Re:Starving a Nation: From the World's Largest Concentration Camp
« Reply #105 on: 2009-05-28 08:53:58 »
Israeli Parliament OKs Bill to Outlaw Denial of Israel as ‘Jewish State’
Latest in a Series of Laws Aimed at Silencing Arab Citizens
[ Hermit : This is as if the South African Government under apartheid had passed laws outlawing denial that it was a 'White State', banning expression of sorrow for attacks on blacks or demanding that everyone, blacks included, had to swear loyalty to the white government or be deported. Only then many of those now supporting Apartheid Israel would have been dreadfully offended. ]
Source: Antiwar.com Authors: Jason Ditz Dated: 2009-05-27
The bill was criticized by parts of the Israeli left, with Meretz Party MP Haim Oron saying he disagrees with people who believe Israel should not be a Jewish state, but feels the law is “insane” and creates “thought police.”
The very next day, Yisrael Beiteinu made good on its campaign pledge to introduce a bill requiring all Arabs to swear loyalty to Israel as a “Jewish, Zionist” state, revoking the citizenship of all that refused. Such bills are not unheard of in Israel’s history, but the election of a far right government this year seems to have spawned several ambitious bills curtailing the Israeli Arabs’ rights to criticize the government.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a remarkably intransigent speech at Bar-Ilan University, intended to both mirror and answer the speech President Barack Obama gave in Cairo last month. Netanyahu flatly refused to call for a settlement freeze, making the absurd but oft-heard argument that "there is a need to allow settlers to lead normal lives, to allow mothers and fathers to raise their children like all families around the world," as if no one else on Earth were subject to zoning restrictions. He laid out conditions for Israeli support for a Palestinian state so pinched and deliberately unrealistic, they were more insult than offer. In keeping with the old Likkud line that there is no such thing as a Palestinian people, he asserted the historic Jewish claim to the West Bank -- or, as he put it, "Judea and Samaria" -- and described the Palestinians as living "in the very heart of our homeland."
"When Israeli TV, after the speech, went to talk to the settlers, they were all happy," says M.J. Rosenberg, director of policy analysis for the Israel Policy Forum, a think tank that advocates for a two-state solution. Rosenberg suggests that Netanyahu may have felt empowered by the chaos in Iran, which the right, desperate to marginalize that country, has welcomed. "I think this speech is entirely different than the speech would have been had Mousavi won the election," says Rosenberg. "He's strutting."
And yet, immediately after the speech, major newspaper headlines telegraphed an entirely different story. The big news, as they saw it, was that Netanyahu had accepted a Palestinian state. "Israel Takes Steps Toward Peace," declared The Washington Post Web site. The Los Angeles Times called Netanyahu's announcement "a concession to the Obama administration." The next day's Wall Street Journal said, "Israel Offers Two-State Plan." This is no doubt as Netanyahu's speechwriters intended it. Partisans of the Israeli right will now likely argue that, having given in on this point, the Israeli government should be spared further American pressure. It is important that they not get away with it.
It is true, of course, that on Sunday Netanyahu used the words "Palestinian state," though he also used the less definitive term "Palestinian entity." That's news, though not exactly a breakthrough. Netanyahu has bowed to the reality that the United States and the world see the legitimacy of Palestinian national aspirations as a settled question, even though he doesn't agree. It's actually quite clever of him to present this as a "concession" -- after all, as Amitai Etzioni recently pointed out in Ha'aretz, commitment to a two-state solution was a concession that previous Israel governments already made. After taking office Netanyahu essentially revoked this commitment and now stands to reap rewards for re-offering it in diminished form.
If this is a compromise, it's an entirely rhetorical one. Netanyahu completely rejected Obama's call for a settlement freeze, which is necessary to make a coherent Palestinian state possible. He said that the Palestinian state will not include East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967's six-day war. He said that creation of a Palestinian state is contingent on an ever-weaker Fatah defeating Hamas, because "Israel will not negotiate with terrorists trying to destroy it." He demanded that Palestinians recognize, "verbally, honestly, bindingly," that Israel is a Jewish state, which he knows that Palestinians will not do, in part out of solidarity with Israeli Arabs, who make up more than a fifth of Israel's population. And he stressed, repeatedly, that any possible Palestinian state will have to be completely demilitarized, "without an army, without control of airspace, and with effective security safeguards." His lingering on the utter impotence of this hypothetical entity seemed determined to humiliate Palestinian moderates.
In other words, despite speculation that Netanyahu might rise to the occasion like Nixon going to China, he showed that he is exactly the man the left always said he was. The Obama administration will now have to increase the pressure on Israel or see its own credibility in the Middle East destroyed. Yet pro-Israel forces in the United States are certain to cry that Netanyahu has already made concessions and that the United States should now ease up on him.
That's why it's important for American Jews who support a two-state solution to realize that Obama shares their agenda and Netanyahu does not. "In a U.S.-Israel confrontation over this issue, the United States wins," says Rosenberg. "All it requires is will."
So far, the American Jewish community, including several Jewish members of Congress, has largely lined up behind the Obama administration on the crucial issue of freezing settlements. As Ha'aretz reported, "When Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu came to Capitol Hill for a May 18 meeting after being pressed by President Obama to freeze the expansion of West Bank settlements, he was 'stunned,' Netanyahu aides said, to hear what seemed like a well-coordinated attack against his stand on settlements. The criticism came from congressional leaders, key lawmakers dealing with foreign relations and even from a group of Jewish members."
"Because [Obama] is so popular and his sincerity is so impressive, the American public and the Jewish community as well understand, A, that he is sincere, and B, they realize what would be the repercussions of refusing to stand behind him," says Ori Nir, president of Americans for Peace Now. "And therefore what we're seeing is a Jewish community, including the organized Jewish community, which is not coming out against the president." As long as that remains true, Netanyahu has little leverage in the United States, and there is at least a tiny hint of a hope of peace.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
Re:Starving a Nation: From the World's Largest Concentration Camp
« Reply #107 on: 2009-06-16 12:30:52 »
Stop treating Gazans like savages: Carter
Source: The International News Authors: Not Credited Dated: 2009-06-15 Datelined: Occupied Al Q'uds/Ramallah West Bank
Former US president Jimmy Carter urged Israel to lift a crippling blockade of Hamas-run Gaza Strip in an interview on Sunday, saying the territory’s residents were being treated like savages.
