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Israel carrying out 1 of its largest and bloodiest operations in Gaza since 1967
Don Rizzle:
--- Quote ---Israelis fire on crowds in Gaza
The Israeli army has opened fire on a crowd of Palestinian demonstrators in the town of Rafah in southern Gaza.
At least 10 people were killed and 60 injured, though some reports put the number of casualties higher.
The army said it did not deliberately target protesters, but a helicopter and tanks had fired warning shots to stop crowds entering a battle zone.
Thousands of people were demonstrating against a massive Israeli operation in the refugee camp on the edge of Rafah.
We are very concerned about reports from Gaza and the number of Palestinians who are said to be injured and killed
US spokesman Scott McClellan
Israeli forces entered Rafah refugee camp on Tuesday to attack militants and find and destroy tunnels used to smuggle weapons.
It has been one of the largest and bloodiest operations in Gaza since Israel occupied it in 1967, leaving at least 34 dead and 100 wounded. There have been no Israeli casualties.
The United States says it is "very concerned" about the number of Palestinian dead and injured and has asked Israel for "the facts".
"We urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan.
Hospital chaos
The incident happened as about 3,000 demonstrators marched down the main street of Rafah towards the Tel Sultan area where Israeli raids have been concentrated in the last two days.
Dramatic TV footage of the incident showed a large explosion going off in the middle of a crowd as Israeli helicopters flew overhead firing anti-missile flares.
Dozens of wounded - many of them children - were evacuated by ambulance, private cars and donkey carts to the Rafah hospital, witnesses said.
A BBC correspondent at the hospital said the floors were drenched in blood as doctors treated incoming patients in corridors and on staircases.
The Israeli military said it was too early to say exactly what had happened, although it suggested that explosives laid by Palestinians could have been responsible.
Army spokeswoman Brig Gen Ruth Yaron said that Israeli forces had fired warning shots after seeing "armed men in the midst of the demonstration".
"Tank shells were fired at [an abandoned] structure, at no point in the direction of the demonstrators," she said, although she admitted that it was possible that there may have been "casualties as a result of the tank shells".
"We regret the loss of innocent life and are offering to treat those who are injured in our hospitals," she added.
Besieged district
The bloodshed came shortly after reports that thousands of Tel Sultan residents had complied with an Israeli demand that they surrender.
Twenty-four Palestinians have already died in Tel Sultan during an operation dubbed "Operation Rainbow" by the Israeli army.
Soldiers had called on loudspeakers for all males aged 16 or over to come out carrying white flags or risk the demolition of their family homes.
Israeli commanders later told journalists they only wanted militants to come out.
Israeli actions have raised an international outcry after army chief Lt Gen Moshe Yaalon said troops would flatten rows of homes in Rafah camp to widen a patrol road along the border with Egypt.
Palestinian militants are active in the area, and seven Israeli soldiers were killed nearby in ambushes last week.
The area also houses tunnels for smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory less than a kilometre away, the army says.
However, the army said on Tuesday that there was no plan to carry out systematic demolition of homes during the operation.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/3728681.stm
--- End quote ---
--- Quote ---PNA and Arab Group Call for Security Council Deliberation on Rafah
18/05/2004
Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the Arab member states in the United Nations called yesterday for convening an extraordinary session of the security council in the wake of the Israeli unjustified demolition of hundreds of Palestinian-owned houses in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah.
Nabil Abu Rodeina, President Yasser Arafat's advisor, stated Monday that the PNA would ask the United Nations' Security Council to convene urgently to deliberate the Israeli decision to knock down hundreds of Palestinian houses in Rafah, labeling the Israeli move as "a genocide against the Palestinian people" and warning of the ‘grave consequences' of such an Israeli escalation.
From his part, head of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Rawhi Fatouh, was quoted as saying that "such a decision is one more evidence that Israel is following a policy of state-sponsored terrorism, derived from Israel's racist ideology, that is based on war crimes, genocide and collective punishment".
On the Arab level, the Arab states group in the United Nations joined the PNA in its call for the urgent session of the Security Council, a matter deemed very necessary by the group, as the demolition constitutes one more Nakbah ‘catastrophe' for Palestinian refugees.
