De Gaza Oorlog en internationaal recht

 

Bij vrijwel elke aktie van Israel krijgt zij kritiek vanwege schending van het internationale recht, dat soms terecht maar vaker onterecht erbij wordt gehaald.

 

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Gaza operation Myth and Reality: International Law

The NGO Front in the Gaza War: Exploitation of International Law

NGO Monitor

January 21, 2009

The exploitation of international legal rhetoric is a major weapon in the political war to delegitmize Israeli anti-terror operations.  Under this strategy, crystallized at the NGO Forum of the UN's 2001 Durban Conference, the terminology of international humanitarian (IHL) and human rights law is selectively applied to charge Israel with "violations of law," "crimes against humanity," "war crimes," "disproportionate force" and "indiscriminate attacks." In contrast, the violation of Gilad Shalit's human rights and Hamas' use of human shields are ignored.  NGOs use the legal language to increase the credibility and  seriousness of the charges, and in the Gaza conflict, many are already calling for international "investigations" and "lawfare" (i.e. filing lawsuits against Israeli officials in different countries) based on these accusations.  Hamas, Hezbollah, and the PLO have reaped significant political benefits from this strategy in their conflicts with Israel. 

This NGO Monitor report analyzes common NGO legal claims:

• NGO silence on Gilad Shalit's rights under international law is a significant moral failing by these self-proclaimed defenders of human rights and international law.  Held hostage by Hamas since June 2006, Shalit is entitled to the rights and protections of prisoners of war guaranteed in the Third Geneva Convention, including the right to unfettered access to the Red Cross.  Hamas flouts international law and very few NGOs call it to account or demanded enforcement of Shalit's rights.
• Hamas exploits schools, mosques, hospitals and cultural centers to carry out its attacks in flagrant violation of article 51 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.  This factor is minimized or ignored by numerous NGOs, and the emphasis is placed on Israel to avoid civilian casualties. But international law is clear: in cases of human shields, civilian deaths that result are clearly the responsibility of Hamas and not Israel.
• Under international law, the test for proportionality is whether civilian harm is "clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated."  Casualty ratios are not relevant, and this standard does not require equivalency in weaponry.
• NGO claims that Israel deliberately targets civilians or does not attempt to distinguish between civilian and military targets are entirely without foundation.  The NGOs leveling these charges do not possess military expertise, detailed information on the dispersal of weapons by Hamas, and they are not privy to Israeli targeting decisions.  Such information is essential in order to make a credible evaluation of Israeli military responses to the thousands of rocket attacks by Hamas.
• The NGO charge of "collective punishment" is false both legally and factually.  "Collective punishment" refers to the imposition of criminal penalties, not economic sanctions.  Israel is in compliance with article 23 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and allows access for humanitarian supplies well in excess of its legal obligations while under attack.
• Calls for "war crimes" investigations and lawsuits are part of the NGO anti-Israel lawfare strategy, in order to harass Israeli officials with civil lawsuits and criminal investigations and to promote a negative media image of Israel.  Rather than obtaining "justice" for victims, these cases are intended to punish Israel for its anti-terror methods, to prevent future operations, to interfere with Israel's diplomatic relations, and to advance boycotts and other aspects of the Durban strategy.

Claim:  The fate of Gilad Shalit is an unimportant international legal issue.

Analysis:  The refusal of the NGO community to demand Red Cross access to Gilad Shalit is a significant moral failure.  International humanitarian law was enacted to guarantee the rights and protections of prisoners of war.  The Third Geneva Convention lays out these rights unequivocally:  the right to humane treatment (article 13); the right to have knowledge of a POW's location (article 23); the right to send and receive letters and cards on a monthly basis (article 71); the right to unfettered access to the Red Cross (article 126), and others.  Hamas has flouted each of these provisions and the NGO silence causes considerable damage to international humanitarian law and universal human rights. 

Claim: The use of human shields by Hamas is irrelevant to Israel's compliance with IHL

Analysis:   These NGO claims misstate the law as it applies to Israel and deliberately ignore violations by Hamas.  Under article 51(7) of the First Protocol of the Geneva Conventions, civilians "shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations."   Hamas is in direct violation of this rule, yet few if any NGOs mention it.   Regardless of Hamas' abuse of article 51, under article 28 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, "the presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations."  Therefore, Israel is not prohibited from attacking a military target simply because there are civilians present.   The documentary and video proof of Hamas's exploitation of schools, mosques, hospitals and cultural centers to carry out its attacks is overwhelming, and responsibility for any civilian deaths that follow belongs to Hamas.[1]

Claim: NGOs such as Oxfam, Gisha, and B'Tselem, claim Israel has used "disproportionate force" highlighting the number of Palestinians killed especially children with emotive "testimonies" and anecdotes from Gazans in their reports.  These claims frequently compare Palestinian casualties with Israeli casualties.

Analysis:    While every civilian death is regrettable, casualty ratios are not relevant to the standard for evaluating proportionality. Pursuant to article 2(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, an attack is "disproportionate" if  it causes damage or loss of civilian life "which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated" and as Israel's former UN Ambassador, Dore Gold notes, Israel "is not required to calibrate its use of force precisely according to the size and range of the weaponry used against it." "Just war" theorist Michael Walzer has also remarked that the concept of proportionality cannot be applied "speculatively."  He points out that the test of proportionality is in relation to the future expected military advantage, not in relation to past events or civilian deaths from previous attacks.  In his view, those leveling the charge of "disproportionate" do so only when it is "simply violence they don't like, or it is violence committed by people they don't like."  Therefore, "Israel's Gaza war was called 'disproportionate' on day one, before anyone knew very much about how many people had been killed or who they were."

Claim:  Human Rights Watch, Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Amnesty, Al Mezan, and others accuse Israel of "indiscriminate attacks" against Gazan civilians.

Analysis:  The claim that Israel deliberately targets civilians or does not attempt to distinguish between civilian and military targets is entirely unfounded.  The IDF has legal advisors embedded with combat units making analyses prior to any military action. Many attacks have been aborted when it was deemed the potential harm to civilians was too great.  Moreover, the NGOs leveling these charges do not possess military expertise, detailed information on the dispersal of weapons by Hamas, and they are not privy to Israeli targeting decisions.  Such information is essential in order to make a credible evaluation of Israeli military responses to the thousands of rocket attacks by Hamas.

Claim:  Amnesty International accuses Israel of "unlawfully" killing "scores of unarmed civilians, as well as police personnel who were not directly participating in the hostilities". 

Analysis:  Amnesty has no basis relabelling Hamas operatives as "civilian" police officers and presents no evidence supporting its claim that these men were not "directly participating in the hostilities".  In fact, a Hamas-linked website claims that these men were members of Hamas' Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam brigade. 

Claim:  Israel is engaging in "collective punishment"

Analysis:  Restriction on the flow of goods in a war environment does not constitute "collective punishment" under international law and this charge is not only false legally, but factually as well.  "Collective punishment" refers to the imposition of criminal penalties and does not refer to the legal act of retorsion (e.g. sanctions, blockades).  In fact, pursuant to article 23[2]  of the Geneva Convention (which sets standards for the provision of limited humanitarian aid), Israel has no obligation to provide any goods, even minimal humanitarian supplies, if it is "satisfied" that such goods will be diverted or supply of such goods will aid Hamas in its war effort.  As numerous credible accounts have reported, Hamas has diverted supplies from Gaza's civilian population.  Although Israel is under no legal obligation and despite the diversion as well as attacks on the Israeli border crossings, including the April 9 attack on the Nahal Oz fuel depot and the May 22 truck bomb attack at the Erez crossing, Israel continues to provide thousands of tons of humanitarian supplies to Gaza.  This is above and beyond any obligation under international law, and the claim of "collective punishment" is entirely unjustified.

Claim:  NGOs ignore and even imply Israel should violate its international legal obligations to fight terrorism

Analysis:  Israel has numerous binding obligations to fight terrorism under international law.  These include Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001) made pursuant to Chapter VII of the UN Charter requiring Israel to:

• "prevent and suppress the financing of terrorist acts";
•  "criminalize the wilful provision or collection, by any means, directly or indirectly, of funds" used to carry out terror attacks
•   "refrain from providing any form of support, active or passive, to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts";
• "deny safe haven to those who finance, plan, support, or commit terrorist acts, or provide safe havens";
• "prevent those who finance, plan, facilitate or commit terrorist acts from using their respective territories for those purposes against other States or their citizens";
•  "prevent the movement of terrorists or terrorist groups by effective border controls and controls on issuance of identity papers and travel documents."