“To me, the most grievous circumstance is the maltreatment of the people in Gaza, who are literally starving and have no hope at this time,” Carter told the liberal Haaretz newspaper.
“They’re being treated like savages. The alleviation of their plight to some means I think would be the most important (thing) the Israeli PM could do.”
The interview was published on the same day that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to lay out his cabinet’s Middle East peace policy. Carter is due to visit the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as part of a regional tour.
Israel slapped a punishing blockade on Gaza after Islamist Hamas seized power there in June 2007.
Since then Israel and Egypt, which controls Gaza’s only border crossing that bypasses the Jewish state, have kept the impoverished territory of 1.5 million aid-dependent people sealed.
Meanwhile, the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and its rivals in the Islamist Hamas movement on Sunday said they had agreed to halt political arrests and exchange lists of prisoners.
The decision came after the two main Palestinian groups held simultaneous meetings in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip on the eve of the two-year anniversary of the violent Hamas takeover of the coastal territory.
“The Fatah and Hamas delegations agreed to reject political arrests out of principle because it is against Palestinian law and agreed to exchange lists of detainees to begin studying the conditions of their detention,” Azzam al-Ahmed, the head of the Fatah delegation, told reporters. He added however that security forces in the West Bank were politically neutral and that the issue of the detainees would be decided upon in coordination with Abbas. Omar Abdelraziq, the head of the Hamas delegation, confirmed the deal at the same press conference and said the two sides would rely on the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) to determine the status of the detainees.
Since the Hamas takeover each group has accused its rival of launching waves of politically-motivated arrests, mistreating detainees and closing political institutions. Palestinian human rights groups have slammed the conduct of both parties.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
Re:Starving a Nation: From the World's Largest Concentration Camp
« Reply #108 on: 2009-06-19 02:12:47 »
Who are the savages here?
VIDEO: Border Police upload footage of their abuse of Palestinians to YouTube
[ Hermit : Not just to You Tube, but to the humor section. ]
Source: Ha'aretz Authors: Uri Blau (Haaretz Correspondent) Dated: 2009-06-19
Border Policemen have filmed themselves abusing and humiliating Palestinians in videos they have posted on YouTube over the past year.
In one clip uploaded to the video sharing website an Arab youth is shown in arid terrain, slapping himself, while a voice is heard instructing him to say "I love you, Border Police," and "I will f**k you, Palestine," in Arabic. The victim is forced to respond to everything he is ordered to do, to the raucous laughter of the cameraman and his friends, all Border Policemen.
In another video, a Palestinian is seen sitting inside a vehicle reciting the words "One Hummus and one ful [cooked broad beans], I love you Border Police" (which rhymes in Hebrew), while applause and shouting is heard in the background.
In most of the videos the faces of Border Policemen are not shown and the locations of where they were filmed is unclear.
Forcing Palestinians to sing is a common occurrence and is perceived by Border Policeman as quite humorous, it has emerged from recent Haaretz interviews with Border policemen.
The Border Police said in response: "Over the last few years there has been a drop of dozens of percent in the complaints against Border Policemen over the use of unauthorized force and inappropriate behavior.
"The Border Police has made it a personal mission to uphold values of maintaining respect for people and their rights, and the members of the force are taught to respect those values."
The Border Police added in the statement that its officer for public complaints continues to deal with the matter of the videos, which it said have been on YouTube since 2008.
The full article appears in Friday's Haaretz Magazine.
"I love you, Border Police," and "I will f**k you, Palestine"
"One Hummus and one ful [cooked broad beans], I love you Border Police"
A Palestinian family that live in a caged house in Hebron - that protects them from thier israeli neigbours, IDF just stand by watching offering protection to the Israelis as they abuse and harass the Palestinians - as if living in a caged house is not degrading enough.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
Re:Starving a Nation: From the World's Largest Concentration Camp
« Reply #109 on: 2009-06-25 23:48:22 »
Israel's Crimes, America's Silence
Source: : The Nation Authors: John Dugard Dated: 2009-06-17
President Obama's recent speech to the Muslim World failed to address allegations that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza. Palestinians and people throughout the region were shocked at the firepower Israel brought to bear against Gaza's civilians and do not want Palestinians' ongoing misery to be further ignored. Many were surely waiting to hear from President Obama that the way to peace does not lie through the devastation of civilian life and infrastructure in Gaza.
To date, too little mention has been made of investigations that show there is sufficient evidence to bring charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Israel's political and military leadership for their actions in Gaza. Recently, two comprehensive independent reports have been published on Gaza, and earlier this month a mission mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, and chaired by South African Richard Goldstone, visited Gaza to conduct a further investigation into Israel's offensive.
On May 4 the United Nations published the findings of an investigation into attacks carried out by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on UN premises in Gaza. Led by Ian Martin, formerly head of Amnesty International, this investigation found Israel responsible for wrongfully killing and injuring Palestinians on UN premises and destroying property amounting to over $10 million in value. Although this investigation did not address the question of individual criminal responsibility, it is clear that the identified wrongful acts by Israel constituted serious war crimes.
On May 7 the Arab League published the 254-page report of an Independent Fact Finding Committee (IFFC) it had established to examine the legal implications of Israel's Gaza offensive. This committee, comprising six experts in international law, criminal law and forensic medicine from non-Arab countries, visited Gaza in February. We concluded that the IDF had committed serious war crimes and crimes against humanity.
