Death in the Middle East

This is horrifying:

http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2010/10/03/the-deathmasters-israeli-massacres-on-palestinians/

A list of Israeli atrocities, killings and bombings since 1937.

I did know that a lot of old soldiers detest Israel because of what the Israeli terrorists did in the 'forties, but I hadn't realised just how bad it was.

I have a lady friend whose father was a military policeman in Israel before the war and at the time of the King David Hotel bombing and I remember his attitude to the Zionists which was very negative. I always wondered why - he wouldn't talk about what he saw when he was deployed over there - but as the years have gone by I can see why. Always he differentiated between Jews and Zionists, said they were totally different people. LL

The US and UN have condemned the resumption of violence between Israel and Palestinian militants following the end of a three-day truce on Friday.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28715660

Another child died yesterday, he was playing in the road opposite the mosque.   LL   

I am sick to death of these Israeli cowards, LL. They outnumber Gazans, what is it - six to one? They have modern, heavy weaponry and shields from these piddling little rockets.

So, if they want to stop Hamas, why don't they grab Hamas fighters, instead of killing children from a safe distance?

http://news.sky.com/story/1315077/sinister-edge-to-israels-divisions-over-gaza

Sinister Edge To Israel's Divisions Over Gaza
Violence against anti-war protesters and death threats against a journalist show a worrying shift in Israel's political mood.

Israel's moral decline continues.

Leftist groups taking to the squares of Tel Aviv to protest against the war were set upon by nationalist thugs, hurling abuse, spitting and in some cases assaulting the demonstrators.

The police in some cases intervened to protect the victims but not always in time.



And Israel is NOT the only democracy in the Middle East. There are several, in varying stages of emerging democracy. The US just doesn't like their politics.

I was up very early this morning, switched on the TV for the news, and found myself watching an elderly Arab who was talking about having been born in Jerusalem and how he had lived side by side with Jews with no problems. He was asked what he thought of the present situation and he said he did not blame the Jews, but he did blame the Israeli Government, who seemed to have lost all moral sensibility. I gather he had lived in Gaza but now lived in the West Bank. He said if things were sorted out he would have no problems with living next to Jews. He finished up by saying that wars were always made by governments, and the collateral damage was always the civilians. LL

Religion is being used as an excuse for this, but really, it's about land, IMO. Israel wants everyone else's land, and uses the nonsense that their god told them they're entitled to grab it as cover.

A reminder of the conditions under which Israel was founded, and accepted as a state by the UN:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly_Resolution_194

Count Folke Bernadotte played a huge role in all this. Until he was assassinated in Jerusalem by Zionists.

I bet this plays a big part in what the Israelis are up to. LL

29 Nov 2012 General Assembly grants Palestine non-member observer State status at UN. The resolution on the status of Palestine in the UN was adopted by a vote of 138 in favour to nine against with 41 abstentions by the 193-member Assembly.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=43640#.U-YF9daOWBs

Mr. Abbas noted that the world was being asked today to undertake a significant step in the process of rectifying the “unprecedented historical injustice” inflicted on the Palestinian people since 1948.

I don't see why Israel should be recognised as a state, but not Palestine. Ah - that would stop Israel helping itself to any more Palestinian land; Israel must be the only country on earth that doesn't have a fixed border, instead expanding after grabbing yet more land.

Some good news, though it's a pity it's necessary:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28715052

Gaza DEC appeal raises £4.5m in less than 24 hours

An emergency appeal for people affected by the conflict in Gaza has raised £4.5m in less than 24 hours, the Disasters Emergency Committee has said.

Downing Street has also announced the UK is sending a team of NHS medical experts to the region.

Renewed clashes broke out between Israel and Hamas fighters on Friday after the end of a three-day ceasefire.

The Stop the War coalition is holding a march for Gaza through central London on Saturday.

"People have lost limbs... they need rehabilitation, they need prostheses, there will be chronically infected wounds," Prof Tony Redmond told the BBC

The march will pass the US embassy, ending in Hyde Park. Up to 20,000 people are expected to take part, police have said.

More than 1,900 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in four weeks of Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, the UN says.

Sixty-seven people have died on the Israeli side, three of them civilians.

'Unbearable situation'
The DEC launched its Gaza Crisis Appeal on Friday evening, with the British government saying it would match the first £2m of public donations.

Saleh Saeed, chief executive of DEC - an umbrella organisation bringing together 13 UK aid charities to deal with international crises - praised the "amazing generosity of the British public".

He said: "The funds are desperately needed, with on-going fighting in Gaza creating an unbearable situation for families and children.

"Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes, the healthcare system is on the verge of collapse and many people have little or no clean water.

"Despite the end of the ceasefire, aid is getting through and many of our member agencies are still working on the ground. But with the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, they urgently need more money to scale up their life-saving work."