The NGO statements on Gaza overwhelmingly ignore this obligation and seek to place "human rights" duties upon Israel that stand in direct conflict with Israel's legal obligations – in essence, demanding Israel violate international law. 

Claim:  Many NGOs have called for "war crimes investigations" and lawsuits against Israel for its operations in Gaza

Analysis:  These calls are part of the lawfare strategy, adopted at the 2001 Durban Conference, used to harass Israeli officials with civil lawsuits and criminal investigations for "war crimes" or "crimes against humanity" by exploiting universal jurisdiction statutes in Europe and North America.  These cases are a means for NGOs to punish Israel for its anti-terror methods; to prevent future operations; and to promote a negative media image of Israel.  They are also a means of interfering with Israel's diplomatic relations.  Leaders in this movement include the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Haq, the International Federation of Human Rights (France (FIDH)) and the Center for Constitutional Rights.  PCHR is already issuing calls to bring suit for the killing during Operation Cast Lead of Shiekh Nizar Rayan, one of the leading architects of Hamas atrocities, and who sent his son out on a suicide bombing mission in 2001.  To date, these cases have been dismissed at the preliminary stages.  See NGO Monitor's monograph, NGO "Lawfare":  Exploitation of Courts in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, for more information on this issue.

Conclusion:

The exploitation of international law by NGOs as seen in the Gaza conflict, according to Washington attorneys David Rivkin and Lee Casey, reflects an effort to "criminaliz[e] traditional warfare" rather than promote universal human rights.

_________________

Notes:

[1] This concept is analogous to the "felony murder" rule where the perpetrator of a crime will be held liable for murder if an innocent bystander is killed by a police officer or other law enforcement agent while attempting to apprehend the felon.

[2] Article 23 provides that  
Each High Contracting Party shall allow the free passage of all consignments of medical and hospital stores and objects necessary for religious worship intended only for civilians of another High Contracting Party, even if the latter is its adversary. It shall likewise permit the free passage of all consignments of essential foodstuffs, clothing and tonics intended for children under fifteen, expectant mothers and maternity cases.
The obligation of a High Contracting Party to allow the free passage of the consignments indicated in the preceding paragraph is subject to the condition that this Party is satisfied that there are no serious reasons for fearing:

(a) that the consignments may be diverted from their destination,

(b) that the control may not be effective, or

(c) that a definite advantage may accrue to the military efforts or economy of the enemy through the substitution of the above-mentioned consignments for goods which would otherwise be provided or produced by the enemy or through the release of such material, services or facilities as would otherwise be required for the production of such goods.

The Power which allows the passage of the consignments indicated in the first paragraph of this Article may ma permission conditional on the distribution to the persons benefited thereby being made under the local supervision of the Protecting Powers.
Such consignments shall be forwarded as rapidly as possible, and the Power which permits their free passage shall have the right to prescribe the technical arrangements under which such passage is allowed.

 

Hamas geduchte tegenstander, maar IDF was beter voorbereid

 

Het IDF is sinds de Libanon Oorlog in 2006 goed getraind om het tegen guerrillastrijders op te nemen.

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Brigade commander: Hamas will draw lessons, grow stronger

'We were simply ready and came in with strong and determined soldiers,' commander of Armored Corps 401st Brigade says regarding Gaza offensive, 'I suggest that even now we do not dismiss Hamas; it will draw lessons from the conflict and will be stronger in the next round of fighting'

 

Hanan Greenberg - YNET

Published: 01.23.09, 16:16
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3660868,00.html

 

"Our achievements in Gaza have restored the Israeli people's faith in the army," the commander of the 401st Brigade of the Armor Corps told Ynet Thursday.

Colonel Yigal Slovik could not provide a clear answer as to whether Operation Cast Lead finally brought security to the residents of south Israel, but he did say that his brigade was prepared to reenter Gaza immediately if needed.

The 401st Brigade rolled into Gaza through the Netzarin corridor and didn't stop until it reached the coast, effectively dissecting the Hamas-controlled territory into a northern and southern bloc.

The brigade's units also conducted numerous raids targeting Hamas gunmen and infrastructure.

Slovik brushed aside claims that the army had overestimated Hamas' might, saying, "I suggest that even now we do not dismiss Hamas, because an enemy is an enemy, and it too will draw lessons from the conflict and will be stronger in the next round (of fighting)."

The colonel said the relatively low number of IDF casualties created a false perception of Hamas' capabilities. "We were simply ready; the training for the operation began two years ago. We came in with strong and determined soldiers who knew what they had to do," he said.

Moral dilemma gone with first booby-trapped house

Colonel Slovik mentioned the presence of the commanders on the field as another reason for the offensive's successes: "When the soldiers see the battalion or brigade commander next to them it gives them a sense of security."

He said any moral dilemmas he may have had disappeared once he encountered the first booby-trapped house. "When you see one house that is laden with explosives, and then the one next to is also booby-trapped or serves as a weapons cache - then there is no dilemma," Slovik said.

"As a father, looking into the house and seeing a photo of children - then clearly it touches the heart - but if there is a possibility that my soldiers will get hurt as a result of an explosion from inside that house, then I'd rather feel bad over the photo than bury five of my soldiers. We did not destroy homes; we acted against terror infrastructure."

Thirty-three of the 401st Brigade's soldiers were lightly wounded during the fighting. "One of our challenges as commanders was to see to it that the soldiers remain alert," Slovik said.

According to him, his soldiers did not commit any acts of vandalism while in Gaza. "We left everything as organized as possible. There was no such thing as destroying property for no reason. On the contrary, some soldiers tended to hungry pets that were left tied up in the backyards.

Addressing the harsh criticism cast by the international community on the IDF's conduct, Slovik said "I have no qualms about the manner in which I operated. At worst I'll be denied entry to a few European countries. My subordinates and I have chosen this profession out of faith in the righteousness of our path; we sacrifice much more than a trip to London."

Het had anders kunnen gaan in Gaza

 

Het had ook anders kunnen gaan. Niet alleen de Israelische ambassadeur maar ook een zakenman uit Dubai zegt dat de Gazanen wat van het gebied konden maken nadat Israel zich geheel had teruggetrokken, maar ze kozen voor geweld in plaats van opbouw en ontwikkeling.

 

RP

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Sunday, 18 January 2009

Hopeless in Gaza: it didn't have to be this way

http://sultansq.blogspot.com/2009/01/hopeless-in-gaza-it-didnt-have-to-be.html

 

 

I recall as a child being told the old saying: "There's no use crying over spilt milk." On Thursday evening, as I made my modest contribution to the Dubai Cares Gaza campaign by carrying boxes filled with school bags, I suddenly felt my eyes watering up. For I thought to myself that each bag I filled with school equipment and piled on top of the others to be shipped to the helpless children of Gaza represented a child, probably one who had lost his mother, or father or entire family.

For each bag that we filled there was another that we didn't, simply because the child is no longer there. I looked away so as not to embarrass myself in front of the other volunteers. I breathed deeply and continued working. Bag after bag we filled with school materials.

There's this one girl I saw on TV, she lost a limb in the attacks. Precision bombing, Israel calls it. I packed a small eraser for her small hands but these won't erase the terror she endured. "Don't forget the colouring pens," I yelled. Certainly, there are more injured children. "Shall we put bandages in the same bag?" I asked an organiser. Apparently not: there are other bags reserved specifically for medical equipment. Silly me.

In 1994, Yasser Arafat, the PLO leader, arrived in the Palestinian Territories for the first time in decades and declared that he would turn Gaza into the Singapore of the Middle East. Fifteen years later it couldn't be more different. Arafat's prediction of Gaza being used as an example will certainly come true, but not in the way he envisioned. Today, Gaza is more like Somalia than a Mediterranean port. In fact, one day soon people will be using Gaza as the example of a failed state as Somalia continues to fade into distant memory. Thus Afghanistan will be called the Gaza of Central Asia, and Zimbabwe will be the Gaza of Africa.

But it didn't have to be that way, if it wasn't for the fear of certain countries in the region that they would lose the Palestinian cause as a bargaining tool if the Palestinians made their peace with the devil. What would they be left with as negotiating leverage? The idea of using Palestinian youth as an outsourced army to fight the Israelis was too appealing to lose. Setting them up with firepower and turning their dials – fire at will. But it was less their will than that of certain characters who have come and gone in the Middle East. Endless blood and destruction. The Holy Land, indeed: unholy is more like it.

