Amnesty International Report "Operation Cast Lead" - 22 days of death and destruction

[ironsides]

GENEVA – The U.N. Human Rights Council will reopen the debate about alleged war crimes in Gaza later this week after Palestinians succeeded in gathering enough support to call a special meeting, officials said Tuesday. Of course they did, was their any doubts.

The debate will start Thursday, a day after the U.N. Security Council in New York discusses the Goldstone report, which accuses Israeli forces and Palestinian militants of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during their Dec. 27-Jan. 18 war. So far no bias.
Israel has rejected the report, claiming the investigators led by former South African judge Richard Goldstone were biased against the Jewish state and misled by Palestinian propaganda.
U.N. officials say 18 of the council's 47 members signed a motion calling for the debate. The backers are: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Senegal.
Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian Authority's U.N. ambassador in Geneva, said the two-day debate would examine the report as well as recent incidents of violence in Jerusalem.
It will be the sixth time that Israel has been the subject of a special session by the Geneva-based council. Each previous session has resulted in a resolution critical of Israel. How many times has the PLO, Hamas and other Islamic groups have been the subject of special sessions for the same reasons?
"We'll wait to take a stance on the debate itself once it begins," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said. "We still think that this report is very dangerous and is disconnected from reality. This report was based almost exclusively on Hamas propaganda."
The 575-page report concluded that Israel used disproportionate force and failed to protect civilians during its incursion into Gaza to root out Palestinian rocket squads. Why didn't the so called innocent civilians point out the rocket squads to the Israeli soldiers, would have saved a lot of lives.
The report also accused Palestinian armed groups of possible war crimes, including firing rockets into civilian areas in Israel. Hamas, the Palestinian Authority's main rival, controls Gaza. Yet everyone wants to see Israel punished.
Thirteen Israelis and almost 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the conflict. I blame the Palestinians for doing nothing to prevent those rocket attacks against Israeli citizens. If the Hamas Palestinians could have, they would have slaughtered Israeli's.
The decision to call for a special meeting of the council marks a turnaround for the Palestinians. Under heavy U.S. pressure, Palestinian diplomats two weeks ago had asked for debate on the report to be delayed until March, resulting in protests at home.
Despite angry Israeli reaction and U.S. criticism, the Goldstone report has been widely praised by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and supported by countries in Europe and elsewhere.

Palestinians, allies reopen Gaza war crimes debate - Yahoo! Philippines News

 

[earth_as_one]

The difference between us ironsides is that you have absolutely no consideration for Palestinians. You don't care about what is legal, fair or just. If you did, you'd know that International humanitarian law prohibits occupying powers like Israel from transferring their citizens from their territory to occupied territory (Fourth Geneva Convention, article 49). The Hague Regulations prohibit the occupying powers like Israel from undertaking permanent changes in the occupied area, unless these are due to military needs (in the narrow sense of the term - they can build military bases), or unless they are undertaken for the benefit of the local population. (walls and checkpoints aren't for the benefit of Palestinians)

Israeli settlements for their citizens on occupied Palestinian land violates Palestinian rights as enshrined in international human rights law. Among other violations, the settlements infringe on the rights to self-determination, equality, property, an adequate standard of living, and freedom of movement.

You are arguing that because Israel has gotten away with land theft, oppression and injustice for 40 years, their crimes should be recognized as legal and the injustices suffered by Palestinians should become permanent.

At no time has Israel ever stopped taking Palestinian land. Its been the one constant over 40 years. The only time Palestinians ever regained land from Israel is by violence. Israeli propaganda claims that Israel pulled out of Gaza willingly. The fact is their situation in Gaza became undefendable from Palestinian mortars and they withdrew. But they simply transferred these people to land they seized in the West Bank where the Palestinians are less militant. Eventually the same thing that happened in Gaza will happen in the West Bank as those Palestinians suffer more and more injustice and oppression.

Hostile people cannot be pacified with bullets and bombs. That only makes them more hostile. If Israel wants peace then they must give Palestinians justice. What you advocate is continued injustice which leads to continued violence.

