IDF ontkent beschieting VN vrachtwagen in Gazastrook

 

Israelische soldaten zouden hebben gezien dat de vrachtwagen door Hamas werd beschoten:

According to the Magen David Adom medic who said he evacuated the Palestinians to an Israeli hospital, the truck came under Hamas sniper fire. The medic, who asked not to be named, said he got his information from soldiers in the field.

http://israel-palestijnen.blogspot.com/2009/01/onduidelijkheid-omtrent-dood-chauffeur.html   

De VN zegt dat haar beschuldiging ook is gebaseerd op mensen ter plekke:

Gunness said the UN had based its account on reports from truck drivers at the scene, who saw an Israeli tank nearby and "were in no doubt they had been fired upon."

Het is dus het woord van de vrachtwagenchauffeurs tegenover dat van de Israelische Rode Davidster die ook ter plekke was.

Het is moeilijk in zulke gevallen te achterhalen wat er precies is gebeurd, maar hier geldt was mij betreft voor Israel: innocent until proven guilty.

 

RP

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Last update - 16:02 10/01/2009

IDF denies shooting of UN truck in Gaza that killed relief worker
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1054231.html
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press


The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday denied that Israeli soldiers had shot at a United Nations aid truck in a convoy headed to a Gaza crossing two days ago.

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) had initially accused Israeli troops on a two-week offensive against Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip of shooting at the UN convoy bringing humanitarian aid on Thursday, killing one worker.

An Israeli statement issued on Saturday said "the Israeli army did not fire upon the truck," and that those wounded in the shooting were treated at an Israeli hospital.
Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for UNRWA, said the agency had not accused Israel of deliberately targeting its personnel.

Gunness said the UN had based its account on reports from truck drivers at the scene, who saw an Israeli tank nearby and "were in no doubt they had been fired upon."

He urged Israel to release any photographs of the scene to "find out what happened."

An IDF source said Israel suspected Hamas was behind that shooting.

UN officials on Friday said they will resume their suspended humanitarian aid operations in Gaza as soon as possible, based on assurances from the Defense Ministry that aid workers be better protected.

A spokesperson for the Defense Ministry's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories office said that Israel and the UN have come to a new agreement regarding the UN's relief work in Gaza.

UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said the Israeli military told senior UN officials at a high-level meeting at Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv that they deeply regretted the incidents that led the UN to suspend aid deliveries in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

The UN halted movement of staff and deliveries to the Gaza Strip on Thursday after gunfire from an Israeli tank killed one aid truck driver and injured two others, Montas said. The international Red Cross also said it would restrict activities after one of its drivers was injured in a similar incident.

The UN received credible assurances that the security of UN personnel, installations, and humanitarian operations would be fully respected including undertakings of improved liaison and more effective internal coordination within the IDF, Montas said, using the initials of the Israeli Defense Force.

"On this basis, UN staff movements suspended yesterday will resume as soon as possible," she said.

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes called the announcement very good news and said the Israeli assurances were "exactly the assurances that we're seeking."

Holmes stressed that not all UN operations in Gaza were suspended - only those involving the movement of vehicles, which restricted aid deliveries.

UN staff in clinics and shelters, for example, remained on the job, he said.

"We hope now that all operations will be able to resume insofar as they can be carried out in the circumstances that we have - which is very limited to start," Holmes said.

"That's because not enough goods are coming in, and the goods cannot be distributed even now because the trucking company which does that has also suspended its operations," he said. "Whether they will be able to now resume, I don't know."

Holmes said UN officials will now have to discuss resuming operations with the trucking company.

John Ging, head of Gaza operations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which helps Palestinian refugees, told reporters by video-link from Gaza: "What it means, in effect, is that as soon as practical we will resume our operations."

"What we want on the operational side is that we can rely on information that is provided, and that we will not have our security compromised due to poor coordination or breakdowns in communication, he said. There is enough risk here as it is a combat zone ... and we don't want that added to because of inadequate, poor, or nonfunctioning coordination mechanisms."

Ging said the UN had lost confidence in Israel's military. But he said Israel's assurances at the highest level of improved security for UN aid operations will be taken in good faith because there were given in good faith.

"They have put in place a solution to their problems," he said.

Ging and Holmes, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, expressed regret about having to suspend aid delivery for more than a day.

The staff are eager to continue with their activities, Holmes told reporters at UN headquarters.

The assurances on improved security for UN aid operations came as Israel and Hamas ignored a Security Council cease-fire demand.

With those assurances, the World Food Program and UNICEF can resume moving supplies into or around Gaza. Those agencies said they were still operating in the Palestinian territory, where 1 million people are without electricity and 750,000 are without running water, according to the UN relief agency.

The World Food Program can access 1,900 metric tons of food it already has in Gaza - enough to feed over 130,000 people into February, spokeswoman Emilia Cassell said. But the agency needs 130 more truckloads of food delivered to ensure supplies beyond then, she said.

She said the World Food Program had provided regular rations to 60,000 people and fed at least 20,000 more since Israel launched its attacks Dec. 27.

 

 

Israelische marine ondersteunt IDF in Gaza Oorlog

 

Er is weinig aandacht voor, maar ook de marine speelt een rol in de Israelische operatie in Gaza.

De Jerusalem Post voer een dagje mee.

 

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

Navy integral to Operation Cast Lead
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST

Jan. 9, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231424902641&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

"Fire. Fire. Fire," shouts Capt. Yoni into his two-way radio, before a typhoon cannon on the deck of the Shaldag ship lets off a burst of gunfire toward the Gaza coast.

"There was an indication that rockets were being fired from that location at Ashdod and Ashkelon," explains Yoni, the commander of the naval vessel.

Earlier, Yoni and his troops had scouted the coastline with an advanced thermal camera to ensure no IDF troops were in the area. Suddenly, as the camera zooms in on a hotel under construction on the Gaza coast, one of the soldiers says, "Wait. There's someone there."

The camera zooms in on the location and spots nothing more than a pack of Palestinian dogs.

It's the 13th night of Operation Cast Lead and we're sailing on Yoni's ship some 2.5 kilometers off the Gaza coast. It is the first time a reporter has joined naval forces since the start of the operation.

From the ship, capable of up to 45 kilometers an hour, we see a Tarshish naval vessel, Sa'ar 4.5, which is also part of operations against Hamas.

Since the start of the military campaign, the bulk of the credit for hitting Hamas infrastructure has gone to the air force, which has conducted hundreds of sorties over Gaza. However, the navy has also been operating since the first day of the operation, and has hit some 200 Gaza targets with its various weapons.

The ship gets its orders from the navy's war room, where a group of officers look at a wall lined with television screens showing the sea, the location of Israeli forces and rocket launches from Gaza. On one screen in the middle, the officers watch Al-Jazeera.

"We are guarding Israel's coastal borderline, including Gaza fishing areas, in order to prevent a terrorist infiltration into Israel," explains Maj. Tzur.

The navy has two main advantages over the air force. First and foremost, its weapons aren't weather restricted - the ships can hit a target even in extremely cloudy conditions.

In addition, battleships can fire shells with maximal precision. On several occasions, they have even managed to fire a shell through a window of a building after armed Palestinians were spotted there.

"We get to places no one else can get to," a senior naval officer explains. "We have weapons with great precision, the ability to remain in the battlefield for long periods and we have no problem with clouds."

The navy is tasked, among other things, with imposing the sea blockade on the Strip, preventing weapons smuggling to Gaza via the Mediterranean and thwarting terror attacks.

The navy has a significant force and maintains a constant presence near the Gaza coast.

Several other Israeli naval vessels sail in the area, including Sa'ar 4.5s, hunting Hamas terror cells and backing up ground operations.

"The navy joined the military campaign on the first day," explains the senior officer. "Since then, we have attacked launchers, bunkers and have backed up ground forces operating in the Strip, helping them open routes and clear out suspicious regions and houses from which gunmen have opened fire."

During the campaign, there has been an unprecedented level of cooperation between naval and ground forces, he said.

"There is direct contact between regiment commanders and naval commanders," he explains.

Palestinian police boats have also been hit during naval operations, and according to the officer, Hamas naval forces have been dealt a severe blow. The officer said that there had been attempts to fire at Israeli naval ships, mostly with light arms and anti-tank missiles.

Ships like Yoni's, anchored off the Gaza coast, hunt for terrorists and rocket launching cells. On Monday, 10 Hamas terror operatives were killed by naval forces.

There have also been attempts by Palestinian boats to approach Israeli naval vessels, and the IDF suspects that they are trying to perpetrate a terror attack similar to that carried out on the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000, when a small boat rammed into the vessel, blowing it up. There have also been attempts to smuggle arms via the sea into the Strip.

"All the time, there are attempts to approach us.they are dying to hurt us," said the officer. "There is now a naval blockade so anyone who is in the sea is considered suspicious."

Despite the fact that the navy is seemingly far from the rocket-hit Israeli towns, some of its members live in the South. Felipe, who immigrated from Argentina with his family 12 years ago, now lives in Beersheba, in the range of Hamas's Grad rockets.

"What is happening at home is a little frightening," says Felipe. "On the other hand I'm happy to be here defending my home because that's the reason I joined the army."

Enquete toont massale steun in Israel voor Gaza Oorlog

 

Er is grote steun voor Israels militaire campagne in Gaza onder de bevolking, behalve onder de Israelische Arabieren, die in grote meerderheid tegen de operatie zijn en vinden dat Israel onmiddelijk een staakt het vuren moet aanvaarden. Opvallend is dat driekwart van de Israeli's vindt dat de vrijlating van Gilad Shalit onderdeel moet zijn van een deal met Hamas.

 

RP

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Poll: 76% oppose truce without Shalit

 

War and Peace Index shows Jewish public supports Gaza operation, objects to ending it if kidnapped soldier is not released as part of agreement, even if rocket fire stops. Arab public conveys opposite views

 

Ynet

Published: 01.09.09, 12:17
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3653393,00.html

 

A majority of the Jewish public in Israel opposes a ceasefire in Gaza without kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit's release, according to the monthly War and Peace Index poll conducted about a week and a half after the start of Operation Cast Lead.

Beyond the decisive support for the Israel Defense Forces' operation, the public also backs the raid's continuation even if Hamas holds fire under certain conditions.

The respondents were asked, "If a ceasefire agreement with Hamas could be reached, but without including Gilad Shalit's release, do you believe Israel should or should not sign such an agreement?" About 76.5% gave a negative answer, while only 17.5% responded positively.

Asked whether Israel should or should not halt its military activity in the Strip if Hamas is ready to stop firing on southern communities in exchange for the opening of the crossings, 80% responded negatively. In other words, the majority of the public believes Israel should not halt its operation even if Hamas accepts such an offer.

Before the recent days - which saw additional IDF casualties, and many casualties among the Palestinian and UN workers - the operation was supported by a sweeping majority of the Jewish public: 94% of the Jewish public said they support or very much support the operation, 92% said they believe it benefits Israel in terms of security, and a clear but smaller majority believes the operation helps Israel diplomatically as well.

About 92% of the population justifies the Air Force strikes in Gaza despite the damage caused to infrastructure and the civilian population's suffering. The decision to send in ground forces was also widely supported, with 70% saying this was a necessary move.

Barak leads trust index

Asked whether the operation must be continued, a vast majority of the public shares the same opinion, with 90% of respondents saying the operation should be continued until Israel reaches all of its goals.

This support was accompanied by the estimate of 70% of the public that the chances of the operation achieving all of its goals are high or quite high, and that the government has a clear plan of action as to ways to continue the operation (75%).

The wide support for the ongoing fighting seems to be fed largely by the public's positive estimates today in regards to the IDF's fighting abilities (93%) and the southern communities' stamina (87%).

In light of the wide support, it's not surprising that the leaders linked to the operation receives relatively high trust scores, although there are differenced between the different officials.

IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi leads the trust scale with 85%. This is likely because the IDF is considered "above" the political arena.

Ashkenazi is followed by President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak (62%), and by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Opposition Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu (53%). Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is located at the bottom of the trust scale with only 44%.

The findings from a similar survey held among Israel's Arab citizens paint an opposite picture on almost every question. For example, 85% of the Arabs oppose the operation; 93% believe Israel should halt it based on an agreement which would include Hamas ceasing the rocket fire in exchange for opening the crossings; and 80% believe Israel should sign a ceasefire agreement even if it fails to include Shalit's release.

The War and Peace Index is conducted by the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research. Published monthly since 1994, it is run by Prof. Ephraim Yaar and Prof. Tamar Hermann. The current telephone survey was conducted by the B.I. and Lucille Cohen Institute for Public Opinion Research at Tel Aviv University between January 4 and 6, and was compiled of 593 Israeli citizens representing the various adult sectors in Israeli society. The sampling error is 4.5%.

VN Veiligheidsraad resolutie 1860 over de Gaza Oorlog

De VN Veiligheidsraad resolutie die zowel door Israel als Hamas is verworpen. Ondertussen gaan de onderhandelingen in Egypte wel door, en hangt Israels aanvaarding van een staakt-het-vuren vooral af van de garanties die het krijgt dat de wapensmokkel nu echt zal worden aangepakt. Ongewapende EU waarnemers acht het daartoe niet toereikend.

 

RP

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8 January 2009
Security Council
SC/9567
Department of Public Information . News and Media Division . New York
www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2009/sc9567.doc.htm

NOTE: FOLLOWING ARE SUMMARIES OF STATEMENTS MADE TODAY TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING ON THE MIDDLE EAST. 

A COMPLETE SUMMARY OF THIS MEETING WILL BE AVAILABLE SHORTLY AS PRESS RELEASE SC/9567.

Background

The Security Council met this evening to take action on a draft resolution (document S/2009/23) sponsored by the United Kingdom, which reads as follows:

"The Security Council,

"Recalling all of its relevant resolutions, including resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 1397 (2002), 1515 (2003) and 1850 (2008),

"Stressing that the Gaza Strip constitutes an integral part of the territory occupied in 1967 and will be a part of the Palestinian state,

"Emphasising the importance of the safety and well-being of all civilians,

"Expressing grave concern at the escalation of violence and the deterioration of the situation, in particular the resulting heavy civilian casualties since the refusal to extend the period of calm; and emphasising that the Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations must be protected,

"Expressing grave concern also at the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza,

"Emphasising the need to ensure sustained and regular flow of goods and people through the Gaza crossings,

"Recognising the vital role played by UNRWA in providing humanitarian and economic assistance within Gaza,

"Recalling that a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be achieved by peaceful means,

"Reaffirming the right of all States in the region to live in peace within secure and internationally recognized borders,

"1.   Stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza;

"2.   Calls for the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment;

"3.   Welcomes the initiatives aimed at creating and opening humanitarian corridors and other mechanisms for the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid;

"4.   Calls on Member States to support international efforts to alleviate the humanitarian and economic situation in Gaza, including through urgently needed additional contributions to UNRWA and through the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee;

"5.   Condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism;

"6.   Calls upon Member States to intensify efforts to provide arrangements and guarantees in Gaza in order to sustain a durable ceasefire and calm, including to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition and to ensure the sustained re-opening of the crossing points on the basis of the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access between the Palestinian Authority and Israel; and in this regard, welcomes the Egyptian initiative, and other regional and international efforts that are under way;

"7.   Encourages tangible steps towards intra-Palestinian reconciliation including in support of mediation efforts of Egypt and the League of Arab States as expressed in the 26 November 2008 resolution, and consistent with Security Council resolution 1850 (2008) and other relevant resolutions;

"8.   Calls for renewed and urgent efforts by the parties and the international community to achieve a comprehensive peace based on the vision of a region where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace with secure and recognised borders, as envisaged in Security Council resolution 1850 (2008), and recalls also the importance of the Arab Peace Initiative;

"9.   Welcomes the Quartet's consideration, in consultation with the parties, of an international meeting in Moscow in 2009;

"10.  Decides to remain seized of the matter."

Statements before Vote

BERNARD KOUCHNER, Minister for Foreign Affairs of France, speaking in his national capacity, said the Council was meeting in the common cause of achieving a ceasefire.  In Gaza, there was an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.  He said he was moved and distressed by the plight of the victims and families on both sides.  The immediate end to hostilities was something the European Union and President Nicolas Sarkozy had been committed to.

He said the draft called for the end to the firing of rockets, the end to the Israeli operations, the opening of the border crossings and an end to arms smuggling.  Those parameters were something the President of France had brought up with the leaders of the region and President Hosni Mubarak had drawn up a proposal.  That plan was the only way to peace.  He expressed regret that it had not been possible to give a little more time to reconcile different views or to endorse the results of negotiations now under way. The message of hope needed to be heeded without delay and negotiation under way needed to achieve prompt results.

Action

The Council then adopted resolution 1860 (2009) by a vote of 14 in favour, with and 1 abstention ( United States).

Statements after Vote

United Nations Secretary-General BAN KI-MOON said that for the past two weeks, people all over the world had witnessed the escalating violence and the suffering in Gaza and southern Israel.  He was heartened and relieved at the adoption of a resolution to end the tragic situation.  That decision signalled the will of the international community and must be fully respected by the parties.  It called for a ceasefire and for humanitarian access.  There was also a need for quickly rebuilding what had been destroyed.  An immediate and durable ceasefire was only the first step. More would be needed, and a political way forward was required to deliver long-term security and peace.  His visit to the region next week would focus on helping to ensure implementation of the ceasefire and that humanitarian aid reached those in need.

DAVID MILIBAND, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, said the Council had been brought together by the gravity of the situation existing in Gaza.  The word "crisis" was wholly appropriate.  The Council was also brought together by the vision of security and dignity for Palestinians and Israelis both.  There was a clear consensus on an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire and on the humanitarian need of the people in Gaza through aid and opening of the border crossings, as well as on security for Israel through an end to arms smuggling and on the need for a political process going forward.  Tonight, the United Nations had served its purpose by speaking clearly and with authority.  There were more responsibilities, for the States in the region, as well as the international community as a whole.  The current responsibility was to chart a course back to resolution 1850 (2008).  That could now be done with the just adopted resolution.  The job now was to turn the words of the resolution into a reality.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, Secretary of State of the United States, said that the situation in Gaza was very serious and the overall goal must be ensuring stabilization and normalization on the ground.  The resolution just adopted showed that the Council and the United Nations were indeed seized of the matter.  It was also a step towards the collective goals reflecting the desire of all for sustainable peace in the region.  While much remained to be done, much work was under way, she said, stressing that the initiative proposed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was not just to be applauded, but must be supported.  Such work would lead to a durable ceasefire and sustainable peace.

Many tasks remained to be addressed, including rooting out the causes of the hostilities, tackling the smuggling and provision of weapons, securing crossing points in line with the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access, and providing security for the Israeli people and a better life for the people of Gaza.  "We must establish an international consensus that Gaza must never again be used as a launching pad for rockets against Israeli citizens, because it is important to remember how this crisis began", she said, stressing that the violence in the Strip had been instigated by Hamas, "a terrorist group that called for the destruction of Israel".

Continuing, she said that, some 18 months ago, Hamas had taken over the Gaza Strip in a coup and, since then, thousands of guns, rockets and mortars had been smuggled into the territory.  Hamas had refused to extend the "period of calm" and its continued armament was a root cause of the current situation and had gravely endangered the residents of both Gaza and southern Israel.  "Hamas's commitment to violence is not only an attack on Israel, but also on the two-State solution," she said.

The United States required the principled resolution of the situation in Gaza, and the Security Council resolution just adopted was a basis on which that could be done.  At the same time, she stressed that it was not just a matter of resolving the situation on the ground.  There would need to be a principled resolution also of the political challenges in Gaza that re-established the Palestinian Authority's control, including over borders; facilitated the normal operation of Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings; and, in time, the opening of other crossings.  She said that the United States supported President Mahmoud Abbas as he carried out his responsibilities towards the establishment of a State of Palestine.

She went on to say that the United States remained deeply concerned about the innocent Palestinians suffering in Gaza, and would maintain and continue the humanitarian efforts it was taking to support United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and non-governmental organizations working on the ground.  She said the United States recognized the right of Israel, like other States, to exercise its right of self-defence, and it had stressed to Israel that it was obligated to take feasible steps to minimize the impact of any actions on civilians. She reminded the Council that Hamas continued to hold Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who must be released.

Finally, she said that the United States thought it important to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation efforts in order to "see what this resolution might have been supporting", and that was why her delegation had abstained in the vote.  Still, after a great deal of consideration, the United States had decided that the resolution, the text, goals and objectives of which it supported, should be allowed to go forward.  "I believe in doing so, the Council has provided a road map for a sustainable, durable peace in Gaza," she said.

ABDURRAHMAN MOHAMED SHALGHAM, Secretary of the General People's Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation of Libya, said on behalf of the hundreds that had been killed and the thousands that had been wounded, the objective had been to put an end to Israeli aggression, lift the siege on Gaza and provide humanitarian assistance to the suffering people there.  To that end, Libya had previously submitted its own draft resolution to address the crisis.  After several meetings, the United Kingdom, the United States and France had submitted a draft which, after several more rounds of negotiations, the Arab Group believed satisfied a minimum of its demands.

While the Group had voted in favour of that text, especially because it called for an immediate end to hostilities, he stressed that not all of the Group's proposals and demands had been met, including the desire for a mechanism to ensure a quick resolution to the crisis.  He said that the international community must continue to put pressure on Israel to end the violence and open borders to ensure that humanitarian assistance reached the population that was in dire need.  At the same time, he said that the international community must ensure that Israel's crimes in the region did not continue.

ALI BABACAN, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkey, said that, after three days of negotiations, the Council had been able to reach a decision on a resolution.  While some delegations might not be satisfied with the outcome, the resolution was nevertheless a compromise decision that expressed the will of the Council, especially in that it called for an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.  The call for unimpeded humanitarian access was also an important element of the text.  Now, the Council must move forward with implementation.  Indeed, full and effective implementation was crucial to ending the crisis.  Turkey also believed that, as soon as possible, all Palestinian parties must move forward with national reconciliation efforts.  Turkey would work with those parties to ensure progress going forward.

ALEXANDER YAKOVENKO, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, said the resolution favoured an immediate ceasefire by all parties, as well as finding a long-term and comprehensive solution to the problems of Gaza.  It was a balanced and, hopefully, effective resolution. The situation in Gaza could not be solved by the use of force.  The fact that all members of the Council had spoken in favour of a long and durable ceasefire did not mean that the work was finished.  It was important to make even more efforts to overcome the crisis in Gaza.  The developments in the last hours had underlined the need for a solution.

JORGE URBINA ( Costa Rica) said the just adopted resolution had a tremendous moral force.  The resolution called on the parties to bring about an immediate cessation of hostilities and attested to the resolve of the international community.  He underscored the legal, binding nature of the resolution.  It was mandatory that it be complied with by all parties in the conflict.  Failure to comply could and should entail serious consequences. He hoped the Council could be consistent with its decision taken today, and would use its authority to ensure respect for the decision.

YUKIO TAKASU ( Japan) said it was important that the Council had been able to take a decision on the grave and serious situation in Gaza, after several rounds of consultations over the past few days.  The resolution, above all, stressed the urgency of action and called for an immediate ceasefire.  At the same time, earlier in the day, the international community had been shocked to hear about the killing of a staff member of UNRWA.  Japan expressed condolences to the family of the victim and stressed that the incident revealed the urgency of ensuring an immediate ceasefire.  Indeed, calm, normalcy and safe living conditions in and around Gaza must return and must be the ultimate goal of the international community's efforts.  He added that the text must also ensure that the peace process got back on track in line with resolution 1850 (2008).

CLAUDE HELLER ( Mexico) said that in the face of the tragic events that had been occurring in Gaza since late December, causing death and destruction and deepening the humanitarian crisis there, the Council had the duty to end the violence and relieve human suffering.  Finally tonight, the Council had shouldered its responsibility by calling for an immediate and durable ceasefire and the opening of crossings to provide humanitarian relief. Mexico had insisted on the broadest consensus during the negotiations and the balanced text just adopted met its requirements.  What was needed now was to build a foundation for the future.

He stressed, however, that Mexico would have preferred that the text incorporate an explicit reference to respect for the provisions of international humanitarian law, as well as a more direct reference for establishing an international mechanism to monitor the implementation of all the measures to be adopted at the conclusion of diplomatic efforts currently under way.  The Council and the wider international community must support those negotiations and ensure that the broader Middle East peace process continued apace.

ZHANG YESUI ( China) said, since the outbreak of the conflict, China had consistently supported swift Council action aimed at a ceasefire and opening the border crossings.  While the resolution was not totally satisfactory, taking into account the gravity of the situation on the ground, China had voted in favour.  The resolution reflected the will of the international community.  He urged the parties to achieve an immediate ceasefire and to implement the resolution.  He hoped the international community would help bring the parties together to a comprehensive and durable solution to the Palestinian question.

FRANCIS BUTAGIRA ( Uganda) had voted in favour to end the hostilities and the humanitarian tragedy.  The resolution was balanced, providing for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian access and protection of civilians.  Today's outcome reflected a consensus, which indicated that the Council was aware of its responsibility to maintain international peace and security.  The Council should remain engaged in finding peace in the Middle East, with Israel and Palestine living in peace with each other.  He urged the parties to implement the resolution.

LE LUONG MINH (Viet Nam), said his delegation would liked to have seen a resolution with more clear cut language on the implementation of an immediate ceasefire and early withdrawal of Israeli troops, which he considered a prerequisite for ending the crisis and providing relief to the suffering Palestinian people.  However, in light of the continuing violence and deepening humanitarian crisis, Viet Nam had supported the current text, which it believed could, nevertheless, provide a basis for bringing an end to the current crisis and paving the way for the continuation of the peace process.

MICHEL KAFANDO ( Burkina Faso) welcomed the adoption of the resolution and said that the Council could not be indifferent to the tragedy under way in Gaza, especially in light of the serious and deteriorating humanitarian situation.  Burkina Faso believed that the Council should have acted earlier, but "as they say, better late than never".  He said that the language of the text could have been clearer, but it nevertheless was an expression of the Council's will and was, after all, the result of compromise.  He applauded the efforts of the negotiating parties, particularly the Arab Group, which had made compromises to ensure the text was adopted.  He hoped that adoption of the resolution would not only end the current conflict, but build a foundation for continued negotiations towards a sustainable peace in the region.

THOMAS MAYR-HARTING ( Austria) said it had been important to achieve the immediate need for a ceasefire and to preserve the unity of the Council.  He was, therefore, grateful for the efforts that had made the consensus possible.  There must be an unconditional halt to rocket attacks on southern Israel and an end to military operations in Gaza.  Another priority was a lasting and sustained opening of the border crossings, so that the humanitarian situation of Gaza could be addressed.  One point had not been explicitly mentioned in the resolution, namely the obligation of all parties to fully respect humanitarian and human rights law.

NEVEN JURICA ( Croatia) said an immediate, permanent and effective ceasefire implemented by all was a necessity and should end the suffering in Gaza, as well as the terrorist threat in southern Israel.  A ceasefire could only be achieved on the ground through ensuring that there were no more rocket attacks and arms smuggling.  Confidence in mechanisms on the ground was imperative.  A political dialogue was the only way to achieve lasting peace, based on a two-State solution.

RIYAD AL-MALIKI, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian Authority, said that adoption of the resolution had been delayed several days, despite the deepening humanitarian crisis and heavy loss of lives of Palestinian civilians.  Some 700 Palestinians had been killed and close to 3,000 had been wounded.  Moreover, Israel had relentlessly pursued its goal of ruthlessly destroying

Palestinian property and infrastructure, including schools and mosques. Nevertheless, Israel must now end its war against the Palestinian people and withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip.  It must also lift the closure of borders and ensure humanitarian access to the people in need.  Israel must immediately implement the resolution, he said, adding that:  "The violence must cease so that [.] we can rebuild what the brutal Israeli war machine had destroyed in Gaza."

