Thousands of Israelis Protest Against the War in Gaza

The Israeli Propaganda Ministry, or whatever you want to call it officially, is frantically trying to twist our minds into believing that they are in some holy, righteous cause against elemental evil, demonizing Hamas and even its civil servants and police officers as terrorists that they can bequeath an instant death penalty to, slaughtering them from the sky with drones and F-16s, rationalizing the vast and simultaneous destruction against civilians and civilian infrastructure as collateral damage or "getting what they deserve for voting for Hamas." But even in Israel thousands and thousands of Israelis can see through this propaganda, and they took to the streets of Tel Aviv last Saturday, Jan 3rd to denounce the war on Gaza.

This is from Gosh Shalom in Israel (click here for link):

MASSIVE DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE WAR + continuing protest
Preparing to start: hoisting the big Gush Shalom transparent
photo gallery

[Now also on Social TV]

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. All four lanes of Ibn Gvirol St., one of the city's main throughfares, were packed full of demonstrators who marched the two kilometres from the Rabin Square to the Cinemateque, chanting and waving banners all the way.

“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!”

The written posters were similar. Some of them paraphrased Barak’s election slogans: “Barak is not friendly, he is a murderer!” (The original Barak slogan says: “Barak is not friendly, he is a leader!”) Also: “No to the Election War, 2009!” and “The six-Knesset-seat war!” – an allusion to the polls which showed that in the first days of the war Barak’s Labor Party has gained six prospective seats.

The demonstration took place after a fight with the police, which tried to prevent or at least limit it, arguing that they would not be able to stop right-wing rioters from attacking it. Among other things, the police demanded that the organizers undertake to prevent the hoisting of Palestinian flags. The organizers petitioned the High Court of Justice, which decided that the Palestinian flag is legal and ordered the police to protect the demonstration from rioters,

The demonstration was decided upon by Gush Shalom and 20 other peace organizations, including the Women’s Coalition for Peace, Anarchists Against the Wall, Hadash, the Alternative Information Center and New Profile. Meretz and Peace Now did not participate officially, but many of their members showed up. Some thousand Arab citizens from the north arrived in 20 buses straight from the big demonstration of the Arab public which had taken place in Sakhnin.

The organizers themselves were surprised by the large number of protesters. “A week after the start of Lebanon War II, we succeeded in mobilizing only 1000 demonstrators against it. The fact that today there came 10,000 proves that the opposition to the war is much stronger this time. If Barak goes on with his plans, public opinion may completely turn against the war in a few days.”

The giant Gush Shalom banner said in Hebrew, Arabic and English: “Stop Killing! Stop the Siege! Stop the occupation!” The slogan of the demonstration called for the end of the blockade and an immediate cease-fire.

On the day of the protest, the extreme Right mobilized their forces in order to break up the demonstration by force. The police made a great effort to prevent riots, and the one-mile march from Rabin Square to Cinematheque Square proceeded relatively quietly. However, when the protesters started to disperse, in accordance with the agreement with the police, a large crowd of rightists started to attack them. The police, which till then had been keeping the two camps apart, disappeared from the scene. The rioters then encircled the last of the protesters, harassing them, pushing them about and at a certain point started to besiege the Cinematheque building, where some of the last protesters had found refuge. They tried to break into the building, threatening to “finish off” the protesters, but at the last moment some police arrived and protected the entrance. The rioters stayed around for a long time.

Circumstances made it impossible to hold the planned public rally at the end of the march. No speeches were made. Here is a translation of the speech Uri Avnery was about to make on behalf of Gush Shalom:

They tell us
We are traitors.
They tell us
We are destroyers of Israel.
They tell us
We are criminals.

But we tell them:
The criminals are those
Who started this
Criminal and unnecessary war!

An unnecessary war
Because it was possible
To stop the Qassams
By the government
stopping the blockade
On the million and a half
Inhabitants of Gaza.

A criminal war
Because, on top of everything else
It is openly and shamelessly
Part of Ehud Barak’s and Tzipi Livni’s
Election campaign

I accuse Ehud Barak
Of exploiting the IDF soldiers
In order to get more Knesset seats.

I accuse Tzipi Livni
Of advocating mutual slaughter
In order to become
Prime Minister.

I accuse Ehud Olmert
Of trying to cover up
Rot and corruption
With a disastrous war.

I call upon them
From this tribune,
On behalf of this
Courageous and decent audience:
Stop the war at once!
Stop shedding the blood of
Our soldiers and civilians for nothing!
Stop shedding the blood
Of the inhabitants of Gaza!

The ground invasion
Will cause
An additional disaster,
A mutual massacre
And even more
Terrible war crimes!

At the end of this war
No general
Will be able to set foot
On European soil
Without fear of being arrested
For war crimes.
We are told
That there is no alternative.
Not true!!!
A cease-fire is possible even now,
Yes, this very minute,
If we agree to lift
The murderous siege,
If we allow the Gaza people
To live in dignity,
If we talk with Hamas.

I wish to address
The people of the South,
The people of Sderot,
Ashdod and Beersheba:
We know your anguish –
Even though we don’t live with you,
We know well.
But we also know
That this war
Will not change your situation.
The politicians exploit you,
The politicians conduct a war
On your back.
You too know that!

I call upon
Olmert, Barak and Livni:
Do not send the soldiers into the Strip!
All three of you will be accused of war crimes!
All three of you will pay the price!

The masses in Israel
Saluting you now
Will punish you tomorrow.
That happened in the
Second Lebanon War
That will happen
Again this time!

And YOU who are standing here,
Women and men,
Young and old,
Jews and Arabs,
YOU who have protested
Against this horrible war
From the first day,
From the first minute,
Isolated and cursed –
YOU are the real heroes!

You can be proud,
Very proud,
Because you stand in the middle
Of a hurricane of hysteria and ignorance,
And are not swept away by it!
You are retaining your sanity,
Not only at home
But here, in the street!

Millions around the world see you,
Salute you,
Salute each one of you.

As a human being,
As an Israeli,
As a seeker of peace,
I am proud
To be here today.

---

Dr. Mads Gilbert Speaks Out from Shifa Hospital, Again

This is Dr. Mads Gilbert reporting from Shifa Hospital again earlier this week, deploring civilian casualties. Because Dr. Gilbert is confronting Israeli State propaganda, apologists for the assault on Gaza are trying to character-assassinate him as a terrorist sympathizer, a shill for Palestine, and someone has even compared him to the WWII Nazi Dr. Mengele. But the awesome pictures of carnage we are seeing from various news sources, as well as statements from the UN and Red Cross now only corroborate what he is saying.

Gaza Medics Describe Horror of Strike Which Killed 70

This is from a UK Telegraph report on Jan 7:

Gaza medics describe horror of strike which killed 70

Growing evidence emerged today of the bloodiest single incident of the Gaza conflict when around 70 corpses were found by a Palestinian paramedic near a bombed-out house.

By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem

Last Updated: 5:27PM GMT 07 Jan 2009

Zeitoun - Gaza medics describe horror of strike which killed 70
















Palestinians grieve at the funeral of a relative in the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City Photo: AP (source)

Mohammed Shaheen, a volunteer with Palestinian Red Crescent, was in the first convoy of ambulances to reach the site of the blast in Zeitoun since it was first occupied then shelled by the Israeli army.

His testimony confirmed accounts, first reported in The Telegraph, from survivors of the extended al Samouni clan who said they feared between 60 and 70 family members had been killed.

"Inside the Samouni house I saw about ten bodies and outside another sixty," Mr Shaheen said.

"I was not able to count them accurately because there was not much time and we were looking for wounded people.

"We found fifteen people still alive but injured so we took them in the ambulances.

"I could see an Israeli army bulldozer knocking down houses nearby but we ran out of time and the Israeli soldiers started shooting at us.

"We had to leave about eight injured people behind because we could not get to them and it was no longer safe for us to stay." Mr Shaheen was in a convoy led by a jeep from the International Committee of the Red Cross that made its way down war-damaged tracks past demolished houses to the town of Zeitoun.

Concerns had been growing that Zeitoun had witnessed massive civilian casualties after surviving members of the Samouni clan reached Gaza City three days ago.

They said that after the Israeli army first took the town on Saturday night soldiers had ordered about 100 members of the clan to gather in a single house owned by Wael Samouni around dawn on Sunday.

At 6.35am on Monday the house was repeatedly shelled with appalling loss of civilian life.

For the rest of the article, click here.

The Jewish-Arab Peace Song (w/ English subtitles)

What we need right now are those who can bridge the divide between Israelis and Palestinians, between Jews and Moslems, looking beyond the tunnel vision of hatred and vengeance. Is this even possible. Yes! How? One way is through music and art, and here is one example, right here, right now in this video.

