The purpose of the ICTI would be to investigate and prosecute Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Peoples of Lebanon and Palestine--just as the ICTY did for the victims of international crimes committed by Serbia and the Milosevic Regime throughout the Balkans.
The establishment of ICTI would provide some small degree of justice to the victims of Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Peoples of Lebanon and Palestine--just as the ICTY has done in the Balkans. Furthermore, the establishment of ICTI by the U.N. General Assembly would serve as a deterrent effect upon Israeli leaders such as Prime Minister Olmert, Foreign Minister Livni, Defense Minister Barak , Chief of Staff Ashkenazi and Israel's other top generals that they will be prosecuted for their further infliction of international crimes upon the Lebanese and the Palestinians. Without such a deterrent, Israel might be emboldened to attack Syria with the full support of the Likhudnik Bush Jr. Neoconservatives, who have always viewed Syria as "low-hanging fruit" ready to be taken out by means of their joint aggression. If Israel attacks Syria as it did when it invaded Lebanon in 1982, Iran has vowed to come to Syria's defense.
And of course Israel and the Bush Jr administration very much want a pretext to attack Iran. This scenario could readily degenerate into World War III.
For the U.N. General Assembly to establish ICTI could stop the further development of this momentum towards a regional if not global catastrophe.
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
World must say “No” to Jewish Nazism before it is too late
[ 31/12/2008 - 01:10 AM ]
By Khalid Amayreh
The genocidal Israeli onslaught against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is strikingly similar to the German blitz in the initial stage of the Second World War. The pretexts are nearly the same and the behaviors of both Nazi and Israeli political and military leadership are nearly identical.
And as the German Nazis sought to justify their blitz against their neighbors to the east, using a plethora of carefully concocted lies and pretexts, Israel is doing virtually the same thing.
However, unlike the Nazis whose naked aggression was widely condemned around the world, the ongoing Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip is being condoned, even celebrated, by a huge media network throughout the western world from Sydney to Los Angeles.
Today, Israel is decapitating Gaza while claiming that it is only fighting Hamas. The Israeli air force is targeting and destroying schools, mosques, private homes, charities, public buildings, drug stores, colleges and universities, all under the false pretext of fighting Hamas.
This is not a war against Hamas. It is a war against the Palestinian people as is obvious from the fact that the bulk of the victims are innocent civilians.
And like all criminals, Israel is resorting to the fabrication of lies and half-truths to justify its genocidal blitz against an essentially unprotected people.
Many, probably most Jews in Israel and around the world, are bragging about the “heroic” Israeli army and its “achievements” against Hamas. Some Jews have described the slaughter as the “best Hanukah present ever.”
Well, I don’t really see any heroism in using state-of-the-art machines of death, such as the F-16 warplanes, apache helicopters and laser-guided bunker buster bombs against a people who don’t posses an army or an air force or anti-aircraft defenses.
There is no heroism, but sheer cowardice, in launching these deadly bombs at unprotected civilian buildings just as there was no heroism in the targeting of unarmed civilians by the Nazi war machines.
For sure, even the weakest air-force in the world could bomb and destroy unprotected buildings and kill as many civilians as seen fit by morbid minds of Ehud Barak’s ilk.
In short, the Israeli onslaught against a people who don’t possess the means to defend themselves and can’t protect their children from Israeli brutality is an act of sheer cowardice. It can be compared with the Nazi SS strafing Jewish protesters with machine gunfire.
Israel and her mouthpieces in the West claim that Israeli army, a Jewish Wehrmacht by any standard of objective analysis, is merely reacting to Palestinian projectiles fired from Gaza onto Israeli settlements outside Gaza.
Well, this is only a pretext for two many reasons:
The so-called Qassam projectiles are symbolic and nearly innocuous weapons that make more noise than damage. During the past eight years, less than two dozen Israelis were killed by these projectiles. In the meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians, mainly children and other innocent civilians, were annihilated by the indiscriminate Israeli death machine. These are war crimes because even in war, there is proportionality and using excessive force, mainly against civilians, in reaction to minor provocation puts Israel on equal footing with Nazi barbarianism.
There are those who would argue that Israel has the right and duty to defend its citizens. Well, this is not the real issue, because one could argue that even the worst state in the world has the right to defend its citizens.
But Israel has been savaging an entire people by imposing a Nazi-like siege upon them on no other account than to punish them for electing a government that both Israel and her guardian-ally, the United States, didn’t like.
In short, Israel has been effectively telling the Palestinians, in word as well as in deed, that they face two choices: Either to starve to death, or be exterminated by the Israeli war machine. In other words, the Palestinians must die if they resist and die if they don’t. This is while the Israeli hasbara (propaganda) machine keeps telling the world that Israel is only fighting Hamas and defending its citizens.
Well, Hamas may not be completely blameless in a certain sense. However, it is imperative to remind the world that the Islamic movement repeatedly voiced its willingness to stop the firing of “all” projectiles from the Gaza Strip if only Israel would reciprocate and lift the Nazi-like siege.
And as we all know, Israel consistently refused, insisting rather arrogantly that it had the right to kill the Palestinians and invade their territories whenever it deemed fit.
Needless to say, this is exactly the same sort of arrogance, insolence and bellicosity that characterized Nazi behavior.
A few days ago, Israelis analysts described the genocidal onslaught against Gaza as the Israeli version of the American “shock- and –awe bombing” at the beginning of the American invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. Shock and awe against a thoroughly tormented and completely savaged people who have been through a hateful blockade, unprecedented in its cruelty and wickedness.
I can’t understand why Jews are behaving the way they are. Do the scenes of havoc and destruction and death in the streets and refugee camps of Gaza give them self-confidence? Do they enjoy watching Palestinian kids mutilated to smithereens by these hellish missiles launched at apartment buildings and homes from high altitude.?
Does it make them feel that they are finally defeating Hitler?
I am asking these questions because I have seen Jews dancing and celebrating rather joyfully the carnage in Gaza. Indeed, a fleeting glance at the Israeli media these days reveals a sick and cannibalistic society that is as bestial as Nazi Germany was during the holocaust.
Perhaps I am doing some injustice to the Germans. After all, the Germans were living under a hateful and tyrannical dictatorship that would have brutally crushed any protests by conscientious citizens.
But, unlike Nazi Germany, Israel claims to be “a light upon the nations,” “the only democracy in the Middle East” and a civilized western nation.
Well, if such is the behavior of “democratic” Israel, just imagine how the Jewish state would behave once the terrorist entity fell in the hands of manifestly fascist forces and parties.
I have repeatedly warned in my writings that Israel is capable of committing a genocide or a holocaust against the Palestinian people and other peoples of the Middle East.
My warnings are not empty propaganda aimed at besmirching Israel’s image. Likewise, they are not motivated by anti-Semitism or hatred for the Jewish people, many of whom I respect and admire.
But the shocking pornographic slaughter in Gaza should be viewed as a clarion vindication of my warnings. Israel simply represents the Nazis of our time.
I know that many people around the world, especially in the West, realize the veracity of the analogy deep in their hearts. But they are afraid to call the spade a spade lest they be tarnished and hounded and harassed by the powerful Jewish media which more or less controls the public discourse in many western nations.
But the timidity of these cowards will not help them. Today, the Palestinians are the victims. But, surely, tomorrow will bring with it more victims, and Europeans and Americans in particular will not be immune.
Their lives may not be under an immediate threat now. But their freedoms certainly are.
Let us remember on this somber occasion the words of Martin Niemoller who lamented the bankruptcy of German intellectuals in the few years preceding the Second World War.
"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."
For God’s sake, let us learn from history, because today’s Israel is strikingly similar to 1936’s Germany.
Please, say No to Jewish Nazism before it is too late.
By Khalid Amayreh
The genocidal Israeli onslaught against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is strikingly similar to the German blitz in the initial stage of the Second World War. The pretexts are nearly the same and the behaviors of both Nazi and Israeli political and military leadership are nearly identical.
And as the German Nazis sought to justify their blitz against their neighbors to the east, using a plethora of carefully concocted lies and pretexts, Israel is doing virtually the same thing.
However, unlike the Nazis whose naked aggression was widely condemned around the world, the ongoing Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip is being condoned, even celebrated, by a huge media network throughout the western world from Sydney to Los Angeles.
Today, Israel is decapitating Gaza while claiming that it is only fighting Hamas. The Israeli air force is targeting and destroying schools, mosques, private homes, charities, public buildings, drug stores, colleges and universities, all under the false pretext of fighting Hamas.
This is not a war against Hamas. It is a war against the Palestinian people as is obvious from the fact that the bulk of the victims are innocent civilians.
And like all criminals, Israel is resorting to the fabrication of lies and half-truths to justify its genocidal blitz against an essentially unprotected people.
Many, probably most Jews in Israel and around the world, are bragging about the “heroic” Israeli army and its “achievements” against Hamas. Some Jews have described the slaughter as the “best Hanukah present ever.”
Well, I don’t really see any heroism in using state-of-the-art machines of death, such as the F-16 warplanes, apache helicopters and laser-guided bunker buster bombs against a people who don’t posses an army or an air force or anti-aircraft defenses.
There is no heroism, but sheer cowardice, in launching these deadly bombs at unprotected civilian buildings just as there was no heroism in the targeting of unarmed civilians by the Nazi war machines.
For sure, even the weakest air-force in the world could bomb and destroy unprotected buildings and kill as many civilians as seen fit by morbid minds of Ehud Barak’s ilk.
In short, the Israeli onslaught against a people who don’t possess the means to defend themselves and can’t protect their children from Israeli brutality is an act of sheer cowardice. It can be compared with the Nazi SS strafing Jewish protesters with machine gunfire.
Israel and her mouthpieces in the West claim that Israeli army, a Jewish Wehrmacht by any standard of objective analysis, is merely reacting to Palestinian projectiles fired from Gaza onto Israeli settlements outside Gaza.
Well, this is only a pretext for two many reasons:
The so-called Qassam projectiles are symbolic and nearly innocuous weapons that make more noise than damage. During the past eight years, less than two dozen Israelis were killed by these projectiles. In the meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians, mainly children and other innocent civilians, were annihilated by the indiscriminate Israeli death machine. These are war crimes because even in war, there is proportionality and using excessive force, mainly against civilians, in reaction to minor provocation puts Israel on equal footing with Nazi barbarianism.
There are those who would argue that Israel has the right and duty to defend its citizens. Well, this is not the real issue, because one could argue that even the worst state in the world has the right to defend its citizens.
But Israel has been savaging an entire people by imposing a Nazi-like siege upon them on no other account than to punish them for electing a government that both Israel and her guardian-ally, the United States, didn’t like.
In short, Israel has been effectively telling the Palestinians, in word as well as in deed, that they face two choices: Either to starve to death, or be exterminated by the Israeli war machine. In other words, the Palestinians must die if they resist and die if they don’t. This is while the Israeli hasbara (propaganda) machine keeps telling the world that Israel is only fighting Hamas and defending its citizens.
Well, Hamas may not be completely blameless in a certain sense. However, it is imperative to remind the world that the Islamic movement repeatedly voiced its willingness to stop the firing of “all” projectiles from the Gaza Strip if only Israel would reciprocate and lift the Nazi-like siege.
And as we all know, Israel consistently refused, insisting rather arrogantly that it had the right to kill the Palestinians and invade their territories whenever it deemed fit.
Needless to say, this is exactly the same sort of arrogance, insolence and bellicosity that characterized Nazi behavior.