 

[ironsides]

Israel will not give back the West Bank control at all to anyone with the possible exception of the UN. Palestinians and other non-Jews go on with their lives in the West Bank without civil restrictions (why do they seem to live in peaceful coexistence. Only reason I can come up with is that Hamas has none or minimal control there. Gaza Palestinians already have freedom if the stop killing Israeli's, even one. Why not go after Jordan to reinstate Palestinian lands.


The British underwent a change of heart about the establishment of the Palestine Mandate. The reasons were related to political developments that had taken place in the region between 1920 and 1922. The result was that Abdullah, an Arab from the Hejaz (now Saudi Arabia), was abruptly installed as the Emir of Transjordan by the British. In a British memorandum presented to the League of Nations on 16 September 1922, it was declared that the provisions of the Mandate document calling for the establishment of a Jewish national home were not applicable to the territory known as Transjordan (today called Jordan), thereby severing almost 80% of the Mandate land from any possible Jewish Homeland.
The world seems to have plunged into historical amnesia about this. Most people somehow forgot that Arab claims towards Palestine were already satisfied once. It is the Jews and not the Arabs who suffered from the "game" that was played between the Great Powers after World War I. International lawyer David Fromkin described these events in his book A Peace To End All Peace. Fromkin wrote:
"In 1925, the British added 60,000 sq. km. of desert to eastern Transjordan forming an "arm" of land to connect Transjordan with Iraq and to cut Syria off from the Arabian Peninsula. The British continued to favor exclusive Arab development east of the Jordan River by enacting restrictive regulations against the Jews, even when Arab leaders sought Jewish involvement in the development of Transjordan."
The British Mandate: Creation of Jordan


We do think differently.

 

[earth_as_one]

GENEVA – The U.N. Human Rights Council will reopen the debate about alleged war crimes in Gaza later this week after Palestinians succeeded in gathering enough support to call a special meeting, officials said Tuesday....
Palestinians, allies reopen Gaza war crimes debate - Yahoo! Philippines News

If you commit war crimes, you are a war criminal. War criminals should be held accountable for their actions. The same standards of justice should apply equally to all nations. Neither Israelis nor Palestinians should get special treatment.

The Palestinian Authority and Israel will both face pressure to arrest and deport their war criminals. Palestinian and Israeli war criminals will be arrested if they travel to countries which recognize the right of the International Laws regarding war criminals. BTW, the US does not recognize this process, so war criminals can still travel to the US where they US may arrest them or not.

The rest of your post is ridiculous IS. Many Israeli soldiers had orders to shoot to kill anything that moved regardless of whether people had their hands up or carried white flags of truce. You honestly expect that Palestinians would risk getting shot, arrested/tortured or used as a human shield to turn in another Palestinian???

I read the testimony of Israeli soldiers and what they encountered when they entered Gaza. Gaza is walled in on all sides. They had no where to run. All Gazans tried to hide... militants and civilians alike. Israeli soldiers encountered little to no resistance. After a while some of Israeli soldiers got bored and started randomly shooting stuff and blowing things up. Some blew up minarets on mosques and water towers just for fun. Some shot women and children carrying white flags because they could. Admittedly, not all Israeli soldiers committed war crimes, but some did. The majority of Israeli soldiers appear to have acted professionally and many were so disgusted by the conduct of their fellow soldiers they have started speaking out. They describe unprofessional conduct and war crimes. Not only did some commanders tolerate/ignore war crimes, in many cases they encouraged/ordered their subordinates to commit war crimes.

Read Israeli soldier testimonies for yourself:

"You feel like an infantile little kid with a magnifying glass looking at ants, burning them."

"...in my own company there were plenty of people who fired just for the hell of it, at houses, water tanks. They loved targeting water tanks."

"... if you see any signs of movement at all, you shoot. These, essentially, were the rules of engagement. Shoot if you like. If you're afraid, or you see someone, shoot..."

Breaking The Silence - Israeli soldiers talk about the occupied territories

 

[ironsides]

I just read it.

 

[earth_as_one]

Yeah you read some of it, but you didn't comment on it. Maybe its because you don't see Israelis who do these things as criminals or Palestinians on the recieving end as victims.

