National Council of Arab Americans (NCA)

In Gaza: No shoe nor a drop of fuel

2008-04-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

Siege imposed on the Gaza strip has become the first concern for Palestinian citizens who live in the biggest jail ever in this world.

Those civilians are severely suffering from the Israeli collective punishment policy which influences them day and night in all life facets.- -
This black list includes thousands of raw materials and food stuff in a flagrant violation of all human laws and charters.
I took a round in Al zawya popular market mid of Gaza City where owners of shops locate. The place was so miserable and smell of garbage spreads everywhere. The shops were nearly empty either of customers or goods!
More:http://gazatoday. blogspot. com/2008/ 04/in-gaza- no-shoe-nor- drop-of-fuel- siege.html
or http://tinyurl. com/3la5fq http://freegaza. ps/english/

الحصار يشتد ويحصد المزيد من مرضى القطاع

2008-04-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

"الحملة الأوروبية": رفض إدخال غاز "النيتروز" لمشافي غزة قرار بالإعدام لمئات المرضى

بروكسيل ـ18 نيسان/ أبريل 2008

حذّرت "الحملة الأوروبية لرفع الحصار عن غزة" من تداعيات توقف المستشفيات في قطاع غزة عن إجراء العمليات الجراحية للمرضى والجرحى، بعد أن نفد غاز "النيتروز"، اللازم في التخدير عند إجراء كافة العمليات، بسبب امتناع الاحتلال الإسرائيلي عن إمداد غزة بهذا الغاز.
وقال الناطق الإعلامي باسم الحملة ماضي عرفات، في تصريح له من بروكسيل اليوم: "إن رفض إسرائيل إدخال غاز النيتروز يعني إصدار حُكم إعدام على مئات المرضى الذين يحتاجون إلى عمليات جراحية، لا سيما في ظل استمرار العدوان الإسرائيلي والتهديد باجتياح واسع للقطاع".
وأضاف: "إن القطاع الصحي مُهدد بالانهيار، في حين أن الكارثة الإنسانية قد بدأت في قطاع غزة، في ظل استمرار الاحتلال الإسرائيلي بمنع دخول الأدوية ومستلزمات وزارة الصحة"، مشيراً إلى أن الوضع الصحي في غزة "خطير للغاية، وينذر بحالات موت جماعية للمرضى وجرحى العدوان الإسرائيلي المتواصل على غزة".
ولفت عرفات الانتباه إلى أن "خطر الموت يتهدد قائمة كبيرة من المرضى من أصحاب الأمراض الخطيرة والمزمنة، والتي تحتاج إلى إجراء عمليات جراحية عاجلة، ويمنعهم الاحتلال من مغادرة القطاع لتلقي العلاج، نتيجة الحصار، وإغلاق كافة معابر القطاع منذ عدة أشهر".
وكانت وزارة الصحة الفلسطينية، التي أعلنت عن توقف إجراء العمليات الجراحية في المستشفيات، قد نبّهت من أن "كارثة صحية ستدمر وستزهق أرواح الكثير من المرضى"، وقالت "إن إسرائيل تزرع الموت داخل مستشفيات قطاع غزة".
ودعت "الحملة الأوروبية لرفع الحصار عن غزة" المؤسسات الطبية الدولية إلى التحرك لإمداد غزة بما تحتاجه من أدوية ومستلزمات طبية، لا سيما في ظل استمرار العدوان الإسرائيلي على غزة. مناشدة في الوقت ذاته الرئيس المصري حسني مبارك التدخل شخصياً والإسراع في فتح معبر رفح، الذي يعتبر المنفذ العربي الوحيد لقطاع غزة، والذي يمكنه أن يمنع وقوع كارثة إنسانية محققة.
كما طالبت كافة المدافعين عن الحرية والعدالة وحقوق الإنسان، ممثلي الأديان والمؤسسات الدينية، والمثقفين والإعلاميين، وقوى المجتمع المدني؛ أن يرفعوا أصواتهم عالياً لرفض الحصار الجائر الذي يطال المواطنين الفلسطينيين، معتبرة ذلك التزاماً إنسانياً وأخلاقياً مفروضاً على أصحاب الضمائر الحيّة في أوروبا والعالم أجمع.
هذا ومن المقرر أن ينظّم اعتصام جماهيري حاشد أمام البرلمان الأوروبي في العاصمة البلجيكية بروكسيل، يوم الثلاثاء القادم (22/4)، للتضامن مع أهل غزة وللضغط من أجل رفع الحصار، وذلك بمبادرة من "الحملة الأوروبية لرفع الحصار عن غزة" و"مركز العودة الفلسطيني".

2008-04-15T04:37:00.000-07:00

عندما تصبح الحياة مرهونة بكمية الوقود
أمام أعين العالم .. مرضى غزة ينتظرون دورهم على "مقصلة" الحصار

بروكسيل ـ15 نيسان/ أبريل 2008

أطلقت منظمات حقوق الإنسان، العاملة في قطاع غزة، نداءات استغاثة عاجلة لإنقاذ حياة مليون ونصف المليون نفس بشرية تعيش في شريط ساحلي ضيق محاصر من جميع الاتجاهات منذ ما يزيد عن عامين، وشدد الحصار عليه قبل نحو عشرة أشهر.
وازداد تشديد الحصار الخانق قبل نحو أسبوع بمنع سلطات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي تزويد قطاع غزة بالوقود بمختلف أشكاله، بما في ذلك الوقود الذي يمكّن المستشفيات من العمل على إنقاذ حياة ما يزيد عن ألف ومائتي مريض يعانون من أمراض خطيرة ومزمنة، حيث باتت حياة هؤلاء المرضى مرهونة بما يتوفر من وقود.

"إعدام" جماعي وصمت عالمي

حالة الصمت على عملية "الإبادة الجماعية" التي يتعرّضون لها أمام أعين العام أجمع، قوبلت باستهجان واستغراب من أبناء قطاع غزة المحاصرين، وذلك في الوقت الذي بات المريض ينتظر الدور الذي يُؤخذ فيه إلى "مقصلة" الحصار لينفَّذ فيه حُكم الإعدام عبر شاشات التلفزة العالمية دون أن يحرّك أحداً ساكناً.
وتؤكد وزارة الصحة الفلسطينية وجود مئات المرضى الفلسطينيين المصابين بأمراض خطيرة ينتظرون الموت وينتظرون الحصول على أرقام في سجلات الوفاة الفلسطينية، بسبب منع قوات الاحتلال لهؤلاء المرضى بالسفر إلى الخارج لتلقي العلاج، وكذلك فرض تلك القوات للحصار الخانق والظالم ومنع الأدوية واستهداف القطاع الصحي بشكل متعمد ومقصود.
هذا الحال؛ جعل رئيس "الحملة الأوروبية لرفع الحصار عن غزة"، أمين أبو راشد، يعتبر أن الساعات الحالية تجعل المجتمع الدولي والعالم أجمع "شاهداً على كارثة إنسانية تتشكّل بشكل متسارع، عبر انهيار ما تبقى من نظام الخدمات العامة ومقومات الحياة اليومية والرعاية الصحية في شتى مناطق قطاع غزة، بل ويجعلنا شهوداً على عملية إعدام جماعي بحق الفلسطينيين"، كما قال.
ولم تلق نداءات الاستغاثة والمناشدات العاجلة التي أطلقت من المنظمات الحقوقية ومن وزارة الصحة في قطاع غزة، حتى الآن، أذناً صاغية ولم تقابل بتحركات عملية لكسر الحصار، بل إن الفلسطينيين، الذين فَقدوا أمام أعينهم، وفي ظل عجزهم، 133 من مرضاهم لعدم توفر الدواء ومنعهم من العلاج في الخارج بسبب الحصار الإسرائيلي، بدؤوا يتساءلون باستهجان، "كم يحتاج العالم أن يموت من الفلسطينيين المرضى ليبدؤوا بالتحرك لنجدتهم؟!".

انهيار الأوضاع الصحية ينذر بكارثة

"قطاع غزة يعيش على شفى كارثة صحية وإنسانية خطيرة، بل انعدمت فيه كافة مظاهر الصحة، وانتزع من المواطن الفلسطيني كل ما يمكن أن يضمن له العيش بحياة صحية آمنة"؛ كان ذلك تحذيراً أطلقته وزارة الصحة الفلسطينية، ونداء أطلقت عليه "قبل الكارثة"، ومناشدات تتواصل من أجل منع عمليات "إعدام جماعية" بحق مئات المرضى خلال الأيام القادمة إن استمر حصار غزة ومنع الوقود من الدخول.
واستناداً إلى التقارير الرسمية؛ فإن عدد الأصناف التي رصيدها صفر من الأدوية في قطاع غزة وصلت إلى 55 صنفاً، وأن عدداً كبيراً من الأجهزة في المستشفيات تعطلت بشكل كامل أو جزئي بسبب عدم إمكانية إيجاد قطع لها".
ولفتت النظر إلى أن عدداً كبيراً من أطفال غزة، بنسبة 70 في المائة، يعانون من سوء تغذية بسبب الحصار المفروض على القطاع الصحي بشكل أساسي، وأن ثلث ضحايا هذا الحصار الإسرائيلي هم من الأطفال المرضى وبينهم أطفال لم يتجاوز عمرهم الشهرين، كما أن عدداً كبيراً من الأطفال يعانون ازدياد حالاتهم النفسية الصعبة، والمشاكل الاجتماعية التي يتعرضون لها نتيجة الفقر والحصار.
وتشير التقارير الطبية الفلسطينية الرسمية إلى أن عدد مرضى السرطان والقلب في مستشفيات قطاع غزة بلغ (1220) مريضاً موزعين على مستشفيات الشفاء والأوروبي والنصر، موضحاً أن 730 من هؤلاء المرضى مصابين بالسرطان.

غزة .. مقبرة جماعية

هذا الواقع المرير في قطاع غزة المحاصر يجعله مكاناً خصباً لمقبرة جماعية لمئات المواطنين المرضى والجرحى، وذلك في حال انقطع التيار الكهربائي بسبب عدم توفر الوقود، والذي من شأنه أن يوقف تغذية المستشفيات بالطاقة اللازمة لتشغيل الأجهزة الطبية، ما قد يعني حالات وفاة جماعية للمرضى في أقسام العناية المركّزة ولأولئك الذين يعتمدون على أجهزة التنفس الاصطناعي وغسيل الكلى، فضلاً عن حاضنات الأطفال الخُدّج.
وحذّر وزارة الصحة الفلسطينية في تقاريرها من أنه إن لم يتدخل أحرار العالم وأبناء الأمة العربية والإسلامية بصورة سريعة لوضع حد لمأساة المرضى الناجمة عن هذه الممارسات والإجراءات الإسرائيلية؛ فإن غزة مهددة بأن تتحول إلى مقبرة جماعية مقترنة بالصمت الدولي عن تلك المأساة.
وكانت "الحملة الأوروبية لرفع الحصار عن غزة" قد حذّرت من حالات "الموت الجماعي" لمرضى الحالات الصعبة في قطاع غزة، خلال الأيام القليلة القادمة، إذا استمر منع الوقود عن غزة.
وقالت في نداء عاجل، صادر عنها في بروكسيل: "إن خطر الموت يتهدد قائمة كبيرة من المرضى من أصحاب الأمراض الخطيرة والمزمنة، وذلك بعد أن توفى 133 مريضاً جراء عدم تلقيهم العلاج بسبب عدم توفر الأدوية، ومنعهم من مغادرة القطاع لتلقي العلاج، نتيجة الحصار الإسرائيلي المشدد، وإغلاق كافة معابر القطاع منذ عدة أشهر".
ولفتت "الحملة الأوروبية لرفع الحصار عن غزة" الانتباه إلى أن الحصار أحكم حبله على رقاب المرضى الفلسطينيين في غزة، فسيارات الإسعاف التي تعمل على نقل جرحى العدوان الإسرائيلي والمرضى توقفت عن العمل لنفاد الوقود، والأطباء الآن غير قادرين على الوصول إلى أماكن عملهم لشح وسائل النقل، والمرضى على أسرة المرض يحيطهم خطر الموت في أي لحظة.

أكبر سجن في العالم

ويواجه قطاع غزة منذ قرابة سنتين حصاراً شاملاً، هدّد ما تبقى للفلسطينيين فيه، من فرص الحياة الإنسانية اللائقة. ومنذ مطلع الصيف الماضي تم تشديد ذلك الحصار المفروض على القطاع ذي المساحة الصغيرة المكتظة بالسكان، فأصبح يضيِّق الخناق على السكان القاطنين هناك بشكل صارخ، ومعظمهم من اللاجئين الذين يعيشون في مخيّمات بائسة.
لقد حوّلت سياسة الحصار التي تتبنّاها حكومة الاحتلال الإسرائيلي، قطاع غزة الذي يعيش فيه مليون ونصف المليون نسمة إلى أكبر سجن في العالم، بكل ما تعنيه كلمة سجن على أرض الواقع. ولم يعد أيّ من سكان القطاع يتمكن من مغادرة القطاع تحت أي ظرف من الظروف، حتى بالنسبة للحالات المرضية المستعصية والطلبة والطالبات الدارسين في الخارج ومزاولي الأعمال المختلفة فضلاً عن الصحافيين ومراسلي الإعلام ومسؤولي الوكالات والجمعيات الإنسانية.
ويشمل الحصار أيضاً منع تدفق العقاقير الطبية والمستلزمات العلاجية والتجهيزات الطبية، وكذلك المواد الغذائية والتموينية والمساعدات الإنسانية، فضلاً عن إمدادات الوقود والطاقة الخارجية التي يعتمد القطاع عليها اعتماداً كلياً، علاوة على المستلزمات الصناعية الأوّلية ومواد البناء والكثير من السلع والاحتياجات اللازمة لمعيشة السكان.
لقد أنشأت حالة الحصار المشدّدة المفروضة على قطاع غزة، وقائع مأساوية ذات أبعاد كارثية، وبخاصة على قطاعات الصحة والتغذية والتعليم والعون الإنساني، كما أدت إلى شلل تام في المرافق الصناعية والقطاعات الاقتصادية، وتسبّبت في أزمة متفاقمة في سوق العمل الذي كان يعاني في الأصل من معدلات بطالة قياسية هي الأعلى عالمياً.

لمزيد من المعلومات:
The European Campaign to end the siege on Gaza
الحملة الأوروبية لرفع الحصار عن غزة
www.freedomforpalestine.org

للاتصال: 0031613644444
info@freedomforpalestine.org

No Ambulance, Call the Radio

2008-04-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

By Mohammed Omer

GAZA CITY, Apr 12 - "I am bleeding uncontrollably, I need an ambulance." That was not a call to emergency services, it was an appeal broadcast live on radio in Gaza City.

Who knows whether there will ever be an ambulance or not. But this way the ambulance services still hear the appeal broadcast on Al-Iman FM Radio Station, one of few independent radio stations in Gaza. And if the emergency services cannot help, someone else who hears the appeal might.

The ambulance dispatcher announces he cannot get the ambulance to the man. An Israeli bulldozer is blocking the road, and an Israeli tank on a hilltop has been firing at the ambulance, he says. Nobody can say if anyone else got to help the man. But at least his SOS could have been heard.

Appeals again went on air after the Friday attacks on Bureij refugee camp, where the death toll climbed to 16 by the weekend. The deaths included six children among nine people killed Friday. Again, ambulance crews confirmed they could not reach many of the injured. But the appeals were made on radio for all to hear.

A man called from east of Jabaliya refugee camp asking for an ambulance for his wife about to deliver. The radio host asked his location, and that of Israeli tanks. "I can't look from the window to see," he said. "They will shoot me if I do."

A lady called to ask an ambulance to clear the remains of a body lying on the door. IPS confirmed later that it was the body of Abdelrazek Nofal, who was 19. He was blown to bits by an Israeli tank shell.

Someone else called from Bureij asking for ambulance, and for food and water. "My mother needs to be in hospital urgently," he called the radio station to say. Another difficult mission, with the Israeli troops patrolling the area.

The appeals are heard on radio day after day. No one can say what follows the appeals in each case. But the live broadcasts on the radio can be a lifeline – or at the least, a line of hope. Where emergency services and aid agencies are not listening in, the radio then calls them.

"It brings tears to my eyes," says radio host Khaled al-Sharqawi. "I can sometimes hear shooting, and women and children screaming, asking for ambulances, and the ambulances cannot reach them."

Emergency services keep the radio on, if only to go in when it's safe to bring out bodies. On one recent mission, said Ahmed Abu Sall, who works as a volunteer medical worker, "we were shot at by an Israeli tank. Two bullets hit the wheels."

This mission succeeded, as several do. But it can be a long haul to call and wait. Often, cell phone batteries run out as people call again and again with the appeals for help.

The Palestinian Telecommunications Company has given the radio station a toll-free number. That makes calling easier, but the radio statiion has to be on guard also against mischief. Hosts do what they can to check sources and credibility before putting an appeal live on air.

Not every call is a medical crisis. "In such cases we call human rights organisations," Sharqawi told IPS. "But they usually tell us they cannot help people on the ground."

Most people working at the radio station are young volunteers. And Al-Iman isn't the only one; several other local radio stations have begun now to hear and to broadcast live appeals for help. http://www.freegaza.ps/english/

2008-04-11T19:44:00.000-07:00

شهداء و28 جريحا في الغارات والتوغل الاسرائيلي في شرق مخيم البريج وخان يونس

غزة - علاء المشهراوي- وكالات- ارتفعت امس حصيلة العدوان الإسرائيلي الى تسعة شهداء من بينهم 4 أطفال و 28 إصابة اثنتان منهما بحالة خطيرة جدا.
اخر الشهداء كان منذر أبو هويشل احد عناصر القسام التابعة لحماس فقد استشهد في غارة جوية اسرائيلية مساء أمس على مخيم البريج وأصيب اثنان آخران جراء القصف لمجموعة من المقاومين شرق المخيم.وقالت مصادر طبية أن دبابات اسرائيلية قصفت بقذيفة مدفعية على الأقل تجمعا للمواطنين ، بالقرب من مدارس وكالة الغوث شرق مخيم البريج أدت الى سقوط خمسة شهداء وأكثر من خمس إصابات بعضهم في حالة الخطر الشديد.والشهداء هم جهاد أبو زبيدة 19 عاماً وشهاب أبو زبيدة 17 عاماً ويوسف المغاري 16 عاماًوعبد الرازق نوفل 17 عاما كما تم التعرف علي هوية الشهيد يوسف سرحان 13 عاما متاثرا بجراحة التي اصيب بها في القصف الاسرائيلي شرق البريج .
غزة - علاء المشهراوي- وكالات- ارتفعت امس حصيلة العدوان الإسرائيلي الى تسعة شهداء من بينهم 4 أطفال و 28 إصابة اثنتان منهما بحالة خطيرة جدا.
اخر الشهداء كان منذر أبو هويشل احد عناصر القسام التابعة لحماس فقد استشهد في غارة جوية اسرائيلية مساء أمس على مخيم البريج وأصيب اثنان آخران جراء القصف لمجموعة من المقاومين شرق المخيم.وقالت مصادر طبية أن دبابات اسرائيلية قصفت بقذيفة مدفعية على الأقل تجمعا للمواطنين ، بالقرب من مدارس وكالة الغوث شرق مخيم البريج أدت الى سقوط خمسة شهداء وأكثر من خمس إصابات بعضهم في حالة الخطر الشديد.والشهداء هم جهاد أبو زبيدة 19 عاماً وشهاب أبو زبيدة 17 عاماً ويوسف المغاري 16 عاماًوعبد الرازق نوفل 17 عاما كما تم التعرف علي هوية الشهيد يوسف سرحان 13 عاما متاثرا بجراحة التي اصيب بها في القصف الاسرائيلي شرق البريج .

وفاة 5 مرضى جراء الحصار في أقل من 24 ساعة..

2008-04-09T03:13:00.000-07:00

عرب48/ ألفت حداد ورأفت الكيلاني
أعلنت اللجنة الشعبية لمواجهة الحصار عن وفاة الحالة الخامسة من المرضي نتيجة الحصار المفروض علي قطاع غزة في أقل من أربع

وعشرين ساعة بسبب عدم توفر العلاج في قطاع غزة وبسبب منعهم من السفر لتلقي العلاج.

كما وأعلنت اللجنة عن وفاة المواطن أحمد محمد "58" عاماً من منطقة بير النعجة بجباليا بسبب معاناته من مرض السرطان وعدم توفر الجرعات الكيماوية اللازمة للعلاج ومنعة من العلاج في الخارج.كما توفيت قبله بساعة المواطنة خديجة أحمد أبو أحمد "65" عاماً مصابة بمرض السرطان من حي الزيتون بغزة ولم يستطع ذووها الحصول على تصريح لعلاجها خارج غزة المحاصرة.وكان الفتى محمود محمود حمادين ( 16 عام(من بلدة بيت حانون بمرض السرطان, مشيرة أن الفتى توفي نتيجة منعه من تلقي العلاج أو السفر للخارج في حين لا تتوفر بغزة أي أدوية لمرض السرطان الذي يحتاج إلى جرعات كيماوية تحد من انتشاره بجسم المريض.وكانت اللجنة قد أعلنت أمس عن وفاة مواطن آخر لم يتمكن من الحصول على تصريح للعلاج داخل الخط الأخضر.

كما أعلن اليوم عن وفاة المواطن إسحاق ديب عويضه "32" عاماً مخلفاً وراءه خمسة من الأطفال, بعد معاناة لستة أشهر مع مرض السرطان الذي امتد من المعدة إلى الرئتين.وأفادت اللجنة أن ذويه بذلوا جهدا"كما قال احد أقاربه" لتحويله للعلاج إلى داخل الخط الأخضر فكان الرد على مرتين "علاجه موجود بغزة",مضيفة أنه لم يسمح له بالعلاج في إسرائيل ولم يتلق جرعة كيماوية واحدة تحد من زحف المرض إلى كافة أنحاء جسمه، في حين تفتقر غزة إلى علاج مرض السرطان بالكامل.وحسب اللجنة الشعبية لمواجهة الحصار فإن وتيرة تساقط ضحايا الحصار ترتفع بسبب ارتفاع معدل الرفض لتحويلات المرضى إلى الداخل المحتل من قبل قوات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي.وحذرت من أن الموت يتهدد مئات المرضى وهناك من يصب بمرض مفاجئ ولا يستطيع أطباء غزة علاجه لنقص الدواء بسبب الحصار المفروض علي غزة.

ارتفاع عدد الضحايا من المرضى جراء الحصار الإسرائيلي الجائر على قطاع غزة إلى 120 مواطناً

2008-04-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

غزة1-4-2008وفا- أعلنت مصادر طبية، الليلة، استشهاد مواطن مريض بسبب منعه من قِبل سلطات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي من مغادرة قطاع غزة لتلقي العلاج اللازم في الخارج.
وذكرت تلك المصادر لــ 'وفا' أن المواطن سيف الدين محمود الشوبكي (49 عاماً)، من سكان مدينة غزة، انضم إلى قافلة الشهداء من المرضى الممنوعين من السفر، بعد معاناة من مرض عضال.
وباستشهاده يرتفع عدد الشهداء من المرضى جراء الحصار الإسرائيلي الجائر المفروض على قطاع غزة منذ عدة أشهر إلى مئة وعشرين مواطناً.
هذا ويتهدد خطر الموت قائمة كبيرة من المرضى من أصحاب الأمراض الخطيرة والمزمنة، جراء عدم تلقيهم العلاج بسبب عدم توفر الأدوية، ومنعهم من مغادرة القطاع لتلقي العلاج، نتيجة الحصار الإسرائيلي المشدد، وإغلاق كافة معابر القطاع منذ عدة أشهر.
وكان119 من المواطنين بينهم عدد من الأطفال قضوا جراء منعهم من السفر لتلقي العلاج في الخارج بسبب إغلاق المعابر الناتج عن الحصار الإسرائيلي الخانق المضروب على قطاع غزة عُرف منهم: إبراهيم أبو نحل (سنة وأربعة شهور)، نعمة علُّوش (27 عاماً)، نمر شحيبر (79 عاماً)، وحيد صالح (46 عاماً)، طلعت أبو حطب (49 عاماً)، عبد القادر أبو عامر (46 عاماً)، بسام حرارة (36 عاماً)، نظمي عاشور (50 عاماً)، محمود أبو طه (23 عاماً)، عايدة عبد العال (31 عاماً)، نائل الكردي (22 عاماً)، سنا محمد الحاج (ستة شهور)، أمير اليازجي (تسعة أعوام)، يسرى العمارين (53 عاماً)، ليلى عليوة (51 عاماً)، جميل حمد 46 عاماً)، منى نوفل (37 عاماً)، جميل عيسى (36 عاماً)، فاطمة البطّة (45 عاماً)، إبراهيم حمادة (55 عاماً)، فاطمة عيَّاش (55 عاماً)، محمد صنع الله (56 عاماً)، فاطمة هنيّة (53 عاماً)، جابر الطلاّع (33 عاماً)، رويدة شكشك (54 عاماً)، إسماعيل الغرابلي (37 عاماً)، زهير بدر (49 عاماً)، عائشة أبو غنيمة (51 عاماً)، روان دياب (13 شهراً)، أحمد حسين أبو حرب (55 عاماً)، فاطمة عبد العال (59 عاماً)، ناصر عوض مهرة (60 عاماً)، محمود محمد علي أبو حسنة (55 عاماً)، بديعة الصعيدي (54 عاماً)، الرضيعة حلا زنّون (ثلاثة شهور)، راضي محمود أبو ريدة (54 عاماً)، صبحي أبو رزق (52 عاماً)، آمال يونس صبيح أبو بنات (35 عاما)، روان نصّار(15عاماً)، دعاء عادل عمران (18 عاماً)، علاء أنور حرز الله (26 عاماً)، زهيرة خليل رضوان (49 عاماً)، ندى إياد الآغا (13 عاماً)، أحمد كامل الداية (59 عاماً)، دلال أحمد عودة مسلَّم (57 عاماً)، يوسف إياد أبو مريم (خمس سنوات)، عائشة أبو وردة (53 عاماً)، عواطف رمضان إبراهيم (52 عاماً)، نادية أبو زهري (65 عاماً)، رزان محمد عطا الله (6 سنوات)، مصطفى محمد صليح (55 عاماً)، فوزي إسماعيل العقّاد (69 عاماً)، دعاء هاني حبيب (خمسة أشهر)، صفيّة شاهين (60 عاماً)، محمد محمود خضر (61 عاماً)، مريم زهدي جودة (32 عاماً)، محمد مرزوق أبو طه (45 عاماً)، عائشة إسماعيل الجمل (73 عاماً)، محمد هاشم خليل الفرَّا (65 عاماً)، ميرفت نعيم حجازي (25عاماً)، يوسف حسين زعرب (50 عاماً)، محمد عطيّة جودة (57 عاماً)، رندة إبراهيم أبو عودة (19 عاماً)، حسن خليل سِلمي (60 عاماً)، محفوظة راغب شرّاب(51عاماً)، يحيى مصطفى الجمل ( 53عاماً)، خليل حرب أبو هلال (60عاماً)، إبراهيم أبو جزر (سنتان)، شيرين عبد الله إسماعيل أبو شوارب (10 سنوات)، محمود ناهض حسين (14 عاماً)، حمدة محمد النجّار(50عاماً)، عطاف العامودي(52عاماً)، فاطمة أبو طه (55عاماً)، ناجي حمدان قشطة (36 عاماً)، حماد ماهر أبو حامدة (شهر ونصف)، محمد عوني جاد الحق (29عاماً)، مصلح محمد قلجة(75عاماً)، فاتن مجدي الحفناوي(10 سنوات)، رتيبة الخطيب(40عاماً)، حنان عيسى علي(34عاماً)، آمنة حسين المدهون(60عاماً)، نور الدين محمد ماضي (14 عاماً)، جودة محمد عبيد (56 عاماً)، عرفات إبراهيم أبو عودة (23 عاماً)، نادية يوسف العمري (28 عاماً)، أحمد محمد الشريف(80عاماً)،منيرعلي مخيرز (49عاماً)، مُهاب محمد أبو جيّاب (45 عاماً)، يوسف عثمان فروانة (63 عاماً)، فتحية أبو وردة (40 عاماً)، خديجة محمد العقاد، ريم فؤاد البطش (32 عاماً)، عبد العظيم عودة خضر (60 عاماً)، سعيد العايدي (عامان)، محمد أحمد الهندي ( 52عاماً) أحمد محمد لبّد (47عاماً)، شهاب محمد خليف (عشرون يوماً)، رياض صبحي عاشور(55عاماً)، ومحمد أمين أبو وطفة(12عاماً)، محمد صالح مطير (53عاماً) ورأفت محمود الغلبان ( 43عاماً)، فاطمة سالم المقادمة، إيمان أمين صافي (أربع سنوات)، سلسبيل إبراهيم طباسي(9أشهر)، ابتسام توفيق أبو موسى (28عاماً) أحمد محمد النوري( 60عاماً)، ميسرة أبو حطب (65 عاماً)، محمد بارود(68عاماً)، شفيق محمد أبو الكاس(45عاماً)، محمد برهوم(5سنوات) لطيفة عطية محمد أبو شاويش(50عاماً)، زينب محمد بشير (55عاماً) المسن يوسف محمد المدهون، جازية زكي أبو هلال (65عاماً)، الرضيع يوسف وسيم مشتهى.

