Re: Death in the Middle East

**lily** Sun Aug 10, 2014 4:35 pm

Erdogan wanted for Turkey to become an Islamist country but that did not sit too well with Europe and the US. He now wants to make himself a player in the Arab world, as I have been informed.

He will be swapping places with Gul, most likely.

**bb1** Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:03 pm

Thanks, Lily. Turning Turkey into yet another theocracy doesn't sound like the brightest idea ever....

Hopefully, this is good news:

http://news.sky.com/story/1316145/palestinians-agree-three-day-ceasefire-plan

Palestinians Agree Three-Day Ceasefire Plan
Hamas accepts new truce proposals in Cairo as an 11-year-old Palestinian boy is reportedly shot dead by Israeli troops.

Palestinian negotiators have accepted an Egyptian proposal for a new three-day ceasefire with Israel, say reports.

There is no word yet on Israel's response to the news, said Sky's Tom Rayner in Jerusalem.

It comes as an 11-year-old Palestinian boy was reportedly shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.

More at link.

**Lamplighter** Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:03 pm

Israel accepts Egypt's brokered 72 hour ceasefire. LL

**bb1** Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:07 pm

Good, let's hope it sticks. I know it bears no resemblance to peace talks, but at least it's 72 hours when, hopefully, no-one will get killed.

**lily** Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:13 pm

Please let this be the first step of a permanent cease fire.

**Lamplighter** Mon Aug 11, 2014 9:36 am

Latest - ceasefire holding. LL

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/palestinian-negotiators-agree-gaza-ceasefire-201481016956754934.html

**bb1** Mon Aug 11, 2014 10:46 am

I see Israel has deigned to attend, though it can't bring itself to talk directly to those nasty Arab-type people:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/israelis-arrive-cairo-as-gaza-truce-holds-201481184626957535.html

An Israeli delegation has arrived in Cairo for indirect negotiations with Palestinian factions on bringing and end to more than a month of violence that has devastated the enclave of Gaza.

The Palestinian delegation was already in the Egyptian capital and locked in talks with Egyptian intelligence mediators on Monday, who will relay their demands to the Israeli negotiators, a Palestinian official told AFP news agency.

The Israeli delegation landed in Cairo in the morning, just hours after a 72-hour ceasefire came into effect.

Almost 12 hours into the truce, the skies over Gaza remained calm, with no reports of violations on any side and signs of life emerging on the streets of the war-torn coastal enclave which is home to 1.8 million Palestinians.

**Lamplighter** Tue Aug 12, 2014 8:29 am

UN names Gaza war crimes probe panel
Israel dismisses the investigation into possible human rights violations during Gaza war as a 'kangaroo court'.

The United Nations has named experts to an international commission of inquiry into possible human rights violations and war crimes committed by both sides during Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/un-names-gaza-war-crimes-probe-panel-2014811231432316350.html

**bb1** Tue Aug 12, 2014 9:33 am

I find it interesting that Israel cannot, or will not, grasp that it is occupying Palestinian land, having evicted the legal owners, and that Palestinians have an absolute right to defend themselves against the occupiers.

**Lamplighter** Tue Aug 12, 2014 9:42 am

bb1 wrote:I find it interesting that Israel cannot, or will not, grasp that it is occupying Palestinian land, having evicted the legal owners, and that Palestinians have an absolute right to defend themselves against the occupiers.

I think it all goes back to Bible times - which area of land was Israel, which Palestine, Judea, Samaria - very convoluted subject. LL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Israel

**bb1** Tue Aug 12, 2014 10:03 am

http://rt.com/news/179624-gaza-idf-motivation-photos/

Quote:

IDF distributed Gaza destruction photos to motivate reservists - report

The IDF, which has engaged in relentless efforts to dominate social media information flows during the Gaza assault, now stands embarrassed after distributing before and after photos of the destroyed Gazan neighborhood to motivate soldiers fighting there.

Scenes of destruction from tank and missile shelling of Gaza City's Shejaia neighborhood – home to around 100,000 Palestinians – were distributed as a “victory memento,” as one IDF soldier called it, to a unit that fought there, Haaretz reported.

Official army sources confirmed the allegation to the publication, but refused to release copies of the pictures, originally part of an operational inquiry into the fighting in Shejaia that started on the night of July 20-21. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said the matter is being investigated.

