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.
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.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli tanks and troops launched a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip Saturday night with officials saying they expected a lengthy fight with Hamas militants in the densely populated territory after eight days of punishing airstrikes failed to halt rocket attacks on Israel. Hamas vowed that Gaza would be a “graveyard” for Israelis forces.
Link to the above to see fotoage of the night invasion.
NEW YORK, January 4, 2009 (WAFA)- the International Security Council announced, late Saturday, that an urgent special session is to be held in the coming few hours to discuss the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had called, earlier tonight, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and urged him to hold an urgent Security Council meeting to issue a resolution calling on an immediate ceasefire in the Strip. In the past eight days, 465 Palestinians were killed and more than 2350 wounded in Israeli raids on the strip.
My visit back home to the Galilee coincided with the genocidal Israeli attack on Gaza. The state, through its media and with the help of its academia, broadcasted one unanimous voice — even louder than the one heard during the criminal attack against Lebanon in the summer of 2006. Israel is engulfed once more with righteous fury that translates into destructive policies in the Gaza Strip. This appalling self-justification for the inhumanity and impunity is not just annoying, it is a subject worth dwelling on, if one wants to understand the international immunity for the massacre that rages on in Gaza. It is based first and foremost on sheer lies transmitted with a newspeak reminiscent of darker days in 1930s Europe. Every half an hour a news bulletin on the radio and television describes the victims of Gaza as terrorists and Israel’s massive killings of them as an act of self-defense. Israel presents itself to its own people as the righteous victim that defends itself against a great evil. The academic world is recruited to explain how demonic and monstrous is the Palestinian struggle, if it is led by Hamas. These are the same scholars who demonized the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in an earlier era and delegitimized his Fatah movement during the second Palestinian intifada.
From The Jewish Chronicle, by Anshel Pfeffer A most revealing article on Israel’s PR success, so far, in its war of aggression on Gaza. Note how preparations had started months earlier, refuting all current Israeli claims that their war was in “retaliation” to whatever the Palestinians have done a couple of days earlier.
A boat delivering 3.5 tonnes of Cypriot medical aid to the Gaza Strip has been rammed by Israeli naval vessels in international waters, activists say. See the clip included in the news item!
I am compiling this page to assist the many people who are searching for information, views, and activities in aid of the Gaza 1,5 million victims of Zionism’s latest war crime. I will try to keep up with the pressure of events, though this seems at times impossible. I tried to keep some logical order of subjects, but reality proved to be quite illogical,
especially in this case, so I am sorry if it seems at times hurried and disordered; in that it reflects the severity of the situation. Because of the huge variety and volume of coverage, I am limiting myself to few key publications, such as BBC, The Guardian, NY Times, Ha’aretz, and Al Ahram. Obviously my selection is affected my my outlook, so apologies to those who find pacifism repugnant. (Logo above left – “I am also against the Gaza War” Hebrew. Copy and paste it in your blog!).
from the ‘Palestinianmothers.com’ website, sent by Chantal Cameron
Demonstrations and actions timetable
Check here to find out the up-to-date list, on the PSC site, for all parts of the UK.
SATURDAY 3rd JANUARY 2009
NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION AND RALLY
HANDS OFF GAZA: STOP THE BOMBING: FREE PALESTINE
Assemble 12:30pm Along Embankment, by Embankment tube station
Nearest tube Embankment or Charing Cross Join us to call for an end to the killing and an end to the siege of the people of Gaza! Please contact the PSC office if you can help on the day: info@palestinecampaign.org or call 02077006192
Singer Annie Lennox has joined high-profile campaigners to call for an end to Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip. At a news conference in London, she said TV footage of the attacks, which have killed more than 400 people, had left her “shaken to the core”.
This is the full clip of her speaking, longer than the one above, and a long article about the context. Watch and read!
Tel Aviv Demo against the war
Event: Critical Mass Against The War “מסה קריטית נגד המלחמה” critical mass against the occupation Start Time: Tomorrow, 01 January at 17:00 End Time: Tomorrow, 01 January at 20:00 Where: Rabin Square
The photographs on this page, on the above link, have been sent to me by my good friend Avner Faingulernt, who lives few miles from Gaza, on the Israeli side. Obviously most were taken by local residents, though I do not their names. The photos speak for themselves, and are unfortunately extremely disturbing. This is the kind of image seen by many in the Arab world, through Al Jazeera, and censored by the media barons in the west, and obviously in Israel. Would it make a difference if they were shown in Israel, together with the Al Jazeera footage? I do not for a moment believe so. Most Israelis have set their mind to the auto-pilot setting of war times, and no amount of information will change it.
on the link above, you can view a small collection of the many video clips now available, describing graphically the the ongoing massacre. In the full view of the international community, and with the assent of most of it, including some of the Arab countries, Israel has started a genocidal attack on 1.5 million Palestinians, 64% of them children. This has happened after two years of blockade, in which fuel, medicines, food , water and gas were not allowed into Gaza, starving its whole population. Their crime? They do not accept the brutal occupation by Israel, after 41 years, and they believe they should elect their own representatives, rather than those Israel wants them to. Please watch and send to others!
Residents in northern Strip fear expansion of IDF operation, flee Beit Lahiya homes to ‘safer areas’; many areas plunged into darkness; water, sewage systems breaking down.
Fighting takes first toll, claims life of one Israeli soldier, leaves another critically injured. Over 25 troops sustain minor injuries in various clashes with Gaza gunmen.
