demo against the Wall in Al Masara / Manif contre le Mur a Al Masara

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills, 30.01.2009.

Are they dreaming of the same thing? / Revent-ils de la meme chose?

demo against the Wall in Al Masara / Manif contre le Mur a Al Masara

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills, 30.01.2009.

No worries...I will be protected by my teletubbies / Pas de probleme je vais etre protege par mes teletubbies.

demo against the Wall in Al Masara / Manif contre le Mur a Al Masara

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, 30.01.2009.

Who is listening? / Qui ecoute?

demo against the Wall in Al Masara / Manif contre le Mur a Al Masara

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, 30.01.2009, Al Masara, South of Bethlehem.


Palestinians from the village of Al-Masara, south of Bethlehem demonstrate against the Wall together with some Israelis and internationals on 30.01.2009.
The demonstrators tried to demonstrate on the main road but were pushed back by the Israeli army. The demonstration took place on another road, blocked by barbwire.

Les Palestiniens du village de Al-Masara, au Sud de Bethlehem ont manifeste contre la construction du Mur, avec des Israeliens et des internationaux. Les manifestants ont tente de conduire leur manifestation sur la route principale mais ils ont ete repousse par l'armee et la police israelienne. la manifestation a eu lieu sur une autre route du village bloquee par des barbeles.

TRhe boycott movement against Israel spreads/ le mouvement du boycott contre Israel s'etend

PAJU (Palestiniens et Juifs unis) no 416, 30 janvier 2009

LE CESSEZ-LE-FEU NE SUFFIRA PAS

Des universitaires quebecoises exigent un boycott academic d’Israël.

Nous, enseignant(e)s et d’employé(e)s des universités québécoises, nous nous déclarons solidaires du peuple palestinien, et du peuple de Gaza. Ces peuples ont déjà subi une attaque militaire de la part d’Israël ainsi qu’un état de siege israélien. Nous voudrions souligner que sous ces conditions un cesse-feu ne suffira pas pour réaliser la paix entre Palestine et Israël.

À la suite du bombardement de l’Université islamique de Gaza par Israël, la Fédération palestinienne des syndicats de professeur(e)s et d’employé(e)s universitaires a demandé aux universitaires du monde entire d’appuyer le boycottage des institutions académiques israéliennes. Nous réagissons donc à cet appel lancé le 2 janvier 2009.

Nous soutenons cet appel et le situons dans une campagne plus étendue de boycottage, de désinvestissement et de sanctions contre Israël. La lutte contre l’apartheid en Afrique du Sud avait reçu l’appui d’une même campagne.

Nous allons entreprendre diverses initiatives au sein de nos propres établissements pour inciter nos administrations à participer à la campagne de boycottage, de désinvestissement et de sanctions.

Nous dénonçons vigoureusement le gouvernement du Canada pour sa position sur le présent conflit à Gaza et aussi pour les accords d’échanges bilatéraux, qui ne font que renforcer les actions militaires d’Israël. Le gouvernement Harper soutient sans réserve le gouvernement israélien qui utilise des armes qui provoquent la destruction de masse contre une population principalement civile, des enfants et des écoles, et qui viole par le blocus imposé sur la bande de Gaza les conventions internationales qui découragent le recours à de telles pratiques, soit de tenir en otage une collectivité entière.

Nous demandons au gouvernement Harper de condamner sans équivoque le siège et l’agression de Gaza, qui constituent de sérieuses violations du droit international et des droits de la personne.

De plus, nous demandons que toute relation économique entre Israël et les gouvernements canadien et québécois – y compris les accords d’échanges commerciaux — soient interrompues immédiatement, jusqu’à ce que soit établie une paix juste et durable pour le people palestinien, et jusqu’au moment que l’état d’Israël, conformément au droit international, reconnaisse le droit à l’autodétermination du peuple palestinien.

Texte adapté de « Un cessez-le-feu ne suffira pas pour concretiser la paix entre Palestine et Israel » un declaration signé part plus que 80 enseignant(e)s et employe(e)s des universites quebecoises, publié dans Le Devoir le 24 jan. 2009.

Distribué par PAJU (Palestiniens et Juifs unis)

WWW.PAJUMONTREAL.ORG

www.boycottisraelinternational.org

=======================================================================

PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity) # 416, Jan. 30, 2009

THE CEASE-FIRE IS NOT ENOUGH

Quebec university profs & workers demand an academic boycott of Israel:

We are a group of teachers and employees at Quebec colleges and universities who stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and with the people of Gaza who have suffered through the Israeli siege as targets of Israel’s brutal military attack. It will take more than ceasefires to bring a just and lasting peace in Palestine and Israel.

In the wake of the Israeli bombing of the Islamic University of Gaza, the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees has urged academics around the world to support a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.

We support this call to boycott Israeli academic institutions. We place it in a wider campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions.
The fight against apartheid in South Africa was supported through boycotts, divestment, and sanctions. We support a similar strategy against the Israeli state.

We will undertake actions in our own institutions to pressure them to participate in a boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign that aims for a just and lasting settlement for the Palestinian people.

We strongly condemn the Canadian government’s position on the ongoing conflict in Gaza and its bilateral trade agreements that help sustain Israeli military actions. The Harper government consistently supports the government of Israel, which uses weapons causing mass destruction on a mainly civilian population, including attacks on children and schools. It has violated interna-tional prohibitions against collective punishment by blockading the Gaza strip.

We call on the Harper government to re-evaluate its policies and to unequivocally condemn the Israeli siege and assault on Gaza, which constitute serious violations of international and humanitarian law..

We also urge that all economic relations between Israel and the governments of Canada and Quebec — including trade agreements – be suspended until there is not only a just and lasting peace for the Palestinian people, but that Israel, in compliance with international law, recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

Abridged text of the declaration "
Un cessez-le-feu ne suffira pas pour concretiser la paix entre Palestine et Israel", signed by 80 professors and employees of Québec universities and published in Le Devoir on Jan. 24, 2009.

Distributed
by PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity)

WWW.PAJUMONTREAL.ORG

www.boycottisraelinternational.org

friends / amis

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, Shufat refugee camp and Aqbat jaber refugee camp jericho, Januaruy 2009.

After all these images of destructions, pain, suffering coming out of Gaza, here are a few images that were supposed to cheer me up. But I cannot stop thinking of the faces of the children of Gaza. how long beforre some smiles will come back to their face? I cannot stop thinking of the images of them, in the hospital with some open wounds and not making any sound, how they can describe how their whole families have been killed without a tear. Why their childhood has been stolen?


Apres toutes ces images de detresse, de destruction, de souffrance qui nous parviennent encore de Gaza, voila quelques sourires d'enfants qui ete censees me remonter le moral, voles lors de formation photo dans la camp de refugies de Shufat et celui de Aqbat Jaber, a Jericho...
mais je ne peux m'empecher de penser a tous ces visages d'enfants de Gaza, qui ne savent plus sourire, qui sont couches a l'hopital avec des plaies beantes et qui gardent un visage impassible, qui ne bronchent pas quand ils racontent comment toute leur famille a ete decimee. Pourquoi leur enfance-a-t-elle ete volee?

uines, pleurs et deuil : dans Gaza dévastée

Ruines, pleurs et deuil : dans Gaza dévastée
LE MONDE | 21.01.09 | 14h28 • Mis à jour le 23.01.09 | 14h13
GAZA ENVOYÉ SPÉCIAL

ans les rues de Jabaliya, les enfants ont trouvé un nouveau divertissement. Ils collectionnent les éclats d'obus et de missiles. Ils déterrent du sable des morceaux d'une fibre compacte qui s'enflamment immédiatement au contact de l'air et qu'ils tentent difficilement d'éteindre avec leurs pieds. "C'est du phosphore. Regardez comme ça brûle."