Yonotan Shapira, Ex-Captain in the Israeli Air Force, Speaks

If you think there is any kind of unanimous consensus inside Israel for the assault on and invasion of Gaza, then think again. There are thousands of Israelis who are opposed to this action. Here is one of them.

Senate Democrats--Do the Right Thing!!

I just called Senator Webb and asked him to seriously consider replacing Senator Reid as the Senate Majority Leader.

Harry Reid finally took a stand on something. He refused to stand up against the Bush Administration on the issues that mattered....including the latest Wall Street Bail Out Con.

So what does the ineffectual Reid do? He finally takes a stand on some minor issue of not seating the junior Illinois Senator. In spite of the fact that the law is NOT on Reid's side. That's exactly the kind of thinking that Bush and Cheney utilized in their atrocious administration. it's exactly the kind of thinking we do not need.

So Harry Reid huffed and he puffed and.....then he backs down. Wow....what a surprise.

Why not choose a real leader? Someone like Senator Feingold or Senator Chris Dodd.

Our country is in trouble and Reid is worst than useless....it's time for a change.

Doctor Mads Gilbert Speaks out Again Against Attacks on Civilians

Uncensored Video Report From Dr In Gaza Hospital

Video and Text, recorded on Jan 5 2009

January 06, 2009 from "Information Clearinghouse" (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21654.htm)

Dr. Mads Gilbert, Gaza,

Dr . Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor in Gaza, tells Sky News that the number of civilians injured and killed in Gaza proves that Israel is deliberately attacking the population.

TRANSCRIPT:

“Just a little bit more than an hour ago the Israelis bombed the central fruit market in Gaza city and we had a mass influx of about 50 injured and between 10 and 15 killed. At the same time they bombed an apartment house with children playing on the roof and we had a lot of children also. So this is really like speaking from the dumps of Inferno, it’s like hell here now, and it’s been bombing all night. Until now close to 500 people have been killed and the number of casualties is getting to 2,500 of which 50% are children and women.

Are your hospitals reaching capacity? Can you deal with these people?

We have been doing surgery around the clock. I have just talked with one of my colleagues in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), he's not been sleeping for three days and the hospital is completely overcrowded, we are running 6 - 7 Ors (Operating Rooms) and there are injuries you just don’t want to see in this world… children coming in with open abdomens and legs cut off. We just had a child that we had to amputate both legs and an arm. And their only crime is being civilians and Palestinians living in Gaza. The relief now is not more doctors and more drugs; the relief now is to stop the bombing immediately, this cannot go on, it’s a disaster.

You’ve talked about the civilians, the women, the children, the men who aren’t involved in this, but are you also getting casualties that are Hamas fighters?

To be honest, we came on New Year’s Eve in the morning. I’ve seen one military person among the tenths… I mean hundreds that we’ve seen and treated, so anybody who tries to portrait this as a totally clean war against another army are lying. This is an all-out war against the civilian Palestinian population in Gaza, and we can prove that with numbers. And you have to remember that the average age of the Gaza inhabitants is 17 years, it’s a very young population, and 80% are living below the poverty limit of the UN. So this is a poor and very young people, and they are able to escape absolutely nowhere, because they cannot flee like other populations can in war time, because they are fenced in and they are in a cage, so they’re bombing 1.5 million people in a cage… young people, poor people and, you know, you cannot separate between the civilians and the fighters in such a situation.”

Transcribed by Atenea Acevedo (Tlaxcala) and Hana Al Bayaty (IAON)

For All Children Who Must Suffer War's Horrors: Outlandish & Sami Yusuf Song, TRY NOT TO CRY

We have been watching with horror the damage done to children by the Gaza assault, the mangled bodies, the rivers of tears, the traumatized faces, and we have to ask, how can the adults in this world perpetrate such horrors? Where is their humanity, or their shame? If they have none, then they have already consigned themselves to the Devil and will enjoy His tender mercies at the appointed time. But for the rest of us who are still human, do we have it in us to put a stop to the scourge of war that is destroying, not only the children of Palestine, but the children of Israel, of Sudan, Somalia, the Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, to name a few? Only a higher identity, a belief in the brotherhood and sisterhood of humankind, can end this madness.

To quote from this video's sidebar, first posted on the Internet some two years ago by IstiArief:

Song featured in Sami Yusuf's "My Ummah" album, done with english text of the lyrics.

I made this after watching Sami Yusuf and Isam on a concert together performing this song. They pointed out that this song speaks of any troubled children in the world, even if some lyrics explicitly point to the Palestinian struggle. All of the videos on this song that I saw on YouTube represent that particular struggle only. I'd like to return to the concept of the creators of the music, and try to incorporate all of the world's children's suffering-- this is my attempt at it.

Please rate it and tell me what you think-- constructive criticism is highly preferred over blind offense, and appreciation is always welcomed.

If you want to help, give your time or your earnings to causes you believe in. It's not how much you give, it's that you give.

This is my preference charity outlet that I trust, but you can choose your own:
www.islamic-relief.com (International)
www.irw.org (USA) - recipient of Four Star Charity by Charity Navigator

Another Day Another Major War Crime

What compels Israeli's leaders to raise the ante and commit bigger war crimes? I'm talking white phosphorous. It does to civilians what napalm did to the people in Vietnam. Remember this famous photograph of the little girl running naked (her back was badly burned by napalm). [The photo I can't seem to get uploaded this morning, unfortunately.] On the ground journalists allowed the world to see what was being done to the Vietnamese people and it resulted in napalm being discontinued, outlawed and labeled a war crime.

So now we have white phosphorus--another name another version of napalm. The US denied using it in Fallujah but this lie was exposed...and the world knows what the US did even if the majority of the American people are still in the dark.

Now Israel is "allegedly" using white phosphorus on the people of Gaza....literally burning them alive and not discriminating between agents of Hamas and innocent men, women, and children. The white phosphorous missiles are the missiles that look like sparklers we use to celebrate on the 4th of July but the fiery sparks are all headed for the ground. Since the journalists are hovered on the outskirts of Gaza wanting to go in and document what is happening on the ground they are able to get shots of these inhumane missiles that are not supposed to be used in areas populated by civilians.

Gaza maybe the most densely populated region in the world.

Do the leaders of Israel have no conscious....no shame? The leaders of Israel are starting to make war criminals like Bush/Cheney look like petty thieves....trust me that's not a compliment.

But folks all over the world are rising up to protest....hopefully the United Nations will finally be compelled to send a peace keeping force into the region...a true peacekeeping force that will keep Israeli's and Palestinians safe so that peace talks can begin in earnest.

Too many people are fed up with state sponsored terrorism....war crimes that breed terrorists all over the world. It is time to enforce the law that civilians everywhere are off limits.

Gaza Gaza Dont You Cry

This is the sidebar for this video from YouTube:

Tens of thousands marched in NYC on Jan 3, from Times Square to the Israeli consulate to protest the brutal Israeli attack on Gaza using U.S. made bunker-busters and bombs. The tank invasion was announced at the demonstration and people vowed to return to the streets again and again until Gaza is free.

The Shministim, Conscientious Objectors in Israel

This is the sidebar as it appears for this video on Youtube:

PLEASE SEND THIS VIDEO ALONG. Send your message to Israel, Americans aren't supposed to know this, THE REST OF THE STORY...

If you were a captive of the US mind control
police (i.e. the corporate news media) you'd
believe two things:

1. Israel is "defending" itself against the
Palestinians

2. All Israelis support their government's
policy of endless war against Palestinian
civilians.

It's this second lie that the US-Israeli media
guards most closely - and desperately hopes
Americans never figure out.


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.

FACT: RE Latest attacks by IDF in Gaza. During the ceasefire 35 people were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Israel also breached one of the terms of the ceasefire by not allowing aid into Gaza. Hamas only fired rockets after Israel had repeatedly breached the ceasefire.

Here are some young people heading to prison because they won't join the genocide.

You can support these brave kids here:

Write: http://december18th.org FORUM TO WRITE TO ISRAEL

December 18th, what happened.

December 19th, 2008 — 08:45 pm

Yesterday, December 18th, was the Shministim Day of Action in Israel. Even as Tamar Katz remained in solitary confinement, the Shministim were thrilled. They told us they had not seen this much media coverage in Israel of young refusers in years. The global response, which continues to grow, has been overwhelming.

US War Resisters Stand In Solidarity With Shministim

December 17th, 2008 — 03:40 pm

U.S. military servicemembers and veterans who have refused or are currently refusing to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, stand in solidarity with the Shministim and urge others to support them and take action.

