Palestine

Israel: Stop Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza
Chemical ‘Obscurant’ Poses Serious Risk to Civilians

“White phosphorous can burn down houses and cause horrific burns when it touches the skin,” said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch. “Israel should not use it in Gaza’s densely populated areas.”...Israel’s use of WP as an obscurant in densely populated areas of Gaza violates the obligation to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to the civilian population during military operations.

By Dave Lindorff

As we hear the horrifying and sickening reports of the atrocities in Gaza by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), and as ardent Israel backers predictably justify each one or contest the facts it’s worth reading a new book ("The War Behind Me: Vietnam Veterans Confront the Truth about US War Crimes"), by a former Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington bureau investigative reporter of the LA Times named Deborah Nelson.

Nelson with the help of war historian Nick Turse, got hold of a 9000-page secret report by the Pentagon's own people, stored in the National Archive and dating to the Nixon era. Compiled in the wake of a flood of charges from returning GIs and Marines about US atrocities which began appearing following the expose of the My Lai massacre, it sought to investigate and repudiate those claims.

If Israel Was A State...
Submitted by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com

At noon today about 75 people turned out in the plaza of our little town of Ashland, Oregon for a hastily called rally protesting Israel’s savage assault against helpless Gazans. Several speakers, including Gerry Cavanaugh, emphasized American complicity in this new round of terrorism Israel has visited upon the hapless Palestinians.

Israel is using high-tech U.S. weaponry, the gift of which to Israel has been authorized by representatives you and I have elected. And Israel is using these weapons illegally of course--against an utterly helpless population of civilians. So it not just the hands of Israelis that are red with the blood of innocents, but their enabler’s hands as well—your and my hands.

U.S. seeks ship to move arms to Israel
By Stefano Ambrogi | Reuters UK

The U.S. is seeking to hire a merchant ship to deliver hundreds of tons of arms to Israel from Greece later this month, tender documents seen by Reuters show.

The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) said the ship was to carry 325 standard 20-foot containers of what is listed as "ammunition" on two separate journeys from the Greek port of Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod in mid-to-late January.

A "hazardous material" designation on the manifest mentions explosive substances and detonators, but no other details were given.

"Shipping 3,000-odd tons of ammunition in one go is a lot," one broker said, on condition of anonymity.

By Freeman URE, OpEdNews

With the recent rapid development of air strike and now full land based incursion of the Israeli military forces into the Gaza Strip, the need for the international community to intervene and impose a just peace for all parties concerned is more urgent than ever. A long haul stretching into months and perhaps years, the civilian casualty of thousands of innocent civilians including dozens from the Israeli side, along with a few billion dollars of financial burdens on both sides, is inevitable. Here it is yet another opportunity for the U.S. administration albeit the Obama administration to set a new bold "objective" leadership to effectuate the amicable resolution of this conflict, thereby regaining the respectful stature of the Americans they once enjoyed.

An Unnecessary War
By Jimmy Carter | Washington Post

I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.

towards the Israeli embassy in Kensington, in protest at Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip
By London Paper

AN anti-war demonstration ended in violence tonight as protesters clashed with riot police in l London.

The protest against Israel's attacks on Gaza saw one police officer knocked unconscious and two others receive facial injuries, a police spokesman said.

An initially peaceful demonstration ended with a group of protesters facing mounted riot police throwing missiles and smashing windows on Kensington High Street near the Israeli Embassy.

Riot officers from the Metropolitan Police force charged at the group of mainly young men.

Sticks and barriers were hurled at the officers by the group, many of whom were masked.

About 300 police in full riot gear had surrounded a similar-sized group of protesters pushing them up the street.

Amnesty International calls on Security Council to establish full accountability for crimes committed in Gaza conflict and for deployment of human rights monitors

As fighting continues in violation of the UN Security Council's near unanimous adoption last night (8 January) of resolution 1860 calling for an immediate and durable ceasefire in Gaza, Amnesty International calls on the Security Council to take firm action to ensure full accountability for war crimes and other serious abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law.

In an open letter sent today to the Security Council, Amnesty International also urged the Council to ensure that international human rights monitors are immediately despatched to Gaza and southern Israel to investigate and report on continuing abuses by all parties to the conflict.

Palestine Red Crescent

Digg it here.

4 mins. | Related links here.

By Gareth Porter, IPS

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

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

http://unitedforpeace.org

Earlier today, Thursday, the Senate unanimously passed a one-sided resolution supporting Israel for 'defending itself' from Hamas. Outrageous as this is, the House of Representatives will most likely do the same tomorrow, Friday.