As the committee's chairman, I spent five days in Gaza along with the other experts. Our views were deeply influenced by interviews we conducted with victims and by the evidence of destruction of property. We were particularly disturbed by the accounts of cold-blooded killings of civilians committed by some members of the IDF and the Israeli military's use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas. The devastation was appalling and raised profound doubts in my mind as to the veracity of Israeli officials who claimed this was not a war against the Palestinian people.
The IFFC found that the IDF, in killing some 1,400 Palestinians (at least 850 of whom were civilians), wounding over 5,000 and destroying over 3,000 homes and other buildings, had failed to discriminate between civilian and military targets, terrorized civilians, destroyed property in a wanton manner not justified by military necessity and attacked hospitals and ambulances. It also found that the systematic and widespread killing, injuring and terrorizing of the civilian population of Gaza constituted a crime against humanity.
The IFFC investigated the question whether the IDF was responsible for committing the 'crime of crimes'-- genocide. Here we concluded that although the evidence pointed in this direction, Israel lacked the intention to destroy the people of Gaza, which must be proved for the crime of genocide. Instead, the IFFC found that the purpose of the offensive was collective punishment aimed at reducing the population to a state of submission. [ Hermit : An International war crime for which Nazis and Japanese were executed. ] However, the IFFC did not discount the possibility that individual soldiers had acted with the required genocidal intent.
Israel's argument that it acted in self-defense was rejected, inter alia, on the basis of evidence that Israel's action was premeditated and not an immediate response to rockets fired by militants and was, moreover, disproportionate. The IFFC found that the IDF's own internal investigation into allegations of irregularities, which exonerated the IDF, was unconvincing because it was not conducted by an independent body and failed to consider Palestinian evidence.
The IFFC also examined the actions of Palestinian militants who fired rockets indiscriminately into southern Israel. We concluded that these actions constituted war crimes and that those responsible committed the war crimes of indiscriminate attacks on civilians and the killing, wounding and terrorization of civilians.
The past twenty years have brought important developments in international law in respect to accountability for international crimes. Yet Israel has possibly secured impunity for itself by failing to become a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Nevertheless, its actions may still be judged by the court of public opinion.
A bold Obama speech on Gaza would have ensured that the public is on notice that it's not business as usual in Washington. Even American allies, such as Israel, should have to answer evidence of serious international crimes. In this way, some measure of accountability may be achieved. With an active American push, a new view of the United States may begin to take shape after eight years of disregard for international and domestic law.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
Amnesty International said on Thursday Israel inflicted "wanton destruction" in the Gaza Strip in attacks that often targeted Palestinian civilians during an offensive in December and January in the Hamas-run enclave. The London-based rights group, in a 117-page report on the 22 days of fighting, also criticized the Hamas movement for rocket attacks on Israel, which it called "war crimes."
Among other conclusions, Amnesty said it found no evidence to support Israeli claims that Gaza militants used civilians as "human shields," but it did, however, cite evidence that Israeli troops put children and other civilians in harm's way by forcing them to remain in homes taken over by soldiers.
Amnesty International said some 1,400 Palestinians were killed in Israel's "Operation Cast Lead," including 300 children and hundreds of innocent civilians, a figure broadly in line with those from the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza and the independent Palestinian Center for Human Rights.
Thirteen Israelis were killed, ten of them soldiers, during the offensive Israel launched with the declared aim of curtailing cross-border rocket attacks.
Accusing Israel of "breaching laws of war," Amnesty said: "Much of the destruction was wanton and deliberate, and was carried out in a manner and circumstances which indicated that it could not be justified on grounds of military necessity."
Israel and Hamas have both rejected accusations of war crimes. An Israeli military inquiry found no evidence of crimes. Israel has refused to cooperate with a United Nations inquiry that is now gathering evidence. The investigators were prejudiced against Israel from the outset, the government said.
Amnesty said although that rockets fired by Palestinian fighters from the Gaza Strip rarely cause casualties but often sow fear and panic, their use was "indiscriminate and hence unlawful under international law."
It also accused Hamas and other armed groups of endangering the lives of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza by firing rockets and locating military equipment near homes.
The report however dismissed Israeli claims that Hamas had used Palestinian civilians as "human shields."
It said it found no evidence that "Hamas or other armed groups forced residents to stay in or around buildings used by fighters, or that fighters prevented residents from leaving buildings or areas which had been commandeered by militants."
But the report said in several cases Israeli soldiers used Palestinian civilians, including children, as "human shields, endangering their lives by forcing them to remain in or near houses which they took over and used as military positions."
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
Amnesty International on Thursday accused Israeli forces of war crimes, saying they used children as human shields and conducted wanton attacks on civilians during their offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The London-based human rights group also accused Hamas of war crimes, but said it found no evidence that the Islamist rulers of Gaza used civilians as human shields during the 22-day offensive Israel launched on December 28.
It also reiterated its call for an international arms embargo against Israel.
"Much of the destruction was wanton and resulted from direct attacks on civilian objects," Amnesty said in a study.
Israeli troops forced Palestinians to stay in one room of their home while turning the rest of the house into a base and sniper position, "effectively using the families, both adults and children, as human shields and putting them at risk," the group said.
"Intentionally using civilians to shield a military objective, often referred to as using 'human shields' is a war crime," Amnesty said.
It could not support Israeli claims that Hamas used human shields. It said it found no evidence Palestinian fighters directed civilians to shield military objectives from attacks, forced them to stay in buildings used by militants, or prevented them from leaving commandeered buildings.
However, the report did point out that Hamas and other armed groups fired hundreds of rockets into southern Israel. "Such unlawful attacks constitute war crimes and are unacceptable," said Donatella Rovera, who led an Amnesty mission to Gaza and southern Israel.
More than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died during the offensive Israel launched in response to rocket fire from Palestinian militants.
Amnesty said 300 children were among those killed.
"Hundreds of civilians were killed in attacks carried out using high-precision weapons, air-delivered bombs and missiles, and tank shells.
"Others, including women and children, were shot at short range when posing no threat to the lives of the Israeli soldiers," it said.