How about switching it around?

Lets suppose its 10-100 years in the future. The US has collapsed economically and after a series of brutal defeats and the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, has completely retreated from the middle east. All pro-US middle east dictatorships have collapsed. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Kuwait, Egypt, Syria, Iraq... have formed an economic/military union. China is the new super power and they've decided that its in their best interest to trade modern military hardware for middle east oil. The new Alliance of middle east countries has nuclear weapons, but doesn't want to confront Israel directly because it would cause a nuclear holocaust (MAD). Instead they train and arm Palestinian, other anti-Israel militant groups, mercenaries and volunteers with the most modern conventional military hardware. Their actions are completely covert and plausibly deniable. Yet Israel finds itself fighting a war with the "Palestinian insurgents" who possess superior technology, training and numbers. As the battles rage and Israeli casualties mount, Israeli civilians flee to the West. Stubborn religious extremists remain, vowing to fight on til death.

Eventually Israel's military collapses in complete defeat. The same walls that confined Palestinians, now confine the remaining Israeli civilians and their defeated military. "Palestinian insurgents" (and their mercenaries) overrun Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Now the shoe is on the other foot and Palestinians are reported making these same statements:

"You feel like an infantile little kid with a magnifying glass looking at ants, burning them."

"...in my own company there were plenty of people who fired just for the hell of it, at houses, water tanks. They loved targeting water tanks."

"... if you see any signs of movement at all, you shoot. These, essentially, were the rules of engagement. Shoot if you like. If you're afraid, or you see someone, shoot..."

Do the above quotes sound different to you? They sound exactly the same to me. I'd be just as outraged and disgusted.

If you commit war crimes, you are a war criminal. War criminals should be held accountable for their actions. The same standards of justice should apply equally to all nations.

Your viewpoint on war crimes depends on who are the criminals and who are the victims. Mine doesn't.

 

[Goober]

Yeah you read some of it, but you didn't comment on it. Maybe its because you don't see Israelis who do these things as criminals or Palestinians on the recieving end as victims.

How about switching it around?

Lets suppose its 10-100 years in the future. The US has collapsed economically and after a series of brutal defeats and the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, has completely retreated from the middle east. All pro-US middle east dictatorships have collapsed. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Kuwait, Egypt, Syria, Iraq... have formed an economic/military union. China is the new super power and they've decided that its in their best interest to trade modern military hardware for middle east oil. The new Alliance of middle east countries has nuclear weapons, but doesn't want to confront Israel directly because it would cause a nuclear holocaust (MAD). Instead they train and arm Palestinian, other anti-Israel militant groups, mercenaries and volunteers with the most modern conventional military hardware. Their actions are completely covert and plausibly deniable. Yet Israel finds itself fighting a war with the "Palestinian insurgents" who possess superior technology, training and numbers. As the battles rage and Israeli casualties mount, Israeli civilians flee to the West. Stubborn religious extremists remain, vowing to fight on til death.

Eventually Israel's military collapses in complete defeat. The same walls that confined Palestinians, now confine the remaining Israeli civilians and their defeated military. "Palestinian insurgents" (and their mercenaries) overrun Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Now the shoe is on the other foot and Palestinians are reported making these same statements:



Do the above quotes sound different to you? They sound exactly the same to me. I'd be just as outraged and disgusted.



Your viewpoint on war crimes depends on who are the criminals and who are the victims. Mine doesn't.

EAO - You do a lot of research - How about doing a thread on the objectivity or not - the usefulness or not of the UN Human Rights Commission? Is there bias or not? Are they even handed such as how Sri Lanka ended their civil war - something along those lines - I along with others would be interested in such a thread. Game or no game?

 

[ironsides]

Yeah you read some of it, but you didn't comment on it. Maybe its because you don't see Israelis who do these things as criminals or Palestinians on the recieving end as victims.

What can I say, you do harbor a great hate towards Israel, a country who was put in the location they are in by Great Briton. It would be nice if you stopped saying what you do until you have taken a trip on your own over there to see what is really going on. In your case experience would be a better teacher. You only believe what you read in books, a are very gullible person. I have not been to Gaza, but have been to the West Bank and never have run into any problems. Markets are full of food. The one point we do seem to agree about is that Israel should stop building new settlements.

