Israeli minister vows Palestinian 'holocaust'
Israeli minister vows Palestinian 'holocaust' | By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem | Last Updated: 2:18am GMT 01/03/2008

A senior Israeli politician provoked controversy today when he warned that Palestinians firing rockets from Gaza would be punished with a "bigger holocaust" from Israeli armed forces.

The use of the Hebrew word for holocaust, "shoah", tends to be used exclusively in Israel to describe the Nazi persecution of Jews.

Palestinian activists routinely claim to be suffering a "shoah" at the hands of Israel, but the Jewish state normally denies any moral equivalence between the suffering of Palestinians today and European jewry under the Nazis.

Matan Vilnai, deputy defence minister, broke that taboo when he used the term "shoah" during interview on Army Radio.

"The more qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they (the Palestinians) will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves," he said. ...
- posted by Editor @ 8:44 PM

Gaza issues toxic water warning ... no deliveries of chlorine through the Israel-controlled crossing
Gaza issues toxic water warning | BBC News | February 27, 2008

The water authority in the Gaza Strip has urged people to boil their drinking water to avoid the spread of disease.

The authority said Israel's blockade had delayed essential supplies, including chlorine, and there was now a risk of water being contaminated.

The authority said the situation could lead to a health disaster to Gaza's 1.5m inhabitants.

UN officials have asked Israel to lift the blockade. Israel says its actions are to counter militant rocket fire.

The Coastal Municipality Water Utility issued the warning in radio and newspaper advertisements, blaming Israel for the absence of equipment and chemicals for treating water.

It said there had been no deliveries of chlorine through the Israel-controlled goods crossing since 21 January. ...
- posted by Editor @ 3:51 PM

The data "prove that systematic land theft for the purpose of establishing settlements ... via a fictitious ... 'military necessity,'
More than one-third of illegal settlements built on private Palestinian land: Report | The Associated Press

17/02/08 "AP" -- -- JERUSALEM: More than one-third of Israel's 122 West Bank settlements were built on land confiscated from private Palestinian owners on security grounds, including some erected after the Israeli Supreme Court outlawed such seizures three decades ago, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday.

Israel's settlements, built on land captured in the 1967 Middle East war, have been a contentious enterprise throughout the decades, and a major source of friction with the Palestinians and the international community.

Setlement critics maintain that international law allows the seizure of occupied territory, but only for military needs. In 1979 Israel's Supreme Court banned the military's widespread practice of seizing privately owned West Bank land on security grounds, then turning it over to settlers.

The 44 settlements that Haaretz identified as being built on private Palestinian land are home to tens of thousands of Israelis. At least 19 were built after 1979, the newspaper said. ...
...
The data "prove that systematic land theft for the purpose of establishing settlements was carried out via a fictitious and completely illegal use of the term 'military necessity,'" Haaretz cited attorney Michael Sfard as saying. Sfard represents several Palestinians whose property has been taken over by settlers.

The Haaretz article confirmed a report last year by the anti-settlement watchdog group, Peace Now, that about one-third of the land on which settlements stand was seized from private Palestinian owners, much of it after the Supreme Court ban. That report was based on information leaked from the Civil Administration, the Israeli military department responsible for administering civil affairs in the West Bank. ...
- posted by Editor @ 3:28 PM

Fayyad, his wife, three children and three neighbors were killed, more than fifty people wounded ...
Monday, February 18, 2008 | Israel reaches a new low for an already unbelievably barbaric nation | It's 2008 - do you know where your tax dollars are? | israelis drop vacuum bomb on Gaza

Israel's Prime Minister on Sunday gave his military a “free hand” to target anyone in Gaza, adding that the Palestinians there could not live normal lives while Israelis across the border were constantly targeted by rockets, as the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed five Palestinians during an incursion early Sunday into the southern Gaza Strip, near Rafah.

“We have completely a free hand to respond, to reach out and to attack everyone (who has) any kind of responsibility on behalf of Hamas,” Olmert told Jewish-American leaders in Jerusalem. “That applies to everyone, first and foremost Hamas.”
...

IOF Use Vacuum Bomb

Meanwhile the Gaza-based Palestine Information Center (PIC), quoting Palestinian security sources in Gaza, reported Sunday that IOF warplanes dropped a huge vacuum bomb on the home of Ayman Fayyed of the Islamic Jihad Movement on Friday night, which was used for the first time with such devastating effect.

Fayyad, his wife, three children and three neighbors were killed, more than fifty people wounded, including a 45-year-old civilian who was shot in the head according to Palestinian health officials, and seven houses completely destroyed and many others damaged by the bomb.

- posted by Editor @ 3:25 PM

"Construction in Jerusalem continues as usual" ... plans to build 1,100 homes in east Jerusalem anger Palestinians
Reported plans to build 1,100 homes in east Jerusalem anger Palestinians | MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer | February 12, 2008 9:31 AM

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel is planning to build 1,100 new apartments for Israelis in east Jerusalem, a Cabinet minister said Tuesday, angering Palestinians who want the area as a capital of their future state and further troubling peace talks.

