A Historical Perspective – the Methodical Dispossession of Arabs in Palestine
In an interview with Muslims for Freedom, Roqayah Chamseddine, an articulate Muslim woman and aspiring defence attorney, gives a comprehensive, historically correct account of the land theft process committed by Zionists in Palestine with the collusion of the British, leading to the unilateral declaration of Israel in 1947 by Zionists and the brutal Occupation of the indigenous people of the area which followed. She argues cogently for a one state peaceful solution.
The interview includes an outline of the relevant international laws of which Israel has been in breach since its inception and how these breaches have sustained resistance and a sense of injustice in the region.
Whilst perpetrating ethnic cleansing of Arabs, Zionists have projected an illegitimate stance of entitlement at the expense of the legal inhabitants of the region who were illegally transferred. Zionist intentions are to expand territory from the Euphrates to the Nile at the expense of the local inhabitants. 7.5 million people have been made refugees by Zionists, refugees who under international law are entitled to return to their land.
Legal Opinion on Israel’s Occupation of Gaza & Its ‘Self-Defence’ Lie
Signed by distinguished Professors of Law, this opinion published in the Times illumines aspects of Israel’s occupation of Gaza, which didn’t end when it pulled its troops out of Gaza in 2005. The opinion also describes why Israel is not acting in self defence as it wantonly slaughters Gazan civilians.
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is not self-defence – it’s a war crime
ISRAEL has sought to justify its military attacks on Gaza by stating that it amounts to an act of “self-defence” as recognised by Article 51, United Nations Charter. We categorically reject this contention.
The rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas deplorable as they are, do not, in terms of scale and effect amount to an armed attack entitling Israel to rely on self-defence. Under international law self-defence is an act of last resort and is subject to the customary rules of proportionality and necessity.
The killing of almost 800 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and more than 3,000 injuries, accompanied by the destruction of schools, mosques, houses, UN compounds and government buildings, which Israel has a responsibility to protect under the Fourth Geneva Convention, is not commensurate to the deaths caused by Hamas rocket fire.
For 18 months Israel had imposed an unlawful blockade on the coastal strip that brought Gazan society to the brink of collapse. In the three years after Israel’s redeployment from Gaza, 11 Israelis were killed by rocket fire. And yet in 2005-8, according to the UN, the Israeli army killed about 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children. Throughout this time the Gaza Strip remained occupied territory under international law because Israel maintained effective control over it.
Israel’s actions amount to aggression, not self-defence, not least because its assault on Gaza was unnecessary. Israel could have agreed to renew the truce with Hamas. Instead it killed 225 Palestinians on the first day of its attack. As things stand, its invasion and bombardment of Gaza amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s 1.5m inhabitants contrary to international humanitarian and human rights law. In addition, the blockade of humanitarian relief, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and preventing access to basic necessities such as food and fuel, are prima facie war crimes.
We condemn the firing of rockets by Hamas into Israel and suicide bombings which are also contrary to international humanitarian law and are war crimes. Israel has a right to take reasonable and proportionate means to protect its civilian population from such attacks. However, the manner and scale of its operations in Gaza amount to an act of aggression and is contrary to international law, notwithstanding the rocket attacks by Hamas.
Ian Brownlie QC, Blackstone Chambers
Mark Muller QC, Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales
Michael Mansfield QC and Joel Bennathan QC, Tooks Chambers
Sir Geoffrey Bindman, University College, London
Professor Richard Falk, Princeton University
Professor M Cherif Bassiouni, DePaul University, Chicago
Professor Christine Chinkin, LSE
Professor John B Quigley, Ohio State University
Professor Iain Scobbie and Victor Kattan, School of Oriental and African Studies
Professor Vera Gowlland-Debbas, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva
Professor Said Mahmoudi, Stockholm University
Professor Max du Plessis, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban
Professor Bill Bowring, Birkbeck College
Professor Joshua Castellino, Middlesex University
Professor Thomas Skouteris and Professor Michael Kagan, American University of Cairo
Professor Javaid Rehman, Brunel University
Daniel Machover, Chairman, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights
Dr Phoebe Okawa, Queen Mary University
John Strawson, University of East London
Dr Nisrine Abiad, British Institute of International and Comparative Law
Dr Michael Kearney, University of York
Dr Shane Darcy, National University of Ireland, Galway
Fortunately, Israel’s barbarous war crimes are being documented.
Israel targets children’s hospital and destroys a clinic.
Israeli forces have attacked a children’s hospital in Gaza in a fourth day of attacks after a UN Security Council call for ceasefire.
The al-Dorra children’s hospital was targeted by Israeli forces.
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On Sunday, Israeli aircraft also bombed and destroyed a clinic in the Gaza Strip after firing warning shots close to the building.
The orgy of Zionist arrogance continues as Arab parties are banned from participating in the forthcoming elections. 23% of the Israeli population are Arab. Apartheid anyone?
The ruling, made by the body that oversees the elections, reflected the heightened tensions between Israel’s Jewish majority and Arab minority caused by Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Arabs have held a series of demonstrations against the offensive.
Protests Worldwide Against Israel
Photo from the London protest courtesy of Suspect Paki
Around the world people from all walks of life, religions and cultures joined hands to protest against Israel’s pogrom against the people of Gaza.