Gaza Mayhem

2008-03-05T23:50:00.000-08:00

Dear friend,

Gaza strip has been deepening down in an endless bloody round of violence. Around 120 people, 1 third of them are children killed in an obvious massacre. Below you can find some links about reports I did for some media outlets abroad.

Canada Real News:
http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1071&thisview=item Gaza conflict escalatesSameh Habeeb: More than 100 (118) Palestinians killed in Israeli attackTuesday March 4th, 2008Sameh Habeeb is a Palestinian journalist based in Gaza City

Greece Key Radio (Sky Radio)
http://www.skai.gr/master_avod.php?id=75092&lsc=2

BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/7263142.stm

Your feedback will be highly appreciated!
Sam-- Popular Committee Against Siege(PCAS),PCAS Manager,Sam AK Gaza - PalestineMob:00972598873055http://uk.f257.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Freegaza.ps@gmail.com http://uk.f257.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Action.palestine@yahoo.comWebsite: http://http://www.freegaza.ps/english ÇááÌäÉ ÇáÔÚÈíÉ áãæÇÌåÉ ÇáÍÕÇÑÛÒÉ- ÝáÓØíä
http://freegaza.ps/english/

The Gaza Holocaust......

2008-03-03T17:30:00.001-08:00

Gaza "Holocaust"?

2008-03-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

Gaza "Holocaust"?
Israeli air strikes have killed more than 30 Palestinians, including six children, in the past few days. After one rocket hit an apartment building and another one landed near a school, wounding a 17-year-old girl Israel has activated its early warning system in the town of Ashkelon for the first time. The day before, a college student was killed in a rocket attack on Sderot"The more [rocket] fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they (the Palestinians) will bring upon themselves a bigger holocaust because we will use all our might to defend ourselves," Deputy Defense Minister, Matan Vilnai told Israeli army radio. The "holocaust" is a term rarely used in Israel outside discussions of the Nazi genocide during World War II.In an equally surprising statement, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas accused Hamas of helping Al Qaeda militants enter the Gaza Strip."Al Qaeda is present in Gaza, and I'm convinced that they (Hamas) are their allies," Mr. Abbas said in an interview with the London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.
Watch Video

A worldwide 5-minute-darkness for Gaza Strip

2008-02-24T19:00:00.000-08:00

Palestinian Committee Against Siege (PCAS)

February 23, 2008

Millions of people in the participating countries of the Global day for Gaza Strip lived in darkness for 5 minutes in solidarity of with poor besiege people.
Around 86 cities and towns involved in this step to help the civilians in the Gaza strip.

Reporters of PCAS in UK, France and some European countries reported that most of the main cities, completely or partially switched the lights off in a response of PCAS’s call for a global day of actions to end Gaza Siege.

In France, around 10 cities marked the occasion today to convey their full support for the people of Gaza and they turned the lights off to experience what Palestinians are living now.Michelin Gurege, ISM member and PCAS coordinator in France said that all people across French cities showed that the Palestinian cause is one of their common concerns."My spirits became high while I was having a tour in these cities seeing Palestinian flags everywhere," Michelin said.It’s remarkable that around 70 countries took part in this Global day and actions are still ongoing till this moment (CET 20.00).
Russia and France witnessed ten actions of protests in nearly 10 cities for each. In Ukraine about 9 cities participated as well.
In Europe, 2 or 3 cities in most of the countries marked the occasion.

Gaza I Weep for Thee

2008-02-20T15:40:00.000-08:00

02.20.08
Forwarded by Asem Judeh

Gaza, I weep for thee. You see, I stand over here shackled and chained and all I can do is weep. For when I scream, my screaming falls on deaf ears. When I rant and I rave I am viewed with suspicion.

My kin and my neighbors all wonder and aloud, "why do you protest the killing of vermin?"" Vermin?" I asked and the chorus responded, " the Palestinians are vermin and terrorists!" But why should that be? Israelis are free but, not Palestinians.

The Palestinians live in! camps. Concentration camps that are really the holding pens of sheep being prepared for slaughter. When the last Palestinian is slaughtered, will anyone REMEMBER? Anyone? Will anyone care? ANYONE! Oh Gaza , I weep for thee.
Weeping is all that I can do for you see, over here I am shackled and chained to my opinion that the killing of innocent men, women, and children is genocide. Oh mommy, I said the 'g' word and used that 'g' word in association with Israel. I might just have well taken a shotgun and shot a lawyer.

Genocide on Palestine by Israelis. I am a pariah and a criminal and I am a "supporter of terrorism!"
Because I questioned the slaughter of Palestinians. Well, whoops and sorry. That must have been my bad! Oh Gaza , I weep for thee! You are lost and dying and NO ONE CARES AND NO ONE LISTENS! My kin and my neighbors are blind to the horror and will NOT hear the crying of innocents being led to slaughter. My land is lost and my nation is lost and my kin are lost and my neighbors are lost.
A very great man once said, "it is better to die on one's feet in the battle for justice than to die on one's knees begging for mercy!" So let it be written, so let it be done.
Oh Gaza , I weep for thee. Stand up and die at the hands of Israel! Someday maybe in one hundred years or five hundred years, someone somewhere, will read of your slaughter and ask the hard questions that our world today ignores. "Why were the Palestinians left to be slaughtered at the hands of an unjust Israel and the complicity of our world?"

Oh Gaza, I weep for thee. You see, I am shackled in chains of censorship and mistrust. The weeping is all that I CAN do.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2437&Itemid=31
;

IOF Escalates Acts of Murder and Destruction in the Gaza Strip

2008-02-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

Reference: 16/2008

Date: 17 February 2008
Press Release IOF Escalates Acts of Murder and Destruction in the Gaza Strip;

Al MezanCalls for Urgent International Protection for the Civilians in the GazaStripThe IOF has escalated its acts of murder and violence against the civilianpopulation and their properties in the Gaza Strip. On 17 February 2008, theIOF killed four people during incursions and air attacks in Rafah. One ofthe victims was a police man, 28-year-old Ibrahim Salman Hussein Sabbah. Hesuffered from shrapnel wounds all over his body and died immediately. Threeother
s were injured in the same attack.At approximately 10:30am, on 17 February 2008, an IOF drone fired a missilethat landed near the UNRWA clinic on Be'r Sahy Street in Al Shouka villagein eastern Rafah. As a result, 33-year-old Abed As Salam Mohammed Salama AbuSusein, a member of the national security forces, and 23-year-old Nasser AliAbd Al Razek Abu Shabab were killed. At approximately 10:40am the same day,the IOF opened fire at 24-year-old Abd Al Karim Mohammed Hassan Al Ghalbanduring an incursion east of the Rafah crossing. While he was near his homein Al Shouka village he was shot in the chest and died.According to Al Mezan's preliminary investigations, at approximately 8:50pm,on 15 February 2008, a massive explosion in a residential house took placein Block 7 of Al Bureij refugee camp, located in central Gaza Strip. Thehouse belongs to 41-year-old Attallah Ayman Ahmed Fayed. The blast resultedin the killing of eight people, including one woman and one child, namely:o 41-year-old Ayman Atallah Fayed;o 37-year-old Marwa Azzam Fayed, his wife;o 12-year-old Basma Ayman Fayed, his daughter;o 17-year-old Ali Ayman Fayed, his son;o 5-year-old Ayoub Ayman Fayed; his son;o 17-year-old Zakaria Nabil Al Kafafy;o 16-year-old Talal Salah Abu Oun; ando 24-year-old Atallah Samir Ismail, while he was walking in thestreet.The explosion in Al Bureij also caused the injury of 57 people, includingtwenty children and twenty-two women. Two of them were reported to havesustained serious injury. The explosion also destroyed six residentialhouses completely. Sixty other homes were damaged severely, and tens ofothers received minor damages.According to preliminary investigations and other information given instatements by IOF ministers and military officials, it is believed that theIOF are responsible for this terrible incident. The most important fact inthis incident is the scope of the damage, which recalls the crime thatoccurred in the Ad Darraj neighborhood. On 22 July 2002, the IOF shelled AdDarraj and killed16 persons and destroyed eight houses completely. Theshelling also caused damage to nearby residential homes. The only differencebetween these two crimes is that the IOF admitted their responsibility forAd Darraj. The IOF Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, at that time, described itas one of their greatest successes. It is not the first time that the IOFdenied responsibility for their offenses, and in fact, they tried to get outof dozens of similar crimes previously. On 9 June 2006, they shelled BeitLahiya beach, during which seven members of the Ghalia family were killed.It should be noted that the official statements made by the IOF admit theirintention to continue their escalation of aggression on the Gaza Strip.Among them, the Israeli Minister of the Interior, Meir Sheetrit, declared on10 February 2008, that the IOF is able to exterminate an entire neighborhoodin the Gaza Strip. He pointed out that their forces have done so in asouthern suburb of Beirut. This statement was made just five days prior tothe Bureij shelling. Beside the statements made by the Israeli DefenseMinister, it was reported that Israeli intelligence agencies will carry outoperations secretly.Al Mezan Center for Human Rights renews its repeated demands for theinternational community to uphold their moral duty and responsibility toprotect Gazans, especially in relation to the Fourth Geneva Convention forthe Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War. Al Mezan warns theinternational community of the consequences of the IOF's widespreaddestruction of densely populated areas. Statements of IOF military leadersreinforce the Center's fears, in which they declared to wipe out residentialareas entirely, despite the consequential deaths of thousands of civilianvictims.End

2008-02-09T22:47:00.000-08:00

please double click on picture

تجرى لأول مرة في الأراضي الفلسطينية: زرع جهاز داخلي لقلب مريض محاصر في غزة

2008-02-09T06:40:00.000-08:00

غزة - مراسل القدس - تمكن أطباء فلسطينيون من إجراء عملية لزراعة جهاز "صدمات" في قلب مريض فلسطيني في غزة لأول مرة في الأراضي الفلسطينية، وذلك بعدما منعه الحصار من السفر لتلقي العلاج. وأجرى العملية الدكتور أكرم أبو فول، رئيس قسم قسطرة القلب في مستشفى "سوروكا" في بئر السبع، وهو من فلسطينيي الداخل، بحضور طاقم طبي مساعد في مركز جولس للقسطرة.وقال الدكتور فايز شقليه، مدير مركز جولس لقسطرة القلب في غزة، إن المريض شعبان أبو عبيد (42) عاماً، من سكان دير البلح، كان يعاني من خطر توقف القلب في أي لحظة، ولم يتمكن من السفر بسبب عدم إعطائه التصاريح اللازمة لمغادرة القطاع.وأضاف شقليه لرامتان أن المريض أبو عبيد ينتظر منذ ثلاثة أشهر والخطر يتهدد حياته، إلا أنه وبعد التنسيق تم توفير المعدات اللازمة لإجراء العملية، حيث تمت زراعة جهاز "صدمات" داخل القلب لأول مرة في الضفة والقطاع. وأشار إلى أن تكاليف العملية بلغت ما يزيد عن عشرين ألف دولار، بسبب ارتفاع سعر الجهاز الذي تم تركيبه. وأعرب عن أمله أن تكلل هذه العملية بالنجاح، خاصة وأن الدكتور أبو فول متخصص في جراحة القلب، وأجرى بالإضافة إلى عمله في مستشفى سوروكا عدداً من العمليات بالتعاون مع المركز وبشكل متكرر.

Gaza Diary: Not a life for children

2008-02-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

By Omar, a humanitarian worker in partnership with Oxfam

Feb 7, 2008

"Why us? Why are we cold? What is happening?" my children ask all the time.They are six and two. When they ask for chocolate and I cannot give it to them, they ask why. I explain to them that it is because of the closure but this does not explain things any further to them, they still ask "Why? Why us?"What they least understand is why their lives are being affected by something which they are not responsible for.It is hard for me to explain.

I am 37 years old and have spent my whole life under occupation. My father was a refugee from Barbara, my original village. He said to me the other day, "Son, we have never lived in a situation like this before.

I hope that this will be the last time that we live like this, forever".But people live in hope. They believe even after all this time that peace will return to us.

It has been five days now since I have had a shower. This is due to a lack of power to fuel the water system and to the hectic times that are upon us.It is the winter season and we are all beginning to get very cold. Without electricity, all my family and I can do to stay warm it to huddle around a gas lamp. We cover ourselves in sheets. Sometimes, I warm some water for my children to immerse their hands or feet in. But there is very little that we can do apart from hope that this will be the last time that we live like this.

The cold makes it difficult for us to get to sleep but even when we manage to, the blasts of Palestinian and Israeli rockets wake us throughout the night.

The tremors and explosions scare my children so much that they now sleep with my wife and me.They are so small and vulnerable and also very confused. They come home from school talking of Hamas and Fatah but they do not understand the situation.This is not a life for children. It is not for anyone.Stress and anxietyI try as best as I can to divert their attention away from the crisis that is continuing to unfold before them - I take them to the sea or to a relative's home.I cannot even turn on the television because we have had no electricity for five days.

To find out what's going on or whether or not there will be military operations I ask my colleagues in Jerusalem to keep me updated.I also call my family every few hours to find out if they are okay.

My children live in an area of violence and hear on a daily basis people arguing, complaining and shouting about the situation. To be honest, they need some professional support for their stress and anxiety but of course this is not available to us.Like many other children living in Gaza, they can rarely get away from the crisis, even while they sleep.

This situation is affecting a lot of children. The other day when I went to my kid's school the teacher said that 70 per cent of the children were failing their exams.The stress of the situation, whether children realise it or not, will effect their education. It is not great for school work or anything at all.

A lack of good quality food, clean drinking water, milk, sleep, fear and cold are just some of the issues that the children of Gaza face. The adults, too.There is already little hope for the future for the children of Gaza but without education, they really have nothing, Education is the only capital that we have for our future.

My third child is due in March. This is just two months away.As a father and a husband I am worried - really worried for my wife and my unborn child. How can she deliver a child when there is no electricity and little supplies in the hospitals?Will she and our third child suffer as a result? These are some of the questions that keep me awake at night.Speaking about this makes me want to cry, not just for my family but also for the people of Gaza.

Israel cuts off electricity in Gaza; thousands plunged into darkness

2008-02-01T13:03:00.000-08:00

Gaza – Ma'an – Israel cut off part of the electricity supply to Gaza City on Friday evening, plunging thousands of people into darkness, according to Jamal Al-Dardasawi, the head of public relations and information at the electricity company in Gaza. Israel cut off the vital electricity supply line, known as the 'Baghdad line', claiming there are problems with that particular line.

Al-Dardasawi pointed out that the Israeli electiricity supply company have ben intermittently cutting off electricity since last Tuesday morning, leaving thousands of Gaza City residents battling bitter cold weather, without any means of heating.

He added that the Baghdad line is particularly important for dozens of health centres, primarily Al-Shifaa Hospital in Gaza City. Al-Dardasawi appealed to humanitarian and international human rights organizations to intervention before lives are lost.

The tiny Strip is one of the most densely populated places in the world, and already endures power outages up to 24 hours a day. Gaza's electric transformers have been bombed by the Israeli military.

People Power

2008-01-25T09:11:00.000-08:00

By the late Ismael Shamout

A young girl from Gaza teaches us a little about the racist zionist...

2008-01-22T21:27:00.000-08:00

Sit down and watch....Make sure there's a box of tissues close by
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AHMDUFRVQOg

Just Added A San Diego Demo on Friday 1/25

2008-01-22T16:13:00.000-08:00

Emergency San Diego Demonstration!BREAK THE SILENCE ON GAZA NOW!Stop US Complicity! End All US Aid to the Zionist State!

Meet Friday (1/25) at 3:00 PM

At the corner of Broadway and Front Street,downtown in front of the Federal Building.

Demo from 3:00 to 5:30 PM.

Called by : Al-Awda San Diego, The Free Palestine Alliance, and The NationalCouncil of Arab Americans.
Co-sponsor : International Action Center (IAC-SD).

Video of Palestinians at Rafah Crossing

2008-01-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

Video of Palestinians Protesting at Rafah Crossing

Coalition Calls for Emergency Protests Jan.26 in Anaheim, Wash., San Francisco

2008-01-21T23:22:00.000-08:00

End the Criminal Israeli Siege of Gaza NOW!
Stop the Collective Punishment of the Palestinian People!

Coalition Calls for Emergency Protests Jan. 25-26 in
Washington, San Francisco, Anaheim and other cities

The A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition, joins with the National Council of Arab Americans (NCA), Free Palestine Alliance(FPA), Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, Palestinian American Women’s Association(PAWA), Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition and other anti-war and progressive organizations in calling for emergency protests demanding an immediate end to the Israeli blockade and siege of Gaza. Protests will take place on January 25-26 at Israeli embassies, consulates, U.S. federal buildings and other locations.

More than 1.5 million Palestinian people living are suffering from life-threatening shortages of food, medicines, fuel and other vital necessities, caused by the Israeli military’s sealing-off of one of the most densely populated areas of the world. Gaza City is blacked-out at night, including hospitals. Doctors must examine patients by candlelight.

The crisis is growing more severe by the day. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the World Food Programme, which together supply food to more than two-thirds of the population, have stated that unless the blockade is lifted they will be forced to stop operations by this weekend. A cut-off in aid would threaten an already food-deprived population with mass starvation. The great majority of Gaza residents are from refugee families, driven out of other parts of Palestine when the state of Israel was created in 1948.

The Israeli government imposed a blockade on Gaza after the Hamas party was democratically elected in January 2006. The Bush administration backed Israel’s action. Last week, Israel tightened the blockade, sealing off Gaza, supposedly because of Palestinian attacks by the military wing of Hamas. Yet, on December 23, 2007, Israel rejected Hamas call for ceasefire negotiations. Since then, Israeli air and ground attacks have killed dozens of Palestinians and wounded hundreds more in Gaza, most of them civilians. In 2007, 373 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and the West Bank, compared to just 13 Israeli deaths.

The Israeli blockade is in clear violation of international law, which strictly forbids collective punishment and labels it a war crime. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) states in part: “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”

Collective punishment is a war crime. Imposing a blockade on the population in Gaza is undeniably a form of collective punishment. The U.S. government, which gives billions of dollars in military and economic aid to Israel every year, shares the guilt for this war crime.

Among the cities where emergency protests will take place are:

Washington DC: Friday, Jan. 25 (time tba), at the Israeli Embassy, 3514 International Dr. N.W.

San Francisco, CA: Friday, Jan. 25, 4 6 p.m., Israeli Consulate, 456 Montgomery St. (near California)

Anaheim, CA: Saturday, Jan. 26, 1 p.m. 512 S. Brookhurst St. (Bet. Orange Ave. & Broadway)

New York, NY: Saturday, Jan. 26, 1 p.m., at the Israeli Embassy, 43rd St. and 2nd Ave.

Chicago, IL: Tues., Jan. 29, 5pm at the Lakeshore Theater, 3175 North Broadway (at benefit for the Friends of the Israeli Defense Force). Initiated by ISM, endorsed by ANSWER and others. Call 773-463-0311 for more information.

Seattle Demo: Friday, January 25, 4 p.m., Westlake Park, 4th & Pine Sts.

If you are planning your own protest, please let us know so we can post information about your event on the ANSWER website.

AL-Haq Action Alert: End the Siege of the Gaza Strip

2008-01-21T23:19:00.000-08:00

AL-HAQ ACTION ALERT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ref.: 01.2008E

21 January 2008

End the Siege of the Gaza Strip

On Sunday 20 January 2008, Israel’s ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip, including the blocking of fuel supplies, forced Gaza’s only power plant to shut down, plunging over 800,000 Palestinians into darkness. According to the General-Director of the plant, the shortage of electricity caused by the lack of fuel will affect the provision of medical care and water and sanitation services. On Sunday morning, the Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, which normally operates 130 wells as well as sewage treatment plants, stated that if the fuel supply is not restored by Tuesday, these services will cease to function throughout the Gaza Strip. Since Friday 18 January, Israel has also closed all Gaza’s border crossings and blocked all humanitarian aid, except in exceptional circumstances. With some 80 percent of Gaza’s population requiring food aid, the impact of these measures will be catastrophic. This escalation has also been accompanied by an intensifying of Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip in the first 19 days of 2008, costing the lives of 69 Palestinians, including four children and eight women, and the injury of over 190.

Israel’s current policy in relation to the Gaza Strip and its 1.5 million inhabitants constitutes an unmitigated violation of international humanitarian law including, but not limited to, Israel’s obligation as an Occupying Power to, at a minimum, ensure the basic needs of the population under its effective control, and the prohibitions on collective punishment, coercion and unlawful reprisals.

Israel’s current policy and recent actions have shown a casual disregard for the lives and dignity of the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, treating their suffering and the violation of their fundamental rights as little more than an inconvenience that will earn gentle reprimand from the international community and Palestinian National Authority, but will otherwise be irrelevant. With the intolerable conditions and constant state of fear that the Gazan population is now forced to live under, it is time for this position to change. Israel must not be allowed to shield itself from the implementation of its international legal obligations, nor should the international community shy away from enforcing such implementation. Inarticulate fears of disrupting a “peace process” that exists only in vague declarations and diplomatic handshakes, that treats the Gaza Strip as separate from the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and Palestinians as a divided people, cannot be an excuse for allowing the continued siege of the Gaza Strip. In fact, if any “peace process” is to succeed, the conclusion reached must embody a sense of justice. This requires, as an unavoidable starting point, that the fundamental rights of all parties be recognised and protected.

Al-Haq therefore calls upon,

Israel to immediately cease all military operations in the Gaza Strip and to end its policy of collective punishment, including the opening of border crossings to allow the movement of goods and people, and restoring the supply of fuel and humanitarian aid.

the Palestinian Liberation Organisation to establish Israel’s obligations under international law in respect of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip, including ending the collective punishment and ensuring access to essential medical services, food and water and sanitation, as an integral part of any negotiations.

regional organisations and individual states to take concrete measures, including economic and diplomatic sanctions, to ensure Israel’s compliance with international law.

all international agencies, including the UN, present in the OPT to actively draw the attention of international decision makers to the impact of Israeli policies on the Palestinian civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

the UN Secretary-General immediately bring the situation in the Gaza Strip to the attention of the Security Council.

concerned individuals and civil society groups to raise Israel’s violations of international law with elected officials in their home counties.

Palestinian armed groups to immediately cease the launching of rockets targeting civilian population centres in Israel.

The Missiles that the zionists stopped in Gaza

2008-01-21T21:12:00.000-08:00

All Out to Break the Siege of Gaza Now!

2008-01-20T21:43:00.000-08:00

At this time, when outright Zionist criminal actions are directed against the Palestinian Arab people of Gaza, amounting to mass starvation, spreading of disease and suffocation in the most vile manner, we ask what does it take for the Palestinian Authority and Arab regimes to break their servitude and have some courage and an ounce of dignity - just an ounce?

We will get right to the point: this leadership is corrupt to its core and has sold every ounce of its dignity. Nothing is left! It is time for the Palestinian people and for the Arab masses to hold these war criminals and profiteers accountable.

Zionist actions are well known to our people - from Deir Yassin, to Kufr Qasem, to Sabra and Shatila, to Qana, to Janin, to Gaza and a whole lot of suffering and death in between. But the overt servitude by Arab leaders that has now reached outright complicity in the starvation of children and the killing of the sick and needy is a new low below which there is no lower filth. It is time for Zionist war criminals and their Arab servants to be held accountable.

The fig leaf charade of UN Security Council meetings amounts to nothing.
At the very least:

1. Egypt must open the Rafah crossing and immediately send adequate fuel, food and medicine at any cost. Not doing so is a but another blot of shame in that regime's history.
2. All political, economic and diplomatic relationships and normalization steps with the Zionists must be terminated.
3. Zionist leaders and their Arab servants must be tried for war crimes.

We call on all people to hold mass mobilizations worldwide to break the siege on our beloved people. We also call for holding war crimes tribunals for all responsible.

It is time to isolate and expose all those who continue to benefit from our misery while shedding crocodile tears; and, certainly, it is time to hold them accountable for their devastating crimes.

Let history record that the voice of our people can never be silenced and that our cry for freedom will surely pierce through all bastilles of hunger.

All Out to Break the Siege of Gaza Now!
Enough is enough!

The Free Palestine Alliance - USA
January 20, 2008

النفط العربي لا يشعل شمعة في غزة

2008-01-20T19:32:00.001-08:00

الظلام يلف غزة

2008-01-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

فلسطينيون يتناولون الطعام على الشموع في غزة
In the 21Th Century, the Palestinians go back to using candles for light

Picture by AF

Break the Silence on Gaza....

2008-01-20T12:13:00.001-08:00

For Immediate Release
January 20, 2008

BREAK THE SILENCE ON GAZA!DON'T DELAY! TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, calls on its chapters,supporting organizations and individuals to organize to break the silenceabout the ongoing Israeli war crimes being committed against Palestinians inGaza.
Organize street actions and protests, community meetings anddelegations to religious leaders and educators. Call and write the media andyour congressional representatives.
People of the world watch in horror as the racist state of 'Israel', withthe support and encouragement of the US government, engages in a genocidalproject to eliminate the indigenous Arab people of Palestine.

The world community has denounced the government of 'Israel' for using itsmilitary for the purpose of collectively punishing the civilian populationof the Gaza Strip, a clear war crime and violation of the 4th GenevaConventions.

The only power plant in Gaza was shut down today leaving the1.5 million inhabitants without electricity, water, or any functionalmedical facilities.Palestinians continue to endure starvation, aerial bombings, US CIAinterventions, and Israeli army brutality.

This murderous endeavor hascaused the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians and the alreadyfragile economy of Gaza has been decimated.

NO FOOD, NO WATER, NO BREAD!

appeal to all people living in the US:SPEAK OUT TO DEMAND ONCE AND FOR ALL AN END TO THE SIEGE OF GAZAAND THE OCCUPATION OF ALL OF PALESTINE!ORGANIZE STREET ACTIONS AND PROTESTS, CALL AND WRITE THE MEDIA ANDYOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES.ORGANIZE COMMUNITY MEETINGS AND DELEGATIONS TO RELIGIOUS LEADERS ANDEDUCATORSDONATE TO HELP THE PEOPLE IN GAZA!

For information to contact your congressional representatives, go tohttp://www.congress%20.org/congressorg%20/home
For writing to the media, go to http://newslink.org/ for contact information.
To make a donation to help the people in the Gaza Strip go tohttp://www.al-awda.org/donate.html and simply follow the instructions.Please indicate that your donation is for the GAZA EMERGENCY FUND.BREAK THE SILENCE ON GAZA!DON'T DELAY! TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return CoalitionPO Box 131352Carlsbad, CA 92013, USATel: 760-685-3243Fax: 360-933-3568E-mail: http://us.f807.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=info%40al-awda.orgWWW: http://al-awda.org/Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRRC) is the largestnetwork of grassroots activists and students dedicated to Palestinian humanrights. We are a not for profit tax-exempt educational and charitable501(c)(3) organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ofthe United States of America. Under IRS guidelines, your donations to PRRCare tax-deductible.To make a donation simply go tohttp://www.al-awda.org/donate.html and simply follow the instructions.

Death and Darkness in Gaza, People are dying, Help us!

2008-01-20T11:59:00.000-08:00

A humanitarian crisis is underway as the Gaza Strip's only power plant began to shut down on Sunday, and the tiny coastal territory entered its third full day without shipments of vital food and fuel supplies due to Israel's punitive sanctions. The Gaza Strip's power plant has completely shut down on Sunday because it no longer has the fuel needed to keep running .

One of the plant's two electricity- generating turbines had already shut down by noon. This will drastically reduce output to 25 or 30 megawatts, down from the 65 megawatts the plant produces under normal conditions.

By Sunday evening the plant will shut down completely, leaving large swaths of the Gaza Strip in darkness.