Housing Minister Zeev Boim told Israel Radio that plans were under way to build 370 apartments in Har Homa and an additional 750 in Pisgat Zeev, two Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem.

''Construction in Jerusalem continues as usual,'' said Gali Cohen, a spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. ....
- posted by Editor @ 11:37 AM

Israel, U.S. to boycott UN rights council meet on Gaza blockade
11:27 23/01/2008 | Israel, U.S. to boycott UN rights council meet on Gaza blockadeBy Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent

Israel and the United States are expected to boycott a special United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, in the wake of Jerusalem's decision to close Gaza crossings.

This would be the first time that Israel has boycotted a session of the Human Rights Council, in a sign of rising tensions between Israel and UN institutions. ...
- posted by Editor @ 11:30 AM

n the first 72 hours after Bush left the MidEast, Israel killed 37 Palestinians and injured more than 90, many of them civilians
Israel Metes Out Collective Punishment of Palestinians, Bush Yawns | By Matthew Rothschild, January 21, 2008

George Bush doesn’t really want a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Because if did, he wouldn’t be condoning Israel’s callous use of collective punishment in Gaza right now.

In the first 72 hours after Bush left the MidEast, Israel killed 37 Palestinians and injured more than 90, many of them civilians. Israel said these attacks were in response to crude rocket assaults from militants in Gaza, which injured two Israelis.

The rocketing of Siderot and other Israeli towns is immoral, indefensible, and against international law.

But with its disproportionate response, Israel is now engaging in collective punishment against all Palestinians in Gaza.

It closed the borders on January 18, so not even the UN humanitarian supplies could get in.

As a result, hospitals in Gaza are running out of medicine.

And now Israel has cut off electricity to Gaza, leaving an entire population literally in the dark.

Palestinians have no way of getting clean water or staying warm during cool nights or getting enough food or cooking oil for their children, or any fuel to get to and from work.

Collective punishment has long been against international law, and it violates the Geneva Conventions. ...
- posted by Editor @ 11:30 AM

UN official 'shocked' by Gaza visit
UN official 'shocked' by Gaza visit | Last Modified: 15 Feb 2008 | Source: PA News

The UN's top humanitarian affairs official said he was shocked by a "grim and miserable" situation he encountered during a visit to impoverished Gaza, and urged that the territory's borders be opened.

Israel and Egypt severely restricted access to Gaza after the Islamic militant Hamas took control by force last June. Since then, Gaza's private sector has largely collapsed, and poverty among the area's 1.4 million residents has spread further, with some 80% now depending on some food aid. ...
- posted by Editor @ 10:12 AM

MK Aryeh Eldad is hailing the Arab exodus to Egypt as proof that voluntary transfer [ethnic cleansing] is indeed an option
Escape from Gaza or Voluntary Transfer? | By Mike Whitney

24/01/08 "ICH" -- -- Forget everything you've read about the “Great Escape” from Gaza. It's all rubbish. The whole farce was cooked up in an Israeli think tank as way to rid Palestine of its indigenous people. Here's an excerpt from the Israeli newspaper Arutz Sheva which explains the real motive behind the incident:

“MK (Israeli Knesset member) Aryeh Eldad is hailing the Arab exodus to Egypt as proof that voluntary transfer is indeed an option.”

“The Israeli left continues to claim that there is no such thing as voluntary transfer, and simply ignores reality,” Eldad said. (Arutz Sheva)

Voluntary transfer. Bingo.

So the fleeing Palestinians just fell into a trap. Now they've been banished to Egypt by their own volition. We'll have to wait and see how many are allowed to return. ...
- posted by Editor @ 9:44 AM

Gaza Siege: reasons may include $4B gas deal to exploit Gaza offshore gas
Intensified Gaza siege tied to collapse of natural gas deal | Gaza siege intensified after collapse of natural gas deal | Mark Turner, The Electronic Intifada, 23 January 2008

Israel has dramatically intensified its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, stepping up air strikes and shelling of the beleaguered coastal strip. UN officials and human rights advocates warn that Gazans now face a humanitarian disaster of unprecedented magnitude with widespread disease and famine rapidly becoming reality as electricity generation, water supply, sewage treatment, food supplies and medical services grind to a halt as a consequence of the ever tighter Israeli blockade.

Israel claims its recent moves are retaliation for continued rocket attacks originating in Gaza that despite their consistency cause scant damage and few actual casualties. But the reasons may include motivations with roots back in 2000, when the British firm British Gas Group (BG) discovered proven natural gas reserves of at least 1.3 trillion cubic meters beneath Gazan territorial waters worth nearly $4 billion.