A few days ago, Israelis analysts described the genocidal onslaught against Gaza as the Israeli version of the American “shock- and –awe bombing” at the beginning of the American invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. Shock and awe against a thoroughly tormented and completely savaged people who have been through a hateful blockade, unprecedented in its cruelty and wickedness.
I can’t understand why Jews are behaving the way they are. Do the scenes of havoc and destruction and death in the streets and refugee camps of Gaza give them self-confidence? Do they enjoy watching Palestinian kids mutilated to smithereens by these hellish missiles launched at apartment buildings and homes from high altitude.?
Does it make them feel that they are finally defeating Hitler?
I am asking these questions because I have seen Jews dancing and celebrating rather joyfully the carnage in Gaza. Indeed, a fleeting glance at the Israeli media these days reveals a sick and cannibalistic society that is as bestial as Nazi Germany was during the holocaust.
Perhaps I am doing some injustice to the Germans. After all, the Germans were living under a hateful and tyrannical dictatorship that would have brutally crushed any protests by conscientious citizens.
But, unlike Nazi Germany, Israel claims to be “a light upon the nations,” “the only democracy in the Middle East” and a civilized western nation.
Well, if such is the behavior of “democratic” Israel, just imagine how the Jewish state would behave once the terrorist entity fell in the hands of manifestly fascist forces and parties.
I have repeatedly warned in my writings that Israel is capable of committing a genocide or a holocaust against the Palestinian people and other peoples of the Middle East.
My warnings are not empty propaganda aimed at besmirching Israel’s image. Likewise, they are not motivated by anti-Semitism or hatred for the Jewish people, many of whom I respect and admire.
But the shocking pornographic slaughter in Gaza should be viewed as a clarion vindication of my warnings. Israel simply represents the Nazis of our time.
I know that many people around the world, especially in the West, realize the veracity of the analogy deep in their hearts. But they are afraid to call the spade a spade lest they be tarnished and hounded and harassed by the powerful Jewish media which more or less controls the public discourse in many western nations.
But the timidity of these cowards will not help them. Today, the Palestinians are the victims. But, surely, tomorrow will bring with it more victims, and Europeans and Americans in particular will not be immune.
Their lives may not be under an immediate threat now. But their freedoms certainly are.
Let us remember on this somber occasion the words of Martin Niemoller who lamented the bankruptcy of German intellectuals in the few years preceding the Second World War.
"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."
For God’s sake, let us learn from history, because today’s Israel is strikingly similar to 1936’s Germany.
Please, say No to Jewish Nazism before it is too late.
he prays before he kills !!
6000 Reservists
The State of Zion has just recalled 6.000 reservists
to join their comrades who were besieging and starving Gaza,
for the last 30 months .
A ground offencive is imminent
and Gaza shall be asked the kneel down
for its oppressor , since 60 years.
Imaging 6000 Israeli-reservists shall spend the new-year-eve
slaughtering children and killing unarmed civilians
instead of spending the evening making a nice party
and drinking cheap-Russian- Champagne .
How long must the State of Zion suffer
the burden of being a ruthless-monster- occupier ??
I am sure Hilary Clinton , Bernard Madoff
and Husny Mubarak ,
are fully supporting those unfortunate 6.000 reservists.
It is far better,nowadays,
to be a suicide-bomber than to be, an unarmed-civilian. ......
while ,facing Israeli-reservist .
Raja Chemayel
(Click on image to enlarge)
High resolution version for printing purposes here: http://dc.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/2/large/gaza_massacre.gif
And here: http://ia310831.us.archive.org/3/items/GazaMassacre/GazaMassacre.gif
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
On Sderot and Ashkelon
Source
I will not minimize the very real suffering of the people living in Sderot (and now also Ashdod and Ashkelon) today. That suffering is not on the same scale as the suffering in Gaza, but it is still horrible, horrible, horrible.
These towns are on the receiving end of rocket fire, however innaccurate, and they have been so for many years. There are casualties, property damage, and years of psychological scars from stress and fear. The criminals responsible for the suffering in Sderot and Ashkelon ought to be tried at the Hague and sent to prison. That would be first and foremost Olmert, Barak and Livni.
It is an article of faith that Israel, however disproportionately, is defending itself against those crude projectiles Hamas is lobbing into its territory. This story is accepted by all the white powers, from the U.S. to Britain, Germany, etc. Even the states that criticize Israel assume that Israel has the right to defend itself. For example,
![[Image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vv58RUYklXZF8N8az6qerTrVGn0fsEJM5a7ivjRazL6PvsdVoD8cDMqY-6mH0PNwpFzauD6A8Fv7_3G6uDbNNRZPsriUeneU9QoXRQn76Qcno=s0-d)
(An Israeli woman wept at the scene of a Palestinian rocket attack in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. Photo: David Silverman/Getty Images)
The mainstream media naturally repeats conventional political wisdom unthinkingly. More disheartening is the wide currency given this idea in the less gullible blogosphere, even among supporters of Palestinian rights.
Let's ignore for the moment the fact that Gaza is just one part of a larger Palestinian people and Israel is an occupying colonial power facing legitimate resistance. Let's pretend for the moment that the fiction that Gaza and Israel face each other as two quasi-states within the framework of international law holds. I make these assumption for the sake of argument only, because even under those assumptions that are favorable to Israel, Israel is the criminal and Hamas is legitimately defending itself.
Hamas and Israel agreed on a ceasefire in June 2008. Soon afterward, rockets continued to be fired at Israel. Hamas had difficulties controlling the territory, which wouldn't be surprising in the best of cases, but was especially understandable in view of the very difficult conditions under which Hamas acceded to power. Nevertheless, Hamas sought and succeeded in bringing the number of violations down to a trickle. As Hamas consolidated its power after the attempted Fatah putsch, violations decreased and clearly demonstrated Hamas's bona fide effort to keep the peace. This can be ascertained even from Zionist propaganda, The Hasbara site Elder of Zion keeps a calendar of projectiles lobbed at Israel. One sees clearly that after the first two weeks of the ceasefire (when Hamas was effectively taking control of government after the Fatah putsch failed), the number of Palestinian violations drops precipitously in August and is near zero during September and October. The numbers flare up exactly on November 4, 2008, and for a very good reason:
On that day Israel violated the ceasefire with an air attack coupled with a land invasion. Here is the detailed report from the PCHR office in Gaza:
Hence, fact number one. Hamas kept its side of the bargain as good as one can expect from a government operating under so much stress and with so little resources. Improving the safety of residents in Sderot and Ashkelon would have required simply helping Hamas improve its governance. That wouldn't have been too difficult had the goal of Israel and its Western backers not been the very opposite.
Second, during the cease fire, Israel implemented a siege as well as a naval blockade of Gaza. Sieges and blockades are acts of war under international law. The best witness to that is Israel itself. In 1967 Nassser closed the Tiran straits to Israeli ships. "Citing international law, Israel considered the closure of the straits to be illegal, and it had stated it would consider such a blockade a Casus Belli" (wikipedia).
Note that Israel considered the closure of the Tiran straits a casus belli, even though the practical disruption of its economy as a result of that closure was negligible. Hence, although Nasser's closure was probably illegal, Israel's military response was disproportionate and illegal for certain. This is not the case in Gaza. As all witnesses agree, the siege of Gaza is causing huge suffering and deprivation. There can be no doubt that this is an act of war both in principle and materially and that the Hamas government has every right to resort to force in order to ease the suffering of the population.
To recoup, since the truce of June become effective, Israel violated it in two major ways, first by a devastating siege, and second by a direct military assault inside Gaza.
The government of Gaza had therefore every right to resort to military force in order to bring Israel to end its agression. The right of Gaza, taken as a sovereign entity, to act militarily in self defense against Israel should be easy to defend within the strictures of international law.
The question remains whether the lobbing of Qassam rockets towards Israeli cities is legitimate as a tactic. For that, one has to answer whether firing Qassams is a) necessary to achieve the goal of convincing Israel to cease its aggression. b) proportionate to the level of aggression that it it is attempting to respond to, and c) not breaching humanitarian law that prohibits certain acts categorically.
As regarding a), necessity, answering yes is not too difficult. Firing Qassam rockets is practically the only military capacity that Gaza has. Therefore Gaza cannot materially apply military force against Israel except by using Qassams. Hence, firing Qassams is necessary if using military force itself is necessary. There is clear indication that military force is necessary and effective in getting Israel to observe the peace. Israel only agreed to withdraw from Gaza as a result of Hamas's previous armed struggle. Israel only agreed to the truce in June 2008 as a result of previous use of qassam rockets in response to Israeli attacks. There is 60 years of evidence that getting Israel to respect borders requires the application of military force, and since Qassams are the only available military force, getting Israel to respect borders requires the use of Qassams.
As regarding b), proportionality, the case is in no need for arguments. The damage caused by Qassam rockets is so small in comparison of the damage in property and life cause by Israeli attacks as well as by the siege, that Hamas could significantly escalate the harm it causes Israel and still be well within the requirements for proportionality.
c), prohibited acts, presents a greater difficulty. Prima facie, international humanitarian law prohibits attacks on civilians. This prohibition clearly applies to Qassam rockets lobbied at Sderot and Ashkelon. However, accrording to customary international law, it is legal to “respond to an adversary's illegitimate attacks on its civilian population by carrying out reprisal measures against the adversary's civilian objects.” This is the doctrine of "belligerant reprisals." Here is what Finkelstein's says about it:
Hence, it seems to me that all the requirements for legal defensive military response are met and the use of Qassam rockets by Hamas does not constitute a breach of international law and therefore does does not constitute a crime.
That of course does not mean that seeking to kill civilians in Ashkelon and Sderot is moral or the right thing for Hamas to do. I personally believe it would have been both less morally problematic and more effective if Hamas could target Tel-Aviv instead of Sderot or if it did more to harm Israeli soldiers. But I will as always avoid passing judgement on what people ought to morally do in extreme situations such as those faced by the people of Gaza, especially since this situation is the result of deliberate common policy of Israel, Western governments, and Arab autocracies. Accountability should be demanded first from those who create hell before it is demanded from those who are forced to live in it.
Perhaps this is an example of the inadequacies of international law. As Finklestein notes, many states would like to see the right to belligerant reprisals expunged from international law. If that were possible, it would be a great improvement. But one need to think carefully about what stands in the way of such a development. Is it sensible to demand that countries value the lives of their assailant's civilians when that assailant shows no respect for their civilians, and while international bodies smack their lips but provide no effective assistance? Belligerant reprisals are a morally problematic response to an immediate war crime. The sensible road to criminalizing belligerant reprisals passes through guaranteeing effective mechanisms for redress against international war crimes in the first place. A functioning international criminal court and a Security Council that punishes Israel for its chronic violations of humanitarian law would go a long way toward making the firing of Qassam rockets into a clear and unambiguous war crime. That is however because they would also make it unnecessary.
This analysis is not intended to minimize the very real suffering of the people living in Sderot (and now also Ashdod and Ashkelon). That suffering is not at the same scale as the suffering of people in Gaza, but it is unqualifiably horrible. These towns are populated by the dispensable non-Ashkenazi people that Zionist leaders sent to border towns intentionally in order to make them hostages in any cross border violence. The sad truth is that Israeli politicians (and affluent Israelis in general) couldn't care less about Sderot and Ashkelon. On the contrary, the pain of their residents are a convenient tool for inflaming the passions, winning elections and justifying aggression, when even Zionist commentators agree that the best way to provide safety for Sderot is to negotiate with Hamas and let Gazans live.
