Israel

Terror in the Holy Land
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7r82O7chy8

Message of Peace from Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8KTQnkV91w

Grassroots in Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FktlrF-n7N8

Murder on the beach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY-nr5Z9Toc

UN relief Center in Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH30klsosRw

Viva Palestina leaves Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k62CYrXopE

Jabylia destroyed by American Bombs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hds-BwP9kHc

Rachel Corrie's Father in Gaza
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGYKAbPXkh8

America Funded Murder on the Beach in Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8xiHFfErWc

Traditional Dancing in Palestine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqGN95TwEUw

Palestinian Breakdancer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGE7DL4sXcM

Yummy pies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KrkVD8YVgk

Zionist Gunboat Threatens Gazan Fishermen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU6CY1h02rA

IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot at Gaza Rescuers, Note Says
by Amira Hass | Haaretz

"Rules of Engagement: Open fire also upon rescue," was handwritten in Hebrew on a sheet of paper found in one of the Palestinian homes the Israel Defense Forces took over during Operation Cast Lead. A reservist officer who did not take part in the Gaza offensive believes that the note is part of orders a low-level commander wrote before giving his soldiers their daily briefing.

One of the main themes in news reports during the Gaza operation, and which appears in many testimonies, is that IDF soldiers shot at Palestinian and Red Cross rescuers, making it impossible to evacuate the wounded and dead. As a result, an unknown number of Palestinians bled to death as others cowered in their homes for days without medical treatment, waiting to be rescued.

The bodies of the dead lay outside the homes or on roadsides for days, sometimes as long as two weeks. Haaretz has reported a number of such cases, some of them as they happened. The document found in the house provides written proof that IDF commanders ordered their troops to shoot at rescuers.

The sheet of paper entitled "Situational Assessment" was found by a field researcher of The Palestinian Center for Human Rights in the home of Sami Dardone's family in Jabal al-Rayes, east of Jabalya. The extended Dardone family lives in about 40 homes in this neighborhood, built on a hilltop. Some of the homes were taken over by the army to house troops during the offensive and to serve as sniping positions, or for shooting in general.

Col. Wright: "Incredible Crime Committed on Gaza"

Col. Ann Wright, US Army, Ret., and a former high ranking U.S. Diplomat, just returned from Israeli Occupied Gaza. She said:

Israeli soldiers say army rabbis framed Gaza as religious war
By Cliff Churgin | McClatchy Newspapers

Rabbis affiliated with the Israeli army urged troops heading into Gaza to reclaim what they said was God-given land and "get rid of the gentiles" — effectively turning the 22-day Israeli intervention into a religious war, according to the testimony of a soldier who fought in Gaza.

Literature passed out to soldiers by the army's rabbinate "had a clear message — we are the people of Israel, we came by a miracle to the land of Israel, God returned us to the land, now we need to struggle to get rid of the gentiles that are interfering with our conquest of the land," the soldier told a forum of Gaza veterans in mid-February, just weeks after the conflict ended.

Israeli soldiers admit to deliberate killing of Gaza civilians
James Hider | Times Online

The Israeli army has been forced to open an investigation into the conduct of its troops in Gaza after damning testimony from its own front line soldiers revealed the killing of civilians and rules of engagement so lax that one combatant said that they amounted on occasion to “cold-blooded murder”.

The revelations, compiled by the head of an Israel military academy who declared that he was “shocked” at the findings, come as international rights groups are calling for independent inquiries into the conduct of both sides in the three-week Israeli offensive against Palestinian Islamists.

Israel's dirty secrets in Gaza
By Donald Macintyre | Independent UK

Israel was last night confronting a major challenge over the conduct of its 22-day military offensive in Gaza after testimonies by its own soldiers revealed that troops were allowed and, in some cases, even ordered to shoot unarmed Palestinian civilians.

The testimonies – the first of their kind to emerge from inside the military – are at marked variance with official claims that the military made strenuous efforts to avoid civilian casualties and tend to corroborate Palestinian accusations that troops used indiscriminate and disproportionate firepower in civilian areas during the operation. In one of the testimonies shedding harsh new light on what the soldiers say were the permissive rules of engagement for Operation Cast Lead, one soldier describes how an officer ordered the shooting of an elderly woman 100 metres from a house commandeered by troops.

Israel investigates army's conduct in Gaza | UPI

Israeli military officials Thursday announced an investigation into charges of misconduct by troops involved in the 22-day incursion into Gaza.

