'Aisha Abeyat, both turned 15 whilst in prison.

6 Palestinian women are currently being held under administrative detention orders, imprisoned without charge or trial. One woman, Tahani Al Titi, has been serving continuously renewed administrative detention orders since 13 June 2002. The use of administrative detention for Palestinian women has dramatically increased in the past two months, paralleling similar use during the first Palestinian Intifada. Detainees also include mothers of young children, including Mervat Taha, who was arrested on 13 June 2002 while she was pregnant. She recently gave birth to her child whilst in prison and serving a 20 month sentence. An apparent pattern has developed in which Palestinian women are now being detained in order to place pressure on relations who may be 'wanted' by Israel, or under interrogation. This was evident in the case of 'Abla Sa'adaat, wife of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, General Secretary Ahmad Sa'aadat, as well as Asma Abu Al Hayjah, the wife of Jamal Abu Al Hayjah, who is detained by Israel. Al Hayjah also suffers from severe medical problems, as she was diagnosed some time ago with a cancerous brain tumour which was operated on twice, and was waiting for a third operation before she was detained.

The statement spoke of the conditions of detention in which Palestinian women are held as " inhumane", where Female Palestinian detainees are held in two separate sections, with contact between the two sections banned by the Prisons Authorities. Female detainees are subjected to individual and collective punishment, including the prevention of family visits, being placed in solitary confinement for varying periods of time, and banning canteen privileges, meaning that women are not able to obtain supplementary food or hygiene supplies. Surprise searches are conducted regularly of the women's cells, and personal belongings are often confiscated or destroyed, such as mixing clothing with food and confiscating canteen supplies, personal items and clothing. Hot water and electricity to the cells are often cut off as a form of punishment!

Food provided to the detainees is not adequate in terms of quantity and quality and does not meet basic nutritional requirements. This has caused and will cause vitamin deficient diseases and other health problems amongst detainees in the long term.

The current health situation of female detainees is of grave concern. There is clear neglect towards Palestinian detainees in the provision of health services, and a clear discrimination in the form of services offered between Palestinian detainees and Israeli Jewish detainees held in the same facility. There are often delays in medical treatment when needed, and those in need of hospital care are often not taken to hospital or are offered pain killers for any illness.

Any attempt from female detainees to protest their conditions of detention is met by collective punishment. For example, in July 2002 female detainees began a hunger strike in protest of these conditions. In response, the Prisons Authorities threw tear gas canisters into the women's small cells, causing numerous injuries amongst the detainees. Four of the female detainees were transferred to other prisons and placed in isolation. As a result of the fact that family visits have been prevented for over a year, female detainees do not have enough clothing or supplies that are normally provided by families. For over a year, permits for families of female detainees to travel from the West Bank to Ramleh Prison in Israel, where Palestinian female detainees are held in contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention, have not been issued. Lawyers attempting to visit the detainees are often met with harassment and humiliation from the Prisons Authorities. They are forced to wait for long periods of time before the detainee is brought to them, sometimes up to four hours. The delay means that lawyers are often not able to see all the detainees requested, as lawyer visits are set for a limited period of time. On 4 February 2003, Addameer's lawyer Adv. Mahmoud Hassan was locked in the prison's family visit center at Neveh Terzah for 3 hours before his client was brought to see him, with no reason given for the delay or for his being detained in the visit room.

Gideon Levy, an Israeli Journlaist, raised a rhetorical question in an article by Ha'aretz on March 9, 2003: “ " Did an IDF tank fire a shell at a burning carpentry shop last Thursday morning in the Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, killing seven civilians? The moment the IDF sends tanks into a densely crowded refugee camp, it puts all the inhabitants at risk. The moment the tanks open fire, innocent people are bound to be hurt. Tanks in Jabalya cannot fire shells without killing women and children, just as it was impossible to drop a one-ton bomb on the house of Salah Shehadeh in Gaza without killing 15 civilians, mostly children. Thus, anyone who decides to send tanks into Jabalya is making a decision to kill civilians. An operation to kidnap a wanted individual from Hamas in the heart of Jabalya - a "surgical operation" in the spit-and-polish language of the divisional commander, Brigadier General Gadi Shamni - that ends, as could be expected, in a dozen Palestinians killed, most of them civilians, and large-scale destruction, is an act of terrorism.

Golan67.net



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President Abdullah Gül denounces Islamophobia, Palestinian infighting

On the second day of an official visit to Saudi Arabia, Gül addressed members of the Saudi Consultative Council, becoming the first-ever foreign Muslim leader to address the Saudi assembly. His visit to Saudi Arabia came following Israel's recent deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip, which led to the death of hundreds of civilians.

Describing the Saudi peace plan that calls for Israel to return to the 1967 borders in exchange for full normalization of relations with the Arab states as a "guiding principle," Gül recalled and voiced appreciation that Saudi King Abdullah had hosted leaders of Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas in the holy city of Mecca in early 2007, hoping that the two groups could restart negotiations to form a national unity government.



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Uprooting and land theaft continues in Wadi arRasha and Ras atTira

Over thirty ancient olive trees were uprooted yesterday in the groves of Wadi arRasha and Ras atTira in the Qalqilya region, as part of the construction of a new path for the wall in the area. The uprooting was secured by an overwhelming presence of soldiers, police and riot police, who prevented the villages' women attempt to obstruct the destruction.

Currently, the two villages are separated from the rest of the West Bank by the wall, which was constructed to secure as much land as possible to the nearby settlement of Alfei Menashe. Following an Israeli Supreme Court decision, the path of the wall in the area is being rerouted so to exclude the villages from the Alfi Menashe enclave. The new route, though now leaving the villages east of the wall, is still planned with expansionist aspirations in mind, and may actually worsen the villagers' situation. Under the new path, though no longer separated from the rest of the West Bank, Wadi arRasha will be cut of from virtually all of its lands, with only a quarter of an acre out of about 200 left on their side of the wall. In addition, dozens of olive trees are expected to be felled to allow for the construction of the new path

Source



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Why Intifada / Uprise?

