Diary about peace and freedom

UN and many otghers are going to prove that Israel used too much power and used illegal weapons during this war in Gaza.
Also Israeli activists have launched a website about those people responsible for these acts
http://www.wanted.org.il/ehud_barak_en.htm
Hopefully Israel will be condemned for its crimes.

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After talking to our partners in Gaza, many of our donors and discussing the situation in Gaza, we are announcing our next trip to Gaza during the week of March 2, 2009. We hope to bring in a cargo ship loaded with building supplies and medical equipment plus take a passenger boat as well. Over the next month, the organizers will be busy raising the funds to purchase both boats and are also going to put out a plea for building materials, especially cement, wood and PVC piping.

Derek Graham, first mate on many of the trips stated, "We need to do more this time than just send in a symbolic delegation. We need to bring in practical supplies that can be used to rebuild the Gaza infrastructure that Israel has destroyed." Derek plans on taking the project ideas to Northern Ireland at the end of January to talk to Irish sympathizers and donors.

"The Free Gaza Movement has always seen itself as a human rights organization, but we also recognize that we can bring in more than just observers. And that's why we are making sure we have the time and the money to carry in as much as we can." said Huwaida Arraf, delegation leader on many of the trips.

The Free Gaza boat, the DIGNITY, was rammed three times by the Israeli navy on December 30 while it was clearly in international waters. The movement organizers are pursuing legal actions against the government of Israel for piracy on the high seas as well as damages to the boat. Estimates range from 100 to 150 thousand euros and will take five months to repair.

"Israel rammed us, hoping to sink us. There is no other way to look at it, and those of us on the boat clearly knew it was no accident. They didn't realize how sturdy the DIGNITY is and how courageous our captain, Denis Healy was." remarked Eliza Ernshire, one of the passengers on board the crippled boat.

We now have the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY as one possibility to accompany the cargo boat, but we are also looking for a larger boat that can carry 50-75 people into Gaza. Several high-profile people have asked to go with us when the trip is ready, and we are currently collecting names if any of you have suggestions to pass on to us.

Greta Berlin
Media Team
Free Gaza Movement
310 422 7242
www.freegaza.org
www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/

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Human rights group Amnesty International has accused Israel of war crimes, saying its use of white phosphorus munitions in densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip was indiscriminate and illegal.

The accusations from the London-based organisation came as the scale of the destruction caused by the Israeli assault on the Palestinian territory overwhelmed Gazans.

Amnesty is not the first group to accuse Israel of using white phosphorus.

Human Rights Watch made the accusation on January 10 and the UN has also said Israel used the munition during its offensive in Gaza.

Donatella Rovera, a researcher with Amnesty, said: "Such extensive use of this weapon in Gaza's densely populated residential neighbourhoods is inherently indiscriminate."

"Its repeated use in this manner, despite evidence of its indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime," she said.

Ample evidence

The use of white phosphorus is not prohibited under international law, but the indiscriminate use of any weapon in an area crowded with civilians could be used as the basis to make war crimes charges, legal experts have said.

In video
Unearthing Gaza's destruction
Israel's scorched earth tactics
Israel said last week that all weapons used during its three-week campaign in Gaza complied with international law, but said it would carry out an internal investigation following Amnesty's accusations.

"In response to the claims ... relating to the use of phosphorus weapons, and in order to remove any ambiguity, an investigative team has been established in southern command to look into the issue," the Israeli army said.

Amnesty's accusations are made on the basis of an on-the-ground study by Chris Cobb-Smith, a British weapons expert who visited Gaza as part of a four-person Amnesty team following the start of a ceasefire on Sunday.

Cobb-Smith said he had found widespread evidence of the use of the incendiary material.

"We saw streets and alleyways littered with evidence of the use of white phosphorus, including still-burning wedges and the remnants of the shells and canisters fired by the Israeli army," he said in a statement.

"White phosphorus is a weapon intended to provide a smokescreen for troop movements on the battlefield. It is highly incendiary, air burst and its spread effect is such that it should never be used on civilian areas."

'War crimes'

When white phosphorous lands on skin it burns through muscle and into the bone, continuing to burn unless deprived of oxygen.

Amnesty said that one of the places worst-affected by the use of white phosphorous munitions was the UN Relief and Works Agency compound in Gaza, which Israel shelled on January 15.

In another incident on the same day, a white phosphorus shell landed in the al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, causing a fire and forcing hospital staff to evacuate patients.

At the time, the UN had accused Israel of using white phosphorus, but the Israeli army refused to comment.

Israel faces potential claims in international courts for its actions in Gaza, where it launched an offensive against Hamas on December 27 with the stated aim of stopping the Palestinian group from firing rockets into Israel.

Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, said on Monday that she was "at peace" with the actions Israel had taken during the conflict.

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Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israel’s High Court says a water company can extend a waste line through a historic Islamic cemetery at the entrance of Ramla.

The decision rejected a petition filed by the Al-Aqsa Foundation, according to its lawyers.

The foundation had argued that the line’s construction should stop long enough for an alternative route to be agreed upon, insisting that workers stop digging in the cemetery until new plans could be arranged.

But the court dismissed the motion, saying the Israeli company had taken the necessary precautions. Al-Aqsa disputed the decision, saying the court should have taken the potential for error into account.

“This decision is a dangerous incident that opens the door for more violations at Islamic cemeteries,” Al-Aqsa said in a statement. “We reject this decision.”
The court approved the water line after the Israeli company offered to extend lines inside the cemetery, claiming that the decision will cause “less harm” to the historic religious site.

The foundation says it submitted an alternative proposal to reroute the waste line outside of the cemetery, but noted the cost of such a proposal was higher than the Israeli company’s idea. It called on the water company to take part in talks “to implement a proposal for all sides to fulfill their needs.”

According to Al-Aqsa’s director, Zaki Ighbarieyah, the decision “means legitimizing the violation of Islamic cemeteries,” adding, “We cannot accept such a decision.”

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Gaza – Ma’an – Israel’s navy shelled the Gaza Strip on Thursday morning, injuring seven Palestinians, including five fishermen.

Mu’awiyah Hassanain, the director of Ambulance and Emergency Services in the Palestinian Health Ministry told Ma’an that Israeli gunboats shelled the As-Sudaniya area northwest of Gaza City.

He said the wounded people were taken to Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Hassanain added that rescue teams are still working to recover the corpses, many of them now decomposing, of those killed in Israel’s three-week war on Gaza.

Separately, two Palestinians died in Egyptian hospitals where they were treated for wounds from Israel’s three-week offensive.

Medical officials identified them as: Tamer Omar Al-Louh, 22, from Gaza city and Azzam Mu’awad Ash-Shafe’y, 24, from Rafah.

The death toll from the war is now 1,330, with more than 5,000 injured.

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here follows the link to the article published yesterday to Il Manifesto:
link: http://www.ilmanifesto.it/il-manifesto/ricerca-nel-manifesto/vedi/nocache/1/numero/20090116/pagina/01/pezzo/239595/?tx_manigiornale_pi1%5BshowStringa%5D=dante&cHash=5fca2eb454
permalink: http://guerrillaradio.iobloggo.com/archive.php?eid=1774

ps. Olmert is Pinocchio,
h 2.10am in Gaza city, apaches are bombing with phospore....

-------

Dante Alighieri could never have imagined circles as hellish as the wards of the damned in Jabalia's hospitals. The laws of divine justice are turned on their head around here: the more innocent the victim, the less likely that they'll be spared martyrdom through bombing. At Kamal Odwan and Al Auda hospitals, the ceramic tiles in the first aid units are always shiny. The cleaners are permanently busy wiping away the blood dripping copiously from the stretchers constantly carrying in the massacred bodies. Iyad Mutawwaq was walking in the street when a bomb tore open a building not far from him. He and other passers-by rushed over to try and bring some aid when a second bomb was dropped on the same building. It killed a father of 9, two brothers and another passer-by who had rushed over to help. The same story could be told over ten, or one hundred times. The perfect terrorist technique is being immaculately carried out by the Israeli army. You drop a bomb, wait for the first-aiders, then drop another bomb on the wounded and the first-aiders.

