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Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees

by Oui
Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 03:58:19 PM EST

(Euronews) - The Israeli army has been accused of deliberately targeting Palestinian refugees, after 30 people died in one house in Zeitoun. The United Nations said 110 people were told by Israel to shelter there last weekend, but the building was bombed by Israeli forces 24 hours later. Rescuers said the victims had no chance.

"Several bombs hit the house," said one man. "Some people managed to escape, but others were trapped. Most of them were children, too young to flee. We managed to collect the bodies. Some of them were completely blown apart."

Only now have the remains been moved to the morgue. The UN said survivors were forced to walk to the nearest hospital - three children, one just five months old, died on the way.

Buildings Housing Refugees Shelled In Bloodied Gaza

(ElectronicIntifada) - Furthermore, IOF aircrafts raided UNRWA's Asma School the Beach refugee camp. This school was used by UNRWA to shelter civilians who were displaced from the areas where they live in the eastern areas of Gaza City as well as the al-Atatra and al-Salatin areas in Beit Lahia town. The attack killed three youths who were identified as: 27-year-old Rawhi Jamal al-Sultan, 23-year-old Hussein Mamoud al-Sultan, and 19-year-old Abed Samir al-Sultan.

At approximately 6am on the same day, Israeli aircrafts bombarded the four-story house of 60-year-old Fayiz al-Daya, in al-Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City. The attack destroyed the house completely while its residents were in inside it. Eyewitnesses and survivors reported that 30 members of the al-Daya family were killed. Four bodies had been taken out from under the rubble and sent to al-Shifa Hospital at the time this release was issued. Al Mezan has also received the names of 26 other members of this family, who are believed to be under the rubble.

Red Cross criticises Israel for blocking access to Gaza injured

IDF Terror in Gaza (2007) :
The Crimes of War - Between Al Zeitoun (Gaza) and Rafah

Therefore I must conclude that the Israeli Army interest is entirely different: To demonstrate its supreme force and scare the civilian Palestinian population.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees | 24 comments (24 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees (4.00 / 7)

The tide is turning.

