Never ending story

... bedoelde Geert deze ontwikkelingshulp te stoppen???




...daar zou ik hem wel gelijk in kunnen geven. Maar wel dan onze houding wijzigen en druk op Israel zetten!!!

Wilders is speechifying in Israel

He opines, that the Palestinians should have the right to live in Jordan and form their own state there. Israel holds no blame for any of the problems of the region, he apparently said.


This man is not part of the Dutch government.
He does not speak for me.
He does not speak for me.
He does not speak for me.


Odious man.
Shudder.

Palestine

Robert Fisk thinks it is a dead dream, and so do I.

Both the United States and Europe now stand idly by while the Israeli government effectively destroys any hope of a Palestinian state; even as you read these words, Israel's bulldozers and demolition orders are destroying the last chance of peace; not only in the symbolic centre of Jerusalem itself but – strategically, far more important – in 60 per cent of the vast, biblical lands of the occupied West Bank, in that largest sector in which Jews now outnumber Muslims two to one.

This majority of the West Bank – known under the defunct Oslo Agreement's sinister sobriquet as "Area C" – has already fallen under an Israeli rule which amounts to apartheid by paper: a set of Israeli laws which prohibit almost all Palestinian building or village improvements, which shamelessly smash down Palestinian homes for which permits are impossible to obtain, ordering the destruction of even restored Palestinian sewage systems. Israeli colonists have no such problems; which is why 300,000 Israelis now live – in 220 settlements which are all internationally illegal – in the richest and most fertile of the Palestinian occupied lands.

When Obama's elderly envoy George Mitchell headed home in humiliation this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated his departure by planting trees in two of the three largest Israeli colonies around Jerusalem. With these trees at Gush Etzion and Ma'aleh Adumim, he said, he was sending "a clear message that we are here. We will stay here. We are planning and we are building." These two huge settlements, along with that of Ariel to the north of Jerusalem, were an "indisputable part of Israel forever."
Source

There is no justice in all of this, only shame. The saddest thing is that most of the Americans are blithely unaware of what is being done with their tax dollar, in their name. I truly believe a good many of them would be horrified.

But this is so very underreported in the West that it might as well be happening on another planet. It is something we all bear some responsibility for.

Israeli military out of control?

Israeli tanks thrust deep inside Gaza City last night as ferocious fighting raged in dense residential areas with terrified families fleeing along streets echoing with gunfire, although many others were trapped in their homes.

Israeli shelling set fire to the UN headquarters, a hospital, a school and a building used by the media...
source

Sharon Lock, an Australian from the International Solidarity Movement, was working as an ambulance driver for the Palestinian Red Crescent when its Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City came under Israeli attack yesterday.

"One shell landed outside the building about 10 yards from the incubators for new babies. We were putting fires out with buckets of water. The shrapnel seems to burn for a long time and it starts fires if it is not put out. We were just dealing with that when we heard shooting from the front steps of the hospital and my colleague Mohammed came to me covered with blood. 'Israelis are shooting at people who are leaving their houses,' he said. What happened was that a father and mother and two daughters had left their home, one of the daughters had gone missing and the other was shot. The bullet went through one cheek and out the other. As the father was coming up the steps he fell, shot as well. They didn't know where the other daughter was. Mohammed and I decided to go out and find her. We found her hiding in a house. I would say she was about nine. She was very frightened."
source

Israeli forces hit a Red Crescent hospital Thursday, and more than 100 staff members and patients were trapped as a blaze engulfed the administration building.
source

Another strike hit several high-rise buildings, including one that houses the Reuters news offices.

Reuters had given the Israeli military the location of its office before the fighting broke out last month. On Thursday, as the Israeli forces moved in, Reuters staff members said, they called the Israeli military to remind it where they were.

Two minutes after the call, a shell hit the office, the Reuters staff said.

The Associated Press reported that gunfire struck its office in a separate building.
source

I could go on for quite a while. Schools, hospitals, ambulances, various aid personnel, civilians old and young and in between, aid convoys, residential buildings, and so on.