In Iyad's eyes, those were American bombs, but they also carry the stamp of Mubarrack, the Egyptian dictator who rivals Olmert here in Gaza when it comes to provoking hatred. Behind Iyad's bed, an elderly man with both his arms in plasters is lying staring at the ceiling, and I'm told he's lost everything: his family and his home. He stares at the cracks in the falling plaster, as if seeking an answer to the sheer destruction of his existence.

Khaled worked in Israel for 25 years, prior to the first Intifada. In recognition, Tel Aviv hasn't even granted him a pension, only a series of missiles from land and air onto his house. He suffers from shrapnel wounds all over his body. I ask him where he plans to go after he's been discharged from hospital. He says he'll join his family, out in the streets. Not unlike Khaled's, many families don't know where to find shelter. The most fortunate were offered hospitality by relatives and acquaintances, but can you really say that one hundred people crammed into two apartments counting three rooms each is really a life? Two bombs were dropped onto Ahmed Jaber's home and though his family fled, for some of them it was too late. A third explosion buried 7 of his relatives under the rubble, including two children aged 8 and 9 – his neighbour's children. He says: "They made us leap back in time, back to 1948. This is their punishment for our attachment to our country. They can tear my arms and legs off from my body, but they won't make me leave my land." A doctor takes me aside and tells me that Ahmed's 7-year-old daughter, or what was left of her, was just brought in inside a tiny cardboard box. They don't have the heart to tell him and make his already precarious health condition any worse. In the evening they took the phone away from Iyad as well, to prevent him from receiving any more bad news. A tank had hit his sister's house full in the middle, beheading her in the process.

In the end, our Free Gaza Movement boat never got to the port in Gaza. About 100 miles from their designated destination, in international waters, they were intercepted by 4 Israeli war ships poised to open fire and kill its cargo of doctors, nurses and human rights activists. No one must dare to obstruct the massacre of civilians now in full swing for the last 3 weeks.

East of Jabalia, in front of the border, eyewitnesses speak of numerous decaying bodies in the streets. Their rotting meat is being eaten by the dogs. There are also hundreds of people unable to go anywhere, many of whom are injured. The ambulances simply cannot get anywhere near, with the trigger-happy snipers all over the place. Palestinians are sick of languishing in the midst of this general indifference, and many even accuse the international Red Cross and the UN of not doing enough, including not fulfilling their duties, nor risking their lives to save hundreds. We ISMers will thus equip ourselves with some stretchers and proceed on foot to the areas where humanity has surpassed all boundaries, eclipsing itself in the process.

The heavy-bottomed settlers sitting in the pristine lounges of armchair politics harp on about military strategies against Hamas, while we're being literally massacred out here. They bomb hospitals, and yet there are some who still champion Israel's right to self-defense. In any self-styled civilised country, self-defense is proportionate to the attack.

In these 20 days we've counted 1,075 dead Palestinians, 85% of whom were civilians, and over 5,000 injured, of whom half were under 18 years old. 303 children were atrociously massacred. It's equivalent to saying that for Israel, butchering at least 250 Palestinians is a justified blood-bath in avenging each dead civilian on its own side. How can this lop-sided reaction not take one back to some of modern European history's darkest pages?

Let's get straight to the point: are we seriously talking about self-defense? For journalists like Marco Travaglio, Piero Ostellino, Pierluigi Battista and Angelo Panebianco, who harp on with the refrain of Hamas having full responsibility for this genocide as well as for breaking the truce between Israel and Palestine, I would like to remind them of the United Nation's position on the matter. Professor Richard Falk, special rapporteur for human rights with the United Nations, has clearly expressed his views: it was in fact Israel that broken the truce in November, by blatantly exterminating 17 Palestinians. In the same month zero Israeli victims had been recorded, zero in October and likewise in the previous month, as well as the one prior to it. We were also recently reminded of this by Nobel prize winner and ex US President Jimmy Carter. It really is a crying shame that a journalist like Travaglio, who's earned our admiration as a proud upholder of freedom of the press, is now sporting an IDF helmet and entertaining the masses on TV while amusing himself with the pastime most in vogue at the moment – infant-shooting in Gaza.

As I tap on my keyboard in the Ramattan press agency office, all the Palestinian reporters around me are wearing bullet-proof vests and helmets. They haven't come straight from riding in a tank – they're simply sitting in front of their computers. Two floors above, the Reuters offices were recently struck by a rocket, which seriously injured two. Almost all the floors in the building are empty at the moment, and only the most heroic of journalists are still around. The story of this hell must somehow continue to be told. And yet earlier this week, the Israeli army had assured Reuters it wouldn't need to evacuate, as staying in their offices would be safe. This morning many casualties were also caused by the bombing of the United Nations building, built among others with money from the Italian government. Berlusconi, where are you?

John Ging, chief of the UNRWA, UN agency for Palestinian refugees and eye witness, clearly spoke of white phosphorous bombs. In the Tal el Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza city, a whole wing of Al Quds hospital is presently in flames, and Leila, an ISM colleague is also trapped inside it along with forty doctors and nurses, and one hundred patients. She describes these last dramatic hours to us via phone. A tank stands in front of the hospital. There are snipers everywhere, ready to shoot at anything that moves. All around is destruction. At night, from their windows, they could observe a building going on fire after having been struck by a bomb. They heard the cries of whole families with children, imploring help. They were impotent to help as they watched the bodies devoured by the flames, running into the street and then be reduced to ashes. Hell has switched places and come to the centre of Gaza, and we are the damned designated by an inhuman hatred.

Stay human

Vittorio Arrigoni



(Translated from italian by Daniela Filippin)

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Still Breathing, A Report from Gaza
By Caoimhe Butterly

The morgues of Gaza's hospitals are over-flowing. The bodies in their
blood-soaked white shrouds cover the entire floor space of the Shifa
hospital morgue. Some are intact, most horribly deformed, limbs twisted
into unnatural positions, chest cavities exposed, heads blown off, skulls
crushed in. Family members wait outside to identify and claim a brother,
husband, father, mother, wife, child. Many of those who wait their turn
have lost numerous family members and loved ones.

Blood is everywhere. Hospital orderlies hose down the floors of operating
rooms, bloodied bandages lie discarded in corners, and the injured
continue to pour in: bodies lacerated by shrapnel, burns, bullet wounds.
Medical workers, exhausted and under siege, work day and night and each
life saved is seen as a victory over the predominance of death.

The streets of Gaza are eerily silent- the pulsing life and rhythm of
markets, children, fishermen walking down to the sea at dawn brutally
stilled and replaced by an atmosphere of uncertainty, isolation and fear.
The ever-present sounds of surveillance drones, F16s, tanks and apaches
are listened to acutely as residents try to guess where the next deadly
strike will be- which house, school, clinic, mosque, governmental building
or community centre will be hit next and how to move before it does. That
there are no safe places- no refuge for vulnerable human bodies- is felt
acutely. It is a devastating awareness for parents- that there is no way
to keep their children safe.

As we continue to accompany the ambulances, joining Palestinian paramedics
as they risk their lives, daily, to respond to calls from those with no
other life-line, our existence becomes temporarily narrowed down and
focused on the few precious minutes that make the difference between life
and death. With each new call received as we ride in ambulances that
careen down broken, silent roads, sirens and lights blaring, there exists
a battle of life over death. We have learned the language of the war that
the Israelis are waging on the collective captive population of Gaza- to
distinguish between the sounds of the weaponry used, the timing between
the first missile strikes and the inevitable second- targeting those that
rush to tend to and evacuate the wounded, to recognize the signs of the
different chemical weapons being used in this onslaught, to overcome the
initial vulnerability of recognizing our own mortality.

Though many of the calls received are to pick up bodies, not the wounded,
the necessity of affording the dead a dignified burial drives the
paramedics to face the deliberate targeting of their colleagues and
comrades- thirteen killed while evacuating the wounded, fourteen
ambulances destroyed- and to continue to search for the shattered bodies
of the dead to bring home to their families.

