More than 1175 Palestinians dead, over 330 children,

111 women, and more than 5,300 wounded

What would this mean in Britain with its population of 60 million, in comparative terms?

It would mean 40,000 dead, 12,500 of them children, and 200,000 wounded.

Israel bombs UN agency headquarters in Gaza City : Interview, The Electronic Intifada

The Electronic Intifada interviewed Sami Mushasha, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) following Israel’s bombing of its quarters today.
The Electronic Intifada: Can you describe the extent of the damage suffered by UNRWA in the bombing of the headquarters today and exactly where the site is that was bombed?
Sami Mushasha: The UNRWA headquarters are in the al-Rimal district in the center of Gaza City. The location is well known to the Israeli authorities as is the fact that they enjoy UN immunity. The damage is great. Although we do not know the exact extent yet, we have lost many trucks, cars and food aid supplies. We are trying to put out the fires and hopefully, God willing, we will be able to restore things as soon as possible. Early reports say that three people were injured but we do not know if they were refugees [taking shelter there] or UNRWA personnel.

Israel fires on UN agency headquarters, civilians fleeing violence : Press release, Al Mezan

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has seriously escalated its attacks on the Gaza Strip since midnight yesterday, as it advanced into Tel al-Hawa neighborhood southern Gaza City, and heavily bombarded the neighborhoods of al-Shejaiya and al-Tuffah in the east of the City. Al Mezan Center’s monitoring indicates that about 70 percent of IOF’s attacks casualties of these attacks are from families who were hit inside their homes or as they left their homes to flee these areas. Most of the other victims were also civilians. According to the field reports of Al Mezan, out of the 48 casualties of these attacks, three were fighters. Entire families were killed from IOF’s artillery shelling.

US Rabbis Urge Obama to Push for Gaza Ceasefire: Democracy Now

A coalition of American rabbis and other religious, cultural and community leaders bought a full-page ad in the New York Times on Wednesday calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for President-elect Barack Obama to convene an international Middle East peace conference. The initiative was led by Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine. [includes rush transcript]

THOUSAND DEATHS DO NOT PUT OFF EU: By David Cronin, The Electronic Intifada

BRUSSELS (IPS) – Senior European Union figures have signaled that they could push ahead with plans to strengthen formal ties with Israel, even though more than 1,000 have now been killed by the bombardment of Gaza. Two conflicting statements about EU-Israeli relations were delivered 14 January, as the number of Palestinians, about one-third of them children, killed in Gaza continued to climb.

Palestinian Girl stops Israeli soldiers from shooting at children: YouTube

In a clip fromJan 28, 2008, a day after the mass murder in Gaza started, a foreign new crew is filming a young Palestinian girl, who, unarmed, is stopping an officer and another soldier from shooting at children, by bodily blocking their guns.

a-call-from-gaza1: Gaza organisations call on all of us to act!

With the death toll in Gaza growing hourly, silence is complicity. It is imperative for concerned citizens to demand that their governments take immediate action in order to stop Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Lowkey @ Gaza demo in London 10 Jan 2009

See Lowkey at the demo rapping his Gaza song!

Another Lowkey clip from the Demo

Smoke and mirrors: DEREK WALL in Morning Star online

RULING-CLASS ideology turns workers into shirkers and civilians into ‘our enemies,’ says DEREK WALL.

Now, who was it who said that ideology works like a camera obscura, projecting the picture on to a screen but making it appear upside down? Don’t tell me. It’s on the tip of my tongue.
In capitalist society, a huge effort is made to disguise reality. It’s part of the process that keeps the whole show rolling along.
Examining ideology and combating it is both vital and a task to which every Star reader can contribute.

white-phosphorus-and-its-use-in-gaza: a terrifying report by Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem

Activists Blocking Israeli Consulate Now: International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