Omar Kittaneh, the head of the Palestine Energy Authority in Ramallah, confirmed that by tonight, the one remaining operating turbine will be powered down, and the Gaza power plant will no longer be generating any electricity at all. "We have asked the Israeli government to reverse its decision and to supply fuel to operate the power plant", Dr. Kittaneh said. "We have talked to the Israeli humanitarian coordination in their Ministry of Energy . We say this is totally Israel's responsibility, and that reducing the fuel supplies until the plant had to shut down will affect not only the electrical system but the water supply, and the entire infrastructure in Gaza – everything." After months of increasingly harsh sanctions, Israel imposed a total closure on the Strip's border crossings, even preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The Israeli government says the closure is punishment for an ongoing barrage of Palestinian homemade projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip. "Famine"180 fuel stations have shut down after Gaza residents to buy gas for cooking. A Palestinian economist Hasan Abu Ramadan said the current humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip will be deepened by the blockade on fuel and food supplies. He warned that Gaza Strip could go from a situation of deep poverty to all out famine, disease, and malnutrition. Abu Ramadan said that more than 80% of the Strip's 1.5 million residents have been surviving with the help of food aid from international organizations such as UNRWA for Palestinian refugees.International condemnation Most international actors in the region believe there already is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator, the Undersecretary- general for humanitarian affairs John Holmes, who said at a press conference at UNHQ in New York on Friday that "This kind of action against the people in Gaza cannot be justified, even by those rocket attacks".

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed particular concern, in a statement issued later on Friday through his spokesperson, about the "decision by Israel to close the crossing points in between Gaza and Israel used for the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Such action cuts off the population from much-needed fuel supplies used to pump water and generate electricity to homes and hospitals".

The UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied territories, John Dugard, also issued a much sharper statement on Friday, saying that Israel must have foreseen the loss of life and injury to many nearby civilians when it targeted the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza City.

This, and the killings of other Palestinians during the week, plus the closures, "raise very serious questions about Israel's respect for international law and its Commitment to the peace process", Dugard said.

He said it violates the strict prohibition on collective punishment contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention, and one of the basic principles of international humanitarian law: that military action must distinguish between military targets and civilian targets.

Source:
Maan

http://www.freegaza.ps/
http://us.f807.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=freegaza.ps@gmail.com

2008-01-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

2008-01-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

If you are suffering from : no Income , no Electricity, no Water and no Gas ,then , for sure,

you live in the Gaza Strip

US says it's all in self defence.......

2008-01-19T09:52:00.000-08:00

The United States of America today described the zionist's massacre in the Gaza Strip that have left more than 35 people dead and scores injured this week, as "legal self-defence"
The spokesperson of the US State Department Shaun McCormack said, "There have been zionist military operations which fall in the category of legal self-defence, and they [zionists] have the full right of self-defence."
I am sure that Abbas and company agree with this American position......I bet you that you'll never hear a word against this outrageous statement ,by Abbas or his lackeys ........ You will lose if you bet me on this one.......

Don't cry for me.......

2008-01-18T22:29:00.000-08:00

2008-01-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

Some of the destruction that happened today in Gaza.......

And you thought that the F-16 are harmless...

Damn you PA leadership , Arab Leaders, World community leaders ,and damn you UN ......

2008-01-18T07:38:00.000-08:00

Gaza is burning ......

The West Bank is burning....

The Palestinian people are being butchered as if they are sheep with no one paying any attention to them.....

The zionists invaders are using all they have to inflect the most harm and damage against Palestinians and Palestine....

The PA leadership ,aka ,zionist caretakers ,are planning for a meeting with the zionist early next week ,as if they do even hear of what's going on all over occupied Palestine....

The Arab leaders are still admiring the pictures they took on the red carpet with Dabilluo ,and care less about their people ,so why care about the Palestinian people.....

The so called world community leaders ,including the UN and what it should stand for , do not give a damn and are no where to be found so we can hear what they think.

The media , or do start me talking about the media.....

The Palestinian people have no doubt ,that if it doesn't get worse ,it will not get better....

They also know ,that this PA leadership ,aka zionist caretaker, is part of the problem ,just like the zionists and their supporters , and they all will fail in their efforts to destroy the will of our people to achieve liberation and freedom ,just like everyone else in this world.....

The Palestinian people believe that there's a light at the end of the tunnel ,and that victory will be ours .......and hopefully sooner than all of our enemies think...

2008-01-17T05:09:00.000-08:00

Israel's InhumanCrime Against The World
By Mary Sparrowdancer
c. 2008 by mary sparrowdancer1-14-8

(Part One of a multi-part feature focusing separately on the horrors endured in Gaza, and the West Bank.)
Weeping father carries child slaughtered by invading Israeli military forces in a Gaza civilian village.
The world's current political warlords lord themselves over us while openly demonstrating they have no regard for our opinions, our choices, our votes or our protests. They speak convincingly through their propaganda media machines about "freedoms" when in fact, liberty is their enemy and they are working hard in a futile attempt to destroy it. They do not realize, however, that liberty belongs to us, and it is not theirs to destroy. They speak of lawfulness, while swaggering in utter defiance of all laws of civility. They speak of terrorists and point fingers elsewhere, when they are the actual terrorists who have murdered and displaced millions of civilians since 2001. They speak of their humanitarian treatment of prisoners, when in fact they are consumed and entertained by violence and torture that would put Ancient Rome to shame. Nowhere are prisoners more shamefully treated than in the Gaza Strip, and this treatment is being funded and made possible by US dollars.
The Gaza Strip is bordered on the south by the sands and eternal mystique of Egypt, on the west by the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, its inviting beaches a place where dreams of peaceful tourist resorts once flourished, and on the east it is bordered by what used to be Palestine. In 1948, Israel announced itself a state withinPalestine, and began systematically forcing the Palestinians off their ancestral lands in order to build Jewish-only settlements. (1)
For almost two years, the Israeli military forces have completely surrounded Gaza. Israel has built tall, ugly walls around the borders of Gaza, including the border between Gaza and Egypt. The Israeli military forces patrol and attack the civilians of Gaza from the air with US helicopters, F-16s, and with drones. Israeli/ US tanks and bulldozers attack from the ground, storming through Gaza villages and refugee camps, destroying homes and killing more Palestinian victims. Israeli gunboats sit poised in the once peaceful waters off Gaza's shore, intent upon shelling unarmed fishing boats and massacring families daring to enjoy picnics on the beach. With all Gaza borders tightly closed, and with no way out by land, sea or air, approximately 1.5 million Palestinians are trapped in Gaza making it the largest and most inhumane prison on earth.
In September of 2007, after sealing all of the borders, Israel declared the civilian population imprisoned in the Gaza Strip a "hostile entity," and as such justifiedIsrael' s next plan to block the delivery of all supplies including water, food, soap, paper, textiles, fuels and electricity. At this moment the civilians trapped within the closed borders of Gaza, most of them refugees, await their fate at the hands of the Israeli military force. This is a military force that is funded by the US, and it is a force from which the civilians cannot now defend themselves, nor have they ever been able to defend themselves.
Palestinian man tries to carry a wounded friend after invading Israeli military forces shelled villages in Gaza. July 2006 Photo by Mohammed al Zaanoun, photojournalist armed only with a camera.
In speaking with photojournalists Mohammed al Zaanoun, and Mohammed Omer via email yesterday, I asked if the people of Gaza had access to clean water. The answer received from both was, "No."
"Dear Mary," Mohammed al Zaanoun wrote, "Gaza has many problems now, such as the electricity was cut off, and they [Israel] will not allow food and water to enter and many young are infected and dying due to closure of crossings."

(check http://www.currenti ssues.tv/ mohammad- az-zanoun. jpg for pictures)

At this time, therefore, the 1.5 million people trapped in Gaza have little or no access to clean water. Building supplies to repair water pumps and homes that have been bombed, shelled and bulldozed by Israeli forces are denied passage through the closed borders. Electricity is denied. Free trade beyond the borders is blocked. Transfer of emergency relief funds into Gaza is denied.
Cement is denied, leaving Gazans unable to even properly bury those already murdered by Israeli forces. Soap is denied. Postal service is denied. Bottled water is denied. Medications are denied. The sick are denied access to medical care across the blocked borders, as Mohammed pointed out. During the past three months, 70 of the desperately ill and innocent waiting for "permission" from Israel to cross the border for medical care have died. In 2007 alone, the Israeli forces slaughtered 290 people outright in Gaza, including children (this does not include those slaughtered in the West Bank). Now Israel is starving the remaining 1.5 million in Gaza, while also denying them access to clean water. (2)
One might wonder what the people of Gaza have done to provoke such a barbaric demonstration of hatred, racial rage and collective torture that is being displayed by the Israeli military forces.
While the published reason is that some Palestinians in Gaza have fired homemade, primitive Qassam rockets towards an Israeli settlement (while glossing over the fact that this settlement was built on land stolen from the Palestinians) , we now know that much of what is promoted in the mainstream US news is far from the truth. A more careful search reveals that Israeli Defense Minister, Yaakov Toran, is quoted as saying, "we need to remember that Qassams are more a psychological than physical threat.
Statistically they cause the fewest losses. . . " (3)
Qassams, which were first fired into Israeli settlements in 2002, are extremely inaccurate, short-range homemade rockets, and when they are fired from Gaza, they are generally fired in the direction of the Israeli settlement of Sderot. Sderot is located upon the ashes of the Palestinian village of Nadj. According to Dr. Walid Khalidi, the Palestinian inhabitants of Nadj were driven out when this village was ethnically cleansed by Israeli settlers in 1948, the year Israel announced its statehood. In Dr Khalidi's book, "All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated By Israel in 1948," Najd is said to be one of 418 ethnically cleansed villages. Not a trace of this peaceful farming community remains, but in the ashes of this village and the other 417 racially cleansed villages, there is a hint of the true reason behind the Israeli overkill, its frantic rage, and its racial violence against the Palestinian refugees. (4)
According to international laws regarding the Right of Return of refugees to their homes, the Palestinian refugees must be permitted to return to their own ancestral lands or be compensated justly for what was taken from them by Israel. The simple truth is that Israel, with its ever-mutating Swiss cheese borders, cannot remain in existence if this law is enforced. Israel cannot possibly give back all that it has taken from the Palestinian refugees, because every Israeli settlement that is dotting what was once the Holy Land, is built upon land stolen from the Palestinians. Incredibly, the only "Right of Return" law that Israel acknowledges, is the right of any Jewish person on earth to "return" to a land where neither they nor their ancestors have ever stepped foot, and call it home. (5) (6)
Therefore, one must ask a critical question. In order to protect the scattered-around "state" of Israel and all of its illegal settlements and rather than abiding by the international Right of Return laws, are the Israeli forces instead attempting to destroy as many Palestinian refugees as possible? One of the largest concentrations of Palestinian refugees is now being held captive, starved, deprived of water, bombarded daily, and slowly murdered through neglect and the withholding of basic needs inGaza.
Bush recently visited Israel, at which time he was "thanked" by Olmert for the $30 Billion package of US funds promised to Israel.
For those of us who are increasingly opposed to the activities of the state of Israel (as well as the activities of the US war machine abroad), this "gift package" is the equivalent of forcing all Americans into aiding and abetting what now appears to be a true terrorist state. Forcing Americans to support Zionist Israeli military and its host of illegal terrorist activities is an abomination. Americans should not have to helplessly watch as Zionist politicians in the US government hand US money over to the brutal, racist state favored by all Zionists. This is especially egregious because numerous US politicians have dual citizenships in both the US and Israel and enjoy frequent lavish trips and vacations to "Israel," the land forcefully taken away from the Palestinians. No one can support the state of Israel while also upholding his or her oath of office to support and uphold the US Constitution. (7)
This Christmas was bleak in Gaza. There were no winter clothes or toys to buy, and almost no money with which to buy goods. There were few sweet treats for the children. There was little food.
There was little medicine. There is no clean water. But, there was something else that remains in abundance, something that has never been taken away from the Palestinians. It is something that one can see well in the Palestinians if one takes a moment to look. It is something that continues to leave me in awe as well as with a profoundly growing respect.
The Palestinians have been patiently asking the world for help in ending the Israeli occupation of their homes and lands for 60 years now. Despite the fact that little help has been given to them and they remain refugees without human rights in their own land, there is something about them. Even after 60 years, they have not been broken in spirit. They have remained steadfast, patient, and still somehow in possession of a sense of humor that allows a ready smile, but they are also not ashamed of weeping when their hearts are broken. They have never given up, and they are determined to live in peace again on their ancestral lands - but there is something even more: They are filled with grace. Blocked from selling even their beautiful flowers abroad by the inhumane US and Israeli border closures, poverty stricken, jobless through no fault of their own and possessing almost nothing now, they gave each other those flowers for Christmas. (8)
Christmas in Gaza was also bleak for my friend, Mohammed al Zaanoun, although to date I have never heard him complain about his own situation even when I have asked him about it. With the typical grace shown by many Palestinians, he does not focus attention upon himself or his own suffering. With rare and brief exception, I have only heard him speak on behalf of others whose suffering he has witnessed and photographed. I, however, am aware of his personal suffering.
That was carnage the Israelis did not want the world seeing, and so they stopped the unarmed cameraman with typical Israeli force.

As Mohammed photographed and documented the July 2006 Israeli military attack on Gaza civilians as shown in the opening photos of this article, he was struck by Israeli fire first in the face and hand, but he continued photographing. He was then targeted and gunned down by an Israeli shell fired directly into his abdomen.
Upon impact, the shell fragmented into over 100 pieces inside him. Mohammed fell to the ground and as rescue workers ran to help him, he told them to save his camera.
"There are photos in the camera that bear witness to the truth," he said. "They will help awaken the world," Mohammed said.
They helped awaken me.
------------ ------
mary sparrowdancer is an independent journalist and author of a bestselling book about the return of the Messiah, "The Love Song." www.sparrowdancer. com Please feel free to copy this article about Gaza and send it to anyone in need of an awakening.
Mary is committed to helping Mohammed receive the reconstructive surgeries that he still desperately requires. If you would like to help, contributions for Mohammed can be sent via paypal to her email addresssparrowdance r1@earthlink. net - or her mailing address in care of Tenth Moon Press, 529 East Jennings Street, Tallahassee, FL 32301. Please earmark them "For Mohammed." Mary wishes to thank Congressional Candidate Mark Yannone, (AZ, Congressional District 3) for his input regarding oaths of office, and his brief, one-word comment suggesting that I include the photos in this article. He said, after looking at them, "Jesus."
------------ ---------
References:
1.Gaza map. (1/14/2008)
http://images. nationmaster. com/images/ motw/middle_ east_and_ asia/ natural_resources. jpg
2. 2007 Statistics. (1/14/2008)
http://www.btselem. org/english/ Press_Releases/ 20071231. asp
3. Yaakov Toran talks about qassams. (1/14/2008)
http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 3222783,00. html
4. Najd. (1/14/2008)
http://umkahlil. blogspot. com/2006/ 06/sderot- built-on- ashes-of- ethnically.html
5. UN Human Rights Resolution 194. (1/14/2008)
http://domino. un.org/unispal. nsf/361eea1cc083 01c485256cf60060 6959/ c758572b78d1cd00852 56bcf0077e51a! OpenDocument
6. International laws. (1/14/2008)
http://www.hrw. org/campaigns/ israel/return/ crsr-rtr. htm
7. Thanks for the $30 Billion (1/13/2008
http://www.lebanese -forces.org/ vbullet/showthre ad.php?t= 29111
8. Flowers for Christmas (1/13/2008)
http://bbsnews. net/article. php/200801071214 00252
9, Rense.com

2008-01-15T19:19:00.000-08:00

Demonstrations like this should take place everywhere

17 Palestinian killed and at least 30 wounded in Gaza in less than 4 Hours

2008-01-15T17:00:00.000-08:00

PCHRPalestinian Centre for Human Rights
Press Release

Ref: 3/2008
Date: 15 January 2008
Time: 12:30 GMT

IOF Escalate Attacks against the Gaza Strip:
17 Palestinians Killed and at Least 30 Others Wounded in Gaza City in Less Than 4 Hours

On Tuesday morning, 15 January 2008, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed 17 Palestinians, including 5 civilians, and wounded at least 30 others, 5 of whom are in a serious condition, during an incursion into the al-Shojaeya and al-Zaytoun neighborhoods of east Gaza City. The incursion continued until noon. Preliminary investigations conducted by PCHR indicate that most of the victims were killed by tank shells, and that IOF troops used excessive lethal force without regard for the lives of Palestinian civilian living in the affected areas.

PCHR strongly condemns these latest crimes, and continues to be gravely concerned about the escalation of attacks by IOF against the Gaza Strip. PCHR calls upon the international community to immediately intervene in order to stop these crimes, as well as repeated Israeli threats to invade the Gaza Strip en masse, which will undoubtedly cause even more destruction, including deaths and injuries, to the Palestinian civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

According to the preliminary investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 08:00 on Tuesday, 15 January 2008, IOF heavy military vehicles moved nearly 3,000 meters into Palestinian areas around Malaqa Square, which lies between al-Shojaeya and al-Zaytoun neighborhoods in the east of Gaza City. IOF then indiscriminately opened fire at anything that moved within the area. A number of militants from the Palestinian resistance clashed with IOF, and the IOF responded by firing tank shells. As a result, 5 Palestinian militants were killed:

1) Rami Talal Farahat, 30.
2) 'Aahed Sa'dallah 'Ashour, 27.
3) Mahmoud 'Ata Abu Laban, 21.
4) Hussam Mahmoud al-Zahhar, 22.
5) Saleem 'Abdul Haq al-Mdallal, 20.

IOF continued to indiscriminately shell Palestinian houses and agricultural areas. As a result, 3 Palestinian farmers were also killed:
1) As'ad 'Eissa Radwan Tafesh, 65;
2) Marwan Sameer 'Ouda, 22.
3) Sa'id Mustafa al-Sammouni, 50.

Another 2 civilians, including a student, were also killed during the incursion:
1) Ayman Fadel Malaka, 35, a car trader who was in the car market located neat the affected area.
2) 'Abdul Salam 'Atiya Abu Laban, 19, a student.

In addition, 30 Palestinians, including a woman, were wounded by the IOF gunfire. The conditions of five of those wounded during the incursion is described as "serious" by medical sources.

IOF withdrew from the area at approximately 12:30. Soon afterwards, Palestinian ambulances rushed to al-Shojaeya and al-Zaytoun. Medical personnel found the bodies of 7 militants from the Palestinian resistance who had been killed by IOF during the incursion.

The victims were identified as:
1) Mohammed Majdi Hejji, 20.
2) Sakher Saleem Zwayed, 27.
3) Mustafa Yahia Selmi, 20.
4) Mos'ab Saleem Selmi, 21.
5) 'Abdullah Taleb Salem, 23.
6) Mohammed Sabri Hana, 20.
7) Khamis Abu Sawawin, 25.

PCHR is gravely concerned about this continuing escalation in attacks by IOF, and therefore:

1) Condemns these crimes, which are part of a serious of continuous crimes committed by IOF in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) with total disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians, considering them a form of collective punishment against the Palestinian civilian population in violation of article 33 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.
2) Stresses that IOF do not pay attention to the principles of necessity and proportionality when using their full-fledged arsenal against members of the Palestinian resistance, who are sometimes present in densely populated areas.
3) Calls upon the international community to immediately intervene to stop such crimes, and calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention, Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, to fulfill their obligation under article 1 of the Convention to ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances, as well as their obligation under article 146 to search for and prosecute those who are responsible for perpetrating grave breaches of the Convention, as such breaches constitute war crimes according to article 147 of the Convention and the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I).

Public Document
**************************************
For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 - 2825893
PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org

Israeli forces kill 15 Palestinians, injure 45 in Gaza invasion;

2008-01-15T04:52:00.000-08:00

Gaza – Ma'an – Israeli artillery fire killed 15 Palestinians, including Husam Zahhar, the son of senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar, while shelling the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, witnesses and medics said.An estimated 45 other Palestinians have been injured.

Eyewitnesses said that at least numerous Palestinian activists have been injured by the shelling as Israeli tanks and armored vehicles slowly pushed towards the eastern Gaza City neighborhoods of Ash-Shuja'iyya and Zeitoun.

Palestinian medics at Ash-Shifa hospital identified some of the dead as Rami Farahat, Ahid Ashur, Muhamad Abu Laban Badwan Auda, Khalil Mudallal and Mustafa Salim .

The eyewitnesses said also that Israeli bulldozers destroyed farmers' groves in the area.Separately, witnesses said that Israeli military vehicles invaded the industrial zone near the Erez border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip.

Zahhar reactsMahmoud Zahhar is one of Hamas' founders and served as Palestinan foreign minister from 2006 to 2007. In September 2003, Zahhar's other son Khaled was killed in an Israeli airstrike that completely destroyed Zahhar's home in Zeitoun.

"This is one of the results of the Bush visit. He encouraged the Israelis to kill our people," Zahhar told reporters."What is going on in Gaza today is a shame for all of those who cooperated with [US President George W.] Bush, the criminal, and with the Zionists," Zahar said. "I am talking about all kings, presidents and ministers," he said, in an apparent criticism of Arab leaders who met with Bush. "We are telling them, today they are killing our sons, tomorrow they are going to kill yours."

2008-01-14T21:58:00.001-08:00

غزة - اطفال يدرسون على ضوء شمعة في منزل عائلتهم خلال انقطاع التيار الكهربائي ليلة امس بسبب تخفيض كميات الوقود التي تكد بها اسرائيل قطاع غزة

Witnessing the Siege

2008-01-14T17:07:00.000-08:00

By Safa Joudeh writing from occupied Gaza Strip, Palestine,
14 January 2008

It is supposed that one can build factual perception by reading the statistics and getting all the hard evidence, but I recently realized that a complete cognitive process relies first and foremost on visuals -- seeing the picture for oneself.I joined a camera crew and producer shooting footage for a first-person interview on the Israeli siege on Gaza .
The interviewee was Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj, head of the Palestinian International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza , a coalition of organizations and individuals set out to do just that. We met with Dr. Sarraj at his office and booked him for the day.
Based on his humanitarian activism with the campaign, Dr. Sarraj would determine which areas were most pressing in terms of the crisis in Gaza , and therefore deserved priority over other aspects during the short interview. Dr. Sarraj confirmed what the producer and the rest of the crew had already mentioned -- when it came to crisis in Gaza , the health sector and the economic sector were at the top of the list. It was decided we would visit a couple of hospitals and a factory to shoot the right footage.
This is where the cameraman started taping and didn't stop till the end of the day.I cringed as I walked into al-Shifa hospital for the first time. Gaza City 's largest hospital, al-Shifa provides treatment for critical cases from all over Gaza , in addition to being the primary hospital for non-critical cases. That day the hospital was overflowing with the ailing, the wounded and the dying. We were lead to just one of over 1,500 patients who were denied permission to leave Gaza despite suffering conditions that threatened to be terminal or at best, permanently debilitating. A doctor explained that a 19-year-old young man with a drawn face propped up on a pillow, was at risk of having both legs amputated unless he was able to have a complicated medical procedure performed within the next few days, a procedure that is not available in Gaza . Upon further inquiry, we were informed by the young man's mother that her son had been shot several times by Israeli soldiers.A short walk to the dialysis unit revealed ten machines gathering dust in the corridor. We were informed that the lack of spare parts, disposable items such as needles, and medicines for dialysis patients prevented them from being able to operate the life-saving machines. Furthermore, both hospitals and pharmacies in Gaza have run out of 92 out of about 400 types of essential medicines used to treat other illnesses.At the Children's Hospital in the Nasser area of Gaza City, the doctor lead us straight to the infant care unit where several incubators were occupied and others lay unused in a corner. We peered at the unnaturally small newborns struggling for each breath. The food crisis in Gaza has lead struggling undernourished mothers to give birth to unhealthy babies. It dawned on me that despite the gravity of the medical crisis, the inadequacy or shortage of medical equipment bore no comparison to the lack of the most important human need of all: food.The camera rolled on as Dr. Sarraj made his way back into the car clearly distraught and deeply upset about the seemingly predestined condemnation of life manifested in the frail little bodies laying in the incubators, helpless, flawless, yet already scarred for life. Dr. Sarraj cursed under his breath, scoffed a not-much-needed reminder of the hell we are all living in Gaza .We made our way to a tile and brick factory that had been shut down due to the lack of cement and machine parts essential for it to function.Entering the industrial zone en route to our third and final destination, I was struck by the brazen contrast between my distant recollection of the area -- a once noisy, hectic bustle of trucks and machinery is presently an abandoned padlocked stretch of warehouses.A guard ushered us through the gates and as soon as we drove in, it was obvious that when the factory owner had informed Dr. Sarraj that they had closed down over a month ago, and that he had come in that day only to talk to us and allow the crew to take pictures, he wasn't joking. Except for the security guard, the owner and his assistant there was not a soul or a working machine in sight on the entire premises. "It's not only that the 40 families of the factory workers that are out of a job no longer have any income" the owner told us, "we manufacture bricks, strong bricks used for sidewalks and streets. Because there is no cement, we are not able to make these bricks anymore." The streets of Gaza we drove through on our way to the factory looked more like excavation sites than streets. I thought of all the 67,000 other factory workers and their families, also out of income.
Then another shocking statistic that only then seemed to make sense -- the annual per capita income in Gaza is $600. Compare that to $21,000, the annual per capita in Israel , barely a few miles away from where we were standing.Dr. Sarraj had joked that the six or so hours of shooting would have to be condensed to three minutes. Three small minutes?! We had taken up his entire day and would take part of the next morning. He's a busy man who not only heads the campaign, but he is also president of the Gaza Mental Health Programme, and president of the board of the American School in Gaza .
Dr. Sarraj has an influential role as a Palestinian activist, political thinker and intellectual, with many things to say and many people to say them to. He was happy to give the producer and the cameraman his whole day, though.
Though Dr. Sarraj and these journalists are determined to get their story out there -- no matter how much air time they get -- it's up to the rest of the world to listen.

3شهداء من فصائل المقاومة في غارة إسرائيلية على سيارة قرب منزل هنية غرب مخيم الشاطيء

2008-01-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

غزة- معا- استشهد ثلاثة مقاومين في قصف جوي اسرائيلي استهدف سيارة قرب منزل اسماعيل هنية في مخيم الشاطي بمدينة غزة.وقالت المصادر الامنية في مشفى الشفاء لوكالة معا ان 3 شهداء سقطوا في الغارة على السيارة من نوع "ماغنونم" استهدفتها طائرة اسرائيلية في المربع الامني القريب من منزل رئيس الوزراء المقال اسماعيل هنية .

وطبقا لذات المصارد فان اصابة اثنين من الجرحى وصفت بالحرجة جراء اصابتهما بحروق بالغة في انحاء الجسم.
وقال الناطق باسم كتائب الاقصى ابو الوليد لوكالة معا ان الشهيد المستهدف هو نضال حسين

العامودي 35 عاما القيادي في الكتائب , فيما ينتمي الشهيد الثاني لجيش الاسلام ماهر المبحوح , بينما لم تعرف هوية الشهيد الثالث

2008-01-13T11:51:00.000-08:00

The health ministry in the PA caretaker government on Sunday accused the zionist occupation authority of carrying out "systematic execution" of Palestinian patients in the Gaza Strip in flagrant violation of international laws.

The ministry, in a press release, said that the death of three patients in Gaza on Saturday bringing the number of victims of the zOA siege to 68 in the past seven months reflected the zOA's insistence on going ahead with its plan.

It pointed out that the three suffered from cancer of the kidney, of the stomach and of the blood.
The ministry said that the death of three patients on a single day pointed to a "serious indicator" threatening the lives of hundreds of patients in Gaza.

It stressed that legal and human rights institutions should assume their roles in demanding an immediate end to the siege especially the ban on patients' travel and on entry of enough and needed medications.

Two Kiled and six injured and the silence is deafening

2008-01-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

zionist warplanes killed two Hamas fighters and wounded at least six other Palestinians during an air raid on a military installation belonging to Hamas' armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, near the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis on Saturday evening.

Witnesses said the zionist aircraft fired three missiles at the military site.

Mu'awiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the deaths of Mansour Albraim, and Ayed Abu Abed, both fighters with the Al-Qassam Brigades. They had been taken to Nasser hospital.

