Survival instinct or Jewish paranoia?

Avigail Abarbanel, The Electronic Intifada, 18 January 2009

Source



Israeli soldiers participate in a drill simulating a chemical atack, March 2007. (Moti Milrod/MaanImages)

In late 2002 Yonatan Shapira, a former Israeli Black Hawk helicopter pilot and a few of his fellow pilots published the Pilots' Letter in which they stated:

We, veteran pilots and active pilots together, who served and still serve the State of Israel during long weeks each year, object to perform illegal and immoral orders of attacks that the State of Israel performs in the territories.

We, who were raised to love the State of Israel and to contribute to the Zionist enterprise, refuse to take part in the attacks of the air force in concentrations of civilian population.

We, for whom the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] and the air force are inseparable parts of us, refuse to continue and harm innocent civilians.

These actions are illegal and immoral and are a direct result of the ongoing occupation, which corrupts Israeli society as a whole.

The continuation of the occupation delivers a mortal blow to the security of the State of Israel and to her moral strength.

This letter came after a series of attacks on the densely populated enclave of Gaza. For Shapira and his fellow pilots the last straw came following a mission in which "a one-ton bomb was dropped (equal to a hundred suicide bombs) on a house in the al-Deredg quarter in Gaza, one of the most crowded neighborhoods in Gaza, indeed in the whole world." Shapira described how he and other pilots couldn't sleep at night after and during these operations. This was despite a briefing by Dan Halutz Head of the Air Force at the time who said, "... everything taking place before the mission is justified according to my moral compass ..." and his reassuring words: "Sleep well tonight ... you executed this mission perfectly."

Two days ago, on the 11 January, Shapira participated in a program on Israeli radio in which he was confronted with a Lt. Colonel in the Israeli Air Force, pilot Ye'ohar Gal. Here is what Gal had to say:

I think we should go at it more strongly. Dresden, Dresden. Devastate a city. At the end of the day we're told that war has changed. It is no longer tanks roaring ahead, we no longer face regular rank-and-file armies. Missiles are targeting population centers. It did not start today, nor yesterday. It has been the state of affairs for over a decade now. The Arab states have realized that it is very difficult, rather impossible to defeat us on the battlefield, so they have changed their warfare. The battle is now waged between the old lady in Jabaliya and the old lady in Sderot or Ashdod. The entire people, from the old lady down to the child, are an army. An army that fights. I call them [Palestinians] a people -- although I do not see them as such. A people is fighting another people. Civilians are fighting civilians. I tell you that we, as sons of Holocaust survivors, must know that this is the essence of our lives, coming from there: no one throws a stone at us. I'm not talking about missiles. No one will throw a stone at us for being Jews. And Yonatan [Shapira] is one of the people who have lost their survival instinct. As simple as that. He does not understand that a war of cultures is being waged here between the likes of him and the likes of myself. He is fighting for peace.

I want peace too, like Yonatan ... I want the Arabs of Gaza to flee to Egypt. That's what I want. I want to destroy the city. Not necessarily the people in it.

Make it crystal clear: no one is going to fire at us. Not a bullet from Gilo to Jerusalem, not a missile from Gaza to Sderot. I will not agree to a single bullet shot at us by the enemy. As soon as the enemy opens fire on me my survival instinct tells me to destroy the enemy. To defeat the enemy. If we do not defeat the Hamas -- our deterrent force vis-a-vis the Arab states, who are also aspiring to destroy us one way or another -- woe to us if we do not maintain this gap between us and them. [1]

I have often written about Jewish trauma and its effects on Israeli outlook on life in general and on the way it treats the Palestinians in particular. I get the impression that people are not so interested in my psychological take on the conflict. The mainstream media seem to prefer purely political or economic analyses, and that's what I read in most newspapers and see on TV channels like the BBC or the Australian ABC or SBS. But Gal's sentiments, which I know are widely echoed in the Israeli media and public -- I listen to Israeli radio, read the newspapers and blogs, and correspond with Israelis -- prove once more that we are not dealing simply with politics here but with psychology and more specifically, the psychology of Jewish trauma. This trauma pre-dates the Holocaust and goes right back to early Jewish narrative about Jewish identity, right back to the stories of the Old Testament.

Gal says that Shapira lost his "survival instinct" but what he calls survival instinct I call trauma-induced Jewish paranoia. Both Shapira and I have both lost our Jewish paranoia alongside a growing number of Jewish peace activists inside and outside Israel. And thank goodness we have, because it means that we have healed from Jewish trauma. As a result we are healthier more peaceful people, who do not see the world exclusively in adversarial terms. We no longer think about everything in terms of whether "it's good for the Jews or not," we do not believe that our life's purpose is to preserve the Jewish people, and we can work as equals alongside non-Jewish people to promote peace. We no longer spend every waking moment worrying about anti-Semitism, as we were taught to do. We know it exists as do other forms of racism, but we do not allow it to define who we are, what we do, or what we think and feel about ourselves and about others. Being free from Jewish trauma means being free from fear of anti-Semitism.

Zionist Jews think I have gone insane because I don't fear anti-Semitism and refuse to focus on it, but I think I have gone sane. I once received an email from an Israeli who said to me: "You are naive and stupid but regardless, when they finally come to get you, you will run to us and we will still accept you with open arms," to which I responded, "Thanks but I had my time in Israel and I'd rather take my chances elsewhere." Trying to convince him that no one is coming to get me, was pointless.

These are not just the ramblings of one man. This echoes the feelings of the majority of Israeli Jews and most Zionist Jews. Even very educated people feel this way. Because we were victims of anti-Semitism we can never relax and must always be vigilant in case a new enemy of the Jews will come to destroy us.

Living with trauma is a terrible thing and it leads to precisely the sort of views and sentiments expressed by Gal, and the kind of crimes committed by Israel right now. Trauma that is a product of past hurts can make you believe that everyone hates you and wants to destroy you -- now, always, not just in the past. Some people respond to trauma by becoming aggressive and frightening, to make sure it doesn't happen to them again. Just like Gal says, "No one will throw a stone at us for being Jews."

This is a human reaction to victimhood and as a psychotherapist I can understand it. Anyone can understand the desire to not be hurt again but the question is, at what cost to oneself and to others? Together with the fierce determination to not be hurt again comes a perception of oneself as righteous and "better than." Moreover, the former victim will hold survival as the highest value, above everything else. I am sad to say that the identity of the Jewish people is based entirely on survival. At least three important Jewish festivals are based on a story of a bloody victory over an enemy that sought to destroy the Jews: Passover, Purim and Hanukah. I stopped celebrating these festivals years ago because I find their real meaning offensive.

If life is only about survival it does not leave much energy for anything else. From what we know about the human brain we know that living with the belief that one is under constant existential threat can lead to tunnel vision, to short-term thinking, to lack of empathy, to constant stress. This ultimately leads to an isolationist mentality and an inability to see the humanity of others. This is Israel in 2009.

Note that Gal says, "for being Jews." And this is another problem with trauma. It leads to blindness. Israelis don't accept that their problem with the Palestinians was caused by the occupation. They really believe that it is because they are Jewish that the Palestinians are angry and attack them. Most Israelis do not even know that Israel committed ethnic cleansing in 1948. Most Israelis are convinced to the core that Israel is the "good guy" in this story who has done no wrong, the small weak David standing in front of a giant anti-Semitic Goliath. To many Israelis the Palestinians are not the same as the Nazis but are the Nazis, the powerful, non-human, faceless, single-minded psychopathic murderers who were determined to exterminate the Jews for being Jews. When Israelis kill Palestinians they are killing Pharaoh and his army (Passover), Hamman and his 10 sons (Purim) and the Greek occupying army (Hanukah) over and over again. The Palestinians are the recipients of 2,000 years of unresolved rage that has more to do with the past than the present. In therapy we call this "misplaced anger." But I guess it is more comfortable for Israelis to blame Palestinian anger on anti-Semitism than to take responsibility for their real history.

The implications of seeing the conflict from within the lens of Jewish trauma are very serious. Can we really negotiate with this? Can we explain to Israelis that their perspective on life and on the conflict is seriously flawed? If we tried will they listen, and do the Palestinians have time to wait until they do? I know from the personal experience of having been born and raised in Israel, in a Jewish family, that this psychology is very powerful and very deeply embedded in one's identity. To give up on it means to question everything one stands for, and that's painful. It was very painful to me. But the cost of not doing it, we are seeing right now in Gaza and the Palestinians have experienced for a very long time usually away from the watchful eyes of the world.

It doesn't help that Israel has a powerful friend in the US, a country whose collective mindset is very similar to that of Israel's. As long as the US enables Israel's blindness by vetoing any decision against it in the UN Security Council, by supporting Israel financially and militarily, there will be no reason for Israeli leaders to question their perception of reality. Israel needs real friends who with "tough love" can save it from itself, who can help it see what it is unable to see. Indulging Israel's trauma and blindness is costing the lives and well-being of Palestinians, and it is inexcusable.

Gal thinks that Shapira has no survival instinct but he is wrong. Shapira and others are doing what they are doing because they know that Israel's survival is threatened by its very own actions, its own psychology, not by the Palestinians or anyone else. They are not worried that Israel will be attacked or that the Israelis "will be thrown into the sea." They are worried about the social, emotional and spiritual cost to a society that has become one of the worst perpetrators of ethnic cleansing in modern history. Israel is falling apart from within, losing its humanity, its dignity and its identity, and they know it.

Gideon Levy in the Israeli Haaretz newspaper reporter recently asked: "If Israelis were so sure of the rightness of their cause, why the violent intolerance they display toward everyone who tries to make a different case?"