Last night, while sitting with paramedics in Jabaliya refugee camp,
drinking tea and listening to their stories, we received a call to respond
to the aftermath of a missile strike. When we arrived at the outskirts of
the camp where the attack had taken place the area was filled with clouds
of dust, torn electricity lines, slabs of concrete and open water pipes
gushing water into the street. Amongst the carnage of severed limbs and
blood we pulled out the body of a young man, his chest and face lacerated
by shrapnel wounds, but alive- conscious and moaning.

As the ambulance sped him through the cold night we applied pressure to
his wounds, the warmth of his blood seeping through the bandages reminder
of the life still in him. He opened his eyes in answer to my questions and
closed them again as Muhammud, a volunteer paramedic, murmured "ayeesh,
nufuss"- live, breathe- over and over to him. He lost consciousness as we
arrived at the hospital, received into the arms of friends who carried him
into the emergency room. He, Majid, lived and is recovering.

A few minutes later there was another missile strike, this time on a
residential house. As we arrived a crowd had rushed to the ruins of the
four story home in an attempt to drag survivors out from under the rubble.
The family the house belonged to had evacuated the area the day before and
the only person in it at the time of the strike was 17 year old Muhammud
who had gone back to collect clothes for his family. He was dragged out
from under the rubble still breathing- his legs twisted in unnatural
directions and with a head wound, but alive. There was no choice but to
move him, with the imminence of a possible second strike, and he lay in
the ambulance moaning with pain and calling for his mother. We thought he
would live, he was conscious though in intense pain and with the rest of
the night consumed with call after call to pick up the wounded and the
dead, I forgot to check on him. This morning we were called to pick up a
body from Shifa hospital to take back to Jabaliya. We carried a body
wrapped in a blood-soaked white shroud into the ambulance, and it wasn't
until we were on the road that we realized that it was Muhammud's body.
His brother rode with us, opening the shroud to tenderly kiss Muhammud's
forehead.

This morning we received news that Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City was under
siege. We tried unsuccessfully for hours to gain access to the hospital,
trying to organize co-ordination to get the ambulances past Israeli tanks
and snipers to evacuate the wounded and dead. Hours of unsuccessful
attempts later we received a call from the Shujahiya neighborhood,
describing a house where there were both dead and wounded patients to pick
up. The area was deserted, many families having fled as Israeli tanks and
snipers took up position amongst their homes, other silent in the dark,
cold confines of their homes, crawling from room to room to avoid sniper
fire through their windows.

As we drove slowly around the area, we heard women’s cries for help. We
approached their house on foot, followed by the ambulances and as we came
to the threshold of their home, they rushed towards us with their
children, shaking and crying with shock. At the door of the house the
ambulance lights exposed the bodies of four men, lacerated by shrapnel
wounds- the skull and brains of one exposed, others whose limbs had been
severed off. The four were the husbands and brothers of the women, who had
ventured out to search for bread and food for their families. Their bodies
were still warm as we struggled to carry them on stretchers over the
uneven ground, their blood staining the earth and our clothes. As we
prepared to leave the area our torches illuminated the slumped figure of
another man, his abdomen and chest shredded by shrapnel. With no space in
the other ambulances, and the imminent possibility of sniper fire, we were
forced to take his body in the back of the ambulance carrying the women
and children. One of the little girls stared at me before coming into my
arms and telling me her name- Fidaa', which means to sacrifice. She stared
at the body bag, asking when he would wake up.

Once back at the hospital we received word that the Israeli army had
shelled Al Quds hospital, that the ensuing fire risked spreading and that
there had been a 20-minute time-frame negotiated to evacuate patients,
doctors and residents in the surrounding houses. By the time we got up
there in a convoy of ambulances, hundreds of people had gathered. With the
shelling of the UNRWA compound and the hospital there was a deep awareness
that nowhere in Gaza is safe, or sacred.

We helped evacuate those assembled to near-by hospitals and schools that
have been opened to receive the displaced. The scenes were deeply
saddening- families, desperate and carrying their children, blankets and
bags of their possessions venturing out in the cold night to try to find a
corner of a school or hospital to shelter in. The paramedic we were with
referred to the displacement of the over 46,000 Gazan Palestinians now on
the move as a continuation of the ongoing Nakba of dispossession and exile
seen through generation after generation enduring massacre after massacre.

Today's death toll was over 75, one of the bloodiest days since the start
of this carnage. Over 1,110 Palestinians have been killed in the past 21
days. 367 of those have been children. The humanitarian infrastructure of
Gaza is on its knees- already devastated by years of comprehensive siege.
There has been a deliberate, systematic destruction of all places of
refuge. There are no safe places here, for anyone.

And yet, in the face of so much desecration, this community has remained
intact. The social solidarity and support between people is inspiring, and
the steadfastness of Gaza continues to humble and inspire all those who
witness it. Their level of sacrifice demands our collective response- and
recognition that demonstrations are not enough. Gaza, Palestine and its
people continue to live, breathe, resist and remain intact and this
refusal to be broken is a call and challenge to us all.

-----
Caoimhe Butterly is an Irish human rights activist working in Jabaliya and
Gaza City as a volunteer with ambulance services and as co-coordinator for
the Free Gaza Movement, She can be contacted on 00972-598273960 or at
sahara78@hotmail.co.uk

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800,000 Gazans reportedly without water
Date: 14 / 01 / 2009 Time: 21:01


Gaza – Ma’an – Up to 800,000 people, more than half the population of the Gaza Strip now have no running water, a Palestinian water official told Ma’an on Wednesday.

The official, Munther Shablaq, said that some of these people have had no running water for two weeks. The worst-affected area is Gaza City, which depends on water supplies from the north and the east of Gaza, where Israeli troops are most heavily-deployed.

Shablaq said that the water utility in Gaza normally pumps 220,000 cubic meters per day of water, and is now only producing 100,000 cubic meters per day.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php...tails&ID=34977

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Israeli ground forces advance on Gaza City
Hospitals, UN compound, media building under attack
Date: 15 / 01 / 2009 Time: 09:33
تكبير الخط تصغير الخط
[Ma'anImages]
Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli ground forces backed by tanks invaded Gaza City from the south on Thursday morning while warplanes bombed the city center, causing thousands to flee their homes.

In the southern Gaza City neighborhood of Tel Al-Hawa, gunfire and fierce clashes with Palestinian fighters have been reported. Witnesses said the tanks have reached Awan Street, the farthest Israeli forces have entered since the beginning of the invasion.

In the southern Rimal neighborhood, just to the north of Tel Al-Hawa, witnesses reported seeing dozens of families in their bedclothes in the streets, fleeing the Israeli onslaught on foot.

Al-Quds Hospital went up in flames after it came under Israeli shelling. Workers at the Palestine Red Crescent facility said they fear the fire could cause an explosion due to the fuel stored in the hospital's warehouse.

Dr Bashar Murad the head of emergency services at the Al-Quds Hospital told Ma’an that three Israeli missiles hit the hospital, two of them containing white phosphorus. Shrapnel from the bombs was scattered in the hospital but no one was injured. Fire has engulfed the hospital’s administration building, a storehouse, and a pharmacy.

Dr Murad said that up to 600 people had fled Tel Al-Hawa and areas around the hospital.

Meanwhile, UN's relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says Israeli shells struck one of their installations in Gaza, injuring three workers. The compound includes the UNRWA headquarters, other offices and a school. Hundreds of Palestinians had taken refuge in the compound.

Separatlely Israeli forces attacked a media compound home to the Reuters news agency, NBC, and a number of Arab networks in Gaza City late on Thursday morning. Two journalists working for Abu Dhabi television have reportedly been injured when at least one Israeli shell struck the building.

The Mujahedin Brigades said that two fighters have been killed in street battles with Israeli forces in Tel Al-Hawa. They were identified as Ahmad Al-Bitar and Ahed Abu Asi.

Further south, in central Gaza, Israeli forces have surrounded the Al-Aqsa Hospital, according to international volunteers in the building.

“The hospital has received over 150 calls for help from people including many children in the surrounding area who have been wounded and are in desperate need of medical care. The Israeli army has surrounded the hospital and no one is able to get in or out,” said volunteer Sharon Lock.

