More than 78o Palestinians dead, over 210 children

Today must have been the worst since the beginning of this invasion an mass murder, two weeks ago; fittingly, it is also happening few hours after the Security Council has demanded an end to the fighting. Well, Israel has never honoured UN resolution before, neither did it join the international treaties on the topics of torture, Nuclear bombs, or war crimes, to name but few. The rule of law, especially international law, is not a concept with many followers in Israel. After all, the IOF (Israel Occupations Forces) have actually defied their own Supreme Court, by refusing to allow foreign journalists into Gaza, despite the court ruling. So what if the Security Council has voted? As long as the USA is behind it, it does not have to worry about any law.

We will not go down (Song for Gaza): view this excellent moving song, using the well-known photographs from Gaza

Composed and performed by Michael Heart (www.michaelheart.com)

Gaza hopes die under barrage from both sides: The Independent

Israel and Hamas responded to a UN peace demand by hammering away at each other with bombs, shells and rockets today.Ignoring international pleas for the fighting in Gaza to cease, Israel continued its air attacks and the Palestinian militants kept up their missile barrages. The Palestinian death toll for the two-week conflict rose to 777, many of them children. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed. Overnight the UN Security Council had approved a resolution calling urgently for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The US, Israel’s closest ally, abstained from the vote.

Robert Fisk: Why do they hate the West so much, we will ask: The Independent

So once again, Israel has opened the gates of hell to the Palestinians. Forty civilian refugees dead in a United Nations school, three more in another. Not bad for a night’s work in Gaza by the army that believes in “purity of arms”. But why should we be surprised? Have we forgotten the 17,500 dead – almost all civilians, most of them children and women – in Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon; the 1,700 Palestinian civilian dead in the Sabra-Chatila massacre; the 1996 Qana massacre of 106 Lebanese civilian refugees, more than half of them children, at a UN base; the massacre of the Marwahin refugees who were ordered from their homes by the Israelis in 2006 then slaughtered by an Israeli helicopter crew; the 1,000 dead of that same 2006 bombardment and Lebanese invasion, almost all of them civilians?

Protests against Gaza war held around the world: Al Jazeera, 09 Jan 2009

EI investigation: The US media and the attack on Gaza: Shervan Sardar, The Electronic Intifada

In the first three days of the Israeli offensive from 28-30 December, editorials and op-eds from five major US papers overwhelmingly adopted the official US and Israeli government talking points on the conflict — even where this version was clearly contradicted by the legal and historical record, widely available to the public. The editorial pages erroneously put forward the view that Gaza was no longer occupied, ignored Israel’s numerous cease fire violations, and blindly asserted Israel’s right of self defense regardless of what was happening on the ground. Overall, the commentary presented a disturbingly false and misleading picture of the conflict to the American public.

Criticism of Israel’s war crimes mounts: Jonathan Cook, The Electronic Intifada

Criticism by international watchdog groups over the increasing death toll in Gaza mounted this week as the first legal actions inside Israel were launched accusing the army of intentionally harming the enclave’s civilian population. The petitions — over attacks on medical personnel and the shelling of United Nations schools in Gaza — follow statements by senior Israeli commanders that they have been using heavy firepower to protect soldiers during their advance on built-up areas. “We are very violent,” one told Israeli media. There is also growing evidence that Israeli forces have been firing phosphorus shells over densely populated areas in a move that risks violating international law by inflicting burns on civilians. Appointed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, meanwhile, called the events in Gaza a “new Nakba,” referring to the catastrophe that dispossessed the Palestinians in 1948. The PA revealed that it was planning to seek the prosecution of Israel’s leaders for war crimes in the international courts

Gaza under fire: Children found next to dead mothers: The Independent

Four small starving children too weak to stand were found next to the bodies of their dead mothers by ambulancemen who had been trying to reach their Gaza neighbourhood for four days after it came under Israeli attack, the Red Cross said yesterday. In what the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called a “shocking incident”, another man, also too weak to stand, was found in the same bombed house, along with at least 12 corpses on mattresses. Accusing Israel of violating international law by imposing “unacceptable” delays on rescuers trying to reach the scene, the ICRC said that when ambulance crews were finally allowed to access the area in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district during a bombardment pause on Wednesday, they found 15 other survivors, including several wounded in another house. In a third house, they found three more corpses.

