Israel Bans International Media from Gaza,
MrBrian
Posts: 2,672
Arrests Human Rights Activists
By CHERRIE HEYWOOD (Middle East Times)Published: November 19, 2008
GAZA CITY, Gaza -- Israel has banned foreign journalists from entering Gaza to cover the deteriorating humanitarian situation there as the country 's complete closure of the territory enters a third week.
Several groups of European parliamentarians were banned last week from passing through Israel's Erez border crossing into Gaza to assess the situation on the ground and to hold meetings with Hamas leaders.
Three international human rights activists were also forcibly arrested, by the Israeli navy, from Palestinian fishing vessels in Gaza's waters.
AP head, and Israeli Foreign Press Association chairman, Steven Gutkin said journalists had called him complaining of being refused entry since last week.
Since then, he said, the association had appealed to the government to allow access, with no success
"We consider it a serious problem for freedom of the press. We think that journalists have to be placed in a special category. A blanket ban on people going into Gaza should not apply to journalists," Gutkin added.
In the ensuing Israeli attacks and Palestinian counter-attacks 20 Palestinians were killed while two Israelis were lightly injured.
Israel has also stopped most international aid from entering Gaza causing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis with the U.N. Relief and Welfare Agency (UNRWA)'s warehouses running out of food.
Half of Gaza's population of 1.5 million is dependent on emergency rations from UNRWA for survival.
Gaza's main power plant was also forced to close on Thursday after Israel refused to allow any fuel in. Seventy percent of Gazans experienced electricity blackouts.
Under the Oslo Accords of 1994 Gazan fishermen were permitted to go 20 kilometers out to sea to fish. Forty thousand Gazan fishermen and their dependents rely on these fisherman being able to earn a livelihood from Gaza's coast.
Following Hamas' takeover of the territory in June of last year Israel limited this distance to six kilometers and has enforced it rigorously.
Those who risk going further out are regularly shot at and arrested with a number being killed in the past. Their boats are often destroyed and many have been forced out of business.
The desperate fishermen have been forced to play a game of Russian Roulette in an attempt to earn a livelihood as many of the larger shoals of fish on which they are dependent are found beyond the six kilometer limit.
The activists had accompanied the fishermen on several fishing expeditions in a bid to provide some international protection.
Hitherto, the Israeli navy shot high pressure water cannons at the fishing boats causing damage and several injuries.
Machine gun fire was also sprayed around the boats in an attempt to intimidate them.
But following three successful voyages by siege-breaking vessels from Cyprus, defying the Israeli navy and carrying European parliamentarians, journalists and human rights activists, the Israelis decided to crack down.
After three Israeli naval vessels surrounded the three fishing boats on Tuesday, 15 Palestinian fishermen were forced to strip naked and swim in the icy winter waters toward the naval vessels and were then taken in for interrogation.
The internationals were taken to Ben-Gurion airport where they are expected to be deported
http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/11/19/israel_bans_international_media_from_gaza_arrests_human_rights_activists/6228/
By CHERRIE HEYWOOD (Middle East Times)Published: November 19, 2008
GAZA CITY, Gaza -- Israel has banned foreign journalists from entering Gaza to cover the deteriorating humanitarian situation there as the country 's complete closure of the territory enters a third week.
Several groups of European parliamentarians were banned last week from passing through Israel's Erez border crossing into Gaza to assess the situation on the ground and to hold meetings with Hamas leaders.
Three international human rights activists were also forcibly arrested, by the Israeli navy, from Palestinian fishing vessels in Gaza's waters.
AP head, and Israeli Foreign Press Association chairman, Steven Gutkin said journalists had called him complaining of being refused entry since last week.
Since then, he said, the association had appealed to the government to allow access, with no success
"We consider it a serious problem for freedom of the press. We think that journalists have to be placed in a special category. A blanket ban on people going into Gaza should not apply to journalists," Gutkin added.
In the ensuing Israeli attacks and Palestinian counter-attacks 20 Palestinians were killed while two Israelis were lightly injured.
Israel has also stopped most international aid from entering Gaza causing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis with the U.N. Relief and Welfare Agency (UNRWA)'s warehouses running out of food.
Half of Gaza's population of 1.5 million is dependent on emergency rations from UNRWA for survival.
Gaza's main power plant was also forced to close on Thursday after Israel refused to allow any fuel in. Seventy percent of Gazans experienced electricity blackouts.