"Maybe its because you don't see Israelis who do these things as criminals or Palestinians on the recieving end as victims."


I see the Palestinians as losers for supporting Hamas. You will not see the terrorism going as much if at all on the West Bank, why because Palestinians and Israeli's are managing to get along even though it may be a little tense, they are trying. Again the only major point of contention there seems to be the settlements the Jewish extremists keep trying to build, and Israel keeps knocking down.

 

[In Between Man]

AI is objective and doesn't take sides.

:laughing3:

They certainly don't stick up for the human rights of the unborn.

And they are very unbalanced in regards to the nation of Israel, they uphold terrorists as "freedom fighters".

Criticism of AI

 

[ironsides]

To bad so many still condemn Israel for the worlds woes, just as they did prior to WW-II. What you do not understand you destroy. I have to repeat this, If anyone thinks the Goldstone report is a non bias statement, they must think the rest of the world is totally stupid, just look at the countries who drafted it. A.I. maybe an objective, but no one is helping it move anyplace but as a bias pro Muslim propaganda tool.

The Goldstone report which condemned Israel and Hamas for war crimes in the January Gaza offensive, reserving special criticism for Israel, was carried by a majority of 25 of the 47-member Human Rights Council in Geneva Friday, Oct. 16. Six nations - the US, Holland, Italy, Ukraine, Hungary and Slovakia voted against, 11 abstained and 5 members, including France and Britain, did not take part in the vote.
Israel rejected the charges in the report as one-side and untrue and said the Human Rights Council resolution - drafted by the Palestinians with Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, on behalf of non-aligned, African, Islamic and Arab nations - threatens peace efforts.
DEBKAfile - Israel outraged by UN Human Rights Council endorsement of controversial Goldstone report

 

[earth_as_one]

Most of the world voted to support the Goldstone Report. Israel and Hamas have six months to hold their own credible inquiries of face a rare international criminal court investigation.

Results:

In favour (25): Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Djbouti, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia.

Against (6): US, Italy, Holland, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine.

Absentions (11): Belgium, Bosnia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia, Uruguay.

Britain, France, Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan and Angola did not vote.


Jerusalem Post RE: Goldstone Report
A Jewish Israeli viewpoint

Rattling the Cage: Our exclusive right to self-defense

Virtually all of Israel is now speaking in one voice against the Goldstone report, against any attempt to blame us over the war in Gaza. We've honed our message to a sharp point and, inspired by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's performance at the UN, we're delivering it with just the right tone of outrage:

How dare anyone deny us the right to self-defense! How dare anyone deny us the right to fight back against terrorism!

Very nice. Puts everyone else on the defensive. The right to self-defense is up there with motherhood and apple pie - who's going to come out against it, especially for us, for Israel, for the Jews, for the people of the Holocaust?

The right to self-defense - perfect.

But I'd like to ask: Do the Palestinians also have the right to self-defense?

We probably wouldn't admit it out loud, but in our heads we would say - again, in one voice - "No!"

This is the Israeli notion of a fair deal: We're entitled to do whatever the hell we want to the Palestinians because, by definition, whatever we do to them is self-defense. They, however, are not entitled to lift a finger against us because, by definition, whatever they do to us is terrorism.

That's the way it's always been, that's the way it was in Operation Cast Lead.

AND THERE are no limits on our right to self-defense. There is no such thing as "disproportionate." We can blockade Gaza, we can answer Kassams with F-16s and Apaches, we can take 100 eyes for an eye.

We can deliberately destroy thousands of Gazan homes, the Gazan parliament, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, courthouses, the only Gazan flour plant, the main poultry farm, a sewage treatment plant, water wells and God knows what else.

Deliberately.

After all, we're acting in self-defense. By definition.

And what right do the Palestinians have to defend themselves against this?

None.

Why? Because we're better than them. Because we're a democracy and they're a bunch of Islamo-fascists. Because ours is a culture of life and theirs is a culture of death. Because they're out to destroy us and all we are saying is give peace a chance.