Intense shelling overnight

Another 21 Gazans were confirmed killed in heavy overnight shelling. According to senior officials at the Palestinian Health Ministry, the official death toll is now 1,054. More than 4,600 have been wounded in two and a half weeks of the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Israeli forces shelled a store near Al-Karameh towers in Gaza City, the Bashir mosque, and the Al-Arqam school in eastern Gaza City.

The Israel's air force said it attacked more than 70 targets in Gaza, in what appeared to be heavier-than-usual bombing. Heavy artillery shelling was also reported in Beit Lahiya and Jabaliya, north of Gaza City, and in Khan Younis, in the south of the Strip.

On Thursday morning the Israeli military said it would continue the operation in Gaza despite reports that Hamas had accepted an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
www.FreeGaza.org

Israel Threatens to Shoot Unarmed Civilians aboard Mercy Ship

For more information, please contact:
(Cyprus) Lubna Masarwa, +357 97 625 828
(Cyprus) Mary Hughes, +357 99 081 767
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +972 598 700 497

(Mediterranean Sea, 15 January 2009) - The Israeli navy today threatened
to kill unarmed civilians aboard a mercy ship on its way to deliver
medical supplies and doctors to besieged Gaza.

The Free Gaza Movement ship, SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, left Cyprus Wednesday
morning carrying doctors, journalists, human rights workers, and
parliamentarians. The ship also carried over a ton of desperately needed
medicines donated by the European Campaign to Break the Siege, intended
for overwhelmed hospitals in the Gaza Strip. At the request of the ship’s
organizers the passenger list and manifest were publicly released, and
Cypriot authorities searched the boat prior to its departure in order to
certify that it only carried humanitarian items. The organizers also sent
an official notification to the Israeli government of their intent to
break through the blockade of Gaza.

At roughly 3am UST (1am GMT), in international waters 100 miles off the
coast of Gaza, at least five Israeli gunboats surrounded the SPIRIT OF
HUMANITY and began recklessly cutting in front of the slow-moving civilian
craft. The Israeli warships radioed the SPIRIT, demanding that the ship
turn around or they would open fire and “shoot.” When asked if the Israeli
navy was acknowledging that they intended to commit a war crime by
deliberately firing on unarmed civilians, the warships replied that they
were prepared to use “any means” to stop the ship.

An earlier attempt by Free Gaza to deliver doctors and medical supplies
ended on 30 December when Israeli gunboats deliberately and repeatedly
rammed the DIGNITY, almost sinking that ship. Rather than endanger the
lives of its passengers, the SPIRIT is now returning to Cyprus.

Israel's reckless and shocking threats against an unarmed ship on a
mission of mercy are a violation of both international maritime law and
the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states that "the high seas
should be reserved for peaceful purposes."

CALL the Israeli Government and demand that it immediately STOP attacking
the civilian population of Gaza and STOP using violence to prevent human
rights and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il

Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence:
+972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod.gov.il

The Israeli Navy Spokesperson:
+ 972 5 781 86248

###
The Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza in
August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in the port
in 41 years. Since August, four more voyages were successful, taking
Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to witness
the effects of Israel's draconian policies on the civilians of Gaza.
http://www.FreeGaza.org

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I Don't Have Any Guns
By Adham Khalil – Gaza

It is very horrible here. Today was the worst. There were lots of F-16s above us and white phosphorous falling from the sky.

I didn't sleep last night. The sound of shelling in the north and east kept us all awake.

Most of the time we don't have any electricity in my house. So when the power comes for an hour or two the whole family is busy. We charge our mobiles, pump water, bake bread. But I have seen so many horrible things on TV that sometimes I wish we could stay without power.

So far, my own family is okay but I feel shy to speak about my family. I don't think like that. Everyone in Gaza is my family. We are suffering collectively as we are being punished and forgotten collectively, and we are dying.

It is very dangerous here and everywhere in Gaza. By 5 PM the streets are empty. Not even one person goes out of their homes in my area. But even in our homes, we are not safe. I swear sometimes I can smell death around us.

It is not true to say this is a war between Hamas and Israel. I am an eyewitness in Gaza and though you may think that Gaza is a country and Hamas is a great and powerful army, these are lies. The Palestinian factions do not own tanks, warplanes, or warships. They have homemade rockets, simple weapons. They cannot do anything against Israel's great and powerful army.

We are living under complete siege with daily killings and our houses destroyed. Hamas and other Palestinian factions are trying to defend Palestinians from the continuing massacres, invasions, and airstrikes. The Israeli occupation and actions in Gaza are terrorist actions, as are many of their actions and policies dating back to their ethnic cleansing campaign in 1948.

But I think this, right now, is the worst catastrophe I will see in my life.

I don't have any guns or weapons. I struggle by simply telling the truth. Many people have asked me if there is a way to send money or food. But what we really need is our freedom and an end to the fire.

Don't keep silent about the Israeli massacres and Holocaust against Palestinians. The demand for an end to this siege must be louder than the bombs that rain down upon us.

-To help MECA send more medical aid to Gaza for thousands of sick and injured people living under siege, visit: www.mecaforpeace.org.

- Adham Khalil is a resident of Jabalya refugee camp and a youth leader at the Al-Assria Children's Library. Visit his blog.

http://nagyelali.blogspot.com/

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The sky is still blue as I remember. I haven’t seen it since three days. I almost forgot how beautiful it looks on a sunny day in winter. I wish I could walk on the beach and enjoy some peace.

Three days ago, I moved to the house of my husband's family with him and our children. We left our beach apartment with the wonderful view in order to find a more secure place where the kids cannot hear the loud sounds of explosions and wake up frightened and crying. I cannot give them any assurances that tomorrow will be better for them and that they will be save. They stopped asking us when this going to end and when they can get back to living their normal lives as children.

The images are always the same, except that this time they are more violent and evil. We stopped enjoying anything after the Israeli war against the civilians in Gaza. Neither me nor my children can stand the sound of the continuous bombing of the Israeli war machines. It is worse during the night. The children started to go to bed very early to avoid hearing the sounds of F-16s dropping bombs. You cannot imagine how scary it is to hear the whistling of the missiles before they hit. With every hit you feel that this time you are that target and you count the seconds before they hit. All what we can do is to thank Allah when we all wake up safe the next morning. We will live another day!

I used to listen to how people talk about hating wars, about all the pain it leaves in their hearts and souls. War is very cruel and we, the Palestinian refugees, have witnessed the cruelty of war more than once. This time, it is the cruelest of all. There is no mercy, no difference between a child, an old man or even an innocent, unborn fetus. All are criminals and deserve to die according to Israel.

I stopped hoping for an end. My children have stopped feeling after seeing the photos broadcasted on the news. Children, families - are all the victims of the Israeli hate and inhumanity. Life became meaningless not only for us but also for our children. We, therefore, only wait our turn to join the list, as an additional number, nothing more, but just a number.

Our only wish is to die together as one family so no one of us has to live through the bitterness of losing the other.

Najwa Sheikh
6/1/2009
Nusierat Camp, Gaza Strip

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Written by my friend from Gaza:

I'm gazan


Gazan ! I was born to live in peace

amoung my family which has gathered after woes

I'm not here to give me a sorroful eye

cuz I'm gazan !

Grandpas were living in peace in their land and fields

when u came with ur tanks and airplans to force our land

u have brought war to us

blood, wars, destruction, screams, tears

were what u have brough to us

We are not discontent cuz of that

it's our fate !!

we were born to fight u

but what the crime babies have commit ?

for what guilt women are slains ?

for that we are furious !

Then u come with a message of peace

Which peace u, hooligan, talks about

thisrt of blood is inborn with u

but ur fate has chosen me, Gazan, to be ur foe !

I'm the curse God has put on u

in Jabalia, Zaitoon, Rafah and elsewhere

U will find me expecting u

cuz for that i was born

it doens't matter if they say I'm a terrorist

so far u killed 1000 and they never quit taking the side of u

for sure, they are bloody as well as u, jew !

gimme which title u want, it's desn't matter anymore

cuz u, israeli, are their stepdaughter

never think I'm fighing alone !

