Faces of Gazan Children Killed by Israeli Soldiers Appear in Tel Aviv

Source

By Haim Schwarczenberg,

Thursday March 7th 2018 Tel Aviv- Jews for Return, hung pictures of six of the children who were shot dead by Israeli soldiers while participating in the return demonstrations that began on the 30th of March 2018 on the streets of Tel Aviv.

Israeli security forces killed 266 participants in the Great March of Return since Refugees for Gaza began protesting last march. This staggering number includes 42 children. Israeli forces killed seven children who participated in the protests since the beginning of 2018.

Santiago Canton, the Chairman of the international investigation that was launched by the United Nations determined last week that there are: “established facts that indicate that the Israeli security forces, committed serious violations of human rights and International Humanitarian Law.”

Sarah Hussein, a member of the special committee, declared that, “the shooting was deliberately aimed at children, people with disabilities, and journalists. Most of the demonstrators were not involved in any form of violence.”

An Israeli sniper killed 15 Year old Saif Adin Zaid from Gaza on Wednesday the 6th of March after the conclusions of the committee were made public.

Posters were hung of: Ahmad Abu ‘Abed, 4, from Gaza; Shot in his father’s arms. Abdel Raouf Salha, age 14, a refugee from Majdal; Hassan Shalabi, age 14, a refugee from Isdod Yosef Aldia, 14, a refugee from Yafa; Hassan Nofal 17 years old a refugee from Yafa; Hamza Ishtawi, 17, from a refugee from Aljia The six children were shot in the past three months without endangering anyone.

The Jewish Israeli, Anti Zionist, activists responded to a call from Gazan organisations who, hoped that the faces of the children killed would awaken the Israeli conscience. The reactions of the passersby were mixed, some expressed shock at the deaths of innocent children, and some slashed the children’s pictures erasing most of their faces and the text describing who they are.

“We are bringing the posters of the faces of the children killed by Israeli soldiers to the streets of Tel aviv to show Israelis the crimes committed in their name in Gaza. The fact that some of the pedestrians erased the children faces is a reflection of the ongoing attempt by Zionist society to erase the existence of Palestinians since 1948.” stated a spokesperson for Jews for Return.

UN Report Accuses Israel of High Crimes in Gaza

Pictures of Gazan children killed by Israeli soldiers were pasted below the home of Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv.

Pictures of Gazan children killed by Israeli soldiers pasted around the Military base “Hakirya” and the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv

An hour after the posters of the Gazan children killed by Israeli soldiers were hung by activists under the home of Ehud Barak they were slashed by pedestrians who tried to erase the children’s faces and identities.

The original source of this article is Haim Schwarczenberg

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The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

The BMJ- “The Maiming Fields of Gaza”

The Maiming Fields of Gaza

By Dr. Derek A Summerfield, Dr. David Halpin, and Dr Ang Swee Chai,

Since 30 March 2018, Palestinians civilians living as refugees and exiles in Gaza ever since they were driven out from Palestine have been gathering in mass, unarmed demonstration about their right of return to the homeland they lost in 1948. Confronted by the Israeli army, including 100 snipers, the toll of dead and wounded Palestinian civilians is mounting at a shocking rate as we write.

There is a background to this. Firstly, there is the ongoing impact of the 12 year long Israeli blockade of Gaza on the care and health of her people, and the degrading of its health services. The violence and destruction inflicted by Israeli military action in Operation Protective Edge in 2014 and Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9 marked a distinct turning point in the pauperization of Gaza, against a backdrop of an ever tightening blockade since 2006.That assault in 2014 killed over 2,200 civilians, a quarter of whom were children, wounded 11.000, destroyed 15 hospitals, 45 clinics and 80,000 homes.(1)

Since 2014 Israel has further tightened the passage of essential medicines and equipment into Gaza, and of the entry of doctors and experts from abroad who offer technical expertise not available locally. Gazan hospitals have been depleted of antibiotics, anaesthetic agents, painkillers, other essential drugs, disposables, and fuel to run surgical theatres. (2) Patients die while waiting for permission to go for specialist treatment outside Gaza. All elective surgery has been cancelled since last January 2018, and 3 hospitals have closed because of medication, equipment and fuel shortages (3). Medical personnel have been working on reduced salaries. Gazan health professionals find it almost impossible to get Israeli permission to travel abroad to further their training.The regular episodic military assaults on Gaza and the current targeting of unarmed demonstrators are part of a pattern of periodically induced emergencies arising from Israeli policy. The cumulative effects of the impact on healthcare provision for the general population have been documented in multiple reports by NGOs, UN agencies and the WHO. (4).This appears to be a strategy for the de-development of health and social services impinging on all the population of Gaza.

The current systematic use of excessive force towards unarmed civilians, including children and journalists, is provoking a further crisis for the people of Gaza. Since 30 March 2018, snipers firing military grade ammunition have caused crippling wounds to unarmed demonstrators.(5) As of 23 April 2018, 5511 Palestinians, including at least 454 children, have been injured by Israeli forces, including 1,739 from live ammunition according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. As of April 27, the death toll has reached 48 and additional hundreds wounded.