04. Januar 2009 Das dumpfe Donnern der Explosionen, das am Sonntag unablässig aus dem Gazasteifen nach Israel hinüberhallte, passte zur gedämpften Tonlage, die Politiker und Kommentatoren wählten. Ministerpräsident Ehud Olmert wandte sich in seiner ersten Rede nach dem Beginn des Einmarsches an die Mütter der Soldaten: Wäre nicht alles Erdenkliche getan worden, damit sie wieder sicher nach Hause zurückkehren, hätte er der Bodenoffensive nicht zugestimmt, versicherte er ihnen.
Muere el primer soldado israelí tras nueve días de ofensiva.- Una mujer palestina y sus cuatro hijos mueren durante el bombardeo de la capital.
Like The NY Times, Al Pais also found it necessary and correct to front its edition with the coffin of the ONE Israeli soldier killed in the Gaza invasion! The 500 and more Palestinians have not attained such an honour. Oh well, they are just Palestinians, and have no names and faces, of course.
BALLET DIPLOMATIQUE. La région connaît une activité diplomatique particulièrement dense. Moins de 24 heures après le déclenchement de l’offensive terrestre israélienne dans la bande de Gaza, l’Union européenne a dépêché une délégation de diplomates, qui fait étape dimanche en Egypte, avant de se rendre à Jérusalem, Ramallah et Amman.L’objectif est d’obtenir un cessez-le-feu. Emmenée par le chef de la diplomatie tchèque Karel Schwarzenberg, dont le pays assume la présidence tournante de l’UE, cette mission est en outre composée des chefs de la diplomatie français et suédois, de la commissaire européenne aux relations extérieures Benita Ferrero-Waldner, et du porte-parole de la diplomatie de l’UE Javier Solana. Les Européens croiseront le chemin de Nicolas Sarkozy, qui arrive lundi dans la région pour une tournée deux jours qui doit lui permettre de rencontrer les principaux dirigeants de la région : lundi, le président égyptien Hosni Moubarak, le président de l’Autorité palestinienne Mahmoud Abbas et le premier ministre israélien Ehoud Olmert, puis mardi, le président syrien Bachar el-Assad à Damas – soutien du Hamas, avec l’Iran – et les dirigeants libanais .
GAZA — Israeli troops advanced into Gaza on Sunday under cover of heavy air, tank and artillery fire after opening a ground war against the militant group Hamas on Saturday night.
The NY Times also found it necessary and correct to front its edition with the coffin of the ONE Israeli soldier killed in the Gaza invasion! The 500 and more Palestinians have not attained such an honour. If you wish to link to its front page, here is the link:
The legend, lest it be a true story, tells of how the late mathematician, Professor Haim Hanani, asked his students at the Technion to draw up a plan for constructing a pipe to transport blood from Haifa to Eilat. The obedient students did as they were told. Using logarithmic rulers, they sketched the design for a sophisticated pipeline. They meticulously planned its route, taking into account the landscape’s topography, the possibility of corrosion, the pipe’s diameter and the flow calibration. When they presented their final product, the professor rendered his judgment: You failed. None of you asked why we need such a pipe, whose blood will fill it, and why it is flowing in the first place.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy told three Lebanese newspapers that Hamas bore “a heavy responsibility for the sufferings of the Palestinian people” and that its rocket attacks had to stop. Sarkozy’s comments will be published on Monday, the same day he arrives in Israel as part of the French and European effort to broker a cease-fire to end the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
This conclusion is inevitable in the face of a determination by the Israeli government that it faces an unacceptable threat from Gaza that must be dealt with.
By delaying ground operations for a week, it gave Hamas a chance to back down and call a halt to the firing of rockets into Israel. But Hamas chose confrontation, probably fearing that to do otherwise would be to show weakness.
Oxfam supported health worker killed and ambulance destroyed in Israeli shelling in Gaza Israeli offensive puts families’ and aid workers’ lives at risk, Oxfam warns. It calls for a suspension of the EU upgrade for Israel.
The Israeli war on Gaza hasn’t been only unprecedented in its ferocity, but it has been unprecedented in the support it received from the so called “Moderate” Arab Regimes** as well. In all circles, the Israeli attack was expected but not with this ferocity, however, the open alliance between the “Moderate” Arab Regimes with the Israeli policy makers never been this clear and obvious.
The only official standpoint of the Czech EU Presidency concerning the actions of the Israeli ground forces in the Gaza Strip.
I would like to apologise for the misunderstanding which occurred on 3 January 2009 about the reaction of the Czech Presidency to the actions of the Israeli ground forces in the Gaza Strip according to which the operations were seen as an act of self-defence. The only official standpoint of the Czech Presidency is the following:
“It is not surprising that the Israeli forces have launched land operations in the Gaza Strip. There were indications that Israel had been considering this step. But even the undisputable right of the state to defend itself does not allow actions which largely affect civilians. We call for the facilitation of humanitarian aid to the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, and in accordance with the position agreed by the EU Foreign Ministers in Paris on the 30th December 2008 we call for the establishment of a ceasefire.”
Jiří F. Potužník
He seems to have changed his mind about resigning…
One is often baffled by the ironies of international relations and the alliances they foster. Take for example the Israeli colonial settlement that had declared war on the Palestinian people and several Arab countries since its inception while at the same time it built alliances with many Arab regimes and with Palestinian leaders.