From Ma'an News

2008-01-13T11:17:00.000-08:00

رئيس "شاباك": "قتلنا ألف مخرب في غزة خلال عامين"

عــــرب48
تبجح يوفال ديسكين، رئيس الـ "شاباك" الإسرائيلي، في جلسة الحكومة الأسبوعية، صباح اليوم، بأن جيش "الدفاع "الإسرائيلي والـ "شاباك" قتلا في السنتين الأخيرتين نحو 1000 من المقاومين الفلسطينيين في قطاع غزة. جاءت اقوال ديسكين في معرض استعراضه الأمني الذي يقدمه "شاباك" أسبوعيا للطاقم الوزاري.وعقب آفي ديختر، وزير "الأمن" الداخلي بالقول "إن الأمر يعني أنه تم قتل خمس الناشطين "الإرهابيين" في قطاع غزة، حيث من المعروف أن في القطاع نحو عشرين ألفا من "ألمخربين"، حاثا السياسيين "أن يتعاملوا بشكل مختلف من أجل وضع حد لحرب الإستنزاف ضد سديروت والبلدات القريبة إلى غزة" أضاف ديختر، قائلا:" إنها حرب غير متكافئة حيث أن إسرائيل تضرب "المخربين" فيما "الإرهاب" الفلسطيني يصيب المواطنين" على حد زعمه، والدليل على ذلك هو رحيل ثلاثة آلاف مواطن من سديروت في الفترة الأخيرة..وفي سياق متصل، قال ديختر في جلسة وزراء حزبه "كاديما"، إن من الضروري إجراء بحث في مؤسسات الحزب قبل التوصل إلى اتفاقية إطار مع الفلسطينيين، حيث من غير المجدي أن نصل إلى اتفاق قبل تنفيذ المرحلة الأولى من خارطة الطريق التي نوليها الأولوية قبل أي شيء. يجب، أوّلا، الطلب إلى الفلسطينيين تنفيذ سلسلة من الأمور لفرض القانون.من جانبه، أكد إيهود أولمرت، في جلسة الحكومة الأسبوعية ذاتها، على أن الرئيس الأمريكي جورج بوش، قد وعد بأنه لن يتم تنفيذ أي اتفاق "بيننا وبين الفلسطينيين قبل تنفيذ خارطة الطريق بجميع بنودها، بما فيها الإلتزام بالمحافظة على أمن إسرائيل".

Gagged while Gaza is crushed

2008-01-13T08:56:00.000-08:00

12 January 2008

Stuart Littlewood calls on readers to request the Committee on Standards in Public Life to examine whether there is undue Israeli influence at the heart of the British government that is preventing it from taking a principled stand on Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights.

The British government has maintained a strict silence on the cruel blockade of Gaza and efforts by Israel and its Western allies to crush the civilian population and eliminate their democratic choice, Hamas.

Not a word of criticism has been heard from the great and the good about this wickedness.

In the meantime, some 20 surgeons, academics and others, with knowledge of Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, have written urging Britain’s corruption watchdog, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, to examine whether there is undue Israeli influence at the heart of the British government.

One of these, David Halpin of www.doveanddolphin.co.uk, is a trauma surgeon who has advised the Hamas government on how they should investigate the use of illegal weapons by Israel and last year led a team of seven UK doctors into Gaza. The Dove and Dolphin Medical Centre, named after David's charity, was opened then.

The Israel lobby's deep penetration of our political system, many feel, is preventing Britain from taking a principled stand on Middle East matters, including the long catalogue of violations of Palestinian human rights, the Gaza siege being a particularly nasty example.

Our minister with responsibility for Middle East affairs is a former chairman of Labour Friends of Israel. His shadow is a member of Conservative Friends of Israel. Indeed, a large majority of Conservative MPs and MEPs are Friends of Israel. The lobby also claims a considerable number of Labour MPs and ministers. The Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel website brazenly states that its first aim is to maximize support for the State of Israel within the party and Parliament.

All MPs (and many parliamentary candidates) are exposed to the lobby's influence and a large number apparently carry its message into their parliamentary work, causing damage to our democracy and harm to Britain's interests and reputation abroad.

The regime's tentacles reach into the Standards Committee itself, where the three political party appointees are top-ranking Friends of Israel or closely connected to Friends of Israel. The committee, as everyone knows, is there to uphold the famous Seven Principles of Public Life. The presence at the heart of government of people pledged to promote the interests of another country – and not declaring their dual allegiance – undermines at least five of these sacred principles.

What will the public, already sick of our politicians, make of this,bearing in mind that for 60 years Muslim and Christian Palestinians have been terrorized, murdered and dispossessed by a regime so warmly embraced in our name?

The secretary of the committee says that it is not the sort of issue that's likely to be pursued. Ducking and weaving already, then. However, the watchdog has a brand-new chairman, Sir Christopher Kelly, who took over just a few days ago. Will he be up for the challenge?

Meanwhile, the Israeli government, with Britain's connivance, continues to impose its vicious siege on innocent civilians – including the Christian community – apparently determined to turn Gaza into another Warsaw Ghetto. What a disgraceful way to start the New Year.

This morning [10 January] the following email arrived from a senior doctor in Gaza:

I am writing so fast as the charge of my battery will be lost while we live in the gloom with the seldomly available electricity. My children are studying on candles for their exams.

Today a friend of mine, he is the head of pharmacy in the Ministry of Health, asked for some life-saving medications for a cancer patient, the very limited resources that we have were not enough to meet his need. I could not sleep when I went home, thinking that additional victim will die because we do not have money to pay for his treatment. Two days ago the elevator had fallen at Al-Remal clinic, thank God there were no injuries... Our generators are surrendering, I lost one three days ago in Bayt Hanoun hospital and today I need another one for Al-Dora paediatric hospital. There are no vegetables for the hospitals because we can't cover the supplier's invoice.

The disaster is with those who have no bread in their homes, yes bread and I mean it, as I know one family like that in Gaza, the father is a cardiac patient, the family is nine members, two of them are disabled, and their elder son who is a university student found himself the bread winner of this family at once. I swear that they have nothing to eat unless somebody of the neighbours send them food.

Winter is not that cold in Gaza but it can still chill the bones of children in the primary school of my elder daughter, as the principal of this school sent me a letter saying that they need to fix the broken windows as the wind blows the classes and they have no financial resources. We will see how we can manage that, but this is not the only school.

The situation in the local market is just funny, the shelves are almost empty in many of the supermarkets of the poor Gaza ... the people call it here in Arabic Al-Hisar, which means the siege. This is what we have in Gaza for the new year of 2008.

Readers are invited to join in pressing the Standards Committee to uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life and banish from Parliament lobby groups acting on behalf of foreign powers. Please write to:

Mr Charles Ramsden
Secretary to the Committee
Committee on Standards in Public Life
35 Great Smith Street
London SW1P 3BQ
email: public@standards.x.gsi.gov.uk

Report of Popular Committee Against Siege in Palestine

2008-01-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

AUTHOR: POPULAR COMMITTEE AGAINST SIEGE (GAZA-PALESTINE)
Translated by Adib Kawar. Revised by Mary Rizzo.

Food Products

Since the start of its siege on the Gaza Strip, Israel has permitted the passing of food products on an intermittent basis, but upon considering the Strip an enemy region, the Occupiers limited the number of basic food products. They are allowed to be up to and not exceeding 11 items, certain food products that turned out to be in great shortage, and there is complete absence of a great number of others, thus resulting in an acute rise in prices in addition to other factors, that affected the every aspect of the lives of Gazans. As per the report of the central bureau of statistics, the increase in prices reached 5.79% in August, 3.15% in September, 1.03% October and 1.13% in November; meaning an increase since the beginning of the siege of 8%, compared to an increase in the West Bank of 0.10%.

Estimates for daily consumption of the following food products in the Gaza Strip are: 867 tons of flour, 153 tons of sugar, 110 tons of rice, 75 tons of different kinds of oil and 49 tons herbs and vegetables.

As of 12/6/2007, the strangling siege over the Strip reached its seventh month and the siege's drastic results on all economic sectors of life in the Gaza Strip make it a catastrophic zone of the first degree, as 1.5 million citizens are living under the effect of the siege. The movement of people and goods from and to the strip is paralyzed, and all commercial transactions have been stopped in a manner that contradicts all agreements, intents, commitments and accords the occupation took upon itself with international organizations to facilitate the movement of goods and people within and outside Palestinian territories. They made three agreements on the matter, the last of which was reached in November 2005, relative to movement and transit. Yet, the occupation proceeded with its antagonistic and criminal policy that resulted in shredding the lives of Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and the Strip. The Strip occupation acts have strangled whatever was left of its originally fragile economy resulting from the effects of Zionist occupation. The Strip, which depends entirely on its imports from and through Israel has been greatly affected. Since it started its siege, Occupation forces didn't allow any raw materials to be brought into the Gaza Strip, as well as forbidding Gaza from exporting its products, the outcome of which is an increase in the percentage of its inhabitants living under the poverty line to 85% as per some estimates, while according to the International Bank, estimates increased from 35% by the end of 2006 to 67% by the end of October 2007. The percentage of unemployment reached 65%, therefore, further decreasing the purchasing power to meet basic human needs, not taking into account the sharp decrease of income down to US$ 650 per annum.

Direct monthly losses as a result of the siege are estimated at 45 million US$, which are spread as follows: The industrial sector 15 million US$ namely, 33% of the total, agriculture 10 million US$, 22% of the total, trade, services and fishing 20 million US$, 45% of the total.

Private Sector

Private sector productivity in the Palestinian territories in general and the Gaza Strip in particular had a sharp 76% decline from what it was at before the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Down to 31.1 during the first quarter of 2001, although it recovered some of its vitality to reach an average of 46% during the period extending between January 2006 and July 2006. But upon imposing the full siege on the Strip on mid July 2007, productivity decreased directly to 11%. The cause is due to Occupation authorities having stopped the application of the Customs Code for the Strip, which resulted in banning the importation of all raw materials especially. Since local raw material in all of Gaza’s industrial facilities does not exceed 10%, noting that even this percentage is obtained with great difficulty, thus costs have increased more than the total cost of production. In addition to the difficulty in marketing locally produced products because of the siege, the ban on exportation has dealt a fatal blow to this sector of the economy.

Studies show that more than 65% of the private sector establishments had to decrease their commercial activities to a level exceeding 75%, while noting that 30% of these establishments had to shut down their operations.

The Industrial Sector

The industrial sector depends completely on imported raw materials. It depends up to 80% on imported machines and spare parts, and during the peak season of production (May – June) it is possible to export 748 truckloads of industrial products per month (including furniture, food products, clothing and agricultural products).

Since the beginning of the siege, the Occupation cancelled the application of its Customs Code for the Strip, resulting in the stopping of all industrial activities, which depends up to 85% on imported raw materials that are imported from Israel or in transit through it, and statistics indicate that more than 96% of industrial establishments, a total of 3,900, were shut down, stopping the export of their product; as a consequence 33,000 out of 35,000 employees and workers in this sector joined the ranks of the unemployed up to the date of the imposition of the siege in mid June 2007, and after the siege the number of employed industrial workers does not exceed 2,000.

Estimates issued by the Union of Palestinian Industries said that direct monthly losses since the beginning of the siege on the Strip is 15,000,000 US$, as the net daily income of the industrial sector in Gaza last year was 500,000 US$, which means that a total 97.5 of furniture workshops closed their doors up till the end of 2007, while statements issued by economic sectors shows a total loss of 120,000,000 US$. The affected sectors' statements indicate that no furniture exports, such as 95% of the wood industries, stopped production. Only 30 out of the 600 establishments in this sector are still working, a net loss of 55,000,000 US$ (8 million in July, 10 in August, 12 in October, 13 in November, and 12 in December) in addition to 6,500 workers who lost their jobs, 245 monthly truck loads of exports were stopped.

The Agricultural Sector

The Gaza Strip has 70,000 donums (9364 Hectares) of agricultural land, with a production capacity between 280,000 to 300,000 tons of agricultural products per annum, one third of which is usually exported. The agricultural sector counts 40,000 permanent jobs for citizens in Gaza (namely 12.75% of the working force), it is also the source for food and life for one quarter of the population in the Gaza Strip. Since the beginning of the total siege, the Occupation banned the exports of its products including agricultural products out of the Strip, and furthermore, it prohibited the import of seeds and seedlings, fertilizers and other agricultural requirements, which caused big losses exceeding the original estimates since mid July up to end of 2007. These losses amounted to 65 million US$, and according to the Ministry of Agriculture statements, the average daily losses due the ban of agricultural products is 150,000 US$. Thus, a total loss during the last six months that amounts to 28,000,000 US$. About 25,000 tons of potatoes were destroyed and more than 10,000 tons of other products were destroyed or sold locally at much lower prices then those of export prices (local prices were 10 to 15% of the export prices). While other farmers suffered direct losses as a result of produce being sold locally compared to export prices, as a result of dumping the products produced for export purposes in the local market, it is expected that the total produce in the last season shall drop by 20 to 30% less than in the previous season. Thus, losses are estimated at 10 million US$ monthly.

It is important to mention that the siege destroyed agricultural products for the period between 15 November 2007 and May 2008.

The number of workers in this season is 7,500 farmers, whose estimated production is 14 million US$ which was supposed to be produced fully for export, as an area of 3130 donums (418 Hectares) is planted with strawberries, tomatoes and carnations.

On the other hand, and as a result of the difficulties in the fishing industry, estimates are that 3,000 fishermen are expected to lose their jobs with an estimated monthly loss of 3,000,000 US$.

Health Sector

The health sector has been exposed since Zionist Occupation imposed its siege on the Gaza Slip to a major blow, which affected its ability to provide the basic required health services to its citizens. During the most recent period, a great shortage of a large number of basic pharmaceutical needs, that is 92 types of medicines until the date of the preparation of this report, and another 84 kinds are expected to go out of stock within the upcoming days. This is in addition to the disability of 134 medical instruments to perform because of the lack of spare parts needed for their maintenance, among these machines are 31 kidney dialysis machines. Summed to all of this is the inability of citizens to travel abroad for medical treatment. Statements issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that hundreds of patients with acute medical illnesses, and those which require highly specialized surgeries especially in the brain, nerves and bones, as well as the treatment requirements for cancer patients, and those with kidney and heart diseases, could not travel abroad for treatment. The Occupation refused to allow 720 patients to leave the Strip for treatment since the beginning of the siege, out of which there were 270 serious cases. The Ministry of Health recorded dozens of deaths (more than 70 deaths) of patients that needed treatment outside the Strip, and since the Popular Committee Against the Siege started its activities towards the end of October, it has registered 50 cases of deaths due to the siege itself. The Red Cross has issued reports that document the arrangements they make for the travel of acute cases from Gaza to Israel or though it for medical reasons. Before the siege, there was an average of 300 to 400 cases monthly, but since the siege the number has greatly decreased to an average of 100 cases per month.

Construction and Infrastructure Sector

Since Israel's announcement of the stoppage of the application of its Customs Code for the Gaza Strip, and banning the import of raw materials including iron and cement, the sector has suffered almost complete paralysis, (the stopping of 13 tile factories, 30 cement factories, 145 marble factories and 250 brick factories), thus 3,500 people lost their jobs.

Besides this, all development projects have been stopped, the value of which is estimated at 350 million US$, as the United Nations development stopped all its construction contracts for the infrastructure in the Strip, such as rehabilitation of street, water and sewage facilities, with an estimated cost of 60 million US$, and the UNRWA stopped its program for creating job opportunities at an estimated cost of 93 million US$ from which more than 16,000 people were supposed to benefit.

Freedom of Movement and Crossings

The Gaza Strip is connected with the outside world through six entry points, five of which are connected with the Occupation. They are: Karm Abu Salem, Sowfa, Al-Mintar and Beit Hanoun (Eretz) crossings. As for the Rafah crossing, it is connected with The Arab Republic of Egypt. Israel controls its side of the five crossings, in which complete paralysis is practiced. Israel doesn't permit the transport of people from and toward the Strip except for extremely rare cases. It is allowed only through the Eretz crossing and only for employees of foreign establishments as well as in some acute health cases. Yet, most of these cases’ applications for crossing are refused.

As for people's food product requirements and other supplies, estimates point out that the Strip requires imports from the outside world and from the West Bank. About 300 truckloads per day of raw material and other goods comprise the daily requirements.

Israel doesn't allow the transit except for basic human needs and basic food products. This has resulted in the lack of any stockpile of basic products, in addition to the absence of a large number of basic food products in the Palestinian market. Only 1,806 truckloads were permitted in October and 1812 in November, that is, an average of 60 per day, far below the basic survival requirements.

Rafah Crossing

The Rafah crossing lies in the south of the Strip, and connects it with The Arab Republic of Egypt. It is the only crossing specialized for people from outside the Strip, and it was supposed to be prepared for goods, but that has not been completed yet. The crossing saw several repeated closures during the past two years that lasted for months at a time, and since 15th June, the crossing is completely closed. The result of this is a crowd of 6,000 citizens stranded on the Egyptian side of the border; so they cannot perform their work, continue their studies or even live an ordinary life.

Al-Mintar Crossing (Carni)

Al-Mintar crossing falls to the east of Gaza City, which is considered to be the commercial crossing. It is connected with the West Bank and Israel and the rest of the world, and it is considered to be a vital artery for the life of the Strip's citizens. It is designed to accommodate forty truckloads per day, but after the incidents that took place in the Strip on 14/6/2007, it has been totally closed for exports, but regarding imports it is utilized in a limited manner, and only for importing flour and animal feed.

As an example, only 348 truckloads were allowed to pass in August it was used for four day for 18 hours per day. Thus only 269 trucks were allowed to pass during the entire month. In September it was opened for 7 days only, for a total of 54 hours during which 480 truckloads were permitted to pass. In October there were only 738 truckloads during 13 total days, 71,5 hours of work. In November 631 truckloads passed. This is compared to 8,639 truckloads in May 2007 and 11,329 in April of the same year, noting that agreement with Occupation authorities allowed total monthly work hours of 2300 hours.

Sowfa crossing

The Sofa crossing lies in the south of the Strip (to the east of Rafah, which is specialized for imports of construction material, but after stiffening the siege, the two crossings of Karm Abu Salem and Sowfa started to be used as secondary replacement crossings to Al-Mintar crossing for importing humanitarian needs, even though the crossing was partially and irregularly utilized. Only 2,551 truckloads were permitted to cross in July, and in August it operated for 21 days. In September it opened for 12 days with a total number of 1,792 and 646 truck loads respectively. In October only 500 truckloads passed during 13 days and 71.5 working hours, while in November 182 truckloads were allowed to pass, that is, a reduction of 92% in the number of trucks between July and November. The goods that are permitted to pass are basic goods, vegetables, frozen goods and dairy products.

Karm Abu Salem crossing

Karm Abu Salem crossing is in the southeast of the Strip and is used for importing goods from The Arab Republic of Egypt through Israel. The Occupation used this crossing for limited quantities of goods of human character, and since the beginning of its use Israel interfered to limit the daily number of trucks to 17 daily. It operated in August for 18 days with a total number of 408 truckloads. In September the crossing operated for only 11 days with a total number of 356 trucks. In October 568 trucks were permitted to cross, an average of 15 per day, and a total number of 90 working hours, and in November 1,000 trucks were permitted to cross it.

Beit Hanoun (Eretz) crossing

This crossing is supposed to be used by people crossing towards the West Bank and Israel, and it is considered as fully closed since the start of the crisis. It is used only for employees of foreign establishments and for a limited number of Palestinian Arabs with critical health conditions after coordination with the Israeli liaison office for obtaining permits that are granted only with great difficulty. Not all cases who apply for entry are given permits, and as per the statements issued by the Ministry of Health, the number of rejected applications was 900 patients by the end of November, while reports issued by legal centers indicate that those people who are granted entry permission are subjected to extortion and bargaining by Israeli intelligence agents. (Pressure is put on the patients to force them to collaborate with Israeli Occupation, Translator’s note.)

The Nahal Uze crossing:

This crossing lies at the east of Gaza City and it is used for fuel and gas transportation, with fuel and gas storage tanks connected directly with Israel by pipes.

The Gaza Strip requirements, under normal conditions, is 350,000 liters of petrol, 120,000 liters of benzene, 350 tons of gas, and 350,000 liters of petrol for industrial use in generating electricity. It is important to mention that the Israeli Occupation cabinet decided on 25 October to reduce fuel supplies to the Strip which was immediately put into effect. Estimates show that the reduction of fuel supplies dropped to between 15 -35% of the minimum requirements, which left great negative effects on vital and important sectors of daily life of Palestinians in the Strip. The month of November experienced the stoppage of pumping of a number of water wells that depend completely on fuel to operate, and public sewage treatment stations has also stopped, which certainly exposes the Strip's population to an environmental disaster, in addition to threatening the lives of patients in hospitals especially since a number of hospitals depend on fuel to run their units.

Source in Arabic: http://www.freegaza.ps/

Original article published on 30 December, 2007

About the author

Adib Kawar and Mary Rizzo are members of Tlaxcala, the network of translators for linguistic diversity. This translation may be reprinted as long as the content remains unaltered, and the source, author, translator and reviser are cited.

Israel's use of Cluster Munitions in Lebanon

2006-11-26T10:13:00.000-08:00

During the summer attack on Lebanon, Israel used cluster bombs but continued to deny it or at best indicated that they used it in accordance with international treaties, only in areas not populated by people. Several investigative articles were written about the topic.

Most recently, the Cluster Munitions Coalition came out with a report on the use of cluster munitions in Lebanon that challenges Israel’s claims. The report can be downloaded in full at: http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/files/Foreseeable%20harm.pdf.

The report clearly indicates that Israel’s cluster munitions strikes were conducted over towns and villages. UNIFL’s report indicate that 90% of these munitions were fired in the last 72 hours of the attack, which indicates a clear attempt to exert long term terrifying damage on the civilian population of South Lebanon. Additionally, the report implicates the United States as it consciously and knowing sold cluster munitions weapons to Israel.
The report’s key findings indicate that:

Patterns of use
• Israel used cluster munitions extensively in south Lebanon during July and August 2006 with particularly heavy use in the 72 hours prior to the ceasefire.
• Israel employed surface-delivered cluster munitions, including 1,800 U.S.-supplied cluster rockets and an unknown number of U.S. and Israeli-manufactured 155mm artillery projectiles. U.S.-supplied Vietnam-era air-dropped cluster bombs were also used.
• Approximately 60% of Israeli cluster strikes hit built up areas. As of 5 September 2006, cluster munitions strike sites were recorded in 90 towns and villages.
• Although warnings were delivered, significant numbers of people including the elderly and infirm remained behind and some were killed and injured.
• Cluster munitions do not appear to have had any significant impact toward the military aims stated by Israel during the war. The massive and widespread use of cluster munitions across south Lebanon does not seem to accord with any recognizable legitimate military strategy.

Impact
• During the conflict cluster munitions caused deaths and injuries amongst civilians who were unable or unwilling to evacuate their homes.
• Very large quantities of unexploded sub-munitions contamination have been created, including contamination from those sub-munitions fitted with self-destruct mechanisms.
• Significant numbers of civilians have been killed and injured by unexploded sub-munitions at an average of 3–4 casualties per day during the first month since the ceasefire. Approximately 35% of the casualties from unexploded sub-munitions have been children.
• 97 percent of all casualties from unexploded ordnance and mines since the ceasefire have been caused by cluster munitions.
• One month after the ceasefire, unexploded cluster munitions were identified as one of the most significant threats to civilian life in southern Lebanon.
• Residential areas across south Lebanon have been densely contaminated with large numbers of unexploded sub-munitions.
• Sub-munitions duds have endangered returning populations and prevented some Lebanese people from returning home. Cluster munitions have hindered relief efforts and will impede work to rehabilitate communities.
• Unexploded cluster munitions are affecting the areas of south Lebanon that are already subject to the highest levels of poverty.
• Cluster munitions have seriously affected livelihoods by blocking water supplies, disrupting work to restore power lines and preventing excavation of rubble and reconstruction efforts.
• Unexploded cluster munitions have prevented or endangered the harvest of remaining tobacco, olive, wheat and fruit crops and will prevent or endanger the replanting of winter grain and vegetable crops.

According to Cluster Munitions Coalition (www.stopclustermunitions.org), cluster munitions are weapons that include cargo containers and sub-munitions. The cargo containers are fired, launched or dropped by aircraft or land-based artillery. The containers open over a target area and disperse large numbers of the sub-munitions that are designed to explode when they hit the target. Most of these sub-munitions are fragmentation weapons that include a shaped charge so that they are effective against soldiers as well as armored vehicles. The vast majority of cluster munitions contain hundreds of sub-munitions that are unguided and that cover one square kilometer with explosions and shrapnel. Cluster munitions are also called cluster bombs or cluster weapons. Sub-munitions are sometimes called bomblets.

The following countries have used cluster munitions: Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Israel, Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Sudan, United Kingdom, United States.

Israel's Calls Are Clear If You Listen

2006-08-16T14:33:00.000-07:00

If it were not clear enough that UNSC Resolution 1701 is meant as an enforcement mechanism for Resolution 1559, the comments below should make it clear. One can expect sustained pressure on Lebanon and Hizballah regarding disarmament.

Of course, disarmament will not happen. Thus, the lack of disarmament of Hizballah will likely be used a pretext for pressure, and eventually attacks, on Iran and Syria. The Bush and Olmert administrations have been very vocal about these two countries and their being the "root cause" of violence in the region.

From the Jerusalem Post:

"'The resolution is clear that Hizbullah needs to be removed from the border area, embargoed and dismantled," the official said. "If the resolution is not implemented, we will have to take action to prevent the rearming of Hizbullah. I don't think backtracking will serve any useful purpose. There has to be pressure on Hizbullah to disarm or there will have to be another round.'

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is expected to raise the issue when she meets in New York on Wednesday with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Annan angered Israeli officials when he told Channel 2 on Tuesday that 'dismantling Hizbullah is not the direct mandate of the UN,' which could only help Lebanon disarm the organization. Annan upset officials further when he said that deploying international forces in Lebanon would take 'weeks or months,' and not days as expected.

Israeli officials said the IDF would not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon until the international force was deployed - even if it took months - to prevent a vacuum in Lebanon that could endanger Israeli civilians. An official in the Prime Minister's Office accused Annan of having an anti-Israel agenda."

Click here for the link.

UNIFIL Chief Wants to Use "Strong Measures" in Lebanon

2006-08-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

An article in Haaretz today makes evident the intentions of the US and its allies in crafting UNSC Resolution 1701. Especially the language referring to threats "to internatoinal peace and security," lifted from Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, will be used to justify further action against Hizballah and possibly Lebanon at large. As perceptive observers note, 1701 is an attempt to enforce Resolution 1559.

Click here for the link.

Mr. Bush: Israel was defeated

2006-08-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

Shortly after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon began, it became increasingly clear that the goals of that new Zionist war were not about to be accomplished. Many of us predicted at that time that Israeli defeat was forthcoming. Indeed it was. Today, it is a reality. In that context, one can't but be amazed at those trying to spin the situation into an Israeli victory - including the incredibly stupid members of the Bush administration.

Just in case he missed the news reports: Mr. Bush, none of the stated Israeli goals were accomplished - not one! I hate to tell you this, but the resistance is intact, the Israeli soldiers remain captured, the Israelis will withdraw, there will be no "safety zone", Lebanon did not break apart, Hizbullah is that much more popular, the wrath of the Arabs is that much more widespread, even Arab regimes had to side with the resistance, and Israel suffered massive losses at the hands of a small group of fighters (not a fully armed state). Politically, that New Middle East you and Condi have been talking about does not seem to be within reach - sorry!

In other words, the resistance, without planes or tanks, defeated the might of the Israeli army. Thus, I would have to say, Mr. Bush, that your investments in Israeli military hardware is a flop! The best the Zionist army was able to do is to pick on helpless children and destroy homes - how gallant and brave!

Perhaps you have hired the same advisors that told you that the "mission was accomplished" in Iraq. Oops!

Karim Makdisi on 1701

2006-08-14T19:12:00.000-07:00

Karim Makdisi has written a good disection of UNSC Resolution 1701 on Counter Punch, showing its shortcomings and the way in which it leaves the door open for future attacks on Lebanon.

http://www.counterpunch.org/makdisi08142006.html

Jonathan Cook in Counterpunch

2006-08-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Cook has been doing a pretty good job at poking holes in the media representation of Hizballah's missile strikes against Israel. As in previous articles, he points out that it is impossible to say that they are deliberately targetting civilians (and indeed they can't). There is some evidence, however, that they appear to be trying (within the limited means available to them) to hit, by and large, military targets, including munitions factories (such as the one near Nazareth). Whatever its faults, of the two parties, Hizballah has been doing a far better job avoiding civilian casualties.

How “Indiscriminate” is Hezbollah’s Shelling?

Hypocrisy and the Clamor Against Hizbullah

By JONATHAN COOK

Nazareth.

A reader recently emailed to ask if anyone else was suggesting, as I have done, that Hizbullah’s rocket fire may not be quite as indiscriminate or maliciously targeted at Israeli civilians as is commonly assumed. I had to admit that I have been ploughing a lonely furrow on this one. Still, that is no reason in itself to join everyone else, even if the consensus includes every mainstream commentator as well as groups such as Human Rights Watch.

First, let us get my argument straight. I have not claimed that Hizbullah targets only military sites or that it never aims at civilians. According to the Israeli army, more than 3,300 rockets have hit Israel over the past four weeks. How can I know, or even claim to know, where all those rockets have landed, or know what the Hizbullah operatives who fired each rocket intended to hit? I have never made such claims.

