Make Zionism History! 
Help to stop the next war! Support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of the Israeli regime
Support Palestinian universities – spread the BDS campaign – it is what people under the Israeli jackboot ask you to do!
Israeli War Criminals – to the International Criminal Court, NOW!
Israel coninues the illegal and immoral blockading of Gaza, witha show of pig-headedness which defies reality. The rest of the world is not too excited either – there is no real pressure on Israel to stop this brutality, so why would they? Help to bring Israel to the international dock by Boycott, devestment and sanctions!
‘Five rockets’ fired into Israel: BBC
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have reportedly fired five rockets over the border into Israeli territory but there is no indication of casualties. One rocket damaged a school in the southern city of Ashkelon but the building was closed at the time, the Israeli military say.A second hit open ground outside the city and three fell just beyond Gaza without causing damage, they add. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks. Both Israel and the main Palestinian militant group in Gaza, Hamas, declared unilateral truces after Israel ended its three-week Gaza offensive on 17 January. Several rocket strikes and other attacks from Gaza have been reported since then, apparently involving smaller militant groups. Israel has responded with air strikes.
Olmert vows ‘painful’ response to Qassams: Ha’aretz
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday promised a ‘painful, uncompromising response’ to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, a day after Ten rockets were fired at Israel from the coastal territory. Speaking before the weekly cabinet meeting, Olmert accused Hamas of using Qassam rockets to make up for their losses suffered during the three-week Israel Defense Forces offensive in the Gaza Strip which ended in late January. “Hamas is trying to recover from the stiff blow they suffered during Operation Cast Lead through the use of terror,” Olmert said.
Olmert has only one button – ‘more force’. He is impervious to the fact no amount of murder will achieve his aims. He wiull cxertainly kill more people in Gaza before he vacates the stage in favour of the next brutalist.
Israeli warning over Gaza rockets: BBC
Israel’s prime minister has promised an “uncompromising response” if rockets continue to be fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
Ehud Olmert said Israel’s retaliation would be painful, harsh and strong. His warning, at a cabinet meeting, came as international Middle East envoy Tony Blair visited Gaza to see the damage caused by Israel’s recent offensive. Meanwhile, Palestinian medics said five people had died when a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border collapsed. Both Israel and the main Palestinian militant group in Gaza, Hamas, declared unilateral truces following Israel’s three-week Gaza offensive on 17 January. But a number of rocket strikes and other attacks from Gaza have been reported since then, apparently involving smaller militant groups. Israel has responded with air strikes.
Palestinians pledge era of unity: BBC
Leaders of the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have said they are entering a new era of reconciliation, after talks in Cairo.
Delegations from each side, and other Palestinian groups, have agreed to set up committees to look at forming a unity government and holding elections. The committees are to finish their work by the end of March, said senior Fatah official Ahmed Qurei. On Wednesday both groups agreed to release detainees from the other side. In another confidence-building measure, they pledged to stop attacking each other in the media to foster goodwill between the two sides.
Quartet envoy Tony Blair visits Gaza Strip for first time: Ha’aretz
The office of Tony Blair says the Mideast envoy is in the Gaza Strip to discuss reconstruction efforts. It is Blair’s first visit to Gaza since he was appointed to present the Mideast peacemaking quartet of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations in 2007. “I wanted to come to hear for myself, first hand, from people in Gaza whose lives have been so badly impacted by the recent conflict,” Blair said in a statement.
One war criminal comes to appreciate the work of another one…
Gazans seek end to bitter split: BBC
Most Palestinians are desperate for results from talks between the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, in Cairo aimed at ending their bitter political split.
The division has torn apart Palestinian society.
That seems particularly true in Gaza, where the disagreements are even playing their part in hindering recovery after the conflict.
In al-Atatara, in northern Gaza, 57-year-old Khadija Saqir bursts into tears as she shows us the ruins of her home and garden.
They were destroyed by shelling during the Israeli offensive. The tanks came through this neighbourhood.
“This is where we used to sit as a family,” she says quietly, between sobs, as she points to the remains of a room where part of a coffee table is visible among the debris.