Prince SAUD Al-FAISAL, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, said today had raised the hope for a new era in the work of the Security Council. It had assumed its responsibility to end the violence in Gaza.  He hoped that all parties would look at the text as an affirmation of the Organization's mandate to ensure international peace and security and alleviate human suffering.  Indeed, the text should be seen as a model for addressing future crises.

He went on to say that the real joy was not in what had been achieved in New York, but what would be achieved in Gaza, where he hoped that many lives would now be saved.  Adoption of the resolution would show that the Council worked for the well-being of all people and was not a tool to be manipulated by States.  At the same time, that joy was tempered by the loss of so many lives during the negotiating process.  It was said that success always had a price, but in this case, that price might have been too high.  Still, he hoped that the resolution would bring an immediate end to the current conflict and serve as a basis to move forward with peace in the Middle East.

AHMED ABOUL GHEIT, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt, said President Mubarak had, in the presence of President Sarkozy of France, tabled a road map to settle the situation in Gaza.  The adopted resolution welcomed that initiative.  President Mubarak welcomed the resolution as a crucial support for the Egyptian efforts.  The Arab people hoped the Council would see to the immediate implementation of the resolution.  Egypt would spare no efforts, together with the Palestinians, to restore calm and provide an atmosphere conducive to negotiations towards establishment of a Palestinian State, with East Jerusalem as its capital.  He stressed that all Palestinians were part of one fabric and had one just cause.  Egypt would make every effort to bridge the gap between them.

GABRIELA SHALEV ( Israel) said that Israel, when in left Gaza in 2005, had hoped it would never have to return.  However, after eight years of continuous rocket attacks by the Hamas terrorist organization, Hamas' refusal to extend the period of calm, and its smuggling of weapons during that period, had left Israel with no choice but to act in self-defence. Responsibility for the current hostilities lay squarely with Hamas.  The international community must focus its attention on the cessation of Hamas' terrorist activities.  Any arrangement must be fully respected and secured, including the total cessation of rocket fire and smuggling, in order to be durable and to allow the possibility of lasting peace.

* *** *


--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

Samenvatting IDF operaties 9 en 10 januari in Gaza

 

Elke dag worden 80 a 100 vrachtwagens met hulp de Gazastrook binnengelaten, en tonnen gas en diesel. Er is dus geen totale blokkade zoals algemeen wordt beweerd.

 

RP

-----------

IDF Spokesperson January 9th, 2009
Summary of IDF Operations Overnight

In the last half hour 4 grad missiles hit the Beer Sheva region.

Overnight, IDF forces, including infantry, tanks, combat engineers, artillery, and intelligence, continued to operate against Hamas terrorist infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip.

Humanitarian aid is expected to cross into Gaza via Kerem Shalom Crossing today. Yesterday Israel transferred 89 humanitarian aid trucks to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom Crossing. 315,000 liters of fuel, alongside 143 tons of natural gas were transferred through the Nahal Oz terminal, and 223 foreign nationals were permitted entry to Israel following requests from their respective governments.

IAF aircraft attacked overnight more than 50 Terrorist infrastructure sites, including the following:
Five sites used to launch rockets, one of which was adjacent to a mosque.
A weaponry storehouse.
A vehicle garage and an office.
Five weaponry production sites.
Groups of armed gunmen.
Hamas command buildings and outposts.

The Israeli Navy operated in front of Deir El Balah in the Central Gaza Strip, targeting Hamas rocket launching sites in order to thwart attempts to fire rockets at Israeli communities.

The IDF will continue its operations against all terrorists and those who support them.

 

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

IDF Spokesperson January 10th, 2009
Summary of IDF Operations Overnight

Overnight, IDF forces, including infantry, tanks, combat engineers, artillery, and intelligence, continued to operate against Hamas terrorist infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip.

IDF ground forces were involved in a number of incidents in which several armed gunmen were hit. In one of the incidents, snipers opened fire at a force which responded with fire and identified hitting the gunmen. In a separate incident mortar shells were fired at an IDF force which returned fire, and with the assistance of the IAF targeted the squad of five terror operatives.

IAF aircraft attacked over 40 targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including the following:
Ten rocket launching sites
One Anti-aircraft missile launcher
Fourteen weaponry manufacture and storage facilities
Five tunnels used to smuggle weaponry
A number of armed gunmen

Ground forces reported some 15 terrorists killed in exchanges of fire.

The Israeli Navy continued assisting ground forces throughout the night.

A mortar shell was fired into Israel during the night.

Five IDF soldiers were lightly wounded in the overnight fighting.

The IDF will continue its operations against all terrorists and those who support them.
 
--------------

IDF Spokesperson January 10th, 2009
Summary of Today's Events

IDF forces, including infantry, tanks, combat engineers, artillery, and intelligence, continue to operate throughout the Gaza Strip with the assistance of the Israel Air Force and the Israeli Navy.

IDF forces operating in northern Gaza struck a number of armed gunmen, including a would-be suicide bomber strapped with an explosive belt. Ground troops aided IAF aircrafts identifying the location of several rocket launching squads and terror cells planting roadside bombs.

The IAF attacked over 60 targets since the morning, including:

Two rocket launching squads near Jabaliya, shortly after they fired towards the Ashdod region
Ten launching points, several of which were hidden underground
Seven smuggling tunnels
An anti-aircraft launcher
Approximately ten weapons-storage and weapons-production facilities.
Two vehicles used to store and transport weaponry

Three Hamas outposts

In addition to this, Amir Mansi, the commander of the Hamas rocket launching program in the Gaza City area, was killed today by IDF fire in cooperation with the ISA. Mansi was the leading Hamas authority with regard to the long range Grad missile launching program.

Seven soldiers were wounded in separate incidents, all of them lightly.

The IDF will continue to operate against the Hamas terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip according to its operational plans in order to reduce the rocket fire on the south of Israel.

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

Golven van antisemitisme in België n.a.v. Gaza Oorlog

 

According to Vachotzker, Belgium's Jews have been living in fear since the operation started. "Vandalizing stores has become a trend. Some of the public may support Israel, but they don't show it."

 

Zo erg is het in Nederland gelukkig niet, heb ik de indruk, maar ook hier is er veel woede onder moslims en werden antisemitische leuzen gescandeerd tijdens pro-Palestina demonstraties. Israelisch geweld, los van de vraag in hoeverre dat gerechtvaardigd is, is natuurlijk nooit een excuus voor antisemitisme, en hier dient dan ook hard tegen te worden opgetreden. Bovendien zou er in moslimgemeenschappen en moskeeën over gesproken moeten worden, en moet het taboe op Arabisch antisemitisme worden doorbroken.

 

RP

--------

 

Gaza op prompts wave of anti-Semitism in Belgium

 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3651172,00.html

Protests against Israeli operation in Gaza give rise to violent attacks against Jews across country. Jews now live in fear here, says Jewish Agency envoy in Antwerp

Yael Levy

01.06.09, 04:35

 

 

Anti-Semitism is rearing its head in Belgium as protests against the Israeli military operation in Gaza have led to violent attacks against Jews.

 

A Molotov cocktail was thrown at the liberal synagogue in Brussels on Monday. No injuries were reported, but the building sustained damage.

 

"Things are heating up here in Belgium," said Jewish Agency and Bnei Akiva envoy in Antwerp Meir Vachotzker. "When the fighting in Gaza started, a Molotov cocktail and a rock were hurled at a synagogue in Charlerois and caused damage."

 

On Saturday unknown assailants attempted to torch the house of a Jewish family in Antwerp. An eyewitness who resides nearby alerted the police to the place and they managed to extinguish the flames before the house caught fire.

 

Saturday also saw large demonstrations by Muslims and left-wing activists against Israel and in support of Hamas. Vachotzker said that the protesters set Israeli flags aflame, burned a Chabad menorah and sprayed swastikas and hate graffiti on Jewish-owned shops. The police arrested some 50 rioters.

 

The Jewish community in the country is planning a large demonstration in support of Israel and the IDF this coming Wednesday. On Sunday evening some 600 people – both religious and secular – convened at Antwerp's big synagogue to show solidarity with the soldiers in Gaza.

 

 

According to Vachotzker, Belgium's Jews have been living in fear since the operation started. "Vandalizing stores has become a trend. Some of the public may support Israel, but they don't show it.

 

There are many concerns, mainly security ones, involved in holding pro-Israel rallies. We've received security instructions, told to be more alert…and to watch ourselves especially after nightfall.

 

 

Tijd voor uitbreiding Gaza offensief raakt op

 

Moet Israel een staakt-het-vuren accepteren dat niet geheel aan de voorwaarden voldoet, of de operatie uitbreiden om Hamas zwaarder te treffen? Volgens dit artikel heeft Israel de capaciteiten van Hamas sterk verminderd, maar is de militaire vleugel zelf niet zwaar getroffen. In een paar maanden tijd kan men weer een voorraad raketten en andere wapens hebben opgebouwd als niks aan de wapensmokkel wordt gedaan.

Bijna idereen lijkt het erover eens dat Hamas niet militair uit te schakelen is, of dat de kosten daarvan veel te hoog zijn. Anderzijds is Israel zeer goed getraind in de zogenaamde 'urban warfare' en is het in haar belang, maar ook in dat van Abbas, Egypte en de kansen op vrede, dat Hamas ernstig verzwakt uit deze strijd tevoorschijn komt. Als er nog een uitgebreidere operatie gaat plaatsvinden, zal die wel binnen een paar dagen haar werk moeten doen, en mogen er geen 'ongelukken' meer gebeuren zoals het beschieten van een school of hulpconvooien van de VN en het Rode Kruis, of er nou wel of niet van daaruit door Hamas werd geschoten.

 

RP

----------

Jan 9, 2009 0:23 | Updated Jan 9, 2009 9:24
Analysis: Time running out for an escalation Israel's leaders don't really want
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231424896038&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
By DAVID HOROVITZ

 

Very few key players in the Israeli security establishment believed that Hamas would be "broken" during the first week of Operation Cast Lead, which was characterized overwhelmingly by air strikes on Hamas offices, bases, missile launchers, smuggling tunnels, weapons stores and military commanders' homes.

In 2006, there was a misplaced reliance on the use of air power to overwhelm Hizbullah in southern Lebanon. That was not the case this time against Hamas.

 

There was a slightly greater expectation, but still no overwhelming belief, that the second week would have the desired effect. Hamas was far from certain that Israel would use ground forces at all, yet those forces have fought very effectively; Hamas has been badly damaged in terms of its rocket-firing and production capability, and many of the Philadelphi Corridor tunnels have been destroyed.

 

But the ground operation to date has been relatively constrained. Hamas's tactic has been to minimize its confrontations with the IDF. Its hope has been to carry out pinpoint acts of violence designed to cause heavy casualties, and to try to kidnap soldiers via sophisticated traps.

 

Its main fighting force is largely intact. And as of Thursday night, it was plainly not crying out for a cease-fire, confident that the international diplomatic clock was working against Israel.

 

Israel's dilemma, therefore, is whether or not to proceed to an intensified ground operation - involving thousands of troops, penetrating far more deeply into Gaza's most dense urban areas.

 

The troops are trained and ready, and the impact on Hamas's fighting capacity would inevitably be far greater - but so would the potential for IDF casualties.

 

As Israel's political leadership agonizes over green-lighting this escalated offensive, there is every indication that Hamas is braced for it. Hamas thinks it can inflict heavy damage on the incoming IDF forces, and thus bolster its standing and its capacity to impose its terms on any cease-fire arrangements.

 

Israel's security chiefs firmly believe Hamas to be wrong; they are confident the IDF can surprise and outmaneuver the Islamists. But that gap in perceptions explains why, after 13 days, Operation Cast Lead appeared to be in some kind of pause mode, treading water.

 

This pause cannot last long. The IDF is most vulnerable when it is static. Having meticulously planned a day-by-day timetable of operations, the IDF needs to hear from its political masters - and hear soon - whether it is moving forward or pulling back.

 

The three key political stewards of this conflict - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni - all acknowledge that Hamas is hurt but not beaten. It may have been deterred from further rocket fire, but for how long?

 

It can still fire, albeit with fewer daily rockets into Israel than had been feared. No mechanism is yet in place to ensure it cannot quickly rearm, as Hizbullah did after the Second Lebanon War, through tunnels it would quickly rebuild under the Philadelphi Corridor.

 

All three leaders want to avoid the next logical phase of the military offensive if there is a reasonable chance that satisfactory arrangements to stop the smuggling and maintain the IDF's freedom of action can be obtained some other way, presumably via the French-Egyptian diplomatic track.

 

Only Hamas, cocky, playing down its losses and anything but troubled by the deaths of Palestinians, is disinclined to sanction any such arrangement.

 

There are some disagreements within the Israeli leadership troika, which it is to be fervently hoped are unrelated to any narrow electoral considerations.

 

Livni, according to some sources, is said to be more inclined to contemplate a unilateral cease-fire if no arrangement can be reached, and to rely on the heightened deterrence achieved so far and the IDF's potential to strike again if the rocket fire resumes.

 

Barak and Olmert are said to be opposed to a unilateral halt. Olmert said on Thursday that the operation had not yet achieved its goals. Barak is again believed to be ready for a "humanitarian time-out" which might lead to a lasting cease-fire.

 

Hamas is riven with disputes, and internal communication is obviously anything but straightforward. Some Gaza-based Hamas leaders are said to have sought immunity from Israeli attack so that they can participate in talks on a possible cease-fire in Gaza.

 

But if Hamas remains intransigent over the weekend, signs are that a reluctant political echelon will order a reluctant IDF leadership to send a confident and well-trained ground force of many thousands to confront Hamas's fighters as never before.

 

Israel would do so knowing that the international "window of opportunity" is narrowing, that the UN Security Council is getting impatient, and that anything resembling Tuesday's shelling of an UNRWA school that causes heavy civilian casualties would be terminal.

 

Beyond that phase would lie a full-scale invasion to overthrow Hamas and reoccupy the Gaza Strip, involving the participation of many tens of thousands of reservists.

 

This was emphatically not a declared goal of Operation Cast Lead, not least because there is no clarity whatsoever as to how the ensuing vacuum could or would be filled.

 

 

De beelden uit Gaza die we niet te zien krijgen

 

Het is jammer en diep triest dat de media over het algemeen zo eenzijdig zijn in hun berichtgeving over de huidige escalatie, en vooral ook zo weinig achtergrondinformatie geven. Zie hier wat beelden die niet op de NOS, NOVA, Netwerk en Een Vandaag te zien waren.

_____________________________

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTGbP55HGi8

 

 

 

IDF zou geëvacueerde burgers hebben beschoten in Gaza

 

Zoals gebruikelijk voor het bevooroordeelde NOS journaal werd de Israelische kant van dit incident niet weergegeven.

 

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

 

UN: IDF shelled evacuated civilians
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3653417,00.html

 

Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says Israeli forces evacuated about 110 Palestinians into Gaza house which they then repeatedly shelled 24 hours later, killing about 30 people. IDF: UN claims unreasonable

 

AFP
Published:  01.09.09, 13:15

 

 

The United Nations on Friday cited witnesses saying Israeli forces evacuated about 110 Palestinians into a house which they then repeatedly shelled 24 hours later, killing about 30 people.

It said that "according to several testimonies, on 4 January Israeli foot soldiers evacuated approximately 110 Palestinians into a single-residence house in Zeitun (half of whom were children) warning them to stay indoors. Twenty-four hours later, Israeli forces shelled the home repeatedly, killing approximately 30."

Military officials said in reponse to the accusation that "from initial examinations in the IDF there is no knowledge of any incident in which IDF forces moved people from one building to another.

 

 "Furthermore, the claim that the building was attacked on January 4, in 24-hours after the IDF entered the Gaza Strip is unreasonable since the IDF forces had not yet reached the areas in question on this date.

 

"An Israeli television network examination of the matter with hospitals in the area showed the hospitals had no knowledge of such an incident."
 

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called it "one of the gravest incidents since the beginning of operations" by Israeli forces in Gaza on December 27.

 

"Those who survived and were able walked two kilometers to Salah Ed Din road before being transported to hospital in civilian vehicles. Three children, the youngest of whom was five months old, died upon arrival at the hospital," OCHA said in a report on the situation in the battered Gaza Strip.

 

The report came as the UN Human Rights Council was due to hold Friday a special session on the conflict in Gaza Strip to examine a motion by Egypt, Pakistan and Cuba seeking condemnation of the Israeli offensive and of "grave" violations.

 

Hamas in eigen woorden

 

Hier een video waarin allemaal uitspraken van Hamas zijn samengevoegd. 

Hamas' extremisme wordt hier vaak gebagatelliseerd alsof het 'zionistische propaganda' zou zijn.

Nee, het antizionistische propaganda.

 

http://www.memritv.org/video.html

 

Hamas plattegrond gevonden met verdedigingsplan tegen IDF

 

Handig zo'n kaart... Er komt maar weinig informatie naar buiten over het verloop van de gevechten en hoe hard Hamas daarbij is getroffen. Ondertussen neemt het aantal 'incidenten' waarbij veel burgerslachtoffers omkomen toe.

 

De vraag is wat de rol van Hamas in die incidenten is, en hoe toevallig het is dat zoveel van die dingen zijn gebeurd de afgelopen dagen. Is Hamas van taktiek veranderd omdat plannen om soldaten te ontvoeren of in een hinderlaag te lokken niet bleken te lukken?

 

RP

----------

Hamas map shows how civilian infrastructure is used for terror purposes

IDF unveils Hamas map seized in Gaza
Jan. 8, 2009
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST

 

Soldiers from the Paratrooper's Brigade operating in the northern Gaza Strip uncovered a map prepared by Hamas that shows how the terror group prepared for the IDF's incursion by deploying different types of bombs as well as snipers throughout the town of al-Atatra.

 

The map is handwritten and is based on a bird's-eye view of the town, likely taken from Google Maps. On the map, Hamas split up the town into three different sectors - red, blue and green. On the map, Hamas highlighted several important sites such as mosques, a gas station and a fuel depot.

 

"Inside the map, the terrorists also marked sniper positions, as well as the location of roadside bombs, anti-tank bombs and landmines," Chief Intelligence Officer Brig.-Gen. Yuval Halamish said Thursday.

 

The map was discovered by soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade during operations in al-Atatra and was translated in the field and used by the troops to avoid casualties.

 

Halamish said that the map showed how Hamas does not hesitate to use civilian infrastructure for its terrorist activity. On the map, a brown dot is marked next to a mosque representing a nearby sniper position.

 

"This is a civilian area and you can see on the map how Hamas booby-trapped the entrance to homes in order to hit the IDF," Halamish said. In another case, a large explosive device was marked on the map next to a gas station. Had it been detonated it would have likely destroyed the gas station as well, killing and wounding civilians who live in the area.

 

In another case, Halamish said that soldiers discovered a mannequin dressed like a soldier at the entrance to a home. Had soldiers entered the home, the mannequin would have exploded, collapsing the floor and causing the troops to fall into a tunnel where they would have been abducted by Hamas operatives.

 

 

Hieronder een nuchtere kijk op het Midden-Oosten conflict. Daar zijn er helaas niet zo veel van.

 

Zie ook mijn eigen opiniestuk met gelijkluidende conclusie:

Israël en de Palestijnen hebben echte vrienden nodig

 

Wouter

_____________

De week van het probleem dat Obama kan missen als kiespijn

Paul Brill, 09-01-2009 20:56

http://extra.volkskrant.nl/opinie/artikel/show/id/2354

 

 

Elke schokgolf in het Midden-Oosten is tot ver buiten de regio voelbaar.

Er is sprake van een even uniek als brandbaar mengsel van historische sentimenten, religieuze overtuigingen, etnische banden, economische belangen en strategische oogmerken. In praktisch geen enkel conflictgebied ter wereld is het besmettingsgevaar zo groot.

De afgelopen weken zijn ruim 1.500 Zimbabwanen bezweken aan de cholera. De epidemie is een rechtstreeks gevolg van het notoire wanbestuur van Robert Mugabe. Het aantal dodelijke slachtoffers is twee keer zo groot als dat in Gaza. De teller loopt gegarandeerd nog een tijdje door, want er kan geen wapenstilstand met de epidemie worden gesloten. In tal van hoofdsteden wordt schande gesproken van Mugabe's onverbiddelijke optreden, er worden boycotmaatregelen genomen dan wel voorgesteld. Maar zolang de crisis niet buiten de grenzen van Zimbabwe treedt, blijft het effect beperkt tot enige reputatieschade voor Zuid-Afrika, dat bij uitstek in staat zou zijn om de dictator de pin op de neus te zetten.

En neem de oorlog in Sri Lanka, die al aan 70 duizend mensen het leven heeft gekost en 200 duizend inwoners dakloos heeft gemaakt. Nu is het regeringsleger bezig met een grootscheeps en kennelijk succesvol offensief tegen de opstandige Tamils. Wat zich precies afspeelt, ontgaat de buitenwereld bijna geheel. Zolang India (met zijn Tamils in de deelstaat Tamil Nadu) zich koest houdt, maakt niemand zich druk over de gebeurtenissen op het eiland. Als ik de rest van deze rubriek aan Sri Lanka zou wijden, zou er geen haan naar kraaien. Nu ik overstap naar het Midden-Oosten, ben ik verzekerd van reacties.

Vaak hebben Amerikaanse presidenten hun intrek in het Witte Huis genomen met het vaste voornemen om het Midden-Oosten voorlopig te laten voor wat het is. Niet zelden hadden ze hun voorganger zijn tanden stuk zien bijten op de weerbarstige problematiek van de regio.

Altijd op de agenda
Tot op grote hoogte geldt dat ook voor Barack Obama. Weliswaar speelde de terugtrekking van de Amerikaanse troepen uit Irak aanvankelijk een centrale rol in zijn verkiezingscampagne, maar in de loop der maanden werd dat thema steeds meer verdrongen door de kwakkelende economie en de kredietcrisis. Daarop heeft hij zich na zijn verkiezingszege ook geconcentreerd. Maar 'wat de plannen van een president ook zijn, het Midden-Oosten heeft de bijzondere gewoonte om zich op zijn agenda te nestelen', schrijven de gezaghebbende analisten Richard Haass en Martin Indyk in de jongste editie van Foreign Affairs. De economie schreeuwt om volle presidentiële aandacht, maar of hij wil of niet, Obama krijgt vanaf de eerste dag ook het probleem-Gaza op zijn bord.
 
Plus alles wat eraan vastzit. Want al wordt er hopelijk binnen enkele dagen een staakt-het-vuren bereikt, het probleem-Gaza staat niet op zichzelf en zal dan ook niet verdwijnen. Het past in een historische ontwikkeling en heeft een regionale context. Bij alle begrijpelijke ontsteltenis over de verwoestingen die thans worden aangericht, wordt dat analytische perspectief wel eens veronachtzaamd, wat leidt tot een houding van: wie het hardst slaat (Israël), treft de meeste blaam, klaar uit. Maar daarmee komt een duurzame oplossing niet naderbij.

Het huidige militaire optreden in Gaza is in feite de vierde keer dat Israël de landstrook aanvalt. De eerste keer werd het gebied al bijna veroverd tijdens de eerste Israëlisch-Arabische oorlog in 1948, maar het eindigde onder Egyptisch bestuur. Vervolgens trokken Israëlische troepen er doorheen tijdens de Sinaï-operatie in 1956. Tenslotte viel het in Israëlische handen bij de Zesdaagse Oorlog in 1967. De Israëlische bezetting duurde 38 jaar: in 2005 maakte de regering van premier Ariel Sharon er eenzijdig een einde aan.

'De Gazastrook die Israël in 2005 achterliet, grensde aan Egypte. De Gazastrook waar Israël nu terugkomt, grenst aan Iran', noteerde New York Times-columnist Thomas Friedman eerder deze week. Het is een puntige manier om aan te geven hoe belangrijk Iran is geworden, ook als het gaat om het Israëlisch-Palestijns conflict. Het zijn vooral Iraanse wapens waarmee Hamas een strijdmacht van betekenis is geworden, zoals ook Hezbollah in Zuid-Libanon militair is opgetuigd door Iran (met hulp van Syrië).

Teheran
Aangenomen dat Hamas militair wel kan worden verzwakt maar niet uitgeschakeld, betekent dit dat de weg naar een politieke neutralisering van de beweging loopt via Teheran. Daar zal de regering-Obama in rechtstreekse contacten moeten peilen of er heuse belangstelling is voor een grand bargain.

Gezien de islamistische inslag van het Iraanse regime is dat een uiterst onzekere onderneming, maar er zijn factoren die maken dat ze niet kansloos is. Stond Israël in vroeger tijden tegenover een bijna gesloten Arabisch 'afwijzingsfront', nu ontbreekt het niet aan 'vredespartners': tal van landen zijn in beginsel bereid tot erkenning en er is een Palestijnse partij waarmee in elk geval over de Westelijke Jordaanoever kan worden onderhandeld.

Kan Washington Israël ertoe bewegen om op dit vlak serieuze stappen vooruit te zetten, dan verliest de Iraanse confrontatiepolitiek aan glans. Maar om dat te bereiken moet er in Jeruzalem natuurlijk een regering zitten die zich láát bewegen. Het is wellicht cru om te zeggen, maar de realiteit is niet anders: dat vereist dat Hamas een flinke opdonder krijgt en Tzipi Livni en Ehud Barak met een redelijk binnenlands prestige uit deze overigens onbeheerste oorlog komen.

 

 

Israelische journalist met IDF op pad in Gaza

 

The family suddenly notices the cameras, and immediately, the expression on their faces changes. "We have no food," they say in Arabic, as one of the youngsters suggests we interview him in English about their plight. Givati troops are extremely concerned about being portrayed as abusing innocent civilians. Perry points to a stack of canned goods, water bottles and other provisions. "We provided some of that and they cook and eat quite well," said Perry. The Palestinians seem to understand him and one of them smiles. It's a war – they had to try.

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

A day with our troops in Gaza

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3653238,00.html

Ron Ben-Yishai reports from Gaza after spending day with IDF forces fighting in Strip

Ron Ben-Yishai

Published:  01.09.09, 03:08

 

For the first time since Operation Cast Lead was launched, an Israeli journalist was allowed to enter the Strip alongside the fighting forces. What does it look like on the frontline?

Gaza City was quiet most of the day, but it was exactly this calm that had Givati Brigade Commander, Colonel Ilan Malka, so concerned: "Everyone should drill the procedure for thwarting attempted abductions. That's what (Hamas) are aiming for now. We also have to review the procedures for thwarting suicide attacks against the troops," he told his officers in one of the security briefings.

The warning is not an empty one. By night, the IDF had scores of abduction alerts, suggesting Hamas is preparing to kidnap soldiers in the area Givati forces were deployed in.

A hole in the wall (Photo: Ron Ben-Yishai)

"When we took over the area so aggressively, Hamas pretty much disappeared," Malka said, standing in his impromptu headquarters on the outskirts of Gaza City. "But I'm convinced they are still here, either underground or in hiding. They will venture out to try and abduct soldiers so they can boast accomplishments."

Malka is proud of Givati's achievements – the brigade was able to penetrate Hamas defenses within hours and take over a fortified and booby-trapped hub with virtually zero resistance. His primary concern right now is to keep the scene from turning into a snare.