Why Intifada?

What inspires a nation in their entirety to Intifada?

Human Rights

Israel denies full human rights to the Palestinians. In the meantime, Jewish settlers enjoy the full privileges and protection of the Jewish state.


For example, the Palestinians have to seek the permission of the Israelis as they go about One of the tasks of Israel Defence Forces.
their daily lives.

Palestinians are regularly stopped and questioned by the army and police. Travel outside and within Palestine requires an "occupation signed permit" - this also occurs when Palestinians need to travel to pray.

Many Palestinians rightly feel degraded by such treatment. On occasions, bribes are sought from passers by.

Expulsion

There are currently five million Palestinians living outside Palestine as refugees.
Why is Israel still in Palestine streets and towns?
Many left as a result of the Israeli violence. Others left after the occupation to pursue work or studies.

When those people attempted to return to their homes and towns, Israel closed its borders and denied them entry....this situation continues today.

Theft

Over the years, Palestinian homes and villages have been cleared by the Israelis to make way for their settlements.

Siege

An old man weeping on the ruins of his house.
Israel controls all the ports and roads into and out of Palestine. Israel has not allowed the Palestinians to build their own port.

Every shipment of food and medicine must pass under the Israelis supervision and approval. On many occasions Israel collectively punishes the Palestinians by closing these roads and ports.

A daily sight in Palestine. A demonstrator shot for throwing stones.
Torture

Israeli law effectively permits the use of torture. Their statute books refer to it is "physical pressure".

Killing

The Jewish state has killed tens of thousands of Arabs and Palestinians.

Leniency is often granted to those who commit such crimes in Israeli trials. Three soldiers were ordered by an Israeli court to pay the family of a Palestinian they killed a compensation of one cent, divided between the three.

Sick mentality exhibited on this Israeli helmet.
An Israeli was sentenced to serve a life sentence for killing a nine years old boy
(whose head he crushed with a machine gun).

He was released from jail after two years.

Holy shrines

Israel has desecrated the sanctuary of Muslim and Christian shrines regularly. Aqsa mosque was nearly burned down in 1969. It is still threatened with demolition by the Israelis. Frequently, Muslims are prevented from attending prayers by the Israeli army.

Palestinian forced to pray in the streets. The army prohibited them from going to their mosque
Conclusion

Palestine is our home.

We were born there.

We lived there.

We loved there.

We hate no one, but we despise injustice.
Children are the future.
In peace we believe, for freedom we fight.

We have a right to live in peace in our Palestine. This is why there is Intifada.



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Zionism is the problem

Zionism is the problem
The Zionist ideal of a Jewish state is keeping Israelis and Palestinians from living in peace.
By Ben Ehrenreich
March 15, 2009
It's hard to imagine now, but in 1944, six years after Kristallnacht, Lessing J. Rosenwald, president of the American Council for Judaism, felt comfortable equating the Zionist ideal of Jewish statehood with "the concept of a racial state -- the Hitlerian concept." For most of the last century, a principled opposition to Zionism was a mainstream stance within American Judaism.

Even after the foundation of Israel, anti-Zionism was not a particularly heretical position. Assimilated Reform Jews like Rosenwald believed that Judaism should remain a matter of religious rather than political allegiance; the ultra-Orthodox saw Jewish statehood as an impious attempt to "push the hand of God"; and Marxist Jews -- my grandparents among them -- tended to see Zionism, and all nationalisms, as a distraction from the more essential struggle between classes.

To be Jewish, I was raised to believe, meant understanding oneself as a member of a tribe that over and over had been cast out, mistreated, slaughtered. Millenniums of oppression that preceded it did not entitle us to a homeland or a right to self-defense that superseded anyone else's. If they offered us anything exceptional, it was a perspective on oppression and an obligation born of the prophetic tradition: to act on behalf of the oppressed and to cry out at the oppressor.

For the last several decades, though, it has been all but impossible to cry out against the Israeli state without being smeared as an anti-Semite, or worse. To question not just Israel's actions, but the Zionist tenets on which the state is founded, has for too long been regarded an almost unspeakable blasphemy.

Yet it is no longer possible to believe with an honest conscience that the deplorable conditions in which Palestinians live and die in Gaza and the West Bank come as the result of specific policies, leaders or parties on either side of the impasse. The problem is fundamental: Founding a modern state on a single ethnic or religious identity in a territory that is ethnically and religiously diverse leads inexorably either to politics of exclusion (think of the 139-square-mile prison camp that Gaza has become) or to wholesale ethnic cleansing. Put simply, the problem is Zionism.

It has been argued that Zionism is an anachronism, a leftover ideology from the era of 19th century romantic nationalisms wedged uncomfortably into 21st century geopolitics. But Zionism is not merely outdated. Even before 1948, one of its basic oversights was readily apparent: the presence of Palestinians in Palestine. That led some of the most prominent Jewish thinkers of the last century, many of them Zionists, to balk at the idea of Jewish statehood. The Brit Shalom movement -- founded in 1925 and supported at various times by Martin Buber, Hannah Arendt and Gershom Scholem -- argued for a secular, binational state in Palestine in which Jews and Arabs would be accorded equal status. Their concerns were both moral and pragmatic. The establishment of a Jewish state, Buber feared, would mean "premeditated national suicide."

The fate Buber foresaw is upon us: a nation that has lived in a state of war for decades, a quarter-million Arab citizens with second-class status and more than 5 million Palestinians deprived of the most basic political and human rights. If two decades ago comparisons to the South African apartheid system felt like hyperbole, they now feel charitable. The white South African regime, for all its crimes, never attacked the Bantustans with anything like the destructive power Israel visited on Gaza in December and January, when nearly1,300 Palestinians were killed, one-third of them children.