BBC journalist and Gaza resident Hamada Abu Qammar reports from Gaza as Israeli ground forces clash with Hamas fighters:
Last night where I live, in the central part of the Gaza Strip, we could hear bombing, artillery fire and also shooting from helicopters. I was watching from the top of my brother’s house. It was terrifying. I also went out into the streets in our area. It was virtually empty of people.
Europe backs IDF incursion
EU President Czech Republic: Israeli ground incursion defensive, not offensive action. European Union president, the Czech Republic, said on Saturday an Israeli ground incursion in Gaza was “defensive, not offensive” action.
“At the moment, from the perspective of the last days, we understand this step as a defensive, not offensive, action,” Czech EU presidency spokesman Jiri Potuznik said.
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg is leading an EU delegation to the region on Sunday, and Potuznik said the presidency will wait to see the results of that visit.
However, France condemned Israel’s move to send ground forces into Gaza.
“France condemns the Israeli ground offensive against Gaza as it condemns the continuation of rocket firing,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“This dangerous military escalation complicates efforts by the international community and in particular the European Union and France, the members of the Quartet and the states in the region to end the fighting, bring immediate aid to civilians and reach a permanent ceasefire,” the statement said.
‘Luxury of telling the truth’
The Czech Republic already defended Israel’s strikes against Hamas last week. At the time, Foreign Minister Schwarzenberg said Israel had the right to defend itself.
Gaza medical personnel said a woman and four of her children were among the 35 Palestinians killed on Sunday during an Israel Defense Forces ground offensive in the coastal territory.
The deaths came as IDF ground troops and tanks cut swaths through the Gaza Strip early Sunday, cutting the coastal territory into two and surrounding its biggest city as the new phase of the devastating 9-day offensive against Hamas gained momentum.
President Shimon Peres on Sunday rejected the possibility of a cease-fire as the IDF pressed its offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, but said Israel does not intend to occupy Gaza.
“We don’t intend neither to occupy Gaza nor to crush Hamas, but to crush terror. And Hamas needs a real and serious lesson. They are now getting it,” Peres said in an interview on the ABC News program “This Week.”
A Knesset committee on Sunday approved Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s request for the call-up of tens of thousands of reservists in light of the ground operation in Gaza that Israel launched on Saturday against Hamas.
Despite approving the measure, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee clarified that not all of the Israel Defense Forces reservists would be called up immediately.
As evening closed in on Saturday 3rd January 2009 F-16 fighter planes renewed their bombing of one of the most densely populated areas of land in the world, killing more Palestinian civilians. In seven days Israel has killed over 500 Palestinians and injuring thousand of innocents. And now it has embarked on a full-scale ground invasion.
At the same time as Ehud Barak was ordering the army to start the bloody ground offensive against Gaza, some ten thousand protesters from all over Israel marched in Tel-Aviv in a massive demonstration against the war.
“One does not build an election campaign over the dead bodies of children!” shouted the protesters in Hebrew rhymes. “Orphans and widows are not election propaganda!”, “Olmert, Livni and Barak – war is no game!”’ “All cabinet ministers are war criminals!!” Barak, Barak, don’t worry – we shall meet you in The Hague!”, “Enough, enough – speak with Hamas!”
Douloureux à rappeler quand Israël est en cause, mais c’est le statut du tribunal de Nuremberg qui le premier a posé la définition du crime de guerre.
En droit de la guerre, la césure reste l’Allemagne nazie. Les conventions internationales qui traitaient de la guerre, datées de 1899 et de 1907, concernaient essentiellement les soldats, et de manière indirecte les populations civiles. Avec les nazis, l’ordre des choses s’est inversé : la mort des civils est une réalité, et un but de la guerre.
Gaza / PNN – On the ninth day of major air attacks on the Gaza Strip Israeli ground forces invaded. Members of the armed resistance are fighting back. The number of Palestinians killed since last Saturday has reached 477. The aerial bombings continue along with the invasion on ground. Israeli warplanes and Apache helicopters hit 45 “targets.”
An Israeli tank shell killed three children in the northern Gaza Strip’s Beit Lahia. Ambulances are unable to reach three Palestinians who were killed in Gaza along with those injured.
Thirty Israeli soldiers and more settlers from Sderot were injured. The injuries are described as “light to moderate.”Israeli source say they are fighting the resistance across the Strip. The Israeli military says that no soldiers were killed or captured since the ground invasion began.
On Monday, December 29 we sent our small ship, the DIGNITY, to besieged Gaza in an act of civil resistance against Israel’s ongoing massacre and blockade. We attempted to bring doctors, journalists, human rights workers and over three tons of emergency medical aid to the suffering people of Gaza in the midst of the worst attacks against them in over 40 years. In a
cowardly act of aggression the Israeli navy deliberately, repeatedly, and without warning rammed our unarmed ship, causing significant structural damage and endangering the lives of our passengers and crew. For CNN’s
coverage of the incident, see:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EZeNdIGI8os&feature=related and
http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id=ca72ff9b346077717c7a
acb1545c7919&offset=
This was an act of terror meant to prevent us from accessing the people of Gaza. We will not be intimidated. We will not let
Israel’s terror tactics stop us from trying to reach the people of Gaza and doing all that we can to directly confront and challenge Israel’s violence against the Palestinian people and ongoing affront to humanity.