The military police has been ordered to look into allegations from soldiers involved in Operation Cast Lead, which began in December and lasted in January, that other troops shot at unarmed civilians, vandalized property and otherwise strayed from strict rules of engagement.

Israel News said an Israeli military spokesman assured that the investigation was being taken seriously and that individual unit commanders were being encouraged to speak candidly about the conduct of soldiers involved in the operation.

By Robert Dreyfuss,  The Nation

There are very worrying signs about Israel and Iran, amid new threats from Israeli officials that they won't long tolerate Iran's nuclear program before they strike militarily. But, at the same time, there are reports that President Obama's national security team isn't buying the Israeli line that time is running out.

For instance, a top Israeli military official, in Washington, was not exactly given the red carpet treatment by Obama's top officials -- yet even so, he met Jim Jones, Obama's national security adviser, Hillary Clinton, and Dennis Ross.

Ann Wright’s March 9, 2009 interview on Grit-TV on International Women’s Day in Gaza
http://lauraflanders.firedoglake.com/2009/03/09/feminism-today-ann-wrigh...

Ann Wright’s article “With The Women of Gaza On International Women’s Day: We Will Not Be Silent!
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/09-1

Ann Wright’s February 9 interview on Gaza on Grit TV Israel’s Crimes http://lauraflanders.firedoglake.com/2009/02/10/israels-crimes/

Ann Wright’s article “The Israeli Smashing of Gaza and International Silence”
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/13-7

Ann’s article “Under Siege Again, But Gaza Will Not Die”
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/11-11

Ann’s article “Can Gaza Be Rebuilt Through Tunnels?”
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/24

Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
www.rachelcorriefoundation.org
(360) 754-3998
info@rachelcorriefoundation.org

We thank all who continue to remember Rachel and who, on this sixth anniversary of her stand in Gaza, renew their own commitments to human rights, justice and peace in the Middle East. The tributes and actions in her memory are a source of inspiration to us and to others.

Tomgram: Robert Dreyfuss, The Freeman Affair | TomDispatch.com

Because one man, conceding defeat, didn't issue the typical statement indicating that he preferred to spend more time with his family, and instead launched a frontal attack on those who had attacked him, the foreign policy equation in Washington might have changed in discernable ways last week. On withdrawing from his nomination as director of the National Intelligence Council, Charles Freeman, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and a rare provocative thinker in Washington, let loose with a broadside against his enemies. Of accusations from the generally right-wing groups and individuals who claim to represent the Jewish community in official Washington, he wrote:

By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) - An American demonstrator was critically wounded Friday in a clash between protesters and Israeli troops over Israel's West Bank separation barrier.

Peace activists with the International Solidarity Movement said Tristan Anderson, of the Oakland, Calif., area, was struck in the head with a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops. The military and the Tel Aviv hospital where Anderson was taken had no details on how he was hurt.

"He's in critical condition, anesthetized and on a ventilator and undergoing imaging tests," said Orly Levi, a spokeswoman at the Tel Hashomer hospital. She described Anderson's condition as "life-threatening."

US: Freeman Affair Puts Israel Lobby in Spotlight
By Daniel Luban and Jim Lobe | IPS

WASHINGTON, Mar 13 (IPS) - Although the successful campaign to keep Amb. Charles "Chas" Freeman out of a top intelligence post marked a surface victory for the pro-Israel hardliners who opposed him, the long-term political implications of the Freeman affair appear far more ambiguous.

Freeman’s withdrawal has provoked growing - if belated - media scrutiny of the operations of the so-called "Israel Lobby", and aroused protests from a number of prominent mainstream political commentators who allege that he was the target of a dishonest and underhanded smear campaign that, among other things, accused him of shilling for the governments of Saudi Arabia and China.

New Bin Laden Recording Condemns Gaza Strikes
by Peter Kenyon | NPR

A newly-released recording of Osama bin Laden compared Israel's January military strikes in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust and renewed the al-Qaida leader's condemnation of Arab states for, in his view, failing to support the Palestinians.

A brief audio recording of bin Laden was aired by the Al-Jazeera satellite channel. Its authenticity could not be immediately verified. It refers to the Israeli military operation in Gaza in December and January, and charges that Arab states were, in bin Laden's words, "complicit with the crusader-Zionist alliance against our people."