Muslims, Arab, even angels are all fighting with me

So is God !! and that's enough for me

I have faith. to be so my Mom has always tought me

to be trustful of God, Triumph is mine and only mine

and u, damned! disgrace, screams, and woes are all ur own

I'm gazan, and the rest after December 27 has become known


__________

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Here my last article published Yestarday in the newspaper Il Manifesto
link: http://www.ilmanifesto.it/il-manifesto/ricerca-nel-manifesto/vedi/nocache/1/numero/20090111/pagina/01/pezzo/239182/?tx_manigiornale_pi1%5BshowStringa%5D=volantini&cHash=777b0bf3e2
permalink: http://guerrillaradio.iobloggo.com/archive.php?eid=1770. Vittorio Arrigoni

Some Palestinian families have handed some leaflets over to us, which had fallen down from the sky in the last few days, courtesy of the Israeli Air Force instead of the customary bombs. Leaflet n. 1, translated from Arabic, said: " To all the people living in this area. Due to the terrorist acts that the terrorists in your area attacking Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces were forced to take immediate action in your area. We thus urge you, for your own safety, to immediately evacuate the area. Israeli Defense Forces". In short, the Israeli are sticking "Work in progress signs door to door, before razing whole neighbourhoods to the ground, and forever dashing the hopes of a life for the present and future. They want to bury those who haven't got anywhere to go under tons of rubble. A little while ago they had warned us they intended to throw more leaflets, intimating that "the third phase of war of terror is about to start". The Israeli military summits are indeed polite – they ask the population of Gaza to cooperate before crushing them like insects. If the leaflets aren't persuasive enough, it's up to the Air Force to gently knock onto the roofs of the Gazan houses. It's a newly adopted procedure – slightly less powerful are bombs dropped down, powerful enough to tear off the roofs in the houses and "gently" persuade their inhabitants to evacuate them. After two or three minutes the planes drift past again, and nothing remains of the buildings. Evacuation: but where should they go? There are no safe shelters in the whole of the Strip, and personally I fear for my life a lot more when walking past a mosque or a school, than in front of the government buildings still standing intact. Last night, 20 metres from my home, the Israeli jet fighters tore down the fire station.

This morning, on the street parallel to the port I discovered some craters several metres deep, as if meteors had rained down from the sky as you'd see in a sci-fi movie. The difference here is that the special effects are pretty damn painful. Visiting the wards of the Al Shifa hospital, crowded with injured patients awaiting treatment, you can bump into a doctor who doesn't look very Arabic. Mads Gilbert is a Norwegian doctor from the ONG Norwac. Gilbert, an anaesthetist, confirms our suspicion regarding the use of forbidden weapons by Israel on Gaza's civilians: "Many injured arrive with extreme amputations, with both their legs reduced to a pulp, which I suspect is an effect of Dime weapons." This is happening while Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reports that "extremely serious violations possibly constituting war crimes" are taking place.

The last instance of one such crime happened a few hours ago, East of Jabalia, where a family on the point of evacuating their house was stocking up on some food products in a small shop, which was promptly bombed. There were eight killed, all belonging to the same family, the Abed Rabbu family, in addition to two severely injured. People I speak to in the street are under the impression that Israel is taking its time, while the bombs are being dropped non-stop and the land artillery are slowly advancing. The soldiers have no problems stocking up on "k rations", the military food rations, unlike many people in Gaza who can no longer get any bread. The bakers, having run out of flour, have resorted to mixing it up with animal flour to make the buns. It's moldy bread, week-old left-overs green with mold. You cook it over a small fire lit from a couple of pieces of wood and I can assure you that it's not exactly a delicacy.

Especially on the internet, Israel continues to spread bird's eye-view filmed images, allegedly showing how precise its bombings are against the "terrorists" or against hypothetical warehouses stocking weapons and explosives. The dizzying count of civilian casualties are enough to discredit these videos. I wonder how Israel can call itself civilised and democratic, when its army, in trying to drive out and kill an enemy, doesn't hesitate to knock down an entire crowded building, burying innumerable innocents alive in the process. Think about it: it's as if the Italian army hunting down a dangerous mafia criminal started heavily bombing the centre of Palermo. As I write there are 821 Palestinians dead, 93 being women, and 235 children. 12 paramedics were killed fulfilling their duty, and 3 journalists were killed with a camera hanging round their necks. A good 3,350 are among the injured, with more than half being under 18 years of age. According to the Mezan centre for human rights, renowned for its reliability, they make up 85% of the Palestinian civilian casualties massacred in the last two weeks. The death toll on the Israeli side has thankfully stopped at 4.

If the United Nations won't manage to protect the Palestinian civilian population from the massive Israeli violations of their international humanitarian duties, my friends from the Free Gaza Movement will try for in their place, ready as they are to sail to Gaza in a few days. Among them there are doctors, nurses and activists for human rights, who consider it their precise moral duty to do whatever's humanly possible to provide some measures of protection. They had already tried to get here on 31st December, on board the Dignity. But the Israeli Navy had rammed into our boat in international waters, trying to sink it, and had subsequently spoken of "an accident". I will wait for my friends with their load of humanitarian aids among the ruins of what's left of the port, and I would like to hope more "accidents" will reoccur off shore this time.

The second leaflet raining down from the sky that we've translated is a scream (you can find photos of both leaflets on the website: http://guerrillaradio.iobloggo.com/): "Citizens of Gaza, take responsibility for your destiny! In Gaza the terrorists and those who launch rockets against Israel represent a threat to your lives and to those of your families. If you wish to help your families and brothers in Gaza, all you will have to do is call the number below and give us information on the whereabouts of those responsible for launching rockets and on the terrorist militia who turn you into the first victims of their actions. Avoiding more atrocities being committed is now your responsibility! Don't hesitate! Complete discretion is guaranteed. You can contact us at the following number: 02-5839749. Otherwise write to us at the following email to give us any information you may have on terrorist activities: helpgaza2008@gmail.com."

Many write to me from Italy, filled with frustration at not being able to do anything against the genocide currently taking place. I would urge you to continue showing your indignation and supporting human rights. If you then have 5 minutes to spare and a phone card, the details contained in the last leaflet could come in useful in communicating your disdain to those who cynically gamble with the lives of a million and a half people via the air, sea and land. Never would a phone card have been better spent. Those 235 massacred children are asking for it.

Stay human

Vittorio Arrigoni

(Translated from italian by Daniela Filippin)


--
Greta Berlin
Media Team
Free Gaza Movement
310 422 7242
www.freegaza.org
www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/

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I spoke to one more friend yesterday, or not even spoke, she happened to be on a same forum with me at the same time and we changed quickly news there.
She told me that in her area where she lives, had been electricity off for 2 weeks and 3 days. Not one single day for electricity. I wonder how they managed to make food or heat water or how they managed to live in a pretty cold windowless house.

My citys newspaper here in Finland wrote about the Israelis using DIME weapons and white phosphorous, the magazine said the matter would go under investigation. I really hope so!
Also the magazin said that some churches shelter hospitals has been destroyed and they wish to investigate this too and the fact that volunteer doctors are saying that the destruction of infrastructure and civil houses and hospitals has been deliberate.

Some news tell almost accurate infoirmation about this war and I'm a bit surprised because they make Israel look very bad!
Maybe Finland doesn't wan't to be in israels media leash anynore! That would be amazing thing, but don't think it has happened yet..

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I've got great news today, I spoke to some of my friends from Gaza and they are ok, some of their homes are partly destroyed but they are alive, that is the most important!!

I don't know why Israel has let the electricity back for mane areas, maybe they are getting softer ;)
Or maybe they wanna give the glinch of hope before they let thousands of reservists enter this war..

Don't know what will be left of Gaza after this war, already all the historical buildings and places have been destroyed, all the mosques, everything. Like they (Israel) wan't to wipe out all that reminds of Palestine, culture, lifestyle, history, everything..