The League of Arab States, declared yesterday that the demolition of houses in Rafah as well as the displacement of its inhabitants, is a ‘war crime', that requires a firm position by the international community.
In the meantime, the UNRWA, is to meet the emerging needs of displaced families in Rafah, has rapidly appraised the situation by ensuring tents, kitchen nets and blankets for at least 1,500 Palestinian inhabitants and demanding Israel to halt knocking down of houses.
United Nations Commissioner General for Refugees Affairs in the Near East, Mr. Peter Hanssan, said "the demolition of houses has been rapidly increasing recently , a fact that has required the UNRWA to tackle the emerging human disaster by helping those who lost their homes"
Hanssan warned of more houses demolition in Rafah, confirming such actions are real breaching of the international humanitarian law, as this is a part of the collective punishment policy.
Noteworthy, Israeli occupying forces began early on Tuesday a large-scale military campaign in Rafah, killing at least 13 Palestinians, wounding dozens others and resuming destruction of more Palestinian houses amidst harsh criticism for such Israeli offensives against the Palestinian refugees.
Source: MOFA + IPC
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--- Quote ---The World and American people need to know the ongoing and dangerous tragedy between Palestinians , Israelis and the US policies towards this tragedy . As lives of the young and old Palestinians are increasingly lost and devastated, the US policies keep on supporting Israel.
The following statistics shows how fair the US policies towards the Palestinian people :
The U.S. gives $15,139,178 per day to the Israeli government and military and $568,744 to Palestinian NGO's
892 Israelis and 2,546 Palestinians have been killed since September 29, 2000
5,973 Israelis and 23,930 Palestinians have been injured since September 29, 2000
The Israeli unemployment rate is 10.4%, while the Palestinian unemployment is estimated at 37-67%
1 Israeli school has been fired upon by Palestinians and 185 Palestinian schools have been shelled or fired upon by Israelis since September 29, 2000
1 Israeli home has been destroyed by Palestinians and 2,202 Palestinian homes have been completely destroyed (14,436 partially destroyed) since September 29, 2000
60+ new Jewish-only settlements have been built on confiscated Palestinian land between March 2001 and July 11, 2003. There have been 0 cases of Palestinians confiscating Israeli land and building settlements
Source : www.ifamericansknew.org
--- End quote ---
http://www.mofa.gov.ps/Statistics/index.asp
S.J:
Its time for sanctions, sanctions helped end apartheid in South Africa and i can help end Israels version of apartheid. Add to this massacre the report from Amnesty International yesterday accussing Israel of War Crimes for the 3,000 homes, agricultural land destroyed by Israeli.
THE FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION
Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, bans 'any destruction' of property by an occupying power, except when absolutely necessary for military reasons. Article 147 states 'extensive destruction and appropriation of property unjustified by military necessity' (defined as 'measures essential to attain the goals of war ... in accordance with the laws and customs of war') is a grave breach, and hence a war crime.
Article 33 of the Convention stipulates: 'No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed.' The Red Cross says acts such as the destruction of the house belonging to the family of an alleged offender are prohibited, without exception.
Israel's creating a new Berlin wall, taking Palestinian land, stealing water, murdering children, protesters, stoping ambulances, creating curfews.
-95% of Israel's lands are open for development to Jews only.
-Israeli-Palestinian citizens live almost in segregated communities because development is strictly limited outside their villages
-For being Jewish you gain an automatic citizenship in Israel, Plus tens of thousands of dollars in subsidies too.
-Palestinian Muslims or Christians refugees, who were born in the country and later expelled, cannot gain Israeli citizenship.
-In 1917, more than 92% of the population of Palestine were Arabs and that there were at that time no more than 56,000 Jews in Palestine. Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Palestinians at that time lived in peace with each other
-Palestinians in the early 20th century owned 97.5% of the land, while Jews (native Palestinians and recent immigrants together) owned only 2.5% of the land
-Close to 4 million Palestinian Muslims and Christians are being subjected to Israeli laws that are different than the laws governing the 4.5 million Israeli Jews
-In the occupied West Bank there are "Jewish Roads" and "Non-Jewish Roads"
-Israel issues national identify cards where the religion of the card holder is clearly bolded
-Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza hold ID cards that are of different colors than the cards held by Israeli settlers.