Sur les murs de cette rue, des traces noirâtres sont visibles. Les bombes ont projeté partout ce produit chimique qui a incendié une petite fabrique de papier. "C'est la première fois que je vois cela après trente-huit ans d'occupation israélienne", s'exclame Mohammed Abed Rabbo. Dans son costume trois pièces, cette figure du quartier porte le deuil. Six membres de sa famille ont été fauchés par une bombe devant un magasin, le 10 janvier. Ils étaient venus s'approvisionner pendant les trois heures de trêve décrétées par Israël pour permettre aux Gazaouis de souffler.

Le cratère de la bombe est toujours là. Des éclats ont constellé le mur et le rideau métallique de la boutique. Le père de la septième victime, âgée de 16 ans, ne décolère pas. "Dites bien aux dirigeants des nations occidentales que ces sept innocents sont morts pour rien. Qu'ici, il n'y a jamais eu de tirs de roquettes. Que c'est un acte criminel. Que les Israéliens nous en donnent la preuve, puisqu'ils surveillent tout depuis le ciel", enrage Rehbi Hussein Heid. Entre ses mains, il tient une feuille de papier avec tous les noms des morts et des blessés, ainsi que leur âge, qu'il énumère à plusieurs reprises, comme pour se persuader qu'ils sont bien morts.

Son voisin sort son portable et fait voir sur une vidéo les corps ensanglantés de ceux qu'il appelle "les martyrs". "Et Israël affirme être un pays démocratique ! Ce sont des criminels de guerre ! Pendant plusieurs heures les ambulances n'ont pas pu approcher. Pourquoi la communauté internationale ne fait rien ? Pourquoi laisse-t-on tous ces crimes impunis ? Israël doit rendre des comptes. Ce pays n'est pas au-dessus des lois. Si vous trouvez 100 résistants parmi les 5 300 blessés, venez me voir. Ce sont des assassinats purs et simples. Les Israéliens veulent soit nous chasser, soit nous enterrer."

Mohammed Abed Rabbo ne comprend pas cette hargne à tout détruire. "Que les Israéliens reçoivent des (tirs de roquettes) Qassam, je le reconnais. Mais ils doivent se poser la question de savoir pourquoi. Ils font semblant d'ignorer que nous sommes soumis à un blocus. La seule solution est que les deux peuples vivent ensemble sur la même terre. Les Israéliens doivent reconnaître nos droits."

Les faubourgs de Jabaliya et de Beit Lahiya portent les profondes blessures d'une guerre destructrice. Les façades ont des trous béants. Les portes métalliques des magasins ressemblent à des passoires. Impossible de faire plus de dix mètres sans trouver un immeuble aplati, une maison soufflée, un hangar avachi. Les pylônes électriques sont couchés sur le sol au milieu des cratères. La guerre n'a pas fait de détail. Les rues sont parsemées de débris de toute nature, de monceaux de gravats.

Mais le plus impressionnant reste la zone industrielle de Karni, près du point de passage des marchandises. Sur des kilomètres carrés, il ne reste pratiquement rien debout. Tout n'est que ruines et désolation. Israël a sans conteste voulu réduire à néant le tissu économique de la bande de Gaza déjà sinistré par le blocus instauré après la victoire du Hamas. La population déambule au milieu de ce champ de ruines, de poutrelles tordues, de tôles écrasées, de parpaings amoncelés. Les maisons, les mosquées n'ont pas été épargnées. Au loin, la frontière avec Israël est calme. Plus un char en vue. Plus un soldat à l'horizon. Plus qu'une étendue verte labourée par les chenilles des engins blindés.

A Zeitoun, à moins de deux kilomètres de la frontière israélienne, c'est la zone agricole qui a souffert des ravages de la guerre. Des champs d'oliviers entiers ont été couchés au sol. "Qu'est-ce qu'ils ont fait tous ces arbres ? Cela fait quarante ans qu'ils sont là. Pourquoi s'acharner sur eux", s'interroge Farouk Khoheir en contemplant ce sinistre. La plupart des fermes alentour ont été sérieusement endommagées. Les vaches tuées gisent, le ventre gonflé. Une noria de charrettes tirées par des ânes vient récupérer le bois des oliviers qui jonche les ornières laissées par les blindés.

Les paysans errent dans ce qui reste de leurs cultures après avoir fui au début de l'offensive terrestre. Hassan Ahmed Hassanine n'a pas eu le temps de partir. Il a été bloqué dans sa ferme avec 115 personnes, assistant impuissant à la destruction du travail de sa vie. "On a hissé des drapeaux blancs, mais les Apaches nous ont tiré dessus. Nous n'avons pu sortir qu'au bout de cinq jours", dit-il. Un membre de sa famille handicapé a été tué par une bombe. Les larmes aux yeux, il insiste pour nous montrer ce qui reste de sa propriété éventrée par les bulldozers, percée de toute part par les obus dont les éclats jonchent encore le sol. Impossible désormais de vivre dans ce lieu, comme s'il avait été secoué par un tremblement de terre.

Neuf familles au total sont sans abri. "Quel crime avons-nous commis. Il n'y avait pas de résistants ici. Nous n'avons rien contre Israël. Nous voulons simplement vivre en paix et en sécurité. Pourquoi tout détruire ? Comment vais-je faire pour m'en sortir ?", s'interroge Hassan Ahmed Hassanine qui a l'impression d'être abandonné de tous. "Vous êtes les premières personnes qui me rendent visite."

L'est de la ville de Gaza, les quartiers de Zeitoun et de Tal Al-Hawa ont particulièrement souffert des bombardements. La place de Barcelone transformée en position d'appui par Tsahal a été ravagée par les chars Merkava. Les butés de terre servant de rempart aux blindés sont toujours là. Le macadam des routes s'est désagrégé sous les chenilles.

En ville, les ministères, les commissariats, le Parlement, les casernes ne sont plus que des tas d'éboulis. Dans certains quartiers, il n'y a plus une seule vitre aux fenêtres. La vie reprend petit à petit ses droits. Des policiers règlent un flot de voitures encore mince. Les Gazaouis se remettent lentement du choc. "Après l'embargo, la guerre. Que nous réserve l'avenir ?", se demande Hussam en espérant que le cessez-le-feu va tenir.

Michel Bôle-Richard
Article paru dans l'édition du 22.01.09

War crimes convictions after Gaza?

UPDATED ON:
Thursday, January 22, 2009
22:07 Mecca time, 19:07 GMT
FOCUS: CRISIS IN GAZA
War crimes convictions after Gaza?
By Anita Rice

Demonstrators in Belgium accused Israel of war crimes, as the Israeli foreign minister visited the headquarters of the European Union [AFP]

As the UN and human rights groups demand independent investigations into the conduct of Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, the world’s attention is focusing on whether Israeli or Hamas officials could face prosecution for war crimes.

Whatever the inquiries find, bringing suspected war criminals to court will be far from straightforward.

There is a world of difference between establishing that war crimes have been committed, and then holding those responsible to account, says Mark S Ellis, the executive director of the International Bar Association (IBA).

"Often, people view these as the same, but they are not under international law. There is a gap ... regarding the issue of accountability," Ellis says.

Even if independent inquiries do establish that gross violations of the laws of armed conflict have taken place during the war in Gaza, the mechanisms to ensure those responsible on either side are brought to justice "simply don’t exist".