Israeli policies have rendered the once apparently inevitable two-state solution less and less feasible. Years of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have methodically diminished the viability of a Palestinian state. Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has even refused to endorse the idea of an independent Palestinian state, which suggests an immediate future of more of the same: more settlements, more punitive assaults.

All of this has led to a revival of the Brit Shalom idea of a single, secular binational state in which Jews and Arabs have equal political rights. The obstacles are, of course, enormous. They include not just a powerful Israeli attachment to the idea of an exclusively Jewish state, but its Palestinian analogue: Hamas' ideal of Islamic rule. Both sides would have to find assurance that their security was guaranteed. What precise shape such a state would take -- a strict, vote-by-vote democracy or a more complex federalist system -- would involve years of painful negotiation, wiser leaders than now exist and an uncompromising commitment from the rest of the world, particularly from the United States.

Meanwhile, the characterization of anti-Zionism as an "epidemic" more dangerous than anti-Semitism reveals only the unsustainability of the position into which Israel's apologists have been forced. Faced with international condemnation, they seek to limit the discourse, to erect walls that delineate what can and can't be said.

It's not working. Opposing Zionism is neither anti-Semitic nor particularly radical. It requires only that we take our own values seriously and no longer, as the book of Amos has it, "turn justice into wormwood and hurl righteousness to the ground."

Establishing a secular, pluralist, democratic government in Israel and Palestine would of course mean the abandonment of the Zionist dream. It might also mean the only salvation for the Jewish ideals of justice that date back to Jeremiah.

Ben Ehrenreich is the author of the novel "The Suitors."

Source




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The massacre of Jenine refugees camp - 12.04.2002

The Battle of Jenin took place in April 2002 in Jenin's Palestinian refugee camp as part of Operation Defensive Shield, a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the largest conducted in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. The battle attracted widespread international attention because journalists, particularly in the UK, reported that a massacre of Palestinians had taken place during the fighting, and that hundreds, or even thousands, of bodies had been secretly buried in mass graves by the IDF.

The United Nations (UN) report said that the number of Palestinians killed was at least 52, 22 of whom were civilians, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). 23 Israeli soldiers were killed. A section of the camp was destroyed during the fighting.

An UNRWA administrated refugee camp near Jenin was entered by Israeli forces in early April 2002, an operation the IDF described as intending "to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure operating out of the P.A.-controlled areas". Over the next few days a battle took place between the IDF and Palestinians. According to the IDF, Israel chose not to bomb the spots of resistance using aircraft as it entered, but rather to take hold of the city using infantry, although there appears to have been a limited use of helicopters.

After the April 9 ambush, the IDF changed tactics, presumably in order to continue the operation without risking more Israeli deaths, and began operating the heavily-armored IDF Caterpillar D9 bulldozers. Earlier, the IDF maintained that heavy bulldozers were mainly used to clear booby traps and open routes to armored fighting vehicles. After April 9, the bulldozers demolished each house that was allegedly used by the militants to attack Israeli soldiers, and other houses to widen alleyways or to secure locations for IDF troops. Some Palestinians claim that there were cases when the IDF bulldozed houses while there were people inside.

The introduction of the heavily armored bulldozers, which shrugged off explosives and RPGs alike, and the threat of being buried alive, caused the Palestinian militants to surrender. Later, IDF forces withdrew gradually from the refugee camp under international pressure.

After the conflict Israeli reports claim that 8-9% of the houses within the refugee camp were destroyed. This was largely within an area of intense fighting of approximately 100 m by 100 m according to the IDF. Most of the demolition occurred in the Hawashin neighborhood.

Immediately following the event, Israeli authorities prevented the international press from entering the refugee camp for two weeks, which potentially delayed the ability of the world community to assess the damage. Later inquiries by human rights groups and the UN commission did not find evidence of massacres by Israeli forces in Jenin.

Source



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The Philosopy of Zionism and Israel, Who are Zionists? What about Palestine?

People everywhere are asking the questions; "What is Zionism?" and "Why are we here?" You might be amazed to learn, that Islam is providing clear and concise answers for these questions. Islam is not a new religion, but the same truth that God has revealed to all His prophets throughout history. The Quran proclaims in verse 3:19 "The only religion approved by God is Submission." (Islam) - In a religious context it means complete submission to the will of God and anyone who does so is called a "Muslim", "If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to God) it will never be accepted of Him" (quran 3:85) Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, and the majority have nothing to do with the extremely grave events which have come to be associated with their faith. Muslims believe the Holy Quran is the Final Revelation from Almighty GOD which was revealed to Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) in 610 a.d The name of God's religion lslam was not decided upon by man. It was chosen by GOD Himself and is clearly mentioned in His final revelation -the Quran. This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. (quran 5:3)



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Haniyeh: Hamas willing to accept Palestinian state with 1967 borders

Hamas has said it is ready to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders but "will not recognise Israel".

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Khaled Meshaal, the exiled Hamas political leader, reaffirmed Hamas's stance towards Israel and clarified his comments as relayed earlier by Jimmy Carter, the former US president.
"We accept a state on the June 4 line with Jerusalem as capital, real sovereignty and full right of return for refugees but without recognising Israel," Meshaal said.

The Hamas leader was making his first public comments following two meetings with Carter in Damascus last week.
Your Views

Carter, speaking in Jerusalem earlier on Monday, said that Hamas had told him it would accept the right of Israel "to live as a neighbour" if a peace deal was approved by a Palestinian referendum.

Carter said Hamas leaders had told him they would "accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians".

But Carter also said Meshaal turned down his appeal for a unilateral ceasefire with Israel to end violence threatening peace efforts.