Third Prison Term for Raz Bar-David Varon

December 24th, 2008 — 12:06 pm

The Shministim Day of Action has come and gone but the cause cannot be forgotten and support continues to grow. After attending the Day of Action in Israel and helping to deliver over 22,000 letters to the Army Headquarters, Raz Bar-David Varon has been sentenced again for the THIRD time.

YOU CAN STILL SEND YOUR MESSAGE EVEN THOUGH ITS PAST THE 18TH.

Please spread the word http://december18th.org

We, the Shministim, are hoping we can garner widespread US and international support fo our cause. Please take just a few minutes to tell your friends and family,is the next page after sending your message to Israel.GO VIRAL,GET MILLIONS OF PEOPLE TO

SEND THE MESSAGE.

Name: Tamar Katz
Age: 19
Location: Tel-Aviv

Why I am one of the Shministim:

"I refuse to enlist in the Israeli military on conscientious grounds. I am not willing to become part of an occupying army, that has been an invader of foreign lands for decades, which perpetuates a racist regime of robbery in these lands, tyrannizes civilians and makes life difficult for millions under a false pretext of security."

Name: Udi Nir
Age: 19
Location: Tel-Aviv

Why I am one of the Shministim:

I will not lend my own hand to the occupation and to acts that contradict my most basic values: human rights, democracy and the personal responsibility each and every human being bears towards fellow human beings.

Jewish Voice for Peace http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/pu...
TAKE ACTION WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER EDITOR, STOP THE US MEDIA BLACK OUT
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org

FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/video may contain copyrighted (© ) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and education.

NOTE:********Israeli's Former Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's NEPHEW Lawmaker Jonathan "Yoni" Ben-Artzi was also Jailed for refusing Army Service,and is a conscientious objector,and has recently denounced the latest attacks in Gaza.*******************

State Sponsored Terrorism

The Israeli military continues to deny the press access into Gaza to shed light on what is occurring. The Israeli courts ruled that journalists should be given access to Gaza. The Military is continuing to refuse journalists access saying that under the court guidelines journalists can enter Gaza when the border crossing is opened. The Military will not say when the crossing(s) will be opened.

Therefore, it is difficult for the world to get a glimpse of the state sponsored terrorism that is occurring in Gaza.

Milk and Prop 8 Musical

Hope you got a chance to see MILK that is playing at the Naro Cinema in Norfolk....Sean Penn definitely deserves the Oscar for Best Actor!

I found this at the Margaret Cho blog:

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

An International POV on Israel and Palestine

MEDIA MATTERS--all of us should be willing to explore different POV's....truth is hard to know if you only view it from one angle....especially if that one angle is tailored to a corporate media's POV. So we are lucky to have other avenues to get our news. Now that international journalists are able to go to where the silence is in Gaza I extend my thanks to these brave souls who are risking their lives to bring us a picture of what is really happening to the civilian people in Gaza.

Hopefully you will read this journalists words and seriously think about what the USA is doing in the Middle East.

While the Israeli military again bombs the starving and imprisoned population of 1.5 million Gazans, the world watches their plight live as Western media scrambles to explain and, in some cases, justify the ongoing carnage.

Even some Arab outlets have attempted to equate Palestinian resistance - and homemade rockets - with the might of the Israeli military machine.

However, none of this is a surprise; the Israelis just concluded a global public relations campaign to gather support for their assault, even gaining the collaboration of some Arab states.

An American periodical once asked me to contribute to a discussion on whether terrorism or attacks against civilians could ever be justified.

My answer was that an American journal should not be asking whether attacks on civilians can ever be justified. This is a question for the weak, such as the Native Americans 150 years ago, the Jews in Nazi Germany, and the Palestinians today, to answer.

Terrorism is a normative term which is used to describe what the 'other' does, not what 'we' do.

Powerful nations such as Israel, the US, Russia or China will always describe their victims' struggle as terrorism.

However, they fail to acknowledge as acts of terror the destruction of Chechnya, the slow slaughter of the remaining Palestinians, the repression of Tibetans, and the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Normative rules and what is legal and permissible are determined by the powerful. They formulate the concept of terrorism in normative terms and make it appear as if a neutral court derived such definitions instead of the oppressors.

For the weak to resist becomes illegal by definition.

This excessive use of legal jargon actually undermines the fundamentals of what is truly legal and diminishes the credibility of international institutions such as the UN. The law becomes the enemy of those who struggle.

It becomes apparent that the powerful - those who make the rules - insist on legality merely to preserve the power relations that serve them or to maintain their occupation and colonialism. (Source)

BUZZ...BUZZ...BUZZ....

Another Israeli clusterbomb hits Gaza Marketplace

The video for this title was removed because it is now clear that it is misdated and mislabeled. Raw Story, one of the sites running this video, wrote this:

On Sunday, RAW STORY ran video of a bombing in Gaza purported to be recent footage leaked from an exiled Palestinian blogger.

The footage is the aftermath of a devastating bombing taking place in a market, said to have been taken on Saturday. According to Haitham Sabbah, it was taken "immediately after a terrorist Israeli air strike hit a busy market where kids with their mothers and fathers were searching for food to eat from one of the local markets early on Saturday 03, Jan 2009."

The source was in error. The footage was actually taken on September 23, 2005 at the Jabaliya refugee camp, described as a bombing of a parade that killed at least 15 Palestinians. Israel denied responsibility, and the ruling Palestinian Fatah blamed Hamas.

From another site:

The video was recorded on September 23rd 2005, not 1st January 2009
#
The scene is not a civilian marketplace, it is from the Jabalya refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip
#
The video does not depict the aftermath of an IDF air strike, it depicts the aftermath of the explosion of a pick-up truck carrying Qassam rockets during a Hamas rally (that explains the large number of Hamas personnel present immediately after the explosion, the miniature Hamas flags, etc.)
#
At least 15 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in the blast, many of whom were Hamas security personnel either in or around the pick-up truck (that explains all the wounded in military uniforms)
#
The copy of the video you are actively distributing has been edited. The original video supposedly showed the Hamas pick-up truck (visible for a split-second at the start of your edited version) exploding, whereas your version cuts from an image of the pick-up beforehand to the immediate aftermath.

The irony here is that according to Dr. Gilbert, who is quoted in the second comment below, a market was hit on Saturday, killing 20 and injuuring 80. He has been treating the wounded. What led me to believe this video was authentic was the doctor's text message from Gaza. Mosquito Blog apologizes for getting snookered here and passing on what amounts to propaganda.

France Blasts Israeli Ground Offensive

This is an excerpt from an article posted on the website, Palestine Chronicles, an excellent source of news about Palestine and Israel.

France condemned late on Saturday, January 3, an Israeli ground military offensive against the heavily-populated besieged Gaza Strip, while London said the operation shows the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire.

"France condemns the Israeli ground offensive against Gaza just as it condemns the continuing firing of rockets," Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a statement issued by his office.

Israeli ground forces began moving into Gaza earlier Saturday following a week of massive strikes, which have so far left 460 Palestinians dead including 75 children.

Israeli tanks rolled into Gaza and engaged in night-time battles with resistance fighters.

"This dangerous military escalation complicates the efforts undertaken by the international community, in particular the EU and France, the members of the Quartet, and the states in the region to stop the fighting, bring immediate aid to civilians and find a permanent ceasefire," Kouchne warned.

President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to fly to the Middle East on Monday, hoping to rally key players in the region behind a French plan to pressure Israel and Hamas to renew a failed ceasefire.

For the full article, click here

Palestinian and Israeli Officials' Positions on January 3rd

In interviews with MSNBC, the Palestinian official headed for the UN is demanding peace while the Israeli official is protesting that Israel only wants peace, so why is Gaza still sinking into the lower rings of Hell right now? Because Israel is still determined to decapitate Hamas, preferring a docile government in control of Gaza and because it is trapped in its own rhetoric of demonizing Hamas as a terrorist organization, rendering Israel incapable of even negotiating with Hamas. Yet a few years back, Israel was working to enhance Hamas's power in Gaza against then Yasser Arafat and the PLO. Now that's cynical politics.

Anyway, you can can compare these two officials' statements.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Time to Kill?

Open your eyes and read the Voices from Gaza

Close your eyes...imagine these atrocities happening in your neighborhood.

Do you want to support the mass slaughter of people just like you around the world? Your tax dollars are being misused to kill innocent civilians.

Silence is the cover needed for these atrocious war crimes. Don't be an accomplice to this crime. Take a few minutes on Monday to speak out and contact your elected officials--all of them--and request that the USA STOP SUPPORTING THE MASS MURDERS OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS. This is genocide, it is madness, and these are terrorist acts against the people living in Gaza.