Even the BBC has shown films of the deliberate shooting of people who were standing harmlessly or running away, including children and journalists (6). The sniper-fire is mostly not to the head, with most of the wounds to the lower torso and legs. Dozens have needed emergency amputation of either one or both legs, and a further 1,300 required immediate external fixations which will entail an estimated 7,800 hours of subsequent complex reconstructive surgery if the limbs are to be saved. This is calculated maiming. More may die or incur life-long disability because of the degraded state of health service and the prohibition by Israel of the transfer for the seriously wounded (7). How is Gaza to survive this situation? And meanwhile, the many that have lost non-emergency healthcare because of the ongoing lack of medicines and energy will be joined by many more now that all scarce resources are going to life and limb saving efforts.

Gaza under Siege

Whilst various UN and WHO agencies have condemned Israeli actions, Western governments have not uttered a murmur and thus bolster the impunity Israel seems always to have enjoyed in its treatment of Palestinian society. Others who seek to document and to draw attention to events like this, including in medical journals, are often subject to vilifying ad hominem attacks, as have journal editors (8). These are matters of international shame.

*

Derek Summerfield, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College, University of London.

David Halpin, Retired orthopaedic and trauma surgeon. Member – British Orthopaedic Association.

Swee Ang, Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon, Barts Health, London

Andrea Balduzzi, Researcher, University of Genoa, Italy

Franco Camandona, MD, OspedaliGaliera, Genoa, Italy

Gianni Tognoni, Mario Negri Institute, Milan, Italy

Ireo Bono, MD, Onncologist, Savon, Italy

Marina Rui, PhD Università di Genoa, Italy

Vittorio Agnoletto, MD, University of Milan, Former MEP, Italy

Notes

(1) 50 days of death and ddestruction. Institute for Middle East Understanding. https://imeu.org/article/50-days-of-death-destruction-israels-operation-…

(2) Emergency Delegation to the Gaza Strip. Physicians for Human Rights Israel.
http://www.phr.org.il/en/phri-emergency-delegation-to-the-gaza-strip-apr…

(3) –https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180213-work-at-main-gaza-hospital-st… February 13, 2018
–http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/02/palestinians-die-israel-refuses-me…

(4) -Unnecessary loss of life http://gisha.org/updates/8742
-Humanitarian Coordinator calls for protection of Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza alongside support for urgent humanitarian needs –https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-coordinator-calls-protectio…
-Israel/OPT: Authorities must refrain from using excessive force in response to Palestine Land Day protests https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/israelopt-authorities-mus…

5) World Health Organisation Special Situation report- Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territory.https://israelpalestinenews.org/who-special-situation-report-gaza-occupi…

6) The Palestinian Day of Return: from a short day of commemoration to a long day of mourning K. Elessi 27 April 2018, Lancet
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30940-1
Civilians, health workers, journalists and children killed and wounded march 30-april 27, 2018
–http://www.msf.org/en/article/palestine-msf-teams-gaza-observe-unusually…
-Horrific injuries reported among Gaza protesters https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/828-horrific-injuries-reported-… Palestinians killed and hundreds injured in Gaza during demonstrations along the fence https://www.ochaopt.org/content/four-palestinians-killed-and-hundreds-in…
-New MAP film from Gaza: health workers under attack
https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/827-new-map-film-from-gaza-atta…
-Adalah& Al Mezan petition Israeli Supreme Court: Order Israeli army to stop using snipers, live ammunition to disperse Gaza protests http://www.mezan.org/en/post/22754/Adalah+%26+Al+Mezan+petition+Israeli+…

(7) – https://www.ochaopt.org/theme/casualties
–https://mailchi.mp/phr/muwsh5pulz-991741?e=19b7f93641

(8) Pressure on ‘The Lancet’ for Gaza letter another example of pro-Israel assault on freedom of expression 11 novembre 2014 |Catherine Baker pour Mondoweisshttp://www.aurdip.fr/pressure-on-the-lancet-for-gaza.html?lang=fr

The original source of this article is The BMJ

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The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

Israel, a state established on the mass graves of others

We established a state on the mass graves of others

Palestinian medic tries to comfort a wounded boy at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, July 2014

To my fellow Israelis: We can stop this

By Jonathan Ofir, Mondoweiss
February 08, 2016

An open letter to my fellow Israelis:

This is probably a culmination of nearly a decade’s reviewed study of our history. At some point, beyond the singular stories, cases and arguments, I feel something unequivocal and very generally encompassing needs to be said about our Israeli “miracle”, the manifestation of the Zionist “dream”.

I will not write this in Hebrew, although that would probably have been the most direct idiomatic tool to reach your minds. I will not do so, because I have had enough of dirty laundry recycled amongst us “self-understanding” Israelis. Whilst I write to you, my hopes of change coming from within us Israelis have regrettably declined in the years – and thus, I am also, if not more so, placing my bets upon the involvement of the international community – whose help we need so badly – not for more cash, weapons, or apologetic “understanding”, but rather for its intervention in what we are apparently unable, and mostly unwilling, to fix. The attitude which I thus exhibit here is an extremely unpopular one in Israeli and Jewish culture. It is the vein of the “moser” – the one who “snitches” against the “Jewish nation” towards the goyim.