Times of London, UK

UN warns Israel over Gaza family 'herded' into shelled house

UN 'war crimes' warning to Israel
[.]
The alleged atrocity, denied by Israel, was one of several for which the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights yesterday demanded "credible and independent" investigations, and raised the possibility of Israeli leaders being prosecuted for war crimes. Though her comments were addressed at both Israel and Hamas, Navi Pillay said that scores of people, including children, had been killed or wounded in "Israel's totally unacceptable strikes".
"Violations of international humanitarian law may constitute war crimes for which individual criminal responsibility may be invoked," she added.
~~~~~
never mind that Hamas was duly elected..
Gaza: international plan hatched to bring back Fatah
A plan to create a new foothold in Gaza for the Palestinian Authority and to bring in international monitors was being drawn up by diplomats yesterday as a UN ceasefire call was dismissed by both sides.
The plan would allow a return of the authority, led by the secular Fatah faction, to the territory 18 months after it was expelled by the Islamist Hamas. Diplomats are considering taking a triangle at the southern end of Gaza, including the Rafah crossing to Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing to Israel, to be policed by Turkish and French military monitors to stop arms smuggling into Gaza.
[.]

Fatah, the former old enemy

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"

by idredit on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 09:22:31 PM EST

Democracy, Bush, Gaza and Elections (4.00 / 2)

The Gaza Bombshell
Article in Vanity Fair

After failing to anticipate Hamas's victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, the author reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever.

[links are mine - Oui]

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

by Oui on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 01:02:18 AM EST

Re: Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees (4.00 / 2)

Didn't Ben Gurion say that he was glad that the Palestinians were terrorized?

Something like "they would be running screaming Deir Yassin"

by Cee on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 11:13:28 AM EST

Re: Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees (4.00 / 2)

MSNBC via AP

Vatican remarks on Gaza violence upset Israel
Shock and distress erupt after cardinal likens incursion to Nazi death camp
JERUSALEM - Israel said Saturday it was shocked and distressed by a senior Vatican cardinal's likening of Gaza under Israel's military offensive to a concentration camp.

Too bad Israel, but Truth is sometimes painful and shocking.

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"

by idredit on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 07:29:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees (4.00 / 2)

I'd say it's more like the Warsaw Ghetto than a concentration camp.

by Hurria (Muslawia@gmail.com) on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 07:55:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees (4.00 / 2)

Israel's propaganda lies exposed. This update from Ha'aretz, Israel:

UN: IDF officers admitted there was no gunfire from Gaza school which was shelled
The United Nations is claiming Israeli military officers have admitted there was no Palestinian gunfire emanating from inside an UNRWA school in Gaza which was shelled by an IDF tank.
Dozens of Palestinians were killed in the shelling.
In addition, UNRWA Thursday announced it will cease activities in the Strip due to the death of an UNRWA staffer in an IDF shelling during Thursday morning's humanitarian hiatus. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told Haaretz yesterday that the army had conceded wrongdoing.
"In briefings senior [Israel Defense Forces] officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabalya were responding did not originate from the school," Gunness said. "The IDF admitted in that briefing that the attack on the UN site was unintentional."
He noted that all the footage released by the IDF of militants firing from inside the school was from 2007 and not from the incident itself.
"There are no up-to-date photos," Gunness said. "In 2007, we abandoned the site and only then did the militants take it over."
The UNRWA is now demanding an objective investigation into whether the school shelling constituted a violation of international humanitarian law, and if so, that those responsible stand trial.
(empahsis added)

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"

by idredit on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 09:04:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees (4.00 / 3)

I don't believe for one nanosecond that the attack on the UN site was unintentional any more than I believe the attack on Qana was unintentional. Do you?

by Hurria (Muslawia@gmail.com) on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 09:27:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees (none / 1)

a give back for all those anti-Israel resolutions at the UN.

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"

by idredit on Sun Jan 11th, 2009 at 10:37:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees (4.00 / 4)

The tide is turning indeed.

U.N. wants to know if war crimes were committed in Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- The U.N. high commissioner for human rights Friday called for an investigation of possible Israeli war crimes in Gaza as local residents told more gruesome tales about Israeli troops neglecting wounded civilians and the killing of unarmed Palestinians.
High Commissioner Navi Pillay noted the case of four boys who were rescued Wednesday by the International Committee of the Red Cross from the side of their dead mother in a dwelling 100 yards from an Israeli military post. The Red Cross called the incident "shocking," and Pillay told the BBC that it "had all the elements of what constitutes a war crime."
Eyewitnesses interviewed by McClatchy correspondents, along with Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, described gruesome scenes in and near Gaza City.
Among them: the charred remains of a toddler that had been partially devoured by wild animals, reported by the Red Cross; and an infant bleeding to death in his mother's arms, reported to a McClatchy special correspondent; and an unarmed man allegedly shot dead by an Israeli soldier in front of his family, reported by a relative who spoke to a McClatchy special correspondent and a witness who was interviewed by an Israeli human rights group.

This time it will be different.

More at Zandar vs. The Stupid.

by Zandar1 on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 11:19:47 AM EST

Re: Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees (4.00 / 4)

And if the Wall Street Journal is printing opinion pieces saying Israel is guilty of war crimes, then things are definitely far different than before.

Israel Is Committing War Crimes
Hamas's violations are no justification for Israel's actions.
srael's current assault on the Gaza Strip cannot be justified by self-defense. Rather, it involves serious violations of international law, including war crimes. Senior Israeli political and military leaders may bear personal liability for their offenses, and they could be prosecuted by an international tribunal, or by nations practicing universal jurisdiction over grave international crimes. Hamas fighters have also violated the laws of warfare, but their misdeeds do not justify Israel's acts.
The United Nations charter preserved the customary right of a state to retaliate against an "armed attack" from another state. The right has evolved to cover nonstate actors operating beyond the borders of the state claiming self-defense, and arguably would apply to Hamas. However, an armed attack involves serious violations of the peace. Minor border skirmishes are common, and if all were considered armed attacks, states could easily exploit them -- as surrounding facts are often murky and unverifiable -- to launch wars of aggression. That is exactly what Israel seems to be currently attempting.
Israel had not suffered an "armed attack" immediately prior to its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Since firing the first Kassam rocket into Israel in 2002, Hamas and other Palestinian groups have loosed thousands of rockets and mortar shells into Israel, causing about two dozen Israeli deaths and widespread fear. As indiscriminate attacks on civilians, these were war crimes. During roughly the same period, Israeli forces killed about 2,700 Palestinians in Gaza by targeted killings, aerial bombings, in raids, etc., according to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.
But on June 19, 2008, Hamas and Israel commenced a six-month truce. Neither side complied perfectly. Israel refused to substantially ease the suffocating siege of Gaza imposed in June 2007. Hamas permitted sporadic rocket fire -- typically after Israel killed or seized Hamas members in the West Bank, where the truce did not apply. Either one or no Israelis were killed (reports differ) by rockets in the half year leading up to the current attack.