Four options

There are four main options open to states, groups or individuals seeking to launch legal proceedings against suspects should investigators find war crimes have been committed during the 22-day assault on the Strip, Ellis says.

All four routes are fraught with complexities, particularly in relation to the Gaza conflict.

Israel has been accused of using white phosphorus in attacks [GALLO/GETTY]
First, individual war crime cases would ordinarily be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"The ICC simply doesn’t have jurisdiction over this conflict," says Ellis, "because Israel has not signed up to the Rome Statute [that enshrined the ICC]."

As the ICC requires states to adopt the court’s jurisdiction, it is unable to bring any actions against non-signatories itself, unless the UN Security Council votes to refer specific cases for potential prosecution.

While that happened when ICC prosecutors accused Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan - another non-signatory state - of committing war crimes in Darfur, it is unlikely to occur in relation to the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Gaza is not formally recognised as a state by the UN and "the US, and perhaps other [security council] member states, would veto any resolution that would ask for the ICC to investigate Israel," says Ellis.

"The ICC option is effectively closed."

The second route would be for the UN General Assembly to request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also based in The Hague, on the legality of specific actions taken by states.

However, the ICJ has no enforcement powers, as was witnessed by its inability to act following its ruling that Israel’s construction of a separation barrier breached aspects of international law.

The ICJ requested Israel rectify elements of the construction, which Tel Aviv ignored - something any state can choose to do, Ellis notes.

Geneva conventions

The third option involves states trying their own citizens or soldiers for war crimes – a requirement under the Geneva Conventions.

"That’s unlikely to happen on both sides, but that is still a responsibility of the state, body, or entity that’s responsible for, or has authority over, the individuals who have committed these crimes," says Ellis.

Geneva Conventions


Convention I
Conduct in relation to sick and wounded combatants in the field

Convention II
Treatment of wounded, sick and shipwrecked members of naval forces at sea

Convention III
Conduct in relation to prisoners of war

Convention IV
The protection of civilian populations in times of war
Finally, Ellis points to a legal concept referred to as "universal jurisdiction", where any state can choose to launch legal proceedings against any person, anywhere in the world, who is suspected of committing crimes such as genocide, torture, and other grave breaches of international law.

But states have already proven themselves reluctant to take responsibility for holding individuals to account for crimes committed in other countries and Ellis believes it is "highly unlikely that a third party is going to step up and bring actions against Israeli or Palestinian individuals".

Despite this, lawyers across the globe, and particularly in the Arab world, are seeking ways to take legal action in relation to events they believe constitute war crimes.

Dr Abdullah Al-Ashal, a professor of international law at the American University in Cairo and a former Egyptian foreign minister, belongs to both the Arab Bar Association and the Arab Federation of Lawyers (AFL).

He believes that Israel has breached all four Geneva Conventions that cover conduct during armed conflict with relation to civilians, prisoners of war, sick and injured combatants, weapons used and how troops engaged in fighting.

Al-Ashal claims that Jordan, the Comoros Islands and Djibouti – all signatories to the Rome Statute – have committed themselves to bringing war crimes cases against Israel to the ICC if needs be, following the recent Kuwait-hosted Arab summit on Gaza.

'Pursuing all options'

In addition, members of the AFL are set to meet in Tunis on Thursday, January 29, to "discuss how to progress the prosecution of Israel for war crimes", and Al-Ashal said that Arab lawyers are "seriously pursuing" all options to put Israelis on trial.

Meanwhile, both sides say they acted in self-defence and within the confines of international law.

Mark Regev, the spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, insists Israel takes "extremely seriously any allegation of either improper or illegal behaviour by servicemen in combat" and carries out its own investigations.

On Israel’s refusal to sign up to the Rome Statute, he cites Israeli concern over "the politisation of the international human rights mechanisms in the international judicial system", a reference to resolutions that Israel regards as hostile and were passed by UN bodies without the backing of western states.

"It is the responsibility of all civilised nations to agree that if these types of crimes have been committed, they should be brought to justice"

Mark Ellis, executive director, IBA
Asked if Israel intends to indict any Hamas leaders on charges of war crimes, Regev says Hamas is "recognised legally as a terrorist organisation" by the European Union, Japan, Australia, Canada and the US, adding: "I don’t think anyone has expectations as to the behaviour of a terrorist organisation."

While Hamas is regarded as a "terrorist group" by many western governments, the Palestinian faction came to power after democratic elections in 2006 that were deemed fair and free by international observers.

Hamas says not only are Palestinians the victims of war crimes perpetrated by Israelis, but they are left without recourse to international justice.

Going back to Ellis' "accountability gap", the IBA chief puts the blame squarely on nation states - including the US - for failing to accept the legitimacy of the ICC.

"The ICC is probably the most important body with regard to individual responsibility for these crimes ... it is the responsibility of all civilised nations to agree that if these types of crimes have been committed, they should be brought to justice.

"Ultimately, that’s where we want to be and we are a long way from that today," he says.

Ma'an journalist finds young girl near death hiding from gunfire in his home

mira: Ma'an journalist finds young girl near death hiding from gunfire in his home
Date: 18 / 01 / 2009 Time: 14:52

[Ma'anImages]
Gaza - Ma’an - For two days 15-year-old Amira’s wound bled without medical treatment. She fled her home, and the dead bodies of her father and two brothers, to an abandoned apartment. She only had a bucket of water, no blankets or first aid equipment for two days as she hid in the building.

It was the home of Ma’an journalist Emad Eid that she found. Emad had moved his family to a different, safer area of Gaza City. He returned to his home when Israeli tanks retreated from Tel Al-Hawa, to see what damage was done.

He found Amira bleeding in his empty home where he had left no food, water of bedding.

Below is a translation of Emad’s record of Amira’s ordeal.

Excuse me; I have no clue from where to start this story, so I will ask Amira: How did you protect yourself from the bombs? How did you handle the sounds of the tanks when you were by yourself, bleeding, hiding alone for two days?

I am afraid she will not be able to answer me though. I am afraid she has neither the strength nor the courage, though she had the courage to stay alive.

Maybe I can ask her if she remembers what happened to kill her family, or if she was too shocked or unconscious. She did, after all, only have five units of blood left when medics saw her.

No, I cannot ask her if she remembers how her father and two brothers died in front of her eyes; there is too much joy as she is held by her mother who did not expect to find even one of her family members living. I cannot ask of the dead while the living are celebrated.

The medics told me what it means for a small girl to have only five units of blood left. They told me that she was between living and dead. I want to ask Amira where she got her strength to live.

Amira, your 15 years are not enough for this courage; to face death, bombs and the rumble of tanks.

“Forgive me, I entered your house without your permission,” she said to me when I found her in on my mother's bed.

She was covered in blood and there were tear-stains on her cheeks. I didn’t know how Amira could find the words for an apology.

I left the area with my family. I did not want them to see the tanks drive past our house, or fear the barrels of their guns trained on the windows. But Amira saw.

Though when I found her she was sleeping, or rather hovering between life and death, as the medics said. She must have heard the clashes between the resistance fighters and the Israeli army troops.

“I don’t know how I entered to your house Uncle,” she said to me, a stranger, when I woke her. “They killed my father and brothers in front of my eyes, they shot a bomb at me and my leg was injured. I ran away from that place, but they shot another bomb that missed me, I found the door of your house open so I came in and stayed on the bed alone, listening to what was going on. I couldn’t scream or cry from my bleeding wounds because they would have heard me.”

She ran from her demolished home, she ran away seeking for the life that god gave her.

