by Robert Naiman
here
And then be sure to also see just below on this weblog the post:
Dear Friends of a Just Foreign Policy (also from Robert Naiman)
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
GAZA: "Terrorism" as a smokescreen? Nir Rosen
Gaza: The Logic of Colonial Power by The Guardian/UK
Published on Monday, December 29, 2008 by The Guardian/UK Re-posted by commendation
Here's a good way to find it now:
here
As so often, the term 'terrorism' has proved a rhetorical smokescreen under cover of which the strong crush the weak
by Nir Rosen
I have spent most of the Bush administration's tenure reporting from Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia and other conflicts. I have been published by most major publications. I have been interviewed by most major networks and I have even testified [1] before the senate foreign relations committee. The Bush administration began its tenure with Palestinians being massacred and it ends with Israel committing [2] one of its largest massacres yet in a 60-year history of occupying Palestinian land. Bush's final visit to the country he chose to occupy ended with an educated secular Shiite Iraqi throwing his shoes [3] at him, expressing the feelings of the entire Arab world save its dictators who have imprudently attached themselves to a hated American regime.
Once again, the Israelis bomb the starving and imprisoned population of Gaza. The world watches the plight of 1.5 million Gazans live on TV and online; the western media largely justify the Israeli action. Even some Arab outlets try to equate the Palestinian resistance [4] with the might of the Israeli military machine. And none of this is a surprise. The Israelis just concluded a round-the-world public relations campaign to gather support for their assault, even gaining the collaboration of Arab states like Egypt.
The international community is directly guilty for this latest massacre. Will it remain immune from the wrath of a desperate people? So far, there have been large demonstrations in Lebanon, Yemen, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Iraq. The people of the Arab world will not forget. The Palestinians will not forget. "All that you have done to our people is registered in our notebooks," as the poet Mahmoud Darwish [5] said.
I have often been asked by policy analysts, policy-makers and those stuck with implementing those policies for my advice on what I think America should do to promote peace or win hearts and minds in the Muslim world. It too often feels futile, because such a revolution in American policy would be required that only a true revolution in the American government could bring about the needed changes. An American journal once asked me to contribute an essay 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, for the Native Americans in the past, for the Jews in Nazi Germany, for the Palestinians today, to ask themselves.
Terrorism is a normative term and not a descriptive concept. An empty word that means everything and nothing, it is used to describe what the Other does, not what we do. The powerful - whether Israel, America, Russia or China - will always describe their victims' struggle as terrorism, but the destruction of Chechnya, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the slow slaughter of the remaining Palestinians, the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan - with the tens of thousands of civilians it has killed ... these will never earn the title of terrorism, though civilians were the target and terrorising them was the purpose.
Counterinsurgency [6], now popular again among in the Pentagon, is another way of saying the suppression of national liberation struggles. Terror and intimidation are as essential to it as is winning hearts and minds.
Normative rules are determined by power relations. Those with power determine what is legal and illegal. They besiege the weak in legal prohibitions to prevent the weak from resisting. For the weak to resist is illegal by definition. Concepts like terrorism are invented and used normatively as if a neutral court had produced them, instead of the oppressors. The danger in this excessive use of legality actually undermines legality, diminishing the credibility of international institutions such as the United Nations. 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.
Attacking civilians is the last, most desperate and basic method of resistance when confronting overwhelming odds and imminent eradication. The Palestinians do not attack Israeli civilians with the expectation that they will destroy Israel. The land of Palestine is being stolen day after day; the Palestinian people is being eradicated day after day. As a result, they respond in whatever way they can to apply pressure on Israel. Colonial powers use civilians strategically, settling them to claim land and dispossess the native population, be they Indians in North America or Palestinians in what is now Israel and the Occupied Territories. When the native population sees that there is an irreversible dynamic that is taking away their land and identity with the support of an overwhelming power, then they are forced to resort to whatever methods of resistance they can.
Not long ago, 19-year-old Qassem al-Mughrabi [7], a Palestinian man from Jerusalem drove his car into a group of soldiers at an intersection. "The terrorist", as the Israeli newspaper Haaretz called him, was shot and killed. In two separate incidents last July, Palestinians from Jerusalem also used vehicles to attack Israelis. The attackers were not part of an organisation. Although those Palestinian men were also killed, senior Israeli officials called for their homes to be demolished. In a separate incident, Haaretz reported that a Palestinian woman blinded an Israeli soldier in one eye when she threw acid n his face. "The terrorist was arrested by security forces," the paper said. An occupied citizen attacks an occupying soldier, and she is the terrorist?
In September, Bush spoke at the United Nations. No cause could justify the deliberate taking of human life, he said. Yet the US has killed thousands of civilians in airstrikes on populated areas. When you drop bombs on populated areas knowing there will be some "collateral" civilian damage, but accepting it as worth it, then it is deliberate. When you impose sanctions, as the US did on Saddam era Iraq, that kill hundreds of thousands, and then say their deaths were worth it [8], as secretary of state Albright did, then you are deliberately killing people for a political goal. When you seek to "shock and awe", as president Bush did, when he bombed Iraq, you are engaging in terrorism.
Just as the traditional American cowboy film presented white Americans under siege, with Indians as the aggressors, which was the opposite of reality, so, too, have Palestinians become the aggressors and not the victims. Beginning in 1948, 750,000 Palestinians were deliberately cleansed and expelled from their homes, and hundreds of their villages were destroyed, and their land was settled by colonists, who went on to deny their very existence and wage a 60-year war against the remaining natives and the national liberation movements the Palestinians established around the world. Every day, more of Palestine is stolen, more Palestinians are killed. To call oneself an Israeli Zionist is to engage in the dispossession of entire people. It is not that, qua Palestinians, they have the right to use any means necessary, it is because they are weak. The weak have much less power than the strong, and can do much less damage. The Palestinians would not have ever bombed cafes or used home-made missiles if they had tanks and airplanes. It is only in the current context that their actions are justified, and there are obvious limits.
It is impossible to make a universal ethical claim or establish a Kantian principle justifying any act to resist colonialism or domination by overwhelming power. And there are other questions I have trouble answering. Can an Iraqi be justified in attacking the United States? After all, his country was attacked without provocation, and destroyed, with millions of refugees created, hundreds of thousands of dead. And this, after 12 years of bombings and sanctions, which killed many and destroyed the lives of many others.
I could argue that all Americans are benefiting from their country's exploits without having to pay the price, and that, in today's world, the imperial machine is not merely the military but a military-civilian network. And I could also say that Americans elected the Bush administration twice and elected representatives who did nothing to stop the war, and the American people themselves did nothing. From the perspective of an American, or an Israeli, or other powerful aggressors, if you are strong, everything you do is justifiable, and nothing the weak do is legitimate. It's merely a question of what side you choose: the side of the strong or the side of the weak.
Israel and its allies in the west and in Arab regimes such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have managed to corrupt the PLO leadership, to suborn them with the promise of power at the expense of liberty for their people, creating a first - a liberation movement that collaborated with the occupier. Israeli elections are coming up and, as usual, these elections are accompanied by war to bolster [4] the candidates. You cannot be prime minister of Israel without enough Arab blood on your hands. An Israeli general has threatened to set Gaza back decades, just as they threatened to set Lebanon back decades in 2006. As if strangling Gaza and denying its people fuel, power or food had not set it back decades already.
The democratically elected Hamas government was targeted for destruction from the day it won the elections in 2006. The world told the Palestinians that they cannot have democracy, as if the goal was to radicalise them further and as if that would not have a consequence. Israel claims it is targeting [9] Hamas's military forces. This is not true. It is targeting Palestinian police forces and killing them, including [10] some such as the chief of police, Tawfiq Jaber, who was actually a former Fatah official who stayed on in his post after Hamas took control of Gaza. What will happen to a society with no security forces? What do the Israelis expect to happen when forces more radical than Hamas gain power?
A Zionist Israel is not a viable long-term project and Israeli settlements, land expropriation and separation barriers have long since made a two state solution impossible. There can be only one state in historic Palestine. In coming decades, Israelis will be confronted with two options. Will they peacefully transition towards an equal society, where Palestinians are given the same rights, à la post-apartheid South Africa? Or will they continue to view democracy as a threat? If so, one of the peoples will be forced to leave. Colonialism has only worked when most of the natives have been exterminated. But often, as in occupied Algeria, it is the settlers who flee. Eventually, the Palestinians will not be willing to compromise and seek one state for both people. Does the world want to further radicalise them?
Do not be deceived: the persistence of the Palestine problem is the main motive for every anti-American militant in the Arab world and beyond. But now the Bush administration has added Iraq and Afghanistan as additional grievances. America has lost its influence on the Arab masses, even if it can still apply pressure on Arab regimes. But reformists and elites in the Arab world want nothing to do with America.
A failed American administration departs, the promise of a Palestinian state a lie, as more Palestinians are murdered. A new president comes to power, but the people of the Middle East have too much bitter experience of US administrations to have any hope for change. President-elect Obama, Vice President-elect Biden and incoming secretary of state Hillary Clinton have not demonstrated that their view of the Middle East is at all different from previous administrations. As the world prepares to celebrate a new year, how long before it is once again made to feel the pain of those whose oppression it either ignores or supports?
© 2008 Guardian News and Media Limited
********
There are small bios on Nir Rosen which indicate nothing about his ethnic background. According to Glenn Greenwald he is Israeli-American while according to Wikipedia he is Iranian-American. Maybe it doesn't really matter...he sounds quite astute! I plan to read him quite a bit more in the future...
Evidently, Nir Rosen is a journalist specializing in US foreign policy in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan. A fellow at the New York university center on law and security, his work has appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, Rolling Stone magazine, Harper's Magazine, the New Republic and Mother Jones. His book on postwar Iraq, The Triumph of the Martyrs: A Reporter's Journey into Occupied Iraq [11], was published in 2006. His articles are available at nirrosen.com [12]
Article above re-printed from CommonDreams dot org &
Gaza: The Logic of Colonial Power | CommonDreams dot org
by Nir Rosen ... Normative rules are determined by power relations. ... Nir Rosen is a journalist specialising in US foreign policy in the Middle East
Or find in original publication - Was one of Most clipped | guardian.co.uk
1. Nir Rosen: Gaza: Israel, Hamas and the logic of colonial power. Nir Rosen, 29 Dec 2008. Nir Rosen: As so often, the term 'terrorism' has proved a rhetorical ...
Here's a good way to find it now:
here
Nir Rosen has been hailed by The New York Review of Books as the reporter who managed to get inside Fallujah "at a time when it was a death trap for Western reporters," and as one of the few Western reporters able to report the truth from Iraq. Still in his twenties, a freelancer who has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and Harper's Magazine, Rosen speaks Iraqi-accented Arabic and has managed to report from some of the country's most dangerous locales. Even The Weekly Standard notes that "he probably has more sources in the insurgency than any other American reporter."
Rosen knows better than anyone how much the Americans are hated, and how deeply the Sunni Iraqis hate the Shias and vice versa. He has listened to the insurgents, and he knows that they will never rest until the Americans are gone. Too many Sunnis and Shias are willing to use violence for Iraq to ever have peace. The overthrow of Saddam has proved to be nothing less than a triumph for the martyrs who use violence at every turn.
Ever since the fall of Saddam's regime Rosen has been in and out of Iraq, from north to south, listening to Friday sermons in mosques, breaking bread with dangerous men, interviewing political henchmen, joining Shia pilgrims, and listening to ordinary Iraqis who face American soldiers on raids in the Sunni triangle. He has had to plead for his life at times, and he has received more than one death threat. He has been pres-ent when bombs were detonated, and he has sat in meetings of insurgent leaders as they made policy decisions about territory they controlled. He has heard the double messages of Iraqi leaders -- the careful English messages for Western ears and the unvarnished hostility in Arabic -- and he has interviewed politicians and imams and seen how the insurgents and gang leaders create militias, private courts, prisons, security services, and more.
In the Belly of the Green Bird (which now seems to use only the title of -The Triumph of the Martyrs-) is a searing report, unlike any other book about the American experience in Iraq. Almost everything covered in the Western media has been at least one or two steps removed from the minds and acts of the people who will determine the future of Iraq. Some of them are peaceful, some are violent. Some of them hate one another with the intensity of ancient enemies. The depth of discord between Sunnis and Shias is difficult to fathom without listening to them. Their anti-Americanism is much more recent, but not much less intense. The divisions within this cobbled-together country, much like those within Yugoslavia after Tito, are simply too intense to contain. You can read an excerpt of Rosen's book on the Belly of the Green Bird booksite. And/or go here for more on the book apparently retitled to only -The Triumph of..." (& available used) here here
See also: here
Some small bios on Rosen may not be accurate all the way? Check out Wikepedia for example?? I will try to correct this post if needed as soon as I know what is correct...
