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POPSJustice begins at home
The main thing to keep in mind here is that Goldstone is not lying. Everything he says is true. It should be obvious to anyone who has followed this situation that the IDF's so-called "serious violations" of the laws of war are truly nothing of the kind. Even if one hasn't been following the situation, simple rhetorical analysis will show then the utter fallacy that underlies Goldstone's sentence: notwithstanding his pro forma nods to Hamas violations, he's obviously telling only one side of the story, Hamas's side. His version implies that the IDF was indiscriminately bombarding hospitals, schools and other typical civilian sites to sow terror as part of a campaign to subdue the Resistance. This is just a fairy tale. For example, ask yourself why Israel attacked the civilian structures. It was because they couldn't fairly be considered civilian if they were being used as firebases by Hamas. But the essential point is this: there would have been no IDF attacks whatsoever,
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POPSHamas and al Qaeda-Linked Group Clash in Gaza By Bill Roggio
Hamas fighters attacked Moussa's mosque in Rafah as well as at other Jund Ansar Allah strongholds shortly after his announcement. The fighting took its toll on the military leadership of both groups. Abu Jibril Shimali, the commander of Hamas' Izzadin al Qassam Brigades, and Abu Abdullah al Suri, the military emir of Jund Ansar Allah are said to have been killed, although the reports have not been confirmed. Moussa was killed during an explosion at a compound he and others sought refuge in was attacked by Hamas. A Jund Ansar Allah suicide bomber is said to have detonated in the middle of a Hamas military unit. Al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, have been critical of Hamas for accommodating Israel and the west and for improperly waging jihad, or holy war. Hamas has accused al Qaeda of attempting to graft the Palestinian struggle onto the global jihad and has criticized al Qaeda's attacks worldwide.
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POPSWar in Gaza Was Out of Control Say Israeli Soldiers If you keep in mind how compact and densely populated Gaza is, it's hard to imagine things not getting out of control and why Israeli Defense Forces should not have launched their attacks. Those on both sides will learn, I hope, that violence, war is not the answer.
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POPSAgain Blood-Money Returned. Not worth One Gaza Child's Life. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Palestine condemned ‘the recent wave of eviction orders and demolitions of Palestinian houses’. Israel’s ongoing crimes include the murder of unarmed protesters, the burning of olive groves and other farmland, the continued imposition of a brutal siege of Gaza, and the extension of its apartheid Wall, declared illegal by the International Court. It is unbearable that EIFF should accept sponsorship from such a Government.
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POPSEven the Palestinians are worried about Obama... "Funding a government that consists of Hamas ministers means, in many ways, that the money will eventually end up in the hands of those who are planning rocket and suicide attacks. If Hamas is permitted to join any government without meeting the conditions of the international community, it will be seen by many Arabs and Muslims as a victory for violence. And such a move will only invite more terrorism. Appeasing Hamas means appeasing Osama bin Laden and the enemies of all the moderate Arabs and Muslims, as well as modern civilization. The terrorists will change, if at all, only once they realize that they are increasingly being isolated and have no chance of prevailing. "
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POPSCOLLECTIVE PUNISHEMENT FOR FAMILIES Not ever do I support guerrilla war fare and suicide bombings to keep the cause alive and harm the occupier, but I certainly will not support Israels lashing out with its own shock and awe and indiscriminate killings of civilians. The destruction of homes and shelters for Palestinian families associated with a militant has and will not ever be right.
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POPSGuardian: "How Medics died trying to help Gaza's casualties" Physicians for Human Rights Israel said "We have noticed a stark decline in IDF morals concerning the Palestinian population of Gaza, which in reality amounts to a contempt for Palestinian lives," said Dani Filc, the chairman of the pressure group. On one day – 4 January – four medics were killed in two separate incidents. The first saw paramedics Khaled Abu Saada and Arafa Abdel Daym hit by an Israeli tank shell packed with 8,000 flechettes ‑ dart-like nails ‑ as they moved one of three wounded civilians into their ambulance. The patient died instantly; the paramedic died on the way to hospital.
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POPS* U.N. rights envoy sees grave Israeli war crimes 
A couple of other threads appeared this week due to revelations by an Israeli soldier(s) about cold blooded murder being done in the last Israeli invasion of Gaza. This clip, though, is about a U.N. human rights envoy asking for a U.N. investigation of war crimes in this most recent invasion. I'm glad to see that the issue of starving to death over a million and a half people to death in the Gaza Strip is no longer being ignored by international authorities. Israel, though, nor the USA accept the authority of the International Criminal Court set up by the United Nations. Plus, war crimes are mainly filed against those who lost the war, not the winners. Who knows if this will lead to any justice, stop the killings, invasions, ongoing seizing of Palestinian land, collective punishment, apartheid, etc. But at least the issue is not being so ignored. At the end of the day we need to keep electing better leaders because they are the ones with the power to make war or pe
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POPSIrish anti-semitism....alive and well., I also noted how this country--currently taking 70 euros a week (and more) from workers paycheques to balance the books.... just marked 2 million euros for the "rebuilding of GAZA" .....(money for Hamas) Madness.