"Most of the cases investigated by Amnesty International of close-range shootings involve individuals, including children and women, who were shot at as they were fleeing their homes in search of shelter.
"Others were going about their daily activities. The evidence indicates that none could have reasonably been perceived as a threat to the soldiers who shot them and that there was no fighting going on in their vicinity when they were shot," the report said, adding that "wilful killings of unarmed civilians are war crimes."
It said Israel's use of white phosphorus shells was also a clear breach of international law.
White phosphorus is not illegal if used as a smokescreen in open areas "but it should not be used in a densely populated area as it was used here," Rovera told AFP, adding that her team saw Palestinians with "hideous burns" from white phosphorus shells.
Amnesty also said Israel's initial denial it used phosphorus caused further deaths.
"People could have been saved if the army had admitted using white phosphorus, rather than continuing to deny it," Rovera said. "Then they could have received the care that was necessary.
The rights group was also critical of Israel's use of flechette rounds -- artillery shells which explode to emit hundreds of steel darts.
These are designed for use in open battle but were employed by Israel in built-up areas, a clear breach of the international rules of war, said Chris Cobb-Smith, an artillery expert engaged by Amnesty.
With its dazzling array of high-tech weaponry, Israel was perfectly capable of distinguishing between civilian and military targets, he told AFP.
Asked if Israel had deliberately targetted unarmed civilians, he said it was "very difficult to come to any other conclusion".
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
Re:Starving a Nation: From the World's Largest Concentration Camp
« Reply #112 on: 2009-07-02 02:37:05 »
Report Cites Indiscriminate Drone Use by Israel
Source: Inter Press Service Authors: Jerrold Kessel, Pierre Klochendler Dated: 2009-06-30
The concerted effort of international human rights activists to rein in violations of laws of war was given a major impetus when Human Rights Watch researchers presented a report [.pdf] Tuesday on the unbridled use by the Israeli military of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCLAV), commonly known as drones, during Israel’s 22-day assault on Hamas in Gaza at the beginning of the year.
Titled “Precisely Wrong,” the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report focuses on six cases of Israeli drone-launched missile attacks in which 29 Palestinian civilians, eight of them children, were killed. Based on cross-referenced eyewitness accounts corroborated by doctors, as well as ballistics and forensic evidence collected on the attack sites, the report asserts that “in none of the cases did HRW find evidence that Palestinian fighters were present in the immediate area of the attack at the time.”
“These attacks violated international humanitarian law,” the report states in unequivocal terms, following a 10-day investigation.
Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at the emergencies program of HRW, estimates that at least 87 civilians were killed in 42 drone attacks. “Israel’s targeting choices are unacceptable and unlawful,” he declared at a press conference in East Jerusalem, “especially [considering] that UCLAV provide the most precise platform in the military arsenal, and that Israel is the world leader in drone technology.”
The report includes technical information about drones and drone-launched missiles. Israeli drones have advanced sensors, combining radars, electro-optical and infrared cameras, and lasers providing real-time imaging by day and night. “Those sensors enable a drone operator to determine if a person on the ground is armed,” stressed Garlasco.
In addition to these high-resolution cameras, a missile fired from a drone has its own cameras that allow the operator to observe the target from the moment of firing. “If a last-second doubt arises about a target, the operator can divert the fired missile with a joystick,” the report notes.
Everything viewed by the drone operator is recorded. “There is no fog of war with such drones,” Garlasco said. “Yet, the Israeli army failed to distinguish between military objectives and civilians.”
According to Palestinian sources, 900 civilians were killed during the military operations, among a total of more than 1,400 killed. The HRW report says a third of the fatalities were from drone-launched missiles. Israeli sources put the civilian death toll at 300.
“HRW is not against the use of drones in warfare. Its accuracy and concentrated blast radius can indeed reduce civilian casualties,” Garlasco conceded. But “drones, much like sniper rifles, are only as good at sparing civilians as the care taken by the people who operate them.”
The Israeli army questions the credibility of the HRW investigation. “The report is based on anonymous Palestinian sources whose knowledge of military issues is doubtful, who are clearly not impartial observers, and who are part of the propaganda machine in Gaza,” it said in a statement.
“We conducted interviews separate from Hamas activists,” counters Garlasco. “If there were fighters, the interviews were stopped immediately; we just did not use them.”
Garlasco acknowledges that the testimonies collected are limited. “Mistakes can happen, but here there is a clear pattern – many civilians were killed. It seems Israeli rules of engagement were very loose – keeping Israeli casualties to a minimum, valuing the lives of soldiers more than those of Palestinian civilians.”
The report calls on Israel to conduct a “case-by-case investigation” into the use of drone-launched missiles. “Military or civilian personnel found responsible for committing or ordering unlawful drone attacks should be disciplined or prosecuted as appropriate.”
“This report has a look to the future,” says Garlasco. “It’s a cautionary tell to the U.S. continued use of UCLAV in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
Human rights activists have increasingly voiced their concern over U.S. reliance on a drone-launched missile attack policy. In a stinging report submitted earlier this month to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, UN special investigator Philip Alston charged that the U.S. has created “zones of impunity” by rarely investigating private contractors and civilian intelligence agents involved in the killing of civilians from drone attacks. Alston urged that an independent special prosecutor be charged with pursuing criminal allegations against government officials accused of wrongdoing.
“Even when you’re attacking a legitimate military objective, you cannot cause civilian casualties that exceed the value of a legitimate military attack,” says Garlasco. Still, the reliance on drone tactics – and the strategic cutting-edge drones increasingly provide – may surpass the power of human rights in international forums. Last week, Israel’s Channel Two revealed that Israel had conditioned the sale to Russia of a dozen drones, on Moscow not selling Iran advanced anti-aircraft missile technology. Iran has sought to deploy the Russian S300 air-defense missile system against a possible Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities. [ Hermit : Everyone has a price. Interestingly Iran has already paid Russia for the S300s and rumor in the intelligence business is that the first deliveries of them happened in June, possibly partially in response to NATO exercises in Georgia. ]
Moscow became aware of a need for advanced drones during its war with Georgia last summer. Georgia operated Israeli-made spy drones, which proved highly effective. The Russians used a drone of their own without great success. Russian military officials have made no secret of their intention to use Israeli models to improve their drone development program.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
The blockade of Gaza is causing severe humanitarian hardship and the situation is getting worse every day, the head of the U.N. aid agency for Palestinian refugees warned on Wednesday.