Geneva Conventions Articles Regarding the Treatment of Civilian Populations

Israel has sent its Army into Gaza, into the middle of a civilian population. Let us bear in mind the laws of war, and hold both Israel and Hamas accountable for their actions:

For your info and use, here are some of the main articles pertaining to civilian populations during warfare under the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1).

You can read the whole protocal at: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/93.htm


Article 51.-Protection of the civilian population1. The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations. To give effect to this protection, the following rules, which are additional to other applicable rules of international law, shall be observed in circumstances.

2. The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.

3. Civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded by this Section, unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities.

4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are:

(a) Those which are not directed at a specific military objective;

(b) Those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or

(c) Those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol; and consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.

5. Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate:

(a) An attack by bombardment by any methods or means which treats as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects; and

(b) An attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

6. Attacks against the civilian population or civilians by way of reprisals are prohibited.

7. The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations. The Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.

8. Any violation of these prohibitions shall not release the Parties to the conflict from their legal obligations with respect to the civilian population and civilians, including the obligation to take the precautionary measures provided for in Article 57.

CHAPTER III.-CIVILIAN OBJECTS Article 52.-General protection of civilian objects1. Civilian objects shall not be the object of attack or of reprisals. Civilian objects are all objects which are not military objectives as defined in paragraph 2.

2. Attacks shall be limited strictly to military objectives. In so far as objects are concerned, military objectives are limited to those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military of advantage.

3. In case of doubt whether an object which is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a place of worship, a house or other dwelling or a school, is being used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used.

Article 53.-Protection of cultural objects and of places of worshipWithout prejudice to the provisions of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 14 May 1954, and of other relevant international instruments, it is prohibited:

(a) To commit any acts of hostility directed against the historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples;

(b) To use such objects in support of the military effort;

(c) To make such objects the object of reprisals.

Article 54.-Protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population1. Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.

2. It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive.

3. The prohibitions in paragraph 2 shall not apply to such of the objects covered by it as are used by an adverse Party:

(a) As sustenance solely for the members of its armed forces; or

(b) If not as sustenance, then in direct support of military action, provided, however, that in no event shall actions against these objects be taken which may be expected to leave the civilian population with such inadequate food or water as to cause its starvation or force its movement.

4. These objects shall not be made the object of reprisals.

5. In recognition of the vital requirements of any Party to the conflict in the defence of its national territory against invasion, derogation from the prohibitions contained in paragraph 2 may be made by a Party to the conflict within such territory under its own control where required by imperative military necessity.

CHAPTER IV.-PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES Article 57.-Precautions in attack1. In the conduct of military operations, constant care shall be taken to spare the civilian population, civilians and civilian objects.

2. With respect to attacks, the following precautions shall be taken:

(a) Those who plan or decide upon an attack shall:

(i) Do everything feasible to verify that the objectives to be attacked are neither civilians nor civilian objects and are not subject to special protection but are military objectives within the meaning of paragraph 2 of Article 52 and that it is not prohibited by the provisions of this Protocol to attack them;

(ii) Take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and methods of attack with a view to avoiding, and in any event to minimizing, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects;

(iii) Refrain from deciding to launch any attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated;

(b) An attack shall be cancelled or suspended if it becomes apparent that the objective is not a military one or is subject to special protection or that the attack may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated;

(c) Effective advance warning shall be given of attacks which may affect the civilian population, unless circumstances do not permit.

3. When a choice is possible between several military objectives for obtaining a similar military advantage, the objective to be selected shall be that the attack on which may be expected to cause the least danger to civilian lives and to civilian objects.

4. In the conduct of military operations at sea or in the air, each Party to the conflict shall, in conformity with its rights and duties under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, take all reasonable precautions to avoid losses of civilian lives and damage to civilian objects.

5. No provision of this Article may be construed as authorizing any attacks against the civilian population, civilians or civilian objects.
Article 58.-Precautions against the effects of attacksThe Parties to the conflict shall, to the maximum extent feasible:

(a) Without prejudice to Article 49 of the Fourth Convention, endeavour to remove the civilian population, individual civilians and civilian objects under their control from the vicinity of military objectives;

(b) Avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas;

(c) Take the other necessary precautions to protect the civilian population, individual civilians and civilian objects under their control against the dangers resulting from military operations.

**********

BUSH The Ultimate Hypocrite

"Since Hamas's violent takeover in the summer of 2007, living conditions have worsened for Palestinians in Gaza. By spending its resources on rocket launchers instead of roads and schools, Hamas has demonstrated that it has no intention of serving the Palestinian people."--President Bush Radio Address, 1/2/09

Yep. You just gotta hate a government that blows all its money on weapons while its bridges fall down. What's Hamas's problem? Are they evil or just stupid? Thank God we're fighting them there, so they can't get here. --Chris Kelly (Source)

Guest Editorial from OpEdNews: Urgent Call for American Muslims by Edip Yuksel

Here is very encouraging piece posted today at OpEdnews.com. Any of you who are sincerely interested in peace, especially in the Middle East, whether you are Jewish, Christian or Moslem (or anything else), will find this worth your reading.

Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/populum/diarypage.php?did=11458

January 3, 2009

Urgent Call for American Muslims

By Edip Yuksel

It is time to unite our hearts, minds, and voices to promote peace, justice and progress. These are not just cliché words. It is time to leave aside sectarian divisions, irrational conflicts, nationalism, petty agendas, and come together and promote important universal values. It is time to sit down and reason: with each other, with our friends and with our enemies.

::::::::

Call for ACTION (Please Reply) MPJP

3:104 "Let there be a nation from amongst you that calls towards goodness, and orders recognized norms, and deters from evil. These are the successful ones."

3:200 "O you who acknowledge, be patient, call for patience, bond together, and be aware of God that you may succeed"

4:58 "God orders you to delegate the responsibilities to those who are qualified. If you judge between the people, then you shall judge with justice. It is always the best that God prescribes for you. God is Hearer, Seer."

This is not a article to be read and put aside. This is an invitation for action, an urgent call for change. If you consider yourself a muslim, that is, you have decided to peacefully surrender yourself to God alone, then this is about you, about your loved ones; about your present and future.

I am excited to inform you that a group of leading muslim activists residing in the USA have decided to establish a non-sectarian political organization to promote peace, justice and progress. Here and abroad.

We cannot be bystanders of a historical transformation. Humanity is in a stage of enormous crisis and global transformation. We cannot standby while warmongers of various religions and ideologies are hurling the world towards a possible annihilation. We cannot standby while the word "muslim" is associated with terrorism, backwardness, authoritarianism. Enough is enough. We cannot allow hatemonger define us, humiliate us or discriminate against us. We cannot allow being a candidate for the second holocaust in the history! We have to unveil and destroy the devil's plan.

It is time to unite our hearts, minds, and voices to promote peace, justice and progress. These are not just cliché words. It is time to leave aside sectarian divisions, irrational conflicts, nationalism, petty agendas, and come together and promote important universal values. It is time to sit down and reason: with each other, with our friends and with our enemies.

There are millions of muslims in the United States; there are more than a billion in the world. Yet, we are almost invisible in financial, social, and political arena. We consider ourselves muslims, yet, a great majority of us are not affiliated with any religious organization. Current religious organizations do not appeal to the diversity of muslim population in the USA. We need to create an umbrella organization that will promote:

1. Peace in the world

2. Justice for all people, regardless of their race, religion, or country of origin.

3. Progress by respecting liberty, individual rights, science, and by establishing governments of people, by people, for people.

"Muslims for Peace, Justice and Progress" is in the process of formation. We are currently creating a list of core group of activists and member organizations. The members of the core group will not live in ivory towers; we will be on streets, on university campuses, in soup kitchens, in parks, temples, courts, on TV programs, in mayor's or governor's office. We will be in the senate and congress. We will stand against aggression, oppression, discrimination, corruption, tyranny, jingoism, wars and division. We will change ourselves, our community, and the world we live in. Inshallah!

So, we invite you and all other muslims to unite. Here how you can participate in our grass-root movement and how you can contribute:

1. Send us and email with some information about you, such as your name, phone number, and city/state. The subject of the email may contain the following acronym: "MPJP"

2. Tell us in what capacities you can contribute. For instance, financial, establishing local chapters, establishing clubs in universities, website design, film making, fundraising, public relations, legal representation, lobbying, etc.

3. Suggest us the names of activists and organizations, and provide us with their contact addresses.

4. Be optimistic, be brave, work hard, and do not give up.

We will soon launch a website and invite you and others to apply for membership. We will collect signatures for a letter to the President Obama, and we will publish it.