One look at the ruins of Gaza ought to make that plain enough.

Here is our idea of the "laws of war": When Israeli bulldozers rolled across the border into Gazan villages and flattened house after house so Hamas wouldn't have them for cover after the IDF pulled out, that was self-defense. But if a Palestinian boy who'd lived in one of those houses threw a stone at one of the bulldozers, that was terrorism.

The Goldstones of the world call this hypocrisy, a double standard. How dare they! Around here, we call it moral clarity.

Our exclusive right to self-defense | Columnists | Jerusalem Post

YouTube - Gaza lives in ruins World news guardian co uk

YouTube - Video shows proof of phosphorus bombs in Gaza

YouTube - Home Video of White Phosphorus Being Dropped on Gaza Citizens UNRWA Headquarters Bombed

 

[ironsides]

Disarm those poor pathetic Palestinian farmers, take their launchers, rockets, heavy machine guns away, then talk peace. It was not Israel who started shooting at them. Bottom line do not take a punch at the big guy without expecting to get hurt.

 

[earth_as_one]

Disarm those poor pathetic Palestinian farmers, take their launchers, rockets, heavy machine guns away, then talk peace. It was not Israel who started shooting at them.

Really? Explain this:
Gaza truce broken as Israeli raid kills six Hamas gunmen | World news | guardian.co.uk

Before this Israeli raid into Gaza, Israel and Hamas had a truce. According to the terms, Hamas would not attack Israel and arrest anyone who did, and Israel would not block food and medicine from entering Gaza and allow Gazans to export trade goods.

Pretty easy to tell when the ceasefire went into effect and when Israel broke the truce in November.

Despite Hamas efforts to stop all attacks and arrest those responsible, Israel never lifted its blockade:

19 August 2008 16:35 UK
E-mail this to a friend Printable version

Truce barely eases Gaza embargo

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Truce barely eases Gaza embargo

Pretty hard to tell from the rate of shipments when Israel agreed to allow the free flow of food and medicine into Gaza.

Meanwhile Hamas never fired any rockets or mortars during the ceasefire and arrested anyone who did.

July 10 (Reuters) - Hamas arrested two militants who fired cross-border rockets into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, in the first such detentions since the Islamists and Israel agreed a truce last month, militants said.

An official with the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, said Hamas security forces arrested two of its members who were involved in firing two rockets at Israel.

"They chased the two after they fired the rockets and abducted them," the official said....


Hamas arrests militants after rocket fire | Reuters

Bottom line do not take a punch at the big guy without expecting to get hurt.

What goes around, comes around.

People who resort to violence should expect violence in return. I haven't heard the UN complain about Israel attacking Gaza militants. If you read the Goldstone report, its mostly concerned with war crimes and collective punishment against innocent civilians, not militants.

People who commit war crimes should expect that sooner or later, someone is going to cross that line with them. No empire lasts forever. Sooner or later, 1.2 billion Muslims and Arabs will gain the upperhand over the seven million Israelis. When that inevitable days comes very likely Palestinians will give back some of what they've been getting over the years:

...ethnic cleansing, torture, murder, human shields, chemical weapons, indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, collective punishment, shooting unarmed civilians and people carrying white flags of truce, attacking hospitals, ambulances and medics.....

Read the Goldstone report.
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf

 

[ironsides]

Really? Explain this:
Gaza truce broken as Israeli raid kills six Hamas gunmen | World news | guardian.co.uk

Before this Israeli raid into Gaza, Israel and Hamas had a truce. According to the terms, Hamas would not attack Israel and arrest anyone who did, and Israel would not block food and medicine from entering Gaza and allow Gazans to export trade goods.

Pretty easy to tell when the ceasefire went into effect and when Israel broke the truce in November.

Despite Hamas efforts to stop all attacks and arrest those responsible, Israel never lifted its blockade:



Pretty hard to tell from the rate of shipments when Israel agreed to allow the free flow of food and medicine into Gaza.

Meanwhile Hamas never fired any rockets or mortars during the ceasefire and arrested anyone who did.