Avigail Abarbanel (http://www.avigailabarbanel.me.uk/) was born and raised in Israel. She moved to Australia age 27 and has been an activist for Palestinian rights since 2001. She is a psychotherapist/counsellor in private practice in Canberra, Australia.

Endnotes
[1] Transcript by Eyal Niv; translation by Tal Haran.

Related Links

• BY TOPIC: Gaza massacres
  

How Israel terrorized Iraqi Jews into leaving Iraq!

You often hear Jews claim that they were forced to leave Arab countries due to persecution, I guess it's a part of their scam concerning their "victim" status. But here we see a well documented confirmation that it was the Jews themselves that were causing the problems which resulted in mass emigration.

In all, about 10,000 Jews signed up to leave after the bomb; the big Ezra Daud synagogue had to be set aside as a registration office; police officers and volunteer clerks worked day and night to complete the task. A special kitchen was set up to feed them. Most of the would-be emigrants were poor, with little to lose. The panic did not last very long, however, and registration tapered off. Moreover, they were to leave by air, but only one aeroplane came to take 120 of them, via Cyprus, to Israel.

Then there was another explosion. This time it was at the US Information Centre, where many young Jews used to come and read. Again the theory was that an extremist Iraqi organization had planted the bomb, which only by chance failed to hurt anyone. Once again, therefore, there was a rush on the Ezra Daud synagogue; only this time the panic--and the number of would-be emigrants--was less than before. The year ended, and March 1951, the time-limit set for the renunciation of citizenship, was approaching.

The third time there were victims. It happened outside the Mas'uda Shemtov synagogue, which served as an assembly point for emigrants. That day in January the synagogue was full of Kurdish Jews from the northern city of Suleimaniyyah. Outside a Jewish boy was distributing sweet meats to curious onlookers. When the bomb went off he was killed instantly and a man standing behind him was badly wounded in the eyes.

And this time there was no longer any doubt in Jews" minds: an anti-Jewish organization was plotting against them. Better to leave Iraq while there was still time. The queues lengthened outside the Ezra Daud synagogue, and on the night before the time-limit expired some were paying as much as £200 pounds to ensure that their names were on the list. A few days later the Iraqi parliament passed a law confiscating the property of all Jews who renounced their citizenship. No one was allowed to take more than 70 ponds out of the country. The planes started arriving at a rate of three or four a day. At first the emigrants were flown to Nicosia accompanied by an Iraqi police officer. But after a while even that make-believe was dropped and they went directly to Israel's Lydda airport-the police officer returning alone in the empty plane. Before long all that was left of the 130,000 abandoning home, property and an ancient heritage was a mere 5,000 souls

It was not long before a bombshell of a different kind hit the pathetic remnants of Iraqi Jewry. They learned that the three explosions were the work not of Arab extremists, but of the very people who sought to rescue them; of a clandestine organization called 'The Movement', whose leader, 'commander of the Jewish ghettoes in Iraq', had received this letter from Yigal Allon, chief of the Palmach commandos, and subsequently Foreign Minister of Israel:

Ramadan my brother.... I was very satisfied in learning that you have succeeded in starting a group and that we were able to transfer at least some of the weapons intended for you. It is depressing to think that Jews may once again be slaughtered, our girls raped, that our nation's honour may again be smirched ... should disturbances break out, you will be able to enlarge the choice of defenders and co-opt Jews who have as yet not been organized as members of the Underground. But be warned lest you do this prematurely, thereby endangering the security of your units which are, in fact, the only defence against a terrible pogrom.[31]

The astonishing truth-that the bombs which terrorized the Jewish community had been Zionist bombs-was revealed when, in the summer of 1950, an elegantly dressed man entered Uruzdi Beg, the largest general store in Baghdad. One of the salesmen, a Palestinian refugee, turned white when he saw him. He left the counter and ran out into the street, where he told two policemen: 'I recognize the face of an Israeli.' He had been a coffee-boy in Acre, and he knew Yehudah Tajjar from there. Arrested, Tajjar confessed that he was indeed an Israeli, but explained that he had come to Baghdad to marry an Iraqi Jewish girl. His revelations led to more arrests, some fifteen in all. Shalom Salih, a youngster in charge of Haganah arms caches, broke down during interrogation and took the police from synagogue to synagogue, showing them where the weapons, smuggled in since World War II, were hidden. During the trial, the prosecution charged that the accused were members of the Zionist underground. Their primary aim-to which the throwing of the three bombs had so devastatingly contributed-was to frighten the Jews into emigrating as soon as possible. Two were sentenced to death, the rest to long prison terms.

It was Tajjar himself who first broke Jewish silence about this affair. Sentenced by the Baghdad court to life imprisonment, he was released after ten years and found his way to Israel. On 29 May 1966 the campaigning weekly magazine Ha'olam Hazeh published an account of the emigration of Iraqi Jews based on Tajjar's testimony. Then on 9 November 1972, the Black Panther magazine, militant voice of Israel's Oriental Jews, published the full story. The Black Panther account includes the testimony of two Israeli citizens who were in Baghdad at the time. The first, Kaduri Salim is 49 but looks 60. He is thin, almost hunch-backed, creased-face and with glass-eye: he lost his right eye at the door of the Mas'uda Shemtov synagogue. He recounts: 'I was standing there beside the synagogue door. I had already waived my Iraqi citizenship, and wanted to know what was new. Suddenly, I heard a sound like a gun report. Then a terrible noise. I felt a blow, as if a wall had fallen on me. Everything went black around me. I felt something cold running down my check, I touched it-it was blood. The right eye. I closed my left eye and didn't see a thing. The doctor told me: 'It's better to take it out.'

He remained in Iraq for three months after leaving the hospital. Then his turn to leave for Israel arrived. The ex-clerk was sent to an immigration camp. Since then, all his efforts to receive compensations have been in vain. He claimed: 'I was hurt by the bomb. The Court of Law established that the bomb was thrown by "The Movement". The Israel Government has to give me compensations.' But the Israel Government does not recognize its responsibility for the Baghdad bombs and, anyhow, cannot recognize him as hurt in action. 'I am ready to be a victim for the State,' he said, 'but when the situation at home is bad, when my wife wants money and there isn't any, what is the self-sacrifice and goodwill worth?'

The second witness was an Iraqi lawyer, living in Tel Aviv. He told the Black Panther that after the first bomb was thrown at the Dar al-Bayda coffee-house, many rumours started running around about the responsible being communists. But the day after the explosion, at 4:00 am, leaflets were already being distributed amongst the first worshippers at the synagogue. The leaflets warned of the dangers revealed by the throwing of the bomb and recommended the people to come to Israel.

Someone who saw in it something strange was Salman al-Bayyati, Investigating judge for South Baghdad. He declared that the distribution of the leaflet at such in early hour showed prior knowledge of the bombing. He therefore instructed the police to investigate in this direction, determining at the same time that those who threw the bomb were Jews trying to quicken the emigration. Indeed, two youngsters were arrested.

Unexpectedly, the Ministry of Justice intervened. The two boys were set free. The case passed over to the hands of the Investigating Judge Kamal Shahin, from North Baghdad. In other words, at this stage, there was still a willingness not to see. For the whole emigration movement came as results of a willingness not to see-or perhaps even of a more active agreement between the Government, the Court and the Zionist representatives.

But after two more bombs and after the arrest of the Israeli envoy-it was too much. The police started acting, and it was impossible to stop the wheels. There is only one more thing to add: in the objective conditions of the issue, the trial was made according to international law. The evidence was just such that it wasn't difficult at all to pronounce such sentences.[32]

When Bengurion made his impassioned pleas for immigrants to people the new-born State of Israel he was addressing 'European' Jews (from both the New and the Old Worlds) in particular. Not only had European Jewry fathered Zionism, it was the main source of that high-quality manpower, armed with the technical skills, the social and cultural attitudes which Israel needed. But with the Holocaust over, the source was tending to dry up. So the Zionists decided that 'Oriental' Jewry must be 'ingathered' as well. It is often forgotten that the 'safeguard' clause of the Balfour Declaration-'it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country'-was de-signed to cover Diaspora Jews as well as native Arabs. But the uprooting of a million 'Oriental' Jews showed that, for the Zionists, it was a clause to be ignored in both its parts. Every-where they applied the same essential techniques, but nowhere, perhaps, with such thoroughness as they did in Iraq. 'Cruel Zionism', someone called it.[33]

If Zionism, as a historical phenomenon, was a reaction to anti-Semitism, it follows that, in certain circumstances, the Zionists had an interest in provoking the very disease which, ultimately, they hoped to cure. Herzl himself was the first to note the usefulness of anti-Semitism as an incentive to Jewish immigration. 'Anti-Semitism has grown and continues to grow-and so do I.' [34] There were dedicated Zionists who considered that it was the duty of the Rabbinate, Jewish nationalists and community leaders to keep the prejudice alive.[35] In the early fifties the need for immigrants was such that a columnist in Davar, influential voice of the Israel trade union movement, wrote:

I shall not be ashamed to confess that if I had the power, as I have the will, I would select a score of efficient young men-intelligent, decent, devoted to our ideal and burning with the desire to help redeem Jews-and I would send them to the countries where Jews are absorbed in sinful self-satisfaction. The task of these young men would be to disguise themselves as non-Jews, and plague Jews with anti-Semitic slogans such as 'Bloody Jew', 'Jews go to Palestine' and similar intimacies. I can vouch that the results in terms of a considerable immigration to Israel from these countries would be ten thousand times larger than the results brought by thousands of emissaries who have been preaching for decades to deaf ears.[36]

Zionism had much less appeal to Oriental than it did to European Jews. In the pre-State period only 10.4 per cent of Jewish immigrants came from 'Africa and Asia'.[37] In their vast majority, the Oriental Jews were actually Arab Jews, and the reason for their indifference was simply that, historically, they had not suffered anything like the persecution and discrimination of their brethren in European Christendom. Prejudice did exist, but their lives were on the whole comfortable, and their roots were deep. They were nowhere more at home than in Iraq, and a government official conceded --tongue in cheek-- that their Mesopotamian pedigree was much superior to that of the Moslem majority:

Many of us consider the Jews to be the original inhabitants of this country. We believe, according to the Koran, they are descendants of Abraham and that goes back nearly 4,000 years, Compared to them, therefore, we Muslims are interlopers because we have been here only about 1,500 years.[38]

At one time, Baghdad numbered more Jewish than Arab residents. In this century, as an already prosperous, educated community, they were particularly well placed to benefit from the rapid development and modernization of the country. They controlled many national institutions, most of the banks and big shops. The poorest Jews were better off than the average Iraqi.[39] Under the constitution, the Jews enjoyed equality with other citizens. They were represented in parliament, worked in the civil service, and from 1920 to 1925 a Jew was Minister of Finance.