I would like to see the criminals responsible for the current suffering in Sderot and Ashkelon tried at the Hague and sent to prison. That would be first and foremost Olmert, Barak and Livni.
// posted by Gabriel @ 4:17:00 PM
These towns are on the receiving end of rocket fire, however innaccurate, and they have been so for many years. There are casualties, property damage, and years of psychological scars from stress and fear. The criminals responsible for the suffering in Sderot and Ashkelon ought to be tried at the Hague and sent to prison. That would be first and foremost Olmert, Barak and Livni.
It is an article of faith that Israel, however disproportionately, is defending itself against those crude projectiles Hamas is lobbing into its territory. This story is accepted by all the white powers, from the U.S. to Britain, Germany, etc. Even the states that criticize Israel assume that Israel has the right to defend itself. For example,
The Swiss Foreign Ministry acknowledged that Israel has a right to protect itself but condemned Saturday's attacks on Gaza City as "excessive," ( Xinhua )
(An Israeli woman wept at the scene of a Palestinian rocket attack in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. Photo: David Silverman/Getty Images)
The mainstream media naturally repeats conventional political wisdom unthinkingly. More disheartening is the wide currency given this idea in the less gullible blogosphere, even among supporters of Palestinian rights.
Let's ignore for the moment the fact that Gaza is just one part of a larger Palestinian people and Israel is an occupying colonial power facing legitimate resistance. Let's pretend for the moment that the fiction that Gaza and Israel face each other as two quasi-states within the framework of international law holds. I make these assumption for the sake of argument only, because even under those assumptions that are favorable to Israel, Israel is the criminal and Hamas is legitimately defending itself.
Hamas and Israel agreed on a ceasefire in June 2008. Soon afterward, rockets continued to be fired at Israel. Hamas had difficulties controlling the territory, which wouldn't be surprising in the best of cases, but was especially understandable in view of the very difficult conditions under which Hamas acceded to power. Nevertheless, Hamas sought and succeeded in bringing the number of violations down to a trickle. As Hamas consolidated its power after the attempted Fatah putsch, violations decreased and clearly demonstrated Hamas's bona fide effort to keep the peace. This can be ascertained even from Zionist propaganda, The Hasbara site Elder of Zion keeps a calendar of projectiles lobbed at Israel. One sees clearly that after the first two weeks of the ceasefire (when Hamas was effectively taking control of government after the Fatah putsch failed), the number of Palestinian violations drops precipitously in August and is near zero during September and October. The numbers flare up exactly on November 4, 2008, and for a very good reason:
On that day Israel violated the ceasefire with an air attack coupled with a land invasion. Here is the detailed report from the PCHR office in Gaza:
....at approximately 20:30 on Tuesday, 4 November, an IOF infantry unit moved almost 400 meters into Wadi al-Salqa village, east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. IOF troops raided a house belonging to Mofeed Suleiman al-Rumaili. They held the family hostage in one room, and used the house as a military base. Additional IOF troops besieged a house belonging to Hassan Suleiman al-Humiadi, using a megaphone to order the twenty three residents to leave the building.Israel claimed that this invasion "did not constitute a violation of the cease fire". I kid you not. As you probably remember, November 4th was elections day in the U.S., so the operation was carefully planned to achieve minimum headlines. This was achieved, as practically all news of the incursion start with the Hamas reaction, see a compilation at From Occupied Palestine, with Love.
Clashes subsequently erupted between the IOF troops and members of the ‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of Hamas). Three members of the ‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades were injured, one of them seriously. IOF subsequently sent reinforcements into the area, supported by aircrafts. At approximately 22:30, an IOF aircraft fired a missile at members of the ‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades, killing Mazen Nazmi Abu Sa’da (32). In the early hours of Wednesday, 5 November, IOF destroyed al-Humaidi’s house, razed 2.5 donumms of agricultural land, and also arrested six members of the family, including four women.
In Khan Yunis, at approximately midnight on Wednesday, 5 November, an IOF aircraft fired two missiles at four members of the ‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades in the east of al-Qarara village, near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The four members of the Brigades were killed...Approximately an hour later, IOF aircrafts fired two missiles at another group of the ‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades in Street No. 2 in the east of al-Qarara village. A member of the ‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades was killed. (PCHR Gaza)
Hence, fact number one. Hamas kept its side of the bargain as good as one can expect from a government operating under so much stress and with so little resources. Improving the safety of residents in Sderot and Ashkelon would have required simply helping Hamas improve its governance. That wouldn't have been too difficult had the goal of Israel and its Western backers not been the very opposite.
Second, during the cease fire, Israel implemented a siege as well as a naval blockade of Gaza. Sieges and blockades are acts of war under international law. The best witness to that is Israel itself. In 1967 Nassser closed the Tiran straits to Israeli ships. "Citing international law, Israel considered the closure of the straits to be illegal, and it had stated it would consider such a blockade a Casus Belli" (wikipedia).
Note that Israel considered the closure of the Tiran straits a casus belli, even though the practical disruption of its economy as a result of that closure was negligible. Hence, although Nasser's closure was probably illegal, Israel's military response was disproportionate and illegal for certain. This is not the case in Gaza. As all witnesses agree, the siege of Gaza is causing huge suffering and deprivation. There can be no doubt that this is an act of war both in principle and materially and that the Hamas government has every right to resort to force in order to ease the suffering of the population.
To recoup, since the truce of June become effective, Israel violated it in two major ways, first by a devastating siege, and second by a direct military assault inside Gaza.
The government of Gaza had therefore every right to resort to military force in order to bring Israel to end its agression. The right of Gaza, taken as a sovereign entity, to act militarily in self defense against Israel should be easy to defend within the strictures of international law.
The question remains whether the lobbing of Qassam rockets towards Israeli cities is legitimate as a tactic. For that, one has to answer whether firing Qassams is a) necessary to achieve the goal of convincing Israel to cease its aggression. b) proportionate to the level of aggression that it it is attempting to respond to, and c) not breaching humanitarian law that prohibits certain acts categorically.
As regarding a), necessity, answering yes is not too difficult. Firing Qassam rockets is practically the only military capacity that Gaza has. Therefore Gaza cannot materially apply military force against Israel except by using Qassams. Hence, firing Qassams is necessary if using military force itself is necessary. There is clear indication that military force is necessary and effective in getting Israel to observe the peace. Israel only agreed to withdraw from Gaza as a result of Hamas's previous armed struggle. Israel only agreed to the truce in June 2008 as a result of previous use of qassam rockets in response to Israeli attacks. There is 60 years of evidence that getting Israel to respect borders requires the application of military force, and since Qassams are the only available military force, getting Israel to respect borders requires the use of Qassams.
As regarding b), proportionality, the case is in no need for arguments. The damage caused by Qassam rockets is so small in comparison of the damage in property and life cause by Israeli attacks as well as by the siege, that Hamas could significantly escalate the harm it causes Israel and still be well within the requirements for proportionality.
c), prohibited acts, presents a greater difficulty. Prima facie, international humanitarian law prohibits attacks on civilians. This prohibition clearly applies to Qassam rockets lobbied at Sderot and Ashkelon. However, accrording to customary international law, it is legal to “respond to an adversary's illegitimate attacks on its civilian population by carrying out reprisal measures against the adversary's civilian objects.” This is the doctrine of "belligerant reprisals." Here is what Finkelstein's says about it:
Now, under international law,…that’s technically called belligerent reprisals–namely, if you target our civilians, we’re going to target yours until you stop…If you check the ICRC, International Committee on the Red Cross, it’s the standard handbook on humanitarian law. It states that there is a large number of countries which accept the principle that belligerent reprisals are illegal. that is you can never target civilians… however it says, it is not a customary rule of international law. In fact the official position of the US and the UK is that civilian reprisals are legal. (Finkelstein by Joel Suarez) (my emphasis )A siege is an act of war, and the victims of the siege of Gaza are primarily civilians. As such the siege of Gaza has been widely decried as causing a humanitarian crisis and being a breach of humanitarian law. U.N. Rapporteur Richard Falk called it "a crime against humanity." It follows that the government of Gaza is legally, under customary international law, allowed to respond to this attack on its civilian population by attacks on civilian targets in Israel. (and that before even considering the direct bombing of civilian targets in Gaza.)
Hence, it seems to me that all the requirements for legal defensive military response are met and the use of Qassam rockets by Hamas does not constitute a breach of international law and therefore does does not constitute a crime.
That of course does not mean that seeking to kill civilians in Ashkelon and Sderot is moral or the right thing for Hamas to do. I personally believe it would have been both less morally problematic and more effective if Hamas could target Tel-Aviv instead of Sderot or if it did more to harm Israeli soldiers. But I will as always avoid passing judgement on what people ought to morally do in extreme situations such as those faced by the people of Gaza, especially since this situation is the result of deliberate common policy of Israel, Western governments, and Arab autocracies. Accountability should be demanded first from those who create hell before it is demanded from those who are forced to live in it.
Perhaps this is an example of the inadequacies of international law. As Finklestein notes, many states would like to see the right to belligerant reprisals expunged from international law. If that were possible, it would be a great improvement. But one need to think carefully about what stands in the way of such a development. Is it sensible to demand that countries value the lives of their assailant's civilians when that assailant shows no respect for their civilians, and while international bodies smack their lips but provide no effective assistance? Belligerant reprisals are a morally problematic response to an immediate war crime. The sensible road to criminalizing belligerant reprisals passes through guaranteeing effective mechanisms for redress against international war crimes in the first place. A functioning international criminal court and a Security Council that punishes Israel for its chronic violations of humanitarian law would go a long way toward making the firing of Qassam rockets into a clear and unambiguous war crime. That is however because they would also make it unnecessary.
This analysis is not intended to minimize the very real suffering of the people living in Sderot (and now also Ashdod and Ashkelon). That suffering is not at the same scale as the suffering of people in Gaza, but it is unqualifiably horrible. These towns are populated by the dispensable non-Ashkenazi people that Zionist leaders sent to border towns intentionally in order to make them hostages in any cross border violence. The sad truth is that Israeli politicians (and affluent Israelis in general) couldn't care less about Sderot and Ashkelon. On the contrary, the pain of their residents are a convenient tool for inflaming the passions, winning elections and justifying aggression, when even Zionist commentators agree that the best way to provide safety for Sderot is to negotiate with Hamas and let Gazans live.
I would like to see the criminals responsible for the current suffering in Sderot and Ashkelon tried at the Hague and sent to prison. That would be first and foremost Olmert, Barak and Livni.
// posted by Gabriel @ 4:17:00 PM
Patriarch, Nasrallah Sfeir and El Sayyed, Hassan Nasrallah
In the Lebanon we have two Nasrallah
One has it as his first name
and the other has it as his family name.
In the Lebanon we have three Hariri
one died and the son inherited
and thirdly is the sister of the dead
We have had two Jumblatt
one lived as a leader and as an Eagle
and his son reassembles a chameleon.
We have had two Jumblatt
one lived as a leader and as an Eagle
and his son reassembles a chameleon.
In the Lebanon we have two Lahoud (at least)
one is the ex-president and the second
is his own cousin but he belongs to the opposite side.
We have also two Frangieh
who are direct cousins but on opposite sides.....
and Lebanon have had three Gemayel
but Israel assassinated one in 1982
and the second in 2007, and in both cases
Israel and the Western Media blamed
and accused Syria .
and accused Syria .
Back to the two Nasrallah 's
one serves the Vatican since King Louis the eleventh,
serves the White House since 1967
and the Palais de L'Elysee since Napoleon the third.