Gaza's borders were closed by Israel and Egypt after the takeover two years ago of the territory by Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the West.
Egypt opens the crossing periodically. Israel allows in food and humanitarian aid, but won't permit raw materials that the Gaza Strip needs to repair damage from Israel's winter war on Hamas, meant to stop militant rocket fire on Israeli towns.
The closure has trapped some 1.4 million people.
"Because there's been no change and the borders are not open, things are deteriorating," said Karen Koning AbuZayd, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
"People are in worse and worse condition every day, especially those who were affected by the conflict in late December and in January."
AbuZayd, speaking to reporters in the Austrian capital, said many people were still living in the rubble of their homes. She also lamented the limited list of items the Israelis allowed in, saying it was making it impossible for people to lead normal lives.
"This is an urban environment, multistory buildings, people need all kinds of things in their homes — they need light bulbs, they need washing powder, children need new shoes — there's no shoes allowed in," she said.
Recently, a shipment of shampoo bottles had to be sent back because they also contained conditioner — an item that was not on the list of allowed goods, AbuZayd said.
"These sorts of things defy logic and rationality," she said.
"What truly defies logic and rationality is the stubborn insistence of UNRWA to turn their back on reality by repeatedly refusing to call things by their real name and indicate the heavy responsibility of Hamas' belligerence in bringing about the current situation," he said.
"Thus UNRWA will only ensure that it will persist in doing a great disservice to the cause they are supposed to serve."
AbuZayd added that while the Israelis were "very careful" to provide food and medicine, the amount of food coming in only covered about 60 percent of people's needs.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
Re:Starving a Nation: From the World's Largest Concentration Camp
« Reply #114 on: 2009-07-02 12:18:59 »
[letheomaniac]
Source: Counterpunch Author: Paul Craig Roberts Dated: 1/7/2009
Pirates of the Mediterranean
Israel Kidnaps Peace Boat Crew
On June 30, the government of Israel committed an act of piracy when the Israeli Navy in international waters illegally boarded the “Spirit of Humanity,” kidnapped its 21-person crew from 11 countries, including former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Nobel Laureate Mairead MaGuire, and confiscated the cargo of medical supplies, olive trees, reconstruction materials, and children’s toys that were on the way to the Mediterranean coast of Gaza. The “Spirit of Humanity,” along with the kidnapped 21 persons, is being towed to Israel as I write.
Gaza has been described as the “world’s largest concentration camp.” It is home to 1.5 million Palestinians who were driven by force of American-supplied Israeli arms out of their homes, off their farms, and out of their villages so that Israel could steal their land and make the Palestinian land available to Israeli settlers.
What we have been witnessing for 60 years is a replay in modern times, despite the United Nations and laws strictly preventing Israel’s theft of Palestine, of the 17th, 18th, and 19th century theft of American Indian lands by US settlers. An Israeli government spokesman recently rebuked the President of the United States, a country, the Israeli said, who stole all of its land from Indians, for complaining about Israel’s theft of Palestine.
I knew the “Spirit of Humanity” would fall to Israeli piracy the minute I received on June 25 from an official of an Israeli peace organization a “public advisory” that the government of Cyprus had withheld permission for the “Spirit of Humanity” to leave for Gaza. The US State Department had advised that “The Israeli Foreign Ministry informed U.S. officials at the American Embassy in Tel Aviv that Israel still considers Gaza an area of conflict and that any boats attempting to sail to Gaza will not be permitted to reach its destination.” The “Spirit of Humanity” obtained permission to leave Cyprus when all aboard signed a waiver absolving Cyprus of all responsibility for the crew’s safety at the hands of the Israelis.
As President Obama has called for humanitarian aid to be sent to Gaza, and as the International Red Cross has damned the inhumanity of Israel’s blockade of Gaza, the question that immediately comes to mind is why did not the United States send sufficient US Navy escort to see the “Spirit of Humanity” safely through international waters to Gaza? We send ships against Somalian pirates, why not against Israeli ones?
We all know the answer. The US talks a good “human rights” game, but never delivers--especially if the human rights abuser is Israel. After all, Israel owns the US Congress and President Obama. Israel even has an Israeli citizen and former member of the Israeli Defense Forces as the Chief-of-Staff in Obama’s White House. Israel owns millions of American “Christian Zionists” and “rapture evangelicans.” When it comes to Israel, the American government is a puppet state. It does what it is told.
Macho Americans might stand tall, but not when Israel snaps its fingers.
Israel, of course, will get away with a mere act of piracy. After all, Israel has been getting away with its war crimes and violations of international law for 60 years. If the UN tries to do anything, the US will veto it, as the US has done for decades.
What will happen to the kidnapped foreign nationals? Most likely they will be released and sent back to their respective countries. Israel, of course, will keep the stolen “Spirit of Humanity” to foreclose any further attempts by human rights activists to run Israel’s inhumane blockade of Gaza.
On the other hand, Israel might declare its captives to be terrorists on the ground that the Gazans elected in a free election Hamas as their government. Hamas, unlike Israel, is declared to be a terrorist organization by the puppet American State Department in Washington. Thus the human rights activists onboard the “Spirit of Humanity” are aiding and abetting terrorists by delivering goods to them. The US Department of Justice (sic) prosecutes American citizens and charities for sending aid to Palestinians on the grounds that Palestinians, if not everyone a terrorist, are governed by terrorists.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a Nobel Laureate and a former member of the US House of Representatives, along with the rest of the crew, are handed over to the Americans for indefinite detention and for torturing and waterboarding in the American torture facility at Bagram. I am certain that “Homeland Security” and the US Government are desperate to be rid of all of critics, and knocking off a Nobel Laureate and a member of the House sets a precedent for getting rid of the rest of us.