What goes around, comes around.

People who resort to violence should expect violence in return. I haven't heard the UN complain about Israel attacking Gaza militants. If you read the Goldstone report, its mostly concerned with war crimes and collective punishment against innocent civilians, not militants.

People who commit war crimes should expect that sooner or later, someone is going to cross that line with them. No empire lasts forever. Sooner or later, 1.2 billion Muslims and Arabs will gain the upperhand over the seven million Israelis. When that inevitable days comes very likely Palestinians will give back some of what they've been getting over the years:

...ethnic cleansing, torture, murder, human shields, chemical weapons, indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, collective punishment, shooting unarmed civilians and people carrying white flags of truce, attacking hospitals, ambulances and medics.....

Read the Goldstone report.
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf

According to the article you submitted.

"Israeli troops crossed into the Gaza Strip late last night near the town of Deir al-Balah. The Israeli military said the target of the raid was a tunnel that they said Hamas was planning to use to capture Israeli soldiers positioned on the border fence 250m away. Four Israeli soldiers were injured in the operation, two moderately and two lightly, the military said."

This was clearly a preemptive strike, done in self defense. You see someone taking aim at you, shoot first. Your right, Hamas didn't arrest or do anything to prevent the digging of the tunnel.

 

[earth_as_one]

According to the article you submitted.

"Israeli troops crossed into the Gaza Strip late last night near the town of Deir al-Balah. The Israeli military said the target of the raid was a tunnel that they said Hamas was planning to use to capture Israeli soldiers positioned on the border fence 250m away. Four Israeli soldiers were injured in the operation, two moderately and two lightly, the military said."

This was clearly a preemptive strike, done in self defense. You see someone taking aim at you, shoot first. Your right, Hamas didn't arrest or do anything to prevent the digging of the tunnel.

An accusation does not equal proof. If it did, lynching would be legal.

Since the Israeli military made this accusation without any proof or evidence that that the underground structure entered Israeli territory, I'd say their claims carry about as much weight as Hamas claims the structure was defensive:

... the Egyptians and Hamas informed us that all military action by both sides and all rocket firing would stop on June 19, for a period of six months, and that humanitarian supplies would be restored to the normal level that had existed before Israel's withdrawal in 2005 (about 700 trucks daily).

We were unable to confirm this in Jerusalem because of Israel's unwillingness to admit to any negotiations with Hamas, but rocket firing was soon stopped and there was an increase in supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel. Yet the increase was to an average of about 20 percent of normal levels. And this fragile truce was partially broken on Nov. 4, when Israel launched an attack in Gaza to destroy a defensive tunnel being dug by Hamas inside the wall that encloses Gaza....

Jimmy Carter - An Unnecessary War - washingtonpost.com

Carter was hopeful that the truce could be restored. Hamas repeatedly indicated they were interested in a truce provided that Israel would end its blockade as per the original truce terms.

Israel Rejected Hamas Ceasefire Offer In December

WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (IPS) - Contrary to Israel's argument that it was forced to launch its air and ground offensive against Gaza in order to stop the firing of rockets into its territory, Hamas proposed in mid-December to return to the original Hamas-Israel ceasefire arrangement, according to a U.S.-based source who has been briefed on the proposal.

The proposal to renew the ceasefire was presented by a high-level Hamas delegation to Egyptian Minister of Intelligence Omar Suleiman at a meeting in Cairo Dec. 14. The delegation, said to have included Moussa Abu Marzouk, the second-ranking official in the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, told Suleiman that Hamas was prepared to stop all rocket attacks against Israel if the Israelis would open up the Gaza border crossings and pledge not to launch attacks in Gaza.

The Hamas officials insisted that Israel not be allowed to close or reduce commercial traffic through border crossings for political purposes, as it had done during the six-month lull, according to the source. They asked Suleiman, who had served as mediator between Israel and Hamas in negotiating the original six-month Gaza ceasefire last spring, to "put pressure" on Israel to take that the ceasefire proposal seriously....