"I did the best I could on that," Carter said of his failure to persuade Hamas to halt rocket fire for one month from the Gaza Strip it has controlled since June when it ousted the Fatah movement of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

Aljazeera



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Palestine 101 hosted by former white house chief of staff John Sununu

Award-winning educational video on the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Hosted by Former White House Chief of Staff John Sununu.





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Peace, properganda and the promise land

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported


apartheid
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Israel's apartheid against Palestinians. CBS 60 Minutes

On Sunday, January 25, CBS 60 Minutes aired an amazing segment exposing Israel's apartheid against Palestinians. The piece is by Senior CBS Foreign Correspondent Bob Simon, who is Jewish and lives outside Tel-Aviv. 60 Minutes is the most widely watched news show on US television. The report shows the arrogance and brutality of Israeli soldiers and settlers. It is the single most savage indictment of Israel ever broadcast on U.S. network television



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Depopulation, Destruction and Displacement of the Palestinian People

For Palestinians, the Nakba "Catastrophe" is their "Holocaust" six-month slaughter and displacement before and after the May 1948 establishment of Israel. In December 1947, Jews in Palestine numbered 600,000 compared to 1.3 million Palestinians. David Ben-Gurion ordered them removed and for "Every attack....to end with occupation, destruction and expulsion."

He meant depopulation, destruction, mass slaughter, displacement, and erasing a proud people's history. Palestine was to become Israel. Most of the job was completed, more in 1967, and thereafter incrementally until total dispossession is achieved. Gaza is the latest battleground. More ahead is planned. The struggle for liberation continues.

In all respects, Gaza's situation is dysfunctional and calamitous. Consider the dire medical state alone.

The UK Lancet Medical Journal on Gaza

The prestigious Lancet issued the following statement:

"We find it hard to believe that an otherwise internationally respected, democratic nation can sanction such large and indiscriminate human atrocities in a territory already under land and sea blockade. The heavy loss of civilian life and destruction of Gaza's health system is unjustified and disproportional....The collective punishment of Gazans is placing horrific and immediate burdens of injury and trauma on innocent civilians." These acts are lawless, and we deplore "the silence of national medical associations and professional bodies worldwide....Their leaders....are complicit in a preventable tragedy" with potential long lasting consequences.

The Lancet followed with a lengthy overall assessment. In an introductory overview, it deplores conditions on the ground.

-- violence directed at civilians;

-- the unjustifiable toll;

-- the deaths, injuries and social infrastructure destruction;

-- the breach of "international norms of humanitarian behaviour;"

-- ambulances attacked;

-- medical personnel killed;

-- hospitals short or depleted of everything - power, equipment, medicines, anesthetics, beds, and overworked staffs pulling round the clock shifts;

-- vaccination programs, lab services, pre and postnatal care, and school health services disrupted;

-- severe restrictions on ICRC personnel; and much more; in short, a calamitous situation bring all normal life to a halt.

Despite banning foreign journalists, carnage reports are heard, read, and seen worldwide. Justifiable outrage followed and grows. Testimonies on the ground are heart-rending. Fear grips everyone. People have nowhere to go. The indifference of influential politicians is reflected in Tony Blair's failure once to visit Gaza since his 2007 appointment as the (US, UN, EU, Russia) Quartet special envoy - one for war, not peace, for Israel, not Palestine, for injustice, not liberation.

His absence and silence in the face of a Gaza "Holocaust" reflects his complicity with Israeli terrorism, contempt for Palestinians overall, and another war crime with the others during his tenure as prime minister.

Now and ahead, Israel will be judged by its attitudes and actions towards the non-Jews it controls. America, the West, and complicit Arab regimes share equal guilt for their complicity. Palestinians are isolated on their own, yet for six decades have been resolute and resilient. Their struggle continues.

Contrary to popular perception, the Israeli - Palestinian conflict boils down to this. Over 90 years ago, imperial Britain promised Palestine to two peoples in one 1917 Balfour Declaration sentence from the British Foreign Secretary to the head of Anglo-Jewry:

'His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine."

This was duplicitous on its face. Britain wanted a Western presence in an oil-rich part of the world to assure it got the lion's share. Decades later, neither side will leave so conflict persists. The international community is complicit. It fuels struggle and threatens regional and world peace as a result.

The Dire State of Gaza's Medical Facilities

The 585-bed Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza's best equipped in normal times, "resemble(s) a charnel house" with corpses strewn everywhere, many torn apart patients for too few beds, and doctors having to treat them on the floor and do surgery with little or no anesthesia, at times by flashlight in less than ideal sanitary conditions.

Hospital director Hussain Ashaur worries about risked infection, severe trauma, and horrific burn cases. As bad are "scenes out of Dante's Inferno." Patients arrive with no arms or legs, crushed limbs, bodies torn apart by flesh-shredding DIME weapons, and terrible shortages of everything for normal functioning.

Neonatal deaths are up 10% as new mothers are sent home early for lack of space. Vaccinations have been suspended. Nearly 70% of chronically ill patients aren't treated. Most basic clinics are now just first aid centers.

Accessing the wounded has been hazardous. At least a dozen paramedics were targeted and killed inside clearly marked vehicles and ambulances. Others were shot treating civilians where they lay. The extent of Israeli war crimes is shocking but not surprising under its Dahiyah Doctrine strategy to:

"wield disproportionate power against every village from which (suspected) shots are fired on Israel, and cause immense damage and destruction. From our perspective, these are military bases." Civilian areas are "legitimate military targets," and non-combatants are as fair game as fighters.

The ICRC issued a "harshly critical statement" accusing Israel of denying aid workers access to sites for days and finding shocking scenes when allowed in - the sights and sounds of death, horrific wounds, pain, suffering, despair, and starvation.