“Our fruit trees used to stand there, but they are all gone.”
Despair and rage among Gaza’s youths: BBC
Ten young men sit talking and smoking by the light of a paraffin lamp in a basement room. The flags of militant groups – Hamas, Islamic Jihad – flutter outside among the densely packed cinder-block houses of Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp. The area is a key haunt of the factions behind the rocket attacks that Israel’s recent assault on Gaza was aimed at ending. Its frustrated, mainly unemployed youths are prime recruitment targets for the militants. But as the young men, sitting in coats in the unheated room, mull over Israel’s 22-day operation, despair is as common a theme as revenge. About half of the group say they have been members of armed groups at some point. Others now say they want to join.
Why isn’t Netanyahu backing two-state solution?: Ha’aretz
Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu is refusing to declare his support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni, that is reason enough to go into the opposition or to attempt to impose a rotation arrangement on Netanyahu. This weekend U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated Washington’s commitment to a two-state solution, effectively joining the foreign minister in portraying Netanyahu as an obstacle to a negotiated settlement. There are obvious political reasons for Netanyahu’s refusal to demonstrate a more moderate stance: It would cost him his potential coalition with the right-wing National Union and Habayit Hayehudi, and force him into a rotation arrangement with Livni. But his opposition to a Palestinian state is also a matter of principle, one he has held for many years.
Netanyahu says he doesn’t want to rule over the Palestinians, and has no interest in Nablus, Tul Karm or Jenin; they should govern their own lives, as long as they don’t threaten Israeli security, he says. Netanyahu seeks to deny the Palestinians four rights of any sovereign state: control of its airspace; control of its electromagnetic spectrum; the right to maintain an army and to sign military alliances; and, most importantly, control of the border crossings where arms and terrorists could pass. Netanyahu believes Israel must retain all of these.
U.S. Secretary of State: We’re firm on two-state solution: Ha’aretz
The visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Israel this week may give an early indication of any disagreements on the Palestinian issue between the United States and the next Israeli government. In an interview on Friday with Voice of America, Clinton said she would emphasize her country’s commitment to a two-state solution. Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has been sticking to his ambiguous stance on the Israeli-Palestinian process. In an interview in the Washington Post on Saturday, Netanyahu did not confirm or deny a belief in the two-state solution. “Substantively, there is broad agreement inside Israel and outside that the Palestinians should have the ability to govern their lives but not to threaten ours,” he said.
Clinton said the administration wanted to help Israel and the Palestinian Authority work toward a permanent agreement leading to an independent, sustainable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. She said the United States sought internal Palestinian reconciliation, but any national unity government would have to maintain the conditions of the Quartet: recognizing Israel, abiding by previous agreements and forsaking violence.
Report: Hamas tried to pass messages to Olmert via relative: Ha’aretz
Hamas tried to hold clandestine talks with Israeli leaders in the lead-up to Operation Cast Lead, and attempted to pass messages to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert through a member of the PM’s family ? according to a report in the Observer on Sunday. The British weekly did not name which member of Olmert’s family was reportedly contacted by Hamas, but said that veteran Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin was used as an intermediary between the militant group, Israeli officials, and Olmert, by way of a member of the PM’s family. Baskin is quoted by the Observer as saying that Israel missed several opportunities over recent years to pursue dialogue with Hamas, including over captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, who was seized by Hamas-linked militants in a cross-border raid in June 2006.
If Olmert does not listen to his own family (it seems this was his wife who was involved) then why would he speak with Hamas? If he spoke with them, the crisis could have been resolved, which is the last thing he wanted! After all, he would be admitting they are the democratically-elected governemnt in Palestine… Avoiding reality seems to be a sacred principle in Jerusalem.
Arab League probes Israel for ‘war crimes’ committed in Gaza: Ha’aretz
A committee of jurists hired by the Arab League completed a six-day tour of the Gaza Strip on Friday. The fact-finding mission was meant to investigate alleged war crimes as well as crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel during its offensive against Hamas earlier this year. Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa appointed the committee which is expected to submit a detailed report on its findings and conclusions. This report will then serve as the basis for any future legal proceedings the league plans to initiate.