Well, get over it. There are far more serious issues at hand.

I have to tell you first that our evaluation of Israeli history omits so much atrocity from our side. Indeed, much of it is still classified – even back to 1948. Yes, you may have heard about the Deir Yassin massacre, it is often taught in school books, yet portrayed as an aberration, perpetrated by “extremist”, “rogue” factions before the Declaration of Independence (although the leaders of those extremist factions became our Prime Ministers).

But what of the dozens of other massacres perpetrated by – us – in 1948, indeed by the very IDF? Have you read about Al Dawayima, which was apparently worse than Deir Yassin? Yair Auron just wrote about it in Haaretz, I translated and put it out here and on my Facebook page. Go and read. It’s a letter which is out for the first time in full, but it’s no secret as such – excerpts of it have been out for decades – as have many other testimonies and documents, for those who care to seek and look. [see below]

When you sum up the systematic mass executions, the many gang-rape cases (which have been slow to be uncovered, because they involve shame on both fronts), the crushing of children’s skulls with sticks, the ripping out of foetuses from their mothers’ wombs – all, and many more, perpetrated by “us”, the “good guys”, the “cultured elite” – often in situations which presented no danger, just out of pure gratuitous sadism and hate for the “Arabs” – then you may begin to realise, that Israel is not in a war of survival, a war of an elite and advanced culture in a “bad neighbourhood” of backwards Arab sub-culture.

Soldiers looting Palestinian cultural objects. Photo by Fred Chasnick, Haifa, April 1948, Jewish National Fund Archive.

Let me put it out there, clearly and directly:

We have been acting like animals, with barbarism of a degree which indeed could be, and should be, and has been, compared to those whom we love to hate – the Nazis – whose cruelty is supposed to exonerate ours. As Golda Meir told MK Shulamit Aloni: “After the Holocaust, Jews are allowed to do anything.” NO. Damn well not. We’ve used this excuse, with those words or others, together with a systematic cover-up of our own cruelties, since the start. And because we have largely succumbed to our own propaganda in this, we have failed to perceive the historical trace, which, if followed honestly, will show us that we are essentially AT THE SAME PLACE as before – still subjugating, still massacring, still torturing.

This is not a chain of events forced upon us as an inevitable consequence of trying to “survive”. This is nonetheless a predictable outcome of our inherent state-religion – which is not Judaism, as many mistakenly think – but rather Zionism.

We were brainwashed to think that Zionism is our saviour. That as Jesus died on the cross for the Christians, our soldiers have died for our country. No – they died primarily for Zionism. “Our country”, as is mostly perceived by us, is not really “our country”. It is the country of so many others, whom we have not only expelled with unfathomable brutality, but whom we also now keep locked up in cages of various forms, shapes and styles, as well as under horrendous Apartheid regime in various degrees – in order to maintain our sacred “demographic balance” – whilst we continue, rather unabated, in our expansion over the “promised land”.

One of six mass graves in Jaffa of Palestinians killed in 1948, discovered in 2013.

Our occupation did not begin in 1967, neither did our cruelty and crimes. We have established a state on the mass graves of others. This was not forced upon us. Just as Begin said in 1982, concerning the 1967 war “we must be honest with ourselves…we decided to attack.” So must we be honest with ourselves about all of our other portrayals of “self-defence”. Indeed, the whole Zionist venture is essentially portrayed as a “struggle for survival”, a “struggle for self-defence”.

Had we not hidden our crimes so well, so deep, and with so much propaganda “deterrence” rhetoric, it would perhaps be easier to believe our sincerity. On the other hand, when those crimes are exposed for what they are, it also becomes impossible to justify our moral righteousness. Indeed, as the world media became much more instantly transparent, the reality of our crimes became impossible to hide – so we put an extra focus on propaganda – to twist it all into “self defence”. We indiscriminately shelled houses and levelled neighbourhoods in Gaza, for “self-defence”. We torture children, for “self-defence”.

Let’s just say it outright: We torture and terrorize the hell out of Palestinians in order to deter them and make their lives so miserable so they will want to leave – or to revenge, which will justify our next blow.

We have created a monster. Who on earth would want to “survive” if this is how “survival” looks? How vile is this “survival” which maintains itself upon the death and destruction of “others”? Indeed, who are those “others”? Are we not really the “others”, who came with our “better knowing” culture to “make the desert bloom”? And as this desert “blooms” with yet another settlement, another fictitious “military zone”, another “expansion” – the people who are there, the “others”, are gradually removed, encircled, or killed.

We Jews have thus created a violent legacy to last for centuries, even if it were to stop now. If all stories were now revealed, all archives declassified (1948, 1967 and all others), it is certain that this Zionist venture would constitute another shocking and substantial chapter of barbarism and cruelty in the annals of world history.