That's disgusting - what's Israel going to do next, collect Palestinian ears as mementoes? They seem to have lost any moral compass they may once have had.

Do you know, LL, I am sick of what the Bible supposedly said three thousand years ago being used as an excuse for Israeli atrocities against children. It's not one bit better than maniac snackbars claiming Allah tells them to slaughter all Infidels, or Christians regarding Jews as Christ-killers and Muslims as heretics.

One's as bad as the other, especially when weapons, power and land are involved.

**bb1** Wed Aug 13, 2014 2:38 pm

http://news.sky.com/story/1318010/journalist-killed-in-gaza-missile-blast

Journalist Killed In Gaza Missile Blast
Simone Camilli is killed alongside five Palestinians as a bomb disposal team worked to diffuse the missile in Gaza.

The missile exploded in Beit Lahiya

An Italian journalist was among five people killed when an unexploded missile detonated in northern Gaza.

The blast, in Beit Lahiya, happened as bomb squad officers attempted to dismantle the device on Wednesday.

Simone Camilli, 35, was killed along with a colleague and another three Palestinians.

At least six people were also wounded in the explosion - three of them critically.

Gaza's police force said the head of the bomb squad, his deputy and another officer were killed.

The deaths came as Egyptian negotiators aim to secure a further ceasefire from both sides to extend a three-day truce which is due to expire at 10pm.

No breaches of the ceasefire have been reported, but Israel said its navy had fired warning shots at a boat near Rafah as it approached the Gaza border.

More than 1,950 Palestinian people have been killed in five weeks of fighting in Gaza.

Sixty four Israeli soldiers and three civilians in Israel have also died.

Hamas has said it will not halt rocket attacks on Israel until the blockade it imposed on Gaza in 2006 is lifted.

But Israel has said it will allow the reconstruction of Gaza only if Hamas fully disarms.

Both sides have said they will resume hostilities if the talks fail.

The latest conflict is the third between Israel and Palestinian militants since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.

**bb1** Wed Aug 13, 2014 11:33 pm

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/palestinians-israelis-agree-new-truce-2014813203459774465.html

Gaza ceasefire 'extended for five days'
Palestinian negotiators and Egyptian officials say that it was agreed more time was needed for negotiations.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have agreed to extend a ceasefire in Gaza for another five days after failing to reach a long term agreement in Cairo-mediated talks, Palestinian and Egyptian officials said on Wednesday.

A previously agreed three-day truce was set to expire less than an hour afterwards, at midnight local time (2100 GMT).

"We have agreed to give more time for the negotiations," Azzam al-Ahmed, head of the Palestinian delegation in Cairo said on Wednesday, saying the extra time would be a further five days.

An Egyptian official said Israel also accepted the proposal. Israel had earlier said it would back an extension of the lull.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli police said a rocket from Gaza had landed in southern Israeli, hours before the truce was supposed to come to an end, the Reuters news agency reported. However, Hamas denied it was responsible for firing it.

Nearly 2,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its Gaza offensive on July 8 to halt cross-border rocket fire. On the Israeli side, 67 people have been killed, 64 of them soldiers.

**lily** Wed Aug 13, 2014 11:35 pm

Hope that they keep at it.

**bb1** Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:29 pm

My, my!

http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Report-US-halted-weapons-transfer-to-Israel-during-Gaza-offensive-371062

Quote from the end:

A senior Obama administration official was quoted in the report as saying the decision to scrutinize future transfers at the highest levels amounted to "the United States saying 'The buck stops here. Wait a second…It's not OK anymore."

The report depicted a context of poor relations between Obama and Netanyahu and claimed that the decision to halt the weapons transfer was made at a point when the White House and State Department became "increasingly disturbed by what they saw as heavy-handed battlefield tactics that they believed risked a humanitarian catastrophe," in Gaza.

I wonder if this has anything to do with Israel sitting down at the negotiating table? Because it wouldn't last very long without US money and weapons...

**lily** Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:50 pm

Very likely, Bonny.

**bb1** Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:18 pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28814555

Dutchman returns Holocaust medal after family deaths in Gaza

A Dutchman honoured by Israel for hiding a Jewish child during World War Two has handed back his medal after six of his relatives were killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza.

Henk Zanoli, 91, wrote to the Israeli embassy in The Hague to say he could no longer hold the honour.