Israel said it renewed its offensive after the latest truce lapsed, in response to rocket fire by Hamas militants.

More at link.



Protesters gathered in central London on Saturday

From The Jewish Daily Forward. Some good reading here. LL

http://forward.com/articles/201764/how-politics-and-lies-triggered-an-unintended-war/

http://forward.com/articles/149041/muslims-who-helped-save-french-jews/?p=all

http://forward.com/articles/203790/the-overlooked-man-in-ramallah/

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately placed a gag order on the deaths. Journalists who heard rumors were told the Shin Bet wanted the gag order to aid the search. For public consumption, the official word was that Israel was “acting on the assumption that they’re alive.” It was, simply put, a lie.

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/201764/how-politics-and-lies-triggered-an-unintended-war/?p=all#ixzz39utQYweG

I found it astounding that it doesn't sink in with the wider world just how disgusting Netanyahu's lies over those boys' deaths are, LL.

His lies led to the Palestinian boy being burned alive, and all the deaths in Gaza. Horrible man - if there is any justice, he will end his days in prison having been convicted of war crimes.

I thought this opinion piece is good.


http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/a-crime-made-in-washington-and-tel-aviv-1.1370067

That's very good, Lily, it's rare to see something that traces all this back to the start, instead of just presenting it as Israel (us, supposedly) good, Palestinians (them) bad.

Last month’s centenary of the outbreak of the First World War should help. British Prime Minister David Cameron claims it was fought for freedom. In reality, it was a savage industrial slaughter perpetrated by a gang of imperial powers to carve up territories, markets and resources.
Far from defending democracy or the rights of small nations, Britain and France ended the war divvying up the defeated German and Ottoman empires between them, from Iraq to Palestine. A century on, we’re still living with the consequences.

Fought for freedom, my bum - three Imperial cousins having a fight, along with other royals, all happy to see millions slaughtered.

One of the great ironies of all this is that anyone that dares criticise the state of Israel is targetted for abuse for being 'anti-Semitic'. In reality, the unfortunate Palestinians are the Semites, and the vast majority of the Israelis have little or nothing to do with the Middle East - see LL's earlier links.

I'm with LL, I don't have a problem with Israel having a state - but they have NO right to help themselves to most of the east coast of the Mediterranean and the hinterland.

And this is very true:

It’s only necessary to consider for a moment what the reaction would have been if the death toll had been the other way round to realise how loaded are the scales of western moral outrage and selective the appetite for action

Certain people seem to have convinced themselves that Palestinians are somehow sub-human, that it doesn't matter if their children are burned to death by white phospherous bombs, or blown apart by shells from tanks.

Glad you think so too, Bonny. All the people original to that region are Semites so it is always an interesting taunt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_people

The Palestinian vulnerable including children and women should be protected as much as any others during times of warfare. Why could they not have been given safe passage to leave the area ahead of flattening their homes? The problem is an attachment of ego one? We are better than you?

I will end there........

I don't know how accurate this is, though perish the thought that Iranian media should be in the least bit biased...

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/08/09/374680/israel-pm-fears-war-crime-charges/

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is afraid of a possible international lawsuit by Palestinians against the Zionist regime to face war crime charges, an analyst tells Press TV.

In an interview with Press TV on Friday, Jim W. Dean said Netanyahu is appealing to US lawmakers to dodge war crime charges over Israel’s onslaught on Gaza.

“By doing this and putting a show on doing it publicly, he is showing that they are really afraid of this…,” Dean added.

The analyst stated that Netanyahu is seeking the help of US Congressmen to assist Tel Aviv avert war crime charges and, thus, continue its war on Gaza.

“What he is asking the Congress to do is to aid and abet Israel getting away with these war crimes that they have been committing, which basically is giving them the potential to continue to do these,” he said.

Dean added that “all supporters” of Israel must be also sued in international courts for helping the Tel Aviv regime with its crimes.

The Israeli military aggression against Gaza, which began on July 8, has claimed lives of more than 1,900 Palestinians, including more than 400 children, and injured over 10,000 others.

A 72-hour truce in Gaza ended Friday morning without any agreement to extend it. Shortly after the expiry of the truce, the Israeli regime resumed pounding the Gaza Strip and Israeli tanks were redeployed to their previous positions during the Gaza war.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu reportedly met with US officials on Wednesday, asking them to ensure that Palestinians’ bid to go to ICC does not succeed after Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki met with ICC officials in The Hague earlier this week to file a complaint detailing war crimes committed by the Israeli army over the past few weeks in Palestine.

The backroom scheming and plotting certainly sounds believable

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28715052

Tens of thousands of protesters march in London for Gaza

[video]

"I'm here for children of Gaza," one protester told the BBC's Mark Sanders

From the look of the video at the link, there was a huge turnout. Israel really has sickened people this time.