But it is not over – for worse, but also for better. We have the ability to stop it now. No, this does not mean our annihilation, as the propagandist Zionist hysterics would reflexively profess. It is an option, standing before us – to relinquish the reign of exclusivity, to separate the Jewish from the State, and to live in peace, with all the challenges that may face every human and every state.

But WE are not a state. A state is not “people”. A state is a regime, a paradigm of governance. A state may belong to its citizens – but then neither “we” nor Israel constitute a real state. For the State of Israel is the state of those who hold Jewish Nationality – which supersedes their citizenship. And I refuse to be a part of this “we” if that means some ethnic-religious-national mishmash superiority. Does that necessarily mean divorcing Judaism? No, of course not. It simply means divorcing the ostensibly inextricable tie that Zionism has made between itself and Judaism, in monopolising Judaism, using a mafia-style coercion of all those who speak against it, with the (too often) applied ultimate rhetoric WMD– of “antisemitism”.

This is a scare tactic that needs to be fought. If we do not rise above the intellectual atavism that this ideology submits us to, we will continue to be committing grave crimes and exonerating them as we go, in the name of this “religion”.

There is a future. Zionism, nonetheless, is a dead-end. I realise that saying these things today, is far, far from consensus, and is in no uncertain ways a recipe for societal exclusion. I’ll take that. I’m already resolved to it. But this is not some prophetic martyrdom that I submit myself to. It is actually the only right path that I see. If you want to hope for a good future with Zionism, at least do the minimum to really see what it has meant for Palestinians. That is, surprisingly, perhaps the easier part. The harder part is to look the horrors in the eye, and then look yourself in the mirror, and see what Zionism has done to you.

---

The remains of Al-Dawayima, photo from Zochrot

al-Dawayima

By Zochrot

District: Hebron
Population 1948: 4300
Occupation date: 29/10/1948
Military operation: Yoav
Occupying unit: 8th brigade
Jewish settlements on village\town land before 1948: None
Jewish settlements on the built-up area of the village\town after 1948: Amatzia
Jewish settlements on village\town land after 1948: None

The village of al-Dawayima was spread along the top of a wide rocky ridge on the western side of the Hebron Mountains. It overlooked Wadi Qubaya to the north and commanded the view of higher mountains to the east. A secondary road connected al-Dawayima to the village of Idna, to the northeast. Yet another secondary road led from al-Dawayima to al-Qubaya, to the northwest, and this in turn was linked to the al-Faluja-Bayt Jibrin highway. It was situated 18 km west of Hebron.

Al-Dawaymima was captured by Israel’s Eighty Ninth Battalion (commanded by Dov Chesis) which was part of the 8th Armored Brigade led by the founder of the Palmach,Yitzhak Sadeh, after Operation Yoav on 29 October 1948, five days after the start of the truce. It was the site of the al-Dawayima massacre in which 80 to 100 civilians were killed including women and children.

The following are excerpts of a description of the massacre in the Israeli daily ‘Al ha-Mishmar : “The children they killed by breaking their heads with sticks. There was not a house without dead (…). The commander ordered a sapper to put two old women in a certain house (…) and to blow up the house with them. The sapper refused (…). The commander then ordered his men to put in the old women and the evil deed was done. One soldier boasted that he had raped a woman and then shot her.”

In December 1948, during a general discussion of atrocities by an Israeli ministerial committee, the issue of al-Dawayima was raised again. Morris writes that Agriculture Minister Aharon Zisling was probably reacting to a letter he received about the massacre when he said : “This is something that determines the character of the nation (…). Jews to have committed Nazi acts.” Although he complained that the investigation was not proceeding as it should, he agreed with other ministers that Israel should admit nothing outwardly, in order to preserve its image.

The settlement of Amatzya, founded in 1955, was built on the ruins of al-Dawayima

Tracing all that remains of the destroyed village of al-Dawayima, Palestine. Video from Palestine Remembered, 4mins, 22secs.

The site has been fenced in. A cowshed, a chicken coop, and granaries have been built at its centre (which has been levelled). The southern side of the site contains stone terraces and the remnants of a house. The eastern side is occupied by the residential area of the moshav. Cactuses, together with many carob and olive trees, grow on the site’s slopes

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The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

Gaza Ceasefire: Hold the Cheers by Stephen Lendman

by Stephen Lendman

On Monday, both sides agreed to open-ended ceasefire terms. Peace talks will resume in Cairo within a month.

Terms agreed on include opening border crossings, "enabl(ing) the rapid entry of humanitarian aid," as well as construction supplies for rebuilding.

Monitoring will ensure reconstruction is solely for civilian purposes.

Effective immediately, coastal fishing waters will expand from three to six nautical miles. They'll gradually increase to 12 miles by yearend.

Israel agreed to halt targeted assassinations. Days earlier, Netanyahu called Hamas leaders legitimate targets. 

Israeli hardliners want Hamas and other resistance groups entirely crushed. They reject peace out of hand.

Terms largely replicate how both sides ended Israel's November 2012 Pillar of Cloud aggression.

Hamas stuck to the letter of the deal. Israel violated it straightaway. It blamed Hamas for its crimes. Expect nothing different this time.