Meanwhile, California, which has become a failed state, has been denied bailout money from Washington. Israel, which has been a failed state for 60 years, can, unlike the American state of California, always count of Washington to deliver the money and the weapons to keep Israel going.
The same week that “our” government in Washington told the Governor of California “not one red cent,” President Barak Obama handed over $2.775 billion to Israel.
Online Journal (June 29) reported that the handover to Israel of the unemployed Americans’ tax dollars took place in a “tiny Capitol room” to which members of the press were denied access. I mean, really, who wants the media writing about US taxpayer dollars for Israel’s nuclear weapons while Americans are being kicked out of their homes. Not that, of course, the “Christian” supporters of Israel would mind.
Unlike every other recipient of US military largesse, Israel is permitted to bypass the Pentagon and to deal directly with US suppliers. Consequently, the Israel Lobby’s influence multiplies, because military suppliers fight for Israel in congressional committees in order to get Israel’s business. This lets Israel turn the screws on Iran. According to Grant F. Smith writing in Online Journal, Republican US Representative Mark Steven from Illinois has received $221,000 in campaign contributions from Israel political action committees (PACs). Therefore, it was a sure thing that he would introduce legislation preventing the Import-Export bank from providing loan guarantees to countries doing business with Iran.
Americans think that they are a superpower, but in fact they are a stupor-power. A puppet state if truth be known.
There is a great deal of evidence (see Jonathan Cook's excellent piece on this site yesterday) that Israel is a child abuser. “God’s Chosen People” routinely abuses captured Palestinian children. The Israelis also abuse Palestinian children by shooting them down in the streets.
Don’t take my word for it. The Geneva-based Defense for Children International says, according to Time Magazine, that “the ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian child prisoners appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalized, suggesting complicity at all levels of the political and military chain of command.”
According to Time Magazine, “Often, children suffer lasting traumas from jail. Says Saleh Nazzal from the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoner Affairs, ‘When soldiers burst into a house and drag away a child, he loses his feeling of being protected by his family. He comes back from prison alienated from his family, his friends. They don’t like going back to school or even leaving the house. They start wetting their beds.’ Says Mona Zaghrout, a YMCA counselor who helps kids returning from prison: ‘They come out of prison thinking and acting like they are men. Their childhood is gone.’ And they often turn to another father figure--the armed militant groups fighting the Israeli occupation.’”
And so it goes. There’s no money for California, or for Americans’ health care, or for the several million Americans who have lost their homes and are homeless, because Israel needs it. Israel need the Americans’ taxpayers money to that it can create even more enemies, and, therefore, need more American money to spend with the American armament industries to oppress more Palestinians and to make more enemies, requiring more American money to protect Israel from its folly and its evil.
And the brainwashed American public goes along year after year.
Re:Starving a Nation: From the World's Largest Concentration Camp
« Reply #115 on: 2009-07-06 01:35:32 »
Cynthia McKinney: Prisoner number 88794
[ Hermit : So much for the hope that the Americans kidnapped by Israel would be freed today. Apparently, after pirating their vessel, kidnapping the occupants and covertly rendering them to Israel, Israel is insisting that they sign an agreement that they entered Israel illegally before they are released. It will be interesting to see where this attempt at extracting "confessions" under duress gets Israel. ]
Source: [url=]Press TV[/url] Authors: Not Credited Dated: 2009-07-04
The following is the transcript of Press TV's phone interview with former US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who is currently held in an Israeli jail for trying to take humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Q - You are currently in Israeli custody, on what grounds have you been detained?
A - Well that's a very interesting question, because we have violated no laws. And its interesting that the twenty-one of us, who were onboard the Spirit of Humanity had our boat commandeered, we were hijacked, we were then taken to Israel which was not our intended destination. And we became the Free Gaza 21. I became Ramleh prisoner number 88794 and I am in right now Ramleh Prison.
Q - How is the situation over there? How do you feel? Is there any sort of pressure against you? Violence whatsoever, as you can see violations?
A - Well it's clear that there is a unique justice system here in Israel. Starting with our abduction, and as some have said who were part our group 'our kidnapping', with respect to our intended destination we were taking -- I personally had collected -- crayons, coloring books, number 2 pencils, pencil shapers, water colors and paint brushes to take to the children of Gaza. And now I find my self being deported from a country I had no intention to visiting.
We were given literature legal documents that were in Hebrew, and of course I speak no Hebrew. And this all started because I wanted to do something that neither President (Barack) Obama nor his special envoy has done and that is to visit Gaza in the aftermath of Israel's Operation Cast Lead. Unfortunately Operation Cast Lead was made possible by US taxpayers' gift to the Israeli war machine, in the form of F-16s, helicopter gunships, white phosphorus, depleted uranium, cluster bombs and anything that kills, the United States seems to be willing and able to hand over to the Israelis, who are more than happy -- it seems -- to use them against Palestinian people.
Q - Are you in easy contact with your lawyer to speak to your lawyer?
A - Well now that's very interesting question as well as to the extent of communication that we've had with our lawyers. In fact while we were being detained at Bignorian airport the lawyer was inside the building trying to find us but the Israeli authorities would not give any information as to where we were or, you know were just in the same building and we had a brief interview with someone representing the Ministry of Interior, and it was at that point that I told that gentleman that we knew that the lawyers were looking for us inside the building it was after that point that we were given a very short 10-minute opportunity to speak with our lawyers, which was absolutely insufficient and now I'm learning as I sit next to Mairead Maguire Nobel Laureate from Ireland, and I sit next to Teresa McDermott from Scotland, and not everyone even got their ten minutes.