The panel consists of six experts specializing in international law and international humanitarian law. At the outset of the mission, the delegation said its task was “to gather information on the responsibility of the state and the responsibility of individuals, according to international law, for every violation of international human rights laws and international humanitarian laws, including crimes against humanity and war crimes.”
Livni: Netanyahu is more extreme than Lieberman: Ha’aretz
Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni is a “unity refusenik,” sources close to prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday following his second meeting with Livni on Friday. The failure to bridge gaps between the leaders of the two largest actions in the Knesset increases the likelihood that Netanyahu will seek a partnership with rightist factions in establishing his government. In a round of talks Livni held with members of the Kadima faction, she said, “Netanyahu is more extreme than Lieberman, who doesn’t rule out a two-state solution. Netanyahu isn’t even willing to discuss it.”
Tzipi has a point. POne is advised to listen carefully to the Horse’s Mouth; the problem is, after what she is responsible for in Gaza, she seems like a contender for the most extereme Israeli Foreign Minister…too many candidates are lining up!
Spain to proceed with probe of Israeli officials: Ha’aretz
The Spanish investigation against several senior Israeli officials and officers will continue, despite documents that Israel submitted last month, the Spanish daily El Pais reported. The judge who ordered the probe, Fernando Andreu, reviewed a summary of the 400 pages of documentation, and then ordered that the proceedings continue, El Pais reported. The Spanish investigation against several senior Israeli officials and officers will continue, despite documents that Israel submitted last month, the Spanish daily El Pais reported. The judge who ordered the probe, Fernando Andreu, reviewed a summary of the 400 pages of documentation, and then ordered that the proceedings continue, El Pais reported.
Power of student action forces university to divest its holdings in major arms companies: Wales online
A THREE-DAY sit-in by students protesting against their university’s investment in major arms companies has ended.
Cardiff Students Against War yesterday finished its occupation of the Shandon Lecture Theatre in Cardiff University’s main building on Park Place after bosses agreed to pull funds out of two companies. Cardiff University has given students written confirmation that they have divested from the arms trade and have instructed fund managers not to reinvest. Johnny, a spokesman for the coalition, said: “The mood has been very upbeat throughout. People have felt that what they are doing is really achieving something. “They felt they’ve made a difference.
“There’s been a buzz around the campus.
“It certainly shows that student activism is on the increase.”
During the sit-in, the 100 or so participants listened to talks from visitors, took part in a live link-up with Gaza and watched documentaries about the conflict in the Middle East. A student spokeswoman, who did not want to be named, said: “The university conceded to our key demand which was to divest from the arms trade. They have sold all their shares in BAe and General Electric and instructed their fund managers not to invest in the arms trade.
“This is a major success for the occupation.
“We’ve been the most successful across the UK. It confirms the power of student action. A lot of us have been campaigning against the arms trade for some time.
“We’ve been consistently ignored by the university. They have forced us to take this action.
“It’s not interested in the will of the student, which is why we were forced to take action.”
U.S. to boycott Durban 2 conference on racism: Ha’aretz
The United States will not attend a United Nations conference on racism that critics say will be a forum to criticize Israel, and will no longer participate in planning sessions for it, the State Department announced on Friday. The conference is a follow-up to the contentious 2001 conference in the South African city of Durban which was dominated by clashes over the Middle East and the legacy of slavery. The U.S. and Israel walked out midway through that eight-day meeting over a draft resolution that singled out Israel for criticism and likened Zionism – the movement to establish and maintain a Jewish state – to racism. Israel and Canada have already announced that they will boycott the upcoming World Conference Against Racism in Geneva from April 20-25, known as Durban 2, but President Barack Obama’s administration decided to assess the negotiations before making a decision on U.S. participation.
Thank you, President Obamah, for continuing with the Bush line on Israel! Nothing like consistency… and if you were wondering about why Canada is involved. just read below…
Canadian politicians get more free trips to Israel than anywhere else: Ha’aretz
Canadian parliamentarians accepted more free trips to Israel last year than any other country. Israel outnumbered other destinations nearly two to one, with 74 sponsored trips, beating out Taiwan as the previous most popular country. A report by Canada’s ethics commissioner shows the Canada-Israel Committee paid more than 160,000 Canadian dollars to send 24 federal politicians on trips to Israel, often with their spouses.