Under the Oslo Accords of 1994 Gazan fishermen were permitted to go 20 kilometers out to sea to fish. Forty thousand Gazan fishermen and their dependents rely on these fisherman being able to earn a livelihood from Gaza's coast.
Following Hamas' takeover of the territory in June of last year Israel limited this distance to six kilometers and has enforced it rigorously.
Those who risk going further out are regularly shot at and arrested with a number being killed in the past. Their boats are often destroyed and many have been forced out of business.
The desperate fishermen have been forced to play a game of Russian Roulette in an attempt to earn a livelihood as many of the larger shoals of fish on which they are dependent are found beyond the six kilometer limit.
The activists had accompanied the fishermen on several fishing expeditions in a bid to provide some international protection.
Hitherto, the Israeli navy shot high pressure water cannons at the fishing boats causing damage and several injuries.
Machine gun fire was also sprayed around the boats in an attempt to intimidate them.
But following three successful voyages by siege-breaking vessels from Cyprus, defying the Israeli navy and carrying European parliamentarians, journalists and human rights activists, the Israelis decided to crack down.
After three Israeli naval vessels surrounded the three fishing boats on Tuesday, 15 Palestinian fishermen were forced to strip naked and swim in the icy winter waters toward the naval vessels and were then taken in for interrogation.
The internationals were taken to Ben-Gurion airport where they are expected to be deported
http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/11/19/israel_bans_international_media_from_gaza_arrests_human_rights_activists/6228/
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The Palestinian resistance is a response to the circumstances created and carried out by Israel. Israel is, by and large, currently fueling this climate of retaliation in order to kjustify their actions: Creating racial colonies through death and destruction of people's lives because they think God gives them the right to act like racists.
Quite simply it's an apartheid. An ethnic cleansing based on nutcases that think they are gods *only* chosen people on this entire planet. What a ridiculous notion. Honestly.
There is a reason the media is banned. It's to cover up what's really happening there.
flat out.
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Israel (the vast majority of which have been ignored by Israel)
1. Resolution 42: The Palestine Question (5 March 1948) Requests recommendations for the Palestine Commission
2. Resolution 43: The Palestine Question (1 Apr 1948) Recognizes "increasing violence and disorder in Palestine" and requests that representatives of "the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the Arab Higher Committee" arrange, with the Security Council, "a truce between the Arab and Jewish Communities of Palestine...Calls upon Arab and Jewish armed groups in Palestine to cease acts of violence immediately."
3. Resolution 44: The Palestine Question (1 Apr 1948) Requests convocation of special session of the General Assembly
4. Resolution 46: The Palestine Question (17 Apr 1948) As the United Kingdom is the Mandatory Power, "it is responsible for the maintenance of peace and order in Palestine." The Resolutions also "Calls upon all persons and organizations in Palestine" to stop importing "armed bands and fighting personnel...whatever their origin;...weapons and war materials;...Refrain, pending the future government of Palestine...from any political activity which might prejudice the rights, claims, or position of either community;...refrain from any action which will endager the safety of the Holy Places in Palestine."