What's happening, is an atrocity.
No modern military should ever act like that.

Looking at this clip, I wondered if most of them think this way. If most of them have this attitude.


Do they think that they are eradicating subhumans, vermin?
(sound familiar? it should)

For a country which claims a moral military...

Schools!

Gaza haz dem no more.

al-Fakhora school in Jabalya refugee camp

another school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency

American International School

The Islamic University

Like the tree in the forest that falls without sound where no ears can hear, so do the people of Gaza fall when there are no foreign reporters, no humanitarian help, no Red Cross, no outside world to see.


and the beat goes on, the beat goes on...

"Many Palestinian children are being killed

almost none Israeli children are being killed.
Why?
Because we take care of our children"


...and this man received a Nobel Peace Prize...??!!

I almost vomited.
You can watch the clip where Peres says this here, after about one minute.

The toll: 700 dead Palestinians, more or less. 4 dead Israeli soldiers, all died from own fire. None were killed by Hamas. This is a slaughter.

Why is the world so silent?

Blair squeaks

He's a worthless Middle East envoy. Worthless.
An utter embarrassment.

A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is attainable within days if the smuggling routes which supply arms and money to Hamas can be shut down, international envoy Tony Blair said today.

source

Defensive action

First there was the bombing and then artillery fire.

Just under 500 Palestinian fatalities up to now, a conservative estimate of 2500 wounded with virtually no medicines or medical supplies left. Food and water situation is critical.
Despite many efforts, no cease fire and no humanitarian aid was allowed into Gaza.

Today, the Israeli tanks and ground troops entered Gaza. They say, it's going to be a long campaign.

All over the world, many demonstrations that are underreported or totally left out of news reports. Governments are silent and when they say anything it's a whisper.
It feels like Lebanon all over again. There is so much outrage. So much.


It's being called a defensive action on the part of Israel in so many places.
Including the new EU chairman. He speaks for us all, it seems.
Defensive - Orwell would be proud.

I don't understand how governments can just stand by and do nothing.
What's the use of all our human rights agreements, pretty treaties, the UN...

This is a terrible injustice.
I don't understand how people can think this won't ever have repercussions.

"Terrorist infrastructure"

I guess to Israel, that means anything Palestinian.

Good heavens, over 140 dead... have they taken complete leave of their senses??!! This is unconscionable.

Though I expect the USA to -by reflex- approve this by blocking any UN action, and despite my low expectations of my own government, I hope the world will speak as one to denounce this. There can be no justification for killing 140 people and wounding so many more, so carelessly. None!!

While I certainly have some sympathy for those in Israel living within reach of the homemade Palestinian rockets, they have mostly themselves to blame for this. Gaza is an open air prison under unbearable pressure, the living conditions are shocking. Drive people into a corner and you will make the reaction as radical and unbending as it has become.

The solution to this hell is in Israeli hands, and it does not include more death and destruction.




Edit: A few hours later and the death toll is at 195. This is unforgivable!

Edit, one hour later: death toll is over 220 now, and rising. Many seriously injured. Israel says it's only the beginning, Hamas is calling for a third intifada. USA called upon Israel to try to not kill civilians. Jesus wept.

Edit, ten hours later: according to the news, the bombing continued. Death toll now is 271 with some 620 wounded. Amongst the targets were a mosque (2 dead) and the Al Aqsa TV station (which managed to stay on the air, broadcasting from another location). There is no international rule or treaty, it seems, that the Israeli government feels it has to adhere to, when it comes to Palestinians. Do they even see them as fellow human beings, I wonder...

Israel and Palestine

Understanding the issues - Israel and Palestine

Two full-length documentaries that should almost be required watching, if one wants to understand the issues in the Middle East - Israel and Palestine lie at the root of almost everything.



The first is a documentary by John Pilger, called "Palestine is still the issue"






The second, is a documentary called "Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land"

Israel/Palestine

It is sickening what is happening in Rafah right now.

I had hoped that Europe would roar with one voice.