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
www.FreeGaza.org

MERCY SHIP DEPARTS FOR GAZA: “WE ARE COMING IN ON TUESDAY”

For More Information, Please Contact:
(Cyprus/Gaza) Huwaida Arraf, +972 599 130 426 huwaida.arraf@gmail.com
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +972 598 700 497 freelance@mailworks.org
(U.S.) Ramzi Kysia, +1 703 994 5422 rrkysia@yahoo.com

(Cyprus, 11 January 2009) - The Free Gaza Movement ship, “SPIRIT OF
HUMANITY,” left Larnaca Port at 3:00 pm, Monday, 12 January, on an
emergency mission to besieged Gaza. It is expected to arrive in Gaza at
approximately 11am (UST) Tuesday morning. Aboard the ship are 36
passengers and crew, representing 17 different nations. They are doctors,
journalists, human rights workers, and five European parliamentarians
representing Belgium, Greece, Italy, and Spain (see below for a complete
passenger list). The mercy ship also carries desperately needed medical
supplies meant for hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

This voyage marks Free Gaza’s second attempt to break through the blockade
since Israel began attacking Gaza on 27 December. Between August and
December 2008, the Free Gaza Movement successfully challenged the Israeli
blockade five times, landing the first international ships in the port of
Gaza since 1967.

The Israeli military violently attacked an earlier attempt by the Free
Gaza Movement to send an emergency boat filled with doctors and medical
supplies to Gaza. In the early hours of Tuesday, 30 December, the Israeli
navy deliberately, repeatedly, and without warning rammed the unarmed
ship, the DIGNITY, causing significant structural damage and endangering
the lives of its passengers and crew. The DIGNITY found safe harbor in
Lebanon, and is currently awaiting repairs.

Shortly before the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY left Cyprus today, the Cypriot
authorities informed the Free Gaza Movement that the Israeli government
had officially contacted their embassy in Tel Aviv, and warned them that
they felt “justified” in using “any means available” to forcibly prevent
the mercy ship from arriving in Gaza. At the request of the ship’s
organizers, the Cypriot authorities searched the ship prior to its
departure to certify that it only carried medical supplies.

Fouad Ahidar, a member of the Belgian Parliament sailing to Gaza aboard
the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, responded to concerns that Israel may attack the
unarmed ship by saying, "I have five children that are very worried about
me, but I told them: ‘you can sit on your couch and watch these atrocities
on the television, or you can choose to take action to make them stop.’"

Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have injured thousands of civilians and
killed over 900 people, including hundreds of women and children. This
ongoing Israeli massacre severely and massively violates international
humanitarian law defined by the Geneva Conventions, especially the
obligations of an Occupying Power and the requirements of the laws of war.

The United Nations has failed to protect the Palestinian civilian
population from Israel's massive violations of international humanitarian
law. Israel has closed off Gaza from the international community and
demanded that all foreigners leave. But Huwaida Arraf, an organizer with
the Free Gaza Movements, stated that, “We cannot just sit by and wait for
Israel to decide to stop the killing and open the borders for relief
workers to pick up the pieces. We are coming in. There is an urgent need
for this mission as Palestinian civilians in Gaza are being terrorized and
slaughtered by Israel, and access to humanitarian relief denied to them.
When states and the international bodies responsible for taking action to
stop such atrocities chose to be impotent, then we--the citizens of the
world--must act. Our common humanity demands nothing less.”

Israel has been notified that we are coming. A copy of the notification to
the Israeli Authorities is attached. The Free Gaza Movement will hold
Israel responsible for any harm that may be done to the ship or its
passengers.
###

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Take Action! CALL the Israeli Government and let them know that the SPIRIT
OF HUMANITY is coming to Gaza. DEMAND that Israel immediately STOP
slaughtering civilians in Gaza and STOP using violence to prevent human
rights and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

CALL
Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il

Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence:
+972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod.gov.il

Major Liebovitz from the Israeli Navy:
+ 972 5 781 86248
###

Official Notification of Intent to Enter
January 11, 2009

To: The Israeli Ministry of Defense, Fax: 972-3-697-6717
To: The Israeli Navy
To: The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fax 972-2-5303367

From: The Free Gaza Movement

This letter serves as a formal notification to you as the Occupying Power
and belligerent force in the Gaza Strip that on Monday, January 12 we are
navigating the motor vessel, Spirit of Humanity, from the Port of Larnaca
to the port of Gaza City. Our vessel will be flying the Greek flag, and,
as such, falls under the jurisdiction Greece.

We will be sailing from Cypriot waters into international waters, then
directly into the territorial waters of the Gaza Strip without entering or
nearing Israeli territorial waters. We expect to arrive at the Gaza Port
on Tuesday, January 13, 2009.

We will be carrying urgently needed medical supplies in sealed boxes,
cleared by customs at the Larnaca International Airport and the Port of
Larnaca. There will be a total of 30 passengers and crew on board, among
them members of various European Parliaments and several physicians. Our
boat and cargo will also have received security clearance from the Port
Authorities in Cyprus before we depart.

As it will be confirmed that neither we, the cargo, any of the boat's
contents, nor the boat itself constitute any threat to the security of
Israel or its armed forces, we do not expect any interference with our
voyage by Israel's authorities.

On Tuesday, December 30, an Israeli Navy vessel violently, and without
warning, attacked our motor vessel Dignity, disabling the vessel and
endangering the lives of the 16 civilians on board. This notice serves as
clear notification to you of our approach. Any attack on the motor vessel,
Spirit of Humanity, will be premeditated and any harm inflicted on the 30
civilians on board will be considered the result of a deliberate attack on
unarmed civilians.

The Steering Committee of the Free Gaza Movement
###

PASSENGERS & CREW OF THE SPIRIT OF HUMANITY

Abufalah, Othman Mohammad, Journalist with Al Jazeera Television (Jordan)

Ahidar, Fouad, Member of Parliament (Belgium)

Arraf, Huwaida, human rights lawyer and Delegation Leader (Palestine/USA)

Bitsanis, Konstantinos, human rights worker and crew (Greece)

Bolos, Nikolas, human rights worker and crew (Greece)

Bowden, David, Journalist with SKY TV (UK)

Caruso, Francesco, former Member of Parliament (Italy)

Dabbagh, Ali, Doctor (UK)

Dritsas, Theodoros, Member of Parliament (Greece)

Gentile, Alessandro, Journalist with CNN (Italy)

Gezelius, Mats, Journalist (Sweden/Finland)

Giannopolis, Nikolaos, human rights worker (Greece)

Jacquier, Gilles, Journalist with France Channel 2 (France)

Kampani, Chalent, Orthopedic Surgeon (Greece)

Kanellakis, Yiannis, Journalist with Greek Mega TV (Greece)

Karatzias, Petros, Journalist with the Associated Press (Cyprus)

Kawkuby, Jasir, Doctor and Pediatric Intensive Care specialist (Germany)

Klontzas, George, Ship's Captain (Greece)

Muncie, Andrew, human rights worker and crew (Scotland)

McLuckie, Garwen, Journalist with SKY TV (UK)

Mourad, Maimouni (Belgium)

Muir, Alistair, Journalist with the BBC (UK)

Nuet, Joan Josef, Member of Parliament (Spain)

Papachristopoulos, Athanasios, Surgeon (Greece)

Pissias, Vangelis, Univeristy Professor (Greece)

Pratt, David, Journalist with the Sunday Herald (UK)

Prieto, Monica, Journalist with El Mundo (Spain)

Rahali, Hassan, Journalist (Belgium)

Robbins, Sonia, Surgeon (UK)

Sakorafa, Sofia, Member of Parliament (Greece)

Shakir, Thair, Journalist with Al Jazeera television (Iraq)

Synodynou, Melina, Journalist with Ethnos (Greece)

Tsatsis, Angelos, Journalist with MEGA TV (Greece)

Vinci, Alessio, Journalist with CNN (Italy)

Yvon, Xavier, Journalist with RTL Radio (France)

Zdoukos, Theodoros, Doctor (Greece)
###

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Stephen Lendman

Jan 12, 2009

History's terror bombings. This article reviews some of the most infamous:

-- Guernica - 1937;

-- the London Blitz - 1940 - 41;

-- Dresden - 1945;

-- Tokyo - 1945;

-- Hiroshima and Nagasaki - 1945;

-- North Korea - 1950 - 53;

-- Southeast Asia - 1964 - 73;

-- Iraq - 1991 to the present;

-- Serbia/Kosovo - 1999;

-- Afghanistan - 2001 to the present;

-- Lebanon - 1982 and 2006; and

-- Gaza - 2008 - 09.