5. Resolution 48: The Palestine Question (23 Apr 1948)
6. Resolution 49: The Palestine Question (22 May 1948)
7. Resolution 50: The Palestine Question (29 May 1948)
8. Resolution 53: The Palestine Question (7 Jul 1948)
9. Resolution 54: The Palestine Question (15 Jul 1948)
10. Resolution 56: The Palestine Question (19 Aug 1948)
11. Resolution 57: The Palestine Question (18 Sep 1948)
12. Resolution 59: The Palestine Question (19 Oct 1948)
13. Resolution 60: The Palestine Question (29 Oct 1948)
14. Resolution 61: The Palestine Question (4 Nov 1948)
15. Resolution 62: The Palestine Question (16 Nov 1948)
16. Resolution 66: The Palestine Question (29 Dec 1948)
17. Resolution 72: The Palestine Question (11 Aug 1949)
18. Resolution 73: The Palestine Question (11 Aug 1949)
19. Resolution 89 (17 November 1950): regarding Armistice in 1948 Arab-Israeli War and "transfer of persons".
20. Resolution 92: The Palestine Question (8 May 1951)
21. Resolution 93: The Palestine Question (18 May 1951)
22. Resolution 95: The Palestine Question (1 Sep 1951)
23. Resolution 100: The Palestine Question (27 Oct 1953)
24. Resolution 101: The Palestine Question (24 Nov 1953)
25. Resolution 106: The Palestine Question (29 Mar 1955) 'condemns' Israel for Gaza raid.
26. Resolution 107: The Palestine Question (30 Mar)
27. Resolution 108: The Palestine Question (8 Sep)
28. Resolution 111: " ... 'condemns' Israel for raid on Syria that killed fifty-six people".
29. Resolution 127: " ... 'recommends' Israel suspends its 'no-man's zone' in Jerusalem".
30. Resolution 162: " ... 'urges' Israel to comply with UN decisions".
31. Resolution 171: " ... determines flagrant violations' by Israel in its attack on Syria".
32. Resolution 228: " ... 'censures' Israel for its attack on Samu in the West Bank, then under Jordanian control".
33. Resolution 237: " ... 'urges' Israel to allow return of new 1967 Palestinian refugees".
34. Resolution 242 (November 22, 1967): Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area. Calls on Israel's neighbors to end the state of belligerency and calls upon Israel to reciprocate by withdraw its forces from land claimed by other parties in 1967 war. Interpreted commonly today as calling for the Land for peace principle as a way to resolve Arab-Israeli conflict
35. Resolution 248: " ... 'condemns' Israel for its massive attack on Karameh in Jordan".
36. Resolution 250: " ... 'calls' on Israel to refrain from holding military parade in Jerusalem".
37. Resolution 251: " ... 'deeply deplores' Israeli military parade in Jerusalem in defiance of Resolution 250".
38. Resolution 252: " ... 'declares invalid' Israel's acts to unify Jerusalem as Jewish capital".
39. Resolution 256: " ... 'condemns' Israeli raids on Jordan as 'flagrant violation".
40. Resolution 259: " ... 'deplores' Israel's refusal to accept UN mission to probe occupation".
41. Resolution 262: " ... 'condemns' Israel for attack on Beirut airport".
42. Resolution 265: " ... 'condemns' Israel for air attacks for Salt in Jordan".
43. Resolution 267: " ... 'censures' Israel for administrative acts to change the status of Jerusalem".
44. Resolution 270: " ... 'condemns' Israel for air attacks on villages in southern Lebanon".
45. Resolution 271: " ... 'condemns' Israel's failure to obey UN resolutions on Jerusalem".
46. Resolution 279: " ... 'demands' withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon".
47. Resolution 280: " ... 'condemns' Israeli's attacks against Lebanon".
48. Resolution 285: " ... 'demands' immediate Israeli withdrawal form Lebanon".
49. Resolution 298: " ... 'deplores' Israel's changing of the status of Jerusalem".
50. Resolution 313: " ... 'demands' that Israel stop attacks against Lebanon".
51. Resolution 316: " ... 'condemns' Israel for repeated attacks on Lebanon".
52. Resolution 317: " ... 'deplores' Israel's refusal to release Arabs abducted in Lebanon".
53. Resolution 332: " ... 'condemns' Israel's repeated attacks against Lebanon".
54. Resolution 337: " ... 'condemns' Israel for violating Lebanon's sovereignty".
55. Resolution 338 (22 October 1973): cease fire in Yom Kippur War
56. Resolution 339 (23 October 1973): Confirms Res. 338, dispatch UN observers.
57. Resolution 347: " ... 'condemns' Israeli attacks on Lebanon".
58. Resolution 3379: "...'establishes' Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination". Repealed by Resolution 46|86.
59. Resolution 425 (1978): " ... 'calls' on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon". Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon was completed as of 16 June 2000.
60. Resolution 350 (31 May 1974) established the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, to monitor the ceasefire
between Israel and Syria in the wake of the Yom Kippur War.
61. Resolution 427: " ... 'calls' on Israel to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon".
62. Resolution 444: " ... 'deplores' Israel's lack of cooperation with UN peacekeeping forces".
63. Resolution 446 (1979): 'determines' that Israeli settlements are a 'serious obstruction' to peace and calls on Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention".
64. Resolution 450: " ... 'calls' on Israel to stop attacking Lebanon".
65. Resolution 452: " ... 'calls' on Israel to cease building settlements in occupied territories".
66. Resolution 465: " ... 'deplores' Israel's settlements and asks all member states not to assist Israel's settlements program".
67. Resolution 467: " ... 'strongly deplores' Israel's military intervention in Lebanon".
68. Resolution 468: " ... 'calls' on Israel to rescind illegal expulsions of two Palestinian mayors and a judge and to facilitate their return".
69. Resolution 469: " ... 'strongly deplores' Israel's failure to observe the council's order not to deport Palestinians".