Her family thought she was killed with her father, Fathi Dawoud Alkaram, 42, and brothers Esmat, 12, and Ala, 11, who died when a bomb hit their home. They buried pieces of what they thought was Amira.

The day before we rushed Amira to Ash-Shifa Hospital, her mother buried Fathi, Esmat and Ala. She thought Amira was still beneath the rubble.

When she got word, Amira’s mother rushed to the hospital. She cried a great deal. Amira’s uncles praised god and thanked him for the miracle of her life.

More than 1000 dead in Gaza, demonstration in Ramallah/ Plus de 1000 morts a Gaza, la mobilisation continue, manif a Ramallah, 15.01.2009

(c) Anne Paa/Activestills.org, Ramallah, 15.01.2009

More than 1000 dead in Gaza, demonstration in Nilin/ Plus de 1000 morts a Gaza, la mobilisation continue, manif a Nilin

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills, Nilin, 15.01.2009.

Children and women in Nilin demonstrate against the Israeli military operation in Gaza in the West Bank village of Nilin.
They walked to the cemetery to pay tribute to the four young Palestinians who had been killed this year during protests, all by live amunitions. Demonstrations in Nilin still take place several times a week.


Les enfants et les femmes de Nilin manifeste contre l'operation de l'armée israélienne dans la bande de Gaza.
Ils onbt mnarche au cimetière pour rendre hommage aux quatre jeunes Palestiniens qui avaient été tués cette année lors de manifestations, tous par balles réelles. Les manifestations a Nilin ont encore lieu plusieurs fois par semaine.

Who will save Israel from itself?

OPINION: WAR ON GAZA
Who will save Israel from itself?
By Mark LeVine

The Israeli government's justifications for the war are being scrutinised [GALLO/GETTY]

One by one the justifications given by Israel for its latest war in Gaza are unravelling.

The argument that this is a purely defensive war, launched only after Hamas broke a six-month ceasefire has been challenged, not just by observers in the know such as Jimmy Carter, the former US president who helped facilitate the truce, but by centre-right Israeli intelligence think tanks.

The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, whose December 31 report titled "Six Months of the Lull Arrangement Intelligence Report," confirmed that the June 19 truce was only "sporadically violated, and then not by Hamas but instead by ... "rogue terrorist organisations".

Instead, "the escalation and erosion of the lull arrangement" occurred after Israel killed six Hamas members on November 4 without provocation and then placed the entire Strip under an even more intensive siege the next day.

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According to a joint Tel Aviv University-European University study, this fits a larger pattern in which Israeli violence has been responsible for ending 79 per cent of all lulls in violence since the outbreak of the second intifada, compared with only 8 per cent for Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

Indeed, the Israeli foreign ministry seems to realise that this argument is losing credibility.

During a conference call with half a dozen pro-Israel professors on Thursday, Asaf Shariv, the Consul General of Israel in New York, focused more on the importance of destroying the intricate tunnel system connecting Gaza to the Sinai.

He claimed that such tunnels were "as big as the Holland and Lincoln tunnels," and offered as proof the "fact" that lions and monkeys had been smuggled through them to a zoo in Gaza. In reality, the lions were two small cubs that were drugged, thrown in sacks, and dragged through a tunnel on their way to a private zoo.

Israel's self-image

The claim that Hamas will never accept the existence of Israel has proved equally misinformed, as Hamas leaders explicitly announce their intention to do just that in the pages of the Los Angeles Times or to any international leader or journalist who will meet with them.

With each new family, 10, 20 and 30 strong, buried under the rubble of a building in Gaza, the claim that the Israeli forces have gone out of their way to diminish civilian casualties - long a centre-piece of Israel's image as an enlightened and moral democracy - is falling apart.

Anyone with an internet connection can Google "Gaza humanitarian catastrophe" and find the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories and read the thousands of pages of evidence documenting the reality of the current fighting, and the long term siege on Gaza that preceded it.

The Red Cross, normally scrupulous in its unwillingness to single out parties to a conflict for criticism, sharply criticised Israel for preventing medical personnel from reaching wounded Palestinians, some of whom remained trapped for days, slowly starving and dying in the Gazan rubble amidst their dead relatives.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has flatly denied Israeli claims that Palestinian fighters were using the UNRWA school compound bombed on January 6, in which 40 civilians were killed, to launch attacks, and has challenged Israel to prove otherwise.

War crimes admission

Additionally, numerous flippant remarks by senior Israeli politicians and generals, including Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister, refusing to make a distinction between civilian people and institutions and fighters - "Hamas doesn't ... and neither should we" is how Livni puts it - are rightly being seen as admissions of war crimes.

Indeed, in reviewing statements by Israeli military planners leading up to the invasion, it is clear that there was a well thought out decision to go after Gaza's civilian infrastructure - and with it, civilians.

The following quote from an interview with Major-General Gadi Eisenkot that appeared in the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth in October, is telling:

"We will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on Israel, and cause immense damage and destruction. From our perspective these [the villages] are military bases," he said.

"This isn't a suggestion. This is a plan that has already been authorised."

Causing "immense damage and destruction" and considering entire villages "military bases" is absolutely prohibited under international law.

Eisenkot's description of this planning in light of what is now unfolding in Gaza is a clear admission of conspiracy and intent to commit war crimes, and when taken with the comments above, and numerous others, renders any argument by Israel that it has tried to protect civilians and is not engaging in disproportionate force unbelievable.

International laws violated

On the ground, the evidence mounts ever higher that Israel is systematically violating a host of international laws, including but not limited to Article 56 of the IV Hague Convention of 1907, the First Additional Protocol of the Geneva Convention, the Fourth Geneva Convention (more specifically known as the "Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949", the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the principles of Customary International Humanitarian Law.

None of this excuses or legitimises the firing of rockets or mortars by any Palestinian group at Israeli civilians and non-military targets.

As Richard Falk, the UN special rapporteur, declared in his most recent statement on Gaza: "It should be pointed out unambiguously that there is no legal (or moral) justification for firing rockets at civilian targets, and that such behavior is a violation of IHR, associated with the right to life, as well as constitutes a war crime."

By the same logic, however, Israel does not have the right to use such attacks as an excuse to launch an all-out assault on the entire population of Gaza.

In this context, even Israel's suffering from the constant barrage of rockets is hard to pay due attention to when the numbers of dead and wounded on each side are counted. Any sense of proportion is impossible to sustain with such a calculus.

'Rogue' state

Israeli commentators and scholars, self-described "loyal" Zionists who served proudly in the army in wars past, are now publicly describing their country, in the words of Oxford University professor Avi Shlaim, as a "rogue" and gangster" state led by "completely unscrupulous leaders".

Gazans inspect the damage after an air strike hit a mosque [GALLO/GETTY]
Neve Gordon, a politics professor at Ben Gurion University, has declared that Israel's actions in Gaza are like "raising animals for slaughter on a farm" and represent a "bizarre new moral element" in warfare.

"The moral voice of restraint has been left behind ... Everything is permitted" against Palestinians, writes a disgusted Haaretz columnist, Gideon Levy.

Fellow Haaretz columnist and daughter of Holocaust survivors, Amira Haas writes of her late parents disgust at how Israeli leaders justified Israel's wars with a "language laundromat" aimed at redefining reality and Israel's moral compass. "Lucky my parents aren't alive to see this," she exclaimed.

Around the world people are beginning to compare Israel's attack on Gaza, which after the 2005 withdrawal of Israeli forces and settlers was turned literally into the world's largest prison, to the Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Extremist Muslims are using internet forums to collect names and addresses of prominent European Jews with the goal, it seems clear, of assassinating them in retaliation for Israel's actions in Gaza.

