Tag: war

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CNN exposes Hasbara attempt

Speaking of hasbara, Regev appears to need a serious brush up course if he thinks the world will find his latest rubbish plausible.

One of my favourite in situ hasbara debunkers, Gideon Levy is characteristically scathing about the choice of political candidates offered to Israeli voters in their forthcoming Feb 10 elections.

Jabalia

“Ground Zero”
20th January 2009

Earlier this week, following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, residents returned to some of the areas which had become no-go zones during the attacks, such as Jabalia just outside Gaza City. On Tuesday 20th January, ISM Gaza Strip volunteers joined a university professor as he visited his house in the east of Jabalia. We were shown from room to room around the bombed-out shell of what had once been a beautiful home. When asked if he and his family would continue to live there, he replied calmly that it was their right to and that they would never leave their land.

As we made our way up the hill through the orange grove beyond the professor’s house, we encountered evidence of where tanks had been positioned – churned up ground, tank tracks, uprooted olive trees. At the top of the hill, from where the Green Line was clearly visible, we began to see homes which had been totally destroyed, several stories concertinaed. Families sat together on the rubble of their homes. Children collected firewood from the dismembered limbs of fruit trees.

At first it seemed as though it was ‘just’ a cluster of ten or fifteen destroyed houses, which would have been bad enough in its own right. However, as we continued walking it became apparent that the devastation extended into the next street and the next, more and more destroyed and damaged homes following one another. This entire neighbourhood on this easternmost edge of Jabalia had been virtually wiped off the face of the earth. It resembled the site of some massive natural disaster. However this ground zero was entirely man-made.

The gouged-out windows of some of the homes still standing were filled with dark green sand bags. This was a sign these houses had been used by the Israelis as sniper positions. One could barely imagine how the situation must have been in this neighbourhood when it was under attack.

We met a blind woman who had been held prisoner for 11 days in one room of her home, along with a paralysed man, whilst Israeli soldiers used it as a base. Terrified and expecting to be killed at any time, they were given water twice during their ordeal. When the Red Crescent evacuated them, the woman said she could finally breathe for the first time since the soldiers arrived. The walls had been daubed with Hebrew graffiti, empty plastic food trays were strewn around and the stairway stank of urine.

In the wake of a Gazan holocaust, thousands of people are finding themselves in truly desperate situations. A traumatized but resilient population is somehow beginning to pick up the pieces. Merely continuing to exist is a form of resistance.

– Photo & text courtesy of Rafahkid

This war unmasked Livni, the woman who had promised us “different politics.” She, who as foreign minister was supposed to show Israel’s sunny side to the world, chose to present an arrogant, violent and brutal face. During the war she boasted that Israel was acting “savagely,” threatened to let Hamas “have it” and announced that the cease-fire would come into effect “whenever Israel decides.”

As far as she was concerned, there was no world, no United States and Europe, no UN Security Council, and no bleeding and defeated other side – only Israel will decide. No foreign minister has ever spoken like this before.

In her pathetic attempts to assume a masculine, militaristic, even macho, posture of someone who would know what to say if the telephone rang at 3 A.M., Livni was exposed as a failed foreign minister, whose words and deeds are no different from those espoused by the radical militaristic men around her. No self-respecting voter who considers himself an upstanding centrist could vote for her. Whoever votes for Kadima will be voting for the right, which is eager to embark on any war and risk the accompanying crimes.

Voting for Labor also means voting for the war and its horrors. This war’s marshal, Ehud Barak, has forever deprived himself of the moral right to talk of coexistence, political arrangements and diplomacy. If he really believed in them, he would have given them a chance before going to war, not afterward. Barak took the army to war and Barak must pay for it, together with his “left-wing” party, which joined the most radical, far-right parties in supporting the move to outlaw Israel’s Arab parties.

Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu, Livni and Barak are one – they all voted in support of an undemocratic decision. And don’t be alarmed by Lieberman – he, too, only talks. But at least he does so honestly, while Barak fires off salvos and deceives.

Granted, these impostors still enjoy the support of world leaders, but for many people around the globe, they have become war-mongers and suspected war criminals. Their diplomatic immunity will protect them – but who wants those leaders, with their bloodied hands, to represent us?

No less severe is the fact that there are no ideological differences between the candidates. Let Barak and Livni step up and explain what the hell sets them apart. What ideological argument are they conducting, apart from bickering on who should be credited for the war?

Facing them is Netanyahu – what does he have to offer? “Economic peace.” After this war, which wasn’t enough as far as he is concerned, his doctrine sounds even more ludicrous than ever.

This is how we’re going into elections – with three leading parties that are hardly different from each other.

We always used to say, “There aren’t any moderates in the Arab world.” Now we are the ones who don’t have any. Vote as you will, but don’t fool yourself. Every ballot cast for Kadima, Labor and Likud is an endorsement of the last war and a vote for the next one.

Who are the *real* terrorists again?

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Israel’s Meta Plan – the Big Lies Explained, In Their Own Words

“We must do everything to ensure they [the Palestinian refugees] never do return” David Ben-Gurion, in his diary, 18 July 1948, quoted in Michael Bar Zohar’s Ben-Gurion: the Armed Prophet, Prentice-Hall, 1967, p. 157.

“We must define our position and lay down basic principles for a settlement. Our demands should be moderate and balanced, and appear to be reasonable. But in fact they must involve such conditions as to ensure that the enemy rejects them. Then we should manoeuvre and allow him to define his own position, and reject a settlement on the basis of a compromise position. We should then publish his demands as embodying unreasonable extremism.”
General Yehoshafat Harkabi (former head of IDF Intelligence); Maariv, 2 November 1973. Cited by David Hirst, The Gun and the Olive Branch: The Roots of Violence in the Middle East; third edition (2003), p.181.

