***Israel initiates genocidal ground war into Gaza: 1,300 killed > 6,000 wounded

[Biggs]

Israel inflicts mass suffering on Palestinian population
Tom Eley

www.uruknet.info?p=50114

Link: www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/bomb-d30.shtml

Dec 30,2008

Israel's bombardment of the Gaza strip, which after three days has killed at least 364 Palestinians and maimed scores, has sharply intensified a severe humanitarian crisis in the area.


In recent weeks Israel had taken new measures to choke Gaza off from its limited access to food, fuel, and other necessities. Amidst acute shortages caused by the blockade, the current Israeli onslaught imperils Gaza's entire population.


Evidence that Israeli's bombing campaign is no "surgical" operation, but a campaign of mass terror, continues to mount. Among the dead are at least 62 civilians, according to the United Nations.


Between Sunday night and Monday morning, two separate missile strikes killed eight children. In the Jebaliya refugee camp near Gaza City, an Israeli missile killed five children under the age of 17. In Rafah, in the South, a toddler and his two teenage brothers were killed in an attack ostensibly aimed at a Hamas commander. Over half of Gaza's population of 1.5 million are children under the age of 16.


On Monday, UNRWA, a United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, reported that an Israeli bomb killed eight students and injured twenty more at the Gaza Vocational Training Centre in Gaza City.


The rest of the dead were reportedly members of Hamas security forces or in training. They were utterly defenseless against the Israeli bombs and missiles. Many were killed in Israel's initial surprise attack inside their offices, homes, schools, and prisons.


Scores of buildings have been destroyed. Police stations and all other structures loosely connected with Hamas, which governs Gaza, have been pounded by heavy artillery and missiles, from the air, land, and sea. One Israeli strike targeted the women's wing and the faculty of the sciences building at the local Islamic University. It has also been reported that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has destroyed Gaza's only port, which was engaged primarily in the fishing industry.


According to IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, (IDF) bombs have destroyed Gaza's already limited infrastructure, "leaving residents without electricity and water." As a result of the invasion local aid officials have warned that "a dire humanitarian situation looms."


Eyewitness accounts report that the sounds of jets and drones can be heard everywhere, supplied to the IDF by the US, punctuated by explosions, sirens, and the screams of people. "From my desk in my university classroom we could see the smoke from Israel's bombing and hear the most terrifying sound of non-stop explosions," writes Eman Mohammed. "Girls around me screamed in horror ... Some of my classmates ran out of the university, fearing their lives, but were killed by Israeli missiles as they fled."


"One of the injured at the hospital was a little boy heading home from school," he continued. "Terrified and unable to see due to his injury, the boy was shaking and holding on to anything alive. However, I think holding his hand helped me more than it helped him; I didn't have the words to comfort him. When doctors were able to attend to the boy, I promised him he would be OK. The next thing I knew, his little weak body, deprived of life, was lying on the hospital's cold floor. Was his crime being born Palestinian?"


"More than three buildings have been brought to the ground in my area," Hamoudi, of Tal el Hawa, said on the Al Jazeera web site. "Two of my neighbours were killed on their way back from school—sixteen-year-old Yasmeen and her sister, 15-year-old Haneen. They were innocent girls."


Hatem Shurrab, an aid worker in Gaza, said "the situation is getting worse day by day. They're targeting everything. We don't know when or where they will strike next. They're hitting hospitals, medical centres, universities, homes, security centres, police."


As Israel masses tanks on the border with Gaza, fears of a ground invasion have grown. "In a city that is so densely-populated, a ground offensive would mean urban warfare, street-to-street fighting ... leaving many Palestinians in the crossfire," a reporter for Al Jazeera said. "Unlike other conflict zones where there is the possibility to flee the war zone, Gaza itself has become the war zone. There is nowhere for the population to go, they are in the middle of all these attacks."


Israel has prepared the humanitarian crisis now unfolding over months, during which time it limited the movement of basic necessities into the Gaza Strip. Then, beginning on November 4, Israel closed off the few border crossings into Gaza, in evident preparation for the current bombardment.


A Gaza Health Ministry spokesman, Hamam Nasman, told IRIN that due to the Israeli blockade, local hospitals were ill-prepared for the injuries resulting from the current onslaught. "Since August we have not received basic medications," he said, "The ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross], which usually delivers 60 types of medication, has been unable to deliver a shipment for one month," he said. "One hundred and five drugs and 230 basic supplies, like alcohol, cotton, needles, and IVs are out of stock."


Mawia Hassanini, the head of emergency care at the health ministry, told IRIN that about half of Gaza's tiny fleet of ambulances is broken down for lack of parts due to the Israeli blockade—leaving about 100 ambulances to provide service for 1.7 million people suffering under the Israeli blitz. "Victims were being brought to hospitals in private cars, donkey carts, and some were being carried by others on foot," IRIN reports.


Through its blockade Israel openly flaunted the so-called "truce" between it and Hamas, which was based on the quid pro quo that Israel would ease the movement of goods into the territory, in exchange for a cessation of rocket fire by Palestinian militants. The purpose of the renewed blockade is now clear: it aimed to create a pretext for a full-scale military attack by goading the Palestinians into a response.


So severe was the blockade that even humanitarian organizations were forced to curtail their activities. UNRWA stopped food distributions in Gaza on December 18. Christopher Guinness, a spokesman for UNRWA, said that it had become "virtually impossible" to carry on humanitarian operations. Prior to the complete Israeli blockade, UNRWA supplied food to more than 750,000 people, while the World Food Programme provided for 200,000 more. In other words, almost two months before it began its massive bombing campaign, Israel cut off food supplies upon which a majority of the local population depended.


In the weeks leading up to the invasion, power and fuel shortages had caused widespread suffering. As a result, a large share of the population went without electricity for extended periods. Even energy to hospitals and to water and sewage treatment was limited, compounding the precarious health situation facing the population. (In its 2006 attack on Gaza, Israel targeted the area's sole power station. Now Gaza is dependent upon electricity imported from Israel for about 2/3 of its overall use.)


One of the few limited supply lines to Gaza—tunnels constructed under the border with Egypt—have been destroyed by Israeli strikes in the new attacks.

[OldSchool]

Seems to me Israel is begging the world to get its' ass handed to them. Yes, it is the start of a massive global conflict, but lookie.......the troublemaker has finally run out of time........

[Biggs]

this is Debka so pinch of salt always required but anyway................

Three Israelis killed, 32 injured in 100 Hamas missile attacks Monday

DEBKAfile Special Analysis

December 30, 2008, 11:08 AM (GMT+02:00)

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5808

On Day 3 of Israel's Gaza operation, Dec. 29, Hamas hit back hard with volleys of rockets and missiles at points closer to central Israel than ever before. The three Israelis killed were IDF career officer, Sgt. Maj. Lutfi Nasr e-Din, 38, from Daliat Hacarmel, at Nahal Oz, a woman motorist, Irit Sheetrit, 39, mother of four, who sought shelter in the Ashdod bus terminus, 30 km from Gaza; and earlier in Ashkelon, Hani al-Mahdi, 27, a construction worker from the Bedouin Negev village of Ar'ur.

DEBKAfile's military sources report that Monday, Hamas had recovered sufficiently from Israel's air offensive to bring out its new Iranian Grad rockets to expand their range up to 40 km and launch them over the heads of the hundreds of Israel tanks, armored cars and artillery piled up outside the gates of Gaza and awaiting the order to move in.

At the Nahal Oz facility, in addition to the fatality, seven soldiers were injured, one critically, by incoming Palestinian mortar fire. Hamas' night barrage also struck Ashdod, Ofakim, Yavne (25 minutes drive from Tel Aviv), Netivot, Ashkelon, Sderot, Shear Hanegev. Ashkelon was battered day and night. The last round targeted school yards, kindergartens and bus stations. Ofakim, like Yavne, was hit for the first time by 3 missiles and suffered five injured.

Following this barrage, the Homeland Command extended the radius of schools that would not reopen Tuesday, Dec. 30, after the Hanukkah holiday from 20km to 30km. A quarter of a million Israelis are now on active missile alert around the clock.

Overnight, the Israeli air force pounded the Hamas-ruled government compound in Gaza City, hitting the prime minister's office, and the foreign, finance and interior ministry buildings and Hamas command centers. The Palestinians report 10 people killed, raising their death toll in three days to 360. All senior Hamas officials and commanders are ensconced safely in underground bunkers with their weapons caches.

Following this barrage, the Homeland Command extended the radius of schools that would not reopen Tuesday, Dec. 30, after the Hanukkah holiday from 20km to 30km. Beersheba, Gedera and Kiryat Gat are braced for attack. A quarter of a million Israelis are now on active missile alert around the clock.

Overnight and early Tuesday, the Israeli air force pounded the Hamas-ruled government compound in Gaza City, hitting the prime minister's office, and the foreign, finance and interior ministry buildings and Hamas command centers. The Palestinians report 10 people killed, raising their death toll in three days to 360. All senior Hamas officials and commanders are ensconced safely in underground bunkers with their arms caches.

They can only be dug out by special forces and armored units on the ground.

The crucial battle of Gaza is therefore still to come, as indicated by Israel's deputy chief of staff Maj. Gen. Israel Harel, when he warned Monday that the hardest part of the campaign is still ahead.

Hamas tacticians pin their hopes on the overcast, rainy conditions forecast for the rest of the week to slow Israeli air attacks, delay an incursion, and further intensify their cross-border missile onslaught.

Homeland Front, police forces, 200 ambulances, 2 medical helicopters and hospitals are on alert around the clock at all targeted locations. Hospitals in central Israel are also on the ready.

[bigron]

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
17:55 Mecca time, 14:55 GMT   
FOCUS: OPINION
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2008/12/20081230122143645275.html

 
Israel's failure to learn  !!
 
 By Nir Rosen


 
Will Israel make the same mistake with Hamas that it made with Hezbollah? [GALLO/GETTY]


When George Bush, the US president, first entered the White House as the commander-in-chief in 2001, Palestinians were being killed in the al-Aqsa intifada.

Eight years later, as Bush prepares to leave office, Israel is carrying out one of the largest massacres in its 60-year occupation of Palestine.

The US, then and now, strongly backs Israel's offensive, justifying it as being, in fact, defensive.

An Israeli general recently threatened to use military force to set Gaza back decades in much the same language used before the invasion of Lebanon in 2006.
 
But despite the Israeli devastation of Lebanon, Hezbollah emerged victorious and the Shia resistance and social movement emerged a hero to the Arab world.

Israel is about to make the same mistake with Hamas.
 
Its notion of a truce with Hamas was that the Palestinians would quietly accept the siege. Israel would deny them the basic means of survival, let alone the basic means to create a functioning society.
 
If the Palestinians attempted to resist, they would be crushed.
 
As in Lebanon, Israel should have learned years ago that military might cannot crush Palestinian resistance movements.

Media matters

While the Israeli military again bombs the starving and imprisoned population of 1.5 million Gazans, the world watches their plight live as Western media scrambles to explain and, in some cases, justify the ongoing carnage.

Even some Arab outlets have attempted to equate Palestinian resistance - and homemade rockets - with the might of the Israeli military machine.

However, none of this is a surprise; the Israelis just concluded a global public relations campaign to gather support for their assault, even gaining the collaboration of some Arab states.

An American periodical once asked me to contribute to a discussion on whether terrorism or attacks against civilians could ever be justified.

In depth
 Focus :

 Arab street angry over Gaza attacks
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/20081228103344103624.html

 Reaction: Raids take toll on Gaza
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/2008122821341625964.html

 Gaza strikes a challenge for Obama
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/12/200812291463395447.html

Videos :

 Gaza pounded for third straight day
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/2008122913515102523.html

 US backs Israeli air raids
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/20081228133748205938.html

 Hospitals in Gaza struggle to cope
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/20081228104532851171.html


 
My answer was that an American journal should not be asking whether attacks on civilians can ever be justified. This is a question for the weak, such as the Native Americans 150 years ago, the Jews in Nazi Germany, and the Palestinians today, to answer.

Terrorism is a normative term which is used to describe what the 'other' does, not what 'we' do.

Powerful nations such as Israel, the US, Russia or China will always describe their victims' struggle as terrorism.

However, they fail to acknowledge as acts of terror the destruction of Chechnya, the slow slaughter of the remaining Palestinians, the repression of Tibetans, and the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Normative rules and what is legal and permissible are determined by the powerful. They formulate the concept of terrorism in normative terms and make it appear as if a neutral court derived such definitions instead of the oppressors.

For the weak to resist becomes illegal by definition.

This excessive use of legal jargon actually undermines the fundamentals of what is truly legal and diminishes the credibility of international institutions such as the UN. The law becomes the enemy of those who struggle.

It becomes apparent that the powerful - those who make the rules - insist on legality merely to preserve the power relations that serve them or to maintain their occupation and colonialism.

Desperate resistance

Colonial powers use civilians strategically, settling them to claim land and dispossess the natives, be they indigenous populations in North America or Palestinians in what are today Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Attacking civilians, then, becomes the last, most desperate and basic method of resistance in the face of overwhelming odds and imminent eradication.

The Palestinians do not attack Israeli civilians with the expectation that such violence will destroy or defeat Israel.

When the native population understands that there is an irreversible dynamic stripping them of their land and identity with the support of an overwhelming power then they are forced to resort to whatever methods of resistance they can muster.

PLO, then Hamas

In 1948, when Israel was being established as a new state, 750,000 Palestinians were deliberately cleansed and expelled from their homes, and hundreds of their villages were destroyed.

Their lands were settled by colonists who even today deny their very existence and wage a 60-year war against the remaining natives and the national liberation movements the Palestinians established around the world.

Israel, its allies in the West and some regional Arab countries have managed to corrupt the leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and entice them with the promise of power at the expense of liberty for their people.