On the rare occasions in Arab history when Moslems --or Christians, for that matter-- turned against the Jews in their midst, it was not anti-Semitism, in its traditional European sense, that drove them, but fanaticism bred of a not unjustified resentment. For, like other minorities, the Jews had a tendency to associate themselves with, indeed to profit from, what the majority, regarded as an alien and oppressive rule. In recent times, this meant that from Iraq to Morocco the local Jewish communities found varying degrees of special favour with the French or British masters of the Arab world. If Arab Jews must themselves take some of the blame for the prejudice which this behaviour generated against them, they deserve much less blame for that other cause of Arab hostility-Zionism-which was ultimately to prove infinitely more disruptive of their lives.

Zionist activities in Iraq and other Arab countries date from the beginning of the century. They were barely noticed at first. There was actually a time, in the early twenties, when the Iraqi government granted the local Zionist society an official licence, and even when the licence was not renewed, it continued to function, unofficially, for several years. At first it was the British, rather than local Jews, who bore the brunt of Arab animosity. In 1928, there were riots when the British Zionist Sir Alfred Mond visited Baghdad. The following year demonstrations in mosques and streets, a two-minute silence in Parliament, black-edged newspapers and telegrams to London marked 'Iraqi disapproval of the pro-Jewish policy of Great Britain'.[40] It Was not until the mid-thirties, when the troubles of Palestine were reverberating round the world, that Arab Jews began to excite suspicion and resentment. In Iraq these emotions came to a head in 1941 when, in a two-day rampage, the mob killed some 170 to 180 Jews and injured several hundred more.[41] It was terrible. But it was the first pogrom in Iraqi history. Moreover, it occurred at a time of political chaos; the short-lived pro-Nazi revolt of Rashid Ali Kailani was collapsing, and most members of his administration had taken flight as a British expeditionary force arrived at the gates of the city.

There was no more such violence. On account of this, and their economic prosperity, the Jews felt a renewed sense of security." Nevertheless, the Zionists were still active in their midst. In the mid-forties, they disseminated booklets entitled 'Don't Buy from the Moslems'. However, they did not have the field to themselves. Left-wing Jews, who considered themselves 'Jewish and Arab at the same time', set up the League for Combating Zionism.[43]

By the end of Israel's 'War of Independence', there were still 130,000 Jews in Iraq. The Movement organized the 'Persian underground railway' to smuggle Jews to Israel via Iran. There were occasional clashes between the police and the caravan guides. It was these which prompted the government to legalize Jewish emigration. But, whether by legal or illegal means, very few actually left. As the Chief Rabbi of Iraq, Sassoon Khedduri explained a few years later:

The Jews --and the Muslims-- in Iraq just took it for granted that Judaism is a religion and Iraqi Jews are Iraqis. The Palestine problem was remote and there was no question about the Jews of Iraq following the Arab position ... [44]

But Bengurion and the Zionists would not give in so easily. Israel desperately needed manpower. Iraqi Jews must be 'in-gathered'. As Khedduri recalled:

By mid-1949 the big propaganda guns were already going off in the United States. American dollars were going to save the Iraqi Jews-whether Iraqi Jews needed saving or not. There were daily 'pogroms'--in the New York Times and under datelines which few noticed were from Tel Aviv. Why didn't someone come to see us instead of negotiating with Israel to take in Iraqi Jews? Why didn't someone point out that the solid, responsible leadership of Iraqi Jews believed this to be their country --in good times and bad-- and we were convinced the trouble would pass.45

But it did not. Neither the Iraqi Jews themselves, nor the government of what, by Western standards, was still a backward country, could cope with the kind of pressures the Zionists brought to bear:

Zionist agents began to appear in Iraq-among the youth playing on a general uneasiness and indicating that American Jews were putting up large amounts of money to take them to Israel, where everything would be in applepie order. The emigration of children began to tear at the loyalties of families and as the adults in a family reluctantly decided to follow their children, the stress and strain of loyalties spread to brothers and sisters.

Then a new technique was developed:

Instead of the quiet individualized emigration, there began to appear public demands to legalize the emigration of Jews-en masse ... in the United States the 'pogroms' were already underway and the Iraqi government was being accused of holding the Jews against their will ... campaigning among Jews increased.. . The government was whip-sawed ... accused of pogroms and violent action against Jews... But if the government attempted to suppress Zionist agitation attempting to stampede the Iraqui Jews, it was again accused of discriminations.46

Finally there came the bombs.

'Ingathered' for what? The Iraqi Jews soon learned; those of them, that is, who actually went to Israel, or, having gone, remained there. For by no means all of uprooted Oriental Jewry did so. A great many of them --particularly the ones with money, connections, education and initiative-- succeeded in making their way to Europe or America. But what the irretrievably 'ingathered' learned was the cruellest and most enduring irony of all: Oriental Jewry was no more than despised cannon-fodder for the European creed of Zionism.

What did you do, Bengurion?
You smuggled in all of us!
Because of the past, we waived our citizenship
And came to Israel.
Would that we had come riding on a donkey and we
Hadn't arrived here yet!
Woe, what a black hour it was!
To hell with the plane that brought us here![47]

This was the song which the Iraqi Jews used to sing. Nothing the rulers of Israel could do quelled the bitterness which the newcomers nurtured against them. They were lectured, in their transit camps, by teams of Zionist educators. But, long after they left the camps, they continued to sing that song, even at weddings and festive occasions. It remained popular throughout the fifties. Then it eventually disappeared, but it can hardly be said that nostalgia for the 'old country' disappeared with it. For the contrast between what they once were, 'in exile', and what they became, and remain, in the Promised Land is too great. One of the 'most splendid and rich communities was destroyed, its members reduced to indigents'; a community that 'ruled over most of the resources of Iraq ... was turned into a ruled group, discriminated against and oppressed in every aspect'. A community that prided itself on its scholarship subsequently produced fewer academics, in Israeli universities, than it brought with it from Iraq. A community sure of its own moral values and cultural integrity became in Israel a breeding ground 'for delinquents of all kinds'. A community which 'used to produce splendid sons could raise only "handicapped" sons in Israel'.[48]

NOTES

30. Black Panther (Hebrew journal), 9 November 1972, see Documents from Israel, Ithaca Press, London, 1975, P- 127.

31. Allon, Yigal, The Making of Israel's Army, Valentine, Mitchell and Co., London, 1970, PP. 233-4-

32. Black Panther, op. cit., PP. 130-2

33. Ibid., P. 131.

34. Herzi, The Complete Diaries, op. cit., Vol. 1, P. 7.

35. Lilienthal, Alfred, The Other Side of the Coin, Devin-Adair-, New York, p. 184.

36. Ibid., P. 47.

37. Central Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Abstract of Israel, No. 16, p. 96.

38. Berger, Elmer, Who Knows Better Must Say So, Institute for Palestine Studies, Beirut, P. 34.

39. Black Panther, op. cit., P. 132.

40. Longrigg, Stephen Helmsley, Iraq, 1900 to 1950, Oxford University Press, London, 1953, PP. 19-23.

41. Cohen, Hayyim, J., The Jews of the Middle East 1860-1972, John Wiley and Sons, New York and Toronto, 1973, P. 30.

42. Ibid., P. 30.

43. 'The League for Combating Zionism in Iraq', Palestine Affairs, (Arabic, monthly), Beirut, November 1972, P. 162.

44. Berger, op. cit., P. 30.

45. Ibid., p. 30.

46. Ibid., pp. 32-3.

47. Black Panther, op. cit., p. 132.

48. Ibid., p. 133.

Gaza snd The ‘Psychology’ Of Zionist Jews

MANY ARE WRITING TO ME expressing much consternation regarding Jewry’s response to Israel’s attacks on civilians in Gaza. “How is it that most Jews have no conscience in light of the atrocities committed by the Israelis against Palestinian children in Gaza?” many are asking me through various emails.

Having been raised as a Jew in an upper-middle class synagogue — and now a convert to the Russian Orthodox Christian Church — I am in a unique position to comprehend the “Jewish psyche.” This understanding comes from not only being a former “insider,” but also, from the moral vantage point of being a devoted follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Of course I run the risk of being called by my former co-religionists, a “self-hating Jew.” And needless to say, I will be hailed before Jewry’s tribunal as being a “rabid Anti-Semite.”

In answer to the first charge, I am no longer a Jew but rather a Christian. And followers of Christ are commanded to love God, not themselves. For the inverse of being a “self-hating” Jew is to be a “self-loving” Jew. I had eschewed this way of thinking when I embraced the teachings of Jesus Christ at the age of 21. (I am now 58.)

