More than 88o Palestinians dead, over 230 children

Gerald Scarfe in The Times

הזמן האבוד של עזה

הירי לעבר ישראל יופסק רק אם נתחיל לדבר על היסטוריה, גם זו של הפלסטינים, במקום לדבר על טריטוריה אורן יפתחאל מראות ההרג וההרס מעזה מזוויעים, ותושבי הדרום עדיין נמצאים תחת הפגזות שלא פוסקות. המצב ממריד, מעציב, מחניק ומקומם. בזמן סכסוך מדמם, קשה אמנם להביט מעבר לאלימות, אך מבט כזה לדעתי הכרחי כדי להבין מה מתרחש מול עיננו. אחד הסופרים האבורג’ינים באוסטרליה העיר פעם, בזמן המאבק על זכויות הילידים: “היכן שהטריטוריה הלאומית פועלת, הזמן שלנו מת. אבל לזמן שלנו יש גם מנהג לחזור לאחר המוות”. הערה זו יכולה לסייע להבין את המתרחש בעזה

An excellent article in Hebrew by Oren Yiftachel, about one of the most important functions of the Gaza carnage – the erasure of Palestinian space, time and memory, by the Israeli act of death and destruction.

Continue reading Jan 11, 2009

More than 84o Palestinians dead, over 230 children

Jan 10 in The Independent

Largest London Palestine demo held in Hyde Park, ending at the Israeli embassy

Eyewitness report

This was the largest ever demonstration for Palestine, ever held in London. The organisers have claimed more than 100,000 some time around noon, but many thousands have joined after the start of the rally, so I cannot even imagine how many people were there – it was huge, colourful, angry and very, very cold. After the many speeches by leading artists, politicians and other public figures, the whole huge crowd started to cross the park towards Lancaster Gate and Queensway. The crowd was so immense, that this short walk took hours to complete in the freezing cold. Moslems, Jews Christians and even humle atheists such as myself have all rubbed shoulders, shared water bottles, and tried to exchange sentences in the enormous din of this great public display of anger over the murderous actions of the Israeli regime and the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in Gaza.

Continue reading Jan 10, 2009

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.

Continue reading Jan 9, 2009

More than 7oo Palestinians dead

Medical teams find ‘unbelievable’ horror amid rubble: The Guardian

Mourning relative in Gaza

Ambulances were able to drive to some of the most heavily shelled areas in Gaza for the first time to collect the dead and injured yesterday, as Israel paused its military offensive for three hours to allow in aid, amid growing international pressure to call a ceasefire and ease the humanitarian crisis. A team of medics and volunteers from the Palestinian Red Crescent took advantage of the lull in fighting to drive to Zeitoun, the scene of an Israeli attack on a house on Monday that was known to have killed nine members of the Samouni family. It was the first time medics had been able to reach the scene.

Continue reading Jan 8, 2009

More than 624 Palestinians dead

Cartoon from Brazil – the world cartoonists are speaking the truth

PALESTINE : OPINION/EDITORIAL: BOMBING TO MAKE THE GAZA PRISON EVEN MORE SECURE FOR ISRAEL

By Jonathan Cook, The Electronic Intifada

It is a gross misunderstanding of what is unfolding in Gaza to believe Israel’s motives are capricious. The politicians and generals have been preparing for this attack for many months, possibly years — a fact alone that suggests they have bigger objectives than commonly assumed. Israel seized this particular moment — with western politicians dozing through the holidays and a changeover of administrations in Washington — because it ensured the longest period to implement its plan without diplomatic interference. Jonathan Cook comments. There are two persistent myths about the aim of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza: the first that it is an entirely defensive move, a way to end the rocket fire of Hamas; and the second that it is designed to restore the army’s credibility after its failure to cow Hizballah in 2006. No doubt the Israeli army has been itching to repair its battered image, and for sure the rocket attacks from Gaza create domestic pressures that are only too clear to an Israeli government about to face an election.

Continue reading Jan 7, 2009

Shimon Peres, the Noble Laureate for Peace (reember?) speaks his mind:

On Channel 4 news at noon, directly quoted:

“We know many Palestinian children have been killed. No Israeli children have been killed. Why? Because we take care of our children.”

Isn’t this upside down, Mr. Peres? Surely, you meant to say:”The reason so many Palestinian children have died, is because we look after them?”

Gaza SITUATION REPORT FROM THE HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR: UN

The Israeli military operation entered its eleventh day, with the civilian population of Gaza continuing to bear the brunt of the violence. Israeli air, sea and ground forces continue to surround Gazan populated areas. The Gaza and North Gaza governorates remain isolated from the rest of the Strip. Internal movement within the Strip is extremely difficult because of ongoing hostilities and the destruction of essential infrastructure. The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip continues to deteriorate.

Continue reading Jan 6, 2009

EU must hold Israel to its agreements: Open letter to the EU in The Guardian

Despite the EU’s call for a ceasefire, the brutal Israeli bombing of Gaza continues (Reports, 3 January). Nonetheless, the EU is preparing to upgrade its existing agreement to give Israel even more privileged access to European institutions. In December, the council of ministers voted to support this upgrade, ignoring the fact that Israel was in breach of an “essential element” of the earlier agreement. This required states to respect “human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this agreement”. The proposed upgrade is even weaker and includes no obligations on Israel in respect of its illegal settlements, the illegal wall, and its repeated breaches of international human rights and international humanitarian law. In view of the horrific events of the past days, we call on: 1) The UK government to revoke its support for any new agreements with Israel and for this to be communicated forthwith to the Czech presidency of the EU in advance of its meeting with the commission, and to the EU council of ministers 2) The European parliament to refuse to endorse any extension of existing agreements and to use its influence to prevent any upgrades of EU benefits to Israel until it abides by its international legal and humanitarian obligations.

List of signatories on the link above.

Continue reading Jan 5, 2009

In Gaza, the real enemy is Iran; Israeli attacks must not stop until Iran’s proxy, Hamas, is defeated.

READ THE LIES!

By Yossi Klein Halevi and Michael B. Oren Reporting from Jerusalem — The images from the fighting in Gaza are harrowing but ultimately deceptive. They portray a mighty invading army, one equipped with F-16 jets that have bombed a civilian population defended by a few thousand fighters armed with primitive rockets. But widen the lens and the true nature of this conflict emerges. Hamas, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, is a proxy for the real enemy Israel is confronting: Iran. And Israel’s current operation against Hamas represents a unique chance to deal a strategic blow to Iranian expansionism.

In an article combining lies, schreck propaganda and disgusting war-mongering, one can see the typical Zionist line: blame the victim, obfuscate, lie and lie again, and reverse any situation you are discussing on its head. It works, unfortunately, if you do it for long enough.

Continue reading Jan 4, 2009