This eventually neutralised and transformed the PLO into a liberation movement which collaborates with the occupier.

The focus then shifted to Hamas, a movement which won legislative elections nearly three years ago and thus became a target for the Israelis.

By enforcing an embargo and allowing Israel's siege of Gaza, the world has effectively told the Palestinians that they are unfit for democracy.

Isolation and radicalisation

By informing them that they are not free to choose the leaders they trust but must conform to the requirements set in place by others, the world community is only further isolating and radicalising the Palestinians.


Demonstrations across the world have expressed anger at Israel's offensive [AFP]


This radicalisation has increased several-fold as Israel pounds Palestinian infrastructure, saying it is solely targeting Hamas targets.

This is not true, however; Israeli forces have targeted Palestinian police forces, killing some such as Tawfiq Jaber, the chief of police - a former PLO official who stayed on in his post after Hamas took control of Gaza.

With the vestiges of security and order debilitated in successive Israeli military campaigns, chaos will prevail in Gaza. If Hamas is weakened it will not be a more moderate Palestinian group which will take the helm.

It will not be the weakened, corrupted and unpopular Fatah, but a more extreme group who have been persuaded through blockades and incessant Israeli attacks that compromise and negotiations with Tel Aviv are ill-fated.

Failed policies

In the past 60 years, Israeli leaders have toed the line that 'the only language Arabs understand is force'.

However, it is Israel that has routinely used violence to solve problems. During the 2002 Arab Summit in Beirut, the Arab League collectively offered Israel a framework to end the bloodshed and move towards a comprehensive regional peace deal. Israel responded by invading Jenin and killing hundreds.

Last month, Fatah launched a media campaign to revive the 2002 peace initiative, but this, too, has been answered with Israel's extreme brutality.

A Zionist Israel is no longer a viable long-term project. Israeli settlements, land expropriation and separation barriers have long since made a two-state solution impossible.

There can be only one state in historic Palestine. In coming decades, Israelis will be confronted with a fundamental question - whether to ensure the peaceful transition towards an egalitarian society in which Palestinians are given the same rights as Jews.

The alternative in a few years will become untenable.

History has shown that colonialism has only worked when most of the natives have been exterminated. But often, as in occupied Algeria, it is the settlers who flee. Eventually the Palestinians will not be willing to compromise and accept one state for both people, and the Jewish colonists will be forced to leave.
 
Restoring Palestine

Despite its lack of initiative for the Middle East peace process, the White House has in recent years been unable to dislodge the occupation of Palestine as the main motive for every anti-American militant in the Arab world and beyond.

It is the common denominator by which Arab populist policies are shaped. Invading Iraq or offering economic benefits to frontline states will not make the Palestinian issue go away.

During my travels and research, I have spoken with jihadists in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere; they all mentioned the Palestinian struggle as one of their motivations.

The US will pay a price for backing Israel. Soon the so-called moderate Arab dictatorships that collaborate with the US hegemony in the region will find themselves in untenable positions.

Loss of credibility

Already we see tensions increasing in the region. Damascus has pulled out of third-party talks with Tel Aviv and Arab anger has been mounting not just at Israel, and not just at America, but also at their own regimes which have collaborated with Washington.

Some Israelis have started to realise their government's flawed approach. While 81 per cent of Israelis support the military campaign, a poll has showed only 39 per cent believe it will succeed in removing Hamas or reducing violence.

An editorial in Haaretz, an Israeli daily, even went so far as to label Israel "the region's bully".

Barack Obama, the US president-elect, remains silent as Israel kills Palestinians with impunity. In his silence he expresses his complicity.

Nir Rosen is a Beirut-based journalist, fellow at the New York University Center on Law and Security and the author of The Triumph of the Martyrs: A Reporter's Journey into Occupied Iraq.

The views expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of Al Jazeera.
 
 
 Source: Al Jazeera 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[bigron]

Israel's Wanton Aggression On Gaza


By Stephen Lendman
 
Global Research, December 30, 2008
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11526



It's not the first time and won't be the last. On December 27, AP reported that:

"Israeli aircraft struck Hamas security compounds across Gaza on Saturday in unprecedented waves of simultaneous attacks, and Hamas and medics reported dozens of people were killed."

Haaretz headlined:

"Israel launched (Operation Case Lead) Saturday morning (at around 11:30AM with no warning) the start of a massive offensive against Qassam rocket and mortar fire on its southern communities, targeting dozens of buildings belonging to the ruling Hamas militant group."

AlJazeera.net reported that "Israeli missiles target Gaza," and continued:

"Israel has launched air strikes on Hamas installations across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 155 people and causing heavy damage, according to officials and witnesses."

"At least 30 missiles (later over 100 reported) were fired at targets on Saturday (morning), with the head of emergency services in Gaza saying at least 200 people were also wounded." By Sunday afternoon, Ma'an News reported much higher numbers - at least 285 known dead, more expected, and over 900 injured, many seriously.

Among the dead was Gaza's police chief, Tawfiq Jabber, after a missile struck a police graduation ceremony in Gaza City. Other "casualties" (presumed killed) were governor of the Al-Wusta (central) Districts, Ahmad Abu Aashur, and commander of Security and Protection Services (in the government police), Ismail Al-Ja'bari.

The Strip's interior ministry reported that all Gaza security compounds were destroyed. According to Hamas' deputy leader, Mousa Abu Marzook: So far "the aggression (hasn't) stop(ped)....they are targeting all the police headquarters and offices. We will defend our people, we will retaliate against this aggression....our military will retaliate."

Marzook asked the international community to condemn Israel's wanton state terrorism. "Nobody in this world can accept what happened....the international community (must) stand against this and say that it is not acceptable." Former Palestinian information minister, Mustafa Barghauthi, said: Israel didn't attack Hamas, it attacked "the whole population and the free will of the people of Gaza. (Israel is guilty of) war crimes." Hamas' leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said "Palestine has never witnessed an uglier massacre."

In Damascus, Khled Meshal, Hamas' political leader in exile, said Hamas pursued "all peaceful options without results" in calling for new Intifada resistance. The Arab League was tepid in its response. It called an "emergency" Sunday meeting in Cairo, then postponed it until Wednesday, December 31.

Meanwhile, the raids continue; the death and injury toll mounts; vast amounts of despair, anger, and destruction as well; and Fatah leader and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas (from Cairo) blamed Hamas for the violence. That provoked outrage from Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. He accused Abbas of "downplay(ing) the sufferings of our people in Gaza, belittl(ing) their pains, (and) providing justification of the holocaust and war waged by Israel."

As always, most of the dead and wounded are civilian men, women and children. No matter, according to Israeli military spokesman Avi Benayahu saying: Saturday's attack is "only the beginning. The operation was launched following the violation of the terms of the lull by Hamas and the unceasing attacks by Hamas authorities on Israeli civilians in the south of the country."

In fact, "attacks" were the pretext, not the cause of Israel's aggression. Since Hamas won a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in January 2006, Israel, Washington and the West withheld recognition and more. All outside aid was cut off, an economic embargo and sanctions were imposed, and the legitimate government was isolated and vilified.

The leading candidate to become Israel's next prime minister, Tzipi Livni, vows as a "strategic objective" to overthrow Hamas by military, economic and diplomatic means. Her main opponent, Benjamin Netanyahu, pledges to "topple the Hamas regime" and end its effective resistance against an oppressive occupation.

All along, Hamas has been conciliatory to no avail. Earlier in the year, its leaders agreed to a ceasefire and observed months of it unilaterally, despite repeated Israeli violations and Gaza being under siege. On November 4, it ended after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) entered the Strip (without cause) and killed six Hamas officers supposedly to close off tunnels close to the Kisufim roadblock. Thereafter, in spite of both sides calling for peace, IDF hostilities continued.

Israel is a serial aggressor. Hamas responds in self-defense as international law allows. Article 51 of the UN Charter permits the "right of individual or collective self-defense (against an armed attack) until the Security Council has taken measures to maintain international peace and security."

On December 21, 1965, the UN General Assembly adopted Res. 2131 titled: "Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of Their Independence and Sovereignty." It called armed intervention, subversion, and all forms of indirect intervention synonymous with aggression and, for the first time, recognized "the legitimacy of struggle by the people under colonial rules (including occupation) to exercise their rights to self-determination and independence."

On November 22, 1974, the General Assembly passed Res. 3236 recognizing that Palestinians have the same right to self-determination as other sovereign states.

On June 8, 1977, Protocol 1 to the August 1949 Geneva Conventions was passed - "relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts." It declared the legitimacy of armed struggle (or resistance) to achieve self-determination as long as no proscribed methods are used. Further, "all states (are urged) to provide material and moral assistance to the national liberation movements in colonial territories (including occupied people seeking freedom)."

Rarely do Palestinians get any, and, since 1967, have been some of the most isolated people in the world. For Gazans, no outside aid gets in, except for what Israel occasionally lets UN and humanitarian agencies supply and the little coming through tunnels on Egypt's border. It's never enough and falls woefully short of minimum amounts needed to survive. The result is a growing humanitarian crisis, an entire people on the verge of breakdown, compounded by mass slaughter, destruction, and it's "only beginning" according to the IDF spokesman.

The world community is silent and lets Israel do as it pleases - despite repeated international law violations, willful acts of aggression, grievous harm to four million people under occupation, including 1.5 million under a medieval Gaza siege, now under attack.

Reports were that EU nations and Russia called for (but didn't demand) an end to hostilities. According to Reuters, Washington urged Israel to avoid civilian casualties but stopped short of calling for an end to the attacks. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe blamed Palestinians in saying "Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop." Unsaid was that they respond to IDF violence or that until December 27 no Israeli was killed or injured.

Blame the Victim, Not the Aggressor

On Saturday, Condoleeza Rice accused Hamas for the violence. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon could only express "deep alarm," and where was Barack Obama? An AP photo showed him on vacation "working out" at the Semper Fit Center at the Marine Corp Base Hawaii in Kailua, Hawaii on Saturday, and CBS News reported that he's "closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza, but there is one president at a time," according to Brooke Anderson, his chief national security spokesperson.

In a July 2008 interview, The New York Times asked Obama if Israel should negotiate with Hamas in Gaza. He replied that "I don't think any country would find it acceptable to have missiles raining down on the heads of their citizens....I expect Israelis to do (all they can to stop them)....In terms of negotiating with Hamas, it is very hard to negotiate with a group that is not representative of a nation state, does not recognize your right to exist, (and) has consistently used terror as a weapon. Hamas is a terrorist organization....it's hard for Israel to negotiate with a country like that."

Hamas was democratically elected. It's the legitimate Palestinian government. It's falsely called a terrorist organization, and it has every right to resist an illegal occupation under international law. It observed a unilateral ceasefire for months and extended peace overtures numerous times in the past. Israel spurned them by dividing Gaza and the West Bank, co-opting Mamoud Abbas, inciting Fatah against Hamas, isolating Gaza, and pursuing a policy of aggression, killings, targeted assassinations, mass incarcerations, and torture with full support from Washington, the West, and (from his comments above) the incoming Obama administration.

The UN Refugee Works Relief Agency's (UNWRA) operations head for Palestinian refugees, John Ging, expressed outraged on what's happening. Earlier he said: Gazans got nothing from the months of ceasefire. There was no "restoration of a dignified existence. We had our supplies restricted (during the period) to the point where we were left in a very vulnerable and precarious position" with very little food left until it ran out.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) campaigns for Palestinian justice in areas of civil, human and political rights according to international law. Along with the Palestine Return Centre (PRC), the Palestinian Forum of Britain (PFB), the British Muslim Initiative (BMI), Stop the War, Friends of al Aqsa, the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), and Respect, Islamic Human Rights Commission it organized emergency protests opposite  Israel's London Embassy on December 28 and 29 to demand an end of the Gaza siege and ongoing aggression. The urgency was highlighted by saying: Israel's Cynicism (Is) Supported by the West's Complicity" as it called for public solidarity to end it.

For her part, Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni ordered the Ministry to "take emergency measures (to) open an aggressive and diplomatic international public relations campaign," according to Haaretz. In other words, Israel will spin its wanton aggression into justifiable self-defense and get dominant media help to sell it.

On December 27, The New York Times took the lead. It reported that "Israeli airstrikes hit Hamas security facilities in Gaza on Saturday in a crushing response to the group's rocket fire....Israeli military officials (called the attack) an effort to force Hamas to end its rocket barrages into southern Israel. Thousands of Israelis hurried into bomb shelters amid the hail of rockets," making it seem like Israel resembled London during the blitz when, in fact, Hamas attacks are mere pin pricks and only respond to first-strike Israeli attacks.

The Times and dominant media are silent on this. They continue spreading spurious lies about Hamas being "officially committed to Israel's destruction, and when it won Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 and then 'forcibly' took over Gaza in 2007, it said it would not recognize Israel, honor previous Palestinian Authority commitments to it, or end its violence against Israelis."

All of the above is untrue. The Times continues to report falsely. Hamas wants peace, has repeatedly been conciliatory, and its founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, said earlier that armed struggle would end "if the Zionists ended (their) occupation of Palestinian territories and stopped killing Palestinian women, children and innocent civilians."

Israel rejects all overtures. More recently, Hamas offered peace and Israeli recognition in return for a Palestinian state inside pre-1967 borders - its Occupied Territories that it's entitled to under international law.

As early as 1988, the PLO under Yasser Arafat accepted a two-state solution with Palestinians willing to settle for only 22% of their pre-1948 homeland - a generous offer that, if accepted, would have had two sovereign states living peacefully alongside each other as neighbors.