Strategic bombing involves destroying an adversary's economic and military ability to wage war. It targets its war making capacity and related infrastructure. Terror bombing is another matter. It's against civilians to break their morale, cause panic, weaken an enemy's will to fight, and inflict mass casualties and punishment.

Geneva and other international laws forbid the targeting of civilians. The Laws of War: Laws and Customs of War on Land (1907 Hague IV Convention) states:

-- Article 25: "The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings which are undefended is prohibited."

-- Article 26: "The officer in command of an attacking force must, before commencing a bombardment, except in cases of assault, do all in his power to warn the authorities."

Article 27: "In sieges and bombardments, all necessary steps must be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes." The besieged should visibly indicate these buildings or places and notify an adversary beforehand.

The Fourth Geneva Convention protects civilians in time of war. It prohibits violence of any type against them and requires treatment for the sick and wounded. In September 1938, a League of Nations unanimous resolution prohibited the:

"bombardment of cities, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings not in the immediate neighborhood of the operations of land forces....In cases where (legitimate targets) are so situated, (aircraft) must abstain from bombardment" if this action indiscriminately affects civilians.

The 1945 Nuremberg Principles prohibit "crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity." These include "inhumane acts committed against any civilian populations, before or during the war," including indiscriminate killing and "wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity."

The 1968 General Assembly Resolution on Human Rights prohibits launching attacks against civilian populations. Israel and America do it repeatedly - by land, sea and terror bombings.

Full article: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m50727&hd=&size=1&l=e

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In Khan Younis a family of 26 people including children age 2- 17 years of age,live in the basement of a house, since the Israelis incursion into the area three days ago.My friend, one of the sons in the house is expecting his first child to be born, in about three months. He got married last summer, it was a big wedding and mostly happy time, despite the Israeli siege and frequent assaults on Gaza, the new married and happy could not believe the future would be so terrible.

Bombs are blasting, hitting their targets and heavy machine gun fire can be heard not far away from the house. This winter is unusually cold in Gaza.The windows in the basement room is open the new married have searched shelter as a safety, if closed the force and the heat from the bombings will break them.My friend who called me today, for advise regarding what is believed to be labor- pain, very early contractions of cervix, they are both very worried they will lose their first child.

I have spend hours making phone calls to the hospitals in the Khan Younis area,only to find out that the lines are busy, most of the time the signals does not go through, it is very bad telecommunications in Gaza and the situation gets even worse..it is chaotic.After one hour of calling, finally my call was picked up, I was told to call back on Sunday morning, a few hours from now. I am also calling the sister in law of another friend she is a nurse, and a " midwife",use to work for UNRWA, I found out she have left Gaza with her family. I am very worried for them all,I am worried for the life of the little infant, and for the parents.

My friend has a cold, he say he is shivering from the coldness in the house. He told me he is very upset, he is polling out the last pages of some of his books and journals from the library.The pages in the books will make some warmth in the room,he told me he felt sick watching the books burning to charcoal in the open fire place, books have a very high value in Gaza,they are expensive and very difficult to find, in particular scholary; research and reference litterateur,since the Israeli blockade of shipments to Gaza began, 18 months ago.All that was left of food in the house in the morning is almost gone, so is the drinking water and the electricity, last only 1.5-2 of the 24 hours. "We are praying, Inshallah we will survive the heavy bombings, and we are hoping the Israelis will not come to the house.You know here in KhanYounis no one is really safe today we have no where to hide.." .. is the last words I hear..the phone line was cut of.


By Hiyam Noir January 11 2009 3.57 am

http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m50670&hd=&size=1&l=e

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Khalid Amayreh

Jerusalem, January 11, 2008

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday released the pictures of some of Hamas’ most wanted "terrorists" it said it has killed since the start of the Israeli onslaught in the Gaza Strip more two weeks ago.

An Israeli spokesman told foreign reporters in Jerusalem that the world community, especially Americans and Europeans, shouldn’t be deceived by the ostensibly young age of the killed terrorists.

"They may look young to you and me. But these people are terrorists at heart. Don’t look at their deceptively innocent faces, try to think of the demons inside each of them."

The spokesman, Nachman Abramovic, said he was "absolutely certain" that these people would grow to be "evil terrorists if we allowed them to grow."

"If you were in our shoes, would you allow them to grow to kill your children or finish them off right now"?

Asked if he was worried about possible criticisms from the international community, Abramovic said he was not worried a bit because "We are only defending ourselves."

"Would you apologize for defending yourself if another person attacked you without any provocation," the Israeli spokesman asked an American reporter.

Impressed by the answer, the American reporter said "You are right, Sir, absolutely."

The IDF spokesman added that Israel didn’t really target civilians in Gaza and that the world should fall into trap of Hamas's propaganda.

"I challenge serious news media to prove that we have killed a single innocent civilian in Gaza.

"Don’t tell me Aljazeera said this or CNN said that. You know all these people are anti-Semites and can’t be relied upon to tell the truth."

He added that in any case, honest and moral people ought to differentiate between "true human beings" and "human animals."

"We do kill human animals, and we do so unapologetically. Besides who in the West is in a position to lecture us on killing human animals. After all, whose hands are cleaned?"

Another Israeli spokesman, Tzipora Menache, said she was not immensely worried about negative ramifications that Operation Cast Lead might have on the way the Obama administration would view Israel.

"You know very well, and the stupid Americans know equally well, that we control their government, irrespective of who sits in the White House."

"You see, I know it and you know it that no American president can be in a position to challenge us even if we do the unthinkable."

Asked if he was not worried that her remarks would cause a public relations disaster, Menache said "what can they do to us. We control congress, we control the media, we control show biz, we control everything in America.

"In America you can criticize G-d, but you can’t criticize Israel." (end)

Now, after this imaginary but very realistic introduction, we shall view the pictures of these "evil terrorists."

A light upon the nations

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An email to friends from Gaza

10.01.09/Gaza / Yasser Jamei – A young man in Gaza sends an email to his West Bank friends o say, “Thank you for your concerns about the situation here in Gaza and about my safety.”

Yasser is one of the more fortunate, if there is such as thing in Gaza.
He writes:

Currently the situation is still as bad, and even worse, than what appears in the media.

The whole population is in shock, and still there is no safe place.

The electricity is off for more than 20 hours per day. In Gaza city itself, there has been no electricity for two weeks. With the continuous destruction of civilian houses and buildings by the F16s and helicopters, no one is sure that he will live another day. The news of Israeli soldiers gathering people in houses and then demolishing them, and the news of air strikes on the schools that became shelters for the families, are intensifying the horror among the population. We do not know what will happen next, and it seems that things will get worse.

As any other Palestinian, I was waiting for the decision of the United Nations. Today the decision saw the light, but the war continues. Both sides considered that the UN call is not enough. Israel says that it wants guarantees that there will be no projectiles from Gaza, and Hamas wants guarantees that the siege will end, and that there will be no attacks on Gaza. During the last two weeks over 700 civilian Palestinians were killed, at least 400 of them are women and children. Over 2,300 were injured. I do not know how many people should die until a ceasefire is reached.

Many of us think that we are going to die one way or the other. For the last two months cooking gas was not allowed to come to Gaza. Electricity plant fuel was not allowed to enter also. Flour is very limited and it has been absent in the market since December. People are living as in the 30s and 40s of the last century. Many of us also think that the only safe place is the place where we will all go - the cemetery.

With time we continue to find out new levels to the brutality of the Israeli army. Soon the whole world will discover things that no one imagined would happen as will any other Palestinian. I hope that the world is one day going to open its eyes.