Q - What is the position of the US administration right now in regards to what is happening to you?
A - It's interesting that we have had a call from the Foreign Ministry of Ireland for the release of their nationals. There are two people from Ireland who are among our 21. We also learned just today that the king of Bahrain sent a private jet to pick up five members of our group who were from Bahrain, and they have been received extremely warmly, as you can imagine, by the people of Bahrain and of course by the king himself.
We, as of now, have not heard anything that our administration has said about our particular plight but that well said it might be is not surprising as you might recall president-elect Obama allowed the 22 or so days of Operation Cast Lead to go without even him mentioning a word.
Q - What is your message to the international community? What do you want to say about what happened to you?
A - First of all we are very thankful for the outpouring of support that we have learned has taken place all over the world, from Atlanta to New York to Los Angeles, San Francisco. We just leaned today that there was a demonstration in support of us in Haiti. We've had demonstrations all throughout Europe in support of our position so we thank the people of the world who are paying attention to what we were trying to accomplish and who have responded so supportively.
I have, on several occasions, called for the congress of the United Stated and our president to not sign into law any legislation that carries one dime or one weapon for the Israeli military. And I renew that call, in addition to the call for President Obama and his special envoy to visit Gaza. I have also called repeatedly that the president and the congress acknowledge the elected representatives of the people of Palestine, and that also carries with it the responsibility to engage Hamas.
I remember that it was one Israeli leader who said, "You can't make peace with your friends you have to engage you enemies," and if there is going to be peace in the region everyone had to be engaged.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
Re:Starving a Nation: From the World's Largest Concentration Camp
« Reply #116 on: 2009-07-08 19:12:38 »
Israel Kept Palestinian Detainees in Ditches Without Food and Water
UN Says 'Too Early' to Declare War Crimes
[ Hermit : That is because the commission is being run by a leading international jurist, Judge Richard Goldstone, who not only led the juristic process of defusing public violence in South Africa, headed the post-apartheid South African Constitutional Court, and managed numerous International war crimes commissions, but is also Jewish. The fact that Israel is not only refusing to work with a jurist of this calibre but is attempting to block the investigation in every possible way including physically preventing it from visiting Israel or travelling through Israel to Gaza, is an effective acknowledgement of their guilt. For Goldstone to announce this outside of a legal finding would encourage Israel to claim that their fears of prejudice were justified. Of course, everyone but Zionist bigots and thoroughly purchased American politicians (all of them) dependent on money and support from AIPAC not only know that Israel will claim this anyway unless the investigation provides a blanket whitewash of their comprehensive war crimes, but that Israel's claims are a blatant lie, not intended to be accepted as true, but providing diplomatic cover for ignoring them. ]
Source: Antiwar.com Authors: Jason Ditz Dated: 2009-07-07
As the United Nations wrapped up the testimony gathering portion of its investigation into the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip, an Israeli human rights group today described the "disgraceful" treatment of some of the detainees held during the war.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
Re:Starving a Nation: From the World's Largest Concentration Camp
« Reply #117 on: 2009-07-12 14:34:48 »
IDF uses 'skunk bomb' in Bil'in demo
[ Hermit : As the presence of Israeli troops proves that this is an occupied area, and the weapon Israel has used to defend her illegal apartheid wall is indisputably a banned chemical weapon, the State of Israel is once again in blatant violation of the Geneva Conventions. As has become usual, I do not anticipate condemnation for this action by the Security Council. It would be well to ask why not. ]
Source: Jerusalem Post (The news source that makes Faux look like a respectable left wing liberal outpost) Authors: Yaakov Katz Dated: 2009-07-11
The IDF stepped up efforts to quell violent anti-security barrier demonstrations in the West Bank over the weekend, using, for the first time in six months, the "skunk bomb."
The skunk bomb is a foul-smelling liquid which is sprayed on the rioters.
"The smell is so strong that people flee immediately," explained an IDF source, noting that the demonstration on Friday was dispersed within minutes of firing the bomb into the crowd.
On Friday, IDF and Border Police forces used the spray against nearly 100 Palestinian, Israeli and foreign demonstrators near the village of Bil'in, east of Modi'in Illit. They were protesting against the construction of the security barrier nearby. The skunk bomb was last used in January.
Some 300 people participated in another demonstration at Na'alin on Friday, causing serious damage to the barrier and throwing Molotov cocktails and stones at security personnel.
A top officer in the Central Command said on Friday that Col. Aviv Reshef, commander of the Binyamin Brigade, recently met with Palestinian leaders from Bil'in and Na'alin and urged them to restrain the rioters.
"We do not have a problem with them demonstrating peacefully against the fence, but we will not allow the demonstrators to damage or vandalize it," the officer said, adding that the decision to use the skunk bomb was taken as part of a new effort by the IDF to minimize friction between the security forces and the demonstrators as much as possible. [ Hermit : Notice the continuous use by spokespeople for Apartheid Israel of the term, "fence" to describe a 10 meter (thirty foot) high concrete wall with barbed wire demarcated killing zones on each side of it. ]
Since the beginning of the year, more than 100 soldiers and border policemen have been wounded, some of them seriously, during the anti-fence demonstrations.
IDF sources said most of the demonstrators were foreigners and Israelis, not Palestinians. [ Hermit : And this makes it better how? ] On April 17, a protester from Bil'in, Bassam Ibrahim Abu Rahma, died after he was hit in the chest by a tear gas canister.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
Re:Starving a Nation: From the World's Largest Concentration Camp
« Reply #118 on: 2009-07-15 12:32:42 »
Charges dropped against settler filmed shooting Palestinians
[ Hermit : In apartheid Israel it is fine to shoot at unarmed people - as long as your targets are not Jewish. Had the target been Jewish, the charges would have been attempted murder - and they would not have been dropped. ]
The State Prosecution said Tuesday that it was dropping charges against a resident of Kiryat Arba who was caught on film shooting at two Palestinians in the West Bank last December.