Israel could not exist without certain areas: ‘Even with the latest means of fighting with which the army is equipped, we cannot defend Israel without Judea and Samaria, and without the Golan Heights.’ Rafael Eitan on on Israel Television, 11 May 1978 Eitan was found drowned in mysterious circumstances in 2004 after criticising Sharon’s plans for disengagement in Gaza, of which he said “This disengagement plan is a historical error and I can prove it.”

“We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Israel… Force is all they do or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours.” Rafael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces – Gad Becker,Yediot Ahronot 13 April 1983, New York Times 14 April 1983.

“… all the Arabs will be able to do is scuttle around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle” Rafael Eitan [Israeli Chief of Staff] addressing an Israeli Knesset committee in 1983 describing the results after Israel had further multiplied its West Bank settlements. See The Times, 15 April 1983 – From Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War by Robert Fisk; footnote to Chapter 11, “Terrorists”

“You don’t simply bundle people onto trucks and drive them away … I prefer to advocate a more positive policy … to create, in effect, a condition that in a positive way will induce people to leave.” Ariel Sharon, quoted by David Bernstein in Forcible Removal of Arabs gaining support in Israel”, The (London) Times, August 24, 1988, page 7. Cited in Imperial Israel And The Palestinians: The Politics of Expansion, by Nur Masalha; Chapter 2, footnote 117.

“In order to prepare properly for the next campaign, one of the Israeli officers in the territories said not long ago, it’s justified and in fact essential to learn from every possible source. If the mission will be to seize a densely populated refugee camp, or take over the casbah in Nablus, and if the commander’s obligation is to try to execute the mission without casualties on either side, then he must first analyze and internalize the lessons of earlier battles – even, however shocking it may sound, even how the German army fought in the Warsaw ghetto.

The officer indeed succeeded in shocking others, not least because he is not alone in taking this approach. Many of his comrades agree that in order to save Israelis now, it is right to make use of knowledge that originated in that terrible war, whose victims were their kin. The Warsaw ghetto serves them only as an extreme example, not linked to the strategic dialogue that the defense establishments of Israel and Germany will hold next month.”
from “At the gates of Yassergrad ” by Amir Oren in Haaretz, January 25, 2002. [this article has disappeared from Haaretz, noticed today 12/4/11. There’s a full version here]

“Iran can never be threatened in its very existence. Israel can. Indeed, such a threat could even grow out of the current intifada. That, at least, is the pessimistic opinion of Martin van Creveld, professor of military history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. ‘If it went on much longer,’ he said, ‘the Israeli government [would] lose control of the people. In campaigns like this, the anti-terror forces lose, because they don’t win, and the rebels win by not losing. I regard a total Israeli defeat as unavoidable. That will mean the collapse of the Israeli state and society. We’ll destroy ourselves.’

In this situation, he went on, more and more Israelis were coming to regard the ‘transfer’ of the Palestinians as the only salvation; resort to it was growing ‘more probable’ with each passing day. Sharon ‘wants to escalate the conflict and knows that nothing else will succeed’.

But would the world permit such ethnic cleansing? ‘That depends on who does it and how quickly it happens. We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets for our air force. Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: “Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.” I consider it all hopeless at this point. We shall have to try to prevent things from coming to that, if at all possible. Our armed forces, however, are not the thirtieth strongest in the world, but rather the second or third. We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under.'” Martin van Creveld in the Guardian 21st September, 2003.

“Without lies, it would be impossible to talk about peace with the Palestinians for 36 years while at the same time seizing more and more Palestinian land. Without lies, it would be impossible to claim that there is no partner for the road map, while at the same time injecting more and more money into outposts that the road map calls for dismantling. Without lies, it would be impossible to promise ‘painful concessions’ in exchange for peace, while at the same time terming people who concluded such an agreement ‘traitors.'”
Akiva Eldar, Haaretz 24 November 2003

“it is permissible to lie for the sake of the Land of Israel.” Yitzhak Shamir, quoted by Akiva Eldar in Haaretz, 24 November, 2003

“The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process, and when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And all this with authority and permission. All with a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of Congress. The disengagement is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians. That is exactly what happened. You know, the term ‘peace process’ is a bundle of concepts and commitments. The peace process is the establishment of a Palestinian state with all the security risks that entails. The peace process is the evacuation of settlements, it’s the return of refugees, it’s the partition of Jerusalem. And all that has now been frozen…. what I effectively agreed to with the Americans was that part of the settlements would not be dealt with at all, and the rest will not be dealt with until the Palestinians turn into Finns. That is the significance of what we did.”

“[Sharon could also argue] ‘honestly’ [that the disengagement plan was] “a serious move because of which, out of 240,000 settlers, 190,000 will not be moved from their place.”
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s senior adviser Dov Weisglass in a Haaretz interview, 6 October 2004.

Israel’s hasbara on peace proposals is dissected in Does Israeli Intelligence Lie?

FACT:

It was a condition of the 11 May 1949 UN General Assembly Resolution 273 which admitted the State of Israel to UN membership that the Israeli State accepted the continuity of the rights and claims of Palestine’s ethnic communities in and to their home territories. (This was in accordance with principles enunciated in the 1922 League of Nations administrative mandate which the UN General Assembly has no power to alter without a comprehensive and properly conducted plebiscite that includes a strong element of native party agreement.)

Israel accepted in full the conditional Resolution without which, its UN membership is invalid. Sixty years later Israel still shirks its responsibilities, hiding behind cowardly lies touted as ‘self-defence’ and bullies those who recognise its irresponsibility.

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Gaza – a disaster zone thanks to Israel’s colonialism

Edward Jayne gives a cogent overview of Israeli deceptive political strategy aimed at disrupting Palestinian lives and demonising opposition while more territory is acquired for the purposes of a Greater Israel.