Israel's War Crimes
Israel blamed its earlier wars on the threat to its security, even that against Lebanon in 1982. However, its assault on Gaza was not justified and there are international calls for an investigation. But is there the political will to make Israel account for its war crimes?
by Richard Falk | LeMonde

For the first time since the establishment of Israel in 1948 the government is facing serious allegations of war crimes from respected public figures throughout the world. Even the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, normally so cautious about offending sovereign states - especially those aligned with its most influential member, the United States - has joined the call for an investigation and potential accountability. To grasp the significance of these developments it is necessary to explain what made the 22 days of attacks in Gaza stand shockingly apart from the many prior recourses to force by Israel to uphold its security and strategic interests.

In my view, what made the Gaza attacks launched on 27 December different from the main wars fought by Israel over the years was that the weapons and tactics used devastated an essentially defenceless civilian population. The one-sidedness of the encounter was so stark, as signalled by the relative casualties on both sides (more than 100 to 1; 1300-plus Palestinians killed compared with 13 Israelis, and several of these by friendly fire), that most commentators refrained from attaching the label "war".

Iran Nuke Myth Heats up

Freeman speaks out on his exit | Foreign Policy

Retired Amb. Chas Freeman, who said today that he no longer accepts an offer to chair the National Intelligence Council, has just sent this message:

You will by now have seen the statement by Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair reporting that I have withdrawn my previous acceptance of his invitation to chair the National Intelligence Council.

By Robert Parry

The neoconservatives have demonstrated that their power in Washington remains strong as they have succeeded in keeping veteran diplomat Chas Freeman out of a top intelligence job. READ IT.

Timidity Derails Obama Intel Choice
By Ray McGovern

On Tuesday morning, Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, employed the indicative mood in describing the high value that Chas Freeman, his appointee to head the National Intelligence Council (NIC), will bring to the job — “his long experience and inventive mind,” for example. READ IT.

Chas Freeman's own comments:

I have concluded that the barrage of libelous distortions of my record would not cease upon my entry into office. The effort to smear me and to destroy my credibility would instead continue. I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country. READ IT.

Gaza: situation at border crossings ‘intolerable,’ Ban says | UN

A lasting ceasefire was urgently needed to keep Gaza crossings open, which will allow the Palestinian economy to recover, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

In a message to a UN seminar on assistance to the Palestinian people in Cairo, Mr. Ban called for a “proper and durable” end of hostilities to “allow for a return of calm” to Gaza and southern Israel.

“The situation at the crossings is intolerable,” he said, stressing the need for Israel to ease the closure.

The overall humanitarian situation in Gaza remains unchanged, according to an update from the office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory.

Closed Zone

Yoni Goodman, director of animation for the Academy Award-nominated film, "Waltz with Bashir", talks about the process of making his new animated film on the closure of Gaza together with the human rights group Gisha.

Click "Read more" to see the animation's making and goal.

By Ann Wright, retired US Army Reserve Colonel

“Would women in Gaza really celebrate International Women’s Day?” was the question members of our 58 person delegation from United States, Canada, Pakistan, France, Australia, Egypt, Dubai and Turkey asked as we travelled from Cairo to the Gaza border.

In less than three weeks, the delegates had responded to an appeal by Codepink: Women for Peace to join an international delegation to try to go into Gaza at the invitation of the United Nations Works and Relief Agency of Gaza (UNWRA).

Women of Gaza have so little to celebrate.

by Linda Milazzo

Certainly no person aware of Israel's blockade of goods and services to Gaza, or Israel's devastating bombing of Gaza, would consider Gaza a vacation haven. Gaza is not a place of joy. It’s an overcrowded war-zone populated by more than a million terrified men, women and children. They subsist amidst the rubble caused by Israel's missiles that crushed their homes and killed their loved ones. They inhabit a tiny strip of land that can be driven across in two hours. They have no space for recreation. They have no scenic boulevards and tony cafes. Even their beach is a danger. Their lives are a daily challenge of fear, illness, hunger, anguish, poverty, joblessness, homelessness and physical and emotional wounds.

Israel, on the other hand, which propagates its struggle for survival and its imminent danger as rationale for killing and imprisoning Palestinians, is promoted as a vacation oasis. Witness the glory of Israel from the video below that loops frequently on local Los Angeles TV. No fear, hunger, rubble or homelessness appear in this portrayal of Israel. Only beauty, riches and joy.

Pots of urine, feces on the walls - how IDF troops vandalized Gaza homes
By Amira Hass | Haaretz

GAZA - We had already visited this house, belonging to the Abu Eida family. It is the only one of the family's nine large houses that remained standing at the eastern edge of the city of Jabalya following Operation Cast Lead. The demolition of the family's houses and its four cement factories spells the loss of 40 years of hard work.