Nir Rosen (born 1977 in New York City) is an Iranian-American journalist and a chronicler of the Iraq War. Rosen writes on current and international affairs. Rosen is best known for his writings on the rise of violence in Iraq following the 2003 invasion, which form the basis of his first book, In the Belly of the Green Bird (2006). He spent more than two years in Iraq reporting on the Coalition occupation, the relationship between Americans and Iraqis, the development of postwar Iraqi religious and political movements, inter-ethnic and sectarian relations, and the Iraqi civil war.He regularly contributes to leading periodicals, such as Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, the New York Times Magazine, the Boston Review, and Harper's. He contributed to the footage of Iraq in Charles Ferguson's documentary No End In Sight and was also interviewed for the film. Nir Rosen is a fellow at the New York University Center on Law and Security, and a former fellow of the New America Foundation. In September 2007, he was the C.V. Starr Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy in Berlin.He was invited to speak to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2008 about the present state of Iraq.
Here's what is on Rosen's Own blogsite...
About Nir
Born in New York City in 1977, Nir Rosen is a freelance writer, photographer and film-maker who has worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and other popular tourist destinations. His book on Iraq "In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq," was published by Simon and Schuster early in 2006. He can be reached at NIRROSEN@YAHOO.COM
This may be all he wants to be known about him for now...except for his compelling and obviously well-informed, reflective writing...
Glenn Greenwald on Nir Rosen
"If someone asked me to recommend just one must-read article on the Israeli-Gaza conflict, I would select this column from yesterday in The Guardian by Israeli-American journalist Nir Rosen." Glenn Greenwald
While I posted this article when it came out on my blogsite, I have re-posted this article because the history & points are well worth noting & reviewing...Connie, blogger at One Heart for Peace...However, note one CORRECTION...
Perhaps Mr. Greenwald made a typo, or perhaps the sources I found are wrong, however, it looks like Nir Rosen is an Iranian-American journalist, not an Israeli-American one as written by Greenwald...OR perhaps Nir himself is deliberately vague on his ethnic background? Here's what's on his own site:ere's what is on Rosen's Own blogsite...
About Nir
Born in New York City in 1977, Nir Rosen is a freelance writer, photographer and film-maker who has worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and other popular tourist destinations. His book on Iraq "In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq," was published by Simon and Schuster early in 2006. He can be reached at NIRROSEN@YAHOO.COM
Here's a differing bio?
ie:here
anyway, it really doesn't matter, does it?
Here is what Glenn wrote on his post yesterday...December 30, 2008 "If someone asked me to recommend just one must-read article on the Israeli-Gaza conflict, I would select this column from yesterday in The Guardian by Israeli-American journalist Nir Rosen." However, I'm quite sure Mr. Greenwald seldom makes such mistakes & it's because of his recommendation that I re-post the entire Rosen article above...
Connie, One Heart...blogger
While I posted this article when it came out on my blogsite, I have re-posted this article because the history & points are well worth noting & reviewing...Connie, blogger at One Heart for Peace...However, note one CORRECTION...
Perhaps Mr. Greenwald made a typo, or perhaps the sources I found are wrong, however, it looks like Nir Rosen is an Iranian-American journalist, not an Israeli-American one as written by Greenwald...OR perhaps Nir himself is deliberately vague on his ethnic background? Here's what's on his own site:ere's what is on Rosen's Own blogsite...
About Nir
Born in New York City in 1977, Nir Rosen is a freelance writer, photographer and film-maker who has worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and other popular tourist destinations. His book on Iraq "In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq," was published by Simon and Schuster early in 2006. He can be reached at NIRROSEN@YAHOO.COM
Here's a differing bio?
ie:here
anyway, it really doesn't matter, does it?
Here is what Glenn wrote on his post yesterday...December 30, 2008 "If someone asked me to recommend just one must-read article on the Israeli-Gaza conflict, I would select this column from yesterday in The Guardian by Israeli-American journalist Nir Rosen." However, I'm quite sure Mr. Greenwald seldom makes such mistakes & it's because of his recommendation that I re-post the entire Rosen article above...
Connie, One Heart...blogger
Greenwald: 70 % of US Citizens do NOT unquestionably Support Israel Over Palestinians (according to polls)
the consensus view -- that America must unquestioningly stand on Israel's side and support it, not just in this conflict but in all of Israel's various wars -- is a view which 7 out of 10 Americans reject. Conversely, the view which 70% of Americans embrace -- that the U.S. should be neutral and even-handed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict generally -- is one that no mainstream politician would dare express.
here
Yet, we have been way to arrogant, silent & isolated so that this view rarely makes it on international media & into global blogsites, dialogues, etc.
So, if this is true, why don't we speak out more publically? LET'S DO SO!
Why don't we do all we can to demand that our Congress speak for us? WELL, WHAT'S HOLDING US BACK?
To read more, including to survey the 521 COMMENTS, go
here
fOLLOWING ARE EXCERPTS only from this Greenwald article:
Tuesday Dec. 30, 2008 05:33 EST
George Washington's warnings and U.S. policy towards Israel
(Update II)
University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes -- July 1, 2008:
A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 18 countries finds that in 14 of them people mostly say their government should not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Just three countries favor taking the Palestinian side (Egypt, Iran, and Turkey) and one is divided (India). No country favors taking Israel's side, including the United States, where 71 percent favor taking neither side.
CQ Politics, yesterday:
Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle rallied to Israel’s cause Monday as it pressed forward with large-scale air attacks against Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip. . . .
“I strongly support Israel’s right to defend its citizens against rocket and mortar attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza, which have killed and injured Israeli citizens, and to restore security to its residents,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev. . . .
His view was echoed by leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“Israel has a right, indeed a duty, to defend itself in response to the hundreds of rockets and mortars fired from Gaza over the past week,” Howard L. Berman , D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, the ranking Republican on the House committee, also expressed support for the Israeli offensive. . . .
The White House on Monday also took Israel’s side in the fighting, demanding that Hamas halt its rocket fire into Israel and agree to a last ceasefire.
Earlier this week, Nancy Pelosi issued an identical statement, and yesterday Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer did the same.
There sure is a lot of agreeing going on -- one might describe it as "absolute." The degree of mandated orthodoxy on the Israel question among America's political elites is so great that if one took the statements on Gaza from George Bush, Pelosi, Hoyer, Berman, Ros-Lehtinen, and randomly chosen Bill Kristol-acolytes and redacted their names, it would be impossible to know which statements came from whom. They're all identical: what Israel does is absolutely right. The U.S. must fully and unconditionally support Israel. Israel does not merit an iota of criticism for what it is doing. It bears none of the blame for this conflict. No questioning even of the wisdom of its decisions -- let alone the justifiability -- is uttered. No deviation from that script takes place.
By itself, the degree of full-fledged, absolute agreement -- down to the syllable -- among America's political leaders is striking, even when one acknowledges the constant convergence between the leadership of both parties. But it becomes even more striking in light of the bizarre fact that the consensus view -- that America must unquestioningly stand on Israel's side and support it, not just in this conflict but in all of Israel's various wars -- is a view which 7 out of 10 Americans reject. Conversely, the view which 70% of Americans embrace -- that the U.S. should be neutral and even-handed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict generally -- is one that no mainstream politician would dare express.
In a democracy, one could expect that politicians would be afraid to express a view that 70% of the citizens oppose. Yet here we have the exact opposite situation: no mainstream politician would dare express the view that 70% of Americans support; instead, the universal piety is the one that only a small minority accept. Isn't that fairly compelling evidence of the complete disconnect between our political elites and the people they purportedly represent?
...The other striking aspect of this lockstep American consensus is that the Gaza situation is very complex, and a wide range of opinions fall within the realm of what is reasonable. Even many who believe that Israel's attack is morally and legally justifiable as a response to Hamas rockets and who generally side with Israel -- such as J Street -- nonetheless oppose this attack on strictly pragmatic grounds: that it won't achieve anything positive, that it will exacerbate the problem, that it makes less likely a diplomatic resolution, that there is no military solution to the rocket attacks. Others condemn Hamas rocket attacks but also condemn the devastating Israeli blockade and expanding settlements. Others still who may be supportive of Israel's right to attack at least express horror over the level of Palestinian suffering and urge greater restraint.;
* * * * *
All of that underscores one vital point I want to emphasize with regard to the commentary I've written on Israel and Gaza the last couple of days....
The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, who defends Israel's actions by approvingly quoting Barack Obama's statement that "If someone was sending rockets on my house where my daughters were sleeping at night, I would do everything to stop it, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing." (This may be a misquote or quote out of context of Obama - let's hope? from blogger. Connie at One Heart...) But that mindset justifies any and all actions by any group with a legitimate grievance, as in: "if my family and I were forced to live under a 4-decade foreign occupation and had our land blockaded and were not allowed to exit and my children couldn't access basic nutrition or medical treatment, I would do everything to stop it, and I would expect Palestinians to do the same thing." That happens also to be the same mentality that was used to justify the 9/11 attacks ("if my family and I were forced to live in a region in which a foreign superpower dominated our politics and propped up brutal dictators for its own ends, I would do everything to stop it, and I would expect Muslims to do the same thing").
But -- just like those who insist that American Torture is different because American leaders use it for noble ends -- this is nothing more elevated than...(a) refusal to view the world through any prism other than complete self-centeredness, where one's own side merits infinite empathy and the "other side" merits none...there is endless blame to go around to countless parties...
* * * * *
...None of these intractable disputes between Israel and its various neighbors should be a focal point of American policy at all. Yet the above-documented orthodoxy has ensured that it is...
George Washington in his 1796 Farewell Address, and have thereby provoked exactly the dangers he decried:
Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it? . . . . .
In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.
It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest..."
Uncritical support for someone's destructive behavior isn't "friendship"; it is, as Washington said, slavishness, and it does no good either for the party lending the blind support nor the party receiving it. It's hard to overstate the good that would be achieved if the U.S. simply adhered to those basic and self-evidently compelling principles of George Washington, who actually knew a thing or two about the perils of war.
* * * * *
UPDATE: "...during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, the Bush administration purposely expedited shipments of bombs to Israel to enable Israel to drop those bombs on Lebanon. We fed Israel the bombs they used on the Lebanese. A similar American action seems to have occurred with regard to the bombs that the Israelis are now dropping on Gaza.
UPDATE II: Polls taken in the U.S. during the 2006 Israeli incursion into Lebanon bolster the above point regarding American public opinion. A USA Today/Gallup poll (.pdf) asked: "In the current conflict, do you think the United States should take Israel's side, take the side of Hezbollah, or not take either side?" A large majority (65%) answered "neither," while only 31% wanted to take Israel's side.
A Washington Post poll actually found that a plurality of Americans (46%) blamed "both sides equally" (Israel and Hezbollah) for the war and believed (48%) that Israel's claimed "bombing [of] rocket launchers and other Hezbollah targets located in civilian areas" was "not justified." The lockstep, uncritical support for everything Israel does in the political class is completely unrepresentative of American public opinion.
-- Glenn Greenwald
Currently in Glenn Greenwald's Blog (check out the URL top of this post & remember that there are many COMMENTS for each item)
Torture prosecutions finally begin in the U.S.
The Bush DOJ is actually demanding a 147 year sentence for a Liberian political official who ordered torture inside Liberia.
Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 15:56 EST
George Washington's warnings and U.S. policy towards Israel
Americans overwhelmingly want the U.S. to take no sides in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Why is that view not just disregarded, but made into a taboo?
Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 13:33 EST
David Gregory shows why he's the perfect replacement for Tim Russert
The new Meet the Press star conducts an "interview" with the Israeli Foreign Minister that makes the media's pre-Iraq-war behavior look adversarial by comparison
Monday, Dec 29, 2008 16:07 EST
Marty Peretz and the American political consensus on Israel
The New Republic Editor-in-Chief expresses anti-Arab hatred in the starkest terms possible, but are his policy views towards Israel any different from the standard American position?
Sunday, Dec 28, 2008 16:14 EST
here
Yet, we have been way to arrogant, silent & isolated so that this view rarely makes it on international media & into global blogsites, dialogues, etc.
So, if this is true, why don't we speak out more publically? LET'S DO SO!
Why don't we do all we can to demand that our Congress speak for us? WELL, WHAT'S HOLDING US BACK?
To read more, including to survey the 521 COMMENTS, go
here
fOLLOWING ARE EXCERPTS only from this Greenwald article:
Tuesday Dec. 30, 2008 05:33 EST
George Washington's warnings and U.S. policy towards Israel
(Update II)
University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes -- July 1, 2008:
A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 18 countries finds that in 14 of them people mostly say their government should not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Just three countries favor taking the Palestinian side (Egypt, Iran, and Turkey) and one is divided (India). No country favors taking Israel's side, including the United States, where 71 percent favor taking neither side.
CQ Politics, yesterday:
Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle rallied to Israel’s cause Monday as it pressed forward with large-scale air attacks against Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip. . . .
“I strongly support Israel’s right to defend its citizens against rocket and mortar attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza, which have killed and injured Israeli citizens, and to restore security to its residents,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev. . . .
His view was echoed by leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“Israel has a right, indeed a duty, to defend itself in response to the hundreds of rockets and mortars fired from Gaza over the past week,” Howard L. Berman , D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, the ranking Republican on the House committee, also expressed support for the Israeli offensive. . . .