Because of the siege, conditions were dire before December 27. After three weeks of attack and in the aftermath, health services are near collapse. Doctors report:

"the most horrific war injuries in men, women, and children of all ages in numbers too large to comprehend. The wounded, dying, and dead have streamed into the overcrowded hospital in endless convoys of ambulances and private cars, and wrapped in blankets in the caring arms of others. The endless and intense bombardment from Israeli air, ground, and naval forces have missed no targets, not even hospitals."

Gaza is now "a shattered, attacked, and drained health-care system trying to help an overwhelming amount of casualties in a war between clearly unequal (sides), where the attacker spares no civilian lives - be it man, woman, or child - not even the much-needed health workers of all professions."

Doctors with war zone experience say they're overwhelmed and never saw anything like it. Gaza is tiny for its 1.5 million people. It has five cities, seven refugee camps for two-thirds of the population, and a bare 24 square kilometers of potentially productive farmland now decreased because of the siege, fighting, and deliberate Israeli razing of the land. It's a "cage, an enormous prison or a completely sealed off ghetto" with its life being extinguished by violence and Israeli-enforced neglect and terror.

Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital is a five story structure with several pavilions for medical specialties. It has 1011 employees, seven clinics, six operating rooms with worn-out poorly operating equipment, and about 406 doctors, including in seven surgical specialties. It's been reduced to a "makeshift, field hospital after years of siege, as well as a lack of maintenance and upgrading" because none is possible. Everything needed for normal functioning is in short supply or absent. Nonetheless, doctors and staff do all they can, at times in 24-hour shifts that tax the most committed, especially when it's common practice.

Through it all, "the morale, strength, and tireless work done by the health workers in Al-Shifa and (throughout) Gaza to save the injured from death is beyond belief." Gaza reflects heroism and resilience despite shocking Israeli state terror and scenes out of Dante's Inferno.

End Game and Prospects in Occupied Palestine and Gaza under Hamas

For six decades, Israel has pursued a colonization, dispossession, and decapitation agenda for total control of historic Palestine. Gaza 2008 - 09 is the latest battleground. Its outcome is undetermined and for the Obama administration to address with a new Israeli government after February 10 elections are held. Continued occupation, oppression, terror wars, and dispossession is their already familiar script.

In 1895, Zionism's founder, Theodor Herzl, wrote: "We must expropriate gently the private property on the state assigned to us. We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by....denying it employment in our country." In 1967, Israeli defense minister, Moshe Dayan, said: Palestinians "shall continue to live like dogs" so they'll leave.

In 1948, David Ben-Gurion stated: "We have taken their country....We must do everything to insure they never return....We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population." In 1988, former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir told Jewish settlers that Palestinians "would be crushed like grasshoppers (with their) heads smashed against the boulders and walls."

Through it all, Palestinians survived, Hamas though battered is unbowed, and if Middle East expert Juan Cole is right:

"the Gaza fighting is likely to underline the self-delusion that has framed the US-Israeli perspective on major groups like Hamas for years, namely that Israel may choose its Palestinian interlocutors, and marginalize and criminalize those who are unwilling to negotiate on Israel's terms. While Hamas by no means speaks for all Palestinians, it is fatuous to assume (it can) be ignored politically or diplomatically."

In 1982, Israel failed to defeat Palestinian nationalism in Lebanon in spite of slaughtering 18,000 people. It merely sidetracked it for a time. The First Intifada followed. In the 1990s, Oslo, Oslo II, Wye River, Camp David, Taba, and other one-sided arrangements bought time until Intifada anger and more conflict erupted. The Road Map and Annapolis didn't halt it. In 2006, Israel failed to defeat Hezbollah. Cole believes that "Hamas is likely to emerge stronger politically than it was when the fighting began" despite all the IDF's might against it. That clearly appears to be right.

But given Arab street anger in the wake of Gaza's carnage, it's possible that "more extreme (Islamic) groups will strengthen, vying with Hamas (and Fatah) for control (as they already do in Lebanese Palestinian refugee camps)." Cole believes that "the Gaza war will change the political landscape of the Middle East" and present "enormous" and perhaps "unwelcome" challenges for Obama and Israel.

Muslim anger is intense, peacemaking an illusion, and if more regional wars are planned (as is likely), all bets are off on their potentially catastrophic consequences.

The Aftermath

During a January 16 Arab League meeting, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia called for Palestinian unity under Fatah while Abbas advisor Yasser Abed Rabbo told a news conference that the "president" would not engage in a dialogue with "killers," meaning Hamas.

At the same time, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed the same sentiment as Washington's man at the world body. He urged Arab leaders to unite for Abbas and Fatah. So did Terje Roed-Larson, former UN Middle East envoy and current International Peace Academy president. He accused Hamas of carrying out a de facto coup against Gazans and never mentioned it's the legitimate government, not the corrupted Fatah under Abbas.

Unmentioned also were prominent Hamas figure Salah al-Bardaweel's charges. On January 19, he accused Abbas of spying on Hamas and conspiring with Israel. He said Fatah spies gave the IDF strategic intelligence on leadership homes and weapons locations. A number were arrested and confessed. "They admitted their guilt and told us names of their masters, who would, in turn, inform the Israeli intelligence apparatus....to facilitate the Israeli mission."

Gazan activist, photojournalist, and blogger voice of truth Sameh Habeeb reported this on the war's aftermath:

Thousands on Gaza's streets are "trying to explore what has happened to relatives, houses and areas. I have documented a massive destruction throughout east, north and west of Gaza Strip. The devastation storms everything needed for normal life. Houses, schools, hospitals, clinics, police stations, charities, universities and streets totally (or) partially destroyed."