Dodging bullets

We stopped in a backyard of an auto shop. The APC (armored personnel carrier) backed up until it nearly touched the wall – or the hole in the wall – into which we leaped out. The Givati force moved through holes cut into the wall surrounding each house, as they took over the neighborhood, careful not to expose themselves to sniper fire or to the traps laid for them in the buildings' foyers. We're here with several reservists form the brigade's reconnaissance company. They have a large reserve force and the Palestinian neighborhood soon rustles with officers who have come to join the fighting.

"I couldn't stay home when the guys are fighting," said Omri, while on the way to meet Lieutenant Colonel Ofer Levy, the brigade's deputy commander. "We try not to stand next to windows, so to avoid sniper fire," explains another officer, ducking under a wide window. In the kitchen, we find remnants of meal left abruptly. The homeowners, like more than a 1,000 of the neighborhood's residents, fled following IDF warnings.

Levy said that Hamas operatives were caught so off guard that they left their explosives in plain sight and vanished. The soldiers, he added, keep uncovering tunnels; but before we can visit one, a more urgent matter must be dealt with: The Brigade's commander, who is in a GOC security assessment, orders all fighting, projectile fire and aerial strikes stop at 1 pm for three hours of a "humanitarian pause," at which time local residents would be able to stock up on essential provisions. "We can't go forward but we can fire if we are in danger," I'm told.

Meeting the locals

One of the company commanders runs over and excitingly tells us that the "Caterpillars" – D9 bulldozers used by the IDF – have uncovered a tunnel full of containers; but someone tells him that this tunnel is a familiar find. We head out to inspect the tunnel, which is located in fairly dangerous territory, in order to decide what to do with it. We get a short security briefing, individual "combat numbers" and off we go, moving through the alleys, the soldiers pointing their weapons at the top floors or the holes in the walls, as need be. Hamas is nowhere to be found, but it could reappear at any moment. We arrive at an open area and the troops deploy quickly. We are treading through the Gaza quagmire – and there is a lot of it around.

We run across a local family in one of the buildings. Grandparents, a few young parents, some children and a few toddlers. Sitting on a rug, their legs are covered in blankets and two soldiers are standing guard nearby. "What about them?" I ask. "They're free to go if they want to, but they don't want to," said Eilon Perry, Givati's operations officer. "They informed us they would be staying in the house and we have no choice but to accept that."

Palestinian family insists on staying (Photo: Ron Ben-Yishai)

The family suddenly notices the cameras, and immediately, the expression on their faces changes. "We have no food," they say in Arabic, as one of the youngsters suggests we interview him in English about their plight. Givati troops are extremely concerned about being portrayed as abusing innocent civilians. Perry points to a stack of canned goods, water bottles and other provisions. "We provided some of that and they cook and eat quite well," said Perry. The Palestinians seem to understand him and one of them smiles. It's a war – they had to try.

Tunneling down

A sniper lies in wait on one of the building's top floors, peeping through a hole in the wall. Those holes are the scars left across Gaza, the ones that will be there long after the IDF leaves. The commander and his soldiers recite a prayer before heading out to the tunnel again. The number of religious soldiers and settler youth in the brigade and in other IDF combat units is high and increasing, I'm told.

The officers tell me how important the support of the home front is to them. There is a real sense of accomplishment and they are convinced that the ground incursion is important. Many of them fear the military would avoid it and believe that it is the only way to secure peace and quiet for southern Israel.

"Besides, we got tired of hearing how Israeli citizens are getting hit while we did nothing about it," said Alon from the Golan Heights, while petting his dog. He is an Oketz serviceman – the IDF's K-9 unit – which is a pivotal part of the force. The troops have two bomb-sniffing dogs with them, sniffing the entryway to each house before we go in. The dogs are equipped with special boots on their paws, to keep them from being hurt by the shredded metal and broken glass covering the ground.

We make our way to the tunnel on foot at first, but the last leg is exposed to the neighborhood north of us. The company commander and I go into the belly of a tank that lets us out at the tunnel's entrance. Nobody is taking any chances. The tunnel is built out of a vertical shaft leading into an underground passageway lined with cement. It is clearly packed with explosives and would be dangerous to move through.

Officers examine Gaza map (Photo: Ron Ben-Yishai)

The tunnel leads into a house some 300 yards away. "My god," said the commander. "It leads up to that house… I almost decided to camp there for a few hours before I saw it was booby-trapped. Had we stayed there we would have been in for a very nasty visit."

A different kind of army

Through the entirety of the "humanitarian pause" in the fighting, the streets were empty. Maybe it was because the stores were closed and maybe because the neighborhood, which was crowded up until a few days ago, is empty. The force is patrolling through it, uncovering weapon and rocket caches; D9 bulldozers follow, ripping out launching pads.

Other operational activities target buildings suspected as rocket manufacturing facilities and weapons' labs. Still, caution is the order of the day and the company is vigilant – they are happy to report having only a few minor casualties since the operation began, and say that things have been quiet in their sector. They pray it stays that way.

This is definitely not the same military we saw in the Second Lebanon War. I wouldn't want to run into any of these warriors in a dark alley.

Just before we turn back, I ask the brigade commander how long he thinks they would be staying in the Strip. "For as long as we have to," he says. "I honestly don't know. We're ready to say for weeks, or months." Will the operation be expanded? "We currently have no such plans," he said, trying to keep a businesslike expression. His officers were already looking at a map of another area in the city.

 

Europese Joden houden solidariteitsbijeenkomsten voor Israel

 

De Israelische militaire campagne in Gaza leidt tot een toename van het aantal antisemitische incidenten in Europa. Dit is NIET begrijpelijk vind ik: het aantal anti-Russische incidenten is tijdens de oorlog tegen Georgië bij mijn weten niet toegenomen (sterker nog, er bestaan volgens mij helemaal geen anti-Russische sentimenten), en Chinezen worden ook niet vijandelijk bejegend vanwege de onderdrukking in Tibet. We zijn normaliter heel goed in staat een onderscheid te maken tussen land en volk, ook als een groot deel van dat volk de acties van hun land steunen. Maar antisemitische incidenten in reactie op Israelisch geweld vinden velen, vooral ter linkerzijde, vaak heel begrijpelijk, en de schuld van Israel, dat zou doen alsof het namens alle Joden spreekt en ze daarmee allemaal een slechte naam zou bezorgen. De Joden zelf zijn het dus weer eens schuld. Ondertussen draagt juist links bij aan deze anti-Joodse stemming, met vaak extreme anti-Israel retoriek en door antisemitisme toe te staan en niet te veroordelen op demonstraties waar men aan deelneemt en zelfs mede-organisator van is. 

 

Vrijdagmorgen is in Den Haag een solidariteitsmanifestatie voor Israel.

 

RP

----------

 

The Jerusalem Post
Jan 7, 2009 23:25 | Updated Jan 8, 2009 12:55
European Jews launch series of pro-Israel rallies
By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231167304381&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


European Jewish communities are planning a series of rallies in support of Israel as the Gaza fighting continues into its 13th day Thursday.

The rallies in France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Britain and Germany are meant to highlight "our solidarity and support for Israel at this time," said European Jewish Congress president Moshe Kantor.

"Israel is on the frontlines of a battle that stretches all over the world," said Kantor, calling Hamas "part of a larger international terrorist network with links to Teheran."

The first rally was held in Paris on Sunday, followed by a rally Wednesday evening in front of the Iranian embassy in Brussels and another at the Amsterdam Jewish Community Center.

The next pro-Israel demonstration is expected to be held in Rome's Parco dei Principi on Saturday night, followed by Sunday rallies in London, Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin. The London rally will be held at Trafalgar Square and will be titled "End Hamas Terror: Peace for the People of Israel and Gaza." It will be followed by a gathering at Vienna's Judenplatz on Monday evening.

Additional events are being planned in the coming days in other cities, including Stockholm and Budapest.

In a statement, the EJC said it would also meet with European diplomats and political leaders in the coming days to explain Israel's position and "discuss the alarming rise of anti-Semitic incidents that are taking place in France, Sweden, the UK and elsewhere."

Anti-Semitic incidents appear to be escalating in Europe in the wake of the Gaza fighting.

In Britain, incidents included the burning of a London synagogue's door, an attack on a Jewish man in North London by three young Middle Eastern-looking men, anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled in Jewish neighborhoods and hate mail sent to synagogues.

In one case, a group of 15 to 20 young men who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent ran riot along the main street of the Jewish neighborhood Golders Green in North West London, shouting anti-Semitic and anti-Israel slogans and entering Jewish restaurants along the street to harass diners.

In Belgium, a Molotov cocktail was thrown Monday at the Beth Hillel Liberal synagogue in Brussels only hours after the windows of the synagogue in Charleroi, about 50 km. south of the capital, were broken with rocks for the second time in a week.

In France, assailants rammed a burning car into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, in southwest France, on Monday night.

In Sweden, a Jewish congregation in Helsingborg was attacked Monday night by someone who "broke a window and threw in something that was burning," said police spokesman Leif Nilsson. Neighbors alerted rescue services before the fire took hold.

Jonny Paul, JTA and AP contributed to this report.

De taal van Hamas

 

Net als de Libanon Oorlog in 2006 is ook dit een propaganda oorlog waarin een extremistische groepering zich succesvol als de underdog weet neer te zetten. Hamas zou slechts in reactie op de bezetting reageren of op de blokkade, en als die zijn opgeheven vuurt men raketten af op Tel Aviv in reactie op de 'bezetting' van Al Quds, en als dat is 'bevrijd' eist men de grenzen van het originele delingsplan uit 1947, enz. enz.

Uit vele uitspraken van Hamas leiders blijkt dat men heel het land tussen de zee en de Jordaan als bezet beschouwt en door middel van Jihad wil bevrijden, en dat men ook nogal vreemde ideeën over Joden heeft.

 

RP

---------

 

The language of Hamas

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7815630.stm
By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

A media war over Gaza is running in parallel to the shooting and diplomatic wars.

Hamas accuses Israel of trying to kill as many civilians as possible

In a previous article I looked at how the Israelis have been very active in getting their arguments over, including their use of online websites and and, in one example, at how video they presented had been challenged. The Israelis have also banned foreign correspondents from entering Gaza.

The Israeli assessment continues to be that, in this conflict, Israel has had much more understanding around the world for its actions, though incidents such as the attack on the UN school on Wednesday have had an effect on that support.

But Hamas, too, must be subject to examination. The use of propaganda by Hamas differs in that it is more broad-brush.

The Israeli effort tends to operate on two levels - it deploys arguments to justify its strategy and tactics but it also gets into detail on individual cases, such as the attack on the school in Gaza on Wednesday.

Hamas often relies on generalised statements. It routinely denies claims against it, such as hiding weapons in mosques or using schools or even ambulances as cover. It sometimes acts as if there was a greater truth to be put over, which goes beyond the detail of some contested incident.

Take the school tragedy. To Israeli claims that Hamas gunmen were operating from there (including, the Israelis said, two fighters whom they named), Hamas spokesman Fauzi Barhoum (supported, it has to be said, by UN officials) made a denial, but did not stop there.

"These are barbaric accusations. There was no fire of any kind from the school by the resistance," he said. This denial of Hamas then became a launch pad for an accusation about Israel's intentions towards civilians. Hamas turned defence into attack. Mr Barhoum went on: "The Zionist occupier wants to kill as many civilians as possible. The school is marked by the UN flag and the Israelis are just trying to justify this ugly crime."

If that accusation were literally true, Israel could in fact kill any number it wants. But the Hamas statement made its point and its point is to be a rallying cry of anger and accusation. Such statements reverberate around the world.

Hamas also pays particular attention to rousing the local population and runs its own satellite TV station al-Aqsa (named after the mosque in Jerusalem).

"It constantly shows pictures of the destruction in Gaza and interviews with the public and survivors," says senior BBC Monitoring journalist Omar Yacub. "It shows children in prayers. It shows pictures of dead bodies in graphic detail.

"All this carries the political message that resistance is necessary. A ceasefire is not mentioned. Instead it seeks to mobilise and lift morale."

Masking reality

Hamas also uses a vocabulary that has to be decoded. For example, it talks about the Israeli "occupier". In the current conflict, this of course, can refer to Israeli troops in Gaza. But before the Israeli operation, they controlled Gaza's borders by land, sea and air and so were also called "occupiers".

Hamas uses a vocabulary that must be decoded

And more generally, the word means that Israel occupies all the land of Palestine. This, Hamas defines by the boundaries of the territory mandated by the League of Nations to Britain after World War I, minus the east bank of the Jordan that Britain sliced off to give to the Jordanian royal family and which is now Jordan.

So when Hamas talks about resisting the "occupier", it is not just talking about resistance in Gaza.

Its occasional references to a long-term "truce" also must be understood. For Hamas, this does not mean a proper peace agreement with Israel. It means a cessation of violence, which could perhaps last for years, but under which it holds its options open.

And when Hamas says it is ready to accept a Palestinian state within the borders as they existed before the war in 1967, it does not follow that it would accept those borders as the last word. It hopes to re-establish Palestine as it once was.

Sometimes Hamas leaders come into the open. A few years ago I interviewed one of them, Dr Mahmoud Zahar, in Gaza. He referred to Israel as "a foreign body. It does not belong in the area".

Dr Zahar has now declared that Israel's attacks in Gaza have "legitimised" the killing of Israeli children. I doubt if he has changed his mind about Israel being a foreign body.

Of course, there are those who say that you must not listen to the rhetoric, which in the Middle East can mask a reality that the speaker wishes to hide.

They also point out that the PLO once talked in similar terms and that it is now in negotiation with Israel about a final settlement. But equally, until the rhetoric changes, it is fair to look at what it means.

Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

 

Meten met twee maten in de Gaza Oorlog

 

Voor de burgerdoden in Afghanistan is lang niet zoveel aandacht in onze media als voor die in de Gazastrook, ondanks dat Nederlandse troepen aktief zijn in Uruzgan.

 

Vanwaar de onevenredig grote aandacht voor en de felle kritiek op het dodental in Gaza? Volgens Afshin Ellian: omdat de daders Joden zijn...

 

Wouter

______________


TWEE MATEN 

(gepubliceerd in Volkskrant 8 januari 2009)

 

 

Israel heeft vandaag weer ruimschoots de aandacht gekregen van de media en politici in de wereld toen een tweetal IDF tankgranaten ontploften nabij een UN school in Gaza.

 

Ik zou hier kunnen gaan aanvoeren dat Israel terugschoot nadat een Hamas cel in het gebouw mortiergranaten op een Israëlische positie afvuurde, of dat Hamas leiders zijn gesignaleerd met kinderen op hun schouders als menselijk schild.

 

Maar het is misschien beter te onderzoeken wat er in 2008 in Afghanistan gebeurde in een soortgelijke oorlog tussen NATO  en de Taliban en hoe daar op gereageerd wordt. Waarbij aangetekend dient te worden dat Afghanistan een dun bevolkt land is en de oorlog in Gaza plaats vind in zeer dichtbevolkte gebieden.

 

Voorts  duurt de oorlog in Afghanistan tegen de Taliban al meer dan 7 jaar, en is er nog nooit  een wereldwijd initiatief ondernomen om tot een wapenstilstand te komen tussen NATO en de Taliban. 

 

Een greep uit de incidenten tussen juli en oktober 2008: 
6 juli -  NATO doodt 60 burgers tijdens bruiloft
31 Juli -  Canadese troepen doden 2 kinderen
9 aug.  - NATO doodt 31 burgers
11 aug. - VS doodt in luchtaanval 8 burgers
15 aug.- NATO doodt 3 kinderen
17 aug. - 4 burgers dood in NATO aanval
1 sept. - NATO 5 burgers dood in NATO aanval.
2 sept. - NATO 2 kinderen dood in NATO aanval.
16 oktober.  - NATO doodt 18 vrouwen en kinderen.
3 november.  - Wech Bagtu Afghanistan : 36 Burgers gedood door NATO tijdens bruiloft, waaronder de bruid.

 

Volgens ooggetuigen begon een man tijdens de bruiloft te schieten op NATO soldaten, die op hun beurt luchtsteun inriepen. Helikopters en vliegtuigen van de NATO bestookten het dorp uren, met als resultaat 36 burgers dood waaronder de bruid en tientallen gewonden. 

 

Het laatste incident onderzocht ik op media aandacht in Nederland.  Het NOS 8 uur Journaal op 3 en 4 november maakte geen melding van de aanval in Afghanistan, ook een onderzoek onder websites van Nederlandse kranten leverde geen vermelding op van de aanval, slechts bloggers die zich bezig houden met het conflict in Afghanistan meldden de aanval aan het publiek in Nederland 

 

In de maanden tussen januari en augustus kwamen volgens een UNAM rapport 1445 burgers om bij militaire acties ongeveer evenredig verdeeld tussen de Taliban en NATO.

 

Ook over de Taliban zijn bewijzen dat zij het zelfde doen met burgers als Hamas in Gaza. 

 

Heeft de UN Veiligheidsraad een spoedzitting gehouden over dit doden van onschuldige burgers in gevechten?

 

Hebben de media in het westen hier grote reportages over gebracht?

 

Is een EU delegatie ooit afgereisd naar Kaboel om een staakt het vuren af te dwingen?

 

Heeft Nederland er ooit aandacht voor gehad? Volgens een Afghaanse Nederlandse blogger zegt de Nederlandse regering dat ze niet in Afghanistan is om burgerdoden te tellen. 

 

Wat is het toch dat de wereld en met name Europa zo obsedeert met wat Israël doet, ook in deze oorlog die zij 8 jaar lang vermeden heeft, maar die door Hamas aan Israel opgedrongen is?  

 

En waarom werden de 5000 raketten die door Hamas sinds de Israëlische terugtrekking uit Gaza in 2005 op Israel werden afgevuurd,  grotendeels verzwegen door de massaal in Israel aanwezige wereld media?

 

Het antwoord daarop laat ik graag aan de politici en de media vertegenwoordigers die sinds 27 december uit hun winterslaap zijn ontwaakt en overuren maken om deze zaak als topprioriteit te slijten aan de internationale gemeenschap 

 

 

Yochanan Visser
Israel Facts
www.israelfacts.eu

Onduidelijkheid omtrent dood chauffeur VN konvooi

 

Terwijl het onduidelijk is waar het vuur vandaan kwam dat de Palestijnse chauffeur van een hulpkonvooi doodde. "Van Israel" aldus de media hier in koor. Dat is echter allerminst zeker. Israel wordt weer eens voortijdig in het beklaagden bankje gezet, en haar versie van de zaak wordt niet gegeven. Dit lijkt steeds meer een patroon te worden de laatste dagen. Men kan net zo goed de berichtgeving van Al Jazeera geheel overnemen, verschil zal het niet maken. Wanneer er veel Palestijnse slachtoffers vallen, gelden journalistieke normen niet meer en wordt Israel zwart gemaakt.

 

Voor wie wil weten hoe het wel zit, hieronder een artikel dat beide kanten geeft.

 

RP

----------

 

Jan 8, 2009 17:22 | Updated Jan 8, 2009 20:45

Uncertainty shrouds UN driver's death

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231424892324&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

By AMIR MIZROCH

 

Who killed a Palestinian humanitarian aid truck driver and wounded two others as their convoy made its way into the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing during Thursday's 'humanitarian ceasefire'?

According to the foreign media, who based their information on UN sources, IDF tank shells blasted the truck. According to the Magen David Adom medic who said he evacuated the Palestinians to an Israeli hospital, the truck came under Hamas sniper fire. The medic, who asked not to be named, said he got his information from soldiers in the field. The IDF Spokesperson's Office has not been able to provide a response or establish contact with the relevant sources in the field.

Adding to the confusion, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it evacuated the Palestinians, but the MDA medic said soldiers told him they went in, with great risk to themselves, and evacuated the wounded Palestinians. What is certain is that there is one dead Palestinian, and two others being treated at Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital with gunshot wounds to the chest.

The incident occurred Thursday afternoon at the Erez crossing into the northern Gaza Strip, the main entrance used by humanitarian aid agencies to funnel badly needed food and medical supplies into Gaza.

As a result of the incident, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip said it was suspending operations relating to the collection and distribution of humanitarian aid.

But here too there seems to be confusion.

Richard Miron, the chief UN spokesman in Israel, told The Jerusalem Post that UNRWA was not suspending all of its operations, but just those relating to humanitarian aid.

"It's too dangerous and our staff are not safe," Miron said, adding that UNRWA would still be operating its schools and other centers in Gaza.

Miron's comments to the Post came after Adnan Abu Hasna, the agency's Gaza-based spokesman, said that UNRWA decided to suspend all its operations in the Gaza Strip because of the increasing hostile actions against its premises and personnel.

Earlier, Miron was quoted by the Timesonline website as saying that the IDF had been notified in advance about the UNRWA convoy, "which was hit as it approached the Erez crossing with Israel."
Miron later told the Post that the UN was not sure in which direction the truck was traveling in when it was struck, either into or out of the Gaza Strip. Miron added that the UN believes the incident was caused by an IDF tank shell.

He went on to say that the UN was not looking to assign blame on either side, but was rather trying to make sure humanitarian aid got to the people who needed it, and that attacks on humanitarian convoys from any source had to stop.

The incident highlights the dangers involved in sending aid convoys through the crossings into the Gaza Strip. It also shows that the IDF Spokesperson's Office is not always able to respond in good time to incidents of this nature.

For at least seven hours, the international media were quoting a version of events which claimed the Palestinian truck drivers were killed by an Israeli shell.

The IDF Spokesperson's Office began fielding calls regarding the incident from the foreign press at about 12 p.m. Thursday, and by 7 p.m. had still not been able to get a clear answer from IDF Southern Command. Peter Lerner, a defense ministry spokesperson who responds to the international press about humanitarian issues, said, six hours after the event, that he was not aware of the incident at Erez Crossing and referred queries to the IDF.

The driver and two others, Palestinian civilians contracted by the UN, suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and upper body, the MDA said.

According to a MDA medic who evacuated the Palestinians, and who said he spoke to troops at the Erez Crossing, IDF soldiers, at great risk to themselves, evacuated the wounded Palestinians to the Israeli side of the border, where medics pronounced one of the Palestinians dead on the scene.

The two others were evacuated to Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital for treatment.

The soldiers told the medic that the Palestinian civilians were shot by Hamas gunmen, the MDA medic, who asked not to be named, told the Post

On Wednesday, Israel agreed to suspend offensive operations in Gaza for three hours between 1 p.m and 4 p.m. to allow humanitarian aid convoys into Gaza and for Gazans to be able to collect supplies.

Hamas resumed firing rockets promptly at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Apart from the sniper fire, on Thursday, Hamas terrorists fired mortar shells at Israeli communities in the Gaza envelope not long after the day's humanitarian ceasefire had begun.

Defense Ministry spokesman Peter Lerner told The Jerusalem Post that Israel would continue to allow humanitarian aid convoys into the Gaza Strip, despite the threat of shooting and hijacking of those convoys by Hamas. Lerner added that the convoys and humanitarian ceasefires were an integral part of the IDF's operations in Gaza to show that "the Palestinian people are not our enemy, Hamas is."

Lerner said that while a small amount of humanitarian aid was pilfered by Hamas, the majority of it was getting through to Palestinian civilians.

 

RELATED

• IDF to help facilitate aid to Gazans

Aan bijna alles een groot gebrek in Gaza

Tom Janssen afgelopen dinsdag in Trouw.

Video - Hamas gebruikt burgers als menselijk schild

 

Dit is nou wat je noemt asymetrische oorlogsvoering: als Hamas haar raketten precies kon richten, zou een Israëlisch huis waarvan het dak vol staat met Joodse burgers een geliefd doelwit zijn. Een huis in Gaza vol met Palestijnse burgers is anderzijds voor Israel reden om een bombardement af te blazen. Ze wil er tenslotte niet van beschuldigd worden op genocide of etnische zuivering uit te zijn....

 

Ik wens Mariko Peters van GroenLinks veel succes met haar dialoog met Hamas....

 

Wouter

______________



YouTube:
 
Human Shields - Hamas in action
While Hamas is constantly attacking Israeli civilians they treat their own civilians with the same respect - check out how civilians are called to serve as human shields of a terrorist's house in Gaza.

 

Het antisemitisme van Hamas: "Stuur die zonen van apen en honden naar de hel"

 

Dit zijn het soort dingen waar Hamas de inwoners van Gaza mee indoctineert, en waar veel Gazanen het ook mee eens zijn. Al die mensen die trots melden hoeveel Palestijnen wel niet achter Hamas staan, en dat zij democratisch de verkiezingen hebben gewonnen: dit zijn dus de ideeën van Hamas. Dergelijke antisemitische retoriek staat niet alleen in hun handvest, maar wordt ook dagelijks via Al Aqsa TV over de Palestijnen uitgestort.

 

RP

--------

MEMRI:  Special Dispatch | No. 2176 | January 6, 2009
Egypt/Antisemitism Documentation Project

 

Egyptian Cleric Safwat Higazi on Hamas TV:

Dispatch Those Sons of Apes and Pigs to the Hellfire - On the Wings of Qassam Rockets
www.memri.org:80/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD217609

Following are excerpts from a speech by Egyptian cleric Safwat Higazi, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on December 31, 2008.

"You Threaten To Kill Us?! By Allah, You Are Threatening Us With What We Desire More Than Anything"

 

Safwat Higazi: "Being killed is nothing new to us. It is what we desire and hope for. It is martyrdom, by Allah. This is Allah's victory coming to us.
It is Paradise with the first drop of blood of the martyr.

[...]

"I refuse to accept condolences or consolation over a martyr. It saddens me immensely when I see on TV a Palestinian woman from Gaza crying and wailing over her martyr. By Allah, I never see such things among the people of Palestine, the people of Gaza. We always see the mothers and wives of the martyrs in Palestine wailing for joy, and preparing another martyr, another man, to raise the banner.

[...]

"Being killed is nothing new to us. Martyrdom is nothing new to us. You threaten to kill us?! By Allah, you are threatening us with what we desire more than anything. You are threatening us with what our souls yearn for.

[...]

"By Allah, I wish I could carry my gear, carry my gun, and be among you. I wish I could stand among the youth of the Al-Qassam Brigades, passing them one of their missiles, wiping from their faces the dust of a missile that was launched, or crying 'Allah Akbar' along with them. By Allah, I wish I could do that."[...]


"You [In Hamas] Are The Ones Upon Whom Jesus, Son of Mary, Will Descend, Preaching the Religion of the Prophet Muhammad in Your Land"

 

"You [in Hamas] are the ones upon whom Jesus, son of Mary, will descend, preaching the religion of the Prophet Muhammad in your land. You are paving the way for the war foretold by the Prophet Muhammad: 'Judgment Day will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews. The Jews will hide behind stones and trees, but the stones and trees will say: Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' You are the ones preparing the ground for this, preparing the ground for the return of the Caliphate in the path of the prophets." [...]

"Allah Is With Us... Our Dead Go to Paradise, While Your Dead Go to the Hellfire"

"Allah is with us, and there is nobody with them. Allah is our God, and there is nobody with them. We say to them: We are not equal. Our dead go to Paradise, while your dead go to the Hellfire. We say to them: The Qassam rockets will serve as Ababil birds.(1) Indeed, they are Ababil birds. We say to them that while our martyrs celebrate in Paradise, your dead find themselves in the Hellfire. We say to you: Dispatch those sons of apes and pigs to the Hellfire, on the wings of the Qassam rockets." [...]