The following mission statement is authored by sister Ruby Amatulla, the founder of the organization, Muslim for Peace, Justice and Progress (MPJP):

An American Muslim Leadership
to Spearhead an International Peace and Constructive Agenda

Vision

In this critical time when a massive shift in the mindset and the modus operandi of humanity is taking shape that would dictate the direction of human affairs for generations to come it is imperative that there is a good relationship and constructive engagements between the Muslim world and the West in general, and America in particular. Though both of these vital camps of humanity are enormously diverse themselves the overriding trend for the last several decades is that they are getting increasingly polarized and confrontational. Trust, goodwill and confidence between these two camps are absolutely indispensable for the interest and welfare of not only of themselves but of the rest of the world as well.

This should be the vision of American Muslims to provide an effective and vital leadership role in helping bringing about this outcome in our time. We have great opportunity and duty to play this critical role for peace, stability and progress in global stage. We are the common denominator between American -- the superpower of our time-- and the Muslim world— about one-fourth of humanity controlling 76% of the oil reserves of the world. We are conversant with and part of both camps. By virtue of this predisposition an enormous responsibility falls on our shoulder to be a leader in mediation, conflict resolution, reconciliation and constructive engagements. This should our vision to be a bridge and catalyst for a constructive and substantial change in the relationship between these two parties who are worlds apart.

Mission

To achieve these goals, the American Muslim Leadership suggests the following mission.

1. First we need to have an effective agenda.

2. We need to build a cohesive and agile organization which can build a grass root support among the American Muslims.

3. We need to create a national presence through our issues and involvements and help create the proper leverage to be effective in our work.

4. We also need to work closely and intensely with the leadership of civil society and the government working on similar agendas with the Muslim world.

5. Promote interfaith dialogue and civil discourse among different nations from the spectrum of these two different camps.

6. Remain objective, neutral and professional in all of its endeavors.

7. Our agenda should be multi-dimensional encompassing political, philosophical, educational, social and economic domains in order to be effective and the issues and conflicts are often multi-dimensional.

8. One of the goals should be to make a movement transnational even through it is spearheaded from America to gain an international support, legitimacy and leverage.

9. The above goals should be defined in the broadest terms while the strategies should be detailed and specific.

10. Among many issues and nations we need to set priority of focus in order to help bring about resolution in one critical area that would help solve others in the next phase.

11. The organization needs to be extremely cohesive and agile at the core decision making level and broad and diverse at the operative levels.

Authors Website: www.yuksel.org

Authors Bio: EDIP YUKSEL, J.D. is a progressive American-Turkish-Kurdish author/philosopher/lawyer/activist (too many hyphens and slashes, I know). His recent English books "Quran: a Reformist Translation", and "Manifesto for Islamic Reform" are available at http://www.brainbowpress.com. Since English is chronologically his fifth language, please ignore the mischievous "the" and other grammatical quirks in his articles.

A MESSAGE TO A TERRORIST رسالة إلى إرهابي

For those who tend to think that all Moslems or all "Arabs" are fanatics and that the religion of Islam is inherently violent, then ponder this video. There are many Moslems who have higher spiritual awareness than we realize, and who are actually trying to turn their more benighted brothers within the Moslem world away from pathways of violence, rage and vengeance. These are the people we have to seek dialogue with in order to build bridges of understanding between Moslems and Jews and Christians. I have said before that we have to realize that the Sufi tradition within Islam has for centuries taught the path of Love, the same pathway that Christ taught. Christians and Moslems can find common ground through the Sufi teachings and the Gospels and work to build on that common ground.

The Reality In Gaza - Dr. Mads Gilbert of Norway Witnesses

Dr. Mads Gilbert of Norwac, one of the doctors allowed into Gaza to give emergency medical aid, described conditions to the world inside Gaza as of December 31. Things have only gotten worse since then. Meanwhile the world dissembles and pontificates to a large degree, while the United States blocks UN resolutions to stop the slaughter. I am reminded of the S.S. St Louis and the Voyage of the Damned.

How Israel is Multiplying Hamas by a Thousand - Molten Lead in Gaza By Uri Avnery

Uri Avnery, well-known Israeli peace activist and writer, had his latest article posted on OpEdNews this afternoon, so, since we are allowing guest editorials from OpEdNews, consider pondering his thoughts on the Gaza nightmare:

(The OpEdNews link is at: http://www.opednews.com/populum/diarypage.php?did=11450

JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT, Aljazeera’s Arabic channel was reporting on events in Gaza. Suddenly the camera was pointing upwards towards the dark sky. The screen was pitch black. Nothing could be seen, but there was a sound to be heard: the noise of airplanes, a frightening, a terrifying droning.

It was impossible not to think about the tens of thousands of Gazan children who were hearing that sound at that moment, cringing with fright, paralyzed by fear, waiting for the bombs to fall.

* * *

“ISRAEL MUST defend itself against the rockets that are terrorizing our Southern towns,” the Israeli spokesmen explained. “Palestinians must respond to the killing of their fighters inside the Gaza Strip,” the Hamas spokesmen declared.

As a matter of fact, the cease-fire did not collapse, because there was no real cease-fire to start with. The main requirement for any cease-fire in the Gaza Strip must be the opening of the border crossings. There can be no life in Gaza without a steady flow of supplies. But the crossings were not opened, except for a few hours now and again. The blockade on land, on sea and in the air against a million and a half human beings is an act of war, as much as any dropping of bombs or launching of rockets. It paralyzes life in the Gaza Strip: eliminating most sources of employment, pushing hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation, stopping most hospitals from functioning, disrupting the supply of electricity and water.

Those who decided to close the crossings – under whatever pretext – knew that there is no real cease-fire under these conditions.

That is the main thing. Then there came the small provocations which were designed to get Hamas to react. After several months, in which hardly any Qassam rockets were launched, an army unit was sent into the Strip “in order to destroy a tunnel that came close to the border fence”. From a purely military point of view, it would have made more sense to lay an ambush on our side of the fence. But the aim was to find a pretext for the termination of the cease-fire, in a way that made it plausible to put the blame on the Palestinians. And indeed, after several such small actions, in which Hamas fighters were killed, Hamas retaliated with a massive launch of rockets, and – lo and behold – the cease-fire was at an end. Everybody blamed Hamas.

* * *

WHAT WAS THE AIM? Tzipi Livni announced it openly: to liquidate Hamas rule in Gaza. The Qassams served only as a pretext.

Liquidate Hamas rule? That sounds like a chapter out of “The March of Folly”. After all, it is no secret that it was the Israeli government which set up Hamas to start with. When I once asked a former Shin-Bet chief, Yaakov Peri, about it, he answered enigmatically: “We did not create it, but we did not hinder its creation.”

For years, the occupation authorities favored the Islamic movement in the occupied territories. All other political activities were rigorously suppressed, but their activities in the mosques were permitted. The calculation was simple and naive: at the time, the PLO was considered the main enemy, Yasser Arafat was the current Satan. The Islamic movement was preaching against the PLO and Arafat, and was therefore viewed as an ally.

With the outbreak of the first intifada in 1987, the Islamic movement officially renamed itself Hamas (Arabic initials of “Islamic Resistance Movement”) and joined the fight. Even then, the Shin-Bet took no action against them for almost a year, while Fatah members were executed or imprisoned in large numbers. Only after a year, were Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his colleagues also arrested.

Since then the wheel has turned. Hamas has now become the current Satan, and the PLO is considered by many in Israel almost as a branch of the Zionist organization. The logical conclusion for an Israeli government seeking peace would have been to make wide-ranging concessions to the Fatah leadership: ending of the occupation, signing of a peace treaty, foundation of the State of Palestine, withdrawal to the 1967 borders, a reasonable solution of the refugee problem, release of all Palestinian prisoners. That would have arrested the rise of Hamas for sure.

But logic has little influence on politics. Nothing of this sort happened. On the contrary, after the murder of Arafat, Ariel Sharon declared that Mahmoud Abbas, who took his place, was a “plucked chicken”. Abbas was not allowed the slightest political achievement. The negotiations, under American auspices, became a joke. The most authentic Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouti, was sent to prison for life. Instead of a massive prisoner release, there were petty and insulting “gestures”.

Abbas was systematically humiliated, Fatah looked like an empty shell and Hamas won a resounding victory in the Palestinian election – the most democratic election ever held in the Arab world. Israel boycotted the elected government. In the ensuing internal struggle, Hamas assumed direct control over the Gaza Strip.

And now, after all this, the government of Israel decided to “liquidate Hamas rule in Gaza” – with blood, fire and columns of smoke.

* * *

THE OFFICIAL NAME of the war is “Cast Lead”, two words from a children’s song about a Hanukkah toy.

It would be more accurate to call it “the the Election War”.