The West Bank: We’re all Hamas now – supporters of Fatah unite behind enemy: The Independent

Even if Israel wins on the battlefield or in the diplomatic corridors it is already paying the price of its Gaza onslaught in intensified hatred in the hearts of its Palestinian neighbours in the West Bank. The campaign also appears to be increasing public scepticism about the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s chosen path of negotiations as the way to establish an independent state alongside Israel. The diplomacy championed by Mr Abbas has for years been difficult to sell to Palestinians because it has brought little or no relief from occupation or improvement in their daily lives, only the expansion of Israeli settlements. This existing frustration –which helped Hamas defeat Mr Abbas’s Fatah movement in the 2006 elections – is now combined with popular anger and dismay at the carnage among fellow Palestinians in Gaza.

UN demands immediate ceasefire in Gaza Strip: The Independent

The United Nations last night backed a milestone resolution calling for an end to military action by all sides in the Gaza Strip. The British-led United Nations resolution calling for an “immediate and durable” ceasefire was backed by 14 out of 15 members of the security council. The United States abstained. The UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the UN had “served its purpose” after the vote, and urged the international community to “turns the words into changes on the ground”.

Chris Riddell in the Observer, 4 Jan 2009

Israel rejects UN truce resolution, continues Gaza operation: Ha’aretz

The diplomatic-security cabinet on Friday rejected a United Nations Security Council cease-fire resolution and ordered the Israel Defense Forces to continue its current ground operation against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. In a communique released immediately after the cabinet session on Friday, the government stated it would not accept the UN resolution, declaring that “the IDF will continue to act in order to attain the objectives of the operation – to bring about a change in the security situation in the south of the country – this in accordance with the plans that have been approved upon embarking on the operation.”

Praying in defiance of Israel’s war in Gaza – 09 Jan 09

UN Security Council approves ceasefire resolution – 09 Jan 09

Three soldiers killed in Gaza fighting: Ha’aretz

Three Israeli soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip yesterday as rockets continued to fall on Israel, and for the first time since the fighting began 13 days ago also fell in northern Israel. Meanwhile, as fighting raged in the south, Israeli, Egyptian and other foreign diplomats sought to negotiate a formula for bringing the fighting to an end.

cupid lips, a poem by Ernest Rodker sent to Haim Bresheeth

The Deeb family was preparing bread when they were killed in their home by Israeli shelling.

Too much to mourn in Gaza : Electronic Intifada

Eva Bartlett writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine

After finishing a shift with the Palestine Red Crescent Society yesterday morning, we went to the United Nations-administered al-Fakhoura school in Jabaliya, which was bombed by Israeli forces, killing at least 40 displaced people who were taking shelter there. When we arrived, prayers were happening in the street in front of the school. I’d seen prayers in open, outdoor places in Palestine and Egypt. But these days, when I see a mass of people praying, in front of al-Shifa hospital, in the streets of Jabaliya, I think of the mosques that have been bombed, and of the loss of lives and sanctuaries. And yesterday I thought of the loss of another safe haven. The grief was very evident, as was the indignation: “Where are we supposed to stay,” one man demanded. “How many deaths is enough? How many?” It’s the question that has resounded in my mind since the attacks on 27 December.

Raining death: Al Ahram Weekly

Saleh Al-Naami reports from Gaza on the carnage wreaked by five days of Israel’s bloody aerial assault

On Wednesday morning the family of Palestinian officer Ghassan Abu Ayyad, 25, was still trying to find a place to bury the body of their son in the Maghazi refugee camp in the heart of Gaza. The cemetery in Maghazi had already received dozens of burned and mangled corpses alongside the body parts of unidentified Palestinians killed on Saturday when the Israeli air force shelled a graduation ceremony at the police academy. There was no space for more bodies. By the fifth day of Israel’s airborne assault on Gaza the tiny Strip’s hospitals are in the same position as its cemeteries, unable to receive any more corpses and turning away all but the most critically injured victims of Israel’s F16 fighter jets and Apache helicopters.

Palestine’s Guernica: Al Ahram Weekly

Mustafa Barghouti* cuts down the myths Israel spins in the media to justify its most recent campaign of slaughter

The Israeli campaign of “death from above” began around 11am on Saturday morning and continues as I write these words. The bloodiest single day in Palestine since the war of 1967 is far from over following Israel’s promise that this is “only the beginning” of their campaign of state terror. Approximately 400 people have been murdered thus far, but the body count continues to rise at a dramatic pace as more mutilated bodies are pulled from the rubble, prior victims succumb to their wounds, and new casualties are created by the minute. What is occurring is nothing short of a war crime, yet the Israeli public relations machine is in full swing, churning out lies by the minute.

UCU Left: Stop the Slaughter in Gaza- Free Palestine!