Al-Qaeda is attempting to exploit this crisis to gain a foothold in Gaza and Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria, as well as through attacking Jewish communities globally.

Iran's defiance of both Israel and its main sponsor, the US, is winning it increasing sympathy with each passing day.

Democratic values eroded

Inside Israel, the violence will continue to erode both democratic values in the Jewish community, and any acceptance of the Jewish state's legitimacy in the eyes of its Palestinian citizens.

And yet in the US - at least in Washington and in the offices of the mainstream Jewish organisations - the chorus of support for Israel's war on Gaza continues to sing in tight harmony with official Israeli policy, seemingly deaf to the fact that they have become so out of tune with the reality exploding around them.

At my university, UCI, where last summer Jewish and Muslim students organised a trip together through the occupied territories and Israel so they could see with their own eyes the realities there, old battle lines are being redrawn.

The Anteaters for Israel, the college pro-Israel group at the University of California, Irvine, sent out an urgent email to the community explaining that, "Over the past week, increasing amounts of evidence lead us to believe that Hamas is largely responsible for any alleged humanitarian crisis in Gaza".

I have no idea who the "us" is that is referred to in the appeal, although I am sure that the membership of that group is shrinking.

Indeed, one of the sad facts of this latest tragedy is that with each claim publicly refuted by facts on the ground, more and more Americans, including Jews, are refusing to trust the assertions of Israeli and American Jewish leaders.

Trap

Even worse, in the Arab/Muslim world, the horrific images pouring out of Gaza daily are allowing preachers and politicians to deploy well-worn yet still dangerous and inciteful stereotypes against Jews as they rally the masses against Israel - and through it - their own governments.

What is most frightening is that the most important of Israel's so-called friends, the US political establishment and the mainstream Jewish leadership, seem clueless to the devastating trap that Israel has led itself into - in good measure with their indulgence and even help.

It is one that threatens the country's existence far more than any Qassam rockets, with their 0.4 per cent kill rate; even more than the disastrous 2006 invasion of southern Lebanon, which by weakening Israel's deterrence capability in some measure made this war inevitable.

First, it is clear that Israel cannot destroy Hamas, it cannot stop the rockets unless it agrees to a truce that will go far to meeting the primary demand of Hamas - an end to the siege.

Merely by surviving (and it surely will survive) Hamas, like Hezbollah in 2006, will have won.

Support for the war remains high in Israel[GALLO/GETTY]
Israel is succeeding in doing little more than creating another generation of Palestinians with hearts filled with rage and a need for revenge.

Second, Israel's main patron, the US, along with the conservative Arab autocracies and monarchies that are its only allies left in the Muslim world, are losing whatever crumbs of legitimacy they still had with their young and angry populations.

The weaker the US and its axis becomes in the Middle East, the more precarious becomes Israel's long-term security. Indeed, any chance that the US could convince the Muslim world to pressure Iran to give up its quest for nuclear weapons has been buried in Gaza.

Third, as Israel brutalises Palestinians, it brutalises its own people. You cannot occupy another people and engage in violence against them at this scale without doing even greater damage to your soul.

The high incidence of violent crimes committed by veterans returning from combat duty in Iraq is but one example of how the violence of occupation and war eat away at people's moral centre.

While in the US only a small fraction of the population participates in war; in Israel, most able-bodied men end up participating.

The effects of the latest violence perpetrated against Palestinians upon the collective Israeli soul is incalculable; the notion that it can survive as an "ethnocracy" - favouring one ethnic group, Jews, yet by and large democratic - is becoming a fiction.

Violence-as-power

Who will save Israel from herself?

Israelis are clearly incapable. Their addiction as a society to the illusion of violence-as-power has reached the level of collective mental illness.

As Haaretz reporter Yossi Melman described it on January 10, "Israel has created an image of itself of a madman that has lost it".

Not Palestinians, too many of whom have fallen prey to the same condition.

Not the Middle East Quartet, the European Union, the United Nations, or the Arab League, all of whom are utterly powerless to influence Israeli policy.

Not the organised Jewish leadership in the US and Europe, who are even more blind to what is happening than most Israelis, who at least allow internal debate about the wisdom of their government's policies.

Not the growing progressive Jewish community, which will need years to achieve enough social and political power to challenge the status quo.

And not senior American politicians and policy-makers who are either unwilling to risk alienating American Jewish voters, or have been so brainwashed by the constant barrage of propaganda put out by the "Israel Lobby" that they are incapable of reaching an independent judgment about the conflict.

During the US presidential race, Barack Obama was ridiculed for being a messiah-like figure. The idea does not sound so funny now. It is hard to imagine anyone less saving Israel, the Palestinians, and the world from another four years of mindless violence.

Update: In a further challenge to the democratic process in Israel, on January 12, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the Central Elections Committee had voted overwhelmingly to bar Arab-led parties from participating in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Also, there are reports that the claim that extremist Muslims are using the internet to collect names and addresses of prominent British Jews in order to attack them, might in fact have been a hoax.

Mark LeVine is a professor of Middle East history at the University of California, Irvine, and is the author of Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam and the soon to be published An Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989.

The views expressed by the author are not necessarily those of Al Jazeera.

Israel uses white phosphore in Gaza / Israel utilise du phosphore blanc contre les civils a Gaza

Israel's new bombs from the eyes of their victims
Date: 13 / 01 / 2009 Time: 12:23
تكبير الخط تصغير الخط

Gaza – Ma’an – Everything was on fire; houses, sheds, trees.

Bombs, too, were everywhere, and with them came the white clouds. White phosphorous, the doctors are now saying, but that's disputed in Israel.

But for sure it was a night of terror. We were terrified. We thought we were going to burn to death.

Bombs were everywhere. That's what 27-year-old Fadia Al-Najjar kept saying. She's from Khaza'a; she was telling us what kind of horrific night she and her family had just gone through.

While explaining what had happened, Fadia stood next to her paramedic husband Ghanem, now surrounded by other medics, desperately struggling to save his life after he was caught in an airstrike unlike he had ever seen before.

Ghanem was incapacitated while on duty trying to bring injured Palestinians to the hospital. There had been calls reporting mysterious white smoke in the latest airstrike, and Ghanem was dispatched to attend to the wounded. He was on duty when he inhaled some of the smoke.

"The shelling with phosphorous bombs started in Khaza'a. Two of the bombs hit the area around our house,” Fadia explained. She recalled how the fire spread quickly throughout the home, and white smoke billowed out the windows.

"Neighbors were screaming, asking for help; the fire was changing," she remembers. "I woke up my kids, got them to my parents’ house, hoping to find a safer place."

"But the real catastrophe was two hours after we had moved to my parents’ house; bombs hit their home too and the fire spread everywhere. The top floor was burnt completely.”

It's not just her husband Fadia keeps watch over. In fact, the young mother has to split her time among the hospital's many wards. Her children have also been hospitalized.

"They wanted to burn us alive inside the house. There were 40 of us in there. Men, women, children,” she recalls of the second bombing. "We could hear their bodies burning."


"We didn't know where to go. Our house, my parents' house, my in-laws' house? All were burnt, damaged, destroyed. But where can we go in this weather? It's very cold."

Zakaya

Another relative, 51-year-old Zakaya, said she struggled to make sense of the chaos and confusion of trying to find her injured family members at Naser Hospital in the northwest of Gaza City.