The prosecution said it made the decision not to try Ze'ev Braude because such a move could expose classified information that might harm the security of the state.
Braude, 51, was filmed by the human rights group B'Tselem opening fire on the Palestinians at close range during the evacuation of a disputed house in Hebron. He was initially charged with intending to cause grievous bodily harm.
Following the indictment, Defense Minister Ehud Barak signed off on a document guaranteeing immunity concerning sources of information for the Shin Bet, its modus operandi and the units and personnel operating within the framework of the organization.
Braude's attorney Ariel Atari requested that the court instruct the State Prosecution to reveal the secret evidence in order to help Braude's defense.
The prosecution argued that revealing the information would harm state security and added that if obligated to reveal the information, it would drop the charges against Braude.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
Re:Starving a Nation: From the World's Largest Concentration Camp
« Reply #119 on: 2009-07-15 12:49:36 »
Israel’s Dr. Strangelove
Source: Antiwar.com Authors: Ira Glunts Dated: 2009-07-15
Dr. Uzi "Strangeglovitch" Arad mocked proponents of a Palestinian state and taunted advocates of an Israeli/Palestinian peace process this week in a revealing interview published on Friday, July 10 in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz. Arad also made provocative remarks about blockading Iran and retaining much of the Golan Heights.
Uzi Arad is the national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is considered to be one of the most influential foreign policy advisers and powerful voices in the current Israeli administration. In the interview, Arad sarcastically alluded to any possible Palestinian state as an entity that would be limited to producing its own stamps, parades, and carnivals.
When interviewer Ari Shavit summarized Arad’s derogatory and dismissive characterization of a future Palestinian state as "an American peace event with Hollywood trappings," the security adviser did not contradict the description, but rather bemoaned the lack of a capable Palestinian leadership and claimed that "even the moderates among them do not want a settlement." Dr. Arad then expressed a ludicrous, racist view that Palestinian leadership is "genetically" incapable of understanding the conflict from Israel’s point of view. He further described the late Yasser Arafat as "vulgar."
Uzi Arad is a Princeton-educated acolyte of Herman Kahn, a man Arad calls the original Dr. Strangelove, a "Jewish American genius," and a "salient nuclear hawk" who advocated the "feasibility of nuclear wars." Arad, who describes himself as a devotee of Kahn, which includes being a nuclear hawk, wrote a paper in the ’70s for the U.S. Pentagon about the planning of a limited nuclear war in Central Europe.
Arad, who is now in charge of the Iran portfolio, told Ha’aretz that previous Israeli administrations erred in their Iran policy. According to Arad, there was a "gross failure" in government policy between 2003-2007 in not devoting sufficient attention to the threat from Tehran. During the interview, Arad advocated a maritime blockade against Iran that would cut off its oil supply. If Iran were to challenge the blockade, Arad menacingly threatened, "from here the road to escalation is short." A naval blockade is considered an act of war according to international law. And the current official American policy is to engage Iran diplomatically in an attempt to resolve the nuclear issue.
In addition to his inflexibility on the Palestinian and Iranian fronts, which is music to the ears of his government’s right-wing supporters, Arad also took the opportunity in the interview to discourage those who thought a peace deal with the Syrians was possible. In contradiction to positions taken by past Israeli governments and to what has been the starting point for past Damascus/Jerusalem negotiations, Arad explicitly stated that Israel will not withdraw from much of the Golan Heights. That position precludes any negotiation with the Syrians, who have for decades insisted on the complete return of the Syrian land that Israel has occupied since 1967. [ Hermit : As of course does the United Nations whose multiple resolutions on this matter, including security council resolutions supported by the USA, Israel is still breaching. Who is the rogue nation here? ]
Apparently alarmed by the reckless and provocative performance of his close adviser and the effect Arad’s bellicosity might have on the Americans, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself from some of Arad’s opinions. On Sunday Ha’aretz reported that Netanyahu’s office released a statement in which the prime minister expressed pointed disagreement with Arad’s claim that previous Israeli governments did not do enough to halt the Iranian nuclear program. In specifically addressing Arad’s insulting remarks about Palestinian leaders, his vision of a future Palestinian rump state, and his opinion that an Israeli/Palestinian peace is unlikely, Netanyahu’s reactions were less direct. According to the government office: "The prime minister stands by, with the greatest of seriousness and responsibility, what he said on the subject in his speech at Bar Ilan university." In that speech Netanyahu (belatedly) expressed his willingness to work toward a Palestinian state, but he appended a number of unreasonable conditions that were immediately rejected by the U.S.-chosen Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Netanyahu probably agrees with Arad’s aggressive attitude toward Iran and his rejection of the possibility of a peace with the Palestinians. However, the Israeli prime minister realizes that these attitudes, publicly expounded, are not conducive to good relations with the current U.S. administration, whose declared policy is to open a dialogue with Iran and facilitate a negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Netanyahu has publicly, although reluctantly, supported both of these American policies.
In the interview, Uzi Arad is described as a short-tempered man and an advocate of the use of "brute force." In response to this description, Arad smiled and explained that he "prefer[s] to direct the brute-force energies within [him] at the goyim [non-Jews]." Expounding on his penchant for the use of force and his lifelong dedication to the feasibility of nuclear warfare, Arad implied that he would not hesitate to "punish" those who attacked Israel with a devastating nuclear assault. He insanely described this nuclear revenge as a type of Jewish charitable act (tikkun olam), which would serve as a deterrence to future aggression against Israel!
It is understandable that President Obama and special envoy George Mitchell, who are promoting regional peace, want to characterize the Israeli government, their close ally, as willing to compromise and pursue peace despite the many statements and actions of its leaders indicating that the opposite is true. The fact that Arad chose to publicly express his views, which range from belligerent (toward the Palestinians) to insane (about nuclear war), at such a sensitive time is a sure sign that the extent to which Israel actually shares a vision of peace with any of the goyim, including the Obama administration, may be vastly overestimated.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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