What I have argued instead is twofold. First, we cannot easily know what Hizbullah is trying to hit because Israel has located most of its army camps, weapons factories and military installations near or inside civilian communities. If a Hizbullah rocket slams into an Israeli town with a weapons factory, should we count that as an attack on civilians or on a military site?

The claim being made against Hizbullah in Lebanon -- that it is “cowardly blending” with civilians, according to the UN’s Jan Egeland -- can, in truth, be made far more convincingly of the Israeli army. While there has been little convincing evidence that Hizbullah is firing its rocket from towns and villages in south Lebanon, or that its fighters are hiding there among civilians, it can be known beyond a shadow of a doubt that Israeli army camps and military installations are based in northern Israeli communities.

An obvious point that no one seems to be making -- and given a news blackout that lasted several hours, Israel clearly hoped no one would make -- is that the 12 soldiers who were killed on Sunday in Kfar Giladi by a Hizbullah rocket were, under Egeland’s definition, “cowardly blending” with the civilian population of that community. We know there are still civilians in Giladi because their response to the rocket barrage was quoted in the Israeli media.

My second claim was that Israel’s military censor is preventing foreign journalists based in Israel, myself included, from discussing where Hizbullah rockets are landing, and what they may be aimed at. Under the censorship rules, It is impossible to mention any issue that touches on Israeli security or defense matters: the location of military installations, for example, cannot be divulged. It is arguable whether it would actually be possible to report a Hizbullah strike that hit a military site inside Israel.

I therefore have to tread carefully in what I say next, relying on information that is already publicly available, but which at least challenges the simplistic view that Hizbullah is firing rockets either indiscriminately or willfully to kill civilians. I draw on two pieces of coverage provided by BBC World.

On Tuesday, the BBC’s Katya Adler reported from the northern community of Kiryat Shmona, which has taken the heaviest pounding from Hizbullah rockets and from which many of the local residents have fled over the past month. As she stood on a central street describing the difficult conditions under which the remaining families were living, she had to shout over the rythmic bark of what sounded like an Israeli tank close by firing into Lebanon. She made no mention of what was doing the firing -- and given the censorship laws, my assumption is she cannot. But it does raise the question of how much of a civilian target Kiryat Shmona really is.

Consider also this. Throughout the four weeks of fighting, the BBC have had a presenter and film crew at the top of an area of Haifa known as the Panorama, above the beautiful Bahia Gardens. As the name suggests, from there the film crew have had an unrestricted view of the port and docks below and the wide arc of heavily developed shoreline that stretches up to Acre.

The spot where the BBC presenters have been standing, telling us regularly that they can hear the wail of sirens warning Haifa’s residents to head for the shelters, is in the centre of this sprawling ridge-top city, in one of the most heavily built up and inhabited areas of Haifa. So why have the BBC’s presenters been standing there calmly every day for weeks under the barrage of rockets?

Because all the evidence suggests that Hizbullah has not been trying to hit the centre of Haifa, where it would be certain of inflicting high casualties, whether its rockets were on target or slightly adrift. Instead, as BBC presenters have repeatedly shown us, the overwhelming majority of rockets land either in the mostly-abandoned port area or fall short into the bay -- and on the odd occasion travel a little too far, as one did on Sunday landing on an Arab neighbourhood near the port and killing two inhabitants.

If Hizbullah’s primary goal is to kill as many civilians as possible in Haifa, it seems to be going about it in a very strange manner indeed -- unless we are to believe that none of its rockets could be fired the extra 1km needed to hit central Haifa. Instead, as is clear from the view shown by BBC cameras, the port includes many sites far more “strategic” than the roads, bridges, milk factories and power stations Israel is destroying in Lebanon: it has the oil refinery, the naval docks and other installations that, yes, I cannot mention because of the censorship laws.

At the very least, we should concede to Hizbullah that it is not always targeting civilians, and very possibly is not mainly targeting civilians, which might in part explain the comparatively low Israeli civilian casualty figures.

That said, there are two valid criticisms, both made by Human Rights Watch, of Hizbullah’s rocket fire -- though exactly the same or worse criticisms can be made of the Israeli army. Those, unlike HRW, who single out Hizbullah are being either disingenuous or hypocritical. One is that Hizbullah has filled many of its rockets with ballbearings. Most critics of Hizbullah take this as conclusive proof that the group’s only intent is to kill and injure civilians. Anyone who has seen the damage done by a katyusha rocket will realise that it is not a very powerful weapon: it essentially punches a hole in whatever it hits. The biggest danger is from the shrapnel and from anything added -- like ballbearings -- that spray out on impact. The shrapnel can kill civilians nearby, of course, but it can also kill soldiers -- as we saw at Kfar Giladi -- and can puncture tanks containing flammable liquids like petrol, causing explosions.

The damage inflicted by the ballbearings is not in itself proof that Hizbullah is trying to kill Israeli civilians, any more than Israel’s use of far more lethal cluster bombs is proof that it wants to kill Lebanese civilians. Both are acting according to the gruesome realities of war: they want to inflict as much damage as possible with each rocket strike. That is deplorable, but so is war.

The second criticism made by HRW is that because Hizbullah’s rockets are rudimentary and lack sophisticated guidance systems they are as good as indiscriminate. That conclusion is wrong both logically and semantically. As I have tried to show, the rockets are mostly not indiscriminate (though presumably some misfire, as do Israeli missiles); rather, they are not precise.

This, according to Human Rights Watch, still makes Hizbullah’s rocket attacks war cimes. That may be true, but it of course also means Israel’s missile strikes and bombardment of Lebanon are war crimes on the same or a greater scale. Hizbullah’s strikes against civilians may be intentional or they may be the result of inaccurate guidance systems trying to hit military targets. Israel’s strikes against civilians are either intentional or the result of accurate guidance systems and very faulty, to the point of reckless, military intelligence.

Finally, what about the defense offered by Israel’s supporters that its air force tries to avoid harming Lebanese civilians by leafletting them before an attack to warn them that they must leave? The argument’s thrust is that only those who belong to Hizbullah or give it succor remain behind in south Lebanon and they are therefore legitimate targets. (It ignores, of course, hundreds of civilians killed in areas that have not been leafletted or who were trying to flee, as ordered, when hit by an Israeli missile. )

Hizbullah, of course, has done precisely the same. In speeches, its leader Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly warned Israeli residents of areas like Haifa, Afula, Hadera and Tel Aviv that Hizbullah will hit these cities with rockets days before it has actually done so. Hizbullah can claim just as fairly that it has given Israelis fair warning of its attacks on civilian communities, and that any who remain have only themselves to blame.

This debate is important because it will determine in the coming months and years who will be blamed by the international community -- and future historians -- for committing war crimes. Hizbullah deserves as fair a hearing as Israel, though at the moment it most certainly is not getting it.

Like every army in a war, Hizbullah may not acting in a humane manner. But it is demonstrably acting according to the same standards as the Israeli army -- and possibly, given Israel’s siting of military targets in civilian areas, higher ones. The fact that the contrary view is almost universally held betrays our prejudices rather than anything about Hizbullah’s acts.

Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His book, Blood and Religion: the Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State, is published by Pluto Press. His website is www.jkcook.net

The Israelis are talking about defeat

2006-08-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

This was in today's Haaretz - note the language of Israeli defeat. The many responses to this piece indicated the same type of demoralized and defeated Israelis. Take a look:

"Ehud Olmert may decide to accept the French proposal for a cease-fire and unconditional surrender to Hezbollah. That is his privilege. Olmert is a prime minister whom journalists invented, journalists protected, and whose rule journalists preserved. Now the journalists are saying run away. That's legitimate. Unwise, but legitimate. However, one thing should be clear: If Olmert runs away now from the war he initiated, he will not be able to remain prime minister for even one more day. Chutzpah has its limits. You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say - oops, I made a mistake. That was not the intention. Pass me a cigar, please. There is no mistake Ehud Olmert did not make this past month. He went to war hastily, without properly gauging the outcome. He blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions. He mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed to implement the army's original plan, much more daring and sophisticated than that which was implemented. And after arrogantly and hastily bursting into war, Olmert managed it hesitantly, unfocused and limp. He neglected the home front and abandoned the residents of the north. He also failed shamefully on the diplomatic front. "

Chavez: Taking a Moral Stand

2006-08-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

Few days ago, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had just ordered the withdrawal of Venezuela's ambassador in Israel. Today, he is talking about cutting all diplomatic relations with the Zionist state. Such is a position deserving our utmost respect.

Curiously enough, not one Arab state has come close to anything like this, let alone carrying out boycotts. Imagine, for instance, the impact of oil and navigation through the Suez Canal, only - let alone all the other geostrategic assets the Arabs have. Yet not one word from any of the regimes, none.

Thank you President Chavez for doing what is right and what is moral. Perhaps the many spineless cowards heading the Arab regimes could begin to evaluate their shameless position. May the Arab-Venezuelan solidarity shine unto others.

Press Release-Lebanon: An Open Country for Civil Resistance

2006-08-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

Press Release-Lebanon: An Open Country for Civil Resistance
Beirut August 7, 2006

Press Contacts:
Rasha Salti, +961 3 970855
Huwaida Arraf, +961 70 974452
Samah Idriss, +961 3 381349
Wadih Al Asmar, +961 70 950780

On August 12, at 7 am, Lebanese from throughout the country and
international supporters who have come to Lebanon to express
solidarity will gather in Martyr's Square in Beirut to form a civilian
convoy to the south of Lebanon. Hundreds of Lebanese and
international civilians will express their solidarity with the
inhabitants of the heavily destroyed south who have been bravely
withstanding the assault of the Israeli military. This campaign is
endorsed by more than 200 Lebanese and international organizations.
This growing coalition of national and international non-governmental
organizations hereby launches a campaign of civil resistance for the
purpose of challenging the cruel and ruthless use of massive military
force by Israel, the regional superpower, upon the people of Lebanon.

August 12 marks the start of this Campaign of Resistance, declaring
Lebanon an Open Country for Civil Resistance. August 12 also marks
both the international day of protest against the Israeli aggression.

"In the face of Israel's systematic killing of our people, the
indiscriminate bombing of our towns, the scorching of our villages,
and the attempted destruction of our civil infrastructure, we say No!
In the face of the forced expulsion of a quarter of our population
from their homes throughout Lebanon, and the complicity of governments
and international bodies, we re-affirm the acts of civil resistance
that began from the first day of the Israeli assault, and we stress
and add the urgent need to act!," said Rasha Salti, one of the
organizers of this national event.

After August 12, the campaign will continue with a series of civil
actions, leading to an August 19 civilian march to reclaim the South.
"Working together, in solidarity, we will overcome the complacency,
inaction, and complicity of the international community and we will
deny Israel its goal of removing Lebanese from their land and
destroying the fabric of our country," explained Samah Idriss, writer
and co-organizer of this campaign.

"An international civilian presence in Lebanon is not only an act of
solidarity with the Lebanese people in the face of unparalleled
Israeli aggression, it is an act of moral courage to defy the will of
those who would seek to alienate the West from the rest and create a
new Middle East out of the rubble and blood of the region," said
Huwaida Arraf, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement and
campaign co-organizer. "After having witnessed the wholesale
destruction of villages by Israel's air force and navy and having
visited the victims (so-called displaced) of Israel's policy of
cleansing Lebanese civilians from their homes," continued Arraf, "it
is imperative to go south and reach those who have stayed behind to
resist by steadfastly remaining on their land."

If you are in Lebanon and want to sign up and join the convoy, contact either:
Rasha Salti. Email: convois.citoyens.sud.liban@gmail.com . Tel: +961 3 970 855
Rania Masri. Email: rania.masri@balamand.edu.lb. Tel: +961 3 135 279
or +961 6 930 250 xt. 5683 or xt. 3933
If you are outside Lebanon and want to sign up and join the convoy,
you should know:
1) You need to obtain a visa for Lebanon and for Syria if your plan is
to enter Lebanon from Syria.
2) We don't have the funds to cover for the cost of your travel,
however we can help with finding accomodations.
For questions and help for all internationals please contact Adam
Shapiro at: adamsop@hotmail.com

You can also sign up on our website: www.lebanonsolidarity.org

This campaign is thus far endorsed by more than 200 organizations,
including: The Arab NGOs Network for Development (ANND), International
Solidarity Movement (ISM), Cultural Center for Southern Lebanon,
Norwegian People's Aid, Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, Lebanese
Association for Democratic Elections, Frontiers, Kafa, Nahwa
al-Muwatiniya, Spring Hints, Hayya Bina, Lebanese Transparency
Association, Amam05, Lebanese Center for Civic Education, Let's Build
Trust, CRTD-A, Solida, National Association for Vocational Training
and Social Services, Lebanese Development Pioneers, Nadi Li Koul
Alnas, and Lecorvaw.

No words

2006-08-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

George Galloway Rips Apart Israel and Western Media Complicity in its Crimes

2006-08-07T06:01:00.000-07:00

Don't miss it:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,31200-galloway_060806,00.html

Hizbullah's attacks stem from Israeli incursions into Lebanon

2006-08-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hizbullah's attacks stem from Israeli incursions into Lebanon
By Anders Strindberg

01/08/06 Christian Science Monitor

NEW YORK - As pundits and policymakers scramble to explain events in Lebanon, their conclusions are virtually unanimous: Hizbullah created this crisis. Israel is defending itself. The underlying problem is Arab extremism.
Sadly, this is pure analytical nonsense. Hizbullah's capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12 was a direct result of Israel's silent but unrelenting aggression against Lebanon, which in turn is part of a six-decades long Arab-Israeli conflict.

Since its withdrawal of occupation forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000, Israel has violated the United Nations-monitored "blue line" on an almost daily basis, according to UN reports. Hizbullah's military doctrine, articulated in the early 1990s, states that it will fire Katyusha rockets into Israel only in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians or Hizbullah's leadership; this indeed has been the pattern.

In the process of its violations, Israel has terrorized the general population, destroyed private property, and killed numerous civilians. This past February, for instance, 15-year-old shepherd Yusuf Rahil was killed by unprovoked Israeli cross-border fire as he tended his flock in southern Lebanon. Israel has assassinated its enemies in the streets of Lebanese cities and continues to occupy Lebanon's Shebaa Farms area, while refusing to hand over the maps of mine fields that continue to kill and cripple civilians in southern Lebanon more than six years after the war supposedly ended. What peace did Hizbullah shatter?

Hizbullah's capture of the soldiers took place in the context of this ongoing conflict, which in turn is fundamentally shaped by realities in the Palestinian territories. To the vexation of Israel and its allies, Hizbullah - easily the most popular political movement in the Middle East - unflinchingly stands with the Palestinians.

Since June 25, when Palestinian fighters captured one Israeli soldier and demanded a prisoner exchange, Israel has killed more than 140 Palestinians. Like the Lebanese situation, that flare-up was detached from its wider context and was said to be "manufactured" by the enemies of Israel; more nonsense proffered in order to distract from the apparently unthinkable reality that it is the manner in which Israel was created, and the ideological premises that have sustained it for almost 60 years, that are the core of the entire Arab-Israeli conflict.

Once the Arabs had rejected the UN's right to give away their land and to force them to pay the price for European pogroms and the Holocaust, the creation of Israel in 1948 was made possible only by ethnic cleansing and annexation. This is historical fact and has been documented by Israeli historians, such as Benny Morris. Yet Israel continues to contend that it had nothing to do with the Palestinian exodus, and consequently has no moral duty to offer redress.

For six decades the Palestinian refugees have been refused their right to return home because they are of the wrong race. "Israel must remain a Jewish state," is an almost sacral mantra across the Western political spectrum. It means, in practice, that Israel is accorded the right to be an ethnocracy at the expense of the refugees and their descendants, now close to 5 million.

Is it not understandable that Israel's ethnic preoccupation profoundly offends not only Palestinians, but many of their Arab brethren? Yet rather than demanding that Israel acknowledge its foundational wrongs as a first step toward equality and coexistence, the Western world blithely insists that each and all must recognize Israel's right to exist at the Palestinians' expense.

Western discourse seems unable to accommodate a serious, as opposed to cosmetic concern for Palestinians' rights and liberties: The Palestinians are the Indians who refuse to live on the reservation; the Negroes who refuse to sit in the back of the bus.

By what moral right does anyone tell them to be realistic and get over themselves? That it is too much of a hassle to right the wrongs committed against them? That the front of the bus must remain ethnically pure? When they refuse to recognize their occupier and embrace their racial inferiority, when desperation and frustration causes them to turn to violence, and when neighbors and allies come to their aid - some for reasons of power politics, others out of idealism - we are astonished that they are all such fanatics and extremists.

The fundamental obstacle to understanding the Arab-Israeli conflict is that we have given up on asking what is right and wrong, instead asking what is "practical" and "realistic." Yet reality is that Israel is a profoundly racist state, the existence of which is buttressed by a seemingly endless succession of punitive measures, assassinations, and wars against its victims and their allies.

A realistic understanding of the conflict, therefore, is one that recognizes that the crux is not in this or that incident or policy, but in Israel's foundational and per- sistent refusal to recognize the humanity of its Palestinian victims. Neither Hizbullah nor Hamas are driven by a desire to "wipe out Jews," as is so often claimed, but by a fundamental sense of injustice that they will not allow to be forgotten.

These groups will continue to enjoy popular legitimacy because they fulfill the need for someone - anyone - to stand up for Arab rights. Israel cannot destroy this need by bombing power grids or rocket ramps. If Israel, like its former political ally South Africa, has the capacity to come to terms with principles of democracy and human rights and accept egalitarian multiracial coexistence within a single state for Jews and Arabs, then the foundation for resentment and resistance will have been removed. If Israel cannot bring itself to do so, then it will continue to be the vortex of regional violence.

__________________________________________________________

Anders Strindberg, formerly a visiting professor at Damascus University, Syria, is a consultant on Middle East politics working with European government and law-enforcement agencies. He has also covered Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories as a journalist since the late 1990s, primarily for European publications.

Copyright © 2006 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.

Click here to go to the CSM.

Updated Images of the International Protests Against US-Sanctioned Israeli Barbarity

2006-08-04T16:16:00.000-07:00

Valetta, Malta

Al Tireh, 1948 Palestine

Tanzania

Tanzania

Damascus, Syria

Tehran

Sadr City, Baghdad

Sofia, Bulgaria

South Africa

Sadr City, Baghdad

Saudi Arabia

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Panama City, Panama

Panama city, Panama

Peshawar, Pakistan

New Delhi, India

Najaf, Iraq

Moscow, Russia

Los Angeles

Kuala Lumpour, Malaysia

Managua, Nicaragua

Makati city, Philipines

Lahore, Pakistan

Kuala Lumpour, Malaysia

Kuwait

Karachi, Pakistan

'
Lahore, Pakistan

Moscow, Russia

Jalazone Refugee Camp, Israeli Occupied West Bank

Jakarta, Indonesia

Islamabad, Pakistan

Istamboul, Turkey

Jenin, Occupied West Bank

Athens

Hiroshima, Japan

Hyderabad, India

Jakarta, Indonesia

Gaza City, Gaza Strip

Cairo, Egypt

Cairo, Egypt

Damascus, Syria

Gaza City, Gaza Strip

Fuheis Amman

Manama, Bahrain

Bogota, Columbia

Baghdad

Bangalore

Athens

Montreal Canada

Paris

Brussels

Beirut

Helsinki, Finland

Beirut

Cyprus

Helsinki, Finland

Geneva

Edinburough, Scotland

Geneva

London

Stockholm

Paris

London

Chicago

Basra

Sydney

Sana' Yemen

Tulkarem, Occupied West Bank

Spain

Barcelona Spain

Prague

Holland

Prague

Holland

Boston

Boston

Calcutta

Dhaka Bangaladesh

Cairo, Egypt

Jakarta Indonesia

Nablus, Occupied West Bank

Nablus, Occupied West Bank

Bern Switzerland

Dhaka, Bangaladesh

Shrinigar, Kashmir

Sri Lanka

Manilla, Philipinies

Seoul, Korea

Seoul, Korea

Berlin, Germany

Berlin

Berlin

Copenhagen, Denmark

Santiago, Chile

Dearborn, Michigan

Houston, Texas

Hyderabad, India

Lucknow, India

Lahore, Pakistan

Karachi, Pakistan

Khartoum, Sudan

Rome Italy

Ramallah, Occupied West Bank

New York City

Sao Paolo, Brazil

New York

Civil Disobediance by progressive Jews in San Francisco

Sao Paulo, Brazil

San Francisco

Tehran, Iran

Chicago

Stockholm, Sweden, blocking the Foreign Ministry

Baghdad

Beit Lahiya, Gaza

Berlin, Germany

Amman, Jordan

Athens, Greece

Al Areesh, Egypt

Hassan Nasrallah's Speech

2006-08-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

Hassan Nassrullah's Speech Highlights:
If Israelis Attack Beirut, Hizbullah Will Attack Tel Aviv
Aljazeerah.info

Al-Jazeerah, August 3, 2006
By Al-Jazeerah Editor, Hassan El-Najjar

The following is a summary of the main points of a speech made by the Hizbullah leader, Shaikh Hasssan Nassrullah, which was aired by Al-Manar TV and several TV stations around the world today, Augsust 3, 2006.

I. Battlefield:

1. Hizbullah resistance fighters are still fighting the Israeli invading forces all over south Lebanon after 23 days of hostilities. This has been the real surprise for the Israeli leaders who expected to occupy south Lebanon and destroy Hizbullah in few days.

2. Hizbullah destroyed two Israeli naval warships, one off Beirut coast, the other off Saida coast. On both cases, Israelis denied the Hizbullah story. The first one was later confirmed. The Israelis are still in denial to hide the facts from their people about the second.

3. Hizbullah fighters follow a guerilla warfare. They do not keep geographical territory. Their goal is attacking the enemy quickly, then disappearing quickly, so the war can last forever or until the enemy leave south Lebanon.

4. Hizbullah's arsenal of rockets and missiles is intact as it was demonstrated yesterday (over 300 rockets and missiles on northern and central occupied Palestine) and also today.

5. Hizbullah's command and control over fighters and rocket launching units is intact, as evidenced in the two-day halt then the resumption starting from yesterday.

II. Threat to Target Tel Aviv with Long-Range Missiles

In reaction to today's Israeli threat to bomb Beirut, Nassrullah announced a counter-threat that Hizbullah will attack Tel Aviv with long-range Khaiber missiles if Beirut is attacked by Israeli warplanes. So far, Israelis left north Israel and took shelter in Tel Aviv. Now, Israelis have to leave Tel Aviv, if their leadership decides to escalate its aggression to include Beirut.

III. Two Israeli Great Achievements

In a sarcastic style, Shaikh Hassan Nassrullah said that he had to admit two Israeli great achievements.

First, they were capable to kill scores of civilians in Qana, most of them were women and children. He said that the Israelis said it was a mistake in information. He questioned that explanation saying what about the hundreds of civilians killed everywhere in Lebanon? He gave his explanation saying that this has been a deliberate Israel tactic to influence the morale of the Hizbullah resistance fighters as they see their families being massacred. What the Israelis don't know is that their war crimes against civilians increase the determination of the resistance fighters to defeat them.

The second disgraceful achievement of the Israelis was their air raid on Ba'albeck, in which they attacked the Dar El-Hikmah Hospital, following another wrong intelligence information that it was used as a Hizbullah command and control center. They were wrong and stupid. The hospital was empty because Hizbullah expected such an attack or an air raid on all Hizbullah facilities.

To maximize their stupidity, Nassrullah added, the Israeli acted on another wrong intelligence information. They attacked a house in Ba'albek owned by an elderly man called Hassan Nassrullah. They took him and other relatives as hostages with them. The Israeli raid was a perfect example about how much ignorant Israelis are to the extent of kidnapping a man and several members of his family just because of a name similarity with the Hizbullah leader, Hassan Nassrullah.

IV. Why did Olmert Start the War, Instead of Negotiating a Prisoner Swap?

Nassrullah said that the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, suffers from an inferiority complex because he is not a military general, like his mentor Sharon. He wanted to prove that he has the same credentials of killing Arabs and destroying their cities like Sharon, instead of just negotiating a swap of war prisoners, like Sharon also did.

Nassrullah added that Olmert, Peres, and General Halutz lied to the Israeli people and are still lying to them. After 23 days of war on Lebanon, they haven't been able to free the two captured soldiers and they haven't been able to stop the Hizbullah rocket and missile attacks despite all their mighty military machine. He vowed that no return of the soldiers or halt in rocket and missile attacks without mutual ceasefire and negotiations.

V. A Word for the Israeli People

For the Israeli people, Nassrullah said that their leaders are lying to them. The war was unwarranted. They could have negotiated the release of the two soldiers, like they did before but they were encouraged to start the war by the Bush administration, which has its own agenda.

He promised the Israelis that if their leaders stop air raids on Lebanon, Hizbullah will stop its rocket and missile attacks on Israel, limiting the fighting to the south Lebanon region between Israeli ground troops and Hizbullah resistance fighters. But if their leaders continue their criminal air strikes on Lebanon, the Hizbullah missile attacks will continue and increase to include Tel Aviv from now on.

VI. Role of the Bush Administration (Bush, Rice, Chenney, Rumsfeld)

Nassrullah said that the Bush administration allowed the Israeli leaders to continue their air raids on the Lebanese for the last week, after they blocked international efforts to stop the war in the Rome and UN meetings.

As a result, the Bush administration (Bush, Rice, Chenney, and Rumsfeld) are responsible for the blood of the Lebanese children and women, which was shed in Qana and all over Lebanon ever since. They are as guilty as Olmert, Peres, and Halutz for the massacres of the Lebanese civilians.

Then, addressing the Israelis, he said that the Bush administration will not provide you with the help you wish for simply because it cannot help itself, as it is bogged in its endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

VII. A Word for Arab Rulers

Nassrullah also addressed the Arab rulers, particularly those who criticized the Hizbullah military operation, which resulted in the capture of the Israeli soldiers to swap them with the Lebanese prisoners in Israeli prisons.

He said that they need to help Lebanon and stand by Hizbullah, not for Hizbullah's sake but for the sake of what's remaining of their humanity. He added that they need to do it for the sake of their chairs and thrones because the Bush-Olmert New Middle East will destroy their countries and partition them on ethnic and sectarian lines, like what they are doing in Iraq.

VIII. A Word for Friends of Lebanon

Nassrullah thanked friends of Lebanon who are trying to provide humanitarian assistance and trying to make a ceasefire. He told them that the Lebanese people who died were not killed in a natural disaster, rather in an Israeli aggression. The Lebanese infrastructure was destroyed by the Israeli war machine, alluding to the fact that the aggressors have to pay for their crimes.

IX. A Word for the Lebanese People and the Ummah (Arabs and Muslims Worldwide)

Nassrullah asked the Lebanese, Arabs, and Muslims for their spiritual and material support and promised them of nothing short of victory.

J. Post Cover-Up for Qana War Crime

2006-08-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

The ham-handedness of this attempt to paint a sympathetic image of the massacre in Qana would be comical if it were not so terribly tragic. In times of war especially, "independent media" can usually be counted upon to present a picture of reality that is largely favorable to the government. The manipulations of fact here, however, are astounding.

The suggestion, for example, that Hizballah, whatever its faults, would stage a massacre, complete with disabled children as sacrificial lambs, defies logic.

And though they point out that rockets had been fired from "adjacent areas," (which could mean just about anything coming from the Israeli military) they do not note that no rockets were fired from the area around the shelter.

Furthermore, whatever their faults, it is known that Hizballah does not use human shields. They are a popular resistance organization and would very quickly lose their credibility if they were to do so. I assume Israel, like the United States military, considers it a use of human shields for Hizballah fighters to live at home and spend time with their families.

And the fact that buildings have been hit without human casualties is totally irrelevant and misleading. Many other buildings have been hit with casualties. And the fact that some people are able to escape in time to avoid death or injury is certainly not due to Israel.

Where are the alternative sources? Why is the Israeli military the last word on everything?

Not that one should expect much from the Jerusalem Post, but I wonder how they sleep at night knowing they are covering up for war crimes.

IDF: Intel. failure caused Kana deaths

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 3, 2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The IDF inquiry into the Kana incident in which civilians were killed as a building collapsed released its final conclusions Thursday morning.

Two missiles, the only one of which exploded, hit the building on July 30. The army said that they had operated according to information that "the building was not inhabited by civilians and was being used as a hiding place for terrorists." Had they known that civilians were in the building, the attack would not have been carried out.

The IDF spokesperson noted that the building had been targeted only after residents had been warned to evacuate through various media, and that the building was adjacent to areas from which rockets had been launched towards Israel. Other buildings in the area had been targeted with no civilian casualties.