Israel then broke the truce on Nov. 4, raiding the Gaza Strip and killing a Palestinian. Hamas retaliated with rocket fire; Israel then killed five more Palestinians. In the following days, Hamas continued rocket fire -- yet still no Israelis died. Israel cannot claim self-defense against this escalation, because it was provoked by Israel's own violation.

If people start calling Israel's actions in Gaza "war crimes"...and they now are, publicly...how long before the world starts connecting these crimes to the US, as BooMan has suggested?

How much danger are we now in because of Israel's actions?

More at Zandar vs. The Stupid.

by Zandar1 on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 11:27:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees (none / 1)

Jews should have been made whole in the land they were driven from.

The creation of the state was a crime.

Thus...

When the Chief Military Prosecutor (Colonel Einat Ron) eventually responded to researchers at B'Tselem, she informed them there was no reason to open a criminal investigation, as she had found that the soldiers had acted properly, opening fire when confronted by rioters. Unfortunately for Col. Dan, the supporting documents that her office sent to B'Tselem (.pdf link) inadvertently included internal army documents, never intended for release to the public, showing that Col. Dan had actually found there was no riot going on at the time Khalil was shot, that his killing was unjustified, and that she had experimented with various phony explanations for B'Tselem before settling on the "killed in a riot" scenario:

http://lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com/

by Cee on Mon Jan 12th, 2009 at 01:49:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

B'Tselem Earns Dutch Honour (none / 0)

.
Earned the prestigious Dutch Geuzen Penning 2009, named after renowned Dutch freedom fighters in the 80 years of Spanish occupation during the Middle Ages.

Geuzen Penning 2009 for Al-Haq en B'Tselem

Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq and the Israeli B'Tselem Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories have jointly won this year's Geuzenpenning award. A Dutch foundation commemorating the resistance movement of the Second World War has been giving this award since 1987 to acknowledge outstanding work for democracy and against dictatorship, racism and discrimination.

Al-Haq is an independent Palestinian group which attempts to document the stories of victims and eyewitnesses of human rights abuses. The Ramallah-based organisation was founded in 1979 by a group of Palestinian lawyers.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

by Oui on Mon Jan 12th, 2009 at 03:16:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees (4.00 / 3)

I don't understand the U.N. at all. Holding 1.5 million human beings under a two year, ever-tightening siege that deprives them of all basic needs, and most of their basic human rights (as laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Convention om the Rights of the Child, etc.), deliberately creating a humanitarian catastrophe and not allowing the people escape it by going outside the Gaza Strip, periodically bombarding them - in other words, instituting years of horrific collective punishment against 1.5 million human beings - is not clearly a war crime?! And now, suddenly after decades of barely even clucking its tongue over Israel's daily multiple war crimes in Gaza, In the West Bank, in Lebanon, the U.N. decides that Israel should be investigated because it failed to assist people it wounded?

This is a bizarro world.

by Hurria (Muslawia@gmail.com) on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 12:45:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees (none / 1)

I told a talk show host about the Samouni family. A hasbara caller followed mine and said I was a Nazi liar.

The talk show host looked up the article and read it on the air.

Things are changing.

by Cee on Mon Jan 12th, 2009 at 01:54:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

US Shipment 'Hazardous Material' to Israel (4.00 / 2)

U.S. says arms shipment to Israel not linked to Gaza

ASTAKOS, Greece (Reuters) - In the tender documents, the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) said the ship was to carry 325 standard 20-foot containers of what is listed as "ammunition" on two separate journeys from the Greek port of Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod in mid-to-late January.

Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said he would not comment on shipping routes for security reasons but confirmed a shipment of ammunition to Israel was planned.

"The delivery of ammunition is to a pre-positioned U.S. munitions stockpile in Israel in accordance with a congressionally authorized 1990 agreement between the U.S. and Israel," Ryder said.

"This previously scheduled shipment is routine and not in support of the current situation in Gaza."

The shipment originated in the United States, Ryder said. He provided no further details on the intended cargo.

A "hazardous material" designation on the manifest mentions explosive substances and detonators but gives no other details.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

by Oui on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 01:50:16 PM EST

Re: US Shipment 'Hazardous Material' to Israel (4.00 / 2)

I hope the international labor unions block any ship that tries to load or sail with those weapons.

by Cee on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 03:37:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

US Shipment 'Hazardous Material' to Israel (none / 1)

couldn't possibly be in preparation for this...

Israel tells Gazans to brace for war escalation
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel pounded rocket sites and tunnels Saturday while its planes dropped leaflets warning of an escalation, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas predicted a "waterfall of blood" unless all parties adhere to the U.N.'s call for a durable cease-fire.
...
Diplomacy was not finished, but it appeared to be in retreat following both sides' defiance of Thursday's U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a halt to fighting. Struggling to keep peace efforts alive, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak invited representatives of Gaza's Hamas rulers to Egypt for further talks on his cease-fire initiative.
Defying the international calls for a cease-fire, Israel threatened to launch a "new phase" in its offensive.
"The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) will escalate the operation in the Gaza Strip," said the leaflets in Arabic dropped from planes. "The IDF is not working against the people of Gaza but against Hamas and the terrorists only. Stay safe by following our orders."
...
Israeli defense officials say they are prepared for a third stage of the offensive, in which ground troops would push much further into Gaza, but are still waiting for approval from the government.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified information, said the army also has a fourth stage planned that calls for a full reoccupation of Gaza and toppling of Hamas...
yahoonews

nah.

the revolution will not be televised...

by dada on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 02:39:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: US Shipment 'Hazardous Material' to Israel (none / 1)

Interesting what has gone under the radar:

Hamas: Abbas no longer president
GAZA, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Hamas leaders say Mahmoud Abbas is no longer the president of the Palestinian Authority since his term expired Friday.
Abbas argues that he has the right to remain in office for another year because the law says presidential and parliamentary elections should be held at the same time, the Jerusalem Post reported. Parliamentary elections are set for January 2010.
Hamas officials said they do not expect Abbas to step down while the war continues in Gaza. But they also deny his legitimacy.
~~~~~~
It's a lunch break:
Israeli army's latest tactic: Kill, take a short break, and kill again
~~~~~~
Robert Fisk observes the Israel PR machine:
On both sides of the Atlantic the experience has been weirdly repetitive.
It all depends where you live. That was the geography of Israel's propaganda, designed to demonstrate that we softies - we little baby-coddling liberals living in our secure Western homes - don't realise the horror of 12 (now 20) Israeli deaths in 10 years and thousands of rockets and the unimaginable trauma and stress of living near Gaza. Forget the 600 Palestinian dead; travelling on both sides of the Atlantic these past couple of weeks has been an instructive - not to say weirdly repetitive - experience.
~~~~~~
A must read
Alexander Cockburn, Counterpunch - Hamas Chief on Israel's Decline:
Israel's Onslaught on Gaza: Criminal, for Sure; But Also Stupid