70. Resolution 471: " ... 'expresses deep concern' at Israel's failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention".
71. Resolution 476: " ... 'reiterates' that Israel's claim to Jerusalem are 'null and void'".
72. Resolution 478 (20 August 1980): 'censures (Israel) in the strongest terms' for its claim to Jerusalem in its 'Basic Law'.
73. Resolution 484: " ... 'declares it imperative' that Israel re-admit two deported Palestinian mayors".
74. Resolution 487: " ... 'strongly condemns' Israel for its attack on Iraq's nuclear facility".
75. Resolution 497 (17 December 1981) decides that Israel's annexation of Syria's Golan Heights is 'null and void' and demands that Israel rescinds its decision forthwith.
76. Resolution 498: " ... 'calls' on Israel to withdraw from Lebanon".
77. Resolution 501: " ... 'calls' on Israel to stop attacks against Lebanon and withdraw its troops".
78. Resolution 508:
79. Resolution 509: " ... 'demands' that Israel withdraw its forces forthwith and unconditionally from Lebanon".
80. Resolution 515: " ... 'demands' that Israel lift its siege of Beirut and allow food supplies to be brought in".
81. Resolution 517: " ... 'censures' Israel for failing to obey UN resolutions and demands that Israel withdraw its forces from Lebanon".
82. Resolution 518: " ... 'demands' that Israel cooperate fully with UN forces in Lebanon".
83. Resolution 520: " ... 'condemns' Israel's attack into West Beirut".
84. Resolution 573: " ... 'condemns' Israel 'vigorously' for bombing Tunisia in attack on PLO headquarters.
85. Resolution 587 " ... 'takes note' of previous calls on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon and urges all parties to withdraw".
86. Resolution 592: " ... 'strongly deplores' the killing of Palestinian students at Bir Zeit University by Israeli troops".
87. Resolution 605: " ... 'strongly deplores' Israel's policies and practices denying the human rights of Palestinians.
88. Resolution 607: " ... 'calls' on Israel not to deport Palestinians and strongly requests it to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
89. Resolution 608: " ... 'deeply regrets' that Israel has defied the United Nations and deported Palestinian civilians".
90. Resolution 636: " ... 'deeply regrets' Israeli deportation of Palestinian civilians.
91. Resolution 641: " ... 'deplores' Israel's continuing deportation of Palestinians.
92. Resolution 672: " ... 'condemns' Israel for "violence against Palestinians" at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.
93. Resolution 673: " ... 'deplores' Israel's refusal to cooperate with the United Nations.
94. Resolution 681: " ... 'deplores' Israel's resumption of the deportation of Palestinians.
95. Resolution 694: " ... 'deplores' Israel's deportation of Palestinians and calls on it to ensure their safe and immediate return.
96. Resolution 726: " ... 'strongly condemns' Israel's deportation of Palestinians.
97. Resolution 799: ". . . 'strongly condemns' Israel's deportation of 413 Palestinians and calls for their immediate return.
98. Resolution 1559 (2 September 2004) called upon Lebanon to establish its sovereignty over all of its land and called upon Syria to end their military presence in Lebanon by withdrawing its forces and to cease intervening in internal Lebanese politics. The resolution also called on all Lebanese militias to disband.
99. Resolution 1583 (28 January 2005) calls on Lebanon to assert full control over its border with Israel. It also states that "the Council has recognized the Blue Line as valid for the purpose of confirming Israel's withdrawal pursuant to resolution 425.
100. Resolution 1648 (21 December 2005) renewed the mandate of United Nations Disengagement Observer Force until 30 June 2006.
101. Resolution 1701 (11 August 2006) called for the full cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
The situation is worse than the South African Apartheid regime. I wonder how history will judge our silence and our complicity?
there's always “you're an anti-semite!!!”
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
What are you talking about? They just want the land they believe is theirs. I think the Germans called it Lebensraum.
(paraphrasing a joke by a Dutch comedian)
naděje umírá poslední
haha ... yeah - odds of that are much better ...
None that I know of.
Saturday, 15 November 2008 http://www.independent.co.uk
The Israeli blockade of Gaza has led to a steady rise in chronic malnutrition among the 1.5 million people living in the strip, according to a leaked report from the Red Cross.
It chronicles the "devastating" effect of the siege that Israel imposed after Hamas seized control in June 2007 and notes that the dramatic fall in living standards has triggered a shift in diet that will damage the long-term health of those living in Gaza and has led to alarming deficiencies in iron, vitamin A and vitamin D.