Israel is attempting to manipulate regime change in the Gaza strip by controlling aid.

Defense officials said that Israel preferred that all of the money donated to rehabilitating the Gaza Strip be transferred to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, since it could be a way for the Fatah leader to reassert his control over Gaza.

“This is a way for Abbas to get back in control of the Gaza Strip,” one official said. “If he is in charge of the money, Hamas will have to work with him and he will be involved in what happens in Gaza.”

Hamas is starting to make overtures to Fatah supporters:

Hamas called Thursday for reconciliation with supporters of rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas but insisted on pursuing resistance against Israel.

The condition appeared to preclude any agreement with Abbas, who seeks a peace deal with Israel and whose moderate Fatah faction was not among the groups that backed the statement by eight Damascus-based radical Palestinian factions including Hamas.

Earlier on Thursday, a senior Hamas official dismissed any reconciliation talks with rival Fatah group.
Sami Khater, a member of the militant group’s Damascus-based branch, said Arab and international donations to reconstruct the war-devastated Gaza should go directly to Hamas and not to rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas whose faction rules the West Bank.

Khater said Abbas and his Palestinian Authority cannot be trusted.

…

Palestinian Authority Social Affairs Minister Mahmoud Habbash earlier on Thursday accused gunmen from the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip of hijacking dozens of trucks carrying aid intended for residents reeling from the three-week-long Israeli assault.

Habbash, of the Fatah-led government based in the West Bank, told Voice of Palestine Radio that the trucks were supposed to come under the authority of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

Hamas, however, says the supply trucks were dispatched by Arab donors specifically for the Hamas administration in the Strip, and to no other group, to distribute to the people of Gaza.

As a result, on arrival in the Strip the trucks were directed to Hamas warehouses, officials from the Islamist movement said, adding that they have papers from the donor countries showing that the supplies were sent to the Hamas administration.

UN officials have also said that none of its supply and aid trucks have been hijacked or attacked by any armed group inside Gaza.

The story fails to mention that according to Hamas, Abbas’ presidential term ended on the 9th January 09.

Abbas’s supporters however cite a different provision of the constitution which says that presidential and parliamentary elections should be held together, which would extend Abbas’s term to January 2010.

Interestingly, representatives from the two main Palestinian factions were due to meet in Cairo on November 4 08 to try to agree on a national unity government. November 4 was the day Israel breached the cease fire in Gaza. Of course, a national unity Palestinian government would be the last thing Israel wanted – that would be the end of the Israeli divide and conquer strategy.

Chomsky concurs with me in his scholarly analysis of Israeli monstrosity.

Despite the Israeli siege, rocketing sharply reduced. The ceasefire broke down on November 4 with an Israeli raid into Gaza, leading to the death of 6 Palestinians, and a retaliatory barrage of rockets (with no injuries). The pretext for the raid was that Israel had detected a tunnel in Gaza that might have been intended for use to capture another Israeli soldier. The pretext is transparently absurd, as a number of commentators have noted. If such a tunnel existed, and reached the border, Israel could easily have barred it right there. But as usual, the ludicrous Israeli pretext was deemed credible.

What was the reason for the Israeli raid? We have no internal evidence about Israeli planning, but we do know that the raid came shortly before scheduled Hamas-Fatah talks in Cairo aimed at “reconciling their differences and creating a single, unified government,” British correspondent Rory McCarthy reported. That was to be the first Fatah-Hamas meeting since the June 2007 civil war that left Hamas in control of Gaza, and would have been a significant step towards advancing diplomatic efforts. There is a long history of Israel provocations to deter the threat of diplomacy, some already mentioned. This may have been another one.

Possibilities for rehabilitation of Hamas into a peace partner are discussed in ANALYSIS-Gaza truce, Obama fuel talk of talking to Hamas

Seizing on signs that Europe, disturbed by killing and poverty in Gaza and emboldened by change in Washington, might reconsider its ban on contact with the Palestinian Islamists, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal claimed “victory” and said on Wednesday: “I tell European nations … it is time for you to deal with Hamas.”

It is a sentiment that is finding some echo elsewhere, even if a dramatic front-page appeal by leading Israeli writer David Grossman in Haaretz newspaper remains a marginal view in Israel:

“Instead of ignoring Hamas … we would do better to take advantage of the new reality that has been created by beginning a dialogue with them immediately,” he wrote in Tuesday’s piece.

Only dialogue could avert mutual destruction, Grossman said.

Hamas rejects talks that would imply recognition of Israel, though does not rule out all contact. Unlike other Palestinian groups, it has not accepted Israel and wants all its territory, but Hamas leaders have also offered Israel a “long-term truce”.

At a meeting on Wednesday with Israeli officials, EU foreign ministers were asked if they should now speak directly to Hamas. Finland’s Alexander Stubb said cautiously: “It is time to start slowly reflecting how we get all parties round the table.”

“No comprehensive solution can be taken without Hamas.”

“The option of negotiating with Hamas has never been really taken into consideration,” French expert Olivier Roy wrote in an opinion piece in Wednesday’s Saudi Gazette, looking at Obama’s options in the region. “It is time to consider that option.”

ADDITIONAL LINKS

A battle over what happened in Gaza

“We are witnessing a moral corrosion that is destroying everything at a fantastic pace,” said Michael Sfard, a lawyer with Volunteers for Human Rights in Tel Aviv. “We’ve reached a threshold of insensitivity that we had never reached in the past.”

The offensive “on Gaza may be squeezing Hamas, but it is destroying Israel,” Ari Shavit wrote in the left-leaning Haaretz in the days before the operation ended. “Destroying its soul and its image. Destroying it on world television screens, in the living rooms of the international community and most importantly, in Obama’s America.”