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POPSBBC: "Who can probe Gaza war crimes claims?" The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the attacks. He has demanded "a thorough investigation into these incidents and the punishment of those who are responsible for these appalling acts." Mr Ban has also announced a UN inquiry into the "casualties and damage" at UN property during the conflict. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, say this is not enough. They want a comprehensive international investigation into all the alleged violations of international law during the conflict - by Israel, by Hamas and by other Palestinian armed groups. HRW says it has been in Gaza investigating a number of allegations.
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POPSItalian Parliament in Rome: Italy stands with Israel against Hamas
"The change of attitude is great: the terrorist and religious nature of Hamas and the democratic, civilized nature of Israel are seen face to face for what they really are at least by the European elite at large, dead and wounded notwithstanding, and there rises an identification with Israel against a regime that uses human shields and promises slaughter of Jews in its charter. What happens today, at least in Italy, is the defeat and fall of the leftist ideologies: ideology that has allowed justification of all the most violent crimes and most disgusting verbal attacks. If Arafat launched the terrorist Intifada, if he promoted the martyrdom of children in public speeches, the ideologists were ready to justify him with the issues of occupation, the Palestinian misery and loss of any hope. Not so with Hamas. History, in Italy, has brought to a profound crisis the ideology of revolution and the justification of any cruel attack against a so-called unjust imperialist order."
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POPSAmnesty: "compelling evidence of war crimes and other serious violations of international human." Amnesty International researchers who visited both Gaza and southern Israel during the fighting and in its immediate aftermath, found compelling evidence of war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law . This included direct attacks by Israeli forces on Palestinian civilians and civilian objects in Gaza, attacks which breached the prohibition on disproportionate attacks and the use of weapons, such as white phosphorus, which have indiscriminate effects when used in densely-populated civilian areas. In the same period, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups fired hundreds of indiscriminate rockets into civilian population centres in southern Israel. ... Amnesty press report Feb 10 2009
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POPSHaaretz: "Why should Hamas recognise Israel?"
Israel's stance against recognizing a Palestinian government composed primarily of Hamas members who do not recognize Israel seems completely understandable. Most of the Palestinian public is not demanding that Hamas recognize Israel. This is what a reliable survey conducted in the territories indicates. The explanation for this is expressed by Hamas spokesmen in every corner, from Rafah to Jenin, and is very accepted in the territories: Look, Yasser Arafat and the PLO recognized the State of Israel in the Oslo agreement and what did they gain from that? Only suffering and misfortune. The economic siege on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the targeted killings, the raids and checkpoints can be explained as an Israeli defense against terror attacks. But how can one explain the doubling of the number of settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem since the Madrid conference and Oslo agreement? Since the 1996 elections in Israel, and almost through the end of Ehud Barak's government, there
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POPSIsrael has History of Deliberate PROVOCATION as pretext to INVASION. In 1981-1982, when it launched violent raids on Lebanon in order to provoke Palestinian escalation preceding the Israeli invasion of Lebanon; and between 2001-2004, when PM Sharon repeatedly ordered assassinations of high-level Palestinian militants during declared ceasefires, provoking violent attacks that enabled Israel's virtual reoccupation of the West Bank. Israel's current assault on Gaza bears many trademark elements of Israel's long history of employing "strategic escalation" to manufacture a major crisis, if not a war.
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POPSBlair has risked the anger of Israel by suggesting its time to talk to HAMAS I distrust Blair's conversions. There was his conversion to become Bush's lap-dog and we had the illegal Iraqi Invasion. There was his conversion to Catholicism when I believes that a non-Christian faith was where he was at! Clearly this conversion is not taken seriously by many!? Search and you will find that ONLY the three sources quoted here carried his conversion. It never happened folks in it's not in the Zionist media!!! Obviously Blair then is totally offside in this. Clearly he is now prepared to mouth off if the money is right. This time it was The Times of London's money. When you brown nose for as long now as he has in the Bush trough, then truth and reality become very distant! Yesterday's man.
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POPSArab States Urge Israel To Kill Gaza Leaders It should be mentioned that Israeli transport minister Shaul Mofaz was quoted recently as saying that Israel should “cut off the heads” of Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip. He publicly declared his backing to the return of policy of assassination against the Hamas leaders. © 2008 Al Bawaba www.albawaba.com
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