"Jihad Is Our Path... This Is Our Strategic Option, And Not Peace... Because The Prophet Muhammad Told Us This"

 

"Jihad is our path - jihad for the sake of Allah, in all its forms. This is our strategic option, and not peace. Even 'if they incline toward peace...' Yes, in that case, we will incline toward peace. If peace is made with us - yes, we will make peace as well, out of strength and honor. However, jihad and resistance will remain our strategic option. Why? Because the Prophet Muhammad told us this. It makes no difference what kind of peace it is - they will never reconcile with us. They will ostensibly reconcile with us, but will they make real peace? Never."
[...]

The [Jews]... Deserve to be Killed... Destroy... Everything Over There"

"The [Jews], who are as smooth as a viper, and who lick their lips as [does] a speckled snake, will never live with us in peace and harmony. They deserve to be killed. They deserve to die. They are the ones at whom the Qassam rockets should be fired. You should not care if you hit a man, a woman, or a child. Just like they killed your children - kill their children. Just like they killed your women - kill their women. Just like they destroyed your mosques - destroy their places of worship. Destroy... everything over there."

--------------------
For assistance, please contact MEMRI at memri@memri.org.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle East. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background information, are available on request.

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25 Gaza raketten treffen Israel op woensdag

 

Hamas vuurt minder raketten af dan in het begin van de Israelische militaire campagne, maar nog altijd treffen ze zowel steden verder weg als dichtbij de Gazastrook. Het is waarschijnlijk niet mogelijk voor Israel dit geheel te stoppen, maar hopelijk wel verder te verminderen. Ondertussen lijkt het waarschijnlijk dat er binnen een paar dagen een staakt het vuren komt, maar hoemeer Hamas verzwakt is, hoe beter.

RP
-----------

Last update - 23:37 07/01/2009

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053463.html
25 Gaza rockets strike Negev over course of Wednesday
By Haaretz Service

 
Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday fired 25 rockets into Israel's southern communities, including Be'er Sheva and Ashkelon. The number was significantly lower than the average absorbed by these communities in recent weeks. 

Two rockets exploded in Be'er Sheva just after 4 P.M., minutes following the expiration of a 3-hour truce between Israel and Hamas which was meant to ensure a temporary free flow of aid to Gaza residents.

Some structures in the city were lightly damaged, but there were no casualties. Following that attack, more rockets were reported exploding in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council, close to the Gaza Strip.

Earlier in the afternoon, two rockets hit Ashkelon, one exploding in the backyard of a three-story building. Nine people were treated for shock, but no other casualties were reported.

Four rockets struck Sderot earlier Wednesday, Ofakim and Netivot were each hit by two rockets and one landed in Kiryat Malachi.

Palestinian militants this week have continued the daily barrage of rockets that Israel has sought to halt in its 12-day air and ground campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

On Tuesday, a Grad rocket fired by militants struck Gedera, located 30 kilometers from Tel Aviv, and lightly injured a 3-month-old baby.

The rocket struck a road in the southern section of Gedera, close to residential housing, in the first such attack on the central Israel city.

The baby sustained wounds from shards of glass that hit her face, and was subsequently taken to a hospital for treatment. Four people were also treated for shock, including the baby's mother.

Gaza militants fired almost 30 other rockets into Israel on Tuesday, causing neither casualties nor property damage. Most of the rockets hit the western Negev, and the southern towns of Netivot and Ofakim.

 

 

Nog geen overeenstemming over staakt-het-vuren tussen Israel en Hamas

 

Het is moeilijk door de bomen nog het bos te zien, wat betreft de vele diplomatieke initiatieven om de gevechten in Gaza en de raketbeschietingen op Israel tot een einde te brengen. Hieronder wordt een klein beetje orde geschapen in die chaos. Het blijkt dat de partijen nog een flink eind uit elkaar liggen.

 

RP

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

Last update - 02:44 08/01/2009       
Israel, Egypt to begin intensive talks on Gaza truce
By Barak Ravid, Avi Issacharoff and Assaf Uni, Haaretz Correspondents
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053628.html

 

 

Israel and Egypt are expected to enter intensive negotiations in the coming days in an attempt to agree on a mechanism that will bring the fighting in the Gaza Strip to an end.

 

As a preamble to these talks, Amos Gilad, the head of the Defense Ministry's diplomatic-military bureau, will travel to Cairo Thursday for talks with Egyptian officials on an arrangement for managing the Philadelphi corridor and the degree of Egyptian involvement in curtailing arms smuggling into the Strip.

 

Meanwhile, the cabinet approved Wednesday a continuation of Operation Cast Lead.

 

The United States is also involved in the discussions between Israel and Egypt on an agreement that would seek to end smuggling into the Strip. Arab sources have said that Israel and the U.S. are discussing possible security arrangements that could be used on the Philadelphi corridor, and in parallel Washington is discussing with Cairo how such arrangements may be implemented.

 

Meanwhile, Egyptian officials are holding talks with Hamas on a new cease-fire agreement with Israel.

 

All parties, according to the Arab sources, are trying to reach an agreement before Arab states raise proposals at the United Nations Security Council that will call on Israel to cease fire immediately.

 

Notwithstanding a series of statements suggesting that there is agreement for a cease-fire, it appears that there are still significant differences between Israel and Egypt regarding the nature of the settlement. The main problem is the fact that Israel is preconditioning a cease-fire to a solution to the smuggling, while Egypt is asking for a cease-fire and the opening of the border crossings, before a resolution of the Hamas tunnels issue.

 

Talks on a diplomatic agreement began at the very early stages of the operation in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. was first in holding talks with the Arab League, in order to produce a solution that Arab states would impose on Hamas. However, intense infighting in the League, primarily between Egypt and Saudi Arabia on one side and Syria on the other, foiled any progress.

 

Following the initial American effort, the French launched an initiative for a 48-hour cease-fire. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner presented the proposal on humanitarian grounds, and talked with Defense Minister Ehud Barak on the matter. Israel rejected the proposal, fearing that it would undermine its offensive in the Strip if it acknowledged that a humanitarian crisis existed in Gaza.

 

Anti-Hamas accords

 

At this point Israel proposed to the U.S. and the European Union that a settlement be constructed from a series of accords "against Hamas" that would be imposed on the group by the international community. The U.S. began talks with Egypt on the matter, and a few days ago French President Nicolas Sarkozy also became involved. At this point Israel opted to avoid direct talks with Egypt, leaving the coordination to Washington and Paris.

 

After a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak on Monday, Sarkozy traveled to Israel where he met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "I understand the concern about the smuggling and agree that this is central to a solution," Sarkozy told Olmert. The French president said that in parallel to the military operation in the Strip, Israel should begin direct talks with Egypt on the smuggling issue.

 

Sarkozy also promised that "if there is a need for Europe to establish an international ground force as well as a naval force in order to assist Egypt, everyone will be willing to assist."

 

The French president added that the handling of the smuggling operations would be done on Egypt's side of the border. "If you [Israel] decide that the mechanism [against the smuggling] is a good one, declare a cease-fire unilaterally," Sarkozy told Olmert. "If Hamas responds, excellent. If not, keep on shooting."

 

Sarkozy explained that at a later stage, when a cease-fire is in place, a solution would be found to the crossings - particularly the one in Rafah - and the incorporation of the Palestinian Authority in any solution. "If this is the framework and this is the order of things to come, I agree," Olmert replied.

 

However, after Sarkozy visited Damascus and then Egypt once more for a meeting with Mubarak, it emerged that Cairo had a different view on the French proposal.

 

At a press conference, Sarkozy and Mubarak presented things differently:

 

* First, an immediate cease-fire, an opening of the crossings and a start to negotiations for a long term cease-fire.

 

* Second, regional and international guarantees for the cease-fire, and "improvement of the security situation on the border" - i.e. curtailing the smuggling.

 

* Third, talks for internal Palestinian reconciliation.

 

Israel's response

 

Israel's response focused on Egypt's willingness to discuss the question of the smuggling and an end to the terrorism originating in the Strip, but rejected any proposal for opening the crossings or resuming the internal Palestinian political dialogue. However, Israeli political sources say that they are dissatisfied by the difference in the Sarkozy version to Olmert and the one presented by Mubarak. It is also still unclear to Israel whether Cairo is interested in mediating between Israel and Hamas.

 

Meanwhile, Razi Hamad, a spokesman for Hamas, said Wednesday that "there is a positive atmosphere for a cease-fire."

 

In an interview to the Palestinian News Agency Ma'an, Hamad indicated that it would be possible to reach a cease-fire within a week. "The diplomatic efforts should be allowed to succeed," he said.

 

Deputy chief of the Hamas politburo Musa Abu Marzouk said Wednesday that the organization is examining the cease-fire proposal being proposed by Egypt, France, Syria and Turkey. He rejected the possibility that Hamas would negotiate a permanent cease-fire with Israel so long as the occupation persisted.

 

Another Hamas spokesman, Osama Hamdan, said that the group opposes the proposal of deploying an international force along the border between Gaza and Egypt.

 

Meanwhile, the Netherlands and Denmark are officially offering to deploy troops to a European observer force that would potentially be sent to the Gaza-Sinai border. In a letter to the Czech presidency of the European Union Wednesday, the foreign ministers of the two countries stressed the importance of building Israel's confidence that Hamas will not acquire missiles, and called on the E.U. to offer supervision and control over the border with Sinai.

 

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday evening during a meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana that "[Israel] is working to ensure that [Operation Cast Lead] creates a safer reality for the southern communities. We will not abandon this objective."

 

Referring to the possibility of a cease-fire agreement with Hamas, Barak said that Israel "will examine it to make sure it leads to the creation of the desired reality. If it does not, the Israel Defense Forces will continue its operation in Gaza and possibly intensify it."

 

Solana said Wednesday that the Union is ready to assist Egypt in preventing smuggling, but in an interview to Reuters he qualified that the assistance "will be mostly technological and not by the deployment of forces."

 

 

Getuigen zeggen dat vanuit VN school werd geschoten

Wie liegt hier, de VN of Israel en de getuigen? Ondanks het feit dat het Israelische leger de namen van de twee Hamas strijders die in de UNRWA school waren heeft gegeven, en dit door niemand is ontkend of tegengesproken, ondanks de beelden van meerdere explosies nadat de tankgranaten de school raakten, die onmogelijk alleen van de granaten afkomsig konden zijn, en andere zeer duidelijke aanwijzingen, blijft de VN ontkennen dat er strijders in de school waren.

 

Misschien is dat niet zo heel verwonderlijk, want de aanwezigheid van Hamas strijders in de school zou de neutraliteit van de VN ter discussie stellen en bovendien de schuld voor de beschieting met alle doden (mede) bij UNRWA leggen, dat immers formeel verantwoordelijk is voor de beschietingen vanuit de school.

 

Ondertussen blijven Nederlandse media het cynische gebruik van burgers door Hamas negeren of bagatelliseren.

 

RP

---------

Witnesses: Hamas fired from school

 

Yaakov Katz and JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

Jan. 6, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231167272256&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Two residents of the area near UN school that was shelled by the IDF on Tuesday said that they had seen a small group of terrorists firing mortar rounds from a street close to the school. The two spoke with The Associated Press by telephone on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Meanwhile, a UNRWA official denounced on Wednesday the shelling of the UN school, and demanded that an independent investigation be launched to determine the facts of the incident.

Christopher Gunness of the UN Relief and Works Agency, responsible for the school, said the agency was "99.9 percent certain there were no militants or military activity in its school."

Gunness said 1,300 people were taking shelter from the shelling at the school.

At least 30 Palestinians were killed and over 50 wounded in the IDF attack on a Hamas rocket squad based in the UN school, military sources said.

Dr. Bassam Abu Warda, director of Kamal Radwan Hospital, said 34 people were killed by a strike outside the school. The UN confirmed that 30 were killed and 55 were wounded by tank shells.

The school grounds were being used by terrorists to fire mortar shells at troops stationed nearby, and the soldiers responded by firing mortars back, the army said. According to the IDF, the dead included members of the Hamas rocket cell, including senior operatives Imad Abu Askhar and Hassan Abu Askhar.

Defense officials told The Associated Press that booby-trapped bombs in the school had triggered secondary explosions that killed additional Palestinians there.

The army noted that Tuesday was not the first time Hamas had attacked Israel from within a school. The IDF released a video taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle in late 2007 showing terrorists firing mortars from right outside a school.

"Hamas has in the past fired at Israel and at troops from inside schools, [exploiting] civilians, as is proven by UAV footage," the army said.

The UN said hundreds of people from a Gaza City refugee camp had gone to seek shelter in the school from the IDF's offensive.

"There's nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized," said John Ging, an Irishman who is the top UN official in Gaza.

"I am appealing to political leaders here, in Israel, and in the region and the world to get their act together and stop this," Ging said, speaking at the Strip's largest hospital. "They are responsible for these deaths."

Maxwell Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, demanded an investigation.

"As one of the most densely populated places in the world, it is clear that more civilians will be killed," Gaylard said.

"These tragic incidents need to be investigated, and if international humanitarian law has been contravened, those responsible must held accountable."

Earlier Tuesday, seven Palestinians were killed in several separate incidents. One young man was killed in an attack on a Hamas charity building, a 15-year-old was killed in an air force attack in the center of Gaza City and five people were killed when their house in the eastern part of Gaza City was shelled.

Palestinians also said nine members of the same family were killed in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City, six of them children. Three other people were reportedly killed in the strike.

 

AP contributed to this report

 

 

Waarom Hamas Joden haat

 

Volgens velen is Hamas bereid tot vrede en eigenlijk best wel een nette beschaafde en gematigde organisatie, in tegenstelling tot de zionisten natuurlijk die alles met geweld willen oplossen. Hieronder een paar citaten van de onlangs door Israel gedode Hamas leider Nizar Rayyan, en van een van de leiders van de Moslim Broederschap waaruit Hamas is voortgekomen.

 

Waarom is het zo moeilijk om het extremisme van Hamas onder ogen te zien?

 

RP

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

Why Hamas hates Jews

It is always amazing to see the amazement of westerners when they encounter radical Islamist ideology. "Nah, they couldn't really believe that, could they?" Thus, despite the repeated explanations of the Hamas  that they couldn't ever make peace with Israel, well meaning "progressives" insist that it is possible to make peace with Hamas, and the falsehood is repeated that Hamas offered to make peace with Israel in return for withdrawal to the borders of 1949. But it is a fact that  Hamas, like all Islamists, hate Jews. Not just Zionists, but Jews. It has nothing to do with Palestine, or the occupation. 

 

 This is the real Hamas speaking:

 

"The only reason to have a hudna is to prepare yourself for the final battle. We don't need 50 years to prepare ourselves for the final battle with Israel." There is no chance, he said, that true Islam would ever allow a Jewish state to survive in the Muslim Middle East. "Israel is an impossibility. It is an offense against God."

It is the voice Nizar Rayyan, a late Hamas leader who is no doubt enjoying his just reward in the afterlife. Rayyan explained further:

 

 "Allah changed disobedient Jews into apes and pigs, it is true, but he specifically said these apes and pigs did not have the ability to reproduce. So it is not literally true that Jews today are descended from pigs and apes, but it is true that some of the ancestors of Jews were transformed into pigs and apes, and it is true that Allah continually makes the Jews pay for their crimes in many different ways. They are a cursed people."

And he described the crimes of the Jews:  

 

"You are murderers of the prophets and you have closed your ears to the Messenger of Allah," he said. "Jews tried to kill the Prophet, peace be unto him. All throughout history, you have stood in opposition to the word of God."

 

In the 1930s, Neville Chamberlain confidently asserted that it was not as if Hitler was going to murder all the Jews after all. The same incredulous attitude is taken today toward Hamas. But the ideology of Jew-hate is founded in Islamism. Sayyed Qutb was more articulate and sophisticated than Rayyan. He wrote:

 

At the beginning the enemies of the Muslim community did not fight openly with arms but tried to fight the community in its belief through intrigue, spreading ambiguities, creating suspicions. They do likewise today. They have plotted and they go on plotting against this nation. Hundreds and thousands have infiltrated the Muslim world, and they still do in the guise of Orientalists. The pupils of the latter fill today the positions of the intellectual life of the countries whose people call themselves Muslim. Their aim is clearly shown by the Protocols [of the Elders of Zion]. The Jews are behind materialism, animal sexuality, the destruction of the family and the dissolution of society. Principal among them are Marx, Freud, Durkheim and the Jew Jean-Paul Sartre.

....

The Jews have confronted Islam with enmity fromt he moment the Islamic state was established in Mediana... the Muslim community continues to suffer the same Jewish machinations and double-dealing which discomfited the early Muslims... This is a war which has not been extinguished...for close on fourteen centuries its blaze has raged in all the corners of the earth and continues to this moment.

(Sayyid Qutb, "Ma'rakatuna ma'a al-Yahud," (Our Battle Against the Jews) [essay] 1951. Published in book of the same name [Ma'rakatuna ma'a al-Yahud], Jedda, Saudi Arabia, 1970)

 

Hamas confisceert hulpgoederen en gijzelt bevolking Gaza

 

Hamas vergroot de ellende onder de burgerbevolking om de druk op Israel te verhogen, steelt voedsel en andere hulpgoederen, verhindert dat mensen wegvluchten en gebruikt de burgerbevolking als menselijk schild, zoals in de UNRWA school die gisteren werd getroffen. Hamas' cynisme lijkt geen grenzen te kennen, maar alles is haar liever dan de raketbeschietingen te stoppen en een staakt-het-vuren te accepteren.

 

RP

-----------

Report: Hamas stealing aid supplies to sell to residents

 

Grim picture of Gazans' lives painted by reports emerging from Strip, claiming gunmen hiding in civilian homes, using residents as human shields, and hijacking trucks of humanitarian aid
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3651783,00.html

 

Roee Nahmias
Published:  01.06.09, 22:32

 

 

A government or a gang? As the Israeli operation in Gaza wears on it appears Hamas has relinquished any visage of a socio-political party, abandoning its claim to govern the residents of Gaza in favor of engaging in open war at their expense.

A number of reports from the Strip paint a picture of very difficult humanitarian conditions, not least because of Hamas itself. The suspicion is that the group's operatives have seized control of any supplies passing through the crossings – including those sent by Israel and international organizations.

Reports say Hamas takes a cut out of all aid that arrives, including flour and medicine. Supplies intended to be distributed without gain among the population is seized by the group and sold to the residents, at a profit to the Hamas government.

One such incident was recorded Monday, when a convoy of trucks carrying supplies through the Kerem Shalom crossing was opened fire upon and seized by Hamas gunmen. Similar incidents occurred with trucks carrying fuel.

 

In other cases, civilians are simply used as cannon fodder or human shields. Reports out of Gaza say residents who attempted to flee their homes in the northern area of the Strip were forced to go back at gunpoint, by Hamas men.

The organization is presumably interested in increasing civilian casualties in order to give rise to international pressure against Israel. Arab media reported that in an IDF strike on a UN school 30 civilians were killed, but there is no legitimate way to prove gunmen were among those killed as Hamas tends to bury these bodies quickly, thus eliminating evidence in Israel's favor.

Other civilian complaints state that Hamas gunmen pull children along with them "by the ears" from place to place, fearing that if they don't have a child with them they will be fair game to the IDF. Others hide in civilian homes and stairwells, UNRWA ambulances, and mosques.

 

In other reported cases Hamas gunmen hold civilians hostage in alleyways in order to provide themselves with a living barricade to ward off IDF forces. Reports somewhat more difficult to verify say the group's men shot Fatah operatives in the feet to make sure the latter would not attempt a coup.

 

No one to turn to

 

These reports lead to the assumption that Hamas is attempting to exacerbate the atmosphere of a humanitarian crisis in the Strip, as this may promote an international ceasefire initiative. In any case the reports clearly show that the residents of Gaza have fallen prey to Hamas as well as the IDF.

 

Reports of alarming shortages are also forthcoming, as residents appear to lack water, flour, electricity, and any sign of a capable government. Chaos reigns as no one appears to know when electricity will be available, how to obtain water or food, or whom to address in order to evacuate the injured.

 

The "emergency numbers" given to residents have ceased to function, and citizens in need of assistance have only international organizations, the Red Crescent, and the hospitals themselves to turn to.

 

The Hamas leaders, aside from two addresses, have not been heard from. Their speeches were broadcast a number of times, but in any case many in the Strip can no longer access televisions, radios, or internet without electricity.

 

Despite this, no authoritative anti-Hamas sentiments have been heard from the Gazans. However Palestinian sources claim that grievances against the group are voiced in secret. The animosity towards Israel has not disappeared, say the sources, but it is now accompanied by bitterness towards the organization many are dubbing Iranian in its extremism.

IDF ontdekt tunnel voor ontvoeringen in Gaza

Het verslag van een officier van wat men zoal tegenkomt in de Gazastrook, en hoe Hamas te werk gaat.

 

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

 

IDF uncovers kidnapping tunnel

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3651690,00.html

 

Officer leading soldiers into Gaza describes difficult groundwork involved in military operation, says force has so far discovered tunnels intended for abducting troops, weapons, anti-aircraft missiles, and booby-trapped buildings in civilian centers

 

Hanan Greenberg
Published:  01.06.09, 19:09

 

 

A paratrooper force operating near the northern Gaza Strip neighborhood of al-Atatra identified a tunnel intended for the kidnapping of soldiers Tuesday. The tunnel's opening was hidden by a doll. The force also uncovered a number of weapons caches.

A senior IDF officer spoke to Ynet from the depth of the Strip, through an encoded phone. "We are finding a lot of tunnels, weapons, anti-aircraft missiles, grenades, explosive devices, and weapons prepared for future attacks, such as motorbikes intended for kidnapping," he said.

The officer, who has been leading his soldiers into Gaza since the beginning of the operation, described a complicated reality in which weapons and foundations of a terror industry are being found in populated city centers.

"We may not be fighting against an army, but there are a lot of incidents of battle here, from short range as well, and we are working in a slow and thorough manner," the officer added.

"Many civilians fled when the battles erupted; some of them left their homes quickly just the way they were – sometimes in the middle of a meal," he said.

"But sometimes groups of civilians walk by. For example, women and children walk by with a white flag. We don't harm them of course, but almost every hour we receive information about (female) suicide bombers that want to explode near soldiers. That's why – aside from the emotional and humanitarian aspect – we are careful to preserve the health of our soldiers," the officer added.

Booby-trapped homes, mosques

 

The officer said there have been many cases in which Hamas gunmen have advanced on soldiers. On Monday a terrorist made his way towards an area in which soldiers were patrolling and opened fire. The patrol returned fire and the terrorist was killed.

He added that Hamas was wary of engaging in "normal" exchanges of fire with IDF soldiers. He said they prefer to employ the element of surprise and to come as close as possible to the forces. In other instances mortar shells or sharpshooters are used.

The officer said many homes throughout the Strip were booby-trapped. "We are attempting to proceed slowly and to use the Engineer Corps, dogs, and any other means we have at our disposal in order to refrain from falling into their traps. We also discovered a booby-trapped mosque, and blew it up," he said.

He said Hamas tends to booby-trap houses in such a way that the first step would set off an explosion, after which gunmen would attempt to kidnap the soldiers or their bodies through underground tunnels.

"This forces us to act aggressively towards the structures and buildings," the officer said. "The damage being done here is great in order to uncover all of Hamas' traps. We don't act gently, and leave scars on the ground and the buildings in order to protect our soldiers."

Hamas steelt hulpgoederen die Israel Gazastrook binnenlaat

Zou dit een verklaring kunnen zijn voor het feit dat Israel elke dag tientallen, soms zelfs 100, vrachtwagens met voedsel binnenlaat, en iemand van de World Food Organisation zelfs zei dat de voorraadschuren tjokvol zitten, terwijl ondertussen mensen in Gaza constant over tekorten klagen?

 

Hamas gebruikt geregeld burgers om in de propagandaoorlog als overwinnaar uit de strijd te komen.

 

RP

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

 

Israel allows humanitarian aid into Gaza, Hamas steals it

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/01/israel-allows-humanitarian-aid-into.html

 

Israeli TV showed Hamas operatives hijacking and diverting humanitarian aid for their own use. - A.I.

___________

Israel allows humanitarian aid into Gaza

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel allowed a convoy of humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip on Monday, as it pressed on with a massive offensive against the Palestinian group Hamas, the army said.

"A convoy of 80 trucks transporting humanitarian aid has started to pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing" in the south, a military spokesman said.

The aid included medicine and food which was sent from Egypt, Jordan, Greece and UN aid agencies, he said.

The Nahal Oz terminal in the north was also opened on Monday to allow the transfer of 200,000 litres of fuel for Gaza's electricity station as well as 120 tonnes of cooking gas, he said.

The Erez crossing in the north meantime was opened to allow some 200 Palestinian holders of foreign passports to leave the territory.

Israel unleashed a massive bombing campaign of Hamas targets in Gaza on December 27 in response to consistent rocket fire from the territory and poured in ground troops to back up the bombardments a week later.

Aid groups have repeatedly warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the densely-populated territory, where most of the 1.5 million residents depend on foreign aid.

 

Moebarak en Sarkozy wachten op Israelisch antwoord op staakt-het-vuren voorstel

 

Meer over het aankomende staakt-het-vuren voorstel.

 

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

Mubarak, Sarkozy await Israeli response to cease-fire plan
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231167284192&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
By HERB KEINON AND AP


The presidents of Egypt and France have proposed a plan to end the escalating Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Tuesday.
Hosni Mubarak welcomes his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy in Sharm el-Sheih on Tuesday.

 

Kouchner told a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council that the plan would bring together the main parties, including the Palestinian Authority, to take "all measures" to end the conflict, including the key issues of protecting Gaza's borders and reopening all crossings.

 

Kouchner said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and French President Nicolas Sarkozy had announced the plan at a press conference.

 

"We are awaiting the Israeli response and we harbor hope that it will be a positive one," Kouchner said.

 

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev told The Associated Press, "We are holding off comments on that for the time being."

 

The Mubarak-Sarkozy plan was immediately supported by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who said, "I express my support for the plan set in motion today by president Mubarak and president Sarkozy." Abbas flew to New York to attend the council meeting in hopes of getting a legally binding resolution for an immediate cease-fire.

 

He called for the UN security Council to "stop the violence and the murder in Gaza."

 

"The choking siege in Gaza must be ended, the borders at least must be opened to allow for [movement] between Gaza and the [West Bank]," he added.
Kouchner told the council that Mubarak and Sarkozy proposed "a plan for a resolution to the crisis," at a press conference.

 

"A halt to violence is the immediate priority," he said. "The Security Council must support and encourage these promising endeavors. All states in the region must assist this and contribute toward this hope favoring moderation."

 

According to Israeli officials, the cease-fire proposal is based on the establishment of an international force to prevent the smuggling of arms from Sinai into Gaza, which would augment a group of US military engineers already on the Egyptian side of the border.

 

Egypt said on Tuesday night that it was proposing an immediate cease-fire, followed by talks on long-term arrangements for borders and crossings.
Mubarak announced the plan in a brief statement after talks with Sarkozy in the Egyptian resort of Sharm e-Sheikh.

 

Under the proposal, Israel and Hamas would accept an immediate cease-fire for a limited period, which would allow safe passages to open for humanitarian aid to Gaza and give Egypt time to continue its efforts for a comprehensive and lasting cease-fire, Reuters reported.

 

Egypt would then invite both Israel and the Palestinian side to an urgent meeting to reach arrangements and guarantees to ensure that the current escalation does not recur. These talks will deal with all the issues at hand, including protecting the border, reopening crossing points and lifting the blockade, it said.