I wonder if part of the reason is that so many people have camera phones, and raw footage of the bloodshed and devastation was being posted almost as soon as it happened? Israel is no longer able to censor news and people can see for themselves what Israel has done?

You may well be right, Bonny. Uncensored and sent around the world so fast so it is difficult to ignore or be told complete BS.   

Found this - http://cintayati.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/use-of-barrel-bombs-show-israels-desperation/
Don't know if the above is correct, but if so then it puts Israel on a par with Assad who has been barrel-bombing his own people since the uprising there. LL

A barrel bomb is a type of improvised explosive device (IED). Sometimes described as a "flying IED", they are typically made from a barrel that has been filled with high explosives, with possibly shrapnel, oil or chemicals, and then dropped from a helicopter or airplane. Due to the large amount of explosives that can be packed into a barrel, their poor accuracy and indiscriminate use in populated civilian areas (including refugee camps), the resulting detonations have been devastating. Critics have characterized them as weapons of terror and illegal under international conventions.

Hmm. I don't think Israel would have any qualms about using barrel bombs, LL, but I don't think they have to, not when the US is supplying them with so much high-tech stuff - they don't need to just shove explosives out of helicopters.

They HAVE been using white phospherous and flechette bombs against civilians, which as far as many people are concerned, is more than enough to charge Netanyahu and co with war crimes.

Seen this?

http://news.sky.com/story/1316145/palestinian-boy-killed-as-peace-talks-on-brink

An 11-year-old Palestinian boy has reportedly been shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank as talks aimed at ending the violence in Gaza are on the verge of collapsing.

Mohammed Khalil al Anati was killed in Al Fawwar refugee camp, southwest of the city of Hebron, a medical official told AFP news service.

The Israeli military said it was investigating reports the youngster was shot by one of its soldiers.

Yeah, like they'd do anything - probably promote the killer.

And later in the link - Israel is refusing to attend the peace talks.

AJ have made a proper video about this atrocity by Israel:

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/horrifying-continue-massacre.html

Horrifying details continue to emerge of massacre in Khuza’a

It's absolutely sickening.

Khuza'a looked like it had once been a rather nice town, with attractive buildings, businesses, lots of trees lining the streets. Now - it looks like the wermacht have been through it.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/08/10/Fidel-Castro-signs-pro-Palestine-manifesto-.html

Fidel Castro signs pro-Palestine manifesto



Castro will be 88 next week. (Courtesy of AP)

Agence France Presse, Havana
Sunday, 10 August 2014
Former Cuban president Fidel Castro has signed an international manifesto "supporting Palestine," demanding that Israel respect U.N. resolutions and withdraw from Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Castro, who will be 88 next week, added his signature to those of intellectuals and politicians to the document "In Defense of Palestine," the official Granma newspaper said Saturday.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, Argentine artist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Cuban dancer Alicia Alonso and American writer Alice Walker were also among the signatories.

The manifesto was promoted by the Network in Defense of Humanity, which includes several Latin American groups.

It asks governments around the world to demand Israel respect United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, adopted in the aftermath of the Six-Day War of 1967.

It calls for Israel to withdraw from the territories gained during the conflict.

In recent weeks, Latin America has been at the forefront of condemnation of the Israeli offensive in the crowded Palestinian enclave, offering almost unanimous support to the Palestinians.

Castro himself has accused Israel of engaging in a "new form of fascism" through the deadly military operation.

The conflict has killed at least 1,913 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side, almost all soldiers, since July 8.

Harsh criticism has also come from Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro.

Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and El Salvador have also recalled their ambassadors to Israel for consultations, while Bolivia, where thousands of people protested Friday to denounce the conflict, placed Israel on a list of "terrorist states."

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, however, has been more muted in his response, leaving his envoy in Tel Aviv.

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There's something strangely touching about Fidel having outlived all his enemies, and still being around to annoy the corrupt rank amateurs that aren't fit to polish the boots of their predecessors.

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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/turks-vote-key-presidential-election-20148913257794269.html

Polls close in Turkish presidential election
Prime minister seen as frontrunner as Turks finish casting ballots in first presidential election by popular vote.

LL, what are the implications for the Middle East if Erdogan takes the presidency? I know he's no friend of Israel.....

LL, what are the implications for the Middle East if Erdogan takes the presidency? I know he's no friend of Israel.....

I can't answer that, bonny. Technically Turkey is a secular state, and as such should not get involved in regligious matters, but Erdogon is maybe not as secular as Ataturk would have wished a Turkish ruler to be. His wife, Emine, is of Arab descent and wears the hijab and is also a fierce defendant of womens' rights. I think Erdogan walks a very fine line so who knows? LL