As for the second charge, no one buys into the “Anti-Semite” accusation any longer. The mandate to allow Jews to act in criminal ways with impunity has come to an end. Thus I begin my expose of the ‘psychology’ of Zionist Jews - much of which is drawn & quoted from the 1927 classic work, The Riddle Of The Jew’s Success, listed as my source above.

There is scarcely a field, from Art and Literature, to Academics and Political Economy, from Politics and Media, to the most secret domains of sensuality and criminality, in which the Jewish spirit cannot be clearly traced and has not imparted a peculiar warp to the affairs of life.

All the motives and activities of this Jewish spirit are directed towards obtaining an advantage over the “goyim.” Yet at the same time, the Jews imagine that with regard to ethics and morality, they are very exalted beings. No one speaks more effusively about ethical values than the Jews. But what the Jews are after in espousing “ethical values” is seeking their own advantage under the pretext that they are engaged in some praise-worthy and unselfish effort.

We are protecting our right to exist!” insist the Jews in defense of their attacks on Gaza civilians. “We must wipe out the scourge of terrorism!” proclaim the Jews as their heroic mission in justifying the slaughter of Palestinian children. But in reality, it is the gain of “advantage” that the Jews are after when appealing to the Gentiles’ sense of right and wrong. And that “advantage” is to seize every inch of land owned by the Palestinians.

If one wished to sum up Jewish morality in one phrase, it would read as follows: “All is moral which brings advantage.” Owing to the Jewish denial of an afterlife and a hell to shun, Jews are simply incapable of applying a higher standard to the values of life than that of advantage and profit. This is why Zionist Jews can observe Israeli soldiers mutilating the tender bodies of Gazan children without any qualms of conscience.

The Zionist Jewish perception can be put in another way: “Morality is the art of over-reaching other people, and at the same time, creating the impression of a praise-worthy disposition — in fact — of representing what is in reality an offense against others, as an act of virtue.”

This is a twisted way of thinking. But Zionist Jews do not think in a straightforward manner. The Zionist Jew begins from a “defensive” posture - and like a boxer who is called a “spoiler” by means of weaves & bobs - the Zionist Jew is on a quest to exhaust, ruin, and finally, dismember his opponent. Gentiles are simply overwhelmed by this method of conquest, who in most cases, simply wish to live a life of uninterrupted peace.

We are now witnessing with regard to the massacres in Gaza, the continual strife caused by Jewry’s insistence of Israel’s “right to exist.” Chaos, conflict, and continual enmity between peoples and nations are all part of Zionist Jewry’s method to “exhaust” the Gentile world into a state of compliance with their criminal deeds.

But how long will the nations allow a small minority to dictate to them their criminal terms? Methinks that it will not be long, my friends. For it is written, “They who live by the sword must die by the sword.” Here is the patience and faith of the saints…
___________________________________

For More See: Neurotic Jews - Priests For A New World Order Click Here

And: Freud’s Jewish Subversion Of Christian Culture Click Here

And: How The Jews Think - Pts I, II, III Click Here

And: How The Jews Talk - Pt 1 Click Here

And: Jewry’s Crushing Silence On Gaza Click Here

And: Obama To Lead Fourth Reich Click Here

By ex-Jew By Brother Nathanael Kapner, Copyright 2008

http://www.realjewnews.com/?p=363

Gaza: another war, another defeat

Link

PDF

The Gaza offensive has succeeded in punishing the Palestinians but not in making Israel more secure.

By John J. Mearsheimer

Israelis and their American supporters claim that Israel learned its lessons well from the disastrous 2006 Lebanon war and has devised a winning strategy for the present war against Hamas. Of course, when a ceasefire comes, Israel will declare victory. Don’t believe it. Israel has foolishly started another war it cannot win.

The campaign in Gaza is said to have two objectives: 1) to put an end to the rockets and mortars that Palestinians have been firing into southern Israel since it withdrew from Gaza in August 2005; 2) to restore Israel’s deterrent, which was said to be diminished by the Lebanon fiasco, by Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, and by its inability to halt Iran’s nuclear program.

But these are not the real goals of Operation Cast Lead. The actual purpose is connected to Israel’s long-term vision of how it intends to live with millions of Palestinians in its midst. It is part of a broader strategic goal: the creation of a “Greater Israel.” Specifically, Israel’s leaders remain determined to control all of what used to be known as Mandate Palestine, which includes Gaza and the West Bank. The Palestinians would have limited autonomy in a handful of disconnected and economically crippled enclaves, one of which is Gaza. Israel would control the borders around them, movement between them, the air above and the water below them.

The key to achieving this is to inflict massive pain on the Palestinians so that they come to accept the fact that they are a defeated people and that Israel will be largely responsible for controlling their future. This strategy, which was first articulated by Ze’ev Jabotinsky in the 1920s and has heavily influenced Israeli policy since 1948, is commonly referred to as the “Iron Wall.”

What has been happening in Gaza is fully consistent with this strategy.

Let’s begin with Israel’s decision to withdraw from Gaza in 2005. The conventional wisdom is that Israel was serious about making peace with the Palestinians and that its leaders hoped the exit from Gaza would be a major step toward creating a viable Palestinian state. According to the New York Times’ Thomas L. Friedman, Israel was giving the Palestinians an opportunity to “build a decent mini-state there—a Dubai on the Mediterranean,” and if they did so, it would “fundamentally reshape the Israeli debate about whether the Palestinians can be handed most of the West Bank.”

This is pure fiction. Even before Hamas came to power, the Israelis intended to create an open-air prison for the Palestinians in Gaza and inflict great pain on them until they complied with Israel’s wishes. Dov Weisglass, Ariel Sharon’s closest adviser at the time, candidly stated that the disengagement from Gaza was aimed at halting the peace process, not encouraging it. He described the disengagement as “formaldehyde that’s necessary so that there will not be a political process with the Palestinians.” Moreover, he emphasized that the withdrawal “places the Palestinians under tremendous pressure. It forces them into a corner where they hate to be.”

Arnon Soffer, a prominent Israeli demographer who also advised Sharon, elaborated on what that pressure would look like. “When 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it’s going to be a human catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. It’s going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day.”

In January 2006, five months after the Israelis pulled their settlers out of Gaza, Hamas won a decisive victory over Fatah in the Palestinian legislative elections. This meant trouble for Israel’s strategy because Hamas was democratically elected, well organized, not corrupt like Fatah, and unwilling to accept Israel’s existence. Israel responded by ratcheting up economic pressure on the Palestinians, but it did not work. In fact, the situation took another turn for the worse in March 2007, when Fatah and Hamas came together to form a national unity government. Hamas’s stature and political power were growing, and Israel’s divide-and-conquer strategy was unraveling.

To make matters worse, the national unity government began pushing for a long-term ceasefire. The Palestinians would end all missile attacks on Israel if the Israelis would stop arresting and assassinating Palestinians and end their economic stranglehold, opening the border crossings into Gaza.

Israel rejected that offer and with American backing set out to foment a civil war between Fatah and Hamas that would wreck the national unity government and put Fatah in charge. The plan backfired when Hamas drove Fatah out of Gaza, leaving Hamas in charge there and the more pliant Fatah in control of the West Bank. Israel then tightened the screws on the blockade around Gaza, causing even greater hardship and suffering among the Palestinians living there.

Hamas responded by continuing to fire rockets and mortars into Israel, while emphasizing that they still sought a long-term ceasefire, perhaps lasting ten years or more. This was not a noble gesture on Hamas’s part: they sought a ceasefire because the balance of power heavily favored Israel. The Israelis had no interest in a ceasefire and merely intensified the economic pressure on Gaza. But in the late spring of 2008, pressure from Israelis living under the rocket attacks led the government to agree to a six-month ceasefire starting on June 19. That agreement, which formally ended on Dec. 19, immediately preceded the present war, which began on Dec. 27.

The official Israeli position blames Hamas for undermining the ceasefire. This view is widely accepted in the United States, but it is not true. Israeli leaders disliked the ceasefire from the start, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the IDF to begin preparing for the present war while the ceasefire was being negotiated in June 2008. Furthermore, Dan Gillerman, Israel’s former ambassador to the UN, reports that Jerusalem began to prepare the propaganda campaign to sell the present war months before the conflict began. For its part, Hamas drastically reduced the number of missile attacks during the first five months of the ceasefire. A total of two rockets were fired into Israel during September and October, none by Hamas.

How did Israel behave during this same period? It continued arresting and assassinating Palestinians on the West Bank, and it continued the deadly blockade that was slowly strangling Gaza. Then on Nov. 4, as Americans voted for a new president, Israel attacked a tunnel inside Gaza and killed six Palestinians. It was the first major violation of the ceasefire, and the Palestinians—who had been “careful to maintain the ceasefire,” according to Israel’s Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center—responded by resuming rocket attacks. The calm that had prevailed since June vanished as Israel ratcheted up the blockade and its attacks into Gaza and the Palestinians hurled more rockets at Israel. It is worth noting that not a single Israeli was killed by Palestinian missiles between Nov. 4 and the launching of the war on Dec. 27.

As the violence increased, Hamas made clear that it had no interest in extending the ceasefire beyond Dec. 19, which is hardly surprising, since it had not worked as intended. In mid-December, however, Hamas informed Israel that it was still willing to negotiate a long-term ceasefire if it included an end to the arrests and assassinations as well as the lifting of the blockade. But the Israelis, having used the ceasefire to prepare for war against Hamas, rejected this overture. The bombing of Gaza commenced eight days after the failed ceasefire formally ended.

If Israel wanted to stop missile attacks from Gaza, it could have done so by arranging a long-term ceasefire with Hamas. And if Israel were genuinely interested in creating a viable Palestinian state, it could have worked with the national unity government to implement a meaningful ceasefire and change Hamas’s thinking about a two-state solution. But Israel has a different agenda: it is determined to employ the Iron Wall strategy to get the Palestinians in Gaza to accept their fate as hapless subjects of a Greater Israel.