Gaza doctors and hospital officials said Sunday said that 19 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ground offensive in the strip since midnight. They said that just three of the dead are Hamas gunmen, and the rest civilians.
Also Sunday, the Israel Air Force struck and wounded Husam Hamdan, a senior Hamas militant responsible for the Qassam rocket infrastructure in the Gaza town of Khan Yunis and the firing of Grad rockets on Be’er Sheva and Ofakim. The strike also wounded Hamas militant Mohammed Hilo, a member of Hamas’ special forces who helps supervise the construction and firing of Qassams from Khan Yunis.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli tanks and troops launched a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip Saturday night with officials saying they expected a lengthy fight with Hamas militants in the densely populated territory after eight days of punishing airstrikes failed to halt rocket attacks on Israel. Hamas vowed that Gaza would be a “graveyard” for Israelis forces.
Link to the above to see fotoage of the night invasion.
NEW YORK, January 4, 2009 (WAFA)- the International Security Council announced, late Saturday, that an urgent special session is to be held in the coming few hours to discuss the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had called, earlier tonight, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and urged him to hold an urgent Security Council meeting to issue a resolution calling on an immediate ceasefire in the Strip. In the past eight days, 465 Palestinians were killed and more than 2350 wounded in Israeli raids on the strip.
Both warplanes and ships continued to bomb the Gaza Strip throughout Saturday, leaving 460 Palestinians dead and 2,300 injured as of 8:20 pm. Temperatures have dropped, residents are living in bitter cold and without any sense of security. The repeated cry today has been, “There is nowhere safe in Gaza.” Dr. Muawiya Hassanein, Director General of Ambulance and Emergency in the Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Health said today that 75 Palestinian children have been killed since the bombings began
Un «nombre important de forces» militaires participent à la «deuxième phase» de l’opération contre la bande de Gaza, précise un communiqué de l’armée israélienne.
By JILL LAWLESS
LONDON – Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in European cities on Saturday against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, including protesters who hurled shoes at the tall iron gates outside the British prime minister’s residence in London.
Amid increasing criticism of Israel, international diplomatic efforts are growing to end the strikes, which have killed more than 460 people and left 1,700 injured. Late Saturday, Israel launched a ground offensive, sending tanks and infantry into Gaza.
In London, at least 10,000 people, many carrying Palestinian flags, marched past Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Downing Street residence to a rally in Trafalgar Square. Outside Downing Street, hundreds of protesters stopped and threw shoes at the gates that block entry to the narrow road.
Les eaux usées baignent les rues, le prix du pain a triplé en une semaine, les médecins craignent d’opérer faute d’être sûr de disposer d’anesthésique ou d’électricité. Sous les bombardements israéliens quotidiens, la situation devient chaque jour plus critique dans la bande de Gaza.
Gaza, January 3, 2009, (Ramattan)- The Israeli attacks on Gaza entered the second week and the Israeli war planes continued on Saturday air strikes on various targets in the Gaza Strip killing and wounding several Palestinians. At least 8 Palestinians were killed and tens others wounded when an Israeli jet fighter bombarded a mosque in Beit Lahia, north of Gaza.
Israël a franchi, samedi 3 janvier, une nouvelle étape dans son offensive contre le Hamas en déclenchant des tirs d’artillerie contre la bande de Gaza, ont rapporté des témoins des deux côtés de la frontière. Les tirs de l’artillerie ont commencé à 16 h 30, heure locale (15 h 30 à Paris), notamment à Beit Hanoun, Jabaliya, dans le nord de la bande de Gaza, et dans le secteur de Khan Younès dans le sud. Selon Reuters, les tirs ont provoqué une puissante explosion dans la ville de Gaza. On ignore s’il y a des victimes.
2h34 : Une réunion extraordinaire du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies est annoncée dans la soirée.
22h08 : La France “condamne l’offensive terrestre israélienne contre Gaza” et estime que “cette escalade militaire dangereuse complique les efforts engagés par la communauté internationale” pour obtenir un cessez-le-feu, a déclaré samedi le ministère des affaires étrangères, se distinguant ainsi de la position émise par la présidence tchèque de l’Union européenne.
Initial reports from both Israel and Gaza indicated that Israel Defense Forces troops had killed dozens of Hamas gunmen as they traded heavy fire upon entering the Strip.
Reporting from Jerusalem — Israeli troops and tanks crossed into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip this evening, widening a week-old assault aimed at halting the militant Palestinian group’s rocket fire into Israel.
A column of tanks, some firing their weapons, rolled into the northern part of the coastal enclave as Israeli combat helicopters flew overhead, according to Palestinian residents. Israeli television channels broadcast images of troops marching into the territory.
WASHINGTON — In unleashing a series of punishing attacks in Gaza last week, Israel clearly aimed to hand Hamas a defeat from which it could not recover anytime soon. The campaign may succeed, experts here and in Israel say, but it could also backfire. Either way, the political consequences could reverberate throughout the Middle East, all the way to Iran, and help determine the ability of President-elect Barack Obama to pursue his stated goals of calming the Middle East through diplomacy.
JERUSALEM — Israeli tanks and troops swept across the border into Gaza on Saturday night, opening a ground war against the militant group Hamas after a week of intense airstrikes.
Pour la septième journée consécutive, Israël poursuivait vendredi son offensive aérienne dans la bande de Gaza, où le bilan des bombardements s’établit à 412 morts et plus de 1800 blessés. Des dizaines de milliers de manifestants pour le “jour de colère” du Hamas en Cisjordanie.