The other Nasrallah serves the God's-fearing- people
while having his ammunition from Damascus and Tehran
(if you do not mind ! )
The problem is that we only have only one Lebanon
invented by France ,
adopted by the West ,
missed Syria , by its own mother ,
and separated from Palestine. its own twin-sister.
Raja Chemayel
invented by France.......but loyal to the Truth.
24 Feb.2008
serves the White House since 1967
and the Palais de L'Elysee since Napoleon the third.
The other Nasrallah serves the God's-fearing- people
while having his ammunition from Damascus and Tehran
(if you do not mind ! )
The problem is that we only have only one Lebanon
invented by France ,
adopted by the West ,
missed Syria , by its own mother ,
and separated from Palestine. its own twin-sister.
Raja Chemayel
invented by France.......but loyal to the Truth.
24 Feb.2008
Sayyed Nasrallah: Time for Palestinian third Intifadah
Mohamad Shmaysani
Quotes
Nasrallah call on Lebanese President Michel Sleiman as a consensus president to spare no effort to push for holding the Arab summit because some sides are already trying to frustrate it.
Sayyed Nasrallah urged the Palestinians everywhere to unite and cooperate. The war is not waged against Hamas as an Islamist party. If Khaled Meshal calls any of the mediators and says that he is ready for negotiations with Israel, the bombardment of Gaza would, the bombardment of Gaza would stop in no time and Hamas would govern Gaza and the West Bank as well. Arab country as long as the ruler yield to Washington and Tel Aviv’s political and economic terms, and abandon his rights and the rights of his people.
It is in fact waged against all the Palestinians and their will, right and determination. The war is waged today on the program of the resistance.
(.....)The problem of Israel and the US with Hezbollah is not based on the party’s religious nature. If one Hezbollah leader calls Washington, and they really wish we’d do this, and told the American that we are ready to discuss our weapons, our resistance and our sovereignty, the American will help us govern Lebanon. Their real problem is with our political program that refuses to abandon prisoners, land and sovereignty. (....)
(.....)The target in Gaza was the remainder of the resistance and the will of the Palestinians. (...)
(.....)Nasrallah called for a third Intifada in Palestine and similar uprisings in the Arab and Islamic worlds. We call on all Palestinian factions to unite and work on stopping this aggression without allowing the Israelis to achieve their goals. We also call on Arabs and Muslims to continue action because the aggression continues. (......)
(......)People have begun taking to the streets of Arab capitals and this is a good sign that we did not witness during the 2006 war. This also means a real improvement in the position of the peoples. (.....)
(.....) Sayyed Nasrallah said he had expected he would be assailed after his Sunday speech, yet he firmly said that defending Gaza is worth offering blood and being blasphemed or insulted in much less that offering blood. “We are all engaged in the battle of the nation and the battle to awaken awareness against delusive campaigns. Yesterday I hears one of the Arab blasphemers and liars saying that Hezbollah has bombarded the Egyptian embassy in Beirut. What kind of lies are these. We avoided going to the Egyptian embassy because of the sensitivity of the situation. All we are doing is peacefully asking the Egyptians to change their position. (.....)
(....)The people of Gaza are the purest and most honorable people, and those who abandon them are participating in the crime, killings and treason. We have been calling to open the Rafah crossing; today if you hear all speeches you will see that the calls for Egypt to open the Rafah crossing are unanimous. We are talking about steadfastness in Gaza and the first condition to consolidate steadfastness there is to open the gates for it.” (.....)
(.....) What is happening in Gaza today is similar to what had happened in Lebanon in 2006. Settlers living 40km from Gaza will stay either in shelters or outside their settlements. The war in Gaza is a matter of time, and the Israelis can’t endure a long war. (.....)
(......)Questions about the feasibility of the war will emerge soon. In Lebanon, Israel’s strategic stockpile of missiles was depleted and the Israeli air force failed to achieve its goals although there were many martyrs, many injured and many destroyed houses, however we did not lay down arms and our will was not taken from us. Israel is involved in a psychological war campaign against the Palestinians through news about masses of soldiers and tanks preparing to storm into Gaza. But when they begin their ground offensive, they will begin to lose as they will be faced by brave resistance fighters.” (......)
(......) The leader of the resistance addressed Egypt and renewed his call to open the Rafah crossing. “We are asking Egypt and the Arab leaders to secure the requirements of steadfastness for the Gazan population if they were not able to stop the aggression.”His eminence concluded his speech by urging Arabs and Muslims to keep working on all levels to back the Palestinians in Gaza, More
Abul Gheit Assails Sayyed Nasrallah Over Protest Calls
29/12/2008
Thousands Rally in Cairo against Israel's Gaza Op.
29/12/2008 Thousands of protesters rallied in the Egyptian capital on Monday against Israel's three-day-old onslaught against the neighboring Gaza Strip. Riot police were out in force to monitor the demonstration outside the journalists' union in the city centre.
Among the demonstrators was Mohammed Mehdi Akef, supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood which remains outlawed but is partially tolerated by the authorities.
"Off to Gaza we go, martyrs by the million," "We all belong to Hamas," and "Where's the Egyptian army?" were among the slogans chanted by the crowd.
Some demonstrators demanded that the Israeli ambassador be expelled or even that the embassy be burned down. With Jordan, Egypt is one of only two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel and exchanged ambassadors.
Some protesters vented their anger against President Hosni Mubarak, chanting: "Down with Mubarak."
The Egyptian leader held talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni last week just two days before the launch of the air blitz against the Gaza Strip which has now killed well over 300 people.
Their talks drew charges from the opposition that Mubarak was complicit in the Israeli decision to launch the offensive on Saturday.The Egyptian embassies in Amman and Beirut have also been the focus of protests.
Egypt has participated in the Israeli siege for the last months, after it closed Rafah crossing, the only path that links Gaza with the outside world, refusing to listen to the calls demanding its opening.
AMIRA HASS REPORTING LIVE FROM GAZA
December 30, 2008 at 7:50 am
Amira Hass / Uncertainty and bombing keep Gazans awake and fearful of who will be next
Abu Salah’s family lives in Gaza’s Nasser neighborhood - close enough to hear the bombings targeting the home next to that of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in the Shati refugee camp, and close enough to hear the attacks on Haniyeh’s office, which also hit the UN building.
“Salah wants to leave the house, but I didn’t let him,” Abu Salah said. “Who knows what will happen outside? On the other hand, who knows what will happen at home?”
He knew what he was talking about Monday morning, following what he called “the hardest night we’ve had until now. Even harder than Saturday. From 12 at night until 7 we couldn’t sleep - bombings, explosions and ambulances the whole time.”
At 1 o’clock that same night, on the other side of the Strip in Rafah’s Yibna refugee camp, a missile was fired at the home of Riad al-Attar, a senior commander in the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Attar had already vacated the building along with his family.
Shortly afterwards, another missile was fired, this one hitting a building full of occupants, 300 meters from al-Attar’s home. The home, little more than concrete and asbestos, belongs to the Abbasi family. The father, Ziad, is a building contractor. Three of his children were killed in the strike and remained buried under the rubble: Sadki, age 3; Ahmed, age 12 and Mohammed, age 14. The parents and three other children were wounded.
On Monday at 5 P.M. a house was bombed in Beit Lahia, and according to initial reports seven family members were killed.
“Every parent understands the home isn’t safe, as the streets aren’t safe,” says Umm Basel.
“Maybe next door lives someone from Iz al-Din al-Qassam, I don’t know, or on your side they think he lives there, and that you’re allowed to fire a missile on us. He is not in his home, we are.”
Everyone sees the images on television of young children being rescued from the wreckage.
“When I turn on the generator and for a moment don’t pay attention to them, the kids run to the TV to see the girls of the Balousha family,” she said, referring to the Jabalya family which lost five girls and in which four siblings and the parents were injured.
“Yafa noticed that one of the girls whispered, ‘Where is my mother?’” she said, adding that no one in her family slept that night. “We’re always jumping out of bed because of the bombings.”
All of the windows in the home are open so that the explosions don’t shatter the glass and wound the people inside - at least, that is the case in homes in which the window panes remain whole.
Glass panes are impossible to come by in the Strip, and instead people cover the windows with plastic sheets. Such sheets, like window panes, are not among the products Israel has allowed into the territory over the past two years, and they can only be transferred via underground tunnels.
Now, with the tunnels’ closure, a shortage of sheets is expected. On top of everything else, Gazans must now deal with the bitter cold in their homes, lacking electricity most of the time, as well as diesel fuel and gas.
On Monday and the day before, Rafah residents living close to the Egyptian border were told to leave their homes.
On Saturday night, Egyptian authorities gave members of the Palestinian National Guard a message from Israel to move 300 meters from the border because shelling was about to begin. Hundreds of people went to stay with relatives in the center of Rafah, gathering their belongings and leaving for the hundredth time in their lives.
Source
Amira Hass / Uncertainty and bombing keep Gazans awake and fearful of who will be nextAbu Salah’s family lives in Gaza’s Nasser neighborhood - close enough to hear the bombings targeting the home next to that of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in the Shati refugee camp, and close enough to hear the attacks on Haniyeh’s office, which also hit the UN building.
“Salah wants to leave the house, but I didn’t let him,” Abu Salah said. “Who knows what will happen outside? On the other hand, who knows what will happen at home?”
He knew what he was talking about Monday morning, following what he called “the hardest night we’ve had until now. Even harder than Saturday. From 12 at night until 7 we couldn’t sleep - bombings, explosions and ambulances the whole time.”
At 1 o’clock that same night, on the other side of the Strip in Rafah’s Yibna refugee camp, a missile was fired at the home of Riad al-Attar, a senior commander in the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Attar had already vacated the building along with his family.
Shortly afterwards, another missile was fired, this one hitting a building full of occupants, 300 meters from al-Attar’s home. The home, little more than concrete and asbestos, belongs to the Abbasi family. The father, Ziad, is a building contractor. Three of his children were killed in the strike and remained buried under the rubble: Sadki, age 3; Ahmed, age 12 and Mohammed, age 14. The parents and three other children were wounded.
On Monday at 5 P.M. a house was bombed in Beit Lahia, and according to initial reports seven family members were killed.
“Every parent understands the home isn’t safe, as the streets aren’t safe,” says Umm Basel.
“Maybe next door lives someone from Iz al-Din al-Qassam, I don’t know, or on your side they think he lives there, and that you’re allowed to fire a missile on us. He is not in his home, we are.”
Everyone sees the images on television of young children being rescued from the wreckage.
“When I turn on the generator and for a moment don’t pay attention to them, the kids run to the TV to see the girls of the Balousha family,” she said, referring to the Jabalya family which lost five girls and in which four siblings and the parents were injured.
“Yafa noticed that one of the girls whispered, ‘Where is my mother?’” she said, adding that no one in her family slept that night. “We’re always jumping out of bed because of the bombings.”
All of the windows in the home are open so that the explosions don’t shatter the glass and wound the people inside - at least, that is the case in homes in which the window panes remain whole.
Glass panes are impossible to come by in the Strip, and instead people cover the windows with plastic sheets. Such sheets, like window panes, are not among the products Israel has allowed into the territory over the past two years, and they can only be transferred via underground tunnels.
Now, with the tunnels’ closure, a shortage of sheets is expected. On top of everything else, Gazans must now deal with the bitter cold in their homes, lacking electricity most of the time, as well as diesel fuel and gas.
On Monday and the day before, Rafah residents living close to the Egyptian border were told to leave their homes.