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"

by idredit on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 06:14:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: US Shipment 'Hazardous Material' to Israel (none / 1)

They deal they are trying to force on Hamas is that Abbas and Fatah come back to lead Gaza.

I'm not making it up.

by Cee on Sun Jan 11th, 2009 at 01:52:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: US Shipment 'Hazardous Material' to Israel (none / 0)

Yep! Regime change was one of their goals.

by Hurria (Muslawia@gmail.com) on Sun Jan 11th, 2009 at 03:20:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Plan for Fatah's Return to Gaza (none / 0)

Gaza: international plan hatched to bring back Fatah

(Times Online) - The plan would allow a return of the Palestinian Authority, led by the secular Fatah faction, to the territory 18 months after it was expelled by the Islamist Hamas. Diplomats are considering taking a triangle at the southern end of Gaza, including the Rafah crossing to Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing to Israel, to be policed by Turkish and French military monitors to stop arms smuggling into Gaza.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

by Oui on Sun Jan 11th, 2009 at 06:39:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Plan for Fatah's Return to Gaza (none / 1)

Hell no. No one else should step in to do the dirty work of Israel.

by Cee on Sun Jan 11th, 2009 at 12:25:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Plan for Fatah's Return to Gaza (none / 0)

They will. They always do.

by Hurria (Muslawia@gmail.com) on Sun Jan 11th, 2009 at 01:18:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Not An Israeli Invention (none / 0)

.
Paper War Propaganda Leaflets

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

by Oui on Sun Jan 11th, 2009 at 02:11:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Israel Deliberate Targeting of Refugees | 24 comments (24 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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