No, it didn't have to be that way at all. It's February 2005. The Israelis announce their withdrawal from Gaza. The occupiers are leaving. Good riddance. Let's build something now, shall we? In walks none other than a Dubai tycoon, the man responsible at one time or another for the most valuable property company in the world, operating in 17 countries with a global portfolio worth more than $100 billion that includes the tallest building on Earth and the biggest mall on the planet, and above all one of the right-hand men of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai. Enter Mohammed al Abbar, chairman of Emaar with all its pomp and glory, to start building. His offer was to pay $56m for the 21 settlements that the Israelis were to evacuate. Finally, we can get started with turning this port city into Singapore, as Arafat wanted.

But wait. How can the sensationalist Arabic press let go of this golden opportunity? Rather than headlines reading "Dubai to spearhead Gaza development", there were headlines that accused the UAE of normalisation with Israel. "Rewarding aggression in Palestine", read one editorial. The horror! Public outcry ensued. Mohammed Al Abbar was forced to appear on Dubai TV and defend his position. "These journalists," he said, "they've so much spare time. They should use it better. Go visit Gaza and see how they live there."

Suddenly the initiative to create Emaar Palestine was no longer there. The result was that the Gazans were left with scant employment opportunities. "The crossings are still controlled by the enemy," was the broken record that Arab patriots played. I say, why not make the best of a bad situation instead of making the worst of it? A few more years of such mentality guaranteed further radicalisation. Good evening, Hamas. Hello, hopelessness. Enter Israeli terror.

Back in the Dubai Cares tent among the 700 volunteers, as we packed 50,000 bags to send to Palestinian schoolchildren, I couldn't help but wonder: what if Mohammed al Abbar had bought these plots of land and developed them? Building houses. Building homes. Creating jobs. Creating hope. Would we be packing these bags at all?

Indeed, I recall that there's no use crying over spilt milk. Nevertheless, I couldn't stop shedding a tear over that little girl's spilt blood.

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This article first appeared in The National newspaper on Sunday January 18th 2009

Sultan Al Qassemi is a Sharjah-based businessman and graduate of the American University of Paris. He is the founder of Barjeel Securities in Dubai.

Frankrijk zwakt eisen voor praten met Hamas af

 

Er is een onmiskenbare trend richting legitimatie van Hamas, zonder dat deze terroristische organisatie ook maar een iota gematigder is geworden. Alles wat Hamas doet - een coup plegen, raketten afschieten, staakt het vurens houden en verbreken, militair hard worden getroffen in reactie daarop, het lijkt allemaal aan haar legitimatie bij te dragen.

 

RP

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Last update - 20:09 20/01/2009
France may talk to Hamas even if group doesn't recognize Israel
By Assaf Uni, Haaretz Correspondent

 

 

France signalled on Tuesday that it might be prepared to hold talks with Hamas even if the Palestinian Islamist group does not recognize Israel as Paris and other Western powers have demanded for years.

 

The "Quartet" of Middle East mediators - the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia - has said there can be no dealings with Hamas until it recognises Israel, renounces violence and accepts existing interim peace deals.

 

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier, however, said that renouncing violence was the most important of those three conditions, an apparent shift in France's position.

 

"We repeat that the elements of the Quartet have been defined. There is obviously an absolutely major element, which is renouncing violence," Chevallier told a news conference.

 

When asked if France was scrapping the recognition of Israel as a precondition, he said: "I did not say that it was not a precondition" but repeated his phrase suggesting that renouncing violence was more important than the other conditions.

 

Hamas seized control of Gaza from the Fatah forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007 after winning an election the year before.

 

Israel and the West boycotted governments led by Hamas because the group rejects Israel's right to exist.

 

Abbas, whose Fatah faction controls the West Bank, has called for a Palestinian national unity government to pave the way for elections after Israel's 22-day military offensive in Gaza, which killed more than 1,300 people.

 

Chevallier said France was prepared to work with a Palestinian national unity government.

 

"We are ready to work with a national unity government that will respect the principles of the peace process and commit itself to negotiations with Israel to obtain the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace and security," Chevallier said.

 

His comments followed remarks by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in which Ban said the United Nations could work with any united Palestinian government to rebuild the Gaza Strip.

 

Sarkozy to host global summit on Mideast peace

 

French President Nicholas Sarkozy plans to host in the coming months an international conference in Paris to advance stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the French daily Le Figaro reported Tuesday.

 

Sarkozy seeks to capitalize on the momentum created by the participation of European leaders at a summit Sunday in Sharm al-Sheikh summit on the recent hostilities in Gaza, according to Le Figaro.

 

The paper also states that Sarkozy convinced German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who had feared the cease-fire would not be kept, to attend the summit in Egypt.

 

The goal of the conference, the paper reported, is to reach a peace accord within a year, and it will be held a few weeks after a meeting of European foreign ministers in Egypt due to take place in February.

 

The form of the summit will reportedly be similar to that of the one the United States hosted in Annapolis in late 2007.

 

About 40 countries participated in the U.S. conference, including Saudi Arabia, Syria and Indonesia.

 

 

IDF commandant zegt dat troepen zich moreel gedroegen in Gaza

 

Het verhaal van de andere kant, dat zo totaal ontbreekt in onze berichtgeving.

In the area where his unit fought, rocket attacks against Israel ceased. "It is just like the marines say: 'Boots on the ground.' There are things that only a ground force can deal with."

 

RP

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Gaza officers say troops behaved morally
By Amos Harel

Haaretz, 23 January 2009
www.haaretz.com:80/hasen/spages/1057962.html

 

A tour of the western Negev yesterday, five days after the cease-fire was declared, left little room for doubt. The reservists are being sent home after an emergency call-up, conscripts are going on their leave after four weeks of fighting, the armored vehicles and tanks are being serviced. All the signs suggest that from the point of view of the IDF the current round of the war in the Gaza Strip is over. If the Hamas resumes rocket attacks on Israel - which military intelligence estimates is not likely in the foreseeable future - Israel's response will probably come in the form of air strikes.

It now seems that the time has come for assessments and conclusions. Talks with the two most visible battle commanders in the operation, colonel Ilan Malka, commander of the Givati Brigade, and the commander of Battalion 101 of the Paratrooper Brigade, Lt. Colonel Avi, seem to indicate as such.

Malka led a complex battle in an area crowded with multi-story buildings south of Gaza City, a kilometer shy of the city center. Avi, whose photograph and identity, like that of other battalion commanders, have been barred by the military censor, suffered moderate injuries in hand-to-hand combat with Hamas gunmen, rushed out of hospital against the wishes of the medical staff, and returned to lead his battalion.

Both officers say they are pleased with the way their men fought, and suggest that they could have done more. They also have no pangs of guilt about the enormity of the force the IDF deployed in the Strip. In their view, it was necessary because Hamas operated behind the cover of civilians. The officers insist that their men did everything possible to conduct themselves morally and limit civilian casualties.

Colonel Malka, 41, is married with three children, and at his post for the past 18 months. He is the first commander of the Givati brigade who began his career as a trooper in the unit. During the first stages of the operation, Givati took control of the Zeytun neighborhood to the southeast of Gaza City, "and you realize pretty quickly that even if you have taken over the territory, you have not cleared it completely because there are still [Hamas gunmen] hiding underground. On the second night a gunman emerged between two buildings housing soldiers and began shooting. In such circumstances it is a constant effort to try to prevent friendly fire incidents. A sniper at a window sees a figure and is ready to shoot, and his commander needs to keep him in control and prevent accidents."

The battle Malka is particularly proud of took place two days before the cease-fire. The brigade identified a problematic Hamas deployment between two Givati battalions in the Sabra neighborhood. "We looked for a way to best apply our relative advantage, to penetrate deep and catch them by surprise," he recounts. They focused on al-Hawa, a middle-class neighborhood where a Hamas office complex was situated. "People drew weapons from between the computers. These are tall buildings and it makes things complicated: Every floor had four apartments and it is important to make sure all have been checked. They shot at us, threw grenades from up high - we caught them by surprise but they stayed to fight. At least five cells with rocket propelled grenades engaged the armored vehicles. One armored personnel carrier carrying ammunition was hit by a rocket - if it had caught fire it would have cost us 10 dead soldiers. It would have made the result of the battle entirely different."