On Wednesday, both the Lebanese Health Ministry and the Human Rights Watch said that they could confirm only 28 of the originally reported 57 civilians who died in the building. Of the 28 that they confirmed, 16 were children.

There have been claims on an anti-Syrian Lebanese Web site and various weblogs that Hizbullah "staged" the tragedy, bringing in dead bodies or live disabled children who would be killed in an Israeli bombing after seeing the rocket launchers.

Paul Conneally, the Irish national who is deputy head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Israel and the Palestinian Authority and is the person assigned to deal with Lebanese matters, said he could not say exactly how many bodies were taken out and how many died there. He had no information about whether anyone had autopsied the bodies to determine the causes of death.

In the IDF's report, Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said that while the IDF places itself as a shield between Hizbullah and Israeli citizens, Hizbullah places Lebanese civilians as a shield between itself and the IDF.

He also ordered that guidelines for opening fire against suspicious targets be evaluated and updated immediately.

Since the beginning of the conflict, over 150 rockets have been launched from within the village of Kana itself and areas adjacent to it.

Click here to go to the Jerusalem Post.

The ground invasion is expanding dramatically

2006-08-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

Israel ready for massive invasion

· Special forces target Hizbullah official as troops plan push in south
· Deadlock at UN and EU

Rory McCarthy in Metula, Ewen MacAskill and Clancy Chassay in Beirut
Wednesday August 2, 2006

Guardian

Israeli special forces were last night engaged deep within Lebanon as the army geared up for an expected major ground invasion. Troops were involved in fierce clashes and artillery pounded targets across southern Lebanon. The military also called in air strikes despite a previous commitment to a "partial" halt in air bombardments.
Israeli commanders said that six brigades - several thousand soldiers - were now deployed inside Lebanon. At least 15,000 reserve troops, called up late last week, would be ready for combat from today, army sources said.

Last night Israeli commandos were reported to be in action against Hizbullah fighters 40 miles across the Lebanese border in the Beka'a valley, after landing by helicopter. Witnesses reported gunfire around a hospital to the west of the town of Baalbek, a Hizbullah stronghold.

According to the Lebanese army, the target of the raid was Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek, a member of the Hizbullah High Council, and representative in Lebanon of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was reported to have been at the hospital earlier in the day.

The operation began with at least five rapid air strikes three hours before the end of Israel's self-imposed two-day pause in air attacks.

Witnesses in Baalbek reported seeing dozens of Israeli helicopters hovering over the town and said the hospital was bombed. Hizbullah's chief spokesman, Hussein Rahal, later said some Israeli commandos had become trapped in the hospital and that fighting - which had already lasted four hours - was continuing. Some of the soldiers injured in the raid were flown back to Haifa last night.

Mr Rahal dismissed as untrue reports that commandos had snatched patients from the hospital and flown them out of the town, but the operation is reminiscent of Israel's 1994 raid on Lebanon to kidnap a guerrilla leader, Mustafa Dirani.

The military escalation came as diplomats in Brussels and at the UN security council again failed to make progress. EU ministers became bogged down in arguments over the meaning of "ceasefire" and settled for a watered-down compromise calling for a cessation of hostilities. Germany and four other countries joined Britain in opposing tougher language urged by France, calling for an immediate ceasefire and condemning Israel's bombardment as "a severe breach of international humanitarian law".

In a speech in Los Angeles, Tony Blair called for a fundamental reappraisal of British and US foreign policy, admitting excessive emphasis on military power and a failure to address the Palestinian issue had left the west losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Middle East.

The prime minister also sent a warning to Syria and Iran: "We need to make clear to Syria and Iran that there is a choice: come into the international community and play by the same rules as the rest of us; or be confronted."

The Syrian government told its armed forces to raise their state of readiness, after Israel said it would target all vehicles believed to be carrying weapons from Syria to Lebanon.

There was intense fighting yesterday in the Lebanese village of Aitar al-Shaab, where Israeli paratroopers have been for two days; Hizbullah claimed it had killed or injured more than 30 Israeli soldiers there. Israel said three soldiers had been killed after Hizbullah fighters opened fire with anti-tank weapons on houses they were searching.

Yesterday afternoon, a few miles to the east, artillery rounds were seen fired into the village of Taibe, on the saddle of a hill range near where the strategic Litani river runs closest to the Israeli border. Thick brown smoke hung low over the village as buildings were pounded.

Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, under pressure to come out of the conflict with a convincing victory, claimed his troops were winning. He added that a process towards a ceasefire was under way, but an immediate cessation was not in Israel's interests. "We are at the beginning of a political process that, in the end, will bring a ceasefire under entirely different conditions than before," he said. But there would be no end until "we know for certain that conditions in the field have changed from those that would cause a war to break out". Haim Ramon, the Israeli justice minister, said Hizbullah was at "breaking point".

Military officials said the objective was to clear a strip of all Hizbullah positions up to 7km (4 miles) deep inside Lebanon. Military analysts said the army was likely to push further to the Litani itself, which at times runs as far as 20 or 30km inside Lebanon. Several Israeli ministers said there was up to 14 days of fighting to come.

Late last night at one position, 30 or 40 infantry gathered before heading north to fight. In full camouflage, faces painted green and black, and with night-vision goggles, their commander briefed them. "Keep your eyes open. Keep concentrating. Watch out for friendly fire. If you get into trouble, we have a medic in the unit." They said a brief prayer, boarded coaches with loud music playing, and headed out.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

Click here to go to the Guardian.

US Giving Aid - And Bombs

2006-08-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.atimes.com

US giving aid - and bombs
By Thalif Deen

NEW YORK - As Israel's bombing of Lebanon continues unabated into its fourth consecutive week, the United States says it stands ready to provide food, medicine and humanitarian assistance to the thousands of internally displaced Lebanese caught in the crossfire.

But Washington has also decided to accelerate the supply of lethal weapons to Israel - "perhaps intended to kill the very Lebanese the United States is planning to feed and shelter", said one Arab diplomat at the United Nations.

"It is US hypocrisy at its worst," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because his country receives millions of dollars in US economic aid. "The right hand obviously does not know what its left hand is up to. Or does it?"

Irene Khan, secretary general of London-based Amnesty International, was equally harsh in her reaction. "It is ridiculous to talk about providing humanitarian aid on the one hand and to provide arms on the other. It is imperative that all governments stop the supply of arms and weapons to both sides immediately."

Asked whether there is a contradiction between the two, US President George W Bush told reporters last week: "No. I don't see a contradiction in us honoring commitments made prior to Hezbollah attacks into Israeli territory."

Bush also made an obvious slip when he said, "I am concerned about loss of innocent life, and we will do everything we can to help move equipment ... I mean, food and medicines, to help the people who have been displaced and the people who suffer."

Amnesty quoted British media reports relating to two chartered Airbus A310 cargo planes landing at Glasgow's Prestwick airport; they were filled with GBU-28 laser-guided bombs (bunker busters) containing depleted-uranium warheads and destined for the Israeli Air Force. The planes landed for refueling and crew rest after flying from the United States.

"Other reports claimed that the USA has requested that two more planes be permitted to land in the UK en route to Israel in the next two weeks," Amnesty said. "The reports said the aircraft will be carrying other weapons, including bombs and missiles."

Khan said, "The UK government should refuse permission for its sea- and airports to be used by planes or ships carrying arms and military equipment destined for Israel or Hezbollah."

Amnesty International has also written to British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett urging the government to suspend any sale or transfer of arms and military equipment to Israel. "We have already let the United States know that this is an issue that appears to be seriously at fault, and we will be making a formal protest if it appears that that is what has happened," Khan said.

Meanwhile, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Israelis of using artillery-fired cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon.

"Cluster munitions are unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians," HRW executive director Kenneth Roth said. "They should never be used in populated areas."

Armed mostly with state-of-the-art US-supplied fighter planes and combat helicopters, the Israeli military is capable of matching a combination of all or most of the armies in Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The annual survey of US arms sales conducted by the Congressional Research Service shows a total of US$8.4 billion in arms deliveries to Israel between 1997 and 2004, with fully $7.1 billion or 84.5% coming from a single source: the United States.

A major factor in this trend was the rise in US foreign military financing - outright grants to Israel - which now totals about $2.3 billion a year paid for by US taxpayers.

Meanwhile, the pattern of attacks and the extent of civilian casualties show a blatant disregard of international humanitarian law by Israel and Hezbollah, Khan said. "Direct targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure and launching indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks amount to war crimes."

Francis A Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, said the 192-member United Nations General Assembly must immediately establish an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel (ICTI) as a "subsidiary organ" under UN Charter Article 22.

The ICTI would be organized along the lines of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was established by the UN Security Council in 1993.

"The purpose of the ICTI would be to investigate and prosecute Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the peoples of Lebanon and Palestine - just as the ICTY did for the victims of international crimes committed by Serbia and the Slobodan Milosevic regime throughout the Balkans," Boyle said.

Furthermore, establishment of an ICTI by the General Assembly would serve as a deterrent on Israeli leaders, including the prime minister, defense minister, the chief of staff and Israel's other top generals in case they will be prosecuted for their further infliction of international crimes upon the Lebanese and the Palestinians, said Boyle, author of Biowarfare and Terrorism (Clarity Press: 2005) and Destroying World Order (Clarity Press: 2004).

Without such a deterrent, he said, Israel might be emboldened to attack Syria with the full support of the US right-wing neo-conservatives, who have always viewed Syria as "low-hanging fruit", ready to be taken out by their joint aggression.

Israeli media have reported that the Bush administration is encouraging Israel to attack Syria. If Israel attacks Syria as it did when it invaded Lebanon in 1982, Iran has vowed to come to Syria's defense.

"This scenario could readily degenerate into World War III," Boyle warned. ''For the UN General Assembly to establish ICTI could stop the further development of this momentum towards a regional if not global catastrophe."

(Inter Press Service)

Click here to go to the article on the Asia Times site.

Greece Pulls Out of Israeli Film Festival

2006-08-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

The AFP just reported that Greece has pulled out of an Israeli film festival. It cites indignation in Greece over the bombing of Lebanon. However, it is unclear from the article whether the government of Greece intends its action to be in protest of the violence generally, or of Israel specifically. If the latter is true, it can be seen as a positive development in the international movement to isolate and pressure Israel.

More and more people, organizations, and governments must come to see boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) as a legitimate and necessary political tool to pressure the Israeli government.

Click here for the story.

مجزرة قانا الثانية : استشهاد 55 لبنانيًا بينهم 27 طفلاً في مجزرة جديدة في قانا

2006-07-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

مجزرة قانا الثانية : استشهاد 55 لبنانيًا بينهم 27 طفلاً في مجزرة جديدة في قانا.
30/07/2006 09:53
قالت مصادر امنية لبنانية إن 55 ضحية بينهم 27 طفلا قتلوا اليوم الاحد في قصف اسرائيلي على منزل في بلدة قانا في جنوب لبنان.وذكرت المصادر الامنية ان البناية مكونة من ثلاثة طوابق وان نحو 100 مدني كانوا يحتمون بها وانها دمرت جزئيا. ولم تتوفر على الفور تفاصيل أخرى عن حجم الخسائر البشرية.وقالت المصادر إن القنابل سقطت على مبنى في القرية، مما أدى لمحاصرة من كانوا داخله. وقالت مصادر ان أغلب القتلى من الأطفال والنساء وكبار السن الذين تجمعوا في عدد من المنازل لتجنب القصف الإسرائيلي.وقال أحد الناجين إن عدد الأطفال في المبنى كان نحو 36. وقد شهد اليوم الـ18 من العدوان مقتل 15 مدنيا لبنانيا معظمهم من النساء والأطفال بغارات شنتها إسرائيل بالجنوب والبقاع شرقا. وقالت مصادر اسرائيلية إنها "قصفت أهدافًا لحزب الله وأنها دعت المواطنين لمغادرة منازلهم منذ أيام إلا أنَّ السكان لم يفعلوا". هذا وتجدّدت العمليات العسكرية البرية للجيش الاسرائيلي في الجنوب اللبناني بعد "هدوء" ما في نهاية الاسبوع. وقد قالت مصادر من الجيش الاسرائيلي أن عددًا من وحدات الجيش الاسرائيلي بدأت بالتحرك نحو قرى ومدن الجنوب اللبناني. وذكرت مصادر اسرائيلية ان اشتباكات وقعت بالامس بين الجيش الاسرائيلي . وزعم الاسرائيليون أن عددًا من مقاتلي حزب الله قد اصيبوا.
مظاهرات غاضبة اجتاحت بيروت بعد انتشار خبر المجزرة
فور سماع خبر المجزرة في قانا خرج سكان بيروت إلى الشوارع وككرة الثلج تجمع الآلاف وبدأت مظاهرة غاضبة في ساحة الأسكوان في بيروت.وقد عبرت الجماهير الغاضبة عن الوحدة الوطنية ووحدة مصيرها وشكلت أكبر تجمع وطني وحدوي منذ التحرير عام 2000. ورفع المتظاهرون شعارات ضد العدوان الإسرائيلي وشعارات تدعم المقاومة كما ورفعوا أعلام حزب الله وأعلام لبنان.وقد عبر متحدثون في المظاهرة عن دعمهم للمقاومة والتزامهم بالوحدة الوطنية.وقد قام متظاهرون غاضبون بمهاجمة مبنى الأمم المتحدة وأحدثوا فيه أضرارا. إلى جانب ذلك انطلقت مظاهرات في أوروربا والعالم العربي للتعبير عن الرفض والتنديد بالمجزرة.في جلسة طارئة للحكومة خرج المجتمعون بقرارات موحدة حول ضرورة وقف إطلاق النار قبل التفاوض، وطلبوا من وزيرة الخارجية الأمريكية عدم القدوم إلى بيروت.رئيس المجلس النيابي نبيه بري ورئيس الدولة لحود عبرا عن غضبهما على المجزرة وطالبوا بوقف إطلاق النار. نبيه بري تراجع عن أقواله حول تبادل الأسرى وقال هناك وضع جديد.وقد أعلنت مصادر طبية لبنانية عن سقوط 5 شهداء جدد بعد مجزرة قانا في بلدة. وقال وزير الصحة اللبناني أن عدد الشهداء حتى هذا اليوم وصل إلى 750 لبنانيا.

NYT: Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah

2006-07-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

July 28, 2006
Changing Reaction
Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

DAMASCUS, Syria, July 27 — At the onset of the Lebanese crisis, Arab governments, starting with Saudi Arabia, slammed Hezbollah for recklessly provoking a war, providing what the United States and Israel took as a wink and a nod to continue the fight.

Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah holding out against the vaunted Israeli military for more than two weeks, the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming the Shiite group’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, into a folk hero and forcing a change in official statements.

The Saudi royal family and King Abdullah II of Jordan, who were initially more worried about the rising power of Shiite Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington.
An outpouring of newspaper columns, cartoons, blogs and public poetry readings have showered praise on Hezbollah while attacking the United States and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for trumpeting American plans for a “new Middle East” that they say has led only to violence and repression.

Even Al Qaeda, run by violent Sunni Muslim extremists normally hostile to all Shiites, has gotten into the act, with its deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, releasing a taped message saying that through its fighting in Iraq, his organization was also trying to liberate Palestine.

Mouin Rabbani, a senior Middle East analyst in Amman, Jordan, with the International Crisis Group, said, “The Arab-Israeli conflict remains the most potent issue in this part of the world.”

Distinctive changes in tone are audible throughout the Sunni world. This week, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt emphasized his attempts to arrange a cease-fire to protect all sects in Lebanon, while the Jordanian king announced that his country was dispatching medical teams “for the victims of Israeli aggression.” Both countries have peace treaties with Israel.

The Saudi royal court has issued a dire warning that its 2002 peace plan — offering Israel full recognition by all Arab states in exchange for returning to the borders that predated the 1967 Arab-Israeli war — could well perish.

“If the peace option is rejected due to the Israeli arrogance,” it said, “then only the war option remains, and no one knows the repercussions befalling the region, including wars and conflict that will spare no one, including those whose military power is now tempting them to play with fire.”

The Saudis were putting the West on notice that they would not exert pressure on anyone in the Arab world until Washington did something to halt the destruction of Lebanon, Saudi commentators said.
American officials say that while the Arab leaders need to take a harder line publicly for domestic political reasons, what matters more is what they tell the United States in private, which the Americans still see as a wink and a nod.

There are evident concerns among Arab governments that a victory for Hezbollah — and it has already achieved something of a victory by holding out this long — would further nourish the Islamist tide engulfing the region and challenge their authority. Hence their first priority is to cool simmering public opinion.
But perhaps not since President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt made his emotional outpourings about Arab unity in the 1960’s, before the Arab defeat in the 1967 war, has the public been so electrified by a confrontation with Israel, played out repeatedly on satellite television stations with horrific images from Lebanon of wounded children and distraught women fleeing their homes.

Egypt’s opposition press has had a field day comparing Sheik Nasrallah to Nasser, while demonstrators waved pictures of both.

An editorial in the weekly Al Dustur by Ibrahim Issa, who faces a lengthy jail sentence for his previous criticism of President Mubarak, compared current Arab leaders to the medieval princes who let the Crusaders chip away at Muslim lands until they controlled them all.

After attending an intellectual rally in Cairo for Lebanon, the Egyptian poet Ahmed Fouad Negm wrote a column describing how he had watched a companion buy 20 posters of Sheik Nasrallah.
“People are praying for him as they walk in the street, because we were made to feel oppressed, weak and handicapped,” Mr. Negm said in an interview. “I asked the man who sweeps the street under my building what he thought, and he said: ‘Uncle Ahmed, he has awakened the dead man inside me! May God make him triumphant!’ ”

In Lebanon, Rasha Salti, a freelance writer, summarized the sense that Sheik Nasrallah differed from other Arab leaders.

“Since the war broke out, Hassan Nasrallah has displayed a persona, and public behavior also, to the exact opposite of Arab heads of states,” she wrote in an e-mail message posted on many blogs.

In comparison, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s brief visit to the region sparked widespread criticism of her cold demeanor and her choice of words, particularly a statement that the bloodshed represented the birth pangs of a “new Middle East.” That catchphrase was much used by Shimon Peres, the veteran Israeli leader who was a principal negotiator of the 1993 Oslo Accords, which ultimately failed to lead to the Palestinian state they envisaged.

A cartoon by Emad Hajjaj in Jordan labeled “The New Middle East” showed an Israeli tank sitting on a broken apartment house in the shape of the Arab world.

Fawaz al-Trabalsi, a columnist in the Lebanese daily As Safir, suggested that the real new thing in the Middle East was the ability of one group to challenge Israeli militarily.

Perhaps nothing underscored Hezbollah’s rising stock more than the sudden appearance of a tape from the Qaeda leadership attempting to grab some of the limelight.

Al Jazeera satellite television broadcast a tape from Mr. Zawahri (za-WAH-ri). Large panels behind him showed a picture of the exploding World Trade Center as well as portraits of two Egyptian Qaeda members, Muhammad Atef, a Qaeda commander who was killed by an American airstrike in Afghanistan, and Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker on Sept. 11, 2001. He described the two as fighters for the Palestinians.

Mr. Zawahri tried to argue that the fight against American forces in Iraq paralleled what Hezbollah was doing, though he did not mention the organization by name.

“It is an advantage that Iraq is near Palestine,” he said. “Muslims should support its holy warriors until an Islamic emirate dedicated to jihad is established there, which could then transfer the jihad to the borders of Palestine.”

Mr. Zawahri also adopted some of the language of Hezbollah and Shiite Muslims in general. That was rather ironic, since previously in Iraq, Al Qaeda has labeled Shiites Muslim as infidels and claimed responsibility for some of the bloodier assaults on Shiite neighborhoods there.

But by taking on Israel, Hezbollah had instantly eclipsed Al Qaeda, analysts said. “Everyone will be asking, ‘Where is Al Qaeda now?’ ” said Adel al-Toraifi, a Saudi columnist and expert on Sunni extremists.
Mr. Rabbani of the International Crisis Group said Hezbollah’s ability to withstand the Israeli assault and to continue to lob missiles well into Israel exposed the weaknesses of Arab governments with far greater resources than Hezbollah.

“Public opinion says that if they are getting more on the battlefield than you are at the negotiating table, and you have so many more means at your disposal, then what the hell are you doing?” Mr. Rabbani said. “In comparison with the small embattled guerrilla movement, the Arab states seem to be standing idly by twiddling their thumbs.”

Mona el-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo for this article, and Suha Maayeh from Amman, Jordan.

The language of victory

2006-07-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

At the conclusion of the speech by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah today, various Lebanese and other Arab analysts and politicians were responding with commentaries that are rarely heard by Arabs these days: the language of victory - Arab victory. This is the same language observers world-wide are using these days to discuss the outcome of the Israeli invasion: Israeli defeat & Arab victory. Even Israeli press is discussing the possibilities.

This reminds one of few years ago when South Lebanon also recorded in the history books a stunning Israeli defeat.

Let us review:

1. Israel wanted to crush the resistance - Failed.
2. Israel wanted to guarantee that northern areas in Palestine are not attacked - Failed, the opposite is taking place.
3. Israel wanted to establish military dominance - Failed, the Israeli losses are massive.
4. Israel wanted to turn Lebanon into an internal strife - Failed.
5. Israel wanted to create a southern security zone - Failed, even deploying an international force is an indication of Israeli failure.
6. Israel wanted to find the captured soldiers - Failed. It is very likely that an exchange will take place.
7. Israel wanted to destroy resistance leadership - Failed. In fact the resistance forces are enjoying a high level of support in both Lebanon and Palestine, and now Arab wide.

What did Israel achieve:

1. Massive death and destruction in Lebanon. But this is not a political achievement in any sense.
2. Additional opposition by the Lebanese and Palestinian people against Israeli brutality.
3. Renewed public Arab and Muslim opposition.

So what did Israel achieve militarily and politically thus far: Nothing.

Also, let us look at the Israeli simultaneous campaign in Southern Palestine:

1. Israel wanted to destroy the Palestinian resistance - Failed.
2. Israel wanted to find the captured soldier - Failed.
3. Israel wanted to destroy the newly-elected legislature and newly-formed government - Failed.
4. Israel wanted the Palestinian people to capitulate - Failed.

At this point, a military and political victory for Israel is, therefore, not attainable. The only way Israel can turn a defeat into semi-victory is if Arab regimes, particularly Saudi Arabia and Egypt, provide Israel the cover and face saving it needs. This can be done as follows:

1. Delinking Palestine from Lebanon, hence giving Israel a breathing room.
2. Pressuring the resistance in both Palestine and Lebanon to accept a less favorable deal.
3. Bringing in the US as a power broker, hence giving US proxy forces the ability to be actors in the political arena during a time they are being dealt a significant blow.
4. Forcing the disarming of resistance in Palestine and Lebanon.

I wonder how will this evolving new political reality impact the various Arab governments, political parties, and movements - particularly in Palestine. The next few days will be critical on various levels.

Diaries of Siege, July 17, 20

2006-07-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

From my sister Darine in Saida, Lebanon

Thursday July 20th

Jumped out of bed at 2:00 am Thursday morning to an airstrike right here in Saida. Great explosion shaking the whole building. It was close, but we could not figure out where exactly. Another airstrike shortly after. Now it sounds a bit further. We rush out the balcony. The glass door to the balcony, like every glass window and door at home, slightly left open to prevent them from shattering due to explosion pressure. We cannot see much. We sit out for while. It is completely quiet. Even bats are too scared to fly around. Then a noisy buzzing sound in the air. This time it is an MK, a pilotless spy jet, usually smaller in size and flies low, takes photos. It is not to be feared in itself, but what usually follows it does, a new airstrike. It takes photos and explores locations to target. Twenty minutes later, an airstrike. Later we go to bed.

We wake up around 4:30, yet another attack. This time it is a gas station. Anything to deplete resources and people's will to strife. At 5:00 am, the phone rang. I raced to the phone contemplating every single possibility of who might have gotten hurt from the family and friends in the raid. I hear an automated recording, a voice speaking formal Arabic, "To the residents of south Lebanon, you have to evacuate the south. The State of Israel." I was stunned, lost my ability to move or feel anything. Of all the different kinds of direct and indirect threats I have received throughout my life from the Israelis, this is the first time I get it right in my home.

Two days ago, they threw flyers with the same text. But, do you think people care? Do you think people respond to these threats? A phone call, a very personalized terrorizing message right in my ear and in Arabic, yet insufficient to drive me out of my home. I am only one of many. But I am not a mother and I do not live further south.

According to government estimates Tuesday night, half a million Lebanese have been displaced . Most are staying with relatives or friends or rented apartment. Over 70 thousand in Beirut and north registered in government centers, particularly public schools. Over eight thousand in Saida are distributed over 30 centers. They are turning abandoned government buildings into refugee centers. They continue to destroy the country's infrastructure and cutting off villages from one another. The two biggest cheeses and Labneh factory in the Beqaa bombed to the ground. Hundreds of cows and sheep farms in Beirut attacked from the sky. with red cross signs on it or not, carrying first aid supplies and food essentials to refugees bombed by jets killing drivers and other people around. Continuous bombing of houses and residential buildings. If the war ends today, 60, 000 people will be homeless.

Yesterday we visited two refugee centers. One had 150 and the other had 310 and expecting at least 40 more. Resources are scarce, medication, infant formula food. Trucks We rang door bells looking for some an extra pillow, sheet, mattress, extra anything. There are 100 mattresses for 310 people in the center. My heart turns into a raging fist as we drive around the city. People looking for their relatives. They know they fled together, but now no word from the other car. Same stories come out of southern Beirut. People leaving their bombed homes and cannot find a mother, child, a husband. In Saida, refugees are sitting on the streets or in street roundabouts, with no where to go. No where. Barely made it safe to Saida and then no where to go. A family, a mother and four children, surviving one airstrike killing twenty five people right there in the same house they were staying, got attacked by sky shortly before reaching Saida. No where to escape; we are all targets.

More cars with white rags tied on radio antennas. Some cars had flags. Flags, of the many supporters of the German soccer teams, now come to use. They are tied to cars, huge flags, implying someone in the car carries the German nationality and hoping being German is worth something in this war. How ironically tragic, these flags were carried around by people every time Germans won a game, flying up in the air, with horns blowing and people cheering. Flags of victory and joy. So many Brazilian Lebanese around, so many supporters of the Brazilian soccer team, yet no Brazilian flags on any car to be seen. People's values vary with nationality.

At least sixty one people died yesterday in different areas in Lebanon, the biggest death toll per day since the start of this war. Only one fighter and the rest are civilians. Families all together killed. Many people believed to be still under destroyed houses. The situation is getting worse by the day. We fear that once the foreigners are evacuated, things will get even worse. According to the media, this is the biggest evacuation in the world since WWI. There are 20,000 Americans being evacuated. Not only with nationality, people's value also varies with place of birth. The US embassy is openly setting evacuation priorities of 20,000 Americans according to place of birth. There is one position lower in the hierarchy to being born in Lebanon and that is Palestine.

So many battles on so many fronts. The battle to survive, the battle to survive strong, the battle with the enemy, the battle with dispelling all the lies from the western media, the battle to stay unified, the battle to hold on to anger, the battle to stay focused and help out, the battle to get out of bed in morning not just to an airstrike. So many battles. One battle we have won so far, the battle to survive strong. You hear it in people's voices: we do not care about the destruction, we persist and we resist.

Monday, July 17th

Second day in a row, the sky in Saida is black. Dark sky, yet rain is nowhere close. The second fuel storage has been burning since bombed in the early morning. The first burned out yesterday. Yesterday the sun set 6:30, an hour earlier than when it was supposed to. The sun sat on a big dark cloud and then sank through it, quite above sea level. A scene so tragically gorgeous. A scene I hoped I would not see again. Today the scene all over again.

We scroll the TV channels, sometimes with boredom and sometimes with anticipation. Christian TV quick to highlight sectarian sentiments. Hariri TV busy showing how their organization is offering help to refuges, parasiting on people's miseries. Manar TV airs high morale to the fighters and our people and threats to our enemy. Another is a Saudi channel, where we watch with boiling anger. Aljazeera, where you hear the Israeli military spreading their lies and insults to our resistance. Aljazeera, a channel so attacked by the US, yet so watched out by us for its conspicuous propaganda. This is how most of the day is spent.

Jets roam the air, you feel them like bees biting through your skin. We hold breaths, here comes the bombing. Earth shakes, harsh piercing explosion. Two seconds later, once I realize it was close, but not close enough, I rush out to the porch to see where they hit. The times when smoke is not to be seen from east and west, we go back to the TV anxious for some news. Last night the attacks were on the hill next to our home, a sixth floor apartment, we had to run hide under the stairway. My brother, having seen the rockets hit, dragged me from my top down the stairway shouting with fear. They hit a paper factory and the area's water reservoir. Two people died.