On Saturday night, Egyptian authorities gave members of the Palestinian National Guard a message from Israel to move 300 meters from the border because shelling was about to begin. Hundreds of people went to stay with relatives in the center of Rafah, gathering their belongings and leaving for the hundredth time in their lives.
Source
Abbas the First with DISGUSTING DEGREE
Dr Mohamad Al-Awadi
Commenting on Abbas Saying All Over History Moslems were preventined from Haj three Times, By Kuffar, By Quaramittah, and Hamas
Abbas the First with DISGUSTING DEGREE
عباس.. الأول مع مرتبة القرف
مقال رفضت الصحف العربية نشره
All Arab Newspapers refused to puplish
د. محمد العوضي
أضحكني بالأمس حديث استمعت إليه (صدفة) لسيادة , رئيس (الدولة) الفلسطينية محمود عباس على قناة (العربية) اتهم فيه حركة حماس بإفساد موسم حج أهل قطاع غزة، وقال إن منع الحج لم يحدث في التاريخ سوى ثلاث مرات فقط؛ مرة في زمن كفار قريش ومرة في عهد القرامطة وأخيرا في عهد حركة حماس!!
تأملت في هذا الكلام الغريب لشخص حفل تاريخه السياسي بالعديد من (انجازات الخزي) فكانت السابقة الأولى في التاريخ وليست الثالثة (كما يتهم حماس).
ودعني أذكرك يا( سيادة) الرئيس ببعض تلك (الأوائل)!! التي تمت في عهدك..
- أول مرة يقوم فيها زعيم منظمة ثورية (تحريرية) بوصف عمليات شعبه الفدائية والاستشهادية (بالإرهابية) و(الحقيرة) وأسلحتها (بالعبثية) وينسق أمنياً مع العدو لاعتقال المقاومة!!
- أول مرة يظهر فيها (رئيس) ضم وتقبيل وعناق و....!! لقتلة شعبه, وتراه ودون حياء يكيل لهم المديح والابتسامات في الوقت الذي تنتفخ فيه أوداجه حنقاً وغضباً لمجرد ذكر اسم أخيه (حماس).
- أول مرة يتجرأ فيها جهاز أمن (رئاسي) على انتهاك حرمة بيوت الله وقتل أئمة المساجد وحفظة القرآن الكريم من بلده , وما دماء الشيوخ مجد البرغوثي ومحمد الرفاتي وناهض النمر ومحمد رداد الطالب الجامعي الحافظ لكتاب الله وحبيب الجميع؛ إلا اكبر شاهد على ذلك.
- وأول مرة تتواقح فيها شرطة ( الزعران) فيعتدون على حرائر فلسطين ويخلعون عنهن الحجاب والنقاب في الشوارع والجامعات.
- أول مرة يقوم فيها مستشار شخصي (لرئيس) بتهريب 3400 جهاز خلوي في سيارة التشريفات الرسمية أثناء عودته من مهمة (نضالية)!! واسأل تلميذك المدعو روحي فتوح عن رحلة عودته من الأردن يوم 19/3/2008، حين كشفته وفضحته أجهزة الجمارك الإسرائيلية, وغيره الكثير من (تلاميذك) ومستشاريك.
- أول مرة يقوم فيها مسؤول فلسطيني بإغلاق اللجان الخيرية ودور تحفيظ القرآن وتجريم مؤسسات كفالة الأيتام ورعاية أسر الشهداء والفقراء, استجابة لإملاءات العدو ونكاية بنده السياسي.
- أول مرة يقوم فيها حرس (رئاسي) بإلقاء شخص ملتحي (فتحاوي) من فوق برج (مهنا) غرب غزة من الطابق الرابع عشر وقتله ظناً منهم أنه (حمساوي)!! وكان ذلك بتاريخ 10/6/2007 مع الشاب المغدور حسام أبو قينص؟!!
كما اعترف القيادي الفتحاوي توفيق أبو خوصة في قناة الحوار ثم عاتبته فتح على هذا التصريح!
- أول مرة يتفوق فيها (رئيس) على كل (الساديين) فتراه (وبدم بارد) يتفنن ويتلذذ بمشاهدة وسماع آلام وآهات مليون ونصف من شعبه المحاصر بالجوع والمرض والظلام في قطاع فقير وصغير تأديباً وعقاباً له على اختياره في الانتخابات للفصيل المنافس.
- أول مرة يقوم فيها رئيس بالتمسك باتفاقية حدودية مهينة ومذلة تنتقص من سيادة(دولته)، وتعطي لعدوه سيطرة كاملة على منافذ شعبه وموارد بلاده, بل وتصل به المهانة حداً يقاتل فيه كل من يحاول إلغاء وتعطيل هذه الاتفاقية.. أليس هذا واقع حال اتفاقية معبر (رفح) التي وقعها مع إسرائيل توأمك (النضالي) محمد دحلان عام 2005؟!
_ قائمة (الأوائل) في عهدك (ياريس) طويلة طويلة يعرفها إخواننا في فلسطين أكثر من غيرهم , صحيح أن الإعلام المضلل يتغاضى عنها وقد يجهلها الكثيرون, ولكن التاريخ سيسجلها لك بأحرف من (قرف) تشمئز منها الأجيال.
ومع ذلك فكل (الأوائل) في عهدك (ياعباس) قد تهون عن كونك (الزعيم) الأول في التاريخ القديم والمعاصر الذي يأمر (عصاباته) باغتيال المقاومين الشرفاء فيما يسابق عدوه إلى تقديم التنازلات له عن كل شيء بدءاً بالأرض وانتهاء (بالعرض)!!
*ملاحظة: منع المقال من النشر في صحف عربية بسبب قانون المطبوعات الذي يمنع المساس المباشر برؤساء الدول, وكان موعد نشره أول أيام العيد المبارك.
One Zionist Has Had Enough: Today I end my support of Israel
Like davidminzer, I'm Jewish and descendant of holocaust survivors. Moreover, I've been a Zionist all of my life. I went to a Zionist school, I was active in Zionist youth groups. I've always been a fervent supporter of Israel as a refuge for Jews around the world who seek a place to exercise their traditions and embrace their identity in peace.
I sang the Israeli anthem in the train rails of Aushwitz-Birkenau and I pledged to fight every day of my life to make sure the savage crimes that had taken place there would never happen again. Every year I pledged: Never Again. Remember and Never forget.
Well, I haven't forgotten. And so to honor that pledge, to honor the memory of my family members who died in those death camps and because "there comes a time when silence is betrayal", today I finally and publicly end my support for the state of Israel.
Chilean Jew's diary:
I do this with great pain in my heart, but nonetheless with the overwhelming conviction that it is the only right thing to do. I was patient: I tolerated the destruction of the Oslo process by refusing to end or slow down the constant and criminal construction of settlements. I held my nose and stood my ground when Barak killed the final status negotiations at Taba 2001. I even remained loyal after Sharon's massacres in the West Bank, the brutal Annexation wall, the illegal "selective assassinations" and Olmert's war crimes in Lebanon.
I had to defend Israel and Israelis with my friends and others who demanded I be consistent with my progressive views and oppose a country that was responsible for horrible crimes against innocent human beings. "Israelis are scared, they are traumatized, you have to understand...", "Israel is responding to attacks on itself, tell me one other country that wouldn't respond when attacked...", I demanded understanding, I pleaded for a fair and comparative analysis.
ENOUGH. I'm done justifying crimes against humanity by a country that claims to be an illuminated western democracy. I'm done defending a country that is unwilling to grant self-determination to a neighboring people because it won't let go of a few settlements and divide a city. I'm done tolerating the slaughtering of innocent kids, the murderous and barbaric occupation of an impoverished people, the utter disregard for human life. F*** them.
If they think their daily peace of mind is worth the lives of hundreds of innocent people, F*** them.
If they think the best way to go right now would be to vote for Natanyahu (who is so far winning in the polls), F*** them.
If they won't bat an eye before keeping millions without electricity or water, before bombing civilian neighborhoods at exactly the time when kids are leaving schools, before breaking every standard of international law or moral decency, F*** them.
It's time for every true progressive in this country and around the world to do the only thing that our consciences should allow us to do, the only thing that can keep us consistent with our supposed beliefs that human life is precious and that unnecessary violence is always criminal, barbarous and unacceptable. We must demand that Israel stop violence and immediately put an end to its colonialist military occupation of Palestine.
And until they do so, we must organize and do everything we can to make sure our money is not financing mass murder and oppression.
It is time for the progressive movement to demand immediate Divestment from Israel, just like we divested from other oppressive states like South Africa.
The only reason not to do so is willful hypocrisy. And I don't know about you, but I'm done being a hypocrite.
Unnecessary murder of innocents is always wrong. Selfish and unjustifiable occupation is always wrong. Inaction in the face of massive suffering and injustice is always wrong. It is thus our responsibility to make sure Obama and the rest of our leaders understand that this time we will be relentless, this time we mean business and this time we will honor our pledges.
NEVER AGAIN! DIVEST NOW!
Peace, Salaam, Shalom
source article
I sang the Israeli anthem in the train rails of Aushwitz-Birkenau and I pledged to fight every day of my life to make sure the savage crimes that had taken place there would never happen again. Every year I pledged: Never Again. Remember and Never forget.
Well, I haven't forgotten. And so to honor that pledge, to honor the memory of my family members who died in those death camps and because "there comes a time when silence is betrayal", today I finally and publicly end my support for the state of Israel.
Chilean Jew's diary:
I do this with great pain in my heart, but nonetheless with the overwhelming conviction that it is the only right thing to do. I was patient: I tolerated the destruction of the Oslo process by refusing to end or slow down the constant and criminal construction of settlements. I held my nose and stood my ground when Barak killed the final status negotiations at Taba 2001. I even remained loyal after Sharon's massacres in the West Bank, the brutal Annexation wall, the illegal "selective assassinations" and Olmert's war crimes in Lebanon.
I had to defend Israel and Israelis with my friends and others who demanded I be consistent with my progressive views and oppose a country that was responsible for horrible crimes against innocent human beings. "Israelis are scared, they are traumatized, you have to understand...", "Israel is responding to attacks on itself, tell me one other country that wouldn't respond when attacked...", I demanded understanding, I pleaded for a fair and comparative analysis.
ENOUGH. I'm done justifying crimes against humanity by a country that claims to be an illuminated western democracy. I'm done defending a country that is unwilling to grant self-determination to a neighboring people because it won't let go of a few settlements and divide a city. I'm done tolerating the slaughtering of innocent kids, the murderous and barbaric occupation of an impoverished people, the utter disregard for human life. F*** them.
If they think their daily peace of mind is worth the lives of hundreds of innocent people, F*** them.
If they think the best way to go right now would be to vote for Natanyahu (who is so far winning in the polls), F*** them.
If they won't bat an eye before keeping millions without electricity or water, before bombing civilian neighborhoods at exactly the time when kids are leaving schools, before breaking every standard of international law or moral decency, F*** them.
It's time for every true progressive in this country and around the world to do the only thing that our consciences should allow us to do, the only thing that can keep us consistent with our supposed beliefs that human life is precious and that unnecessary violence is always criminal, barbarous and unacceptable. We must demand that Israel stop violence and immediately put an end to its colonialist military occupation of Palestine.
And until they do so, we must organize and do everything we can to make sure our money is not financing mass murder and oppression.
It is time for the progressive movement to demand immediate Divestment from Israel, just like we divested from other oppressive states like South Africa.
The only reason not to do so is willful hypocrisy. And I don't know about you, but I'm done being a hypocrite.