 

Finally, Egypt would invite the Palestinian Authority and all Palestinian factions to respond to Egyptian efforts to achieve national reconciliation.

 

Israeli diplomatic officials said a Security Council resolution calling for an end to the fighting, similar to the resolution that put an end to the Second Lebanon War, could only be accepted by Israel if a mechanism to stop arms smuggling was in place.

 

Olmert, on a tour of the South Tuesday, laid out the principles for an end to Operation Cast Lead.

 

"It will stop when the conditions that are essential for Israel's security are met," Olmert said. "First and foremost, all terrorist operations against us must stop. The strengthening of the terrorist organizations via the smuggling of war materiel from Egypt into Gaza must also stop."

 

Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said there was widespread international acceptance of these principles, but that the details of how to do this were very fluid.

 

US President-elect Barack Obama said Tuesday he was "deeply concerned" about the loss of civilian life in Gaza and Israel, in his first comments on the ongoing hostilities.

 

He also pledged to engage "effectively and consistently" in trying to resolve Middle East conflicts as soon he takes office on January 20.

 

"It's not only right for the people in that region. Most importantly, it's right for the national security of the American people and the stability that is so important to this country," he said, in a brief appearance before the press in Washington that focused on the economic crisis.

 

Obama reiterated his earlier stance that there was only "one president at a time" and that for now US President George W. Bush spoke for the American government and people.

 

Until his inauguration, he said, he was monitoring the situation and being briefed on developments in the region.
Obama nevertheless stressed that "the loss of civilian life in Gaza and in Israel is a source of deep concern for me."

 

He added that, come January 20, "You will be hearing directly from me and my opinions on this issue."

 

Already on Saturday, Bush said in his weekly radio address that "there must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure that smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end."

 

Since then the idea has gained a number of other key adherents.

 

Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair, in an interview with BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday, said, "There are circumstances in which we could get an immediate cease-fire," adding that "those circumstances focus very much around clear action to cut off the supply of arms and money through the tunnels that go from Egypt into Gaza."

 

Blair said the possibility of a cessation of hostilities within the next few days "revolves around a package that is pretty clear to people. I think the Egyptians in principle are prepared to do this, they want to do it, they recognize it's in their own interests as well."

 

He did not provide any details of what would be included in the package, but there are reports that in addition to US and European military engineers on the Egyptian side of the border, there may also be an international force on the Philadelphi Corridor, and a beefed-up EUBAM force at the Rafah crossing.

 

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who said Tuesday the current fighting marked the "darkest moment" for the Middle East and had to be tackled through international engagement, also said a cease-fire agreement would require "action over the construction of tunnels and arms trafficking into Gaza as well as an end to Israeli military action and rocket attacks by Hamas militants."

 

Hosni Mubarak welcomes his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy in Sharm el-Sheih on Tuesday.

 

Olmert has been in constant contact with Sarkozy, Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the US administration over the proposal.

 

One Israeli official said the proposed force on the border would most likely not be a UN force similar to UNIFIL in south Lebanon.

 

"The situation in Lebanon was different," the source said.

 

"First of all there was already a UNIFIL force there. Secondly, Lebanon is a country, and the conflict was one between two states. Here we are talking about a conflict between a state and a terrorist organization, so the mechanism needs to be different."

 

In parallel to the US-French-Egyptian efforts to flesh out the details of the mechanism, Cairo has stepped up pressure on the Syria-based Hamas leadership to accept a cease-fire, Egyptian officials close to the negotiations said Tuesday.

 

The pressure came during talks between Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and a delegation of the Syria-based Hamas leaders in Cairo.

 

"The message Hamas is getting [from Suleiman] is that without a cease-fire the Palestinians will be in grave danger and every thing they have achieved so far will be gone," one of the Egyptian officials said.

 

Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Monday that Hamas's officials based in Syria - Muhammad Nasr and Imad al-Alami - flew in on Monday to discuss ways to "realize a cease-fire."

 

"Part of a framework for a cease-fire agreement is to have Israel stop the aggression and pull out. In exchange, we will get the approval of Hamas and other factions" to stop the rockets, Aboul Gheit told Al-Arabiya television.

 

Muhammad Nazal, from the Damascus-based Hamas leadership, said Tuesday his group was ready to consider a cease-fire "if Israel withdraws its troops, reopens all the crossings to Gaza and lifts its siege on the Strip."

 

Those comments were no different from Hamas's previous statements, making it unclear if the Egyptian efforts were falling short of their ambitions.
Nazal also said Hamas would not accept international troops in Gaza, though it was ready to accept European monitors at the crossings.

 

 

Hilary Leila Krieger and Jpost.com staff contributed to this report.

 

 

Franse president Sarkozy: staakt-het-vuren Gaza 'niet ver weg'

 

Een staakt-het-vuren lijkt steeds dichterbij te komen, nu ook de VS zich hier duidelijk voor uitspreekt. De grote vraag is natuurlijk onder welke voorwaarden en wat aan de wapensmokkel zal worden gedaan. Hamas zal niet snel instemmen met een staakt-het-vuren dat het haar onmogelijk maakt zich weer te herstellen, en Israel zal juist dat eisen. Internationale troepen of waarnemers zijn in Israels ogen helaas geen garantie daartegen, gezien de ineffectiviteit van UNIFIL tegenover Hezbollah dat zich onder haar ogen tot de tanden toe bewapent.

 

RP

----------

 

Last update - 21:42 06/01/2009

French President Sarkozy: Deal on Gaza truce 'not far away'

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053183.html

By Haaretz Service and News Agencies

 

 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday a deal for a cease-fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip was "not far" away.

"I'm convinced that there are solutions. We are not far from that. What is needed is simply for one of the players to start for things to go in the right direction," he told reporters during a visit to French United Nations peacekeepers in south Lebanon.

Sarkozy said he was returning to Sharm el-Sheikh to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to work out the details of a peace plan.

"I do not know if it will work. I am telling you that I am trying and if I am going back there [Sharm el-Sheikh] it is because there is a small hope."

Earlier Tuesday, Sarkozy had urged Syria to exert pressure on its ally Hamas in order to help end the fighting in the Gaza.

Sarkozy had said on Monday that he was working on an intitiative with Egypt but declined to give details because of "extremely complex negotiations."

Also Tuesday, Egypt stepped up its pressure on the Syria-based Hamas leadership to accept a cease-fire in the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

U.S. calls for 'durable' Gaza truce

Meanwhile, the United States on Tuesday signaled some flexibility over Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip, saying it would like to see "an immediate ceasefire" but emphasizing any such agreement must be durable, sustainable and indefinite.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack also said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's trip to the United Nations on Tuesday was designed to show that the United States was open a variety of ways to achieve a cease-fire.

"We would like an immediate cease-fire, absolutely," McCormack told reporters, speaking after Israeli tank shells killed at least 40 Palestinians at a United Nations school where civilians had taken shelter. "An immediate cease-fire that is durable, sustainable and not time-limited."

"We want, obviously, to be constructive," he added. "(Rice) going up there is to signal that we are making every possible diplomatic effort to try to bring about a ceasefire on the terms that we have outlined. We are open to a variety of different formats to bring that about."

The spokesman's comments, however, stopped short of a demand that Israel cease its offensive in the Mediterranean coastal strip.

Rice was headed to the United Nations on Tuesday to meet Arab ministers as well as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a bid to get a cease-fire deal in Gaza, the State Department said.

"The purpose of her trip is to move forward the international efforts to create a ceasefire in Gaza," said a State Department official.

Barack Obama, who takes over as U.S. president from George W. Bush on January 20, broke his silence about the violence on Tuesday, saying the loss of civilian lives in Gaza and in Israel was a "source of deep concern for me."

Obama added he would adhere to his principle that only Bush should be the voice of U.S. foreign policy at this time but he would have plenty to say after his inauguration in two weeks.

Nonetheless, Obama said that he is "not backing at all from what I've said during the campaign we're going to engage effectively and consistently in the peace process. We've got plenty to say about Gaza, and on January 20, you'll hear directly from me."

British PM Brown: This is the Mideast's darkest moment yet

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday he hoped the basis could be found for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, calling the recent escalation in violence the "darkest moment yet" for the Middle East.

"I am hopeful that the basis on which an immediate ceasefire can take place can be found. It obviously depends on what we do on the crossings, what we do on the tunnels, what we do about the supply and trafficking in arms and what security we can give to both the Palestinian people and the Israeli people," he told reporters.

Sarkozy to Assad: Press Hamas to accept Gaza truce

French President Sarkozy earlier Tuesday urged Syria to exert pressure on its ally Hamas in order to help end the fighting in the Gaza Strip between the militant Palestinian group and Israel.

Meanwhile, his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad slammed the Israeli assault on the coastal strip as a "war crime" and "barbaric," an aggression that Israel must halt.

Sarkozy's visit to the Syrian capital is part of a whirlwind Mideast tour amid European diplomatic efforts to push a cease-fire proposal to stop Israel's expanding ground and air offensive on the Hamas-ruled area. More than nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed since the assault began on Dec. 27.

Speaking to reporters at a joint press conference with Assad, Sarkozy urged the parties to move forward to end the fighting in Gaza and stressed there can be no military solution for the conflict, now in its 11th day.

"Pressure should be exerted on all parties involved, including Hamas, in order for the guns to fall silent and peace to return," Sarkozy said. "President Bashar Assad can play a major role in this. Syria must help us to convince Hamas to choose the voice of reason and peace."

Syria, along with Iran, is a major backer of Hamas and Damascus hosts the exiled political leadership of Hamas and other radical Palestinian factions.

In the past, Assad refused Israeli and U.S. demands to drop support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, saying armed resistance against Israel is justified as long as there is occupation. Only briefly in 2003, he bowed to U.S. pressure and temporarily closed Hamas offices in Damascus.

Assad said he agreed with Sarkozy on the need for a quick resolution to the humanitarian tragedy and for a cease-fire, Israeli withdrawal and the lifting of Gaza's siege. Assad made no mention of Hamas ceasing to attack Israel.

"What is happening is a war crime," he said of the Israeli ground and air assault on Gaza, adding that Israel will not be able to finish off Hamas.

Sarkozy stressed there can be no return to the way things were when Hamas militants fired rockets into Israel.

"Returning to the status quo as it was before is unacceptable by all sides," Sarkozy said. "Israel wants to guarantee its security and the Palestinians in Gaza want the reopening of the crossings ... We must replace spiral of violence with spiral of peace in Gaza."

Firing rockets on Israel is unacceptable and must stop, Sarkozy added.

He called for sending immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza and underlined the need for opening horizons fast to resume peace negotiations.

Sarkozy has also talked with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli leaders and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during this tour. His next stop is Lebanon.

Egypt urges Syria-based Hamas leadership to accept Gaza truce

Meanwhile, Egypt on Tuesday stepped up its pressure on the Syria-based Hamas leadership to accept a cease-fire in the fighting in the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli offensive for 11 days.

Egyptian officials close to the negotiations under way in Cairo said the country's influential intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, has urged Hamas envoys to get the Islamist group to cooperate on international efforts to end the conflict.

The Egyptian side wants the Palestinian Hamas group to cooperate with regional and international efforts to end the Gaza conflict, now in its 11th day, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

"The message Hamas is getting [from Suleiman] is that without a cease-fire the Palestinians will be in a grave danger and every thing they have achieved so far will be gone," said one of the Egyptian officials.

Meanwhile, Italy expressed support on Tuesday for Sarkozy's diplomatic attempt to end fighting in Gaza, appearing to back off suggestions the mission might weaken European Union efforts toward a cease-fire.

"Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini was following developments, including unfortunately, the not completely satisfactory European mission, especially regarding the request for an immediate cease-fire," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Along with Sarkozy, an EU delegation, including policy chief Javier Solana has been touring the region. Solana attended the press conference by the Syrian and French presidents.

During a stop in Egypt on Monday, Solana said European monitors who were once on Gaza's border with Egypt would be ready to return to work at the crossing after a cease-fire in Gaza is achieved.

 

30 Doden bij treffer op VN school in Gaza

 

Zo horen de media een incident te rapporteren: laat mensen van beide kanten aan het woord, en geef alle relevante feiten. Op het acht uur journaal leek het alsof Israel de school expres had gebombardeerd, en CNN was niet veel beter. "We hadden de lokatie van de school aan het Israelische leger doorgegeven" aldus een UNRWA vertegenwoordiger daar. 'Hoe kan dat brute Israel dan toch aanvallen?' denk je dan. 'Ze haten de Palestijnen blijkbaar zozeer, en ze zijn zo wanhopig, dat ze nu ook maar scholen gaan bombarderen'. Vervolgens schrijven deze mensen woedende comments op de Volkskrant en elders waarin ze Israel met de nazi's vergelijken en Gaza met het getto van Warschau. Wellicht was het IDF onderzoek nog niet beschikbaar, maar het journaal had er toch wel op kunnen wijzen dat de school eerder is gebruikt door terroristen, en dat ze dit vaker doen? Men had op zijn minst iemand van het leger aan het woord kunnen laten in plaats van een langdradig en weinig informatief verhaal over drie mannen bij de grens met Rafah.

 

RP

---------

 

Zie ook: Mortiergranaten afgevuurd van voor de VN school - film op YouTube

Zie ook: Israelische persverklaring over tragedie VN school in Jebalya - Gaza 
 

Jan 6, 2009 10:29 | Updated Jan 7, 2009 0:45
30 killed in blast at UN school in Gaza
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231167272256&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

By YAAKOV KATZ

 

 

At least 30 Palestinians were killed and over 50 wounded in an IDF attack on a Hamas rocket squad based in a UN school in Jabalya on Tuesday, military sources said.

 

Dr. Bassam Abu Warda, director of Kamal Radwan Hospital, said 34 people were killed by an Israeli strike outside the school. The UN confirmed that 30 were killed and 55 were wounded by tank shells.

 

The school grounds were being used by terrorists to fire mortar shells at troops stationed nearby, and the soldiers responded by firing mortars back, the army said. According to the IDF, the dead included members of the Hamas rocket cell, including senior operatives Imad Abu Askhar and Hassan Abu Askhar.

 

Defense officials told The Associated Press that booby-trapped bombs in the school had triggered secondary explosions that killed additional Palestinians there.

 

The army noted that Tuesday was not the first time Hamas had attacked Israel from within a school. The IDF released a video taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle in late 2007 showing terrorists firing mortars from right outside a school.

 

"Hamas has in the past fired at Israel and at troops from inside schools, [exploiting] civilians, as is proven by UAV footage," the army said.
 
The UN said hundreds of people from a Gaza City refugee camp had gone to seek shelter in the school from the IDF's offensive.

 

"There's nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized," said John Ging, an Irishman who is the top UN official in Gaza.

 

"I am appealing to political leaders here, in Israel, and in the region and the world to get their act together and stop this," Ging said, speaking at the Strip's largest hospital. "They are responsible for these deaths."

 

Maxwell Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, demanded an investigation.

 

"As one of the most densely populated places in the world, it is clear that more civilians will be killed," Gaylard said.

 

"These tragic incidents need to be investigated, and if international humanitarian law has been contravened, those responsible must held accountable."

 

Earlier Tuesday, seven Palestinians were killed in several separate incidents. One young man was killed in an attack on a Hamas charity building, a 15-year-old was killed in an air force attack in the center of Gaza City and five people were killed when their house in the eastern part of Gaza City was shelled.

 

Palestinians also said nine members of the same family were killed in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City, six of them children. Three other people were reportedly killed in the strike.

 

AP contributed to this report.

Israelische persverklaring over tragedie VN school in Jebalya - Gaza

 

Helaas had het acht uur journaal niks over het cynische gebruik van burgers door Hamas. Hamas was er waarschijnlijk op uit op deze manier Israel in discrediet te brengen, om zo de druk op Israel de militaire campagne te beëindigen te vergroten. Wellicht een teken dat Israels operatie tot nu toe succesvol was tegen Hamas. De kinderen die zijn omgekomen bij dit bombardement zijn met deze verklaring natuurlijk niet geholpen; zij zijn echter in de eerste plaats het slachtoffer van een cynisch leiderschap dat liever bunkers voor zichzelf bouwt dan voor de burgers, dat een stelsel van onderaardse gangen heeft gecreëerd en duizenden raketten gefabriceerd om Israel te terroriseren, terwijl de bevolking aan van alles tekort heeft en het gelag moet betalen.

 

Ratna & Wouter
------------------------------------

From: Israel Government Press Office [mailto:gponews@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 10:24 PM

 

IDF SPOX & MFA PRESS RELEASES REGARDING THE SCHOOL IN JEBALYA
IDF SPOX: HAMAS OPERATIVES KILLED IN UNRWA SCHOOL
(Communicated by the IDF Spokesperson)

 

After an investigation that took place over the past hour it has been found that amongst the dead at the Jabalya school were Hamas terror operatives and a mortar battery cell who were firing on IDF forces in the area. Hamas operatives Imad Abu Askhar and Hassan Abu Askhar were amongst terrorists that were identified to be killed.

 

"We face a very delicate situation where the Hamas is using the citizens of Gaza as a protective vest," IDF Spokesperson Brig. General Avi Benayahu said following the incident.

 

IDF SPOX: VIDEO OF MORTARS FIRED FROM UN SCHOOL (ARCHIVE)
In this October 2007 footage from an unmanned plane, terrorists are seen firing mortars from the yard of an UNRWA school.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmXXUOs27lI&feature=channel_page

 

MFA: BEHIND THE HEADLINES – THE TRAGEDY AT THE SCHOOL IN JEBALIYA

(Communicated by the MFA Spokesman)

 

Link: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Ttragedy_school_Jebaliya_6-Jan-2009.htm
or
http://tinyurl.com/87v9cd

 

Preliminary Background Briefing

 

Today, a reported 30 Palestinians were killed in a heartrending tragedy at a school in Jabalya.  Initial investigations indicate that Hamas terrorists fired mortar bombs from the area of the school towards Israeli forces, who returned fire towards the source of the shooting. The Israeli return fire landed outside the school, yet a series of explosions followed, indicating the probable presence of munitions and explosives in the building. Intelligence indicates that among those killed were Immad Abu Iskar and Hassan Abu Iskar, two known Hamas mortar crewmen.

 

Innocent civilians should not have died. However, it is vitally important to understand how this horrific incident occurred and who truly bears the responsibility for it.
Hamas began the current conflict when, three weeks ago it unilaterally violated the state of calm, and launched unprovoked rocket and mortar barrages on Israeli cities.

 

This act of aggression was a clear violation of international law, and highlights a basic fact - not a single Israeli nor a single Palestinian would have been hurt had Hamas not launched its brutal attacks.

 

Israel had to respond. No government would stand idly by while its citizens are subjected to rockets and mortar attacks. Self-defense is an inherent right, and responsibility of every state. It is enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and remains a cornerstone of international law.

 

While the investigation of the incident continues, one crucial detail is already apparent: this tragedy occurred because Hamas consistently uses its own population as human shields. While betting that Israel will hesitate to strike back at areas with civilians present, Hamas covers its bet with the knowledge that should civilians be harmed, Hamas still wins since Israel will be censured by the world's media.

 

The best way to avoid the use of Palestinians as human shields is for the international community to begin to place the blame where it truly belongs - on the Hamas terrorists who exploit the suffering of their own people for political gain. Only the consorted international censure of Hamas will cause that terrorist organization to stop this perverted practice.

 

While Hamas exploits its own civilians as human shields as it deliberately targets the civilians of Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) does its best to avoid harming civilians on either side. Many Israeli anti-terrorists operations have been aborted at the last minute, due to the untimely presence of civilians in the target area. Unfortunately, tragedies happen in wartime, particularly when one side violates international law by firing while hiding behind civilians.

 

During its operations in Gaza, the IDF is making every effort to comply with the two basic legal tests of international humanitarian law: (1) are the targets legitimate military objectives and (2) is an action likely to cause disproportionate damage to the civilian population and their property.

 

Israel faces a particular challenge with regards to determining the legitimacy of intended targets. The presence of civilians in an area of conflict does not stop a military objective from being a legitimate target. This is both the letter of international law and a reflection of state practice. The deliberate positioning of Hamas military targets among Palestinian civilians presents a problem with which Israel must consistently contend.

 

The Iranian-backed Hamas, as a matter of strategy, refuses to uphold one of most fundamental requirements of international humanitarian law - that of distinguishing between combatants/military instillations and civilians/civilian properties. It follows therefore that while Israel does all it can to avoid harming non-combatants, under international law, any collateral injury to them is the responsibility of the Hamas, which deliberately chooses to operate from civilian structures and fire behind human shields.

 

HAMAS EXPLOITATION OF CIVILIANS AS HUMAN SHIELDS
(Communicated by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC)
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hamas_e028.htm

or

http://tinyurl.com/9bd7ua

Analogieën met Gaza Oorlog: Als Mexico Texas zou bestoken met raketten...

 

Een perfect antwoord op de volkomen absurde vergelijkingen die in de vele online comments worden gemaakt. Iedere vergelijking gaat op bepaalde gebieden mank, maar deze van Bradley Burston zijn stukken realistischer dan de 'wat zou jij doen als de Friezen opeens je huis opeisen' nonsens die weer dikwijls te horen is.

 

RP

-----------

 

Gaza War Diary III: If Mexico shelled Texas, like Hamas shells Israel

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052866.html

By Bradley Burston

Last update - 23:51 05/01/2009

 

 

Analogy One: A fanatical religious party wins a string of elections in Mexico's northern states, then stages a civil war to drive out the federal government and take full control.

The party's charter demands the return to Mexico of the occupied territories of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas.

Firing homemade rockets and more advanced projectiles smuggled in from Iran and China, the party's gunners can hit a total of one of every seven Americans, or 43,598,000 people, in a broad swath which includes Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Austin, San Antonio and Houston, and Las Vegas.
In all of these areas, pre-schools, grade schools, and universities are all forced to shut down. Families sleep in bomb shelters, and return to them several times a day during air raids. Businesses are shuttered, and the economy shuts down.

______________________

Analogy Two: A man comes into your home. He has a gun he made himself. He points it at your family. He fires, but misses. The gun has little accuracy. He fires repeatedly, missing again and again.

You have a much better gun, made in a real factory. It is in the drawer in the bedroom.

Demonstrators in London and San Francisco - who are distant relatives of the gunman - stage a protest, calling you a murderer and demanding that you keep the well-made gun in the drawer because it would be a disproportionate response.

The man with the homemade gun, it turns out, is a religious fanatic who lives across the street. You were once his landlord. There is much bad blood between you.

He races back across the street. He has a larger weapon that he smuggled in through his basement. He shoots from behind his younger son. He wounds your daughter. You take out a rifle. You aim for him and hit the son, killing the boy.

The demonstrators are now calling you a Nazi and chant "Slaughter the Landlord!"

[In his defense, the neighbor explains that you have kept him and his family locked in the house, and have at times, failed to pay his water, gas and electric bills, causing them to be turned off.

This is some years after the neighbor send out his older son, nicely dressed, to knock on your door. Your older daughter opens the door. He greet her politely, and presses the detonator on a homemade bomb.]

______________________

And finally a word about...

Analogy Three: Gaza as the Warsaw Ghetto

Jew-haters the world over adore this one. It solves a number of problems at once:

It denies and diminishes and exploits the Holocaust, does disrespect to Holocaust victims and survivors alike, alleviates European guilt over complicity with the Nazis, alleviates American guilt over inaction in the face of the annihilation machine, misrepresents both the cruel reality of the Gaza Strip and the cruel reality of the ghetto, dismisses the humanity and the vulnerability of the million Israeli Jews and Arabs within rocket range, and ignores completely the role of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in having sent thousands and thousands and thousands of rockets and mortars into Israel.

As a bonus, pro-Palestinian demonstrators in San Francisco [where else?], referencing the the Warsaw Ghetto analogy, recently beat up a small number of pro-Israel demonstrators, reportedly shouting "Slaughter the Jew" at them in Arabic.

Way to bring peace.

Arabische media over smokkeltunnels en weerstand tegen Israelisch standpunt belichten

 

Vooral het eerste stuk over de tunnels en hoe Israel hoopt te voorkomen dat Hamas straks weer nieuwe tunnels kan bouwen en zich herbewapenen, is interessant. Hier word beweerd, en dat neem ik ook aan, dat het vooral van eventuele nieuwe tunnels af zal hangen in hoeverre Hamas zich straks weer kan herstellen. Dit is in de media echter nogal onderbelicht.

 

RP

----------

Excerpts: Smuggling tunnels: Egypt to Gaza. No coverage of Israeli side
January 05, 2009

 

+++SAUDI GAZETTE 5 Dan.'09:"Israel seeks closing tunnels on Egypt's border - officials "
By Adam Entous and Dan Williams ,Reuters

 

QUOTE:"Israel estimated there were hundreds of smuggling tunnels. Palestinians say there were at least 3,000."

 

JERUSALEM - Israel has conditioned any halt to its Gaza Strip offensive on international backing for new fortifications and monitoring on the Egyptian border to prevent Hamas from rebuilding tunnels and rearming, officials said.

 

The sandy, 14 km (9 mile)-long Gaza-Egypt frontier has long been criss-crossed by a network of tunnels which allowed Palestinians in the coastal enclave to smuggle in weapons and commercial goods, circumventing an Israeli-led blockade.

 

Israel's eight-day-old assault on Gaza has included several air force sorties in which "bunker buster" bombs were dropped on the so-called Philadelphi corridor, exploding underground and sending out shockwaves designed to collapse the secret passages.

 

Military officials said the objective was to destroy all of the tunnels, and the Israeli government has said it wants assurances that they will not be dug anew after any ceasefire.

 

"The issue of rearming is fundamental. We want to prevent Hamas from being rearmed like Hezbollah was after the Lebanon war," a senior Israeli official said, referring to the 34-day conflict with the Lebanese Shi'ite guerrilla group in 2006, which ended with the beefing up of a UN peacekeeper force.

 

Officials said Israel was so far unsatisfied with European proposals for ending the offensive by establishing an "international presence" along the Egyptian-Gaza border.

 

Israel wants any monitors to be heavily armed and equipped to search and destroy tunnels, which Hamas and other Palestinian factions guard jealously given their strategic importance.

 

A second Israeli official said Israel proposed the United States make its Army Corps of Engineers available to tackle the tunnels, and that the American response was "positive," though talks were still under way.

 

One ambitious option, Israeli officials said, was to build an underground wall on the Egyptian side of the Philadelphi corridor, but doing so would take many months and it was unclear whether Cairo would agree.

 

The Corps of Engineers has worked on the tunnels issue before but the effort has been limited, officials said.

 

A Western official familiar with the current Israeli-US discussions said: "The US position would be that it would want to prevent further smuggling of items between Egypt and Gaza."

 

Taking out the tunnels would make it difficult for Hamas to recover, both as a military organization and as a government.

 

"Theoretically, if those 9 miles are denied to Hamas as a resupply route, then Hamas is going to find it very, very difficult to govern, let alone smuggle in Grad and Katyusha rockets," said Matt Levitt, a US expert on militant financing and former senior Treasury official.

 

But without fortifications and a more serious crackdown along the Egyptian border, Israel believes the tunnels can be reestablished in as little as 3-6 months, officials said.

 

Before the current offensive, Israel estimated there were hundreds of smuggling tunnels. Palestinians say there were at least 3,000.