Israel rejects this out of hand. It chooses dominance over peace, violence over reconciliation, and imperial conquest above the rule of law. It's colonizing the West Bank, ethnically cleansing the population, and continues to terrorize Gaza. "The newspaper of record" is selective about "fit news to print," so uncomfortable truths are suppressed. It reported that one Israeli was killed Saturday and another four wounded, one seriously, but didn't explain that previous rocket attacks caused no deaths or injuries.

After many months of siege compounded by ongoing attacks, Gaza is gravely affected, but so is the West Bank. Under the Fatah government, no rockets are launched, yet Israel maintains a violent occupation, continues to seize Palestinian land, expand its illegal settlements, and lets its residents terrorize Palestinians with impunity, even in cases of wanton killings and destruction of property.

Early Reports on the Ground and from Israel

On Saturday, Haaretz reported that 60 warplanes hit 50 targets simultaneously, then 20 more "struck 50 Palestinian rocket launchers in an effort to minimize Hamas' retaliatory strikes." The attack hit civilians with the IDF stating that those near targeted sites were "liable to get hurt." Some were children leaving school when the strikes were launched.

Haaretz writer Amos Harel called them "the harshest IDF assault on Gaza since the territory was captured during the Six-Day War in 1967." Palestinian sources described a massive attack, like "shock and awe," destroying about 40 targets in three to five minutes. The IDF spent months picking sites, and dozens more may "come under attack in the coming days. Little to no weight was apparently devoted to the question of harming innocent civilians. From Israel's standpoint, Hamas" brought this on itself. In Pentagon-speak, civilians are "collateral damage," but pictures of the slaughter show otherwise - stark evidence of crimes of war and against humanity that no authority will punish.

Also at issue is whether IDF ground forces will follow the air attacks, and if so, it won't be the first time. The right-wing Jerusalem Post quoted president Shimon Peres saying: "Israel will take all steps demanded of it to stop the rocket fire (but) we will not go into Gaza. There are other ways - we didn't leave Gaza in order to go back."

The Ma'an News Agency reported (through Monday AM) at least 310 killed and over 1000 wounded with medical sources saying arrivals at Gaza City hospitals are in "pieces." In addition, the Head of Emergency and ambulance department, Muawiya Hassanain, confirmed that medical crews continued pulling dozens from under rubble.

Things are desperate as he asked all Arab states for aid in the form of medications and operating supplies for those too badly injured to be moved. Hospital corridors are filled with bodies and gurneys, and local morgues are out of space.

Israeli defense minister and former prime minister, Ehud Barak, declared Gaza's 20 square kilometers a "special military zone" - a classification just short of a declaration of war. It already is for its people, and here's how Al-Azhar University professor Said Abdelwahed described conditions late Saturday:

"It is horrible outside! Minutes ago I heard the hissing of a Palestinian Qassam rocket, then another one accompanied by an explosion. It seems that the second one was hit by an Israeli aircraft that may have been targeting the Palestinian group. The news now is saying that an Israeli Apache helicopter has targeted a recreation ground with fish ponds."

"Al-Shifa hospital said that there are more than 195 dead and over 570 injured there. Every minute the number of casualties goes up. These are the figures in Gaza, but there are still no official statements from other towns and villages and refugee camps. Near our apartment, my youngest son was waiting for his school bus when the preventive security department was hit 50 meters from where he was standing. Two men and two young girls died immediately."

"It is utterly dark now. I am operating a small generator to contact the world via internet. Tonight everyone in Gaza is scared. It's totally dark (there's no power); children cry from fear; (at least) 206 people are dead. They (and the injured) line the floor at Al-Shifa hospital, but (it's) poorly equipped. (Its) administration called on people to donate blood. The teachers' syndicate declared a three days strike in protest...."

"Just in, Israeli aircraft (Saturday night) hit places east of Gaza City where a number of people were killed and injured. Casualties are rising. People remain under rubble. One mother lost two young daughters and a son as they were heading to school."

"Tonight is cold mainly for those whose windows (were) shattered by explosions." With Gaza under siege, "there is no glass available" to replace them. "In the apartment building where I live, 7 apartments witness freezing cold nights. They use blankets to cover in the place of the broken windows. Hundreds of homes" are in the same condition. Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh "gave a televised speech....to raise morale and to reconfirm that Hamas will not surrender. The death toll reached 210" and number of seriously injured is now up to 200. Another air raid" is now in progress north of Gaza City.

UNRWA Expresses "Horror"

The UN Relief and Works Agency commissioner Karen AbuZayd was outraged over Israel's attack, the mass killings and destruction, and expressed her "deep sadness at the terrible loss in human life." She reminded Israel that it's a signatory to "international conventions that protect non-combatants in times of conflict (and added that) these conventions are worthless if they are not upheld." A statement said that UNRWA will "exert all efforts to respond as quickly as possible to relieve suffering and pain (and added that today's attacks follow) weeks of a tight blockade that prevented UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies from assisting the population (that's) unable to (meet) their basic needs, and now" they're under attack.

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) Expresses Outrage in Calling for An Immediate End of the Attacks.

It blamed the suffering in Israel and Gaza "squarely with successive Israeli governments" in citing 41 years of "increasingly oppressive Israeli Occupation without a hint that a sovereign and viable Palestinian state will ever emerge."

Why so? Because Israel and Washington won't tolerate one beyond the fiction of isolated, surrounded, impoverished, and impotent bantustan outposts that IDF forces can enter at will and wreak havoc on a helpless population.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad Response

After the air strikes, Hamas ordered its Al-Qassam Brigades to respond "by any means necessary." Spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called for a "massive response" and for renewal of others inside Israel. Islamic Jihad leader Khaled Al-Batsh called Israel's attack "open war." He also condemned the world community and Arab states for their "silence on such massacres" and vowed that Israel "would never make the resistance factions surrender."

West Bank Protests

Demonstrations erupted across the West Bank, including in Bethlehem, Ramallah city center, the Ad-Duheisha refugee camp, Hebron, Tulkarem, and East Jerusalem. Violent clashes broke out between Palestinian youths and IDF forces in Shufat refugee camp on the northern outskirts of East Jerusalem. Also in Qalandia, Ar-Ram and Al-Isawiya. Dozens of injuries and arrests were reported. Black flags were hung around the city and a commercial strike was declared.

Tulkarem governor Talal Duweikat and Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Hasan Khriesah joined hundreds of others in the streets. The city declared a day of mourning in response.

In Hebron, hundreds of university students protested for an end to violence. They chanted anti-occupation slogans and called for Fatah and Hamas to unify for a common purpose. The group marched to the Bab Az-Zawiyah neighborhood where confrontations erupted with IDF forces, and they, in turn fired suffocating amounts of tear gas.

In Ramallah, Fatah organized a rally for hundreds and called for a general strike to close all city shops for the day. Demonstrators and international community institutions raised banners with slogans saying "one blood, one nation, Gaza and we are with you." Ministry of Prisoners Affairs, Ziyad Abu Ein, called on all Palestinians to unite in dark days. PLC member Mustafa Barghouthi called Israeli violence "their harshest crimes against Palestinians" and condemned world and Arab leaders for their silence.

In Bethlehem, protests erupted in the Ad-Duheisha refugee camp (south of the city) and a larger crowd assembled in the city.

A December 27 Palestinian press release read:

"A demonstration to condemn the massacres being committed in Gaza."

"Palestinian Civil Society organizations in the Bethlehem area, people of various political affiliations, Christians, and Muslims, and all people of conscience in the Bethlehem area are gathering at 5PM (Saturday) in front of the Church of Nativity and Omar's mosque in Bethlehem."

Through Sunday afternoon, around 300 people were massacred by bombing besieged Gaza. Over 1000 were reported injured as well. The victims include men, women, and children, and the numbers keeps rising. "Join us today as we call for ending the massacres, ending the siege on Gaza, for reconciliation between all Palestinians, and for freedom."

Signed:

Khalid AlAzza
Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh
Dr. Abdelfattah Abusrour

The Union of Health Work Committees - Gaza - Late Saturday Press Release - from Executive Director Yousef Momeusa

After two waves of Israeli air attacks, "television footage showed dead bodies scattered on a road and wounded and dead being carried away by distraught rescuers. There was widespread damage to buildings." The number of dead exceed 200 and is rising. At "least 750 were wounded, 125 with critical injuries." Updated numbers are much higher and continue climbing.

"The military operation makes the Palestinian blood fall like rain. As a consequence, the civilian population in the cities of Rafah, Khan-Younis, middle camps, Gaza City, Beit-Hanoun and Beit-Lahiya and in the refugee camp of Jabalia are suffering from the most horrible onslaught of Israeli military power....The number of dead and injured are increasing by the minute."

"The infrastructure is being destroyed leaving many areas without power and water. Medical supplies in the hospital are largely exhausted (and) food supplies are dwindling." A real health crisis looms. UHWC is working "around the clock at the risk to themselves to deal with the crisis....The entire world is witnessing these scandalous and outrageous acts, and yet no concrete steps have been taken!!"

"UHWC asks you to issue a strong Last Appeal Statement condemning Israel's human rights violations against the Palestinian people and to demand a cessation of this military offensive....There are no political considerations which can justify the silence of the international community any longer."

Signed,

Dr. Yousef Momeusa
Executive Director

Professor Said Abdelwahed of Al-Azhar University, Gaza
on the End of the Six-Month Ceasefire

Prior to Israel's December 27 attack, he feared the worst and said it "means escalation; bombardment, air raids. It means military activities on the border. The last six months brought big pressures on our social life, on resources, all due to the Israeli siege." With it were high prices on goods able to enter from Egypt through tunnels that for the most part Israel allows given the dire situation on the ground.

"I can't see any progress being made towards a united Palestinian government. I think both sides" lose out as a result, "but Israel takes (full) advantage....The students (at my university) are deprived of many things. They are disappointed young people with no hope or future in front of them, so they are in bad shape."

Abdelwahed mentions a Gaza City health worker "expect(ing) the situation to deteriorate (further): more incursions and more military operations in border areas. While the world is busy with Christmas, Israel can take action. (Already) we have 16 hours of power cuts a day. Hospitals have to run generators for hours at a stretch, which they weren't designed for. So they break down - and because of the closure we have no spare parts....I cannot see the internal situation improving soon. We're short of everything. Eighty per cent of people in Gaza (rely) on food assistance. It's a big problem." It's now much bigger.

At 11PM on Saturday, Abdelwahed reported new air raids were in progress concentrating on the "eastern parts of the city of Gaza. One woman lost 10 of her family. Only she and a daughter remain alive. The daughter couldn't speak to the media because she didn't (understand) what happened. Panic is everywhere in the city and we anticipate (worse still) to come. Demonstrations erupted in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon." The death toll keeps climbing. "An Israeli caller just rang us up. My youngest son answered. The caller threatened that if I have any weapons they will hit my place!!!"

There have been "five air raids in 10 minutes. Targets are societies and groups of social works in thickly populated areas. One mosque was hit as well. I am without electricity for 30 hours so far. I am still operating a small generator to contact the world via internet."

Abdelwahed sent this email on Sunday. "My family and I are okay but stressed....the building adjacent to (ours) was hit by a small rocket from a helicopter. (The) situation is horrible and people are really panicked."

"Last night, F16s targeted Al-Aqsa satellite channel and leveled it to the ground." Surrounding buildings are impossible to live in. "One small mosque across the street from Al-Shifa Hospital was (demolished)." Homes were badly damaged as well, one "belong(ing) to a friend of mine; he told me that what he witnessed was hard to describe in words....Also his sister was severely injured."

A medical doctor friend "told me that the death toll climbed to about 500 (though the media reports around 300) and more than 1000 injured." Israelis are targeting Rafah tunnels. "Hundreds of Palestinians stormed the Egyptian border with a bulldozer and on foot but failed to (get across) as the Egyptians shot live at them."

A "new air raid on different targets (reported) minutes ago. Many died and injured. My window glass (is) shattered. (The) Customs house and passport department have been demolished minutes ago. Aircraft are still in the sky operating."

"F16s (just) destroyed the largest security building in Gaza....Four missiles leveled the building to the ground; also police stations were hit and totally destroyed today.  (We're hearing that many areas) were targeted by Israeli warplanes. Large numbers of civilians, including children died and were injured in today's attacks. At Rafah border, one Palestinian was shot dead (by the Egyptians). The situation on the border is terribly bad. An Israeli ground attack seems possible."

Ma'an News Agency Updated Timeline Late Saturday Through Mid-Day Sunday, December 28 and 29

-- 10:15PM - 2 more air strikes; at least 3 killed and 4 injured in Zaitoun neighborhood, Gaza City, and Jabalia in the north;

-- 11:30PM - Israeli air strikes hit the Al-Mansura neighborhood east of Gaza City; 3 Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades deaths are reported;

-- 11:50PM - air strikes hit Khan Younis in southern Gaza and several northern areas;

-- 1:01AM Sunday - Israeli jets strike the security room in front of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City; a close by mosque is hit killing at least 2 and injuring 7;

-- 6:30AM - a medical storehouse in the Al-Junayna neighborhood and a fuel storage facility with diesel and benzene in the Tal As-Sultan area are hit - both near Rafah in the south; buildings and vital civilian supplies were destroyed; at least 3 deaths were reported;

-- 6:45AM - Gaza City's Shuja'iyya neighborhood is bombed; several were injured and a police center destroyed;

-- 8:00AM - Hamas police headquarters was attacked in the evacuated Israeli kfar Darum and Al-Matahin settlements;

-- 10AM - a police station in the Shuja'iyya Gaza City neighborhood was bombed; also three homes in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood west of the city were destroyed;

-- 10:30AM - a jeep in Gaza City's Zaitoun neighborhood was attacked killing one child; a second strike targeted the Jabalia area; no casualties were reported so far;

-- 11:00AM - the temporary headquarters of the Rafah governorate was bombed injuring several people; the original building was destroyed on Saturday;

-- 11:45AM - the government municipal council offices were bombed in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza; several injuries were reported;

-- Noon - the As-Saraya government compound was attacked, killing one child and injuring several others;

-- Monday, December 28 - Israel's assaults continue with no letup; Haaretz reported that the Islamic University and another government compound in Gaza City were destroyed; other targets hit included a guest palace and at least some residential homes; "at first light Monday, strong winds blew black smoke from the bombed sites in Gaza City over deserted streets," punctuated by new explosions; Ehud Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said military action would continue until Israel "no longer (fears) terror (from) rocket barrages."