In the morning, we think hard for something to buy. Today it was batteries. We already bought some yesterday, but we decided they were not enough. Any reason, just to leave the house and drive around. I put the window down and feel the breeze. So many possibilities and images flash in mind. A rocket landing in front of us. My brother injured. Airstrike hitting my home where my mother and sister are. What will I do? If I get hit, I will have to stay calm and make my brother feel strong. So many possibilities. It is scary where the mind can go and to how much detail. Not a bad number of people on the streets, out to buy supplies. Shelves starting to look empty. Long line at the gas station. Some stations closed. The banks are open, we decide to get some more cash. We drive around the municipality, tens of people parked their car outside. Cars with license plates indicating coming from the south. Refugees asking for locations of public schools seeking refuge. They look pale, yet they have the muscular skinny bodies farmers have, and the healthy golden tan on their faces. Some wrapped big white t-shirts on the back windshield of their cars, hoping this is enough to prevent from them being one of the
massacres of the day. Air strikes, seem close. You immediately feel the tension on the streets, people blowing their horns, driving fast and aggressively. Ambulance sirens everywhere. We go back home.

In the afternoon, we take another drive. The scene is quite different. The streets are completely empty. My brother is driving, I in the front street and my sister in the back. We drive around the public schools. You can see laundry on the classrooms' windows. The school playground filled with children from all ages. A car just arrived from the south blocking traffic just in front of us. Very old dusty car, four children jumped out of the back seat, another child jumped out of the front seat carrying a black bag and two cans of infant formula, then followed by a woman with a newborn in her hands also from the front seat. My tears rolled down my cheek. They had a Palestinian accent. But for many cities in the south, it is hard to figure out the accent, especially if they are coming from Tyr, where more than 15 people died in an airstrike on a building yesterday. Death toll is increasing while more bodies are being pulled out. Two more words, and it is confirmed they are Palestinians. Palestinians, now once again refugees, refugees in their refuge. We keep driving, so many areas to avoid. This is a Shiite mosque, a potential target. Gas station, another. They bombed 13 gas stations yesterday, one in Saida. My sister asks not to go through minor roads and stick to the main ones. Then we avoid another main road because it was hit two days ago. This one was hit today and 10 people died. They were going up north to spare their lives. Then we turn around and go back home.

Such a different Monday than the one I spent last week.

The government still does not have a count on the refugees, but they are way over 90,000, the number estimated three days ago. These are people fleeing the south or those lost their homes in Southern Beirut, a completely wiped out district.

Map of Israeli Assaults on Lebanon

2006-07-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

Click on image to download PDF

Good interview with Lebanese author Gilbert Achcar

2006-07-26T03:25:00.000-07:00

Great interview with Lebanese author Gilbert Achcar

“Israel is holding a whole population hostage”

Socialist Worker - July 28, 2006

GILBERT ACHCAR grew up in Lebanon, before moving to France, where he teaches political science at the University of Paris-VIII. Among his most recent works are Eastern Cauldron (2004) and The Clash of Barbarisms (2d ed. 2006); a book of his dialogues with Noam Chomsky on the Middle East, Perilous Power, is forthcoming from Paradigm Publishers. He talked to Socialist Worker’s ALAN MAASS about the causes and background of the Israeli assault on Lebanon.

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THE U.S. media place the blame for Israel’s attack on Hezbollah, for “starting” the violence? Is that how you view the situation?

WHATEVER ONE thinks about Hezbollah or the operation mounted by Hezbollah--and I do have my own reservations about its appropriateness with regard to its foreseeable consequences--this cannot by any logic justify what Israel is doing.

The killing of the seven Israeli soldiers and the kidnapping of two soldiers was an act of war, and Lebanon and Israel are two countries that are still at war.

Israel regularly encroaches on Lebanon’s sovereignty: It has aggressed the country innumerable times, especially after 1967 (the first Israeli devastating attack on Beirut’s airport took place in 1968); it invaded a small piece of Lebanese territory in 1967 (the Shebaa farms), a big chunk of southern Lebanon in 1978, half of Lebanon in 1982; it then occupied a big part of the country until 1985, its southern part until 2000, and it still holds the stretch of Lebanese territory that it seized in 1967.

Since 2000, there has been an ongoing low-intensity war between Hezbollah and Israel: cross-border skirmishes, covert Israeli action in Lebanon, including assassination of Hezbollah leaders, etc.

But what Israel is carrying out now in Lebanon is massive retaliation against a whole population. It is holding a whole population and country hostage and trying to impose its conditions.

This brutality is most cowardly, because whatever military means Hezbollah--or the whole of the Lebanese state, for that matter--possess are dwarfed by the military power of the state of Israel.

This isn’t some kind of an equal fight, despite the fact that Hezbollah is retaliating with some rockets. One of the world’s mightiest military powers is committing a naked aggression against one of the weakest states in the Middle East, and murdering scores of people.

They have already killed over 200 people in less than one week, and the number keeps growing day after day. The overwhelming majority, more than 90 percent, of Israel’s victims are uninvolved civilians. They are neither fighters, nor even militants; just ordinary civilians, families and a considerable number of children appallingly torn to pieces by Israeli bombs.

Israel is destroying the infrastructure of the country. It is also destroying the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people. Lebanon is a country where the summer season is very important to thousands and thousands of people--the large proportion of the population that get seasonal jobs in the tourism sector and depend on these earnings for their living for the whole year. And now these people are being fired by the tens of thousands because everybody understands that there won’t be any “summer season” in Lebanon.

If you take all this into consideration and compare it to whatever border operation Hezbollah executed, it is absolutely clear that this has become just a pretext--seized on by Israel, backed by the United States and other countries, to try to impose what they have been attempting to force since 2004.

That year, they had the UN Security Council adopt a resolution calling not only for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, but also for the disarmament of armed groups in the country--meaning, above all, Hezbollah, and secondarily, the Palestinians in their refugee camps.

THE DOUBLE standard of Western media presentations of the situation and the hypocrisy of Israel’s statements are so glaring that they constitute by themselves a moral aggression--for example, the capture of one soldier by the Palestinians becomes Israel’s justification for a murderous and destructive assault on Gaza, while Israel holds close to 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in its jails, most of whom are civilians abducted by Israel in the territory that it occupies since 1967 in total violation of international law.

WE KNOW this double standard well. Noam Chomsky has made it one of his specialties for so many years to denounce the permanent double standards and hypocrisy in the imperial countries and in their media. We are now witnessing an appalling new case of that same double standard.

And the fact is that if this hypocrisy can go unnoticed for an average audience in Western countries, you can be sure that in the overwhelming majority of Third World countries--and, of course, in Muslim countries, and, even more so, in Arab countries--the double standard is conspicuously and outrageously obvious.

That’s why people don’t give any credit to the utterances of Western leaders--to the Bush administration’s talk about democracy and other lies.

Instead, what we are seeing right now is that the hatred toward not only Israel but the United States, and all the other Western countries backing Israel and allying with the United States, is reaching heights which are far beyond what existed before September 11, 2001.

In other words, the United States and the state of Israel are preparing for the rest of the world, including their own populations, nightmarish events, compared to which 9/11, I’m afraid, will be only a foretaste.

People in the West, especially in the United States, have to become aware of the hypocrisy of their government, and of this total lack of justice and even humanitarian commiseration in dealing with the Arab populations of the Middle East.

They have to become aware of the fact that, for very good reason, the Arab and Muslim peoples are coming to perceive that they are considered as sub-human beings, and that their lives have no value in the eyes of Israel, the United States and their allies.

Therefore, they become receptive to the kind of discourse that comes from the likes of Osama bin Laden--that if our civilian lives have no value to them, then their civilian lives should have no value to us. So we are reaching a completely infernal situation because of the criminal reactionary policies of the U.S. administration and the Israeli government.

WHAT ARE Israel’s goals in carrying out this assault?

STRATEGICALLY SPEAKING, both Israel and the United States consider their main enemy in the Middle East to be not bin Laden or al-Qaeda--these are only minor nuisances in their eyes, if conveniently useful nuisances--but Iran.

There is what they call the Shiite axis or crescent, which has its source in Iran, and goes through the pro-Iranian Shiite forces in Iraq, through the Syrian government, which is allied to Iran, and reaches Hezbollah in Lebanon.

This is why they consider Hezbollah a very important enemy--because with their kind of conception of the world, they see everything through their obsession with what they consider to be their main enemy state. At the time of the Cold War, they used to see everything worldwide in terms of a confrontation with the former Soviet Union. Now, they see everything in the Middle East in terms of a confrontation with Iran.

Besides that, Israel has its own specific reasons for wanting to get rid of Hezbollah, as the organization that played the major role in forcing Israel to withdraw from Lebanon in 2000. This is an organization that is permanently defying Israel by its very existence, its very presence.

Ever since Israel left Lebanon, there’s been a determination to take revenge on Hezbollah, and we’re now witnessing Israel in the midst of carrying this out, using the pretext of the border clashes.

THE U.S. government denounces Hezbollah as a band of terrorists. What is the actual role that it plays in Lebanon?

THROUGHOUT THE years, Lebanese politics have had a communal dynamic, so you have some kind of identification of communities with this or that political organization. Hezbollah managed to become the main force in the Shiite community, which is the largest minority in Lebanon, where no religious community constitutes a majority.

Hezbollah came to play this role for a variety of reasons. The major one is the role that Hezbollah played in liberating southern Lebanon, where the Shiite community is concentrated, from the Israeli invasion.

But there are other factors. Generally speaking, the rise of Hezbollah’s influence fits into a framework that we’ve seen at the regional level for the last 30 years, where the failure of the left and the bankruptcy of nationalist leaderships create a void in the leadership of the mass movement that has been filled by organizations of an Islamic fundamentalist character.

This was very much propelled by the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The shock wave of the revolution was tremendous in the area--especially, of course, among the Shiites, since Iran is a Shiite country.

The birth of Hezbollah was the result of the conjunction of this shock wave with the conditions created by the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. It was born after the invasion, and its rise was associated with its success in the fight against the occupation.

Another factor is the way that Hezbollah managed to build its social base. Hezbollah was very much backed by Iran from its founding. Tehran trains and funds Hezbollah, and the organization has made clever use of the funds that it gets. It organizes several kinds of social services and a social network, which helps huge numbers of Shiite families.

It also managed to translate the clout built through the resistance in political terms, when it entered the elections. Hezbollah has an important fraction in the Lebanese parliament and there are even Hezbollah ministers in the Lebanese government.

So it’s not a “terrorist” organization, as Washington’s and Israel’s terrorist governments call it. It is a mass party fully involved in the legal political life in Lebanon.

No one in Lebanon, except for a tiny minority of ultra reactionaries, considers what Hezbollah does in confronting Israel to be “terrorism.” The Lebanese government itself considers it as national resistance.

CAN YOU talk about how Israel’s assault on Lebanon is connected to the intensified war on Palestinians since Hamas won control of the Palestinian Authority?

THERE ARE several connections. To be sure, there are connections of a kind that fit into Washington’s conspiracy theory.

Hamas and Hezbollah are both organizations in the same regional alliance. Part of Hamas’s leadership live in exile in Syria, and it has very good relations with Iran. Tehran backs Hamas: When the new Palestinian government was elected, and there was a boycott organized by the Western powers and Israel, Iran was the first country to pledge support for the Palestinians to compensate for that boycott.

The other connection is the result of how Israel’s onslaught on Gaza has been so traumatizing for the whole region.

Whatever the original motivation for Hezbollah’s operation that captured the Israelis--I’m saying this, because Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah said that it had been months in the planning--when it took place, it was seen across the whole Middle East as a legitimate and necessary gesture of solidarity with the people of Gaza who are being crushed by Israel. That’s why there was a lot of sympathy for it.

Like in Lebanon now, Israel used the pretext of the abduction of one of its soldiers in Gaza to hold the whole population hostage and begin a frenzy of destruction and murder that falls into the canons of state mass terrorism of the worst sort known in history.

HOW DOES the war on Lebanon fit with the other wars that the U.S. and Israel are carrying out in the Middle East?

FOR ISRAEL and the U.S., the main enemy, as I said, is the whole alliance, with Iran as the most central part of the alliance. The main target is the Iranian regime, which they want to get rid of, in one way or another.

The Syrian regime is more of a secondary enemy. I don’t believe that there is a real drive toward overthrowing that regime. Israeli officials explain that they don’t wish to see a new Iraq unfolding at their border, because they know that if the Syrian regime were to collapse, that’s what you would get: a chaotic situation that could very much threaten the security of Israel.

Of course, they would like to get the Syrian government to break with Iran. And they want to compel Tehran, too, to abide by their rules. But because they don’t have any confidence in the Iranian regime, they wish that they could overthrow it in one way or another. That’s their basic goal: what they call in Washingtonese “regime change.”

With the prevailing replica of the Cold War imperialist mentality, Hezbollah is presented as a mere agency of Iran. Now, to be sure, it’s no secret to anyone that Hezbollah is closely linked to both Damascus and Tehran. And Hezbollah would have been foolish to undertake its July 12 attack without some degree of coordination with its backers.

So what? Unlike those of the Afghan mujahadeen, when they were fighting against the Soviet occupation of their country, the weapons Hezbollah is using are, of course, not U.S.-made or U.S.-provided!

It is absolutely normal for forces confronted with much more powerful enemies to try to find external sources of support. Hezbollah has to get the means from somewhere to be able to resist.

Or does Washington believe that it is entitled to intervene wherever it wants by the sole right of its “manifest destiny”--for instance, backing today the so-called People’s Mujahadeen of Iran in its cross-border attacks against Iran from U.S.-occupied Iraq, after having backed yesterday the far more significant contras against Nicaragua’s government--while Iran has no right to support its correligionists in Lebanon or Palestine. This chutzpah is only exceeded by U.S. complaints against Iranian interference in Iraq, a country under U.S. occupation!

The fact that Hezbollah has links to Syria and Iran doesn’t mean in the least that it is not waging a legitimate national resistance struggle--in the same way that the fact that the Vietnamese were backed by this or that Communist country didn’t mean in the least that they were not fighting for the liberation of their country.

House of Saud: the shame of the Arabs

2006-07-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

Today the Saudi paper, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, carried a news report that the US is supplying Israel with "some 100 'bunker buster' bombs to kill the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla group and destroy its trenches."

The news report also proudly informed the readers that:

"Egypt and Saudi Arabia are working to entice Syria to end support for Hezbollah, a move that is central to resolving the conflict in Lebanon and unhitching Damascus from its alliance with Iran, the Shiite Muslim guerrillas' other main backer."

Of course, the Saudi paper reminds all that the bunker buster bombs will be supplied through the U.S. military base in Qatar. Also, the paper does not fail to remind us that the Saudi King has approved a mobile to hospital for Lebanon.

Go figure... Israel receives bunker busters from the U.S., while at the same time the Lebanese resistance receives treason from the House of Saud, whose primary concern is how to get Syria to stop any presumed support.

Just Amazing ... UFPJ and the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki

2006-07-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

Get this... United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) is asking folks in the peace and justice movement in the US to contribute money so that UFPJ can place an advertisement in an Iraqi newspaper asking for a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki when he visits New York.

UFPJ is all over themselves as they request this meeting. Lots of sugar in their letter to Al-Maliki. I wonder if anyone asked who he was and what he represents (if it at all matters to UFPJ, that is).... Folks, I must have missed something. But I guess the "largest anti-war coalition" in the US has to explain the facts of life to Al-Maliki, and inform him that the US movement is behind him.... of course, together with the Bush administration....

It does not surprise me that UFPJ is doing this. What is amazing is that they are getting away with it. These guys are something else. Only in the US!!

Latest Developments - From Assafir Newspaper

2006-07-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

From Assafir.com

Lebanon boycotts the Rome Conference if Israel is invited, demands clarifications about Larson's statements, Israel strikes Lebanese media, Maron El-Rass is area of fierce fighting.

لبنان يقاطع مؤتمر روما إذا دُعيت إسرائيل ويطلب توضيحاً لكلام لارسن إسرائيل تضرب لبنان في إعلامه ... ومارون الراس أرض حرب النازحون تجاوزوا ال600 ألف والأمم المتحدة تطلب 100 مليون دولار للإغاثة

... وفي اليوم الحادي عشر من الحرب الاسرائيلية المفتوحة ضد لبنان براً وبحراً وجواً، ظلّت مارون الراس عنواناً للتخبط العسكري والسياسي الاسرائيلي، وأعطى قرار الجيش الاسرائيلي باستهداف محطات الارسال الارضية للفضائيات اللبنانية وبعض فرق التغطية الاعلامية في المنطقة الحدودية ومحاولة تعطيل شبكات الاتصال الخلوية، انطباعاً في أكثر من عاصمة دولية، حول نية إسرائيل التعتيم على عمل إجرامي مبيّت تنوي الإقدام عليه ضد لبنان، خصوصاً ضد شريط القرى الجنوبية الأمامية، وبلغ الامر حد إقدام بعض الاوساط الدبلوماسية المتابعة في العاصمة الفرنسية على إطلاق تحذير شديد اللهجة بأن اسرائيل <في وارد ارتكاب قانا جديدة في الجنوب>! وعلى إيقاع هذا التحذير، استمر التشجيع الأميركي لإسرائيل من أجل إكمال حربها ضد لبنان، فيما حذر الأمين العام للامم المتحدة كوفي انان من مغبة اقدام اسرائيل على اجتياح بري، وضمت روسيا صوتها للمطالبين بوقف فوري للنار، فيما لوّحت باريس بأن القتال يهدّد بتدمير الدولة اللبنانية وحذرت المانيا من توسع النزاع في المنطقة. وفي موازاة التظاهرات التي بدأت تتوسع في الخارج، خصوصاً في اوروبا، اطلقت بريطانيا اول انتقاد صريح ضد الهجمات الإسرائيلية بلسان وزير الدولة للشؤون الخارجية كيم هاولز مفاده أنه <يصعب جداً فهم نوع الأساليب العسكرية (الاسرائيلية) التي استخدمت فإذا كانوا يطاردون <حزب الله> فليستهدفوه، لكن يجب ألا تُستهدف الأمة اللبنانية بأسرها>. في هذه الاثناء، بدا أن الدعوة للمشاركة في المؤتمر الدولي الذي حدّدت واشنطن موعداً له في روما يوم الاربعاء المقبل، بعنوان إنساني اقتصادي، دونه صعوبات قد تهدّد بانفراط عقده، خصوصاً بعد ان اعلن المبعوث الخاص للامين العام للامم المتحدة لمتابعة تنفيذ القرار 1559 تيري رود لارسن أن المؤتمر سيبحث <أسساً جديدة للعلاقة بين لبنان وإسرائيل>، فيما أعلن مسؤول ايطالي رفض الكشف عن اسمه لوكالة <رويترز> أن إسرائيل قد تحضر المؤتمر، وذلك بخلاف المعلومات التي كانت قد وصلت الى العاصمة اللبنانية. وقد نوقش موضوع المؤتمر الدولي في جلسة مجلس الوزراء الاستثنائية، مساء امس، وأبلغ كل من رئيس الحكومة فؤاد السنيورة ووزير الخارجية فوزي صلوخ المجلس بان الحكومة اللبنانية لم تتلقَّ دعوة رسمية لحضور المؤتمر وجدول أعماله بدقة، وطبيعة المشاركين فيه ليصار الى اتخاذ الموقف المناسب. وتمّ الاتفاق بعد الاستماع الى مداخلة قدّمها صلوخ تأجيل اتخاذ موقف بانتظار تسلم الدعوة الرسمية ومن بعدها يتخذ القرار المناسب. وقال مصدر وزاري لبناني بارز ل<السفير> إن مداخلة وزير الخارجية ركّزت على <المحاذير من وراء الدعوة الى المؤتمر تحت الاسم الاقتصادي والانساني، وماذا يمنع ان يتحول الى عسكري وأمني في إطار خطة وضعتها الدول المانحة لتحقيق اهداف سياسية عجز العدوان الاسرائيلي عن تحقيقها؟>. وسأل صلوخ هل هناك خطة من الدول المانحة لبحث <القوة الاستقرارية> على الحدود في المؤتمر وتحويلها الى مجلس الامن بموافقة لبنانية؟ وفي وقت لاحق من ليل امس اصدر الرئيس السنيورة بيانا رجح فيه ان تكون المعلومات التي اوردتها <رويترز> غير صحيحة، وقال <من الطبيعي أنه في حال دعيت إسرائيل الى المؤتمر، فإن لبنان لن يحضر>. وتم الاتفاق في جلسة مجلس الوزراء على وضع ثوابت عامة للموقف الرسمي اللبناني تطرح في كل المحافل وأولها التركيز على وقف فوري للنار، وانسحاب اسرائيل من مزارع شبعا وتلال كفرشوبا، والإفراج عن الاسرى اللبنانيين وتسليم خرائط الألغام ومطالبة إسرائيل بالتعويض عن الخسائر والأضرار اللاحقة بلبنان جراء الاعتداءات الإسرائيلية. وخلال الجلسة أثار وزير الدفاع الياس المر تحذير تيري رود لارسن للحكومة اللبنانية من مغبة دخول الجيش اللبناني في مواجهة إسرائيل إذا أقدمت على اجتياح لبنان براً <لأن من شأن تصعيد كهذا تقويض الحكومة اللبنانية وانهيارها>. وحسب المعلومات فإن المر أبلغ مجلس الوزراء انه هو الناطق بلسان الجيش اللبناني وليس لارسن، مؤكداً أن الجيش ينفذ مهمته عندما يدافع عن أرضه في حال حصول اي عدوان بري، ونحن لا نرضى بكلام لارسن، مطالباً بالحصول على توضيح رسمي لموقف ممثل الأمين العام للامم المتحدة. وبعد سلسلة مداولات، بادر وزير الخارجية الى الطلب من أمين عام وزارة الخارجية بالوكالة السفير بطرس عساكر الاتصال ببعثة لبنان في الامم المتحدة لكي تقدّم مذكرة رسمية يطلب فيها لبنان تفسيرات من الأمانة العامة حول موقف لارسن، على ان ترسل البعثة التفسير الدولي فور الحصول عليه. بدوره، انتقد رئيس الحكومة كلام لارسن قبل دخوله الى الجلسة، وقال إنه <بلا طعمة> على حد قول مندوبي وسائل الاعلام في مقر مجلس الوزراء. وأكد أن الجيش اللبناني <إذا تعرّض للهجوم سيردّ>. واستمع مجلس الوزراء الى مداخلات من معظم الوزراء حول ما تقوم به وزاراتهم في مواجهة نتائج العدوان، كما قدّم قائد الجيش العماد ميشال سليمان ومدير المخابرات العميد جورج خوري ومدير عام قوى الأمن الداخلي اللواء أشرف ريفي تقارير حول الجوانب العسكرية والأمنية، وكذلك رئيس الهيئة العليا للاغاثة اللواء يحيى رعد حول الجانب الإغاثي. كما اطلع المجلس من رئيس الحكومة ووزير الخارجية على محصلة حول الاتصالات وزيارات الموفدين، حيث أبلغا الحكومة ان كل الوفود زارت بيروت مستمعة وجاءت تأخذ افكاراً ولا احد منها كان يحمل حلولاً جدية، وان الانطباع السائد هو ان الاميركيين لا يريدون حتى الآن اي وقف للنار، فيما برز موقف فرنسي متمايز لجهة اولوية وقف النار وفتح ممر بحري انساني لتأمين المساعدات للبنان. واستمع مجلس الوزراء الى تقرير قدّمه وزير الاعلام غازي العريضي حول العدوان الذي استهدف محطات الارسال لعدد من المحطات التلفزيونية اللبنانية. وكان الطيران المعادي قد أغار حوالى الواحدة من بعد ظهر امس، على العديد من محطات الإرسال في كسروان والشمال ما أدّى إلى تدميرها وانقطاع البث الأرضي للتلفزيونات اللبنانية عن منطقة الشمال كما دمّرت هوئيات إرسال لشركتي الخلوي. واستشهد الزميل في المؤسسة اللبنانية للارسال سليمان الشدياق وجرح الزميل شربل عقيقي في الغارة التي نفذها الطيران على محطة ارسال تلفزيون LBC في منطقة فتقا ادما في فتوح كسروان. وأصيب الموظف التقني في تلفزيون لبنان خالد عيد بجروح خطرة، اثناء الغارة التي استهدفت عمود الارسال التابع لتلفزيون لبنان في فيع في الكورة. ودمّرت أعمدة ومباني ومحطات إرسال تلفزيونية وإذاعية في مناطق جبل تربل، وجبل ايطو في قضاء زغرتا شمالي شرق مدينة طرابلس، وسقط جريحان أحدهما من عناصر الجيش اللبناني. وأغار الطيران على جبل أيطو في إهدن قضاء زغرتا واستهدف بصاروخ محطة إرسال قديمة تابعة للاذاعة اللبنانية. الى ذلك، استقطبت المواجهات التي وقعت بين رجال المقاومة وجنود العدوّ في بلدة مارون الرأس، على كلّ ما عداها ميدانياً، وأعلنت المقاومة أنها أوقعت في صفوف العدو خسائر فادحة، فدمّرت ثلاث دبّابات من نوع <ميركافا> وأصابت طواقمها المؤلّفة من نحو عشرين جندياً بجروح مختلفة، ولم تستبعد أن يكون بينهم قتلى. وأظهرت صور بثتها محطات تلفزة إسرائيلية وعالمية أن الدبابات الإسرائيلية منتشرة من أسفل جبل مارون الرأس وحتى مسجد البلدة. واستمرّت آلة الدمار الإسرائيلية في حصد الأرواح البشرية بغاراتها وقذائفها، وسجل استشهاد طفلة في بنت جبيل، وامرأتين في كفرا، وأحد ابناء بلدة حاصبيا، ومواطنين اثنين في الزرارية، ومواطن في بليدا. وانتشلت فرق الدفاع المدني تسعة اشخاص سالمين كانوا لا يزالون، تحت أنقاض مبنى مؤلّف من ثلاث طبقات دمّرته الطائرات الاسرائيلية قبل ثلاثة أيّام عند مثلث دير قانون النهر برج رحال العباسية. وقرابة الواحدة والنصف من فجر اليوم أغار الطيران الحربي الإسرائيلي على مجمع السيدة فاطمة الزهراء في صيدا، ما أدى الى تدميره. وأصيب في الغارة على المجمع 4 أشخاص نقلوا الى مستشفى لبيب الطبي ومستشفى حمود. كما تعرضت الضاحية الجنوبية لبيروت بدءاً من الواحدة والنصف فجرا الى غارات جوية، استهدفت مجمع القائم في منطقة الصفير ومجمع سيد الشهداء في الرويس. الى ذلك من المقرر ان يبدأ وكيل الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة للشؤون الإنسانية ومنسق الإغاثة والطوارئ يان إيغلاند، اليوم، مهمة في الشرق الأوسط، تنطلق من لبنان وتقوده الى عدد من دول المنطقة. وعشية الزيارة، قال إيغلاند إن هناك حاجة إلى مئة مليون دولار على الاقل للمساعدة في تجنب كارثة انسانية في لبنان خلال الاشهر المقبلة. واشار الى انه سيزور اسرائيل من اجل التفاوض على ممرات بحرية وجوية وبرية آمنة لقوافل المعونة، الامر الذي يتطلب إصلاح المدارج في مطار بيروت، وتوقع في الوقت نفسه ازدياد عدد النازحين وهو الامر الذي اكده مصدر رسمي لبناني قائلاً ل<السفير> إن العدد تجاوز الستمئة ألف نازح وهناك ضغوط كبيرة على المؤسسات الرسمية والاهلية، وفي المقابل لا إمكانية لتسيير ممرات آمنة خاصة من البر حيث تتكدّس المساعدات في بعض النقاط الحدودية ولا تملك الدولة ضمانات دولية بتسيير الشاحنات خصوصاً أنها كانت عرضة للقصف في اوقات سابقة. الجدير ذكره أن اسرائيل استبقت زيارة الموفد الدولي بالقول إنها فتحت ممراً بحرياً وجوياً آمناً بطول ثمانين كيلومتراً وعرض أربعة كيلومترات إلى ميناء بيروت من أجل وصول سفن المساعدات والمروحيات، من دون الإتيان على ذكر مسألة الممرات البرية عبر مطار بيروت او عن طريق البر.

Opposing Rice - Palestinians Call for Strike

2006-07-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

Palestinian political parties are calling for a general strike on Monday, July 24, in rejection of Condoleeza Rice's visit to the area. The Palestinian movement stated that it wishes to expose the real intent of the visit, citing Israeli crimes in both Lebaenon and Palestine and the US veto in that regard. The various parties stress the need to expose the real motive of the US, which is to re-structure the area into a "New Middle East" that would only exist in the US political orbit. The following is the news report from www.Arab48.com.