This brutal policy is clearly reflected in Israel’s conduct of the Gaza War. Israel and its supporters claim that the IDF is going to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties, in some cases taking risks that put Israeli soldiers in jeopardy. Hardly. One reason to doubt these claims is that Israel refuses to allow reporters into the war zone: it does not want the world to see what its soldiers and bombs are doing inside Gaza. At the same time, Israel has launched a massive propaganda campaign to put a positive spin on the horror stories that do emerge.

The best evidence, however, that Israel is deliberately seeking to punish the broader population in Gaza is the death and destruction the IDF has wrought on that small piece of real estate. Israel has killed over 1,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 4,000. Over half of the casualties are civilians, and many are children. The IDF’s opening salvo on Dec. 27 took place as children were leaving school, and one of its primary targets that day was a large group of graduating police cadets, who hardly qualified as terrorists. In what Ehud Barak called “an all-out war against Hamas,” Israel has targeted a university, schools, mosques, homes, apartment buildings, government offices, and even ambulances. A senior Israeli military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, explained the logic behind Israel’s expansive target set: “There are many aspects of Hamas, and we are trying to hit the whole spectrum, because everything is connected and everything supports terrorism against Israel.” In other words, everyone is a terrorist and everything is a legitimate target.

Israelis tend to be blunt, and they occasionally say what they are really doing. After the IDF killed 40 Palestinian civilians in a UN school on Jan. 6, Ha’aretz reported that “senior officers admit that the IDF has been using enormous firepower.” One officer explained, “For us, being cautious means being aggressive. From the minute we entered, we’ve acted like we’re at war. That creates enormous damage on the ground … I just hope those who have fled the area of Gaza City in which we are operating will describe the shock.”

One might accept that Israel is waging “a cruel, all-out war against 1.5 million Palestinian civilians,” as Ha’aretz put it in an editorial, but argue that it will eventually achieve its war aims and the rest of the world will quickly forget the horrors inflicted on the people of Gaza.

This is wishful thinking. For starters, Israel is unlikely to stop the rocket fire for any appreciable period of time unless it agrees to open Gaza’s borders and stop arresting and killing Palestinians. Israelis talk about cutting off the supply of rockets and mortars into Gaza, but weapons will continue to come in via secret tunnels and ships that sneak through Israel’s naval blockade. It will also be impossible to police all of the goods sent into Gaza through legitimate channels.

Israel could try to conquer all of Gaza and lock the place down. That would probably stop the rocket attacks if Israel deployed a large enough force. But then the IDF would be bogged down in a costly occupation against a deeply hostile population. They would eventually have to leave, and the rocket fire would resume. And if Israel fails to stop the rocket fire and keep it stopped, as seems likely, its deterrent will be diminished, not strengthened.

More importantly, there is little reason to think that the Israelis can beat Hamas into submission and get the Palestinians to live quietly in a handful of Bantustans inside Greater Israel. Israel has been humiliating, torturing, and killing Palestinians in the Occupied Territories since 1967 and has not come close to cowing them. Indeed, Hamas’s reaction to Israel’s brutality seems to lend credence to Nietzsche’s remark that what does not kill you makes you stronger.

But even if the unexpected happens and the Palestinians cave, Israel would still lose because it will become an apartheid state. As Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently said, Israel will “face a South African-style struggle” if the Palestinians do not get a viable state of their own. “As soon as that happens,” he argued, “the state of Israel is finished.” Yet Olmert has done nothing to stop settlement expansion and create a viable Palestinian state, relying instead on the Iron Wall strategy to deal with the Palestinians.

There is also little chance that people around the world who follow the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will soon forget the appalling punishment that Israel is meting out in Gaza. The destruction is just too obvious to miss, and too many people—especially in the Arab and Islamic world—care about the Palestinians’ fate. Moreover, discourse about this longstanding conflict has undergone a sea change in the West in recent years, and many of us who were once wholly sympathetic to Israel now see that the Israelis are the victimizers and the Palestinians are the victims. What is happening in Gaza will accelerate that changing picture of the conflict and long be seen as a dark stain on Israel’s reputation.

The bottom line is that no matter what happens on the battlefield, Israel cannot win its war in Gaza. In fact, it is pursuing a strategy—with lots of help from its so-called friends in the Diaspora—that is placing its long-term future at risk. __________________________________________

John J. Mearsheimer is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and coauthor of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

See also Immanuel Wallerstein’s Chronicle of a Suicide Foretold: The Case of Israel

• Norman Finkelstein on Gaza crisis
• The war in Gaza
• Summary of Israel-Gaza Conflict III
• SITUATION ANTE: EVERYBODY LOSES

UN school attacked; civilians left to bleed to death

Source

Press release, Al Mezan, 17 January 2009



A Palestinian child at a morgue in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, killed during an Israeli attack on 16 January 2009. (Hatem Omar/MaanImages)
1pm Gaza Time (+2hrs GMT)

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has further escalated its attacks on the Gaza Strip at the start of the fourth week of its war on the Strip. According to Al Mezan Center's monitoring, the IOF has continued to destroy homes on their residents. For the third time, the IOF attacked an UNRWA [the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees] shelter, killing two displaced children and injuring at least 15 people.

Al Mezan Center's monitoring also indicates that the IOF has continued to restrict ambulances' access to injured people, despite the intervention of the International Committee of the Red Cross, causing them to bleed to death. Field information shows that the IOF has killed at least 1,191 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the start of its Operation Cast Lead on 27 December 2008. This includes at least 272 children and 85 women. The number of casualties is expected to be higher, since Al Mezan only reports on the cases which it has been able to verify. Moreover, 3,953 people have been injured, including at least 849 children and 481 women.

Since 1pm yesterday, the IOF has launched hundreds of attacks across the Gaza Strip. The following section provides some of the most deadly attacks, which resulted with death and destruction in all of Gaza's five districts.

1. North Gaza District:

At approximately 1:50pm on Friday, 16 January 2009, the IOF fired with artillery the vicinity of civilian houses inhabited by Bedouins in al-Mghayir area, southeast Beit Hanoun town. The shelling injured Hmeed al-Sawarka, 30, who died of his serious wounds a few hours later.

At approximately 2:30pm on the same day, the IOF fired artillery shells at civilian houses in eastern Jabaliya and western Beit Lahia. The shelling lasted for half an hour and resulted in the injury of one person who was reported to have sustained serious injuries.

At approximately 3pm also Friday, IOF tanks, which entered eastern Beit Hanoun town, advanced amid intensive fire into al-Moghayir and al-Kobtania area, southeast Beit Hanoun.

At approximately 6:25pm on the same day, the IOF troops who had penetrated southwestern Beit Lahia town opened fire intensively at civilian houses at the end of al-Hataba street in the town, injuring one person seriously.

Earlier, at approximately 5pm on Friday, the IOF opened fire from eastern Gaza City at houses in Zemmo area in eastern Jabaliya town, however, no injuries were reported.

At the same time, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at Mahmoud Khader Bahr, 25, while he was returning to his house in al-Karama neighborhood. Bahr was reported to have sustained critical injuries. At the same time, the IOF fired artillery shells that hit the house of Dr. Ezadin Abu al-Eish, which is located on Salah al-Din Street in Jabaliya refugee camp. The shelling killed three of Abu al-Eish's daughters and their cousin, and injured three others, including two children, from the same family. Those who were killed were identified as:

• Bisan Ezadin Abu al-Eish, 21;
  
• Mayar Ezadin Abu al-Eish, 15;
  
• Aya Ezadin Abu al-Eish, 14; and their cousin
  
• Nour Shihab Abu al-Eish, 17.

At approximately 5:35pm on Friday, the IOF, who were stationed in eastern Gaza City, fired artillery shells at civilian houses in al-Jurun neighborhood in Jabaliya town, injuring many people.

At approximately 3pm, also on Friday, an Israeli aircraft shelled a group of people while close to their house in western Jabaliya refugee camp, killing three, a woman and two children, and injuring six others. Those who were killed were identified as:

• Zakyia Abdul-Hai Eita, 60;
  
• Anwar Salman Rushdi Abu Eita, six; and
  
• Malak Abdul-Hai Abu Eita, 2.5.

At approximately 7:20pm on the same day, the IOF troops, who were stationed on al-Kashef Hill, fired intensively at civilian houses in the areas of the former civil administration, al-Sikka, and Izbet al-Kahlout east of Tel al-Zaatar neighborhood in Jabaliya refugee camp. Several houses were damaged as a result.

At approximately 7:17pm on Friday 16 January 2009, Israeli helicopter gunships fired four missiles at the house of Mohammed Ali Juma, which is located near Taha Mosque in al-Twam neighborhood in the southwest of Jabaliya. The house was destroyed and 10 people who live in nearby houses were injured, including two children and a woman.

At 6pm on Friday, medical teams found the corpses of two men: Mazin al-Shorbasi, 23, and Mohammed Ikilan, 25. Both of them were killed by IOF in the al-Karama neighborhood. They are believed to be resistance members.

At 9pm on Friday, medical sources announced the death of a child who had sustained injuries in an IOF attack in al-Twam neighborhood on 14 January. He was identified as Omar Mohammed al-Mrannah, 17.

At approximately 8:30pm, also Friday, Israeli helicopter gunships opened fire at the Mashrou neighborhood in Beit Lahia, hitting houses and the yard of UNRWA's Beit Lahia Boys School, which shelters displaced civilians. As a result, a girl child, 13-year-old Falastin Tanboura, was severely injured. Her leg was amputated at hospital later.