Malka takes Hamas seriously, "but during the fighting I reached the conclusion that when you are determined and aggressive, when you do not hesitate and you move forward, they recognize your force and pull back," he says.

Lt. Col. Avi also describes the Hamas fighting abilities as professional. "They prepared for defense and sabotage. We found groups of booby-trapped homes, with the explosives facing the direction from which they believed we would approach. They have people who understand sabotage a lot better than the average platoon commander in the IDF. In one mosque there were booby traps with sensors that would set the explosive off the minute we entered. In the northern Gaza Strip they retreated as we approached. But the further we moved to the center of the city, Hamas resistance became more serious."

In the area where his unit fought, rocket attacks against Israel ceased. "It is just like the marines say: 'Boots on the ground.' There are things that only a ground force can deal with. It may be that a few ranks above us they call this an operation, but at the battalion level, there is no doubt that this is war. We did not use terms like 'routine security operation.' We talked about 'occupying, assault, attack' - war terminology."

Avi is keen to stress that his soldiers did not consciously target civilians. "At Atatra, a neighborhood in northern Gaza, we saw a light in a house and heard screams, and we let the families walk out with a white flag. I was very concerned about harming civilians. When we went into the Strip I told the soldiers: 'We are not like the Russians in Chechnya.' I was glad to see that the guys knew how to hold their fire."

Volgens IDF circa 1300 Palestijnse doden in Gaza, meerderheid van Hamas

 

Volgens een Italiaanse journalist zijn er veel minder Palestijnen gedood in Israels militaire campagne tegen Hamas. Hij sprak onder andere met een arts uit het Shiva ziekenhuis die anoniem wilde blijven, maar ook in andere ziekenhuizen zouden veel minder mensen zijn gestorven en zelfs bedden onbezet zijn gebleven. Ook hoorde hij verschillende verhalen van Hamas strijders die zich tussen burgers verscholen en raketten afschoten vanuit VN gebouwen, en zouden zij medische uniforms hebben aangetrokken en ambulances hebben gebruikt om zich te verplaatsen.

Het Israelische leger heeft dit inmiddels weersproken, en een lijst opgesteld van 900 Palestijnen die zijn gedood tijdens de militaire operatie. De schatting van het leger is dat tussen de 1100 en 1200 Palestijnen zijn omgekomen. De VN en andere hulporganisaties houden een hoger cijfer aan van meer dan 1300 doden, gebaseerd op wat Hamas en Palestijnse doctoren zeggen.

 

Het is allemaal lastig te verifiëren. Het is in het verleden vaker voorgekomen dat de Palestijnen de cijfers bewust overdrijven, zoals tijdens de herbezetting van Jenin in 2002, waarbij eerst werd gesproken van meer dan 500 doden, wat later werd bijgesteld naar 54, in meerderheid strijders. Onlangs las ik over een Palestijnse arts die bij behandeling van een patient beweerde dat die door Israelisch vuur was getroffen, hoewel later bleek dat dat niet zo was. De dodenaantallen worden onderdeel van de 'war on claims' die continu wordt gevoerd: hoeveel doden vielen er, en hoeveel strijders en kinderen? Hamas beweert dat nog geen 50 strijders zijn omgekomen, en er zijn al berichten verschenen over Palestijnse ziekenhuizen die de Hamas strijders apart hebben gelegd zodat deze niet opvallen. Hamas beweerde ook dat het meer dan 50 Israelische soldaten heeft gedood, en Israel die informatie achterhoudt. Ook is het soms lastig uit te maken, omdat veel Hamas strijders geen uniform droegen en dus niet als strijder herkenbaar zijn. Artsen en mensen uit de buurt weten waarschijnlijk wel wie bij Hamas zitten, maar waarom zouden ze dat buitenlandse journalisten en hulpverleners vertellen?

 

Een lastig probleem waarvoor de media weinig aandacht hebben is het feit dat de Gazastrook een totalitair regime heeft en de burgers er niet vrijuit kunnen spreken. De afgelopen dagen zijn tientallen 'collaborateurs' geëxecuteerd en honderden opgepakt en gemarteld. Men zou dan ook extreem wantrouwig moeten staan tegenover informatie van de Hamas, en ook van de leiding van ziekenhuizen en ministeries in Gaza etc.

 

RP

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IDF denies report that no more than 600 people died in Gaza
Jan. 22, 2009
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232292939271&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

YAAKOV KATZ and JPost.com staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

 

 

Despite a report by Lorenzo Cremonesi, a correspondent for Italy's Corriere della sera, that the number of Palestinians killed in Operation Cast Lead did not exceed five or six hundred, Israeli defense officials on Thursday said there were around 1,300 Palestinians killed during the fighting in Gaza and that a majority of them were Hamas operatives.

 

The IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration has already compiled a list with 900 names of Palestinians killed during the operation, out of which 750 are believed to be Hamas operatives.

 

The IDF estimated that two-thirds of those killed were gunmen affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian terror factions. At least 500 are believed to have been members of Hamas's military wing.

 

Hamas, defense officials said, purposely covered up the number of dead and on Sunday claimed that only 48 members of its military wing had been killed. Many bodies belonging to Hamas operatives were being stored - officials said - in the morgue in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

 

The vast majority of the Hamas operatives killed were not wearing uniforms to disguise their affiliation, another reason for the exaggerated estimate of civilian casualties by the United Nations.

 

The IDF's Military Intelligence has set up a team to come up with a comprehensive list including the names and affiliation of all of the Palestinians killed during Operation Cast Lead. The list, officials said, would be completed in the coming two weeks.

 

In addition to reporting that no more than 500 or 600 Palestinians were killed in Gaza during the IDF operation, Cremonesi, who based his report on tours of hospitals in the Gaza Strip and on interviews with families of casualties, assessed the number of wounded to be far lower than 5,000, the number quoted by Hamas and repeated by the UN and the Red Cross in Gaza.

 

"It is sufficient to visit several hospitals [in the Gaza Strip] to understand that the numbers don't add up," he wrote.

 

In the European hospital in Rafah, one of the facilities which would presumably be filled with wounded from the "war of the tunnels," many beds were empty, according to Cremonesi. A similar situation was noted in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, and in the privately-run Amal Hospital Cremonesi reported that only five out 150 beds were occupied.

 

Cremonesi interviewed Gazans who echoed Israel's insistence of how Hamas gunmen used civilians as human shields. One Gazan recalled civilians in Gaza shouting at Hamas and Islamic Jihad men, "Go away, go away from here! Do you want the Israelis to kill us all? Do you want our children to die under their bombs? Take your guns and missiles with you."

 

"Traitors, collaborators with Israel, spies of Fatah, cowards! The soldiers of the holy war will punish you. And in any case you will all die, like us. Fighting the Zionist Jews we are all destined for paradise. Do you not wish to die with us?" the religious fanatics of Hamas reportedly responded.

 

Other Palestinians told Cremonesi of Hamas operatives donning paramedic uniforms and commandeering ambulances. A woman identified as Um Abdullah, 48, spoke of Hamas using UN buildings as launch pads for rockets.

 

Cremonesi reported that he had difficultly gathering evidence as the local population was terrified of Hamas.

 

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UNRWA scholen in Gaza Strook geïnfiltreerd door Palestijnse terroristen

 

Hier zou een grondig onderzoek naar moeten worden ingesteld door de landen die aan UNRWA bijdragen, dus niet door UNRWA zelf.

 

In het artikel staat wel een rare fout, en ook is niet duidelijk op wat voor bronnen het precies is gebaseerd: de Al Aqsa Martelaren Brigades is niet de militaire vleugel van Hamas maar van Fatah. De militaire vleugel van Hamas zijn de Izzedeen al Qassam Brigades. Het kan een ordinaire vergissing zijn, maar een beetje ongelukkig is het wel. Een paar jaar geleden heeft de toenmalige directeur van UNRWA toegegeven dat veel medewerkers betrokken zijn bij Hamas.

 

RP

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UNRWA Schools in Gaza Infiltrated by Palestinian Terrorists - Jonathan D. Halevi

Ynet-Hebrew - translation in:
Daily Alert - January 22, 2009
Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

 

Recent years have seen the gradual takeover of UNRWA educational and welfare institutions in Gaza by Palestinian terrorist organizations, led by Hamas. Just six months after Hamas' general election victory, it won a clear victory in the UNRWA workers committee elections held on 14 June 2006. Suhil el-Hindi, head of the teachers sector at UNRWA schools, operates openly as Hamas' representative. He controls the curriculum in UNRWA schools, the employment of teachers in those schools, and the summer camps.