Liberating Palestine – some useful ideas for peace from Malaysia

In an unprecedented move, the BBC is refusing to run ads for the DEC campaign for alleviation of human suffering in Gaza – perhaps the DEC could try again with an appeal to save Gaza wildlife, as apparently the lives of humans in Gaza are not counted as important to the BBC.

Prisoner swap deals are on the horizon –

Israel might be prepared to swap hundreds of jailed Palestinians for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been held in captivity in the Gaza Strip for more than two years, senior Israeli officials indicated yesterday.

Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister, said yesterday that the Israel Defence Forces’ operation in the Gaza Strip had created “renewed momentum” to strike a deal with Hamas for Shalit’s return.

Hamas officials in Gaza and the West Bank insisted, for their part, that Shalit, who was captured in a cross-border raid, “would not see the light of day” unless Israel agreed to the release of up to 1,400 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel’s Supreme Court has overturned the Central Elections Commision’s decision to exclude two arab parties from the February 10 elections.

This week, the Supreme Court accepted a petition by two Arab Knesset factions – Balad and United Arab List-Ta’al – and overturned the Central Elections Commission’s decision to bar them from running in the upcoming elections. This ruling, which did not ignore the problematic elements of both parties’ platforms, rescued the political system from the disgrace it inflicted on itself and the voting public by disqualifying these slates.

Israel to open Gaza Strip crossing to journalists

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Ban ki Moon admonishes, Israel skulks

UN bombed with white phosphorus Beit Lahia Gaza

Israel received stern words from UN leader Ban Ki Moon who was outraged at the firing on the UN at Beit Lahia.

“I have seen only a fraction of the destruction. This is shocking and alarming,” Ban said, condemning an “excessive use” of force by Israel as well as Hamas’s rocket fire into Israel.

“These are heartbreaking scenes I have seen and I am deeply grieved by what I have seen today,” he told a news conference held against a backdrop of still smoldering food aid in a U.N. warehouse set ablaze by Israeli gunfire last Thursday.

Ban particularly deplored the attack on the UN warehouse:

“It is particularly significant for a secretary-general of the UN to stand in front of this bomb site of the UN compound,” he said.

“I am just appalled and not able to describe how I am feeling having seen this … it’s an outrageous and totally unacceptable attack against the UN. I have protested many times, and I protest again in the strongest terms.”

Ban called for a “full investigation” into the incident to make those responsible for the attack “accountable”.

Despite UN demands, Israel is not allowing supplies with construction materials through, only food and medicine aid – is this a sign that their immoral collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population is not yet over?

The Israeli exclusivist war machine has destroyed more than 4,000 buildings with over 20,000 severely damaged.
50,000 Gazans have been made homeless due to Israel’s aggression and 400,000 people are without running water.

@AJGaza The Israeli army says its troops have completed their pull-out from the #Gaza Strip.

Significant to Palestinian aspirations, in his inauguration speech Obama said:

“To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

“To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.”

Let’s hope the Stalinist reprobates in the Israeli Knesset heed his advice.

While Ban calls for national unity between Palestinian groups, Hamas supporters are retaining the power of their democratic vote and are demanding UN recognition –

“The Hamas government was elected by popular vote,” one said. “We demand an end to double standards.”

The United Nations, with other key mediators in the Middle East, say they will only deal with Hamas if it recognizes Israel, renounces violence and accepts interim peace deals.

Chances of recognition of the fascist Occupier entity are likely to be non-existent at this point, with 1350 dead and around 5000 people injured from Israel’s unprovoded attack on Gaza. With Israel’s timed withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas is claiming victory.

In blind stupidity and arrogance, the majority of Israelis believe the murder of innocent Palestinians and destruction of their dwellings and public buildings is a legitimate and necessary accompaniment to their government’s attempt to topple the democratically elected Hamas government and right wing Netanyahoo is leading in the electoral polls. Zionism however thrives on hatred and the illegitimate attack and murder by Israel is bound to increase animosity toward the oppressor.

The election of this expansionist hardline ethnic cleanser could prove disastrous for Palestinians – again. Akiva Eldar provides some interesting speculation on imminent change in US policy toward Israel:

Obama is surrounded by Jewish advisers who are very familiar with Israeli tricks and stalling tactics, especially when it comes to the settlements (have we mentioned “natural growth” yet?), but they would still want the new president to adopt the tradition of the “special relationship” with the Jewish state. Obama, however, has also been exposed to the school of thought, existing in both the administration and the American think tanks, that argues that the excessive closeness between the U.S. and Israel undermines America’s strategic interests in the Arab world.

Brent Scowcroft, one of the shapers of foreign policy under President George H.W. Bush, and according to Time magazine, a strong influence on Obama, has called for a fundamental restructuring of American policy in the Middle East. Scowcroft, who was the boss of the current (and incoming) defense secretary Robert Gates, and a friend of the new national security adviser, James Jones, is proposing that the “special relationship” be adjusted to a “natural relationship.” Perhaps such a change would be able to transform celebratory ceremonies into dry agreements.

How will AIPAC and the other gungho Jewish benefactors to US politicians react if Obama does alter US policy to Israel?

The Zionist enterprise’s military wing, the IDF, is investigating a reserve paratroop unit’s use of phosphorus shells in the incident.

According to senior army officers, the IDF used two phosphorus-based weapons in Gaza. One, the sources said, actually contains almost no phosphorus. These are simple smoke bombs – 155mm artillery shells – with a trace of phosphorus to ignite them.

Alkalai’s probe is thus focusing on the second type: phosphorus shells, either 81mm or 120mm, that are fired from mortar guns. About 200 such shells were fired during the recent fighting, and of these, according to the probe’s initial findings, almost 180 were fired at orchards in which gunmen and rocket-launching crews were taking cover.