In the past, too, military action has been taken during election campaigns. Menachem Begin bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor during the 1981 campaign. When Shimon Peres claimed that this was an election gimmick, Begin cried out at his next rally: “Jews, do you believe that I would send our brave boys to their death or, worse, to be taken prisoner by human animals, in order to win an election?” Begin won.

Peres is no Begin. When, during the 1996 election campaign, he ordered the invasion of Lebanon (operation “Grapes of Wrath”), everybody was convinced that he had done it for electoral gain. The war was a failure and Peres lost the elections and Binyamin Netanyahu came to power.

Barak and Tzipi Livni are now resorting to the same old trick. According to the polls, Barak’s predicted election result rose within 48 hours by five Knesset seats. About 80 dead Palestinians for each seat. But it is difficult to walk on a pile of dead bodies. The success may evaporate in a minute if the war comes to be considered by the Israeli public as a failure. For example, if the rockets continue to hit Beersheba, or if the ground attack leads to heavy Israeli casualties.

The timing was chosen meticulously from another angle too. The attack started two days after Christmas, when American and European leaders are on holiday until after New Year. The calculation: even if somebody wanted to try and stop the war, no one would give up his holiday. That ensured several days free from outside pressures.

Another reason for the timing: these are George Bush’s last days in the White House. This blood-soaked moron could be expected to support the war enthusiastically, as indeed he did. Barack Obama has not yet entered office and had a ready made pretext for keeping silent: “there is only one President”. The silence does not bode well for the term of president Obama.

* * *

THE MAIN LINE was: not to repeat the mistakes of Lebanon War II. This was endlessly repeated on all the news programs and talk shows.

This does not change the fact: the Gaza War is an almost exact replica of the second Lebanon war.

The strategic concept is the same: to terrorize the civilian population by unremitting attacks from the air, sowing death and destruction. This poses no danger to the pilots, since the Palestinians have no anti-aircraft weapons at all. The calculation: if the entire life-supporting infrastructure in the Strip is utterly destroyed and total anarchy ensues, the population will rise up and overthrow the Hamas regime. Mahmoud Abbas will then ride back into Gaza on the back of Israeli tanks.

In Lebanon, this calculation did not work out. The bombed population, including the Christians, rallied behind Hizbullah, and Hassan Nasrallah became the hero of the Arab world. Something similar will probably happen this time, too. Generals are experts on using weapons and moving troops, not on mass psychology.

Some time ago I wrote that the Gaza blockade was a scientific experiment designed to find out how much one can starve a population and turn its life into hell before they break. This experiment was conducted with the generous help of Europe and the US. Up to now, it did not succeed. Hamas became stronger and the range of the Qassams became longer. The present war is a continuation of the experiment by other means.

It may be that the army will “have no alternative” but to re-conquer the Gaza Strip because there is no other way to stop the Qassams – except coming to an agreement with Hamas, which is contrary to government policy. When the ground invasion starts, everything will depend on the motivation and capabilities of the Hamas fighters vis-à-vis the Israeli soldiers. Nobody can know what will happen.

* * *

DAY AFTER DAY, night after night, Aljazeera’s Arabic channel broadcasts the atrocious pictures: heaps of mutilated bodies, tearful relatives looking for their dear ones among the dozens of corpses spread out on the ground, a woman pulling her young daughter from under the rubble, doctors without medicines trying to save the lives of the wounded. (The English-language Aljazeera, unlike its Arab-language sister-station, has undergone an amazing about face, broadcasting only a sanitized picture and freely distributing Israeli government propaganda. It would be interesting to know what happened there.)

Millions are seeing these terrible images, picture after picture, day after day. These images are imprinted on their minds forever: horrible Israel, abominable Israel, inhuman Israel. A whole generation of haters. That is a terrible price, which we will be compelled to pay long after the other results of the war itself have been forgotten in Israel.

But there is another thing that is being imprinted on the minds of these millions: the picture of the miserable, corrupt, passive Arab regimes.

As seen by Arabs, one fact stands out above all others: the wall of shame.

For the million and a half Arabs in Gaza, who are suffering so terribly, the only opening to the world that is not dominated by Israel is the border with Egypt. Only from there can food arrive to sustain life and medicaments to save the injured. This border remains closed at the height of the horror. The Egyptian army has blocked the only way for food and medicines to enter, while surgeons operate on the wounded without anesthetics.

Throughout the Arab world, from end to end, there echoed the words of Hassan Nasrallah: The leaders of Egypt are accomplices to the crime, they are collaborating with the “Zionist enemy” in trying to break the Palestinian people. It can be assumed that he did not mean only Mubarak, but also all the other leaders, from the king of Saudi Arabia to the Palestinian President. Seeing the demonstrations throughout the Arab world and listening to the slogans, one gets the impression that their leaders seem to many Arabs pathetic at best, and miserable collaborators at worst.

This will have historic consequences. A whole generation of Arab leaders, a generation imbued with the ideology of secular Arab nationalism, the successors of Gamal Abd-al-Nasser, Hafez al-Assad and Yasser Arafat, may be swept from the stage. In the Arab space, the only viable alternative is the ideology of Islamic fundamentalism.

This war is a writing on the wall: Israel is missing the historic chance of making peace with secular Arab nationalism. Tomorrow, It may be faced with a uniformly fundamentalist Arab world, Hamas multiplied by a thousand.

MY TAXI DRIVER in Tel-Aviv the other day was thinking aloud: Why not call up the sons of the ministers and members of the Knesset, form them into a combat unit and send them off to head the coming ground attack on Gaza?

Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He is a contributor to CounterPunch's book The Politics of Anti-Semitism.

Campaigners Condemn Gaza Raids

The International hue and cry against the Israeli state's murderous assault on Gaza is growing. Meanwhile, the great Obama works on his abs.

Another Bushevik Idiot

According to Alberto Gonzalez:

"What is it that I did that is so fundamentally wrong, that deserves this kind of response to my service?" he said during an interview Tuesday, offering his most extensive comments since leaving government.... Mr. Gonzales said that "for some reason, I am portrayed as the one who is evil in formulating policies that people disagree with. I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror."

Sorry Alberto but authorizing and defending Torture is not only a war crime with no excuse it's UN-AMERICAN. Thank God we are losing Bush and his crew of Idiots that have bankrupted America morally and economically.

Gonzalez is learning that in America we believe in actions having consequences so he is not able to find a job. Hopefully justice will be restored in America and Gonzalez will find himself jailed for the war crimes he refused to prosecute as US Attorney General Office.

A Hundred Eyes for an Eye

An Excerpt from A Hundred Eyes for an Eye:

Israel's airstrikes "have killed at least 270 people so far, injured more than 1,000, many of them seriously, and many remain buried under the rubble so the death toll will likely rise," Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies pointed out on Sunday, two days into Israel's attack. "This catastrophic impact was known and inevitable, and far outweighs any claim of self-defense or protection of Israeli civilians." She mentioned that "the one Israeli killed by a Palestinian rocket attack on Saturday after the Israeli assault began was the first such casualty in more than a year."

Even if you set aside the magnitude of Israel's violations of the Geneva conventions and the long terrible history of its methodical collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, consider the vastly disproportionate carnage in the conflict.

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," Gandhi said.

What about a hundred eyes for an eye? ...

What's going on in Gaza right now is not just an eye for an eye. It's a hundred eyes for an eye. And the current slaughter is not only an ongoing Israeli war crime. It has an accomplice named Uncle Sam.

More of Rabbi Lerner on Gaza: How to Get Out of This Mess

This is an excerpt from RDPulpit: Israel in Gaza: Right but not Smart
By Rabbi Michael Lerner
Posted on January 2, 2009, Printed on January 2, 2009

For the full article, go to http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/rdpulpit/919/

Israel’s attempt to wipe out Hamas is understandable, but dumb.

No country in the world is going to ignore the provocation of rockets being launched from neighboring territory day after day. If Mexico had a group of anti-imperialist South Americans bombing Texas, imagine how long it would take for the US to mobilize a counter-attack. Israel has every right to respond.

But the kind of response matters.

Massive bombings of the sort that have thus far killed over 400 Palestinians and wounded 1,000 other civilians is a classic example of a disproportionate response.

Before Israel’s massive bombing, the Hamas bombings that began when the previous ceasefire ran out had not (thank God) killed any one. The reason is obvious: Hamas has no airplanes, no tanks, nothing more than the weapons of the powerless—limited range mortars with limited accuracy. Hamas can harass, but it cannot pose any threat to the existence of Israel. And just as Hamas’ indiscriminate bombing of population centers is a crime against humanity, so is Israel’s massive attack against civilians (in addition to those killed thus far in Gaza, there are the thousands killed by Israel in the years of the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza).