 

The tunnels include deep passages wide enough to bring through items as large as Katyusha rockets and farm animals. Leading to these are a matrix of smaller access shafts. - Reuters

 

+++JORDAN TIMES 5 Jan,'09:"Journalists urge Arab media outlets to stop interviewing Israeli officials"
By Thameen Kheetan

 

QUOTE:"campaign urging the Arab media to refrain from interviewing Israeli officials"

 

EXCERPTS:AMMAN - A group of Jordanian journalists have started a campaign urging the Arabic media to refrain from interviewing Israeli officials in order to avoid "justifying" ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip.

 

In a statement published on the Amman-based Khaberny news website, media activists said Israelis "exploit" the Arab media to "promote the Zionist perspective of the aggression and massacres" occurring in the besieged coastal enclave.

 

The website said it posted the statement which, as of yesterday, attracted the signatures of 44 journalists since last Sunday, one day after Israeli air strikes began hitting Gaza and claiming the lives of more than 485 people.

 

According to activists, "serving the Palestinian cause" during times of crisis is more important than journalistic codes of conduct.
"In such a situation, professionalism should be placed aside and the national mood should take priority," former president of the Jordan Press Association Tareq Momani told The Jordan Times, .  .  .

 

==============================================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA

Ook in VS extremisten op anti-Israel demonstraties

Demonstrant met anti-Israel bord op protestbijeenkomst tegen de Gaza operatie in Tampa, Florida vorige week.


Niet alleen in Nederland maar ook in de VS zijn demonstraties tegen Israel in de ban van extreme antizionisten en antisemieten. Net als in Nederland wordt Israel met de nazi's vergeleken, wordt opgeroepen tot geweld tegen Israel en wordt haar bestaansrecht ontkend.
Antizionisme is in de praktijk zeer dikwijls ook antisemitisme.

 

RP

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Demonstrators cry 'nuke Israel,' carry Hezbollah flags at U.S. anti-Israel rallies
By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent
Last update - 23:00 05/01/2009
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052901.html

 

Comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany and signs depicting the Star of David as equal to the swastika have been a recurring feature at rallies in the United States protesting Operation Cast Lead, the Anti-Defamation League said on Monday.

Though they lack the violence of their counterparts in the Middle East, protests held in the United States against Operation Cast Lead have included extreme rhetoric that wouldn't look out of place among the extremists of our region.

In New York City's Times Square on Saturday, some demonstrators called for someone to 'nuke Israel', and held signs that read 'Israel: The Fourth Reich,' 'Holocaust by Holocaust Survivors,' and a placard with images of Holocaust victims along Gazans with the words 'Nazi Genocide, Israeli Genocide,' below.

Many of the demonstrators also carried home-made Hezbollah flags, something also seen at a rally Sunday in Washington, D.C.

At the demonstration in Washington, DC, signs called the operation in Gaza 'Israeli-US genocide of the Palestinian people,' while others accused Israel of carrying out a 'Palestinian Holocaust.'

These same "peace activists" chanted in support of violence against Israel and accused the IDF of carrying out wide-scale ?murder of innocent people.'

Pedestrians who passed the protest, held outside the White House, were also treated to demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and shouting 'Allahu Akbar', and the chant 'Azza, Azza, don't you cry, Palestine will never die.'

A demonstration in Tampa, Florida last week featured demonstrators carrying signs reading 'Zionism is Cancer, Radiate it,' as well as a number of signs with the word 'Nazi' written over an Israeli flag with a swastika instead of a Star of David.

Similar signs appeared at a San Diego, California demonstration, including ones reading: 'Stop the Israeli Third Reich,' 'Israel is a Terrorist State,' 'Israeli Zionism = Nazism,' 'Stop the Israeli Holocaust on Gaza,' 'Israel is the old South Africa,' and 'Stop the Massacre in Gaza.'

'Freedom of speech is not just a right, it is also a responsibility,' Anti-Defamation League Chairman Abraham H. Foxman said Sunday.

'Comparisons of Israel to the Nazis are a deeply cynical perversion of history, an attempt to turn the tragedy that befell the Jewish people into a bludgeon against Israel. While we have come to expect to see such and hear this type of inflammatory rhetoric in Arab and Muslim capitals overseas, it is deeply disturbing that it is appearing in anti-Israel demonstrations at home. Offensive Holocaust comparisons and the use of Nazi imagery are deeply offensive and have no place in a civil society such as ours.'

Drie IDF soldaten omgekomen in Gaza door Israelische granaat

 

Er vallen veel doden en gewonden te betreuren in de Gazastrook, en hoewel de Israelische akties gerechtvaardigd zijn, is het steeds weer schrikken en slikken. Het grondoffensief schijnt naar zijn aard meer burgerslachtoffers aan Palestijnse - en militaire slachtoffers aan Israelische - zijde te eisen dan de gerichte bombardementen uit de lucht. Dat de meeste slachtoffers nu burgers zouden zijn, zoals vooral Arabische bronnen en hun sympatisanten beweren, is zeer twijfelachtig, en dat gericht op burgers wordt geschoten is gewoon een leugen. Het cynische gebruik van burgers als menselijke schilden door Hamas, dat zich expres in de stad onder de burgers ophoudt omdat ze weten dat Israel zal proberen om burgerdoden te vermijden, is mede debet aan de burgerslachtoffers, en maakt Hamas des te meer verantwoordelijk.

 

Wouter

_____________

Last update - 03:52 06/01/2009

Three IDF soldiers killed, one critically wounded in Gaza blast
By Amos Harel, Fadi Eyadat, Yanir Yagna, and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053120.html


Three Israel Defense Forces soldiers from the Golani brigade were killed and about 20 others wounded, one critically, after an errant IDF tank shell hit a building in which they were operating.

The friendly fire incident is the most grave so far for IDF troops in 10 days of Operation Cast Lead.

IDF battalion commander Colonel Avi Peled was lightly wounded in the incident, but refused to be taken for treatment and directed the evacuation of all the wounded troops and called in artillery fire and IAF air strikes on enemy targets before evacuating himself from the scene.

The number of Palestinian dead Monday was estimated at about 100, although no official figure has been given.

The IDF tightened its hold Monday over the outskirts of the built-up area of Gaza City as it traded fire with Hamas militants.

The major firefight started at around 6:30 P.M. Monday in the Sajaiyeh neighborhood in east Gaza City. According to preliminary information gathered by the IDF, Hamas attacked with mortar shells that exploded near the troops.

Troops then apparently took shelter behind the wall of a building, after which a large explosion took place.

Twenty soldiers were wounded in the blast, 12 of them seriously. One was evacuated by helicopter to Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.

Hamas responded with additional mortar fire. In one of the strikes, near the border, two Israelis were wounded, one of them moderately.

Sajaiyeh, together with its adjacent neighborhoods, has been considered a Hamas stronghold for several years.

Sources in the IDF said the advance of the forces into the Strip forced the rocket-launching teams to retreat somewhat, with Sajaiyeh identified as main launch location. Practically no launches were seen from areas in which the IDF had taken control.

Still, over 40 Qassam and Grad rockets were fired Monday from Gaza at southern Israel striking Ashkelon, Ashdod, Sderot, Kiryat Malakhi, near Ofakim, Netivot and Be'er Sheva. Hamas also fired rockets at the area between Ashdod and Gedera. A number of people in Sderot were treated for shock, and in Ashdod a rocket nearly destroyed a kindergarten. Inside Gaza, eight soldiers were slightly injured in other incidents in the Strip yesterday.

Over the past two days there have been at least two cases in which soldiers have been injured in 'friendly fire,' one by machine gun fire and one during the detonation of an explosive device.

Monday was the third day of the ground phase of Cast Lead. Sources in the General Staff said the day was spent 'expanding and deepening' control by forces on the ground. The IDF is now surrounding Gaza on the three land sides and maintaining a sea blockade. The Gaza Strip has also been sliced in two in the area where the Israeli settlement of Netzarim once stood.

IDF troops are going out on ambushes and attacks known as 'response-stimulating' operations.

The General Staff estimated 100 Palestinians were killed Monday in five battles at various locations around the Strip. However, it appears that a large number of the dead were civilians.

The IDF arrested at least 80 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Monday.

The infantry forces advanced yesterday under cover of heavy artillery and helicopter fire.

The Israel Air Force continued Monday to bomb tunnels on the border at Rafah, to prevent their renewed use by Hamas as supply tunnels along the Philadelphi Route.

A few of the approximately 80 Palestinians arrested by afternoon yesterday admitted in their initial interrogation to membership in Hamas. They were transferred to temporary detention facilities inside Israel.

According to reports from the Strip, extended firefights took place Monday in the Zeitun area as well as the northern strip, not far from the former Palestinian Authority liaison offices. The IDF bombarded the area heavily.

Over the past 24 hours, two Palestinian families were killed. In the Shati refugee camp the parents and five children of the Abu Aisha family were killed. In the Zeitun neighborhood, the seven members of the Salmuni family were killed. In another incident, a pregnant Palestinian woman and her four children were killed.


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Fatah terroristen steunen Hamas in strijd tegen Israel

 

Volgens het Palestijnse Ma'an nieuws vechten ook enkele leden van de aan Fatah geliëerde Al Aqsa Martelaren Brigades mee aan de zijde van Hamas. Zij krijgen hun salaris van de Palestijnse Autoriteit, en die krijgt zijn geld om salarissen uit te betalen, juist ja, van de Europese Unie.

 

RP
---------

http: //www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34598
Five Al-Aqsa Brigades fighters wounded in battles with Israeli forces in Gaza
Date: 04 / 01 / 2009  Time:  19:03


Gaza – Ma'an – The Al-Aqsa Brigades, an armed group loyal to Fatah, has confirmed that five of its fighters were wounded in battles with Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.

According to the group, the most recent fighting has taken place neat the Karni border crossing (Al-Mintar) and the abandoned Israeli settlement Neizarim, south of Gaza City. At Neizarim, two brothers, Ahmad and Muhammad Al-Busheiti, have been seriously injured.

The Al-Aqsa Brigades say they have also fought Israeli troops in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in the north, and Rafah in the south.

They also said they detonated a bomb as Israeli forces passed Netzarim.

 

Video: "Kinderen van Hamas"

 

Deze video laat zien hoe Hamas kleine kinderen indoctrineert en klaarstoomt voor de strijd tegen Israel. Hamas' retoriek over de onschuldige slachtoffers die door Israels operatie zijn gevallen, is om verschillende redenen nogal hypocriet:

 

* Hamas probeert zelf zoveel mogelijk onschuldige Israelische burgers te treffen; dat dat niet beter lukt kun je Israel niet kwalijk nemen en ontzegt haar niet het recht  tegen Hamas terug te vechten.

 

* Hamas gebruikt zelf kinderen in de strijd.

 

* Hamas verschuilt zich achter vrouwen en kinderen, en als die vervolgens bij een Israelische operatie omkomen, heeft men weer een slag gewonnen in de propagandastrijd.

 

Beelden zeggen vaak meer dan woorden, dit is zo'n voorbeeld. Stuur door zou ik zeggen.

 

RP

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Children of Hamas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTGbP55HGi8

 

 

Iran heeft 70.000 zelfmoordterroristen klaarstaan om Israel aan te vallen

 

70.000 Mensen opofferen vanwege een militaire campagne die aan 500 Palestijnen, waarvan driekwart strijders, het leven heeft gekost. Hoe erg moet je van haat jegens Israel doordrenkt zijn om je eigen zonen en dochters hiertoe op te roepen? Maar dat is voor de critici van Israel natuurlijk geen enkel probleem, sterker nog, Israel veroorzaakt volgens hen al die haat, Iran is een vredelievend land dat slechts opkomt voor het recht van de Palestijnen op onafhankelijkheid. Zoals ik ook meermaals op de Volkskrant online heb mogen lezen: het feit dat de Joden overal zo werden gehaat, betekent dat ze het daar blijkbaar ook zelf naar maakten...

RP
------------

Last update - 22:30 05/01/2009

Iran: We have 70,000 suicide bombers ready to strike Israel
By The Associated Press
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052894.html


More than 70,000 Iranian student volunteers have registered to carry out suicide bombings against Israel because of Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.

According to the official IRNA news agency, hardline student leader Esmaeil Ahmadi says the students want to fight Israel in support of Hamas - Gaza's Islamic militant rulers.

Five hard-line student groups and a conservative clerical group launched a registration drive last week to ask the government to allow them to stage the suicide attacks.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government has not responded to the call yet.

The government never responded to similar requests in the past. This raises the likelihood that the calls are mainly for propaganda purposes

 

 

Hoeveel tijd heeft het IDF nog voor de Gaza operatie?

 

Er komt momenteel weinig nieuws uit Gaza, omdat de Israelische militaire censuur dat tegenhoudt. Dat vergroot de kans dat geruchten als nieuws worden gebracht, zoals het bericht gisteren dat twee Israelische militairen zouden zijn ontvoerd door Hamas. Vanavond op het acht uur journaal sprak Sander van Hoorn van een zware klap die Hamas Israel zou hebben toegebracht, doordat Israelische soldaten in een hinderlaag waren gelopen. In het late journaal drukte hij zich iets voorzichtiger uit, en maakte duidelijk dat dit alleen van Palestijnse bronnen afkomstig was. Wat ervan waar is en hoeveel soldaten zijn omgekomen, is dus niet bekend. CNN is overigens vanavond opgehouden met het bijna non-stop berichten over de Gaza crisis, nadat men twee dagen lang dezelfde interviews met Saeb Erekat, Tzipi Livni, Palestijnse bloggers en anderen had uitgezonden.

 

RP

-----------

 

Last update - 21:02 05/01/2009       
ANALYSIS / How much time is left for the IDF to operate in Gaza?
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052597.html

 

 

The eastern outskirts of Gaza City was where the Israel Defense Forces encountered the most serious resistance yet since the Gaza ground incursion began Saturday. Troops who raided the home of a Hamas man in the area Sunday discovered that the house served as cover for the entrance of no fewer than three underground tunnels, from which Hamas gunmen fled to nearby houses and fired.

 

In one tunnel, Hamas gunmen got into a close-range battle with a soldier from the Golani Brigade who got separated from the other troops. It appears the Palestinians tried to abduct the soldier by dragging him into the tunnel. He managed to get away and rejoin the other troops. That's the basis of the rumor Hamas spread Sunday, when it claimed to have kidnapped two soldiers.

 

The rumor, which foreign television stations turned into a report, also leaked to the Israeli press and increased public fears for several hours. The IDF spokesman put off issuing a denial for several hours (during which Hamas spread additional wrong reports), reinforcing the notion that there was no reason to get dragged along by the enemy's media manipulations.

 

In the same area, a Golani soldier was killed and several others were wounded by mortar fire. For Gaza veterans, the tough battles were no surprise. Ali Muntar, a hilltop on Gaza City's eastern outskirts, has long been considered the gate through which Gaza's conquerors arrive.

 

In the meantime, it looks like the IDF plan is progressing as expected. The key question is how much time the army has left. Some General Staff members hoped the government would call off the ground incursion if an appropriate exit plan was developed in time. That turned out to be a fruitless expectation. It appears French President Nicolas Sarkozy's arrival will restart diplomacy.

 

At this point, Egypt is expected to play an important role, despite the tensions between Cairo and Hamas. Egypt wants to see Hamas bleed before it gets fully into the role of mediator. Cairo is now waiting for a formal request by the Arab League before it intervenes. On the other hand, Egypt observes what its population wants, and Egyptians - like people across the Arab world - are rooting for Hamas and holding protests against Israel.

 

It would be a mistake to see the war in Gaza as a rerun of the Second Lebanon War. The Israeli position looks better now because the IDF is better trained and more prepared, the risk Hamas poses to the home front is lower than that posed by Hezbollah, and perhaps most important, Hamas has something to lose. The most important goal from Hamas' perspective is maintaining its hold on Gaza, and the Israeli operation poses a serious risk to that. All the same, it's not safe to assume that Hamas will collapse under Israeli military pressure. Israel also faces the danger of high casualties or abductions.

 

And so the reserve call-up portends bad news. Israeli society has not changed its approach to soldiers' deaths after the Lebanon failure. Wars in Israel are sometimes redefined as failures after the death of the first reservist. An extended stay in the Gaza dunes, which are liable to turn into a quagmire, would bring that eventuality closer.

De progressieve mening over de Gaza Oorlog

 

"The Meretz [USA] Executive condemns the killing of innocent Palestinians. Even an action to stop the terrorism against the [Israeli] communities surrounding Gaza does not justify hitting the innocent."

 

Deze logica tref je ook bij progressieve Nederlanders aan: ons land heeft zolang geen oorlog meer gekend, dat ze er geen benul van lijken te hebben dat het onmogelijk is een oorlog te voeren - althans te winnen! - zonder dat daarbij ook onschuldige burgers geraakt worden.

 

De SP heeft zulke problemen niet. Harry van Bommel presteerde het om zijn hele partij in discrediet te brengen door op een anti-Israel demonstratie mee te lopen en op te roepen tot een nieuwe intifada, terwijl achter hem portretten van de linkse revolutionairen Nasrallah en Meshaal werden hooggehouden en 'Hamas, Hamas, Joden aan het gas' werd gescandeerd. Het zal nog heel wat jaren duren eer ik weer op die partij kan stemmen...

 

Wouter

____________

The "correct" progressive opinion about Gaza

04.01. 2009
http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000645.html
Original content copyright by the author
Zionism & Israel Center http://zionism-israel.com

The Israeli ground operation in Gaza, which begun this evening, will no doubt enhance the chorus of "progressives" calling for negotiations and concessions to the Hamas. The strange phenomenon of "progressives" advocating legitimation, concessions and peace treaties with odious and repressive reactionary regimes is not new. In the summer of 1939, the then champion of the "progressive camp" signed a peace treaty with National Socialist Germany. While there were some progressives who were unhappy with this treaty, most lauded the virtues of "peaceful coexistence. In those days, that position was called "the correct Marxist-Leninist approach" by right thinking people. Today it would probably be styled "politically correct" or "progressive."

"Progressive" opinion in our time seems to have coalesced around a "correct" position regarding the Hamas. Namely, that it is necessary to appease, negotiate with and otherwise support the fortunes of this reactionary and genocidal organization. Like the 1939 "progressive" opinion regarding the Molotov-Von Ribbentrop pact, the current position is based on willful ignorance of the facts and moral bankruptcy. Unlike the case in 1939, the "correct" opinion is not enforced by an international repressive apparatus that will assassinate "deviationists" with an icepick if they have the "wrong" opinion. Yet the urge to conformity to conformity is so potent that otherwise decent people are caught up in the modish trend to legitimize a murderous group that spreads race hate, at the same time working to sabotage any chance for Middle East peace.

The extreme case may be represented by MeretzUSA. It is extreme, not because their statement is extreme, but because MeretzUSA claims to be a Zionist organization. Consider their first statement about the Gaza crisis, which included this gem, "Neither the Israeli government nor the Hamas are beyond reproach." Literally it is true. Nobody is beyond reproach. Even Mother Teresa probably killed some flies needlessly and had some unholy thoughts. But equating Israel with Hamas, and soft-pedaling the nature of Hamas by dramatic understatement is an outrage against decency, language and logic. The Hamas is an organization that insists on the truth of the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Hamas announces that every Jew must be killed before judgment day, that the Zionists and the Freemasons are "at fault" for "catastrophes" like the French revolution, and that Jihad is the only way. The significant difference between the Hamas and Germany in 1939, is that Hamas does not have Panzers or a Luftwaffe -- not yet.

Meretz issued a second statement which called, among other things, for direct negotiations with the Hamas. The statement also declared

The Meretz Executive condemns the killing of innocent Palestinians. Even an action to stop the terrorism against the [Israeli] communities surrounding Gaza does not justify hitting the innocent.

Regrettably, nobody has found a way to fight a war that does not kill any innocent people. It is all the more difficult in Gaza, since Hamas personnel hide in hospitals and mosques and Hamas declare their enthusiasm for using human shields. Could Nazism have been eliminated without hurting any innocent people? It is rather ironic to see a progressive statement barring the killing of any innocent people. After all, who taught us that the end justifies the means, and that sacrifices are needed for the success of the revolution?

The army of Hamas apologists comes in various tints, just as the army of USSR apologists came in various tints. Tom Carew of Safra VeSaifa has explained some of the thinking that underlies the protests of the worst of the Hamas groupies and fellow travelers. "Dialogue is always possible." The occupied people are "oppressed" and therefore permitted to do as they please. Carlos has discussed the self-deception of well meaning, "pro-Israel" dialogue people, which is based on the idea, for which there is no evidence whatever, that Hamas wants peace, and other specious assumptions. Hamas has spared no effort to ensure that everyone knows they will never make peace with Israel under any circumstances. They offer a 10 year truce if Israel first withdraws to 1949 borders AND allows millions of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel. But certain people seem intent on spreading "optimistic" disinformation.

Eric Lee was formerly a member of Kibbutz Ein-Dor, affiliated with the Meretz party, sometime author of the dovish BibiWatch and currently a British labor union activist (a real "activist" - not the kind who throws bombs) is a genuine progressive. Few people, and certainly not the salon socialists of the stylish British periodicals, have better real progressive credentials. Here is what he wrote about Israel's Gaza operation

This battle is the latest stage of a war that is entirely about whether a Jewish state will be allowed to exist in the land of Israel. On this point, both Hamas leaders and the Israelis are in agreement.

A strong case can be made that this battle is part of the endgame in that war. The decades-long conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors is slowly coming to an end. And Israel has won...

The first and most important consequence of Israel's military victories was the peace agreement with Egypt. It was the Egyptian army more than any other which posed an existential threat to Israel's existence. Once it was taken out of the picture, an Arab victory in the long war was no longer possible.

This was followed a decade later by the PLO decision to embrace a two-state solution, which lead directly to the Oslo accords. Israel now finds itself in the extraordinary situation of having its former worst enemy, Fatah, as its strategic ally.

It is in this context that Hamas' weakness and isolation must be understood. They are weak because they are the last redoubt of what was once a mighty enemy – an enemy that could deploy divisions across several fronts, and whose tanks and aircraft once threatened to reach Tel Aviv.

The defeat of Hamas and the re-insertion of Palestinian Authority control over Gaza – possibly enforced by a pan-Arab peace-keeping force including Egyptian troops – would the best possible outcome of the current fighting.

Were that to take place, the conditions for a renewal of the peace process in 2009 would be in place. With a Kadima-Labour government in power in Jerusalem and Obama in the White House, Fatah controlling both parts of the Palestinian territories – it would be the best chance in years for a final agreement on a two-state solution.

The bottom line for real progressives is that Hamas is not progressive, but reactionary. They aren't fighting to liberate anyone, but to place the Palestinian people, and if possible the Israelis too, under a repressive radical Islamist tyranny. The bottom line for those concerned about peace is that there is no way forward for the peace process as long as Hamas rules Gaza, and there will be no chance at all for peace if, as MeretzUSA and others have suggested, Israel or other countries were to legitimize Hamas through direct negotiations.

No sane person and no responsible government wants to go to war, but the situation in the Western Negev had become totally intolerable. Hamas and the other terror groups had been given every chance to make peace or find a Modus Vivendi for three years. Instead, Hamas gradually ratcheted up the rain of rockets and mortar fire so that each new level of terror came to be accepted as "tolerable." They were able to do so, in large part, because of the chorus of "progressives" who insisted that there was a negotiated solution in the offing, and that violent response was off limits. Ehud Barak, who will no doubt be portrayed eating Palestinian babies and drinking the blood of the Palestinian people by anti-Semitic European cartoonists, risked his political career by backing a "tahidiya" (lull) with the Hamas, just as he sacrificed his political career in 2000 by stubbornly pursuing a peace settlement. The result of the Tahidiya, which Hamas unilaterally abrogated, was that Hamas increased the range of their rockets to reach major Israeli cities. Not content with that, Hamas insisted that it would only renew the truce if Israel allowed them to import weapons with no supervision whatever. With rockets raining down daily on Israeli towns, Israeli extremist MKs proposed to try Ehud Barak for treason. Few countries would be as sensitive to humanitarian concerns or delay their response so long as Israel did.

MeretzUSA and everyone else are fully aware that it is not possible to make war without hurting innocent civilians. So when they demand that no civilians at all must be hurt, they are, in effect, forbidding Israel to defend itself under any circumstances. Had the current operation been carried out a year ago, there is no doubt that it would have resulted in less loss of life for both Israelis and Palestinians. That is the price of the "progressive" defense of the Hamas, just as the price of appeasing Nazi Germany was the horror of World War II. If the "progressive voices" want to find someone to blame for the carnage in Gaza, they need to look in the mirror.

Ami Isseroff

---

Original content is Copyright by the author 2009. Posted at ZioNation-Zionism and Israel Web Log, http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000645.html where your intelligent and constructive comments are welcome. Disributed by ZNN list. Subscribe by sending a message to ZNN-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Please forward by e-mail with this notice, cite this article and link to it. Other uses by permission only.

 

Benny Morris: Israel moet hard tegen Hamas en Iran optreden

 

Het grondprobleem is niet, zoals tegenwoordig heel hip is om te vinden, de bezetting, maar de Arabische weigering Israels legitimiteit te erkennen. Morris is wat dit betreft somber gestemd:

 

Only a change of mindset among the Palestinians, and the wider Arab and Islamic worlds, could allow for peace. And that's not going to happen as long as the Arab world is so strong (and growing stronger) and, at the same time, governed by a mentality of grievance and victimhood.

 

RP

--------

 

January 4, 2009

Israel has no choice but to be tough on Hamas - and Iran

 

The dangers from Tel Aviv's enemies are rising while its support around the world falls

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5439608.ece

Benny Morris

 

After a week of air assaults on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian retaliatory rocketing of Israel's southern cities, the Israeli leadership was at a crossroads. It had to decide whether to embark on a ground offensive or to call it quits and find a face-saving diplomatic endgame (which would leave Hamas with most of its military manpower and firepower intact).

A third alternative was to continue the air campaign while sending in ground forces with limited objectives, designed to curtail Hamas rocketing in specific sectors and to interdict Hamas resupply from Egypt through the tunnels under the Philadelphi axis along the Gaza-Sinai border. A number of Israeli brigades were massed along the Israel-Gaza border, and the troops, according to reports, were raring to go. Last night they went into Gaza.

I believe Israel is right to go ahead: to deliver ground incursions, in various sectors, to bleed Hamas and ultimately to destroy its will and ability to rocket Israel by occupying the border area permanently.

The Israeli cabinet, however, may be more cautious. It has apparently rejected the idea of conquering the strip and crushing Hamas - given the densely packed urban terrain, the limitations imposed by international and internal Israeli opinion and the cost in military and civilian lives.

These considerations are compounded by the fact that the defence minister and Labor party leader, Ehud Barak, and the foreign minister and Kadima party leader, Tzipi Livni, face general elections on February 10 and an electorate unwilling to countenance big sacrifices. At the same time, the leaders cannot allow Hamas to continue rocketing Beersheba, Ashkelon and Ashdod - cities with a total population of some 750,000.

From Israel's viewpoint, the problem is that Hamas, like Hezbollah, will remain - and at some point down the road it can be expected to harass or assault Israel, independently or in collaboration with Hezbollah or Iran. And the basic realities of the contemporary Middle East will remain the same, with Israelis continuing to feel boxed in and under threat.

Israeli foreboding has general sources and specific causes. The general problems are simple. First, the Arab and wider Islamic worlds have never accepted the legitimacy of Israel's creation or the continued existence of the Jewish state, notwithstanding Israel's peace treaties with the Egyptian and Jordanian regimes, signed respectively in 1979 and 1994.

Second, public support for Israel in the West (and in democracies, governments can't be far behind) has steadily withered over the past few decades, as the memory of the Holocaust - which in an ill-defined but general way underwrote Israel - has dimmed and as Arab power and assertiveness have surged. As well, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and its occasionally heavy-handed treatment of the Arabs have played a part.