The 46-page report from the International Committee of the Red Cross – seen by The Independent – is the most authoritative yet on the impact that Israel's closure of crossings to commercial goods has had on Gazan families and their diets.
The report says the heavy restrictions on all major sectors of Gaza's economy, compounded by a cost of living increase of at least 40 per cent, is causing "progressive deterioration in food security for up to 70 per cent of Gaza's population". That in turn is forcing people to cut household expenditures down to "survival levels".
Since last year, the report found, there had been a switch to "low cost/high energy" cereals, sugar and oil, away from higher-cost animal products and fresh fruit and vegetables. Such a shift "increases exposure to micronutrient deficiencies which in turn will affect their health and wellbeing in the long term."
The Red Cross report says that "the embargo has had a devastating effect for a large proportion of households who have had to make major changes on the composition of their food basket." Households were now obtaining 80 per cent of their calories from cereals, sugar and oil. "The actual food basket is considered to be insufficient from a nutritional perspective." The report paints a bleak picture of an increasingly impoverished and indebted lower-income population. People are selling assets, slashing the quality and quantity of meals, cutting back on clothing and children's education, scavenging for discarded materials – and even grass for animal fodder – that they can sell and are depending on dwindling loans and handouts from slightly better-off relatives.
In the urban sector, in which about 106,000 employees lost their jobs after the June 2007 shutdown, about 40 per cent are now classified as "very poor", earning less than 500 shekels (£87) a month to provide for an average household of seven to nine peop
In agriculture, on which 27 percent of Gaza's population depends, exports are at a halt and, like fisheries, the sector has seen a 50 per cent fall in incomes since the siege began. Among the two-fifths classified as "very poor", average per capita spending is down to 50p a day. In the fisheries sector, which has been hit by fuel shortages and narrow, Israeli-imposed fishing limits, "People's coping mechanisms are very limited and those households that still have jewellery and even non-essential appliances sell them".
The report says that if the Israeli-imposed embargo is maintained, "economic disintegration will continue and wider segments of the Gaza population will become food insecure".
The detailed Gaza fieldwork for the report was carried out between May and July. An International Monetary Fund report confirmed in late September that the Gaza economy "continued to weaken".
Mark Regev, the spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said that, contrary to hopes when Israel pulled out of Gaza, the Gazan people were being "held hostage" to Hamas's "extremist and nihilist" ideology which was causing undoubted suffering. If Hamas focused resources on the "diet of the people" instead of on "Qassam rockets and violent jihadism" then "this sort of problem would not exist", he said.
But of course, this is just Israeli self-defense. It's not much different from the Nazis seeking to defend humanity from a Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy in the 30' & 40's, right?
And anyway, as the Israeli spokesman points out in this article, it's Hamas' fault that 1.5 million people are being slowly starved to death in what is a clear parallel with the ghetto's of Warsaw during WWII.
The silence of the international community on this is really revealing. I wonder why many Arabs and Muslims hate us?
it has nothing to do with this.. its because Arabs hate your "freedoms"..
and polls show the majority of israeli's support working w/ hamas....but like almost anywhere, it doesn't matter what the ppl want
not saying there aren't racist n violent wankers in those illegal settlements n elsewhere
ya mean ppl don't like having their homes demolished for illegal racist colonies while violently oppressing the others and builiding walls (some of which aren't even on israeli land) and roadblocks and denying access or even ambulances so their kids suffer from acute malnutrition??????
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
president elect obama hasn't weighed in on this??
on a somewhat related note at work i saw a commercial for obama collectors plates
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7719880.stm
In other news:
http://freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id=4d92d543e1df1993c483757482ee3830&offset=
http://voanews.com/english/2008-11-18-voa11.cfm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7737725.stm
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33276
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1037141.html
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33244
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33244
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33244
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33244
Only the current head of the U.N, along with the usual aid/Human rights organisations. As far as I'm aware no head of state has said a word about it:
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33244
"People are going to start getting hungry," said U.N. spokesman Christopher Gunness.
As the crisis escalates and bakeries close due to power cuts resulting from the Israeli refusal to allow fuel into the area, the international community has come out with a wave of condemnations against the Israeli closure.
Ban Ki Moon
The office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon released a statement on Saturday saying he is "concerned that food and other lifesaving assistance is being denied to hundreds of thousands of people, and emphasizes that measures which increase the hardship and suffering of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip as a whole are unacceptable and should cease immediately."