    Hamas Interior Minister Said Sayyam, responsible for Hamas terror operations, who was targeted in the recent Gaza war, was a teacher at UNRWA schools for 23 years. Following the Hamas takeover of Gaza in June 2007, parents of students in UNRWA schools wrote to the head of UNRWA charging that scores of teachers at the schools belonged to the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and requested an urgent investigation. In another example, Awad el-Kik, the principal of an UNRWA school in Rafiah, was also head of weapons and rocket manufacturing for Islamic Jihad in Gaza until he was targeted on 30 April 2008.

    It seems very likely that contributions by Western nations to UNRWA pay the salaries of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who are educating the next
generation of Palestinians in jihad against Israel and all non-Muslims. Western nations should demand that terror group activists be removed from UN institutions as a condition of continued funding.

 

 

Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi is a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and co-founder of the Orient Research Group Ltd.


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

Wapensmokkel naar Gaza ging door tijdens Israels offensief

 

Zelfs tijdens Israels militaire campagne waren sommige tunnels in gebruik, en Israel was blijkbaar niet in staat met name de tunnels die van binnen met hout waren versterkt te vernietigen. Vanwege de bloeiende business die de tunnels voor beide kanten opleveren en de wijdverbreide corruptie in Egypte zal het zeer lastig worden aan de smokkel een einde te maken.

 

RP

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Report: Arms smuggling into Gaza continued during Israel's offensive
By Anshel Pfeffer - Haaretz

Last update - 02:57 22/01/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1057661.html

 

RAFAH, EGYPT - Although the Israeli air force bombed the Phildelphi corridor along the border thousands of times during the course of the Cast Lead campaign, smugglers acknowledge that some tunnels running under the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip have remained in use, and were in operation even during the fighting. Contrary to media reports, the Israeli air force apparently did not use more powerful bunker-busting bombs to destroy the tunnels, rather than regular explosives. Tunnels lined with wood reinforcement have been especially resistant to air force bombing raids.

Smugglers manage to transfer merchandise, drugs and weapons through tunnels dug under the Philadelphi corridor. According to residents of Rafah, the reinforced tunnels were even used during the Israeli military offensive to smuggle in a group of German doctors who wanted to provide medical care to Gaza residents. In addition to Palestinian smugglers, Bedouin from Sinai are also involved in the trade through the tunnels.

One of the Bedouin in the area insists that the smuggling will continue because they have no other way to earn a living. The Egyptian police operating in the area periodically blow up the Palestinian-built tunnels when they become aware of them, but they reportedly turn a blind eye to Bedouin subterranean smuggling routes.

One resident of the area claims that Egyptian President Mubarak knows not to mess with the Bedouin in Sinai because he knows that terrorist attacks in recent years at tourist hotels in the Sinai were not the work of Al-Qaida but of Bedouin. He claims that they were sending the Egyptian government a message that Egypt should drop a proposed plan to move Sinai Bedouin away from the border.

The Bedouin reportedly move around almost unhindered by the Egyptian police. In the face of prior attempts to limit their activity, the Bedouin rioted and even attack Egyptian police installations. Despite indications that the Egyptian police have frequently cooperated with the smugglers, sometimes in exchange for payments of money, local residents insist that when higher-ranking Egyptian police become aware of the tunnels, they rush to blow them up, preferring a professional promotion to a bribe.

Since the implementation of the cease-fire, the Egyptians have opened their border with the Gaza Strip to shipments of medical personnel and supplies as well as a limited number of foreign journalists, but they then hindered the entry of additional representatives of the foreign press who have been waiting at the border.

Even during the course of the fighting, Israel permitted Egyptian ambulances to enter Gaza.

One paramedic acknowledged that he didn't worry about being attacked by Israeli forces during the hostilities because their entry into Gaza was coordinated with Israel.

"We were more afraid of Hamas," he said, "because they might be angry at us because of the Egyptian's refusal to open their side of the border."

The Palestinians continue to press Egypt to expand access through the Rafah crossing. The Egyptians have also clamped down on expressions of Palestinian nationalism by Palestinian living on the Egyptian side of the border. Ironically, near the border on the Egyptian side, the houses tend to be somewhat larger and more elaborate. The relative wealth has been attributed to income from smuggling.

Gewapende mannen kaapten Jordaanse hulpgoederen in Gaza

 

The Palestinian Authority official said: "This is not the first incident of this kind. We have learned that the food items, which were supposed to be given to Gazans for free, were being sold in the marketplace in Gaza City."

 

Vreemd dat we hier nooit wat over vernemen in het journaal of andere media.

 

--------

'Armed men seize Jordanian relief cargo in Gaza'
By Hani Hazaimeh Jordan Times  21 January 2009
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=13669

 

AMMAN - Anonymous armed men captured a 13-truck convoy laden with foodstuff donated by Jordanians after entering the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official told The Jordan Times Tuesday.

Neither the convoy's drivers nor the trucks, which entered Gaza at the Karm Abu Salem crossing, are Jordanian, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The drivers were released; the hijackers drove the trucks.

The shipment was unloaded from a Jordanian convoy after it crossed into the Palestinian territories and then carried by non-Jordanian trucks rented by UNRWA into Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority official said: "This is not the first incident of this kind. We have learned that the food items, which were supposed to be given to Gazans for free, were being sold in the marketplace in Gaza City."

On Monday, an 11-truck convoy carrying food items from Kuwait was also seized at gunpoint, he added.

The Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation spokesperson denied he was informed of any hijacked aid convoys.

Government officials in Amman did not know about the case or were not available for comment.

UNRWA spokesperson Sami Mshasha told The Jordan Times on the phone from Jerusalem that he was not aware of any hijacked aid convoy, being busy with arrangements for the visit of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Gaza.

Mshasha said he would follow up on the report, but remained unavailable despite repeated attempts by The Jordan Times to contact him.

Gaza smokkeltunnels weer operationeel

 

Dit was te verwachten, en het is de vraag in hoeverre extra Egyptische grensbewakers daar wat aan kunnen doen. Zoals betoogd in Reken niet op Egypte om wapensmokkel Gaza te stoppen (artikel in Ynet), is de corruptie wijdverbreid en varen de lokale Bedoeinen wel bij de smokkel, en laten ze die zich niet zomaar afpakken. Alleen een grote ondergrondse muur of diepe watergeul zou echt kunnen helpen, en dergelijke plannen circuleren al jaren zonder dat ze worden uitgevoerd. Wie weet heeft Israels militaire campagne Egypte en de internationale gemeenschap van de urgentie van een en ander overtuigd, maar dat valt allemaal nog te bezien.

 

RP

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Gaza smuggling routes operational again
BRENDA GAZZAR and AP , THE JERUSALEM POST

Jan. 21, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232292926583&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

Smuggling into Gaza from Egypt is underway again, only days after the end of the IDF operation against Hamas.

AP Television News footage showed Palestinian smugglers Wednesday filling a fuel truck with petrol that came through a cross-border tunnel from Egypt. The footage also shows workers busy clearing blocked tunnels and bulldozers carrying out other repairs.

One of the stated goals of the IDF offensive was to stop the smuggling through the hundreds of tunnels under the border. The goods coming through have included a steady flow of rockets and other weapons.
Israel has said eighty percent of the smuggling tunnels were destroyed in bombing raids during the IDF's Operation Cast Lead.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian official said on Wednesday that Cairo planned to discuss with Israel its desire to station additional border guards along the Philadelphi Corridor in order to prevent weapons smuggling into Gaza.

"We expect to start negotiations about the Egyptian request to put an additional number of border guards (along the Philadelphi Corridor) soon," he said. "The idea is on the table and we will negotiate it."

The official would not say when it would be negotiated or how many additional troops Egypt would request to add. Many other proposals, including the moat proposal and building a barrier around the Egyptian part of Rafah, are currently "being studied" by Egypt, he said.

Amos Gilad, the head of the Defense Ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau, was scheduled to visit Egypt on Thursday.

Similarly, the London-based newspaper, Al-Hayat on Wednesday quoted Mohammed Bassiouny, chairman of the Egyptian Parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, as saying that there were ongoing Israeli-Egyptian negotiations concerning doubling the number of Egyptian forces at the border.