At approximately 1:40am today, Saturday 17 January 2009, Israeli aircraft raided the Taha Mosauqe in al-Twam neighborhood, destroying it completely and severely damaging five neighboring houses. One woman was injured in this attack.

At 3am on Saturday, IOF tanks and armored vehicles advanced into the eastern parts of al-Atatra neighborhood. Eyewitnesses reported that the neighborhoods of Ghabon, al-Amal and Tel al-Thahab were shelled.

IOF troops also opened fire at the center of Beit Lahia, injuring many people and causing fires in seven houses.

At 6:30am, also Saturday, IOF fired a shell -- believed to be white phosphorus -- which landed in the UNRWA Beit Lahia Boys School, which shelters civilians. As the refugees tried to evacuate the school, an artillery shell struck a classroom, where civilians are sheltered. The shell broke through the roof and exploded on the ground, spreading its shrapnel into classrooms. Two children were killed and their mother, Nujoud Shaban al-Ashqar, was injured. The children were identified as:

• Bilal Mohammed al-Ashqar, five; and
  
• Mohammed Mohammed al-Ashqar, four.

IOF then fired another shell that hit the school and injured 14 refugees, including six children. The refugees escaped from the school and went to the Kamal Udwan Hospital in Beit Lahia seeking safe refuge. Al Mezan's field worker reported that UNRWA responded quickly and opened another school for them in the al-Nazla area in Jabaliya. Some refugees, however, returned to the same school, which sheltered 320 families (1,853 people).

At approximately 7am on Friday, 16 January 2009, medical sources announced the death of Rajab Mahmoud Ulwan, 25, who was injured in an IOF attack on the al-Naouq family in the al-Jurun Jabaliya town earlier.

At 5:30am on Saturday, 17 January 2009, IOF troops fired artillery shells that hit houses in Boret Abu Ghazaleh area in the east of Beit Hanoun. A shell hit a water well, near which a family house was damaged. As a result, a handicapped toddler, Aseel al-Kafarneh, 1.5, died from a heart attack, according to medical sources.

2. Gaza City District:

At approximately 3pm, on Friday, 16 January 2009, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a group of civilians who were close to their houses on al-Mahata Street in al-Tuffah neighborhood, in eastern Gaza City. The shelling killed two of them who were identified as:

• Kamal al-Barawi, 15; and
  
• Ahmed Mansour Hassoun, 21.

At approximately 6:30pm on the same day, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at Bilal Taiseer Mousa, 31, on al-Nafaq Street in Gaza City, killing him immediately.

At approximately 7pm also on Friday, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a mourning tent on al-Montar Street in the al-Shejaiya neighborhood in Gaza City. The attack killed 10 mourners and injured seven others, including a child. Those killed were identified as:

• Mohammed Yaser al-Qerim, 22;
  
• Shadi al-Abed Bannar, 24;
  
• Ahmed al-Abed Bannar, 18;
  
• Abed Ali al-Abed Bannar, 48;
  
• Fayiz Ali al-Abed Bannar, 35;
  
• Ashraf Rebhi Bannar, 35;
  
• Alaa Said Mudad, 37;
  
• Sobhi Mohammed Mudad, 38;
  
• Mosab Mohammed Mudad, 16; and
  
• Fayiz Said Shamali, 50.

At approximately 8:20am on 17 January 2009, an IOF aircraft shelled a group of people on al-Nafaq Street in the al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City, killing 24-year-old Ahmed Abdul-Hai al-Safadi.

3. Central Gaza District:

At approximately 1:05pm on Friday 16 January 2009, IOF tanks and armored bulldozers rounded the house of Awwad al-Whidi, which is located in the al-Mughraqa village. After destroying its fence, soldiers broke into the house under heavy firing. The inhabitants shouted to the soldiers, informing them that all those inside the house were unarmed civilians; however, the shooting continued after the soldiers broke the house's door, killing 80-year-old Nassar Abdul-Hadi Mtawi and injuring 60-year-old Msallam Mohammed Mtawi.

At approximately 5pm on Friday, Israeli aircraft raided the house of Issa al-Batran. The missile hit the second floor of the house, killing a mother and her five children. They were identified as:

• Manal al-Sharawi (al-Batran), 30,
  
• Ezadin Issa al-Batran, three;
  
• Bilal Issa al-Batran, seven; and the twins
  
• Iman Issa al-Batran, 10; and
  
• Ihsan Issa al-Batran, 10.

The house, which is located in Block Four in al-Bureij refugee camp, had its second floor destroyed. Several neighboring houses were also damaged.

At approximately 5:20pm, also Friday, IOF troops fired shells -- believed to be white phosphorus bombs, at houses in Block Seven of al-Bureij refugee camp. The shelling killed a child, Muhannad Amer al-Jadili, eight; and injured his two brothers: Khalil (16) and Abdul-Hadi (14). Their grandmother, Mdallaleh al-Jadili, 85, was also injured. Another 15 civilians were also injured in this attack, including three children and a woman.

Ten minutes later, Israeli aircrafts raided the house of Iyad al-Tayib, 31, destroying it completely and causing damage to several neighboring houses. At 5pm, Israeli troops, who are stationed at the Shuhada (Nitzarim) junction, opened fire at a civilian car driving from Gaza City towards the central Gaza district. An Italian journalist was in the car, which stopped and had to return to Gaza City after two-hour contacts to ensure safe passage for it failed. No casualties or injuries were reported, however, the car was damaged.

At approximately 5:30pm on Friday, IOF troops fired artillery shells towards the al-Berkeh neighborhood, south of Deir al-Balah town. Six people were injured,, including two children, and several houses were damaged.

IOF troops, who are stationed around the al-Zahra town, fired several artillery shells towards the nearby al-Nuseirat refugee camp at 2am today, Saturday 17 January 2009, killing a child, Mohammed Abdullah Abu Itiwi, 16, and injuring a woman. Two mosques in the camp were damaged: Muath Ibn Jabal Mosque and Hassan al-Banna Mosque.

IOF also opened fire at an ambulance as it tried to reach an area near the al-Zahra town. Shooting started as the ambulance was on the bridge in the area, damaging the ambulance's engine. No casualties of injuries were reported, however.

4. Khan Younis District:

At approximately 4:10pm on Friday, 16 January 2009, Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a motorcycle as it drove in al-Fukhari neighborhood, southeastern Khan Younis. Its rider, Hussam Mohammed Abu Dakka, 26, was killed and three passersby were injured.

At approximately 5:10pm on Friday, Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a motorcycle in Bani Suhaila town, east of Khan Younis, killing Rafat Khalil Abu al-Ola, 47.

In al-Fukhari neighborhood, southeastern Khan Younis, where the IOF troops had carried out an invasion, troops opened machine gun and artillery fire. Many civilians were injured and transferred to Nasser Hospital in the town.

Al Mezan Center's field workers reported that IOF troops in the same al-Fukhari neighborhood broke into houses and took positions on their roofs. Snipers fired at any people who moved in the area. Israeli troops also opened machine gun fire at a civilian car in the area, killing two and injuring one. Al Mezan Center's field worker reported that the car carried a father and his two sons from a family called Shurrab, who were trying to reach their house in the area, believing that it was safe to move after 1pm, the period announced by the IOF for daily ceasefire. They were shot just after the ceasefire started. The father, who survived the attack, reported to the Center that one of his sons died immediately after he was shot. The other son was injured and continued to bleed until 1am the next day. His contacts with hospitals, the ICRC and the Palestine Red Crescent Soceity failed to bring help, which reached them at 11:30am today, Saturday 17 January 2009. Al Mezan's field worker also reported that he made contacts with the ICRC in Khan Younis, which tried to ensure safe passage for ambulances without success, as IOF refused to allow for ambulances to rescue them. The two brothers who were killed in this attack were:

• Ibrahim Mohammed Shurrab, 18; and
  
• Kassab Mohammed Shurrab, 28.

Their father, Mohammed Shurrab, 60, was injured.

At approximately 10:05pm on Friday, Israeli aircraft raided, for the second time, the Asdaa media production town, west of Khan Younis. The town sustained severe damage as a result.

5. Rafah District:

At approximately 12:5am on Saturday, 17 January 2009, Israeli aircraft launched fierce raids on areas along the southern borderline between Egypt and Rafah.

At approximately 12:50am on the same day, an Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at the two-story house of Ahmed Ali Abu al-Ineen, which is located in al-Falouja Street in al-Jneina neighborhood east of Rafah town. The shelling destroyed the ground floor and a supermarket, and injured two children.

IOF has also continued to restrict medical teams and ambulances from accessing the victims, despite frequent interventions by the ICRC. In this context, at approximately 4pm, on 16 January 2009, the IOF shelled with artillery the house of Atiya Talb Abu al-Hseen, 40, which is located on Salah al-Din Street in al-Nasser village. Abu al-Hseen and Anwar Saleh Abu Telekh, 20, were killed in the attack. According to Al Mezan's field worker, the two men were left to bleed to death despite that the family calls to the ICRC and PRSC asking for help. The IOF did not respond to requests of the ICRC to ensure safe passage for ambulances.

At approximately 1:5pm also on Saturday, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at Hamouda Zayid Thabet, 21, killing him immediately.

Al Mezan Center, and based on its monitoring, strongly condemns the deliberate targeting of civilians inside their homes, and as they tried to flee from IOF bombardment. The Center asserts that the IOF's acts represent scandalous war crimes that must be investigated and punished. It is urgent that the international community intervenes immediately to prevent the perpetration of more crimes, especially as the IOF's incursions and indiscriminate attacks continue at this moment.

Al Mezan Center therefore renews its strong condemnation of the IOF's aggression on the Gaza Strip, and its flagrant disregard of the applicable rules of international law. This behavior has so far cost the lives of hundreds of civilians and the suffering of hundreds of thousands.