Unnecessary murder of innocents is always wrong. Selfish and unjustifiable occupation is always wrong. Inaction in the face of massive suffering and injustice is always wrong. It is thus our responsibility to make sure Obama and the rest of our leaders understand that this time we will be relentless, this time we mean business and this time we will honor our pledges.
NEVER AGAIN! DIVEST NOW!
Peace, Salaam, Shalom
source article
The Holocaust belongs to Humanity
Source
An update: I prepare for no electricity, no internet, and the worst. I’m praying that you will do your part outside Gaza to end this horror. 7 more killed, 10s wounded in latest attack in north of Gaza.
—————–
An appeal by the people of the diocese of the Roman Catholics in Bethlehem
Fadi Yacoub , PNN
Bethlehem - The Greek Catholic Church has issued a statement from Bethlehem condemning the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
An appeal to stop the “heinous crimes committed against our people who aspire to freedom and independence” was announced Sunday by the Church of the Virgin Mother of the Roman Catholic parish and council.
“The crimes committed by the Government of Israel have violated all international covenants and conventions regarding humanity.”
The Church also supported calls by parties, including President Abbas, to restore national unity. “All forms of division must end in order to meet the challenges that beset the Palestinian cause as a whole,” the president said.
The Church also called on the United Nations Security Council to take a real stand against the Israelis, in addition to asking that “all the forces of love and peace work to stop the crimes of the occupation.” An appeal was issued to the Patriarch of the Patriarchs and Bishops of the Province who is slated to attend a reception today with the President of the Israeli state, Shimon Peres, to congratulate him on Christmas and New Year’s Day. The Church is demanding instead a boycotting of the reception in an expression of condemnation of “such barbaric crimes.” The Bethlehem Christian council added that they must “stand by the weak and the disadvantaged and bereaved mothers and widows and wounded.”
The appeal was presided over by Bishop Yusef Zariei, Deputy Patriarch of the Roman Catholics in the Holy City of Jerusalem on Sunday morning Mass.
Father Jacob Abu Sa’ada, parish priest and deacon, helped preside. The mass was attended by Bethlehem Mayor Dr. Victor Batarseh, Brigadier General Ismail Faraj, the Director of General Intelligence in the West Bank and a large number of religious officials, civilians and children of the parish.
Bishop Joseph stressed the need to pray for the people of Gaza and for “them to remain resilient in the face of the occupation.” He called for international intervention “to put an end to this difficult situation for parents there.”
Before the mass ended Father George appealed to the world to take urgent action to end the carnage in Gaza. [Source via Media Lens]
Israel’s War Crimes
Below is a round-up of some bloggers who are following events:Why stop now?
A couple of relevant material:
Previously: An Israeli Blitzkrieg.
Cross-posted @ The Cylinder
——————–
The World is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.
——————–
"They are wrong to think we are the terrorists"
Eman Mohammed writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 29 December 2008
A young victim of Israeli shelling. (Eman Mohammed)
Saturday was supposed to be a normal day -- at least as close to normal as we are allowed to enjoy in Gaza.
Where else but in Gaza are students killed in air strikes on their classrooms? Where else does a humanitarian disaster unfold not because an earthquake, a volcano, or any other kind of natural disaster struck, but because of governmental policy, and the cooperation of world powers?
From my desk in my university classroom we could see the smoke from Israel's bombing and hear the most terrifying sound of non-stop explosions. Girls around me screamed in horror and I thought about my camera which I left back at home for fear that rain would damage it. It ended up being a sunny day and I regretted losing the opportunity to take photos, not for fame or for money, but to document what was happening to prove to people outside of Gaza that they are wrong to think we are the terrorists.
Some of my classmates ran out of the university, fearing their lives, but were killed by Israeli missiles as they fled.
When I called my friends abroad to ask them to make sense of what was going on in Gaza, after we were cut off electricity just as the raids began, none of them could give me logical answers.
Meanwhile, the madness continued. Children ran hysterically in the streets as all of Gaza was on fire -- literally.
Al-Shifa Hospital was a terrifying scene where body upon body lay on the floor, as there was no more space for the dead in the morgue. I couldn't bring myself to take a picture. I stared for a very long time at the faces of the martyrs; I was acquainted with some and had worked with others.
One of the injured at the hospital was a little boy heading home from school. Terrified and unable to see due to his injury, the boy was shaking and holding on to anything alive. However, I think holding his hand helped me more than it helped him; I didn't have the words to comfort him. When doctors were able to attend to the boy, I promised him he would be OK. The next thing I knew, his little weak body, deprived of life, was lying on the hospital's cold floor. Was his crime being born Palestinian?
As the day drew to a close, I was simultaneously sad, angry, speechless and dumbfounded by what was happening so I went back home. However, the Israeli planes did not and the attacks continued for a second day and are still ongoing.
The second day was more painful than the first since we then understood that this all wasn't some nightmare. After I woke up, I headed directly to the hospital to document the cruel reality. As the casualties kept mounting -- women, children and men alike -- it was crystal clear that the whole of the people of Gaza were being targeted.
Those who are reporting the events are not exempt from the bombing and seem to be a special target. Journalists rushed to the scene of an air strike at the Saraya prison compound yesterday, thinking the bombing was all over, but a couple of minutes later another missile hit our location. We escaped with minor injuries but so far hundreds of people in Gaza have not been so lucky.
Eman Mohammed is a Jordanian-Palestinian freelance photojournalist and reporter based in the Gaza Strip since 2005.
Saturday was supposed to be a normal day -- at least as close to normal as we are allowed to enjoy in Gaza.
Where else but in Gaza are students killed in air strikes on their classrooms? Where else does a humanitarian disaster unfold not because an earthquake, a volcano, or any other kind of natural disaster struck, but because of governmental policy, and the cooperation of world powers?
From my desk in my university classroom we could see the smoke from Israel's bombing and hear the most terrifying sound of non-stop explosions. Girls around me screamed in horror and I thought about my camera which I left back at home for fear that rain would damage it. It ended up being a sunny day and I regretted losing the opportunity to take photos, not for fame or for money, but to document what was happening to prove to people outside of Gaza that they are wrong to think we are the terrorists.
Some of my classmates ran out of the university, fearing their lives, but were killed by Israeli missiles as they fled.
When I called my friends abroad to ask them to make sense of what was going on in Gaza, after we were cut off electricity just as the raids began, none of them could give me logical answers.
Meanwhile, the madness continued. Children ran hysterically in the streets as all of Gaza was on fire -- literally.
Al-Shifa Hospital was a terrifying scene where body upon body lay on the floor, as there was no more space for the dead in the morgue. I couldn't bring myself to take a picture. I stared for a very long time at the faces of the martyrs; I was acquainted with some and had worked with others.
One of the injured at the hospital was a little boy heading home from school. Terrified and unable to see due to his injury, the boy was shaking and holding on to anything alive. However, I think holding his hand helped me more than it helped him; I didn't have the words to comfort him. When doctors were able to attend to the boy, I promised him he would be OK. The next thing I knew, his little weak body, deprived of life, was lying on the hospital's cold floor. Was his crime being born Palestinian?
As the day drew to a close, I was simultaneously sad, angry, speechless and dumbfounded by what was happening so I went back home. However, the Israeli planes did not and the attacks continued for a second day and are still ongoing.
The second day was more painful than the first since we then understood that this all wasn't some nightmare. After I woke up, I headed directly to the hospital to document the cruel reality. As the casualties kept mounting -- women, children and men alike -- it was crystal clear that the whole of the people of Gaza were being targeted.
Those who are reporting the events are not exempt from the bombing and seem to be a special target. Journalists rushed to the scene of an air strike at the Saraya prison compound yesterday, thinking the bombing was all over, but a couple of minutes later another missile hit our location. We escaped with minor injuries but so far hundreds of people in Gaza have not been so lucky.
Eman Mohammed is a Jordanian-Palestinian freelance photojournalist and reporter based in the Gaza Strip since 2005.
Israeli occupation holocaust in Gaza reaps 360 lives and 1700 wounded
Complete families have been wiped out
[ 30/12/2008 - 12:23 AM ]
GAZA, (PIC)-- Death toll resulting from the Israeli occupation holocaust in the Gaza Strip, at dawn Tuesday, has reached 360, and the number of wounded rose to more than 1700, Palestinian sources confirmed.
Israeli occupation warplanes, at dawn Tuesday, have launched airstrikes against the government buildings killing ten people and wounding tens others.
Israeli occupation warplanes intensified their bombardment of the west of Gaza City targeting sports and government facilities. A huge number of bombs were dropped on the targets in three minutes.
Eyewitnesses said that an F16 fired about 20 rockets on the ministries complex in the western part of Gaza City, al-Shams sports club, naval police headquarters and the headquarters of the defunct preventive security.
They added that all these rockets were fired within five minutes, that there were many injuries amongst the residents, and that ambulances were hampered by the continuation of the air raids.
Earlier Israeli occupation warplanes and gunboats concentrated their air strikes and missile attacks on buildings and targets west of Gaza city, including building of the Palestinian civil defense, inflicting huge damage in the area.
The continued Israeli raids have also buried five young sisters under the rubbles of their devastated home after it was bombed along with a mosque next to it. Bodies of the perished sisters were mutilated as a result of the attack.
Although the Israeli occupation government alleged it wasn’t targeting civilians in the assault on Gaza, international agencies, including the UNRWA among others accused it of committing horrible carnage against the children and civilians in Gaza.
Dr. Basim Naim, the PA health minister, confirmed earlier that Gaza hospitals have ran out of medicine, in addition to spare parts and electricity to keep medical equipments in Gaza functioning.
He also blamed the siege on the Strip for suspending half of the Palestinian ambulances working through out the densely populated Strip where more than 1.5 million Palestinians were lacked up.
US Made GBU-39 Bunker Buster Effect
29/12/2008 The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday.
The missile, called GBU-39, was developed in recent years by the US as a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and “low collateral damage” strikes.
These bombs have so far killed well over 310 Palestinians in less than three days.
Israel received approval from Congress to purchase 1,000 units in September and defense officials said on Sunday that the first shipment had arrived earlier this month and was used successfully in penetrating underground Kassam launchers in the Gaza Strip during the heavy aerial bombardment of Gaza on Saturday. It was also used in Sunday's bombing of Rafah.
The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world. The 113-kg. bomb has the same penetration capabilities as a normal 900-kg. bomb, although it has only 22.7 kg. of explosives. At just 1.75 meters long, its small size increases the number of bombs an aircraft can carry and the number of targets it can attack in a sortie.
Tests conducted in the US have proven that the bomb is capable of penetrating at least 90 cm. of steel-reinforced concrete. The GBU-39 can be used in adverse weather conditions and has a standoff range of more than 110 km. due to pop-out wings.
[ 30/12/2008 - 12:23 AM ]
GAZA, (PIC)-- Death toll resulting from the Israeli occupation holocaust in the Gaza Strip, at dawn Tuesday, has reached 360, and the number of wounded rose to more than 1700, Palestinian sources confirmed.
Israeli occupation warplanes, at dawn Tuesday, have launched airstrikes against the government buildings killing ten people and wounding tens others.
Israeli occupation warplanes intensified their bombardment of the west of Gaza City targeting sports and government facilities. A huge number of bombs were dropped on the targets in three minutes.
Eyewitnesses said that an F16 fired about 20 rockets on the ministries complex in the western part of Gaza City, al-Shams sports club, naval police headquarters and the headquarters of the defunct preventive security.
They added that all these rockets were fired within five minutes, that there were many injuries amongst the residents, and that ambulances were hampered by the continuation of the air raids.