He said an Israeli F-16 had destroyed his great-niece's home in Gaza, killing all inside, in the recent offensive.

The Israeli embassy has declined to comment on Mr Zanoli's action.

'An insult'
Mr Zanoli and his mother were awarded the "Righteous Among the Nations" honour by Israel in 2011 for helping to shelter a Jewish child from the Nazis in their family home from 1943-45.

The award is accorded to non-Jews who risked their lives to protect and save Jews during the Holocaust.

However, Mr Zanoli said in a letter published by Israel's Haaretz newspaper that "to hold on to the honour granted to me by the State of Israel under these circumstances, would be an insult... to those in my family, four generations on, who lost no less than six of their relatives in Gaza."

"The great-great grandchildren of my mother have lost their grandmother, three uncles, an aunt and a cousin at the hands of the Israeli military," he wrote, referring to an air strike by the Israeli military on 20 July.

His great-niece is a Dutch diplomat who is married to Palestinian economist Ismail Ziadah, who was born in a refugee camp in central Gaza.

Mr Ziadah's mother, three brothers, a sister-in-law and nine-year-old nephew were all killed after their family home was hit by Israeli aircraft.

Mr Zanoli, a retired lawyer, offered sharp criticism of Israel's Operation Protective Edge offensive, warning that such actions could lead to possible convictions of "war crimes and crimes against humanity".

Israel has defended its offensive in Gaza, saying its forces had gone to "unprecedented lengths to keep Palestinians out of harm's away" by issuing warnings via text message, telephone and leaflet dropping.

Mr Zanoli has faced his own share of family tragedy after losing his father at a Nazi concentration camp and a brother-in-law who was killed for his role in the Dutch resistance during World War Two.

"Against this background it is particularly shocking and tragic that today, four generations on, our family is faced with the murder of our kin in Gaza. Murder carried out by the State of Israel," he wrote in the letter addressed to Israeli ambassador Haim Davon.

He was reportedly too frail to hand the medal back in person, but instead sent it to the Israeli embassy in the Netherlands.

**Lamplighter** Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:32 pm

In a letter to Ambassador Haim Davon, Zanoli explained that he and his family had strongly supported the idea of a Jewish homeland, but "over more than six decades I have however slowly come to realize that the Zionist project had from its beginning a racist element in it."

This is him and his family:
Death in the Middle East - Page 31 Righteousfamily

**lily** Sat Aug 16, 2014 4:40 pm

Good for him but also, sad for him.

**bb1** Sat Aug 16, 2014 4:47 pm

Poor man. His past destroyed by Nazis, and his family's future wiped out by Zionists.

**lily** Sat Aug 16, 2014 4:49 pm

bb1 wrote:Poor man. His past destroyed by Nazis, and his family's future wiped out by Zionists.

I bet they never saw that one coming......

**bb1** Mon Aug 18, 2014 11:49 am

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/08/us-demands-release-jailed-american-teen-201481610054148632.html

Washington, DC, United States - The US State Department continues to demand the immediate release by Israeli authorities of a Palestinian-American boy arrested with other teenagers during a protest in East Jerusalem last month.

Mohammed Abu Nie, 15, faces charges of rock-throwing, attacking police, carrying a knife and leading a demonstration and has been held since July 3. American consular officials in Tel Aviv met with him as recently as July 31.

The State Department has also raised concerns about his treatment while in custody.

"We are calling for a speedy resolution to this case," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, adding the US government was "gravely concerned over the prolonged detention of this US citizen child".

Rights advocates say the case is typical of Israeli mistreatment for decades of Arabs both within Israel and the occupied territories. What's new is that the stories of Abu Nie and other Palestinian-Americans are creating an opportunity to educate US lawmakers long accustomed to hearing only Israeli accounts of the troubles in Palestine.

"Ordinary Israeli officials - policemen, army people - they make a point of insulting you, insulting your US passport, throwing it on the ground, telling you: 'It means nothing to us. You are just a Palestinian and we don't care one wit that you have a US passport.' In a vulgar, childish manner, they disrespect the US passport of Palestinians," said Jonathan Kuttab, an international human rights lawyer based in Washington who has represented many Palestinians and Palestinian-Americans in Israeli courts.

More at link.

Let's hope more Americans start asking questions about the real Israel.