"We requested another 750 soldiers to monitor this region in addition to the 750 soldiers from the border guard unit that are already there after Egypt signed the protocol with Israel," he said

In contrast to the Egyptian source who talked to the Jerusalem Post, Bassiouny indicated that Egyptian-Israeli negotiations were already taking place in an effort to achieve this goal, according to Al-Hayat.

Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said his country would not allow foreign naval forces to operate in its territorial waters to prevent weapons smuggling to Gaza.

Aboul Gheit spoke to reporters Wednesday as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni headed to Brussels where Israeli officials said she hoped to clinch a deal committing the EU to contribute forces, ships and technology to stop arms smuggling to Hamas.

EU officials said it was too early for that, saying providing humanitarian relief and efforts to secure a lasting cease-fire were their priorities.

 

IDF onderzoekt onjuist gebruik fosfor granaten in Gazastrook

Er is een incident geweest waarin het Israelische leger mogelijk geen legitiem gebruik heeft gemaakt van witte fosfor, en dat wordt onderzocht.

 

RP

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1057361.html
IDF probes improper use of phosphorus shells in Gaza Strip
By Amos Harel


The Israel Defense Forces is investigating whether a reserve paratroops brigade made improper use of phosphorus shells during the fighting in Gaza.

The brigade fired about 20 such shells in a built-up area of northern Gaza.

Aside from this one case, the shells were used very sparingly and, in the army's view, in compliance with international law.

 

The IDF's use of phosphorus shells has sparked great criticism both in Israel and in the international media. The army therefore appointed Col. Shai Alkalai, an artillery officer, to investigate the issue, and his probe is still in progress.

According to senior army officers, the IDF used two phosphorus-based weapons in Gaza. One, the sources said, actually contains almost no phosphorus. These are simple smoke bombs - 155mm artillery shells - with a trace of phosphorus to ignite them.

Alkalai's probe is thus focusing on the second type: phosphorus shells, either 81mm or 120mm, that are fired from mortar guns. About 200 such shells were fired during the recent fighting, and of these, according to the probe's initial findings, almost 180 were fired at orchards in which gunmen and rocket-launching crews were taking cover.

The one problematic incident was the reserve paratroops brigade that fired about 20 such shells in a built-up area of Beit Lahiya. Many international organizations say phosphorus shells should not be used in heavily populated areas. The brigade's officers, however, say the shells were fired only at places that had been positively identified as sources of enemy fire.

The 120mm shells, a recent acquisition, have a computerized targeting system attached to a GPS. Brigade commanders say they were very effective, but they were also responsible for two very serious mishaps: a strike on a UNRWA school that killed 42 Palestinians and a friendly fire incident that seriously wounded two officers.

 

 

Hamas bevestigt executeren van collaborateurs

 

Habbash accused Hamas of intimidating journalists and aid workers during the military operation and preventing them from speaking out without permission from the movement.
Hamas militiamen have been intercepting aid convoys and confiscating food and medical supplies, he claimed. Some Hamas officials had laid their hands on the aid and were selling them.
The minister said his office had received hundreds of complaints from Palestinians in the Gaza Strip about the confiscation of humanitarian aid.

Deze beschuldigingen zijn niet nieuw, en komen van verschillende bronnen, waaronder Israel en Jordanie. Toch blijft onze Sander van Hoorn ze hardnekkig negeren en geeft de voorkeur aan de zoveelste reportage over Palestijnse slachtoffers die alles kwijt zijn door de Israelische bombardementen.

 

RP

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Jan 22, 2009 0:00 | Updated Jan 22, 2009 3:04
Hamas confirms executing collaborators
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232292930390&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH 


The Palestinian Authority's Minister of Social Welfare Affairs, Mahmoud Habbash, accused Hamas on Wednesday of confiscating 63 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid while they were on their way to the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza.
 

He also confirmed that Hamas had been torturing and executing Fatah members in the Gaza Strip during and after Operation Cast Lead. Nineteen Palestinians were murdered in cold blood by Hamas, Habbash said, while more than 60 others were shot in the legs.

 

Ihab Ghissin, spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza, confirmed that his men had arrested scores of "collaborators" with Israel during and after the war. However, he refused to say whether the detainees were members of Fatah. He also denied that the detainees were being tortured.

 

However, Musa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas official in Syria, confirmed that his movement had executed "collaborators" during the war. He claimed that Fatah members had taken to the streets to blow kisses at IAF planes and handed out candies as they attacked Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

 

The latest charges against Hamas came as PA officials in Ramallah said they were coordinating the transfer of aid with Israel.

 

"We are working very closely with the Israeli authorities to ensure that humanitarian aid is delivered to the Gaza Strip through the border crossings," an official at the PA Economy Ministry said.

 

He added that since the cease-fire went into effect, the Israel had given permission to more than 150 trucks loaded with food and medicine to enter the Strip through Nahal Oz in the north and Kerem Shalom in the south.

 

Habbash accused Hamas of intimidating journalists and aid workers during the military operation and preventing them from speaking out without permission from the movement.

 

Hamas militiamen have been intercepting aid convoys and confiscating food and medical supplies, he claimed. Some Hamas officials had laid their hands on the aid and were selling them.

 

The minister said his office had received hundreds of complaints from Palestinians in the Gaza Strip about the confiscation of humanitarian aid.

 

"The people in the Gaza Strip have fallen between the Israeli hammer, which does not distinguish between human beings, animals and trees, and the Hamas anvil, which is depriving thousands of families of the international aid," he said.

 

The PA leadership had established an "emergency room" in Ramallah to follow up on the humanitarian situation in the Strip from the beginning of the military operation, Habbash said. The unit's task was - and remains - to coordinate relief and aid supplies to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, he said.

 

The PA was supervising the transfer of the aid, with some of the supplies coming into the West Bank through the border crossings with Jordan, he said.

 

The PA had also arranged for the transfer of 430 wounded Gazans to Egyptian and other hospitals in the Arab world, Habbash said, adding that more than 4,000 houses had been destroyed, while another 40,000 were damaged and rendered dangerous to live in.

 

Hamas, for its part, accused the government of PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad of stealing food and medicine supplies donated to the people of the Gaza Strip. A spokesman for the Hamas government claimed that some of Fayad's top aides had sold the supplies to merchants in the Strip who, in turn, were selling them in the local market.

 

Yusef al-Mansi, the housing minister in the Hamas government, announced on Wednesday that Hamas has no objections to coordinating the delivery of relief and aid with any party, including the PA government in Ramallah.

 

But, he stressed, Hamas insists that all the aid be delivered under its supervision and in coordination with the Hamas government. Some 5,000 Palestinian families have become homeless after their houses were completely destroyed during the war, he said.

 

De betekenis van het woord "HAMAS"

 

Ban Ki-Moon bezoekt Gaza en Sderot

 

Vreemd genoeg vertelde het NOS journaal gisteren niet dat Ban Ki-Moon ook in Sderot was geweest en de raketten van Hamas scherp veroordeelde. Waar Ban Ki-Moon enige evenwichtigheid probeert te bewaren, heeft de NOS het alleen over wat Israel heeft aangericht en hoe moedig de Gazanen ondanks alles de boel weer op proberen te bouwen.

 

Terecht eist Ban Ki-Moon een onderzoek naar de beschietingen van VN instellingen, alleen zou de vraag wel wat neutraler kunnen: 'door wie en waarom werden deze instellingen beschoten'? Volgens het internationaal recht is het de verantwoordelijkheid van de autoriteit in een bepaald gebied ervoor te zorgen dat niet vanuit de buurt van civiele instellingen wordt geschoten. Ook als Hamas strijders dus niet in de gebouwen zelf aanwezig waren, maar van nabij deze gebouwen op Israelische troepen schoten, is Hamas verantwoordelijk. Zie: http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/wars/a/loac_3.htm 

 

Misschien kan gelijk ook onderzoek worden gedaan naar de vele aantijgingen en geruchten dat Hamas hulpgoederen van de VN confisceert, en dat Hamas eigen spullen (onder andere nachtvisieapparatuur en uniformen) via humanitaire hulp de Gazastrook in heeft gesmokkeld.

 

RP

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Last update - 18:34 20/01/2009       
UN Chief: Hamas rocket attacks are 'appalling and unacceptable'
By The Associated Press
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1057132.html

 

 

UN chief Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday visited the rocket-scarred southern town of Sderot, calling Hamas' rocket fire against Israel "appalling and unacceptable."