Call your Representative NOW! to tell them to vote 'NO' on any resolution that fails to call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire -- as well as for unimpeded access for humanitarian aid into Gaza and a lifting of Israel's illegal siege.

Earlier, food shipments were suspended because of fighting
By msnbc.com news services

JERUSALEM - The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Thursday calling for an immediate and durable cease-fire between Hamas militants and Israeli forces now fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The vote was 14-0, with the United States abstaining.

The vote followed three days of intense negotiations between ministers from key Arab nations and the council's veto-wielding Western powers — the United States, Britain and France. It came on the 13th day of an Israeli air and ground offensive against the Islamic group Hamas, which rules Gaza and has been launching rockets and mortars into southern Israel for years.

The United States, Israel's closest ally, and Arab nations that have close ties to Hamas negotiated the text of the resolution. But it will be up to Israel and Hamas to decide to stop their military activities.

By Reuters

WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voiced strong support on Thursday for Israel's battle against Hamas militants in Gaza, while urging a ceasefire that would prevent Hamas from launching any more rockets into Israel.

The chamber agreed on a voice vote to the non-binding resolution co-sponsored by Democratic and Republican party leaders in the chamber.

"When we pass this resolution, the United States Senate will strengthen our historic bond with the state of Israel, by reaffirming Israel's inalienable right to defend against attacks from Gaza, as well as our support for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said before the vote.

An Unnecessary War
By Jimmy Carter, The Washington Post

I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.

After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn, and I declared their launching from Gaza to be inexcusable and an act of terrorism. Although casualties were rare (three deaths in seven years), the town was traumatized by the unpredictable explosions. About 3,000 residents had moved to other communities, and the streets, playgrounds and shopping centers were almost empty. Mayor Eli Moyal assembled a group of citizens in his office to meet us and complained that the government of Israel was not stopping the rockets, either through diplomacy or military action.

We are writing to invite you to sign the Campaign for Peace and Democracy statement "No More Blank Check for Israel: Statement on the Crisis in Gaza." Your signature will add to the impact of the statement at this crucial moment.

The text is below. If you would like to add your name or make a tax-deductible donation to publicize the statement, please go to our website www.cpdweb.org -- if for any reason you have difficulty at the website, just send us an email at cpd@igc.org. And please circulate the statement to your colleagues and friends.

Sincerely,
Joanne Landy Tom Harrison
Co-Directors, Campaign for Peace and Democracy

No More Blank Check for Israel!
STATEMENT ON THE CRISIS IN GAZA

A group of New Jersey peace activists prepared an ad to appear in the Montclair Times, and we found ourselves in broad agreement with its content. We have modified the ad for use as a Campaign for Peace and Democracy sign-on statement.

What You Don’t Know About Gaza
By RASHID KHALIDI, NY Times Op-Ed

NEARLY everything you’ve been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.

THE GAZANS Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gaza like Ashkelon and Beersheba. They were driven to Gaza by the Israeli Army in 1948.

The Senate could consider as early as today a resolution promoted by AIPAC intended to effectively endorse the continuation of the Israeli military assault in Gaza. (You can find the text of the draft resolution on AIPAC's web page.)

In particular, the resolution does not call for an "immediate ceasefire," but for a "durable and sustainable ceasefire," which is the Bush Administration's code for continuing the war - the excuse the Administration has given for why the war must go on. Nor does the resolution call for ending the blockade on Gaza, even though the blockade is also an act of war.

Call your Senators now. Urge them to insist that any resolution passed by the Senate call for an immediate ceasefire and for lifting the blockade on Gaza.

Israeli Military Prevents Emergency Ambulance Care for Four Days

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 8, 2009) -- Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement on the House floor calling attention to a report in the Washington Post that the International Committee of the Red Cross has accused the Israeli military of preventing ambulances from reaching at least 15 emaciated people for four days:

An actual Washington Post headline: Hamas Pulling Back Into Crowded Cities, Beckoning Israelis.

Israel May Face Charges for War Crimes
By Mel Frykberg | IPSNews.com

Israel has committed war crimes and should be prosecuted in an international court, says Raji Sourani, head of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza.

"The repeated bombing of clearly marked civilian buildings, where civilians were sheltering, crosses several red lines in regard to international law," Sourani told IPS.

Palestinian Authority (PA) delegate to Britain Professor Manuel Hassassian has said the PA will launch legal proceedings against Israeli leaders it says are responsible for war crimes in Gaza, according to a Palestinian news report.