Zakaya told Ma'an that she barely remembers what happened, "but at about 10:00pm we heard explosions in several areas of Khaza'a, coming closer and closer."

"We live so close to the border wall (targeted by Israel), so we were just so afraid; our fear reached a maximum level."

"The children were asleep, so I tried to wake some of them because I felt our home was no longer safe," she says. "And all of the sudden bombs fell all over our two-story house."

"White smoke filled the house, and suddenly fires were spreading inside," Zakaya explained while checking on her children at the hospital's intensive care unit.

"We started screaming; we were so scared. I started to get the kids outside but the bombing went on and six more bombs fell on our house."

After the sixth bomb hit the home Zakaya and those her family was able to get out of the home were forced to abandon those left in the building. The fire was too hot and the smoke too intense and no one could get back inside.

"The smoke was spreading so fast; we couldn't see through it. We couldn't see, but we could hear.” From the windows of the burning home the cries of her children and cousins filled the streets. “The cries were not just from my home, but from the neighbors' house too."

Paramedics arrived and evacuated some of the last who were rescued from the building. They braved the smoke and were able to rescue a few others before the entire building was engulfed in flames.

Adel

According to 48-year-old Adel Kdeih, the night was calm before the bombs hit. Now that he knows what it was, that it was phosphorous, "it just makes the situation that more horrible."

Kdeih came hurrying to the hospital to check up on his children injured by the phosphorous, but he also remembers how tired he was. He was in great shock, numb, when he told Ma'an how the "dozens of incendiary bombs fell on civilian houses."

"We could hear women and children screaming in fear," he says.

Many of the bombs fell on the courtyard of his house. "I hurried inside the house to wake up my twelve children. I was able to evacuate the house with the help of paramedics and others from the [Hamas-run] civil-defense team."

"When I was evacuating the house I saw a lot of houses and fields being burnt, too,” he recalls.

The doctor

Dr Yousef Abu Ar-Reesh, the medical director at Nasser Medical Center, said more than 90 patients were brought in for burn treatments Sunday night.

"Most of them were skin burns, lacerations and deep wounds. A lot of them came in choking, unable to breathe," he explains.

He explained that as far as he can tell the Israeli army is using two kinds of bombs,"The first causes severe skin burns and leads to death, as with 41-year-old Hanan Al-Najjar here, and others."

"The second kind leads to suffocation, congestion, the inability to breathe.”


Dr Ar-Reesh said that he cannot confirm that the bombs are white phosphorus, since there are no specialized laboratories in Gaza. The eyewitness reports and the type of injuries he has seen in the hospital, however, worry him.

"What is certain” he said, “is that the Israeli government is using a new kind of bomb and explosives that Palestinian medics have never even heard of."

"Not even the Arab medical teams who just arrived can give us any support," he says.

The doctor pointed out that the wounds and burns are "terrible and horrific."

"And they can lead to death, as with Hanan Al-Najjar, who burned to death when a shell directly hit her body.”

When asked if Israel is deliberately using weapons that are illegal under international law for use against civilians, Dr Ar-Reesh chooses his words carefully: "I can't rule that out."





Gaza: Israël utilise des bombes au phosphore, selon HRW

Lundi 12 janvier, 18h23
AP Jason Keyser

* Imprimer

L'armée israélienne a tiré des obus d'artillerie contenant du phosphore blanc, une substance incendiaire, sur des zones peuplées de la Bande de Gaza, dont un camp de réfugiés bondé, accuse l'organisation américaine de défense des droits de l'Homme Human Rights Watch. Lire la suite l'article


Des membres de l'ONG racontent avoir vu en fin de semaine dernière, depuis la frontière avec le territoire, des explosions d'obus au-dessus du camp de Jabaliya dégageant une fumée brûlante, signe de la présence de phosphore blanc.

Cette substance peut provoquer de graves brûlures en cas de contact avec la peau et déclencher des incendies au sol, rappelle HRW dans un communiqué. L'organisation appelle Israël à ne pas l'utiliser dans les zones densément peuplées de la Bande de Gaza. "La France s'associe à la demande faite par HRW aux autorités israéliennes de ne pas utiliser ces armes, du fait notamment de leur toxicité et de la densité de la population à Gaza", a déclaré de son côté lundi le ministère français des Affaires étrangères.

Le commandant Avital Leibovich, porte-parole de l'armée israélienne a refusé de confirmer l'utilisation par Israël de phosphore blanc, mais a affirmé que Tsahal "utilise des munitions en conformité avec le droit international".

HRW a précisé n'avoir aucun moyen d'enquêter pour savoir si des personnes ont été victimes de ces tirs, Israël ayant interdit à ses enquêteurs d'entrer dans l'étroite bande côtière. Des journalistes de l'Associated Press dans la bande de Gaza ont rapporté avoir vu dimanche plusieurs patients grièvement brûlés à l'hôpital Nasser, à Khan Younès, et dont les blessures pourraient avoir été provoquées par du phosphore, selon le médecin-chef.

Le phosphore blanc n'est pas considéré comme une arme chimique et les militaires peuvent l'utiliser, selon le droit international, dans les obus, bombes et roquettes pour créer des écrans de fumée destinés à masquer des mouvements de troupes, ou bien des explosions brillantes dans les airs pour illuminer un champ de bataille la nuit.

Israël n'est pas partie à la convention sur son usage. Mais en vertu des lois et coutumes de guerre, l'Etat hébreu est censé prendre toutes les précautions possibles pour minimiser l'impact du phosphore blanc sur les civils, souligne HRW.

"L'utilisation de phosphore blanc dans des zones densément peuplées comme un camp de réfugiés montre que les Israéliens ne prennent pas toutes les précautions possibles", accuse Marc Garlasco, un analyste de l'ONG. "C'est un risque inutile pour la population civile, non seulement à cause du risque de blessures mais aussi d'incendie de maisons et d'infrastructures."

Un photographe d'AP et une équipe de télévision basés à Gaza se sont rendus à l'hôpital Nasser dimanche et ont pris des images de plusieurs patients brûlés. L'un d'eux, Haitham Tahsin, a raconté qu'il se trouvait près de sa maison avec sa famille lorsque quelque chose a explosé en l'air. "J'ai vu des bombes et de la fumée blanche", a expliqué le blessé, brûlé au visage. "C'était très rouge avec de la fumée blanche. C'est la première fois que je vois une chose pareille."

Son cousin, allongé sur un autre lit d'hôpital, a été plus grièvement brûlé, sa peau se décollant par endroits de son visage et de son corps. Il portait d'épais bandages.

Selon le médecin-chef Youssef Abou Rish, les brûlures n'ont pas été provoquées par le feu, mais il n'a pas pu dire avec certitude ce qui les a produites. Des informations trouvées sur Internet laissent penser qu'elles pourraient avoir été causées par du phosphore blanc, a-t-il ajouté.

Israël avait utilisé du phosphore blanc durant la guerre du Liban à l'été 2006. L'armée américaine a également employé cette substance lors d'une opération en novembre 2004 contre des insurgés à Falloujah, en Irak. AP

Demo in Paris against the WAR in Gaza/ Manif a Paris contre la guerre a Gaza

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, Paris, Saturday 10.01.2009.

On this day: 878 PALESTINIANS KILLED, MORE THAN 80 PER CENT ARE CIVILIANS.

A CE JOUR: 878 PALESTINIENS TUES, PLUS DE 80% SONT DES CIVILS...

Demo in Paris against the WAR in Gaza/ Manif a Paris contre la guerre a Gaza

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, Paris, Saturday 10.01.2009.