The one problematic incident was the reserve paratroops brigade that fired about 20 such shells in a built-up area of Beit Lahiya. Many international organizations say phosphorus shells should not be used in heavily populated areas. The brigade’s officers, however, say the shells were fired only at places that had been positively identified as sources of enemy fire.

The 120mm shells, a recent acquisition, have a computerized targeting system attached to a GPS. Brigade commanders say they were very effective, but they were also responsible for two very serious mishaps: a strike on a UNRWA school that killed 42 Palestinians and a friendly fire incident that seriously wounded two officers.

Expect a duck and weave coverup – why were the shells authorised to be used in the first place at all?

Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have condemned the Israeli actions as war crimes:

Human rights group Amnesty International has accused Israel of war crimes, saying its use of white phosphorus munitions in densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip was indiscriminate and illegal.

The accusations from the London-based organisation came as the scale of the destruction caused by the Israeli assault on the Palestinian territory overwhelmed Gazans.

Amnesty is not the first group to accuse Israel of using white phosphorus.

Human Rights Watch made the accusation on January 10 and the UN has also said Israel used the munition during its offensive in Gaza.

Donatella Rovera, a researcher with Amnesty, said: “Such extensive use of this weapon in Gaza’s densely populated residential neighbourhoods is inherently indiscriminate.”

“Its repeated use in this manner, despite evidence of its indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime,” she said.

Attorneys on behalf of Belgian and French nationals with relatives who were either wounded or killed in Gaza have petitioned a Belgian court to arrest Tipsy Livni for war crimes when she visits Brussels tomorrow.

In other war crimes news, there’s a new Israeli site listing the prospective war criminals and their misdeeds.

includes “arrest orders,” complete with pictures and personal details, for Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,Livni, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and his two predecessors, Dan Halutz and Moshe Ya’alon, former air force commander Eliezer Shkedy and others.

It also explains how to inform the International Criminal Court in The Hague of when the “suspects” are outside Israel, and hence vulnerable to arrest.

The first sign of hope and justice from Obama comes from the announcement that he has “ordered the U.S. government to suspend prosecutions of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay for 120 days.”

Israel must be judged at the International Criminal Court – Sign the Universal petition.

Francis A. Boyle called for an International War Crimes Tribunal three days after the commencement of Israel’s disgraceful slaughter.

The United Nations General Assembly must immediately establish an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel (ICTI) as a “subsidiary organ” under U.N. Charter Article 22. The ICTI would be organized along the lines of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was established by the Security Council.

The purpose of the ICTI would be to investigate and prosecute Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Peoples of Lebanon and Palestine–just as the ICTY did for the victims of international crimes committed by Serbia and the Milosevic Regime throughout the Balkans.

The establishment of ICTI would provide some small degree of justice to the victims of Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Peoples of Lebanon and Palestine–just as the ICTY has done in the Balkans. Furthermore, the establishment of ICTI by the U.N. General Assembly would serve as a deterrent effect upon Israeli leaders such as Prime Minister Olmert, Foreign Minister Livni, Defense Minister Barak , Chief of Staff Ashkenazi and Israel’s other top generals that they will be prosecuted for their further infliction of international crimes upon the Lebanese and the Palestinians.

Without such a deterrent, Israel might be emboldened to attack Syria with the full support of the Likhudnik Bush Jr. Neoconservatives, who have always viewed Syria as “low-hanging fruit” ready to be taken out by means of their joint aggression. If Israel attacks Syria as it did when it invaded Lebanon in 1982, Iran has vowed to come to Syria’s defense.

And of course Israel and the Bush Jr administration very much want a pretext to attack Iran. This scenario could readily degenerate into World War III.

For the U.N. General Assembly to establish ICTI could stop the further development of this momentum towards a regional if not global catastrophe.

The US GIVES free fuel to the Israeli military worth $1.1b since 2004

Israel wanted a humanitarian crisis – Targeting civilians was a deliberate part of this bid to humiliate Hamas and the Palestinians, and pulverise Gaza into chaos

Audio: Abunimah, Finkelstein, Mearsheimer discuss Israel’s attacks on Gaza

In a desperate attempt to prevent their war criminals from being prosecuted, the IDF is censoring the names of battalion commanders involved in the attack on Gaza.

The IDF has also taken preliminary steps to defend military officers against legal charges abroad stemming from their involvement in Operation Cast Lead. The full names of battalion commanders involved in the fighting will be censored to prevent Israeli and international left-wing activists from attempting to try them for war crimes. The names of more senior officers cannot be redacted as their involvement and names have been reported by many media outlets.

Robert Fisk: So, I asked the UN secretary general, isn’t it time for a war crimes tribunal?

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Human Needs in Gaza – Health, Water, Peace

Secretary-General says Gaza Humanitarian Assessment Mission to be dispatched, United Nations determined to embark without delay on recovery process

Source: United Nations Secretary-General

Date: 19 Jan 2009

SG/SM/12052
PAL/2110

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the Conference on Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Gaza, in Sharm el-Sheikh, 18 January:

I wish to thank President [Hosni] Mubarak for hosting us at this important meeting, and for the crucial role he is playing to resolve the crisis in Gaza. And I thank President [Mahmoud] Abbas for his presence as the leader of the Palestinian people in this grave hour.

Even after the announcement of a ceasefire by Israel, the situation on the ground is still volatile and dangerous. Clashes, rockets and [Israel Defense Forces] actions have continued. For the sake of the people of Gaza, I urge in the strongest possible terms Hamas to stop firing rockets. As all of us had urged Israelis to stop its offensive, those who have influence on Hamas must press them now to stop rocket-firing.

I discussed the importance of this measure with President [Bashar al-]Assad earlier today in Damascus. I understand that Syria and Turkey’s efforts are bearing fruit, and I am encouraged by President [Abdullah] Gül’s remarks.

For its part, I urge Israel in the strongest possible terms to show utmost restraint and withdraw its troops from Gaza in the coming days.