Forze di terra israeliane sono entrate stasera in due diversi punti della Striscia di Gaza. È stata una piccola colonna di blindati israeliani a penetrare all’interno della Striscia da due località a nord, nei pressi di Beit Lahiya, lo stesso posto dove è stata colpita la moschea. Le truppe dell’Idf avanzano appoggiate da elicotteri d’attacco ma non è stato precisato sin dove siano arrivate. Israele inoltre ha posto in stato di allerta il nord del paese, in previsione di possibili ostilità anche in questa regione che confina col Libano e con la Siria. Lo ha riferito il Canale 10 della Tv.
Caía la noche y la embestida de las fuerzas armadas israelíes por tierra, mar y aire, ha atronado en Gaza. La artillería ha entrado en acción por primera vez en el octavo día de la guerra para barrer la zona fronteriza de la franja de norte a sur. Buques de la Marina, cazabombarderos y helicópteros castigaron también el territorio palestino matando a una treintena de personas. Los milicianos de Hamás aumentaron la frecuencia de sus andanadas de cohetes en una batalla desigual como pocas. Poco después de las ocho de la noche, los carros de combate invadían por tierra atravesando el muro de hormigón por el norte de la franja.
L’armée israélienne a franchi une nouvelle étape dans sa lutte contre le Hamas, samedi 3 janvier, en lançant une offensive terrestre d’ampleur contre la bande de Gaza. “Je peux confirmer que des troupes israéliennes sont entrées” dans le territoire, visé depuis le 27 décembre par une vaste opération israélienne, a indiqué samedi soir une porte-parole de l’armée.
1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush on Friday urged all able parties to press Hamas to stop firing rockets at Israel and secure a lasting ceasefire, after a week of heavy Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
His administration meanwhile gave Israel free rein over whether to send ground troops into Gaza, despite growing criticism over its handling of a conflict that has killed more than 400 Palestinians, including civilians.
We watch in horror as Israel unleashes yet another war on the dispossessed and weak. Hundreds are killed (mostly police and civilians, not trained militants), thousands are injured, and a million and a half are terrorized, punished for defying the will of their besiegers and refusing to submit. Again the media colludes and sells a barbaric aggression on a basically defenseless and deprived population as a war between two sides, mystifying fundamental inequalities of power through words like “disproportionate response” and “ceasefire.” Again “shock and awe” is bandied about as military currency, as if it worked the first time round in Iraq, or the second in Lebanon 2006. Again we hear a cocksure military commander say that the targeted area will be sent back decades in time, as if Israel has complete control over historical temporality: “In attacking Hamas’ regime in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces will try to ‘send Gaza decades into the past’ in terms of weapon capabilities while achieving ‘the maximum number of enemy casualties and keeping Israel Defense Forces casualties at a minimum,’ GOC Southern Command Yoav Galant said.”[1]
One of the more moving voices of dissent is coming out of Sderot and other Israeli communities around Gaza. A group called “The Other Voice” has published a petition calling for the Israeli government to prevent escalation and restore calm to the area (the petition and an article on the group are included as the first items below). The petition was written in November and is gaining more publicity now, for obvious reasons. It states” We prefer an option of a cold war in which not a single rocket is fired to a hot war with tens of innocent victims and casualties from both sides.” So far more than 2,300 Israelis have signed it, including more than 500 people from Sderot. (Adam Horwitz also reported on it in Huffington Post, above)
Israeli ground troops have started to enter the Gaza Strip, Israeli military officials have confirmed, a week after the offensive against Hamas began.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the intention was to “take control” of areas from which Palestinian militants have been firing rockets into Israel.
The BBC has woken up, 2 hours after the event, and is now reporting it!
Demonstrators are gathered close to the Israeli embassy in London, following a day of protests across the UK against Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. Up to 5,000 protesters have been involved in a stand-off with police in Kensington. Some have burned Israeli flags and thrown missiles at officers. Earlier, up to 12,000 demonstrators marched through central London, hurling shoes at the gates of Downing Street. Other rallies took place in cities including Manchester and Glasgow.
As usual, th BBC heroic team is behind the police cordon! The report itself is biased and misleading. The number of 12 thousands is a joke! There were more than 50 thousands at the London March!
A group ,of protestors tells Israeli pilots what they think of their murder in Gaza
Tens of young protesters wear blood-stained clothes and lie on the road to Sde Dov airport in Tel Aviv – watch the clip below:
Mohammed is burying his family. So is Jamal. Haider doesn’t feel safe in his flat so is sheltering in his car. In a series of phone calls to friends besieged in Gaza, one writer reveals the reality of life under daily attack.
An excellent, moving, non-sensational, accurate and analytical piece in the Guardian by Karma Nabulsi
Ilan Pappe, The Electronic Intifada, 2 January 2009
My visit back home to the Galilee coincided with the genocidal Israeli attack on Gaza. The state, through its media and with the help of its academia, broadcasted one unanimous voice — even louder than the one heard during the criminal attack against Lebanon in the summer of 2006. Israel is engulfed once more with righteous fury that translates into destructive policies in the Gaza Strip. This appalling self-justification for the inhumanity and impunity is not just annoying, it is a subject worth dwelling on, if one wants to understand the international immunity for the massacre that rages on in Gaza.