The White House on Monday also took Israel’s side in the fighting, demanding that Hamas halt its rocket fire into Israel and agree to a last ceasefire.
Earlier this week, Nancy Pelosi issued an identical statement, and yesterday Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer did the same.
There sure is a lot of agreeing going on -- one might describe it as "absolute." The degree of mandated orthodoxy on the Israel question among America's political elites is so great that if one took the statements on Gaza from George Bush, Pelosi, Hoyer, Berman, Ros-Lehtinen, and randomly chosen Bill Kristol-acolytes and redacted their names, it would be impossible to know which statements came from whom. They're all identical: what Israel does is absolutely right. The U.S. must fully and unconditionally support Israel. Israel does not merit an iota of criticism for what it is doing. It bears none of the blame for this conflict. No questioning even of the wisdom of its decisions -- let alone the justifiability -- is uttered. No deviation from that script takes place.
By itself, the degree of full-fledged, absolute agreement -- down to the syllable -- among America's political leaders is striking, even when one acknowledges the constant convergence between the leadership of both parties. But it becomes even more striking in light of the bizarre fact that the consensus view -- that America must unquestioningly stand on Israel's side and support it, not just in this conflict but in all of Israel's various wars -- is a view which 7 out of 10 Americans reject. Conversely, the view which 70% of Americans embrace -- that the U.S. should be neutral and even-handed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict generally -- is one that no mainstream politician would dare express.
In a democracy, one could expect that politicians would be afraid to express a view that 70% of the citizens oppose. Yet here we have the exact opposite situation: no mainstream politician would dare express the view that 70% of Americans support; instead, the universal piety is the one that only a small minority accept. Isn't that fairly compelling evidence of the complete disconnect between our political elites and the people they purportedly represent?
...The other striking aspect of this lockstep American consensus is that the Gaza situation is very complex, and a wide range of opinions fall within the realm of what is reasonable. Even many who believe that Israel's attack is morally and legally justifiable as a response to Hamas rockets and who generally side with Israel -- such as J Street -- nonetheless oppose this attack on strictly pragmatic grounds: that it won't achieve anything positive, that it will exacerbate the problem, that it makes less likely a diplomatic resolution, that there is no military solution to the rocket attacks. Others condemn Hamas rocket attacks but also condemn the devastating Israeli blockade and expanding settlements. Others still who may be supportive of Israel's right to attack at least express horror over the level of Palestinian suffering and urge greater restraint.;
* * * * *
All of that underscores one vital point I want to emphasize with regard to the commentary I've written on Israel and Gaza the last couple of days....
The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, who defends Israel's actions by approvingly quoting Barack Obama's statement that "If someone was sending rockets on my house where my daughters were sleeping at night, I would do everything to stop it, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing." (This may be a misquote or quote out of context of Obama - let's hope? from blogger. Connie at One Heart...) But that mindset justifies any and all actions by any group with a legitimate grievance, as in: "if my family and I were forced to live under a 4-decade foreign occupation and had our land blockaded and were not allowed to exit and my children couldn't access basic nutrition or medical treatment, I would do everything to stop it, and I would expect Palestinians to do the same thing." That happens also to be the same mentality that was used to justify the 9/11 attacks ("if my family and I were forced to live in a region in which a foreign superpower dominated our politics and propped up brutal dictators for its own ends, I would do everything to stop it, and I would expect Muslims to do the same thing").
But -- just like those who insist that American Torture is different because American leaders use it for noble ends -- this is nothing more elevated than...(a) refusal to view the world through any prism other than complete self-centeredness, where one's own side merits infinite empathy and the "other side" merits none...there is endless blame to go around to countless parties...
* * * * *
...None of these intractable disputes between Israel and its various neighbors should be a focal point of American policy at all. Yet the above-documented orthodoxy has ensured that it is...
George Washington in his 1796 Farewell Address, and have thereby provoked exactly the dangers he decried:
Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it? . . . . .
In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.
It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest..."
Uncritical support for someone's destructive behavior isn't "friendship"; it is, as Washington said, slavishness, and it does no good either for the party lending the blind support nor the party receiving it. It's hard to overstate the good that would be achieved if the U.S. simply adhered to those basic and self-evidently compelling principles of George Washington, who actually knew a thing or two about the perils of war.
* * * * *
UPDATE: "...during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, the Bush administration purposely expedited shipments of bombs to Israel to enable Israel to drop those bombs on Lebanon. We fed Israel the bombs they used on the Lebanese. A similar American action seems to have occurred with regard to the bombs that the Israelis are now dropping on Gaza.
UPDATE II: Polls taken in the U.S. during the 2006 Israeli incursion into Lebanon bolster the above point regarding American public opinion. A USA Today/Gallup poll (.pdf) asked: "In the current conflict, do you think the United States should take Israel's side, take the side of Hezbollah, or not take either side?" A large majority (65%) answered "neither," while only 31% wanted to take Israel's side.
A Washington Post poll actually found that a plurality of Americans (46%) blamed "both sides equally" (Israel and Hezbollah) for the war and believed (48%) that Israel's claimed "bombing [of] rocket launchers and other Hezbollah targets located in civilian areas" was "not justified." The lockstep, uncritical support for everything Israel does in the political class is completely unrepresentative of American public opinion.
-- Glenn Greenwald
Currently in Glenn Greenwald's Blog (check out the URL top of this post & remember that there are many COMMENTS for each item)
Torture prosecutions finally begin in the U.S.
The Bush DOJ is actually demanding a 147 year sentence for a Liberian political official who ordered torture inside Liberia.
Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 15:56 EST
George Washington's warnings and U.S. policy towards Israel
Americans overwhelmingly want the U.S. to take no sides in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Why is that view not just disregarded, but made into a taboo?
Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 13:33 EST
David Gregory shows why he's the perfect replacement for Tim Russert
The new Meet the Press star conducts an "interview" with the Israeli Foreign Minister that makes the media's pre-Iraq-war behavior look adversarial by comparison
Monday, Dec 29, 2008 16:07 EST
Marty Peretz and the American political consensus on Israel
The New Republic Editor-in-Chief expresses anti-Arab hatred in the starkest terms possible, but are his policy views towards Israel any different from the standard American position?
Sunday, Dec 28, 2008 16:14 EST
Torture Trials In US Finally Begin
Dear Friends of a Just Foreign Policy
Dear Friends of a Just Foreign Policy,
As 2008 comes to a close, we want to thank you for your support and collaboration. Together, we have taken many important steps to bring about a more just foreign policy.
We want to highlight in particular the success of the nation-wide tour we sponsored with your help to call attention to the folly of attacking Iran, including the video with Stephen Kinzer, viewed by a quarter of a million people on YouTube.We thank you for the work you did to block the Resolution (HConRes 362) on Capitol Hill that demanded that the President work to blockade Iran's gas imports, an act of war. With your help we published an Experts' Statement on Iran saying that direct, unconditional and comprehensive negotiations are most likely to succeed, and delivered it to Members of Congress and members of Obama's transition team, who received it warmly.
Thank you for working with us toward ending the war in Afghanistan, and for supporting us in calling for increased efforts for diplomacy with insurgents in Afghanistan and with neighboring countries to achieve a political resolution of Afghanistan's conflicts, and for voting with us at Change.org to call for action on Iran with the new Administration.
Thank you for the support that allows us to publish the Daily News Summary, bringing you the latest, must-read news summaries on major foreign policy issues. And thank you for calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and an end to the blockade on Gaza .
This year, once again, we thank you for all you do for a just foreign policy,
Sarah Burns, Robert Naiman and Chelsea Mozen
To help support this worthy group Go here (NOTE: at this site & be sure to go to Actions --there are plenty of actions suggested including this one: WRITE OBAMA TO ASK HIM TO SPEAK UP FOR THE PEOPLE OF GAZA)
As 2008 comes to a close, we want to thank you for your support and collaboration. Together, we have taken many important steps to bring about a more just foreign policy.
We want to highlight in particular the success of the nation-wide tour we sponsored with your help to call attention to the folly of attacking Iran, including the video with Stephen Kinzer, viewed by a quarter of a million people on YouTube.We thank you for the work you did to block the Resolution (HConRes 362) on Capitol Hill that demanded that the President work to blockade Iran's gas imports, an act of war. With your help we published an Experts' Statement on Iran saying that direct, unconditional and comprehensive negotiations are most likely to succeed, and delivered it to Members of Congress and members of Obama's transition team, who received it warmly.
Thank you for working with us toward ending the war in Afghanistan, and for supporting us in calling for increased efforts for diplomacy with insurgents in Afghanistan and with neighboring countries to achieve a political resolution of Afghanistan's conflicts, and for voting with us at Change.org to call for action on Iran with the new Administration.
Thank you for the support that allows us to publish the Daily News Summary, bringing you the latest, must-read news summaries on major foreign policy issues. And thank you for calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and an end to the blockade on Gaza .
This year, once again, we thank you for all you do for a just foreign policy,
Sarah Burns, Robert Naiman and Chelsea Mozen
To help support this worthy group Go here (NOTE: at this site & be sure to go to Actions --there are plenty of actions suggested including this one: WRITE OBAMA TO ASK HIM TO SPEAK UP FOR THE PEOPLE OF GAZA)
Desecration of Dialogue & Sacred Moments - Civilians Paying the Price, War tribunal needed? GAZA Op Ed on Wednesday, December 31, 2008
OpEd UPDATES: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 Civilians Are Paying the Price in Gaza' By Haider Rizvi
International aid groups, including several United Nations agencies, are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza if Israel does not stop its military action there immediately. here
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"Since the dawn of the Zionist presence in the Land of Israel, no military operation has ever advanced dialogue with the Palestinians." (From James M. Wall just below...)
"Israel, once again, demonstrated its blatant contempt to humanity and to all religions when its fourth most powerful army desecrated on Saturday December 27 the most Christian, Muslim and Jewish holiest religious holidays, and even their own supposed-to-be holy Sabbath, by spelling the blood of the weak, the hungry, the thirsty, the poor, the desolate, and the two-years besieged Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. So it’s merry Christmas, happy New Year, happy Hanukkha, and Shabat shalom."
Find the source to this quote, in MWC article below the article by James M. Wall)
Preface to Walls Writings latest on Gaza:
The Gaza Attacks: “Israel carefully planned the attack to extract the highest possible price.”
gaza-victims
Israel’s attacks on Gaza have entered their fifth day. The Israeli cabinet has rejected a call for a cease fire.
Amira Hass writes in Ha’aretz on the careful planning of these attacks. Hass covered Gaza and the West Bank for Ha’aretz for many years. She is currently a correspondent for Haaretz. Her understanding of Gaza’s neighborhoods adds an important insight into the Israeli bombing campaign of Gaza. She is the author of Drinking the Sea at Gaza. Here are the opening paragraphs of her Haaretz report:
This isn’t the time to speak of ethics, but of precise intelligence. Whoever gave the instructions to send 100 of our planes, piloted by the best of our boys, to bomb and strafe enemy targets in Gaza is familiar with the many schools adjacent to those targets - especially police stations. He also knew that at exactly 11:30 A.M. on Saturday, during the surprise assault on the enemy, all the children of the Strip would be in the streets - half just having finished the morning shift at school, the others en route to the afternoon shift.
This is not the time to speak of proportional responses, not even of the polls that promise a greater share of Knesset seats to the mission’s architects. This is, however, the time to speak of the voters’ belief the operation will succeed, that the strikes are precise and the targets justified.
Take, for example, Imad Aqel Mosque in Jabalya refugee camp, bombed and strafed shortly before midnight on Sunday. These are the names of the glorious military victory we achieved there - Jawaher, age 4; Dina, age 8; Sahar, age 12; Ikram, age 14; and Tahrir, age 17, all sisters of the Ba’lousha family, all killed in a “precise” strike on the mosque. Another three sisters, a 2-year-old brother and their parents were injured. Twenty-four neighbors were wounded and five homes and three stores destroyed. This part of the military victory did not open our television or radio news broadcasts yesterday morning, nor did they appear on many Israeli news Web sites.
This is the time to speak about the detailed maps in the hands of IDF commanders, and about the Shin Bet advisers who know the exact distance between the mosque and nearby homes. This is the time to discuss the drone planes and the hot air balloons fitted with advanced cameras floating over the Strip day and night, filming everything. . . .
by James M. Wall
The mind boggles, the heart aches, and the anger builds. Massive suffering and destruction in Gaza enters its fourth day. The death toll exceeds 350 and the wounded total approaches 1,400.
American political leaders and media reports say the attacks are the fault of Hamas. Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter, a regular commentator on MSNBC, makes a big deal about all those rockets Hamas has been slinging Israel’s way, and once again quotes Barack Obama’s ill-chosen statement that if someone were sending rockets that threatened his daughters, he would respond.
Which raises the question: Now that Obama has demonstrated that he needs to work out a better understanding of proportionality–a serious flaw in a president, as we know–we must ask, what would Obama do if his daughters lived in Gaza with bombs falling from the sky? He would not be able to do very much because the only weapons available to the Obama parents would be those largely ineffective rockets Hamas keeps firing at a major military power out of their frustration and anger.