--- Quote ---April 29, 2002 In our struggle against apartheid, the great supporters were Jewish people. They almost instinctively had to be on the side of the disenfranchised, of the voiceless ones, fighting injustice, oppression and evil. I have continued to feel strongly with the Jews. I am patron of a Holocaust centre in South Africa. I believe Israel has a right to secure borders.
What is not so understandable, not justified, is what it did to another people to guarantee its existence. I've been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about.
My heart aches. I say why are our memories so short. Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon? Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about the downtrodden?
Israel will never get true security and safety through oppressing another people. A true peace can ultimately be built only on justice. We condemn the violence of suicide bombers, and we condemn the corruption of young minds taught hatred; but we also condemn the violence of military incursions in the occupied lands, and the inhumanity that won't let ambulances reach the injured.
-Archbishop Desmond Tutu
--- End quote ---
Don Rizzle:
its no use israel needs to be told in no uncertain terms to give the land back or be forced out
UN Resolutions Against Israel, 1955-1992
Resolution 106: "...‘condemns' Israel for Gaza raid"
Resolution 111: "...‘condemns' Israel for raid on Syria that killed fifty-six people"
Resolution 127: "...‘recommends' Israel suspend its ‘no-man's zone' in Jerusalem"
Resolution 162: "...‘urges' Israel to comply with UN decisions"
Resolution 171: "...determines flagrant violations' by Israel in its attack on Syria"
Resolution 228: "...‘censures' Israel for its attack on Samu in the West Bank, then under Jordanian control"
Resolution 237: "...‘urges' Israel to allow return of new 1967 Palestinian refugees"
Resolution 248: "...‘condemns' Israel for its massive attack on Karameh in Jordan"
Resolution 250: "...‘calls' on Israel to refrain from holding military parade in Jerusalem"
Resolution 251: "...‘deeply deplores' Israeli military parade in Jerusalem in defiance of Resolution 250"
Resolution 252: "...‘declares invalid' Israel's acts to unify Jerusalem as Jewish capital"
Resolution 256: "...‘condemns' Israeli raids on Jordan as ‘flagrant violation"
Resolution 259: "...‘deplores' Israel's refusal to accept UN mission to probe occupation"
Resolution 262: "...‘condemns' Israel for attack on Beirut airport"
Resolution 265: "...‘condemns' Israel for air attacks for Salt in Jordan"
Resolution 267: "...‘censures' Israel for administrative acts to change the status of Jerusalem"
Resolution 270: "...‘condemns' Israel for air attacks on villages in southern Lebanon"
Resolution 271: "...‘condemns' Israel's failure to obey UN resolutions on Jerusalem"
Resolution 279: "...‘demands' withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon"
Resolution 280: "....‘condemns' Israeli's attacks against Lebanon"
Resolution 285: "...‘demands' immediate Israeli withdrawal form Lebanon"
Resolution 298: "...‘deplores' Israel's changing of the status of Jerusalem"
Resolution 313: "...‘demands' that Israel stop attacks against Lebanon"
Resolution 316: "...‘condemns' Israel for repeated attacks on Lebanon"
Resolution 317: "...‘deplores' Israel's refusal to release Arabs abducted in Lebanon"
Resolution 332: "...‘condemns' Israel's repeated attacks against Lebanon"
Resolution 337: "...‘condemns' Israel for violating Lebanon's sovereignty"
Resolution 347: "...‘condemns' Israeli attacks on Lebanon"
Resolution 425: "...‘calls' on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon"
Resolution 427: "...‘calls' on Israel to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon'
Resolution 444: "...‘deplores' Israel's lack of cooperation with UN peacekeeping forces"
Resolution 446: "...‘determines' that Israeli settlements are a ‘serious obstruction' to peace and calls on Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention"
Resolution 450: "...‘calls' on Israel to stop attacking Lebanon"
Resolution 452: "...‘calls' on Israel to cease building settlements in occupied territories"
Resolution 465: "...‘deplores' Israel's settlements and asks all member states not to assist Israel's settlements program"
Resolution 467: "...‘strongly deplores' Israel's military intervention in Lebanon"