Today, paramedics found over 100 bodies, mostly civilians, including eight members of one family. The "Samouni family which was massacred before found 17 more dead bodies under the rubble. Many families still seek (other) members and relatives who were lost during the war time."

On January 18, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that Israeli forces still cut off Gaza City and the northern Strip from other areas in the south. In addition, field workers, especially around Gaza City, the north, and Egyptian border said "these areas looked (like) they were struck by a heavy earthquake." Decomposing bodies are unearthed. Israeli aircraft patrol the skies. The IDF redeployed "outside residential areas" but continue to fire at civilians, especially in border areas.

After declaring a "ceasefire:"

-- Israeli artillery shelled houses in al-Juron Square in Jabalya damaging two homes, killing three children, and wounding other residents;

-- an IDF drone fired a missile at Palestinian civilians in al-Zarqaa' area, south of Jabalya killing a man and his son;

-- Israeli forces killed a resistance activist near al-Karama apartment buildings, southwest of Jabalya;

-- another drone fired two missiles at Palestinian civilians in al-Amal quarter, east of Beit Hanoun; a woman and child were seriously wounded; she lost a leg; her child later died;

-- IDF naval vessels shelled the Palestinian General Intelligence headquarters and open areas near Gaza City;

-- Israeli forces fired on Wadi al-Salqa village, southeast of Deir al-Balah; no casualties were reported;

-- before redeploying, the IDF demolished at least 30 houses and razed agricultural land in the al-Fukhari area;

-- near the Israeli - Gaza border, Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian civilians checking their homes and land; one man was reported killed;

-- an IDF explosive charge killed two children playing in the Al-Sha'af area east of Gaza City;

-- Israeli forces killed a farmer while he was working on his land;

-- redeployed soldiers demolished houses, damaged others, and razed agricultural land outside al-Shouka village, east of Rafah; and

-- Israeli tanks bulldozed dozens of dunnums of agricultural land in central Gaza; other tanks moved towards the Al-Maghazy area in central Gaza;

All this happened after Israel's "ceasefire." PCHR warned that Gazans are endangered "in light of (continued Israeli threats) to (renew or) expand military operations against the population of the Gaza Strip."

PCHR is calling for the "international community to immediately intervene;" to establish "inquiry commissions to investigate (war) crimes....against Palestinian civilians," including the use of illegal weapons. It also wants "all political and military officials responsible" prosecuted for their crimes.

Through January 20, the official death toll rose to 1415 with around 5500 injured, many seriously. New deaths will be reported as bodies are discovered under rubble and wounded people die.

PCHR's Gaza Testimonies

"I am still alive," said Ayman Al-Majdalawi, a Jabalia nurse after the IDF shelled the nearby Al-Fakhoura school used by UNWRA as a shelter. It killed dozens of civilians and wounded many more. "Women, men and children had limbs torn from their bodies by the force of the explosions. The ambulance drivers told me the Israelis were shooting at them as they were trying to evacuate the dead and injured." At her hospital "there was chaos. Our ambulances are in danger, and some of the injured people bled to death because we couldn't reach them. I try to go to other hospitals if I am needed, but it is very dangerous, and like everyone else, we are very frightened."

Ambulance drivers reported that they risked their lives to help the maimed and wounded. "We are working twenty four hours a day - we only sleep when there is no Israeli shelling....I have not been to my home for days....Ninety percent of the injured victims....have already lost legs or arms, or both."

Khalid Yusef Abu Sa'ada said:

"I was driving my ambulance in Beit Lahia....when the Israelis shelled us....I was with two paramedics. The Israeli shells killed one of them." The other was badly injured. He's now paralyzed. "A few days ago the Israelis bombed us" while we were trying to rescue a boy. The explosion "ripped (his) head off."

The Israelis killed other ambulance drivers and paramedics by bombing and shelling them. Dr. Eysa Saleh was on duty with the Medical Security Services when a shell blew his head off in Jabaliya. Everyone is exhausted, overwhelmed and horrified while fearing for their own lives on the frontline. "We know there are many people we cannot reach because some areas are too dangerous, and our ambulances are deliberately targeted." Earlier, "as I was driving, I saw a man struck by a missile that tore his body in two in front of our eyes. The situation is unbelievable, but we are doing the best we can, because this is our duty."

Professor Said Abdelwahed Emails from "Destroyed Gaza"

"This morning (January 18), Israel declared a ceasefire" but they keep shooting anyway. Meanwhile, drones and F-16s are overhead and firing missiles "12 hours" later. Over "100 new dead bodies were found under debris and in other places in fields and back streets in Zietoun neighborhood and northern Gaza. Whole families were found under rubble and demolished homes."

"It's unbelievable, incredible and mind-boggling! Innocent civilians paid the most expensive price (with) their lives. It was genocide." All of Gaza is depressed and traumatized. "I am shaken by the psychological situation around! The Israelis still call Palestinian homes by telephone threatening them with another punishment."

Aircraft drop anti-Hamas leaflets in western Gaza. It's "stupid behavior. It didn't move anyone after the ruthless attacks everywhere in Gaza....Tonight is a time of cautious silence and anticipation (that) the whole situation may flare up or explode at any moment. There are still untold stories of horror, destruction and death everywhere in Gaza," and most of us still have no electricity or much of anything else.

An Interregnum Truce Before the Next Onslaught

On January 19, Haaretz reported that: "Israeli officials said that troops would withdraw completely before Barack Obama's inauguration...." They never "withdraw." They just redeploy and maintain border, air and coastal control to keep committing random atrocities unreported in the major media.

While saying Israel has no aim to conquer, control or stay in Gaza, prime minister Olmert made no commitments and promised to "renew military actions" if "smuggling" continues and rockets are fired into southern Israel. On Israeli Radio, foreign minister Livni said about the same thing to sound tough ahead of the February 10 elections.