Throughout the attacks, images and reports on the ground are horrific and disturbing. All around is death and destruction. Amputated bodies fill Al-Shifa Hospital hallways. In one corner, a dead seven-year old boy is in a cardboard box because the hospital ran out of sheets to cover him.

One man is dazed after watching his son killed during the police graduation ceremony. Another father stood next to his son as he was decapitated. He's still screaming. In a hospital waiting room, a mother is silent after her son was pronounced dead.

Carnage is everywhere, inside and on the streets - body parts, blood, strewn clothing and other items. Twelve-year old Ayaman is screaming as his father tries not to let him see the bodies of his brother and uncle torn to pieces under sheets.

Yaha Muheisen stops searching for his son's body and Nawal Al-Lad'a can't find her two sons bodies in the hospital so she searches through rubble.

Gaza medical personnel confirm that the majority of the dead are civilians, including men, women and children. Most were torn to shreds. Bodies continue to be pulled from rubble. Some Palestinians say images resemble the 1982 (Beirut) Sabra and Shitila massacres of about 3000 men, women, children and infants during a 62-hour (proxy) Phalange militia force rampage while the IDF stood by and let it happen.

Ariel Sharon was defense minister at the time. After Israel invaded Lebanon in 1981, he authorized the operation, and in his autobiography confirmed that he negotiated it with Lebanon's president-elect Bashir Gemayel. Afterward, journalist Robert Fisk called it "one of the most shocking war crimes of the 20th century." Another in Gaza remains ongoing.

Israeli journalist Gideon Levy wrote that "The neighborhood bully strikes again....Once again, Israel's violent responses....exceed all proportion and cross every red line of humaneness, morality, international law and wisdom. What began yesterday in Gaza is a war crime....Once again the commentators sat in television studios and hailed the combat jets" that killed the innocent. "Once again, they urged (not) letting up....Once again, they described" disturbing images as a "difficult scene....When the bully is on a rampage, nobody can stop him."

Journalist Amira Hass called Gaza "Little Baghdad, bombs everywhere, smoke, fire, people not knowing where to hide, fear everywhere, rage and hatred." She wrote painfully of carnage and death, of the living searching for loved ones, of no electricity, no gas, no flour, no bread for the past week, just despair and destruction as Israeli attacks continue.

Harold Pinter on Israel

On December 24 at age 78, Harold Pinter lost his long battle with cancer. He was the most influential playwright of his generation, the 2005 Nobel laureate for literature, a voice of political protest, and a passionate campaigner against human rights abuses. The Nobel academy citation called him an author "who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed room." For some, he was a "permanent public nuisance, a questioner of accepted truths, both in life and art."

Too ill with cancer, he recorded his award ceremony speech on videotape, voiced strong opposition to the Iraq war, Britain's role in it, and called the invasion a "bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law." Would he say less about Israel's current assault?

Pinter was Jewish, a critic of Israel's illegal occupation, and its brutality inflicted on Gazans. He was one of 105 prominent Jewish signers of an April 2008 "We're not celebrating Israel's Anniversary" petition. Its last paragraph read:

"We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state founded on terrorism, massacres and the dispossession of another people from their land. We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state that even now engages in ethnic cleansing, that violates international law, that is inflicting a monstrous collective punishment on (Gaza) civilians and that continues to deny to Palestinians their human rights and national aspirations." Pinter called George Bush a "mass murderer." He felt no different about merciless Israeli leaders.

A Possible Ground Invasion?

On Sunday, Haaretz reported that the IDF "will call 6500 reservists to duty, as part of the largest Israeli offensive on (Gaza) since it" seized the Territory in 1967. Defense officials said that the call-up is part of military preparations for a possible escalation of fighting. Meanwhile, IDF infantry and armored troops (including tanks) man Gaza's border for a possible ground invasion, and Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak warned that "The operation will be deeper and expanded as much as necessary."

"The Bloodiest Day in the History of Occupation"

That's from a Palestinian Centre for Human Rights PCHR) December 27 press release that "condemn(ed) in the strongest terms the war waged by" the IDF on Gaza. As it's done many times before, PCHR calls on the international community and High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War to intervene immediately, to stop the killings, and to end the unprecedented devastation and deteriorated humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

The Gaza-based One Democratic State Group called for  "all civil society organizations and freedom loving people to act immediately (to pressure their governments) to end diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel and institute sanctions against it." It's press release headlined: "Stop the Massacre in Gaza - Boycott Israel Now!"

The "Stench of Death Hangs Over Gaza," wrote Ola Attallah, IslamOnline correspondent from Gaza City. Can we sense it, smell it, feel it, anguish over it, and decide once and for all this won't stand! If not now, when? If not us, who? If wanton butchery isn't incentive enough, what is?

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday through Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11501
 

[Biggs]

Jews For Peace Appalled
At Slaughter In Gaza
Heartbeaking Tragedy In Gaza.
From Jewish Voice For Peace
12-30-8

http://www.rense.com/general84/jewsforpeace.htm

 Please help. Click here to donate now.
 
Dear Peace Activist,
 
The news about the attacks in Gaza is beyond words. "Appalling" doesn't even come close.
 
U.S.-supplied Israeli F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters have fired missiles and dropped over 100 tons of bombs on dozens of locations in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. Over 300 people are dead and at least 1,400 more are injured. Many if not most of them are civilians. Food and medicine were already in short supply in Gaza and all medical facilities have been completely overwhelmed by this onslaught. Access to Gaza has been cut off by Israel.
 
This is the most violent and heartbreaking situation that has happened to the Palestinians in recent history, and it must stop. In addition to calling for protests at Israeli consulates and federal buildings, as well as letters to the U.S. and Israeli governments, Jewish Voice for Peace staff and members are already putting together an aggressive campaign focused on Gaza. And, without a moment to waste, we call for an immediate end to attacks on all civilians.
 
I am Stephanie Roth and I've been an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace for many years, including serving on the board of directors. I've been involved with social justice issues my entire adult life - both in my professional life as an editor and fundraiser, and as a volunteer and activist. There is no issue I find more important or compelling than my work to end the Israeli Occupation. I am particularly saddened by this weekend's tragedy, occurring just a week after the uplifting days when the Shministim - the young Israeli conscientious objectors - caught the world's attention with their courage to say no to violence on December 18. I know that people in Gaza will stop dying when Israeli soldiers, like the Shministim, have the courage to say NO. NO, we will not target civilians; NO, we will not follow immoral orders; NO, we will not contribute to the destruction of Palestinian society.
 
Together with the Shministim, and with the 1,000 Israelis in Tel Aviv and thousands of others around the world who have already come out to protest the Gaza onslaught, we say YES. YES, stepping up to speak for justice and peace makes a difference; YES, we stand with the people of Gaza, of the West Bank, of Sderot in Israel and the innocent civilians everywhere whose lives are destroyed by cynical politicians and warmakers; YES, our voices together are stronger than the voice of any one of us alone; and YES, we are committed to the longterm goal of ending the Occupation and working for justice, peace and life.
 
Jewish Voice for Peace's goal - MY goal - of ending the Occupation is a long-term one.  Today, I will be giving the biggest gift I can to insure that they have the resources for a swift and sustained response to this most recent atrocity.
 
We are in this struggle for as long as it takes, and we need your help. Please make the largest gift you can, today. Every gift is put right to work, and every gift makes a difference.
 
"If not us, who? If not now, when?"
 
Stephanie Roth
 
P.S. I know that Jewish Voice for Peace will be asking for help in a variety of ways over the next few days, weeks, months. Please, if you believe in peace, if you believe in the Shministim, stay tuned and help when you can. Thank you.

[ellas95]

In Pictures: Massacre of Gazan Children

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m50118&hd=&size=1&l=e




December 30, 2008

PNN -Israeli forces killed two girls in an air attack on Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip early Tuesday. Local sources report that a missile destroyed a house belonging to Talal Hamdan in Beit Hanoun today, killing his two daughters of 12 and 4 years old. A son is reported seriously injured. Yesterday Israeli forces killed four sisters and a four year old boy. Over 40 children have been killed since Saturday.



The bodies of two girls, aged four and 11, who were killed in an Israeli air strike in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip Strip December 30, 2008.



Palestinians carry the body of 4-year-old Lama Hamdan during her funeral in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip December 30, 2008.



Palestinians bury the body of 4-year-old Lama Hamdan at Beit Hanoun cemetery in the northern Gaza Strip December 30, 2008.



Palestinians mourn beside the bodies of three children in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip December 29, 2008.




Three Palestinian children from the Balosha family, of five who were all killed in the same Israeli missile strike, are seen in the morgue before their burial at Kamal Edwan hopsital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008




Palestinian children from the Balosha family, who were all killed in the same Israeli missile strike, are seen in the morgue before their burial at Kamal Edwan hopsital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008.




Palestinian women mourn over the bodies of three Palestinian children from the Balosha family, of five who were all killed in the same Israeli missile strike, in the morgue before their burial at Kamal Edwan hopsital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008.




A Palestinian man buries the body of 4-year-old Dena Balosha at Beit Lahiya cemetery in the northern Gaza Strip December 29, 2008.




A Palestinian man carries the body of his 4-year-old daughter Dena Balosha during the funeral for her and her four sisters in Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip December 29, 2008.




A Palestinian mourner shouts as he lifts the body of a child from the Balosha family, of which three children and two teenagers, were killed in an Israeli missile strike,durng their funeral in the Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008.




A Palestinian man buries the body of 5-year-old Sodqi al-Absi in Rafah cemetery in the southern Gaza Strip December 29, 2008.




A Palestinian mourner carries the body of 4-year-old Dena Balosha, foreground, one of five members of the same family including three children and two teenagers who were killed in an Israeli missile strike, during their funeral in the Jebaliya refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008




The father of Palestinian Dena Balosha, 4, left, one of five members of the same family including three children and two teenagers who were killed in an Israeli missile strike, carries her body during their funeral in the Jebaliya refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008.




bedroom of 5 killed girls



Samera Baalusha (34) carries her surving child Mohamad (15 months) while she waits to see the body of her daughter Jawaher Baalusha (aged 4) during the funeral held for her and four of her sisters who were killed in an Israeli missile strike, on December 29, 2008 in the Jebaliya refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip

Palestinian mourners bury 8 children killed in Israeli air strikes



Dec 29 - Palestinian mourners on Monday (December 29) buried 8 children who were killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza Strip.

In the northern Gaza town of Jabalya, hundreds took to the streets to attend a funeral procession for five girls of the same family who were killed in one Israeli strike.










In this image taken from APTN video, Palestinian men carry two injured children into hospital after Israeli aircraft struck Hamas security compounds across Gaza in Gaza City on Saturday Dec. 27, 2008.





A wounded Palestinian boy is carried by his father following an Israel air strike in Gaza December 28, 2008.





A Palestinian boy is carried to al-Shifa hospital following an Israel air strike in Gaza December 28, 2008





A Palestinian security force officer carries a wounded girl into the emergency room at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008.






A Palestinian girl wounded in an Israeli missile strike is carried into the emergency area at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008.





A Palestinian man carries his wounded child to the treatment room of Kamal Edwan hospital following an Israeli missile strike in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008.








A wounded Palestinian boy is carried by his father at a hospital in Gaza City following an Israeli air strike







Children Wounded - Image by Watan News Agency





Shifa hospital ICU: a six year old down’s syndrom with brain trauma

[OldSchool]

Real stupid move on the part of the IDF. Those don't look like Hamas operatives to me! 

[scoffer]

I don't understand the inhumanity of all of this. Our politicians and decision makers have no conscience.

[Boubear]

Tony Blair to visit Middle East in attempt to broker peace
Tony Blair will visit the Middle East next week as the international community steps up its efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Last Updated: 11:01AM GMT 30 Dec 2008

Mr Blair, the international envoy to the Middle East, will hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials during the trip. The discussions are expected to focus on how to end the current violence, which has killed more than 300 people so far.

The former prime minister, who is the envoy for the EU, Russia, United States and UN, spent yesterday contacting senior figures including the Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, as international pressure for a ceasefire mounted, the Independent reports.

Britain has strengthended its rhetoric on the Israeli attacks recently.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “We reiterate our call to Israel and Hamas for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further loss of innocent life.

“In his discussions today with Prime Minister Olmert and [Palestinian Authority] President [Mahmoud] Abbas, the Prime Minister has also pressed for full, unimpeded and urgent access for medical teams: a humanitarian breathing space. There is no military solution to this situation.”

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, condemned the “unacceptable” loss of life. Mr Miliband used a round of interviews to step up pressure on Tel Aviv, saying the “dark and dangerous” events could fuel extremism.

He told BBC radio: “I think that any innocent loss of life is unacceptable and in this case there have been massive casualties, some of them civilians and some of them children.”

Mr Blair’s visit to the region comes after he faced calls to step up his diplomatic efforts towards brokering a ceasefire.

Mr Blair has visited the Middle East for a week each month since taking up the envoy’s primarily economic role when he stood down as prime minister. But he has not made a trip into Gaza and postponing a visit to see a new sewage treatment works in northern Gaza last July for security reasons.

Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, told the paper: “At this crucial moment for the Middle East, Tony Blair has been conspicuous by his absence.