Ewa Jasiewicz
The Guardian, Saturday 3 January 2009
Ewa Jasiewicz is a journalist and activist. She is currently the project co-ordinator for the Free Gaza Movement, and one of the only international journalists on the ground in Gaza. Here is her account of a week spent trying to document the attacks.
By Amos Harel, Yoav Stern and Yanir Yagana, Haaretz Correspondents,
Israel entered the second week of its offensive against rockets from Hamas-ruled Gaza on Saturday evening by launching a much-expected ground operation into the coastal strip.
By Haaretz Service and Reuters
Israel’s government has approved the call-up of tens of thousands of reservist soldiers, it was annnounced Saturday, almost simultaneously with the launch of a Gaza ground incursion aimed at halting rocket fire on Israel’s southern communities.
The UN has warned that Palestinians in Gaza are facing a serious health and food crisis, as Israeli air strikes continued for a seventh day. The “critical emergency” comes despite an increase in humanitarian shipments, said Maxwell Gaylard, the UN’s chief aid co-ordinator for the territory. The UN believes that at least 100 of some 400 Palestinians killed by Israeli action so far were civilians.
The Israeli military has stepped up its attacks on Gaza, as the offensive on Hamas enters its second week.
Israeli artillery and tanks bombarded the territory for what is thought to be the first time during the offensive, and further air strikes were launched. Later, a column of military vehicles crossed into northern Gaza, Palestinian witnesses said.
Read this to find out the next round of fun prepared by the Israelis, which may well lead to the total destruction of what is left of the international order, such as it is. You better believe Israel when it says things like that.
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
MK Erdan: protestors show sane majority supports Gaza op; anti-war rally held at Rabin Square: Vered Luvitch
Published: 01.03.09, 19:13 / Israel News/Ynet
A week after the launch of operation “Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip, both supporters and objectors are holding separate rallies in Tel Aviv.
About 300 people arrived at the city’s King David Boulevard in order to express their support for the IDF operation. Participants were chanting slogans in favor of eliminating Hamas and held signs reading “Let the IDF win” and “We’ve had enough, eliminate Hamas.”Meanwhile, hundreds of people arrived at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv in order to pretest against the Gaza war. The protesters were marching in the streets and carrying flags reading “Stop the fire” and “Children in Gaza and Sderot wish to live.”
Well if this is the size of the demonstrations in Te Aviv, Olmert, Brak and Livni have nothing to worry about – the Israeli nation is fully behind their war crimes (HB).
Published on January 2, 2009
United Nations: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
The European Union should use today’s emergency meeting of foreign ministers to suspend a new co-operation agreement between the EU and Israel, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has said. The proposed agreement, due to be voted on in the European Parliament next month, would give Israel access to EU funding programmes which in some areas are only enjoyed by full members of the EU. Commenting, Nick Clegg said:
“The continuing bombardment of Gaza is intolerable and self-defeating. It goes far beyond Israel’s right to defend itself.”
Gideon Levy – מאת גדעון לוי An excellent article about the the hypocricy and silence of the media in Israel. Unfortunately not translated by Ha’aretz! They now delay or avoid translations of Gideon Levy. Instead, they did translate another article, below:
Gideon Levy / Amid exploding rockets, Negev life carries on
Watch this amazing film made by the Shministim! Contrary to Israeli war party propaganda in the US, not all Jews and not all Israelis support Israel’s Nazi-like conduct in the Occupied Territories. This simple fact is probably the single most censored piece of news in the United States.
Here are some young people heading to prison because they won’t join the genocide.
On the third day of the current round of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, two or more Israeli IDF patrol boats have tried to sink the boat Dignity, the Free Gaza vessel, veteran of delivering medicines to the blockaded Gaza. You can watch the eyewitness reports, including those of the CNN reporter on board, clearly putting the lie to Israeli claims that this was ‘an accident’. Instead, this is another example of Israel’s illegal behaviour at home and abroad, in this case operating as pirates, in international waters, 90 miles off the coast. I have put together six clips about the Dignity!
The UN Security Council, meeting for emergency consultations Wednesday night, rejected an Arab request for a legally binding resolution that would condemn Israel and halt its attacks.
Rafah residents came to the realization on Tuesday that the air force has adopted a new method for destroying weapons smuggling tunnels in the town. On Monday, the military fired 10 missiles which are believed to have destroyed 10 tunnels. Palestinians say IAF drones fired seven missiles on Tuesday at the same number of tunnels.
By Yossi Verter, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
A decisive majority of respondents support continuing the army’s air campaign against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip without endangering the lives of Israel Defense Forces soldiers in a ground offensive, according to a Haaretz-Dialog public opinion poll.
This pathetic and denuded defence of the murder and destruction by Ari Shavit, is as criminal as the war crimes he praises. May his callous words come to haunt him yet! It has to be read to be believed:
“Operation Cast Lead is an intelligent, impressive operation. The element of surprise was total, the intelligence was precise and the timing was brilliant.”
There was a day when we worried about the “Arab masses” – the millions of “ordinary” Arabs on the streets of Cairo, Kuwait, Amman, Beirut – and their reaction to the constant bloodbaths in the Middle East. Could Anwar Sadat restrain the anger of his people? And now – after three decades of Hosni Mubarak – can Mubarak (or “La Vache Qui Rit”, as he is still called in Cairo) restrain the anger of his people? The answer, of course, is that Egyptians and Kuwaitis and Jordanians will be allowed to shout in the streets of their capitals – but then they will be shut down, with the help of the tens of thousands of secret policemen and government militiamen who serve the princes and kings and elderly rulers of the Arab world.