Hamas had respected the previously negotiated ceasefire except when Israel used the ceasefire as cover to make assassination raids against Hamas and other Palestinian leaders. Arguing that these raids were hardly a manifestation of ceasefire, Hamas would, as symbolic protest, allow the release of rocket fire (usually hitting no targets). But when the issue of continuing the ceasefire came up, Hamas wanted a guarantee that these assassination raids would stop. And it asked for more. With hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing acute malnutrition bordering on starvation, Hamas insisted that the borders be opened to counter Israeli attempts to starve the Gazans into submission. And in return for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, it asks for the release of a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Hamas has made it clear that it would accept the terms of the Saudi Arabian peace agreement, though it would never formally recognize Israel. It would live peacefully in a two state arrangement, but it would never acknowledge Israel’s “right to exist.” This position is unnecessarily provocative, and represents deep self-destructiveness on the part of Palestinians who believe that this failure to acknowledge Israel’s rights is the only symbolic weapon they have left. To many Israelis, trapped in their own history as survivors of genocide and oppression, Hamas’ refusal to give official recognition is a way of saying, “We’ll wait till we have adequate military power, and then we’ll break any de facto truce and ceasefire and use that power to wipe out Israel, so just give us time.”

How do we get out of these dynamics that lead to the current situation in which a small number of Israelis and a huge number of Palestinians are killed or maimed?

To read the Rabbi's answers, check out the entire article by clicking here.

B'Tselem questions Israeli account of attack - 1 Jan 09

This is how technology and hubris combine to create deadly consequences for civilians in Gaza, or for that matter in Baghdad or Fallujah at the hands of high-tech-worshipping Americans, and why it is actually a war crime to wage war in the middle of a civilian population.

Of course, some who watch this will say that the owner of the truck is a dirty Hamas liar, ect., etc., but that's clearly stretching it I believe. Having worked with gas cannisters many times over the years, I can say that the images in the video were the right size and shape for standard Oxygen or Acetylene bottles used in cutting steel.

Anyway, we all know that modern warfare has largely devolved into warfare on civilians, whether on purpose or by the inevitability of "collateral" damage, and that is one more reason why the institution of war must be taken down brick by brick.

This example of the truck being blasted by the Israeli Air Force also leads us to question how the so-called statistical body-count experts can so confidently state that only this many civilians died and that many military personnel died. How many more incidents were there like this in Gaza since the assault started?

Rob Kall Interview with Rabbi Michael Lerner on Gaza and The History that Brought Us To This Point

Rob Kall is the head of www.OpEdNews.com, one of the larger political websites on the Net, largely liberal to leftist, with some conservatives, some libertarians and a host of other voices off the conformist mainstream media path. He also has a radio program, and on New Year's Eve he aired an interview he had with Rabbi Michael Lerner, founder and publisher of Tikkun Magazine and co-founder of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. Rabbi Lerner is an outspoken critic of the old, self-destructive paradigms afloat in the world of endless war, greed, cynicism and fear that have brought the planet to the brink of collapse, morally, economically and environmentally. He is very keen on what is happening in the Middle East, knows the history, sees the current follies, and has some novel recommendations on how to bring peace to the Middle East, and to Israel and the Palestinians particularly.

You could, then, do worse then to listen to this hour broadcast at http://www.freeconference.com/ by clicking here. Then right click on the"Recording Download Link" and open or save that link.

Rob Kall has now released the transcript of his interview with Rabbi Lerner. Click here to read.

Guest Editorial from OpEdNews: Gaza & beyond: What's the alternative?

OpEdNews (www.opednews.com) Headliner for January 1, 2009

December 31, 2008

Gaza & beyond: What's the alternative?

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Beyond anguish, what can we say about Gaza that points toward an alternative? Not just in pretty theory, but in political practicality?

The alternative for Hamas would have been to multiply the approach of the nonviolent boatloads of people who were in the last month bringing supplies to Gaza, ignoring or violating the Israeli blockade. This approach was building support in much of the world, pointing out the injustice and violence of the blockade. Instead of canceling the cease-fire and aiming rockets once again, Hamas could have turned those boats into a multitude. They might have built an enormous popular pressure in Europe and the US for an end to the blockade and negotiations between Israel, the various powers, and Hamas.

Can Hamas still take this turn toward a powerful nonviolent politics instead of a weak and dead-end military pop-gun? Much harder now. Their knee-jerk response will be to keep up enough military action to suck Israel into a land invasion and terrible carnage. Perhaps that was their intention all along. The result will be lose-lose. It will take profound rethinking to pursue a win-win path. All the sticks in the world are not likely to beat such a response out of Hamas. Carrots might, and that requires strong US support for such a move.

The alternative for the Israeli government would be to say: --- Instead of scornfully rejecting the Saudi/ Arab League proposal for a region-wide peace settlement among Israel, all Arab states, and a viable Palestinian state, we encourage it, and encourage its proponents to press Hamas to join in, while making clear that for us the deal must include only very small symbolic numbers of Palestinian refugees returning to Israel itself, and control of the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. And we encourage, instead of blocking, a Palestinian government of national unity, including Hamas as well as Fatah.

And -- we will negotiate directly with Hamas toward ending the blockade, welcoming European and Egyptian aid and investment, releasing the members of their parliament we are holding in jail, and in exchange, get an end to the rocket attacks by Hamas, a commitment to at least fifty years of "calm" or "truce," and their acceptance of governmental responsibility to control other groups that may try to continue.

Can an Israeli government take such steps? Perhaps now any Israeli government can do this and say that they have not rewarded terrorism, are not negotiating from weakness, have shown they can be bloody. But would they want to? That too would require a deep rethinking, because it would mean a serious commitment to ending the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as the blockade of Gaza. Settlers and other opponents of doing this will, though fewer in numbers than those who will support it, be much more intense in their opposition. So the government is likely to be paralyzed, refusing to do what is necessary for peace, resorting to old slogans and the institutional and cultural power of the military to justify paralysis.

So the necessary counterweight for this domestic paralysis will have to come from outside -- that is, the United States. The alternative policy for the US government would be to use the disaster of these reciprocal attacks to call for all the above: To insist on a regional Middle East peace conference, to insist that even a Netanyahu government of Israel and even a Hamas leadership of Gaza or Palestine take part and accept a decent peace, to connect the end of the US occupation of Iraq with serious diplomacy with Iran and a political settlement of the Afghan agony; to move swiftly off the fossil fuel addiction that drives a planetary disaster and drives American policy into corruption or conquest in the Middle Eastern oil pools.

Only the biggest response can meet the need. Half-measures, the normal response of governments facing complex conflict, will not work.

And what might make such a break with automatic US policy possible? The Presidency of an unusual person chanting "change" is not enough. There are only two clusters of power in the US with enough passion about the Middle East to matter. One is Big Oil. The other is the ethnic and religious passion of American Christians, Jews, and Muslims. If sizeable parts of these groups could work together for such a policy, it might be possible.

For many Jews and Muslims, that is even harder now than it was two weeks ago. But for others, perhaps the shock of so much blood can make it possible.



Authors Website: http://www.shalomctr.org/

Authors Bio: Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Ph. D., founded (in 1983) and directs The Shalom Center , a prophetic voice in Jewish, multireligious, and American life that brings Jewish and other spiritual thought and practice to bear on seeking peace, pursuing justice, healing the earth, and celebrating community. He edits and writes for its weekly on-line Shalom Report. In 1996, Waskow was named by the United Nations a Wisdom Keeper among forty religious and intellectual leaders who met in connection with the Habitat II conference in Istanbul. In 2001, he was presented with the Abraham Joshua Heschel Award by the Jewish Peace Fellowship. In 2005, he was named by the Forward, the leading Jewish weekly in America, one of the "Forward Fifty" as a leader of the Jewish community. In 2007, he was named by Newsweek one of the fifty moist influential American rabbis, and was presented with awards and honors by groups as diverse as the Neighborhood Interfaith Movement of Philadelphia and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation.

Voices from Gaza

There is nothing like reading what the people actually experiencing war on their community are saying to learn what is really going on, beyond all the propaganda spin by American and Israeli government apologists or even Hamas spin doctors. This is excerpted from an aljazeera.net article. (click here for the original article.)

FOCUS: VOICES FROM GAZA
Gazans: 'We are living a nightmare'

As the death toll from Israel's aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip continues to climb, Al Jazeera asked Gazans to describe the situation where they are and to explain how the offensive is affecting them.

Majed Badra, 23, Gaza City, cartoonist and student at the Islamic University

"Unfortunately the situation is very bad in Gaza city - the Israeli occupation is striking more and more organisations, more houses and the mosque, and my university was hit last night.