American political leaders and American media are trash talkers, something that basketball player Obama knows well. They talk trash about anyone opposing Israel even though the smart ones know that the justification for Israel’s attack on Gaza is a complete farce. Define farce? Doing something that does not connect to reality.
Media coverage constantly repeats Israeli talking points that absolves Israel of all blame. The Bush White House blames Hamas. Both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi say, in unison, Israel has every right to “defend itself”. So let us be forewarned: With Reid and Pelosi running the Congress and Rahm Emmanuel in the White House, if Obama names Dennis Ross as his envoy to the Middle East, expect the policy of “never blame Israel” to continue. If Ross is tapped, who you gonna call? Ghostbuster Hillary Clinton? Good luck on that one.
A moment in history with Joseph Welch springs to mind. On that memorable day in 1954 Welch had finally had all he could take of Senator Joe McCarthy’s deceptive and deceitful attacks.
Reacting to a McCarthy attack on a Welch staff member during a Senate committee hearing, Welch said what should now be said to Israel and its American sponsors, and which someday will be said when enough sensible Americans wake up to the reality of Israel’s Occupation:
Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. . . .Little did I dream you could be so reckless and cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is true he is still with Hale & Dorr. It is true that he will continue to be with Hale & Dorr. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty, I will do so. I like to think I am a gentleman, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me. .
These brutal attacks against Gaza are part of a long range ethnic cleansing strategy that is “reckless and cruel” and it has done enormous injury to the Palestinian people. It is a strategy that has been on the Israeli planning books since 1948. Was Israel ever called to explain its actions? Where is the challenge today for its farcical rocket rationale?
Check the record. Both ill-fated invasions of Lebanon were blamed on “attacks” from the other side. All those targeted assassinations of Palestinian leaders? Think back, Pilgrim: Those attacks were sold as responses to something those “targeted” leaders would have done had they lived. Think of it as Israel’s version of preemptive strikes.
Challenge is an online magazine which originates in Israel from a peace-minded publisher. In its current issue, Challenge describes the current attack on Gaza as carefully planned in advance...
Read the rest of the article, GO here
This is from a new site: The Wall Writings - begun by James M. Wall who is currently a Contributing Editor of The Christian Century magazine, based in Chicago, Illinois. From 1972 through 1999, he was editor and publisher of the Christian Century magazine. Jim launched this new personal blog April 24, 2008.
The inspiration comes from many sources that have influenced (Wall's) writing for the Christian Century, including politics, cinema, media, American culture, and the Middle East. This summer he will focus on the political campaigns, and in January, 2009, he will focus on the new administration in Washington. The effort will be made to deal with all of these topics, and others as they emerge, from within an understanding of the ambiguity of the human condition as perceived from a religious perspective. I often find inspiration from cinema, like these Paul Simon lyrics:
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon God they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said, the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
And whispered in the sounds of silence.
The photograph above, from the Electronic Intifada, shows Palestinians carrying the body of a victim of an Israeli air strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 27 December 2008. (Hatem Omar/MaanImages)
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From "Media With Conscience" Gaza: Israel’s Butchering Block
As usual, Israel, once again, demonstrated its blatant contempt to humanity and to all religions when its fourth most powerful army desecrated on Saturday December 27 the most Christian, Muslim and Jewish holiest religious holidays, and even their own supposed-to-be holy Sabbath, by spelling the blood of the weak, the hungry, the thirsty, the poor, the desolate, and the two-years besieged Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. So it’s merry Christmas, happy New Year, happy Hanukkha, and Shabat shalom.
Israel started what it called “operation cast lead” on Saturday by sending 60 F-16 fighter jets to drop 100 tons of explosives on Gazans, whose children, under the age of 18, comprise 50% of the population. The targets were, initially, police stations and academy and government buildings. Many of them were hit multiple times to inflict casualties among medical teams, civil service personnel, and regular citizens, who gathered to save the victims. Later the Israeli war planes targeted charity institutions, civilian homes, apartment tower buildings, educational institutions and Islamic mosques, seven of which were totally leveled to the ground. Up till today, Tuesday 30th, 400 Palestinians were murdered and 1057 others were wounded many with life-threatening wounds that may raise the death toll. Among the dead were police officers and cadets, school children who were just leaving schools when the attack started, whole family members, whose houses collapsed on them, and praying men and women in the mosques. Next two days the Israeli gun-boats lined up the shores of Gaza and targeted Gaza sea ports and every fishing boat they encountered including the humanitarian “Dignity” boat transporting medical equipment and dignitaries to Gaza.
The main goal of the Israeli aggression, according to Israeli military and political officials, is the total destruction and annihilation of terrorist Hamas; the democratically elected Palestinian government in Gaza.
After the Palestinians demonstrated to the whole world that they can exercise democracy by choosing their representatives through free and fair election that was internationally monitored and certified, the so-called democracy spreading Western countries and Israel did not like the results. The stunning victory of Hamas in the election and its popularity and control in Gaza Strip did not please Israel, the US, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his gang, and the so-called moderate Arab leaders.
The decision came down to destroy Hamas politically through political boycott, discredit, and imprisonment of its MPs, ministers and senior officials. When this failed it was decided to topple Hamas violently. But Hamas, preemptively, foiled Mohammad Dahlan’s, and his thugs, coup attempt. Then came the decision to isolate Hamas in Gaza, and to impose an economic blockade against the Strip hoping that starving Gazans would depose of Hamas themselves. But this also failed and served only to exalt Gazans and Hamas as heroes resisting occupation, to expose the collusion of some Arab regimes, especially Egyptian and Abbas’s PA in Ramallah, with Israel against their Palestinian Arab brothers, and to attract the sympathy of many nations in the West as well as in the Islamic World....Read the rest here
Dr. Elias Akleh a contributing editor to MWC, is an Arab writer from a Palestinian descent born in the town of Beit Jala. His family was first evicted from Haifa after the “Nakba” of 1948, then from Beit Jala after the “Nakseh” of 1967. He lives now in the US, and publishes his articles on the web in both English and Arabic.
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War Crimes & Tribunal Needed?
An Israeli War Crimes Tribunal (ICTI) May be the Only Deterrent to a Global War
By Francis A. Boyle
The United Nations General Assembly must immediately establish an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel (ICTI) as a "subsidiary organ" under U.N. Charter Article 22. The ICTI would be organized along the lines of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was established by the Security Council. Go here
GAZA: THOUSANDS of demonstrators in USA: Various Demonstrations for End to the Seige of Gaza
Note from blogger here at One Heart For Peace: Be sure to let local as well as INTERNATIONAL media know about your peace event. Consider sending your photos and reports to Al-Jazeera to help shape the reports which are received about peacemakers from around the world. Go here
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Demonstrations Across the U.S. and Around the World Demand an End to the Bombing and Seige of Gaza
Please send your report of your local demonstration to info@answercoalition.org. We will send out a follow-up email and want to include your activities.
There will be a large-scale demonstration on Friday, January 2nd that will assemble at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., and march to the Egyptian Embassy.
Over 5,000 protestors marched in front of the White House.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in scores of U.S. cities in response to the call for December 30 to be a National Day of Action to support the people of Palestine. The call was issued 72 hours ago by a number of organizations including the ANSWER Coalition, Muslim American Society Freedom, the National Council of Arab Americans, Free Palestine Alliance, Al-Awda - International Palestine Coalition for the Right of Return and others.
In Washington D.C., 5,000 people gathered at the State Department and marched to the White House. Those taking to the streets included many children, teenagers and young adults demanding an immediate end to the bombing of Gaza. As the nighttime march entered the White House grounds, it took over and filled all of Pennsylvania Avenue with young people raising Palestinian flags at the White House fence.
Thousands of protestors rally in New York.
Over 10,000 protestors filled the sidewalks in front of and across the street from the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco and marched. In New York City, thousands demonstrated at the Israeli Consulate located on 2nd Avenue and 43rd St. Between 4,000 and 5,000 marchers took to the streets in Los Angeles. In Dearborn, Michigan, thousands braved below-freezing weather to demonstrate. In San Diego, 500 people protested.
Today, people carried out demonstrations in Anchorage, AK; Phoenix, AZ; Modesto, Sacramento, San Jose, and Santa Rosa, CA; Colorado Springs and Denver, CO; Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Ocala, FL; Atlanta, GA; Honolulu, HI; Chicago, IL; Louisville, KY; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Ann Arbor, Flint and Kalamazoo, MI; Concord and Portsmouth, NH; New Brunswick, NJ; Albuquerque, NM; Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, NY; Cincinnati, Cleveland and Youngstown, OH; Portland, OR; Philadelphia, PA; Sioux Falls, SD; Knoxville, TN; Dallas and Houston, TX; Norfolk, VA; Bellingham, Seattle and Tacoma, WA; and scores of other cities in the United States. Protestors even lined the street in front of incoming U.S. President Barack Obama's vacation compound in Kailua, Hawaii.
Coordinated protests were also held throughout the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Please send your report of your local demonstration to info@answercoalition.org. We will send out a follow-up email and want to include your activities.
There will be a large-scale demonstration on Friday, January 2nd that will assemble at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., and march to the Egyptian Embassy. The sponsoring organizations include the ANSWER Coalition, the Muslim American Society Freedom, and the National Council of Arab Americans.
Please make an urgently needed donation. We need your support to continue this work. Click here to donate online, where you can also find information on how to contribute by check.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.answercoalition.org/
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 213-251-1025
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Chicago: 773-463-0311
*****
Demonstrations Across the U.S. and Around the World Demand an End to the Bombing and Seige of Gaza
Please send your report of your local demonstration to info@answercoalition.org. We will send out a follow-up email and want to include your activities.
There will be a large-scale demonstration on Friday, January 2nd that will assemble at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., and march to the Egyptian Embassy.
Over 5,000 protestors marched in front of the White House.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in scores of U.S. cities in response to the call for December 30 to be a National Day of Action to support the people of Palestine. The call was issued 72 hours ago by a number of organizations including the ANSWER Coalition, Muslim American Society Freedom, the National Council of Arab Americans, Free Palestine Alliance, Al-Awda - International Palestine Coalition for the Right of Return and others.
In Washington D.C., 5,000 people gathered at the State Department and marched to the White House. Those taking to the streets included many children, teenagers and young adults demanding an immediate end to the bombing of Gaza. As the nighttime march entered the White House grounds, it took over and filled all of Pennsylvania Avenue with young people raising Palestinian flags at the White House fence.
Thousands of protestors rally in New York.
Over 10,000 protestors filled the sidewalks in front of and across the street from the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco and marched. In New York City, thousands demonstrated at the Israeli Consulate located on 2nd Avenue and 43rd St. Between 4,000 and 5,000 marchers took to the streets in Los Angeles. In Dearborn, Michigan, thousands braved below-freezing weather to demonstrate. In San Diego, 500 people protested.
Today, people carried out demonstrations in Anchorage, AK; Phoenix, AZ; Modesto, Sacramento, San Jose, and Santa Rosa, CA; Colorado Springs and Denver, CO; Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Ocala, FL; Atlanta, GA; Honolulu, HI; Chicago, IL; Louisville, KY; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Ann Arbor, Flint and Kalamazoo, MI; Concord and Portsmouth, NH; New Brunswick, NJ; Albuquerque, NM; Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, NY; Cincinnati, Cleveland and Youngstown, OH; Portland, OR; Philadelphia, PA; Sioux Falls, SD; Knoxville, TN; Dallas and Houston, TX; Norfolk, VA; Bellingham, Seattle and Tacoma, WA; and scores of other cities in the United States. Protestors even lined the street in front of incoming U.S. President Barack Obama's vacation compound in Kailua, Hawaii.
Coordinated protests were also held throughout the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Please send your report of your local demonstration to info@answercoalition.org. We will send out a follow-up email and want to include your activities.
There will be a large-scale demonstration on Friday, January 2nd that will assemble at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., and march to the Egyptian Embassy. The sponsoring organizations include the ANSWER Coalition, the Muslim American Society Freedom, and the National Council of Arab Americans.
Please make an urgently needed donation. We need your support to continue this work. Click here to donate online, where you can also find information on how to contribute by check.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.answercoalition.org/
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 213-251-1025
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Chicago: 773-463-0311
A US Call to Peace for Gaza: A Model for Others
A call issued by UBUNTU in Durham, NC, USA...
We come together to declare our common humanity with the families suffering today in Palestine and Israel. They are all our sisters and brothers, our mothers and fathers, our sons and daughters, our friends and co-workers. Our common humanity with them does not end at a waters edge, at a border fence, or at a barrier wall. They are us and we are them. We will not be separated and we will not be divided.
We come together as people of many faiths who hear cries of suffering, injury, and death. We know that to remain silent is to remain complicit in this pain. It is to remain afraid. So it is better to speak -- for justice, for loving kindness, for the common humanity and beloved community of all people. We are all witnesses. We will not be silent.