Israel's agenda excludes good faith. Decades of conflict, repression and occupation harshness attest to its dark side. 

Expect no change enough to matter this time. Promises made are broken. It's longstanding Israeli policy. Major issues remain unresolved. 

They include Hamas wanting Gaza's siege entirely lifted, permitting an airport and seaport to facilitate imports and exports, and releasing Palestinian political prisoners.

Israel wants Gaza demilitarized. It wants resistance groups defenseless against certain future IDF onslaughts.

It wants overall siege harshness maintained. It largely prohibits Gazan product sales to its two primary markets - the West Bank and Israel. They amount to 2% of pre-2007 levels.

It permits minimal exports overall. It restricts imports. Israeli policy perpetuates dependency on outside aid.

It prevents economic development. It leaves almost half the working-age population unemployed. Youth unemployment tops 60%.

Free movement of people is more myth than reality. Restrictions are unrelated to security.

Exit permits are hard to get. Adults with them can bring children under age six. Older ones are excluded.

Israel's blockade has nothing to do with security. In June 2010, McClatchy newspapers headlined "Israeli document: Gaza blockade isn't about security," saying:

"McClatchy obtained an Israeli government document that describes the blockade not as a security measure but as 'economic warfare' against the Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Palestinian territory."

In response to a Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement lawsuit, documents obtained said Israel called blockading Gaza "economic warfare." According to a government statement:

"A country has the right to decide that it chooses not to engage in economic relations or to give economic assistance to the other party to the conflict, or that it wishes to operate using 'economic warfare.' "

Nations may indeed decide whether or not to have relations with other states. It may not interfere in their internal affairs. Doing so violates core international law.

Blockading Gaza is illegal. Doing so is an act of war. It's a crime against humanity. Israel remains unaccountable.

Monday's ceasefire is a temporary respite. Hold the cheers. Expect no substantive change in Israeli policy.

It prioritizes violence and instability. It excludes peace and good will.

It's just a matter of time before more conflict. Pretexts are easy to invent. Blaming victims is longstanding Israeli policy.

Washington supports its worst crimes. It doesn't give a damn about Palestinian rights. It never did. It doesn't now.

On August 26, John Kerry lied saying Washington is "fully committed…to work with our international partners on a major reconstruction initiative…to ensure (it's) for the benefit of the civilian population in Gaza…"

He turned truth on its head calling Hamas and other legitimate resistance groups "terrorist organizations."

Throughout 50 days of conflict, Washington supported Israel's killing machine. According to Gaza's Health and Interior ministries, one of its many high crimes included murdering 89 entire families.

Israel bears full responsibility for well-planned naked aggression.

Launching it had nothing to do with Hamas rockets. It had everything to do with maintaining business as usual.

On the day both sides halted hostilities, Israeli forces terrorized West Bank and East Jerusalem residents.

Twelve Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) activists were arrested. Their whereabouts remains unknown.

Days earlier, Israeli soldiers targeted Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Khalida Jarrar in Ramallah.

They ordered her deported to Jericho for six months. They gave her 24 hours to leave. 

Nonexistent secret information claims she "poses a threat to the security of the region, so she must be put under special monitoring."

Jarrar is a senior Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member. She's an Addameer Prisoner Support group board member. 

She's banned from traveling abroad. Freedom fighting comes with a price.

During Monday ceasefire discussions, Israel kidnapped two Palestinians in Hebron, three in Bethlehem, six in Nablus, nine in Jenin, and one in Jerusalem.

Homes were invaded, searched and ransacked. Property was damaged or stolen.

Amjad Abu 'Asab heads the Jerusalemite Family Committee of Palestinian political prisoners. He said Israeli soldiers went on a rampage.

Former political prisoner En'am Qalanbo was arrested for participating in a solidarity with Gaza march.

'Asab expects many arrests following Monday's ceasefire deal. He believes Israel wants Jerusalem and other West Bank Palestinians punished for supporting Gazans and resisting occupation harshness.

According to the Silwan-based Wadi Hilweh Information Center,  Israeli police attacked Palestinians marching for liberation with tear gas, concussion grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets.

On Tuesday, other marches and demonstrations occurred in Shu'fat refugee camp, al-Eesawiyyam, Wad al-Jous, al-Jabal, Silwan, al-Mokabber Area, Hizman and East Jerusalem.

Israeli soldiers and police responded violently. Scores were injured. Arrests were made. Israel prohibits public demonstrations. It calls legitimate resistance terrorism.

On August 27, Maan News said "Palestinian communities in Jerusalem are experiencing the largest upsurge in detentions since the Second Intifada, with a marked increase in Israeli police brutality and the collective punishment of entire neighborhoods, local organizations say."

Since Israel murdered teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir, over 770 East Jerusalemites were arrested.

After three Israeli youths were abducted on June 12, up to 1,000 West Bank Palestinians were detained.

Collective punishment is official Israeli policy. Hamas leaders were unjustifiably blamed for the June kidnapping/murder of three Israeli youths.