I look to President Mubarak to continue his vital efforts to seek understandings and mechanisms to ensure that a durable and sustainable ceasefire is quickly put in place. And I look to the leaders assembled here, and to all Arab and international leaders, to come together to prevent further violence, help the people of Gaza in this hour of desperate need, and restore stability.

I also feel determination, shared by all United Nations staff members, to do all possible to ensure that immediate steps are taken to bring relief to the people of Gaza, and to embark without delay on the process of recovery, rebuilding and reconstruction.

I know full well that this will not replace the loss of loved ones, family, neighbours and colleagues. But it will be a step towards a better, safer and more hopeful future.

Hundreds of thousands of people need assistance now. I expect all parties to show restraint, and to fully facilitate urgent help by the United Nations to civilians. If fighting resumes, if crossings are closed, or if the UN is hit by further attacks, it is the people of Gaza who will suffer. This must not happen.

I will dispatch early this week a high-level humanitarian and early recovery assessment mission to Gaza. Within 10 days of this mission, I will launch a flash humanitarian appeal. And within three weeks, I will be able to present an assessment report on early recovery and essential repairs. I urge major donor countries to take part and contribute generously.

This can be presented at the envisaged conference in Cairo, and feed into the work of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee thereafter.

Already, I have directed UN staff to begin the assessment process based on available information from within Gaza itself and work with all UN agencies and other partners in this effort.

We need to cater for the more than 5,000 sick and wounded in Gaza, provide urgent food assistance, remove rubble, unexploded ordnance and possibly landmines, provide shelter of Gazans whose homes have been destroyed, and critically increase electricity supplies for households and for the water and sanitation system.

Electricity is a lifeline for the people of Gaza as is the provision of fuel and cash. The United Nations and its partners stand ready to provide assistance quickly. The more than 10,000 Palestinian national staff will be a backbone of these efforts.

I salute their courageous and tireless efforts over the past three weeks — they deserve our utmost respect.

I appeal to all parties to refrain from any resumption of hostilities, including against UN staff and premises, and to guarantee conditions for the safe, rapid and unimpeded delivery of aid.

As the UN shoulders its full responsibilities in Gaza for humanitarian assistance, early recovery and reconstruction, I intend to consult closely with key partners: with Egypt and Arab countries, with Norway as the Chair of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, with Turkey, and with European, Russian and United States leaders as members of the Quartet — including the new Administration of President [Barack] Obama.

We need to bring together these collective efforts in one common endeavour to support a sustainable ceasefire.

We all know that relief and reconstruction are an immediate priority, but more is needed. Indeed, we have rebuilt Gaza before.

The key challenge before the leaders gathered here today is to do all possible to make sure that this tragedy does not occur again.

We also need a functioning system for all the crossings in and out of Gaza, a system that will immediately allow full access for humanitarian goods and personnel.

The framework for the crossings must also ensure that we return, sooner rather than later, to the conditions reached in the Agreement on Movement and Access. Palestinians must not subsist on relief.

For such a framework to succeed, the Palestinians themselves must face the challenge of reconciliation, and work to achieve a unified Government under the leadership of President Abbas within the framework of the legitimate Palestinian Authority. I call on all Arab leaders to unite and support this endeavour. We cannot rebuild Gaza without Palestinian unity.

A true end to violence, and lasting security for both Palestinians and Israelis, will only come through a just and comprehensive settlement to the long-festering Arab-Israeli conflict.

The violence and suffering is a mark of political failure. The efforts of the past have not proved sufficient to address the underlying conflict.

The occupation that began in 1967 must end. There must be an end to conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. This effort must have at its centre the implementation of Security Council resolutions and the framework of the Arab Peace Initiative.

The parties must return to negotiations. But more than that; there must be a massive and unprecedented effort of the community to support this process, and insist, finally, that it succeeds.

FIELD UPDATE ON GAZA FROM THE HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR
19 January 2009, 1700 hours

The ceasefire, declared unilaterally by Israel on 18 January, and later the same day by Hamas and other Palestinian factions, appears to have been holding so far. The Israeli army began a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip on the evening of 18 January, although ground troops remain in certain areas. The coastal road has reopened and movement is possible between the northern and southern parts of the territory for the irst time since the start of the ground offensive on 3 January.

The cease-ire follows twenty-three days of bombardment by land, sea and air which have left over 1,300
Palestinians dead and a large number of people severely injured. Extensive damage has been caused to homes and public infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip. Supplies of basic foodstuffs and fuel, and the provision of medical, water and sanitation services remain critical. Needs and damage assessments are now a priority, as is the recovery of bodies that have been inaccessible due to hostilities. At this stage, the initial response will focus on the re-establishment of basic services to the population of Gaza, including water, health, food, cash assistance, school and psychosocial support. This will include addressing safety of movement (e.g. marking and removing unexploded ordinance), removing rubble and repairing priority infrastructure, in addition to securing access to primary education and health services.

PROTECTION OF CIvILIANS

The cease-ire has allowed rescue services to recover some of the dead from under the rubble. By midday 18 January, ICRC and Palestinian Red Crescent Society teams had retrieved approximately 100 bodies, and an additional 14 bodies were recovered on 19 January. One Palestinian farmer was killed on the morning of 18 January in Khuza’a east of Khan Yunis following the Israeli-declared cease-ire. Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) igures as of 1600 hours 19 January are 1,314 Palestinians dead, of whom 412 are children and 110 are women. This igure will likely increase as rescue workers retrieve more bodies. No new injuries have been reported today: the number stands at 5,300, of whom 1,855 are children and 795 are women. It is still not possible to determine the number of Palestinian male civilian casualties.

Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed since 27 December. According to the Magen David Adom national society, four Israelis have been killed, four critically injured, 11 moderately injured and 167 lightly injured since 27 December. OCHA’s casualty igures do not include the number of Palestinians or Israelis treated for shock.

SHELTER

There are reports of widespread destruction of houses, infrastructure, roads, greenhouses, cemeteries, mosques and schools in the Az Zaitoun, Tufah, Sha’af, Jabalia, Tal Al Hawwa, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia areas in the northern Gaza Strip. According to the ICRC, “a number of areas, including parts of Beit Lahia, looked like the aftermath of a strong earthquake”, while Al Mezan Centre ield workers report that “entire urban blocks have disappeared” in North Gaza and eastern suburbs of Gaza City. Construction materials must be allowed into Gaza without delay in order to allow repair and reconstruction. Since June 2007, construction materials have not been permitted entry into Gaza, adversely affecting UN projects, in particular UNRWA and UNDP which were forced to suspend more than $100 million in construction projects due to lack of materials.

Those displaced have started returning home. As of the evening of 18 January, 4,662 displaced persons had
left the emergency shelters. However, 46,234 Palestinians remain in the UNRWA shelters throughout the Gaza Strip.

CARE International provided 7,500 blankets on 18 January, and another 6,570 blankets on 19 January, to cover the shortage of blankets in UNRWA shelters. UNRWA reports remaining shortages of tinned meat, over 22,000 mattresses, and 23,000 blankets and hygiene kits for shelters.

The second semester for 200,000 children in UNRWA schools was scheduled to begin on 17 January.
Following the cease-ire, a priority is to resume schooling and to free up the 44 schools that are being used
as emergency shelters.

HEALTH
Primary health care is resuming following the cease-ire, except in those clinics that have been destroyed. Antenatal care resumed on 18 January with 70 percent attendance. On 19 January, the MoH started distribution of vaccines to its 34 primary health care clinics that provide vaccination services. Hospitals and
intensive care units remain overwhelmed due to the number of war injured who still require treatment. WHO reports that 21 medical facilities have been damaged since 27 December. The Al Quds PRCS Hospital and Al Fata Hospital, both of which were damaged by shelling on 15 January, remained closed on 18 January. Repairs to the hospitals are on-going.

WHO warns of the risk of an outbreak of epidemic disease due to unrecovered bodies, many now severely decomposed, and due to the sewage lowing in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia. Handicap International estimates that up to 50 percent of people injured during the latest Israeli military operation have sustained severe injuries such as fractures, amputations, burns and head injuries that will require rehabilitation in order to prevent permanent disability. Others face a signiicant risk of becoming permanently disabled due to secondary complications such as infected wounds, contractures or secondary amputations. Handicap International warns that, “Early rehabilitation, along with speciic prevention information, mobility devices, and basic health care such as appropriate and timely wound dressings, is essential to prevent most of these complications. Post-injury rehabilitation is critical in order to prevent these war-wounded persons from becoming disabled.”

Altogether, over 120 foreign doctors are believed to have entered Gaza since 27 December to provide assistance. The Director of Hospital Services in Gaza has stated that no more medical personnel are needed at the present time.

WATER AND SANITATION / ELECTRICITY

Since 18 January, CMWU and GEDCO technical teams are working to assess and repair damage to the electricity, water and wastewater networks.

An initial assessment in northern Gaza has revealed that at least 22 local transformers were damaged in North Gaza, as were six kilometers of copper cable coming from Israel. The Gaza Power Plant is still only partially functioning due to local damage in power lines and the shortage of industrial fuel.

FUEL

On 17 January, UNRWA delivered 58,500 litres of diesel to municipalities for solid waste disposal and 3,200 litres to UNRWA health centres throughout Gaza. On 18 January, UNRWA transported a generator to Nahal Oz to allow pumps to resume operations and delivered 90,000 litres of industrial fuel to the power plant. Cooking gas was last allowed into the Gaza Strip on 8 January, while diesel last entered the territory on 7 January.

FOOD
While access to shops has improved in most areas due to the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops, the Gaza
population continues to face dificulties accessing food due to the shortage of food items on the market, the increase in prices and the lack of banknotes. On 18 January, UNRWA distributed food parcels to 2,272 families. Since 27 December, WFP has succeeded in reaching 143,880 regular beneiciaries, or 54.2 percent of its regular caseload, with 1,680 Mt of food (52 percent in Khan Yunis, 43 percent in Gaza and 5 percent in the Middle Area).

ACCESS WITHIN THE GAZA STRIP

On 18 January, Israeli presence at Netzarim was withdrawn, clearing the coastal road and allowing regular movement between the northern and southern parts of Gaza.

CROSSINGS
The Kerem Shalom, Rafah and Karni crossings were open on 19 January. On 18 January, 97.5 truckloads, including 69.5 for aid agencies, entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom. Nearly 70,000 litres of industrial fuel also crossed into Gaza through Kerem Shalom. 90,000 litres of fuel were pumped into the Gaza illing point of the Nahal Oz pipeline. Thirty-eight truckloads were transferred into Gaza through the Karni conveyor belt. At Rafah crossing, eleven truckloads of medical supplies, 23 doctors and eleven ambulances were allowed entry to Gaza, while 28 medical cases were evacuated out of Gaza.

FUNDING
For the list of immediate funding needs, visit:
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_gaza_crisis_cap_funding_2009_english.pdf

PRIORITY NEEDS

Opening of crossings: The number of trucks allowed into the Gaza Strip needs to be increased, including
those for the private sector. Additional crossings must be opened urgently, including Karni for the provision
of bulk grain and Sufa for construction materials. Basic construction materials need to be allowed into the
Gaza Strip to allow repair of public infrastructure and of private homes.