Demo in Paris against the WAR in Gaza/ Manif a Paris contre la guerre a Gaza

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, Paris, Saturday 10.01.2009.

Around 30,000 people demonstrate in Paris against the Israeli military operation in Gaza, on 10.01.2009. Many demonstrations occur around the world, showing solidarity with the people of Gaza and asking for an immediate halt to the massacres.

Environ 30.000 personnes ont manifeste dans Paris contre l'opération militaire israélienne dans la bande de Gaza, le 10/01/2009. De nombreuses manifestations se sont deroulees partout dans le monde, pour faire preuve de solidarité avec le peuple de Gaza et en demandant l'arrêt immédiat des massacres.

from gaza

Vittorio Arrigoni, Gaza, January 9, 2009

Take some kittens, some tender little moggies in a box", said Jamal, a surgeon at the Al Shifa, Gaza's main hospital, while a nurse actually placed a couple of blood-stained cardboard boxes in front of us. "Seal up the box, then jump on it with all your weight and might, until you feel their little bones crunching, and you hear the last muffled little mew." I stared at the boxes in astonishment, and the doctor continued: "Try to imagine what would happen after such images were circulated. The righteous outrage of public opinion, the complaints of the animal rights organisations…" The doctors went on in this vein, and I was unable to take my eyes off those boxes, sitting at our feet. "Israel trapped hundreds of civilians inside a school as if in a box, including many children, and then crushed them with all the might of its bombs. What were the world's reactions? Almost nothing. We would have been better off as animals rather than Palestinians, we would have been more protected."

At this point the doctor leans towards one of the boxes, and takes its lid off in front of me. Inside it are the amputated limbs, legs and arms, some from the knee down, others with the entire femur attached, amputated from the injured at the Al Fakhura United Nations school in Jabalia, which resulted in more than fifity casualties. Pretending to be taking an urgent call, I took my leave of Jamal, actually rushing to the bathroom to bend over and throw up.

A little earlier I'd been involved in a conversation with Dr. Abdel, an ophtalmologist, regarding the rumours that the Israeli Army had been showering us with non-conventional weapons, forbidden by the Geneva Convention, such as cluster bombs and white phosphorous. The very same that the Tsahal Army used in the last Lebanese war, as well as the US air force in Falluja, still violating international norms. In front of Al Auda hospital we witnessed and filmed white phosphorous bombs being used about five hundred metres from where we were, too far to be absolutely certain there were any civilians underneath the Israeli Apaches, but so terribly close to us all the same.

The Geneva Treaty of 1980 forbids white phosphorous being used directly as a war weapon in civilian areas, allowing it only as a smoke screen or for lighting. There's no doubt that using this weapon in Gaza, a strip of land concentrating the highest population rate in the world, is a crime all on its own. Doctor Abdel told me that at Al Shifa hospital they don't have the medical and military competence to say for sure whether the wounds they examined on certain corpses were indeed provoked by white phosphorous bullets.

But on his word, in twenty years on the job he had never seen casualties like those now being carried into the ward. He told me about the traumas to the skull, with the fractures to the vomer bone, the jaw, the cheekbones, tear duct, nasal and palatine bones showed signs of the collision of an immense force against the victim's face. What he finds inexplicable is the total lack of eyeballs, which ought to leave a trace somewhere within the skull even in case of such a violent impact. Instead, we see Palestinian corpses coming into the hospitals without eyes at all, as if someone had removed them surgically before handing them over to the coroner.

Israel has let us know that we've been granted a daily 3-hour truce, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. These statements from the Israeli military summit are considered by the people of Gaza as having the same reliability as the Hamas leaders' declarations that they've just provoked a massacre of enemy soldiers. Just to be clear on this point, the soldiers of Tel Aviv's worse enemy are the very same who fight under the Star of David. Yesterday a war ship off the coast of Gaza's port picked out a large group of alleged guerrilla fighters from the Palestinian Resistance, moving as a united front around Jabalia. They shot their cannons at them. But as it turned out, they were their own fellow soldiers, with the shooting resulting in three being killed and about twenty injured. No one here believes in the truces that Israel declares, and as it happens, today at 2:00 PM Rafah was under attack by the Israeli helicopters. There was also yet another massacre of children in Jabalia: three little sisters aged 2, 4 and 6 from the Abed Rabbu family were slaughtered. Just half an hour earlier in Jabalia, once again the Red Crescent hospital's ambulances were under attack. Eva and Alberto, my ISM colleagues were on board that ambulance and managed to film everything, passing those videos and photos on to all the major media.

Hassan was kneecapped, fresh from mourning the death of his friend Araf, a paramedic who was killed two days ago as he came in aid of the injured in Gaza City. They had stopped to pick up the body of a man languishing in agony in the middle of the road, when they were under fire by about ten shots from an Israeli sniper. One bullet hit Hassan in the knee and the ambulance was filled with holes. We're now at a death toll of 688, in addition to 3,070 injured, 158 dead children and countless missing. Only yesterday, we counted 83 dead, 80 of which were civilians. Thankfully, the death toll on the Israeli side is still only at 4.

Travelling towards Al Quds hospital, where I'll be working all night on the ambulances, as I raced along on board one of the very few fearless taxis left, zig-zagging to avoid the bombs, on the corner of one street I saw a group of dirty street urchins with tattered clothes, looking exactly like the "sciuscià" kids of the Italian afterwar period. They threw stones towards the sky with slingshots, at far away and unapproachable enemy who was toying with their lives. This is a crazy metaphor, which could serve as a snapshot of the absurdity of this time and place.

Stay human
Vittorio Arrigoni

censure sur GAZA

Pourquoi aucun journaliste etranger ne peut rentrer a GAZA?

aujourd hui meme la croix rouge internationale qui est tres connue pour ses positions prudentes vient de condamner Israel qui empeche les blesses d'etre evacues, apres avoir trouve des enfants qui meurent de faim pres du corps de leurs parents...on en arrive a ce point.


Gaza, la guerre des images

La censure israélienne concernant Gaza n’a jamais été aussi forte que depuis le déclenchement de l’opération «Plomb durci».

de Serge Dumont, Tel-Aviv

Dans sa grande majorité, l’opinion israélienne ne sait pas ce qui se passe dans la bande de Gaza. A l’exception de quelques intellectuels, elle n’a par exemple jamais su que les points de passage entre leur pays et le territoire palestinien sont restés fermés durant les six mois de trêve avec l’organisation islamiste. En outre, les Israéliens n’imaginent pas - ou alors ils refusent de le croire - que les Gazaouis sont privés de vivres, d’eau courante et d’électricité.

"Ce n’est pas possible, nous ne faisons pas des choses pareilles", affirme, étonné, Yoav Nir, un garçon de café travaillant dans le centre de Tel-Aviv. "Tsahal (l’armée) a des principes moraux, elle ne s’attaque jamais aux civils. En tout cas, elle ne les punis pas pour rien."

La plupart des Israéliens font en tout cas confiance aux avis officiels ainsi qu’aux commentaires des chroniqueurs militaires, qui relient fidèlement l’opinion de l’état-major de l’armée. Leur ton n’est pas martial mais dans l’ensemble, ils vantent la «précision du travail de Tsahal», les «succès remportés sur le terrain», mais sans jamais mettre de pression, et ils dénoncent «la propagande du Hamas qui tente de faire croire que des innocents sont touchés». A les entendre, les militants islamistes sont des «terroristes qui se terrent» et les soldats qui les traquent «se dévouent pour le pays au péril de leur vie».