For the past two years, the people of Gaza have been subjected to collective punishment for electing the “wrong” government in free and fair elections. Despite the Israeli claims to have withdrawn from Gaza in 2005, it has never ceased to be occupied under the definitions of international law. Israel has continued to control the coast, borders and air space, so that Palestinian fisherman have been prevented from getting into their boats while a stranglehold over the crossings by both Israel and Egypt meant that supplies of fuel, food, medicines, paper, building materials – in fact just about all the necessities of life – have been controlled at the whim of the Israeli government. Gaza has been under siege: its supposed freedom since the Israeli “withdrawal” is merely the freedom of the ghetto. Israel has continued to carry out raids and “targeted assassinations” at will.

Criminals vs cowards: Al Ahram Weekly

The current uproar in Arab streets might not be of any direct help to Gazans but it draws battle lines between the masses and their regimes, notes Sherine Bahaa

“Arabs are a vocal phenomenon,” said former Israeli minister of defence Moshe Dayan disdainfully shortly after the Arab defeat in 1967. Five consecutive days of round-the-clock raids on densely populated Gaza, which has been under tough sanctions for the past 18 months, pushed the number of martyrs approximately 400 and two thousand wounded. But are these figures high enough to trigger a real reaction? “How many shaheed are enough for Arab rulers to retaliate to the Israeli massacres,” a Syrian young man was shouting during a demonstration beside Al-Yarmouk refugee camp.

A thinly-veiled attack on Mubarak, in this article on the cowardice and two-facedness of the Arab leaders

UN agency to resume Gaza aid work: BBC

The UN aid agency Unrwa is to resume operations in Gaza as soon as possible after receiving assurances on safety from Israel, a spokeswoman said. It comes a day after Unrwa suspended deliveries in Gaza because staff there had been hit in Israeli attacks.Both Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas have so far ignored a UN resolution calling for an immediate end to two weeks of conflict.

Israel ‘shelled civilian shelter’: BBC

Israeli forces shelled a house in the Gaza Strip which they had moved around 110 Palestinians into 24 hours earlier, the UN quotes witnesses as saying. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called it “one of the gravest incidents” since the beginning of the offensive.The shelling at Zeitoun, a south-east suburb of Gaza City, on 5 January killed some 30 people, the report said.

Gaza survivors’ four days without water: BBC

Sameh, aged three, and Ahmad, 18 months, cry all the time.As she sits on the bed in al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, their mother Fatima al-Shamouny, 36, tries to comfort them.But as she tells their – and her own – story, she sobs too. The boys were found on Wednesday, with their dead father and unconscious mother nearby, four days after the emergency services said they began trying to reach the neighbourhood. They were among 30 people Palestinian Red Crescent workers said they evacuated from Zeitoun, a south-eastern suburb of Gaza City, on Wednesday. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the paramedics found “shocking” scenes of wounded people huddled together in houses among dead bodies, weak after having had no food or water for several days.

The language of Hamas: BBC

In a previous article I looked at how the Israelis have been very active in getting their arguments over, including their use of websites and, in one example, at how video they presented had been challenged. The Israelis have also banned foreign correspondents from entering Gaza. The Israeli assessment continues to be that, in this conflict, Israel has had much more understanding around the world for its actions, though incidents such as the attack on the UN school on Wednesday have had an effect on that support. But Hamas, too, must be subject to examination. The use of propaganda by Hamas differs in that it is more broad-brush.

Israelis back Gaza action – for now: BBC

Rachel Schwartz, 48, cannot keep away from the television, and jumps whenever the phone rings. Her son Yoni, 21, is a paramedic in an elite unit in the Israeli military. His usual daily phone calls stopped the day after the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza began. All she has heard from him since is an SMS message, on Tuesday, that read: “Don’t worry, I’m fine. I love you.” Yoni is not allowed to say where he is. She assumes he is in Gaza.

Gaza voices: Three-hour ceasefire: BBC

“The three hour ceasefire has been a big relief, but it’s not the truce that we need. During yesterday’s ceasefire I got some basic food supplies and cooking fuel from the market. It was crowded and the prices were high. The second three-hour ceasefire has just started. I picked up a call from the Israelis on our landline today, it said: “We are the IDF: you have three hours to go and buy what you need.”

HAPPY NEW WAR: Private Eye

While David Miliband called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and Gordon Brown stressed the need to “stop the supply of arms” to Hamas, the FCO has licensed increasing arms sales to Israel, including kit it needs to bomb the Palestinians.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has issued licences covering the export of components for combat aircraft and military aero engines, as well as parts for Israeli pilots’ “helmet-mounted display equipment”. According to the latest FCO figures, Britain exported £18,847,795-worth of weapons to Israel in the first three months of 2008. This was a sharp increase compared to the £7.5m of weapons sales to Israel in the whole of 2007.