Operation Protective Edge followed preemptively.  It bears repeating. It had nothing to do with Hamas rockets. Firing them responded to Israeli aggression.

Jeff Halper heads the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). He calls motivation for Operation Protective Edge twofold. 

It was an effort to "get Israel off the hook for massive" human rights and international law violations.

It sought to "help other governments overcome similar ('asymmetrical warfare,' counterinsurgency' and 'counter-terrorism') constraints…against peoples resisting domination."

Israel calls it "lawfare." It followed "notable legal setbacks and challenges Israel incurred" since 2001.

For his involvement in the Sabra and Shatila massacres, Ariel Sharon was indicted. It didn't matter. He wasn't tried.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Israel's Separation Wall illegal. Enforcement didn't follow. Construction continues.

Israel considers civilians legitimate targets. Its policy violates core international humanitarian law.

Israel circumvents it by "creat(ing) new categories of combatants." They call them "non-legitimate actors."

They include anyone Israel calls "terrorists," "insurgents," or "non-state actors." An entire population is held hostage.

Israel claims it warrants no protection and other fundamental rights for resisting repression.

Obama and other Western leaders support Israel's right to self-defense. Victimized Palestinians are denied the same right.

Israel's lawfare strategy considers them villains. It's a "new doctrine of military ethics." It's based on a "Just War Doctrine of Fighting Terrorism."

It bears repeating. Terrorists include adversaries and others legitimately resisting Israeli repression.

Its lawfare strategy uses "new military ethics" to justify lawlessness. 

It's based on the notion that wrongdoing repeated often enough unaccountably will get nations worldwide to accept it or do nothing to stop it.

It lets Israel get away with high crimes against peace. It assures business as usual. 

It's just a matter of time before Israeli rampaging repeats. Expect Palestinians to be blamed for its crimes like always. 

Expect Western leaders to support them. Expect no change in long denied justice. Palestinians remain isolated on their own.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

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The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

The EU: Israel's Faithful Brother in Arms

A file photo taken on 21 February 2010 shows an Israeli Heron TP surveillance drone, known as the IAI Eitan during a presentation to the media at the Tel Nof Air Force base, south of Tel Aviv. (Photo: AFP - Jonathan Nackstrand)

 

By: Bruno Jäntti

Published Monday, May 13, 2013

 

During Israel's latest onslaught against the Gaza Strip in November 2012, a major conference was held in Tel Aviv: the 2nd Israel HLS International Conference. Among the most prominent sponsors of the homeland security event were two of Israel's largest weapons companies, Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), both of which cooperate closely with the Israeli military. But the conference also had another grandiosely advertised partner: the European Commission.

As is often the case, this undisguised cooperation between the EU and Israeli military companies went fully unchallenged – let alone noticed – in the European media. Not even the rather conspicuous fact that the EU-sponsored conference occurred simultaneously with Israel's devastating Gaza assault in which Israel used the equipment of both Elbit and IAI.

The same inability, or unwillingness, by the European media to report such collaboration, let alone deplore it, manifested itself even more prominently in January 2009. A day after Israel's 22-day long assault on the Gaza Strip, the leaders of six European states, including the UK, France, and Italy, arrived in Israel for a gala dinner, voicing their support for Israel. The dinner was hosted by Israel's then-prime minister Ehud Olmert. The European leaders vowed, of all things, to stop the flow of arms to Hamas. Meanwhile, the Israeli strikes on Gaza would kill 926 civilians.

As a trading and co-sponsoring partner, Elbit is among the most disagreeable of all the Israeli military companies. Being at the very core of Israel's breaches of international law, Elbit is deeply involved in Israel's drone programs that have targeted and killed scores of civilians, including children. The former president and chief executive of Elbit proclaimed that the company is "the backbone" of Israel's drone operations. Elbit also provides surveillance equipment to the illegal wall Israel has built in the West Bank. Besides being an instrumental partner of the Israeli air force, it is also sells equipment to the Israeli navy.

The EU also funnels funds to Elbit through allocating EU-taxpayers' money to the company under the umbrella of scientific research. Indeed, another barely publicized yet lucrative form of EU-Israeli cooperation that directly benefits Israel's private military sector are scientific research subsidies. David Cronin, who has put together a pioneering compendium on the EU’s complicity in Israel’s illegalities, estimates that by the year 2013, Israel will have received EU research grants for more than €500 million. Israel currently takes part in over 800 schemes with European universities and corporations.

The massive EU-Israel bilateral trade remains one of the least talked about, yet among the most crucial enablers of Israel's ever-continuing breaches of international law.

The EU is Israel's main trading partner with a total annual trade of approximately €30 billion (€29.7 billion in 2012). The volume of the trade is more than ten times that of the US foreign aid to Israel. While it is reasonable to assume that US-Israeli relations will remain intact in the coming years, the EU has the required economical leverage and legal means to exert unprecedented pressure on Israel, compelling it to abide by international law.

According to a 2003 European Commission poll, 60 percent of the EU citizenry sees Israel as the greatest threat to world peace. In this respect, European public opinion is more informed than that in the US. Another factor that makes it feasible for EU to alter its policy towards Israel is that the EU-Israel Association Agreement that governs all trade and cooperation between the EU and Israel states that "[r]elations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.”