Depuis le début de «Plomb durci», les radios-télévisions israéliennes multiplient les émissions spéciales en direct et en continu. Mais elles n’ont pas grand-chose à dire ou à montrer puisque la censure militaire s’est faite beaucoup plus pesante que lors de la deuxième guerre du Liban. Résultat? Si les chutes de roquettes palestiniennes sont traitées en long et en large même lorsque l’engin s’est abattu dans un champ, les frappes israéliennes de Gaza ne sont illustrées que par des colonnes de fumée filmées de loin ou par des images d’hélicoptères de combat filant dans le ciel bleu.

Lorsqu’ils interviennent sur antenne, les journalistes reconnaissent qu’ils en savent beaucoup plus mais qu’ils «travaillent dans les limites imposées par la censure». Outre la divulgation en direct des endroits où les roquettes Qassam et Grad sont tombées, de nombreuses informations militaires ne peuvent être diffusées. Seules les images fournies par le porte-parole de Tsahal sont agréées et elles sont insignifiante : des camions stationnant dans un champ, des chars manœuvrant dans la nuit, des soldats en prière avant de partir en mission

Quant à la presse écrite, ses grands titres populaires tels le Yediot Aharonot, Israël Hayom et le Maariv (les trois quotidiens les plus lus) fourmillent d’histoires patriotiques de photos montrant les réservistes se présentant à leur base avec le sourire aux lèvres. «On est là pour écraser la tête du Hamas et on va le faire», pouvait-on lire lundi sous l’une de ses illustrations. D’autres reportages sont consacrés aux souffrances endurées par les personnes dont les maisons ont été touchées par les roquettes, aux familles de soldats blessés et à celles des réservistes. La vie des Gazaouis est rarement évoquée sauf dans le quotidien Haaretz dont le lectorat est peu nombreux.

La censure israélienne concernant Gaza n’a jamais été aussi forte que depuis le déclenchement de «Plomb durci». Gaza est fermée à tout le monde : aux diplomates, aux journalistes israéliens, aux correspondants de la presse étrangère basés dans ce pays, mais également aux envoyés spéciaux étrangers.

Certes, grâce à un recours introduit par le Foreign press association (FPA), la Cour suprême a enjoint à Tsahal d’autoriser huitjournalistes étrangers tirés au sort à se rendre sur le terrain. Mais l’armée ne semble pas pressée de mettre cet arrêt en application. Hier, elle a en tout cas interdit aux huit journalistes sélectionnés de franchir le point de passage d’Erez. Au nom de «leur propre sécurité», bien entendu.

http://www.letemps.ch/template/temp...

starving children next to their dead parents

Red Cross: Israel breaking int'l law, letting children starve in Gaza
By Reuters

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Thursday accused Israel of delaying ambulance access to the Gaza Strip and demanded it grant safe access for Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances to return to evacuate more wounded.

Relief workers said they found four starving children sitting next to their dead mothers and other corpses in a house in a part of Gaza City bombed by Israeli forces, the Red Cross said on Thursday.



"This is a shocking incident," said Pierre Wettach, ICRC chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories.

"The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded," Wettach said.

The agency said it believed Israel had breached international humanitarian law in the incident.

An Israeli offensive launched in the Hamas-controlled Gaza
Strip on Dec. 27 to end rocket attacks by Islamic militants has drawn increasing international criticism over mounting civilian casualties.

Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances and ICRC officials managed to reach several houses in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City on Wednesday after seeking access from Israeli military forces since last weekend, the ICRC statement said.

The rescue team "found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses," the ICRC said.

"They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses," it said.

In another house, the team found 15 survivors of Israeli shelling including several wounded, it said.

Three corpses were found in another home. Israeli soldiers posted some 80 meters (yards) away ordered the rescue team to leave the area which they refused to do, it said.

The ICRC said it had been informed that there were more wounded sheltering in other destroyed houses in the area.

"The ICRC believes that in this instance the Israeli military failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuated the wounded. It considers the delay in allowing rescue services access unacceptable," it said.

Nowhere to hide

Gaza aid diary: Nowhere is safe

By Salwa El Tibi in Gaza


Many Gazan families are in need of aid, but NGOs are struggling to reach them all [GALLO/GETTY]

Yesterday was the first time in nine days that I was able to leave my house.

It is about a 10 minute journey from my home to the warehouse where the Save the Children food parcels are stored - but even as I drove the Save the Children car to work, I felt very afraid.

The noise from the bombings was so loud. There were very few cars on the roads and all of the shops were closed.

I saw three buildings that had been completely destroyed.

Dangerous work

At the warehouse I waited for our volunteer staff who help to distribute our food parcels across different parts of the Gaza Strip.

When we distribute the parcels we work in groups because it is so dangerous.

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The volunteers packed their cars with the parcels and headed out to different parts of Gaza City and the north of the Strip.

Although they are volunteers we will give them some money because it is dangerous work.

One of our volunteers, Eyad, was distributing parcels in the beach camp when a huge bomb went off. By chance he is still alive.

It is really very difficult but we have to do this. We are at war. It is an excellent achievement that we can provide humanitarian aid in these areas.

When I had spent more than four hours working in the warehouse I asked the warehouse owner to call my husband to let him know that I was okay. My husband said that I should come back home, so I left the warehouse feeling very afraid about the journey back.

We prioritise distributing our food parcels to families with many children. Our selection criteria mean that every home with five or more children should receive our parcels but we wish we could reach more families. Some are in dire need of our help.

Eyad distributed 184 parcels in Gaza yesterday.

Half of all the parcels have now been handed out. The other half will go to the south of the Strip but there are some areas we cannot reach because of the situation.

Powerless

Today we are very busy because we are trying to assess the needs of some hospitals in the Gaza Strip. A doctor told us they are in urgent need of bed covers, doctor's coats, scrubs and gauze pads.

We are lucky because when we called the medical vendors we managed to track down some of these supplies. Right now we are assessing our budget and then tomorrow we will start to distribute these supplies to the Kamal Edwan hospital in the north and to other clinics in Gaza.

Every morning, I evaluate the situation to see if I can leave the house. Today, for example, I could not move at all so I am working from home. Ramsey, my colleague, lives close to the office and the warehouse is working with me to get these supplies out to the places where they are needed.

I cannot promise that I will be able to leave the house tomorrow either but I can promise that by 11am tomorrow, Ramsey will get these medical supplies to the hospitals regardless of the security situation.

It is like an earthquake here. If you could only hear the bombs going off.

I have five blankets covering my legs because it is so cold. All of my children have five blankets on them too. Every minute there is a bomb.

I am a strong woman. If I saw a person die, I can stop and help and be strong, but in this situation I feel that I cannot do anything.

When I was driving the car yesterday, I felt very faint. How will they know it is a woman driving this car, I thought. Even if it has a Save the Children logo, they still would not know.

It is the same across the whole Gaza Strip. You cannot find a safe area at all.

Protest againts the massacres committed in Gaza / Protestation contre les massacres commis a Gaza par l'armee israelienne

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, Clermont-Ferrand, France, 30 December 2008

Protest in Clermont-Ferrand, in solidarity with the people of Gaza. The protestors called for an immediate halt to the massacres committed in Gaza.

Manifestation a Clermont-Ferrand, en solidarite avec la population de Gaza victime depuis plusieurs mois d'un blocus et qui subit depuis quelques jours des bombardements intensifs de l'armee israelienne qui ont tue et blesse des milliers de personnes, dont de nombreux civils. Les punitions collectives ainsi que l'usage disproportionne de la force sont clairement interdits par le droit international et constituent des crimers de guerre.