"As Middle East peace envoy he has the authority to put pressure on both sides for an immediate ceasefire.

"Tony Blair’s efforts to improve security and the economy on the West Bank have so far produced less than modest dividends. It’s time he started earning his salary.”

Video at link

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4028387/Tony-Blair-to-visit-Middle-East-in-attempt-to-broker-peace.html

[Pheonix Renewed]

Just because you name something a "Defense Force" doesn't magically make everything it then does 'defensive.'

Bless those families and those children and the brave men who are standing up against these bastards. And bless the bastards with an attack of conscience and compassion, while we're at it.

[Fenian]

A little background history regarding U.S. involvement in Gaza..apologies if already posted.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804

The Gaza Bombshell
by David Rose ,Vanity Fair, April 2008.

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

[Doctor No NWO]

Gaza death toll hits 360
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 » 11:28pm  
Live News:    
 
Israel's Gaza airstrikes have killed dozens of civilians, along with Hamas fighters, raising the death toll to almost 360.


Israel's aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip has killed dozens of civilians, along with Hamas fighters, raising the death toll to almost 360.

Israel made it clear on Monday the offensive was just beginning, even as UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged world leaders to work urgently to end the 'unacceptable' violence.

Palestinian militants responded to Israeli air strikes with deadly rocket fire that killed three Israelis.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who has threatened to launch ground incursions alongside the aerial blitz, said Israel was in 'an all-out war with Hamas and its proxies'.
Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon said the offensive's goal 'is to topple Hamas'.

Barak said that if militant rocket attacks did not stop, 'Israel will have recourse to every means and all legal actions at its disposal to see to it that the enemy halts its illegal aggression.'

With Israeli tanks just metres away from Gaza, the army decreed the border area a closed military zone - a move that in the past has been followed by ground operations.

'After this operation there will not be a single Hamas building left standing in Gaza, and we plan to change the rules of the game,' said armed forces deputy chief of staff Brigadier General Dan Harel, quoted by the YNet News website.

'We are hitting not only terrorists and launchers, but also the whole Hamas government and all its wings,' Harel said.

At least 57 Palestinian civilians, including 21 children, have been killed in the Israeli bombardment, a UN spokesman said.

Israeli aircraft carried out dozens of air strikes under the cover of darkness early on Tuesday, targeting Hamas ministry and security buildings, Hamas sources and witnesses said.

The attacks completely destroyed the Hamas foreign and finance ministry buildings along with nearby homes, and set off fires, witnesses said.

At least 10 Palestinians were killed and 40 wounded in the latest attacks, the director of Gaza's emergency services, Moawiya Abu Hassanein said.

In all, the Israeli campaign has killed at least 360 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,690, he said.

Since the onslaught began on Saturday, Gaza militants have fired more than 250 rockets and mortar rounds into Israel, killing four people and wounding two dozen more.

On Monday, one projectile killed an Israeli Arab at a construction site in the southern city of Ashkelon some 13 kilometres north of the Gaza border.

A missile that hit a railyard in Ashdod killed a woman and wounded four more people while a rocket blast at the Nahal Oz kibbutz north of Gaza killed one person and seriously wounded another.

Three rockets also hit Ofakim in the Negev desert about 25 kilometres north of Gaza, wounding one person, Israeli emergency services said.

As the fighting continued the White House signalled strong support for Israel.

'The United States understands that Israel needs to take actions to defend itself,' said spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

'They are taking the steps that they feel are necessary to deal with the terrorist threat.'

At the United Nations, Ban said he was 'deeply alarmed by the current escalation of violence in and around Gaza. This is unacceptable.

'Both Israel and Hamas must halt their acts of violence and... a ceasefire must be declared immediately.'

He chided leaders, saying: 'I think regional and international partners have not done enough. They should do more.'

The UN special envoy to the Middle East on Monday also protested strongly to Israel after air strikes on Gaza hit two UN buildings and killed eight of its trainees.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was 'working for a ceasefire that will be fully respected, durable and sustainable,' and spoke to several world leaders including Ban, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his Lebanese counterpart Fuad Siniora, her spokesman said.

EU foreign ministers were set to meet in Paris on Tuesday to discuss how they can work to help ease the Gaza crisis, the French foreign ministry said.

There was also growing concern about the humanitarian situation in the aid-dependent territory of 1.5 million which Israel has virtually sealed off since Hamas seized power in June 2007.

'We ask all parties involved to allow food and medical supplies to reach the people there,' the White House spokesman said.

But anger in the Muslim world is spiralling. Turkey announced it had suspended brokering preparatory peace negotiations between Syria and Israel because of the air assault as protests intensified worldwide.

Parliament in Jordan - one of two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel - demanded that the government 'reconsider' relations with the Jewish state.

Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces were ousted from Gaza in the Hamas takeover, implored the international community to help end 'this aggression.'

Hamas, which remains blacklisted by the West despite its upset victory in 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, lashed out at the world for not doing enough to end the blitz.

Israel is 'committing a holocaust as the whole world watches and doesn't lift a finger to stop it,' spokesman Fawzi Barhum told reporters.

Israel's offensive followed days of rising violence after a tenuous six-month truce in Gaza ended on December 19.
It also comes ahead of early parliamentary elections in Israel called for February 10.

[wasanka]

Go Isreal!
They've been bombed for years and need to take out Hamas and keep going this time.
How many times does Isreal have to warn them?
You can only beat your enemy if you are prepared to be worse than your enemy.
Concessions don't work and giving up ground only puts the incoming missiles closer to begin with.
f**k Hamas and any sympathizers. If the boatload of idiots bringing so-called aid are sent back or
inconvenienced, they should pull their heads out of their asses. Obviously weaponry, missiles and
such make it in with no problem and if the people residing in the area want to give aid to terrorists
or allow them to hang out, they will be the collateral damage.

If Obama turns out to be another appeaser such as Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, the US won't back
Isreal and that's a shame.

Those bastards (jihadists, al qaeda, etc) want to rule the world and stamp out the west. The problem is too much of the west are spineless liberals who would let that happen while apologizing for our grandparents having a nutsack.

[Pheonix Renewed]

Go Isreal!
They've been bombed for years and need to take out Hamas and keep going this time.
How many times does Isreal have to warn them?
You can only beat your enemy if you are prepared to be worse than your enemy.
Concessions don't work and giving up ground only puts the incoming missiles closer to begin with.
f**k Hamas and any sympathizers. If the boatload of idiots bringing so-called aid are sent back or
inconvenienced, they should pull their heads out of their asses. Obviously weaponry, missiles and
such make it in with no problem and if the people residing in the area want to give aid to terrorists
or allow them to hang out, they will be the collateral damage.

If Obama turns out to be another appeaser such as Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, the US won't back
Isreal and that's a shame.

Those bastards (jihadists, al qaeda, etc) want to rule the world and stamp out the west. The problem is too much of the west are spineless liberals who would let that happen while apologizing for our grandparents having a nutsack.

Congratulations on being the average brainwashed troll. Crawl back under your rock, you're a waste of bandwidth, since you don't even have the basic intelligence required to have half an idea what really happened here.

[scoffer]

Congratulations on being the average brainwashed troll. Crawl back under your rock, you're a waste of bandwidth, since you don't even have the basic intelligence required to have half an idea what really happened here.

Pheonix, I was shaping my response to you before the thread even came up. My response was, and continues to be: "Let the troll go back under it's bridge." As Geolibritarian would say "Don't feed the trolls."

[Biggs]

@Wasanka

you mistyped your name, you added an 's' in the middle by mistake

should have read simply - 'w*nka'

 

[bigron]

Biggs !!

Yes he doesnt know how to spell his own name........

Full   WAAAAAAAAAAAANKA

[Rak HaEmet]

I honestly don't understand all this excitement about these current events.

Some of you proclaiming sovereignty within the NWO, and the absolute stance upon the Constitution, are getting all worked up when another sovereign actor on the global stage is doing something you don't like- maybe you should join the UN, and build a global government to control these unobediant actors.

SUCH IT IS BROTHERS- it is a "law of the jungle" world you're supporting in standing against the NWO. If you're in the "Rule of Law" camp, then you'll enjoy the discussions over at the World Federalist Movement ( http://www.wfm.org/site/index.php/base/main )

Sure, you can be upset, and push for a Congressional Declaration of war, but then again, you wouldn't be taking the founding fathers' advice of "foreign entanglements". Maybe your mothers raised you not to know that there is a time for everything- including savage war.

Why are your eyes so sad to see what the media has been playing in front of your nose (and why in the hell would you be caring what the MSM is talking about anyway!??!), when the possibility of it happening outside your window continues to grow.

Hell, maybe you don't like Jews. Maybe you wanna kill them all. Maybe you support state sovereignty, but not for Israel. In any case, none of this is going to change the fact that you're busy watching something that has nothing to do with you, as a con-con is looming overhead, as Obama Hussein is about to make a vicious gun-grab, and the local economy is so shot, you're going to need a local garden to eat.

I understand that your soft eyes tear up when you see children killed... I know. I think to Mel G's speach in Patriot, "that this war will not be fought on some distant battlefield, but..." Maybe in this pre-gut-check, you're realizing that what is coming outside your own front door will be too much. Wake up and smell the awful mess you're already in! If you're going to oppose the NWO here, on your own soil, you can expect to see those same images on tv out in your backyard.

Gents- these two groups (Israel & the PLO) are in a contest of sovereignty and liberty. I'm surprise you're getting pulled into this hokus-pokus irrelevent stuff. How come you weren't so manic when Hamas was stringing up Fatah in the streets (their little civil war was more destructive than what the Israelis are doing now).  Why not cry and complain about Sudan- or even better yet- where is this kind of emotional exuberance for the thousands of white children kidnapped in the states each year?

I think you guys are misappropriating your attentions, and I hope you can realize there is a watch in front of your nose, swinging from side to side. 

Bah!

[Rak HaEmet]

Congratulations on being the average brainwashed troll. Crawl back under your rock, you're a waste of bandwidth, since you don't even have the basic intelligence required to have half an idea what really happened here.

I'm with wasanka myself, and I definately am no troll.

If someone comes in my yard, and steals my garden hose, my lawn chairs, my spare tire, my lawn mower, my snow boots on the porch, my son's ball, my wife's raincoat- and continues to do it over the course of years.

You can bet that if I catch whomever it is, I'm going to be pent up mad, with sledgehammer justice when the time comes.

If anyone is performing double-think, I believe it is those who would stand against the NWO, and then jump on board to help build furvor in favor of some global government's intervention in the actions of a sovereign state.

Bro, really- 2+2 doesn't equal 5. It's 4.

[Pheonix Renewed]

Clearly, you also haven't been paying attention. They were supplied with weapons by the USA. That's my business. What do I expect the USA to do about it? STOP GIVING THEM WEAPONS. What is so hard for you to get about this? What infuriates most of us is that the government of our country is not only not condemning this behavior, but they are actively SUPPORTING IT.

We have every right to be infuriated by that, and if you don't like it, you can just suck it the f**k up.

I'm with wasanka myself, and I definately am no troll.

If someone comes in my yard, and steals my garden hose, my lawn chairs, my spare tire, my lawn mower, my snow boots on the porch, my son's ball, my wife's raincoat- and continues to do it over the course of years.

You can bet that if I catch whomever it is, I'm going to be pent up mad, with sledgehammer justice when the time comes.

If anyone is performing double-think, I believe it is those who would stand against the NWO, and then jump on board to help build furvor in favor of some global government's intervention in the actions of a sovereign state.

Bro, really- 2+2 doesn't equal 5. It's 4.

Well, really, you shouldn't have stolen his garden hose, his lawn chairs, his spare tire, his lawn mower, his snow boots, his son's ball, his wife's raincoat... and called them yours. Then he wouldn't have to come and try to get them back from you. If you really believe the lies and propaganda about how Isreal "owns" that land, then you're woefully uneducated on the realities of the situation. That's not Isreal's land, Isreal stole it with the aid of others-- including the USA. Those who didn't have any right to give that land away to begin with.

So Isreal steals the land, then they get mad that someone dares to try to steal it back, and then they decide, rather than leave those people the last vesitages of land Isreal didn't manage to steal yet... they are going to commit genocide. That makes them evil, and I have a hell of a LOT to say against my government SUPPORTING it.

[Geolibertarian]

I see the Zionist trolls are out in full force today.

To them I dedicate the following:

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

http://www.jewsnotzionists.org

Jews Not Zionists

Contrary to common perception, Jewish anti-Zionism is not restricted exclusively to the well know Jewish anti-Zionist movements such as Satmar and Neturei Karta.

There are in fact many Jewish movements, groups and organizations whose ideology regarding Zionism and the so-called  "State of Israel"  is that of the unadulterated Torah position that any form of Zionism is heresy and that the existence of the so-called "State of Israel" is illegitimate.

No one has had to create any antagonism between our Torah and Zionism because such antagonism exists by virtue of the essence of Judaism itself, which can never tolerate the heresy of Zionism.

Zionism is wrong from the Torah viewpoint, not because many of its adherents are lax in practice or even anti-religious, but because its fundamental principle conflicts with the Torah.

[Continued...]


http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/zionism/notjews.cfm

Zionists Do Not Represent Jews

From the inception of the Zionist State and particularly in recent times, the impression has been created in the World that there is some connection between the State, which falsely calls itself Israel, and the Jewish people as a whole. Therefore, we who continue to uphold the never-changing tradition of the Jewish people find it proper to again clarify the following points:

* A Jew is one who remains faithful to the laws of the Jewish religion, that is, the Holy Torah and its commandments.

* The Jewish people became a people before they had their own land, and continued to exist as a people also after they went Into exile, because our very people hood is based exclusively on the Torah.