I had hoped the Americans would speak of their disapproval in clear terms.

The Amnesty report leaves no doubt, this is simply a continuation of what's been done these past years, I think it is criminal!!

Today, the Palestinians march in protest to get humanitarian aid allowed in and are gunned down, killing at least 10 and injuring more than 50. Most of them youngsters. This brings the total dead over the past few days to over 30... when is it enough??



Bush, in a speech yesterday, had this to say:

"Israel is a democracy and a friend and has every right to defend itself from terror"

He also called the Israeli progrom in Rafah "troubling"



I hope at least some Americans bewailing "why do they hate us" take note of the hypocrisy and make the connection. Or this dance of death will go on with no relief in sight. It's been enough, already. Enough death and destruction, enough whitewashing of responsibility. The citizens of America have a responsibility for what their elected officials get up to. If they don't control themselves, it is the responsibility of the population of the country to speak up.

Israel/Palestine

So, strengthened by the deafening silence from Washington, Sharon says: "We got rid of murderer number one and murderer number two and the list is not short"

I'll bet the list is not short.

I wonder how long will the Americans let him get away with this.

Another ten bodies? Hundred? Thousand?

What is Sharon planning, to kill every angry Palestinian?



I believe there is an ugly word for that.



All our brave politicians, will none of you stand up and say something?

Will none of you try to stop this?

Israel

An American and Jewish protester were both injured when they were shot by Israeli troops while protesting at the infamous separation fence.



Within one day of the incident, newspapers, TV and politicians are all abuzz about this.



While I am happy for the media attention at last, I am also horrified at the blatant racism which has been made so visible here: each day, Palestinians undergo similar or worse treatments and the press or politicians do not blink an eye. Even when American peace activist Rachel Corrie was flattened by a bulldozer when she was protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes, it created a mere blip on the media radar. In fact, shooting at (and killing) peace activists seems a national sport, whether they be American or British.



However, when an Israeli soldier takes aim and fires at another Israeli (even though it seems he did not know his victim was his countryman) all hell breaks loose.



I am pleased this security fence and associated land grab is finally receiving serious media attention but the way it does sort of leaves a bad taste in my mouth.



From the article:

Hours after the incident, the army set up an investigative committee. The army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, took the rare step of visiting the injured Israeli, Gil Naamati, in the hospital Saturday. Yaalon called the shooting serious and pledged to investigate thoroughly.



By Sunday, the airwaves were clogged with Cabinet ministers, army officials and peace activists fervently arguing over the incident.



"An order to fire on people that do not fire on you is a completely illegal order," said Ami Ayalon, a former head of Israel's Shin Bet security service.



I wish this reaction been seen even once where innocent Palestinians were made to suffer through the actions of Israeli troops, be it at targeted assassinations, roadblocks, protests or just everyday life: somebody simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time...

Israel

Bless those elite reservists who wrote that letter to Sharon, refusing to fight:

"We say to you today, we will no longer give our hands to the oppressive reign in the territories and the denial of human rights to millions of Palestinians," reads the letter to Sharon, "and we will no longer serve as a defensive shield for the settlement enterprise."

"We cannot continue to stand silent," charging that Israeli military activities in the territories are depriving "millions of Palestinians of human rights" and endangering "the fate of Israel as a democratic, Zionist and Jewish country"



Let us hope this helps the tide to turn and encourages more men and women of character to stand up and refuse their participation in this horrific suppression of the Palestinian people. I truly believe it will be possible to live side by side, at peace with each other. However, this will never happen as long as hawks like Sharon rule by fear.



Here's a fascinating article, true I believe: a decoded version of Sharon's speech.

Israel

So, a grief-stricken young Palestinian woman called Hanadi Jaradat decides the best way of avenging her brother and cousin who were both killed by the Israeli army in Jenin, is to strap explosives on her body and detonate them in a busy family restaurant in Haifa.



This is a tragedy, no other way of looking at it.

Israel's response to this was completely off kilter: it went and bombed Syria.

Now, that made a lot of sense...!!