Like others for decades, calm is an illusion before more planned violence. Each conflict begets the next one that may be harsher than the last. Last October, Amos Harel headlined in Haaretz: "IDF plans to use disproportionate force in next war." Israel's Northern Command head, General Gadi Eisenkot, said "the IDF will continue to give first priority to firepower" regardless of the target struck.

In a daily Yedioth Ahronoth interview (Israel's major Hebrew language newspaper), Eisenkot "presented his 'Dahiyah Docrtine,' under which the IDF" will use disproportionate power "at the heart of the enemy's weak spot" and target civilians.

Major General Giora Eiland, former head of Israel's National Security Council, was even blunter in admitting defeat in the Second Lebanon War because it was against the "wrong enemy - Hezbollah, instead of the state of Lebanon itself." He said it's impossible to defeat an efficient guerrilla army supported by a state immune from retribution. "Hezbollah operates under optimal conditions from our perspective. A legitimate government runs Lebanon, supported by the West, but it is in fact entirely subordinate to the will of the Shiite organization."

Eiland's recommendation: "preemptive action....as soon as possible" in the next war to destroy the Lebanese army and entire civilian infrastructure with heavy use of air power.

Last September, former IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon said the Israeli Air Force failed in the Second Lebanon War. "If they had determined the right objectives, the war could have been finished from the air within five days" and the mission accomplished.

Around the same time, prime minister Olmert warned that if Lebanon becomes a "terrorist state" under Hezbollah, Israel would unleash more massive firepower and hit back harder than before. Israel "did not use all means to respond then, but if Lebanon becomes a Hezbollah state, then we won't have any restrictions in this regard." Without elaborating, he's targeting all Lebanon - its government, infrastructure, military, and civilian population.

Earlier, the Lebanese unity government approved a political platform under which Hezbollah is free to use all means "to liberate land occupied by Israel."

Gaza was a dress rehearsal. A Third Lebanon War appears next, perhaps against Iran, Syria and more on Hamas as well. On January 18, Haaretz correspondent Barak Ravid cited Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin saying that "Hamas would resume smuggling arms into Gaza within a few months, despite Israel's destruction of many tunnels...." They'll be rebuilt, so Israel will attack and destroy them.

On January 20, the right wing Jerusalem Post reported that:

"Iran has renewed efforts to supply advanced weaponry to Hamas and the IDF is concerned that the terror group will try to smuggle long-range Fajr missiles into the Gaza Strip" - easily able to reach Tel Aviv with a range of 70 km. Tzipi Livni said renewed weapons smuggling would be legitimate grounds for renewed Gaza attacks.

Israel is always preparing for the next war and looking for pretexts to launch it. Clearly there are plans. It remains to be seen what, when, and against whom.

For now, Olmert, Diskin and other Israeli officials claim a great victory despite not defeating Hamas, enhancing its popularity and support, and engendering global condemnation still evident on world streets and inside Israel.

For its part on January 18, Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh said Israel's offensive failed and hadn't cowed the Palestinians. In a televised speech, he claimed that "The enemy has failed to achieve its goals," and despite thousands of Palestinian casualties, the war was a "popular victory." Contradicting Israeli assertions, Hamas announced it lost 48 fighters and killed 80 Israeli soldiers. The IDF said five soldiers died fighting and four others were killed by friendly fire.

On January 18, The Israeli English language web site, Ynetnews.com, reported that during the Gaza operation, about 800 Israeli soldiers and civilians needed hospital treatment. As of January 18, 51 soldiers and 13 civilians are still patients, some in serious condition.

A weekend Reuters report estimated that Gaza rebuilding will cost $1.6 billion even before accounting for all damage and assessing what's needed for reconstruction. Human costs and humanitarian needs aside, undoing Israel's damage will take years and likely cost billions. At issue is who'll pay. Given past indifference to Palestinian needs, the answer is likely few or perhaps no other nation despite Saudi King Abdullah promising $1 billion in aid. Palestinians are tired of promises.

They want fulfillment, but won't get it according to EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Without explicitly mentioning Hamas, she said reconstruction won't begin until the EU has an acceptable Palestinian partner. She then accused Hamas for confrontation and for hindering Gazans' prospects for a better life. Following a Western tradition, she blamed the victim, absolved the aggressor, let the people of Gaza be damned, and called their democratically elected government "terrorists" and on their own.

For its part, Olmert assigned Yetshak Hertzog, Israel's social welfare minister, to coordinate whatever Gaza reconstruction is planned and insisted that no funds go to Hamas or other resistance groups. Further, Israel wants control of everything, will decide what will or won't be done, will require permits for projects, and says the UN must have no direct dealings with Hamas.

Tel Aviv may have other plans as well. It's erecting hundreds of tents in the Sinai near Rafah. Egyptian blogger Ahdaf Souif said:

"Outside the general Hospital in Egyptian Rafah, a city of tents has sprung up. I counted 200. But soldiers there told me they have many more and can set them up immediately. They said the beds and furnishings for all the camps are ready. I was also told that other camps are being set up, in el-Arish and other locations. I was told these camps were" for Palestinians - and may be a first step toward mass-transfering Gazans to Egypt as Israeli extremists, like Avigdor Lieberman, advocate.

Egypt knows what's happening, but is silent. It's believed Mubarak agreed to the plan in secret negotiations, just prior to Israel's "ceasefire." All along, Egypt has collaborated with Israel and Washington, a familiar role for its leader in return for ample compensation.

Gaza municipal authorities estimate that 20,000 government, residential and commercial buildings were damaged, many badly. Another 4000 were demolished. In addition, about 50 of the UN's 220 schools, clinics, warehouses and other facilities were also damaged or destroyed. The enormity of destruction can't be underestimated or the task needed to rebuild it. Reuters compared it to "Stalingrad" and AP to a "moonscape." The UN said more than 50,000 Gazans are homeless. Other reports say 100,000 or more.