Israel Rejected Hamas Ceasefire Offer In December

IMO, Israeli leaders deliberately broke the truce for political purposes. Livni and Barak were still low in the polls because of their Lebanon 2006 debacle. They needed a winnable war before the February 2009 Israeli election. They deliberately attacked Hamas on US election day (when few Americans would notice) to provoke a response that they could then crush in time for the Feb 2009 election.

US-MIDEAST: Media Eyeless in Gaza at Key Moment
By Jim Lobe and Ali Gharib

...Barghouti's focus on the Nov. 4 attack as the main cause of the ceasefire breakdown was implicitly supported by a lengthy report released the following day by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre, a private Israeli group. It divided the ceasefire into a "period of relative quiet between June 19 and November 4", when "Hamas was careful to maintain the ceasefire," and "the escalation and erosion of the ...arrangement" which it dated to "November 4 (when) the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) carried out a military action close to the border security fence on the Gazan side..."

It further noted that Hamas began firing rockets and missile shells "in retaliation" to which Israel responded by closing its border crossings and sharply tightening its siege against Gaza...

....the U.S. media, distracted by an historic election at home, largely skipped over the significance of the Nov. 4 Israeli raid....

US-MIDEAST: Media Eyeless in Gaza at Key Moment - IPS ipsnews.net

 

[earth_as_one]

Also this next news item might explain why Palestinian Dictator Abbas initially wanted to protect Israelis from prosecution for war crimes committed against fellow Palestinians:

...[FONT=Verdana,Arial]A videotape is behind the decision by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to delay the vote on a UN report accusing Israel of war crimes during its offensive on the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian news agency has reported.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana,Arial]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial]Quoting what it called reliable sources, Shahab news agency said on Tuesday that PA representatives at a meeting in Washington had initially rejected Israel's request not to endorse the report and were determined to stick to this position.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial]But, the agency added, Brigadier Eli Avraham played a videotape showing a meeting between Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial]The meeting was also attended by Tzipi Livni, Israel's former foreign minister.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana,Arial]The video reportedly showed Abbas trying to convince Barak to continue the war on Gaza, while Barak looked hesitant, although Livni appeared to be in support of the plan, Shahab quoted its sources as saying...[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana,Arial]http://www.uruknet.info/?new=58686[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana,Arial]
[/FONT]

 

[ironsides]

If the Palestinians could be trusted not to import military items overland or by sea, those routes could be reopened. But they cannot. Every time in the past when Israel allowed the ports and roads to be opened Hamas and other Palestinian organizations tried and did sneak in armaments. Thus the tunnels are their only source of non humanitarian aid, and yet they still use them to import weapons of war. I say keep blowing them up when necessary.

 

[earth_as_one]

Are you accusing international aid agencies like "Oxfam" and "Doctors without Borders" of smuggling weapons into Gaza on behalf of Hamas?

Or do you believe that Mercy Corps attempt to import 90 tons of macaroni into Gaza is a threat to Israel?

February 25, 2009

Israel blocks pasta shipment to Gaza, and tensions boil

For more than seven weeks, the international aid group Mercy Corps has been trying to send 90 tons of macaroni to the isolated Gaza Strip as part of a global campaign to help the 1.4 million Palestinians there rebuild their lives after Israel's recent devastating 22-day military operation.

Israel, which controls most of what goes into and out of Gaza, has said no repeatedly.

At first, Israeli officials said that they wanted to make sure that the macaroni wasn't destined for a Hamas charity. Then they said macaroni was banned because they didn't consider it an essential food item...

Israel blocks pasta shipment to Gaza, and tensions boil | McClatchy

Ridiculous. Israel is deliberately starving these people. International food and medical aid sits rotting on Gaza's borders while a few kilometers away people suffer hunger and disease.

...Egyptian authorities on Friday said they planned to destroy a large amount of accumulated humanitarian aid bound for Palestinians in Gaza.

The aid expired at the Al-Ouja border crossing between Israel and Egypt while authorities awaited Israel's permission to transfer it through, they said.

The type of aid being transferred is regulated for certain crossing points, and the one for the expired shipment of 680 kg of peanuts, agricultural pesticides and medicine, was designated through one of the Israeli crossings into Gaza.