Cash/liquidity: Cash has still not entered the Gaza Strip and is urgently needed to reactivate the private sector and prevent increasing dependence on aid. A system must be established that ensures the regular and predictable monthly transfer of the necessary cash. Without a functioning bank system in Gaza, recovery efforts will be vastly undermined.

Supply of fuel: Nahal Oz crossing must remain open as it is the only crossing which can facilitate the transfer
of suficient amounts of fuel to restart and maintain operations of the power plant, and restock other types
of fuel needed in the Strip.

Operational security for humanitarian agencies working in Gaza: Although open conlict has subsided, explosive
remnants of war is limiting access of humanitarian workers in certain areas. Security is key to ensure
eficient delivery of humanitarian assistance to the population.

UN chief to visit Gaza as Israeli troops quit

Source: Reuters Foundation

Date: 20 Jan 2009

* U.N.’s Ban to become top figure to see war-ravaged Gaza

* Israeli troops expected to quit Gaza before Obama sworn in

* Repair bill estimated at $1.9 billion

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Douglas Hamilton

GAZA, Jan 20 (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon planned to visit Gaza on Tuesday, and Israeli political sources said Israel would complete its troop pullout before Barack Obama was sworn in as U.S. president later in the day.

Israel was widely seen by analysts to be anxious to avoid any tensions with the incoming leader of the United States, its closest ally.

Ban will be the highest-ranking international figure to visit the Gaza Strip since 22 days of fighting ended on Sunday with separately declared ceasefires by Israel and the Islamist Hamas group which rules the Palestinian territory.

The U.N. Secretary-General, on a Middle East peacemaking mission, would also visit southern Israel, target of Hamas rocket attacks, said Israeli officials.

World leaders were keen to cement a truce and avoid any more bloodshed in Gaza where more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s air and ground strikes launched on Dec. 27.

Gaza’s infrastructure was left in ruins and the repair bill was estimated to be about $1.9 billion.

Hamas said 5,000 homes, 16 government buildings and 20 mosques were destroyed and that 20,000 houses were damaged. Israel has said militants hid weapons inside the mosques.

Palestinian militant groups said 112 of their fighters and 180 Hamas policemen were killed. Israel put its dead at 10 soldiers and said three civilians were killed in rocket attacks.

European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, is to travel to Gaza and Israel later this week on a two-day humanitarian mission amid the current ceasefires.

Commissioner Michel announced his upcoming visit on Sunday 25th and Monday 26th January 2009 following his meeting this Monday with Israel’s Minister of the Interior Meir Sheetrit. Commissioner Michel described the meeting as an opportunity for a positive exchange of views between himself and Minister Sheetrit.

Welcoming the ceasefires currently in place, Commissioner Michel stated, “Getting the humanitarian aid through to the people that need it most remains the top priority. My humanitarian mission will allow me to see for myself the suffering of the civilian populations in both Gaza and southern Israel. The meeting with Minister Sheetrit was very constructive in which there was a recognition that increased humanitarian access and delivery was needed urgently. In this respect, the setting up of fast-track procedures for humanitarian access and delivery should be considered a priority. I also hope my visit to the region can underscore the importance the European Commission gives to meeting the humanitarian needs of the civilian populations there.”

In 2008, the European Commission provided more than €73 million in humanitarian assistance for victims of the ongoing crisis in the Palestinian Territories – of which 56% was for relief activities in the Gaza Strip. 10.4 million euros of humanitarian aid has been earmarked for food, emergency shelter repairs and further medical support since just ahead of the outbreak of the recent conflict.

Spot the garish hypocrisy in Shimon Peres’ address to Barack Obama for his Inauguration:

President Peres’s Statement on the Inauguration of Barack Obama
Posted on 01-20 at 03:41:02 CET

“Obama Was Elected by the United States, but He Was Chosen by the Whole of Humankind”

President Shimon Peres made a special statement this morning on the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States, which is to take place in Washington today. The statement is available on video from AP and Reuters, and its text is below:

“Today is a great day not only for the United States of America, but for the entire world. Obama was elected by the United States, but as a matter of fact, he was chosen by the whole of humankind. His is the correction of one of the greatest mistakes in the annals of history. What made history ugly, unmistakably, was basically slavery, and there were two sorts of slavery: men upon women, and white upon black. In the 20th century, there was a liberation of women. In the 21st century, there is a liberation of the other kind of ugly slavery, of one color upon another color because of the difference in color. This is a profound historic and ethical change. And it so happens that nobody did a favor for Obama. He won it because of his personality, because of his philosophy, and because of the hope he offers to all of us.

I pray here in Jerusalem that Barack Obama will be a great President of the United States. If he will be a great President of the United States, he will serve all humankind, all nations and all persons. Because to be a great American President today means to struggle for peace, to fight terror, to correct the environment, and to offer the young generation a better future. It is a great day for the United States because his most unusual hope and election, only ten years ago, would have been unimaginable. From now on, all of us have the right to be different and equal, to be equally different. We don’t have to apologize, and we don’t have to divide humanity between inferior and superior.

I am sure that Israel will be a good partner to President Obama. They say Obama will be a good President to Israel, and I say Israel will be a good country for the President, because his goals are our goals, his hopes are our hopes, his source is our source. All of us are coming from the same depth of Biblical convictions, with a permanent respect for the Ten Commandments. I want on behalf of the people of Israel, actually of all of the Jewish people, to tell the President, ‘God bless you.’ Your success will be our success. Your hope will become a reality. We should continue to dream to make the world move ahead further, better, and peacefully.”

In response to a question about why Obama in particular may have more success in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict than some of his Presidential predecessors, President Peres added:

Obama has mobilized the greatest amount of goodwill and support in all walks of life. This mobilization of goodwill is becoming a strength in its own right. And I think that all of us expect to translate this occasion into a real opportunity to pacify, to meet through a dialogue, and bring a solution of peace to all parties concerned.