Please join us as we:
Stand in solidarity
with the people
of Gaza
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Noon to 1:00 - Brightleaf Square in Durham, Main and Gregson Streets, Durham, NC, USA
Our common humanity must be recognized.
The attacks on Gaza and the ongoing Israeli blockade must end!
Feel free to join us before hand...if you would like to make signs before we gather.
Please bring your own materials.
--
"When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
- Thomas Jefferson
We come together to declare our common humanity with the families suffering today in Palestine and Israel. They are all our sisters and brothers, our mothers and fathers, our sons and daughters, our friends and co-workers. Our common humanity with them does not end at a waters edge, at a border fence, or at a barrier wall. They are us and we are them. We will not be separated and we will not be divided.
We come together as people of many faiths who hear cries of suffering, injury, and death. We know that to remain silent is to remain complicit in this pain. It is to remain afraid. So it is better to speak -- for justice, for loving kindness, for the common humanity and beloved community of all people. We are all witnesses. We will not be silent.
Please join us as we:
Stand in solidarity
with the people
of Gaza
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Noon to 1:00 - Brightleaf Square in Durham, Main and Gregson Streets, Durham, NC, USA
Our common humanity must be recognized.
The attacks on Gaza and the ongoing Israeli blockade must end!
Feel free to join us before hand...if you would like to make signs before we gather.
Please bring your own materials.
--
"When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
- Thomas Jefferson
Support Israeli CONSCIENTOUS OBJECTORS
Shministim protest against the imprisonment of an Israeli refuser. The posters feature a quote from Henry David Thoreau - "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a
just man is also a prison."
Photo: Activestills
here is the video
Find more by a quick scroll to end on the Refuse-Niks...
Find link for signing your support:
here
The American Friends Service Committee also is supports this effort...Here is an AFSC site:
here
Other links on the young & other conscientious objectors (more to follow on One Heart for Peace) Go here
Also Go here
ALSO NOTE THE SIGNATURES OF REFUSE-NIKS: GO here
Here is the letter I just got back after signing:
Dear Connie,
Thank you for taking the time to send a letter to Israel's Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, about the Shministim. The Shministim are confident that tens of thousands of letters demanding their release will make a real difference.
We've generated 22,000 letters so far. The day of the action in Tel Aviv has happened, and it was featured on all three major news sites in Israel while generating news around the world. It's impossible to convey the full scope of the impact this campaign has had in just a few weeks.
We even sent teams to Israeli consulates in major cities in the United States, though in one case, they refused to even accept our letter!
Far from being the end, December 18th marks the beginning. As long as there are Shministim in jail, we will need your letters of protest.
It has been a wonderful experience for us at Jewish Voice for Peace to work with the Shministim. They are real-life heroes, strengthened in their resolve to stand up against overwhelming pressure and all too aware that their counterparts in the Occupied Territories must endure far worse on a daily basis.
Please continue to tell your friends and family about http://www.December18th.org. You can put the web address in your email signature, post a web badge on your blog, tell your Facebook friends, put a poster on your door and more. Go to http://december18th.org/do-more/ for ideas.
Let the world know that for the sake of both Israelis and Palestinians, Israel's occupation must end, and that a new generation of young people is willing to go to jail to stand up and say NO.
On behalf of the countless people and groups working to free the Shministim,
Cecilie Surasky
Jewish Voice for Peace
Sign on to encourage this movement:
GO here
(be aware there may seem to be some who are seeking to corrupt this effort via false links & pop-ups & possible claims that this is not legitimate - so just ignore some of this & verify that you are signing the actual peace statement.
This effort is also supported by Jewish Voice for Peace (go just below the url & photo to see the description of JVP)
PS Join JVP's Facebook group: here
this photo thanks to AFSC
Jewish Voice for Peace is a national grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for peace, social justice, and human rights. We support the aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians for security and self-determination.
We welcome Jews and non-Jewish allies committed to the following principles.
We seek:
* A U.S. foreign policy based on promoting peace, democracy, human rights, and respect for international law
* An end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem
* A resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem consistent with international law and equity
* An end to all violence against civilians
* Peace among the peoples of the Middle East
JVP, Jewish Voice for Peace, supports peace activists in Palestine and Israel, and works in broad coalition with other Jewish, Arab-American, faith-based, peace and social justice organizations.
Contact Info
Email:
Website:
here
Location:
Oakland, CA
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Petition for Gaza Peace
To SIGN the Gaza Pledge for Peace - Please Go here Look for other similar Actions here in the days ahead...
this picture is courtesy of Palestinian Christians
YEH HUM NAHEEN Waseem Mahmood's Message of Peace
"Terrorism has no religion"
the two photos on the top of this post are from oneworld dot net - a unique, positive yet challenging site - which speaks regularly to the longing for peace, awareness & survival as the highly competent array of staff survey the globe for the dilemmas, struggles, triumphs & joys of people very much like you & me - folk of all ages, religions & traditions who probably have a little more to deal with & a lot less help...
Recently they chose finalists for the People of 2008...Waseem Mahmood was among them. He was my choice...like many I voted for him & asked others to do so...his universal message of peace and the inspiration to be and live out our best life and lives...really grabbed my attention and is so timely & needed today from all of us world-wide. Last night, visiting with our friends over a wonderful Palestinian meal, we shared Waseem's popular & beautiful video "Yeh Hum Naheen".
Find the MUSIC/video in several versions here
Find international coverage - Go here
With the signatures of over 62 million Pakistanis committed to the Yeh Hum Naheen Foundation's anti-terrorism campaign, founder Waseem Mahmood has become a leader in a movement promoting peace & tolerance among the world's diverse peoples.
SIGN THE YEH HUM NAHEEN PEACE STATEMENT here
TAKE OTHER ACTIONS here
Mahmood is a British author and media producer. After his sons raised their concerns about the radicalization of young Muslims in England, he used his professional skills to help put together a catchy tune with some powerful words: "Hamein jis naam say tum jantay ho...woh hum naheen. Humein jis aankh say tum dehktay ho...woh hum naheen. Yeh hum naheen, yeh hum naheen, yeh hum naheen."
In English: "The name by which you know us -- we are not that. The eyes with which you look at us -- we are not that. This is not us, this is not us, this is not us." Another part of the song says: "The stories that are being spread in our name are lies -- this is not us."
Now, the phrase "yeh hum naheen," meaning "this is not us," is being repeated all over Pakistan.
To find out more, go to yehhumnaheen dot org
for the site about the book -Good Morning Afghanistan- GO here for more information - Mr. Mahmood's book is an essential addition to Greg Mortenson's book -Three Cups of Tea- GO here ...both these books help promote understanding as we in the USA & elsewhere become increasingly focused on Afghanistan & Pakistan.
photo of boy is from Mr. Mahmood's book site.
Today, Tuesday, December 30, 2008, Waseem Mahmood sent the following message - which I find quite a nice personal surprise, since my family & our friends has just the night before ended our warm evening with his video! And more, what a daily challenge!
Here is Waseem's message...
"...ONLY BY WORKING TOGETHER can we eradicate these misconceptions about the "other"...
"62.8 million Pakistanis have proved that they deplore terrorism and terrorists as much as anybody else..." these two quote from Waseem Mahmood
If you'd like to email Waseem for reasons of peace, you may contact him at waseemmahmood@btinternet.com
Besides the serendipity of finding this little note right after sharing his & his son's work with friends, I found his short message to be so timely for peacemakers around the world at this time.
So many of us, this very hour - at the sunrise of a new year - hold hands across the seas & miles, the generations, the various causes, the religions & traditions to network and live for peace...what a welcome gift! But more than that, what a daily task...
Thanks again, - brother of peace - for your life & the lives of your family - you are living instruments for change and goodwill to all. We are so grateful for you, Waseem, our international brother/father/mentor!
Blessings to all the readers' families--may you ALL Be and Go Most Well and find much needed work to do for peace during 2009!
With gratitude & encouragement from One Heart for Peace to the many other hearts - Connie
(this photo is also from Mahmood's book site - our children are watching)
the two photos on the top of this post are from oneworld dot net - a unique, positive yet challenging site - which speaks regularly to the longing for peace, awareness & survival as the highly competent array of staff survey the globe for the dilemmas, struggles, triumphs & joys of people very much like you & me - folk of all ages, religions & traditions who probably have a little more to deal with & a lot less help...Recently they chose finalists for the People of 2008...Waseem Mahmood was among them. He was my choice...like many I voted for him & asked others to do so...his universal message of peace and the inspiration to be and live out our best life and lives...really grabbed my attention and is so timely & needed today from all of us world-wide. Last night, visiting with our friends over a wonderful Palestinian meal, we shared Waseem's popular & beautiful video "Yeh Hum Naheen".
Find the MUSIC/video in several versions here
Find international coverage - Go here
With the signatures of over 62 million Pakistanis committed to the Yeh Hum Naheen Foundation's anti-terrorism campaign, founder Waseem Mahmood has become a leader in a movement promoting peace & tolerance among the world's diverse peoples.
SIGN THE YEH HUM NAHEEN PEACE STATEMENT here
TAKE OTHER ACTIONS here
Mahmood is a British author and media producer. After his sons raised their concerns about the radicalization of young Muslims in England, he used his professional skills to help put together a catchy tune with some powerful words: "Hamein jis naam say tum jantay ho...woh hum naheen. Humein jis aankh say tum dehktay ho...woh hum naheen. Yeh hum naheen, yeh hum naheen, yeh hum naheen."
In English: "The name by which you know us -- we are not that. The eyes with which you look at us -- we are not that. This is not us, this is not us, this is not us." Another part of the song says: "The stories that are being spread in our name are lies -- this is not us."
Now, the phrase "yeh hum naheen," meaning "this is not us," is being repeated all over Pakistan.
To find out more, go to yehhumnaheen dot org
for the site about the book -Good Morning Afghanistan- GO here for more information - Mr. Mahmood's book is an essential addition to Greg Mortenson's book -Three Cups of Tea- GO here ...both these books help promote understanding as we in the USA & elsewhere become increasingly focused on Afghanistan & Pakistan.
photo of boy is from Mr. Mahmood's book site.
Today, Tuesday, December 30, 2008, Waseem Mahmood sent the following message - which I find quite a nice personal surprise, since my family & our friends has just the night before ended our warm evening with his video! And more, what a daily challenge!
Here is Waseem's message...
"...ONLY BY WORKING TOGETHER can we eradicate these misconceptions about the "other"...
"62.8 million Pakistanis have proved that they deplore terrorism and terrorists as much as anybody else..." these two quote from Waseem Mahmood
If you'd like to email Waseem for reasons of peace, you may contact him at waseemmahmood@btinternet.com
Besides the serendipity of finding this little note right after sharing his & his son's work with friends, I found his short message to be so timely for peacemakers around the world at this time.
So many of us, this very hour - at the sunrise of a new year - hold hands across the seas & miles, the generations, the various causes, the religions & traditions to network and live for peace...what a welcome gift! But more than that, what a daily task...
Thanks again, - brother of peace - for your life & the lives of your family - you are living instruments for change and goodwill to all. We are so grateful for you, Waseem, our international brother/father/mentor!
Blessings to all the readers' families--may you ALL Be and Go Most Well and find much needed work to do for peace during 2009!
With gratitude & encouragement from One Heart for Peace to the many other hearts - Connie
(this photo is also from Mahmood's book site - our children are watching)
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee condemns Gaza attacks - by Marvin Wingfield
December 30, 2008
Advocacy group calls on US to play its proper role as an honest broker to the humanitarian disaster in Gaza
Washington, DC - The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today strongly condemned the continuing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. Reports indicate that the Israeli air strikes over the past two days have killed 330 people in Gaza and have left over 1450 more injured, almost 300 of which are in critical condition. The UN estimates that %5 of those killed are children under the age of 18. These strikes come after several weeks of a tight blockade which left many of Gaza's 1.5-million inhabitants without sufficient food, water, fuel or medicine. The population of Gaza is 2/3 refugee and more than half are under the age of 16. The UN has listed Gaza as the most densely populated area in the world with a population density that is higher than that of Manhattan in New York City.
Numerous studies have indicated that similar attacks in the past have failed to make Israeli citizens any safer and resulted in increased support of Hamas extremists. During the cease-fire brokered by Egypt this past summer, rocket attacks by Hamas extremists had greatly diminished. The blockade of Gaza was relaxed slightly by Israel however it never ended completely. Israel escalated the situation in early November by killing 4 Palestinians in Gaza in the bloodiest violation of the cease-fire during the Egyptian-brokered agreement. The month that followed brought a return of a suffocating siege on the civilians of Gaza and rocket attacks against southern Israel. Prior to the current Israeli attacks, over 850 Palestinians had been killed by Israel since the Annapolis summit in late 2007. These numbers are compared to less than 20 Israelis killed by rocket fire from Gaza since 2000. The disproportionate nature of this latest round of violence is representative of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in general and continues to fan the flames of discontent in the Arab and Muslim worlds. On Saturday, ADC called upon Americans to contact their legislators and representatives to express their outrage at the attacks in Gaza. That action alert can be found here: http://www.adc.org/index.php?id=3396
Today, ADC sent letters to President Bush, President-Elect Obama, Secretary of State Rice, and the Ambassador of Israel in Washington calling for an immediate end of hostilities on all sides. Further, the letters criticized the American response to the attacks which placed all blame on Hamas with no mention of Israel's disproportionate and continuing bombardment of Gaza. While Hamas is guilty of rocket fire, which indiscriminately targets civilians in Israel, this falls within the context of a prolonged siege in which Israel too is indiscriminately targeting 1.5 million civilians in Gaza. The official response from the White House and State Department was irresponsible and ignored American national and economic interests in addition to international humanitarian law and the laws of war.