Al Mezan renews its outrage by the, partly complicit, failure of the international community to prevent such violations of international law. While civilians are being murdered, the UN Security Council continues to fail to take meaningful, effective action, thus trading off non-derogable human rights and peremptory rules of international law for political considerations. War must not be allowed to be conducted in the way it is happening in Gaza, where civilians are willfully targeted, killed, maimed and strangulated to near death.

Al Mezan Center calls upon the UN Secretary-General, as a matter of utmost urgency, to focus on the protection of civilians who are the main victims of the violation of international law by Israel. Political debates can wait, however, civilian life cannot be compensated. The United Nations is called on to ensure the compliance with international law and the protection of civilians, including its own staff. Every hour of aggression on Gaza in the way we have witnessed during the past 16 days means the loss of more civilian life, destruction of property and extending the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people who should be protected, not neglected.

Al Mezan Center also calls on the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War, of 1949, to live up to their legal and moral responsibilities upholding their own obligations under Common Article 1, by respecting, and ensuring respect of, the Convection.

The Center, while commending the worldwide action against these violations, calls on civil societies around the world to exert more pressure on their governments so that they act in conformity with the relevant human rights and humanitarian obligations as prescribed in relevant international law.

This press release has been edited.


Related Links

• Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
  
• BY TOPIC: Gaza massacres

No honeymoons in Gaza

Source

Eva Bartlett writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 17 January 2009



The Jazeera and Shihab hotels in the Gaza Strip. (Eva Bartlett)
16 January 2009, 5:11pm

Wael Selmi displayed a surprising kindness and welcome -- you are welcome any time -- given that his life's work had just been leveled by the invading Israeli army. Even more surprising, given that the brothers' furniture factory in northern Gaza was destroyed by the Israeli army four years ago, causing $300,000 in damage and losses. They'd had it just two years at the time. Along with that ruined factory, the family owns agricultural land which they cannot access near the Erez crossing.

At 4am on 13 January, two Israeli F-16 warplane missiles destroyed the sea-side Jazeera hotel and the next door Shihab hotel, leaving the Jazeera, in particular, skeletal, with entrails of concrete and wiring dangling from ceiling to floor, and with other random survivors testifying what had been: matching, semi-intact chairs clustered in a corner, marbled stairs and tiled walls. One of the 14 employees, while describing the building beneath the wreckage, detailed the losses: $28,000 for the 160 kilowatt generator, $25,000 for the electricity regulator, and the other losses amounting to $1.3 million in damage, with another $600,000 in unpaid debts.

Amer and Wael Selmi co-invested in the project two years ago, putting $2 million into construction and related costs. The Selmis aimed for the summer wedding season, and for conferences and conventions. The decor had been carefully selected in China: marble, matched tiling and furniture, finishings to render the hotel a choice place for a wedding. The siege which tightened a noose around Gaza meant it was impossible, for the time, to add a fourth floor and hotel rooms, for want of construction materials. And since the air attacks began on 27 December, the Jazeera hotel had been closed, with only a doorkeeper to act as night watchman.

It is a consolation that the watchman was not killed in the massive bomb, instead receiving a broken arm, ribs, and hip.

"I don't know why Israeli soldiers destroyed our hotel," Wael said. "There's no reason: we're not political, not resistance, have no rockets. This was just a business."

He spoke of the 20 members in his and his brother's families: "Every day, we thank God that we're okay. There's nothing to say but thank God and there's no one to blame but Israel for this disaster."

Perhaps as painful as the destruction itself was that the tangible realization of their careful work and dream, was in less than 10 seconds completely erased, along with their hopes.

Amer was more visibly upset by the unexpected destruction. Holding the weighty tip of the expired F-16 missile which took down his hotel, he asked rhetorically: "Where would we go? We'll stay here, we'll rebuild again. Whatever Israel does, we'll stay on this land."

Eva Bartlett is a Canadian human rights advocate and freelancer who spent eight months in 2007 living in West Bank communities and four months in Cairo and at the Rafah crossing. She is currently based in the Gaza Strip after having arrived with the third Free Gaza Movement boat in November. She has been working with the International Solidarity Movement in Gaza, accompanying ambulances while witnessing and documenting the ongoing Israeli air strikes and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.


Related Links

• BY TOPIC: Gaza massacres

Bardaweel: Abbas's spies played essential role in killing Siyam

SOURCE


[ 18/01/2009 - 01:52 AM ]

CAIRO, (PIC)-- Palestinian lawmaker and Hamas's political leader MP Dr. Salah Al-Bardaweel has plainly accused Mahmoud Abbas of direct involvement in the Israeli war on Gaza and in assassinating Hamas's senior political leader Sa'eed Siyam.

In a statement he made to the PIC, Bardaweel explained that Abbas was directly involved in the Israeli war on Gaza through his spies in the Gaza Strip who were informing on the whereabouts of the homes of Hamas's leaders.

"We had arrested a number of them [Abbas's spies] prior to the Israeli assault, and we found with them plans showing homes of Hamas's leaders, and places where Hamas stores it weapons. They [the spies] have admitted their guilt and told us names of their masters, who would, in turn, inform the Israeli intelligence apparatuses of that information in order to facilitate the Israeli mission", he added.

A number of Hamas's senior political and military leaders, including Dr. Nizar Rayyan, and PA interior minister Sa'aeed Siyam among others were assassinated by Israeli occupation forces.

"This is a great honor for us, and it serves as clear-cut evidence that Hamas's leaders weren’t hiding in underground bunkers as detractors of Hamas would like to portray, and that our leaders are sacrificing their lives with their people and Hamas was never defeated by losing leaders," said Bardaweel, "if one leader dies a 1000 leaders are ready to take his position."

Speaking on the Egyptian initiative, Bardaweel opined that Egypt won't be able to pressure the Israeli occupation government into accepting the initiative, and that all what Egypt could do was "to try to sell the initiative to Israel", stressing that Hamas would have no choice but to continue the resistance if Israel rejected the Egyptian proposals.

According to Bardaweel, Egypt was embarrassed by the Israeli war on Gaza before the Egyptian public who strongly condemned the Israeli aggression; but, he added, Egypt has "distinguished" ties with Israel that makes her unable to take brave decisions like the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador in Cairo.

Day 22 of Israeli War On Gaza

Source

Day 22 of Israeli War On Gaza
Informative Report on Gaza War: Death toll 1220, wounded 5350


By: Sameh A. Habeeb:
A Photojournalist, Humanitarian & Peace Activist in Gaza Strip.

Dear Editors, Journalists and Friends,

This is a new report for the 22nd day of Gaza War and the outcomes of Israeli invasion. For more reporting, breaking news, interviews and accounts in Gaza, you could reach me on my contact info below. Please try both numbers below because there is a big problem in communication resulted in Israeli power cuts.
I'm available 24 hours for media coverage in occupied Gaza. You could reach me any time in my house through this: Landline: 0097282802825 or Landline: 0097082802825 or Mob: 00972599306096

PLEASE: FORWARD THIS EMAIL IN SIPPORT OF THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY!

A TOUR AND NEWS REPORT IN THE UNITED NATION COMPOUND IN GAZA: http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb/IsraeliBombsTargetedUnitedNationsInGaza
Israeli War: Water Crisis in Gaza
http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb/IsraeliWarWaterCrisisInGaza#

Israeli War: Bread Crisis
http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb/IsraeliWarBreadCrisis#

Israeli War: DESTRUCTION and Killing
http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb/IsraeliWarDESTRUCTIONAndKilling#

A day of War 1
http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb/GazaWar2#

Children playing despite bombings:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb/ChildrenPlayingDespiteBombings#

A day of War 2
http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb/GazaWar3#

Mob: 00972599306096
Landline: 0097282802825
E-mail: Sam_hab@hotmail.com
Sameh.habeeb@gmail.com
Skype: Gazatoday, Facebook: Sameh A. habeeb
Web: www.gazatoday.blogspot.com
Daily Photos:http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb
Please, make sure you forward this email to those who you feel are interested in this matter.
Day 22 of Israeli War On Gaza
Daily Feed About Gaza War:
1-Israeli air strike hit the eastern part of Gaza City. Many houses were harmed partially.
2-Israeli air forces raided on a United Nations' school northern Gaza, town of Bait Lahia. A woman and two children were killed and many wounded. Tens of people came to take the school as a shelter but it was hit!
3- Two Palestinians killed in east of Rafah City. Invading tanks destroyed sevetal houses and arrested some residents.
4-Three Palestinians killed by Phosphorous bombs fall down in many places in north of Gaza.
5- Two Palestinians killed after being injured in Khan yonis and their father was wounded. Here is an email I got from the friends of the family before they know what has happened to them!
Family Friend,
I am writing to make a request for a good friend from Gaza (Amer Shurrab, UWCAD '01--03, Middlebury College '08.5). He just found out his father and two brothers were attacked while returning home from their farm during the 3-hr ceasefire. One brother (Kassab Shurrab) died, but the father (Mohammed Shurrab -64) and the remaining brother (Ibrahim-17) are now wounded and stranded in an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) controlled area. It's been 16 hours and emergency services are unable to reach them. The ambulances cannot travel there without permission from the IDF, and local aid groups claim that soldiers are blocking their access.

We have spoken with the local Red Cross in Khan Yunis and they have been trying to get the IDF's permission to get to the family, but have not been allowed. What we are asking, is if you could help by using any of your contacts (in the area and/or region, with NGOs, HR groups,media, etc), to bring attention and pressure in order to get permission for the ambulances to save two lives. We are very desperate and trying as many avenues as possible to help aid reach them. If you know even a foot soldier who might be able to push the ball by calling a local commander we would really appreciate any help.