"Travel advisory issued for top IDF officers"

On January 19, Ynetnews.com reported that Israel is concerned about "international human rights groups' intention(s) to file war crimes charges against military personnel with the Hague, local European courts, (and advises) officers planning to travel (to) contact (the) Judge Advocate General's office first....some may be instructed not to leave the country."

Reports say evidence is being collected in photos and testimonies, and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said Israel is "preparing for a wave of international lawsuits over the operation in Gaza."

Police State Israel - Suppressing Internal Dissent

On January 19, 2009 for Inter Press Service (IPS), Nora Barrows-Friedman reported that:

"The Israeli government is stepping up efforts to suppress dissent and crush resistance in the streets" in the wake of pro-Gaza demonstrations. "Police have been videotaping (street protests and then) arresting (participants) in large numbers."

Police reports show "at least 763 Israeli citizens, the majority of them Palestinian (of whom 244 are under 18), have been arrested, imprisoned or detained for" their participation. Most held are then released, but "at least 30" are still being held. The idea is to harass, intimidate, and discourage further demonstrations.

Ameer Makhoul, director of Ittijah, the Union of Arab Community-Based Associations in Haifa is quoted saying: these demonstrations "are part of the uprising here inside the Green Line, to share responsibility and to share the challenge with the people in the Gaza Strip."

Israel's internal security Shin Bet arrested Makhoul for organizing demonstrations. "They called me, came to my home and held me for four hours. They accused me of being a terrorist and supporting terror. They said that they are watching me and monitoring me. Israel has become a terror state" against Palestinians, Arab Israelis, independent regional states, and dissent.

Shin Bet accused Makhoul and others arrested of "threatening the security of the State of Israel during war time." Israeli Professor Kobi Snitz expressed alarm about "the current social climate inside the state." He explained that "People are made to be afraid....police operate under the assumption and guidelines that every political expression (including by Jews) now is to be repressed and prevented."

Most Israelis support their government's war on Gaza and believe Hamas is at fault. The media trumpet it daily although contrary views can also be found. Most Israelis don't bother to look like in America where people rely mainly on television for news and information, and thus are terribly misinformed.

Despite being monitored, harassed and arrested, activist demonstrations continue with a notable January 17 one in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv. Several thousand "peace groups, Israeli anarchists, and teenaged refusniks fresh from jail (for their activism against Palestinian oppression) marched (with) flags, banners, and vociferous determination (against) their government's" state terror on Gaza. Security forces were visible and took note. Defying Israel is hazardous even for Jews, much like it is in America under Republicans and Democrats.

Looking Ahead

Editor Ali Abuninah of the Electronic Intifada reports that Israel's Gaza war failed to weaken Hamas and other resistance groups to clear the way for negotiating with its "chief Palestinian collaborator Mahmoud Abbas to manage Palestinians on (its) behalf until they (can) be forced out once and for all."

Regional dictators like Mubarak and the Saudi and Jordanian monarchies are on board "to demonstrate to their own people that resistance" is futile. "To win, Israel had to break Palestinian resistance. It failed....it galvanized and unified Palestinians like never before." Hamas and other resistance fought heroically for 23 days and stand ready to do it again.

"According to well-informed and credible sources, Israel did little harm to the modest but determined military capacity of the resistance. So Israel did what it does best: it massacred civilians" to get people to turn against their government. Instead, Palestinians and the Arab street are together against Israel.

"In popular esteem, Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions (stand) alongside Hizbollah as effective bulwarks against Israeli and Western colonialism." Israel lost its legitimacy and can't win it by bombing and mass slaughter. It survives through violence, intimidation, and billions in US aid, but for how long.

Even the Wall Street Journal admits that Hamas gained support from the fighting. On January 20, correspondent Charles Levinson quoted Israeli Col. Shmuel Zakai saying that his country doesn't understand that winning hearts and minds is as important as battlefield victories. "We just keep creating bigger problems," he said. "Military power alone is not enough."

Palestinians remained steadfast through it all, and world public opinion now backs them and Hamas like never before. Yet their struggle for liberation persists - against America, the West, complicit Arab regimes, and racists like Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger who wants Gazans dumped in a Palestinian state in the Sinai.

He told the British weekly Jewish News that Jerusalem belongs to the Jews. Muslims have Mecca and Medina, and they "don't need a third place." Metzger wants Britain, the EU and America to build a desert state and arrange for a transfer. He called it a great idea and will discuss it with Olmert.

Earlier on January 13, Israeli election authorities banned two of the three main Arab parties from contesting in the February general elections - the United Arab List-Ta'al (UAL - Ta'al) and the National Democratic Assembly (or Balad). Both parties were accused of "not recognizing Israel's right to exist (and) incit(ing) and supporting terrorist groups." Heads of two rival Arab parties condemned the action and called it "a political trial led by a group of fascists and racists who are willing to see the Knesset without Arabs and want" none of them in their country. If these members "had weapons, they would have shot us in the head."

Arabs currently hold seven of the 120 Knesset seats but have no power whatever in the body. Nonetheless, Avigdor Lieberman, the Yisrael Beiteinu party leader, called Arab legislators a "fifth column" and wants Israel's High Court to side with the decision to ban them. Israel keeps finding new ways to expose its illegitimacy as a lawful democratic state. Growing calls accuse it of waging an extermination war against Gazans, and West Bank Palestinians will be next unless outcries are great enough to stop it.

This terror persisted for over 60 years, yet Palestinians remain resolute and by 2010 will surpass Jews in number, according to population projections. Their message is firm: This is our land, our country. We're ready to live in peace, and despite all your might and terror, we'll never surrender. Not now. Not ever.

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

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

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11822

Stephen Lendman is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Stephen Lendman



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