As America blocks resolution after resolution in the Security Council, the Middle East is spiralling towards a destabilising war with a crazy kind of inevitability. We are all watching on the sidelines, seemingly paralysed.



There are too many black-and-white people in positions of power right now, in this colourful world we live in.

Israel

The head of Israel's air force has grounded a group of fighter pilots who say they will no longer carry out air strikes against Palestinian territories. The pilots could be dismissed from the military and possibly jailed.



The group of 27 reserve pilots submitted a petition to Air Force Commander Dan Halutz on Wednesday saying they could no longer take part in missions which they believe are "illegal" and "immoral."



"We, veteran and active pilots ... are opposed to carrying out the illegal and immoral attack orders of the sort that Israel carries out in the territories." They added: "We are refusing to continue to attack innocent civilians."



Men of conscience are starting to stand up.

Good!

Israel and the US

Eleven of the fifteen Security Council nations voted in favor; Britain, Germany and Bulgaria abstained.

The US of course, vetoed.

They do this almost by reflex.



This will be remembered.



America's U.N. Ambassador John Negroponte did say, immediately after the vote, that the US doesn't support the elimination or forced exile of Arafat and believes that diplomatic isolation is the best course.

i'm sure the Israeli's will take it in the spirit it was said...



Negroponte said he had to veto the resolution because it failed to name and condemn groups like Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

Negroponte was not paying attention.

This resolution was not about terrorism. It was about the Israeli government deciding to exile or assassinate Arafat. The resolution demanded that Israel "desist from any act of deportation and cease any threat to the safety of the elected President of the Palestinian Authority".



And still, the Americans are bewildered and ask "why do they hate us??".

They are stunned when they are attacked on their home ground.

This is not surprising, though.

When you Google the news, it hardly appears in the American papers.

The foreign papers carry this story though and the tone of Arab reports is angry.



Poor misinformed, brainwashed Americans.

Poor Palestinians.

I believe their leader is a dead man walking.



Poor world that will have to live through the backlash...

Israel/Palestine

Israeli deaths. Palestinian deaths.

I have no words.

Kevin Toolis of The Guardian wrote a piece: "You can't make a deal with the dead" that I agree with 100%.



He says:

Sharon fails to see that he is no longer fighting isolated cells. Through its clinics, universities and mosques, Hamas has enmeshed itself into the hearts and minds of up to 30% of the Palestinian population. Hamas and the political aspirations it represents will not be destroyed by killing Sheikh Yassin.



I wonder if this message can reach anyone in Israel:

It's time to stop the killing and be pragmatic.

You cannot kill the entire top of Hamas.

There are too many others to take their place.

With each killing, support for Hamas grows.



As the strongest party, it is up to Israel to stop the targeted assassinations and retaliations and negotiate for peace.

Even if another suicide bombing should take place.

Keeping a cool head in such a situation would show true grit and self control.

That is sorely needed in the region right now.



The current policy sows only more hate and bloodshed.

The time has come to end it.

Israel/Palestine

Why are Americans so hated in the Middle East?

Why are they such targets?



Here is the main answer, in a nutshell (emphasis added by me):



..the Israelis feel free to continue targeted assassinations. The Americans “don’t tell us to keep killing Hamas leaders, but we don’t hear any criticism,” says one senior Israeli official. “They say: make sure they are good, clean air strikes, and we agree that we don’t want to kill innocent people.”

Israel/Palestine

Now that Abbas has resigned, now that the European foreign ministers also labelled Hamas a terrorist organisation, what are the odds that... one of these days... Arafat is assassinated (oops... I mean accidentally shot or bombed to smithereens) ??



I'd say the odds are pretty good.



I wish everyone would simply be pragmatic and decide to sit around a table and hammer out a solution, never mind if you hate the person seated across from you. That would be the adult and responsible thing to do.



Dropping three 550-pound bombs on an apartment block in Gaza city because it contains several Hamas members is not the adult and responsible thing to do.

Had they not been wearing uniforms, I would have to call that a terrorist action....