More specifically, Israel faces a combination of dire short- and medium-term threats. To the east, Iran is advancing its nuclear project, which most Israelis and most of the world's intelligence services believe is designed to produce nuclear weapons. The fact that Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has repeatedly threatened Israel with destruction quite naturally leaves Israelis deeply perturbed.

In the next year or so, if the world community does not force the Iranians through diplomacy and economic sanctions to halt their nuclear programme, then either the US or Israel will have to attack and destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities.

To the north lies another threat: Hezbollah, a fundamentalist Shi'ite Muslim organisation that vows to destroy Israel and is funded by Iran. It has recovered from the thrashing it received in 2006 when Israeli forces struck into south Lebanon and reportedly now has an arsenal of 30,000-40,000 rockets, some of which can reach Tel Aviv and Dimona, the site of Israel's nuclear facility.

To the south, Hamas will remain Israel's implacable foe, its charter/constitution of 1988 proclaiming the necessity of Israel's destruction "at the hands of Islam".

Between 1948 and 1982 Israel coped relatively well with the conventional threats posed by the armies of the Arab states, trouncing them repeatedly. But the current threats are unconventional and pose a far more difficult challenge. This past week, Israel has taken on one of them, the Hamas rocketry; in future, it is likely to confront - in the absence of cogent western intervention - the far more dire threat of Iran's atomic programme.

Only a change of mindset among the Palestinians, and the wider Arab and Islamic worlds, could allow for peace. And that's not going to happen as long as the Arab world is so strong (and growing stronger) and, at the same time, governed by a mentality of grievance and victimhood.

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

Benny Morris teaches Middle East history at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and is author of 1948, A History of the First Arab-Israeli War

 

Gaza: heeft onderhandelen met Hamas zin?

 

Een gedegen kritiek op de veelgehoorde linkse stelling dat er met Hamas over vrede gepraat moet (en kan) worden.

 

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

 

THE CRISIS IN GAZA:

A Response to Rabbi Gopin, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, and the Jewish Left

by Carlos

http://www.peacewithrealism.org/headline/response_to_jewish_left_on_gaza.htm

January 1, 2009 - Yesterday Brit Tzedek v'Shalom held a "Town Hall Conference Call" on "The Crisis in Gaza: An On-Ground Report from Jerusalem." The featured speaker was Rabbi Mark Gopin, an expert on conflict resolution. I will summarize the views he expressed from notes I took during the conference. My analysis will follow.

SUMMARY

Gopin observed that the current Israeli action in Gaza was much better planned than the 2006 Lebanon war, and the intelligence Israel had is astounding. Much of it probably came from Fatah members who want to see Hamas defeated.

Gopin is squarely against the Israeli action in Gaza. He wants President-Elect Obama not to wait but to act immediately and possibly send John Kerry as an envoy to the Middle East.

Gopin says that using force as "a way to bring the Palestinians to the table" is futile. To eliminate the rocket fire from Gaza against the cities of southern Israel it would be better to have "a series of ceasefires of a long term nature." Gopin puts much hope in Obama's engagement with Syria and is looking forward to Obama's presidency.

He also advocates "serious negotiation" to eliminate the tunnels and the smuggling of missiles so as to prevent another Lebanon on Israel's southern border.

In response to a question about whether some amount of force might be necessary since Hamas has stated that its goal is Israel's destruction, Gopin stated: (what follows is a very close paraphrase)

There are different factions within the opposition, and even Hamas and Syria have right and left wings. People there are arguing about the future, trust vs. distrust, military vs. non-military solutions. It's just not as open, you can't follow it as well as with Israel. But there is a split within Hamas and we should test it. Test them by inviting them to come to the table. That will reveal the split within Hamas, and that can't be bad for Israel.

We made a mistake in Oslo when while moving to the left we dismissed the right's concerns about incitement and textbooks. We must now say these things are non-negotiable and tell Hamas: we cannot have a ceasefire while you are bringing in missiles from Iran. Insisting on our "right to exist" is an unrealistic demand - if the USSR had demanded our recognition of their right to exist, we would have had to accept their occupation of half of Europe.

After 10 years of ceasefire, the Palestinians will want peace and not want to go back to suicide bombing.

Gopin concluded with the following points:

There are elements within Hamas that want peace with Israel. Hamas has actually been sending signals that, within its own religious framework, it wants peace - a "ten-to-twenty-year" ceasefire is effectively a peace treaty as far as Hamas is concerned.

Israelis see the qassam rockets as the beginning of history, but the qassams must not be decoupled from the blockade that has made Gazans' lives miserable and must be understood within the context of Palestinian suffering.

One side of the Jewish community acutely feels the effects of centuries of humiliation and believes that Jews must strongly assert themselves and exact "two eyes for one eye." Another side - Gopin's side - realizes that Jews now have power and must learn to use it with restraint.

Finally, we need to model for Congress a new relationship between Arabs and Jews. This will be difficult because AIPAC has Congress so intimidated that it can't hear any criticism of Israel. We need to become a counter-influence, a force balancing AIPAC's unquestioning support for whatever Israel does.

ANALYSIS

I have tried to summarize Gopin's position fairly. Here are the problems that I see with it:

1. Gopin's most serious flaw is that like most of the Jewish left, he misreads Hamas and the Palestinian extremists and projects his own values onto them. He actually came close to saying - in fact what he said really does amount to this - that Hamas really wants peace, it just has its own different way of letting people know it. Yes, Hamas does want peace, conditioned on an end to Israel's existence. Religious principles cannot be subject to negotiation. For Hamas, eliminating Israel is a religious principle.

2. Gopin thinks the answer is agreeing to a series of limited ceasefires with Hamas. That has already been tried. He seems unable to appreciate what "hudna" (ceasefire) has meant to jihad fighters since the time of Muhammad - a tactical move to allow them to build their forces for the next attack. Once again, this is a projection of his own values onto people who do not share them. It is the left's version of ethnocentrism.

3. George Santayana said that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Gopin proposes "serious negotiations" with Hamas to eliminate missiles from Gaza. That was tried before in Lebanon with Hezbollah. A United Nations resolution was even passed. It made no difference. Hezbollah not only rearmed; it is twice as strong now as it was two years ago.

4. Gopin tends to make bad analogies. Whether or not is it wise for Israel to insist on recognition of its right to exist, it is not the same as the situation with the USSR. No one ever denied the right of the USSR to exist as a country, or tried to wipe it off the map. Recognizing Israel's right to exist is not the same as accepting the occupation. On his blog Gopin also compares Israeli/Palestinian conflict to the conflict in Northern Ireland, and points out that even Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley eventually made peace. But the religious factors at play in Northern Ireland were in no way similar to those operating now in Gaza. Once again Gopin, in spite of his quest for a "nuanced" approach, fails to grasp the intricacies of the Israeli/Palestinian situation.

5. If Hamas or even a significant faction within Hamas really wants peaceful coexistence with Israel, it's news to me. Gopin bases his belief on inside information from "people that he knows." This is a problem I have with many on the Jewish left: on the basis of a few individuals whom they claim to know, they ask me to disregard what I read in the news and to believe that Palestinians as a whole and even possibly the extremists themselves really want peaceful coexistence with Israel. The evidence to the contrary is overwhelming, yet they keep finding ways to rationalize it away.

6. Gopin is right that the qassam rockets and the blockade must not be decoupled, but his interpretation is wrong. He puts the cart before the horse. With no aggression from Gaza there would be no blockade. It is not Israelis who start history with the qassams, it is Palestinians who start history with the blockade. They criticize even Israel's nonviolent attempts to defend itself as if either the qassams did not exist or Palestinians have a God-given right to fire them.

7. Gopin exaggerates the power of AIPAC, bringing back echoes of the supposedly formidable "Jewish lobby" that Israel-haters claim controls America's agenda. Concerning the Jewish left becoming a counterforce to AIPAC, if it happens on Gopin's terms this is what will follow: There will be increased American pressure for Israel to abort its operation prematurely, and the result will be another Lebanon. All Hamas has to do is survive and preserve its military capacity - just as Hezbollah did in 2006. Gopin's way will make sure that this happens. And it will be worse than the status quo ante: Hamas will emerge claiming a victory and will rebuild to double strength, becoming the Hezbollah of the south. This is not good for Israel, nor is it good for the Palestinians: for however bloody this conflict has become, allowing Hamas to emerge claiming victory will only set up an even bloodier future conflict. Gopin puts his faith in ceasefires, but we have seen how good Hamas is at keeping its "hudnas" and how it uses them to become even stronger.

8. How long are the residents of southern Israel supposed to wait until Gopin's pie-in-the-sky becomes reality? Their lives are already intolerable. Gopin expects Obama to make things all better, but every American president before him has failed and Obama is not Superman, nor is he the Messiah. Gopin's glasses are rose-colored because he does not respect Hamas enough to take what it says seriously; instead he projects his own liberal values onto Hamas (as in: Hamas really wants peace, they just have a funny way of showing it.) We will not get anywhere until we accept Hamas for what it is and realize that their Charter is not just toilet paper but that they actually mean every word of it.

9. Gopin says that Jews are now the ones with the power. This is shortsighted. Israel may have better weapons than Gaza, but Israel is in mortal danger and the elimination of Israel is far more likely than the elimination of Gaza. The missile stranglehold of Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north will soon have all of Israel within range as their weapons become more sophisticated. Hamas is not just Hamas; it is a proxy of Iran and Syria. Iran's supply of weapons and training to Hamas is well documented. The missiles that can already reach Ashdod and Beersheba are smuggled from Iran and China. These are not "home-made rockets" but battle-grade weapons trained on civilians. Just in the past couple of days there were direct hits on a high school and kindergarten in Beersheba, and children's lives were spared only because classes had been canceled. Iran is not sending Hamas increasingly sophisticated missiles just to have them lie dormant during some "hudna." Those missiles are intended to be used, and it is certain that Hamas will find a pretext to use them regardless of what kind of ceasefire is negotiated.

10. The question of ceasefires must be understood strategically. In game theory, this is a classic "Prisoner's Dilemma." The two sides have the best mutual outcome if they cooperate - but as soon as they do, the more aggressive side realizes it can gain an advantage if it attacks. And so it will, until forced once again to come to the table and strike a "hudna." After that the cycle only repeats: the side that wants it all will once again try to get it all, and bye-bye hudna. Hamas wants it all. Not just Gaza and the West Bank but Haifa and Tel Aviv. They say so themselves. Repeatedly. Gopin, as a Jewish leader, is acting with extreme irresponsibility in refusing to believe them and is undermining Israel's security.

Israel had to act, not just for Sderot but for its future. The advance of the Hamas war machine had to be stopped, and should have been stopped years earlier, before it could grow to its present level.

CONCLUSION

I am not a member of the Jewish right and I have the battle scars to prove it. But the actions of the Jewish left are dangerous and must be confronted. I understand they are looking for an approach to the conflict that is consistent with moral and spiritual principles. I am too. However, no such approach can be found by shortchanging the complexities we all face.

It is easy to be spiritual if we define reality in such a way that our cherished theories work. It is easy to create a false world in which appeal to the other's better nature always wins, while those whom we judge for not following our vision are left to pick up the pieces in the real world. We want to believe that all human beings desire the same things and that at the bottom of its heart Hamas, being human, really does want peace with Israel. We want to believe that if we are just nice enough, using no force, imposing no sanctions, then the other side will respect us and commit to an indefinite ceasefire under which all will prosper. Unfortunately, both the words and deeds of Hamas soundly contradict any such notion. What we see as being humane and compassionate, Hamas sees as an occasion for contempt and a weakness to exploit.

It is ironic that the Jewish left maintains it is seeking a "nuanced" approach to the conflict, as opposed to the black-and-white picture it accuses its adversaries on the right of perpetuating. One cannot find nuance by oversimplifying reality. A true nuanced approach must recognize the historical and factual complexities that thwart even the best spiritual plans. It may be praiseworthy to love, or at least not hate, your enemy. But it is foolish to assume that your enemy necessarily thinks the way you think or values what you value. The enemy recognizes our difference in values and says so: "We desire death like you desire life." We need to recognize it too.

No one with an ounce of compassion would want to inflict even a single civilian casualty, even in self-defense. But sometimes the only choice we get is a Sophie's choice. How do you preserve your spirituality when confronted with the choice either to kill or be killed, or worse, have your family killed? Answer: you fight for that spirituality. But what you do not do is abandon your family to destruction. Nor do you cherish illusions about your enemy that make it OK to do exactly that. No, you fight to protect yourself with as much respect for the humanity of the other that you can maintain without destroying yourself.

The difference in values could hardly be clearer. Israel waited patiently for years while its people were under fire, while Hamas used every "ceasefire" to rearm with deadlier weapons. Israel warns civilians to evacuate; Hamas fires without warning. Israel tries to spare civilians whenever possible; Hamas wants human trophies and designs its weapons not only to kill but to maim and disfigure the human body. Even Israel's targeting of tunnels has been selective, bombing weapons tunnels while sparing commercial ones. Unfortunately civilian casualties are inevitable when unlike you, your enemy does not protect its civilians but as part of its war strategy exposes them to danger. Israeli towns build shelters to protect their citizens when the rockets come, while the world complains that the rockets didn't kill enough Israelis to justify a response. Meanwhile Hamas fires at Israel from residential areas, and gathers people on rooftops of buildings it thinks Israel wants to hit. Why? Because Hamas knows Israel does not share its values and does not want to kill civilians, and it uses that fact as a battle tactic. Whatever mistakes Israel may have made, it does not murder innocent people intentionally. The same cannot be said of a culture that values death and martyrdom over life and peace.

Undoubtedly there are Palestinians who truly do want to coexist peacefully with a Jewish state. Unfortunately there are not enough of them. It is not Palestinians as people who are the enemy. The real enemy is an ideology of darkness that has too many people in its grip. The real spiritual approach must begin with recognizing the darkness as darkness. No side is free of darkness. But if we really want to be "nuanced," we must recognize varying degrees of darkness. Claiming the right to fire increasingly powerful missiles in an intentional effort to murder civilians is beyond the pale of civilized society. So is filling those rockets with ball bearings and with large quantities of ammonia to inflict maximum human damage. And so is using one's own civilians as shields for those weapons.

Yes, it is indeed a challenge to respond to this level of depravity without losing one's own humanity. But we serve no spiritual purpose by shying from that responsibility and taking refuge in theories and assumptions that make life simpler but do not correspond with reality. These are tough questions, and we must wrestle with them. True spirituality begins with struggle. It always has.

Sources:

Erlanger, Steven. "An Egyptian Border Town's Commerce, Conducted via Tunnels, Comes to a Halt." New York Times, Jamuary 1, 2009.

Katz, Yakov. "Latest Rockets Manufactured in China." Jerusalem Post, January 1, 2009.

Kershner, Isabel and Ethan Bronner. "Israel Pursues Diplomacy but Presses Attacks." New York Times, Jamuary 1, 2009.

Selig, Abe. "School Closure Saves Lives of Pupils." Jerusalem Post, December 31, 2008.

Een Israelische vader over de oorlog in Gaza

 

Een van de rechtvaardigingen voor Israels harde aanval is het feit dat Israel Gaza in 2005 geheel ontruimde, de kassen aan de Palestijnen werden overgedragen en de grens bij Rafah door Egypte en de Palestijnen werd gecontroleerd met Europese waarnemers. De andere grenzen bleven uiteraard wel onder Israelische controle (ieder land mag zijn eigen grenzen controleren), maar gingen wel - zij het beperkt - open. Daarmee kwam een einde aan 38 jaar Israelische bezetting van Gaza.

 

Onderstaand artikel geeft een goede beschrijving van hoe Israeli's tegenover de oorlog in Gaza staan.

 

But how? Even some right-wingers are saying that we should have declared a unilateral cease-fire after the initial airstrike and then dared Hamas to continue shelling our towns, rather than risk another quagmire. And even some left-wingers are saying that we should now destroy the Hamas regime and then offer to turn Gaza over to international control or, if possible, an inter-Arab force led by Egypt. Every option is potentially disastrous. Most Israelis agree on two points: that we cannot live with a jihadist statelet on our border, and that we cannot become occupiers of Gaza again.

 

 

RP

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As My Son Goes to War, I Am Fully Israeli At Last

By Yossi Klein Halevi
Sunday, January 4, 2009; B01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/02/AR2009010202196.html?

JERUSALEM

"I just heard on the news that Gavriel's base has been shelled," my wife, Sarah, said to me last Tuesday, referring to our 19-year-old son, a member of an Israeli army tank unit waiting on the Gaza border for the order to enter. And, she added in a deliberately calm tone, "A soldier was killed." We texted Gavriel, and within five minutes he called, safe. How, Sarah asked, did families survive war before cellphones?

For days we waited for a cabinet decision: Will there be a land invasion or a new cease-fire? The politicians began to bicker while our soldiers waited on the border, in the rain and the mud. Anything but this, I said to Sarah. Not another Lebanon War, which, like Gaza, began with an impressive show of Israeli air power but ended with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah predicting the imminent end of "the Zionist entity." If we don't win this time -- deliver an unambiguous blow if not topple Hamas entirely -- our deterrence will further erode, inviting more rocket attacks and encouraging the jihadist momentum throughout the Middle East.

And then I caught myself: How can I be hoping for an outcome that will send my son into battle? This is my first experience as the father of a soldier, and now, after 26 years of living in Israel, I finally understand the terrible responsibility of being an Israeli. I had assumed that I'd become initiated into Israeliness when I myself was drafted into the army as a 34-year-old immigrant in 1989. But perhaps only now have I become fully Israeli. Zionism promised to empower the Jews by making them responsible for their fate; the price for that achievement is to be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for one's commitments.

I know Gaza from a previous conflict. During the first intifada of the late 1980s, when Palestinians revolted against the occupation, I was part of a reservist unit that patrolled Gaza's refugee camps. There I learned that there is no such thing as a benign occupation, as Israelis had once deceived themselves into believing. Our unit not only arrested terrorist suspects but also dragged people out of their beds in the middle of the night to paint over anti-Israel graffiti and rounded up innocents after a grenade attack just to "make a presence," in army terminology. At night, in our tent, we argued about the wisdom of turning soldiers into policemen of a hostile civilian population that didn't want us there and which we didn't want as part of our society.

A majority of Israelis emerged from the first intifada convinced that we need to do everything possible to end the occupation and ensure that our children don't serve as enforcers of Gaza's despair. That was why I initially supported the 1993 Oslo peace process that took a terrible gamble on Yasser Arafat's supposed transformation from terrorist to peacemaker. And even after it became clear that Arafat and other Palestinian leaders never intended to accept Israel's legitimacy, I supported the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, simply to extricate us from that region, knowing that we would not receive peace in return.

And now my son is fighting in Gaza. The conflict he and his friends confront is far worse than my generation's experience in Gaza. In our time, we were confronted with mere rocks and Molotov cocktails; my son faces Iranian-supplied anti-tank weapons -- one more price we will pay, along with the missile attacks on our towns, for the Gaza withdrawal, just as the Israeli right had warned.

Still, I don't regret that withdrawal. If Israelis are united today about our right to defend ourselves against Gaza's genocidally minded regime, it is at least partly because we are fighting from our international border. My son and his friends have one crucial advantage over my generation's experience in Gaza: They know, as we did not, that Israel was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for peace, uprooting thousands of its citizens from their homes and endorsing a Palestinian state. My son confronts Gaza knowing that its misery is now imposed by its leaders. He knows that his country was even prepared to share its most cherished national asset, Jerusalem, with its worst enemy, Arafat, for the sake of preventing this war. That empowers him with the moral self-confidence he will need to get through the coming days. The face of my Gaza enemy was a teenager throwing rocks; the face of Gavriel's Gaza enemy is a suicide bomber.

But we are hardly free of moral anxiety. Even as I pray for Gavriel's physical safety, I pray too for his spiritual well-being: that his tank doesn't accidentally shell civilians, that he isn't caught in some terrible mistake, which can so easily happen in a war zone where terrorists hide behind innocent people.

For the past eight years, Israel has fought a single war with shifting fronts, moving from suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to Katyusha attacks on Israeli towns near the Lebanon border to Qassam missiles on Israeli towns near the Gaza border. That war has targeted civilians, turning the home front into the actual front. And it has transformed the nature of the conflict from a nationalist struggle over Palestinian statehood to a holy war against Jewish statehood. Except for a left-wing fringe, most Israelis recognize the conflict in Gaza as part of a larger war that has been declared against our being and that we must fight.

But how? Even some right-wingers are saying that we should have declared a unilateral cease-fire after the initial airstrike and then dared Hamas to continue shelling our towns, rather than risk another quagmire. And even some left-wingers are saying that we should now destroy the Hamas regime and then offer to turn Gaza over to international control or, if possible, an inter-Arab force led by Egypt. Every option is potentially disastrous. Most Israelis agree on two points: that we cannot live with a jihadist statelet on our border, and that we cannot become occupiers of Gaza again.

The despair of Gaza is contagious. One friend, a Likud supporter, said to me, "I don't know what to hope for anymore."

Meanwhile, I try to reassure myself about Gavriel's safety. Growing up in Jerusalem during the suicide bombings in the early 2000s, he has already known danger, intimacy with death. A 13-year-old acquaintance was stoned to death, and was so mutilated that he could be identified only by his DNA. A friend lost the use of an eye in a bus bombing on his way to school. At least now, Gavriel and his friends can defend themselves. Perhaps one reason most of them volunteered for combat units was because now the generation of the suicide bombings can finally fight back.

Just before the conflict in Gaza began, I happened to visit Gavriel at his base. His unit's barracks had been turned into what young Israelis call a "zula" -- a hangout. There were muddy couches, chairs without backs, a darbuka drum, a TV (Jay Leno was on). It could have been a teenage scene anywhere in the West, except that hanging on the walls were Hamas banners captured by the unit's veteran members in a previous round of fighting in Gaza. In a corner of the room hung a photograph of a fallen soldier. Across the bottom someone had written, "What was the rush, Shachar? Why did you have to leave us so soon?"

Even now, perhaps especially now, I feel that our family is privileged to belong to the Israeli story. Gavriel, grandson of a Holocaust survivor, is part of an army defending the Jewish people in its land. This is one of those moments when our old ideals are tested anew and found to be still vital. That provides some comfort as Sarah and I wait for the next text message.

--------------------
Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem and the author of "At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for God with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land."

 

Aanval Israel in Gaza strook is wel proportioneel

 

Onterecht wordt Israel er alom van beschuldigd buitenproportioneel te reageren op Hamas.

 

400 Doden in een week, waarvan meer dan driekwart strijders van een militie die uit is op de vernietiging van Israel, nadat deze militie het staakt-het-vuren heeft opgezegd en honderden raketten op Israel afvuurde - bij geen ander land zouden we zo'n operatie disproportioneel noemen. Het Sri Lankese leger heeft in dezeflde week de Tamil Tijgers hard aangevallen, en de NAVO en de VS hebben bij operaties in Irak en Afghanistan vaak meer doden veroorzaakt, om van de acties van het Russische leger in Georgië van de zomer, met een paar duizend doden tot gevolg, nog maar te zwijgen.

 

RP

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JANUARY 2, 2008

Israel's Policy Is Perfectly 'Proportionate'

Hamas are the real war criminals in this conflict. 

By ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB123085925621747981-lMyQjAxMDI5MzAwMjgwNTI5Wj.html

 

Israel's actions in Gaza are justified under international law, and Israel should be commended for its self-defense against terrorism. Article 51 of the United Nations Charter reserves to every nation the right to engage in self-defense against armed attacks. The only limitation international law places on a democracy is that its actions must satisfy the principle of proportionality.

Since Israel ended its occupation of Gaza, Hamas has fired thousands of rockets designed to kill civilians into southern Israel. The residents of Sderot -- which have borne the brunt of the attacks -- have approximately 15 seconds from launch time to run into a shelter. Although deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime, terrorists firing at Sderot are so proud of their actions that they sign their weapons.

When Barack Obama visited Sderot this summer and saw the remnants of these rockets, he reacted by saying that if his two daughters were exposed to rocket attacks in their home, he would do everything in his power to stop such attacks. He understands how the terrorists exploit the morality of democracies.

In a recent incident related to me by the former head of the Israeli air force, Israeli intelligence learned that a family's house in Gaza was being used to manufacture rockets. The Israeli military gave the residents 30 minutes to leave. Instead, the owner called Hamas, which sent mothers carrying babies to the house.

Hamas knew that Israel would never fire at a home with civilians in it. They also knew that if Israeli authorities did not learn there were civilians in the house and fired on it, Hamas would win a public relations victory by displaying the dead. Israel held its fire. The Hamas rockets that were protected by the human shields were then used against Israeli civilians.

These despicable tactics -- targeting Israeli civilians while hiding behind Palestinian civilians -- can only work against moral democracies that care deeply about minimizing civilian casualties. They never work against amoral nations such as Russia, whose military has few inhibitions against killing civilians among whom enemy combatants are hiding.

The claim that Israel has violated the principle of proportionality -- by killing more Hamas terrorists than the number of Israeli civilians killed by Hamas rockets -- is absurd. First, there is no legal equivalence between the deliberate killing of innocent civilians and the deliberate killings of Hamas combatants. Under the laws of war, any number of combatants can be killed to prevent the killing of even one innocent civilian.

Second, proportionality is not measured by the number of civilians actually killed, but rather by the risk posed. This is illustrated by what happened on Tuesday, when a Hamas rocket hit a kindergarten in Beer Sheva, though no students were there at the time. Under international law, Israel is not required to allow Hamas to play Russian roulette with its children's lives.

While Israel installs warning systems and builds shelters, Hamas refuses to do so, precisely because it wants to maximize the number of Palestinian civilians inadvertently killed by Israel's military actions. Hamas knows from experience that even a small number of innocent Palestinian civilians killed inadvertently will result in bitter condemnation of Israel by many in the international community.

Israel understands this as well. It goes to enormous lengths to reduce the number of civilian casualties -- even to the point of foregoing legitimate targets that are too close to civilians.

Until the world recognizes that Hamas is committing three war crimes -- targeting Israeli civilians, using Palestinian civilians as human shields, and seeking the destruction of a member state of the United Nations -- and that Israel is acting in self-defense and out of military necessity, the conflict will continue.

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

Mr. Dershowitz is a law professor at Harvard. His latest book is "The Case Against Israel's Enemies" (Wiley, 2008).

 

Israelisch overzicht van hulp leveranties aan Gazastrook

 

Volgens velen is er sprake van een humanitaire crisis in Gaza, en is er gebrek aan van alles. Israel bestrijdt dit. Er is uiteraard ellende vanwege de oorlog en de bombardementen, maar niet vanwege voedsel of andere tekorten. Hieronder een lijst van wat en hoeveel Israel de afgelopen week binnen heeft gelaten. Ik kan niet beoordelen of dat genoeg is voor de bevolking van Gaza, maar ik heb nog nooit kinderen met gezwollen buikjes of ingevallen wangen gezien in de vele TV reportages over de Gazstrook. Als ze er waren werden ze zeker uitgezonden en gingen spoedig het net over. Ook wil ik herinneren aan een uitspraak van een vertegenwoordiger van het Wereld Voedsel Programma van een paar dagen geleden dat de voorraadschuren in Gaza vol liggen met voedsel en er niks meer bij kan.