Twilight Zone / ‘they told me daddy died’: Ha’aretz
Gideon Levy
As the war in Gaza raged, Israel Defense Forces reservists apparently thought anything was permissible: It was possible, maybe even necessary, to kill innocents, in the West Bank, too. Under cover of war, they thought, they could also kill a handcuffed Palestinian.
After all, they could always claim he tried to steal their weapons – never mind that he was bound with plastic handcuffs practically impossible to get out of. A bullet in the stomach from close range finished him off. Thus ended the life of Yasser Temeizi, 35, who had a work permit and jobs in Israel all of his adult life; in the past year he had worked for the Harash company in Ashdod. He was a young father who’d never gotten in any trouble with the IDF before. The soldiers arrested him for no reason, beat him for no reason in front of one of his small children and finally executed him for no reason.
A month and a half has passed since this horrifying incident, and the army’s criminal investigations division is still looking into the case. An investigation that could have been completed in an hour is going on without end. Not a single Palestinian was questioned, as usual; not a single soldier was arrested, and most likely none will be – also as usual. The reservist soldiers who killed Temeizi have likely already been sent back home; perhaps they returned feeling good about their experiences and about doing their national duty. Granted, they didn’t take part in the war in Gaza, but they killed, too. Why not? Herewith, as a service to them, is the story of the consequences of their actions, which senior IDF officers have already termed “a grave incident,” that involved “a series of serious failures.”
Pasta is not a weapon: Haaretz Editorial
The border crossings between Israel and Gaza have become a central tool in the struggle against Hamas in the years since it took over the Strip. Security circles claim they have solid proof that Hamas is using raw materials and “innocent” products for the creation of weapons. In addition to the security arguments, Israel makes it difficult for goods to enter the Gaza Strip as a means of punishment and as pressure on Hamas every time it disturbs the peace. Recently Israel added food products, such as pasta, and building materials, such as glass, which are needed for repairing the many buildings destroyed during Operation Cast Lead, to the list of prohibited goods.
The experience from the war in Lebanon and the territories should have taught the decision makers that collective punishment of the civilian population is not merely not moral, but also harmful. The residents do not turn their anger against Hamas but rather against those who prevent the food from reaching their children and even against their Palestinian interlocutors in Ramallah.
The international community, including the moderate Arab states, which is currently enlisting donations for rehabilitating the Gaza Strip, is being forced to condemn Israel for its imperviousness to the humanitarian needs of one and a half million long-suffering civilians. Haaretz reported yesterday that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has demanded Israel remove the restrictions on the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Strip, and that she plans to address this issue during her upcoming visit. Israel’s legitimate struggle against Hamas does not gain credence from the fact that the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry, discovered during his visit to Gaza that trucks loaded with bags of pasta are not being permitted to enter the Gaza Strip because Israel is letting in only rice. The result is that Hamas has chalked up points to its credit in the struggle for world public opinion. The closing of the border crossings has so far not opened the way for Gilad Shalit to be returned and there is not an iota of evidence that tightening the closure will advance his release by Hamas.
It is superfluous to wait for the worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and for additional pressure from outside. Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak must immediately order the opening of the crossings to enable the orderly, constant entry of essential products into the Gaza Strip.
Crime and accountability in Gaza:Toufic Haddad, The Electronic Intifada
Now that the smoke has at least temporarily cleared from Gaza’s skies, credible human rights reports have filtered in describing the utter devastation that took place throughout the course of Israel’s 22 day assault “Operation Cast Lead.” The figures are truly shocking. According to statistics by the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, at least 1,285 Palestinians were killed, of which 895 were civilians, including 280 children and 111 women. Another 167 of the dead were civil police officers, most of whom were killed on the first day of the bombing when they were graduating from a training course. More than 2,400 houses were completely destroyed, as were 28 public civilian facilities, (including ministries, municipalities, governorates, fishing harbors and the Palestinian Legislative Council building), 29 educational institutions, 30 mosques, 10 charitable societies, 60 police stations and 121 industrial and commercial workshops.