Perhaps I should apologize for this traumatizing email, but I kept waiting for days before coming to this Internet café which has a generator. I was waiting for things to improve. I was waiting so that I could tell you that everything is over, and that we are safe and sound. Unfortunately time passes and I can not write any of that.

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reply to the last post:

eat Gazans?

well, very good writing mr BB and I think it is very much true, some UN volunteers has wrote to their blogs that 70-80% of the dead are civilians, kids, women, old ppl etc..
Ofcourse the UN never publishes these statistics, not officcially anyway
I am too thinking that Israel wants to kill all Gazans or criple the nation so they wouldnt fight against their settlements and occupation. I think their goal is to make Palestinian less, and Israelians more.. so they would be happier living in palestinians land.

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Written by my friend inside Gaza:

A modest Proposal

As far as Gaza is concerned, the only problem does not lie in Hamas, but the problem with Gaza is that it is full of Gazans.

A score of days ago the Israeli occupation leaders declared that a war against Hamas is to be waged as Hamas violates the conventions of combat by targeting 'innocent' Israeli settlers/civilians. I can't deny that some rejoiced and giggled at this news. In the course of the conflict, about 600 Gazans fell and more than 3000 were injured most of them sustained permanent disability. In the last wave of killing, the Israeli war planes targeted hundreds of Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes and take refugee in a school run by the UN thinking that would prevent Israel from targeting them. They were wrong. Forty of them were slain. Has Israeli really meant Hamas per se? Or has it meant any person/ building/ plant/ blow of air/ house/ shop/ mosque/ field/ nursery/ motorbike and anything related to Hamas? Does that include places Hamas members passed by or been in? Does that include people who happened to shake hands with a Hamas member, unknowingly perhaps? The facts on the ground tell that it is the Gazans Israeli is after not Hamas. Of the 4000 causalities the majority are kids, women, elderly people and police cadets. Only a handful of fighters fell during the fighting (maybe less than those who fell from the Israeli side).

Now and in the light of these statistics, there must be a way out. And I have got a proposal. I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection. I, like the Israelis, believe there is a serious problem in Gaza with a great need for a solution. As far as Gaza is concerned, the only problem does not lie in Hamas, but the problem with Gaza is that it is full of Gazans. Why does not the Israeli government buy/kidnap/arrest (or any available means) Gazans and eat them? If put to action, this proposal will have several different advantages: Israel satisfies its cannibalistic desires, quenches its blood thirst, rids itself of Gazans, and saves a lot of money and ammunitions for wars to come. In addition, the carcasses can be used to help Israelis build a wall all around Gaza. A modest proposal, ain't?

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I still havent heard from any of my Gazan friends.
They don't have electricity.
Maybe they are not even alive anymore.

The news say that Israel is firing hard: "Israel's naval forces have been firing at residential areas of the western Gaza Strip amid a full-scale incursion against the coastal enclave."
"According to local residents, Israeli navy vessels started firing at civilian areas before the end of a daily three-hour lull in the region, Hamas Al-Aqsa TV station reported Sunday."

They also still fire toward UN workers too: "Tel Aviv repeatedly violates the three-hour ceasefire, which was announced for easing the transportation of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave."
"According to the United Nations agency responsible for Palestine, the temporary lull is not long enough to resume the transport of supplies into the costal sliver, while at the same time Israeli troops open fire on UN-flagged vehicles."

Israel want's to wipe out all Gaza and all life in it.

"Israeli Operation Cast Lead which was launched on December 27 has so far claimed at least 888 lives and wounded 3700 people across the region."
Some UN worker's reports say that at leat 70-80% of these people has been civilians..

Also chemical weapons are used: "Human Rights Watch warns Tel Aviv against using white phosphorus in Gaza amid raging controversy over military tactics applied by Israel.

The US-based, international non-governmental organization reported that its researchers have observed the use of the chemical weapon by the Israeli military in Gaza City and Jabaliya on Friday and Saturday.

"We went by Israeli artillery units that had white phosphorus rounds with the fuses in them," Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera on Saturday."

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2 huge fires in Gaza city right now, some bombing noise and alot of honking horn.
http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ai=386&ar=NanaTV01&dr=02:30:00%20-%202k%20-

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From Al Jazeera:



Hamas has said that the Gaza war has put an end to chances of negotiations with Israel, calling on Arabs to pressure Tel Aviv to cease its attacks on the Gaza Strip.

In a televised speech on Saturday, Khaled Meshaal, the exiled-Hamas political leader, said Israel's offensive on Gaza, which has killed more than 850 Palestinians, had failed because Hamas was still firing rockets at Israel.

"You have finished off the last chance and breath for settlement and negotiations," Meshaal said.

"In all modesty ... I can say with full confidence that on the military level the enemy has totally failed, it has not achieved anything.

"Has it stopped the rockets?" he asked of Israel's declared aim in launching the offensive.

'New intifada'

Meshaal called on Arabs to pressure their leaders and the international community through protests.

"We are living the hardest moments of the resistance now, we want another intifada [uprising] in Palestine and on the Arab street," he said, calling on the Arabs to continue protesting.

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from Al Jazeera:



Israeli ground forces are advancing on Gaza City and facing strong resistance from Palestinian fighters on the 16th day of the assault on the besieged territory.

Medical sources said that 24 Palestinian fighters have been killed in clashes in on Sunday, taking the total number of Palestinian deaths to 879.

Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza City, reported that there had been intense fighting and Israeli advances.

Israeli tanks remained positioned on the edge of the city to the north and east, while a column of tanks to the south advanced only to later pull back.

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I havent heard from any of my friends after yesterday. The news tells that many homes has been raided and the people massacered and the house set on fire after that.
Sounds as brutal as the fighting in dark ages, who would belive that the year is 2009 now, in Gaza too..

Here is a copy from maan news:

Gaza – Ma’an – Twenty three Gazans have been killed since midnight Sunday morning and dozens injured by new weapons that ensure the incineration of buildings and people hit by the explosives.

The Israeli Phosphoric bombs have not yet been used in the Gaza offensive.

The total for the 16 days of Israeli strikes and ground fire is now 875 killed, 3,620 injured and 411 seriously wounded.

Sunday dawned with six more Palestinians confirmed dead in Gaza, mainly from Khuza’a village east of Khan Younis.

Overnight Israeli warplanes shifted their sights to civilian homes in southern Gaza, then after dawn strikes began in the north. Ground troops advanced towards Gaza City during the night. One contingent withdrew northward at dawn, while a second front southwest of Gaza City continued to advance to an abandoned Israeli settlement south of the city.

Those dead in the southern Strip include 41-year-old Hanan An-Najjar and another unidentified man. At least 50 were injured as Israeli strikes hit a dozen homes in Khuza’a village, many of which continue to burn after the near-dawn airstrikes.

The body of the 17-year-old Usama Abu Rajileh was identified among the dead in Khan Younis.
Attacks in the north began by killing four members of the Bashir family when Israeli airstrikes struck the family home in the Al-Karama neighborhood northwest of Gaza City shortly after sunrise on Sunday. The family was in the home at the time and an unknown number were injured.

Witnesses said Ala Bashir “Abu Sheib,” his wife, mother-in-law and son were killed in the strike. Several other homes in the area were hit.

Strikes then shifted to the northern border-town of Beit Lahiya where locals reported the use of Phosphoric bombs, which set hit homes ablaze. The strikes killed at least three from the Ma'rouf and Ghaban families and injured dozens.

Ground offensive retreats north after night of attacks

Witnesses said Israeli troops withdrew from As-Sudaniyah area in the north of Gaza City after a night of shooting. Locals said several homes were raided and their residents massacred after which homes were burned. Medical sources have been unable to confirm the number of dead.

Some of the known raids include the home of Ahmad Aj-Ja’bari of an Al-Qassam Brigades member in the eastern areas of Gaza City. His home was set on fire as troops withdrew.

In the southwest quarter of Gaza City clashes were heard in the Al-Sheikh Ajlein neighborhood as Israeli troops approached the evacuated Netsarim settlement south of the city.

Israeli ground raids continued into the early afternoon Sunday, killing two in the southern Gaza Strip area of Abasan in Khan Younis.

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