Oxfam
Oxfam International, one of the large international organizations that work regularly in the Gaza Strip, has condemned the Israeli decision to close the borders into Gaza.
Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs sent the following statement to the international press on Friday:
"World leaders must step up and exercise all their political might to break the blockade of Gaza. As a matter of humanitarian imperative, Israeli leaders must resume supplies into Gaza without further delay. If Israelis and Palestinians alike don’t exert every effort now to maintain the truce which has held since last June, the result could be catastrophic for civilians both in Gaza and in nearby Israeli towns.”
The European Union
Commissioner for External Relations of the European Union has also condemned the renewed Israeli blockade.
"I am profoundly concerned about the consequences for the Gazan population of the complete closure of all Gaza crossings for deliveries of fuel and basic humanitarian assistance,” she said in a press statement.
“I call on Israel to re-open the crossings for humanitarian and commercial flows, in particular food and medicines. Facilitation of fuel deliveries for the Gaza Power Plant should be resumed immediately.”
The EU statement further stated that “International law requires the provision of access to essential services such as electricity and clean water to the civilian population,” and demanded that restraint be exercised by all parties to avoid an escalation of humanitarian suffering.
Amnesty International
The most thorough and to the point condemnation so far has come from a report released by Amnesty International, which called the current situation in Gaza “nothing short of collective punishment.”
Amnesty urged Israeli authorities to allow the passage of vital supplies into Gaza."Israel's latest tightening of its blockade has made an already dire humanitarian situation markedly worse,” the deputy director of the organization’s Middle East and North Africa Program, Philip Luther, said on Friday. “It must stop immediately,” Luther added.
Israeli response
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have been denying international journalists access to Gaza for over a week. On Thursday, a convoy of European diplomats was likewise refused entry.
"Gaza is cut off from the outside world. Israel is seemingly not keen on the world seeing the suffering that its blockade is causing to the one and a half million Palestinians who are virtually trapped there," Philip Luther from Amnesty said.
The breakdown last week of a five-and-a-half-month ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in Gaza has generated a renewed wave of violence. The killing of six Palestinian militants in Israeli air strikes and ground attacks on 4 November prompted a barrage of Palestinian rockets on nearby Israeli towns and villages. At least six other Palestinian militants have been killed by Israeli forces and others have been injured in recent days.
But Palestinian rocket attacks have continued. No Israeli casualties had been reported until Friday, when one Israeli was lightly wounded by shrapnel in an attack on the Israeli city of Sderot.
Prior to the ceasefire that began on 19 June, some 420 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza clashes, half of them unarmed civilians, including 80 children. In the same period, Palestinian armed groups killed 24 Israelis, 15 of them civilians, including four children, Amnesty International reported.
Didn't see anything either, but thanks for the link!
Jean-Luc Renaudie, Reuters
Published: Friday, November 21, 2008
JERUSALEM - Israel said on Friday it will maintain its closure of the Gaza Strip despite international concern over a deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the aid-dependent Palestinian territory.
The United Nations has urged Israel to reopen the crossings, saying the closure of Gaza contravenes international law.
Israel had been expected to significantly ease its blockade after a truce went into effect in June. It argues that militant attacks have made this impossible but Hamas accuses it of breaching the deal.
Senior defence ministry official Reserve Major General Amos Gilad, who led the Israeli side in the Egyptian-brokered negotiations for the truce, insisted that it remained in force and that he expected it to continue.
Asked in a Jerusalem Post interview if the truce had collapsed, he said: "No".
According to the interview, Gilad said "Hamas's overall interest, "as far as can be judged, is to return to the calm.
"But Hamas is committed to the destruction of the state ... It wants to take over the Palestine Liberation Organisation. At present for tactical and strategic reasons, it is interested in the calm."
At a cabinet meeting on Sunday at which Olmert accused Hamas of "shattering" the truce, Barak called for it to be extended beyond its initial six-month term which expires on December 19.
The head of the Hamas administration in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, said on Friday that all of the Palestinian factions in Gaza were prepared to respect the truce if Israel kept to its side of the bargain.
"Over the past two days, we've had meetings with the Palestinian factions and we have arrived at clear position - to respect the truce as long as the occupier does too," he said.
"But so far the occupier has not honoured its commitments, indeed it has closed the border crossings and tightened the blockade."
Right, so for tactical and strategic reasons Hamas objects to 1.5 million Palestinians being imprisoned and slowly starved, while also being subjected to aerial bombardments and sniper attacks from Israeli soldiers? Purely tactical and strategic is their concern.