Casualty statistics by Palestinian military groups appear to corroborate the number of civilians killed versus militants. According to their respective Arabic-language websites, Hamas lost 48 fighters, Islamic Jihad, 34, the Popular Resistance Committees, 17, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, one. It is not known how many fighters Fatah lost, though their participation in the resistance was certainly less than that of Hamas, which clearly led the Palestinian side. These reports should also be considered credible because it is highly unlikely a group would suppress its casualty figures given that their fighters’ deaths are perceived as acts of martyrdom, for which the faction proudly advertises its sacrifices. Family members of dead fighters would also not accept any other classification. We can safely assume therefore that the remaining killed militants were Fatah members, former or current security force personnel, or individuals who took up arms when the fighting erupted.
Statement on the Gaza war: World Council of Churces
“In the very place where Jesus Christ walked upon the earth, walls now separate families and the children of God – Christian, Muslim and Jew – are imprisoned in a deepening cycle of violence, humiliation and despair.”
Amman Call, WCC International Peace Conference,
1. The Gaza war during Christmas season took a terrible toll on lives and communities that were already fragile. Bombs, missiles and rockets striking densely populated areas spread an unconscionable sorrow from Gaza to much of the world. Approximately 1400 Palestinians are dead – mostly civilians, children and women – thousands more are wounded, countless thousands are traumatized, and there remains widespread destruction and damage to homes and institutions including church clinics and a hospital. Four civilians are dead in neighboring Israel and 11 soldiers were killed during the fighting and many other people injured.
2. The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains extremely alarming. More than one million people, 80 percent of the population, depend on food aid. Thousands of jobs have been lost. The educational and health systems have broken down due to the blockade that is still being imposed by the Israeli government. Palestinian church leaders, representatives from Action by Churches Together International and other humanitarian aid workers have been denied access to Gaza.
3. Still violence continues and the word peace is rarely spoken. With concerned people in many countries, we speak now to mourn the dead and to cry out with the wounded. The war and the political decisions behind it have deepened an intolerable spiral of despair, violence and deaths.
4. All the lives lost are sacred. Civilians were trapped in the war zone and had no way to escape. All of us who are part of the international community failed in our obligation to stop the killings. Governments failed to fulfill their legal obligations to prevent or remedy the Gaza war under the terms of international law and international humanitarian law. Such failure discredits international law and gives encouragement to those who rely on the use of force.
This is a long and complex document, so read it in full on the link above! Despite equating the occupied and the occupier by references, it is a strong critique of Israel, asking for divestment and holding Israel to account.
Joan Manuel Serrat: “I sing better in the language they forbid me” – So do not be part of those forbidding our freedom!!!: Open letter by PACBI
The Palestinian community of artists and intellectuals was shocked by the news of your plans to organise a musical tour of Israel in May, despite its continued grave oppression of the Palestinian people and only a few months after its heinous war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) is writing to urge you to cancel this tour. A brave defender of freedom throughout your life, you were exiled from your own country for courageously speaking out against the repression of Franco’s regime; but by touring Israel, a colonial and apartheid state, you will be participating in legitimating and supporting a system of colonial subjugation.
Your invitation to Israel comes right after its bloody military assault against the occupied Gaza Strip which left over 1,440 Palestinians dead, of whom 431 were children, and injured another 5380. [1] The 1.5 million Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, the overwhelming majority of whom are refugees who were expelled from their homes by Zionist forces in 1948, were subjected to three weeks of relentless Israeli state terror, whereby Israeli warplanes systematically targeted civilian areas, reducing whole neighbourhoods and vital civilian infrastructure to rubble and partially destroying Gaza’s leading university and scores of schools, including several run by the UN, where civilians were taking shelter. This criminal assault comes after 18 months of an ongoing, crippling Israeli siege of Gaza which has shattered all spheres of life, prompting the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights to describe it as “a prelude to genocide”. International human rights organisations and UN organizations are now calling for a war crimes investigation into Israel’s military assault on Gaza.