الفصائل الفلسطينية تدعو إلى إضراب شامل احتجاجا على زيارة رايس إلى المنطقة غدا
23/07/2006 19:27
عربـ48 وألفت حداد
عبرت الفصائل الوطنية والإسلامية الفلسطينية عن رفضها للزيارة التي ستقوم بها وزيرة الخارجية الأمريكية إلى المنطقة يوم غد الاثنين داعية إلى إضراب شامل ويوم غضب شعبي رفضا لهذه الزيارة وقالت القوى الوطنية والإسلامية، في بيان لها "انها ترفض زيارة وزيرة الخارجية إلى المنطقة، وستفضح أهدافها"، ودعت إلى إضراب شامل ويوم غضب شعبي ضد هذه الزيارة.وأشارت القوي في بيانها إلى أن هذه الزيارة تأتي في ظل عدوان شامل ومتصاعد تقوم به حكومة إسرائيل بغطاء من الإدارة الأمريكية، مما يشجعها على التمادي في ارتكاب المزيد من الجرائم ضد أبناء الشعبين الفلسطيني واللبناني.وجاء في البيان " إسرائيل ترتكب أبشع الجرائم والمذابح مستخدمة كل ترسانتها العسكرية من طائرات ودبابات وصواريخ وبوارج حربية، مستهدفة تدمير البنية التحتية وتدمير البيوت والمؤسسات وإيقاع أفدح الخسائر على صعيد استهداف المدنيين".وأوضحت أن "هذه الجرائم والمذابح وإرهاب الدولة المنظم الذي تمارسه الحكومة الإسرائيلية وحرب الإبادة ضد الشعبين الفلسطيني واللبناني، يأتي بتشجيع وضوء أخضر أمريكي للاستمرار في هذا العدوان الشامل".ونددت هذه القوى بالموقف الأمريكي، "السافر والمعادي لحقوق الشعبين الفلسطيني واللبناني"، وبـ"استخدام الفيتو الأمريكي في مجلس الأمن لإفشال القرار بوقف العدوان على شعبنا، والسماح باستمرار المذابح ضد الشعبين الفلسطيني واللبناني".وأشار البيان إلى تصريحات وزيرة الخارجية الأمريكية التي تعبر عن ضرورة استمرار الحرب الشاملة ضد الشعبين الفلسطيني واللبناني، حتى إنهاء المقاومتين الفلسطينية واللبنانية، والعمل على ترتيبات المنطقة بما يؤمن المصالح الاستعمارية الأمريكية والإسرائيلية

Mass Grave in Lebanon

2006-07-21T11:09:00.000-07:00

Silhouettes of Lebanese army soldiers are seen on coffins at a mass grave near the Palestinian refugee camp Albass in the centre of southern Lebanon's town of Tyre (Soure) July 21, 2006. The coffins contained the bodies of 76 people killed by Israeli air strikes over the last few days. REUTERS/Nikola Solic (LEBANON)

Update 8 from Lebanon

2006-07-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

The situation is getting worse in Lebanon. Everyone is worried that once all the foreign nationals are evacuated, the Israelis will bomb indiscriminately and will be even more vicious than it has been so far.
For those fleeing the bombing of their homes and villages, there are few and fewer safe routes; all routes are being bombed and rebombed. Israel on the one hand sends these statements from the air asking residents of the South to leave their villages and even calls homes and cell phones with a taped recorded message in Arabic stating that the southerners need to leave up to north of the Litany river. Yet on the other hand it targets all the roads and bridges, and civilian cars and buses to ensure that people do not leave and are eradicated within and to ensure that no aid (medical or food) reaches those under siege from all directions.

Thursday early morning it bombed the roads and bridges from Saida to Beirut. It also bombed all roads leading to Ghazziyeh (a small town near Saida). In the deep south it has been bombing all roads between the various smaller towns and villages isolating totally many villagers with no resources or food.

Today, Israel air-raided Baalbeck (one of the largest cities in the Biqaa) with 21 air raids and tons of explosives targeting quarters and homes within the city, with what appears to be so far 5 death and many wounded.

Continuous bombing in the South from the air on the Khiam prison, marjeoun, and other towns has also claimed the lives of many. As of this morning more than 350 deaths and over a 1000 deaths.

A large demonstration took place yesterday in Beirut in front of the ESCWA to demand the end of the Israeli aggression against Lebanon. Whereas it is clear that the people in various parts of the Arab world and in Spain, Paris, and elsewhere has organized demonstrations to protest the Israeli aggression against Lebanon; it is equally clear that there is an international agreement to allow Israel and the US to end resistance and end Hizbullah.

Israel is also engaged in a PR and psychological warfare aided of course by the neo-conservative machines. Israel bombed a building under construction to become a mosque in Beirut which they claimed was a headquarters of Hizbullah and that they killed many of its leaders. They declared that they did many raids and used 20 tons of bombs on that site. This was all ridiculous as all reporters visited the site and clearly stated that there was no headquarters and no casualties.

To the contrary, Israel is the one afraid to indicate to the world and to its people the degree of damage that is happening among its ranks. Two apache helicopters have crashed into each other near the border and another was targeted by Hizbullah fighters.

All people are strong with the resistance and many local coalitions have been formed to ensure the sumoud (steadfastness) of our people. As of yesterday over 23000 people have entered Saida in search of shelter.

Not sure if it came through in the news also that over 20 agents were captured in Lebanon. It seems that they were placing marks on target places using a material that can be seen from the air to aid planes in destroying Lebanon and the resistance.

I wish you could find the translation of the interview (for those who cannot read Arabic) that Ghassan Bin Jeddou from Al-Jazeera TV did with Al-Sayid Hasan Nasrallah as it extremely important in my opinion to hear his words, his clarity and his strength. His words give hope and steadfastness to our people all over.

Zeina

Good Resources on whats happening in Gaza and Lebanon

2006-07-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

Readers should not hesitate to bookmark the below resources for information and analysis on what is taking place.

Electronic Intifada and Electronic Lebanon are receiving high traffic, and can be relied upon for good, up to date resources on the ground.

http://electronicLebanon.net

http://electronicIntifada.net

Prof As'ad Abu Khalil has also done a great job of proviing pithy
commentary on developments. Check out his blogspot Angry Arab

http://www.angryarab.blogspot.com/

Analysis by Azmi Bishara: Blackmail by bombs - Al Ahram

2006-07-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

Blackmail by bombs

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/804/op1.htm

Any comparison between Olmert's and Nasrallah's political rhetoric must conclude that the latter is the more rational. His speeches are more consistent with the facts and rely less than Olmert's on religious expressions and allusions. Nasrallah would never dare seal a parliamentary speech with a lengthy prayer, as Olmert did in his latest speech before the Knesset.

Israeli politicians have no cultural or moral edge over resistance leaders. The latter are far less attached to Iran than the former are to the US, and Hizbullah's constituency is less attached to Iran than the organised Jewish community abroad is to Israel.

The people who unleashed the brutal war against Lebanon are neither intelligent nor courageous. Quite the opposite; they are mediocrities, cowards and opportunists, but they happen to have military superiority. And they possess the keys to the machinery of a state, a real state, one that is secure in its identity, that has clear national security goals and channels of national mobilisation, as opposed to a long deferred project for statehood and a states built on the fragmentation of national identity. On the other side is a resistance movement operating in the context of a denominationally organised society, a Lebanese government neutralised to everything but sectarianism, and an Arab order parts of which are rooting for Israel to do what it is incapable, or too embarrassed, to do itself, which is to deal with the resistance as a militia because it foregrounds their own lack of national and popular legitimacy.

Israel has nothing to show for ten days of barbaric vandalism and the deliberate targeting of civilians. It cannot claim a single military victory against the Lebanese resistance. It can, though, point proudly to whole residential quarters that have been reduced to rubble, to the burned out hulks and ruins of countless wharfs, factories, bridges, roads, tunnels, electricity generators and civil defence buildings. In terms of explosive and destructive power Israel has thrown an atom bomb on Lebanon, it is the Israeli Hiroshima.

True, Israel suffers a paucity of intelligence on the whereabouts of Hizbullah members, which is why it has been targeting the homes of their families. But this does not justify the systematic bombardment of Lebanese society, and the attempts to destroy its economy. This is the epitome of terrorism: the incitement of terror in a civilian populace by unleashing massive violence and destruction against it in an attempt to compel the people's political leaders to act against the Lebanese resistance or to change their positions.

The current Israeli assault against Lebanon has nothing to do with freeing two captured soldiers. That is a purely tangential concern, and Israel will probably agree to a prisoner exchange when the time comes. Of prime concern, on the other hand, is an agenda that has bearings on Lebanese domestic, as well as American agenda for regional, politics.

The issue is not why the resistance chose this particular time for its operation. Timing, here, becomes another pretext for vilifying the resistance and justifying the aggression. The fact is that, over the past few months, the resistance made several attempts to capture Israeli soldiers. The difference is that its last attempt succeeded. Also, the Israeli soldiers that died in this operation were not killed in combat, but rather because their tank rolled over a landmine while pursuing the kidnappers. A more important question is why Israel choose this time to launch a full scale attack?

The timing is an Israeli-American one. And the answer resides with the Arabs and the US, and their inability to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1559 and dismantle the Lebanese resistance with Arab tools. So Israel stepped forward. The only difference between today and the earlier bombardments -- the "Day of Reckoning" and "Grapes of Wrath" between 1993 and 1996 -- is that Syrian forces are no longer present in Lebanon. Instead there is an American-sponsored project for the country, involving the rest of the Arab world, which was to change the structure of government in Lebanon and transform it into an ally of the US, a good neighbour to Israel and a participant in US- oriented alliances in the region.

The project took off following the assassination of Al-Hariri, but in recent months it had run aground as it became increasingly clear that the Arabs had no practical means to keep it afloat. What kept discussions in Beirut from collapsing completely was the fact that the only alternative was internal violence and civil war. But while it was obvious that the talks were useful in keeping violence at bay and, hence, good for the tourist season, they were not helping to advance the American project in Lebanon. It was equally obvious, therefore, that those who wanted to push this project were expecting something to happen -- a US strike against Iran, for example, or an Israeli strike against Lebanon. Given the Iranian option remains currently out of bounds Israel knew it could count on a tacit green light from major Arab powers for its attack against Lebanon, and they did not disappoint it. It was the scope and vehemence of Israel's actions in Lebanon that came as the surprise.

This is neither an Iranian nor a Syrian war.The fist is just being involved in dialogue with the Americans and the second has been trying to avoid a war with Israel for decades.

Israel's aim is to change the rules of the game between Israel and Lebanon and, therefore, within Lebanon itself. This is the only point of similarity between the current campaign and the war of 1982. The major differences are that, on the negative side, international and regional circumstances favour Israel, while on the positive side the resistance, which is not Palestinian but Lebanese this time, is much stronger and better organised. To these two we can add another, which is that the Lebanese are not heading towards another 17 May; that experience they have put firmly behind them and no one wants to rake it up again. Even after the Syrian withdrawal the Lebanese society has much more positive attitude towards the Lebanese resistance than it had towards the Palestinian resistance, in those days of 1982 a part of the Lebanese people fought on the side of the Israelis. The initiative now lies in the hands of the Lebanese people and the resistance. They, alone, have the ability to thwart the conspiracy.

International delegations will soon appear in Lebanon to reap the fruits of the aggression. They will promise the Lebanese a ceasefire if they implement 1559, saying that there is no longer any excuse for delaying implementation now that the Israeli army has demonstrated the consequences of non- implementation.

Roed-Larsen's visit was not a fact-finding mission. Sending Roed-Larsen was in itself a political statement. He is not only the Israeli Labour Party's man on the conflict with the Palestinians, he is also the spokesman of the Israeli position with respect to the Lebanese resistance. He is the one who is after blood-money to compensate for Barak's loss of honour after withdrawing from Lebanon and the one who was called in to supervise the implementation of Resolution 1559. Larsen has not only drawn a red line at crossing the blue line, he regards the Lebanese resistance as a local militia. He is also a foremost exponent of that now old term, "the New Middle East", by which is meant, at best, the normalisation of Arab relations, ie according inter-Arab relations no more priority than bilateral relations between individual Arab states and Israel. Larsen was the sworn enemy of Yasser Arafat, who spoiled the Oslo recipe and refused to behave as he was supposed to. He is filled with a mixture of hatred and bitterness against "Arab extremists" and harbours low expectations of, and disappointment with, "Arab moderates" who should always demonstrate that they are up to the Israeli establishment's expectations.

That's what it's all about; the rest is décor. We'll see Larsen in the garb of mediator, which hardly suits him since he is not an arbitrator and nowhere near the middle. And, we'll be inundated with details about ceasefires, truces, and preparations for implementing 1559.

The resistance isn't playing the role of victim. It didn't ask for international sympathy with the victims but for solidarity among freedom-seeking peoples. These are the rules of another game, a language that Arab regimes have forgotten, if they ever really knew it, though they owe their own existence to such a discourse. I am speaking of the language of liberation movements that exact a payment for colonisation from the coloniser. Resistance movements attempt to exact a price that their adversaries cannot afford and that the societies of their adversaries do not wish to pay, and they try to encumber their adversaries in a manner that inhibits the full use of force. This is how resistance movements try to neutralise military superiority.

The resistance was not being unduly reckless; it did not even select the timing. It was Israel that chose to open a broad battlefront against the resistance. It feared that putting off an inevitable battle with the Lebanese resistance would only give the resistance time to grow stronger and increase its arsenal. One reason why Israel chose this time in particular was that it already knew how key Arab regimes would react. The situation, therefore, is the opposite of what is being portrayed: the charge that the resistance has courted disaster betrays the existence of an Arab camp that regards robust resistance in Lebanon and Palestine as an adventure.

The US, meanwhile, is futilely trying to regulate Israel's cowardly assault against civilians and its destruction of civilian infrastructure. It wants Israel to target the resistance and the society that supports it without jeopardising the American project in Lebanon. It wants Israel to bully and blackmail America's allies without crushing them, alienating them completely or driving their supporters into the arms of the resistance. The difference between the Israel and the US, here, maybe tactical, but it is important. It is one of degree, of pushing or not pushing people over the edge.

Whereas the US wants Israel to promote the American project in Lebanon rather than throw out the baby with the bathwater, Israel wants the US, Washington's allies and all the international agencies at their disposal, to negotiate with the Lebanese government a ceasefire that fulfils several conditions. The first is to disarm Hizbullah, the second to deploy the official Lebanese army in the south and substitute the international force with a proper NATO force, the third to release the Israeli captives. But it is the first condition that is the one that counts; meeting this will be sufficient for Israel to agree to a ceasefire. The political order that emerges from the rubble of Israel's destruction in will see to the rest. Israel, in other words, has decided to settle internal Lebanese dialogue by Israeli force of arms.

A Nato force accepted by the government without the consent of the people will be considered an occupation force and will be the next target of the resistance thus creating a new Iraq, a fragmented Lebanon. If the Lebanese government agrees to the proposed settlement that includes dismantling Hizbullah a process of attrition will start also from the inside aimed at getting Lebanese society to pressure the resistance into conceding. This is how internal strife is ignited and it is part of the plan.

Israel decided that this would not only be a good time to go on the offensive but that the battle would be decisive. If the Israeli terrorist project and military adventure is not to prevail, it is not just the resilience of the resistance that matters but also the unity of the Lebanese against Israeli aggression and its political aims.

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/804/op1.htm

Update 7 from Saida Lebanon

2006-07-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

Today near Saida, two raids destroyed a business center in Gazziyeh and another building. A truck in Achrafieh Beirut (in the heart of Beirut) was also bombed.

As we drove around the city collecting clothes and other items to deliver to the displaced and refugees, we could see a stream of cars from the South coming to Saida and going beyond. Thousands of people passed by in cars, buses, cabs. Cars filled with people to the maximum, without any luggage or other items which means they fled. Destroyed and mangled cars that still could work and that was brining people who were fleeing. Everyone put white items, a tissue paper, a t-shirt, a sheet of paper on the top or side of the car assuming that if the Israelis see them, they will not bomb or shoot. Several cabs went to Marjeoun and picked up loads of people all holding the German flags as they are German citizens. They were trying to evacuate to Beirut to get to the embassy. (It is a good thing the country had so many flags during the World Cup; not sure other flags are going to help them in any significant way).

Today, the Russians evacuated about 20 buses through Syria. Most other countries have been evacuating all of their citizens. Many through the water via major ships and many others through the Syrian borders at various check points. But what are the Lebanese going to do and those with only Lebanese citizenship? Where would they run to?

Today, the bombings in the south continued. A major massacre took place in Sriefa (a small town) near Tyre where more than 25 people were killed. There are wounded and dead under the rubbles in most villages and towns. They have been bombing Nabbatiyeh non-stop among other areas. It seems that Israel tried to come into Lebanon and clashes continued with the resistance until they retreated. Just an indication of the inutility of the Israeli war machine in terms of targeting or really causing damage among the ranks of the resistance is that in a week of bombing all those killed have been civilians. Four fighters of the resistance have died. No weapons' basis, no headquarters, no political or military leader of Hizbullah has been reached or touched. This is an indication of the strength of the resistance and of the fact that Israel at this point may be at a standstill in terms of its advances. It has bombed most obvious sites that had offices or homes of Hizbullah, airports, roads, bridges, ports, etc...so what is next. Sadly enough, what has been next is our people as they destroy homes and villages in the south and in the Biqaa on a daily basis. Today they re-bombed the airport which is really not clear why as the airport is out of business and there is no work and no fuel, etc..
Yet all this is does not seem to be enough for the US that still sees no need for a cease fire as Hizbullah is still resisting strong.

If you would like to help with relief efforts, you can use the following reliable entities that I know well.

1) In Saida, the Municipality is coordinating all efforts with the various civil society organizations and all resources we are asking to go through the municipality.

Intercontinental Bank of Lebanon, SAL
Saida Branch
Account no: 0100021820073492016
Account holder: Dr. Abdul Rahman Nazih Al-Bizri (Head of the Municipality)
Swift Code: -INLELBBE

(If interested in sending money via other means directly to individuals that are involved in this effort, please let me know).

2) Collective for Research and Training on Development – Action (www.crtd.org) (Are working in Beirut but also coordinating with several groups in the Saida and other areas).
1. Bank Address: Audi Bank SAL, Sodeco Branch, Sodeco, Beirut - Lebanon
2. Bank telephone number: + 961 1 612792
3. Bank fax number: + 961 1 612793
4. Post address: P.O.BOX: 11-2560, RIAD EL SOLH, 1107-2808, BEIRUT
5. Account Name: CRTD-A
6. Account number: 832593-461-002-044-01 (US$)
7. ABA/SWIFT number: AUDBLBBX
8. Name and address of corresponding US bank (in case needed):
Audi Bank -USA
USA Building
19 East 54th Street,
New York, N.Y 10022
USA
Phone: +1 212 833 1000
Swift Code: AUS AUS 33

3) Helem, a progressive NGO which normally does sexual minority human rights work and women's rights work (see helem.net),
has shifted its center to a refugee intake point, providing blankets, food, etc for the refugees from the dahyieh and south Lebanon.
Information is below on how to donate both online through paypal or wire transfer. You can contribute online using PAYAPL at
http://www.helem.net/donations.znttp://www.helem.net/donations.zn or you can send payments to the accounts below
Credit Libanais S.A.L Beyrouth
Agence Sassine
SWIFT CODE: CLIBLBBX
Client Name: Al Azzi Georges
Account number: 043.001.208.0006817.35.6
SGBL Hamra Branch
SWIFT CODE: SGLILBBX
Client Name: CHIT Bassem
Account: 007.004.367.092.875.014

hatta al-awda
Until Return
Zeina M.B. Zaatari, PhD

The Zionist Education System

2006-07-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

Israeli kids writing messages to children in Lebanon with the supervision of the Zionist military: (In northern Palestine, next to the Lebanese border)
The children that recieve the messages:

Images of children killed in Lebanon

2006-07-18T18:16:00.000-07:00

I received this post's content through a friend, though it was originally sent out by Hanady Salman - an editor at the lebanese daily Al Safir. Below is the unedited content of that email:

Saturday July 15 2006
"Dear friends and colleagues ,
You will all have to excuse me for sending this. It's pictures of the bodies of babies killed by the israelis in South lebanon. They are all burnt. I need your help. I am almost certain these pictures won't be published in the West, although they are associated press pictures. I need your help exposing them if you can. The problem is these are people who were asked to leave their village , Ter Hafra , this morning , within two hours , or else. ... So those who were able to flee went to the closer UN base where they were asked to leave. I think that after the Qana massacres in 1996 when civilians were bombed after they took shelter in UN headquarters , the UN does not want to be responssible for the lives of civilians. A FEW MINUTES AGO , the Israeli asked the people of Al Bustan village in the south to evacuate their homes. I am afraid massacares will keep happening as long as Israeli actions are uncheked. Please help us if you can
Hanady Salman"

Update 6 from Saida Lebanon

2006-07-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 10:30 PM - Day 7

This evening I want to talk about the displaced and refugees in Saida. We went to visit two of the public schools in Saida that are housing many families that have fled further in the South.

But first some numbers. As of noon today, Saida took in 510 families amounting to close to 3000 people in its various public schools. Eight schools were open with full occupancy and this afternoon four more centers opened including the Lebanese university (all are public institutions; however run and operated now by volunteers). 200 additional families are residing with relatives and friends in actual homes; making the total close to 4000 people. Every minute brings another family or a train of cars with families.

The municipality of Saida (just a reminder that this municipality is a coalition of forces from Saida that created a list against the Hariri list and won elections not too long ago) had created a network of committees in preparation for this exodus (having had a similar experience on some level in 1996 with Israel's Grapes of Wrath). The municipality thus was coordinating with civil society organizations including charitable associations, political parties and NGOs. The municipality and the receiving centers need to provide foam mattresses for people to sleep on, sheets and towels, cleaning supplies, all food items, medicine and medical care, entertainment, hygienic necessities; all this in coordination with the various associations, the government institutions, and the people of the city. Several local charities have been cooking daily food to feed all these families. So far, they took it upon themselves to provide 400 families with hot food. The rest is being taken care of by individual homes and people intent on providing support. I was told today of a group of small children that reside near a school that decided to go collect money from the kids in the neighborhood and buy some manakeesh for dinner for the families (manakeesh is like a small pizza made with cheese or thyme paste).

However, there is a lot more that is needed.

In short, the situation is dire and almost everything is in short supply. The families are still relatively doing well; but soon they will have more needs and more complaints. This is just to stress how detrimental the targeting of all the emergency supply trucks all day today is and will be in the near future for a country under siege.

The two schools we visited were the responsibility of three entities, one being the Martyr Rachid Broam Clinic, which provides on a daily basis low-cost clinical visits and medical social services among others. It is a leftist organization (Part of the Peoples' Party). He (meaning Rachid Broam) died with his wife and his child during the Israeli invasion of 1982.

The first school we visited (was ironically a school I spent a lot of time in growing up as my mother taught there for over 25 years) had 150 people with all ages including a 20 day old baby and mother. There was enough water and food it seemed for now. The school was equipped with some wash rooms that the families can use to wash their clothes and shower. It is a strange feeling to walk by a school and see all the clothes hanging from the windows (we are talking about a country that does not have Laundromats but washing is only done inside the homes). The kids were playing in the school playground kicking a ball or running. The displaced wanted to hold a demonstration to speak about about their support for the resistance and denounce Israel and the governments that have not done anything about the continued onslaught. These are people who have lost their homes and perhaps their loved ones. They do not know if they would be able to go back to their homes or their land again. Even though some good doers send some food supplies; yet the families do not have gas stoves to be able to cook anything or make use of it. There is also a shelter under the school that thankfully can be used in case Israel decides to air-raid Saida.

The second school we visited was a bit bigger with 300 residents and many people outside waiting in line trying to negotiate their stay in this school (many follow their relatives, however the schools are to full capacity and so they may have to be placed in another setting which naturally does not make them happy). This was a busier space which often leads to squabbles and problems. We are talking about schools, meaning that several families are placed in a classroom. There are no heaters nor air-conditions in the schools and many may or may not have glass on the windows (our public schools have been in a shitty situation since the war as the Hariri government and others that followed did not see education as a priority). So far only 100 mattresses are available which means that many are sleeping on the floor. They lacked sheets and towels, cleaning supplies, clothes, medicines many of them. The other problem in this school is that the bathrooms are in the playground only with no showers and the men's and women's bathrooms are next to each other. This is a problem for our people from the villages. They also have many children and babies including a newborn who is coming 'home' from the hospital with his mother (after having done a C-section). The volunteers decided to put her in a separate room so as not to risk any contamination or microbes for the newborn. yet they are worried. Everyone is worried about diseases and other problems of having so many people together in the same space with minimum supplies and clothes, etc... Doctors from the Clinics as well as other volunteer doctors had been visiting the schools; however medication is in shortage. A truck of medication was supposed to arrive to the city today to provide medication to all the hospitals as well as these centers. But it did not arrive. We are hoping for tomorrow. We are creating a campaign in the city tomorrow to collect sheets, towels, and mattresses as well as purchase medications to support.

The residents here sit all day talking to each other, talking on the phone trying to make sure their loved ones are okay, made it out from wherever they are okay, worrying about their homes, their jobs, their resources. How long will they last like this? They asked for a TV station because the radio that they have is not providing enough information about what is going on. What will happen to them if Saida is bombed? Will they become refugees once again? How will they go and where will they go to?

The story repeats in other schools and centers. This is the lot of those 'fortunate' ones who were able to leave their villages and were not killed while sleeping in their homes or fleeing in their cars.

I will send soon a list of possible sources to which you and others who may be interested in donating funds can do so to help in relief efforts.

Zeina

Update 5 from Saida Lebanon

2006-07-18T05:19:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 18, 2006 1:00 PM - Day 7

Dear all,

It has been relatively quiet in Saida. We are only hearing warplanes roaming ahead and witnessing the atrocities on TV screens and awaiting . It is extremely frustrating to see all this death and destruction around and not be able to help. Even for those who are working in the red cross and others that are trained in emergency aid are not able to perform their role as the Israelis continue to target rescue operations as well as all the roads and bridges. The southern suburb of Beirut today was not targeted and this is in part that there is nothing left, most buildings in the center had been leveled to the floor already.

During the night and this morning, they have been bombing towns and cities in the south. Nabatiyyeh, Marjeoun, Khiam, and Bint Jbeil have all been targeted heavily. Aitaroun, a small village in the south was bombed last night destroying over five homes with their inhabitants.

Early this morning, they bombed a whole building of four stories high in Choueifat (near Beirut) and destroyed it completely.

Then they bombed the Lebanese army's base in Al-Jamhour, east of Beirut killing several and wounding many. They then bombed Jbeil (Byblos), a historic city north of Beirut. Then they bombed a church in Rashaya al-Wadi .

The Israeli war machine, the disgusting and vicious war machine, is now targeting since early this morning all trucks that are coming from the northern and eastern borders (from Jordan via Syria) of emergency aid that includes sugar, wheat, cement, and other such material like milk, infant formula, etc... They killed three Jordanian truck drivers that were bringing in aids from the United Arab Emirates. They are claiming these could be trucks that are moving artillery and rockets. This is a farce as all these trucks are open containers where you can clearly see what is inside of them. The aim is clear to suffocate further all Lebanese, those under heavy attack and those trying to provide for the refugees and IDPs in schools and parks where supplies are quickly dwindling. By yesterday's estimates, there are over 25,000 people who refugees at the moment. There are over 12,000 displaced in the schools and parks of Beirut. In Saida, the estimate is over 4000 families have fled from the South to find refuge in the city's public schools and among relatives.

Updates of more information from yesterday's events:
The bombing yesterday of Beirut's port killed two civilians. Images of the body indicate that the bombs are using chemical and phosphorous weapons. The bodies are melting including the bones (There are images on As-Safir newspaper www.assafir.com, but I do not recommend viewing for those faint of the heart).

The factory that was hit east of Saida in Kfar Jara, were actually two factories, one for cardboard and the other for tissue paper called Fine that is owned by a Jordanian merchant. The two were destroyed completely, with an estimate of 10 million dollars of losses according to the owner. Near Nabatiyye, in a town called Musaileh, Israel targeted Al-Kayan Center which includes a medical center, clinics, and an emergency center (ambulance and fire trucks center basically) and destroyed it. The air-raid destroyed ten ambulance trucks.

Thank you all for all your emails of support and care. I am sorry if I do not respond to them one by one, but I do appreciate the support and they do really help. Most of the time I do not have the energy to speak, transfixed with emotions of fear, worry, and anger.

hatta al-awda
Until Return
Zeina