And of course, the Israeli blockade is merely a form of self-defense, just as the Warsaw ghetto and the Nazi concentration camps were a form of self-defense against the Jewish-Bolshevik threat. Never again!?! Yeah, sure. As long as it's not Israel on the receiving end then it's perfectly o.k.
And the truce wasn't broken by Hamas, it was broken by an illegal Israeli incursion which resulted in the deaths of 6 Palestinians. The fact that the Palestinians retaliated with their crappy rockets doesn't justify further Israeli aggression and a violation of the basic human rights of 1.5 million people.
I wonder when this shit will end? I wonder if Obama will permit it to continue?
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmgphotos/4731512142/" title="PJ Banner2 by Mister J Photography, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1135/4731512142_258f2d6ab4_b.jpg" width="630" height="112" alt="PJ Banner2" /></a>
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/10/22/africa/OUKWD-UK-PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL-GAZA.php
Israel shuts Gaza crossings after rocket attack
JERUSALEM: Israel temporarily closed its border crossings with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after militants from the Hamas-controlled territory fired a rocket into southern Israel.
"After a rocket was fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip yesterday, Defence Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Gaza crossings to be closed starting Wednesday morning," a defence ministry official said.
The official did not say how long the crossings would remain shut.
Gaza militants fired the rocket on Tuesday, the first in more than six weeks, causing no damage or injuries, Israeli police said.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire in June. It called for a cessation of cross-border violence and a gradual easing of Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip, which was tightened after the Islamist group seized control of the territory in 2007.
The truce has largely held, although Gaza militants occasionally fire rockets into Israel, which responds by temporarily closing its borders with the coastal territory.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20081114/118322045.html
Gaza militants continue rocket attacks against Israel
GAZA, November 14 (RIA Novosti) - Palestinian militants in Gaza continued rocket attacks on Israel on Friday, striking Ashkelon in the country's south, the Israeli Army said.
Four long-range Grad missiles struck the coastal city but caused no casualties. Several civilians suffered shock, an army spokesman said. Militants from several Palestinian factions, including Hamas, have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Gaza militants fired around 18 rockets at Israel on Friday, three of them exploding in the Sderot, near Ashkelon, slightly injuring an Israeli woman and damaging a building and several cars.
The Israeli military retaliated with airstrikes against militant bases in Gaza. According to Palestinian emergency services, at least two militants were wounded in the strikes.
Ten days of cross-border attacks have destroyed a five-month truce and led to the resumption of an Israeli blockade of the border with Gaza on October 30, cutting the supplies of essential goods to 750,000 Gaza residents.
The escalation of violence on the border with Gaza began when Israeli troops went into the enclave last week to destroy a tunnel which Israel claimed had been dug as part of planned operations to abduct its soldiers.
Or maybe it has something to do with this?
http://www.btselem.org/English/Settler_Violence/20080807_Surge_in_settler_violence.asp
'7 August '08: Increase in settler violence
B'Tselem is investigating twelve cases of settler attacks on Palestinian between 29 July and 4 August. These cases reflect a sharp increase in reports of such violence, and represent a peak to an escalation that has been underway over the past few weeks. The recent cases took place across the West Bank, with a majority in South Mount Hebron and the settlements around Nablus...'
http://palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article700
'..Israel has blamed the latest restrictions of aid and fuel to Gaza on Hamas’s violation of a five-month ceasefire by launching rockets out of the Strip. But Israel had a hand in shattering the agreement: as the world was distracted by the US presidential elections, the army invaded Gaza, killing six Palestinians and provoking the rocket fire.
The humanitarian catastrophe gripping Gaza is largely unrelated to the latest tit-for-tat strikes between Hamas and Israel. Nearly a year ago, Karen Koning AbuZayd, commissioner-general of the UN’s refugee agency, warned: “Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution”.
She blamed Gaza’s strangulation directly on Israel, but also cited the international community as accomplice. Together they began blocking aid in early 2006, following the election of Hamas to head the Palestinian Authority (PA)...'
http://socialistworker.org/2008/09/25/breaching-israeli-blockade
September 25, 2008
'THE ALL-out Israeli siege on Gaza continues while 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza face a total lack of medical care and supplies, and extreme shortages of food, water and electricity...