Resolution 468: "...‘calls' on Israel to rescind illegal expulsions of two Palestinian mayors and a judge and to facilitate their return"
Resolution 469: "...‘strongly deplores' Israel's failure to observe the council's order not to deport Palestinians"
Resolution 471: "...‘expresses deep concern' at Israel's failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention"
Resolution 476: "...‘reiterates' that Israel's claims to Jerusalem are ‘null and void'
Resolution 478: "...‘censures (Israel) in the strongest terms' for its claim to Jerusalem in its ‘Basic Law'
Resolution 484: "...‘declares it imperative' that Israel re-admit two deported Palestinian mayors"
Resolution 487: "...‘strongly condemns' Israel for its attack on Iraq's nuclear facility"
Resolution 497: "...‘decides' that Israel's annexation of Syria's Golan Heights is ‘null and void' and demands that Israel rescind its decision forthwith"
Resolution 498: "...‘calls' on Israel to withdraw from Lebanon"
Resolution 501: "...‘calls' on Israel to stop attacks against Lebanon and withdraw its troops"
Resolution 509: "...‘demands' that Israel withdraw its forces forthwith and unconditionally from Lebanon"
Resolution 515: "...‘demands' that Israel lift its siege of Beirut and allow food supplies to be brought in"
Resolution 517: "...‘censures' Israel for failing to obey UN resolutions and demands that Israel withdraw its forces from Lebanon"
Resolution 518: "...‘demands' that Israel cooperate fully with UN forces in Lebanon"
Resolution 520: "...‘condemns' Israel's attack into West Beirut"
Resolution 573: "...‘condemns' Israel ‘vigorously' for bombing Tunisia in attack on PLO headquarters
Resolution 587: "...‘takes note' of previous calls on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon and urges all parties to withdraw"
Resolution 592: "...‘strongly deplores' the killing of Palestinian students at Bir Zeit University by Israeli troops"
Resolution 605: "...‘strongly deplores' Israel's policies and practices denying the human rights of Palestinians
Resolution 607: "...‘calls' on Israel not to deport Palestinians and strongly requests it to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention
Resolution 608: "...‘deeply regrets' that Israel has defied the United Nations and deported Palestinian civilians"
Resolution 636: "...‘deeply regrets' Israeli deportation of Palestinian civilians
Resolution 641: "...‘deplores' Israel's continuing deportation of Palestinians
Resolution 672: "...‘condemns' Israel for violence against Palestinians at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount
Resolution 673: "...‘deplores' Israel's refusal to cooperate with the United Nations
Resolution 681: "...‘deplores' Israel's resumption of the deportation of Palestinians
Resolution 694: "...‘deplores' Israel's deportation of Palestinians and calls on it to ensure their safe and immediate return
Resolution 726: "...‘strongly condemns' Israel's deportation of Palestinians
Resolution 799: "...‘strongly condemns' Israel's deportation of 413 Palestinians and calls for their immediate return.
not to mention the 32 america has vetoed
--- Quote ---Donald Neff in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs - On Sept. 10, 1972, the United States employed its veto in the UN Security Council for only the second time in history—to shield Israel. That veto, as it turned out, signalled the start of a cynical policy to use the U.S. veto repeatedly to shield Israel from international criticism, censure and sanctions. Washington used its veto 32 times to shield Israel from critical draft United Nations Security Council resolutions between 1972 and 1997. This constituted nearly half of the total U.S. vetoes cast since the founding of the U.N.
--- End quote ---
Don Seer:
i dont understand why america shields israel even the UK govt is against that.
ahhh.. would it be the power of the jewish lobby in US politics? hmmffff
Trauma-san:
quote: Israel carrying out 1 of its largest and bloodiest operations in Gaza since 1967
GOOD. I'm glad they've got the balls to stand up and kill some motherfuckers until shit stops over there. I'm actually hoping they'll drop the bomb, fuck it. I'm threw trying to be fair, these people need to be exterminated like cockroaches.
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