 

RP

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Humanitarian aid to Gaza following the 6-month calm
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

4 Jan 2009

Israel continues to ensure that the civilian population in the Gaza Strip receives food, medicines and other humanitarian necessities, even as Hamas and other terrorist groups launch dozens of missiles daily at Israeli communities.


Since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead on December 27, 2008, Israeli defense officials at the Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) have been working together with the international organizations in the Gaza Strip as well as various governments in order to assess the humanitarian needs, requirements and make the necessary response. Since the beginning of the operation, and on a daily basis, the international community has been able to increase the amount of goods supplied to Gaza.

Since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead some 400 truckloads of humanitarian aid have been transferred at the request of the international organizations, the Palestinian Authority and various governments.
Preparations are underway to facilitate further shipments expected to arrive in the coming days.
10,000 tons of humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza throughout the week
226 dual nationals were evacuated from Gaza
2000 units of blood were donated by Jordan
5 ambulances donated by Turkey
5 ambulances transferred from the West Bank on behalf of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society
20 people were evacuated to Israel for medical needs, including two injured children.

All reports indicate that there are sufficient medicine and food in Gaza. The crossings to Gaza are open for the transfer of humanitarian aid from all international organizations, in full cooperation with the Israeli authorities and without restriction.
Details of humanitarian aid transferred to the Gaza Strip via Israeli crossings:

January 2, 2009
Israel transferred 64 trucks carrying 1,530 tons of humanitarian aid (including basic foodstuffs, medicines and medical supplies, tents and generators) via the Kerem Shalom crossing. Among the trucks were 25 UNRWA trucks, eight trucks of food donated by Turkey, and three trucks of medical equipment from the WHO.
. Israeli humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip 2-Jan-2009

January 1, 2009
60 trucks, with approximately 1,360 tons of humanitarian aid, medical supplies and medication were conveyed through Kerem Shalom cargo terminal.
. Israeli humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip 1-Jan-2009

 

December 31, 2008
93 truckloads carrying some 2,500 tons of humanitarian aid, medical supplies and medications were transferred through the Kerem Shalom crossing. The World Food Programme notified the Israeli authorities that their food warehouses in the Gaza Strip are full, with a two-week supply, and they do not require further shipments.
The Nahal Oz fuel crossing remains closed due to continuing fire in the area.
Twelve Palestinians, including two children, were transferred to Israeli hospitals.
. Israeli humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip 31-Dec-2008

December 30, 2008
93 truckloads carrying 2,366 tons of humanitarian supplies as well as five ambulances donated by Turkey were transferred to the Gaza Strip. A Red Cross plane arrived with medical supplies for the hospital operating room.
The aid included food and medicine provided by the World Food Programme, UNRWA, UNICEF, the ICRC, the World Health Organization, Doctors without Borders, and Care International, as well as donations from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Turkey.
. Israel increases humanitarian effort to the Gaza Strip - 30-Dec-2008

 

December 29, 2008
63 trucks with 1,545 tons of humanitarian goods (food, medicines and medical supplies) were delivered via the Kerem Shalom crossing. Most of the aid was provided by the International Red Cross, UNRWA, Doctors without Borders, and Care International. Five ambulances from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in Ramallah passed through, at the request of the International Red Cross (ICRC). 1,000 units of blood donated by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan were also delivered.
Although scheduled to open, the Nahal Oz fuel depot remained closed due to rocket attacks nearby.
Erez crossing: Four people (patients and their escorts), and ten international staff, including a pregnant FAO employee and her Palestinian husband, left the Gaza Strip and crossed into Israel.

 

December 28, 2008
At the request of international organizations (the International Red Cross, UNRWA, WFP) and of the Palestinian National Authority in Ramallah, 23 truckloads of humanitarian goods such as flour, medicines and medical supplies, were transferred via Kerem Shalom crossing.

December 26, 2008
Kerem Shalom: 63 trucks delivered1496 tons of goods - flour, oil, sugar, rice, salt, milk powder, hatching eggs and medicines.
December 21-25, 2008
Erez crossing: 145 people (patients and their escorts) crossed into Israel for medical treatment

The Unit for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories reports daily on the general humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Humanitarian aid includes food, medicines and medical equipment, tools and materials for esssential humanitarian infrastructures, and a certain amount of diesel fuel. Cement, sand, gravel and steel are not considered to be humanitarian aid.

Different crossings are designated for different types of humanitarian aid:

Karni Crossing:  grains such as wheat, barley, soy beans, corn, sesame seeds, animal feed and aggregate

Kerem Shalom and/or Sufa Crossing: food, hygiene products, tools and raw materials for essential infrastructures, medicines and medical equipment; and a myriad of other items - ranging from school books to wheel chairs - needed by the civilian population.

Nahal Oz: diesel fuel for transportation and for the local Gaza power station, petrol, and gas for cooking and heating, according to an assessment of civilian needs mandated by the Israeli court.

Erez Crossing: two-way traffic of international organizations' staff between Israel and Gaza ; Gaza residents seeking medical treatment in Israel or the Palestinian Authority, together with the people accompanying them ("medical evacuations"); and Palestinian civilians with various humanitarian needs. This crossing is open every day, even when the other crossings are closed.


--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

30 IDF soldaten gewond, tientallen Hamas strijders gedood in Gazastrook

 

Het lijkt minder ernstig dan de kop suggereert, met twee soldaten zwaar en twee middelmatig gewond, de andere 26 blijkbaar maar licht gewond. De 'dozijnen dode Hamasleden' zouden er volgens Palestijnse bronnen ook maar een paar zijn?

 

Wouter

_____________

 

Jan 3, 2009 9:39 | Updated Jan 4, 2009 7:06
30 IDF soldiers wounded as troops engage Hamas gunmen
By YAAKOV KATZ AND JPOST.COM STAFF 
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230733150721&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


30 IDF soldiers were wounded in clashes with Palestinian gunmen as troops swept into the northern Gaza Strip Saturday night, encountering fierce resistance from Hamas forces entrenched in fortifications just over the border.
 
Two of the soldiers were seriously hurt, two were moderately wounded and several others were listed in light condition after they were hit by a mortar shell. Most of the wounded were taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba for treatment.

 

Dozens of Hamas gunmen were reported killed by IDF troops.

 

IDF sources said that the goal was to conquer territory in northern Gaza, including rocket launch sites. Soldiers from the Armored Corps, Engineering Corps, and Paratroopers, Givati, Golani brigades were participating in the fighting, with at least four brigades' worth of troops inside the Gaza Strip.

The sources said that a majority of the rockets fired into Beersheba and Ashdod were launched from the northern Gaza Strip.

 

One of the major aims of the operation was also to deliver a serious blow to the Hamas military wing, which the IDF estimated had not been severely weakened under the air campaign.
 
An explosion and illumination flares fired by Israeli forces are seen above the northern Gaza Strip from the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, Saturday.

The IDF would not enter Gaza City or the refugee camps, defense officials said, and it was likely that on Monday - when French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives and the international pressure is expected to escalate - Israel would begin scaling back the operations.

 

"We know there will be dangers, difficulties and victims... It must be said that the ground operation entails dangers to the lives of soldiers," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. "We must end the hostile actions against Israel... We will not abandon our citizens."

 

On Saturday, the air force bombed dozens of targets throughout the Strip, including several homes of senior Hamas terrorists as well as bridges and roads connecting northern and southern Gaza.

 

At least 40 Kassam and Katyusha rockets pounded the South, scoring direct hits on homes in Netivot and Ashdod, and striking Ashkelon, Yavne and Sderot.

 

"This will be a lengthy operation and there will likely be casualties on our side," a senior defense official said. "But our mission is to defend the home front. The purpose is to destroy Hamas's infrastructure and impair its ability to fire rockets into Israel."

 

Before the ground incursion began, IDF artillery, for the first time in several years, began pounding open areas in northern Gaza to "soften up" the area and destroy land mines and Hamas fortifications.

 

Terrorists using civilians as human shields would bear full responsibility for their fate, the army warned.

 

"Anyone who hides a terrorist or weapons in his house is considered a terrorist," but "the residents of Gaza are not the target of the operation," the IDF Spokesman's Office said.

 

The army reiterated that the operation was in line with "decisions of the security cabinet," saying that this new stage was "part of the IDF's overall operational plan, and will continue on the basis of ongoing situational assessments by the IDF General Staff."

 

The cabinet also approved the call-up of tens of thousands of reservists, mostly from combat units, but also from the Home Front Command. Already on Saturday night, several thousand emergency orders were issued.

 

Fighter jets, missile ships and artillery struck more than 40 Hamas targets on Saturday, including Hamas's central intelligence headquarters in Sha'ati, weapons storage facilities, training centers and leaders' homes.

 

Israeli air strikes that had waned during the day gathered pace after dark. One bomb hit a mosque in Beit Lahiya, killing 14 people and wounding 33, seven critically, according to a Palestinian health official.

 

The IAF also hit the home of senior Hamas commander Abu Zacharia al-Jamal. A Hamas spokesman announced that Jamal was killed, which would make him the third senior operative of the group to be killed in three days.

 

In addition, Palestinians reported four dead from an IAF strike in the Rafah area.

 

On Saturday morning, the air force struck the homes of two Hamas operatives used to store weapons and plan attacks. Hamas outposts, training camps and rocket launching sites also were targeted, the army said.

 

The IDF also struck the American International School in Beit Lahiya, the most prestigious educational institution in Gaza. The school is not connected to the US government, but teaches an American curriculum in English. The IDF said the campus was used to fire rockets and was a legitimate target.

 

The air strike demolished the school's main building and killed a night watchman. Two other Palestinians were killed in a separate air strike, while three others died of wounds sustained earlier, Gaza health officials said.

 

Earlier, the army dropped leaflets in downtown Gaza City ordering people off the streets. The warnings were followed by the air strikes.


AP and Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report

 

Hamas pakt Fatah 'collaborateurs' aan in Gazastrook

 

Dit bericht ben ik nog niet in de Nederlandse media tegengekomen. Dergelijke maffia praktijken zijn wel te verwachten van de Hamas.

 

Wouter

_____________

 

Jan 4, 2009 0:32 | Updated Jan 4, 2009 1:37
Hamas moves on Fatah 'collaborators'
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH 
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230733155685&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

The Hamas government has placed dozens of Fatah members under house arrest out of fear that they might exploit the current IDF operation to regain control of the Gaza Strip.

 

The move came amid reports that the Fatah leadership in the West Bank has instructed its followers to be ready to assume power over the Gaza Strip when and if Israel's military operation results in the removal of Hamas rule.

 

Fatah officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas militiamen had been assaulting many Fatah activists since the beginning of the operation last Saturday. They said at least 75 activists were shot in the legs while others had their hands broken.

 

Wisam Abu Jalhoum, a Fatah activist from the Jabalya refugee camp, was shot in the legs by Hamas militiamen for allegedly expressing joy over the IDF air strikes on Hamas targets.

 

"Hamas is very nervous, because they feel that their end is nearing," a senior Fatah official said. "They have been waging a brutal campaign against Fatah members in the Gaza Strip."

 

Meanwhile, sources close to Hamas revealed over the weekend that the movement had "executed" more than 35 Palestinians who were suspected of collaborating with Israel and were being held in various Hamas security installations.

 

The sources quoted Hamas officials as saying that the decision to kill the suspected collaborators was taken out of fear that Israel might try to rescue them during a ground offensive. The officials claimed that at least half of the victims were killed by relatives of Palestinian militiamen who were killed as a result of information passed on to Israel by the "collaborators."

 

Justifying the latest crackdown on Fatah, a Hamas official in Gaza City said that his government had received information according to which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had instructed his loyalists in the Strip to start moving toward undermining Hamas.

 

"We will kill them all if they try to help Israel bring down our government," the official said. "We will hang Mahmoud Abbas and [former Fatah security chief] Muhammad Dahlan in the public square if they try to enter the Gaza Strip aboard Israeli tanks."

 

The Hamas official said that his security forces had launched a massive "preemptive" campaign aimed at thwarting Fatah's attempts to "spread anarchy and chaos." He confirmed that many Fatah operatives had been shot in the legs over the past few days by Hamas "to make sure that they don't help Israel."

 

Fahmi Za'arir, a Fatah spokesman in the West Bank, accused Hamas of "executing" a number of Fatah detainees. He said the Fatah leadership knew of at least two Fatah men who were shot dead by Hamas after being released from prison. He named them as Nasser Muhana and Saher al-Silawi.

 

Za'arir said that several Fatah members who attended funerals of victims of the IAF strikes were severely beaten by Hamas militiamen who accused them of collaboration with Israel.

 

It was "shameful" that Hamas was directing its weapons and energies against its own people instead of fighting against Israel, the spokesman said.

 

The decision to place Fatah operatives under house arrest was issued by the much-feared "Internal Security Apparatus," which reports to the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry in Gaza.

 

The order, which was delivered to the Fatah activists on Thursday, reads: "You are forbidden from leaving your home for 48 hours unless you want to attend Friday prayers. Anyone who violates the order will be punished."

 

 

Actievoerders demonstreren tegen Israël en voor terroristen

 

"Mag een kamerlid oproepen tot geweld tegen een bevriende natie?", vroegen verschillende mensen zich af. Ik denk het wel, we hebben immers vrijheid van meningsuiting. Een beetje vreemd en ongepast is het wel vind ik. Het is één ding om Israel te veroordelen voor het geweld in Gaza, en te eisen dat het daar onmiddelijk mee ophoudt, maar om een derde intifada roepen, daarmee dus wensend dat Palestijnen weer zelfmoordaanslagen in Israelische bussen, restaurants en marktplaatsen gaan uitvoeren, is ietwat over de top.

 

Dit is echter exemplarisch voor de mentaliteit en het extremisme van veel sympathisanten van de Palestijnen: alles wat de Palestijnen doen is gerechtvaardigd, Palestijnen hebben het recht om altijd en op alle manieren 'gewapend verzet' te plegen, maar Israel mag daar nooit op reageren, want iedere Israelische reactie is per definitie 'buitenproportioneel'.

 

Op de achtergrond is nog 'Hamas, Hamas, Joden aan het gas' te horen, en één van de spandoeken draagt de tekst 'Israel herhaalt de Holocaust met steun van Nederland'.

 

RP

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

 

Duizenden actievoerders demonstreren tegen Israël

ANP
gepubliceerd op 03 januari 2009 13:20, bijgewerkt op 3 januari 2009 15:25

http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article1116028.ece/Duizenden_actievoerders_demonstreren_tegen_Israel

AMSTERDAM - Enkele duizenden personen demonstreren zaterdag in Amsterdam tegen de aanvallen van Israël op de Gazastrook. De actievoerders willen dat er een einde komt aan het offensief. Ook vinden ze dat de Nederlandse regering het militaire ingrijpen openlijk moet veroordelen.

De betoging is een initiatief van ruim 25 organisaties. Daaronder zijn het Nederlands Palestina Komitee, Internationale Socialisten, Milli Görüs Nederland, Raad van Marokkaanse Moskeeën Nederland en Een Ander Joods Geluid.

De demonstranten kwamen rond één uur bij elkaar op het Museumplein. Daar sprak onder anderen SP-Tweede Kamerlid Harry van Bommel hen toe. Hij bekritiseerde de houding van de Nederlandse regering, die volgens hem wel de raketaanvallen van de islamitische organisatie Hamas op Israël ziet, maar niet het geweld van Israël. 'Dat betekent dat de Nederlandse regering ofwel blind ofwel medeplichtig is. De Nederlandse regering mag niet zwijgen', meende Van Bommel.

Na de manifestatie op het Museumplein begonnen de demonstranten kort na 14.00 uur aan een protestmars door het centrum van de stad. Zij dragen spandoeken met leuzen als 'Israël burn in hell' of 'Israël weg uit Palestina'. Velen hebben zich gehuld in Palestijnse sjaals of sjouwen met Palestijnse vlaggen. Een aantal heeft een vlag van Hamas of van de pro-Iraanse Hezbollah uit Libanon bij zich.

Volgens de politie is de demonstratie tot nu toe rustig verlopen. Zij nam een Israëlische vlag in beslag, toen betogers die probeerden af te pakken van een man die zich onder hen had begeven.

Tegelijkertijd met de demonstratie in Amsterdam vinden ook elders in de wereld betogingen plaats, onder meer in Londen. De afgelopen week waren er in Den Haag en Rotterdam ook al protesten tegen het optreden van Israël.

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

Actievoerders demonstreren in Amsterdam tegen Israël

http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/4/AMSTERDAM/article/detail/102645/2009/01/03/Actievoerders-demonstreren-in-Amsterdam-tegen-Israel.dhtml

AMSTERDAM - Actievoerders hebben zaterdag in Amsterdam gedemonstreerd tegen de aanvallen van Israël op de Gazastrook. De organisatie sprak van 10.000 betogers, de politie telde er 1500. De demonstranten willen dat er een einde aan het Israëlische offensief komt. Ook vinden ze dat de Nederlandse regering het militaire ingrijpen openlijk moet veroordelen.

De betoging was een initiatief van ruim 25 organisaties. Daaronder zijn het Nederlands Palestina Komitee, Internationale Socialisten, Milli Görüs Nederland, Raad van Marokkaanse Moskeeën Nederland en Een Ander Joods Geluid.

De demonstranten kwamen rond één uur bij elkaar op het Museumplein. Daar sprak onder anderen SP-Tweede Kamerlid Harry van Bommel hen toe. Hij bekritiseerde de houding van de Nederlandse regering, die volgens hem wel de raketaanvallen van de islamitische organisatie Hamas op Israël ziet, maar niet het geweld van Israël. ,,Dat betekent dat de Nederlandse regering ofwel blind ofwel medeplichtig is. De Nederlandse regering mag niet zwijgen'', meende Van Bommel.

Kort na 14.00 uur begonnen de demonstranten aan een protestmars door het centrum van de stad. Velen hadden zich gehuld in Palestijnse sjaals of sjouwden met Palestijnse vlaggen. Ze droegen spandoeken met teksten als 'stop de aanvallen op Gaza'. Ook riepen ze leuzen als 'Israël, terrorist' en 'intifadah, intifadah, Palestina vrij'. Onder anderen Van Bommel en activiste Gretta Duisenberg schreeuwden die laatste tekst mee.

Een aantal demonstranten droeg vlaggen van de bewegingen Hamas en Hezbollah of portretten van de leiders van die organisaties. Een groep jongens verbrandde en vertrapte een Israëlische vlag.

Hoewel de demonstratie rustig verliep, hield de politie toch enkele personen aan. Onder hen was een vrouw die een spandoek met een tekst over de Holocaust bij zich had en een demonstrant met een katapult. Ook namen agenten een Israëlische vlag in beslag. Betogers hadden die afgepakt van een man die zich onder hen had begeven en wilden de vlag in brand steken.

Tegelijkertijd met de demonstratie in Amsterdam vonden ook elders in de wereld betogingen plaats, onder meer in Londen. De afgelopen week waren er in Den Haag en Rotterdam ook al protesten tegen het optreden van Israël. (ANP)

 

Doel Israel in Gaza is verzet Hamas breken

 

De vraag is wat Israels doel is: Hamas laten voelen dat het menens is of Hamas vernietigen en een einde maken aan het Hamasbestuur in Gaza? Dat laatste zal veel moeilijker zijn, zo niet onmogelijk, maar de internationale gemeenschap zou natuurlijk kunnen eisen dat Hamas de macht weer gaat delen met Fatah zoals voor de coup in 2007, als onderdeel van een staakt-het-vuren. Zolang Hamas daar niet mee instemt zou Israel de vrije hand gegeven kunnen worden om Hamas op de knieeen te krijgen. Als Hamas op die manier merkt niet op steun te kunnen rekenen, kiest het wellicht eieren voor zijn geld. Dit alles is echter science fiction, en Israel mag blij zijn als het nog een paar dagen de tijd krijgt voor zijn grondoperatie.

 

RP

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

 

Last update - 03:35 04/01/2009

ANALYSIS / Israel's aim in Gaza is to break Hamas resistance http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052336.html

By Amos Harel & Avi Issacharoff

On Saturday night, one week after the start of Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, the ground operation began. The Israel Defense Forces started deploying combat units to surround Hamas' main power base. The goal is not to chase after and destroy every last rocket launcher, but rather to break the Hamas' resistance and force it to agree to a long-term cease-fire whose terms are more reasonable from Israel's perspective. Rocket fire into Israel continued apace with the Gaza offensive, but IDF officials believe this time progress can be made at the front before the extent of the casualties in the south begins to resemble that of the Second Lebanon War. At the same time, there is a growing risk that Hezbollah or its satellites will try to open a second front along the Lebanese border. The final decision on the ground operation came Friday afternoon in a meeting of the security cabinet with military leaders, in the IDF's underground situation room in Tel Aviv. Senior IDF officials reported that the Air Force was nearing the end of its "target bank" and that a ground operation must be launched immediately if the overall operational goals were to be met. The army believes the incursion into Gaza will do significant damage to Hamas' standing army and at the same time give Hamas leaders a palpable sense that their rule is in danger. The ground invasion will also accelerate the diplomatic stopwatch. A delegation from the European Union "troika" (Germany, France, Great Britain) will reach Gaza on Sunday, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected on Monday. Translated into military terminology that means the IDF has less than a week to make genuine progress in Gaza. In the past two days the army chief of staff and the head of Southern Command visited troops massing along the Gaza border and approved the final plans. The message from the IDF commanders is: "We will meet our goals. There will be casualties as a result of the thrust into Gaza but they will not stop any part of the operation." This attitude is different from that evinced during the Second Lebanon War, when the army withdrew on more than one occasion in response to casualties. One battalion commander told his company commander on Saturday that it's possible that not everyone will return to meet again in a few days' time. This knowledge has not affected the army's motivation and readiness, however. Hamas is not Hezbollah and the IDF circa January 2009 is not the IDF of 2006. It is sharper, more determined and better trained. The intelligence is infinitely better this time. The offensive was prepared over a long period of time. It is very aggressive, with massive air and artillery fire preceding the ground and artillery forces. The army is worried mainly about the explosive charges buried by Hamas underneath roads, about attempts to boobytrap homes and to abduct soldiers. In comparison to Lebanon, the threat of antitank fire is less troubling. IDF headquarters believes the diplomatic developments will bring a rapid end to the military operation, but field commanders are also prepared for a stay of several weeks, including methodical arrest campaigns and searches for weapons caches. On Saturday night a large number of reserve units were called up, using emergency orders. Starting Sunday they will undergo training to prepare for possible mobilization, in keeping with the security cabinet's directives to the IDF to prepare for the next stages of the conflict. Senior officers hope these preparations will prove to be unnecessary. How will Hamas respond? It has built a band of fortifications about three kilometers from the border, but later on it will probably want to put its people into populated areas on the assumption that the IDF will seek to avoid warfare in built-up areas. Hamas is likely to use suicide attackers, booby-trapped tunnels and sniper fire against IDF troops. More than 100 militants who trained in camps in Iran for 45 days will lead the fighting against the IDF. Hamas may also use children as "human shields" for weapons caches inside mosques. The recent drop in the number of rockets being fired at Israel points to a decline in the number of rocket launchers, possible due to IAF strikes on the smuggling tunnels in Rafah. It is also possible that Hamas is focusing more on defensive actions than offensive ones. Hamas' biggest problem now is that for it the ground operation is a battle for the survival of its governmental control in the Strip. The organization's leaders have raised Gazans' expectations regarding the IDF invasion. In the past several days they have promised that "Gaza's children will collect body parts of the Zionist soldiers." Khaled Meshal spoke of "a few more Gilad Shalits," if the IDF dares to launch a ground operation. It can be assumed that the fighting spirit of the Hamas militants will be greater than the zero motivation displayed by their counterparts from Fatah and the Palestinian Authority security forces during Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank in 2002. Still, the balance of forces is clear. If Hamas does not cause serious casualties among the Israeli forces, the operation will be considered a failure for the organization in the Arab world. The true picture in Gaza should become clearer today, once some of the fog imposed by the IDF censor clears.

 

Islamitische Beweging in Israel: 'Gaza campagne erger dan Holocaust'

 

Uiteraard waren de Palestijnen beter af geweest wanneer Israel zich als de zo humane nazi's zou gedragen en ze slechts in ovens zou stoppen.

Leiders als deze bewijzen de Israelische Arabieren geen goede dienst.

 

RP

-------------------- 

 

Deputy Chairman of Islamic Movement in Israel: Killing Gaza Police worse than Germans putting Jews in ovens

Dr. Aaron Lerner

Date: 2 January 2009

 

"This isn't war, it is genocide. Killing police officers, people who preserve the security? To come to a police center and blow it up? These aren't people that threw the Qassam.

What does the State of Israel do? The Germans didn't do such a thing.

Sure they gathered the Jews together and put them into ovens. But this is worse.

How are the Jews silent?"

Sheikh Juma'a al-Qasasi, former mayor of the Bedouin town Rahat in the Negev, deputy chairman of the Islamic Movement to Makor Rishon correspondent Avinavad Vitkon.

 

 

Major Rishon 2 January 2009

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

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Website: http://www.imra.org.il
 

Amos Oz en Israel's recht op zelfverdediging

 

"Massive pressure will be exerted on Israel to restrain itself. No such pressure will be placed on Hamas because there is no one to pressure them, and there is almost nothing left with which to pressure them. Israel is a country; Hamas is a gang."

 

Er kan zeker druk op Hamas worden uitgeoefend, bijvoorbeeld door Iran of Syrië, maar die lijken geenszins van plan dit te doen. Er is nog een land dat druk op Hamas kan uitoefenen, en dat land is daar wel mee bezig: Israël!

Een VN Veiligheidsraad resolutie zou keiharde eisen aan Hamas moeten stellen, en tot Hamas zich daarnaar schikt heeft het geen pas om Israel aan banden te leggen. Zoals ieder land in de wereld heeft het het volste en fundamentele recht op zelfverdediging.

 

Wouter

_____________________


Sunday, December 28, 2008
Israel Must Defend Its Citizens.......
http://tundratabloid.blogspot.com/2008/12/amos-oz-israel-must-defend-its-citizens.html
By Amos Oz

 

The systematic bombing of the citizens in Israel's towns and cities is a war crime and a crime against humanity. The State of Israel must defend its citizens. It is obvious to everyone that the Israeli government does not wish to enter Gaza; the government would rather continue the ceasefire that Hamas violated and finally revoked. But the suffering of the citizens surrounding Gaza cannot go on.

The reluctance to enter Gaza stems not from indecisiveness but from well knowing that Hamas is actually eager to cause Israel to embark on a military operation: If dozens or even hundreds of Palestinian civilians, women and children are killed in an Israeli action, radicalism would gain strength in Gaza, Abu Mazen's rule in the West Bank might collapse, and Hamas extremists could replace him.

The Arab world will rally together around the atrocious sights that Al-Jazeera will air from Gaza, and the world court of public opinion will rush to accuse Israel of war crimes. This is the same court of public opinion that remains unmoved by the systematic bombing of population centers in Israel.

Massive pressure will be exerted on Israel to restrain itself. No such pressure will be placed on Hamas because there is no one to pressure them, and there is almost nothing left with which to pressure them. Israel is a country; Hamas is a gang.

What remains for us to do? The best thing for Israel is to achieve a total ceasefire in exchange for alleviating the blockade of Gaza. If Hamas insists on refusing the ceasefire and continues bombing Israeli citizens, we must take care lest the military action play into Hamas' hands. Hamas' calculation is simple, cynical and evil: If innocent Israelis are killed – good. If innocent Palestinians are killed – even better. Israel must act wisely against this stance, and not out of the heat of the moment.

H/T: Israeli MFA