With Israel claiming to have ended its occupation of Gaza, this group of activists decided to test Israel and see if the Palestinians would, in fact, be in control of their access to the Mediterranean waters off the Gaza Coast. A Palestinian fisherman named Hissi was quoted in Britain's Guardian saying, "We were expecting a real Palestinian state, and that we'd be able to work and move freely, but it never came. Now instead, they've put Gaza under siege."
Meanwhile, Palestinian fishermen have been confined to fish within a few miles of the Gaza shore under threat of Israeli military strikes. As part of breaking the siege, fishermen and activists attempted to go back out in Palestinian waters off of the Gaza coast and fish. They came under fire from the Israeli Navy on September 1 and called for international support...
Israeli fire hits girl in Gaza school
Report, Al Mezan, 27 October 2008
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9916.shtml
'Amidst the tightened siege imposed by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) on the Gaza Strip, the IOF continues to open fire on areas adjacent to the eastern border. This morning it targeted a school at Khizaa town in the southeast of the Gaza Strip, injuring a girl inside her classroom.
According to the Center's investigations, IOF troops, which are fortified and stationed along the eastern border line, opened fire on Khizaa town, east of Khan Younis, at around 8:15am on Monday, 27 October 2008. Aziza Sulaiman Qdeih, 15, was injured by a live bullet's shrapnel to the nose while she was at her first-story classroom in the Shuhada Khizaa high school. She sustained minor injuries, according to medical sources...'
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9731.shtml
1 August 2008
'..As we reported yesterday, Israeli forces shot and killed a ten-year-old boy, Ahmed Mousa, in the head with live ammunition fired from an M16, on Tuesday evening. Around the time of the funeral procession for Ahmed Mousa last night, Israeli occupation forces returned to the village and opened fire on villagers, shooting another young Palestinian teenager in the head. Eighteen-year-old Yousef Ahmad Amira went into a coma after he was shot twice in the head, according to Palestinian news agencies and eyewitnesses. The Mayor of Nilin village said that six other young men were also shot and injured by rubber-coated steel bullets after clashes broke out between Israeli occupation soldiers and villagers defending their land. US-made Israeli bulldozers reportedly destroyed barricades built by villagers at the entrance to Nilin, as Israeli forces began firing tear gas and sound grenades, followed by indiscriminately opening fire...'
Or this:
West Bank camp incursion causes destruction, fear
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 26 September 2007
Residents of the Ein Beit Alma refugee camp began to pick up the pieces after an intense Israeli military incursion last week left dozens homeless, and many very frightened, especially children. The fighting with Palestinian militants also caused damage to sewer systems, residents said.
Muhammed Msaimi, aged 26, hid for over a day with his wife and three children in the bathroom because of gunfights which took place outside their apartment. However, the bullets found their way into that room as well, and they crawled behind a thick wall, Msaimi, a registered refugee, said.
"Then the soldiers came and told us to leave. They said we should cover our ears. They blew up the floor above us. No one lives there," he told IRIN. The explosion knocked out the entire upper floor and caused structural damage to the rest of the building. Msaimi now lives with his in-laws.
The Israeli military said the purpose of the three-day operation was to "prevent the execution of terror attacks into the Israeli home front," and that information obtained from arrested alleged militants, 49 in all, had led them to an explosive belt which had been smuggled into Tel Aviv...'
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0810/S00301.htm#b
'..Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians farmers near Huwwara on Saturday 11th October.
More than 25 settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yizhar descended upon Palestinian farmers while the farmers were undertaking their annual olive harvest. The settlers were armed with machine guns, and one fired a single shot in the air before they began to hurl rocks at the Palestinian farmers, injuring two. One of the injured, Mustafa Najah from Burin, was hit in the head and taken to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus. He is thought to have sustained eye injuries.
The attack continued for ten minutes before Israeli soldiers arrived on the scene. The soldiers, however, instead of removing the settlers from the land, started to fire into the air, insisting that the Palestinian farmers cease their harvesting and leave the lands. Farmers report that the soldiers and settlers then walked around the groves together, telling farmers to leave their own lands. The farmers were forced from their lands for over an hour, before eventually being allowed back to continue their harvest...'
Hmm, yeah, that may have done it.
I heard he's going to get a dog after taking office too. That should be good for a couple days of mass distraction
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
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The Nazi philosophy was "you take one of ours, we take 10 of yours" nice to see the traditions being upheld.
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
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i'm not taking sides....just showing both....something didnt seem to be happening in this thread
Yep. If there's one thing I've noticed about the Israel/Palestine issue, it's that it has all the hallmarks of a level playing field.