Hence, whereas a drastic shift in the US-Israeli relations remains an unlikely scenario, the EU has both the informed public opinion required for, and a no-brainer legal case demanding, relatively swift and highly momentous changes.

As of now, however, the EU is both a major client for Israel's occupation-powered, export-oriented and multi-billion military manufacturing and homeland security sector as well as a major exporter of military equipment to Israel.

Besides the military and homeland security imports from Israel, the EU also continues to violate its own regulations on arms exports. The EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports states that the EU is "DETERMINED [sic] to prevent the export of equipment which might be used for internal repression or international aggression or contribute to regional instability."

How determined exactly has the EU been in its adherence to this provision? Based on the criteria set out by the EU in the above regulation, Israel is an illegitimate country for arms exports. After all, in addition to violating a whole list of UN resolutions, Israel has been and remains exceptionally committed to violating international law.

 Although Israel is an invalid trading partner according to the EU Code of Conduct regulations, the value of licenses granted by the EU over the past decade for arms exports to Israel amounts to billions of Euros.

Whereas 18 of 27 EU member states export military equipment to Israel, the bulk of the total EU exports originate from the major EU states: Italy, France, Germany and the UK, according to Amnesty International’s “Fuelling conflict: Foreign arms supplies to Israel/Gaza.”

In terms of violating EU arms exports regulations, Italy has the most abominable track record. Italy's biggest defense contractor, Finmeccanica, announced in July 2012, that it had won and signed a $1 billion (€752 million) deal with Israel. Finmeccanica will provide training jets to the Israeli air force, which repeatedly carries out egregious attacks against Palestinian and Lebanese civilians and infrastructure.

Out of the total €752 million deal, the most sizable part belongs to Finmeccanica's subsidiary Alenia Aermacchi which provides 30 M-346 advanced trainer aircraft to the Israeli air force. It is reported that the Italian government played a major role in brokering the contract.

Another EU member state that carries out large-scale military trade with Israel is France. Between 2003 and 2008, France exported more than €521 million worth of weaponry to Israel.

An Amnesty International report from February 2009 revealed that electrical components made in France were found in the rubble of buildings destroyed by the Israeli military during the 2008-2009 Gaza massacre. The components were installed in Hellfire AGM missiles manufactured by the US company Hellfire Systems, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. France also exported specialized equipment for reconnaissance, such as laser systems, to Israel.

Another major arms exporter to Israel is Germany. Germany sold major conventional weaponry to Israel for more than €580 million between 1996 and 2000, including Dolphin Class Submarines, which are assumed to be capable of launching nuclear warheads. In 2000 alone, German weapons trade with Israel was worth more than €130 million. Germany exported torpedoes, armored cars, and parts for the Israeli Merkava tanks used in occupied Palestine.

The UK also exports considerable amounts of military equipment to Israel. In 2009, after Israel had destroyed the Gaza Strip, the UK authorities granted export licenses for electronic warfare equipment, naval radars, and sniper rifles to Israel. In 2009, the then-Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary David Miliband revealed that the Israeli equipment used in Israel's murderous and destructive assault against Gaza "almost certainly" contained components that had been delivered by the UK.

In recent years, the UK government has annually licensed arms exports directly to Israel for between €12 million and €36 million. In 2008, UK authorities granted military export licenses for more than €34 million.

Besides these major European powers, one state enjoys exceptional clout as a strict adherent to international law, but has excelled at conducting arms trade with Israel, namely Finland. The total value of the Finnish-Israeli arms trade is €200 million.

In addition to the fact the Finland has conducted more military trade with Israel than a number of much bigger EU member states, what sets Finland apart from all the other arms trading partners of Israel is the severity of domestic criticism the trade has elicited.

A petition signed by more than 250 Finnish dignitaries from the arts, academia, and politics is a telling indicator of the wave of criticism arising from the military trade between Israel and Finland. Among those calling for an immediate discontinuation of all forms of military trade with Israel are the foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja and world-renowned expert on international law Martti Koskenniemi.

It merits emphasis that the continuation and, often the mere existence, of the trade has arguably had no support in the Finnish mainstream media.

As the 2003 European Commission poll already revealed, the ever-continuing business-as-usual attitude by the EU to Israel's actions fully contradicts union public opinion. The freezing of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and the seizing of all weapons exports from the EU to Israel – both actions required by EU provisions – could force Israel to finally recognize and respect the rights of the Palestinians.

Bruno Jäntti is an investigative journalist with a focus on the Israel-Palestine conflict. He is the chair of ICAHD Finland (Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions).

The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect Al-Akhbar's editorial policy.
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Iran Top Backer

 

By: Abeer Ayyoub for Al-Monitor. posted on January 9.

As far as the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are concerned, 2012 was their golden year. For the first time, it managed to use qualitative weapons that seemingly altered the pace of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 

Often taking a backseat to Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassem Brigades, Islamic Jihad’s fighters have become a key component of Gaza’s defense, proving their improved capabilities in Israel’s latest Pillar of Defense.