They focus on the civilians. It is easy for them.

Nothing is working in Gaza and we don't do anything. We stay inside the house, my family and I. Every family in Gaza is doing the same.

We are used to hearing these airstrikes, everybody here is used to it and we don't have any way to protect ourselves. We just stay inside the home, hearing the news, hearing where the Israeli [army] strikes, hearing the F16s and Apaches and waiting to see what will happen.

We were not prepared for the war. They attack civilians and children and don't care if we are armed or not.

"The world looks at unarmed Palestinian people as though they are a nation with an army, as though we are equal to the Israelis ... but this is not true"

Majed, Gaza City

Yesterday, my sister's house was damaged in a strike on a target nearby. Every room was damaged except for the kitchen, where she and the children were. Allah kept them alive.

The world looks at unarmed Palestinian people as though they are a nation with an army, as though we are equal to the Israelis. They think we have real rockets that cause a lot of damage or have a big effect, but this is not true.

The reality is that we don't have anything and they have struck everything in Gaza.

I have exams coming soon in my university and I want to study but I can't in this situation. So they affect my future, the future of all students here.

Why does the Israeli army strike my university and mosques and houses? I don't know the answer. You have to ask them.

The coming days will be very bad. There will be more and more deaths."

Nida' Aniss Abu al-Atta, 26, Gaza City, projects officer

"At first, the Israeli opening raid was unexpected for normal people. We were totally shocked and for the first minutes we didn't realise it was new Israeli military aggression against Gaza.

Children thought there would be new clashes between Hamas and Fatah supporters. They were afraid and started crying and running to their mothers.

I and my family were so angry, believing that no one made enough effort to avoid this. Israel planned for this and we show readiness to resist despite being powerless compared to the Israeli arsenal.

I feel angry with the Palestinian internal scene. They were unable to show themselves unified even before this tragedy.

I hate the way Hamas leaders try to reflect our people's will by claiming that we can face this horrible military machine. Palestinian people are bleeding and shouting "enough". Even our president [Mahmoud Abbas] was powerless to the extent that it makes me sick and makes me lose faith in anybody.

I expected nothing from the international community, the Arab world and Muslims. It is not adequate anyhow; they just shout and burn flags.

At the same time, I would say that I really value the world reaction in Europe and in France in particular. I call on the Arab community to be more effective and to practice its responsibility and power against governments, like the Lebanese did before in Beirut.

We all, the Palestinian people and leaders, are responsible for this crime. We execute the Israeli plans without thinking who would be the only ones benefitting from our division.

My French teacher keeps saying: "Nida' you should not feel this normal, you have to keep saying it is horrible and feel angry. Don't get used to this."

Well, I feel normal. It is strange when there are no martyrs, no helicopters in the air or reconnaissance aircrafts in the Gaza sky."

Hamoudi, Tal el Hawa

"More than three buildings have been brought to the ground in my area.

Two of my neighbours were killed on their way back from school - sixteen-year-old Yasmeen and her sister, 15-year-old Haneen. They were innocent girls.

In my household, where I live with my brothers, sisters and my sister's eight-month-old baby, we have been sleeping far from the windows and living in darkness due to the lack of power.

But despite all of that we are still alive. Life is precious and worth fighting for.

All I seek in these moments is for the truth to get out there. Let it be known that in the 21st century this is happening while the whole world is watching but remains silent.

I wonder how cheap Palestinian blood is."

Amin Asfour, Gaza City, doctor in a public hospital

"The situation here is very difficult. They are shooting at us from everywhere, at all targets - military or not.

Many have been killed and more injured, especially in the first two days.

They are using all sorts of bombs. They weigh up to 500kg and can take out a 15-storey building in a second, like an earthquake.

Everyone is living in fear. You never know who they are going to hit.

Obviously, there is anger. It's our people dying - our kin, our relatives, not strangers. But people stick together. They live because they have to live.

We're just waiting for the next bomb to fall and wondering whether it will hit us or the neighbours. We are not afraid of the bombs falling, just anxious about who they will fall on. It's war.

In the hospital, we are short on medicine, but we work with what we have. We do miss many supplies and the equipment we work with is really old but our doctors are hardened - no situation will surprise them."

Ghada Snunu, 30, Gaza City, human rights worker

"What is happening here is unbelievable, it's shocking – a catastrophe. We've been living a nightmare for the past two days because of what's happening around us.

I fear for myself, my family and the people I care about. In all my life, I've never had such a bad feeling.

The children, my nephew and niece, are so scared. They hide under the beds, terrified, and I can do nothing to help them, except to sing soothing words to them. But nothing can help them in this situation.

We need serious action to be taken right now to end this violence against our people. I am so angry with the world – we hear nothing but words and there is no action, no real change. Enough, we are sick of hearing just words even from the Arab countries. We are human beings living here in Gaza just like animals – although maybe animals live in better conditions. We don't have medicine, food, cooking gas, fuel, power – we haven't seen electricity for a week now.

Every single person in Gaza is in a very bad psychological state – what is happening here is urging you to be unhappy, it is pushing you into despair. I feel depressed and sick and bored of everything around me – also because of the internal fighting between Hamas and Fatah.

I feel so bad for our people being separated from each other – we should unite in this bad situation. But while we are under siege and ongoing attacks, Hamas and Fatah are still fighting. This is the time for them to re-unite and work together and put an end to this deteriorating situation.

In the beginning I thought that Israel is targeting Hamas, but then I saw houses and other buildings and roads being destroyed, and innocent people being killed and injured. Now I think that Israel is targeting Gaza and not Hamas.

We never expected an attack of this scale and this number of people killed. It is a massacre. I didn't believe my own eyes at first, because it is so disgusting to see such a thing."

Hatem Shurrab, aid worker in Gaza

"The situation is getting worse day by day.

They're targeting everything. We don't know when or where they will strike next. They're hitting hospitals, medical centres, universities, homes, security centres, police.

This morning five young sisters who lived near a mosque were killed. This is one story among hundreds.

We are trying to provide support for hospitals but they are not able to deal with the injured. They have no space, no equipment. People are being treated outside hospitals on the streets.

I'm homeless now after my home was destroyed.

My family is afraid. My little nephew starts crying every time he hears an explosion. My mother tries to not let me go to work.

The streets are almost empty. The only crowds are near bakeries. Lots of people are staying at home and trying to hide."

Israel Ordered to Let International Media into Gaza

An excerpt from the Guardian UK:

Israel's supreme court today ordered the government to allow the international media into Gaza to report on the effect of the air strikes on Palestinians.

Over the past two months, foreign journalists and representatives have increasingly been restricted from entering Gaza.

Israel has closed the border completely since it began bombing the besieged Palestinian territory on Saturday.

However, the supreme court told the government it must allow up to 12 journalists to enter whenever it opens the Erez crossing, a passenger gateway, for humanitarian reasons.

The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents foreign journalists and began a legal battle to open the crossing to the media last month, said it had been "left with no other choice" than to accept what is a limited victory.

"The state's prohibition on journalists violates two fundamental rights – the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press," the FPA's lawyer, Gilead Sher, said.

"There are several countries in this world, such as North Korea, Zimbabwe and Burma, that ban press coverage in conflict zones. Israel is a democracy with a free liberal press and it should stay so, even in times of crisis and danger."

For the complete article, click here.

Sderot residents live on the edge 30 Dec 08

Video from Al Jazeera News

As you can see, both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are suffering from hostilities since the breakdown of the ceasefire in November, with both Israel and Hamas accusing each other of causing the breakdown. Both sides also accuse each other of being terrorists as well. The irony here is that since Israel's assault on December 26 began, rocket attacks have by-and-large increased, killing several Israelis. One woman in this interview describes the cycle of violence that is going on, hoping that somehow another round of violence will stop the violence. Not very likely.

Worse still, Hamas has called for a Third Intifada, Hezbollah is threatening to open up a second front and Iran has called for volunteers to defend Palestine. The bloodshed on both sides may increase exponentially.

Nowhere to run for those trapped in Gaza - 30 Dec 08

Israel won't let the Western media into Gaza (who are in turn suing Israel in court to get in), and it's pretty obvious why. Would the Nazis have wanted the media to record what was going on in the Warsaw Ghetto while they were assaulting the Jews? Of course not. You don't allow cameras to pan around when you have something ugly to hide. Fortunately an Al Jazeera English news team DID get into Gaza, and the following video is just a snippet of what Palestinians are going through now as the razing of Gaza continues. Multiply this by a hundred to get an idea of what is happening daily now in the Gaza strip at the hands of Israel's high tech bombs, rockets, missiles and artillery, with massive payloads.