Although their proposals differ in detail, two of Israel’s best-known writers, Amos Oz and David Grossman, have joined the calls for a ceasefire after several days of Israel’s offensive.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said today that Israel was fighting Hamas with an “iron fist”, his words backed by more Gaza air strikes but challenged by rocket fire that continued to hit Israeli cities.
The Turkish public has reacted with anger to the Israeli air strikes on Gaza by appearing in huge numbers at rallies aimed at condemning Israel for the onslaught, which has taken the lives of almost 400 Palestinians.
By Richard Falk. Published in The Nation The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war.
יגאל לביב טוען שאין מנוס ממחשבה שהמתקפה בעזה התחילה מלא יותר מאשר תכנית הישרדותית של קדימה והעבודה לאור ניצחונו הצפוי של הליכוד בבחירות על פי העולה מהסקרים. הוא גם מביא סימוכין מהתנהלותה התמוהה של הממשלה סביב מה שקדם למבצע הזה, החל בהפרת הרגיעה מצד ישראל כדי שיהיה טריגר לפעולה ועד לשימוש הלא הגיוני בצנזורה
From The Jewish Chronicle, by Anshel Pfeffer A most revealing article on Israel’s PR success, so far, in its war of aggression on Gaza. Note how preparations had started months earlier, refuting all current Israeli claims that their war was in “retaliation” to whatever the Palestinians have done a couple of days earlier.
A boat delivering 3.5 tonnes of Cypriot medical aid to the Gaza Strip has been rammed by Israeli naval vessels in international waters, activists say. See the clip included in the news item!
Israeli trade and industry minister, Eli Yishai, was forced to take cover during an interview as rocket warning sirens went off around him – watch the clip!
The Israeli government has created for itself a near monopoly over information coming out of the Gaza Strip. Journalists have been prevented from entering the Gaza Strip already since early November, a move the Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel labels “an unprecedented restriction of press freedom.” The FPA filed a petition with the Israeli Supreme Court against this measure, and the petition is scheduled to be ruled on today (31 December).
The US-backed attempt to bring Hamas to heel by overwhelming force is in fact more likely to boost the movement’s appeal. An excellent article!Simon Farr Caricature in TheGuardian, 31 December 2008
The UN Security Council is set to meet to discuss the crisis in the Gaza Strip as international calls grow for a halt to the Israeli-Palestinian violence.
British telecom firm severs ties with Israeli counterparts
The Israeli campaign of ‘death from above’ began around 11 am, on Saturday morning, the 27th of December, and stretched straight through the night into this morning. The massacre continues Sunday as I write these words.
In its efforts to stop amateur rockets from nagging the residents of some of its southern cities, Israel appears to have given new life to the fledging Islamic movement in Palestine.
GIDEON LEVY / The IAF, bullies of the clear blue skies
A hoorendous caricature, closely representing the current state of thinking in Israel. Please for moment do not make the mistake of thinking this is an ironic, critical reflection on the situation.
The best news website on Palestine, always gets thye news first. Excellent articles and reports.
Ynet – Yediot Ahronot website, 30 December
Some 1,800 Israelis and Palestinians, including 500 Sderot residents, sign petition calling for end to IDF operation in Gaza, renewal of dialogue between Israel, Hamas
The EU must keep up the pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza, UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said ahead of a meeting with his European counterparts.
Israel says it is ready for “long weeks of action” as it continues its fiercest air assault on Gaza for decades to stamp out militant rocket attacks. This includes a harrowing film clip.
The White House has given its tacit backing to Israel’s military operation against Hamas and the Gaza Strip, a flare-up that is threatening to seriously complicate any peace efforts envisaged by the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama.
Unfortunately, Ha’aretz is now refraining from translating Amira’s excellent articles into English, so I had to include the Hebrew originals, above. As she is the only Israeli journalist writing from Gaza. So much for Israeli ‘liberalism’…
While lacking the moral stance of Levy and Hass, Barel nonetheless pours scorn on this mad military murderous adventure, pointing out its likelihood of failure and further, worse conflict ensuing.
In this article, Salah Al-Naami, in an article written few days before the attack, is describing what might happen, though his analysis seems to be much too optimistic, as he concludes that on balance, Israel might not strike, due to the preparedness of Hams.
In a typical example of skewed, faulty journalism, this is an article totally framed from an Israeli perspective. Like on the ground, so in the New York Times – the Israelis have all the lines and space, with the voice of Palestine not heard at all. The attack, they tell us, is on Hamas, rather than on Gaza. Such junk publishing is no less an enemy than the IDF, and is also more influential.
1. Join or organize emergency protests and direct actions in partnership with Palestine solidarity and social justice organisations in your area. Send reports of actions you participate in so this information can be shared with people around the world.
Physicians for Human Rights Medical assistance and medicines supplied to Gaza and other Palestinian terrtories by volunteeer physicians from Israel. For information about PHR’s work, link to phr-gaza-emergency.