A group of 9 Jews, Palestinians and local justice activists are preventing entry into the building that houses Israel’s San Francisco Consulate at 465 Montgomery NOW in protest of Israeli apartheid and its recent attacks on Gaza. The protestors support: an immediate ceasefire; the opening of land, sea, and air borders to allow in emergency supplies; and an end to US financial and political support for Israel. The activists chained themselves together and are joined by a diverse rally of supporters.
For the past 60 years, Israel has tried to eliminate the Palestinian people by forcing them out of their homes and lands, starving them, killing them, and denying their existence as a people. The recent blockades and attacks in Gaza are not an exception, but a brutal reminder that killing civilians is a daily tactic, an integral element of Israeli strategy. Today, Palestinians, Jews, and local social justice activists are making a call to action to all people who see Israel’s injustice: we are on one side, the side of justice; Israel, an apartheid state, is on the other.
The current situation in Gaza and greater Palestine is not a conflict between two peoples of equivalent capacities, nor is Israel acting in self-defense. Israel started its terror tactics against more than 60 years ago with its Irgun and Stern gangs, the precursers to its current intelligence and military operations. The past three weeks have seen its most intensified war since 1967, killing over 1,000 people, largely civilians, and many of them women and children. We on the side of justice want three things: an immediate ceasefire, the opening of all borders to allow in medical and other emergency supplies, and an end to US financial, military and political support for Israel.
We take action today – and in support of the call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions – for justice in Palestine, based on Palestinians’ rights to self-determination for their lands and destinies.

guardianletterenglish: A letter sent to the Guardian bya group of Israeli academics

The leaders of the Western world are wringing their hands in despair at the sight of the horrors inflicted on Gaza. The UN General Secretary, the French President, and other dignitaries are holding intensive discussions with some of the leaders of the Middle-East in an attempt to put an end to the carnage in Gaza. Word, words, words. Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinian civilians get killed, thousands are bleeding to death, tens of thousands are uprooted and wandering in vain in search of some shelter to protect them against the slaughtering machinery which haunts them. The Israeli army bombs hospitals and UNRWA relief centers, and, defying any international convention, it uses white phosphorous bombs against civilians. “What else can we do?” these leaders keep asking. Well, here is what you can do: move from words to deeds. Only immediate, decisive, and strict sanctions against the state of Israel and its limitless aggression will make it realize that there’s a limit.
We, the undersigned, Israeli citizens, raise our unflinching voice, calling upon the EU leaders: Use sanctions against the brutal Israeli policies and join the active protests of Bolivia and Venezuela. We appeal to the citizens of Europe: Please attend to the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations’ call and to the call of more than 540 Israeli citizens who support it. Boycott Israeli goods and Israeli institutions; follow operative resolutions such as those of the cities of Athens, Birmingham, and Cambridge (US). This is the only road left. Help us all, Please!

Dr. Anat Matar and 21 other (list on the link above)

Killing Children With Impunity: Counterpunch, By HENRY A. GIROUX

The unsettling and deeply disturbing images of children in Gaza mutilated, bleeding, and dead evoke similar images from our collective memory. One such image is that of Emmett Till, whose body arrived home in Chicago in September 1955. White racists in Mississippi had tortured, mutilated, and killed the young 14-year-old African-American boy for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Determined to make visible the horribly mangled face and twisted body of the child as an expression of racial hatred and killing, Mamie Till, the boy’s mother, insisted that the coffin, interred at the A.A. Ranier Funeral Parlor on the South Side of Chicago, be left open for four long days. While mainstream news organizations ignored the horrifying image, Jet magazinepublished an unedited photo of Till’s face taken while he lay in his coffin. Shaila Dewan points out that “[m]utilated is the word most often used to describe the face of Emmett Till after his body was hauled out of the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi. Inhuman is more like it: melted, bloated, missing an eye, swollen so large that its patch of wiry hair looks like that of a balding old man, not a handsome, brazen 14-year-old boy.”

Beware of the Israeli Propaganda Machine: Spinwatch, by Andy Rowell

Sometimes in conflict it is the little lies that expose the true depth of the deception that is being perpetuated. And the current conflict in Gaza is no exception.
Late last month, the ship Dignity, which is run by the charity, Free Gaza, attempted to sail from Cyprus to Gaza. On board there were over three tons of desperately needed medical supplies. There were also three surgeons on the 20 metre boat, travelling to Gaza to help in the chronically under-resourced and over-crowded hospitals. It was a dangerous mission and the Mediterranean seas that night were stormy and rough. Since August last year, Free Gaza had made five deliveries of aid to Gaza, defying a blockade imposed by Israel when Hamas took control of Gaza in 2006.
This time, though, the ship never made it.
The Dignity was attacked by the Israeli Navy in international waters, roughly 90 miles off the coast of Gaza. Several Israeli warships surrounded Dignity, firing live ammunition, intentionally ramming it three times. According to ship’s captain Denis Healey, the Israeli attack came “without any warning, or any provocation.”