However Israel never allowed the aid to enter its country and it expired. Authorities said they would set it ablaze in the city of Al-Sheikh Zayed to dispose of it.

It was not the first time that Egyptian authorities disposed of humanitarian and medical aid due to prolonged waits at that particular Israel-Egypt crossing...

Maan News Agency: Egyptian authorities forced to burn expired Gaza aid

The Israeli blockade is an example of man's inhumanity toward man.

Its not just the Israeli government who is responsible for artificially causing disease and malnutrition. Everyone who is aware of this massive humanitarian crisis and keeps silent is guilty of this crime.

Israel would relent if they faced pressure from the US, Canada or other western nations. But our leaders have chosen to ignore this suffering. There are no international protests. Many of us are aware of this crime against humanity and do nothing. People on this very forum have defended this crime against humanity.

Israel can legally justify an arms embargo. They can justify searching everything entering Gaza. What they can't legally or morally justify is deliberately denying 1.4 million people food, medicine, clean water, sewage treatment... in order to artificially cause famine and disease. That's why this embargo is a crime against humanity. It has nothing to do with arms.

 

[ironsides]

Wouldn't put it past some of them, been done before many times. I am not accusing anyone, the real facts speak for themselves.


Hamas wants weapons vaults not hospitals

The refusal of Hamas to allow the Palestinian Authority to supervise the reconstruction is easy to understand: Hamas does not want actual reconstruction to take place. They have no interest in rebuilding hospitals, schools, or apartment buildings. What they want is to build underground vaults for storing weapons and other military supplies and tunnels for their transportation and to hide those facilities by building hospitals, schools, or apartment buildings over them. While Israel builds hospitals with underground bunkers for the protection of civilians, Hamas builds bunkers for the storage of weapons and the protection of terrorists (1).
Why Gaza is Not Being Rebuilt from Planck's Constant


Arms watchdog: cargo airlines deliver weapons, aid

Middle East News | Egypt holds 40 men over Hamas, Hezbollah links

POLITICS: Same Firms Shipping Aid and Arms, Report Says


Bosnian Newspaper: Al-Qaeda smuggling weapons into Croatia


Stop the arms smuggling and Gaza can get all the food and medical supplies they want or need. Up to the people of Gaza themselves.

 

[earth_as_one]

Do you actually believe that all official goods destined for Gaza are not inspected by Israel first?

Your references are misleading IS. Israel destroyed the Gaza airport in 2001. As a result, planes don't land in Gaza. Israel maintains a complete naval blockade. Only a few ships linked to international protest groups have entered Gaza directly. People can enter Gaza directly from Egypt. All cargo entering Gaza passes through Israel. These Israeli checkpoints have blocked most food and medical aid from entering Gaza.

Your references erroneously claim Hamas is primarily a terrorist organization. The fact is most Hamas revenue funds health, social welfare, religious, cultural, and educational services:

...In addition to its military wing, the so-called Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade, Hamas devotes much of its estimated $70-million annual budget to an extensive social services network. Indeed, the extensive social and political work done by Hamas - and its reputation among Palestinians as averse to corruption - partly explain its defeat of the Fatah old guard in the 2006 legislative vote. Hamas funds schools, orphanages, mosques, healthcare clinics, soup kitchens, and sports leagues. "Approximately 90 percent of its work is in social, welfare, cultural, and educational activities," writes the Israeli scholar Reuven Paz. The Palestinian Authority often fails to provide such services, and Hamas's efforts in this area—as well as a reputation for honesty, in contrast to the many Fatah officials accused of corruption—help to explain the broad popularity it summoned to defeat Fatah in the PA's recent elections...

Hamas - Council on Foreign Relations

...While Hamas is known in the West mostly for its ultra-conservative Islamism, its militancy and attacks on Israel, "up to 90% of its resources and staff were devoted to public-service enterprises" (according to Robin Wright in Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East (Penguin Press, 2008. Those include "a huge network of social services, schools, clinics, welfare organizations, and women's groups." ...

Hamas - What Is Hamas - FAQ