The British Shalom-Salaam Trust (www.bsst.org.uk) is collecting funds on PHR-I’s behalf and will transfer donations and associated Gift Aid (adding 28% to their value – see below). By cheque payable to BSST and sent to: BSST, PO Box 46081, London W9 2ZF – quoting PHR-I By bank transfer to HSBC sortcode 40-04-15 – account no 11576585 – international bank account number GB22MIDL40041511576585 – please quote your surname and initial By credit card via CAF http://www.cafonline.org/apps/Charities/BasicSearch.aspx?dsp_keywords=british+shalom+salaam+trust <http://www.cafonline.org/apps/Charities/BasicSearch.aspx?dsp_keywords=british+shalom+salaam+trust> (they claim Gift Aid and deduct 5% of the total) quoting PHR-I in their instruction box.
3. Flood Israeli embassies and consulates with letters and calls decrying the attacks. Find contact info for Israeli embassies around the world.
He has spoken out to condemn Israeli Apartheid and called for boycott, divestment and sanctions.
Shortly after the Israeli onslaught on the people of Gaza started, the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) launched a Statement of Determination to Boycott Israel. Please promote this statement in newspapers, professional and trade union journals, on internet sites — wherever — and encourage people to sign. It is intended to be a worldwide statement of determination. To read the statement, a-statement-of-determination-to-boycott-israel. If you want to sign, please reply to: gazaemergency@bricup.org.uk
Just enter your postcode. This will connect you to your elected representatives on four levels of governemnt: Local, regional national, and European. Use all to write to your elected representatives, and try and see them to make sure they know how you feel about this issue.
7. If you are in Europe write to you MEP http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members.do Do not fail to mention the travesty of the EU planning to upgrade its relationship with Israel exactly at the point of this mass murder occurring.
If you are in the UK you can do the following (or the equivalents if you live elsewhere)
b) the leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron camerond@parliament.uk
(You could mention you are appalled that he has been on the BBC calling for restraint on all sides when nearly 300 Palestinians have been killed, as if we are speaking here of two armies in conflict, rather than a mass murder recalling Guernica)
9. British Consulate Jerusalem +972 (02) 541 4100
10. British Embassy Tel Aviv +972 (02) 3510 1167 / +972 (03) 527 1572 Call them.
11. Fax the office of the UK Prime Minister – Gordon Brown – on +44 20 7925 0918
12. Boycott ALL Israeli goods of whatever kind – food, technology, cultural artifacts – help us to isolate this brutal and inhuman regime in the same way we have manged to do during the 1970s and 1980s to the South African apartheid regime, to which it is close in outlook. To learn more about the Goods Boycott, link to Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods excellent website: http://www.bigcampaign.org/index.php?page=jews-for-boycotting-israeli-goods
13. Boycott all ties with Israeli institutions;
if you are an academic, join the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) and partake in its actions. Its website is at:
14. You are not alone in your anger about this latest atrocity. You may wish to find out more about your options for solidarity and political action. Please check into:
Neturei KartaNeturei Karta in the UK A radical organisation of Haredi Anti-Zionist Jews, with deep commitment to peace and human rights
Jews for Justice for PalestineJFJfP One of the most active and well organised groups in the UK
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of IsraelPACBI Based in Ramallah, the umbrella Palestinian organisation uniting artists and academics in action against Israeli occupotion and oppression
Organisations in Israel/Palestine A detailed list, descriptions and websites of the most active organisation working aginst the occupation and its brutalities
The demonstration today in London was, according to concerned, the largest ever held in London on Palestine. This is even more impressive if one remembers that similar demonstrations were held today in many other cities in the UK. This is evidence to the depth of feeling, anger and disgust, not only with Israel and the USA, but more importantly, with the UK government and its immoral and despicable behaviour, the same position it took during the Summer 2006 and the destruction of Lebanon. This demonstration, and all the speeches in it, are sending a loud and clear message to the UK government, to USA, Egypt, but first and foremost, to Israel: “Your war crimes will not be forgotten, will not be forgiven, will not go unpunished”. Many of the speakers on the platform, from all political persuasions, have called not just for the end to the invasion and bombing, the removal of the illegal blockade, but for the end of the occupation, the removal of the Apartheid Wall, and for a Just Peace in Palestine.
Shame on You! Shame on You! shouted thousands as they hurled shoes towards No. 10 Downing Street
While passing in front of the heavily protected Downing Street entrance, thousands of shoes where hurled by the demonstrators at the police, and towards Number 10. This simple, symbolic retort of the powerless, so powerfully used og George Dubya Bush in Iraq, will remind the British government what their citizens think of their behaviour. You can see it in the pictures below.
From Trafalgar Square thousands marched to the Israeli embassy. The good behaviour of the Met was all gone there, as it normally does, and in the violence which ensued, many protesters have been injured, and many arrested. Full marks go to the Metropolitan Police for not allowing free speech in the capital, and for protecting the embassy of the mass murderers so well.
We are not expecting Israel to take any of those demands into account, obviously. What we are expecting, though, is our own governments, who have financed the PA construction of a modern infrastructure in Gaza, now all in ruins, and who continue to trade with Israel, including selling it arms, to act immediately to end this murder. The speakers have, one after another, reminded the thousands in the square that those who do nothing when war crimes are committed, are just as culpable as the criminals themselves.
Below you can see a selection of images from this amazing demonstration. By clicking on pictures you can see an enlarged image.
To see material from around the world, use this link:
I am compiling this page to assist the many people who are searching for information, views, and activities in aid of the Gaza 1,5 million victims of Zionism’s latest war crime. I will try to keep up with the pressure of events, though this seems at times impossible. I tried to keep some logical order of subjects, but reality proved to be quite illogical,
Simon Farr Caricature in The Guardian, 31 December 2008