Israel planning mass expansion of West Bank settlement bloc: Ha’aretz
Despite the state’s formal commitment not to expand West Bank settlements, a government agency has been promoting plans over the past two years to construct thousands of housing units east of the Green Line, Haaretz has learned. The plans, which have not yet been approved by the government, were drawn up by the Civil Administration, the government agency responsible for nonmilitary matters in the West Bank. Details of the plans appear in the minutes of the agency’s environmental subcommittee, which were obtained by the B’Tselem organization under the Freedom of Information Act. The plans propose the initial construction of 550 apartments in Gva’ot, located near Alon Shvut in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, followed by construction of another 4,450 units at a later stage. At present, Gva’ot is inhabited by 12 families. The neighboring settlement of Bat Ayin, which has about 120 families, is slated to receive another 2,000 apartments, according to the plans. Rimonim will get another 254 apartments if the plans are approved, and expansion plans are also in the works for Einav and Mevo Dotan. All three of these settlements are east of the separation fence. Ma’aleh Adumim has included planned construction in the E-1 corridor in its sewage treatment plans. That corridor, which links Ma’aleh Adumim to Jerusalem, is eventually slated to hold some 3,500 apartments.
The people of Israel voted Hamas: Ha’aretz
By Shaul Arieli
In the elections for the 18th Knesset, the people of Israel also determined the future of the Palestinian leadership. The scenario that Mahmoud Abbas and his diplomatic platform will survive and remain viable vis-a-vis Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, much like Yasser Arafat in 1996, is highly unlikely. An absence of a diplomatic process, and the expected strengthening of Hamas as a result, will lead to Fatah’s abandonment of the diplomatic arena and its linkage with, or replacement by, Hamas.
Arafat was forced to watch Netanyahu, who saw “the PLO state” as an existential danger, put together a right-wing government. The Western Wall Tunnel episode, American pressure, the temporary war against terror, and support of the diplomatic process from a majority of the public yielded few diplomatic fruits – the Hebron Agreement and the Wye River Memorandum – yet kept the process going. The PLO did not lose its superiority to Hamas even while Netanyahu canceled negotiations on a final-status agreement, reduced the scope of Israeli withdrawals as stipulated by the interim agreement, and enabled the doubling of the Israeli population in the territories.
Abbas survived during the Olmert government’s term due to the support of moderate Arab states and most of the international community, American aid, and the Israel Defense Forces’ presence in the West Bank. A Netanyahu government is tantamount to compounding Abbas’ predicament: an Israeli refusal to discuss the Arab initiative; the absence of a binding document in the wake of the Annapolis process; Hamas control of Gaza, which is gaining more legitimacy following Operation Cast Lead; a strengthening of “the Iranian camp;” a limping economy; and a further increase in the number of settlers.
Well, if this is the voice of the israeli left (Arieli is member of the board of directors of the Council for Peace and Security and one of the architects of the Geneva Initiative, and a member of Meretz) then Palestine can expect nothing positive from those guys. How are they different from Livni and Netanyahu?
IDF probe: Cannot defend destruction of Gaza homes: Ha’aretz
Israel Defense Forces investigations into last month’s offensive in the Gaza Strip indicate the army could face significant difficulties justifying the scale of destruction of civilian homes during the fighting. A military source involved in the investigation told Haaretz, “It’s clear to us that in a small portion of the combat sectors immeasurable damage was caused, and that is very difficult to justify from a legal perspective, particularly if such justifications are called for in legal proceedings with international organizations.”
In the course of fighting, the IDF destroyed hundreds of houses in different sectors, and Palestinian sources estimate several thousands of houses suffered damage. Some of the homes were struck as a result of aerial strikes, others during ground fighting in densely-built urban areas.
Still others were damaged by bulldozers or in controlled explosions according to the orders of battalion and brigade commanders on the ground. However, those making the decisions were often not the brigade commanders themselves, but support staff such as operational commanders.
Well, if the IOF cannot support its own destruction, who can? I suppose Hilary will do it for them, together with Tony and Gordon…