 

Abu Ahmad, Al-Quds Brigades spokesperson, referred to the four years between the Israeli assault on Gaza in 2008-2009 and the most recent in November 2012 as the reason behind the progress. Islamic Jihad fighters intensified their training following Israel’s war on Gaza in 2008-2009, including receiving a significant upgrade to its weapons capabilities and logistical support from foreign friends, most notably Iran.

 

“The last assault was such a fruitful experience for us; it was such a practical training that obviously proved we have developed,” he told Al-Monitor.

 

Much of Islamic Jihad’s military improvements can be attributed to support in recent years from Iran and Syria, according to Mukhaymar abu Sa’ada, political analyst and lecturer at Al-Azhar University.

“The armed wing of the Islamic Jihad has been receiving Iranian and Syrian support recently, which allowed it to have a marked precedence on the ground,” he said.

 

Abu Ahmad confirmed that Iran remains Islamic Jihad’s main supporter, but added that there were other minor foreign contributors which he refused to disclose. Iranian support was not a choice for Islamic Jihad, Abu Ahmad stressed, as Tehran was the only foreign state willing to support the Palestinian resistance.

 

“We are not the only Palestinian armed group that receives an Iranian support, but we are the one that admits it the loudest. We feel it’s like an inevitable gratitude,” he told Al-Monitor.

“I wonder why Iranian support for Palestinian armed groups is not acceptable as we are the victims, while the American support for Israel is acceptable despite Israel being the aggressor,” he added.

Islamic Jihad has been receiving Iranian backing since it was founded in the 1970s. The support is not only limited to military aid, Tehran also sponsors families of Islamic Jihad prisoners and injured fighters of the faction.

 

Hamas’ strained ties with the Islamic Republic over the Syrian crisis have not hindered Islamic Jihad’s relationship with Tehran, and thus, Iran’s ability to influence Palestinian affairs in the Gaza Strip.

 

The benefits of its close ties to Iran were revealed in Islamic Jihad’s improved performance in the latest confrontation with Israel.

 

Islamic Jihad was the first to fire long-range rockets at Tel Aviv in the latest round, and in the view of abu Sa’ada, has moved to the top of the military brass out of all the armed groups in Gaza.

 

Details released last week on Al-Quds Brigades website revealed that it lost 31 fighters, fired 933 rockets, killed 3 Israelis and wounded tens more in the latest conflict with Israel.

It also demonstrated its newly improved cyber capabilities, succeeding for the first time to hack the cell phones of more than 5,000 Israeli soldiers, sending threatening text messages in Hebrew in what the armed wing termed the “War of Nerves.”

 

Al-Quds Brigades boast a force of thousands of fighters who work according to different tasks. Fighters do not usually operate together on the field unless there is an Israeli ground invasion, like in the 2008-09 war. During the Pillar of Defense, Islamic Jihad only deployed its rocket unit.

Since the cease-fire was implemented in November, Israel has committed continued violations, including shooting at farmers near the border and arresting fishermen almost on a daily basis. But, like Hamas, Islamic Jihad says it is committed to respecting the cease-fire, and played a major role in Egypt’s mediation efforts.

 

Abu Ahmad said that his faction insisted on having the item of “right of response” included in the cease-fire deal, and warned that his movement will not stand idle should Israeli violations continue.

“There’s an Egyptian committee that’s tracking the cease-fire, Israeli violations and our commitment, but if Israel crosses the red line, we will certainly respond,” he warned.

 

In an ominous sign of the fragility of Hamas’ ability to restrain Palestinian factions, Abu Ahmad stressed that his faction reserves the right to respond to any Israeli attack without consulting Hamas, citing an “agreement that was previously made to respond to any serious Israeli violation.”

 

The two armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are, for the time being, coordinating to maintain the cease-fire, but their fighters rarely cooperate on the ground when violence flares.

Islamic Jihad sustained some damage to its infrastructure in the latest Israeli attack, but most was unscathed. Improving its military infrastructure and ability to hide its weapon storage facilities from Israel is one of the main objectives for Islamic Jihad following Pillar of Defense.

 

“Every offensive Israel wages on Gaza is usually harder than the previous. This is why we are focusing now to strengthen our infrastructure and to store more weapons,” Abu Ahmad said.

Al-Quds Brigades has also recently began producing its weapons locally due to the increasing challenges of smuggling weapons through the Gaza tunnels that cross into Egypt. It is also much easier to receive financial support to produce the necessary weapons at home, with blueprints supplied.

 

“Our local rockets proved their high level of proficiency, especially in the latest round of the battle,” Abu Ahmad said.

 

While headlines around the world have largely credited Hamas with achieving a new balance with Israel, it cannot be undernoted that the actions of Islamic Jihad have significantly contributed to the new reality on the ground.

 

Abeer Ayyoub graduated form the Islamic University of Gaza with a BA in English literature. She is a former human rights researcher turned journalist whose work has appeared in Al Masry Al-Youm, The Daily Mirror, and Haaretz.

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