ADC Calls on:
1) All parties directly involved to immediately work to end hostilities on all sides and arrive at a new cease-fire agreement;
2) The United States to exert immediate pressure on its ally Israel to halt attacks on Gaza's population;
3) The Arab world to work to alleviate the suffering and hunger in the Gaza Strip;
4) The American media to fairly portray the situation in Gaza and to recall the disproportion, context of occupation, and siege when mentioning the indiscriminate rocket attacks by Hamas on southern Israel.
Throughout the history of Arab-Israeli peace negotiations only cease-fires and agreements have brought peace and security for both Arabs and Israelis.
1240 Bryden Road Columbus, Ohio 43209 Ph/Fx 614.253.2571 Email truth@freepress.org
Advocacy group calls on US to play its proper role as an honest broker to the humanitarian disaster in Gaza
Washington, DC - The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today strongly condemned the continuing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. Reports indicate that the Israeli air strikes over the past two days have killed 330 people in Gaza and have left over 1450 more injured, almost 300 of which are in critical condition. The UN estimates that %5 of those killed are children under the age of 18. These strikes come after several weeks of a tight blockade which left many of Gaza's 1.5-million inhabitants without sufficient food, water, fuel or medicine. The population of Gaza is 2/3 refugee and more than half are under the age of 16. The UN has listed Gaza as the most densely populated area in the world with a population density that is higher than that of Manhattan in New York City.
Numerous studies have indicated that similar attacks in the past have failed to make Israeli citizens any safer and resulted in increased support of Hamas extremists. During the cease-fire brokered by Egypt this past summer, rocket attacks by Hamas extremists had greatly diminished. The blockade of Gaza was relaxed slightly by Israel however it never ended completely. Israel escalated the situation in early November by killing 4 Palestinians in Gaza in the bloodiest violation of the cease-fire during the Egyptian-brokered agreement. The month that followed brought a return of a suffocating siege on the civilians of Gaza and rocket attacks against southern Israel. Prior to the current Israeli attacks, over 850 Palestinians had been killed by Israel since the Annapolis summit in late 2007. These numbers are compared to less than 20 Israelis killed by rocket fire from Gaza since 2000. The disproportionate nature of this latest round of violence is representative of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in general and continues to fan the flames of discontent in the Arab and Muslim worlds. On Saturday, ADC called upon Americans to contact their legislators and representatives to express their outrage at the attacks in Gaza. That action alert can be found here: http://www.adc.org/index.php?id=3396
Today, ADC sent letters to President Bush, President-Elect Obama, Secretary of State Rice, and the Ambassador of Israel in Washington calling for an immediate end of hostilities on all sides. Further, the letters criticized the American response to the attacks which placed all blame on Hamas with no mention of Israel's disproportionate and continuing bombardment of Gaza. While Hamas is guilty of rocket fire, which indiscriminately targets civilians in Israel, this falls within the context of a prolonged siege in which Israel too is indiscriminately targeting 1.5 million civilians in Gaza. The official response from the White House and State Department was irresponsible and ignored American national and economic interests in addition to international humanitarian law and the laws of war.
ADC Calls on:
1) All parties directly involved to immediately work to end hostilities on all sides and arrive at a new cease-fire agreement;
2) The United States to exert immediate pressure on its ally Israel to halt attacks on Gaza's population;
3) The Arab world to work to alleviate the suffering and hunger in the Gaza Strip;
4) The American media to fairly portray the situation in Gaza and to recall the disproportion, context of occupation, and siege when mentioning the indiscriminate rocket attacks by Hamas on southern Israel.
Throughout the history of Arab-Israeli peace negotiations only cease-fires and agreements have brought peace and security for both Arabs and Israelis.
1240 Bryden Road Columbus, Ohio 43209 Ph/Fx 614.253.2571 Email truth@freepress.org
USA National Lawyers Guild CONDEMNS Illegal Israeli Massacre of Over 300 Gazans/Calls for Ceasefire, Urges Protests
Dec 29 2008
NLG Condemns Israeli Massacre of Gazans MWC NEWS
The National Lawyers Guild Condemns Illegal Israeli Massacre of over 300 Gazans, Calls for Ceasefire and Urges Participation in Protests
Contact: Marjorie Cohn, NLG President, marjorie[at]tjsl.edu; 619-374-6923
Radhika Sainath, NLG Free Gaza Committee, radhika.sainath[at]gmail.com, 917-669-6903
New York. The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) condemns Israel's massive bombardment of the Gaza Strip which has left over 300 dead and 1,400 wounded, with the tolls mounting. The Israeli Air Force dropped more than 100 bombs in dozens of locations throughout the Gaza Strip as children left school on Saturday. The dead include men, women and children in school uniforms.
"International law forbids the targeting of civilians," said Radhika Sainath, a civil rights attorney and member of the Free Gaza Committee of the NLG. "Israel must comply with laws of war and the Fourth Geneva Convention." Today's massacre marks an escalation of Israel's two-year blockade of the Strip which has deprived 1.5 million Palestinians of necessary food, medicine, fuel and other necessities. In November 2008, the United Nations stated that it had run out of food to feed over 750,000 needy Gazans.
Israel claims that the attack is in response to Palestinian rocket fire, which caused no recent Israeli deaths and few injuries. However, Israel's "rolling bombardment" and impending ground invasion is grossly disproportionate in light of the minimal damage caused by Palestinian rockets. “The law of war prohibits collective punishment and the targeting of a civilian population disproportionate to military necessity. Israel has flouted both these prohibitions, that follow its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and its sealing of Gaza, subjecting Gazans to near starvation,” said Marjorie Cohn, NLG president and a professor of international law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. “The Human Rights and Security Assistance Act mandates that the United States cease all military aid to Israel, which has engaged in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”
Israeli military spokesman Avi Benayahu stated that the Israeli bombardment of Gaza was "only just the beginning," showing utter contempt for international norms and the lives of innocent Palestinians. The Guild calls on the entire international community, and the United States in particular, to demand an end to Israel's blockade of the Occupied Territories and its murderous assault on the Palestinian people. We urge everyone to join in the demonstrations planned across the country in opposition to this latest attack on the rule of law by Israel and we call on both sides to immediately reinstate the cease fire.
Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
NLG Condemns Israeli Massacre of Gazans MWC NEWS
The National Lawyers Guild Condemns Illegal Israeli Massacre of over 300 Gazans, Calls for Ceasefire and Urges Participation in Protests
Contact: Marjorie Cohn, NLG President, marjorie[at]tjsl.edu; 619-374-6923
Radhika Sainath, NLG Free Gaza Committee, radhika.sainath[at]gmail.com, 917-669-6903
New York. The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) condemns Israel's massive bombardment of the Gaza Strip which has left over 300 dead and 1,400 wounded, with the tolls mounting. The Israeli Air Force dropped more than 100 bombs in dozens of locations throughout the Gaza Strip as children left school on Saturday. The dead include men, women and children in school uniforms.
"International law forbids the targeting of civilians," said Radhika Sainath, a civil rights attorney and member of the Free Gaza Committee of the NLG. "Israel must comply with laws of war and the Fourth Geneva Convention." Today's massacre marks an escalation of Israel's two-year blockade of the Strip which has deprived 1.5 million Palestinians of necessary food, medicine, fuel and other necessities. In November 2008, the United Nations stated that it had run out of food to feed over 750,000 needy Gazans.
Israel claims that the attack is in response to Palestinian rocket fire, which caused no recent Israeli deaths and few injuries. However, Israel's "rolling bombardment" and impending ground invasion is grossly disproportionate in light of the minimal damage caused by Palestinian rockets. “The law of war prohibits collective punishment and the targeting of a civilian population disproportionate to military necessity. Israel has flouted both these prohibitions, that follow its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and its sealing of Gaza, subjecting Gazans to near starvation,” said Marjorie Cohn, NLG president and a professor of international law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. “The Human Rights and Security Assistance Act mandates that the United States cease all military aid to Israel, which has engaged in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”
Israeli military spokesman Avi Benayahu stated that the Israeli bombardment of Gaza was "only just the beginning," showing utter contempt for international norms and the lives of innocent Palestinians. The Guild calls on the entire international community, and the United States in particular, to demand an end to Israel's blockade of the Occupied Territories and its murderous assault on the Palestinian people. We urge everyone to join in the demonstrations planned across the country in opposition to this latest attack on the rule of law by Israel and we call on both sides to immediately reinstate the cease fire.
Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
Bob Herbert NYTimes: Add Up the Damage
By BOB HERBERT December 30, 2008 Op-Ed Columnist
Does anyone know where George W. Bush is?
You don’t hear much from him anymore. The last image most of us remember is of the president ducking a pair of size 10s that were hurled at him in Baghdad.
We’re still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Israel is thrashing the Palestinians in Gaza. And the U.S. economy is about as vibrant as the 0-16 Detroit Lions.
But hardly a peep have we heard from George, the 43rd.
When Mr. Bush officially takes his leave in three weeks (in reality, he checked out long ago), most Americans will be content to sigh good riddance. I disagree. I don’t think he should be allowed to slip quietly out of town. There should be a great hue and cry — a loud, collective angry howl, demonstrations with signs and bullhorns and fiery speeches — over the damage he’s done to this country.
This is the man who gave us the war in Iraq and Guantánamo and torture and rendition; who turned the Clinton economy and the budget surplus into fool’s gold; who dithered while New Orleans drowned; who trampled our civil liberties at home and ruined our reputation abroad; who let Dick Cheney run hog wild and thought Brownie was doing a heckuva job.
The Bush administration specialized in deceit. How else could you get the public (and a feckless Congress) to go along with an invasion of Iraq as an absolutely essential response to the Sept. 11 attacks, when Iraq had had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks?
Exploiting the public’s understandable fears, Mr. Bush made it sound as if Iraq was about to nuke us: “We cannot wait,” he said, “for the final proof — the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
He then set the blaze that has continued to rage for nearly six years, consuming more than 4,000 American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. (A car bomb over the weekend killed two dozen more Iraqis, many of them religious pilgrims.) The financial cost to the U.S. will eventually reach $3 trillion or more, according to the Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz.
A year into the war Mr. Bush was cracking jokes about it at the annual dinner of the Radio and Television Correspondents Association. He displayed a series of photos that showed him searching the Oval Office, peering behind curtains and looking under the furniture. A mock caption had Mr. Bush saying: “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere.”
And then there’s the Bush economy, another disaster, a trapdoor through which middle-class Americans can plunge toward the bracing experiences normally reserved for the poor and the destitute.
Mr. Bush traveled the country in the early days of his presidency, promoting his tax cut plans as hugely beneficial to small-business people and families of modest means. This was more deceit. The tax cuts would go overwhelmingly to the very rich.
The president would give the wealthy and the powerful virtually everything they wanted. He would throw sand into the regulatory apparatus and help foster the most extreme income disparities since the years leading up to the Great Depression. Once again he was lighting a fire. This time the flames would engulf the economy and, as with Iraq, bring catastrophe.
If the U.S. were a product line, it would be seen now as deeply damaged goods, subject to recall.
There seemed to be no end to Mr. Bush’s talent for destruction. He tried to hand the piggy bank known as Social Security over to the marauders of the financial sector, but saner heads prevailed.
In New Orleans, the president failed to intervene swiftly and decisively to aid the tens of thousands of poor people who were very publicly suffering and, in many cases, dying. He then compounded this colossal failure of leadership by traveling to New Orleans and promising, in a dramatic, floodlit appearance, to spare no effort in rebuilding the flood-torn region and the wrecked lives of the victims.
He went further, vowing to confront the issue of poverty in America “with bold action.”
It was all nonsense, of course. He did nothing of the kind.
The catalog of his transgressions against the nation’s interests — sins of commission and omission — would keep Mr. Bush in a confessional for the rest of his life. Don’t hold your breath. He’s hardly the contrite sort.
He told ABC’s Charlie Gibson: “I don’t spend a lot of time really worrying about short-term history. I guess I don’t worry about long-term history, either, since I’m not going to be around to read it.”
The president chuckled, thinking — as he did when he made his jokes about the missing weapons of mass destruction — that there was something funny going on.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
Does anyone know where George W. Bush is?
You don’t hear much from him anymore. The last image most of us remember is of the president ducking a pair of size 10s that were hurled at him in Baghdad.
We’re still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Israel is thrashing the Palestinians in Gaza. And the U.S. economy is about as vibrant as the 0-16 Detroit Lions.