The Palestinian Investment Fund (PIF), a financial holdings company owned primarily by independent Palestinian shareholders, is investing in the project and heads the negotiations in coordination with Mahmoud Abbas' government in the West Bank. BG won a majority stake in the concession to develop the Gaza Marine Field and originally targeted Egypt for the sale of the natural gas. But pressure from then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair led the company to redirect its efforts toward Israel and develop plans for an underwater pipeline that would transport the gas to an Israeli refinery at Ashkelon. That deal could have eventually provided Israel with approximately 10 percent of its annual energy requirement, and would have generated approximately $1 billion for the PIF. The Hamas election victory in 2006 put all that in jeopardy. ...
...
After the Hamas election victory, Israel embarked on an intense campaign to eliminate the movement as a viable political entity in Gaza while at the same time attempting to rehabilitate the defeated Fatah as the dominant political player in the West Bank. By leveraging political tensions between the two parties, arming forces loyal to Abbas and the selective resumption of financial aid, Israel and the United States effectively re-installed Fatah in the West Bank, projected the party back onto the international stage and revived the possibility of concluding the energy deal. ...
- posted by Editor @ 9:37 AM

Israeli military establishment decided to stop power supply and fuel to Gaza. Since Thursday, food and huminitarian aid are not allowed in.
No more Gaza | Tue Jan 22, 2008 | One hour before it's dark | Eyad El Sarraj

Israeli military establishment decided to stop power supply and fuel to Gaza. Since Thursday, food and huminitarian aid are not allowed in. Very soon life will come to a standstill. Water will not be pumped for a even drink. My step son is on ventilator for asthma every night. What will happen to him when our generator is not running any more? What will happen to hospitals, vaccines and blood banks? What will happen to patients on dialysis machines, and to babies in incubators?

Before it is dark and when there is no communication with the world, I want to tell you that current Israeli policy of squeezing on has the aim of pushing Egypt to open its borders with Gaza and bring the situation to prior 1967. Israel will then close its borders with Gaza, separates the Strip from the West bank and destroys the peace proposals of one state or two states. In short Israel is fulfilling the Sharon unilateral withdrawal strategy. If Egypt fails to open its borders with Gaza, Israel will push us through Rafah towards the Sinai desert. Wait for the exodus. ...
- posted by Editor @ 9:35 AM

98 Palestinian patients, including 17 Children, die due to the Gaza siege
98 Palestinian patients, including 17 Children, die due to the Gaza siege | Saed Bannoura - IMEMC | Tuesday February 19, 2008

Palestinian medical sources announced on Tuesday evening that one child died at a Gaza hospital after the Israeli Authorities barred his transfer to a hospital abroad for further medical treatment as the siege on Gaza continued to cripple all hospitals in the coastal region.

The child was identified as Sa’id Al Ayidy, 2, from Rafah in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. He suffered from a kidney infection. His death raised the number of Palestinian patient who died due to the siege to 98, including 17 children.

Following are the names of children who died due to the ongoing blockade; ...
- posted by Editor @ 9:32 AM

If all Gaza residents deserve to be punished because of rockets ... maybe all Israelis deserve to be punished for the occupation?
04/02/2008 | The lights have been turned off | By Gideon Levy | Tags: Israel
...
... A panel of justices headed by Court President Dorit Beinisch ruled that Israel is authorized to limit the supply of electricity, gasoline and diesel to the Gaza Strip, "since even these diminished quantities sufficiently meet humanitarian needs."

It is difficult to tell what "humanitarian needs" are according to Beinisch, but in the Gaza Strip a million and a half people are crying out for fuel, water and electricity. It is fair to ask the court president: Has she ever been exposed to the scenes of wretchedness in the Gaza Strip? Did she ever see the miserable people there carrying fuel jerry cans from Egypt? Has she considered the cold, which cannot be countered without electricity or fuel? Has she given any serious thought to what happens to children, the infirm and the elderly without these necessities? They are all innocents.

But the severity of the Supreme Court's decision is not only on the human level: The Supreme Court is authorizing collective punishment, which is specifically forbidden under international law (Article 33 of the Geneva Convention). Henceforth, Israel will no longer be able to complain about attacks against innocents in Israel: If all the residents of the Gaza Strip deserve to be punished because of the Qassam rockets, then maybe all Israelis deserve to be punished because of the occupation?

"This is the difference between Israel, a democracy fighting for its life within the framework of the law, and the terrorist organizations fighting against it," the Supreme Court stated sanctimoniously, like a lowly spokesman from the Foreign Ministry.

"According to the law?" Which law? Not international law. "Israel is fighting for its life?" And maybe the Palestinians are fighting a war that is no less justified, against occupation and imprisonment? All this was not on the Supreme Court's agenda.

And last, but not least: Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. Twelve citizens and a resident of the territories were killed by the police, and Mazuz ruled there was no point of initiating a criminal investigation at such a late stage. (The state prosecution decided at the time to delay the investigation until the Or Commission of Inquiry completed it work.) Why shouldn't the court decide? All the excuses, including passing the blame onto the victim's families, who did not permit autopsies, do not in the least diminish the well-founded suspicion: Had the dead been Jewish citizens, this would not have happened; the police would not have killed and the attorney general would not have closed the case. ...
- posted by Editor @ 9:05 AM