Earlier Israeli occupation warplanes and gunboats concentrated their air strikes and missile attacks on buildings and targets west of Gaza city, including building of the Palestinian civil defense, inflicting huge damage in the area.
The continued Israeli raids have also buried five young sisters under the rubbles of their devastated home after it was bombed along with a mosque next to it. Bodies of the perished sisters were mutilated as a result of the attack.
Although the Israeli occupation government alleged it wasn’t targeting civilians in the assault on Gaza, international agencies, including the UNRWA among others accused it of committing horrible carnage against the children and civilians in Gaza.
Dr. Basim Naim, the PA health minister, confirmed earlier that Gaza hospitals have ran out of medicine, in addition to spare parts and electricity to keep medical equipments in Gaza functioning.
He also blamed the siege on the Strip for suspending half of the Palestinian ambulances working through out the densely populated Strip where more than 1.5 million Palestinians were lacked up.
Israel Using US GBU-39 Bunker Busters to Kill
Contributed By Lucia
Israel Using US GBU-39 Bunker Busters to Kill
Readers Number : 231
Israel Using US GBU-39 Bunker Busters to Kill
Readers Number : 231
US Made GBU-39 Bunker Buster Effect
29/12/2008 The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday.
The missile, called GBU-39, was developed in recent years by the US as a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and “low collateral damage” strikes.
These bombs have so far killed well over 310 Palestinians in less than three days.
Israel received approval from Congress to purchase 1,000 units in September and defense officials said on Sunday that the first shipment had arrived earlier this month and was used successfully in penetrating underground Kassam launchers in the Gaza Strip during the heavy aerial bombardment of Gaza on Saturday. It was also used in Sunday's bombing of Rafah.
The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world. The 113-kg. bomb has the same penetration capabilities as a normal 900-kg. bomb, although it has only 22.7 kg. of explosives. At just 1.75 meters long, its small size increases the number of bombs an aircraft can carry and the number of targets it can attack in a sortie.
Tests conducted in the US have proven that the bomb is capable of penetrating at least 90 cm. of steel-reinforced concrete. The GBU-39 can be used in adverse weather conditions and has a standoff range of more than 110 km. due to pop-out wings.
Monday, 29 December 2008
“The War Belongs to Olmert – The Victims Belong to Us!”
Source
Here they were again - the “first nighters, those who are ready to get out and demonstrate against a new war in its first hours, when war propaganda pours out of all the media and all the parties, from the extreme Right to Meretz, support the war.
No organization called for the demonstration – but more than a thousand men and women gathered spontaneously in order to protest in front of the Ministry of Defense in Tel-Aviv, only a few hours after the murderous Air Force attack on the Gaza strip started.
They were members of the divers peace organizations, from “Gush shalom” and the “Women’s Coalition for Peace” to the “Anarchists Against the Wall” and Hadash. The police, apparently afraid that the protesters would storm the building in which the Minister and the Army High Command were conducting the war, took special precautions: the elite police commando unit was backed by mounted police. Reserves were hidden in side streets. At the beginning of the demonstration, some of the police confronted the crowd with loaded and pointed guns.
shouted the protesters, whose slogans were backed up by drums. They were especially incensed by the Meretz Party statement the day before, which justified an attack on Gaza, and “Barak,Barak, Minister of Defense – How many children have you murdered today?”shouted: “Meretz, Meretz Party – Again for a War?” In the conversations among the protesters, the latest article of the writer Amos Oz, who has been awarded several peace and literature prizes, was mentioned. The article, which justified the military attack, was published at the head of the first page of the mass-circulation daily Yediot Aharonot.
The protesters marched from the Cinemateque Square to the ministry. On the way, the marchers were attacked by the police elite unit and the mounted policemen. During the demonstration, five protesters were arrested.
A day before the war, Gush Shalom activists took part in a smaller demonstration which took place in the heart of Tel-Aviv, in order to warn against the attack. This action was not reported in any of the Israeli media, except Haaretz, who devoted to it three lines hidden in another news story.
See also the report by Adam Keller appearing in The Other Israel, Dec.2008-Jan.2009
Nasrallah: People of Egypt, you must open Rafah crossing by the force of your chests
Sayyed Nasrallah Calls for Massive Rally Monday
On saterday, I commented on Fad's post: The second (actually third) and most scared Intifada is coming as follows:
uprooted Palestinian said...
Fad
What we need is an Arab INTIFADA, in particular, an Egyptian Intifada...The regime in Cairo was directly involved in the Seige and now directly involved in the War..The way to Oslo strated from Cairo (Camp David), and The Revolution that started From Cairo, in 1952, should Start again from Cairo.
7:44 AM, December 27, 2008
Yesterday Hassan Nasrallah called the People of Egypt, to open Rafah crossing by the force of their chests. Egypt is the corner stone and the Egyptian "stand can change the situation".
Egypt is the “Mother of the World”; not the ‘Red Crescent’, therefore, Egypt is requested not to pressure Hamas to yield to Israel’s conditions.
Gazans have made their choice and they are practicing it through martyrdom and resistance. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyyeh come out from under the rubble and fire to say ‘we will not surrender and we will preserve our dignity…this is Karbala.”
"If Egypt did not open the Rafah crossing to Gaza, it would be considered an accomplice in the killing of Palestinians and they (Egyptian officials) should know that they will be in the circle of condemnation if they do not rush to take an honorable stance.” He said
If the Egyptians took to the streets by millions, could the police kill millions of Egyptians?
We know that Egyptian officers and soldiers adhere to their authentic Arab identity. I am not calling for a coup in Egypt, but those officers should tell their government that they are not with watching the Palestinian people being slaughtered while they guard Israel’s border.
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah called for a massive gathering in Beirut’s southern suburb to denounce the Israeli aggression on Gaza and to express solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Sayyed Nasrallah was speaking through a large screen as he marked the first night of Ashoura at the Sayyed Shouhadaa complex in Dahiyeh.
His eminence addressed the situation in Gaza and expressed deep regret at the Arab collusion “that is ... ...
More
Nasrallah slams Arab, Zionist collaboration
Hezbollah to Gazans: You Are Not by Yourselves
Hanan Awarekeh Readers Number : 501
27/12/2008 The head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council Sayyed Hachem Safieddine confirmed on Saturday that the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were not standing by themselves.
Speaking during a protest in Southern Suburb of Beirut against the Israeli barbaric massacres, Sayyed Safieddine addressed Gaza residents saying, “You are not alone in this ordeal and the coming days will prove that the right that Gaza people are defending will obtain victory.”
His eminence compared the current Gaza aggression to the Lebanon Second War in July 2006, saying “the decision is American taken in the White House, the Zionist machine is executing and the collusion is Arab that has paved for this aggression.”
Sayyed Safieddine addressed the people of Gaza telling them that they, along with the resistance, would achieve victory “as we did in 2006”, adding “you (Gazans) will stay in the victorious position.”
The head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council said that more cohesion and awareness for what the enemy thinks are required in this stage… The Israeli military machine that killed Gaza residents was moved by a political decision however, his eminence added, this decision doesn’t show that the Israelis, Americans and some Arab collaborated countries were in a good state, on the contrary they are lost.
Sayyed Safieddine concluded his speech saying that despite the grief and sadness that we feel towards every Palestinian child, woman and man yet in the future “the victory will be huge because it is God’s pledge and God’s pledge is going to be fulfilled.”
HEZBOLLAH: ISRAEL COMMITTING WAR CRIME AND GENOCIDE IN GAZA
Meanwhile, Hezbollah issued a statement on Saturday confirming that Israel is committing an Israeli war crime and genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, saying that this calls for an instant move by the international community and its institutions, and especially the United Nations and the Security Council considering their suspicious silence a clear collusion with this aggression.
The statement added, “The condemnation language adopted by the Arab countries and their league is not capable of covering their shameful stance anymore, since allowing to block the Palestinian people is considered a participation in the siege instead of supporting this people in the whole civil and military fields to make them capable of deterring the aggression.”
Hezbollah concluded its statement saying that the nation is called for a strict stance and to exert its maximum capabilities against the barbaric Israeli aggression, under the US auspices along with the international community.
FLASHBACK
Eleven months ago, after knocking Rafah wall Tony of PP, (who was critizing Hamas for this and that) claimed that Hamas agreed to re-seal the border.
I replied as follows:
I also ask you, "How sure are you that Hamas actually agreed to re-seal the border?"
You don’t buy the theory of saving face for either Israel or the Pharaoh, I don’t buy it also, and never thought that Hamas would do that. Pharaoh tried to save his face by avoiding a big clash with Palestinian masses absorb their anger by keeping the borders open few days for “Humanitarian” reasons.
I don't buy the wishful thinking "the illusion" that Egypt may accept to keep open borders with Gaza, or Hamas would not consider that open border could lead to a slow transfer. I don’t buy or support the illusion that Hamas may turn its arms Hamas 90 or 180 degrees to fight pharaoh guards.
I don't know how Egypt is ripe for a people’s revolution, similar to what happened in Iran, I would say if it's ripe, Hamas pulled the trigger and it not the duty of Hamas or Gazan's to change Pharaoh Regime, it is the duty of Egyptians and Egyptian Opposition.
“So, what is the point of inviting Hamas to Cairo on Wednesday?”
I would put you question in another form.
Why Cairo invited Hamas?
Can’t you see that Hamas did that exactly the past few days, and it is time to turn it into a guerrilla political war in Cairo and Riyadh?
And, why you are so sure that Hamas can’t and won’t turn it again a guerrilla war on the wall.
I appreciate the pressure put by the Egyptian street that forced Pharaoh to bow few days to vent that pressure, but I would say, that rejecting Pharaoh’s invitation, and continuing the guerrilla war on the wall, shall lead to a guerrilla war on the guards of the wall, and may turn the Egyptian street against Hamas.
Uproated Palestinian,
Thanks for your lengthy comments. We can finally have a decent discussion going on between two Palestinians; what do you know!
But seriously, I think we are close to total agreement this time. In a couple of instances, I was not criticizing Hamas, but in my own way saying what you are also saying. Example: When I said, what is the point of Hamas going to Cairo, the criticism was directed more against the Pharaoh than Hamas. Why bother inviting Hamas when you (Pharaoh) have already given in to USraeli pressure and told the traitor Fayyad that his gang will run the crossing. I think that he is going through the motions to show that he "consulted" with Hamas, to save his own backside.
I did not advocate deliberately fighting the Egyptian troops; I advocated a guerrilla war to keep the wall open. You are right, Hamas has done that and needs to do it again and again until the siege totally collapses. But you are right; we don't need to create enmity with the Egyptian people, because this is part of the Pharaoh's plan to antagonize Egyptians against Hamas and the Palestinians.
Tony Sayegh Homepage 01.29.08 - 10:03 pm #
Tony
We could have done that from the very begining, even if we are too far to total agreement. You were humilating, not cricizing Hamas, almost all the time, not a couple of times, and somtimes humilatimg your people. I may tolerate that from a non-palestinian, not from you, not from the Palestinian Pundit.
Despite of good intentions. Good intentions could lead to hell. So nothing personal, even when I referred to leaving Gaza, nothing was personal. I always believed that every Palestinian, despite of his age, his gender, whether living in Palestine, in an arab country, in any corner of the planet, could do somthing for Palestine. Let do whatever we can in the right way, put secondary difference aside, and concentrate on the major diffence.
I have differences with Suuna, and Shea, but politically I am a Shiit in Lebanon, Sunni in Iraq, Allwai in Syria. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I need to create freinds, not enemies.