But hardly a peep have we heard from George, the 43rd.
When Mr. Bush officially takes his leave in three weeks (in reality, he checked out long ago), most Americans will be content to sigh good riddance. I disagree. I don’t think he should be allowed to slip quietly out of town. There should be a great hue and cry — a loud, collective angry howl, demonstrations with signs and bullhorns and fiery speeches — over the damage he’s done to this country.
This is the man who gave us the war in Iraq and Guantánamo and torture and rendition; who turned the Clinton economy and the budget surplus into fool’s gold; who dithered while New Orleans drowned; who trampled our civil liberties at home and ruined our reputation abroad; who let Dick Cheney run hog wild and thought Brownie was doing a heckuva job.
The Bush administration specialized in deceit. How else could you get the public (and a feckless Congress) to go along with an invasion of Iraq as an absolutely essential response to the Sept. 11 attacks, when Iraq had had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks?
Exploiting the public’s understandable fears, Mr. Bush made it sound as if Iraq was about to nuke us: “We cannot wait,” he said, “for the final proof — the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
He then set the blaze that has continued to rage for nearly six years, consuming more than 4,000 American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. (A car bomb over the weekend killed two dozen more Iraqis, many of them religious pilgrims.) The financial cost to the U.S. will eventually reach $3 trillion or more, according to the Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz.
A year into the war Mr. Bush was cracking jokes about it at the annual dinner of the Radio and Television Correspondents Association. He displayed a series of photos that showed him searching the Oval Office, peering behind curtains and looking under the furniture. A mock caption had Mr. Bush saying: “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere.”
And then there’s the Bush economy, another disaster, a trapdoor through which middle-class Americans can plunge toward the bracing experiences normally reserved for the poor and the destitute.
Mr. Bush traveled the country in the early days of his presidency, promoting his tax cut plans as hugely beneficial to small-business people and families of modest means. This was more deceit. The tax cuts would go overwhelmingly to the very rich.
The president would give the wealthy and the powerful virtually everything they wanted. He would throw sand into the regulatory apparatus and help foster the most extreme income disparities since the years leading up to the Great Depression. Once again he was lighting a fire. This time the flames would engulf the economy and, as with Iraq, bring catastrophe.
If the U.S. were a product line, it would be seen now as deeply damaged goods, subject to recall.
There seemed to be no end to Mr. Bush’s talent for destruction. He tried to hand the piggy bank known as Social Security over to the marauders of the financial sector, but saner heads prevailed.
In New Orleans, the president failed to intervene swiftly and decisively to aid the tens of thousands of poor people who were very publicly suffering and, in many cases, dying. He then compounded this colossal failure of leadership by traveling to New Orleans and promising, in a dramatic, floodlit appearance, to spare no effort in rebuilding the flood-torn region and the wrecked lives of the victims.
He went further, vowing to confront the issue of poverty in America “with bold action.”
It was all nonsense, of course. He did nothing of the kind.
The catalog of his transgressions against the nation’s interests — sins of commission and omission — would keep Mr. Bush in a confessional for the rest of his life. Don’t hold your breath. He’s hardly the contrite sort.
He told ABC’s Charlie Gibson: “I don’t spend a lot of time really worrying about short-term history. I guess I don’t worry about long-term history, either, since I’m not going to be around to read it.”
The president chuckled, thinking — as he did when he made his jokes about the missing weapons of mass destruction — that there was something funny going on.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
LOS ANGELES CALIF USA PEACE PROTEST TODAY 3 PM INCLUDES JEWS FOR PEACE
LA Jews for Peace & CodePink: California Peace Demonstraion
Tuesday, December 30th, 3:00pm-5:30pm
CODEPINK joins LA Jews for Peace for a Demonstration to Protest the Israeli Siege of Gaza
Westwood Federal Building at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Veteran Avenue
Join LA Jews for Peace and CODEPINK at the Westwood Federal Building on the southwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Veteran Avenue as we call for an immediate end to the violence in Gaza. As of this writing, over 350 Palestinians have been killed and 1500 wounded in the Israeli bombardment. A humanitarian crisis is brewing due to the lack of medical supplies, food, electricity and proper facilities to care for the homeless and wounded. The UN Secretary General and the Swiss Government have called the offensive a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Israel's brutality was given approval by the US government--join your fellow citizens to tell our legislators that their constituents refuse to sanction Israel's flouting of international law and the violence it has unleashed in Gaza.
Please RSVP to Audrey (codepinkla@gmail.com) if you will join us in action!
***Three-hour visitor parking is available in the Federal Building lot.***
Tuesday, December 30th, 3:00pm-5:30pm
CODEPINK joins LA Jews for Peace for a Demonstration to Protest the Israeli Siege of Gaza
Westwood Federal Building at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Veteran Avenue
Join LA Jews for Peace and CODEPINK at the Westwood Federal Building on the southwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Veteran Avenue as we call for an immediate end to the violence in Gaza. As of this writing, over 350 Palestinians have been killed and 1500 wounded in the Israeli bombardment. A humanitarian crisis is brewing due to the lack of medical supplies, food, electricity and proper facilities to care for the homeless and wounded. The UN Secretary General and the Swiss Government have called the offensive a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Israel's brutality was given approval by the US government--join your fellow citizens to tell our legislators that their constituents refuse to sanction Israel's flouting of international law and the violence it has unleashed in Gaza.
Please RSVP to Audrey (codepinkla@gmail.com) if you will join us in action!
***Three-hour visitor parking is available in the Federal Building lot.***
Aljazeera Updating with Photos, Videos, Reports on FEW US Protests
Peace Actions for Gaza
Mid-morning Saturday, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) launched a series of deadly air strikes on the occupied Gaza Strip. As we write this, an estimated 275 (when posted well over 350)people have been killed. Hundreds (may be up to 1,000 by Tuesday)of innocent people have been wounded. According to news reports today, Israel plans to keep these attacks going and has brought scores of tanks to the border with Gaza.
These Israeli attacks come on top of a brutal siege of the Gaza Strip which has been going on for years and has created a humanitarian catastrophe of dire proportions for Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinian residents by restricting the provision of food, fuel, medicine, electricity, and other necessities of life. All of this is happening in the most densely populated and one of the poorest areas of the world.
Israel is carrying out these attacks with F-16 fighter jets and missiles provided by U.S. taxpayers. From 2001-2006, the United States transferred to Israel more than $200 million worth of spare parts to fly its fleet of F-16's. In July 2008, the United States gave Israel 186 million gallons of JP-8 aviation jet fuel. Last year, the United States signed a $1.3 billion contract with Raytheon to transfer to Israel thousands of TOW, Hellfire, and 'bunker buster' missiles.
Israel's lethal attack on the Gaza Strip could not have happened without the active military and political support of the United States. We need to take action now to protest this attack and demand an immediate cease-fire.
Peace Action is a proud member of United for Peace and Justice along with The U.S. Campaign to End the Israel Occupation. They have issued an action alert with these suggestions -- we urge you to take action today!
1. Contact the White House to protest the attacks and demand an immediate cease-fire. Call 202-456-1111 or send an email to comments@whitehouse.gov.
2. Contact the State Department at 202-647-6575.
3. Contact your Representative and Senators in Congress at 202-224-3121.
4. Contact your local media by phoning into a talk show or writing a letter to the editor.
5. Organize a local protest or vigil and tell us about it by clicking here
Background Information
Below are three articles you may want to read for background information and reports on the Gaza crisis.
'If Gaza Falls...', Sara Roy, Professor at Harvard's Center For Middle Eastern Studies and author of 'Failing Peace: Gaza and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict'.
Go here
'Order: Gaza Massacres Must Spur Us To Action', Ali Abunimah, Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of 'One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse' (Metropolitan Books, 2006).
'Report on Gaza', Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Update December 22, 2008. Go
here
Sincerely, Kevin M. Martin - Executive Director - Peace Action
These Israeli attacks come on top of a brutal siege of the Gaza Strip which has been going on for years and has created a humanitarian catastrophe of dire proportions for Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinian residents by restricting the provision of food, fuel, medicine, electricity, and other necessities of life. All of this is happening in the most densely populated and one of the poorest areas of the world.
Israel is carrying out these attacks with F-16 fighter jets and missiles provided by U.S. taxpayers. From 2001-2006, the United States transferred to Israel more than $200 million worth of spare parts to fly its fleet of F-16's. In July 2008, the United States gave Israel 186 million gallons of JP-8 aviation jet fuel. Last year, the United States signed a $1.3 billion contract with Raytheon to transfer to Israel thousands of TOW, Hellfire, and 'bunker buster' missiles.
Israel's lethal attack on the Gaza Strip could not have happened without the active military and political support of the United States. We need to take action now to protest this attack and demand an immediate cease-fire.
Peace Action is a proud member of United for Peace and Justice along with The U.S. Campaign to End the Israel Occupation. They have issued an action alert with these suggestions -- we urge you to take action today!
1. Contact the White House to protest the attacks and demand an immediate cease-fire. Call 202-456-1111 or send an email to comments@whitehouse.gov.
2. Contact the State Department at 202-647-6575.
3. Contact your Representative and Senators in Congress at 202-224-3121.
4. Contact your local media by phoning into a talk show or writing a letter to the editor.
5. Organize a local protest or vigil and tell us about it by clicking here
Background Information
Below are three articles you may want to read for background information and reports on the Gaza crisis.
'If Gaza Falls...', Sara Roy, Professor at Harvard's Center For Middle Eastern Studies and author of 'Failing Peace: Gaza and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict'.
Go here
'Order: Gaza Massacres Must Spur Us To Action', Ali Abunimah, Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of 'One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse' (Metropolitan Books, 2006).
'Report on Gaza', Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Update December 22, 2008. Go
here
Sincerely, Kevin M. Martin - Executive Director - Peace Action
More from Gaza Strip (Young Journalist) Find Videos/Photos/Contact Info here
Monday, December 29, 2008
Find Videos & much more on this 23 year-old Gazan's site!
***
"I Heard the Missile Coming"
GAZA CITY — Ali Abu-Fatahi will never forget the terrifying sound of a missile fired by an Israeli warplane as it zoomed in on his house.
"I was having my dinner when I heard the missile's whistle," a helpless Abu-Fatahi told IslamOnline.net from his bed at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
In just seconds, the missile hit his family's house in the Dir Al-Balah City, razing it to the ground.
"I flew in the sky and then I found myself lying on the floor at our neighbors' house," he recalled the harrowing moments with tears flashing in his eyes.
Abu-Fatahi can't remember what happened next.
* Gaza Holocaust Museum
* Killed in Cradle
He woke up with head injuries. It was later that he knew that all his 15 family members who were in the house were also hospitalized.
"All my family members were hit."
At least 345 people were killed and more than 1,650 wounded since Israel blitzed the Gaza Strip with massive air strikes on Saturday, December 27.
The aggression against the impoverished seaside territory, the world's most densely populated area, continued on Sunday, killing scores of Palestinians and wounding hundreds.
From his bed, Abu-Fatahi can hear his traumatized brother, Mahmoud, screaming.
He is still suffering from the shock of seeing his neighbors torn into pieces by the killer bombing.
"My sister who is only 2 is in another room."
Mass Grave
Across Gaza, many are still frantically looking for bodies of their beloved ones under the rubbles. (Reuters)Across Gaza, many are still frantically looking for bodies of their beloved ones under the rubbles. (Reuters)
The battered Gaza Strip has turned into a mass grave.
The scene of people screaming in grief while taking their family members to burial is repeated over and over.
Civil defense forces are desperately trying to help people moving the corpses found buried under the rubbles of flattened buildings.
"We have dug out many bodies with no legs or heads," a civil defense officer told IOL.
In mass funeral processions, formed outside almost every Gaza house, the sound of Qur'an recitation is mixed with the distant sound of explosions.
The wailing of the grief-stricken and prayers for the departed are mixed with calls for reprisal.
Other Gazans, however, are still frantically looking for their beloved ones among the dead bodies.
"My sons have left the house at 10 am. I went to search for them in all hospitals but in vain," a shocked Om Ahmed Abu-Aqal said, with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Her sons were among scores of people inside one of the security compounds bombed out on Saturday.
"I came here to see if they are alive or dead under the rubbles of this building," said the weeping mother.
"I need to know what happened to them, where are they? Anyone tells me."
Sameh A. Habeeb, B.A.
Photojournalist & Peace Activist
Humanitarian, Child Relief Worker
Gaza Strip, Palestine
Mob: 00972599306096
Tel: 0097282802825
E-mail: Sam_hab@hotmail.com
Sameh.habeeb@gmail.com
Skype: Gazatoday, Facebook: Sameh A. habeeb
Web: www.gazatoday.blogspot.com
Daily Photos:http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb
Posted by Sameh A. Palestine at 11:37 AM 0 comments
Labels: Gaza conflict is a proxy war: From Gaza to Rome
Find Videos & much more on this 23 year-old Gazan's site!
***
"I Heard the Missile Coming"
GAZA CITY — Ali Abu-Fatahi will never forget the terrifying sound of a missile fired by an Israeli warplane as it zoomed in on his house.