The Holy Land was given to the Jewish people on the condition that they observe the Torah and its commandments. When they failed to do this, their sovereignty over the land was taken from them, and they went into exile. From that time, we are prohibited by the Torah with a very grave prohibition to establish a Jewish independent sovereignty in the Holy Land or anywhere throughout the world. Rather, we are obligated to be loyal to the nations under whose protection we dwell.

This situation has existed for close to 2000 years when the Jewish people were dispersed throughout all corners of the world. During this time, the Jews always remained faithful to the country in which they lived.

* The Jewish people are grateful to all those merciful nations which have allowed them to observe Torah and the commandments undisturbed.

* From ancient times, the relations between the Jewish and Islamic peoples have always been those of peace and brotherhood, and friendship always reigned between them. The proof of this is the fact that for centuries, in all the Arab lands, hundreds of thousands of Jews lived in honor and amidst mutual esteem.

* Jews throughout all generations yearned to grace the sacred soil of the Holy Land and to live there. However, their sole purpose was to fulfill the commandments dependent upon the land and to absorb Its holiness. Never, G-d forbid, did they have any nationalist or sovereign intent whatsoever which, as mentioned above, is forbidden to us. Indeed, also here in the Holy Land, our fathers lived in neighborly harmony with the Palestinian residents of the land, helping one another, to mutual benefit.

* Until about two hundred years ago, the vast majority of Jews observed the Torah and the commandments in entirety. Jewry's leaders were Torah scholars, who directed the people according to the Torah. They were loyal citizens in the host nations where they dwelled and to the local laws. They prayed for the welfare of their respective governments. To our sorrow, at that time a small number of Jews slowly left their observance of Torah and commandments. Together with this, they began to deride the spiritual leadership of their people. This assimilation was the basis upon which, one hundred years ago, the ideology of Zionism was born. Its founders were assimilated Jews who had abandoned the Torah.

* Immediately at the founding of the Zionist movement, masses of Jews under the leadership of their Rabbis, launched a heavy battle against Zionism. Their attack was directed not only at the non-religious Zionist idea, but rather, primarily at its opposition to the Torah-ordained path that Jewry must follow while in exile. As such, the Zionists incited the nations of the world, demanding political sovereignty over the Holy Land while remaining oblivious to the resentment this would arouse In the Palestinian Arabs, the land's veteran inhabitants. As stated, the leaders of Orthodox Jewry vehemently opposed the movement with all force.

* The Zionists refused to heed the voice of the Rabbis and Torah authority. They persisted in their ways until they succeeded in influencing the British government to issue the Balfour Declaration concerning the "establishment of a national home for the Jews in the land of Israel." To our great sorrow, from that point on began the deterioration of the good relations between the Jews and the Arab inhabitants of the land. This occurred because the Arab people understood that the Zionists wished to seize ruler ship from them. In addition, the Arab people had suspicions as if the Jewish people wished to seize control of the Temple Mount and other similar sites. Matters worsened as a result.

[Continued...]

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

Zionists are enemies of the Jews in pro-Jewish clothing!

[Rak HaEmet]

Clearly, you also haven't been paying attention. They were supplied with weapons by the USA. That's my business. What do I expect the USA to do about it? STOP GIVING THEM WEAPONS. What is so hard for you to get about this? What infuriates most of us is that the government of our country is not only not condemning this behavior, but they are actively SUPPORTING IT.

Bro, lets get this straight- I'm a BIG SUPPORTER of CUTTING OFF ALL FOREIGN AID OF EVERY KIND.  It is your prob, and my prob- but if we're complaining about where the $ goes, then we're missing the true problem- THAT THEY'RE RAPING THE US PUBLIC for the sake of someone else. Let's not argue about who the someone is- just that we're assraped reapeatedly and must wear a pressure dressing in our Depends

We have every right to be infuriated by that, and if you don't like it, you can just suck it the f**k up.

I'm happy you're upset- but like getting into the silly Dem versus Rep dialog, you're busy concerned with where your $ is going, rather than you've got a honking falus in your rectum.

Well, really, you shouldn't have stolen his garden hose, his lawn chairs, his spare tire, his lawn mower, his snow boots, his son's ball, his wife's raincoat... and called them yours. Then he wouldn't have to come and try to get them back from you. If you really believe the lies and propaganda about how Isreal "owns" that land, then you're woefully uneducated on the realities of the situation. That's not Isreal's land, Isreal stole it with the aid of others-- including the USA. Those who didn't have any right to give that land away to begin with.

So, you really don't believe in the "law of the jungle" eh? Texas should go back to Mexico... The united states should never have declared independence, and never fought to conquor the West.... We should all go back to Roman rule? Maybe that also is erroneous, and we shoudl all revert to pasifisic nomads upon whatever land we may occupy?  You don't recognize that a war won means dictated terms?  Would you just shiver as Hitler rolled into Russia, and shake your hanky in frustration?

So Isreal steals the land, then they get mad that someone dares to try to steal it back, and then they decide, rather than leave those people the last vesitages of land Isreal didn't manage to steal yet... they are going to commit genocide. That makes them evil, and I have a hell of a LOT to say against my government SUPPORTING it.

They secured their future with blood, just like the Arabs of Palestine are trying to do. In both cases, it is an admirable contest worthy of respect- they have courage and passion. So much, they're willing to give their lives, and not complain and whimper on a forum as a government takes all they have.

[eddy64]

so if the arab countries attack israel and kick out the jewish people that would be ok with you, since might makes right.

[bushido_aria]

As I posted on the Cynthia McKinney thread, but even more applicable here:

There are emergency protests going on in response to the attacks in Gaza TODAY at 4:30p in various cities. Details are below:

Stop the Massacre of Palestinians!

Tuesday, December 30: National Day of Action
Emergency Demonstrations on Tuesday, December 30 and other days

Scroll down for a list of demonstrations, updated frequently

The ANSWER Coalition, Muslim American Society Freedom, Free Palestine Alliance, National Council of Arab Americans, and Al-Awda, International Palestine Right to Return Coalition are calling for Tuesday, December 30 to be a National Day of Action to show solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza and to demand an immediate end to the murderous attacks carried out by the Israeli military against the people of Gaza.

In Washington, D.C., there will be a demonstration at the State Department at 4:30 pm. Demonstrations will also be held in cities around the country. See below for an initial list. If there is a demonstration in your city, email the details to info@answercoalition.org so it can be posted on the ANSWER Coalition website and listed in any future emails.

http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=8871&news_iv_ctrl=1621

CITIES

ALASKA

Anchorage
Tuesday, December 30
12:00 noon
Downtown at the Federal Building

ARIZONA

Phoenix, AZ
Tuesday, December 30
4:30 PM
Gather at Thomas Road and Central Light Rail Station
Sponsored by CODEPINK Phoenix and The End The War Coalition

CALIFORNIA

Albion, CA
Monday, December 29
12 noon
Jct Rte 1 & Albion Ridge Road
Contact: 707-472-6486, hughmurray98@yahoo.com

Anaheim, CA (Orange County)
Sunday, December 28
2:00 pm
512 S. Brookhurst St. (between Orange Ave. & Broadway)
Initiated by a coalition with a large number of groups

Fort Bragg, CA
Monday, December 29
12 noon
Rte 1 at Fort Bragg Town Hall Rally
Contact: 707-937-4352, bc@albionnation.org

Fremont, CA
Monday, December 29
5:00 pm
Gather at the corner of Mowry and Fremont Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA
Tuesday, December 30
4:30 pm
Israeli Consulate: 6380 Wilshire Blvd.
Contact: 213-251-1025, answerla@answerla.org

Modesto, CA
Tuesday, December 30
4:00-5:00 pm
Mc Henry & J St. (Five Points)
Sponsored by the Modesto Peace Life Center

Sacramento, CA
Tuesday, December 30
4:00-6:00 pm
Gather at 16th and J
Sponsored by Sacramento Peace Action; Free Palestine Alliance; the National Council of Arab Americans, & Al-Awda, the Palestine Right of Return Coalition
Contact: 916-448-7157

San Diego, CA
Tuesday, December 30
4:00 pm
In front of the Federal Building: Downtown San Diego, Front Street - South of Broadway

San Francisco, CA
Tuesday, December 30
5:00 pm
Israeli Consulate:456 Montgomery St.
Contact: 415-821-6545, answer@answersf.org
*   *   *   *   *
Monday, December 29
5:00 pm
Vigil at Sen. Dianne Feinstein's Office: Montgomery and Market
Co-Sponsored by a number of local organizations

San Jose, CA
Tuesday, December 30
The San Jose Peace and Justice Center and South Bay Mobilization are organizing a bus to the protest in San Francisco. The bus will load at the SJPJC, 48 S Seventh St, San Jose at 2:30 pm. and depart at 3:00 pm. It will make a brief stop at the Caltrain Park and Ride lot at Page Mill Rd and 280 (the lot is just south of 280 on Page Mill). Anyone wanting to catch the bus there should plan to be there by 3:15 pm. The bus will load for the return trip at 6:15 pm. and depart San Francisco at 6:30. Anyone who wishes to take the bus should immediately email Jon at jbritton32@earthlink.net to make a reservation. $15-20 donation to defray the cost of the bus.

Santa Rosa, CA
Tuesday, December 30
5:30 pm
Courthouse Square: Santa Rosa Avenue downtown
Sponsored by the Board of the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County
Contact: cognizant2@hotmail.com

COLORADO

Colorado Springs, CO
Tuesday, December 30
4:30-5:30 pm
Meet downtown at Acacia Park, corner of Nevada Ave and Bijou St
Sponsored by a PROTEST COLORADO antiwar coalition.

Contact: 719.460.2836, info@protestcolorado.org

Denver, CO
Tuesday, December 30th
5:00 pm
West side of the Capitol (Colfax & Broadway)
Colorado Palestine Solidarity Campaign, The Islamic center of Colorado, The Al-Mahdi Youth Foundation of Colorado, and other Muslim organizations, Friends of Sabeel-Colorado, Colorado Muslim Council, MAS Freedom Foundation- Colorado Chapter, Colorado Progressive Jewish News,  and many other groups
For more information: 303-829-5848

CONNECTICUT

New Haven, CT
Wednesday, December 31
12 noon
Federal Building: 141 Church St. (between Chapel and Elm St)
Sponsored by Middle East Crisis Committee, ANSWER-CT and other local organizations
Contact: 203-606-0319, connecticut@answercoalition.org
*   *   *   *   *
Saturday, December 27
1:00 pm
Federal Building: 141 Church St. (between Chapel and Elm St)
Initiated by local organizations

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, December 30
4:30 pm
State Department: 22nd St & C St NW
Contact: 202-544-3389 x14, dc@answercoalition.org

FLORIDA

Fort Lauderdale, FL
Tuesday, December 30
5:00 pm
Federal Building: 299 E. Broward Blvd.
Contact: 954-707-0155, FtLauderdale@answerfl.org

Ocala, FL
Tuesday, December 30
12 noon
Gather near the Ocala Lockheed facility, located in the southeast quadrant of the county just off Maricamp Road (route 464) near Emerald and Oak
Sponsored by Marions for Peace, CFCC students and Iraqi veterans against the war

Tampa, FL
Tuesday, December 30
4:30 pm
N Dale Mabry Hwy and W Spruce St.
Contact: 813-785-3179

GEORGIA

Atlanta, GA
Tuesday, December 30
4:00-5:30 pm
Israeli Consulate: 1100 Spring St, Downtown
Sponsored by Emory Advocates for Justice in Palestine, Athens for Justice in Palestine, the International Action Center and many other peace and justice organizations

HAWAII

Honolulu, HI
Tuesday, December 30
4:00-6:00 pm
Prince Kuhio Federal Building: 300 Ala Moana Blvd. (near the Ewa end of the building)
Sponsored by Friends of Sabeel--Hawaii

ILLINOIS

Chicago, IL
Sunday, December 28
12:00 noon to 2:00 pm
Water Tower Park: 830 N. Michigan Ave.
Initiated by a number of local organizations
*   *   *   *   *
Tuesday, December 30
12:00 noon
Emergency Picket
Israeli Consulate in Chicago: 111 E. Wacker (Wacker & Michigan Ave.)
Initiated by a number of local organizations
*   *   *   *   *
Friday, January 2
3:00 pm
Gather at Tribune Plaza: 435 N. Michigan Ave.
Contact: 773-463-0311, answer@chicagoanswer.net
Sponsored by many location organizations

KENTUCKY

Louisville, KY
Monday, December 29
4:00-6:00 pm
Gather at the corner of Baxter and Broadway
Sponsored by Louisville Committee for Peace in the Middle East
*   *   *   *   *
Tuesday, December 30
12 noon
Federal Building: 6th and Broadway
Sponsored by Louisville Committee for Peace in the Middle East

LOUISIANA

New Orleans, LA
Monday, December 29
12 noon - 2:00 pm
Corner of Canal Street and Convention Center Blvd, at the base of Canal street, across from Harrah's Casino
Sponsored by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of New Orleans, New Orleans Palestine Solidarity, and many other organizations and individuals

MARYLAND

Baltimore, MD
Tuesday, December 30
4:00-5:00 pm
War Memorial Plaza: N. Gay & E. Lexington Streets

MASSACHUSETTS

Boston, MA
Tuesday, December 30
5:00 pm
Consulate General of Israel: 20 Park Plaza
(Green Line to Arlington Stop)
Contact: 857-334-5084, boston@answercoalition.org
*   *   *   *   *
Wednesday, December 31
2:00PM
Copley Square
Sponsored by the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights
Contact: info@bcpr.net, (617) 491-2313
*   *   *   *   *
Monday, December 29
4:00-7:00 pm
Stand in solidarity at Harvard Sq (in front of Holyoke Center), Watertown Sq, Roxbury Crossing, Coolidge Corner, Arlington Center, or go out with friends and signs at busy intersections in your community
Northampton / Hadley, MA
Monday, December 29
7:30-9:00 am AND 4:00-5:00 pm
Coolidge Bridge (Hadley/Northampton)
Northampton, MA
Saturday, January 3
12 noon
Courthouse on Main Street