One Hebrew word scrawled on a wall tells the story of the 10 days when young Israeli soldiers became the ostensible prison wardens of five people. The youngest is Suheila Masalha, 55; the eldest is her mother Fatma, who is perhaps 85 or 90 or older. The only man is her brother Mohammed, 65, who is paralyzed and dependent on the women of his family. And there were two more women from the Abu Eida family - Rasmiya, 70, who owns the house, and her sister-in-law Na'ama, 56, who is blind.

Israel annexing East Jerusalem, says EU
By Rory McCarthy | Guardian UK

A confidential EU report accuses the Israeli government of using settlement expansion, house demolitions, discriminatory housing policies and the West Bank barrier as a way of "actively pursuing the illegal annexation" of East Jerusalem.

The document says Israel has accelerated its plans for East Jerusalem, and is undermining the Palestinian Authority's credibility and weakening support for peace talks. "Israel's actions in and around Jerusalem constitute one of the most acute challenges to Israeli-Palestinian peace-making," says the document, EU Heads of Mission Report on East Jerusalem.

Audio slideshow: Homeless in Gaza | BBC

Raed al-Atamna's family's six houses were destroyed in the recent Gaza conflict, as well as the cars he uses to earn his living as a taxi driver.

With nearly 3,000 families homeless, rented accommodation is scarce in Gaza - Mr Atamna's pregnant wife and seven children are now staying with relatives, while he sleeps in a corrugated metal shack next to his ruined house.

The Israeli military says it destroyed buildings because of "substantial operational needs", for example because of booby traps or militants in them, but Amnesty International says "wanton destruction" occurred, in violation of international law.

Click here to watch the audio slideshow: Homeless in Gaza, 3:34 mins.

Tehran missiles 'can hit Israel' | Gulf Daily News

Iranian missiles can now reach Israeli nuclear sites, a top Iranian military commander said yesterday.

"Today, Iran has missiles with the range of 2,000km, and based on that all Israeli land including that regime's nuclear facilities are in the range of our missile capabilities," Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said in comments carried by the ISNA news agency.

However, Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said a breakthrough was possible if negotiations were conducted on an "equal footing" and insisted on Iran's right to nuclear power.

'Israel is mulling Iran military action'
By Hilary Leila Kreieger | JPost

Israel is seriously considering taking unilateral military action to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, according to a report by top US political figures and experts released Wednesday.

The report also says Israel's time frame for action is growing shorter, not only because of Iranian advances, but because Teheran might soon acquire upgraded air defenses and disperse its nuclear program to additional locations.

Donor conference pledges $5B for Gaza, Abbas gov't
By Salah Nasrawi and John Heilprin | Yahoo!News

But the meeting's broader message targeted Hamas, seeking to isolate the Islamic militant movement and force it to compromise in its control of Gaza. Many of the participants — including top diplomats from 45 nations — called for the creation of a Palestinian unity government led by Abbas that would be able to rebuild Gaza and pursue peace negotiations with Israel.

International donors pledged $5.2 billion Monday to rebuild the devastated Gaza Strip and fund the Palestinian government, giving a powerful boost to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and putting new pressure on the rival Hamas militant group to moderate.

Gazans want open borders, not handouts | IHT

Five tunnel workers died Sunday when a tunnel collapsed from heavy rains. One of them was Ahmed Abu Samhadaneh, 20, a second-year university student. He had supported his parents and seven siblings with tunnel work for the past year, as the only breadwinner...."If the border was open, my son would still be alive today,...He wouldn't have to go work in the tunnels."

As top diplomats pledged billions of dollars for war-ravaged Gaza on Monday, ordinary people here — from merchants to housewives — said they'd rather have open borders than handouts.

The Untermensch Syndrome: Israel’s Moral Decay
By Manuel Valenzuela | Valenzuela's Veritas | Submitted by Lance Ciepiela

The labeling as anti-Semitic of anyone critical of the state of Israel’s policies in the continued destruction of Palestinian identity and the increasing domination into American foreign policy no longer has the sting of threat or intimidation it once mastered. For too long this masquerade has been used to silence those opposing anything Israel, shouted at anyone disseminating truth and seeking justice. Like the boy who cried wolf, this charade has lost its power or hypnotic control, and today only serves to breed more anger and resentment against the apologists and smear mongers protecting the cancerous tentacles of Zionism and the crimes against humanity it spawns.