His father and brother are located at:
In front of Supermarket Abu Zidan El-Najar
El Fukhari (neighbourhood)
Khan Yunis (town)
Gaza

We truly appreciate any help at this time, thank you for your time.

Salam,
Adriana Qubaia +1.781.350.8080 (aqubaia@gmail.com)
Amer Shurrab: +1.802.377.7962 (ashurrab@gmail.com)

6- Two Palestinians killed near Sofa crossings in Rafah City southern Gaza Strip.
7-Three Palestinians killed in northern Gaza Strip near al karma buildings.
8-Heavy bombings mid of Gaza City and clashes erupted in eastern part of Gaza city.
9-Heavy bombings artillery shelling western Gaza city and in Al Zaytoin area south east of Gaza.
10-Naval gunboats shelled southern Gaza City leaving 4 Palestinian wounded.
11-Shells destroyed Taha mosque east of Jabalia.
12-Rockets hit a group of Palestinian fighters in Twam area west north of occupied Gaza strip.
13-Four Israeli soldiers wounded by Palestinian mortar shells north of Gaza.
14-Fire set in several houses in Bait Lahia resulted in many wounded.
15-Phosphorus bombs hit many targets at Khan yonis city and many house burned in the area.
16- Phosphorus bombs hit many targets at Khan yonis city and many house burned in the area.
17-Rockets attack into several farms and houses in Moraj area in Rafah City.
18-Three rockets hit Al Barhma area in Rafah City.
19-More than 100 bombs, rockets and shells hit the tunnels area in Rafah City. Tens of the houses destroyed and hundreds of persons left their houses.
20-Israeli F16s raided by 4 rockets on many spaces inside Egypt and hover in the area.
21- Medical sources: victims up to 1220 while wounded up to 5350. A big number of ambulances and medical equipments destroyed in addition to destroying 15 medical centers and sections.
22-Palestinian fighters launched 14 projectiles into Israeli settlements.
23-Houses destroyed northern Gaza in Israeli bombings.
24-Artillary shells bombarded Al Tofah area eastern Gaza City.
25-Rockets hit Al Salam quarter in Rafah City and 3 wounded in the place.
26-Drones fired a rocket into empty spaces in Shja'ya area.
27-Power Crisis still storming most of the Gaza Strip.
28-Water is not being accessed by 800 thousands Gazans.
29-Bread crisis still storming Gaza leaving 5 bakeries out of 47 working!
30-Drones excessively hover on Gaza City, eastern and northern areas.
31-Israeli tanks based in Rafah City, Gaza Airport, fired many houses in Shoka area.

Sameh A. Habeeb, B.A.
Photojournalist & Peace Activist
Humanitarian, Child Relief Worker
Gaza Strip, Palestine
Mob: 00972599306096
Tel: 0097282802825
E-mail: Sam_hab@hotmail.com
Sameh.habeeb@gmail.com
Skype: Gazatoday, Facebook: Sameh A. habeeb
Web: www.gazatoday.blogspot.com
Daily Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb

Posted by Sameh A. Palestine at 10:13 AM

Israeli Farmers Start to Feel the Effect of Boycott

Fruit growers disappointed by canceled orders from abroad, leaving produce to rot in warehouses
Yair Hason
Published:
01.16.09, 07:37 / Israel Money

Fruit growers in Israel have reported delays and reductions in orders from abroad since the military operation in Gaza was launched, due to various boycotts against Israeli produce

Farmers say much of their produce is being held in warehouses due to canceled orders, and fear a sharp decrease in fruit exports to countries such as Jordan, Britain, and the Scandinavian countries.

"We export persimmons, and because of the fighting a number of countries and distributors are canceling orders," Giora Almagor, of the southern town of Bitzaron, told Ynet. He said some of the produce had already been shipped while some was awaiting shipment in warehouses.
Almagor said a large number of cancellations came from Jordan. "The produce stays packed in warehouses, and this is causing us massive losses," he said.
"The longer the fruit waits in storage after sorting, the more its quality decreases.
We also have to pay for cooling the merchandise that should have already left, and the cost in considerable," he added.

Ilan Eshel, director of the Organization of Fruit Growers in Israel, said Scandinavian countries have also been canceling orders. "It's mostly Sweden, Norway, and Denmark," he said.

"In Scandinavia the tendency is general, and it may come to include all of the chains."

Eshel says the boycott did not exist before the Gaza offensive was launched.
"It's getting worse, and more voices can be heard calling to boycott Israeli merchandise," he said.

"Until the operation began we had excellent business, though the economic recession in Europe was causing a slight fall in the market."
He added that winter was an especially difficult season to be unable to export fruit, because the avocado, persimmon, and citrus markets are at their height.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3656454,00.html

Time for Israel to be put on trial

Source

Elna Sondergaard, The Electronic Intifada, 17 January 2009



A Palestinian UN worker inspects debris after an Israeli air strike on a UN school in Gaza where civilians were seeking refuge, 17 January 2009. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)
The brutal and indiscriminate Israeli attacks on the Palestinian population in Gaza during the last weeks have entailed numerous violations of basic norms of international law, such as the principles of proportionality and distinction (between civilians and combatants; and between civilian and military targets). Military acts such as intentionally targeting schools and other civilian facilities are considered violations of international humanitarian law in relation to which the state of Israel bears responsibility -- but they also constitute serious crimes under international law (e.g., war crimes and eventually crimes against humanity) in relation to which individuals should stand trial.

The international community agreed to this principle of individual responsibility for international crimes in the wake of the Second World War; genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes were considered totally unacceptable and individuals committing such crimes should be held accountable. The rational behind the Nuremberg Tribunal in 1945 was clear: without a trial, justice and peace would never prevail. This idea of individual accountability has subsequently been implemented in the case law of the ad-hoc tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague will develop it further in the future.

Applying this standard of justice to the hostilities in Gaza obviously leads to the conclusion that the language of politicians remains insufficient to address the latest atrocities and that the time has come for a trial of individual Israeli soldiers, commanders of the Israeli army and other high ranking army officials, and more importantly of the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert; the Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni; and the Defense Minister, Ehud Barak. Eventually other cabinet ministers should also be tried, as those who are ultimately responsible for the disproportionate military operations in which thousands of civilians (including many children) have been killed and injured.

The crucial question is however: To which courts of justice can Palestinian victims bring their claims? There are Palestinian courts in Gaza but they have no jurisdiction over criminal cases involving Israelis. As stateless people, Palestinians have no state which could sign the Rome Statute with a view to seeking the adjudication of the ICC, or which would be entitled to bring a case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague as Bosnia and Herzegovina did concerning the massacre at Srebrenica. Without a state, Palestinians are also denied the legal protection offered by classic interstate diplomacy.

Initiating criminal prosecution against Israelis within the Israeli criminal system would be a matter for the public prosecutor to decide. Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, most grave breaches of international humanitarian law, including willful killings of civilians, have not been investigated by the Israeli army, let alone the subject of prosecution. Most often the Israeli authorities have turned a blind eye to serious violations of international law. In the few cases when an investigation has been carried out by the army, it has been of very poor quality, and testimonies from Palestinian victims have not been considered. This fact is well known and has been convincingly documented by numerous human rights and non-governmental organizations. In other words: discrimination against Palestinians within the Israeli criminal system leaves them with no access to effective judicial remedies. As a result, Israeli courts will not be in a position to impartially and independently adjudicate criminal cases concerning Gaza.

The likely denial of proper domestic criminal investigation and prosecution leaves Palestinians with the option of seeking justice in other countries on the basis of universal jurisdiction. Although such criminal cases against Israelis have been brought to courtrooms in Belgium, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, these initiatives have not (yet) resulted in any trial of alleged Israeli perpetrators (the case in Spain is, however, still pending). Due to several political, legal and practical hurdles associated with adjudicating cases in foreign countries, these fora will probably not be available for the vast majority of Palestinian civilians from Gaza who have lost loved ones; been injured; displaced; or seen their houses being destroyed during the last weeks.

All this implies that prosecution of these international crimes will not be a domestic matter: Palestinians from Gaza rely solely upon the international community to provide proper remedies by putting alleged perpetrators on trial. The international community -- through the United Nations -- may seek such accountability either by referring the matter to the ICC (as the Security Council decided in the case of Darfur) or by taking the initiative to establish an ad-hoc tribunal with the mandate to adjudicate serious crimes committed by Israeli authorities in Gaza during the last weeks -- in addition to those committed as a result of the blockade of Gaza. The tribunal should also have the mandate to adjudicate crimes committed by Hamas when firing rockets into Israel.

A proper trial would provide the victims with the opportunity to tell their stories and to present their evidence to independent judges; Palestinian and Israeli victims would be equal -- the disadvantage of being stateless and the power imbalance between the two parties would no longer exist; testimonies of thousands of Palestinians would finally be heard -- people who have already suffered tremendously from the illegal Israeli occupation during which they have been deprived of the most basic human rights for over 40 years.

Such a trial might silence the endless accusations from both parties by opening up an impartial and legal assessment of relevant arguments. Such a trial would send the message that in modern times, all individuals have to take responsibility for their actions. Such a trial would also likely assist in efforts to prevent future atrocities in Gaza and support conditions for a long-term peace.

Putting perpetrators on trial would cost the international community nothing, but a lack of such individual responsibility and accountability would cost the civilians in Gaza dear leaving them without remedies and hope -- while politicians and soldiers would again be encouraged to think that they are exempted from the law and that they can get away with anything.

Thus, we cannot allow these crimes to remain untried.

Elna Sondergaard is the Director of the Human Rights Program and Associate Professor of Law at the American University in Cairo. From 2000-2004, she worked as a legal officer for UNRWA at their headquarters in Gaza.


Related Links

• BY TOPIC: Gaza massacres