MICHIGAN

Ann Arbor, MI
Tuesday, December 30
12 noon - 1:00 pm
Federal Building: Liberty and Fifth Ave.
Sponsored by the Ann Arbor Coalition Against the War

Dearborn, MI
Tuesday, December 30
4:00 pm
Gathering at corner of Warren and Chase in Dearborn
Memorial service at Byblos Banquet Hall, 7258 Chase Road in Dearborn, 5:15-6:30 pm
Sponsored by the Congress of Arab American Organizations (CAAO)

Flint, MI
Tuesday, December 30
1:00-3:00 PM
Gather at University of Michigan-Flint Pavilion: 303 S Saginaw St

Kalamazoo, MI
Tuesday, December 30
4:00 pm
Federal Building: Michigan Avenue and Park Avenue
Sponsored by Kalamazoo Nonviolent Opponents of War (KNOW)

MINNESOTA

ALL DAY (10am to 5pm) picket at all Congressional offices:
* Senator Kloubuchar: 1200 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis (press conference at 1 pm)
* Congressman Ellison: 2100 Plymouth Ave. North, Minneapolis
* Senator Coleman: 2550 University Ave., St. Paul (Al Franken's HQ is across street) (picket at 4:30 pm)
* Congresswoman McCollum: 165 Western Ave. N., St. Paul
Contact: 612-327-6902, ollamhfaery@earthlink.net
Sponsored and Endorsed by Women Against Military Madness, Coalition For Palestinian Rights

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Concord, NH
Tuesday, December 30
3:00 pm
In front of the Concord State House
Sponsored by New Hampshire Peace Action
Contact: anne@nhpeaceaction.org

Portsmouth, NH
Tuesday, December 30
3:00 pm
Market Square
This vigil is sponsored by Seacoast Peace Response
Contact: Lee Roberts at lnr@verizon.net, 431-0448 or Macy Morse at macymorse@aol.com, 433-4119

NEW JERSEY

New Brunswick, NJ
Tuesday, December 30
4:00-6:00 pm
Gather at corner of Albany and George Streets

NEW MEXICO

Albuquerque, NM
Tuesday, December 30
12 noon - 2:00 pm
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science: 1801 Mountain Rd, NW (in Old Town)
Called by Stop the War Machine
Contact: 505-401-4808, stopthewarmachine@comcast.net
*   *   *   *   *
Tuesday, December 30
5:00-6:30 pm
Pete V. Domenici Federal Courthouse: 333 Lomas Blvd. NW
Press conference and candlelight vigil organized by more than 15 human rights, peace and justice, and religious groups; sponsored by a coalition of many groups, led by the Middle East Peace & Justice Alliance
Contact: 505-842-0535 or Katherine Hughes-Fraitekh at 505-480-9008, kcelav@aol.com or Iris Keltz at 505-220-1994

NEW YORK

Buffalo, NY
Tuesday, December 30
4:30-5:30 pm
Elmwood Ave & Bidwell Pkwy
Contact: zasaeed@buffalo.edu

New York City, NY
Tuesday, December 30
5:00 pm
Israeli Consulate: 800 2nd Ave (b/w 42nd and 43rd Sts)
Sponsors for NYC rally: ANSWER Coalition, Muslim American Society-NY, Adalah-NY, Al-Awda-NY, and New York City Labor Against the War
Contact: 212-694-8720, nyc@answercoalition.org
*   *   *   *   *
Sunday, December 28
2:00-4:00 pm
Gather at Rockefeller Center: 50th St. and 5th Ave.
March to the Israeli Consulate: 800 2nd Ave (b/w 42nd and 43rd Sts)
Initiated by Al-Awda New York

Rochester, NY
Tuesday, December 30
4:00-5:00 pm
Federal Building, State Street
Contact: peaceactiontaskforce@lists.riseup.net, 585-271-2678

Syracuse, NY
Tuesday, December 30
12:00 noon
Federal Building: corner of Washington and Clinton Streets
Organized by the Syracuse Peace Council
Contact: spc@peacecouncil.net, 315-472-5478

OHIO

Cincinnati, OH
Tuesday, December 30
5:00 pm
Clifton Ave & Martin Luther King Dr W
Contact: 513-484-9116

Cleveland, OH
Monday, December 29
4:30-6:00 pm
Public Square Downtown

Columbus, OH
Sunday, December 28
5:00 pm
Gather at 15th and High St.
Sponsored by the Ohio State University - Committee for Justice in Palestine

Youngstown, OH
Vigil
Monday, December 29
5:00-9:00pm
Arab American Community Center: 15 Belgrade Ave, Youngstown, OH 44505 (off Belmont between Gypsy & Colonial)
Sponsored by the Arab American Community Center of Greater Youngstown
*   *   *   *   *
Demonstration
Tuesday, December 30
1:00-3:00pm
Thomas D. Lambros Federal Bldg & U.S. Courthouse: 125 Market Street, Youngstown, OH 44503
Sponsored by the Arab American Community Center of Greater Youngstown

OREGON

Portland, OR
Tuesday December 30
Gather at 4:30, Rally at 5:00 pm
Federal Building, Downtown Portland, SW 3rd & Madison
Organized by:  Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights, Portland Peaceful Response Coalition, and others

PENNSYLVANIA

Philadelphia, PA
Tuesday, December 30
3:30 pm
City Hall at 15th and locust
*   *   *   *   *
Monday, December 29
4:30 pm
Israeli Consulate: 1880 JFK Blvd.
Contact: 215-724-1618, phillyiac@action-mail.org
Sponsored by International Action Center

Pittsburgh, PA
Wednesday, December 31
4:00-6:00 pm
Federal Building: Grant & Liberty Downtown
Announced by Pax Christi

SOUTH CAROLINA

Columbia, SC
Wednesday, December 31
5:00 pm
State Capitol: Gervais and Main Streets
Sponsored by Columbia Women in Black, Carolina Peace Resource Center, Muslim Student Association at the University of South Carolina

SOUTH DAKOTA

Sioux Falls, SD
Tuesday, December 30
10:00-11:00 am
Federal Building: 12th & Phillips
Contact: sodak@answercoalition.org

TENNESSEE

Knoxville, TN
Tuesday, December 30
Sponsored by Knoxville Area Women In Black
12:00 noon ET
Duncan Federal Building: corner of Cumberland and Locast, downtown
For more information call: Brenda Bell-865-681-4588, Carol Nickle-865-523-0203
(Women In Black meets at this same time and place every Tuesday in Knoxville)

TEXAS

Austin, TX
Monday, December 29
5:00 pm
State Capitol: 11th & Congress
Contact: contact@palestineonlinestore.com
Initiated by a number of local organizations

Dallas, TX
Tuesday December 30
12:00 noon - 3:00 pm
Grassy Knoll near Kennedy Museum, Elm St.
Contact: Mustafaa Carroll muspeaks@yahoo.com, 214-240-7299

Houston, TX
Tuesday, December 30
4:00-5:30 pm
Gather at Mandell Bridge (Mandell St. at Hwy. 59)
Contact: 713-771-9439,  rwcsr1@yahoo.com

VIRGINIA

Christiansburg, VA
Wednesday, January 31
1:00-3:00 pm
Gather on the sidewalk that runs along the main road (North Franklin Street) in the area in front of Panera Bread and Olive Garden

Norfolk, VA
Tuesday, December 30
4:30-6:30 pm
Gather at the corner of St.Paul's Blvd and City Hall Ave.

WASHINGTON

Bellingham, WA
Tuesday, December 30
12 noon
Federal Building: corner of Magnolia and Cornwall
Organized by members of the local peace community

Seattle, WA
Tuesday, December 30
4:00 pm
Federal Building: 915 2nd Ave
Initiated by Voices of Palestine
Contact: general@voicesofpalestine.org
*   *   *   *   *
Saturday, January 3
12:00 noon - 2:00 pm
Westlake Park: 4th and Pine
Initiated by Voices of Palestine
Contact: general@voicesofpalestine.org

Tacoma, WA
Tuesday, December 30
5:00 pm
Federal Courthouse: 1717 Pacific Ave. (at 19th St.)
Protesters are asked to bring signs, candles, and flashlights

WASHINGTON, D.C. - See District of Columbia

INTERNATIONAL

AUSTRIA
Vienna
Tuesday, Decembber 30
10:00-11:00 am
Israeli Embassy: Anton Frank Gasse/ Corner Weimarer Gasse, 1180 Vienna
Sponsored by Women in Black Vienna and Jewish voice for Peace in the Middle East
*   *   *   *   *
Tuesday, December 30
3:00 pm
St. Stephen's Square
Vienna 1, Austria
Stephansplatz, 1010 Vienna
Sponsored by Women in Black Vienna and various other groups

CANADA
Toronto
Sunday, December 28
2:00 pm
Israeli Embassy Consulate: 180 Bloor St. West
Initiated by a number of local organizations
Vancouver
Monday, December 29
12:00 noon
United States Embassy, Downtown Vancouver

CHILE
Santiago
Saturday, December 27
6:00 pm
Israeli Embassy: San Sebastián 2812
*   *   *   *   *
Monday, December 29
5:00 pm
Israeli Embassy: San Sebastián 2812
Sponsored by the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) of Chile

ENGLAND
LONDON
-Sunday, December 28, 2:00 pm, Israeli Embassy: 2 Palace Green, W8 4QB
-Monday, December 29, 4:00-6:00 pm, Opposite Israeli Embassy: Kensington High Street
-Tuesday 30 December, 2 - 4pm outside Israeli Embassy, Kensington High Street, London, W4. Nearest tube Kensingston High Street (turn right out of tube station and walk along the main road.
-Wednesday 31 December, 2 - 4pm outside Israeli Embassy
-Thursday 1 January 2 - 4pm outside Israeli Embassy
-Friday 2 January 2 - 4 pm. Outside the Egyptian Embassy, . 26 South Street, London, W1K 1DW. Call for Egypt to open the border immediately.
-SATURDAY 3 JANUARY. DEMONSTRATION AND RALLY. Assemble 12:30 pm at Embankment, London WC2. Nearest tube Embankment or Charing Cross, Called by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition, British Muslim Initiative and many other organisations, Contact: office@stopwar.org.uk
GLASGOW
-Saturday 3 January 12 noon. Outside Lloyds TSB St Vincent Street then assemble for demo at Blytheswood Square 2pm
EDINBURGH
-Saturday 3 January 12 noon. Foot of the Mound, Princes Street
BRISTOL
-Tuesday - Friday 5.00 - 6.00 and Saturday 3.00 - 4.00, Centre, opposite the Hippodrome
CARDIFF
-Tuesday 30 December 12 to 1pm. outside Cardiff Market/ St John's Church, the Hayes
-Wednesday 31 December New Year Vigil. Nye Bevan Statue, Queen Street
NOTTINGHAM
-Tuesday 30 December 12 noon, Market Square
SOUTHAMPTON
-Tuesday 30 December 12 to 2pm, West Quay Entrance, High Street
PORTSMOUTH
-Saturday 3 January 11am, Guildhall Square, Organised by Portsmouth Network for a Just Settlement of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, and Portsmouth Stop the War Coalition
HULL
-Saturday 3 January, 11am. Queen Victoria Square.

FRANCE
Blois
Tuesday, December 30
3:00 pm
Blois (41000) in front of the Prefecture
Lyon
Monday, December 29
5:00 pm
Gather at Place de la Comédie LYON
Sponsored by colectif 69 Palestine
Paris
Tuesday, December 30
6:00 pm
Gathering at the corner of bd Montparnasse and rue de Rennes, then walking in the direction of the Quai d'Orsay.
Sponsored by the Palestine Collectif, representing Americans Against the War-France
*   *   *   *   *
Saturday, January 3
3:00 pm
walking from the Place de la République towards the Israeli Embassy
Sponsored by the Palestine Collectif, representing Americans Against the War-France
*   *   *   *   *
General mobilization headquarters for Gaza with a tent for mourning and protesting
Location: Fontaine des Innocents, Châtelet-les Halles
Begins Monday, December 29 at 5:00 pm
Continues daily from 10:00 am until 10:00 pm (except during the demos)
until the end of the criminal operations of the Israeli army

IRELAND
Belfast
Monday, December 29
12 noon
City Hall
Dublin
Monday, December 29
5:00 pm
Israeli Embassy in Ballsbridge, March to the U.S. Embassy

ITALY
Florence
Tuesday, December 30
5:30 pm
Via Martelli
Sponsored by Comunita' Palestinese in Toscana, Associazione de Amicizia Italo/Palestinese, Comitato Fiorentino Fermiamo la Guerra

MEXICO
Mexico City
Wednesday, December 31
12:00 noon
Israeli Embassy: Sierra Madre No. 215, col. Lomas de Chapultepec
Contact: palestinaymexico@yahoo.com

NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam
Wednesday, December 31
2:00-3:00 pm
Gather at Het Plein (in front of parliament building), march towards U.S. and Israeli Embassies
Voor de Tweede Kamer op het Plein
Vanuit de Tweede Kamer zullen wij massaal richting de Amerikaanse ambassade lopen en vervolgens eindigen bij de Israëlische ambassade.
DenHaag (The Hague)
Wednesday, December 31
2:00 pm
Gather in front of the (Tweede kamer), march toward the U.S. Embassy, end at the Israeli Embassy
Organized by youth organizations and the Hague Peace Platform HVP and is supported by the Netherlands Palastine commitee (NPK)

SPAIN
Vigo - Galiza
30 Dezembro concentraçom diante do museo O Marco as 8:30 pm
Pontevedra - Galiza
30 de diciembre, de 20:00 a 21:30 h Plaza de la Peregrina

WALES
Cardiff
Wednesday, December 31
5:00-6:00 pm
Nye Bevan's statue, Queen St, Cardiff
Sponsored by CND Cymru, Palestine Solidarity Cymru

If there is a demonstration in your city, email the details to info@answercoalition.org so it can be posted on the ANSWER Coalition website and listed in any future emails.