In London, over 100,000 people marched to the Israeli Embassy. Spain held the largest demonstration:
Organisers said more than 250,000 people marched through Spain’s capital of Madrid, with other European cities including Athens, Brussels, Rome, Naples Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin also the focal points of protesters.
The protest in Madrid was the largest of demonstrations across Europe, although there were expressions of both support and opposition for the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
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Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem’s mother Pilar, addressed a crowd estimated by organisers to number 250,000.
She said: ‘The Spanish government has to do something. The Gaza Strip is now practically a concentration camp.’
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In Edinburgh, protesters hurled about 300 shoes and red paint at the U.S. consulate in the Scottish capital.
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Event organiser Nick Napier said the action was taken as a result of the ‘rage and anger’ over the death toll in Gaza over the past two weeks.
‘People are here because they know the trail of blood leads from Gaza back to Britain and that Gordon Brown, while publicly calling for a ceasefire, we know has instructed his diplomats in New York to support the Americans,’ he told Sky News.
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Elsewhere in the world, some 20,000 people took to the streets in Berlin and other German cities.
Protesters threw snowballs at two Israeli flags that hung from the windows of a house along the demonstration route, but otherwise no incidents were reported.
In Amman, Jordan, more than 2,000 took to the streets and in Syria, another 2,000 marched in a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus shouting anti-Israeli slogans.
There were also demonstrations in the U.S., France, Norway, Greece, Malaysia, Sweden, Bosnia, Lebanon, Thailand, South Korea and India.
For a step by step well-written narration of the London protest, visit read Shahid’s post at Suspect Paki.
When the Truth Matters Most of All
Israel’s hasbara campaign is in full swing – the truth about who breached the ceasefire (Israel), why the Israelis never stopped occupying Gaza (Israel breached the 4th Geneva Conventions ever since it ‘withdrew’ from Gaza by maintaining a blockade), how the UN School at Jabailya came to be attacked by the IDF, the hideous Zeitoun massacre of 30 people by the IDF and many more memes are dissembled, sanitised, spun and respun by the mendacious Israeli spiel machine.
Now, we know that the Israeli foreign ministry itself is orchestrating propaganda efforts designed to flood news websites with pro-Israel arguments and information.
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The foreign ministry shouldn’t get a pass on this one. It may view such hasbara as maximising its efforts to “explain” Israel’s position in the world media. I view it as a cynical attempt to flood the web and news media with favorable flackery in a vain attempt to tilt public opinion toward Israel. Not only does it do Israel a disservice, it stains every legitimate effort that the ministry might make to explain Israel to the world, since no one will believe a word it says knowing it engages in such outright propaganda.
The just cause of Palestinians for land and freedom is further set back by the image provoked in the media by the Israeli propaganda machine:
“We don’t fight the Jews because they’re Jews, but because they are occupiers,” stresses Meshal. “If the Arabs occupied us, [we’d] fight them too … But why is everybody so worried about our religiosity anyway? Israel has always referred to ancient biblical texts to justify its existence. If an Arab official, for example, wore an Islamic looking turban, he would be sending the wrong signals. But when Israeli officials put on the Jewish kipot (skull cap), that’s not a problem, nobody is worried about religiosity then.”
“We live under occupation and we don’t have the traditional tools to defend ourselves” Meshal continues. “We repeatedly demanded that Israel not target Palestinian civilians and end the siege. But Israel never listened.”
The UN Human Rights Council is considering a draft resolution on the treatment of civilians in Gaza by the IDF – about time!
The Zeitoun massacre is horrific –
According to the survivors’ accounts, partly corroborated by the International Red Cross and the United Nations, Israeli soldiers raided their homes and then huddled the extended family together into one house.
The following day they shelled and dropped missiles around the house.
Abdullah was found in the house surrounded by his dead uncles and cousins Witnesses say at least 30 members of the Samouni family were killed.
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Al Jazeera tracked down the ambulance driver who rescued Ahmed. The Red Cross personnel were denied access by the Israeli army to the area for four days after the house was shelled.
“On the day we got permission, the army told us to leave the ambulances around two kilometres from the house,” said Mohamed el-Halby, a paramedic. “So we walked and all around us we could see they had bulldozered the area. The houses we passed had Israeli soldiers standing on the roofs.”
“We went inside and heard screams coming from one room. There were about 15 people inside, two were dead, the rest sitting around them. That was just one room.”
France is suggesting European observers be sent to monitor any eventual cease fire.
French Defense Minister Herve Morin suggested a European peacekeeping force for Gaza once the violence has settled.
“It seems to me it would not be stupid or incoherent for the Europeans to participate in a force that would be tasked with watching over the security of the borders,” he said on French radio RFI on Sunday night.
He said France should consider participating in such a force if one is formed, but added that for now “the conditions have not been met” to establish such a force.
A rift has developed in the Israeli cabinet, with Olmert still hell-bent on continuing the collective punishment the people of Gaza, and Barak and Livni dissenting.
The three officials discussed the issue Saturday evening in a security cabinet meeting, and both Barak and Livni reportedly argued for ending Operation Cast Lead as soon as possible but Olmert seeks to continue the military operations inside the Gaza Strip, the report added.
According to the report, Livni and Barak also objected the expansion of the ground operations.
How convenient – when the operation is ended after even more loss of civilian lives, Livni and Barak can both attempt to exonerate themselves by pointing out they were in favour of stopping before the ground invasion.