The Quartet's Hypocrisy and Failure in Occupied Palestine
by Stephen Lendman

The Middle East Quartet includes the US, EU, Russia and the UN. It was formed in 2002 to seek "comprehensive security reform," mediate the Israeli-Palestinian "peace process," address Occupied Palestine's deepening humanitarian crisis, among other stated objectives.

On September 25, 21 aid and human rights organizations (called The Group below) issued a damning report on the Quartet's performance. Well before the current Gaza slaughter but with the Territory under siege, it cited:

• a continuing humanitarian crisis among people struggling to meet their basic needs;
• increasingly dependent on aid as their livelihoods are destroyed; and stressed that
• the "only sustainable solution to the crisis is a comprehensive peace settlement between Israelis and Palestinians based on international law."

By Marjorie Cohn

Since Israel began its war on Gaza 11 days ago, more than 560 Palestinians – about a quarter of them civilians – have been killed. Some two thousand Gazans, including hundreds of children, have been wounded. Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” marks an escalation of Israel’s two-year blockade of the Gaza Strip which has deprived 1.5 million Palestinians of necessary food, medicine, fuel and other necessities.

Gaza hospital crowded with civilians, doctors say | CNN.com

Far more civilians than Hamas fighters are arriving for treatment of war wounds at Gaza's main hospital as Israel's military incursion into the territory continues, two doctors say.

When the Israeli airstrikes began more than a week ago, the first casualties Shifa Hospital saw were fighters in military uniform, a Palestinian doctor said Monday.

"But after that day and until this day, we didn't receive any men from the resistance or anyone in the military," he said. "All of them were civilians."

The Tragedy of Gaza
By Diana Mukkaled | Asharq Al Awsat.com

I, like many others, watched helplessly as the bodies of "Jawaher" and "Dina" and "Samar" and "Ikram" and "Tahrir" were carried out of their destroyed house in "Block 5" of the Jabalya Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip. The five sisters were killed in their sleep after an Israeli missile struck a mosque adjacent to their house. Their small bodies covered in dust and stone, the cries of their bereaved parents, the shock of their surviving siblings; all of this continues to reverberate painfully in the imagination. But does pain still have the same meaning or significance during this time of great despair and useless anger?

WARNING: GRAPHIC PIC INSIDE

Obama and Gaza: Exiting the Vortex of Violence
By Bernard Weiner | The Crisis Papers

One definition of mental disease is when someone repeats the same
counter-productive behavior again and again and again and expects different results.
Which brings us to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

This time it's centered in Gaza, but the ramifications threaten to engulf
much of the Arab Middle East, and Iran, and possibly beyond the region.

Each side believes that with just a bit more violent pressure, one more
attack, one more mass bombing, one more unleashing of the dogs of war, the other
side will bend to its will.

In effect, each side is acting out of a belief that it can make The Other
simply disappear. The Palestinians, many Israelis want to believe, will migrate

Phyllis Bennis' Letter to the Editor of the NYTimes:

To the Editor:

I believe the Israeli airstrikes are clear violations of international humanitarian law. While the Palestinian rocket fire against civilian targets in Israel may be illegal, that does not give Israel the right to violate the Geneva Conventions. The airstrikes represent:

If you're a Member of Congress, and your name doesn't happen to be Dennis J. Kucinich, can you still speak out in opposition to the carnage that President Bush and Secretary of State Rice are actively promoting in Gaza?

Yes, you can!

There are two key issues. Should the U.S. support an immediate ceasefire (international opinion) or should the U.S. insist that the violence continue (Bush Administration position.) Should the blockade on Gaza end (international opinion) or should it continue (Bush Administration position.) Of course, the blockade is also an act of war.

J Street reports (emphasis mine):

Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards (Jan. 2): "the United States must work actively for an immediate ceasefire that ends the violence, stops the rockets, and removes the blockade of Gaza."

Congressman Joe Sestak (Jan. 2):

Global Human Rights Groups Protest Slaughter in Gaza
by Stephen Lendman

On June 16, 2008, noted Israeli historian Ilan Pappe explained "The Israeli Recipe for 2008: Genocide in Gaza, Ethnic Cleaning in the West Bank." He wrote:

"Not long ago, I claimed that Israel is employing genocidal policies in the Gaza Strip." After re-thinking this highly-charged term, he "concluded with even stronger conviction: it is the only appropriate way to describe what the Israeli army is doing in Gaza" because of its repeated atrocities now greater than ever.