Send a letter to the State Department and Congress

Join with people around the country and around the world who are demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israel. This is an urgent situation and we must all act now. You can send a letter with our easy click and send system demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israel. Without U.S. aid, the Israeli military attacks, siege and blockade of Gaza could not be continued. Click this link now to send a letter to the State Department and elected officials in Congress.

[Rak HaEmet]

so if the arab countries attack israel and kick out the jewish people that would be ok with you, since might makes right.

Such is the way of the "law of the jungle"! If we continue to deny the right of a single man to organize to a new form of government as to "them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness," we're double-thinking.

All this "Stop the Israeli" folks should sign on the NWO rosters and become the global tyrannisists their true convictions attest.

There is no guarantee of anything! The Tree of Liberty is a concept we're familiar with, and it doesn't just grow here. Men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights- not just here- but everywhere. How can a people become free? WAR AND BLOODSHED.

Yes, if the Israelis aren't friendly, or smart enough, or strong enough- then they deserve to get their asses handed to them by a people who are fighting for their liberty. Should the Israelis be chastised because their bloody contest of liberty was successful? Shit- that's the same crap they're telling us that Osama Bin Ladin is saying about the US (supposedly jealous of our freedoms).

What kind of double-think crap that a patriot, truth directed individual, would stand and shout about the first, second and fourth Amendment here, turn around and verbally (or emotionally) deny someone else living far away?? DOUBLE-THINK.

Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers by the consent of the governed. There is no blame on any side- there is only choice and consequence. Everyone from the simple farmer who didn't "speak up when they came to take the Catholics, because [he] wasn't Catholic" deserves as much responsibility as the dictator who issues the order.

You're DAMNED RIGHT I believe that it is a contest of ideals, over scarce resources, and I will honor and respect those with the testicular fortitude to put their balls into the vice for their stated objective.

[Rak HaEmet]

Stop the Massacre of Palestinians!

There is a great organization I recommend for you bro. It is fairly effective at helping build order from chaos, and I'm thinking, with your push to help create order in the M.E., it may be a good fit for you-

HERE IS A GREAT OUTFIT effective to make change.

[Revolt426]

You're DAMNED RIGHT I believe that it is a contest of ideals, over scarce resources, and I will honor and respect those with the testicular fortitude to put their balls into the vice for their stated objective.

There are no scarce resources, there is just no will to unearth them. The elitists refuse to open massive oil fields, mines, refuse to grow hemp and other beneficial things. The scarcity is orchestrated - If the Financial system was not built to rape and pillage the world would not be in such a destitude situation. The easiest way to explain it is, the Elite like their Financial system and refuse to let it go, however the system can only support roughly 1 to 2 billion people max. If the system were overhauled the majority of the planets population could be developed and supported but they do not want that, they wish to retain their power. Why do you think these World Wars occured? There weren't reports of "Scare resources" in the early 1900's. WW1 started , or rather was orchestrated by the British, who tricked Russia Germany Austria and the U.S. into a pointless war - so they could sit back and watch their competition wipe each other out. This is Zbrezinski's strategy and he's been taught well by his masters.

[TahoeBlue]

There is a great organization

http://www.venusproject.com/ethics_in_action/Israel_Sex_Slavery.html

Trafficking in women a worldwide epidemic, Malarek says,
Up to - 10,000 trafficked women in Israel and more than 280 brothels in Tel Aviv alone -

Sex Slavery - The Growing Trade in Israel
Sex slavery: The growing trade in Israel, thousands of Eastern European and Russian girls lured to TelAviv and enslaved into prostitution
http://www.israelnewsagency.com/sexisrael69690531.html

"Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life....." (Leviticus 25:44-46)
Israel Sex Slavery Thrives
Israel and the Ugly Slavery Trade
Human rights groups have long demanded actions against the trade in women in Israel. These women many from the former Soviet, are working as prostitutes in a condition of virtual slavery. Many of the Russian women who have ended up in Israel's brothels, some smuggled into the country from Egypt on the back of camels, expected to find jobs a cleaners and or working in childcare

Amnesty International investigation of the trade in Russian women suggests Israel's police and government officials have largely ignored the abuse.

[Rak HaEmet]

There are no scarce resources, there is just no will to unearth them.

2 things bro. Pretty easy to identify in a small desert beachfront land like Gaza. Power (electricity- there is no coal, no trees, no oil....) and Water.

[Avers]

All this "Stop the Israeli" folks should sign on the NWO rosters and become the global tyrannisists their true convictions attest.

Yet as you said yourself, if the NWO is able to become 'the global tyrannisists' is their good right to be...

Such is the way of the "law of the jungle"! 


And btw:

In both cases, it is an admirable contest worthy of respect-

How you can call the slaughter of children and other innocents an 'admirable contest worthy of respect' is way beyond me...

[Doctor No NWO]

Israel considers Gaza truce
Wednesday, December 31, 2008 » 06:03am
Live News:    

Israel has indicated it may consider a 48 hour truce with Hamas, after bombing Gaza for a fourth day.

Israel is considering a proposed 48-hour truce after world leaders stepped up calls for an end to the violence and warplanes pummelled Hamas targets in the battered Gaza Strip for a fourth day.

But officials warned earlier that the onslaught, which has killed at least 370 Palestinians, could continue for weeks.

Hamas militants continue to fight back, firing deadly rockets deep inside Israel, and warned they would continue doing so.

'We tell the leaders of the enemy - if you continue with your assault, we will hit with our rockets further than the cities we have hit so far,' a masked spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was to meet his foreign and defence ministers to consider a French proposal for a 48-hour truce in Gaza, a senior official said.

Just hours before the meeting, senior officials insisted Israel would press on with the offensive, which has sparked Muslim outrage and protests worldwide.

'What we want is not a ceasefire but a stop to terrorism,' said President Shimon Peres.

Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer warned a ceasefire would allow Hamas 'to regain strength, recover from the shock and prepare an even stronger attack against Israel'.

'There is no reason that we would accept a ceasefire at this stage,' he said.

With tanks and troops massed on the Gaza border, the Israeli military said 'ground forces are ready' to join what politicians have warned would be a prolonged offensive.

Olmert said the bombardment so far was 'the first of several stages approved by the security cabinet', while Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai warned the offensive - one of Israel's deadliest against Gaza - could turn into 'weeks of combat'.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said the 'all-out war' against Hamas 'will be intensified as necessary' to 'deal a severe blow to Hamas so that it stops firing against Israeli citizens and soldiers'.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice renewed calls for a halt to the fighting in a telephone conversation, Moscow said.

The two were to join a conference call with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and senior Middle East envoy Tony Blair.

[Rak HaEmet]

Trafficking in women a worldwide epidemic, Malarek says,
Up to - 10,000 trafficked women in Israel and more than 280 brothels in Tel Aviv alone -

When I was in TA, most of the whores came from Eastern Block countries (particularly from the Ukraine), and responded to ads in the local papers to be a waitress or something. Pretty sad. I met a few good guys from Hebron (Arab Palestinians) who enjoyed hiring the blond ones (and some saving money to buy their own), as it was very exotic to them.

There is a pretty serious slavery market going on there, tied into the Kosher Mafia of Israel (they do have syndicated crime too), and I heard of a few busts, but no great investigation.

Truly, in every "army town" in the US, the same thing is going on- as many soldiers can attest to. The slavery market is huge worldwide, and even exists here (but that doesn't make all of us bad- does it?).

[Geolibertarian]

And btw:

How you can call the slaughter of children and other innocents an 'admirable contest worthy of respect' is way beyond me...

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-sociopath.htm

[Suriel]

As I posted on the Cynthia McKinney thread, but even more applicable here:

There are emergency protests going on in response to the attacks in Gaza TODAY at 4:30p in various cities. Details are below:

Stop the Massacre of Palestinians!

Tuesday, December 30: National Day of Action
Emergency Demonstrations on Tuesday, December 30 and other days
...

Thanks for posting this I am going to try and attend the one in my area.

[Avers]

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-sociopath.htm

Yes well, apparently that is what you get when you combine an x-US Army combat war veteran with a degree in Middle East relations

[Pheonix Renewed]

No, I am not an anarchist. No, I don't believe that might makes right. You will never get me to agree with that, as we and now Isreal are proof positive that might does NOT make right, at all. One person or government's rights end where another's begins. No, as a world, we do NOT have to sit by and ignore it while any government commits genocide, nor should we. When they show the willingness to kill, steal, and destroy; then they deserve to be treated as they treat others. If you think that might makes right, then you should be ruled by might instead of compassion or freedom or concern for your life or rights. It is YOU who deserve the NWO owing and controlling you, because you think that since they have the power to do so, they have the right to do so. You are the one who doesn't believe everyone is endowed with rights, you believe that only the powerful and those willing to be the most brutal and violent have rights.

You'll never get me to agree with you, because you are wrong. You are of the exact same mindset as the NWO, who beleives they have the RIGHT to murder anyone and everyone they CAN, simply because.. they CAN. Your "ideals" of so-called "freedom" [only for the powerful and brutal] are representative of everything that I despise about the NWO.

No, I don't believe that anything a predatory, brutal human or human regime does is right or should be tolerated, so that we can call this "freedom." Nor will you ever convince me that child rape, child pornography, torture, or other inhumanities should be legal and ignored in the name of "freedom."

You may have to choose between "the law of the jungle" or a complete and total oppressive regime that controls every second of every person's life, but I do not. There is a middle ground, and I am not ashamed of standing in that middle ground, firmly against being forced, goaded, ridiculed, or otherwise enticed, seduced, coerced, or forced either direction from the straight and narrow path of freedom for EVERYONE, not just for the "mighty."

[Rak HaEmet]

Yet as you said yourself, if the NWO is able to become 'the global tyrannisists' is their good right to be...

Such is the way of the "law of the jungle"! 

Well, I wouldn't call it a "right" to deny another his right- but Tyranny is definately a human condition, as we can understand within the Dec of Indep, "and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."

Obviously, if a group of people wish to better affect their Happiness and Security choose to abolish a form of government in order to "create a more perfect union" with a Global Government- then they do have that right to try.  It will come down in the end, just like with the PLO and Israel, a armed fight between different ideals.

And btw:

How you can call the slaughter of children and other innocents an 'admirable contest worthy of respect' is way beyond me...

Hahaha. You're a poor jurist my friend, but a great marketer! I'll state it so that others without something in the sack don't twist my words:

I find the battle for freedom an admirable contest worthy of respect- even for those who have courage to oppose my aims with their very lives.

[Biggs]

Such is the way of the "law of the jungle"! If we continue to deny the right of a single man to organize to a new form of government as to "them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness," we're double-thinking.

All this "Stop the Israeli" folks should sign on the NWO rosters and become the global tyrannisists their true convictions attest.

There is no guarantee of anything! The Tree of Liberty is a concept we're familiar with, and it doesn't just grow here. Men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights- not just here- but everywhere. How can a people become free? WAR AND BLOODSHED.

Yes, if the Israelis aren't friendly, or smart enough, or strong enough- then they deserve to get their asses handed to them by a people who are fighting for their liberty. Should the Israelis be chastised because their bloody contest of liberty was successful? Shit- that's the same crap they're telling us that Osama Bin Ladin is saying about the US (supposedly jealous of our freedoms).

What kind of double-think crap that a patriot, truth directed individual, would stand and shout about the first, second and fourth Amendment here, turn around and verbally (or emotionally) deny someone else living far away?? DOUBLE-THINK.

Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers by the consent of the governed. There is no blame on any side- there is only choice and consequence. Everyone from the simple farmer who didn't "speak up when they came to take the Catholics, because [he] wasn't Catholic" deserves as much responsibility as the dictator who issues the order.

You're DAMNED RIGHT I believe that it is a contest of ideals, over scarce resources, and I will honor and respect those with the testicular fortitude to put their balls into the vice for their stated objective.

@Rak Haemat

At least in previous posts you had attempted to retain some vague idea of common sense, but really your last one just makes you look like a fool. As if Israel is doing any other than fulfilling its role in the NWO 'great Works' by spreading fear and hate

according to your idiotic final post the fairest thing that coudl happen is the palestinians get their 4th amendment rights, receive  a vast arsenal of high tech weaponary and wipe the IDF and any civilian standing near them out of the way forever. Presumably then they could go on and drive the Israelis out of pre-Balfour Palestine and cause as much bloodshed as they like. (this would be the exact copy of what israel has done to them so according to your ethos would be ay okay)

All Israel has to do if it wants peace is to return completely to 1967 borders (including giving up east jerusalem) - this is all they have ever had to do and would solve the problem once and forall, the palestinians do not want war they just wanbt a viable home and freedom same as any other collective group of people.

[voodo0]

Iranian students break into UK Embassy residence

TEHRAN, Iran: Iran's official news agency says dozens of hardline students have broken into the British Embassy residence in Tehran.

The IRNA agency says the students accuse Britain of supporting Israel's air assault on the Gaza Strip.

According to the agency, the students stormed the compound Tuesday evening and pulled down the British flag.

IRNA says the students then hoisted a Palestinian flag at compound's entrance before police forced them to leave.

The news agency says the break-in lasted about an hour and that the area is now calm. No injuries were reported.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/30/news/ML-Iran-Britain-Gaza.php