I can't froget the Mistake off attacking Nasir for accepting Roger's Agreement, putting his picture on a donkey during demonstrations in Amman, and how Jodan used it while planning black september,
I can't forget how, at the same period, how Palestinians humilated, the Nasirist Lebanese martyre, Maarouf Said. I paticipated in a meeting with him in Saaeqa office in Saida. To release the tention of accepting roger's agreement, we reached an agrement, but next day Fateh, caputure him, put him in the back of truck and brough him to Ein-Alhilwi, calling him, the white beer.
Just remember, how Egyptians reacted after the assassination of the Egyption Writer/ novalist/Jurnalist( Yousif Al Sibaa'e)in Larnaca.
Yes Pharouh by inviting Hamas, wanted to save his own backside, but on the other side, Hamas wanted also to save its backside, I mean its southern side.
Uproated Palestinian Homepage 01.30.08 - 6:38 am #
NOW IS THE EGYPTIAN STREET RIPE AND READY TO SPEAK OUT: HUMILATION NEVER?? AND PAY THE BLOODY PRICE??
I Hope so
Arab Treason, Hezbullah, Lebanon, The War on Gaza
On saterday, I commented on Fad's post: The second (actually third) and most scared Intifada is coming as follows:
uprooted Palestinian said...
Fad
What we need is an Arab INTIFADA, in particular, an Egyptian Intifada...The regime in Cairo was directly involved in the Seige and now directly involved in the War..The way to Oslo strated from Cairo (Camp David), and The Revolution that started From Cairo, in 1952, should Start again from Cairo.
7:44 AM, December 27, 2008
Yesterday Hassan Nasrallah called the People of Egypt, to open Rafah crossing by the force of their chests. Egypt is the corner stone and the Egyptian "stand can change the situation".
Egypt is the “Mother of the World”; not the ‘Red Crescent’, therefore, Egypt is requested not to pressure Hamas to yield to Israel’s conditions.
Gazans have made their choice and they are practicing it through martyrdom and resistance. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyyeh come out from under the rubble and fire to say ‘we will not surrender and we will preserve our dignity…this is Karbala.”
"If Egypt did not open the Rafah crossing to Gaza, it would be considered an accomplice in the killing of Palestinians and they (Egyptian officials) should know that they will be in the circle of condemnation if they do not rush to take an honorable stance.” He said
If the Egyptians took to the streets by millions, could the police kill millions of Egyptians?
We know that Egyptian officers and soldiers adhere to their authentic Arab identity. I am not calling for a coup in Egypt, but those officers should tell their government that they are not with watching the Palestinian people being slaughtered while they guard Israel’s border.
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah called for a massive gathering in Beirut’s southern suburb to denounce the Israeli aggression on Gaza and to express solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Sayyed Nasrallah was speaking through a large screen as he marked the first night of Ashoura at the Sayyed Shouhadaa complex in Dahiyeh.
His eminence addressed the situation in Gaza and expressed deep regret at the Arab collusion “that is ... ...
More
Nasrallah slams Arab, Zionist collaboration
Hezbollah to Gazans: You Are Not by Yourselves
Hanan Awarekeh Readers Number : 501
27/12/2008 The head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council Sayyed Hachem Safieddine confirmed on Saturday that the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were not standing by themselves.
Speaking during a protest in Southern Suburb of Beirut against the Israeli barbaric massacres, Sayyed Safieddine addressed Gaza residents saying, “You are not alone in this ordeal and the coming days will prove that the right that Gaza people are defending will obtain victory.”
His eminence compared the current Gaza aggression to the Lebanon Second War in July 2006, saying “the decision is American taken in the White House, the Zionist machine is executing and the collusion is Arab that has paved for this aggression.”
Sayyed Safieddine addressed the people of Gaza telling them that they, along with the resistance, would achieve victory “as we did in 2006”, adding “you (Gazans) will stay in the victorious position.”
The head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council said that more cohesion and awareness for what the enemy thinks are required in this stage… The Israeli military machine that killed Gaza residents was moved by a political decision however, his eminence added, this decision doesn’t show that the Israelis, Americans and some Arab collaborated countries were in a good state, on the contrary they are lost.
Sayyed Safieddine concluded his speech saying that despite the grief and sadness that we feel towards every Palestinian child, woman and man yet in the future “the victory will be huge because it is God’s pledge and God’s pledge is going to be fulfilled.”
HEZBOLLAH: ISRAEL COMMITTING WAR CRIME AND GENOCIDE IN GAZA
Meanwhile, Hezbollah issued a statement on Saturday confirming that Israel is committing an Israeli war crime and genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, saying that this calls for an instant move by the international community and its institutions, and especially the United Nations and the Security Council considering their suspicious silence a clear collusion with this aggression.
The statement added, “The condemnation language adopted by the Arab countries and their league is not capable of covering their shameful stance anymore, since allowing to block the Palestinian people is considered a participation in the siege instead of supporting this people in the whole civil and military fields to make them capable of deterring the aggression.”
Hezbollah concluded its statement saying that the nation is called for a strict stance and to exert its maximum capabilities against the barbaric Israeli aggression, under the US auspices along with the international community.
FLASHBACK
Eleven months ago, after knocking Rafah wall Tony of PP, (who was critizing Hamas for this and that) claimed that Hamas agreed to re-seal the border.
I replied as follows:
I also ask you, "How sure are you that Hamas actually agreed to re-seal the border?"
You don’t buy the theory of saving face for either Israel or the Pharaoh, I don’t buy it also, and never thought that Hamas would do that. Pharaoh tried to save his face by avoiding a big clash with Palestinian masses absorb their anger by keeping the borders open few days for “Humanitarian” reasons.
I don't buy the wishful thinking "the illusion" that Egypt may accept to keep open borders with Gaza, or Hamas would not consider that open border could lead to a slow transfer. I don’t buy or support the illusion that Hamas may turn its arms Hamas 90 or 180 degrees to fight pharaoh guards.
I don't know how Egypt is ripe for a people’s revolution, similar to what happened in Iran, I would say if it's ripe, Hamas pulled the trigger and it not the duty of Hamas or Gazan's to change Pharaoh Regime, it is the duty of Egyptians and Egyptian Opposition.
If Hamas did it, for tactical reasons, as you said, it is not a mistake. I don’t think Hamas ever thought that knocking down the wall would lead to regime change on the short and medium terms.
In knocking down the wall, Hamas wanted to break the physical and political siege, and it did. I wrote before that Hamas, to break the political seige reach a new border agreement, don’t mind giving Pharaoh some credit. Hamas wanted to reach a normal crossing agreement, Hamas may fail to obtain such agreement, Hamas, since taking control on Gaza calling all the time for negotiating with Fatah, can’t politically reject Pharaoh’s Invite.“So, what is the point of inviting Hamas to Cairo on Wednesday?”
I would put you question in another form.
Why Cairo invited Hamas?
Can’t you see that breaking the wall ended the political siege and opened the gates of Cairo and Riyadh for Hamas?
Do you still think that Hamas leaders are “Habilas” to think that the Pharaoh has finally seen the light and that he has no choice but to deal with Hamas to run the crossing, or Hamas is not aware “that the strength of Hamas comes from the people, Palestinian and other Arabs”?
Can’t you see that Hamas did that exactly the past few days, and it is time to turn it into a guerrilla political war in Cairo and Riyadh?
And, why you are so sure that Hamas can’t and won’t turn it again a guerrilla war on the wall.
My friend, it the hunger and the seige, more than Hamas, that escalated the public anger, and its, Pharaoh’s tactical move that de-escalated public anger and mobilization.
I shall not be surprised to read you claiming again that Hamas, like Arafat is using peoples uprising to get to the negotiation table.
“Hopefully pressure on the Pharaoh can be intensified from the Egyptian street while this war of the wall goes on.”
The Iranian street changed the regime, not for Palestine, but for itself when the revolution was ripe.Let us think why the Egyptian street moved against Pharaoh for Gaza and failed to move for itself. Pharaoh may tolerate and get the credit in the first move, but shall lose everything in the other move. The Egyptian street has enough reasons, local reasons, to act like the Iranian street did.
The Question is: IS THE SUNNI EGYPTIAN STREET RIPE AND READY TO SPEAK OUT: HUMILATION NEVER?? AND PAY THE BLOODY PRICE??I appreciate the pressure put by the Egyptian street that forced Pharaoh to bow few days to vent that pressure, but I would say, that rejecting Pharaoh’s invitation, and continuing the guerrilla war on the wall, shall lead to a guerrilla war on the guards of the wall, and may turn the Egyptian street against Hamas.
Uproated Palestinian Homepage 01.29.08 - 3:57 pm #
Uproated Palestinian,
Thanks for your lengthy comments. We can finally have a decent discussion going on between two Palestinians; what do you know!
But seriously, I think we are close to total agreement this time. In a couple of instances, I was not criticizing Hamas, but in my own way saying what you are also saying. Example: When I said, what is the point of Hamas going to Cairo, the criticism was directed more against the Pharaoh than Hamas. Why bother inviting Hamas when you (Pharaoh) have already given in to USraeli pressure and told the traitor Fayyad that his gang will run the crossing. I think that he is going through the motions to show that he "consulted" with Hamas, to save his own backside.
I did not advocate deliberately fighting the Egyptian troops; I advocated a guerrilla war to keep the wall open. You are right, Hamas has done that and needs to do it again and again until the siege totally collapses. But you are right; we don't need to create enmity with the Egyptian people, because this is part of the Pharaoh's plan to antagonize Egyptians against Hamas and the Palestinians.
Tony Sayegh Homepage 01.29.08 - 10:03 pm #
Tony
We could have done that from the very begining, even if we are too far to total agreement. You were humilating, not cricizing Hamas, almost all the time, not a couple of times, and somtimes humilatimg your people. I may tolerate that from a non-palestinian, not from you, not from the Palestinian Pundit.
Despite of good intentions. Good intentions could lead to hell. So nothing personal, even when I referred to leaving Gaza, nothing was personal. I always believed that every Palestinian, despite of his age, his gender, whether living in Palestine, in an arab country, in any corner of the planet, could do somthing for Palestine. Let do whatever we can in the right way, put secondary difference aside, and concentrate on the major diffence.
I have differences with Suuna, and Shea, but politically I am a Shiit in Lebanon, Sunni in Iraq, Allwai in Syria. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I need to create freinds, not enemies.
I can't froget the Mistake off attacking Nasir for accepting Roger's Agreement, putting his picture on a donkey during demonstrations in Amman, and how Jodan used it while planning black september,
I can't forget how, at the same period, how Palestinians humilated, the Nasirist Lebanese martyre, Maarouf Said. I paticipated in a meeting with him in Saaeqa office in Saida. To release the tention of accepting roger's agreement, we reached an agrement, but next day Fateh, caputure him, put him in the back of truck and brough him to Ein-Alhilwi, calling him, the white beer.
Just remember, how Egyptians reacted after the assassination of the Egyption Writer/ novalist/Jurnalist( Yousif Al Sibaa'e)in Larnaca.
Yes Pharouh by inviting Hamas, wanted to save his own backside, but on the other side, Hamas wanted also to save its backside, I mean its southern side.
Uproated Palestinian Homepage 01.30.08 - 6:38 am #
NOW IS THE EGYPTIAN STREET RIPE AND READY TO SPEAK OUT: HUMILATION NEVER?? AND PAY THE BLOODY PRICE??
I Hope so
Arab Treason, Hezbullah, Lebanon, The War on Gaza
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