 

Just before, Ban toured the war-torn Gaza Strip where he voiced shock and anger at the "heartbreaking" devastation wreaked by Israel's three-week offensive on the Hamas-ruled coastal territory. He pledged aid for Palestinians after Israeli attacks killed 1,300 and left thousands homeless.

 

During his visit to Sderot Ban classified Palestinian militants' projectiles as indiscriminate weapons and Hamas attacks are violations of basic humanitarian law. However, he also urged Israel to end its crippling blockade of Gaza and said the embargo would only strengthen Hamas by fueling desperation in impoverished Gaza.
 
Ban was touring Israel and Gaza on Tuesday in the wake of Israel's three-week offensive on Gaza, launched with the goal of ending years of rocket fire on Sderot and other southern towns.

 

"I have seen only a fraction of the destruction. This is shocking and alarming," Ban said while in Gaza, condemning the "excessive use" of force by Israel.

 

"These are heartbreaking scenes I have seen and I am deeply grieved by what I have seen today," he told a news conference held against a backdrop of still smouldering food aid in a UN warehouse set ablaze by Israeli gunfire last Thursday.

 

During his tour, Ban called for a full investigation into the Israeli shelling of three United Nations buildings in Gaza over the course of the war.

 

Israel Defense Forces shelling struck the UN headquarters in Gaza as well as two UN schools. The attacks heavily damaged the headquarters and killed nearly 40 people near one of the schools.

 

Ban called the attacks outrageous and demanded a full investigation through proper judiciary systems. He also demanded guarantees that this will never happen again.

 

Israel has said militants used the UN buildings as cover to launch attacks. But the military already has launched its own investigation into the incidents.

 

Israel and Hamas both ceased fire on Sunday, after an offensive that claimed the lives of some 1,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and 13 Israelis. The last of Israel's ground troops were expected to pull out of Gaza on Tuesday if the quiet holds, defense officials said.

 

Ban, who personally intervened during the war to try to stop the violence, said over the weekend that he was sending a team to assess the humanitarian needs so the United Nations could issue an emergency appeal for funds.

 

The first estimates by independent surveyors said Gaza lost nearly $2 billion in assets, including 4,100 homes, about 1,500 factories and workshops, 20 mosques, 31 security compounds, and 10 water or sewage lines. Shattered glass and mounds of rubble littered city streets.

 

Homeowners digging through the debris in Gaza City, the territory's largest city, carried off vases, refrigerators, dishes and baby beds, some loading their goods into cars and trucks. Utility crews began planning repairs to electrical and sewage and water systems. A senior technician, Mofid Awad, said 80 percent of the electricity grid in Gaza City was damaged.

 

Before setting off for Gaza, Ban met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who told him Hamas could not be allowed to lead the reconstruction process in Gaza and thereby gain some measure of legitimacy, Olmert's office said in a statement.

 

"The UN and international organizations must lead the reconstruction in conjunction with the Palestinian Authority and Egypt, which has been mediating between Israel and Hamas," Olmert said.

 

Ban is the most senior international official to visit Gaza since Hamas militants seized power in June 2007. The Hamas government is not internationally recognized, and Ban was not scheduled to meet with the group.

 

 

Gaza journaliste bevestigt afvuren raketten Hamas naast TV studio

Er werd wel degelijk geschoten vanuit een gebouw waar verschillende journalisten werkten tijdens de oorlog in Gaza. Zie de video op de site van Haaretz. Zou het NOS Journaal hier alsnog aandacht aan besteden? De vraag stellen is hem beantwoorden.

 

RP

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Gaza reporter caught on tape confirming Hamas fired rockets near TV offices
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent

Last update - 21:00 20/01/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1057129.html

 

Footage of a presenter on the Arabic language television station Al-Arabiya apparently confirms that Hamas fired at least one rocket from close to a building used by journalists during the 22-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces shelled the building, drawing international condemnation, and television networks with offices in the building denied that rockets had been launched from anywhere nearby.

But the recording, filmed by an Israeli and released Tuesday by Israel's Foreign Ministry, shows Al-Arabiya presenter Hanan Al-Masri saying that a Grad rocket had been fired from a location near the studios at Al-Shuruk tower in Gaza City. Al-Masri did not realize that she had been caught on camera.

WATCH THE VIDEO:
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1057129.html

 

Al-Masri, a Gaza resident, has been a reporter for Al-Arabiya for three years. She is filmed discussing other issues until she is apparently distracted by the firing.

"...A rocket from here? It's here," she says and turns to look at a window. "Listen, it's here, below the building..."

The production team tells Al-Masri that a rocket has been fired from a nearby location. She then calls someone and says: "The rocket that was just fired from here is a Grad?... It's as if it was fired from beneath the office. It was very loud. I thought it was bombing but it was a rocket launch."

The Foreign Ministry says the film is proof that Hamas had fired from the area of the studios.

Although the movie was filmed in one of the first days of Israel's 22-day offensive in Gaza, and Al-Shuruk tower was bombed only towards the end of the war, the Foreign Ministry views it as proof that Hamas did not refrain from launching rockets close to members of the media, and perhaps even fired near them in a bid to draw Israel into bombing the building.

Noorse diplomate in Saoedi-Arabieë vergelijkt Israel met Nazi's

 

Het is helaas niet de eerste keer dat zulke geluiden uit Noorwegen komen. In Noorwegen wordt openlijker en massaler de kant van de Palestijnen gekozen, en de media lijken er nog eenzijdiger dan hier in hun berichtgeving. Het is dan ook de vraag in hoeverre dit land, dat zich graag in de rol van neutrale bemiddelaar ziet, voor deze rol nog geschikt is.

 

RP

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Jan 21, 2009 1:44 | Updated Jan 21, 2009 8:44
Norwegian envoy: Israel, Nazis the same
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232292920832&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS


A Norwegian diplomat based in Saudi Arabia has sent out e-mails from her Foreign Ministry e-mail account equating Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza with the systematic mass murder of six million Jews by the Nazis.

The e-mail, sent out by Trine Lilleng, a first secretary at the Norwegian Embassy in Riyadh, includes a juxtaposition of black-and-white pictures from the Holocaust with color images of Operation Cast Lead.

"The grandchildren of Holocaust survivors from World War II are doing to the Palestinians exactly what was done to them by Nazi Germany," the e-mail states.

A copy of the e-mail was obtained by The Jerusalem Post.

The 40-plus pictures included as attachments in the e-mail include the famous image of a Jewish boy with his hands raised as a German soldier points his gun at him, next to an image of an Israeli soldier aiming his weapon at a Palestinian boy.

Another depicts a German soldier firing his weapon, next to an IDF soldier shooting his, while others juxtapose the barbed wire surrounding ghettos and concentration camps to the fence around Gaza, and the West Bank security barrier.

The e-mail asks recipients to forward the message to others.

Reached on her cellphone in Riyadh, Lilleng told the Post she had sent the message to "a few friends" in a "private e-mail," and had not sent any copy to the Post.

She would not say whether it was proper for her to use her ministry e-mail account for such a controversial message.

"I am not interested in saying anything about that," she said.

The Oslo-based Center Against Anti-Semitism in Norway, which has filed an official complaint with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, said it was appalled by the distribution of "clearly anti-Semitic propaganda" by a ministry official.

"The Center Against Anti-Semitism regrets that Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is thus contributing to the intensification of anti-Semitic tendencies, which lately have been quite visible in the Norwegian media, and which have been reproved by both us and by international experts," the center's director, Erez Uriely, wrote to Støre.

The center noted that the Norwegian government, along with other European governments, has sought to play a role as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part of an Egyptian-proposed agreement.

"We fail to see that the distribution of anti-Semitic pictures is compatible with such a role," the letter states.

The center has asked the Norwegian Foreign Ministry to recall the disseminated pictures immediately and to apologize publicly for the incident.

The letter was hand-delivered to the ministry in Oslo on Tuesday.

"This demonization of both Israel and the Jews must stop," said group spokeswoman Dr. Rachel Suissa.

The Norwegian Embassy in Tel Aviv did not immediately respond when asked for comment on Tuesday.

 

 

IDF heeft alle soldaten uit Gazastrook teruggetrokken

 

Het staakt-het-vuren is al verschillende malen geschonden, met name door de Palestijnen, en de Shin Beth beschuldigt Hamas ervan hulpgoeren te confisceren, iets dat ook tijdens de gevechten meermaals werd gezegd. Het zou mooi zijn als de internationale gemeenschap alsong eist dat Hamas instemt met onafhankelijke controles bij de grens, bijvoorbeeld als voorwaarde voor open grenzen. Hier ligt wellicht een rol voor Obama?