"I was having my dinner when I heard the missile's whistle," a helpless Abu-Fatahi told IslamOnline.net from his bed at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
In just seconds, the missile hit his family's house in the Dir Al-Balah City, razing it to the ground.
"I flew in the sky and then I found myself lying on the floor at our neighbors' house," he recalled the harrowing moments with tears flashing in his eyes.
Abu-Fatahi can't remember what happened next.
* Gaza Holocaust Museum
* Killed in Cradle
He woke up with head injuries. It was later that he knew that all his 15 family members who were in the house were also hospitalized.
"All my family members were hit."
At least 345 people were killed and more than 1,650 wounded since Israel blitzed the Gaza Strip with massive air strikes on Saturday, December 27.
The aggression against the impoverished seaside territory, the world's most densely populated area, continued on Sunday, killing scores of Palestinians and wounding hundreds.
From his bed, Abu-Fatahi can hear his traumatized brother, Mahmoud, screaming.
He is still suffering from the shock of seeing his neighbors torn into pieces by the killer bombing.
"My sister who is only 2 is in another room."
Mass Grave
Across Gaza, many are still frantically looking for bodies of their beloved ones under the rubbles. (Reuters)Across Gaza, many are still frantically looking for bodies of their beloved ones under the rubbles. (Reuters)
The battered Gaza Strip has turned into a mass grave.
The scene of people screaming in grief while taking their family members to burial is repeated over and over.
Civil defense forces are desperately trying to help people moving the corpses found buried under the rubbles of flattened buildings.
"We have dug out many bodies with no legs or heads," a civil defense officer told IOL.
In mass funeral processions, formed outside almost every Gaza house, the sound of Qur'an recitation is mixed with the distant sound of explosions.
The wailing of the grief-stricken and prayers for the departed are mixed with calls for reprisal.
Other Gazans, however, are still frantically looking for their beloved ones among the dead bodies.
"My sons have left the house at 10 am. I went to search for them in all hospitals but in vain," a shocked Om Ahmed Abu-Aqal said, with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Her sons were among scores of people inside one of the security compounds bombed out on Saturday.
"I came here to see if they are alive or dead under the rubbles of this building," said the weeping mother.
"I need to know what happened to them, where are they? Anyone tells me."
Sameh A. Habeeb, B.A.
Photojournalist & Peace Activist
Humanitarian, Child Relief Worker
Gaza Strip, Palestine
Mob: 00972599306096
Tel: 0097282802825
E-mail: Sam_hab@hotmail.com
Sameh.habeeb@gmail.com
Skype: Gazatoday, Facebook: Sameh A. habeeb
Web: www.gazatoday.blogspot.com
Daily Photos:http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb
Posted by Sameh A. Palestine at 11:37 AM 0 comments
Labels: Gaza conflict is a proxy war: From Gaza to Rome
"No Hamas building will be left after Gaza blitz" Israel Military
Published on ABS-CBN News Online Beta (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com)
Agence France-Presse | 12/29/2008 10:54 PM
JERUSALEM - Israel vowed on Monday to raze every single Hamas structure in the Gaza Strip during its ongoing blitz of the Palestinian enclave ruled by the Islamist movement.
"After this operation there will not be a single Hamas building left standing in Gaza, and we plan to change the rules of the game," said armed forces deputy chief of staff Brigadier General Dan Harel, quoted by YNet News.
"We are hitting not only terrorists and launchers, but also the whole Hamas government and all its wings," Harel told leaders of Israeli communities that are within range of the rockets fired by Gaza militants.
"We are hitting government buildings, production factories, security wings and more," he said.
At least 320 Palestinians were killed in three days of air strikes on targets in the besieged Palestinian enclave. Two Israelis were killed by rocket fire from Gaza in the same period.
Harel warned that was just the beginning. "The worst is not behind us, it is still ahead of us," he said ominously.
Copyright © 2008 ABS-CBN Interactive All rights reserved.
Source URL: here
Agence France-Presse | 12/29/2008 10:54 PM
JERUSALEM - Israel vowed on Monday to raze every single Hamas structure in the Gaza Strip during its ongoing blitz of the Palestinian enclave ruled by the Islamist movement.
"After this operation there will not be a single Hamas building left standing in Gaza, and we plan to change the rules of the game," said armed forces deputy chief of staff Brigadier General Dan Harel, quoted by YNet News.
"We are hitting not only terrorists and launchers, but also the whole Hamas government and all its wings," Harel told leaders of Israeli communities that are within range of the rockets fired by Gaza militants.
"We are hitting government buildings, production factories, security wings and more," he said.
At least 320 Palestinians were killed in three days of air strikes on targets in the besieged Palestinian enclave. Two Israelis were killed by rocket fire from Gaza in the same period.
Harel warned that was just the beginning. "The worst is not behind us, it is still ahead of us," he said ominously.
Copyright © 2008 ABS-CBN Interactive All rights reserved.
Source URL: here
Will the next move depend on the Outcry of the World Citizens? Gaza Updates: Various with Video & Photos
from Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Monday) See the item from Bitter Lemons below the Australian & McKinney articles... What will happen next? Maybe it's largely up to the World Community of peace? How about doing a candlelight vigil in your community on New Year's Eve or Day...a silent one pleading for peace for both Israel & Palestine with one simple peace-making sign may be the most powerful way we can reach our hands across the miles...send your peace-making photos to the major media outlets - especially & including the middle east media...
here
PHOTO: Third day of air raids: An Israeli bomb explodes during an air strike in Gaza on Monday [AFP: Jack Guez]
Find more updated videos & other items at here and find much more here on One Heart for Peace, positiveuniverse dot com, Al-Jazeera, Electronic Intifada, Marjoriecohn dot com and keep coming back...
Article from Australia: updated from Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:01:00 +1100 Australia Network News
Witnesses and Hamas sources in the Gaza Strip say Israeli warplanes have carried out dozens of night-time air strikes, targeting ministry buildings and security service installations.
The director of Gaza's emergency services say at least 10 more Palestinians were killed and 40 injured. Earlier, United Nations staff said the death toll had reached 320, with more than 1,400 injured.
Egypt has allowed some trucks laden with medical aid to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, and Israel has also been letting some relief supplies through.
Despite the arrival of some humanitarian aid, crucial medical supplies are still running short and Gaza's hospitals are overwhelmed. The UN official in charge of humanitarian affairs, John Holmes, says much more is needed.
"These supplies are better than nothing but they remain wholly inadequate," he said.
"It's vital that these crossings remain open, whatever the level of violence, and we'll be looking to Israel to uphold the promises it's made in this regard in the coming days, whatever the level of violence might be."
A number of world leaders have urged Israel to cease its attacks immediately.
Australian acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the government is deeply disturbed by the resumption of violence in the region.
"We unreservedly condemn the shelling of southern Israel by Hamas and other militant groups and whilst we recognise Israel's right to defend itself we strongly support the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate halt to all violence," she told the ABC.
********
Entire Hamas government being targeted
Earlier, a senior Israeli military officer said Israel was striking at the entire Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli military's deputy chief of staff Brigadier General Dan Harel said not single Hamas building would be left standing in Gaza when the attack was over.
"After this operation there will not be a single Hamas building left standing in Gaza, and we plan to change the rules of the game," he told the YNet News website.
"We are hitting not only terrorists and launchers, but also the whole Hamas Government and all its wings."
As air attacks continued on Monday, Israel defended its actions and blamed Hamas for using civilians as human shields.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said Israel is in an "all-out war against Hamas and its kind."
But UN aid workers say they are deeply worried about the risks to civilians as the air strikes continue.
Gaza medics say at least a dozen civilians were killed in several Israeli raids on Monday, including about six who died in an air strike on on the home of a senior Hamas militant in northern Gaza.
As bad weather closed in on Gaza on Monday night, making operations more difficult for Israeli aircraft, Palestinian militants fired more rocket salvos across the border, killing three Israeli civilians.
One Arab-Israeli man was killed and another eight people wounded, three seriously, when a rocket hit a building site in the southern city of Ashkelon.
The second fatality was at the Nahal Oz kibbutz just north of the border with the Gaza Strip, medics said, while an Israeli woman died of wounds received after a rocket hit a railyard in the town of Ashdod.
The armed wing of Hamas claimed responsibility for the Ashkelon attack, saying it had fired "three Grad-type rockets".
Military build-up
The Israeli Government has banned foreign journalists from entering Gaza and declared the region around the territory a "closed military zone".
Tanks and other ground forces remain poised on the border for a possible ground invasion.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon says he is "deeply alarmed" by the escalation of violence and has condemned both the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel and the Israeli air strikes.
"Both Israel and Hamas must halt their acts of violence and take all necessary measures to avoid civilian casualties," he said.
The White House says the US wants a "sustainable" ceasefire in Gaza and insists that the onus is on Hamas to first stop its rocket attacks on Israel.
**********
CMcKinney relief boat (allegedly) rammed by Israeli navy
By CRAIG SCHNEIDER A boat carrying international peace activists, including former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, and medical supplies to the embattled Gaza Strip sailed back into a Lebanese port on Tuesday after being turned back and damaged by the Israeli navy, organizers of the trip said.
The crowds on the docks in the Lebanese port city of Tyre were jubilant and cheering as they welcomed the vessel.
The boat, which set off from Cyprus Monday wanted to make a statement and deliver medical supplies to embattled Gaza. The trip’s organizers said the boat was clearly in international waters, 90 miles off the coast of Gaza, at the time of its close encounter with the Israeli navy.
“Our boat was rammed three times, twice in the front and one on the side,” McKinney told CNN Tuesday morning. “Our mission was a peaceful mission. Our mission was thwarted by the aggressiveness of the Israeli military.”
She called on President-elect Obama to address the Gaza crisis, saying the weapons being used by Israel were supplied by the United States.
She denied that the incident was an accident, caused whent he captain of the Dignity tried to maneuver past the Israeli blockade. “What the Israelis are saying is outright disinformation,” she said. “What happened to us last night was a direct threat to our mission, but not our cause.”
In a press release, the Free Gaza movement stated, “Contrary to international maritime law, the Israelis are actively preventing the Dignity from approaching Gaza or finding safe haven in either Egypt or Lebanon. Instead, the Israeli navy is demanding that the Dignity return to Cyprus — despite the fact that the ship does not carry enough fuel to do so.”
McKinney is a high-profile member of a boatload of activists that set sail Monday from Cyprus to deliver medicine to war-torn Gaza.
McKinney, who ran as the Green Party candidate for president, sees the voyage as a humanitarian mission, said her father, former Georgia state Rep. Billy McKinney.
“Her mother did not want her to go,” he said, referring to concerns at home for her safety. “But I think that certain people have missions in life and you can’t deter them.”
The activists, organized by the Free Gaza Group, said their 66-foot yacht called “SS Dignity” would defy an Israeli blockade of Gaza and ferry 16 activists and three tons of Cypriot-donated supplies. The supplies are intended to help treat the wounded from Israeli bombings against targets in Gaza, in retaliation for rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns.
Israel’s aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip continued for a third day on Monday. By Monday, the death toll rose to 364, with some 1,400 reported wounded, according to Palestinian medical officials.
McKinney had sent an e-mail days ago to friends and supporters saying she intended to go to Gaza, said Hugh Esco, a Decatur resident who ran her presidential campaign Web site.
“She has stood with people all over this planet against oppression,” said Esco.
McKinney said she will petition President-elect Barack Obama to speak out against the attacks on Gaza.
The Free Gaza group has made five deliveries of aid by boat to Gaza since August, defying a blockade imposed by Israel when Hamas won control of the territory in June 2007. Organizers say they are aware they may be stopped this time.
“I don’t know if she’ll get off the boat,” her father said. “I hope she gets back safely.” — The Associated Press contributed to this report. More on ajc dot com
*****
If you haven't already subscribed, check out our Middle East Roundtable. For a free subscription, go to bitterlemons-international dot org. (look for the Op Eds below at the same address or simply google bitterlemons)
War in Gaza Limited strategic objectives by Yossi Alpher
Under the best of circumstances, this operation will not solve our Hamas problem.
War crimes in Gaza put PA in awkward place by Ghassan Khatib
The Israeli attack on Gaza is strengthening Hamas politically and increasing public support and sympathy for the movement - Replaying the 2006 Lebanon War by Yisrael Harel
Israel's reticence to deploy ground forces will generate a very negative outcome.
An Israeli trap for Hamas by Mkhaimar Abusada - Military operations are like snowballs: the more momentum they gather the bigger they become.
***********
here
Interview with GTMO Whistleblower Not unrelated to what's happening in GAZA! (Torture & Inhumane treatment at GTMO, Abu Ghraib, the CIA Gulag Archipelago of disappearances, cells in Afghanistan, Egypt, Poland, Diego Garcia, Morocco, Syria & around the world is not without much earlier precedent & is NOT removed from Israeli/CIA & USA Cheney's advise and cooperation as well as training...Go here
More on the Gaza Massacre (check back for more here):
here
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