 

RP

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Last update - 09:52 21/01/2009

IDF completes pullout of all soldiers from Gaza
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1057390.html
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies


The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday said it had withdrawn all of its soldiers from Gaza, three-and-a-half weeks after launching Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in the coastal territory.

The pullout was completed before dawn on Wednesday, according to the army.

Israel sent thousands of troops into the Palestinian territory earlier this month as part of the bruising 22-day offensive against militants who have terrorized southern Israel with rocket fire for years.

The timing of the pullout reflected Israeli hopes to defuse the crisis in Gaza before President Barack Obama entered the White House.

The IDF said troops remain massed on the Israeli side of the border, prepared to take action in the event of renewed militant fire. And Israeli navy ships reportedly shot rounds of machine-gun fire at the beaches of northern Gaza.

The military had no immediate comment on the gunboat fire.

Both sides declared cease-fires that went into effect Sunday. But the truce has been shaky.

Israel reported mortar shelling from Gaza on Tuesday. The Palestinians have said Israeli troops shot to death two farmers since the truce took hold.

The military said some troops remain massed on the Israeli side of the border prepared to take action against renewed militant fire.

The liaison office for civilian territories, meanwhile, said Hamas is intentionally harming humanitarian aid transferred from Israel by firing mortars at the Karni, Kissufim and Kerem Shalom crossings. The liaison office and Shin Bet security service both accused Hamas of looting trucks bringing supplies into Gaza.

The Shin Bet also reported many instances since the cease-fire of Hamas members shooting and wounding Fatah activists in Gaza.

The Israel Air Force on Tuesday attacked areas in the Gaza Strip from which Palestinians fired mortar shells. The Israel Defense Forces said that about eight mortar shells were shot from near a central Gaza refugee camp, apparently by Hamas. Two of the shells landed in the Strip and the rest fell in open territory in the western Negev near the border.

At this stage, the IDF is holding its fire after its attack at around 6 P.M. Tuesday.

The Palestinians also fired light weapons into Israel on Tuesday, from both north and south of the Kissufim crossing. An explosive charge was also apparently set off.

Also Tuesday, the IDF began to discharge reservists who took part in Operation Cast Lead. Military sources, however, said a harsh aerial response can be expected if the cross-border attacks continue.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi visited Southern Command headquarters Tuesday and met senior officers who took part in the operation. Olmert also heard reviews from brigade commanders.

Olmert thanked the IDF, Southern Command and the Shin Bet for their performance during the three-week war. He also commented on criticism from officers in the three days since the cease-fire took effect.

Olmert said he had considered allowing the army to continue the attack as GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen Yoav Gallant had sought, but felt this would have required a period of time "for which we did not a sufficient diplomatic window."

The IDF plans to expand the entry of goods into the Gaza Strip in the coming days.

The IDF has also taken preliminary steps to defend military officers against legal charges abroad stemming from their involvement in Operation Cast Lead. The full names of battalion commanders involved in the fighting will be censored to prevent Israeli and international left-wing activists from attempting to try them for war crimes. The names of more senior officers cannot be redacted as their involvement and names have been reported by many media outlets.

 

 

Hamas martelt Fatah leden in Gaza

 

Nu het Israelische leger wegtrekt, houdt Hamas grondig huis in Gaza. Scholen en ziekenhuizen zijn veranderd in detentiecentra waar Fatah activisten en vermeende collaborateurs zonder enige vorm van bewijs worden gemarteld. Verwacht niet dat Sander van Hoorn en andere correspondenten hier aandacht aan zullen besteden, en op de Volkskrant online en andere discussiefora zal wel worden uitgelegd dat het logisch is dat Hamas zijn frustraties botviert op Fatah, en dat dat eigenlijk Israels schuld is.

 

A Fatah activist in Gaza City claimed that as many as 80 members of his faction were either shot in the legs or had their hands broken for allegedly defying Hamas's house-arrest orders.

 

"What's happening in the Gaza Strip is a new massacre that is being carried out by Hamas against Fatah," he said. "Where were these [Hamas] cowards when the Israeli army was here?"

 

RP

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'Hamas torturing Fatah members in Gaza'
Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST

Jan. 19, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232292907998&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Hamas militiamen have rounded up hundreds of Fatah activists on suspicion of "collaboration" with Israel during Operation Cast Lead, Fatah members in the Gaza Strip told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

They said the Hamas crackdown on Fatah intensified after the cease-fire went into effect early Sunday morning.

The Fatah members and eyewitnesses said the detainees were being held in school buildings and hospitals that Hamas had turned into make-shift interrogation centers.

Hamas has also renewed house arrest orders that were issued against thousands of Fatah officials and activists in the Gaza Strip shortly after the military operation started.

A Fatah official in Ramallah told the Post that at least 100 of his men had been killed or wounded as a result of the massive Hamas crackdown. Some had been brutally tortured, he added.

The official said that the perpetrators belonged to Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, and to the movement's Internal Security Force.

According to the official, at least three of the detainees had their eyes put out by their interrogators, who accused them of providing Israel with wartime information about the location of Hamas militiamen and officials.

A number of Hamas leaders and spokesmen have claimed in the past few days that Fatah members in the Gaza Strip had been spying on their movement and passing the information to Israel.

Two Hamas officials, Salah Bardaweel and Fawzi Barhoum, accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his "spies" in the Gaza Strip of tipping off the Israelis about the movements of slain Hamas interior minister Said Siam, who was killed in an IAF strike on his brother's home in Gaza City last week.

The Fatah official in Ramallah said that, apart from being baseless, the allegations were aimed at paving the way for a ruthless Hamas attack on Fatah activists in the Gaza Strip.

"They were afraid to confront the Israeli army and many Hamas militiamen even ran away during the fighting," he said. "Hamas is now venting its anger and frustration against our Fatah members there."

Eyewitnesses said that Hamas militiamen had turned a number of hospitals and schools into temporary detention centers where dozens of Fatah members and supporters were being held on suspicion of helping Israel during the war.

The eyewitnesses said that a children's hospital and a mental health center in Gaza City, as well as a number of school buildings in Khan Yunis and Rafah, were among the places that Hamas had turned into "torture centers."

A Fatah activist in Gaza City claimed that as many as 80 members of his faction were either shot in the legs or had their hands broken for allegedly defying Hamas's house-arrest orders.

"What's happening in the Gaza Strip is a new massacre that is being carried out by Hamas against Fatah," he said. "Where were these [Hamas] cowards when the Israeli army was here?"

The activist said that Hamas's security forces had also confiscated cellular phones and computers belonging to thousands of local Fatah members and supporters.

Relatives of Abed al-Gharabli, a former Fatah security officer who spent 12 years in Israeli prisons, said he was kidnapped by a group of Hamas militiamen who shot him in both legs after severely torturing him.

Ziad Abu Hayeh, one of the commanders of Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, is reported to have lost his sight after Hamas gunmen put out his eyes. According to Fatah activists, Abu Hayeh was kidnapped from his home in Khan Yunis by Hamas militiamen.

The Fatah men said that in a number of incidents, Hamas militiamen had kidnapped Fatah activists while they were attending the funerals of people killed during the war. In other cases, activists were detained and shot in the legs after they were spotted smiling in public - an act interpreted by Hamas as an expression of joy over Israel's military offensive.

On Saturday night, three brothers from the Subuh family were abducted by Hamas militiamen and taken to the Abdel Aziz Rantisi Mosque in Khan Yunis, where they were shot in the legs, a local journalist told the Post.

In a more recent incident, Hamas gunmen shot and killed 80-year-old Hisham Tawfik Najjar after storming his home and beating his four sons - all Fatah activists.

Fahmi Za'areer, a Fatah spokesman in the West Bank, revealed that at least 16 Fatah activists had been executed by Hamas in the past few days. He strongly condemned the Hamas clampdown on Fatah and warned against a bloodbath in the Gaza Strip.

A leaflet distributed by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in various parts of the Gaza Strip called on Hamas to "respect the blood of the Palestinian martyrs" and stop pursuing Fatah members. The leaflet said that Hamas had placed hundreds of Fatah men under house arrest in the past 48 hours and was warning that anyone who failed to comply with these orders would be shot.